Category Archives: Romance

Adventure, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Bell, Odette C: A Plain Jane 2 (A Plain Jane) (2012)

2013-08-19 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

Odette C. Bell used to publish her work under the pseudonyms “Muscularkevin” and “Scrabblecat” on Fiction Press. There aren’t really any updated blogs or websites that belong to this author. Fiction Press is the closest I can get.

A Plain Jane continues to be a delightfully light read about the search for identity.

Jane has worked her whole life at being as plain as possible. Now it turns out this has been because she has an “Assister” lodged in her head, meant to keep her safe and invisible. It turns out she is anything but plain.

A Plain Jane II begins where no I left off: Jane on the run with Racarl toward somewhere supposedly safe. But Jane doubts his intentions yet still finds herself unable to assert herself and be the Pala (ruler of her people – the mysterious Para) that she is supposed to be.

As I read A Plain Jane (all three of them) I thought about the brainwashing we are all exposed to from the moment we are born (or socialization as it is more popularly called). What if I grew up trying my hardest to think of myself as plain and boring? What would that do to me? Granted, most of us are plain and boring but do not necessarily think of ourselves that way.

I’ve met quite a few people like Jane on my journey through life. They have been told that they are stupid, worthless, boring, ugly and all sorts of other unkind names by the people they trust. Like Jane they come to believe what they have been told and find it almost impossible to break away from that belief.

In A Plain Jane II this is the phenomenon I found the most interesting. Jane struggles against the ingrained belief she has grown up with and works incredibly hard to overcome herself.

But A Plain Jane II is not a serious reality type of novel. It is in fact an extremely entertaining science fiction story with plenty of action and fighting to go around.

Lucas Stone turns out to be not quite as dead as it seemed he might be by the end of A Plain Jane I.

When Lucas was stopped by Element 52 from killing Jane at the end of A Plain Jane I, he fell an entire kilometer before smashing into the ocean. While his armor had been hijacked and caused him to attack Jane, it was also his new and improved armor that has saved him (barely). Luckily for him his true and tested friends Alex and Miranda managed to come after him with the Paran artifact that had helped Jane. Now they are on the trail hoping to get to her before the Darq does.

Reviews:

Grumpy in Pink

Published: Oct. 10, 2012
Words: 91,190 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781301848454

My review of A Plain Jane I

Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

Kreitzer, Laura: Shadow of the Sun (Timeless I) (2010)

2013-08-13 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

I chose Shadow of the Sun from the Kindle free reads list exclusively because of its cover. My reasoning was that someone who would go to the trouble of getting such an awesome cover would make certain their writing was good as well. Yes, I have been burned at times by this less than stellar logic.

Most of the reviews of Shadow of the Sun have been favorable. I have included a couple that are not. For once I had an incredible amount of reviews to choose between and that makes me think that there is probably a larger market for paranormal romance than there is for the stuff I usually read.

From the beginning of this story the main character, Gabriella, reminds me of Sheldon in “The Big Bang Theory“. She is extremely intelligent about theory but not always as intelligent in social relations. I like it when the main character isn’t all Mary Poppins because we are all rude idiots about some things in our lives.

Gabriella is considered an expert on all things super-natural. For the most part the super-natural part of it is faked. Not this time though. Consider yourselves introduced to the three angels in her laboratory. Of course, the angels are beautiful. And, of course, Gabriella is beautiful as well. That kind of goes with the territory of paranormal romances although it is unnecessary in my mind. And, since this is a paranormal romance there is bound to be a love triangle of some sort. What do you know, there is. I guess the reason I choose to be critical of the triangle version presented in Shadow of the Sun is because it seems formulaic.

On to the rest of the story. Shadow of the Sun is much more than romance. We get plenty of action and that is what kept me reading. I liked the whole idea of all of the angels who were conscious beyond a certain point in time having no memory of what Halos of the Sun were. That is what the trio dug up in Italy are. Collective memory loss or memory tampering is not something I think I have come across before. This collective memory loss places the three angels, Gabriella, Joseph and Karen (another angel/FBI agent/?) against the rest of the angels.

