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The Marcher Lord

Book Review of The Marcher Lord (Over Guard, #1) , by Glenn Wilson

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The Marcher Lord

Author, Glenn Wilson, sent me a copy of The Marcher Lord.

Description from Goodreads:
Private Ian Kanters has just been initiated into the renowned ranger division of the Bevish Empire–a space-faring, Victorian-Era society. He is slightly apprehensive, however, as his first assignment is escorting a noble family on a hunting expedition. But their destination, the newly-acquired planet of Orinoco, quickly lives up to its wild reputation.

The planet’s climate is harsh and the wildlife deadly. His company of rangers is also not nearly so easy to win over as he had hoped, though he finds the nobleman’s daughter to be unexpectedly distracting. But that’s only the beginning as they trek into the vast wilderness where Ian is soon to find the adventure that he’s been waiting his whole life for.

Review:
Um, where to start. The Marcher Lord is surprisingly well written and edited, considering it’s gotten almost no attention since it was published. I liked the main characters. I thought the side characters were pretty interesting. (I was especially fond of Rory.) The alien planet kept me interested and the military bits felt really believable. But, and it’s a big but, the book is missing something important, a plot.

Well, that’s not strictly true. I think there is a plot, it’s just so slow in developing that it’s sure to take about 2,000 pages or so to get to it, meaning that this book is not a complete work on it’s own. It barely feels like a prologue actually. The book is roughly 250 pages and, while there were a few vague hints at possible political intrigue, the only action that might (depending on how it’s explained in the next book) be described as plot-driven happens in the last 5 or so pages. The rest is just soldiers on safari.

In a way, it reminded me of Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. You go in expecting intergalactic sci-fi and instead find military fiction in space. Like Starship Troopers, the book is centred on a young, naive, idealistic new recruit sent out to an alien world to use all his military skills to fight non-humanoid prey. However, instead of being at war with an intelligent insectoid race, Ian and his cohort are escorting a noble on what amounts to as an African big game hunt.

That’s it. That’s the book. You spent time marching, hunting, fishing, eating, etc. In and among these really quite mundane activities you get to know Ian. He’s a really nice chap, Ian is. There’s one little twist in the female MC department, that I admit I didn’t see coming, but I also have to admit wasn’t well explained. (Someone’s attitude seemed to change inexplicably allowing Ian’s to change too.) There’s a little out of place religion. It’s part of the worldbuilding that this is a “space-faring, Victorian-Era society,” so by extension Christian. But it felt extraneous to the story. Similarly, given this is a galactic empire, it felt really simplistic that the few dominant cultures seem to only be Earthbound cultures (specifically English and French).  But there is also some interesting observations on humans and humanness.

All in all, not a bad book. Pleasant reading, but no real pay off in the end, unless you’re committing yourself to the whole series, all of which isn’t even available as far as I know. But it you liked Starship Troopers, I bet you’d like this.

Hainted

Book Review of Hainted, by Jordan L. Hawk

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HaintedI borrowed a copy of Hainted, by Jordan L. Hawk. (Thanks, S.)

Description from Goodreads:
The Good Guy: Haint-working runs in Dan Miller’s blood. Not everyone can help the restless dead cross over, especially when the haunting threatens the Living. But the death of his parents six years ago forced Dan to give it up in exchange for raising his brother and sister, all the while struggling to keep their rural NC farm afloat.

So when the flamboyantly goth Leif Helsvin shows up on Dan’s doorstep looking for help with an evil necromancer named Runar, Dan’s first instinct is to turn him down. With two teenagers to look after, he’s already got all the trouble he can handle. Besides, the sexy Leif is too much of a temptation, and Dan is firmly in the closet.

The Bad Boy: Pierced, tattooed Leif never has sex with the same guy twice. It keeps things simple, especially since his oath to stop Runar has him constantly drifting from one town to the next.

