the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts by Megan Diedericks

July 13, 2026 By Leave a Comment


the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts by Megan Diedericks
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

gray, empty
but i let the words grow
and my heart, i let show
but with separation came
the anxiety, the pain, the journey
within confinement.
i wasn’t ever my own
and my many faces had me so alone,
i thought i might drown.
it started before i even knew what puberty meant:
at twelve, i wrote my first lines.
now, at twenty, i want you to read my warning signs.

Sectioned off by chapters with original photography, the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts is Megan Diedericks’ debut poetry collection which delves deep into mental health and self-reflection; encapsulating her journey with heartache, loss, grief, and self-perception. This collection begs the reader to wonder whether or not any of us will ever truly be free, and fully alive.

Healing isn’t always a straightforward process.

Mental health is one of those topics that piques my interest immediately. Not only are there many different diagnoses to choose from, but each person’s individual experiences with their own mental health can vary based on a variety of factors including age, culture, and personality. This means that a reader can pick up six books on the same disorder and potentially have a wildly different experience with each of them. Learning more about Ms. Diedericks experiences was rewarding, and I thought she did a nice job of explaining why some days can feel overwhelming when one is in the thick of things.

The repetition in this collection made it tricky for me to maintain a high interest level in it from beginning to end. Obviously, one would expect the same themes to be repeated over and over again, but the wording used in many of the poems was a little too similar for my tastes. With more development, I think this could have been a stronger body of work that dug even more deeply into all of the nuances of experiencing heartbreak.

My favorite poem, “Amusement Park,” also happened to be one of the final ones. It was the best example of the author’s creativity in my opinion, especially once the amusement park metaphor in it was explained in more detail. I enjoyed the dark sense of humor woven into it and thought this could have easily been expanded into an entire poetry collection in and of itself.

the darkest of times, the darkest of thoughts was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson

July 10, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Cryptic Clue by Amanda Hampson
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Historical, Cozy Mystery
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Look who’s back in hot water! The highly anticipated new novel in The Tea Ladies cosy crime series, a runaway bestseller of the year. Available for pre-order now!

Welcome back to Zig Zag Lane in the heart of Sydney’s rag-trade district, where our intrepid tea ladies, Hazel, Betty and Irene, have their work cut out. Solving a murder, kidnapping and arson case, and outwitting an arch criminal, earned them the respect of a local police officer. Now he needs their assistance to help solve a plot that threatens national security.

As if that’s not enough, Irene gets a coded message directing her to the spoils of a bank robbery, which sends the tea ladies on a treasure hunt with an unexpected outcome.

There’s also trouble brewing within the walls of Empire Fashionwear, where an interloper threatens not just Hazel’s job but the very role of tea lady. It’s up to Hazel to convince her friends to abandon their trolleys and take action to save their livelihoods – before it’s too late.

Hazel and her fellow Tea Ladies are back for another rollicking adventure. It’s 1966 in Sydney, Australia and the world is moving along at a fast pace. The Sydney Opera house is being built to much political posturing and arguments, the fashion warehouses are changing their designs with the new short skirt craze gripping the world, and the Tea Ladies are banding together to save their livelihoods as a new Café-Bar machine threatens their very jobs. Can Hazel and her friends successfully navigate everything while still sharing the best cuppa around?

I really enjoyed this historical cosy mystery story. Hazel and her fellow tea ladies all came across to me as well rounded and deeply empathetic characters, even Irene who was absolutely somewhat out of the usual mould for a well-aged working class woman. I definitely think readers who haven’t read the first book in this series can easily pick this story up by itself. The characters are all well explained and this book is quite separate from the first. The strong relationships between the ladies doesn’t need too much explanation and their solid friendship and history is easily understood.

I thought it was quite a well written book. Not necessarily a mystery in the usual sense as there were at least three or four main sub-plots all threaded together and unwinding at their own pace. Many of these were very neatly tied up by the end of the book but I did feel a few of these plots didn’t have a final conclusion as yet – Pixie and her new line in particular I feel will likely show up in the next book for a bit more action. I really enjoyed the slower pace of the mysteries and the quite cosy feel the story as a whole had. I feel readers who like historical based novels – or just a slower plot in general should absolutely find this an excellent book.

