Into the Fire by Elizabeth Moon

Into the Fire by Elizabeth Moon

My rating: 3.68 of 5 stars


Book received from both Netgalley and Random House/Del Rey for an honest review

Two things to be noted immediately: 1) this is the second book in the Vatta Peace series, which follows the Vatta War series (with about a 5 year chronological gap between the last book in War, and first in Peace) – and yes, at the very least, book one in the Peace series needs to be read before reading this book here, and, preferably the War series; 2) only the action that started to build up near mid-point, well, more around 70% plus, kept this book from receiving a lower rating than it did.

Another thing to be noted slightly less immediately: people’s personalities change over time, that’s reasonable and expected, and several characters in this specific book showed personality changes from the prior series. One, though, seemed to have changed more than time would allow. To explain what I mean would be too spoiler-y; I’ll attempt to give a hint without spoiling stuff – there’s a scene during which Stella Vetta very reluctantly puts on body armor, she’s quite prissy about it and thinks it’s stupid to do so, then is all panic-y and oddly confused about guns (momentarily) – the problem? You know the first time Stella was meet? It probably wasn’t then, but the first time Stella and Rafe shared a scene together in this multiple series thing had Stella wearing body armor and being quite masterful with a gun and showing a weird lack of panic in a dangerous situation ((view spoiler)[counter to my comments would be that she quite handily took care of the house invaders in this book, true, but she did it while whimpering, panic-y, and not at all like she’d previously been shown (and yes, I’m talking about Stella here, it’s true that Ky’s the ‘enjoys killing’ one, but that didn’t mean Stella couldn’t kill, she just was reluctant to do it and disliked doing it and couldn’t imagine enjoying killing – which is a far cry from panic and whimpering) (hide spoiler)]).

Right, so, after all these ‘immediately’s are out of the way, what can I say about the book? *thinks*

I do not wish to give a recap of the book or anything like that, especially as this book is the second book in one series, and the . . . 8th, I think, in the extended Vatta series (combining War and Peace). So I won’t.

There are books that start strong, edge of the seat type stuff, kind of fumble around in the middle, then either have a great ending or stumble trying to find an ending. This book? Started slowly, and was somewhat tough to get into. Middle was frustrating legal and political stuff; while the end (well before the end, the end of the middle) turned up the action (which literally just means that Ky finally left the house she was in, that kind of action), and built up to an exciting near climax. Then we, the readers, had to get to Rafe and Ky stuff to close off the book. So I guess the book ended somewhat annoyingly there as well (okay, I never liked the Rafe & Ky stuff at any point in this multiple series situation and so that probably helps increase my negative feelings about this book here).

So long and short: once I got past a certain odd reluctance to dive into this book brought on by how the prior book ended (there was a glimpse of how the series might turn from there, an exploration, adventure type of glimpse, which was immediately shut down by weird legal and political stuff – picked up by the beginning of this book here), the book turned out decent, then got quite interesting and even, pardon the phrase, ‘not-put-down-able’.

Rating: 3.68

February 5 2018




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1636: The Ottoman Onslaught by Eric Flint

1636: The Ottoman Onslaught by Eric Flint

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've always had one specific problem with this series - at least after the first two or three books - there are about a billion characters (give or take a million), and, while not all of them are in each book, enough of them are there presenting their own point of view that it gets super . . . . annoying to have one particular storyline start to get interesting, only to jump to twelve different POV's before getting back to that other one that was beginning to get interesting. Of course, by that point, I'm somewhat less than intrigued to find out more about that paused story-line.

A . . . well, no, not secondary. Another problem I have is the simple fact that there are these fat books filled with 'stuff', and we are way past 30 books by this point (title says 21, but there are both lots of side books, and, in addition, a ton of short story books) and yet the story started in 1632 and we have gotten, after 30+ books, to 1636. The vast majority of the time, inside the Germanies (or, at least, Central and Eastern Europe - a lot more central than eastern). Occasionally bouncing around in Italy, France, England, and other locations in Europe - once in the Americas. Basically, what I'm saying is that a ton of words have been written, and the series has barely gotten anywhere, nor travelled that far from it's starting location in the Germanies during the 30 years war.

An issue I had more with the side book that followed a cruise ship to ancient Greece, but one that I noticed here again - I do not mind, tremendously, if a story/series decided to be purely heterosexual in nature - or, I meant to say, seemingly asexual. But when so many story lines keep shoving people together, coupling up, etc., it gets tiresome to see m/f, m/f, m/f - man female over and over again. Again, this is a cast of billions. A cast of 10? 20? Sure, fine, 100% heterosexual stories. Whatever. But a cast of 100s? Yeah, some of those people are going to be something other than heterosexual. Again, I don't mind if 'nothing' gets seen that doesn't follow this pattern, if the series had only followed one or 8 people. Wait, no, I meant that plus - felt the need to include romance. I happily read any and everything, heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, asexual, aromantic, etc. etc., it's just that we are at book 30+ here . . .. Hell, there's rapes, there's jokes about 'even the pope screws around in this time period', and I believe we've even encountered a few eunchs, but no-one who wasn't 100% heterosexual.

Except - some of the 'uptime' youngsters are working at doing diplomatic stuff, political stuff, war stuff, in Vienna - and one of the people the uptimers 'work with', 'encounter' has a sister - who suddenly got thrust forward and became a character in her own right. Well, admittedly she started saying and showing signs that others have done before to 'mark' that they have a romantic interest in someone else in this series. It occurred once. And that individual was one of the female uptimers. But even though she was 'stuck' with that other woman for months in a dark cellar region - with the brother and another of the youngsters (not an uptimer but closely working with them), that romantic spark never showed itself again (meanwhile, in this small area, the other two people down there fuck like bunnies).

Right. Normally I'd have had something like 'character x does stuff, continues doing stuff, the end'. But, as noted, there's this massively large cast so I can't really do a 'this is the important person/these are the important people' thing.

