More Books than Time

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

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners by John Ringo and Larry Correia

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The Monster Hunter Files, an anthology of stories set in Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International world, prompted me to read other books by Larry Correia or set in his world.  John Ringo has written three Monster Hunter novels, that star Chad Gardenier, also called Iron Hand, set about 30 years prior to the rest of the series.  I reviewed the first novel, Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge here.  Ringo tells a pretty good story although he does go off on tangents.

Ringo’s second novel is Monster Hunter Memoirs: Sinners, tells more about Chad, this time fighting waves of monster invasions in New Orleans.

I didn’t enjoy this second book quite as much.  Sinners has plenty of action – New Orleans attracts plenty of people that believe in and practice witchcraft or sorcery – and this activity fuels the ongoing problems.  Sinners does not have quite the character depth.  We already know a lot about Chad from Grunge; we know he’s fatalistic, unwilling to say no to carnal desires, a lounge lizard, brave, smart, a natural leader, and has a good sense of humor.  Sinners builds on this Chad foundation but now we see him more as a hardened fighter, less funny, less introspective, less humble and more obnoxious.

Sinners has some very good points.  Although Chad is a girl aficionado Ringo avoids smut.  Chad talks a lot but thankfully avoids giving us the details up close and in person.

I really appreciated the Catholic, religious angle.  Remember, Chad died in Grunge and came back because St. Peter asked him to.  He converted to Catholicism in Grunge and although he’s surely not the most faithful worshiper, he believes and takes advantage of the sacraments to strengthen himself and cleanse his soul.  Ringo covers this with a light touch, just a few sentences.  If you don’t believe you can still enjoy the book.

Maybe I liked Sinners less because I read Monster Hunter International at the same time, and simply had a surfeit of monster, guns and violence.  I don’t know.  I will read further books in Ringo’s series because he is so good at telling a story, but I think I will wait a while for those.

3 Stars

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The Mongrel Mage – Recluse Novel by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. – Not His Best

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I read everything Modesitt writes although sometimes I wonder why.  Some of his novels are excellent, full of interesting, well-developed characters, rich setting and back story, detailed world building.  A few are less rewarding to read due to an abundance of minutia, slow pacing and wooden dialogue, but all have something to offer.

The Mongrel Mage falls on the less-exciting side of the scale.  Modesitt places the events a few centuries, after The Chaos Balance when Cyador falls to the Accursed Forest, and before The Towers of the Sunset when Creslin establishes Recluse and the Westwind falls.  That’s an interesting time, when white and black mages co-exist, before the white order establishes their mage-ocracy and there should be plenty of room for Modesitt to write more stories in this setting.

Beltur lives in Fenard with his uncle Kaerylt, a strong white mage.  Beltur learns white chaos magic but isn’t very good at it.  The Prefect of Gallos sends his uncle, his uncle’s apprentice Sydon, and Beltur along with a small squad to check out some problems with the herders in the southern grasslands part of Gallos.  This section of the novel lasts a long time, pages and pages of riding, meeting with people, eating, riding some more.  Oddly, Beltur is viewed as weak but he is very good at casting concealment.

When the group returns to Fenard the Prefect summons them, attacks and kills uncle Kaerylt while Beltur escapes.  He flees to a healer he is attracted to, who connects him to black mage Athaal who is returning to Elpatra, part of Spidlar.  This then kicks off the middle part of the story where Beltur travels with Athaal, learns how to be a black mage and handle order, then gets himself employed to forge cupridium.

Eventually Gallos decides to invade Spidlar and attack Elpatra.  Beltur is drafted to act as a mage in support of a reconnaissance company and of course manages to save the country.

Major Problems with the Book

Beltur Character.

Beltur is a typical older teen wanna-be-entitled brat.  Uncle Kaerylt treats him well but not any better than he treats apprentice Sydon, and Beltur gets all the dirty jobs because Sydon dumps them off unless Uncle sees it.  But our hero manages to stifle his sighs and grin and bear it because he is so, so, so something.  Frankly I don’t see a problem with making apprentices or nephews work, and labor division never feels fair to those doing the work.  I kept wanting to yell at Beltur to get a grip, quit your whining and get on with it.

