Deceiver

Deceiver by Kelli Owen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A man's wife is murdered and he's understandably wrecked. When he finds a notebook in her luggage, he finds that his wife may not have been the person he thought she was...

I got this from Darkfuse via Netgalley.

Imagine you find evidence that your recently deceased spouse was a serial killer. That's the boat Matt Newman is in in Deceiver. He gradually slides from being the grieving husband to brimming with anger as he reads the entries in his deceased wife's notebook.

I've never read a Kelli Owen book before but she knows about building tension and conveying feelings of loss and anger like nobody's business. I sympathized with Matt at the various stages of his emotional journey.

The payoff at the end is pretty damn sweet. I don't have a bad thing to say about this book. It's an easy four star read.

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Savage

Savage by Gary Fry
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A stodgy academic runs out of gas in a secluded English town, a town devoid of joy and dedicated to discipline. When the townsfolk ask him to treat an undisciplined man whom they say murdered four men, Daryl's life takes a dark turn...

I got this from Darkfuse via Netgalley.

I didn't really know what to think about this DarkFuse novella. It seems to be a story about the dangers of conformity and discipline gone wrong. Daryl lives a rational, disciplined lifestyle and ends up in a secluded village where the people make him look like John Belushi by comparison. But then reality seems to be breaking down at the village and things get really strange.

It was a creepy story but I'm not exactly sure what happened. I've had a great experience with DarkFuse so far but they can't all be home runs, I guess. Two out of five stars.

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Damoren

Damoren by Seth Skorkowsky
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

*** in progress ***
When Matt Hollis, a lone demon hunter with a magical pistol, is approached to join the ancient order of Valducan knights, he warily accepts. Can the Valducans put aside their suspicions and accept Matt before they are overwhelmed by a demonic force bent on ridding the world of holy weapons?

I got this ARC from Ragnarok Publications, the fine folks responsible for the Dead West series.

Firstly, Damoren, a magical pistol with an equally magical bayonet attacked, was forged from a shattered magical sword, also called Damoren. Damoren's current wielder, Matt Hollis, is tainted by demon blood after a bullet fired by Damoren passed through a demon into him, giving him some cool abilities.

I really liked the mythology Skorkowsky established around the demons. Pretty much any monster you can think of was actually a human infected by a demon. Even dragons and vampires.

The story was pretty good. Matt has to overcome the mistrust of the rest of the Valducans and help them deal with a shit ton of demons. There's a lot of action and gore. Unfortunately, there's also a lot gun porn in this; long descriptions of weapons and lots of technical details.

Another thing I liked was the inclusion of excerpts from the Valducan's history interspersed with the regular chapters. Funny how I'm reading Carrie at the same time and it uses a similar technique.

It was a fun read and things got really tense in the last 20%. Since it's the first book in a series, I knew some people would live but if the first book is any indication, the story of the Valducan knights is going to be a bloody one with lots of casualties. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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Wanna Cook?

Wanna Cook?: The Complete, Unofficial Companion to Breaking Bad by Ensley F. Guffey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Wanna Cook? is an episode guide for the exquisite television program, Breaking Bad.

I got this from Netgalley.

Wanna Cook is an episode by episode analysis of the rise and fall of one Walter White, cancer sufferer and meth cook. Each episode is picked apart, highlighting the milestones on Walt's rise and fall, as well as commentary on the actors and camera work. Some of the symbolism is also picked apart.

The writing is pretty good and I liked learning about the underlying philosophy of the show. I thought they may have read a little too much into some of the symbolism, however. The book made me want to watch Breaking Bad in its entirety once again. There were some clever insights and I enjoyed the trip down memory lane immensely but I'm not sure how necessary the book actually is in this day and age since there are probably thousands of websites out there dissecting Breaking Bad in great detail.

The only thing I thought may have been lacking in the book was that there were no "what might have been" sections. No mention was made that Jesse PInkman wasn't originally intended to survive the first season, for instance.

Wanna Cook is a good look back at a great TV show. I am on the one who knocks! Three out of five stars.

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Night Terrors

Night Terrors by Tim Waggoner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Shadow Watch officers Audra Hawthorne and Mr. Jinx botch an arrest, they're taken off the case. But how can a psychotic nightmare clown and his creator stay away from a case that has both Earth and Nod hanging in the balance?