Boiled down: The Germanies are continuing their unification under the hands of the Swedish king, and the 'American' uptimers. Both by expanding territory, and by political elections. Oh, and diplomacy and alliances. The Uptimer/Swedish entity is currently at war, in this book, with Poland and Bohemia. But, the book is called 'Ottoman Onslaught'! Yeah, eventually the Ottoman empire makes military advances against Austria-Hungry. Way later in the book than I'd expect for a book with that specific book title.

pfft. poor review.

Rating: 3.65

August 31 2017



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Sincerely Daniella by Eija Jimenez

Sincerely Daniella by Eija Jimenez

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a 'funny' place I find myself in now. At about 36% into the story I made the brilliant and detailed observation in my status updates that "this series turned to crap." I know exactly what made me make that observation but it's one of those things that's so spoiler-y to mention that I don't even want to put it under spoiler tags ((view spoiler)[(view spoiler)[xxx (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]). Of course, once I saw what happened, I immediately looked at the book description - if you haven't yet, don't look (stupid book descriptions including spoilers, mmphs). If you have, then you already know the issue. I, of course, didn't look at the book description before reading.

Right, sorry, that wasn't the funny place. No, it's that I had that thought 36% into the book and . . . seriously want, need, desire to break my own rules and put this book on my six star book shelf (which is supposed to only contain those books that I've both reread and feel are the best of the best). Seriously, I do wish to do that.

I'm not really sure what I can say without being spoiling things. Sure the book description spoils things, but I'm not the book description.

Despite the way the book opens, it continues close to where the previous book ended ((view spoiler)[which ended with Taylor on a plane with massive turbulence issues on the way back to war; picks up with some weird commentary on the what seasons in Rowark Rhode Island are like, though initially looking as if it was a much different season than the previous book ended . . . until it got out of that weird commentary section and let the reader know that it was not that long after that ending (long enough, at least, to receive a letter from Taylor) (hide spoiler)]). Taylor's back among her fellow military unit in Iraq.

Sergeant Briggs has taken over for Sergeant Rick. And Briggs puts up a massive air of hating Taylor. Initially because she is a woman, eventually there's an air of terror created by how Briggs might, might know that Taylor is a lesbian.

Meanwhile Daniella is raising her adopted daughter (Jackie), while working through the procedures to become a foster mother.

Then the thing at 36% occurred and I can't actually continue saying what did or didn't happen.

One 'issue' that I had - I kept reminding myself, and feeling the need to remind myself, that the author is Canadian. Gave me certain breathing room in regards to certain issues that would pop up that I found . . . . odd, but I'd just let slip past (1: Sergeant Briggs is described as being from a long line of Generals and he really desires to become one himself eventually (but . . . but, he's a Sergeant! (there are such things as Mustangs - promoted to Officer side from enlisted side - not that such individuals have much luck raising all the way to General) - he's described as being old-ish (as in, even if he suddenly found himself doing that 'Mustang' thing, he doesn't have enough time to move up to General; 2: a fellow member of Taylor's team joins them in Iraq - he is described has having some family similarities to Briggs (as in long tradition of military service) which leads to - he's a recent graduate of West Point (which is where Briggs would expected to have gone instead of enlisting, especially with the help of the Generals background) . . . and . . . enlisted? West Point graduates officers not enlisted personnel; 3: the third one I can't mention because spoiler - ((view spoiler)[you don't go from Corporal to Captain through 'time in service' - there might be some kind of promotion to Warrant Officer due to circumstances, but not Captain (hide spoiler)]))). But it has been a while since I paid attention, so the Military might have radically changed since I last looked.

Onwards. I have forgotten how I worded it in my review for the prior book. Ah. 'This is a great book all the way around, and I kept having to wipe at my eyes while reading.' This issue continued with this book here.

Loved the book, despite some things I saw along the way, and some words I might have expressed. Great book.

Rating: 5+++

August 17 2017



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Dear Taylor by Eija Jimenez

Dear Taylor by Eija Jimenez

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the first book that I’ve read by this author. I do not specifically recall what road I went down to see it the first time, but something about it made me want to read it immediately upon first viewing. Not sure how long ago that was. For reasons I don’t recall I couldn’t immediately read it right then and there.

And the reasons, vague though they were (and are still somewhat), that lead me to believe that I would enjoy this book turned out to be true. This is a great book all the way around, and I kept having to wipe at my eyes while reading.

The story is told through two point of views – and from their point of views and from their letters. Daniella Melo is a teacher at a school in Rhode Island. At the start of a semester, Daniella hands out information about soldiers fighting overseas. She has an assignment for her huge class of 120 students – write to them. That specific part isn’t as important, since it rarely came up again (the students writing part), but it’s important because someone dropped her class that morning (one of the reasons I’m confused as to which level Daniella teaches at, I thought it was a high school, but the mention of people jumping around, joining and dropping classes to find their best ‘fit’ sounds more like the beginning of a college semester) and Daniella has one extra information sheet left over. Either one soldier isn’t going to get anyone to write to them, or Daniella will take on the task. Before she can think about it, another woman appears and squealing is heard (I’m not actually sure if squealing actually occurs, I forget now, it just seemed fitting). That’d be Tasha (friend who is originally from Britain – ‘the Brit’ is used a lot) and Jackie (Daniella’s adopted daughter).

Eventually, though, Daniella takes on the task of writing a letter and sends it off. Whereupon the story shifts and now we, the reader, are with Taylor, the black woman (yes, that is one of the odd slightly off putting aspects of the story, the author felt the need to constantly say things like that – ‘the black woman glanced over . . . . the black woman stretched . . .’). Taylor’s bouncing around driving a military vehicle and doing stuff. Delivering stuff. Dodging bullets. Eventually she gets back to base and while standing near her bunk, her sergeant pops up and thrusts an envelope at her. She’s confused as no one ever writes her (the only one who might is the one who gave her the letter, Rick, a foster brother – hmm, I was going to get to that but – Taylor was ‘in the system’ and then aged out, she was put into the system at a young age). She somewhat fears the letter but eventually opens it up. And finds a short message from Daniella. And, when she turns the letter over, also a drawing from a 2 year old girl – Jackie. Taylor is quite touched by this, unexpectedly to her, and quickly jots off a reply and sends it off. I’d say ‘and then they communicated back and forth …’ but that didn’t happen. Both wanted that to happen but . . . well, let’s just say ‘complications occurred’, and once complications were overcome they did get to that ‘they sent off letters to each other . . . for about two years, before they meet for the first time in the flesh.’

