Tag Archives: ARCs

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Long Past Dues (The Unorthodox Chronicles 2) by James J Butcher

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Stars: 4 out of 5.

I really liked the first book in the series, so I picked up the next installment with a lot of trepidation. Too many times I was left disappointed by the direction in which authors took their series after the opening book. I am glad to say that it is not the case with the Unorthodox Chronicles. This book delivers everything I liked in the first one and ramps it up a notch.

We begin our story about six months after the events of the last book, and Grimsby finally got his dream of becoming an Auditor. Only the job isn’t exactly what he had dreamed it to be, since he is stuck doing house calls and babysitting various Unorthodox whom the Department wants to keep an eye on. It’s boring and mind-numbing, and makes Grimsby wonder if his life in the fast food industry was any better.

One of the reasons he is stuck with rookie jobs is because Mayflower, his partner, hasn’t shown up for work in six months. And doesn’t plan on showing up any time soon… That is until Grimsby does something desperate and steals a case intended for another Auditor. A case that has a lot of similarities with one that Mayflower encountered over 20 years ago. A case that Mayflower thought was closed, since the main perpetrator had her brains blown out…

This was a roller-coaster  of a story. So many things happen, and the action keeps moving along. It was also a better plotted story than the first book, in my opinion. Even though there was a lot of action, all of it served to further the story and move it along, and we got some nice character development throughout as well.

I admit that Grimsby can be a little infuriating in his absolute lack of faith in himself. His self-esteem is lower than the location of Underton, and that place is buried deep under Boston. But even though I found his mopping around and self-doubt ratter irritating at times, I also understood where it was coming from. All his life he’d felt like he has less than everyone else. Because of his scars interfering with his magic, because of his inability to learn any other spells than the 3 he knows. And when Mansgraf kicked him out of the Auditor program, it only reinforced his belief that he was a failed witch and a failed human being. 

So I understand that he feels like he didn’t earn his badge so to say, that he is an impostor in ill-fitting clothes just playing at being an Auditor. I like that by the end of this book, he’d made peace with that idea, and decided that he will be the best Auditor he can be with the abilities he’s given. Granted, by then, he has bigger issues to deal with than his self-doubt, but it’s still a nice piece of character growth.

I loved that Grimsby stays true to his core believes – that violence, especially the terminal kind that Mayflower is so good at, is a last resort. Or that you should always try to do your best to help your friends. He demonstrates that over and over again when he helps Wudge, then does everything to save both Wudge and Mayflower from Mother Frost, or even when he rescues the familiar. Speaking of Mansgraf’s familiar, I wonder if it will have a role to play in future books? 

We learn a lot about Rayne in this book as well, and I’m sad that things happened the way they did. Because both her and Grimsby could have been the friend each of them needed, but that is probably not in the cards anymore. I would like to know what is that birthright she worked so hard to suppress all her life. I’m sure we will hear more of that in the next books.

As it stands, I am definitely eagerly awaiting book 3, even though it probably won’t come out until next year.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Dead Man’s Hand (The Unorthodox Chronicles 1) by James J Butcher

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

I think I found a new urban fantasy series to fangirl about! I picked it up on a whim because I liked to cover. Oh, and I had no clue that the author was Jim Butcher’s son. Though I must admit that I was never a huge fan of Harry Dresden, though I read maybe 4 or 5 books in the series. I might even revisit that particular series someday…

Anyway, I came to this book unbiased and without trying to compare the creation of the son to the works of the father. And I must admit that I really loved it!

The world is very interesting. We have the Usuals, or people like you and me, plain Jane humans, and we have the Unorthodox. Who can be magic users (or witches), as well as other magical creatures that we heard of in legends and fairy tales (and some we’ve never heard of). Some can pass for human with relative ease and managed to build almost normal lives in our world. Some… not so much. All of them are controlled and regulated by the Bureau of Unorthodox Affairs, who acts like law enforcement, but also a social services organization. 

Now let’s talk about Grimsby, our protagonist. He is a bumbling, stumbling bundle of insecurities and misery, but I must admit that I really liked him. Because he has good reasons to be miserable and resentful, and to wallow in that misery from time to time. Life really did a number on him. He is not a hero. He is, most of the time, a coward that hates conflict and tries to avoid it at any cost. 

