Patricia Hamill's Blog: I read too much! - Posts Tagged "action"

Educated Injun by R.L. Kiser

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Educated Injun is an energetic, action-adventure set in the Old West.

The main character, Merle, finds himself in trouble when he takes on a job that's too good to be true and ends up on the bad side of some cattle rustlers. He soon teams up with Hawk, an indian marshall, who helps him out of the bind in exchange for his assistance in going after the guy behind not only the rustling, but also smuggling and other nefarious deeds.

I most enjoyed the fast paced, action driven storyline and the tongue-in-cheek banter between Merle and Hawk (and between Hawk and the judge that put him through college). Besides that, I got a kick out of Merle's nemesis, a certain shoulder cannon with, well, a kick.

In summary, Educated Injun is action-packed, funny, clever, and entertaining.



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The Sity by Curran Geist

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The Sity is edgy and action packed.

The story opens with Victor, who discovers he possesses a superhuman power fueled by rage. He escapes from an alien-run freak show into the sinister Sity. Memory wiped, only faint impressions of his mother and sister remain, but he's certain that they are still in the clutches of the evil alien, Zaku. Victor vows to exact revenge on Zaku and rescue his family.

Carina, a young girl who lives on the streets of the Sity, comes across a fight in a dark alley and rushes to defend the alien on the losing side of it. But it turns out that the alien is Zaku and the aggressor is Victor. Zaku repays her kindness by capturing her and putting her up for sale as a slave. Burning with anger, she too discovers a hidden power and breaks free. Too many to handle on her own, Carina quickly realizes she's in trouble, but is rescued by Victor just in time.

The two bond through their power and their hatred of the Sity and it's depraved alien inhabitants. But, Victor seems to be confused between attraction for Carina and an urge to protect her as a girl who reminds him of his sister. Separated early on, the two continue to fight against the aliens as best they can, and they never quite reconnect with each other. Still, their efforts rock the Sity to it's foundation and spawn a wave of retaliation from the President and his Medtronic enforcers.

Overall, the plot is well developed. Elements are introduced with purpose and are tied together neatly in the end. And, the action scenes are fast-paced, vividly described, and bloody.

The characters are introduced and developed in three main ways: 1) through narrative dialog as they describe their pasts, thoughts, fears, and hopes in detail (not my favorite approach), 2) through dreams, and 3) through flashbacks. Of these, I enjoyed the dream sequences the best because they're abstract and specific all at the same time and because they reveal the true extent of the scarring and trauma the characters have had to survive. I especially like how they go from good to weird to nightmare so smoothly, and how, just like in a real dream, the dreamer accepts everything that occurs in the dream at face value.

That being said, I would have been happier with less dialog in the form of quicker exchanges and fewer mid-sentence pauses. The use of ... is rampant and unnecessary and distracted from the story. Commas or periods would have been a better choice. Besides that, the pauses seem to accentuate the repetitive nature of much of the dialog. Additionally, I found the use of all caps and enlarged fonts for emphasis to be totally unnecessary and awkward. Often, the emphasis is placed on odd words and it would totally throw me off. I think that if these issues with the dialog were cleaned up in a future edition, the reading experience would significantly improve.

I really started to enjoy the story at about 60% in when everything started coming together and the writing tightened up a bit. All the intros were over, I had a feel for the characters, and some really intriguing twists were introduced. The story leaves off in a cliff-hanger (really well done) and left me excited to read the next book in the series. I really want to find out what happens next to the humans in the Sity and their alien sympathizers.

Overall, there's room for improvement in the language mechanics, but the story itself is captivating and edgy.


May 24, 2013-Post review update: I am pleased to learn the author has incorporated some of the suggestions from my original review, mostly by removing some of the all caps and "..." breaks. Apparently, those are widely used and accepted in his other creative outlet: comic books. The revised edition is expected to be released next week!



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The Sun Dwellers by David Estes

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Absolutely a must read!

The Dwellers Saga concludes with the Sun Dwellers. Adele and Tristan set off for the Sun Realm with their close friends on a mission to kill the tyrant, President Nailin. They face nearly impossible odds on what just may turn out to be a suicide mission, but the Sun Dweller army is wreaking havoc in the Moon and Star Realms and their people can't last for long.

The action and imagery in this story surpassed even my high expectations (based on its predecessors). The artificial sky with it's man made sun and diamond stars captured my imagination. The reveling citizens, the crowds, the disguises, all are vividly portrayed in a fun and fluid way. And of course, the end game is fantastic and kept me up way too late for my own good.

What's even better? You get the bonus short story featuring Adele's mom, Anna, and a young warrior she meets when the Sun Dweller attack hits the Moon Realm. David Estes has a gift for bringing strong female protagonists to life in a believable way.

If you like this book, you will adore Fire Country by David Estes. I goofed and read it before I read the Dwellers Saga (it's set in the same world), but I absolutely adored it. Its sequel, Ice Country, is already out and I can't wait to read it.





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Iron William and the Carpenter's Tears by Michael Gardner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Great plot, well-researched, and above all, fun to read!

Iron William Kidd is a former secret agent for the English King Henry. After falling out of favor, he finds himself opposite a former colleague, Hamilton Rush. When the two collide, the results are disastrous for both, though Kidd seems to get the worst of it. He nearly loses his hands, but his friend Vllen, one of the innovative minds of the budding renaissance, devises a pair of metal gauntlets that fuse with his maimed flesh.

Not only must Kidd cope with his less than agile replacement hands, but also a nearly impossible quest. With nothing more than a snippet of text hinting at the missing relic's existence and the threat of the Church's retribution should he fail, Kidd is faced with the ultimate cold case file, and he's not the only one after the prize.

First of all, bravo on the research. The story is set in the renaissance, where science and innovation are just starting to take off. The locations, the empires, and the way of life are depicted realistically, as are the biblical references (and scenes). In fact, I found the lost history of the Tears to be the most fascinating aspect of the story. Never too much at once, the details are brought to life as Kidd discovers them, sometimes by chance, other times by deduction.

The plot is solid, and everything that happens in the story, happens for a reason, and the story moves forward in a natural progression that draws one to the next page, the next chapter and right into the wee hours of the morning. One of the things I enjoyed is that the story mixes epic quest with historical mystery. Add in the action and the likable characters and it makes for a fun and exciting read. I'm not often able to link a book to a similar book or movie, but in this case, the Indiana Jones movies seem to be a good match.

As for flaws, there were few. I noticed a few typos here and there, but they are infrequent and didn't distract me from the story. Also, the part where Kidd is in training seems a bit rushed in places and slow in others. Although both the stump exercise and the snake test are tied in with the story later on, I'm not exactly sure what Kidd was supposed to learn from them.

Overall, Iron William and the Carpenter's Tears has a fantastic story line, interesting characters and solid details. I most definitely plan to read this book again and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical action/adventure with a powerful relic thrown in the mix, secret societies bent on protecting it and powerful villains out to exploit it. Those who love watching (and perhaps re-watching) the Indiana Jones movies will likely enjoy this book for the same reasons.

I received a free copy of this book in return for an honest, non-reciprocal review.



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On a side note, I am happy to announce that Forgotten Valor (Shadows of Valor #2), is finally complete. Learn more here. Stay tuned for cover reveal and release date!

Halloween has come and nearly gone, but I have one more short story review before I close out this month's short story theme.

Today's review is #3 in the Feast, Stray, Love Trilogy by Kevin Anthony.  The author gifted me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest, non-reciprocal review.

Feast, Stray, Love - #1, #2 and Introducing #3 by Kevin Anthony

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Good, scary, and funny, but not as much love in # 3 as expected.

Love is the third installment of this series and is full of twists and surprises.  Damien is still messed up in the head, but his powers, besides being handy and incredibly gory, are getting the better of him.  Meanwhile Maxine and Ava have both moved on to their Stray and Jaxom has moved on to his Love.  Damien is stuck in the kitchen of a quirky restaurant whose owner can't settle on a menu or a theme.  But, no matter the interesting and varied cuisine, it just can't seem to compete with the TFC Chicken across the street.

First off, this is a funny and, of course, explosive finale to the trilogy.  The mysterious factory, its purpose, and the mastermind behind it all are revealed.  The battle between good and evil sucks you right in, and Damien's superpowers and lovable friends make it fun.  The new friend Trey is interesting and likeable, but there seems to be more to him than is revealed in this installment.  Also, I couldn't exactly peg how he fits in with Damien.  I settled on protoge in the end. When I asked the author about him, he revealed there may be more books in the works, and Trey's story will be featured in more detail.

Besides the plot, humor is still prevalent, but in this case there are more one-liners but not as many natural laugh out loud moments. My favorite is still #2 Stray for its humor and deeper social plot, romantic tension and, of course, Sparkles, but #3 is a crazy, fun ride, and I liked it.

Another thing of note is that despite the title, there's not as much Love or incidental romance for Damien or his friends in this one, making me think the title's just a convenient one matching up with the self-help book featured in the story.  For those who prefer less romance, that might be a good thing, but I felt a little disappointed for Damien.  He's such a likeable guy, I really wanted him to hit it off with someone.

Now for the balance.  Despite liking this story, I couldn't fail to notice a lack of technical polish to it.  The word choice and flow are a bit off in spots, and for some reason the header listed this as #2 Love.  I also found a couple of spots where the text was centered, which I assume was an accident because those spots were just regular paragraphs.  I feel this book could use a couple more passes by someone with an eye for detail and a feel for transitions and lead-ins.

Overall, this is a good book, humorous, scary and more action packed than it's predecessors.  I'd recommend it to people who enjoy a quick read in the horror genre with just a touch of m-m romance.  As for the series as a whole, I'd recommend it. Not for the kids, though.

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The author enjoyed my first review so he asked me to review #2 and #3 as well!  I always love hearing that my reviews are well received  and getting follow up review requests.  Plus, I like "collecting" an entire series in my reviews.  If you scroll back far enough in my blog (especially on Goodreads, which is where I started off), you'll find a few of my collections.  Some of them are still in progress.

Feast, Stray, Love by Kevin Anthony

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Funny follow up to Feast (Feast, Stray, Love #1).

Stray takes up a bit after the final showdown in Feast. The story is short, funny, and doesn't lose track of the original storyline. I thought it did for a while, but the threads were being laid to tie everything together. Damien has left Mayson for Port Rising, a cozy seaside town. Living and working at Dirty Betty's, a gay bar, and moonlighting at the local Church for Pastor Abram in gratitude for help when he first came to town, Damien finds himself living a double life.

My favorite character in this one is Sparkles, the owner of the gay bar. I can totally picture him in his evening gowns, or in his teddy bear pajamas. Although he seems silly at times, he as a person comes across as realistic. He's afraid for his bar and his staff, and acts desperately to save them. I also love that Ava pops up again. She is the jack of all trades from Feast, who pops up everywhere performing her latest "part-time." It's funny, but also intriguing. Why is she everywhere Damien goes?

Besides the characters, there is an underlying theme of being true to yourself, even when the mainstream thought is against you. Caleb, the pastor's son, is the primary vehicle of this message. Damien, who sees the good side of the pastor, is surprised to learn that his son was written off when he came out, but doesn't truly believe the pastor is all that bad, just a strict follower of his beliefs. Then he begins to learn more.

Another theme is one of moving on after loss. Damien is coming to terms with the loss of his boyfriend and is avoiding any romantic entanglements, a difficult proposition when the handsome Detective Jaxom rolls into town on a basketball trip. Sparkles says go for it, but Damien feels it would be a betrayal to Ben.

I noticed much less cursing than in Feast, which I felt was good. The sexual situations are relatively tame, but they do focus on m-m relationships. Personally, I don't mind that, but it's worth note. If the reader is uncomfortable with such things, this is not the book for them. I also noticed an improvement in the execution of the dialog, making it seem more natural and easier to picture what's happening while the characters are talking.

As for things I didn't like, I found a couple of places where I felt like something changed in the matrix (pardon the pun). The people would be talking, then something would be said that I thought had already been said. I'd flip back and it wouldn't be exact, but it would be close enough to throw me off. It wasn't too bad, but it was confusing when it happened. I also noticed a few minor errors in grammar such as using a singular verb for a plural noun.

Overall, I really liked this one. It's primarily funny, with underlying themes of social acceptance, dealing with loss, and learning to be oneself. Plus, the creepy Factory is still in play, though not quite as much as in the first, so it has the horror component going for it. I'd recommend this to people who enjoy humorous and scary stories and who either prefer or don't mind the portrayal of m-m romantic relationships.

I picked up a free copy of Stray during a promotion on Smashwords after completing an author-requested review for Feast. When the author requested a review for Stray, I had already added it to my TBR list.


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The Kinshield Legacy by K.C. May

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


One of those books that makes me want to read everything from the author.

Let me start by saying I picked this book up mostly because it was free and because I needed a book title with a K for the A-Z reading challenge I'm playing along with this year. That being said, I was surprised to be drawn in immediately.

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Valmont Sharp: Monster Hunter by David Raymond II

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Great story, but needs some polishing.

Valmont Sharp: Monster Hunter is an easy read with plenty of excitement, danger, and adventure. I like the idea of the fake, real monster show, hiding true monster hunting behind special effects and showmanship.

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The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A fantastic book.

The Golden Compass presents a world where humans are accompanied by an external manifestation of their souls. They call them daemons, which might bring to mind something sinister, but in this case they are not. They take on the form of animals, linked to the nature of their human companions, shifting between forms with the speed of thought until their humans reach puberty.

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Shinobi 7: Trials of a Warrior by L. Benitez

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fresh style, lot's of humor, and ninjas-in-training.

Shinobi 7: Trials of a Warrior introduces six young ninjas in training in a setting similar to feudal Japan. The story, excluding the prologue, starts with Cassie, a gentle, non-violent sort, who is traveling to the training school of the Kitsune Clan, the only one that has yet survived the violent takeover of the evil Blackthorne Clan. On the road, she meets Hanran, a quiet boy with a secret, Yami and Luna, siblings who can't wait to be awesome ninjas, and Tabby, a girl who loves sugar. Following Cassie's map, the five soon reach the Kitsune school and along with others who have also just arrived, are welcomed into the school and assigned to Sector 7, where they meet Kuroi, an arrogant young man who has been the lone member of Sector 7 for quite some time and is not happy about having to welcome fresh meat. Continue reading...