Review: When We Were Real

When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Full Disclosure:  I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory from Saga Press via NetGalley.  It should be published April 1, 2025.  How appropriate!  

When We Were Real by Daryl Gregory explores one of my favorite theories, what if this is all a simulation? Would it change how you approached life?  Is it that different from believing in a god that created everything and let it just play out?  Or would you go on a cross-country bus tour to see the oddities the programmers created?  That's what this eclectic group does.  What happens next is not what anyone could have predicted. Things get crazy!  Even crazier than learning that life is a simulation, and you are nothing more than computer code.  I didn't really want to put this book down, partly because I wanted to know what happened next and partly because I liked noodling over the questions this brings up about life in general.  Also, there is a good bit of humor so don't worry that it will be too serious.

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Review: The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett is my kind of mystery.  Told in an unconventional epistolary-style format, not too gruesome, potentially involving a cult that thinks they are angels, lots of surprises...it is near perfect. It also is fitting for these times where people you thought were solidly rational suddenly get sucked into something that is hard to imagine they would believe. If any of that resonates with you, treat yourself to this book.

Bonus points:  It is rare that I develop a theory about a storyline that is totally wrong.  However, this book got me.  I got it wrong.  Well played!

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