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

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

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuesta – Gentle Comedy in a Small Michigan Town

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How could I pass up a novel set in Manistique, a small town along a beautiful stretch of Lake Michigan beach in the Upper Peninsula?  Stuck in Manistique is unusual, a bit of romance with a touch of screwball comedy, and meant-to-be-quirky characters.

Protagonist Mark is a financial planner in suburban Chicago who inherits his aunt’s home in Manistique, not realizing it is a bed & breakfast.  He quickly learns when his first guest, young medical resident Emily shows up, fresh from deciding to walk away from her affair with her mentor doctor.  Emily has nowhere to go because the town’s hotel is full with a bus tour group and she hit a deer on US 2 and the town’s dealership cannot fix her Saab quickly.  Mark allows Emily to stay, followed by elderly George, then weird maybe couple Yvonne and Peter.  In between all this Mark must scatter his aunt’s ashes on Indian Lake with the help of Bear Foot, a local visionary friend of his aunt.

So far so good, we have the screwball elements in place with people coming and going, all while our hapless innkeeper is the victim of his own kindness.  Romance, death, revelation all ensue.

Stuck in Manistique is short; it won’t take more than a couple hours to read.  There isn’t much action beyond eating at the various pubs and pizza joints, running along the shoreline, paddle boating on Indian Lake and driving around the UP and the northern Lower Peninsula.  The main story is the people.

  • What is the connection between Mark and Emily?  They both feel something, but it isn’t romance.
  • Will Mark decide to stay in Manistique?
  • Will Emily finally cut the connection with her adulterous lover/boss?
  • Can Mark get over his fear of bridges?  (Believe me, you do not want to drive over the Mackinaw Bridge if you are afraid of bridges!  It’s huge.)
  • Can Emily come to peace with her guilt over Nicholas?
  • Will George ever catch up with his tour group?
  • Will Peter and Yvonne make it around Lake Michigan in his electric car?

Simple questions.  The author manages to bring these together in a gentle comedy that is engaging, and combines it with beautiful setting and an atmosphere of What Next Can Go Wrong?

There is almost enough meat to the characters to make Stuck in Manistique a winner.  The people tell us about themselves, and while we see Mark being kind in action, that kindness doesn’t quite align with his internal story about dumping his girlfriend when she wanted to get married.

Writing is good although don’t expect a lot of action or snappy dialogue.  The characters are the story here.

3 to 4 Stars

I received this via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

 

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.

Titan by Daniel Mignault and Jackson Dean Chase – Greek Mythology Turned Real

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Titan by Daniel Mignault and Jackson Dean Chase is subtitled “An Epic Novel of Urban Fantasy and Greek Mythology” and is the first book in new series The Gods War. Mignault and Chase have created an unusual blend of ancient Greek mythology with vicious high school and societal control.

Titan’s hero is young Andrus Eaves, adopted son of a rich couple, in his final year of school training to go into the warrior service of the New Greek Theocracy.  Titan’s world developed because the primeval Greek god Kronus defeated his children including Zeus and Thanatos (Hades or Death), and rules supreme over the tiny remnant of earth left after the devastating war.  Kronus “mercifully” let humans live, providing him with worshipers and service.  No one can die, not matter how injured, because Thanatos is imprisoned.

Andrus pretty much takes his life for granted, is satisfied with his future service until he begins to have segues that disorient and distract him.  He loses face when he loses a climbing test to his arch rival, and his teacher then assigns both young men to a final test, with a catch:  both must pair with one of the weakest people in their class and both must make it to the top before the other pair.  The evil arch priest takes note of the contest and this spawns the action.

Back Story and Setting

Mignault and Chase have built a horrific world, one where everyone is at the mercy of Kronus and his sadistic priests.  Everyone must attend temple weekly and kneel on stone floors for hours.  Any who fall over or settle back – even old and infirm – are turned into “worms”, without legs or arms, and thrown to Kronus to eat.  Anyone out after sunset curfew is fair game for centaurs who enjoy eating people, although rich folks may purchase tokens from the priesthood that allow them later hours.

The world has some odd side notes.  For instance, it is set on the US West Coast and Andrus’ parents are rich because he discovered oil on their former property.  Andrus’ father drives a new red Ferrari, although Europe and the Farrari factory are demolished.

