Book Review - The Poppy War

📖Recommend for Grades 8 and up📖

Book Review from the Bookster

Title: The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang & Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller

Book Edition: Audiobook (Physical Copy Available)

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, & War. (Magic Realism)

Warnings: Violence, drugs, and child soldiers.

Series: Yes. Book 1 of 2 of the Poppy War.

The Poppy War is a dark read with a focus on religion, social class, and politics. The book reads like a pseudo history book based in Asia and when ruling families still controlled the empire. When the religion was polytheistic and changed regionally so that these gods were brought to life by what the region focused on the most (a fishing region has a god specific in help of fishing that they prayed and gave tribute too). The origin stories of the gods and heroes are a major part of the world and where the possible magic realism comes in. As the main character discovers through meditation and spiritual awakening the world of the gods. Although, her actions do have real world effect it’s not the majority belief that magic or the god’s ability are real. (Similar to the Boxer rebellion were they trained themselves spirtualy to be able to fight against those that where conquering their land. Read-Alike: Boxer by Gene Luen Yang.)

The main character Rin lived in the country side as a war orphan putting her in the lowest of the social scale in a society where upward progression is pretty much a fantasy that the nobles use to keep the lower class from rebelling. By scoring high on the Keju she becomes an enemy to the social order and is dragged in to politics of the land.      

Library Catalog - E-book - Downloadable Audio
*Please note UPL does not currently own this title but those interested are encouraged to ask about inter-loaning it from another library. Also, Bookster listened to this on a different platform and it is not currently available through Nassau Digital Library.

Book Review - Summoner: The Novice

📖Recommend for Grades 6 and up📖

Book Review from the Bookster

Title: Summoner: The Novice by Taran Matharu & Narrated by Ralph Lister

Book Edition: Audiobook* (Physical Copy Available)

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, & supernatural

Warnings: Demons.

Series: Yes. Book 1 of 2 of the Summoner.

The Novice is a nice easy read for those who want a younger version of John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series. Based in the middle ages, orphan Fletcher goes on a journey of magic and discovery when he is given a book to summon demons. The ability to summon demons has its on math behind it and those the highest numbers are the best summoners. Fletcher is outcast in the town that he is raised in and outcast in summoning school he is brought to. As summoners are never found in the region he came from and if anyone found out about his criminal record he would everything.  

Library Catalog - E-book - Downloadable Audio
*Please note the Bookster listened to this in audio not via Nassau Digital Doorway. The library does not currently own this title in audio form.

Book Review - The Eye of Minds

📖Recommended for Grades 7 and up📖

Book Review from the Bookster

Title: The Eye of Minds by James Dashner & Narrated by Erik Davies

Book Edition: Audiobook (Available on OverDrive)

Genres: LitRPG*

Warnings: Virtual terrorism, suicide, and suicidal thoughts are mentioned in the book.

Series: Yes. Book 1 of 3 of the Mortality Doctrine.

The Eye of Minds is an interesting mix of Sci-Fi gaming adventure where the characters are desperately searching for what is the Mortality Doctrine. They hope to stop a terrorist plot from further killing other users of the VR gaming system that is slowly becoming a death trap. The game’s technology and coding is more of a focus rather than world building or game statistics found in other LitRpg. The book itself is written as nice easy read for those who are not really interested in books yet but with a little more sophistication to the writing style compared to his other series, the Maze Runner Trilogy. The narrator has a clear voice and easily voices each character with defined voices, a good quality audibook that won’t have you repeating sections over and over to understand. This is a good book for reluctant readers and those who love video games or Sci-Fi.  

*The genre LitRPG is the combination of literature and Role Playing Games; books that would be listed under this genre focus on either a science fiction themed gamed or fantasy themed world. All LitRPG focus a lot on world building and tend to have game references such as the stats of their game characters and their accessories. A lot of the newer storylines use VR, Virtual Reality gaming system to make it seem more immersive for both the characters and the readers into the world of the game.   

Book Review - I Hear the Sunspot

📖Recommended for Grades 10 and up📖

I Hear the Sunspot

by Yuki Fumino

Book Review from the Bookster

Book Titled: I Hear the Sunspot by Yuki Fumino

            Another version of this title in English: Theory of Happiness

Genres: School, Shounen Ai (Relationship between two males without adult themes), Slice of Life

Book Type: Manga

Series: Yes. Book 1 of 2. Series still continuing.

The two main protagonists, Kohei and Taichi, both struggle with finding their place in society. Kohei has rejected society as he feels he is unable to connect to others because everyone sees him for his disabilities and not him as a person. Taichi is the first person to connect with Kohei and look at him as a person. As the book continues you get to see their past struggles and their relationship developing. This is not a fast paced romance, it’s a slow burn and not the major focus of the storyline more of compliment as the reader gets learn more about the characters and understand the different struggles of people who do not fit with the “average.”