Book Review (SERIES): Shadows Through Time

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Shadows Through Time by James Palmer

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SHADOWS THROUGH TIME

Famous explorer Captain Richard Francis Burton has been on some amazing adventures. But he is about to embark on his most incredible journey yet as he…Travels back in Time aboard Captain Nemo’s wondrous Nautilus to discover the frightening origins of a spreading worldwide madness…Struggles to stop Edward Bulwer-Lytton from founding a dangerous alien cult that will threaten all of London…Faces a terrifying invasion by alien beings from the prehistory…Takes a dangerous trip through Time to stop a madman from rewriting all of human history…While on these journeys, Burton will match wits with the likes of Mycroft Holmes, encounter the infamous Professor Moriarty, Ian Fleming, and Aleister Crowley. And don’t forget the shoggoths and Morlocks!

Shadows Through Time collects these four novellas into one exciting volume: The Depths of Time; Shadows Over London; The Dream Key; The Map of Time

MY REVIEW for SHADOWS THROUGH TIME

The collected novella edition containing:
The Depths of Time
Shadows over London
The Dream Key
The Map of Time

I’ve reviewed the novellas individually below. Overall a fever-dream ride through an homage to Victorian-era genre fiction. Touching on everything from Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas – 1875), to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Mycroft Holmes (The Greek Interpreter – 1893), from H.P. Lovecraft’s town of Innsmouth (The Shadow over Innsmouth – 1936) to H.G. Wells; H.G. Wells’ unnamed Time Traveler (The Time Machine – 1895). So many different people, places, and objects are mentioned, the Easter Egg hunt never ends. After each story, a reader wants to delve into the roots of genre fiction.

At times, the Great White Explorer motif set my teeth on edge. The classism, misogamy, and exploitation of cultures are all perfect pitch for the time being recreated, instead of being reimaged into our modern sensitivities. Exceedingly well-done on Mr. Palmer’s part; he clearly understands what he is paying homage to.

I highly recommend the read.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE DEPTHS OF TIME

From the far reaches of the Shadow Council Archives comes the thrilling adventure The Depths of Time!

They have worked behind the scenes of society for centuries, protecting humans from threats beyond their understanding. They are The Shadow Council, and these Archives are the stories of their members and adventures throughout recorded history. From folk heroes to monsters out of darkest nightmare, the Shadow Council Archives explore the world beyond mundane understanding.

Richard Francis Burton thought his life of adventure was slowing down until an odd woman named Elizabeth Marsh invited him on one final adventure—one he couldn’t resist.
This adventure takes Burton and companion George Edward Challenger below the depths of the sea, through the spinning sands of time, and introduces him to the mysterious Captain Nemo.

Will Burton’s thirst for adventure finally be sated? Will this voyage be his last? What will become of the mysterious Nemo and his companions? Find out as you travel through The Depths of Time.

Blending classic Allan Quartermaine-style adventure with Verne-esque science fiction, James Palmer builds a rollicking ride of mystery, suspense, and intrigue as these historical and literary figures band together to battle an ancient evil rising up from the depths.

Who will emerge from The Depths of Time?

This Shadow Council urban fantasy novella comes from the world of Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter. Similar in length to Bookshots, these novellas provide a glimpse behind the curtain at an urban fantasy world where demons walk the earth, and the monster may well be the hero.

MY REVIEW for THE DEPTHS OF TIME

First off – LOVE THE TITLE. So much meaning and play with the meaning. When the title is that good a match to the story on so many levels, you know the writer is going bring some amazing stuff to the table.

Mash together all the Victorian strange with the Shadow Council from the Quincy Harker universe. From Cthulhu-fever dreams to time-travel-insanity, all with a proper stiff-upper lip from the great white male explorers/exploiters of the Victorian era.

Only complaint is I missed a character I could attach myself to in the book. On the other hand, not being able to insert myself deeply into this story so that I live within its action isn’t necessarily a bad thing when things like the names of elder gods make their appearance.

(This novella I received for an honest review; the rest of the reviews for this series I did I liked this novella.)

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SHADOWS OVER LONDON

Time Travel and Submarines and Moriarty, oh my!

The exciting sequel to The Depths of Time!

Captain Richard Francis Burton has just returned from his adventure through Time with his sanity barely intact. Now, confronted with memories that are not his own and the sudden disappearance of his fiancée, he must unravel a puzzling new mystery. Summoned by the enigmatic Mycroft Holmes, Burton is tasked with stopping an eldritch cult before it takes hold of all of London. It will take all of the legendary explorer’s vaunted skills to survive shoggoths and the machinations of the villainous Professor Moriarty as he races to stop the mysterious King in Yellow from unleashing a chaos older than time.

