Category: Book Reviews

The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan

Book #3 of the Powder Mage Trilogy

Introduction

War has come to the country of Adro in this gunpowder mage fantasy. The main characters, Field Marshal Tamas, Powder Mage Taniel Two-shot, and Inspector Adamat, seek to liberate Adro from its enemies. The Brudanians hold Adro’s capital city of Adopest and the Kez army is driving up through Surkov’s Alley. Taniel and the main Adran army is stuck in between them. Tamas and his two veteran brigades along with their Deliv allies are hurrying to save the day. Can the two armies meet up in time? Can Taniel’s savage priestess keep the sleeping god named Kresimir asleep keeping him from destroying the whole world? Can the heroes win the war and save Adro from its enemies?

Summary

This is the third book in the powder mage trilogy, so long-standing plot threads resolve though new ones start to set up the next trilogy in this series. Field Marshal Tamas threw over the Adran monarchy before the events of the first novel. He wants to develop a long-term plan to support a republic and throw out the foreign invaders of Adro. Tamas is a powerful powder mage. Powder mages ingest gunpowder by eating it or sniffing it. The powder gives them supernatural powers. Taniel, Tamas’s son, is also a powder mage. His talent gives him healing power, strength, and the ability to direct bullets from his gun to his desired target. Taniel loves fighting in the war but despises politics. Setting up a republic demands the election of a prime minister. The candidates are labor leader Richard, who wants Taniel as his running mate, and Lord Claremont. The election will have ramifications for Adro’s future.

Some people in this world have special abilities of a minor nature and they are called Knacked. Inspector Adamat’s knocked power is a photographic memory which helps him solves cases. He works for Tamas trying to learn about what is going on in occupied Adopest. Another type of magic power is used by the Privileged, who tap into an elemental power they call the Else. Bo is the last living member of the Adro Cabal, a group of privileged, and his apprentice is named Nila. The wildcard is Ka-poel who has a voodoo-like talent using dolls. Taniel brought her to Adro from savage Fatrasta during the time when he fought there. She is honor bound to him. He treats her like a younger sister sometimes, but at other times he thinks of her a potential lover. Vlora, another powder mage, was Taniel’s former lover and almost fiancé. She conflicts Taniel because they have feelings for each other despite their breakup. Olem is Tamas’s most trusted aide. He is romantically linked to both Nila and Vlora.

All these characters have come to Adro in this novel and must succeed in each one’s individual tasks doing their part to save the republic. An unexpected powerful enemy disrupts their plans and they must improvise or not just Adro, but the whole world will be in jeopardy of destruction.

Recommendation

The Autumn Republic was a great conclusion to the powder mage trilogy. The many viewpoint characters complete their assigned tasks and prepares for the final challenge. The conclusion changes the world forever but shows how the next trilogy will begin. The next trilogy is called Gods of Blood and Powder starting with the novel Sins of Empire which was released in 2017. Wrath of Empire was released in 2018 and Blood of Empire is scheduled to be released in 2019. I have a copy of Sins of Empire and will read it soon in 2019. Highly recommended. I suggest reading the whole trilogy, from the beginning to the end.

Links

Link to Goodreads page for The Autumn Republic

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20883847-the-autumn-republic?ac=1&from_search=true

Link to my review of The Crimson Campaign (Powder Mage Book #2)

The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan

Artemis by Andy Weir

Introduction

Jasmine “Jazz” Bashara is a poor smugggler and thief on the moon colony of Artemis. She dreams of being rich, but won’t get involved with drugs and guns though that is where the most money is. That is until she gets an offer she can’t refuse. All it’ll take is a little sabotage and she can retire with a million Artemisan slugs. But the best laid plans never work and she must improvise or she’ll be killed by a Brazillian drug cartel assassin or die with everyone else in Artemis by poisoned air. How can she survive and get her money too?

