I purchased this eBook off of a recommend and the blurb that Amazon has listed with the book. It seemed potentially to be out of my usual fare but as it turns out the scientific explanations for the magic were handled quite well and could plausibly place this in the Science Fiction realm.
I enjoyed the first book though I was left a bit puzzled by the ending and went on to read some reviews for the second book before I realized that to do a proper review it might be necessary to purchase and read the second book. That's just me and how my mind works.
I'm not sure why the author decided to make this two books as the total number of pages is less than 400 and the second book is only 158 of those. Still the first book does somehow wrap up enough to be considered complete. From the reviews there might be some confusion for anyone who tries to read only the second book. I didn't have a problem with it but then I had all the background from the first book to get me past any difficulties. I think for anyone to appreciate these books they should purchase both and read them in order. The price of each is not that bad and I would expect to pay as much for the 400 page book.
The first book Run, Witch, Run is the story of an orphan,Rachel, who is beginning to realize special powers that would be considered out of the ordinary. She's being tutored by, Katie, a person who has introduced herself as a Mountain Witch.
Rachel is hiding her talent and just trying to get through life with her adoptive parents and her situation, which seems to be leaving her isolated from other teens her age.
The Mountain Witch, who is a child size person, has warned her about others who will try to abduct her and is trying to teach her how to hone her abilities so that Rachel can evade these others. Katie also warns Rachel of other creatures out there that might try to harm her. All of these seem to come from some other dimensional space through some sort of gateway.
In what seems to be a side story there is a possible serial killer or kidnaper who has abducted several girls and the reader is introduced to Candice who is an investigator who later plays an important part in the story.
After a confrontation with her adoptive father while at church,(we never seem to know which faith it is except that it's not Mormon) Rachel decides to run away both to get away from the situation and to try to draw away the mysterious others who she can sense are all around her now waiting for a chance to grab her.She feels in a way she is shielding her adoptive parents from whatever harm may come.
While in flight she meets Dan and Eric, father and son. These two also will play important parts later.They consider themselves as devout agnostics. I'm not sure what significance the religion or lack thereof is to this story- probably not that much since it's not really mentioned much afterwards.
The tale of Rachel's attempt to survive on her own catapults the story into the second part which takes us into more of what looks like magic than science. It sets the reader up for the coming conflict that puts Rachel at the center.
It's an exciting story well written though I'm not sure I'd set it down to a YA without first examining some understanding about some of the minor charterer's prejudicial attitudes about certain types of people. I know of some older people that would agree with these misguided characters; who are clearly displaying enormous ignorance and prejudice.
It has an interesting take on the human soul and what happens when people leave this realm of life.
I enjoyed both books and think most people who like fantasy science fiction and stories with magic and witches will.
I would very much recommend to anyone interested in reading this book, to read both books in order to gain the full understanding of the story the author is telling.
J.L. Dobias
Perfection Unleashed- A Double Helix Novel by Jade Kerrion.
Might be considered YA and Science Fiction- It's also pretty good story telling.
I recently started twittering- the doctor said that if I ignore it it will go away. It was to trace some specific activities and I hadn't thought to get too involved. What I did do was I started getting some interesting leads into reading material. Mostly in the form of- gentle- spam.
What that yielded was a pretty good read.
The story starts with Zara and this line:
[quote] On another Friday night, she might have been out at a Georgetown bar, accepting drinks from attractive men and allowing them to delude themselves into imagining that they might be the lucky one to take her home.[/quote]
Kerrion, Jade (2012-06-23). Perfection Unleashed (Book 1 of the Double Helix series) (p. 1). . Kindle Edition.
I know, gag me. I somehow think this line is meant to mislead- don't let it put you off. This does not even begin to describe Zara.
Zara is a mercenary and we find her working with two colleagues, a clone named Xin and a fellow mercenary named Carlos breaking into a lab where some seedy scientist, Rolland and Michael, are keeping an experiment they call Galahad--The perfect human. Zara's goal is to obtain some genetic matter from the experiment.
Things don't go quite as planned and Zara ends up taking the largest sample available--Galahad himself. This snowballs into a number of events that introduce us to a whole slew of other character that for me were just a bit hard to keep up with at first.
There's plenty of good world building inserted in the narrative to help sort things out. The world is one where there are clones and mutants- both considered sub human. Galahad seems to fall somewhere in between all this. There are even Pro humanist extremest.
Zara is not fond of mutants because of tele-paths and em-paths and its no help for her that her friend Lucian Winter brings in his own em-path, Danyael, to help them when everything goes wrong. There are other surprisinge complications to this, but you'll have to read it to find out.
The list of important characters in this story keeps building, but it all works out quite well, though at the beginning there were some moments when I lost track of whose POV I was in. The POV thing may have just been me and I got used to it quick enough that it became a non-issue.
I found a lot of familiar elements in this story. Lucian reminded me of the rich and discerning quietly helpful protagonist that always showed up in Robert Heinlein's work.
The relationship between the Pro human movement and the scientist had shades of twelve monkey's written all all over it.
The mutant and clone situation was reminiscent of X-men and other comic fiction, which may help account for the cast of thousands and many protagonists throughout.
I found many of the plot elements to be predictable while at the same time there were moments of wow when Jade takes us in another direction than expected.
The overall story is well paced and well told and even though it requires more reading in the series to resolve some of the plot issues it sticks together well into itself to satisfy.
Perfection Unleashed:
Is a great read to anyone who likes a good thriller and interesting diverse characters, lots of Science Fiction and plenty of thought provoking ethical issues.
A great beginning to a promising series of books.
J.L. Dobias
Being a frequenter of GoodReads.com I came across this gem of a book as The Nine Inch Bride. It was probably a title far from what would interest me. But, with goodreads I always get the free offers about three days too late and I expected that to be so with this book anyway. To my surprise I saw that it was offered for a much longer time than usual. The caveat being that I would have to write a review.
