More Books than Time

Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

Silver Master – Paranormal Romance from Jayne Castle

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Silver Master is set in Castle’s wonderful world of Harmony, a normal appearing place except for the psi-drenched, glowing green cities and catacombs left by long-gone aliens. I read Silver Master a week ago and recall the plot only vaguely; this is typical of Castle’s novels. I enjoy them but they blur together and I have to skim a few pages to draft a review.

Celinda Ingram is a matchmaker, very important on Harmony where Covenant Marriages are to last forever. Celinda bought her dust bunny Araminta a pretty red toy in an antique shop and now several people are after the toy because it is actually an alien artifact stolen from the local Guild’s museum.

Araminta grabs her toy and runs off when Celinda tries to give it to Davis Oakes, the security consultant trying to retrieve the artifact for his client, the Guild. Of course lots of psi and danger and sexual encounters ensue as Davis and Celinda work together to retrieve the artifact and shut down the bad guys.

One of the best things about Silver Master revolves around the whole marriage consulting idea and tension between what Celinda knows works best when considering a Covenant Marriage, versus her instinctive belief that she and Davis belong together. Several Harmony novels reference matchmakers and Celinda’s how-to guide, 10 Steps to a Perfect Covenant Marriage and it’s fun to see how the how-to author herself is snared by romance.

Jayne Castle also brings in some favorite characters from other Harmony novels along with their lovable dust bunny friends. This is a good way to make readers connect with the characters and see Harmony through individuals and connections.

4 Stars

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Deception Cove – Paranormal Romance on Rainshadow Island by Jayne Castle

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Deception Cove is the second novel in Castle’s series set on the psi-drenched Rainshadow Island on her alien planet Harmony. As with the two other series novels I read, The Lost Night and The Hot Zone, the plots revolve around the extraordinarily strange Preserve at the island’s center and three rocks that the Sebastian family brought from Earth to Harmony. These rocks are dangerous when combined with the alien paranormal structures in the Preserve and someone has somehow taken them from their safe cache.

The three novels also have similar character interactions, women with very strong psychic gifts and very little money or social standing who collide with handsome, sexy men also gifted with strong psychic profiles. The pairs team up to save the island from the dangers in the Preserve.

Alice North is having a very bad year. A year ago her Marriage of Convenience ended when her husband tried to murder her; her ex husband ended up dead in his home; her ex mother in law is convinced Alice murdered her son and has stalked and harassed her, getting her fired and evicted several times over. Her luck is now changed as Drake Sebastian needs her help finding those pesky rocks and getting Rainshadow under control. Things progress emotionally and the two end up in love.

Deception Cove is quite enjoyable. I read nine other Jayne Castle Harmony novels and Jayne Krentz Arcane novels in the past week and find they tend to blur together. The plots vary but the romantic leads stay about the same, differing only a little in personality. That said, I wouldn’t have read so many books by the same author if they aren’t so darn good!

Deception Cove feels less immediate and I didn’t feel as invested in the characters. The romance feels rushed. The setting also is less vivid to me. I’m familiar with Rainshadow after reading the other novels so the spooky fog and small town vibe are there, just not compelling. I think this sense of not-quite-as-good is more because I read so many Jayne Castle books recently than due to any fault of the author, so I’m not reducing my rating.

Be aware Deception Cove has a couple more sex scenes than most Jayne Castle books and there is a little vulgarity.

4 Stars

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Canyons of Night – Rainshadow Harmony by Jayne Castle

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Canyons of Night is a good introduction to Jayne Castle’s entire series set on Rainshadow Island. She introduces people who are minor characters in Canyons of Night who become leads in later novels, plus the Preserve plays a small role in this novel and a much greater, more terrifying part in later stories.

Jayne Castle developed a whole mythology around Rainshadow Island and her alien world Harmony. Harmony is filled with ruins from long-vanished aliens and all their abandoned places are filled with dangerous paranormal energy. The Preserve on Rainshadow Island is even more terrifying than the run-of-the-mill alien cities and catacombs. People who enter the preserve often are lost and disoriented within seconds and many never get out.

Canyons of Night features Charlotte, an antique dealer on the island, and Slade, the new police chief. They must contend with dead bodies and people searching for an ancient psi energy generator that looks like an antique snow globe that just may be in Charlotte’s shop. Charlotte and Slade end up dodging the killer and paranormal danger while falling in love.

