BOOK REVIEWS: Road Kills, by Isaac Thorne; Abandoned, by Tim Walker; The Ballad of Halo Jones, by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson; Generational, by Norman Turrell; Light's Rise, by Yvette Bostic; The Lift; Darkly Dreaming, by Chloe Hammond

Welcome, readers! Our latest selection of reviews covers Roman history and roaming killers, soaring space ships and snarky space heroines, angelic warriors and, perhaps, a devilish girl. But first, let's hit the road, with Isaac Thorne. 

Road Kills, by Isaac Thorne

I had the pleasure some time back of reading and reviewing Diggum, a short story by Isaac Thorne about a gravedigger with murderous intent - and promised myself I'd come back for more of his work.
Road Kills is a collection of his short stories, neatly ordered with a theme of tales that could take place out on the road, where the flash of headlights up ahead could bring a welcoming face or a dangerous stranger.
Some tales are linked - such as the saga of the pretty girl who snaps and goes on a murder spree through several of the stories here - others are standalone.
Particularly creepy was Bedside Manner, telling the story of a little boy haunted by the literal ghost of his father's past mistakes, full of the cloying fear that comes with a childhood bedroom plunged into darkness and parents absolutely failing to realise that the monster really is in the closet.
Hoppers is a revenge tale... about bunnies. For Buffy fans, maybe Anya's fears were well founded.
And sometimes the road is less travelled, such as the detour into space for Safety First, a story of first contact about to go horribly, horribly wrong.
Diggum reappears here too in two forms, both the original short story and a screenplay version. It's the best of the tales to be found in this collection, still as creepy as the graveyards its words frequent, but Bedside Manner is a strong challenger. Not all tales quite caught me - I wasn't keen on the social media-inspired Dislike, and the trio of stories about the killer girl Tiffany weren't my bag. But that's okay, any short story collection will have tales you love more than others.
Sometimes, you catch a single work by a writer and investigating further disappoints - that's far from the case here. I want more.

AI Rating: 4/5

Road Kills is available on Amazon here.

Abandoned, by Tim Walker

Blimey, this is thorough in its exploration of British history! Much credit to author Tim Walker for a well researched story looking at the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain - and the consequences it means for both sides involved.
Abandoned looks at the early part of the Dark Ages, and you can see the amount of effort the author has put in to ensuring accuracy.
The story hops through several of the characters involved in the era - which while helping to cover the scope of events of the time does have a tendency to dilute how we feel about the central characters. Also, I felt it could have used, to quote Elvis, a little less conversation, a little more action. The early part is slow but picks up as sides move into conflict with one another.
Stick with it and you'll find yourself drawn into the details of the battle, as the cut and thrust moves beyond the shaping of empires to the visceral desire to protect family.
In the end, this is a love letter to history, and a credit to the author's passion for his subject.

AI Rating: 4/5

Abandoned is available on Amazon here.

The Ballad of Halo Jones, by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson

I'm not even going to pretend this is a new book to me. I read this first of all issue by issue back when it first appeared in 2000AD. Those issues were much treasured, and well thumbed - so when the complete collection appeared on Kindle, I wasn't hard to convince.
Halo Jones is the heroine we need. Caught in a dead-end world with a family of best fit rather than genetic history, she's trapped. Bored. Almost numbed by an environment that stifles innovation, crushes emotion, drowns out aspiration in a mire of vid soap operas and at its worst leaves hollowed out drum-drum-drummers tuning out the world to listen to a non-stop beat.
But Halo Jones is different. Halo Jones wants out.
It's glorious to revisit the story after all this time, seeing the sub-plots as they play out, noticing the groundwork being laid for tragedy.
Through it all, Halo shines. It's a darn shame that Halo hasn't soared beyond the boundaries of the comic pages - barring for a title appearance in a Transvision Vamp track. She's kickass without being obviously badass. She's a feminist hero in a time when they were few and far between. She's the girl who got out.
The complete collection features three books in total - and they are left poised waiting... waiting... waiting for more. They'll never come now, I'm sure. Moore and Gibson have spent too many years since they left Halo hanging, and rights squabbles seem to have abandoned her on the shores of a distant planet.
But it's brilliant. She's one of the finest comic book characters ever created, and I've loved every moment of being able to hang out with Halo Jones once more.

AI Rating: 5/5

The Ballad of Halo Jones is available on Amazon here.

