Miranda Kate's 3 favorite reads in 2023

• 2023
• 2024

This is a book that’s extremely difficult to review because it’s difficult to describe. It's written in a diary format from one person's point of view.

The main character, Kat, is a convict who has decided to sign up to be part of a fleet for deep space exploration to find other planets with a breathable atmosphere. It sounds pretty standard, but the events in this book are completely different from anything I've read in the sci-fi genre.

The landing party discovers the rusted-out hulk of one of their own landing craft and the dead bodies of those who are still living back on the ship, and everything changes. From then on, the story speeds up, and we are introduced to aliens on other planes, in other times, and in different civilisations. There is a type of wormhole, also a time-hole, which Kat can eventually open up at will. Eventually, it all leads to warring between nations until another, larger threat brings them together.

Months later, I am still thinking about this book. I love concepts of other dimensions, universes, and planes of existence, and this book covers them all in such a unique way.

I read this book because I was going to see a dance production based on it. I hadn't read Oscar Wilde before, and it took me a while to get used to the style, but as with Conan Doyle’s writing (they were friends), I soon grasped the flow of the writing and the use of the terminology from the era. 

There is so much in this book, far more than the story of Dorian Gray, which in itself is a complex diatribe on vanity, aging, youth, and exploring what it is to push moral boundaries. Wilde uses this book as a platform to speak on many topics about life, society, and culture. He exposes hypocrisies in that time (and societal class) through the characters, especially Lord Henry. The language he uses is rich and descriptive and occasionally rambling, but even in the ramble, there is value to his words and observations. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the depth of both the story and the observations on life by Wilde. There is a lot that is quotable. Definitely worth a read, and I now understand why he became such a noted writer.

It's been a long time since I’ve read a Stephen King book that I felt was really up to his old standard, but finally, here it was, and as always, it's like returning home with the familiar, engaging writing style and well-developed characters. For a moment, I thought we were revisiting elements of Firestarter, but it took a different path, although it was just as compelling. 

The story follows the terrifying idea of a government persecuting and exploiting children who have minor telekinetic or telepathic abilities. It's dark and gruesome in places, but King had set up the would-be hero at the beginning, so I knew there had to be a resolution of sorts. It was tense and gripping and interjected with mentions of present-day events and views, to keep the reader engaged.

Stephen King develops his characters to such a degree that you feel you know them personally, and a return to his old style and stories about people with extra sensory perception meant I was going to be hooked. It’s why I’m one of his constant readers.