The plot is over the top per Jayne Castle’s usual, but let yourself ignore the silly and follow the people and you too will be engrossed by the chemistry between the two lovers and the suspense as they fight to find the killer and keep their town safe.

4 Stars

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Copper Beach, Paranormal Romance by Jayne Krentz

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Jayne Krentz sets Copper Beach on one of the San Juan islands off the coast from Seattle, not on the alien planet Harmony; otherwise this novel follows the same path as her Harmony series written under the Jayne Castle name. Abby Radwell works as an online bookseller specializing in paranormal volumes. Per Abby this is a fairly decent size market with multiple dealers and buyers who range from evil nuts to nuts to paranoid to weird. Abby caters to the merely paranoid and weird.

Sam Coppersmith runs an R&D lab that works on crystals with paranormal properties. His dad, along with 2 partners, mined for minerals in Nevada and found some very unusual geodes with crystals full of psi energy. One of the partners kept a lab notebook which disappeared in an explosion 40 years ago but now is rumored to have surfaced. The lab notebook is psi coded, meaning only certain sensitives can read it. Abby is one of these sensitives.

The story proceeds with a few side twists that add energy and interest as Sam and Abby try to identify who is trying to blackmail her into finding the notebook and to secure the book in Coppersmith’s vault.

As with all Jayne Krentz books, the love story rides along with the action-filled plot, with several bedroom detours. Even though we know everything will end up just fine, the story moves and we go with it. The sex scenes are explicit but short. There is very little vulgarity or blasphemy.

Krentz’ biggest gift is her ability to create vivid characters and plots to match. The suspense and romance feel real and we urge the characters along as they fall in love, as they fight bad guys in parking garages, as they confront killers.

I enjoyed the story although the ending seems a bit too pat, too neatly wrapped up and tied with a bow. I’m not aware of a sequel although this set of characters seems natural for ongoing adventures.

4 Stars

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After Glow – Paranormal Romance from Jayne Castle aka Jayne Krentz

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Jayne Castle wrote After Glow as an immediate sequel to After Dark, both taking place on the planet Harmony in the alien cities that overflow with psi and para energy. After Dark can stand alone although it’s best to read After Glow second to understand the back story and setting.

Once again Lydia Smith finds a dead body, this time Professor Maltby a washed up para archaeologist turned drug addict. Professor Maltby told Lydia he had information about her lost weekend, but the only clue Lydia and her lover Emmett London could find is an old article about a student who also got lost in the catacombs.

There are several sex scenes, about 2-3 pages long, no blasphemy and virtually no vulgarity. Overall I recommend this if you enjoy romance/suspense set in unique worlds.

There are two main plots, Lydia digging into whatever Maltby wanted her to know, and Lydia intervening to keep Emmett from being challenged to a ghost hunter duel. Just as I found with After Dark, the plots and characters in After Glow and the other Harmony novels tend to blur together. The books are entertaining because Castle did a wonderful job building her world of Harmony.

4 Stars

After Dark – Paranormal Suspense by Jayne Castle aka Jayne Krentz

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Jayne Krentz creates an entire world, Harmony, in the novels she writes as Jayne Castle. Harmony is a different planet, one that has been cut off from Earth for 200 years, and one that is full of psi-drenched alien artifacts.

Lydia Smith is a para-archaeologist who was forced from her university position after having spent a weekend lost underground in the disorienting and terrifying alien catacombs. She isn’t crazy or unstable although most people who get lost in the catacombs that never recover. Lydia now works as the curator at a 3rd rate museum, Shrimpton’s House of Ancient Horrors. After Dark begins when Lydia finds a semi-friendly rival Chester Brady dead in an alien sarcophagus while meeting her new client, Emmett London.

The novel has many twists and turns with an intricate plot and subplots, and engaging characters. I find I can’t recall the plot after a few weeks and the characters tend to merge into Krentz/Castle’s generic para-powerful romance leads. The real winner is Harmony; we can almost see and feel the green glowing dead cities above and below ground.

Lydia and Emmett both distrust the other. Lydia distrusts Guild ghost hunters and Emmett thinks Lydia may be involved in his nephew’s disappearance. They must work together to stay alive, to find his nephew and to find who killed Chester and why. After Dark explores how each responds to the other, first with almost overwhelming sexual attraction, then with respect and liking and trust.

After Dark has some semi-explicit sex scenes, almost no vulgarity and no blasphemy. Each sex scene lasts about 3 pages so readers can skip through if they so choose.

