Fall of the Dark Magicians - Marlin Williams

     2025; 569 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Action-Adventure; Dark Fantasy; Time Travel.  Overall Rating : 9½*/10.

 

    Stephanie Richardson has had enough.  Her husband Gerald is is not only involved in illicit arms deals, but he’s a wife-beater as well.  She’s been living comfortably off his money, but it’s no longer worth it.

 

    It’s time to go away, to get as far from Gerald as she can.  Maybe find some out-of-the-way island in the South Pacific where she can sit back, relax, and make a new life for herself.

 

  Although even there, she’d have to watch over her shoulder, always fearing that Gerald might find her.  If only she could fly away to someplace even further away.  To another world, even.

 

    Hmm.  Be careful what you wish for, Stephanie.  Sometimes, they have a way of coming true in unexpected ways.

 

What’s To Like...

   Fall of the Dark Magicians is Marlin Williams’ latest offering in the epic-fantasy genre.  If limited to six words, I’d describe it as “Lord of the Rings Meets Dune”.  Our protagonist, Stephanie, is a reluctant “Chosen One” who struggles against impossible odds to return a powerful artifact to its proper place, thereby saving a world or two.

 

    I loved the time-&-dimension travel mechanism.  Unlike most sci-fi chrono-hopping devices, using this one is rather dicey.  Oh, you’ll get zapped to a faraway cosmos alright, but good luck trying to figure out just where and when you'll get dropped into, those are variables.

 

    Just like in LOTR, the group of supporting (and opposing) characters are diverse and fascinating.  Some of them provide a bit of comic relief, others offer metaphysical pointers, and still others threaten imminent destruction to Stephanie and her cohorts.  One even stirs a romantic interest in her.  The character development of all of these is impressive; none of them are the same person by story’s end, albeit for a few, that's because they’re dead.

 

    Action and adventure abound, but Marlin Williams imbues some lightheartedness into the tale as well.  Two of the characters are curiously named Ida March and Rue Bella, a number of the chapter titles are wittily dubbed, and at one point Stephanie’s vegetarianism is sorely tested.  Several mystical oddities from this dimension are also referenced, including the Philadelphia Experiment and Chavin de Huantar. Both of those were new to me.  Look them up in Wikipedia; they will amaze you.

 

    Everything builds to a tense, exciting climax, with several  plot twists that will keep Stephanie, and the reader, on their toes.  Plot threads are resolved in what I call a “stutter-step” fashion, and that’s always a plus.  The Epilogue is both satisfying and heartwarming, and things close with a catchy little teaser for a sequel.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.8/5 based on 14 ratings and 14 reviews..

    Goodreads: 5.00/5 based on 2 ratings and 1 review.

 

Excerpts...

    “I shall have my revenge!”

    “Do not be a fool,” Shylite said, whirling to face his companion.  “That will only get you killed.”

    “I can have no peace without it,” Kamal told him.

    “Then go with my blessings,” Shylite replied.  He paused.  “But I will not join you.”

    “Where will you go?”

    “After I find my tribe,” said Shylite.  “We will hide.”

    “And continue to live a coward’s life, hiding like a rat inside a cave?” Kamal asked him.

    “There are worse things,” said Shylite.

    “Like what?”

    “Death.”  (pg. 96)

 

    I could’ve had you executed, like the others.  But that would’ve been . . . wasteful.”

    Stephanie’s voice came out low and steady.  “You think I’m part of a prophecy.”

    “I think you’re a variable,” Badra said flatly.  “And variables are dangerous.  They don’t fit the pattern.  They cause chaos.  But sometimes . . .”  She stopped in front of her.  “Sometimes chaos has its uses.”

    Stephanie met her gaze, unblinking.  “I’m not yours to use.”

    Badra tilted her head slightly.  “We’ll see.”  (pg. 465)

 

 

Kindle Details…

    Fall of the Dark Magicians currently sells for $5.99 at Amazon.  Marli Williams has seven other e-books for your reading pleasure, including novels, short story collections, and anthologies.  They range in price from $0.99 to $9.99.

 

“John Grinder is a man built out of scars.  Most of the time, he forgets he’s still bleeding.”  (pg. 113)

    There’s only a light amount of profanity in Fall of the Dark Magicians; I counted just 15 cusswords in the first 25% of the book.  There are a couple instances of drug usage, including Stephanie’s introduction to opium, but in no way is the partaking of drugs encouraged.

 

       There were some typos, the most glaring of which were several cases of misspelled character names: Caliamr/Calimar, Grider/Grinder, and Stehanie’s/Stephanie’s, but these weren’t frequent enough to be distracting.  Oh yeah, and if you're an animal lover, be warned: the horse dies.  So does the prairie dog.

