Review: Dreams and Shadows by Robert C. Cargill

Title: Dreams and Shadows

Author: Robert C. Cargill

Series: N/A

Genre: Fantasy

Summary (from Goodreads)

There is another world than our own—one no closer than a kiss and one no further than our nightmares—where all the stuff of which dreams are made is real and magic is just a step away. But once you see that world, you will never be the same.

Dreams and Shadows takes us beyond this veil. Once bold explorers and youthful denizens of this magical realm, Ewan is now an Austin musician who just met his dream girl, and Colby, meanwhile, cannot escape the consequences of an innocent wish. But while Ewan and Colby left the Limestone Kingdom as children, it has never forgotten them. And in a world where angels relax on rooftops, whiskey-swilling genies argue metaphysics with foul-mouthed wizards, and monsters in the shadows feed on fear, you can never outrun your fate.

Review

I love fairies. Not the pretty, Disney-fied version. The ugly, creepy, twisted versions of myth and legend – as multitudinous as the stars at night, each one even more horrible and fascinating than the rest.

Dreams and Shadows brings many of them out to play in a story that is at once an epic tale of war and an intimate story of friendship between two young boys as they grow into two young men, their lives entwined with the magic and treachery of the fairy world.

The story is told from a number of different perspectives, including a series of extracts from a book on the Fairy world which ought to have been dull, but actually added to the colour of the world. Knowing more about the habits and the horrors of each of the species encountered just added to the sense of building foreboding as the story built towards its climax.

It’s difficult to say much more than that without spoiling the reading experience. It’s a strange book, but in the best sort of way – a rich and fascinating experience that will leave a lasting impression. And make you careful to close your windows at night.

Rating: 5/5

 

Review: Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni

Title: Angelopolis

Author: Danielle Trussoni

Series: Angelology #2

Genre: Fantasy

Received for review from NetGalley

Summary (from Goodreads)

A decade has passed since Verlaine saw Evangeline alight from the Brooklyn Bridge, the sight of her wings a betrayal that haunts him still. The Nephilim are again on the rise, scheming to construct their own paradise—the Angelopolis—and ruthlessly pursued by Verlaine in his new calling as an angel hunter. But when Evangeline materializes, Verlaine is besieged by doubts that will only grow as forces more powerful than even the Nephilim draw them from Paris to Saint Petersburg and deep into the provinces of Siberia and the Black Sea coast. A high-octane tale of abduction and liberation, treasure seeking and divine warfare,Angelopolis plumbs Russia’s imperial past, modern genetics, and the archangel Gabriel’s famous visitations to conceive a fresh tableau of history and myth that will, once again, enthrall readers the world over.

Review

Ugh. Where to begin?

I was always in two minds about Angelology. On the one hand I really loved the concept of the world, and had a fondness for the main characters Evangeline and Verlaine, but a rubbish ending (when there was no promise of a sequel to follow) made me feel it was just overall poorly executed.

Then I read this and redefined my idea of what poorly executed means.

It’s as if this wasn’t edited at all. Like the publishers received a terrible manuscript and thought: what the hell, it will sell anyway. The story is rushed, the characters motivations a mystery and there are some dreadful continuity errors.

It’s very frustrating because this could have been good. Like in Angelology you have the continent hopping excitement of a Dan Brown-esque adventure novel. Trussoni has clearly done her research on ancient traditions and histories and her interweaving of her own angelic mythology into our real history is clever and satisfying. But then it’s clumsily regurgitated by an academic character who just decides to launch into a monologue on ancient Russia with no regard for time pressures or raging battles.

And the battles aren’t that exciting either. Everything seems rushed. Even the final payoff of Evangeline and Verlaine’s relationship is summed up in a sentence before both characters inexplicably turn to completely the opposite line of thinking to what they had displayed throughout the rest of the book.

Overall, I was left both confused and disoriented by poor transitions, rushed scenes, brushed over revelations and a load of historical info-dumping that, while interesting, rarely did anything to move the story forwards. I couldn’t even tell you what it was really about. Except it had something to do with some flowers and a Faberge egg…

Such a disappointment.

Rating: 1.5/5

Review: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman

Title: Between Two Thorns

Author: Emma Newman

Series: The Split Worlds #1

Genre: Fantasy

Received for review from NetGalley

Summary (from Goodreads)

Something is wrong in Aquae Sulis, Bath’s secret mirror city.

The new season is starting and the Master of Ceremonies is missing. Max, an Arbiter of the Split Worlds Treaty, is assigned with the task of finding him with no one to help but a dislocated soul and a mad sorcerer.

There is a witness but his memories have been bound by magical chains only the enemy can break. A rebellious woman trying to escape her family may prove to be the ally Max needs.

But can she be trusted? And why does she want to give up eternal youth and the life of privilege she’s been born into?

