Tag Archive: sci-fi


Review: Made to Forget…


Made to Forget...
Made to Forget… by Samantha LaFantasie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was given this book, free for honest review, from the author.

I want to give this book 3 1/2 stars. Though it had a good story and fairly good editing, it took me a while to get into it. I couldn’t decide if I liked the main character, Elsabetha Ellery, or if in fact she could have as much spunk as she had for the condition she was in. Female MC’s do best, in my opinion, if they have spunk. Later, when she feels better, her personality rocks!

It had been a while since I read the blurb about the book. So imagine my surprise when I realized I was reading a sci-fi! No longer was it just a book about amnesia which might be interesting enough, there was much more involved here. This surprise alone would’ve gotten the book 5 stars.

The problem I had with this book was the ending. I finally like the character. I finally like the plot. I like what was going on and I’m scared to death –and – there’s the cliff. I hate cliffhangers! If it wasn’t for the author giving me the book and she was so nice… I would’ve given the book 2 stars. Good editing and plot and character can’t rescue the bad feeling I feel when I’m left hanging like that.

All that aside, I’m hoping there’s a book two. I do want to know what happens next in the story.

Thank you, Samantha LaFantasie, for letting me read your book.

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Review: The Apocalypse Gene


The Apocalypse Gene
The Apocalypse Gene by Suki Michelle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: This was a free Kindle book from BookRooster from quite a while ago, for an honest review.

So here goes. Um… I am so torn. There were parts I liked and others had me yawning. And I don’t think it’s the parts meant to be boring. I loved getting to know Olyvia and her mother and live with them through the dark and depressing life. I thought it adorable to get the little romance going. I could even get into the little computer icons, even though it seemed to take away from the problem at hand. Even still, I managed to shift gears and enjoy the cuteness.

War! What is it good for? I suppose in this case it is to cure cancer. Not a bad goal, I suppose, but really! During all the Micah parts and the war parts I got so bored that I had to let my text-to-speech yammer on while I read emails. I tuned in to learn how the story concluded. It was a nice ending.

Another thing I had a hard time with was the philosophy of the author thrown in quite obviously. The gods and demons and all that left me … meh?

Look, maybe it was just me. A lot of people have given high ranks to this book, so read it yourself and let me know what you think.

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Review: Man Made Man


Man Made Man
Man Made Man by Marjorie F. Baldwin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Disclosure: This was a copy given to me by the author for honest review. Thank you for the opportunity!

This was supposed to be my year of reading strictly strong fem main characters written by strong fem authors. As my constant attempts to re-read A Song of Ice and Fire prove, that goal is merely a guideline. My decision came about when I realized that most of my formative years I read mainly works by males. And teachers only recommended (required) books by and about males. I’ll admit to being a latebloomer. Now that I am retired, I realize I should catch up on fem reading.

This book only hits one of my goals. Friday (Marjorie F. Baldwin) is a strong fem writer. Even though the females in this story are not the main characters, I do find they are interesting. In fact, my favorite person in this series is Shayla. But, she isn’t even human. On the other hand, the main character, Raif is interesting, and human.

Another thing about this author is her ability to throw in subject matter that might cause discomfort, but isn’t that what true science fiction should do? For that, I am happy to know her and have the chance to read her books.

Even for an ARC as such, the errors got lost in the story. I think my biggest problem was I felt I have read this series inside out and backwards. The timeline in my head was making me dizzy. I feel jealous of those who will be able to read the series in order. Someday I will try to re-read these in order. I do look forward to more books by Friday. I’d especially love to see more about Shayla and her people.

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Review: Gateway to Reality


Gateway to Reality
Gateway to Reality by Becca J. Campbell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I was given this Kindle version of the book for an honest review.

Let’s start off with what I loved. The worlds, especially Sea Clearly, And the Freefall (I can’t remember the name for it right now) world. I loved the way the characters could make their own worlds and move from one to the other. All great ideas. I would have loved even more world creating processes, seen into other characters points of view as they built and had their own relationships.

What I didn’t like, and nearly quit reading because of: ANGST. If this wasn’t from and author I like, looking for a review, I wouldn’t have read past the first chapter. A sentence could have summed it up. Wes screwed up and now he missed his girlfriend. The rest of the chapter reiterating the same thing drove it into the ground. By the end of the first chapter I hated Wes. I never quite got to the point of liking him. I kept saying to him: GET A LIFE! Here he was in a really cool dream? world? Why not just enjoy it?

Let me just say, I am in pain almost constantly. I read fantasy and sci-fi to escape. When a book spends so much time on the negative emotions, I get overwhelmed. By the way, that seems to be how the YA books go. It is the one reason I would never want to be an adolescent ever again. But Wes wasn’t an adolescent. He is older, working new adult. He has a wonderful family, good friends. Get on with life. When the life hits that could be even more fun, he is obsessing, stalking his ex. Didn’t like the ending or the bad guy either.

My advice to other readers: read only a bit of chapter one. It is worth getting to the rest of the book. I would love to see a book two with these worlds.