MY REVIEW for SHADOWS OVER LONDON

The second novella of the Sir Richard Francis Burton series doesn’t have quite the punch of The Depths of Time. Even so, the book is still a wonderful homage to the stories of the Victorian era. Indeed, where Sir Burton got the assist last book from Captain Nemo and his Nautilus, this time our explorer ends up in the competent and manipulative hands of Mycroft Holmes.

Sir Burton hasn’t recovered from his last adventure to the depths of the ocean when he is called by Crown and Country to investigate a possible human sacrifice cult in London. Still questioning his sanity, Sir Burton calls again on his allies, the larger-than-life Challenger and the time-traveling Herbert, neither one left untouched by their previous activities, to help him save the citizens of London from themselves. But can they trust Mycroft to have their back?

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE DREAM KEY

Captain Burton faces his most bizarre adventure yet!

He has traveled through Time and fought eldritch horrors, but nothing can prepare the famous explorer for what he is about to face.

His friend, the young poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, has collapsed, along with several other of London’s most prominent citizens. When they recover it is clear they are no longer the men they were. Sensing a threat to the British Empire, Mycroft Holmes taps Burton to investigate. But the explorer has his own troubles, plagued by visions of nightmare vistas beyond imagining. To save his friend and stop an invasion from beyond Time and Space, Burton must rely on the help of Inspector Abberline, Professor Challenger, and the Time Traveler as well as other versions of himself if he is to unlock the secret of the mysterious Dream Key.

MY REVIEW for THE DREAM KEY

The Great Race, Old Ones, and Things Living Outside Time are not yet done with Captain Richard Burton and Victorian London. The Awakened first fall asleep, including the poet Algernon Swinburne, to wake anew – but are they truly who they were when they went asleep?

The mind-bending saga continues with this tale of Dreaming and Waking. Of Many and Singular. Of Universe and Beyond.

Easter egg homage – I’m thinking Doctor John Hurt might be a 9.5-hour homage, outside of the normal time and space twists of this series. But it is all good. There are so many Easter Eggs in this series, a second read-through is needed just dedicated to a google-fu search. Fun (and I am VERY glad I didn’t have to edit this book).

I was completely absorbed by this particular story of the series.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for THE MAP OF TIME

Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton has come unstuck in Time!

While chasing Morlocks in the sewers beneath London, Burton learns of a terrifying new threat to all of Time in the exciting conclusion to this chapter of the Shadow Council Archives.

Someone has given Mycroft Holmes a timeline of future world events, a Map of Time that holds the key to world domination.

Now Burton, along with Frederick Abberline and a beautiful Time Traveler from an alternate future, must learn the identity of Mycroft’s sinister benefactor before he unravels the timestream and destroys the world as Burton knows it! Doing so will take every ounce of the famous explorer’s determination as he faces off with the gruesome, subterranean Morlocks and encounters the likes of Ian Fleming and Aleister Crowley in a race to stop the end of existence.

MY REVIEW for THE MAP OF TIME

The conclusion of the Captain Burton series by James Palmer (The Map of Time) concentrates its homage on H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine at a level similar to the first novella (The Depths of Time) was an homage to Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.

And it is still rip-roaring tale.

Unlike the rest of the series, this doesn’t contain the sanity questioning impact seen previously – but it makes it up by cranking the crazy quilt of time travel.

How long can Mycroft Holmes continue to protect the interests of the British Empire … and at what costs? Can Captain Burton prevent the Murlocks from taking over London’s sewers? Just how much does Abberline need to drink to make sense of Penelope Hemlock’s existence?

Book Review: To Beat the Devil

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To Beat the Devil: A Techomancer Novel by M.K. Gibson

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175 years have passed since God quit on mankind. Without his blessing, Hell itself, along with the ancient power of The Deep, were unleashed upon the world. Two world wars and oceans of blood later, a balance was reached. Demonkind took its place as the ruling aristocracy. Mankind, thanks to its ability to create, fell to the position of working proletariat. Alive, but not living.

Lucky Us.

Welcome to New Golgotha, the East Coast supercity. In it, you will find sins and cyborgs, magic and mystery, vices without virtue and hell without the hope of heaven. In the middle of it all is Salem, smuggler extraordinaire and recluse immortal, who has lived and fought through the last two centuries, but his biggest battle is just beginning.

