A gentle, intriguing steampunk novel

Fantasy/Steampunk | The Daemon of Cormagan (book 1 in a 3-book series) | Maarten Hofman

I tend to agree with Machteld Irons’ review on Amazon. There is a sense of something impending right from the beginning, which starts right off with a scream and an abduction. Halfway through the book, you begin to think you know what the mystery is about, you think you now know who the villain is, and what is going to happen, but haha! Fooled you! Maarten Hofman manages to twist and turn the story into new directions.

This is one of the books in which I didn’t much like the main character to start with (kind of ‘meh’), but slowly, the characters gain more life and depth, and then they become understandable and likeable. You suspect one, then another, character of being outright evil... nope, not putting in a spoiler.

The world itself is a character here. There are fantasy/medieval constructs like the Master of a Castle (Cormagan), horses and hounds, a daemon (or is it?), and all the associated paraphernalia of a fantasy novel. Yet, there are talkers with colour-coded crystals, mechanical horses (what a quaint steampunk conceit!), coded messages. At the same time, there are armies that have to be bankrolled and moved by a fleet, which has to be organised, secret societies (plural; each dissing the other in snide competitive style). There are hints that this is a world way in the future from where we are, and the medieval facade is underpinned by something a little different than the world of today. I have a soft corner for fantasy books which get some economics and politics right (like when people go to other countries, they need to find translators and suppliers of provisions), so this ticks those boxes too. A treasurer who makes complaints to the boss! Love it. When I reached the last page, I found this big smile on my face.

The writing and the language are gentle and direct. Hence, even the atrocities don’t seem as gory as they are (if you step back and look at them objectively, they are!). And then there are the gorgeous illustrations by Marlon Teunissen, easily worth half the money (sorry Maarten, but you know it's true!)
Full disclosure: I paid full price for my copy. I know Maarten Hofman personally. Taken together, results in a fair review.

Indian readers may get a hint of part of the mystery from the names Kush and Luv which turn up towards the end, but people from other countries can either guess or research. (Not giving hints).

TL;DR: this book is value for money. Four stars and a gas-giant planet. If not allowed to give a partial star, gets ⭐⭐⭐⭐ aka I really liked it. And there are two more books in the same world...

Books I read in August 2011

And you're probably wondering, why now?? Well, I just found my reviews, that's why. Duh!

Killing Fear by Allison Brennan. Good

Edge by Jeffery Deaver. Excellent. I'm beginning to think he hasn't written anything mediocre.

Dragon Fire by Humphrey Hawksley. Tolerable. But it made me laugh to see he has a Dixit as the CM of Andrah Pradesh, who has also, at some time (wait for it!), been the Health Minister in Assam. Rotfl unbelievable. There are other goofs, too.

Midway through The Mammoth Book of Short Horror Novels edited by Mike Ashley. Fortunately, with happy endings, so my initial trepidation has been assuaged somewhat (I'm no longer a teenager, so horror stories without happy endings are not so easily brushed off these days). So far, I've read The Monkey by Stephen King, Parasite by Arthur Conan Doyle, The Damned by Algernon Blackwood.

Temporarily abandoned this in favour of The Orc King by RA Salvatore. I'm most bugged with this book's publishers. I picked it up because it clearly says on the cover Book 1 of Transitions so I was reassured I'm starting at the beginning; but then, it seems the main character has already starred in another 13 books in another series. Cheating! Cheating! But Todd Lockwood has painted a wonderfully evocative cover, and I have a quote for you: "I have heard it said that the universal hope of the world is that our children will find a better life than we." I'll live. I'll also post if I'm going to be reading any more books in this or other RAS series.

Insufficient genius

Fantasy | Coldmaker | Daniel A. Cohen

⭐⭐

'Cold' as something tangible that falls from the sky and is the measure of wealth is a new concept. However, the treatment is not sufficient to make this the kind of wow experience that Brandon Sanderson (one of the author's role models, as per the afterword) did in the Mistborn series.

There are unresolved points (is the Utopia dreamed of by the slaves real or imaginary); the kind slaver is two dimensional; the hero is a genius inventor who can invent and prototype system-changing innovations in, literally, days; the heroine is mysteriously independent, bold, able to get unconditional support for no reason that the reader can see while the hero has to prove himself...

Yet, there are plus points. The basis for the excessive cruelty of the slaver class is realistic (religion can cause people to put aside empathy and be cruel by godly demand). You do care for the hero and the heroine. There are sympathetic characters. Some of the villains are somewhat understandable. The 'science' of the Cold seems to have some (if flimsy) basis. At a few points in the book, you can feel the heat that pervades the World Cried (that's what it's called).

I'm ambivalent whether I want to read the next book in the series or not. I fear the plot is being dragged to generate more volume. It may not stand up to the strain.

2 stars = it was ok

No superheroes, only supervillains. What's an ordinary human to do?

Fantasy | Steelheart | Brandon Sanderson

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Brandon Sanderson has got a wild imagination, which is lucky for us readers.

It seems to me he decided to write an epic fantasy book (get it? get it?) and succeeded. You didn't get it? Hmm... So, in this world, suddenly some people develop super powers, and these people are called Epics (get it now?). And absolute power corrupts absolutely, so these turn into some of the most capricious and cruel dictators ever. No superhero turns up. Only supervillains. What's an ordinary human to do then?

