SciFi / Fantasy / Horror
Plot: This novel is a fun, fast paced page-turner with lots of action.
Prose: The writing is succinct and moves along at a quick pace, which lends itself to the near constant action the book provides. The author describes the environments and the action vividly without allowing the narrative momentum to get bogged down by too many unnecessary details.
Originality: The novel is heavily influenced by video game conventions—and this works in its favor. The author assumes little, and relies on the brisk and detailed writing to build a universe that features elements that will be familiar to many while at the same time wholly original.
Character Development: Paul Benedict is both an action hero and a family man. In a lesser book this might make for a laborious dichotomy, but here it greatly supports the motivation of the protagonist. AI Siren is handled well and given enough humanity to be a strong supporting character. Some other characters, such as evil Shadow and benevolent Kaiser, can occasionally feel more like types than fleshed-out characters with their own motivations—but this does not detract from the book.
Plot: Mongrain takes what could have been a series of disastrously clichéd tropes and weaves them together into an entertaining and thrilling fantasy that manages to be dark and lighthearted in good balance.
Prose: The book moved at just the right clip, the dialogue was usually crisp, and the prose (both at sentence level and overall) hit its targets.
Originality: While no single element of the book was particularly unique, they were thrown together in an interesting and entertaining way: the immortal with the vampire lover, hunting a ritualistic killer, getting help from police and spectral dogs, and so on.
Character Development: With just slight nudges away from cliché and towards depth, Mongrain makes human even the non-human characters, giving them souls both metaphorically and, in the case of the vampires, literally. They are at their best and develop the most when their weaknesses and preconceptions are severely challenged.
Blurb: An enticing mash-up of immortals, vampires, dark magic, and hard-nosed police officers (who don't believe in immortals, vampires, or dark magic—yet) results in that most spectral of creatures: a fun thriller.
Plot: Canzano provides readers with a fast-paced plot that is a delightful blend of dark humor, gore, and action. The novel’s characters and storyline could easily be made into a film or graphic novel. The author explains his futuristic concepts by introducing them casually to readers, thus making them more realistic.
Prose: Canzano’s prose flows smoothly and is clean when it comes to grammar and mechanics, but certain terms and language are repeated to the point of distraction—and this detracts from the text.
Originality: Canzano’s novel contains elements of inspiration from films like Bladerunner, The Matrix, and Star Wars, but his characters and scenes are fresh and riveting.
Character Development: Canzano’s characters are the true treasure of this novel. From a hardened, fast-talking, butt-kicking female pilot protagonist to a newly-crowned female pirate captain, the colorful cast of characters provides readers with a diverse science fiction future.
Plot: The book is well plotted, but it takes a while for the story to really get going.
Prose: The prose here is excellent. The language is crisp, the dialogue almost wholly individual to each character, and the storyline full of thrilling moments.
Originality: The combination of science fiction, paranormal, and mythology is intriguing, but the elements often had trouble coalescing early on. Still, when everything finally does come together, the mashup works well.
Character Development: The characterization is superb, with dialogue distinct enough that a reader might pick out who is speaking without tags. The characters themselves, rigid or flexible to start, were all believably transformed by the book's end.
Plot: This solidly plotted novel moves at a quick pace, with several very intense scenes—though some plot points feel forced. Still, fans of the genre will find a lot to like here.
Prose: The novel is rich with description, making it a fun read. However, there are long blocks of dialogue without tags, and this makes it hard to keep track of the speakers. Because many of the characters have similar speech patterns, it takes some effort to differentiate one from the other.
Originality: The concept of southern states seceding from the U.S. and becoming economically unsuccessful is a fresh and fascinating concept. Separating plague survivors from the public by placing them in camps is not a unique idea, but works well in this case.
Character Development: The two characters that stand out and are the best developed are Bird and Philip Insco. The lack of background information on Destin gives him very little depth, while the addition of numerous minor characters makes them difficult to differentiate.
Plot: This second book in the Between Two Evils series features an intriguing opening with Diego dropped into the wrong place and wrong time. After that, the narrative pace slows as he recovers from his injuries. Still, fans of the series will stick around to see what happens next.
Prose: Orton's writing is excellent both overall and at sentence level. The novel flows in a conversational way, and the dialogue is realistic. From a stylistic perspective the book is a page-turner.
Originality: There are numerous hints at deeper waters and a broader world, but readers ultimately see little of what is beyond Diego’s recovery room for much of the book. While the characters shine through, much of the novel adheres to a standard post-apocalypse formula with only those hints staking out unique territory.
Character Development: The characters are far and away the highlight of the book, primarily Lani, with her tortured past, and brilliant young Shannon’s attempts to see the best of her world and find a way to return humans and animals to the outside world.
Plot: Lewis’s novel is pulpy but entertaining. It presents its story from the viewpoints of several characters, and the alternation between them in numerous short chapters gives events in the novel a momentum that readers will find hard to resist.
Prose: Lewis’s prose is workmanlike and suited to the task of telling his story. It’s not particularly memorable, but it allows the weird events of the novel to stand on their own.
Originality: There are a number of horror novels that explore the idea of creative inspiration and where it originates. Lewis’s idea of a symbiotic entity that endows its horror writer hosts with creativity is original.
