Book Reviews

I love reading. I also love writing and talking about what I read. Here’s a growing collection of book reviews written by yours truly. There’s a heavy emphasis on climate fiction, though I may review other genres occasionally. Let me know what you think. If you like it, share it!

Troubled Waters

Book Review: Troubled Waters by Mary Annaïse Heglar

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Troubled Waters

There’s more than one way for a family to deal with generational trauma. And there’s more than one way for a family to respond to systemic racism and the climate crisis.

Mary Annaïse Heglar’s debut novel, Troubled Waters, tells an intense, compelling, and deeply personal story at the intersection of these themes. After listening to her on the Hot Take and Spill podcasts, and reading her essays about climate justice and new children’s book, I was eager to read her novel to see how these themes play out in her fiction. Now that I’ve read it, I’m pleased to report that this novel will be a great read for people interested in climate justice themes, racial justice themes, Southern characters and settings, strong women protagonists, and compelling literature in general.

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The Deluge

Book Review: The Deluge by Stephen Markley

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The Deluge

What will the climate crisis and the world’s response to it look like over the course of the next decade or two?

The Deluge by Stephen Markley offers one of the most thorough and compelling answers to this question that I’ve read to date. This novel explores almost every facet of the climate crisis in amazing and terrifying detail. Even after reading dozens of other climate fiction classics like Ministry for the Future, Termination Shock, and Parable of the Sower, I found myself blown away by both the sheer scope of this novel and the many skillful ways Markley drew me in and kept me reading throughout the entire 896-page journey.

This novel covers so much ground that it could easily be the subject of an entire semester-long course on climate fiction. Since this isn’t a climate fiction course, I’ll narrow the focus of this review to three themes: climate catastrophes, climate solutions, and narrative structure.

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Book Review: How To Blow Up A Pipeline

Book Review: How To Blow Up A Pipeline

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Book Review: How To Blow Up A Pipeline

In honor of the release of the film How to Blow Up a Pipeline, I decided to review the nonfiction book of the same name that inspired the film.

I’m glad that I did.

Despite its provocative title, How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm isn’t a how-to manual for aspiring saboteurs. It’s a thought-provoking exploration of the history, ethicality, and strategic considerations of a broad range of violent and nonviolent tactics of resistance to systems of oppression, particularly the fossil fuel industry.

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Book Review: Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn

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Bannerless by Carrie Vaughn is a murder mystery set in a future where society as we know it has collapsed due to climate change. As the two main characters investigate the crime, their journey reveals more details about what life is like after the collapse. This makes for both a suspenseful murder mystery and a fascinating exploration of what life might be like after a major societal collapse caused by climate change.

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