Come join us Down the Rabbit Hole - Riverbend’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club
In fantasy we often find tropes that send characters through magic doors or spiraling down magic rabbit holes. When they emerge on the other side they are greeted by a fantastical world so unlike their own, they can only stare and gape in wonder and amazement - or confusion and fear, depending on the situation. Regardless, they are torn out of the real world and thrust into adventure. Every book is a door into another world, and every time we open a book’s pages and begin to read we are thrust into adventure and wonderment. If pure escapism is what you need in your life, we recommend joining Riverbend’s Fantasy book club. Take that step, slip down the rabbit hole!
Down The Rabbit Hole is facilitated by Diana Cartwright, and runs every month on the third Wednesday (approximately) at 6pm. The annual fee is $120.00, which includes 10% off anything you buy on bookclub night.
DATES FOR 2026
READING IN FEBRUARY
Dream Hotel
by Laila Lalami
In a world without privacy, what is the cost of freedom?
Sara is returning home from a conference abroad when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside at the airport and inform her that she will commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, their algorithm has determined that she presents an imminent risk to the person she loves most, and must now be transferred to a retention centre for twenty-one days to lower her risk score.
But when Sara arrives at Madison to be observed alongside other dangerous dreamers, it soon becomes clear that getting home to her family is going to cost more than just three weeks of good behaviour. And as every minor misdemeanour, every slight deviation from the rules, adds time to her stay, she begins to wonder if there might be more here than first meets the eye.
Then, one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and setting off a chain of events that lead Sara on a collision course with the companies that have deprived her of her freedom.
The Dream Hotel is a gripping speculative mystery about the seductive dangers of the technologies that are supposed to make our lives easier. As terrifying as it is inventive, it explores how much we can ever truly know those around us - even with the most invasive surveillance systems in place.
A gripping, Kafkaesque foray into an all-too-plausible future ... An elegant meditation on identity, motherhood, and what we sacrifice, unthinkingly, for the sake of convenience — JENNIFER EGAN
Extraordinary ... More than just a political warning; the book is an exploration of the psyche itself, the strange ungovernable forces of fate and emotion that make us human — RUMAAN ALAM
What we've read so far
