The Y Logs

Yzabel / September 28, 2013

Review: The Fear Institute

The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

Johannes Cabal and his rather inexact powers of necromancy are back once more. This time, his talents are purchased by The Fear Institute as they hunt for the Phobic Animus – the embodiment of fear. The three Institute members, led by Cabal and his Silver Key, enter the Dreamlands and find themselves pursued by walking trees plagued with giant ticks, stone men that patrol the ruins of their castles, cats that feed on human flesh and phobias which torment and devastate. The intrepid explorers are killed off one by one as they traipse through this obfuscating and frustrating world, where history itself appears to alter. Cabal, annoyed that the quest is becoming increasingly heroic, finds himself alone with the Institute’s only remaining survivor, and after a shockingly violent experiment, begins to suspect that not everything is quite as it seems…

Review:

(I got an ARC of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

I’ve only read the first novel in the “Johannes Cabal” series, and hope I haven’t missed on too much by tackling #3 without knowledge of the events in #2. But from what I saw, “The Institute of Fear” does well enough as a standalone book, with the occasional hints at Cabal’s past adventure(s) being easy enough to understand.

The crossover with H.P. Lovecraft’s worlds and creations was nicely done in my opinion—here, too, prior knowledge isn’t absolutely necessary, although the regular winks are, of course, best enjoyed when you know what they’re about. It is also a cause for a lot of deadpan humour, which is something I like. Johannes Cabal is the voice of cold, unfazed logics in a place (the Dreamlands) that is all but rational, and where everything is shaped according to people’s deeply rooted unconscious beliefs. For instance, cats. If enough people believe that cats are intelligent, cunning creatures, then cats in the Dreamlands are exactly that, and have to be treaded around carefully. Well, this is what happens at several moments, and the hapless three travellers who’ve come to seek Cabal as their guide are reminded of such facts on a regular basis.

The necromancer’s point of view is definitely one of sarcasm and dark humour: a protection for his charges, but also his own way of keeping fear at bay, for Fear (or rather, its physical incarnation) is what the adventurers are seeking here, in order to destroy it. Their journey is impeded by the strange, changing geography, monsters, dead beings, and various other elements pertaining either concepts of dreams or the lovecraftian corpus. It’s full of interesting ideas (the dreffs, the Moon slavers), and it seems there’s always something new to discover… and dread.

If anything, I’d say the pacing was a little unequal in places. But the tone of the narrative definitely made up for this in my opinion.

Yzabel / September 27, 2013

Review: Shakespeare v. Lovecraft

Shakespeare vs. Lovecraft: A Horror Comedy Mash-Up featuring Shakespeare’s Characters and Lovecraft’s Creatures by D.R. O’Brien

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” — William Shakespeare

“In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.” —Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

In the same putrid vein as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Shakespeare v. Lovecraft slithers hideously onto the literary mash-up scene, whispering of cosmic horrors and eldritch tales whilst espousing sweet soliloquys and profoundly contemplating mankind’s place in the universe.

Prospero, driven dangerously insane by prolonged exposure to the dread Necronomicon, makes a terrible pact with the titanic alien beast known only as Cthulhu. Now only his enchantress daughter Miranda and a handful of history’s greatest heroes are all that stand between humanity and blasphemous eternal subjugation.

It’s a bloodbath of Shakespearean proportions as Cthulhu and his eldritch companions come at our protagonists from all manner of strange geometric angles in a hideous and savage battle for supremacy.

This horror-comedy novella of 36,000 words will seize you in its clammy grip and not release you until you have gone positively mad with delight! Witness all this and more:

Histrionic Heroes vs. Tentacled Terrors!!! Endless Soliloquys vs. Unnatural Silences!!!
Romeo vs. Mi-Go!!! England’s Royal Beasts vs. A Shoggoth!!!
The Author vs. Iambic Pentameter!!!

Review:

(I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

2.5 stars. I liked some parts better than others.

