Firestarter - Stephen King 

Unintended effects of scientific research 

Genre: I'd say it's a mix of thriller, and science fiction(cause of their powers or abilities)

Book Setting – time and place: The main story takes place in the early 1980s, accross various places across the United States. Since they're often on the run; think quiet towns, and open countryside.

Main characters:

Charlie McGee: She's a young girl, like around eight or ten old, she can create fire with her mind and has been on the run with her dad her whole life.

Andy McGee: He's Charlie's dad, and he can kind of push his thoughts into other people's minds and make them do what he wants(but it's still kinda wavy like it's complicated).

The Shop: This isn't a person, but it's like the bad guys in the story. It's basically a secret government organization that wants to control Charlie and her powers. There are different people who work for The Shop, and some of them are really scary(there some intense momments, depending how you see it)

Overall Storyline(no spoilers):

Basically, Charlie and her dad are on the run because of Charlie's powers. They're trying to live a normal life, but The Shop is always after them so they can use her power for their own purposes. Overall it's a story about a father trying to protect his daughter from a powerful and scary organization that wants to exploit his dauther.

Book set up:

So the story bassically follows Charlie and Andy as things are happening. We see things from their perspective, and once in a while get a glimpses into what The Shop is doing or thinking.

What did you like about the book?

It was an overall interesting story, about a father who is trying to keep his dauther safe from a powerful secret organization.

What would have made it better?

They didn't really talk much about the Shop, it felt a kinda distant which I guess adds to the shadowy secretive feel of it but I feel it would have been interesting to learn a little more about some of the individual people working for them and why they were doing what they were doing, like just get more insigth into the organnization.

What didn’t you enjoy in the book?

Nothing really, at some points it did get kinda stale but it was overall not bad and could be read.

Would you read another book by this author?

The book wasn't bad don't take me wrong but it's just not me to read books, so i'll have to sadly say no, but would probably recommend if you like science fiction and mix thrillers.

Star rating:

I'd probably say about a 4 out of 5 stars. Like I said it was good but at some points I feel it got kinda boring for me at least.

Project Cain - Geoffrey Girard 

Human Cloning

Rating: 1/5 Stars

Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard

Genre: A Young Adult Science Fiction

Book Setting: The book takes place in multiple states as the main character (Jeff) was on the run. The book also takes place in 2013 when the book was published.

Main Characters:

Jeff: The main character who was one of many clones created using the DNA of Jefferey Dahmer. His father worked for a government funded science organization and raised him as a normal kid before randomly telling him he was Jefferey Dahmer's clone.

Castillo: A DSTI (science organization) agent who later tries to track down all the clones. He was formerly in the military and takes Jeff in as they try to find out were the clones will strike next.

Storyline: Jeff finds out he is a clone of Jefferey Dahmer after his father reveals he is a secret clone. He finds out his age and every detail of his life was crafted as a lie and that his father is actually a mad man who believes he is also a serial killer. Castillo takes in Jeff when they start to track down the other clones.

Book Set-Up: The book was set chronologically telling only from the accounts of Jeff however there is a second book which follows the same story but from Castillo's perspective.

What did you like about the book?: Absolutely nothing! The book doesn't truly follow a plot and later you realize "Oh everything in the past 20 CHAPTERs" adding NOTHING to the actual ending because they find the clones through an entirely different method than the computer process they had been using the ENTIRE TIME. Then JEff just randomly is like "Oh yeah I have seen this highly unknown Naive symbol from my dads book maybe the only living people from it in Indiana can helps us save the day" which came out of NOWHERE (I genuinely can't connect this to ANY part of the plot. ALSO they find a clone who is like a mix of different serial killers which seems important and they just NEVER talk about him again. The entire book reads like it was written by a kid and that makes sense considering when reading I found it was for ages 12-17 but leans more to middle schoolers I guess.

What would have made the book better?: HAVING A PLOT! The entire story could have been told in a few pages and so NOTHING made sense. It seemed like the author was just trying to make his book longer but it took away from what could have been a really interesting story. Also the book tries to get all deep about government experiments by basically having a PSA write in the middle of it talking about MK-Ultra and Fluoride Experiments when really I feel like the books plot should be able to carry the message without a conversation between characters almost directly explaining "hey this is unethical" cause it makes it harder to look at rhetoric when the author kind of just relies on this one conversation that Jeff had with a stranger (who also did not add to the plot) 20 CHAPTERS AGO!

