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The Unleashing

Book Review of The Unleashing, by Shelly Laurenston

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The UnleashingI received an ecopy of The Unleashing, by Shelly Laurenston from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.

In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.

But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.

Review:

INTERESTING CHARACTERS SEEKING PLOT TO PERFORM IN
Must be action packed and accepting of humour, violence and dogs.

This book is a mess. It has so much potential though. The idea is interesting. The characters, though shallow and undeveloped, are funny. The world, though inconsistent, could support a series. The first chapter sets the book on the right path, even if it does deviate immediately. There is material here to make something great.

Despite all of this, the book is a dud. Why? Because the closest thing it has to a plot, beyond ‘hey, here is a woman and here are a lot of volatile, hostile, RANDOM people she meets one day,’ comes out at 88% and is only introduced before the book ends on a cliffhanger. In other words, this whole 400-page book is essentially a prologue and not even a very good one.

In the introduction, the author states

…The first book in my new series, Call of the Crows, and right off the bad, I want you to understand that this is not a rewrite of an old book nor is it a fleshing out of an old book. The Unleashing is a brand-new book and series, with brand-new characters, brand-new locale, and brand-new trouble. Although my book Hunting Season, which has been out since 2005, was the start of this idea…The Unleashing is me taking the whole thing to the next level, and it’s a definite stand-alone.

I mention this because I think the author doth protest too much and, though she may believe it, I don’t. Or rather, either this book does depend on the previous book to support this book’s world-building or this book’s world-building isn’t very well developed.

Here is an example. At one point two Crows are discussing their wings. One (Annalisa) states it took her wing 6 months to come out. The second (Maeve) said her’s took a year. Kera has been with the Crows 2 or 3 days, but someone decides her wings need to come out now. So, she arranges for the man Kera likes to accidentally walk in on her without a shirt on, somehow thereby forcing the wings to emerge.

But I sat there wondering how that worked. If one character waited 6 months and another a year, then is there something biological that needs to be waited on to develop wings? If not, if it’s just the odd hunching movement a woman would make to cover her breasts when walked in on that forces ones’ wings out, then why would other characters wait so long instead of just being taught how to get their wings? It makes no sense and isn’t explained at all. I mean this in the sense that the author doesn’t even try to explain it and as a reader I had no idea why or how a Crow’s wings come into existence. I was left wondering if it’s explained in The Hunting. I wondered this on several occasions.

This lack of teaching was a constant irritant to me. I understood that the Crows were supposed to be wildcards that didn’t do well with too much structure. But how is a 1,300-year-old institution supposed to survive if newcomers are treated with such open hostility, told NOTHING about their situation and literally expected to be able to fly without a word of instruction? (Especially when also being told repeatedly, “You can always trust a fellow Crow.” Um, pretty sure I saw no evidence of that.) It felt very much like all of the slapstick results of Kera’s lack of appropriate mentoring were only there for the laugh. Like, “Oh, look a topless woman is having a cat fight. Ha, ha, ha…” (And this after she already kicked some serious ass while naked.) Meh.

The book also starts with Kera waking up and being an awesome asskicker. I had such high hopes for the book at this point. That asskicker doesn’t show back up until around 85%. The whole rest of the time Kera just wonders around meeting random, vapid Crows more concerned with the thickness of Kera’s thighs than fighting, doing completely random things and falling gracelessly in love with Vig. And while there was a lot of humour in these women’s shallow comments and ridiculous antics, it’s all POINTLESS and often over played.

It was kind of like seeing Kera join a homicidal sorority (of the Legally Blond variety). And with the Ravens having conversations like this:

“Is pussy really worth what you’re about to do?” the Raven leader asked.
Vig’s brow furrowed as he immediately replied, “Yes, it is.”
“He’s right,” Stieg agreed. “It is.”
“Totally worth it, dude.”
“He’s right, bruh. It’s absolutely worth it.”
“I can’t believe you’re actually asking the question.”

the Raven’s feel disturbingly like a gang of marauding frat boys. (And you’re guess is as good as mine about how many people are involved in that discussion. It’s no clearer in context than in a floating quote.)