The ending turns Timeless into a serial – we are left with a cliff-hanger. Shadow of the Sun was good for a first novel.

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Reviews:

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Published: Sep. 29, 2011
File Size: 524 KB
Words: 107,500 (approximate)
Print Length: 524 pages
Publisher: Revolution Publishing Inc. (February 26, 2010)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B0076QK65K
ISBN: 9781937790998

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

James, Hadena: Dark Illumination (Dark Legacies) (2012)

2013-08-11 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

I’m glad the editing issues in Dark Cotillion have been resolved in Dark Illumination.

Dark Illumination comes with one warning. There is quite a bit of zombieish-like goryness – without the zombies (those were in Dark Cotillion).

My fascination with this strange world James has presented us with has not left me. Lucifer is catholic and married to a human. All of their children have been baptised into the Catholic church. Lucifer is not the only mythological character that gets treated this way. In fact, Lucifer and the angel Gabriel are best-friends along with Baal, Anubis and Fenrir. Mammon is Brenna’s god-father and uncle and was present at her baptism.

Who is good and bad is no longer clear-cut, but the least clear-cut is the baddie of Dark Illumination. He/She seems set on destroying Brenna after her maturing. Because of the nature of the attacks the person might be someone close to her or one of her relatives.

Add to the mystery of the baddie all of the action and I guess we have an action-mystery novel. All of the action is the reason for the above-mentioned gore. There is plenty of fighting, both magical and demonic. Poor regular humans who get in the way.

Add to this cabal dead uncle Sonnellion and we have in fact a ghost-mystery-action story for young adults.

I believe it is safe to say that Brenna Strachan has a strange family and some strange friends. Add in her own unpredictability and we have a story that is bound to interest both young and old.

Reviews:

Janey’s review

Published: Nov. 21, 2012
File Size: 416 KB
Words: 69,610 (approximate)
Print Length: 346 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00AAQ8Q5U
ISBN: 9781301107094

My review of Dark Cotillion

Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Bell, Odette C.: A Plain Jane (2012)

2013-08-03 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

The Plain Jane covers happen to be some of my favorite covers. Amazing what an imaginative mind can make of a bunch of pictures. The cover details do not say who the cover designer is so I will go with Bell herself as my candidate.

Odette C. Bell is a difficult woman to chase down. For some strange reason her Plain Jane novels no longer appear on Amazon but Smashwords will link you to various sites.

Plain Jane works with people of every variation there is. Most of them are bi-pedal but come in every version from scaly green to purple with a tail. Jane herself is not human, but exactly what she is neither she nor anyone else knows.

As a plain Jane she is fairly average. Average looks, average life and average abilities. In fact, her averageness makes her blend into any group perfectly. For who would notice someone so boring.

I love boring. In fact, I am probably the queen of boring (at least according to my kids). Other people can experience all of the exiting stuff and then I can read about it. Through my own experiences I discovered that exiting has a price, sometimes a very steep one.

Plain Jane is about to discover the same thing. Her dreams of adventure and excitement never included all of the sweat, pain and grit that come along with them. Then reality hits in the form of an assassin robot trying to kill her. Good for Jane that Lucas happened to be near by and had on his special suit of armor.

Jane and Lucas are fun characters. It is obvious that they are going to get involved at some point. That sort of follows whenever a female character in these types of books are annoyed with some male counter-part.

Jane seems to work pretty hard at remaining plain, but sometimes we see extremely different sides to her. Lucas is thrown into helping her time and again and they both end up delving into the mystery that is Jane.

Into the cauldron we also have a bit of politics, a bit of unlikely technology and a bit of extremely unlikely biology. This is the fun part of science fiction. Guessing and/or making up weird stuff is all part of the package.