When he escapes Fenard, Beltur discovers he is actually more an order mage than a chaos mage, and darn good at it too.  In fact he’s pretty much the strongest guy around!  But of course he manages to remain humble etc., etc.

Then when he’s drafted he discovers that some of the other mages, those who have been order mages all their lives, think he’s a mongrel, not a real black, doesn’t deserve the pretty girl, and work to get him killed.  There is absolutely nothing given that would explain their attitude aside from jealousy over the girl and the fact that Beltur started as a white.  Beltur figures it’s because he isn’t good looking and is so powerful despite being trained as a white.

In a word, Beltur is obnoxious.

Beltur felt like a hanger onto which Modesitt hung the suit “Black Order Mage / Young Guy Finding Himself” and not like a real person.  ALL of Modesitt’s heroes are misunderstood, suffering types, ALL are stronger than/wiser than/better than and all are beset by other who want to kill/exploit/dominate them.  It gets tiresome.

Glacial Pacing.

After we spent a third of the book riding through grasslands, then another 10% or so journeying from Fenard to Elpatra, we then go on yet more tours with the reconnaissance company.  Modesitt used to write tight novels that balanced action with description, but he’s gotten way more descriptive in many of his recent books.  He doesn’t use the extra filler to develop his characters or increase tension.

The result is a book that is less enjoyable to read, doesn’t feel as meaty.

Formality.

Beltur himself says that he was raised by his father, then his uncle, to be quite formal and disciplined.  Formality itself isn’t a problem, but it adds to the overall slowness and lack of coherency.

For example, in all Modesitt’s books characters all conform to some dress code.  Black mages wear black, healers wear black and green, so on.  When they talk to each other they don’t make small talk or chit chat, they talk serious.  When they talk to people outside their group they are pure business.  Beltur buys a set of clothes from a tailor who appears quite interesting but never even attempts to talk to her.

The lack of normal conversation often underlies many of the plot conflicts.  Majer Waeltur didn’t know Beltur could shield himself and others or toss back chaos bolts.  Of course he didn’t ask Beltur either.  No one in a Modesitt book ever thinks to just talk to someone.

Political Correctness

Let’s see.  We get a short musing on income inequality when Beltur realizes he made more in a couple days forging cupridium blades – which no one has done for centuries – than his friend Athaal made in a week spotting diseased sheep and plants.  We have a gay couple whom some see as “different”, almost mongrels themselves, and of course it’s only the evil mages who dislike Beltur who think this.  Once again traders care about money and status and nothing else, certainly not people or fairness or helping anyone.  Beltur just sadly shakes his head at the overall stupidity, cupidity of it all.  Gaah, I dislike this character!

Lots of science fiction and fantasy authors shove their politics into their books, sometimes by having the main character explain something (see John Ringo) or by matter-of-fact comments that of course thus and such is…  I don’t care for it unless the politics are directly part of the story.  In this case they feel shoved in.

No Map!

Not sure who fell down on this one, but the action all takes place in Gallos and Spidlar.  The book includes a map of the whole of the world and more detailed map of Hamor.  It was hard to keep straight all the roads to Elpatra, which side of the river we were on, why the better road was on the side opposite from the city, where Axalt was, Suthya, so on.

Put a nice, detailed map of Elpatra and regions around it, and a map of Candar that shows all these countries and cities.

Good Points

As usual Modesitt builds on his already well-developed alternate world, Recluse.  The backstory is hinted, not rehashed.

Overall

I used to buy most Modesitt novels because I re-read every one, many over and over.  But the later Recluse novels aren’t worth re-reading.  I don’t expect I’ll re-read Mongrel Mage either, although I’ll ask our library for the sequel, Outcasts of Order.

3 Stars

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Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George: New York Society Meets Romanian Politics, Werewolves and More

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Jessica Day George’s short story A Knight of the Enchanted Forest, published in the Monster Hunter Files (see review here) was excellent, funny with a streak of serious, and I checked out her other novels.  While George writes mostly teen fantasy, Silver in the Blood is suitable for older teens and adults looking for a quick, enjoyable read with historical interest.

