Review Policy

I've REOPENED my Requests. I have several paper books now, but they are mostly the ones I bought and I just bought a Kindle and could take a few review books (I have over 1000 books that I either bought or donwloaded for free from project gutenberg and others, but I've been looking for fresh stuff). So, please, feel free to offer your books, according to the rules on the Review Policy page (menu above, link below, button on the right, choose your way of reaching it).

REVIEW POLICY

Review: Nebador Book 7 - The Local Universe by J. Z. Colby

So, now we've been through The Test, have made the Journey and survived the Selection. We've been succesful in our Flight Training, went Back to the Stars and met the Star Station. It's time to meet the Local Universe!

I've mentioned before that I  LOVE the Nebador series. And it's very well known to book bloggers that the more you love a book or series, the harder it is to review it, because you feel like you're not making it sound as interesting or cool as it really is, you feel like you're not doing the book any good. So I've been writing this review for a few months now... Not a good idea, as you start to forget what exactly you wanted to tell about the book and just keep that fuzzy feeling that it was such an awesome book. But let's try.

We have two major plots during this book and they are slightly different from previous ones. Now, we have our crew reasonably integrated with the Nebador lifestyle, but we need them to grow up as beings, to evolve, in a way. One of the "light" beings (evolved beings!) is going to watch and be with our crew, it's been decided, and interestingly, they are being assigned to advanced training before it's usual.

Their first mission takes them to try and locate a ship that has been drifting for several hundred years, there's supposed to be 3 of the ships and the crew's mission is to find it and then "deal" with it, according to what they find. With them, a whole group of "bugs" will be the experts and passengers of the Manessa Kwi, small and regular size, with mates and groups not so much like theirs, they will have to learn to respect and deal with people much different than them, for a long time (unlike the shorter interactions they've had so far) This is a mission that will teach them much, even if Ilika has explained some things before, now they will see in practice and they will be able to deal with life, death, loss, understanding of Bad and Evil. It is different when you feel it, of course. We'll see a lot of growth here, when they realize some things happen for a reason and not everything and everyone is meant to get help.

The second mission is very different from the first, when we follow 4 common children/teens, into this strange school that is different from anything in their world, called Lyceum. It's a school/monastry/religion-with-all-religions/lifestyle that teaches everyone can be responsible, respectful and that everone has gifts that can be used towards the greater good. Not unlike Nebador, it seems, and that's why, from the whole world, this school is the only one that actually meets Nebador people. They aren't informed of how's, where's and what's but they know they are from space and that they are special beings.

Lyceum

Our crew goes through an interesting mission here, they don't know what it is. They are supposed to find out. Also, the crew is without Ilika, which is the first time ever since they got together in their homeworld. Ilika disguises himself as a potential student at Lyceum, while the rest of the crew will show themselves to the staff as the citizens of Nebador they are, so they can work in different ways to try and find out what their mission is and accomplish it.

Obviously, they do. But the interesting isn't only the mission itself, but how they get there. They end up influencing the people outside their small group, learn more things and eventually find their mission where they weren't looking. Manessa Kwi's crew, in a way, is used to saving people or just helping them, in whatever way they see as saving. But sometimes, what a person needs isn't the same thing you believe is help. And that's actually hard to spot, empathy isn't as easy, when the person you are trying to help sees life in a different way than you do.

Again, another masterpiece by J. Z. Colby, showing children and young adults (and some older adults), that it is possible to live a better life, that a better society is possible - if only people would help - and that you should be the first one to do it. J. Z., if only every teen would read your books, I'm sure we would have a better world in a couple generations' time.

Find out where you can buy Book 7 - The Local Universe in several formats: here.

Read my reviews for Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, Book 4, Book 5 and Book 6

Review: The Weeping Empress - Sadie S. Forsythe

Chiyo wakes up, suddenly, on the grass, watching the blue sky. A man in a uniform yanks her up and doesn't seem very friendly, yelling at her, making her walk. She looks around and see more people in uniforms, none of them look really nice and one of them actually kills an old woman, just because. Chiyo is definitely not on their side, she decides, and tries to run. When she can't, she picks up a sword and joins the only two men who seem to be truly doing something - fighting, killing - and starts doing the same, the best she can. Fighting for her life.

That's how we're introduced to our main characters, Chiyo, Muhjah and Senka.  

The Weeping Empress by Sadie S. Forsythe is a mix of fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction, action and drama. It's the story of how Chiyo is taken from her peaceful life only to appear in an oriental kind of world, medieval in time, with two very letal swordsmen and a raging beast in her chest.

I think it's necessary to say that I really liked the book. It's strange, because I didn't receive this for review, but I downloaded from Smashwords for free, after they emailed me advertising it. It's weird because it's been ages since I last got a book just to read it, because I liked the idea, and not because someone offered for review. Not that I don't like the ones I review, I obviously do, but I usually don't have time to go around and get OTHER books that I didn't agree in reviewing. This one, however, was worth it.

Muhjah is a large man with a smile on his face, Senka is slim, pale and mysterious, never speaking more than a few words a day or, sometimes, going silent for weeks. Chiyo has left a life behind, husband and a daughter, who she loved very much, a life as a wife and mother to a newborn. She gets mixed in that mess and knows she has to fight to stay alive but, more than that, when she fights, when she concentrates and kills, the pain is buried deep inside, the pain from leaving her family, from losing them.

Things start getting more complicated when an underground-ish sect starts spreading rumours about her and how she's "the chosen" of the Goddess. She starts being seen by the people as the savior they've been waiting for, even if the only things she does is to kill.

