The Bookwyrms Review of Brightblade by Michael Suttkus and C.T. Phipps

Author: Michael Suttkus & C.T. Phipps

Length: TBA

Release Date: TBA

Publisher: Crossroad Press

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: The Morgan Detective Agency, Book 1

Rating:4.5/5

I have been a huge fan of the various books C.T. Phipps and Michael Suttkus have co-written. When I heard that Michael would be taking lead on a new series set in the United States of Monsters universe, I was ecstatic, and happily took an offered review copy. I can happily say that not only does it fit into the universe, but charts in own course, adding new layers to what they have been creating in other books in the universe.

PLOT SUMMARY

Ashley Morgan is a bounty hunter working with her partners at a bail bonds in New Detroit, which is where the vampires made their base of power after they came out into the open when they bailed out the government in the economic crash of 2008. With the vampires and other supernaturals gaining legal status, the Red Room, who policed the hidden supernatural world, find themselves out of a job. This leaves people like Morgan's family suddenly without support and at loose ends. In Morgan's case, she took her status as a Bright, which means she has mental abilities, and tried to become a costumed superhero. Having telekinesis and being an empath apparently weren't enough to get the job done, so she quit that.

Morgan's firm specializes by bailing out supernaturals. Unfortunately, when they skip bail, it means vanilla humans cant go get them. Its up to Morgan and her team to bring them back and collect. After the capture of a bail jumper goes sideways, the vampire sheriff shows up to take him into custody, in exchange for information about where Ashley's missing brother is. Planning on following up, Ashley has to take an artifact they were paid for a job to the supernatural's bank for deposit. Unfortunately, that's the exact moment three supernatural's decide to rob the bank for another artifact. This leads to a battle between Ashley and the three robbers, who manage to get away, with Ashley being injured.

Ashley wakes up in a strange room, feeling unusual. It turns out that she's at her brother's apartment over the club he owns. She also discovers that she almost died, and had to be saved with vampire blood from her brother, who is now a vampire, thus making her a dhampir. This is awful news to Ashley, who was raised to hate vampires. Ashley finds out the reason for the bank robbery, which was to get an artifact that can raise a dead vampire lord, who can use the wand to turn vampires human again, something the vampires will do anything to avoid. This leads Ashley and her brothers group into conflict with a powerful vampire family bent of gaining power, who will stop at nothing to gain it. It doesn't help that one of the main conspirators is one of Ashley's ex's, who apparently was even worse than she seemed.  Ashley and crew must stop them before they bring about the end of the vampire nation, all while keeping Ashley from turning full vamp herself. Ashley needs all her abilities, both old and new, to survive until the end, with a lot of twists and turns along the way.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

Like anything having to do with Michael Suttkus and C.T. Phipps, characters are what drive the story. Ashley is such a well written character, strong, determined and vulnerable by turns. She has deep prejudices ingrained in her by growing up in the Red Room environment, but struggles to be honest and fair. Her hatred of vampires is so at odds with what her brother has become, and it's that conflict that helps driver her actions. Her bonding a mystical weapon also creates some funny moments, as she now has a rather loud "conscience" pushing her to do the right things.  The other characters are also so much fun. From Arthur, Ashley's vampire brother, to Alex, her wizard ex, the secondary characters get so much care and development. they get fully fleshed out. The villain of the story actually has very little face time in the book, so doesn't get as much first hand attention, but is discussed at length throughout the book. 

The world building is definitely sold. It expands upon the world created in Straight Outta Fangton, Esoterrorism and I Was a Teenage Weredeer. The fall of the Red Room is explained more in this one than the others, with some more of the ancillary work done there explained. New Detroit is expanded on past where its been shown before, really giving a look into the various territories the city is split into. It is definitely an expanded world ripe for future stories.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Any time you spin off a series with new characters, it has a chance of failing. Luckily, they took what worked with the other books in this universe, namely excellent characters, snappy dialogue and a fast paced plot and created a great addition to the universe.  If you like any other books by these authors, you'll like this one. I think it has a lot of appeal for any fans of urban fantasy, and has lots of potential places to go.

The Bookwyrm's Review of Zombie Lake by Javan Bonds

Author: Javan Bonds

Length: 392 Pages/ 6 hours, 56 minutes

Publisher: If Only I Had A Monkey Publishing

Release Date: December 27, 2016/ May 18, 2018 (audio)

Narrator: S.W. Salzman

Series: Still Alive, Book 1

Rating: 4.5/5

While I have read a bit of zombie fiction over the years, mostly stuff like Peter Clines Ex-Heroes series, I have gained more of an appetite for the genre lately. Zombie Lake, book one of the Still Alive series,  is the latest in the genre I've listened to. It is a bit more comedic than a lot of the more serious series, but it does have its own fairly unique take on the genre.

PLOT SUMMARY

Mo Collins, twenty-something guy from southern Alabama, is working as a crew member of the Viva Ancora, A working replica of an old caravel sailing ship. While anchored in Mo's hometown, a plague that turns people into naked, blue skinned, nocturnal PV's (short for plague victims, and not zombies, thank you very much) who run around biting and infecting people with 100% turn rate overruns the state. While almost all the crew went into town when the Cora docked, Mo and the ship's cook Crow stayed behind. Now, days later, they still haven't left the boat, living off the ships stores and fish they catch. Realizing they will need some supplies, Mo goes into town to try and find some essentials like medicine. Not surprisingly, the Walgreens has been looted thoroughly. Its while he's in town that Mo meets Smokes, who it turns out knows everything about zombie lore, and immediately he falls in with Mo. 

While they try and get some weapons at the local pawn shop, they discover their next survivor, Petunia Sledge, nicknamed Hammer, an army vet that owned the shop. On the way back to the boat, they discover Gene, comic shop owner and geek of the year, as he kills a PV with his prop Wolverine claws. The last survivor they discover is Bradley, a schoolmate of Mo's and a football star who is now a paraplegic in a wheelchair who has a service monkey as his companion.

Returning to the boat, they start making larger plans to raid things like the local Wal-Mart for more supplies. Shockingly, they meet up with more people they know there, including a girl Mo was good friends with. This leads up to Mo connecting with his family again, who have survived and gathered survivors in the rural area they live. It seems as though everything is set up for the long haul until a "military" unit shows up, demanding people turn their guns in and work for them. Shockingly, this isn't welcomed by the locals, and bad things start to happen. When Mo's family's place is burned out, they decide to take the problem head on, and a confrontation takes place with the military unit, with some unexpected results and consequences, leaving the future of the town in doubt.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

It's not often you can say a book about the zombie apocalypse is character driven, but with this cast of characters, it couldn't be anything but. The characters are so well created, they could be people you know in real life, with strengths and flaws and crazy personalities. Mo is a great character, but Smokes is the comedy glue that really elevates the story, being the seer in the story. his personality and encyclopedic knowledge of pop culture and zombie lore means he can read where the story is going as if it was a story. Its a very meta kind of characterization, one I'd never seen before, and really makes the story stand out. 

The world building is solid as well. You get a real feel for how small town rural Alabama works, and how this zombie outbreak overruns the area. There is surprisingly little zombie confrontations, since the PV's are mostly nocturnal. The PV's are surprisingly different than your run of the mill Walking Dead shambler, in funny and surprising ways.  It's all these little touches that make this book stand out.

NARRATION

I had heard S.W. Salzman narrating on other books, so I had an idea what to expect. I have to admit to surprise on just how good he was on this! I knew he was talented, but his voice work on these very different characters is just outstanding. Male, female, urban, rural, redneck, foreign, it didn't matter, he nailed the voices and brought all the characters to life. His narrative pacing was so spot on that I didn't want to stop listening, it just drew me in. I have to rate this as one of the top five narrations of the last year for me. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

While zombie fiction is a relatively new genre for me, Zombie Lake gives me hope that it will become a regular part of my reading rotation. I'm happy to recommend this series, and not just to horror fans. I think it can appeal to fans of multiple genres, including urban fantasy, mysteries, and action thrillers. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you check it out.

The Bookwyrm's Review of Things They Buried by Amanda K. King & Michael R. Swanson

Authors: Amanda K. King and Michael R. Swanson

Length: 506 Pages

Release Date: February 19, 2019

Publisher: Ismae Publishing

I was offered a chance to review this book on an open offer for reviews. I hadn't heard of it, but decided the premise looked intriguing, so agreed to review it. I am happy to say it was one of the best decisions of the year. I would have to class this as one of my top ten reads of the last year, and that's a year that included Kings of the Wild, Ravencry,  Priest of Bones and Wraith Lord. It's mix of sci-fi, low fantasy and steampunk are seamlessly blended into a story I didn't want to end. 

PLOT SUMMARY

 In the island city of Dockhaven, greatest trading city on Ismae, a world where genetic engineering is common but something as common as photography is rare and expensive,  children are disappearing, in the same pattern as they did years earlier. This is concerning to Aliara and Sylandair, who recognize the pattern, although it should be impossible, since the source of the original disappearances is supposedly dead. Aliara, thief and assassin, and Sylandair, Duke in another Empire, have a history with that source. Once, they were slaves to brilliant scientist Kluuta Orono, a man who used them for experiments and other more malignant uses. They helped bring him to an end, or so they thought, with the explosion at the desalination plant he was using to cover his experiments.

Going through the ruins of the plant, Aliara and Sylandair, along with their cowardly sometime assistant Schmalch, find the ruins of Orono's secret pleasure rooms, where he entertained the debauched rich of Dockhaven. They don't discover Orono himself, but they run across evidence that he may have survived after all. Barely escaping the underground lair, they make their way back to the surface and begin planning their next moves. 

Sylandair decides the best way to find out what happened to Orono is to take his inheritance, which includes Orono's Mansion and grounds, which he had refused in the past. Bringing in a crew, led by an old associate of Aliara's named Haus, to clean out the squatters that had lived there, leads Sylandair, Aliara, Schmalch and Haus's crew into conflict with the hidden residents of the house: Orono's genetically modified monstrosities, who almost succeed in killing them all. 
Bringing in an outside doctor, his sister/assistant and their pet monster, to try and find out what Orono was up to after the attack, they discover Orono was trying to use an ancient formula to become immortal. Unfortunately for Orono, he misread what was necessary, and things went very wrong indeed. When Sylandair is mysteriously kidnapped, Aliara, Haus and Schmalch must confront the evil that has him as well as the children. Even if they can get that done, the potential for an even worse evil may have arisen, threatening the whole world.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

Things They Buried is one of those books that combines creative world building with fantastically drawn out characters. Sylandair is the roguish nobleman with a tortured past, but is so much more than that. He has flaws and strengths, and is compelling to read. Aliara is such a strong character, yet vulnerable and flawed as well. She has so many skills, and is death on two legs, and yet her past haunts her to the present. Schmalch is the comic relief, but has surprising depths in a character that could so easily be a parody. The rest of the characters are excellently written as well, even the minor characters. You really get a feeling this is a real place just from interacting with the characters.

