MAY 2015 REVIEWS
MAY 12, 2015
Extinction Horizon
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MAY 25, 2015
Extinction Edge
by Nicholas Sansbury Smith Blurb: "The dust from Dr. Kate Lovato's bioweapon has settled. Projections put death counts in the billions. Her weapon was supposed to be the endgame, but it turned a small percentage of those infected with the Hemorrhage Virus into something even worse. Survivors call them Variants. Irreversible epigenetic changes have transformed them into predators unlike any the human race has ever seen. And they are evolving. With the doomsday clock ticking, the fractured military plans Operation Liberty--a desperate mission designed to take back the cities and destroy the Variant threat. Master Sergeant Reed Beckham agrees to lead a strike team into New York City, but first he must return to Fort Bragg to search for the only family he has left. At Plum Island, Kate discovers Central Command may have considerably underestimated the Variant population in New York. As Operation Liberty draws closer, Kate warns Beckham that Team Ghost won't just face their deadliest adversary yet, they may be heading into a trap..." The Short and Sweet: "Extinction Edge" by Nicholas Sansbury Smith is a heart-pounding, medical-action novel that starts off strong and ends even stronger. From the very first page, readers are thrown into Smith's artisanal world and left wondering where to go. This book is heavy on the details, and it reads like a movie. When I finished it, I felt an insatiable hunger to read more. Thankfully, this is only the second book in the series, and the third book, "Extinction Age," is set for release sometime in mid June of this year. What I Liked About the Book: There aren't many things that I didn't like about the book, honestly. For one, there's never a dull moment. From the first page, someone is firing a rifle and we're thrown into the thick of things with these horrifying, genetic anomalies crawling all over the city. One tip I like to give all readers is this: imagine you are in the protagonists' shoes; if you can smell the air, feel the grass, and review their thoughts, then you're in for a wild ride; Mr. Smith makes that easy for readers, and the ride is wild as hell. Although the book is listed as a medical-action novel, it capitalizes on its horror elements quite nicely. Throughout the read, I legitimately felt fear for Meg, Beckham, and Kate. There were other POV's as well, but those three were my favorite by far. You can tell that Smith spent the most time fleshing them out with their character arcs. By the end of the book, I felt a little exhausted (not unlike running a prolonged sprint without stopping for rest) but also a little anxious. The book ended with a quality climax--the way it should have. What the Book Lacked: Okay, hear me out (or...'read' me out?) -- this book became 5-star material 20% in, but it still suffers in some choice points. I dislike how the secondary characters are not as detailed as the protags. Yes, this is to be expected, but I feel like the readers are surrounded by an all-star cast (imagine George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie) and then encounter a bunch of supporting characters who were picked up at the local Starbucks to play the supporting roles. This didn't happen too often, mind you, and when it did, you'd really have to be nitpicking to notice it. There were also two or three typos that I noticed, but again, you really had to be searching for them in order to find them. Will I Be Reading More From This Author? Without a doubt. Nicholas Sansbury Smith has grown as an author exponentially, and his writing prowess continues to get stronger as he releases newer titles. Conclusion: "Extinction Edge" is less a book than it is a movie. It hits you strong and continues punching you in the brain until the very end. Strong characters, coupled with quality research and a taut story, "Extinction Edge" is a book that you absolutely cannot pass up this summer. Get it today. MAY 12, 2015
The Motel Room
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MAY 14, 2015
The Caves of Kirym
by Derin Attwood Blurb: "In an earth-like world where a civilisation lies on the brink of disaster, a new leader emerges in the shape of a girl. Kirym is the youngest daughter of the tribe's headman, but she proves up to the task of leading her people to safety when they are forced to abandon the land they have settled. Young and headstrong, Kirym possesses wisdom beyond her years and has an affinity with the mysterious tokens that guide their lives. But will that be enough? When their journey takes them far beyond the land's borders into unknown perils, Kirym must hold firm to her belief that sanctuary lies on the other side." The Short and Sweet: "The Caves of Kirym" by Derin Attwood is the story of two young adults, Teema and Kirym, who live in turbulent times. The book is full of unlikely heroes (a lot of them), and focuses primarily on their character development. "Survival" is the theme I gathered from the first read-through. These characters don't live in America, or the rest of the stereotypical Western, First-World nations. In some ways, this story hints at being a dystopic fantasy. What I Liked About the Book: There are elements of magic, lore, rich character backgrounds, and my all-time favorite: detail to all things mundane. Yes, to many people this would be considered a downside, but not to me; I actually enjoy knowing what a cave smells like, thank you very much. Attwood spends loads of time in "The Caves of Kirym" describing the subtleties and sounds one could expect to hear in an echoic cave. Not too long after I'd cracked open the book (just kidding, I read it on my Kindle) I was well aware of the fact that Attwood had given a damn about immersing readers in the moment. If that was a goal, Attwood certainly hit the nail right on the head. Without a doubt, immersion was attained. What the Book Lacked: Though immersion was established, I don't particularly like to dwell in a story. You'll find quite a bit of that in "The Caves of Kirym". Lots of staying in one spot and talking. People talk about how they interacted with people in the past, how they're going to interact with another character -- so on and so forth. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but the execution falls a little flat at parts. On top of that, Attwood did something I did not expect a lot of indie authors would have the balls to do: she added a load of characters into her story from the very beginning -- I'm talking approximately 18 characters within the first 19 pages. Do that math, that's almost 1 character per page. Were they necessary? Well, this is a tough question to answer, honestly. If you're a George R.R. Martin fan, you may be inclined to think that a smorgasbord of characters is a good thing. Characters bring a story to life, and they're arguably an adhesive to a story, as readers develop relationships with the characters in a book. But if you're more along the lines of a reader who just likes to sit down after a long day's work and relax, then you may find this aspect a little annoying...at first. The story also dragged in certain parts, and left me feeling as if it would better serve as a short story. Pesky dialogue and descriptors contributed to this feeling, really. Halfway through the story, I craved more plot than character development. Plus, I wanted to know more about the tokens themselves. Will I Be Reading More From This Author? Yes. Don't get me wrong, even though this book wasn't the easiest to get through at times, it has its strengths. Once the reader understands Attwood's writing style, the red-flags tend to lower effortlessly. You may find yourself developing Stockholm Syndrome, and becoming okay with the experience. My long-winded point is this: I will definitely check out more of Attwood's books. Conclusion: "The Caves of Kirym" is an immersive tale with two strong protagonists, as well as an entire drove of supporting characters. It can be slow at times, but that's due to Attwood's strong attention to detail and character building. The content is clean, so the age-range for this book is vast. Go check it out! MAY 12, 2015
The Orc of Many Questions
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