Tag Archives: fantasy

Book Review: Caged in Myth, by J.T. Fairfield

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caged in myth cover About the book:

Abandoned as a baby and left in an orphanage for supernatural children, Octavian Julius McKellter— “Jay” to everyone who doesn’t want a punch in the face—now seventeen, is working full-time as a zookeeper at the Bayou Zoo and Aquarium while struggling to finish his GED.

The Bayou Zoo, staffed entirely by supernaturals, is one of many zoos across the country secretly housing magical creatures deemed too dangerous by the supernatural community to remain in the wild.

Jay ‘s job is made more complicated when accidents start happening too often to truly be accidents and habitats in Area Five—the covert section of the zoo which houses the magical creatures— are sabotaged, allowing some of the creatures to escape.

Working closely with Colin, a fellow zookeeper, to determine who’s causing the problems and why, is both a dream come true and a nightmare for Jay. Being gay isn’t something Jay’s prepared to accept with enthusiasm. Colin’s the first male he’s ever been attracted to, and the guy doesn’t even have the decency to be effeminate, which Jay thinks would somehow be easier to accept. Colin’s tall, strong, and everything that’s masculine. And Jay can’t stop thinking about what it would feel like to press their lips together or draw his fingers down Colin’s tightly-packed abs.

Because someone’s bent on exposing supernaturals to the world by releasing the Bayou Zoo’s magical creatures, even if it means a little death and destruction in the process, there’s little time for Jay to worry about the ramifications of his shifting sexuality or the way Colin looks without his shirt on.

Keeping his sexuality a secret seems like just as big a job as keeping the entire Supernatural community and its captive magical creatures shrouded from the human world. As the sabotage attempts escalate, Jay must juggle his budding relationship with Colin, discovering who’s behind the disruption in Area Five, and staying alive while capturing loosened, deadly Gryphons, Gnomes and Harpies.

Review:

First off, WHY IS THIS NOT LABELED AS A SERIAL? (Even worse, it’s labeled ‘book one,’ which I consider purposeful misdirection on the author’s part.) This ends before it really begins, with a very abrupt To Be Continued. I literally cursed when I reached it because I had been enjoying it. But now I just consider it a waste of an hour and a half. Hey Fairfield, wish you hadn’t wasted my time with publishing part of a freakin’ story!

I’m so annoyed I can’t even bring myself to lay out what I like and don’t like. It’s all eclipsed by my anger at getting shafted by ANOTHER unlabeled serial and ANOTHER unexpected cliffhanger…no, not a cliffhanger. A cliffhanger suggests that something has been left hanging. But this is more of a sheer drop-off. The story is literally just getting started, and it ends. Nothing even pretends to wrap up. Literally nothing. It’s basically just the first 8 chapters of a, say, 30-chapter book. Like someone ripped the pages out and handed them to me loose.

Even though I liked the writing (though it was sloppy) and the characters and was invested in the story, one-star for not being a complete….anything. And being as it’s been out almost 4 years and there isn’t a 2nd, I doubt it ever will be.

Apollo Rising

Book Review of Apollo Rising (The Apollo Saga #1), by Sage Arroway

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Apollo RisingI’ve had a copy of Apollo Rising, by Sage Arroway, since Dec 2012. I’m pretty sure I picked it up when it was free.

Description from Goodreads:
Allison Graves just wanted a simple life – a decent job, a nice apartment, and the occasional refuge from Apollo City, a harbor city on the eastern seaboard whose secrets are as dark as its impending winter storm. Allie’s weekend retreat to the Adirondacks should’ve have been relaxing. But when an accident on a treacherous mountain road results in caring for a strange man while snowed in at her grandmother’s cabin, her life takes an unexpected turn.

Miles from civilization, Allie and her new guest, Tyler, must learn to trust one another as she tries to unravel the mystery of his past, and he makes a startling confession—he’s a werewolf. Until now, Tyler had never met anyone who accepted him for what he was, and the undeniable attraction growing between them only makes dealing with his condition more challenging. Will his uncontrollable nature rip them apart before the storm passes, or will this new relationship lead them down a road that Allie has been resisting for years?

