Tag Archives: Book Review

Coming soon, another book review

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I’m going to move away from my truck project, which is coming together nicely, and I’m going to talk a little about something else. A few months ago, I volunteered to beta-read a book which I began, but I unfortunately had my notes on my computer which died on me. The best I could do was give him a general critique about his book.

Now I’m back to reading the finished book, and so far I’m digging it. I’m planning on posting a review of the book, The Ship by Allan Krummenacker early next month, probably the first Monday, which  would be July 7th, and my first book review since my March 17th review of The Trinity by Daelynn Quinn.

The fact that I’m doing another review isn’t all that unexpected. My plan was not to abandon reviewing altogether, but rather I wanted to devote my energies elsewhere for a while. So I’m back for a one-off review, except I have another review in the pipeline, set for the middle of next month as well. That book is the sequel to March Island by Oliver Chase, which I reviewed late last year, and which I believe is the last book to the Hirebomber Series. More on this as I find out.

It feels good to be back reading again. I still have a few book I want to read for myself, but my project has been taking up all my time, though I’m now reaching the end. It may be time for a new project. I’m not sure if I’m going to actually start reviewing again on a consistent basis again, or if this is just an anomaly.

I’m saying this because I’m curious whether it’s worth doing again. I feel that I didn’t get enough of a bump in readership as I would have liked, and I’m not sure it was appreciated by the authors I reviewed. So I’m putting it to a vote, What should I do?

Book Review: The Woman Who Sparked the Greatest Sex Scandal of All Time

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Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone, with Seattle the victors and a very disappointed Denver in its wake. February also brings with it a reminder of romance for the lovers out there, as well as another book for me to review. Today I will be reviewing an Eli Yaakunah novel. You can find her on Facebook.

scandalImagine a not-so-distant future, when the media conglomerates are no more, replaced by an ever-present “Agency” that possess the unchecked monopoly of not only disseminating the news, but that creates and scripts the world’s realities, from sports, local news, and even elections the world over. Welcome to the world of your protagonist, Ishtar Benten, a young woman in the employ of the Agency, who is promoted to Scriptwriter, and discovers that in her, and her fellow “god’s” hands are held the (mis)fortune of the world.

The Woman Who Sparked the Greatest Sex Scandal of All Time is her story. What resonates is the idea of a pervasive all-powerful organization, that controls what we are told and believe. The concept is not too far out of the realm of possibilities when one considers the intrusiveness of Government, (CIA, FBI, NSA), and the idea that only a few select – the wealthy and powerful – are truly in control of our destinies, only furnishing the illusion that we have a voice in our world.

The novel is narrated by Ishtar, who specializes in news stories with sexual undertones. As such, the reader is treated to several highly suggestive and graphic scenes of sex, and of violence. Many scenes come straight from her imagination, others are seen as she engages another for a passionate round of intimacy.

The story begins to gel when it becomes clear the Ishtar is beginning to question the morality and ethics of her workplace. The novel is a journey of discovery, not only of the environment around her, the characters in it, and the greater truth that lies beneath the woven tapestry that she helped fabricate, but also a personal one, where she must surrender herself quietly to the role assigned to her, or rebel against the authorities, and likely forfeit her job, and possibly her life.

The greater story is well told, and after wading through several chapters, does manage to grasp the reader. What I had trouble with was the attempt at creating a sensual image during the erotic parts of the stories. That, I feel, failed because it became labored with too many words attempting to conjure an image that is at once provocative and sexual. This is an instance where less would have been more.

Instead of allowing the reader to create the imagined dalliance, the writer tried to impose their idea of the protagonist’s sexual exploits down to the minute detail. What I found was a story that begged me to put it on the nightstand and forget it, which would have been a shame, since the story proper was actually quite good.

Understand, I am not a big fan of romance and/or erotica, so my review may be suspect. What I can say is that while I liked the story of the Agency, the erotica left me in want of something better, something more cohesive. The sex pushed me out of the story instead of enticing me in. As such, it felt clumsy, the transitions between the graphic sex scenes were not smooth, and I didn’t get hooked into the story until very late, long after I would have given up trying to read the book had I not agreed to review it.

In the end, I found the book to be a mixed-bag. I cannot assign a simple good or bad grade on it, so I’m left to flip-flop a bit and say “it’s good, but it has some problems.” Thus, I will not recommend this book to read, unless you are a fan of the genre, which is a shame. The book had promise of being a lot better than I found it, but that’s just this reader’s opinion.

List of Book Reviews
Next Review – Solid Rock
Previous Review – Crimson Return

Book Review: The Birth of Vengeance

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The holidays are over, and we are at the beginning of a new year. So to all of you, Happy New Year! To start of on the right foot, I have a great book for you all. The Birth of Vengeance, by Paul Ross. You can follow him on Twitter @rossywrites.

frontcover tbov

When I began reading The Birth of Vengeance, I quietly wondered what the story was about. To begin with, you meet Jonathon Harper, a rather unremarkable young man, nearing the end of his school career, and looking forward to beginning college. His is a life which takes a turn for the worse when he’s becomes the target of a local gang of bullies and thugs, causing him to lose his one and only friend, and making him and his father flee his hometown for his safety.

It isn’t until several chapters on that he meets Thorn, a beautiful and dangerous woman, held captive and forced to be the subject of government experiments, and oh yeah, she’s a vampire. Once he is able to free Throne, the real story begins. Vengeance, then, is another entry into the burgeoning, and I would say over-crowded genre of Vampire literature.

So what makes Vengeance unique? We’ve seen vampires as heroes and we’ve seen vampires as villains. Thorn, at least in this novel, is neither. She’s content to be, to exist and co-exist, to feed and let live, only killing when she senses her victims mean to do her, and others harm. Not quite virtuous, but not entirely evil in a classical sense. Which is not to say she has a strong moral code.

She begins to mentor the weak and pathetic Jon, teaching him, molding him to become a man, to fight and to stand up for himself. Aided with a serum developed by Thorns captors, which when injected, gives the injectees vampire-like strength and aggression, Jon learns to fight, and begins a campaign to seek revenge on those who tormented him. In the end, this becomes a test. Jon has to prove his devotion to Thorn, and his worthiness of becoming a vampire.

The Birth of Vengeance is an easy read. Nothing remarkable about it, which is not to say it’s not worth checking out. It may not have the broad commercial appeal of a Twilight Saga, or the upcoming Vampire Academy, which in my book makes it even more appealing. This is not some lame, tween vampire romance novel.

What it is, however, is a coming-of-age story, where the protagonist must learn to face his fears, to grow up and take charge of his own destiny. He is forced to make life-altering decisions and accept the consequences of said decisions, and I’ll admit that I felt a grim sense of satisfaction whenever he meets his former tormentors.

Vengeance is a good, solid story, that should appeal to those who would like to enjoy a casual read. It’s entertaining, with some dark moments which are resolved in a satisfying manner. I wholly recommend you read it.

List of Book Reviews
Next Review – Crimson Return
Previous Review – Firstborn

Book Review: Rogue Hunter Dark Space

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Thanksgiving is over, and the holiday shopping season is in full swing. Hope the holidays were kind to you, and that you Black Friday shopping didn’t leave you with a black eye. For today’s review, I read Kevis Hendrickson’s novel Rogue Hunter: Dark Space. This is the second book in the Rogue Hunter series. You can follow the author on Facebook and on Twitter.

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Rogue Hunter: Dark Space © 2013 Kevis Henderickson

In Dark Space, the second book of the Rogue Hunter series, we follow Zyra Zanr, a beautiful, though dangerous bounty hunter. She is the most famous and feared hunter in the known universe, and as such made many powerful enemies. One who she crossed, a crime boss to whom she owes a considerable amount of money, a loan that she never repaid, put a price on her head. The hunter becomes the prey.

One group of bounty hunters who heed the call to capture the most dangerous hunter is led by a man named Drake. He and his misfit crew seek to find Zyra in the hopes of earning the huge reward offered for her capture.

Outgunned and outnumbered, Zyra is captured, tortured almost to the point of death, and put into a cage, all the while the stress of the mission begin to wear on the crew, threatening to break their already fractured sanity. Their only chance to deliver their precious cargo and receive their reward.

But of course, things never go as smoothly as they should. What follows is a game, the ultimate fight to death, with Zyra battling to escape and survive, and Drake fighting to get his reward while keeping his crew alive. It boils down to who has more skills and resources. In the end you have to discover who is hunting who, and who lives to see another day.

There are several dynamics at play. The most obvious is between Zyra and her captors, who imprison her and torture her, who are willing to hand her off to a most certain death to collect on a bounty. Then there’s the dynamic play between Drake and his crew. We get to peer into their minds, to read what they think of themselves and each other. This is highly dysfunctional crew, that only comes together when their survival is at stake.

At its heart, it’s the hubris of the ship’s captain, and his actions towards his prisoner, that propels the story forward. Not only does he capture her, he makes it personal by his savage treatment of Zyra, to the extent that he almost alienates his crew, and losing some of their respect.

It is his uncompromising attitude, that he will deliver Zyra to the crime boss, that risks the safety of his entire crew. His flat refuses to heed his crews warnings, and he ignores the very real danger that she poses to himself, and those around him. At what cost?

The story itself is well told. It took me some time to figure out the cast of characters, and their place on the ship. Two in particular, Rawls and Rhodes, I had trouble separating, and it would have helped had one of their names been different.

Another character, a woman named Gomez, frequently swore in Spanish. I think it was stilted, and didn’t flow naturally with the rest of the narrative. As a Spanish speaker myself, I question its inclusion. It didn’t fit, and felt that it was at times an unnecessary device to prove she was of a Hispanic heritage. It came across as though it was poorly translated and belabored.

In spite of those few things, I liked the book. I followed along, wanting to know how Zyra would escape, or if she would. I had to know who would survive, if anyone. I was engaged, and thankfully the story was not filled with a bunch of technobabble, whose use sometimes gets in the way of the story. Yes, they are on a space ship in deep space, but it’s only the setting of the novel. The drama comes from the interplay between characters, although the ship does serve the story beautifully.

My opinion is that this book is definitely worth reading, especially if you are into sci/fi and action. There’s enough action to satisfy the casual reader, with blood and gore in the right mix. It’s not over the top, but enough to highlight the danger they are all in. Kevis certainly wrote an entertaining story.

List of Book Reviews
Next Review – Firstborn
Previous Review –  Marsh Island

Book Review: Marsh Island

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November is halfway over, and Thanksgiving is next week. Black Friday is next, which officially kicks off the holiday shopping season. Are you ready? If between the festivities, and the shopping, you begin aching for a moment of peace, please check out this week’s selection. I’ll be reviewing Marsh Island by Oliver F. Chase. You can find him on Twitter.

51XFSc1hJzL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_Phoenix Private Investigator, Phil Pfeifer, a retired Army Ranger, made a career of exposing cheating husbands for spurned wives. It wasn’t especially lucrative, but it paid the bills, and the danger was nothing out of the ordinary, that is until Bernice Trimble came into his life.

Mrs. Trimble, first hired the P.I. to investigate the disappearance of her husband in Mexico, and if he could, to expedite an official death certificate to collect on a million dollar life insurance. Once done, he thought no more about her and the ugly episode south of the border, that is until she found him again 18 months later.

What follows is a series of false leads, intrigues, and mysteries that put Pfeifer’s life on the line. With the dying Trimble sure that her husband is alive, this begins the most treacherous case to date. At risk is his career, his life, and at one point even his sanity. For what? To chase the ghost of a man he believes to be dead?

Even after many warnings from his friends and who he believes to be men with mob ties, he continues relentlessly, unsure himself why he refuses to quit. The job puts him in the crossfires, and the biggest mystery is why. Why should his attempt to find a dead man for a grieving wife jeopardize his life? More importantly to him, who is behind the threat?

Marsh Island is a thriller to its core. It’s twists and turns kept me reading, searching for answers. The storyline kept me turning to the next page, only to become more determined to find the answer. Page after page, Mr. Oliver had my heart racing, and my adrenaline coursing though my body, watching and waiting to see what came next.

And I’m still waiting…

This book is the first of the Hirebomber Series, and is bookended by our antagonists, but the book proper is solely the realm of our private eye. We follow him as he fights to find the answers, struggles to survive, and witnesses death.

I found the book as a whole to be well-written, but felt that the prologue seemed a bit unwieldy, only paying off late in the book. It served its purpose to give back story, but I think it could have been better served incorporated into the story. As is, it postpones the beginning of Pfeifer’s narrative, and almost caused me to put down the book.

But after reading the book from cover to cover, I’m glad I persevered. I became engaged with the main character. I felt his frustration at some of the characters who stood in his way, and became enraged by the obvious corruption of many. His was a simple life, only complicated by the desire of a dying woman, and which might end in his ruin.

In spite of its shortcomings, this is a very good book. If you are a fan of exciting thrillers, ones that get your heart pumping, books that are impossible to put down, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. You won’t be sorry.

Marsh Island goes on sale this Friday, November 22, 2013.

List of Book Reviews
Next Review –  Rogue Hunter: Dark Space
Previous Review –  Lucky Sevens