Wisdom(Blue Moon Rising Trilogy) by Bonnie Watson
There was a free one to the trilogy of books. It turned out to be the second in the trilogy. So I borrowed this copy from the person who recommended it. It's a good thing too, because I'm not sure how easy it would be to follow the next one without this one. As it is this book is chock full of detail and description and the initial setup of all the world building and creatures therein. This is one of those novels where you have to keep an eye on the details and even when it looks like you have a chapter that's way out in left field it's still important to concentrate on who is doing what with whom.
The author, Bonnie Watson, does an excellent job of keeping the story flowing and keeping the various storylines separated and somewhat uncomplicated so that the reader can follow it. It's just not a novel you want to rush through or you could miss something easily.
This novel has a whole lot of elements that almost come right out of some of my favorite MMORPG's. With the Harpies and other feathered beasts and the Unicorns and Mages I was on the lookout for a dozen other magical creatures. Of course they weren't there because this isn't really a story from those games.
The main character Keith Larson is a child when we meet him. He seems a bit mature for his age, but considering further revelations about him this probably tracks okay. Keith's Uncle- who apparently might not really be his uncle- is not a nice person and is instrumental in the death of Keith's parents. The other instrumental character is someone we find showing up consistently in one of the other threads. When Keith's father is killed Keith knows by then that his parents have been murdered and he is kidnapped and sent to the big city possibly to be sold- that parts not really clear. In the city through the luck of the draw a thief frees him and takes him under his wing. Keith is an albino and that makes him stick out and we are soon to find it also opens possibilities for his being a magic user. So while he begins the journey to discover himself he is being well hidden by the Thieves Guild.
Eventually things go bad for him and the guild and he is captured and placed into the local slavery market. The slavery market in this story is a rather strange arraignment. It seems that the person who runs it can curse things and has somehow cursed the contracts of all slaves so that he knows where they are at all times and even when he sells them he is connected to them and more often than not they get rotated back to him. That arraignment allows Keith to be sold to many different people. Each time he learns more about his magic abilities until he is almost at a point where he can't really be imprisoned but the cursed document keeps him in check. Everyone seems to treat the slavery as a game more than as what it is-slavery. Keith has to learn the game to win and this takes a good portion of the book wherein he meets many different characters who affect his life. One would think he'd be bent on revenge for his parent's deaths, but that seems to take second place to finding himself.
Eventually his goal is to find out who or what he really is.
I enjoyed this novel to the very end and it was a tough read that was well worth the effort. Everything came together and though there are two more books and plenty of issues to resolve I think it satisfactorily brings all threads together in a neat and tight package at the end. Now to get on to the free book.
Sural
This book was free- it does not look to be free presently- so, lucky me.
There is a claim here that this is part of an interconnected series with an implication that it's written by more than one author though only one author's name shows up at any point; most times there is no mention of the author involved from what I can tell.
I so far can find 7 of these::
Red Handed (A Hard-boiled Steampunk Detective story) (The Paean of Sundered Dreams)
The Herald of Autumn (The Paean of Sundered Dreams)
Rationality Zero (The Paean of Sundered Dreams)
Bound (The Beckoning Stanza) (The Paean of Sundered Dreams)
Slave of the Sky Captain (The Paean of Sundered Dreams)
Handmaiden's Fury (The Paean of Sundered Dreams)
Summoned (The Paean of Sundered Dreams)
At least four of them seem to be erotica novels-only by way of reviews- I've only read the one which is not much in the erotica.
This series seems to fall into an Amazon created genre of serial novellas that often are portioned out at 99 cents each.
These are 2.99 possibly because some are erotica or because someone told the author that fewer people go for the free and 99 cent novels. Whichever it is I will probably wait for any free offerings on these.
I won't say that I didn't enjoy Rationality Zero - because I did. It reminded me of the surreal worlds of Philip K. Dick and also Keith Laumer's- Lafayette O'Leary series. Throw in some matrix for fun and probably a bit of any random MMORPG out there. It was fairly entertaining and it has some neat concepts.
Basically we have the hero's Michael,Wyatt and Anya- operatives who are unaware of their jobs and the organization they work for until they are called to work a job. They live normal lives up to that point where they are touched in their neural interface and remember who they are and that they have another important assignment to get to.
There's an element in the writing that drove me bonkers. Too many times the characters seemed to eschew the use of contractions and it not only slowed the pace it made the dialogue seem stilted and un-natural. (Such as- "I cannot do that Dave." as opposed to "I can't do that, Dave.") Maybe deliberately drawn out as though these people possessed no emotions whatsoever. Maybe it's intentional yet when I think it is; one of them uses a couple of contractions and I'm at a loss.
I suppose that I could use that as a key to discover if the same author writes these stories or if there is an open possibility that there are several authors.
Either way if you like some of the surreal in your fiction or maybe a bit of justified erotica (that's from someone else's review. And, not in this installment.) These are the books for you. There are box sets (around 20 of them) but they seem to make no sense though if you can figure it out you can save a few bucks by buying two or three of the offered box sets.
