Friday, June 14, 2013
Interviewed
I was interviewed earlier this week by Alexandra Butcher author of The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles. Stop by and check out the interview at http://libraryoferana.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/reviewer-interview-number-one-scott-poe/
Monday, June 10, 2013
Review - Diary of the Displaced Omnibus by Glynn James
A DRM-free dark fantasy/horror diary... I mean book... I mean omnibus.
The Rating: 4 stars out of 5
The Price: $6.16 ($3 each sold separately)
Did you ever keep a diary as a kid (or maybe still do as an adult)? When keeping a diary, what are most afraid of? That someone will find it, right? Not only will someone know all of your deepest and darkest or secrets, but in today's society they may also post it on the Internet in the form of an ebook for anyone to read. At least that's what Glynn James would do... (you sneaky bastard, you). The question then becomes, however, is your diary worth reading? What's going on in that head of yours? Do you just have a boring old life where all you talk about is what you ate fore breakfast (like too many Facebook updates and tweets out there), or do you like in a strange world where light and food are the two most precious commodities. (Okay, so maybe that part isn't too strange. I think that light and food are important, no matter what world you come from/live in.
The Good:
Diary of the Displaced - Omnibus is a collection of the first three books in the DoD series, and it seems like Glynn James is off to a great start. The book opens with a guy who is lost in a dark world and must find a way to survive, battling starvation and the strange creatures of this land he finds himself in. The first half of The Journey of James Halldon (book one of the omnibus) does a great job at describing this struggle through the journal entry style. When reading it truly feels like I am James Halldon, recounting the events of the previous day as I write my journal entry. Often times the reader is brought out of the action as James says things like "and how I found time to write this journal entry, I'll never know" or "and now I sit to write this journal entry." This narrative style, though it seemingly breaks up the action, puts a fresh twist on the POV that maybe James feel like a real character who is actually writing about his experiences.
A big question I had by only a few "days" into the book was, "I wonder how Glynn James will tackle dialogue in this narrative style?" I couldn't conceivable see a way to maintain the outof-body-diary-writing format while dealing with dialogue. By about half way through The Journey of James Halldon, the reader is introduced to another character, thus dialogue ensues. Unfortunately, Glynn James dealt with the dialogue in the regular "put in in quotes" fashion, thus taking away from the diary narrative style a bit. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and does not take away from the book in any way, but I, personally, was hoping to see some innovation when it comes to dealing with dialogue and heavy action scenes to make the whole book carry on the definitive and distinct narrative style that the tale starts out in. One thing that I loved concerning this was when a character had to tell a story. Instead of the story being a series of paragraphs in dry dialogue, Glynn James starts a new chapter entiteled "Adler's Tale" or something of the like. The POV then changes to the "diary" of this other character, and they retell their tale. This kept with the "diary" style nicely, and I applaud the author for this unique and intriguing narrative mechanic.
I found that Glynn James not only had a good handle on how to keep the action moving, but he did an excellent job at keeping the dialogue fresh and exciting. I enjoyed some of the subtle humour that was employed, and found James Halldon's internal monologue about the scene added nicely to this. Such monologue also allowed for great character development of Halldon, who is telling a story of self-discovery (having lost his memory and all) just as much as survival.
I was a little concerned when reading the Omnibus that it would simply be a case of "this should just have been one book," especially when I was almost half way through the Omnibus and hadn't finished the first book, seeing no conceivable conclusion in the near future. I was, however, pleasantly rewarded with a definite ending to the first book leaving room for more questions to be answered as the series continued, but also giving be a sense of completion plot-wise. The style of the storytelling and even genre of the book changes a lot as the Omnibus progresses into the second and third books of the series. The first book (especially the first half) tells a nice survival/horror tale (if horror can be "nice") with elements of fantasy thrown in. The second and third books hold to a more standard third person narrative style and move away from survival into a dark fantasy/sci-fi genre.
The Bad:
First things first. Why are there three books? The Broken Lands and The Ways should really have been one book. Though the first book has a nice conclusion, the second does not. Also, the first book is as long as the second and third put together. The Broken Lands ends on a cliff hanger, which isn't bad in itself, but a cliff hanger is not synonymous with, "I didn't conclude the plot at all guys! Stay tuned!" From hence forth I will consider The Broken Lands and The Way to be one entity, because they just make more sense that way.
Book 2-3 moves much quicker than book one, which is not bad in and of itself. It fits well with the narrative style and genre shifts, but it is implemented in a way that make the story feel rushed. Book one introduced concepts/people/places in a well paced manner, but book 2-3 does not. Everything moves so fast and new concepts/places/people are introduce so quickly that it can be difficult to keep track of everything at times. I say "at times" because it does not detract from the book a whole lot and I only felt that as a whole the pacing seemed a bit off, though nothing specific stood out while I was reading it. If Glynn James spent more time
explaining or using these new concepts that were introduced, I feel like it would have flowed better (and added more words to read, which is never a bad thing... well, I shouldn't say never. Words just for the sake of words is a bad thing). Even in the final chapters (days) of the book there were concepts set up/explained that felt rather shoved in just to tie up loose ends or aid the plot and/or questions the reader might still have.
One minor gripe I have is that there are two "ghost" characters that to me felt like the same "person." When one or the other were talking/doing things (omitting their separate introductions) there was no reason to make any distinction. Glynn James could have said "one of the ghosts" and been set. In fact, once both characters are in the story, they mostly remain together leaving absolutely no reason to differentiate them.
However, this minor gripe leads into a bigger issue. Though the character of James Halldon was well done... no one else's was. Every other character felt distinctly like a "side character" so much so that I had no reason to distinguish one from another or care about them, their story, or motivations individually. Basically James Halldon has a mission and the story revolves around that so exclusively that nothing else is really important. The exception to this is James family who the reader is only interested in because they have a connection to
Halldon.
A few spelling/grammar errors take the polished feel away from this work, but nothing too major stands in the way of the reader, and the errors are few and far between. An interesting stylized "error" is dropping the person pronoun I/me from the beginning of sentences. At the beginning I thought this to be strange, resulting in many fragments, but as the story progressed I found out that this is Glynn James writing style, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is seeming on purpose and works well mostly, only rarely making paragraphs feel
disjointed.
Conclusion:
Glynn James paints a beautiful dark fantasy world that any horror or fantasy fan will feel right at home in. There are still enough questions unanswered at the end leaving room for side books / sequels, but the story does have a definite and satisfying conclusion. I do feel that these books should be read together as an Omnibus and not individually as they play off of each other in a brilliant way that I feel would be lost if read on their own. The first book can easily be read as a separate entity, but book 2-3 demands that you read the first and does not work on its on. Overall a great book that I thoroughly enjoyed. As a side note, not only are all works of Glynn James DRM-free, but I have heard from him personally that he considers himself a "DRM hater." Amen to that.
Where you can find it:
Amazon.ca
Amazon
The Rating: 4 stars out of 5
The Price: $6.16 ($3 each sold separately)
Did you ever keep a diary as a kid (or maybe still do as an adult)? When keeping a diary, what are most afraid of? That someone will find it, right? Not only will someone know all of your deepest and darkest or secrets, but in today's society they may also post it on the Internet in the form of an ebook for anyone to read. At least that's what Glynn James would do... (you sneaky bastard, you). The question then becomes, however, is your diary worth reading? What's going on in that head of yours? Do you just have a boring old life where all you talk about is what you ate fore breakfast (like too many Facebook updates and tweets out there), or do you like in a strange world where light and food are the two most precious commodities. (Okay, so maybe that part isn't too strange. I think that light and food are important, no matter what world you come from/live in.The Good:
Diary of the Displaced - Omnibus is a collection of the first three books in the DoD series, and it seems like Glynn James is off to a great start. The book opens with a guy who is lost in a dark world and must find a way to survive, battling starvation and the strange creatures of this land he finds himself in. The first half of The Journey of James Halldon (book one of the omnibus) does a great job at describing this struggle through the journal entry style. When reading it truly feels like I am James Halldon, recounting the events of the previous day as I write my journal entry. Often times the reader is brought out of the action as James says things like "and how I found time to write this journal entry, I'll never know" or "and now I sit to write this journal entry." This narrative style, though it seemingly breaks up the action, puts a fresh twist on the POV that maybe James feel like a real character who is actually writing about his experiences.
