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AmyBee (4 KP) rated The Damnation Game in Books
Sep 6, 2018
This novel has to be one of, if not THE sickest, goriest horror novels I have ever read. For that reason, I LOVED it! The plot is strong, the characters are entertaining and the scare-factor is off the scale!
It soon becomes clear that the author of this novel is the same guy who wrote and directed the first HELLRAISER film. His ability to 'think outside the box' in his writing is evident with certain tropes in this novel that I wouldn't have even thought existed but are absolutely terrifying. I was blown away.
I love the way that horror and comedy seem to be interchanged in this novel in a way that makes the horror even sicker. As the reader, once you realise that certain scenes are actually making you chuckle, it makes YOU feel like the sick one for daring to laugh at such a grim scene. It takes a great writer to be able to do this and to pull it off without coming across like they are just trying to cash in a cheap gag and Barker has this skill down to a T. Excellent stuff!
Just one thing annoyed me about this and that is the two young Jehovah's Witnesses who make an appearance somewhere like halfway through the novel. I thought their characters were far more 2D than all the rest were, and they could have been written much better. To me, they were just not believable at all.
It soon becomes clear that the author of this novel is the same guy who wrote and directed the first HELLRAISER film. His ability to 'think outside the box' in his writing is evident with certain tropes in this novel that I wouldn't have even thought existed but are absolutely terrifying. I was blown away.
I love the way that horror and comedy seem to be interchanged in this novel in a way that makes the horror even sicker. As the reader, once you realise that certain scenes are actually making you chuckle, it makes YOU feel like the sick one for daring to laugh at such a grim scene. It takes a great writer to be able to do this and to pull it off without coming across like they are just trying to cash in a cheap gag and Barker has this skill down to a T. Excellent stuff!
Just one thing annoyed me about this and that is the two young Jehovah's Witnesses who make an appearance somewhere like halfway through the novel. I thought their characters were far more 2D than all the rest were, and they could have been written much better. To me, they were just not believable at all.
Christine A. (965 KP) rated Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits in Books
Nov 14, 2018 (Updated May 29, 2020)
Humorous Sci-Fi book 1 of the Zoey Ashe series
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.
When Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong was available to read for review, I was pleasantly surprised, primarily since it was published in 2015. I had read it for a book club in 2016 and remembered how much I enjoyed the story and its humor. My memory was indeed correct.
Wong is known for wit in his novels, and Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is no exception. It falls into his usual writing genre - humorous SciFi. I realized I should not read his book while at work because I chuckle out loud.
The main character, Zoey, has a ton of snarkiness and a very smelly cat. It is "a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star." It is worse than big brother watching you. It is an entire world in which an all-seeing social network tracks your every move. Villians have superhuman enhancements. Ok, yes, sometimes they do not work, and people blow up.
Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick, book two in the Zoey Ashe series will be released in October 2020, so you have plenty of time to read Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.
This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 5/28/20.
When Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong was available to read for review, I was pleasantly surprised, primarily since it was published in 2015. I had read it for a book club in 2016 and remembered how much I enjoyed the story and its humor. My memory was indeed correct.
Wong is known for wit in his novels, and Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits is no exception. It falls into his usual writing genre - humorous SciFi. I realized I should not read his book while at work because I chuckle out loud.
The main character, Zoey, has a ton of snarkiness and a very smelly cat. It is "a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star." It is worse than big brother watching you. It is an entire world in which an all-seeing social network tracks your every move. Villians have superhuman enhancements. Ok, yes, sometimes they do not work, and people blow up.
Zoey Punches the Future in the Dick, book two in the Zoey Ashe series will be released in October 2020, so you have plenty of time to read Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits.
This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 5/28/20.
Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Lovely and the Lost in Books
Jun 17, 2019
Original title: Lost Causes
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.
The Lovely and the Lost is the first novel I read by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Considering she published almost 30 novels in genres I often read, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and Young Adult, that is surprising.
In it, we are introduced to the Bennett family. Cady, the mother, is one of the best search and rescuers who also trains search and rescue dogs. Her son is Jude and her adopted daughter, Kira, was found by Cady in the woods many years ago. Rounding out the family is Phoebe, who prefers to be called Free, the 3rd in the teen's close-knit trio. The story focuses on a search and rescue and gives some detail on how to tray search and rescue dogs. All of the teens work with the dogs and are training to be search and rescuers.
The Young Adult novel is well thought out and well-written. The characters are flawed, show their limitations, their strengths, and feel real. While it would be enjoyable for all readers of YA, I feel middle school students would enjoy it the most.
I will definitely read one of Jennifer Lynn Barnes's series. As of 6/17/19, Goodreads lists 7 series.
This review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 6/17/19.
The Lovely and the Lost is the first novel I read by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Considering she published almost 30 novels in genres I often read, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, and Young Adult, that is surprising.
In it, we are introduced to the Bennett family. Cady, the mother, is one of the best search and rescuers who also trains search and rescue dogs. Her son is Jude and her adopted daughter, Kira, was found by Cady in the woods many years ago. Rounding out the family is Phoebe, who prefers to be called Free, the 3rd in the teen's close-knit trio. The story focuses on a search and rescue and gives some detail on how to tray search and rescue dogs. All of the teens work with the dogs and are training to be search and rescuers.
The Young Adult novel is well thought out and well-written. The characters are flawed, show their limitations, their strengths, and feel real. While it would be enjoyable for all readers of YA, I feel middle school students would enjoy it the most.
I will definitely read one of Jennifer Lynn Barnes's series. As of 6/17/19, Goodreads lists 7 series.
This review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 6/17/19.
BookwormMama14 (18 KP) rated Scarlet (The Lunar Chronicles, #2) in Books
Jan 2, 2019
Fact: When I discover a series that completely sucks me in...I simply have to binge read the whole thing. If the series has stand alone novels in it, it isn't as much torture and I can wait...But if it is a continuing storyline...You won't see me come up for air until I am done (or to post the reviews for said books). So pass me the Starbursts and Red Bull, I will see ya later! Oh, after I finish this post.
Scarlet picks up the day after Cinder ends. Cinder and Kai remain as main characters throughout the second book. But now we are introduced to a whole new level of intrigue in the storyline. Scarlet and Wolf are AMAZING! I adore them and can't wait to see where their story leads. Scarlet's grandmere is pretty awesome too!
As secrets unfold of her heritage and her grandmother's past, Scarlet embarks on a dangerous mission to find her grandmere and bring her home. Scarlet will do anything to protect the only family she has left, even at the risk of her own safety. We also begin to learn more about Cinder's past and everything that she has gone through.
Cyborgs, Wolf Gangs, Lunar aliens, space travel, escaped convicts, hidden princess, hidden genealogy, this series has so much to offer and entertain. Clean and sweet romance appropriate for Young Adults. I am comfortable recommending this book to teens and adults.
Scarlet picks up the day after Cinder ends. Cinder and Kai remain as main characters throughout the second book. But now we are introduced to a whole new level of intrigue in the storyline. Scarlet and Wolf are AMAZING! I adore them and can't wait to see where their story leads. Scarlet's grandmere is pretty awesome too!
As secrets unfold of her heritage and her grandmother's past, Scarlet embarks on a dangerous mission to find her grandmere and bring her home. Scarlet will do anything to protect the only family she has left, even at the risk of her own safety. We also begin to learn more about Cinder's past and everything that she has gone through.
Cyborgs, Wolf Gangs, Lunar aliens, space travel, escaped convicts, hidden princess, hidden genealogy, this series has so much to offer and entertain. Clean and sweet romance appropriate for Young Adults. I am comfortable recommending this book to teens and adults.
David McK (3576 KP) rated The Folded World in Books
Jan 28, 2019
Christmas 2014/early 2015.
