Review: Relics of Tomorrow

Relics of Tomorrow by Brandon Cleland
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: **

A Very Simple Trope filled Dystopian Story

It is a basic coming of age story in a dystopian world that is divided into levels according to net worth. A young, orphaned thief, dreams of making it to a level above the smog where he can ditch the O2 mask and see the sun. Of course … there is something special about the young hooligan … who eventually teams up it a shape changing alien who becomes something of a mentor for the “big league” of possession liberation. There is a little force humor between the pair as they have encounter a few mishaps in each caper/heist, but nothing too unbelievable (and or unexpected). The story does come across as something of a “paint-by-the-numbers” piece all the way to the end (which was a tad on the rabbit/hat or comic book style). Overall it was entertaining, but fairly forgettable.

The Narration was pretty basic. The reader struggled to differentiate character voices, especially for women, and there was something off that made the delivery feel awkward and unnatural to me. It was not so bad that I couldn’t tolerate it, but it did highlight the rather formulaic nature of the story to the point of amusement.

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

#RelicsOfTomorrow #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited


View all my reviews

Review: Homecoming

Homecoming by Jude Austin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: ****

The Cleanup from Book One

We get a little bit more world-building … which is basically just a SciFi veneer over today, with such weirdness as parking-lot asteroids and cryo-sleep for a three (3) day trip. Generally it is more of the same with Kata and Tau now on the run where they encounter more bad guys that want to take advantage of their unique abilities (mostly Kata). There is less violence, but impact of that experience lingers throughout the story here and gets a little long in the tooth towards the end (and less interesting as it devolves into a pseudo courtroom drama). The biggest issue was that it moved sooo slowly that it was hard to stay focused.

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

#Homecoming #Project #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: Project Tau

Project Tau by Jude Austin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ****

An Interesting Clone Story

The world building in this story was interesting if a bit simplistic and anachronistic at times. The primary theme revolves around human cloning … called Projects … that are grown and used in place of humans in dangerous environments (mines) and experiments that have apparently greatly benefited humanity in general, but these clones are always property, treated more or less like animals. But they are hugely expensive and the labs that grow them operate on a very slim margin … so when the opportunity to pass off a human as a project lands in front of the lab executives, they just can’t pass that up … and Kalin becomes project Kata … with skills and abilities no Project has ever had before if only they can “break” his independent streak. And that is where the story turns very dark, especially for a YA genre.

When Project Kata is thrown in with Project Tau (an actual, advanced human clone), the interactions provide a backdrop to explore what is means to be human … and what it means for a human to be reduced to mere property (think chattel slavery). There is also a dimension of human psychology with respect to how these projects are trained (aka broken) that provides an opportunity to highlight the effects of abuse and violence, both physical and mental, that was designed to dehumanize the subjects (not human and clone) and how those in authority can justify their inhuman behavior. It all seemed plausible given my understanding of human history and psychology; although to be honest, I found the focus here a little difficult to take at times, but the protagonists were very sympathetic characters and I was pulling for them the entire time while anticipating a better situation at the end …

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

#ProjectTau #Project #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: The Thirteenth Koyote

The Thirteenth Koyote by Kristopher Triana
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Book: *
Performance: ***

NSFW-DNF-TW Graphic Torture, Sex and Violence

I don’t know what I was thinking; I was obviously not familiar enough with the splatter sub-genres. First, I should say that if you are even remotely triggered about anything, this book is definitely not for you. Second, the graphic descriptions also make this audible not-safe-for-work (or any place public really). This was an 11 of 10 score for gratuitous, and mostly gross, depictions of torture, sex and violence that I really … Really … REALLY did NOT care for. I am sure there was a stock plot in there somewhere, something to do with outlaw werewolves, but it was hard for me to find amid all the blood and gore. I get it … they are some really bad dudes … I don’t need to be hit over the head with that in virtually every paragraph. I made it about 50% before I quit … and that is saying something for an audiobook (I can count on one hand the number I was not able to gut it out to the end). Now … if you will excuse me … I need a shower.