We meet devoted cousins, Dacia and Lou, both children of New York high society with mothers from a aristocratic Romanian family.  The novel is set in 1897, when Romania is independent, beginning to step onto the larger European stage, with culture from both Paris and the Near East.  Both girls are intelligent and rich; Lou is more timid while Dacia is braver and occasionally flouts social conventions.

Plot and Conflicts

The novel opens with Dacia, stuck in her family’s townhouse in Bucharest, waiting for Lou to arrive, bored, looking for friends and a little entertainment.  Lou and Dacia meet some of their mothers’ family and realizes that not everything matches what they have been told.  Grandmother is nasty and drops mysterious comments, Aunt Kate worries about something, Lou’s father is dismissed to leave Bucharest – with Lou’s twin brothers but without Lou and Dacia – and a somewhat mysterious man drops cryptic comments and questions when he meets Lou.

What makes Silver in the Blood work is the political tension that underlies the main conflict.  Prince Mihai, descendant of Vlad the Impaler from centuries ago, intends to usurp the throne and he needs Dacia and Lou and their family to do so.  Lou and Dacia know nothing about any of this and must discover what they truly are (not 100% normal human) and decide themselves whom and what they will support.  The political angle makes the conflicts more believable.

The other conflict is between Lou and Dacia against their family elders.  Lou and Dacia are Americans, not terribly impressed by centuries-old ties of loyalty and even less impressed by old prophecies.  This conflict starts small and grows along with the political tension, then finally both resolve together.

Characters

Characterization is a little light.  Lou and Dacia are more than debutantes or silly girls, as George uses diaries and letters along with the novel’s events to show us what they think and feel.  Both are 19 or 20, old enough to marry, rich and attractive with many suitors in New York, then in Europe.  Both girls are believable characters, but realize this is not a character-driven novel.  It’s a fantasy with believable emotions.

Prince Mihai is a villain with virtually no redeeming qualities, drawn broadly, who displays his villainy through his actions.  Lou and Dacia’s Romanian family also show their allegiances and character by the choices they make.

Overall

Silver in the Blood is interesting, especially if you enjoy fantasy with a slight historical twist.  It reminded me a little Patricia Wrede’s Sorcery and Cecilia novels, mixing fantasy with high society in a late 1890s milieu.   It is a light, easy read, and I enjoyed it on a cold winter afternoon in front of the fire.

3 Stars

 

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Review: A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne Early Pacing Issues, Otherwise Excellent

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A Plague of Giants is the first book in Kevin Hearne’s new series, The Seven Kennings.  I enjoyed Hearne’s Iron Druid series and was glad to get a copy of this new novel from NetGalley.  The good news is, NetGalley expects one to 1) Finish and 2) Review each book.  The bad news?  We have to 1) Finish and 2) Review.  I almost didn’t make it through #1.

A Plague of Giants begins with a bang.  A tidal mariner sees an invasion force, scuttles many ships and warns her country’s leaders in time to repel the invaders.  Right away this gets us interested.  What is a tidal mariner, who are these invaders, what is going on here?  We get hints of the magic system with this tidal mariner’s story:  She expends part of her life each time she uses her kenning (magical gift, in her case water-related), and large tasks cost her years.  That sounds intriguing!

I settled in to read the rest…only the next section bogged down.  And it got worse.  Slower, and slower until the only things keeping me reading were a guilty sense of duty and a dim memory that thee Iron Druid novels have slow spots that are not too long.

By 25% of the way through (thank you Kindle for telling me how much more to endure) I thought seriously about skimming the rest and writing a short, negative review.  By 30% through the book starts to pick up.  Some of the disparate strands of story start to come together, book has more action than politics, we learn about a few new characters with interesting stories.

The Good Points

Hearne uses the device of a bard recreating and retelling first-person stories to show snippets from 10 characters in 6 countries.  Not all the character have kennings and of those who do, they differ.  This method gives us a plausible sense of in-person viewpoint.

