Category Archives: book review

Book Review of Lyn Lowe’s Burnt

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BurntI won a copy of Lyn Lowe‘s novel, Burnt, from Disincentive Reviews.

Description from Goodreads:
Fate rips Kaie from the life he planned and thrust him into a world of slavery and casual brutality. Faced with the destruction of everything he knew and hiding from a society that turns those born with magic into mindless creatures called Hollows, he’ll have to discover the difference between being a good man and surviving a bad situation. The gods themselves have turned their cruel attention to teaching him the true meaning of sacrifice, in all its horrible forms. He will be forged in fire and death, and everything he loves is up for grabs. For he is the Catalyst… 

“You will see everything you care about ripped away five times. You will lead men into battle five times, three will leave you broken. You will murder five who deserve it and five who do not. You will die five times. You are the phoenix who will father dragons.”

Review:
I won this book some times ago and should probably start off by apologising for taking so very long to read it. Having finished it I can honestly say that it deserves some reader attention. There’s a really good story developing in this book. I imagine as an epic series it will be quite something, but as a stand alone book it seems to be lacking a little something.

It starts out well. The reader meets the main character and his two best friends, there’s a pretty potent prophesy or destiny handed down to him and then almost immediately slavers come to the village and….and everything essentially comes to a screeching halt. Didn’t see that coming? Me either. Right where you think the action is going to really pick up it drops down and dragggggs. I’m not saying that nothing happens, quite a bit happens. If this book was 600+ pages long and written just as it is I would have no complaints. Then this whole slow, adjusting to slavery section would be the middle third instead of the last two thirds of the book. But it’s not, which means that after being tempted with the promise of action and heroics we are then given emotional turmoil and the daily tasks of a slave. Even the introduction of the Hollows mentioned in the description is literally introduced in the last 5 or so pages.

The whole thing also feels very Greek. There is a lot of people sacrificing themselves to save their loved ones only to subsequently destroy them with the same well-intended actions. It was all very heart breaking and tragic. There isn’t a lot of happy time to counter all of the dark moments either.

I found myself wondering at the intended audience. It reads very much like a YA book with one major exception, sex. As a YA book you wouldn’t really expect there to be any and there isn’t any actual sex depicted. The reader just knows that it has occurred. Its use is one of the most interesting aspects of the book. It’s not very often that an author is able to successfully present subtly different uses of sex, sex as a weapon, sex as conciliation, sex as a good-bye. But Lowe manages that here without even seeming to try. I would almost call this a sub-theme of the book. I enjoyed it, but couldn’t really reconcile it with the tone of the rest of the book.

All in all, I found the premise of the book really interesting. I’d like to know what happens as the series progresses, especially with poor Sojun. But once I realised the pace of this one was never going to pick up I had a little trouble maintaining my enthusiasm. The sneak peak of book two did look as if the action was finally on the horizon though.

supernatural freak

Book Review of Louisa Klein’s Supernatural Freak

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Supernatural FreakI grabbed Louisa Klein‘s Supernatural Freak from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
When paranormal expert Robyn Wise is offered an outrageous sum of money to cure a boy who is turning into a dead tree, she’s very sceptical. A politician ready to pay that much to make his son stop growing branches instead of hair? Come on! She’s more likely to be abducted by aliens. This is a trap. Or much worse. And, of course, it’s much worse.

The child is turning into a dark portal, created by a powerful entity determined to absorb Fairyland’s power. This means that not only queen Titania and her court are in danger, but the very balance of the magic fluxes.

Robyn’d rather stick a pencil in her own eye but. to learn how to destroy the portal, she has to sneak into the Wizardry Council, a place full of wizards who are hiding something—though it’s certainly not their dislike of her.

There, she discovers a terrible secret that could help to overthrow Fairyland’s enemies for good, but puts her in the midst of an ancient and deadly war, and not as a bystander, but as the main target.

Review:
I’m fairly torn about my feelings on Supernatural Freak. On one hand it was really funny and I honestly enjoyed the read. On the other I found some aspects of it mind numbingly annoying.

