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Gleanings (Arc of a Scythe #3.5) by Neal Shusterman – Short Story Collection

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We’re back in Neal Shusterman’s Arc of a Scythe world for a short story compilation!

Time for a fresh addition to the Scythe series with short stories that range from exciting, emotional, cute and eye-opening. There are 13 tales here, and each follows a different POV, some from characters we know and love from the original trilogy and others from new perspectives of people just existing in the world. Some origin stories come to life (especially for Goddard and Scythe Marie Curie) and it pulls other characters from the shadows to tell us what happened with them (like Citra’s little brother, Ben). None of the stories are about Citra/Rowan but they do make cameos and are referenced.

Admittedly, it’s been a while since I read the trilogy so I didn’t remember a lot, and maybe didn’t recognised some reoccurring names. But I think anyone who’s a big fan of the series will definitely enjoy the references and cameos. Some of the stories are also co-authored, so that was pretty cool to see the collaborations.

Highlights from some of the stories:

A Martian Minute — This one was chilling and interesting in turn, giving us the backstory of Scythe Goddard. Also it’s set on Mars as well, which was super interesting. Definitely a complex story with dark turns and highlights more of the scythes’ corruptions.

Meet Cute And Die — This one was fun fluff, but it probably my favourite! It’s just about two random people who get into an accident together that renders them both mostly deadish. They get put back together and sort of shyly agree to go out for lunch. It was a fun meet cute. 😂 And I loved where it went. Also brought up the interesting (aka kind of terrifying) result of this style world that “killing” people (since they come back to life) doesn’t have as much weight. How it becomes an…option…when someone pisses you off. 💀😂

Anastasia’s Shadow — This one was sad/happy…?! I don’t even know. Many emotions. It’s about Ben, Citra’s little brother, who of course grows up and then is manipulated into training to be a Scythe against his wishes. Just the emotional abuse and isolation he goes through and the fear to even fall in love. He is also queer! And the ending did bring a spark of hope, I felt.

Never Work With Animals — Also a notable one, about a corrupt scythe and the dog who ends up getting one over him. I was Team The Dog the whole way tbh and that scythe so got what he deserved.

There are many more stories to discover and enjoy! Check Gleanings out if you’ve been following along Arc of a Scythe and want to see more of the world and the interesting, complex characters.

Thanks to Walker Books AUS for the review copy!

Title: Gleanings (Arc of a Scythe #3.5)
Author: Neal Shusterman
Date Published: November 16th, 2022
Genre: YA Sci Fi, Dystopian
Publisher: Walker Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
The New York Times bestselling Arc of the Scythe series continues with thrilling stories that span the timeline. Storylines continue. Origin stories are revealed. And new Scythes emerge!
There are still countless tales of the Scythedom to tell. Centuries passed between the Thunderhead cradling humanity and Scythe Goddard trying to turn it upside down. For years humans lived in a world without hunger, disease, or death with Scythes as the living instruments of population control.
Neal Shusterman—along with collaborators David Yoon, Jarrod Shusterman, Sofía Lapuente, Michael H. Payne, Michelle Knowlden, and Joelle Shusterman—returns to the world throughout the timeline of the Arc of a Scythe series. Discover secrets and histories of characters you’ve followed for three volumes and meet new heroes, new foes, and some figures in between.
Gleanings shows just how expansive, terrifying, and thrilling the world that began with the Printz Honor–winning Scythe truly is.

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao – Bitingly Brilliant YA Sci Fi

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Iron Widow was such an excellent read.

Compelling, action packed, female antihero, blisteringly well delivered themes — it did everything right. I also had the pleasure of listening to the audio a few months ago before this review copy surprised me in the mail, but I hadn’t reviewed the story. So it’s high time! This one is definitely going on my Top Ten Of 2022 list. However due to experience this via audio, please be patient with my spelling!! 😂😭 Everything is phonetic in my head (though I’ve tried to look names/words up).

Zetian was amazing. She was absolutely feral and unhinged and I loved that for her. This took the corruption arc and went for it with its whole chest, but more than that: it did it right. By the end I totally feel like Zetian had snapped but at the same time, pfft, I was 100% rooting for her. We support womens rights and womens wrongs here. Something I usually am wary of with #girlboss characters is how their focus is only inward, but it wasn’t the case here. Zetian had such a fervent focus on the other abused and discarded girls forced to face worse fates even than she. She did not bring any “not like the other girls” vibes, and was in fact convinced her high-spirit pressure wasn’t a fluke…other girls were like her and being crushed so the boys could always prevail. Her fight, her willingness to make herself think passed “limitations”, the way she endured and reclaimed her autonomy and her mind and her love for herself — all so well delievered on page.

