BookOwl

  4/5 stars   *Spoiler alert!*   We Are the Crisis continues Cadwell Turnbull’s amazing contemporary fantasy/horror series, the “Convergence” saga. I felt that the second volume was a bit disjointed with how much it jumped back and forth in time but am excited about what its events set up in the third book. (Otherwise, this book ended up in a hell of a cliffhanger that will haunt me for many days to come, all for nothing.)   “How is it even possible to change a person by telling them a story?”   The events of the second book begin with Laina, Ridley, and Rebecca on the road as monsters everywhere are being hunted. Especially after the Boston Massacre of monsters that ended No Gods, No Monsters set up a brewing civil war between humanity and monsters parallel to a rising pro-monster solidary movement.   Since monsters are an unknown quantity, they are feared. And fear has led to the rise of a human supremacist group known as the Black Hand. The Black Hand ...

   4/5 stars *Spoiler alert!*   No Gods, No Monsters is the first book in the “Convergence Saga” series. The “Convergence” being when the world discovers that monsters are real—werewolves, witches, dryads, etc. Because it is set in contemporary times, it feels like this could be our world, one in which the prejudice against marginalized peoples is doubled against those that come out as monsters within those communities.   “‘ I’m sorry to do it this way, but I had to be safe,’” Melku explains. “‘I won’t waste any more time. Our collective’s mission is to support the solidarity movement. Often, that has meant supporting marginalized peoples . Some of you are part of the queer and trans community, like me. Many of the most valuable monsters are also a part of these communities, which is why redefining to include them is so important. In that spirit, I think we should extend our support to monsters since it is likely that they’re already in the movement but have cho...

  4/5 stars    *Spoiler alert!*   The Galaxy and the Ground Within is the fourth and final entry in the “Wayfarers” series. This saddens me, but it was a pleasure to be a reader in this comforting galaxy. Each of the “Wayfarers” novels is stand-alone but we see some familiar minor characters come in and out of the main narrative.   Our main characters are mostly new perspectives, but Pei is a familiar minor character who I really loved from the first book, returning here on her way to see Ashby. Gora is merely a minor layover before continuing to Ashby’s ship. Pei is one of a group of travelers stopping at such a Goran waypoint, finding herself and her fellow travelers in the hands of the earnest Ouloo and her offspring Tupo —reluctantly helping their mother run the place, as teenagers are.   As many of Chambers’ sci-fi books are, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within is full of humor as well as seriousness.     “No, it’s not that. Humans need a … ...