Summary

Jazz came to Artemis as a little girl, she is 24 at the time in the novel, so the moon is all she knows. Her father is a welder who wants her to work with him, but she doesn’t want that boring vocation. She works as a porter, waiting until her plans pay off. What she wants is to earn her EVA license, so she can get big money conducting EVA tours at the Apollo 11 landing site for tourists, but she fails her test which sets the caper into motion. She longs to pull off the big score. She’s small, smart, and sassy. The novel is seen from her perspective. Any task she tries, she succeeds, but she is usually unmotivated to try. Trond, a billionaire speculator, makes her an offer she should refuse, but she decides to take it to accomplish her goal to become rich. Jazz starts her scheme but must rely on her friends; techno geek Svoboda, smuggler partner Kelvin, and her EVA master friend Dale, the gay guy who stole her boyfriend for himself. All of them and Jazz’s father get involved with her plans. To accomplish her goal, Jazz must face Rudy the cop, an assassin, the Artemis colony leader, and the architect of the Aluminum smelter that Jazz must sabotage.

Recommendation

I enjoyed reading this novel. It runs at a brisk pace. Jazz has a sarcastic voice like Mark Watney from The Martian, also written by Andy Weir, but she remains a young woman. Her challenges come quickly one after another. The science is woven into the story deftly. She analyzes her options and figures out ingenious solutions as she goes. The story barrels on to the end. The side characters are memorable, and the conclusion resolves the plot satisfactorily. Highly recommended.

Links

Link to Goodreads page for Artemis

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34928122-artemis?ac=1&from_search=true

City of Cayn by Jason McDonald, Alan Isom, and Stormy McDonald

The Cayn Trilogy Book #2

Introduction

As the novel opens, Jasper enters the domain of the white circle, a guild of mages, looking for a clue to the cure of the plague introduced in the first book of the Cayn trilogy, Son of Cayn. Xandor and his crew follow the caravan that holds the plague to the former human city of Cherigov, now held by orcs. Jasper must find the cure and Xandor must defeat the orcs or the world faces devastation by the wide release of the plague.

Summary

The first book of the trilogy set up this world and began the plague storyline. The main characters in this novel are Jasper the mage, Sehraine the elf magician, Xandor the ranger, Chert the dwarf priest, Yana the wind rider, Grendel the half-orc, and Sacha the conflicted princess. They head to Cherigov to discover the truth about the plague wars of around twenty years ago. Their opponents are Marko the knight-prince, Sacha’s brother, and the orc king. This novel moves quickly with a clear goal in sight. It is a fitting bridge novel by building up the story while setting up a rousing climax in the third volume of the trilogy.

Recommendation

I enjoyed this novel and am looking forward to reading the concluding volume of this trilogy, Blood of Cayn, due out soon.

Links

Link to Goodreads page for City of Cayn

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42930809-city-of-cayn

This is a link to my book review of Son of Cayn, Book #1 of the Cayn Trilogy

Son of Cayn by Jason McDonald, Alan Isom, and Stormy McDonald

Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card

Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card.

Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card, Tales of Alvin Maker Book #2

Introduction

Alvin Miller is the seventh son of a seventh son which gives him special powers in this alternate history tale of America set in 1811 during the time around the historical battle of Tippecanoe. In this series, each of the important characters of European ancestry possesses a folklore talent called a knack. The Indians in the series have a connection to the land which helps them survive and prosper. The Indian way is threatened by the arrival of the settlers. Alvin is a bridge between Americans and the Indians. He must heal the land and broker a compromise, or the Americans and Indians will perish in a destructive war.

Summary

Historical figures are transformed into characters who may or may not resemble their real selves. The American characters keep their historical names like William Henry Harrison, Mike Fink, Andrew Jackson, and Napoleon Bonaparte. The Indian characters have transformed names like Ta-Kumsaw (Tecumseh) and his brother Lolla-Wossiky (Tensquatawa) aka the prophet. Locations also have transformed names like the Hio territory (Ohio), the Wobbish territory (Indiana), and Carthage City (Harrison’s fort at the crossing of Ohio and the Greater Miami rivers).

