James Review -- Star Trek: Prometheus: In the Heart of Chaos

This week I decided to review Star Trek: Prometheus: In the Heart of Chaos by Bernd Perplies and Christian Hamburg. 

The story begins shortly after the last book ends. The Klingons have put a short time limit on the mission to find and stop the source of the recent hostility and terrorist attacks by the usually isolationist Renao before they launch a full-scale invasion of the Lembatta cluster that the Renao call home.

The Federation starship USS Prometheus and the Klingon battlecruiser IKS Bortas have determined that the Order of Purifying Flame, the Renao terrorist group, is under the influence of the Son of the Ancient Red, an energy being that feeds off of hate and anger. The Son had been imprisoned on the long lost Renao Homeworld, Iad, thousands of years earlier. But a century before a Federation starship had stumbled across Iad before falling under the Son’s sway and crashing into the planet which weakened the prison.

However, the Son is rapidly increasing tensions among the Federation and Klingon crews. Also, the Order of the Purifying Flame is beginning to lash out at Renao who aren’t part of the order. The Klingon and Federation crews determine that the White Guardian, who had imprisoned the Son, might be native to a region with conditions similar to those around Iad, conditions that are extremely unusual.

After an agreement that delays the Klingon invasion, and an extensive search of Federation databases, another such region is found that would be more merciful, then Prometheus sets off while the Bortas continues the search for the Order’s primary base and shipyard. Upon arriving, the Prometheus begins talks with the White Guardians by allowing them to possess the ship’s Emergency Medical Hologram. They explain that the Son is actually one of their own, a child who got lost while exploring and, while on the brink of starvation, discovered the Lembatta cluster which looked like home, and a new stronger source of nourishment within, the emotions of the Renao. But feeding on the emotions drove the Son insane and an elder of his people was dispatched to deal with the problem. The elder managed to imprison the Son and move the Renao safely out of the imprisoned Son’s reach, but the elder also starved to death during the journey home and with their population so few, the White Guardians are unwilling to send another to their death to again lock away the Son.

Lieutenant Jassat ak Namur, the only Renao to join Starfleet so far, convinces the White Guardians that killing the Son would be more merciful then leaving him to live out his life in madness. The White Guardians reply that they can transfer some of their energy to a host who can carry it to Iad where it will destroy the Son, but they also warn that the host is unlikely to survive. Namur convinces Captain Richard Adams to let him be the host and the race is on to deliver Namur to Iad even as the Bortas locates and begins its assault on the headquarters of the Order of the Purifying Flame…

There are also a number of interludes concerning negotiations between the Federation and Klingon Empire as the Federation tries to convince their ally to delay its invasion, actions on the perimeter of the cluster, and the reactions of non-Order Renao as the Purifying Flame turns on them.

I give this book 9.5 out of 10. I like many of the characters, and also enjoy the final battle against the Purifying Flame base and its defenders. Also, I find the explanation of the origin of the Son of the Ancient Reds, and presumably the Beta XII-A entity which appears to be another mad Guardian from a different universe, to be a well-written twist in the story. I wish some of the interludes had been expanded further, though. While I know the trilogy is over and many of the characters won’t be returning, I hope that the Prometheus subseries is continued in the future.

Update -- 12/23/2018

I'm still progressing through my next novel Return of the Nine. I think it's going to be considerably longer than the last few books, so I don't know if I'll make the early 2019 release I originally projected. I don't like to release books more than a year apart, as I like to be consistent as far as yearly releases are concerned. Still, I hope you'll wait, as I assure you--it will be worth it.

I plan on this being the last Divine Protector book, at least for a while. It will wrap up everyone's story (whether that character lives or dies; not everyone makes it). After I publish it, I'm going to write a grounded non-genre novel which may or may not appeal to you. I hope you'll stick with me because I have some exciting stuff in the works.

Book Review -- Heroine's Journey

Finally! I'm all caught up on Sarah Kuhn's Heroine series. Today we have the most recent (but hopefully not last) book in the series: Heroine's Journey.

The story picks up several years after Heroine Worship. In keeping with series tradition, we once again have a new main character, and this time it's Bea. She's done with college (by which I mean she dropped out) and is working at a trendy book store. She dreams of being a superheroine like Evie and Aveda, but Evie refuses to let her join the team because Bea is flighty and Evie is afraid she'll abandon them when the next thing catches her eye. But Bea persists, and Evie eventually lets her hero up as a sort of intern (complete with a ridiculous costume). They then get their next case which is inanimate objects coming to life and attacking people, while other people are outright disappearing.

And because that's not strange enough, Bea also begins receiving supposed messages from their dead mother. Dad can't be bothered with this because he broke like a twig dipped in liquid nitrogen after she died, so it's up to his daughters to find out what the hell's going on. Oh, but that's going to be even more difficult when Bea gets the hots for her rival who probably moonlights as a Chippendales dancer (though this is unconfirmed). Can she put her clothes back on in time to save both the world and every relationship she has?

Sarah Kuhn never fails to deliver an emotional roller coaster that explores both the highs and lows of family. This time, one of the main themes is sisterhood, and she does not hold back. Bea and Evie laugh, they love, they fight--holy crap, do they fight. And due to Bea being a psychological train wreck after their mother's death, she manages to alienate almost everyone in her life. Nevertheless, you'll keep rooting for her because no one deserves what she's been through.

