Review: Junkyard Cats

 

Title:  Junkyard Cats   

Author: Faith Hunter

Series:  Junkyard Cats #1

Synopsis: “After the Final War, after the appearance of the Bug aliens and their enforced peace, Shining Smith is still alive, still doing business from the old scrapyard bequeathed to her by her father.  But Shining is now something more than human.  And the scrapyard is no longer just a scrapyard, but a place full of secrets that she has guarded for years.

    “This life she has built, while empty, is predictable and safe.  Until the only friend left from her previous life shows up, dead, in the back of a scrapped Tesla warplane, a note to her clutched in his fingers – a note warning her of a coming attack.

    “Someone knows who she is.  Someone knows what she is guarding.  Will she be able to protect the scrapyard?  Will she even survive?  Or will she have to destroy everything she loves to keep her secrets out of the wrong hands?”

Review:  I love Faith Hunter’s books.  Most people know her through her Jane Yellowrock series, but I found her through her Rogue Mage Trilogy which is still one of my favorite series of all time.  One of the main reasons I love Faith Hunter’s books is her superb character AND world building.  With most authors you get one or the other, but with Hunter you get both!  I truly feel for the characters; and can almost see, smell, and taste the world they live in. 

    While reading Junkyard Cats I kept getting pulled away to do other things, which was torturous.  I was so into the characters and the story that I just HAD to know what was going to happen next.  Finally, when I got to the final 25% I put on my noise cancelling headphones, turned off my phone, and told everyone to leave me alone until I was done!  No one will be surprised that my favorite character was Tuffs, the alpha female cat.  I loved the development of the bond between Shining and Tuffs.  My only complaint is that Junkyard Cats is short, 106 pages on Kindle, and I wanted more. 

Publisher: Lore Seekers Press

If you like this book you may want to read:

Blood of the Earth (Soulwood #1) by Faith Hunter

Rogue Mage Trilogy by Faith Hunter

The Voodoo Killings (Kincaid Strange #1) by Kristi Charish (See BookGirlR's review here)

Star Wars: Queen's Peril - Review

Title: Star Wars: Queen’s Peril

Author: E.K. Johnston

Series: Star Wars

Synopsis:  “When fourteen-year-old Padmé Naberrie wins the election for Queen of Naboo, she adopts the name Amidala and leaves her family to rule from the royal palace.  To keep her safe and secure, she’ll need a group of skilled handmaidens who can be her assistants, confidantes, defenders, and decoys.  Each girl is selected for her particular talents, but it will be up to Padmé to unite them as a group. When Naboo is invaded by forces of the Trade Federation, Queen Amidala and her handmaidens will face the greatest test – of themselves, and of each other.”

Review:  I wanted to love this book.  The cover is absolutely beautiful, and I loved the idea of how Queen Amidala built her network of handmaidens.  The first two thirds of the novel are strong and interesting, however then we are caught up to the same time period as The Phantom Menace (TPM) and this is when the whole thing falls apart.

     The final third of the novel is very disjointed as it jumps around from character to character whose scenes do nothing to forward the actual plot of the novel.  It relies heavily on the reader already having a fresh, and vast, amount of knowledge regarding events from The Phantom Menace.  Anyone who hasn’t seen TPM within the last few weeks will be extremely confused as the story seems to be missing whole chunks of storytelling when it involves anything that happens in the movie.  Even if you have the fresh knowledge of what happens in the movie, the missing chunks of storytelling totally pull you out of the story as you have to then think about the movie, and what happened during the missing scenes.  I honestly feel that this must not be entirely the authors fault, because I loved Ahsoka and Queen’s Shadow.  But something here went terribly wrong. 

     I was so very disappointed by this novel.  I wanted a strong female lead Star Wars story, and while it started out that way, Queen’s Peril falls profoundly short.

     I also have to mention that the Kindle copy I was provided was full of typos and formatting errors that I hope are fixed before publication.

***I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***

Publisher: Disney Lucasfilm Press

I recommend passing on this one and reading one of these instead:

Star Wars: Ahsoka by E.K. Johnston

Star Wars: Queen’s Shadow by E.K. Johnston

Star Wars: A Crash of Fate (Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge #1) by Zoraida Córdova

Sea Change -- Review

Title: Sea Change

Author: Nancy Kress

Synopsis:  “Renata Black is entertained by the traffic snarl caused by a rogue self-driving house – until she spots the Org’s Tiffany Teal paint marking the house’s windowsill.

