Reviews :: Book Rating :: Books We Don't Like :: Page 5

Talyn the Dark, one of the immortal Vaerli (aka Breaker of Oaths), hunts the enemies of Caisah of Conhaero, Master of Chaos. As his Hunter, she rides her nykur on the Road or the Void itself to fulfill the bounty on Manesto, Ahouri, and Portree alike, to return them dead or alive to the city of Vnae Rae (aka Perlious and Fair). At the same time Talyn works to undo the Harrowing (aka the Great Conflagration) and fulfill her people’s oaths with the Kindred.

Oy vey.
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NOCTURNAL by Scott Sigler (Amazon) is a most curious creature. In all my years of reading I can’t remember coming across a book quite like it. This isn’t because NOCTURNAL features some brand new theme or idea, but because it is a book that showcases Sigler’s evolution as an author and still manages to be an inferior novel than its predecessors. Considered to be Sigler’s most ambitious novel to date, NOCTURNAL is a supernatural police procedural with a score of highs and lows.

Monsters lurk in the ruins of San Francisco’s past, striking out at night to hunt for those who won’t be missed in order to sake their blood thirst. Homicide detective Bryan Clauser is drawn to this dark secret by a crop of serial murders that bear chilling resemblance to his own twisted dreams. With his partner, Pookie Chang by his side, Bryan must uncover the mystery of Marie’s Children and the shadowy vigilante known as Savior who kills the killers with supernatural strength.
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I have Plants vs Zombies on my iPhone. As I read THE FIRST DAYS: AS THE WORLD DIES (Amazon), I’d occasionally switch to my smaller version of the zombie apocalypse. Why? I guess because the story is better.

In a desire for full disclosure you should know this is my first zombie book, even though I’ve watched my share of zombie movies. So I may not be the best judge of this sub-genre. But I do know what makes a book good.
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How to start this one. [[sigh]] Seriously, I have no idea. This book was just such a massive disappointment. Well. That was actually easier than I thought it would be. Just say it, I guess. Now I can go have a breakdown.

THE WHITE LUCK WARRIOR (Amazon) is the second novel of Bakker’s second trilogy set in the world of Earwa the Three Seas. The Prince of Nothing Trilogy is one of my favorite fantasy series. Both Steve and Nick are of the same opinion. After reading those first three books, I was really excited to hear that we’d be getting more of this story. Two more entire trilogies, in fact. I have to say, though, that after making my way through THE JUDGING EYE, my compatriots and I were less than enthusiastic about it (EBR Review). Regardless, I decided to reserve my own judging eye (eh? eh?) until a later date and continue with the series. Right now I’m regretting that decision quite a bit.
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I, like any decent purveyor of story critiques, am an author-hopeful. Once, about ten years ago and near the beginning of my writing “career”, I came up with the idea of evil monsters that could travel through shadows to get where they wanted. I thought at the time how creepy and cool something like that could be, and that I might actually use these shadow beasts in a story someday. That is, until a good friend of mine suggested that doing so might not be such a great idea because the bad guys could just wait until night time (or ANY time/place that it got dark) pop in on our heroes, slaughter the lot of them, and then take over the world. End of story. I’ve moved on since then. This novel felt like it hadn’t.
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She’s a “shoot first and ask questions later” half-vampire with assassin skills, trust issues, and who must learn the magic inherited from her mage father in order to unite the dark races.

/yawn

If you’ve read your share of chick urban fantasy, THE MAGE IN BLACK (Amazon) is more of the same. Unfortunately, it’s not even average more of the same. Perhaps I should start with what it has going for it: straightforward storytelling and fast-paced action. What it doesn’t have going for it? Everything else.
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You ever had a bad Snickers bar? I’m not talking about one that’s obviously bad–with flaky, grey chocolate crumbling from the edges because of how old it is. I’m talking about a Snickers bar that looks just like every other one, but when you bite into it you nearly get sick right there because of how bad the peanuts are. Bitter, and pasty, and just…yeah. Those peanuts not only ruin the rest of the sugary goodness of the bar, but they stick in your craw and affect everything you eat for a long time afterward. This book was kinda like one of those.
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Sarah Beuhall is pretty sure she needs therapy. Her personal demons of doubt and self-identity keep her from being happy with her life, even though at first it appears to be going well. She’s got a job she loves (blacksmithing; props for a local B movie director), beautiful girlfriend who loves her (Katie), and a chosen family in her Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) reenactor friends–so why does everything still seem to go wrong?
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The hardest part of being a book reviewer is putting together a negative review of a book when you don’t want to. This happens for a variety of reasons, but mainly has to do with the author himself (or herself as the case may be). If we hate the author, or absolutely hate a novel, writing a scathing review is simple and enjoyable–therapeutic even. But with a novel like THE UNREMEMBERED (Amazon), well, we almost didn’t even write this up. But then we realized the potential disservice we would be doing you, the readers, and the author, Peter Orullian, by leaving this unreviewed.
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We rarely read any novels from Pyr that could be deemed a “miss.” The number of stellar novels put out by Pyr since its inception is astonishing. But every now and again even they miss the mark. THE HORNS OF RUIN by Tim Akers (Amazon) is Sword & Sorcery/Steampunk hybrid. Sounds cool on the surface. In fact a lot of this story sounds fantastic on paper…unfortunately that paper doesn’t include the actual execution of the idea.
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