Also, I feel the stakes are more appropriate here with a much more interesting villain. If you haven't read the previous book, then           SPOILER ALERT        but Dave was just a very underwhelming threat (though I believe this to be intentional because he was portrayed as a lonely loser just looking for somewhere to belong). In contrast, the baddie this time is far more worthy of the series' comic book inspirations, though we see this character very briefly.

In conclusion: I'm quite satisfied with this trilogy. And if Kuhn is to be believed, there's another one coming. I have a very strong theory on who will be the protagonist, but I won't say. Let's just say, I believe a significant time jump will occur between now and then.

https://www.amazon.com/Heroines-Journey-Heroine-Complex-Book-ebook/dp/B07693Y2M4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1545425303&sr=1-1&keywords=Sarah+Kuhn

James Review -- The Alexander Inheritance

This week I decided to review Ring of Fire: The Alexander Inheritance by Eric Flint, Gorg Huff, and Paula Goodlett. 

The story begins shortly the cruise ship Queen of the Sea, Tug Reliance, and Barge 14 find themselves warped to the year 321 BC along with a small part of the port they were in. While fuel and water are minor problems, food will quickly become a crisis, so the ships set out for Alexandria, after consulting with an expert on the period who was traveling on board the cruise ship. They find themselves a few months after the death of Alexander the Great when the civil wars that tore apart his empire are in their early stages.

At Alexandria, the ships manage to negotiate for food but eventually find themselves under attack by an Egyptian, officially rogue, fleet. Having anticipated such attacks, the Queen of the Sea has been manufacturing weapons and armed itself with rapid fire steam cannons that easily repel the attack. However during the battle, Reliance, which hasn’t been refitted with weapons yet, flees only to find itself captured by a force belonging to one of the two largest factions of Alexander’s former empire.

Taken to the port of Tyre, Queen of the Sea engineer Daq Jakobsen finds himself befriending Alexander the Great’s Widow Roxanne, who is also regnant for her son, one of two recognized heirs to the empire, and their son Alexander IV. The prisoners manage to create improvised hand grenades, killing a few of their guards, and when Queen of the Sea comes to rescue them, Roxanne and Alexander IV, along with some troops loyal to them, join the Queen of the Sea, having been held prisoner by the faction controlling Tyre. However, they weren’t warned that any of their slaves who boarded Queen of the Sea would be freed and a group of the soldiers soon launch an attempt to seize the vessel in retaliation.

After the attack is repelled, the three ships set out for Trinidad where they purchase land from the natives to establish a colony before returning to Europe where they rescue Alexander the Great’s brother Philip, who is a severely autistic mathematical savant, and his wife Eurydice, who is his regnant. But Fort Plymouth, the colony on Trinidad , finds itself under siege and efforts to determine the future of Alexander the Great's empire continue even as the regions visited by the vessels from the future swiftly begin developing technologies that weren’t developed for two thousand years in the original timeline…

I give this book 9.0 out of 10. I love the characters and there are a wide variety of interesting problems they face during the story. However, I found a few scenes, that I’m sure were meant to be humorous, not very interesting, and a few of the problems mentioned in the story were solved off screen with not nearly enough detail about the solutions and how they were reached for my tastes, while others I feel were solved too easily. I just hope this is the start of a series, something I strongly suspect, and not a standalone novel.   

Forgetting Plot Points

Have you ever read or watched something where the writers established something and then later seemingly forgot about it? One of the most famous examples is Happy Days where Richie had an older brother, Chuck, but then, one day, Chuck disappeared, never to be seen again. This seems to happen more frequently in animated sitcoms where anything goes. Like on Family Guy, where Cleveland sometimes has a brother, but more often does not. And The Simpsons has to keep changing as the characters fail to age and their pre-established origin stories no longer make sense as time goes on.

Animated comedies changing things is more forgivable because we've long since learned not to expect anywhere close to perfect continuity with them. But what about stories that take themselves more seriously such as anime and manga? I remember reading in Bleach that if someone has a stronger spiritual pressure than someone else, they're immune from attacks from that person. But that was never brought up again. Characters were frequently able to hurt enemies who were stronger than them.

But probably the worst offender is Dragonball Super. I like this series, but it can't preserve continuity to save its life. Plot holes abound, and they're big ones. For instance, it was established in Dragonball Z that what happens in Goku's present does not affect Trunks' future since they're separate timelines. But, lo and behold, the writers of Super evidently weren't paying attention, because somehow they made Goku still alive in the future, even though he had died of heart disease. And even if he was still alive, he never pissed off Zamasu in that timeline, thus robbing Zamasu of his motivation to go genocidal.

Oh, and while we're at it, let's discuss the difficulty of going Super Saiyan. In DBZ, it was established that it's pretty freaking hard to go Super Saiyan. But in Super, it's so easy, anyone can do it with little effort. And don't even get me started on how they scaled everyone to be able to take on Goku.

But, lest you think I'm being unfair, I will be the first to admit I've done the same thing. In Secrets of the New World, I established that Deschanel was barren and couldn't conceive. But, in the very next book, I introduced her descendant. WTF? I've since corrected that in the revised edition, but it doesn't change the fact I wasn't paying enough attention the first time.

So, is this--let's call it retconning--really that bad? I suppose it depends on how invested in a story you get and how seriously you take it. I usually don't care that much about these things, although I did stop watching the WWE because they couldn't follow their own rules. Wow, that sounds ridiculous when I actually write it down. In most instances, forgotten plot points are understandable. You can't remember everything you write, and it seems to be even more prevalent when new writers take over a franchise. Maybe they didn't read/watch everything that happened previously in a saga. This becomes more probable the longer a series goes on. In any case, I don't think it's that big of a deal--or maybe I'm just trying to excuse my own falterings. Who knows?