Sural
Another free sampling,which I believe is still offered and for a good reason. Once you read this you'll want to buy the others to find out what happens.
I think the extent of my knowledge of this genre might be the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. I've read the four books and enjoyed them but there was enough struggle that I was never enticed into much more of that type of fantasy.
This was free and I had some time and I'm happy that I took the time because this restored my confidence in the possibility of being entertained by -fairy tales.
Freya, more formally known as Elfreda Georgiana Suzetta Gloforia, lives with her Aunt Fannie while taking lessons with Junnie. She's an elf and she thinks her father is an Imp for having named her such a simplistic yet convoluted name.
Freya lives a simple existence among the elf with a small problem in that she doesn't appear to have the usual magic abilities of all her peers. That's about to change- and with that so is her simple life and in time she will learn the true reasons for her inability to manifest magic.
Melissa Wright weaves a rather devious tale. It starts out like a simple story perhaps with hints of a fairy tale maybe some romance and evolves into something really serious and in some ways sinister.
Freya is about to become acquainted with a large number of people she will have trouble trusting, while at the same time she has to rely on them. She's about to begin to be pursued by the council who are willing to use deadly force. Freya has no idea why this is and as the story evolves and the reader discovers what is happening, Freya has to begin to grow and change to survive.
I loved this story it has elements of a love story- innocent love and infatuation. And it tells another story about pursuit of power and abuse and kidnap and the love of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter.
I admit at a few times I may have gotten lost, but I think I was able to sort most of it out.
I recommend this to anyone who likes adventure fantasy and romance. It's well worth reading.
Sural
So this is another in the series of free offerings.
Unfortunately I'm not sure It's still free.
Now, because it's free, I should at least be civil and nice. But at the risk of spoiling things- You can't end it like that.
Granted I'll give that this is almost like a Zombie Apocalypse novel, but it's really not- so there.
Make no mistake, I really liked this story and I'll be waiting for the other half of it to make it to e-print.
This story has many elements of similar novels of this type:
Honor lives with her mother and sister and has lost her father. She's living a life that she's about to discover is a lie. There are people who are out to get her- with the notion they want to help. Do they really?
Honor doesn't know and is struggling to trust anyone after her world has just been destroyed and re-arraigned. It all starts when she notices Christian, an acquaintance and classmate, exhibiting odd behavior- which pales to the odd behavior around them as no one else seems to notice. Later she sees what she thinks is Christian being abducted. The very fact that she could see what Christian was going through has put her in danger, but it will take her a bit of time to discover that.
Honor, who is one of those people who probably brings every stray dog they find home, is concerned for Christian. It almost looks as though her concern is what gets her into trouble, but she's already there it just hasn't caught up to her.
Honor has two school related nemesis, Natasha and Ryder, who figure into the gang of people who try to 'save' her.
In Honor's universe there was a virus that was accidentally released which over time began to manifest itself with dramatic changes in the DNA of those affected. There are three types of people the UD's who become zombie like, the UDK's who are able to control and eliminate the UD's and the ordinarys who may carry the virus but show no signs.
-----------------Spoiler- maybe but maybe not--------------------------
Now, and this is speculation and not a spoiler unless I've speculated correctly, this really sounds like a- lets make the ultimate soldier gone bad scenario. Once again we're making soldiers with no way to safely integrate them back into society. Only this time were growing them up to a trigger date without any good missions to point them at.
------------------end spoiler alert------------------------------------
Honor has to start trusting her instincts because she can't trust anything that's she's being told. The problem is that this lack of information could get her and some of her friends and acquaintances killed.
And as things unfold- that may be someones plan.
This is a well told story and though it seems to be cliffhanger-ish it does stand well alone and definitely grabbed my interest to where I will buy the next book once it comes out.
There are plenty of unresolved threads-but as you can see it gives much room for speculation and imagination until the writer gets that second half out.
While waiting Lindy has another series out that you can read.
Sural
Wow all this and free too.
It's easy to see why this book is free... It's so darn good you have to buy the next one.
No. Really. You have to.
I loved this book!
It started out with the characters on a nice simple normal camping trip in the Nevada desert near Las Vegas. Jamie, James, Brandon, Kyle and Tim are enjoying the clear night air. Jamie wakes up with an odd feeling maybe from a dream and starts to wander away from camp in the dark after having thought she saw something fly overhead. Her brother Brandon wakes and decides that he needs to go with her if she really needs to walk.
They eventually stumble across a cave and fall in. (Yea I know, usually it's Timmy who falls in the well.) There they find a strange object and are attacked by something that slashes them badly.
Rushed to the hospital; they eventually recover and then the strange things start happening. At first it looks like thier going to be really sick but then they heal quickly and get sick again. This all takes a long time and almost drags on. Don't be tempted to quit even though you might have to wait till half through the book to find out what's going on- it's well worth it.
