Category Archives: Review

Review

The Asphalt Warrior

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Asphalt cover_Layout 1Gary Reilly will never know how beautiful his stories are. He has a good excuse. He passed away in 2011. One of my colleagues with the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers – Mark Stevens – inherited the trunk load of manuscripts and has been trying to get them out to the world ever since.

The Asphalt Warrior is the first in a series of humorous, noir adventures of a veteran taxi driver in Denver. Part of the charm – for me anyway – is recognizing the city landmarks. The real genius is the way Reilly display’s Brendan Murphy’s inner landscape. His quirky habits, his inner life, his outlook on the world seem both familiar and fascinating. Like seeing an intersection you’ve driven through a hundred times from the direction you’ve never traveled.

I picked up the first book just last week and I’m still shaking. It’s that good. I’d like to be that good. Someday, if I keep at it, maybe I will.

Grab a sample and settle in. You can thank me later.

About the reviewer:

NathanLowell_150x150Nathan Lowell has been writing science fiction and fantasy most of his life. He started publishing in 2007 and has no intention of stopping any time soon.

Learn more about Nathan Lowell and his works at http://nathanlowell.com

[Transparency: I never met Gary Reilly. I wish I had. I have met Mark Stevens and feel richer for it. I have no financial stake in the production of these works although I’m helping Mark get the ebooks into shape so more people can meet Murph. He’s not paying me for the labor and I won’t take anything in exchange. I feel that strongly about the stories that Gary Reilly has left behind. I’m honored to be able to help. That’s payment enough.]

Review

The Sixth Discipline

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sixth_disciplineUnlike some stories that culture clash as a motif, this novel both features action by characters from each culture in both cultures and portrays neither culture as ultimately lesser to the other.

The book tells the story of Ran-Del Jahanpur, a warrior from a forest tribe that focus on mental discipline and aim to live in tune with nature. He is kidnapped by Baron Hayden, a noble from a technologically advanced city, who keeps him prisoner, but otherwise treats him as an honoured guest. Despite the empathy granted by his training, Ran-Del struggles to understand both the Baron’s plans and the society that holds him.

With a plot that moves back and forth between the forest and the city, the novel skilfully balances the benefits and disadvantages of psychic and technological solutions and the cultures that have grown up around them.

I found Ran-Del to be a well-developed character. His social and moral choices are sometimes better and sometimes worse than others, making him neither the noble savage or the uncultured rural. He also displays an entirely believable assumption that, having grown up feeling if people are lying himself, everyone will know that he is telling the truth if he denies wrongdoing.

The other main characters have similar depth, each displaying a personal reaction to the facets of other culture that they meet. This complexity of response makes both the growing friendships and fledgling rivalries more meaningful and the sudden elevation of a minor character to significance more believable.

The speed and ease with which Ran-Del became able to function in the city seemed unrealistically fast. However this is mostly due to the elision of the repeated little conflicts that is common to most stories dealing with potential integration into an alien culture, and is preferable to too much exposition of the differences.

Overall I found this story very enjoyable. I would recommend it to people who like fantasy or science-fiction set in a complex societies.

I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair review.

About The Reviewer

Dave_Higgins

Dave Higgins writes speculative fiction, often with a dark edge. Despite forays into the mundane worlds of law and IT, he was unable to escape the liminal zone between mystery and horror. A creature of contradictions, he also co-writes comic sci-fi with Simon Cantan.

Born in the least mystically significant part of Wiltshire, England, and raised by a librarian, he started reading shortly after birth and hasn’t stopped since. He lives with his wife, two cats, a plush altar to Lord Cthulhu, and many shelves of books.

It’s rumoured he writes out of fear he will otherwise run out of books to read.

Learn more about Dave and his work at http://davidjhiggins.wordpress.com/

Review

Queen Klutz

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queen_klutzI don’t read a lot of humor, and I’m not a reader of “inspiring” books like Chicken Soup for the Soul and the like, so this book was a little bit of a stretch for me. But the more I read, the more I laughed. Queen Klutz is a collection of vignettes about life’s travails and troubles, and the author’s meeting of those moments with a sunny-side-up attitude.