Overall, this book was a quick and nice read that made me smile, although I can’t say it made me actually laugh.

I appreciated the numerous winks to and quotes to Shakespeare, of course. The latter may be both a strength and a weakness: just knowing a couple of lines from the Bard isn’t enough to get them, since they cross-reference several plays (The Tempest first, but also Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Henry V, Henry IV, A Midsummer’s Night Dream… and others). If one knows these works well enough, the inserts are likely to look awesome (personnally, I loved Henry V’s “Gods, stand up for mankind!”, alluding to Edmund’s soliloquy in King Lear); otherwise, they may fall flat. The same goes with Lovecraft—and I’m positive I missed a few things regarding those parts, since I haven’t read his works in the past eight years or so. I suppose that such mash-ups don’t appeal to people who don’t like the original novels they’re inspired from, so it’s not that much of a problem; but it could be for readers who know only a little.

The writing style attempts at emulating both Shakespeare’s and HPL’s. In my opinion, sometimes it manages, and sometimes it fails, making reading somewhat fastidious; I’m thinking about the heavy use of adverbs stacked almost one upon the other, among other things, which made a lot of sentences and paragraphs look weird. This is somewhat paradoxical, considering how short the book is (86 pages or so).

Also, the narrative itself regularly seemed more of a pretext than a real story. Again, this may not be the aim of a mash-up (I admit I haven’t read a lot of those, so perhaps I’m just a poor judge), but I still expected events to be stringed in a more streamlined way. As it is, I couldn’t care about the characters like I would have for Shakespeare’s, nor did I get the feeling of human life easily discarded as I would in Lovecraft’s works.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad read, though. Only I was expecting more, and therefore ended up disappointed.

Yzabel / September 26, 2013

Review: A Study in Darkness

A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

When a bomb goes off at 221B Baker Street, Evelina Cooper is thrown into her Uncle Sherlock’s world of mystery and murder. But just when she thought it was safe to return to the ballroom, old, new, and even dead enemies are clamoring for a place on her dance card.

Before Evelina’s even unpacked her gowns for a country house party, an indiscretion puts her in the power of the ruthless Gold King, who recruits her as his spy. He knows her disreputable past and exiles her to the rank alleyways of Whitechapel with orders to unmask his foe.

As danger mounts, Evelina struggles between hiding her illegal magic and succumbing to the darker aspects of her power. One path keeps her secure; the other keeps her alive. For rebellion is brewing, a sorcerer wants her soul, and no one can protect her in the hunting ground of Jack the Ripper.

Review:

(I received an ARC e-copy of this book from NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

This second installment in the “Baskerville Affair” series takes a darker turn for its protagonists, in a good way. The author keeps on developing an interesting society, dominated by manipulative steam barons who all seek to move their pawns and take new ones in the process. She also weaves unsolved elements from the first book into this one, allowing to make more sense of what happened then, and introduces a few more questions that pave the way for volume three… not to mention two cliffhangers at the end, regarding the fate of two characters.

Evelina is now faced with harsher choices, partly due to her own mistakes, the latter being as many opportunities to make her fall. However, she does her best to keep her head high, and do what she must do while trying to find a solution to her predicament. Some of her decisions may seem rash or stupid, but much less so when remembering she’s only 19, and pitched again people twice her age (at least), who have had much more experience in the great game of manipulation. There’s potential here for some huge comeback on her part, as well as for temptation of the darkest kind, and I sure want to know what she’s going to do in the last part of the series.

The romance aspect remains present, in a more interesting way than the somewhat feeble triangle from book one. Evelina seems to make a decision in that regard that suits her personality much more, although it’s a source of problems in and of itself. Here, too, lie more opportunities for the author to exploit later, and I hope this will be the case. I like what Nick has become: he’s going about his new life and decisions with gusto, and although he’s on the wrong side of the law, he’s probably one of the more decent people in all that, along with Imogen and, surprisingly, Alice Keating (who was given the short end of the straw, yet seems to be able to fall back on her feet in the future).

