Donald Duck Sees South America by H. Marion Palmer

 

Title: Donald Duck Sees South America

Author: H. Marion Palmer

Genre: (Kids fiction) Geography

Rating: 4.5/5 stars 

I stumbled across this book when I was searching for Mickey Sees the USA, a book written around the same time. I remember reading that one as a kid and loving it. I was so surprised to see how old these books were - written in 1945! There don't appear to be any more like them (no Daisy sees Europe or Goofy sees Australia unfortunately). They were affordable for being antiques, so I got both. It worked out really well since we were just wrapping up a rather long study of South America (we'd gone slowly country by country.) 

Overall, this book was an enjoyable supplement, and I am glad we waited until we were finished with our studies, as the kids were familiar with most of the locations, and things made a lot more sense than if we would have just picked this up randomly. 

Donald starts out planning to get to Colombia on a plane, but his seat is taken by some important South American politician, so he has to take a ship instead. But this allows him to go through the Panama Canal, which is kind of a cool experience. When he finally arrives in South America, he wants to see simply everything, and he demonstrates classic Donald Duck impatience when dealing with everyone, at one point having a guide show him ALL of Lima in one day. (We didn't find it particularly irritating. We all thought it was pretty funny.) 

After arriving in Columbia he buys a honey bear and then loses it in the jungle a few chapters later. He goes to the market in Ecuador - and he gets into a rather humorous interaction with a vendor in which they both try to one-up each other with kind acts. He catches a condor in Peru with a lasso (rather, he tries to catch it but is actually yanked up into the air by it and ends up luring it back to the ground with some meat). He gets himself into trouble by posing as a guide in Chile, not knowing the lakes are all frozen in August. He spends some time with an indigenous shepherd family and their llamas, alpacas, and goats in Bolivia. He meets a beautiful Argentinian woman but can't speak to her in Spanish, then hires FIFTY tutors so he master the language, only to show up in Brazil and realize they don't actually speak Spanish but Portuguese.  Finally, he becomes a hero in the end when he rescues one of his snobby shipmates. 

The book touches on locations and customs in a pretty fun way. It's entertaining rather than overly dry/informative. There is one chapter I kind of thought was a waste of space ultimately. On the ship, he and the other passengers get "abducted" by something called the Order of Neptune, and they get dunked in the pool. It's just a silly thing they did on the ship, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with South America, and I would have preferred to have a chapter on Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana instead.  

Speaking of which, the book is, of course, outdated in certain ways, but we didn't find it bothersome for the most part. Guyana is referred to on the map in this book as British Guiana. Suriname is Dutch Guiana, and French Guiana has the same name. I hadn't known about the former names since we only touched on those countries, so that was interesting. This book didn't cover them at all though, so that was disappointing. 

Some of the people are referred to as "negros," so I am sure someone somewhere would find that offensive. I'm not actually sure if it was referring to certain indigenous people or what. The natives were referred to as Indians throughout also, and I know that's not PC in 202o either. 

I don't actually know much about South American tourism, so I am sure there are plenty of other little things that are outdated (and the book certainly doesn't demonstrate how incredibly dangerous it is to go there now as a tourist. This was a completely different time in the world.) 

My family and I really did enjoy this book! 

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

 

Title: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep 

Author: Phillip K. Dick

Genre: Sci-Fi

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Rick Deckard is one of the few remaining humans who have not emigrated to Mars. He lives in a mostly abandoned apartment building with his wife Iran, and they (shamefully) own an electric/false sheep that lives on the roof of the apartment building, though Rick is pretty obsessed with obtaining a real animal at some point. He works as a bounty hunter - finding and killing androids who have killed their masters on colonies like Mars and fled to earth. When the book starts out, he is mostly concerned with how to get as many of them as possible so he can afford real animals. When the main bounty hunter in his jurisdiction gets hurt on the job, he gets his chance to go after 6 "andys." One of the challenges of his job is that the andys look and sound totally human, and they can only be caught using a special empathy test called the Voight-Kampff test. He prepares for his job by visiting the android manufacturers of the new Nexus-6 model so he can use the test on real androids and make sure it works properly. During this time he meets a Nexus-6 andy named Rachael who gets under his skin a little. When he begins going after the 6 andys, he discovers it's a little more challenging than he expected, in more ways than one. He has begun to care about the androids more than he should.

I've had this on my shelf for a while, and I didn't make the connection between this book and the movie Blade Runner until I read Ready Player One. 

Overall the book is really engaging, and it constantly keeps you guessing. You think it's going in one direction and it takes you in another. The android deaths are not long, drawn out battles (which I sincerely appreciate). The worldbuilding and sci-fi aspects, while bleak, are pretty interesting. The world is very dismal, full of radioactive dust and very few live animals. They have these devices that can alter their emotions - they enter a code, and it makes them feel the desired emotion. It appears they can set it for anything they want, even depression. They also have a religion of sorts called Mercerism, during which they all connect to a device and have shared experiences about a man named Mercer who is walking up a hill and being persecuted and assaulted by some unknown enemy. All the people who are connected share the experience and their emotions at the same time. 

Although I like a lot of aspects of this book, I can't give it five stars for a few reasons:

-It doesn't seem to really go anywhere. There is some character growth that happens with the main character. He does discover a lot about empathy and himself. He struggles with whether or not he should continue hunting robots, but he doesn't ever reach any kind of conclusion.

-While the main character feels empathy for the androids, I really didn't. The question of their humanity, which seems to be a common theme of sci-fi, didn't really come through for me in this book. I didn't really care about them at all. They were considered criminals because they killed their human masters, but this wasn't explored very much. It didn't seem like they suffered any particular cruelty, and they did come across as very cold and manipulative. 

-The Mercerism cult thing was vague and hard to understand. The technology that allowed them to have a shared experience with Mercer was one thing, but the main character starting having these (hallucinations?) about Mercer near the end that were just odd. 

-The characters kept doing drugs as a matter of course, and emotion altering machine came across as a sort of drug also. Then the main character <spoiler> randomly cheats on his wife and then goes back to life as if it never happened with no guilt whatsoever. That was kind of upsetting. </spoiler>

-Rachael Rosnen seemed like an almost completely superfluous character, and although she made the main character feel things and do things differently than he might have, she seemed almost pointless. <spoiler> And for goodness sake, why would she have killed the goat? Deckard didn't kill her, didn't do anything to her. It was a completely meaningless thing to do. I found it very confusing. </spoiler>

I keep thinking maybe I'm missing some larger message. Maybe it will come to me at some point. Not a bad book, but not a favorite either. 

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Kivrin is a history student at Oxford who has been training for two years to go back in time to the Middle Ages - the year 1320 to be specific. Her mentor, Mr. Dunworthy, isn't in favor of her visiting since it was an incredibly dangerous time, especially for women. On the day of the drop into the past, things go terribly wrong, and the tech running the drop collapses from a mysterious illness. 700 years in the past, Kivrin is also ill. The next few days are a blur in both the past and the present, with Kivrin and the Oxford crew trying to figure out how to reconnect and get Kivrin home.

Rating this book is a true challenge because there are some pretty intense strengths and weaknesses.
The main weakness of this book is its pace, as so many other reviewers have pointed out. I don't think I have ever read a more repetitive book in my life. There were certain plot points that got repeated so many times that I can probably quote 25% of this beast of a book from memory. Badri, the tech, keeps saying that "something has gone wrong (with the drop)" Dunworthy keeps asking Badri what went wrong: "Was it the slippage?" over and over with no response from the delirious Badri. The doctor keeps searching for the source of the virus and then sets about getting a vaccine. One of the archaeologists keeps talking about getting back to her dig. EVERYONE is having trouble getting in touch with people over the phones, which are all "tied up" because of the quarantine. Back in the past, Kivrin keeps trying to ask a man named Gawyn where the drop site is and keeps missing him or being unable to speak with him. All of the above events comprise probably the first half of the book at least. It's kind of a foggy mess, but it does get a little better after the first half. The pace of the last 25% of the book does somewhat make up for the rest of the book.
The technology of the book bothers me less than it does some readers. It is a little hard to suspend disbelief with their total lack of cell phones or reasonable means of communication in 2055, but it does add to the confusing/depressing nature of the book, which is a plus. If they had been able to communicate with each other, the book would have been cut in half.
One thing that bothered me throughout the book was how Americans were portrayed. The English characters kept making comments about how Americans were wasteful and selfish, which got old really quickly. The elitism of the Oxford inhabitants toward the Americans was a really unnecessary part of the book, but I know it's unfortunately realistic in real life in 2020.
I found the whole virus situation truly fascinating given the COVID-19 nonsense going on currently. They repeated a lot of the same things we are being told now about wearing masks, etc. They were able to quarantine one small area and keep it contained since it was caught quickly. The mortality rate was significantly higher than the COVID mortality rate (17%). They were very serious about finding the source and finding the best treatment and then a vaccine. So it was just interesting to have a modern pandemic to compare this with.
The other thing I found irritating was the book's obvious anti-Christian bias. The people in the 1300s were obviously very religious and prayed often. Then when bad things happened, they commented about how God was punishing them or forsaking them. Kivrin would always make snarky comments in her head about how God had nothing to with any of this because he wasn't real. Dunworthy did the same, even going so far as to compare Kivrin being lost in the past with Jesus being "lost" on earth and being crucified as a result, forgotten by his father. That was really bizarre, and it was overall just annoying to have to deal with their anti-God commentary throughout.
The book did have some significant strengths. Kivrin spends quite a lot of time in what she believes is 1320, though she is not sure if some "slippage" has occurred (that is, she knows she may not be in exactly the right time). After being brought to a village by Gawyn and the village priest, Roche, she spends a long time trying to get back to the drop site, but she ends up becoming a sort of caretaker for two little girls, Agnes and Rosamund. She is able to observe some interesting things about the people in the manor. The family has fled their home in Bath for some reason that Kivrin isn't able to determine right away. The lady of the house, Elwys, appears to be distracted and is possibly having an affair with Gawyn. Elwys's mother in law is a crotchety, cantankerous crone who hates Father Roche because he is not as wealthy/polished as the priests she is used to. The good thing about having a book this long is that it allows the readers a lot of time to develop attachments to the characters. Then...you get your heart ripped out. Things get bad, and I will avoid spoilers in this section, but there was one death in particular that had me crying for a good 15-20 minutes. I was on the edge of my seat wondering if Kivrin would ever get back home. When the book was over, I was genuinely emotionally spent. The book affected me in a really profound way. And THAT is what you want in a good book. We remember the books that make us cry or elicit string emotion with hard content.