     “In 2022, GMOs were banned after a biopharmed drug caused the Catastrophe: worldwide economic collapse, agricultural standstill, and personal tragedy for a lawyer and her son.  Ten years later, Renata, a.k.a. Caroline Denton, is an operative of the Org, an underground group that could save the world from itself.  Their illegal research is performed and protected by splinter cells, which are hunted by the feds.

     “Now a mole is in the Org.  Who would put the entire Org in jeopardy?  Renata is the only one who can find out – and she will need to go to her clients in the Quinault Nation for answers.”

Review: I did not love Sea Change, and I felt incredibly guilty for that for several days.  Usually I love anything by Nancy Kress, so it took me awhile to come up with the courage to write this review.  But it’s one miss out of dozens of novels for this author.  The writing was quality work, exactly what I would expect from Nancy Kress.  It was the story, the actual plot, that I felt was lacking.  It’s as if a lot more thought went into the agenda behind the story (promoting GMO’s) than into creating the story itself.  The main character of Renata was extremely unlikable, which is not always a deal breaker.  You don’t have to care about the characters if the plot is good enough to hold your attention; unfortunately the plot wasn’t that good.  If you’ve never read anything by Nancy Kress, I recommend you read some of her work… just not this one. 

***I was provided a free copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Publisher: Tachyon Publications

Skip this book and try one of these instead:

Beggars in Spain (Sleepless #1) by Nancy Kress

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Goldilocks by Laura Lam

Salvation Day- Review

Title: Salvation Day    

Author: Kali Wallace

Synopsis:  “A lethal virus is awoken on an abandoned spaceship in this incredibly fast-paced, claustrophobic thriller.

     “They thought the ship would be their salvation.

     “Zahra knew every detail of the plan.  House of Wisdom, a massive exploration vessel, had been abandoned by the government of Earth a decade earlier, when a deadly virus broke out and killed everyone on board in a matter of hours.  But now it could belong to her people if they were bold enough to take it.  All they needed to do was kidnap Jaswinder Bhattacharya – the sole survivor of the tragedy, and the last person whose genetic signature would allow entry to the spaceship.

     “But what Zahra and her crew could not know was what waited for them on the ship – a terrifying secret buried by the government.  A threat to all of humanity that lay sleeping alongside the orbiting dead.

     “And then they woke it up.”

Review:  I absolutely loved this book.  Salvation Day starts off at a fast pace and doesn’t let up, there isn’t a single slow moment in all 320 pages.  The story is told from two points of view.  There is Zahra, who is from the Wastelands of North America.  She is a member of a cult who are among the outcasts of current civilization, who are looking for a home.  And there is Jas, an orphan and the sole survivor of a tragic viral outbreak on a spaceship.  He represents the civilization that Zahra’s cult family hates.  Normally I dislike head-hopping in a story told using first person narrative, but the author makes it work. 

     I purchased this novel at noon, and was finished reading it by 5pm.  I did take a short nap and eat lunch in there somewhere.  I got so into the story that I was seeing it happen in my head like an awesome science fiction/horror movie, think Aliens.  And as I was reading I just kept going faster and faster because the last third of the book is pretty much all climax and I just had to know what was going to happen.  Seriously, I thought my Kindle was going to start to glitch because of how fast I was tapping the screen to turn the pages.  Then, the ending was just so perfect that I had to just sit there for a moment to take in what had just happened.  I highly suggest Salvation Day as top priority Summer read.

Publisher:  Berkley

If you like this book you may want to read:

Alien: Echo by Mira Grant (Read BookGirlR’s review here)

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig (Read BookGirlR’s review here)

The Toll by Cherie Priest

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Alien: Echo - Review

Title:  Alien: Echo

Author: Mira Grant

Series: “An original young adult novel of the Alien universe”

Synopsis:  “Olivia and her twin sister Viola have been dragged around the universe for as long as they can remember.  Their parents, both xenobiologists, are always in high demand for their research into obscure alien biology.

     “Just settled on a new colony world, they discover an alien threat unlike anything they’ve ever seen.  And suddenly the sisters’ world is ripped apart.

     “On the run from terrifying aliens, Olivia’s knowledge of xenobiology and determination to protect her sister are her only weapons as the colony collapses into chaos.  But then a shocking family secret bursts open – one that’s as horrifying to Olivia as the aliens surrounding them.

