Audio Book Review: A science driven vampire novel!

The Passage:  The Passage Trilogy, Book 1

Written by Justin Cronin

Narrated by Scott Brick, Adenrele Ojo and Abby Craden

A variant cover from the one associated with the Audio book but perhaps my favorite of the two.

 

A passing sentiment from the author. Buahahaha.

 

An image I found associated with this online and I wonder which character from the book it represents.

It is pretty much a thirty hour journey into this thirty six hour work of art to find out what the passage is and I’m not really sure I understand the usage yet.  The journey, however, is a fantastic epic covering one hundred years of storyline.  It begins with the US Army undercutting an academic expedition they funded into Bolivia in search of a miraculous breakthrough to make super soldiers.  Typically that is how a lot of nightmares in this day and age begin.  What it turns into is a story of survival for humankind in an environment that rivals those of ‘I am Legend’ and ‘World War Z’.

The story begins in two places.  The tale of a mid-western, down on her luck, waitress who has to do, what a lot of judgy-types might consider unspeakable, things to provide for herself and her daughter.  The tale of a research Doctor who, lost his wife early in her life, wants to find solutions to keep humanity from experiencing that kind of pain.  He organizes an expedition with the help of the US Army into Bolivia chasing something that should have been left alone.

The action and ruthlessness displayed in the scenes of this novel really bring home just how depraved governments and people can be when they really want something badly enough.  I found all the storylines captivating and moving.  There were times when I cheered, ‘yeah, eat shit vampire’; times when I cringed ‘damn, did that have to be that descriptive’; and times when I raged ‘you idiotic fucktard, you deserve a low branch on the Darwin tree’.  It was all fun especially since the author didn’t get into trouble with hand wavy science.  Viruses can cause crazy things  to happen.

Not sure when I will get to the rest of the series but there does seem to be an indication it might go to TV or Movie.  Think I’ll continue with the audio as long as the quality stays up there.  Four out of five stars.

 

 

 

 

http://www.audible.com/pd/Mysteries-Thrillers/The-Passage-Audiobook/B003O9GBFC/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1440518546&sr=1-1

Book Review: Medieval Fantasy…almost to the Bronze Age.

Sunwielder

by D. Wallace Peach

Gryff Worden just wants to live his life, learn his forms, raise horses with his Uncle and be married to his love, Allanna.  The opening of this tale has his family slaughtered and an old woman gives him a mysterious medallion.  He seems to wake from this in ‘a years gone by’ encounter with Lord poopy pants (Brant) and it dawns on him that he has gotten a do-over.

Much of the rest of the book goes on like this with paths of error taken and redone as the medallion spends its power.  The medieval setting is the long lasting war between two kingdoms; Sol’karans and the Aldykarans who had in the past been Masters and slaves respectively.  The Sol’karans want that status to return so they are driving the attack.  The Aldykarans would do better but they’ve spent less time building up for war and definitely less time training for it.  Welcome to the ground hog day of meat grinders.

I enjoyed the character building in this work and to some extent the mythos.  The Edriisans are a war capable people in the middle of these two populations who choose not to war, to live for the day and to be beholden to no other man or kingdom.  Interesting.  It is from an old woman of this bunch that Gryff gets the Sunwield in the first place.

The editing and quality is very good in this book and I feel that all the people in my life that read fantasy, regardless of gender, would enjoy this tale.  I’m giving this work four out of five.

 

 

 

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/425100

Comic Book Review: Z-Men?

Harbinger Volume 1:  Omega Rising

Written by Joshua Dysart

Illustrated by Khari Evans, Lewis Larosa and Ian Hannin

Peter Stanchek has a mentally ill junky friend named Joe.  The two of them escaped from the institution together and have been on the run ever since.  They get by using Peter’s powers to secure food, clothing, transport and…anti-psychotics to keep Joe from totally stepping into the worthless zone.  A side trip to his old neighborhood gets him a chance to hook up with his crush from elementary school, using to force to persuade her of course, then gets him captured by a super philanthropist (villain).

This was a fun read and the art was pretty good.  I especially liked the illustrator(s) delivery of the Harbinger school kids and teachers.  The photo-negative of a Marvel product, Valiant has done an excellent job here making certain they do not fall into that trope.  That being said here is my after-taste.  It feels like a middle finger to, the comic giant that shall not be named again because they have way too much inertia, and as such I respect it but it is not why I read Indie.  I may read volume 2 or I may just move on to original stuff that doesn’t seem like ‘so much sticking it to the man’.

Five entertainment points for the artwork, three for the anti-story gives me a four for overall enjoyment.

 

 

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0979640954?ref_=nav_signin

Audio Book Review: Excellent Story enriched with an Enchanting Voice.

Outcast (Book 2 in the Dragon Sage Chronicles)

Written by CJ McKee

Narrated by Wendy Anne Darling.

Journey of self discovery.  Niamh believes she is a simple farm girl destined to following the tracks of her mother.  Tend the farm, get married, do home crafty things, sell works in the market…until she meets and befriends a dragon.

Descent into communal madness.  A rogue dragon keeps attacking the Thorns farm and the villagers want it stopped in the old way.  The old way is the stupid way.  Offer it a tasty morsel and it will go away, right?  What do you do when you find a god restaurant?

Galddor reconnects with the people of Arydd. Dispelling old (unmarried) wives tales and getting to the bottom of things, the dragon sage arrives.  He speaks with an outcast and determines there is another party toying with the villagers.

Caedmon is a village administrator in training.  As the son of the current administrator he thinks in terms of what will be best for the future of the village though sometimes he veers into ‘what will appease the whiners’ mode.  He has a love interest that may fall apart due to this mode of thought.

The Scene.  The village of Dunsmuir and the Thorns farm are well away from the heady workings of the King of Arydd and the Sovereign Council of Dragons.  It may be a good thing that news does not spread fast in the realms.

I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel to Blood and Bane.  The author is bringing his A-game to world building and adding depth to the people of the realms.  Excellent story crafting in that not every element of fantasy must be present to make an enjoyable work.  I give this a five star rating.  It really is that good.

 

I reviewed this book in e-book form prior to its release. The content is not changed but the quality has soared due to the rich Celtic voice of Wendy Anne Darling.  Available on Audible this is an excellent addition to their catalog as it is a gripping story told in a traditional style.  It is maintaining its five star rating.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Outcast-The-Dragon-Sage-Chronicles/dp/B00Z7EFTTQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439736227&sr=1-1&keywords=Outcast+CJ+McKee

Audio Book Review: Unsuspending Humanity in the Sol System

The Unincorporated War

Written by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin.

Narrated by Eric G. Dove.

 

The sequel to the Unincorporated Man picks up pretty much where the first book left off.  Justin Cord, now the President of the Outer Alliance is leading in a time of war with what used to be called the Terran Confederation.  Hector Sambianco has now decided as President that the real name should be United Human Federation…it has a better spin to his ear.

Battles are raging across Sol system with fleets of OA ships and UHF ships smashing each other to bits over the issue of owning a piece of each other.  Or is that the reason?  Meanwhile, the electronic entities in hiding have emulated their human progenitors and are waging a similar war in the virtual world.  As it turns out…their weapons are way nastier.

I thoroughly enjoyed this follow up and someday I will have a chance to experience more books in this series.  The ending of this one riled me up enough to get the next even if I hadn’t, well played.  One thing I will mention is that switching narrators maybe hurting this product.  There were several word slips an example of which was ‘chairman’ instead of ‘commodore’.   That is the only kind of error that I found.

Four out of five enjoyment points awarded to the Kollins.

 

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Unincorporated-War/dp/B003LTOJ3Q/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Comic Book Review: Better Days and other stories.

Serenity Volume 2

Better Days and Other Stories

Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, Will Conrad and at least 5 others

I got my copy of this volume from my local comic store, Haley’s Comics in Fort Collins, CO.  Let me just say that this volume is an improvement over volume one which had a disproportionate amount of filler in the back.  Volume two has many tales which bring all of the crew of Serenity into the plot.  There are several involving Reavers which are one of my favorite constructs from the TV series and the movie.

My favorite from this book is The Other Half.  This one reminds me of The Illustrated Man in how the multiple stories of how the crew would like to use their new found wealth are told.  All are quite well thought out.  This may also be the first volume which puts forth the vast difference between the Independents and the Alliance.

I giving this work a three out of five for Artwork and Storyline development which means I recommend it but wish the stories meshed better.

 

Read, watch and listen.  Review; try to be positive and legit.  Sell used dead-tree books; don’t return ebooks, movies, audio books because that is theft.

 

 

https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/18-741/Serenity-Volume-2-Better-Days-and-Other-Stories-2nd-Edition-hardcover-collection

Audio Book Review: How many shares are too many?

The Unincorporated Man

Written by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin

Narrated by Todd McLaren

Justin Cord has been awakened from his hidden suspension unit approximately three hundred years after being stored.  His cancer is gone, the world he knew is gone and the one he has woken to, though much better, is painfully flawed to his world view.  Everyone owns shares of people and thinks that is an acceptable practice.

You might consider this story to be rather slow moving and dull.  That would be a wrong assumption.  Hector Sambianco, a constitutional law attorney on special assignment for GCI, is a first class Dill-hole.  He knows what shares of Justin Cord would be worth and he is constantly angling to get him to incorporate though any means available.

Action includes neurolyzers, 24^th century taser,  that disrupt a person’s brain for permanent death; membrane walls that part to let you through instead of doors, until you walk into one that dissolves your body; security robots that have no mercy; psyche audits where nanites are injected into your brain to rewrite aberrant behavior pathways.  That’s enough spoilers to whet your appetite.

The version I consumed was an audio book from audible.  The product was excellent and the narrator did a superb job on gender voices.  Story and delivery get a thumbs up.

 

I like to maintain some consistency in these reviews so this work is getting a five out of five on entertainment points.  Some might think that five out of five is a masterpiece.  I am not that snobby.  Five out of five to me means that I enjoyed it, recommend it and found nothing to detract from it.

 

 

 

 

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Unincorporated-Man-Audiobook/B002V5BJES/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1438441559&sr=1-1