The main plot involves three characters. Harrison wants to take over the Indian territory of Wobbish and open it to settlers. Ta-Kumsaw wants to fight the Americans and wipe them out to send them back to Europe. Lolla-Wossiky prefers a path of non-violent resistance and builds an Indian town called Prophetstown. The three clash and young Alvin, through his Indian-like talent powered by the strength of the land, try to solve the problem. Through his efforts, Alvin earned the name Alvin Maker.

Recommendation

I wanted to read this novel because I recently read an excerpt novella named Carthage City published in the September 1987 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. I wrote a post on purchasing the missing 60 issues I didn’t have from Spring 1977 to March 2014 in this post titled Asimov Collection. The novella covered the story about the character named Hooch Palmer. It was the only section of the novel that did not involve Alvin.

I was interested in the background information and the magical system, so I bought a copy of the novel. I liked the novel. The only aspect of the novel I didn’t like was the narrative of bad American who is not of the land versus the noble savage Indians who are of the land. I took it as satire, over-exaggeration to prove a point about not thinking through actions. With that perspective, I would like to read the other five novels in the series.

Links

Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card.

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7968.Red_Prophet

A book that shares some similarities to Red Prophet is Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin. Red Prophet is an alternate history where nature magic exists in America. Fevre Dream is a historical fantasy set in the past in America where vampire/werewolves come to America from Europe. The link to Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin is linked below.

Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Black Echo by Michael Connelly, Harry Bosch Book #1

Introduction

LAPD Hollywood Homicide detective Harry Bosch takes a case that appears to be a junkie overdose, but he soon finds out the case has links to his past. Bank robbers, street hustlers, and FBI agents complicate his case. He must follow the evidence to discover the reasons behind the murder and unmask the plot that traces back to the Vietnam War or face death from the perpetrators.

Summary

Bosch knows the murder victim, Billy Meadows. He was a fellow Vietnam War veteran that fell on hard times. Meadows and Bosch were tunnel rats in the war, who went into tunnels to find the enemy. Tunnel rats call the feeling they get when they were lost in the dark underground, the black echo. The job breaks many and the successful still suffer. The witness to the crime goes by the tagger’s name of Sharkey. He is a street hustler that Bosch searches for and finds. Bosch is contacted by the FBI because Meadows was suspected of being part of a bank-robbing gang that uses the underground LA storm sewers for their crimes. Bosch is partnered with FBI agent Eleanor Wish, with whom he starts a relationship. The various elements come together, and Bosch is tested both mentally and physically to solve the case.

Recommendation

I read this novel after I watched season three of Bosch on Amazon video. Season three was based on the novels The Black Echo, and A Darkness More Than Night. The season was released in 2017 and the novel was published in 2002. Because of the gap in time, certain things had to be changed on the show. Changes in technology were updated and the Vietnam War was changed to the Afghanistan war. The bank-robbing plot was changed to a stealing money plot. The biggest change was how Eleanor Wish was portrayed.

This is the first Bosch novel and FBI agent Wish is first introduced to Bosch in this novel. In the show, Wish and Bosch are divorced, have a high school-age daughter, and Wish lives in Vegas and is a card shark, no longer an FBI agent. The change with Wish was the thing that surprised me the most when I read the novel after seeing the TV show. I did not expect what happened in the plot and I like that. One thing that stayed the same was the character named Sharkey. What he did and where he ended up were the same on the TV and a novel. It was the perfect choice. I like this novel. I plan to read Angels Flight next because it inspired season four of Bosch (released in 2018), which I have also seen.

Links

Black Echo by Michael Connelly

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/48262-the-black-echo

A book that shares some similarities to the Dead Key by DM Pulley. They are both mysteries where the key to solving the case is found in the past. The protagonist in the Black Echo is  LAPD Hollywood Homicide detective Harry Bosch. The protagonist in the Dead Key is forensic engineer Iris Latch. The link to the Dead Key by DM Pulley is linked below.