 

    Overall, I thought this was a great read.  The writing is polished; the action is plentiful and the pacing was page-turning fast.  Fall of the Dark Magicians is a standalone novel, but I have a sneaking suspicion it is also the start of a series, which I am very much looking forward to.

 

    9½ Stars.  One last thing.  At one point, Stephanie resorts to Faraday’s Law in order to save the day.  Ultimately it was unsuccessful, but that was due to personnel issues, not scientific ones.  SCIENCE ROOLZ!!

Edgedancer - Brandon Sanderson

   2014; 268 pages.  Full Title: “Edgedancer: From the Stormlight Archive”.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Action-Adventure, Epic Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    Meet Lift.  A child of the streets, and just ten years old.  Although that’s a bit misleading, since she’s claimed to be that age for three years in a row now.

 

    She survives on the streets by the use of her wits, plus a couple of handy talents she’s somehow picked up along the way.  Her traveling companion, Wyndle, is also a creature (a “spren”, actually) with some unusual abilities.

 

    Lift and Wyndle prefer to avoid attention.  As long as they can find a bit of food to eat and a place to sleep at night, they’re content.  When they can’t find those things, Lift uses one of her talents to find food and shelter.  For instance, she’s an excellent pickpocket and cat burglar.

 

    As is true with any street urchin, most people go out of their way to pretend not to notice her and Wyndle.  With one exception.  Lift calls him the Man in Black.  He’s been trailing them for quite some time now.  Doggedly.  Like a bloodhound on a scent.

 

    What could he possibly want?

 

What’s To Like...

    Edgedancer is set in Brandon Sanderson’s “Stormlight” fantasy world, but it is not technically part of it.  Instead, it's apparently a plot thread tangent featuring a minor character from Book 2, Words of Radiance.  The book opens with a 57-page-long Prologue (22% Kindle), and reportedly is a retelling of a portion of Book 2.  I’ve only read the first book, The Way of Kings, so it was all new to me.

 

    Both the Prologue and the main story follow the adventures of Lift and Wyndle.  The storyline is YA-oriented, which means I'm not the target audience.  Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed Brandon Sanderson’s storytelling.  The thrills-&-spills were nail-biting, and the banter between our two protagonists was witty throughout.

 

    The character-building is equally superb.  One expects the protagonists to be well developed, and indeed they are.  But the secondary characters, such as “the Stump”, the old philosopher, and “Darkness” (the Man in Black) are deeply detailed as well.

 

    There is also a coming-of-age aspect to the story.  Lift may have some fabulous talents, but she’s not a master of any of them, and almost certainly has other yet-to-be-discovered ones.  And she finds herself facing a bunch of formidable challenges, ranging from actions that will determine who rules, to caring about the poor and homeless.

 

    I liked the way the magic system worked.  Lift has been endowed with some powerful spellcasting (she labels them “Awesomeness”), but they have limitations and are not foolproof.  For instance, Awesomeness gets used up rapidly and is only replenished by eating lots of food.

 

Kindle Details…

    Edgedancer sells for $5.99 right now at Amazon.  The five full-length (and I do mean “full-length”) e-books in the series will cost you anywhere from $11.99 to $20.99 apiece.  This may sound pricey until you look at the page-count of each volume.  Brandon Sanderson has lots of other series and standalones for your reading pleasure, generally in the $8.99-$12.99 price range, many of which also have hefty page-counts.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.6*/5, based on 18,637 ratings and 782 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.14*/5, based on 153,409 ratings and 11,131 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “He told me tonight was a good night for sneaking.  I owed it to him.  Besides, I wanted to be here in case he got into trouble.  I might need to help.”

    “Why bother?”

    Why indeed?  “Someone has to care,” she said, starting down the hallway.  “Too few people care these days.

    “You say this while coming in to rob people.”

    “Sure.  I ain’t gonna hurt them.”

    “You have an odd sense of morality, mistress.”

    “Don’t be stupid,” she said.  “Every sense of morality is odd.”  (loc. 296)

 

    “What body part do you feel that you are most like?” he asked.  “Are you the hand, always busy doing work?  Are you the mind, giving direction?  Do you feel that you are more of a . . . leg, perhaps?  Bearing up everyone else, and rarely noticed?”

    (. . .) 