But despite all that, he has a strong backbone and a moral compass. He is willing to bend and let a lot of things slide, but when it comes to something that he holds dear, or that he thinks is plain wrong, he will stand his ground, even despite the danger to himself. He is also very loyal to his friends, probably because he doesn’t have that many. In fact, by the end of this book, he really only has one.

I also liked that despite his limitations, he finds new and ingenious ways to combine the three spells he knows. And even though those are only 3 spells, he mastered them to perfection. Grimsby might not be particularly powerful, but he is very tenacious and capable of innovative thinking, because he doesn’t have pure magical strength to rely on.

I also like his grudging partnership with the Huntsman, because despite the odds, they make a really good team. The Huntsman constantly pushes Grimsby to get out of his comfort zone, especially if that zone is made of self-pity and woe against the unfairness of the universe. And Grimsby acts as a tempering influence and a moral compass for a man who has done some terrible things in the line of duty and often won’t hesitate to do even more horrible things if needed. Even if he would probably regret it afterwards.

It was interesting to see the Huntsman go from looking at Grimsby first with suspicion, then with derision, then with grudging respect. And they did get to the bottom of things in the end and got the bad guy. 

I liked that the main storyline is resolved by the end of this book, but there are other tantalizing bits of story left dangling in front of the reader to entice me to pick up the next book. I want to know how the main villain managed to make so many human familiars without anyone noticing.  I want to know who Blackskull was when it was alive. And I want to know if Grimsby will every manage to control his magic even despite the scars. So I will definitely be continuing with this series. 

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Fantasy, Reviews

Greymist Fair by Francesca Zappia

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

Now this is a fairy tale retelling done right! It doesn’t try to outdo the original, just takes that inspiration and creates something new and very readable with it.

I loved the village of Greymist Fair and the atmosphere of mystery and even foreboding the author created for this place and the villagers. Imagine a village in the middle of a dense forest with only one road leading to it and back out. That’s already claustrophobic enough. But now add to that the fact that there are rumored to be monsters in the forest, and those who wander under the trees rarely come back alive. Oh, and that road to the village? It can take hours, or it can take days to travel, and some travelers never find Greymist Fair at all.

The author managed to convey the magical feeling that I absolutely love in fairy tales, and she also understands the cardinal rule of those tales – no matter how fantastical the world or the events happening in it, there must be internal rules to that world that everything follows. And if those rules are broken, there must be an explanation as to why and how. Like the ever-flowering tree branch that protects the wearer from Death, or the shoes instilled with magic that allow the person to outrun Death and its wargs.

The characters are less important here than the story they are part of, but I still had fun following along with them. The story is also not told in chronological order, with subsequent stories often going back in time and shedding more light on events mentioned or implied in previous stories, but the whole paints a fascinating canvas of a village at war with Death, even if the villagers don’t realize that. See, the forest around the village is Death’s domain, and so was this village at one point, until something happened and Death was denied entrance.

I loved the fact that this conflict was resolved not with violence, but with forgiveness and acceptance. The main message of this story is that we are all social animals, and that even entities like Death can be lonely and long for companionship. And that it is always better to show acceptance and love to others instead of prejudice and violence. That’s a message we should hear more often today.

It’s a well written and heartfelt story with a beautiful message, and I would highly recommend it.

PS: I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Fantasy, Reviews

The Night-Bird’s Feather by Jenna Katerin Moran

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Stars: 1.5 out of 5.

Well, this book was a big disappointment, to tell you the truth. I love fairy tales. I love modern retellings of said fairy tales, if they are well done. And that’s a big IF. Especially when it comes to retellings of Slavic tales, because they are near and dear to my heart. I grew up with them.

Unfortunately, we don’t really have a retelling here of anything. Honestly, if you had switched the Russian names of the main characters to typical English names, the story wouldn’t have changed much at all. Peppering the story with typical Russian or Ukrainian dishes or things doesn’t build an exotic atmosphere, like the author probably intended. It just served to irritate me.

The biggest problem with this book though is that it has no soul. Sure, the author can write pretty sentences, but that isn’t enough to make a good story. The characters feel flat and one-dimensional. Even Valentina, our protagonist whom we spend most of the book with, is extremely boring. I don’t know what makes her tick. I don’t know what her dreams and fears are. 

The author tells us she wants to kill the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy because he took something from her, but what he took is described so vaguely, that I still don’t understand what the big deal is. So you are made of blood and bones, and you can hear your heart beat. Big deal.