Fortunately, no matter how powerful, the Epics have weaknesses. The rebellious Reckoners find these out, and start killing some of the most murderous, if not the most powerful Epics. 

David has seen one of the most powerful, Steelheart, the absolute ruler/owner of Newcago kill his father. He grows up, and decides to join the Reckoners. Because he has seen Steelheart bleed, and intends to decipher his weakness and destroy him for the killing of his father and the destruction of his world.

This is not sci fi. There is no attempt at making ordinary sense of the Epics' powers. They just are. But it's not without its internal rules. No good fantasy can be without those. The fun is in finding out what the rules are. Sanderson does an excellent job of developing the premises into a pacy, fun tale.

4 stars = I really liked it.

Urban fantasy of the type 'super strength people hidden amongst us'

Fantasy | Ghosts of Winter | H.B. Lyne

⭐⭐

These days, I tend to struggle through urban fantasy of the type "magical people with super strength, hidden among us". 

YMMV.

There's a lot of: Then they all went to sleep. Then they woke up and ate breakfast, which X had bought on the way to the hideout/Y had cooked Z things. Then they all went to do their daily jobs. After some time, I'm muttering: enough already.

Of all the characters, the new one, James, was the most 'real' to me; not the protagonist, Stalker. The Alpha of the pack didn't do much, neither did the fairy godthing. Stalker keeps feeling she's losing her humanity, the rest don't seem to care. I never quite got why the pack was doing what it was doing. Maybe because I came into the series with Book 2. But...

2 stars = It's okay...

Flying wizards and wishy-washy inverted sexism

Fantasy | The Philosopher’s Flight | Tom Miller

⭐⭐⭐

American college story set in the 19th century. Young adult. Interesting and pacy read. Quaint language (like calling wizards philosophers), but smooth and does not jar.

Robert Weekes is a boy who wants to be a flying wizard ("hovering philosopher") and work in the search and rescue corps. Except that only girls are philosophers...

It's gentle. The underdogs win. There is only one bully, who is pretty pathetic, not a real enemy. Fans of Harry Potter would probably like this one.

I didn't quite see this as a good book on sexism using the male as target. The lack of agency and #everydaysexism just isn't there. There's nothing in the story that makes you boiling mad at any stage. It's all very plasma and not whole blood.

I'm reminded of a quote, which I'm paraphrasing: If you get to learn about sexism by being told about it rather than experiencing it, that's privilege. This book may be about inverted sexism, but it's very privileged. Sexism isn't experienced in this book, it's something third-hand. Partly, it's because though all the 'strong philosophers' are female, the rest of society is just the same, so the sexism that Weekes experiences is a watered down revenge of those with a little power, not really sexism the way billions experience it daily.

I really liked the concepts, but this drags away at least one star.

3 stars = I liked it.

Djinns, con artists, magic, intrigue, palaces

Fantasy | The City of Brass | SA Chakraborty

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's a great read. It has humour, mystery (the best kind; 40 pages on, you say to yourself, waitabit, this was mentioned before; so that's what it meant).

Yes, I would certainly read the next book. Eagerly looking for it (I understand it's out).

I was a bit surprised to see so much detail of historic Egyptian society and Muslim mythos from someone named Chakraborty, but I think it comes from a) her spouse and b) being in Egypt for sufficient time, c) resident in the USA. Not that I mind. I prefer fantasy to be placed in a European or West Asian or East Asian setting, anything other than what I know best, so that there are less chances of my shaking my head and muttering noooo....

The story revolves around Nahri, who is a con artist in Cairo, who heals abnormally fast, but doesn't believe in magic. Until she invokes a djinn named Dara(yavahoush) aka the Scourge. Who sniffily insists he is not one of those inferior creatures, djinn, but an identical being called a daeva. (It's political). She's quite happy to go separate ways, except that ifrit (also identical, but both djinn and daeva look down on them) attack them, and they need to flee to Daevabad for her safety. We learn quite a bit about the different categories of magical beings, peris and marid and lesser creatures like murderous rukhs and the like. Nahri herself belongs to a category called shafit who are human-magical-being hybrids, and much oppressed, mostly for religious reasons but also for other reasons, which emerge slowly.

In the meantime, we also meet Alizayed, aka Ali, the second son of the Daevabad ruler. More politics ensues. Ali is too serious, working hard to be a good little Qaid for his brother as and when he should ascend the throne. Much too good to be true, at heart a softie despite being the best sword in the land, clueless about the value of money while understanding economics perfectly. A conscientious nerd.

The two story lines proceed in parallel for a while, and then rapidly converge in Daevabad. Quite a lot of interest is sustained in liking both of them, and finding they are likely to be on opposite sides. How is this tension going to be resolved? Both young people get tossed here and there on political currents. Our friend Dara the 1400 year old daeva turns out to be an accursed undead doomed to slave for humans. More politics ensues.

It's all great fun, very intriguing. Most fantasies have a social background that is superficial, but this one is not. The viewpoint is that of naive and idealistic teens/twenties, but behind the screen there is religion (several, actually), Big Power politics, and even ... economics. Bravo! Few writers get that aspect right.