And they do meet in the flesh. Taylor has a month leave and is staying with Rick in Boston (who is living there now because he’s now out of the military (I’m being vague as . . . how much should I say?)), but Rick knows about Taylor’s letter writing and basically kicks her out . . . gently, to go visit Daniella and Jackie in Rhode Island. Somewhat complicated, though, since this . . . crap, I really should have written this differently.

Meet Taylor – she’s 20 and has been in the military for a short while. When she was 18 she aged out of the foster system and moved to New York. She got a job at a coffee shop and was there when she watched the events unfold at the Twin Towers. She was just close enough to see it up close and personal, just far enough away to be out of the danger zone. She wanted to rush in and help, but only professionals were being allowed in. She continued serving coffee – to survivors, and then to rescue personal. Eventually she leaves and joins the army. Gets posted to Afghanistan. Whereupon, somewhat shortly after arrival, Taylor receives a letter from a woman from Rhode Island. Over time, roughly (maybe exactly) two years, Taylor works in Afghanistan and then in Iraq while receiving and sending letters to Daniella.

Since, and we are back to where I left off, since it’s the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, and since communication between civilians and military personal in a war zone is hard even now, and so . . gah, is this where I was leading up to? Mmphs. Right, so, because of all of that, Taylor doesn’t have any real method of contacting Daniella now that she’s in the USA. She doesn’t have a cell phone, and doesn’t have Daniella’s number even if she did have one. She does have an address but . . . she wants to warn Daniella before just dropping by. And that’s where Rick kicks her out of his place, telling her to just go there.

It was quite a touching scene when Taylor sat in Rick’s car in Daniella’s driveway. Nervous. Then walking up to the house. And having a somewhat messy (from cooking) looking woman answer her knock and wonder who she is – only to learn that it’s the woman she’d been writing letters with. And then Jackie and Taylor were introduced to each other – --..

As noted, it was a month leave that Taylor had. And after that month’s leave was up, Taylor returned to the war. And the letters continued. Both living their lives, now separately, though feeling a connection. Until they meet again, when Taylor received leave. And this continued throughout the rest of the book.

One of the points to stress is that both women learned about the other first through the written word before either meet. They developed a connection before, really, either even know what the other looked like. Though I’ve not actually said anything that isn’t in the book’s description.

Characters: Taylor Phillips, military woman, starts off at the age of 20 when the book opens. Her ‘battle buddy’ is a fella named ‘Christian’, and her foster brother, Rick, just so happened to be her sergeant – neither realizing this would occur when Taylor turned up in Afghanistan.

Daniella Melo – history teacher, mother of Jackie, hints to her age are given, but if it was outright stated I didn’t see it. Her friends include Tasha and . . . well, she’s friendly with co-workers at her school, but she’s closed herself off to a large extent after an event occurred when she was 18.

Setting: Taylor pops around, but is mostly in Afghanistan and Iraq when she’s ‘over there’, then I believe it’s Missouri she’s based at for a brief moment or 8; while Daniella sticks to a small town in Rhode Island.

Time: early to mid-first decade of the 21st century. As in, 2001 to . . . hmms, I don’t actually recall how far we got, but not past 2005 (if we even got up to 2005).

ETA: Oh right. There's something like a cliff-hanger ending (and based on other reviews I've now read, the ending here is different than the ending that was in the fanfiction version (see comment where I noted fanfiction stuff below)). I didn't 'care' because I read this after the second book had already been released. And I already had access to it. And stuff. So . . . yes, there's a cliff-hanger ending.

Rating: 5+

August 17 2017



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Angel in the Whirlwind series by Christopher G. Nuttall

The Oncoming Storm by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Solid science fiction/military fiction/space opera about a young officer who unexpectedly finds themselves as the captain of a space-ship (unexpectedly as in, she hasn't been captain before, and the level of spaceship is several levels higher than her first command should be).

I acknowledge noticing certain 'issues' similar between this first book in a series and the first book in the Honorverse series and note that there are also major differences.



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Falcone Strike by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Falcone Strike was a good continuation of the series and yes you need to read the prior book before reading this one since the series follows the unfolding war between two star empires (well, one’s a ‘Commonwealth’ (with a King), and the other is a Theocracy (with a First Speaker (not actually sure if that’s the head or not)).

And, like in the previous book, I could make comparisons and differences between this book/series and the Weber Honor Harrington series, but they are more vaguely general similarities. Like aliens don’t seem to matter (until the reader is informed otherwise – in Honor’s universe), earth doesn’t matter in the fight (doesn’t exist any longer in this series, and while it exists in Honorverse, it isn’t ‘in’ on the fight), female starship captain who finds themselves in command of a spaceship in a ‘precarious’ situation (system leader for her side is a joke, defensives are poor, the planet is in open revolt, there’s a star nation/empire that ‘might try something’ but, as of yet, aren’t in open warfare . . . until they are). Etc. etc. The ‘natives’ of the ‘main’ Commonwealth systems even ‘look younger’ than they might otherwise because of medical science (just as in Honorverse), while the ‘new allies’ look their age (again, like in both series). But there are no intelligent cats, basically everyone on the ‘other side’ are evil (as opposed to Honorverse where it was more of a conflict between systems, and while one had some ‘bad things’ going for it, the people in general were ‘fighting the good fight’, unlike here where the ‘other side’ is filled with misogynistic assholes); the lead female is in the aristocracy instead of (attempted? I forget now) raped by it; and . . . uh . . . other differences.

Right so, as said, series continued. Kat Falcone, the lead, is back in Commonwealth space forced to do stuff she despises, like go to society parties. The idea being that she’s a war hero and therefore will help ‘rally the people’ to the cause. She isn’t exactly suited to the task, though, and almost gets herself tossed out of the military because of unwise words.

