Compelling new science fiction
I might have mentioned before that I'm actually not a big fan of science fiction. It's not my jam, but actually, after this round of the CYBILS reading, I might have to rethink that label, because there has been some righteous science fiction this year.
The latest one I've read is called "The Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity" by Nicole Valentine. It's about Finn, who's a middle schooler and a bit of a loner. His mom has left the family and no one is talking about where she is or how long she'll be gone and she's not answering her phone or responding to text messages. Finn is worried. His dad sends him to stay with his grandmother in rural Vermont and that's kind of a good thing. He adores his grandmother, it puts him closer to his best friend, Gabi, and since his dad has been really distant and kind of unresponsive, it's kind of good to be away from him. Except that once he's there at his grandmother's, really weird things start happening. Like instead of welcoming him to her house, his grandmother asks him to come back later. Like weird noises in the night and people behaving in really strange ways. When things get really weird, Finn's grandmother explains that she and his mother are able to time travel and that in order for Finn to get his mom back, he's going to have to try to find the place where she disappeared. I can't really tell more about the plot without giving away some key points and since I totally don't want to spoil this one, that's as far as go. But let me tell you that this story is terrific. The bouncing around in time is terrific. The shifting villains is also great and I love the idea that people who time travel might struggle with what kinds of things to change. Could you go back and change so that things turn out better than what they do to begin with? If you make a small change, will everything else change around it? Will the changes help or are there things that are destined to happen no matter what anyone does? I really enjoyed this one a lot.
The latest one I've read is called "The Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity" by Nicole Valentine. It's about Finn, who's a middle schooler and a bit of a loner. His mom has left the family and no one is talking about where she is or how long she'll be gone and she's not answering her phone or responding to text messages. Finn is worried. His dad sends him to stay with his grandmother in rural Vermont and that's kind of a good thing. He adores his grandmother, it puts him closer to his best friend, Gabi, and since his dad has been really distant and kind of unresponsive, it's kind of good to be away from him. Except that once he's there at his grandmother's, really weird things start happening. Like instead of welcoming him to her house, his grandmother asks him to come back later. Like weird noises in the night and people behaving in really strange ways. When things get really weird, Finn's grandmother explains that she and his mother are able to time travel and that in order for Finn to get his mom back, he's going to have to try to find the place where she disappeared. I can't really tell more about the plot without giving away some key points and since I totally don't want to spoil this one, that's as far as go. But let me tell you that this story is terrific. The bouncing around in time is terrific. The shifting villains is also great and I love the idea that people who time travel might struggle with what kinds of things to change. Could you go back and change so that things turn out better than what they do to begin with? If you make a small change, will everything else change around it? Will the changes help or are there things that are destined to happen no matter what anyone does? I really enjoyed this one a lot.
The second one visits an idea that was in another book I loved this year (COG by Greg van Eekhout)- artificial intelligence but this one "The Last Human" by Lee Bacon is a lot creepier. "The Last Human" is also told from the perspective of robot with artificial intelligence, but this one is living in a post apocalyptic time, when humans have been removed from the earth, because they were so illogical. The robots are living contented, consistent, purposeful lives with the knowledge that they eliminated the humans from the planet. Except that one day, a human shows up. It's a human girl and she's not only alive, she's in big trouble. It turns out that a group of humans did survive the apocalypse. They've been living underground for the last 13 years but everyone that Emma knows and loves has gotten sick and it's up to her to find a cure, which is hidden far away. XR-935, in spite of the edict on killing humans, decides to help Emma, along with two other robots. This was a really fun story to read, full of adventure and plot twists and not a few questions about humanity and our responsibility to others. It might be a little too creepy for an elementary school library, but it would be perfect in a middle school or maybe even a high school library. Look for this one!
Comments
Post a Comment