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Book Review

Book Review: Walking with Monsters (The Monster Series Book 1)

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Walking with Monsters (The Monster Series Book 1)

by Amber Naralim

Reviewed by JMD Reid

B01GHNIB68.01.LZZZZZZZEllie, a young woman, is hunting for her brother. Months ago, a shady, quasi-governmental organization kidnapped her brother and is experimenting on him. With the help of Reese, an escape test subject and man with a dark beast lurking inside him, she is on a quest do what it takes to free Edward.

To do so, she has to trust Reese. And she does, but she doesn’t trust the monster lurking with in him. Reese is a man who has a literal monster in him waiting to burst out and kill anyone, even her. She needs Reese’s monster to save her brother, but each time he unleashes it, the monster, as personified by Reese’s alter-ego Vincent, stays in control longer and longer.

But as much as Vincent scares Ellie, he also attracts her. Dark, powerful, and deadly. Every moment around Vincent is walking a tight-rope with death. But Ellie needs to save her brother, and if that means walking with a man-eating monster, she’ll do it.

Walking with Monsters is a roller coaster of a novel. It plays with many of the tropes we see in modern vampire and werewolf romances, the woman in love with a man who has a dark, predatory beast bursting to come out. But Reese/Vincent’s beast isn’t lovable or tamable. It is out of control. It is murderous. Naralim does not shy away from the destructive power or uncontrollable hungers of the beast and how it affects Ellie.

But Ellie is driven. Bad people have her brother, and she grows more and more calloused the more violence she sees. She’ll do what it takes to save him. She’ll become a monster herself if that’s what it takes.

The story hops between Ellie and Reese/Vincent, delving deep into the complexity of their relationship as they travel as fugitives across the US, hunted by the police and shady organization’s mercenaries, and then to other characters, including the chief scientist behind the experiments, an investigative reporter, and the FBI Agents tracking down Ellie and her monster.

The story is great, fast paced, with the evolving relationship of Ellie and Reese/Vincent at its heart, keeping you reading through the twists and turns. Naralim pulls out a few surprises. My only gripe is the constant POV shifts in a scene, but that did not diminish my enjoyment of this amazing book one bit. Walking with Monsters is a gem in the Indie publishing world and the paranormal romance/urban fantasy genre.

I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

You can buy Walking with Monsters from Amazon.

Book Review

Review: The Darkness That Comes Before

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The Darkness That Comes Before (The Prince of Nothing 1)

by R. Scott Bakker

Reviewed by JMD Reid

darkness-that-comes-beforeThe Darkness that Comes Before is the start of R. Scott Bakker’s metaseries The Second Apocalypse. Here he unfolds the rich, grimy world of the Three Seas and beyond. I was hooked with this series right from the beginning reading about refugees fleeing the end of the world and the founding of the Dûnyain. I was intrigued by the history teased before me and glad I found this book in the SeaTac Airport’s Borders.

What follows is a Fatnasy series unlike any I had read. Its roots are firmly in the heroic fantasy that developed over the twentieth century, including Tolkein. There are many illusions and parallels to the Lord of the Rings, but make no mistake, Bakker isn’t copying, he’s twisting, bending, creating a world that is grimy, filthy, myriad in the perversity of human lust, greed, envy, and religious fervor.

When a young man name Kellhus, who unknowingly carries the blood of ancient kings sets out on a quest inot the greater world, it is a familiar story. But Kellhus is a product of two thousand years of breeding by his secretive group the Dûnyain. His intellect is beyond normal men. He has been trained to understand the source of men’s passions. To us world-born, we are but children before him. With cold logic, Kellhus will do anything to accomplish his mission—even dominating an entire Holy War.

In the average Fantasy, Kellhus would be our protagonist. But he’s not. That is Achamian, the middle-aged sorcerer and spy, an overweight man prone to drink, drugs, and prostitutes. A man whose decades working as a spy has made him cynical of the world. He has drunk with kings and beggars and realizes not much separates them. He is on another mission for the Mandate, his order of sorcerers, to discover if the Consult has any role in the Holy War called by the new Shriah (Pope). Achamian will return to the holy city of Sumna, and to Esmenet the Whore, perhaps the only person who truly knows him.