Review

I struggled to get into this one, and it took me some time to realise why. On the surface, it has everything I like in a novel – fantasy worlds, fairies and even a splash of the social intrigue that I enjoy in historical novels about court life. And it’s set in Bath. As an ex-resident of the city, I carry a certain, biased fondness for anything set within its streets.

But despite all this, I just couldn’t get going with it. I picked it up, read a little, put it down, read other books, and was generally unmotivated just to get it finished. I hate not finishing books, especially ones that I receive for review, so I plodded on with it and towards the end it did start to get a bit better. But not enough to payoff the slow start.

I think Between Two Thorns suffers for its multiple POV structure. There are several major players – some introduced early then promptly forgotten about, others not introduced ’til halfway through then given an inordinate amount of attention. It just felt a bit disjointed, and I couldn’t decide who was important.

It’s always the risk with multiple POV books that readers will like one character more than the others and consequently skip sections to get back to them, and I did feel a desire to do that in the early stages, before the disparate threads of narrative started heading towards a point of convergence.

When the climactic point of the narrative came together, it was quite a good payoff, and I enjoyed watching it all unravel. However, I was immediately then annoyed by the quite abrupt ‘Now you have to buy the next book’ ending. I don’t mind a bit of a cliffhanger, but there has to be some resolution. As I got to the final few percent on my Kindle, I just kept thinking ‘there is not enough space to wrap this up satisfactorily.’ And it didn’t.

The characters were pretty good – varied and each with their own motivations and interests. The Fae-touched were the most interesting, as was Arbiter Max and his dislocated soul companion.

I quite liked Cathy, though her sections were peppered with pop culture references – something I find incredibly irritating in books. Unless it’s a fashion reference in a book about fashion, or a nerdy reference in a book about a bunch of nerds, I personally think all pop culture references should be scrubbed out of books. Cathy’s frequent references to geek culture – Portal, Battlestar Galactica, Brazil – were supposed to highlight her geeky character, but the story wasn’t about her being a geek: it was about her wanting to live in the human world. That could have been got across without the references. But then, it’s a personal bugbear, and not necessarily something that will irritate other people as much as it did me.

Overall, just a bit of a mixed bag. I wonder if this is one of those books where the second one in the series is loads better because the set up stuff is all out of the way. I enjoyed it enough to consider finding that out, but unless it leaps off a shelf at me when it comes out, I feel I’ll probably have forgotten all about it by then…

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: Holding Out for a Hero, A Superhero Anthology

Title: Holding Out for a Hero

Author: Christine Bell, Ella Dane, Tamara Morgan, Nicco Rosso, Adrien-Luc Sanders

Series: N/A

Genre: Scifi/Fantasy/Romance

Received for review from NetGalley

Summary (from Goodreads)

Scarlett Fever, by Christine Bell and Ella Dane

After five years in training, it’s finally time for Scarlett Fever and her fellow superheroes to leave the United Superhero Academy and test their powers out in the real world. There’s only one problem. She’s been assigned to partner with arrogant, by the book, and irritatingly hot, Blade of Justice.

Blade’s whole life has gone according to plan, and he’s more than ready to move on to the big time, protecting a metropolis of his own. But his perfectly ordered life is derailed when he’s teamed up with the fiery maverick, Scarlett Fever.

Sparks fly the moment they arrive in Plunketville, Oklahoma, as they each set out to force the other to request a transfer. They soon discover there’s more going on in this single stop-sign town than blowing up mailboxes and cow tipping. If Scarlett can get Blade to listen to his gut, and he can teach her to use her head, they just might have a fighting chance.

Ironheart, by Nico Rosso

Vince might be hard as steel, but he’s not invincible. Not when iron touches him, especially in the hands of an evil minion. Not when Kara ran away after a whirlwind affair, just when he thought he might be falling in love. And definitely not when she returns, looking for his help.

The archvillain TechHead is coming for Kara and her superhero teammates, and he’s determined to use their combined power to create the ultimate weapon. But Kara can’t fight him alone. She needs Vince’s brutal skill, though being with him means she risks losing her beloved secret identity, leaving her nowhere else to hide.

When TechHead makes a play to capture Kara, Vince has more to lose than just his heart. But he will do anything for the woman he loves, even if it means putting his heart on the line again.

Playing With Fire, by Tamara Morgan

Fiona Nelson has always been one hot ticket—even before she took the conversion serum that gave her superhuman abilities. Fiona’s powers come at a price: lack of human contact, or she won’t be the only thing burning. When she loses control of her emotions, her fire powers run rampant… and she’s hurt enough people already. Including herself.

But when the man behind her conversion returns to blackmail her into helping him gain power, the only person she can turn to is Ian Jones, the man who broke her teenage heart. The man determined to expose the criminal known as Fireball, whose explosive escapades are just a little too close to Fiona’s M.O.

Ian is convinced Fiona’s dangerous, convinced she’s Fireball, and convinced he’ll damn himself if he doesn’t resist a heat that’s always drawn him to Fiona like a moth to a flame—but Ian has his own secrets.

And he’ll learn far too soon what happens when you play with fire.

From the Ashes, by Adrien-Luc Sanders

Sociopath. Killer. Deviant. Monster, devoid of morals, incapable of human emotion. The villain known as Spark has been called that and more, and as a super-powered aberrant has masterminded countless crimes to build his father’s inhuman empire.

Yet to professor Sean Archer, this fearsome creature is only Tobias Rutherford–antisocial graduate researcher, quiet underachiever, and a fascinating puzzle Sean is determined to solve.

One kiss leads to an entanglement that challenges everything Tobias knows about himself, aberrants, and his own capacity to love. But when his father orders him to assassinate a senator, one misstep unravels a knot of political intrigue that places the fate of humans and aberrants alike in Tobias’s hands. As danger mounts and bodies pile deeper, will Tobias succumb to his dark nature and sacrifice Sean–or will he defy his father and rise from the ashes to become a hero in a world of villains?

Review

While this was an enjoyable read, it was really a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality. Every story was enjoyable but, for me, the last was far and away the best of the bunch. The rating reflects an average, and I’ve given each story a separate rating.

I love a bit of ‘opposites attract’ and Scarlett Fever totally delivered on that front, and though it was fairly obvious who the enemy was, I could forgive that for the steamy chemistry between the major characters and the gradual realisation that they are exactly what each other need to be the best the can be. 3.5/5

Playing with Fire wasn’t a bad story, though as I said, not my favourite. The world set up here, I loved – the idea that people took a drug to give them superpowers, but mostly they turned out to be lame (killing fish etc) was great and love interest Ian was an interesting character. I just felt some of the scenes involving Fiona’s past were a bit cringy, and certain characters I couldn’t see getting along. 3/5

Ironheart was my least favourite of the bunch. It had a lot more explicit sex than the others, though that wasn’t my objection. My biggest problem with it was, unstoppable superhero Vince’s powers were negated by the presence of Iron… which would surely mean he never had superpowers, the amount of iron there is about? He gets shot at, attacked with saws etc and doesn’t notice, but one fire poker and he’s reduced to a regular human. Maybe I’m being overly picky here, but it just grated with me the whole way through. 2.5/5

From the Ashes was by far my favourite, despite my reservations with it being Gay romance. It’s not something I normally read – I read romance to swoon over the main bloke, and I like my main blokes straight. However, this didn’t feature the same levels of rampant, gratuitous sex as some of the other stories – instead portraying a much more tender and emotional love story (interesting, given one of the characters claims to have no emotions) where two men ultimately save each other and the world at the same time. It was a horrible vision of the future, with x-men style ‘superpowered weirdos as the dangerous “other”‘ style mythology, and plenty of interesting stuff going on in the background. But, at its heart it was a truly romantic romance and very enjoyable. 5/5

Rating: 3.5/5

Review: Nights of Villjamur by Mark Charan Newton

Title: Nights of Villjamur

Author: Mark Charan Newton

Series: Legends of the Red Sun #1

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Tor

Summary (from Goodreads)

An ice age strikes a chain of islands, and thousands come to seek sanctuary at the gates of Villjamur: a city of ancient spires and bridges, a place where banshees wail the deceased, cultists use forgotten technology for their own gain and where, further out, the dead have been seen walking across the tundra.When the Emperor commits suicide, his elder daughter, Rika, is brought home to lead the Jamur Empire, but the sinister Chancellor plans to get rid of her and claim the throne for himself. Meanwhile a senior investigator in the city inquisition must solve the high-profile and savage murder of a city politician, whilst battling evils within his own life, and a handsome and serial womanizer manipulates his way into the imperial residence with a hidden agenda. When reports are received that tens of thousands of citizens are dying in a bizarre genocide on the northern islands of the Empire, members of the elite Night Guard are sent to investigate. It seems that, in this land under a red sun, the long winter is bringing more than just snow.

What’s Good About It

There’s a lot going on – political intrigue, dangerous unknown threats on the outer islands, an ice age. All these big things are played off against the small concerns – a husband trying to reconcile with his wife, a son trying to save his mother, and it’s the contrast that works so well. Often epic fantasy is so concerned with the epic that it forgets about the human interest, the telling details that help us relate to the characters and their struggles, and through them take interest in the grand scale battles and issues.

The characters are believable and relatable, even the ones that aren’t human, and there’s plenty of fantastical colour to Villjamur – from the banshees and Garudas that inhabit its streets to the red sun that lights its sky. There’s action too – with sword fights, murders, romance, quests and a bit of dancing there’s never a dull moment.

And the best bit, of course, is it’s the first part in a trilogy, which means there’s plenty more of the good stuff to come.

What’s Not So Good

I spent the majority of the book confused as to whether two characters were or weren’t the same person. But that might just be me being entirely dense.

Rating: 4.5/5