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The life of a book reviewer is a hard one. See, for us it's not always the right thing to do if we want to freak out on a new series or author we just discovered. I have a backlog of books that people have given me that they want reviewed, and if I take time out to read what I want to read, I sometimes feel like I'm letting those people down. But then I get a gift card from Amazon and I'm like...”Wow that sounds good.” Maybe it's a new author and a new series. And maybe I blow almost the whole twenty five bucks on a seven book series.
But if you're paying attention that means I got seven books for less than twenty-five dollars. They were worth it too.
And I have to admit that my discipline broke down twice here. Not only did I get a book that hadn't been give to me, but I found myself unable to review it immediately. Why? Because I couldn't manage to break away from the series long enough to write it. Seriously, pretty much all my free time for the last however long has been taken up by this one series of books.
I don't feel bad about. As a matter of fact, I'm kind of glad I did it. I'm also bummed that there are only seven books available, but whatever. I've only got like a dollar left on my gift card anyway. Oops. I blew the whole thing on one series. Ah well, I'd do it again.
So now, dear reader, I can see the look in your eyes. You're frustrated because that darn Jimbo guy won't tell you what books they are. You think I should just spill the beans already and tell you all what I'm so excited about. I find that entertaining, because the name of the series and its author are the title of this post! You should already have that information.
And seriously, how fun is it to be a blogger if you can't mess with your audience every once in a while?
Ready?
I'm talking about the Borrowed World Series by Franklin Horton. And yes, the story is about a right-wing gun nut named Jim, but it's not like that's it's only appeal. Okay, maybe that added a bit of enjoyment for a Second Amendment supporter named Jim but hey, no system is perfect, right? And his last name is Powell, so it's not like he's totally named after me.
At any rate...
The Borrowed World Series starts off with a novel named... The Borrowed World. (I bet you never saw that one coming, huh?) I don't really do spoilers, HOWEVER...
It starts off with a terrorist attack against the US and its infrastructure. The terrorists hurt us in a big way. They take down the majorityof the Grid that provides electricity to the US as well as a number of our largest oil refineries. In like an hour or so the entire country goes from thriving to screwed, althought it takes a bit for most people to realize how bad it's going to be.
Our hero, Jim, and his co-workers, Randi, Alice, Gary, Rebecca and Lois are caught in a hotel hundreds of miles from home when the Shit Hits the Fan and have to find a way home through the chaos. It's not easy. The story continues from there.
I loved this series, but it is not for the faint of heart. Horton seems to have researched his subject very well before beginning the series. It has a grittiness, a realisticness that a lot of other works lack. I can see things going exactly the way he describes them in the books. Everything from the choices Jim makes in what he puts in his bug-out bag to how he defends his home. But it's not just that. It's the reactions of common, everyday people as the whole country begins to fall apart.
A man will do what it takes to defend his family. Any parent will do what it takes to feed a child. But what if the supply of food is cut off because there is no fuel for trains or trucks? What if the power is out and the gas is off and there's no way to cook? What happens then? Horton's answer, in not so many words, is that it gets scary.
And I don't mean scary in an Eighties slasher flick kind of scary. I mean, I remember being scared out of my wits by Freddie Krueger as a kid. The Borrowed World, however, is totally different because it's so realistic. I always knew, deep down, that no badly burnt, glove wearing whackadoo was going to come to me in my dreams and kill me. Even if some psycho started chopping up kids at a campground, it would be over the FIRST TIME they killed him. It was all so easy to come down from after the show was over.
Reading the Borrowed World Series is not like that. There is absolutely nothing in the story that is impossible or even that unlikely given the circumstances. Jim and friends struggle with the bad guys and at times with each other. The bad guys really just want what the good guys want, only in most cases they weren't prepared for the inevitable collapse of society. Jim was. He's a prepper who has done an absolute buttload of work ahead of time so that when it all goes down he's got what he needs.
The Borrowed World is definitely dystopic, but it's not all bad. I'd actually refer to Horton's work as flat out superversive. Jim and friends don't have it easy, but they work together to overcome whatever is in front of them. If it seems like there's always something, that's life as a character in a book. I feel for them but I wouldn't want the story to get boring. The bottom line is that they never give up and never give in. And if there is a bit of Southern Justice along the way, then that's what's necessary. (I wonder what my odds of getting Franklin Horton and Jack July together for a drink would be?)
Oh, and don't get too fond of too many of these characters. Horton may not be George RR Martin's long lost little brother, but then again, he might be. Not everyone I wanted to still be here is still here. As a matter of fact, Horton killed off my two favorite characters. I'm not going to tell you who they were, but I think you'll like them too. I think you'll like the whole series come to that. And yes, it was worth the heartbreak.
Bottom line: 5.0 out of 5 Go Bags
The Borrowed World Series
Franklin The Borrowed World Series
Self Published, 2015-2019
The Borrowed World books are available for purchase at the following links. If you click the link and buy literally anything off of Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.
Friday, January 31, 2020
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Jason Cordova's Wraithkin
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So what has eugenics, mecha, aliens, space travel and lots of cool fights? If you answered Wraithkin by Jason Cordova you'd be right. If you answered something else let me know. I love this stuff!
