Author: JD Tyler
Title: Primal Law (An Alpha Pack Novel #1)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Signet Eclipse (Imprint of Penguin)
ISBN: 9780451234346
The Romance Author's Verdict: 3.5/5 Stars
Founded by a team of former Navy SEALS, the Alpha Pack is a top-secret team of wolf shifters with Psy powers tasked with eliminating the most dangerous predators in the world. But the gift of their abilities comes at a price…
After a massacre decimates half his team and leaves him crippled, Jaxon Law must relearn how to fight—and must defeat the anger and guilt threatening to overwhelm him. But when he rescues a beautiful woman who reawakens his primal instincts, Jax is unprepared for the dangers that lie ahead.
On the run from her employer, brilliant lab assistant Kira Locke escapes with disturbing evidence that leads the Alpha Pack team on a hunt for someone targeting human civilians with Psy abilities. And as Jax and Kira circle both the killer and each other, Jax will have to decide if the deep connection he feels with Kira is worth breaking the ultimate shifter rule—because bonding with Kira means putting his abilities at risk, and they might be the only tool he has to keep his mate alive…
Another run-of-the-mill werewolf/paranormal creatures romance I'm afraid. It wasn't bad, I'll give you that, in fact it seemed pretty darn good after the last disaster of a paranormal romance I didn't even finish reading. At least I did read this one to the end, though it was a bit of a drag.
The writing itself is quite good and easy to get into, it was the characters and storyline that lacked any real substance to hold it apart from the million other paranormal romances out on the market.
I felt like Kira accepted the whole "werewolves are real" thing a bit too easily, and oh yeah, now you have to go live in a secret government compound because you know the truth. She was kind of just like "okay then!" What about her life, family, friends before that? There was no thought process of her coming to terms with the fact she had to leave everything behind.
Also, she made a really big deal of the fact that she didn't want the mate-bond between her and Jaxon to dictate whether or not they stayed together, so she put off the decision, even knowing that Jaxon could die if they didn't mate (pretty typical of this sort of romance). Except in the end, he was pretty much on his death bed and it happened anyway. I felt kind of cheated, that in the end she did it to save him, but she supposed she loved him as well. It was like this big build up of resistance, only to cave. I think perhaps the author needed to either not make such a big deal of it, or find a way that meant Kira clearly made the choice to commit on her own without the threat of Jaxon dying hovering over her.
Throughout the book, we were introduced to different characters who will most likely get their own stories at some point. Also, it seemed that the government the Alpha Pack works for is actually betraying them (also, seen it done many times before in these types of books, so that was nothing new either) and this theme will no doubt carry on to link the books together.
Overall, it was an okay read and I will be getting the next one whenever it comes out, because I think the author has real potential to take this from good to really great. I'll be interested to see if Tyler can improve and wow me.
Showing posts with label 3/5 stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 3/5 stars. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Review: Break Out by Nina Croft
Author: Nina Croft
Title: Break Out (Blood Hunter series book #1)
Genre: Science fiction / paranormal romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
ISBN: 9781937044046
The Romance Author's Verdict: 3/5 Stars
Blurb:
Irreverent. Irresponsible. Insatiable. Who says immortals can't have any fun?
The year is 3048, Earth is no longer habitable, and man has fled to the stars where they’ve discovered the secret of immortality—Meridian. Unfortunately, the radioactive mineral is exorbitantly expensive and only available to a select few. A new class comprised of the super rich and immortal soon evolves. The Collective, as they’re called, rule the universe.
Two-thousand-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, vampire and rogue pilot of the space cruiser, El Cazador, can’t resist two things: gorgeous women and impossible jobs. When beautiful Skylar Rossaria approaches him to break a prisoner out of the Collective’s maximum security prison on Trakis One, Rico jumps at the chance. Being hunted by the Collective has never been so dangerous–or so fun.
I wanted this book to be fantastic. I wanted it to blow me away. The cover is to die for. Plus someone took two of my favorite genres and mushed them together. Vampires in space? Come on, how could that not be brilliant? This book had raving 5 star reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. When I finished reading the last page, I wondered what on earth all those people could have been taking to think Break Out deserved a five star review.
Okay, maybe that sounds a bit harsh, maybe I just set my expectations too high when I saw this book compared to the likes of Sherrilyn Kenyon's League series or Ann Aguirre's Grimspace, both of which I love. I'm sorry to say, Break Out doesn't quite live up to either of those titles.
Rico is a vampire, but he's about as cliche as vampires come. Skylar is meant to be a tough warrior-type woman, but to me it felt like she was all talk and no action. The sci-fi aspect felt flimsy at best and there wasn't enough depth with either character to get me involved in the story. I felt like both character's point of view were interchangeable, there wasn't a real 'voice' to differentiate one from the other, leaving them both seeming a bit cardboard.
