Review: Emperor of Ruin

Emperor of Ruin by Django Wexler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the final book of the Burningblade and Silvereye trilogy that began with Ashes of the Sun. The world building remains an exemplar of the craft that was one of the primary reason for why I loved the first book so much and why I continue to rank the series as a whole so high. The combination of sci-fi and fantasy elements inserted into a dystopian and apocalyptic world was perfectly done and slowly revealed in each installment. The dual magic system of deiat (innate power wielded by The Chosen) and dhaka (learned power wielded by ghouls and dhakim) was a unique take on the concept that was compelling for me. The peoples of the world were well done as well (Chosen, Republic, Independents, Rebels, Ghouls and Plaguespawn) and the interactions realistic and believable. There are a lot of complex ideas and concepts to track, but there is a gloss at the end that helps if you lose the thread.

In this book, we finally get the full story of the fall of the Chosen and the raise of the plaguespawn amid the blasted remains of civilization (again … very well done). From the beginning it hits the floor running picking right up from where the second book left off; unfortunately it starts to drag a bit in the middle as the pieces are all prepped and positioned for the final boss fight (which would have been worse if not for the instant travel permitted by magic gates/portals). I am not a fan of a drawn out finale … so for me the rush to the end was perfect (but admittedly not for everybody) and was pretty much as anticipated well in advance.

Then we get to the characters which I felt were complex and richly developed with the main two (2) being a brother and sister separated at a young age and raised on opposite side of the main conflict and only recently reconciled enough to work together against the greater threat … the Corruptor. The supporting cast was also fun: Kit (Gyre’s wise cracking dead lover, now embodied into a swarm of constructs), Beq (Maya’s alchemist lover), Elariel (an exiled ghoul), Sara (a talented alchemist), Varo Plagueluck (a Republic scout) and Xalen (a socially awkward librarian) that together help keep the whole plot moving just ahead of total failure. For me … the minimal relationship drama and gratuitous violence was perfect for me (rated PG); however, YMMV.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Gospel of Thomas : A Spiritual Road to Wholeness, Peace, and Enlightenment

The Gospel of Thomas : A Spiritual Road to Wholeness, Peace, and Enlightenment by Joseph Lumpkin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Performance: **
Story: ****

Decent information if you are interested in Gnostics and how the Gospel of Thomas intersects with that tradition. Narration was soooo slow it was almost painful. Setting the playback speed to 1.25 helped a lot.

There really isn't enough of the Gospel of Thomas to justify an 8+ hr audio by itself; so the bulk of the book is actually dedicated to filling in context and history of gnostic tradition that is very helpful in understanding and interpreting what is actually in Thomas. Once the foundation is covered, each saying in Thomas is contrasted with gnostic and orthodox traditions, including similar passages in the official christian canon ... which was surprisingly interesting and not as far out there as I was expecting.

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Review: Aztec Odyssey: Historical Action Adventure

Aztec Odyssey: Historical Action Adventure by Jay C. LaBarge
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Performance: ***

Story: **

Nick, a presumed archeologist in Mesoamerican migrations (an apparent excuse to info dump historical tid-bits for the reader but little else) with his new indigenous girlfriend investigates the death of his treasure hunter dad.  A big bad drug runner dreams of restoring the Aztec empire beyond its historical boundaries.  A legendary Aztec treasure, long hidden from Conquistadors … this story has all of the elements for a fun and interesting diversion ...

I did NOT expect the drama (I was hoping for something more like a Cussler action story).  The historical POV was mostly as expected, with a little moral preaching that was a blatant appeal to emotion, but over all pretty decent if you don’t mind revisionist history.  The current day POV (the bulk of the story) was a frat party drama that was totally unexpected and didn’t really appeal to me much.  Not only was there way too much trivial detail and pointless dialogue … which made the story drag significantly (hard to skim over these as an audiobook, but you can tune out a bit).  Seriously … we don’t need all of that background for each character dumped on us all at once (and we def don’t need you to repeat it later).  I suppose that could be somewhat expected in what amounts to an origin story for the main protagonist, but there are enough tropes throw in that the story comes across as a mechanical paint-by-the-numbers piece that was interesting, but lacked any plot tension to really pull the reader/listener into it.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Tyranny of Faith