     “The creatures infiltrate the rich wildlife on this virgin colony world – and quickly start adapting.  Olivia’s going to have to adapt, too, if she’s going to survive.”

Coming from Titan books 10/29/19

Coming from Titan books 7/30/19.

Review:  I’ve spoken before about how much I love the Alien franchise.  I was very excited to find out that there are several new Alien books being released this year.  Alien: Echo by Mira Grant is the first this year, Alien: Isolation by Keith DeCandido releases on July 30 and Alien: Prototype by Tim Waggoner releases on October 29. 

     I accidentally bought both a digital copy (Kindle) and a hardcover copy of Alien: Echo because I got so excited when I saw it at Barnes & Noble I forgot I had preordered it for my Kindle.  (This actually happens to me a lot.  Don’t judge.  I like books more than I like people.)  I read it in 3 hours when I got home from the bookstore.  I just plopped down on the couch, started reading, and didn’t move until I finished.  I mean it.  I didn’t get a drink.  I didn’t have any reading snacks.  I didn’t even go to the bathroom.  I’m pretty sure my husband tried to talk to me and I didn’t even pause to give him the death glare. That’s how good it is.

     Mira Grant is one of my favorite authors, and Alien is one of my favorite series.  (I’ll read anything written by Mira Grant, no questions asked.)  Put the two of these together and it’s a match made in heaven.  The world building and character development that went into this novel is amazing.  Olivia is an awesome character.  Even without the chest bursting aliens, they don’t show up until about halfway through the book, I would have loved a book about her.  She’s the new girl, and her parents are weird.  She has a mysterious twin sister that nobody has ever met; and a crush on one of the popular girls at school.  She even breaks the rules to impress the girl she has a crush on.  She is definitely a well written teenager!  The world is awesome.  It’s Mira Grant, so of course the xenobiology is well thought out and well written.  Also, there are chest bursting aliens.  You don’t want to miss this one!  If you’re like me you may even get so excited you accidentally buy two copies!

Publisher:  Imprint

If you like this book you may want to read:

Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant

Harmony by Lilith Saintcrow

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff (read BookGirlR’s review here)

Wanderers - Review

Title:  Wanderers

Author:  Chuck Wendig

Synopsis: “Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady.  She appears to be sleepwalking.  She cannot talk and cannot be woken up.  And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows.  But Shana and her sister are not alone.  Soon they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey.  And like Shana, there are other “shepherds” who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

     “For on their journey, they will discover an America convulsed with terror and violence, where this apocalyptic epidemic proves less dangerous than the fear of it.  As the rest of society collapses all around them – and an ultraviolent militia threatens to exterminate them – the fate of the sleepwalkers depends on unraveling the mystery behind the epidemic.  The terrifying secret will either tear the nation apart – or bring the survivors together to remake a shattered world.”

Review:  You all know by now that I love a good apocalypse.  Give me a novel about the end of the world that is heavier than my cat (the small cat, not the 20 lb monster cat) and I’m a happy book worm. 

     Wanderers is an interesting take on the end of the world by plague trope, with interesting characters.  At first I thought that it was going to be a zombie novel.  Around 25% in I realized it’s actually a plague that kills all humanity/end of the world novel.  At 75% in I finally realized it’s actually neither, and yet both, of those.  It is full of characters you love and characters you love to hate.  My only complaint is that there are two main characters that are both female whose names begin with S and I spent the entire first half of the novel confused about which was which.  But that might just be me.    

     It took me five days to read Wanderers, but that’s only because I had to work; and one day I had a migraine headache and wasn’t able to read at all, which was horrible.  Every minute I wasn’t reading I was trying to figure out when my next opportunity to read was going to be so I could get a bit further in the story.  I stayed up way past my bedtime so I could read, and when I finally allowed myself to sleep I had weird dreams that I blame on Wanderers. 

    I highly recommend all of Chuck Wendig’s novels and I think Wanderers is a great choice for a summer read.  But be warned, this novel is an epic, heavy read (I’m not just talking about the physical weight of the book) and once you start reading you won’t be able to stop. 

***I was provided with a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Publisher:  Del Rey

If you like this book you may want to read:

Invasive by Chuck Wendig

The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker

Search Image - Review

Title:  Search Image

Author: Julie E. Czerneda

Series:  Web Shifter’s Library

Synopsis:     “Esen’s back!  And the dear little blob is in trouble, again.

