Rant & Rave- A Measure of Serenity by Bryan Prosek

Hi all! I'm still pretty busy, between work and coaching youth cheerleading, but I wanted to pop on and check in on my reading progress. I've now finished the first three books of the Three Dark Crowns series, as well as Sisters of the Snake, This Poison Heart, and A Lesson in Vengeance from Owlcrate boxes, The Secret of the Green Anole from Paper Raven Books, Ink Iron and Glass, and The Beautiful. I won't be doing a full Rant & Rave for these books, but I will give a quick comment for each. For the Three Dark Crowns Series, I'm still really enjoying the characters, and think the books and plot are fast paced and interesting. I did, however, feel like the plot of the third book kind of came out of nowhere. Sisters of the Snake was okay in terms of characters, but I felt like the history and lore wasn't as well thought out (or at least as well depicted) as it could have been. This Poison Heart is my personal favorite Owlcrate so far. With the combination of likable characters, some awesome magic, and a topic I really enjoy (potions and poisons), I couldn't put it down! I also absolutely loved A Lesson in Vengeance- the way it had me second guessing myself throughout the book was amazing. You can tell it was written by a psychologist. The Secret of the Green Anole was my favorite Paper Raven book so far. (It's also great for spooky season!) As for Ink, Iron and Glass, I think the world is creative and fun to learn about. The one complaint I had was that it felt a little juvenile for a young adult book, at least to me. I'll be honest- I bought The Beautiful because I liked the cover of its sequel, The Damned. It has an excellent setting, that I wish was utilized more in the plot and described in more detail, especially with the beautiful, poetic writing style featured in the novel. I thought the romance was hit-or-miss. Some parts had me swooning and others felt forced to me. The plot was mediocre, in my opinion, although I liked the ending. Today's Rant & Rave will be on a book coming out next month- A Measure of Serenity by Bryan Prosek. I was honored to be able to read and review the book early, as well as email back and forth directly with author Bryan Prosek. I even got to ask him a few questions to put here on the blog! A Measure of Serenity follows Serenity Ashdown, a neurodivergent eighteen year old senior at Harvard University. Her father has been conducting secretive government research for years, and one day, while searching for her father in his lab, she falls through a portal to an alternate universe. She quickly discovers that many things on this Earth are different, including constant war and the complete annihilation of the planet's resources. Serenity is swiftly caught by the government in this new world, dubbed "the Feds" by Resistance members, but she changes hands again and ends up with the Resistance. While with the Resistance, Serenity finally figures out the whole story- that the government wants to invade her Earth for resources, and decides to help them with their mission to overthrow the Feds and close the portal between worlds for good. So Let's Rant... I felt like the overarching theme (main character stands up to a much stronger government) was lacking in ingenuity. The surface level plot of Serenity and her activities was interesting and engaging, but I wish there was some kind of spin on the overarching theme to help it stand out against all the other books with that theme (especially within the sci-fi category). I would have liked to see the true motivations for the Feds, past all the excuses they give Serenity. There are people in this world (and parallel universes, I'm sure) that are just plain evil and only want power, but they are few and far between. Sure, one can argue that there's only a few evil high-up Feds and everyone else are just following orders, but I still feel like the reader could use a little more context , even if they are going to end up siding with the Resistance anyways. And Let's Rave... I loved the ending. No spoilers, of course, but I thought the ending fit the book well and left some important things to the reader's imagination. I felt like the characters, Serenity and side characters alike, were realistic. They had dreams, they had motivating backstories, and they had unique personalities. I think the writing style was concise and easy-to-follow. It wasn't poetically written or filled with advanced vocabulary, but it was appropriate for the average young adult sci-fi reader. I wanted to give you guys a little information about Bryan Prosek and his books. Here is a link to his website, where he has links to buy books, an author bio, and some other good stuff:https://bryankprosek.com You can buy A Measure of Serenity (release date November 2nd) from the following link:https://camcatbooks.com/Books/A/A-Measure-of-Serenity Now on to the questions Bryan Prosek was kind enough to answer for us! 1. Do you think that the "other" Serenity could have advocated for peace, given everything that had happened to her? No, I don’t think the other Serenity could have advocated for peace. Like you said, with everything she saw and had been through, I think her heart would have become too cold to be willing to accept peace short of wiping out the feds. That was an advantage that our Serenity had over the other Serenity. Our Serenity had been hurt by the feds, but not like the other Serenity had been. Also, our Serenity’s personality was better suited to advocate for peace. I don’t think peace would have even been in the other Serenity’s vocabulary. 2. In your opinion, would discovering that there are parallel universes be good or bad for humanity? Very good question. I think it could go either way, but for the most part, I think it would be good. Of course, the discovery of a parallel universe bent on invading our universe would not be good. But otherwise, if the new universes were thriving more than ours, they might be able to provide some technology or discipline that would help our universe. And if the new universes were in worse shape than ours, then people here could realize how good they have it. 3. What's your favorite book, and why should we all read it? This is a tough one. I would say my favorite young adult book (since I write young adult) is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. You should read it because it has a little bit of everything. It touches on many young adult tropes (love triangle, enemies to lovers, etc.), and it has action, romance, and of course teens having to deal with some very serious issues (kill or be killed). My favorite overall book is Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz. You should read it because it dives so deep into the protagonist’s mind that you actually feel like you have become him. Gregg’s writing is superb. He develops his characters and the plot masterfully and pulls you right into the story. What wonderful insight! Thanks for reading, and, as always feel free to comment your thoughts on the books or on my evaluations below- I love hearing from you guys! Dana