The world building is very intricate. You get a sense of Dockhaven as if your walking down the streets yourself. It has such creative elements, with the sci-fi and steampunk elements intermixed with the lowest of fantasy elements in such a way they just fit, even when they shouldn't. It is definitely up there with some of the great fantasy settings.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It's not too often you run across a book that mashes genres together as seamlessly as Things They Buried. It never feels clunky, rushed or forced, and the characters and world building is so solid, you won't want to put the book down. I am definitely looking forward to seeing what comes next in the series, and highly recommend this book.

Rating: 5/5

Amazon link

The Bookwyrm's Review of Black Heart Boy's Choir by Curtis M. Lawson

Author: Curtis M. Lawson

Length: 252 Pages

Release Date: September 8, 2019

Publisher: Wyrd Horror

Being  a fan of the author's other books, including his book Devoured and his Bad World series, it was a pleasant surprise to get an advanced review copy of his new release, Black Heart Boys' Choir. It is definitely a step back towards his horror roots after a swing into urban fantasy with Bad World and Weird West with The Devoured.

PLOT SUMMARY

Lucien Beaumont and his family have fallen on hard times. His father, a famous composer, committed suicide, and he and his mother have been forced to relocate to a much less affluent town in Massachusetts. This also means Lucien had to leave his prep school and start into public school. Being an intelligent, sophisticated music prodigy, Lucien dresses in suits, has manners, and has a superiority complex about who he is in comparison to the other kids. This of course leads him into conflict with the cool kids cliques, which are particularly nasty. He also runs afoul of the Glee Club kids, who he considers untalented pop music hacks. its under these conditions that the plot proceeds.

After some run ins with the school bully and the Glee club, Lucien and his only friend Maxwell decide to start their own musical group.  they enlist a couple outsiders like themselves who appreciate classical music, and start practicing. They are told on to the school administration, though, and banned from using school premises. This is where they pick up the name of their group, the Black Heart Boy's Choir, from their penchant for wearing all black suits and being aloof to the other students. 

It is also about this time that Lucien discovers his obsession, his father's last piece of unfinished work. It has been defaced, but he starts to reconstruct it. He also starts to have strange visions, as he sees into the past to events he sees in whole new light, seeing his father was inspired by more than a creative muse to create his masterpiece, the Madrigal of The World's End. the inspirations may or may not be an ancient demon named Amduscias, who manifests (or maybe not) in Lucien's mind as a black unicorn. As the group reconstructs the music though ever more terrifying and horrible means, the music comes together at last in a crescendo of blood, chaos and madness, as the Choir performs the finished piece to a very unknowing audience, with completely shocking results.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

The world building in this one takes a realistic approach, using an abandoned city n Massachusetts, reimagined as a suburb of Boston. Gritty, lower middle class, you can fairly see the variety of neighborhoods in the city, giving it a lived in atmosphere. The author goes into some loving detail with several of the locations, without going into info dump territory.

Characters are such a strength in this book. while you would think that high school kids would be cardboard cutouts of pop culture teens like those in Heathers, Mean Girls or Fast Times at Ridgemont High, these characters are surprisingly nuanced. The characters deal with realistic situations in realistic ways, while handling real world problems, like social hierarchy, bullying, decaying family structure, suicide, political correctness and class differences. Lucien is a great character, who has to deal with so many issues, and how he handles them is well written, if sad and terrifying at the same time. The various other characters get attention paid to their growth as well, and it really helps round out the story.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I was amazed how much this dark story spoke to me. I remember those feelings of loneliness and ostracism being an outsider at a new high school. Lucien is a complex, and ultimately horribly flawed character, but its hard not seeing a bit of myself in him, although with much different results. The end of this book is extremely relevant currently, and I recommend this book to anyone looking for a dark story with genuine, flawed characters on the path to ruin. One of the best reads of 2019 for me.

Rating: 5/5

 Amazon Link:

The Bookwyrm's Review of 8-Bit Bastards: Level One and Two by Joshua Mason

Author: Joshua Mason

Length: 267 Pages/ 9 hours, 47 Minutes

Release Date: June 6, 2019/ December 17, 2019 (Audio)

Publisher: Bebuka Books/ Spectrum Audiobooks (Audio)

Narrator: Michael Norman Johnson

Genre: LitRPG

Rating: 5/5 Stars

For me, LitRPG is very hit or miss genre. Luckily, 8-Bit Bastards is definitely in the hit category. avoiding a lot of the pitfalls I see in a lot of LitRPG, like five pages of stats, harem tacked on that doesn't advance the story and flat characters. It starts with an intriguing premise and runs with it, developing layers as the story proceeds.

PLOT SUMMARY

The story starts with Sean, who is on day 82 of a game and junk food binge, when a knock on his door changes his trajectory in life. Heather, with whom Sean had a three year relationship with long ago, has news that draws Sean out of his self imposed funk. One of their descendants is in trouble, and only Sean and Heather can help. considering they have 700 years experience where they are, it should be no problem, right?

Wait, did I say 700 years? That's right, I did. The story takes place in the digital realm of Afterall, which up until 50 years before the story starts, those with the resources could have their consciousness uploaded to Afterall, leaving mortal life behind forever. Afterall has been closed to new players for 50 years, but the occasional person hacks in, but the results aren't pretty, since they are stuck by the control AI, Bartelby, in the 8-Bit realm, an homage to old 8-bit games. Think the original Zelda or Phantasy Star on Nintendo and Sega. The problem is it slowly drives players crazy, so having Pliny, their descendent stuck there won't work.

After talking to Bartleby, and being given some mental protection from the 8-bit realm, Sean and Heather proceed to put Sean's old adventuring guild, the 8-Bit Bastards, back together to go find Pliny. The problem is, Sean burned his bridges with both other members of the Bastards, Matt and Claudia, centuries ago, and they are still mad at him. Sleeping with a guy's wife and sister will leave a few sore feelings. Sean and Heather do manage to get them to put aside their differences, and they proceed to the 8-Bit realm. 