Rich folks own slaves and the priests or the security force can condemn anyone to be a slave.  Poor people live in a ghetto area with few services and very little opportunity to escape unless they are able to pass an exam.  Andrus’ climbing partner is one of these poor folks and if he and Andrus lose then he will suffer greatly.

Characters

The characters were the weakest link in the story.  Andrus is fairly well developed but his new friend and climbing partner is less so.  Andrus meets and supposedly falls in love with his friend’s sister, but the romance feels more a literary convention than anything real.

The villains are stock characters:  the bloodthirsty and vicious priest, the nasty and vindictive centaur.  Andrus’ parents and their slave butler are reasonably well done, obviously with mysteries that are not revealed in this first novel.

Overall

Titan has some YA fantasy conventions, most obvious with the romance and the easy-read writing style.  The authors don’t challenge anyone’s brain with this book.

I enjoyed Titan for the most part, despite the tedious and unnecessary romance, and may possibly try the next book in the series.  You can get Titan and the rest of the series on Kindle Unlimited.

3 Stars

Bangkok Warlock: A Mark Vedis Supernatural Thriller Book 1 (Southeast Asia Paranormal Police Department)

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Bangkok Warlock by John P. Logsdon is book 1 in the Mark Vedis Supernatural Thriller series, also called Southeast Asia Paranormal Police Department.  Bangkok Warrior uses the theme of a supernatural police force protecting us humans and borrows the Paranormal Police Department Logsdon uses in other novels.

This is an OK novel, not bad and not great, a decent read while I was camping.  The main character, Mark Vedis, is an unassuming low-level mage in the Paranormal Police Department until he inadvertently bonds with a demon.  Not to worry, the demons in this series aren’t devils, more like powerful, obnoxious paranormal creatures it’s best to avoid.

Mark then must take on more challenging responsibilities and lead a new team in Bangkok.

The author gives us almost nothing about Bangkok as the focus is on the paranormal side, not the earth side.  The characters are OK, again not bad, reasonably interesting and somewhat fleshed out, but not compelling.

Overall Bangkok Warrior is a decent read for a lazy afternoon, best if you have a Kindle Unlimited account.

3 Stars

 

Heirs of Grace by Tim Pratt – Magic and Family

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Heirs of Grace by Tim Pratt came up on BookBub, came up on Amazon recommendations, came up on Goodreads.  I’m not sure just why it comes up so much as the novel is OK but nothing great.

The plot is pretty basic.  Youngish woman inherits an old house complete with ancient magic (source never explained) along with a good-looking lawyer bound to server her and some creepy half-siblings.  Two of the siblings want to kill her, but she manages.  So far so good, not terribly original or compelling, but this type of novel can be a fun read if the characters are good.

Heirs of Grace just misses.  Main character Bekah is OK, her romantic interest is blah, her eldest sister is hung up on pleasing their dead father and her brother is a homicidal power-mad nasty piece of work.  None of them feel real and the action and conflicts also slide right past me.

I read Heirs of Grace on vacation and it was engaging enough to finish, but not so good that I will look for more by this author.  Thankfully this is a Kindle Unlimited, not a purchase.

Note:  There is some cursing and bad language and Bekah is above the petty concerns of normal morality.

3 Stars

City of Broken Magic by Marah Bolender – Great Premise, So-So Characters

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Marah Bolender’s debut novel City of Broken Magic is built on an unusual magic system and world.  The city Amicae is built to contain and ward off infestations of magic monsters that spontaneously form in broken amulets.  The city designers did too good of a job and now the civic leaders and almost all citizens do not believe that monsters exist, and that’s a problem because amulets do wear out and break.  Sweepers are responsible to remove any monsters that form, a terribly dangerous job.

Our heroine Laura is a Sweeper training under the only other surviving Sweeper, Clae.  I kept expecting some romantic sparks between Laura and Clae, or between Laura and the new apprentice Okane but neither happened.  Laura is determined to learn as much as possible and develop her skills just to survive, while she dissembles about her job to her aunt and cousin to avoid worrying them.

The plot felt contrived and had a few holes.  Clae takes Laura to another city to present her to the sweepers from other cities, yet when they arrive they and their hosts are the only ones there, no one from the other cities, and many of their hosts are too busy insulting Clae to take more than a glance at Laura.