James Review -- Willful Child: Wrath of Betty

This week I decided to review Willful Child: Wrath of Betty by Steve Erikson. 

The adventures of the Terran Affiliation Engage-class starship Willful Child under Captain Hadrian Sawback continue. However, Klang captain Betty has vowed revenge on Sawback for foiling his plan to surrender so his people can infiltrate the Affiliation and wreck the economy, and a group within Affiliation command plan to send the Willful Child into impossible or near impossible situations until Sawback fails, leading to his death or removal from command, with the AFS Century Warbler under Captain Hans Olo secretly following the Willful Child to clean up the resulting crisis.

The Willful Child is sent to investigate a several-parsecs-wide energy anomaly driven by an unknown ship which is destroying everything in its path and heading straight for Terra, AKA Earth. Sawback leads a team to the unknown ship and finds that it is under the control of Sparky, the robot guard dog who guarded the junkyard owned by Sawback’s grandfather. Sparky is on a quest to find Sawback so the crisis is swiftly resolved.

After this, the Willful Child is assigned to explore a solar system where another Engage-class starship vanished. They arrive to find an inhabited planet showing signs of recent nuclear weapons use and orbited by the AFS Hateful Regard which has been stripped of components and sprayed with graffiti. Sawback leads a team to the planet, finding it inhabited by descendants of humans transported from Earth long ago. The planet has split into two societies, the Dims and the Pubs, with the Dims besieging the last Pub stronghold. Sawback and his team quickly discover that the Pub’s leader is Richard Rabidinov, former captain of the Hateful Regard, who imprisons Sawback’s party so he can seize the Willful Child. Sawback and his party swiftly escape, freeing a captive Dim envoy in the process.

Almost immediately, the Willful Child is attacked via a slow-traveling giant spear launched from a nearby planet. Sawback sends a unit to investigate, but the shuttle pilot accidentally jettisons his craft’s fuel supply, leading to a crash landing. While Sawback is planning a rescue, the Willful Child receives priority orders to rendezvous with a freighter, pick up the lubricant the cargo ship is transporting, and transport it to the planet Women Only. Sawback realizes this is a mission specifically assigned to him to prevent him from rescuing his stranded crew but concludes that if he violates regulations concerning how long an Affiliation ship can use its faster-than-light T-drive without a break, he can both rescue the stranded crew members and meet the freighter on time.

I give this book 4.5 out of 10. I still find some of the characters interesting, as well as Sawback’s continuing quest to fix human society, but I found a rather noticeable editing error early in the book. Also, the title doesn’t fit because Betty never actually interacts with the Willful Child until the story’s climax. Also, I feel this would have worked better as a short story collection than a novel. It feels like a collection of disconnected episodes linked together by the thinnest threads. The threat posed by the villain could have tied the adventures together better but he only starts acting during the emergency lubricant run plotline before being sidelined until the climax. And again, this series commits the worse sin a parody can--namely, I don’t find it very funny. It reads like a long series of jokes, most of them very poor ones, with only a few points that amuse me at all.

James Review -- Vatta’s Peace: Into the Fire

This week I decided to review Into the Fire by Elizabeth Moon.

Determined to find and rescue any other imprisoned survivors, Ky contacts her great-aunt Grace Vatta who is Rector of Defense for the planet of Slotter’s Key. Grace launches an investigation, but is soon critically injured by a poison gas attack in her home. And Ky soon finds herself, and her fiancée, and allies who traveled from off planet to join the search when Ky was missing, wanted by Slotter’s Key Immigration because new laws mean her citizenship has lapsed and because their visas have expired. Forced to stay in the home of Stella Vatta to avoid detainment, they continue seeking the locations of the other imprisoned Miksland survivors.

Stella is approached by Benny Quindlan baring a message from the head of his family swearing to kill Grace, Ky, Stella , and Stella’s young niece and nephew as vengeance for Grace’s actions during the planetary civil war that unified Slotter’s Key under one government, with signs that the incident on Miksland is tied to still active remnants of the old Separatist movement. Eventually, Ky and her allies launch a multi-front operation to liberate the remaining Miksland survivors, but Stella, unaware that her guests have left, finds herself facing assassins in her home while they are gone.

In the aftermath of the rescue, the new commandant of the Slotter’s Key Military Academy, replacing the commandant killed during the Miksland crash, who is a key member of the Separatist conspiracy, flees. Ky is named as a temporary replacement, but she soon discovers that in the event of a crisis, the military cadets are supposed to deploy to reinforce the defenses of key government installations and officials. But the plans for such an action are woefully outdated and, with Separatist forces closing on the capital city, Ky is forced to race to update and implement the defense plans…

I give this book 7.5 out of 10. The characters are interesting as are some of the conflicts and factions, but the story spends far too much time planning and in setting legal problems with not nearly enough action IMO. When I reached the part with the Separatist attack on the capital and the cadets deployed to aid the defense, I was looking forward to a grand climatic battle, but instead we got a short battle scene with little time spent on the viewpoints of the frontline soldiers for my taste. And I wish they had included at least a little space combat in the story. Maybe a training sim, or the Separatists deploying a small armed ship or two.

James Review -- The Dreaming Stars

This week I decided to review Axiom: The Dreaming Stars by Tim Pratt. 