Light's Rise, by Yvette Bostic

Recently, I read the prequel to the Light in the Darkness series - of which Light's Rise is book one, and it was so entertaining I wanted to read more.
It's an innovative series - starting in the Napoleonic War when a young Austrian soldier finds himself confronted by literal demons. Not inner demons, but the human-consuming kind, and is soon enlisted in a war very different from the one he enlisted for.
He becomes part of a somewhat-superhuman team doing battle with demons across continents and across decades as the underworld creatures seek to subvert the world locked in warfare for their own ends.
The soldier, Darian, finds himself imbued with his own powers which he can use in the battle, as he and his comrades strive to save humanity.
The story is Christian-themed, but not heavily so. The hints of good v evil in the story are subtle and not preaching, and the whole thing reads as a light adventure - I could see it doing awfully well as a manga.
Dashing along at a fair clip, it's a real page-turner - and the finale sets up the next step in the series with... well, that would be saying, wouldn't it?

AI Rating: 4/5

Light's Rise is available on Amazon here.

Generational, by Norman Turrell

Norman Turrell is a thoughtful writer - and Generational is a tale that asks questions of our future.
Set aboard a colony ship orbiting Earth and preparing for its voyage, the story dwells less on the nuts and bolts of the science of the ship, and more on the social science of the humans aboard it.
An early, off-kilter encounter introduces lead character Leyton to a young woman whose role is, as she puts it, a breeder. Or more colourfully a "ghetto-ho" or "ship's bike". She seems unstable, and Leyton is whisked away from her - an early sign that not all is well aboard the ship.
Leyton becomes the explorer guiding the reader as the slightly twisted society on board is revealed - freed from the structures of society down below, the ship has developed its own paths, becoming possibly a powder keg ready to blow... or the only hope of Earth's survival.
It's an unusual story - and I think of that as a good thing. What shape will our future be, what route will our philosophies take us? These are the questions at the heart of Generational - a tale that asks the unexpected.

AI Rating: 4/5

Generational is available on Amazon here.

Darkly Dreaming, by Chloe Hammond

This is an unusual vampire novel. Two divorcees (or near-divorcees) are wrestling with the problems of mid-life, jettisoning their unfulfilling husbands and struggling with work and the prospect of trying to have children - when an encounter leaves them forever changed. They become vampires. Beautiful, ravishing vampires.
They proceed to try to make sense of their lives as they chart their unlife. Their vampire existence brings new passion, occasional accidental lesbianism, and a desire for growth. Eat, Prey, Love, you might say.
I must say this book is not for me - I feel I'm very much not the target audience. It's mildly racy and it's deeply wish fulfillment at work, but if that's what appeals to you, you might want to dip into the first pages preview.
I'm giving it three stars - but not being the intended reader for this, I wouldn't take that as a criticism. I like my vampires darker and more dangerous, whereas with this, being undead has never been so life-affirming.

AI Rating: 3/5

Darkly Dreaming is available on Amazon here.

The Lift, 9 Stories of Transformation

The Lift started life as a spin-off from the Wicked Library podcast - which I've reviewed elsewhere on the blog - but now it has sprung into life as a collection of short stories. Volume one of such in fact, with the tantalising promise of further volumes. 

There is more than a theme at work here, with each story revolving around the character of Victoria, a little girl who plays a music box and offers people a ride in her lift to places which... well, which vary according to the passenger. 

In Brothers' Keeper, for example, two bickering brothers relive the spectres of their carnival past, while creator Daniel Foytik takes a swing at Trump in Buying America. Human Monsters, meanwhile, ventures into an apocalyptic landscape. The settings are abundant, Victoria is the constant. 

The highlight stories for me were Meg Hafdahl's The Barren, a hard-hitting contemplation on infertility and the choices we make; the splendid Cake, by Nelson W Pyles, with that conversation we can never have, with one we have lost - even harder, with one we lost long before their death to the bitter split of a family; and The Final One, by Charles Rakiecz, a time-twisting tale of cause and effect in the crucial moments of personal history. 

Much love has also been poured into the anthology in terms of its presentation - artwork of the music box, poetry and sketches, and even the sheet music for the theme tunes of Victoria, and the sound of the music box itself. 

For that extra love, the book earns an extra star in my ratings - bringing it to a hearty five out of five. 

AI Rating: 5/5

The Lift is available on Amazon here.

You can hear the podcast here.

BOOK REVIEW: The Paper Magician, by Charlie N Holmberg; Light's Dawn, by Yvette Bostic; The Lion and The Tiger, by Lyra Shanti; The Elixir War, by Margena Adams Holmes; Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, by Dennis Detwiller

The Paper Magician, by Charlie N. Holmberg

I don't think I've read a book in such a long time that has left me so... what's the word... ah yes, enchanted.
The Paper Magician is a delight - it is by turns charming, inventive and, well, don't let me get ahead of myself. Let's start at the start.
The splendidly named Ceony Twill is a young magician in a world where those who would wield the arcane arts bond themselves to a particular substance. Ceony longs to wield metal - but a shortage of magicians in the field results in her being assigned to paper magic. She is disappointed, she is petulant - and then she meets her new master.
If Ceony's ambitions are broken, then so is her master Emery Thane's heart. As Ceony learns, so too there are hints that she might help to heal his pain. Indeed, perhaps too, she might learn to love him. Until darker magic intervenes, and what was a battle to learn becomes a battle to survive.
A romance for Harry Potter lovers, this sweet tale is a warm and witty adventure. I don't normally read romance, but this had long lured me in by the time that development unfolded. There are sequels too - and I'm in for more.

