Red String Theory by Lauren Kung Jessen

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Dedicated New Yorker Rooney Gao is an artist.  She uses the pseudonym “Red String Girl” for her art because she wants to make a name for herself, not for the fact that she has a famous mother. The name also reflects her use of string in her art, a manifestation of the Chinese legend that everyone has a red string that attaches to their one true love.  For Rooney it means some things are just fated to be.

Enter Jackson Lui, a senior engineer at NASA, who is in New York City to do a presentation which he hopes will help earn him a long sought after promotion.  The two meet up at a print shop, and then again at a party.  Rooney is beginning to wonder if it could be fate, but there’s a small problem or two:

Jack doesn’t believe in fate.

And he lives in California.

Yes, I have now read two romances so far this year, which may be some kind of record for me.  It’s not that I have anything against love, but I do tend to bog down in the overwrought drama that many of those books feature. I get frustrated with the characters because they could usually clear things up with one conversation but it seems to be more fun to wail and fuss.

That’s not the case here.  Rooney and Jack are two adults. They’re attracted to each other from the start and have a magical date. They actually talk about things that matter. I loved (no pun intended) how we got to know the characters, how they discussed their beliefs and respected one another.  I learned a bit about art, about Mars, about chance, about Chinese folklore, and probability, and found two fictional characters that I like a lot.  I enjoyed how the two meet up again, and the way they reconnect.

If more romances were like this one, I’d read more romances.

Vessel by Lisa Nichols

Reviewed by Laura

            This book is described as a tense psychological thriller perfect for fans of The Martian. It isn’t. I’m a sucker for space novels. Not the technical jargon of a NASA manual, but the nitty gritty of life in space. Vessel disappointed in this crucial area. It is the story of Catherine Wells, an astronaut who mysteriously returns to earth six years after a catastrophic event decimates the crew of her ship and all are believed dead. Joy ensues, someone has returned from the outer reaches of the cosmos to tell their story! Except she can’t, or won’t—she remembers nothing and what she does remember, she isn’t prepared to share.

            The majority of the story focuses on the aftermath of returning to a job and family where everyone has already accepted your death and moved on. Catherine’s husband is about to become engaged to one of her best friends and her daughter is ready to graduate from high school. Her time in space is told periodically through flashbacks interspersed throughout the drama of her return to earth. In my humble opinion, this book would have been much improved had the majority of the story been set in space where the main drama unfolds. Perhaps a prologue of her return to earth followed by her time on the ship as the bulk of the story. If I’m reading about space exploration, I want space exploration!

            Sadly, this book focused more on the drama of the unexpected family reunion than on the suspenseful happenings in outer space. I stayed with it and finished the book, though the last third became extremely unbelievable (I know, we’re talking about space travel, but still…). The ending was, for me, unsatisfying and something of a let down. If you want a true space thriller, I suggest leaving this book on the shelf and reaching for The Wanderers by Meg Howrey instead. On the other hand, if you would enjoy a family drama with a little bit of space thrown in, this is definitely the book for you!

How to Live in Space: Everything You Need to Know for the Not-So-Distant Future by Colin Stuart

Reviewed by Kristin

My first concept that people might be able to live in space came from television—no, not from the moon landing—but from the cartoon family called the Jetsons.  (Does anyone else hear The Jetsons’ theme song in their head right now?)  I realized that we weren’t there yet, and also that we didn’t have a robot dog or a robot maid, but it was a very appealing thought that we might be able to expand our horizons and live somewhere beyond this earth.  I even attended Gus Grissom Elementary School, so I saw pictures of astronauts every day, and knew that one day we would be living among the stars.

Flash forward to 2018 and I’m still living on the ground.

But there is hope!  Note the subtitle: “Everything You Need to Know for the Not-So-Distant Future.”  Colin Stuart thinks that humans should keep looking upward and exploring our planetary limitations.  He begins with astronaut training, what it’s like to live in space, and moves upward and outward with space tourism and what future space exploration may include.  With private industry getting into the game alongside nation-states, Stuart notes that living in space might actually be a reality in the centuries, or perhaps decades, to come.

Fortunately we have Stuart to help us prepare as he covers everything from flight control to personal grooming, giving us a glimpse of what space living may entail.  Did you know that on the International Space Station, dirty laundry and other more delicate human waste products are ejected into space in a module which is then sent into orbit to eventually burn up as it falls into the atmosphere?  Yes, that last “shooting star” that you observed may have been something else entirely:  it may have been astronaut poop.

Stuart spins his tale in a believable manner, sketching out a clear path as to how humans soon may be living beyond our wildest dreams.  Science fiction may turn to science reality as technology advances at warp speed.  Remember, it’s been a mere 57 years since Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to leave the atmosphere and make a complete orbit around Earth.  Other advances may allow our descendants to set up housekeeping on Mars or to build the real Starship Enterprise.

As for me, I’m still waiting on that robot housekeeper to clean up after me and my not-so-robot cats.  I’ll definitely name her Rosie and I’ll appreciate her more than the Jetsons ever did.