The story begins shortly after the previous book ends. Captain Callie Machedo, the remaining members of her crew, and the survivors from a wrecked sleeper ship they recovered, are in hiding, widely believed to be dead. They are hiding because they are the only humans who know about the Axiom, ancient and highly malevolent aliens who are in stasis but left numerous projects running while they are unaware. The Liars, the first aliens humanity made contact with, were once slaves to the Axiom, and they include a small sect known as the truth tellers. Most that know of them, including the majority of truth tellers, believe their goal is protecting the galaxy from their former masters but their actual purpose is preventing outsiders from interfering with Axiom projects.

Machedo’s crew is also trying to treat Sebastien, one of the sleeper ship passengers whose mind was altered by Axiom technology, leaving him a violent megalomaniac. During a secret trip to obtain supplies and new medications to treat Sebastien, Machedo receives word from Lantern, one of the few high-ranking truth tellers who truly oppose the Axiom, that it is safe for her crew to come out of hiding. Lantern also requests that they investigate the Taliesen system where contact has recently been lost with a truth teller cell.

Machedo crashes her own funeral, meeting her ex-husband Michael.  Michael’s family owns the Almajara corporation, and a number of the corporation’s personnel have vanished in the Taliesen system, so Machedo’s crew is hired to look into their fate. The investigation leads to a swarm of Axiom nanomachines consuming anything in its path for resources, only sparing the White Raven, Machedo’s ship, because it carries Axiom technology, thus leading the nanomachines to believe the ship is crewed by servants of the Axiom. The swarm is slowly making its way towards the system inhabited world where it will consume the planet. Upon entering the station, the nanomachines are linked, too; they discover dozens of Axiom playing a form of virtual reality 4x game. Players in the game can start tournaments, and whoever is in first place when the tournament ends becomes Emperor until the next tournament. The Emperor gains many perks including control of the nanomachines.

Sebastien claims to have recovered, so  he and Machedo infiltrate the game in a desperate attempt to gain control of the nanomachines before it is too late. But when Sebastien requests to be left in the game after the swarm is shut down, can he truly be trusted?

I give this book 8 out of 10. It has a wide variety of both ethical dilemmas and physical problems for the characters to face. Also, some of the challenges are mostly unique in my experience, However, I feel the story could use more combat sequences, especially when characters are active in the Axiom VR game. Also, the final solution to gain control of the nanomachines seems a little too easy to me. 

Book Review -- Heroine Worship

Previously, I reviewed Sarah Kuhn's Heroine Complex and even interviewed her on this blog. Today I'm reviewing the follow-up, Heroine Worship. Is it any good? Let's find out.

It's been three months since our heroines defeated Shasta and saved the world from a demon invasion. Since then, peace has reigned. Pretty good, right? Not for Aveda Jupiter. She's going out of her mind from boredom and feels she now lacks purpose. Thankfully, excitement is reintroduced when self-proclaimed reformed demon princess Maisie Kane asks them to come take a look at the demon portal in her lingerie shop. She claims the portal is showing signs of activity. They investigate and suffer a close call when the portal comes alive. Nate sees this as the right time to propose to Evie, and she quickly accepts. 

So, now Aveda is in charge of planning Evie's wedding. She wants everything to be just right, but the perfectionist in her may jeopardize their friendship. And if that weren't bad enough, a rogue puppy demon is latching onto the other brides in the city, making them enraged. Why is this happening? Who is responsible? Can anyone stop the bridezillas? And will Aveda hook up with Scott already?

Heroine Worship, unlike the previous book, is told from the POV of Aveda. This has allowed Kuhn to greatly flesh out her character. Instead of an egotistical spotlight hog, we get a caring friend who just needs to ease up. We see why Aveda and Evie are such good amigas. We can finally root for her, whereas in the first book, I wanted Evie to smack her.

Those hoping for another worldwide threat may be disappointed. The stakes here are much more personal. It's really about a group of friends working on their relationships. Yes, there is an antagonist behind the bridezillas, but it's an intentionally low-key character who just doesn't have the same presence as Shasta or Maisie. It's important to go into this with the understanding that the focus is on character development and interpersonal conflict.

Would I recommend this to fans of the first book? Hell, yeah, I would. Sarah Kuhn has delivered a more human story and kept the quality aspects of its predecessor. The real star of the show is the characters; they're well-realized and their personalities shine. The reader can easily dive in and inhabit this colorful world.

Bottom line: Read this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Heroine-Worship-Complex-Book-ebook/dp/B01MXHSUUB/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1542161129&sr=1-1&keywords=Heroine+Worship

 

James Review -- The Gods of Sagittarius

This week I decided to review The Gods of Sagittarius by Eric Flint and Mike Resnick. 

The story begins with two main plotlines that eventually meet and join. One begins with security specialist Russell Tabor being assigned to guard absent genius Rupert Shenoy. Shenoy is one of humanity’s greatest minds able to develop revolutionary idea but in some moments but he is quite literally capable of forgetting where he lives over the course of a day as well. Shenoy wishes to journey to the planet Cthulhu in an attempt to research the Old Ones, incredibly ancient and powerful aliens that he believes once ruled much of the galaxy or universe.