A Plain Jane is a romantic mystery that has a science fiction background. Thankfully, the romance isn’t a huge part of the plot. Adventure is the prevalent feature. In A Plain Jane we get the more innocent version of murder and mayhem. In addition we get plenty of humor. Bell’s writing is good. She kept my interest throughout the book and nudged me towards buying the rest of the series.

Reviews:

Fictionpress

Published: Oct. 10, 2012
Words: 90,170 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781301158829

A Plain Jane: A woman of unremarkable appearance. Appears on the scene at the beginning of the 1900’s.

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

Durgin, Doranna: Barrenlands (Changespell Saga) (2011)

2013-07-18 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Barrenlands is my first meeting with Doranna Durgin and a pretty good one at that. My read was an updated and reworked edition.

In its basic form Barrenlands is a mystery. Who killed the king (Benlan) is the question that is eating Ehren up. The reason Ehren feels so passionate about finding the murderer (not every one else wants him to find him/her/them) is because Benlan was his best friend. Most of Ehren’s guard-friends had also been killed at the same time.

Ehren is an interesting character yet familiar in a fantasy sense. He is our hero, the one with the quest he must fulfill. He is also the strong, silent type. In his case his silence and strength are very much tools. When one is silent one sometimes listens and is able to hear things one might not otherwise hear. As a hero Ehren has several helpers and not all of them are people. Two killer horses (that is for any other person than Ehren) are among the assistants. Ehren has trained them well and we get a few episodes illustrating how dangerous they are.

Two people also come to his aid. In the one case the helper places Ehren in an awkward position. Ehren is actually supposed to kill Laine (or Lain-iee! as his sister calls him) and his family. Laine is the nephew of the dead king Benlan. He has a weird ability – to see magic. He has another ability but that comes out late in the novel so hush to me. Sherran is the other person that turns up and happens to be the T’ieran of Clan Gurran. She, too, has a magical ability that Ehren will need.

Varien is an interesting character but the opposite of Ehren’s helper. He becomes quite fun in a nasty way as the story evolves. The more I learned the less confidence I had in him. Not exactly the kind of magician I would want at my back. And he just happens to be the new king’s (Rohan) most important advisor.

We begin with a fight scene and there are several to follow. I would call this a YA novel with little emphasis on romance but a whole lot on friendship and action with some magic thrown in.

File Size: 503 KB
Print Length: 352 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Blue Hound Visions (November 10, 2012)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00A5FF668

Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Thriller, Young Adult

Caine, Rachel: The Morganville Vampires (2006-2013) / Weather Warden (2003-2010) / The Revivalist (2011- )

2013-06-13 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Rachel Caine, or Roxanne Longstreet Conrad as she is known to her friends, is a prolific writer. From what I have read of her writing (Morganville series, one Weather Warden and one The Revivalist) her novels seem to target young adults (not the youngest).

Her books are fun to read and full of murder, mayhem and entertainment. We get all sorts of magic and supernatural creatures. Some of these supernaturals are the baddest baddies while some fight on the side of light and justice for all. There is something a bit soap operaish about the books at times, but for the most part they manage to stay out of that trap. The ones that I have read are from: Weather Warden, The Morganville Vampires and The Revivalist.

THE MORGANVILLE VAMPIRES (2006 – 2013)

The Morganville Vampires books are supposed to be appropriate for age 13 and up. My library has fourteen of them while fifteen have been published thus far. According to the Morganville website no. 15 (Daylighters) is supposed to be the last one of the series (for now). I believe I have read through no. 10 (Bite Club).

The Morganville series begins with Glass Houses.While it is an advantage to begin reading with book no. 1 of the series, I would have had no trouble starting at any point as all of the novels have some sort of resolution to their plot. There are threads that leave you somewhat hanging but they are more of the kind that you will find in most series out there. So NOT a serial.

Claire Danvers is our main character through the series. There are others that get to shine along with her, but she is the one we always meet.