AI rating: 5/5

The Paper Magician is available on Amazon here.

Light's Dawn, by Yvette Bostic

Light's Dawn is a prequel for Yvette Bostic's Light in the Darkness series of fantasy novels - which I've not read, but this does an excellent job of whetting the appetite. 

I say fantasy - but this is fantasy within the history of our world, as a merchant turned prisoner of Dutch troops and a Portuguese army scout find their paths being pushed towards one another, even as they seek to survive demons and cultists. 

Bostic has a nice style, and this doesn't feel like an afterthought to the rest of the series, really setting up a mood and feel of its own, and a tense build-up that makes you want to read more. 

The characterisation is nicely done - and seeming opponents are more human than many another author might portray. Captors are not always brutal, comrades are not always trustworthy. 

Well worth a try - and a bargain at just $0.99 as I write this. 

AI rating: 4/5

Light's Dawn is available on Amazon here.

The Lion and The Tiger, by Lyra Shanti

Ahh, love. Delicious love. This spin-off from Shanti's Shiva XIV series is all about the moment of falling in love. In her Shiva series, Hynfir is a general in the army. Here, he is a young man who falls in love with the unattainable. 

Leif is from a respectable family, whose father might not appreciate him falling for Hynfir. Will the two young men find love? Will the lion Hynfir win over his tiger? 

It's a short tale, but the kind of offshoot that adds depth to Shanti's wider universe. It's warm, it's compelling, it's... well, it's love. 

AI rating: 4/5

The Lion and The Tiger is available on Amazon here.

The Elixir War, by Margena Adams Holmes

What do you call a bodice-ripper if it's set in space? A spacesuit-ripper? A ripped spacesuit doesn't sound terribly wise - but I suspect you get the idea. 

Take a plunge across the stars with this sometimes saucy tale from Margena Holmes, as royal heir turned elite pilot Jory finds himself the only man able to solve the escalating conflict between the ruling body and the upstart rebel Kiral Radern. The two sides are plunging towards war over the elixir used to enhance people's abilities - sometimes offering glimpses of the future, sometimes offering strength and speed, depending on the user. Radern wants to control it all, and he'll stop at nothing to do so. 

Jory has the key to stopping him - Radern's beautiful daughter, and must decide if he can go against his true love in order to save his father's empire. 

It's a rollicking tale, full of action both in the stars and the bedroom. If that's your bag, then you're in for a treat. 

AI Rating: 4/5

The Elixir War is available on Amazon here.

Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy, by Dennis Detwiller

I'm a big fan of the work of HP Lovecraft - an author whose writing might not always have been the finest, but man, the ideas, those wonderful ideas. His Cthulhu Mythos has of course been much venerated - not least through the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game that gobbled up so many of my nights. 

Delta Green is an offshoot of the mythos in both gaming and written form - and Detwiller's books are a determined look at the Delta Green organisation, a secret group set up to deal with the truth of the mythos. After all, if the authorities knew that Old Ones and their kind were indeed a threat to the world, they'd have to do something about that, right? Delta Green is the solution. And sometimes the problem. 

Detwiller charts a tale through the years of World War II, as rival factions make use of ancient tomes and dangerous artifacts in pursuit of their goals.

I'll be honest - I've enjoyed Detwiller's stories before, but this one is a bit disjointed. It feels like a number of short stories shunted together, rather than a piece as a whole. I still quite liked it - because I'm a Cthulhu Mythos junkie, but it's probably not the greatest place to start. If your copy of Lovecraft's complete collection has as many dog-eared pages as Cthulhu has tentacles, and you've already dabbled with Delta Green stories, then dive on in, it's certainly one for the completist. If you're newer to the material, you might want to read some of those other works first. 

AI Rating: 3/5

Delta Green: Denied to the Enemy is available on Amazon here.

Got a book to recommend? Do share in the comments below what you'd like us to review. Our TBR list is slightly taller than the Eiffel Tower but we've never been known to be able to resist a new book. 

BOOK REVIEWS: Hobgoblin, by John Coyne; Steering The Craft, by Ursula K Le Guin; The Spider, by Maria Savva; Voices in Crystal, by Mary Woldering; Lineage: The Memory of the Sphinx, by CH Clepitt.

