More Books than Time

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

Earth Warden by Tony James Slater – Great Blurb, Boring Book

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Earth Warden: A Sci Fi Adventure, book 1 of The Ancient Guardians series by Tony James Slater should be excellent.  The plot has everything one could want in a science fiction story:  suspense, intrigue, a fascinating universe and back story.  Unfortunately the writing is flat, making the novel more of a chore than a delight to read.

The characters also should capture our interest and liking.  Young Tristan lives alone in Bristol, supporting himself by small time thieving after his father disappears.  He is more-or-less kidnapped by Kreon, a mysterious Warden, and taken off into interstellar space to become Kreon’s apprentice.  Along the way we have lots of battles and characters that show up and then fade away, and hints of overwhelming danger to Earth.

Tristan simply does not act the way any normal older teen would when confronted with a galactic civilization – comprised of humans biologically identical to us Earth folks – and off hand comments about Wardens and danger and existential threats and eons of unknown history.  He never once asks how come everyone he meets is a human?  Why is Earth protected?  Why do the Wardens exist and what are they warding?  Never.  Not one peep of intelligent questioning.

The story and the characters never came to life.  I forced myself to slog through on the vague chance that the book would improve, or that the author would show flashes of skill that might make subsequent novels worth reading.  No.  In fact the only reason I’m giving this 2 stars and not 1 is that I did in fact finish reading.

2 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

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

Impact by Douglas Preston – Suspense and International Intrigue in a Science Fiction Background

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Impact starts as suspense, a thriller with two strands.  Ex-CIA Wyman Ford travels to Cambodia to find the source of some new, beautiful and highly radioactive amber colored gem stones.  Resourceful Wyman manages to reach the mine site in the back hills of Cambodia, braving murderous ex-Pol Pot Brother #6, gem dealers, corrupt local officials.  He finds the mine is far too large for the CIA to have missed in aerial reconnaissance and it is run by sadists who force peasants to labor in the radioactive pit.

Wyman figures out the pit is actually the exit point from a meteor and decides to find where it entered.

Meanwhile Abbey Straw sees a meteorite strike in the islands off the coast of Maine.  She drags her best friend off to find the meteorite, fights off a would-be rapist, sinks her father’s lobster boat but finds only a smooth hole, no meteorite.  Wyman connects with Abbey and they start looking for the source of the meteor that stuck Maine, passed through the earth and exited in Cambodia.

The science fiction aspect adds drama and existential threat to the story.

Preston gives us interesting people that we come to care about.  Abby is young, impetuous, brave, foolish and very smart.  She loves her father although she has the usual push/pull to get away from home.  She loves her friend Jackie despite knowing Jackie is a bit dim and never going to make anything of herself.  Wyman Ford is complex, smart, brave, patriotic and not at all intimidated by power.

Overall Impact is good, with well-done people interacting within a complex plot.  True, some of the events resolve themselves a little too neatly, but that’s the nature of thrillers and space opera.

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

 

 

 

 

 

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