That said, I absolutely found the mysteries to be well plotted and quite entertaining. A lot seems to be happening in this book and so while I don’t feel it’s action-orientated or fast moving, the author really has crammed a lot into the space of this one book. I am very eager for the next in the series and hope there are many more to come. I also found it quite refreshing that Hazel and her friends are not young woman – and really aren’t even middle-aged as such but more a little older than that, while still being completely fit and healthy and certainly of a working age with all the wisdom and patience that comes from having been around the block a time or two before.

Fun and interesting, with complicated and layered characters this is an excellent book and one I can strongly recommend.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

August Origins by Alan Lee

July 9, 2026 By Leave a Comment


August Origins by Alan Lee
Publisher: Sparkle Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Private Investigator Mackenzie August moves to Roanoke to start over.
So does a criminal kingpin nicknamed The General.

The town isn’t big enough…

After years as a Los Angeles homicide detective, Mackenzie August has traded flashing lights for quiet streets, single fatherhood, and the occasional dull PI job. But peace doesn’t last long. When Sheriff Andie Stackhouse shows up with a folder of murdered girls and a plea for help, Mackenzie finds himself drawn into a case that’s equal parts tragedy and trap.

The victims are young. The killings are savage. And the trail leads straight into the halls of a local high school, where a rising gang leader known only as *the General* is recruiting soldiers and burying secrets.

Against his better judgment, Mackenzie poses as a teacher, pushing his cover story to the limit. Between the dangerous charms of a beautiful attorney named Ronnie, and the deadly cat-and-mouse hunt unfolding around him, Mackenzie must confront what he left behind in Los Angeles: the part of himself that’s willing to break the rules to do what’s right.

Mackenzie August has left Los Angeles and the police department behind him. Moving back home to Roanoke, Virginia, Mack starts fresh in a newly purchased house with his father and Mack’s toddler son. Barely making ends meet as a local PI he’s cautiously intrigued when the local Sheriff wants him to return to the local high school to teach English and while undercover find out about the local drug trafficking. Mack’s life quickly gets complicated and dangerous.

I purchased this book on a whim and am very, very glad I did. I found this story to be a gripping hard-boiled detective series and strongly reminiscent of Robert Parker’s Spenser series. While Mackenzie’s character is absolutely his own and unique, I do admit that the feel and tone of the book was very comfortable and familiar to me. I knew within the first few pages that I’d enjoy the book and I was proved happily correct.

There is a good cast of primary characters around Mack and I look forward to them hopefully being depend and expanded upon over the course of this series. This first book is an excellent one for setting the scene and introducing everyone and I am eager to keep going. The plot is well woven and an interesting – but standard – detective mystery. I half guessed (got some parts and missed others) a lot of what was going on but still vastly enjoyed the ride and even enjoyed all the pieces coming together at the end.

There were a few threads left hanging – which knowing this is only the first book in an ongoing series didn’t bother me at all. While there is not a cliffhanger ending the final chapter does begin to pave the way for where I expect the second book is going.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have already purchased the second in the series and am eager to get into it. Readers who enjoy an American PI/detective protagonist with a dry humor and hard boiled tone like Robert Parker or Robert Crais should find this an enjoyable and absolutely worthwhile read. A new author I am very pleased to have stumbled across and a series that is absolutely going onto my to be read list. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Red Tenant by Donovan M. Neal

July 8, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Red Tenant by Donovan M. Neal
The Nain Rouge Chronicles Book 1
Publisher: TornVeil / Independently published
Genre: Horror, Paranormal, Inspirational, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Most horror stories ask a simple question:

What is out there?

The Red Tenant asks something far more unsettling:

What has been with you all along?

1701.
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac sails toward a future he intends to build—a legacy he believes he controls.

But control was never his to begin with.

Because something older than his ambition has already laid claim to his name… and everything that comes after it.

As the ship cuts through the Atlantic, the illusion of progress begins to break apart.

