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Book Review: Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z. Danielewski

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5/5 stars. I wish I could rate it higher. This novel might be my favorite that I have ever read! A modern classic. Danielewski has created a masterpiece of modern literature set in the guise of a coming-of-age ghost story about two young people trying to save a pair of horses from slaughter. Having just finished the book (listening to the audio and reading along with the physical book), I still have quite a bit to process about it. There are moments from the tale that I will replay and reread again and again. Susan Dalian does a magnificent job with her narration. Her voice is what I hear when I think of Landry Gatestone and the amazing way MZD constructs this book. This novel will stay with me for years to come. There are many references to Greek mythology, and I understand there are many Easter eggs to MZD’s other stories, but the story itself feels like a Greek myth in its own right. There are moments when the reader will laugh, cry, be afraid for the main characters, despise othe...
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Book Review: No Man’s Land by Richard K. Morgan

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4.5/5 stars. Duncan Silver and other British soldiers from The Great War arrived home in the British Isles to discover that the Fae have magically regrown the forests of England and have taken over much of the land mass of the islands, destroying less populated towns and farms throughout the country. In addition, these evil Fae have also begun kidnapping children, and Duncan has taken it upon himself to travel into the woods and rescue these children from their captors. This new novel from the author of science fiction stories about Takeshi Kovacs, beginning with Altered Carbon, and Grimdark fantasy novels in the Land Fit for Heroes trilogy, returns to Grimdark fantasy with an alternate British history that is well-written and filled with strange, but intriguing, characters. Morgan is one of the most unique writers working in SF&F today. This is his first novel in seven years, and a story that has been well worth the wait. Some people might be disappointed that he has moved away ...
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Time-Marked Warlock (Chronos Chronicles 1) by Shami Stovall

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4/5 stars. This book has an urban fantasy / mystery feel similar to the Dresden files, but with two unique magic systems. One for witches and one for warlocks. Our main character, Adair Finch, used to work side-by-side with his brother, as a private detective solving supernatural mysteries. His brother was killed on a case and Adair has been in a depressed funk since, until one morning at 4:34 AM, a young girl knocks on his apartment door in need of his help to find her mother’s murderer.   Adair has the magical ability to turn back time to a self-marked place, leading to a Groundhog Day type story as we are witness to his repeated efforts to solve the crime. Despite the repetitiveness of the story, we get quite a bit of new information, both about the crime and about Adair’s past, that keeps the reader entertained. I picked this up on the recommendation of another author, Joe Berne, that I follow. I enjoyed it greatly!   In addition, I immersively listened to the story o...
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Book Review: The Children of Strife (Children series book 4) by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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5/5 stars. In this fourth installment of his Children series, Tchaikovsky has written another fascinating space opera about an ever-expanding universe with all of Avrana Kern’s uplifted alien species – in fact, we get a new species - mantis shrimp! This story takes place along three timelines around a new terraformed planet called Marduk. We meet a group of scientists in the ‘First Age’ who were contemporaries to Avrana Kern and left Earth before Kern, on a mission to terraform a planet THEIR way, not believing in Kern’s methods. In the ‘Second Age’ we are introduced to a group of the second wave of Earth descendants to leave the dying planet behind in hopes they can discover a a planet that was successfully terraformed by the ‘ancients.’ Finally, we return to the group from the previous book, Children of Memory, plus the new species of Stomatopod, in the ‘Third Age’ as they have discovered Marduk for the first time. We learn how this group of ancient scientists were able to terraform...
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Book Review: For We Are Many (Bobiverse 2) by Dennis E. Taylor

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4.5/5 stars. In the second installment of the Bobiverse, we are introduced to several more instances of Bob and at least two new species of aliens, one of whom does not seem to be very amenable to the ongoing existence of the Bobs, or any sentient life, in the universe. Can anyone say Borg?!? Once again, Taylor has included action, adventure, humanization of the Bob A.I.s, and several moments of empathy in his unique story of one man’s (A.I. built from a man?’s) continuing exploration of the vast universe. In the search for habitable planets for the remnants of the human population left on the dying Earth, one of the Bobs encounters an alien species, the Others, that can communicate with the Bobs in Mandarin and who see all life as food. They destroy planetary systems to take all the resources, particularly metals, for building and expanding their own hive ships. What can the Bobs do to discourage or stop the attacks of populated systems, even Earth? One of the great aspects of this...
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Book Review: These Burning Stars (The Kindom 1) by Bethany Jacobs

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5/5 stars. This debut novel by Bethany Jacobs is one of the best space opera stories that I have read. I waited to read this book until after the trilogy was complete, but I wish I had started it sooner. This tale is filled with politics, scheming, deception, and the foreshadowing of a coming war. I look forward to completing this trilogy. The Kindom is a political entity that consists of three main branches – the Clerisy (religion and law), the Cloaksaan (the enforcers of law), and the Secretariat (the financial representatives). Jacobs has created some excellent characters for us to follow in this story, with three primary points of view: Esek Nightfoot – a cleric of the Kindom and member of one of the most powerful families, Chono – a cleric and former novitiate of Esek, and Jun Ironway – a caster who specializes in hacking the net for the highest bidder. These main POVs are linked together by another person, who does not have their own POV, but who is present throughout the story...
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Book Review: Daughter of Crows (Academy of Kindness 1) by Mark Lawrence

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5/5 stars. Mark Lawrence is one of my favorite authors and this new book reinforces my opinion of his writing. Lawrence started his career with Prince of Thorns, one of the best Grimdark stories I have ever read. In Daughter of Crows, Lawrence creates another Grimdark world filled with dark beings and the people who follow them. This story has three main points of view: girls in the Academy of Kindness, a younger girl kept as a hostage and tortured in a mansion, and an older-aged woman (Rue) who, we learn, once served as a Kindness. The Academy of Kindness trains young women to be the physical representatives of the Furies on Earth, carrying out vengeance on those who violate the rules of hospitality and kindness. Only three girls from each class of 100 survive to become Kindnesses. Lawrence has crafted an entertaining dark story that kept me turning the pages late into the night. I also want to say that it is refreshing to have a main character who represents the oldest generation ...
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