Book-Worm In Your Ear: The Rise And Fall Of D.O.D.O And Yesterday

What falls under the science fiction genre nowadays covers a deep and wide spectrum. No longer is it just about space ships, robots, or time travel-- those elements do survive, but when they exist, they're integral parts of a bigger picture. 

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. By Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland (available at Fully Booked)

A labyrinthine novel we can gleefully immerse ourselves in, it has time travel, as controlled by a clandestine government agency as its launch pad. When Melisande Stokes, an expert in languages and linguistics is recruited to join the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.) by military intelligence agent Tristan Lyons, she's ushered into a covert world where true Magic is said to have existed in the past. Shut down by the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Magic was effectively stamped out in 1851. When a device that bends Time is used to ferry people back and forth to try and rekindle this use of Magic, our heroine gets thrust into a world where Science, Magic, Mystery, and Adventure converge. When the aim of fiddling with History comes into play, a new dimension of possibilities rises, bringing with it the baser aspects of human nature, and our treacherous inclinations. It's the universe-building that sets this novel apart from books similar in subject.

 

Yesterday by Felicia Yap (available at Fully Booked)

What if we lived in a world where our act of remembering could only extend to one day? And there existed a minority of people who have two days worth of memories? How would that affect relationships, power, and Love? Couched in a crime mystery, this is the premise behind Yap's own brand of sci-fi. The Monos live in this stratified society, with the Duos as the elite class. Claire is a Mono wife, married to successful novelist, aspiring politician Mark. Set in the university town of Cambridge, England; the washed up body of a beautiful woman in the River Cam becomes a test - not only for the political career of Mark, but also for the fraught relationship between husband and wife. Meanwhile, the detective investigating the case has an agenda all his own. And when is the victim not really a victim? The shifting sands of Truth, of the Past, of how lives intersect and make decisions are part of the magic of this engrossing novel set in an alternative Present Day. Disregard this book's cover artwork; it's a tension-filled read.