Chris’s Comments (group member since Feb 25, 2011)

Chris’s comments from the Beyond Reality group.

Preliminary polls are now open! What would you like to read in July 2026?

Please vote! Polls close Thursday April 23 2026.

Preliminary Fantasy Poll

Preliminary SF Poll

I am so, so sorry! I had a I mistakenly sent a note about nominations closing today. They are closing THURSDAY! You still have time!

While we have some excellent choices so far, I plan to make your voting decision even harder.

I'll add in The Summer War; this book made last month's finals.

And I'll add in Aurora Rising, based on comments in the Halcyon Years discussion thread.

Hello everyone!
It's time to open nominations for our July 2026 Books of the Month.

Each group member may make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination in this thread. If you would like to make a nomination, please reply to this post with the title and author of the book(s) you would like to put forward for the group’s consideration. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. Telling us a little about the book and why you think it would be a good group read can help get other members interested in reading (and voting for) your nomination. If possible, please use a link to the book and author in your nomination post. Click on “add book/author" for an easy way to do that.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month

and/or

b. these threads:
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2018 - Present
Master list of Previous Books of the Month (Apr-Dec 2017)
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2012 - 2017
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2006 - 2011

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.

General guidelines:
• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, self-nomination and various rules for nominations, please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding isn't necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but let's please keep things civil.

Poll schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Thursday April 16.
• The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Friday April 17 and will run through Thursday April 23.
• The final run-off polls go up Friday April 24 and will be open through Thursday April 30.

Thanks!
Chris, Moderator

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:
SCIENCE FICTION:
Rainbows End
Passage
Aurora Rising
Volatile Memory

FANTASY:
The Magic Three of Solatia
Sabriel
The Summer War
Naamah's Kiss
Kushiel's Dart

It took me a while to get into it, but I liked this noir/sci fi blend.

Shel, many of the same things bothered me at first, particularly wondering how in the world Yuri Gargarin ended up on the ship, and why he had turned into a detective. It had to be Yuri, his cosmonaut skills were essential to the story. I really liked him -- he was a loyal friend, doggedly uncovering the truth. By the end he was clearly at peace with himself and his past, and ready to move forward as his own person.

I found the Ruby Blue/Red/Purple a bit too forced. In fact, I still don't understand why we needed both Red and Blue. Why two avatars? I must have missed something...

The two families made pretty good villains, although the families in aggregate were more believable than the individual family members. I was glad that we got the backstory of how they came to dominate ship politics.

Overall, I enjoyed this!

Honestly, I feel a bit let down. I adore many other V.E.Schwab books, so I was excited for this one. I admire her worldbuilding prowess, but this book relied more on historical research than creativity. Sabine and Charlotte went on a multi-century journey to meet up with Alice. Sabine is driven only by hunger, while Charlotte and Alice seem driven by loneliness. None of them are particularly sympathetic. There was a lot of beautiful prose, but not a lot of plot.

Ezra. I liked Ezra. We needed more Ezra.

I'll rate this in the middle -- not sorry I read it, but probably wouldn't recommend.

Our June BOTM polls are unusually tight this month. Please take a few moments to vote, polls open through Tuesday.

Final BOTM polls are now open! What would you like to read in June 2026?

Please vote! Polls close Tuesday March 31 2026.

Final Fantasy Poll

Final SF Poll

Preliminary polls are now open! What would you like to read in June 2026?

Please vote! Polls close Tuesday March 24 2026.

Preliminary Fantasy Poll

Preliminary SF Poll

I will add a couple to the mix.

All the Water in the World is a story about post-apocalyptic survival on the roof of a museum.

And I just finished The Summer War and enjoyed it very much - I think you would, too!

Kateblue wrote: "Shel wrote: "I quite enjoyed this book, but I found that the writing was kind of clunky and kept pulling me out of the story. Maybe it's because I read this immediately following a Stephen King mas..."

About the scores -- my 5 star rating was from my first read, more than a year ago. I re-read it for this book club, and I don't think I'd score it a 5 now... although I still enjoyed it.

Hello everyone!
It's time to open nominations for our June 2026 Books of the Month.

Each group member may make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination in this thread. If you would like to make a nomination, please reply to this post with the title and author of the book(s) you would like to put forward for the group’s consideration. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. Telling us a little about the book and why you think it would be a good group read can help get other members interested in reading (and voting for) your nomination. If possible, please use a link to the book and author in your nomination post. Click on “add book/author" for an easy way to do that.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month

and/or

b. these threads:
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2018 - Present
Master list of Previous Books of the Month (Apr-Dec 2017)
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2012 - 2017
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2006 - 2011

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.

General guidelines:
• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, self-nomination and various rules for nominations, please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding isn't necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but let's please keep things civil.

Poll schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Tuesday March 17.
• The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Wednesday March 18 and will run through Tuesday March 24.
• The final run-off polls go up Wednesday March 25 and will be open through Tuesday March 31.

Thanks!
Chris, Moderator

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:
SCIENCE FICTION:
Crosshairs
Faller
Anomaly
All the Water in the World

FANTASY:
River Mumma
The Malevolent Seven
The Trouble with Kings
The Summer War

What starts as a cosy read turns dark pretty quickly. Having superhero-like powers can be wonderful, but they are easily abused, and darker powers influence their owners in the worst ways.

There are a lot of twists and turns in this story, and I appreciate that all the threads came together to tie things up.

I did like the relationships between Drummond and Cassie, and Izzy and Lund.

I'm not sure that I understand all the ins and outs of powers themselves. If I hand you the Book of Pain, for example, why does it cause you pain? Wouldn't it just become your book?

I didn't particularly enjoy reading the darker parts of the story. But I did enjoy the book as a whole, and I appreciate that the darker parts were necessary to bring the story full circle. Overall, a recommendation from me!

Well, I have to say that I didn't love it. I know it's a series starter, but the worldbuilding was just so dense. Edit out 20% and we could have had a tighter story and left some worldbuilding for the sequel.

But there were a lot of nice touches. The ship names were great, reminiscent of the Culture. Cheerilaq was a surprisingly likeable praying mantis-ish creature. Space whales! And the cats! The cats!

Final polls are now open! What would you like to read in May 2026?

This was a close one! We had a tie in the preliminary Fantasy vote, so you an extra choice.

Please vote! Polls close Saturday February 28 2026.

Final Fantasy Poll

Final SF Poll

Kathi wrote: "Random wrote: "FYI - Looks like the fantasy poll was created twice."

Thanks for catching that, Random! Fortunately one of the 2 had no votes yet, so I deleted that one."

Thanks, Random and Kathi! No idea what happened there, but I'm glad you caught it!

Preliminary polls are now open! What would you like to read in May 2026?

Please vote! Polls close Saturday February 21 2026.

Preliminary Fantasy Poll

Preliminary SF Poll

Hello everyone!
It's time to open nominations for our May 2026 Books of the Month.

Each group member may make 1 science fiction and/or 1 fantasy nomination in this thread. If you would like to make a nomination, please reply to this post with the title and author of the book(s) you would like to put forward for the group’s consideration. A couple of suggestions to keep in mind:

1. Telling us a little about the book and why you think it would be a good group read can help get other members interested in reading (and voting for) your nomination. If possible, please use a link to the book and author in your nomination post. Click on “add book/author" for an easy way to do that.

2. To see if your nomination has already been read by the group, you can check:

a. the group's bookshelf for Previous Books of the Month

and/or

b. these threads:
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2018 - Present
Master list of Previous Books of the Month (Apr-Dec 2017)
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2012 - 2017
Master list of Previous Books of the Month 2006 - 2011

Books the group has read in the past 2 years are not eligible for current consideration. Being chosen as a past BotM prior to that time is not an automatic disqualification, but be aware that it may hinder your nomination’s chances at the polls.

General guidelines:
• Feel free to re-nominate a book that didn’t win in the polls in previous months!
• For questions regarding specifics such as book formats, books in series, self-nomination and various rules for nominations, please see the group FAQ.
• Seconding isn't necessary in this group.
• Friendly discussion & debate is strongly encouraged, but let's please keep things civil.

Poll schedule:
• Nominations will remain open through Saturday February 14.
• The first (preliminary) round of polls will open Sunday February 15 and will run through Saturday February 21.
• The final run-off polls go up Sunday February 22 and will be open through Saturday February 28.

Thanks!
Chris, Moderator

NOMINATIONS SO FAR:
SCIENCE FICTION:
Murder by Memory
Docile
Dying of the Light
Finder
Dark Universe

FANTASY:
Greenteeth
The Witchstone
The Malevolent Seven
The Thief's Gamble

I read this last month for another book club, so I'm also ready to jump in. I was a bit concerned at the beginning -- did we really need ANOTHER school-based fantasy??

But it was wonderful to have a teacher protagonist instead of a teen. It's so accurate -- teachers love to teach, but there's also a lot of administrative work, and never enough time to get it all done. There are some terrific passages about why people choose to teach -- those special moments to make a difference in a young person's life.

All of our characters have competences, but also flaws. Most of them felt very well-rounded, except perhaps for Mark.

I liked the demonology, too. I am convinced that all copiers are inhabited by imps that require periodic appeasement ....

Final polls are now open! We had a tie in the Fantasy choice, so you have more choices than usual. What would you like to read in April 2026?

Please vote! Polls close Saturday January 31 2026.

Final Fantasy Poll

Final SF Poll