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Science Fiction

The House of the Scorpion

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The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Format:  Book
Who it’s For:  Teens and Adults

Matteo Alacrán wasn’t born; he was harvested.  His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a state called Opium—poppy fields lay between the United States and land that what was once named Mexico.  Matt’s cells were divided inside a petri dish, and he was then placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued to develop from embryo to fetus to baby.  He is a boy at the present, but most see him as a monster—except for El Patrón.  El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself because Matt is himself.

As Matt fights to understand his existence, he is threatened by a menacing cast of characters, including El Patrón’s tyrannical family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards.  Escape Matt’s only chance for survival.  But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no promise of independence because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he does not recognize.

Find The House of the Scorpion in the catalog!

All Systems Red

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All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Format: Book, eBook, digital audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

Working for a money-hungry interplanetary research company is hard. It’s even harder if you’re a self-aware SecUnit (security unit) AI tasked with keeping humans safe. Humans determined to complete useful research can be extremely annoying by not worrying about their safety on hazardous planets. Murderbot, as the SecUnit secretly refers to itself, just wants its assigned humans to be safe so it can spend its off-hours watching television in peace. When the humans decide to challenge their less than honorable employees, Murderbot wants to just ignore their well-intentioned bravery and go back to its shows. But somehow these aggravating humans have gotten under Murderbot’s armor and it just can’t seem to let them down.

All Systems Red is a great example of a novella done well. Somehow in only a few short chapters, author Martha Wells makes you care about this grumpy AI who would really prefer that you didn’t waste your time doing so. With dark humor and sarcastic wit, you will be looking up book two of the Murderbot Diaries (Artificial Condition) as soon as you finish reading All Systems Red.

Find All Systems Red in the Catalog 

Find All Systems Red on Hoopla

Uglies

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Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Format: book
Who it’s for: teens

In a future civilization, the government offers its citizens on their sixteenth birthday dramatic plastic surgery to turn them into ‘pretties,’ who will then live a carefree life of relaxation and parties.  Tally Youngblood is eager for her modifications, but Shay, another ugly, talks to Tally about the opportunity of rebelling against the social standards of physical beauty.  On the day of Tally’s operation, she is given a proposition: assist the authorities in tracking the rebel Shay down, or never undergo the “pretty” surgery.  Tally ultimately chooses to help the authorities in pursuing the rebels.  Through some twists and turns in the story, the rebels soon reveal to Tally that the operation also contains surgery that makes them easier to control–ultimately altering their brains.  Tally and the other uglies join together to resist their transformation and to discover a remedy for those already turned ‘pretty’.

Series order:

  1. Uglies
  2. Pretties
  3. Extras
  4. Specials

Find Uglies in the catalog!

The City of Ember

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The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Format:  Book
Who it’s for:  Kids and Teens

Ember is a city in everlasting darkness and is only lit by its progressively unpredictable electric system.  Other systems are falling apart as well, and stores of food and necessities that have lasted hundreds of years are dwindling.  The city was only meant to last 220 years, and now it has been 241.  But the messages the “Builders” left have been misplaced and forgotten.

Lina Mayfleet finds the messages, but not before her little sister chewed them to shreds. Now she and her pal Doon Harrow must decipher the few disjointed messages before the city falls to pieces.  Their determination leads them to discover long-overlooked mysteries about the creation and purpose of Ember, and what the “Builders” envisioned.  They want to spread their findings with the people of Ember — but only if the shady mayor and his guards don’t stop them first.

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Gideon the Ninth

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Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Format: Book
Who it’s for: Adults

Gideon the Ninth, book one of The Locked Tomb Trilogy, is a wild ride. The book is dark, imaginative, and fresh. Part fantasy and part science fiction, the book follows the heirs of the Nine Houses who have been selected by their god, the King Undying, to take part in a trial to join his group of immortal Saints and their personal knights, or Cavaliers.

The main character of the novel is Gideon, an indentured servant of the Ninth House, who is more comfortable with a sword than necromantic magic. Gideon has spent her entire life trying to escape the frozen planet of death where she was raised, and her future of eternal servitude as a reanimated skeleton.

Her chance arrives when her childhood rival, enemy, and ruler, Harrow, the Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and greatest bone witch to be born of the Ninth House, forces her to serve as her Cavalier. Gideon must protect and serve Harrow during the trial. If Harrow succeeds, she becomes an immortal disciple of the King Undying, and Gideon earns her freedom. However, Harrow and Gideon must first keep from murdering one another.

The book is both dark and hilarious. Who knew violence, tragedy, and a whole lot of bones could be so funny? It is also one of the best examples of enemies to…well, something approaching love at least.

Necromancers in space, what more can I say?

The second book in the trilogy, Harrow the Ninth, came out in August 2020.

Find it in the catalog.

Skyward

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Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
Who it’s for: Teens, Adults
Format: Book, eBook

Epic space battles, a nearly-sentient AI-powered ship, a strange yellow and blue slug that mimics voices and sounds, and a teenager who wants to claim the stars – that’s Skyward in a nutshell. Brandon Sanderson is an excellent world-builder and it shows in the first of a four part series.

Spensa is trapped on a planet called Detritus with what remains of humanity. They are frequently attacked from above by unknown forces they call the Krell. Spensa dreams of being a space pilot to defend her home. But when she was young, her father was branded a coward, and now the entire family bears the label. Fighting her way into flight school, Spensa works to prove that she’s not a coward (and that her father wasn’t either), and that she can help in the fight against the Krell. 

Outside of school, M-Bot, the abandoned AI-driven ship with a personality, and Doomslug. Spensa, with the help of her friend Rig, repairs M-Bot and takes him for a spin. M-Bot has been programmed not to fight, and when he believes Spensa would fly him in battle, he shuts down.

Fast forward to the most epic of epic battles – can Spensa save Detritus from destruction, or will what happened to her father happen to her too?

Starsight, book two of four, is also out now, so there’s more to come when you reach the cliffhanger at the end!

Find Skyward in the catalog.