What can I say about Claire Danvers? Claire is a brilliant girl. Her IQ gets her into Texas Prarie University at the age of 16. Choosing TPU was a result of having to be closer to her parents. I can understand her parents wanting her to be a close as possible. Being the parent of two boys who have been that age, I probably would have let them go to the offered spot at MIT. Whether my choice would have been different had they been girls is impossible to predict.

So off Claire goes to Morganville. TPU is apparently a typical university town. In it she meets both ends of the spectrum of niceness. Claire gets bullied by the town diva, Monica Morell, and makes friends with the much nicer Eva Rosser. Her friendship with Eva Rosser and the bullying by Morell and her crowd is what brings about Claire’s move into what is known as Glass House.

Glass House belongs to Michael Glass. Michael lives in the house himself and he is hesitant about letting Claire live there. The other tenant, Shane Collins, also worries about having an under-age student living with them. The constellation two boys and two girls might have something to do with that. I found that rather charming and wise of the two guys. I also approved of the choice of letting Claire live with them, especially considering Monica’s influence at TPU. Monica does not have many endearing qualities.

Moving into Glass House brings the reality of Morganville crashing in on Claire. Living in Morganville can be detrimental to one’s health.

WEATHER WARDEN (2003-2010)

Weather warden

The Weather Warden series begins with Ill Wind and ends with Total Eclipse. According to various reviews and Ms. Caine’s own website the Weather warden is meant for an adult audience. I have only read no. 1 (Ill Wind). It is difficult for me to know exactly what differentiates a novel meant for adults or older young adults, so I am going to trust the author on this one. On the link above you can read samples from each of the novels.

Ill Wind introduces Joanne Baldwin a Weather Warden. A Weather Warden is a person who has the power to control one of the elements. In Joanne’s case that is the wind. She is not considered an especially gifted Warden. When we meet her she is on the run from the other Weather Wardens and the Weather Council. The Weather Council wields a lot of influence in society due to its nature. Together with the UN they decide when to and when not to intervene in natural disasters (having to do with wind, fire, water and earth). So, not an organization to have chasing you.

Joanne is, of course, innocent of all charges and that is what Ill Wind is about – proving her innocence and finding the real culprit.

As a mystery, Ill Wind worked for me.

THE REVIVALIST (2011 – …)

The Revivalist

Once again you get to read sample chapters of the novels. The Revivalist is a different kind of zombie novel. As with Weather Warden, I have only read the first of the series, Working Stiff. Like the other two series in this post, The Revivalist is an urban fantasy series. Our main character is Bryn Davies. She is about to change careers – from being in a military supply unit in war to being a funeral director. An unusual choice but work is work.

At first Fairview Mortuary seems like an average funeral home. But there is one huge problem. Her bosses are experimenting on the corpses. Not all of them, but enough for Bryn to discover that there is a problem. It turns out that they are using a drug to resurrect the dead. Bryn enlists the help of the FBI and joins the take-down. During the charge, poor old Bryn ends up being one of the dead. Having no say in the matter herself (being dead and all that) Bryn ends up being one of the resurrected. At this point her options in “life” pretty much become nil. She has to do what she is told or she will not get the daily injection needed for a healthy look.

Basically, Working Stiff is an urban fantasy mystery with a zombie twist.

Adventure, Fantasy, Romance

Litteral, Heather: Bite (2011)

2013-06-05 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

Bite seems to be the only novel Heather Litteral has written thus far. It was weird not having a copyright page. Does that mean that Heather Litteral does not have copyright? Perhaps this is a stupid question, but I felt it needed to be addressed – if nothing but for the sake of Litteral’s authorship.

I used to think that having “strange powers” would be cool. It didn’t really matter which, as long as I could be different. Reading fantasy and science fiction has completely changed my mind on that subject. In the case of Skye, she can read minds. I would imagine reading minds could be advantageous at times. If some person is out to get you, wouldn’t it be nice to have warning? But otherwise??? Not so much. Reading minds has saved Skye’s life, but it was the ability to read minds that got her into trouble in the first place. We all think things in our heads that we do not want people to hear. Some people want to hide more than others. When what you are trying to hide is betrayal, then it becomes all the more important to silence the one you fear is a threat.

