Review: Solomon the Peacemaker
Solomon the Peacemaker by Hunter Welles
My rating: [rating=4]
Summary:
Vincent Alan Chell is coy about answering the questions of his captor. He’d much rather talk about his dead wife, Yael, whose suicide somehow led him into captivity. Or Preacher, the bearded leader of a cult-like group that meets in the bowels of a church basement. Or the Peacemaker, the computer intelligence that has guaranteed peace between nations for half a century.
Chell describes a world where cultural norms have changed the way people interact with technology. Humanoid robots, though ubiquitous, are confined inside private homes, giving the impression that all is well with the world. Which may be the case. Yet Preacher and his group are convinced that humankind is already in the thrall of the Peacemaker. And they might be right.
Solomon the Peacemaker, Hunter Welles’s debut novel, explores the limits of technology, nonviolence, love, and memory in the twenty-second century as it races to its incredible conclusion.
Review:
(I got an e-copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
I was first attracted by the cover, which matches both my love of red/white/black colour schemes and made me wonder what about the character on it (is she connected to something, or does she have a rope around her neck?). The novel also deals with a few themes that usually interest me: how technology can affect human life, people voluntarily putting on blindfolds, and a character who, being captive, may or may have not committed some kind of crime.
It’s worth saying that Solomon the Peacemaker is particular, and is probably of the make-it-or-break-it kind. First because it unfolds in a somewhat unusual manner, in that the captor’s questions are never printed, and you have to fill in the blanks yourself, resulting in either liking it or feeling that this “breaks” your reading. After the first few pages, time for me to get used to this method, Chell’s “dialogue” parts made it easy to imagine what the questions might have been, how the interrogator may have been trying to lead him to answer specifically, and so on. However, while it worked quite well for me, it may not work for someone else. Things may also be a little confusing, since a lot of background information isn’t known, and you have to piece everything together. Due to the question/answer format, too, the narrator relies on a bit of exposition bordering on information-dumping, and this tends to force the story into more telling than showing.
But this is in the beginning, and after a short while, diving into the story became actually quite easy, as it focuses on characters, their relationships, and concepts that already exist in our time: Preacher’s cult-like church, for instance, or the hardships that can befall a marriage. Vincent tells about his life with Yael, of how their common aspirations started to differ after a while, and all the while, the Peacemaker remains looming in the background, unaware of how involved it is, how many unspoken dissensions it creates. The idea of peace being maintained across the whole world by an artificial intelligence is both fascinating and repelling, in that it raises many questions: are human beings so unable to do that by themselves that they have to resort to a machine? Is there even any hope? Also, the matter of the Host is freaky, and makes one wonder about individual sacrifice for the greater good.
I found a few things to be missing, although I suppose that including them might have cluttered the narrative. I would’ve liked to know more about the Outside, and whether is was as dangerous as the people “inside” believed it to be. I managed to make my own idea about it, but somehow, it would have been nice to get just a little more information about it. On the other hand, the whole context—the interrogation room, Chell’s knowledge that he’ll never get out of there without his brain picked apart, and his calm acceptance of this, fits the dystopian side of a world that appears perfect, yet is built on a lot of hypocrisy and damage kept hidden from public view (again, the Host comes to mind).
In the end, in spite of the couple of faults I found with it (usually, telling vs. showing is a breaker for me, but here I didn’t mind so much), Solomon the Peacemaker kept me fascinated until its conclusion. An expected conclusion, perhaps, yet one that still held quite some impact.
Library of Dreams & PSG Publishing
Although these days, I’m mostly active here with book reviews, I haven’t stopped writing. On the contrary. You may have noticed the little NaNoWriMo widget in the side bar, by the way; by now it should tell you that I’ve completed my 50k this year again—and don’t be surprised if I post more about this soon.
For now, I wish to introduce a project I’ve partaken in, in the past few months. You see, through Wattpad, I met quite a few other aspiring (or not-so-aspiring-anymore) authors, and at some point, one of them invited me to a closed group on Facebook. Sometime in the summer of 2013, an idea was raised there: “what if we published an anthology of short stories, whose benefits would all go to a charity?”
Well, the charity we chose to support is LitWorld. You can find us at PSG Publishing. And on December 15, we’re releasing our anthology, titled Library of Dreams.
So, here we are. Fifteen authors who gathered and wrote about dreams, in many shapes and aspects. Well, after a team of editors sweept the floor behind us, and cracked their whips gave us useful advice about how to make those stories even better, of course.