Same goes for the story of her falling in love… with a man she never spoke to, just saw in passing and heard play the piano. Sure, the author tells us that, but there is not a shred of feeling of it in the actual story. There is no feeling in the story at all, to tell you the truth. It’s all very dry and soulless, if prettily written.

My other problem is that this world makes no sense. The author mentions that this was the land of eternal darkness until Valentina brought the sun to it and created the separation between night and day. Okay, I can get on board with that, but explain to me how this works? How do people grow crops in darkness? How do they survive without night and day? How do they travel about? Where do they get all the resources necessary to light their town? How do animals and trees survive there? 

See, real fairy tales always have an inner logic and a rigid set of rules, no matter how fantastical those rules seem compared to our world. And characters, monsters, and even natural events follow those rules. In this book though, the rules are never explained, so the reasons behind why some things happen are very nebulous and often make no sense. If I can’t make sense of that’s happening, I won’t be invested in the story.

To summarize, don’t bother with this book if you like fairy tale retellings. There are much better books out there. Like Greymist Fair by Francesca Zappia (sponsored link), for example.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Dark fantasy, Fantasy, Reviews

A Touch of Light (Ashes of Avarin 1) by Thiago Abdalla

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Stars: 2 out of 5.

I grant it to the author, he is trying to tell an ambitious story here, so that necessitates a lot of set up and worldbuilding. Unfortunately, that also means that most of these 700 some pages are exactly that – setup.

The story is very slow going and broken into three distinct POVs that don’t even converge until the very end of this book. And even then, only two of them somewhat converge, I don’t think Nasha ever made it to where Lunn and Adrian were. So we slowly get three different stories developing simultaneously, and up until the end, there was no indication at to how they were connected. Heck, even having finished the book, I’m not sure I understand fully what’s going on.

I wouldn’t have minded this too much if the characters were engaging, but as it stands, I couldn’t connect with none of them. Yes, the author did a good job explaining their motivations, but there was some spark missing with the characters. They felt more like a set of characteristics than real people. So in the end I didn’t particularly care for any of them, which made this story very difficult to commit to.

That lack of fleshed out characters compounded with a slow moving stories that were only loosely tied together made it for a very long read. I thought about DNFing it several times, but but then I had already committed so much time that I wanted to at least see what it was all about.

And that brings me to the final problem I have with this book. There is no conclusion to this story. Nothing is resolved, nothing is explained. These 700 pages are just introduction to the world and setup for the series, I guess. Where did the madness come from? We have no answer. Why some people loose their minds and other seem to still function normally when infected? No clue. What does that have to do with the clan lands and the sickness that kills the land? Your guess is as good as mine. 

All this book did was set up the pieces on the board for the bigger story. I know that first books in a series have the thankless job of introducing the reader to a brand new world and characters as well as planting the seeds for the arching story for the whole series, but there also needs to be a completed storyline for that book. Readers need an emotional payoff after sticking around for so many pages. This book didn’t give me that. 

And since I didn’t get an emotional payoff for reading this book, and I frankly don’t care about any of the characters, I will not be continuing with this series.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Fantasy, Reviews, Urban fantasy

Never Too Old to Save the World: A Midlife Calling Anthology

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Stars: 3 out of 5.

The problem with anthologies is that the stories in them are usually very uneven. You can find some hidden gems, but you will also find stories that are uninspiring to say the least.

In this particular case, the idea behind the anthology was great. The tired trope of the Chosen One has been done into oblivion over the years, but most of the Chosen Ones are children or young adults. It’s like your membership to this club automatically expires once you turn twenty, or something. It’s refreshing to see stories about Chosen Ones who are middle-aged, and have a wealth of experience behind them. Who have lived their lives, had their teenage rebellions, have settled into their lives, and pretty much know who they are and what they want. 

In theory, this premise, this should make for wonderful stories, where the Chosen One doesn’t need prophets or kings to tell them what to do or how to act, and have a strong moral compass on their own. The execution, however, is rather disappointing.

I think the only story I really liked was A Legacy of Ghosts. It felt like a fully fleshed out story with a sympathetic protagonist and some stakes you could feel. The Jackalope Wives was okay as well, but I felt that I liked it more due to the author’s writing style than due to the story itself. Another one I truly enjoyed was Once A Queen. It had that Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire series vibe, and I enjoyed at least the first 2-3 books in that series.

