Monthly Archives: November 2013

Silent Symmetry

Book Review of J.B. Dutton’s Silent Symmetry (The Embodied Trilogy #1)

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Silent SymmetryAuthor, J.B. Dutton sent me an ecopy of his novel Silent Symmetry.

Long Description from Goodreads:
The Embodied glide through the busy streets of New York, uttering barely a sound.

Their eerie beauty comes from their perfect symmetry. Are they flawless humans, the epitome of evolution? Are they a genetically modified super-race? Are they extra-terrestrials? Once prep school student Kari Marriner becomes aware of their existence, she is driven to find the answer and finds herself ensnared in a web that reaches further than she could possibly have imagined.

Kari’s earliest memory is her father’s death in a car crash back in small-town Wisconsin. Now, 12 years later, her mother has been hired by a pseudo-religious organization in Manhattan called the Temple of Truth (a.k.a. the ToT). At Chelsea Prep, Kari develops a crush on classmate Cruz. But when she realizes that Noon, another attractive guy at school, is involved with the ToT, her curiosity gets the better of her.

Kari stumbles upon a secret tunnel leading from her apartment to another in the building, where an ancient book holds images she can scarcely believe, and a cavernous room contains… something inexplicable. As Kari pieces together the incredible evidence, she discovers that the ToT is run by other-worldly beings called The Embodied who influence human behavior and have established a global long-term human breeding program. But why? And what is her role in all this?

Just as she starts wondering whether the love she feels for Cruz is genuine or if her emotions are being controlled by The Embodied, her mother is kidnapped and Kari has to figure out who is human, who is Embodied, and who she can count on to help rescue her mother.

Somewhat spoilerish Review:
Silent Symmetry has an interesting premise and I enjoyed that about it. I also enjoyed Mr. Dutton’s writing. However, there were also quite a few aspects of the book that left me baffled.

First and foremost, the clues that Kari followed in order to recognise that there was a mystery to the Emboldened seemed nonexistent. I get that a lot of it was supposed to be gut instinct, the lizard brain so to speak, on Kari’s part. Though that left very little for the reader to follow and go, ‘oh yea, that is weird, I wonder…’ I had the exact same response to her feelings for both Cruz and Noon. They glanced at each other and BAM! Suddenly there were emotions flying all over the place, abrupt kisses, and even the occasional he “cares about me.” Um…how does she know? Again, that lizard brain is whispering to her, but it left me lost. 

The character descriptions seemed a bit on the light side too. I honestly don’t know what a single one of them was supposed to look like, except that Cruz was of Puerto Rican decent and therefore dark complected. As a result, I had a hard time visualising any of them. 

Next, some of the language made me want to scratch my eyes out. Things like Oh. Em. Gee—Not OMG or Oh My God, but Oh. Em. Gee. Yes, it’s teenager speak, but it’s wrong teenager speak (in my opinion, at least). Then there was the whole Eff thing. Eff or Effing was used instead of Fuck or Fuckin’. Every time this came up I found it jarring. Not just because it seemed out of place, or because it was so frequently used, or even because that’s kind of a linguistic habit one person might have, but not multiple characters, but because other curse words were used without alteration. I counted crazy-ass, ass, shit and shitting. So why not Fuck?

Lastly, since this is the first in a series the book ended without me feeling like I had any real resolution. I kind of followed who the Emboldened were, but not really what they wanted with Kari. Is it the same thing that the Rebels wanted with her? If so, what was all the fighting about? And what of poor Cruz? Is his position secure? What of Emily? The book ended on a cliffhanger, not a seriously precipitous one, but still too early for the reader to feel any real sense of conclusion. This never makes me happy. 

Again, the book is well written. I don’t remember any real editorial issues. The plot seems interesting and the cover is eye catching. So even though I have some complaints I’m not really disparaging the book. It’s worth picking up.

Clearing Off the Short Story Shelf

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You know, I keep saying I don’t read short stories. But people keep sending them to me and I always feel too bad to just ignore them. So I end up reading them in the end. Maybe I should just give up and admit I read them, even if begrudgingly.

Feast, Stray, LoveI received a request from Kevin Anthony to read Feast, Stray, Love . Since both the first and second were free on Amazon at the time, I figured why not.

#1:

I’ll be honest and say the story borders on the absurd. But sometimes that can be a lot of fun. This is one of those times. I rather enjoyed poor Damien’s continued frustration, he and Ben’s love, the series of abrupt and unexpected events, and the interesting plot that seems to be developing. Unfortunately, being as I’m not a HUGE short story fan to start with, I’m fundamentally opposed to short stories that don’t actually end. Isn’t a series of interconnected, conclusionless short stories better called chapters…of a book? Given my feelings on the matter I was disappointed to get to the last ‘page’ only to discover that it wasn’t the end of the actual story. This is my primary complaint though. The writing is fairly smooth, the tone often sarcastic, and the characters pleasantly engageable.

