Trey Stone's Blog, page 30

Book Review: Along Comes A Wolfe by Counios and Gane

When high school student Sheri disappears, the local community is devastated. Her boyfriend Anthony Shepherd, who’s been enjoying keeping on track with his homework, basketball, and hanging out with his friends, feels like his world is crumbling around him. He doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t know how to cope. That’s until he meets Charlie Wolfe, a particularly resourceful teenager, and gets dragged along on their own private investigation of what has happened to Sheri.

It’s ironic that the back of the book says “They’re not the Hardy boys,” because that’s in one sense exactly what I would describe them as. I read a lot of Hardy boys when I was little, and this pulled me straight back to those happy memories. Anthony and Charlie are clever, funny, and to begin with they just aren’t quite sure if they like each other. There’s a lot of hilarious banter. But they get along, and they work so well together.

Counious and Gane’s writing is perfect. It’s never dull, though still detailed and complex, and it paints such a broad picture of everything that’s going on, while still driving the story. The pacing is excellent for a thriller. We hit the floor running and we’re off, but we still have time to take in the sights on the way there. It’s expertly done.

And the book is beautiful – I have the paperback – and the formatting and layout is really cool. It’s a nice little cherry on top of the excellent story.

To sum up, this is the kind of series you should get excited about. It’s something different. Shepherd and Wolfe’s adventures are hilarious and thrilling, dark but exciting. It’s a breath of fresh air. I wish I had these books around when I was a teenager. I’d be as much of a fan then as I am now.

Along Comes A Wolfe comes highly recommended from me. You won’t be able to stop.

You can check out the book here.

Book Review: Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski

The 3rd (or 5th) book in the series, and definitely the best one so far, Baptism of Fire ramps up absolutely everything and it seems to be that we’re on a much steadier course now than before.

With the first two books (excluding the short stories) there’s a lot of setting up plot lines, understanding the world, and building characters. As we start this one, Ciri is still away, in the same place she was at the end of the last book, and Geralt is looking for her. He’s traveling to where he think Ciri is, to rescue her, together with Dandelion, and a band of unlike comrades he picks up a long the way. All the while, Yennefer and Triss and a group of other sorceresses are banding together to discuss politics and the fate of the world as we know it.

Geralt’s travels with Dandelion are the main focus of this book, and I loved it. Like I said above, it feels more sure of itself than the previous books, we are more determined and we have a proper quest we’re on. It kind of took me back to Lord of the Rings, to that traveling-through-the-forest-with-my-companions kind of fantasy setting. It’s great. Of course, a lot of nasty, awful, and evil things happen a long the way, building relationships between Geralt and his mates, and providing clues and hints at what has happened and what will happen.

I’m loving The Witcher series more and more with every Sapkowski book I read, and the only criticism I have, is that he loves to crowbar his book titles into the text. I’m smiling as I write this, it’s not really an issue, but there were a lot of things that kept being referred to as a Baptism of Fire.

Looking forward to getting on with the next one, and I recommend this to any fantasy lover. These are brilliant books.

Book Review: A Map of the World by Zev Good

Yet again, I’ve been reading a collection of short stories, and this was something very special.

First of all, I don’t really know how to describe this, or the stories. If I was to put a genre on it, I don’t know, maybe I’d call them dramas. Family dramas, or romantic dramas. That’s at least something they all have in common, but then again, they’re so more than that.

I’d argue that what Good writes about, is people. His stories are all about people, and they’re absolutely amazing stories at that. I feel like I need to hammer this point through (because if I was on the other side of this, I don’t think I’d find stories about people very exciting), but these are absolutely terrific stories, every single one of them. There’s just something about the way Good describes relationships, hope and dreams, worries and anxiety, it… I don’t even know. It’s magnificent.

And his writing is so unique. I don’t mean his stories, but the way he uses his words. Again, I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what to call it. I remember in one story, instead of describing what various people looked like, he kept mentioning the names of every single one of them, in a very matter-of-factly way, like: “and his name was Thomas.” It was such a innovative way of describing all these people he writes about that I just sat there staring for few moments.