But this time, it looks like Leif is going to need help, in the form of the very down-to-earth Dan. Since Nice Guys are off the menu, Leif just has to keep his hands to himself for as long as it will take to stop Runar’s latest scheme. But as Leif finds himself drawn deeper into Dan’s life, he quickly realizes he’s not just in danger of breaking the rules, but breaking his heart as well

Review:
I don’t usually use star ratings on the blog. But I think it will help me explain my indecision on this one. If I were to star this book, I would be stuck between a 3 and a 4. It’s not quite a 4, but it’s better than a lot of books I’ve given 3s to. I think my seesaw-opinion comes from it being a fine book, but grating on my personal nerves.

It is well written and well edited; no complaints on that front. I’ll definitely be looking for more of Hawk’s writing, but Dan and Lief just annoyed the living daylights out of me almost every-time one of them opened their mouth.

I did appreciate the twist on the characters, on who’s the strong one and who needs the healing. Well, they both need healing, but the bad-boy character isn’t usually the one written as fey-like and fragile and it gave the book a bit of something different. And I did like both characters. I also thought the side characters were very well done. Taryn was awesome, Bea was stable and dependable, Virgil gave everything a little friction, even Corey and Marlene added a little something to the mix.

However, the book is repetitive. We’re told the same information multiple times, very close together. I think if Dan blamed himself for not saving his mother one more time I might have tossed my kindle over the back of the couch. (This also made his sudden repressed memory and the strength he garnered from it at the end unbelievably convenient.) Similarly, Lief’s constant ‘if he knew the truth’ mantra grew old pretty quickly.

I was also absolutely sickened by the sex=love and instant endearment laden relationship—you know, the way the characters instantly start calling each-other baby and sweetheart and saying things like ‘I’ll love you forever.’ Especially since Dan simultaneously held onto the ‘he’s leaving next week.’ It was pretty clear that had fallen off the table. Plus, if I’m honest, Lief’s ex-prozzie, ‘I’m into toys and plugs and everything else’ attitude didn’t really fit the tone of the rest of the book.

Then there was the fact that I was confused about the haints. They’re supposed to be ghosts, but lets be real, they’re zombies. And I didn’t set out to read a zombie book. This wasn’t help by the fact that I found the action scenes fairly mild and almost always brief.

The whole set up also felt a little wobbly because Runar seemed to discover what he came to Ransom Gap for after he came to Ransom Gap. I can’t really explain this without a spoiler, but once he arrived he discovered something he wanted to find and went about searching it out as Dan and Lief tried to stop him (that’s the non-romance part of the plot). So, what brought him there in the first place?

So, in the end, it was a fine book. It really was. I didn’t even dislike it. I liked a lot of it. But there were just so many small annoyances that they started to reach a bit of a critical mass by the end.

nothing special

Review of Nothing special, by A. E. Via

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Nothing SpecialI bought a copy of A. E. Via‘s Nothing Special.

Description from Goodreads:

Cashel Godfrey is big, tattooed, and angry, so people typically keep their distance. Fresh out of the police academy no one is looking to partner with the six foot four beast. When Cashel scanned the orientation room, he wasn’t expecting sexy hazel eyes to be locked onto him. Eyes of the gorgeous Leonidis Day. 

Leonidis is charming, witty, hilariously sarcastic, and the only one that can make Cashel smile. He’s an out and badass detective, but when Cashel saves his life in a raid that turns deadly, he sees something in the big man that no one else does…something special. 

Warning: Two sexy narcotics detectives. One with a serious hot spot for big gun-toting men, the other that yields a cannon; so be ready for the obscene sexual bang when these two come together.

Review: **spoiler alert**

Brace yourself. I’m about to rant and it’s not going to be pretty. I’ll apologise up front, but I didn’t find a lot to like about this book.

If I had to choose one word for this book, it would be inelegant. It’s not that the story is a bad one. It isn’t. It’s one that’s been written about a thousand times. But as I happen to really like growly cops falling in love, I don’t have a real problem with that. What I have a problem with are inaccuracies and jerky developments.

For example, the second sentence of the book introduces one of the main characters thus:

Detective Cashel Godfrey groaned and rolled his eyes at the captain’s obvious statement of most of their goals.

