P.S. I Still Love You and Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han

In To All the Boys I've Loved Before, Lara Jean Song Covey's life is turned upside down when her younger sister sends out a series of love letters that she had written to the boys she had overwhelming feelings towards. One letter, to the popular and handsome Peter Kavinsky, led to a fake relationship that sparked real romance. The second book starts with Lara Jean deciding to make a play for Peter, for real this time. They get back together, or rather finally get together, and all is well...or is it?


Meanwhile, another letter finally reaches its recipient: Jon Ambrose McClaren. He used to live in their neighborhood when they were in junior high, and he and Lara Jean start a correspondence. In these letters, she conveniently never mentions that she is dating Peter now. For his part, Peter is always hanging out with his ex, Lara Jean's former friend Gen. He claims that she is going through something, a family issue that he doesn't want to divulge. To make matters worse, Peter and Lara Jean's infamous hot tub video from the school ski trip is still circling around. Lara Jean is certain that Gen is responsible for putting out the video, but Peter denies it.


In less dramatic news, Lara Jean starts to volunteer at the local nursing home. She spends a lot of time with a sassy resident named Stormy. Stormy is always trying to set Lara Jean up with her great-grandson, who turns out to be none other than Jon Ambrose-McClaren! They have some romantic moments between them, especially when Peter and Lara Jean break up for a bit.

I also watched the Netflix version of P.S. I Still Love You. I really enjoyed their To All the Boys I've Loved Before, especially Noah Centineo as Peter Kavinsky. The second movie was a pretty decent adaptation. The kids are still cute, and I enjoyed the romance. Jordan Fischer made for a charming Jon Ambrose, and made it a little hard to be completely Team Peter, though I still completely am. Even though the movie won't be released for a bit, I also read the third and final book in the series, Always and Forever, Lara Jean.

At the start of the third book, Lara Jean and Peter are together and better than ever going into their senior year. They even plan to stay together in college. Peter was accepted to UVA to play lacrosse. UVA is also Lara Jean's top choice, her dream school since childhood. It seems inevitable that she'll get in...but she doesn't.

Lara Jean decides to go to her second choice school, William and Mary. It's a bit of a drive, but still somewhat manageable. Plus they decide that Lara Jean can always try to transfer to UVA after Freshman year, and everything will be perfect again...then Lara Jean finds out she got into UNC. She had been waitlisted at first, so she never gave it a second thought. He best friend makes her take a road trip to check out the campus. They end up having a big adventure with a concert and burritos, and Lara Jean falls in love with the school.

Alas, UNC is much farther than William and Mary. What should Lara Jean do? Their mother told Margot (LJ's older sister) not to go to college obsessing over your high school boyfriend. Margot keeps telling Lara Jean to give whichever college she picks a fair chance, to choose what's right for her and not what's best for her relationship. Peter's mom even secretly asks her to break up with Peter. She worries that Peter will give up his full scholarship to stay with Lara Jean, and Lara Jean would never let him destroy his future for her.

It's sort of nice that there is less "I'm worried you're going to cheat on me" drama in this book. It adds a certain maturity. Part of me was very proud and excited for the kids heading off to college, but I was also jealous because they are young, in love, and looking forward to the future while I am none of those things. Anyways, my sad life aside, I am looking forward to seeing the movie adaptation when it comes out and more of my inappropriate crush Noah Centineo.

The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston

I very much enjoyed Poston's Geekerella, so I was excited to get back into that world with The Princess and the Fangirl. It's set in the same universe, but focuses on different characters at the same convention in a time far, far away...or maybe like a year or so.

At the latest ExcelsiCon, the new Starfield movie was a smashing success. Now, they are gearing up for a sequel. The only person not excited is leading lady Jessica Stone. Her Amara was killed off in the first film, and Jessica hopes she stays that way. Jessica had been a "serious" actress, and she wants to get back to indie films that earn Oscars, not sci-fi popcorn flicks. She also has a tendency to read every tweet and negative post about her, and the fandom is not kind.


