REVIEW: The Plague Forge by Jason M. Hough

The Plague Forge by Jason M. Hough
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It sucked. Horribly.

+ the writing

The writing didn't improve an inch. It remained excessively detailed. I swear, if a character went to the restroom to take a dump, the scene would have lasted FIVE full pages. Then, in the next chapter the character would still be shitting and it wouldn't be because of constipation. It didn't matter if there was action, which the book had a lot, the pace moved like molasses. I had less patience for book 3 than for book 2 so I skimmed more. I skimmed a lot. You know it's a bad book when you're skimming the action scenes.

+ the characters

I ceased caring for Skyler. He did improve from book 1. He did less angsting and more doing. Nevertheless, the character growth was nowhere enough for me to give a fuck whether the protag lived or died.

Tania, the second protag, improved a lot from the annoying-as-fuck damsel in distress she was in book 1. However, she regressed a bunch in book 3 by obsessing over Skyler. It was annoying enough to watch unrequited love from Skyler's side towards Tania, it was doubly annoying to watch it from Tania's side towards Skyler. The non-communication suffocated me.

Add in Ana, Skyler's current girlfriend, and a stinky love triangle exploded in my face. I felt bad for Ana because she loved Skyler but Skyler didn't love her as much, not as much as he secretly loved Tania. Honestly, the only reason I believe the two women loved Skyler was because he was the hero of the story and it's standard for heroes to have more than one love interest. In other words, the romance was forced and superficial.

The love triangle grated on my nerves. Tania and Ana seemed to be defined by their love for Skyler. At least with Tania, she was a protag of her own and had a life outside of Skyler. Though Ana was promoted from a minor character in book 2 to a major character in book 3, she existed solely as Skyler's sidekick. Without Skyler, she would have faded completely to the background. Thankfully, relief came in the middle of the big book when shit was so important that they couldn't afford the luxury of even a minute to obsess over Skyler. It was also depressing that it took that long and that much.

Samantha, the one major female character who wasn't a love interest of Skyler's, ceased to be my favorite character. I still liked her, which is hugely more than I feel for Skyler, but she wasn't doing anything that I thought was important shit. All she did was run, hide, and fight. It was pretty entertaining in book 1. But as the series progressed, it became boring. She didn't really serve a big role except to be one of the good guys for Skyler to save.

As for the villains, one of them disappointed me greatly. Blackfield broke character by performing a heroic act. After all that animosity and fighting against our good guys, suddenly he decided to help them towards the end because of, ew, altruism? No. I didn't buy it. I didn't buy the reason given that Blackfield was "varying the pattern," his motto of acting unpredictably to win. There's a thick line between acting unpredictably and acting altruistically, forgetting the fact that you're a despicable villain. What he should have done was backstab our good guys and survive like the cockroach of a person that he was.

As for Grillo, the other villain, he frustrated me, but it was in the sense that he was a great villain and he was kicking our good guys' ass. He didn't disappoint me as it was the good guys who disappointed me because they couldn't match him in war. What few victories the good guys gained were by luck in my opinion.

+ the ending

The ending was the worst offender of the book and overall, the series. It was rushed. It had dei ex machina. To add insult to injury, the epilogue was a letter addressed to the reader, telling the reader everything in one fat infodump. By everything, I mean all the things the book withheld from the reader. The reader learned about the reasons behind the apocalypse on Earth, the apocalypse in a galactic empire, the aliens' mission, and the characters' next adventure. The epilogue revealed the entire series as a prelude to the real story where the characters will fight supposedly evil aliens in a galactic war. A FUCKING PRELUDE. Why the fuck was this series not that story?

My feelings were confirmed in a Goodreads review which said that this trilogy was the first of three trilogies. *facepalm* I doubt that will happen if I have learned anything about series, sales, and publishers.

Conclusion

I rate The Plague Forge 1-star for I didn't like it. My only consolation was that I skimmed and the books were free courtesy of the very nice publisher humoring my requests. This series was essentially an unnecessarily expanded-to-the-extreme version of those prequel short stories you often see in Young Adult series.

If you read book 1 and didn't care for it but have a compulsion like me to know what happen at the "end," read book 3's epilogue. It's the only chapter that matters.

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Review of book 1: The Darwin Elevator
Review of book 2: The Exodus Towers

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REVIEW: Honor's Knight by Rachel Bach

Honor's Knight by Rachel Bach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Every bit as good as book 1, and more; book 2 dazzled me. Every time I thought I knew a character or the situation, the book blasted me with new details and showed me how wrong I was and how little I knew. I know the saying “there are two sides to every story.” I knew it was the message the book was sending. Nevertheless, I still got my ass handed to me.

+ the plot

The book started off slow for me because I didn’t like following memory-wiped Devi. I hate to see beloved main characters in a helpless position. The inexplicable emotions, the strange floating creatures only she could see, the “dreams” she was having. Devi began to doubt her sanity. Who wouldn’t? Thankfully, the torment didn’t last long, and that was when the book really began for me.

Once she quickly regained her memory, she gained some answers from Caldswell. Hurray for answers! I LOVE IT when a series doesn’t make me wait for them. Those answers were the phantoms, those strange floating creatures only plasmex users could see. And somehow she could too, because she was not a plasmex user. The phantoms were invulnerable aliens who traveled around outer space, and occasionally a big one would effortlessly destroy a planet for no discernible reason. The human governments kept it a secret because imagine the panic. The fact that only plasmex users, less than a hundred in existence and very short-lived, could kill these phantoms? Panic.

Devi immediately realized it was the virus she contracted on the alien ghost ship back in book 1 that gave her the special sight. The virus also made her The Most Wanted Person In The Universe. It’s no exaggeration to say she could save the world or bring it to its end. It’s a fucking virus. Book 2 is about what Devi going to do with it as the only carrier. Cue moral choices. Lots of them.

The action was nonstop and BREATHTAKING. My pulse rate and mind was never at rest. I was constantly wondering how the fuck was Devi going to escape her predicament and what was she was going to do next. Every path seemed to be a death trap. One wrong move and BOOM, everyone dies. No do-over.

+ the characters

I loved Devi. Loved her. She was fucking tough as nails. The only time I thought she made a stupid was when she went to a Paradoxian noble for help after everything she had learned about the conspiracy with the phantoms. I swear, her Paradoxian loyalty will be the death of her. Thankfully, things quickly worked out. It was amazing to watch Devi make like a contortionist and pull a Houdini. Go, Devi!

I still don’t really care for Rupert, but I admit he’s growing on me. It helped that Devi immediately stopped being a lovestruck fool when her memory was restored and gave the bastard some deserved asskicking in more than one way.

Mabel being a warrior was a surprise because I should have seen it coming. I knew there was more to that overly cheery, super-competent mechanic. Nevertheless, she still remained an enigma like her cat. In book 1, I learned about Nova and Hyrek. In book 2, I learned about Basil, Ren, Caldswell, and Brenton. Now I understand why Basil is so perpetually cranky. Everything about Ren was tragic all around, and I was grateful the action-packed plot saved me from dwelling on the matter, along with all the other sad matters.