No ties with canon Sherlock Holmes cases this time; on the other hand, it’s the fall of 1888, and a lot of scenes are set in Whitechapel… This period, setting and characters imply another cameo, of course, and this time the murderer is in my opinion quite unexpected, although logical when considering the big picture.

I wasn’t too thrilled with the characterization of Holmes in this book, but he doesn’t appear that much, and he’s not the main focus of the story, so it didn’t bother me as much as if everything had revolved about him.

Yzabel / September 23, 2013

Review: The Cypher

The Cypher by Julian Rosado-Machain

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

GUARDIANS INC.: THE CYPHER is two stories in one. A glimpse into a multinational company that is in reality the oldest of secret societies, one that spans close to seven thousand years of existence, weaving in and out of history, guiding and protecting humanity from creatures and forces that most of us believe are only mythology and fairy tales.

The other is the story of Thomas Byrne, a young man thrust into secrets he shouldn’t be aware of and dangers he shouldn’t face, but that he ultimately will, for he is a Cypher. The only one who can steer humanity’s future.

The ultimate conspiracy theory is that Magic is real. Kept in check by technology, but every five hundred years the balance can shift and, if it does, technology will fail and those creatures we’ve driven into myth will come back with a vengeance.

To protect the present, Guardians Incorporated needs to know the future.

Review:

(I got an ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

This novel was likeable enough, but in the end, I’ll probably forget it quickly, in spite of its good points.

You don’t get bored with the story: there’s always something happening. It is also rife with good ideas regarding magic, its role in shaping the world, elementals, various fantastic creatures, and basically lets us see a world close to our own, yet fundamentally different no matter what. Most of the characters all have their distinct features, and pave the way for more development later on. The concept of the Cypher, too, was fascinating: it’s kind of like being a super-librarian and super-translator at once, and as someone who likes both those fields of work, well, of course I would like that! Same with how the author included the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and various books supposedly never published for common people, yet available in the special Guardians’ library.

On the other hand, even though the story was interesting, I found myself dragging through it. I wasn’t sure why at first, but I think it had to do with the discrepancy between the main character and the style, among other things: although Thomas is in high school, the book reads more like a middle-grade novel, and this became strange after a while. I’m sure I’d have liked it a lot more when I was 13, but not at 17-18 (which seems to be the intended audience). Furthermore, while it’s indeed packed with action, sometimes things just moved too fast, and I had to pause and flip back to see if I hadn’t missed anything in between. A downside to this is that the characters don’t get fleshed out as much as they could have in other circumstances—Thomas especially appeared as somewhat ‘flat’ compared to others. Finally, I also wondered several times at some of the decisions made by the adults in the book (I would’ve expected them to be more clever).

All in all, “The Cypher” will likely please readers from the middle-grade crowd, but perhaps not older ones.

Yzabel / September 22, 2013

Dystopian YA worlds: Show us why they’re wrong

What follows is worth for any dystopian story, but I’ve noticed this phenomenon in YA dystopias, more specifically. It all arose from a discussion I was having on Goodreads, regarding a book I finished a few days ago, and I’ve been thinking it might be worth addressing in a blog post.

(Please note that I’m going to use a few existing books as examples, but that it doesn’t mean in any way that I’m attacking those. It’s just my opinion, and/or using them to illustrate my point, whether they actually fall into the issue or not. Also, I haven’t read every dystopian YA book here, so by all means, if you know of a counter-example, tell me about it, so that I can check it. I like this genre, after all, and I, masochistic creature that I am, am never against seeing my to-read pile grow.)

I’ve come to realise that one specific shortcoming in a lot of those novels (well, among the ones I’ve read so far) is the lack of a solid world-building, and the logical consequence of the author having to tell rather than show the reader why society in his/her book is bad. It’s Young Adult, so perhaps teenagers don’t really care about that, and I, on the other hand, am only paying attention because I’m trying to improve my own writing. Nevertheless, it tends to make it harder to enjoy those stories, which is too bad, since a lot of the ideas behind them are actually quite good, and could live up to high expectancies if only things were a little more developed in the beginning.