Being no stranger to the need for reviews I thought this was quite reasonable and download the book which it turns out is the first half of a whole, which has been split and is named Book one: Conundrum.(the first conundrum being that my copy calls itself the Stone of Conscience)
I must admit that the beginning of the book intrigued me. But as with some other readers it segued soon into something less bearable for a time. For me it was just that it was bit too morose with the downward spiral of the life of our protagonist. It's when the suspension of belief occurs that the story picks up pace again. So does our protagonist's life.
At this moment it is almost safe to say that one might wonder that the events that follow isn't just a fabrication of our protagonist. But slowly we get the notion that the fantastic has happened and it is all real. But, the most interesting and intriguing part of this portion of the novel is that it becomes almost a political science diatribe. Unfortunately it takes getting about half way through the book to get there.
It's worth the trip.
In some way the long political discussion borders on perhaps a intimation that this might be a commentary on socialism. The real and elusive never quite attainable socialism that lives only in philosophical discussions.
The character that delivers it runs their own gamut of potential - from angel to devil. They just draw the reader in with what seem like selfless acts- to what seem like intelligent conversation about current political failing in democracy - to a bit of an imp suggesting almost the unthinkable.
Ultimately we're led to believe the goal is to help the real and elusive never quite attainable democracy that lives only in philosophical discussions to finally come to full bloom. Something that possibly is being held back by circumstances of today's global economy and capitalism.
I mentioned socialism earlier because along the line there is a familiar thought mentioned about how once the system is allowed to purge itself- capitalism will dissipate or just sort of go away to make way for the true democracy. Our protagonist's new friend wants to help this process along.
I want to see how this works out for them, that means I will have to obtain the next half.
(Which might be named A Stone of Conscience.)
It's a shame the author is Anonym-ous but there seems to be a measure of paranoia in writing when simple names are misspelled deliberately to inadequately obfuscate the reference of whom they are speaking.
J.L. Dobias author of Cripple-Mode Series
Castles: A Fictional Memoir of a girl with Scissors by Benjamin X Wretlind.
I received this book through Amazon- free after having read a rant by the author. I enjoyed his words so well that even though this is out of my usual genre I decided to give it a try.
I admit to being somewhat squeamish sometimes- more so with movies than books. Often enough I've seen movies that have made me shut them off part way through wondering why I endured it that long. This book made me squeamish that way sometimes, but I had decided that I wanted to see it through. As a horror novel it's quite balanced and sustains just the right element throughout to make it top notch.
A problem though, with part of the squeamishness, is that I kept seeing this less as a horror and more as literary fiction. It reminded me of Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest mixed with Richard Farina's Been Down So Long it Looks Like Up to Me.
Maggie tells us her story in a simple almost innocent honest fashion. Not apologetic or deflective, but earnest description of the things that have happened and are happening in her life.
This is realistic story of abuse from her mother's boyfriends and even her own mother sometimes. Both physical and mental in the way that more often than not reduces the abused person to a point where they have no self worth. The result is that Maggie is distanced from most other children her age and is more often than not picked on by them. She takes it all in stride; possibly because of her experience at home she might view it as natural. It is easy to empathize with this child as she attempts to grow up. Her only port in the storm is her grandmother.
Maggie's grandmother is the person who has raised Maggie and she protects her when she can from both the myriad of boyfriends who are in and out; and her mother's wrath. It's ironic that grandma might figure more than anyone in Maggie's descent into madness. Maggie is afraid of storms- particularly the dust storms that seem to plague them and they often leave her with a mess of sand and broken glass that she's expected to clean. Grandma tries to help Maggie with this fear, often through telling a sort of tale of castles in the sky.
I somehow read between the lines that there is some sort of indictment here against telling children certain fairy tales and fanciful stories. In particular in this instance because there seems to be a thread running though the generations of this family that involves abusive relationships and often what take the form of anti-male sentiment. Always the abuse from the men seem to overshadow those of Maggie's mother. The notion that the bricks used to build the castle in the sky are used by girls to make castles for girls.
There is another realistic thread in this novel that has to do with Maggie's apparent descent into madness. This is played out well, as the reader comes to understand that Maggie has no real grasp on how far she might be slipping. When Maggie's only defender, her grandmother, dies; Maggie must take care of herself. And when grandma's ghost visits her constantly along with the discovery of strange sand eels, it become increasingly difficult to tell if this is a descent into madness or if it's a page out of something akin to a Stephen King horror and suspense.
I'll admit that there's a point half way through this that my sympathy for Maggie sort of dies. In a twisted way though it's like watching a loved one you've tried to help, who is in a bad relationship and can't seem to fight their way out. You don't want to give up on them but there's a point where they could drag you down with them if you're not careful. In Maggie's case at the beginning she has less control over her destiny because she's a child.
There are no other characters in the story that I felt sympathy for. They get their just deserts. This is not their story. It's a study in abuse and how some people handle that abuse and about how rebelling against that abuse can easily take someone down the wrong road for all the right reasons.
This book is well written literature and though I'm not sure how soon I want to venture into any more of Benjamin X Wretlind's worlds, I recommend this read as; Something great for a good thought provoking jarring of our regular everyday complacency.
J.L.Dobias
Empire(In Her Name:Redemption) by Michael Hicks
I received this book free and what a bargain. This book reminded me of C.J. Cherryh's Faded Sun series. Mix that with James Clavell's Shogun (I have only seen the mini series- not read book). And an eerie shades of William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
We first meet Reza as a seven year old whose parents are fighting a deadly battle against the Kreelan's. The safe place where he had been was under attack and he came looking for his parents. He arrives in time to witness their death at the hand of a Kreelan priestess and he expects to die and strikes out with a knife slashing the Kreelan's face. Rather than killing him, the Kreelan uses her claw to mark his face in an identical fashion.
A few year later Reza is at an orphanage on a world full of orphans. He's younger than some, but has become a leader of house 48 by force of character. Here we see the shades of Lord of the Flies when an evil warden, Muldoon, attempts to rape a new arrival,Nichol. Reza steps in and immediately all the other children gather round. It gets a bit tense before diffusing, but it looked as though these kids might be willing to do more than complain.
