Three for the Month (July 2020)

Steph P. Bianchini July 5, 2020 7 Comments

Even though it’s only July 5, I’m already well advanced in my reading this month. Which makes for a (good) novelty –bless holidays and the extra time. Here’s the titles I’m currently on:

1. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. This was Chambers’s debut novel, and an amazing one. Blurb: ‘Fleeing her old life, Rosemary Harper joins the multi-species crew of the Wayfarer as a file clerk, and follows them on their various missions throughout the galaxy. The novel concerns itself with character development rather than adventure. Each member of the crew has a story that unfolds, or a crisis to face. They encounter several alien environments on the slow path to their destination.’ The novel got nominations and awards, all well deserved. It is ironic, at times funny, always very enjoyable.

2. Pandemic by Scott Sigler. It is instalment #3 of the series about the alien infection that’s ravaging Earth. As the title suggests, it is escalating to planetary level and multiple countries, notable China. “To some, Doctor Margaret Montoya is a hero—a brilliant scientist who saved the human race from an alien intelligence determined to exterminate all of humanity. To others, she’s a monster—a mass murderer single-handedly responsible for the worst atrocity ever to take place on American soil. All Margaret knows is that she’s broken. The blood of a million deaths is on her hands. Guilt and nightmares have turned her into a shut-in, too mired in self-hatred even to salvage her marriage, let alone be the warrior she once was. But she is about to be called into action again. Because before the murderous intelligence was destroyed, it launched one last payload: a soda can–sized container filled with deadly microorganisms that make humans feed upon their own kind. That harmless-looking container has languished a thousand feet below the surface of Lake Michigan, undisturbed and impotent . . . until now. Part Cthulhu epic, part zombie apocalypse and part blockbuster alien-invasion tale, Pandemic completes the Infected trilogy and sets a new high-water mark in the world of horror fiction.” For what I’ve read so far, it is as entertaining as the previous two, even though you have to brace for the onslaught.

3. Morning Star by Pierce Brown. As I had expected since putting my hands last month on Golden Son, I’ve been hooked back and this time, I can’t stop. Golden Son is such a powerful book –really amazing for a middle of a trilogy novel. Morning Star is the final instalment, and I can see a lot of threads coming to their ending. “Morning Star picks up as the lowborn Darrow escapes capture and resumes his campaign against the tyrannical Sovereign of the Society. Pragmatic as ever, he begins to amass the resources and allies he needs to defeat the forces of the Sovereign.” I must say the beginning is really creepy, showing Darrow imprisoned for one year in a tomb-like cell and reduced to a husk of his former self. Courtesy of the Jackal, of course, which is one of the best villains I have read about in a long time. I do expect Morning Star will deliver the Jackal’s demise, which saddens me because if he dies, where can Darrow find another worthy adversary for the next trilogy?

What are you reading in July? Let me know!