With Caldswell and Brenton, I couldn’t keep from thinking one was the bad guy and one was the good guy. It took me a while to learn that no matter how much I learned about these characters, I wasn’t going to ever get the “full story.” That for all my attempts to judge them and play god, I couldn’t. It didn’t feel right. Matters were so gray. Even loony Maat was sympathetic, and I trust her as far I could throw an elephant.

The only characters that didn’t have my sympathy were the war-loving, man-eating, slave-owning xith’cal race. I cannot imagine in any way they would be misunderstood.

Finally, Anthony. He wasn’t in the book, not even as a passing reference. In book 1, Anthony wanted to help Devi, and she cut him off. During her escape, I would have thought she contact him for help. But no, she went to a Paradoxian noble stranger. Ergh. Kind of a plot hole where Anthony is concerned.

+ the moral choices

Some examples: Is biological warfare ever acceptable? At what point is the cost of saving the world too high and inhumane? Could the cost ever include sacrificing your children? Sacrificing the few for the many, where does the line stop?

That last question was the one I thought about the most. I couldn’t help but feel the characters’ thought process, including lawful Caldswell’s, were distinctly American. To be specific, culturally individualistic. Sacrificing the few for the many, no matter how inhumane, is a no-brainer for some collectivistic cultures. I don’t know how to feel about the lack of representation of that ideology in the book and how the closest thing to such a representation are through the aliens. At any rate, I don’t envy the characters for the responsibilities they’re forced to bear.

Conclusion

I rate Honor’s Knight 4-stars for I really liked it. Book 2 was a thriller science fiction, and I was definitely thrilled. The series got EPIC. Please let the series ends well.

Review of book 1: Fortune's Pawn
 

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Book Description

The rollicking sequel to Fortune's Pawn — an action packed science fiction novel.

Devi Morris has a lot of problems. And not the fun, easy-to-shoot kind either. 

After a mysterious attack left her short several memories and one partner, she's determined to keep her head down, do her job, and get on with her life. But even though Devi's not actually looking for it — trouble keeps finding her. She sees things no one else can, the black stain on her hands is growing, and she is entangled with the cook she's supposed to hate.

But when a deadly crisis exposes far more of the truth than she bargained for, Devi discovers there's worse fates than being shot, and sometimes the only people you can trust are the ones who want you dead.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: Lockstep by Karl Schroeder

Lockstep by Karl Schroeder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was one of my most anticipated books for 2014. I enjoyed the read but I was not wowed as I had hoped to be.

What I Like

+ the world building

The world building confused me, which I should have expected because the book was hard science fiction. It wasn’t till the middle of the book that I finally understood what lockstep was, and I felt giddy when I did. It took some time but it was worth it. I was amazed by how sophisticated and creative the world building was.

It was very interesting reading a world where human civilization had expanded into the endless outer space yet they didn’t have superluminal travel. I must confess; I was resistant to the idea because I really do believe one day — in the far-off future — humanity will have superluminal travel, and I didn’t like reading something that would challenge that belief. Now that I have read this book, I’m not greatly resistant to idea of a world where superluminal might never be possible. I could perfectly imagine how people can live on the same timeline despite the immense distance between worlds, the different planetary cycles, and other forces of time.

One of the things that surprised me was the underlying environmental theme. There is a saying that “money runs the world.” In this distant future, resources run the world — all of the worlds. No matter how far human civilization may have expanded into outer space, the message in the book says we will always be restricted by natural resources and we will fight amongst ourselves over them.

Another thing that surprised me was how there were robots yet humans still had to do menial labor, and some of them, specifically the very poor, even worked for the robots. The idea of lazy robots outsourcing their jobs made me chuckle. It reminded me of the robots in Futurama but without the sassy personalities.

The only thing about the world building that left me thinking was the fate of trillionaires left on Earth. What happened to them after the McGonigals took over? The book never really did say.

+ the main character

I liked Toby. For someone who woke up fourteen THOUSANDS years into the future, discovered he was the heir of an empire and a Jesus-like figure of the empire’s religion, and slapped with the fact that his once-loving family wasn’t too keen on reuniting with him to put it nicely, the guy had a level head on his shoulder. He did panic of course, but he didn’t go into a mood and give up on life. He fought as befitting of his role.

I was very grateful to follow a main character who commanded common sense and caution. I liked the fact that even though he began to have feelings for Corva, he didn’t automatically think what was best for her would be best for him and follow her like a puppy, doing whatever she wanted. In other words, he didn’t think with his dick. The fact that he was careful in whom to place his trust gave me a book erection.

What Could Have Been Better

+ the main character’s father

For someone who played a pivotal role, he was rarely talked about. I recall only three times, and two of those times were very brief. Say what? I would have thought with certainty that the reader would get to learn what happened to him after the rift with his family. All the reader learned was that he remarried and nothing after that. Whether he had other children or if his second wife was still alive, we never know. I still didn’t really understand how everyone else in his first family was still alive, yet he wasn’t, or why his family was famous with a religion built around them, yet he faded into obscurity. Carter McGonigal was a major character, but the book inappropriately treated him like a minor character. It fell into the trap where just because a character is dead a long time ago, it doesn’t mean he’s not important to the story and his influence on the other characters should be any less than a stranger.

+ the ending

It was kind of flat, emotion wise. I liked the happy ending and the reconciliation, but considering what had happened, how human civilization was at stake, and the bad feelings and trade of threats among the characters, the ending felt too neat to be real. I found it hard to believe the revolution happened without bloodshed.

Conclusion

I rate Lockstep 3-stars for I like it. The book description led me to believe the story would be on epic scale, but the only thing truly epic about book was the setting. When I take away the fancy setting, the book is about a broken family. A missing son; a traumatized little brother who grows up to be a tyrant; a typical middle child of a sister whose life became all about her brothers; a grieving mother and an absent workaholic father. The plot was about Toby finding his way, trying to make things right, and saving his family, even if some of them wanted him dead. It’s almost like a literary fiction.

The book was a good read, and I do recommend it but with the caveat that the reader check their high expectations.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: Terminated by Rachel Caine

Terminated by Rachel Caine
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

CAUTION: spoilers, rant

The first book was kind of good and really promising. The second book — not so good, because it was too angsty for my taste. The third book (this book) was better. Less on the angst (and Bryn’s internal whining), more of a thriller with Bryn literally taking names and kicking ass. She still whined some but this time she got the message that it is not who, or rather what, you are that makes you a monster, it is what you do that does. About damn time.

+ What I Didn’t Like: a lot

Unfortunately, book 3’s better wasn’t good enough. To see that this book is the final book of the series saddens me. The series had so much potential, but never fully realized it. In book 1 through 2, the story danced around the ethical issues. I accepted this because I thought the issues were going to be dished out in pieces throughout the series. This was back when I was ignorant of the fact that the series was only a trilogy. In book 3, the story completely sidestepped it by paint brushing the entire zombie technology as evil and something that should have never been invented. The book did so much wrong there.

1) Talk about anti-science. Seriously, talk about it. The characters never once thought, “hey, maybe this technology could be modified not to make people zombies but instead to enhance their natural healing abilities (within constraints, without them dead first, of course).” But oh no, the zombie technology is absolutely evil is what the book went for. The technology must be destroyed. Never mind the facts it’s the evil people who use the thing for evil and that there were equally destructive AND MORE destructive inventions in existence.