However, the journey does not start smoothly. First, the party’s ship refuses to activate after being told that the group wants to travel to Cthulhu. Then Andrea Melander, one of Shenoy’s aides, is stricken by an unidentifiable medical condition. Eventually, the party manages to reach Cthulhu where they travel to the planet’s primary human habitation, a prison. There they review security footage of an incident where something invisible killed and ate three prisoners. After this, the party begins searching for more clues but Basil Stone, Shenoy’s only remaining assistant, is struck down by an unknown force, but Shenoy finds a clue that makes him believe that either the secrets to the magic of the Old Ones or the Old Ones themselves can be found on the planet Cornwallis IV otherwise known as Chuxthimazi.

There they make contact with the native inhabitants Paskapa who quickly live up to their name by chagrining exorbitant fees for anything. While there, Tabor gets into a fight with police while defending Shenoy whom the police were planning to calm via beating with clubs. He finds himself thrown in a cell with Jaemu, a murderer belonging to the Vitunpelay species, who claims to have information on the Old Ones. The two forge an alliance to escape prison then set out to find Shenoy. Jaemu reveals that there is something linked to the Old Ones in the highly militaristic Mank Empire.

The second plotline follows Occo, a shaman of the Nac Zhe Anglan and her familiar Bresk. The Nac Zhe Anglan include a number of religious creeds with the differences in beliefs usually tied to whether the Old Ones were good or evil and their fates during an ancient war with an evil force. Occo finds the home cloister of her creed destroyed, and after examining the site, she determines that the attackers were either using Old One weaponry or a close copy. She declares herself a Gadrax, a form of quasi-legal outlaw unrestrained by many of the restrictions imposed on all her people’s creeds, seeking vengeance. She gains permission from the Envacht Lu, the order responsible for punishing the story from being creeds that violate the Dessetrai Pact, laws designed to prevent surviving Old Ones, or survivors of their destroyers, from discovering Nac Zhe Anglan as well as defending the Nac Zhe Anglan from hostile species, as long as she provides progress reports on her quest when able to do so.

The first step of her plan is to seize the Warlock Variation Drive, an Old One artifact held in a well- guarded storehouse of such artifacts belonging to another cloister. She pretends to join a highly dangerous religious rite occurring nearby, deliberately wrecking her ship then crashing into the storehouse. Once inside, she finds the drive, an organism rather than a device. It displaces her into a number of increasingly dangerous predicaments before she somewhat masters its use. Eventually, her journey takes her to Cthulhu then to the Mank Empire.

After the parties join forces, they must still face the defenses of the Old One Depository, whatever is inside, and the Morganites, charlatans secretly the power behind the Mank Empire who have long sought beings to brave the depository for them.

I give this book 7 out of 10. It has some great world-building and interesting characters and situations, but there are also some parts that are very slow. Also, I wish the conclusion felt more like an ending instead of seeming like just an opening chapter to a bigger story. Finally, the story needs some battle sequences badly. There were lots of interesting puzzles faced by the characters, sure, but I feel like a good fight or two would have stopped the story from feeling so boring at times.

James Review -- Enderverse: Children of the Fleet

This week I decided to review Enderverse: Children of the Fleet by Orson Scott Card. 

The story is set after the end of the Third Formic War. Dabeet Ochoa is a young genius who never knew his father. However, he is told by his mother that his father was an officer of the International Fleet. He sends every form of application he can to get into Fleet School, formerly Battle School, which now trains children to lead colonization missions and scouting expeditions rather than training them to command war fleets.

After the applications are sent, Ochoa finds himself being interviewed personally by Hyrum Graff, once head of Battle School and currently the Minister of Colonization. During the interview, Graff reveals that the woman who raised Ochoa is not actually his biological mother which leaves the young man reeling. And shortly after the interview, Ochoa is kidnapped by a group representing an unknown nation. The international peace caused by the Formic threat is fraying rapidly in the aftermath of their eradication, and Ochoa convinces the men holding him that the best way to fulfill their goal of getting the International Fleet to intervene to end fighting on Earth is to let him go so he can help them raid Fleet School.

His captors agree but make it clear they will retaliate against his foster mother if he fails to aid them. After arriving at Fleet School, Ochoa holds himself aloof from the other students, and many dislike him because almost all of the other students had space experience prior to Fleet School which they feel make him a liability since he does not. However, Ochoa soon discovers that pieces of the refurbished Battle Room walls can be removed. He begins working on making structures from these pieces, but the process takes too long to be useful during Battle Room exercises with just one person. Zhang He, another student, notices Ochoa’s actions and becomes intrigued, offering to help him. When this doesn’t cut construction time enough, Zhang sets out to recruit a small band of students. However, eventually Ochoa receives word that the attack is coming, and after revealing the truth to the rest of the construction band, they set out in a desperate attempt to stop the assault.

The book also includes sections containing IM style chats regarding events in the story and essays submitted as assignments in the school.

I give the book 8.5 out of 10. I liked a lot of the new characters and thought the essay sections helped readers know more about the mindsets of the students involved. Also, I liked a deeper look into the motivations of the attack on Fleet School and what happened on Earth after the alien threat was ended. However, I felt the "Ochoa’s father’s true identity" twist was a little too predictable and that the story really needed more action sequences. Finally, there were multiple points where the synopsis on the back of the book contained false information, and I really hate when books are published without such mistakes being found and fixed.

James Review -- Vicky Peterwald: Dominator

This week I decided to review Vicky Peterwald: Dominator by Mike Shepherd. 

The story begins with the protagonist en route to her wedding, which goes well despite an assassination attempt during the journey. However, Vicky’s father fails to attend, and intelligence soon indicates that he has been left penniless by the manipulations of the Bowlingame family, which Vicky’s dead and wicked stepmother belonged to.