The format usually goes as this: one (or several) teenager(s) living in a dystopian society start as well-integrated citizens, at least on the outside, but soon come to questioning their world, and end up finding out that everything they know is wrong/being on the run/joining La Resistance/all of that. This is a gross simplification, but it’s still the traditional basis in most stories in that genre.

The problem, in my opinion, is that all too often, the world-building tends to be rushed from the beginning, in order to get more quickly to the “let’s escape”/rebellion part, and we as readers don’t get that much of a feeling for what existed before—and thus, no well-defined society against which to pitch the characters’ upcoming new life. Those dystopian societies are “bad” and we know it, of course, because we can compare them to our own. For instance, most readers would think “how horrible” when presented with the mandatory match-making in Matched by Ally Condie: young people are introduced to their match and expected to start planning their lives with him/her, when they don’t even know that person, have never met him/her, and the whole process is based on criteria entered into computers from the day those people are born. It leaves no room to free will, to spontaneously falling in love, to having a say in who you’re going to grow old with. Everybody, or almost, would normally find all of this wrong from the start, without having to be explained why it’s wrong.

However, this is all preliminary knowledge, and as both a reader and a writer, I think that we need to be shown in what ways exactly such societies are bad for the characters. Are the latter physically threatened? Repressed in what they really want? Are they living in fear, and how is that fear being spread by the authorities in charge? Are there regular descents into “dissident homes”, and “rebels” being paraded in front of everyone so that the “good people” won’t be tempted to follow suit? Do the powers that be stage terrorist acts and pin them down on so-called rebels to keep everyone else in line? Is the hero/ine suffering from the life s/he’s leading, or is s/he perfectly integrated? If integrated, what gets to shatter their core beliefs, then, and how exactly does it happen?

There are many more questions to ask and answer to here, but basically, my point is that the characters have to be placed in more than just one “wrong” situation, forced to react to those, for us to actually find their rebellion logical, even though we, as people, are already aware that their world is totally flawed. It’s not about what makes dystopian societies bad for us, but what makes them so for the characters.

And this is, unfortunately, where some novels fail, because they rely mostly on our knowledge as readers, on what our modern socities consider as right or wrong. In turn, this makes it harder, I think, to view the characters as human beings, as real people. Since we already know what makes their fight “righteous”, we’re told that they’re brave (or not), wilful (or not), hot-headed (or not), instead of being shown through more than one scene how exactly they’re all that, and what made them, or is making them become, that way. We’re told that X realises he’s a coward as he just stands there while his friends are fighting, when simply showing him doing exactly that would carry the point across just as well, and better (provided said scene is well-described and pulled the right way, evidently). We may be shown that the police, government, psi corps, military… is bad, because they do this and that bad thing, but this is usually in the beginning, and afterwards the story seems to wander away from this, and the feeling gets lost somewhere in the middle.

As said, not every YA dystopian story suffers from this. However, the problem arises in more than just one book now and then. Besides, for those among us who want to write such novels, it’s worth keeping in mind, in order to avoid falling in the same trap pit.

So, what novels did you read, that did or did not fit that description? And why do you feel the way you do about them?

Yzabel / September 9, 2013

Review: A Study in Silks

A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

Evelina Cooper, the niece of the great Sherlock Holmes, is poised to enjoy her first Season in London’s high society. But there’s a murderer to deal with—not to mention missing automatons, a sorcerer, and a talking mouse.

In a Victorian era ruled by a council of ruthless steam barons, mechanical power is the real monarch, and sorcery the demon enemy of the empire. Nevertheless, the most coveted weapon is magic that can run machines—something Evelina has secretly mastered. But rather than making her fortune, her special talents could mean death or an eternity as a guest of Her Majesty’s secret laboratories. What’s a polite young lady to do but mind her manners and pray she’s never found out?