Welcome back to our regular review round-up here at Altered Instinct. A couple of changes have taken place in Amazon Land since our last round-up. Ordinarily, the reviews posted here have previously been posted as well to Amazon UK, Amazon US and Goodreads - but Amazon has changed its criteria for posting reviews. Now, a reviewer has to have spent a certain amount of money within the past 12 months in an Amazon store - so for example, I no longer live in the UK so don't tend to have a reason, or sometimes even a possibility, of spending money in that store. So sadly, I can't post to as many places as before. I feel a little sad about this - as posting reviews is a positive thing to do, whatever you may think about a particular book. I hope they reverse that policy, but we shall see. Members of the AI team will continue to post reviews wherever possible - sorry to writers in zones where we can't post to their local stores because of the new rules! Anyhow, back to some good reading - and starting off with Brent A. Harris reviewing Hobgoblin, by John Coyne, and Ursula K Le Guin's Steering The Craft. I'll hop in with my reviews after that. 

Hobgoblin, by John Coyne

If you like games based around mythology and adventure, if you play Dungeons and Dragons, LARP, do SCA, or play Magic: The Gathering - drop your dice, cards, meeples, hand-forged swords, and go read John Coyne’s Hobgoblin.

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Done?

It was good, wasn’t it? Told you. Now, roll them bones, Brian Boru!

Hobgoblin mixes Irish mythology, roleplaying, and social outcasts, in a very real-to-life horror story set against the backdrop of Ballycastle. Our sword-swinging hero is Scott Gardiner, a high-schooler in New York, whose father dies at the same time his fictional character also falls in battle. Devastated, the lines between reality and fiction blur for Scott when they move to an old Irish castle (moved brick by brick to the States).

Scott begins to see threats from Irish myth encroaching into daily life. But, he also must navigate the treacherous waters of high-school, as the new kid, where his RPG daydreams just don’t fit in. When bullies begin to cross the line to real, violent harm, the school intercedes to help Scott out, by suggesting students attend a Hobgoblin party (the name of the RPG which Scott obsesses over) at Balleycastle for Halloween. At the same time, a black annis - a creature of Irish legend, threatens the castle and all those who enter it.

What I liked most about this book was that the horror was real. These are real people facing real problems, and what students go through as an outsider, particularly those who would rather spend their days playing card games over football, which can be terrifying (and also a bit relatable).

The biggest issue is that Scott is a bit off-putting. He’s not sympathetic, or likeable. I almost think this was done on purpose, so that at times, you side with the bullies against him, which then places you in an uncomfortable position. Later, you begin to empathize with Scott, and relate to him, and once you can see things from his grief-stricken teenage adolescent, PTSD point of view, he takes on a much more heroic role.

Hobgoblin is tight-woven narrative that will make you wish the game was real and the horror wasn’t.
5 out 5 Hobgoblins!

AI Rating: 5/5

Brent A Harris

Steering The Craft, by Ursula K Le Guin

I was given this book by a very good friend of mine for my birthday awhile back. Given that this book is by the late Ursula K. Le Guin, whom I respect and admire, there’s no way I could give her book on writing anything less than five stars. She is a master storyteller and wordsmith. So, instead, let me tell you how the book has helped me.

Each chapter is divided into one of those tough obstacles of writing: voice, tense, style, characters, adjectives and adverbs, etc. At the end of each section, there are examples by authors who do those things well. It’s straightforward: most books on writing follow their advice with examples. But, where craft sails past other books is in Ursula’s matter-of-fact voice that fans of hers will recognize, and in her exercises pulled straight from her teaching days. She’s not only someone who can do, she knows how to help others do it too.

I’ve found taking the chapters one each week and doing the exercises the best way to approach the book and learn from its author. The book is great for readers of most ages. I’ve used some of her examples and exercises in teaching creative writing to 4th-6th grade students, and my 11-year old has stolen this book a couple of times - she’s enjoyed the exercises too. She’s going to be a much better writer than her dad. Dare I hope, the next Ursula K. Le Guin?

AI Rating: 5/5

Brent A Harris

The Spider, by Maria Savva

Do you ever have a book that has been sitting on your Kindle for far too long? Well... this was one on mine. And I'm kicking myself for not reading it earlier.
The Spider is a most unexpected novel. At first, it seems almost a very straightforward horror thriller. There's a bad man, doing bad things, and innocents are getting caught up in his plan. And yet... that seems to be resolved quite early on.
It's the after-effects that linger. There is guilt. There are lies. There is deceit. And somewhere in the middle of it all, you find yourself in the centre of the web being spun around the central characters that may be entirely in their heads, or may be very, very real.
The writing is deceptively straightforward, painting a seemingly humdrum world - under which things lurk and crawl and skritch-skritch with their otherworldly limbs.