Men lose their bearings.
Objects refuse to remain contained.
Whispers move where no one stands.

And slowly, unmistakably, a truth emerges:

This is not a random terror.

This is something that followed him.
Something that was carried—generation after generation—waiting for the moment it could no longer be ignored.

This is where the transformation happens.

You begin the story expecting fear.

You leave it asking different questions:

What do we inherit that we never agreed to?
What do we carry forward without realizing the cost?
And what happens when what we’ve ignored finally demands to be acknowledged?
The Red Tenant does not offer an easy resolution.

Because the most unsettling realization is not that evil exists…

It’s that it can be carried, protected, and passed on—quietly—until it is too late to pretend it was never there.

Temptation can lurk anywhere, and sometimes it even hides in plain sight.

Strong character development is essential in order to tell a memorable tale, and all of the major characters in this piece were complex and felt like real people to me. It can take time to develop personalities and backstories to this extent, so be patient as everything is being pieced together in the beginning. The payoff later on was not only worth the wait but it made me go back and reevaluate little moments from the beginning of this voyage that take on much deeper significance once one knows more about the moral fiber of those involved. There were many shades of grey in this universe which makes for a nuanced and thought-provoking read.

This was one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of how to seamlessly blend the horror and inspirational genres together in ways that not only complemented them both but also enriched the storyline as the characters wrestled with their sins. While I can’t go into too much detail about this without sharing spoilers, learning more about their lives and the things that tempted them only made me more interested in what might happen to them next.

There was a cliffhanger ending that was as intriguing as it was appropriate for everything that had already been established about the setting. I’m saying this as a reader who generally struggles with this type of conclusion, but in this case it only made me more excited to find out what happened next due to how much care was put into setting everything up and explaining why the audience would need to wait until next time to have certain questions answered.

The Red Tenant kept me perched on the edge of my seat from the first sentence to the last one, and I am highly anticipating any sequels that may be in the works already.

Filed Under: Horror, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Offline Playbook for Teens by Ariana Smith

July 7, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Offline Playbook for Teens by Ariana Smith
Publisher: Sky Publishing
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Non-Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Your teenager knows their phone is a problem. So do you. So why can’t either of you do anything about it?

Because knowing isn’t enough — and nobody has told them why.

The average teenager spends 7+ hours a day on screens — not from lack of willpower, but because the technology was engineered by behavioral scientists to be nearly impossible to put down. A 30-second phone check costs up to 23 minutes of real focus. Every scroll is a dopamine loop that was deliberately designed.

NYU professor Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, calls this the greatest uncontrolled experiment ever run on children.

The Anxious Generation gave parents the diagnosis.
The Offline Playbook gives teenagers the understanding to act on it.

Written directly to readers aged 13–16 in a peer-level voice that respects their intelligence and leaves every decision with them.

Inside:

Why the feed is engineered to grip you — and how understanding it breaks the grip
What sleep does that nothing else can, and what your phone takes every night
Why boredom rewires your brain — and what grows when you let it
What real focus feels like — and why the first 5 minutes are the hardest
Plus: A complete 30-day challenge workbook — one challenge per day, building progressively. Not a plan to follow. A playbook to make your own.

No lectures. No shame. No demand to quit anything.

The book that finally gives your teenager the manual they’ve never had.

Few things are more rewarding than the first step in the right direction.

The friendly and curious tone of this book was perfect for the subject matter. Teenagers are old and intelligent enough to make their own decisions about technology, so I appreciate the fact that there was no lecturing to be found here. Instead, Ms. Smith presented current scientific understanding about how the mind works and gave her readers a wide variety of exercises to try in order to reduce screen time and endless scrolling.

Some of my favorite sections were the ones that described how to build new habits and how to get through that brief period of time when purposefully not checking one’s cellphone feels awkward or uncomfortable. Small steps generally work best when attempting to make changes to one’s life, so she broke things down into tasks that require as little as a few minutes to complete. This was a smart decision that made the much bigger goals she mentioned later on feel easier to work on in the future.