There’s something about his writing that just got to me. Something that popped out of the page for me, so I just had to keep going. I don’t know how he does it, but this is what good writing – and good reading – should do to you.

I’m absolutely sold on Zev Good’s writing, and A Map of The World is a terrific collection of short stories. I didn’t think I’d like this as much as I did, which just means that it’s incredible. Highly recommended.

You can check it out here.

Book Review: Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

I finally got around to reading a Brandon Sanderson book. Took me a while, I’ve been eyeing the Mistborn series for ages, but I think I’ll get it on audiobook, and I had this lying around since Christmas.

I don’t remember how I heard about Sanderson, but his name floats around in writing circles and then suddenly you know who he is. I know he’s the guy who finished the Wheel of Time series after Robert Jordan past (though I’ve never read it), and I love his podcast Writing Excuses which I used to listen to pretty religiously back in the day.

So yeah, I figured I had to read him at some point, and when I got this book for Christmas, I had no idea what it was about (other than what you can gauge from the cover), but I didn’t care. I just wanted to read it.

The basic plot is this: Humans live on a planet where they are constantly attacked by aliens, trying to crush their civilization. Being a pilot and fighting against these aliens is one of the noblest things you can do, particularly for Spensa, a young girl who’s dreamed of nothing but floating among the stars since her dad died when she was little. But the road to becoming a pilot is a long and hard one, and flight school isn’t all what she hoped and dreamed.

I was hooked from the beginning, pretty much. This is a massive, thick book, and I know that Sanderson, like King (who I also love) are known for writing massive tomes. Yet neither of them, and maybe particularly Sanderson, get boring. They have a way of keep it light, keeping it moving, and keeping us entertained. I’ve noticed that with King, the clue seems to be to write a lot about the small stuff, and very little about the big stuff. I feel like that’s true for Sanderson as well.

Looking back, the story is perhaps a little bit long, a little bit drawn out in places, but it’s not something you notice when reading it. I know some people have issues with the ending of this book and well I… no comment.

I’m definitely a fan of Sanderson now. Can’t wait to get on with the Mistborn series. This was awesome.

Book Review: Blood Drops by W.B. Welch

Great captivating writing. One of the better short story collections and some of the best horror I’ve read in ages. Welch’s writing is gorgeous and these stories are fantastic. Welch has a way of writing these beautiful, delicate passages, and then suddenly hitting us with the cold, hard truth. It’s refreshing. I loved that there’s a very wide range of themes, though all were horror, there was a lot of variation in execution. It made every story feel new and fresh, and extra horrifying. You don’t know what you’re getting into, and I love it.

I definitely favor the longer stories, and I realized lately I tend to do that when it comes to most short story collections I read. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s just because they have more time to build and give me more time to get into it. An issue with these kind of collections (and I’m speaking generally here), is that the good will often overshadow the less good. That’s not to say that any of the stories in this book are bad, but I tend to subconsciously compare and rate them all. Meaning, I’ll pick out the few that I love that are really, really good, and then some necessarily end up at the bottom. I should probably try and stop doing this, but it’s not my fault that some of these stories are, really, really good.

I’ve read Welch before, and it strikes me how easily the story is transmitted. It’s like this is the only type of writing I’ve read my entire life and I know it inside out, and I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s brilliant, is all I can say. Welch as a way with words that pulls you in.

I’ll say it again that this is some of the better horror I’ve read in a while. I love horror, but I feel like I often don’t tend to find things as scary as others deem them to be (looking at you Carrie). Well, these definitely send chills down my back, and more than once!

I highly recommend that you go check out W.B. Welch and Blood Drops.

You can find it here.

Book Review: This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab

I picked this up second hand, simply because I recognized the name V. E. Schwab from Twitter, and I’ve been wanting to read something of hers for ages. I’m glad I did.