AI Rating: 5/5

Stephen Hunt

Children of Stone: Voices in Crystal, by Mary Woldering

This is an intriguing book - and a thoroughly determined piece of world-building.
Voices in Crystal is the first in a series set in the shade of Mount Sinai, and the author carves out a mythology that is rich and sumptuous.
The story focuses on Marai, who becomes more than the simple shepherd he begins as, transformed by alien powers into... well, even he is not so sure what he is exactly. His powers seem god-like to those who knew him, and the world he grew up in is changed forever.
Elsewhere, a pharaoh's son wrestles with his own destiny, his path to leadership foiled. Where will his path cross with Marai's? That would be telling!
It's a big saga - a little light on action but exploring the history of the world in depth, and the psychology of its protagonists thoroughly. It can be a little slow as a result - only in that one needs to pay attention to the detail of the story to really appreciate it.
Woldering really does create a whole new world to experience - and deserves plaudits for that.

AI Rating: 4/5

Stephen Hunt

Lineage: The Memory of the Sphinx, by CH Clepitt

I honestly thought I'd reviewed this already - the day it came out, I gobbled it up, which shows how much I enjoy CH Clepitt's writing.
This continues her Lineage series of short stories - stories of vampires and the legacy they have bestowed down the years.
This time round, the author riffles in a whole extra legacy, that of the Sphinx, and the conflict that brings to the vampire family of the earlier titles.
It's very neatly, nicely done, and broadens out the potential for this series of stories. What myths come next? I'll be here to find out when the next short in the series appears.

AI Rating: 4/5

Stephen Hunt

BOOK REVIEWS: Godfall and Other Stories, by Sandra M Odell; I Wore Heels To The Apocalypse, by CH Clepitt; The Last City: A Dust Anthology; A World of Darkness, by Joshua Griffith; Dragon Lords, by Chris Turner

Godfall and Other Stories, by Sandra M Odell

One of the delights of the ebook market is the ability to discover new writers. I likely wouldn't have found Sandra Odell's book on the shelf in my local bookstore - and that would have been a darn shame.
This collection of short stories is a delight and a treasure - yet it's more than your typical collection. There's a challenge here, a defiance. The stories are broadly within the fantasy and science fiction realm, but many of these tales scratch at itches under the skin, or make you feel the pain settled deeply into bones.
Nowhere is this better seen than in The Home For Broken. It's a story confronting the issues of disability - challenging the idea of people being broken. It's an agonising, painful story of parental choices, denial, and dealing with a life that has no easy choices. It's never been published outside of this collection, and it is absolutely worth your money alone.
But it's not alone. There are other gems scattered throughout this book. There's Godfall, the title story, with humanity mining the fallen corpses of deities as they crash to earth. There's The Poison Eater, bitter with the taste of small town life. There are issues of sexuality, sexual identity, gender roles (Black Widow absolutely kicks butt while exploring this), mortality (or immortality in The Vessel Is Never Empty), and far more, all wrapped around characters who are never soaring ideals but as screwed up and complicated as any of us. Like any collection, there will be stories that hit the mark with a reader and others that won't - I wasn't sold on the whimsy of A Troll's Trade, for example. That's not to diminish the work as a whole, though. This has quality throughout - not so long ago I read an Octavia Butler short story collection, and I couldn't help but feel reading this that Odell's work bore comparison. 

I read this book before going on holiday and didn't have time to write this review before taking off. All through the trip, parts of this book stayed with me. As a reader, it opened horizons. As a writer, it makes me want to do better. Go read it, you owe it to yourself.

AI Rating: 5/5

I Wore Heels To The Apocalypse, by CH Clepitt

Given the amount of work by CH Clepitt I've read already, I probably shouldn't have been surprised by the splendidly named I Wore Heels To The Apocalypse. And yet here I am, surprised and delighted in equal measure.
I Wore Heels ain't nothing but a good time. It's fun, it's a frolic, it's the end of the world. Kerry is a website designer inclined towards baggy clothes and comfy shoes when an unexpected apocalypse leaves her in her least favourite shoe choice and with an absence of transferrable skills. Not much use for html in the wilderness since she left her one-bedroom flat.
Instead, she finds herself caught up in less of a battle for survival, more a forage for comfort - all while her travelling companions deal with their own issues of sexual fluidity. The end of the world can apparently do great things for clearing out those social pressures preventing you from admitting your attraction to the same sex. They won't laugh at you down the pub any more, after all.
This is a quirky, perky ride, frequently making you giggle and chortle in ways that make people eye you suspiciously on the tube train. Don't worry about that, you never know when an apocalypse might come along to let you chortle in peace.
I Wore Heels is the best I've read yet by CH Clepitt - and I was already a fan.