Meanwhile, Imogen Lovelace practically grew up at ExcelsiCon. Her top priority is the #saveamara campaign she started. She even rented a booth with her online friend Harper so she can hand out buttons and get more signatures on her petition. The trouble starts when Imogen is mistaken for Jessica and pulled onstage during a Q&A. Nobody can tell that she isn't the actual actress, although her positivity towards Starfield makes some people suspicious given how much everyone knows Jessica Stone hates Starfield.

That should be the end of Jess and Imogen's encounter, but Jessica needs a stand in. The director of Starfield gave her some important documents, and Jessica threw them in the garbage. It turned out to be a copy of the script to the Starfield sequel. Now, someone is leaking the script on twitter, and it's only a matter of time until someone finds out it was her script. Imogen will take over as Jessica, doing meet and greets for the fans, while Jessica mans her booth with Harper and investigates the leaker.


The girls learn valuable lessons from switching lives; Imogen finally feels seen, but learns some of the downsides to celebrity, and understands why Jessica doesn't want to be Amara. Jess appreciates the anonymity of being Imogen, and starts to understand what the Starfield movies, and Amara, mean to a lot of fans. Of course, they both also fall in love. Imogen clashes with Jessica's prickly assistant Ethan, but anyone can tell it's one of those love to hate you/hate to love you things. Jess, for her part, falls for Harper. There's even a big declaration of love scene that is adorable.


All in all, The Princess and the Fangirl wasn't quite as good as Geekerella but it was fun and it helped me out of my reading slump. I liked that we got to see more of Elle and Darien. I also liked that Jessica fell in love with a girl, and it wasn't a Big Deal. It's a pretty good time, and I hope to see more Once Upon a Con books in the future.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

"It's a cruel, cruel world. And the people are the worst part..."

Dread Nation invites its readers to imagine an alternate history of the United States. During the terrible years of the Civil War the dead began to rise. They feasted upon the living changing them into zombies, or shamblers, as they prefer here. The war was set aside to focus on the more pressing threat. The slaves were set free, but still weren't given much freedom. Young black men and women were sent to special schools to be trained to fight the undead, as they were thought to have special immunities to the virus.

Our main character, Jane, is attending such a school. The goal is to graduate and be hired as an attendant, protecting your white charge from shamblers and suitors alike. Jane is good at killing shamblers, but not so good with etiquette. Her rival, Katherine (Jane calls her Kate to annoy her), is good at both. The girls attend a lecture at a nearby university that ends in chaos and they end up saving the Mayor's wife. Their heroics lead to an invitation to dinner at the Mayor's house.

There have been a lot of suspicious disappearances near the school. One family, the Spencer's, had been caring for Lilly, the sister of Jane's former paramour Jackson (Red Jack). Some late night snooping leads them to the revelation that the Mayor and his Survivalist party had something to do with the disappearances. They use the dinner invitation as a chance to find out the truth. Jane sees a folder for someplace called Summerland...then she gets caught.

As punishment, Jane, Jackson, and poor Katherine are all thrown on a train and sent west. To add insult to injury, Jane's least favorite teacher gives her a bunch of letters from her mother right before putting her on the train. Jane had been writing faithfully and thought she'd never gotten a response. Now she has two goals: get out of Summerland and make her way back to Rose Hill to see if her mother is alive.

It's easier said than done. Summerland was created as a safe haven against the shamblers. It's surrounded by a massive, impenetrable wall. Unfortunately, it's also controlled by an awful sheriff and his even worse preacher father. Black residents must patrol the wall and make sure no shamblers climb it. They get little to no food and useless weapons to perform this job, and the sheriff is quick to hand out brutal punishments to anyone who steps out of line, as Jane finds out firsthand.