 Spoilers below!
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Kivrin finally figures out that she is in fact in 1348, right at the outbreak of the plague. Although she has had inoculations and T-cell enhancements, she has to watch people start dying all around her. In the end, literally every single person around her is dead.
I wasn't too emotionally invested to be honest in most of the adults (except for Father Roche, who was a legitimate saint that the world did NOT deserve) but Agnes was about the same age as my own daughter, so I couldn't help but imagine her with the same likeness. That make it all the more devastating when she died, small and helpless, calling for Kivrin. She was so full of life. I cried and cried during that part. It was obviously so upsetting how everyone else kept dying, but I was able to understand how Kivrin and the Steward eventually became sort of detached and desensitized after a while, as it was just all TOO much. They had to focus on helping anyone they could and digging graves while they had the energy.
By the time Kivrin was able to go home, it was hardly even happy or triumphant. She was broken (I WAS BROKEN!)
One positive aspect of the book is how it gives the reader a really in-depth look at the black plague and how much desperation and desolation there was. People were scared. They fled and spread the plague everywhere. They had no treatments. It was legitimately horrifying. We don't really get that feeling of horror when we learn about it in school. You hear that 1/3 to 1/2 of that area of the world died and think it's pretty awful, but you don't really GET it fully. This book displays that brilliantly, and I think people should read it just for that. </spoiler>

The Book of Atrus by Rand Miller and Robyn Miller

Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction

Rating: 5/5 stars

Atrus is a young boy growing up in a desolate desert with his grandmother Anna. Abandoned by his father, Atrus is taught and raised by Anna alone since his mother died giving birth to him. She instills character traits such as integrity, and skills such as observation in him. Anna, who is artistic and vibrant, albeit somewhat melancholic and weary, tells him stories of the great civilization of D'ni -- a powerful and industrious race of people that fell into ruin many years ago. In particular, she tells him of how one woman, Ti'ana, an outsider, made a poor decision that ultimately led to the destruction of D'ni. Atrus is fascinated by the stories, and he grows into a strong and intelligent young man with a passion for learning and building. One day he discovers a tunnel in the inactive volcano. He follows it for a while before returning home. Anna warns him not to go back. But soon, Atrus's father, Gehn, returns and insists on taking Atrus with him into the tunnel. Anna protests, but Gehn promises to let Atrus visit again someday. It is a long and difficult journey underground, but Atrus is astounded to see the ruins of D'ni. He studies the art of writing and observes how his father deals with the writing and the maintaining of his Ages. As Atrus grows, he forms his own opinions and beliefs that differ much from Gehn's. When things escalate, Atrus must stand up to his father.

The way this book is written gives me a peaceful feeling. The descriptions are beautiful, and Anna and Atrus are such kind and gentle people. Gehn, of course, is so chaotic and mad. I love where this story falls in the series because readers may or may not know about how Ages are written and what that really means. In fact, it seems logical at first glance to assume that Gehn is actually writing worlds into existence. His assertion that he is a god of some sort is actually somewhat logical. But the discoveries of Atrus and his discomfort with Gehn's treatment of the natives of the Ages is very important. The books in this series deal with ethical issues very well.