Vicky leads a fleet to Greenfield, the capital of the section of the empire officially ruled by her father but now ruled by the Bowlingames. Vicky knows instantly that the message explaining why her father is unavailable is a lie, because he is supposedly hunting bears in an area where the breed of bear in question no longer lives. She leads a team to her father’s incomplete palace to find that not only is the structure unfinished, but electrical service has been discontinued in the depths of a harsh winter. Emperor Peterwald isn’t there, but three cooks who are the last loyal members of his staff and whom Vicky considers to be her aunts are there. The cooks are rescued, then Vicky launches raids against the homes on the various high-ranking members of the Bowlingame family on the world. Emperor Peterwald is rescued, but he is on the verge of starvation due to the shortage, and low quality, of the food provided for him and his loyal staff members, and it is unknown if he will ever fully recover.

Soon after the fleet returns to Vicky’s territory, a fleet loyal to the Bowlingames raids a small world loyal to Vicky, and in response, Vicky’s forces begin a counteroffensive. Their first target is the world of Dresden. When they arrive, Vicky’s forces find the High Dresden space station seeded with an array of boobytraps. And even when the traps are bypassed, the Bowlingame forces reveal that much of the planet’s civilian population has been taken hostage and surrounded with a variety of explosives.

Using a storm system as cover, Vicky’s forces land a strike force including the Grand Duchess herself. However, they soon find a badly-damaged bridge which will allow only a small team to pass, a team that must include Vicky because her computer Maggie is the best hope of safely disarming the bombs around the hostages. And in the end, Vicky’s team finds themselves in a desperate battle against overwhelming odds with the fates of the hostages on the line…

Also, throughout the story, Vicky and her computer Maggie face a number of struggles tied to Maggie's growing self-awareness, including a tragedy when Maggie’s plan to intercept an enemy missile salvo destroys a number of friendly small craft.

I give this book 8 out of 10. It has a number of interesting planning sequences, and I like the issues Vicky and Maggie face regarding Maggie’s growing sentience a lot. The main problem I have is that space combat has always been one of the author’s strongest areas in my opinion, but there is almost no space combat in this book. The missile attack I mentioned above is pretty much it, and the author could have easily fit a few more small space battle scenes in without disrupting the book’s plot.

Author Interview -- Sarah Kuhn

Today I have the honor of interviewing one of my favorite authors. A while back I reviewed Sarah Kuhn's novel Heroine Complex (see here for my review) and got hooked on the Asian girl power F-bombs. With three books in the series and even more awesomeness on the way, Ms. Kuhn is definitely on a roll. Lucky for us, she had time to answer a few burning questions.

How would you describe your writing to a newb?

Superheroine-powered romance-fantasy that’s as fun and vibrant and candy-colored as Jason Chan’s beautiful covers for the HEROINE series. (That’s what I’m always trying to live up to, anyway.) Packed with feels of all kinds. Spotlighting women of color getting to have fun and adventure and happy endings.

Where did the idea for Heroine Complex come from?

I grew up on a steady diet of superhero comics and I particularly loved the X-Men, because they always spend an excessive amount of time talking about their feelings, even when—especially when!—the world needs saving. I always wondered, though, who was doing all the behind-the-scenes dirty work—taking costumes to the dry cleaners, updating the social media, cleaning up all the superpowered messes left behind. I thought it would be fun to write about the person who has to do all that, the beleaguered PA to superheroes. That’s how I found Evie Tanaka, superheroine PA extraordinaire, who stars in the first book. And then all her friends wanted their own stories, too.

Who are your female role models?

Way too many to list here, but my biggest role models are my girl gangs, all the wonderful women I’m close to. When everything else in the world seems terrible, being part of those communities has saved my life.

Heroine Complex is told from Evie's POV. Why did you change to Annie's POV for Heroine Worship?

In the first draft of the book, Aveda was more of a one-note diva — she was really awful to Evie, and one of my editor’s first notes was that she didn’t really understand why they were friends in the first place. I had to go back and really explore that question, and that’s how I got into the deeper nuances of their relationships — how Aveda had really always been there to save Evie and they’d developed this not-very-healthy codependent relationship they needed to fix. It made me really feel for Aveda, to realize that everything she was doing stemmed from her ultra perfectionist nature and her fear of failure and of being alone. She became real to me through that process, so of course that made me want to her explore her story. (Plus, I really wanted to show how she and Scott finally got together!)

Which of your characters do you identify with most?

I always identify the most with whoever I’m writing at the time. When I wrote Evie, I felt her need for control and the tentative unleashing of her allowing herself to really want things. With Aveda, I felt that perfectionist nature and fear of messing up deep in my bones. And with Bea, I felt her need for whimsy and excitement and the deep grief she was trying to run away from. I think I have to connect to each character that deeply in order to write them well.

Have you written anything you wish more people would notice?

I have written a few tweets that I feel were very underrated.

What can a hungry writer do to get exposure?

I don’t think there’s any magic answer to that — except just write. Finish something. Start the next thing. Try different things. In any creative industry, we feel like we have control over so little — but as long as you’re writing, you’re steering the ship. (This sentence sounded good when I started writing it, and now I’m like, what? What does that mean?? But see, I can write another sentence — I’m steering the ship!)

Which of the superpowers in your stories would you most want to have? Say, the super handy GPS power?

That would come in extremely handy in LA, but my original dream power was shooting fire out of my hands, so I still kind of want Evie’s. (Probably no one else wants me to have this power, though.)

