Tag: book review

BooksReviews

Artemis by Andy Weir

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Artemis by Andy Weir

Artemis is about a young lady who gets into all kinds of trouble on the moon. No, that’s not the premise of a new animates kid’s show, it’s Andy Weir’s new book!

I want to thank NetGalley and Crown Publishing for providing me with an ebook copy of Artemis in exchange for an honest review.

“Jazz Bashara is a criminal.

Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you’re not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you’ve got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she’s stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.”

Please don’t throw moon rocks at me, but I never read The Martian. That being said now, I had no idea what to expect from Andy Weir’s writing. Based on what I saw in the movie (yes, I saw the movie and didn’t read the book. Put those giant moon rocks away) I wondered if I’d end beat down by highly technical explanations of things I was just too dumb to understand.

I’m talking ‘next level’ smart stuff. I mean, most of us think we’re pretty smart people. I can work my computer pretty well. When it goes on the fritz, I know how to troubleshoot most software problems. I can even crack the thing open and replace most of the hardware parts. However, if you leave me in the middle of a forest with some silicon and a soldering iron, I can’t make you a circuit board, let alone a computer.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find that wasn’t the case. There were some highly technical things going on in the book, but I never felt lost in it. Everything was dumbed down without it feeling like you’re being talked down to. It also helped that the man character, Jazz Bashara, would combat the super-technical mumbo jumbo with some good old-fashioned cursing and maybe a dirty joke.

Speaking of Jazz, she was the real highlight of this book. Not just because she was the main character. She was just unique and fun. She was super smart, and fairly talented, but she came off as someone completely relatable despite the fact that I am neither super smart nor talented.

She was snarky, and sarcastic, and made me laugh even when I was right in the middle of worrying about her personal safety. Life on the moon is no joke, you know. There were lots of situations where she tells you that if she makes one mistake it’s near-instant death. Tense. But then she makes a comment that puts a smile on your face and for a few seconds, and you forget about the instant death thing… until it almost happens.

By the way, when they make this one into a movie (come on, we all know they will. Put down the moon rocks) I vote for Lindsey Morgan from The 100 to play Jazz. She’d be awesome.

The plot mixes science fiction with heist, which is a far better combination than I would have thought. It’s not complicated or convoluted and there’s no big twists to knock you on the floor, but it will pull you in, get you invested, and keep you guessing the entire time.

If you’re on the fence on this one, jump in. It’s a very fun, very easy read. You’ll find yourself breezing through it in no time.

On an unrelated note, if you want to read something by Andy Weir that is potentially life-changing, may I present to you, the short story known as The Egg.  And when you’re done enjoying that, some film students from the University of York did a fantastic video adaptation of it.

Fun fact about this post: Every time I type ‘Andy Weir’ my fingers automatically add a ‘d’ on the end. Seriously. It’s happened every time. Sorry, Andy Weird.
BooksReviews

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – A Spoiler-Free Review

Posted on by J.W. Martin

IlluminaeIlluminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

First off, I feel like I might be the one person in the blogosphere who hadn’t read this book. Now I’m the only person in the blogosphere who hasn’t read Gemina!

Normally, I’d put the synopsis here. But I’m not going to this time in case you wanted to read it as I did.

I decided to read Illuminae on hype alone. Everyone was talking about it. The cover looked amazing. I never once read the back blurb, and I purposefully stayed away from any and all reviews. I’m not sure how much that enhanced my reading of it, just that it did.

I had no idea what was going on, where the book was heading, who the characters were… just nothing. That could’ve been dangerous. It might have led to me putting the book down, but it didn’t.

Instead, I had 599 pages of riding a rollercoaster through the dark. And it was awe-inspiring.

I could see the format worrying some people. It took a little getting used to, but after books like World War Z and Robopocalypse it didn’t take me more than a few pages.

There’s no true narrative as we all classically know it. The idea is that the book is a collection of digital files. Emails, interview transcripts, chat histories, personal diaries, etc.

You might think this leads to a cold, emotionless read, but you’d be dead wrong. This thing is teeming with all twists, turns, and of the feels that go with them.