     “Things began so well.  She and her Human friend Paul Ragem are ready to celebrate the first anniversary of their greatest accomplishment, the All Species’ Library of Linguistics and Culture, by welcoming his family back – at least, he hopes so.  Having mourned his supposed death years ago, understandably, his family’s feelings are mixed.

     “Instead, they’ve unexpected guests, starting with an old acquaintance who brings unwelcome news.  Paul’s father has gone missing under dire circumstances.

     “Before Paul can convince Esen to help him search, a friend shows up to use the Library.  A crisis on Dokeci Na is about to explode into violence.  To stop it, Evan Gooseberry needs answers.  Unfortunately, the artifact he brought in trade holds its own distracting secret.  A touch of very familiar blue.  Web-flesh.

     “The race is on.  Paul, to find his father.  Esen, to search for a mysterious legacy while helping Evan avert an extinction.  What none of them realize is the price of success will be the most terrible choice of all.”

Review:  It’s been 15 years since the last Esen novel.  I’ve missed her so much!  I had no idea that Search Image was coming out until late August.  At first I just noticed it was a new novel by Julie E. Czerneda, which makes it a must read.  But then I noticed the words Web Shifter on the cover and I freaked out.  I jumped up and down and there were wordless noises coming out of my mouth.  Excited, does not do how I felt right then justice.  Ecstatic might be closer, but still falls short of fully describing the joy I felt in my soul at the realization that there was going to be a new Esen story in my life. 

***WARNING, Past this point there are minor spoilers.  No major plot spoilers though***

    

     Now that I have read it, my joy is still bubbling out of me uncontrollably.  I have told all of the readers in my life that they MUST read this book.  I love the realization of the Library and what it means to Es (I can call her Es because I think we would be friends), and what it means to Paul.  I could have read an entire novel this same length just about them running the library and attempting to reunite Paul with his family.  But there’s more!  We meet some new characters.  Evan (we actually met him in The Only Thing To Fear) is wonderful.  I really like him.  He’s afraid of everything.  Spiders, snakes, fruitcake (let’s be honest, isn’t everyone a little afraid of fruitcake?) but he pushes through those fears and is the bravest character in the whole novel.  I also really like Lambo, which I’m picturing looking vaguely crablike.  Some of our old favorite characters are back.  I love the relationship between Es and Paul, we should all be so lucky to have a friendship like that! 

     Once I started reading Search Image I could not put it down.  I laughed, I cried; I’ll be honest, I hugged and smelled it quite a few times.  I couldn’t help myself.  I was so happy to have it in my hands.  No offense to any other authors, but this was the best book I have read so far this year.  It was amazing, and I cannot wait for the next one.  But the ending!  Oh my! I won’t nag repeatedly, I promise.  But, when can we expect another novel about our favorite blue blob Julie? 

Publisher: DAW

If you like this book you may want to read:

Species Imperative Series by Julie E. Czerneda

The Silver Ships (Silver Ships #1) by S. H. Jucha; read BookGirlR’s review here

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson; read BookGirlR’s review here

Beholder's Eye - Review

Title:  Beholder’s Eye

Author:  Julie E. Czerneda

Series:  Web Shifters #1

Synopsis:  “Esen is the baby of the family.  Only 500 years old, she’s impulsive and inexperienced, but determined to prove herself.  And her first assignment, to study the Human inhabitants of Kraos without being detected, seems so easy it’s almost insulting.

     “Esen herself isn’t Human – she’s a shapechanger, whose species has more in common with an exceptionally large amoeba than with anything we’d think of as sapient.  And of course she mucks the job up royally, going from observer to passionate defender of an endangered offworld Human who suddenly, without her quite realizing how, becomes her colleague.

     “Her family is furious, and their ruling Elder decides it’s time for Esen to grow up – to learn just why the family keeps itself hidden.  For the galaxy is a far more dangerous place than she’s ever imagined – and the danger is about to find them.”

Review:  Beholder’s Eye is the first book in one of my favorite series from one of my favorite authors.  I always tell readers, especially readers that don’t care for science fiction, that this is not a science fiction story.  Sure, there are science fiction elements.  It takes place in space, on spaceships, and on different planets.  There are spaceships, space stations, humans, and aliens.  The author has put a lot of effort into world building, character building and developing different cultures.  But at its heart, Beholder’s Eye is a story about people and family.

