Tag: science fiction

Dwarves in Space by S. E. Zbasnik

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Helllllo readers it’s Saturday which is kind of awesome and I have a really interesting review for you today that will definitely brighten a few faces. One of the things I adore about running a book blog is the variety of books I have the chance to get my hands on – it’s not every day I pick up a book about dwarves in space but maybe I should. I recently went to a bookshop and had no idea what I wanted to read; with MLBB I kind of just read anything and everything which is perfect really. Enough of the babble and onto the review.

Thousands of years after the jewelry’s destroyed, the sword reforged, the dragon ridden, and the indecipherable prophecy translated into a recipe for sugared biscuits, the dwarves turned to that final frontier: space. And along came the elves, orcs, gnomes, trolls, ogres, and those vermin-like upstarts, humans.

The Elation-Cru is not the flashiest ship, nor the newest, or even has all of its bolts attached; but she can fly. Well, sort of wade through space, and that’s when all the parts are working. She supports a sugar addicted dwarven pilot, an elven engineer, an orcish doctor, a silent djinn, and the lone human trying to hold the entire thing together with duct tape. Variel, the captain, has been hiding from a secret for the past five years and time’s finally run out.

When she goes against her common sense and fights to save her onboard assassin/renter from a job gone sour, she finds herself before an ex-colleague that knew her in her previous life as the Knight of the realm. The entire ship is sent on a mad dash across the universe — from a decaying space station, home to the wackiest species the galaxy has to offer, down to the Orc homeworld, which wouldn’t be so bad if Variel hadn’t spent most of her previous life fighting in the war against them. Chances of survival are nil and slipping fast.

I’m not going to comment hugely on the  blurb because I want to just go straight into pulling this apart and looking at all the great things this book manages to do. I don’t normally like fantasy/science fiction books they’re just not for me, but, I enjoyed reading this. The plot although a little heavy was interesting and dotted with exciting events, battles, relationship struggles and there are dwarves in space so – good. I thought the characters were built up well and given strong character straights – I personally found Ferra a really interesting and intriguing character and I liked watching them all develop and their relationships grow throughout the tale. They come across very human (if that makes any sense?) You can imagine them each distinctly.

I liked that this is a real mixture of genres; sci-fi, romance and humour and it’s a brilliant mix as for a reader like me I found the balance made this easier to enjoy. Also in terms of the romance it’s not your cupcake sweet romance but one that builds naturally and develops as the book continues – it feels like a grown-up romance rather than something manufactured for the science fiction genre which I have seen numerous times before (ie space junk) and that made me very happy. There is a lot of action too if you were wondering; it’s punchy, written with guts and isn’t too flouncy which worked. You can get too much emotion and back-thought but here it’s just in your face attacks. It also works with the story line that’s occurring it’s not added for the sake of adding it so thumbs up.

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There is a big wobble though and it’s aggravating but the writing style is quite difficult to get used to and to a point understand. Some of the more complex passages I had to read through a number of times to understand what the author was trying to tell me and at times I just had to move on hoping I hadn’t missed something vitally important. It’s just too boggy at times. I thought that the writing improved as I continued but there were a couple of times I thought of just giving in and calling it a DNF. I’m glad I didn’t but if I was in a less determined mood I might have done  which means others may.

Would I recommend this? For the humour the intriguing characters and the style of the story I would yes, but there are parts that are a little tricky to get through and if you make it through the first slightly painful chapters it does get a lot better as the author finds her feet. An interesting read and one that I enjoyed but I thought had more potential.

Linnnnnks

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Americosis by Haydn Wilks

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Good Morning, hope you’re all feeling fine and dandy. Another review from mylittlebookblog, they just keep on coming don’t they? As always a quick shout out; if you’re waiting for reviews to make it onto Amazon and Goodreads I am the worst for remembering to do it, please don’t hate me. I’m thinking of using the hour of the GBBO (that show really is television gold) to get a bulk of reviews onto both. Maybe with some cake and wine? For now a review of a book that I really enjoyed reading but I’m not quite sure why; with no delay, onto Americosis by Haydn Wilks.

A naked man arrives in New Mexico claiming to have traveled through time.

He says that he’s America’s savior.

A bizarre sexually-transmitted infection in New York takes control of people’s bodies and burns 

them out in an incessant drive to infect others.

And a Presidential candidate is conversing with angels.

His aides think he’s crazy.

The electorate might not agree with them.

It could all be madness. It might be the apocalypse.

Americosis.

An epic genre-bending mash-up of sci-fi, horror, thriller & dark comedy.

