Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by M. J. Wassmer

July 11, 2024

Zero Stars, Do Not Recommend by M. J. Wassmer

Dan and Mara are vacationing at a new island resort when the sun bursts. And not in a giant explosion in the sky, more like a pop and then broken egg yolk dripping down the sides of the sky, and then darkness. Not only are they trapped on the island, an athleisure-wear entrepreneur named Lilyanna (think Cruella DeVille dressed in Lululemon) who sounds like Dolly Parton has taken control of the resort - as well as the only plane on the island. But there is an observatory on the other side of the island, and the resident astronomer believes there is something strange going on - well, stranger than the sun exploding.

It's class warfare at a new luxury resort, where the rich people in building A take over all the resources and put the guests in buildings B and C to work for them. Except for Lilyanna and her head of security (boo, hiss), the characters might be clueless but they all have a lot of heart. BTW, this is the kind of thing that would happen to me. I suspected the answer about halfway through, but it was still a fun read. Recommended for readers who enjoy not-too-serious dystopian fiction.

Dystopian resort

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

June 4, 2022

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

On the moon called Panga, long ago robots put down their tools and walked out of their factories. They wandered off into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Centuries later, they are a legend to tell children.  After being a tea monk for years, traveling from town to town to perform tea ceremonies, Sibling Dex is tired of their normal routine and decides to go off grid into the wilderness. To their surprise, they encounter a robot named Mosscap (who is a wild-built robot, constructed from the parts of earlier generations of robots). Mosscap has been sent by its people to find out what people need. This raises the question for both Mosscap and Sibling Dex that if people have everything they want, do they need more?

This is an homage to taking comfort in another's presence, that it's okay to want to not feel alone. I love Becky Chambers' writing. I loved her Wanderers series and was sorry to see it end. This is the first book in what I hope will be a new series. Mosscap and Sibing Dex are great characters, like all of the characters in Chambers' books. The story is comforting like a cup of tea at the end of a cold or troubling day. Love the cover picture of Dex sitting on his wagon with a steaming cup of tea and Mosscap coming down the road.

Ruins like the ones that Dex and Mosscap find at the wilderness monastery

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

October 18, 2022

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers

After exploring the unpopulated areas of their moon, Sibling Dex (a well-known tea monk) and his new companion Mosscap (a wild-built robot, made up from parts of robot generations that came before it) head for more populated regions. As they begin to visit small communities, reaction to Mosscap is varied. Most places are excited to meet a robot, but not all of them. As they draw closer to the City, Mosscap continues its quest for its people: what do humans need? If they have everything they want, do they need anything at all? And more importantly, what do Sibling Dex and Mosscap need?

Becky Chambers writes some of the most creative sci fi out there. She goes places other sci fi authors don't even know exist. I love her descriptions of a world that has come back to life after humans did their best to kill it. Crown-shy is Mosscap's term for the way that trees instinctively know how close to grow together, to give each other space to live and grow.

I love Sibling Dex and Mosscap, and I hope there will be more Monk and Robot books.

A post-apocalyptic town like the ones Dex and Mosscap visit

Severance by Ling Ma

November 26, 2019

Severance by Ling Ma

Candace Chen is an office worker at a publishing company in Manhattan when Shen Fever hits, an epidemic that turns people into non-violent zombies doomed to repeat the same mindless tasks over and over.  As the number of people dwindle, she begins recording photographs of Manhattan in a blog she calls NY Ghost.  When she finally is forced to leave Manhattan, she joins a group of eight other survivors, led by an ex-IT guy named Bob who claims to know of the perfect place for them to regroup and start civilization over.  The place turns out to be an abandoned shopping mall outside Chicago they refer to as The Facility (aka Deer Oaks Mall, probably based on Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg).  When her fellow survivors learn that Candace is pregnant, they elect to hold her prisoner until her baby is born.  Candace fears what their actions mean for her unborn baby and is determined to escape.

Based on the description I wrote above, this should have been a more exciting story than it turned out to be.  There are parallels between the infected zombies’ repetitive actions and Candace’s repetitive tasks at work, her mother’s early onset Alzheimer’s, and the factory workers’ jobs in China.  There is lots of filler about Candace’s life when she first came to New York, also about her jerk boyfriends and co-workers.  While it reminded me at times of Station Eleven, it’s basically the millennials’ search for meaning other than mindless consumerism.  Unfortunately Candace, her friends, and the other survivors are all pretty boring.  Maybe I would have connected more with the characters if I was a millennial.  I listened to the audio version and I found myself skipping ahead through some of the boring parts.