Firebrand
Rebel Angels #1
by Gillian Philip
Tor
February 2013

Seth MacGregor is rejected by his mother, a powerful witch, and ignored by his father, a lord of a small village. His only friend, although not at first, is his half brother Conal. The same Conal in the opening pages of this book is about to be burned at the stake if Seth doesn’t put him out of his misery first with a well placed crossbow shot.

Without giving anything away this is the story of Seth and Conal and their growth and impending conflict with the forces of darkness in the real world (16th Century Brittish Isles,) and in their land beyond the Veil. There is political manuevering, battles, magic, war, court intrigue, love – everything a good fantasy novel should have. And Gillian Philip does it well.

From start to finish I was hooked by this story and by this broken young boy who we all know is so much more than we find him. This is only the first book in the series and I’m in line to get the next two. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a fantasy author’s creation this much.

I highly recommend it.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Waterfall
River of Time Series
by Lisa Bergren
David C. Cook
February 2011

Gabriella and Evangelia Bettarini have been spending their summers Italy following their Etrusian Archelogist parents for years. After the girls’ father dies (before the book starts) their mother finds the site that she has been spending her whole life searching for, meaning the girl are going to be stuck in the middle of no where all summer again. Shortly upon arrival, the girls discover handprints inside one of the tombs that fit their hands and are transported to 16th century Toscana. Gabi wakes up to find that she and Lia have been separated, and that a gruesome battle is taking place outside the tomb. Upon the end of the battle, Gabi exists the tomb and, mascerading as “Lady Bettarini of Normandy” is taken into the care of Marcello Forelli, the future lord of a nearby castle. Will she be able to locate her younger sister, Lia and escape this crazy place of corsets and war, or will she be stuck here forever? Read this book to find out.

Waterfall is an intriguing tale that has every element I typically look for in a book. With its nonstop spunky feel, the reader is lead through 16th century Italy in the middle of the great wars between Siena and Florence through the eyes of a quirky 17-year-old girl from the 21st century. The book is humourous. An example is Gabi’s thoughts as she exits the tomb and spies Marcello for the first time, “He was certainly the first man I’d seen holding a real sword and in full-on knight gear-tunic, tights, breastplate, the whole enchilada. Somehow he made the look work.” The book does have some grotesque scenes in it, they are in a war after all, but not to the extreme were it would interfere with the story. I would recommend this book to high-school boys or girls still because of those few scenes and higher level vocabulary used by Bergren. This book states the idea that something that at first seems horrible or strange may come to be one of your favorite things, or places, of all.

Arieltopia, Young Adult Editor, is an 12 year old avid reader – usually going through a book a day – who gives readers a unique perspective on Young Adult, Teen Fiction, along with adult fiction: an actual teenager’s perspective.

Poison
by Bridget Zinn
Hyperion
March 2013

Through many twists and turns, Kyra, a potions master, is on the run from her former fiancé and palace guards because she attempted to assassinate her former best friend, Princess Ariana. She has to do so in order to save her kingdom, on the verge of destruction, regardless of conflicted feelings over hurting her friend and saving her world. For the first time ever, during the assassination attempt, Kyra’s poison dart misses its target. Kyra, now on the run for 3 months, has been looking for an opportunity to try again. She may have found her chance, if only little Fred would get lost. After trying to ditch her hilarious sidekick numerous times, he always finds her again and “forgives” her hasty departures. So now Kyra is stuck with a traveling companion who has no idea the danger they are both in or who Kyra really is. How can Kyra save her kingdom by not only killing Ariana, but also dragging Fred down with her? If He is caught with her, he will also more than likely be hanged for being an accomplice.

Poison, by Bridget Zinn is an amazing book now that I’ve finished it. However, reading the first several chapters was difficult and confusing to follow. It is a clever and quick-witted tale about a courageous heroine that will win the hearts of many readers, after they figure out what in the world is happening. I would recommend this book to any adventurous reader up for a guard-ditching, wood-romping tale about loyalty to one’s home compared versus self-preservation. I agree with the teen/tween rating because there are some scenes where people are knocked out or killed. (Not in a way that would cause parents worry; more in a Harry Potter style “Stupify!” and they fall over, in this case poisoned darts instead of wands.) By the end of the story even the most unemotional readers will be laughing out loud at Fred, and cheering Kyra on as she dodges former friends and unwanted reunions with her fiancé.