I read After Dark about every 3 years or so. The plot tends to slip out of my mind rather quickly as do the individual characters. But I always remember the alien city. Harmony is fascinating.

4 Stars

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Marked, Alex Verus #9, London Urban Fantasy

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Our friend Mage Alex Verus certainly has grown in stature since the first novel, Fated. Initially Alex was a bit naive, wanting only to have a peaceful, private life, running his magic store and providing a bit of support to Adepts like Luna. It is this commitment to his friends and his abilities as a top diviner mage that inevitably draw him deeper into the Light Council politics and mark him as an opponent for several of the senior leadership.

Marked is book number 9 and Alex has been busy. In prior novels the Light Council sucked him into operations that went bad and made him a top target for several Light council members. In order to protect his friends and save his life Alex agreed to be Dark mage Morden’s aide when Morden accepts a seat on the Light Council. Alex has tried to distance himself from the dark mages for years and didn’t want anything to do with Morden or other dark mages, but has thrown himself into his new responsibilities. Now, Marked opens with Morden imprisoned, Alex as his aide has Morden’s seat on the Junior Council.

Alex is decisive and skilled. The first scenes in Marked show him leading a team of Light mages and security forces to reclaim a nasty artifact and put the fear of defeat into one of his many enemies’ minions. Later the Light Council call upon Alex to work with Morden to entrap Richard Drakh. Alex realizes it’s a very bad idea but also that he is curious (an often fatal flaw for diviners) and eager to stay abreast of the situation.

Alex, his friends Luna, Variam and Anne want the Adepts, less skilled than mages and whom the Light Council refuses to protect, to have a voice and to be protected. When the plan to trap Richard goes horribly awry it traps a few hundred Adepts in between the fighting. Alex steps forward to lead the Light forces and give the Adepts a way out of the building. Later of course the council blames him for the fiasco and pushes him into further action that leads to Morden getting free, and of course, setting us up for a book 11.

One of the best things about Benedict Jacka’s Alex Verus series is how Alex grows and matures in his magic and leadership. He really would rather lay low and stay out of the power games between Light and Dark but he gets involved to protect Adepts and his friends. He particularly worries about Anne, life mage with tremendous power, whom several Dark mages would like to recruit.

Marked has several subplots. We’ve met Arachne, a giant spider, possibly THE Arachne of legend, before and she is Alex’s oldest friend. Arachne several cryptic things that sound as if she may be either killed or fading away. Alex hears this when he’s not able to follow up, leaving the possible situation to future novels.

Jacka creates realistic characters, one of the better people-builders in the fantasy genre. His characters, especially Alex, grow, mature, change, display foibles and flaws just like ordinary people. Some of the minor characters from prior novels have smaller roles in Marked, as the action and emotion center on Alex and Anne.

One point that puzzles me with the Verus series is the economics. We see the Light Council is rich as are most of the Light Mages. Yet what do these folks do for money? Most are not employed in the regular sense, nor own businesses, and the Light rules restrict using magic to compel people to give you money. Alex implies that the Council taxes mages to support itself, which means there is a lot of money sloshing around with no obvious source.

Overall Benedict Jacka continues to write excellent fantasy in an urban, modern setting. I enjoyed Marked and plan to read the 10th book Fallen.

The Flaw in All Magic by Ben Dobson, Magebreakers Book 1 Even Mages are Human

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Even mages are human.  And humans make mistakes.  That was the thesis for Tane Carver’s senior dissertation at the mage school (which got him expelled in disgrace) and it is the underpinning for his livelihood.  The flaw in all magic is the mage who casts it.

Lead character Tane Carver is very, very good at analyzing magic and spotting flaws but has no magical ability.  Tane scratches a modest (very modest) living examining spell diagrams for flaws and advising how to correct problems and gaps in wards.

The Flaw in All Magic opens with the dean of divination at the mage school asking Tane to consult on a murder that could not have happened.  One of Tane’s old friends is murdered in a locked lab, secured behind wards that prevent anyone unauthorized to enter.  So how did someone gain access and who is the murderer?

The Flaw in All Magic combines a bit of whodunit with interesting fantasy elements and fun characters.  Tane is a bit much sometimes, way too smart and not always truthful.  Of course, as the hero, he bends the truth to save the day.  Tane is irksome when he gets on his soapbox and author Dobson is good enough writer to keep these soliloquies to a minimum.