Once they cross the river into the realm, they discover things aren't exactly as they remember. For one thing, they go from maxed out, multi-class epic level characters all the way down to weaponless, classless level one Sprouts. This means they will have to grind and level up the hard way. Also, they discover Pliny is ahead of them, questing on his own, so they need to do all this while chasing after him. What follows if a fun adventure filled with adventures, mob grinding, player class adding and enough snark and game culture references to choke a shark. All the while, Sean, Claudia, Heather and Mark each notices little things that just seem odd to the realm, and slowly start seeing that all  may not be what it seems, leading to their eventual confrontation with the Boss of the region. Or is it? 

In Level 2, Sean, Mark, Heather and Claudia have defeated their first boss foe, and have to enter the castle looking for Sean and Heather's ancestor. After entering the castle, the group discovers they are trapped within. They also start seeing weird stuff, as the 8 bit realm seems to be acting even more strangely than usual. Searching around the castle library for clues, Mark disappears, and his friends become desperate searching for him. Things start getting a little crazy from here, as they meet and old Teammate, Roger, who is also stuck in the castle. He warns them of a new threat in the castle, and lets them know they aren't nearly leveled up to deal with it. He offers to take them with him to level up, since he is maxed out, and his high level enemies, will shoot their levelling up to extremes. 

Meanwhile, Mark has fallen through a trap door and is wandering tunnels under the castle, where he encounters Pliny, who they have been searching for from the beginning. Things get complicated when they encounter Tevera, the giant snake boss in the castle, who has a much darker and more powerful purpose than the group would imagine. When the group finally reassembles after a series of adventures in the castle, they find out that this encounter in the castle is not random, and that there is a threat to the entire world they never expected, with an unknown enemy pulling the strings.

WORLD BUILDING AND CHARACTERS

Since Afterall is a digital world, anything imaginable can be created there. There are of course tons of fantasy elements, but the inhabitants can mix and match elements in any of the realms that aren't the 8-Bit Realm, so you will see anachronisms like Star Wars Endor speeders or a Tron light cycle going into a fantasy realm where they run across wyverns. The 8-Bit realm based on those old games, so its lots of pixilated bright colors and sounds. The NPC's are also true to form, so there's a lot of pre-programmed responses, but there's also some underlying depth as well.

The characters really shine. Sean has an interesting arc, starting out as an apathetic burnout who is looking for some meaning to a life spent wasted, and really going through some character growth. The other Bastards also have some interesting arcs, although Sean's is the most profound, since he was the most fundamentally broken. The secondary characters get some attention, and you feel there is more to them than the basic responses programmed into them. The AI's are especially interesting, although not in a Skynet kind of way. it's funny watching their interactions with the Bastards. there is a lot of humor scattered throughout, with some hilarious running jokes. After you're through reading it, you will never think of cheese cubes or biscuits the same way. There's much more character to the characters than you would expect, and there are some twists and turns along the way.

NARRATION

The narration is ably handled Michael Norman Johnson. I was unfamiliar with him before this book, but I have to say, he is a great find. He has just the perfect voice for this book, having a humorous snarky quality to his voice. He does an excellent job giving individual life to each of the characters, and his narrative pacing is excellent. He really keeps the listener engaged in the narrative. I think the addition of a little music and various sound effects throughout was well done, adding a fun touch to a fun story. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

After I finished reading Volume One, I was immediately interested in getting into the follow-up, Level Two. After reading book two and listening to the omnibus collection, I discovered the plan is for a much longer arc than expected (Nine!) and am thrilled at the prospect to continue with the series. This is such an engaging story, with such engaging characters, that it immediately shot into my top three Lit RPG titles, alongside James Hunter's Viridian Gate: Cataclysm and J.A. Cipriano's Soulstone: Skeleton Key. I highly recommend it to any fans of the LitRPG or GameLit genre's, and it will even appeal to fans of more traditional fantasy. With two books released so far, you have 500+ pages of fun reading so far, as well as almost 10 hours of audio goodness!



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The Bookwyrm's Review of Witch For Hire by N.E. Conneely

Author: N.E. Conneely

Length: 258 Pages/7 Hours, 14 Minutes (Audio)

Release Date: January 11, 2014/ February 11, 2015 (Audio)

Narrator: Jeff Hays

Genre: Urban Fantasy

I was completely blown away by this book. It was a great read! The setting is a twist on our world, where magical types like Witches, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons etc. have been in charge forever, while vanilla humans were kept as slaves until 300 years ago. The current President of the US is a dragon, and is dealing with the idea of reparations to humans, basically a twist on our society. 

The story takes place in Georgia, where the main character, Michelle, is a witch with no clan affiliation, who has a consulting business helping different police departments solve magical crimes. She lives in a boarding house run by Brownies, and is trying to live a normal, busy life. She is contacted by local police to help with a case of Trolls escaped off their preserve, a danger, since Trolls eat people. Making matters worse is a group of humans who are helping them to evade capture, thinking they can be rehabilitated. She deals with other cases as well, all while dealing with office politics, a suddenly confusing personal life, and some personal revelations about her parentage. Will she be able to find the Trolls, and stop whoever is behind it? Read it to find out, it is very much worth the time. 

As far as the narrator, Jeff Hayes just shot into my top ten narrators. I actually thought the main narrative, done in the first person of Michelle, was being voiced by a woman. Instead, it was Jeff Hays, who did multiple female  and male voices in several registers and accents, each voice distinct. Some of the best voice work I've heard in 1000+ audiobooks.