  

In the spirit of giving you the choice of reading this book blind, I’ll keep this short and not give any details about the plot.

The last thing I’ll say is that the book looks daunting. It’s thick. It’s 600 pages. By no means the biggest book out there, but definitely above average. Contrary to that, you’ll find yourself burning through pages. Not just because the story is so good (and it is) but the format just allows for it. No matter how matter pages you normally read in a sitting, Illuminae will make you double or triple that.

Trust me. Just read it.

Fun fact about this post: My memory is so bad that I look at my shelves to see what else I had read with a unique format.
BooksReviews

Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

Posted on by J.W. Martin
3.5 / 5

Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle

I didn’t know what to expect from Lucifer’s Hammer. I can’t remember how this book even got on my radar, let alone in my audiobook collection, but there it was. It was probably recommended by Audible when I was trying to use up a credit. Sure, Audible, I trust your recommendations blindly. Also, I don’t want to somehow get screwed out of this credit. We’ve all heard stories.

No matter how it got there, I’m glad it did. Even though it was pretty far outside the norm of what I’ve been loving and craving lately, Lucifer’s Hammer had a lot to offer.

Goodreads Synopsis:

“The gigantic comet had slammed into Earth, forging earthquakes a thousand times too powerful to measure on the Richter scale, tidal waves thousands of feet high. Cities were turned into oceans; oceans turned into steam. It was the beginning of a new Ice Age and the end of civilization. But for the terrified men and women chance had saved, it was also the dawn of a new struggle for survival–a struggle more dangerous and challenging than any they had ever known.”

We start off this little adventure at a party for the wealthy and/or important. (Notice the use of and/or. Not all important people are rich, and not all rich people are important.)

The party is attended by rich guy, rich guy, rich lady, a documentarian, rich lady, and a REALLY rich guy. They mostly talk about things not interesting enough for me to remember, but then one of the rich guys talks about discovering an asteroid. You know, up in space. Due to his money, he has nothing to do but stare up at the stars. Mr. Documentarian says something like, “How interesting. How about we make a TV show about your comet? We’ll call it Dancing with the Stars?” I’m paraphrasing a little.

The party ends and the rich people go back to whatever the hell they do (see above Leo gif) and the beginnings of a TV show are put in place. We meet more characters (a lot more characters) and things are moving forward at a snail’s pace.

This is where knowing nothing about this book really started to affect me. I wondered if anything was going to happen. Ever. If I wanted to read a book about rich people sitting around and drinking I’d re-read Gatsby!

Eventually, after what seemed like too long, things happen. The comet says, “hey, I want to come to the party. I want to sit around and scoff at the rest of society. I want to pretend to be fancy and drink brandy until everyone in the room pretends to be embarrassed for me.” So the comet comes to Earth, and the world loses its mind.

Oddly, at this point in the book, it becomes very similar to shows like the Walking Dead. No, there aren’t zombies running around trying to eat brains.

The interesting thing about stories like Lucifer’s Hammer and the Walking Dead is that though they might have a different catalyst (a comet vs. a crap load of zombies) the result is very similar. Once the initial threat of the catalyst is handled, the biggest threat people face is other people. That’s where we find some of the most interesting conflicts in the book.

What was probably LH’s biggest strength was its characters. As I said earlier, there were a lot of them. For quite a while, you feel like you’re meeting characters for no reason. Even as the true story started to develop, you’re left wondering why we’re following so many different characters, and why we continue to meet more and more with almost every chapter. But then the authors start bringing them together in unexpected ways. Characters that I thought had no chance of interacting in any way are suddenly joining forces, or planning to attack each other. And as I’m sure you can imagine, by the end nearly every character is connected in a big old spider-web. The metaphorical kind. Not the massive space spider kind that could have hatched from the a comet in a completely different kind of book.

Not only were the characters’ paths handled with meticulous skill, but each character was very deep and developed. When large casts aren’t given the attention needed, a lot of the characters tend to blend together into mediocrity. That didn’t happen here. Most stood very independent from each other.

To wrap up, the plot wasn’t a complicated series of twists and turns, but the real story was in the characters’ reactions to the events and other people all around them. I didn’t know what I was in for with this book, but I’m glad I stuck it out. It was a solid, enjoyable read.

