Category: Book Review

Book Review: A Fistful of Dust

Erin Penn

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A Fistful of Dust by A.G. Carpenter

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During my last days on Malachee, I told Diamondback Jack it didn’t matter how many souls I sent to an early grave, I could only die once for my sins.

Turns out, I was wrong.

Tashndelu of the High Sand got her revenge on the man who defiled and murdered her mother and did his damnedest to kill her, but now she has to pay the price. For his death, and all the others she caused in her quest for vengeance.

Now she lives, if you can call it that, in the custody of the Company that rebuilt her, working off the cost of her resurrection as a living test subject for new regenerative tech to the tune of one death for every life she took. When she has died once for every person she has killed, she‘ll finally face whatever judgment or peace lies in the grave.

She took one hundred and fifty other souls as she hunted down the thirteen men responsible for her mother’s murder.
That’s one hundred and sixty-three deaths that she owes the company, and she feels every one of them.

Now she’s come to the one place she never planned to see again, in the company of a man willing to put a bullet or six in her just to see how the tech works. Against all odds and against her will, Tashndelu of the High Sand has returned home.

There will, once again, be blood.

 

MY REVIEW

Breathtaking voice buried in this Weird West. When I first read A.G. Carpenters Touch: A Trilogy, especially Of Lips and Tongue – the Southern Gothic voice sat me on a porch in a creaky rocking chair with a glass of sweet tea in the heat of July evening, waiting for true dark to creep across the land. A Fistful of Dust may be even better than Touch for the pureness of genre voice. This time the (western) voice swept me across the stars to the new desolate, unforgiving frontier where woman and man would murder for water and kill for justice.

Carpenter is a master of voice and story and has crafted a tale for those that love westerns and science fiction in A Fistful of Dust.

(Read through Kindle Unlimited)

Book Review (SERIES): Fleet of Malik

Erin Penn

 

Fleet of Malik by Liana Brooks

  1. Bodies in Motion
  2. Change in Momentum

Another series from one of my favorite authors. A perfect marriage of future-humanism sci-fi, romance, and mystery-thrillers. Plus people of color in the mix. These are complicated so it takes her a while to write them. Fingers crossed that she will be a bug to write a bunch of them soon!

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for BODIES IN MOTION

Selena Caryll lost everything in the war—her ship, her crew, her family. Although technically on the winner’s side, her lack of crew makes her easy pickings in any fight—and any bar brawl. But she never goes down without swinging.

Titan Sciarra, on the losing side of the war, brokered a kind of peace with the winners, enough to let him live as the fragile bridge between the two sides. As a Fleet Guardian, he deals with the day-to-day operations of the fleet—and breaks up bar brawls when necessary.

As a Guardian, obviously he should walk the fired-up Selena home. Make sure she gets there safe.

Definitely without flirting. That could bring his delicately spun balance crashing down, dragging the fleet with him.

If only a way existed to get the bodies of the fleet into motion again.

An action-packed enemies-to-lovers romance in a world drawn with stunning vision and depth—don’t miss this fantastic series from Liana Brooks.

MY REVIEW for BODIES IN MOTION

This sweet science-fiction romance-thriller is more science-fiction than romance, creating a complicated culture of grounded spacers living in an uneasy-truce with the colonists they transported. The romantic interests were on opposite sides of the spacer war – now cold war on the ground – and all that feeds into the thriller aspects.

Ms. Brooks does it again! If you loved her Time series (Discoherence, etc), you will love this.

I admit, it took me a few chapters to grasp how the tech-enhancements created the psi-powers the spacers use. Actually, I read the chapters and took a nap – after sleeping and letting my brain short it out overnight, everything made sense.

But WOW – my friends who talk about “enhanced humans” will LOVE this series. This is exactly where people hope that technology will take us. And Ms. Brooks mashes up the enhanced human but claustrophobic culture required by spacers and their ships with the less-enhanced grounders but more-versatile culture allowed by being on planet and not worrying about where your next breath will come from if the environmental machines will fail.

Amazing worldbuilding, great characters, complicated story, murder, theft, possible political coups, … just wow.

And if you just want a sweet sci-fi romance, you got that too.

Received from publisher for an honest review.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for CHANGE IN MOMENTUM

Rowena Lee lost the man she was supposed to marry and with him any hope for a happy future in the war. Now, five years later, with a suspicious kind of peace brokered between the sides, Rowena lives a half-life in emotional isolation. Neither her former enemies nor her crew have any use for her, and her only joy comes from her new job training cadets—something made difficult lately by Commander Silar’s constant, irritating presence. If he got out of her way for just THREE SECONDS, she could actually DO her job.

Commander Hollis Silar came out of the war a hero, the golden boy who could do no wrong. Romance came easily too: easy come, and easy go. But Rowena? Challenging. Like trying to flirt with a rock. Especially since he shouldn’t associate with her in the first place.

