#nmlra

Anna has a problem in Arandelle. Rocks are falling from the sky, or more specifically, the Mountain. And so, she sets off on a journey up the mountain where she learns about nature and the past, and tries to figure out how to save people in Arrendelle from getting hurt.

I really liked that it was totally centered on Anna. And, the environmental stuff was nicely subtle in it too. It was there, but, there were no grand pronouncements or anything like that, just, the fact that those in Arrendelle, those on the Mountain, and, the Mountain itself had to live in harmony together. A really really fun read.

This isn’t your normal sort of Star Trek novel or novelization. This one is specifically written for teens (or it was written for teens when it was written, now, it may even be an okay book for an older pre-teen to read). Sarek is on Marath to try and broker a peace between factions of the same species from that world. Spock is there too. He makes sorta friends with a kid named Cha. Then he gets to travel on the Enterprise where he meets Pike and Captain April. He also sorta saves the ship. When he is back on Vulcan the strife follows him though, and he has to work through that, as well as working through how he isn’t fully Vulcan or fully Human. Finally, he gets offered the chance to go to Starfleet Academy instead of the Vulcan Science Academy, and, so, he has a hard choice there too. Although, spoiler alert, we know the answer… heh heh…

As I said, it’s not just the slightly easier vocab that marks this as a book written for teens. The number of choices, and the kind of choices that Spock has to make also definitely mark it as a YA book. It was a short book, but there was so much good stuff crammed into those small numbers of pages. It was a really fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked:

Okay, that was really cool and weird in a way that I didn't anticipate at all.

It's set in the TOS era where the Security redshirts don't live much past their 30s. And is primarily from the point of view of a redshirt who got attacked by a Mugato and survived. He and a bunch of other Redshirts are sent on a mission that will not go well, but they go anyway because it is their duty, and the Redshirt Miller tries his best to complete it despite insane odds.

Now, I know that it sounds like a regular sort of Star Trek book (with a bit of an edge), but, then... that ending. Whoa nelly. It was fun. The whole story was awesome and different and such a fun read.

Demeter is a ship. It goes between Earth and Alpha Centauri with humans on board. So, her passengers start getting murdered, and it's because a vampire decided to join the journey the ship is making. One of the problems is that the ship’s AI medical system, Steward, doesn’t believe that it’s a vampire killing the passengers. And then, it gets worse (sorta) because, once one monster slips through (the vampire), that means that others are going to also, like a werewolf, or even an engineer who has been, well, engineered, from parts from dead people. So, is Demeter going to be decommissioned, or, can she figure out how to play everything so that she can keep doing what she is very good at, ferrying people to and fro.

It was funny, and, just the perfect balance of science fiction and fantasy. They fit so so well together. A great read.

You may like this book If you Liked: Echopraxia by Peter Watts, The Ganymedan by R.T. Ester, or Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

Space Pirates, or one space pirates' ship to be more precise. It's a mammoth ship that mostly works in Cardassian space, but then the Captain changes his mind and starts creeping into Federation space and going after Federation traders. (That is a big no no in the Star Trek world). After the pirates go after the 'Gift of Flight' ship, Sisko and the DS9 crew are sent after the pirate ship in earnest.

What I liked most about this book wasn’t so much the plot, although it was a usual sort of enjoyable Star Trek novel plot. It was the characters. There was such a balanced use of all the DS9 characters. Odo and Kira had just the slightest bit bigger of a role, but, only barely. I mean, we even got to see some Garek and Quark (thankfully not too much Quark or Gul Dukat for that matter). Honestly, I would have loved it if this book had some sort of sequel, because I really liked the original pirate characters. Ah well, I guess I can just reread this one again.

You may like this book If you Liked: Fire with Fire by Bernd Perplies, Moments Asunder by Dayton Ward, or Acts of Contrition by Kirsten Beyer

A lot of Star Trek novels seem to be about, or use, Data as the main character. Perhaps it's because they can write Data as growing during the story, or they like having a character that is nearly always correct even if he's not always right. Here, the computer of the Enterprise gets 'confused' (takes readings of an unknown phenomenon) and the crew (and Spot, Data's cat) find a dying civilization in the middle of a Nebula-like thing. Of course, there is political turmoil and the Enterprise crew is never quite trusted entirely.

But, the main reason that I’m recommending this seemingly random Star Trek novel out of any others is Spot. Those were my favorite parts. The author has a very good grasp of how cats exist, act, and it came off hilarious in the novel. It's a quick, light, and easy read. Quite a fun read.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Last Best Hope by Una McCormack, Gods of Night by David Mack, or Shadows Have Offended by Cassandra Rose Clarke.

This was a really fun book. It's "by" Oscar the Grouch of Sesame Street fame. And it has his grouchiness all through it. Telling the reader not how to make friends, but, keep friends (well, not all, there’s always Slimey) away. I mean, who is a better expert on grouchiness than Oscar! I also really appreciated that they didn't try and soften it in some way. It was a fun companion book to Cookie Monster's Joy of Cookies.

You may like this book If you Liked: The Girls' Book of Friendship by Gemma Reece, My Friends by Grace Jones, or Girls by Diane Bailey