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

Sentinels: The Omega Superhero Book Three Series by Darius Brasher

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Sentinels, the third book about Theo Conley’s growth from out of shape country hick to high-powered super hero, takes a sharp bend from the first two novels.  Theo is a fully-licensed hero now, and finding his way in the big city and the wide world.  Things are different than he had expected with many more shades of gray and far less black and white.

Now he can discover just who killed his dad and why and bring them to justice yet Theo keeps hesitating.  He is slowly discovering that he can’t just jump in and blast the bad guys, that some bad guys take revenge against the wrong people, that judgement and wisdom are not the same things as strength and smarts.

The book has several unpleasant events, notably a very long and detailed evening in a strip club that I could have done without, an annoying “You are the Chosen One” sequence and a shocking end to a main character.  Further the ending is both shocking and unbelievable.  Theo found out who tried to kill him earlier but couldn’t go to the Hero’s Guild because he had no proof yet at the end he somehow has sufficient evidence.

Overall I did not like Sentinels nearly as much as I did Trials and Caped.  On the positive side Isaac remains a breath of fresh air and new character Taylor Lord is a great addition.  (Lord has has his own series too, what a coincidence, yes?)  On the negative side the story drags a bit due to uneven pacing and I do not care for The Chosen One theme nor the sexual content.

3 Stars

Trials: Omega Superhero Series Book 2 by Darius Brasher

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Darius Brasher’s Omega Superhero series started out well.  Caped introduces us to Theo and his friends and his world, one where meta humans can become licensed superheroes and fight bad guys, complete with cape, tights and mask.  I expected a fast plot with plenty of cliches and was happy to be surprised with a well-written novel peopled with characters and deepening stories.

Second novel, Trials, continues with Theo (aka Kinetic) taking the exhaustive and dangerous tests to earn his license.  Unfortunately for him someone is continuing their quest to kill him and isn’t too fussy about how they do it.  That murderous threat is one challenge; the others are from the nature of the trials themselves and the moral challenges of using one’s powers to help, not hurt, and friendship.

This series has been quite a find and I’m off to read the third book, Sentinels.

4 Stars

Bullets and Blades – A Montague & Strong Detective Novel Orlando Sanchez Book 7

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Orlando Sanchez started his Montague and Strong supernatural detective series with a bang, rattling off four  enjoyable novels in a row, each building on the strength of the characters Simon Strong, a normal human, and Tristan Montague, a mage plus assorted demi-gods, a hellhound, vampires, were-creatures and more.  Lots of fun to read, lots of action, plenty of character development, humor and a sense of danger.  The fifth novel was far less well-written due to some irritating new characters and Simon’s sudden descent into passive stupidity.  Book six was only slightly better and I wondered whether Sanchez had lost his magic touch.

Book 7, Bullets and Blades, is not quite up to the standards of books one through three, but still far better than book five.  True we still have LD and TK Tush – thankfully with minor roles – and too much “a miracle occurs here” type magic, but on the plus side Simon has his brain back.

Overall this is a big improvement, although I still used my Kindle Unlimited to borrow instead of buy.  It will take a few more top quality novels from Sanchez before I plunk down cold hard cash.

4 Stars

Caped: The Omega Superhero Book One – Contemporary Fantasy by Darius Brasher x

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Caped:  The Omega Superhero is surprisingly enjoyable.  Our hero, Theo, is dismayed to find he has the super powers, moreover, that he is an omega class, the most powerful.  Theo didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do in life – besides not be a farmer – but being a hero was definitely not his ideal career.

Events take over and Theo decides to embrace his abilities and learn as best he can to control them and take on the role of hero.  He is motivated first by revenge, but quickly discovers he has a new family with the other young heros-in-training.  Seeing Theo grow into a likable young man takes Caped from a typical adventure to a story with nuances of character, plot and back story plus a bit of humor to keep it lighthearted and a pleasant evening read.

Caped is the first in a series by author Darius Brasher and I intend to read Trials, the sequel.