It’s their first day on the job as rookie officers. They’re in polyester uniforms and presumably beat cops. Then, part way through chapter one, we’re told,

It’d only taken four years for the two of them to make detective and get promoted to the Tactical Narcotics Team…

Well, if it took four years to make detective, God(frey) couldn’t have been a detective on page one (four years earlier). Further, it’s suggested that this is an impressive feat of promotion, accomplished because they are such a dynamic duo, but everyone from their cohort seems to have been promoted to detective too. 

Or how about the fact that just a page or so after God’s introduction, Leo is said to have a skull and crossbones tattoo on his arm, but later in the book, it’s God who has the skull and crossbones on his bicep, while Leo has “a couple armbands on each arm.” Consistency is important. Obvious errors pull me right out of a story.

Another thing that disrupts my reading experience is when solutions to problems are discovered or remembered so abruptly as to cause a stutter in the reading. Example: how about smooth transitions like this one,

Day got up and started pacing back and forth in his spacious living room. He stopped and ran his hands through his blond hair thinking about where God could be…then an idea hit him like a ton of bricks. Our tracking apps.

Yeah, that felt natural. This kind of thing happens a lot. Here’s another one, 

“What the hell am I supposed to do? I can’t move him by myself.” Day’s eyes widened. Oh. His neighbors. Those were some big motherfuckers.

Light bulbs just never feel unobtrusive and I hate them. 

But it’s not just problem-solving that isn’t handled well in this book. There are passages like this one,

“God said that they have kind of a strained relationship. He never went into specifics and I didn’t press the issue. But I’m sure it’s not that strained that his brother wouldn’t help him if he’s really sick. This will be a good way for his brother to show him that he loves him.”

Really this is fine, unless you consider that you don’t need to actually know that God has been disowned by his family to know he’s been disowned by his family, by virtue of the obviousness of that setup. (Not to mention what’s gonna happen, how it’s going to be resolved and what the HEA will be. All right there in that one statement.) I don’t like to see the scaffolding of a story quite so obviously.

And for the record, the resulting drama is just as gag-worthy and horribly sappy as you would imagine. In one fell swoop (finding tapes hidden in an attic of a house that the family moved into years after the hider died, so no idea how they got there) all is forgiven and God’s mom and brother are suddenly completely different characters. You might think almost ten years of hating and being horrible to someone might take a little more time to get over. But apparently it can be instantaneous and personality altering for all parties.

The thing is that there is so much about this book that is all almost good, but just so darned clumsy that it isn’t. Like when God becomes so sick he almost dies, but somehow never noticed it until he’s passing out? Sure it’s a perfect time for Day to nurse him back to health (and luckily prove he’s really loyal to God, as he was conveniently challenged to do just one scene earlier) but it’s also really abrupt, as is he miraculous healing as soon as it no longer benefits the plot.

In fact, everything is fast. Anyone out there ever worked in or with law enforcement? Ever tried to make an appointment with a lawyer to meet you at the jail to speak to an inmate (or the appointment to speak to the inmate at all…or well, just get any of them to answer the phone the first three times you call)? How about managed to get face time with a DA to discuss an appropriate deal, let alone get the decision made? Get the paperwork for any of that?

I guarantee that stuff doesn’t ALL happen in less than an hour in real life (or even believable fiction), but it apparently does in the Atlanta Drug Taskforce of this book, and with no effort too. I don’t know, maybe they have support staff to make the phone calls. Because, as an example, at one point God and Day were told some information, flirted a bit, God rush to the bathroom to take care of some personal business and then they ran to the truck and straight to the jail to see the informant, with a deal in hand and the lawyer already there. How? How, ’cause I want to work in that department.

It’s not that I want to read each and every phone call or anything (that would be boring), but I need to know appropriate time has passed for things to have happened and I need things to sound right, in some vague but appropriate way. And it just doesn’t here.