Arieltopia, Young Adult Editor, is an 12 year old avid reader – usually going through a book a day – who gives readers a unique perspective on Young Adult, Teen Fiction, along with adult fiction: an actual teenager’s perspective.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Much Ado About Magic
By Shanna Swendson
NLA Digital Liaison Platform LLC
September 17, 2012

I should start by saying that while this is the fifth book in a series, I haven’t read any of the other four novels. And while the book does a somewhat decent job of standing alone, there are a number of call backs to earlier events that someone who hasn’t read the previous novels may find confusing and annoying.

Moving on, the story takes the view of magic and spells as just another commodity that can be manufactured and sold. There are two competing companies: Magic, Spells, and Illusions, Inc. (or MSI) and Spellworks. These two companies are constantly at each others throats and there is no shortage of corporate espionage, back room deals, and false advertising.

Unfortunately that’s about all there is. This entire premise of the story could be shifted to involve two regular companies competing against each other using mundane means and very little would change. The entire setup seems determined to take the magic out of magic. In fact, magic is apparently so commonplace to the characters that the author doesn’t bother to describe it half the time. The result is that when there is magic, it’s rather bland and boring.

As for the story itself, it has absolutely no buildup. The novel almost seems to follow a loosely connected series of short stories that have their own self-contained problems and resolutions that are bought up and resolved before moving on to the next. If the characters say they are going to do something, they will immediately do it. Any mystery is immediately solved. A character’s first guess is always correct, and there are literally no surprises. In fact every character seems to have some kind of magical foresight about the story itself.

In the end, the book as a whole was rather boring and dull, and I honestly can’t imagine what the four former books could have been like to have reached this point in the story.

My advice: Skip the series altogether and look for something with a little more meat on its bones.

Matthew Scott is the Dark Fantasy & Horror Editor of BookGateway.com who describes himself as just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Other Worlds Than These
Edited by John Joseph Adams
Night Shade Books
June 26, 2012

Since this book is basically a collection of stories that have no bearing on one another it would be impossible to give out details about any one story without writing a book myself.

That said, I found the book as a whole to be a grab bag in terms of quality. There was, of course, the good, the bad, and the ugly, but also the why is this even in here? Which in regards to the last, given that the overall concept of the book is supposed to be about alternate universes, I found it surprising that there were at least one or two stories that didn’t seem to fit the theme by even the loosest of definitions.

There are of course some great stories that stand out, but they unfortunately suffer from the fate that all short stories do, which is that they are, to put it simply, too short. In fact, the limitations brought on by the format actually cause some of the tales to be rather mediocre when they instead could have been great as fleshed out novels.

On the other hand, there were others that dragged on so long with pointless filler that I was tempted to skip them altogether.

Overall, I have to give the book as a whole an average rating. The book does, however, serve well in its purpose as a springboard to explore various different authors. In fact, many of the authors within have their own full length works which will hopefully curb the disappointment at their rather limited contribution.

So if you’re searching for something new, I do recommend picking the book up and least giving it a cursory read. Just be forewarned that sometimes you have to take the bad with the good.

Matthew Scott is just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

The Unholy
Krewe of Hunters
By Heather Graham
Harlequin MIRA
June 2012

Alistair Archer has been accused of the murder of his girlfriend Jenny. His father Eddie is willing to do whatever it takes to save his son. He calls on Sean Cameron, a former employee at his studio, who now works for a special division of the FBI. The police seem to have an airtight case against Alistair, but Eddie needs a miracle, and he believes Sean can provide that for him. Sean has the special gift of being able to speak with the dead, and it’s going to take something special to get Alistair out of this mess. Eddie asks one of his best employees, Madison Darvil, to be Sean’s liaison throughout the investigation. Madison is also able to speak with the dead, and even lives with the ghost of the legendary Humphrey Bogart.

Madison and Sean develop a chemistry almost immediately, and The Unholy focuses on their endeavors to prove Alistair is not guilty of murdering Jenny. The villain, who calls himself Vengeance, appears periodically throughout the book to create havoc and throw Madison and Sean off the trail. Who will prevail?
The Unholy is without a doubt character driven. Madison’s energy and innocence is refreshing throughout the book, and I found myself anticipating a relationship between Madison and Sean. The well developed characters do come with a price. The villain does not inspire a feeling of contempt as most villains do. He almost seems to be more of an afterthought than a driving force in The Unholy. I found myself much more involved with the relationship of Madison and Sean than with finding out who the killer would turn out to be. Despite this, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I was definitely surprised to discover the identity of Vengeance. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery with a touch of the supernatural.

Kassi Kirschner loves to lose herself in a great book. She likes to spend her time with her family, her many dogs, and preparing for her baby on the way!

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Prepare to Die
By Paul Tobin
Night Shade Books
May 2012

This book reads like a comic book but with a few differences. I really goes into details of the lead character, Reaver, and his past. It introduces many of the other heroes that have either been killed or retired. At times this gets overly explained since most of these characters have nothing to do with this story.