There was a gift pack available in Easons, with said sealed pack including 2 sci-fi film magazines, and one of six Star Trek novels. As the pack was sealed, there was obviously no way of knowing which novel is in which pack.
When I purchased said pack, this is the novel that was in mine - if I'm honest, it's probably not one that I would have picked up in a bookstore, nor was it the novel I was hoping would be included.
Set during The Original Series era (i.e the original TV series) of Star Trek, this obviously therefore includes all the central character of said TV show: Captain James T Kirk, Scotty, Spock, Dr 'Bones' McCoy, etc. That is, the 'original' of those characters, rather than those in the more-recent J.J. Abrams reboot.
The plot has to do with Captain Kirk and co receiving a distress call while en-route to a diplomatic mission, and boarding a spaceship unlike any they have ever seen before, where (once again) the usual rules of time and space do not apply.
While readable enough, I have to say, it's also pretty forgettable, with nothing to really convince me to pick up other books by this author, or (while I admit it may be somewhat unfair to base my perception of the whole on this alone) to go looking for other Star Trek books unless they come highly recommended.
There was a gift pack available in Easons, with said sealed pack including 2 sci-fi film magazines, and one of six Star Trek novels. As the pack was sealed, there was obviously no way of knowing which novel is in which pack.
When I purchased said pack, this is the novel that was in mine - if I'm honest, it's probably not one that I would have picked up in a bookstore, nor was it the novel I was hoping would be included.
Set during The Original Series era (i.e the original TV series) of Star Trek, this obviously therefore includes all the central character of said TV show: Captain James T Kirk, Scotty, Spock, Dr 'Bones' McCoy, etc. That is, the 'original' of those characters, rather than those in the more-recent J.J. Abrams reboot.
The plot has to do with Captain Kirk and co receiving a distress call while en-route to a diplomatic mission, and boarding a spaceship unlike any they have ever seen before, where (once again) the usual rules of time and space do not apply.
While readable enough, I have to say, it's also pretty forgettable, with nothing to really convince me to pick up other books by this author, or (while I admit it may be somewhat unfair to base my perception of the whole on this alone) to go looking for other Star Trek books unless they come highly recommended.
David McK (3576 KP) rated Batman: Hush in Books
Jan 28, 2019
So, not long ago I picked up a copy of the Batman 75th anniversary box set, which is made up of 3 separate stories: The Dark Knight Returns, The Court of Owls and Hush. I also put caked up both Year One and The Killing Joke separately.
Of them all, I knew that at least 3 were (supposedly) very good: The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke and Year One. What I ddid nt know, however, was just how good Hush was.
Set during a period when Batman is at the top of his game (unlike the older Batman of The Dark Knight Returns, or the younger of Year One), this graphic novel includes just about any and all of Batmans friends and foes - top of my head, I can think of only one major villain who doesn't play a role (but is mentioned in passing).
Like The Dark Knight Returns, it also includes The Man of Steel in the story, with Batman and Superman again facing off against one another in a portion of it (but for very different reasons than in The Dark Knight Returns).
OK, it may be pretty obvious - I felt - fairly early on just who is pulling the strings,but this still makes for a very enjoyable and dynamic read, with some of the best artwork I have yet seen in any of the graphic novels I have read.
Of them all, I knew that at least 3 were (supposedly) very good: The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke and Year One. What I ddid nt know, however, was just how good Hush was.
Set during a period when Batman is at the top of his game (unlike the older Batman of The Dark Knight Returns, or the younger of Year One), this graphic novel includes just about any and all of Batmans friends and foes - top of my head, I can think of only one major villain who doesn't play a role (but is mentioned in passing).
Like The Dark Knight Returns, it also includes The Man of Steel in the story, with Batman and Superman again facing off against one another in a portion of it (but for very different reasons than in The Dark Knight Returns).