It’s violently and ferociously feministic. And I also loved how Zetian isn’t just fighting for the other girls: she’s discovering the boys who are abused and suffer too, like Li Shimin.

It’s also refreshingly queer and features a polyamory romance, which is so rare in YA (is it anywhere?!). Finally we get a true triangle 😂 It discusses gender and I appreciated how Zetian frequently mentioned how she didn’t vibe with the concept of gender. Did I mention I love her. I do wish Shimin x Yizhi had more space to develop, especially their feelings toward each other, but fingers crossed that’s coming in the sequel.

It has lots of fight scenes and big magic robots that you control with your chi. I thoroughly enjoyed the concept. At first it felt like straight up fantasy to me, but then the END HITS and wow. I see where it’s going and it’s brilliant and horrible, and I’m craving the sequel like nothing else. It also serves up some hunger games vibes were Zetian and Li Shimin realise they need to win public favour in order to help stay alive, and that sense of self that is sacrificed as they mould themselves for the cameras contrasted with the reclaiming of autonomy that goes down as they gain momentum. Loved that.It is overall quite dark too, and doesn’t hold back from realistically discussing abuse and torture and rape and murder.

it’s a vicious book with a lot to say and the best part is: it says it loud and it says it excellently. Throw in a good dash of bloody vengeance and you have a YA that is thoroughly worth the hype.

Thanks to One World Publications for the review copy!

Title: Iron Widow (#1)
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Date Published: September 8th, 2022
Genre: YA Fantasy, Sci Fi
Publisher: One World Books
Purchase: Book Depository, Dymocks
Add it on Goodreads
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

Aurora Burning #2 by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff — An Epic And Emotional Sequel Ahhhh

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I finished Aurora Burning last night and it was epic and I am ✨exhausted✨ here.

This is the sequel to Aurora Rising, and why yes I DID hear about the wicked cliffhanger and decided (wisely) to wait until book 3 was out before reading it. I am 😂 so glad I did. My brain melted a bit. Actually the whole book utterly exhausted me because it’s 500-pages of high stakes action and trauma dished out in casual little morsels so by the end you’re like, please give the children a break — but they NEVER GET A BREAK. YOU JUST CLOSE THE BOOK AND SILENTLY SCREAM.

This review will contain slight spoilers for book 1, but I’ll do my best to hide spoilers under tags!

THE STORY
It kicks off where book one left off, with the squad working through grief but also their next steps for saving the world. Basically there is a huge incredibly powerful evil force about to bloom in violent greenery and take over all species and turn it into a hive mind, but an ancient race called the Ra’haam left a weapon to kill it before they disappeared. Aurora is the Trigger to that weapon. Like, she didn’t ask for that, but okay. She’s suddenly developed psychic powers and this book is also about her (a) figuring out how to use them, and (b) really understanding her destiny.

In a way, the book had Middle Book Syndrome, in that it really is just setting up for the finale. There is always something happening, but even the first 100pages felt like the characters were simply on the run for their lives without achieving much. Like these kids are definitely a bunch of geniuses and matured through childhood traumas, but they also did feel like they were in their 20s (oops).

There are a WHOLE lot of huge reveals in this book too. Including finding out more about the Ra’haam and getting a sneak-peek at how bad the enemy is. Plus we get new enemies!!! Absolutely insanely unhinged enemies, thanks to Kal’s race. We meet his sister who is just … a war machine psychopath (but, look, I kind of liked her as a villain) and we get a taste of just how bad the Unbroken really are.

Look when I say the book is INTENSE. It is. The action scenes are nonstop, the characters are stretched to their limits, the emotional toll just keeps escalating. The reveals at the end are gut punches.

