Steven Allen > Recent Status Updates

These are usually referred to as harem urban fantasy, which I believe is the wrong term. Harem implies a group of kept women, many against their will. All of Sean's women are with him by choice, so I don't believe harem is the correct term. Poly would be more appropriate to me.

I miss the early Anita from the first books before she acquired all of her powers in these later books. Sure Anita is badass now. I am sure that the primary demographic these books are aimed at love the idea of a woman with more than 15 drop-dead gorgeous men at her beck and call.

The author served in the US Navy. He writes authentically of how vindictive senior officers can be especially when you get your first captain relieved for cause, get an admiral's son sent to Leavenworth for a year and tossed out, and then successfully defend your fiance against taking the fall for a manufacturer-rushed part killing 61 shipmates.

OK, so not Super JAG in space. I should have known since I love this author's other works, that I would like these books. Only this author can take Courts Martial proceedings and make it interesting. Might have to add these book to my collection in Kindle format.

Writing as Jack Campbell, I have enjoyed this author's writing. I was a little leary of this series, jaded as I am from the "super JAG" TV series, where a Naval JAG was everything from a SEAL to a F-14 pilot. Hope this book is not "super JAG in space."

So far so good. Starts with some good action - Marines dropping from their ship in orbit assaulting an occupying force on a planet that does not belong there.

I enjoy these books by this author but not enough to keep them. Kinda slow start on this one.

Ok first nitpick with this story. So the sexy next door neighbor does not smell lion until after the poor fool gets bit. If his father's buddy hanged around so much as was a quasi-father figure, I would think that the sex girl next door would have smelled lion at least faintly on him.

Another book suggested by my wife, not sure I would have picked this book otherwise.

Combat scenes are well done very descriptive. Author describes scenes, people and things very well - especially good at vividly describing disgusting slimy slug people and incredibly beautiful beast women. Author needs to work on dialog its a little stilted sometimes. Also needs more showing less telling. Good twist on the HAL 9000 trope without overdoing it.

Odd that this is the second fantasy book I have read in a row featuring nagas. Something missing from the beginning of this book. What is missing is the hook, that thing that grabs the reader and pulls them into the story. The hook does not appear until the beginning of chapter #4. The author needs to grab the reader, get them invested in his characters, or he will lose readers within the first 20 pages.

Well this has certainly been a surprisingly decent read. I am dubious when authors ask for honest reviews. This book badly needs developmental and line editing. Not the worse unedited book that I have read and actually one of the better of the author-requested-review books so far. Great descriptions. The author's technical skills are excellent; needs work on dialog and character building.

Ok so I was wrong, this book is a worthy addition to my library and I will be getting the whole series if they all turn out as good as this one.

Some nice spots of humor plus some great combat scenes.

This has been a good fantasy story to this point. Good humor throughout, with enough tongue-in-cheek changing the tone every now and then. Great combat scenes with some new and familiar monsters. Does not take itself too seriously; not afraid of having his hero get embarrassed, fall on his ass, fail miserably, get robbed repeatedly, and made a fool of several times. A little disappointed that the female kobold died.

The author generously offered a copy of his book for an honest review. I have to admit that without the author's generous offer of a free copy of the book, I probably would never have purchased or read it. The author has one of the best bios I have read in a long time; if his bio is an indication of his writing skill then this could be a great book.

This book was suggested by another reader of an author I follow, Michael-Scott Earle. So far this is one of the best new fantasy books I have read in a long time. Not good enough to keep permanently as part of my library but definitely a good read. Glad I checked it out from the library rather than impatiently and impulsively buy a copy from Amazon when I had to wait for the other holds to clear.

The first book of this series was meh, but was co-wrote with another author. This book is much better which I had hope for when the author mentioned that he would not be co-writing this one.