Some of the characters are fascinating.  We are supposed to dislike the viceroy Melishev Lohmet, although I find him quite interesting.  He is conniving, sneaky, sly, dedicated to himself first, last and always. He is despicable – but interesting and I enjoy his sections.  Gondel the scholar and Nel Kit ben Sah are also well done.

Plague of Giants has a plethora of plot, big, little, over-arching, tiny subs, enough that it is challenging to keep the characters and their plot involvements straight.  I wasn’t sure at first whether the two giant invasions were connected, and if not, which was the main plot.  Hearne hints at some plots; for example, one narrator’s house guest seems more than she appears on the surface.  On the good side he wraps up the main subplot by the end.

The Not So Good Points

It seemed to take Hearne several iterations to get the bard-telling-the-story method working well.  I wouldn’t say the first few viewpoints were confusing – it was always clear who was talking – but it wasn’t clear how they worked together, or even if they were supposed to connect.

After a few character sequences the bard starts each new session by introducing the character and sketching the background, how the little vignette fit in time compared to other events.  This is helpful to keep us focused and helps the pacing.

Characterization is uneven.  Some of the characters stari out as semi-reasonable folk, then slide down to nasty, murderous thugs, notably Garin Mogen.  Mogen is lava-born, controls fire, leads his people to escape the volcano eruption that destroys their home.  He is quick tempered and won’t let soft considerations stop him from settling where he wants. Mogen views things like ownership, permission, unauthorized forestry as soft, simply unimportant.  That part makes sense.  What doesn’t make much sense is that Mogen not only has no qualms about killing people with fire, he relishes it.  He wants to kill, to burn everyone who stands in his way.  At first Mogen was one of the most interesting people, but we readers quickly decide he needs to go, just as fast as someone can get him gone.

I don’t recall reading it in the novel, but it is as though one becomes the element one controls and it takes the kenning bearer over.  If that’s the case then it’s hard to see how Mogen had kept his people together as long as he did.

We are supposed to like Abhinava Khose (Abi) but I find him tedious, overly dramatic, in fact a typical older teen who thinks they are important.  This is not a flaw in the writer, but my reaction to a spoiled brat who later makes good, solely by accident.  In fact I think it’s to Hearne’s credit that he creates characters that are so realistic.

Some of the plot points were hinted.  Refugee Elynea lives with Dervan, the main POV character and a close friend of his country’s elected ruler.  She wants a job but when Dervan finds her one she is angry.  Supposedly she is angry because she didn’t need his help, but I feel her response to situations is slightly off all the way.  No doubt we’ll see more of Elynea in sequels.

The book does not have an ending.  Hearne stops telling the story at a point where a couple sub-plots finish and the main plot takes a breather, but it is clear that the story will continue in sequels.  I prefer books like The Iron Druid novels that flow sequentially, but one can enjoy reading them out of order.

There is no map and we readers need one.

Did I mention pace?  The excruciating slow start nearly swamps out the good points.  I don’t know whether a little more editing would help, or staying with one character longer at the beginning would make it more readable.

The pacing problems make A Plague of Giants hard to rate.  Do I base it on the last half, 4 stars?  The first quarter, 1 star?  Let’s say overall 3 stars.  Good story, interesting characters but a pace that derails the reader.

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The Girl In The Tower Katherine Arden Sequel to The Bear and The Nightingale Russian Fantasy

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The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden already has garnered high praise and (to date) solid 5 star reviews on Amazon, just as did its predecessor The Bear and the Nightingale.  The books are set in early medieval Muscovy ruled by princes under Tatar overlords.  The people are deeply religious, superstitious, uneducated, yet as Arden shows us, admirable.

I enjoyed reading about early  medieval Rus/Muscovy in both novels as it is an era and locale we seldom see in fiction.  The people must be fierce and hardy to survive the long cold winters, muddy springs and falls.  As the author noted, Vasya knows nothing of luxury.  To her being warm, having enough to eat, having dry socks are luxurious.  Ideas of beautiful furniture, wall hangings that are as much decoration as aids to warmth, of good food all winter, these are as fantastical as snowdrops in January.

