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Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden (Escaping Exodus, #2) * * * *

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Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden is the sequel to Escaping Exodus, which I read for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge . As this is a duology , I continued straight on to finish the story. I rated this book four stars, and this review will include spoilers for both books. SPOILERS AHEAD!!! The novel takes place three years after the events of the first instalment. Seske now has an almost complete family unit, structured around the same multi-partner system established earlier, though her triad remains incomplete. The narrative perspective shifts noticeably. Adala is no longer a point of view character, while Doka becomes the second POV character. This change moves the focus away from the worker class perspective that was important in the first book. That layer of society is largely absent here. Instead, the book centres on the evolving relationship between the humans and the Zenzee , the living space organisms they inhabit. The core idea is an attempt at true symbiosis. The inhabitants ha...
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Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden (Escaping Exodus, #1) * * * * *

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I read Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge, prompt number 50, “A book about Afrofuturism .” The label fits, as the author herself describes it that way, but the book is more complex than a simple “Black people in space” premise. I gave it four and a half stars, which I round up to five in most places. The story is set in a society that lives inside large space creatures called beasts . These creatures travel in herds, and humans attach themselves to one, enter its body, and modify its internal structure to create a functioning habitat. The setting is very concrete. Biological structures are repurposed into living spaces, corridors, and systems that support daily life Each beast lasts approximately twelve years. When it dies, the society moves on to another and rebuilds everything. The key distinction is how different social classes experience this process. The elite class recreates their previous environment in exact detail, including layout and ...
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Howl’s Moving Castle: Book vs Film Comparison

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Diana Wynne Jones ’s Howl ’s Moving Castle and Studio Ghibli ’s film adaptation are not simply different versions of the same story. They are different stories built from some of the same names, images, and character outlines. The film keeps Sophie , Howl, Calcifer , the moving castle, and the basic premise of Sophie being cursed into old age, but beyond that it changes characterisation, worldbuilding, plot structure, antagonists, and the entire central conflict. This is a spoiler comparison of both versions. Sophie’s character In the book, Sophie is much stronger, sharper, and more active. She begins as someone who has quietly accepted a limited life. She assumes that, as the eldest of three sisters in a fairy tale world, she is destined to fail. But once she is cursed, she becomes far more direct. She talks back. She interferes. She makes decisions. She does not simply drift through events. She pushes into them. She is also magically powerful, though she does not know it for most of ...
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Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) * *

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Howl’s Moving Castle is a film adaptation produced by Studio Ghibli and directed by Hayao Miyazaki . It is one of the studio’s most well known films and is often noted for its visual style and animation quality. The film runs for approximately two hours and begins with a relatively slow introduction. The early part of the story focuses on establishing the main characters, particularly Sophie and Howl, as well as the setting. Sophie is shown in her everyday life before the curse, and the audience is introduced to the moving castle . One of the strongest aspects of the film is its visual design. The world is presented with a strong steampunk influence , including airships, mechanical structures, and industrial elements integrated into the landscape. The moving castle itself is a complex, shifting structure made up of multiple parts, and it plays a central role in the film’s visual identity. The countryside, towns, and interiors are all highly detailed, and the animation consistently su...
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Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Howl's Moving Castle, #1) * * *

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Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones was my pick for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge , for prompt 15, “A book about new beginnings.” First published in 1986, this is Jones’s most well known novel. It also has two sequels set in the same world, although the original characters only appear there as side characters. The story follows Sophie Hatter , an eighteen year old who works in her family’s hat shop. She lives with her stepmother, whom she loves like a real parent, and she has two younger sisters, Letty and Martha . Early on, both sisters leave to take up apprenticeships, while Sophie remains in the shop. She sees her future as fixed and unremarkable, largely because of her position as the eldest sister in a fairy tale type world. That changes when the Witch of the Waste curses her, turning her into an old woman, around ninety years old. This is a physical transformation with clear limits. Sophie cannot easily explain it to others, and she chooses to leave home rather tha...
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Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite (Dorothy Gentleman, #2) * * * *

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I read Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite as my March Pick of the Month, as it was released on March 10th. This is the second instalment in the Dorothy Gentleman series and a short novella at around 144 pages. I read it in a single day. The series is set aboard the HMS Fairweather , a generational spaceship carrying thousands of people to a new home. The central character, Dorothy “Dottie” Gentleman , works as a detective on board the ship. As in the first book, the story combines a mystery plot with science fiction elements, particularly around identity and consciousness . The premise of this instalment is simple but immediately intriguing. A baby is found left on the doorstep of Dorothy’s nephew and his partner. This should not be possible. The inhabitants of the ship live in manufactured bodies that are not supposed to be capable of reproduction. The mystery therefore begins with a clear question: how can a baby exist in this system at all? From there, the plot develops in two directi...
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A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang * * *

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A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang was my pick for the 2026 PopSugar Reading Challenge for prompt #18 “A love story that defies social boundaries”. The novel is marketed as fantasy, but that description is a little misleading. The story is primarily historical fiction with a central romance; the fantasy element appears only briefly at the very end. The book is based on the ancient Chinese legend of Xi Shi , one of the Four Beauties of China . In the story, Xi Shi is recruited by the strategist Fan Li and trained to become a weapon disguised as a woman. Her task is simple in theory and terrifying in practice: she will be sent to the rival kingdom of Wu as a concubine to its king, where her beauty and influence are meant to help bring the kingdom down from within.  The premise is excellent. A young woman turned into a political weapon, trapped between two rival kingdoms locked in a struggle amidst loyalty, love, and manipulation tangled together. It has all the ingredients of ...
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