To Beat The Devil: A Technomancer Novel is an incredible adventure full of cyborgs and demons, gods, magic, guns, puns and whiskey, humor and heart. Follow Salem as he embarks to discover the meaning of the very nature of what mankind is: our souls. And, who is trying to steal them.

 

MY REVIEW

Short Version: An action-packed urban fantasy with some crazy fight scenes varying from single mano-on-demon to full scale wars with thousands and back again. Also emotional character development (but not at the expense of the action), a fantastically dark world built to many layers, and a couple of flaws often found in first novels which fade into the background the longer the story goes on because it is a rocking, heart-pounding story full of twists, red herrings, and cool cyber-technology.

Long Version: 
“The protagonist isn’t out to save the world –that ship has long since sailed…” (a line from the Foreword). In a world abandoned by the capital G, humans and demons have come to an uneasy truce with demons being overlords and humans being serfs running all the technology. Salem is a lightrunner, basically a quiet smuggler capable of a great deal of violence when necessary. He has developed a nice (as in survivable) little life with associates and no friends, when one of the associates sends a piece of business his way that changes things. Life may no longer be survivable, but it certainly becomes interesting.

As mentioned in the Short Version, the book is both very good and has a few flaws so let’s get into that.

1. PRO – None of the action is boring. Every fight scene is different, from the opening fight with a Demon Bishop, to the land war, to the final fight with the big bad. Mr. Gibson changes fight strategy from single person to large group, from intent to kill to just maim a little, from physical fists to cyber tech. I’ve rarely run into such a wide range of fighting.

2. FACT – Has a great deal of “language”. Fits the character and situation (after all, hell come to earth), but pushes this book firmly in R for language alone. (For me this is a CON, but I know not all readers have the same issue.)

3. TRIGGER – One rape scene. Done quickly.

4. FACT – Male version of Urban Fantasy. Okay, what I mean by that – the female version has a paranormal female, usually with two love interests who support her but never overshadow her and all characters exist in relation to her. The male version of UF has gun porn instead of soft porn and again everyone exist in relation to him, usually with the male secondary characters having agency and the female characters, if any, existing to jiggle.

4a. PRO – Gun Porn – The guns are sexy. The cybertech more so. Oooh, the McGyvering and Blade Runner vibe is hot. Really, To Beat the Devil has some of the most interesting information dumps about guns and cyber, I actually read through all of them and enjoyed it while I did so. They were short and sweet.

4b. CON – Women – The handful of named women in the book all look in their twenties, wear g-strings and bikini tops if not just naked all-together, and either lust after the main character, have slept with the main character, or has the main character lust after them. Except for the one which is the lover of a secondary character. Typical male urban fantasy, inherited from the spy-thriller tradition. And a total turnoff for a female reader. Every single effective fighter in this book is male, even when the female characters are described as scary fighters (after their boobs are detailed); if the scary female cybers do do any fighting, it is off screen. Somehow I noticed this more than normal within the manuscript and the rating lost a star on the non-agency of the females in the story. 

5. PRO/CON Worldbuilding – Very detailed bleak world. Great backstory; maybe – no (sigh) definitely – a little too much exposition describing the backstory. Several NOTICEABLE introspections put into the book just to provide the cool backstory describing the world as well as aside breaks into the past for a short couple paragraphs here and there. In fact part way through the book the method changed from introspection exposition to the flashback breaks; a content editor should have asked the writer to go back and even out these two methods of backstory reveal. As this is the first in the series and the first book by the author, I expect the exposition issues will not happen in future books. Usually backstory is a little heavy in the first book of a series. And as I mentioned, the writer did find a better device while writing. I did enjoy each jump further down the rabbit hole when the worldbuilding reveal happened in dialogue between characters. Some of the flashback scenes were stories and some were just exposition – as Mr. Gibson continues to grow as an author, I expect the flashbacks will become more integral to the story and less worldbuilding expositions.

5. CON – Poor transitions. The first three chapters glaringly have jumps in transitions. This issue goes away later in the book. In fact the whole book gets better and better as the story goes on – usually in small press and first-time author works, the story gets less tight and technical writing skills get less polished as the story goes on because the writer rewrote the first three chapters a dozen times and ignored the rest of the book. During the first couple of pages of the second chapter I wasn’t certain we didn’t change Point-of-View characters – so much of the beginning of the second chapter felt like a repeat of the first chapter, but the voice felt different and the jump between the two chapter nearly a complete break. If I hadn’t received the book in exchange for honest review from publisher I might not have pushed past chapter three – which would have been a pity because after that weak beginning everything keeps getting better and better.

