Space Brooms!

Space Brooms! by A.G. Rodriguez, 352 pages

Johnny Gomez left his home on Luna (AKA the moon) a decade ago to seek his fortune on the far-flung space station Kilgore. But instead of fame and fortune, he's doing drudge work as a space station janitor, AKA "space broom." While cleaning out a particularly gross public toilet, he finds a data chit wedged in the wall and, not knowing any better, grabs it to examine later. Bad idea. Now several of the most notorious gangs are after Johnny, putting up insane bounties on him, just so they can get ahold of that chit. It's during a run-in with hired goons of one of those crime syndicates that Johnny is saved by a couple of smugglers, who offer to set him up with a ride off-station, as well as a buyer for the in-demand chit. If only they can shake their pursuers as they speed across the galaxy.

This is a decent found-family science fiction tale, with fun characters and a pleasantly ludicrous plot. That said, there are several questions that don't get answered (like why the smugglers are so invested in Johnny and who owned the chit to begin with) and a few elements that just felt kinda random. It was OK, but it's not going to be the top of my "best of 2025" list by any means. Still, you can't deny that the name and cover are fantastic.

Mongrels

Mongrels by Stephen Graham Jones (2016) 302 pages

I read this as an ebook through Libby. This is categorized as horror because the main characters are werewolves, but aside from some blood and gore, it doesn't feel too frightening. A coming of age urban (rural?) fantasy is closer to the mark. The story is somewhat non-linear as the main boy playacts different roles in his family. He is being raised by an uncle and aunt, and he yearns for the day he'll become a werewolf like them. For this indigenous author werewolves are sort of a metaphor for the outsiders of society. But in the story it is no metaphor, they really are werewolves and the boy has to learn their particular ways. He teaches us that many "facts" about werewolves in movies are false. His family is transient and poor. It is good to walk in his shoes for awhile as he struggles with never fitting in and learning who his parents were.
 

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley

The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley: a Novel / Hannah Tinti, 376 pp.

Loo and her father Samuel have been on the road for twelve years, the first twelve of Loo's life.  When they decide to settle in Loo's dead mother's hometown on the New England coast, Loo makes friends (and enemies) for the first time.  Why have they been on the road all these years, packing up in the middle of the night?  Why does Loo's grandma Mabel Ridge hate her father Samuel so intensely?  Does it have something to do with the eleven bullet wounds Samuel carries on his body?

As Loo's story unfolds, we learn in alternating chapters how Samuel acquired all of his holes.  The scenes of violence are colorful and suspenseful, and the novel moves along quickly to a fairly satisfying ending.  I wanted to love this novel as much as I did the author's The Good Thief , but I couldn't warm to the characters in the same way.  But my overblown expectations shouldn't keep anyone away from this skilled and smart novel.