It was delightful to see Riven since I have completed that game. I actually didn't know much about Catherine, so it was nice to learn about her!

I think this book is a wonderful read for any lover of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. People who have played the Myst games will find it particularly enjoyable though! 

Buy on Amazon here. 

The Book of Ti'ana by Rand Miller

Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5

This review does contain some spoilers!

In this installment in the series, we learn more about Atrus's grandmother, Anna. She is a fully human woman who lives on the harsh surface of Earth until one day after her father's death she discovers a tunnel leading to the D'ni civilization. After integrating as best she can into their society (essentially held captive by them) she begins to form stronger connections. In the midst of political upheaval, she makes a decision that has dire consequences.

Each book in this series has such a different flavor. I really have enjoyed that immensely. Anna is a very lovable character. She is strong and intelligent. The same can be said of Aitrus. Although the tunneling and discussions of rock formations get a little boring at times, I can see how it would be integral in their society. He and Anna connected instantly on that, and it did end up giving me a better appreciation for geology.
The writing of Ages was explained a little more in this book, which was nice. I appreciate that it was made clear that Ages are not "created" when a book is written but that a link is established. The whole writing of Ages is wonderfully fascinating, exploring the concepts of parallel universes and travel in the space-time continuum.
One major highlight of this book is the friendship of Aitrus and Veovis. It seems fairly clear from the beginning that Veovis is not really too upstanding. It's little behaviors here and there that raise red flags. But Aitrus is a friend to him regardless, giving him his loyalty and support when he can but also voting against him when he must. The decay of that friendship was not unexpected, but it was sad. Veovis was an interesting character in general. He was treated unjustly because of A'Gaeris, and so his spiral into vengeance and madness was reasonably expected. The D'ni have strong moral objections to the death penalty (and Anna even more so, it seems), but this whole story really challenges that idea. It would certainly have been better for Veovis to have died. It actually seems somewhat inhumane now that I think of it to imprison/totally isolate criminals. This is a really wonderful ethical question (this author really excels at this!).

It was sad to see the downfall of D'ni, and the way it happened was stomach-turning. Another really sad thing was the deterioration of the relationship between Anna and her son, Gehn. It broke her heart to follow D'ni custom to send him away at the age of four, and he never forgave her for that. That was such a terrible tragedy that, among other things, really messed him up (clearly!)

One thing I wish was explained a little more was the state of Earth. We learn about how hard Atrus and Anna's life was in the first book, but there isn't a real explanation of what is going on. I get the impression that they are somewhere in Africa since they are in a desert, but we don't know that for sure. Nor do we know WHEN they are. It could be in the past, present, or distant future really. That "leave it up to the reader's imagination" thing can be frustrating sometimes!

This is a delightful fantasy series I think most people would like. It has beautiful descriptions, good character development, fantastic creativity, and ethical and moral discussions.
Reading this series will definitely help players of the Myst games understand and appreciate Atrus, Catherine, and the D'ni culture more. Highly recommended!

Buy this book on Amazon HERE.

The Book of D'ni by Rand Miller

Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5

This review does contain some spoilers!

Atrus and Catherine, along with some of their students from another Age, return to D'ni in an effort to assess the damage and find any remaining books that are intact. Their goal is to search through the Ages one by one and find any remaining D'ni survivors, tell them about the state of D'ni, and ask for their help in rebuilding. After some difficulty, they manage to find several thousand survivors and then begin the task of rebuilding, despite how daunting it is. As they are in the process of restoring a Guild house, they come across a buried chamber. They break down seals and find an entire library they didn't know existed. They find one particular book that is clearly of extreme significance, and after testing with the maintainer suits, decide to go through. They find to their surprise a stunningly beautiful Age - Terahnee - in which the people speak a form of D'ni. The society seems absolutely perfect. No crime, no sickness. Atrus asks the king to allow his people to settle there, as he feels rebuilding D'ni is basically futile at this point when this Age is here for them. The king agrees, but then a series of events cause all hell to break loose. They discover how this Age is so "perfect" and then a devastating plague spreads throughout the land. Will the D'ni still be able to settle in Terahnee? Should they settle there?