Then there is Vig, the love interest de jur and another inconsistent character. He’s said to be scary and dangerous. But we’re shown a quiet, introverted, nice guy. Don’t get me wrong, I liked him. He’s cute. But despite everyone saying how frightening he is, no one, not one single person, shows any fear of him and not once does he do anything to support this assertion.

There are also about a million faceless Crows. You are constantly meeting new ones and losing track of others. And in this endless flow of Crows you get a barrage of wealthy, successful, famous people. After a while it became cheesy (and not the good kind), as if each new famous face is only there for the effect instead of any importance.

All in all, I found this a weak, plotless Urban Fantasy that leans far too heavily on its attempt to be sharp and witty. Its effort is too apparent. It’s trying too damned hard and therefore fails miserably. The writing itself is fine (except for the constant head-hopping), the editing passed muster, and I appreciated having a POC as a main character (as well as most of the female side characters) but I have no desire at all to continue the series.

A note on the cover: I have to ask, considering the book is about a woman (Kera) as she joins and adjusts to an all female fighting unit, why is there a man on the cover? I assume it’s mean to be Vig, but he’s not the main character, so why does he get to be on the cover? It seems to be putting the emphasis on the wrong character.

Book Review of Shadewright & Shadowslave (Shadewright Cycle, #1-2), by Dean McMillin

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I grabbed a copies of Shadewright and Shadowslave (by Dean McMillin) from the Amazon free list.

ShadewrightDescription from Goodreads:
Born with grey skin the color of lake clay, Phantist is an outcast from birth, shunned by the other children in the Orphan Asylum where he is raised. Then, during a solar eclipse, he witnesses a magnificent performance by Lasander Shadowmaster–a shadewright, sculptor of shadows.

When Phantist discovers that Lasander is a fellow greyskin, he finds his goal: he will become a Shadowmaster himself. His dream is to make an entire city hold its breath as his idol Lasander has done.

This quest leads him to the isolated village of Half Oak, where a strange cult holds sway, worshipping a voice in the earth: the Earth Darkness. The cult’s leader relays a deadly prophecy from his god-master:

“Everything you care about will be destroyed, greyskin. Everything and everyone. And it is all because of you. He wants you to know that. Because of YOU.”

Soon, Phantist is drawn into a web of plots and ambitions. He finds allies: Despanya, a greyskin who has forsaken shadow-sculpting to become a soldier; and Arick, a yellow-skinned master of lightning power whose childish nature belies dangerous abilities.

But the ever-present threat of Earth Darkness pursues them across the countryside. The very ground beneath their feet turns against them …

In the end, Phantist will face a grim choice that will determine the course of his life, and the fate of his world.

Review:
I was basically enjoying this. The writing is perfectly readable, though the editing starts to crumble a little after the halfway mark. (It’s noticeable, but not problematic.) And I’d probably give Arick a star or two all his own. He’s adorable, feels Asperger’s/Autistic-like. I even like that the main character has a tendency to be petty and proud. It’s annoying to read but he has flaws, which is so much better than a perfect Marty Stu.

However, I say, ‘was basically enjoying’ instead of ‘enjoyed’ because the plot barely gets started and then the book ends on a cliffhanger. While I assume the events leading up to Phantist’s quest aren’t random, they kind of feel like they are. He wandered into a random town, is picked out by a random enemy and randomly decides to be the hero. Maybe the next book will pull it more clearly together.

I will be reading the next. The writing is good enough, the characters interesting enough and I’m curious how it will end. But I also have a sneaky suspicious it won’t actually end. We’ll see.

Shadowslave

Description from Goodreads:
Phantist, the grey-skinned master of shadows, is summoned to the island of Arliss, a burnt-out ruin of a city where clues to the nature of the enemy beckon.

The house of Lasander– a deceased shadewright of great power, and Phantist’s greatest idol– lies there in a shadow-void, thrust down into shadow to save it from the flames of the earlier fire.

