Book Review- Fizz: Nothing is as it seems

First Reviewed July of 2012
Fizz : by Zvi Schreiber

Fizz nothing is as it seems by Zvi Schreiber is the thoroughly enjoyable story of a young girl coming of age in a community that shuns technology blaming it for everything from war to global warming.

This is a great novel for anyone who loves physics and anyone who thinks they cant understand it. And maybe even a few who hate physics. It's also a great novel for anyone who loves historic novels. Though In both these cases I'm not sure I'm the best qualified to attest to the veracity of the content.

We pick up Fizz in her life when she is given a possible choice to leave her protective community and mingle with the evils of the outer world while making an informed decision about where to spend the rest of her life. Unlike some other communities that shun the modern world that have sprung up throughout the ages this one doesn't seem to have any firm roots in religious beliefs in a god and creator. It does have strong opinions about and against the study of science. Fizz finds herself questioning many things around her which she is expected to take at face value. So,though it is common for most who reach her age to take a pass on this option to strike out into the world, she is strongly considering it because of her inquisitive mind.

Add to this the notion that her father (who has already left the community before she was born) has spearheaded the construction of a time machine and you have the beginnings of an odd but engaging experiment.

This novel takes the reader and Fizz on a historic journey back through time to begin the study of physics on a quest to answer a few simple questions that Fizz is certain will be solved in one simple visit with one of the great minds of the past. As the story builds we not only get a glimpse of Fizz but we get a glimpse of what must be a universal principle that the more you know the more you need to know. We get to see Fizz grow and the reader perhaps begins to question the wisdom of a community that has stifled someone with such a brilliant intellect and thirst for knowledge. And somewhere in all of this she may begin to see the work of a creator.

J.L. Dobias
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Review:Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue (The Bern Saga Book 1)by Hugh Howey

Original Review date in 2013

Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue (The Bern Saga Book 1)by Hugh Howey

It takes a fairly riveting book to keep me up past bedtime. That Molly Fyde did so is not that hard to understand when looking at the whole. Everyone loves those stories where the female protagonist is strong willed well balanced and determined. I think in this case the strong willed is the only thing that stands out in the opening scenes.

The story starts with Molly on a flight as navigator to Cole Mendonca on a mission for the (space) Navy. The first interesting phase of this story is a revelation of the possibility the crew is out so long on duty that members are allowed to sleep at the helm. Molly- an orphan- is having a dream about her parents leaving her. Cole wakes her up to have her check out some readings from their system update logs. Molly tries to shrug it off but Cole, who seems to be a paranoid conspiracy type, thinks something is up.

Now, some background: Molly is one of few if any female's who have registered with the navy to train at the academy to be a pilot and her skill are up there with the rest but for some reason this world took a huge backward step and is not very gender friendly in the military. So, Molly is navigating when she should be piloting.(At least that's the impression Molly gives us.)

While they discuss the discrepancy they also discover that the enemy force they are going up against is far greater than they expect. Molly shows her strength by issuing recommendation for their assault that turn out to be quite sound. No one takes her serious so only her team begin that maneuver. But, someone has sabotaged their armament and nothing will deploy properly. All of this reinforces Cole's misgivings over the update.

At the onset of the battle Cole is out and unable to help her and she has to take control; while the rest of her team is taken out. The other flights out there will be overwhelmed so Molly begins to do what she does best. Thinking outside the box. Knowing that what she's doing is suicide the reader get to see the side of Molly Fyde that might result in her own undoing. In a brave act she avoids the enemy long enough to turn their own weapons upon them causing some damage, though it in no way will save the rest.

She somehow survives this and you will have to read to find out.

The important thing here is that whatever sabotage happened to her ship- has not been recorded so everything she did makes her look like an incompetent loose cannon and forces her to be relieved of duty. Her uncle-an admiral-who has supported her through all of this can do nothing to help.

Molly opts to go to normal school to finish her education, which looks as though she's admitting complete defeat.