The only bright spot is that Jane manages to convince everyone that light-skinned, fair-haired Katherine is white. She hopes that makes up for dragging her into Jane's mess. Katherine also turns out to be the key to defeating the sheriff: he has a crush on her. With the help of the local inventor and a kindly brothel owner, they set a plan in place. What they don't expect is that Summerland isn't as safe as they thought, and the walls can't keep the dead out forever.

In her intro page, Ireland writes:

"Dread Nation is a book about the American Dream. It's about who gets to lay claim to their humanity and who is seen as little more than a tool that is used to achieve the goals of others. It's about loving a place that doesn't love you back, no matter how much you might be willing to bleed and die for it. It's about understanding that, maybe, the things we're told and the things other people believe aren't enough to keep us safe. And that, for some of us, an equal chance was never even an option..."

It's sort of funny that a young adult novel about zombies set during the Civil War sounds so topical.

The Makedown by Gitty Daneshvari

I first encountered this book at my job at the bookstore. It had a fun cover! It sounded sort of cute and fun!!! Years later, I spotted a copy for sale at the Dollar Tree ("Where everything's a dollar, but people are priceless!") and grabbed it. It was a decision I would come to regret.

The Makedown is completely vile. It's a book that I threw across the room while reading, demoted to a "bathroom book," and still couldn't bring myself to finish it. What I wonder is if it's actually meant to be a straightforward story or if it's some sort of parable or parody or something...?

It's the story of a girl named Anna. She starts the book fat and ugly. Like all fat girls (Insert sarcastic eyeroll), she binges constantly. After her parents divorce, she moves away to New York where she gets a job with a caterer. Her boss, who she secretly refers to as "MFG," or My Fairy Godmother, takes a special interest in her, forces her to walk long distances to lose weight. She also gets the restaurants in her neighborhood to stop selling her food. Eventually, Anna becomes skinny and gets a makeover.

Everything is far from perfect, however. She keeps a "Dear Fatty" journal where she writes horrible letters to herself. MFG should have gotten Anna some counseling. Eventually, she meets an extremely attractive man who is interested in her...but he's maybe a little too attractive? That's when she starts the makeunder, and basically ruins the poor guy's life.

Ben seemed perfectly nice and is into her, but she is riddled with insecurity. She lies to him constantly. He's a vegetarian and she claims to be one as well. (She's not.) She lies to cover up her dysfunctional family, the divorced parents and weirdo brother who still lives at home. Anna ruins him, getting him addicted to junk food (Though a major point is how she switches his granola bars with Heath bars, which...granola bars aren't great for ya anyways), taking away his motivation, and basically making him so unattractive that even she doesn't want him. Then she tries to change him back but can't and it's all. The. Worst.

Usually I don't read bad books. I like to like things, but here...like I said, this book was gross. The characters were awful, especially Anna. As a fat girl myself, I was offended. Still, I have no doubt that this book would also disgust you no matter your size or shape. So, my advice is that you don't read it, a lot, right now and forever.

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

"Newbloods, silverbloods, redbloods, it's all the same, all over again. Some who are special, some who are better than the rest, and the ones who still have nothing at all..."

You can read my review of the first book in the series, Red Queen, here.

Red Queen introduced us to a world separated by blood. Those with silver blood have incredible abilities and rule over the ordinary people with red blood. Mare was an ordinary Red who ended up having powers. Because of this, the royal family forces her to pretend to be Silver, dealing with all the intrigue and betrayals of palace life. Meanwhile, Mare joins the Red Guard, an army of Reds who are fighting against Silver rule.

Glass Sword takes place right after the events at the end of Red Queen. Highlight for spoilers: Maven betrayed Mare and is super evil and the Queen made Prince Cal kill his father, and they blamed it all on Mare. 

So, Mare and Cal were on the run with the Red Guard. Among them was Mare's (presumed) dead brother, who also has abilities. They make their way to a stronghold on an island. Soon, a new leader arrives. He and Mare don't agree on the future direction of the Red Guard. She ends up leaving to hunt the Reds with powers of Silvers like her, or New Bloods as they call them. 

