Chester Johnson

A good period piece!

Revisado: 06-25-23

Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel is a story detailing a Métis family in the late 1600's here in what was once called New France, and the struggles particularly of the women of these mixed families at this time.

The struggles of the old religions of the Indigenous peoples blending with those of the new Catholic Christianity also in how they affect the women of the time. Also showcased in this story is how homosexuality was handled with the Indigenous peoples as opposed to the Catholic church at the time when our family we are following their oldest daughter comes out to be in a forbidden lesbian relationship.

An excellent story overall, but handled a bit heavy handedly towards the end. A solid 4 out of 5 star review.

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Love the subject matter.

Revisado: 05-31-23

This was an adequate story, but nothing like I was expecting going into it. it's the story of the discovery of an intelligent species of octopus in a ravaged ocean in a dystopian future. But where I was expecting more about the discovery of and investigation of this new species, the reader is only given little tidbits of this until around the end of the book, and even then I was left wanting a bit more.

Like I said, an average story, told adequately. A 2 1/2 star out of 5 read.

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GREAT READ!!

Revisado: 04-27-23

God : An Anatomy by Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou is an examination of the archeological and historical origins of the deity who eventually came to be worshiped by 3 major world faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It mostly covers the history of Yahweh, the God of Israel and Judah, and then of Christianity around the world.

Three thousand years ago, in the Levant area we now call Israel and Palestine, a group of people worshipped a complex pantheon of deities, led by a father god called El. El had seventy children, who were each gods in their own right. One of them, a minor storm deity known as Yahweh. He had a body, a wife, offspring, pets, colleagues, and this is a story of how he evolved to become a monotheistic deity who, in time would be merged with his larger, and much better historically documented father El, for whom Israel was named.

The book goes into Canaanite recorded history of the early pantheon, then into the Proto Hebrew stories of the early Torah regarding "The God of the People of Israel". How this God had a body, all the same parts we have now since we were to have been "created in his image" and the early stories that described the anatomy of their deity and the importance of each body part.

Francesca Stavrakopoulou is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter in Great Britain and is an expert in the history of all the deities and faiths of the Levant region. And for anyone who is interested in a more rounded and complete history of one of the most important beings to millions of worshipers around the world, this book is a good start.

A solid 5 out of 5 read!

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A lesson that must never be forgotten.

Revisado: 01-14-23

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler is a unique take on the classic time travel sci fi story. Our main character is Dana, a young African American woman who finds herself being pulled back and forth in time from 1976 to 1819, and always to a plantation in the Antebellum South.

Here she always seems to be pulled back when a young boy named Rufus is in danger, and her purpose in being transported back in time appears to be protect and help this young boy to whom she seems to be linked across the gulf of time.

Life as an African American woman in the South in the early 1800's was horrible beyond words, but this novel does a superb job of describing the atrocities of slavery and everyday life as a slave on a plantation.

I watched the FX series based on this novel first and had to read this book, and while the series departed from the book in a few ways, it still did decent service to the book and authors vision.

This story is a must read for students of history as the author's portrayal of the running of plantations and the abhorrent treatment of slaves there gives the modern reader true account and a lesson in history that should never be forgotten so it's never seen again.

A solid read, and the first big science fiction novel by an African American female author. I give it a 5 out of 5 star read.

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Great historical fiction!

Revisado: 01-02-23

The Half Life of Valery K by Natasha Pulley is a historical fiction about the Soviet Union from the 1930's to the 1960's and the Cold War nuclear secrecy. The story mainly takes place in the 1950's and early 1960's and is centered around nuclear biological specialist Valery Kolkhanov and his trials and tribulations in the Stalinist Era USSR.

Valery was one of the millions of people rounded up by Pro Stalinist KGB and sent to one of the many Siberian Gulag prison camps for his former ties to Germany, where he attended university.

He is then given a reprieve from the rough prison camp life to put his professional skills to use studying the effects of radiation on the environment for the State. But it turns out there is more to this position than meets the eye, and uncovering its truths may prove dangerous when the secretive Soviet political machine wants it all to stay hidden.

This book was an excellent read as it expertly blends these fictional characters into the real-life nuclear secrecy of the Soviet Union. It addresses such historical topics as Soviet gulag life, racial and ethnic divisions within the Soviet satellite states, including how Ukrainians were cruelly treated at the time, the political espionage in the Soviet Union, the great lengths the Party would go through to keep its secrets, and it also addresses how cruelly same sex relationships where addressed and handled in Cold War Soviet Union.

Historical fictions usually drag me in if the character development is good, and this one is superb. A solid 4 out of 5 star read!

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Best book of the year!!!!!

Revisado: 11-29-22

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie by Rachael Lindon was by far my best read of the year, and a book that tugs at all the heart strings.