OK, it may be pretty obvious - I felt - fairly early on just who is pulling the strings,but this still makes for a very enjoyable and dynamic read, with some of the best artwork I have yet seen in any of the graphic novels I have read.
David McK (3576 KP) rated Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers (Red Dwarf #1) in Books
Jan 28, 2019 (Updated Sep 1, 2019)
Back in the late 80s/early 90s, there was a TV show on British terrestial channles, that gained a bit of a cult following: 'Red Dwarf'.
Set on a 6-mile long mining ship in deep space, the early years of Red Dwarf were centred around the odd-couple pairing of Dave Lister (the last known Human alive, who was in a stasis booth - released thousands of years later - when a radiation leak wiped out the crew of the eponymous ship) and Arnold J Rimmer: a hologram of his dead bunk-mate, and perhaps the most annoying man in existence. Added to this are the ships now-senile computer Holly and the Cat: a creature evolved from a cat that Lister had smuggle aboard (and why he was in the stasis booth in the first place).
To this, and round about season 3 (although he first made an appearance in season 2), was added Kryten: a mechanoid with an overactive guilt chip.
Some novels based on a TV show seem to pretty much just repeat the episode scene for scene; others seem to share nothing in common with hteir source material except the name. This, I felt, falls somewhere in the middle: while certain segments of the novel do indeed follow (very) closely to their source, others only use that as their starting-off point. It aslo does a better job of tying the episodes together than the TV show ever could!
Set on a 6-mile long mining ship in deep space, the early years of Red Dwarf were centred around the odd-couple pairing of Dave Lister (the last known Human alive, who was in a stasis booth - released thousands of years later - when a radiation leak wiped out the crew of the eponymous ship) and Arnold J Rimmer: a hologram of his dead bunk-mate, and perhaps the most annoying man in existence. Added to this are the ships now-senile computer Holly and the Cat: a creature evolved from a cat that Lister had smuggle aboard (and why he was in the stasis booth in the first place).
To this, and round about season 3 (although he first made an appearance in season 2), was added Kryten: a mechanoid with an overactive guilt chip.
Some novels based on a TV show seem to pretty much just repeat the episode scene for scene; others seem to share nothing in common with hteir source material except the name. This, I felt, falls somewhere in the middle: while certain segments of the novel do indeed follow (very) closely to their source, others only use that as their starting-off point. It aslo does a better job of tying the episodes together than the TV show ever could!
David McK (3576 KP) rated The Genesis Fleet: Vanguard in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Another spin-off from Jack Campbell's 'The Lost Fleet' series, with this one taking place centuries before the events of those novels (and their own other spin-off series'), back when mankind has omly just begun to colonise the stars.
Like the intial series (and it's first set of spin-offs in the 'Beyond the Stars' series), the main character in this is once again a Geary: like his descendant, a fleet officer in the Navy who just happens to be the only such on the brand-new colony world of Glenyon, with the leaders of that world turning to him for help when they are attacked by a neighbouring star system. Alongside Rob Geary, they also turn to a former Marine (Mele Darcy) for help when that star system illegally sets up a colony on their planet, with two of Mele's former associates also pulled in the orbit of the story.
Alongside the usual military sci-fi of this series ('Newtonian' battles in space and on land), what I found to be the main 'hook' on this particular one was just how it lays the groundwork for the state of the universe as shown in 'The Lost Fleet' series: the start of the recerence for ancestors movement/religion and the proto-type (in effect) for The Syndics and The Alliance, alongside how politicians would become (?) to be viewed, and how those same politicians would view the military.
Like the intial series (and it's first set of spin-offs in the 'Beyond the Stars' series), the main character in this is once again a Geary: like his descendant, a fleet officer in the Navy who just happens to be the only such on the brand-new colony world of Glenyon, with the leaders of that world turning to him for help when they are attacked by a neighbouring star system. Alongside Rob Geary, they also turn to a former Marine (Mele Darcy) for help when that star system illegally sets up a colony on their planet, with two of Mele's former associates also pulled in the orbit of the story.
