The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: ★★☆☆☆
The premise is really awesome and I loved the format of the book in the beginning. It was told entirely through Watney’s logs of his mission. At first he's very technical and bland as he relays what he's done for the mission each day, but the longer he is isolated on Mars with no radio contact, the less professional he gets. That was great! But the further into the book you get, the more confusing and messy the format gets. In the beginning, each alternating chapter is Watney's logs, and then traditional prose describing what's happening on Earth. From logs, to traditional prose, to AIM-like chats between watney and NASA. There's no pattern, at times it switches from one format to another for literally a single paragraph... it’s just so messy, I felt annoyed and frustrated as I read. Not to mention all of the other characters are created with so little characterization that I didn’t know who the hell anyone was. I literally couldn't distinguish between them, aside from the poorly written Hindu character - and that only because he basically walks around going, "I am Hindu". I didn’t understand the point of the other POVs because they were so half-assed. If it had all been Watney’s day logs I probably would have enjoyed it much more.
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
My rating: ★★★☆☆
I was so disappointed at how little the girls’ group featured in this book, because when it was revealed at the end of the first book that there was another maze with an all-girl group that had the same situation reversed, I was like OH MY GOD. I think the events of this book would have been more exciting if it had switched between each group and their progress. The confusion about Teresa, was she evil or was she a pawn like Thomas, became really boring really fast. I wasn't shocked or intrigued each time her actions contradicted each other, I found it tiring. I don’t know if I’ll read the third book.
Kenny and the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi
My rating: ★★★★★
I can't decide what my favorite part of this book was: the story or the illustrations. Fun fact, the author was also the illustrator! Kenny is a young rabbit who lives in the countryside on the family farm, and their charming acres attract a dragon who decides to move in. Nobody has seen or heard of a dragon in ages, and the stories about them are full of death and destruction. But Kenny decides to go see the dragon, and they become best friends almost immediately. This is one of those children's books that is delighful for a child but also has references that only adults will understand, which makes it a great read for all ages. It's an instant favorite for me. This is written by the same author who wrote the Spiderwick Chronicles, which is easily apparent in both the art and the prose. If you can't tell, I really like DiTerlizzi's style.
Daughter of Venice by Donna Jo Napoli
This is another book from my childhood that I decided to reread this year, and it is about a million times better than I remember. I think the last time I read this book was when I was about 9 or 10. It tells the story of a girl named Donata, who is the daughter of a wealthy merchant in Venice in 1592. She spends nearly all of her time indoors at their grand palazzo, but she is fascinated by the glimpses she gets of the streets of Venice when they go out, and she doesn't understand the injustice of the fact that her brothers are allowed to be out at all hours in the city while she and her sisters are stuck in the palazzo. So she decides to dress as a boy and go out into the city herself! She ends up in the Jewish ghetto of Venice. This book is full of interesting bits of Venetian history, explains the role of scribes before the printing press, teaches about Jewish history and culture, and is AMAZINGLY feminist. Donata's frustrations and dreams are so relatable to girls and women of any age. I remember loving this book as a kid, but reading it now that I'm older I think I love it even more.
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