Instead of being tossed out, like several wanted to do to her, Falcone is instead placed at the head of another fleet (she keeps being put at the heads of fleets while constantly just getting ‘temporary’ promotions to fit the role instead of actual promotions). This fleet includes one modern warship (the one she captained in the prior book), and an assortment of crap (old broken down ships that, some of them, literally can no longer fly – and are therefore cannibalized to get the other old ships somewhat closer to being able to fly and fight). Her fleet started off with 30 ‘crap’ ships, and the task force leaves with, roughly, 15 plus Lightning, the modern warship. Their mission – take this fleet of crap that could probably be stopped by a kid with a water gun, and go behind enemy lines. Invade enemy space. And . . . do stuff. Disrupt stuff.

Good interesting read. The ‘bad side’ continue being misogynistic assholes, while Falcone continues needing hugs and f**king her boyfriend – head of the marines on her ship (not graphically described, the f**king).

Rating: 4.33

June 13 2017




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Cursed Command by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Not sure if I should rate this 3.5 or 3.75.

This book showed a new dynamic - one of the point of views from prior books, William McElney, has moved to a command of their own spaceship - away from Kat Falcone. And one of the crew members on McElney's new command, Ucanny (the unluckiest ship in the navy), also has a point of view. And like prior books, there's several POV's given over to the other side of the conflict.

Other than being able to come up with 'brilliant' plans in the heat of the moment, I find myself kind of disliking Falcone and somewhat questioning her abilities. She's whinny, bratty, seemingly incapable of properly acting in certain social situations (basically everything in the civilian world), and shows an inability to keep from making snap prejudicial snap judgements. Rightly or wrongly those judgements might be. On-duty she does stuff that could get her in front of a court-martial (going by herself into dangerous situations; she's a captain of a starship, not wonder woman for fuck sake), off-duty she does stuff that could get her court-martialed - and can/could/somewhat does cause 'issues' on her ship (her constant need to be fucking the head of the marines on her ship). People have needs but for fuck sake . . . do you have any self-control? I mean, Kat's constantly slut-shaming her sister and calling her an air-head and Kat does the things she does? pfft.

Yeah, I didn't like this book as much as I would have liked. And the constant mention of just how young she looks and naive; coupled with the comments about her looking older now . . . (while, I guess, still being naive), got old in the first book. By now? Shesh, we get it already.

Right.

Rating: 3.62

June 15 2017



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Desperate Fire by Christopher G. Nuttall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is difficult to write anything about this book without being spoiler-y. What with it being, as the book description says ‘the fourth and final book in . . . series’ ((view spoiler)[though it is lying; as the end of the book confirms. This isn’t the final book in the series. It is the final book in the story arc. Though I assume the series name will change for the ‘new’ series, so . . . not lying. (hide spoiler)])

Writing seemed good. I sometimes lost track of what the spaceships were doing, but for the most part seemed adequate. Somewhat better, overall, story than the one that occurred in the previous book in the series. One thing that I ‘saw’, an ‘event’ that I knew was going to happen occurred as expected – there was a little too heavy handed foreshadowing there (though a different event came out of the blue for me, though it was foreshadowed . . . three words before it occurred) – it’s a war book, what happens in a war book? But I’ll put behind spoiler tag that (view spoiler)[two significant characters died in this book. One I ‘knew’ was likely to die since his introduction to the series, though didn’t think any specific book would be ‘the one’ until this book here. When a specific event occurred (view spoiler)[marriage proposal (hide spoiler)] that made me nod and think, yep, this book he dies. The other significant character who died in this book might have ‘triggered’ in me more foreshadowing if I had paid closer attention to the part where this was the first time his point of view was given . . . though maybe not (hide spoiler)]).

Sex occurred again. Still mostly described in a ‘and they had sex’ way and less in a graphic way, though there were a few borderline scenes there.

I mean, really, what can I say? I keep thinking of things, but I can’t even hint at the plot, even the beginning plot, because – spoiler (less for this book here, since it builds from the prior books, but for the series as a whole). Um. The people from the prior books continue to advance in their military careers, the war continues. Misogyny and religious fanaticism continues. Including a bit of terrorism.

Oh – one thing I can think of that I think I can say without being spoiler-y. There’s a vague feeling of ‘long ago there was an expansion of the human race – out to the stars. The UN tried to control everything. Things fell apart. The ‘Break-away’ wars occurred, though the main ‘good guys’ star system, was not involved in the ‘Break-away’ wars because of its good solid foundation. Somewhere before, during, or shortly after these break-away wars, the Commonwealth was formed (oh, and during the wars Earth was made uninhabitable). Long . . . long ago. When the current king of Commonwealth’s father was king. So not that really long ago. Really.’ That’s the part I get confused about. How there’s this vague feeling of ‘here’s the history – this stuff happened way in the past.’ Oh, actually, I meant in the prior generation.’ Is it long long ago, or super recent past? No matter. All this stuff occurred before this book here and didn’t really impact the series.

Um. Right. So. Boring review.

Rating: 4.0

June 19 2017




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Vellmar the Blade by Fletcher DeLancey

Vellmar the Blade
by Fletcher DeLancey
Pages: 139
Date: August 3 2016
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: Chronicles of Alsea (5th in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 1 2016

*I received this book from NetGalley and Ylva Publishing in return for a fair review.*

For better or worse I need to start off with a little unfortunate bit of warning. Though it is one that may or may not already be known. While this specific story is the fifth 'thing' released in this series, which includes the short story Projection, it is actually the sixth 'thing' in the series (including short story), or 5th in series order (not including short story). Meaning that there will be a book published later which slots in, chronologically, before this story here.

There’s a blog post, I believe, that mentions what’s going on – that this was done and ready so it got released. Now I do not know how much of the actual fourth book is getting revealed here, maybe nothing much, but I do keep coming across references to things I have no clue about, so there might be more than ‘nothing much’. So if you can wait until book four is released before reading this here, and care about reading things ‘in order’, then that’d probably be best. Otherwise, this is/was a great story (and, again, ‘nothing much’ might have actually been revealed here – well, beyond the stuff one part of the story was giving away, but I’ll mention that next).