Reza seems to fall for Nichol though she seems to treat him like a brother. She is older and is able to soon leave the orphan world to join the military, much to Reza's joy and dismay. She leaves in time to escape the destruction of the planet, by the Kreelans. For a change, the Kreelans take captives of the children and Reza is almost disposed of, because he does not fall in the given criteria. Out of curiosity the priestess, Tesh-Dar, checks this captive slated for disposal and finds the scar, which matches her own scar. She chooses to include him into the experiment in which the Kreelans attempt to discern if the humans(animals) might have souls. (Soul is something they can feel between each other in the blood)
Taken to one of the Kreelan home-worlds Reza is treated like a pet housed and fed and eventually trained in the Kreelan Way by Esah-Zhurah. He eventually will be the only of the experiment who survives, perhaps because his will and determination match Esah-Zurah's. Predictably this animosity between them will eventually lead to their growing close.
There is an enormous amount of world building packed into this book. And though it seems strange and alien that the Kreelan's can have such advanced technology and yet seem so savage at times, it is a good thing in that we are, after all, talking about aliens. Though it almost seems that parts of the story are slow and ponderous, it does give one the illusion of the time needed to pass for many of Reza's values and attitude to change realistically.
There are predictable elements, but still a lot of surprises and though things often come close to what I suspect; they often suddenly veer off in a different direction that logically fits the plot and the characters.
It almost becomes a story that could be as tragic as Romeo and Juliet.
After concluding the story I purchased the two other books that follow, and will definitely make time to read them.
Every science fiction and fantasy reader should find something good to take out of this book. I'm expecting a lot out of the next two books.
J.L. Dobias
Spots the Space Marine by M.C.A. Hogarth
Is a delicious science fiction tale. Written in a somewhat play or screen play style that can put off many an average reader. For those who can tough it through, its beyond well worth reading. Though the story is told mostly through dialogue M.C.A has a way of crafting her characters through that dialogue. It's a bit more work for the reader and seemed to slow my usual pace down quite a bit, but it's worth the effort.
I would not have looked at this book had there not been controversy about it. It seems the use of Space Marines is being sanctioned by another party.
I find it hard to believe when I see the following information show up.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_marines :: has an interesting chart showing the dates and types of usage of space marines dating as far back as 1932
"Misfit by Robert A. Heinlein 1939 (uses term Space Marines)
Lensman series by E. E. Smith's 1938-1940(uses term Space Marines)
Captain Brink of the Space Marines by Bob Olsen 1936 amazing stories
Waitabits by E.F.Russel in astonishing sf 1955 (uses term Space Marines)
Space Marines (Space Opera RPG) by A. Mark Ratner (1980)
In movies as early as 1973(use term Space Marines)
In games as early as 1977 (use term Space Marines)
The United States Space Marine Corps by Eugene R. Hudson. 2011
This book is not a game or not about games nor related to said game and even if said game has an armload of novels at a certain bookseller, that still shouldn't give them the right to contest two words that show up in a cover that has more than those two words.
That much said::
Spots aka Magda Guitart is the seemingly unlikely hero of the story. As it unfolds we find that she's a wife and mother who has been at a desk job for a number of years. When she's deployed into a conflict zone, this doesn't sound good or hold well with her unit members and just about all except for Claws aka Travis Walker treat her with a measure of contempt. She comes off in initial description as someone who might be a little soft in the middle.
The reader begins to wonder how she managed to get shipped out to a remote asteroid where there's a deadly game being played with the enemy. As the reader learns more about the enemy through the dialogue and stage directions and the ensuing battles the stories of the characters are also quite cleverly played out. This seems to me a difficult task using mostly dialogue but M.C.A. pulls it off in what might seem like an effortless fashion.
The reader soon learns more of Spots as they are drawn into her character with a lot of respect for her. The reader soon begins to wonder when Spots unit team-members will start to see the light. There's a lot more to this kick-ass woman than meets the eyes.
This is all cleverly played out as the reader gets the impression that everything the higher ups do lately has been nothing but trouble and disaster for the unit. It's not that difficult to see that they can't recognize that somehow someone has put the right person in the right place.
This is not just a story of how Spots grows and hardens up, it's also the story of how the team grows. There's a lot to get over and to get through including xenophobia towards their alien adviser. And there will be casualties.
This story is so rich with character development and intriguing plot that it's enough to keep you riveted to the seat for a while. I'm sure that it's for the most part my own reading habits that made this such a long read. For me every sentence of dialogue counted and had to be digested carefully.
Even after a longer than normal time reading I was left hungry for more of Spot's, Sam's and Claw's stories. I found this to be much better than Starship Troopers.
Spots is an excellent, strong and well developed female character.
J.L. Dobias
The Chaos Chronicles(1-3) by Jeffery A. Carver
I've got to admit that I really enjoyed the first book of this trilogy Neptune Crossing which I received free from the author's website. So I purchased the Trilogy and it did not disappoint me.
In the first book the reader is introduced to John Bandicut who is some sort of Neuro-link jockey who controls ships and other devices through a direct link to his brain. We discover as it goes that his link was damaged and then further damaged by faulty nano-surgery and he now can no longer link and suffers from occasional withdrawal bouts that he refers to as silence fugue. He's been relegated to part of a survey team on the moon Triton. His employer is searching for alien artifacts which have been detected and not yet located. Because of his fugue he is being watched and considered somewhat unreliable by some of the staff.
We also learn that John's motivation for being where he is; is in part due to his using a portion of his income to help support his orphaned niece,Dakota.
As we come into the story we find John wandering away from his designated search area and stumbling across an alien artifact after falling through thin ice. Almost trapped below the ice he finds a device called the Translator and he's somehow been inflicted with the presence of an alien called the Quarx who seems to have taken up residence in his head. He also discovers he may not have wandered as much as the artifact called him through the broken link.
Johns life is just starting to get interesting. Through these two alien influence he learns of the Chaos theory and how a somewhat nondescript alien race has sent the Translator out to assist sentient beings who they feel are in danger of extinction by way of the culmination of random chaotic events- which they've somehow been able to determine. They've enlisted John to help prevent the possible destruction of Earth and all of mankind. The problem is that they don't want John to tell anyone because there is not enough time for people to examine John to determine he's not gone crazy. And they also don't want the Translator left in the hands of the other humans.