So we have Molly Fyde the strong willed not so balanced -out of the box loose cannon- who all of a sudden seems less than determined. Perhaps it's that she realizes she can't fight the system, maybe it's because she doesn't want to.

Though she has a severe failing in lack of determination. Molly in some ways reminds me of Honor Harrington, David Weber's character. Then in other ways she reminds me of Ky Vatta, Elizabeth Moons character in the Vatta's War.

In fact a lot of the beginning is like the Vatta stories.

Molly seems to be missing the drive that makes those other characters and it's difficult to determine, in this story, whether that's considered a critical weakness. It certainly might be a contributing factor towards her getting into so much trouble.

When her uncle, the admiral, comes to her with the revelation that her father's ship, which was lost, has been located she jumps at the chance to volunteer to pilot it back. Her uncle attempts to dissuade her but not much. At this point as a reader I was already a bit suspicious of this. Next her old friend and secret love Cole is enlisted to help. Add to that the whole affair becomes shrouded in mystery when they have to do all of the trip to the ship in secrecy. Cole is already suspicious and when the contact they are to meet in this backwater pirate planet is acting strangely and things begin to unravel the paranoia sinks its teeth in hard.

The ships name is Parsona -as is Molly's mother's name. It's her heirloom and in order for her to claim it she's going to have to think way out of the box and she and Cole will become fugitives running from the Navy that sent them there.

This book is one misadventure after another and the only thing the reader can be sure of is that each time the crew of Parsona go into a situation they think is going to be fine- it's not.

Pretty soon Molly picks up the most unlikely crew of dangerous misfits for her ship. All things considered the most passive yet dangerous is Molly who is in charge most of the time. The only thing standing between her and fate is the dangerous allies she's collecting.

Quickly we discover nothing that Molly trusts can truly be trusted and it all has something to do with the ship Parsona. Will Molly be able to stay alive to get all the answers?

You will have to read to find out.

Not everything is answered, but the ending is quite satisfactory for the beginning of a series.

Anyone who loves those tactical space novels of Elizabeth Moon and David Weber should love Molly Fyde. Lovers of Science Fiction and Fantasy should love the story.

There are several different worlds built here in this story and in many such novels, usually by the third world built it gets old. Hugh Howey does a fair job of keeping them all interesting. Each world story seems to add up to the motivation for each of the alien crew of Molly's ship. We'll have to see how well he keeps up with himself in the future novels.

Your Usual Sci-Fi Military Heroine who's been slightly Mollyfyde.

J.L. Dobias

Review:Hindsight by A.A. Bell

Original Review in May 2013

Hindsight by A.A. Bell

I read Diamond Eyes- the first of the trilogy of this story and fell in love with Mira and all her quirky ways. So naturally its inevitable that I read Hindsight.

The intensity of this novel just blew me away. Granted I'm not one to read a whole lot of suspense thrillers. I've enjoyed such greats as Six Days of the Condor by James Grady. Shimbumi by Trevanian and many but not all of Ludlum's Jason Bourne novels.

I'm not a great fan of novels that use violence as a sort of jar mechanism to pull people out of their comfort zone although it's really difficult to write good thrillers without that element. What I appreciate is the artist who paints the characters successfully around that element.

You could say that this series is Science Fiction but I think that's a very small portion of the mix of genre's we have here. Mira's story reads almost like paranormal romance although the science is well woven into the story to give it less of the mystical feel. Her story is also one intense ride into suspense and mystery.

Now after admitting that I'm not the expert on suspense and thrillers I have to say that A.A. Bell does a magnificent job of using the violence in the story to weave in the hints for the various motivations of many of the characters. For Mira everyone is suspect in their motives and allegiances and I felt that even in the grisly elements portrayed that there were insights that logically lead up to each successive revelation as the story built to its climax.

Taking up from Diamond Eyes Mira Chambers is still institutionalized at Serenity and living with the memories that keep reminding her of her part in Ben's (Bennet Chiron) suffering. Ben is recuperating and attempting to gain freedom for Mira by becoming her guardian. The catch is that his past life and prison time make that nearly impossible. Through some tenuous arraignment Ben seems to achieve that with the help of the institutions matron Madonna Sanchez.