As politics heat up on Malik IV and factions begin to draw battle lines, an unknown enemy forces Rowena and Hollis into an uneasy partnership. Love is a battlefield, and on Malik IV, war is in the air.

A sensual enemies-to-lovers romance for everyone who believes in the power of one strong woman to change the world.

MY REVIEW for CHANGE IN MOMENTUM

An enemies-to-friends science fiction romance follows a couple who trained together as children in a generational-spaceship navy, like all members of their community, then ended up on opposite sides of the war. They were both VERY good at being soldiers, leaving a wake of unforgivable actions ordered by their superiors.

Then the navy got grounded and everyone in the civil war had to live together again. Ms. Brooks has created a fascinating society of spacers who are grounded, military who are now forced to live with civilians, warriors acting as police, etc. The tech the spacers produces results that look like teleporting, telepathy, quick healing, and other psychic powers.

This series is the best futurism, altered-humans I have ever read in a sci-fi setting. You aren’t hit over the head with it, but the enhanced human capabilities are integral to the story.

Back to the romance/thriller part of the sci-fi – an complicated political plot, with spies and terrorists, is investigated by the friend-enemy couple. During the investigation, the will-kill-each-other-someday military officers are forced to work together again and again. I love the slow reveal of how people can overcome the past.

One of the best books out there on many different levels: enhanced human sci-fi, friend-enemy romance, exploration of what happens when divergent cultures meet, and political intrigue. Five star all the way.

Disclaimer: Received an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) for an honest review.

SECOND READ THROUGH REVIEW – So my book club picked up the book on my recommendation and, of course, I had to read it again even though it had only been a few months. But in those months the world has changed and the rowdies being get up to be a flashpoint of riots to overthrow the government so that they can be changed from paid individuals to slaves again, with confrontations where the leadership tries to make it look like the poor people did the property damage has very different connotations than when I first read the book in Feb 2020. This very secondary part of the story strikes me hard and fast now in the middle of the civil disobediences of the Summer of 2020. The story still amazes and I have to remind myself this isn’t a story written in response to what is happening now, just in response to what has always been happening.

The relationship is between an Asian woman and red-head white man (previous book of this romantic series was between a white woman and a black man – Ms. Brooks often goes for PoC choices).

Still amazing, maybe even more amazing, during the second read.

Book Review: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Erin Penn

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An Absolutely Remarkable Thing: A Novel by Hank Green

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In his wildly entertaining debut novel, Hank Green—cocreator of Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow—spins a sweeping, cinematic tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she’s part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have possibly imagined.

The Carls just appeared.

Roaming through New York City at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship—like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor—April and her best friend, Andy, make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day, April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world—from Beijing to Buenos Aires—and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight.

Seizing the opportunity to make her mark on the world, April now has to deal with the consequences her new particular brand of fame has on her relationships, her safety, and her own identity. And all eyes are on April to figure out not just what the Carls are, but what they want from us.

Compulsively entertaining and powerfully relevant, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing grapples with big themes, including how the social internet is changing fame, rhetoric, and radicalization; how our culture deals with fear and uncertainty; and how vilification and adoration spring for the same dehumanization that follows a life in the public eye. The beginning of an exciting fiction career, An Absolutely Remarkable Thing is a bold and insightful novel of now.

 

MY REVIEW

We need more April in the World.

I found this an uncomfortable read in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders in America. I read this July 8, 2020.

“This is the first time a truly international issue had hit our newly borderless world this hard, and no one knew how it might play out.” (page 215 / 65% mark on my kindle)

Copyright 2018. Meaning written no later than 2017. I would say far earlier for a first work, but Mr. Green had major connections.

So many things of this book follow what we are experiencing right now. Social media connections around the world, people using fear as a weapon to raise themselves up and attack other people for a cause, and the need to problem-solve WORLD-WIDE because no one person, no one country has the whole thing sewn up.

It is like a huge metaphor for what is happening right now. Of course, it was meant to use a sci-fi setting to explore insta-fame, relationships, and a variety of day-to-day questions. It’s more a literary work than a genre work.

We are now in a borderless world, but various entities are fighting to reestablish barriers. Some governments try building walls and fences, others locking people out electronically and physically, and still others are removing themselves from treaties and world-wide organizations. But, like in WWII, doing so just mean those barriers will fall at the worst possible time. Children don’t get to climb back into the crib; the world always gets bigger … and scarier.

All of this is in the book, only it isn’t. The subtext hit me hard, making me put down the book several times. If I wasn’t on a deadline for a book club in less than three days, I likely would have set it aside. To recover. But I pushed through in a single day.

The story is there. And I *think* some people can just focus on the story. Which is a problem-solving, literary exploration of fame, science-fiction drama. I just couldn’t see it well through the life I am living right now.