So, after that series paragraph section, I move to the structure of this story. There is a bit of ‘Princess Bride’ story telling gimmick going on here, and I specifically mean the part where an older man is telling a story to a kid (two here), nothing more than that. The story alternates – two kids are in bed with a ‘bed time story’ being told to them by their father (grandfather in Princess Bride). The story? Vellmar the Blade.

I’m not specifically sure how far in the future this story is being told, but the way the kids and the father act, their part of the story is far in the future of the events of both Vellmar, and the rest. Their specific part of the story consists of kids mumbling stuff, one or the other talking about how they want warrior like stories, bickering with each other, and the father saying stuff. It was an okay little gimmick, though I could have lived without it. To a certain extent, while it did take me out of the story too much for my own enjoyment/pleasure, it did have an interesting little tidbit of them discussing something that had occurred long ago in a manner subtlety different that what actually had occurred.

The other part of the story is Vellmar’s. And she’s preparing for, then competing in a world games (the kids section called it Global Games or something like that, though I’ve a vague feeling that Vellmar’s people called it something subtlety different).

Vellmar’s section was exciting, thrilling, and, strangely enough, caused a few misty moments on my part. There was a bit of action – sports action, a bit of family interaction, and a tidbit here or there of a tiny bit of romantic stuff (don’t go in looking for that though). Some action with some cats, which, I really enjoyed for maybe obvious reasons (maybe not so obvious reasons).

If only for the romance part, I’d suggest putting this off until the other book appears (though, for all I know, that aspect won’t even get a mention in that book). For all that I love the story, I have to say such. Though I did love it, and if a reader doesn’t mind reading things out of order, I do recommend it, tentatively (it has to be tentatively, since I haven’t read that fourth book yet either).

August 1 2016

Blood of a Traitor by Sandra Barret

Blood of a Traitor
by Sandra Barret
Pages: 164
Date: November 21 2013
Publisher: Bedazzled Ink Publishing Company
Series: Terran-Novan (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: July 20 to 21 2016

This second book in this series and second full length work I've read by this author, (actually, I just remembered everything I've read by this author has been in this is series, including that short story I'd read), follows a different bunch of characters than the prior book in the series.

The first book involved one side of the 'Terran-Novan' conflict, the Terran's. This one focuses on the Novan side. Though from the view point of a 'Terran' (she isn't really a Terran, but a clone made by the Novans from a Terran POW).

Interesting to see 'the other side', though I had been wrong in my previous review - no character from that book appears in this one. In the previous book, the main characters come into contact with some Novan military people on the ground of some unnamed planet. I had this misinterpretation of the plot synopsis for the second book - that it would include one of the Novans from that encounter.

Right, so. Big long number, aka 'Kay', is a Terran clone. She's something like the 9th generation of her line (if letters of the alphabet are to be taken as some sign). Generation might be the wrong word, 9th 'product' might be closer to accuracy.

Kay's line was set up to find out of they can tease out superior tactical abilities as some kind of usable gene/modification. Kay herself doesn't care about that, at least beyond knowing about it - she's more concerned about surviving and keeping her friend Jax alive. She's more the kind to hide her abilities, than to flaunt them.

You can't really say that lesbian nature of the book is unimportant, what with the humping, and the vaguely unsatisfying romance, but it is more of a technicality than anything. Kay's female. She likes humping random pickups. And she's a lesbian. So those pick-ups are female. But the pick-ups themselves do not really play much of a role in this book. The romance part (as in the actual coupling, as opposed to the random hook-up portions), plays a bigger role, but one that is not . . . hmms . . detailed enough to matter that both people involved are female.

Bah. This review is not going anywhere. mmphs.

---
The book opens with Kay and her squad 'doing stuff' in a military operation. Several people are shot/killed/live; the survivors go back to a base. Along the way the reader learns that many of the people involved in the military (at least it seems that way), are, in one way or another, 'owned' by the Nassien corporation. Hmms, strike that '' around owned. They are owned by the Nassiens.

Kay, and several others, like Jax, are people who holds certain genes that are being tested by the Novans. There is a certain amount of political/family infighting going on, and Kay and the others get swept up into it.

Which leads to another character in the book (I'd say 'other lead', but she's a cypher, important enough in her way, but a 'thing' to bounce stuff off of, not specifically her own fully formed character). That other character being Lt Col Nassien. One of Kay's 'owners', and also the person in charge of the military mission that most of the book follows (protecting and defending a genetic bank from the Terrans).

Two things to note about Nassien - people have been attempting to 'take her out' for a while now; and . . . um . . . *whistles, trying to remember other thing*. Oh, right, I wanted somewhere to note that she was/is a Muslim. If, you know, anyone cares to know such things.

Normally I'd change course here by vaguely saying 'the two characters then circled each other for the rest of the book', but no, this is much more of a Science fiction, military fiction book than a romance. Or, more completely, this is a science fiction book with a thread of romance, rather than a Romance book with a thin layer of science fiction.

I still like the first work I read by this author best of all, followed by the first book in this series, and then this book here. A quite entertaining diversion, but more of a fluffy snack than anything else. But then, I like fluffy snacks.

July 22 2016

Face of the Enemy by Sandra Barret

Face of the Enemy
by Sandra Barret
Pages: 216
Date: November 23 2013 (Orig. Published November 10 2007)
Publisher: Bedazzaled Publishing Company
Series: Terran-Novan (1st in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 22 to 23 2016


This is the first book I’ve read by this author, though I have previously read a short story. That short story had been inside an anthology titled Spread the Love. Other than DeLancey, who I’d read before reading the short story in the volume of short stories, Barret is the first author among the six previously unread authors in that collection for me to read.

I liked that short story (rating it 4.72 out of 5 stars), despite it’s rather graphic nature, and had immediately added the first book in the Terran-Novan series because of it. What with that short story being set in the same universe as the series. But enough babbling.

‘Face of the Enemy’ is about two young women, both of whom, at times, act rather immature – but then they are in a stressful situation. Almost constantly. Both are attending a Terran military academy that is training them to be both pilots and officers.

