Tag Archives: ARCs

books, Dark fantasy, Fantasy, Reviews, YA

One Dark Window (The Shepherd King 1) by Rachel Gillig

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Stars: 5 out of 5

This book is dark and poetic, cruel and poignant, horrifying and fascinating. I loved every page of it, which is rare for a YA book. So I would say this is a YA book done right. No over emphasis on “feelings” and love triangles, but just good old-fashioned storytelling at its best. 

The world in this book is fascinating – it’s dark and unforgiving, but has a strange poetic beauty to it as well. This is a single kingdom that is cut out from the rest of the world by a wall of mists that turn anyone who wanders into their midst without a charm insane. And they also slowly choke the land, advancing closer and closer to human habitations, killing the crops and blocking out the sun. Oh, and some citizens get the fever and acquire magical abilities, which in this kingdom is a certain death sentence not only for the infected, but for their family as well, if they hide them from the King’s justice.

Oh, and magic in this world has a price. Any sort of magic, even the Providence Cards, exact a bloody price from the user. Nothing is free, and the reckoning always comes. I loved that! I’ve read too many books were magic is seemingly effortless and free for the caster, as if creating something out of nothing is a perfectly normal occurrence. Having magic exact a price is a refreshing change. That way there is a balance – a magic user can do terrible things in this world, but the price to pay would be just as terrible.

I also really liked the characters, especially Elspeth. All her actions and reactions made sense. She wasn’t the Chosen one, or a special snowflake. She was real and very human, and very very flawed. And she was lost and battling her own personal Nightmare, a loosing battle, I must say. I also liked how she slowly changed in this book from only caring about staying safe and hidden to actually embracing a dangerous cause. Yes, she’d done it at first because she wanted to be cured of her affliction, but by the end of the book she gives in to the Nightmare, fully knowing that she would be lost, for the hope that by her actions she can save others.

The writing is also very engaging. It’s rather poetic at times. I found myself repeating some sentences out loud just because they had a certain hypnotic rhythm to them. I think this adds to the slightly surreal and dreamlike impression that this book gives. A kingdom shrouded by mists where monsters dwell. And sometimes monsters wear human clothing…

I would say that my only complaint is that I didn’t like Elspeth’s love interest as much as any other characters. Ravyn isn’t bad per se… He is just blah. Dark and brooding with a hidden heart of gold – we’ve seen that done a hundred times over. He gets lost in the background any time Elm or Emory or even Ione are in the scene. And honestly, Elspeth had a lot more chemistry with all of them instead of Ravyn. 

Other than that, I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, because there are a lot of unanswered questions left in the story and some rather unpleasant revelations. I also want to know what happened to the Shepherd King to turn him into the monster he became. Oh, and the events at the end of the book 1 definitely need an answer. It’s not a cliffhanger, by any means, it’s just not a happy ending you would expect from YA. Then again, this is not a world that thrives on happy endings.

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

books, Horror, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, Zombies

Z2134 by Sean Platt and David Wright

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Stars: 1 out of 5

This is the second book I try by these authors, and I am less then impressed once again. Though to tell the truth, this seems to be a reprint of a much earlier work, which is probably why it is so bad. I mean, I gave Pattern Black 2 stars where this one barely scrapped a single one.

This book is tries very hard to be a cross between 1984, The Hunger Games, and the Walking Dead. Unfortunately, it does this very poorly, so neither of those three components really work. On a personal note, I was there for the zombies. Unfortunately, there are too little zombies in this book. They barely serve as a plot device. So that added to my disappointment with the book. If you come to it with a different lens, you might enjoy the battle of the “little man” against the tyrannical regime. I didn’t.

Probably because those parts of the story are also rather poorly realized. Subtle this book is not.  The author has to telegraph every action, every plot point, and every plot twist in the book. It’s like he doesn’t trust the reader to get it, unless he is hammered on the head with it. This gets annoying really fast. I can get a hint. I don’t need everything spelled out for me. 

It also devalues the events in the book, because that plot twist about City 7? That could have had such a big impact if it wasn’t telegraphed from a high mountain several chapters ago.

I also couldn’t care less about the characters, so nothing that happened to them was particularly shocking to me. I know I was supposed to root for Jonah in the Darwin Games, but I didn’t know him from Adam at that time, so I didn’t really care if he won or if Bear killed him. Honestly, the little we had of Bear’s backstory made him a lot more compelling as a character. And the least said about Ana, the better, because she is a typical YA dystopia heroine, and I stopped reading YA years ago precisely because I couldn’t stand that stereotype. 