We are meant to admire and identify with main character Vasya, the girl who found the snowdrops in winter, but I didn’t find her likable.

Vasya has dilemmas:

  • She can see the small household spirits, the ones in the bathhouse, the oven, the stable that almost no one else can, which in a superstitious age marked her as horribly different, a witch.
  • Vasya is a girl in an era when a high-born girl either married or entered the convent.  Vasya wants neither of these; she wants adventure, she wants to travel.
  • She refuses to compromise or to decide what to do.

Reading the first half of the novel was like wading through icy cold water.  We know nothing good can come of Vasya’s determination, there is no good ending possible.  Once Vasya meets Prince Dmitrii and she and her brother Sasha lie to him that she is a young man, she has even fewer options and none are palatable.

Prince Dmitrii grows in this sequel.  He had a small role in The Bear and the Nighingale, portrayed as young, somewhat self-indulgent.  In this sequel Dmitrii acts as a prince.  He routs bandits, tries to protect his people from avaricious Tatars, abhors lies.

The relationship between frost demon Morosko and Vasya is frustrating to read.  It’s obvious something is going on with Vasya’s sapphire and that Morosko feels more for Vasya than he admits or that he believes he should.  Vasya too has strong feelings but is confused as to what those are exactly.  She is intrigued by Morosko, is grateful to him, enjoys his company but finds him difficult and opaque and she does not love him.

I don’t care for teen fantasy novels where the 16 year old idiot girl captivates the 2000 year old vampire/godlet/demon/what-have-you because it’s just stupid.  To Arden’s credit the Vasya/Morosko semi relationship is believable – it has a quid pro quo at its heart although Vasya doesn’t know it – but the relationship still suffers from the underlying problems that Vasya is young and naive and doesn’t know her own heart.

My overall problem with The Girl in the Tower is that it is not enjoyable reading.  Every page brings the characters closer to doom.  We know there is no happy ending, that nothing will be resolved – because the underlying problem cannot be solved – and that makes it difficult to read.  Every page brought Vasya into more tanglements, more lies, more risk.

Vasya can not control herself while in Moscow, cannot follow her sister’s and brother’s commands to be quiet, to stay in the background.  She takes a bad situation and made it far worse for herself and those she claims to love, just because she cannot control her curiosity, her bravado.  I liked her less and less as the novel progressed.

This novel will get many accolades and probably awards, but I do not like it.  The writing is excellent; the setting is unusual and intriguing, but the unlikable heroine Vasya and miserable options she makes for herself make it heavy going.  In fact, had this not been a NetGalley where I’m obliged to write a review, I would have put the book aside and not finished.

If you are familiar with The Two Towers, the second book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkein, you know that it too has a sense of doom, of bad choices and no good options, of happy endings seemingly out of reach.  Yet Tolkein manages to create a sense of hope, with excellent characters and a plot that moves along enough to keep us happy, reading despite the overarching feeling of menace.  Arden’s novel lacks those elements, leaving only the feeling of menace, of doom, of a foreboding future.  Had I liked Vasya no doubt I’d like the novel, but as it stands, I do not.

How do I rate this?  Do I give it high marks for the excellent writing, originality, strong sense of mood, great setting?  Or rate lower because I do not enjoy it, do not like the character?

3 Stars.  2 Stars because I had to force myself to finish, 4 stars because of high quality writing

The Scarab’s Curse (The Savage and Sorcerer, Book 1) by Craig Halloran

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The Scarab’s Curse (The Savage and Sorcerer, Book 1) by Craig Halloran is not deep.  It is light entertainment.  The first scene has the sorcerer Finster sitting in his office, the balcony over a small town bar, giving love (lust) tokens to a client – along with the bad news that the man’s wife has been unfaithful.  This scene is richly detailed, the setting is carefully drawn so we feel the fire’s warmth and see the steep stairs to the balcony.  Soldiers rudely interrupt, arrest Finster and drag him off to the Wizard Haven.

This first scene got me hooked.  I appreciate an author’s skill who is able to create a mood and setting without lots of boring telling, who keeps the narrative alive and moving while filling us in on the back story.  It is not easy to do.  Halloran did a good job on about the first third of the novel, carefully illuminating setting, mood and character.

The last two thirds or so feel rushed, all plot, minimal background or setting or mood and little character development.  Halloran’s writing style is good and he still tells a good story; he kept me reading.  Halloran says in the afterward that he wrote the story in 8 days, two of which were Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so he drafted and finished a reasonably entertaining read in 6 days.  Impressive.

It would have been more impressive had he taking his time and made the last part as good and as enticing as the first third; he would have had a very good novel.  Instead it’s a decent story, but not as good as it could have been.

There is a sequel, The Scarab’s Power, but it’s $2.99 on Amazon, a little pricey if it’s the same overall decent-but-not-great quality as this first novel.   I may look for other books by this author since he is able to tell a good story.

3 Stars

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Legends of the First Empire: Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan Sequel Doldrums

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Michael J. Sullivan, best known for his Riyria novels, started a new series The Legends of the First Empire with book 1, Age of Myth.  I enjoyed this first novel (reviewed here) and had high hopes for the sequel, Age of Swords.  Unfortunately this second book was hard to read, glum, boring for the first two thirds before speeding into high gear for the last third.  Had I not gotten it through NetGalley I’d have tossed it aside well before the half-way mark.  (I had the same problem with the Riyria Revelations, thoroughly enjoyed book 1, then floundered about half way through book 2.)

Why is the first half of the book hard to read?

Little Character Development and Action

The characters are the same but we don’t see anything new with them.  Persephone is still leading her people despite feeling like a fraud; Raithe is still hanging around but doesn’t quite know why.  We don’t see these people doing anything except packing up to evacuate their old home.  Sullivan doesn’t show us anything new about any of these people, no character development, no witty dialogue.

Mawyndule has a small role that is interesting at first.  A Miralyith young lady plays with his ego and hormones to get Mawyndule to flirt a bit with a Miralyith-supremacy group that manipulates events for a coup attempt.  Any reader can see what the young lady is doing but Mawyndule falls for it.  This episode is important because it frames the reason why Lothian will decide to war against the Rhune.

Women Power

I’m all for strong female leads in fantasy novels and Persephone is a great character.  But Sullivan really went all out in The Age of Swords with smart ladies inventing clever solutions while the men stayed home and boasted and got drunk.  It got a little tedious.

Technological Advancement, Or How to Invent Wheels, Writing and Archery in a Week

Rhune lacked the wheel, knew nothing of iron or even bronze, were unaware of writing and no one had bows and arrows.

Brin developed writing for her own use, a beautiful accomplishment.  Somehow, a week later she was able to decipher tablets worth of texts that she didn’t write.  Moreover, the author of these tablets was an ancient being, alien, not a Fhrey or a dwarf or a Rhune.  I’m sorry.  Literacy is magic, but not that magic.  Look at how we still cannot decipher Linear B which ordinary humans wrote within the last 3500 years.

Roan developed wheels and bows and arrows the same month Brin developed writing.  The real problem is that archery is tricky; you can learn the rudiments of sticking an arrow on a bow and shooting in some general direction but it is difficult to do well.  I doubt anyone could first figure out the bow, then realize arrows need fletching to stabilize, then give to a friend who can master shooting in a few days.  Not going to happen.

Rhune Society and the Fhrey Tribes

We learned a lot about the Rhune society in Age of Myth.  It’s a typical tribal/family system with a chieftan (male) supported by his wife and his trusted lieutenant First Sword.  Each tribal group has a mystic and a Keeper of the Ways, likely female, who keep the tribe centered on its heritage and past knowledge.  The individual tribes vary in terms of how civilized they are, whether they use agriculture or rely on hunting, trade, wealth, so on.

We don’t learn anything more about the Rhunes in Age of Swords that we didn’t know from Age of Myth.

