Author: Dom

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

I’m going to add Emily St. John Mandel to the list of authors I read obsessively. Each one I read always seems to be better than the last. Some authors with this many books under their belt often forget how important it is to be merciless during editing.

Sea of Tranquility

This is one of those books that my wife (along with the Matt Smith) would probably describe as “a bit Sea timey-whimey”.

The book follows the circular rise and fall of Gaspery Jacques-Roberts, a fecklessly unremarkable individual with a high-achieving sister, Zoey. Through his sister’s connection with the Time Institute, and following a rigorous five-year training programme, Gaspery graduates as a field operative: entrusted to travel through time, correcting anomalies that could impact the Institute’s agenda.

The rules of time-travel are strict, and punishment for breaking those rules are harsh and permanent, and that, for Gaspery, is where the trouble starts. …

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Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler

Sequels can sometimes be disappointing. This applies to books as well as movies — more often movies I’m pleased to say, because you can usually tell in the first ten minutes, then leave and do something far more interesting with the rest of your day.

None of this has anything to do with Parable of the Talents, which was every bit as dark, gritty, and heart-breaking as Parable of the Sower.

Parable of the Talents

The story picks up pretty much where Parable of the Sower ended; Olamina and her fellow travellers settle down in the house owned by her husband Bankole. They survive by trading with locals, growing their own food, and by not attracting too much attention. Olamina is very much the leader of their small, but growing community, and she continues working on Earthseed; not so much a religion as a life philosophy.

Unfortunately, while the community is growing, the rest of America is part way through its collapse: the country is losing a war with Canada, and Alaska has seceded and become an independent state. To make matters worse, the new president is a religious zealot, and is taking the country back into a theocracy, supported by the totally-expected army of foaming-at-the-mouth crusaders who descend on Olamina’s community intent on torturing and raping the inhabitants — all in the name of the lord.

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