The Mother Code by Carole Stivers

From the publisher: It’s 2049, and the survival of the human race is at risk. Earth’s inhabitants must turn to their last resort: a plan to place genetically engineered children inside the cocoons of large-scale robots—to be incubated, birthed, and raised by machines. But there is yet one hope of preserving the human order—an intelligence programmed into these machines that renders each unique in its own right—the Mother Code. In a future that could be our own, The Mother Code explores what truly makes us human—and the tenuous nature of the boundaries between us and the machines we create.

The Mother Code has a terrific premise, but it didn’t quite live up to its promise for me. The military releases a bioweapon that causes a global pandemic. In a desperate attempt to save humanity, a fleet of robots is launched containing genetically engineered embryos. The robots are coded with the personalities of the real women who donated eggs to the project. The robots disperse, the babies are incubated inside them and born, and the mother robots raise the children. A core group of military strategists given an antidote survive the pandemic, along with pockets of naturally resistant humans like the Hopi. Years pass as the children grow up and the team of humans tries to find them.

The Mother Code is very readable and moves along at a brisk pace. I totally bought into the sequence of events at the beginning. However, as it moved toward the end I felt the plot twists were too Hollywood-esque. The narrative tension felt artificial.

I never felt I got to know the kids, who read like a casting call for a movie: the combative natural leader; the meditative naturalist who communes with snakes; the reckless tomboy; the shy mouse; the boy with almond-shaped eyes who is good at cooking; the black girl who starts a garden. In fact overall this entire book reads like a detailed movie script, and indeed Steven Spielberg has optioned the movie rights.

The overall message of what it means to be a mother seemed very labored by the end. If you are looking for a fast-moving thriller that reads like an action movie, The Mother Code may be for you. As a book that will truly make a reader think, that’s perilously close to something that could happen in real life, the book is not quite as successful.

I read an advance reader copy of The Mother Code. It is scheduled to be published in May 2020 and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library in print and as an ebook.

No Ordinary Dog: My Partner from the SEAL Teams to the Bin Laden Raid by Will Chesney

From the publisher: No Ordinary Dog is the powerful true story of a SEAL Team Operator and military dog handler, and the dog that saved his life.
Two dozen Navy SEALs descended on Osama bin Laden’s compound in May 2011. After the mission, only one name was made public: Cairo, a Belgian Malinois and military working dog. This is Cairo's story, and that of his handler, Will Chesney, a SEAL Team Operator whose life would be irrevocably tied to Cairo's.

No Ordinary Dog details the relationship between SEAL Team Operator Will Chesney and a Belgian Malinois Military Working Dog (MWD) named Cairo. The first 100 pages or so touch briefly on Will’s childhood and adolescence, and then focus on his enrollment in the US Navy, where he is determined to become a SEAL. The grueling details of preparation, training, and the infamous Hell Week are covered in painful detail. As his career progresses, Will is introduced to MWDs and begins the process of training to become a dog handler. 

After being partnered with Cairo, the focus shifts to training the handler (the dog already has thousands of dollars and years of experience by this point) and making sure both are prepared to ship out to Afghanistan. The book details the roles and duties that both handler and dog play, from bomb detection to taking down enemy combatants. It’s here and up through the latter bin Laden raid that the book tends to be a little repetitious, as over and over it describes the sheer force and power of MWDs. This was already touched upon in the fascinating section describing the training and procurement of said dogs, and it starts to wear a little, especially if read in one sitting (if, for instance, your flight is delayed….). New York Times bestselling author Joe Layden is listed on the cover as well as Will, and this is really the only part of the book that stands out as a negative. A separate section of photos would be nice as well; one can hope that it may make an appearance in the final edition. 

After the raid, Cairo returns to a less active military role, and Will is injured by a grenade blast. While his visible wounds heal, brain injuries and PTSD begin to make their devastating effects known, and Cairo transitions to a position of healer.
Overall, I found this to be a good book on a subject that the general public has had little chance to know about. As one might infer from the last line of the back cover (‘-and then up to Will to be there when Cairo needed him the most.’), this is a tear jerker, so beware if you’re easily affected and reading in public.

SPOILER ALERT... 

...Cairo does pass away at the end of the book. It’s a rough last twenty pages, but obviously written with love and dedication.

I read an advance reader copy of No Ordinary Dog. It will be published in April 2020 and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library.

Taming the Forest King by Claudia J. Edwards

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Adult

Release Date: December 1st, 1986
Publisher: Walker Books
Source: Bought

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The distant Forest Province had been torn apart by corruption and rebellion. On the direct orders of her king, Tevra, Colonel of the Light Cavalry, arrives in this strange land with instructions to restore order - at swordpoint, if need be.

Yet no steel blade can hold sway in a realm where shapes of death can be fashioned from the still of the air. And even the most ungodly works of the sorcerers pale before the mysterious powers of the Forest King himself - but is he Tevra's ally, or her deadliest foe? 

Once in a while, you might get the urge to pick up a book that is decades old. That is how I felt when I decided to pick up this delicious fantasy from the 80’s on a friend’s recommendation (after waiting over a year to find and purchase a copy!). I read the blurb and had thought I would love this book but had no idea just how much until I finished the book. I ended up spending all night reading this book and didn’t regret it one bit. This is not a book to be devoured but rather cherished and I cherished every minute spent reading it.

One of my favorite things about this book (unsurprisingly) is the fact that we get to see a woman in the position of power. Our main character happens to be a colonel and a very trusted one. She has worked hard to get to that position and you can see how much she deserves it. Tevra is a formidable character and I had so much fun being in her brain. I loved her strength and her ability to keep her head straight. Certain things might escape her notice but she was so professional and I LOVED it. What I also adored was her relationship with a certain Hetwith.

I will say that if you are one to enjoy fantasy aspects more than relationships this book may not be for you. I think a lot of this book is about Tevra and her growth and her relationships with people around her. It’s not that there aren’t fantastical elements to the novel (I mean, it is a fantasy) or that they aren’t well developed or even that they aren’t of importance. It’s just that this book is more about Tevra’s personal journey rather than it is about all the adventures in this fantastical world (although there are some adventures so don’t feel disappointed!)

I had so much fun reading this book and watching Tevra develop over the course and the first thing I did the morning after I had finished this book was re-reading my favorite bits. I think I’ve done a lot of that in the past several days just because of how much I enjoyed this book. It’s definitely up there with some of my favorite fantasy reads and I definitely want to find time to re-read the book in the future.