Throughout the story John has to deal with the higher ups who feel he may be unreliable since the accident with his link. He also has a number of friends who help him out. One friend Georgia, introduces him to Julie whom he would really like to get to know better. This becomes difficult because Julie is with exoarch and would really love to know about the alien artifact he's hiding. John would really love to use that to help get closer to her too.
The alien in his head , Quarx is another troubling matter. It seems this alien has a limited life span but manages to spawn an offspring or replacement after dying. Each Quarx is a different personality and almost comes off as some multiple personality disorder more than new creations. Either way they stick with John and some are helpful others grudgingly helpful and others downright xenophobic, while some border on being voyeuristic.
John must in the end chose to go on his secret mission alone but with the assistance of the daughter-stones that come out of the Translator. There are three stones each with a special function meant to be useful in completing the mission.
In the long run John becomes a fugitive from justice suspected of having gone mad while he at best will become an unsung hero if he in fact saves the entire race and planet Earth. All of this while trying to get the girl. All of this is at risk because the Chaos analysis might prove to not be quite so accurate and there might not even be a threat.
This story does have the usual hard science element that Jeffery Carvers other novels have, it also include those element with the alien artifact and the Quarx and the stones that all seem more close to magic. But, these are there to help build the world that will continue into the other two books. As they stand they follow a close set of rules that help keep the story driving along and make them believable for the story.
I'd recommend these stories to everyone who like any type of science fiction with the caveat that this is a series of books and that means that not all of the plot elements are totally resolved because it's meant to keep you interested in finding out what will happen next.
That's why I recommend the trilogy because you will want to know what is going to happen next and get some more reveal about the aliens who sent out the Translator.
J.L. Dobias
I don't care what everyone else says-I enjoyed this book
Sunrise Alley by Catherine Asaro
I picked this book up in the kindle version- probably from the publisher-I don't see it here on Amazon. I'm familiar with Catherine Asaro and had not yet read any of her novels.
This novel reminded me of some of Heinlein's middle years - you know after the juvenile and after stranger in a strange and before the really wild stuff he wrote near the end. This is more on par with Friday. Except that the female character in Sunrise Alley has more depth.
Samantha Bryton is a rich intelligent woman who, after having suffered the loss of her father and her husband, has become a bit of a recluse. In the year 2033 where everyone is connected by what they refer to as the local mesh, Sam is trying to shed most of technology. This is a difficult thing for her since she's a leading figure in the development of EI Intelligence and EI Psychology. To say nothing of the basement lab she has in her seclude home.
We find Sam on a secluded beach near her home after a storm jogging and checking out storm damage while remaining as disconnected as she can from the mesh. She discovers first a shipwreck and then the man who calls himself Turner. It takes Sam a while and much conversation before she discovers that Turner is and EI - sentient machine that's been hybrid into a deceased human.
One quibble right away might be that this story early on takes the shape of a slightly contrived plot.
Here we have Turner an EI who, though he died and someone named Charon has altered his brain with an EI, claims he is still Turner Pascal the human.
Since Sam has been a staunch supporter of the notion that EI intelligent machines are sentient and should be accorded the same rights as people this seems all too convenient.
But the contrived nature of this story is also a plot point so it works as it is.
There are a number of twists and turns in the plot and plenty of thrills and danger to match many Hitchcock suspense films. There are some places where are hero's get into tight spots and squeak out of them rather conveniently - again a plot device and that becomes clear soon enough. What isn't clear is the why and that keeps the story going.
The evil character of Charon is shrouded in mystery and there are some twists and turns here but there are plenty of clues about this to make any final reveals work well.
It was an easy read for me-one sitting- and anyone who enjoys science fiction, suspense and even romance will find plenty to keep them involved.
J.L. Dobias
The Door Through Space by Marion Zimmer Bradley
I read this; because it was there. Well, it's written by Marion Zimmer Bradley and its one of the first novels of her's that was published. I loved The Colors of Space but honestly did not read much more than that because her stories seemed predominantly fantasy and at the time I was reading science fiction.
I'm almost sorry I haven't read more of her's- the good thing is that enough is out there I might still have time.
The Door Through Space demonstrates that she had a lot of talent coming out of the gate.
The story starts on the planet known as Wolf. The reader is introduced to Race Cargill former intelligence agent of the Terran Secret Service. He's at the spaceport in Kharsa and in the first chapter we are introduced to the natives much of the political situation and some of the back-story of Cargill all through the movement of a mob chasing a dwarf who appears to be peddling toys. And the reader is introduced to a mystery when the dwarf disappears while Cargill is trying to calm the natives, using his skill at speaking in their language. All of this is in the first short chapter.
Cargill is intent on leaving Wolf on the next Star-ship. He's ready to go and on the ship waiting when he's pulled off by his employer who has one more job for him. This job involves a traitor named Rakhal. Rakhal had been a fellow agent. When he turned native he left with Race's sister Juli and he disfigured Race's face. Race has since been at a desk job and he has no desire or ambition to seek after Rakhal or to kill his own brother in law. The problem is that Juli has come back and she's desperate to have Race find Rakhal and bring back her own daughter to her.
If that's not enough Race finds out that Rakhal has been pursuing the possibility that someone on Wolf might possess a matter transmitter. If that's true then Terran Intelligence needs to be on top of it.
One more time Race Cargill must go undercover to find his niece and try to secure the matter transmitter.
This is a tightly written tale that has survived the test of time and still stands as an intriguing story that keeps the reader on their toes and involved to the very end.
I sure hope Amazon has that download fixed. If not Guttenburg has this in kindle format and its easy to upload it from a pc into your que- I believe that's how I did it.
J.L. Dobias
Containment by Christian Cantrell
I loved this book and the character of Arik and it would be nice to give it five stars, but that would be lacking honesty.
This is good hard science fiction about a group of settlers on the planet Venus. As such, it is necessary to draw the proper picture of why we are there and how we got there and how we survive there so much of this hard science has to be there to support that. Some of the science seems questionable to me but that's only because I didn't stop to look things up to verify them and I'm just not an expert in many of those fields.
