Friday, May 9, 2014

The Covenant of Genesis by Andy McDermott


I have actually been wanting to read this installment in the Nina Wilde/Eddie Chase series since my first taste of the series back when The Cult of Osiris, or Pyramid of Doom as the copy was called in the US, came out in stores. Since Nina is basically considered a quack in her line of work at the beginning of the fifth book, it intrigued me as to what may have caused her fall from grace. So I was very happy to finally, since starting from the beginning of the series, get to read this fourth book.

I love McDermott's work. Yeah I may complain about too much action sometimes and not enough puzzles to solve regarding each individual treasure of history that the characters are attempting to find, but all in all I am very happy with what this particular author has brought to the action/adventure/treasure-hunting/thriller genre. This book however, bypassed all of the ones in this series that I have read so far, and even ranks higher on my list than The Pyramid of Doom, which I mainly picked up back in 2010 or 2011 I believe because it had to do with Egypt and the Pyramids. This book brings to light so many different questions about religion and it also brings up some very good points to think on, e.g. How religion plays such a huge part in a lot of people's lives and how they would be affected if told their God or Gods were based on a civilization which predated humanity.

While I do not condone bad guys destroying things, I could actually see the point of keeping the information and possible evidence found by Nina and Eddie hidden from the world. The implications that it would cause if put out in the open suddenly could be astronomical and bring quite a bit of destruction in its wake.

If I wasn't hooked before on this series, this amazing fourth book has officially made me so. I am so excited to continue Nina and Eddie's adventures in the novels already out and any possible future novels that this author decides to write.

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

The Dreamer by May Nicole Abbey


I was going to begin this review by stating how the book begins on such an elegantly written note, but I just want to cut straight through to the heart of what I want to write about, and that is the main character of this story, Rachel. Rachel, I must say, has to be my favourite character throughout this whole thing, the captain being second, of course, mainly because of the fact that she is just too intelligent for her own good. From the moment she lands on Captain Mallory Tucker's ship, right after time travelling by jumping off a cliff, she is so fascinated by the time she has landed in. She is so fascinated, in fact, that she decides to make a project out of the captain almost immediately, taking notes on his ship, his life, his men...EVERYTHING!!

I also love that she seems to analyze everything even when she is being dressed in proper attire for the time. She just cannot help herself, and every observation she makes seems to come out of her mouth. It is the most hilarious thing. It is also kind of funny how she seems to confuse the captain at every turn. Her non-typical behaviour as a woman seems to scare him a little. He knows what to expect from usual woman, normal woman, and for that reason, he understands them even though he doesn't. Does that make sense? But with her, he doesn't really know what she'll do next.

And believe me, she can be very unpredictable.

This was a really sweet story full of pirates and an obnoxious duke and loads of treasure. It even includes an Egyptian pharoah. WHAT??? I relished every moment spent with all the characters of this book, not just Rachel and the captain. It was loads of fun just reading this story, and I cannot wait to get started on the others in this series.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Antpod Faction by Alex James



Okay, so I absolutely loved the world that was created with this book. It definitely had a science fiction feel to it, maybe not the clean and streamlined science fiction that some write about, but the grungy, kind of back alley science fiction that I adore wholeheartedly. That kind of science fiction is just so much more interesting to me because there is so much more contrast. There is so much more of a chance for characters to grow.


With that said, while the beginning did its job and definitely introduced us to the characters that would be important throughout the rest of the story, I felt like some events were a bit jumbled. I kind of wanted Mase's specialness to be introduced, but not explained. And after the massacre occurs, I kind of wanted things to escalate. Maybe have a nice chase scene, or have Mase be forced to hide out while she figures out what is going on, and then have her specialness finally explained and connect it with her role and overall destiny in the story. I mean, up until events start to kind of fall into place with Ethbert's eventual capture, I felt like the story was flat-lining. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It was okay.


I truly did want to love this book, but I guess I can settle for liking it. It was still worth the read to me, because I really did love the main character, and I can say that this is a book that I might possibly read again in the future.


Also, I must add that I was quite surprised with the spy/political aspect of this entire thing. It's obviously not a new concept for science fiction, but one that probably is not used as often as it could be in this genre. So a round of applause to the author.