I came at Wraithkin cold. I think I've read a short or two by Mr. Cordova but I seem to have managed to avoid his novels up to this point. That stops now. Wraithkin was a thouroughly entertaining read of the you-can't-make-me-stop-reading-and-go-do-something-productive-if-I-don't-wanna sort. Except maybe I did do some stuff that I had to do, but it was under protest. No system is perfect, I guess.
Speaking of Imperfect...
The society in Wraithkin is divided between Perfects, who have had all susceptibilty to all diseases bred out of them, and Imperfects who have a genetic susceptibilty to one or more diseases. The differences in how society treats the two different groups is huge and really forms the basis of the book. At the end of the day though, that's not all Wraithkin is about.
Our hero is a man named Gabriel Espinoza and he goes through a lot. I don't want to spoil too much here, but let's just say his life is turned upside down in one day and it just gets worse from there. He goes from an idyllic life to the furnace of combat and not all of the transformation is intentional on his part. This is a guy I really like because he takes it on the chin repeatedly and just keeps fighting.
I mean seriously, I remember many moons ago when I was taught the tenets of Tae Kwon Do in a class I took after school. One of them was indomitable will. Espinoza has that in spades. Not all of what he does is, strictly speaking, intelligent or sane, but it's all in service of a goal and he refuses to give up. In the face of some of the worst adversity I've ever seen a character go through (and I've read a Song of Ice and Fire) he perserveres. Espinoza is the man.
Espinoza is a man who has understandable motivations. I'm not saying that everything he does is governed strictly by logic. Gabriel is neither Spock nor Data. He is a complicated man of emotion. The fact remains that you can understand why he is doing what he is doing. That's a big thing for me. I like being able to follow characters as they go through their lives and find myself nodding. The love of a woman is a powerful thing and has inspired many men to do things they maybe shouldn't have. Gabriel is no exception and I get that. I even admire it. He makes the sacrifices that come with the territory in full knowledge of what the consequences are going to be. He inspires his men to follow him with them knowing what they're going to face not just if they fail, but also of they succeed.
His friends are just as crazy as he is. It seems that the Wraith corps, from which Wraithkin takes its name, is made up of people who are more than just a little off. They recruit insane individuals on purpose. The reasons for doing so are fairly obvious once you've read the book. Crazy is not just an attitude, it's a mission profile. Wraiths are people that don't matter. No one cares if they get killed. It allows the use of tactics that no real world military would even think of attempting. Seriously, if you could find a lunch table full of ten year old boys they couldn't come up with stuff this whacky. Yeah, I said it. It's to Cordova's credit that he makes it believable and engaging.
Also, I have to take a second out to talk about the Wraiths themselves. No, not the soldiers. The Wraiths pilot mecha called, well, Wraiths. I want one. Actually, I take that back. I want several. These things are fast, maneuverable, well armed and extremely heavily armored. They have manipulator arms and can handle things. I want to take a ride in one and blow some stuff up. I may be a bit too sane, but hey, that's life, right?
Cordova is a veteran and it shows in his work. Wraithkin is above all a work of Military Science Fiction. The atmosphere in the book has a strong military flavor as modifed for a total lack of sanity. Discipline is maintained while banter is conducted. The chain of command exists and has to be modified at times due to combat losses. The tactics used make sense. In this sense, it doesn't feel like a table full of ten years olds. Well, with the possible exception of one particular landing. I'll leave that to it's place in the book though.
Of course, with all of this military stuff going on, I have to mention the action and combat sequences. I loved it. There is plenty of blowuptuation to go around. The enemy is scary enough to be believable and appears to be up to more than what we're told up front. I like that. And Cordova seems to remember a saying I've heard reported often. “If you're short of everything except the enemy, you're in combat.” Seriously, it can get annoying when authors ignore that every weapon requires ammunition. And, if you've ever read anything about military planning, you're always advised to assume that your enemy is at least as smart as you are. Cordova gets that as well.
Wraithkin is the first book in a series and I can't wait to get to the rest of it. There are obvious lead-ins to what comes next. There is a mystery here. The war is still ongoing. There is something I'm not talking about. In short, there is more to come and I want to know what it is. There is literally no higher compliment I can give an author. I consumed what he had to give me and I want more. I'll be looking for it.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Imperfect Genes
Wraithkin
Jason Cordova
Theogony Books, 2017
Wraithkin is available for purchase at the following link. If you click it and buy literally anything, I get a small percentage.
So what has eugenics, mecha, aliens, space travel and lots of cool fights? If you answered Wraithkin by Jason Cordova you'd be right. If you answered something else let me know. I love this stuff!
I came at Wraithkin cold. I think I've read a short or two by Mr. Cordova but I seem to have managed to avoid his novels up to this point. That stops now. Wraithkin was a thouroughly entertaining read of the you-can't-make-me-stop-reading-and-go-do-something-productive-if-I-don't-wanna sort. Except maybe I did do some stuff that I had to do, but it was under protest. No system is perfect, I guess.
Speaking of Imperfect...
