Review: Still Falling

Still Falling by Martin Wilsey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The First Part of a Larger Story
Book: **
Performance: ****

The best I can say about this book is that I didn’t hate it. As stories go it was ok despite a general lacking of craft (the MC was pretty over the top with a lot of exposition slowing everything down). Fortunately I rather liked the MC and the narration made it fun to listen to. Each chapter begins with an unexplained extract from what appears to be some form of inquest … that hits at some form of disaster that the MC, and his trust AI sidekick, were involved in … then it jumps into the fantastic tale of Barcus (the MC) who is the “sole” survivor of an ambush of his survey ship by unknown planetary defenses who crash lands on the planet and has to hide from the native humans hunting him in sky ships that seem to just be transports for mercs on horseback Fortunately Barcus has a super, if mysterious, AI (that is pretty sketch … echos of HAL here) and two huge, advanced robotic machines that make him pretty much invincible (when he is riding in them at least). This of course allows him to pontificate at length about the bad guys … who were truly bad … and I am sure there is a reason, but it is not really explored here. Mostly this all allows him to add to his graphic, and rather gratuitous, body count (‘cause that is what you do with bad guys). There is also the expected love interest taken from the natives and a whole mess of anger and navel gazing that was mildly entertaining most of the time. So … basically you get a survival story that is entirely predictable that brings right up to where you might expect some conflict resolution … and then stops (with a whole bunch of questions waiting for the sequel).

In addition to the decent narration, the only thing that saved the story here was the world building … it was actually interesting if not well presented or explained. There is an apparent social hierarchy that resembles feudalism with “keepers” at the top and ignorant quasi-slaves (or serfs if you will) at the bottom and very little mobility … or recourse for abuse by those in the higher cast. It can be presumed that the keepers are the ones using (and perhaps trying to maintain) what technology remains on the planet, but it is pretty much a mystery how they tie into the planetary defenses that took out the scout ship (and the 2000 souls onboard) so quickly. All in all … this has the feel of being just the setup to a larger story that might be interesting enough to continue just to find out some of the answers … may be.

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: Blue Descent

Blue Descent by David Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ***

All the elements were there for a casual summer read that was entertaining, but not particularly deep. The narration made it easy to just let the story develop from a simple mystery to some more … paranormal. Not exactly believable, but still interesting and fun way to pass the time with a little treasure hunting mixed in with a few legends (rumors of the fountain of youth and monster sea creatures play a significant role here) and conspiracies (standard missing persons) that sort of magically all work out (almost predictably). That also makes it easy to come and go pretty much at will and not really miss much. As an intro to the series, it was okay … a little choppy, but a good introduction to the characters and story telling style that might be hit or miss for some folks.

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

#BlueDescent #DaneMaddock #FreeAudiobookCodes

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Review: The Librarian Gladiator: Book One of the Tallindran Trilogy

The Librarian Gladiator: Book One of the Tallindran Trilogy by Dustin Bilyk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ****

A slightly different twist on a classic trope

Despite the somewhat provocative title, it was the dark world building premise that I found interesting enough to pick up the story … of course, high stakes, tourney style combat has been done before; but I had not yet encountered one where the penalty for the loser was the sacrifice of the entire family line and I was interested in how the author would implement this. Over all, this was a pretty entertaining story, first introducing our “librarian” hero as one of the selected four (4) before cramming a ton of action, adventure, mystery and surprises into the few days before the combat. 

The characters were well developed, if prone to some of the typical navel gazing that drives me to distraction (oh no I don’t want anything at all to do with that mysterious power that guarantees I can not die today cause it is just too scary or evil or what ever). The story does throw in a few good monsters that actually become an important part of the plot and a solid resolution at the end … with an obvious lead in to the next book (but this story is reasonably complete). All in all, the story would be a good 3.5 and the solid narration makes it easy to round up.

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: MARSHAL OLIVER BLACKSTONE: Oliver's Gold

MARSHAL OLIVER BLACKSTONE: Oliver's Gold by Riano D. McFarland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: ****

The story itself was pretty much as expected for the genre; strong, mysterious and rugged man facing some threat that prevents him from winning his love interest … in this case, it is the marshal’s reputation and all of the young guns trying to win a name by taking him out … and a young lady who doesn’t quite fit into the Boston High Society her daddy’s wealth brings. Over all … it is a fell good tale that follows a well worn and very predictable path. The characters are all too good to be true, but are fun none-the-less (especially Oliver). Here there are two basic plots … how Oliver can become wealthy enough to “deserve” his lady love (which doesn’t hit home for me at all) and how to keep the danger from his violent past from breaking in on his new life of retirement. 

So the first half of the story is focused on trying to keep his history as a western marshal a secret (which is a bit of a stretch … with a bit of a genie out of the bottle problem that never really gets solved). The second half of the story is Oliver chasing his gold to solve the wealth problem. The story moves quickly here and there is enough hand waving to prevent any buildup before we get to the anticipated climax. All of that considered, the narration was quite good and makes this a fun distraction worth the effort.

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

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