I think part of the issue in terms of that was because the writing style was very narrative. There was a lot of telling, not showing going on, more than I can ever remember reading in a published book before. If I had of been judging this as a competition entry, or critiquing it, I would have been highlighting passages worth of telling and suggesting the author refine their skill when it came to that particular craft.
However, all that being said, I want to give Ms. Croft the benefit of doubt, because she has books published with Harlequin's Nocturne line. Maybe she was just having a bad day at the office when she wrote this book. So I am going to have a look over her books and pick something else to read.
Its not the worst thing I've ever read, its just lacking depth. If you want a story about vampires in space and don't get your exceptions too high like I did, if you're after a light romp (because the sex scenes were pretty good, I'll give Ms Croft that) then Break Out is an easy afternoon's read.
Title: Break Out (Blood Hunter series book #1)
Genre: Science fiction / paranormal romance
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
ISBN: 9781937044046
The Romance Author's Verdict: 3/5 Stars
Blurb:
Irreverent. Irresponsible. Insatiable. Who says immortals can't have any fun?
The year is 3048, Earth is no longer habitable, and man has fled to the stars where they’ve discovered the secret of immortality—Meridian. Unfortunately, the radioactive mineral is exorbitantly expensive and only available to a select few. A new class comprised of the super rich and immortal soon evolves. The Collective, as they’re called, rule the universe.
Two-thousand-year-old Ricardo Sanchez, vampire and rogue pilot of the space cruiser, El Cazador, can’t resist two things: gorgeous women and impossible jobs. When beautiful Skylar Rossaria approaches him to break a prisoner out of the Collective’s maximum security prison on Trakis One, Rico jumps at the chance. Being hunted by the Collective has never been so dangerous–or so fun.
I wanted this book to be fantastic. I wanted it to blow me away. The cover is to die for. Plus someone took two of my favorite genres and mushed them together. Vampires in space? Come on, how could that not be brilliant? This book had raving 5 star reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. When I finished reading the last page, I wondered what on earth all those people could have been taking to think Break Out deserved a five star review.
Okay, maybe that sounds a bit harsh, maybe I just set my expectations too high when I saw this book compared to the likes of Sherrilyn Kenyon's League series or Ann Aguirre's Grimspace, both of which I love. I'm sorry to say, Break Out doesn't quite live up to either of those titles.
Rico is a vampire, but he's about as cliche as vampires come. Skylar is meant to be a tough warrior-type woman, but to me it felt like she was all talk and no action. The sci-fi aspect felt flimsy at best and there wasn't enough depth with either character to get me involved in the story. I felt like both character's point of view were interchangeable, there wasn't a real 'voice' to differentiate one from the other, leaving them both seeming a bit cardboard.
I think part of the issue in terms of that was because the writing style was very narrative. There was a lot of telling, not showing going on, more than I can ever remember reading in a published book before. If I had of been judging this as a competition entry, or critiquing it, I would have been highlighting passages worth of telling and suggesting the author refine their skill when it came to that particular craft.
However, all that being said, I want to give Ms. Croft the benefit of doubt, because she has books published with Harlequin's Nocturne line. Maybe she was just having a bad day at the office when she wrote this book. So I am going to have a look over her books and pick something else to read.
Its not the worst thing I've ever read, its just lacking depth. If you want a story about vampires in space and don't get your exceptions too high like I did, if you're after a light romp (because the sex scenes were pretty good, I'll give Ms Croft that) then Break Out is an easy afternoon's read.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Review (Theirs Not to Reason Why) A Soldier's Duty
Author: Jean Johnson
Title: Theirs Not To Reason Why: A Soldier's Duty
Genre: Science Fiction (military based)
Publisher: ACE Science Fiction (Imprint of Penguin Books)
ISBN: 978-0-441-02063-8
The Romance Author's Verdict: 3/5 stars.
Blurb:
...What if you could see the future? What if you foresaw that, three hundred years from your time, your entire galaxy would be destroyed in an overwhelming invasion? What would you do to stop it, when it would all happen long after you were dead and gone?
These are the questions that Ia must face, and the obstacles she must overcome. Spurred by her teenaged visions of an apocalyptic future, the young heavyworlder woman seeks to set up a series of events, a domino-chain of actions and repercussions that will hopefully stop the coming invaders long after her time has passed. But in order to do so, she must enter the military and engage in a four-front war: an old, barely contained enemy whose twin goals of galactic conquest and lunch terrify all sane sentients; an ancient foe whose technology vastly outstrips anything the Alliance can fling at it; a fanatic, xenophobic religious movement on her homeworld which Ia dares not stop; and her ongoing battle against Time itself.
