Comic Book Review: Super hitman rediscovers his way.

Bloodshot Reborn Colorado

Published by Valiant.

Created by Lemire, Suayan, Allen and Baron.

Scientists used nanites to make Ray an unstoppable killing machine for the controllers at Project Rising Spirit. The Geomancer helped him to shed the nanites and come back down to mortal. He reached his breaking point and exiled himself to become a handyman at a Colorado flea bag motel.

Now the nanites are on the lose infecting random people who start going on copy cat shooting sprees. Every new one Ray hears about drives him deeper into shame and depression until he finally accepts…he is still Bloodshot and he must clean this up.

Excellent pacing and artwork. I’m always amazed at the quality of Valiant publishing. Four out five for originality, artwork and quality.

Valiant Entertainment

http://valiantuniverse.com/comics/bloodshot-reborn/

https://www.amazon.com/Bloodshot-Reborn-Colorado-Tp/dp/1939346673/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483916040&sr=1-1&keywords=bloodshot+reborn

Audio Book Review: The Little Big Death

Eon

Written by Greg Bear.

Narrated by Stefan Rudnicki.

On an Earth that has suffered the little death, a limited nuclear war between the US and Russia, there is an uneasy negotiated peace. Russia seems to feel sort of like the Germans did post WW 1 when the enormity of reparations and limitations imposed by the international community settled in. Well opportunity knocks here when the asteroid called the ‘potato’ arrives in Earth orbit and is found to be a starship. A starship with humans on it…or at least there were and they had Earth languages.

Led by the US, that may be for of the fiction these days, the international community minus the Russians populate the ‘potato’ and begin to unravel the mysteries of the seven chambers. The fact that it is bigger on the inside than the outside is driving a lot of them bonkers. The people in charge of the project are trying all they can to keep a lid on predictions that this Earth is about to suffer annihilation.

Excellent book with lots of subplots that I’m sure will re-surge in this series called The Way. The narration was pretty good too with Rudnicki’s vocal range. This one gets four out of five units of pleasant nerdiness. Enjoy!

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Eon-Audiobook/B007MF0J3Y

Audio Book Review: Excellent Dune tale with a little too much data dumping.

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad

Book 1 of the Legends of Dune series.

Written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

Narrated by Scott Brick

Serena Butler is a political activist in the League of Humans because her father is the Viceroy. Well maybe that is how that works. They live on Salusa Secundus which all you Dune fans remember was the prison planet in the original Dune and ruled by the Corin family. Salusa is one of the worlds owned by ‘feral’ humans, those not overlorded by machine intelligences. It is a goal of the Cybermechs and Omnius to consume all of the planets that humans want. Serena doesn’t like that and neither does her heartthrob Xavier Harkonnen.

All the seeds of the series we know are gestated in the telling of this tale in which mankind throws off the yoke of thinking machines and takes back their destiny. I really enjoyed the crafting of this story and the ground work it lays to help see how to reach Frank Herbert’s Dune. The next editions in this series I hope will go a little easier on the Narrator data dump and allow characters to relate the story.

Well done. Giving this one three out of five entertainment units. Enjoy.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Dune-Audiobook/B002V0GCCC#publisher-summary

Book Review: LEO Space Opera with an Unfortunate Ground Story.

SpaceCorp: Book 1 of the Galactican Series

Written by Ejner Fulsang.

Monica and Logan are the perfect couple to lead the charge. Monica is a self taught micro-biologist astronaut who has mad gene stealing skills. Logan redesigned the heavy lift shuttle system before he finished graduate school. Together they advance the toroidal space station design from aluminum to nano-cellulose construction making them resilient against impacts from both stupid and smart debris. In their off hours they enjoy motorcycles and each other. Monica also gets some therapeutic MMA in from time to time.

Meanwhile, on the ground the remnants of the US government and Iran are continuing the losing game of shitty diplomacy. China and India seem to be content to do their own thing and Europe is not even mentioned. Yeah, this part of the story seems a bit myopic portraying the President and all of Congress as prairie dogs afraid to come out of their holes for fear of being shot.

I really liked the space born part of the story, it made quite a bit of sense to innovate using NTRs (Nuclear Thermo Rockets) rather than continue to toil away with chemical. The same goes for the proposal to craft radiation resilient algae to produce nano-cellulose. The ground based drama kind of needed some reworking. The entire book is in definite need of copy editing. I’m giving it a two star out of five due to the Earth based part of the story and the editing. I may still read more in the series because I sense it may take another inspiring techno-turn but if the quality of the next one is not improved then I’m out.

http://www.amazon.com/SpaceCorp-The-Galactican-Series-Volume/dp/099132434X

Audio Book Review: Chasing a Myth to Thwart Extinction

The Lost Starship Book 1

Written by Vaughn Heppner.

Narrated by David Stifel.

Earth apparently is the hub of the human colonization effort for this arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. This has resulted in a Military Service called the StarWatch which patrols and enforces the rules of human space. Now the NewMen have started arriving to advance the Darwinian selection in the direction they think it should go. Captain Maddox of the StarWatch must complete a perilous journey with a sketchy crew of misfits in order to retrieve a mythical Alien battleship from a long lost war. Lots of stuff hangs in the balance during this mission as the NewMen, splinter human colonies and an alien AI push against the effort of Maddox and his bunch.

I enjoyed the story, it was a lot of fun. The framework laid out for star travel in relevant times seem plausible with future discoveries and innovation. Science Fiction does its best work when it gives us something to strive for. I did find that the penal system was a bit over the top harsh, there is room I hope in future volumes to back story how society got to this point. I’m giving this a three out of five satisfaction unit rating. Enjoy!

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Lost-Starship-Audiobook/B00PJDU9FY

Audiobook: Drunk Admiral given charge of Multinational Space Fleet to save Humankind.

The Nelson Touch, Ark Royal Book 2

Written by Christopher G. Nutall.

Narrated by Ralph Lister.

Ark Royal to date is the only carrier capable of standing up to the alien’s weapons due to its antiquated thick armor.  The other carrier commanders in Earth’s armed services found themselves incapable of commanding her because all of their training in newer ships systems left them unable to function effectively when confronted with Ark Royal.  That left a drunkard Commander Ted Smith to have his career salvaged and promoted to Admiral by this book as he was the only successful leader against the Aliens.

Now the Space Lord has placed him in command of a multinational space force tasked with seeking out systems deep in enemy territory and causing massive damage.  The idea is to cripple their ability to make war.  Hmmm, why wouldn’t they have a similar idea?  Makes you wonder.

Kurt Schneider, the last acting CAG from Ark Royal has spent three months at the academy rush training five hundred new star fighter pilots including a Royal.  His marriage is a disaster and the prize money he had won as part of Ark Royals crew is about spent due to his wife…being not a very good wife while he was claiming war stress to not be a very good husband.

The Royal, Prince Henry, has assumed another identity and is now a Star Fighter pilot on Ark Royal.  He certainly gets his head bitten off enough as a Royal, oh wait, he’s in disguise.  He finds solace in the arms of someone who doesn’t know who he is.

There are at least three more story lines embedded in this novel or series and the aliens are just getting interesting.  I will say that I find the Stuffed Chair Club voice of the narrator kind of irritating but the story has me coming back for more.  Three out of five points for this and that is because of deliver.  Who knows, you might like it.

 

 

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Nelson-Touch-Audiobook/B00L5FWT76

Audio Book Review: The Expanse has grown to five!

Nemesis Games

Written by James S. A. Corey.

Narrated by Jefferson Mays.

Now we’re talking. This was book five in the series and the narrator was in top form for this one. Good thing too because this installment was awesome.

Jim Holden is finally learning to keep his trap shut at appropriate times to…at least reduce conflict. The crew of the Rosenante have some down time while their ship gets pieced back together. Well down time is a bit misleading. Alex (the pilot) returns to Mars to reunite with the ex-wife and when that turns out as stupid as it sounds he gets to helping Bobbi (big Samoan Amazon goddess Martian Marine) go chasing down missing Martian Navy ships.

Amos Burton (Ship’s Engineer) returns to Earth to put closure onto his past and finds himself in a struggle for survival. It’s not the kind of struggle you would imagine of an ex-street thug/gangster. The Earth will never be the same.

Naomi (XO) also goes back to her past to try and right things that have been left askew. That goes about as good as anyone else’s plans. She finds that she has to use the inner strength she has acquired over the years to protect her new family, the crew of the Rosenante, from her old family. A bunch of Belter terrorists.

Back to Holden, who is also drawn into a missing ship conspiracy. These are Colony ships going missing past Medina Station and the system linking rings. Not to worry because the proto-molecule does get some story time here.

This does have a lot of potential and I hope the SyFy network doesn’t screw it up or half-ass the TV version due to release in January 2016. The story and narration here win 4 out of 5 starships from me. Good job!

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Nemesis-Games-Audiobook/B00Y1O1FYG

Audio Book Review: Of Fire and Night.

Of Fire and Night

Saga of the Seven Suns Book Five

Written by Kevin J. Anderson.

Narrated by Brilliance Audio.

King Peter and Queen Estara, figurehead rulers of Earth and the Hanziatic League, have quite the problem. His name is Basil Wensaslaus, the Chairman of the Hanziatic League. He thinks everything is his to manage, decide and dispense with. He can’t imagine that anyone else can do anything without his leave to do so. Great problem to be saddled with while at least one set of aliens plans to wipe humanity out of existence.

The Roamers, space gypsies, have a problem too. Hydrogues, Earth Defense Forces (EDF) and Ilderans all want to abuse or destroy them. Their main source of income used to be mining the atmospheres of gas giants for Ecty, starship fuel. Now they have to find other ways to stay in food. They might have to…ring some doorbells.

The Ilderans have partially recovered from the Mad designate but are yet to face the music for their treatment of the Burton survivors. Osirah, the half-breed daughter of the Mage Imperator and Neara the Green Priest, has been inserted as the communications bridge between the Imperator and the Hydrogues. A lot of centuries in the making she delivers unforeseen results.

Prince Daniel, a simpering sod of a put-up job, gets brought out of his induced coma and dropped in Amish world. You got it, right on a steaming pile of goodness.

These and many other story lines are enriched in this, the fifth book in the series. I have nothing detracting to say about this work, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Four out of five entertainment points for this installment.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Of-Fire-and-Night-Audiobook/B002V0TPDA?pcrid=75421048860&mkwid=s_dc&pmt=&source_code=GPAGBSH0508140001&pkw=

Comic Book Review: The third instalment of the hero powered by Maple Syrup!

Captain Canuck Issue 003

Andrasofszky, Kirk, Alleyne, Brisson and Hepburn.

Captain Canuck, Tom Evans, is taking the Equilibrium fleet out to rescue Michael Evans, his brother. Apparently when Tom Evans was a Canadian Army Lieutenant he had to do something similar. By the end of the issue he is is in another time-line. Not sure about how the story lines are being deployed but I’m still a fan.

The art is outstanding and so is the healthy dose of Canadian pop culture. Of the three story lines floating in this issue I will say that I’m more drawn in by the second one, where Tom is dropped into the Arctic to rescue his brother after Michael has made a tremendous discovery. Aleph.

Four out of five stars guys. Make a bigger issue or split out the story lines into separate books. They are starting to blend.

http://view-comic.com/captain-canuck-003-2015/

Audio Book Review: Never Fear, Creed is here!

Assault Troopers

Written by Vaughn Heppner

Narrated by Christian Rummel

Creed is the son of MadDog Creed, a famous space shuttle pilot. He’s been through the school of hard knocks to arrive in Antarctica as site security for a research station. That’s where he is when the aliens arrive in orbit and try to extinguish the human race, his dad being the first casualty.

Another set of aliens arrive, start collecting humans and Creed goes berserker on them because to Earthers one alien looks just like another right? Not to put too many spoilers out there this tale turns into an Interstellar translation of Spartacus. The tech is fun, as is the dialog among the humans, aliens and androids. One thing I found to be kind of tiresome was the sheer number of pop culture references that the author threaded into the story.

Creed is an unlikely savior of humanity but he seems to be the only one stepping up to give it a try and that makes the tale. Narration and voice ranges were excellent. Alien and world building was pretty good too. I’m giving the audio version of this four stars out of five. Space Military Opera, post apocalyptic style.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Assault-Troopers-Audiobook/B00FEIBZ9S