In short, it’s a Romeo and Juliet retelling with monsters, except Romeo is a monster and Juliet is a monster hunter. That’s all I’m going to say about the plot, that and that it’s awesome.

I don’t know quite how to explain ti, but this feels very much like a thing I could be into. I mean, if I was a teenager, I imagine I’d have posters and t-shirts with this series on. I imagine I’d easily be a fan. It’s the kind of universe, a kind of world that it’s very easy (and fun) to get dragged into. You want to pick sides. You want have favorite this and that. I’m a bit past posters and fan shirts now, but there’s something special here. This story is fantastic.

And of course, the writing is superb. I get why so many people rave about Schwab now. It’s playful and light, but at the same time dreary and mysterious. I love that very little is explained in the beginning. There’s now lowdown, there’s nothing to bring you up to speed. You’re jumping on a moving train and you have to pay attention, it’s one hell of a ride. And the concepts are so unique and fun. I won’t elaborate too much because of spoilers, but the world-building is excellent. I love it when people come up with stuff like this, stuff you just haven’t seen before. Makes me extra invested.

One thing that annoyed the hell out of me, which I hope is just a formatting issue with my copy/version, is that there is an enormous amount of missing spaces after periods and commas. I mean, far too many for it just to be a simple mistake, like 20-30. It could have to do with the layout of the book, but the only purpose it served was to piss me off. If they are actually mistakes, then this is a terribly edited book.

But other than that, I’m totally sold on Schwab. She’s definitely an author to look out for. She’s making huge waves and they’re only getting bigger.

This comes very highly recommended from me.

Book Review: Q.W.E.R.T.Y by Barbara Avon

A beautiful and haunting novella about love, death, grief, and all the things in between that occupies an aching heart.

The plot is simple. Luke meets, loves, and loses his girl, Claudia. All he wants is to have her back. When he suddenly gets his hands on a typewriter, either magical, or haunted, that opportunity might be closer than he thinks.

This story is beautiful and poetic, ambiguous and mysterious. By the end, I didn’t know what was what, if what I thought had happened actually did, or if anything was what it seemed at all. I suppose that’s the point of Luke’s story, that we are so pulled into his spiral of grief and borderline madness, that by the end of it we are just as lost as he is without Claudia.

Avon has a way with words that is difficult to describe. A rich vocabulary and a pendant for creating impressive details made me feel lost at times, and admittedly a bit stupid. I had to backtrack a few times, re-read passages just to make sure I was following, the writing took on a life of it’s own. Even now I’m not sure I quite was.

A gripping romantic horror story, which leaves you thinking. Well served in a bite-sized novella format.

You can check it out here.

Taking Time To Read

Recently, I was forced to take some time off from writing due to having to work away for a couple of weeks. I mean, I could probably dragged my laptop with me through the wilderness, but it was just too much hassle, so I decided to consider it a well deserved break. Instead, I loaded my phone full of awesome books I’ve had on my writing list for ages and planned to just read, read, read.

It, was, amazing! First of all, the fact that I didn’t have a choice, made it real easy to not feel guilty about not writing. And having time to just read every evening, uninterrupted for hours, getting through books I’ve had my eye on for a while… I don’t even know how to explain it. I wished someone could pay me just to read.

Anyway, I noticed a few things happening. Reading several books back to back like that, in a short time frame gave me a different kind of perspective. I know a lot of people say they don’t read when they write because they’re scared of changing their voice or copying other authors or whatever, and I really don’t feel like that at all. I consider reading when writing essential, because it’s all inspiration, motivation, and how you learn. I’m not worried that I’ll copy someone because I just don’t think I could (even if I tried), but I can learn from them, I can note down hints and tricks to use in my own writing, get ideas for future projects.

And the more I read (8 or 9 books in total), the more notes I started taking. Some for my current WIP, some for my next one, and some for future projects I haven’t even started. It felt like I was doing an intensive crash-course in secret writing tricks. It was great.