A story that follows the life of Lolly Blanchard, starting from her pre teen years working at the small family owned diner as a awkward, introspective girl working for her parents as a waitress. There she would meet the one true love of her life Rory Shaw, a popular star high school soccer player who dated all the pretty high school cheerleaders. Rory had big plans for his future laid out in front of him, and seemed destined for great things and success in life.

Their story together always seemed an unlikely to succeed love, that had crashed and burned for Lolly, and a love she would always wonder......what if.

Years later after life tragedies and many many unfulfilled years she realizes she hasn't accomplished any of the goals she had set for herself as an energetic teen full of big dreams and great ambitions for herself.

Then through her Aunt after a complete emotional crash, Lolly is given a strange second chance at happiness, a way to go back to possibly change 3 of her biggest regrets in life, and to live a 24 hour day in each of these alternate lives to see how her life might have changed.

And in these relived regrets our story is masterfully woven, that of how lost love is regained, dreams actually do come true, and tragedies averted, but at what cost to her present life as she knows it now? And how does she use the knowledge of how things COULD have been when she is forced back to her real life after each 24 hour regret relived?

The author does an outstanding job of bringing her characters in this book to life, and really makes you connect with them, and truly empathize with their situations and invest you in their lives in a meaningful way is all I can say without giving away too much of this story. I enjoyed how this story was told so much I now want to read more from this author.

A 5 out of 5 star read, and as I said my favorite book of the year for 2022. I highly recommend this book!!!!!

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Incitful read

Revisado: 09-28-22

A must read for anyone interested in the future of the human race, and how we as a race can survive 1000's of years from now.

Longtermism is a very interesting study, and has taught me what and how to change now at a personal individual level to do my part to best allow the long term survival of the human race.

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My first and last Koontz novel.....

Revisado: 09-02-22

The Big Dark Sky is the first book of Dean Koontz I've ever read, and honestly I can't see this as his average work given how popular an author he is.

It's a story of an unknown power that seems to be eliminating people in unexplainable ways, all who are connected to a leader of a radical movement who believes all mankind is a plague upon the Earth. This sounds like it would be a great story, but it ends up feeling rushed in every way.

The author goes into some depth for character development to characters who honestly end up going no where. He builds up confrontations surrounding each of the many characters in the story, and when the time finally comes for this confrontation, he resolves these conflicts in a way that involves almost none of them at all.

And the same for the big ending against this unknown power, chapters of meticulous build up to end with what amounts to a "one shot one kill" ending by a side character that had minimal charater development anyway. Then the real gotcha moment of the story is revealed in the last sentence of the book, and it too just leaves you asking why......It seemed like the author was just trying to write a book report that needed to hit a certain word count, then he just quit.

This book was a 2 out of 5 star read, and I'll probably never read another Koontz novel after this.

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CME disaster!

Revisado: 08-06-22

Aurora by David Koepp is a book about one of the most real disasters I believe will happen in my lifetime that we are grossly unprepared for, a Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun that will produce an electromagnetic catastrophe our modern unprotected electrical network isn't prepared for, and will throw us back into the early 1800's, crashing economies, as well as power grids all over the world.

This is the story of siblings surviving disaster, Tom a brother who was a self made billionaire who is a constant prepper, and made sure he was ready for any emergency, and his sister Aubrey who gave up so much to allow him to succeed, but doesn't want his handouts to make it in life before or after the disaster.

It's a basic story of survival until government could get the power back on. Forced to farm, and live in a far simpler manner all the while fighting off the more seedy, evil, and unprepared people who will take from others what they want.

Not the best book on the subject Ive read, but a solid 3.5 out of 5 star read still.

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A other great novel from Sawyer

Revisado: 07-26-22

Factoring Humanity by Robert J. Sawyer as with most of his novels is part science lesson with a gripping fictional story woven into it expertly as always. The book addresses topics like quantum human consciousness, quantum computing, Artificial intelligence, The Many Worlds Theory and/or multi dimensional and parallel universe theories and explains them in ways most readers can quickly grasp to understand the basic premises that are part of this story.

The story revolves around Ryan, a scientist and Professor at Toronto University who is making great strides into AI and quantum computing, and his wife, Heather who is also a psychology professor at the same university who is working on cracking aliens signals that are being received by Earth for many years now with almost no progress by anyone in deciphering them.

Ryan and Heather's family is thrown into turmoil when their daughter makes some heinous claims that threatens to tear the family apart. Ryan and Heather fight to make sense of these new developments and explore their worth and affect on each other and their toll on relationships.

Heather is torn between her feelings for her husband and the safety of her daughter, and finds her answers may lie in her work with the alien signals.

The book explores human consciousness and a one "overmind" consciousness shared by all humanity and how we are all part of one larger being in very interesting ways.

The novel is a solid 4 out of 5 star read, and as always with Sawyer's books, leaves you wanting to dive into the hard science his books present, which is why he is one on my recent favorite authors.

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