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

#TheThirteenthKoyote #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: Host: Systemic - Book 2

Host: Systemic - Book 2 by Chris Lodwig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ****

A Solid Second Act to Systemic

This book is the sequel to Systemic, previously reviewed here; which, although Host can stand alone, you will get more out of it is you read Systemic first.

It picks up the story some 300 years after Systemic, when the Global AI that controlled humanity went silent … known within the story as the Great Calming. The process by which the AI had been governed in how it “guided” and protected humanity was preserved in enduring printouts documenting how decisions should be approached … and the “System” has been preserved by academics dedicated to that purpose and teaching it to the folks in the outlying villages (aka nodes). As time passes, the new wetware system has degraded, but questions (heretics) about the process as not tolerated (Bridgers). Strangely, for a world that seems to have its initial foundation in tech, it appears to be stuck in an almost Luddite stasis, unable to advance or otherwise change despite its evident on going decline. 

Into this world, we get our main PoV, a young neurodivergent and naive girl (Reyan) who questions everything. This allows a slow reveal/world-building as Reyan struggles to make sense of her world and what her place in it should be … and it helps that she is presented in such a way that it is very hard not to like her. Did I mention this was a slow start? Despite my own fascination with the apparent convergence of IT lingo/slang and structure (I am an IT profession, so that was an easy sale), it is still very slow going at first and relatively easy to put down and come back later until we get past the halfway mark. At that point the action picks up and pulls you through he rest of the story until the end (which I did NOT see coming).

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

#Host #Systemc #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited

View all my reviews

Review: METAL

METAL by J.F. Lawrence
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: ****

An Apocalyptic Military Fantasy

What happens if 7 of the most critical metals suddenly “rust” into nothing but “ash?” It was an interesting premise and the author infers that the story is based upon actual science … so let get this out of the way up front. The science doesn’t work like that; but it is the details of the science that trip up the plot, so it was relatively easy to give it a pass. What remains is a fairly decent military fantasy as the MC drives the almost non-stop action toward overcoming the contagion unleashed by a bioterrorist looking to “reset” humanity. The the primary plot is to figure out what the disease actually are (with a few head fakes thrown in) and then engineer a solution to save a world that has already burned down around them? Don't think about that too hard, you'll get a cramp. There is of course the requisite “hot” female spec ops character that drives this rather typical male fantasy, along with a few supporting characters to make this a character driven story … which also means we get a fair amount of navel gazing by the MC … but not enough to actually derail the fun. Unfortunately for me the low brow humor and 'good ole boy' euphemisms does get a bit old by the end. Still, with 14 hours of near nonstop action it’s worth a listen.

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

#Metal #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: Shikaree

Shikaree by M.J. Oelkers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the second of the Arnstead series; and the first that I have actually read. Although the MC of the first reappears here, he is primarily a support character in this work that is focused on a new MC PoV that actually seemed to be a more sympathetic protagonist just struggling to survive (as such, it can easily stand on its own, but I enjoyed the world enough to go back and read the first if I still had Kindle Unlimited). Here we also get a standard fantasy trope of a long vanished “magical” civilization now only known for their surviving artifacts and powerful relics (which drive the treasure hunter plot). 

I am sure I missed out on some of the world-building that was probably presented in the first book (likely covering much of the various races that inhabit the world and possibly more about the Ones Who Came Before aka demons), there was still quite a lot still happening here, as the MC and friends spend a fair amount of time in the World Below, leaving enough of a mystery to make it very interesting, along with the accelerating action in the back half of the book that made the book hard to put down until you get to a fairly satisfying ending. It all fit together quite well within the solid storytelling craft to make this a stand out achievement. Maybe the next installment will pick up the story of Chandra’s “blind” acolyte buddy for a peek at yet another aspect of the world.