But then there’s that murder. As Sherlock’s niece, Evelina should be able to find the answers, but she has a lot to learn. And the first decision she has to make is whether to trust the handsome, clever rake who makes her breath come faster, or the dashing trick rider who would dare anything for her if she would only just ask.

Review:

(I got an ARC ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

For once, I’ll say I liked this story better than I expected to. I can be a terribly grouchy fan of good old Sherlock Holmes, and among the few other books I read in which he makes an appearance, only two really managed to grip me (one because the author managed to emulate Doyle’s style and narrative as much as possible, and the other for totally different reasons, with a very different Holmes, too). The reasons behind this reluctance of mine are usually of three kinds: character betrayal, easy Deux Ex Machina and badly disguised fanfiction, complete with self-inserts. I don’t think “A Study in Silks” fell into those pitfalls, or so little that it didn’t impede my reading pleasure.

Evelina is definitely the main character here, and stands her ground as a strong young woman, even though she commits mistakes and is clearly not on par (yet?) with her uncle in terms of investigating. But then, could anyone be, especially someone as young and yet to learn much more from life, especially in a society such as hers, and torn as she is between two worlds? Considering her circumstances, I thought she actually did quite a good job with the hands she was dealt. Besides, while I’m not always a big proponent of the romance aspect, I find it to be quite à propos in Victorian-like settings, women being expected to either marry or earn a living through a limited range of jobs only (governess, school teacher, maid…). In that regard, Evelina’s problems and on-the-side “errings” make sense.

Add magic (banished and rejected!) and lobbying, powerful steam barons who can disconnect people, both directly (cutting gas supplies) and indirectly (being without lighting means Society understanding you’re a reject), and you’ve got a complex world in which to navigate. Clearly it wasn’t described entirely here, far from it, but I got enough to form a proper vision of my own, and to wish to read the next installment in order to learn more about it.

The book shifts through several points of view, not only Evelina’s, which is a little unusual at first for a mystery novel: it cuts on potential culprits fairly quickly, since when we switch to their POV, we know they’re not guilty (and conversely). However, in the long run, the technique worked; the plot is complicated enough as it is, and using only Evie’s POV may have forced the author to resort to other tricks to have everything solved, which in turn may have seemed too convenient. As for Sherlock Holmes himself, although he wasn’t on the same level as the original character (can any be?), he was far from being the worst, too. I liked how he was tied to canon happenings (Bohemia, Irene Adler…), which allowed for him to have an influence on the story as a whole, without intervening too directly, yet without being shoved aside “just because” either. Though he helps to solve the mystery, he doesn’t do all the work—and there are things himself doesn’t know, and that his niece won’t tell him about, thus leaving her with the ace of magic under her sleeve.

While the main story gets wrapped up, the ending is an open one: not a “how frustrating!” cliffhanger, but with enough things left unsolved, and enough new elements, to allow, I think, for a second book with more than just a couple of leads to chase. As for the love triangle, at first I wasn’t convinced (they’re so common nowadays!). Nevertheless, both love interests have a darker side. Both end up in shady deeds. Neither is totally black or white, and Evelina isn’t blind to that, keeping her wits about her and not melting as soon as she sees them, although part of her sure wishes to. Things didn’t pan out as I expected them to, and this was a nice surprise, leaving open roads here as well.

If one thing, I think the book might have been a trifle too long, or perhaps dwellt a little too much on some aspects (marriage prospects, romance for more than one character…) to my liking. But, again, this fits within the Victorian-like setting—much more than it fits in many contemporary ones, to be honest.

Yzabel / September 7, 2013

Review: Once Upon A Time Machine

Once Upon a Time Machine by Andrew Carl

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

Fairy tales have fueled our dreams and fired our imaginations for centuries. Step inside a time machine built by a collection of today’s finest storytellers, and enter a range of futures where familiar tales are reimagined in an astonishing variety of styles. This collection of twenty-five retold tales delivers a reading experience that will delight generations young, old, and yet to come, featuring the next wave of leading writers and illustrators.