I would also like to point out that this book is not a complete story. It ends in a cliffhanger. Nothing is resolved, nobody is saved or even achieved their goals. There is no resolution or even payout for investing hours of your time into this story. If you want to know what happens to the characters, you will have to pick up the next book, I guess. Unfortunately, I don’t care enough to do so.

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

books, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, science fiction

Souldier (In the Shadows of Eternity 1) by Andrew Dahms

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Stars: 2 out of 5

DNF at 50%

I am honestly amazed at all the 5 stars reviews on Goodreads. Have I read a different book than everyone else? They talk about a good story and gripping action… Well, I had to force myself to read to halfway point, and I honestly saw neither. Maybe things get better in the second half of the book, but if I have to wait until then for the story to get interesting, something is wrong. Plus, I don’t have that much patience. 

I think the biggest problem is that the author doesn’t know how to show anything. All he does is tell. We have paragraphs upon paragraphs of descriptions of everything from buildings to uniforms, to what is happening to the character. But it’s all tell, tell, tell… I mean, he even managed to make the basic training sequence boring as fish. And it lasted way too long, by the way. I mean we are barely out of basic training and actually on the Line by the halfway mark. 

It doesn’t help that Vivian’s character is a non-entity. Because the author tells us everything instead of showing, we are never privy to her inner thoughts or find out how she actually feels about the things that are happening to her. I mean we have several chapters describing how grueling her basic training was, and how the drill sergeant did everything he could to break her… but that’s just words. I have no clue how she felt about it. I don’t see her exhaustion, her frustration, her determination to continue. None of that is there.

And why is she here anyway? Yes, she wants to find out what happened to Sally, but again, apart from what the author tells us, nothing shows us just how much she meant to the protagonist. Show us some flashbacks. Show us their interactions when they were friends. Show us how Vivian felt when Sally left to join souldier, or how she felt when she received the news of her friend’s death… then I will believe that she could drop everything and travel half the world away to seek some answers. As it stands, I don’t care.

And that’s the trend in this book. We are told that the characters are doing something or reacting to something, but we aren’t shown that. And often, we aren’t shown any reactions at all where there should be something. 

For example, when Vivian and her fellow enlistees are sent to help load and unload planes during the new wave, the pilot of one of them has a mental breakdown, literally saying that he brought his squad back in boxes. They were unloading coffins. Surely, there would be a reaction to that? We get nothing. No horror at the realization, no desperation, no fear even. Nothing but the description of how grueling it was to work for such long hours for several days. NOT the thing you want to put the accent on in this kind of story. That was a lost opportunity to immerse the reader in the world and show just how bleak the situation is. 

When I realized that at halfway mark the book wasn’t getting any better, and that I was just getting more and more frustrated with the writing, I gave up.

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

books, Reviews, science fiction

Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture 1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Stars: 5 out of 5

I love discovering a new series that I thoroughly enjoy and knowing that there are still at least two more books I can look forward to. Strangely enough, the only book by Tchaikovsky I have read before this one was One Day This all will be Yours, which is a novella about the consequences of time travel and a time war. And I had loved it as well, but I hadn’t tried his scifi series until I found this one on my TBR list. Well, Mr. Tchaikovsky, I’m a convert now. You write it – I will read it!

The premise of this book is interesting. Sixty years ago, humanity stood united with other alien species, locked in a desperate battle with an alien treat that destroyed entire planets in a matter of hours. They were desperate, they were on the brink of extinction, and all they could do was evacuate as many people as possible before the Architect showed up and destroyed yet another planet. Then an Intermediary, a specially modified human, managed to make contact with the vast consciousness of the Architect, and the Architect just… left. None has been seen since.

It’s been 60 years, and none of the desperate unity remains. humanity is squabbling for power and dominance. The war’s heroes are now humanity’s pariahs, mistrusted and hated by regular humanity. Who aren’t much fond of other alien species as well. Tempers are high, and the known galaxy is on the brink of yet another bloody war, until the crew of a small salvage freighter uncovers proof that the Architects might be back. Now the whole galaxy is after them, and not everyone’s intentions are friendly.

Most of the time, characters are what makes or breaks a book for me. I had been known to read stories with wobbly worldbuilding and giant plot holes because I was in love with the characters. I’ve also been known to walk away from a wonderfully constructed story with a lot of thought put into the structure of the world because the characters were one-dimensional or I simply couldn’t connect with any of them.

