Welcome To The Madhouse by S.E. Sasaki

Tags

android, androids, author, book, book reviews, books, characters, comedy, fiction, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, robot, robots, S.E. Sasaki, science fiction, scifi, SE Sasaki, stories, story, thriller, Welcome to the Madhouse, Welcome to the Madhouse by SE Sasaki, world building, write, writer, writing

Genre: Science Fiction, Robots, Indie, Thriller, Comedy

Pages: 246

Point of View: Third Person (Dr. Grace Lord, SAMM-E 777 aka Bud, & Dr. Hiro Al-Fadi)

Released: September 15th 2015

Series: Yes. First in a new series.

Predictability: 4 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Author Request

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

Ratings: Rape (Only in the prologue. I recommend skipping the prologue entirely.) Mild grossness.

My Summary:

Grace is the new surgical intern on the medical space station the Nelson Mandela, under the fabulous (Just ask him) Dr. Hiro Al-Fadi.

Bud, created by Al-Fadi, is an experimental surgical Android. He’s either malfunctioning or experiencing the emotions of a human and he doesn’t know what to do about it. Why is he drawn to the spunky new doctor?

When a ship docs without any live patients, they realize a deadly virus has been released into the station. It’s up to Grace and Bud to find a cure.

My Review:

I’ve never read an indie book with so few errors! 

The real excitement doesn’t get going until after the halfway point. But it wasn’t boring and because the time was taken to establish the characters, I could properly worry about them. (The tech to resurrect people made things less scary, though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.)

The Good:

It’s been a while since a book called to me, and this one certainly did. I also lost a bit of sleep on this one. (I suddenly realized it was 3am and the book was over..) I even laughed aloud a few times!

Normally a book has to have magic or super powers to get 8 stars out of me, but Madhouse gets it for characters alone! The characters were all so well done and fleshed out! A nurse who had only two scenes somehow felt like a person. And even the space station AI had personality! (He was a hoot!)

The relationship between the chief surgeon, Al-Fadi, and his anesthesiologist was easily one if the best parts of the book! Though a bit over the top, their constant bickering, joking relationship felt very real to me.

The entire book takes place on the space station the Nelson Mandela. (Or the madhouse as Dr. Al-Fadi calls it.) Most of the world building is confined to what is important to the doctors, but I enjoyed the hints we got about the rest of the world as mankind explores the stars. (and makes war.) One of the coolest parts of this world was the genetically adapted soldiers! Some were part wolf or tiger, or even part orca and they were not only described well, but thought really went into what these people’s lives would be like.

The best way to describe the mood would be Doctor Who. Comedy mixed with tragedy and some potentially scary scenes. (To me a virus that liquefies people is very frightening, but this isn’t horror.) The mixing of comedy and thriller is hard to do so that the comedy doesn’t lesson the stakes, but Madhouse did it well. (I laughed, I was scared, then I laughed!)

The Bad:

It was love at first sight… On the part of the robot! (I didn’t expect that.) My biggest annoyance was how he addressed her. Always by her full name and some wondrous adjective. At about forty percent he decides to stop and I cheered, but he failed at it miserably. By this point it became more funny than annoying though.

I was warned that the prologue might bother me, so I skipped it. Later, curiosity got the better of me (because I was told it was mild) and I wanted to write a full review. I liked the book better without it. I would’ve figured things out too quickly if I’d read it. I recommend skipping it.

Do you read science fiction? I used to read almost all sci-fi, but in the last few years I’ve switched to almost all fantasy. So, it was nice to read sci-fi again. (Oddly enough it’s also sci-fi month.) I’ve always been a big fan of robots! Particularly when there’s romance involved, and I’m interested to see where this one goes.

Hunter By Mercedes Lackey

Tags

author, book, book reviews, books, characters, dystopian, fantasy, fiction, Hunter By Mercedes Lackey, literature, magic, magic system, Mercedes Lackey, novel, plot, post apocalyptic, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, world building, write, writer, writing, young adult

Genre: Fantasy, Scifi, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Magic

Pages: 384

Point of View: First (Joy)

Released: September
1st 2015

Series: Hunter 1

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: NetGalley

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

My Summary:

After the world ended, magic appeared and with it otherworlders, who think of humans only as prey. Luckily some rare humans with magic have a bond with magical creatures, known as Hounds. These Hunters keep people safe and are required to go in the main city of Apex.

