Tag Archives: ARCs

books, Horror, Reviews, science fiction

The Iron Garden Sutra by A.D. Sui

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Stars: 4 out of 5

I didn’t quite know what to expect when I picked up this book. I was surprised to find a “murder ship” story with a strong element of cosmic horror. I also didn’t expect to enjoy Iris and his AI companion as much as I did.

Iris and his AI companion are definitely the highlight of the book. They are a fascinating duo—two separate consciousnesses sharing a single mind. They bicker and can even hurt each other at times, but they also genuinely care about one another’s well-being. As you learn more about their relationship, it becomes increasingly compelling and easy to appreciate.

The deeper I learned about Iris’s trauma, the more I empathized with him. He constantly strives to be useful, to do the right thing, yet he feels he is never quite enough—that he is falling short of what it means to be a Vessel. I was glad to see him eventually find some measure of peace, even though it comes after a series of difficult and painful events.

I wasn’t as engaged with the other characters, as they are less developed and often feel like expendable background figures. I found it difficult to distinguish between the students for much of the book. They are mostly portrayed as frightened and helpless, with others trying to protect them, but they lack distinct identities.

In terms of the story, it’s a strong example of cosmic horror combined with claustrophobic suspense. A group of people explores a derelict generation ship, only to discover that the ship is not as lifeless as it appears—and that it poses a deadly threat.

The book also explores interesting ideas about what it means to be alive versus simply aware, along with a thoughtful perspective on the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and am looking forward to the next installment, especially since the ending leaves things on a cliffhanger.

PS: My thanks to NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

books, Horror, Native American, Reviews

Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina

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Stars: 5 out of 5

This was a hard book to read, not only because it is a horror novel, but also because of the dark themes it covers. But it is also a darn good book.

As a first-generation immigrant, I don’t know a lot about the different Native American nations and their cultures, so this book was a fascinating window into that world. And I would have loved it for that little glimpse of a different culture alone, but it accomplishes so much more.

Yes, it’s a horror story, but strangely enough, even though there is a supernatural element behind all the deaths and horrifying things happening on the reservation, it’s not the main focus of this book.

The main horror is the bleakness of the lives of everyone on the reservation. The author manages to paint an oppressive picture with just a few words – the oppressive heat and humidity, the rundown trailer homes parked on overgrown lots, dirt roads with no street signs on them, and the lack of hope in everyone who lives there. The children are the only ones who are still smiling; everyone else has been beaten down by life into resigned apathy, fueled by drugs and alcohol. No prospects, no way out, no future… My skin is crawling just remembering this.

As far as the story itself goes, it’s broken into two narratives – the present-day story where Noemi is trying to understand why her boyfriend seemingly jumped in front of a car and died, and the past story when her uncle Louie faced something horrifying and won.

I admit that I was a lot more involved in Louie’s story than Noemi’s. The reason for that is that there is a progression and resolution to his story. He witnesses some horrible events, but he discovers what caused it and he defeats the evil spirit (at least within himself). Yes, it leaves him scared both physically and mentally, and he decides to run away from those memories, but at least his story has a conclusion. With Noemi, we still don’t know whether it was an accident or if her boyfriend had killed himself. Plus, I wasn’t as invested in her story, to tell the truth.

All in all, this was a wonderfully creepy story about human desperation and the darkness that lurks within all of us. About balance and what happens when we disrupt it. And about hard choices. I will definitely read other books by this author.

books, Dark fantasy, Fantasy, Reviews

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying (Dark Lord Davi 1) by Django Wexler

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Stars: 4 out of 5

I must admit that I wasn’t particularly enamoured with this novel in the beginning, because I couldn’t figure out the direction the author was taking it. Was it supposed to be satire or humor like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series? It had too many dark vibes for that. It was creating a weird dissonance in my brain. But once I got past the first few chapters and decided to go with the flow and see where the story took me, I enjoyed the journey quite a lot.