2) It’s lazy writing, considering that the story is a what-if. This story was about what if death could be cured with a drug. Evidently, that was just a flimsy setting for a mediocre thriller fiction. Largely flash and little substance.



SPOILERS AHEAD.



3) And the ending. It sucked! Seriously, a kill switch? Seriously? There’s a blatant deus ex machina if I ever see one. The characters actually thought the kill switch would be the end of things. The fuck it isn’t. They never once thought people might figure out a way around the kill switch of a hack as people usually do because there’s no such thing as an unhackable hack. They never thought that other bad guys might accept the kill switch thing as an acceptable risk, kidnap a bunch of innocent people, and turn them into disposable mind-controlled zombie super soldiers to inflict the maximum damage before the enemy realizes they’re zombies and activate the kill switch... assuming they have the high technology on hand. Hell, they never even thought that invention could still be used as a biological weapon and be modified to make it more contagious, e.g. infect people by air or drinking water. Just because there is a cure for something does not make that something any less dangerous, smallpox for example. Come on! It’s weaponology 101.

Beside the ethical issues, book 3 also skimped out on the Evil Corporation, Massive Conspiracy, and Global Domination plot. The reader never got to learn the entire extent of it. For a story where the world was at stake, it was absurdly provincial. In other words, the story told the reader the world is at stake but what was happening felt more on the scale of a national level rather than a global one. I hardly doubt Americans were the only players in the game, but in the series that was all who the reader sees. If there was any mention of international stuff, it was in the abstract and distance. The farthest and most foreign place the characters ever went in the story was Alaska. Honestly.

Other things I hated was how some Bryn’s allies turned out not to be trustworthy to say the least. After all they have been through together, it made me mad how easily the team could break. Granted, they all pulled through in the end but I felt the side road drama was unnecessary and the time could have been much better spent on world building and plot depth building.

Another thing I didn’t like was how practically all the villains were 100% evil. They were either psychopaths or people just blindly following orders. The black and white-ness of things felt juvenile.

The deaths at the end felt overly dramatic and contrived because obviously the kill switch had to come with a high price. Oh please. Spare me the tragic tough choice. The kill switch could have easily come with no price at all with the way the book made up the science stuff.

The ending was abrupt. I was shortchanged of an epilogue. The series ended with a belief that the loose ends were wrapped up, and they were. But it was in a way that could easily be unwrapped with another book if the author decided to continue the series.

+ What I Liked: a little

The only things I liked beside Bryn’s kicking ass was how the romance between Patrick and Bryn continued without angst and stupid issues. I was thankful that at the very least the series allowed the two to survive at the end together.

Conclusion

I rate Terminated and the entire series 2-stars for it was okay. I don’t recommend this series. It promised a basketful of things it never delivered. I recommend the White Trash Zombie series, a MUCH better zombie series.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach

Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach (aka Rachel Aaron)
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was great, but there were a few things that could have been done a lot better.

What I Didn’t Like

+ the romance

I did not care an ounce for the romance between Devi and Rupert. Of all the men Devi had met in her life, as someone who traveled a lot and was in a field dominated by men which meant she was surrounded by men at all time, she had to go fall for Rupert who is one of the worst men that she could have fallen for. It’s not because Rupert is a bad person; to the contrary, he’s a fucking Gary Stu. It’s because he cannot be more unavailable for romance. I hated how for most of the book, the romance was one-sided on Devi’s end. In addition, Rupert is a danger to Devi and he can easily ruin her career goal to become a Devastator, a dream she has worked to hell for, because of who he is and his duties.

+ the love interest

Who is Rupert? Well, as I said he is a Gary Stu. He’s tall and handsome. He cooks. He protects Ren, the Captain’s mute little girl. He fights better than he lets on, better than anyone Devi, a super tough heroine who has fought countless people and things, has ever known that it seems so... inhuman. He’s mysterious. *gags* I felt like a wishlist of traits in the perfect marriageable man was being checked off as Rupert was developed as a character, and ironically the dude is not even available for romance so fuck marriage.

Upon revelation, readers learn Rupert is a self-torturous soul who is forced to choose between doing his duties and being with his first love that is Devi. When I learned that, I immediately thought, “Am I reading a science-fiction or a cheesy romance set in a science-fiction?” Oh my gawd, the romance was so cheesy!

+ the romance, part 2

The romance was also forced. Rupert’s reasons for falling in love with Devi were flimsy as straws; it was borderline instalove. Devi was unlike anyone Rupert had ever met. Bitch please! With Devi, I was baffled how a self-proclaimed commitment-phobe could suddenly for the first time in her life not only fall in love but to fall in love with someone, as said before, who could not be more unavailable for romance. Devi could have chosen Anthony who she had known for a long time and trusts and does her favors (which she doesn’t even return), Anthony who loved her and made his intention of wanting a commitment with her clear, Anthony who has the look, the job, and the money, etc. But oh no, Devi had to choose the guy who made it clear he cannot be with her, and she was willing to risk everything for him when he clearly said he could not do the same. Have some self-respect, Devi. Have a fucking bucket of self-respect.

The only silver lining was that Anthony wasn’t pulled along in Devi’s romance shitfest and appeared only twice in the book, both times briefly. No stupid love triangle, at least.

+ the ending

And the ending. What the fuck? Basically, the plot shoved Devi back to step one and now in book two readers will be forced to go through the romance shitfest between her and Rupert ALL OVER AGAIN. No. Just... no. I kind of hope Rupert is one of the characters that gets killed. The ending left a sour taste of what was mostly an enjoyable read if you put aside the romance shitfest.

What I Did Like

+ the heroine

A friend told me a Goodreads reviewer described the heroine as a Kate Daniels in space. Kate Daniels? In Space? I love Kate Daniels! This book turned from “mildly interesting, read it when in a scifi mood” to “very interesting, read it over the weekend.” The description was accurate much to my pleasure. Devi was every bit the kickass heroine I expected. The things that made Devi different from Kate was her ambition, her reverence for her Paradoxian heritage and monarch, her respect towards authority, her fondness for the drink, and her proud attitude towards sex. When Deviana Morris wants some, she gets some, whether it be drink or sex. Screw you, double standard. I loved her unrestrained attitude.

I also loved that she was nobody’s fool. Devi knew when to follow her instincts and when to ignore them for the sake of continual deception and her career. She didn’t put complete trust in the Final World Lock, her Paradoxian armor suit’s black box, and had a backup black box called a Mercenary’s Bargain even though it was illegal as death. The woman was prepared and practical, completely believable as a mercenary.

+ the world building

I wasn’t as lost as I thought I was going to be because the book was hard science fiction with alien races and intergalactic conflicts. It didn’t take me more than a few chapters before I tightly grasped what was going on and who was who and of what alien race and loyalty. The world building was very solidly done. The geopolitical landscape read genuinely like world news you would see on BBC or CNN except the setting is in the distant future and there are aliens in the mix.