Politics and maneuvering dominate this book. While there is warfare and action, much of the book is a contest between men seeking to dominate their circumstances, from Emperor Ikurie Xerius who plans to harness the Holy War to restore the glory of his waning Empire to Cnaiür urs Skiötha who seeks to prove himself the best of his nomadic people. And at the heart, Kellhus, the Prince of Nothing and harbinger of the Apocalypse, arriving out of the wastelands. He is one of the conditioned and all will yield before him.

Intrigue, politics, cryptic prophecies declaring the end of the world, philosophy, faith, sin, sorcererous battles, warfare and the battered souls who strive to make sense of their world. The Darkness that Comes Before is both sweeping and historical at the same time is it deeply personal as R. Scott Bakker delves into human nature in all its vagaries, the good and the ill. This series has a rich cast of flawed characters.

You can buy The Darkness that Comes Before on Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Call of Water

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Call of Water (Elemental Realms Book 2)

by H.L. Burke

Reviewed by JMD Reid

B01ENLPJEI.01.LZZZZZZZIt’s been three years since Lands of Ash and Karvir, transformed into a fire-elemental-like charred, and his family have settled down with Brode and his little sister Pet. The world is peaceful again. When Karvir and his youngest daughter Trea, now on the cusp of womanhood, venture to a nearby town, a pair of travelers changes everything for Karvir’s family.

Eanan and Gabrin had fled the Fire Elementals to islands off the sea and have returned to find the Evermirror, a portal to the Water Elementals. While the Fire Elementals have been driven to their own realm, three other elemental races are out there. The pair want to find allies. And when Quilla, Karvir’s oldest daughter, begins hearing a strange voice talk to her, she is driven to find out, leaving her family behind to join Eanan and Gabrin on their quest.

But Karvir’s not going to let his daughter run off. With Trea and Brode, he sets off to bring his daughter home. But danger lurks. Alana, servant of the Earth Elementals, fears the Water Elementals return. She and her ruthless band will do anything to prevent Quilla, Eanan, and Gabrin from reaching the Evermirorr.

Elemental war again threatens the peace of the world.

Call of Water is a great follow-up to Lands of Ash. Burke expands the scope of her world, introducing us to the Water and Earth Elementals and illuminating the history of her world. It is a fast-paced story with plenty of action and youthful romance. Family, again, dominates the theme of this book with the entrance of Eanan to the story, Karvir’s father-in-law and she skillfully uses the plot to explore the relation of fathers with their growing daughters.

An excellent read and I am eager for Burke’s next entry into the series!

You can buy Call of Water on Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Voices in Crystal (Children of Stone 1)

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Voices in Crystal (Children of Stone 1)

by Mary R. Woldering

Reviewed by JMD Reid

B00OIYF39M.01.LZZZZZZZIn the 2500s BC, two men of drastically different background, separated by culture and geography, are linked by one event. The arrival of the Children of the Stone. Marai, a Semetic shepherd living in the shadow of Mount Sinai, prays to the Goddess Inanna like he has done every night since the death of his wife in childbirth many years ago. To the west, the the Land of Kemet (Ancient Egypt), Hordjedtef, one of the sons of Pharaoh Khufu (the guy who was buried in the Great Pyramid at Giza) studies with a wise priest, his bid to become the next Pharaoh failed.

Falling from another world, the consciousness of powerful beings arrive to the bronze age Middle East. Though Hordjedtef and his master sense the arrival of the Children, they are not the ones chosen to bear their knowledge. That falls to humble Marai. Called out of his prayers, Marai finds the fallen rock. When he enters it, he will never be the same.

Marai is charged to bring the knowledge to Hordjedtef by the Children. But will Hordjedtef respect the power or will he crave it for himself. Marai, joined by three women each broken in their own way, travels west to Kemet where he hopes he will find his destiny.

