Darkroot
(The Rhyme of the Willow series, Book 1)
Justin Sullivan and Samuel Sullivan
3DAL, LLC
Fiction, YA Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Since passing through the willow into the dark, dangerous world of the Garden, Axton and Aniva Rhyme have slowly adapted to a world with no sunlight and no animal life: only humans, a fanastic variety of plants, and plant-infected humans known as Wilds. While Axton still seeks clues to their lost parents' whereabouts, Aniva considers his search a waste of time, still full of anger at being abandoned. Besides, they're hardly the same children their parents once knew. Both have been irrevocably transformed since the Green Witch pulled them through the willow - literally. Infected by Wilds, they are now Crows, transforming into winged, shadow-feeding beings whenever they are in darkness. Aniva carries the extra curse of the Blood Demon, changing into an unstoppable monster at the mere sight of blood. The humans of the Lighthavens fear and hate all Wilds, driving them from their midst and killing them without hesitation... a hatred that might soon be repaid in blood.
Following a clue left by the ever-cryptic Green Witch, Axton and Aniva travel to the powerful Lighthaven of Fire Grove. Here, Axton hopes to find his parents, or at least a fresh trail to follow... a hope tempered by fear of what would happen if he and his sister were found out as Wilds. Fire Grove's populace hates Wilds with a passion, all too ready to start a witch hunt to protect themselves. But fear of discovery soon becomes the least of the Rhyme children's worries, as lethal Darkroots strike in the very heart of the Lighthaven.
REVIEW: The second installment in this trilogy picks up fairly close to where the previous book left off, with just enough refreshers in the narrative to remind the reader where things stand. Once I got my bearings again, I was off on another fast, wild adventure with the Rhyme twins. Some old allies (and rivals) follow them to Fire Grove, and they pick up some new ones along the way, each with a little more to them than is initially revealed. The Rhyme children have both grown and changed, though they still have more to learn about this world and themselves. The Garden continues to present fresh wonders and dangers to explore. It almost earned itself another half-star, until I hit the abrupt cliffhanger of an ending. I'm not sure how the Sullivans intend to wrap up the many threads of the trilogy in one more book, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Everworld series (K. A. Applegate) - My Review
Coraline (Neil Gaiman) - My Review
The 100 Cupboards trilogy (N. D. Wilson) - My Review
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Arcana Universalis: Terminus (Chris J. Randolph)
Arcana Universalis: Terminus
(Arcana Universalis, Part 1)
Chris J. Randolph
Oktopod Digital Press
Fiction, Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: For thousands of years, under the reign of the glorious emperor Spiritus LXX, human civilization has stretched across the stars. With magic as the backbone of technology, the rule of arcanists stands unchallenged by man or alien... save a few heretic races, backwards and violent people hardly worth mentioning. But, as all stars eventually collapse, all empires must fall. The reign of Spiritus, and perhaps humanity itself, now stands upon that brink, though it does not yet know it.
The apprentice boy Caleb barely made it through his education at the Academy; his second sight is weak, and he barely commands any native power. Marginal as his talents are, and dim as his prospects for future employment seem, at least he has it better than the ungifted masses. Still, sometimes it's hard to remember to be grateful, especially during his grueling externship aboard the starship Ashkalon, where he's more likely to be shoveling out the lifestock pens than actually studying magic. When the ship is diverted to investigate a possible crash site, at least it's a break from the routine. But this seemingly benign detour may have dire consequences, for the crew of the Ashkalon and the empire - not to mention the boy Caleb.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: The first part of a longer work, Arcana Universalis: Terminus sets up an imaginative, intriguing world, where magic has replaced far-future technology. Through Caleb, the reader explores a starship powered by arcane arts, and gets a taste of the empire behind this anachronistic wonder. Unfortunately, Terminus ends just before it establishes the story arc for the whole Universalis project... an arc hinted at, in somewhat grandiose prose, during the prologue. It was frustrating, to hit the end when I felt the story itself had barely begun. Still, Randolph's world intrigued me enough that I expect I'll read on, at least through the second installment (which, like this one, was a freebie download.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragons in the Stars (Jeffrey A. Carver) - My Review
Starclimber (Kenneth Oppel) - My Review
Larklight (Philip Reeve) - My Review
(Arcana Universalis, Part 1)
Chris J. Randolph
Oktopod Digital Press
Fiction, Fantasy
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: For thousands of years, under the reign of the glorious emperor Spiritus LXX, human civilization has stretched across the stars. With magic as the backbone of technology, the rule of arcanists stands unchallenged by man or alien... save a few heretic races, backwards and violent people hardly worth mentioning. But, as all stars eventually collapse, all empires must fall. The reign of Spiritus, and perhaps humanity itself, now stands upon that brink, though it does not yet know it.
The apprentice boy Caleb barely made it through his education at the Academy; his second sight is weak, and he barely commands any native power. Marginal as his talents are, and dim as his prospects for future employment seem, at least he has it better than the ungifted masses. Still, sometimes it's hard to remember to be grateful, especially during his grueling externship aboard the starship Ashkalon, where he's more likely to be shoveling out the lifestock pens than actually studying magic. When the ship is diverted to investigate a possible crash site, at least it's a break from the routine. But this seemingly benign detour may have dire consequences, for the crew of the Ashkalon and the empire - not to mention the boy Caleb.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: The first part of a longer work, Arcana Universalis: Terminus sets up an imaginative, intriguing world, where magic has replaced far-future technology. Through Caleb, the reader explores a starship powered by arcane arts, and gets a taste of the empire behind this anachronistic wonder. Unfortunately, Terminus ends just before it establishes the story arc for the whole Universalis project... an arc hinted at, in somewhat grandiose prose, during the prologue. It was frustrating, to hit the end when I felt the story itself had barely begun. Still, Randolph's world intrigued me enough that I expect I'll read on, at least through the second installment (which, like this one, was a freebie download.)
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragons in the Stars (Jeffrey A. Carver) - My Review
Starclimber (Kenneth Oppel) - My Review
Larklight (Philip Reeve) - My Review
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Shelly's Second Chance (L B Swan and Hope Chandler)
Shelly's Second Chance
(The Wish Granters series, Book 1)
L B Swan and Hope Chandler
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, Fantasy/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Alanna met her fate in the form of a rogue wave while bodysurfing off Florida. Joe barely saw the truck that broadsided him into the next world. Now, they wake in a place called Transition, with little memory of their former lives. What happens next depends on how they handle the task they've been assigned: wish granters, ghostly guardians who help grant a person's single wish. It sounds simple enough, but nothing in life - or the afterlife - is ever easy.
Shelly came from humble roots, and - despite having a great job and a perfect fiance - is still waiting for her big win. Oh, she's not like those problem gamblers, the sad sacks at those Gamblers Anonymous meetings that Ben insisted she attend when he found out about her hobby. She's smarter than that, using her prodigal math skills to develop a system that, statistically, should be paying off any day. When she spends her engagement money on dud lottery tickets, she just knows Ben will be so furious he'll call off their marriage. If she could have one wish in the world, she'd hit her jackpot, so she could show him, and herself, that she isn't just wasting her money like a hopeless addict.
As Joe and Alanna work to help their first client, Shelly, they quickly learn that their job as wish granters is much harder than it appears... especially when Shelly's choices spark memories of their own forgotten lives - and deaths.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: Though this story started reasonably fast, it took me a little while to warm to it. The idea of ghosts paying off debts by helping the living is hardly new, and the pseudo-religious overtones made me leery. I've also had poor luck with romance-based titles in the past; this may not be a bodice-ripper or a One True Love story, but relationships and love form the heart of the tale, making it a romance in my book. Fortunately, the authors focus more on the characters than the theology. Shelly starts out a fairly typical addict in denial, but slowly earns sympathy as more of her story reveals itself. Joe and Alanna start out knowing little more than the reader about themselves; as they begin remembering their pasts, they develop into their own characters, finding themselves both fascinated and bewildered at how they treated their own brief, precious gift of life. The overall story arc may have had a fairly predictable outcome, but I cared enough about the people not to let that bother me. Shelly's story wraps up in this book, but Joe and Alanna are just beginning their adventures in the afterlife.
All in all, this one exceeded my expectations. I'd even consider following the series through another book... especially if it ever turns up as a freebie download.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Bright Shadow (Avi) - My Review
The Wish List (Eoin Colfer) - My Review
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
(The Wish Granters series, Book 1)
L B Swan and Hope Chandler
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, Fantasy/Romance
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Alanna met her fate in the form of a rogue wave while bodysurfing off Florida. Joe barely saw the truck that broadsided him into the next world. Now, they wake in a place called Transition, with little memory of their former lives. What happens next depends on how they handle the task they've been assigned: wish granters, ghostly guardians who help grant a person's single wish. It sounds simple enough, but nothing in life - or the afterlife - is ever easy.
Shelly came from humble roots, and - despite having a great job and a perfect fiance - is still waiting for her big win. Oh, she's not like those problem gamblers, the sad sacks at those Gamblers Anonymous meetings that Ben insisted she attend when he found out about her hobby. She's smarter than that, using her prodigal math skills to develop a system that, statistically, should be paying off any day. When she spends her engagement money on dud lottery tickets, she just knows Ben will be so furious he'll call off their marriage. If she could have one wish in the world, she'd hit her jackpot, so she could show him, and herself, that she isn't just wasting her money like a hopeless addict.
As Joe and Alanna work to help their first client, Shelly, they quickly learn that their job as wish granters is much harder than it appears... especially when Shelly's choices spark memories of their own forgotten lives - and deaths.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: Though this story started reasonably fast, it took me a little while to warm to it. The idea of ghosts paying off debts by helping the living is hardly new, and the pseudo-religious overtones made me leery. I've also had poor luck with romance-based titles in the past; this may not be a bodice-ripper or a One True Love story, but relationships and love form the heart of the tale, making it a romance in my book. Fortunately, the authors focus more on the characters than the theology. Shelly starts out a fairly typical addict in denial, but slowly earns sympathy as more of her story reveals itself. Joe and Alanna start out knowing little more than the reader about themselves; as they begin remembering their pasts, they develop into their own characters, finding themselves both fascinated and bewildered at how they treated their own brief, precious gift of life. The overall story arc may have had a fairly predictable outcome, but I cared enough about the people not to let that bother me. Shelly's story wraps up in this book, but Joe and Alanna are just beginning their adventures in the afterlife.
All in all, this one exceeded my expectations. I'd even consider following the series through another book... especially if it ever turns up as a freebie download.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Bright Shadow (Avi) - My Review
The Wish List (Eoin Colfer) - My Review
The Quill Pen (Michelle Isenhoff) - My Review
Monday, August 13, 2012
Secrets to Writing Your First eBook and Getting It Online (Haphiza Baboolal)
Secrets to Writing Your First eBook and Getting It Online
Haphiza Baboolal
Amazon Digital Services
Nonfiction, Business/Writing
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: These days, it seems like everyone has an eBook available on Amazon, covering all manner of subjects, from the frivolous to the serious. Do you have something to add? The author explains how to choose a topic, conduct research, format, and upload an eBook using free tools found online.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: I'm a little torn on my rating. Granted, this is not an in-depth book on writing, or on marketing. At only 11 pages, it outlines the bare bones of e-publishing simple self-help titles, and nothing more. However, in all honesty, this is all Baboolal promises. He explains the process simply enough, though I can't help suspecting that there's a little more to it than what he describes here. If nothing else, with slapdash how-to eBooks flooding the virtual shelves, standing out among the pack isn't nearly as easy as the brief marketing section here indicates. There are also several editing and syntax errors, though not nearly so many (or so glaring) as other titles I've read.
Even though I'm not fond of the "crank out a Google-researched advice book, rake in the income" mentality that eBooks like this perpetuate, I cannot fault it for being what it is. That, and that alone, spared it a flat Bad rating.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Moonlighter's Guide to Online Writing for Immediate Income (Connie Brentford) - My Review
Write a F*$%ing Book Already (Jim Kukral) - My Review
Profit from the eBook Revolution (Bob Perry) - My Review
Haphiza Baboolal
Amazon Digital Services
Nonfiction, Business/Writing
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: These days, it seems like everyone has an eBook available on Amazon, covering all manner of subjects, from the frivolous to the serious. Do you have something to add? The author explains how to choose a topic, conduct research, format, and upload an eBook using free tools found online.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: I'm a little torn on my rating. Granted, this is not an in-depth book on writing, or on marketing. At only 11 pages, it outlines the bare bones of e-publishing simple self-help titles, and nothing more. However, in all honesty, this is all Baboolal promises. He explains the process simply enough, though I can't help suspecting that there's a little more to it than what he describes here. If nothing else, with slapdash how-to eBooks flooding the virtual shelves, standing out among the pack isn't nearly as easy as the brief marketing section here indicates. There are also several editing and syntax errors, though not nearly so many (or so glaring) as other titles I've read.