Review:

(A long-due review, considering I got an ebook copy through NetGalley over one year ago, but got sidetracked and forgot about reading it before it was archived there. Well, I can still give my opinion, though.)

This comic-book/graphic novel is about retellings with a sci-fi/futuristic twist—fairy tales and heroic deeds, but not only European ones: it also contains it shares of stories inspired by Asian folklore. As with every anthology-type book, quality varies, some stories being really good, and others leaving me cold; overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Every story is by a different author, too, and so you’ll get very different styles, both in drawing and storytelling (here, too, you might like or dislike a given style, depending on what your tastes are like).

Among my favourite ones, I would list:

– 1001: An interesting beginning, playing, of course, on the “1001 Nights”.
– John Henry: I admit I didn’t know about him before reading this book, and then researching him… No matter what, it was a strong story, even without previous knowledge of the original one, and proved to be a good way of illustrating the man/machine conflict.
– The Stars are not Wanted Now: Pinocchio as an AI who doesn’t know how “it” should behave. I liked how the part about lying was revisited.
– The Three Musketeers, in an unexpected setting where it’s indeed “all for one”, and where they either work together or don’t work at all.
– The Three Little Pigs: Highly unusual, especially regarding the role played by the wolf, who doesn’t go around destroying houses, but reputations. I loved the ending.
– Rikki-Tikki-Tavi: My favourite, even though it deals with a theme I’m not at ease with. The original one had always been one of my favourites, and it remains so here.
– The Five Chinese brothers also left a strong impression on me.
– Bombus and Vespula: Really creepy in its ending, and not where I thought it would take me… yet it made its point pretty well.

Yzabel / September 5, 2013

Review: The Mother Of All Viruses

The Mother of All Viruses by John Kovacich

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

“Let the record reflect that this deposition commenced at 9:15 am on December the 3rd, 2004 at the FBI offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Present for this recording are Special Agent Alvin Dirk, the Honorable Judge Ramiro Vasquez, and the witness, Robert O. Blain. This deposition is merely a recording of the events which transpired at Norwood University and is not now nor ever will be part of any trial or prosecution. Go ahead.”

“My name is Bobby Blain. Most people seem to think it all started when Dr. Jennings hired me, and all the computers started getting hacked. It was easy for people to think that, because I have a history and got myself in some trouble when I was younger. I hacked some computers and almost got the president impeached, but it really started before that, when I still worked for Dr. Karlyn.”

“Dr. Karlyn gave me a chance to redeem myself by allowing me to work on his computer for him. Then one day, this scientist I had never seen before comes and gives Dr. Karlyn a device. I was never told what he wanted, but I think he wanted Dr. Karlyn to help him reverse engineer it. I was only asked to build an interface to attach it to the computer. Dr. Karlyn did the rest. I think he figured out how to turn it on, but when he did, strange things started to happen.”

“We didn’t know it then, but it turns out the device was stolen from a government facility. I don’t know where they got it, that is more classified than this deposition. I can tell you with absolute certainty that they didn’t make it themselves. I’d like to tell you more, but I don’t think I’m allowed.”

“Anyway, someone at the university needed to get Dr. Karlyn out of the way and falsely accused him of inappropriate conduct with a student. He could have fought it, the dean believed him, but he decides to leave the school anyway. Before he goes, he gives his computer to Professor Jennings and he gives me a letter of recommendation, so after I help deliver and setup the computer, she agrees to hire me.”

“The first night it is up and running, at least two attempts are made to hack into the computer. I forgot to mention that even before I deliver the computer, this guy tries to break in and steal something from it, but I was there and he didn’t get anything.”

“I can’t divulge any secrets about Professor Jennings’ project here, but my part is to prove that her process would work if she were given enough computer resources, so I re-write her process to work across a network and run on thousands of computers.”