Yet, it would not work without solid characters whom we care for. Here, even the villains are multi-dimensional, villainous because they are pitted against Nahri or Ali, but even then each has his or her motivations fleshed out and we can understand them, feel for them, and then hope that the conflicts get resolved without bloodshed. Of course, SA Chakraborty is too savvy for that, and assorted characters get killed to the sounds of our groans and curses. No mere JK Rowling this, whose books ended up with so many characters that you had to write them down in neat tables to keep track of them.

I like the villains. Hey, I even like Ali's sister, who is the closest the characters get to the wicked spoiled rich cool girl of schools that is quite a trope. Except one or two of them... I'm sure I will get to like them all in book 2 when they get more screen time... In the meantime, I love and hate Ali's father at the same time, have great affection for his brother, can sympathise with his (absent) mother, really hate Nahri's mother, loathe a Minister, and so forth.

Now, you all know of a famous writer who is fond of killing off characters in his books/series more for shock value than anything else (treats it like a Game). This is not so for The City of Brass. Any deaths, any conflicts, any misunderstandings, any alliances, all flow from their own internal logic, and perfectly naturally. It only faltered once toward the end, before recovering and proceeding in a brand new direction.

I actually held off picking up the next to-read book on my bedside for a day just to savour the aftertaste of this story.

If I liken a book to a meal, this one is filling while leaving you slightly hungry. Sweet, salty, sour, even hints of bitter, in a perfect blend. The wait service also being impeccably timed, you give the restaurant a 5 star rating, and decide to host your next party here, and go away calculating whom you can invite for it, and which halfway acceptable occasion is nearest in time. In other words, eagerly anticipating book 2...

If you loved Meghan Whelan Turner's Thief of Attolia series, you will equally love the Daevabad books.

5 stars = I loved it!

4 and 5 star (or better) science fiction and fantasy stories

These are reviews of books I read in 2018 (mostly the second half of the year). As I went along, I’d write a quick review, always with the pious intention of posting the review very promptly. Alas for good intentions.

So, while each of these deserves a whole separate write up, some of them just got clubbed together here simply because the review is so short. Onward!

4 stars means I really, really liked it. 5 stars means I loved it. Read them all. You won't regret any one.

Tessili Academy | Robin Stephen

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Excellent fantasy, thoughtful, well executed. I want more, and fortunately, sequels exist.

 

Edit: It's about an academy for turning normal girls into ninja assassins, while not letting them know what's going on.

 

Read it. Trust me, it's good.

Get it here, free(!), on Smashwords.

Elysian | Livian Grey

⭐⭐⭐⭐ [Note: adult content]

A short, sharp love story. Isla has a strange artistic talent, which others will kill for. Josh will protect her at all cost. Happy endings do exist, of sorts.

Find it here, free(!), on Smashwords.

Palimpsest | Tais Teng

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A new concept in fantasy is rare enough. This well written gem, set in the far future, shows us an elf-human conflict with stubborn heroes and a subtly built up denouement that thrills and horrifies in equal measure.

Find it here (it's free! unbelievable) on Smashwords.

Pest control (a short story) | Jameson Kowalczyk

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A creepy little horror piece. You can guess what's coming fairly early, but it still manages to be creepy, because it's so well-written.

Find it here (free!) on Smashwords.

Tears | C. Price

⭐⭐⭐⭐

A well written short. It begins: “He was four the first time he saw his grandmother cry.” The end sneaks up on you, unexpected till almost the last two words.

Read it.

Oh, right. Here's where you get it. Part of the Killgrace series.

Even more 3 to 3.5 star science fiction stories

So, as I mentioned in the previous post, before going to the 4 star or better stories, I dug around to check if there were more in the 3 to 3-1/2 star stories, and surprise surprise, there are more books which I read in 2018, each of which is rated around 3 stars, meaning I liked it well enough to write reviews and hope it gets good sales. So here are the last of the posts (hopefully!) with short reviews and links to find the books.

This is part 5 () of what is actually the same post, but broken up so that (a) it’s not too long and (b) I can label the post without losing any of the book or author names. This should (finally!) be the last lot of the averagely good lot before I rub my hands and get to the really good stuff.

The Interdimensional Dilemma of IAN and Betty | D R Brooks

⭐⭐⭐

An adventure story that includes: a librarian studying the phenomena (plural) of interdimensional bleeds, an interdimensional traveller, a bigfoot, Ancient Ones, vampires, werewolves, dhampirs, vampire hunters, Dr Frankenstein in an off scene role, a vampiric power struggle, blood and confusion, spelling and grammar mistakes, in order of importance.

All within a faux 19-century culture that charms and irritates in equal measure.

Find it here, free, on Smashwords.

Divergen Dreams | Tony Evans

⭐⭐⭐

A collection of short stories that ranges from slightly creepy to very creepy.

What can I say about a book the very first word of whose title is misspelled on the inside page? (I retained that spelling here.) All I can say is, it gets better than that. A lot.

Find it here on Smashwords. It's still free, last I checked.

The Sapphiran Agenda | Marcha Fox

⭐⭐⭐

A gentle look at sentient telepathic mobile plants that find herbivores horrifying, and carnivores that eat anything (including humans) easy to get on with and even control. Now, what happens when one meets a human it can deal with?