The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second of a trilogy and was surprisingly better than the first book, the Justice of Kings, where the main characters were introduced in the hinterland of the Empire of the Wolf (an apparent nod to Rome). After thwarting the seditious plot of an obscure priest of the imperial Neman Church (which had a vague resemblance to the early Catholic Church), the heroes head home to the Imperial Capital city of Sova, only to find the Magisterium Order of Justices in disarray and apparently partially subverted by said plot against the empire. Life in the capital is wonderfully complex here and I quite enjoyed the world building here (which seemed to leverage a surprising amount of historical detail that was so gratifying with each new connection made … there was obviously a tremendous amount of background research here and it paid off in spade). Pretty prose and the inclusion and slight modification of archaistic terms and word play added another element of fun for someone that enjoys such.

The world felt like what might have come to pass within the Carolingian Empire if it have the power of magic behind it with the addition of Crusading Knights (specifically the Templars and their rumored history of heretical practices). Additionally the politics and intrigue was gritty AND felt frustratingly realistic at times as we see some of the character flaws of the main characters, to include pride and hubris. All of the main characters are independent of each other and the intersections and relationships easily believable, with some very interesting moral situations briefly explored. What magic had previously been fairly limited, is revealed to be much more powerful, dark and terrifying here, along with 9 levels of hell that seems to be linked to the practice and the larger plot is finally revealed to set up the concluding story coming next. Although hinted at early in the first book, this story gives us a breathtaking ride alongside the fall of the powerful Empire as it destroys itself from within.

By the end, I found the story to have ticked off nearly all of my own personal interests so that the whole trilogy has made it to my favorites list and I can barely wait for the final installment.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Transforming Word Series, Volume 5: Letters to Early Churches: From Romans to Revelation

The Transforming Word Series, Volume 5: Letters to Early Churches: From Romans to Revelation by Mark W. Hamilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the last book of a five (5) volume set with a basic commentary on the Books of the Holy Bible. Organized the same way as the previous four (4) books, this volume introduces the Letters of the New Testament following the Gospels and Acts. The first three (3) chapters give an overview, with chapter three (3) being the odd man out covering the intersection of Religion and Science in a rather confusing mashup (this is the weakest chapter of the book). After then, the work dives into each of the individual letters, starting with Romans. Much like the third volume covering the Prophets were the biblical books are also fairly short, each chapter is also very short with only a general overview of the context and theology of the book examined. 

As with the entire set, these are all from the specific point of view represented by the Stone/Campbell Restorationist tradition with little treatment of any opposing views. It is in short a good place to start, but I continue to recommend using a more detailed commentary with (or after) this work. Some of the individual chapters are a tad repetitive, which was not too surprising given that some of the contributors write about multiple letters. The standard chapter organization of Context, Commentary/Exegesis, Theological Reflections, For Further Study ad Works Cited was not as effective because of how small some of the letters were. As something of a completionist I was very happy with the series as a whole and while not the strongest in the series, this was still very satisfactory.

~ Letters to Early Churches
~ Greco-Roman New Testament Backgrounds
~ Religion & Science
~ Romans
~ 1 Corinthians
~ 2 Corinthians
~ Galatians
~ Ephesians
~ Philippians
~ Colossians
~ 1 Thessalonians
~ 2 Thessalonians
~ 1 Timothy
~ 2 Timothy
~ Titus
~ Philemon
~ Hebrews
~ James
~ 1 Peter
~ 2 Peter
~ 1 John
~ 2 John
~ 3 John
~ Jude
~ Revelation

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Agent G Omnibus, Volume 1

The Agent G Omnibus, Volume 1 by C.T. Phipps
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fun CyberPunk Espionage Story

Performance: ***

Book One: Infiltrator

Story: ****

The story opens with a hit where the target knows more about G and the shadow organization he works for than he should … which starts him thinking about things he shouldn’t be thinking about … especially as he starts his next mission to infiltrate and take down an Italian crime syndicate.  Of course, few things are as the appear on the surface and what follows is a series of betrayals and dubious allies the proves two things … there is no honor among thieves and no plan survives first contact.  At the end of the nearly none stop action you get an unexpected reveal that was actually pretty cool as everything G thinks he knows comes crashing down around him.  Despite the chaos that ensues … G still has a job to do.