Voices in Crystal is a Historical Fantasy. It is set in our world, amid the mythology of the Akkadians, Sumerians, and Ancient Egyptians but with real, supernatural powers. It is well researched, illuminating the often harsh way of life of the bronze age near east along with the esoteric splendor that Kemet (Egypt) achieved. Though the novel took me a while to read (I kept being distracted by other books) the tale of Marai and the three women called me back over and over.

I greatly enjoyed the book, and while it has flaws, it kept me reading to the end, eager to find out more. And the ending left had me on the edge of my seat. I will definitely read book 2. If you’re a fan of mythology, Ancient Egypt, the bronze age, the mystery religions, or looking for a different story then what gluts the fantasy and historical markets, pick up Voice in Crystal.

You can buy Voices in Crystal on Amazon!

Book Review

Review: Spark of Defiance (Game of Fire 1)

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Spark of Defiance (Game of Fire 1)

by Autumn Brit

Reviewed by JMD Reid

B01D3VUJ9O.01.LZZZZZZZSix months after the war that broke the Church of the Four Orders and freed the other temples from Solaire’s control. But the scars remain. Two events, both innocuous and seemingly innocent, spark off a new conflict.

When Zhao, an air elemental, returns home to visit his sister. His people fear elementals. Zhao had been kept confined to a shrine, quarantined from his people. When he arrives now that the war is over and elementals should be free, he discovers his new niece is an elemental and the chief of his tribe looks to inflict the same punishment. With his friend Laisseg, he rescues his sister and niece.

And sparks off a war between neighboring people. As the war spirals out of control, Zhao seeks help from his friends, pulling Ria from her search for the escaped Sinika, the villain responsible for the war and held as a prisoner for the last six month until his supporters freed him.

Meanwhile, Lavinia and her husband Darag have finished their pilgrimage to all the temples to allow Lavinia to touch all the spheres and use all the elements. Wanting to fulfill a promise to the Ashanti Jeif and Leifa, they visit the short-lived and mysterious Ashanti. Their message sparks off a chain of events that could forever change the world.

War has returned, but an even great threat looms and the survivors of the last war will have to reunite to stop the new threats to their world.

Sparks of Defiance (and the Game of Fire series) is a sequel to her Rise of the Five Orders series. It was great to return to her world and see old characters. The war haunts the characters, particularly the death of Beite. She does an excellent job reworking reminders of the previous plot without exposition dumps. The plot moves fast, keeping you reading.

Autumn ratchets up the tension as the book builds to its climax. All your favorite characters that survived the last series are once again in peril.  I was on the edge of my seat through the climax.

Sparks of Defiance is a great start to another amazing Fantasy series from Autumn. If you enjoy great, fast-paced fantasy, then you’ll enjoy Autumn’s Rise of the Five Orders series and the start to Game of Fire. I am eager for Book 2 to be released.

You can buy Spirit of Life from Amazon!

I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review, though I had planned on buying it before the author sent it to me and have preordered it.

Book Review

Review: Leave Me Lost

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Leave Me Lost

by Renee N. Meland

Reviewed by JMD Reid

In the wake of an economic collapse in the United States and a plague that devastated Europe, the world is a darker place. Riley and her mother have been leaving in exile in Cuba after fleeing the US in the wake of the disastrous Parental Morality Act, a bill sponsored and once embraced by Riley’s own mother. In the four years since arriving, the US Government has completely collapsed, leaving only chaos behind.

For the last four years, Riley has had no word from Cain, the young man that had rescued her and her mother from the US. He is a dangerous mercenary, hunted by the US government, a man with a mission to rescue and return all the children separated from their parents.

When things in Cuba grow tense as the locals want what Riley and her fellow US exiles, Cain returns with a job that could give Riley and her friends the money they need to relocate to a safer area. When the US Government was on the verge of collapse, the children taken from their parents were sold overseas into child slave labor. Now the parents of one of these children has located their son in Italy and have hired Cain to retrieve him. Cain needs Riley’s help. Riley agrees, but her real mission is to rescue Olivia, her best friend that had been taken and sold into slavery in Italy.

The pair leave for Italy, their relationship strained by Cain’s absence. Riley still has feelings for the man, but feels betrayed and abandoned. Feelings Olivia knows all to well. Riley’s reunion with her friend isn’t as happy as she had hoped. How can she save Olivia when Olivia wants to stay lost?