Yes, I call it a gentle story despite its being gory and displaying sneaky cunning in equal parts. 

Free, here, on Smashwords.

Residential Aliens | ResAliens Press

⭐⭐⭐

I liked two out of the five stories, Petition and Plague Ship. The other 3 were weak at best. Hence, overall 3 stars.

The collection seems to be strongly religion-themed. If that’s not your scene (and it’s not mine), the intrusive presence of Christian mythos and themes does detract from the stories.

Find it here on Smashwords.

Still more 3 to 3.5 star science fiction stories

These are more books which I read in 2018 (even though I downloaded some the previous year; yes, my backlog is not funny). Each is rated around 3 stars, meaning I liked it well enough to write reviews and hope it gets good sales. So here are short reviews and links to find the books.

This is part 3 of what is actually the same post (previous post here), but broken up so that (a) it’s not too long and (b) I can label the post without losing any of the book or author names. So it might extend to one or two more posts. Please continue to bear with me.

The Crack | Lee S King

⭐⭐⭐

What if her occult-seeming pickup line really is true? Are there really rifts between dimensions? 

Unfortunately, I can't seem to locate the book on Smashwords any more; the author may have taken it off.

The Licence | Myfanwy Tilley

⭐⭐⭐ and 1/2

Corruption is possible in the Bureau of Parenting, Marriages and Dying. So what if you're not really qualified to be a parent?

A very clever if not exactly ... edifying piece! Plenty of twists and turns.

Find it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/492062

The Eye of Renithi | Aaron Clausen

⭐⭐⭐ and 1/2

This is a story of Mars. Not the real one, but the mythical one of Burroughs. Which is probably why the cover is a black and white image of Mars itself. A dying planet with hot deserts, barbaric Martian worshippers of a horrific goddess of death, and greedy colonial Earthmen tomb raiders.

In the tradition of King Solomon's Mines or Indiana Jones. For which I have less patience from the 21st century.

Withal, well written and atmospheric. 

Get it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/126115

The Intervention | David Horn

⭐⭐⭐ and 1/2

The parents of an addict in a dystopic future stage an intervention, which results in his being committed to an institution. You can guess he's addicted to something mild that creates frissons in a conformist society, but the end is still a wry surprise.

Find it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/364100

The Implant | Troy Dennison

⭐⭐⭐ and 1/2

A funny take on unearned, instant knowledge. The narrator keeps getting implants that give him instant knowledge, like language or karate, but without the skills. The whole thing is an eye-rolling sitcom till the bleak end, whereupon it becomes face-palming sitcom.

Get it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/137797

Next time, a few 4 star stories!

A bunch of 3 star science fiction books

These books which I read in 2018 (even though I downloaded some the previous year; yes, my backlog is not funny) are rated 3 stars, meaning I liked them well enough to write reviews and hope they get good sales. So here are short reviews and links to find the books.

This is part 1 of what is actually the same post, but broken up so that (a) it’s not too long and (b) I can label the post without losing any of the book or author names. So it might extend to one or two more posts. Bear with me.

Shadow of Empyriad | Josi Russell

⭐⭐⭐

This is a fairly tightly plotted novel with well delineated characters. Earth has had all borders erased, but people still cluster with nationalistic or tribal instincts, and prepare to meet their neighbours with force. Into this mix are dropped alien refugees, who are temporarily put up in Yellowstone National Park. The story revolves around two youngsters, one human, one noble-savage alien. Can they, as the blurb says, save the world? 

Other than the shamanistic connection of the refugees with 'all-beings', and the ability to do magic by drawing patterns, which parts made me roll my eyes, it's a decent story, well told, and well edited. In these anti-refugee days, well-timed.

My favourite character was Solomon Brooks aka Sol, the young human. His travails are rendered so well, I could feel them all.

[I downloaded it when it was on discount]

Find it here: https://www.amazon.in/Shadows-Empyriad-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01KCSL2G0

The Offices of M Coopersmith | James Hampton

⭐⭐⭐

A light read. Two teens find that their school assignment to pick up a cheque from the mysterious Mr M Coopersmith turns out to be a bit more than they bargained for. No new or mind-boggling sci fi/fantasy concepts (indeed, even trope-heavy), but a fast, smooth read that made me smile often. It has humour, some level of thinking, lots of entertaining action in which the mysterious Mr C shows a sense of humour and, dare one say it, humanity, which carries the story onwards. The teens start as standard YA characters, but by the end, they are pretty much three-dimensional.

Get it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/151858

Darkwalk | Cassy Campbell

⭐⭐⭐

Fast paced, well edited.

It's just that the heroes are way too over powered for the villains. You *know* they will win. Added to which, the romance is signalled very heavily right from the start. A story with many tropes.

Withal, a light read, and if you like it, two more books in the series.

[I downloaded it when it was on discount]

Find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Darkwalk-Cassy-Campbell/dp/1481884212

My name is Mark Nine | DKW

⭐⭐⭐

You're in Tokyo, and you don't know why you're there. People crowd in front of you, but behind you, they vanish into shops. Someone is tailing you. Why? 

A short mystery with an amusing reveal. Some stories gain more stars towards the end; this is one.