A big question I had by only a few "days" into the book was, "I wonder how Glynn James will tackle dialogue in this narrative style?" I couldn't conceivable see a way to maintain the outof-body-diary-writing format while dealing with dialogue. By about half way through The Journey of James Halldon, the reader is introduced to another character, thus dialogue ensues. Unfortunately, Glynn James dealt with the dialogue in the regular "put in in quotes" fashion, thus taking away from the diary narrative style a bit. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and does not take away from the book in any way, but I, personally, was hoping to see some innovation when it comes to dealing with dialogue and heavy action scenes to make the whole book carry on the definitive and distinct narrative style that the tale starts out in. One thing that I loved concerning this was when a character had to tell a story. Instead of the story being a series of paragraphs in dry dialogue, Glynn James starts a new chapter entiteled "Adler's Tale" or something of the like. The POV then changes to the "diary" of this other character, and they retell their tale. This kept with the "diary" style nicely, and I applaud the author for this unique and intriguing narrative mechanic.
I found that Glynn James not only had a good handle on how to keep the action moving, but he did an excellent job at keeping the dialogue fresh and exciting. I enjoyed some of the subtle humour that was employed, and found James Halldon's internal monologue about the scene added nicely to this. Such monologue also allowed for great character development of Halldon, who is telling a story of self-discovery (having lost his memory and all) just as much as survival.
I was a little concerned when reading the Omnibus that it would simply be a case of "this should just have been one book," especially when I was almost half way through the Omnibus and hadn't finished the first book, seeing no conceivable conclusion in the near future. I was, however, pleasantly rewarded with a definite ending to the first book leaving room for more questions to be answered as the series continued, but also giving be a sense of completion plot-wise. The style of the storytelling and even genre of the book changes a lot as the Omnibus progresses into the second and third books of the series. The first book (especially the first half) tells a nice survival/horror tale (if horror can be "nice") with elements of fantasy thrown in. The second and third books hold to a more standard third person narrative style and move away from survival into a dark fantasy/sci-fi genre.
The Bad:
First things first. Why are there three books? The Broken Lands and The Ways should really have been one book. Though the first book has a nice conclusion, the second does not. Also, the first book is as long as the second and third put together. The Broken Lands ends on a cliff hanger, which isn't bad in itself, but a cliff hanger is not synonymous with, "I didn't conclude the plot at all guys! Stay tuned!" From hence forth I will consider The Broken Lands and The Way to be one entity, because they just make more sense that way.
Book 2-3 moves much quicker than book one, which is not bad in and of itself. It fits well with the narrative style and genre shifts, but it is implemented in a way that make the story feel rushed. Book one introduced concepts/people/places in a well paced manner, but book 2-3 does not. Everything moves so fast and new concepts/places/people are introduce so quickly that it can be difficult to keep track of everything at times. I say "at times" because it does not detract from the book a whole lot and I only felt that as a whole the pacing seemed a bit off, though nothing specific stood out while I was reading it. If Glynn James spent more time
explaining or using these new concepts that were introduced, I feel like it would have flowed better (and added more words to read, which is never a bad thing... well, I shouldn't say never. Words just for the sake of words is a bad thing). Even in the final chapters (days) of the book there were concepts set up/explained that felt rather shoved in just to tie up loose ends or aid the plot and/or questions the reader might still have.
One minor gripe I have is that there are two "ghost" characters that to me felt like the same "person." When one or the other were talking/doing things (omitting their separate introductions) there was no reason to make any distinction. Glynn James could have said "one of the ghosts" and been set. In fact, once both characters are in the story, they mostly remain together leaving absolutely no reason to differentiate them.
However, this minor gripe leads into a bigger issue. Though the character of James Halldon was well done... no one else's was. Every other character felt distinctly like a "side character" so much so that I had no reason to distinguish one from another or care about them, their story, or motivations individually. Basically James Halldon has a mission and the story revolves around that so exclusively that nothing else is really important. The exception to this is James family who the reader is only interested in because they have a connection to
Halldon.
A few spelling/grammar errors take the polished feel away from this work, but nothing too major stands in the way of the reader, and the errors are few and far between. An interesting stylized "error" is dropping the person pronoun I/me from the beginning of sentences. At the beginning I thought this to be strange, resulting in many fragments, but as the story progressed I found out that this is Glynn James writing style, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is seeming on purpose and works well mostly, only rarely making paragraphs feel
disjointed.
Conclusion:
Glynn James paints a beautiful dark fantasy world that any horror or fantasy fan will feel right at home in. There are still enough questions unanswered at the end leaving room for side books / sequels, but the story does have a definite and satisfying conclusion. I do feel that these books should be read together as an Omnibus and not individually as they play off of each other in a brilliant way that I feel would be lost if read on their own. The first book can easily be read as a separate entity, but book 2-3 demands that you read the first and does not work on its on. Overall a great book that I thoroughly enjoyed. As a side note, not only are all works of Glynn James DRM-free, but I have heard from him personally that he considers himself a "DRM hater." Amen to that.