    Lift eyed him.  Great.  Angry twig running an orphanage; weird old man outside it.  She dusted off her hands.  “If I’m anything, I’m a nose.  ‘Cuz I’m filled with all kinds of weird crud, and you never know what’s gonna fall out.”  (loc. 1175)

 

 “Guard, do something!  There’s a dirty refugee in my grain!”  (loc. 888)

    I didn’t note any profanity in Edgedancer.  When the situation call for it, Brandon Sanderson uses the euphemisms.  “Starving” and “storming” replace f-bombs, and if you want to invoke a deity, you say “by Yaszir himself”.  I really like this way of handling fantasy world cussing.  There also were no “adult situations” that I recall. 

 

      Several reviewers felt the ending was rushed and incomplete.  They have a point, but I think such a finale is inherent when you’re penning a tangential storyline.  Edgedancer chronicles a phase of Lift’s life, but is not indispensable to the overarching storyline in the Stormlight series.

 

    Edgedancer is both a standalone book and set in what is one of Brandon Sanderson’s most popular series.  Although it’s technically true that, thanks to the Prologue, you don’t have to read the whole series first, I didn’t, and this is one of the few cases where I wish I had.

 

    Still, an author with the writing skills of Brandon Sanderson can make this work, and yey again, I found his storyline completely mesmerizing.  Despite me not being in the target audience, the book held my attention from start to finish.  Now I just have to get motivated to read Book 2 of the series.  It is a mere 1,328 pages long.

 

    9 Stars.  Speaking of lengthiness, can you think of any other book that’s 268 pages long and described as a “novella”?  I can’t.  But each of the five books in this series is about 1,300 pages long, so I guess in this case that label is applicable here.

Lost Is The Night - Greg James

   2014; 174 pages.  Full Title: Lost Is The Night: A Grim Dark Fantasy Adventure.  Book 2 (out of 3) in the “Khale the Wanderer” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Dark Fantasy; Time Travel.  Overall Rating : 7½*/10.

 

    Khale the Wanderer is a stranger in a strange land.  He seeks only shelter for the night, and if luck is with him, yon castle will take pity on him and let him sleep in the stable.  The castle guard that is approaching him will hopefully not try to kill him.

 

    “Master Khale, you are welcome to Castle Barneth.”  The guard somehow knows who he is?  Khale’s self-preservation reflexes go on full alert.

 

    “Come with me, if it pleases you.  The feast is begun and Lord Barneth awaits your company.”  Khale's jaw drops.  He, a lowly traveler, is on the guest list?  Surely this is a trap of some sort.  Can things get any weirder?

 

    “The feast is in your honour, and you are missed.”

 

What’s To Like...

    Lost Is The Night is the continuation of the journey of Khale, a sort of “Conan the Barbarian” protagonist.  It is the sequel to Under A Colder Sun, which I read a couple years ago, and is reviewed here.

 

    Despite the feast being already underway, there are priorities.  Khale is caked with dirt and foul odors from his journeying, and requests a bath, which the steward of Castle Barneth readily arranges.  The bathing amenities include Cacea, a beautiful maiden who will do the scrubbing of Khale.  We’ll let you guess whether other services are offered.

 

    The main storyline involves the subsequent adventures of both Khale and Cacea.  The book’s subtitle, “A Grim Dark Fantasy Adventure”, is quite apt.  The fantasy in this book, and indeed, this series, is not lighthearted, nor intended for kids.  Lord Barneth’s sigil is a red wheel with a crucified victim on it.  The tone of the book reflects that.

 

    I enjoyed the gradual evolution of Khale’s character.  He started out in this series a total anti-hero, but here we are seeing him learning to care about others and about the role he plays in the events unfolding around him.  Does he get to make his own decisions when Thoughtless Dark stands before him?  Or is he simply a meat-and-bones puppet on strings, being manipulated by a higher power?

 

    The ending is appropriately grim and dark, highlighted by an exciting fight scene.  None of the plot threads are resolved, but hey, that’s presumably what the next and final book, Hordes of Chaos, is for.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Goetic (adj.) : pertaining to black magic or necromancy.

Others: Xanthic (adj.); Foetor (n.); Benighted (adj.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.1*/5, based on 52 ratings and 16 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.82*/5, based on 38 ratings and 5 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Good evening, Master Khale.  I am Bartell, his Lordship’s steward, and I will attend to your needs.”

    Khale looked him over.  Dressed in blue-green silks, he looked, for all the world, like an over-embroidered cushion.  The wrinkles in his face wept dry tears of perfumed powder.  When the man smiled falsely at him, the Wanderer saw familiar signs of a life spent eating too many sweetmeats and loqma cakes.

    Rotten on the inside, fragrant as morning on the outside.