Find it here (free): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/279534

Linehan's Ordeal | Bryan Murphy

⭐⭐⭐

A very well written story, but simply inserting one movie hologram in it doesn't make it science fiction.

Linehan goes to Hong Kong for his company and gets kidnapped. Why, and what role his new love plays in it is the rest of the story. He's friends with a top cop, but it made almost no difference to the search, which I found baffling.

The writing is top notch, but the plot itself left me unimpressed. Some stories start by looking like they will get more stars than they finally gather. This is one.

Find it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/536973

... Continued in the next post...

Books I didn't really like, but YMMV

Recommended sci fi and fantasy, but it didn't click.

Every now and then, other people seem to really like books that leave me cold or unimpressed.

Here are a few short notes on some of these. I’ve rated them 2 stars, aka ‘It’s ok’, or just 1 star, aka ‘I don’t like it’.

Now, just because I didn’t much like them, it may merely be because the story is not really my scene. Hence, the YMMV (your mileage may vary) disclaimer. 

Fantastical stories 

Juraj Vondena

The ideas, while not bad, are fairly pedestrian.

The writing is straightforward, but desperately needs an editor. There are grammar mistakes in practically every paragraph (I understand English is not the primary language of the author, but that’s what editors are for), and the characters never quite become fully real or engage your emotions. As a result, the grammar became a deal-breaker.

⭐⭐ aka ‘It’s ok’. You can find it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/438430

Nora's Sun

M.S. Fowle

The best thing about the story is its sheer frantic pace. It could do with a good editor, though. For a start, the title should be Nora's Son, because there is no reference to any Sun in the whole story, but lots to Nora’s son. With many clichés /tropes, it's nonetheless a simply told story of a mother looking for her son and taking on an alien invasion to do so.

⭐⭐ aka ‘It’s ok’. You can find it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/140318

Rika!

Brian Fogarty

Just when it started getting interesting and one had got comfortable with the characters, it's over, and pointing at the sequel.

Over the top military humour and angst in the tradition of Bill the Galactic Hero, but with none of the sly knowledgeable wit of the latter. Plus, there are grammar and spelling errors and most of the names seem to be generated by banging a keyboard at random.

⭐⭐ aka ‘It’s ok’. Get it here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/512686

Prison mountain

Scott Hilkene

A horror fantasy that goes all over the place without really going anywhere.

This one gets a ⭐ rating, aka 'I don’t like it'. But if you still want to check it out: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/297764

Something new

Legend Brook

It's not a story. It's just a single scene. And you've already seen X men.

Another one with a ⭐ star rating, mainly because of the disappointment of getting a single scene instead of a story. Find it here:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/668386

The final battle

Nagraj Rao

It's not a story. It's a platform for the writer to vent about religion and the lack of peace in the world. It's trite. Adding a robot doesn't make it sci fi. 

So, ⭐ star aka ‘I don’t like it’. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/294412

Here’s the thing, though. Should I put up my reviews on Smashwords or not? I tend to be of the persuasion, when reviewing, of: if you can’t say something kind, don’t say anything. And none of these is so atrocious that I feel that warning the unsuspecting public is my duty. Any comments on this aspect will be welcome.

70s horror, not-so-SF, and fantasy

Horror, SF, Fantasy, Fanfic | You have been Murdered and other stories, Zero 'g', The Thief's Tale, The Girl with the Scarab Necklace | Andrew Kozma, Srujan Joshi, Lee Murray, Tyro Vogel

You can't get a more mixed bag than horror, SF and fantasy in the same post, unless you also add fanfic. This is also a mixed bag in terms of how much I liked each of them.

Let's start with You have been Murdered and other stories. A collection of weird stories that reminds me of 70s sci fi/horror, in a good kind of way. Story wise:

You have been murdered: as described in the synopsis above, the horror is in the need to show a smiling face despite life-shattering events.

Teller of tales: Heart-rending

Breach of contract: Funny in a macabre way, with urban mediocrity running straight up against rural high fantasy.

The trouble-men: Creepy and suitably end-of-the-world.

Recommended for those who like their horror a bit laid-back, a bit incomprehensible, and a bit thought-provoking (with shudders). 4 stars. Find it here.

Zero 'g' was a disappointment, because this is not my expectation of a sci fi story. This story has all the masala but none of the main ingredients.

I'm reviewing after only a few chapters, but you lost me at the earth losing gravity for no reason given, not even a mad fantasy reason. Gravity is to be replaced by Particle B, to be hauled from outer space. That's too banal and ... Hollywoodish.

That said, there is nothing objectionable about the story or the treatment. The writing is fairly taut, there are neither typos nor bad grammar nor bad editing. The characters are reasonably developed and decent humans. I just expected it to be more hard sci fi, which is my fault because the intro on this page is clear enough that the Earth is just sick and tired of humans. So, if that's your scene, have at it. Two stars.

The Thief's Tale is no longer available on smashwords. Lee Murray has come up with a neat little thief story mixing history, fantasy, and horror. A thief with new names for new capers (in alphabetical order) pulls off a heist of a Faberge Egg from the up-for-sale estate of a dead lady, in the teeth of opposition from an evil Mayor (also a thief, but more brazen and powerful). From then on, it's a race between the ancient curse and the Mayor. Which will get her first, or will she escape?