Where you can find it:
Amazon.ca
Amazon
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Review and Giveaway - The Northern Star: The Beginning by Mike Gullickson
2058. As the struggle for dwindling resources plunges the world into chaos, and "Mindlink" technology opens cyberspace to the masses, injured soldier John Raimey is transformed into a powerful bionic warrior (known as a Tank Major) to retrieve the King Sleeper: a computer hacker so devastating on-line, he can decimate government infrastructure, subliminally persuade the masses, and even kill.Review by: Scott
4 stars
The Northern Star: The Beginning takes place in the not so distant future. The oil is gone and travel has almost ground to a halt. Not long ago a technological discovery came about that changed everything. A helmet that allows people to plug into a virtual universe where they can do all there interacting in whatever environment they would like. This discovery has allowed society to continue even with the virtual cessation of international travel. However like all technological improvements there are people who can twist it to their own ends.
One of the major themes of the The Northern Star revolves around a new battle suit that has been developed by the Americans. This suit is designed to replace an entire army and be controlled by a person melded to the frame. There is also an autistic child who has what basically amounts to super powers in the virtual landscape that will have an unbelievable affect on the world.
The story has a decent pace though there are spots that slow down a bit to fully explain all of the tech. The battle suit made me think of the Mech Warrior computer games that I used to play a long time ago. It really brought a vivid image of the suit to my mind. The majority of the characters were very obsessed with their own thing which led them to feel a little undeveloped. There were a few standout characters that really helped to flush out the world of the book.
This has been a pretty strong start to a series and I'm interested in seeing what the second book has to offer. From my understanding it is currently in editing stages so it should be out fairly soon.
Now for the giveaway part!! Mike has generously agreed to provide 5 signed print copies of his book to some lucky readers of this blog. Contest open only to residents of US and Canada.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Monday, June 3, 2013
Review - The Heart of Darkness Club by Gary Reilly
In this third book of novelist Gary Reilly's Asphalt Warrior series, Murph once again fails spectacularly at staying out of the lives of those he transports the second he picks up a "mover" named Trowbridge. "Movers" in Murph's world are not to be confused with "movers and shakers." Trowbridge pays his fare with a crisp five-dollar bill. Later, Murph finds an enigmatic hand-written note on the bill. Murph can't get the message out of his head, believing it was specifically directed at him. He sets off in search of his passenger, the meaning of the message, and the inner workings of his very soul.
4 stars
The Heart of Darkness Club by Gary Reilly is the third book in the Asphalt Warrior series. Murph continues his streak of pledging to not get involved in the personal lives of his fairs and continues to fail. Murph once again finds himself involved in a police investigation due to involvement with one of his passengers. It's a bit hard to say anything more than that without giving anything away.
Though I haven't read the first book in the series the second and third work well as standalone books. The sense of humor that Murph has really makes the book stand out. There is always a bit of a serious situation going on and it makes the irreverent thoughts and comments by Murph that much more amusing. I really enjoy the writing style that Gary used for these books. This is another series that I will be keeping an eye out for future releases.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Review - Restrike by Reba White Williams
Money and murder go hand in glove in the rarified art world of Reba White Williams's exciting first novel, Restrike.
Cousins Coleman and Dinah Greene moved from North Carolina to New York after college to make their mark on the art world: Coleman is the editor of an influential arts magazine and Dinah is the owner of a print gallery in Greenwich Village. But their challenges are mounting as one of Coleman's writers is discovered selling story ideas to a competitor and The Greene Gallery is in the red because sales are down.
When billionaire Heyward Bain arrives with a glamorous assistant, announcing plans to fund a fine print museum, Coleman is intrigued and plans to get to know Bain and publish an article about him. Dinah hopes to sell him enough prints to save her gallery. At the same time, swindlers, attracted by Bain’s lavish spending, invade the print world to grab some of his money.
When a print dealer dies in peculiar circumstances, Coleman is suspicious, but she can’t persuade the NYPD crime investigator of a connection between the dealer’s death and Bain’s buying spree. After one of Coleman’s editors is killed and Coleman is attacked, the police must acknowledge the connection, and Coleman becomes even more determined to discover the truth about Bain. In an unforgettable final scene, Coleman risks her life to expose the last deception threatening her, her friends, and the formerly tranquil print world.