AI Rating: 5/5

The Last City: A Dust Anthology

Back in the day, I used to be a big fan of the Thieves' World anthologies - shared-world stories inside a fantasy city by a host of great writers. So it was with some glee I picked up The Last City, a sci-fi version of something similar.
The city of the title is the last bastion of humanity, built into an asteroid and separated by levels which function not only as physical structure but as social strata. The further you go from the hieracrchy, the dirtier the city gets and the cheaper life feels.
The opening pair of stories do a great job of setting the scene - first there's Robert M Campbell's tale of an adventure gone wrong and the low lifes ready to exploit an opportunity for advancing themselves, then there's Jane Jago's fabulous tale of Sam Nero PI, a detective up against the odds but smart enough to make the most of the technology at his hands.
There's a real mix of tales here - you might not get the most cohesive feel for the city as a whole but you sure do get a glimpse at the fragmentary nature of life there.
I really enjoyed Thaddeus White's tale of a colony ship on the way to the city whose crew is forced to make tough choices, and it was great to encounter a new writer to me in Juliana Spink Mills, whose Blood Makes Noise both intrigued me with its exploration of an unusual death and had me humming Suzanne Vega all day.
This isn't the last we'll see of the Dust universe - I look forward to more.

AI Rating: 4/5

A World of Darkness, by Joshua Griffith

There's a decent starting premise in this book - but alas, it tends to go wayward after that.
After the apocalypse, supernatural creatures have tiptoed back out from the hidden places they had survived in during the time of mankind - and have now reasserted their dominance of Earth.
We start with a group of such beings thrown into an impromptu alliance as they try to escape imprisonment. There's a native American shapeshifter - the lead character - and his unexpected companions, a witch, a necromancer and a gremlin, who collectively hightail it out of there and seek refuge in an abandoned Costco.
So far, so good - but sadly we get so bogged down in descriptions of the large breasts of the red-headed companion and before you know it, it's all about whether the shapeshifter will be sleeping with one or both of his female companions as they get overexcited by his magical touch.
It's shallow, and it treats the female characters as little more than sex objects, and from where it started out, it really could have been much more.

AI Rating: 2/5

Dragon Lords, by Chris Turner

If you're into old-school fantasy, then this is what Chris Turner seems to be aiming for. You know the type of tale, full of derring-do, sword-swinging and busty maidens, the kind that Robert E Howard used to pack Conan off on.
The busty maiden in particular in this tale is introduced as "barely a day over sixteen" so the frequent mentions of her high proud perky breasts and the swiftness with which she hops into bed - or, well, nearby bush - with muscled hero Vetra is more than a little uncomfortable. Oh, and of course she's a feisty redhead too - why is it always feisty redheads? (And I say that as a redhead)
The story zips along, and Turner also incorporates some of the horror elements that Howard used to love too. If you're into such old-school swords and sorcery, you may well have a good deal of fun. I just wish it had steered clear of cliche and not had me feeling uncomfortable and muttering about the age of the perky redhead.

AI Rating: 2/5

BOOK REVIEW: A Glitch in the World by Alex Drozd; Transient by Zachry Wheeler; Have Space Suit - Will Travel, by Robert A Heinlein; Necrotic City, by Leland Lydecker; Druid's Portal, by Cindy Tomamichel; A Glitch in the World, by Alex Drozd; Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet Book Three, by Ta-Nehisi Coates

It's been a busy few weeks over here at AI - a bunch of editing in the works and some exciting things to share soon, but also a lot of paperwork to juggle in real life. A new baby in the household means a lot of things to sort out, and adjusting to how things are done in a different country can throw a spanner in the works! In the meantime, here's a catch-up on the latest round of reviews from myself and regular guest Brent A Harris. 

Transient, by Zachry Wheeler

Transient is a terrific book. It’s a gem that shows how much raw talent lurks within the Indy Writing Community. And I heartily recommend it.

We follow the life of an outsider, Jonas, as he navigates the modern and sophisticated world of Vampires who now exist in modern cities, where what remains of the human population is spread out and hidden among the mountains. Jonas is a human infiltrator - a transient, who passes as a vampire to bring back intelligence to his human compatriots in order to destroy the Vampires and allow humans to once again claim dominance over the Earth.

What makes this book so strong, however, is not just a gripping storyline of tension and deception. It has a message and it speaks to the best and worst parts of humanity. Transient is more science fiction in that regard in that it questions deep themes of love, betrayal, and family. I like how humans are contrasted against the peaceful and technologically advanced Vampires. It says a lot about human history and its recurrent violence. The vampires are used as a reflection of our society, as in the vein of any good classic sci-fi.

However, even books as good as this can still contain missteps - unpolished bits that can creep in to any book - Indy or Mainstream Press alike. In this case, Wheeler tends to over-explain this strange new world rather than let Jonas (and therefore the reader) encounter it organically. In one instance, Jonas joins a group at a blood bar, which pretty much speaks for itself. Yet, because much of the book (indeed, perhaps even half of it) is told through diary entries, we get pages on how blood bars operate, their history, and how they evolved to fit into this advanced Vampire society.