Might need a second for that blurb to sink in because I can bloody promise you, I did. This book is so odd, confusing, and bizarre and frankly, a bit nuts, but I couldn’t stop myself reading it for one minute. I read this in my lunchbreak at work and just couldn’t stop until it was finished (mainly because I was terrified I would forget all that had happened and have to start all over again.) As the blurb states, the book follows a number of different story lines; the savior who happens to turn up a little nude and with a rather momentous member, the relationship between a therapist and her husband who appears to have killed a rather young girl in a McDonalds toilet, Hank the Christian who teaches children about the importance of God, and a President who swears he is conversing with angels.

It’s a novella and it packs a punch; although it follows a lot of different story lines they are clearly written although at this point do not connect in any single way. It rather introduces the story much like the first couple of chapters of a full length book rather than a novella which felt a little odd. I thought the idea of the STI was a bit puzzling; does it cause all the characters to become a bit sex-crazed because one scene definitely seemed to show that, because if it is this book just got even odder. The characters are distinct which is important in a book that jumps around so much and the reader has to basically start and keep reading until they hit the very last line and then take a breath.

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In terms of cons there are a couple of errors that I thought could have been made more grown-up. At times there is an over-use of the word ‘was’ (Robert was sat on the bed) which would have sounded better if the word had been removed. I know this is picky but it comes over a bit childish. I also found the second person narrative a bit grating. I remember trying to write a book in this POV when I was in secondary school and I got told off a lot and it was really tough to do as well. The final wobble was because the tale is so short the characters appear to come over very quickly which can mean they seem unlikeable and at the moment at least they are very one dimensional and Hank (Mr Sweary) was just unpalatable.

 But, and it’s a big but, I loved this little tale. It was odd, crazy, a bit nuts, weird, it didn’t make a huge amount of sense at the time but I want to read more! Who is the Savior and where has he come from? What is wrong with the President is he really conversing with angels (this plot is a bit mad) I liked the action, I liked the intrigue and if I’m honest I think I should have hated this but I didn’t, and I cannot wait to read more damn it.

Linkkkkks

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Another book to check off my list! Published in July 2015 :3

Prey: Michael Crichton

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I was recently sorting out a pile of my old books and stumbled across ‘Prey.’ I have piles and piles of books hidden around my room, in the wardrobe and under the bed and I often forget about them! So here’s a blast from the past and a review of ‘Prey’ by Michael Crichton

This is a gripping science fiction novel that would get any science fiction fan excited. In the Nevada desert, a science experiment has gone terribly wrong. A cloud of nano-particles—micro-robots—has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive and it has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour and every attempt to destroy it has failed. There is one problem: we are the prey. Jack Forman is the main protagonist of the story, an up tight, tense, former programmer that is trying to get used to life as a house-husband; looking after his children, doing the housework and tip-toeing around his increasingly stressed and distant wife. However it is not long until Jack is called to the lab in the desert where Julia works to try to program and control the demonic swarm of tiny robots.

The opening pages are exciting and tense. Julia, Jack’s wife is becoming distant and less human by the second. Not only is Julia becoming more tense, and stressed but her behaviour is becoming erratic. The atmosphere that Crichton creates is mysterious and tense, and as a reader we are drawn into the narrative. However as soon as Jack enters to desert the novel starts to gallop with inordinate pace, and although this is exciting, personally, as a I reader preferred the pressured atmosphere of the first chapters.The fight between humans and technology is the main plot line of the story. The workers at the plant, a bunch of contrasting characters, each with different personalities and behaviours must fight against the deadly swarm in the isolated conditions. This is against the clock as the swarm is evolving and getting stronger at every page turn; evolving into the optimum killing machine.

This book is a clever and exciting with a great pace. At times the science fiction jargon of the novel was complicated and complex and created an intricate and knotty plot line that was at times difficult to follow. I think at times Crichton over complicated the use of language and for me as a reader made the plot difficult to follow at points. I liked the contrasting characters in the group fighting the deadly swarm however a seemingly incompatible relationship that sprang up from no-where did seem a little inconceivable and therefore a little fake. However the story is strong and the plot is deep in meaning and understanding that means we as a reader are transported to the desert. The writing is technical and advanced and although this can sometimes be a little difficult, it shows the depth that Crichton has gone too to give a fictional authenticity of the story. This also means that although as a real concept it is inconceivable, we can’t help but wonder if it could potentially happen!  Although the language is sometimes difficult and full of names, number and formulas, as a reader I really enjoyed the plot and found myself carried away by the action and drama. If you are a science fiction or action fan this is definitely a book you need to get on your wish list, however I would still recommend this to any reader as the plot and characters are intense and brilliantly executed.Image