NOVEMBER 2022/JANUARY 2023

Ever wanted to know what would happen if a planet was entirely populated with pot-heads? Then Dune is the book for you!

The classic science fiction saga, written by Frank Herbert, has held up to the test of time, and had many film adaptions. The world that Herbert built is very elaborate and fascinating. The sect of the Bene Gesserits was a group favorite, particularly Paul’s sister. We love a precocious child, that knows the world’s secrets and slays her enemies at the tender age of four. Is Paul tripping balls on Spice or is he really the Kwisatz Haderach? Since confidence 9/10 of the law, our main man kills with with a sudden take over of the Arrakis and eventually the Empire! *Cue Pinky and the Brain slogan* Guess we’d have to read the other books to find out more!

We split this book over two months (with a break for the holidays in-between) since it’s such a long book. *Also during our annual holiday party we decided to watch the most recent film. We finished the film about halfway before we got distracted by wine, food, presents, and gossip. I would venture to say that the film is also about a four star rating.* We rated Dune four stars because though it’s well written, and quite the classic, some in the group suffered from whiplash from all the time jumps and how quickly the plot developed towards the end. Also, the beginning took quite a while to world build and was hard to get invested in right away. However, still an enjoyable book if you have the time, even if science fiction isn’t your typical genre.

OCTOBER 2022

The anticipated sequel to The Family Upstairs!

THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD

The book three plots. Henry goes to America to find Phin. Lucy is under investigation for the murder of her ex, but unadvisedly leaves to find Henry and prevent Phin from being harmed. Then a seemingly random plot line of a woman named Rachel and the horrible abuse she endures from her husband. At the very last minute, its revealed that Rachel’s husband, is the ex that Lucy killed.

The novel was overall enjoyable, but not as mind-blowing as the first novel. It was good to have closure on the unresolved story lines. However, Rachel’s plot line seemed completely irrelevant until the very last minute. We felt that that plot line could have been condensed and revealed later on in the story to provide more interest, because most of us were wondering how this fit in to the rest of the story. It was a little distracting.

On a side note, we all felt bad for Henry’s need to be anyone other than himself. It seemed like he was starting on a journey of self-healing towards the end but veered off to copy another person’s identity instead. This book provided a lot of very good discussions about motives, psychosis, and the long term effects of childhood trauma.

September 2022

Women’s Liberation meets the fantasy genre. Feminine rage literally turning women into dragons.

The story is set in an alternate universe where women can turn into dragons. It follows the events of the Mass Dragoning in the 1950s, when thousands upon thousands of women suddenly turned into dragons and the societal repercussions of large percentage of the population disappearing.

SPOILERS AHEAD. TREAD CAREFULLY.

The story was really unique and entertaining. I liked how they blended in “historical” accounts and court depositions of dragonings. However, the reasons behind the women turning into dragons didn’t have logical continuity. Mostly it was women being fed up with misogynistic behavior, but sometimes it was just a strong feeling, like love or pure joy, or being outside of the heteronormative that would turn women. However, once the women turned to dragons, they often abandoned their loved ones to the cruel circumstances that caused them to dragon in the first place. It wasn’t until the end of the book that the dragons returned and tried to function alongside society, which made the analogy to dragoning and feminism a fit together a little nicer.