Title: Bred
Author: Darryl Branning
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Demel was bred for power, born into slavery, and lives in the city of sorcery. His talent for remaining unnoticed allows him to grow into, and master, his power. But when he frees himself from a powerful control curse, he releases a storm of events which threatens all of Lyn. Demel, and his sometimes reluctant allies, are the only ones who can stop a thousand years of violence and oppression."
Source: I purchased this myself.
Review: This book was really good. My housework got done late today, because of this book.
It wasn't quite perfect. There was some world building and politic details that played big parts in the finale scenes that I thought should have been foreshadowed earlier. And despite the professional editor, there was quite a few edits missed. The beginning wandered a little bit, for my tastes.
Oh, and I am not happy with the author about one of Thamus' actions. (You'll know it when you read it.) *shakes menacing finger*
...and YET. The narrator, the characters, the world, the plot were all engaging and active enough that I didn't care about the "defects" and was glued to my ereader. I really liked all of it. I found some of the characters complex and some straightforward, yet only as I wished. (Characters I wanted to be straightforward were, and characters I didn't mind being twisty were.)
The world was quite fascinating. I really liked what the author did with the Prologue and Epilogue set-up, although I didn't "get it" until the Epilogue.
And I had to laugh, my apologies to the author, at the Glossary. It was useful, though still missed a couple titles I wanted better explanations for, but there was one part that looked like something Branning meant to go back to and fix before publishing and didn't. Namely, the wrong name of a father's character beside the son's name with a ? beside it. The name with ? was the name of one of the gods, but the father was correctly named in his own listing.
Don't worry, I've done it myself. Still, having been there, I did have to giggle.
Anyways. Despite my minor issues with some of it that might have meant a 4 or 4.5 otherwise, any book that holds on to my attention the way this one did once I was about a third of the way in deserves 5 Fireballs. This author has another novel, which is awesomely free, that I totally just grabbed and will read soon.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Review: "Pursuit of Darkness" by Jeff Gillenkirk
Title: Pursuit of Darkness
Author: Jeff Gillenkirk
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Could vampires take over the US government? They already have. Washington Post reporter Nate Hallberg uncovers the startling reality that American politics has been controlled by vampires for more than 200 years. "Pursuit of Darkness" follows Hallberg's heroic struggle to overcome his own personal demons while exposing the evil at the heart of our political system. They want more than your vote!"
Source: I purchased this myself.
Review: The premise was what drew me. I have NO problem believing that vampires run politics! And I liked the idea of mixing politics and the preternatural -- anyone who reads my Adelheid series knows what. I felt like this would kind of be The West Wing meets Dracula. I liked that idea.
The writing is very competent. Words are put together well, though the author had a slightly disturbing habit of getting fascinated with details I didn't really care about. (Like, mixing in some street names to give a location feel is fine, but there were so many location/driving details and other things that it got a little dense for my tastes.)
I did not finish this book, though, and I doubt I will. It had interest for me, but the author has a disconcerting habit of writing "impact" endings to scenes and chapters -- like with dramatic questions -- and then hopping to the next scene, without having finished the other, and offering no explanation for how the character reacted.
Like... there's a scene where Drees asks Hallberg, "Do the cops know who Moises Rodriguez is?" -- or something like that -- and it's dramatic, it's impact. Then the next chapter opens with Hallberg somewhere else, day or more later, doing something else, and there's only one line somewhere pages ahead referring to the question Drees asked but never to Hallberg's answer, or even his full reaction.
There were a few places like this, and they bothered me. Maybe if I felt like there was some purpose and promise to it, like it would be unfolded later or there was a specific reason it dropped off, but I was a third of the way through and didn't feel like I had any of that. That made it feel like... kind of cheap grabs for attention, and that bothered me.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was explained later, and I'm depriving myself of it by not slugging it out, but I'm worried that I'm right and I'll end up finishing the book, being very frustrated. It wasn't holding my interest enough for that, so unfortunately this gets the default DNF 1 Fireball.
Other readers may not mind the impact/drop-off scenes the way I did and may find this a great book. I wish them well. It just didn't do it for me.