Fun fact about this post: This is the first time I got to the end of a post without a fun fact jumping out at me…
Books

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Posted on by J.W. Martin

If you set out to find the ‘must-reads’ of sci-fi, there are certain books that are going to come up people’s lists over and over again. Neuromancer, Ender, Foundation, Dune, Ringworld (I could keep going on, but you’re probably sick of this already) and, since the mid-90s, Snow Crash.

My Rating: 3.5/5

 

Goodreads Synopsis:

“In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous…you’ll recognize it immediately.”

Just the fact that the main character is named Hiro Protagonist was enough to make me want to read this book. Warning: The rest of it is not as tongue-in-cheek as our MC’s name.

Essentially, Snow Crash is about a computer virus. There’s a guy who wants the virus to infect everyone. There are a few people that want to virus stopped. And then there’s a dude who doesn’t really care and he’s just going to do whatever he’s paid for. The plot is not an overly complicated one, but what makes Snow Crash special is the world that all of this takes place in.

The world is strange and foreign, but somehow also quite familiar at the same time. It’s the future, though how far into the future is hard to tell.

For example: pizza delivery is such serious business that there’s a university to go to and the guarantees for on-time delivery have gone way beyond a free pizza. Strange and foreign. But the delivery is still made using a car. Familiar.

The internet is still the biggest thing on the planet, though it’s called the Metaverse. It’s closer to virtual reality, with all the fixings and information available on the internet as we know it.

Snow Crash refers to a computer virus that is delivered via the metaverse, but affects the user’s brain in the real world. We’re talking full out coma and potential death. From a computer. Somewhere a smugly smiling parent who always said sitting in front of a computer all day would rot your brain. Settle down. This is still fiction.

Stephenson goes on to give some background to this virus and how it could affect a person’s brain. There were references to an ancient language and its similarities to a kind of programming language for the brain stem. It started to make sense. It starting seeming plausible, even.

It’s an interesting concept, and it drew several interesting similarities. However, this stemmed my only real problem with this book. He went on and on and on and on and on and on and on about ancient languages and how they were like programming languages. For chapters. As in more than one.

Hiro was talking to an A.I. about the whole topic. And it was slow. Then the chapter ended and we followed another character around for a few pages. Then we went back to Hiro and he was still talking ancient languages with this A.I. Zzzzzzzzzzz…

It was interesting for a page or two. It gets to be way too much. Just when you think they’ve finally moved on, a few chapters later Hiro logs onto the metaverse, boots up his A.I. buddy and says, “So, were we with that ancient language convo?”

You weren’t at the end? Geez. Can’t we skip this? You’re only talking to an A.I. He won’t care if you fast-forward. Just because you can’t find a human being who’s willing to have the most boring discussion in the universe doesn’t mean you have to put this poor A.I. through the entire thing.

I’m making a big deal out of it, but I assure you, it’s not a big thing.

For anyone who likes sci-fi, I agree that this is a must-read. Even if you only read it to experience the world Stephenson built and all its little idiosyncrasies, it’s well worth the time.

Fun fact about this post: Hiro was repeatedly autocorrected to Hero. Over and over. And over.
Books

Hex by Thomas Old Heuvelt – A Spoiler Free Review

Posted on by J.W. Martin

HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

I’ve been torn to pieces. I am floored.

I had to wait a while after finishing this before I could even begin to start writing down my thoughts. Even now, as I write this, I’m not completely sure I’ve recovered from the book hangover enough to start. But, here we go…

Goodreads Synopsis:

Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay ’til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters your homes at will. She stands next to your bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened.

The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town’s teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting, but in so doing send the town spiraling into the dark, medieval practices of the past.

When I read the synopsis, it was all like “small town haunted by a witch,” I was all like, “blah, blah, blah, whatever synopsis. Why don’t you do me a favour and shut the hell up?” Then it was all like, “Wait just a second, fancy pants! This ain’t a regular witch. She goes into people’s houses whenever she wants and stands by their beds for days without moving. And her mouth and eyes are sewn shut! Screw you!” And i was like, “Fine. I’ll read any book that can talk to me like that.”

