Forge: The Seeds of America Trilogy, Book 2

Forge: The Seeds of America Trilogy, Book 2 by Laurie Halse Anderson

A slave save a soldier and tries to enlist in the revolutionary army. His master had promised him freedom for enlisting, so he proclaims himself a free enlistee, though he does not have papers. While some soldiers respect him, he experiences racism as well as other cruelty at the hands of others. His former master later appears and takes him back. There is mixed reaction to the board looking at his case. He meets an old friend and they hatch a plan to try to escape. The book brings up the conflict of a war that aims for equality for all in a society that still condones slavery.

The Sol Majestic: A Novel

The Sol Majestic: A Novel by Ferrett Steinmetz

This novel has a science fiction setting, but feels more like Kitchen Confidential. The Sol Majestic is a super posh restaurant in outer space. The novel centers around an outsider who comes there as well as the people involved in the restaurant. They have different goals and are involved in different schemes and activities there. There are details of some of the fictional dishes they are preparing that make it feel almost real. The characters were working for individual needs that would occasionally match up with common goals. I had trouble caring.

Horse: A Novel

Horse: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks

I like authors that include a brief "story behind the story" at the end of their works. At the end of Horse, Brooks describes she read about the history of a "forgotten" super horse and its painting along with the story of black jockeys. Some areas of the story were rich in historical details, while others were an opportunity for fictionalization.

Horse contains a few connected story. The primary story is about the horse. It starts out in the antebellum south, with early life of the "black boy" and the horse. His story and that of the horse are continued past the Civil War. This connects the painter who paints the horse with those that take care of the horse. The other story is about a modern scientist who ends up unearthing and studying the bones of the old horse. In both early and modern threads there are multiple views of white on black racisms. Anciently, the treatment of blacks changed (mostly for the worse) after the Civil War. In the modern time, the girl initially thinks of a black man as a thief (because he had the same bike as her.) Later they become friends. He is eventually shot by a police officer as he was helping somebody that fell down. (The officer claims he thought the man was attacking a woman and had a weapon.)

The Throne of Fire: The Kane Chronicles, Book 2

The Throne of Fire: The Kane Chronicles, Book 2 by Rick Riordan

The second Kane Chronicles book. They discover they are descendents of Egyptian royalty. They have the gods in them and other assorted things. There are epic battles, with some of the "bad guys" actually helping. I had trouble following all the details.

The Kane Chronicles, Book One: The Red Pyramid

The Kane Chronicles series is s bit of Percy Jackson meets Indiana Jones. It seemed to also borrow from the feel of Fablehaven. They encounter all sorts of the Egyptian gods and their peculiarities. These ones are different from the Greek ones in the Percy Jackson book, and this series does seem totally disconnected from that universe. However, like those books, this is set in modern times. The narration of the audiobook was harder to follow than the other rick Riordan books.