Yet, I found myself engaged in many of these diary entries. They were insightful, and often had a deeper message (especially toward the end of the book). They read briskly, like the rest of the book. But, these odd chapters, combined with sporadic bits where the storyline devolved into a narration of sorts, still pulled me out of the story enough times to bear mention in the review.

Even still, Transient is an enjoyable read. Wheeler won’t be on the Indy scene for long. He has talent, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Transient is in production to be a feature film, and when it releases, expect Wheeler to make an Andy Weir-like trajectory. So, make like a hipster at a record store and ‘discover’ the book before it blows up big-time. It’s well worth sinking your teeth into. 4.5 stars (for the forced world-building) rounded up to 5.

Vampires as a reflection of our society places Transient in the vein of classic Sci-Fi

AI Rating: 5/5

Brent A Harris

Have Space Suit - Will Travel, by Robert Heinlein

I reviewed RAH’s Have Space Suit - Will Travel because I’ve wanted to read classic SF to see how the masters did it before I resumed writing more of my own. I picked Space Suit because one of my favorite science fiction authors, GRRM (yes, he’s written more than just Game of Thrones) hinted that this book had influenced him when he was young. Also, Robert A Heinlein is considered the ‘Dean’ of hard, 1950s pulpy science fiction, and I wanted to find out why.

After reading the book, it’s not hard to understand. Heinlein is a master. I don’t know what I was really expecting when I started this story. But one thing I found frustrating and riveting at the same time was Heinlein’s complete disregard for the rules. The first 30 pages are exposition-heavy. There times where the main character addresses the reader. For heaven’s sake, the book is loaded with mathematical formulae and pages of musical notes! But it was all deftly done. The pages kept turning, the characters (though firmly stuck in their 1950s worldview) were interesting, and the conflict kept coming.

Space-Suit follows the life of Kip, a bound-for-college-kid, who wants nothing less than to travel to the moon. This is a wish-fulfillment story, and like any good wish fulfillment story, the protagonist is given much more than they asked for. After Kip rebuilds an old, worn-out space-suit, he soon finds himself in trouble when he’s abducted. He’ll realize he’s in much more trouble when he’s thrust into a hostile alien plot that lands him on the moon - and beyond.

This is aimed for young adult readers, and it’s better balanced than Heinlein’s more infamous Starship Troopers (seriously, all these famous authors really do have more than just one book/series). It’s a perfect jumping off point for kids to moon-jump in to some rollicking good science fiction that’s more than just entertaining pulp. At its core, it asks some tough questions, which still resonate 60 years later. You can see the impact the book has had - as its heady themes have inspired storylines that I recognized in at least Star Trek (Next Generation) and (new) Battle Star Galactica.

All that from one simple book. I suppose if I’m to emulate the best of SF writers, I have my work cut out for me. Perhaps I should build me a space-suit and travel to the moon. 5 stars.

AI Rating: 5/5

Brent A Harris

Necrotic City, by Leland Lydecker

Necrotic City is a Cyberpunk dystopia set firmly in the worlds of Blade Runner/Electric Sheep and others that have come along since, hinting at stories like The Matrix and Ghost in the Shell and a touch of a Chuck Heston movie I dare say no more of, lest I spoil.

Adrian is a Company Man, a Hero with the pre-built, programmed instructions to save others, genetically grown by the same company responsible for these dystopic conditions. Heroes help others, in particular, Jumpers, that have no where else to go when their credits run out. Jumpers jump from the heights of the city, and Heroes must do whatever they can- including jumping after them themselves - to save them.

While seemingly altruistic, the reader soon realizes there’s a darker purpose to saving those who would end their lives on the streets below. Everybody can serve The Company, even in death, so long as their remains remain intact. But, when the cost to maintain the Hero force is insufficient to the amount of nutrients preserved by their heroic deeds from their daily duties, the Hero programmed is scrapped by The Company, and Adrian is left adrift, bouncing from one dangerous situation to the next.

While the setting is immersive, the characters felt real, and the reader feels thrust into Adrian’s plight, I felt his character arc was a little flat, with real no objective in sight. Adrian is reactive throughout the story. Even as a Hero, he has no choice but to respond as events unfold, it’s in his programming. As a drifter, he stumbles from one encounter to the next, often having to be saved time and time again with no real agency of his own.

As a Captain America-type do-gooder, he’s unable experience any significant change in character. He ends the story pretty much the same as he started - a story that simply ends as his encounters draw to a close. I would have liked to have seen him a bit more perceptive and a bit smarter at figuring things out and I expected the story to wrap back around to the set-up given in the beginning, but I assume that’s for a later book. Still, if you don’t mind a fairly mild and unengaging character reacting to a mostly listless story, Necrotic City does offer up some strengths. It’s a story mixed with a strong setting and solid sci-fi elements. At its core, Necrotic City provides a glimpse into a startling cyber-punk world that could easily become our own. 3.5 Stars rounded to 4.