Three things you need to know about Hex

  1. It’s not THAT scary. The description makes you think you’ll be up all night, jumping at every creaky floorboard and strange thump, real or imagined, but nope. You might check the corners of rooms a little more often for a little old lady with a strange sewing hobby, but seriously, not that scary.
  2. If you’ve ever loved Stephen King, this should be the next thing you read. It had a very similar feel to a Stephen King novel. Great characters that were as deep as oceans, a setting that I can picture perfectly without being beat to death with description, and a plot that I thought I knew but kept surprising me.
  3. If you read the English version—which I did—it’s a translation and has an alternate ending from the original Dutch version. In a brief acknowledgements at the end of the book the author explains the few subtle differences and then teases that the original ending was different. He goes on to say that he won’t reveal the original ending and if you want to know you need to bribe a Dutch person. He’s a cruel, cruel man.

What I liked

The Characters. As I mentioned before, there was such depth to the people of Black Springs. Their quirks and individuality was there without it being paraded about in an attempt to show off. One character was racist against a family in town. Normally, I would have expected that to come about in some kind of confrontation, but it didn’t. It was just there. She’s racist. She also sells meat and likes peacocks. Let’s move on. And whether we were sitting with the ‘heroes’ or the ‘villains’ we get a taste of sympathy for most everyone and are shown how, in their own way, every man, woman, and child are a little heroic and a little villainous.

The Nod to History. Obviously, in a book like this, there isn’t a lot of truth (…or is there? Muhahahaha!) But I did enjoy the small references to real history. Mainly, the persecution of women accused of being witches, both in the Netherlands and the land that would become America. If you find this kind of information dry, don’t worry. There’s so little of it that by the time you realized you learned a little something, it’ll be done.

Plot. Not everything was a surprise, but it kept me guessing. Many times I believed I knew what was next, and that’s when Heuvelt would take a left turn. Even when the author foreshadowed something it brought about more questions than answers.

What I LOVED

Emotional Spectrum. Glee, torment, love, terror, rage, grief. The entire emotional spectrum, in its rawest form, was on display through the course of the story. And I felt it all. Every smile, every heart break. I was part of every family, sat in attendance to every town meeting, and watched in horror as everything went to hell.

The Suspense. Honestly, I’ve never been much of horror reader. Some Stephen King here and there, but mostly his non-horror material. But when I reached the tense parts of the book, and could something was about to drop, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. There were several times where an audible gasp escaped my lips, and I’m usually not that kind of reader. If I was one of those cartoon characters that chewed fingernails like corn on the cob when I’m anxious, I’ve have nubs instead of fingers.

The Premise. I would have read this book if nothing happened beyond the town’s average day. I wouldn’t have loved it nearly as much, but I still would have read it. It was fascinating how the people of Black Springs lived with the curse. The way they went about day-to-day life, the things they did to cope with the Black Rock Witch herself. Every person kept living life despite the witch and the curse. It was like they just found a way to live around her as if she was nothing more than an inconvenient rainstorm. Obviously, things don’t stay that way for long, but it really engulfed me in the world and setting.

“But, Joe… what about the things you didn’t like?” Caught that, did you? I can’t think of anything. I loved it all.

Sure, there was this kid named Jaydon that I didn’t like, but he was a little asshole with impulse problems.  I wasn’t supposed to like him.

Look, I could go on and on about Hex but you probably have other things you want to do today, and any additional time would be better spent reading the book. I can’t recommend it enough.

Who’s read this? Who’s going to read it? Why or why not?

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday – July 12, 2017

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Currently hosted at Taking on a World of Words, I’m taking my first crack at the WWW Wednesday meme! It’s an easy meme, but seems like a lot of fun. So let me cut to the chase before you make a move for that back button.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently reading:

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

This book is knocking my socks off. It’s unique, creepy and keeps me turning pages. I don’t want to get too far into it, because I want to do a full review post when I’m done (which will be very soon at the rate I’m going!

Goodreads synopsis:

Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay ’til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters your homes at will. She stands next to your bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened.

The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town’s teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting, but in so doing send the town spiraling into the dark, medieval practices of the past.