The Dead Key by D. M. Pulley

Son of Cayn by Jason McDonald, Alan Isom, and Stormy McDonald

Son of Cayn by Jason McDonald. The Cayn Trilogy Book #1

Introduction

Xandor the ranger has a mission from Marcus, the leader of the Kral’s Secret Service. Xandor must infiltrate a caravan headed out of the city of Pazard’zhik with his crew including Chert, Jasper, and Grendel. The caravan is smuggling soap. Soap? Yes, soap. Xandor’s crew must determine where and why the soap is being smuggled. The answer to those questions will task his courage and determination.

Summary

Jasper is hired as the caravan’s cook by the caravan leader, Dragahn. Dragahn drives the Chuckwagon and Jasper rides with him. The second wagon is driven by Sachin, the financier of the caravan who has just hired Grendel, a half-orc, as his bodyguard. The third wagon is driven by Pyotr, the horse doctor, with the cook’s helper Lucky sitting by his side. Xandor is a Ranger and Chert is a dwarven cleric. They try to discover the secret of the soap but are unsuccessful before the caravan leaves the city. They follow the caravan trying to complete their mission. The caravan goes through the Plague Lands, into the haunted forest, and approaches its destination.

Xandor and Chert fight deadly foes along the way. The people of the caravan must also contend with Marco the Knight, Kourash who is a beast, and the unnamed villain leader. Secrets are revealed, enemies are uncloaked, and the next book of the series is set up.

Recommendation

Son of Cayn is a brisk and well-drawn adventure quest. The novel was influenced by Dungeons & Dragons. There is a human Ranger, a dwarven cleric, a human mage, a half-orc, trolls, orcs, elves, and other fantastic beasts. The novel reminded me of the first law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie because both series are about a group on a quest and the setting is dark. I like the smuggling soap plotline. It was very inventive. There were a few things that could have been better. It took too long to establish that Marcus sent this crew to investigate the smuggling operation of the caravan. That should’ve been clearer earlier. There were one too many battles with Xander and Chert defeating a fantastic beast. They both almost get killed again and again and Chert heals them back to full health. Xandor’s powers, like the cat thing, appear unestablished.

My main issue was the villain wasn’t revealed until over halfway through the novel. Early viewpoints from the villain would have increased the tension. I like the Russian names and background including the references to the Christian church. The orcs and other beings are referred to as Sons of Cayn which is an interesting background element. I like Xander’s crew and plan to follow them on their next adventure in book 2 of the trilogy.

The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt

The Speed of Sound by Eric Bernt. Speed of Sound Thrillers Book #1

Introduction

Dr. Skylar Drummond has recently been hired at Harmony House. Harmony House is run by Dr. Fenton and is a place where kids with autistic disorders are housed. These kids were specifically picked by Dr. Fenton because they have savant knowledge along with their autism. Skylar connects with her patient Eddie Parks who has Asperger’s syndrome. Eddie’s project is to create a machine that can replicate sound waves, an echo box. He wants to hear his deceased mother sing. If he can make the device work, Dr. Fenton and other government agencies will take it from him. They will kill to get the device. Skylar cannot let them take it from Eddie.

Summary

Eddie Parks doesn’t want to be touched, he likes birds and has designed his room to specific sonic specifications. Skylar connects with him partially due to her experience with her deceased brother, Christopher. She helps Eddie rethink his echo box. Three factions want a working echo box. Barnes, Dr. Fenton’s security chief at Harmony House wants the box for Dr. Fenton to secure the funding for Harmony house. A mysterious group called the Heritage Foundation also wants it. They are a group that has money and connections inside the government. The Heritage Foundation put political candidates into office and assassinate undesirable targets. They want the box to record secret meetings. The third group is Homeland Security who wants the echo box to help in the war on terror.