Joy is a young Hunter, who has lived in a monetary on a mountain for most of her life. Her only family is her uncle, who is an important man in the city. When he requests that Joy join him, she has no choice, or she’ll risk the government learning about the other Hunters in the monastery.

She realizes things are more complex in the city than she thought. Her uncle is surrounded by enemies and Hunting is done very differently.

My Review:

I am proud to say I am yet again an oddball… I really liked this book!

I’ve never read a book before that started so BAD but ended so GOOD!

The Bad (the first 20%) :

Okay, so the first 20% I’d only rate a 6/10 and that’s being generous. The whole beginning is Joy riding the train to the city. It would’ve been so much better if it started in the mountains. Then we could’ve seen what it was like instead of being told about it.

It starts with TONS of info dumping! This girl has concentration issues. If she really spent this long staring into space people would think there was something wrong with her.

Seriously lots of telling! Do we really need to know how they make bread? The telling doesn’t even track! First she’s thinking about bread then it’s the armed services. She also talks to the reader a couple of times. (Which annoys me.)

I understand Joy’s never left home before and she’s homesick. But I wasn’t sure if I even liked her at the beginning! She came off conceited, constantly thinking how much better her mountain was and how silly the Cits are. (Cits = city people)

Speaking of which, I like made up magical words. But then she added in the dystopian slang too, and it was a bit much. Although I liked the names, did we really need things like coffee to be renamed?

Then she got to the Capital, sorry Apex, and Hunters are Vid stars. (It seemed very Hunger Games esque.)

The Good:

After Joy got to the city, she really grew on me! She really is a genuinely nice person. She also stopped constantly thinking of home and quoting her masters. (Which was beginning to grate on me.)

Once she she gets to Hunter HQ and starts going on hunts, the book improves drastically! The hunts were exciting and well done and I enjoyed the relationships between the Hunters. Though she not only makes friends, but also some enemies. Namely, Ace, the top ranked Hunter. He was a decent antagonist, I certainly disliked him.

There’s also a romance. The dates didn’t do much for me, because they couldn’t speak freely. (Since every minute Joy is being recorded.) There could’ve been more joking and banter, more getting to know him for me. Even though I liked him, I was never sure he was trustworthy and I think that’s why the author left him as a bit of a mystery, so there would be doubt.

The world was complex and there was so much to it; magic and psi energy, hounds and otherworlders. I love how the different mythologies come together. It’s so unique and such a good idea!

My favorite part of the book was the hounds! Joy and her hounds were more like siblings than pets. They had such a great relationship! The way they joked and helped one another. And everyone’s Hounds were so different; from winged lions to Joy’s large colorful shape changing Hounds.

The magic system was obscure, but had plenty of rules to ground it. I liked how it worked and the glyphs and the feelings she invoked. That last battle was pure perfection! Now this shows what a great writer Lackey is!

Do I recommend this book? Yes! But have patience with the beginning. It gets better, I promise!

Another reviewer complained that Joy was too special, but I didn’t think so. Sure, she was good with magic, but she didn’t start out with anything that was rare. (On the mountain at least.)

How do you feel about special protagonists? I don’t mind characters that are special. Talk about a character with a rare talent or a special magic and I’m there!

I am annoyed when they are perfect. Pretty and talented and with a perfect personality, it’s all a bit much. (And boring!)

Sequel Reviews: Miss Misery and Quanta

Tags

author, book, book reviews, books, characters, cypher, Darkest Misery, Darkest Misery By Tracey Martin, dystopian, fantasy, fiction, literature, Lola Dodge, miss misery, new adult, novel, plot, Quanta, Quanta By Lola Dodge, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, Shadow Ravens, stories, story, Tracey Martin, urban fantasy, write, writer, writing, young adult

I always enjoy batch review posts and neither of these were particularly long, so I thought I’d stick them together.

---

Darkest Misery By Tracey Martin (Miss Misery 4)

Genre: Adult, Urban Fantasy

Pages: 279

Point of View: First (Jessica)

Released: August 25th 2015

Series: Miss Misery

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: NetGalley

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

See my review of the first three books in the series here.

I needed something to cheer me up after the Croak trilogy and these books always do just that. Though the fourth book in a continuing series, I’m pretty sure you could jump right in and it would still make sense, because everything is explained well.

My Summary:

Jess convinced the various Preds, Maji, and Griffins to sit down and work together to stop the Furies from essentially ending the world. But a murder and some evil Preds from headquarters complicate matters.

Spoiler free explanation for those who haven’t read this series: Preds are supernatural races that feed on negative emotions. Both the evil Furies and the Satyrs are Preds. The magi are magical bird shifters and the Griffins are the magical human police force. Jess is a member of the Griffins, albeit an unwilling one.

My Review:

All of the old characters came back. My favorite, Steph (Jess’ terrific transgender best friend) wasn’t in the book much. Tom, Jess’ supervisor at the Griffins, is growing on me though. I actually like him now, go figure.

I was worried when I read the official summary that Jess pushes her boyfriend away, but doesn’t really, she just goes to France without him. (But that isn’t until halfway through the book.)

The love triangle is still present, and I still don’t care. I love both these guys! And not because they’re perfect, because they aren’t. I know, this doesn’t sound like me at all! I promise I haven’t been body snatched! I just really like the way she does the romance in these books. Though there wasn’t as much banter as the last book there was a sappy moment. (Which shockingly I enjoyed too!)

The romance doesn’t take over the plot though. It’s still about solving mysteries, kicking butt, and saving the world.

The Bad:

Jess still lets her temper get the better of her. Who thought it would be a good idea to make her a mediator anyway?

I hated the head Satyr who showed up! I know I was supposed to, but I seriously want that guy dead! He attacked Jess and that scene really bothered me, because I was afraid he was going to rape her, but he didn’t.

Though it wasn’t to be continued, more storylines were left dangling than in previous books.

---

Quanta By Lola Dodge

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopian, Modified DNA, Seeing the future

Pages: 248

Series: Shadow Ravens

Point of View: First (Quanta & Altair)

Released: October 13th 2015

Predictability: 4 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 6/10 Stars

Age Rating:  Swearing, implication of rape and torture. (We know it happened even though it happens off screen and only implied.)

Even though this is the second book, it features a new story and all new characters. Does it stand alone? Mostly. Quanta didn’t do as good a job explaining the world and since I remembered little from Cypher (My review) I was rather confused by all of the terms.

The Stuff I forgot:

In a world where people have scientifically altered DNA the color or your Helix tattoo reveals what you can do. White Helix, also known as the Seligo are the elite. They don’t get sick and they don’t age. Black Helix are warriors with superior strength and stamina, greens have super smarts, blues are mysterious, but have some sort of mind control abilities. Then there’s the red helix, which are said to have unstable DNA. They have out of control powers and are to be captured or killed on sight. The Shadow Ravens are working against the government to free the red helix and protect them.

My Summary:

Quanta is a red helix who can see the future, so she’s spent most of her life in a cell.

Altair lives in a different sort of prison. He’s a green helix, a scientist, pretending to be the perfect son for his senator parents, but he’s only doing it to get information for the resistance.

When Quanta meets Altair she knows they are going to fall in love and she knows it will end badly. (Like both dying badly) So she fights her growing attraction to Altair. It’s not like she trusts people easily anyway. She doesn’t have a choice but to work with him though, because someone came up with a list of red helix’s and they have to discover how.

My Review:

The Good:

I liked how Quanta saw the future and the past. I’ve never read anything like it! She sees time ghosts, people in the space she’s in or connected to an object or person. Sometimes it was jarring having her visions in present tense and the rest in past, but that might have been the point. A lot of thought went into her powers.

We get to see how the elite live through Altair. They were as vain as expected. But some of their kids aren’t as stuck up. Altair’s crazy gamer sister was a great character! Not that the other characters weren’t good, but there wasn’t much opportunity for levity.

The Bad:

Like Cypher, the main characters in Quanta were ‘magically’ linked. Paired. Destined. Whatever. She requires him to have control of her powers. I didn’t like it in the first book and I don’t like it here. This one is a little better, but I still wish it was just a coincidence that he has this effect on her, or their feelings allowed this connection. And I don’t like that Lady Eva scientifically paired them together. Talk about controlling. Plus it spoils the romance!

Although stuff happens, the plot was rather slow for me. They spend the whole book not escaping from the lab. I also didn’t like the way Quanta’s powers grew. (Plot wise I mean.) It’s been done before and this book had the potential for more. (Sorry spoiler avoiding)

---

Do you like multiple review posts? Because I still can’t find the words to describe the awesomeness that was One Good Dragon Deserves Another, so I might wind up sticking it with another book.

Warm Bodies and The New Hunger By Isaac Marion

Tags

author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, fantasy, fiction, Isaac Marion, literature, New Hunger Isaac Marion, novel, plot, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, the new hunger, warm bodies, Warm Bodies Isaac Marion, write, writer, writing, Zombie books, zombies

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Zombies

Pages: 256

Point of View: First (Julie, R)

Released: October 28th 2010

Series: Warm Bodies

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Bought

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

Warnings: Definitely an older YA. Violence, eating people, mentions of sex, and they’re fond of the F word.

My Summary:

Warm Bodies stars R, a zombie. He doesn’t remember anything about his life, but he thinks his name started with an R. He ‘lives’ (shuffles around) in an old airport. His best friend M is also a zombie. They mostly grunt and shuffle together, only capable of speaking the occasional word.

Then on a food run, (yes food is what you expect) R unexpectedly saves a girl named Julie. He wipes black zombie blood on her to disguise her living aura and takes her back to his home. He knows a bit about her because he ate her boyfriend’s brain. (Zombies see flashes of a person’s life when they eat brains.)

My Review:

This was one of the strangest books I’ve ever read! I usually avoid zombie books. They’re the one monster that totally creeps me out! But I saw the movie a while ago, (Yes I watched the movie first, I usually do *gasps*) and it was funny and cute and not at all what I expected. The book wasn’t exactly ‘cute’, but it was good. It’s a short, quick, fun read, which is just what I wanted.

The good:

I liked that we were inside the zombie’s head. R’s voice is what made this book! It easily could’ve been written from Julie’s perspective and though I liked her, it wouldn’t have been nearly as good. (And again my love for the whole good monster thing comes into play!)

R is one of the best protagonists I’ve read in a long time. He has an entirely unique voice and for a corpse he’s certainly eloquent. Far from being the mindless zombie, he might shuffle and groan, but his head is full. I especially liked the little things that changed in him after he met Julie. The hope, the caring, and all the little things like remembering how to smile. Julie was a good character too. She wasn’t just a damsel in distress or a mouthy tough girl, but somewhere in between, flawed and totally real. I also like both of the character’s best friends, M and Nora.

We don’t really learn what caused the world to collapse, or the virus of the Dead, and I don’t care. (Julie gives us her thoughts towards the end, but nothing’s confirmed.) The zombies, while traditional were unique enough. I liked the strange gray eye color and black blood thing. (Oh, and that eating human brains gives them flashes of memories.)

There wasn’t the normal sort of plot, because most of the time the characters didn’t have a plan and just reacted to the situations they found themselves in. But why would the plot be normal when nothing else about this book was?

For anyone curious both the movie and the book are good for different reasons. I remember the movie being more laugh out loud funny, but the book had quite a few chuckles. The movie was obviously more Hollywood, though they did a good job using R’s narration to keep his voice. I liked the book better of course, but just for the story not the missing internal thoughts. The Boneys (older Dead, now skeletons) in the book were much scarier than the horror versions of themselves in the movie. I think it’s because in the movie they were brainless, but in the book they acted. (Allbeit strangely) The boneys started a zombie church, and school. Giving children zombies to adults and teaching them what to do. It was all very weird.

The Bad:

There were parts that were a bit gross, but it is a zombie book after all.

---

The New Hunger by Isaac Marion

Pages: 105 192

Point of View: Third (Julie, Nora, R)

Released: January 28th 2013 October 8th 2015

Predictability: 5 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: NetGalley

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

My Summary:

Nora and her seven year old little brother were abandoned by their parents in a world gone crazy. At only sixteen, Nora doesn’t really have a plan other than find people. (Living ones)

Julie and her parents are headed to an enclave which is supposed to be safe. At only twelve she can already take care of herself.

And a dead man wakes up in the woods with an empty mind.

My Review:

I’m glad I read Warm Bodies first, because even though it made The New Hunger predictable, it’s not nearly as sad. (I’d always rather be prepared for deaths.)

The Good:

It was nice to meet a young Julie and Nora. I loved Nora’s little brother Addy! M, R’s Zombie friend also makes an appearance. R’s parts were still my favorite! The things he talks to in his head were very strange, but I liked how he traded emotions for information.

I wish it had started just a bit earlier! I wanted to see R as a human and find out how he Died. Hopefully the sequel will answer some of the questions this book left me with.

We do get some answers about the progression of the messed up world, if not what caused it. And there’s a flashback of when they announced the zombie pandemic. It was also nice to see some other cities. (Or rather their ruins)

The Bad:

The tone was darker than Warm Bodies and it was missing the humor.

I was excited to read The New Hunger again when I heard they added more stuff in preparation for the sequel! But I was surprised at how little was added.

So, what’s different?

There’s an all new prologue and epilogue! (Though they were just weird and didn’t serve any purpose.) And a sneak peek at Warm Bodies 2! (Which shows Julie, R, Nora, and Marcus on a plane.)

The most interesting change to me was instead of R remembering the dead blond woman, he sees an old man in a tall building grinning and sipping a drink as his soldiers fill the streets.  Which could be significant.

Aside from that, the only really noticeable changes were Julie’s letter to her pen pal being removed and a paragraph about the militias added.

Though it obviously went through another edit, for word use and such, and possibly continuity. Most of the changes were small, like R being called him instead of the tall man.

Also, mentions of beer and rapists were removed and her penpal sent her Whiskey instead of Vicoden. (I don’t understand why since its still an older YA due to violence and the F word.) I do like that the brand names were removed, like ziplock and Redbox. (And some I hadn’t heard of before) because now it’s not so dated.

Were the additions worth it? I’m sure for big fans of the series they were, but I was disappointed. According to Amazon it’s about ninety pages longer, but it’s more like five! So while I still recommend it, if you’ve already read it there’s no reason to read it again.

---

Do you prefer to read the book first or see the movie? I’d usually rather see the movie first, because otherwise I’m too annoyed by all of the changes. And the movie’s shorter, so it’s a good test if the book will be worth it.

The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

Tags

author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, fantasy, fiction, Frankenstein, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, Steampunk, stories, story, The Diabolical Miss Hyde, The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr, urban fantasy, Viola Carr, write, writer, writing

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Scifi, Steampunk, Mystery, Retelling

Pages: 464

Point of View: First (Eliza and Lizzie)

Released: February 10th 2015

Series: Electric Empire 1

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Bought

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

Warnings: Sex and some grossness (see the bad below)

My Summary:

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s daughter also has the same affliction. Eliza Jekyll is a scientist and works with the police force. Miss Lizzie Hyde is a thief and likes going to rowdy bars in the bad part of town. Eliza takes a serum to prevent the change, but its starting to not work.

All magic is illegal, so she’s determined to keep her secret, but when a royal society enforcer gets involved with her latest case things get complicated.

My Review:

Let’s see how good Molly’s memory is. I read this book in April, but for some reason I didn’t write a review. (And now I’m angry with my past self.)

This book not only continues Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Frankenstein too and there’s plenty of originality added in.

The Good:

It’s set in an alternate past, so women are still looked down upon, but both Eliza and Lizzie are strong in their own way and defy convention.

I liked the relationship between the two ‘sisters’ a lot. They started out hating one another, but they still love each other and they come to respect one another over the course of the book. (I’m afraid the sequel will ruin this though based on the description.)

The romance? There were two and oddly I liked the most messed up one the best. (I’m not sure what that says about me.) He sort of reminds me of Hannibal Lector.

This was your basic steampunk world with robots and gadgets. It was mostly sci-fi, but had some Fantasy elements too. (Werewolves, alchemy, and the fey) Eliza’s investigation tools were cool but I didn’t see the reason for the robots, they were just there. (Both her ‘pet’ robot and the guard robots standing around the city.)

Though set in a dark world there’s plenty of light fun dialogue that I enjoyed. The banter wasn’t the best, but it was still cute.

There’s more than one mystery going on and it was all well done. I wasn’t sure who did it until the second half of the book. (Though I did figure it out way before Eliza and Lizzie)

The Bad:

There was a bit of grossness in this book, the case involved women turning up without their limbs, but it mostly didn’t bother me. (And I’m quite the wimp.)

At first if was hard to understand Lizzie. The book starts in her POV and I almost didn’t buy it because of this. I got used to her though and overall I enjoyed her parts.

Verdict: a good, if weird book. (With an awesome cover!)

Have you ever written a review a bit late? This is my first attempt and I’m presently surprised by how much I remembered. (Especially considering how forgetful and scatterbrained I can be.)

Nice Dragons Finish Last By Rachel Aaron

Tags

author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, dragon books, fantasy, fiction, heartstrikers, literature, nice dragons finish last, nice dragons finish last by Rachel Aaron, novel, plot, Rachel Aaron, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, urban fantasy, write, writer, writing

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Scifi, Dragons

Pages: 315

Point of View: Third (Julius)

Released: July 15th 2014

Series: Hellstrikers 1

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Mood: Fun, light, action

Source: Bought

My Rating: 9/10 Stars

My Summary:

Unlike normal dragons, Julius likes humans and spends most of his time holed in his room. His mother’s fed up with him, so one day she has him woken up, sealed in human form, and dumped in a city where there’s a bounty on dragons. If he doesn’t prove himself a true dragon in a month, she’ll kill him.

Julius hires Marci, a young mage, to assist him, but she has problems of her own. She stole something from a mobster and he wants it back.

My Review:

This book has ALL of my weaknesses! Why didn’t I read it sooner?!

A futuristic fantasy! I love when SciFi and fantasy merge and it worked great here! After a comet hit years ago, magic was reawakened and now everyone knows about it. The reawakened spirits, mages, and dragons have reshaped our world. Most of this book takes place in the city of Detroit Free Zone, a city of spirits where its illegal to pollute the water, but pretty much everything except murder is legal. The rich live in high superscrapers and then there’s the ‘colorful’ underground. The magic system was simple, but well thought out. Technology and magic mesh together to create special phones and self driven cars. It was all so cool and well done!

My favorite aspect of course was the dragons and their culture. They’re truly cutthroat and highly magical and strong. (Julius still has his strength, even if he can’t turn into a dragon with the powers of fire and flight.) His mother has dozens of children. So many that she names each clutch by a letter of the alphabet to keep them straight. A is the oldest and she’s currently on J, making Julius one of the youngest at only 24.

Julius is a great protagonist! He’s spent his life bending to his family and feeling like a weak failure, since he’s a nice dragon. (Weakness no 1, the good monster hehe!) He really grew throughout this book and not only got tougher but accepted himself. Marci’s a doctoral student who believes in very structured magic. She’s been through a lot recently, but she’s smart and tough.

Both of the main characters are awkward so that made the romance cute. She also doesn’t know he’s a dragon. (Which I loved, the whole secret identity thing! And a forbidden romance!)

The Bad:

The only thing that kept this from a perfect book in my opinion is I wanted more humor, or maybe some banter.

There were also quite a few errors in my Kindle version. (But this is a self published book)

Will I read the next one? I already am!!

I tried to get my sister to read this, since dragons are her favorite, but apparently she doesn’t like human dragons. (Picky picky)

What’s your favorite fantasy creature? Dragons are high on my list (particularly human ones) but if mages count they’re probably number one and as overused as they are I still have a weakness for vampires.

The Edge of Forever By Melissa E. Hurst

Tags

author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, fiction, literature, Melissa E. Hurst, novel, plot, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, the edge of tomorrow, the edge of tomorrow by Melissa E. Hurst, time travel, write, writer, writing, young adult

Genre: Science Fiction, Time Travel

Pages: 256

Point of View: First (Alora, Bridger)

Released: June 2nd 2015

Series: Yes! (Untitled 1)

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Edelweiss

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

My Summary:

In the year 2146, Bridger goes to an academy for Time Benders. A month ago his father died, but he was also a Time Bender, so the government won’t tell him anything. His father sends him a message “Save Alora.”

In 2013 Alora is an average teenage girl living with her aunt. Her parents dropped her off as a child with no explanation and she hasn’t seen them sense. She wants to know about them, but her aunt is very secretive.

My Review:

Time travel and super powers, how could I resist! To say I’m picky about time travel stories is an understatement. And I approve of how Edge of Forever did it! As for powers time bending is obviously used the most, but there’s also space bending (teleporting) and mind reading.

Somehow I didn’t realize that the main character’s father had just died when I requested this book. (A month before the story starts.) I’m glad I can’t bring myself to quit review books, because I really enjoyed it! (And I really didn’t want to read it at first!)

There are times at the beginning where Bridger’s actions may seem irrational, but considering what he’s gone through it’s understandable. I wouldn’t be able to resist trying to save my dad if I had the powers to travel through time and I think that’s ultimately what Bridger wants, to understand why his father died along with why he has to save Alora.

As you can tell there are several mysteries going on. Some were really obvious, but others I didn’t guess.

Everything starts horribly for both of our main characters. The POV shift worked, balancing the intensity of Bridger’s life with Alora’s ordinary life going to school.

There isn’t a ton of world building since Bridger already knows how the world wound up this way, so we mostly get hints. The technology all seemed realistic, though I kept wondering what stuff looked like. So the data thingy goes on your wrist? How big is it? How can it send an image?

There’s also a bit of romance, but no love triangles!

The Bad:

Alora’s picked on a lot in school. I usually avoid books with bullies, but it’s not a main part of the plot here.

Time Travel:

I like time travel where you can change the past, but not large events or create a paradox (like in Doctor Who) or where anything you do in the past has already effected your present. (Like in Pern and Harry Potter) Which do you prefer? Or do you not like time travel stories? I don’t care, as long as it makes sense. Once you get into the whole paradox thing (like accidentally killing your grandparent) I get confused.

Powerless By Tera Lynn Childs and Tracy Deebs

Tags

author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, fiction, literature, novel, plot, powerless, powerless by tera lynn childs and Tracy deebs, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, super powers, tera Lynn childs, tera Lynn childs and Tracy deebs, tracy deebs, write, writer, writing, young adult

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Super Powers

Pages: 320

Point of View: First present (Kenna)

Released: June 2nd 2015

Series: The Hero Agenda 1

Predictability: 4 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 7/10 Stars

My Summary:

In a world of super heroes and villains Kenna is powerless. Which is pretty much the same thing as invisible. Her mom is a genius inventor and Kenna works in her lab.

One night when Kenna’s working late, a group of young villains breaks into the lab. But instead of killing or kidnapping her, one of them saves her life.

My Review:

There isn’t much down time in Powerless. It starts with a bang and never really lets up.

The Good:

Kenna is tough and smart. She does spend too much time thinking of tall dark and villainy, but I still liked her. And there was a little sprinkled humor throughout the book, which I always appreciate.

The side characters were so good I kept wishing to hear from their point of view. I loved her best friend Rebel! I think she’d have made a great protagonist. She’s just so much fun! And maybe a villains point of view too! (I know a book is good when I have a wish list for next time!)

Kenna and her potential love interest bicker almost constantly at first. I prefer banter, but they grew on me. Considering the book only takes place over three days their relationship didn’t feel too quick. (The intensity of her feelings by the end was a bit much for me though.)

We get minimal world building, mostly what we learn about super powered people is in the prologue. I wish there’d been a bit more, like why some people are born with hero powers and others villains and what makes them different.

The Bad:

It didn’t bother me but this is the sort of book where she rarely said says, but gushed, spit, etc. Kenna also has a habit of repeating herself. (Which did annoy me.)

There’s a plot hole near the end, where a previously strong character is suddenly exhausted despite not doing anything. (Molly grumbles incoherently.)

I also feel I should mention the amazing number of times our ‘heroes’ failed. And the partial cliffhanger ending. (I would’ve read the next book. You didn’t have to torture me like this!)

Overall: A fun book with good characters, though the plot was nothing special. (Almost all action)

How do you feel about plot holes? I always spot them. I suppose that’s because they bother me so much!

Revive By Tracey Martin

Tags

author,  book reviews, book, books, characters, fiction, literature, new adult, novel, plot, read, reader, review, revive, revive Tracy martin, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, thriller, Tracey Martin, write, writer, writing

Genre: New Adult, Science Fiction Thriller

Pages: 282

Point of View: Third (Sophia)

Released: May 15th 2015

Series: Redzone 1

Predictability: 5 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 6/10 Stars

My Summary:

Sophia wakes up in a train station with no memory. Her ID says Sophia, but she knows that’s not true. A boy named Kyle seems to know her, but then people show up who she knows are bad. Her instincts scream at her to run. She might have no memory but she has spy like training.

Then we back up twelve weeks to when Sophia started at RTC college. We learn she’s undercover to find a certain student. Student X as she calls them is a mutant and if Sophia doesn’t identify him or her, they will. They = mysterious enemies.

My review:

Though rated new adult this first book is really more a young adult set in college.

I requested this book because I enjoyed Martin’s other series, Miss Misery (and the blurb promised that Sophia wasn’t human.) Sophia’s voice sounds totally different from Martin’s other main character. It always impresses me when an author can do that.

