Kasper's Ramblings from Kasper Beaumont

Book review: Trust a Few by exciting sci-fi author E.M. Swift-Hook @emswifthook #scifi

5/31/2017

Snubs in the air for the evil boogeyman!
Trust a Few is a great novel by E.M. Swift-Hook
Review: Avilon Revid was the 'bogeyman of ultimate evil,' Gee, I love that description.
He was, but now he isn't. Avilon is a shell of his former evil greatness. I think I would enjoy the preceding books to find out how his demise came about, for it isn't explained here, and it sounds intriguing. I'm betting his was a badass evil genius. That said, this is quite a well-rounded stand alone.
Avilon is discharged from the special military forces, just after his mentor, Jazatar Baldrik, and seeks to find his friend.

Along the way he meets other dangerous characters including Shame Cullen; murderous twins Foss and Faust, as well as Durban Chola who is more than he first appears. One character who stood out to me amid all the violence and dark scheming was Charis, who trusts Avilon and whom I found to be the most relatable character in the story. I found it difficult to connect with many of the blunt, no-nonsense fighters, but I sense that Charis will be the heart of this series. That said, I could be wrong, for I have idea where this grand space adventure will lead.
What's to like: the world-building is well done and you can almost see the snub guns, A.I. mechs, holofacade wall and picture the brain-linked data port. The characters are complex, flawed and well described. The writing style is good and easy to follow.
The downsides: I found it a bit slow in places, where so much back story, talking and character thoughts took place that the action seemed a bit slow. I would also like to have felt more of an emotional connection to the characters.
Trust a Few is the perfect name for an interesting novel. I recommend it for fans of dystopian sci-fi.
I bought this novel on the recommendation of a friend.

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Review of Cherry Pickers sci-fi by Bonnie Milani @homeworldnovel #amreading #scifi

5/12/2017

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My review of Cherry Pickers: On the women's penal colony of Sisyphus, 17 year old Nikki has a one-track mind and that is to get her gun licence to impress her mother. The only way to do this is to lure a man from a passing space ship, to pick her cherry. Not quite a romantic coming of age, but a promising synopsis for a speculative fiction novel. Being a penal colony, it's a kill-or-be-killed world, in which having just a machete is really not conducive to survival.

An interesting concept from author Bonnie Milani, is the house bugs, AKA giant hairy spiders, which can be quite the docile type, but can also be aggressive and murderous. There is the whole Black Widow, death-after-mating thing going on here, so it's no wonder there aren't many guys hanging around. Another Sissy planet nasty is the man-eating Nosher plant with its deadly tendrils.
The most enjoyable character for me was Sam, the spider who lives with Nikki, kinda like an eight-legged creepy-looking brother type. Sam is actually really sweet, loyal and noble. He is the only person who is nice to Nikki in the whole story. Unfortunately his future is pretty bleak, with him likely to be mated and eaten in the near future.
The story begins with Nikki searching the house for the book of Grimms, the only book on the entire planet. I didn't really get hooked in by this beginning and ended up having to re-read the first chapter to take in all the alien world-building. There is plenty of information at the start as Milani draws you into her world. Once I got into the story, I found it well-paced and enjoyable. Other interesting concepts included the click speech of the house bugs and the chron implant, which was mentioned briefly. There is action aplenty and a few surprises to keep you guessing. I did find it a little tricky to figure out who was a human and who was a spider, as the personalities seem rather similar. On the whole, I enjoyed Cherry Pickers and would recommend it to new adult readers.
I bought this book on Amazon and this is my honest opinion of the novel.

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Review of the exciting 'Suffrage' scifi adventure by Julian Green @jsagreenauthor #scifi

5/7/2017

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My review of Suffrage: 5 stars. A brilliant debut novel
From the very first page, I was hooked in by the tale of young Jay with her superhuman powers being rescued from a laboratory-type prison.
The setting is modern-day Earth, but the characters come from an alternative reality, where the utopian lifestyle for some comes at a harsh price for others. Our group of alternative-reality heroes wake up with amnesia in a present day air-force base. They slowly come to realise that their mission is to find a hidden world key in our reality, which can grant the wielder great powers. Unfortunately for Jay and her friends, a huge spaceship full of angry pursuers is hot on their trail and eager to destroy them.

Suffrage is very well written and edited, with a perfect balance of action and character development. At the heart of the story is the core group of friends on their mission to find the key. Each character is unique and has a part to play in the team. There are dozens of other characters introduced and I did find it overwhelming at the start, but it all comes across well as the story progresses. On character named Stanford seemed important at first, but then disappears and left me wondering why.
The author uses tension and pace very well in this multi-focal story. There are a lot of characters with differing motives and agendas. I would have liked more defined chapters and less points of view, but overall it works pretty well.
For me the standout point of the story is the harmonic time-travelling device used by the character named Snake. It shows great originality and creativity from the author.
I'll definitely read this again and eagerly await the next instalment in the World Key Chronicles.
I purchased the paperback version and posted the review on Amazon.

Suffrage's Blurb:
There is something hidden on Earth. A secret so immense it's worth killing for. In a race against time, five travellers arrive, hunting a key that will change the balance of power in their world.

Jay's birth father is a monster. He destroyed half her world and established a twisted version of utopia from the ashes, ruled by the Five Monarchs. But his blood flows in her veins, giving her power beyond any human. She has to prove that she's not him; that she's better. With the help of her teammates, she has to stop him from destroying her adoptive family and her world by finding the one thing that can make her his equal. But will the world key make her a monster, too?
Dr Stanford Ellis, an American scientist, is tasked with understanding these travellers. What does their arrival mean, for his country and the world? He must unravel the mystery before it’s too late.

Little do the travellers know, they were followed to our Earth. The Walker King has come seeking the rebels, and will let nothing stand in the way of his revenge. Freedom comes at a price.

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Book review: Trust a Few by exciting sci-fi author E.M. Swift-Hook @emswifthook #scifi

Review of Cherry Pickers sci-fi by Bonnie Milani @homeworldnovel #amreading #scifi

Review of the exciting 'Suffrage' scifi adventure by Julian Green @jsagreenauthor #scifi

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