October, it turns out, has so many surprises. After weeks of expectantly waiting for the rain to come, this dry month ended with an unexpected rain; while reading-wise, I managed to finish three amazing books. Here's to a new start of more fantastic wrap-ups in the future.
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Following the story of four best friends in their thirties, this book introduces us to Eve, Justin, Susie, and Ed. Eve, from whom we get to hear the side of the story, has been secretly in love with Ed for ages, though unfortunately for her, Ed has a long-time girlfriend he won't be leaving for some time in the foreseeable future. Confiding this little secret to no one in the group, Eve believes that even Susie, her bestest friend in the world, doesn't know about the connection that she and Ed discreetly share. Everything changes once the unimaginable happens though. Eve's life turns upside down in an instant. As secret after secret is revealed, Eve begins to question their friendship. And when someone from her past comes back into her life, surprises become even more frequent.
Just Last Night was the kind of book that had been enveloped with some general ideas just for you to discover that the lid was actually a lie. Albeit sparkled with sardonic humor and wits, Just Last Night was a gut-wrenching story focusing on navigating life through grief and loss. McFarlane managed to perfectly balance the many sad parts with the comical ones from the friendship, and I think the story was sewed cleverly partly because of that.
In the year 2042, there is no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Scythe by Neal Shusterman overs us a peek at a technology-ruled world, known as the "Thunderhead", wherein politics have long been irrelevant. With the help of the Thunderhead, human has achieved what people in the Age of Morality would refer to as a utopia: a method to cheat death and the ability to reset their appearance to any age with twenty-first as the youngest. With no threat of death, people have formed a way to prevent the world from being overpopulated. Scythes then exist to kill people based on quota, and it's the only group of exclusive people that the Thunderhead can't intervene in. Knowing how brutal their work is, neither Citra Terranova nor Rowan Damisch is interested in being an apprentice to a Scythe. Mastering the "art" of taking life is no small thing for either of them, and it's hard to adapt when their conscience tells them otherwise.
Scythe was a good, well-plotted book, there was no denying that. The plot was clever, and the idea behind the story was fresh. How the world-building was developed in this book was very well-thought-out too. I felt like the author had considered everything, even the tiniest little detail, to intercept any plot hole, and with that went the fact that I closed this book feeling satisfied, not really bothered by anything unanswered. But sometimes being too "perfect" in theory was not always a perfect thing. I don't know if any of you could resonate with this opinion (like, c'mon, I just praised this book quite highly!), but all these perfect timings felt more like an orchestral event rather than something natural. I'm not saying this is bad, but the sentiment wiped the last star needed for it to be a perfect read and instead sprinkled it with something that made the story seem a tad bit dry.
(Please skip this part if you haven't read Illuminae and Gemina yet)
A few years ago, Asha Grant went to Kerenza IV to escape her past. Amongst all the things she wanted to forget, her ex-boyfriend Rhys Lindstrom was one of them. Cut to the present time, Asha is now among the few survivors of the initial BeiTech assault, making her a nurse instead of a pharmacy intern. So when all of a sudden Rhys appears in Kerenza as one of the BeiTech soldiers, the air of hostility she conjures is, of course, heavier than ever. Meanwhile, Kady (Asha's cousin), Ezra, Hanna, and Nik have barely escaped the attacks on Heimdall station. Now crammed with about 3.000 refugees on a container ship called Mao with no jump station nearby, their only option is to go back to Kerenza and utilize Magellan, BeiTech's secret jump station.
Obsidio was an epic finale. A legend. An everything-you-could-hope-for closure. I don't think I could ever shut up about how it took my breath away. While the characters were amusing, genius, and all in all solid, the plot was a flabbergasting ride on an unstable outer spaceship. Some parts gave me the fright and my brain went "aaaaa" in an instant, while some parts, it seemed, consisted of the same formula as Illumae and Gemina, and so they lacked the element of surprises. In conclusion, Malikov may have stolen my heart in this one, but let me say that I basically loved all the characters equally. If the story was a freaking prodigy, then Obsidio was THE ending. It perfectly closed the saga. I would definitely recommend this brilliant trilogy to everyone I know and don't.
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