You had your intelligent and big-ego-to-match bird-like aliens, the aeons, your hunts-and-eats-other-aliens lizard-like aliens, the xith’cal, your mysterious hardly-ever-seen jellyfish-like aliens, the lelgis. Of course, there are humans, and they separated into Terrans and Paradoxians, the former a republic, the latter a monarchy. But it’s not just humans who have factions, I also got to learn of a few in other alien races. As it is with humans, just because you are of the same species doesn’t mean you share the same loyalty. There were as many intraspecies conflicts as there were interspecies ones.

The world building didn’t say there was a war going on but there were “military conflicts,” government conspiracies, biological weapons, blah blah, the usual shit you read on worlds news, except as you know, with aliens in the mix. That said, sometime aliens do get along with each other as the case is with the Glorious Fool.

+ the other characters

As a reader, I have a pretty hard time tracking characters but this book did not give me any hardship. Every character of the Glorious Fool was distinguishable and memorable. I love the sense of humor which underlaid the character development. Take for example, Hyrek. One would think the last character to be the ship’s doctor, I repeat: the ship’s doctor, is of a race who eats people, but yet there was Hyrek, a xith’cal doctor, a genderqueer xith’cal doctor.

Hell, some of the characters I least expected to like I actually came to like. Nova, full name: Novascape Starchild (yes, really), helped man the ship’s bridge. She was developed as this sheltered girl who came from, um, a religious group to put it kindly if you catch my drift. Of course, I quickly saw that beneath the sweet hippie surface was someone who actually thought for herself and there was a perfectly good reason for the existence of the religious group. Psychics are in the house!

Cotter was the other half of the security team which Devi served on, and dude was a stereotypical sexist thug whose brain was only capable of seeing things to kill and killing them. I expected there to be a lot of drama and spats between Devi and her antithesis of a co-worker, but surprisingly there were none. Cotter was a wee smarter than I thought and didn’t need more than one asskicking lesson to accept the fact that Devi was the top dog. Cotter grew on me. He grew on me more than I thought because what happened to him at the end, I was... sad.

I came to care for all the members of the Glorious Fool, yes including Rupert as much as he annoyed me. Dude did save Devi’s life a bunch of times, and I like Devi alive. With Captain Caldswell, I have mixed feelings to be honest even though there are good reasons to despise him. I have mixed feelings because I have yet to learn his side of the story. I’m not ready to condemn him just on Devi and Rupert’s side of the story alone. But I think this is a good thing because it means his character is dimensional.

+ the plot

Putting aside the romance, I liked everything about the plot. I liked how the plot balanced between the slow times and the fast times. I never felt bored at all. My favorite parts were when Devi tried to uncover conspiracies, and we readers learn what Devi learned was only the tip of the iceberg. I foresee epicness.

There are a lot of things in play, and it could have been confusing, which is why I am really thankful that the book was strictly narrated from Devi’s first person viewpoint.

Conclusion

I rate Fortune’s Pawn 3-stars for I liked it. While the yucky romance cost the book a star, the book remains a great read. I actually think the current book description doesn’t do enough to advertise how action and intrigue-filled the book is. If you’re in the mood for science-fiction promising epicness and love kickass heroines, give a Fortune’s Pawn a try.

Review of book 2: Honor's Knight

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: The Exodus Towers by Jason M. Hough

The Exodus Towers by Jason M. Hough
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

+ the plot

The first half of the book wore me out. Too many bad things were happening to our heroes for me to deal. The book depended too much on external conflicts to drive the plot much to its detriment. It left little room for me to connect with the characters, i.e. to give a damn for their continual breathing. My weariness would have been mitigated if the prose were not written in a marsh of details that often detracted from the action. I did not need to know every single micro-movement or scenery; less was more. Rare was a scene that I did not skim to get to the point.

In addition, I wished the heroes made smarter decisions. For the example, the book started off with Skyler chancing upon another immune. Instead of properly engaging the new character, he surreptitiously watched her dance like an idiot until his radio, which he forgot to put on silent, blared and alerted her of his presence and soon he was taking gunfire. I will be honest; I half-wanted Skyler to die then.

The last half of the book was better. The external conflicts finally eased up some, and I was allowed to connect to the characters, well, if only to a little extent because the characters were still kind of annoying.

+ the characters

Tania made great strides in the character growth department, no longer the helpless victim. However, she still had a long way to go. Despite being the leader of the new colony, she would often look to others to make a decision and acted more like a figurehead than anything.

As for Skyler, the guy was a natural leader yet he continued to evade taking a strong leadership role. I hated how it was only when things were dire or people were pressuring him did he ever accede to the role. He needed to get over the fact that he couldn’t save everyone and take every bad thing that happened under his command so seriously when some of them are just unavoidable.

Samantha, one of my few favorite characters, had a bigger role in book 2. Yaaay! But to my great dismay she did not assert herself like she did in book 1. Damn it! Apparently, without Skyler she could not properly function as a kickass heroine. She could have acted on her own and gone head-to-head against the main villain but chose not to because she didn’t really know what she was fighting for. At first, it was for her freedom and to rescue Kelly but when things changed and those goals were not her goals anymore she languished. Her character was relegated as the vehicle to learn about the main villain and his secret evil plans. The series skewered one of the few good things it had going on.

In regard to the villains, I did not like that the two new villains were religious nuts and cult leaders. One was enough. Two swatted the book a couple steps down on the ladder of creativity and marred the book with an anti-religious slant. Gabriel and Grillo took the spotlight away from book 1’s main villain. It was convenient that Blackfield was languishing in the meantime instead of maintaining that level of doing everything he could to kill our heroes like he did the entire book 1. Awfully convenient. I was thankful that at least one of the cult leaders was done away by the middle of the book, but it was little consolation in the face of the fact that the other became the main villain of book 2 and cemented the anti-religious slant.

On one hand, I was glad the series finally put forth a capable main villain, unlike Blackfield whose lack of intelligence suited him as at best a minor villain. I said it in my review of book 1 and I will say it again here in my review of book 2: I’m surprised the dude is still alive. On the other hand, I got used to Blackfield and I wished the series stuck to him as the main villain throughout book 2. Some character development on Blackfield towards the end of book 2 markedly elevated his credibility as a boss villain, which bemused me because this should have occurred early in book 1. I guess better late than never.

+ the ending

The ending was a cliffhanger but I didn’t take issue with it. I took issue with the contrived twist that preceded it that left Tania and Skyler in a seemingly hopeless situation as usual to my exhaustion. That betrayal came at no surprise and could have been easily avoidable. The character’s association with Blackfield was a giant red flag; the only bigger red flag would be a floating sign that pointed to the character and said “traitor” in all caps and red text and bitchslapped the surrounding characters to attention.

In Conclusion

I rate The Exodus Towers 2-stars for it was okay. It was definitely better than book 1, but it was still far from good enough to level up the series to a 3-stars for me. Regardless, readers who enjoyed book 1 will continue to enjoy book 2.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: The Bone Triangle by B.V. Larson

The Bone Triangle by B.V. Larson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Despite the attention-grabbing fight scene, the beginning was awful because the explanation of what had happened during book 1 made me vastly irritated with the hero. I struggled to remember why I ever liked Quentin.