The good:

This was the kind of book that kept me reading looking for answers. It was also done right too. I got enough information not to feel strung along, but I was kept curious enough to keep turning pages.

The pacing alternates between exciting thriller and everyday college life and the time line bounces around as Sophia gets her memory back. (Sounds confusing, but it really wasn’t.) It’s set in the near future. Mostly our world, but there were few cool new inventions.

I liked Sophia in her flashbacks, but current her seemed ordinary and overly moral. (Okay so I might have skewed priorities, but there’s a time for morals and a time to kick bad guy butt without feeling bad about it!)

The best part was the friends she grew up with! Not only were they colorful characters, but they had a great relationship! Sadly, they were barely in the book. I’m hoping they become main characters in the next one!

The Bad:

There’s a love triangle of course. Between the guy she met at college (who she doesn’t know if she can trust) and a guy she grew up with. (Who she’s forbidden to be with.) I didn’t like either one. I know Martin can do banter, so where was it?

The plot kept me guessing, but only because I kept over thinking things. I was promised lots of twists and turns, so I couldn’t believe it would be so predictable! It was. Guess I read/watch too much SciFi.

My expectations were just too high. Do you ever do that? I hate it when I do, because even when the book is good, (Like this one) I wind up disappointed.

Freaks of Nature By Wendy Brotherlin

Tags

author,   book reviews, book, books, characters, fiction, freaks of nature, freaks of nature by Wendy brotherlin, literature, novel, plot, read, reader, review, science fiction, scifi, stories, story, super powers, Wendy brotherlin, write, writer, writing, young adult

Genre: Young Adult, SciFi, Super Powers

Pages: 248

Point of View: Third (Devon) First (Vahn, Nevada, Alya, Miguel, Devon)

Released: May 6th 2015

Series: The Psion Chronicles 1

Predictability: 3 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)

Source: Netgalley

My Rating: 8/10 Stars

My Summary:

In the future a vaccine caused teenagers to be born with bright blue eyes and super powers. The adults want to control these psions, so they’re taken from their families and placed in facilities.

Devon thinks he has the lamest power in the world, plant talker. After he escapes from a facility he’s placed on a plane with other escapees. One is a mind reader named Bai Lee and she has a plan to escape. If the others agree to replay their escapes she’ll let them go with her.

My Review:

I’ve been on a super powers kick lately, so when I read the unique premise of Freaks of Nature I couldn’t resist. And I wasn’t disappointed!

The good:

The main story is told by Devon in third person, but the flashbacks are told in first, which easily could’ve been confusing but actually worked well. The voices of the five points of view were unique enough that I didn’t confuse them. (Though it probably helped that I didn’t put the book down much)

The world felt very dystopian. (Maybe not for the teens, there was little illusion of good there) It must be hard to come up with original super powers and most of them had been done before, but they weren’t boring and they all had something special about them. The psi-blade was the most unique, creating weapons and armor from their bodies, but my favorite was the plant talker.

I also liked Devon’s personality best, (which is good since he’s the main character) he’d been bullied relentlessly for his lame power at the facility, but he was still a strong good person. He’s also the funniest, though most of the humor comes from his ability. (I loved the personalities of the plants!)

Nevada, a senator’s daughter who acts out for attention came off a bit mean at first, but she was really a nice girl. I appreciated that in her flashback she was still true to herself and a bit abrasive at times.

Alya the Romanian healer was a sweet girl and I liked her connection to Devon.

There was a little romance and considering they’d only really known each other a few hours (circumstances notwithstanding) it did feel a bit fast, but it was sweet, so I liked it.

The plot was fast paced and there were really only a couple of parts that I wanted to go a little faster.

The Bad:

Vahn’s point of view was the most exciting, but it was also the longest. (A little too long if you ask me.) The action was well done, it was just missing that ‘the character comes up with something cool/smart to win’. The author tried, but it fell a bit flat for me.

The other point of view I didn’t care for was Miguel’s, but his was short and all of his preying was in italics so it was easy to skip. (Miguel is very religious and if he didn’t have super powers he’d have been a padre)

Overall: A quick fun book that was part super powers and part dystopian. (In feel)

Do you prefer fist person or third person point of view? First will always be my favorite, because it feels like I’m really the character. Third limited is okay too, but I like to be close.