The Fhrey tribes are mostly based on family except for the Miralyith who use magic.  Knowing how societies work when one group has special powers that others lack, we can expect infighting between the Miralyith and the rest, and some does show its ugly head in Age of Myth and now in Age of Swords.  I think Sullivan can do much more with this although he will need a careful hand to keep it interesting and not polemic.

Mystery Character

Trilos, an older Fhrey (at least looks like a Fhrey) sits in front of the Door every day.  Trilos has a suggestion for Imaly, the Fhrey Curator, to avoid tearing the Fhrey apart in a Miralyith vs. everyone else civil war:  Blame the Rhunes.  This could work despite having so many holes and such leaky logic that no one could seriously believe it.  At best it gives Lothian an excuse to avoid a bloodbath at home and instead go kill some negligible folks.

The interesting question is why this mystery person does this.  Does he simply want to avoid Fhrey vs. Fhrey war?  Or does he want the Rhune to war against the Fhrey?  Or something else?

Overall

The Age of Myth set up a detailed fantasy world using characters and its action-filled plot to tell a story and build the world.  Age of Swords spent about 60% of itself re-setting up the same world, characters and plot.  Sullivan could have avoided all this set up, edited out much of the first half, and had a tight, moving novel.

One star for the first two thirds and four stars for the finale.  Let’s say 3 stars.

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Two New Science Fiction Novels: Prominence by A. C. Hadfield and Fringe Runner by Rachel Aukes

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Prominence: A Space Opera Adventure (Blackstar Command Book 1) by A. C. Hadfield.

When I think “space opera” I think of grand vistas and complicated plots, books that are uplifting, showing human endeavor amid deadly danger.   The original Foundation trilogy is perfect example.

Prominence lacks the feel of grandeur.  Instead it feels like YA fiction where things just happen, and teen heroes save the day. For instance, our protagonist, Kai, is able to contact not one but two military leaders – admirals and equivalent – in a war zone, insult one and make demands on the other, and both admirals take his call and listen.  Further the military leadership sends Kai to find his missing father and retrieve a rumored piece of very high tech left behind by the mysterious Navigator aliens.  How realistic is this?

The blurb indicates the Coalition is fighting for its life against the Host, that the Host seeks its annihilation. Yet we learn near the end that both groups include aliens and some humans, that the main difference is the Host values life above all while the Coalition is “more pragmatic”.  That does not jibe with the annihilation bit.

I managed to finish it although the last third was difficult.  Hadfield had a reasonable story in the first third or so, then it got unbelievable and boring.  The characters are stock folks from the shelf.  Pacing and style are OK.

Overall 2 Stars

Fringe Runner (Fringe Series, #1) by Rachel Aukes

Fringe Runner is better than Prominence.  The novel’s main problems are uneven pacing and a thin plot with too many people acting far too gullible.  It wasn’t boring exactly but I never felt connected to the characters and the backstory was far fetched.

The two main planets in the Collective are Alluvia and Myr, both originally colonized by Earth, and a few smaller colonies called the Fringe  Earth allowed Alluvia and Myr their independence immediately but the two did not treat their colonies with the same pragmatic respect..  Alluvia and Myr keep the Fringe worlds and their people in tight control and treat them as little more than cheap forced labor or cannon fodder.

What I kept wondering:  Where is Earth?  If Earth colonized Alluvia and Myr, then it presumably is still around.  Why does Earth have no role or voice in the Collective?  No ambassador, no trade, nothing.  That doesn’t make sense.

Characters were a notch above cardboard but they didn’t feel real to me.  Main character Aramis Reyne should be fun to read about.  He’s older, arthritic, tired of living on the edge of bankruptcy, tired of his former friends think him a traitor.  Somehow I just couldn’t get interested in him.  In the last third of the novel Reyne is extraordinarily gullible, first falling for the old “my friend told me” and then following a complete unknown to a set up ambush.  Nope.  Sorry, but if Reyne is that stupid then he wouldn’t have lived past the earlier uprising.