I think the biggest reason why it took me a while to warm up towards this book is Davi herself. She has a rather cavalier attitude towards life and death, especially her own. But she is also very quick to kill and maim others because she believes that once she dies and resets to the beginning, everyone will reset with her, so none of this is real.

I understand where this attitude is coming from. If you spent a thousand years dying horribly over and over again, and watching people you get attached to die no matter what you do, you either go insane or stop taking anything seriously. And I think that Davi is a bit insane by this point. Thinking that this is all just like a video game, where she can just reset to the beginning if it doesn’t work out, is her way of coping with the horrors of the situation.

And I love the fact that the further she progresses in her attempt to become the Dark Lord, the more she gets invested in the lives and well-being of her companions. And that when a certain event happens that causes a reset, she comes to the realization that her actions have consequences. That everyone who died until now will stay dead, and it’s her fault. The sheer moment of panic she had after that was very relatable.

I also loved most of the supporting characters, and even some of the villains are pretty interesting and multidimensional. The world is also fascinating. I really want to know who built the ruins where the Convocation takes place. They look a lot more advanced than anything either the humans or the wilders of this world would be capable of now.

I am not a fan of cliffhanger endings, but I can accept it in this case. After all, Davi accomplished the objective she set for herself at the beginning of the book. I am willing to wait until the next book to find out where the story takes her afterwards.

PS: My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy.

books, Horror, Reviews

The Murmors (Annie Jackson Mysteries 1) by Michael J Malone

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Stars: 2 out of 5

This book started very strongly – Annie has no memories of her childhood due to a terrible accident that killed her mom and landed her in a coma, and on top of that, she starts hearing murmurs and sees how people will die when their death is imminent enough. What would she do with this strange ability? Especially since she just started working in a nursing home.

Well, turns out, nothing at all. Annie quits after the first day there, and her ability doesn’t really come into play at all during the rest of the book.

I felt cheated. Like the blurb was a bait and switch. I came for a woman with a strange ability, not a generational drama and a plot that ground to a halt after the initial setup and then proceeded to creep towards an ending at a snail’s pace.

It doesn’t help that the actual plot of the book is not interesting, at least not to me. Any of the supposed twists were telegraphed way in advance, so I didn’t even have any aha moments to look forward to. And, as I mentioned, the plot went into a completely different direction than I expected.

I also couldn’t connect with Annie at all, even though I tried. To me, she just reads as very immature and full of herself. She only thinks of how things impact her and never even tries to consider how her actions impact those closest to her. And everyone tiptoes around her as if walking on eggshells, even before her curse manifests.

I also wasn’t particularly invested in the other timelines we follow in this story – the one of Annie’s mother and her sisters, and the one of the original twins who brought the curse into being.

Mostly, it was a slog to read and left me rather underwhelmed. I honestly am confused where all the raving reviews are coming from. Did I read a different book than everyone else? I will not be continuing with the series.

PS: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a review copy.

books, Fantasy, Sword and Sorcery

The Will of the Strid (The Wells of Fate 1) by Kingsley M Hobson

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DNF at 35%

I just couldn’t get into this book, and I usually love a good fantasy story. Good versus evil, coming of age, and all that. Heck, I can even enjoy a Chosen One trope from time to time, but here, I just kept losing my interest in the story.

I think the biggest issue is that it felt like there were no stakes in what was happening, at least not for the protagonist.

We are told that a great evil is waking up and will destroy the world as we know it if Storn and his two companions don’t go into this magical realm and make sure he keeps sleeping. Okay, good. Yet nothing in what the author describes of the land and people who inhabit it so far points towards this resurgence. We get mentions of tavern talk that things are getting bad, but we never experience it firsthand.

Also, it’s said that this great evil was imprisoned 80 years ago, yet only legends remain. What, nobody talks about those times because they “don’t like talking about them”? Really? WW2 happened about 80 years ago as well, and everyone still remembers what that was and the horrors it caused. You are telling me that all the people all over the land just spontaneousely decided to forget something just as traumatic? I don’t believe that.