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

For those of you that count audiobooks, I’m listening to the final book of the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of light. All of the WoT are super long. The complete audio book was something like 48 hours, and I don’t get a ton of time on a daily basis to listen, so I’ve been working on this one for some time, and it’ll still be a while before I can manage to finish it, but that’s okay. This is the last book in a long series. And though I am looking forward to hearing the ending, I’m dreading the end. In the meantime, I’ll revel in each moment while it lasts.

Recently finished:

Soultaker by Robert J. Duperre

Really cool concept and universe about Eternal Knights that wield both sword and firearms, both with a little twist of magic.

While this book didn’t do everything I was hoping it to do, I was entertained and the ending was good.

If you want to hear more, check out my full review.

 

Reading next:

         

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

I’m not 100% sure this is going to be the next thing I’m going to read, but it’s very likely. It’s one of the books that isn’t only on my TBR, it’s on my actual bookshelf.

There’s also a good chance that I’m going to re-read Red Rising so I can finally get going with the rest of the series.

Have you read any of these? What about you? I want to hear about what you’re reading.

BooksReviews

ARC Review: Soultaker by Robert J. Duperre

Posted on by J.W. Martin

*** I was given a free eBook copy of this book, through NetGalley, in exchange for my honest feedback ***

Soultaker, by Robert J. Duperre, at its very core is a good story, though some of the other elements of the book may make that hard to see.

My Rating:

Goodreads Synopsis:

Earth is a wasteland, and a holy order of knights is all that stands between what remains of civilization and the brigands and demons trying to bring it all down. When the oldest of these knights, Abe, isn’t trying to keep his brothers in line, he’s tirelessly attempting to decode the riddles that have guided the Knights Eternal for the past two centuries.

The visions Abe’s been having aren’t helping matters. 

The latest riddle sends the Knights Eternal after a prophet and his band of Outriders. Or is it sending them to seek the Prophet’s aid? It’s a question Abe needs answered. With his sanity fleeing, more demons than ever rising from the Pit, and rumors circulating of an army of risen dead, failure for the knights might end the world this time once and for all.

What I didn’t like:

The story moves slow in the beginning. Really slow. It’s not only the speed of the story either, it kind of wanders a little. I’m lead from place to place never knowing if anything that I’m reading is ever going to have a place anytime down the road.

Some of the characters were hard to get used to. I’m looking at you, Meesh. He’s one of the knights, and therefore a main character, but he’s really annoying. He lays down a constant barrage of crude jokes, which I’m normally game for, but his just weren’t funny. And he called everyone ‘brah’ all the time. Yes, it was spelled that way. Every time. To be fair, I think he’s supposed to be annoying, but it gets so intense at certain points that it pulled me out of the story.

The writing felt a little clumsy. There were times when it was difficult to tell who was talking, or who was making one action or another. I also noticed some repetition where the prose to describe a past event, and then a character would describe the very same event, using very similar words.

I have no idea why it was called Soultaker. A small quibble, I know. Still, I feel like someone should be able to ask me, “Hey, why’s it called Soultaker?” and I’d say something like, “There’s this guy that takes souls. They call him the Soultaker.” But, no. Nothing obvious, anyway. I could make some guesses through vague interpretations, but when it comes to the title, seems like it should be spoon fed.

What I liked:

The story really together by the end. Despite the speed it moved in the beginning, by the end I found myself turning the pages a lot faster, and I was very satisfied with the conclusion.

The world. Post-apocalyptic is such a wide open concept. Since it’s never happened (that we know of) there’s no right or wrong. Soultaker uses an interesting mix of archaic, modern day, future-tech, and magic to create the world and characters of Soultaker. Everything is a mixture of the fantastic and the familiar.

http://gph.is/2e2FBc0

The end of Soultaker was clear in saying that there would be a lot more to the story. And though I had a few issues with it, I feel invested in the world and the characters and I’d certainly read future sequels.

BooksReviews

If It Was A Movie Book Tag – Six of Crows

Posted on by J.W. Martin

I just finished one of those books that is a perfect candidate to be turned into a movie or TV series. Instead of writing a regular review of it, I thought I’d do a book tag casting the major characters!