At that point you get wisked into a secret world hidden from man where all the answers to the questions and the solution to the mystery are presented to Brandon and Jamie.
Or are they?
You'll have to read to find out. Best part is I think this book is still free.
There are some few mispelled words- but I've caught more in traditional published works of major authors so I didn't let them slow me down. They were actually incorrect word usages possibly the result of autospellcheck guessing at what word should be there. That makes it more difficult to locate especially if someone has been staring at the same novel through many consecutive reads writes rewrites and edits.
The number of characters I fell in love with in this story are too many to mention.
The description of setting and the world that the author builds are tremendous especially for first novel efforts.
I recomend this to everyone young and old - fantasy and science fiction lover- romance adventure-coming of age. There's something for everyone. You won't be able to put it down.
And; yes. I'm going to buy that other book.
Sural
Vampire Vacation(The V V Inn,Book 1) by C.J. Ellisson
I don't usually read Erotica.
Now there's something I hadn't expected to write in a review.
Honestly, I've been reading the free books that are available in e-book format and ran across the sample of this one. Because I don't usually read Erotica, I almost did not pick up the rest of this to read.
I've read a few other books that have taken me out of my comfort zone before so it wasn't quite a matter of feeling uncomfortable. I think it was more the notion that I might get to the end after expecting a lot and end up left empty by a vapid piece of fiction.
Vampire Vacation is not flat, weak, lame or lacking in flavor. This book has a lot of strengths. One of those is a Vampire that has better values than some overtly religious people I've recently met.
Vivian is a 580 year old vampire who doesn't do all the nasty things we usually expect from vampires. She still does a few- carry over from her job as an enforcer for the vampire tribunal who work out of Argentina.
Vivian and her mate Rafe own and operate an Inn that caters to the taste of Vampires. She has surrounded herself with loyal people ranging from normal humans to werewolf and some degrees of humans in between. The Inn focuses on keeping people relaxed and entertained, which may help account for the erotica.
The story opens with a murder- this is a murder mystery. The victim is largely unimportant. What this scene does is set the tone for the story and begins the world building, which is mostly accomplished through the eyes of our main character Vivian.
After 500 years Vivian's life story could be long and messy so were pretty lucky that it comes in piecemeal chunks as we need it. Having Vivian tell us her story helps us see how her mind works. It gives us insight into what parts of her personal philosophy diverge from her contemporaries. It adds the soul to her, which she is so often shown trying to cling to.
Vivian goes out of her way not to control her peoples lives- as in the usual vampire mind control and total domination. She does still have to resort to some tricks in order to keep herself and her people safe. Vivian is very good with empathy and projection and often uses this to help keep her hotel happy. Her level of expertise and power would make her a target of the people she used to work for if they knew what she can do. This means that she needs to ruthlessly protect herself and her employees and her mate. When those factors are involved she will revert to many of the tactics expected of vampires.
What makes her unique is that more often than not she allows the people around her to stay free of her influence. That means that they are there because they want to be, which is to her benefit and her credit.
Vivian seems to have a weakness as a romantic of a sort and just like Jane Eyre's Emma she likes to dabble in arraigning her clienteles private lives. Sometimes to her own dismay.
Vivian is a strong character. She take no crap from anyone and that includes her mate - even though she struggles with that because of her enormous sexual appetite.
The sex - which makes this book mature at the very least- boarders anywhere from obsessive normal/abnormal to kinky and though I'm definitely put off by the BDSM and might be tempted to say that the author has wedged these scenes in to fill the necessity in making this Erotic I'm not going to go that way.
Even when subscribing to the theory that everything in a book must be some logical inclusion that helps the plot along, I have to step back and say those scenes fit it. The reason they do is because they help develop Vivian's character. She is open to many different peoples preferences- she has to be to effectively keep them entertained- she is also very specific about her own personal life and what defines her. It is where she draws the line that helps the reader get in tune with her.
When I get to the parts that make me uncomfortable in a novel I always have to watch that I don't start scanning to get past them. This can happen in novels that display depravity or portray a person's mental decline into insanity and strange sexual desires that I'm not into. More often than not there is some plot element buried in these jarring scenes that leave some people going Huh at the end because they scanned past an important detail.
I'm not sure I saw any of that as far as the scenes contributing to the basic murder plot in the story. They are important though in helping develop the character of Vivian. So, you can scan these and maybe end up feeling less connected to her. Or maybe read them and have your eyes burn out. That depends on your personal preferences.
Vampire vacation was an entertaining read with a solid mystery and some good characters. If you're into it, there is the erotica.
I usually read science fiction and have a friend who writes it who admitted that they have written quite a bit of erotica. The reason it came up was that it would seem that their career in erotica is more lucrative than the science fiction she does.
Based on the number of reviews to this book I'd say there might be some validation of that thought.
It's refreshing to see that C. J. Ellisson has put a bit more depth into a story than what I might once have prejudicially assumed this genre would have.
Sural Xiong
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