6. PRO – The most amazing part of the book, especially for an Urban Fantasy, is the personal growth of the main character. The guy starts as a self-centered smuck. The journey this book is about isn’t just the plot of solving the mystery(ies), but also about the character growth. Mr. Gibson does a very good job of establishing the personality of the main character and making the growth believable. I’ll be interested to see if Mr. Gibson can keep that portion of the story plot up for future books.

In conclusion, To Beat the Devil is an action-packed urban fantasy with great fight scenes, emotional character development (enhancing the action, not slowing it down), a Blade Runner apocalyptic world built complete with demons (and worse than demons), and a couple of flaws with technical writing (transitions and expositions) which fade into the background the longer the story goes on because it is a rocking, heart-pounding story.

Book Review: Steeplejack

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Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley

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Thoughtfully imaginative and action-packed, Steeplejack is New York Times bestselling A. J. Hartley’s YA debut set in a 19th-century South African fantasy world

Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga lives and works as a steeplejack in Bar-Selehm, a sprawling city known for its great towers, spires, and smokestacks – and even greater social disparities across race and class.

Ang’s world is turned upside-down when her new apprentice Berrit is murdered the same night that the city’s landmark jewel is stolen. Her search for answers behind his death exposes unrest in the streets and powerful enemies. But she also finds help from unexpected friends: a kindhearted savannah herder, a politician’s haughty sister, and a savvy newspaper girl. As troubles mount in Bar-Selehm, Ang must discover the truth behind both murder and theft soon – or else watch the city descend into chaos.

 

MY REVIEW

The opening is a mesmerizing account of climbing a chimney to repair it, perfectly explaining the main character, the city, and the culture in a single moment. The moment when our main character realizes the Beacon is missing.

The story then unfolds in this alternate universe without magic or weird-science, from the era of steampunk without being steampunk. Part murder mystery, part political thriller. Our seventeen-year-old protagonist, whose skin color bars her entry to everything with power and money, discovers herself in the middle of power and money.

All she wants is justice for a boy no one cared about. A hidden murder of a throw-away child in a throw-away occupation; steeplejacks fall all the time. To solve his murder, Ang will have to climb high in the city’s political soot and ash, and risk falling even further. If she falls, she will be just another steeplejack crumpled by the city’s harsh cobblestones. 

But if she doesn’t fall, she just might ignite a war.

Book Review: Dying for a Living

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Dying for a Living by Kory M. Shrum

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And you thought dying once would be hard…

On the morning before her 67th death, it is business as usual for agent Jesse Sullivan: meet with the mortician, counsel soon-to-be-dead clients, and have coffee while reading the latest regeneration theory. Jesse dies for a living, literally. Because of a neurological disorder, she is one of the rare people who can serve as a death surrogate, dying so others don’t have to.

Although each death replacement is different, the result is the same: a life is saved, and Jesse resurrects days later with sore muscles, new scars, and another hole in her memory. But when Jesse is murdered and becomes the sole suspect in a federal investigation, more than her freedom and sanity are at stake. She must catch the killer herself–or die trying.

Dying for a Living is the first book in Kory M. Shrum’s gripping contemporary fantasy series. If you like page-turning action, tough as nails heroines, and perfectly-paced suspense, then you’ll love this “hilarious” and “supernaturally fantastic” ride.

 

MY REVIEW

Great new power, dying. Imagine a day-job where you take on someone’s death – prevent them from going through the door into the great beyond. But you have to go through all their pain right beside them, and no guarantee that it will actually work, if medical doesn’t get there in time to patch them up – because pain and damage is still a thing. You are just buying them time to get better.

Time from your life. Taking a couple days to a couple weeks to get better.

Would you go into work each day?

How about if your job is hated because of what you are? People want to come to you to have them save their life, but may try to end you otherwise because what you do isn’t natural. They want to be alive, but don’t want the unnatural around. Like voodoo or immigrants.

Overall a great beginning for a series and an exciting premise.

My problems with the story – both of these are personal likes and do not affect the quality of the story at all: (1) I don’t like the main character. She is totally believable – a person who lives in the moment, running from commitment because she might die (again) tomorrow. Her personality is a complete match to who she is and what she does, but I don’t like her personally. (2) The story also has one of my least favorite tropes: destined-one – but again, that is on me, and it doesn’t really play a factor at all in this first book of the series.