Book Two: Saboteur

Story: ****

Same job, different employer … There are a few benefits to working for the US government, not the least of which would be a clean slate legally … if he lives long enough.  Of course, nothing is as easy as it seems when his ex wife is working for the other side.  Ultimately G teams up with an AI to take away power from the corporate oligarchs and their new hatchet man/org … the Invisible Hand.  Regardless … he should know better than to trust anybody, especially the home team.  There are plenty of surprises still in store to make this another fun ride.

Book Three: Assassin

Story: ****

The apocalypse is now here (courtesy of a new volcano in Yellowstone) and G, now going by the name of Case [G]ordon, is called out of his beach retirement to run the show as the Chief Security Office for Atlas Security hoping to put the chaos genie back in the bottle.  The only thing in the way is a former psychotic co-worker (aka A … yes his is a letter too); is anything worse than a cyborg assassin with leverage?  Perhaps an ex-lover who also has leverage?  Can a jaded G navigate between the two and come up smelling like roses while still taking out the trash? If he can keep his sense of wisecracking humor he has a shot.  

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Of Starlight and Bone

Of Starlight and Bone by Emily Layne
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A basic cyborg trope that recycles firefly

The world building starts with a fusion of Japanese and sci-fi dystopia with an outsider YA protagonist who begins the story as a black sheep ember of the elite before diving into the more seedy aspects of life on the rim to find answers to questions about her first and last case as an enforcer. Teaming up with a rogue ship crew with an obvious nod toward the FireFly series (Malachi = Malcom, Bleeders = Reavers, et al), agent Peri stumbles from cluster to cluster reacting to events instead of driving the fairly basic plot. While I am actually a fan of both stories/genres here, the close sync with FireFly was actually more irritating than fun for me ... but it might work better for others. Even with that, we get some reasonably fun casual entertainment from a quick read that is still worth the effort.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Transforming Word Series, Volume 4: Jesus and the Church: Reading the Gospels and Acts

The Transforming Word Series, Volume 4: Jesus and the Church: Reading the Gospels and Acts by Mark W. Hamilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book 4 of a five (5) volume set that tries to provide some context and commentary to the Bible with this book focused on the four (4) Gospels and Acts. Like the other books in the series, each chapter stands on its own, written by different authors from the point of view a scholars in the Christian Restoration (Stone/Campbell) tradition. The first three (3) chapters provide a contextual overview of the time of Christ before diving into the first five (5) books of the New Testament. Once there, each chapter is organized the same way with material groups into: Context, Commentary, Topical Exegesis, Theological Reflections, For Further Study and Works Cited.

It is important to know that this is still a summary commentary and each section generally provides a single interpretation (often with a mention of some of the stronger alternatives). The context and overviews are extremely helpful and you get an excellent feel for how each Gospel is organized and who the target audience was, but you don’t see any in-depth treatment of how the source Greek was interpreted, so this volume would actually be a good companion to a detailed commentary that walks through the Greek instead of something that stands on its own. Still, if you are at all familiar with the text, there aren’t any surprises or controversies here and I highly recommend the entire series.

1. Jesus and the Church
2. The Gospels & Acts
3. New Testament Theology
4. Matthew
5. Mark
6. Luke
7. John
8. Acts of the Apostles

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Thrill Switch

Thrill Switch by Tim Hawken
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Performance: ****
Story: ***

A Solid Cyberpunk Detective Story

The Narration was a solid match for the story/PoV and absolutely made it better. The story itself was actually a fantastic addition to the cyberpunk genre dealing with the intersection of virtual and real existence … kicking off with a real world murder linked to a virtual avatar execution. With a small nod toward the Silence of the Lambs, a LV cop uses periodic interviews with the virtual serial killer know as Switch when a “Spectre Slaughter” copy cat picks up where she left off after being “digitally” confined. Of course … there is a clock for finding the most recent potential victim. The “mind” games are afoot.

