Tag Archives: sci-fi

The Trilisk Ruins

Book Review of The Trilisk Ruins, by Michael McCloskey

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The Trilisk RuinsI grabbed The Trilisk Ruins (Parker Interstellar Travels #1), by Michael McCloskey, from the Amazon free list. At the time of posting it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Telisa Relachik studied to be a xenoarchaeologist in a future where humans have found alien artifacts but haven’t ever encountered live aliens. Of all the aliens whose extinct civilizations are investigated, the Trilisks are the most advanced and the most mysterious.

Telisa refuses to join the government because of her opposition to its hard-handed policies restricting civilian investigation and trade of alien artifacts, despite the fact that her estranged father is a captain in the United Nations Space Force.

When a group of artifact smugglers recruits her, she can’t pass up the chance at getting her hands on objects that could advance her life’s work. But she soon learns her expectations of excitement and riches come with serious drawbacks as she ends up fighting for her life on a mysterious alien planet.

Review:
Hrmm, it was OK, I suppose. Not gripping, in fact I thought the whole thing fell a little flat, but I also wouldn’t call it a disaster or drivel. It was just uninspiring. The main characters did a lot of running around, surmising their situation to each other, and remember things, but very little of significance actually happened. Not nothing, mind you, but not as much as you would expect for 300+ pages, most of which was useless description of stuff. The romance/sex was abrupt, pointless and out of place, the writing/dialogue were stiff and sophomoric, and the characters baseless.

What rescued the book for me was Kirizzo. He was about as far from human as an alien can get, very centipede like. But I found that I related to him more than any other character in the book. This was largely because he was far more fleshed out than any of the others, but also because he wasn’t bogged down with useless details and his unbiased assessment of humans intriguing.

The story seems to be an interesting beginning to something. It’s definitely not a stand alone book. The problem is that, having finished it, I don’t what the primary plot arch is or will be. Is it an action adventure, following two romantically involved artefact smugglers—Indiana Jones in space? Is it a space opera about an errant daughter on the run from her politically and militaristically connected father and his morally debased government affiliation? Is it a sci-fi about exotic alien species being encountered for the first time? I have no idea and at this point, I should.

Again, it’s not a bad book. It has an interesting premise. The writing, though stiff, seemed well edited. I don’t remember any noticeable typos. The whole thing just left me, personally, a little cold. But there are undoubtedly readers out there who will feel differently.

Perfection Unleashed

Book Review of Perfection Unleashed, by Jade Kerrion

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Perfection UnleashedAuthor, Jade Kerrion sent me an ecopy of her Sci-fi novel Perfection Unleashed.

Description from Goodreads:
Two men, one face. One man seeks to embrace destiny, the other to escape it. 

Danyael Sabre spent sixteen years clawing out of the ruins of his childhood and finally has everything he wanted–a career, a home, and a trusted friend. To hold on to them, he keeps his head down and plays by the rules. An alpha empath, he is powerful in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution, yet his experience has taught him to avoid attention.

When the perfect human being, Galahad, escapes from Pioneer Laboratories, the illusory peace between humans and their derivatives–the in vitros, clones, and mutants–collapses into social upheaval. The abominations, deformed and distorted mirrors of humanity, created unintentionally in Pioneer Lab’s search for perfection, descend upon Washington D.C. The first era of the Genetic Revolution was peaceful. The second is headed for open war.

Although the genetic future of the human race pivots on Galahad, Danyael does not feel compelled to get involved and risk his cover of anonymity, until he finds out that the perfect human being looks just like him.

Review:
I have to admit that there was more to this book than I expected. Not only was there an interesting science fiction plot, there were also some interesting social questions raised about the morality of genetic modifications, as well as a mild romantic subplot and plenty of action. I’d argue too much adventure, it’s a subjective thing, I know.

While on one hand nonstop action is a good thing, it’s never boring, but it also means that the reader is never given a moment to breathe. The main character, Danyael, is hit with one thing after another until he is so exhausted he’s about ready to pass out. This is actually how he feels from the first page to the last. I mean, three completely unrelated baddies came after him one after another (more if you count the attacks on the group he was with as opposed to him specifically)!