+ the characters

Deep in debts, Quentin took little effort to find a job. It never occurred to him that if there was no paranormal job, e.g. monsters that needed slaying, then he should have looked at the normal ones, e.g. flipping burgers. The one job he did have, a job that provided him with residence and staved off homelessness, he did not take seriously. Worse, because of the job’s precarious nature, he foolishly risked his survival and almost got killed. He took for granted that if the antagonists genuinely wanted to kill him, they could have simply bombed the place to ashes with him in it as opposed to mind controlling a person (or an alien or an alien monster) to assassinate him.

Quentin seemed to have a Loser Complex. Now, I could tolerate the bum act, but the stupid act really pushed the limit. Every chapter in the beginning of the book presented at least one headdesk example of his stupidity. What kind of a person gets into a car with a stranger or walks into a dangerous place with hundreds in cash on hand? A dumbass, that is who.

Thankfully, the stupid act tapered off by the middle of the book, and I finally remembered why I liked Quentin. When shit needed to be done, no matter how perilous it was, Quentin got it done without hesitating to use the power that his magical artifacts provided him. He was not one of those clichéd Urban Fantasy protagonists who had issues with power. Granted, he suffered little to no side effects from using the artifacts, even multiple artifacts. One artifact was hazardous enough for the other people who used them. Nevertheless, the psychological risks of dependency and hubris still remained.

As for the secondary characters, Jacqueline did not annoy me as much as I thought she would because she was a spoiled rich girl. To my surprise, I actually ended up liking her. Hell, the fact that she was not a damsel in distress and had some sense to avoid danger, even though she was mischievous, put her several steps above the two women in book 1 who were Quentin’s love interests. Speaking of whom, I was glad the love triangle crap from book 1 was completely done away, with those two characters gone, and that the new romance with Jacqueline, if it can even be called that, was casual. No damsels in distress, no love triangle crap, no unnecessary drama; these things alone undoubtedly made book 2 better than book 1.

Detective McKesson, I still did not know what the deal was up with him. The “foe or friend” schtick got old; one moment, he’s a foe and maybe trying to kill Quentin, the next he’s a friend and Quentin rescues him and willfully puts his life in the detective’s hand. Goddamn it, make up your mind. The schtick I could tolerate with Rostok because Rostok was a crime lord and his motives were not that particularly mysterious because of who he was. Speaking of bad guys, I liked how they continued to show character development, especially with attempts to make them understandable and somewhat relatable. One of the things I love about the series is how it never cops out in making a single character, be they human or otherwise, flatly evil. Everyone had their reasons for doing what they did; a heinous act from one character’s POV is a desperate act for survival from another character’s POV.

+ the plot

Due to Quentin’s lack of priorities, the plot zigzagged between various conflicts. However, I did not mind because the pace was fast and the transition smooth which respectively kept me from being bored and befuddled. Every seemingly disparate conflict converged to a neat package at the end and with some twists thrown in to keep things from being dismally predictable. I loved how things were hardly ever as they seemed.

I loved that Quentin still kept his search for his identity a priority and that the loose end of his amnesia was finally resolved. The way things ended in book 1, I thought there was little chance the loose end would ever be resolved, at least not so incredibly soon in the series.

In Conclusion

I rate The Bone Triangle 3-stars for I liked it. If you are looking for a different Urban Fantasy, one where the ubiquitous vampires and werewolves are not the norm but instead aliens and crime lords, check out this series. The Unspeakable Things series is Roswell crossed with the Urban Fantasy genre — highly intriguing.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: Three by Jay Posey

Three by Jay Posey
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The book was rude. It threw me into the mix with scant explanation. I waited and waited and when answers were finally given I didn’t understand them because the book didn’t explain what they meant. Characters would act shocked upon awareness and I would just go, “So what?”. The writing spent too much time with scene setup and barely any time with world building. I craved exposition.

For example, Weir were roaming zombie-like monsters. A competent warrior can take one down relatively easily, but the true danger lies within their number and their tendency to ambush preys. Bites wouldn’t necessarily turn a person into a Weir, but then again I’m not sure because the book never explained how one became a Weir. Neither did it explain how Wren came to rule the world when there were powerful humans who could take them on, in groups of course, and reclaim the world for humanity.

As far the book was concerned, the world was always apocalyptic, part of the population always had paranormal abilities, and etc. Unless you were paying close attention and noticed certain words, you wouldn’t have known the fictional world was a futuristic Earth.

+ the characters

Characters were a complete cliché. Three was a strong warrior with a sense of honor. Cass was an ex-criminal who aspired for redemption. Wren, Cass’s son, was a boy with peerless but unreliable power. I bristled how the latter two characters were used for emotional manipulation of the reader. When things needed to vomit sad, the book trotted out the desperate mother and her son who was around 5 year old and cried “Mama,” lip quivering and all that shit. Aiy.

For the main villain, Asher was power crazy because, well, someone got to be evil. The funny thing was that he and the other important characters had more character development than the eponymous hero. I still didn’t know who the fuck Three was by the end of the book. Equally frustrating was the absence of explanation of his secrets when they were revealed. What the fuck does “wired” mean? Ugh. I don’t care anymore.

+ the plot

The plot was so simple that it was strongly more suited as a novella than a novel. I lost patience with it halfway through and heavily skimmed to the end. The only time I ever bothered to pay close attention again was in chapter 22 of 31 when Cass revealed her past and secrets, answers that put her and her son into their present predicament.

The ending was cliché and bittersweet, redolent of some tragic warrior myth. As a reader with a zealotry for happy endings, I would have been upset but I honestly couldn’t give a shit. I never connected with any of the characters so I felt little sadness with the good guys’ death and little joy with the bad ones’.

In Conclusion

I rate Three 1-star for I didn’t like it. A post-apocalypse setting, a touch of cyberpunk, a galore of chase and battle scenes: all that glitters was not gold.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu

The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

That awkward moment when you enjoyed the book but hated the hero and wished he would drop dead, preferably within the first chapter he was introduced. OMFG, the whiny dipshit was insufferable. I understand characters need to have flaws or else they’re not believable, but at some point there is such a thing as too many flaws to the point that it is UNBELIEVABLE that the character is still ALIVE. Roen was the classic definition of TSTL. TSTL, I say!

“OMG. Gun shoots and kills people. OMG. This alien war is for serious. OMG. I don’t know my reasons for fighting because I’m too slow to realize that I’m fighting to save humanity from eternal enslavement under the bad aliens. I need to take a break and go discover myself while my comrades are risking their lives everyday to keep another day safe for humanity.”

*facedesk*!!!

Roen never attained the large amount of character growth I expected from him. At the end, he still needed his alien-in-his-head buddy Tao to play cheerleader for him in the confrontation against the big bad guy. *glares*

Equally ridiculous was how the weak ass went from being incapable of talking to girls to attracting the romantic interest of two gorgeous, competent ladies. The love triangle between Sonya and and Jill made me want to flip a table. I’m all for wish-fulfillment in books but not for a pathetic excuse of a hero who doesn’t deserve it. While I understood their reasons for liking Roen, these ladies could have done sooooo much better, someone who wouldn’t predictably put their life in danger because the dipshit wasn’t thinking. Speaking of Jill, it was very odd that for such an important character she rarely made a physical appearance in the story. Anyway, I was grateful that at least the story was told in multiple POV and not exclusively from Roen’s.