Flash: Twilight Hours

Photo 241261581 © Georgiy Georgiy | Dreamstime.com

The strip mall was typical, herb seller and cigarette store anchoring one end and pizza delivery anchoring the other. Packard remembered when the food anchor had been Chinese, but COVID chased the Panjins back across the ocean. In between drugs and food were a tax prep place, cursed vacations, and a title loan store. Darkness skittered away from the police spotlights, scattered furthered by the falling rain. Flipping the metal flask in her hand, Packard tucked it unopened back into raincoat’s deep pockets on the left side; the right pocket held her wand. The apple schnapps was getting low, and she would need a drink after seeing another damn dead body today.

Dashing from her compact, the contracted specialist ducked under the police tape and edged into the ten-by-ten shelter the cops had placed over the body. The drenched uniform who should have been by the tape nodded at her and stepped into the downpour to make room for her. They had met this morning shortly after dawn.

The camera kids were tucking their expensive equipment into bags, leaving only chalk marks behind. The rest of the parking lot was a wash, literally, as whatever evidence remained from the killer ran into the gutters. A detective had his badge clipped to the outside of his raincoat, trying, ineffectually, to keep the water dripping from his coat outside the chalk marks.

“About fucking time,” he muttered loudly to be heard over the rain hitting the plastic above them.

“Nice to see you too, Smithers,” Sabine Packard, Magik Consulting and Investigations sole employee, nodded at the detective. “Some of us haven’t slept yet.”

“Chief is pissed the Twilight killer is doing back-to-back days.”

“I’m too.” She walked around the body, belly open crotch to midchest on the young male, crouching down, quickly measuring the tear with her hands midair above the body. “It gets bigger each time.”

“By about six centimeters according to the lab geeks.”

She nodded, having heard this from Smithers day counterparts this morning. “What’s the bets for tomorrow’s morning location?” she asked standing in the space now clear of the forensic crew. The Twilight killer always killed one person at nightfall and another in the morning. The first death nearly four months ago. Nine days of her getting a call shortly after sunset and another just past dawn.

Eighteen, now nineteen bodies. Tomorrow, twenty, unless they figured out how to stop him or her or it.

“Monroe in statistics is improving the data and says West Side.” Smithers shrugged. “My guts says the Mall.”

Packard rotated the big onyx ring on her thumb she had inherited from her father. “Mall.” She did another rotation and then another, staring at the body. “But one of the strip areas like this one across the street.”

“Treebranch or Goody Goods?”

Packard shook her head. “Don’t know. Killer hasn’t decided … no, wait, the killer doesn’t decide.” Her eyes hazed over and Smithers pulled out his notebook and turned on his recorder.

“Doesn’t decide?” All the detectives in homicide and missing persons had been taught how to deal with a tranced clairvoyant.

Packard’s hard words softened, taking on a sing-song property. “Things escape where they wilt, crawling out into the time between. A killer feeds. A hand pets. Grow monster, growing yet. Feed me belly tum tum tum, swirling world come undone.” The consultant collapsed as though someone cut her strings.

“Oh shit,” said Detective Matt Smithers, dropping his notepad and rushing forward to keep her body from tipping over onto the dead man.

The woman looked up at the man holding her head above something stinky. “Joy,” she snarked, “something finally came through.”

“Yeah, some half-assed poetry.”

She let him move her until he laid her down, rain pouring down the edge of the tent onto her shoulder and back. Packard looked him a question and he nodded, indicating she was clear of the body and evidence contamination. “Sorry, only a quarter elf. My dad was capable of whole-ass poetry.” Placing her hands on the cement parking lot, Sabine pushed herself to standing. “Did you get it on tape?”

“Everything but ‘the killer doesn’t decide.'”

“Great, because my body tape ran out of juice sometime around noon.” Sabine wiped her hands on her raincoat. “I would have had nothing.” She nodded at the body, “Let’s have the body snatchers do their jobs, forensics must be getting bored, and you can drive me to the station.”

“Can’t you drive?” The detective asked as they walked away from the murder site through the rain, waving over the morticians and indicating the uniform had the scene until the higher levels who were canvassing the area came back.

“After being up thirty-nine hours and having a trance?”

The officer looked down at her, as he opened up the passenger side of his unmarked. “You are going to be snoring before we pull out, aren’t you?”

“If you don’t like my snoring, stay out of my bed Matt.”

He closed the door and walked around the vehicle. Sabine was already snoring before the car even turned over. “I’m trying, girl. I’m trying.”

(words 856, first published 11/1/2023)