Category :: Review :: Page 63

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 »

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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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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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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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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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 »

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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Vampires? Vampires! Grab the stakes and garlic, this sub-genre isn’t dead yet. Don’t mind me, I kid. Vampires are never going away and Mark Teppo’s EARTH THIRST (Amazon) rejuvenates a tired concept. Teppo’s vampires are of the crunchy granola, tree hugging variety. Don’t confuse the Arcadians for hippies though, the stewards of the Earth come heavily armed.

The Earth is dying. Mankind poisons the soil and pollutes the air. The Arcadians, vampire stewards, are fighting a losing battle against hyper-industrialization. Silas is a soldier, he follows orders – even when those orders lead him onto the open seas with a group of protestors trying to save the whales. Things quickly go awry and Silas finds himself cut off from support and running for his immortal life. Now he will have to get to the bottom of a mystery that could destroy everything he loves.
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Do you know where these are from? “Follow the yellow brick road”, “There’s no place like home” or even “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore Toto.” How about we try another one? If I were to talk to you about going down the rabbit hole would you know what I meant? What if I asked you about the Mad Hatter? You would wouldn’t you?
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Michael Vey is not your average teenager. Ever since he was a kid, he could produce an electric shock. Kind of like a walking Taser. Only with hormones and acne.

His mom is paranoid about what would happen if people found out about his abilities. She gave up a good job at a California law firm to move them both to Idaho in order to keep him safe from anyone who might notice. But in high school Michael is noticed for other reasons: he’s kinda scrawny, his best friend is the brainiac nerd at school, and he has Tourettes (the kind with tics when he’s nervous, not the swearing kind). So of course the poor kid is bullied.
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