Tag Archives: ARCs

books, Ghost Story, Reviews

Ask for Andrea by Noelle W Ihli

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Stars: 4 out of 5

This packs a surprising emotional punch for a ghost story and serial killer story. I hadn’t expected to get this emotionally attached to the characters, but the author did an excellent job making them unique, human, and lovable. Which makes this story even more tragic because all three main characters are ghosts haunting the man that killed them.

The first three chapters in the book describe how each of the three women was killed, and it’s visceral and horrible. I could really feel their fear and pain, and then confusion and hurt when the realization came that they were dead, but still stuck here. And it goes to showcase how different these women are because they choose to do different things when they realize that they are dead. Brecia immediately tries to follow her killer, to do something about it, to try to reach out into the world of the living and exact her revenge. Meghan is paralyzed by fear and spends months by her corpse, watching it decay and praying that she will be found. And Skye goes home and tries to let her mother know that she is still here.

And despite the fact that these three women area already dead, the tension in this book only keeps growing with each page, as they watch, helpless, as their killer prepares to kill again. I was especially heartbroken for Brecia, because she had to watch him kill Meghan, and realize that no matter what she tried to do, she couldn’t save her. She also had to live with the killer and discover that there are three more innocent lives that could be in danger – his wife and two daughters. 

In fact, the last part of the book, when the women follow them into the forest, had me at the edge of my seat and biting my nails.

This is definitely a very good book, and I recommend it.

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

books, Dystopian, Reviews, science fiction

Infinity Gate (Pandominion 1) by M. R. Carey

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Stars: 2.5 out of 5.

This is another example of a book where the idea sounds great when you read the blurb on the back, but the execution is sorely disappointing. Honestly, the most I can say about this book is meh.

The idea of a technology that allows humans to travel the multiverse is amazing, and there are so many ways a story like that could go! One of the best examples so far was The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson . Now that story had a heart. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t. 

Oh, it has plenty of interesting ideas. The worlds of Pandominion are fascinating, and the idea that in some version of our Earth, primates might not have evolved to dominate the land is intriguing. The fact that most of those diverse races manage to coexist peacefully is also wonderful to see. 

However, a long story like that can’t win on worldbuilding and concept alone. It needs engaging characters to carry the narrative and keep the readers engaged. And the characters in this book are extremely unlikeable. They are selfish to the extreme, unable to take responsibility of their own actions. They make often horrible decisions and commit atrocities and manage to justify it. I couldn’t stand most of them. The only character I could more or less relate to was Paz, because she was mostly an innocent bystander at the beginning, and any actions she took afterwards were fueled by her sense of right and wrong. But we meet Paz a lot later in the book, and for the first 35% I really had nobody to root for, so this story was almost a DNF for me.

Also, we have an empire that spans countless parallel universes and includes a diverse variety of “selves”, who manage to coexist even though some of them evolved from primates, others from wolves/cats, and even others from herbivores. But that empire itself is a repressive regime, where the only political actions seem to be strike first and annihilate the (possible) treat and ask questions never. Are you telling me that with all the bright minds available in all the multiverse, the Pandominion couldn’t come up with a better form of government?

Why is it that this mighty and very technologically advanced empire didn’t even try to communicate with the machines when they stumbled upon the mechanical civilization? Seriously, not a single attempt at communication was even considered. Or, you know, just leaving them alone. There are infinite Earths in this multiverse, so why not just blacklist this particular one and go explore somewhere else? No, the solution is to invade and annihilate. Without provocation, mind you. And they wonder why they get pushback? Or that they are being destroyed in response?

Finally, even though this book is about 500 pages long, it doesn’t even resolve part of the story that is hinted at in the first chapters. It just sets up the stage and brings all the main characters together. Yes, I understand that this is the first book in a series, and that there is an overarching story. But you need to give the reader some kind of payoff for investing hours of their time into this book. At least one story arc should have been satisfyingly concluded by the end of this book. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. And honestly? I won’t stick around for book 2 to find out what happens to the Pandominion.

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

books, Reviews, science fiction

System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries 7) by Martha Wells

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Stars: 4 out of 5.

Disclaimer before I get into the meat of this review. In order to understand what’s happening in this book, you must have read Network Effect. This story picks up almost immediately after the ending of that book, and the events in NE have a direct impact on what’s happening in this story. Of course, I’m assuming that not many people would start a series on its seventh book without reading the previous six, but you never know.

As I said, the events of this book are a direct continuation of Network Effect. They are still on the planet with the alien infestation. The corporation is still there as well. And Murderbot… Murderbot is not okay. Oh, he is fine physically speaking, but his mental state is in shambles to say the least.

And you know what? I’m really glad that the author chose to portray it this way. She could have easily just swept the events of Network Effect under the rug, and left Murderbot continue like nothing happened. To be his sarcastic and highly efficient paranoid self. But that would have diminished the impact of what had happened in those ruins. 

Murderbot had been through a horrific and traumatic experience. He was almost assimilated by a malignant alien entity, not to mention the mental violation that took place. If he had just shrugged this off, it would only have reinforced the point that SecUnits are just machines, because only a machine could walk away unscathed from something like that. 

But Bot is more than a machine, and he has a severe case of PTSD, even if he doesn’t understand what’s happening to him. He thinks he is broken, that something in either his organic parts or his programs is malfunctioning. So we get this very hesitant Bot, who second guesses all of his hunches and reactions, who doesn’t trust his own risk assessments, and who spends so much time checking and double-checking his conclusions that he seems slow on the uptake. 

This shows us an oddly vulnerable side of Murderbot. He isn’t used to being this hesitant. He isn’t used to not being in control of the situation or of his own reactions to those situations, and he isn’t used to not being able to have several plans of attack/retreat going at once in his head.

I also loved that Bot’s attitude towards the humans he is with (the ones who came with him and ART’s crew) has drastically changed in this book as well. Yes, he can still be sarcastic about them, but he truly considers them as friends, not just charges he has to keep alive often despite their best efforts. Bot even starts to trust them to accomplish things without his input or help. He relies on them more and he thinks of them a lot more fondly then before. This is huge character growth for Bot, and I am very happy about that.

My only complaint is that due to the limiting factors of the setting, we don’t get nearly enough interaction with ART prime or Three, which I was really looking forward to. But seeing how this book ends, I have hope that we will get a lot more ART in the future. I would also like to know what will happen to the SecUnits Bot freed in this book. It would really be interesting to see how each of them evolves.

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

books, Fantasy, Reviews

Three Oaths (A Daidoji Shin Mystery 4) by Joshua Reynolds

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Stars: 4.5 out of 5.

About a quarter of the book in, I realized that this wasn’t the first book in this series, because the characters referred to events that had happened in previous books. This however didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the story. I also must note that I didn’t know that the Legend of the Five Rings was a table top RPG. Needless to say, I never played it, nor was I familiar with the lore and world. This, however, didn’t hinder my enjoyment of this story. So I can affirm that this book can be read as a standalone.

The world depicted in this book has some strong similarities with medieval Japan (which I am all in for, since I love Japanese culture and history). It is, however, slightly more tolerant on some issues than its historical counterpart. For example, women can hold positions of power in the government (one of the characters is a general in her household), and it seems like same sex relationships aren’t frowned upon. 

I loved Shin and his sidekicks that he seems to accumulate with ease by turning criminals into allies and by knowing exactly how to get the best use of someone by allowing them the dignity of being themselves. Shin is smart, very curious, and with a mind honed to solve complex puzzles. He is definitely wasted as a mere representative of the Merchant Guild. He is also pretty fearless, which gets him in trouble more often than not, to the consternation of his bodyguard. I loved her too. She is Shin’s exact opposite – impatient, a stickler for rules, and straightforward and unbending. Where Shin can be deceitful with words and actions to get results, she prefers to have her katana speak for her. Amazingly enough, they work pretty well together. 

The main intrigue is also pretty interesting. Is Mosu an imposter or not? And if he is, why is everyone happy to pretend that he is not and proceed with the wedding like nothing happened? The more Shin digs into this sordid affair, the bigger a conspiracy he discovers. From what I can see, it even ties to some of the events that happened in previous books. Somebody is working to bring the demise of the Lyon Clan. Surreptitiously and from the shadows, using others to weaken their enemy. And that particular storyline isn’t resolved by the end of the book either. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series, because now I am invested. I want to know who the mastermind behind all this is. 

I will also definitely pick up the previous three books about Daidoji Shin, because he is such a likeable character, and I want to know what other mysteries he solved and how he came to have some of the servants he has at his service, like the smuggler Lun. And now I am also interested in checking out other novels set in the Legend of the Five Rings universe, because that world is fascinating. 

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

PPS: Also, that book cover is amazing.

books, Horror, Reviews

Malice House by Megan Shepherd

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Stars: 2 out of 5.

This book started so well. I was engaged and a little creeped out for the first 25% of the book. Then I was bored for the next 50% of so, because the book dragged its feet and bogged down in little insignificant things. Then it took a swan dive off the cliff and lost any goodwill I had left for the story.

 And now I’m sitting here, looking at raving 5 and 4 star reviews, and don’t understand what other people found so great about it. The story is convoluted and full of plot holes, some of which I can’t ignore no matter how much I suspend my disbelief.

First of all, I don’t think the author ever had to try and survive with almost no money. I mean Haven gets paid maybe 300 dollars per movie summary she does. And as the story progresses, she does less and less of them. She mentions a couple times that her bank account is very close to the red. So how can she afford gas, electric, wi-fi when she install is, food, etc.? Why is her first impulse, when she gets 900 bucks for the typewriter, to go order expensive cameras from Amazon? She doesn’t know what the meaning of frugal is to save her life.

Haven herself is an extremely unlikeable character who is so full of herself that assumes everything revolves around her. By the end of the book I seriously was rooting for the monsters. She is very judgmental and suspicious of other people for no particular reason. Her over the top reaction to the Ink Drinker’s comment on her art was very telling in that regard. 

She also makes decisions that make no sense. Why the heck would you go digging in the woods behind your property in the middle of the night? When to do that you have to climb up a ladder and jump on the other side of the fence… with a hurt ankle? Why don’t you take your cellphone with you? Why would you basically commit breaking and entering when you go check on Kylie? AND steal her laptop? AND steal a weapon from the neighbors? Why won’t you report the disappearance to the police??? 

Why do you decide that going into an isolated house to confront a possible murderer alone is a good idea? Yes, you have a stolen hunting riffle. Do you even know how to use it? The author told us several times how Haven never was an outdoorsy type. That she never went camping, yet alone hunting. How can she be sure she’ll be able to load and fire that riffle? I an assure you it’s not as easy as they show it in the movies. 

Also, who gives a total stranger her spare key just because she is attracted to him and he smells nice? Girl, you don’t know anything about him or his past. You saw him burn something big in his backyard in the middle of the night, but sure, give him access to your home.

The only reason I gave this 2 stars instead of 1 is because the little snippets from Bedtime Stories for Monsters before each chapter are amazing. I would have gladly read a whole book just about that. They were weird and mesmerizing, and much better written than the rest of the book. 

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

books, Dark fantasy, Fantasy, Reviews, Uncategorized

Warded by JB McDonald

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Stars: 3.5 out of 5.

It’s always interesting to pick up a book written in a world other than the traditional European medieval fantasy. In this case, I think I can see some African roots. To me, that was a breath of fresh air, because I could set aside all of my expectations as to how this story would unfold and just enjoy discovering something new.

The characters are interesting enough, though Jahal started getting on my nerves after a while with his constant repetition that he is not a warrior but a healer. He finds the courage to fight when it counts though. Dalak is… supposed to be alien, I guess. But she mostly comes across as a petulant child who does as she pleases and doesn’t listen to anyone, not even her minder. Isn’t she supposed to be at least a century old? Anaye is by far my favorite – complex and broken, but also very loving and human.

The story itself could have benefited from a good re-read or a good editor. Some passages are really confusing. This is especially the case with the final battle between Dalak and the demon. It’s written in such a confusing way that half the time I wasn’t really sure what was going on. 

However, the biggest weakness of this book is that the story is too short. The the author doesn’t have time to explore the world in the details it deserves. There are mentions of demons that only come at night, and that human eye cannot see. There is a mention of two moons. There is even mention of ancient ruins belonging to a different and forgotten civilization… But we never dig any further than that.

So is this a different planet than Earth? Are the demons the native species? Are humans descendants of some colonists that landed on this planet, so the ruins are all that remain of their advanced civilization? Have demons always been there? If so, how did the humans even manage to survive that long? From the little we know, not every village has a warder like Dalak, so how do they defend themselves? It’s repeated several times that a human cannot kill a demon. And if just breathing the spores of a dying demon results in the creation of a child like Dalak, why aren’t there more of them? Why isn’t this known? 

In fact, there is no sense of a bigger world in this story. We have these two villages in the jungle. Are there more? Anaye mentions at the beginning of the story that they get refugees sometimes, but it’s never mentioned again. So is humanity reduced to just a series of isolated villages that barely communicate? Are there bigger cities? What about trade? Surely, the population must move around at least a little or there is danger of interbreeding? Those are all the questions I would have loved to have answers to in this story, or at least hints of an answer, but then again, I love digging into the lore of a world the author created. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. 

