Shadow Ops: Control Point Review

As soon as I heard about Myke Cole's book through the Functional Nerds podcast I knew I had to read it. Sounded like something so fresh. Sure there are a lot of familiar elements, but this was a new combination I hadn't heard of or read before and I wasn't disappointed. The book starts off with an intense action scene that sucks you in. Gives you a good feel of Oscar Britton and his world. Being a G-Man himself you can feel Myke is drawing on a lot of his own experiences. It's hard to tell which ones, but it really adds to the authenticity of the feel of the book.

I won the book through Twitter mentioning Myke in the tweet that I had won, and he said that he would send me a signed copy too! Had me smiling from ear to ear. I said I would send a photo of the book in a famous South African spot in return. So on my birthday I went up Table Mountain in Cape Town and did so. (Photo below)

Back to the book. After the initial action scene Oscar discovers that he has just manifested some magic abilities of his own. Prohibited magic like he had just helped to control. Not wanting to meet the same fate he runs for it. Runs away from everything he knows and cares about.

I can't reveal much more about the plot without spoiling it, but I will touch on some other elements of the book. I thought the magic system was well handled. Most of it seeming to have a base in real world mythology. And it's suitably hard for the characters to learn. They can't just suddenly do what they want with it. They have to control it, channel it. Not let it consume them.

I also enjoyed the characters. They were diverse and I don't think too far from how real people would act in such situations. Not an easy thing to pull off. Although I do say I have never met such a conflicted character before. His stance on his situation and new found ability changing constantly, but I don't think it is a bad thing. Not at all. Because myself my thoughts on something might change by the second. Adapting as new information comes in. Letting my experiences and feelings guide me.

Overall I think this is a very strong debut, and I think the second book will be even better because Myke will be applying what he learned from the first book's writing process.

Review of Larry Kollar's Xenocide

Hi,

Being an avid fan of Larry's Friday Flash fiction I knew I had to get Xenocide when it came out and I wasn't disappointed. So here's my review and if you have .99c laying around please do yourself a favour and grab a copy. 10c per 1000 words is a bargain if you ask me.

"Larry has the rare ability to make his characters and situations feel lifelike, for instance even though the murder victim is an alien the characters aren't running around screaming thinking they had lost their minds, they approached the situation rationally and logically. Granted some people wouldn't be able to handle it, but being a cop and an EMT they've seen their fair share of odd things.

Overall I thought the story was nicely paced, the characters were interesting and the X-Files references made me smile."

Grab it from Amazon here

A new The Red Stone review.

A new review was posted at Amazon.co.uk last night. And I have to admit it is one of my favourites! Thanks to @gavgates



"This is straight up classic fantasy, Smith has written a brilliant and very engaging introduction into a world that would fit perfectly into a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The beauty of this novel comes into play through the interactions and the backgrounds of the different races to live on the Kingdom of Melin. Smith has used Giants, trolls, humans and Dragons and took them all from a very unique style of viewpoint where they don't necessarily have to be good or evil just because of what they traditionally are seen as, this, coupled with the brave writing approach of not needing to describe every sword swipe of every battle down to the finest detail makes `the red stone' into a very easy to follow tale.

From the first page in Tennen is a very likeable and obvious focal point throughout even before the introduction of his magical artefact or going into his history before your first encounter with him. Every character you meet from chapter to chapter is genuinely memorable and there are many lovely moments like the meeting of Tennen and Captain Norton who has a large role to play in Tennen's development and both wizards Rimotar and Venten whose opposing personalities work superbly with each other and makes me want to know about each characters back story a lot more than I got to. The real stand out is Berrinn, a Bronze dragon who befriends and builds a very solid human bond with Tennen that steals the story almost on its own.

The book ends on a perfect note and leads into a follow on that I can say with a huge relief I have sitting on my shelf and can't wait to start on next. If you are in any way a fan of classic fantasy then I can't recommend The Red Stone enough."

A Review of Deadlands by Lily Herne

Deadlands by Lily Herne

Lele is your typical teenager, she hates school and she has a crush on the cool guy, but there's one very large twist to her story. Everything isn't normal. When people die they don't stay dead. Yes, you've got it. She's living in the time of Zombies. Zombies that have destroyed the world and pushed humans down a notch in the food chain.

And if that wasn't bad enough a group of people known as the Resurrectionists have taken control of the enclave. The only safe spot in Cape Town. A safe spot created by the Guardians. A mysterious group who saved the vastly dwindled population from the Rotters as they are known. A group that seem to have control over the Resurrectionists.

Coming from the agriculturals Lele is new to all this and takes some time to adapt. Getting into trouble for not believing what she was hearing and saying things she shouldn't. In addition she's stuck with a step mother she doesn't like. A veteran from the zombie struggle who seems to have it in for her brother and herself.

Understandably Lele is not fond of the enclave and wants nothing more than to go back to the Agriculturals. A place her and her brother had to leave when her Gran died. Meeting an underground group known as the Mall Rats she soon discovers that everything isn't as it seems. Will she be able to return home? Read it and find out. You wont be disappointed.

Although I'm not much of a YA reader I found this book very enjoyable. The characters sounded real and it's not your normal zombie book/movie. Here the people have learned how to adapt to living with them. Some even thriving. It's a human story that is well handled and I can't wait for the sequel.

More on Lily Herne.

Her FB profile
Where you can find the book: Exclusives
Goodreads