But I do agree with the character, even after one of the worst attacks on her person, she still sent out Hope. Even when fear should have been winning, she tried to make things Better. More inclusive – even for selfish reason – her message was about Building and Growing. In that, I would like to see more April in the world.

(Checked out through the local library system as an eBook. Vivat local libraries!)

Book Review (SERIES): Mason Dixon Monster Hunter

Erin Penn

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Mason Dixon Monster Hunter Season One by Eric R. Asher

  1. Mason Dixon, Monster Hunter
  2. Mason Dixon & the Wampus of Reed Springs
  3. Mason Dixon & the Ghost Dinosaur
  4. Mason Dixon & the Gowrow’s Last Stand

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for SEASON ONE

He’s a YouTube sensation, making hilarious videos about hunting down monsters in the wilds of Missouri that are too outlandish to be real. Besides, everybody knows things like gowrows, Momo, and jimplicutes are just tall tales told to scare children.

Aren’t they?

Follow Mason Dixon, his sidekick Emma, and their tech guru Himari as they wander the woods of the Midwest looking for the monster that killed Mason’s brother, and working hard to protect the other cryptids from encroaching humans. And sometimes protecting the encroaching humans from the cryptids, too! This hilarious horror comedy series is part of the expanded Bubba the Monster Hunter Universe created by John G. Hartness and populated by Hunters like Mark Wojcik, Jess Friedman, and Caitlin Kelley.

MY REVIEW for SEASON ONE

Mason Dixon Monster Hunter: Season One combines four previously published novellas – Mason Dixon; Mason Dixon and the Wampus of Reeds Spring; Mason Dixon and the Ghost Dinosaur; and Mason Dixon and the Gowrow’s Last Stand.

Mason Dixon is my second favorite Monster Hunter of the Bubbaverse, right behind the Monster Hunter Mom. His gimmick to pay the bills is run a video channel of Monster Hunting cryptics – only do the video so bad, it is all clearly fake. He and his team have to work really hard to make their very real monster investigation and relocation (they don’t kill the monsters, but move the creatures to a better place where they don’t harm the environment or humans) look fake.

And moving monsters around is NOT easy or safe, but they try and save lives of all kinds whenever they can. From Wampus to Invisible Dinosaurs.

I find the series (or collection – depending on which way you are reading it) charming, delightful, action-packed, and funny.

(Read through Kindle Unlimited)

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MASON DIXON MONSTER HUNTER (Novella One)

The best-selling author of The Vesik series flexes his comedy muscles in a hilarious new comedy urban fantasy series!

They are the first line of defense against the things that go bump in the night. They are the keepers of a centuries-old legacy of The Church defending the world against the forces of darkness. They are a bunch of highly armed rednecks, internet video celebrities, soccer moms, and assorted broken nutjobs. They are the new Templars, and things are about to get weird. From the pages of Bubba the Monster Hunter comes a new series featuring the Hunters from around the United States hunting down monsters, fighting off supernatural baddies, and making life really, really bad for the things that hunt people.

He’s Mason Dixon, and he’s a bona fide internet celebrity. He has his own video series, a pistol that deserves its own area code, and a high definition video camera, and he’s not afraid to use any of them.

In this introductory urban fantasy novella, we meet Mason, his right hand Emma, his “handler” Noah, his anime-styled hacker friend Himari, and more monsters than you can shake a stick at. Unless it’s a really big stick.

With Mason, it’s always a big stick. This first novella in the series follows Mason through the wilds of Missouri as he hunts down monsters that hunt men, monsters that eat chewing tobacco, and monsters that make pancakes. And there’s moonshine.

And then Bubba the Monster Hunter shows up.

MY REVIEW for MASON DIXON MONSTER HUNTER (Novella One)

Mason Dixon is the perfect addition to the Bubba world.

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Bubba the Monster Hunter by John Hartness. But I’m more of a subtle humor kind-of gal instead of Bubba’s overt funny, and Eric Asher’s take on the Bubba sandbox with a crypo-hunter creating a faux youtube show about real hunts he goes on is LOL funny to me.

The new Monster Hunter series by Falstaff is still comedic, and monsters, and rural-sassiness. But subtler, smoother. Like finely aged apple shine. One left in the barn the entire winter before drinking.

The first part of the book introduces us to Mason Dixon and the second part of the book, after the major action is done, ties the series into the larger Bubba world.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MASON DIXON: THE WAMPUS OF REEDS SPRING (Novella Two)
Your newest favorite monster hunter is back, and this time there are squids!

Mason Dixon, the internet superstar and cryptid hunter from the woods of Missouri, is back with a new adventure, new monsters to hunt, new video to shoot, and new mysteries to unravel! Mason and his much more sensible sidekick Emma are investigating a series of monster attacks when, as usual, they find much more than they bargained for.