I’m not sure why City of Broken Magic feels flat, bland to me.  The action felt 3rd hand, almost impersonal.  The two main characters are decent, with Laura a strong-willed determined young lady who wasn’t going to die fighting monsters if she could help it.  Somehow the book just doesn’t connect with me.

I think the biggest problem is the secondary characters seem taken right out of central casting:  The greedy, foolish businessman, downtrodden almost-enslaved native, chauvinistic wanna-be boyfriend, matchmaking aunt.  These characters never read like real people, they are 2-dimensional.  There is also no true villain.  A few characters get in Clae’s and Laura’s way, but they are minor problems, not over-the-top threats.  Overall the poor secondary characters weaken the rest of the novel.

Several reviewers were not happy with how Bolender introduced terms that one had to infer from context, but I didn’t find this a problem.  We learn about the world the say way a visitor would, in bits and pieces.  I thought the author left several trails unexplored, ideas and situations that she could build upon in future novels, such as the intriguing city of tiers.  The novel felt as though the author had a start and an end and took the shortest path from one to the other without looking at the scenery.

Overall City of Broken Magic was a decent read, not one I can rate as high as I would like to given the imaginative world building, but certainly worth reading if one enjoys fantasy.

3 Stars

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reader copy given in expectation of an honest review.

Duty Honor Planet – Intriguing Twist on Interstellar Invasion

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Duty, Honor, Planet is the first novel in the 3-book series by Rick Partlow and takes a different twist on the alien invasion theme and is a pretty entertaining read.  Officers Jason McKay and Shannon Stark are assigned to the new Intelligence arm of the Republic space navy, with the intention to form a special forces unit.  Their first assignment is not glamorous, to guard a high profile Senator’s daughter on a tour of various colony hot spots.

They run into some very odd alien invaders:    Blue, large humanoids who are looting the colony planet of all its resources.  Oddly, the humanoids have human DNA and appear to be sub-sentient creatures created soldiers.  The attack on the colony doesn’t make much sense – until McKay figures out that the attack is likely a dry run for an invasion of Earth.  Further, they determine the attackers are from a Russian force rumored to have survived the last war and escaped somewhere.

The rest of the novel proceeds much as we expect with plenty of action and good dialogue and even reasonable character development.  The characters never quite come alive for me, but it’s close.  There is romance which is also a near miss; our main character sleeps with two ladies and has intense relationships with both – within a day of each other.

Overall this is well-written and well-edited.  Pacing is good and the author doesn’t skimp on creating interesting settings and conversational dialogue.  I’m not sure I’ll read the sequels.

3 Stars

Trust A Few: Haruspex Trilogy: Part One by E.M. Swift-Hook Space Opera

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Trust A Few: Haruspex Trilogy: Part One by E.M. Swift-Hook is a good book, with well-drawn characters, action and plenty of moral dilemmas.  So why did I keep leaving it to play a game on my tablet?  I’m not sure, but the story became less compelling about two thirds of the way through.  It may have been me or maybe it was the fact that all the characters enmeshed themselves in the criminal underworld – not appealing – or that the true villain in the story appeared only a few times.

We have four main characters with a few others adding conflicts and challenges.  Durban Chola sees Jaz as little more than a thug, a hard mercenary, a man who survived the worst military setting imaginable, but I see Jaz as the central character, the glue that holds everyone together.  Jaz would say Avilon is the keystone, and the action revolves around Avilon, but it is Jaz who has the most complex character and is the engine.  I kept hoping Jaz would find a way back to Vel’s cousin and her little girl, the two people he planned to make his permanent family until Durban yanked him away.

The setting is the underworld of an enormous city, in a world ruled by the Coalition and its CSF security forces.  We know from the beginning that the security force wants something from Avilon but we haven’t seen what it is yet.

In fact it isn’t at all clear why the group doesn’t just leave.  Jaz claims to be working on setting himself up to do just that, and Avilon will stay as long as Jaz, but it’s hard to believe they are both willing to kill people and do other evil just to build a stash.  Durban will stay close to Avilon, but Charity has little reason to do so.

Trust A Few is hard to rate.  I liked it enough to finish, but it did bog down for me and I’m not likely to seek out the sequels because I don’t care enough about any of the characters to see how they play out.

3 Stars