The society in Wraithkin is divided between Perfects, who have had all susceptibilty to all diseases bred out of them, and Imperfects who have a genetic susceptibilty to one or more diseases. The differences in how society treats the two different groups is huge and really forms the basis of the book. At the end of the day though, that's not all Wraithkin is about.
Our hero is a man named Gabriel Espinoza and he goes through a lot. I don't want to spoil too much here, but let's just say his life is turned upside down in one day and it just gets worse from there. He goes from an idyllic life to the furnace of combat and not all of the transformation is intentional on his part. This is a guy I really like because he takes it on the chin repeatedly and just keeps fighting.
I mean seriously, I remember many moons ago when I was taught the tenets of Tae Kwon Do in a class I took after school. One of them was indomitable will. Espinoza has that in spades. Not all of what he does is, strictly speaking, intelligent or sane, but it's all in service of a goal and he refuses to give up. In the face of some of the worst adversity I've ever seen a character go through (and I've read a Song of Ice and Fire) he perserveres. Espinoza is the man.
Espinoza is a man who has understandable motivations. I'm not saying that everything he does is governed strictly by logic. Gabriel is neither Spock nor Data. He is a complicated man of emotion. The fact remains that you can understand why he is doing what he is doing. That's a big thing for me. I like being able to follow characters as they go through their lives and find myself nodding. The love of a woman is a powerful thing and has inspired many men to do things they maybe shouldn't have. Gabriel is no exception and I get that. I even admire it. He makes the sacrifices that come with the territory in full knowledge of what the consequences are going to be. He inspires his men to follow him with them knowing what they're going to face not just if they fail, but also of they succeed.
His friends are just as crazy as he is. It seems that the Wraith corps, from which Wraithkin takes its name, is made up of people who are more than just a little off. They recruit insane individuals on purpose. The reasons for doing so are fairly obvious once you've read the book. Crazy is not just an attitude, it's a mission profile. Wraiths are people that don't matter. No one cares if they get killed. It allows the use of tactics that no real world military would even think of attempting. Seriously, if you could find a lunch table full of ten year old boys they couldn't come up with stuff this whacky. Yeah, I said it. It's to Cordova's credit that he makes it believable and engaging.
Also, I have to take a second out to talk about the Wraiths themselves. No, not the soldiers. The Wraiths pilot mecha called, well, Wraiths. I want one. Actually, I take that back. I want several. These things are fast, maneuverable, well armed and extremely heavily armored. They have manipulator arms and can handle things. I want to take a ride in one and blow some stuff up. I may be a bit too sane, but hey, that's life, right?
Cordova is a veteran and it shows in his work. Wraithkin is above all a work of Military Science Fiction. The atmosphere in the book has a strong military flavor as modifed for a total lack of sanity. Discipline is maintained while banter is conducted. The chain of command exists and has to be modified at times due to combat losses. The tactics used make sense. In this sense, it doesn't feel like a table full of ten years olds. Well, with the possible exception of one particular landing. I'll leave that to it's place in the book though.
Of course, with all of this military stuff going on, I have to mention the action and combat sequences. I loved it. There is plenty of blowuptuation to go around. The enemy is scary enough to be believable and appears to be up to more than what we're told up front. I like that. And Cordova seems to remember a saying I've heard reported often. “If you're short of everything except the enemy, you're in combat.” Seriously, it can get annoying when authors ignore that every weapon requires ammunition. And, if you've ever read anything about military planning, you're always advised to assume that your enemy is at least as smart as you are. Cordova gets that as well.
Wraithkin is the first book in a series and I can't wait to get to the rest of it. There are obvious lead-ins to what comes next. There is a mystery here. The war is still ongoing. There is something I'm not talking about. In short, there is more to come and I want to know what it is. There is literally no higher compliment I can give an author. I consumed what he had to give me and I want more. I'll be looking for it.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Imperfect Genes
Wraithkin
Jason Cordova
Theogony Books, 2017
Wraithkin is available for purchase at the following link. If you click it and buy literally anything, I get a small percentage.
Friday, January 17, 2020
Depression Sucks
First off the disclaimer: This is not a desperate cry for help. I already got some help. I may need some again in the future but for right now, I'm good. My point to writing this is that I hope to save a life. It would be better if no one needed this, but I did and I know others have suffered and died because of this and now it's my time to do two things:
One: I want to let all of you out there who are suffering know that it's possible to get help.
Two: I want to let all of you out there who have lost someone that it's not your fault. There is literally nothing you could have done.
I see you wondering out there. Suffering from what? Lost someone to what?
What I'm talking about here is depression and suicide. Why am I the one writing this? Because I just got out of inpatient treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts on Tuesday. Yes, I really mean that. Your whacky, zany SF/F loving weirdo blogger was stuck on the couch trying to figure out how to off himself two weeks ago yesterday.