The Girl with the Scarab Necklace is a sweet fanfic from Tyro Vogel, which he used to call The Crimson Tide but has since renamed. Here are my old reviews of it, since I reread it this month and see no reason to change. You can get the book here. 

A wonderful story for all Dr Who fans, who (heh heh) love a good detective story with a solid plot. But wait, what are guys with these laser swords doing? The game is afoot, Watson.

I finished this story with a big grin on my face. Fun!

and

A tribute to Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Who and Star Trek. If you like even one of these three, this is a book worth reading. What are you waiting for? It's even free. (You could buy some of Tyro Vogel's other books, though).

Strongly recommended.

So there you have it: Most good, some disappointing.

Horror at the North Pole, somewhere in frozen Greenland

Horror | North Pole: A Horror Story | Edward Punales

This is the kind of story that makes you regret having liberally given 5 stars to other stories, and wish for the ability to give 6 stars. (And no, I have not lost my mind with the heading; I know that the 'real' North Pole is not in Greenland. But this heading is accurate. If you read the story, you will understand why and how).

An exceptional treatment solidly in the middle of the horror genre and What A Concept. Full marks for concept, language, editing, pace, build up, climax and post-climax, and ending. A classic piece of horror fiction.

A military doctor, recently bereaved and feeling a numbed apathy to life, agrees dutifully and promptly to a trip in advance of a snowstorm in Greenland, to respond to an SOS from a location where no research group, military base or civilian settlement has been known. All that is known to be around there are tales of UFOs spotted but not quite. The soldier and the doctor set off in their sturdy truck and reach a strange mansion, decayed and foreboding, where no mansion should be. Anything that I write further to this will be a spoiler, so all I will say is that the SOS-sender is also bereaved, but in a more sinister way. After disarming you charmingly, the story whips you back to horror, which grows slowly and relentlessly and does not spare you.


Awesome, Edward Punales, awesome! Worth every one of the 5 stars.

Get it here.

A modern day Arabian Nights for the modern child

Children's Fantasy | Setara's Genie | Faizah's Destiny | Marva Dasef

Setara's Genie is the first Abu Nuwas book. Abu Nuwas is a story teller. In this novel, he tells an eager audience the stories of Setara's Genie. Setara finds a genie (of the magic lamp type), but he is remarkably reluctant to do for her anything she can do for herself. Some of the magical things he actually does, result in great hilarity, like when she asks for (and gets) a handsome prince who loves her madly. Setara grows from a teen you would roll your eyes at to someone whom you really like.

A great book for pre-teens/young teens.

This is followed by the second Abu Nuwas book, Faizah's Destiny. How does he solve this second young person's issues through pertinent stories?

Marva Dasef has a light touch and brings a gentle world of fantasy to life. Her books for young teens are great.

Read on!

Feminist romance

Finding Gaia | Kimberly Chapman

When Kimberly Chapman first mentioned her book Finding Gaia on Google+ as a romance, sci fi, fantasy, paranormal, I just nodded and moved on. However, when she mentioned it was feminist romance, I stopped and wondered how that would differ from the standard romance novel (which I don’t normally read).

So finally, having cunningly waited till there was a sale of books, I went out Finding Gaia.


And yes, there is a difference between the standard ‘romance’ novel and a feminist one, and I can understand more clearly why the standard romance novel is so very unappealing to anyone who believes that humans are humans first, and not men or women first and last, and hardly humane in the ways ‘standard’ romance novels treat the characters.

A book like this makes it even clearer that the drama and twists in a romance should not come about by jealousy and misunderstandings, that hate does not beget love, that contempt and ruthlessness and the use of force have no place in a real romance. Yes, this book is a romance first, but it’s also sci-fi, it’s also fantasy, it has paranormal stuff in it, it has humour, it has relatable characters, it has terrific writing, pace, suspense, villains and heroes, even superheroes and superbly horrible villains (these occur later in the book than the merely horrible villains in the early chapters).

Sure, run off immediately and leave this review and go buy your copy and ignore me. See if I care.

What happens in it? There is Jason Truitt, who is really old (centuries), and who is looking for someone like him (centuries old) and thinks he is again hot on the trail of the elusive Gaia. He is rich (compound interest over centuries, duh, what else would you expect? No? Well, okay, he’s a successful businessman). He has proteges (kind of heartbreaking to see your young friends age past you, grow old and die, so it must take real strength of heart to continue having proteges) who are Trish the peppy, enthusiastic, witty and impatient one, and Don the nerdy scientist who is barely aware of the world (except when wife Trish pulls him willy-nilly into the real world) but superb at his nerdy work. They are all on the track of a woman Jason code-names Gaia, whom he last saw centuries ago, and whose trail keeps going cold.

Why does her trail keep going cold? Is she evil or is evil done to her? What effect does the evil she encounters have on her? Can we get to like her? Will she be Jason’s friend or foe? Bwahahaha. In case you were expecting spoilers from me, I won’t give you any. Yes, they find Gaia. She can make things grow, besides being immortal. Does or does Jason not have a superpower of his own? Shrug from me.