The only reason I was still invested in the book was because of the aliens. The world building went like this: aliens crashed-landed on Earth, stranded and without resources to return home; aliens used humans as hosts because apparently their technology isn’t advanced enough to live without one (but somehow faster than lightspeed travel and immortality is); aliens split into two factions because one prefer to watch over humans like divine guardians and one prefer to rule over them like the inferior creatures they are à la global domination, Prophus vs. Genjix respectively. While the world building explained a lot about the aliens’ origin and motives, it didn’t develop the alien culture. It practically swept the alien culture under the rug as, “well the aliens have been here a long time, so it is reasonable that would they take on human characteristics,” which is plausible but a couple steps short of convincing. As far the world building was concerned, the bad guys were essentially an evil corporation, one that just happened to have evil aliens as the overlords who didn’t really act much like aliens.

The thing that I liked about the bad aliens was how ruthlessly they acted. I wished Tao emulated that ruthlessness, at the very least in regard to make Roen a hero because if there was ever a person who needed tough love Roen was it. The only reason I liked Tao because most of his scenes that were told in his POV were flashbacks to ancient times when he traveled around in East Asia and possessed historical figures. The history lessons with an alien twist were interesting.

In Conclusion

I rate The Lives of Tao 2-stars for it was okay. The low-rating is all Roen’s fault.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: Sanity Vacuum by Thea Isis Gregory

Sanity Vacuum by Thea Isis Gregory
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I thought the book would be more exciting because of the blurb, but it wasn’t. Action scenes were few and irregular, considering they were in regard to the villain trying to kill the heroine. Yet everything worked for me. I enjoyed the book.

+ the plot

The plot moved leisurely, but I never once felt the inclination to skim, and the book largely consisted of quotidian science work and introspection. “Hi, I’m Vivian, a scientist. I’m doing science.” “Hi, I’m quIRK, a sentient AI. I’m contemplating my existence.” Sure, there were the occasional scenes where Bryce did his deranged best to furtively kill Vivian. “Hi, I’m Bryce, Vivian’s boss. I’m trying to kill Vivian. Sssh. Secret.” But largely it was “science” and “to be or not to be,” and it worked. The alternating 3rd person POVs between Vivian, quIRK, and Bryce engrossed me.

+ the characters

I liked Vivian. It was the second time in the month where I read about protagonist who is a person of color, specifically blue. LOL. (First time was And All the Stars, though to be precise she mutated into blue but it still counts IMO.) Vivian was very believable as a scientist, and I liked the fact she was the kind of scientist who had ambitions, won’t be cowed, and kept a level head when danger struck. I liked how half of the time when danger struck she rescued herself and the other characters who were collateral damage, that she wasn’t just going to lie down and accept the role of the Damsel in Distress the plot repeatedly forced upon her.

Even quIRK was part of the collateral damage. In the beginning, he alienated me with his jokes and thoughts because they were kind of cold and threatening in which I didn’t know if he was being serious and I hoped it was just gallows humor and not a setup as an Evil Machine (trope: A.I. Is a Crapshoot). But after a couple chapters, I warmed up to him. quIRK was a tolerated, neglected, lonely being who was just trying to learn about people and morals. I liked that through quIRK the book turned the overused trope of Evil Machine on its head and showed that maybe it’s not the machine that are bad, but the humans themselves.

Bryce served as a good example. I liked his character development, such that the book didn’t dismiss the character as someone who was just born evil and not worthy of readers’ consideration, that however deranged the guy was, his reasons for his deplorable actions were all too human. I really liked the juxtaposition between Bryce and quIRK. On one hand, you have someone, flesh and blood, who believed in his superior existence and held no qualms doing whatever to rise to the top and assert his existence. On the other hand you have someone, of wires and circuits, who had to hide his sentience for fear of being “killed” and tried to understand why people do bad things.

In Conclusion

I rate Sanity Vacuum 3-stars for I liked it. The horror elements may have been subtle, the plot not that exciting, but the book was no less interesting. The book had a lot going against it because of my literary preferences but the characters and the accessible science fiction elements won me over.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough

The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

CAUTION: minor spoilers

The only thing that kept me invested in the book was the plot. The one character I rooted for died at the end. The other two characters that I liked were purely supporting characters; combined they contributed to less than 10% of the book. Everyone else was unremarkable and nettling. Let’s just say I was a little surprised and greatly disappointed that a few of those characters were still alive by the end of the book.

+ the world building

Good news first, the science fiction was accessible. It didn’t take but a few chapters for me to understand the world building, and I was only passively reading. Whenever the book introduced a new thing, it immediately and succinctly explained what that thing was.

Now for the bad news: I found part of the world building shaky. To be specific, I found it very hard to believe that the immunes were near the bottom of society hierarchy and not at the top. As the very few, lucky people who were immune against the apocalyptic alien disease, hence the name, they could live, travel, and, most importantly, scavenge outside of the bubble city. The normal people, a.k.a. the non-immunes, needed the immunes way more than the immunes needed them. However, the immunes were greatly and inexplicably more underprivileged than the wealthy and powerful who were non-immunes. It made little sense. The immunes had all the potential to be the wealthy and the powerful, yet they were only a little better off than the masses.

In short, the world building positioned immunes as the underdogs, and I couldn’t accept that bullshit.

+ the characters

I also couldn’t accept Skyler as a protagonist. He was utterly lacking. The book tried to portray him as self-deprecating but it just came off as low self-esteem to me. It vexed me that for someone who was an immune and a natural leader, he was not a person of power and couldn’t be more disinterested. I didn’t like how Blackfield pushed Skylar around when in my belief it should have been the other way around.

Blackfield was a one-note villain, a thug boss whose ambitions greatly surpassed his wits. I don’t know how the dude stayed alive for such a long time. Hell, I was very surprised that he survived at the end because indications led me to believe that the dude would perish by middle of the story or, if he was lucky, by the last quarter of the story. Lo and behold, he turned out to be the main villain, and I was greatly disappointed that our heroes didn’t successfully eliminate the dirtbag.

Neil was my favorite character, the one I rooted for, because he was a person of power and didn’t hesitate to do what needed to be done, even if some of those things were ethically sketchy and for his own interests. There were times when it looked like the old dude was the main villain but I was never convinced that he was because the things that he did sat right with me. He was the only one who realized that the apocalypse was perhaps the beginning and part of something bigger, and goddamn it he would prepare for it, even if he had to start a civil war, though in his defense it was bound to happen anyway because of Blackfield and Russell. I was very surprised that at the end it was Neil, the manipulative mastermind, who died and not Blackfield.

Another thing that surprised me was how Tania remained wholesomely intact and stepped up to fill Neil’s place at the end after he died because for near entirety of the story the woman was a complete damsel in distress. Tania was a beautiful smart scientist and one of the few people that Neil trusted and allowed in the know. However, the woman was head-banging fragile and gullible. It was as if she was walking around with a paper stuck on her back that say “Manipulate me. Victimize me. Make me your pawn!” Oh look, here comes Skyler taking an interest and becoming her white knight in shining armor. Suffice to say, I didn’t like Tania. By the time character growth decided to wave its wand on her like a fairy godmother, it was too late for me to care, that is I couldn’t care less about her fate. If anything, the story would have done me a favor if Tania was done away and Kelly or Samantha would step in as the leading lady of the story.