Helena ‘Dray’ Draybeck is the daughter of a General (father) and a Lt Commander (mother). The mother was the commander during the Turien battle, one where many people died. Dray is, somewhat, suffering under two vaguely counter-intuitive burdens. The burden of having a mother who was a great fighter pilot . . . and the burden of being the daughter of someone, again her mother, who caused the death of many people during a large battle. To add to that, there are even rumors that her mother was a traitor. All of that, both the praise and damnation of the mother, occurred before Dray was even four. And, just to top things off, that General father dude is rather a distant kind of guy. Oh, and Dray deeply hates Novans because ‘they killed her mother’.

Jordan ‘no nickname’ Bowers is the daughter of an ambassador (mother), and a dead pacifist philosopher (father). The mother is ambassador to a planet that has, at least so far, remained neutral during the on-again-off-again war between the Terrans and Novans. Unknown to many (most?), while the mother is obvious and overtly a Terran, the father (and this is the unknown to most part) is/was a Novan. Making Jordan half-Novan. It’s basically illegal for her to exist. Heh, no, it’s more that if her nature were known, she would be dishonorably discharged from the military academy during peacetime and face trial as a traitor/spy if her nature was found out during war time.

A little back story. Both Terrans and Novans are from a planet known as ‘Earth’ (though neither Dray nor Jordan are from this planet; this isn’t like Asimov’s Foundation series – Earth is both known and still inhabited, it’s just that both Jordan and Dray live on worlds that were colonized by Earth people). Terrans believe in advancing themselves, augmenting themselves through technology (implants); while Novans believe in advancing/augmenting themselves through genetic modification. I do not know if Novans find technology icky, but Terrans find genetic modification to be really gross. It has been a while now since the two groups split, to the point that Novans are actually a different (sub)species now, one where it is actually pretty damn hard for Terrans and Novans to have ‘natural’ offspring (offspring from natural means, as opposed to . . . whatever ‘f-k procedure’ might be, though I assume some artificial test tube like system is used (Jordan is one of the few ‘natural’ offspring of the two species mating). Novans are classified as Homo Sapiens Novans. I do not know what the Terran’s are classified as, though I assume they are Homo Sapiens Sapiens (or, possibly, because of the heavy use of technology, they have moved on to being a different subspecies; by the way, Neanderthals are also possibly Homo Sapiens, sometimes referred to as Homo Neanderthalensis, or as homo sapiens neanderthalensis depending on the scientist you speak with – depending on whether that scientist sees them as a separate species or as a subspecies of homo sapiens; which I mention because subspecies can have viable offspring – and there is Neanderthal DNA in modern humans; which is directly important to this book here because Jordan exists because Novans are a subspecies of homo sapiens and not a completely different species).

Right. So. I do not know more than that. One uses technology to advance themselves, other use genetics. They occasionally fight each other.

As mentioned, Dray and Jordan are in a military school. The book follows them as they advance, get directly involved in the off-again-on-again war, then continue to advance again. The book is mostly a military academy (in space) kind, with occasional moments of extreme violence, as opposed to a war book. And the next book in the series involves a completely different character (though at least one of the characters popped up in this book), though I am uncertain how close or how far apart the two books are since I have not read the second one yet.

Overall, this was a rather entertaining book. To a certain extent I liked the action/training aspect a lot more than the romance aspect. Though I’m not going to claim that part was thin or something like that, it’s just that it is set against the background of a military situation. And it’s damn difficult to have a romance in such a situation (though, obviously, such things happen in real life – otherwise I myself wouldn’t exist, but let’s not pull myself into this discussion).

I enjoyed the book. A good solid 4 star book. I might even see my way to increasing the rating at some point, though likely only in terms of moving it to 4.5 or something. Good enough that I’ve already acquired the second book in the series (then noticed it involved a different lead character).

Oh right, one last point: yes there is graphic sex in this book.

June 23 2016

The Khyber Connection by Simon Hawke

The Khyber Connection
by Simon Hawke
Pages: 170
Date: October 15 2015 (originally 1986)
Publisher: Self (originally Ace)
Series: TimeWars (6th in series)

Review
Rating: 2.8 out of 5.0
Read: April 23 2016

In this sixth book in the series, we see the fight of the British to expand their empire in the Hindu Kush. Well, they are already there, more like we see an uprising that is religiously driven among the natives of the region against the British.

Into this scenario we have an actual parallel time line impose itself on evens, as opposed to past books that seemed to imply that parallel time-lines weren't possible - or at the very least, that if a time line split, 'it'd be the end of everything'. Well, apparently some of the weapons used by the time comandos packed a mighty punch. Most of which got sent along, vaguely magically, to some distant point. At least that's what they thought. Unbeknownst to them, the energy actually was being sent into a parallel time line - and killing millions. Naturally that time line, when it got the opportunity, launched an actual time war upon those knowingly or unknowingly kiling them.

An interesting enough book. Certain points seemed to have had odd moments of info dumps, which were both odd and unneeded. And then there was the case of Col. Priest for some reason being referred to as Major Priest. He was a Colonel in one or more previous books. A light Colonel, but still, not a Major. Makes me wonder if I've somehow drifted into some third time line.

Oh, and one last note - that whole business involving that Dr. Darkness guy? Quite annoying.

April 23 2016

The Pimpernel Plot by Simon Hawke

The Pimpernel Plot
by Simon Hawke
Pages: 225
Date: April 22 2014 (originally 1984)
Publisher: Self
Series: TimeWars (3rd in series)

Review
Rating: 3.80 out of 5.0
Read: April 4 2016
This is my . . . well; I’m not actually sure how many books I’ve read by Simon Hawke. Both because he is someone who I’d first read long long ago, and because I’ve never actually included everything I’ve read by him on here. Like, did I read his The Romulan Prize? I don’t have it marked on here as read, and I probably didn’t since it is a Star Trek: The Next Generation book and I’d read few of those. Still, maybe I read it at some point.

I do know that I’ve read at least 19 books by Hawke, including this book here, since I’ve marked . . . well, 17 books as read (one is a collection of three novels). So, this book is, at the very least, the 19th book I’ve read by Hawke. Most of those books, with the exception of The Shade Trilogy and the prior two books in the TimeWars series were read in the 1990s and very early 2000s.