CHARACTERS
I am starting to be attached to the squad a bit 😪 Well, right up ’till the finale, when Stuff Goes Down and I actually shut the book sort of hating 80% of the crew 😂 But quick run down:

  • Tyler continues to be Mr Perfect Leader, but he actually loses his shit here once and I am very pleased. Also his entire character is set up to do sacrificial plays and he does lean into that.
  • I like Scarlett, but don’t love her. She has a leadership tendency, but it veers into better-than-thou a lot (as proved in the end). But I do love when she goes into mum-friend-mode.
  • Finian oddly didn’t get a whole lot of page time or arc? But I think he’ll get that in book 3 considering his face is on the cover. I LOVE Finian, like, he’s still probably my favourite character. And having a disabled character at the front of a series is really epic to me. Just one thing — I do think his disability was treated as a “look at all the cool stuff he can do EVEN THO HE’S DISABLED” which, ya know, sucks. I get it for the tone and pace of this series. But it’s pretty much praised that he pushes himself to the max without “slowing anyone down”. At the same time, the crew never sees Finian as less, so that is nice.
  • Kal is um, my new favourite?!? I really love him. I wasn’t sold on him in book 1 because of his insta-love-you-are-my-soul-mate with Auri. But son 😭 is beautiful but loyal and caring and so deeply loving of his whole squad. Also I maintain, entirely, that Kal did nothing wrong.
  • Auri is there to be the Deus ex Machina, with her powers only getting world-destroyingly big, and her arc is just basically realising she’s the Chosen One and might as well embrace it.
  • Zila had a lot of character development and we get to see more of her backstory. In my review of book 1, I talked about how she felt autistic-coded — and actually people got mad at me for saying this, and said it was her trauma. She is, um, still autistic coded even before her trauma. But I do believe it’s unintentional so I just shrug and move on. I think she’s a sweetie and I like how her earrings just change depending on what scheme they’re about to launch into. She also is allowing herself to feel things 🥺

I just want to talk real quick about the ending twist and Kal, but will put it in spoiler tags!!

Open for SPOILERS
Um, the crew did Kal DIRTY and I’m actually so angry at them all. Kal fled his psychopathic abusive father at 11 years old and then enlisted in the Aurora Academy to try and HELP the world his father has ravaged. Kal is also balancing a shit tonne of trauma + inner demons, maybe literally + the loss of his family and race. Him deciding to keep his father a secret was self-preservation and HE SHOULD TAKE CARE OF HIMSELF. Like I get that the crew felt lied to, because he did outright lie by telling them his father was “dead”. But he literally was protecting himself. He was protecting 11-year-old Kaliis who grew up being abused. For the crew to have the audacity to hate him over it just makes me so angry. Auri’s reaction was so uncalled for too, as if she decides she can’t love him because of his parentage? Disappointed and angry at the whole squad (except for Ty to be honest).

Kal is precious AND IF HE DIES–

Also will add that Tyler feels like he’s having a budding potential romance with Saedii and nope 😂 Please don’t go there. I would like to see them be friends though. I also think that Tyler handled the news about Kal pretty solidly, and if he’d been on the ship with the 312 squad, he wouldn’t have let them flip out at Kal. Overall I like Ty a lot more in this one 😭.

Also finding out Ty and Scarlett have Syldrathi blood was fun! Did not see that coming, but the clues were laid out nicely for Scarlett for sure.

ALL THE FEELS
Basically I had a lot of emotions, lot of rage and love and theories – which makes for a thrilling read. I do admit that a lot of the action scenes left me confused, and the sci-fi-tech lingo constantly leaves me in the dust. Not totally sure what happened the whole time, but hey, am confused but happy to be here.

I also missed the humour book 1 had, but understandably!! The kids are in strife for 90% of the book and not cracking jokes!!

Definitely starting Aurora’s End this week and gearing myself up for a sky-shattering finale.

“I told you this was a bad idea!” Scarlett gasps.
“And I told you I don’t have bad ideas!” I shout, kicking through a doorway.
“Oh no?” she asks, cracking off a shot at our pursuers.
“No!” I drag her inside. “Just less amazing ones!”

Thanks to Allen & Unwin for the review copy!

