Station Eleven

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, 336 pages.

This strange, quiet book is a little hard to describe. It swings back and forth between the life of famous Hollywood actor Arthur Leander, who dies on stage the same night that the world changes forever, and Kirsten Raymonde, a young woman performing in a traveling Shakespeare troupe twenty years later in the early days of the new world. There are a few other perspectives included, but these two characters serve as the anchors to guide us through their respective worlds. Arthur sits at the middle of a net of connections that exist invisibly in the world that remains after a plague wipes out the majority of humanity. 

I found this novel completely immersive. Once I started reading I found it difficult to put down, and I found the author's prose deeply moving. This is a quiet, reflective book, and I would recommend it wholeheartedly. 

City of Last Chances

 City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky, 500 pages,

Pressure builds in the city of Ilmar as it sits uneasily under occupation by the Palleseen Empire, who seek to bring "perfection" to the whole world. But the City of Bad Decisions has never taken easily to perfection, and factions all through the city are being brought near the boiling point, a tension that is pushed over the edge when a Palleseen official is killed in The Anchorwood, the mysterious and mythic passage to other worlds.

This book is structured in a very interesting way that I feel really furthers its premise. Each chapter is told from a new perspective, giving the reader an extremely thorough view of the city as a whole. Eventually six or seven characters emerge as really significant recurrent characters we come back to repeatedly, which allowed me to really invest in individual characters in addition to the plot and the city. The whole cast of criminals, activists, zealots, priests, foreigners, and everyday people was very engaging to me, and despite being a longer book with a broad focus I never found myself bored. This is the second book by Adrian Tchaikovsky I've read, and I've been extremely impressed by the craft of both so I definitely plan to read more by this author.

Concentrate: Poems

 Concentrate: Poems by Courtney Faye Taylor, 96 pages

Reflections and inflections on "concentrate", a word song, visually lyrical, too. I was nervous when I took in the first few lines, but left hopeful by its final refrain. Taylor is a master with words, and with her world. "I survived single mother daughterhood...I've earned this bodily door" she states. Highly recommended.

The Diviners

The Diviners by Libba Bray, 578 pages.

This is by far one of the best books I have read this year - which is a pretty big statement considering how much I loved It Devours by Joseph Fink and Universal Harvester by John Darnielle.

The book follows Evie O'Neill as she explores 1920s New York City after being exiled from her small town in Ohio. She had used divination to uncover the town golden boy's secret affair and the stain to the family's reputation was too great. Why her parents thought New York City is the best place to send a 17-year-old flapper who loves drinking and partying as much as Evie, I will never understand. However, it sets the book up for an interesting cast of characters.

I was impressed with Libba Bray's ability to give voice to such a diverse cast of characters ranging from a Black teen in Harlem who dreams of being the next Langston Hughes to a pickpocket ashamed of his Polish heritage. Each character has their own motivations, past, relationships, and secrets that are slowly developed throughout the book. Add in the hunt for a serial killer and I am hooked. There are two more books in the series and one more on the way. I am so excited to see how this story develops.

I suggest this to anyone who loves the paranormal, a good mystery, or a motley cast of characters who find themselves brought together through seemingly random happenstance.