Yeah that was me. I was watching my Rudy DVD and going through options. I didn't have my guns anymore. I had heard that you could overdose on Tylenol, but I googled that and it was horrifying. Something I wanted to have done in seconds or minutes at worst would have taken days or maybe weeks. I didn't have the stomach for that. I thought about slitting my wrists but that doesn't always work. I remembered reading a newspaper article a long time ago about a couple that had gone on a crime spree and had murdered people by injecting them with bleach, but I didn't have a needle. I thought about getting some kind of street drug and overdosing with it but I've never used street drugs ever and didn't know where to get them. If I still had my guns I probably wouldn't be here.
No, I'm not making that up. That all actually happened. I was done. I was at a place where things were going badly and I was absolutely, positively one hundred percent certain that it wasn't going to get better and that it was my fault. My sister had offered help. Amy did her best to get me back to working on myself and doing what I needed to do. It didn't work. That wasn't because she had done anything wrong but because I wasn't in a place where I could accept the help. If you've lost someone, read that part again.
I couldn't accept the help. It didn't matter how much sense she made or how right she was. I was not mentally capable of getting myself over that hump.
I've read a lot about addiction and how someone who is hooked on a substance needs to want the help, that nothing someone else says or does can save the addict if they don't want to get better. I'm not sure if I believed that a month ago, but I damn sure do now. Why? Because depression is the same way.
Seriously. The mess that led to my depression was self made. Amy was trying to get me moving forward. She wanted me to work on the issues that had caused my frustration. It was good advice. I just couldn't bring myself to act the way I had acted for literally my entire life.
When you're in the pit though (and it feels how I always thought the Pit of Hell would feel like) common sense doesn't matter. Someone else's intelligence doesn't matter and yu're not really capable of using your own.
This whole thing kind of caught me off guard. Physically and mentally I've always thought of myself as being pretty tough. I'm the guy who had surgery on one foot and then went to karate practice the next day. I got chewed out by my doctor for doing it. When I had surgery on my other foot for the exact same thing, I didn't go to karate practice the next day. I went to the park and played football. I got chewed out again. I know quite a few people with gout, but I'm the only person I know that has gone to work with an active flare up. I've been in fist fights. I've won some and I've lost some. I've been homeless and living in a motel and made it through. I watched my life fall apart when I split up with my ex-wife and I came out smiling. I've been through all the ups and downs: Got jobs, lost jobs, got put on academic probation and graduated with honors. I've had times where it felt like I could do whatever I wanted and I've been to jail. After all of it I kept the memories and moved on. Sometimes I celebrated, sometimes I've mourned but I've always been okay. Okay, that is, until depression came knocking.
I am here to tell you that depression made me its bitch. It beat me to the ground. I wasn't begging for my life because I wasn't sure I wanted to be alive anymore. I was done. I had gone through what I needed to deal with mentally. I had forced myself to live to reach certain things: My family Christmas party that I ended up skipping because I couldn't get off the couch. My kid dancing the Nutcracker with the Moscow Ballet. I couldn't be the guy who killed himself on Christmas right? And I promised work I'd be there for New Year's Eve. I better show up for that.
But then it was January. The holidays were over. I was really proud of my kid, but the performance was over. I didn't have to worry abour her crying because Daddy hadn't been there because he had been. As sad as it sounds, all of the reasons that I had created to live were gone. I couldn't find a reason that I still needed to be here. I was sure that I didn't want to be here. And if you don't or want need something then there's no reason to have it.
Thank God for my kids. I was laying on my couch. The house was silent. I was trapped, once again, in the loop of how to do it. As I lay there feeling hopeless, I looked up. I have an old-school entertainment center. I could see a picture of my daughters through the window on one side of. My oldest was kneeling next to my youngest. It was obviously a pose, but they looked so happy. Was losing their father going to take that from them? Was my killing myself going to put them in the same place I was in now? I'll never know the answer to that question for sure, but it definitely could have been yes. I know how bad it hurt when I lost my dad and he didn't do it on purpose.
I looked back at the movie. The crowd was chanting Rudy. He got into the game. They carried him off of the field. On the screen was a guy who had achieved his dream. A man who had never let anyone tell him he couldn't. On the couch was a guy who was about to do something that would damage two little girls who had done nothing to deserve it. A guy who was about to give up because he didn't see a way out. A guy whose kids were staring at him through the glass, watching him about to take his own life. The situation was bleak.
At that moment though, it occurred to me that I could make it... maybe. My kids needed me to not give up. I've often told them that I would do anything for them. So, I decided to do the unthinkable for them: I decided to live. Being a Christian man, I prayed for strength. I prayed for life. I prayed for wisdom in where to find help because I knew I wasn't strong enough to make it on my own. Then I got into my car and I drove to the hospital.
I want to take a second and explain part of the philosophy of One James Ricky McCoy, Jr. I am a Christian. I believe in the healing power of Christ. I believe that God can make things right with mercy and power alone. I also believe that when you pray for healing (or anything else for that matter) God has the authority to grant your prayer using whatever method He decides to and for His own reasons. Personally, if God had miracled my depression away, I'd have been grateful. That's not what happened.
God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, decided to send me to get help from medical professionals and counsellors instead. I am not a bad Christian because I sought help on a secular level. God granted my prayer by sending me the help that I needed. Oh and, for the record, as a Christian I also believe that all affliction comes from Satan. Anything that opposes the works of Satan is a good thing. Doctors are doing the Lord's work whether they know it or not.