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

books, Fantasy, Grim Dark, Reviews

A Pale Box on a Distant Shore (Red Kingdom 0.5) by P. J. Nwosu

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Stars: 4.5 out of 5.

This is a fascinating book. It almost reads like a cross between a poem and a fevered dream, but in a good way. Rarely have I been so entranced by the world depicted in a book.

There are character driven books, there are story driven books, there are books that incorporate a bit of both. Then there are books that try to introduce us to a new world or concept more than they care about characters. I am not saying that this book is the later, because there is a solid detective story here, and the characters are engaging enough. But to me, the description of the world in which those characters live is the most important part here.

And that description is so well done! It permeates every page, weaving organically into the story, so that it never appears tedious. It creates an image of a fascinating world of arctic winds and white snow, of gray seas and red bones, of big white motes fluttering against buildings darkened by soot and landing on burning corpses. A world growing on the ruins of an older civilization, where a night can turn hollow, and an inverted moon would rise, and dead giants will stalk the shallow waters off shore. This is a harsh and unforgiving world, but it’s also very beautiful, in a cruel kind of way.

There are so many fascinating little details about the different religions and superstitions, about how different castes of people are living on Death City Island. The bone miners who wear red copper masks and white furs of a long dead animal, and risk their lives to mine the red bones of a giant who died off shore of the Death City. The merchant caste that wears silver masks and drapes themselves in layers of embroidered silks…

I liked Soldier Honnan Skyin and his relentless pursuit of a babe killer. Even when everyone told him to let it go. Even when a deadly epidemic was sweeping the island, killing thousands. Even when they ran out of pale boxes to burn the death at sea and had to resort to communal pyres in the middle of dead villages, Honnan still followed the clues he could find and stubbornly investigated this murder. And I’m really glad he did, because he brought to justice a monster worse than the black lung. 

All in all, this is a successful introduction to a brand new world. Now I definitely want to read the first book in the Red Kingdom series. Because while this book is still part of that universe, Death City Island is at the very outskirt of the Red Kingdom, so the customs and traditions are slightly different and watered down. Some of the details Honnan mentions about mainland are rather intriguing.

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

books, Dark fantasy, Fantasy, Reviews

The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms 1) by Tasha Suri

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Stars: 3 out of 5

I have mixed feelings about this book. There are things that I absolutely loved, and there are aspects that left me cold or that I found rather underwhelming. However, nothing made me mad or made me hate the book, hence the middle of the road, perfectly serviceable 3 stars rating.

The world Tasha Suri created is fascinating and complex. I liked the different religions and customs. Some are truly monstrous though. The yaksa in particular are absolutely fascinating. What were they, really? Where did they go? Are they really gone for good or, as Pryia’s encounter in the deathless waters suggests, they still exist somewhere and are ready to come back. And what is that corruption that is killing crops and people and spreading to the rest of the kingdom? I definitely want to know more about that, because to me, it’s more interesting than the intrigues and politicking of men.

My biggest complaint is that this book is way too long. I understand that as the first book in a series it has the unthankful job of setting up the world and explaining the lore, but this exposition bogs down the story something bad, especially in the first almost half of the book. We spend so much time in the beginning setting up the characters and explaining their pasts, that it gets very boring. Nothing happens. Everyone just spins their wheels for half a book. I even considered DNFing this around 45%.

I’m glad I didn’t though, because the story finally picks up in the second half of the book and moves at a pretty good clip. Things start happening, battles are fought and lost (or won), and the story is set up nicely for the next book in the series. I can’t help but think that this book would have been so much better if the beginning moved slightly faster as well.

Another issue I have with this story is that out of the main protagonists, Malini seems the weakest. She spends about 60% of the story imprisoned, drugged, and basically helpless. Not an agent of her own story, but somebody that the events just happen to. A passive observer, so to say. Pryia, and Ashok, and everyone else are acting and reacting to what’s happening, making plans and fighting their own battles. And Malini… Malini sleeps in a drugged sleep or is having withdrawals from that drug later on.

The problem that causes is the credibility of the character. Rao seems to admire her a lot. We are told that she single-handedly orchestrated a coup against her brother the Emperor. We are told that she is cunning, educated, and very smart… Yet we see none of that until very late in the book. So instead of being a strong and capable person, Malini comes across as a damsel in distress. That is not a trope I particularly like.

