Morgan's Reviews

To Paradise is about people—who are otherwise good and caring—blind to their own capacity for tyranny. The book tells three separate stories all set in different time-periods, each about a man named David. Each story is unified by heavy notes of oppression from a powerful force in David’s life and the continuous fight for self-ownership from the people and systems that love us most. Glorious stuff. —Morgan

For me, this book was like looking into a mirror. I appreciated that one unifying element in these stories is food—from jollof rice to egusi soup—and culture from very distinct ethnic groups in Nigeria. Conversely, it highlights the surreal experience of being considered black in America, being affected by racism, but also feeling disconnected to the visceral anger that many black-americans feel toward the United States’ history. This was a uniquely satisfying book.

—MORGAN

Do You Take This Man is an enemies-to-lovers journey, and man, the hate dripping from the dialogue between our two main characters is palpable. This book shows us that honest conflict is an aphrodisiac. I loved the characters because they treat falling in love like it’s the first step towards driving off of a cliff. I was delighted at the irony of a wedding officiant being unromantic based on principle potentially falling in love with a man who thinks love is a scam after a prior relationship gone terribly sour. It’s a crazy ride that manages to be inventive in its arrival at the inevitable happy ending. 
—MORGAN

Jian, child of Prophecy, is destined to save the realm from the evil Khan. I loved this book. I appreciated that it’s concerned with the disillusionment of blind faith. It asks one fundamental question: what instead happens if the prophecy is wrong? Imagine believing you are effectively life’s main character, humbled, then forced to decide what kind of person you have to be. —Morgan

As a person who doesn’t read a lot of nonfiction—or science books for that matter—I just want to say that I loved The Awakened Brain! In part nearly a mystery novel, and in other ways a memoir with a healthy dose of bite-sized, digestible science, it makes you feel like you’re standing next to Miller as she explains the union between spirituality and science in front of her peers; and as she joins psychiatric ward patients in prayer.—Morgan

“Cheaply run prisons were a lot like cheaply run wars.” This book sheds light in the darkest corners in America—prison, Silicon Valley, slaughterhouses—revealing what people do when they have to. Unsurprisingly, insight drips onto every page because Dirty Work is unafraid to show cold, candid truths and a heavy hand of nastiness. The book is morally compromised but that’s no fault. It’s complex in that it presents the perspective of those that engage in these activities, and those that suffer. I recommend this for anyone who is interested in the shades of gray that hide in plain sight. —Morgan

Shards of Earth has the politics, usurping madness, power grabs, cultists—all the things you want in a space opera. You follow Idris, a war hero, make a discovery that sets the anticipation and fear for the rest of the book. It’s intellectually challenging, but the payoff is fulfilling and philosophical. I crossed into dark places reading this. I wondered if people deserve the chance to save their world from destruction! —Morgan

Out is the story of four women working a drab and monotonous graveyard shift at a bento factory in Japan. Kirino explores the desire to escape one’s circumstances and live a truthful life, good or bad, through some seriously twisted, but very human feelings. Follow these characters into the dark—from murder to scattering dismembered body parts to outmaneuvering Yakuza.