The story has a surprise ending that is really a creative twist. I liked it but it was a bit long and at times just went into too much detail for the story to flow.

Rick Asher is a lover all kinds of stories. A rapacious reader now retired he finally has time to read all the books and watch all the films he has always wanted to. Thanks to BookGateway he gets to share his opinions and recommendations as well.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

The Sword
The Cheveis Trilogy: Book 1
By Brian M. Liftin
Read by Ray Porter
Crossway / ChristianAudio.com
April 2012

What Teo and Ana find is a Bible. The last section, the New Testament, is ruined by a leak in the seal but the first section, the Old Testament, is available and Teo sets to work interpreting it. What they find is a God unlike the lowly, angry and detestable gods currently worshiped in this post-apocalyptic world. One that is kind and loving and cares.

This new God gains followers quickly and just as quickly gains the ire of the priestess of the demonic evil God of the Cheveis.

It is so very rare to find a good post-apocalyptic world in Christian literature! Most of the time, it is Biblically unsupported theological guesswork about the end times like the Left Behind series or the Circle Series. In this book, Liftin does something no other current Christian author has done: created a fantasy world that doesn’t rely on our theology or eschatology and yet is true to the Word. He isn’t interested in pushing a particular theological agenda but keeps his characters, and God, on the straight and narrow by focusing on the basics that all Christians should believe, like the nature of God, the nature of the sacrifice of Christ (although this plays only a small part in book 1), and the nature of man as sinful.

The book was well written and a fantastic large scale fantasy. The main characters are believable and develop naturally along the way – as does the author. Early in the book when I read about “milk maids” and how they blushed and fell for strong manly blah, blah I was so very tempted to toss the book in the (sorta) Historical Romance pile that I try to avoid. But Liftin’s language and the character’s speech improved and became more realistic as the story moved on.

This is a great fantasy novel and I very much look forward to the next installment.

A note about the audio book version: Porter does a serviceable job moving the story along with very few hitches. His characters have obviously different voices and the narrative was easy to follow because of his verbal aguility. My only complaint was in Teo’s voice as Porter seemed to buy into the romantic hero sterotype by giving Teo a almost too-manly deep voice. It was almost Gaston from Beauty and the Beast manly and distracting. The story was compelling such that I quickly learned to overlook and ignore it though.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he turns real life into stupid cartoons, writes on Christianity, Zombies, and whatever else he wants and posts Bible studies from his classes at church.

This audio book was provided by the publisher, ChristianAudio.com, as a review copy.

Ninja Versus Pirate Featuring Zombies
(How To End Human Suffering #1)
by James Marshall
ChiZine Publications
April 2012

The book is told in first person by our protagonist, Guy Boy Man. The introduction to the story is one long run on sentence that actually covers a couple of pages and details how Guy lives in his parents’ basement. However he realizes that what everyone thinks is real is actually an illusion and that the world is being controlled by zombies.

Somewhere in the first few pages (and still in the first sentence), Guy explains how he escapes his parents’ basement, realizes his parents are zombies, and brutally murders them with an ax. From there he somehow acquires vast sums of money, and starts his own religion.

The book actually goes down hill from there. Or at least I assume it does since I didn’t finish it. I got about as far as Guy attending high school where he openly drinks whiskey, wears a hat reminiscent of the pope, and meets a girl named Babydoll15 who is followed everywhere by a unicorn.

Now I will say that the opening of the book did initially lead me to believe that the rather ludicrous nature and style of the story were just a cover for social commentary about modern people being zombies because we mindlessly shuffle through life. There were even a few hints that the internet and television were to blame.

But ultimately, the story devolves into something akin to a junior high school boy’s fantasy involving being rich, powerful, and surrounded by adoring fans, many of them attractive women.

To be honest, I normally hate walking away from a book before finishing it, but try as I might I couldn’t keep going. Save yourself some time and don’t bother picking this book up. There’s really nothing in it worth reading.

Matthew Scott is just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

How to Slay a Dragon
By Bill Allen
Bell Bridge Books
January 2011

Most readers probably won’t be too surprised by how the story unfolds. The very concept of a boy ripped off to an imaginary world has been done so many times that it’s become a cliché. But ignoring the predictable storyline, there are still some issues with the book that I just couldn’t let slide.

To begin, the stories Greg writes in his journal are not only awful, but also completely out of sync with his character. Anyone who casts themselves as an invincible hero in all their own stories is going to have a bit of an ego. But the only thing Greg honestly believes he does well is run away.