4 Stars

Shadow Detective Supernatural Dark Urban Fantasy Series: Books 1-3 by William Massa

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Shadow Detective is a 3-book set starring Mike Raven, an occult expert who fights supernatural monsters.  This has become a popular sub genre in the last few years with books ranging from highly successful Dresden series to an assortment of schlock.  I’d put Shadow Detective slightly above the middle.

I read these books on vacation about a month ago and had to re-open to recall what they were about, not the mark of a compelling series.  The novels are reasonably well-written, with decent dialogue that advances the characters and the action, and the plots move fast.

Unfortunately the plot of the first novel in the set, Cursed City, is weak and ridiculous.  Celeste claims to be the victim of her father’s lust for power, that he bargained her soul to the devil when she was a baby.  In reality she is working with her father.  I have never understood how anyone, once they know beyond a shadow of doubt that hell exists, could possibly want anything to do with demons.

The second and third books are better, where Mike Raven fights a vampire who has gained demonic powers.

Author Massa does some modest character development on the three main heroes, Mike, his mentor Skulick and Jane Archer whom Mike loves.

Overall this is a readable series if you enjoy this type of monster/demon/vampire/magic conflict.  Personally I find the novels where the conflict is between us humans and supernatural monsters are less enjoyable and have weaker characters than those where the primary conflict is between people, with a few supernaturals thrown in.  It’s just harder to make the villains anything but blackest evil when they are demons and the most believable stories allow villains to have some redeeming qualities.

3 Stars

 

 

 

 

 

Your Name in Fire by Kara Emory – Psychopathic Vampire Stalker vs. Video Game Designer

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Who would win?  A nasty, vicious control freak who happens to be a vampire or a kind, rather normal video game designer?  Can the game designer save Wendy/Dawn from the vampire Francis who wants to control and own her, and who, in fact has turned her into a vampire?

Your Name in Fire is an unusual blend of traditional suspense/psychological thriller with paranormal romance.  Author Kara Emory develops her story by creating interesting people out of what could have been stock characters, then adds paranormal mystery to top it off.  Overall the novel is about people and how they solve what appear to be insolvable problems.

Connor meets Wendy/Dawn working for a video game company on the verge of launching its blockbuster game.  The video game launch offers a good backdrop for the action

The writing is quite good with the author using dialogue plus action and inner thoughts to tell us about the people.  Flashbacks of events from 18 years earlier help explain the current situation without belaboring the problems.

I enjoyed Your Name in Fire far more than I expected from a newbie author.  I typically don’t read books about vampires or video games but was enticed to try because of the great reviews.

4 Stars

Bright Ruin by Vic James – Harrowing Finale to Dark Gifts Trilogy

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Bright Ruin picks up immediately after Tarnished City (which follows right after Gilded Cage, the first book in the Dark Gifts trilogy by Vic James); be sure to read the books together so you don’t lose track of the characters and setting.  Bright Ruin is the climax and offers an ending that is meant to offer a path forward to an England that appears to have no future beyond more oppression and cruelty.

The Skilled Jardine family, including daughter-in-law Bouda, have immense talents that they use to achieve and hold power.  Bouda is the only one who genuinely cares about the country – and she believes the Skilled are better and should rule and that Slave Days are the obvious and natural outcome.

Their counterpoint family is the Hadleys, mostly oldest Abi and goodhearted Luke.  Vic James develops the characters to some extent but what we see in Gilded Cage we see in Bright Ruin, except that Gavar finds a conscience and Abi determination.  Bright Ruin includes all the people from prior books, telling the story through Abi, Luke, Gavar, Bouda and Silyen.

 

** SPOILER ALERT**

England faces the basic problem of “what next”?  Do the Equals continue enslaving common people?  Do they lighten up a bit and make the slavery less cruel?  Do they abolish slavery?  The economy and social structure are built around 10 years of slavery for all commoners.  You cannot simply end that without some plans for the future.  Bouda carries much of the story line, where she continues to insist that Equals should rule and commoners slave, all while she wonders whether that is completely true.  Gavar makes his choice because he loves his daughter.  Silyen doesn’t really care; he doesn’t like slavery and cruelty but he’s not going to fight to eliminate it.