HOW IT WORKS:

• Pick a recent book that seems perfect for film or TV.
• List the major characters from the book and give your choice of the actor or actress that should play the role.
• Tag as many or as few people as you’d like.

Six of Crows book coverSix of Crows

This book knocked me on my ka tuckus. So much so that I just used the term ‘ka tuckus’, which I have never used before. Unique characters with enough depth to drown in, and they all gather together to commit an impossible heist. Come on! Makes me want to read it all over again.

The only caveat I want to throw out there before I give you picks is regarding the age of the characters. The book references a few times that the main six are all mid to late teens. That’s not how I saw them. I tried, but as I read further and further they came to life in my head at all different ages. You’ve been warned.

Kaz Brekker – Ian McShane

I mentioned the different age thing, right? I know, I know. This is REALLY different, but there’s no better actor for a role like this. Don’t believe me? Go watch the Deadwood series sometime. McShane’s character is basically Kaz Brekker, but he swears more. A lot more. In fact, if you don’t like swearing, DON’T watch Deadwood. I haven’t watched American Gods yet, but I’ll bet McShane is going to kill it in that role as well.

Inej Ghafa – Sofia Boutella

The book gave me the impression that Inej is beautiful and tough as nails. Boutella can be both as well. If she looks familiar, you might have seen her in The Kingsman and she’s also the villain in the new Mummy movie with Tom Cruise.

 

Nina Zenik – Sarah Rafferty

This one’s all about attitude. Nina spends the majority of her time being sassy, clever and lude. If you’ve ever watched Suits you know that Rafferty’s character Donna spends all of her time to exact same way.

 

Matthias Helvar – Chris Hemsworth

Fierce, loyal, reeking of decency, and blue eyes that Nina can fall in love with. Yup, the God of Thunder checks all the boxes. Like most of my other choices, he’s too old, but I haven’t seen many 18 years old that would be as grizzled and look as powerful as Matthais is supposed to be.

Jesper Fahey – Mos Def

This rapper turned actor really surprised me when I saw him in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He was great. He’s been in a few other roles since then, but I can’t believe he’s not in a lot more. I couldn’t think of anyone else for this role.

 

Wylan Van Eck – Finn Jones

Look at those curls. Just look at them! Need I say more?

 

 

 

Let me know what you think of my choices in the comments below. Love them or hate them, I want to know about it.

And I guess I should tag a few people, so I choose:

Bionic Book Worm
Justine @ I Should Read That
Kel @ Sherlocked in a Tardis with Ron
and Frankie Lovely @ A Thousand Lives of Frankie Lovely

Enjoy!

BooksReviews

Book Review — Amanojaku by Damien Lutz

Posted on by J.W. Martin

spoiler free book review amanojaku by damien lutzI recently read Amanojaku by Damien Lutz, and because you’re such super readers this review will be completely spoiler-free. No, no. No need to thank me. I won’t hear of it. Unless you prefer to do it in the form of cash. Who am I to stop you from showing appreciation?

In the futuristic city of Brulle, Andre Cross works as a lowly technician on a farm that produces a legal drug called Nuera, which seems to make the world go ‘round. His every waking thought is filled with getting to Anchora, a place above the city reserved for the upper crust of society.

The only thing preventing him from moving forward is the constant turmoil caused by his inner demons. Some of which he’s had his entire life while others have been injected there through other means.

book cover for amanojaku by damien lutzI’ve read enough books, watched enough movies and television, and played enough video games that I’m pretty good at knowing what’s coming. When someone makes me think I know what’s going to happen, and then changes the rules on me, I take notice. Lutz did that several times.
Along with keeping me guessing, Amanojaku is full of characters and personalities that I grew a connection with. In fact, for days after beginning the novel I walked around with one character’s voice in my head. “Stay in the front room, Boss.” Read it. You’ll understand.

An added treat to the eBook was the occasional link that sent me to Lutz’ website to view a piece of digital art, or a mock corporate website that tied directly into the world Amanojaku created. I haven’t seen many books with added digital content, so it was a nice touch.

If you’ve read Amanojuka, leave me your take in the comments below.