 The problem is that Maven also has the list, and Maven is also fudging nutso. He plays a cat and mouse game with Mare, almost always a step ahead of her. She finds notes from him trying to get her to give up, saying that he will stop killing New Bloods if she will return to his side. I was very sad in Red Queen because I liked Maven, and he seemed nice and sweet. I still hoped he might be redeemable, but now he's going around killing babies. 

I really tried to lighten up a bit on Mare this book. In the first book, she seemed like some sort of Katniss retread. Here, she was a little annoying with her constant reminders that she is special and more important than everyone else. I decided that I wasn't being completely fair. Overall, I liked Mare and this book better once it got going. There was a heck of an ending, so I'm interested in seeing what happens next.

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson

"If we stop helping people because we're afraid, or ambivalent or whatever, then we lose. Let them do evil. I'll stop them..."

 You can read my review of Steelheart here.

Previously, in Steelheart, we were introduced to the city of Newcago (Formerly Chicago). A star rose into the sky called Calamity, and suddenly normal people developed extraordinary powers. They were known as Epics, and the most powerful of them was called Steelheart. Unfortunately, the Epics were corrupted by their powers. They used them to oppress the powerless, rather than help them.

A group of powerless people fought back. They called themselves the Reckoners. David sought them out, hoping to join their ranks. Years ago, Steelheart had killed David's father in front of him. He wanted the Reckoners to help take down Steelheart and avenge his father's death.

Anyways, long story short (There be spoilers here!):
The Reckoners kill Steelheart. On the way, we find out that Megan, David's love interest, was actually an Epic named Firefight. Also, the leader of the Reckoners, Prof, is an Epic. He is able to transfer some of his abilities to others, which explains most of the Reckoner's fancy technology.
End spoilers

There was also a novella titled Mitosis where the Reckoners fight the titled Epic. It's mentioned in the book, but isn't necessary to understand the story. 

Now, on to Firefight!

What is there to do now that your biggest enemy is defeated? The Reckoners have managed to keep Newcago safe from Epics hoping to take over for Steelheart. Recently, David has started to feel that killing the Epics might be wrong. Prof is an Epic and also a really good person, and despite evidence to the contrary, David is convinced that Megan is also a good person. He starts to wonder if they could turn Epics normal again if they could get them to stop using their powers. Prof dismisses this. He knows firsthand how the powers corrupt, tempt Epics to use them, tempt them to conquer and destroy. According to Prof, killing the Epics is showing them a mercy.

The Reckoners start to notice that several Epics they defeated recently have been sent from Babilar (Formerly Manhattan). The Epic in charge there is called Regalia. She used to be friends with Prof, and now she is calling him out. He thinks that she is provoking him to kill her.

Prof invites David to go out to Babilar with him and Tia (His girlfriend/surveillance person). They meet the other branch of Reckoners: Val, who is crabby (but probably because Sam, her boyfriend/husband just died), Exel, who is plus-sized and doesn't leave much of an impression, and Mizzy, who is bubbly and enthusiastic. Mizzy is pretty intent upon getting revenge for Sam's murder. He was killed by...Firefight, Megan. Things get complicated when David is stalking some local Epics and encounters Megan. He is definitely happy to see her, and he doesn't believe that she would kill anyone. He never gets around to asking about it, though.

Meanwhile, Regalia has brought in Obliteration, an Epic who has leveled entire cities. The Reckoners need to come up with a plan to destroy her, and fast. Of course, things aren't always what they seem when it comes to Regalia, or the Reckoners, or basically anything. There's some twists and turns, betrayals on all sides.

I loved this sequel even more than the first book. It was exciting and there was a ton of action. I liked how David was the same nerdy guy as last time, with his weirdo metaphors all the time. I also really loved this moment:

"You know," she said, "you're not actually bad at metaphors..."
"Thanks!"
"...because most of the things you say are similes. Those are really what you're bad at."