I found I really enjoyed the stories. I gasped, winced, and laughed as a read, and felt inspired by Marti Lawerence’s infectious and delightful attitudes.

The chapters are short, and make for good reading in snippets in the short empty spaces of a busy life. I read it on my phone, one vignette at a time in all the waiting spaces of my day. I appreciated the way each chapter left me feeling uplifted, amused, and appreciative of the good things in my life.

I recommend this one if you need a boost and a reminder that a bad day doesn’t have to keep you down.

About The Reviewer:

BRYANT-CroppedSamantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her Menopausal Superhero series is available on Amazon or can be requested at your favorite book store: Book 1: Going Through the Change, Book 2: Change of Life, and (upcoming in 2017) Face the Change.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/

Review

Hadrian’s Flight

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[Transparency disclaimer: I’ve known Dan personally for years. We’ve collaborated on many projects. This isn’t one of those projects.]

hadrians_flightI’ve long admired Dan Sawyer’s ability to craft a tale. His Resurrection Junket left me breathless. His Clarke Lantham series updates the old school noir detective trope and brings it into the twenty-first century. Hadrian’s Flight is his first attempt at YA and he hits it out of the park.

The tale is set in his Kabrakan Ascendancy universe and provides some interesting insights into the beginning of the first interplanetary war. Young Hadrian Jin gets caught up in a web of spies and must navigate his own course through the confusing – and often contradictory – paths defined by those around him. His biggest challenge is trying to figure out who’s telling him the truth – almost nobody – and whom he can trust – again, almost nobody. In spite of that, he finds his way and pays the price for his actions.

It’s a very tightly drawn story filled with intrigue, betrayal, challenge and ingenuity.

I really liked this book. Grab a sample and see what you think.

About the reviewer:

NathanLowell_150x150Nathan Lowell has been writing science fiction and fantasy most of his life. He started publishing in 2007 and has no intention of stopping any time soon.

Learn more about Nathan Lowell and his works at http://nathanlowell.com

Review

Connected

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connectedThis stylish modern thriller interweaves quantum physics, theology, psychology, and computer science without losing either pace or the reader.

When his brother commits suicide, Peter volunteers to sort through his study; why does a musician have so many notes on religion and abstruse physics, and what did his last message that he knew everything mean? Across the country Doug’s best friend, and thesis partner, sends him a link to a file he must see but commits suicide almost immediately afterward; why did he erase all his work before he jumped? As these two men struggle to understand the last days of their loved ones, they are drawn into a race that could end in either humanity’s evolution or enslavement.

Denman includes plenty of details on the various fields that he draws upon while skilfully using point-of-view characters who are not specialists in the area, giving a sense that the plot has a solid base without either burying the lay reader under dry technical and philosophical discourse or skimping the interested amateur.

The characterisation varies between the two threads. Peter’s struggle with the death of his brother and the consequent impact on his marriage reads like a character-driven story, centred around a well-realised older man who is already burdened with the compromises and injuries of life. Conversely, Doug’s life, even before he is immersed in the plot, is a whirl of casual sex and rushing in where angels fear to tread, giving the feel of a more plot-centred narrative. Both threads are internally consistent, but they do not always sit perfectly next to each other, as if George Smiley and James Bond were investigating the same conspiracy.

A number of paragraphs are much longer than average for a thriller, some continuing for several average screens. However, these are balanced by much shorter paragraphs so would only be an issue for readers who dislike putting a book down, even briefly, in the middle of a paragraph.

Overall, as an interested amateur in both physics and metaphysics, I found the balance of theory and action most enjoyable. I recommend it to readers who like thrillers with a plausible explanation for a world-changing plot.

I received a free copy of this book.

About The Reviewer

Dave_Higgins

Dave Higgins writes speculative fiction, often with a dark edge. Despite forays into the mundane worlds of law and IT, he was unable to escape the liminal zone between mystery and horror. A creature of contradictions, he also co-writes comic sci-fi with Simon Cantan.

Born in the least mystically significant part of Wiltshire, England, and raised by a librarian, he started reading shortly after birth and hasn’t stopped since. He lives with his wife, two cats, a plush altar to Lord Cthulhu, and many shelves of books.

It’s rumoured he writes out of fear he will otherwise run out of books to read.

