#116 Hansel and Gretel by Neil Gaiman, Lorenzo Mattotti

This is your basic Hansel and Gretel story. There isn't anything new to the story the only thing some people might find different is that the mother suggests they leave the children in the woods and not a stepmother. The art is very dark charcoal sketches and it didn’t appeal to me for the most part. I was left feeling meh about the book and I know it will sell well on the star status of Gaiman but just felt disappointed in this for the most part.

#117 The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, Ken Liu Translator

I had been hearing about this book for a while now so I was able to get a review copy and try it out for myself.  The story is set a few years ahead of us with the VR tech but it is very much in the modern time. There are several flashbacks to the Cultural Revolution in China that sets up motivation for the person that causes first contact.  We don’t see the aliens except in a VR world that was set up by followers of the aliens to recruit more people to their cause. The book is studded with footnotes to give the reader historical and social context to the story since all the action is set in China.  Nothing is resolved by the end of the book since there are two more in the series but the ending is interesting enough to leave you wanting to see what comes in the next book.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley