Zach

There are a lot of things I liked about this book– queer characters, interesting setting, the fact that the expected romances were circumvented (can we have a whole book about Riley?)

And then there was the “barren” plot line. Because g-d forbid a book handle a young woman dealing with her body's issues without it turning out to be fucking MAGIC. And g-d forbid a book handle a female character's ostensible inability to have kids as anything other than a fucking “deficiency”.

Hurricane Fever is a sharp thriller set in the near future, where the seas have risen and extreme weather patterns batter the Caribbean all summer. It was a quick read, fast paced and enjoyable with a definitely unique sensibility. An ex-Caribbean Intelligence officer gets caught back up in biotech espionage when an old comrade sends him a posthumous message asking to be avenged. There are boats, there are hurricanes, there are many many people of color (what with it being set in the Caribbean and all). To me it was a great antidote to the “white guy beats up all the brown bad guys” airport thrillers I've read over the years. I've been hearing for a while that Tobias Buckell was an author to be reckoned with, and now I understand why.

This is such a terrible book. No plot, no characterization, no worldbuilding. The only redeeming parts are that Maxon is surprisingly endearing for a cardboard cut out and I like trashy reality TV sometimes.

But if you're looking for something that actually tells you anything about the world, or any of the characters besides the shallow as a teaspoon protagonist or has any actual drama then skip it.

I only like this book because I accept that it is Rick Riordan being self-indulgent. I appreciate his foray into non-straight characters, but aside from that, it's kind of a Percy Jackson-retread, prophetic dreams and all.

Too dang British and a little too full of himself for my taste– there was way too much colonialist “when I was out in Africa”, too little of a narrative through-line. But entertaining enough in its way.