The story opens with a murder one that Mira comes across while jogging- one that she can't easily share with anyone because it happened days ago because Mira sees things that are in the past because of her Diamond Eyes that are sensitive to slow light.

I must confess that when I picked up Diamond Eyes I was thinking oh great a suspense thriller mystery with a blind sleuth that can see into the past. She has a side-kick Ben who has saved her from the institute and now works with her to solve cases.

That's not what I got- but I'm not disappointed; I really do love these books the way they are.

Mira is about to be thrust back into the world of intrigue this time dredging up Ben's past and the reason he went to prison. She's going to have to undergo the changes that will occur while she detoxes from the chemicals that the institute has used to control her; and, she has to deal with her feeling for Ben and her fear that she will cause him harm again. She'll also have to deal with her nemesis Colonel Kitching who wants to have her Diamond Eyes and the ever invasive General Garland who also would like to use Mira's talent and her eyes. Not to mention her-Moriarty like rival- the elderly Fredarick 'Leopard' who can hear voices from the future and is also a client at Serenity who is in love with Madonna Sanchez and views Mira's existence as a threat to Madonna. Fredarick is also related to Colonel Kitching.

This doesn't even cover having to deal with Ben's overbearing mother Mel and a few ex-girlfriends. Then add in an over protective lance corporal Lockman who seems to be anything from a bodyguard to a black ops both frightening and somehow appealing to Mira and you have an extra blend to an already troubled romance.

Mira herself is an intriguing character who has spent over 10 years in an institution and has to deal with assimilating a lot of technical advances while she herself is a biological wonder that sometimes surpasses all of that development.

There are many gems of narrative that come out of this and her perception of her talent.

[quote]`I was thinking about time,' she confessed, `... about how pointless it is trying to fight it or change to suit it, because we're already caught up in it, like a tide, and we're just the fish. Close your eyes and you might even feel it, the breeze traveling through time like a current, taking our scents and memories with it.'[/quote]

Bell, A A (2011-06-01). Hindsight (Kindle Locations 1714-1717). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

And a lot of humor such as the time Mel fixes Ben and Mira a romantic dinner that seems a bit over spiced.

[quote]At least she still had fond memories of the meal before she'd taken her first bite; so romantic on the beachside patio.[/quote]

Bell, A A (2011-06-01). Hindsight (Kindle Locations 2397-2398). HarperCollins Publishers. Kindle Edition.

This story has several onion like layers to the plot. There are all sorts of twists and turns that once it gets going roll the story down a long and almost endless hill of action, suspense and gore that makes this 'not for the faint of heart'; though I was surprised that it never left that bad taste that always begs the question "why is that even there?"

Everything is well placed and timed in this story and even if the reader doesn't feel they need a score card to keep track of all the threads; its a marvel to watch A.A. Bell unfold all of them.

I recommend this to any fans of suspense and mystery -most Science fiction lovers should find something to take away and even Para normal Romance lovers will find a spot for Mira and her Diamond Eyes.

Definitely read Diamond Eyes before Hindsight if you haven't because after you do you'll have to buy the rest of the trilogy to finish the rest of Mira's story. Each book gets better.

The next book is Leopard Dreaming and I've already put it in my kindle.

J.L. Dobias

Review::Grey Enigmas by Gareth Lewis

Original Review:April 2014
Grey Enigmas by Gareth Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Grey Enigmas by Gareth Lewis

This is a cute little novella with rather unique idea in a strange cyberpunk like novel that (like many novels I've recently read) seems to take a page from these game MMORPG's with the mind-scape and the Actors. There's one of the MMORPG's I'm thinking of that specifically calls them Actors instead of Avatars.

I think this might be an extension of a longer work called the Grey Engines. In this story we have the futuristic society that is full of zombie like workers who allow their actors to take over the daily grind while they live in some idealistic world that exist in some sort of connected mind-scape.