The backstory was a touch unbelievable too.  Sure, I can see Myr and Alluvia acting like overlords and treating the Fringe like serfs, but I can’t see the Fringe members of the Collective military going along with it, or at least not making some trouble along the way.  The political situation described is too fragile to last as long as it supposedly has.

Writing style was OK.  Dialogue and pacing were problematic but again the biggest issue is sheer lack of compelling interest.  I kept putting the story down and having a hard time remembering who was who and what was happening even just a day later.  I won’t pursue the series.

3 Stars

I received both books for free through Instafreebie

Excalibur Rising: Book 3 Flee the Crime Boss and the One-Eyed Man

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I loved the first book of Eileen Enwright Hodgetts Excalibur Rising series for its intriguing take on King Arthur and its quirky characters who felt like real people. Book 2 was a bit of a let down and Book 3 drops us with a thud.  In Book 2 Marcus and the peasant boy Dristan flee Albion to Earth; now in Book 3 Marcus and Todd and Freddie flee from two mob bosses.

Book 3 isn’t much fun.  Marcus and Freddie and Todd clutch at straws to find a way back to Albion.  Since Marcus just got back to Earth the whole thing feels like we are on a giant treadmill, rushing around and going nowhere.

The basic flow of the book is Freddie and Todd are on the run; Marcus and Dristan get back to Earth; everyone ends up at the inn with a dragon sign; Freddie, Todd and Marcus are now desperate to get back to Albion; Dristan sneaks off and Bors threatens everyone and acts nasty.  And at the end we on Earth might have a dragon hatching.

The writing as usual is good and Hodgetts introduces a couple new characters. Kevin, the local crop circle expert is great and Dristan develops as a character.

I am not sure whether I’ll read Book 4.

Book 3 is hard to rate.  Let’s say 3 stars.  Here are my reviews for Book 1 and Book 2.

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Excalibur Rising Book Two: What Happens When King Arthur Returns?

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I was eager to read Excalibur Rising Book Two, sequel to the unique Arthurian novel Excalibur Rising Book One by Eileen Enwright Hodgetts .  Excalibur Rising had unusual twists and characters, from a newscaster on the skids to a crime boss and a second world, one where Arthur truly reigned in the 1200s.  Book Two picks up right were Book One ended, and we spend the entire novel in Albion and meet a peasant family who finds a surprising sinkhole on their property.

Mordred is long dead but his heirs are very much alive and dedicated to killing Arthur and taking over the throne of Albion.  Violet and Marcus joined up with Arthur at the close of Book One, and now join him and his knights in Camelot.  Of course Mordred, after spending much time in our world, has excellent ideas for low-tech methods to bring down the castle.  Along the way his army conscripts all the peasants it can, including the blacksmith father we meet at the start of the book.

One problem that King Arthur has in all Arthurian legends is his lack of an heir.  He has Mordred, illegitimate and nasty, but no legitimate child.  Even if Arthur defeats Mordred Albion still faces a succession crisis and likely civil war.  Hodgetts finds a solution which is obvious and, to be blunt, a bit trite.

In this sequel we learn a little more about Albion along with Marcus and Violet, and as they do, decide it isn’t quite the place we want to live.  Albion is at war and Mordred will win.  Also, the ladies of the lake have hidden Albion from the rest of the world behind a mist.  What happens when Albion suddenly catches up with 800 years of history?

Characters and Setting

We don’t get much character development in Book Two.  People who are nasty get nastier, sneaky ones get sneakier, frightened ones get more scared.  The author keeps the characters we know and simply strengthens their characteristics.  The new peasant family are stock characters who didn’t engage me.

We learn more about Albion in Book Two and decide it’s not exactly the romantic paradise of the Arthurian legends.  Instead Marcus and Violet decide to return to Earth and start searching for a way home.  The way home is tied in with the Arthur’s solution to the succession, part of the reason the plot disappoints.

Overall

Overall Book Two is OK.  It is not as good as the first book which I rated 4+ stars to in this review.  Book 2 is good enough to finish reading and interesting enough that I looked forward to reading Book Three.

3+ Stars

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