Recommendation

This novel is a techno-thriller. Eddies’ echo box is the McGuffin that everyone wants. Events proceed quickly after the situation is set up. I thought that some of the choices of the author made the novel difficult to follow in the beginning. Giving viewpoints to characters only to kill them off did not help the reader to identify the important characters. The author’s head hopping, even sentence by sentence, disorients the reader. Readers should know that this novel ends abruptly and leaves plot threads incomplete to be addressed in the next novel in the series. I think that the next novel will be better than this one.

Beginnings, Middles, & Ends by Nancy Kress

Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress. A Book from the Elements of Fiction Writing Series published by Writers Digest

Introduction

This book is a how-to guide for common problems suffered by beginning writers. The author covers the ways writers develop problems and suggests ways to fix those problems. She noticed three main issues in her writing students work. The story drags at the beginning, the story flounders in the middle, or the resolution does not complete the story arc. She covers each of these cases and suggests solutions. Writing exercises follow each section of the book.

Summnary

Beginnings are covered first. The first scene is important to every story. The main character must be identified and established. It must show at least a hint of the conflict to come. It must set up a tone that follows throughout the whole story. The second scene can be one of three types. A backfill scene is one of expository background. A flashback scene goes back in time to illuminate the opening scene. The continuation of the storyline dramatizing whatever happens next to the viewpoint character. Do not be tempted to continuously revise the beginning of a story. The clarity of the ending will influence how the beginning starts, so better to have that ending before attempting a major revision.

Middles are next covered. The middle is everything after the introduction and before the climax. Three choices must be made by the writer to have a strong middle. Decide whose story the writing is about, the person who defines the book’s plot and its meaning. Decide the point of view character or characters. Then decide the throughline of the story, or what happens to the protagonist. The main character must also show four things in the middle of the story. The character must have a want, show the ability to change, a series of events push the character to change, and the character must switch to a new motivation.

Last is the ending. The climax must do four things. It must relate to the implicit promises raised at the beginning of the story, deliver emotion, deliver a level of emotion like the rest of the story, and be logical to the setup of the story. Everything after the climax must show the consequences of the climax and anything not addressed in the climax.

Recommendation

The definitions, examples, and exercises in this book were informative. I’m glad I read this book. It gives clear examples and solutions to a writer’s problems. One of the short stories referenced in the book was “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. I got a copy of the story and reading it helped illustrate the points made by the author of this book. This is the first book I have read of the eleven books I know of in the Elements of Writing Fiction Series. I intend to read more of them.

A Killer’s Mind by Mike Omer

A Killer’s Mind by Mike Omer

Zoe Bentley Mystery Book #1

Introduction

Zoe Bentley is a profiler working with the FBI at Quantico. She is new to the area having worked in Massachusetts on high-profile cases. She has a dark past. Tatum Gray is an FBI special agent forcibly transferred from the Los Angeles office for disciplinary reasons. Tatum gets assigned to the Strangling Undertaker case in Chicago and requests that Zoe help him with the case. They fight the serial killer, the Chicago Police, the BAU Chief, and each other. Can they set aside their differences to catch the killer?

Summary

The first chapter of the novel is from the perspective of an unnamed killer who will become known as the Strangling Undertaker. The novel is set in the summer of 2016. The lead character is Zoe Bentley who is from Maynard, Massachusetts. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a JD from Harvard. She assisted in cases in Boston but has moved to Dale City, Virginia to help the FBI at Quantico. Unit Chief Mancuso is the head of the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI who assigns Zoe a case about a Highway Serial Killer before Agent Tatum arrives at Quantico. They meet briefly before Mancuso sends Tatum to Chicago. Tatum’s life is complicated by caring for his recently widowed grandfather, Marvin, who lived with him in Los Angeles and came with him to Virginia.