This story is an emotional rollercoaster. The guilt of not being able to help her best friend has never left Riley, and now that she has a chance to help her she finds her friend broken by the years. The story is action-pack, moving swiftly, and characterized by the harsh decisions and sudden violence that characterized the other two parts of the story.

Leave me Lost does not pull the emotional punches. This dystopia YA series confronts the uglier aspects of our world that we often wish to ignore. It’s great to see Riley and Cain, and the ending leaves you eager for what happens next in the series. Nothing is easy in the dystopic future, but our characters still try to make it a little brighter.

I hope they succeed.

Leave Me Lost is available from Amazon.

Book Review

Review of Mistborn: Secret History

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Mistborn: Secret History

by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by JMD Reid

B01B0NS93U.01.LZZZZZZZSPOILER WARNING: Just reading this review will spoil major events of the original Mistborn Trilogy. If you haven’t read those amazing books, stop reading this review, buy them, and discover the awe-inspiring world of Scadriel that Brandon has created.

I am really serious.

This review will totally spoil and ruin those books.

Last chance…

Okay, here we go. This novella came out of nowhere for me. I hadn’t heard it was coming out (of course, I am not the best at staying current on books). I knew Bands of Mourning was coming out and I was shocked when I got to the end there was a note from Brandon revealing the existence of the untold story of the original Mistborn series. That’s not surprisng. If you’ve read the trillogy there were hints of stuff going on behind the metaphysical scenes.

This story lays it out. What happened after Kelsier died? Well, first off he punched god. And by god, I mean Preservation, one of the Shards of Adolnasium that inabits Scadriel. In dying, Kelsier discovers an entirely new world. He learns just how small Scadriel is in the process, and he works behind the scenes to ensure that our heroes victory at the end of the series against Ruin can happen.

There were hints, but to see it laid out was exciting and emotional. To get to see Kelsier struggle to help his friends from beyond the grave was poignant. He is the Survivor, and he never gave up. This Novella shed light on a lot of the strange events that hapepned and even gave new context to things I thought I had understood (like the first time Preservation tried to stab Elend or why Vin avoided talking to Hoid).

This book also did more to shed light on the greater Cosmere than any previous published story. The curtain has been pulled back, and we are getting glimpses of the larger universe that has better things to do then worry about one little planet. I drank this book up. It was wonderful to see all the characters one last time, to have one more chance to say goodbye to them. Fans of the Cosmere, this novella is a must read.

Bands of Mourning is available from Amazon.

Book Review

Review: Bands of Mourning

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Bands of Mourning

by Brandon Sanderson

Reviewed by JMD Reid

B00R697BC8.01.LZZZZZZZIt is the day of Wax and Steris’s wedding, and he is not ready to remarry. The wounds of being forced to kill his first wife for the second time still haunts Wax. His marriage to Sterris is one of political and economic necessity. But Wax has promised to marry her, and he will grit his teeth and get through the ceremony.

Of course, nothing ever goes right around Wax. When a kandra shows up needing Wax’s help and the nearby water tower collapses and floods the church in the middle of the ceremony, another adventur has begun. In New Seran, a kandra has almost been killed after coming across the location of the Lord Rulers bracers, the Bands of Mourning. Reputed to be the source of the Lord Rulers inhuman powers, they are coveted by all, including Wax’s devious uncle and the nefarious group he works for.

Not wanting to help Harmony and the kandra after their betrayal, but unable to resist the urge to hunt his uncle down and recover his kidnap sister, Wax joins the group. Accompanied by his disreputable friend Wayne, the intrepid constable Marsai, his fiancee Steris, and the kandra MeLaan, Wax heads off on an adventure that will change everything for the people of Elendel.

Bands of Mourning was a rollercoaster ride. Brandon weaves almost every pulp story in existence into this tale from Westerns (including a classic train robbery), detective story, and more (I don’t want to spoil this one). Wax and his group have never faced such danger as they try to dicover what the mysterious Set, the shadowy organization bent seizing power in Elendel. The characters have grown and changed, but Steris really shines. In Alloy of Law I did not like her. I wanted Wax to end up with Marsai. But the last two books, especially this one, shows just how great a match she is for Wax.