Sarah Kuhn's Website

@sarakuhn

Facbook Page

James Review -- Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover

This week I decided to review Spider-man: Hostile Takeover by David Liss. 

The story begins shortly after Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin, returns to New York claiming to have reformed into a benevolent philanthropist. While roaming the city, Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, hears of a robbery at a Snake store and moves to intervene. He captures the thief, a young man named Andy. To convince Spider-man to let him go, Andy tells Parker of a supervillain active at a nearby construction site. Parker arrives at the site and defeats a handful of thugs but is ambushed by a new enemy able to match both his moves and his abilities.

Parker returns to Andy to find the would-be thief dead and is soon confronted by police lieutenant Yuri Watanabe who reveals that Andy had been murdered by a impostor Spider-Man, known to be an impostor due to slight errors in his costume. Watanabe also reveals that the construction site Spider-Man was ambushed at secretly belongs to Fisk, and Watanabe, who also wishes to bring Fisk down, forms a secret alliance with Parker.

Soon after this, the fake Spider-Man begins a series of actions designed to ruin Spider-Man’s reputation. And the conflict becomes more personal when one of these incidents leads to the death of Anika Adhikari, a young woman who had recently started working at the same research lab as Parker. Eventually, Parker and Watanabe realize that the fake Spider-man is just a diversion meant to distract Parker while Fisk makes his bid to become New York City’s Commissioner of Finance, a position that would let him cripple the city’s economy if angered or threatened, and the race to find a way to stop him is on.

Meanwhile, Maya Lopez, Fisk’s foster daughter who believes that Spider-Man had murdered her father years earlier, sets out to claim her vengeance. Her combat abilities, combined with years of studying Spider-Man make her just as dangerous as the impostor. And soon Parker is desperately struggling to find a way to convince her of his innocence before its too late…

I give this book 9.5 out of 10. It has a very interesting story and I enjoyed the battle sequences and the investigation plotline. However, there are a few areas that I felt needed more detail. Also, I question the necessity of killing Anika Adhikari. Sure, it gave Spider-man more motivation to hunt down the impostor, but I think he already had plenty of reason to go after him, and until she was killed, Adhikari had potential for interesting plotlines in future material.

James Review -- Peacekeeper: A Peace Divided

This week I decided to review Peacekeeper: A Peace Divided by Tanya Huff. 

When the story begins, former Confederation Gunnery Sargent Torin Korr is leading one of the Confederation Justice Department’s new strike teams, elite units formed to deal with the threat posed by armed criminals and former soldiers turning to crime in the aftermath of the war between the Confederation and the Primacy. During a raid on a group of arms dealers, however, Kerr’s team finds a pistol. Due to how easy they are to conceal, handguns are banned by the Confederation to the point of attempting to wipe all knowledge of how to create them from member civilizations. Investigating the weapon soon leads to a theory that one of the Confederation’s largest weapons manufacturers may be linked to a human supremacist group plotting to seize power from the Elder Races that lead the Confederation.

Meanwhile an archaeological team on planet 33X73, a restricted world, is studying a long-fallen civilization and finds plastic in a latrine despite this civilization apparently never having developed plastic. This leads to rumors that the plastic is in fact the corpse of one of the bioplastic beings responsible for the war between the Confederation and the Primacy, and soon a group of attackers arrives to force the archaeologists to find and hand over the rumored anti-plastic weapon even though no such weapon has been proven to exist.

Kerr’s strike team is sent to rescue the surviving scientists, but due to the presence of Primacy members among the hostile force, this mission becomes the first planned joint operation combining Confederation and Primacy forces. On top of the difficulties in merging soldiers from two distinct-- and recently opposing--forces into one, it is soon revealed that one of the Primacy team members has kin among the attackers. Matters become worse when one of the Primacy soldiers is captured, mistaken for another who the attackers believe can aid their mission. And during the desperate mission to free the prisoners the true secrets of 33X73 will be discovered…

I give this book 7 out of 10. I like the characters and the overall story, but there are many sections I wish had been covered in more detail, and I would have liked to learn more about the Primacy’s culture. Also, I feel the Confederation handgun ban and its apparent effectiveness are so absurdly unrealistic that it utterly cripples my ability to suspend disbelief. Even if all legal handguns were banned, as long as there is any gun manufacturing industry, it is far too easy to make the jump from other guns to handguns for such a ban to be even remotely effective, or worth the effort, to attempt to enforce in my opinion.

The Game Called Revolution Free this Week

The first book in my first series is available for free on Kindle this week. Until 9/22, to be exact. Join Jeanne de Fleur and the knights of the Ordre as they fight to protect France from an evil conspiracy.

https://www.amazon.com/Game-Called-Revolution-Infini-Calendar-ebook/dp/B0049B2CRA/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1537327552&sr=1-8

James Review -- Kris Longknife: Commanding

This week I decided to review Kris Longknife: Commanding by Mike Shepherd. 

The story begins with the execution of the rebel leaders captured at the end of the previous book. Kris Longknife then shifts her attention to the ongoing Iteeche civil war. Even as she struggles to recruit new ships for her fleet and training crews, she also works to find a way to minimize bloodshed in a culture where civil wars have led to the mass slaughter of civilians for thousands of years. She must also find ways to change many other traditions and attitudes that have stood for ten millennia.

