Category: Book Review

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words 2/15/2011

Erin Penn

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One challenge as an author is you want people to leave book reviews for you, but the general advice to authors is don’t review other people’s books. How do you help your friends and follow this advice?

Well, the obvious way is leave reviews only for good books.

Me, I don’t follow this very good advice. When I first SERIOUSLY started this journey of editing and writing, I decided to review every book I read. By pulling apart other people’s work, I could figure out what went right and what went wrong – why I liked a book and why I didn’t. And I wanted to go through the process of organizing the thoughts and writing them out, thereby keeping a journal of my learning process. 

I broke 800 reviews this month on GoodReads.

And not all of them are “nice” reviews. But when I write one-star reviews, I write specifics and how I think that they could be fixed. I’m not nasty – I do my best to keep emotions out and state this is the problem with the Manuscript, not the author. If I can’t keep emotions out because the reaction creating the reason for the bad review was emotional, then I clearly state it is my emotions and someone else might react different.

Still giving low grades is a risk.

I really, really wish I could follow Misty Massey’s advice of “Saying Something Nice” at all times. Her advice back in 2011 is the easier path, and the generally accepted path for authors leaving book reviews.

Again, the blog – with quite a few comments – is on Magical Words 2/15/2011.

Do you have an opinion? Share below.

Book Review: A Time & Shadows Mystery Series

Erin Penn

Book Cover from Amazon

The Day Before: Time & Shadows Mystery (Book 1) by Liana Brooks
Convergence Point: A Time & Shadows Mystery (Book 2) by Liana Brooks
Decoherence: A Time & Shadows Mystery (Book 3) by Liana Brooks

SERIES REVIEW

Any long-term readers of my blog know one of my favorite authors is Liana Brooks. I read everything she writes, I attend book launches long-distance, I stalk … um … follow her on Facebook. Why does she have to be a West Coast writer – forever 3,000 miles away? I adore her writing so much I’ll even read a series on time travel if she writes it, my least favorite sci-fi variation. And, you know what?, I loved it. She actually came up with a mechanism I liked – giving agency to the characters.

That is my normal problem with time travel.

Option A: You can’t change time. Characters have no agency; when they go back in time, they get blocked at every turn trying to make changes. The only option available is an emotional journey and I’m not into soul-searching for it’s own sake after the first version of this time travel option. I get it – the character goes from angry, to frustrated, to acceptance, and returns home a changed person. Great the first read, not the fortieth.

Option B: You can change time, but then you can’t return to your original point because your future timeline has disconnected because of your actions. The character becomes lost in the sea of infinite timelines, a Dutchman never again making home port. In this option the characters appears to agency, but they don’t. Because, really, that previous timeline the character wanted change is still out there, moving forward without them. Sure they have created a “happy” timeline, but it doesn’t erase the other line.

Ms. Brook twisted the option B with a dash of energy-wave-cycle science, crashing together a theory where agency exists for characters between the cycles. And she mashed it up with a murder mystery and political thriller.

Did I mention she is one of my favorite authors?

See the book blurbs and my individual book reviews below.

Book Cover from Amazon

The Day Before: Time & Shadows Mystery (Book 2) by Liana Brooks

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

A body is found in the Alabama wilderness. The question is:

Is it a human corpse … or is it just a piece of discarded property?

Agent Samantha Rose has been exiled to a backwater assignment for the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation, a death knell for her career. But then Sam catches a break—a murder—that could give her the boost she needs to get her life back on track. There’s a snag, though: the body is a clone, and technically that means it’s not a homicide. And yet, something about the body raises questions, not only for her, but for coroner Linsey Mackenzie.

The more they dig, the more they realize nothing about this case is what it seems … and for Sam, nothing about Mac is what it seems, either.

This case might be the way out for her, but that way could be in a bodybag.

A thrilling new mystery from Liana Brooks, The Day Before will have you looking over your shoulder and questioning what it means to be human.

 

MY REVIEW

Wow, I knew Ms. Brooks could write – her superhero romance is fantastic – but wow.

A police procedural with sci-fi time-travel mix. The procedural is set in the near future – about 50 years from now. 25-ish years ago half of humanity was lost to a plague and the survivors joined nations and moved forward, so Samantha, the main character, works for the North American government. Ms. Brooks has done an excellent job of creating a new culture from the fallout, plus a pretty interesting scientific possibility for time travel.

I highly recommend reading the chapter teasers. The stuff at the start of chapters 8, 13, and 23 give the motivation for Iteration 1 and lays the groundwork for the series.

Full Disclosure: Received free from author as part of an on-line book launch. No mention of review in the transaction. Attended launch because loved her other books.

 

Book Cover from Amazon

Convergence Point: A Time & Shadows Mystery (Book 1) by Liana Brooks

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Agent Samantha Rose has already died once…and knows the exact date she’ll die again.

Having taken down a terrorist organization bent on traveling through time to overthrow the government, Sam figured she was done dealing with the unbelievable. Finally out of backwater Alabama, she’s the senior agent in a Florida district, and her life is back on track.