Skye gets chased from the first page of Bite. She has to try to keep one step ahead of the assassins, but that isn’t an easy matter. Early on she gains the help of a guy she bites, Ryan. Biting him was not something she would normally do as her preferred prey is the scummier sort of citizen.

When Skye decides to stop running and stay in Louisiana where she has finally begun to build a life for herself, she finds herself happy to have Ryan’s assistance. Ryan, too, is glad that Skye is on his side. For some reason his own sister (turned vampire) was murdered and now the murderers are after him.

What happens when you stop running? Well, one thing is that you have to face whatever you are running from. Often people think they have to fight these battles alone, but like Skye sometimes we find that others want to help us. At times that help comes with a price, as in the case of Gabriel, but not always.

Heather Litteral has written a fun novel. There are some vampire cliches but those are difficult to get away from. Litteral has focused more on action and less on romance and that is what I prefer. For a first novel, Bite was excellent.

File Size: 415 KB
Print Length: 225 pages
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B004OYT8OW

Skye35 = Heather

Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

Porter, Ronnell: The Pocket Watch (The Trinity Saga) (2009)

2013-05-31 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

In addition to being an author, Ronnell D. Porter designs covers. Which is why I assume that he is the cover artist for the cover of The Pocket Watch.

The Pocket Watch is definitely a young adult novel. I think I might be getting the hang of what a young adult novel is – maybe.

Imogen Stromholdt is a US teen-ager who like a lot of teenagers thinks that her life is boring, she is boring and her dad is boring. She would really like something exciting to happen in her life. Exciting is overrated. Believe me, it really is!

Eden, Oregon is a regular small town with regular small-town people living in it. In Eden people know each other. When a pallid, eerie boy turns up wherever Imogen goes she feels creeped out, especially when people start turning up dead.

Then Imogen gets what she wishes. Her life becomes exciting. Extremely exciting. A stranger comes to live with Imogen and her father, Lucius Knight takes an interest in her. Fantastical creatures turn out to be real and they aren’t all that fantastic. Then you have Imogen, herself, who turns out to be some other person than she had thought and so does her father. Exciting really isn’t all it is made out to be.

The Pocket Watch is a fun novel. I agree that there are editing problems. It seems editing has become an art that quite a few authors and whoever they use as editors struggle with. Spellers are great, but spellers are not substitutes for a good slicer and dicer. In spite of that, there was plenty of drive to the story. As usual the romantic angle didn’t do much for me, but I imagine there will be quite a lot of readers who enjoy that part.

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Fantasy, Mystery, Romance

Rain, J.R.: Moon Dance (A Vampire for Hire) (2009)

2013-05-31 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Moon Dance is the first novel in the Vampire for Hire series. Vampire for Hire is about Samantha Moon – a PI who used to be an FBI agent. Her career with the FBI ended when she contracted a “rare skin disease” otherwise known as vampirism.

Vampirism in A Vampire for Hire means that you are supersensitive to the sun but you can stay awake during the day. But it is at night that Sam really comes alive. Samantha seems to have good hunches, does not become ill any longer and is able to take on endure more pain than before. Longevity also seems to be one of the qualities Samantha has acquired along with extra strength and speed – if she keeps herself fed. Feeding isn’t Samantha’s favorite time and keeping her kids from finding out that the freezer in the garage contains bags of animal blood is a high priority for her.

In spite of being a PI, Samantha seems kind of clueless about the possibility of a super-natural community at large. Her case concerning the murder attempt on Kingsley Fulcrum opens Samantha’s eyes to just how blind she has been.

I liked Samantha. She showed an extreme talent for denial, one that I fear is all too common. People’s denial abilities never cease to amaze me, my own included. Like a lot of people she has stuck it out in a marriage she is unhappy in. Understandably, her husband has had issues with the whole “wife becoming a vampire” thing. Sam is afraid of losing her children if they divorce.