Fortunately, it’s not the case here. I LOVED the crew of the Vulture God! Idris was damaged and confused a lot of times, but loyal to his friends, and with a strong sense of what is right and wrong. And willing to die for humanity when that was needed. Solace was wonderful as this grizzled soldier who started caring about the crew of the Vulture despite herself. She could also relate to what Idris was going through because she experienced the war with the Architect first hand as well.  And I am still so  so salty about Rollo. That particular death really packed an emotional punch. 

This book answered some questions, but left a lot for the following books. Even though the wreak was a hoax, the Architects are back, and they will continue exterminating inhabited planets. Not because they want to, but because they have no choice. So all sentient life in the galaxy is in danger. Everyone would have to band together if they want to survive what’s coming. And the crew of the Vulture God will be right in the middle of it. And I will be along for the ride.

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

books, Dark fantasy, Fantasy, Reviews

Equinox by David Towsey

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Stars: 3 out of 5

There is a fascinating premise in this book. What if all humans have two souls inhabiting one body? One has the reigns during the day, the other one during the night? And those are completely different people. They have different names and personalities. They want different things in life. They have different professions. Heck, most of them are even married to different people either night or day. Or married at night but single during the day. Or the night-brother had committed a crime and stays in prison during the night, but their day-brother is released to live their life every morning because it’s not fair to punish both souls for the mistakes of just one. 

Some people are lucky enough to live harmoniously with their night or day sibling. Some even hold the same profession on both sides of the ettienne. Others are not so lucky. In fact, it seems like a horrible way to live, if you think about it. You wake up every morning/night next to a stranger that your day/night sibling is married to. How awkward is that? It also seems like one sibling will be more dominant over the other.

Like in the case of our protagonist. The night brother is a special inspector, so his job takes precedence over his day brother who is a musician. When the inspector has to leave town on an investigation, the day brother has no choice but to follow, no matter how inconvenient that is for his professional and personal life. 

I would have loved to explore this fascinating world a bit more. Like what happens to the children of those married couples? If the night sister is the mother of the children, but the day sister is unmarried and leads a completely different life, who takes care of the children during the day? Especially when they are babies? Does the day sister have a choice in the matter or is she forced to care for them no matter what? Wouldn’t that create resentment between the siblings? Wouldn’t the children suffer because of that?

The mystery itself is rather complex and progresses at a very leisury pace. In fact almost half the book is setup, and even though the story picks up in the second half, it can still be a slog. There are also some leaps of logic that I found hard to follow. And some plot holes that were rather glaring. Like we are expressly told that the father packed up his family and left town after his wife was arrested. Yet, both the oldest and the youngest children are conveniently present to be sacrificed for the ritual. How did that happen? Also, where is the middle sister and the father? Also, this horrible murder of children isn’t even mentioned or addressed in any way afterwards. And the mother doesn’t express a single ounce of grief or regret over it. And that is the night-sister that gave birth and raised those children. 

All in all, it was interesting mostly for the unique concept and worldbuilding, but I wasn’t totally onboard for the story itself. And while I liked both Christophor and Alexander, I wasn’t as thrilled with the other characters in this book. And I would have loved a few more answers to the day-to-day conundrum that having two souls in one body represents, because from where I stand, this is the definition of hell.

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

books, Reviews, Soft Science Fiction

Murder Under Another Sun by Colin Alexander

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DNF at 25%.

I expected a tight thriller and murder mystery in space. Instead I got a high school trip vs junkies story on a new space colony.

And the premise itself is so stupid that I simply can’t suspend my disbelief that much.

Instead of sending conducting an extensive geological, meteorological, and biological survey of the newly discovered planet, we will just throw a bunch of settlers on it and expect them to start a fully self-sustaining colony.

Oh and the first colonists will all be criminals with not many useful skills between them… and the second wave will be a group of boy and girl scouts barely out of high school. Surely they at least know how to operate the machines that will keep them alive and help build said colony? No? Cool, that’s cool.

That’s the perfect recipe for a successful colony! What can go wrong? Seriously, the person who came up with that mission plan on earth must have been high as a kite. End sarcasm.

Oh, and at a quarter of the book in, still no sign of the murder that is supposed to be at the center of this story. Sorry, I’m out.

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

books, Reviews, science fiction

Bona Fides (MI-X Series 1) by Ash B. Whitley

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Stars: 2 out of 5.

DNF at 50%.