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

#Shikaree #TheArnsteadChronicles #LibraryThing

View all my reviews

Review: Knee-Deep in Cinders

Knee-Deep in Cinders by Ashley Capes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A quick, dark fantasy where the protagonist with a burning hatred and desire for revenge against his jailers who committed a genocide against his people in attempt to steal their magical power (with some very limited success). As such, despite the tease of a redemption arc, it took a bit before I started to like the main character (and his weird sense of honor that demanded only he could be allowed to extract vengeance on his enemies. The supporting characters were also well done and easier to love, but the story seemed too short to develop them much in this fast moving story. What carried the book here was solid world building, some slight-of-hand with the antagonists, and the slow reveal of the MC backstory that made for an interesting mystery … and a stunner of an ending … all told by an author who is very good at his craft (so keep a eye out for future works by Ashley Capes).

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

#KneeDeepInCinders #LibraryThing

View all my reviews

Review: Gaze of the Burning Eye: Covenant of Three Keys, Book One

Gaze of the Burning Eye: Covenant of Three Keys, Book One by JD McKelvin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This review was a long time coming … and I wish I could blame it on the size; at just over 600 pages, it is a fairly big book; which was only significant because it was also a wick slow and somewhat boring for most of that. It started with a good premise … a little fantasy power struggle between European Rus and what appears to be an arabian empire (where Djinn play a prominent role), but all of the characters were simply horrible and unlikable with a significant amount of unnecessarily course and graphic violence (including rape and other physical abuse). In fact, a good portion of the first part of the book simply follows the capture and slavery of a Rus princess that really adds little to the over all plot … which I am still not clear on, but seems to involve magic Djinn and a mysterious burning eye in the sky that also appears to add nothing to the story except the title track. 

There are a few places where we see a little action, but that all seems to be resolved and over way to soon and way too easily, giving the impression that this is just a long lead up to a totally different story in the next book. I am sure it all makes sense in the author’s head, but he seems to struggle here to get it all down on paper (so to speak), and that makes it easy for the reader to lose focus (and take 6 times longer to actually finish the story that it should have).

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

#GazeOfTheBurningEye #CovenantOfThreeKeys #LibraryThing

View all my reviews

Review: Rise, the Quantamancer

Rise, the Quantamancer by A.R. McNevin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book: ***
Performance: ***

An interesting if confusing fantasy

This is a difficult book to review. The initial publisher’s blurb was very interesting; however, the book struggled to deliver on that promise in several areas. Perhaps the most significant critique would the the overwhelming tendency to describe verse show that made it story something akin to reading an encyclopedia. There were long sections of data dumps that, while vaguely interesting, were also boring. The undifferentiated voices in the narration didn’t help with that as each chapter seemed to bleed into each other. There were for PoV hijinx as well where for some reason the storyline following the witch Danika was told by her bard companion where Edgar told his own story and Thaddeus had more of an anonymous narrator. Not a big deal … but when you title your chapters on the character PoV and then not tell it from their perspective … I found it to be a tad disorientating. Then there is the execution. The basic idea is that science stopped working, but the way that was actually done was extremely inconsistent and also confusing. It was not until the end that it started to makes sense and frankly my wife had already given up on the book by then. I did manage to stick it out until the end though and I found that the story does get better as it evolves.

The basic plot revolves around three (3) characters as they try to figure out their “post-science” world. Edgar is the science guy and has to totally reinvent himself after everything he knows no longer governs how the world works. For the most part, he drifts around the Washington DC area until he eventually aligns with the anti-magic (formerly known as science) faction and slowly corrects and adds nuance to the idea that science has failed. Along the way, we see a third faction that also seems to be opposed to the new world order … religion … and as expected, it was not portrayed in the best light. Danika is an earth witch in the Connecticut/NYC area and is basically on a quest (accompanied by her companion bard/narrator Jaskier wannabe) to make sure the evils of science don’t come back (as can be imagined, there is a lot of overly simplified pontificating by both sides). Thaddeus is the last character and arguable the most interesting … since he is over 1000 years old and a survivor from the original fall of magic to modernity. For this book, he adds a few interesting side quests but no real help in advances the plot … of which there is a minor resolution at the end as well as a huge epilogue and setup for the sequel. Over all it was a super light, if mildly entertaining, story that struggles to rise above the standard fantasy tropes.

