The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton (review by Andrew T. '17)

The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain follows the story of four scientists, Dr. Stone, Dr. Leavitt, Dr. Burton, and Dr. Hall, in their efforts to combat a deadly virus brought down from space by a military satellite. The virus, labeled the Andromeda strain, threatens to become a pandemic with catastrophic effects. While The Andromeda Strain has some riveting scenes, for a thriller novel, it lets the reader down. With every step, the scientists make some mistake which is simply feels frustrating rather than satisfying. The ending is a disappointment - both unrewarding and hard to believe. All in all, The Andromeda Strain does not live up to the standard of Crichton's other works and isn't worth the read. – Andrew T. ‘17

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Inferno by Dan Brown (review by Andrew T. '17)

Inferno by Dan Brown
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fans of Dan Brown will be familiar with the protagonist of Inferno, Robert Langdon, a world renowned professor of symbology with a photographic memory and questionable fashion sense. The book starts with Langdon in a hospital having suffered amnesia in the middle of his latest adventure. After narrowly avoiding an attempt on his life, he is joined by the mysterious Sienna Brooks in order to retrace his steps towards whatever he was looking for in the first place. Inferno features twist after twist leaving the reader not entirely sure who to trust and what really is going on. The ending is clever and memorable long after closing the book. Regardless if they are familiar with Robert Langdon's previous adventures or not, readers who love action, adventure, history, or clever narrative that keeps them guessing will undoubtedly love this book. – Andrew T. ‘17

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World War Z by Max Brooks (review by Mrs. Cranston)

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book (available as an ebook through OverDrive!) will obsess you, so don’t read it when you have anything else important going on, like Finals… or breakfast. What would happen if zombies were real? How would world governments respond? Would they save us? Evacuate us? Lie to us? Kill us? How would people respond? Would we protect each another? Would we survive? World War Z is told as “an oral history of the Zombie War,” but really, it’s about people. Whereas the movie World War Z follows one character (portrayed by Brad Pitt) through the outbreak and rapid spread of the global zombie virus, the book takes place after the fact (12 years after the end of the war). Written as a series of interviews with survivors of the War. Each chapter is from a different person’s perspective on different stages of the Zombie outbreak, from a Chinese village doctor to an American profiteer selling fake anti-zombie pills. The temporal shift in the telling means that you know these people survived the War, so the book is engrossing without being unimaginably stressful (a plus if you’re not always a horror fan). World War Z is a must-read, especially for fans of dystopian disaster books like Daniel Wilson's Robopocalypse, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, or Justin Cronin's The Passage. - Mrs. Cranston, Harker librarian

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Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson (review by Mrs. Cranston)

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In Robopocalypse (available as an ebook through OverDrive), humans have finally done it. By creating a super-intelligent robot named Archos, we have, in its words, “made mankind obsolete.” In one horrifying moment (Zero Hour), Archos turns our technology against us, using cars, smart-weapons, even cell phones as tools of the robot uprising. Told from alternating perspectives before and after Zero Hour, this fast-paced book describes how a few brave humans resist Archos’ quest to cleanse the world of humanity. Readers who like a little philosophy thrown in with their apocalypse will adore this book. Sure there are be-tentacled super-robots ripping open buildings to extract humans like sardines from a can, but there are also humanoid robots meditating on what it means to be “alive.” Robopocalypse’s oral history structure as well as the scale and pace of its global disaster will draw comparisons to World War Z. However, while World War Z’s protagonists had to outmaneuver zombies (gross yes, but relatively slow and definitely brain-dead), Robopocalypse’s characters must outsmart a vastly superior intelligence whose army is global and instantaneous and in your iPad! In fact, the challenge is so compelling and Archos so daunting that the resolution is a bit unconvincing…still there are more books in the series, so we’ll see what happens next! Overall, a great read. - Mrs. Cranston, Harker librarian

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Bearing An Hourglass by Piers Anthony (review by Andrew R. '17)

Bearing An Hourglass by Piers Anthony
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Bearing an Hourglass, the second book in Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series, is set on a future Earth where science and magic mix and clash freely. After losing his child and wife, Norton is offered a position as Chronos, the Incarnation of Time. If he accepts, he will have the power to visit his loved ones once again, but will also have to collaborate will the other Incarnations—War, Nature, Fate, and Death—to save humankind from the forces of evil. Unfortunately, while this novel contains a few ingenious ideas, they are rarely translated into a smooth or effective story. The plot is choppy, often skipping forward or backward in time and then suddenly returning to the original narrative with little or no explanation. The multiple story lines seldom interact. This novel is largely independent, as the author only makes occasional references to its predecessor, On a Pale Horse. Overall, only the most dedicated of time-travel fans can thoroughly enjoy this book. - Andrew R. '17

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