Seriously, that bugged me throughout the first book. Similes use "like" or "as," metaphors don't, David!

I wasn't sure where they were going to go with the series after the death of Steelheart, but I really liked the questions the book raised about Epics. Not to get into spoilers, but there were some really awesome and exciting revelations here. And, omigod, that ending! I am super stoked for Calamity, and super impatient to read it next year.

Avalon by Mindee Arnett

"The universe was a terrible, fucked-up place, but he didn't make it that way. He just had to live with it..."

Avalon is ultimately a story about freedom. The main character, Jeth, wants to be able to fly away from Hammer, the mob boss who owns him, his ship, and his crew. He wants to take Avalon and escape to some far off galaxy and be free. His parents were executed as traitors, leaving Jeth and his sister Lizzie in the care of their uncle. Uncle Milton promptly gambled and lost Avalon, which is also their home, to Hammer.

Hammer is the big boss, owner of a great big space station and casino. He runs a gang of soldiers, most of whom are mindless slaves thanks to an implant in their brains. One of his organizations is the Malleus Shades, Jeth's crew. They are a bunch of teenagers who pull heists to steal ships and metadrives. The metadrive is the technology that allows them to travel light years through space. This technology is highly in demand, so the Shades are busy. Jeth is working for Hammer in hopes of buying his ship back. His profits all go towards Avalon, but he still has years left before he'll be free.

At the beginning of the book, the Shades are running a heist. Everything is going according to plan when they get an unexpected visit from an ITA agent (Like space FBI). He wants them to venture into the Belgraves, the space wasteland where weird stuff happens, in order to retrieve a wrecked ship, the Donerail. In return, Jeth will regain full ownership of Avalon.

Jeth is obviously suspicious of the man, as the ITA killed his parents. He refuses the deal. Soon after, Hammer offers them the same job. After some negotiation, Hammer is willing to give them half the money beforehand...and he will sign the Avalon over to Jeth. The only condition is that they are not supposed to set foot on the abandoned ship.

That seems easy enough. The Donerail has been stranded for two months. There's no way that anyone could have survived. When they reach the ship, however, there are signs of life. Once on board, they notice how it is covered in mysterious holes, some through walls or equipment, even through the crew. They meet the survivors, a teenaged girl and boy, and a younger girl. Jeth takes the trio back on the Avalon. Once there, the mysterious holes start appearing in Avalon's walls and equipment. Soon enough, they are stranded in the Belgraves. They have two choices: call Hammer for help, or call the ITA. The only question is which is the better risk.

I really loved Avalon. A lot of it had to do with how much I loved Jeth. He was such a nice guy, always sacrificing himself to protect his crew. There were times when he brought tears to my eyes, when he was broken down and believed that he would never regain Avalon, would be stuck with Hammer, and worst of all would become one of those brainless soldier. So, I may as well say that Jeth is the best and almost single-handedly made this book great. I'm really looking forward to further adventures from the Malleus Shades, which should be interesting given the plot twists and spoiler action at the end of the book, which I cannot talk about here. I'll just say that it should be interesting and leave it at that.

I received my copy of Avalon from Edelweiss, courtesy of Balzer & Bray. It's available for purchase now.

Splintered by A.G. Howard

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.”

Splintered is an updated version of Alice in Wonderland, one with more grit and unexpected horrors. Horrors along the lines of a skeletal white rabbit, man-eating flowers, and pretty much everything and everyone wants to kill you. I'm always game for a twist on the classics, so I was excited for this book.

Our heroine, Alyssa, is the great-great-great granddaughter of the original Alice. Lewis Carroll based his character on her and the stories she told him of disappearing down the rabbit hole. Alice's life took a turn for the worse in old age. She woke up one day claiming to have spent 75 years trapped in a cage in Wonderland, and was unable to identify her family. Then her grandmother jumped out a window under the belief that she could fly. Now, Alyssa's mother, Alison, resides in a sanatorium. She talks to flowers and insects, dresses like Alice from the story, and only eats or drinks from a teacup.

