J.B. Garner's Blog, page 21
January 4, 2016
Book News: And yet another Indomitable review!
Cry ham and let loose the pigs of review?
You can check out the latest review here!
January 3, 2016
Book News: A New Review for Indomitable
Here’s a fresh review for Indomitable, first book of The Push Chronicles:
https://www.amazon.com/review/R3FWL6XRM8BMYA/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
It’s always good to get more fresh insights on things! Anyone know where I can get a good editor who works for peanuts? That may actually be too expensive, but I can probably squeeze it.
January 1, 2016
Starving Review: The Dragon’s Prophecy by Isabela Powers
The Dragon’s Prophecy by Isabela Powers (Amazon, Goodreads)
Happy New Year, my foodies! A new year brings new hopes and plenty of fresh new recipes to sample here in the Starving Review kitchens. We’re going to try to start things off on a high note with a serving of high fantasy from a first-time chef. Will this Dragon’s Prophecy fortell fine dining or rifling through a restaurant dumpster?
Before we find out, let’s place our hands over our hearts to recite the Starving Review creed:
I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
I want to start our review of this repast by saying that I quite liked this one. The characters of the large troupe-style cast were endearing, the world imaginative, and the core plot intriguing. However, each core element also has a few stumbles, a few sour notes, so it would be remiss of me not to take each core element and give it the pros and the cons.
Like any good meal, the heart of Prophecy is its characters. Our cast of major protagonists is large, with what I could consider six vital ones, and the chef tries to make each one really spring from the page. Each of these six (and a few minor characters as well) have Point-of-View sections throughout the book and this is where things taste both sweet and sour, in turns. While I enjoyed each character’s perspective, there was far from an even balance of these, even among the four ‘key’ characters. While each felt unique, they were plumbed to different depths, meaning that some tasted spicy and delightful while others were a touch cardboard. I would have enjoyed a bit more balance in the perspectives we sampled, but this is a minor complaint, as the protagonists are strong enough to shine through when they do take center stage.
It is the antagonists that really get only a dash of seasoning in this meal. While a good few courses of the meal deal more with internal conflicts, we still have several major ‘take-over-the-world’ villains in the mix, yet we have little to no time or characterization spent on them. What time we do get focused on them is marred by at least one character’s very stereotypical modes of address (I never though I’d read the phrase ‘his/her evilness’ outside of a comedy or as a joke). Still, with the more character-driven conflicts taking center stage for most of the book, this remains a minor issue and one that could go away in later books of what looks to be the start of an extended series.
Setting and world-building, vital elements in a fantasy recipe, are treated with care by our chef. Prophecy’s world has hallmarks of classic fantasies, yet fears not to tread its own path. The exposition is handled well and never is overbearing, with it all blended smoothly into the batter of the main story. I never found myself confused or wanting for core information and that’s a good thing! The only problem I had with consistency of the fantasy elements is more of an issue with plot and continuity, but it’s quite Spoilers. All I can say is one moment passes where everyone seems to forget a particular character has a previously mentioned ability that would eliminate a threat, yet it is not forgotten in the big finale.
As for plot, the key plot points are classic ones, dealing with good versus evil, societal and cultural issues, and the trauma of war. It’s all fine ingredients to add to any meal and, for the most part, the plot works. There’s enough fresh thought to prevent some of the more predictable, ‘classic’ plot turns from being boring, and there’s enough twists to keep the predictable from being TOO predictable. My key critiques would be that I wish there was actually a bit more to the book. The tail end seems a bit too compact and, with such a large cast, more time with each character would have been welcome, especially at certain key points that seemed rushed. Still, nothing is left out and the final climactic conflict is handled quite well. I never desired to put it down or just stop reading from disinterest. Kudos are in order, as well, for another series writer who realizes each individual book needs a complete story arc. Prophecy delivers well on that point, starting and ending a complete story while leaving trails of crumbs to lead the reader further along into the broader metaplot of the series.
At the end of the day, The Dragon’s Prophecy is an intriguing new high fantasy meal from a fresh chef, not perfect but ripe with potential! If you like fantasy novels and need a fresh series to pick up, nab this one for sure. If fantasy doesn’t do it for you, you might be more put-off by the collection of ‘first-timer’ slips than fans of the genre, so be more cautious if you think about grabbing this. I, personally, look forward to seeing what Ms. Powers can do with the second book in the series!
FINAL VERDICT: **** (An intriguing new high fantasy meal from a fresh chef, not perfect but ripe with potential!)
December 29, 2015
Starving Review: Night Side of Dark by Caleb Pirtle III
Night Side of Dark by Caleb Pirtle III (Amazon, Goodreads)
It’s 6:30 am my time and I have spent a copious amount of the hours before hand finishing off this latest literary meal. Night Side of Dark comes with a bill of sale labeling it as a dark World War II-era thriller with supernatural overtones. It certainly sounded intriguing and you may already realize by the first sentence of this review how the rest of it will go. We all know the power of fine literary cuisine to keep one up to all hours of the night, unable to rest until the last morsel is devoured.
Before we find out why this is so captivating a treat, let’s do a quick run-down of the Starving Review laws:
I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
This is one of those full-course, perfectly laid out meals that holds your attention from start to finish. Set in the waning days of World War II, Night might be said to be unmitigatingly dark at first blush, something long-time readers will know doesn’t sit well with me. Yet, strangely, there is always a thin cord of hope, a strange, almost undetectable spirit, and it is those hints of flavor, carefully woven into the downbeat of a shattered Europe and Nazi atrocities, that makes this a masterpiece of theme and narrative.
The recipe weaves its supernatural elements easily and believably in with the grit and blood of war, producing a distinct ripple and mirror effect that cascades throughout the plot. The plot runs with these mirrored flavors, ensuring that no scene, no event, no matter how odd or irrelevant it seems at first, does not factor critically later on. Add to that a cast of masterfully crafted characters with flavors that will dance on your tongue and Night delivers in spades on all the promises of its menu entry.
I rarely gush so unabashedly about a meal. Even my five-star choices tend to have minor niggles, small flaws. Few things are truly flawless, but this unexepectedly comes as close as any I have ever seen, and I can only hope that I bake my next cake so well. From wordsmithing to theme to plot to characters to pacing, there’s not a real misstep I can point out, especially in retrospect at the end. Perhaps the only thing might be that some of the opening extended sequence may seem too surrealistic at first read but that’s a stretch to say, even more so once the fearful symmetry of the meal becomes obvious.
Well, there’s no reason to carry on here. Let’s sum it up by saying Night Side of Dark is a masterfully baked cake of supernatural WWII thriller noir, as close to perfect as I’ve seen. The only people I could say who might not like this are those who simply can’t abide realistic war stories. Though not excessive in its gore, Night pulls no punches when it comes to the state of war. For everyone else, buy it, read it, love it.
FINAL VERDICT: ***** (A masterfully baked cake of supernatural WWII thriller noir, as close to perfect as I’ve seen!)
December 28, 2015
Monday Musings: A Century of Reading! a.k.a. An Overloaded TBR List
Today’s Monday Musings are brief, but brief for a good reason.
You see, I finally put the list of literary dishes in my pantry into a numbered list. Yeah, I know, I should have done that in the beginning, but … well, there is a truth I have discovered from doing this. I have over ONE HUNDRED books in my review queue.
So I’m going to try to speed up my schedule, try to do at least two books a week, if not more. Of course, there’s no guarantee of this, with my own writing, editing, and second job, but I will endeavor to consume as much literature as possible.
What this also means is that I really have no idea when I’ll be opening submissions again. Maybe quarterly for a few days? We’ll see, but I wouldn’t expect to see an opening for at least a couple of months. Stay tuned, friends!
December 27, 2015
Starving Review: The Living Image by P. M. Richter
The Living Image by P. M. Richter (Amazon, Goodreads)
With my pantry set fit to explode despite my best efforts, the missive has come down from Starving Review LLC to get to eating double-time! The first thing to pop out onto my plate is a trifecta of fusion, promising a pleasing blend of science fiction, mystery, and spy thriller. Can The Living Image mirror the flavorful spices of its various genres or will it simply point out the flaws in the image?
Before we find out, let us read the Starving Review by-laws:
I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
It took me a bit to really wrap my mouth around this particular cupcake. What Image really is, at the heart of the recipe, is a bit of nostalgic kitsch, brimming with the over-the-top flavors of a 1960s spy adventure. Think more Roger Moore Bond than Daniel Craig Bond here, or, in a less serious example, FX’s Archer. The villains are slimy and despicable, the Cold War is so on even in an age of cellphones and glastnost, and the good guys are classy. Once you tune your taste buds to that particular flavor profile, what seem like rough edges and inconsistencies in the plot and world history melt away.
The biggest strength of Image lies in its main characters. There’s been a lot of care put into mixing the ingredients for them and cause you to be invested in their plight. This is backed up be a nice, steady pace that keeps the plot rolling along in good measure. Mixed with the flash and awe of that 60s spy thriller vibe, it makes for an excellent slice of cake to nibble on. I know this may seem a bit brief in regards to this, but there’s no other way to put it. When Image hums, it is a swinging jazz-disco number in the middle of a classy party.
On the other side of the plate, though, this isn’t a perfectly baked treat. The flaw that I found most pervasive was the inconsistent dialogue. At times, especially in the most serious character moments, the dialogue range true, but at other times it turned out flat and flavorless. One pet peeve is that sometimes what I thought would be insightful exchanges were glossed over in the ‘X told Y this’ method. Your dining experience may vary, though! Outside of that, there are some minor flaws here and there, with the slightly flat climax being among them, but nothing that really takes away like the uneven dialogue.
To bring it all together, The Living Image is a slice of kitschy nostalgic 60s spy-thriller-sci-fi pie that is quite enjoyable! If you like classic James Bond, the original Man from U.N.C.L.E., or anything in that range, you’ll enjoy this meal. If you want a grounded, down-t0-earth spy experience, you may want to grab a different dish.
FINAL VERDICT: **** (A slice of kitschy nostalgic 60s spy-thriller-sci-fi pie!)
December 24, 2015
Starving Review: Steele Resolve (The Detective Jasmine Steele Series 1) by Kimberly Amato
Steele Resolve (The Detective Jasmine Steele Series 1) by Kimberly Amato (Amazon, Goodreads)
It’s Christmas at Starving Reviews LLC, but that doesn’t mean we can sleep on the job, no sir! We have some fresh literary cuisine to tuck into, straight from the pantry, just to make your day complete. This week, we get back into the nitty-gritty of some noir detective tales as we sink our teeth into Steele Resolve. Will this treat match up to the genre’s illustrious meals of the past or will it be as tasty as an actual mouthful of steel?
Before we take that first bite, let’s take the oath of the Starving Reviewer:
I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
At first taste, Resolve looks to tick off all the standard noir detective flavors. Gruesome murders, a flawed protagonist, and a twisting case that takes several sharps werves are all core spices in this dish. However, bite in deeper and let those bites dissolve slowly over the tongue and something else comes to the fore.
The truth is, for me as a reader, Resolve is more of a character study of our protagonist as she is trying to rebuild her shattered life amidst these murders than a traditional mystery yarn. We get big bites about the inner workings of our heroine as she is forced to confront her own shortcomings and the tragedies of her past. That is where the greatest drama and conflicts of this story lie, alongside some rather well-cooked romantic turns. It is the sharp flavors and distinct spice of this drama, alongside that of the other main characters of the book, that give Resolve its true flavor and charm.
This does come at a downside, however. The actual criminal mystery itself is not as involved or as intricate as it might have been in a full-on crime drama dish. It isn’t illogical or half-baked, though. It simply remains a secondary ribbon of flavor in this meal as opposed to the primary thrust. Still, for a lover of a good mystery such as myself, I was a bit disappointed in this, as I feel that both elements could have been equally balanced, creating a richer flavor profile, without neglecting the vital character study.
A quick note on plot and pacing here before we wrap it up: I have to give the chef kudos in that, despite the set-up for a continuing metaplot for the series, she does not make that critical error in letting that set-up ruin the finale of this volume. The meal finishes nicely with a dessert course that brings it to a close, yet still leaves you with a hint of what is to come. It’s a point that is often done wrong in other literary meals, so I feel it deserves a special mention when it gets done right.
To bring it all together, Steele Resolve is more intense character study than mystery, but it’s still a tasty treat of a drama with hints of greater things to come! If you like character-based dramas and crime novels, I would recommend checking this out. However, if you are a mystery purist, you may not enjoy this as much as you may a more traditional mystery novel.
FINAL VERDICT: **** (More character study than mystery, but still a tasty dramatic treat!)
Writing Is A Bad Habit: Love is Love a.k.a. All Flavors of Romance
Merry Christmas Eve, friends!
The holiday rush left me away from the keyboard yesterday, but I’m not one to shirk my responsibilities. Here we go, then, with this week’s Writing Is A Bad Habit, to talk about romance in writing. More specifically, I want to talk about the ins-and-outs of writing a non-heterosexual romance, that is to say a LGBT, and any other letters you can add to that, romance.
To someone that is purely heterosexual, this may seem like a difficult thing to do. Maybe you feel uncomfortable with the concept or perhaps you have a fear of being offensive to others. Either one may motivate you to avoid the topic entirely, yet this isn’t the best way to approach it, especially in a world that is coming to grips that these alternate sexualities are as healthy and valid as normal, straight sexualities.
This may seem hard, but there is a simple trick to dealing with the core matters of the relationship in such cases. Here it is …. get ready for it!
The secret is … it’s just like any other kind of love and romance. No, really, trust me, I know this first hand. As a non-heterosexual person myself, take it from me and my time talking about these things with friends of every sexual persuasion. There is nothing, at the romantic level, that is different or unusual about non-hetero love and relationships. It is, in all essential purposes, the same.
Now, the real potential trip-ups can come in if you decide to explore past the romance to the societal and cultural issues that can come up from such romances. For a well-rounded, realistic story, you may have to add considerable dollops of cultural elements and biases to your story. Still, this isn’t any different from exploring other themes of societal prejudice. Would you feel comfortable writing about racial issues, class divides, or biases and prejudices based on differing nationalities? These are no different than dealing with issues of sexual discrimination.
What I want to conclude with is that you shouldn’t feel, if you are a heterosexual, that you can’t include non-hetero romance in your writing. Simply treat it as any other romance you may write; it is in the end no different.
Until next time, good reading, good writing, and good luck!
December 21, 2015
Monday Musings: A Title And A Blurb a.k.a. The New Book Matches On!
Good morning, friends!
My title-less new book, due to be published sometime in January, now HAS a title! It will be The Songstress Murders, the first of hopefully many Inspector Redmane Mysteries to come! Also, I’ve sketched out my first draft of a book blurb. To be honest, I am horrible with these (I find it mind-wracking to compress something so complex down to a little blurb) but I’m open to thoughts and input!
Here it is:
The Walled City is the wonder of a world reborn, five cities stacked one atop another. The only thing that stands between the normal Folk and the criminals that would prey upon them is the City Watch. Cue Junior Inspector Vela Redmane, lover of life and the lovelies, yet serious about her work as a detective, who finds herself in embroiled in one of the weirdest murder cases ever seen in this place of magic. Murder by pleasure, warring gangsters, mysterious mages, and a singing golem are just the start of Redmane’s troubles. The most complicated part of all? The roots of love, tangling Vela with both her top suspect and the sorceress who holds all the answers!
December 18, 2015
Starving Review: Infringement by Benjamin Westbrook
Infringement by Benjamin Westbrook (Amazon, Goodreads)
Another Friday has come, so it’s time to crack open the pantry and see what we find. This week’s review is actually something of a difficulty for me, but not for the traditional reasons. You see, foodies, Infringement is a religious thriller, one that deals strongly with matters not just of faith, but a very specific real-world religion. These sorts of meals tend not to sit well in my stomach with their tendency for overspiced arguments and heavily-indulgent themes, alongside a narrow-focus of flavors focusing on that one religious theme. Still, there are religious meals out there that have beaten out those problems, so let’s see if this souffle will rise without collapsing!
Before we do, let’s unfurl the scroll to proclaim the Starving Review Creed:
I attempt to rate every book from the perspective of a fan of the genre
I attempt to make every review as spoiler-free as possible
As with any meal, I have to approach this from both quantitative and qualitative measures. Let’s start with the factual end of things, looking at our usual measures of plot, characterization, and style. Style and wordcraft are the best elements of this meal. Well-baked with an easy-to-digest style, Infringement is never an overly-wordy slog or has a thick crust to break through. Likewise, exposition is well-handled and the overall pace is fairly well-balanced, except for the climax.
It’s that climax where the pacing and core plot feel off-kilter. Everything seems to be going well, with a good balance of rising action and falling action, but then the climax comes and it just fails to fulfill the dramatic expectations at that point. The attempt at the cliff-hanger ending feels a bit forced and the whole thing ends with an abrupt note. I sat there a moment, hoping for another course that didn’t come. This is a flaw I’ve found in many works meant to be in a series, where the plot of one meal is left hanging to set-up the metaplot of the entire series’ servings, and this is not only unnecessary, but it really hurts each individual meal. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it does leave a sour note on the entire dinner.
Characterization is handled well, if with a bit of a light touch outside of the protagonist. I did like the bait-and-switch for the antagonist, yet I was also a bit put off as there was a lot of build-up and characterization that wound up being for naught. That unfortunately left the remaining antagonist as a real one-note-wonder, which probably didn’t help the sour flavors of the climax. The other thing that was a smidge off was the romance sub-plot, mainly in that there really wasn’t one. There was a romance, yes, between the protagonist and his ex-fiancee, but it basically immediately resolved into undying love with nary a mention as to why their romance hadn’t worked out the first time, thus no real resolution of that first problem. Again, this isn’t a deal-breaker, as one could assume that the long-distance romance aspect was what hadn’t worked and that is resolved in short-order, but it feels like a thread that could have been expounded on to flesh out the characters, especially the fiancee.
So overall, things are looking pretty good, right? Solid writing with a few flaws, flaws that any author can make from time to time. The real issue I have with Infringement, despite all my efforts to emulate the tastes of a religious thriller fan, the thing that chokes in my throat, is its single-minded focus on one specific world religion. There is a strong undercurrent that only grows as the book progresses of Christian apocalyptic theology, with hints that the Rapture and the full run of the Book of Revelations is coming, and, as such things usually go, there is no nod, no thought, no consideration for any form of faith outside the purely Christian, with a few minor thoughts to Judaism.
My point is that it always chokes in my throat when a book that wants to explore faith instead explores religion. Faith is personal, faith is something people of many religions and philosophies can experience, it’s a universal human concept, not something purely confined to one religion. There is so far not even an attempt to tie in the billions of other people with faiths that differ from the Christian viewpoint into the narrative of faith, or how those people, no matter their morality, will be treated by this impending apocalypse (though one dream sequence hints it will be the tried-and-true ‘morality doesn’t matter, only Jesus’ route).
What this leads to is one of those curious cases of two ratings. For the general audience, Infringement is a religious thriller souffle that, while baked better than its kin, still falls flat with its narrow-minded spices. For what is probably the intended audience, those who already are fans of such Christian apocalyptic thrillers, Infringement will be a real treat, baked with an attention to the craft that makes it rise above the rest. Basically, if you’re a die-hard Christian, especially if you’re interested in Rapture literature, you’ll love this. If you’re not, you might be able to admire the wordcraft, but the actual subject of the plot will not thrill you.
FINAL VERDICT (for general diners): **
FINAL VERDICT (for Christian religious thriller fans): *****
AVERAGE RATING (cause places don’t let me be expressive to have multiple ratings): ***