Author: Jeff Gillenkirk
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Could vampires take over the US government? They already have. Washington Post reporter Nate Hallberg uncovers the startling reality that American politics has been controlled by vampires for more than 200 years. "Pursuit of Darkness" follows Hallberg's heroic struggle to overcome his own personal demons while exposing the evil at the heart of our political system. They want more than your vote!"
Source: I purchased this myself.
Review: The premise was what drew me. I have NO problem believing that vampires run politics! And I liked the idea of mixing politics and the preternatural -- anyone who reads my Adelheid series knows what. I felt like this would kind of be The West Wing meets Dracula. I liked that idea.
The writing is very competent. Words are put together well, though the author had a slightly disturbing habit of getting fascinated with details I didn't really care about. (Like, mixing in some street names to give a location feel is fine, but there were so many location/driving details and other things that it got a little dense for my tastes.)
I did not finish this book, though, and I doubt I will. It had interest for me, but the author has a disconcerting habit of writing "impact" endings to scenes and chapters -- like with dramatic questions -- and then hopping to the next scene, without having finished the other, and offering no explanation for how the character reacted.
Like... there's a scene where Drees asks Hallberg, "Do the cops know who Moises Rodriguez is?" -- or something like that -- and it's dramatic, it's impact. Then the next chapter opens with Hallberg somewhere else, day or more later, doing something else, and there's only one line somewhere pages ahead referring to the question Drees asked but never to Hallberg's answer, or even his full reaction.
There were a few places like this, and they bothered me. Maybe if I felt like there was some purpose and promise to it, like it would be unfolded later or there was a specific reason it dropped off, but I was a third of the way through and didn't feel like I had any of that. That made it feel like... kind of cheap grabs for attention, and that bothered me.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it was explained later, and I'm depriving myself of it by not slugging it out, but I'm worried that I'm right and I'll end up finishing the book, being very frustrated. It wasn't holding my interest enough for that, so unfortunately this gets the default DNF 1 Fireball.
Other readers may not mind the impact/drop-off scenes the way I did and may find this a great book. I wish them well. It just didn't do it for me.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Review: Bunch o' Shorts
I read some short stories today that were too short to feel like I should dedicate a whole review, so I'm writing one review to include all three!
Title: Medusa V. Athena
Author: Alan Leddon
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Based on the extant mythology, this short book written in the style of a legal brief covers the grievances of Medusa - once the most beautiful woman in all of Greece - against the Goddess Athena, whom Medusa alleges assaulted and mutilated her!"
Source: I purchased it on my own.
Review: This was the shortest of the three I read, only about eight pages on my e-reader, but given the legalese style, that's just fine! It was very quirky for those who know and enjoy mythology, and unique takes on them. I give it 4 Fireballs.
Title: Faster than Light: The Fallen Goddess
Author: Malcolm Pierce
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "The first in a series of short stories about the I.S.S. Fenghuang, the last faster-than-light starship in the galaxy, and its crew of rebels determined to reunite humanity."
Source: I purchased it on my own.
Review: This one is a little harder to judge. I really liked the idea and concepts. I found that and elements of the story to be fascinating. I also liked the "weave-ins" (the italicized segments) in between chapters. But the story itself I struggled with because I didn't feel the characterization was done very well. I found Seth thoroughly unlikable, Caitlin tolerable, and everyone else to be a bit too flat to be engaged with. Details about the characters released too late in the story to hook onto, and not enough of it for any of them to have the "big" speeches and actions towards the end have the emotional hook they should have, with the exception of Sam. So, I'd like to score it higher for creativity, but it just didn't hook me. I don't know if my curiosity is enough to carry me to other books in the series, but it was intriguing, so I might. So, I give it a 2.5 Fireballs.
Title: Firebird
Author: Drew Beatty
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "In space, Zombies still hunger for brains."
Source: I purchased it on my own.