Can Mason figure out how to build the easy-up tree stand?
Can they survive the fearsome Wampus?
Will they get enough cool footage to keep Himari happy?
How much gear can they destroy on one expense account?
The answer to all these questions and at least one more are hidden with The Wampus of Reeds Springs!

MY REVIEW for MASON DIXON: THE WAMPUS OF REEDS SPRING (Novella Two)
Mason Dixon is back, and he is still hunting monsters with a camera and knock-out darts whenever possible. In the process, he gets his ATV stepped on by a bingduffer and his arm swallowed by a gally-wampus. He is so diligently earnest with multi-ton water-mammals and big cats with razor claws, you just want to bundle him up in his endangered-species-protection-centric world and hug him.

He brings new meaning to tree-hugging eco-warrior: hugging on the tree and hoping not to fall out on top of the rock-throwing bingduffer, while still getting good footage for his webshow.

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MASON DIXON & THE GHOST DINOSAUR (Novella Three)
Now Mason Dixon is back, and this time his problems are bigger than ever!

Like, dino-sized!

The sasquatch is on his side, the zigmals are cute, and the gowrows are downright adorable, but when Mason Dixon and his sidekick Emma run afoul of not only a dinosaur, but also MoMo the Missouri Monster, he’s in for the fight of his life!

MY REVIEW for MASON DIXON & THE GHOST DINOSAUR (Novella Three)
Another fast read from Eric Asher. I love Mason Dixon’s approach to being a Templar in the Harkness’ Bubba-verse – instead of hiding the fact monsters exist, become an internet cryptid-hunter. One of the few monster hunters who hunts with a zoom lens and a dart gun, for when push comes to shove.

And when Mason runs across GHOST DINOSAURS, push really comes to shove.

Awesome book. I mean – Dinosaurs!

With Sasquatches, and side-hill hoofers, and zigmals, …. everything a cryptid lover can love!

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MASON DIXON: THE GOWROW’S LAST STAND (Novella Four)
He’s fought ghost dinosaurs, wrangled gowrows, drank moonshine with Sasquatch, and chased miniature flying squirrels all over a movie theatre, but nothing could have prepared Mason Dixon for what he’s about to deal with in the thrilling conclusion to Mason Dixon, Monster Hunter Season One!

If it had just been the jackalope, that would have been simple. But nothing’s ever simple for Mason, and when super-secret government agency DEMON finds out that he’s created a cryptid sanctuary in the wilds of Missouri, things go from sideways to downright corkscrewed. Now Mason has to navigate an uneasy truce between multiple species of monsters that are typically…not friendly, evacuate a crowd of unruly cryptids before the government shows up and kidnaps them or worse, and negotiate with MoMo, the Missouri Monster himself, to create a new safe haven for the creatures he’s spent years trying to save.

It’s a lot to ask of a YouTube star that most of the world thinks is a complete hoax. But it’s safer to pretend to be a fake than to let the world know the truth. Because monsters are real, and this time it’s Mason’s job to save them.

MY REVIEW for MASON DIXON: THE GOWROW’S LAST STAND (Novella Four)
Another in the Mason Dixon (New Templars Novella) series. Mason comes against the biggest cryptid ever – the American Government – who in the department of DEMON has decided to collect the cryptid contents of Larry’s sanctuary for themselves. What them mean to do with them is anyone’s guess (*cough* weaponize them *cough*), but Mason and his extended circle aren’t going to take the invasion laying down.

Not a wrong note in this conclusion of the first season of Mason Dixon. Action packed and environmentally sound, the mix of humor, horror, hope, and have-at perfects this read. Highly recommend.

If you can, read the first three volumes first. The whole series builds nicely. If you want to purchase it as one item, I expect the Season will be collected soon (it is 2/20/2021 when this review was written). In the meantime, check it out through Kindle Unlimited (I did).

Book Review: Death’s Door

Erin Penn

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Death’s Door by April White

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In the fall of 1849, Edgar Allan Poe disappeared. He was missing for five days, and was then found wandering near Gunnar’s Hall in Baltimore, delirious and possibly drunk, wearing strange clothes and carrying a cane. Poe died four days later in a Baltimore hospital, never having regained proper consciousness except to call out for a mysterious person by the name of “Reynolds.”

Of course Poe was a Clocker, and I knew I would write that story someday. What I hadn’t expected was who would find Poe when he stumbled into the 21st Century.

Her name is Alexandra “Ren” Reynolds, and she has a secret too.

 

MY REVIEW

This delightful novella weaves several elements together for a complicate whole-cloth manuscript. We have Ren’s character development of people breaking through her isolation. We have Edgar Allan Poe’s character development as a man of his time out of his time. We have a interaction between the black female, Ren, and anti-abolitionist, Poe. We have a cop and a mystery and a romance and a series tie-in. All sewn through with love of Poe’s writing. Balanced together for a warm night of reading.