Before I left, I was a bit worried about not writing for two weeks. Worried about the lack of progress, worried about losing my mojo, falling out of my habits or whatever. But now that I’m back, I feel like I’ve just come back stronger, with more ideas, more want to write, more love for the art.

Taking some time to just read for a few days, even a few weeks, has been gold to me. I highly suggest you take out a prescription, twice yearly, at the least.

Book Review: When Nothing Stares Back by Marcus Vance

When Nothing Stares Back is a collection of sci-fi and horror short stories, ranging from bite-sized flash-fiction, to slightly longer, short stories.

Seeing as this is a collection of different things, it’s difficult to say anything about the plot really. Most, if not all of the pieces are ambiguous and speculative in nature (which always works really well in short form), and I think my favorite was the sci-fi piece “Terror of the Lost Tribe”. Other than that one, I think I like the horror section best, simply because it works so well when you cut the word count really short. But many of the sci-fi works were also in a sense horror.

Vance’s writing is often poetic and lavish, but with the added benefit of not becoming pompous and purple. I can’t stand fancy writing for fancy writing’s sake, and this is right on the edge of that. Hat off to Vance.

I don’t read many of these types of collections of shorter works, but I think I’m going to start, because there’s something peaceful about picking up a book and being able to read for only 10-15 minutes, and still get to the end. It’s a nice change of pace, and this was a lovely collection to start with.

Some of the shorter pieces were a bit hit and miss for me. Most are clever and intriguing, but I felt that some maybe missed their mark. Often I felt like I didn’t get a clever point the author was trying to make, and I re-read the piece a few more times before moving on, thinking that either I didn’t get it, or I was trying too hard to look for something that wasn’t there. I suppose there’s some meaning to be found if that’s the case as well: sometimes a story is just a story. It definitely made me think.

If you’re looking for some cool, creepy, and fascinating shorter stories, you best check this out. Marcus Vance and When Nothing Stares Back delivers, and I’m hoping there will be a second volume.

You can check it out here.

Book Review: Antiquity’s Gate: Three Days Till Dawn by R.F. Hurteau

Being a part of the #WritingCommunity on Twitter has it’s perks, because when you get to know a lot of authors, you get to be there for all their awesome cover reveals. That’s what happened here, and I was lucky enough to win an Advanced Reader Copy of this book at the same time.

Three Days Till Dawn is the story about Ripley and Felix, a human and half-elf, best friends, both living in the last human city in the world, Sanctuary, in Antarctica. Antiquity’s Gate is mystical structure that no one seems to know a lot about, and also how the elves found their way to Earth. Now, humans and elves (and in combination: half-elves), live as harmonious as they can, trying to keep civilization alive. But Ripley and Felix realize they can’t stay in Sanctuary any longer and decide to try and find a way to leave, against all odds.

Hurteau’s writing is magnificent. I don’t know how to explain it, but there was something about the world-building that made it so very elegant and yet at the same time, subtle. In this book, you’re eased very slowly into what’s going on with the world and everything, but it still feels so natural. As if this is a universe I’ve read about a hundred times before. It made the whole thing very gripping and I was hooked from page 1.

I don’t know how long this book is, but it at least doesn’t feel like the typical overly expansive, bogged-down type of fantasy that everyone seems so eager to write. I’m very thankful for that, and I think it serves most fantasy books well. I don’t understand quite why everyone thinks fantasy has to be 431451 pages, but this one is perfect.

And the story is great as well. On one hand magical and fantastical but one the other, dark and mysterious. I thought I knew what was going for ages until I suddenly didn’t. I love it when books do that.

If you’re looking for a new fantasy read, with some of the familiar aspects from your favorite books, but topped up with lots of unique twists and quirks, give this a shot. I love that I came across this, and I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. You won’t be disappointed.

Antiquity’s Gate: Three Days Till Dawn releases on August 27, and you can pre-order it right here!