Review: This one has the best summary. And I liked it. There was a casualness to the more brutal/gruesome scenes that made it rather horrific, and zombies in space is great. Mop of Death FTW. The beginning moved a little slow for me, took a bit too hook me in, and the perspective shifting was kind of odd... I still would have liked to have met the character we ended with at the beginning in some form. It also didn't feel like it had a climax. It just built, then ended. Still, it was a fun (such as zombie fiction is) short story. Another one that makes me want a 3.75 rating, but since I'm not sure I can say I really liked it, I have to go with a 3.5 Fireballs. But I think I may well be checking out more of Beatty's work.
Title: Medusa V. Athena
Author: Alan Leddon
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Based on the extant mythology, this short book written in the style of a legal brief covers the grievances of Medusa - once the most beautiful woman in all of Greece - against the Goddess Athena, whom Medusa alleges assaulted and mutilated her!"
Source: I purchased it on my own.
Review: This was the shortest of the three I read, only about eight pages on my e-reader, but given the legalese style, that's just fine! It was very quirky for those who know and enjoy mythology, and unique takes on them. I give it 4 Fireballs.
* * *
Title: Faster than Light: The Fallen Goddess
Author: Malcolm Pierce
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "The first in a series of short stories about the I.S.S. Fenghuang, the last faster-than-light starship in the galaxy, and its crew of rebels determined to reunite humanity."
Source: I purchased it on my own.
Review: This one is a little harder to judge. I really liked the idea and concepts. I found that and elements of the story to be fascinating. I also liked the "weave-ins" (the italicized segments) in between chapters. But the story itself I struggled with because I didn't feel the characterization was done very well. I found Seth thoroughly unlikable, Caitlin tolerable, and everyone else to be a bit too flat to be engaged with. Details about the characters released too late in the story to hook onto, and not enough of it for any of them to have the "big" speeches and actions towards the end have the emotional hook they should have, with the exception of Sam. So, I'd like to score it higher for creativity, but it just didn't hook me. I don't know if my curiosity is enough to carry me to other books in the series, but it was intriguing, so I might. So, I give it a 2.5 Fireballs.
* * *
Title: Firebird
Author: Drew Beatty
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "In space, Zombies still hunger for brains."
Source: I purchased it on my own.
Review: This one has the best summary. And I liked it. There was a casualness to the more brutal/gruesome scenes that made it rather horrific, and zombies in space is great. Mop of Death FTW. The beginning moved a little slow for me, took a bit too hook me in, and the perspective shifting was kind of odd... I still would have liked to have met the character we ended with at the beginning in some form. It also didn't feel like it had a climax. It just built, then ended. Still, it was a fun (such as zombie fiction is) short story. Another one that makes me want a 3.75 rating, but since I'm not sure I can say I really liked it, I have to go with a 3.5 Fireballs. But I think I may well be checking out more of Beatty's work.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Review: "Where the Dead Talk" by Ken Davis
Title: Where the Dead Talk
Author: Ken Davis
Available: Kindle
Summary: "Out past the towns and villages of Colonial Massachusetts lies a lake, black and icy and deep.
When night settles on the deep woods, when the wind sings a mournful song through the trees, voices can sometimes be heard, rising from its still surface: voices of the lost, voices of the damned, voices of the dead.
When tragedy unlocks the terrifying secret of the lake, when revolution explodes across the countryside, the doorway to Hell opens a crack and the dead begin to rise."
Source: I purchased this on my own.
Review: This is my second experience with Davis' work. I have also read his Array'd in Flames. I liked it, but I did have some issues with it. I'm happy to say that I did not have the same issues with this one. I felt for the characters and cared what happened to them all. Between both books, Davis has a real gift for creating atmosphere of the setting. He certainly did in this one, too.
Apparently I work in trends, since this is another New England story and you really got the feel for it, as well for the time period.
I liked it, a lot. I don't really have much to say about it, though. Something about it didn't quite stand out in my head to absolutely rave about it, so it's not quite a five but I didn't really have any issues with it. I did get kind of confused trying to keep threads from the back stories straight, who did who wrong at what time and in what way kind of stuff. But aside from that, it was good. I give it 4.5 Fireballs.