Often the hard science of Containment seems to come at the reader from a distance with detachment. Other times there are moments when Arik resonates with the science. There are long paragraphs about the harshness of the planet and life in the biosphere that contrast to the Arik's feelings because he expresses a few times how he's comfortable within the biosphere that he must live. The exposition often draws on the harshness of the planet almost as though we are portraying the planet as another character, and that didn't work that well with me because I didn't see the plot developing in that direction.
There also seems to be two stories happening. The present and some flashbacks. Again it's necessary, but at times it's confusing.
I had this one curious problem, Containment caused what I refer to in my antiquated thinking as the vinyl record skip syndrome. It's like having that scratch on the record where the needle skips and you have no idea how much you just missed. That's where I'm reading along and stumble into exposition and then suddenly reach the bottom of a page that I can't remember reading. It's a bad habit of mine and I believe many other readers might have something similar. I know to catch it because, as is the case with Containment, the parts I nearly napped through have some plot points that I need to know.
Containment qualifies as a hard science science fiction. The problem with that is that in trying so hard to do this many times hard science becomes hard to read. If the goal is to deliberately alienate readers who hate walls of exposition then it's likely to be successful at that. Most readers will accept a few of those when they clearly drive the plot. But, when a few of them seem to be there just to increase the hard science quotient, some readers end up skipping the important ones later. And, although I can point out many occasions where the exposition does drive the plot forward; for each of those there always two that are questionable.
I would never ask a writer to give up their babies, especially when they are doing hard science because it does tend to create some lovely images. The problem is that they often serve as a match for the dreaded purple prose that other creative writers get noted for. Neither of these are bad, But out of necessity they should drive the plot or character development and serve a purpose that the reader can identify.
Over all Containment is one of those curious books that everyone who loves science fiction might like, but it will always have a variety of reactions from love to mild acceptance to confusion.
Obviously many people do love it, and although it's possible one more good edit might have made those numbers rise, it's just as likely to make it worse. By the numbers (reader response) I can't say that the author made any large mistake in leaving it as it is. It might be a tough read for one out of four readers, but overall it's a tightly written and entertaining read.
J.L.Dobias
The Colors of Space By Marion Zimmer Bradley
I remember reading this a long time ago. Some time after the 1963 edition was published. I decided to read it again and see if it still stood well against time.
Bart Steele is a young Vegan who has come to Earth to study at the academy. He is a product of a human and Mentorian pair, although he lost his mother, the Mentorian, early in his life. His father owns a space shipping business that struggles as it must against the monopoly that the Lhari race has over interstellar flight. The Lhari have made it clear that only Lhari can survive while the warp-drive is active and that all other races must go into cold-sleep.
This monopoly causes Bart and many others to have a prejudice against the Lhari.
On graduation Bart is to meet his father at the Lhari spaceport where he will return home. Bart will never see his father again and will be catapulted into a universe of danger and intrigue. He discovers that his father and several others have died while trying to obtain the secrets of the Lhari and of the warp-drive. Bart is thrust into his father's world while he's become a fugitive from Lhari authorities.
The Lhari are not able to perceive colors the way humans and Mentorians do and this becomes a major plot device or I should say part of several plot devices. This is the only part that my more mature insight has quibbles about during this read. There are some big things that are hinged on this color disability that might not work quite as well as I once believed. One major one is that the Lhari could not tell something was red hot because they couldn't see the red. Since often survival hinges on such things there would likely have been another way for them to discern that a surface they were working on in their ship might be hot.
Most everything else in the story seems to stand the test of time and still seems to work quite well to move the plot along. Since not enough is revealed about how a specific disguise is worked out, it might seem a bit thin but it still works here.
The story itself beyond being science fiction seems to contain a mix of moral elements as regards prejudices and race hate. It becomes a story of a young mans journey to grow to maturity in his thinking and his beliefs.
J.L.Dobias
She By Henry Rider Haggard.
I suppose were I a scholar of those languages the formatting might be a problem.
This is a great book and a great classic and I suppose if I understood even a shred of Egyptian, Greek or Latin then I might be just as incensed as some others about the butchery of those parts of the book.
As it is I thoroughly enjoyed the story and hope that there are not any plot points that are of great import in all that hashed up gobble-de-gook.
I read She because I had read Atlantida by Pierre Benoit which someone had said was a major rip from She.
So to begin I would like to say that Atlantida doesn't come anywhere close to being the intense classic that She is and to make such a claim actually denigrates the work of Henry Ride Haggard. Whatever Atlantida as it is considerably different and so much less in content that any notion that its a copy deserves only a shrug.
She,Ayesha, is liken to an old Trope in history and mythology and literature. Amongst Aphrodite, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, and Nefertiti-She takes her place. Women known for great beauty and seductive nature whom men will throw down kingdoms and fortunes to their very deaths, to stand beside.
It would seem to some that She of H.R.Haggard is considered the template for further lost world sub-genre. It may be so, although I would argue that it was a new template using an ancient trope.
What's interesting about She is that there are mountains of exposition from one central character, Ayesha, that not only tell the story of her long life but give insight into her philosophy and her ideals about religion. Not only do her arguments twist and sway the narrator but he is also enthralled by her beauty and presence and has perhaps lost a portion of his ability to argue rationally.
The narrator Holly is not a handsome man. He in fact is liken to a Baboon. But the orphan whom he has raised from childhood, Leo, perhaps has a handsomeness that could almost rival the beauty of She.
Of course this wouldn't be a story without the back-story of the family line of Leo. A back-story that may fatefully link Leo to Ayesha.
The story is written in that high and almost florid manner of it's time and might weigh heavy on the readers of this age but I think it still stands well through time with a multilevel examination of several moral and ethical dilemma. Though it often seems that the narrator goes purple the writing is strong and indicative of the writing of the time and the story does not suffer.
J.L.Dobias
Atlantida by Pierre Benoit
Even though this is a bit of a classic I enjoyed reading it.
It reminded me of those old Tarzan movies.
