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A baby is born, and when this child grows up he will discover the secret to immortality. The goddess of death is laid off and sent to Earth in a mortal body. She hopes that she can kill the child, or at least persuade him not to defeat death, so that she can get her old job back. In the process, she learns about the beauty of life.

This was OK - not bad, but I expected it to be better. Part of the premise is that a scientist discovers a threat that will cause a climate disaster and destroy civilization as we know it. After that discovery, world governments come together, spare no expense, and allow some pretty severe actions to solve the problem. In light of recent world history, that seems unlikely to me.

This boom includes stories from Dube's life interspersed with reflections on gospel principles. I expected it to be more of an autobiography. While it's not what I expected, it has some good stories and was a short, interesting read.

This book is in two parts. Part one, "Lamentations," argues that the way math is taught in school is all wrong. (One of the chapters in that section is called, "High School Geometry: Instrument of the Devil." It definitely reflected some of my feelings about Geometry when I was in high school.) Part two, "Exultations," sets out some ideas for how math should be taught.

I found myself agreeing with the author on some points and disagreeing with others. Agree or disagree though, his passion for the subject makes it an enjoyable read. I see that Lockheart has a couple of other books that try to teach math using the approach he suggests, and I'm curious to check those out.

The characterization in this book is great. The prose is also good. This is not a comedy by any means, but there are subtle puns and callbacks throughout. The Star Wars shoutout was a favorite for me (I won't spoil anything by saying where it was).

I've heard that some people don't like the way the story changes partway through the book. We spend several chapters meeting the characters and resolving some mysteries, and then it becomes all about who's going to become the next King of England. There are some aspects of this alternate history that could have been explored a lot more. I can understand these concerns, but they didn't bother me. I enjoyed the story and the way the pace picked up as it went along.

This was a good thriller. I wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next. I thought the idea of making the cosmetics industry into villains was kind of unoriginal, but outside of the executives who are portrayed, 1Wells did a nice job of giving some good reasons for people to act the way they did.

This book is where it starts to get tough to keep going in the Long Sun series. The story takes some unexpected turns. There are some parts that just don't make sense on a first read. There are some parts that just aren't exciting.

But there's also some good stuff. The first chapter, with it's Garden of Eden imagery, sets up some ideas that will keep going through this series and the next. We learn some unsettling things about the gods worshipped in Viron, and it sheds more light on the state religion and what's going on in the world. And if nothing else, this book is required reading on the road to the Short Sun series, which many consider to be Wolfe's masterpiece.