Tag Archives: Indie

Book Review of Dragonspire, by Talya Andor

I received a copy of Talya Andor‘s Dragonspire from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
In the wake of his grandfather’s death and the unexpected contents of his will, Gideon abandons his career, cuts ties with his family, and heads overseas to figure out a life that has never made him happy. He settles for a time in Myanmar, content to roam the country taking pictures, carefully avoiding the dangerous local politics.

When he ventures into the jungle, he expects wildlife and possibly men with guns if he’s unlucky. Instead, he meets a princess who sweeps him off to another world, claiming that Gideon is the only one who can help her slay the terrible black dragon threatening her people—and if he ever wants to see home again, he has no choice.

Review:
I think OK is the best I can give Dragonspire, and even that is only for beyond the 30% mark. The first third is so rough I almost just gave up on the book. But I stuck with it and it did smooth out eventually.

I did enjoy the main characters and the general shape of the plot. But unfortunately I thought the whole thing was dragged out far too long, with too many conveniently unspoken things leading to misunderstandings. Plus, you’re never given a satisfying explanation on Gideon’s grandfather’s actions that spurred him into the events of the book.

I also had an issue with the diversity in the book. Hang with me a minute, because I can’t believe I’m saying this either. It’s the sort of thing that normally makes me cheer. I want everyone to be able to see themselves represented in their literature. But at one point, one character is introduced to ten or so dragons and their mates and they are of every conceivable pairing. There are M/Ms, F/Fs, M/Fs, gender fluids partners, non-binaries partners, polys, etc. And while a very very large part of me was like, ‘Yeah, look at that. I love seeing such representation’ another (admittedly smaller, but still present) part of me was like, ‘Oh look, the author tossed in some obligatory, I’m-so-liberal diversity.’ The characters (and their sexuality) played no significant part in the book and the pages and pages and pages of description were distracting, but worse, felt like hollow tokenism. Maybe for some the former will outweigh the latter, but it made me uncomfortable.

Anyhow, after the first third, it’s a fluffy, feel-good book that, if you like that sort of thing, is worth picking up, despite my complaints.

Book Review of Unspeakable Words (The Sixth Sense #1), by Sarah Madison

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I picked up a copy of Unspeakable Words, by Sarah Madison, as a Dreamspinner freebie over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Description from Goodreads:
Special Agent John Flynn is everything Jerry Parker is not: dangerously handsome, coolly charismatic, and respected by his peers. Special Agent Parker is dedicated and meticulous, but his abrasive personality has given him a reputation for being difficult. When new information on a cold case appears, Parker is assigned to work with Flynn, and the sparks fly as their investigative styles clash. Contact with a strange artifact changes everything when it bestows unusual and unpredictable powers on Flynn… and the two men must learn to trust each other before a killer strikes again.

Review:
I’d give this a 3.5/5 and then round up for sheer enjoyment. Sure, the plot is a little wonky. The fact that the men are FBI agents is basically irrelevant for all the investigating they do. The whole set up for the serial killer is literally just dropped in exchange for something different all together and never picked back up again. The two characters’ personalities aren’t really all that consistent from beginning to end. But despite all that, I enjoyed the book. It’s predominantly just the two main characters stuck together and getting to know one another. But it’s cute and a little funny. Actually, it’s a bit like a Mary Calmes book. Objectively I know it’s not really a very good book, but I still liked it and I’d read more.

Book Review of The Chorus Effect, by Russell Boyd

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So, it’s Novemeber and I’ve been doing NaNoWriMo. I’m at just over 41,000 words right now. As you can imagine, that means I haven’t done a lot of reading lately. But I did manage one book, The Chorus Effect, by Russell Boyd. It was sent to me for review.

Description from Goodreads:
Until recently, Chintz had been a relatively normal guy with a relatively normal cat. For example, neither he, nor his cat, had ever journeyed to a synthetic parallel universe. He had never encountered a teleporting baby or an emotionally mature computer. He could count on one hand the number of philosophical discussions he’d had with people holding multiple degrees in advanced physics. And thus far, his relationship with the voices in his head had been purely platonic.

Suddenly, Chintz finds himself working alongside a dysfunctional team of scientists and their astonishing creations, seeking answers to age-old questions — answers that could change our concept of humanity. Of course, that’s only if they can survive federal law enforcement, starvation, psychopathic figments of imagination, the hostile old man who lives across the street, and the end of the “known universe.”

Well, actually it’s the end of “a” universe, that “only some people know about.” But for Chintz, that may not be any better at all.

Review:
I suppose there will be an audience out there for this book. It’s trying very hard to be Douglas Adams-like and plenty of people (myself included) love Douglas Adams’ quirky humor. IMHO, this doesn’t quite make it though, as a Douglas Adam’s clone or on it’s own.

On a positive note, it’s well written and surprisingly well edited for a self-published book. There are some interesting, odd-ball characters and had the whole thing been a set up for Katie and Chintz’s last moment’s, I’d have called it a success. But it’s about 1/3 too long (if not more) for that to be the case.

If I had to condense this review to a few carefully chosen words, they would be presumptuous and self-indulgent. The author’s constant breaking of the fourth wall especially. As if the book wasn’t quite quirky enough the author/narrator had to stick his two cents in too. It was annoying and broke up the story.

It was this over the top quirkiness that eventually ruined the book for me. You have characters who speak in mixed up, nonsense for no apparent reason at all. You have POVs from the perspective of a cat. You have a narrative style dedicated to pointing out the absurd over the expected, which could have been great if not quite so over played. You have philosophy passed off as science and science of the hard-core hand waving variety. It was all too much for me.

And that is a shame; because Boyd’s descriptive ability is wonderful. I appreciated the distinct lack of alpha hero and the success of the socially anxious, nerd heroes. I liked that there was a strong female character (though I’m borderline on the fact that her sexuality caused such ruptions. I think the book skirted the cliché, but JUST BARELY). But there was just too much else crowding these good things out. In the end, I bored and just hoping to finish.