Title: Aurora Burning #2
Author: Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Date Published: April 2020
Genre: YA Sci-Fi
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Purchase: Book Depository, Blackwells
Add it on Goodreads
The ferociously hot sequel to the international bestseller Aurora Rising, which sees the return of Squad 312 in an explosive battle to save the galaxy. By the award-winning authors of the Illuminae Files. Our heroes are back. Kind of.
First, the bad news: an ancient evil – you know, your standard consume-all-life-in-the-galaxy deal – is about to be unleashed. The good news? Squad 312 is standing by to save the day. They’ve just got to take care of a few small distractions first.
Like the clan of gremps who’d like to rearrange their favourite faces. And the cadre of illegit GIA agents with creepy flowers where their eyes used to be, who’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on Auri. Then there’s Kal’s long-lost sister, who’s not exactly happy to see her baby brother, and has a Syldrathi army at her back. With half the known galaxy on their tails, Squad 312 has never felt so wanted.
When they learn the Hadfield has been found, it’s time to come out of hiding. Two centuries ago the colony ship vanished, leaving Auri as its sole survivor. Now, its black box might be what saves them – but time is short, and if Auri can’t learn to master her powers as a Trigger, the squad and all their admirers are going to be deader than the Great Ultrasaur of Abraaxis IV.
Shocking revelations, bank heists, mysterious gifts, inappropriately tight bodysuits and an epic firefight will determine the fate of the Aurora Legion’s most unforgettable heroes – and maybe the rest of the galaxy as well.

The Extraordinaries by T.J. Klune [Neurodiverse, Queer, Disaster Superheroes]

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If you’ve ever wanted a book that could be described as a soft superhero queer disaster, then this one is for you.

It’s like a combination of all those tumblr posts you see about inverting superhero tropes, mixed with odes to fanfiction, and with a good bit of absolute dork mixed in. It’s super funny, but don’t go in thinking too deeply. 😂 Be here for a good time, not an academic time.

It’s basically your traditional superhero story but told by the comedic love interest who just is a disaster on spindly spaghetti legs and extremely self aware of the fact he is, in fact, the comedic love interest and not the hero and he’s a bit put out about it.

#ownvoices queer and neurodiverse

I love this about it. I’ve only read a handful of books with good ADHD rep. (I don’t have adhd, but I trust #ownvoices rep! And being neurodiverse myself, I related to a lot of aspects.) The ADHD isn’t just something that pops on the page when it fits. It’s everywhere, all the time. Nick talks all the time, he has zero impulse control, he is absolutely wholesome as well as clueless and blushing and fun. His brain bounces from one thing to the next so hard and fast. I appreciated how the book followed his spiralling thought tangents, but it’s also worth mentioning it does make the book slow and ambling at times.

But I really wish we had more neurodiverse rep in books so 😚👌🏻I’m happy. Plus it’s super gay.

It reads mostly like a contemporary.

In the background, we have superheroes going off. But the book focuses on Nick’s chaotic life. He has a crush he won’t admit to on his best friend, a sleazy ex to ignore, school catastrophes to sort out. Nick has a really loving dad and their relationship is sweet but also has its ups and downs. And through it all? Nick wishes he was an Extraordinary so he could save his dad…since no one could save his mum.

It also has really epic friendships. Nick’s best friends are Seth, Gibby, and Jazz (Gibby and Jazz are badass lesbians who are so soft for each other and just like to stand and eat popcorn and watch Nick descend into chaos). There’s banter and quips! I also loved how the friends all teased each other, but never mocked Nick’s ADHD. If Nick when on a spiral tangent, they’d tease him, but when it came down to it, they absolutely loved him for being himself. I will be emotional over this.

two things to mention…

(1) I wish they’d been more backstory and world building. I literally have no idea how the superheroes and powers came to be?! Is it just happening in this city? Or the world? And the two main superheroes just fight but like…why.
(2) It is worth mentioning that the book paints the police in a very amicably and positive light. I did read this while the #BlackLivesMatter June protests had begun and it was sobering, reading about these joking police. (At one point Nick gets “arrested” for doing something silly and it’s all jokes with the cops. And all I could think of was his white privilege. The book does not touch on that though.) So it’s hard reviewing this? I think the book is meant to be fun, with a Brooklyn 99 tone, but it inadvertently glorified the police.

Overall this was is just like shoving a fun, wholesome chaotic box of confetti into your mouth.

It’s soft and the relationships will melt you. It is ridiculous. It’s super heavy on cliches and tropes, so if you’re soft for fanfic and you think the comedic sidekick deserves his own story…this is it. Nick Bell is here to be extra.

Thanks Tor Teen for the ARC! The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune is out now.