Of course this story revolves around the people who spend less time in the mind-scape and more time in the real world. In the real world there is less crime and more control but occasionally things happen and when they can't solve the crime they look to people like Alex whom they have sentenced to live in a special section of mind-scape to met out their time for their crime.

Everyone has two personalities their own and their Actor-the personality who keeps an eye on them and when they do something wrong the actor will turn them in and this is what happened to Alex. But Alex is an investigator, one of the best, and they need him to solve a murder before more happen. Someone had committed a murder and their actor has not turned them in which means something is seriously wrong with the system.

So Alex is brought out of storage to solve the crime while being hamstrung in so many ways that he can hardly do the job. But that's not all: because there is something else going on that's going to greatly affect Alex because the members of the sheriff brain trust that pulled his body out of cold storage are not telling him all the truth.

Alex has no regard for their laws or rules, so he's going to get to the bottom of things if it kills him.

This is a great read for fans of SFF (a bit on the soft-side) There were some few moments when the style of writing confused me enough I had to step back a page to see where we were but those were minor distractions and the over all pace of the story was handled quite well.

J.L. Dobias



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Review::Grey Engines by Gareth Lewis

Original Review::May of 2014Grey Engines by Gareth Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Grey Engines by Gareth Lewis

I originally read this on Scrib'd but opted to buy it for my Kindle so I could make notes and do highlighting which are impossible to do in Scrib'd also it's impossible to do a simple dictionary lookup because of the nature of the Scrib'd files. All of these features need to be constructed and built into Scrib'd to accomodate their encryption or it makes it difficult for someone to go back and find things of interest not to mention the seach engine doesn't work at all .

This story is a great story for anyone who loves those MMORPG's and wondered what it might be like to be connected to everyone in a virtual world. The virtual world is not quite fully built yet but the Avatars are here with the people who can wander away from thier physical bodies and into an electronic environment. These are the survivors of the psychic attack by some form of psyonic bomb. Those left with telepathic abilities and a need to cope with their new world and to diligently watch for the impending invasion from the race responsible for sending the bomb.

In a highly structured society the invasion is going to shoehorn itself into their lives at the same time that many begin to question the leaders over the issue of who is in charge. While preparing for attack some day soon the leaders have kept a few secrets from thie poeple and when the invasion force arrive some of the secrets might be the only means of survival if they can get them out of hiding in time.

It's rather difficult to tell as this story starts just who the story is about. There are probably four or more groups of people this centers on but the one that strikes me as the most potable for the main plot is Sarah and her interaction with Thomas who proves to be one of the many secrets that have been shuffled off to the side. Thomas is by far the most interestingly developed characters but the problem with Thomas is that his whole character development revolves around the way he speaks and that turns out to be a fiction he created thus making him the most unreliable character you could have in a novel.

That leaves us with Sarah who is probably the most believable character in the bunch. From there there is her boyfriend Daniel who seems to be present to develop most of the real action scenes. I was a bit disappointed that we saw less of Sarah because I was certain that the part of the story that her life covers seems to contain the most consistent plot elements and introduces us to the ghost minds and the fact that Thomas is carrying a dark secret around with him. Not to mention that Thomas and Sarah are pivotal in the final resolution.

That much said: there are still a number of annoying things Gareth Lewis's choice of style in writing. There are a consistent number of sentence whose structure can only be best discribed as having the same flaws that passive sentences have. The sentences become cumbersome and difficult to read many times-not to mention the weird nature of almost double negatives.

In two instances we have this mouthful that says

Svetlana's idea may not be without some merit."
Lewis, Gareth (2013-11-11). Grey Engines (Kindle Location 1461). . Kindle Edition.

"Your idea may not be without merit."
Lewis, Gareth (2013-11-11). Grey Engines (Kindle Location 1766). . Kindle Edition.
:which I think might mean the same as (might have some merit) but i'm not sure. And this is used at least twice.
Had the surrounding text supported some other negative aspects in list or such then I might be tempted to see the rhythmic nature of saying it this way.