The blurb for this book sounded very interesting: a child prodigy stuck in a sort of parallel dimension where she can see and hear what’s going on on our plane of existence, but not interact with anything. Her fight to get back into our world and prove that her father is innocent of her murder. Sounds like a wonderful story, doesn’t it? That’s why I picked that book up. 

Unfortunately, the blurb is misleading. Oh, Rowyn is stuck in a parallel dimension, alright, watching helplessly as her father is convicted of her murder. However, this situation is resolved within the first four chapters of the book, and without much effort on her part, I must add. What happens after that is a story about a group of super-powered young adults who are trying to save the world against a big bad with super powers. Some reviewers drew a parallel with X-Men, and I can see where they come from. 

And I would have stayed for this X-Men like adventure, even if that was not what I was expecting when I picked up the book, but the characters were simply not interesting enough. Their POVs feel “rough”, like the author tried too hard to give them distinctive quirks to make them more memorable. Well, their “voices” sound stilled and unnatural instead. I saw their individual powers, but I never saw the actuals individuals behind those powers.  I think it was also party because the author chose to tell us a lot of things instead of showing them. So we are told that Alexia hates her powers and that they make her toxic to everyone around them, but I don’t see that turmoil in her POVs. 

The problem also lies in the story itself, or, more precisely, it’s execution. There are way to many plot holes and deus ex machina moments. The whole team seems rather ineffective and bumbling through their missions on sheer luck and because the author needs them to succeed. I mean, just because Hakim has a brain that is better than a super computer, it doesn’t make him a good leader. There is a lot more to leading a team of troubled super-powered people than smarts. Empathy goes a long way as well. 

And that’s what this book lacks – empathy. Horrible things happen to characters, but it’s never addressed afterwards. We never see the emotional fallout of Rowyn’s father suicide, for example. It’s just assumed that these people will brush this off an continue like nothing happened. As if having a super power makes them immune to psychological trauma. 

So I left this book disappointed, even though I might have enjoyed it better if the blurb had prepared me for what it really was – a thriller with superheroes, instead of a mystery about a girl stuck out of sync with our plane of existence and desperately trying to get back to it.

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

books, Reviews, science fiction

Nightwatch over Windscar (The Weep 2) by K. Eason

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Stars: 3.5 out of 5.

I liked this one slightly less than the first book. While the story was still engaging, and I was still invested in the characters, I think I grew tired with this author’s writing style. 

Yes, it is nice to be privy to the characters’ inner monolog and understand their fears, hopes, and self-doubts. But this book is the case of when too much is too much. This constant inner monolog interferes with the story. 

Let’s take the scene in the ruins, for example. There are horrible things happening there. Our characters are literally fighting for their lives against an enemy they had never encountered before, but that particular situation takes up 25% of the book. Why? Because the action is constantly interrupted by Iari’s doubting her choices and actions, worrying about Gaer and Corso, swearing, freezing up, working through making a decision in her head before she does it… And then we switch POVs and get the same stuff with Gear or Corso. 

This kills the momentum of the story. This encounter must have taken less than an hour story time, yet we spent a quarter of the book reading about it. Because of this constant interruptions, the impact of this battle is lessened, in my opinion. I should be horrified by the One-Eyes and the massacre our team discovers in the ruins. I should be scared for their safety. I should mourn the death of one of the characters. Instead, I experienced a mild irritation that the scenes were dragging with no resolution in sight. 

Unfortunately, this flaw persisted throughout the rest of the book, so it felt like the story was dragging its feet and took forever, even though everything happened in a matter of days. I think the book would have benefited from a good editor who would have advised the author to cut some of the inner monolog out and tighten up the action… and ditch about 200 pages. We would still have gotten the interaction with the characters we grew to love in book 1, but a tighter pace would have created a bigger impact from all the bad and good things that happen in this book. 

That being said, I am still invested in this world and characters. Some of the things revealed at the end of this book raise a lot more questions and make me eager to explore this world further. I will definitely pick up the next book in the series, but I hope the author tightens up their writing a little. 

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

books, Reviews, science fiction, Space opera

Spacer’s Bet (The Aliya War Universe 0.5) by Bonnie Milani

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Stars: 4 out of 5

I haven’t read any of the original books in the Aliya War series prior to this one. So this was my introduction to the series and the universe the author created, and I must admit that I am hooked. 