In the realm of the shadow-void, Phantist discover clues to the terrible truths of the conspiracy of the Earth Darkness to destroy his nation. He also attracts the attention of something dangerous. An ancient spirit of pure shadow-essence, feminine in form and highly seductive, who claims to exist to serve his needs, to be his “Shadow Slave.”

But she is vicious and jealous, and soon the lives of the two women Phantist loves are placed in terrible danger …

All the while, in the confines of a vast ruined cemetery on the city outskirts, the cult of the Earth Darkness is nurturing an ill brood. An infant god, nurtured on the essence of dead things and hatred, is about to emerge from his mortuary cradle to spread fear and death across the land … And only a master of shadows can track him down before it’s too late.

Review:
A good continuation to the story; the writing remains strong (though the editing still needs some attention), I still enjoy the characters, there is one heart-rending twist I didn’t see coming, the plot is still slowly developing. Honestly, it’s coming about at an agonisingly slow pace, but it would be unfair to claim I couldn’t see where it’s heading.

I do kind of  want to subtitle the book Shadowslave: Where Phantist Develops his Harem. Seriously, to a greater or lesser degree there’s Despanya, Cleo, the Shadowslave and Jenma, all wanting a part of Phantist. It gets to be a little too much and unless they come up in the latter books, both the Shadowslave and Jenma seem extraneous to the plot. (To be fair, I do expect Shadowslave to show back up.)

This one doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, but it’s very much a middle book (no real beginning or conclusion). All in all, a nice enough read that is compromised by its lack of an ending.

Prophecy Foretold

Book Review of Prophecy Foretold (The Prophecy Chronicles #1), by Ron Hartman

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Prophecy ForetoldAuthor, Ron Hartman sent me an ecopy of his novel, Prophecy Foretold, for review.

Description From Goodreads:
These are dark days for Naphthali. The king has been murdered, the land invaded by the Imperial Army. It will absorb Naphthali into an Empire that stretches across all of Enialé at any cost. The ravaged people cling to an ancient promise, an assurance that a prophesied savior will come to set them free.

Daniel Martin is trapped in a life that hasn’t gone as expected. His pharmacy is struggling and he is losing all hope of making a difference in his patients’ lives. His family is the one shining light in his disenchanted life, but he is torn from them when an accident draws him to Naphthali. The people need him, but Daniel is driven by his need to return to the family he loves. Is he the Prophesied One? Only time will tell as both the Empire and the Resistance battle for Daniel while the fate of Naphthali hangs in the balance…

Review:
*groan* I found this deeply dissatisfying. The writing was fine and, though I noticed a couple missing words and such, I had no complaints about the editing. I just plain found the whole thing dull, dull, dull.

Yes, there where plenty of skirmishes. Violence was a constant threat throughout the novel. But Daniel basically traveled for the course of the ENTIRE novel. I’m serious. He got picked up by one army, that schlepped him against his will in one direction. Then he got rescued by another one and marched the other direction. He was still dragging himself forward as the novel ended. He traveled from the beginning to the end of this book and when it looked like he might get where he was going and the story actually finally begin…the book ended. There was no payoff at all.

I can’t even say it was character driven and garner enjoyment in that manner. You don’t get to know anyone deeply because there is so little conversation. What’s more, the bad guys are very bad and the good guys are predominantly very good. No sense of moral ambiguity or grey to them.

As an example, every soldier of the opposing army is, without exception, is a raping, murderous villain. They kill indiscriminately and rape or threaten to rape every single woman they come across and we’re given a few near misses of raped children (both girls and boys). They are dysfunctional evil. By which I mean, a group of men can only commit so many open atrocities before even a cowed populace will risk death to rebel. These characters were so openly vile that they became caricatures of themselves and were utterly unbelievable. There was no depth to them at all.

All in all, Hartman can write and I appreciated that the hero was middle aged and out of shape (in other words, normal) but this book drags interminably. It just never picks up any speed. Though there is an interesting idea here, I have no interest in continuing the series.