Some people are extraordinary. Some are just extra. TJ Klune’s YA debut, The Extraordinaries, is a queer coming-of-age story about a fanboy with ADHD and the heroes he loves.
Nick Bell? Not extraordinary. But being the most popular fanfiction writer in the Extraordinaries fandom is a superpower, right?
After a chance encounter with Shadow Star, Nova City’s mightiest hero (and Nick’s biggest crush), Nick sets out to make himself extraordinary. And he’ll do it with or without the reluctant help of Seth Gray, Nick’s best friend (and maybe the love of his life).

Goodreads | Book Depository | Amazon | Publisher

tell me about your favourite superheroes?! 👀(I’m so behind on the Marvel movies I feel bad.) and is this one on your tbr?

 

Wilder Girls by Rory Power (Ft. Feral Forest Aesthetic and Creepy Mutations!)

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This was sufficiently compelling and creepy; a story of corruption and desperation.

Also I have SO much appreciation for the cover design now that I’ve read the book. It fits 10005% amazingly (plus is just altogether one of my favourite covers of 2019; I am always here for the murdery forest aesthetic). I got a lot of Maze Runner x Aurora Rising vibes from this book (throw in a bit of Stranger Things and monsters). It was fascinating and, often, disturbing. The cliffhanger left me feeling “???!?!?!” so least to say I hope there’s a sequel. Otherwise I feel like we only skimmed the surface of this world of Tox.

// welcome to Tox; an island boarding school corrupted by a disease and the girls left there to rot

The aesthetic was just incredible — it weaves together this undefinable sickness that mutates the girls with this island basically got to rot and ruin. It’s supposed to be just a “normal” boarding school. But it’s been 1.5 years since the outbreak and they’re in quarantine. They’re dying. They’re being eaten alive and ripped inside out. Rory has something growing under her eye. Reese has a silver hand. Byatt has a second spine. The forest is wild; the wildlife is feral and rabid. They can’t get off the island. They don’t know what’s killing them and they’re waiting for the government to find a cure.

(cue hysterical laughter from everyone who’s watched a single sci-fi movie because when does the government!!! ever !!! pull through!!!!)

The setting was compelling and chilling and definitely the standout. However I needed more information? Very little backstory and I just felt the whole thing needed to be deeper.

It is violent (not overly graphic) and the girls are desperate, bitterly competitive, and hardened. They’re just trying to stay alive in this school-turned-apocalypse-setting.

// the characters

They’re all fighting tooth and claw to survive and I really ached for Hetty. I didn’t understand Byatt tbh. It was insinuated that “more” was going on with her character (like she was a compulsive liar or…something?) but I’m still confused. Also her chapters were disjointed and confusing — possibly for a purpose but they just left me like thrown from the story. I understood why Reese was angry and cold — but being cruel to people because you hurt wins zero points from me. Especially when she never apologised.

I loved how Hetty and Reese fell together, those quick stolen kisses. Overall the romance is light but powerful.

What I loved about the characters was: how deeply and inexplicably they needed each other. They weren’t just friends, they were so caught up in each other that they needed each other like a heartbeat. Complex and codependant messy relationships driven by love are just 😭💛 Their need was so well written.

// it leaves you with so so many questions

The eerie setting, the parasitic disease, the vines growing out of people and mutations and hunger and trapped aloneness — it was amazing to read. You FEEL this book, you do.

But I don’t understand the Tox and I felt the book needed to be deeper and have everything explored more.

thanks to Pan Macmillan for the ARC! WILDER GIRLS by Rory Power came out July 8th, 2019.

Goodreads | Book Depository | Booktopia | Amazon | Pan Macmillan

The Power meets We Were Liars in Rory Power’s compelling, visceral and completely unputdownable YA debut about survival and the power of female friendships.
Everyone loses something to the Tox; Hetty lost her eye, Reese’s hand has changed, and Byatt just disappeared completely.
It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put in quarantine. The Tox turned the students strange and savage, the teachers died off one by one. Cut off from the mainland, the girls don’t dare wander past the school’s fence where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure as the Tox takes; their bodies becoming sick and foreign, things bursting out of them, bits missing.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her best friend, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie in the wilderness past the fence. As she digs deeper, she learns disturbing truths about her school and what else is living on Raxter Island. And that the cure might not be a cure at all . . .

| WHAT DO YOU THINK? |

have you read this one? is it on your tbr? let me know if you like books with creepy sci-fi illnesses or if it freaks you out!