#BookReview: Infinity Reborn by S. Harrison

What. A. Rush! In this epic conclusion to the Infinity Trilogy, we get most of the answers to the questions we’ve been asking all along, though little closure to anything. (The “epilogue”, such as it exists, is barely 1 page long.) And yes, there are bits and pieces of seeming inconsistency – without giving too much away, at one point there is a Kinetic Kill Vehicle mentioned (ie, a space=based solid metal pole, which is how it is described in the book). Except that when it is finally used, it goes off like a nuclear detonation – which KKVs do *not* do.

The most important thing to remember about this Trilogy is that it was never really about the events that finally get answered and resolved in the final third of this third book of the trilogy – literally the last 1/9th of the saga. This Trilogy is about Finn/Infinity and the struggle for her to learn who and what she is. And in that particular arena, this book and this Trilogy truly shines – and gives us the most answers and resolution.

This review of Infinity Reborn by S. Harrison was originally published on March 5, 2018.

#BookReview: Infinity Reborn by S. Harrison

Great Tale Weirdly Constructed. Can’t really say too much about this tale without giving away things from the first book (Infinity Lost), so I’ll just say that the tale flashes forward some period of time (no more than hours) and picks up with the group from the end of Lost on the run. Around 1/3 to 1/2 in, we finally go back to finding out what caused them to be on the run, and this perspective stays through the rest of the book. Except we never quite meet up with the beginning of the book, and there are details at the end that seem to be not in sync with similar details at the beginning. Overall a great story, just very weirdly constructed.

This review of Infinity Rises by S. Harrison was originally published on March 2, 2018.

#BookReview: Infinity Lost by S. Harrison

Slow Burn with Intrigue. This book starts with a 17yo girl, Finn, dreaming. For the first time in her life. As we get more into the story, we see her dreams becoming more and more disturbing – including the scene when she is 6yo that has gotten this book several 1 star reviews. But progressing from there, the book picks up and turns slightly in an action direction, after a bit of fantastical science fiction. And then the conclusion… well, it ends a bit abruptly, clearly designed to pick up from there in the next book. We get few answers in this book, and the answers we get mostly serve to whet the appetite for what is to (hopefully) come – with the ultimate question never answered here. Overall a great, immersive tale. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

This review of Infinity Lost by S. Harrison was originally published on February 28, 2018.

2018: My Year In Books

2018 was going to be a big year in books for me from the start. At the end of 2017, I realized I had averaged more than 70 books in each of the last two years, so I set myself what I saw as an ambitious goal: 108 books. It started out as a specific list of books, with the acknowledgement that I would add the occassional Advance Reader Copy (ARC) and would probably end the year at 120 or so – still nearly double my recent average. I distinctly remember even 53 books being very difficult in 2008, but my life had also been much different at the time, as a new person in my day job profession, new husband, and driving 100 miles one way to work for over half of that year. 2018 was going to be much easier – I was working a fairly easy job in a settled position in my career, married to the same lady from 2008, and working just 15 minutes from home.

I started the year with a couple of 19th century philosophical works, Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thorau and On Liberty by John Stuart Mills. Those would be the oldest books I read this year, and the only books published before the current Millenium. Over the course of the year, I would find many amazing books, a few duds, march through my mountain of a TBR (while adding even more, peril of a bookaholic), joined several more book and author groups, started a book blog, and overall surprise myself in a couple of ways:

1) I surpassed my original goal of 108 books in *October*. I closed the year at 156.
2) I didn’t realize it until counting yesterday, but of those 156 books, 46 of them turned out to be ARCs!

But let’s take a brief look at some “best of 2018”, shall we? I believe we’ll break it down by month before finally picking from those selections for the annual award.
Continue reading “2018: My Year In Books”