Apollo Rising is the first book in The Apollo Saga – a deeply suspenseful, contemporary story set in the fantasy world of Apollo City, filled with romance, real life and werewolves.

Review:
This took what could have been an interesting idea and wasted it with complete lack of development and rushed…well, everything else. The two characters meet and within a day or so are madly, irrevocably in love. And those romantic feelings come out of nowhere. There is no slow growth or development. They have sex and they are in love. Period. What’s worse, one character uses sex to magically cure another. (Though I have to admit it’s a bit of a twist on the trope to have a magic vagina instead of a magic penis.)

Annoyingly, the author seems to pretend a character not knowing something is the same thing as a character choosing not mentioning something. Because we’re in both characters’ heads and [spolier] if you are yourself a werewolf and you run into a naked man in the middle of a snowy forest on the night of a full moon it’s going to occur to you that the man might be a werewolf and this does not occur to Allison. We are told what she thinks and that’s not among her thoughts then or at any other point. You can’t write 80% of the books AS IF she doesn’t know something and then suddenly tell the reader she does and expect it to fly. That is not the same as adding a twist to a plot, it’s falsifying your story and expecting the reader to just roll with it. Ummm, no.

The baddy is a cliche scorned woman with no depth or development what so ever. And the book basically ends where I would expect the real story to begin.

The writing and editing is fine, other than a few missing words. Maybe I’ll give Arroway another shot, but this book was not a winner for me.

Shiv Crew

Book Review of Shiv Crew (Rune Alexander #1), by Laken Cane

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Shiv crewI picked up a copy of Laken Cane‘s Shiv Crew when it was free on Amazon.

Description from Goodreads:
Rune Alexander wants to get through her days doing her job, which is protecting the humans against the myriad of supernatural creatures, known as Others, who exist uneasily in a human’s world. 

But she is unstable and damaged. She realizes how broken she is even as she continues to submit to the unspeakable things her lover does to her, craving desperately the strange peace she finds in the aftermath.

When she discovers things are not as they seem and a faceless human is torturing the supernatural groups in her city, she and her crew must break the rules and begin to protect the Others from the humans. 

But as the darkness inside her becomes stronger and she ends up on the wrong side of a battle she must not lose, who will save Rune from herself?

Review:
This is one of those middle of the road books that has a decent plot idea and the writing isn’t bad, so it tricks some readers into thinking the book is good. It isn’t. Now, before anyone accuses me of cruelly trashing the book, I’ll reiterate, It’s not bad either. It’s just ok. But it could have been so much better.

My main issue is that the book is a bit of a one trick pony. Rune Alexander (not be to confused with Lex, which is so expected a nick name that it belonging to another character is confusing) is an angry woman…that’s about it. That anger makes her strong, makes her stupid, makes her friends, makes her enemies, makes her weak. It’s pretty much the core of what she is and that’s just not enough character development to make her relatable. And if she’s undeveloped, the others are paper cut outs. What’s more, it’s this anger that moves the plot and saves the day. That’s not really enough to carry a believable story either.

That plot too is thin. The villain is obvious from the very beginning and there are no real unexpected twists. Rune defeats enemies she really shouldn’t be able to. She intimidates others for no apparent reason. She is pathologically loyal to her assistant for a reason we’re never given. Followers of the enemy defect and come to her, with no explanation. There is some weird sadism/masochism thing going on that just felt like the author trying to give the book some edge. A romance of sorts sparks at the very end out of nowhere. There’s a bit of a deus ex machina ending.

The thing is, a lot of these same points have potential to make for interesting contributions, but instead they’re like dough balls falling to the floor. Just kind of landing with a resounding splat and laying there. Present and accounted for, but of no use. For example, big men being loyal to and taking orders from a woman they’re protective of is a sexy button for me. I love big dangerous men submitting to a woman. I just do. This book has several of them, one even literally presenting himself at her feet. I should be thrilled. But we get no history. We see no reason these men are so dedicated to Rune (and visa versa). It’s flat. Rune is basically the Trump of the book, talking a big game about how awesome she and her team is, but not really giving anything to back the statement up.

Again, not bad. It’s an enjoyable read. But it’s full of holes and doesn’t withstand scrutiny of any sort.