Nevermore: Infinite Wonder, White Darkness, Red Moon, Watermark, Someone Like Me, Mr. Britling Sees It Through

Reported by Jeanne

Infinite Wonder by astronaut Scott Kelly was the first book examined at Nevermore this week, much to the delight of the group.  Kelly spent a year in space at the International Space Station where he took numerous photos of the earth—no easy task when you consider that the planet doesn’t hold still for a snap.  There is a great deal of training involved. The resulting photos were greatly admired.

Another book portrayed an Earth landscape that is still alien to most of us.  White Darkness by David Grann described the 2008 expedition of Henry Worsley to Antarctica, following the expedition of his hero, Ernest Shackleton.  The text has Grann’s trademark writing (Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon) but our reviewer was most impressed by the incredible photographs.

The next book was Someone Like Me by Mike Carey, a dark psychological thriller about two women dealing with dark forces.  Liz is a single mother whose dark side emerges after an attack from her abusive ex-husband, while teenage Fran is still recovering from being kidnapped a decade earlier.  Our reader said she gave up on the book because she really didn’t like reading the point of view of someone who is psychotic.  She skipped ahead but it was more of the same, so she gave up.

Science fiction showed up this time in the form of Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Moon.  In the not too distant future, China has a colony on the moon. American Fred Fredericks is sent to work on a new communications system, but that job is sidetracked when he is accused of murder.  Our reader enjoyed this as she has Robinson’s other works and praised it for some powerful scenes.

Watermark by Michael Hewes is a debut thriller set in Gulfport, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.  Matt Frazier has returned to what’s left of his home when he makes a discovery that will embroil him in a high stakes conspiracy.   Our reader thought it was well done and especially liked the setting.  She thought he did an excellent job of taking readers through the aftermath of the storm.  Nevermore members have read several non-fiction books about Katrina, and this one had a ring of truth to it.

Finally, Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. Wells begins in the summer of 1914 and ends in October of 1915.  It has been described as a masterpiece of fiction about the Great War, though it was published in 1916 long before the war ended.  The main character, Mr. Britling, is a famous author and usually viewed as Wells’ alter ego by critics.   The book itself is more an examination of British and features three young men, an American, a German, and Mr. Britling’s son, who may or may not survive the conflict.  There’s a moral aspect to it as well; while Wells didn’t subscribe to any organized religion, he did believe in the possibility of personal good.  The book was a best seller in its time.  Our reviewer said, “If you love World War I, you’ll love this book,” but went on to say that it was moving and worth reading. 

The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey

Reviewed by Kristin

Good science fiction really draws me in and keeps me reading, watching, and/or listening.  It’s not so much the androids, space battles, or alien worlds which bring me back, but the characters.  Recently I’ve been using Tennessee READS to listen to audiobooks in the Expanse series by James S. A. Corey (a pseudonym for writing partners Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.)  I have found the characters so engaging that I don’t always turn off the stories when I pull into the driveway, but continue listening while cooking dinner, feeding the cats, or doing other household chores.

In the Expanse universe, humans have managed to escape the gravity well of Earth, put colonies on the moon (Luna), Mars, and several outer moons and space stations.  Traveling to other stars is still a stretch of the imagination, but people are working as hard as they can to find a way.  Alien presence in the universe makes itself known even here within our solar system, but in the form of molecules and long abandoned gateways, not as bug-eyed figures intent on destroying Earth.  As passageways to new worlds are found, alliances swiftly change as planetary governments and corporations race to plant their flags in the soil of newly discovered planets.

The series follows the exploits of a small crew based on the spaceship Rocinante for most of the series. (This is a tiny spoiler, since they transition to the ship and rename her during the first book, Leviathan Wakes.)  James Holden takes charge and the rest of the crew is made up of engineer Naomi Nagata, mechanic Amos Burton, and pilot Alex Kamal.  Various other characters move in and out of the picture, but these four individuals form a crew committed to working together.

Some of the other interesting characters include Fred Johnson, head of the Outer Planets Alliance; Detective Miller, intent on tracking down the missing girl Julie Mao; Bobbie Draper, a Martian ex-Marine, and Chrisjen Avasarala, an Earth based UN bigwig who wants what she wants when she wants it, and liberally sprinkles her demands with four letter words, despite being described as a tiny little old lady.  I have found myself laughing out loud when Avasarala pops up on the com screen or strides into the room.

George R.R. Martin calls the books “Interplanetary adventure the way it was mean to be written,” which of course is proudly displayed across the front of the paperback editions.  The series has also been adapted to the small screen by the SyFy channel, currently in the third season.  DVDs for the first two seasons of The Expanse are coming soon to the Bristol Public Library.  I can’t wait.

Including full length novels and the occasional shorter e-book/audio novella, the series titles are:

1. Leviathan Wakes (2011)

2. Caliban's War (2012)

2.5. Gods of Risk (2012)

3. Abaddon's Gate (2013)

3.5. The Churn (2014)

4. Cibola Burn (2014)

5. Nemesis Games (2015)

5.5. The Vital Abyss (2015)

6. Babylon's Ashes (2016)

6.5. Strange Dogs (2017)

7. Persepolis Rising (2017)

8. Tiamat's Wrath (2018)