The rest of the stories ranged from meh to frankly mediocre. I went back to re-read the titles of the stories before I sat down to write this review, and I was sad to discover that I couldn’t even remember what some of the stories were about. Yes, they were that unmemorable.

I would say that this is an anthology that you can pick up from your library just to read a few select stories, and don’t feel guilty returning it having skipped the rest.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Reviews, science fiction

Travel by Bullet (The Dispatcher 3) by John Scalzi

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Stars: 4 out of 5.

I liked this novella – it’s perfect for a lazy afternoon when you don’t particularly want to commit to a longer book. It’s fast-paced and engaging, and still manages to deliver a decent portion of worldbuilding.

And what a fascinating world it is. Imagine a world where murder doesn’t exist anymore. And by that I mean that a murder victim will reappear in a place they consider safe and will be unharmed, though will retain the memory of the murder. Oh, that doesn’t eliminate death in its entirety. Accidents still happen, and illness, but murder? in 99.99% of the cases, the victim will be alive again. 

It’s interesting to see the changes that this brings to society. And to see the good and bad that this brings in humanity. 

On one hand we have government sanctioned dispatchers whose sole job is to murder people who would otherwise die a permanent death so that they have a second chance. For example, someone is in a bad car accident and is moments from dying. The doctors can’t save them fast enough. If the dispatcher murders that person, they have a 99.99% chance to reappear at their home safe and healthy, like the accident never happened. Sure, there is that little 0.01% chance that they will fail to reappear, but that’s better than certain death, don’t you think?

On the other hand, we have people who use their power and influence to make others compete to the death to gain their favors, be it a lucrative construction contract, a job position or a refence that the other person needs. It is immoral and frankly horrifying. So what if the murder victim will technically survive? Both the muderer and the victim will still keep the memories and the trauma of the event.

This is my second foray into this series, since I read the first book, and I must admit that I’m loving it. The concept is original and I enjoy watching where the author will take it. I will definitely also check out the second book that I somehow missed.

My only complaint about this particular book is that the main characters is a bit bland. We really don’t get to see what makes him tick. I still don’t know what his motivation is in doing what he is doing.  But since I love the concept so much, I am willing to forgive a blah protagonist.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Horror, Reviews, science fiction

Paradise-1 (Red Space) by David Wellington

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Stars: 2.5 out of 5.

I was fully onboard with this book for the first 50% or so of the story. Granted, one of the main characters was too stupid to exist, and some of her choices were that of a braindead child. But the story moved along at a good pace, things were happening, there was a big mystery about, so was happy to overlook an annoying character or two. But then the book kept going… and going… and going with no end in sight. Episodes started repeating themselves without bringing anything new to the story, and I was quickly losing interest. 

As I had mentioned, the characterizations in this book are… rather lacking. And forget about character growth. I think the only character that has any is Rapscallion, and he is a sentient robot. Which tells you everything you need to know about the other characters. So if you are looking for a character driven story, move along. This ain’t for you.

But the mystery of what the heck is happening around Paradise-1 and why all ships sent there stop responding was compelling enough to have me turning the pages for about half of the book. And I admit that the idea of an alien contract that can invade our minds by planting a destructive idea is rather horrifying, because our bodies have no defense against a virus that isn’t biological in nature. I also really wanted to discover what was on Paradise-1 that needed to be guarded so fiercely, and why was it worth so many human lives and so many ships to try and get it.

Unfortunately, this book is at least 300 pages too long, so the story started repeating itself. We get to yet another ship that’s infected with different version of the Basilisk. We encounter yet another crazy AI and see the horrors that happened to the human crew. We don’t learn anything that we didn’t know by reading the first half of the book. The characters flee the ship, or are saved, or take the ship over… then the action switches to yet another encounter with another infected ship. Honestly, I think the story should have ended after their attempt to run the blockade to land on the planet. The 200 pages after that were just filler, with a few exception, like actually encountering the Basilisk, and even that could have been incorporated into the story differently. 

Oh, did I mention that the book ends on a cliffhanger? No? Well, it does. 700 + pages end with no emotional payoff whatsoever. We still don’t know what happened on Paradise-1 and why it was so important to get there. The story ends mid-action.

