Category Archives: Challenges

Was Once a Hero

Book Review of Edward McKeown’s Was Once a Hero

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Was Once a Hero

I grabbed Edward McKeown‘s Sci-Fi/Space Opera Was Once a Hero from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
Reluctant privateer Robert Fenaday searches the stars for his lost love, Lisa, a naval intelligence officer whose ship disappeared near the end of the Conchirri War . He’s joined by the genetically engineered assassin, Shasti Rainhell, whose cold perfection masks her dark past. Both are blackmailed by government spymaster, Mandela, into a suicidal mission to the doomed planet Enshar. Leading a team of scientists and soldiers, they must unravel the mystery of that planet’s death before an ancient force reaches out to claim their lives.

Review:
This is space-opera at it’s best. Fenaday, Shasti, and the rest of their regular, rag-tag crew of “cutthroats, screw-ups and a few pros” have an easy going rapport that was a lot of fun to be part of. Fenaday is your basic nice guy. Someone referred to him as a “gentle pirate” and it’s an appropriate nomen descriptivum. He’s not nearly tough enough for what he does, but he’s smart enough to surround himself with those who can make up for it. I think it would be almost impossible not to like him. Shasti is just plain kick-ass…and let there be no doubt, she both has a nice ass and could kick your ass. Her character does fall a little vicim to the painful trope that for any real woman to be a brave, strong soldier she must also be broken or emotionally injured in some manner, but I’ll overlook it. Then there are a whole host of side characters, some of whom I suspect will carry over into the next book. I especially liked the Tok brothers, Telisan and Mmok.

I was a little confused about people’s country of origin. A number of characters are stated to be from certain countries (Ireland, Israel, etc.) but others are from planets (Mars, Enchari, etc.). I never could decided if the earthlings were meant to be from the actual geographic countries designated or if those countries were meant to have colonised beyond the confines of our Blue Planet. I would hope that intra-galactic travel would have weakened such human divisions.

The story itself had a little bit of mystery, a decent amount of action, a few heart-felt moments, and a couple good laughs. The book did seem to wrap up quite quickly once the mission had been accomplished and I never felt completely satisfied about the whole Lisa situation. But then again I don’t think I was meant to. This is definitely worth picking up.

Book Review of Joso Skarica’s From Within

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From WithinPoet, Joso Skarica sent me a copy of his most recent collection, From Within. I’ve also seen it on the KDP free list at least once and those of you in US & GB can win a copy here.

Description:
This collection of poems was never meant to be read by anyone else but yours truly; let alone be published in a book format. They were created more than a decade ago by a young man who utilized poetry as a form of unconscious auto-psychotherapy. I have decided to unveil these poems as a testament of courage, boldness and brutal honesty that I was capable of at that particular time in my life. I am not sure whether that is the case today. 

Review:
I find reviewing poetry really difficult. It’s often so personal that it can be hard to find the art in the emotional onslaught. But Joso asked me to give this collection a read, so I did. These are raw, often dark poems. But they have a good rhythm or meter and present their imagery in imaginative ways. I could really relate to some of them, but some went to dark places I’ve never visited. These were foreign landscapes that left me feeling a lot like a voyeur. Junkies, whores, rent boys, God, and sodomy (sometimes in the same poem) were not infrequent characters. Another Sun IS Rising was my favourite, For The Real People made me cringe, Jimmy Was a Teenage Hustler made me sad, Doors made me laugh, and Before the Rain left me breathless. But familiar or not, every single one of these poems made me FEEL, and in the grand scheme of poetry, isn’t that the point?

Review of Tell Me When It Hurts, by Christine M. Whitehead

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Tell Me When It Hurts

I grabbed Christine Whitehead‘s Tell Me When It Hurts from the Amazon KDP list. At the time of posting it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Archer Loh, Ivy League grad and Olympic rider, has been carefully groomed to be a government assassin but, at the moment of decision, she instead chooses law school, her college sweetheart, and a quiet life in Connecticut, leaving her violent apprenticeship behind as her own little secret.

When her only child is murdered and the killer goes free on a technicality, Archer ditches family, career, friends and horses to find justice. Brushing up on her lethal skills, and aided by a shadowy and well-heeled vigilante group, she tries to find meaning in her pain and a reason to keep taking another breath by implementing private retribution.

At her lowest ebb, Connor McCall, Harvard-educated financial baron turned Wyoming sheep rancher, stumbles into her life, bringing with him his own demons. And everything changes.

Review:
I’m a fairly dedicated Fantasy and Sci-Fi reader, but I was in the mood for something a little more down to earth so I picked up Tell Me When It Hurts. Granted, I was expecting a little more The Long Kiss Goodnight or La Femme Nikita than The Horse Whisperer, but it was still a sweet story. I teared up more than once, rooted for the characters and was pleased with the ending.

Archer was mired in guilt and in constant emotional turmoil. She was a little horrible, but who could blame her? Not me. Conner was…oh, Conner was just marvellous. He was one of the best characters I’ve come across lately. I loved him. He sooo deserved to be happy. There were also a whole host of small-time side characters who all had an important role to play and you couldn’t help but like them.

The above sentence, with the movie/book references in it, would fit nicely into the Tell Me When It Hurts. There are a lot of them in the book. It’s a game the characters play, and by extension so does the reader. It was kind of fun and I suspect that there were even more than I was able to catch.

The book did drag a bit in the middle. It wasn’t that nothing happened, in fact a few small but important things occurred. It was just that for a little while there it became a string of mundane occurrences, Christmas shopping, getting the mail, walking the dogs, etc. I know that this was sort of the point. The characters were falling into a life together, but I’m used to a bit more action and was relieved when things picked back up.

The book would definitely appeal to fans of Nicholas Evans more than those of Robert Ludlam, but I recommend it for anyone who likes a story about the resilience of the human spirit and overcoming personal tragedy.