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 penguin books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label penguin books. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
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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