More importantly, this big evil has no impact on Storn’s life. Well, apart from those weird bats tracking him during his journey to Ursula, but even that is only mentioned twice. What are the stakes in this journey for him? He is not in danger. He is not seeking anything. He is just told that he has to go into the Strid, and he just nods and tags along.

As far as my protagonist go, I like them actively participating in their fate and making decisions, even if they are bad ones. The only active decision Storn made was to run away from home by hitching a ride in the ragman’s wagon. After that, he just follows along and does what he is told for vague reasons that are never fully explained. He could walk away at any time, and his life wouldn’t be particularly changed.

This makes for a boring read, and I don’t feel like trying to fight my way through more pages to see if it ever gets more interesting.

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

books, Reviews, science fiction, Space opera

Platform Decay (The Murderbot Diaries 8) by Martha Wells

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Stars: 4 out of 5

Murderbot is back! And his risk assessment module is repaired and functioning better than in the last book. He even added an emotional check subroutine on it, and let me tell you, the results of that check are often hilarious.

Here we have Murderbot at his best – when he is in charge and trying to extricate humans out of tricky situations while pretending that he doesn’t really care about them. But we all know that he is a big mush under that gruff exterior, and that he absolutely cares about his humans.

Murderbot has a plan (well, the bare bones of one at least), but that plan goes out of the window as soon as he enters the taurus anyway. Shenanigans happen, with lots of snark from our favorite SecUnit, and I loved every minute of it.

We get to meet DR Mensah’s extended family, including one of her spouses and her daughter. Sofi is an amazing character, but I loved Granma the most. Also, it’s hilarious how awkward Bot is with children, but how good he is with them as well. No matter how much he gripes about it, it’s like he senses when little humans need him to be there for them, even if it’s just a strong hand to hold on to when the world around is scary.

Oh, and Three freeing other SecUnits with Murderbot 2.0 code, and the rogue SecUnit panic that spreads through the taurus is rather funny to read about. Especially Bot’s reaction when one of those units tried to interfere with the rescue of his humans.

My only complaint about this book is that once again, we get very little of ART and Bot interactions. I miss ART. I want them exploring the galaxy together, watching soap operas and being hilariously snarky about the humans they have to deal with.

PS: My thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced review copy.

books, Dark fantasy, Fantasy, Reviews

City of Last Chances (The Tyrant Philosophers 1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Stars: 4 out of 5

This is the first fantasy book that I have read by this prolific author. I liked one of his sci-fi series (The Final Architecture) and bounced off another one (Children of Time). So I was open to giving another one of his books a go.

All in all, I really liked it. The author has a knack for creating interesting worlds that you want to explore and learn more about. In our case, the city of Ilmar is interesting to discover, but not a place I will ever want to visit. It’s old and crumbling in some places, with layers of history and tragedy built upon each other. 

It’s a weird place where grand mansions coexist with factories straight out of the industrial revolution (only powered by demons instead of coal). Where a mysterious Wood can be a small corpse of trees one moment, and a passage to other worlds when the moon hits it just right. Where a curse can jump from the person being executed to the executioner. Where the old nobility, massacred a hundred years ago, still snares anyone who enters their domain to re-enact their jousts and dances until they die of starvation.

You could almost (but only almost) pity the Pals who are trying to impose their order and Correct Thought doctrine on this city that rejects any kind of order or classification. It’s a broken place where magic leaks from the cracks, and hope is a small ray of sunshine almost swallowed by the clouds of despair. Even the escape through the Wood isn’t easy and is a guaranteed death sentence without proper protection.

While I was fascinated by Ilmar, I was less enthused with the characters that we got to follow throughout the book. There are several POVs, so the story meanders seemingly aimlessly for a good chunk of the book. I would even argue that some of the POVs were rather superfluous and could have been cut out without much damage to the story, which would have made the book slightly shorter and easier to read.