I would recommend this to fans of Simon R. Green's and Mike Resnick's brand of urban fantasy, as well as fans of Patricia Briggs.  I can't wait for the next installment. This is an author to watch!

Rating: 4.5/5

The Bookwyrm's Review of Fantastica: Taerek's Void by M.R. Mathis

Author: M.R. Mathias

Length: 523 pages/ 6 hours, 30 Minutes (Audio)

Release Date: July 9, 2017/ July 2, 2019 (Audio)

Publisher: Mathias Publishing

Narrator: Will Hahn

Genre: Fantasy/ Coming of Age

As one of the pioneers of the indie fantasy book phenomenon, M.R. Mathias has an incredible body of award winning fantasy. I discovered his writings when I came across his Vanx Malik series, which is a treat for fantasy fans. When I was given the chance to review Fantastica: Taerek's Void, I just had to say yes. After finishing, I'm glad I did, since it's a definite page turner.

PLOT SUMMARY

Braxton is a from a small farming village, looking forward to being able to leave and see the greater world. Not needed to run the family farm, he is going to travel and see the world. When Braxton and his friend Davvy are attacked by a monster on day on the water, they make a discovery that has world shaking consequences. Being attacked by a monster, they manage to defeat it, but find themselves trapped in an underground cave. They discover a bunch of skeletons of adventurers, and Braxton finds a strange book, maps and an amulet he keeps to himself, as well as a purse of ancient gold coins, which he splits with Davvy. After escaping the cave, Braxton and Davvy see the wise man of the village, who tells Braxton he need to travel to the capital, where he can see scholars who can help him decipher the maps and possibly the book. 

Leaving his old life behind, Braxton goes on towards the capital, having a few adventures along the way. Reaching the capital, he ends up seeing the scholars, one of which, a woman named Master Bee, helps him decipher where the maps need him to go, which turns out to be the island of the elves. As he heads that way, he is accosted by some highwaymen, and is saved at the last moment by a female mercenary named Nixy and Braxton's horse, who is just a badass. Joining up with Nixy, Braxton continues on the path towards the elves. However, finds himself being hunted by a bunch of mercenaries, who are after the bounty on Braxton, placed by a necromancer looking to get his hands on the amulet. 

Escaping the bounty hunters, Braxton and Nixy end up on a ship headed to the elven island, and meet a bunch of  dwarves on board. when they get to the island, they discover that the Dwarves are princes of the dwarves, sent to meet with the elves about disturbances on their land. what follows is a counsel between the humans, elves, dwarves and a great wizard, in which they determine an ancient evil is rising again to threaten the world, and the maps, book and amulet are all tied to it, as is an artifact left in the elves keeping that has since been lost.

Braxton is starting to find that the amulet is gifting him with magical abilities, and he has to work at Taerek's Void, the mental state that allows him to use these new found abilities. Joining with his new allies, Braxton embarks on a quest to find the lost artifact, and undertake a voyage that the fate of the world may hinge on. Can Braxton possibly defeat the forces arrayed against him? Only time will tell.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

Worldbuilding is a definite strength in this book. M.R. Mathias is known for writing rich, detailed descriptions of both settings and characters, and this is definitely shown here. You get a real feel of being right in the scene. from descriptions of things as small as the sound and look of a flowing river, to something as large as a dying dragon crashing through some trees, you can definitely feel yourself drawn right in to the scenes.

The characters are definitely fun. Braxton is the everyman who has world shaking events thrust upon him, and steps up to the plate to answer. He swings between confident and naively innocent to the ways of the world. He is an engaging character who you find yourself rooting for. Nixy is a strong character, doing what she feels is right, even at the cost of her own personal gain. While she can be a strong fighter, she is also compassionate for those who fall on hard times. The secondary characters are a mixed bag, but fit well in the story. The villains are in the background, with very little open acting against the characters, with the exceptions of assassins. Its a slow tension builder, and works well with the story. 

NARRATION

The narration is ably handled by Will Hahn. This was the first time I've heard his work, but it definitely wont be the last. A writer in his own right, Will understands the pacing of the story's narration, making sure to move the narrative portions along without monotone or other pacing issues. He has a good range of voices, both male and female, human and other. He uses a variety of tones and accents to differentiate the various characters, all to good effect. He really helps bring the story to life.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The first book in a series can always be a challenge. Will the characters resonate? Does the plot make sense? in the case of Taerek's Void, I can safely say the answer is yes to both. The story is gripping, and will appeal to a wide range of fantasy fans. I can definitely recommend it with no reservations.

Rating: 4.5/5

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The Bookwyrm's Review of The First Fear by M. S. Olney

Author: M. S. Olney

Length: 388 Pages/ 8 hours, 52 minutes (Audio)

Release Date: June 22, 2018/ January 23, 2019 (Audio)

Publisher: M. S. Olney

Narrator: Alister Austin

Series: The Empowered Ones, Book One

Genre: Dark Fantasy

Rating: 9.5/10 Stars

This is one of those books I got an early peak at, but was so overbooked I just didn't get a chance to finish it. When the audio book released, I knew I had to give it a listen. Its a good thing I did, because this was a story worth hearing. Taking a lot of the tropes of the last 20 years, the author takes bits of them, mixes them up in a blender, and makes them his own unique thing.

PLOT SUMMARY

In a totalitarian empire, ruled for the last 300 years by the all powerful ruler, known as the Supreme, any dissent is dealt with in a draconian manner. The empire is basically a slave empire, with the vast majority of the population being slaves to the various nobles, who treat the slaves mercilessly to be able to afford the Empress's tribute. Life is cheap, and this is the society Elian was born into. Elian is the son of a serf carpenter, meaning he is free, within limitations. As a small kid, even at 15, he is picked on by the bigger kids of his village. He is often protected from the beatings by his best friend, Lizella. 

After a prank as revenge against the bigger boys goes horribly wrong, Elian and Lizella end up on the run from the Supreme's enforcers when Elian develops powers in the stress dealing with the prank's aftermath, which draws the Supreme's forces after them. Now on the run, Elian and Lizella escape, only to foolishly be captured by slavers. Lizella faces life in a pleasure house, while Elian can look forward to a quick death in the gladiator pits, neither a fate they'd wish on anyone.

While on the road to the slave market, the slave train is attacked by rebels, and Lizella is freed. Escaping with the rebels, she goes with them back to their camp, only to end up on the run again after they are attacked. Elian is still captured, though, and ends up sold to a gladiator troop. He ends up training to be sword fodder, but his emerging powers, based around emotions creating different effects, means he doesn't die as expected. It turns out Elian is a rarity known as an Emergent, which means he can use more than one emotion to create magic effects. as opposed to a gifted, who can only use one emotion.  

This all leads to a great confrontation down the road, as the rebels manage to take the city and the Supreme brings her forces to bear. She sends her head enforcer, the dreaded Hollow known as the First Fear, after Elian, as the Supreme's army attacks the rebel fortifications. This climactic battle leads to revelations about who and what Elian is, as well is who is behind the rebellion and the potential to defeat the Supreme.

CHARACTERS AND WORLDBUILDING

While there is very strong worldbuilding in this book, characters are it's real strength. The main characters are well written, with strengths and flaws, giving them fully formed personalities. Elian and Lizella get the most attention, being the main characters, but even the secondary characters are given fully formed personalities, with their own triumphs, flaws and motivations. The villains fit within the world they are created in, with motivations and actions that fit the narrative.  

The world building is quite intense and detailed. A slave empire, it is a harrowing life for the inhabitants. The magic system , and its rarity, is quite creative. The magic being created through the use of emotion to create specific effects, with varying levels of power depending on the emotional severity, can result in some wildly creative scenes. The struggle against the oppressive system, and the mystery behind it, is also intriguing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This is one of those stories that hook you from the outset. Using tropes in a creative way isn't always easy, but the author manages it nicely. Fans of Brandon Sanderson should especially enjoy this story, as will fans of dark, gritty fantasy. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from this point.



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The Bookwyrm's Review of The Jigsaw Blade by Stevie Collier

Author: Stevie Collier

Pages: 381

Publisher: Stevie Collier

Release Date: May 2, 2019

Series: The Bizarre Blades, Book 1

Genre: Fantasy

Having finished Stevie Collier's fantastically creative fantasy book, The Four Territories, I immediately agreed to read and review this one when offered the opportunity. While they both deal with young, coming of age protagonists, set in fantasy worlds, that's pretty much where comparisons end. Set it its own unique world setting, The Jigsaw Blade takes us on a journey that you just don't see too much in fantasy today, where its either unremittingly grim or all bright and sunny. Stevie made the decision to mix many elements into this one, creating a varied tapestry of a fantasy story.

PLOT SUMMARY

Finn Featherstone, just a regular skinny teen from the city of Shimoshimo, son of a local artist, is a huge fan of the Champions, wielders of the Bizarre Blades, magical blades that are hidden around the world, and highly sought after for the powers they bestow, which are wildly varied depending on the blade. Living in a caste system of which he is the highest rung of peasant, called sprouts, signified by his green hair (as opposed to red haired sparks, or heaven forbid, a brown haired Spud). This means he's treated as slightly higher than street trash by the Highborn, the ruling class, and he is not living in a shanty waiting to be eaten by a dinosaur, which is a real threat.

Walking home after running an errand for his father, Finn passes the Flying Cage of Doom, where criminals are executed by being locked in a cage with Pteradons to be eaten alive. Noting a child fall into the cage, Finn, tries to fetch the kid out, only to fall in the cage himself. As Finn is about to be eaten, he is rescued by Bryce Smolder, next in line for a Bizarre Blade and a real hero.

This rescue comes just in time for Finn to be drafted into the Prince's army, as word has come about a new Blade that is supposedly in the wild. After a series of misadventures on the trail with the army, Finn inadvertently ends up with the Blade, before he passes out from the situation he finds himself in. When Finn awakens, he discovers the world is quite what he thought it was.

Finn finds himself having been rescued from almost certain death by The Society of the Champions of Arbitration, who collect what Blades they can, and try and keep the other Blade wielders from getting out of hand. Not having any previous training, and incensing the other potential champions, The Leader of the Champions assigns Silver to whip Finn into shape. Silvers idea of this is to abandon Finn in the woods to die, giving him the task of somehow climbing a cliff face to retrieve a flag.

Instead of dying, Finn surprisingly adapts, getting stronger and bonding with his blade more. This is a good thing, since after months of strengthening and training himself, he heads back to the village with Silver after he recovers the flag, only to discover that bandits searching for Finn's Blade have captured the villagers. Silver makes a surprising move, coming out of hiding to offer himself up to free some of the prisoners, who will supposedly go and look for Finn.

Instead, the released prisoners, Silver's other apprentice Jade, as well as the village's eccentric healer, Ariel, join with Finn to find another Blade that will help them defeat the bandits. What follows is a hilariously improbable series of adventures, which include fighting more dinosaurs, meeting Jades surprisingly important family, and finding out about Ariel's past. The trio has a chance to get another Blade to fight the bandits with, all for the measly price of killing a huge carnivorous Dinosaur terror!