And then there is this mouth full.

He felt a sigh in his mind, but Akili's consciousness stayed with him as he detached from his body, travelling to where the others towards prepared to intercept the vessel.

Lewis, Gareth (2013-11-11). Grey Engines (Kindle Locations 1191-1192). . Kindle Edition.

There are at least a dozen more like this that made me stop and think and I'm pretty sure each time I was able to unfold them properly.

All of that aside the story itself is very good and well told beyond those speed-bumps. Though I do have a problem with the plot because on the surface it seems to be Man against Alien : the alien's have used a weapon meant to wipe out mankind before they arrive to steal resources from a now dead planet(assumed dead). So you would think the alien invasion and the conflict and the outcome would encompass the plot, but I was torn because there is a sub-plot with the administrators of Earth in the new society and how there decisions impact certain characters including Thomas and Sarah and the internal conflict Sarah eventually has to deal with along with the guilt Thomas has to deal with while trying to force Sarah to face some realities. And this does not even cover all of Thomas's secrets. And the subplot seemed to hold more weight than the surface plot.

Really you will have to read this to decide for yourself.

Once more this is great SFF for those who like the science just a bit soft boiled.

J.L. Dobias



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Review::Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone

Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Original Review:Oct 2014

Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone

I saw an ad and some comments about Max Gladstone and this book and decided to read the sample. The sample intrigued me and drew me into Max's strange world of magic quickly enough that I knew I'd be picking this one up for my library. The writing style is so unique and compelling I overlooked the fact that I felt like I was being dropped into the middle of a world I knew nothing about and expected to flounder around in. So before purchasing this book I took note that he had two others in the same world and decided I might do well to purchase those also and read them in order. This turned out to be quite fortuitous, but not in the way I had hoped. I love the writing and the whole idea of Max Gladstone's world of magic with its complexity, but it sometimes can be a rather difficult read because the world building is the type that sort of trickles in slowly as the characters in the world reluctantly reveal the world's story to the reader.

Full Fathom Five can stand alone as a novel as can both Three Parts Dead and Two Serpents Rise. Each novel takes place in a different city in a world where magic is used as currency and the flow of magic can deplete or replenish an individual depending on which end of the flow they are. The novels take place in a time after a great war against the gods and now we have people trying to prove they can exist without the gods. Though the gods seemed oppressive and in need of being deposed, it becomes clear early that those who deposed them might be just another evil and somewhere within all of that are the flawed but heroic characters who are trying to honorably mark out their existence within the new system. The players in the first two books seem to be separate groups and only in the third book does the reader see some crossover of characters from the first two, with mostly the name of cities and deposed gods being a factor to previously tie the books together.

The magic and the rules of magic in the world are always quite clear but the world itself can often seem enigmatic in many ways, but as I read this I began to get a sense of why. It seemed for me that the world itself was a world that was being built within the characters. The very way that the magic linked the people with each other and with their existence and the notion that for many of the people the magic is drawn from each other and then from the stars.

In a world where man has waged war against gods and put down many there are still cities that make use of their gods as it is in Three Parts Dead the city of Alt Coulumb is still powered mostly by the fire of the Lord of Flame, Kos until the day Kos is murdered and Tara Abernathy, a new intern of the Craft firm of Kelethras, Albrecht and Ao, is sent to investigate. This is a world where those with the greatest power, the Deathless Kings rule, and that power the craft exacts a price and though they live long they wither away to a skeletal existence. Many of those would strive to be like the gods and be rid of the old gods while some search for a mutual existence and firms like Kelethras Albrecht and Ao can resurrect a god under certain conditions; though the god will never be quite the same.

There are still priests who used to sacrifice to the gods and in Two Serpents Rise Caleb is the son of one such priest; Caleb works for Red King Consolidated, his job is to help keep the gods and their demons under control, which puts him at odds with his father. Caleb recalls too many of those sacrificed by his father to ever want to go back to that. But someone is trying to subvert things in Dresediel Lex; and Caleb must find out if it's his priestly father or some other subversive faction before it's too late.