Tatum leaves Marvin to watch his home and goes to Chicago. He works with Lieutenant Martinez of the Chicago PD and an ineffective profiler named Dr. Bernstein. Tatum requests that Mancuso send Zoe to help him. Zoe comes to Chicago and they investigate the case but their unorthodox methods alienate them from Lieutenant Martinez and he sends them away when they screw up. The reader learns Zoe’s backstory through flashback chapters set in Maynard in the fall of 1997 when she was a girl and a serial killer was operating in her hometown. Both cases intersect in unpredictable ways and resolve at the climax of the novel.

Conclusion

This novel is a tight thriller with enough surprises to keep the reader guessing. It’s almost like a written version of the television show Criminal Minds. If that intrigues you then I can recommend this novel to you. The television show is about the agents at the BAU investigating serial killer cases and that is what this novel does as well. The only weakness I can point out is about the points of view. The killer, Zoe, and Tatum are the main points of view and they work.

There are three other single chapter points of view that are not as successful. I can understand the viewpoint of a potential victim but I don’t want to get inside a character witness’s point of view. It doesn’t add to the narrative for me. Then there is one more point of view, follow me here. You know that scene at the beginning of Law and Order, the one where you know that the person doing whatever they are doing will stumble onto a murder victim. You know that scene, well that scene is a single chapter in this novel. It would have been better left unsaid. Other than that, this novel did what it set out to and did it well. I plan to follow Zoe Bentley on her next adventure for novel #2 IN THE DARKNESS due to be released on July 16, 2019.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of A Killer’s Mind by Mike Omer.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37647561-a-killer-s-mind

This is the link to my review of The Fourth Monkey by JD Barker, a similar book; combining mystery and thriller.

The Fourth Monkey by J. D. Barker

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time Book #1

Introduction

Rand and his father Tam are sheepherders near the village of Emond’s field. The Trollocs invade and threaten their world. Trollocs are minions of the Dark One. The Dark One longs to break out of his centuries-long imprisonment. The Dark One is threatened by three young men from Emond’s field, Rand and his two friends Matt and Perrin. Will they be killed by the Dark One’s minions or will they escape to the mythical city of Tar Valon?

Summary

Rand and his friends are helped by five people early in their journey to Tar Valon. Nynaeve, the Wisdom of Emond’s field, and her apprentice Egwene. A wisdom is a female healer and weather forecaster found in villages. The Aes Sedai, Moiraine and her Warder named Lan. The Aes Sedai are female magic users from Tar Valon who use the One Power to do their magic. The last helper is the gleeman, Thom Merrilin. Gleemen are traveling entertainers who are found infrequently in the villages. They try to avoid the Trollocs, their commanders called Myrddraal and other followers of the Dark One called Darkfriends. The group faces the dangers of Shadar Logoth and the Children of the Light. They are helped by Min, the Tinkers, the forest dweller and friend of wolves named Elyas Machera, and the Ogier Loial. The young men are named ta’veren, a person who the Wheel of Time revolves. The Wheel of Time is the pattern where the ages repeat again and again. They must find the Eye of the World to defeat the Dark One.

Recommendation

This novel is an epic that begins an epic series of fifteen books (fourteen novels and a short prequel novel). While inspired by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, there is much more in this novel. Ran, Mat, and Perrin have different personalities and wants. The narrative pushes them to face the Dark One through dreams and increasing danger from his minions. The Dark One has an objective and a way to achieve it. This novel ends with a bigger world beckoning and a reluctant hero beginning to understand his place on the Wheel of Time. I have waited a long time to start this long journey of reading this series, but I am glad that I have chosen to start it now. This first book is great and I look forward to reading the last three novels which were completed by Brandon Sanderson, one of my current favorite authors. On to book number two, The Great Hunt.

Links

Goodreads link for The Eye of the World

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228665.The_Eye_of_the_World

Review of The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan. Rand searches for the Horn of Valere since he needs it for the Last Battle. Rand becomes the Dragon Reborn and Nynaeve learns how to use the One Power. Amazon Prime Video will adapt the first two novels of the series in 2020.

Great Hunt by Robert Jordan