Well, this of course goes interestingly, and leads to the final confrontation with the bandits, including their leader, who has a Bizarre Blade that nullifies other Blades. Finn also finds that his father is in the custody of his City's Prince, and now must decide how to save his father without giving up his blade to the Prince. Can the rumor of the location of the fabled Golden Blade be found to help them? Only time will tell.

CHARACTERS AND WORLDBUILDING

Like Stevie's other Series, the Four Territories, characters drive the story. While there are wild story elements like the Bizarre Blades and dinosaurs, it is the characters that make this story go. Finn starts off a weak, naive and ineffectual, and has a slow growth to something resembling competence. While I like Finn, he does stay a bit more whiny throughout than I would have preferred. That being said, he still has an interesting character arc. The various secondary characters also get some attention, especially Jade and Ariel, who get fleshed out as their back stories are revealed. The villains are a bit two dimensional, but not enough so that it really detracts. There are bigger villains are on the horizon, which are mentioned in this story, The world building is interesting, mixing a sprawling city state fantasy realm with wild areas with dinosaurs. The dinosaurs are even in the cities to a certain extent, both domesticated and wild. Its an interesting dynamic in a book that has magic swords and a feudal fantasy setting, and something interesting to look forward to in later installments.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I had this book recommended to me by another author, comparing it to Nicholas Eames's Kings of the Wyld in both humor and quality. High praise from them. While in my opinion it is a bit short of that lofty perch, it is, nevertheless, an excellent fantasy story, told with passion and humor, and brings an interesting world and characters into readers minds. I highly recommend it, and will be reviewing the rest of the series down the road.

RATING: 4.5/5

The Bookwyrm's Review of Agent G: Assassin by CT Phipps

Author: CT Phipps

Length: 207 Pages

Publisher: Crossroad Press

Release Date: January 7, 2019

Genre: Spy thriller/Cyberpunk

Having been a big fan of so many of CT Phipps other series, when I heard he was writing a sci-fi spy thriller, I was excited. The finished product, featuring a cyborg assassin in a clandestine group, was just fantastic. The second book continued the trend, filling in holes in the main characters life and back story, and setting up the third, which, with the events of the second book, take a radically different turn, going straight out of clandestine and right into dystopian cyberpunk. While it may seem a strange juxtaposition, it was carefully set up with the events of the first two books.


PLOT SUMMARY

When the super volcano in Yellowstone erupts, the world is thrown into disarray with the resulting climatic, societal and economic chaos. After a massive die-off of the worlds populations, society is just getting back under something resembling control. The governments are massively weakened, while the multinational corporations are massively powerful, basically using the governments as puppets. Many people live in arcologies, trading in freedom for the illusion of security. Case also released all the Black Technology that had been kept from the world through the AI known as Delphi, resulting in even more societal changes, as the advanced tech made whole industries obsolete.

Ten years into this new paradigm is where we find Case, formerly Agent G, assassin for the International Relief Society. He is now chief security executive of The Atlas Corporation, the worlds premier security company. Working with Lucita and Agent S, former lovers and assassins themselves, Atlas tries to mitigate the worst excesses, while also turning a massive profit. When another former lover, Claire, involved with an advocacy group, H.O.P.E, which has a radical violent element, gets involved in a mission to find the mythical Black Dossier, which is supposed to have the deepest dark secrets of all the corporations and their executives, from every dirty deal made to what depravity the executives engage in, Case as to make some decisions where his loyalties lie.

Case and Claire begin their hunt for the Dossier, which is complicated when Marissa, Case's former lover/handler/enemy, gets involved in the chase, as well as Case's Society nemesis, Agent A,  the best of the Letter cyborg assassins. Their involvement complicates things a great deal, as the Dossier contains in information about medical Nanotech, which is of particular interest to Agent A. So interested in it, in fact, that he will kill anyone in his way to get it.  This all leads to a wild series of events, as Case must face some painful parts of his past as he tries to keep millions more people from being harmed by information contained on the Dossier, and Case and Claire must work to keep their worst nightmare coming true, killing millions in the process, resulting in a climactic final showdown.

CHARACTERS AND WORLD BUILDING

Like all CT Phipps books, the Agent G series is all about the characters first. We have seen G, now called Case, go from a remorseless (well, mostly) cyborg assassin to a person who cares about more than just where the next contract is coming from, that is willing to make sacrifices for those he loves. His evolution as a person is one of the key selling points of the series. The secondary characters are also given lots of attention as far as building them into believable characters, especially with the huge changes the world has gone through. The introduction of Agent A was a bit unexpected, but he paid off in the story. Marissa and Claire Had especially wide arcs, and their character development survives a lot of turbulence, both of which the readers can really appreciate.

The world which Case helped create with his release of Black Technology is the amalgamation of every cyberpunk world. Corporate oligarchs run the world through weak puppet governments, while the poor have either died off, or are forced to live in archologies where they surrender freedom for a feeling of security. The only alternative is live a hardscrabble life in the slums where life comes cheap.  While the world building doesn't reinvent the wheel, it does show a deep knowledge of and appreciation of the genre, without being so outside recognizable that non cyberpunk fans cant get into the story. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Any time a series make a huge change in plot line, it can result in a a disjointed story. Fortunately, that's not what happened here. The shift to a cyberpunk future creates more storytelling opportunities, and I have the suspicion CT Phipps will take full advantage of them. I can whole heartedly recommend this story to a wide variety of fans.

Rating: 10/10 Stars

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The Bookwyrm's Review of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International

Author: Larry Correia

Length: 726 Pages/ 24 Hours (Audio)

Publisher: Baen Books

Release Date: August 1st, 2009

Narrator: Oliver Wyman

Series: Monster Hunter International, Book 1

Genre: Urban fantasy

This has been one of those reviews that has been a long time coming. I first read this book years ago, but at the time, I was kind of the average reader and didn't take the time to do book reviews. since then, I have come around 180 degrees, trying to get reviews in of everything I read and listen to. I just did a relisten to this one, which was my introduction to Larry Correia and his wild imagination, and decided it was about time to review what for me is one of my favorite urban fantasy series. On that note, lets get this started.

PLOT SUMMARY

Owen Zastava Pitt is just your typical office drone, (well, maybe not typical, since he's built like an NFL offensive lineman) working as an accountant in a cubical farm in a corporate accounting office. Unfortunately for him, he has the worst boss in the world. By worst, I mean, he turns out to be a werewolf that decides Owen will make a tasty snack at work one night. His boss is in for a surprise, though, since Owen, while an accountant, is also the son of a Special Forces soldier, and has trained his whole life to deal with crazy situations. Owen ends up badly hurt while dealing with his out of control boss by all means at his disposal in a crazy fight scene.

Waking up in the hospital five days later, in pain and massively scarred, Owen finds two federal officers, Agent Meyers and Franks, in his hospital room, who tell him what he fought was a werewolf, and telling him if he was infected, they will put him down. While they wait for the test results, another man, named Earl Harbinger comes to see him, and leaves his card, telling him after he gets out of the hospital, give him a call. When the test comes back negative, the feds leave, with an admonition to not talk about what really happened. This is Owen's first run in with the US Monster Control Bureau, who's main job is to keep the greater population unaware of the supernatural. 

The meeting with Earl in the hospital leads to Owen being offered a job with Monster Hunter International, or MHI, the premier monster hunting company in the world. Moving to Alabama to MHI's headquarters, Owen joins the latest class of potential hunters, all of whom were recruited after encountering some sort of supernatural baddy. Owen's upbringing helps with the training, as he is familiar with all the weapons, and he goes through the grind of learning how to kill monsters that are stronger, faster and more ruthless than humans. 

As they near the end of training, several newbies are tasked to help with a mission MHI's main team has to go on, since they are shorthanded.  Proceeding to a ship off the coast of Georgia, which a French hunter team has disappeared on, The MHI team inserts onto the ship, and all hell breaks loose. After a grueling battle, in which they are all almost killed multiple times, they discover that something evil was being transported on the ship, guarded by seven master vampires, something that is supposed to be impossible, since master vamps are loners.

What follows is a crazy race against time, as Owen is having visions of what the evil entity is, and he is being helped by the ghost of a hunter killed years ago in an attempt to control an ancient artifact. This includes dealing with a former MHI hunter who almost destroyed the world to get information about where this is all happening. Unfortunately, MHI isn't the only ones looking for him, and that ends up with Owen and his team on the run from the Feds as well. This leads to a confrontation with an unexpected menace, a master vampire with a close tie to MHI, and more clues to what is afoot. 

After some more twists and turns, betrayals and missteps, MHI is facing down the end of the world as the big baddy fully reveals himself, and they must try and stop him before he brings an end to time itself, all while releasing eldritch horrors from the void that would give Lovecraft nightmares. Racing the clock, they face down the evil ones in a climactic battle that threatens the survival of the world if they fail (or at the very least, the threat of the Feds nuking Alabama). Owen and company must face down a threat from before history or all is lost. The finale was as breathtaking as any ending you're likely to read.

CHARACTERS AND WORLDBUILDING

While there is some strong worldbuilding throughout the book, the characters are where this book really shines. Owen Pitt is and excellent, well rounded character. For all his exceptional natural abilities, he still struggles with his flaws and failures, with self doubt. He comes across as a real person, stuck in extraordinary circumstances. The secondary characters are also get a lot of attention. From Owen's fellow hunters like Tripp Jones and Holly Newcastle, both survivors of monster attacks, to Julie Shackleford and Earl Harbinger, born into monster hunting, they are given a surprising amount of character growth and backstory. They too are also allowed to have successes and failures too, just like real people. Its a change of pace from the usual flawless monster hunting tropes. Even the villains have realistic, within the story, motivations, and their actions are consistent within those. not your usual mustache twirling Snidely Whiplash villains.

The dialogue is crisp, with humor and serious intermixed throughout. The banter feels like the kind you'd get in a Alpha personality environment, with a lot of cutting humor throughout. the worldbuilding felt very realistic, with the hunters and government agents acting in believable ways throughout, especially considering the adversarial  relationship they have. 

I have seen a few complaints that the book is "gun porn". I am assuming the author's very detailed descriptions of the various weapons, of which there are a lot, used throughout is what they are referring to. The old adage of "write what you know" is probably in place here, since the author is a lifelong firearms user, and has actually been a gun seller. This results in lots of detailed descriptions of various firearms and even their many accessories, and the proper application in various shooting situations, which as an Army veteran doesn't bother me in the slightest, and just increases the realism. 

NARRATION

This was the first book I had ever heard Oliver Wyman narrate, but it was certainly not the last. He has great voice, and has an amazing talent for creating various characters using various pitches, accents and cadences. He is as adept at voicing an old polish ghost as he is voicing a young southern female American hunter or an ancient master vampire. his narrative pacing is some of the best I have ever heard, and that is with over 1000 audiobooks listened to. He is a reason to buy an audiobook version of a book.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have to say that I was not familiar with Larry Correia when I first got the book. This was my first experience with his writing, and I was very happy with the level of detail and effort that went into creating realistic characters dealing with fantastic situations. I can happily recommend this series to anyone looking for an action packed urban fantasy with great characters and plotting. Try it out in any format, you won't be disappointed.

RATING: 5/5 

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