In Kavekana of Full Fathom Five they make idols for their clients. Not the usual kind but those that can store the soul magic of their clients and act almost like a stock market for magic. But the idols can die if their magic is extended too thin and when a friends project is targeted for termination[the Idol is dying] Kai makes one desperate attempt to help her friend and the Idol; out of the belief that the Idol shouldn't be dying. The attempt goes poorly and Kai is injured badly and her career with the company is in danger. But in that brief moment of contact with the Idol when she nearly lost her life she saw something that will shake up her life more than the loss of her career. Along with the indigent Izza, who still worships gods, Kai is about to uncover something sinister about the Idols and supposedly dead Gods.

Max Gladstones protagonists in all of these stories are strong willed, honor bound and in many ways strangely flawed. The richness of each of these characters brings the reader closer to the world in which they live. But it takes a lot of attention to the details and descriptions to grasp that world and it's not always clear that the protagonists are doing the right thing though they are always doing it with the strong conviction and, even when they shy away from being martyrs, they end up positioning themselves to make a sacrifice because of their own strong sense of honor.

This is epic fantasy but in many ways for me it read as a literary epic that focuses on character more than setting and though some might find that to be a deficiency I love the character driven novels above all else so if a reader loves those stories about well crafted strong characters they will love this series of books and if they appreciate good prose they will drink these down or sip them slowly to their own tastes.

J.L. Dobias



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Review::Saves Nine by Les Lynam

. . . Saves Nine by Les Lynam

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Saves Nine by Les Lynam

I had an opportunity to read this as a sort of review copy quite a while ago. It obviously has undergone a few changes since then and it somehow became even longer than it was the first time. Since it's a time travel novel; sometimes being longer can be a horribly bad thing. I'm happy to say that that's not the case with this. This read to me the second time just a well as the first and in many ways felt as though I were reading it for the first time.

What I mean when I say that a long time travel novel can be bad; is that it can become recursive to an ad-nausea degree. You know: that bit where you have the character or characters live the same scene over and over until you feel like you are in some horrible remake of groundhog day. That doesn't happen here; though there is some overlap it usually breezes past quickly, because there's way too much other stuff going on to waste space[and time].

An odd thing I took from this novel is that I felt the main character Sean seemed almost a bit weak at time[which can be a good thing because character's need flaws]. This was not a showstopper weak, but there are times when as a reader I felt I would like to slap him up the side of the head for his actions and even his inaction. Of course, to his credit sometimes his inaction was a result of the programming of the enigmatic time traveler; claiming to be related to him.

The story starts out as an almost simple teen tale in high school with the usual angst. Some of this is the lame part of our character Sean as he tries to deal[not very well] with first someone obsessively stalking him and then his own obsession. But most of this is the setup for an early twist in the story and in a small way the prologue almost spoils some of it. Things get just a bit scary before they get really strange. And then when there is an excursion further into the past things are quite fun for bit.

In reading this twice I still found that it was well into the book that we meet the character I felt was the strongest in the whole story. This could just be me, so you really should read this book to see how you feel about it. At about this same time the book takes a more serious tone as we start to add up a few of the consequences of traveling through time and interacting with people[some who have been dead a few years or more in the time traveler's own time]. Les Lynam even threw a few thoughts and wrinkles that I don't recall seeing in this type of novel.

This is a long novel and happily I can say that in reading it through I never felt that there were any places where things could or should have been cut so the writing justifies the length[which is always a great thing]. When we weren't coming up with new ideas we were going through the process of developing the characters and moving the story forward. In fact; near the end and in the last few chapters I almost felt a sense of being rushed, which may have been exaggerated for me; because my favorite character was being developed a bit more and I hope that in the next installment of this series we see that happening at a different pace.

This is an outstanding debut novel from an author who cares enough to make the best attempt at delivering the cleanest clearest copy to the reader. This will make a great addition to the library of and Young Adult and those who love SFF just as well. A very thoughtful and thought provoking read.

J.L. Dobias



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