Even though I'm not fond of the "crank out a Google-researched advice book, rake in the income" mentality that eBooks like this perpetuate, I cannot fault it for being what it is. That, and that alone, spared it a flat Bad rating.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Moonlighter's Guide to Online Writing for Immediate Income (Connie Brentford) - My Review
Write a F*$%ing Book Already (Jim Kukral) - My Review
Profit from the eBook Revolution (Bob Perry) - My Review
Sunday, August 12, 2012
The Imaginality of Somewhere (Someone)
The Imaginality of Somewhere
(The Imaginality series, Volume 1)
Someone
CreateSpace
Fiction, YA Fantasy
*+ (Terrible/Bad)
DESCRIPTION: Many city kids, forced to move to a farm in the middle of nowhere, would be angry, or at least depressed, but not Ellie and Thomas. This farm once belonged to their great-grandmother Grathie; she used to tell them stories about a hidden magical world, known as Somewhere, that could be found in just such a place. Ellie, ever the adventurer, just knows Somewhere is real, and can't wait to find it, despite the skepticism of her more rational twin brother. Even learning that the farmland hasn't produced a viable crop in decades can't dampen her enthusiasm. When the kids stumble upon the key to the magical portal, they can hardly believe they're standing inside Grathie's stories... only Somewhere isn't the paradise their great-grandmother described. Something's gone wrong in the magical world, and it's up to Ellie and Thomas to set things right.
REVIEW: I think this may be the quintessential Fluffy Bunny story. It's composed of generic, snap-together components, like the Brainy Boy, the Brave Girl, the Mysterious Stranger, the Magical World and its Friendly Denizens, and so forth, held together with sugar and bubblewrap. The children seem to have sprung into existence simply to have this magical adventure; they don't miss television or the Internet, and actually carry fully-loaded backpacks of "adventure gear" (color-coordinated with their compass wristwatches) like characters out of a bad Saturday morning cartoon series. For that matter, their parents seem several degrees too foolish to function as adults, somehow convinced that they can turn a profit off a nonproductive farm when top-scientist Dad can't even figure out how a tractor works. Somewhere is one of those worlds unique to Fluffy Bunny fantasies, where the dense yet helpful residents suffer for years, decades even, under problems that underage outside visitors resolve in a single afternoon's light questing. Everyone's a friend except for the villain, and even he really isn't so bad after a good, firm talking-to by the heroes. Sinking this tale further in the ratings, the author (the ever-so-cleverly pseudonymed "Someone") not only repeats herself incessantly, but gets far too clever for her own good with the narrative. Still, I suppose there must be an audience for this sort of bland, no-calorie snack of a story... somewhere.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Gregor the Overlander (Suzanne Collins) - My Review
Shadowbloom (Justin Sullivan and Samuel Sullivan) - My Review
The Castle in the Attic (Elizabeth Winthrop) - My Review
(The Imaginality series, Volume 1)
Someone
CreateSpace
Fiction, YA Fantasy
*+ (Terrible/Bad)
DESCRIPTION: Many city kids, forced to move to a farm in the middle of nowhere, would be angry, or at least depressed, but not Ellie and Thomas. This farm once belonged to their great-grandmother Grathie; she used to tell them stories about a hidden magical world, known as Somewhere, that could be found in just such a place. Ellie, ever the adventurer, just knows Somewhere is real, and can't wait to find it, despite the skepticism of her more rational twin brother. Even learning that the farmland hasn't produced a viable crop in decades can't dampen her enthusiasm. When the kids stumble upon the key to the magical portal, they can hardly believe they're standing inside Grathie's stories... only Somewhere isn't the paradise their great-grandmother described. Something's gone wrong in the magical world, and it's up to Ellie and Thomas to set things right.
REVIEW: I think this may be the quintessential Fluffy Bunny story. It's composed of generic, snap-together components, like the Brainy Boy, the Brave Girl, the Mysterious Stranger, the Magical World and its Friendly Denizens, and so forth, held together with sugar and bubblewrap. The children seem to have sprung into existence simply to have this magical adventure; they don't miss television or the Internet, and actually carry fully-loaded backpacks of "adventure gear" (color-coordinated with their compass wristwatches) like characters out of a bad Saturday morning cartoon series. For that matter, their parents seem several degrees too foolish to function as adults, somehow convinced that they can turn a profit off a nonproductive farm when top-scientist Dad can't even figure out how a tractor works. Somewhere is one of those worlds unique to Fluffy Bunny fantasies, where the dense yet helpful residents suffer for years, decades even, under problems that underage outside visitors resolve in a single afternoon's light questing. Everyone's a friend except for the villain, and even he really isn't so bad after a good, firm talking-to by the heroes. Sinking this tale further in the ratings, the author (the ever-so-cleverly pseudonymed "Someone") not only repeats herself incessantly, but gets far too clever for her own good with the narrative. Still, I suppose there must be an audience for this sort of bland, no-calorie snack of a story... somewhere.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Gregor the Overlander (Suzanne Collins) - My Review
Shadowbloom (Justin Sullivan and Samuel Sullivan) - My Review
The Castle in the Attic (Elizabeth Winthrop) - My Review
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