*****CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD*****

     

     Beholder’s Eye speaks to me about family, both birth/blood relatives and the family we choose.  Esen’s “birth” family is Ersh, Ansky, Mixs,Skalet and Lesy.  Even before she loses them all we see that while their relationships with each other are important, most of them have chosen to surround themselves with other families.  Mixs spends most of her time on the Panacian Hiveworld; Lesy with her artist’s colony; Ansky with the Articans; and Skalet with the Kraal.  Ersh, by the very nature of being oldest, has lived a very long time.  We don’t know a whole lot about her life before she gave birth to the other members of her web.  However none of them have become so attached to their chosen web that they revealed themselves to them.  That is something which is for blood relations only.  Until Esen.  Throughout the story we see Esen starting to build her own web.  She becomes quickly attached to Ragem and even reveals herself to save his life, something which none of her siblings would have ever done.  By the end of the book her family is gone and all that is left is Esen and Ragem, and the start of her new web. 

      Even though Esen and her family are not human, this speaks to me of human nature.  Most of us have a family; even if it’s not blood.  They are the people who raised us.  The people who taught us the embarrassing things like how to use a fork, how to use a toilet, and how to behave in social situations.  When we are older the relationships with those people are still important, but they begin to change.  We begin to surround ourselves with people we choose as our family.  As we become adults we create our own web of spouses, offspring and friends.  I call mine my tribe.  My tribe consists of my husband, my cats and our friends. 

     At the very end of Beholder’s Eye we discover that in human years Esen is not even ten years old.  She has just started creating her own web and we look forward to joining her in future installments in this series.

*****Join us Tuesday September 11^th at 8pm EST on BookGirl’s BookNook Facebook Page for a Live discussion of Beholder’s Eye*****

Publisher:   DAW Books

If you like this book you may want to read:

Changing Vision (Web Shifters #2) by Julie E. Czerneda

All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells

Powers That Be (Petaybee #1) by Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

Stardoc (Stardoc #1) by S. L. Viehl

Obscura - Review

Title: Obscura

Author: Joe Hart  

Synopsis: “She’s felt it before… the fear of losing control.  And it’s happening again.

     “In the near future, an aggressive and terrifying new form of dementia is affecting victims of all ages.  The cause is unknown, and the symptoms are disturbing.  Dr. Gillian Ryan is on the cutting edge of research and desperately determined to find a cure.  She’s already lost her husband to the disease, and now her young daughter is slowly succumbing as well.  After losing her funding, she is given the unique opportunity to expand her research.  She will travel with a NASA team to a space station where the crew has been stricken with symptoms of a similar inexplicable psychosis – memory loss, trances, and violent uncontrollable impulses.

     “Crippled by a secret addiction and suffering from creeping paranoia, Gillian finds her journey becoming a nightmare as unexplainable and violent events plague the mission.  With her grip weakening on reality, she starts to doubt her own innocence.  And she’s beginning to question so much more – like the true nature of the mission, the motivations of the crew, and every deadly new secret space has to offer.

     “Merging thrilling science-fiction adventure with mind-bending psychological suspense, Wall Street Journal bestselling author Joe Hart explores both the vast mysteries of outer space and the even darker unknown that lies within ourselves.”

Review:  This was the first book that I’ve read by author Joe Hart.  I loved it, and I now own two more that have been added to my TBR pile.  Be warned though, Obscura rips your heart out in the very beginning and lodges it firmly in your throat until the very end when it is placed neatly back into your chest.  I started it last night before bed, a very bad habit of mine is starting a new book at bedtime, and read way past my bedtime.  I read about half last night, and immediately picked it back up this morning and finished before breakfast.  Thank goodness I had today off.  If I had to go to work leaving this book unfinished I don’t know if I would have been able to concentrate all day. 

     Obscura is a murder mystery set in space, and it’s awesome.  The main character is a real person dealing with real issues.  I hate it when the main character of a book is perfect and bad things just happen to happen to them.  This is not like that.  Gillian struggles with addiction, and it’s a large part of the book.  The character development is extremely well done.  The characters are so real that at times I forgot I was reading a book about fictional people.  It doesn’t get much better than this.

**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review via NetGalley.**

Publisher:  Thomas & Mercer

If you like this book you may want to read:

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse #1) by James S.A. Corey

Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon