Book Review: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book takes logic programming and interpretation of human interaction via robot automation to the next level. It was a very clever and enjoyable read. After falling in love with books about robots again from the likes of Murderbot, this book and the main character Charles/Uncharlres is just what I needed! In the modern era, where AI is becoming a part of our lives, it’s good to look at how programming and algorithmic logic can misinterpret reality in this dystopian sci-fi humorous and thought-provoking tale of murder by robotic/automation.

TLDNR: Robot who accidentally murders his master, avoids decommissioning, and embarks on several journeys to rediscover his purpose in life. 4 stars!



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Book Review: Lightlark by Alex Aster

Lightlark by Alex Aster
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I struggled to finish this book. The marketing stuff I originally read about this book compared it to The Hunger Games, but I don’t seem to find those claims now- it seems to have disappeared, or the marketing was revised.

I borrowed this book from my local online digital library three times. I kept losing interest in the book, which was auto-returned with a waitlist. I kept losing interest and putting it down. Overall, by the third loan, I wanted to finish it to see if there were some redeeming qualities at the end. It did have some, somewhat, but not in a big way, and I am not so sure the journey was worth getting to the destination (the end).

In general, character motivations, the reveal at the end, the character depth, and much of the dialog fell flat and lacked dimension. The world-building was good, and the plot, though not what I expected because of how the book was marketed, was also not bad. It was not 100% uninteresting, but it was a struggle to keep going. I don’t see myself reading the second book at this point, not with a “to read” list a mile long.

Maybe I have to let this one sit for a bit and then go back again. Maybe… and then again, maybe not.

I rate this one 2 stars because the author did, in fact, write a YA fantasy book with some romance and some magic, just not to the quality or interest level that I would have expected or desired to invest my time in reading.

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Book Review: Abducting Abby by S.E. Smith

Abducting Abby by S.E. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Plot 3/5
The basic story about alien dragon shapeshifters with symbionts crashing on Earth, mating with humans, and taking them back to their homeworld, with a species-level expansion subplot (finding mates to, well, mate with) and a faction war in progress, was intriguing.

Characters 4/5
The characters are well described and easy to imagine, including the dog, the symbionts, and Abby’s antagonist at the beginning. Character description-wise, the characters are well done. Character development-wise, some reactions, and acceptance of the situations seemed too fast, almost forced instead of coming naturally.

World-Building 5/5
The setting and the descriptions of both Earth and the alien planet, coupled with the base idea of alien dragon shapeshifters with symbionts, are well done.

Cover Design 3/5
The cover is average, in my opinion; it doesn’t give me a clue about the alien’s aspect, the Dragon-shapeshifting aspect, or the symbiotic relationship with the aliens. It appears like just another romance cover.

Spice 3/5
There are two main issues with the spice.
(1) The Abby Zoran relationship was Insta-love, rushed and instant. Even with the trope of a Dragon shapeshifter, it was rushed
(2) Abby, a virgin, goes from having sex one time with Zoran to expertly accepting anything he wants to do to her, like some sex professional.
A slower buildup and acceptance of both (1) and (2) would have made the plot and spice more believable.

Pace 3/5
The events happened quickly, including the relationship, transformation, and acceptance by Abby.

Engagement 4/5
Despite several eye-rolls with insta-love, insta-intimacy, and insta-nymphomaniac status for Abby, who accepts and performs every and any sexual act, despite being a virgin the day before, the story kept my attention.

Standouts
Alien shapeshifter Dragons with Symbionts!

Overall, the story was entertaining and kept my interest.
I give this one 3/5 stars overall.

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Book Review: Dragon Den by Kriss Dean

Dragon Den by Kriss Dean
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In her debut novel, Dragon Den, Kriss Dean spins a masterful tale of a young man, Markus Fredriksen, who hails from a modest family and has a lifelong dream—to break and ride a dragon. Along the way, Markus encounters a young woman, Amira Obi, who’s from the other side of the tracks and comes from a loving and wealthy family that owns several ginormous blacktail dragons. Amira’s family has been tragically wronged by others, putting her at odds with the institutions that can deliver Markus’s dream to him.

Dragon Den is an urban fantasy packed with action, intrigue, and a heated romance that takes you on a wild ride with Markus and Amira chasing their hearts’ desires. You’ll love, laugh, and even cry as they take you along this wild ride through Dragild Military School and the institutions threatening to tear this young romance apart.

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Book Review: Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This brilliant novel by Agustina Bazterrica is about society after “the transition” where an event happens, and all animal meat on Earth becomes poison to humans. The world governments normalize raising and eating “special meat” – i.e., humans as cattle, but they don’t call it cannibalism- or any other words that make you think twice about what you are slaughtering and what you are eating.

This book goes there and answers the question: is cannibalism a taboo subject? It’s masterfully addressed. If you are squeamish, don’t read this vividly described book, but if you are curious and can stand a little bit of vivid description, it will 100% keep you reading and on the edge of your seat right up until the last page (as the book cover states.)

Disclaimer: This book is not for those with a weak constitution!

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Book Review: The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield

The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wholeheartedly enjoyed this book—a well-written telling of a story set in Norse mythology. The story revolves around a fallen Valkyrie named Brynhild, exiled to Midgard by Odin. What comes is a tale involving Norse Gods, the Roman Empire, Atilla the Hun, and many fantasy and Norse mythology elements that resonate well with me. Norse Gods such as Loki, Odin, Hel, Freyja and prominent figures such as Sigurd and, mythical figures like Valkyrie, the Disir, a Lindwyrm (a serpent-like dragon without wings), and much more are part of Brynhild’s adventure. The novel contains war, intrigue, betrothals, marriages, betrayal, and politics. I also love the setting and rich world-building Kate Heartfield immerses the reader which includes several of the fabled realms connected by Yggdrasil, the world tree, specifically Midgard, Hel, Niflheim, and places such as Valhalla, Helheim, and Folkvang.

It’s an excellent pick for anyone interested in Norse mythology.

The book is available for purchase on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3rZ1CBh 

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Book Review: Stained by Karlijn Burkey

Stained by Karlijn Burkey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Two stars, mainly for the author’s effort in writing a book. Technical aspects of the novel: Needs professional editing. i.e., expressions such as “Come on” written as “common” – other examples throughout the book are similar. Has multiple grammar issues, too. It has the feel of a self-edited book. Professional editing may have eliminated the technical issues, but the plot, story points, and something resembling a three-act structure was missing. The dialog is simplistic, the characters are one or two-dimensional, and there is a multitude of telling and little showing, i.e., not really a mix of both. The story plot, arc, and character development could be more refined. I finished the book because it was only 155 pages, but there was no hook, nothing to lead me from chapter to chapter, and more importantly, the opening to the following few pages. Typically, I stop reading a book without a hook. Honestly, I’m not sure why I continued with it. Still, I’m giving credit for the effort, as the author finished and self-published a book.

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Book Review: Queen of Deception by Anna Stephens

Queen of Deception: A Marvel Legends of Asgard Novel by Anna Stephens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Queen of Deception depicts an unusual scenario where one of Queen Elizabeth’s chief advisors acquires strange magical artifacts. The primary magical artifact is a book that requires a gem (no, not an infinity gem or infinity stone) to understand and comprehend the tome’s contents. The gem is the key to understanding and unlocking whatever powers and knowledge the text has locked inside. However, as soon as the queen’s advisor uses the item, the magical signature is detected by the Queen of Hel, Hela herself (a strange disturbance in the force?)

The curse makes Hela curious, and she leaves Hel and travels to Midgard (Earth) to find the source of this magical disturbance. Once she travels to Earth, Hela is shocked to learn that her magic is somehow constrained, and she suspects it’s somehow because of the magic she sensed on Earth. Meanwhile, in Asgard, the Asgardians also notice the magic disturbance coming from Midgard. Lady Sif and Brunnhilde are tasked with traveling to Earth to discover the source of this magic.

The book’s main plot is the attempts to get possession of the book and the Gem. I felt this part of the book was not as action-packed as it should have been, and the scenes feel to contain a lot of filler, i.e., are a bit drawn out. Maybe that is part of a pre-expectation, as when it comes to Marvel and stories of Asgard and Midgard, Thor and Odin are usually centric to the story along with Loki or some other villain. However, Thor and Odin are not central to the plot in this tale.

Another aspect of this plot that I felt was a bit of an overused trope was the dampening effect of the book’s magical powers. It has this nullifying effect like Superman and Kryptonite or Terrigen and Mutant power suppression, or even more simply, a prolonged magical EMP-like effect.

Overall, the story was enjoyable, and we get to experience some of the non-central characters of Asgard and, of course, Hel, the Realm of the Dead, which turns out to be desirable. In addition, it turned out to be a delightful difference from a Thor/Odin-centric tale as we learn more about Helena, Lady Sif, and Brunnhilde.

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Book Review: Legacy (Stellar Heritage #1) by Bob Mauldin

Legacy by Bob Mauldin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was a good space opera—nothing extraordinary, mind you, but a solid read. Earthlings find an alien spaceship, and all the aliens are dead except for one, who happens to transfer the ship’s “captain command” to one of our main characters, Simon and Kitty. The ship’s computer, recognizing a new captain and somehow understanding basic English already, begins to assist Kitty and Simon in “commandeering” the ship. They decided the best course of action is to take over the ship instead of turning it over to the US government. Then the drama starts. Kitty and Simon take over the ship and learn how to operate it. The ship’s main computer instructs them, sort of like the “Computer” on Star Trek (there are many similarities to Star Trek in this book), and the humans somehow fully understand everything the ship says and become spaceship pilots almost instantly (huh?)

The story turns into a fight between the newly formed Terran Alliance and the suspicious United States government. The Terran Alliance is formed by the trio, Simon, Kitty, and their friend Lucy, who took over the alien spacecraft and the 1000s of people they recruit over time. The US government is pissed off that these US citizens did not turn over the craft to the government. Fearing World War three would break out, Simon and Kitty tell the US they are keeping the ship and will share what they learn about the technology with all the governments, in effect all of the people of Earth, not just the US, so no one country gains a military advantage that another country would see as an apocalyptic threat. This becomes the main conflict in the story.