I’m no expert on any of this, but that just makes the whole thing worse. If you had to be an expert to notice the errors, it would be forgivable. But I’m not. I just have a little real world experience (and I never had to speak to a DA) but I still couldn’t hack it. People who don’t know police procedure or know any more of the lingo than can be gleaned from late-night TV, shouldn’t write it. Sorry, that sounds mean, but more research was required to make this sound more natural than two boys playing cops and robbers.

All the talk of catching the “kingpin,” with no further clarification of the hierarchal nature of the gang involved is a perfect example. Is it a mafia? Cosa Nostra? La Eme? Triad? Yakuza? Bratva? Or just some punk kid calling himself the big cheese in the area? Each would be different and just talking endlessly about the generic ‘kingpin’ suggests no further knowledge on the subject, no deeper thought to the shallow plotting than an avid Law & Order fan. It says, “I know the kingpin is the top dog, whatever that is, but I don’t really know what that means so I’m not going to delve into it any further.” And this is REALLY felt by the reader. And this is not the only example I could use. 

Far worse than God’s miraculous recovery abilities or the department’s apparently super efficient administrative staff is the sudden development of a romance between God and Day. They had been partners for four year (and sinse when do cops get to choose their partners, anyway?). One is straight; one is gay. There has been no evidence of unresolved sexual tension between them. Then, BAM, suddenly they’re all over eachother and in love. What!? There is no real impetus of change, nor is there a gradual growth of feelings. It came out of nowhere. I think the author tried to use the events of one particular night to accomplish this, but it didn’t work. It wasn’t enough. So, it too felt completely unsupported.

Then, just about the time you come to terms with the romance (and the fact that God’s a complete selfish asswipe as a lover), the author throws in a foursome! A foursome? Really? I don’t have any problem with four men. It’s kinda hot actually, but when the book is full of lines like this, “Day was his and only his…” and the characters pull the “Mine, Mine, Mine” cards over and over, it doesn’t work when they then turn around and start swapping. NOT. AT. ALL. And if it doesn’t fit the plot, it’s just there as titillation and is therefore a complete fail.

Plus, it required personality shifts on everyone’s part. God and Day both hated Johnson and Konowski up to that point, not to mention Konowski was really, really homophobic. So to have the four of them suddenly partner up just didn’t work. And much like God’s mom and brother, Konowski became a completely different character afterwards. Complete personality 180. Personally, I like consistency in my characters as much as in my plot. (Though, I did have a decent laugh at the fact that the author posted a note in the blurb of book 2 saying that there were no “polygamous sexual pairings” in the novel. I guess she’s already gotten the message that readers weren’t happy about it in this book.)

I also had a hard time with the names, God and Day. For one, God, really? Was there supposed to be some subtle religious message hidden here? If so, I missed it. But also, because they’re nouns, so my brain just apparently refused to read them as names. There were a lot of instances of having to reread a sentence because I misread it the first time, plus two short clipped names were easily confused.

There were also a lot of things that just plain annoyed me, even if not necessarily wrong. Like God carrying and actually using a Desert Eagle. I know the man is supposed to be huge, but still, a Desert Eagle? Really? Those things are 4+ pounds, empty! I would also have liked more description of the characters too. For example, at 58% it’s mentioned that Day trimmed his beard and I thought, what beard? No beard had been mentioned up to that point. Things like that.

Lastly, the book needed a bit more editing. There are a lot of misused words and typos. For example, the word ‘off’ was often missing its second F, to spell ‘of’ instead. And, you know, to catch the inconsistencies.

So, final thoughts: this was basically just barley ok. I know I probably made it sound even worse than that, since I didn’t care for it. But I’ll give it OK, even if not much more. I didn’t toss it on the DNF pile, but the best way to illustrate my opinion is by admitting that I bought Nothing Special and Embracing His Syn at the same time. I would never return a book after reading it, but halfway through Nothing Special, I returned Embracing His Syn. My book budget is too small to keep it when I wasn’t that impressed with the first one.

However, I want to end by saying that what irks me won’t necessarily annoy another reader. So, as always, I encourage people to pick the book up and make their own decision on it.