Author Dobson did not stint on creating even minor characters with personality.  Indree, Tane’s old girlfriend and now a leading light in the local police, is fairly predictable yet believable, as are the nasty villain and the university leaders.

The best character is Kadka, half orc and half human, an extremely rare type of individual.  She left her orc homeland because they saw her as human, and wandered the human countries for a while, finding they saw her as Orc.  Now she is in Audland Protectorate, the one country left from the breakup of the Mage Empire centuries before that encourages magic and welcomes folks of all species, from goblins and orcs to elves and sprites.  Kadka is in love with magic, seeing the wonder in what the mages do and the beauty in the magical workings.

Kadka has a fairly simple philosophy; if threaten anyone I care about then I will smash your throat in.  That is extremely useful when she teams up with Tane to solve the murder and along the way finds a threat to her adopted country and indeed to everyone.  Kudos to Dobson for writing such a novel blend of innocence, wonder and badassery.

The Flaw in All Magic is an enjoyable read, well written with complex backstory, good pacing and solid characters. The writing is good, with a few clumsy moments, as when Tane explains to Kadka how things work to bring us readers into the backstory.

I’ll most likely look for the sequels.

3+ to 4 Stars

Superhero Detective For Hire: Superhero Detective Series, Book One by Darius Brasher

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Superhero Detective For Hire is a fast, cute read with some pleasing character development and nifty backstory and plot.  Our hero detective Truman Lord appeared a few times in Darius Brasher’s other books Sentinels and Rogues, and I thought he was interesting enough to check out the full-length novel featuring his exploits.

Lord is a wise-cracking private detective who happens to be a superhero, able to do almost anything with water.  He hides behind his smart aleck ladies man persona while actually smart and persistent.   He makes fun of himself to himself, giving himself alliterative names such as Truman the Tenacious and asks random ladies whether they are dazzled by his good looks.

Truman Lord takes a case from a university president who is being blackmailed by her boy toy lover.  Oops.  The boy toy is a meta human too and can record anything from his perspective and put it to video.  This skill serves him well when it comes to getting ladies to pay up.  Lord takes the case and finds himself behind the eight ball with dead bodies piling up and a shortage of clues.  Needless to say he manages to solve the mystery.

Superhero Detective for Hire is a fast read, easy to follow as Brasher takes care to tell us where we are and why, who the other people are and why we should care.  For example, at the end we revisit a minor character we met earlier and Truman tells us just enough to jog our memory as to who this person is.

I liked Superhero Detective for Hire because it was funny and the super hero aspects were low key.  (I really do not want to slog through pages someone’s powers.)  Truman Lord doesn’t take himself or the whole superhero panoply seriously and the story is a lot of fun.

At the same time Brasher does a good job helping us get to know Truman.  He is far more than a jokesmith – albeit one with good taste in clothes – and I will enjoy his exploits in future stories in this series.

4 Stars

The Artifact Enigma: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure The Daniel Codex Book 1

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The Artifact Enigma: An Urban Fantasy Action Adventure by Judith Berens, Martha Carr and Michael Anderle is the first book in a (so far) three book series, The Daniel Codex.  The back story and plot elements are mouth-watering:  Magic is swarming over the earth because our magical sister planet Oricera now aligns fully to us and magical people now walk and live in our midst.  At the same time our CIA is trying to understand a separate group of aliens, people from other planets outside our solar system.

Daniel Winters is a CIA agent because he wants to serve and protect at the same time he helps his grandfather with his combination magical oddity and antiques business.  Daniel stumbles into a deep plot to do something with the aliens.  In fact the CIA already erased one entire town after messing up with an alien meet and greet.  Or something.  Daniel really doesn’t know anything about this other CIA group’s motives or goals, but he decides to throw in with a rogue group dedicated to keeping us and the aliens and Oricera safe from trigger-happy CIA folks.

This sounds like it should be a great story, but The Artifact Enigma is flat.  I feel no connection to any of the characters and it doesn’t appear that the authors tried to involve readers into the story.  The plot moves fast with plenty of action, but even the action is subdued, distant, doesn’t feel real and left me just not caring.

The final sequence is particularly telling as Daniel becomes judge, jury and executioner for a gang trying to take over his neighborhood.  After pages of high-minded yakking about duty and service and not wanting to kill people, our hero just walks into the gang house and kills everyone.

I doubt I’ll read any more of this series, although the plots sure sound tempting.

3 Stars