Learn more about Dave and his work at http://davidjhiggins.wordpress.com/

Review

Arena Mode

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arena_modeMatthew Moxon isn’t a superhuman. But he is in need of a serious cash infusion if he’s going to have a life-saving surgery. So, when the chance comes to fight in The Arena, a televised extravaganza arranged by a billionaire multimedia mogul, he decides to fake it till he makes it. He puts his smarts and his friends to work developing a suit and a public presence until he makes the cut and gets in the contest.

From there, the story becomes an elimination match a la The Hunger Games, The Running Man, The Maze Runner, Battle Royale, and other such stories. Although the plot is nothing new, the characters and relationships are fresh and interesting. I really liked Mox and was cheering for him and his allies to make it through, as well as for him to progress in his personal character arc. I don’t necessarily need the plot to be groundbreaking and unusual as long I’m rooting for someone.

This is the first of a series. I haven’t yet read the others, but they are in my TBR. I recommend it for readers who are fans of comics and superhero stories.

About The Reviewer:

BRYANT-CroppedSamantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her Menopausal Superhero series is available on Amazon or can be requested at your favorite book store: Book 1: Going Through the Change, Book 2: Change of Life, and (upcoming in 2017) Face the Change.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/

Review

Teleportal

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teleportalI thought long and hard about writing this review. I generally try to offer reviews of books that I loved. This isn’t one of them.

Teleportal tells the story of a small group of physicists who invent/discover/develop a teleporter. I can’t really tell you more about the plot without too many spoilers. Needless to say, it’s not exactly a walk in the park for the inventors.

One of the pitfalls of writing these kinds of stories is that you get into the “smart people making stupid decisions” really quickly. If you don’t it’s very hard to have an actual story. This is one of those books. It’s the kind of book I like to delete but I couldn’t put this one aside.

I think it’s because Gordon Savage managed to pull me into the characters’ world and made me believe it. I’ve known brilliant people like Dr. Melissa Kim. Brilliant in their own fields but stumps in any other. Her sidekick characters don’t get as much page time but it’s fine. They still had personalities of their own. When the Feds get involved, things go a lot sideways. The international responses seemed pretty realistic. I’m not sure about the North Korean sleeper cell, but I’m not really doing a lot in near-future SF/adventure myself so sure. Why not?

Like I said in the beginning, this isn’t a book I love, but it’s a book I can’t stop thinking about. That’s reason enough to let others know about it.

Grab a sample and see what you think.

About the reviewer:

NathanLowell_150x150Nathan Lowell has been writing science fiction and fantasy most of his life. He started publishing in 2007 and has no intention of stopping any time soon.

Learn more about Nathan Lowell and his works at http://nathanlowell.com

Review

Beyond The Starline

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starlineHackney combines the broad sweeps and high peril of the action mystery with the fine detail of character-driven narratives. Both rollicking tale of a plucky youth and sweeping portrayal of a complex society, this novel has much to appeal to readers of all ages and preferences.

Harriet Howland spends her days working in her mother’s laundry and her nights sneaking out to listen to the tales of derring-do told by Sibelius the sky monkey. But when pirates attack her home in search of both her and a mysterious brass device, she is thrust into an adventure more dramatic than the most unfeasible of Sibelius’ tales. Chased by both criminal factions and the police, each step closer to the truth of her past puts her two steps closer to disaster.

Hackney crafts a grimy, yet not depressing, world, filled with cheeky dodgers, melodramatic villains, and steam-gauge-clad machinery. Skilfully balancing description of technology and science with the casual perspective of a narrator used to the sights of their own society, he shows the reader a vast steampunk dystopia without descending into tedious exposition or specification.

Where this balancing act between the dark and light, familiarity and wonder, might fail is in the names of places and things: Harriet’s home town is called Lundoon; and several other names are almost those of the real world. With no explanation for why the names are this way, this neither one nor the other labelling can feel like cleverness for the sake of it.

However, this is the only bump in an otherwise engaging alternate reality, filled with the darkly comical, lightly threatening, and space squid.

Shifting between grimy back streets, labyrinthine swamps, and the voids between worlds, the plot races from danger to danger, casting doubt on ever more of Harriet’s comfortable assumptions.