I like the concept of the TimeWars books – at least in terms of having a mixture of science fiction and history seen through the lens of people from the 27th century (for the most part) doing ‘stuff’ back in time. I say that I like the concept, instead of using different language, because I am not always happy with the execution. To a certain extent. Maybe I’m just not happy with the tidbits of 27th century that dribble in and maybe because I don’t particularly like either the time agency that the main characters work for or the main characters. Well, I kind of like Andre, so far, and Lucas Priest is bearable. He’s kind of bland. Don’t particularly like Finn though. He’s like a boy in the body of a man who is around 120 years of age (anti-aging drugs keep him from, you know, dying of old age. Or looking old). Or, more accurately, he’s like the caricature of a boy in the body of a man (or, to put that into different words – a man who refuses to grow up.)

I’ve noticed it before, I noticed it in ‘The Pimpernel Plot’, and I noticed it in the current book I’m reading, the next book in the series after ‘The Pimpernel Plot’ – I’m not sure if it is part of the plan of the author’s, I kind of get a hint that it is part of his plan, but the people and politics fighting ‘on the other side’ of these TimeWars seem to be a much better group of people, with logic and reason on their side. Both, in this specific books case, Mongoose, and the people Mongoose were fighting (Cobra and the rest) Cobra and the rest were fighting to maintain their own history, their own timeline, a logical and reasonable thing to do, no? Mongoose was fighting both fighting for his own timeline and, maybe indirectly, maybe directly, against the corruption inherent in his own timeline. Delaney, Priest, and the rest are attempting to keep their own timeline from splintering by ‘making sure history goes the right way’ while at the same time, more seen in the beginnings of the next book having no real problem with the corruption inherent in the system. Apparently. At least in terms of helping, by breaking the rules, their boss have some prizes for his collection like, say, a specific sword, or gun, or etc..

In this specific book, that ‘making sure history goes the right way’ involves the time and events of the French Revolution. During said revolution many people meet their deaths; many of whom were aristocrats. In the original official timeline, there was an agent from England who helped some aristocrats get to freedom in England. He went by the name of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Well, as luck, or the like, would have it, the people of the 27th century have decided that the best way to engage in disputes, to resolve disputes, is to send people back in time and inject them into certain situations. I’m not exactly sure how that works, but the point is that people from the 27th century get sent back in time to join armies and the like.

Well, as might be expected from something like this, someone from the 27th century got sent back in time to the French Revolution. He watched people be beheaded and was sickened. When the crowd moved off to stare at the exit point, at the gate to leave Paris, that 27th century person got carried along. To witness the guards stop suspected and actual aristocrats attempting to flee. Upon learning that a family, with children, had escaped through the gate, the guards get ready to give chase. The person from the 27th century snaps and attacks. Killing or wounding several guards, and some innocent bystanders. One such innocent bystander was the man who was supposed to become the Scarlet Pimpernel. But he’s dead now. (by the way, this is one of the other things one of the ‘other side’ people are fighting – they are fighting against the timewars, no the timewars are not wars between different timelines or the like, it’s wars fought by one specific timeline -> say, for example, McDonalds believes that Burger King stole some food item; instead of fighting over it in the 27th century, they would send people back in time and have them fight there. Thereby almost guaranteeing that they fuck themselves by destroying some tiny little aspect that would cause a ripple effect that would morph things beyond comprehension. I like the idea of mixing time travel and history. The idea of the timewars is one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard of though; as long as ‘you’ stick strongly to the idea of there being one and only one time line (there are some strong real life theories indicating that no, there are multiple timelines/parallel universes, but whatever).

So, getting back to the book, Delaney, Priest, and Andre Cross have been sent back in time to attempt to make sure that the accidental death of the Scarlet Pimpernel doesn’t alter history. They attempt to ‘adjust the disruption’ by putting in one of their own as the Scarlet Pimpernel, in this instance Delaney fills the void.

This was/is an interesting book. I, mostly, enjoyed it. There was a strong romance side plot that was going on that I’ve no idea why it was included. I say that because it was stressed, a lot of time was spent on it, but it kind of poofed by the end of the book. There was a certain direction things seemed to be going, certain amount of love was expressed but it kind of got shrugged at without too much fight A - ’I can stay! Someone will have to live as the Scarlet Pimpernel once the mission is done. I can be that man. We love each other.’ B – ‘The anti-aging drugs will cause you to age at a different rate of the woman and you are too old now to ‘fix’ that specific issue.’ A – ‘Oh, right, well darn. Guess I’ll go have a beer or something.’

Obviously enough, since I mentioned it in passing, I must have liked the book well enough to dive immediately into the next book in the series. So that’s a plus. Despite some underlying negatives pummeling the book (disliking one of the main characters; ‘the other side’ seemed to be in the right; love plot that went nowhere (I might have actually liked Delaney more if he actually had had the balls to stick around and live with the woman who he said he loved, but no, he has no balls (except he does, that's why he keeps going up and down the ranks; so he was out of character here? yes); science babble (there was a lot of crap injected in passing to ‘explain’ the time travel stuff. It was annoying and boring).

April 6 2016

Haraken by S.H. Jucha

Haraken
by S.H. Jucha
Pages: 310
Date: March 1 2016
Publisher: Self
Series: Silver Ships (4th in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: March 17 to 18 2016
My fourth book by this author and the fourth book in this series.

It’s . . um . . six to nine years after the end of the previous book and a new batch of problems have strolled in. They are in a heavily weaponized ship, claim to be from a ‘United Earth’ and would kindly like everyone to join them. Since they arrived in Méridien space first, and Méridien are Méridiens, their attempts to convey this information, and any and all communication are answered with . . . . silence. The Méridiens work on their own time and not even the entrance into their system of a spaceship that looks built for war will change their stance. Heck, they let half their civilization be destroyed the last time their confederation was invaded, why would they change now?

Well, one of the Méridien house leaders is unhappy with how things are playing out and heads off to ask help from someone who has shown that they can handle themselves and threats. Namely Racine, President of Haraken. President Racine proceeds to examine the situation.