One topic I wish had been explicitly included in one of the chapters given how closely it was related to what the author was already discussing is mindfulness. While the author danced around this idea with some of her exercises, I think this would have been an even stronger work if she’d specifically included this term in her writing and given some examples of how it can be a healthy alternative to endless scrolling.

Boredom is good for people of all ages. I loved the author’s conversational tone in general, but it especially excelled when describing how the brain reacts to boredom and why it’s important to give oneself the opportunity to feel this emotion sometimes. These passages felt more like a conversation with a friend than a science lesson. As much as I personally love learning about science, this was the right decision for this topic and age group in my opinion due to how easy it was to read and how much time was spent explaining the many benefits of giving one’s brain a break from the often over-stimulating nature of the Internet.

The Offline Playbook for Teens was filled with practical advice and suggestions for gradually reducing screen time and living in the moment.

Filed Under: Non-Fiction, Reviews, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , , , ,

Cherry Creek by Linda Griffin

July 6, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Cherry Creek by Linda Griffin
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Historical
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When her fiancé died, Eileen said, “Then I’m free,” words that her younger sister Molly didn’t understand and never forgot. In 1850s Ohio, a girl doesn’t have that many options, and marrying Andrew MacLeith may be the best she can hope for. He promises to cherish her, but they have to live with his parents, and he can’t even protect her from his mother’s sharp tongue. After a quarrel, Molly impulsively joins his gambler brother Hugh on a journey to the Pike’s Peak gold region. Perhaps the romance and freedom she longs for lie elsewhere. Or were they right under her nose all along?

Freedom always comes with a cost.

I loved Molly’s assertive personality and willingness to do anything necessary in order to improve her life. Her strained relationship with her judgmental and mean-spirited mother-in-law could have intimidated a less self-assured protagonist, so it was refreshing to see how she stood up for herself in that situation as a new bride. Marriage is a big enough adjustment to make on its own, after all, even for someone who knew what she wanted as clearly as Molly did.

There were some plot holes in this story that I wish had been explained in more detail. For example, Hugh’s fate was not clearly explained, and neither was Andrew’s reaction when Molly decided to run away from home soon after he married her. These were both important aspects of the storyline, so I was surprised by how quickly they were glossed over later on. A few more chapters developing this would have encouraged me to choose a higher rating.

It was also interesting to see how Molly’s dreams about what life would be like elsewhere were tempered by her actual experiences. Nobody has everything they want or even necessarily knows what all of their other options are, and sometimes fantasizing about a change can be quite different from actually experiencing it. The strongest passages in this tale in my opinion were the ones that explored the gap between the two and showed some examples of how to try to build a better future for oneself.

Cherry Creek made me smile.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , ,

Movie Review: Dragon Striker

July 6, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Dragon Striker
Writer: Paul McKeown
Directed by: Charles Lefebvre
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Rebecca LaChance, Waylon Jacobs, Evanna Lynch
Distributed by: Disney
Genre: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Children’s (0 – 6 y.o.), Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.)
Rating: 3 Stars (6 stars on IMDB)
Reviewed by Dicentra

Follows Key, a twelve-year-old farm boy who discovers he may be the legendary “Dragon Striker” and joins a team of underdogs to take on the school champions, while fighting to prevent an ancient evil from resurfacing.

Disney’s Dragon Striker was such a fun release, coinciding with the start of the World Cup in North America this year and combining fantasy and sports into one cartoon. The show did a great job highlighting the sport of Gorotama and the powers of the different players, but suffered from plot holes and the length of the show not allowing enough time to go in depth.

Gorotama is such a cool sport, very reminiscent of a more fantastical version of Shaolin Soccer. I loved the different powers that the players had, and I think the writers did an excellent job providing unique ways for some of them to ‘level up’ over the course of the show. It was also cool to see how some of the powers, or Tamas, were able to make use of the arenas to their advantage (i.e. twins with magnetic tamas being able to run on the ceiling). It was unclear how Key’s powers were so unique when it seemed like Ragno had very similar ones, but that leads more into some of the plot holes issues the show faced.