AI Rating: 4/5

Brent A Harris

Druid's Portal, by Cindy Tomamichel

I was keen to read Druid’s Portal because I love stories about time-travel. And, who doesn’t like ancient Rome or stories about Celts and Druids? My favorite is Household Gods, by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove. So, I dove right in to Druid’s Portal.

What I got was perhaps heavier on the romance and less on the time-travel, but there are some interesting time-travel concepts at work here, which I fully appreciated. Druid’s Portal is not an Outlander knock-off; instead it is a straightforward portal fiction romance between a Roman soldier and Druid scholar Janet.

If anything, Druid’s Portal is perhaps too straightforward. There’s no real twist to the tale, no deviation from the standard, steamy romance story. I would have like to have seen the characters a bit more fleshed out. The antagonist needed to be someone who did more than sneer and cackle and call the heroine vulgar names. There was an opportunity to make the villain grounded and real, but it was lost in the twirling mustache and one-dimensional dialogue. Most character choices were made for the convenience of plot, with decisions often running counter to the character - for example, our Roman hero seemed adept at adopting modern morals, rather than acting as a Roman soldier. And Janet, a college professor, doesn’t figure certain things out until well-after an exasperated reader is yelling the answer at her.

I would have also liked to have seen a tighter focus in the narration. It’s written in third-person omniscient (think a camera hovering overhead) which made all the head-hopping a bit difficult. The dialogue, at times was off (though there are some really, really good lines that balance this out) and each character had an odd habit of talking to themselves for long stretches; telling the reader what they were thinking/doing. At the same time, the narration was also distant, quite often using phrases like ‘there was’ or ‘a sound of’ rather than creating an immediacy within the scene.

In general, the book is well researched (there will always be anachronisms that slip by), and I liked the path our heroine took, even if she played the damsel bit a bit too much. However, Janet’s journey changes her, and I quite liked the last bit of the book where the new Janet was on display (though the ending seemed to break a rule, or I was just confused). Druid’s Portal is a fun romp through time toward a steamy romance, where Celtic myth meets Roman bravado. 3 Stars for fans of SF and Time-Travel, 4 for Romance, where character counts less than steamy scenes.

AI Rating: 4/5

Brent A Harris

A Glitch In The World, by Alex Drozd

It's hard to sum up A Glitch In The World without straying too much into spoiler territory - for there is so much about this novel that is wrapped up in questions of identity, the uncertain nature of reality and issues of mental illness that it is difficult to say too much about it without giving the game away. 
Let's start at the beginning. Stuart is a school student on a distant world, a colony that is wrestling with its own identity separate from Earth. Issues of politics swirl in the air around Stuart, with matters such as universal income being debated on the colony. 
A lot of this doesn't matter to Stuart - who has his own issues. He is depressed, he has no real drive to commit to anything in his future, and finds himself pushed along by the people and circumstances around him. He turns to experimenting with drugs with his best friend - but that way lies tragedy and Stuart finds himself in a disintegrating spiral, with his only lifeline being the pretty girl who pays attention to him at school. Then comes the glitch. A flaw in the world around him, that means some of the things he depended on as he clung to reality might not even exist at all. If you're thinking that this has echoes of some of the work of Philip K Dick, you wouldn't be wrong - albeit more in a young adult kind of setting. 
This is a novel exploring two possibilities - the breakdown of its lead character, or the collision between two universes as opposed to one another as matter and anti-matter. 
Along the way, we explore philosophical issues, such as the value of life, the nature of mature societies versus those rising up, and the question of reality. With such weighty questions in the air, it is perhaps no surprise that we are left with more questions than answers, but the book is an intriguing glimpse inside the fragmented world of a youth as he struggles to understand it, and his place within it. 

AI Rating: 4/5

Stephen Hunt

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, by Ta-Nehisi Coates 

I've been reading through quite a lot of Black Panther collections before and after watching the movie - and man, the work by Ta-Nehisi Coates is both tantalising and frustrating. 
This is the third collection from his Black Panther run, and while I enjoyed a great deal about the ideas and philosophies explored within the book... man, it just didn't hold up as a comic story. 
I honestly grew very, very tired of seeing the characters either sitting around or standing around talking. There's a dearth of action in here - Brian Stelfreeze is a smashing artist, but you've got to give him more to do than drawing conference room tables. 
The Black Panther movie clearly draws on some of the ideas from this run - questions about Wakanda's role as a nation and what path its future will take, and T'Challa's dual position as both king and hero - but the movie wrapped that all up in a bundle of action, threat and purpose that this third book rarely manages. There is one superb section in here - but that issue is written by Jonathan Hickman. 
The ideas that Coates showcases will make a great comic book one day, an awesome one - but this isn't there yet. 

AI Rating: 2/5

Stephen Hunt