Kelly was Neil’s right-hand woman, his go-to fixer, while Samantha was Skyler’s. The two ladies were the definition of kickass bitches, and I love them! I was disappointed that they were not given a greater role and not part of the multiple third person POVs the story was told in. No, those POVs, except Neil’s, went to weak ass characters.

+ the plot

The plot was told in multiple 3rd person POVs, limited to less than a handful of characters with Skyler as the predominant POV. While I strongly prefer exclusive 1st person POV, the shifting 3rd person POVs worked to the story’s favor because it minimized my vexation against the characters I didn’t like.

Due the shifting 3rd person POVs, I expected to suffer disjointed plot lines for a chunk of the book but to my pleasure I was wrong. The plot lines from each of the characters started to converge from the get-go. It took me almost no time to discern the relationship between the characters and their relevancy.

The plot was always in motion, and more importantly it ran with a clear goal. I did skim a few pages towards the end but it was only because I ran out of patience with certain characters and not because I was bored. The plot regularly tossed action scenes and in its down time, clandestine scenes were afoot.

In Conclusion

I rate The Darwin Elevator 2-stars for it was okay. I liked the plot but I prefer strong characters over a strong plot, though honestly a good book should have both. The book did excite me enough to read the sequel.

If you’re looking for a post-apocalyptic fiction that is heavy on the science fiction part, rather than the survival part, and takes place outside of America, try The Darwin Elevator, which takes place half in Australia and half in space for its main settings.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: The Victories, Volume 1: Touched by Michael Avon Oeming

The Victories, Volume 1: Touched by Michael Avon Oeming
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I liked the premise and that’s about all I liked about the comic book.

Confusion shaded the plot. I didn’t understand what was going on till two-third of the book. The plot relied on info-dumpy flashbacks, and a few times it took me a couple seconds to realize those pages I just read were flashbacks. So much for being info-dumpy, and that’s not even the worst issue.

It took me half of the story to realize which character was the protagonist, i.e. what Faustus looked like without his superhero costume, the face behind the mask. For a while, I thought it was the white dude because there was so much focus on the white dude and his unhidden face was one of the few I could see clearly. The artwork exacerbated the confusion. Only later did I figured out it was black dude who was Faustus and the reason for the focus on the white dude was because he was Faustus’s BFF and Faustus was angsting about him.

The story was full angst and action. The action was alright, violent but not gratuitously so. The angst, I didn’t give a fuck about. Nothing appealed to me, especially as a reader who detests angst. There was also nudity and adult situations, and I went meh over those too. I get that the story was noir, but there was nothing groundbreaking or, at the very least, even entertaining about it.

Beside the premise, I did like Faustus’ fellow superheroes in The Victories group. They continued to be nice and loyal after Faustus broke down; they could have easily stamped “supervillain” on Faustus and turned their back on him.

In Conclusion

I rate The Victories Volume 1: Touched 2-stars for it was okay. The storyboard left a lot to be desired.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: Retrovirus by Image Comics

Retrovirus by Image Comics
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Retrovirus was unexpectedly not full of T&A shots, only 3-5 pages of them at the most. It would have been easy to go there because Zoe was the only female character in 98% of the story, surrounded by men, half of which didn’t bother hiding their disgusting lust towards Zoe. Thankfully, Zoe’s sexuality was never used against her or a part of the conflict.

I really liked Zoe. She was smart. She was driven. She didn’t let anyone push her around. I liked how she was actually one of the violent characters in the story.

What I didn’t care for were the male stereotypes. The men were either sexually uninhibited and sexists with shades of arrogance, or meek and naive and overall expendable, or thick-headed muscle dudes. Zoe was the only character who seemed to defy stereotypes and really the only likeable character around.

In Conclusion

I rate Retrovirus 3-stars for I liked it. The plot was action-packed. The pseudo-science was sufficiently believable. The art was great; there was nothing for me to nitpick. The ending was a tad rushed but it was satisfactory. I loved the romance that occurred at the last minute; Zoe deserved it.

Goodreads | Amazon

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REVIEW: Extinction Point by Paul Jones

Extinction Point by Paul Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

CAUTION: Long Review, Slight Spoilers

I hesitated reading Extinction Point (EP) because I did not care for the author's other Apocalyptic book, Towards Yesterday. However, when the author offered me a free copy I took the opportunity. At most I would have wasted my time and be placed in an awkward situation of low-star rating the book. Yes, it's that same kind of awkwardness when Grandma gives you a present... and it's an ugly sweater. Fortunately, I found the book thoroughly enjoyable.

EP starts off with Emily Baxter on a reporting gig. I instantly like Emily the first time I read her internal monologue about weird magazines found in waiting areas. My affection for her increased when Emily refused to accept any nonsense from the hooky-playing receptionist, barring Emily from her appointment. All that happened in the first scene, a short scene. A definite strong start the book have. Already I was rooting for Emily and salivating to read more of her. The book did not disappoint.

Exclusively told from Emily Baxter's side in 3rd PoV, the story is about Emily trying to survive the Apocalypse alone. Not that she had any choice since everyone else was dead. By luck or genetic Emily managed to survive the plague brought on a mysterious weather phenomenon dubbed as "Blood Rain." The book pulled no punches, the first time Emily saw herself truly alone was after witnessing her boyfriend's spontaneous gory death. Later on she tried calling her parents in Florida. No one answered. Ever. Emily then walked to her neighbor's place where a mother and a father and their little boy were dead. From the blood spill and stain, they too must have suffered a spontaneous gory death. Dead person here, dead person there, dead people everywhere. Blood all around. Emily go crazy?

The Character(s?)

+++ Emily

No, Emily did not go crazy. She did screamed some when she saw her boyfriend dying in front of her. But that was it. The story could have made Emily go bat-shit crazy at the blood bodies surrounding her, but it didn't.

Death was coming for her, she knew and waited. It was just a matter of seconds before she joined Nathan and the millions of victims across the world who had already succumbed to this violent, insidious red-plague. What was strange though was with the inevitability of her death came a serenity of sorts, a calmness within her mind as everything complicated in her life ceased to matter. Her only responsibility now was to wait.

The cold honesty of her situation, the simplicity of it all, was a welcome relief.

So, she waited.

I tearless wept for Emily when I read that passage. I was delighted when she managed to pull herself together quickly after. However, I soon noticed this "cold honesty of her situation" became somewhat of a repeated occurrence. I was happy to see Emily being well aware of the danger she placed herself in, even when was she weaponless. I was not happy how that same "cold honesty of her situation" made her quickly resign to death when face with danger and seemingly no chance of escape. Many times when I wanted to scream "Don't give up!" at her. Nevertheless, as far as character flaws goes, this "cold honesty of her situation" was very low on my irritation scale. I hardly ever thought she was annoying because of it, I thought the flaw made her more real as a person.

Throughout the story, Emily was smart and resourceful. She achieved a good balance between her paranoia that was brought on by the Apocalypse and her inquisitiveness that made her a talented reporter. I did have moments where I didn't know what she was doing or why she was doing it, but I didn't doubt her action. I was confident knowing whatever Emily did she did it for a good reason.