After laying her plans, she launches an attack on Zargoth, the system that served as the staging area for the recent rebel attack on the Imperial capital. After easily securing space around the rebel world, she sends her aide and distant relative Megan Longknife to launch an operation against the bunkers used by the world’s leadership. After defeating the various security measures and eliminating the rebel leadership, efforts to secure the world and rebuild its infrastructure begin, but soon the efforts face sabotage from rebel loyalists that threaten to leave millions of Iteeche civilians without access to food supplies and basic services.

After Zargoth is secure, the combined Human/Imperial loyalist fleet moves on to their objective: an assault aimed as the first strike of a campaign against the rebellion’s major battlecruiser production centers. The offensive begins with an attack against the production center furthest from the imperial capital, but rather than finding the hoped-for lightly guarded system, Longknife’s fleet finds itself facing thousands of rebel warships…

I give this book 9 out of 10. The climatic battle was great. Also, I greatly enjoyed the deeper look into Iteeche culture and how it affected, aka hindered, their military as well as a peek into the mindset of some of the rebels. My main issue is that the look into the rebel point of view came too late. Basically, for the most part, you only see points of view for rebel characters in the final battle, and I feel adding some more into the Zargoth sequence would have been very interesting.

Aragami now Available on Nook and Kobo

Pretty self-explanatory, but yeah. You can now get Aragami on Nook and Kobo, meaning the entire Divine Protector series is available on those platforms. Discover Serika's deadly agenda today!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/aragami-scott-kinkade/1129470773?ean=2940161940174

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/aragami-1

Updates

I'm pleased to announce my Divine Protector books are now available on Kobo. This is big news because of Kobo and Wal-Mart's new alliance. These are the first four books in the series. I'm still working on getting Aragami onto more platforms; that should happen very soon.

Some of you may be wondering what happened to James and why he hasn't posted in a while. Well, his computer died, so he's been unable to do reviews. We're hoping to get a new laptop for him tomorrow, so hopefully he'll be back within a week or so.

In other pseudo-news, I'm debating whether to take my Infini Calendar books off KDP Select and put them onto other platforms. Leave a comment if you want to see that happen.

Also, my next novel, Return of the Nine, is coming along nicely and shaping up for an early 2019 release. This is all subject to change, however, so, you know.. disclaimers.

That's all for now. Keep on reading!


https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?query=scott%20kinkade&fcsearchfield=Author

Author Interview -- S.T. Sanchez

Today I'm talking with S.T. Sanchez, author of The Portal Keeper and Sunwalker.

1.)   How would you describe your writing to a newb? 

I write in 3^rd POV, but I am toying with the idea of doing a novel in 1^st person. I love to write fantasy although I have an idea for a drama and an action adventure, but as much as I would love to jump into the project I have decided to finish the two series I currently have published first.

2.)   What inspired you to write The Portal Keeper?

I have a YA Vampire Trilogy entitled the Sunwalker Trilogy. I have always been fascinated with vampires. However my kids are still on the younger side, and the series is a little bit too intense for them.  My son wanted me to write a story with a dragon in it. I had been toying with the idea of writing a novel with a mystical portal and just jumped in from there.

3.)   Why do you think The Portal Keeper was so easy to write?

I think the instant feedback made this novel easier to write. On my other projects no one sees any of it until I have completed the first draft. But with The Portal Keeper my kids were too excited that I was writing something that they would be able to read. They became my instant beta readers. Constantly hounding me to finish the next chapter. This book became our bedtime story. Their anticipation and excitement was catching and pushed me to write more.

4.)  What's a place in Dallas I absolutely have to visit? I'll go first. You've got to hit up Sushi One at the Plaza of the Americas.

That’s a tough one. Dallas has so many amazing things to offer, especially when it comes to restaurants. Probably my favorite place to go is an Italian place in Allen, a suburb just north of Dallas. It has fantastic food, and I might be a little bias since I met my husband there.  If you ever go, you must order the Stuffed Mushrooms and Chicken Murphy. There is nothing better.

5.)   You have a BA of Arts in Spanish. I've never heard of that. What is it?  I have a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. My husband is from Mexico and I love the people, the culture and the food. So learning Spanish was always a must for me.

6.)   What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Keep writing. Have more than Mom and Dad read your books. Join writing groups and have someone who doesn’t know you read your works. Don’t get discouraged by bad feedback. Look at it and see if its valid and then make changes.  Don’t be afraid of rewrites.

7.)   What made you decide to start a blog?

Honestly, at first because that’s the advice new authors are given. It’s a way to attract new readers. Now I really enjoy getting to know other authors and finding new stories to read that I might not have found before.

8.)  How do you get feedback for your books? Do you have beta readers?

If you don’t have beta readers, I think that you are really putting yourself at a disadvantage. My betas are my salvation. Having several sets of eyes on a draft is crucial. They catch things I don’t see. Help me keep my work consistent and let me know when I am heading in the wrong direction. 

Beta readers can be hard to find. A lot of people have a hard time telling someone what’s wrong. It’s easier to just say everything was great. I only have a small handful of readers who will really dig in and find all my faults.  It can be a little tough to hear at times, some can be a little harsh, but I know my books are better because of them.

S. T. Sanchez - Author

Sunwalker 

https://www.amazon.com/Sunwalker-Trilogy-S-T-Sanchez/dp/0999001612

The Portal Keeper

https://www.amazon.com/Portal-Keeper-Chronicles/dp/0999001639/

Twitter

https://twitter.com/authorstsanchez

Blog

https://authorstsanchez.blogspot.com/

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/authors.t.sanchez/

Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16847543.S_T_Sanchez