I got this from Netgalley and the chaps at Angry Robot.

The thing I've always disliked about the fantasy genre, both urban and epic, is that very few books attempt to break new ground. This one leaves the ground behind and heads into the Twilight Zone.

Night Terrors is the same old story about a burned out cop and her partner working on a case that they've been booted off of. Only the cop works for an organization called the Shadow Watch that keeps rogue nightmares from escaping Nod to the real world. And Jinx is a psychotic nightmare clown she created that is now her partner.

The concept reminds me of the Jack Kirby version of the Sandman, the red and yellow superhero who operated primarily in dreams, the precursor to Neil Gaiman's Sandman. Maybe you've heard of it?

There's very little infodumping so I had to piece things together as I went. I liked the idea of Ideators, people capable of making dreams real, and the Maelstrom and the people and gadgets that used it's power, like the M-gineers and M-blades and things.

The book reminded me of Simon Green's Nightside book at first, although with much less annoying lead characters. Audra is burned out from not being able to sleep due to being an Ideator, someone capable of bringing nightmares to life, and Jinx is a combination of Beetlejuice, The Mask, the Joker, and a great white shark.

The relationship between Audra and Jinx is one of my favorite parts of the book. Night Jinx is her loose cannon partner. Day Jinx is like a mother hen and makes Audra look like the loose cannon. It makes Night Terrors one of the most dysfunctional buddy cop stories in history.

Lots of crazy stuff happens in this one. When one of the protagonists is a demonic clown, you know the bad guys have to be pretty formidable, which they are. The ending is satisfying and also leaves the door open for further adventures of the Shadow Watch.

Four out of five stars.


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The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Harry August is a kalachakra, a man who is reborn at the same point in time over and over with his memories intact. When a little girl warns Harry on his eleventh death bed that the end of the world is coming sooner with each cycle, Harry goes on the offensive. Can he stop the end of the world, even with the help of the Cronus Club?

I got this from Netgalley.

I love a bit of timey-wimey and this book has it in spades. Remember the movie Groundhog Day where Bill Murray experiences the same day over and over? Now, imagine the day is a lifetime and there are other people experiencing it as well. That's pretty much the plot.

I'm going to get my gripe out of the way first. The book moves at a glacial pace, mostly due to the constant digressions. The publisher's blurb makes it sound like the world is in jeopardy immediately. Not so. I was 30% of the way through the book by the time the little girl showed up.

That being said, this is a very compelling book. It deals with classic time travel themes like not messing with the past and weighty topics like how our experiences make us who we are. Harry's not the most interesting character I've ever read about but he lives some interesting lives.

Once the little girl finally shows up to warn Harry during his eleventh life, everything is kicked up a notch and Harry's lives finally have a greater purpose. Harry being reborn as himself in the same point in history every time reminds me of reading the same Choose Your Own Adventure book over and over without being able to keep your thumb at the previous choice so you can go back. "Maybe if I run away at age six, everything will turn out okay..."

Kalachakras at the beginning of their life cycles handing off info to kalachakras at the end of theirs was a novel way of passing info back in time, even though the information could taint the timeline.

At the end of the day, I'm not really sure how to go about rating this. I loved the concepts and the writing was very good but Harry wasn't a very compelling lead. The endless digressions were a little annoying. I guess I'll give it the traditional safety rating of three stars.




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Doctor Who: A Handful of Stardust

Doctor Who: A Handful of Stardust by Jake Arnott
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The sixth Doctor and Peri get yanked back to the 16th century by John Dee. After a clash of egos, The Doctor discovers The Master is pulling Dee's strings. But what does The Master have planned involving a super nova in the constellation Cassiopeia? Can the Doctor stop his schemes? Of course he can! He's the Doctor!

I got this from Netgalley.

I must admit, this is the first Doctor Who story I've read that features a Doctor I'm unfamiliar with, in this case, the Sixth Doctor. Still, that did little to impede my enjoyment.

A Handful of Stardust features such diverse elements as witchcraft, incubii, John Dee, super novas, and The Master. It feels very much like a standalone episode of Doctor Who, complete with uncertainty and a little running away. Just when The Master appears to get the upper hand, The Doctor works that old magic and things are resolved before the closing credits roll.

The Time Trips continue to be entertaining bits of Whoviana. Three out of five stars.

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