This constant fragile, borderline helplessness made him feel very child-like, which tended to counter his badass alpha empath status, though it did make him really easy to empathise with. I liked him a lot. I liked his cronies. I loved the strength of friendships represented without being tarnished by unrequited love, or lust, or some past betrayal. Pure, strong friendships can feel hard to come by in fiction sometimes. I really enjoyed finding one here. I also liked the opposing military factions, though I strongly felt X-Men’s influence in the two mutant factions. I just really wish there had been a few less irons in the literary fire.

The repetitive plot additions left me feeling exhausted too. There were just too many invested parties vying for Danyael in some fashion or another. Really, what’s the likelihood they would all come to culmination at the same time? It left the book feeling rushed as it leapt from one crisis to another. Despite this one rather significant complaint, I really enjoyed the story and the characters in it. I have to admit being irked at the cliffhanger ending I’m not a fan of them, but I’d be interested in picking the sequel up at some point.

Man Made Man

Book Review: Man Made Man (Phoenician Series, #2), by Marjorie F. Baldwin

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Man Made Man

Author, Marjorie F. Baldwin sent me an ARC of book two of her Phoenician Series, Man Made Man. You can find my review of book one, Conditioned Response here.

Description from Goodreads:
Proctors don’t think–or they shouldn’t. A Proctor is supposed to follow orders but a Proctor named Raif can’t STOP thinking. He’s different and he knows it. He was MADE differently. Who made him and why? And what was he designed to BE anyway? With thoughts and memories that can’t be his own and donors from over a dozen genetic lines, all Raif knows for certain is that he was never designed to be a Proctor.

When Raif tries to find out the truth about his origins, he makes an even more horrifying discovery: his genetic design doesn’t exist. There’s no record of him in the Breeding Selections. The Archival records supposedly contain every human ever designed but he’s not listed. Was he supposed to be MADE or was his design some kind of experimental theory never meant to leave a laboratory dish? Was he given life by accident or was he made for some specific reason?

In MAN MADE MAN, Raif searches for answers and instead finds the Phoenicians, strange people that human records claim are indigenous to the planet yet still not understood by humans even after 400 years of sharing a planet.

When the Phoenician Seven Chiefs learn of Raif’s personal quest, they decide to help him. Of course, they’re not just being nice. With the Seven Chiefs, there’s always a Plan!

Now the question Raif will have to answer is whether he’s a man who was made for their Plan or if their Plan was made for him?

Review:
I had high hopes for this book, since I loved Conditioned Response (CR) so much. Ms. Baldwin’s writing always leaves me exhilarated and it is no less marvellous here than in book one. I love the Phoenician universe she’s created and the characters who inhabit it. In all respects this is a five star book.

However, I also found myself a little disappointed in it. I would almost call this more of a companion book than a sequel (or rather, prequel). While it’s interesting to see events from Raif’s POV, instead of Shayla’s and it’s great to see said events in greater detail than in book one, there is very little new here. Almost everything that happened in this book was mentioned in CR. Granted, in CR the reader is just told X happened and here you see X happen, it’s still the same series of events and you know the outcome. I just kept waiting for that something more.

Now, having said that, let me also say how much fun it was to see the staid, unflappable Raif as an unsteady newborn and the serious Shayla as an innocent youth. If, like me, you loved CR’s characters its worth reading this book just to see them again and understand a their history a bit more.

I did think Raif’ talents felt a little overemphasised. There didn’t seem to be anything he couldn’t do and it left me wondering how someone so much more advanced than everyone else could possibly be bested by Drammond…ever. Same for the Administrator. How could someone who is able to monitor a whole city not be able to pinpoint the location of his own Heir in that same city? Also, though well written, some of the romance or sexual references seemed to come out out nowhere. For example, one moment Raif is in a high stress, life or death situation, the next he’s deciding to make up with his ex and imagining all the things he could do with her. I had no idea where that came from. It felt a bit like cheap titillation.

All-in-all, though I had a gripe or two, for those who liked CR I highly recommend reading Man Made Man. As a prequel, it would also be perfectly followable for those who hadn’t read CR and wanted to start the series here. Baldwin’s writing is a gem worth exploring.

☆ I also read When Minds Collide (A Phoenician Series Short Story). You can see my review here.