Tag Archives: sci-fi

of treason born

Review of Of Treasons Born (The Treasons Cycle #1), by J.L. Doty

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I picked up a copy of J.L. Doty‘s Of Treasons Born from the book exchange shelf at a local cafe.

Description from Goodreads:
As a lifer in the Imperial Navy fighting in a war that has lasted for generations, York Ballin’s only hope for an honorable discharge is the grave. But what events led up to his reluctant enlistment? What spawned York’s almost fanatic loyalty to his friends–and his doubts regarding the imperial uniform he once wore with such pride?

York rarely recalls his childhood, which began with a mystery and ended at age eleven when he was given a harsh choice: Join the navy or face certain death on a prison asteroid. The navy has its own code of justice, but a youngster with curiosity and grit is able to rise in the ranks . . . if he’s given a fair shot.

A few rigorous years later, as a newly commissioned ensign, York is assigned to the hunter-killer ship The Fourth Horseman. But when an unexpected foe kills his superior officer and leaves the crew stranded in enemy territory, the young ensign must do whatever he can to save the ship–even if it means he’ll be court-martialed for treason.

Review:
This started off fairly well, with an 11-year-old sentenced to life on a mining asteroid for a crime he was coerced into participating in. Thus starts York’s lifetime of being strong-armed into things.

The book progressed well for a while, as we watch York find his feet in the adult world. But then, about halfway through, the whole pace and tone of the book changed. Suddenly, where we’d followed the day-to-day minutia of York’s life, whole months and then years passed in mere sentences. “The next year he X, Y and Z,” for example. Until the book ends at one seemingly random point. Yeah, there’d been a little bit of an upswing in action and down-shifting in pace, so we followed one actual event for a while, but no questions were answered. No conclusions come to. The book doesn’t culminate into anything.

I’m curious enough to want to know the mystery of York’s birth and why he was being singled out. But I’m annoyed to have to read more for ANY answers. Come one, throw readers a little bone to keep us reading! The fact that nothing was even addressed (York doesn’t know there is a mystery), let alone answered, left this particular book feeling anchoress and random.

Book Review of The Shape of Water, by Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Kraus

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I borrowed a copy of Guillermo Del Toro and Daniel Kraus‘ The Shape of Water from the library.

Description from Goodreads:
It is 1962, and Elisa Esposito—mute her whole life, orphaned as a child—is struggling with her humdrum existence as a janitor working the graveyard shift at Baltimore’s Occam Aerospace Research Center. Were it not for Zelda, a protective coworker, and Giles, her loving neighbor, she doesn’t know how she’d make it through the day.

Then, one fateful night, she sees something she was never meant to see, the Center’s most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man, captured in the Amazon, to be studied for Cold War advancements. The creature is terrifying but also magnificent, capable of language and of understanding emotions…and Elisa can’t keep away. Using sign language, the two learn to communicate. Soon, affection turns into love, and the creature becomes Elisa’s sole reason to live.

But outside forces are pressing in. Richard Strickland, the obsessed soldier who tracked the asset through the Amazon, wants nothing more than to dissect it before the Russians get a chance to steal it. Elisa has no choice but to risk everything to save her beloved. With the help of Zelda and Giles, Elisa hatches a plan to break out the creature. But Strickland is on to them. And the Russians are, indeed, coming.

Review:
I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed this. While I understand this was developed along-side the movie, not based on it, I usually find book from movies quite shallow. So, I wasn’t expecting much. Which means the depth and shades of grey in this book was a pleasant surprise. I loved the writing style and characters, especially Giles. Plus, how so many characters crossed paths without ever knowing it.

It wasn’t faultless. I found it’s message, while admirable, too bluntly relayed. It was a bit in your face. And Strickland’s mania went too far, much farther than needed anyhow. Having said that, as much as I detested him (of course I did), he was also one of my favorite characters. Favorite in the sense that there was the most to him. He was horrible, just a monster. But he was also profoundly broken and trying desperately to unfuck himself (but too dysfunctional to have any hope of succeeding or recognizing that fact). I’ve not seen the movie. But I wonder if they could have brought this to the screen without his internal monologues. Lastly, I thought the ending, while predictable, wrapped it all up a little too nicely. (Unless of course you read the whole thing to have been orchestrated by Deus Branquia in order to get from South America to New York to find Elisa, which after the last scenes I kind of do. That brings an element of sacrifice I appreciate. )

The Glass Admiral

Book Review of The Glass Admiral, by Kit Smart

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I won an  e-copy of Kit Smart‘s The Glass Admiral through Goodreads.

Description:
Cavalry officer and master horse trainer Lt. Megarheri Saverna, doesn’t have much use for males of the two legged variety beyond an occasional one night stand. She is, therefore, less than pleased to be dragged off-planet, away from her horses and assigned as batwoman to Space Fleet’s most notoriously difficult hero. Even if he’s gorgeous, witty, unexpected and quite possibly the sexiest man in the universe.

Admiral Sen Kosuri has never seen himself as anything other than what he is; a severely disabled, half Recessive fleet officer; an admiral in name only. Relegated to a desk since the mutiny that left him disabled, he never thought he’d see a field command again and now that he has, he is determined to keep it even if it means making use of his reluctant ‘batwoman’ for however long she lasts.

Tough, funny, beautiful and more than able to handle anything he throws at her, Lt. Saverna is a revelation; one that soon sparks a sexual attraction that triggers his Recessive mating impulses and has him seeing beyond what he is to what he could be and hoping that she might last forever.

Warning: The Glass Admiral is a sci-fi romance featuring a disabled hero and strong female lead that contains sexual situations and several graphic descriptions of intimacy. Intended for mature readers.

Review:
This was almost a lot of light weight fun. There was never going to be any bulk or seriousness to it, but for a fluffy read it almost made the mark. It started out well, with the two meeting and then immediately finding themselves attacked by pirates. But then she tried to seduce him in an access hatch in the middle of mortal danger (15 minutes after meeting him) and I grimaced. It was too fast. But even then, it still might have just been a little bit of erotic fluff to read. But it didn’t manage that either.

The editing is a mess. (At one point I passed a paragraph I thought might actually be a left over plotting note. The paragraph didn’t fit where it was and didn’t make any sense to the story.) And information is dropped willy-nilly. For example, toward the end she states she wants to claim him because she’s a dragon and I stopped and went, “Wait, does she mean that literally or is that, like, her unit in the Calvary?” The book has no ending. Of course it ends, and I knew it wasn’t stand-alone, but nothing wraps up, there’s no build-up to anything, there’s nothing to mark a logical break between books. It literally just ends out of nowhere. It’s too precipitous to even be called a cliffhanger.

All of it added up to a mess…but a mess that you could see good bones in. Given to a competent content and developmental editor this could be good. But it’s not there yet. And none of this touches on my biggest problem. I chose to read this book because I thought it might be a fun read, but also because it had a lot of elements you don’t often see. She was the more experienced sexual partner and that alpha-type male was disabled, living with chronic pain and injury. Plus, given the cover, I assumed he would be black. (And though the word isn’t used, by his description his was.) But then, as the only notably black character, he’s referred to as a Recessive (whatever that is, his race I think) and was subject to a very public sexual maturation in which he apparently had a prolonged raging hard-on he couldn’t control among other things, which was followed by years of doctors taking liberties with his body and a loss of autonomy. I was very, very uncomfortable with the implications.