Until a scientist is found dead. And then an eco-terrorist. And then a clone of herself…again.

As the pieces start to fall together, they paint a picture that seems to defy everything they know about time and physics. But the bodies are all too real, and by partnering up with Agent MacKenzie once more, they might just figure out what’s going on. And when.

 

MY REVIEW

Is it possible for Convergence Point to be even better than The Day Before of the Time and Shadows series? Yes, I believe it is.

First off, we get a little more romance this time. Not center stage, but nicely worked into the story. Second the mystery-procedural investigation and as much legwork and slow reveal as the last time. The on-edge feeling continues throughout the book of who may die next. Police officers call in, warrants are retrieved – you really feel like these are officers doing their jobs. Too many books have officers breaking the law to bring criminals in – this one makes you feel that these are real officers who really believe, obey, and enforce the law.

I do dislike how men still treat women poorly – I had hoped 50 years in the future to see better of humanity. But after a plague wipes out half the population and women become breeding machines in some areas of the planet, I expect some backsliding would occur from our “enlightened times”.

I should note there were a couple places where characters seemed to act out of character. Not always sure the change was because of an Iteration crossing over.

But the reason why this is amazing is the worldbuilding. As my other reviews indicate, I LOVE good worldbuilding. Ms. Brooks brings to the table several layers to the clone world – including Sam having to deal with other Iteration versions of herself dying in this one. The initial fallout from the Yellow Plague – both the crumbling of nations and the rebuilding. And, of course, time travel.

Ms. Brooks, with the Time and Shadows, has come up with a comprise to time travel which returns agency to the time-travel stories, plus gives one of the best motivations for murder I have ever seen. What would you do, who would you kill, to keep your reality alive instead of collapsing into a dream? For creating a viable, to me at least, time-travel-multiverse thread I have to give Ms. Brooks five stars!

 

Book Cover from Amazon

Decoherence: A Time & Shadows Mystery (Book 3) by Liana Brooks

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Samantha Rose and Linsey MacKenzie have established an idyllic life of married bliss in Australia, away from the Commonwealth Bureau of Investigation, away from mysterious corpses, and—most of all—away from Dr. Emir’s multiverse machine.

But Sam is a detective at heart, and even on the other side of the world, she can’t help wonder if a series of unsolved killings she reads about are related—not just to each other, but to the only unsolved case of her short career.

She knows Jane Doe’s true name, but Sam never discovered who killed the woman found in an empty Alabama field in spring of 2069. She doesn’t even know which version of herself she buried under a plain headstone.

When Mac suddenly disappears, Sam realizes she is going to once more be caught up in a silent war she still doesn’t fully understand. Every step she takes to save Mac puts the world she knows at risk, and moves her one step closer to becoming the girl in the grave.

 

MY REVIEW

I want to sit down and create a timeline … line?, woven cloth matrix folded in parts, wibbly-wobbly time knot … anyway, I would like to try to create a iteration and people tracking tool to follow this story through the three books of the series. I am totally going to do this sometime – likely in three or four years. If I come back to books (and I will with this series), it usually takes me around half a decade.

This is not a stand-alone book. Read books one and two before reading book three.

The third of the series science fiction world-building isn’t as strong as the first two, which isn’t surprising since by this time the world has been defined. The romance established in the second book has been solidified by the third. The police procedural isn’t quite as clear cut to follow as the first two books as the world(s) spiral toward decoherence. 

So the story didn’t knock my socks off as much as the first two – on the other hand, I still can’t find my shoes.

Book Review: Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1)

Erin Penn

Book Cover from Amazon

Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1) by Michael Z. Williamson

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Sergeant Kendra Pacelli is innocent, but that doesn’t matter to the repressive government pursuing her. Mistakes might be made, but they are never acknowledged, especially when billions of embezzled dollars earned from illegal weapons sales are at stake. But where does one run when all Earth and most settled planets are under the aegis of one government? Answer: The Freehold of Grainne. There, one may seek asylum and build a new life in a society that doesn’t track its residents every move, which is just what Pacelli has done. But now things are about to go royally to hell. Because Earth’s government has found out where she is, and they want her back. Or dead.

 

MY REVIEW

First quarter of book is about Kendra leaving her home planet and integrating into Freehold society. We learn about it from her perspective. Mr. Williamson presents a new culture similar to Mr. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, but brought into the new millennium and made his own. It idealizes extreme individualism, which one would expect from a recent colony; weak, stupid and average need not apply to this high gravity planet. (I had a lot more to say about whether I think this society is viable long-term (it’s not however much parts of it would be wishful-thinking nice) but that is more of a book group discussion than review material.) Discovering the world through her eyes, we learn both about Kendra’s new society and her old society (Earth North America). Some very, very nice worldbuilding takes place – layers upon layers.

Worldbuilding includes dealing with a higher gravity (tiring easier), air differences (constantly needing water in the dryer situation), individualism being important, how to pay for governmental projects without taxes (some things just have to be done on such a large scale governments or corporations need to organize them), etc. Still not exactly sure how the education system works – it wasn’t important to the full-grown immigrant Kendra, so not introduced here. A lot of the cultural description reads like a treatise, but then so did Heinlein’s stuff.

Second quarter of the book focuses on Kendra joining the military while tensions between her home planet and her adopted planet escalate. About the time she finally finishes specialist training, war erupts.

Leading to the third quarter of the book. I will stop here, because anything further will have spoilers. But war and the action begins. Takes a long time to get to this point. If you like non-stop action from the very beginning, this is not the book for you.

Note the main character is in a three-way relationship with a woman and a man, and several times this gets graphic. Plus it is open, so the three-way sometimes introduces other sexual relationships though no one steps away from the emotional commitment. Some readers might find this uncomfortable. (Like the culture, the sexual attitudes are very similar to Heinlein.)

Trigger Alert: There is a gang-rape in the second half of the book.

Book Review: Chill Factor (Weather Warden, Book 3)

Erin Penn

Book Cover from Amazon

Chill Factor (Weather Warden, Book 3) by Rachel Caine

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin has protected the human race from monster storms, been killed, reborn as a Djinn, and then restored to her original form. Now she’s throwing the dice to stop an infinitely powerful, deeply disturbed kid-who is holed up in a Vegas hotel-from bringing on a new ice age.

 

MY REVIEW

Book 3 of the Weather Warden series (Chill Factor) – I read this book first and stood on its own just fine. Rachel Caine, the author, gives enough overview of the past to fill in the blanks; and I don’t think it was over-the-top where a person reading the series in order will be upset by the repeat.

Solid urban fantasy, fast-paced, with a reveal of conspiracy and corruption to be dealt with as the series continues. Looks like the first three books were one arc getting people acquainted with the main character and the magic rules of her world. The next series arc is going to explore the politics and force the character to grow up beyond furiously fun (fast cars, good clothes, and great – well, sexy if a bit self-centered – men).

The main character, Joanne, is a martyr wrapped up in materialism, to protect her from the self-righteous black and white world she wants to live in and the rules she wants to obey in this very slidey-grayscale world of ethics we actually live in. The materialism combined with paladin-like ethos makes a strange mix and keeps Joanne a likable character – either defining characteristic on its own would have been overly annoying, together its like chocolate and peanut butter. The author found the perfect ratios for someone you don’t mind hanging out with. You forgive her shopping spree because she fights for what is right; you tolerate her inability to compromise on what is right (right now) against the greater long-term good because she promised you a ride in her car. This is one is a person who may avoid the Road to Hell Paved with Good Intentions.

A couple of story twists seemed a little too God-in-the-Machine, but the character pays a large enough price for them I am willing to forgive. The plot itself follows a story of redemption…on a roller coaster without breaks. Worth the trip. I think I will need to read more of this series. Rachel Caine is an excellent author.

Book Review: When the Villain Comes Home

Erin Penn

Book Cover from Amazon

When the Villain Comes Home edited by Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood. Published by Dragon Moon Press.

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON

Heroes can save the world, but villains can CHANGE it. 

We’ve assembled a great mix of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction. Come with us while we explore villains of all stripes — sons and daughters, lovers and fighters, minions and masterminds, in this giant volume of thirty great stories by award winners, rising stars, and bold new voices. With masterful tales by: Camille Alexa, Erik Scott de Bie, Chaz Brenchley, Eugie Foster, David Sakmyster, Marie Bilodeau, Richard Lee Byers, K.D. McEntire, Peadar Ó Guilín, Jim C. Hines, Ari Marmell, Karin Lowachee, Jay Lake, Julie Czerneda, J.M. Frey, Clint Talbert, Rachel Swirsky, Tony Pi, Leah Petersen, J.P. Moore, Ryan McFadden, Todd McCaffrey, Erik Buchanan, Gregory A. Wilson, Rosemary Jones, Gabrielle Harbowy, Ed Greenwood, Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon, Chris A. Jackson, Steve Bornstein

 

MY REVIEW

An anthology of 31 stories. 

As always, an anthology is an un-even collection of skills set and stories. This one is about villains returning to an origin point they somehow thought of as “home”.

The concept presented in The Sunshine Baron by Peadar O Guilin is still freaking me out; as often happens in fantasy, the land lives and dies by the Hero-King, such as Arthur. Can you imagine the suffering under the Ruler of the Land when he is a selfish, gutless, self-serving Crown instead? I need to imagine no more; Peadar O’Guilin provided the perfect example when this villain is returned home.

Villianelle by Chaz Brenchley shows that villains can return to their roots to start growing again, though the base plant never changes.

Anyway, whether they are bad guys, worse guys, monsters, killers or just thieves, each of these villains must return home again. For some that home was heaven and others hell; most glimpses of home helps give the reader understanding why the character became a villain. Those at home were monsters (Oranges, Lemons, and Thou beside me), or maybe needed protecting from monsters (Hunger of the Blood Reever).

A fun read, mixing fantasy and sci-fi, a little heavy on the superpowered at the beginning.

Trigger Alert – two of the stories have rape. Not unexpected in a Villain anthology.