Emily Baxter was a kick-ass heroine in the fact that she did things and got things done. She may have been weak in front of the WTFkery mutants the Apocalypse birthed — what average person wouldn't, but when she had an opportunity to overcome them she instantly took it. When she got hurt, she didn't shrug it like it's nothing. She said ouch, disinfect it, and then let it rest like a reasonable person.

Bonus part was her morbid humor. That was icing on the character cake.

Some messages explained their authors were hunkering down and hoping to ride out the storm, there were even one or two that dismissed the threat as nothing more than mass hysteria.

How'd that work out for you? Emily wondered.

LOL. Absolutely hilarious. Too bad no one was there to appreciate this irony or to tell “I told you so”...'cause, you know, they're all dead.

+++ Thor

He's a dog, specifically an Alaskan Malamute. He saved Emily from the WTFkery mutant. He's trained, so trained that despite starvation he won't eat until Emily had to give the Eat command. Nothing more to say except I love him. I kinda wish he showed up earlier in the story, but then it might have lessen the impact of his arrival. The story really want to pull the point across that Emily Baxter was alone.

+++ WTFkery mutants

The dead bodies didn't stay dead for long... No, they didn't became zombies. This is what made EP distinctive from the common Apocalyptic books. Instead, the mysterious red thing from the "Blood Rain" molded the various body parts into some sort of creatures I don't know what it is but I personally nicknamed them as WTFkery mutants. As the story described these, um, things were about grotesque as a leaf-nosed bat — I dare you to google that — or the human centipede from that...well, The Human Centipede films.

More than the WTFkery mutants, what made EP scary-good was well how it build up the suspense of Emily meeting a WTFkery mutant for the first time. Second was the fact that some of them were not aggressive. You read right. Some. Not all. Some.

How ironic was it, she thought, that in every alien invasion movie she had ever seen, every sci-fi book she had ever read, the aliens were always either intent on eating us or just misunderstood. No one ever seemed to consider the possibility they might just ignore us completely; that the survivors of the human race might be so very inconsequential to their plan.

No kidding. How dare some of these WTFkery mutants ignore Emily. All of them should be trying to chase and devour her. Get with the Apocalyptic act, would you? /sarcasm. LOL.

Addressing the Apocalyptic Issue

+++ cause of apocalypse

The story addressed all the finer points of the Apocalypse very well. The events leading up and after "Blood Rain" were well built. The red thing that made everyone died and change into WTFkery mutants were well developed — I was pleasantly surprised at how scientific Emily was in her examination of the Apocalyptic red thingy. There many theories Emily played around; the one seem best to me was that it was some sort of an alien virus. EP never outright said what it is, thus the answers — including the one why the Apocalypse happened — lies in future books which I eagerly look forward to.

+++ get your weapon

EP seem to accurately describe what an Apocalyptic survivor would have to do to keep on surviving. One thing that slightly irked me what that I wished Emily would have got her hand on a weapon as soon as possible. It's always smart to run away and hide, but there are times when that isn't feasible. I hope in future books, Emily would always have a weapon at hand. Like Gin Blanco from my favorite Urban Fantasy series, the Elemental Assassin. That kick-ass heroine never walk anywhere without her silver knives.

+++ travel by... bike?

The biggest issue — of the very few issues — I had with EP was the bike. Um... Is Emily going to travel to Alaska by bike? Not that it's impossible, but it doesn't seem very practical. Or fast. If Emily can't travel by car because of all the abandoned cars blocking the roads, why not a motorcycle? It's almost as slim as a bike that she can move through tight passages. I hope this issue is quickly addressed and resolved in the sequel.

+++ travel by... bike? [ETA]

I finally figured out why Emily would pick a bike. The answer was there right all along, it just took a while for me to get it through my head. Anyway, the reason is because if it's anything is broken, she can fix the bike. Yet...

I guess it's because I'm mostly focusing how the book is set up. The book is divided into seven parts, each part is a day. Each day consist of multiple chapters. If the next book is going to be the same, divided into days, then I wonder how many days it would take for Emily to bike from NYC to Alaska.

A few reasons why I find a motorcycle more practical is because what if a WTFkery mutant start chasing her? It's easier to make a quick getaway on a motorcycle than on a bike. A bike would require exercise on her part, while with motorcycle all she needs is gasoline. What happens if she's injured or too tired to ride a bike and then a WTFkery mutant or a bunch appear? A bike won't help. And there's only so many she can shoot, assuming if she's an accurate shooter, assuming if the mutants can die with bullet wounds, assuming if the mutants can even be pierced with bullets.

The book always made me aware of the time. Emily riding a bike doesn't really push the point of how urgent it was that she need to escape the city full of WTFkery mutants and reach the haven in Alaska.

If riding a motorcycle is simply too scary for her, there's always the scooter.

The Editing

For a self-published book, EP was well edited. Nonetheless there were some mistakes, mostly of the rogue punctuation kinds. I believe I only noticed them because I literally read EP word for word. That's how good the book was; I didn't skim anything. The followings are mistakes I found:

[Her stomach gave an anticipatory grumble. .] Kindle Location 182. There's an extra period.

[As Emily ’s eyes roamed the buildings,] Kindle Location 590. There's an extra space in the possessive noun.

[Obviously, the power was still on because her alarm clock was still working,.] Kindle Location 1688. There's a rogue comma before the period.

[intent on insinuating themselves into every nook and crevice of the apartment and the city. .] Kindle Location 1925. There's an extra period.

[Waggghhhhrrrrrgh!] Kindle Location 2065. This needs to be italicized like the other onomatopoeia.

[She took the bergen and left it near the front door while she grabbed her jacket .] Kindle Location 2415. There's a space before the period.

[was loose enough she wouldn’t end up accidentally stabbing herself .] Kindle Location 2420. There's a space before the period.

[She began to breathe a little easier ,] Kindle Location 2920. There's a space before the comma.

[what he liked to call ’the best bargains on two wheels‘.] Kindle Location 3116 The type of single quotation marks are not correct. It's supposed to be ‘ first, and ’ second.

[It was intoxicating..] Kindle Location 3186. There's an extra period.

[911] Kindle Location 370, 457, and 585. These are supposed to be "9/11" to denote it as an event, not an emergency number.

These are the mistakes I found in my first reading the book. However, as I said before, I only noticed them because I literally read EP word for word. There was nothing I found boring about EP at all.

+++ The Editing [ETA]

They're fixed.

Conclusion

EP was great. I give it four-stars for I really liked it. It's been a while since I read a well developed science-fiction Apocalyptic book. I recommend this book for readers who looking something other than zombies, zombies, and more zombies. If readers like me who were not at all a fan of Towards Yesterday but still want to give the author a second chance, this is it right here.

I'm biased in favor for a single PoV, so I hope the future books will stick with Emily. EP is a strong start of a series. This is a bit frightening for me because I don't know how the next book will top this one.

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REVIEW: How Genius Girl Saved My @$$ by Garry McNulty

How Genius Girl Saved My @$$ by Garry McNulty
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book blurb pretty much sums up what the story is all about because the story was short — finished it in five minutes. The breakup between Ryan-from-the-future and Lana was absolutely hilarious. I only wish Ryan would learn from the experience and become a better person, because from start to finish Ryan was a jerk.

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