What it is though is more of an example of the old Trope about the beautiful, seductive, feminine character whom the protagonists all fall in love with.
It seems there was once some argument that Pierre plagiarized this from H.R. Haggard's SHE.
Though it does use the same template for lost world and has Africa as a setting and a lovely irresistible woman as the centerpiece the similarities end there.
Where She, Alesha, the centerpiece of H.R. Haggards story is an almost tragic woman trapped in her own tragic love story, the centerpiece of Alantida, Antinea, is more of a sinister siren that would be a complete opposite to Alesha.
Alantida seems in many ways much more short on being an examination of morals and ethics as She is.
It's still an interesting read but as I mentioned it reads more like some of the movies I have seen long ago where the players are under the influence of an obvious though hideously seductive evil.
I would recommend this to anyone who has read SHE and I'd recommend to anyone who reads this and hasn't read SHE to do so.
J.L.Dobias
And All the Stars by Andrea K Host.
I first had a taste of this novel in a sample; before discovering that it hadn't been released. In the bit of the beginning that I was able to read, I was hooked. I don't read a lot of apocalyptic novels or dystopian novels. I can't say with great knowledge that this contains no dystopia, but in my meager knowledge it didn't seem so much. I was drawn into the story by the great writing and story telling. It certainly wasn't the claustrophobic description or the ever-present feeling of being choked by some strange and possibly alien dust.The slow but persistent buildup of the character, Madeleine's, suspicion that she's at ground zero of a possible bio weapon. The eventual realization that she's all alone and that those around her who aren't dead are locked up in any type of safe containment that they could find. No one is going to offer to let her, and the strange dust that's choking her, into their safety.
Some of the earlier pages are difficult to get through for some people-someone I know put it down very early and it's too bad they did. There are some very important plot points in those pages. So, it's important and it does help drive the story and the character. Madeleine has survived the worst of the catastrophe with some injury and is confused and afraid.
Madeleine is your average rebellious teen who seems to be a bit of a loner. She's immersed herself in her art and wants to gain honor in that field at a young age. To that end she's skipped school and gone into the big city for a chance to paint a portrait of her famous cousin Tyler.
Now she's face to face with that very place that parents always warn their teens about and it could be her most fatal move in her rebellion. In her early wandering she contacts her parents and continues to lie about where she is to keep them from worrying.
There is a great sense that Madeleine is already dead. She's just been given a temporary reprieve and it's not yet clear if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Madeleine eventually makes it to her cousins apartment. Her cousin is gone and she's able to get in. She cleans up and while trying to avoid facing the inevitability of her death, she decides that her last act should be the portrait of her cousin even though it won't be possible to have him pose live.
For me this was a very interesting type of character development. The author,Andrea, builds a believable portrait of how an artist feels and sees things while choosing what eventually ends up on the canvas. We see this development quite a number of times throughout the story. Enough for the reader to wonder if Andrea is applying how she writes to how an artist might be inspired or if, in fact, it's from her own experience with sketching and painting.
Eventually our Character, Madeleine, starts experiencing the side effects of the dust. They are both strange and unsettling, and there is always the fear that she might die. All the time she's monitoring broadcasts about others who are affected, and many of those have died. I found no problem with the notion that much of technology was still active; even after establishing that this is an invasion. In fact it made sense that since this was happening everywhere that it would be more demoralizing to have a constant feed of information telling everyone how bleak things were.
Eventually the side affect that causes Madeleine to have an insatiable appetite is what brings her out to brave the city and seek sustenance. This is when she begins to meet more people and make friends in a way she would never have done if things were normal. This is when the story really takes off.
I found the pacing in this novel to be quite tight. I'm not a fan of seat of your pants action from cover to cover and there were plenty of well place lulls in the narrative that make perfect sense as far as plot and character development. It did seem a bit longer than 205 pages in the e-book, but when I love the characters I love more pages because I usually don't want to say goodbye so quickly once I get to know them.
As has been noted by other reviewers; there are plenty of plot twists in the story to keep the reader guessing. I often catch these in most novels, usually before they are -on the next page. There is one in here though that caught me unaware- the twist makes perfect sense- and you want to kick yourself and few other people when it happens.
Young, old- whatever genre- I think everyone will love this book.(Except perhaps those who are genuinely claustrophobic; as is someone I know.) Trust me. Once you get past that first bit of suffocating but possibly accurate description (I've never been in that situation so I don't know.) things will be easier to take.
J.L. Dobias
Silversands by Gareth L. Powell is one of those delightful surprises that you run across while searching the internet for something else.
I was searching for another author and stumbled upon a link to Silversands.
The story started out slow for me but by the end of the sample I was hooked and had to download the rest.
This is the story of Avril Bradley a young woman who has been orphaned and is looking for her father. A man she only knows from a photograph and her mother's memories. To quirk up the equation, her search has taken her aboard a star ship that travels through a wormhole that has so many random destinations that it's improbable that she'll succeed.
After many jumps and a cargo full of refugees from a failed settlement on another star system they seem to have lucked into finding the ship that her father was supposed to have been aboard. In a strange turn of events something causes a malfunction in their ship, when they attempt to communicate with the other ship. Suspicious and unsure what caused their problem, they are forced to seek help from the settlers on the planet below the ships as their cargo begin to awaken from a long sleep.
This is where the story begins to weave into a convoluted set of political plots and strange events that point to Avril and her quest.
This has some excellent world building that helps drive the plot.
Though I found some of the plot to be predictable it did not interfere with my enjoyment of the story.(I can't really mention more about it without spoiling things) There were plenty of ways for the whole plot to play out and Gareth gives us plenty of surprises.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys Science Fiction and is looking for some fresh new ideas and Characters.
There's plenty of room for more stories in this universe.
J.L.Dobias
I think some contemporary authors of Hard Science Fiction take the hard part to heart and make it as hard as they can.
Still, I wanted to do some research before I started into the Bookman Histories by Lavie Tidhar.
First, though, I must admit that I read the sample of the first book on Amazon and was intrigued to say the least.
With a character using the name Gilgamesh I was assuming that someone might lose something valuable and someone would have to go through hell to get it back.