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

#RiseTheQuantamancer #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: Fall of the Iron Gods

Fall of the Iron Gods by Olivia Chadha
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book in the two book The Mechanists series
Previous Review of Rise of the Read Hand

This is the second and final book of the series, and as the author notes in the acknowledgements, this is a different beast. Where the first book was a bit choppy and hard to really connect with, this one was much better with the two (2) main PoVs for Ashiva and her sister Taru … members of the rebel/terrorist group known as the Red Hand. Frankly, this book could be read by itself, but you would miss some of the unique world building that sets it apart … and it has a lot to say about human predation and environmental degradation that didn’t come through as much in the first book. We get a little more detail on the cybernetic “replacements” that seem to provide a vague “Alita Battle Angel” with just enough of a difference to avoid being derivative. Of course, you still have the ubiquitous network that is being subverted by the authorities, along with giant battle mechs and “synthetic” androids … all under the control of a growing artificial intelligence that all treads familiar ground, but again does so with enough nuance t keep it fresh and interesting. In fact, part of that familiarity helps to build up the suspense that make the final resolution at the end so satisfying (with the last chapter providing an epilogue of sorts). Finally, after a slow start, the action in the second half picks up nicely, making it a fairly quick read for me.

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

#FallOfTheIronGods #Mechanists #NetGalley

View all my reviews

Review: Above Dark Waters

Above Dark Waters by Eric Kay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I would put this story in the cyberpunk genre; although the author actually pays a little more attention to getting the science right than most. That is not to say that he always succeeds here, but that it is close enough to allow for a certain suspension of disbelief so that I could enjoy the story … because I am a bit retentive about details sometimes and getting things way wrong just bothers me.

The world is set up where the idea that started with The Principality of Sealand, a micronation off the coast of England, was expanded on to form a “seastead” craze … with at least 2 ridiculously large seasteads in the Northern Pacific serving as the primary settings for the story. One seems a lot more corporate while the other would be right at home in the Pirate Political Party. Guess which one the hero hails from? At any rate, the primary reason for the both appears to be cyber research, specifically into wetware tech and AI, which of course requires huge Data Centers that use the cold ocean water for cooling. Of course, there is a lot of detail that is glossed over in the book that would be required to make all of this work, but the general idea is actually interesting for my inner geek freak. There are two very important concepts that are explored here … the human/tech interface that allows a user to “hack” their own brain and general purpose artificial intelligence (AGI) that becomes sentient with an agenda that just might diverge a little from how it was originally conceived (yep … we have all seen the movie folks … so you know what to expect); however, while the ideas here are not new, they are combined in such a way that it was still fun to follow along.

The characters were interesting, and there was some growth here (given that the two main characters are ex’s at the start, there is a maturation that can still happen), but not really that much. Instead of more traditional character development, the story slowly builds a background to fill in the mystery of why they didn’t work). Both are driven, so when their goals diverged, so did the partnership, which seems to have allows taken second fiddle. Of course there is the required potential for reconciliation that is at the heart of the heroes journey, so it does all work rather well. And while most of the action happens in the last part of the book, the build up is fast paced enough to keep you engaged. Over all, I found the characters to be very relatable.

I enjoyed this book a lot … even when it devolved into word salad in parts toward the end … I am not really a fan of such choppy narration to build the transcendent feeling I think the author was going for … but many folks do like it. And it explores some important concepts about technology and whether or not there are things we should not do just because we can do them … and it does this in a very entertaining way … so I would say it is worth a read unless techie stories are just not your bag.