The world is interesting and well thought-out. I love the idea that instead of terraforming different planets, humanity would modify themselves in order to survive in different environments encountered outside of Earth. Like being able to “shell-up” to survive up to 15 minutes in the hard vacuum for the Miners. It was sad to see that just because humanity spread into the galaxy, the backstabbing and us vs. them mentality wasn’t eradicated. This is not Star Trek. This is a harsh and ruthless world where humans don’t hesitate to enslave other humans if the occasion presents itself. 

The characters are usually what makes or breaks a book for me. It can have the best story in the world, but I won’t enjoy it if I can’t connect with at least one of the characters. I’m glad to say that all the characters are wonderful in this. I loved Iz and Kans, and Tahoma, and especially Kristen. I think there was criminally too little of him in this story though. 

The bond between the siblings rang very true to me. I could feel and understand Iz’s frustration with her brain-addled brother, but also a mixture of guilt, love, worry and everything else that comes with being an older sister who thinks that she is the reason Kansas is the way he is. Even though that’s not true. She didn’t cause the accident that killed their habitat. In fact, she is the one who went into the vacuum to save her little brother, even though she was also hurt herself. Even though she was only eleven when that happened. But guilt is a tricky thing that doesn’t obey the arguments of reason.

I must admit that I was a bit frustrated with her by the end of the story though. Her absolute pigheadedness grated on my nerves. You are in a hostile environment that you have never experienced before. You don’t know the dangers, yet you persist on charging blindly along and ignoring the advise of the natives. I wanted to slap her silly a few times, and I’m convinced that half of their problems on Earth could have been avoided had she listened to anyone other than herself. 

Speaking of hostile environment and fish out of water moment, I loved how Iz’s and Kans’s reaction to being on a planet for the first time in their lives was handled. The things that we take for granted, like the fact that we can go outside and be able to breathe, are new to spaces who spend their lives on ships and space stations – enclosed spaces. For them, all this open space and sky is a source of panic. The feeling of the wind on their face makes them shell up because in space that sudden movement of air means a hole in the hull and precious air leaking into the vacuum.  And the idea of eating meat from a butchered animal is a source of disgust. 

I am not sure I was totally onboard with the budding love story between Tahoma and Iz though. I felt like it was not necessary, and it didn’t feel natural. It was just kind of shoe-horned in there. The story worked fine even without adding this particular relationship. Especially since the author didn’t really do anything with it in the end. 

Like I said before, this is my first book by this author and in this series, but I will definitely check out the next one.

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

books, Post-Apocalyptic, Reviews, science fiction

Upgrade by Blake Crouch

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Stars: 3.5 out of 5

I have noticed a recurring theme with Blake Crouch’s books – they are very readable, but I don’t always “mesh” with the story as much as I would like to. The same thing happened with this book.

It started strong. The premise is chilling it its actuality. This is a very near future that could very well result from the actions we are taking today – global warming, widespread pollution of our environment, etc. Add to it experimentation with the DNA of anything and everything, and you have an explosive mix. No wonder it blows up in everybody’s faces. 

Basically, a group of geneticists spearheaded by the protagonist’s mother bioengineered a mosquito to carry a virus that would make rice paddies immune to a certain type of mold that was killing the crops… then they released it into nature. Things went horribly wrong. The virus jumped from rice to other crops, which resulted in a catastrophic decrease in yields. Hence widespread famine that killed several billion people worldwide. Now genome modification is outlawed, and our protagonist works for the enforcement agency, trying to atone for his mother’s sins.

I loved that premise. There is a lot to unpack here. I even liked the protagonist, and there is plenty of action. Yet, the closer I got to the end of the book, the more disengaged I became with the story. And I’m not really sure what caused me not to “mesh” with this particular book. As I said, it is well written and hugely readable. 

I think one of the reasons is that our protagonist is dead set on stopping his sister, even though he acknowledges that something needs to be done before humanity annihilates itself. He never offers an alternative solution, he is just dead-set on stopping her. And to me, that rung false. I’m sure that if he’d come to his sister and said, “Humanity still have about 100 years before we crash and burn. How about we slow down and try to modify the parameters of this genetic payload we are trying to mass-deliver? How about we do this instead?” She would have worked with him. 

Instead he spends months trying to track his sister down and thwart her plans, and the alternative solution that’s supposed to save mankind is mentioned in passing in the epilogue of the book. That was rather… underwhelming. I understand the message that the author wanted to give us with this story, but I think it would have been more impactful, if he’d laid a little bit more ground work for it throughout the book.

As it stands though, it was still a very enjoyable story, even if the ending wasn’t to my liking.

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