Category Archives: books/book review

Aliens, Smith and Jones

Book Review of Aliens, Smith and Jones (The Primrose Files #1), by Blaine D. Arden

Leave a reply

I received a copy of Blaine D. Arden‘s Aliens, Smith and Jones through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Working for a secret organisation specialising in alien cover-ups, Connor Smith is no stranger to the abnormal or dangerous. His love life on the other hand… not so exciting. Until he reluctantly agrees to a blind date and meets the perfect bloke, Jason.

Things are finally falling into place for Connor, so of course that’s when he attracts an alien stalker.

Noah Jones, ex-alien, has been stranded on Earth and forced to live as a human since 1648. Alone and detached from the world around him, Noah has spent centuries observing and recording humankind. In all that time, he’s only experienced a connection with a human once… until he finds Connor.

Even knowing Connor is in a relationship, Noah can’t ignore their potential bond, or stay away.

While dealing with missing alien artefacts, a dangerous and shadowy group of collectors, and the ever-present Noah, Connor finds his orderly life crumbling around him. At least he still has the perfect boyfriend…

When Noah goes missing, Connor is forced to face the feelings growing between them and the mounting evidence that Jason isn’t who he says he is…

Review:
I suppose this was ok. It was just painfully predictable, with basic, unexciting writing. The characters were cute, but one of the main characters spent half the book in a relationship with someone else and I barely felt any spark between him and the second main character. Further, there was just too much assuming and non-communicating going on. In fact, a lot of the book is predicated on it and it didn’t make any sense to me. All in all, I found the whole thing uninspiring, even if not quite bad.

Rogue Protocol

Book Book Review of Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3), by Martha Wells

Leave a reply

I borrowed a copy of Martha Wells’ Rogue Protocol from the library. I previously reviewed the previous books, All Systems Red and Artificial Condition.

Description:
SciFi’s favorite antisocial A.I. is again on a mission. The case against the too-big-to-fail GrayCris Corporation is floundering, and more importantly, authorities are beginning to ask more questions about where Dr. Mensah’s SecUnit is.

And Murderbot would rather those questions went away. For good.

Review:
I’m still loving Murderbot, the sarcasm and social anxiety works so very well. My complaint here is that the series is starting to feel like a serial, instead of stand-alone novellas. This book references past events and people a lot more than previous ones. Other reviewers complained about this series being broken up from the beginning. But, knowing Tor specializes in novella length works, I understood it and still considered each book a separate entity. This seems to be fading as the series goes on and that makes me sad because I really HATE serializations. That said, I want more and more of Murderbot please.

The Black God's Drums

Book Review of The Black God’s Drums, by P. Djèlí Clark

Leave a reply

I received a copy of P. Djèlí Clark‘s The Black God’s Drums through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Creeper, a scrappy young teen, is done living on the streets of New Orleans. Instead, she wants to soar, and her sights are set on securing passage aboard the smuggler airship Midnight Robber. Her ticket: earning Captain Ann-Marie’s trust using a secret about a kidnapped Haitian scientist and a mysterious weapon he calls The Black God’s Drums.

But Creeper keeps another secret close to heart–Oya, the African orisha of the wind and storms, who speaks inside her head and grants her divine powers. And Oya has her own priorities concerning Creeper and Ann-Marie…

Review:
Man, Tor.com has put out some stellar novellas lately! (And those covers, so pretty.) This was short, true, but it packed a mighty punch. The language, world-building and characters grip you and it managed a full story in 110 pages. I do generally prefer longer works and I think this would have lent itself to being longer. (Though I realize Tor specializes for shorter works.) All in all, two big thumbs up from me. I’ll be looking for more of Clark’s writing.