What didn't you enjoy about this book?: Based upon my previous responses I sure you can tell but ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I feel like I need to reteach myself how to read after I read this. The book also had weird (and highly inaccurate) information about experiments and gene editing. PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS BOOK AND JUST READ SOMETHING LIKE BRAVE NEW WORLD OR SOMETHING.

Would You read another book by this author?: NO! For the sake of my sanity and inner peace I will NEVER read anything by Geoffrey Girard EVER AGAIN. I am going to go try to forget that second book exist and just sit down and read an actually book like The Iliad or something.

The Power - Naomi Alderman 

Gender/sex, inheritance, and society 

Genre

Science Fiction

Book Setting – time and place

Takes place

The story takes place in today's world, in different countries including the United States, Europe, Moldova, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria. The book is written as if someone from the far future is looking back at our time when a big change happened.

Introduce the main characters:

Allie: A young woman who runs away from an abusive home and becomes a religious leader after getting her power.

Roxy: The daughter of a London crime boss who has very strong powers.

Margot: An American politician who rises to power as women become stronger.

Tunde: A Nigerian journalist who reports on the worldwide changes as one of the few main male characters.

Describe the storyline in general terms:

"The Power" is about what happens when girls and women around the world suddenly develop the ability to make electricity with their bodies through a new organ that grows near their collarbones. This change flips society as women become physically stronger than men for the first time in history.

The book shows how this power changes different cultures, politics, religion, and relationships as the balance of power between men and women shifts over the storyline. The story looks at how power can corrupt anyone who has it, and asks if the world would be different if women were in charge.

How was the book set out?

Chapters alternated between different main characters points of view. The book works as a countdown to a global cataclysm that is implied is done with the use of nuclear weapons.

What did you like about the book?

I really like the premise of the book. The cool idea that shows what would happen if women had power over men, the honest look at how power can make anyone bad, the worldwide view showing how the change hits different cultures, and the good characters who change as they get used to the new world all drew me into this book in the beginning.

What would have made it better?

The book would have been much better with stronger writing. The writing style jumped around too much, sometimes flowing well and other times changing suddenly. This made the story hard to follow at important moments. When the author switched to different language styles, especially during key scenes with the women's powers, it pulled me out of the story instead of drawing me in deeper. A more consistent writing approach would have made this good story idea even more powerful.

What didn’t you enjoy in the book?

I didn't like how the words changed to old-english when women used their powers. This made reading hard to follow and broke up the story's flow. The sudden word changes felt out of place and took me out of the story just when big things were happening. I also didn't enjoy some scenes in the book as they were explicit and didn't add anything to the storyline.

Would you read another book by this author?

Probably not. Even though the premise of the book was pretty interesting, the writing itself sort of fell short. I found it extremely hard to get into the book and would probably not enjoy other novels from this author due to her writing style.

Your star rating.

1.5/5

The Extraordinaries

Wealth inequality, Genetic modification in humans

The Extraordinaries by T.J Klune

Genre

Sci-Fi / Young Adult

Book Setting

The book takes place in a fictional place called Supernova city (similar to New York City) in the 2020s.

Main Characters

Nick Bell - Nick is the main character of the book and is a teenage fanfic writer. His father is a police officer in the city, and his mother died when Nick was younger. Nick has ADHD and takes medicine everyday so he can focus, although he often gets in trouble in school still. Nicks best friend since a young age is Seth Gray, who he met on the playground in elementary school.

Seth Gray - Seth is Nicks childhood best friend and lives with his Aunt and Uncle. He randomly disappears at certain times, leaving Nick confused on where he went.

Owen Burke - Owen is another friend of Nicks and a former love interest. Owens father is a multi-billionaire and ceo of a pharmaceutical company. Owen and Seth are enemies and are clearly not fond of each other.

Storyline

In The Extraordinaries, the story is centered around teenager Nick Bell who is a superfan of superheroes called Extraordinaries. Nick spends his free time writing fanfictions about his favorite extraordinary, shadowstar, and his arch-nemesis, pyrostorm. Nicks fascination with there heroes leads him on a quest to try and gain superpowers of his own through various means. These attempts fail time after time and are often whimsical ideas. It is unknown how extraordinaries received their powers.

Setup

This book was told traditionally through a first person perspective that moved chronologically.

What did I like

I actually did think this book was interesting and had an easy to follow plot. Certain scenes were written very poorly which sometimes made it funny to follow along with. Hints and plot twists throughout the book made it hard to stop reading, as bad as some of the writing was.