But there’s more than just Wax’s love life in this book. So much happens. Just when you thought you understood how Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy works, Brandon throws curve balls. MeLaan and Wayne continue to entertain, and it’s great seeing how far Marsai has come from the first book where she blushed at everything (though she does have her occasional blush).

The stakes only grow higher in this book, setting the stage for the final book in the Mistborn Era 2 series, The Last Metal. This book packed some emotional wallops. There were times I was at the edge of my seat, my stomach twisting in disbelief at what was happening.

If you’re a fan of Brandon Sanderson, Mistborn, and the Cosmere, you will eat this book up. And if you’ve never read Brandon Sanderson, you are missing out. Pick up the first Mistborn book (this is not the place to start) and fall in love with one of the modern masters of Fantasy.

Bands of Mourning is available from Amazon.

Book Review

Review: Burning Doors

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Burning Doors

by Renee N. Meland

Reviewed by JMD Reid

B00W7GV018.01.LZZZZZZZIn the wake of an economic collapse in the United States and a plague that devastated Europe, the world is a darker place. Crime is rampant in the US, particularly juvenile crime. Cain lives in fear of his abusive father, waiting for the day that the Parental Morality Act is passed. But it doesn’t come fast enough, and he beats his father to death with a pipe.

Forced to flee to the streets, Cain is plunged into the underbelly of third-world America. His life is aimless until a priest takes pity on Cain and gives him shelter. When Cain wants to return the favor to a younger boy, he finds himself embroiled with a sixteen-year-old madam of a brothel/drug dealer.

Maureen is strong, ruthless, and beautiful. Cain can’t help his attraction to her even as he is repulsed by her business. But when one of Maureen’s johns gets violent, she’s forced to defend herself. The only problem, the dead man is a corrupt cop.

I wasn’t expecting Burning Doors to be a prequel to the Extraction List. It follows the life of Cain and shows how he becomes such a ruthless, yet caring, man. The man who would help a young girl and her mother escape to safety. It’s a tragic tale and while I had hoped for a continuation of the story, I found myself caught up in the story. This is a bleak look at society’s crumble.

Burning Doors is available from Amazon.

Book Review

Review: Dragon Dreamer

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Dragon Dreamer

by J. S. Burke

Reviewed by JMD Reid

 

B00K9DHTU2.01.LZZZZZZZ“But there had to be more to life than avoiding danger. Helping a friend was certainly more important…”

Arak is a young dragon on his first ever solo flight, a right of passage for his kind. He’s a dreamer, the odd dragon out always thinking and imagining, forever getting his head lost in the clouds. And this time it may cost him his life. He went out too far, hoping to be the dragon to find new copper mines for his race and an ice storm has caught up with him. Injured, he falls to the sea ice below, his wings hurt, his leg broken.

In the oceans below, Scree the octopus healer leaves the safety of her pod’s home on the reef to look for supplies. She’s an inquisitive and helpful octopus, with a caring heart. While collecting slug eggs near the surface, she is shocked when Arak crashes onto the ice. At first frightened by the massive dragon, her caring nature compels her to help poor Arak. And thus starts a friendship that will change the fortunes of both Arak’s dragons and Scree’s octopi.

Dragon Dreamer is the fascinating tale of two cultures meeting and growing better for their union. There is no great enemy to vanquish or dark prophecy to prevent. All that faces the dragons and the octopi are survival. From underwater volcanoes to sickness, Arak and Scree work together to help both their peoples prosper.

While Dragon Dreamer is clearly aimed at a younger, grade school audience, the story is both sweet and heartwarming and at times suspenseful. J.S. Burke has crafted a unique fantasy world unlike any I have ever read. Out of all the unlikely pairing in storys, a dragon and an octopus is the most out there, and yet J.S. Burke makes this story work. I would recommend this book for any child embarking into the wonderful world of books with great characters, stories, and values.

You can buy Dragon Dreamer from Amazon!