Author: Ken Davis
Available: Kindle
Summary: "Out past the towns and villages of Colonial Massachusetts lies a lake, black and icy and deep.
When night settles on the deep woods, when the wind sings a mournful song through the trees, voices can sometimes be heard, rising from its still surface: voices of the lost, voices of the damned, voices of the dead.
When tragedy unlocks the terrifying secret of the lake, when revolution explodes across the countryside, the doorway to Hell opens a crack and the dead begin to rise."
Source: I purchased this on my own.
Review: This is my second experience with Davis' work. I have also read his Array'd in Flames. I liked it, but I did have some issues with it. I'm happy to say that I did not have the same issues with this one. I felt for the characters and cared what happened to them all. Between both books, Davis has a real gift for creating atmosphere of the setting. He certainly did in this one, too.
Apparently I work in trends, since this is another New England story and you really got the feel for it, as well for the time period.
I liked it, a lot. I don't really have much to say about it, though. Something about it didn't quite stand out in my head to absolutely rave about it, so it's not quite a five but I didn't really have any issues with it. I did get kind of confused trying to keep threads from the back stories straight, who did who wrong at what time and in what way kind of stuff. But aside from that, it was good. I give it 4.5 Fireballs.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Review: "Wood Spirit - A New England Horror Story" by Johanna Frappier
Title: Wood Spirit - A New England Horror Story
Author: Johanna Frappier
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Sebastian Park, hack ghost hunter, is called to Peachtree, Vermont, to help rid them of a black, aggressive mist that the townspeople believe to be a negative entity. When it comes to paranormal investigations, Sebastian is used to being the ringmaster in a circus full of clowns. But when he has the first nightmare and suffers the entity himself then begins to have urges to gnaw on the girl at the local diner, he regrets his career choice and his cross-country trek to the nightmarish, little New England town."
Source: I purchased this on my own.
Review: On a nitpicking note, this story could have used a better edit-through to pick up a wealth of dropped quotation marks around dialogue, as well as other typos. The EPUB file - I don't know if it did this in other files - also did something really weird for the last fifty pages that made it strange to read.
Aside from that, however... this was a pretty good story. It doesn't quite stand out to me enough to rave about it, but it was engaging and funny, incredible gross in some parts (but it was a horror story). Being a hard core New England resident, I really liked that aspect of it. Park was an interesting character.
I'm not a fan of stories that bounce between Third and First person, so the few Third Person interludes -- which seemed overall kind of needless to me -- didn't do the story any favors, and I thought that the ending was way too abrupt. I wanted more there.
But otherwise, it was a good story and an easy read if you're looking for a horror story. I was able to read it in one day and never found myself doubting my desire to finish it. So, I'm giving it 4 Fireballs.
Author: Johanna Frappier
Available: Smashwords
Summary: "Sebastian Park, hack ghost hunter, is called to Peachtree, Vermont, to help rid them of a black, aggressive mist that the townspeople believe to be a negative entity. When it comes to paranormal investigations, Sebastian is used to being the ringmaster in a circus full of clowns. But when he has the first nightmare and suffers the entity himself then begins to have urges to gnaw on the girl at the local diner, he regrets his career choice and his cross-country trek to the nightmarish, little New England town."
Source: I purchased this on my own.
Review: On a nitpicking note, this story could have used a better edit-through to pick up a wealth of dropped quotation marks around dialogue, as well as other typos. The EPUB file - I don't know if it did this in other files - also did something really weird for the last fifty pages that made it strange to read.
Aside from that, however... this was a pretty good story. It doesn't quite stand out to me enough to rave about it, but it was engaging and funny, incredible gross in some parts (but it was a horror story). Being a hard core New England resident, I really liked that aspect of it. Park was an interesting character.
I'm not a fan of stories that bounce between Third and First person, so the few Third Person interludes -- which seemed overall kind of needless to me -- didn't do the story any favors, and I thought that the ending was way too abrupt. I wanted more there.
But otherwise, it was a good story and an easy read if you're looking for a horror story. I was able to read it in one day and never found myself doubting my desire to finish it. So, I'm giving it 4 Fireballs.
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