Review by: Scott
4 stars
Restrike by Reba White Williams is the first book in the Coleman and Dinah Greene Mystery series. Telling the story of the Greene cousins who grew up in a poor family, but have turned things around and are both heavily involved in the New York art scene. Dinah runs a small gallery specializing in prints while Coleman runs an art magazine featuring East Coast artists.
When a rich man moves into town with plans on opening a print museum both of the Greene women are drawn into the drama that follows him. Bain is buying some very rare prints at auctions for well over the estimated sales value and when one of the sellers winds up dead Coleman begins to look into it for her magazine. She is unable to come up with anything on Bain and has to fight her attraction to him to investigate him honestly.
I was a bit hesitant about this book after seeing the cover (I have an ARC and the cover is slightly different than the one pictured). I actually put off reading this for a timed review until darn near the last minute, as it turns out that didn't end up being a problem. I really enjoyed the book and had fun reading it. Reba did a good job providing a lot of suspects to keep the reader guessing about what is really happening. Each of the characters also has a strong personality and rich backstory.
I can't speak to the realism of the story as I have never been to New York and have absolutely no experience with the kind of art that is discussed. Even without a background in the basis of the story it is easy to enjoy. If you enjoy stories with strong female characters and a good amount of mystery this is a book to check out.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Review - Secrets Clockwork Skies 1 by J. Cunningham
Gelton isn't the revolutionary type. If you asked him, it would be
the last thing he would ever use to describe himself - if you could
get the gefling to answer at all. When he gets entangled in events
larger than his own story, he finds that he's got more than a few
things to learn about himself.
Part speculative history, part fantasy, and definitively steampunk, Secrets is the first novel in the Clockwork Skies series. Action packed and full of political intrigue, romance, and richly detailed fantasy settings, Secrets will entice you from the first page and keep you guessing until the last.
Review by: Scott
4 stars
Secrets (Clockwork Skies 1) by J. Cunningham is a book that has a Victorian setting. It has a bit of a steam punk feel though clockwork is probably a more appropriate description. A lot of the technology seen is similar to what you would see in steam punk stories, but the powering seems to be more magic than steam.
I really enjoyed the Gefling resistance aspect of the book. The name Gefling reminds me of the creatures from The Dark Crystal though the mannerisms of the characters in the book are very gnome like. The combination of the two images in my head made for an interesting creature to follow. As I mentioned earlier the technology in the book enriched the world nicely. The clockwork soldiers were very cool and the technology that is used to travel is pretty fantastic.
The characters were dynamic and entertaining (well Gelton isn't particularly dynamic but that fits him). Tink, Dev, and Mia more than make up for the subdued nature of Gelton's contribution. There is a lot of potential in this series and it's something that I look forward to seeing some more of when the second book is released.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Review - Asclepias by Christopher Kline
Illegal immigrants are turning up dead in the remote mountains of southern Arizona. Cochise County Sheriff Detective Jake Caldwell soon discovers that United States Geological Survey biologist Tony Spencer is the only person with the knowledge to solve the murders, but will Spencer live long enough to share the secret?
4 stars
Asclepias is the second book in the Tony Spencer mystery series. I picked up a copy of this book at a book release party for his third book. It was interesting to see the slideshow that he had detailing some of the actual locations and plant and insect species that are discussed in the book. The fact that the restaurants and research areas that are featured in the book are real and the author has visited them several times seemed to add an extra element to the book.
This book features the same strengths of his first book, Hostile Lookout. Tony is a likeable guy who really just wants to do his job. He has come out of the shell he was in after the death of his wife and child a bit more with the introduction of Melissa to his life. While looking for a new species of Milk Thistle Tony once again stumbles across some things that he shouldn't know and ends up in some pretty serious trouble.
This book had a good flow and kept me turning pages rather quickly. I finished the book in under two days and was very happy that I had the third book on hand to continue reading the series. Though the book has a solid ending the story and the people are enough to keep interest in the series high. Check this book out if you like mystery thrillers.
This book features the same strengths of his first book, Hostile Lookout. Tony is a likeable guy who really just wants to do his job. He has come out of the shell he was in after the death of his wife and child a bit more with the introduction of Melissa to his life. While looking for a new species of Milk Thistle Tony once again stumbles across some things that he shouldn't know and ends up in some pretty serious trouble.
This book had a good flow and kept me turning pages rather quickly. I finished the book in under two days and was very happy that I had the third book on hand to continue reading the series. Though the book has a solid ending the story and the people are enough to keep interest in the series high. Check this book out if you like mystery thrillers.
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