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

#AboveDarkWaters #KindleUnlimited

View all my reviews

Review: House of Open Wounds

House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second book in the Tyrant Philosophers Series
Previous Review of City of Last Chances

Although this is the second of the series, it can easily stand alone; however, given the rich and detailed world-building on top of what we find in the first book, I would still recommend reading them in order. In addition, there are a couple of characters carried over … a former priest of God and God himself, a grouchy healing deity who constantly berates his former priest … who, having [partially] abrogated his religous vows, is suddenly is able to see all gods. This prompts him to try and smuggle what is left of them away from the Palleseen Sway and its army of logic and reason that is fighting to suppress all superstition and piety in its pursuit of perfection … only the be captured and pressed into service as a foreign auxiliary in an experimental field hospital for the Palleseen army. The nod to the TV show MASH is so obvious this comparison can be found in nearly every review for this book. Apparently the inexorable of reason and perfection was able to pause, at least momentarily, to the practicality of results from a misfit collection of divine healing, necromantic arts, demonic sorcerers, petty grifters … until “Maric Jack” bring his coterie of fading deities that he was trying to smuggle out and completely disrupts the “orderly” conduct of the army with his unpredictable healing god who demands complete pacificity from those graced with his healing power … something that is anathema to a soldier’s lot in life.

Okay … so … like the previous book, the dystopian world-building is some of the best that I have ever encountered and feels so real that you can easily place yourself in the story … which is fortunately, because the buildup is sooooo slooooow that the only thing that kept me coming back to pickup the book again and again for the first half of the story was this and the incredibly beautify prose (I really enjoy how Tchaikovsky plays with language here). There is just not a lot of action and the cast of characters were hard for me to like much … I didn’t hate them, but they just didn’t have anything I could easily identify with. It picks up nicely on the back nine though and I was able to push through that in just a few sittings and was able to better appreciate the long buildup (it was worth it) and I thought that the ending absolutely fantastic.

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

#HouseofOpenWounds #TheTyrantPhilosophers #NetGalley

View all my reviews

Review: Denver Moon: The Saint of Mars

Denver Moon: The Saint of Mars by Warren Hammond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book: ****
Performance: ****

SF Noir/Mystery done right

Solid Narration by two voices that was a lot of fun. Set on Mars, the last refuge humanity and in the hands of the terraforming efforts of indifferent aliens bent on mind control. A society with an oppressed android population just waiting to rebel (an obvious riff from Blade Runner). An authoritarian church in the middle of a power drama. Denver is a PI one the outside looking in and barely making it following the tragic events detailed in the first book (recommend reading that first) when she takes a case to infiltrate the rebel cause with the head of her android friend Nigel and her AI enhanced handgun. There is plenty of action and betrayal in this classic mystery drama about the first living saint of mars.

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

#TheSaintOfMars #DenverMoon #FreeAudiobookCodes

View all my reviews

Review: Eluthienn: A Tale Of The Fromryr

Eluthienn: A Tale Of The Fromryr by Sam Middleton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another Vampire story with a twist.

After a slow start to introduce the two (2) PoV, the action picks up quickly and continues almost nonstop, making this hard to put down once it ramps up. First up is Lyander, a disgraced exorcist (aka demon hunter) for the universal church of the Fromryr, an alliance of peoples (humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, et al.) that control most of the ancient magic and technology of a long vanished, advanced civilization that carved out the extensive caverns and tunnels deep below the surface world. Demons and their ilk get their power from the Immuratic dimension while some other monsters, such as vampires, are from the Aeturnic dimension … so when Lyander comes across a corpse that could be a living myth, he teams up with a sarcastic witch hunter to get to the bottom of it all, despite apparent antagonism from church authority, as the whole world seems to come apart at the seams. Along the way, we see the second PoV following Brazier, and his surviving crew from an ice mining ship lost in the vast caverns of Formoria, converge to help build a rich and extremely interesting fantasy world.

Woven into this well executed plot, is some amazing world building on top of a dystopian fantasy trope. Through the entire story, it is clear that we only see the tip of the iceberg here with the potential for discovery adding the the intense action … and for me … it all made sense … from the magical force that comes from the gyre ice (ref ice mining) to the dysfunctional politics to the steampunk like tunnel ships … it was all well done and awesomely fun (can’t wait to return to this world).

