Kay

An entertaining story about an elderly Chinese woman whose wakes up one morning to discover a dead body in her tea shop and takes it upon herself to find out who the killer is. Before long, she's insinuated herself into the lives of her young suspects, changing their lives forever. This is less a traditional detective story and more one elderly woman's search for purpose in life.

I would like to start out by saying that I'd have given this book a 4.5 stars if possible.

1984 is a truly frightening look at totalitarian regimes taken to their logical conclusions, where the Party controls everything, the Past, Present, and your mind. Even though it was written 75 years ago, much of what Orwell writes about could have been lifted from the news and social media today, especially in the US and the UK where the past is being erased, statues torn down, sweet names changes, cctv follows you everywhere and where you can be imprisoned for Thoughtcrime. This makes 1984 a disturbing, but necessary read today.

Max and the Multiverse was a book that grew on me. Max is an unsocial gamer who lives in his parents basement and who has a better relationship with his cat than with his girlfriend. Through a mishap, Max manages to hit the precise keyboard combination to thrust him into the multiverse, where every time he wakes up, he has changed universes. Eventually, he ends up on a delivery (space ship) job with Zoey and Perra, two aliens who are trying to ditch their undeliverable cargo.
The multiverse part of the adventure stops once Max gets to space. It doesn't stop, stop, it just isn't mentioned except once. And this is a good thing because the adventures Max and his new friends was more entertaining. There's not much character development, a few funny moments, and a fast pace (once the universe hopping stops), making it a good book to escape reality for a while.

I really wanted to like this book, but just couldn't get into it. The premise seems sound enough. A woman with a hidden past joins a crew of worm-hole tunnellers on the big run that can set them up for life. Unfortunately, I gave up reading after little over a hundred pages as nothing happens. There's a lot of talking, a lot of eating. There seemed to be no plot development other that this big job was on the horizon. I never got a sense of who the crew were, just how different they were from other humans. I did get that preferred pronouns are a big deal to aliens for some unknown reason, and that the main character must remind herself that speciesism is inappropriate. The injection of modern day identity politics seemed completely out of place because they didn't add anything to the story. So, all in all, I have to say that this book was not for me.

Bookmarked for Death follows bookstore owner, Tricia Miles, as she attempts to solve the murder of a local bestselling author who winds up dead in her shop's toilet. There isn't a lot of character development and the plot is pretty straightforward, nevertheless, it was an entertaining and enjoyable read. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.

A Robot Named Clunk is about a delivery guy, Hal Spacejock, and his efforts to complete a delivery job and pay off some debts. A simple enough plot. But, Hal is the type of delivery driver who will get lost, phone you for directions, run out of petrol, knock down your garden wall when he does eventually find your house, and then complain he didn't get a tip. If he's delivering food, he'll likely have eaten some along the way. He's inept, out of his depths, but he keeps trying. He's assisted by a robot named Clunk, who while more competent, is too naïve for his own good. Together, they are able to get the job done, leaving vast swathes of destruction in their wake.

This is a silly book. A fun book. Fast paced, outrageous action. And cows. I look forward to reading the other books in the series. A definite 4.5.