My iPad TV viewing via Amazon Prime has taken another turn after I finished all four series of Battlestar Galactica – now I am watching Bosch. My excuse, if I need one, is that Bosch is based on the book series with the same name by Michael Connelly, which I have also been enjoying.

Well, there you have my excuse for only reading two books this week!

After the Fire by Will Hill

My first read of the week was Will Hill’s After the Fire. Here is the blurb for this Young Adult book:

Father John controls everything inside The Fence. And Father John likes rules. Especially about never talking to Outsiders. Because Father John knows the truth. He knows what is right, and what is wrong. He knows what is coming.

Moonbeam is starting to doubt, though. She’s starting to see the lies behind Father John’s words. She wants him to be found out.

What if the only way out of the darkness is to light a fire?

I have mentioned before that, since I retired as a school librarian, I have found it very difficult and almost traumatic to read YA literature. So I was very pleased that I was able to read this. It was worth any effort that it took and I gave it four stars. This is my short review on Goodreads:

An excellent book. Although it is aimed at the Young Adult market, it is a very good read for adults. The book structure, moving backwards to the past and forwards to the present day, was interesting and kept the momentum going. The main character, Moonbeam, was developed well throughout the book. The whole plot, based around a religious cult, was gripping and chilling in the light of real events. Highly recommended.

If you are interested in this book, do have a look at the other reviews on Goodreads to get a fuller picture. It really is a useful and interesting site and I enjoy tracking my own reading on there.

Artemis by Andy Weir

My second book of the week, Andy Weir’s Artemis was, sadly, less successful. I had been really looking forward to reading it as I had really enjoyed both the book and the film of The Martian. Here is the blurb:

Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.

I rather generously gave this two stars. This is my verdict:

I absolutely loved The Martian and was so excited when I found this at our local Library. Such a disappointment! The idea of setting the story in and around a Moon base/city was interesting, but the execution was so poor. Where the heavy dose of science and technology was so integral to The Martian (as a non-scientist I struggled a bit with this, but still enjoyed the book), the details of welding became simply boring. Also, I really didn’t like the main character at all and found her “voice” annoying. I hope that Weir’s next book is a return to form rather than a repeat of this.

Thinking about this review, the problem with the main character is that Weir doesn’t appear to be able to write women well. Jazz sounds like a teenage boy, not a woman in her twenties. It all felt off to me.

The Court of the Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark

Moving on, I am part way through some ebooks, starting with The Court of the Broken Knives by Anna Smith Spark, and I have now been to the Library to choose my next book pile.

Until next week: Happy Reading to you all!

Best wishes

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