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Review: Under the Dome


Under the Dome
Under the Dome by Stephen King
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Being an Under the Dome TV series addict, I knew I had to read the book.

 

 

I have only read one other Stephen King book and that was On Writing, which I loved.

Cover of "On Writing:  A Memoir of the Cr...

Cover of On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

 

 

 

I have avoided SK because I don’t do horror. I get nightmares. But since I loved this so much I may have to read his other, less scary books. I already have The Stand in my personal library, but I would rather have Large Print or Kindle version and the Audible version to help me along.

Cover of "The Stand"

Cover of The Stand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The narrator, Raul Esparza, was amazing! He is the first male narrator that did believable women and children voices without sounding fake in my experience. He had many accents to throw in for good measure. What I felt the most unreal was there were few Maine accents and many southern types. But it didn’t make the story less interesting, it did help keep the population of Chester’s Mill individualized.

A warning, outside of the same main characters and a couple incidences, this book is not like the television series. Still, I can’t wait to see what gets thrown into the mix.

It is nice to know that the man who wrote a book on writing writes a heck of a book!

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Review: Unmasked Alloy


Unmasked Alloy
Unmasked Alloy by Becca J. Campbell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow! Was this part of the same series as Not the Norm (A Sub-Normal short story by Becca J. Campbell?

I fell into like, um, I really cared about the characters, in the first book. It was that caring that drove me to read book two. That’s a good thing! This part of the story hit the ground running. If there were mistakes in the grammar or spelling I didn’t notice for trying to keep up with the action.

In a world of super-humans, being either sub-norm or just human can be down-right dangerous. Hence the name of the name of the series (Sub-normal). Though you see this in the first book, this second book throws it in your face.

My only problem with this book was that I was left LONGING for part three. I have tried to think through, as a writer, how I would handle this. Would it be better as one larger book broken into sections? Then I had to think about the author. Would her larger book make as much as three (or more) short stories? I, for one, was looking for something fast when I picked up book one, and then book two. But the waiting for the next installment, then trying to remember where we left off… I guess this is why a lot of people wait until they’ve gathered all the parts before reading it as a whole. I am sure this is a quandary for serial writers everywhere. Point is, I can’t wait to read the next in this series!

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Review: Ravenous


Ravenous
Ravenous by Heidi Loney
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was given this book free for review. If it wasn’t for that and a fascinating plot, and characters I cared about, I would have not finished reading it.

If there is one thing for sure, that drew me in, I love dystopia books. Not fond of zombies, oops, lombies. (Still not sure where that come from.)

Then I am a frustrated greenhorn farmer living in an apartment, so reading about the commune type living was a welcome relief.

Try as I might, I couldn’t get past the present tense method of presenting the story. It didn’t, as it sometimes does, make the story more gripping. In fact, I felt, it made the characters seem self absorbed, even conceded. I don’t think that was the author’s intent. And then, at the end, it changed suddenly as we learned of Madge’s recent history. Once I was used to being in Madge’s mind I wished the story had included her more as she had a sort of toughness that Calla didn’t show.

As a maternal person, I was glad to see the attitudes of sex and protection, etc. Good things, I think, for young adults to read.

The sequel is still calling to me as I long to see what happens with everyone. I bet the author’s writing has improved. I look forward to seeing more.

Thank you for letting me read your book, Heidi Loney.

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What an exciting conclusion to a great trilogy. Read my review here:

<a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15827257-emergence&#8221; style=”float: left; padding-right: 20px”><img alt=”Emergence (Eden’s Root Trilogy #3)” border=”0″ src=”http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1365267098m/15827257.jpg&#8221; /></a><a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15827257-emergence”>Emergence</a&gt; by <a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/719277.Rachel_Fisher”>Rachel Fisher</a><br/>
My rating: <a href=”http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/605511766″>5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Wow! What a ride! Look if I’m dingy today, I blame Rachel Fisher. This book started out rolling and didn’t stop. Real life got in my way, or I would’ve finished this in a day or so. Somewhere around 60%, it felt slower but that was the calm before the storm. I figured last night. I’d start reading it midnight and I would fall asleep. The sun was well up in the sky for two hours before I fell asleep. I could not put the book down. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Fi and her friends.<br /><br />I gave this five stars because, as usual, Ms. Fisher told a wonderful tale. But I noticed that somewhere around 60% of the book, there were a few mistakes words left out or tiny misspellings. The other thing that really bothered me and I know this is just me, how did Fi deal with dirty diapers? I’ve had four kids. I could not have fought a war with any one of them hanging from me. I know Fi is a really strong woman. But somehow I have a hard time grasping a woman who just gave birth and running 3 miles with her baby in the backpack. It just seems rather impossible to me. But that doesn’t stop the story. And it is an amazing one. Maybe I missed something in reading it.<br /><br />I love the ending! I will have to reread the trilogy again as I miss this great bunch of characters!
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The dar49 Daily


The dar49 Daily. Is out! Like it? Hate it? Want to discuss something on it? Please comment here. It takes me about an hour to edit (remove repeated stories, get rid of stories that contain violence or too many political views.) As always I try to include stories that will educate about writing or science. What do you think?

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