Mindblowing Science Fiction by POC @ The Angry Black Woman

[sanguinity]

Mindblowing Science Fiction by POC @ The Angry Black Woman

In comments, please list authors or stories or novels you would include in a list of mindblowing science fiction. If you’d like to include a bit on why you feel these choices are mindblowing, feel free. There is no restriction on time period, both modern and decades long past authors and fiction are desired. If someone has already mentioned an author, story, or book you were going to, co-sign.

The suggestions list is running shorter than I expected; anyone want to go chip in?

#23: Han; #24-26: Yep

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

#23: Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

Every year, Belly (short for Isabel) looks forward to spending her summer at the beach house her family shares with her mother's best friend Susannah and her sons Conrad and Jeremiah. Conrad and Jeremiah alternately gang up on Belly with her brother Steven and act big-brotherly toward her, and for years, Belly has had a quiet crush on the moody Conrad. This summer, things are a little different; Belly is turning sixteen, and suddenly the boys are aware of her as a girl. An added complication is Susannah's precarious health, which makes Belly feel as though the adults are keeping secrets from her, secrets that perhaps Conrad, more moody than usual, knows and hates.

Han adds complexity to the story with frequent flashbacks to Belly's previous summers, so that we slowly see the history of her relationships and how they've developed over the years. I liked Belly's narrative voice, which sounds authentically teenaged, and the depth of the characterization, both elements which reminded me strongly of Sarah Dessen's books (which I love). The various strands of the plot are well balanced and work together to form an emotionally complex whole, as Belly's summer becomes that essential time in which she begins to grow out of childhood.


#24-26: Laurence Yep, Dragon Steel, Dragon Cauldron, Dragon War

It took me a while to get to these after reading Dragon of the Lost Sea back in March, because I wanted to collect all three of the remaining books before reading them.

Anyway, these continue the story of the dragon princess Shimmer and her human companion Thorn in their quest to restore Shimmer's lost ocean home. When Shimmer returns to the dragon High King for help, she discovers that her entire clan have been enslaved by him, and now she must save them all in addition to saving their home. Shimmer and Thorn pick up more companions along the way: the witch Civet, the human Indigo, and most wonderfully, the trickster Monkey, who narrates the last two books. I especially loved Monkey's narration, because he's funny and entertaining in his own right, but he also provides an outside POV on the books' key relationship, between Shimmer and Thorn. All in all, although they skew a little younger than most of the children's and young adult books I read now, I really liked the series' blend of excellent characterization, great use of Chinese mythology, and fast-paced action.