To start off, I do love that cover. It’s the reason I read the book in the first place. Second, Robyn is extremely sarcastic and often witty. It would be hard not to enjoy her or her friends, who she bounces insults off fairly regularly throughout the book. Said friends are also wonderful. I especially liked James and The Duke. I also rather guiltily enjoyed her constant jokes about ‘Britishness.’ I’m not sure if she was laughing at them or with them on that one, since the character lived in London and was at least part English, but it was funny.

On the flip side however, I found the repeated use of titles and pet names…well, repetitive. William tagged the pet reference, Child, onto the end of almost every sentence directed at Robyn. Her uncle did much the same with ‘Niece’ and she reciprocated with ‘Uncle’. (Which are odd uses of the titles to start with, before one even adds the complication of using them so often.) Then her roommates constantly call her ‘boss’. I eventually found myself cringing. It’s like being with someone who insists on saying your name in every sentence they speak to you, but worse. It’s not natural, nor does it flow well. By the end of the book they just felt like random extraneous words.

Speaking of words, I give Ms. Klein serious kudos for the appropriate use of the words hirsute, suppurating, gelid, Philology, perspicacious, arabesques, redingote, anarchic and interlocutor in sentences. I know some readers complain about the use of a $10 word when a $1 word will do, but I love coming across examples that force me to utilise the dictionary option on my Kindle. What is the use of such a wide and varied English language if we don’t break out the bad boys on occasion. This is a bonus in my reading world. On yet another, related hand, however is the small matter of editing. I think the book could probably do with another pass.

Not a bonus for me is the narrative style. The story is told in first person, present tense. This is my absolutely least favourite narrative style. I don’t think it ever sounds natural. I always wonder why the character is dictating their actions as they go along. It doesn’t work for me, but that is just a personal preference of course. I also thought that the eventual face off wrapped up far too easily. Every-time Robyn found herself in a difficult spot some magical accoutrement would suddenly glow or grow warm to tell her how to solve the problem. Despite these complaints the book is a fun read. I’m glad to have picked it up

Book Review of T.K. Toppin’s To Catch a Marlin

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To Catch a MarlinI grabbed T.K. Toppin‘s To Catch a Marlin from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
In the tail end of the 24th Century, Special Inspector Michael Pedroni pursues a beautiful and elusive vigilante, Jax Marlin, in a wild cat and mouse chase that will take him from Earth to the Bacchus Dome and beyond.

Jax Marlin is not your average criminal; she seeks out evil-doers and law-breakers, doling out justice in whatever way she sees fit. But lately, she finds she’s been gift-wrapping criminals specially for her favorite copper.

Four of the world’s leading criminals are determined to form an alliance. Jax is determined to stop them. Hot on her heels, Inspector Pedroni finds himself questioning the difference, if any, between her justice and his. More than that, he wonders why, when he’d had her in his grasp, he was unable to slap on the restraints and bring her in.

Both want the same thing–to stop criminals. But the growing attraction each has toward the other becomes a dangerous hindrance.

Review:
First off, I love this cover. Props to whomever designed it. The story’s pretty good too. The first 10-15% felt like it just rehashed the book’s description repeatedly, but after that, the action seemed to pick up. Pedroni and Marlin’s cat-and-mouse game was amusing, as was the way Marlin managed to stay one step ahead of Pedroni but was never too far away. Her affection for him softened her personality and made it a lot easier to relate to her. Without it she would have felt too cold to like, too mechanised. She was pretty much good at everything: fighting, tech, disguise, etc. I was left wondering exactly how she became so awesome. The answer was hinted at, but I still would have liked to know how exactly that came about.

Pedroni was wonderful. He’s the epitome of ‘good cop.’ He reminded me a little bit of Asimov’s Elijah Baley, but that might just be an effect of a New York detective in space. I enjoyed watching him struggle with his role as the Special Investigator in charge of catching Marlin and his growing feelings for her, as well as his increasing understanding of her motives. I really wanted them to have their happily ever after, but I’m happy with how the book ended. Anything more would have been unrealistic.

All in all, I have very few complaints. It was a sweet story, with some good fight scenes and truly evil baddies.