Posts from 2013 :: Page 2

Review

Age of Voodoo

Posted: February 19, 2013 by Nickolas in Books We Like Meta: James Lovegrove, Military SF, Science Fiction
Age of Voodoo

Happy New Year all! I hope you’re having a good one so far. I humbly present you James Lovegrove’s THE AGE OF VOODOO (Amazon), the latest installment in the legendary godpunk series. This time around readers get to delve into the lesser known world of voodoo or vodou. And you know what they say, “Where there’s voodoo there are sure to be voodoo zombies!” Somebody says that… right?
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Review

In Search Of and Others

Posted: February 27, 2013 by Nickolas in Books We Love Meta: Will Ludwigsen, Science Fiction, Anthology, Short Fiction
In Search Of and Others

Short stories are not my cup of tea but at the behest of a close friend I decided to check out Will Ludwigsen’s short story collection IN SEARCH OF AND OTHERS (Amazon). This friend assured me that Will was a talented author and suspected that I would appreciate his fiendish wit. And so once again I took a step outside my comfortable bubble of security and exclusion to try something different. It’s becoming apparent that I should clear my mind of preconceived notions because IN SEARCH OF AND OTHERS struck a strong emotional cord.Read the rest of this review »

Review

The Emperor’s Soul

Posted: March 1, 2013 by Steven in Books We Love Meta: Brandon Sanderson, Fantasy, Short Fiction
The Emperor’s Soul

I’ve mentioned this before, but I absolutely love to see established authors tackle short fiction. Take an Epic Fantasy writer; can that person actually focus and write a self-contained short story, novelette or novella? You’d be surprised at how often they can’t. I’d suggest that writing a novel is a completely different skill-set than that of writing short fiction. So when I come across an author that can do BOTH well, I get pretty excited.
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Review

Power Under Pressure

Posted: March 7, 2013 by Vanessa in Books that are Mediocre Meta: Andrew P. Mayer, Steampunk
Power Under Pressure

In THE FALLING MACHINE (EBR Review) we were introduced to Sarah Stanton and her father’s team of heroes called the Paragons. In the sequel HEARTS OF SMOKE AND STEAM (EBR Review) Sarah’s life changes as she learns the difficult truth of what it really means to become a Hero. In Andrew P. Mayer’s exciting conclusion, POWER UNDER PRESSURE (Amazon), Sarah must become the hero, or else watch the people and the city she loves fall to the machinations of the villainous Lord Eschaton.
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Review

Extinction Machine

Posted: March 8, 2013 by Alan in Books We Love Meta: Jonathan Maberry, Horror
Extinction Machine

Eeek! It’s Joe Ledger time! Please allow me a moment to geek out… Thanks, I needed that. Here we have EXTINCTION MACHINE (Amazon), the fifth Joe Ledger Novel by Jonathan Maberry. I’ll admit, I was a little panicked going into EXTINCTION MACHINE because I saw some rumor online declaring it the last Joe Ledger Novel. The good news is: this rumor was pure speculation, there is a sixth book in the works. The great news is: it will be called CODE Z, and it is a direct sequel to the debut Joe Ledger Novel – PATIENT ZERO (EBR Review). So with that dreary cloud of depression safely behind us, let’s get on with the show!
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Review

Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier

Posted: March 14, 2013 by Alan in Books We Like...and Hate Meta: Myke Cole, Military SF, Science Fiction
Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier

When Steve read SHADOW OPS: CONTROL POINT (EBR Review) last year he was able to find both the good and the bad in Myke Cole’s debut novel. His review was fair and accurate, and I would have expected no less. When I read it a week ago I couldn’t find as many good things to say of it. I recognized the potential within but I couldn’t get past my intense hate of the protagonist, Oscar Britton. Ordinarily I would have skipped the sequel altogether but there seemed to be general agreement that SHADOW OPS: FORTRESS FRONTIER (Amazon) was an improvement over the debut. I wanted to see Myke succeed so I gave it a shot. For the most part I’m glad I did.
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Review

River Road

Posted: March 19, 2013 by Vanessa in Books We Like Meta: Suzanne Johnson, Urban Fantasy
River Road

It’s been a few years since Hurricane Katrina, and all the paranormal goings-on in ROYAL STREET (EBR Review). DJ has been settling into her role as the New Orleans sentinel, a wizard who keeps the preternatural denizens from running amok. At her side is Alex Warin, previously an enforcer for the Council of Elders, and now co-sentinel and best friend–even if she’s not above admiring his good looks and muscular physique.

The boundaries with the Beyond and the human world were cracked by Hurricane Katrina, but things seemed to have settled back to normal–well, the new normal, anyway. At least until the historically undead Jean Lafitte asks DJ for her help intervening in a dispute between two tribes of Cajun merfolk. Merfolk along the Mississippi River have been falling ill and each tribe blames the other for poisoning the water. It won’t be long before humans become affected.

DJ and Alex go to investigate and come across a dead body in the marsh…who turns out to be a wizard.Read the rest of this review »

Review

Fire With Fire

Posted: March 22, 2013 by Nickolas in Books We Love Meta: Charles E. Gannon, Science Fiction
Fire With Fire

I can’t stop smiling. It’s been far too long since I’ve read a good Science Fiction novel. Once my go-to genre, Science Fiction has taken a back seat to Fantasy of late. Charles E. Gannon’s FIRE WITH FIRE (Amazon) absolutely falls under the definition of good Science Fiction. It is a novel that has reminded me just what it is that I love about the genre and it has ensured that I will be following Gannon’s work closely in the years to come. FIRE WITH FIRE sets a great many things in motion, signaling the start of what I assume will be a sweeping SF epic.
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Review

The Fractal Prince

Posted: March 27, 2013 by Shawn in Books We Like Meta: Hannu Rajaniemi, Science Fiction
The Fractal Prince

I’ve often talked with my wife about how our lives have changed.  We remark on how improvements in technology have changed our day-to-day lives in such significant ways that our kids live totally different lives than we did twenty years ago.  Having those types of discussions has led me to wonder what a person who was born one hundred or one hundred and fifty years ago would think about us today.  Would they even recognize what we do as a normal life?  Would they understand most of what is going on around them?  How would they deal with or understand things like computers, the internet, ipods, phones, or video games just to name a few?
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Review

The Whitefire Crossing

Posted: March 29, 2013 by Steven in Books We Like Meta: Courtney Schafer, Fantasy, Audible
The Whitefire Crossing

So a funny thing happened a while back. Courtney Schafer sent me over a copy of her debut novel, THE WHITEFIRE CROSSING (Amazon) with the hopes that I would read it, like it, and review it. All sorts of people were saying how terrific the novel was, so I was pretty excited. Well, some stuff came up in my day job that keeps me absurdly busy, so my actual reading time has suffered as a result. Thank goodness for Audible.com, right?
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