Book Review: Buffalo Soldier

Amazon Cover

Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Having stumbled onto a plot within his homeland of Jamaica, former espionage agent, Desmond Coke, finds himself caught between warring religious and political factions, all vying for control of a mysterious boy named Lij Tafari.

Wanting the boy to have a chance to live a free life, Desmond assumes responsibility for him and they flee. But a dogged enemy agent remains ever on their heels, desperate to obtain the secrets held within Lij for her employer alone.

Assassins, intrigue, and steammen stand between Desmond and Lij as they search for a place to call home in a North America that could have been.

 

MY REVIEW

Book club read for March by the ConCarolina 2020 Guest of Honor.

An alternate history, steampunk, weird west novella which sticks a lot of material in a very small space, maybe too small. It has an exploration of different storytelling traditions, a commentary of expansionist governments, and the pure fun of guns and the wild west. I think the central plot is figuring out how a found family works.

The ending is abrupt, but as stated throughout the storytelling examples – stories are messy, and clean, and complicated, and simple, and you never know where they end or begin.

The copyediting/proofreading could use another pass to eliminate the couple-few repeated phrases.

Q is for Quinn – Book Review: When You Had Power

Amazon Cover

When You Had Power by Susan Kay Quinn

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

For better, for worse. In sickness and in health.
It’s a legal vow of care for families in 2050, a world beset by waves of climate-driven plagues.

Power engineer Lucía Ramirez long ago lost her family to one—she’d give anything to take that vow. The Power Islands give humanity a fighting chance, but tending kelp farms and solar lilies is a lonely job. The housing AI found her a family match, saying she should fit right in with the Senegalese retraining expert who’s a force of nature, the ex-Pandemic Corps cook with his own cozy channel, and even the writer who insists everything is stories, all the way down. This family of literal and metaphorical refugees could be the shelter she’s seeking from her own personal storm.

She needs this one to work.

Then an unscheduled power outage and a missing turtle-bot crack open a mystery. Something isn’t right on Power Island One, but every step she takes to solve it, someone else gets there first—and they’re determined to make her unsee what she’s seen. Lucía is an engineer, not a detective, but fixing this problem might cost her the one thing she truly needs: a home.

When You Had Power is the first of four tightly-connected novels in a new hopepunk series. It’s about our future, how society will shift and flex like a solar lily in the storms of our own making, and how breaks in the social fabric have to be expected, tended to, and healed. Because we’re in this together, now more than ever before.

 

MY REVIEW

Hopepunk – Climate change science fiction. This novel is a short read at only 200 pages – a pleasant afternoon and a bright change after the last book I slogged through. The main character (MC) is extremely likeable, the supporting character cast a delightful mix, the mystery provides all the pieces you need to solve it alongside the MC, the worldbuilding solid, the hint of romance adding that final dash into the mix to offset the metallic tang of thriller-style danger to make it perfect.

Beach read, end-of-day beside the bed, winter snuggles with hot cocoa – however you like your lighthearted fare, this will do you.

And if you like meatier subjects, the eco-realism of climate change and renewable energy research providing the worldbuilding can be treated in more depth than a simple “oh, cool sci-fi backdrop”.

NOTE 1 – Ongoing plotlines. This is one of a series of short intertwined novels. Lucia’s portion of the story ends with her HEA. But the mystery-thriller continues in the next book.

NOTE 2 – POC. Main character is Puerto Rician. (MC in the next book is Black, and the third book Asian American.)

Book Review: The Polar Terror

Amazon Cover

The Polar Terror by Liana Brooks

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Kaddy Chaak’s career is in jeopardy, her social life is non-existent, and instead of spending the holidays at home with everyone she loves, she’s in the hospital with her chronically-ill, probably-dying nephew Everett, wondering if her dead sister could have fixed this. The one bright note in an otherwise bleak winter is a potential visit from the Polar Terror, the only super villain north of the 66th parallel, to make little Everett’s hospital wish come true.

Kaddy’s not really expecting him to show. At best, she expects a lackluster cosplayer with a half-hour to spare.

What she gets is a swoon-worthy stranger full of secrets, who might just sweep her off her feet–and maybe help her leave the past behind, once and for all.

A heart-warming stand-alone addition to the popular Heroes and Villains series.

 

MY REVIEW

Continuing Ms. Brooks supervillain romance series, this novella introduces readers to the Polar Terror – a Canadian villain whose eyes strike terror in all who meet his gaze.

When Everett makes-a-wish of the hospital to meet his favorite comic book character, the wish-organizer inadvertently gets exactly what Everett desires when the Polar Terror shows up in person. Kaddy doesn’t care if he is a villain, hero, or Santa Claus, so long as her cancer-fighting kid gets a smile. Then the Polar Terror turns his gaze on Kaddy – struggling single mom – and things get interesting.

A Sweet Romance novella with characters you root for throughout. The perfect book to get snowed in with.

There are a couple of quick skips in the plot, a common problem with the short form of novellas. This book could easily be twice the length to get all the details in. Instead it focuses on the highlights of the relationship.

POC report – Main characters are primarily of First Nation decent.

Received from publisher for an honest review.

Book Review: Calling All Angels

Amazon Cover

Calling All Angels by John G. Hartness

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

From the pages of Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter comes this thrilling new dark fantasy series! They are humanity’s defense against the supernatural. They are the light in the darkness. They are the guardians that walk in the night. They are The Shadow Council.

Joanna Harrison is a freelance editor, working mother, and loving daughter. She is also the great-granddaughter or legendary steel driving man John Henry, and she has taken up his hammer to fight against the monsters that threaten her family and her world. She is Jo Henry, and she packs one hell of a punch.

Jo is fighting like the devil, looking for an angel. She’s on a mission to find the Archangel Michael, give him back his holy sword, and bring his memories back. But first she has to stay alive. Through underground cage fights and demon hunts in the desert, Jo will need all the help she can get to wake up the angel. And when a demon kidnaps her mother and daughter, it’s time to come out swinging.

 

MY REVIEW

A new year, a new four-novella group for Quincy Harker, only this year (year 3) introduces the Shadow Council. First up, Joanna Harrison.

I was not expecting that. I’m so used to Mr. Hartness strong large male bachelor characters, I did not expect a female to be a POV character with a child. Yet it works, very, very well.

Joanna inherited the hammer from her great-great John Henry with a couple twists passing the hammer down the woman line, giving her the last name Harrison, but most of the old members (and some of them are really old) of the Shadow Council call her by the hammer’s lineage – Jo Henry.

Glory lost her wings at the conclusion of last year’s story. Now the council needs to find the archangels to see if they can get her wings back. Jo’s mission is to find the first one.

It won’t be easy. Might break her body. But one thing the Henry steel-drivin’ line doesn’t do is give up.

Well-structured and interesting story. An excellent addition to the Harkerverse.

Flash: Haeata

Image by Jason Briscoe on Unsplash

One last kick sends the sea creature back to memory as sun rose above the horizon with dawn’s promise. Dropping to her knees in the wet sand, Anahera says a small “Yay.” between pants. Only six more days before the veil finishes regrowing.

She wishes the “heroes” who dragged the battle to their shore remained to help fix the damage, staying to protect the village during the repairs. Three of their oldest sacrificed their lives, sealing the rift shortly after the braggards swaggered away “victorious”. Since then all those of fighting age spent every twilight battling the smaller creatures able to sneak between the healing spaces stitched together by the grandmothers and grandfathers.

Taika grins at Waimarie as she slathers lotion across his chest where one of the kaurehe creased four claws. Many a woman will dance for him when this is over, but the healer brave enough to wait beside the combatants during battles seemed to have already won his heart.

Anahera wonders how many men will dance for her.

Tipene and Wiremu lean against each other.

They won’t dance for her. Two warriors in the same bed is exciting but not restful, and while they had played together well during this crisis, Anahera needed someone steadier than the brothers.

No ones injuries look serious in the growing light. With only four left in fighting shape, that is good. Anahera hoped Tama is able to return with them at sunset. Older, he has a cunning and ruthlessness the younger warriors were only learning now.

Pushing herself up, Anahera orders, “Naps, then training tent.” The others groan but rise in the soft sand. Taika plays up his injury, leaning on Waimarie, as they walk back to the nearby huts and houses.

(words 291; first published 11/22/2023 – Haeata means “dawn” in Maori; Kaurehe means “monster”)