Alongside the usual military sci-fi of this series ('Newtonian' battles in space and on land), what I found to be the main 'hook' on this particular one was just how it lays the groundwork for the state of the universe as shown in 'The Lost Fleet' series: the start of the recerence for ancestors movement/religion and the proto-type (in effect) for The Syndics and The Alliance, alongside how politicians would become (?) to be viewed, and how those same politicians would view the military.
David McK (3576 KP) rated The Genesis Fleet - Ascendant (Book 2) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Second entry in John Hemry's (Jack Campbell is his pen-name) 'Genesis Fleet' series, which acts as a precursor to his 'Lost Fleet' series or its sequels in 'Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier' and in the 'Shattered Stars' series.
As a precursor, this takes place centuries before the 'Lost Fleet' series, when humanity has really only just taken to the stars, centuries before The Alliance and The Syndicate struggle for control of the stars and before 'Black Jack' Geary is born (however, his ancestor Rob Geary has a central role in these novels).
The bulk of this book - the vast majority, even - actually deals with an attack on the colony world of Kosatka, with the action taking place (and described) in both space and on the ground. Although Rob Geary is tasked with protecting his own colony world of Glenlyon, his investigations into an attack on a ship passing into that system leads him to an allied system, where he learns that another allied system (the afore-mentioned Kosatka) is in imminent danger of invasion. Reasoning that those attackers would move on to attack Glenlyon after Kostaka falls, Geary makes the decision to aid in the defence, somewhat stretching his own orders …
In short (like any other work in any of the 'Lost Fleet', 'Beyond the Frontier' or 'Shattered Stars' series) a relatively straight-forward plot that only really exists to provide an excuse for the (admittedly, well-told) action!
As a precursor, this takes place centuries before the 'Lost Fleet' series, when humanity has really only just taken to the stars, centuries before The Alliance and The Syndicate struggle for control of the stars and before 'Black Jack' Geary is born (however, his ancestor Rob Geary has a central role in these novels).
The bulk of this book - the vast majority, even - actually deals with an attack on the colony world of Kosatka, with the action taking place (and described) in both space and on the ground. Although Rob Geary is tasked with protecting his own colony world of Glenlyon, his investigations into an attack on a ship passing into that system leads him to an allied system, where he learns that another allied system (the afore-mentioned Kosatka) is in imminent danger of invasion. Reasoning that those attackers would move on to attack Glenlyon after Kostaka falls, Geary makes the decision to aid in the defence, somewhat stretching his own orders …
In short (like any other work in any of the 'Lost Fleet', 'Beyond the Frontier' or 'Shattered Stars' series) a relatively straight-forward plot that only really exists to provide an excuse for the (admittedly, well-told) action!
Allison Knapp (118 KP) rated Public Secrets in Books
Jan 22, 2019
Well written and complex characters (7 more)
Covers a broad range of social topics such as addiction, domestic violence, and homosexuality in a way which is both well written and accurate with the times
Strong character dynamics
Not nearly as cheesy as the romance novels of which she is known for writing
At times creepy or psychologically disturbing in a way which makes you care even more about the life of the main character
Strong ensemble cast
Great nostalgic look at music and cinema from the 60s up through the 90s
Excellent and unpredictable plot twists
Murder Mystery set in the world of the Music Industry
The illegitimate daughter of a young rock star witnesses the accidental murder of her baby brother when she is still very young, and due to a case of isolated amnesia, cannot identify the murderer. As she grows up under the public eye, amidst the tragedy and its effects on her family, struggling to let go of her nightmares of that fateful night while struggling to find her own identity aside from the shadow of her father and the legendary status of her family, she faces many struggles and challenges just to prove an identity of her own. Yet as she grows up into a mature young woman, she learns that there are some tragedies from her past which were worth suffering through if she were to finally help bring justice for her brother and their family.