If Ia fails, the stars and planets of the Milky Way will cease to exist, and so will the countless lives that depend on them. But the odds of her winning the ultimate battle are very, very small, when even the slightest, most innocent-seeming misstep could domino down through time in the wrong way, and doom untold septillions of sentients to a dark and terrifying fall. Bound by the ice of her duty, burned by the fires of her conscience, driven by what she foresees, Ia must become the herald of death herself:
The soldier known as Bloody Mary.
For people who like hard-core military sci-fi, this book will be something they'll love. For me personally, I felt like the focus on military and world building detracted from what could have been a really great story.
The first half of the book was a hard slog, I literally skipped three pages of a conversation about military leadership, four pages that talked about guns and nothing else, another four or five pages on military vehicles, a few pages on different worlds, and a whole bunch of pages where a scene which could have been suspenseful and pithy was dragged out for too long. I tried to stick with it, forcing myself to get through the character's training, to when she got her first posting, expecting the story would become more interesting and easier to read... except it didn't.
I think what let this story down was the female protagonist, Ia. I expected that her character might get a "life lesson" somewhere along the way, but it never came. Everything that got thrown her way, she could see into the future and find ways of handling it. Her character was meant to be only 18 when she joined the military, but right from the start, she acted like a 30 or 40 year old. Okay, I understand she had the weight of the future on her shoulders and had to grow up fast to take on the universe, but people, all people, have self doubt. Even Superman doubted his own abilities to succeed at times. Ia's unflinching self assurance made her character a bit too unbelievable and hard to connect with. Some of her "tough" moments where she "proved" herself to her fellow soldiers felt forced. I can't ever remember reading a book where the character development made me like the character less as the story went on. A disappointment, because the idea behind the story is fantastic. Execution could have been better.
Like I said, people who enjoy hard-core military sci-fi will probably love this. I wanted more angst from the characters to make it believable.
Title: Theirs Not To Reason Why: A Soldier's Duty
Genre: Science Fiction (military based)
Publisher: ACE Science Fiction (Imprint of Penguin Books)
ISBN: 978-0-441-02063-8
The Romance Author's Verdict: 3/5 stars.
Blurb:
...What if you could see the future? What if you foresaw that, three hundred years from your time, your entire galaxy would be destroyed in an overwhelming invasion? What would you do to stop it, when it would all happen long after you were dead and gone?
These are the questions that Ia must face, and the obstacles she must overcome. Spurred by her teenaged visions of an apocalyptic future, the young heavyworlder woman seeks to set up a series of events, a domino-chain of actions and repercussions that will hopefully stop the coming invaders long after her time has passed. But in order to do so, she must enter the military and engage in a four-front war: an old, barely contained enemy whose twin goals of galactic conquest and lunch terrify all sane sentients; an ancient foe whose technology vastly outstrips anything the Alliance can fling at it; a fanatic, xenophobic religious movement on her homeworld which Ia dares not stop; and her ongoing battle against Time itself.
If Ia fails, the stars and planets of the Milky Way will cease to exist, and so will the countless lives that depend on them. But the odds of her winning the ultimate battle are very, very small, when even the slightest, most innocent-seeming misstep could domino down through time in the wrong way, and doom untold septillions of sentients to a dark and terrifying fall. Bound by the ice of her duty, burned by the fires of her conscience, driven by what she foresees, Ia must become the herald of death herself:
The soldier known as Bloody Mary.
For people who like hard-core military sci-fi, this book will be something they'll love. For me personally, I felt like the focus on military and world building detracted from what could have been a really great story.
The first half of the book was a hard slog, I literally skipped three pages of a conversation about military leadership, four pages that talked about guns and nothing else, another four or five pages on military vehicles, a few pages on different worlds, and a whole bunch of pages where a scene which could have been suspenseful and pithy was dragged out for too long. I tried to stick with it, forcing myself to get through the character's training, to when she got her first posting, expecting the story would become more interesting and easier to read... except it didn't.
I think what let this story down was the female protagonist, Ia. I expected that her character might get a "life lesson" somewhere along the way, but it never came. Everything that got thrown her way, she could see into the future and find ways of handling it. Her character was meant to be only 18 when she joined the military, but right from the start, she acted like a 30 or 40 year old. Okay, I understand she had the weight of the future on her shoulders and had to grow up fast to take on the universe, but people, all people, have self doubt. Even Superman doubted his own abilities to succeed at times. Ia's unflinching self assurance made her character a bit too unbelievable and hard to connect with. Some of her "tough" moments where she "proved" herself to her fellow soldiers felt forced. I can't ever remember reading a book where the character development made me like the character less as the story went on. A disappointment, because the idea behind the story is fantastic. Execution could have been better.
Like I said, people who enjoy hard-core military sci-fi will probably love this. I wanted more angst from the characters to make it believable.
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