At any rate, other than having kids, getting help was the smartest thing I have ever done. I'll be honest here: The Emergency Room staff was polite but not very helpful. I spent four days waiting for a bed in the facility that I was supposed to be in. They put me on some medicine and fed me and that's about it. After four days, I got to a place called Common Ground.
Life got much better once I arrived there. They put me in the Crisis Residential Unit (CRU). I got some counseling. I got to talk to some people who were dealing with the same stuff I was. I continued on the medicine. After the hell of depression, the CRU was probably the closest I'm going to get to heaven while I still have a heartbeat. And, thanks to them, I plan on continuing to have one.
I knew that I had turned a corner one day when, from one of the computers in the CRU, I posted a request on my Facebook page (where I get my comments about my blog than I ever dreamed of getting on my blog) for people to suggest books for my Memorial Day event here at Jimbo's. Instead of staying home from work because “Who cares? Dead people don't need money.” I was actually planning for the future. Thanks to all who responded to that. Once I realized what I had done and what it meant, I realized that I really was going to make it. God had brought me out of the fire. He must have had his reasons.
I also regained the ability to write fiction while I was in there. I hadn't committed a single word to the page since Mid-November. I did somewhere in the neighborhood of six thousand words while I was in there on top of a couple of blog posts. My brain was functioning again! I felt so much better. If you haven't been through it you don't know but trying to push out content when you don't have the energy to stand up and walk across the room is hard. It was easy while I was living there. When my time was up, I was almost sad to go. I'm doing much better.
Before I end this, I need to recognize one spectacular individual. My oldest daughter Riley was my rock through this. She listened to me cry every day while I drove her home from school. It blows my mind that I acted like that. I spent about ten years dating/married to her mother who saw me cry twice. Riley saw me cry five times in a week.
To Riley:
I'm sorry, baby. Daddy shouldn't have put you through that. But honey, you were my strength at a time in life when I should have been yours. Your ability to listen and take in what I was saying amazes me. Most adults couldn't have done what you did. I love you with all my heart, kid. I always will. I live for you and your sister. I hope that everyone out there reading this can have one person in their life that is as amazing as my daughter.
There will never be a time in my life as amazing as the first time someone handed me a burrito wrapped baby and spoke the words, “Congratulations, Dad.” It may be my honor to give you away at a wedding someday, but I will never give you up. Thank you so much for what you did. I'll never be able to make it up to you but I'll never forget it and I'll never stop being grateful for it. There's a reason I've called you and Sealy “Daddy's Special Girls” from the day you were born, but even I didn't realize how special you really were. I love you.
And I love all of you reading this as well. You'll be hearing from me again soon and for the foreseeable future.
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Declan Finn's Deus Vult: Saint Tommy, NYPD Book 6
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Remind me never to take a trip with Saint Tommy. Not ever. This guy has all the bad luck. I mean, it's not that I don't want to serve God. It's more like I don't want to be eaten by something along the way. Seriously. Being shot or blown up is one thing, but some of the stuff this guy faces...
Oi
Anyway...
I'm not going to identify the big bad in Declan Finn's Deus Vult: Saint Tommy NYPD Book 6. It's not obvious from the title, so that makes it a spoiler. I will say that I enjoyed it. I was legitimately worried this time. Wow. That's a rough one to face down. I think I'd just poop my pants and run as fast as I could in another direction. I'm not worried about which direction, just one of them. This is one of those times when you want to cross universes and have Scotty beam you up so you can warp out of the system. Well, unless the Doctor is in town. That would work too, and one can't be picky while being attacked by something that they can't handle.
Some of you are thinking I'm exaggerating right now. I'm not. Some forces are just not to be trifled with. I think that just might be one of them. If you haven't read the book you're wondering what I'm talking about. That's good. Turn your ads on for my blog only. There will be a link at the end of the review so you can go buy it.
Of course, something that Finn has done consistently over his entire Saint Tommy series is to mix in elements of horror. None of the later books can match the first novel, Hellspawn for being true horror. That one had me shaking in my shoes and, while I absolutely loved it, was a lot closer to Stephen King or Dean Koontz than my normal fare. Deus Vult, however, has some real elements of horror to it. Finn mixes it in really well.
I may never go into a haunted house again.
Then again, I might. IF I can get my daughter to read this, just so I can see the look of terror on her face when she walks into it having read it. Deus Vult definitely has some nightmare type sequences and that's awesome. You never know what's going to happen or how things are going to go when Saint Tommy gets himself in trouble. Finn always finds new and inventive ways to torture his characters.
I love it. Then again, I'm a Dungeon Master who as been known to steal ideas from time to time. I think maybe I shouldn't let my players read this one. There are a few things here that I could use that they wouldn't have seen before and there's nothing like dropping something new on a veteran gamer to remind them that they don't always know what's up my sleeve.
We get to see a bit more of Tommy's family this time around than we did in past books and I really like that. Deus Vult starts with the family away from home and so Mariel, Tommy's wife, and the kids are not just around, but involved in ways that they haven't been before, at least for the kids.