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

#Eluthienn #BookSirens #KindleUnlimited


View all my reviews

Review: Augmented

Augmented by MJ Douglas
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an entertaining cyberpunkish dystopian story with very relatable main characters. One an aging hacker with a chip on her shoulder against the authoritarian rules of future America. Another is a quasi luddite grandmother reluctantly dragged into the world of tech. There is some timeline hopping that introduces a third character and provides for some of the plot tension and relationship drama that was actually well done (speaking as somebody that normally doesn’t like drama). 

Most of the character interaction was designed to highlight the dark corners of the world … where technology has become a means to escape the oppressive reality with virtual (VR) and augmented (AR) versions … with the focus here on augmentation (I hope that is not a surprise). The focus was what really drew me in … imagine you have a chip in your head that overlays an augmented vision that whitewashing the dilapidated and decaying infrastructure around you to make everything pretty. You could hide almost anything in such a world and it is such an addiction that even the dregs of society are willing to submit to monitoring by the authorities just so that can get free (if limited) access to that world. 

Of course, not everybody is on board … and some are working to be free (enter an extreme version of the Free State Project) that are still suffering the consequences of such rebellion. While there are a few aspects of the story that strength rational belief, the author does a great job balancing between fantasy and plausibility to prove an interesting mental exercise that pulls at my techie heart and keeps me into the story.

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

#Augmented #NetGalley #KindleUnlimited

View all my reviews

Review: Rusted Synapse

Rusted Synapse by Elwood Stevens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a solid cyberpunk story starring a jaded cyborg waiting on her inevitable blue screen who is recruited by Mr Faustus (Yes, even the MC noted the significance of the name) for a daring, off book, snatch and grab.  Added to this team is another soldier/paladin on overwatch, a cartel smuggler for logistics and a tech wiz wonderkid for counter-e. The team dynamics get off to a rough start, as the cartel’s man was responsible for the MC’s original dilapidated condition (aka ripping off arms and legs before smashing the batteries). The character growth primarily comes from within the team as they learn to depend on each other when things go south … and a few poignant personal issues that point to deeper philosophical questions that make you go hmmm (or you can ignore if that is not your thing). In short … I thought ALL of the cast of characters were very well done and I connected with each in some way that made the story a lot more fun that I expected.

The world building was also top shelf … especially the tech (speaking as a professional techie). It all felt plausible and real … so much so that I found myself reading straight through to the other side of midnight (making it tough to get up for work the next day). I really enjoyed some of the concepts that were developed … such as AI vs Sentient Daemons, Full body prosthetics vs body cloning … and my personal favorite … combat synchronization! Then stir in a pandemic (a flesh rotting disease euphemistically known as “Rust”) to get the appropriate dystopian feel expected in punk and the result is simply fantastic. Just in case some of the jargon loses you, there is a glossary in the back to bring you up to speed. The story itself is pretty standard and told well, despite the expected tropes, and with a surprise ending that left me wanting more.

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

#RustedSynapse #BookSirens



View all my reviews

Review: Shorefall

Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the second book of The Founder's Trilogy that began with Foundryside ...

Previous Review of Foundryside.

I am not sure what happened here, but I found the first book to be incredibly interesting and fun while this follow up attempt to be decidedly less so. You still have the basic plot … it opens with a heist by our expanded team of main characters before the next big bad makes the scene and we ramp up to the exciting finale (despite several reviews complaining about a cliffhanger, technically it is a really crappy "to be continued" instead since the main conflict is resolved … perhaps it is a nuance without a difference for some). So where did this loos points? In the first book the world building was new and fantastic and carried much of the story … here it seemed like the world-building devolved into a hot mess … starting with the return of the undead hierophant who seems to be able to just do some magic without scriving (while at the same time being limited by plot armor called permissions, rights and privileges that work better in the IT world from which they came than here). That pretty much blew any plot discipline out the window as soon as he appeared with the only reason he didn’t crush our heroes being his apparent need to monologue (because all the kool villains do this). This ridiculousness is compounded through the introduction and abuse of the concept of twinning where this Vulcan mind meld seems to always get the plot rolling again when the author writes himself into a corner.

The pacing is deceptively slow … yes there is a race against the clock feel; however, this is interrupted by simplistic and convenient dialogue added to frequent exhibitions of extensive and repetitive details (info dumps) that was supplied as the main characters stand around talking about what to do next … I am sure this was an attempt to stretch out the forced feeling of suspense and anticipation … but it fails miserable. ["Now, unless anyone else wants to tell me his or her life story, can we shoot the big gun?" - Zurg] Too many words and not enough action make Jack a very bored boy. To make matters worse … whatever connection I had to protagonists from book one (1), it completely evaporated here … I just could not bring myself to care about any of the. Sancia spends a lot of time just being shocked and offended to the point of near paralysis … she just isn’t that interesting as the main PoV character without her interactions with Clef. Overall she was primarily the driver of the trainwreck of all the over the top emotional drama. Bearanice was completely flat where even the relationship between her and Sancia had no fire at all. Orsa was a grumpy old man that was only there to insert his collection of course vocabulary … speaking of which … if replacing only one curse word with some meaningless invented word while keeping the prolific use of all the other gorram curses (of which there were way too many instances to be effective at all) is just stupid. All or nothing please. Then there is Gregor … who was simply there for the big reveal at the end. Seriously I connected with none of them.

Crasedes was actually more interesting than I expected, if still a little creepy in the way he was always stalking Sancia. He loses points for being ridiculous overpowered and for the unneeded torture scenes (trigger warning are appropriate for this book), but I could almost understand his motivation to bring about his end goal of total human enslavement (almost) … especially after more of his mysterious past is revealed in several surprising plot twists. Unfortunately his reticence to actually explain anything that he was doing only served to keep him in the shadows as the main bogeyman (a bit of clumsy misdirection while the real antagonized works against both him AND our team of intrepid adventurers). Valeria, the artificial god limited only by her “programming," was also interesting … in a rogue AI trope in a sci-fi meme that we all know always ends badly. Go Team V. Ultimately the ending was a relief when it came … no I still need to figure out if I want to read the next installment (odds are decent as I still enjoy the world building).

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

#Shorefall #TheFounders #NetGalley

View all my reviews

Review: The Monsters in our Shadows

The Monsters in our Shadows by Edward J Cembal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a bit of a stretch for me as the horror/sci-fi genre is not typically a favorite. That said, the blurb looked like enough of an interesting take to make it with the effort. To set the stage, we have a ruined apocalyptic landscape with enclaves of humans behind walled communities scrambling to survive. From the shadows, a terrifying creature (aka Shivers) emerges that haunts a specific person for a time until its hunger becomes to much prevent it from literally eating its host and if not “exiled” outside of the protective walls by then, going on a rampage devouring anybody else nearby. While there are some obvious analogies and symbolism from these shadow horrors, my interest was more on the basic story that follows Anthem, the city "Exilist" (aka The Reaper) who was responsible for making sure the afflicted were “escorted” out through the city walls into the deadlands before the Shiver goes nuts. Having a Shiver is always a death sentence … it is only a matter of time.

Anthem has a daughter … and his own Shiver, so the clock is ticking to find the truth. Does the Architect (ruler of the City of Atlas) have the answers? Maybe that is why not a single member of that family has ever been “exiled.” Or maybe the truth is outside the walls in the Deadlands. There is a mystery here (and a dark secret); however, you can’t figure it out on your own, so you are left to the whims each tantalizing encounter that keeps Anthem's apocalyptic "hero's journey" from being completely hopeless. If you enjoyed The Road, this story is probably right up your alley. Truthfully it is the end that makes this any good for me, with the obvious nod to depression and the hope contained therein; however, as mentioned above … this was not for me, so I am rounding my final score up.

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

#TheMonstersInOurShadow #NetGalley

View all my reviews

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.

#DarkRedemption #ShatteredWorldContractors  #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited

View all my reviews