I enjoyed this book because I felt it was action packed and engrossing throughout. During their search of the Ages, I didn't want to put the book down until they found survivors. I was aching for them to find people. The search was really dangerous also, which made for some good reading. Then it was thrilling when they discovered the hidden chamber beneath the Guild house. The discovery of Terahnee was jaw-dropping. And there was a certain sick tension in my gut as it became clearer and clearer that this society was definitely not as perfect as it seemed. The last bit was tragic and violent. Overall, a good balance in my opinion!

One of the only things about this book that bothers me a little bit is the lack of emotion...or the lack of anxiety about certain things. There are a lot of truly devastating things that happen in this book. People die, an entire civilization is nearly wiped out, and Atrus is genuinely responsible for all of it. He is wise enough to realize that although he did none of it intentionally, he still has to bear that burden. Yet to me he doesn't really seem to have an appropriate amount of guilt or something. Maybe he does and this just doesn't come across well in the book. It's not that I expect him to crumple onto the ground weeping, but he (and actually all of the other characters now that I think about it) have this sort of odd stoicism. Maybe it's because their lives have always been hard and tragic. Their lives and environments have been really harsh and difficult.
One thing this book did well was address certain ethical issues. Slavery, of course, and classism are dealt with in a really interesting way. They, in fact, had ethical discussions and dilemmas even when D'ni was flourishing about how the classes were separated. The lower classes in D'ni were not abused as they were in Terahnee, but many of them were unsatisfied. Aitrus and Veovis talked about it a few times and sort of came to the conclusion that it was the way of the world, whereas Anna was more bothered by it. This book doesn't preach about the morality of the Ages, it simply lets the reader come to his or her own conclusion. Atrus is certainly not the most wise or pristine of all heroes. He is so relatable though. Yes, he was swayed by the utopian beauty of Terahnee. Yes, he ignored advice from D'ni elders. But all throughout the book, I kept thinking that when he was presented with hard choices, he just made the choices and then took ownership of them. He never blamed anyone else for his choices. He was kind and fair. I find him fascinating.

I believe this book happens right after the game Riven and before Exile, since at the beginning of that game they have just had Yeesha. I happen to be playing Exile right now, so it was the perfect time to read the series. I am excited to continue on with the game. I think having read the books will make gameplay a little richer. :-)
I think these books could be enjoyed by nearly anyone. But players of the Myst games will find them particularly interesting and enlightening of course. They do have a tendency to be a little slow, but really I think we probably all need a little bit of that in our fast-paced world. Slow down and enjoy the details and the great care that the author put into this series.

Purchase this book on Amazon HERE.

The Onyx Hourglass by Kristy Nicolle

Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5/5 stars




Hades and Xion travel the world in an attempt to find the book of the dead to resurrect Sephy. Luce agrees to help them attempt a resurrection, though Thane and others warn them that what they are attempting is dangerous. Pandora and Anubis hatch up a plan to use Luce to resurrect Ra, and Luce is drawn deeper and deeper into the darkness.




I always enjoy reading Kristy Nicolle's books, and this one was wonderful just like the rest. This world is easy to get sucked into. One of the things I like about these books is the way the POV is done. Sephy is the "main character," but Luce, Xion, and Pandora might as well be considered main characters as well. I am not a huge fan Sephy even still, but I often find myself thinking about things she has done and said, and I realize that the "imperfect/disliked" character is often the one you learn the most from. I like relating to the main character, but it's a nice change of pace to not relate to her. One of the things that upsets me the most about her is how she is handling her relationship with Xion--it seems very unfair to him. I can see, though, the conflict that Sephy has about it. I am hoping that they can get their happily ever after (though from what Hades has said, that seems unlikely.)




SPOILERS:

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I found it very sad when Hades was killed, and I think he is my favorite character! I love the sass and the wit so much! I am interested to find out what, if anything, he can do from the Higher Plains to help Sephy and the others. I'm hoping we get to see more of what happens in that realm in the next book -- and maybe even see Zeus himself, the big loser.

I was less sad about Thane's "death" because I was getting so frustrated with her while reading this book. I realize that we see inside Luce's mind, and thus we judge her on her motivations, but honestly, Thane really disappointed me with the way she handled Luce's issues.

I am also interested to see how afterlife will be run now that the Mortarian sun has gone out. Can it even exist for long without Hades? Does Sephy have to take over? I think it's possible Pandora has bitten off more than she can chew. And Anubis just needs to die already.

There were some very well-written scenes in this book that elicited some great emotions. I was practically crying when Luce had to sacrifice a goat. I also really felt Luce's pain when she found Thane dead on the chair.

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END SPOILERS




I'm definitely heavily invested in the story now and will be snapping up the last of this trilogy as soon as it is available.