#2

This second instalment of Feast, Stray, Love picks up shortly after the end of the first. Damien has moved to a neighbouring town, manages to find himself in yet another fine mess and apparently hasn’t been able to avoid The Factory’s reach. Though the novella could use a little more editing, I still really enjoy Anthony’s writing and characters. But the story seems to be splintering a little bit. I’m not certain what Caleb and the pastor’s drama has to do with the original plot. I’m also left wondering how The Factory is getting away with what it is doing. It doesn’t seem very well hidden. Lastly, Damien has developed a rather startling ability, but never batted an eyelash at it. Seriously, who’s that calm about something like that? (But you’ll have to read the story to know what I mean.)

The Grey ElkI’ve had Kevis Hendrickson‘s The Grey Elk on my list for a while. I downloaded it from Smashwords, I’m fairly sure it was during one of the seasonal sales (read for free).

The story is less than 15 pages long, so there isn’t really time for much to develop. However, I was impressed with how much Hendrickson managed to relay in so few words. The language leans toward some version of oldish English (I guess). It’s full of word like ere and erst. It fits the fairytale-like telling of the story, but I found it also felt artificial. I’ve previously read one of Hedrickson’s Sci-fi books (Rogue Hunter: Quest of the Hunter). I’ll be honest and say I apparently prefer his space opera to his fantasy. But he certainly knows how to write.

Dark Bites

I grabbed Dark Bites, by T.C. Harley, from Smashwords. It’s a freebie.

This is not a short story. At 19 pages, it is, at best, the first couple chapters of a longer piece. Even if I had been impressed by the writing, the plotting, the characterisation, etc I would be extremely dissatisfied with such a short, incomplete piece of something more. It’s pointless on it’s own for anything other than tempting you to seek out the next bit of story. This does not please me. As it stands, I thought that the writing was OK. The story looks like it could be an OK YA piece. But how could I know? I only got to read the first 19 pages of it.

indestructibleI grabbed Elkica Lond‘s Indestructible from the Amazon free list. It’s also free on Smashwords. 

There were a lot of things I liked about this story. I liked the use of Judeo-Christian mythology without even a whiff of proselytization. I like the subtly. There were a number of things that you were never told directly, but the events and contexts told you. I liked the fun way the genders of some well-known characters were swapped around. What I didn’t like was that that it felt incomplete. Even the title, Indestructible, is predicated on an event that the importance of is never explained. I think this would be much better as a longer piece. But as it stands it’s still pretty entertaining.

Review of Michael Wharton’s Electric Pigs

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Electric PigsAuthor, Michael Wharton sent me an ecopy of his new novel Electric Pigs.

Description from Goodreads:
Stan Wragg is sublimely happy in his life as a slaughter man’s mate, stunning section, second rate. He was born to zap pigs, and fate has kindly arranged for him to be employed in that exact capacity at Hopes abattoir in Drearly, just north of Birmingham. Everything is as it should be and all is well with the world, until one day, malign and cruel forces outside of Stan’s control or comprehension decide that things must change.

Review:
Oh, this is a hard book to review. It’s strange. I mean, like, WTF weird. It also mercilessly refuses to allow anyone to avoid, ignore, or sweep away human ugliness. It’s there, and Electric Pigs doesn’t let you forget it for an instant. And while there were moments in which I considered declaring it a pretentious piece of pseudo-intellectualism disguised as ironic absurdism, that wouldn’t be fair to it. It simply isn’t, and not just because a meaningful conclusion is eventually reached.

I would hazard a guess that forcing the reader to face the generally and socially ignored grotesque that surrounds us is part of the author’s goal. I’m not going to pretend to know this for certain, but it’s certainly how I read it.

While I could have done without Stan’s inventive solution to constipation, or half the descriptions of human bloatedness, or the somnolent bestialitism fantasy play, the book wouldn’t have been the same without them. And Stan’s innocent, child-like splendour wouldn’t have had the grimy backdrop on which to shine. Stan makes all of the horridness of his environment worth suffering through. He and his admittedly dysfunctional and cognitively deficient family are marvellous.

This book won’t be for everyone. Heck, having read it I’m not even sure it’s for me. It’s not an easy read, and I suspect the audience will be limited by its focus on the repugnant as well as the number of people who are able to look past the seemingly juvenile obsession with sex and fecal matter. There will undoubtedly be those who do deem it a ‘pretentious piece of pseudo-intellectualism.’ I’m just not one of them. I’m fairly certain I found meaning in the apparent randomness.

For those who can look past its ugliness, Electric Pigs presents a well-written, snuggly plotted piece of literary fiction. I sincerely hope that it can find the appropriate audience in front of which to stand tall and garner the praise it deserves.