What would have made it better

I think if this were written as an adult book opposed to young adult it would've been much better. A lot of the scenes just felt very poorly written and cringey to read.

What didn't you enjoy

I didn't enjoy the writing in this book. It felt very kid-like and it often distracted me from the actual premise of the book. Additionally, some of the scenes felt unnecessary and just written to try and get a reaction out of the reader.

Would you read another book by this author

I actually have read two other books by this author that I truly did enjoy. I thought going into this book it would be similar to those books, but it truly wasn't. This book was definitely an aberration from the authors normal writing which often convey important messages about death and isolation.

Final Rating: 3/5 

Upgrade - Blake Crouch 

Bioengineered viruses 

Wake STEM Copies Available 

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Book Setting:

Near future of the US

Introduce the main characters:

Logan: Logan is the main character and he works for the Gene Protection Agency where they hunt down for people who have been infected by a virus that alters their gene composition and "upgrades" them as super humans. Logan then catches the virus while on a mission and over the course of the book his body and mind start to change in powerful and negative ways.

Kara: Kara is Logan's sister who was also infected with the virus later in the book. Her and Logan's relationship start to fall apart because of the different beliefs that they start to have and over time become enemies.

Miriam: Miriam is Logan and Kara's mother and is the one who started the whole virus. She is a famous genetic scientists who released the virus into the world in order to try to better humanity and try to solve worldly problems and world wars and poverty.

Describe the storyline in general terms:

The story is based around Logan Ramsey who hunts people who have been genetically modified or people who are trying to genetically modify others and as he goes on more missions he becomes infected himself and over the course of the book he starts to have mental and physical changes that alter his relationships with those he once thought had his back.

How was the book set out? :

The book was in the first person point of view of Logan Ramsey and pretty scientific at times.

What did you like about the book?:

I liked the fact that it was in the near future and the plot twists that it had where the Kara and Logan ended up becoming enemies in the end and the different points of views of the ethical debate whether if gene editing was the way or not.

What would have made it better?:

The book would have been better if there was not so much filler because that is what made me bored of the book more and more over time.

What didn’t you enjoy in the book?:

I started to slowly get bored of the book because I started to realize how many like unnecessary parts there were in the book.

Would you read another book by this author?

I would depending on the topic because I don't think this topic was specifically interesting to me

Your star rating.: 3/5

The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi 

Bioterrorism and genetic engineering 

4/5 Stars

Title & Author: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Genre: Sci-Fi / Dystopian

Book Setting: In Bangkok, Thailand.

Main Characters:

Anderson: An American who works for a calorie company and is located in Malay, managing a local branch of a manufacturing factory.

Emiko: A windup (a genetically engineered human, who has the need to obey ingrained in their DNA. They also have telltale stutter movements of their body that give them away) who eventually encounters Anderson and seeks freedom.

Hock-Seng: An immigrant from Malay (Malaysia) who works under Anderson at his factory. He's lost everything and now is poor refugee, he wants to rebuild his life- he is a clever man.

Jaidee: Jaidee is a "white shirt" or someone who works for the Environment Ministry, the opposing power to the Trade Ministry. He's in charge of limiting the calorie company monopoly. He's famous for his work for the people, and he is known as the Tiger of Bangkok.

Kanya: Right hand woman of Jaidee.

Story line: Anderson runs a factory that produces energy with springs. He, along with some other calorie company executives, are stationed in Bangkok. They exploit the workers in their companies. Emiko works in the red light district against her will because those are the kind of jobs she was made for, literally. She fears for her life because windups are not allowed in Thailand, and she was smuggled in by her previous owner and then abandoned. Eventually, there will be strong political moves made by the ministries in Thailand and the foreign calorie companies that have exclusive power of gene editing technology, and the people of Thailand will be caught in the crossfire.

Set Up: There are alternating chapters from each of the main characters as they experience the storyline and add their perspectives.

What did you like about the book?

I really liked the politics and how certain decisions were made by the characters. I liked seeing how corruption worked with the various things each politician wanted and how they came together and destroyed the city as collateral.

What would have made it better?

If certain things... (I can't specify b/c of spoilers) were more impactful, it would have made for a more impressive message.

What didn't you enjoy about the book?

There were some scenes, especially with Emiko, that felt unnecessary to go into detail with. They might have been essential to proving a point, but they could have been implied, I feel.

Would you read another book by this author?

Yes, his writing style was engaging and he developed the world very well. It was a good book.