She became a more interesting character later in the book when she was allowed to actually act and react, so I have hopes that she will get more page time and better character development in the next book.

As it stands, I am on the fence whether I want to pick up the next book in the series or not. I might give it a try to see if the pacing issues have been fixed, and if we learn more about the yaksa.

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

books, Horror, Reviews

Enter the Darkness by Sarah Budd

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Stars: 2 out of 5.

I don’t understand all the glowing reviews for this book on Goodreads. I found it boring as fish. For a relatively short 200 page book it, it draaaaged and almost put me to sleep several times. I felt like just reaching the ending was an uphill battle.

My biggest issue was the multitude of grammatical and stylistic errors. I mean, English isn’t my first language, but I’m pretty sure having verbs both in present and past tense in the same paragraph isn’t grammatically sound. It’s jarring to the eye when you read the book, that’s for sure. It creates a cognitive confusion that took me out of the story completely a few times.

Add to that the head hopping that happened in a few places, when the chapter was clearly titles as being from the point of view of one character, but there would be paragraphs that described how another character felt or what they thought. As far as I know, none of the protagonists are omniscient, or telepathic, so how could they know that?

My second issue is that I didn’t care for any of the characters. Yes, they had issues. Yes, the author tried hard to make us understand what moved them and make us empathize. Unfortunately, she failed, at least in my case. Being privy to their inner monologues didn’t make me like them more, but made me annoyed with them at times. Especially Garth. The thoughts that went through his head were downright creepy and disturbing at times. He is certified stalker material. No wonder he had no friends or girlfriend.

Finally, as I mentioned, the story drags. The pacing is very uneven. The first 50-60% of the book is basically set up, then the events unfold at breakneck speed. Honestly, we didn’t’ need that much set up. We could have spent more time in the caves to advance the actual story instead of flashbacks into the pasts of our protagonists. A lot of that information wasn’t necessary. What little we actually needed could have been woven organically into the narrative. As it was, I almost DNFed the book at about halfway point. 

I added one extra star for the description of the caves. You can see that the author did her research. That place is fascinating. Now I really want to visit.

I guess if you did “mesh” with the characters and didn’t mind grammatical errors, this books could be a good read for you.

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

books, Reviews, science fiction

Ymir (The Violet Wars 2) by Rich Larson

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Stars: 5 out of 5.

Well, this book tugged at my heartstrings from the beginning till the end. I honestly didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I always say that I don’t particularly enjoy books with unlikeable characters I can’t empathize with. Well this book proved me wrong. Turns out, I do enjoy unlikeable characters when they feel like fleshed-out human beings. 

Yorick is a mess. He has so much suppressed trauma that he is a self-destructive mess. Most of the things he does to himself and to others are rather horrible and make him unlikeable… but you can’t help but feel empathy for the guy. The more you learn about his past, the more you understand why he is so messed up. And returning to Ymir, which is the place of his nightmares, only triggers all those memories, all that trauma. No wonder he spirals. I would as well.

I also really liked the world of Ymir. It feels foreign, unforgiving, but also like home to the people who chose to live there. And the author did a great job illustrating that by creating a culture and traditions for those people that are very different from what “company men” bring to the table. The wake for the dead was fascinating. The dirges and ballads and the folklore about spirits and the underworld, when layered on top of this cold and starless world, paints a harsh but beautiful picture of Ymir. These details make the reader understand that the people who call this world their home will never be subjugated like the company wants. They are too proud and independent to bend the knee, no matter what the algorithm thinks. 

And the story of Yorick and Thello is heartbreaking as well. They both did the things they did because they loved each other and wanted to create a better life for each other. Problem was, they saw what that better life could be very differently. Yorick decided that the only way to survive abuse was to become tougher and meaner than his abusers, not realizing until too late that by doing so he became no better than them. And that he lost the person he loved the most – his brother, along the way. He tries to repair at least some damage that he’s done once he realizes the truth.

I love that there is no happy ending at the end of this book. No big teary reunion with hugs and declarations of love and forgiveness. There is too much hurt between the two bothers for that. There is silent acceptance of things as they are, and that’s the best these two can hope for. There is also no real resolution for Ymir either. Yes, the grendel disrupted the Company’s systems when it left, but was that only on Ymir or everywhere? And what comes now? After all, the company wasn’t all bad. It also brought progress, technology, and access to things that made the life on this harsh planet fore bearable. 

In fact, this ending is just the beginning of another story, and I will be interested to see if the author will continue with it, and where he would take it.

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