Here’s a small sample, which to my mind, encapsulates the difference between a feminist/sensible romance and a bodice-ripper (said with true loathing). It’s also a sample of the humour you get all the time from Trish (my favourite character in the book):

“Where are you going?” Trish shouted, running after him and pointing east. “She’s out there!”
He paused, his foot on the first step. “If she comes back, we’ll work it out calmly and slowly and properly.”
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Then I’m the one who is unworthy and don’t deserve a second chance.”
“Oh that’s profoundly stupid,” Trish spat.
“I’m not going to make it worse by chasing her down and saying the wrong thing.”
“How about chasing her down and kissing her? Leave words out of it!”
Jason turned and snapped back, “Yes, hunting her like an animal and assaulting her would be bloody brilliant.”
Trish shook her head incredulously. “You know, I love you so much that sometimes I really hate your guts.”
“Fine,” he grumbled and then ran up the stairs two at a time.
Trish shouted after him, “Yeah, fine! Go off and sulk then! That’ll really help!” Just before he slammed his bedroom door shut, he heard her mutter, “Moron.”

Yep, this book gets five stars, and I’m waiting for the sequel (it’s been written but not yet out). [Edit in Dec 2020: Chapman assures me that it's been outlined but it has not been written yet]

Time travel for a better world

Fractured Horizons | T.E. Mark

I first came across T.E. Mark’s writing on his blog (temarkauthor.wordpress.com) where he writes these cheerful suggestions for SF writers struggling with sounding sufficiently high-tech. He not only brings the real science to you in an easily digestible format, but then proceeds to take off on the wildest trips through space and time and the multiverse, peppering the reader with crazy tech and plausible technology terms, until you finish the piece either with a big grin on your face or laughing helplessly.

So I was more than delighted when he kindly agreed to give me a copy of Fractured Horizons for review. And I was certainly not let down in the least.

Fractured Horizons is a light read for young adults. The nearest book I can think of which is similar in theme is possibly Johnny and the Bomb by Terry Pratchett. As an older adult, I could wish FH was as long as JATB but TE Mark packs in quite a punch in a much shorter book.

Robert Davie, a teen in England, meets a new girl in school on page one. She’s mysterious, and knows more about him than he thinks possible, and leaves with a cryptic suggestion that he not freak out too much at the evening coming up; he’s not crazy. Robert, a studious type not given to thinking of himself as that attractive to girls, goes home. You know what they say about home? It’s where the wifi connects automatically. Robert finds out that the wifi not only doesn’t connect automatically, it doesn’t seem to be there. His mom is not his mom. The kitchen is not the kitchen. The world is not in 2016. He remembers Helena’s warning, and hangs onto sanity.

The next day is worse. He’s now in Alexandria, studying with Euclid, and he has a different name (and understands a different language)! Fortunately, Helena is around to explain/befuddle him more.

Robert finds he’s in ‘training’, but for what? He goes from past to future and back, depending on ‘what he learns’ during the day. Helena accompanies him throughout, nudging him towards understanding, managing the transitions and exchanging witty dialogue. The speed of the story and the light touch with the banter between the two made me spend the whole time reading FH with a smile on my face, sometimes expanding to a grin. The smile remained after the last scene flashed on the page and the final ellipsis came up.

The story is ostensibly about the adventures of Robert, but is actually more subtle. You end up wondering about which technological advances the present state of society can withstand, and which would likely overwhelm our coping power. Would you change it if you had the power? The book looks at nuclear power. A thoughtful teen would also go beyond and start wondering about climate change, about the Internet, and other technology impacts we take as ‘given’.

Do I recommend it? Well, if you want to smile your way through a neat story that allows you to think (or not, as you please), go right ahead and pick it up.

A 17 year old tackles visions of deadly future danger

Fantasy, YA | Future Tense | LJ Cohen

Matt is 17, going on 18, and haunted by visions of the future. As a kid, he'd had a vision of a fire, and soon after, his parents had died, leaving him an orphan, in and out of foster homes. Mr and Mrs Powell, who foster other children than Matt as well, are good people, but Matt worries that his visions of death and pain would envelop anyone he cares for—and they would die horribly--and so all he looks for is to 'graduate' foster care when he hits 18. He's trying not to rock the boat.

Then he meets Amara, and Amara's great-aunt. Amara's in his school, and their first encounter is Matt inadvertently and anonymously saving her from a group of bullies. The more Amara tries to understand what Matt is about, the more he tries to push her away. Not that he can. Amara's blind great-aunt reads tarot cards, and sees the 'gift' in Matt.

Now, that's the point at which I would normally flap my hands in exasperation and abandon the book, because, I mean, tarot? One step below astrology, the way I look at it. I mean, I was looking at a fantasy book, not a superstition book.

But LJ Cohen's writing dragged me into the story. By the time this came up, I was totally involved with the characters, and I wanted to know how a happy ending could possibly be pulled out of those dark and dangerous visions. It's a fantasy book, and tarot is just a prop for parts of it. You could replace it with potions if that makes you feel happy. (LJ Cohen later told me on her Google+ profile that she uses tarot as a plot-advancing device and does not advocate it, so there. And yes, that does mean the author is accessible to fans).

Suffice to say that said happy ending occurs, after a breathless rush through a fast-paced story with characters you really care about, credible villains, heroic actions, and suitable comeuppance for the wicked. Which is not to say it's a bloodless story. People get hurt, some badly. It's all very credible and real, and you feel every emotion along the rollercoaster of the story.

