Book Thoughts: Sourcery

Title: Sourcery
Author: Terry Pratchett
Series: Discworld #5

Sourcery -- access to raw, creative, untethered magic -- disappeared from the Disc long ago, after some very nasty Mage Wars. But it has returned, in the form of a young boy named Coin.

Something has to be done before the overpowered wizards destroy the Disc -- but it looks like the job is going to be left to a failed wizard, a boy who's been a barbarian hero for three days but hasn't finished the instruction manual, a hairdresser wannabe with killer instincts, and an alcoholic poet. As you might expect, hilarious shenanigans (and a lot of surprising depth) ensue.

Rincewind! Rincewind is back! (We haven't seen him since The Light Fantastic, and he's one of my favorites.) And the other characters are all wonderful too. Some of the plot got a little bit weird in this one, but I think I would put it pretty close to the top of my Discworld experience so far. A quick and hilarious read, classic Terry Pratchett. Definitely read.

Book Thoughts: Across the Universe

Title: Across the Universe

Author: Beth Revis

Series: Across the Universe #1
*Imported from tumblr*

Okay so let’s talk about Across the Universe by Beth Revis. I’ve had this one sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years now and just never got around to actually reading it until this week — and now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long.

It’s basically an intergalactic, high-technology dystopian murder mystery. Sort of. Amy, along with her parents and several others, has been cryogenically frozen and is to be one of the new inhabitants of “Centauri-Earth," a distant planet that should take 300 years to reach. But she is woken 50 years before the ship Godspeed reaches Centauri-Earth, almost the victim of a murder. Working with the ship’s future leader, Elder, she must try to find the killer before he kills again.

So yeah, it’s a murder mystery set on a spaceship several hundred years in the future. And there is some seriously great discussion of the nature of dystopias, the meaning of family, what it takes to be a true leader, all kinds of stuff. It’s excellent. I’m kind of mad at myself for not reading this sooner. The plus side? The sequels are already out, so I don’t have to wait for them.

(Also, a side note! I got the chance to meet Beth at a signing and she is SUPER NICE and also a fan of Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Firefly like me! So that was super cool.)