While the world building is pretty standard for the genre, it was still well done and entertaining. Then throw in a government conspiracy for just a hint at a dystopian element to the story and the story really finds its own footing beyond its inspiration. Overall there were enough twists and turns to keep the story interesting; however, if you are at all sensitive to coarse language, quasi rape fantasy, and other common triggering scenarios, you may want to give this a pass … although I did NOT find these to be gratuitous, some did make me a bit uncomfortable …

My biggest complaint on this book a general disappointment with the ending.  

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Archangel: The Book of Mammon

Archangel: The Book of Mammon by Black Mike
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A solid urban fantasy that leverages the christian mythos well. You get angels and demons in a quasi police procedural vs powerful oligarchs driven be greed (aka mammon). The story itself doesn’t really go into much detail about anything, but that is actually a strength because the story moves along nicely and doesn’t get bogged down anywhere. It is also what prevents the story from being exceptional … in that the story doesn’t really wander far from a fairly predictable plot-line. Still, it is better than most in this niche genre, so I am rounding up my score and will probably pick up the sequel if and when it comes out.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: The Transforming Word Series, Volume 3: The Prophets: From Isaiah to Malachi

The Transforming Word Series, Volume 3: The Prophets: From Isaiah to Malachi by Mark W. Hamilton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Book 3 of a five (5) volume set that tries to provide some context and commentary to the Bible (OT) with this book focused on the Prophets; a collection of writings with a penchant for highly symbolic language that can be tricky for the modern audience to interpret. The series is well organized, with each book starting with an overview of the topic and what to expect. I highly recommend the entire series, although the work has a bias toward the Christian Restoration tradition (where I am very comfortable).

This book includes an introduction of who and what were the Prophets along with a brief summary of how they were redacted and used. Each chapter is written by a different author and point of view that covers a specific prophet and includes Contexts, Commentary, Superscription, Theological Reflections, For Further Study and Works Cited. In the middle each author breaks down the writing into topical blocks for exegesis with a generous number of call outs for better understanding of concepts that might not be familiar today. Isaiah and Jeremiah are by far the bulk of the book, taking up almost half. Once you get into the minor prophets, the context and commentary (or generally summary) is probably as important as the detailed interpretation of the actual text, which is very short.

1. Reading the Prophets
2. Old Testament Prophecy
3. The Bible & Literature
4. Isaiah
5. Jeremiah
6. Lamentations
7. Ezekiel
8. Daniel
9. Hosea
10. Joel
11. Amos
12. Obadiah
13. Jonah
14. Micah
15. Nahum
16. Habakkuk
17. Zephaniah
18. Haggai
19. Zechariah
20. Malachi

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Dark Redemption (A Shattered World Novel): Contractors: Book One

Dark Redemption (A Shattered World Novel): Contractors: Book One by Justin Miles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Story: ****

Performance: ***

Looking forward to the next installment.

This looks like the first story set in the Shattered Worlds and followed a pair of “Contractors” tasked with a “delivery” to give of a travelogue of sorts through the Shattered Words … which appear to be parallel dimensions where the shattered beings (magic folk) live.  There are six (6) types of shattered:  Fae, Shifters, Mages, Vampires, god[ling]s and Demons and I found each very interesting.  So too was the idea that the veil responsible for keeping humans (norms) and shattered apart was created by none other than Merlin.  World-building +1 *

The story itself alternated between flashbacks to fill in the backstory of the two (2) protagonists: Logan (seer/changeling) and Sam (outlaw/hybrid fae) working as contractors (seems like a cross between messenger and fixer).  Seers are basically human hybrids (human/shattered) who seem to have slipped through the cracks of Merlin’s treaty limits, so they are frequently indentured (aka enslaved) to one shattered faction or another.  Logan is currently free, after escaping from the “Institute” that created him … adding another group to his revenge “list.”  Seers ascend through the power of a shattered and “spiritually” bound with a shattered soul? spirit? something.  Under extreme conditions (threat of death), Seers will manifest additional abilities … making them monsters of a sort (reminded me of the heroes tv show).  Except Logan is no typical seer ...

Ok … the downside:  the narration was a little too forced and came across unnatural (just a touch better than having Alexa read it).  The prose/storyline itself was a bit mechanical, but not bad for what appears to be a debut effort.  On the plus side, the author did not make any of the mistakes that I often find in first efforts either … so props for that.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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