And it looked in this case that the protagonist, Orphan, was to lose the love of his life, Lucy. I wanted to know how that was going to work out.
Since the price of the three volumes together as an e-book was the same as each individual I saw no way to lose by purchasing the Bookman Histories.
I was not disappointed.
In my search to help define Steampunk I was led to one place where there was a notion that such authors as Jules Verne,H.G.Wells and even Mary Shelley could be considered to be influences of Steampunk. Those were good influences and I'm fairly certain that they all figure nicely into the Bookman Histories.
I also found mention of the movie - Metropolis- which was intriguing. I don't have a copy of the movie but I do have one of the novel by Thea Von Harbou which is quite a bit different from the movie. It's been suggested the book was made from the film but there is not enough evidence to substantiate that and its just as likely the book was made to be a film and the screenplay was adapted from the book. It's not so much different though, to make it unqualified as an influence. In fact I found some interesting parallels with the book Metropolis and the first book of the Bookman Histories.
Both Protagonists Freder in Metropolis and Orphan in Bookman have lost their mother.
Both Protagonists fall in love at first sight. Freder with Maria and Orphan with Lucy.
Both become driven by their love and passion, as their motivation throughout the story.
Both are destined to be catalysts for change, even though they would deny it.
Of Metropolis Thea Von Harbou spoke of it being a moral - that the mediator between brain and muscle must be the heart.
The first book of the Histories seems to be the same since it is Orphan who seems to be the heart. His love for Lucy (his heart) is his motivation for moving forward into things he barely understands. He soldier's on in his devotion to the belief he's doing this to help him regain that lost love, Lucy. It becomes an inner conflict between his selfless devotion to undo an enormous wrong while trying at all times to do what, in his heart, is right.
I first read Metropolis when I was around sixteen years of age. It was a difficult read. When I reread it for this I thought it would be less difficult. But, it's written as are many books of its time a bit florid and in a time when purple prose wasn't a nasty thing. Although it's entertaining; it's difficult.
Thankfully the reader of the Bookman Histories will not find this book difficult. The entire three volumes are quite easy to read. Not only a pleasure; but, in some cases a wonder.
There is an enormous amount of name dropping in these books.
They are almost a who's who of famous people not only out of history but characters from the fiction of those times. We have elements of Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G Wells, Lord Byron and many more. If not in their actual appearance,then in the appearance of characters they created. Often they are anachronistically portrayed.
In some ways these books remind me of the RiverWorld series by Philip Jose Farmer. And in other ways they remind me of the later work of Robert Heinlein where there was an alternate world where many of his favorite characters were resurrected.
An interesting side note is that in a scene in the first book, Bookman; Orphan is going through a pile of books and they are named to a tune of around 39 various titles that are all fictitious books written by fictitious characters. These books show up in a variety of real books and are out of the imaginations of the authors of those books. I have no idea if Lavie Tidhar is suggesting that he's read all the books that those come out of; or if he did an extensive search for books and authors that don't exist.
In that list there is one news article mentioned that may have some basis in reality.(It might be a foreshadow of the last book also.)
And of course there is Rime of the Ancient Mariner which is quoted throughout.
There are some parts of this trilogy that get a bit gruesome and remind me of the Deathstalker series by Simon R. Greene. Elements reminiscent of the surgeries of Dr. Frankenstein in Frankenstein by Mary Shelly Or Ras Thavas in Edgar Rice Burroughs Master Mind of Mars.
The fun fantastic part is that Lavie Tidhar puts it all together with such wonderful prose and a tight plot that it all works.
All I have to say is, "I want more."
There are plenty of threads left-for more.
Save time and money and buy the whole History its well worth it for the first story, Bookman. The rest is like icing on the cake.
J.L.Dobias
The Web Story
I purchased the E-book version of this:
Truth be told I read this all on the web version which does have a few extra words and missing words on occasion. I have not really seen many spelling problems. So really Jim Zoetewey does an excellent job of keeping his ongoing work on the web in both tight story and excellent grammar. For me though what really helps is that this all take place in Michigan. Being a native of Michigan the story brings a slice of home into the world building.
The Legion of Nothing is mostly the story of Nick and his struggle to live up to his grandfathers expectations while trying to complete high school and stay in his parents good grace. His friends and co-heroes are all too helpful, which is probably really no help until he finally commits to being a hero.
I don't want to call him a reluctant hero. It's just more difficult when all his friends, Haley, Cassie, Daniel, Vaughn, Rachel and Travis have real super powers while he's quite normal. If he can be normal having a grandfather who taught him how to make super armor and a martial arts trainer who is an enigmatic mercenary.
Going out to fight crime the first time seems like a great idea on a boring night. It quickly turns into a dangerous and deadly turn of events that exposes them to a wide range of super and not so super villains who really don't want anyone interfering with their comfortable lives of crime.
It goes without saying that school is going to interfere with their crime fighting work, a lot.
This story has it all along with a cast of thousands that I have to admire Jim for being able to keep up with. If you liked those old comic heroes and or want to see a little something different then this book is for you. There's a lot of that sly humor you get in those books. And Jim does such a good job of description and keeping things moving that you hardly notice that there are none of those pictures in each panel.
Can't wait for the next book. And I won't because I'll just keep up with his web site.
Thanks for a fun read Jim.
J.L. Dobias author of Cripple-Mode:Hot Electric
E.J.Tett's first effort at writing is by far one of the better first efforts I have read in quite some time.
She puts together all the elements of story with her own style and class that have not been matched by her peers.
She has tremendous characterizations, conflict, plot and theme nailed down.
This is a well thought out effort for a first book. And it says a lot that although I venture into the fantasy genre now and then my favorite is Science Fiction. This does give me an advantage and disadvantage in that I have little to compare it to.
The only reason I picked up this novel was because I'd been snooping around the SSFchronicle writers forum and noticed that several people there have published various works in various fashion from traditional to self and I have to say that I've up to this point been disappointed with the ones I have tried out.
I came in not expecting much after three other disappointments , one of those is a traditional published author. I'm happy to say that this one surprised me.