Harriet is a well-written protagonist. Head filled with Sibelius’ tall tales and lacking life experience, her reaction to the sudden collapse of her life is a plausible mix of confidence and naïvety. It would be easy to characterise her as a ‘strong female lead’, but that would miss the fact that – while her sex creates obstacles – she is not defined by it.

The supporting cast are a similar mix of familiar stock figure and nuanced personality, both providing the sense that they have complete lives outside Harriet’s story, and making them immediately accessible without sacrificing the possibility that they are not what they seem.

Overall, I enjoyed this book greatly. I recommend it to readers looking for fast-paced steampunk adventure that is light without lacking depth.

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for a fair review.

About The Reviewer

Dave_Higgins

Dave Higgins writes speculative fiction, often with a dark edge. Despite forays into the mundane worlds of law and IT, he was unable to escape the liminal zone between mystery and horror. A creature of contradictions, he also co-writes comic sci-fi with Simon Cantan.

Born in the least mystically significant part of Wiltshire, England, and raised by a librarian, he started reading shortly after birth and hasn’t stopped since. He lives with his wife, two cats, a plush altar to Lord Cthulhu, and many shelves of books.

It’s rumoured he writes out of fear he will otherwise run out of books to read.

Learn more about Dave and his work at http://davidjhiggins.wordpress.com/

Review

Behind Our Walls

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behind_our_wallsI read Chad A. Clark’s short story collection, Borrowed Time (and reviewed it here) some time ago and really enjoyed it. So, when I learned that he was expanding one of those stories into a novel, I was excited to get to read it. You don’t need to have read the short story first to enjoy the novel though, and the story is included at the end of the novel, since the novel is a sort of prequel to that story, laying out the what happened before “Tomorrow’s Memory”.

Behind Our Walls is a unique take on post-apocalyptic fiction. There are no zombies, no dictatorships, no aliens. The threats are not external and easy to unite against. The world has simply fallen apart and we are watching it reform around Sophie, our young protagonist. Many of the themes popular in post-apocalyptic fiction are present here–extreme situations bringing out the worst and best in people, trust as a limited commodity, resource management for survival. But I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel before that focused on “what happens now” so fully. Backstories and causes of the downfall of the world take a serious backseat to grappling with how society will reform in the new reality.

The novel begins with Sophie on the run in the company of her parents, her sister Corrine, her sister’s fiancé Adam, and a man named Rowen. Without getting too spoilery, I think it safe to tell you that they meet other travelers and that people are lost, new alliances are made, moral quandaries are faced, and betrayals happen.

I was engaged by the story and cared about the characters throughout. There was good tension and suspense regarding what decisions different characters might make and what struggles they would face. I recommend the book for those who enjoy post-apocalyptic or survival stories, but are looking for something a little different in that genre.

About The Reviewer:

BRYANT-CroppedSamantha Bryant is a middle school Spanish teacher by day and a mom and novelist by night. That makes her a superhero all the time. Her debut novel, Going Through the Change: A Menopausal Superhero Novel is now for sale by Curiosity Quills.

Learn more about Samantha and her work at http://samanthadunawaybryant.blogspot.com/

Review

Destiny’s Song

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Destinys_SongI’ve known Audrey Faye for a long time in internet years. I’ve followed her career from her earliest days under a different name. When I heard she was turning to space opera, I did a big dance because this woman has some serious chops.

Destiny’s Song is the first act in what I hope will be an extended symphony of space opera.

As with all of Audrey Faye’s work, the characters drive the story and Lakisha Drinkwater is no exception. Her job takes her to an out of the way planet where she must figure out why she’s been sent there. The characters she meets help her learn as much about herself as she does about why she’s been sent there, but she has more than enough adventures to get her into trouble with the boss back at KarmaCorps.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the books in the KarmaCorps series (Book 3, Fortune’s Dance just dropped).

If you like your science fiction with a healthy dose of woo, grab yourself a sample of this and buckle in for a very enjoyable ride.

About the reviewer:

NathanLowell_150x150Nathan Lowell has been writing science fiction and fantasy most of his life. He started publishing in 2007 and has no intention of stopping any time soon.

Learn more about Nathan Lowell and his works at http://nathanlowell.com