Ever since hitting puberty, Alyssa has heard the same voices from flowers and insects. She never told anyone because she was afraid to end up in the same place as her mother. After a stressful visit, and news that her mother will be undergoing electroshock therapy, Alyssa is determined to visit Leeds, England, home of the original Alice. She will find the rabbit hole and break the family curse before it destroys her mother, and her as well.

Once Alyssa arrives in Wonderland, things aren't as simple as she'd hoped. First, she accidentally drags along her childhood friend/love of her life Jed. Second, this Wonderland is a far cry from the children's story. Emphasis on the "everyone wants to kill and/or eat you." The biggest obstacle of all is her forgotten childhood friend. He is sort of evil and dark, but also believes in her and her abilities while Jed only tries to protect her all the time. I'm a big fan of the anti-heroes in these books, and I loved Morpheus.

This was a fantastic story. I was very impressed with how well it followed Lewis Carroll's books and turned the details around just enough to be unique. After finishing the book, I read some of the beginning over again, and I was even more impressed with the details I recognized after the fact. Of course, I also love adding to my collection of young adult boyfriends. I don't know why the bad ones are always more attractive than the good ones. (It doesn't hurt that Morpheus is described as having a Cockney accent, so I pictured him as Klaus from The Vampire Diaries, who is my favorite on that show right now) My issues aside, Splintered was a great read and I highly recommend the book for any young adult fan out there.

I received my copy of Splintered from Netgalley, courtesy of Amulet Books. It's available now for purchase.

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

Nobody really knows who Harris Burdick is. The story goes that he dropped off a series of captioned illustrations and promised to drop the stories off later. He was never seen again. The black and white drawings were collected in a picture book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Children used the pictures as a creative writing exercise, making up their own stories for the drawings.

In The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, fourteen authors make up a story to go with the illustrations. The authors range from Gregory Maguire to Lois Lowry to Louis Sachar (I loved Wayside school as a kid!) to Stephen King. Their stories range from funny to slightly creepy to downright scary.

I'm going to finish this off by bursting the bubble: there was never actually a Harris Burdick. It was all a ruse to get kids to use their imaginations. Personally, I wish I could have participated in this exercise as a child, and I sort of still want to give it a try. Lemony Snicket's introduction is just an extra cherry on top, and I hope that any actual children who get their hands on this book find themselves inspired to write some stories as well.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

"The Noise is a man unfiltered, and without a filter, a man is just chaos walking."

Long ago, settlers came to a new planet. They sought out safety and home. The planet was already inhabited by creatures called the Spackle. The Spackle didn't want the people there, so they fought back. They fought back with the germ. First, the germ caused the Noise. Now, every man can hear every other man's thoughts. Not only that, every man can hear every animal's thoughts. Second, the germ killed every woman. In the end, the Spackle were obliterated, but Prentisstown was the only settlement left. It is a town of 146 men and one boy. That boy is Todd Hewitt.

Todd is 30 days away from his 13th birthday, the day when he becomes a man. Until then, the other men exclude him. Todd spends most of his time with his guardians Ben and Cillian and his dog Manchee. One day, Dug and Manchee are looking for swamp apples on the outskirts of town when they come across something surprising: silence, something difficult to come by when you hear the thoughts of every man and beast.

Todd doesn't know what the silence is or what it means, but it's enough for Ben and Cillian to send him off in search of Haven, one of the settlements that no longer exists. It's enough for them to tell him that everything he knows about the history of Prentisstown is a lie. It's enough for Mayor Prentiss and his men to chase him. Imagine that, being chased by someone who can read your mind.