The supporting cast is, of course, bigger than just Tommy's family. His NYPD parter Alex and Father Pearson are both back as well. Alex is a good guy and is someone good to have at your back. He's kind of a modern day Samwise Gamgee, but taller. Father Pearson is both a good guy and a bit of an enigma. It's like he's a basic decent dude but he has a back story we don't know everything about yet. "Combat Exorcist" is a good title but even that might not cover everything the guy can do. He also appears to have some high level contacts that we may not be aware of. I'm watching that guy. Something more is coming from him. I'm just not sure what yet.
It's weird, but it was kind of good to welcome back an old enemy as well. Sometimes as fans of Speculative Fiction in general we can forget about the old bad guys who aren't quite dead yet. Or more to the point, the authors can. I can think of one particular series that was a collaboration between John Ringo and David Weber...
Nevermind
This time around though, we get to welcome him back with open arms and a deep desire to see things end the way they should have before, but it's not just that. Finn gives us a look at another side of the dude and shows that sometimes even the slimy types have a code. It might not be a good code. It might not be one we'd agree with. A code is a code nonetheless and it adds a lot to a character when it hadn't been revealed previously.
I had heard that Finn originally intended for this to be the last book in the Saint Tommy series and the last few pages show that. It really felt like he was tying this thing up to put it to bed. That was a bittersweet thing. Of course, it's always good to come to the end of a saga and find out how it ends. Who can forget the scene at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters or the party on the Forest Moon of Endor as ends of their respective tales? Then again, who was happy that we wouldn't be getting any more Harry Potter or Star Wars? (And yes, we've had more Star Wars, but who knew that would happen at the time?) In this case though, I'm happy to report that there are more books planned. I should even know how many but I don't remember right now. I'll just be glad to see more. Maybe we'll get to find out more about Father Pearson. I'll be waiting with bated breath.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Wicked Teeth
Deus Vult: Saint Tommy, NYPD Book 6
Declan Finn
Silver Empire, 2019
Deus Vult, Saint Tommy NYPD Book 6 is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no cost to you.
Remind me never to take a trip with Saint Tommy. Not ever. This guy has all the bad luck. I mean, it's not that I don't want to serve God. It's more like I don't want to be eaten by something along the way. Seriously. Being shot or blown up is one thing, but some of the stuff this guy faces...
Oi
Anyway...
I'm not going to identify the big bad in Declan Finn's Deus Vult: Saint Tommy NYPD Book 6. It's not obvious from the title, so that makes it a spoiler. I will say that I enjoyed it. I was legitimately worried this time. Wow. That's a rough one to face down. I think I'd just poop my pants and run as fast as I could in another direction. I'm not worried about which direction, just one of them. This is one of those times when you want to cross universes and have Scotty beam you up so you can warp out of the system. Well, unless the Doctor is in town. That would work too, and one can't be picky while being attacked by something that they can't handle.
Some of you are thinking I'm exaggerating right now. I'm not. Some forces are just not to be trifled with. I think that just might be one of them. If you haven't read the book you're wondering what I'm talking about. That's good. Turn your ads on for my blog only. There will be a link at the end of the review so you can go buy it.
Of course, something that Finn has done consistently over his entire Saint Tommy series is to mix in elements of horror. None of the later books can match the first novel, Hellspawn for being true horror. That one had me shaking in my shoes and, while I absolutely loved it, was a lot closer to Stephen King or Dean Koontz than my normal fare. Deus Vult, however, has some real elements of horror to it. Finn mixes it in really well.
I may never go into a haunted house again.
Then again, I might. IF I can get my daughter to read this, just so I can see the look of terror on her face when she walks into it having read it. Deus Vult definitely has some nightmare type sequences and that's awesome. You never know what's going to happen or how things are going to go when Saint Tommy gets himself in trouble. Finn always finds new and inventive ways to torture his characters.
I love it. Then again, I'm a Dungeon Master who as been known to steal ideas from time to time. I think maybe I shouldn't let my players read this one. There are a few things here that I could use that they wouldn't have seen before and there's nothing like dropping something new on a veteran gamer to remind them that they don't always know what's up my sleeve.
We get to see a bit more of Tommy's family this time around than we did in past books and I really like that. Deus Vult starts with the family away from home and so Mariel, Tommy's wife, and the kids are not just around, but involved in ways that they haven't been before, at least for the kids.
The supporting cast is, of course, bigger than just Tommy's family. His NYPD parter Alex and Father Pearson are both back as well. Alex is a good guy and is someone good to have at your back. He's kind of a modern day Samwise Gamgee, but taller. Father Pearson is both a good guy and a bit of an enigma. It's like he's a basic decent dude but he has a back story we don't know everything about yet. "Combat Exorcist" is a good title but even that might not cover everything the guy can do. He also appears to have some high level contacts that we may not be aware of. I'm watching that guy. Something more is coming from him. I'm just not sure what yet.
It's weird, but it was kind of good to welcome back an old enemy as well. Sometimes as fans of Speculative Fiction in general we can forget about the old bad guys who aren't quite dead yet. Or more to the point, the authors can. I can think of one particular series that was a collaboration between John Ringo and David Weber...
Nevermind
This time around though, we get to welcome him back with open arms and a deep desire to see things end the way they should have before, but it's not just that. Finn gives us a look at another side of the dude and shows that sometimes even the slimy types have a code. It might not be a good code. It might not be one we'd agree with. A code is a code nonetheless and it adds a lot to a character when it hadn't been revealed previously.
I had heard that Finn originally intended for this to be the last book in the Saint Tommy series and the last few pages show that. It really felt like he was tying this thing up to put it to bed. That was a bittersweet thing. Of course, it's always good to come to the end of a saga and find out how it ends. Who can forget the scene at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters or the party on the Forest Moon of Endor as ends of their respective tales? Then again, who was happy that we wouldn't be getting any more Harry Potter or Star Wars? (And yes, we've had more Star Wars, but who knew that would happen at the time?) In this case though, I'm happy to report that there are more books planned. I should even know how many but I don't remember right now. I'll just be glad to see more. Maybe we'll get to find out more about Father Pearson. I'll be waiting with bated breath.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Wicked Teeth
Deus Vult: Saint Tommy, NYPD Book 6
Declan Finn
Silver Empire, 2019
Deus Vult, Saint Tommy NYPD Book 6 is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no cost to you.
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by John Ringo and Larry Correia
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Wow. I'm like embarrassed to say that Ilike, totally just read this. Like, OH MY GOD. Like, I'm so amazed that it took this long to like read something written by like two of my favorite like authors. I can't believe that I like, didn't get to it SOOOO much sooner. It's like crazy. Like what? Oh, I'm totally talking about Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. It's like the coolest thing ever, okay? What, I'm supposed to tell you why? Like how does that work? Like I have to do the work here? Like how is that fair?
Ok, so it's totally set in the Eighties. I'm so old that I like, totally remember the Eighties so it was fun.
And like, I totally hate valley girl so I'm like, totally gonna stop writing that way OK?
I'm glad it's okay. I was starting to annoy myself. I know one girl who used to speak valley girl and she drove me crazy. (OH MY GO-ODD!) I'll spare the rest of you the hassle. Although, honestly, if you've read the book then you know why the valley girl. If not, you'd best find out. I mean seriously.
Listen, this is my blog. I get free books from people that want their stuff reviewed. I started this thing to feed my reading habit and save money simultaneously without having to give my books back. It was a good thing. For the rest of you, I'm assuming that you've also got book habits (otherwise why would you be here?) and don't get free stuff from people that you then owe reviews to. (But if you do, let me know because I want to check your stuff out.) I don't always have time to read stuff from my favorites because I'm often reading something that I was given. Most people don't have that problem. (But it's free books, so is it really a problem?)
Anyway, if you like the same kind of books that I do, and I'm assuming you do, then these guys should be two of your favorite authors too. I mean seriously, Correia has created one of the coolest Hidden World universes of all time. The Monster Hunter International milieu is amazing. It's like an action flick crossed with gun porn with just a dash of competence porn, this is the universe to be in. The characters in the book seriously do hunt monsters and they really do know their stuff. Usually.
And, of course, John Ringo is best known for his ability to write action as well. His Black Tide Rising series is epic. His Legacy of the Aldenata series is awesome. Those aren't even my two favorite of his series. My favorite one is his Council Wars series, only it didn't sell enough for him to keep pushing them out. I blame all of you. I bought the whole series in Dead Tree Format and own the first three on .mobi.
To say that I was geeked to read this is an understatement. I couldn't wait to get this thing home and rifle through it at high speed. I wasn't disappointed. Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge is a high speed thrill ride. I mean, we go from place to place and fight to fight with almost no break. Things go bump and then they go boom. In spite of all the action, it's not just an action book though.
Our main character is a medically retired Marine named Chad and he's on a mission from God. He means that literally. Despite that though, he's not exactly a pure soul. As a matter of fact he seems to have a thing for the ladies. A very strong thing for the ladies. I guess you could say he's hornier than a devil. Combine "horny" with "sent by the Almighty" and you get a weird mix for sure. That's okay though, because it sure is entertaining.
Fans of the MHI universe will also be familiar with a character named Milo. Milo plays pretty heavily into Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. I really liked that. We don't get to see as much of him as we should in the main stories, so it's good to see some backstory for him. And if you love guns then you can't miss Milo. That's his thing. Milo is my guy. Oh, and if you like Agent Franks, he's here too. And really who doesn't love Agent Franks?
The villains in the book tend to be what they always have been: Everything from any mythos anywhere on the planet and anything else that the author can cook up. That's the great thing about MHI in general. You never know what's coming next because the hunters never know what's coming next. That creates a high amount of suspense and keeps you in the book.
It took me less than a day to get through Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. For me, that's fast. I couldn't put this one down. It's always fun to see a collaboration between two of my favorite authors, but it's even better when it's two veteran authors. A lot of the collaborations I've read, especially from Baen, have been between an established author and a relatively new author but this time around it's two mature, established authors. You can kind of feel the difference. I'm sure it made the publisher happy because both authors already have huge followings, but it made life good for me too.
Of course, this is the first in the Monster Hunter Memoirs series and I haven't read any of the rest of them because I always read a series in order. I can't wait. I knew this was going to rock and I wasn't wrong. There is a lot more to explore. And I do mean explore. I don't even know if the Memoirs series has the same main character throughout or if it's a series of memoirs of separate hunters. I'll be headed either to my local book store or to Kindle as soon as I can so I can find out. I hope to see you there.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Webbed Victims
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge
John Ringo and Larry Correia
Baen Books, 2016
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge is available at the following link. If you click it and buy anything on Amazon I get a small percentage at no cost to you.
Wow. I'm like embarrassed to say that Ilike, totally just read this. Like, OH MY GOD. Like, I'm so amazed that it took this long to like read something written by like two of my favorite like authors. I can't believe that I like, didn't get to it SOOOO much sooner. It's like crazy. Like what? Oh, I'm totally talking about Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. It's like the coolest thing ever, okay? What, I'm supposed to tell you why? Like how does that work? Like I have to do the work here? Like how is that fair?
Ok, so it's totally set in the Eighties. I'm so old that I like, totally remember the Eighties so it was fun.
And like, I totally hate valley girl so I'm like, totally gonna stop writing that way OK?
I'm glad it's okay. I was starting to annoy myself. I know one girl who used to speak valley girl and she drove me crazy. (OH MY GO-ODD!) I'll spare the rest of you the hassle. Although, honestly, if you've read the book then you know why the valley girl. If not, you'd best find out. I mean seriously.
Listen, this is my blog. I get free books from people that want their stuff reviewed. I started this thing to feed my reading habit and save money simultaneously without having to give my books back. It was a good thing. For the rest of you, I'm assuming that you've also got book habits (otherwise why would you be here?) and don't get free stuff from people that you then owe reviews to. (But if you do, let me know because I want to check your stuff out.) I don't always have time to read stuff from my favorites because I'm often reading something that I was given. Most people don't have that problem. (But it's free books, so is it really a problem?)
Anyway, if you like the same kind of books that I do, and I'm assuming you do, then these guys should be two of your favorite authors too. I mean seriously, Correia has created one of the coolest Hidden World universes of all time. The Monster Hunter International milieu is amazing. It's like an action flick crossed with gun porn with just a dash of competence porn, this is the universe to be in. The characters in the book seriously do hunt monsters and they really do know their stuff. Usually.
And, of course, John Ringo is best known for his ability to write action as well. His Black Tide Rising series is epic. His Legacy of the Aldenata series is awesome. Those aren't even my two favorite of his series. My favorite one is his Council Wars series, only it didn't sell enough for him to keep pushing them out. I blame all of you. I bought the whole series in Dead Tree Format and own the first three on .mobi.
To say that I was geeked to read this is an understatement. I couldn't wait to get this thing home and rifle through it at high speed. I wasn't disappointed. Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge is a high speed thrill ride. I mean, we go from place to place and fight to fight with almost no break. Things go bump and then they go boom. In spite of all the action, it's not just an action book though.
Our main character is a medically retired Marine named Chad and he's on a mission from God. He means that literally. Despite that though, he's not exactly a pure soul. As a matter of fact he seems to have a thing for the ladies. A very strong thing for the ladies. I guess you could say he's hornier than a devil. Combine "horny" with "sent by the Almighty" and you get a weird mix for sure. That's okay though, because it sure is entertaining.
Fans of the MHI universe will also be familiar with a character named Milo. Milo plays pretty heavily into Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. I really liked that. We don't get to see as much of him as we should in the main stories, so it's good to see some backstory for him. And if you love guns then you can't miss Milo. That's his thing. Milo is my guy. Oh, and if you like Agent Franks, he's here too. And really who doesn't love Agent Franks?
The villains in the book tend to be what they always have been: Everything from any mythos anywhere on the planet and anything else that the author can cook up. That's the great thing about MHI in general. You never know what's coming next because the hunters never know what's coming next. That creates a high amount of suspense and keeps you in the book.
It took me less than a day to get through Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. For me, that's fast. I couldn't put this one down. It's always fun to see a collaboration between two of my favorite authors, but it's even better when it's two veteran authors. A lot of the collaborations I've read, especially from Baen, have been between an established author and a relatively new author but this time around it's two mature, established authors. You can kind of feel the difference. I'm sure it made the publisher happy because both authors already have huge followings, but it made life good for me too.
Of course, this is the first in the Monster Hunter Memoirs series and I haven't read any of the rest of them because I always read a series in order. I can't wait. I knew this was going to rock and I wasn't wrong. There is a lot more to explore. And I do mean explore. I don't even know if the Memoirs series has the same main character throughout or if it's a series of memoirs of separate hunters. I'll be headed either to my local book store or to Kindle as soon as I can so I can find out. I hope to see you there.
Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Webbed Victims
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge
John Ringo and Larry Correia
Baen Books, 2016
Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge is available at the following link. If you click it and buy anything on Amazon I get a small percentage at no cost to you.
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