One of these authors, Maya Starling, has also been working on the graphic side, and provided us with “teaser quotes” to hand out throughout the first two weeks of the month. And I’m telling you, I find them so very appealing. I hope they’ll titillate your reading mind as much as they did mine. (I haven’t read the other authors’ stories. Not even excerpts. I intend to fully discover them on release day, just like everyone else.) Here are the first two:
Will you be with us on December 15, when we free both dreams and nightmares onto the world?
Review: Angelfall
My rating [rating=2]
Summary:
It’s been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.
Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.
Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.
Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels’ stronghold in San Francisco where she’ll risk everything to rescue her sister and he’ll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.
Review:
I’ve thought about this book some more, and still can’t decide if I want to give it a 2 or 3 stars rating.
See, all things considered, it was an easy, entertaining read for me, and I can’t decently blame the book for delivering what I expected from it. Its setting is intriguing, and gives us to see that there’s more, much more, lurking behind the scenes. I liked the darker side, the experiments, the fact that the highest among the angels were far from being all white. What they did to children was horrific, and I must say, I appreciate when an author is gutsy enough to write about such doings and let us work our minds around what the ones behind them are trying to achieve. Nothing can be solved nor explained in just a few chapters here, and I like it when I know things can go deeper.
But can they? I don’t know. While reading “Angelfall”, I couldn’t shake off a nagging feeling, and after mulling over it, now I think I’ve put my finger on it: the angels are too human, and as weird as it sounds, this doesn’t work too well for me with the connections created between the character. We’re introduced to a post-ap world in which angels have killed a lot of people, destroyed a lot of places, and are controlling most of what’s left (the uncontrolled areas being prey to gangs, random violence, and so on). So I guess I was expecting them to be fairly different, non-human, with blue and orange thinking and behaviour patterns—in other words, “the enemy we can’t relate to because he’s just too alien.”
When Raffe an Penryn meet, she doesn’t need that much time to behave around him as if he were another human being, and this didn’t make much sense in retrospect. (I understand her plans of keeping an eye on him because he may be the only link to her sister; but she still warmed up too easily.) Same with Raffe: too easily as well, he passed for a human being, he behaved in such ways that made other humans believe he was like them. I don’t know… I would’ve imagined something like that very difficult to achieve, for a being who’s as old as the world and is supposed not to mingle with those pesky monkeys.
Still, it would’ve worked if Raffe had been some kind of exception; it would’ve added another explanation to his being cast off. (Well, maybe he was the exception; I just couldn’t see it in the progressing plot.) Only the other angels also behaved in very human ways, even going as far as to mimic going to night clubs, living in hotels, and so on. That part just boggled my mind, to be honest. It felt disconnected. Just like how Raffe and Penryn got to connect so much. Travelling companions in hard times, and at some point budding friends? OK. But romance? Not so early, not yet.
A few other things I wasn’t sure of include Penryn’s sister (we barely get to connect with her in the beginning, so it’s a little hard to care), and how society seemed to quickly revert, in a mere weeks, to male-dominated structures. Women doing the laundry, being allowed into the aerie as cheap trophies and perhaps whores on display… It might make sense in some ways, but it’s still annoying, and you’d think that modern USA would’ve ended up a little different in that regard, especially with a lead female character who’re supposed to be trained in martial arts. (She doesn’t use those skills enough, in my opinion; go kick a few more faces, Penryn, they deserve it anyway.)
And so, I remain torn over what I’m thinking of this novel. I can’t say I didn’t like it, since I was entertainted. I guess it just made me go “what?” in too many parts.
Review: Reaping Me Softly
Reaping Me Softly by Kate Evangelista
My rating: [rating=3]
Summary:
Ever since a near-death-experience on the operating table, seventeen-year-old Arianne Wilson can see dead people. Just as she’s learned to accept her new-found talents, she discovers that the boy she’s had a crush on since freshman year, Niko Clark, is a Reaper.
At last they have something in common, but that doesn’t mean life is getting any easier. All while facing merciless bullying from the most powerful girl in school, Arianne’s world is turned upside down after Niko accidentally reaps the soul of someone she loves. This sends them both into a spiral that threatens to end Arianne’s life. But will Niko break his own Reaper’s code to save her? And what would the consequences be if he did?
Review:
(I got this book from its author through ARR #144 in the We ♥ YA Books! group, in exchange for an honest review.)
I’ve had a hard time rating this novel, and am still not completely sure. I guess I’d give it a 2.5: nice enough in some parts, and difficult for me to get into in others.
What I liked:
* The world of Death and the Reapers. Their hierarchical, bureaucracy-like organization formed an interesting counterpart with how some of them, at least, seemed to look out for each other. Death is a harsh master, but also one who can show some forms of concern—or the contrary, depending on the situation and on how you see it.
* The Reapers being immortal in a different way: through reincarnation. This gives them the means to appreciate every step of human life, and I think this is a great idea.
* Carrie. Her positive attitude and optimism, in spite of her predicament, were real sunrays, and reminders that life is fickle, and that all things considered, most of us should really be happy with what we have: bodies that aren’t perfect, but that do their job nonetheless.
* Ben. Such a sweet guy.
* Ari being in love with Niko for years: no insta-love for her, but something that had had the time to develop and get stronger. This is believable for me.
What I couldn’t wrap my mind around:
* Sometimes the text really went in convoluted ways, with similes that just didn’t make much sense, or at best felt weird. I didnd’t understand the need for those.
* Why did Niko remain oblivious to Ari for years, even though they shared some classes, but suddenly started paying attention to her? I wondered if it had to do with his depression, but the latter having been lasting for longer than just a few weeks, I’m not sure.
* The extent of Darla’s influence. Of course, bullying does exist, and there will always be cliques and people who twirl others around their little finger. However, having everybody in her pocket, teachers included? Not believable. I would’ve liked to see more of what was going on behind the scenes with her, to ‘get’ how she managed all that. She seemed close to a sociopath profile, yet we don’t learn enough about her to know for sure.
Overall, it kept me entertained enough, but I admit to rolling my eyes quite a few times.
Review: Grief
Grief: Five Stories of Apocalyptic Loss by Michael Coorlim
My rating: [rating=4]
Summary:
The world is ending, and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. How do people cope with loss on an unimaginable scale? How does humanity stand its last hours? With the values we’ve developed over our reign on this Earth, or with the terrible freedom that comes with knowing that there won’t be any consequences for our actions?
A cop, a kidnapper, a doomsday cultist, a news anchor, and party-goers at the end of the world. Will they learn to cope, or succumb to the nihilistic madness around them?
This 17,000 word collection contains five stories.
Review:
(Book provided by the author through ARR #1797 in the Making Connections group, in exchange for an honest review.)
This collection of short stories revolves around the way in which different people react to the upcoming end of the world. Faced with an event nobody can help avoid—a meteor due to strike the Earth a few days later—the five people put in the limelight in this novella all display facets of the human psyche, some noble, some very ugly. Anger whose only outlet is to resort to violence. Acceptance, but not without a cost. Feelings of depression, leading to unexpected reactions.
The themes dealt with here are harsh and cruel. No sugarcoating, no complete bravery either. The people involved end up discovering some things about themselves they had never suspected, and at the end of every story, they are forever changed—well, “forever” not being meant to last for very long, granted. Said themes may upset some readers, but I found them fascinating all the same, for all the questions they raised. How would we react in similar situations? Would we give in to our darker instincts, or not? Can we be sure, right now, in the safety of our world, that we wouldn’t become like one of the anti-heroes in “Grief”? Or would we find out treasures of courage in ourselves, just like the cop who decided he’d die as he had lived, on his own terms, even though this meant dying before the rest of the world?
“Grief” reads fast, its writing style is efficient, and the book was quite the page-turner for me. There were moments when I’d have seen the characters a little more developed, though, and this is why I’m not giving it 5 stars. But overall, I definitely liked it.
Review: Redemption
My rating: [rating=3]
Summary:
Reya Sinclair is a Redeemer of Souls. Her mission is to give Earth’s most depraved sinners a shot at redemption just before they are slated to die. Her own redemption is on the line as she fulfills her duties, leaving a trail of dead bodies in her wake. It’s all going perfectly well until one detective takes notice, possibly bringing her salvation to a halt.
Thane Driscoll is a good cop who’s seen too many bad guys get away, including the man who murdered his father. He exacts his own style of justice, even if it costs him his humanity. A string of mysterious deaths leads him to a woman who’s not quite human and might hold the key to finding his father’s killer.
When death and shadows descend, New York City becomes a battleground for the forces of light and dark. As the body count rises and sparks fly between them, Reya and Thane race to uncover a terrible truth. Can one man hell-bent on revenge and one woman determined to save her eternal soul be enough to keep the planet from spiraling into darkness?
Review:
(I got this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
Redemption was an interesting read in more than one way, dealing with themes that left fewer room to complete black and white thinking than what appeared at first.
The notion of free will permeates it, and from beginning to end, the characters remain able to make their own choices–no matter how wrong those might be. I appreciated how Reya, for instance, didn’t try to force her views on Thane, knowing that whatever he chose, he had to do so himself, or it wouldn’t be worth much in the eye of the universe. Thane’s desire for revenge plays right into this, and leads to questioning oneself: would we seek revenge, too? Are we so sure that our motives are “pure”, and not fueled despite, our best intentions, by less than stellar deeper feelings? Personnally, I found such questions interesting to delve into.
I also liked the system behind the reincarnations: souls are the ones who choose which next life to give a try to, along with a goal to fulfil, but as they’re sent into these lives without memory of what they themselves decided, they find themselves 1) ignorant of whether what they’re doing is the right thing or not, and 2) feeling like they don’t have free will, when in fact they had all along. This is a bit of a conundrum to wrap one’s mind around, but one that is definitely thought-provoking.
The writing was okay. Not particularly brilliant, efficient in some places, yet somewhat dull in others, with a little too much telling. On the other hand, it remains efficient throughout the story when it comes to bringing in new information, and avoids the pitfall of numerous exposition paragraphs.
The main problems I had with the book were the lull in the middle (it took me some time to pick it up again at some point), and the large scope that eventually made things difficult to follow. I got the bigger picture, but in several parts, the narrative seemed to jump too quickly from one event to the other, in contrast with slower moments that could’ve been scrapped to leave more room to explanations. I think I’d also have wanted to see more of Reya’s job as a Redeemer (so many imperfections hidden behind her perfect physical facade, and so many moments when she could just stumble and fail in this life), of Thane doing his job as a kind of vigilante instead of a regular cop. The overall plot could’ve easily spanned over two books without dragging, considering what kind of scale it unfolded on, so it wouldn’t have been impossible.
I’m not 100% sure I’ll pick the next book in the series, but I can’t tell either I wouldn’t. I’m right in the middle with this one.
Review: Shifting Selves
Shifting Selves by Mia Marshall
My rating: [rating=3]
Summary:
Aidan Brook’s world was shattered when the actions of a brutal murderer revealed long-buried secrets about her past. A powerful elemental, Aidan discovered she possesses the wrong kind of magic. It’s a secret that could cost her sanity—or even her life.
What she needs is some peace and quiet. What she gets is a phone call from a division of the FBI so secret it doesn’t even have a name, asking for her help with a series of shifter disappearances.
Before Aidan can settle into a new routine of pancakes and evenings by the fire, the case develops claws. She quickly finds herself caught between uptight bears, deadly mountain lions, overprotective parents, and unhappy federal agents. Throw in a stalled romance with an enigmatic shifter and the slow dissolution of her chosen family, and it’s hard to say which will drive her mad first: her magic, or her chaotic life.
Review:
(I got this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
I read the first installment to this series a few months ago, and enjoyed this second one just as much, although I think I’d have liked to see more development in some places.
This time, Aidan and Sera, as newly employed by the FBI, are caught into a series of kidnappings involving shifters, but whose consequences could affect elementals as well, in more than one way. Aidan is also faced with the gloomy prospect of suffering from her true nature, and the events happening throughout the story are constant reminders for her that she must absolutely keep herself in check; and the stakes are high, since she could very well end up causing harm to those she love, including the man she’s been falling for. Finally, she must also contend with the potential slow dissolution of the new family she believed she had found, as each of her friends have lives of their own they wish to resume.
“Shifting Selves” was an enjoyable read, but perhaps a little too slow in parts to my liking, notably when it came to Aidan’s relationship with Mac. I can’t exactly pinpoint what made me think that, because it was more a faint feeling than anything else, though it lasted throughout the book. I’d say that Mac and Aidan kept running in circles for a little too long, and that in the end, things evolved without really evolving between them. The hints leading to the truth behind the kidnappings felt a little weak, too; I guess I’d have liked to see more of them—more false leads, perhaps.
On the other hand, the group dynamics remained as strong as it was in the first book, and I liked how we got to see more of the politics going on in the world of shifters and elementals (and not to mention the shifter otters: utterly adorable AND badass at the same time).
Definitely a solid 3.5 stars for this one.
Review: Paradigm
My rating: [rating=3]
(I got this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
Summary:
“If I ask you to do something, will you do it?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Well, I don’t know what it is yet. But I’m guessing that death is the alternative, so I’m prepared to be reasonable.”
Sam Cooper is seventeen. He drives a cherry red 1968 GTO that he won on a bet, and spends his days exploring the open roads of the great American West. He should be living the teenage dream, but post-collapse America is a hard place to survive.
The United States is long dead, basic resources are getting scarcer, and no one on Earth has seen the stars since before he was born. Vast tracts of the country are now empty as people huddle together for safety. In all this chaos, Sam has survived on his wits and occasional luck. But a visit to the walled and prosperous Century City results in a split-second decision that changes everything. Soon Sam is on the run from the ruthless Carolyn Bast, and by something much more dangerous: MUTHA-a powerful artificial entity that has been watching and waiting for Sam’s return from the barren outlands. Sam unknowingly carries the key to something MUTHA can’t live without, something so dangerous that others are willing to kill him, or worse, to ensure that the great plex never possesses it.
Sam can’t stay one step ahead of them forever. His only hope is to unravel the secrets of his peculiar past and awaken the incredible power that sleeps within-because even in his beloved GTO, without the truth, Sam will never succeed in outracing the nightmare to come.
Review:
This novel range from “okay” to “I like it”. It is interspersed with good ideas and easily recognisable characters, and although some of the latter are a little bit on the cliché side, they still manage to stand on their own. (And let’s be honest: at some point, I do want clichés. I do want to picture the badass poncho-wearing girl slashing at enemies with knives in her hands and razor-blades woven in her braids. In fact, the illustrator in me wants to draw that.)
The villains were a little over the top at times, but I liked that they were also chessmasters, laying plans within plans within plans. Too often in books, I find the antagonists too simple-minded, so when I find one that actually remembers to anticipate, I’m glad.
What I liked less in “Paradigm” was how it could easily become confusing. It relies a lot on the reader’s intrisic understanding of vocabulary and concepts that is, indeed, part of regular readers’ of sci-fi… but not so much of others. Even though I managed to follow most of the technological ideas conveyed throughout the story, there were still moments when I had to flip back a few pages, or wonder if this or that explanation held water scientifically, or was just resting on wibbly-wobbly scientific notions. (My own knowledge in that regard isn’t fail-safe, so I can never be sure.)
The plot, too, is a bit all over the place. On the one hand, it gives off nice vibes of a mad chase; on the other, it also made me feel like the characters were always running around right and left, conveniently finding each other again, too. Things go fast, and you may not notice such details on the moment, but for me, they had a nagging tendency to come back to mind later. (I guess the main character, Sam, was confusing as well: he’s supposed to be smart, yet some of his reactions seemed to run contrary to the Sam I had learned to know until now.)
Last but not least, the romance part was simply useless. I enjoyed Alma’s badass streak and no-nonsense attitude, but friendship would’ve done the job just as well.
I’d give it a 2.5 stars, but decided to round it up to 3 all the same, because all in all, “Paradigm” kept me entertained. Still, I feel it necessary to point out that younger readers might be confused now and then by how the world is presented.
Review: Bellman & Black
Bellman & Black: A Ghost Story by Diane Setterfield
My rating: [rating=3]
Summary:
As a boy, William Bellman commits one small, cruel act: killing a bird with his slingshot. Little does he know the unforeseen and terrible consequences of the deed, which is soon forgotten amidst the riot of boyhood games. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to be a man blessed by fortune—until tragedy strikes and the stranger in black comes. Then he starts to wonder if all his happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to save the one precious thing he has left, William enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner, to found a decidedly macabre business.
And Bellman & Black is born.
Review:
(I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)
I found this story to be reminiscent of 19th century novels, and in some parts, I think it succeeds in keeping up with that kind of atmosphere. Although we’re never told when exactly it is set, hints scattered here and there give enough information to piece a general period together, and even if this sense of being out of time can be annoying to some, to me it was part of what made the novel’s charm. Overall, it takes us from a rural approach to commercial ventures, gradually moving into more modern views, until that one universal need everybody goes through in the end.
The main character’s family and history were fleshed out enough for me to get attached to them, which in turn made what happened predictable, yet still touching. Maybe I would’ve liked to see more about the women, though, to really get how important they were to Bellman. The writing also does justice to the theme, and was often enthralling.
A large part of my interest in this story was how Bellman was basically given a second chance (through another character) but sadly never really understood what it was, and led himself astray, all the while thinking he was doing the right thing. This made his character all the more tragic and troubling, because his mistake was at once selfish and a very human one.
However (and even though in the end, it didn’t prevent me from enjoying this novel), I think the blurb of B&B is somewhat misleading. For instance, I was expecting the mysterious Black to appear sooner, to be more present, maybe—technically, he is, but I feel that it’s not what I was promised, in a way. This could unfortunately detract from other readers’ enjoyment. Same with some potential plot points that seemed to start (Lizzie, among others) that felt like they were going to become important… yet they didn’t. Those would’ve been worth more attention.