I won’t recount the rest of the story to avoid spoiling anything, but the action is mostly at the end. One thing I kept wondering the whole time is what alien race presumably loses contact with a fully functional colony-building spaceship and leaves it? One of the events at the story’s beginning hints at what may have happened to the ship’s original crew, but the story takes place over several years, and we are left wondering why no aliens have come to Earth to collect their spaceship!

The middle part dragged a bit (it was painful at some points with mundane actions) with the ongoing day-to-day of building colonization and military spacecraft, but the interactions between the characters kept me reading. Kitty, Simon, and Lucy were all well-developed characters, and their interaction with other characters is enjoyable to read.

The ending gives us a shocking and unexpected twist, at least for me. And I am not 100% certain that the setup for book two is a good enough hook, but I’ll find out if I decide to read on in the series.

One thing that was hard to get past was how fast the people on the ship, even with the ship’s computer, were so easily able to build more spaceships and adopt the technology. That part was a bit too “perfect,” I think it made the weight of the story a tad less believable for a Sci-Fi space opera.

Overall, I liked the story. The audiobook had a preview of the next book in the series, which was a bit more of a hook to read book two than the events at the end of the book. Most likely, I will continue with the series since the opening chapter of book two provided a few answers about the aliens who originally built the captured spaceship.

If you have some time and don’t want a book you will read through in a single day but want to enjoy a good space opera, I recommend giving this book a chance. Stick with it if you sort of drift in the middle, as near the end, it gets picked up again.



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Book Review: Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan

Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So when I did research on the Wheel of Time I had expected for the story to slow down based off other readers comments. I mentally prepared for the slowdown. But even that is tough to deal with. I really, really love this story as it began in the first few books. I like the character development too, some characters have a lot of depth and the inter-relationships are fascinating. The world building is superb, rich, well described and triggers your imagination. All well and good. Here is where it’s stressing me out.

There is infinite marching. Right from the start in the Two Rivers in book one to even now on book six. Everyone is marching somewhere and it takes bloody long to get there. Blood and bloody ashes. And bloody ashes Light illumine the Lord Dragon the Lord Dragon this and the Lord Dragon that and Nynaeve is tugging on her braid and Mat is marching again or Rand is marching again and Egwene and all of the Aes Sedai are condescending toward men mostly Rand and no one wants to work together and some other army or group is marching form place to place and Nynaeve is tugging on her braid and folding her arms under her breasts and blood and bloody ashes Light illumine the Lord Dragon Nynaeve is tugging her braid and blah blah blah.

What I am showing here is a rather poor attempt and illustrating the slowness and repetition of this part of the series. The story moves along at a snails pace. Jordan, may he rest in piece, keeps repeating sections in the text as if I never read any of the prior books and in some cases as if I never read some of the prior chapters. The tension built between the characters is very slow. It is somewhat effective as of course I still want to read on and read the next chapter and the next book, but some of character, setting and storyline minutiae is too much for my brain to care and in come cases pay attention what I am reading.

So I endure, hoping to find the real meat and potatoes that are in this Wheel of Time stew. Please, tell me it gets better in book 7 or 8. I’ve invested so much time thus far, and I really want to see this one to the end. I am told that struggling through the middle of this series is worth it and I hope that the last few Jordan books get better and I have read that Brandon Sanderson takes the lead post-Jordan’s death and does supreme justice to the body of work and finishes off in a huge way that the fan base cheers him for, I just hope I can make it through the ride.

Well I didn’t really want to come off negative. I really do love the Wheel of Time Series and I absolutely admire and appreciate the work that Robert Jordan put into this and also what Brandon Sanderson did with the finish. I just want to get past the middle, and more to the end without walking in a snail’s shoe.

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Addendum to my review; – A blog reader (atoasttodragons) reminded me of the end of the book so I am updating my review to include my insight on the last chapter…. Thank you atoasttodragons!!

Chapter 55 ( The Last Chapter ) is the major battle scene for the book and in my humble opinion makes up for the “slowness” of the chapters 1-54. The battle between the Tower Aes Sedai, The Shaido, The Asha’man and the Salidar Aes Sedai is epic. Mazrim Taim really save’s Rand’s ass and I can’t wait to see how this character interaction builds in the coming books. I was in awe of the Asha’man. It was very satisfying. It was especially satisfying to see the male wielder’s of the true source kick some Aes Sedai ass. Throughout the entire series, there is a sense of female superiority from the Aes Sedai, to an extreme at some points. It was nice to see some balance come to the equation (Yin/Yang) – not that I think that the male half should dominate or anything, but that there should be more of an equality. Seeing  the nine Aes Sedai from Saldaea swearing fealty and bending the knee to the Dragon Reborn was epic in my opinion!

Overall, from when you stick with this one from start to finish, it was just another masterful installment of adventures in the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan .