1099 ratings (3.68 avg)
756 reviews
more photos (1)

#51 best reviewers

Gavin

Add friend

Gavin’s Bookshelves

read‎ (1120)
currently-reading‎ (3)
to-read‎ (1520)
review-of-the-year‎ (3)

fantasy‎ (401)
paranormal‎ (224)
sci-fi‎ (165)
ya-books‎ (140)

romance‎ (86)
thriller‎ (31)
historical‎ (23)
classics‎ (8)

lit-rpg‎ (7)
dramatizations‎ (3)

Stats | More…

Gavin is Currently Reading

Gavin is currently reading

Steal the Sky (Scorched Continent, #1)

by Megan E. O'Keefe (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: fantasy, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in March, 2017

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Gavin said: " This was an interesting fantasy that had a bit of action, intrigue, mystery, and humor. It also had an interesting bunch of characters and a pretty cool fantasy world. The nature of the magic gave this fantasy world a weird steampunk feel!

The action This was an interesting fantasy that had a bit of action, intrigue, mystery, and humor. It also had an interesting bunch of characters and a pretty cool fantasy world. The nature of the magic gave this fantasy world a weird steampunk feel!

The action took place in the desert oasis city of Aransa. The city is mining colony on the edges of the Empire. The thing mined is the magical substance Selium. Sel is the source that powers a lot of the Empire's economy. It is a lighter than air gas that Sel sensitives can manipulate. It even powers air ships! The Empire keeps tight control of all sources of Sel and Sel sensitivs are put to work extracting the stuff from the mines. Those powerful Sel sensitives, considered deviants by the Empire, are killed before they become a threat.

Noble born rogue and petty thief Detan Honding and his manservant/engineer/friend find themselves stranded in the city after their small airship took damage fleeing the scene of their last scam. They are stuck there until repairs to their ship can be made and it could have not have happened at a worse time as they got caught up in the tense politics of Aransa. The Warden has just been murdered creating a power void. Rumours are split over who committed the crime. Some say it was a renegade Doppel assassin bent on revenge while others claim it was ex-Empire Commodore Thracia. She finds herself on the fringes of the Empire after a scandal and rumours of some less than savoury actions. No one believes she picked the city as a place to slip into early retirement as she did not earn the whispered nickname, Commodore Throat-slitter, for no reason! Detan is not the only one who finds himself caught up in the mess. The same is true of Ripka, the Captain of the Watch. She must find the Doppel and bring it to justice before rumours of it reach the Empire and they decide another Purge of the Sel Sensitives in the city is needed.

The story was quite interesting. It was mainly told from the POV's of Deaton, Ripka, and the Doppel. They were all interesting characters with their own goals and aims. I liked the mix of action and intrigue and the story managed to be quite dark and gritty while also having a few light moments and some humor. The magic was pretty cool as well. The Doppel was so good at manipulating Sel that it could use it to create masks perfectly mimicking other peoples faces!

This was a book that had a lot going for it but despite that I felt like this never managed to be quite as good as it should have been. All the elements were present for this to be a 5 star read but for some reason I just could not fully engage with the characters or the story. I'm not really sure why. Perhaps it was just Megan E. O'Keefe's writing. Sometime I felt like I was almost on the verge of getting fully sucked into the story but it just failed to happen.

All in all I found this to be an enjoyable fantasy story that never quite managed to blossom into the fantastic story I felt like it threatened to be! I liked it well enough that I'll definitely read the sequel if it makes it to audio.

Rating: 3.5 stars.

Audio Note: I quite like Jim Frangione as a narrator. He gets humor and has a good reading voice. His one flaw is that he is not the best at differentiating between the voices of the various characters. ...more "

progress:

(75%)
"I'm getting sucked into the story a bit more now. It looks like we are in for quite an exciting last phase. I hope the Doppel manages to survive. She might be a bit murderous but I still like her!" — Feb 28, 2017 05:27AM

Mar 01, 2017 05:18AM · see review

Gavin is currently reading

Blight Marked (Ethereal Earth #3)

by Josh Erikson (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, paranormal

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

progress:

(35%)
"I'm giving this book another go but I'm still struggling with it. It is so frustrating as I loved the first book and enjoyed the second one so I've no idea why I'm just not engaging at all with this third instalment of the series.

I'll give it a final chance to grab my attention today and if it fails I'll just pull the plug permanently and pick a new read!" — Jul 10, 2020 07:01AM

Jun 10, 2020 07:43AM

Gavin is currently reading

Urban Allies: Ten Brand-New Collaborative Stories

by Joseph Nassise (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading, paranormal

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

progress:

(40%)
"Crossed Wires by Jeff Somers & Stephen Blackmore

This was a decent enough story. I think I liked the feel of Blackmoore's characters and magic a little better but neither have me bursting to rush out to buy the first books in either series as both feel like typical male written UF stuff. I might give Somer's Avery Cates series a go as the premise of that one sounds a lot more exciting.

3.5 stars." — Mar 22, 2018 07:51AM

Mar 16, 2018 03:24PM

Gavin’s Quotes

“Good books don't give up all their secrets at once.”
― Stephen King

tags: books

6773 likes

“An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.”
― Buddha

410 likes

“A path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you . . . Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use.”
― Carlos Castaneda

tags: inspirational

369 likes

“Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.”
― Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan

tags: life-surrealistic

2248 likes

“We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.”
― Stephen Hawking

tags: inspirational, science

3824 likes

More of Gavin’s quotes…