    He could taste the sin hanging in the air around this one.  (loc. 180)

 

    Murtagh was speechless as the nightmare thing before him finished pouring the last traces of itself from the bowl where it had been in repose.  The elongated mass rushed at him, a tide of black quicksilver moving across the chamber in a single, sinuous motion that consumed the space between them.  Its lipless mouth opened and continued to open, becoming a gaping wound that muttered to itself in the language of decayed silt and haunted mires.  (loc. 1638)

 

Kindle Details…

    Lost Is The Night sells for $2.99 at Amazon right now.  The other two books in the series go for the same price.  Greg James has several other series and standalone e-books available on Amazon, ranging in price from $0.99 to $2.99.

 

“Slow and predictable,” Khale mocked.  “You fight with too much honour.”.  (loc. 608)

    Surprisingly, I only counted eight cusswords in the first 25% of Lost Is The Night, although five of those were f-bombs.  There are several rolls-in-the-hay and references to three variations of the act of intimacy.  The experience on the red wheel is left to the reader’s imagination but not the outcome.

 

    The editing was good; I espied only one typo, “bows” instead of “boughs”.  As already mentioned, this book takes place immediately after the first book, and there are numerous back-references to events therefrom, so I’d suggest reading this series in chronological order and gearing up that you’re committing to reading all three books in the series.

 

    Finally, keep in mind the books in this series are all short.  The longest book is the first, at a mere 214 pages, and they get progressively shorter as the series continues.

 

    Nonetheless, I enjoyed Lost Is The Night.  It’s a fast-paced action-adventure tale with no slow spots, and the “grim dark fantasy” phrase in the subtitle let me know what to expect as far as R-rated material goes.  I’m curious to see how Greg James manages to resolve all the plotlines in a mere 163 pages of the final book, and will try not to wait two years to read the sequel.

 

    7½ Stars.  One last thing.  You’ll notice “time-travel” is listed as a genre for Lost Is The Night.  When you come to the end of the last chapter, you may, as I did, wonder where the heck the Time Travel was.  Not to worry, you still have the Epilogue to read.

The Devil Colony - James Rollins

   1982; 605 pages (or 647 pages if the short story is included).  New Author? : No.  Book 7 (out of 18) in the “Sigma Force” series.  Genres: Thriller-Suspense; Action-Adventure.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    It’s a major archaeological discovery!  An Indian burial site, hidden away in a cave in the mountains of Utah.

 

    Maggie Grantham and Hank Kanosh, a pair of professors from nearby Brigham Young University, have been dispatched to do the first inspection of the burial ground.  Professor Kanosh is a historian and a member of the Shoshone tribe.  Including him in the excavation will hopefully quell any protests by Native Americans in the area about desecrating their dead.  So will assigning a detachment from the National Guard to the group.

 

    Cross your fingers, guys.  WAHYA, a militant Native American rights group and already known for carrying out headline-grabbing acts of defiance, will almost certainly have something planned against those who would violate a Native American graveyard.  Plus there’s the Ute curse.

 

    That tribe has a legend which says that if anyone enters a sacred burial area in these parts, they must be killed immediately.  Because if they somehow manage to leave the chamber, the world will come to an end.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Devil Colony is a “save the world” thriller that finds Painter Crowe’s Sigma team traipsing all over the globe trying to figure out what’s going on geologically, while at the same time trying not to get killed by the potently secretive group of bad guys known as "The Guild".  Painter himself gets more involved than usual in the case when he learns that his niece Kai is one of the WAHYA operatives.  Meanwhile, Sigma’s operations chief, Grayson Pierce, finds it difficult to focus on saving the Earth while simultaneously attending to his parents’ plight: his father is succumbing to dementia.

 

    Once again, I was in awe of the number of disparate topics that James Rollins weaves into the complex-yet-coherent storyline: the Anasazi, Iceland, Meriwether Lewis, Mormon historical lore, nanotechnology, Yellowstone, Solomon’s Temple, Fort Knox, the Great Seal of the United States, and many more.  I also liked very much that the main baddie is suitably resourceful when carrying out skullduggery against our heroes.

 

    It was fun to learn about a skeleton called “the Kennewick Man”, since I’ve made several business trips to that town in Washington.  There’s a bunch of French phrases in the text which is always a treat for me, and a smidgen of Native American dialects to boot.  The reader even learns a bit of mild Icelandic cussing (see below).

 

    The pacing is fast and furious, like every Action-Thriller should be.  The basic story is 597 pages long, and is divided into 44 chapters plus a prologue.  The chapters usually are introduced with locations, dates, and times, which is useful when trying to remember who is where and doing what.

