The past few weeks, it seems like the books and shows I’ve been watching all have a central theme somewhere in the ballpark of…
shapeshifting
Shapeshifting: The act of changing one’s shape. From werewolf stories, to DC superheroes in action, there’s a lot more of it than we think there is. Here’s where I’ve found it in my watchings/readings:
The 100 Season 6
For those who haven’t heard or seen this show – in one sentence: In the future, 100 criminals born in space are shipped to Earth to see if it’s inhabitable again, hence commencing an epic journey of love, war, destruction and finding other planets to inhabit only to discover that alien worlds are not the paradise they seem.
The idea here is more similar to mind-shifting, but…it’s somewhere this 6-season show hasn’t gone to yet and it has been a great move so far! On this moon of a faraway planet, survivors of Earth’s first destruction have found a way to cheat death – by implanting one’s mind into a willing and compatible host. When the darling protagonist, Clarke, a newcomer to this moon, gets caught on the other side of this mind-swap and is fighting for her life, things start getting messy with the first inhabitants and the 100 “invaders”.
The 100 is science fiction, but also super relatable, probably more on par with Star Trek than Star Wars (as of yet haha).
This Cruel Design
The second book in Emily Suvada Mortal Coil series, this is an epic science-fiction-shapeshifting-book! The premise of the series/this second book is quite familiar to fans of the 100 (So, if Bellarke’s slow steam is making you impatient, pick up this series while you wait!), but with some added quirks. Genetic modification is the norm in this 20-years-post-apocalypse world. A “gentech” company basically rules the world with rebels and radicals on either side of it. There are kids who have been experimented on and have received great powers from it, a crazy scientist, and a deadly virus that plagues (ha ha see what I did there?) to kill them all.
The protagonist in this series discovers that she was basically someone else and that said-crazy-scientist-who-is-also-her-father changed her very DNA for his own mysterious motives (which are discovered in this second book). Without going into too much spoilers, it’s an epic ride that explores human nature, the ability to genetically modify oneself, and the fears of a world-wide epidemic. Emily Suvada mixes her own knowledge with this wonderfully created world to turn it into something out of a new Black Mirror episode. It’s that freaky good! Fans of The Illuminae Files and Carve the Mark will fairly enjoy this series, like I did!
Wolf by Wolf
An age-old question…what would have happened if the Axis Powers won WWII? Ryan Graudin attempts to answer this question with a powerful alternate-history (peppered with sci-fi) novel in which the protagonist is a girl experimented on at a concentration camp who later developed the ability to skinshift. Her unique skills have now, in the novel’s present day 1956, become very valuable to the Resistance, who aim to resurrect a plan to bring dow the Third Reich once and for all. To do this, all Yael has to do is win a motorcycle race from Germania to Tokyo while wearing a former victor’s face. Easier said than done.
This book was chilling to the core. It brought to the surface many emotions that I hadn’t experienced since my last flurry of reading WWII novels centred around the atrocities of the Nazis on the Jewish people, as well as on other minorities. But the resilience that Graudin brings to life in protagonist Yael is something completely knew. Everything had a reason in this book, and it was heart-wrenching, hopeful, and will make every reader think about tough questions and topics that she discusses. For fans of any conspiracy theory show or lovers of anything involving powerful female characters, Wolf by Wolf will amaze you. I can’t say enough of how much this book surprised me the last two weeks!
Stranger Things 3
It’s that time of year again! Stranger Things comes back with a dark bang! [no fireworks were used in the making of this blog posts]. The Hawkins kids are growing up into teens, while the Hawkins teens have some serious adulting to do. So far, this season has shown how creepy it can get, but also how amazingly the actors can show it with their fantastic acting.
UpsideDown world monsters taking others’ bodies and using them for their nefarious means while Cold-War-Evil-Russians appear in this full-of-80s-memes greatness of a show? YES PLEASE, NERDS. Petition for this series to never end and to feature 40-year old Eleven and Mike? START THE CAAAARRRRRRR!!!
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