Welcome To The Madhouse by S.E. Sasaki

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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.

Revive By Tracey Martin

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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.