The people around Samantha are generally a little (or a lot) afraid of her without knowing exactly why. The few who do know what is going on in her life want to be there for her, but – you know – Vampires. Huge life-changes can do that to the people around us. Just ask any one who has contracted cancer.

Moon Dance is the kind of novel that leaves me undecided as to how I feel about it. I liked it. I mean, it was free – what’s not to like about that? It’s just that every once in a while I would shake my head at the sillyness (or maybe clicheness works better) of the story. On the other hand there were some really great scenes – like Samantha’s evening jog. So, good but not great.

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Adventure, Fantasy, History, Romance, Young Adult

Swift, J.K.: Altdorf (The Forest Knights) (2011)

2013-05-30 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

“The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Hospitallers, Order of Hospitallers, Knights of St John, Order of St John, and currently The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders during the Middle Ages.” (Wikipedia)

J. K. Swift writes historical fiction. This time he writes about the lives of ex-Hospitallers. What kind of person do you become after having been taken away from your parents at a young age and sent into the “Holy War” against those terrible heathen Jews and Muslims?

Like most people our ex-Hospitallers seem to be the same personality they were upon entering the Hospitallers. You know, just people – greedy, selfless, courageous, lonely and so on. Just people.

In the name of religion people sometimes do terrible things. Ignoring terrible actions carried out toward others is the most common one. To begin with Thomas ignores the plight of the citizens of Altdorf. But once the deeds of Duke Leopold of Habsburg touches closer to home, Thomas can no longer deny the unrighteousness of Leopold’s deeds.

Duke Leopold is a greedy man who wants to control the flow of merchandise through the pass of St. Gotthard. “The Gotthard Pass or St. Gotthard Pass (Italian: Passo del San Gottardo) (el. 2106 m) is a high mountain pass in Switzerland between Airolo in the canton of Ticino, and Göschenen in the canton of Uri, connecting the northern German-speaking part of Switzerland with the Italian-speaking part, along the route onwards to Milan.” (Wikipedia)

In The Empire of Man one even finds that “the College of Magic which studies Ghyran, the Lore of Life, is the Jade Order of Wizards. Jade Wizards, (also occasionally mistaken for druids to which their power is related), are powerful healers, who spend most of their time wandering the countryside of the Empire providing their services to rural communities. They construct monolithic stone circles around hidden groves where Ghyran is strongest, using them in their yearly rituals which they perform in order to channel their magic into the soil to provide fertility and abundance.” (Wikipedia) Seraina is a Priestess of the Old Religion, and the last Druid disciple of the Helvetii Celts. She has been gifted by the Great Weave to see what others cannot. In it she knows that she and Thomas will be needed in her people’s fight for freedom.

Part of my reason for digging a little into various sites had to do with the excellence of the novel. Altdorf made me curious about the background for the novel – beyond what the author tells. The whole area has a fascinating history and it was amazingly fun to discover that Altdorf (the area) is used in The Empire of Man.

Anyways, history and fantasy lesson over – except maybe a hint that you check out the background of the Wilhelm Tell myth – you know the whole shooting an apple off the son’s head story. It has relevance.

There is one scene that involves Pirmin that made a huge impression. Pirmin is a lovely character – full of life and enjoyment of life. Anyways, there is one scene that made me think – once again. Fantasy can do that to you. All of a sudden I see humanity in a new light or am reminded of a quality that some people do possess, even people I know.

The Forest Knights is a serial. You can walk away from the serial after Altdorf, but I believe you might regret it. I am going to get Morgarten myself – simply because I want to keep in touch with these people.

Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Hicks, Michael R.: Final Battle (In Her Name – Redemption) (2009)

2013-05-26 humanitysdarkerside 4 Comments

I feel the need to warn readers of the Redemption trilogy. Toward the end of Final Battle there is a violent scene that could trigger those of you who have experienced abuse (sexual). It is relevant to the story. Now you are warned. In spite of my warning, my personal belief is that the story of Reza Gard and his way toward his destiny can be read by older young adults and, of course, ancients like myself.

