Reviews :: Book Rating :: Books that are Mediocre :: Page 9

Some reviews are difficult to write. Others fly off of my fingertips near light-speed. Some are simple. Others complex. But every once in a while, I come across one that seems to just be begging for discussion of a larger issue. This book sparked one of those latter types in me. The issue: writing character versus story.
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So pretty much everything I said about AN OFFICER’S DUTY (EBR Review) I should just cut and paste into this review… because its sequel HELLFIRE (Amazon) is almost the exact same book. Save yourself some time, read that review, and come back and I’ll try to be succinct.
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I made the mistake of starting AN OFFICER’S DUTY (Amazon) before reading the book that came before: A SOLDIER’S DUTY (Amazon). I was completely lost and from what I read, the PoV character Ia was an insufferable know-it-all so I stopped. It reminded me too much of the annoying Kris Longknife books, only with more infodumps. As a result I wasn’t interested, but with Steve’s prodding I tried again–from the beginning this time.
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After the exciting events of KITTY STEALS THE SHOW (EBR review), Kitty returns home to Denver to get down to the serious business of building a strong base of allies in the war against the vampire Roman and his plan to change the status of vampires among humans.
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After 5 books of mayhem, Ann Aguirre’s Sirantha Jax series comes to a close with ENDGAME (Amazon).

Jax finds herself on the La’hong homeworld, fighting for the freedom of the enslaved natives. She’s promised her friend Loras that she will do whatever it takes to pay him back for the way she treated him when he depended on her–even if it means sacrificing herself to see the rebellion he’s leading to the bitter end.
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There was a canyon where I lived in Utah with a species of flowers that grew on both sides of the canyon, and over time the ones on the south vs. the north sides diverged in their taxonomy. This happened over a matter of decades, the main culprit being how much light they got. PANDEMONIUM by Warren Fehy (Amazon) takes that concept to the depths of the Earth: completely separated from the surface and its influence for millions of years, how would subterranean species evolve?
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Bryn is addicted to a drug that keeps her alive. Being tested for military purposes, Returné contains nanites that keep a body from decomposing even after it’s been killed. Bryn is, in essence, a drug-induced zombie. Now, in Rachel Caine’s TERMINATED (Amazon), Bryn will do anything to stop the Fountain Group from seeing its nefarious goals come to fruition: eliminating the addicted test subjects and selling the upgraded drug to the highest bidders.
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An anthology of vampires and other dark creatures that go bump in the night, BLOOD AND OTHER CRAVINGS (Amazon) attempts to explore the unexplained. While the concept is interesting, the selected stories are a mish-mash of clever, creepy, predictable, and just plain weird.
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Jarra lives on Earth. But what sounds normal to us doesn’t to those who live in 2788, when man has since left Earth for other worlds, thanks to the invention of portals. Unfortunately, not every human’s immune system can handle what the universe has to offer. One in every thousand born can’t survive on other planets and must return to Earth within hours of birth or they die. Jarra’s parents sent her to Earth right after she was born and haven’t been a part of her life since.
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I don’t get as much time to read books these days as I’d like to, so I’ve widened my available reading time by opening up to the wonderful world of audiobooks. I found myself with a long drive ahead of me and nothing picked out to read, so I went to my library and checked out a digital audiobook. Time was short, so I didn’t have much of a chance to research what I wanted to read.
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