Character Development: Given that a basic premise of this novel, the characters don’t so much develop as show altered behavior, of which they’re often unaware. The most interesting and emotionally complex character is Sheriff Neil Trajan, who engages reader sympathy through his determination to prove the identity of his wife’s murderer.
Plot: The episodic plot of this exciting novel is driven largely by the developing relationship between the two leads. Readers will find this and engaging and entertaining read.
Prose: Willis tells her story well. In particular she describes the novel’s combat sequences in vivid detail. Her lapses into contemporary slang and phrasing, however, occasionally detract from her tale’s atmosphere of high fantasy.
Originality: Willis’s embellishment of classic myths and legends are original and the fantasy world of her novel is very credibly developed.
Character Development: Angeline and Cedric will be familiar figures for readers. And while they don’t evolve much as characters, their relationship takes on depth and dimension over the course of their adventures.
Plot: There’s a certain charm to this blend of romance, science fiction, and thriller, though some of the details get muddied along the way, leading to a confusing middle section where there are too many questions and not enough answers. Still, it's a thoroughly enjoyable story.
Prose: McEachern crafts a satisfying, entertaining tale with memorable characters who work well together. The prose has an easy-going style that draws in readers and keeps them engaged until the end.
Originality: Part star-crossed romance, part conspiracy thriller, this tale draws on familiar themes, creating something familiar yet just fresh enough to attract its audience.
Character Development: Both Geri and Sean are sympathetic, resourceful, intelligent protagonists, who manage to overcome natural differences to form a genuine bond in the heat of conflict. As such, this works well as both a science fiction thriller and a romantic adventure, with a dash of comedy along the way.
Plot: The plot is action-packed, with each battle fueling the engine of this complex and gripping post-apocalyptic drama. Despite being the second installment in a series, the book is easy to enjoy on its own merits.
Prose: The writing will appeal to fans of military fiction. The dialogue is authentic, and the prose leans heavily on action and visceral descriptions.
Originality: The book provides a unique vision of a post-apocalyptic America, and thoughtfully explores how the world mild evolve in America's absence.
Character Development: This book has a lot characters that are difficult to keep track of, many of which are fairly generic commando types with little character development beyond their military roles. However, for a book that can occasionally rely on stereotypes, the leaders of the caliphate are given surprising depth and complexity.
Payable on Death: A Jax Rhodes Novel: Book One (The Jax Rhodes Series 1)
by Rachel RawlingsRating: 6.50
Plot: The real meat of the plot involves Jax becoming a demon hunter and portal-destroyer. However, this occurs more than one third of the way through the novel. The story often languishes before that point. However, once that occurs, the plot becomes laser-focused and incredibly engaging.
Prose: Like the plot, the prose and its pacing seem to stutter during the opening third of this book. But once the demon and portal hunting start, the writing comes alive with tense, nail-biting action scenes.
Originality: While there is a much in this novel that will be familiar to readers, Rawlings does infuse the story with some original twists. For example, Jax’s demon hunting is nicely balanced by the sin eaters—those who help souls bound for hell get to heaven.
Character Development: Jax is a well rendered character whose motivations and decisions becomes increasingly sharp and poignant through the course of the book. The supporting cast is also solidly constructed.
Plot: White's space opera hurtles through galaxies and time at a breakneck pace, packed with action-heavy scenes and a general sense of foreboding as the fate of the universe is at stake.
Prose: White's prose flows smoothly and clearly, and is eloquent at times. The writing races along taking readers with it.
Originality: White's science fiction adventures and characters are reminiscent of genre classics, but the work's relevance to the current socio-political climate lends extra weight to this novel.
Character Development: The characters in The Deftly Paradox are well-introduced, but not fully fleshed-out. A little more attention to character development would result in characters in whom readers could become fully invested.
Plot: Although well constructed, the plot is very similar to standard apocalypse genre formulas. This makes the first two-thirds of the book somewhat predictable, which will likely take fans of the genre out of the story.
Prose: The novel is well-paced and almost breezy, moving the story along at a good clip. McDaniel’s strength is realistic dialogue that conveys a wide range of character emotions, often multiple emotions in the same scene.
Originality: The formulaic aspects of the plot do little to distinguish this novel. However, some of the characters and settings -- e.g. the Denver barrio -- are unique and refreshing.
Character Development: McDaniel’s two real heroes, Helen Small and Dr. William Eyestone, grab the reader and energize the story with their struggles and the way they handle adversity. However, the almost two-dimensional villain needs to be fleshed out and made human.
Plot: The premise -- someone finding out they are not whom or what they thought -- and the idea of secret guardians have potential. But plot holes and inconsistencies work to take readers out of the story.
Prose: Burt’s prose is solid and can, on occasion, rise to the lyrical. However, he tends to tell readers about the situation rather than let them discover it naturally, therefore risking a too-self-conscious and didactic style. There is also a tendency towards repetition.
Originality: Although there are some original elements here, they are undercut by flaws in characterization and prose. Additionally, the idea that women’s power in rooted in seduction is nothing new.
Character Development: The characters here need further development. The book’s theme of strong women is undercut by the fact that the female characters' powers seem to consist solely of seducing powerful men. Also, the villains are too cartoonish and not believable.