James had a challenge to wrap this up.  She brings in new magic and a mythical figure and an enormous sacrifice from Silyen, whom we would never expect to sacrifice anything (or perhaps he takes this action to follow the wonder king).  The result is not completely believable nor completely satisfying.

Overall I didn’t care for Bright Ruin as much as the first novel; I dislike series where the author writes themselves into a corner and then must have a miracle occur to conclude and that is what Bright Ruin feels like.

3 Stars

I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in expectation of a review.

Tarnished City by Vic James, Sequel to The Gilded Cage – Dystopian Magic in England

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Vic James’ taunt fantasy thriller, The Gilded Cage, introduced us to a horrifying alternate England, one where magic-wielding Skilled Equals tyrannize everyone else, even requiring all commoners to serve 10 years of Slave Days.  The slavery conditions vary, from miserable to deadly, and Equals have little or no consequences for injuring their slaves.  Once a commoner serves their 10 years as a slave they are more-or-less free, with however, no political power.  (Gilded Cage review is here.)

Tarnished City picks up immediately after The Gilded Cage.  Luke is Condemned, in the hands of Crovan, a psychopath Equal, highly skilled at inflicting torture via the mind.  Luke’s sister Abigail has escaped from the car that is bringing her and her parents to the slave town, and now makes her way to an Equal family she believes can help her prove Luke’s innocence and set him free.

Neither sibling realizes exactly how naive they are.  Only a few Equals care about commoners or are willing to take action even knowing someone is innocent of a crime.  As power-hungry Whittam Jardine says, “Stupid girl.  Truth isn’t what happened, it’s what people will believe happened.”

Tarnished City‘s plot is escapes, followed by searches for family, followed by desperate quests for fairness and justice, with a good-size helping of violence.  The story combines Luke and Abigail coming of age, realizing exactly what their country is and what they can – and cannot – do to save it.  Their counterpoint is the Jardine sons.  One grows into betrayal, one into on-again/off-again decency, and one is a sociopath, caring almost nothing about anything beyond his Skill.  One family is Slave and the other Equal and they are bound together.

Characters have a range of emotions and motives although a few of them remain opaque.  The villains are notably sketchy (after all, what author wants to delve into the mind of a psychopath like Crovan?)  Even Abi and Luke feel more like people in a book rather than real people.  Despite the somewhat-limited character building we can empathize enough to realize the incredible danger and no-win situations for the individuals and the overall country.

Overall Tarnished City is well-done.  It is difficult to read in large doses given the truly terrible and horrifying events and situations that Vic James develops.  On the downside there are a lot of characters and some are in-and-out, no one you have to remember.  The author tries to help us keep the point of view narrator clear by noting the person in the chapter titles, but it is still a little hard to recall a minor character from the first novel.

I just received an advance copy of the final novel, Bright Ruin, and am curious how James will end this.  There is no happy ending that I can see.

Please note that this series is marked YA because the protagonists are older teens but I certainly would not recommend this to anyone very young.  The concepts are blatantly moralistic and political, and while we hear the villains tell us why they think they are right, they don’t make a lot of sense.  Don’t give this to a young person who can’t distinguish motive from means from ends.

4 Stars

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik – Mystery, Terror, Magic in the Cold North

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Spinning Silver is not a sequel to Novik’s wonderful Uprooted.  The two novels have no characters, setting or magic in common, and, although Novik says both books are set in the same world, the stories and countries are far apart.  Spinning Silver is also not as good as Uprooted.

Spinning Silver gives us three heroines, and Miryem, daughter of an improvident, hapless Jewish moneylender, Irina, daughter of an ambitious duke and Magreta, the poor daughter of an selfish, cruel man has two brothers to protect.  The three ladies live in a country similar to Old Russia, where Jews are kept in their ghetto and in their place, always at risk for pograms and perfect scapegoats for a too-long winter.

Miryem realizes her father would rather let his family freeze and nearly starve than to demand repayment.  She takes over his job, demands her father’s debtors pay on their loans and discovers she has merchant talent and can turn silver into gold.  The Staryek king hears her boast that she can turn silver into gold and leaves a bit of silver on her doorstep.  Miryem is smart and takes the silver to her cousin’s suitor, a jeweler, who turns the silver into a bewitching ring that catches all eyes.  The jeweler sells the ring to Irina’s father.  Next the Staryek leaves a larger pile of silver, which Miryem and the suitor turn into a necklace.  The third time Miryem asks the Staryek king what he will give her in return; he will make her his queen – whether she wants it or not.

So far we have the outline of a Rumplestiltskin fairy tale, but the novel has far more depth than the tale.  The Staryek king terrifies Miryem, and she calls upon the backbone she found when demanding loan payments and stands up to him.  She forces him to see her as an individual instead of as a despised mortal.

Meanwhile, the demon-possessed tsar marries Irina because his demon wants to consume her.  The demon loans the tsar magic and in return, the tsar must provide the demon with victims.  The tsar is cursed with the demon because his mother bargained for her power in exchange for her infant son.  He doesn’t know how to rid himself of this unwanted monster and is terrified that his nobles will discover he is possessed and burn him as they did his mother.

Magreta comes into the tale because her drunken, worthless father owes Miryem’s family; since he cannot repay the loan Margreta works for Miryem’s family, eventually taking over some of Miryem’s collecting tasks.

All three ladies live in fear.  Miryem first fears her neighbors, then the Staryek king.  Irina fears her husband’s demon and knows that if the nobles kill him that they will kill her or imprison her in a convent.  Magreta fears her father and fears for her brothers.

The novel’s story is how all three overcome their fears by winning against terrible odds and tyrants.  This is the best part of the book.

The romances are weak.  Novik gives us reasons that the Staryek king will want and admire Miryem, but we don’t really see why Miryem would want to marry him.  Irina of course has no choice because she already is married to the tsar and we see hints that the two will be happy together, but there is no compelling love story here.  Neither the Staryek king nor the tsar are fascinating people, nothing like Sarkan, the dragon in Uprooted.  All the men feel like blank slates, only there for the girls to be strong against.

The other weak point is that the dangers feel muted, distant.  The characters tell us they are in danger and we can certainly see it, but the threats don’t feel as immediate as they should.  Even when Miryem fears her king will kill her for not completing a task the story focuses on her determination more than on the danger, and the same is true for Irina and Margreta.  All three girls either have or develop spines of steel and spend most of their emotional energy on remaining adamant.  I certainly appreciate that in a character – far better than moaning and groaning – the side effect is we lose the sense of deadly peril.

Overall the writing, pacing, world building are excellent.  I was a little disappointed because Spinning Silver is not as good as Uprooted, lacking its overall emotional punch.

4 Stars

The Librarians and the Pot of Gold by Greg Cox – Television Show Spin Off

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The Librarians and the Pot of Gold by Greg Cox is based on a television show and some of it reminded me of James Bond movies:

  • The initial sequence is fast and dangerous and has nothing to do with the rest of the plot
  • The action and setting are vivid
  • Dialogue is short and snappy
  • People don’t always think before they act

Overall I enjoyed the book despite being completely unaware of the television show.  The Librarians and the Pot of Gold references past adventures over and over, which is a little annoying, but readers who follow the show or have read earlier novels will likely enjoy.

This is a very fast read, two to three hours at most.  The authors don’t explain the characters or back story, presumably we’re supposed to be familiar already, but it’s easy enough to pick up and follow.  The good guys are obvious and the bad guys even more obvious, and there are plenty of secondary characters to add interest.

I would like to read more novels, written with a bit more serious intent, that use the Library concept.

I’m not sure I’ll read any further books in the series but do recommend The Librarians and the Pot of Gold if you enjoy fantasy with lots of action and color.

3 Stars

I received an advance copy via NetGalley in expectation of an honest review.