I found The Trilisk Ruins to be an interesting start to a story. The author didn’t focus too deeply on trying to explain the science of what was going on. And in some aspects it felt a little rushed, but overall I would say that I did enjoy the story.

The story focuses around Telisa Relachik, a Xenoarchaeologist in a time frame where Earth is being run by an oppressive government that appears to have grown out of the United Nations.

The United Nations Space Force controls everything that happens outside of Earth’s orbit. It enforces it’s rules with harsh zealotry. I can almost liken it’s desire of control and level of fanatcism to Nazi Germany in many ways. Telisa signs on with a group of smugglers that travel into space, searching for alien ruins to try and salvage technology out from.

Overall there is a lot of negative perception being conveyed of the government, though much of that stems from rights violations and corruption it appears. I would say if you enjoy a good space Drama, this is a story worth looking into.

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I would have to say that I found Shadow Ops: Control Point to be a very enjoyable read. It will not likely fall into the realm of classics, but frankly few books do. But that aside, it was a well written storyline that drew you into the conflict that the main character, Oscar Britton, was going through.

The story takes place in a alternate version of Earth where powers have manifested in the population. The government’s reaction to these powers was to demand that all individuals who manifest them turn themselves into the government. They are then indoctrinated into a Military service branch designed specifically for them. If you choose not to turn yourself in, you are dubbed a ‘Selfer’ and hunted down. A subset of these groups are ones who are labeled as ‘Probes’. They are individuals who manifest powers in what the government has labeled a ‘Prohibited’ powerset. These individuals are tracked down with a unsettling gusto.

Overall the story touches base on a lot of common items we see and struggle with in even our society. Bigotry, corruption, abuse of power, confusion and the government abusing groups for their own ends. I wouldn’t say that it has a negative light on the government as a whole though much of the feel the government in this story reminds me of the information that exists of the Government during the period where the United States was ‘Acquiring’ lands from the Native American population. The same level of confusion, misinformation, bigotry and abuse of power is rife through this story.

Its definitely an interesting story that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys Modern fantasy with this single exception. If you don’t military stories, then you might not like this one. While the rest of the series appears to have the potential to not be as focused to a military setting, due to the nature of the characters involved and the setting in general, there is a considerable amount of military references and activities in this book.

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I have to say I did enjoy this book. It brought you into a world were an event triggered the creation of Superheroes across the world. The author didn’t focus on the event itself, instead option to say that at this point no one has found the solution as to what happened.

The books follow the breakthrough (The term used for people who develop super powers during events of high stress or life threatening proportions.) of one individual, Astra aka Hope Carrigan, takes on a new life as she learns to cope with what she has become and what it means for her future. Add in the mix that she is quickly drawn deeply into the events surrounding a ‘SuperVillian’ named The Teatime Anarchist, you quickly see her fighting to cope with all of the vents and gain a firm understanding of her own role in the future.

I actually highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys SuperHero fiction or anyone who enjoys reading about someone who finds themselves in uncertain times and how they grow to meet their future in the changed environment they find themselves.

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I have to say that overall I was disappointed by The Red Pyramid. I’ll admit I had high expectations after the Percy Jackson series which I enjoyed a great deal. Unfortunately, I’ve found I do not like this series or the main characters. The story itself is interesting, but I never connected with the main characters who came across as selfish and childish brats. Added into that was the whole ‘Tape recording’ style the book was written in that switched back and forth between Sadie and Carter. I really didn’t like that.

I have to say that I didn’t like it and I’m unlikely to finish the series.

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Overall I would have to say I enjoyed reading Freehold. It was an interesting story that focused around the main character (Kendra Parcelli) and the events that take her from her position in Logistics on Earth to a similar position on Freehold.

That being said, there were some core issues I didn’t like. The main one being that the author had a tendency to ramble on, over and over, on the same thing. Several chapters were extremely similar events happening over and over with little movement in the plot-line of the story. That aside, I got tired of the ‘Free Market runs everything’ mentality of the storyline. As much as it would be interesting to live in a 100% Capitalistic society, its an unrealistic structure. Granted those points are personal preferences.

All in all it was an enjoyable read that I would recommend to anyone who had some spare time and wasn’t sure what they wanted to read.

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While the general science that Weber puts into his books often makes my head hurt, I have to give him credit for the ‘Space Opera’ style story. He does a good job of pulling you into the story and connecting with at least one of the characters if not more. He is also good at developing characters into something more than they were when the story started.

Crusade is a story focusing on the strange dichotomy that is the Human Race and how it can affect those around us. It also goes a long way in showing why it is a good idea to leave cultures alone until they are developed enough to be able to interact with us on a even footing.

All in all I would recommend this book to others, as long as you can get around the science inaccuracies.

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Grimspace by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Having completed this book, I have to say that there are definitely aspects to it that I liked a lot, unfortunately there were considerably more that I didn’t. With that in mind, it is unlikely that I will read any more of this series and I would be hard pressed to read more by this author.

While the concept of the story was very interesting, I didn’t really connect with any of the characters. They tended to be a bit more broody and passive-aggressive than I like. I recognize that the author tried to make at least one of them into the ‘Dark and Broody’ character type, unfortunately she really only succeeded in making him seem shallow and confrontational until the end where he become so emotionally unstable as to be practically laughable.

Worse, the whole story was haphazard. I constantly felt like the storyline was up in the air without any real direction. You met many individuals only to have them killed off quickly. Plot-lines were started, but never really went anywhere. You moved into new settings and situations that had no apparent bearing on anything, only to be jarred back in some other direction entirely. One of the worst parts is that the characters, who seem extremely intelligent, don’t seem to pick up on some of the most obvious hints that would have tipped them onto what was going on around them.

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I’m really starting to enjoy this series. Mark Del Franco is starting to add a lot more depth to the storyline that is really building on events that you were exposed to in both the first book as well as things going on in this one. I’m looking forward to picking up the next in the series.

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Its an unique and interesting setting involving Fey, Elven and Human aspects in a setting surrounding Modern Boston.

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