“That’s when things got really crazy. Someone keeps trying to hack into our computer; someone hacks the entire school and the phone company. Professor Jennings’ secretary is kidnapped. The FBI gets involved, but they’re chasing the wrong people for reasons only they can tell you.”

“Then someone plants a virus on our computer and the next thing we know, it’s spread all over the internet, including some very sensitive government computers. Meanwhile, our project continues to gain speed and surpass anyone’s expectations.”

“When the FBI come in and learn that the device that was given to Dr. Karlyn is actually some super cool futuristic computer that is able to grow and build more circuits for itself, they want to disconnect the computer and confiscate it.”

“That’s when computers all over the world go out of control. The pentagon and all the armed forces are helpless. Air traffic is grounded. All the computer problems are traced back to the professor’s computer. The FBI want it dismantled more than ever, but the academics involved want to get the device to relinquish control over the world before they do.”

“And, well, I guess that’s all I’m allowed to say, thank you.”

Review:

(Book provided by the author through ReadIt & Reap 177 in the Shut Up & Read group, in exchange for an honest review.)

A fairly interesting read—perhaps a little heavy on the technical terms and descriptions? I managed to follow, but someone who’s less computer-savvy and not into quantum physics may actually have a hard time putting everything together. I guess this might count as both a good or a bad point, depending on who’s concerned.

The characters weren’t the most developed ever, but they “worked” in their roles in the story, although I admit I wasn’t really thrilled about Dierdre in the beginning (she seemed too laid back about her project, leaving things to chance).

The story goes through a lot of twists, making the reader unsure about what exactly is going to happen, and as such, it’s quite the page-turner. If there’s one thing I’d find fault with, it’d be its pace, which I found uneven—I had expected the whole end-of-the-world aspect to appear sooner, and this may account for my opinion here.

As for the writing, mostly it was good, but I think it would need some editing in places (I spotted some typos), mostly in terms of tense shifts; there were enough occurrences of present tense suddenly thrown in the middle of the narrative (in past tense) for me to be a little annoyed after a while. Alas, I’m not the kind of reader that manages to ignore this aspect.

Regardless, I had a good time reading this book.

Yzabel / August 30, 2013

Review: Under a Graveyard Sky

Under a Graveyard Sky by John Ringo

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

A family of survivors who fight back against a zombie plague that has brought down civilization.

Zombies are real. And we made them. Are you prepared for the zombie apocalypse? The Smith family is, with the help of a few marines.

When an airborne “zombie” plague is released, bringing civilization to a grinding halt, the Smith family, Steven, Stacey, Sophia and Faith, take to the Atlantic to avoid the chaos. The plan is to find a safe haven from the anarchy of infected humanity. What they discover, instead, is a sea composed of the tears of survivors and a passion for bringing hope.

For it is up to the Smiths and a small band of Marines to somehow create the refuge that survivors seek in a world of darkness and terror. Now with every continent a holocaust and every ship an abattoir, life is lived beneath a graveyard sky.

Review:

(I received an ebook ARC of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

This is an oddball to review, and I still don’t know what to think of it.

On the one hand, I liked the ideas developed in it. A family already having a plan in case of a zombie apocalypse? Well, why not. They have the right connections to be informed of such things first-hand, and it’s not harder to believe in that than in, say, a family during the early Cold War living in fear of, and preparing for, a potential nuclear war. I found it interesting to see them go from “save ourselves” to “let’s try to save as many people as they can”, with all the problems stemming from organising a whole flotilla: fuel, food, who’s going to give the orders, potential dissenters who could become real trouble… Fortunately, the main characters weren’t stupid, and I appreciated seeing them not giving weapons to just anyone, and remaining just the right shade of paranoid in that regard.