 

    There’s a bonus short story, 38 pages long, tacked on at the back of the book, and featuring Seichan, a professional assassin and recent addition to the Sigma Force group.  Both tales also come with James Rollins’ trademark “Truth or Fiction” afterword, which I very much appreciate.

 

    The ending is spectacular with a favorable outcome in doubt down to literally the last second.  Humanity is saved (well, you knew that would happen), although The Guild is still alive and well.  The last chapter is an Epilogue with a couple of heartwarming revelations about some of the presumed dead.  Things close with a dazzling Plot Reveal in a six-word last sentence.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.5*/5, based on 4,011 ratings and 974 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.86*/5, based on 26,982 ratings and 1,329 reviews.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

    Fjandinn (n.) : the devil (Icelandic).

    Others: “what the fjandanum” (phrase, half Icelandic).

 

Excerpts...

    Ryan now understood why they were called lava bombs.

    One sailed past overhead, raining flaming ash.  Cinders burned his cheeks, his exposed arms, reminding Ryan all too well that his vehicle had no roof.

    He ignored the pain and focused on the road ahead.  The Jeep bucked and rocked down the steep, rocky trail.  His left fender crumpled against an outcropping, shattering the headlamp on that side.  The Jeep lifted.  For a moment he swore he was driving on a single wheel, like a half-ton ballerina.  (pg. 207)

 

    Kai stared at a thin pall of dust retreating across the badlands.  Painter and the others had wasted no time, gathering gear and flying off in the rented SUV, even taking the dog.

    But not her.

    Earlier, she’d reined in her anger, knowing it would do her no good.  Bitterness still burned like coal in her gut.  She’d been here at the start of all this mess.  She deserved to see it through to the end.  They kept saying that she had to bear the consequences of her actions like a woman, yet still treated her like a child.  (pg. 276)

 

Kowalski plus fireworks.  Not a good combination.  (pg. 563)

    There’s very little to gripe about in The Devil Colony.  The cussing is surprisingly sparse; I counted just six instances in the first 20% of the book.  Later, several f-bombs appear, plus a pair of references to genitalia.

 

    I only noted one miscue: sheered/sheared, which mean someone did a topnotch job of editing.  And some of the “Mormon history beliefs” used as keys to solving various conundrums in the tale are shaky at best, with the author admitting that in the Afterword.  But they contribute to the fascinating storyline, so all’s well that ends well.

 

    This was the seventh book I’ve read in the Sigma Force series.  I have high expectations each time I begin one, and I’ve never yet been disappointed.  The plotlines are complex, the world-building and character development are great, and the storytelling is outstanding.  No wonder James Rollins is my favorite Action-Thriller writer.

 

    9 Stars.  Oh yeah, one last thing.  When’s the last time you read a story where a pod of killer whales (orcas) had a life-saving experience?

Subterranean - James Rollins

   1999; 410 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Thriller & Suspense; Action-Adventure.  Overall Rating: 8½*/10.

 

    Antarctica.  The only continent that doesn’t support native life.  Animals like penguins and walruses may live there; but they have to get their sustenance from the surrounding oceans.

 

    It’s been that way for millions of years, but not forever.  Earth’s tectonic plates shift slowly but inexorably.  Antarctica wasn’t always stuck at the South Pole.  Theoretically, someday we will dig down through all that ice and look for traces of plant life in the form of fossils.  Maybe even animal life.

 

    But that’s somewhere in the future.  At least that’s what paleoanthropologist Ashley Carter thinks.  Until someone contacts her and wants her to travel down to Antarctica to check out a recently discovered underground cavern.

 

    Which was found to have abandoned cliff dwellings in its walls.

 

What’s To Like...

    Subterranean is an early book by one of my favorite Thriller authors, James Rollins.  It predates his more famous Sigma Force series, and utilizes his standard, and satisfying, plot structure:

    Assemble a team of heroes and send them off on an adventure,

    Scatter them, put them all in peril, and make one or more of them a baddie,

    Keep the storyline interesting by jumping from one hero to another,

    Toss plot twists aplenty into the tale,

    Use incredible timing to get the gang back together for an over-the-top ending.

 

    In addition to lots of thrills and spills, Rollins examines what might occur if an isolated landmass, in this case Antarctica, is given millions of years to follow its own separate path of evolution.  In the real world, the Galapagos Islands give us a glimpse of what can happen, so does the second excerpt, below.

 

    There are a bunch of creatures for our adventurers to meet and flee from, usually unsuccessfully.  Listing them here would be a spoiler, but my favorite one was nicknamed “Tiny Tim” and is very definitely not the urchin from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

 

    Both the good guys and the baddies suffer some casualties along the way, and everything builds to an over-the-top, boffo ending.  All the plotlines get tied up, and there’s even some literary space for a sequel although I don’t think James Rollins ever penned one.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.3/5 based on 3,429 ratings and 767 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.02/5 based on 26,250 ratings and 946 reviews.

Excerpts...

    “I have a proposal to—”

    “Not interested.”  She pointed to the door.  “You and your entourage can hit the trail now.  Thanks anyway.”

    “If you’ll only lis—”

    “Don’t make me toss your butt outta here.”  She snapped her arms toward the screen door.

    “It pays a hundred grand for two months’ work.”

    “Just get your—”  Her arm dropped to her side.  Clearing her throat, she stared at Dr. Blakely, then raised an eyebrow.  “Now I’m listening.”  (pg. 10)

 

    She helped him sit up and raised a cup to his lips.  With shaky hands, he collected the cup and managed himself.

    “What happened?” he asked, glancing at Khalid, who now snored quietly from under the wet cloth.

    She explained the story of poisonous fungal spores while he finished his water.

    He handed her the cup.  “Is there anything down here that doesn’t want to eat us?”

    She grinned at him.  “This is a hostile environment.  I think for anything to survive it must learn to utilize the scarce resources to the fullest.  That means intense competition and varied modes of attack.”

    “Great.   What’s next?  Carnivorous butterflies?”  (pg. 206)

 

“Great, we’ve been captured by a bunch of kangaroos.”  (pg. 246)

    There’s not much to nitpick about in Subterranean.  I counted 21 instances of profanity in the first 10% of the book, and there were a couple of rolls-in-the-hay later on.  That’s pretty normal for a thriller novel.  I only caught one typo, breech/breach, so the editing was very good.

 

    The timing of some of the action scenes and heroes reuniting with each other seemed incredibly coincidental at times; such as Tiny Tim’s ultimate contribution to the action.  But hey, if it heightens the excitement, I’m all for it.  My biggest quibble concerns the stereotypical portrayal of one of the bad guys.  Just for once, can we please build a character from the Middle East who isn’t a brainwashed, murderous, zealot based on his religion and ethnicity?

 

    But I quibble.  Overall, I thought this was a solid debut Action-Adventure novel by James Rollins which showcases his literary and storytelling talents and hints at more exciting novels being penned by this author as he gets comfortable in this genre.

 

    8½ Stars.  One last thing.  I liked that the outcome of Subterranean would have a permanent impact on our world.  Creatures and beings we didn’t know are about to emerge  from the depths of Antarctica, and the only event to compare it to would be the (re)-discovery of the New World by Europeans in 1492.  I for one would love see what James Rollins could do with such a scenario.

Knights of the Apocalypse - Benjamin Wallace

   2015; 244 pages.  Book 2 (out of 5) in the “Duck and Cover” series.  New Author? : No, but it’s been a while.  Genres : Post-Apocalypse Thriller; Action-Adventure; Dark Humor.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    Sometimes you just get tired of running away.

 

    That’s true for Jerry, aka "the librarian", aka "the post-apocalyptic nomadic warrior" and Erica, who’s fleeing with him.  They are wanted in what remains of Texas after the bombs fell there, and their faces are shown on Wanted Posters all over the place.

 

    But finding a safe haven in a post-apocalyptic world is not easy, and that’s what makes them so optimistic about their arrival in Colorado.  The cities in the Rocky Mountains there fared relatively well in the nuclear holocaust.  Maybe Jerry and Erica can finally find a place to settle down.

 

    Except that they’ve stumbled into a realm called The Kingdom of the Five Peaks, which is ruled by a King Elias, and patrolled by a bunch of armor-clad thugs who go by “Sir names” such as Sir Thomas, Sir Steven, and Sir Dominic.

 

    And we won’t even mention the enigmatic “Sir Nameless.”

 

What’s To Like...

    Knights of the Apocalypse is the second book in Benjamin Wallace’s Duck & Cover series.  I read Book One, Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors, way back in 2014 (and reviewed here) and remember being blown away by the worldbuilding.  At that point, it was a standalone novel, now this is a completed (presumably) pentalogy.

 

    Once again, the storytelling is top-notch.  The post-nuclear-disaster world of death and destruction is cleverly blended with just enough wit and humor to keep the tone lighthearted.  The small pockets of surviving Coloradans may have to deal with mutants, marauders, monsters, and mountain men, but they also have time to relax while pretending they're back in King Arthur's Camelot.

 

    The main plotline is fairly straightforward.  Jerry needs a new fuel pump for his Cummins B-series truck, and auto parts stores just don’t exist anymore.  King Elias offers to procure the fuel pump, but in exchange Jerry and some other “volunteers” must find and rescue the kingdom's missing princess.  Needless to say, the rescue attempt rapidly gets more complicated, where the most likely outcome for our volunteers/suckers is getting killed, their mission an utter failure, and Erica suffering dire consequences because of that.

 

    I liked when our adventurers traveled along the I-40 interstate; I’ve recently traversed that stretch while going from Tennessee to Arizona.  I chuckled at the slang term used to refer to the apocalypse: “The Crappening”, as well as the built-in design faults in King Elias’s throne.  Sometimes it hurts to be the king.

 

    Everything builds to an exciting and twisty ending, although the main storyline (Erica and Jerry) is not resolved.  Things end at a fairly logical place, but I wouldn’t call it a cliffhanger, which is one of my literary peeves.  Just be aware that reading the next book is a requirement.  I’d normally deduct stars for this, but I’m reading an e-book bundle of the first three books in this series, so it’s not like I have to go find and download the sequel.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.4*/5, based on 150 ratings and 35 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.09*/5, based on 701 ratings and 53 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “Tie him to the rail!”

    “Throw him in the canyon!”

    “Drown him!”

    “Tie him to the rail!”

    “You already said that, Sarah!”

    “I really like the idea!”

    Jerry raised his hands above his head and motioned for a calm that wouldn’t come.  “All of those sound like perfectly good horrible deaths.  And, considering our first encounter, very fitting.  Especially tying me to the rail, very poetic.”

    “Thank you,” Sarah yelled.  “See, Rob?”  (loc. 5231)

 

    “Did he tell you how we knew each other?”

    Erica shook her head and Brae smiled sheepishly.

    “I don’t blame him for that.  It must have been awkward.  Meeting the ex always is.”

    “The ex?”

    Brae nodded and then put her hands up in defense.  “Don’t worry.  It was a long time ago.  We were over way before the end of the world.”  She laughed at this.  “But you know how it is.  Girl meets boy.  Girl loses boy.  World blows up.  Girl finds boy in a post-apocalyptic kingdom of dorks.”  (loc. 5614)

 

Kindle Details…

    Knights of the Apocalypse sells for $4.99 right now at Amazon, as do the other books in the series, with the exception of Book One, Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warriors, which only costs $2.99.  Alternatively, you can buy the first three books as a bundle, as I did, for $9.99.  Benjamin Wallace offers several other series as well; the books in those are all in the $2.99-$4.99 price range.

 

“Think of it more like a flea market but with fewer homemade wind chimes and more stabbings.”  (loc. 3050)

    I enjoyed reading Knights of the Apocalypse despite the nine-year hiatus from the series, so finding things to gripe about is difficult.

 

    The cussing is sparse—I counted just 16 instances in the first 20%—and most of times it was what I’d call the “milder” terms.  I don’t recall any “adult situations”, although several are alluded to.

 

    The biggest issue was the editing.  Typos were rare for the first third of the book, but around 41% (this book spans 30%-62% in the 3-book bundle) errors began to pop up with distracting frequency.  Perhaps the editor quit halfway through this project?

 

    But please don’t let the typos deter you from reading this series.  Both the worldbuilding and character development are masterfully done, and the storyline is both action-packed and fast-paced.  The wit and humor are an added treat.  Just pick up the e-bundle, and, unlike me, don’t wait a decade between reading the first and second books in the series.  I intend to not be so remiss in reading Book Three.

 

    8½ Stars.  Add ½ star if you’re familiar with, or participate in, activities such as the Society for Creative Anachronisms and/or Renaissance Festivals.  If so, you'll thoroughly enjoy the encounters with the titular Knights of the Apocalypse here.

Bob Moore: No Hero - Tom Andry

   2011; 174 pages.  Book 1 (out of 3) in the “Bob Moore” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres : Superhero Fantasy; Action-Adventure.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.

 

    Superheroes are humans too!

 

    Oh, they might enlarge into green beasts when angry, or watch bullets bounce off their chest, or toss balls of fire at their foes, or have quadruple-digit IQs.  But they still go home after work, fall in love, fall out of love, and occasionally lose their cool.

 

    Superheroes sometimes work in pairs, but they rarely stay together for a lifetime.  I can’t picture Robin forever being content to be Batman’s sidekick.  Tempers flare and sharp words are said, suspicions are raised, and questions about one's super-partners arise.  Superheroes may be borderline omnipotent, but none of them are omniscient.