I'm honestly having difficulty writing this review because the book is incredibly awesome and I want to convey that to my reading public. There's exciting chase scenes, action scenes that had me actually crying out loud, and some brutally heartbreaking scenes. Manchee was my favorite, mostly because he reminds me of Dug from Up, though with less "I hid under your porch because I love you" and more poop obsession. It's a pretty realistic interpretation, as realistic as interpretations of talking dogs get anyways. I love how Todd goes from resenting him to loving him throughout the book, it warms my heart.

In the About the Author page, Patrick Ness says that The Knife of Letting Go is about learning to stay yourself when society is trying to change you. Todd is a lot of things, among them proud, angry, bad with grammar and spelling. The men from Presntisstown want him to be just like them, cold and ruthless. Settlers along the way think he's already like them just because of where he's from. From the beginning, Ben taught him to settle his noise by telling himself who he was, "I'm Todd Hewitt." Todd is fairly self assured given his young age and horrible upbringing. Despite the bleak note that the book ends on, I believe that there's still hope that Todd will prevail and I am definitely looking forward to the next books in the trilogy.

"And I think how hope may be the thing that pulls you forward, may be the thing that keeps you going, but that it's dangerous, too, that it's painful and risky, that it's making a dare to the world and when has the world ever let us win a dare?"

American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, and the Birth of Hollywood by Howard Blum

To the rhythm of a time bomb ticking away
And the blare of the sirens combing the streets
Chased down like dogs we run from
Your grasp until the sun comes up

On October 1, 1910, a series of explosions wrecked the Los Angeles Times. Twenty-one died in the fiery wreckage. The tragedy was soon labelled an act of terrorism by the newspaper and its owner, the staunchly anti-union Harrison Gray Otis. The battle of capitalist versus union had divided the country and resulted in violence in several cities. It was considered to be a second civil war.

We toss and turn but don't sleep
Each breath we take makes us thieves
Like causes without rebels
Just talk but promise nothing else

American Lightning tells an interesting story about a little-known event in history. It was a simpler time, back before Facebook and women's liberation. Dames would be waiting to stab your back at every turn and concepts like constitutional rights were as flexible as a rubber band. The story was told on three different fronts with three different characters.

William J. Burns, touted as the American Sherlock Holmes, was the private detective hired to solve "the crime of the century." Burns investigated the bombing. He looked into all leads, capitalist and labor. In the end, he found that the Times bombing linked up with a previous bombing at a train yard in Illinois, then with several more bombings across the country, all at anti-union businesses. Everything pointed back to Jim McNamara, an unsavory type who had planted the bombs...and his brother J.J., an upstanding union leader. Burns sympathized with the union men trying to earn a decent wage, but could not let the slaughter of twenty-one men go unpunished.

D.W. Griffin was a struggling stage actor who decided to try his hand at movies and succeeded. He made many innovations in an age where any movie was groundbreaking and nobody complained if they received yet another silent movie. He helped Burns catch a murder suspect with one of his movies, and influenced unionists and the emerging socialist party to use movies as propaganda to influence the masses.

Clarence Darrow was the activist lawyer trying to quit after a near fatal illness. He is roped into the trial after he realizes that keeping out of it is as good as hanging the McNamara brothers. Darrow soon realizes that there is no way to save his clients, except for a settlement.

In the end, it was a question of whether the cause, really any cause, was great enough to justify the taking of human life. Twenty-one men could either be victims to a misguided cause or casualties in an unjust war.

As Darrow himself said at his own trial for buying jury members,

You may hang these men to the highest tree; you may hang everybody suspected; you may send me to the penitentiary if you will; you may convict the fifty-four men indicted in Indianapolis; but until you go down to fundamental causes, these things will happen over and over again. They will come as the earthquake comes. They will come as lightning comes to destroy the poisonous miasmas that fill the air. We are people responsible for these conditions and we must look results squarely in the face.

We sow the seeds to see us through
Our days are precious and so few
We all reap what we are due