I guess the reader would have to pick up the next book in the series to find out what happened to the colony on Paradise-1, but guess what?  I won’t be along for the ride. I am not willing to sit through another overlong book and follow annoying characters just to find out that the story isn’t finished and there is another cliffhanger. No thanks, I’m out.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Dystopian, Reviews, science fiction, YA

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

I rarely read fairy tale retellings, because I think that retellings are rather pointless. I’d rather read the original and decide for myself what the morale of the story was, instead of reading about what the reteller thinks the story was about. So I’m really glad that I didn’t know that this was a retelling of Pinocchio when I picked up the book, or I would never have given it a try. And I would have lost out on a wonderful story.

And honestly, you don’t have to know anything about the original Pinocchio book to enjoy this story. Yes, there are parallels, but In the Life of Puppets stands on its own two feet pretty well and doesn’t rely on knowledge of the original.

It’s a story of Victor Lawson, the only human in a world of robots. And of his quest to save his father. And him and his friends have some adventures along the way. 

For a fairy tale this book has surprisingly a lot of heart. Because the characters, human and robot alike, are fully realized individuals with their own quirks and dreams. And their interactions are hilarious at times, and at times very touching and heartfelt. Nurse Ratched is my favorite character. Yay for sociopathic nurse robots with a heart of gold. 

The world our group of misfits travels through is wonderous and terrible at the same time, like it should be in good fairy tales. And all of the characters grow and progress along the way, especially Victor, who has to come to terms with a lot of hard truths. Like the fact that his father was the engineer of the extinction of his whole race. Or that you can still love someone even if you can’t forgive them for what they did, even if you aren’t sure you have the right to forgive them.

Or that you can love someone even if they don’t remember you from time to time. This last one hit particularly close to home, since I am dealing with a relative slowly loosing his battle with Alzheimer’s. That is a truly horrible disease that transforms a loved one into a completely different person. A bit like what happened to Gio once he was taken back into the City of Electric Dreams.

And even though the situations our characters find themselves in are horrible at times, the overall message of this book is one of love and hope, which makes it a very heartwarming story. I would definitely recommend this to adults and young adults alike. It’s rare that I read a book in one sitting and come out of it with a content and warm feeling.

PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

books, Fantasy, Reviews

A Blade Through Time (Desolada 1) by Louis Kalman

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DNF at 48%

This book started so strong. The first chapter was intense and full of danger and tension… Unfortunately the rest of the book that I managed to wade through before I gave up wasn’t as good.

We start with a vicious attack and a young boy who lost everything in the space of a day, almost died, and discovered that he can rewind time. So he flees the city and vows to master his time-shifting gift enough to come back and save his family. Wonderful premise for what could have been a great story. 

But that potential is wasted, because absolutely nothing happens for the next half of the book. Leones gets to the philosophers… and the story comes to a grinding halt. We have pages upon pages of Leones training with weapons, or drinking and gambling in an opium den, or just brooding around. He does nothing productive. He doesn’t even explore the city he ended up with beyond the philosopher’s gardens and the gambling dens. He doesn’t try to find out what happened in the city he fled. He only uses his time rewinding ability when it’s convenient for him. And he mops around and he feels sorry for himself. It’s boring.

I think I wouldn’t have been as boring if this part of the book was populated with interesting characters, but Leones is so self-absorbed that he barely pays attention to anyone besides himself, and only if those people can serve him in some shape or form. As a result, the other apprentices are barely described. I don’t know anything about them beyond their names and physical appearance. And because Leones never bothers to ask, I don’t know anything about their pasts or their aspirations. Heck, I don’t even know what most of them do outside of the philosophers’ gardens. 

As a result, they seem more like cardboard cutouts then real people that I should care about. Even when Leones’s maybe girlfriend is assassinated, which should be a big traumatic discovery for him, my reaction was very lackluster. Probably because Leones didn’t particularly grieve for her either. 

Speaking of which, Leones as a character didn’t work for me at all. He is depicted as being completely detached from his feelings. He is either a sociopath, or so traumatized by what happened in chapter 1 that he can’t allow himself to feel anything for anyone. If it’s the later, it’s not made clear enough in the book, so he comes across as self-absorbed, selfish, and unfeeling. Not a character I want to spend a whole book with.

By the time the action finally picked up in the book, and things were finally starting to happen, I realized that I simply wasn’t interested enough to continue. I mean one of the characters seemed to have been erased from existence, but I couldn’t’ are less. So I decided to call it quits, because I didn’t care how this story ended enough to invest any more time into it.

PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.