Don’t look for heroes in this book. There are none, even if some of the characters consider themselves as such, at least in the beginning, before the harsh reality of Ilmar slaps them in the face. These are deeply flawed people who are doing sometimes horrible things, and sometimes good things, but purely for selfish reasons. Everyone likes to talk big about liberating Ilmar and chasing the Pals out, but it’s always about who will profit from that revolution. 

So if you like your protagonists clearly on the side of good and your villains truly evil, then this is probably not a book for you. These characters are flawed people. Sometimes pitiful, sometimes horrible, but always very human. 

My only complaint is that this world feels rather hopeless. Horrible things happen, then even more horrible things follow. There is no happy ending, just an ending to this particular nastiness. Some antagonists get what they deserve, but most don’t. Also, Ilmar is back to the status quo with nothing gained on either side.

All in all, I don’t mind revisiting this world again, so I will definitely pick up the next book in the series.

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

books, Reviews, Space opera

Cello’s Gate (The Sky Pirates of Imperia 1) by Maurice Africh

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DNF at 15%

I am baffled. I don’t understand where all the 5-star reviews are coming from. I am also mad at myself for trusting those reviews and going for this book based on them. I feel like I got bamboozled.

Yes, it’s a debut and also the first book in a series, which means it has to do a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to introducing the world, the plot, and the characters. So I am willing to give it a bit of grace, but my patience only stretches so far.

First of all, the pacing. I was 15% in when I threw the towel, and the plot hadn’t even started yet. We had a long prologue that kinda sorta introduced the main protagonist, along with a huge infodump about the world he lives in. Then we get this long and drawn-out heist where the author tries his best to introduce all the characters on Gray’s crew, along with their backstories. Do we really need the whole backstory of the Crest Knights right in the middle of what is supposed to be a high-stakes heist? Why do I need 3 pages of her backstory while they are crawling along a ventilation shaft in this super-high security facility? Any tension and anticipation I had for this just died on the vine.

And this tendency to overexplain, infodump, then summarize it again for good measure a few pages later, continues throughout the portion of the book I read. Why? The readers aren’t stupid. We do not need everything spelled out and summarized for us. 

My other issue is the characters. Yes, they are likable. They are also so overpowered from the very start that there is no tension to the confrontations, and the seemingly high stakes fall flat. I mean, you have what is supposed to be an edge-of-your-seat scene in the beginning with two of the protagonists pinned down in a small room by twenty highly skilled soldiers with only one way out… But this is barely an inconvenience when Gray’s companions seems to be a one-woman army who dispatches those “highly skilled” soldiers in less than 5 minutes without either of them taking any damage. 

Also, those “highly skilled” soldiers have never been taught how to clear a room properly? No, I mean, they forgot to check behind the door when they stormed into the room (which has one entry point). Then they conveniently turn their back to the door (all three of them) and let the Crest Knight kill them like the idiots that they seem to be. 

So the fact that the characters are so overpowered that you don’t feel worried about their survival, added to the fact that their enemies are morons, just makes me not give a s&*t about this story from the get-go. 

There are also some plot and description inconsistencies that could easily have been avoided if a good content editor had given the draft a pass, like that scene in the vault. The author says that one of the protagonists closes the door once the three soldiers rush in… Yet in the next paragraph, both protagonists are exchanging fire with the remaining soldiers through the open door… It’s one or the other. It can’t be both at the same time.

I was fully willing to give this debut a chance, but I value my time too much to have to drudge through 500+ pages of this.

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

books, Fantasy, Grim Dark, Reviews

The Silverblood Promise (The Last Legacy 1) by James Logan

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Stars: 4.5 out of 5

I think I discovered a new favorite fantasy series, y’all! I went into the book blind. I did read the blurb, but I didn’t look at any reviews on Goodreads or anywhere else. I was also in the middle of a reading slump (I still have about 9 books that I started, but that didn’t grab me enough to keep on reading). Well, this book delivered the excitement and immersive story that I needed!