 

    To get answers about their partners, suspicious superheroes need the services of a PI ("Private Investigator").  But not just any PI, it needs to be someone who specializes in working with super-beings.

 

    And that’s where Bob Moore comes in.

 

What’s To Like...

    Bob Moore: No Hero is the opening book in Tom Andry’s “Bob Moore” trilogy.  At 174 pages, it is barely longer than a novella, and is the shortest book in the series.  Book 2, Desperate Times, is 286 pages long, and Book 3, Hostile Territory, is 293 pages.

 

    I liked the way the various superheroes were portrayed.  They might be super fast, super smart, or super powerful (which is why they’re called “supers”), but emotionally, they are just as quick to get jealous or angry as ordinary humans (who are called “tippies”).

 

    The story is told in the first-person point-of-view (Bob’s).  The action starts immediately—Bob gets fired upon in the most literal sort of way—and there’s plenty of action from there on out.  There’s some backstory and worldbuilding early on, then the main plot thread gets started around a quarter of the way through.  A stereotypically brilliant-but-mad scientist hires Bob to investigate why some of his clients are disappearing without a trace.

 

    I chuckled at some of the details that Tom Andry works into the storyline.  Bob’s “Inertial Dampener” is a neat gizmo; the “Portable Persona Projector” was fascinating; and I chuckled at the “Super Lane” which is sort of an HOV lane on the roads reserved for superheroes zipping along at supersonic speeds.  It was also amusing to find out that unfaithful “sidekicking” was considered by superheroes to be much worse than a super-partner merely having a torrid love affair on the side.

 

    Things build to a decent, but not particularly twisty, climax.  The disappearing clients mystery is solved, and the main baddie is dispatched with anticlimactic ease.  The story closes with an Epilogue that was rather touching.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Tippy (n.) : a person without any superhero powers; a muggle.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 168 ratings and 87 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.69*/5, based on 337 ratings and 45 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    As you might have guessed, I’m a private eye.  As a PI, one of my most common jobs is figuring out if a spouse or partner is cheating.  While, for most PIs, this doesn’t involve a heck of a lot of tree immolation, I’m a specialist.  The people I investigate almost exclusively have powers.  Power to fly, power to throw cars at me and, way too often I find, power to set the tree I’m sitting in on fire from a great distance.  (loc. 22)

 

    I stumbled through the door and collapsed in a well padded chair.

    She organized some papers as she spoke, “You know, I couldn’t be sure until someone who rode it regularly came through.”  She looked up and smiled again, “You just got lucky I guess.”

    “Funny, I don’t feel lucky.”

    “Scotch?”

    “A bit early for that.”

    “Coffee?”

    “I didn’t say no to the scotch.  I was just pointing out the time.”  (loc. 1201)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bob Moore: No Hero is *FREE* at Amazon right now.  The other two books in the series go for $3.99 apiece.  Tom Andry has only one more e-book available, Touch of Pain, which appears to be the start of a new series and which came out in March of 2022.

 

“People like their PIs like they like their accountants . . . just a little slimy.”  (loc. 1254)

    There very little cussing in the book; I counted just 7 instances in the first 25%, which impressed me greatly.

 

    The editing was good.  I noticed only a couple of typos, such as: any more/anymore; skin covered/skin-covered; and crumbing/crumbling.  The main grammar issue was the repeated lack of commas when addressing someone directly in dialogue.  That occurred at least eight times, and was rather distracting.  To be fair though, the word “gravelly” was correctly spelled (referring to a surface that resembles gravel), which most of the time gets irritatingly rendered as “gravely”, and is always fully endorsed by MS-Word's Spellchecker program.

 

    My main quibble is with the world-building.  What was done in that regard is great, but there just wasn’t enough of it.  The setting felt very shallow to me.  For that matter, the whole storyline seemed to lack a sufficient amount of complexity and twists.  But perhaps that’s what the sequels are for. 

 

    All in all, I thought Bob Moore: No Hero was an above-average debut effort by Tom Andry.  The premise was great, the storytelling kept my interest, and sequels would seem to promise more complex storylines because of their greater length.  It’s been more than year since the first book of the author’s new series came out.  I’m wondering if he’s working on the sequel or if he’s retired from the field.

 

    7 Stars.  There’s a Note from the Author section in the back of the book and I highly recommend taking the time to read it.  Tom Andry gives a revealing and heartwarming look at the highs and lows of penning and publishing a debut novel.  I found it utterly enlightening.