February 2025 Reading

Published: 2025-03-01 4:57 PM

Category: Books | Tags: reading, comics, peter pan, science fiction, feathers

I read a ton this month. Granted, two of these entries are comics, which is not in my normal rotation, but they were both omnibus collections, so I'm counting them as books.

Resident Alien Omnibus Volumes 1 & 2 - Peter Hogan

I started watching the TV adaptation on Netflix sometime in January and I noticed at the end of one episode that it was based on the comics. I liked the first season of the show, so I decided to check these out. The show and the comic diverge in plot, but the general premise is that an alien crash lands on Earth and has to fit in while he waits for rescue.

The comics were enjoyable and flowed well. Supposedly, there are more coming out, so the third volume may make its way into these lists. The first season of the TV series is better than the second. I have not started the third season yet.

The Feather Thief - Kirk Wallace Johnson

My wife read this and we renewed the library loan so I could read it. I vaguely remembered a This American Life episode about this story and the book goes so much deeper (the TAL episode featured the author, so he knows his stuff).

The general story is that fly fishing lures, over many many years, have been idealized by the materials you use to create them. Bird feathers, in particular, are a main "ingredient" and give the fly certain prestige. Old fly patterns rely on endangered birds. A fly-tying savant from the United States breaks into the British Museum of Natural History and steals hundreds of preserved specimens. The book chronicles the break in and the fallout after.

Tusks of Extinction - Ray Nayler

I found this more enjoyable than The Mountain in the Sea. The premise felt more plausible, so the suspension of disbelief was easier. In short: elephants are extinct, mammoths are back, and a woman's consciousness is used to do the work of restoring the population.

Human nature doesn't change - some people want revenge for past harms, others want the thrill of dominating the natural world. Ultimately, the characters are driven by their own desires and fail to see the destruction that comes as a result of not understanding the other side.

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon - Dave Barry

The third installment in the Peter and the Starcatchers series based on Peter Pan. I've been reading this aloud to my kids before bed. I felt pretty undewhelmed (again). The book was all over the place between characters imperiled in Neverland and in the fictional desert country of Rundoon.

The plot draws a little more out of the story - Peter's connection to the Starcatchers is deeper than originally thought, but there is no exploration of the meaning of that connection. It jumps from one bad situation to the next without explaining any of the significancs of the plot developments over the course of the three books.

There is one more to go and, hopefully, it's got a little more meat to it.

The Mercy of Gods - James S.A. Corey

I loved The Expanse books and I didn't know they hard started a new series. This is set in a new universe (though, there were some details scattered in that hinted back to the protomolecule and others from The Expanse) and focused on a group of humans who are captured by an invading alien species called the Carryx.

The book does not feature large scale space shoot-em-ups like The Expanse novels and instead takes a more slow-burn look at how humans react to captivity. The main cast is a group of scientists who weigh out the benefits of behaving and obeying their new captors or resisting outright. The balance between the two extremes pushes the group to the brink.

Brambleheart - Henry Cole

An easy read aloud for my kids. This was more time dependent because they're participating in a book club, so I read this to my younger kids so they could participate. The main character is trying to find his place in a community with stringent expectations. Help comes, but not in the way anyone was expecting.

All of my reading is tracked on LibraryThing if you want to connect in real time.