Reza’s near-death-experience and meeting with the First Empress put him in a coma and there he remained for the next half-year. Final Battlefelt as much about Jodi Mackenzie as about Reza. She has some rough times ahead of her but does her very best to be a person who remains true to what she considers honorable.
Honor is not something one would equate with Thorella (Reza’s arch-enemy) or the new president, Borge. These two are men who are so caught up in their own vision of reality that they have lost all grip on the real world. Sadly, they are both highly intelligent and extremely wealthy and therefore able to adjust the world to fit their psychosis. That is, up to a certain point. Hicks writes insanity and greed well.

Now that I think about it, I have met people like Thorella and Borge although these people have been without Thorella and Borge’s means. It is not an experience I would recommend. I prefer people who live with gentler versions of reality.

It turns out Reza has a son, the first male child born to Kreelans in 100000 years who is able to function in society. The Kreelan history is a tragic one. Even if they brought it upon themselves through the choices of their ancestors, the tragedy is still a fact. Now there is finally hope. Yet something is amiss with the Kreelans. They seem to have lost all interest in fighting. One might even say that they are experiencing a mass-depression.

Reza is essential to the Kreelan race. All that he has gone through has honed him into a key that is capable of unlocking their next step in evolution.

I am going to end this review by saying: When I started reviewing Empire I discovered I had forgotten a couple of things. I opened up my e-book and that was it. Michael R. Hicks forced me to read the trilogy again. That is a pretty mean trick when it comes to me. After all it had not been long since I read it the first time. I imagine Hicks is going to pull the same stunt the next time I open up Empire. This trilogy is a definite keep.

Reviews:

Kirkus MacGowan
Meridian’s Shadow review (omnibus)
Eye of the Storm review (all three novels)
An American Editor (all three novels)

My review of Empire and Confederation

Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Hicks, Michael R.: Confederation (In Her Name – Redemption) (2008)

2013-05-26 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Has your loss ever been so strong you thought you would die from the pain? I imagine a lot of people of my venerable age of 48 could say yes. How do you deal with something like that? Well, you either learn to live with the pain or you kill yourself I imagine.

Reza Gard has experienced this kind of loss. The kind that rips you apart and leaves you feeling like a raw wound. Life sometimes does that to you.

I think this is part of what makes Michael R. Hicks’ writing flow for me. He leaves me with a sense of someone who understands the feelings he writes about. I highly doubt he has fallen in love with an alien and had to leave her Empire cutting off all contact with the race, but loss is loss.

Just as his disappearance from the Empire was sudden, so too was his appearence in the Confedration. Like an angel from heaven Reza seems to come as the answer to Father Hernandez’ prayers for redemption from the Kreelans. The Marines who are left after meeting the Kreelan warriors are happy about the result of Reza’s return.

For me the Redemption trilogy has partly been about prejudice. What Reza meets upon his return to the Conferation are mixed feelings. Some see him as a threat to humanity while others (those who come to know him) understand that his sense of honor goes beyond what most of us expect. Fraternising with the enemy/the others, becoming like them and then returning to one’s roots is bound to antagonise some people. Being an “Other” myself I have experienced how difficult it is for some to accept my “Otherness” as just as good as their way. Reza’s story has in a very small way been my story.

Confederation shows humanity as it is.

You can meet at , and .

My review of Empire

Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, Young Adult

Hicks, Michael R.: Empire (In Her Name – Redemption) (2009)

2013-05-21 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

I saw the old cover on one of the reviews below and prefer this one.

Flow! To me it is all about the flow. It is that magical quality that some authors are born with and some authors can work their way into. Maintaining the flow through a whole text, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, is something most authors struggle with. Some authors never hit it while others fall in and out of it. Then we have the others.

Michael R. Hicks has the ability of remaining in the flow. He did it so well, I had to get the other two novels in the Redemption trilogy and read them right away.

Maybe part of that has to do with the harshness of Empire. Michael did not try to sugar-coat the conditions of the orphanage. I imagine there are people out there who cannot believe that such things exist, but they do. Muldoon is nothing unique in the world of orphanages.

The other thing that really hit me was Reza’s ability to adjust. Some people are like that. They just bend with the blows that life hits them with. Me, I’d break having to live through the death of my parents, abuse at the hands of caretakers and finally having to live with the enemy. Whenever I meet a bender, I am impressed all over again. So, I was impressed with Reza.

As Reza learns so too does Esah-Zhurah. She goes from thinking of him as beneath her to gaining a grudging respect of Reza’s possible value. Inevitable I guess. Tearing down the walls of propaganda takes time – even for superior aliens.

You can meet at , and .

Empire is available free as an e-book at most online retailers. If you can’t find it free at your favorite e-bookstore, you can always get it free from in multiple e-book formats.

Adventure, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance, Young Adult

George, Kevin: Drinking Life (Keeper of the Water) (2011)

2013-05-18 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Sometimes in life we make choices that can have far-reaching consequences, not only for ourselves. Drinking Life seems to be in part about the impact of choices made.

Loyalty is another issue Drinking Life approaches. Do you really have to be loyal to a person you pretty much think is detestable? I kept thinking – Why does this person not get over themself and why do the rest let themselves be bullied by that person? Isn’t it possible to say “enough is enough”?

Once again I was struck by how infatuation can make you completely blind to the worst mistakes and be willing to forgive pretty despicable actions. And when the truth finally comes out, forgiveness is given once again. Is it not ever possible to learn?

Then I thought about real life – what about that? Well, sad to say people act like this all the time. They might not be super-fast, super-strong or heal surprisingly well, but people sure can be stupid about what we accept and do not accept in others. So I guess the story about Nia and her compatriots is believable.

Nia, her parents, Cassie and Cassie’s mother always seem to be on the move. The two girls are tired of never being able to settle down. When they end up in a tiny town on the outskirts of Nowhere they feel down. But not for long.

Like the blurb says, Nia Ammo is a jock, a quality she will have need of in the upcoming days. There will be more than enough running, swimming, rowing, shooting and jumping for the girl. Add in bizarre dreams and a boyfriend/not-boyfriend/boyfriend/not-boyfriend and Nia’s life is becoming difficult for her to handle.

Drinking Life was pretty good. There were annoying editing problems that ought to have been easy to do something about.

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Adventure, Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

Giacomo, Jasmine: Oathen (Legend of the Shanallar) (2011)

2013-05-15 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

The end of The Wicked Heroine left Meena in a sticky place. We now discover how she gets out of it. Definitely one of the novel’s high points and humorous at that. If you are a proper young adult you will like the grossness of the scene (especially if you have a good imagination). “… his knife skittered against the blade of a short sword jammed up from below” on the bottom of page 3 sets the tone for the rest of Oathen. Jasmine writes grosse well – an excellent and important quality in an author.

Anjoya Meseer (Geret and Salvor’s language teacher) ends up leaving Salience with Count Runcan for Vint. The two of them have a surprise change of of transportation on the way. Anjoya turns out to be important to the political climate in Vint, so hurrah to her for taking a chance on a change in future.

Then we have the love-triangle/quadrangle of Geret, Sanych, Salvor and Rhona who travel with the returned Meena and the chased Gryme/Kemsil. Talk about messy love. I think this was the bit about Legend of the Shanallar that just didn’t do anything for me, but I am not really a romance reader and definitely not a YA one.

Did Oathen have action. I guess that is one way of putting it. Plenty of action and magic. All of them learn what they are made of and Meena finally gets her heart’s desire fulfilled. I think you could say that Oathen had a happy ending – at least for some of the characters. The others, well you learn to live with the choices you have made. Consequences can suck.

At times the story hiccupped, but that happens. Other than that Oathen was a great YA novel (I think, being 48 and all).

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