Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland
Published: February 4th, 2020 by Balzar + Bray
Genre: Young Adult, Horror, Zombie, Historical Fiction
Format: Audiobook, 14 hours, 34 minutes, Scribd
Rating: 4 stars
Publisher's Summary:
The sequel to Dread Nation is a journey of revenge and salvation across a divided America.
After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.
But nothing is easy when you're a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880's America.
What's more, this safe haven is not what it appears - as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.
But she won't be in it alone.
Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by - and that Jane needs her, too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.
Watching Jane's back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it's up to Katherine to keep hope alive - even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.
After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother.
But nothing is easy when you're a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880's America.
What's more, this safe haven is not what it appears - as Jane discovers when she sees familiar faces from Summerland amid this new society. Caught between mysteries and lies, the undead, and her own inner demons, Jane soon finds herself on a dark path of blood and violence that threatens to consume her.
But she won't be in it alone.
Katherine Deveraux never expected to be allied with Jane McKeene. But after the hell she has endured, she knows friends are hard to come by - and that Jane needs her, too, whether Jane wants to admit it or not.
Watching Jane's back, however, is more than she bargained for, and when they both reach a breaking point, it's up to Katherine to keep hope alive - even as she begins to fear that there is no happily-ever-after for girls like her.
My Thoughts:
I read the first one Dread Nation when it came out a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed it but apparently I did not review it on my blog. Oh well. It's a fantastic twist to the zombie apocalypse. Instead of the American Civil War we get the zombie plague. Ireland takes us through what could happen in a world where civilization is wiped out during the 1860s before slavery was outlawed. We get to view it all through two fantastic characters, Jane and Katherine.
The second book focuses on their separation and how they find each other again and help make the world a bit better... Lots of issues are discussed along with vigilantism, racism, classism, sexuality. It's all in there. It's perfect for historical fiction and zombie fans! Plus, it has a whole lot more to say. Love this series and can't wait for the next one!
The second book focuses on their separation and how they find each other again and help make the world a bit better... Lots of issues are discussed along with vigilantism, racism, classism, sexuality. It's all in there. It's perfect for historical fiction and zombie fans! Plus, it has a whole lot more to say. Love this series and can't wait for the next one!
The Conference of Birds by Ransom Riggs
Published: May 30th, 2006 by Schocken
Genre: Non-fiction, Philosophy, Biography, History
Format: Kindle, 304 pages, Own
Rating: 4 stars
Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity by Rebecca Goldstein
Published: May 30th, 2006 by Schocken
Genre: Non-fiction, Philosophy, Biography, History
Format: Kindle, 304 pages, Own
Rating: 4 stars
Publisher's Summary:
Part of the Jewish Encounter series
In 1656, Amsterdam’s Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty–three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza’s progeny.
In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition’ s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza’s philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe’ s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism.
Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero—a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age.
In 1656, Amsterdam’s Jewish community excommunicated Baruch Spinoza, and, at the age of twenty–three, he became the most famous heretic in Judaism. He was already germinating a secularist challenge to religion that would be as radical as it was original. He went on to produce one of the most ambitious systems in the history of Western philosophy, so ahead of its time that scientists today, from string theorists to neurobiologists, count themselves among Spinoza’s progeny.
In Betraying Spinoza, Rebecca Goldstein sets out to rediscover the flesh-and-blood man often hidden beneath the veneer of rigorous rationality, and to crack the mystery of the breach between the philosopher and his Jewish past. Goldstein argues that the trauma of the Inquisition’ s persecution of its forced Jewish converts plays itself out in Spinoza’s philosophy. The excommunicated Spinoza, no less than his excommunicators, was responding to Europe’ s first experiment with racial anti-Semitism.
Here is a Spinoza both hauntingly emblematic and deeply human, both heretic and hero—a surprisingly contemporary figure ripe for our own uncertain age.
My Thoughts:
I loved learning more about the contextual history of Spinoza and the environment in which he was born and how it all shaped his philosophical thought. His ideas were one of the first to explain what living in a secular society would be like and why it is so important for humanity to live in one.
It does get slightly bogged down in the finite details of his philosophy, unless you happen to be a trained philosopher, which I am definitely not!
It does get slightly bogged down in the finite details of his philosophy, unless you happen to be a trained philosopher, which I am definitely not!
Sees Behind Trees by Michael Dorris
Published: First published in 1996 by Little Brown Books For Young Readers
Genre: Historical Fiction, Juvenile Fiction
Format: Paperback, 104 pages, Own
Rating: 4 stars
Publisher's Summary:
Visually impaired Walnut cannot earn his adult name the same way other boys do, by hitting a target with a bow and arrow. With his highly developed other senses, however, he earns a new name: Sees Behind Trees.
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed reading this one a loud with G. Sees Behind Trees learns how to be himself and use his abilities despite his visual impairment. And we learn a lot about his way of life as well. It was a bit confusing in some of the plot elements but we just ran with it and enjoyed the characters and the world they inhabited.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for reading my posts and for letting me know what you think!
Due to heavy spamming, I am now moderating all comments. Thanks for your understanding.