The next problem is the populace of Myrth who unwaveringly believe that Greg is the hero foretold to slay Ruuan. Even when it becomes obvious that a mistake of some kind has been made, pretty much every single person sticks to the explanation that the prophecy says it, so it must be true.

It is also widely accepted that when something unseen rustles in the bushes it is a creature called a monkeydog, which no person alive has every actually seen but everyone agrees exists.

I honestly developed a headache from reading some of the conversations.

The final piece that just doesn’t work is the book’s rather infrequent use of puns. Early on, we’re introduced to a witch named Hazel and a prophet whose name is shortened to Simon Sez. And while these little bits of humor are cute on their own, they’re never really fleshed out or expanded on in the story.

In fact there’s quite a bit in the story that doesn’t make sense at best and is frustrating at worst.

So while younger readers may be able to forgive some of the obvious plot holes, older readers might want to steer clear in favor of avoiding migraines.

Matthew Scott is just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

The Wolf Gift
By Anne Rice
Knopf
February 2012

The story of Reuben and his transformation into a werewolf is really not what this book is about. It is instead a book about good and evil.

And unfortunately that’s all you need to know. There really is no story here, just a long, drawn out essay about what evil is and whether it’s okay to kill those who kill their fellow man. In fact, whether killing these people is justified or not is a question asked by every single character in the book. It seems every character is a philosophy major and also prone to launching into speeches about what constitutes justifiable homicide.

Reuben is at the forefront of this discussion more often than not, which leads to a very strong incongruity when he makes a speech about how killing is wrong and then two minutes later is hunting down some evil man or woman, ripping their throat out, and drinking their blood.

The book also features a heavy amount of description on Reuben’s killing of both men and beasts (the latter is apparently just for fun) as well as his frequent sexual acts with his lover. Of course these events are also heavily laden with philosophical quandaries as though killing a rapist in a back-alley is somehow a uniquely religious experience that brings one closer to God and the universe.

And in case you missed the point behind all this carnage, every scene and idea is constantly restated or replayed throughout the story. Every conversation leads to commentary on the nature of good and evil to the point that many of the characters seem to have no definition or personality of their own but instead exist for the sole purpose of echoing the theme.

Somewhere towards the end of the novel, a plot about evil scientists is loosely cobbled together, but it really is too little too late and serves no point other than as a further attempt to mask a long-winded argument as a story.

My recommendation: Don’t even bother.

Matthew Scott is just another average reader who enjoys sharing his opinion on various books, authors, and whatever else may cross his path.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.

Animal Man Volume 1: The Hunt
Animal Man issues 1-6
by Jeff Lemire & Travel Foreman
DC Comics
May 2012

It starts with Baker’s daughter, Maxine, manifesting unusual powers that are similar to his, but different enough to spook him. When he finds her in the yard playing with dead animals because she wanted a pet things start to unravel. Then in the course of helping the authorities with a hostage situation, Baker starts to manifest some of these unusable powers as well leading him on a journey into the Red where he finds the ultimate manifestation of death and “Rot incarnate.”

Struggling to save his family, and especially his daughter, from The Rot, he finds that he isn’t powerful enough leaving readers with a cliff hanger that interested readers can only resolve by continuing the story in the regular comic in episode 7 and going forward.

The only completely new character in DC’s New 52 (DC’s relaunch of their entire comic line in November 2011), Animal Man is nothing like the normal characters found in the DC superhero universe. He is much more akin to DC’s former Vertigo imprint and without that imprint there may be the misunderstanding that this comic is for general readers. Animal Man is a comic for more mature readers who are also fans of horror. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

I found that the horror aspects of the world weren’t compelling enough for me to continue the story after this graphic novel I did find some parts worth salvaging. For example, book starts with a “reprint” of an interview done with Baker and a magazine where he discusses transitioning from superhero to activist and actor which was a fascinating read since so few comic stories engage the characters in the story as more than simply tights-wearing anarchist super-powered policemen. Seeing a character mature and consider what happens next was refreshing. Also, there was a section where Baker’s son was watching his father’s upcoming movie on his tablet. When he is caught watching a show he lies and says he was watching “a movie.” This is another example of the maturity of writing in these stories where the characters reflect true emotional realism fleshing them out and making the story come alive.

Unfortunately, those were the only sections I enjoyed. I’m not a fan of horror and I didn’t enjoy the Red vs. Rot storyline. If you are a fan of horror then this is one of the better written books in the new DC line of comic books. If you are like me, though, then go with the new Justice League, Green Lantern or Batman (Court of Owls) relaunches.

Scott Asher is the Editor-in-Chief of BookGateway.com. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people where he cartoons and writes on Christianity, Zombies, and anything else he wants to.

This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.