Sponsored by Rebecca Rode’s TIDES OF MUTINY.
Lane Garrow has a secret—one that could get her killed. A life at sea hiding as a captain’s boy is all she knows, but things start to fall apart when an old pirate enemy comes after her father. And there are rumors that her father was once a pirate as well. Enter a mysterious prince! Can Lane protect herself and find a way to live her dream? Or will she risk everything for a world where her very existence is a death sentence. Maybe there’s a third option. After all, she’s never played by the rules before. Why start now?
Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that should absolutely be put at the top of your TBR pile. Recommended books will vary across genre and age category and include shiny new books, older books you may have missed, and some classics I suggest finally getting around to. Make space for another pile of books on your floor because here we go!
Today’s pick is an apocalyptic tale of magic versus science but the trope is explored in a number of unexpected and delightful ways.
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
This story begins on the East Coast with our two main characters, Patricia and Laurence, as children. We first meet Patricia when she is six. She finds a wounded bird and tries to soothe it by saying she’ll take it home and put it in a cage until it gets better. Much to Patricia’s surprise, the bird speaks up against that and we learn that Patricia can speak to birds. The bird is also very surprised that Patricia can speak to it and tells her she’s probably a witch. The bird tells her who can both fix its wing and figure out if she is a witch, so they set off to find them.
We then meet Laurence, a kid whose parents desperately want him to be outdoorsy and he is very much not. He’d rather be tinkering with his computer and playing video games. He finds some schematics on the internet and builds a clever little piece of tech that I’m not going to tell you the details of because I find it charming and I don’t want to spoil it for you.
Flash forward to when Patricia and Laurence are around thirteen. They meet and Laurence commissions Patricia to help him convince his parents that he’s spending time outdoors and has a friend. When Patricia is at Laurence’s house, he shows her the supercomputer he is building and developing AI. He sets it up so that Patricia can “chat” with it and help the AI develop.
Meanwhile, there is an assassin trying to murder them both because he thinks it will save the world. He ends up separating them from each other. Patricia goes off to a witchcraft school and Laurence goes off to study science.
Their paths cross again in adulthood, now in San Francisco, and their paths continue to cross in the most awkward and mysterious ways. You can feel something building as you read these encounters, but you’re not quite sure what it is.
This book is both fun and funny and one of my favorites to escape into.
That’s it for now, book-lovers!
Patricia
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