Do I recommend this book for young adults of all ages?

Do I, indeed!

Best-selling garbage

Fantasy | Deeply Odd and Innocent | Dean Koontz

I made the mistake of picking up two books by Dean Koontz, misled by the blurbs into thinking that they would be mildly entertaining fantasy. Instead, they are the worst of sanctimonious Christian-themed moralising, slightly worse than Christian-themed B-grade American movies. The characters are stereotypes, the fantasy is heavy-handed and one-dimensional, the moralising is constant, grating, and soaked with Christian religious assumptions and new age nonsense.

In Deeply Odd, the main character has a 'psychic magnetism' which helps him identify evil people. One of whom is able to hide in a parallel dimension to avoid being noticed while he wreaks havoc, murdering parents and kidnapping children who are to be killed in a rite by a cabal of satanists to bring the devil into the world. Odd Thomas gets deus ex machina help from wondrous people who are all turning into 'smooth and fully blue' souls, whatever that means, and assorted ghosts. There is no real tension, the story is boring, the pace is plodding, and we are constantly told about his goodness in lengthy paragraphs divorced from the story itself. Most of the conversations are peppered with Thomas 'ma'am'ing the old lady who pops up in a souped-up limousine when he needs a ride. Each conversation belabours some silly point over two or three pages, which really needed a couple of crisp sentences.

Innocent is worse. Addison Goodheart has a face that immediately drives anyone who sees him, or even just his eyes, into attempted murder. Even his mother cannot resist beyond about 8 years, and commits suicide to avoid killing him. He reaches a city, where he is adopted by a man with the same kind of face. They hide in an underground room built long ago, furnished and having had electricity run to it, because god must have wanted it. Yes, seriously, that's what Koontz says. Food is 'donated' to them via a church where a 'good man' has given them a key to the storeroom. Education comes from midnight sallies to the local library. Addison meets a girl there, who is being chased by an evil man who steals antique books, has murdered her father (a millionaire) and wants to rape her. Yes, you guessed it, same as I did after about 20 pages: Addison looks so innocent that people immediately want to beat him dead. Seriously?? No, no, this is inevitable, because he does not have any original sin in him, and ordinary persons go into a frenzy of jealous murder at one glance. Eventually, everyone in the world is killed except a few kids like him and the girl, by a virus which the planet has come up with to finally get rid of bad humanity. The good priest restrains himself from killing them long enough to perform a Christian wedding ceremony. Dogs and kids live happily after on fruits. Fruits.

This author has a truly warped image of people. They are either idiots blundering through life with no purpose other than to provide victims for evil people, or so naturally bad that goodness drives them to murder. The goodness itself is so because it is declared so, and so saccharine that it is nauseous. Every fantasy trope from bad Christian American movies is there. There is no depth of characterisation, there is no tension in the plot, the situations are contrived and unreal, you can feel no sympathy for the protagonists, and no identification with their goals, let alone their thinking processes. Per Koontz, the only goodness in the world was in the 1930s or earlier. Modern life is inherently evil. The only good that technology brings is trucks and guns, which can be used to zoom up to and blow apart the bad guys. Government is in place only to give a chance for evil people to enslave the unthinking multitude with fear, despair, technology, whatever else he doesn't like. Perhaps excepting the god-ordained dollar.

I began to wonder why I bothered to learn to read if stuff like this litters the world! The tragedy is that these are best-sellers. Which perhaps explains why televangelists are millionaires, and why religious rightists are thriving. Now excuse me while I go off and retch.

Magic that works

Fantasy | Shadow Bound | Rachel Vincent

Again with the entry into a series in book two. Fortunately, this book doesn't require you to know anything about the previous book, since it is from a different main character's viewpoint. Smart going, Rachel Vincent!

You have people with magical talents, along with a whole lot of non-magical people. Now, unfortunately, by the time people realise they have talents, the criminal magical syndicates are after them. Their choices are to hide, or to join up.

Kori Daniels is a shadow walker, able to teleport between shadows, as well as a combat specialist. She is bodyguard to Jake Tower, who has put her to torture for not preventing an attack on his family. Thing is, while she is bound to him, by her sister's magic, her sister, a hugely powerful binder, is not capable of defending herself. Kori will do anything to keep her sister safe, including, in the first place, agreeing to bind herself to Tower in return for keeping her sister safe. Said sister having got herself bound to Tower by mistake a long time ago. In her childhood, she had also bound Kori to schoolmates, one of whom was able to use that to get her kid away from Tower (presumably in the first book).

Now, Ian Holt, a powerful dark maker, is being recruited by Tower. Kori needs to do that, to save her sister from torture. Ian wants to kill Kenley (the sister), to save his brother from the withdrawl symptoms of trying to disobey a binding. Except that said brother has no clue when Kenley did it (and neither do we, till close to the end of the book).

It's a romance, so Kori and Ian are falling in love, trying to prevent each other from being killed, while also trying to fulfill their oaths.

A well-built world, and you can cheerfully suspend your disbelief. Types of dark (infra-red lights prevent 'true shadow'), and ways to beat oaths, and how the criminal syndicates run the magical world—all well fleshed out and believable.

A good read, and I'm planning to seek out book one of the series.