I think the biggest draw in this book is the world. The city of Saphrona is almost a character in itself. It is so well described that I can see the shattered top of the Black Hand, feel the relentless heat on my skin, and smell the odors of rotting fish, sewage, and seaweed of its harbors. 

The mystery of what happened to the Phaeron, or even who they were, is also very intriguing. There are ruins of their civilization everywhere. Phaeron artefacts are prized higher than gold. Heck, there is even a magically created desert that hints at an ancient battle, but of the Phaeron themselves, we know nothing. And I think they are important to the story, since Lukan’s father was an expert on their civilisation, and he got assassinated. Not to mention that he left hints for his son along with a Phaeron relic.

But a book wouldn’t have grabbed me this quickly with a good story alone. I also need fleshed-out characters I can root for or hate. Here, we have both. Lukan is a lovable protagonist. He comes across as a loser and a bit of a drunk in the beginning of the book, but the more you get to know him, the more you discover that he has a moral core and a surprising well of courage (and foolishness) deep inside him. His interactions with Flea were some of my favorite episodes in this book. They really are like siblings, even if they aren’t related by blood. 

As far as villains go, I thought the main one was a bit of a caricature, even though I understood his motivations. No, of all the bad guys, it’s the Twice-Crowned King of the Kindred that terrified me the most. Here, we really have two beings who have no morals or scruples and who revel in inflicting pain on others. 

The only character that grated on my nerves was the Scrivener. She came across as a Karen, honestly. I kept expecting her to ask to speak to the manager. Glad we won’t be doing any more business with her in the next book. 

All in all, this is a fast-paced and engaging story with lovable characters set in a vivid and interesting world. I will definitely read the next book in the series. 

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

books, Reviews, science fiction, Space opera

The Tangled Stars by Edward Willett

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Stars: 5 out of 5

That was a delightfully entertaining story! I haven’t read anything else by this author before, but seeing how much I liked this book, I’m inclined to check his other works as well.

This is part heist, part mad adventure in space, part exploration story. It’s fast-paced and full of twists and turns, and it keeps you engaged throughout. 

I think the biggest draw, at least for me, was the characters. I love good character-driven stories, so this was right up my alley. You can’t help but like Coop. Yes, he is a crook and a conman, but he had this earnestness about him that just makes him so endearing. Laysa is also a great character with her own motives for joining this mad capper. And she and Coop play really well off each other. I could truly believe that they used to be partners in crime and lovers before. There is this easy understanding they have when push comes to shove, and the situation goes sideways.

As far as villains go, Galioto is on the heinous side of the spectrum. A little overboard at times. Though his motivation for pursuing Coop to the edge of the solar system and beyond is well laid out and makes sense. He is a megalomaniac who wants more money and control when this adventure starts, and is forced to see it through because his empire is in shambles and he has no other choice but succeed in the end. You could argue that his undoing is entirely of his own making, though. If he hadn’t gambled everything to pursue Coop and his mad bid to steal the only MASTT-equipped ship in the system, he wouldn’t have been betrayed and sidelined from his own criminal empire. So he is getting exactly what he deserves in the end. 

But the best character in this story by far is Thibauld, the AI-uplifted cat. Where can I get one of those? He cracked me up with his Star Wars and Star Trek references that nobody else in this century understood. His relationship with Coop is hilarious at times. The whole idea of AIs going rogue and what that would spell for humanity is also very well done. 

And I loved how all of their plans would inevitably go awry, almost from the get-go, and they would have to scramble and pivot. Fast thinking and smooth talking (and a little bit of coercion at times) got them out of the frying pan and into the fire on more than one occasion.

The ending hints at the possibility of a sequel, but it doesn’t look like it’s been written yet. I really hope that the author comes back to this world in the future.

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