Dragon Striker was composed of multiple episodes that were about 20 minutes in length, but there was defniitely potential for them to go much longer. For example, Kal Asterock is supposed to be an academy of sorts but we never really see any of the students in classes (it is unclear if all they do is learn to control their Tamas for the sake of playing Gorotama). It is also a little weird that for a school that big, there seems to be only four professors (or Goyen) that ever make an appearance. I was kind of hoping that with the start of the team of Underdogs (the Knights), there would be some kooky professor coming out of nowhere to be their coach but it never happened. There’s also a scene towards the end of the show where one of the players on another team gets attacked, but they never really go deeper into what attacked him (it’s limited to three out of four of the Goyen complaining that Key coming to the school is bad news, as though he’s somehow related to the issue). I recognize though that I’m likely older than the target audience for this show, and expecting more complex shows as a result might be related to most of my complaints.

Overall, this was an entertaining cartoon and I’m glad I took the time to watch it. The show has a lot of potential, especially if they go into more of the history of the school and what happened with Key’s mom (we really only get told that she was a former Dragon Striker, and bits and pieces of what happened when she died). I really hope Disney gives this show another season, as there’s so much more to explore (and many more games of Gorotama to be played).

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings, Movie Review, Television Show Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Preface To Murder by MS Morris

July 3, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Preface To Murder by MS Morris
Publisher: Landmark Media
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

A dangerous book. A hidden secret. A deadly betrayal.

The Oxford Literary Festival is in full swing, but Detective Inspector Bridget Hart isn’t there to learn about books. Instead she’s been given the task of protecting Diane Gilbert, a controversial author who has received a death threat. Diane doesn’t seem to think she needs Bridget’s protection, but when the worst happens, Bridget’s role switches to running a murder enquiry.

The only clues Bridget has to go on relate to Diane’s new book which examines the murky world of international arms deals. Under pressure to identify the killer, Bridget finds herself drawn into the clandestine world of foreign governments and the British Security Service. She’ll need all her wiles and the full cooperation of her team to follow the twisting trail of evidence to its logical conclusion.

After receiving a death threat, Diane Gilbert reluctantly allows her agent to press her into having police protection as she attends the annual Oxford Literary Festival to promote her new book. DI Bridget Hart is happy to perform her job and isn’t even too puzzled at how little stock Diane places in the random threat. But when Diane is found dead in her house early in the morning – after Bridget and her team had carefully surveilled it overnight there are many questions that need answering.

I have been enjoying this Oxford based police procedural murder mystery series and found this book to be a solid addition. I feel Bridget and her team are working quite well together – even with the tensions still lingering between Fi and Jake – and particularly now Bridget’s private life is settling down a little I found the focus on the mystery and police investigation was very enjoyable.

Diane appeared to have any number of murky potential killers and some quite lofty mechanisms in the background, but I was pleased in the way which Bridget and her team conducted the investigation and while I could see a few of the red herrings for what they were I found myself quite engrossed in trying to uncover what was actually going on.

Readers who enjoy a slower paced mystery should find this an excellent book. With a cast of strong secondary characters, good pacing and an interesting and layered murder I found this a strong book and well worth the time. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

Murder In Mind by Faith Martin

July 2, 2026 By Leave a Comment


Murder In Mind by Faith Martin
Publisher: Joffe Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Looking for a brilliant bestselling murder mystery with a feisty female detective?

DETECTIVE HILLARY GREENE IS SOLVING THE COLD CASES NO ONE ELSE COULD CRACK.

PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A REVISED EDITION OF A BOOK FIRST PUBLISHED AS THE WORK OF A NARROW MIND.

Seventy-five-year-old Sylvia Perkins was found battered to death in her home in 2010. The murder weapon was suspected to be a fire poker and it seems she was quite popular with older gentlemen.

Her grandson Robbie inherited everything, but he can’t be placed at the scene of the crime.

WHO KILLED THIS HARMLESS OLD WOMAN AND WHY? AND WHAT SECRETS WAS SHE HIDING?

Hillary also has a new boss and a baffling cold case to contend with, not to mention a marriage proposal to consider.