The book is a good and interesting continuation of the series. Mostly quite fun and exciting. Just one specific thing that has been a relatively reoccurring issue keeps popping up to annoy the hell out of me – the author likes taking time, and pages and pages of text to give backstories for every little itty bitty character he comes across (well, not really, but he likes suddenly thrusting readers into unimportant characters backstories; the not really has to do with he doesn’t actually give everyone’s backstory). It slows everything down and, quite frankly, I don’t need to know, deeply know, a character that will never again be seen by the reader. Either because they, right after that, die, or because . . . they just disappear from the active story-line.

Otherwise, as I noted, a good continuation to the series. I look forward to the next book.

March 18 2016

The Caphenon by Fletcher DeLancey

The Caphenon
by Fletcher DeLancey
Pages: 400
Date: March 14 2015
Publisher: Ylva Publishing
Series: Chronicles of Alsea (First in the series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: January 6 to January 7 2016

My first book by this author.

I went into this both interested and somewhat concerned. Interested because the story itself sounded interesting. Concerned because everyone seems to love the book (with around 9 exceptions, or in other words, 70% of the people who rated the book, rated it 5 stars).

The book kept my interest from beginning to end. And the interesting little description, turned into an interesting read. If I keep using the word interesting, it will begin to lose its meaning.

If I recall correctly, this is the first science fiction book I’ve been able to get myself to dive into and complete, that involved lesbians (at least one that wasn't based on earth). That lesbian part is/was both important and not important. Though the more important part was the relationship itself, regardless of the person, or genders involved. As in, the issues and conflicts (like, say, conflict of interest), would have been the same regardless of the genders involved, same sex or otherwise. In other words, the nature of the relationship was an important plot point in the story, but the book itself is more of a science fiction book that happens to have a couple making up two of the prominent characters, as opposed to a romance that happens to have a science fiction backdrop. Hopefully I’ve worded this coherently enough.

I went into this book with some vague idea that this was a reformatted, reworded/worked Star Trek Voyager fan fiction novel. I know this author has written those, but I’m not actually sure if this is one or not. My point in bringing this up is that I went into the book with this idea, so that kept popping up in my mind as I was reading. It was more something that would pop up as a remembrance, rather than a ‘ha-ha *points* that’s Voyager like!’ I’ve read 15 Voyager books, and seen, I believe, all episodes of the television series. Though I’ve a vague recollection that somewhere along the way I might have skipped an episode here or there. I write all this to note that I wish I hadn’t had this vague idea before I went into the book. Because it served as an unneeded distraction. This specific book here works quite well on its own merits. And the book was, obviously enough not a Star Trek book (obvious as in it uses different words for things, like Protectorate instead of Federation; and while it had something of that ‘seeding alien race’ thing that popped up on Star Trek the Next Generation, that isn’t a theme that only appears in Star Trek, it’s also in other science fiction universes (there’s a whole series of Larry Niven books that involve both a seeder race, and seeded races)). There were similarities but this had its own little self-contained universe to play in.

Well, the book itself, or, I mean, the story – the book opens as a watcher type watches a screen, watching stuff fall onto a planet. His planet. He is all excited because He’ll be able to direct various scientists to great finds. Then more falling objects appear. Then one breaks apart into tiny bits, while the other continues to fall. And is really really huge. And is headed directly towards a city. People are warned, specifically one Lancer Tal, evacuation orders are begun to be ordered. Then something strange occurs – the object looks as if it is starting to glide away from the city. Though it will still land nearby.

Lancer Tal and a group of guards head out to the crash site. And stare at what appears to be an alien ship. One long running question has been answered. Aliens do in fact exist. Tal watches as three figures stumble out of a hatch onto the ship and begin the slow process of walking across the ship down a ladder.

Lancer Tal comes face to face with Captain Serrado. It’s a relatively slow process but eventually the nature of who and what these ‘aliens’ are discussed and revealed. They are Gaians. And they accidentally ended up on their planet because their fusion core was about to explode. Damaged, as it was, during a battle against a third group of aliens, the Voloth (sp?). The Voloth were there to invade and conquer. The Gaians had been there to observe the Alseans (that being the name of the planet), and intervened when Voloth forces attacked.

First contact occurs among these ‘primitive’ Alseans and these Gaians (I don’t actually recall Alsean actually being used in the book, though it might have been). The primitives turn out to be a lot less primitive than expected.

This is a book that feels longer than it actually is, at least I felt that way when I was at the 40% mark. I don’t mean that in a bad way. More in that a lot of stuff, interesting stuff, was happening.

Hmms. I should probably scrap this write up and start over. I’m not really doing a great job conveying what I want to convey. I say this knowing I’ll probably just leave it as is. But hey, I might come back and ‘fix this’ later.

I liked this book. I might read the next book in this series immediately. Haven’t determined that yet.

January 7 2016

Dakiti by E.J. Fisch

Dakiti
by E.J. Fisch
Pages: 353
Date: May 29 2014
Publisher: Transcendence Publishing

Review
Rating: 2.8 out of 5.0
Read: June 4 to June 23 2015

On phone so this review will be likely crap.

It probably could have been a much better book if one of two things had been the case: (1) Aroska or . whatever his name was didn't exist or, probably better (2) POV stuck with Ziva.

The Ziva sections were much better. Maybe around 4 stars. Aroska's sections were around 1 or 1 1/2 stars. I could not stand that moron. He seems to do everything wrong, has a massive chip on his shoulder, leaks secrets like a leaky balloon, and worse yet, just plain rubs me the wrong way.

As it is, hmms, a rating of 2 and a half stars? 3?

By the way - - I didn't actually realize Ziva and Aroska were in the police. Their organization seemed much more like a military one. Only two reasons lead me to realize they were not in a military organization: I read something in a thread somewhere noting that they were not military and there is a scene wherein the military was called in. If you are in the military saying that a different organization is being called in, and calling them "the military" seems weird. I know that the description noted that Aroska was in the special police, but I either didn't catch that the first time, or - didn't take that to necessarily mean that it wasn't a military organization (there are many police like organizations inside the military).