Reviews written by Austin Aslan

This was a re-read. Enjoyed it more than ever. Perhaps 'enjoyed' isn't the right word. I appreciated its wisdom and its status as a masterpiece more than ever. Especially now that I'm a parent, I was deeply disturbed by this narrative and its assertions about humanity and the nature of...

Good book. This novel succeeded in spades in all the ways that ACROSS THE UNIVERSE crashed and burned (I compare the two only b/c I read them so close together, and I was harsh with ATU for its failure to properly place the characters in the context of their frame...

Ursula K. LeGuin's POWERS is a gorgeous YA fantasy masterpiece, every bit as potent and elegant and memorable as her transformational works from earlier decades, such as her "Earthsea" books and her Nebula award-winning THE DISPOSSESSED. The third of three distantly-related stand-alone novels in her "Western Shore" series, POWERS probably...

Full disclosure: I have the pleasure of drinking coffee with this author several times a month. He's even more hilarious and good-natured in person than his works would suggest. This novel will come out as a DreamWorks animated feature film this fall, starring big names like Steve Martin, Jim Parsons,...

I'm finally getting around to this series. I found this first book enjoyable enough, and I'll continue reading. I think I would have gobbled this up when I was younger, and I'm glad to see my daughter doing so now. I especially love how the stories expose her so thoroughly...

I found this book to be disappointing, in part for how far it fell from its potential. I'm afraid the dictates of a YA "romance" got in the way of what might have been a well-constructed tale, but above that, this novel suffered from characters who thought and acted outside...