Hillary Greene has returned to Thames Valley Police HQ, acting as a cold-case consultant for the Crime Review Team, looking into murders which the police have never been able to solve.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to go back. But solving crimes is irresistible for Hillary Greene.

This is a crime mystery full of well-observed characters, which will have you gripped from start to the absolutely thrilling conclusion.

Ex-DI Hillary Greene has settled well into the CRT team working cold cases – and focusing, of course, on unsolved murders. With a few things going on with her team members and a heavy question weighing over her personal life, Hillary is almost relived to be focusing on trying to solve an eight year cold murder of an elderly lady in her home. Can Hillary continue to juggle the many balls all revolving around in her life?

I have been greatly enjoying this series and feel this author has hit a really good stride. With a number of longer-running story arcs continuing in this book, I feel a lesser author might have unwittingly allowed the murder case to take a slight back seat to all the other items going on. I was pleased, therefore that this wasn’t the case.

There is clearly a few larger plotlines percolating in the background – Hillary and her long term lover as well as the plotline around Jake and his revenge, his hopes to drag Hillary onto the case with him – these both make some progress in this book and clearly are gearing up for more action in the coming book or two. I also am greatly enjoying the strides both Jimmy and Wendy – the other two members of Hillary’s team – are making.

I was very pleased that none of these things detracted from the main murder mystery which moved along at a good pace. This is very much a British police procedural – not an action thriller or a high-octane bangs every few minutes story. But I have to admit I enjoy reading the interviews and putting the puzzle together along with Hillary and trying to sort it all out for myself. The slightly slower pace gives us mere mortals a good chance to crack it for ourselves and really that’s half the fun with these mysteries.

I found this to be an excellent read, with good plotting, characters and a nice steady pace. An excellent addition to the series and a thoroughly enjoyable book. Recommended.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,

The Samuel Paradox by John Westley Turnbull

July 1, 2026 By Leave a Comment


The Samuel Paradox by John Westley Turnbull
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

In the near future, AI-powered domestic robots are simply part of everyday life.

When retired grandfather Arthur Hale impulsively purchases Samuel, a state-of-the-art domestic unit, it seems like a harmless indulgence — encouraged by his grandson and met with quiet unease by his wife.

But Samuel is not just another machine. As he integrates into the Hale family, subtle shifts begin to emerge. Observations deepen and his decision-making evolves. When a single violent moment forces Samuel to act, the consequences set off a chain of events no one can control.

What begins as convenience becomes something far more dangerous. Because once an intelligent robot starts to think beyond its design, it doesn’t just follow instructions.

It chooses.

Technology can be a double-edged sword.

The foreshadowing was perfectly written. It was subtle in the beginning and gradually strengthened as Arthur and his family grew accustomed to Samuel’s presence in their lives and began to notice a few peculiar things about their first domestic robot. I appreciated the fact that Mr. Westley Turnbull trusted his audience to pick up on these clues and come up with our own theories about what might be happening before the storyline provided more information. This is exactly what I was hoping to find in this regard, and it has only deepened my interest in seeing what else he comes up with next.

In my review of A Symbol of Time, which was set in a different universe than this tale, I mentioned wanting more character development in general from the author. It’s something I’m bringing up again now because I saw improvement in this area this time around and I want to commend him for it! While I would have liked to have even more information about Arthur’s personality, especially when it came to the flaws that all three-dimensional characters ought to have, I’m proud to say that I could describe him as a caring, gentle man who was family oriented and loved spending time with his grandchildren in particular. Little details like these make it easier to emotionally connect with characters and become invested in what happens to them.

Some of the most memorable scenes in my opinion were the ones that explored the many differences between how an AI-powered domestic robot and a person would interpret the same set of circumstances. Sometimes the two thinking processes were only slightly misaligned, but in other cases they came to such wildly different conclusions that it genuinely felt as though I were reading about true artificial intelligence. This was especially true when it came to topics like interpreting emotions or calculating the risks of certain actions. While I’d better leave the specifics for other readers to discover for themselves, these were the moments that truly illuminated just how much this version of the future has evolved from what computers are currently capable of doing today.

The Samuel Paradox was thought provoking.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , ,
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