I'm not going to say much more, needless to say more would be spoiler, but it's a really interesting book and Chiyo is a very interesting character, deep and confused. It's interesting to see how she grows, in a way and how she places her loyalties (or lack of them). Senka is a very interesting character too, we see him, understand his history and see him change. However, Muhjah is a simple one, which bothers me a bit, it's like the whole character development stood with Senka and Chiyo and there was nothing left for Muhjah.

There are some books that, when I finish, the first thing I do is to google "name of the book sequel" and for this one, I had a delightful surprise and now, I just really really want to know when!

From Pocket Full of Books:

10. Will there be a sequel? If so, can you give me any hints as to what it will be about/ if any of the characters will be returning?!
There will be a sequel. It will address three things: why Chiyo, how Chiyo got to Dashkalil, and what happened to Chiyo and the Sacerdotisa after the end of The Weeping Empress [sorry no spoilers]. Senka and Muhjah will be in it of course, plus Michael and Hannah will play a much larger role.


You can buy The Weeping Empress at Amazon or Smashwords.

Review: The Road Trip Dialogues - Jass Richards

Hi there! I bring you, today, another one of Jass Richards' books. Previous books were "This Will Not Look Good on My Resume" and "The Blasphemy Tour", which were amazing and you can click the book titles to read the reviews.

Jass is a comedic author, full of feminism, atheism and irony on her books. She's funny, witty and outright adorable. I loved her previous books and since The Road Trip Dialogues is sort of like a prequel to The Blasphemy Tour, with the setup of the main characters and the actions that led to the Tour itself, I was more than eager to read it.

I had, however, issues getting started with the book. Somehow I felt like I wasn't getting in to the mood of the book, it didn't feel as funny or as smart as the ones I've read before. I knew it was there, but I wasn't on the same level, this time. So I took a break, read some other stuff, started my driving license mandatory classes and got my rhythm back.

Here we see Dylan and Rev getting back together after studying together in college (if I'm not mistaken). Rev is on her way to Montreal to see the fireworks and meets Dylan in the way. Dylan house-sits, randomly, so he doesn't have a proper house, but a storage, and he travels around staying in houses for people. He searchs and finds that there is a house to be sat in Montreal, so they go and do that. Well, not properly, as they always get things confused, but they try.

Probably the funniest part is about the cats. I had to stop reading and tell my mom that part, because she kept staring at me while I laughed out loud. So, the house owners have two cats, Fish & Chips, who are indoor cats. Accidentally, Rev lets them out, since her own cat is an outdoor cat and goes out and walks around and always comes back. But, since Fish & Chips are NOT outdoor cats, there's a big problem, they might just not come back. They start looking for them but can't find them. Suddenly, a couple of cats show up at the house and since they can't remember what color the cats were, they assume it's Fish & Chips. But, suddenly, when they see themselves with 6 cats instead of 2, they have a major issue - which ones are Fish & Chips?

After that, we see the sequence of events that leads to The Blasphemy Tour - namely, the Blasphemy charge for defacing a billboard against abortion with, yes, a Bible verse. Got to love these two. So they go to trial and all that. They also save a mommy and baby deer. But that's another story ;)

Jass, you are still a comedy genious. But I prefer the ideology-heavy parts, definitely!

Jass is working on a new book, I can't recall the name, but it's about having permission to have children aaaand I'm looking forward to it, eagerly.

I highly recommend this book, as well as Jass' other books.

You can buy The Road Trip Dialogues at Amazon.

Review - Fishpunk by Rick Novy

So, everyone knows Steampunk? The first time I've been exposed to Steampunk was with the movie "Captain Sky and the World of Tomorrow" (not sure if that's the original title, but I'm guessing you all know which one it is), where they defined the movie as being "the future as seen from the past". Which is a very interesting and accurate description: it's the future but the future that people living in the steam world could have imagined.

Fishpunk is just that. But with fish. Get it? Fish-punk! Rick Novy writes a very funny parody about the steampunk movement, talking about ichthyotech, biologists, the 1800's USA and the Amazon jungle. Calvin Scholz, a botanic, receives a weird package from a long time friend, an ichthyologist (meaning, a fish expert). He is supposed to take that package to his friend's brother, so off he goes. 

After a few attempts on his life, he manages to reach the farm, where he was going either way as he was hired to try and save the plantation from a plague. As he reaches... But no, no, I can't tell you. It's enough to say both brothers were interested in ichthyotech, meaning, technology powered by fish. Yes my people, it's a thing, and it's probably the future. Or the future of the past. Or the past of the future... Anyways...

After that, first the brother and then Calvin depart to Brazil, to the Amazon. And while he spends some time with Mexicans... Having a good time (or not really), just hanging around (well, kind of) and passing time (that's precise). He eventually arrives at the Amazon and, while I'm Brazilian, I've never so much as been to the Amazon. Is more or less like being American and never have been to the Florida swamps. Pretty common and a lot of people simply never do. But we all know some of it and know how it is. I believe it was very well described in the book, which I admire, because not many can do it. It's easy to fall into the "random jungle" description and ignore that the Amazon is huge as hell (or even larger, if legends are real) and forget the language, the rivers, the history. There is a lot there that people tend to get wrong.

And that's where all the magic happens. I can't tell you the story, obviously, the review is meant for you to want to READ the book, peoples! But I can tell you that's a funny story, full of non-intended (or intended) puns, interesting characters, interesting plot development (what's with the Mexicans anyway?) and very good setting. It's a satire, but it's very smart, could be, perfectly, a steampunk novel, but the fish dictate the rhythm.

You can buy Fishpunk at Amazon

PS: I need new banners. I don't like mine anymore :(