It starts out slow and I suppose that it could be argued that its a bit rough around the edges because it's a first effort and its self published. And I suppose that if I were coming from the place of being in a forum of writers I might tend to try to be hyper critical.
Fortunately I come from being a reader of fiction with a 50 plus year background and I have to say that I found the author's style of writing to be be fresh, entertaining, and quite tightly woven. She can only improve from there.
The story begins slowly with our main protagonist Sorrel who is a very strong female character- there are many of those in this story. Her father was a warrior and her brother is one and she wants to follow in their footsteps. Despite the families efforts she will if it kills her and as the tale unfolds it seems that fate is on her side. There is enough in the development of characters to keep me in the story. Her plot seems quite original though I admit that I lack enough exposure to this type of fantasy.
And then:
It's at chapter 12 that she grabs me- one quarter the way through the book. I found the hook that kept me reading this in one sitting. I think its safe for her to say to her friends at SSFchronicles that it does not take a major hook at the beginning of every story too keep your readers happy. She feeds the line out carefully and then hooks you into the story so deep you can't get out until you are finished.
What's really great about this novel is that it's full of characters that can hook any reader. There are almost too may to chose from and yet she pulls it off and this is a first novel; as long as she keeps her present voice she can't go wrong.
What I have a hard time understanding is why there are no reviews here from her fellow SFFchronicle pals there are thousands of people in that forum. Don't they have anything to say? And I won't accept the lame excuse that they could be accused of being partial or having a conflict of interests.
Ms. Tett I think you could teach Ian and Toby some tricks to help them out they need it.
J.L. Dobias
Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost.
I always like to say something good about a book before I point out the negative.
It has a nice cover and I was able to read more than a full chapter for free.
Toby should look at the small piece where he introduced Paul Devrin there are a number of paragraphs where he develops this character that almost hooked me. If only he had done this with the main characters or any number of his sidekicks. Sadly he did not and it digressed quickly even with this more evil sounding character, Paul.
There are few books that I don't finish.
I must admit that I only read the part that was available free so I won't belabor any points. I can't give away plot points because there was only one that I sort of noticed here.
I'm one of those people who do not judge a book by its cover or the blurb on the back. Rarely do I read the blurb that might be in the front. What I do; is read the first chapter and if it doesn't grab me I don't take it home.
I tried to give this the benefit of the doubt but perhaps the humor has missed me and perhaps the development of the characters is tied to that humor.
Either way even had I spent the overly bloated price for the e-book I probably would have put it down after the end of the second chapter.
It's likely just me but this just didn't do it for me.
The two stars if for that one bright light in the dark character of Paul Devrin.
Here is an Interesting Review
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Yes Virginia: Pure Science Fiction Can Entertain
I recently read someone’s rant about how Science Fiction doesn’t need all the Gee Wiz science that pervade the modern era of writing. The author bemoaned the fact that readers prefer the Wiz Bang to real science. They state that those who write Science Fiction with real science are writing to an elite audience of readers.
It was a comment meant to make me think. It did just that. I look into what is being proposed.
Yes we can take all of the stuff of science today and fill the stories with only that. That would truly be Science - Fiction or Fact - depending on whether we depict fictional characters or real people. Science - recognizable today - turned to Fiction with the what if- that is common to Science Fiction - adding fictional but believable characters into the what if of speculation.
This made me think of the old discussion about Sci-Fi not being Science Fiction. Perhaps the above would be one of the delineating elements. In the article I read this was one distinction the writer was making, because of a bad connotation put upon Skiffy as they call it.
That aside I actually hate that word Skiffy so I’ll use Sci-Fi for the remainder of this article.
The issue I take is that for a reader it’s difficult to find and for the writer to write an as if without extrapolating the Science to some itchy limit, which runs the author head on into a bucket load of Sci-Fi.
I look at what I like to read. Both Science Fiction and Fantasy. I look at what works and what doesn’t. I look at what is strict science and what looks like Gee Wiz or Wiz Bang; and I rediscover something.
When we object to all the special effects and strange (over- extrapolated) notions we usually do so with the notion that these stories are driven by those props. For us; people buy these genre because they have all the fancy gadgets and flashy lights. That’s why the book cover is so important!
What I like in my fiction is stories driven by characters.(I look at the cover-read the blurb in back-if possible I read the first chapter or ten pages- then I decide if I’ll like it.)
Any author who has mastered the ability to place a believable, likeable character into whatever situation will get my full attention every time.
Plots do not drive the fiction. Many plots are rehashes of old reliable plots. Occasionally there is something that looks to be new.
Themes don’t drive the fiction. Themes often are planned but sometimes they just happen.
Wiz Bang and Gee Wiz and over the top science don’t drive the fiction. Those are the props.
Characters drive the fiction. Believable people the readers relate to and become sympathetic with.
When we obsess with avoiding the Wiz Bang, go for the straight science with a pure heart. We fall short, because we forget to develop the character while we painstakingly bring the science to life.
A problem for science purists is a lack of understanding as to how the reader ignores their writing in favor of the Wiz Bang fiction writers. Many times we attribute it to a deficiency in the reader.
We don’t comprehend the Wiz Bang authors skill at creating some really believable people. People who are driven by normal desires and hopes and dreams. People who just happen to be surrounded by gardens of wiz bang.
That Wiz Bang can be altered or removed and the story remains interesting the plot remains true. The reader is reading because they are invested in the characters. They relate to the characters.
So, yes, there might be a distinction between fiction that takes science and extrapolates a what if that stays mostly within the confines of today’s science; and fiction that warps today’s science with what if’s that look like magic.
What the reader likes is not so much effected by either of those. If the reader doesn’t like the story it’s not the science or lack of science; it’s more likely the author’s characters didn’t connect with the reader.
Any fiction writer who peoples his story with weak cardboard characters with no redeeming qualities must rely on the Wiz Bang or the Pure Science and will likely not get the reader’s attention.
Writers of either type will get any number of readers as long as their voice and characters come alive on the page. Everything else is gift-wrapping, around a gift that is the way the author tells the story.
J.L.Dobias author of Cripple-Mode:Hot Electric