On the other hand, the pacing of the book really puzzled me. I was expecting it to be more about the survival part, but the first half went much more slowly compared to the second one (the one about gathering survivors and organising a new society at sea). Some of the decisions taken by highers up seemed too crazy to be believable (for instance, who they enlisted to help create a vaccine…), and there were moments when things went like a breeze, not giving much sense of urgency. The concert at the end of part one was another mind-boggling element: fun to read on the moment, but not making that much sense in hindsight. And then we switch to part two, without having actually seen the full unfolding of the apocalypse, going from some zombies in the streets to full already-wiped-out civilisation. I guess I’d have liked to see more of that, and earlier in the story. The transition was too abrupt.

Also, the pacing in that second part felt really weird. It was more a slice-of-life (well, slice-of-killing-zombies-spree) kind of story, with lots of switching between the various characters involved, and after a while, this made the book difficult to go on with, in that it lacked smoothness in its transitions. On top of this, Faith above all was a puzzling character. When and where exactly did she get the training that allowed her to kick ass the way she did? How come she didn’t get crazy (there are some bits about that towards the end, but not as well-exploited as they could have been)?

“Under a Graveyard Sky” has a lot of potential, but in the end, it didn’t cut it for me. Too bad, because I wish it had.

Yzabel / August 29, 2013

Review: Earth Power

Earth Power by Adam J. Black

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

EARTH POWER introduces an extraordinary team of paranormal investigators. Led by Raphael Drake and Sam Watkins, partners in the London-based Aquarius Agency, the team includes Tarot reader Gemini Quinn, young newspaper reporter Denny Finch, and a three-hundred pound English Mastiff named Doctor Dee.

When insurance salesman Harry Gill dies in a freak accident on a route the newspapers call ‘The Road to Hell’, no one can explain the cause. But Harry’s death is only the latest in a string of unexplained events in the North of England. Crops have been destroyed, cattle are stampeded, and a family is terrorised by a violent poltergeist.

The situation calls for the unique sensory powers of Raphael Drake, and the investigative abilities of his partner, ex-Metropolitan Police detective Sam Watkins.

With bizarre incidents becoming more frequent and increasingly dangerous, the Aquarius team travel north to investigate. Who, or what, is causing escalating levels of death and mayhem in one small part of rural Derbyshire? What is the purpose of the massive concentration of destructive energy focussed on the market town of Castlebridge? And how real is the threat to their own lives suggested by a series of ominous warnings?

Raphael, Sam and their team race to find the answers in time to avert an impending disaster. But mysterious forces are already gathering, determined to stop them.

Review:

(Book provided by the author through ReadIt & Reap 177 in the Shut Up & Read group, in exchange for an honest review.)

This book is based on interesting premises, using the theme of natural energies being gathered for a purpose, as well as people (and/or their deaths) playing a role in it. I liked the diversity of characters, each of them having their own significant traits, including strengths and witnesses and even, for some, potential for complications later on, especially in trems of relationships. I also liked how the author depicted the small town and the countryside where the investigation takes place; it had all the charm of what I imagine to be a typical English town, and even though some might say those things are cliché, they still allowed me to picture the setting very easily. The same kind of detailed description was given to death scenes, making them pretty vivid (as paradoxical as this choice of words may seem!) and pulling me in.

The story itself, alas, proved hard to read in the long run, probably because its pacing felt rather uneven, with disjointed scenes and point-of-view jumping. While Sam and Raphael found their right place as far as roles were concerned, they also seemed to overshadow the other characters in terms of development, which in turn made me feel like said other characters weren’t really needed. I think what bothered me the most, in fact, was how in the end, lots of things were left unexplained, and not only the ones that were clearly kept in store for a next novel (Sam’s family, for instance): I would’ve wanted to read more about the paranormal aspects. Another weird thing was how everything unfolded, leaving the main characters confused as to what happened, and I as a reader wondering what was actually the point of having them investigate at all if it was to have the whole mess solved by a third party.

It’s the kind of book I usually tend to enjoy, and I wished I had liked this story more. I really do. But I prefer to be honest here, even though there were interesting elements in “Earth Power”, and I think those can be appreciated no matter what.