The Art of Fire by Kirby Crow

4 Stars

I always enjoy a Kirby Crow story and this was no different.  The story of  Marik, the disgraced soldier and Grey, the much younger recruit sent to second him in his lonely outpost is short - novella length - never my favourite, but I loved it anyway.  It's Kirby's writing!

Both men have secrets.  There are some magical powers.  There is a lovely sex scene and a few expressions of affection.  There is danger, a bit of intrigue and a tease of things going on in the wider world. There's even some fun banter.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable read that while being complete in and of itself, left me wanting to know more about these two characters and the wider world in which they live.  And, oh, I did love Marik very much.  :)

Midnight Exposure by Melinda Leigh

2.5 Stars

Midnight Series - Book One

I guess I'm not having much luck with romantic suspense this week.  I DNFed the last one and this one... well, it was just alright.  Nothing exciting really.  Definitely not enough to make me overlook the things that bugged me.

And what were those things?  Well, for one, I was getting a whiff of the misogyny that so turned me off the previous book. While the hero, Reed, did his best to be respectful and look for consent etcetera, his inner thoughts were just a tad too leery for me to be totally comfortable.  When it's the bad guy, it doesn't bother me, but in the hero?  Nope.

Then there was the instalove.  I didn't buy it. 

There was also a scene set in a Wiccan shop that was run by a woman who the author described as 60-ish.  You would have thought this woman was a doddering old fool, just because of her age. I'm here to tell you, (at 62), that we are nowhere near as ready for the home as this woman was depicted.  And maybe I could have glossed over it, but the heroine came across as rather judgmental and mean in her thoughts about the woman.  It was a small thing, but it really irritated me.

And then we came to the end.  I like my thrillers to come to a conclusion. This did not. All of a sudden, the people in danger were rescued, the bad guy got away, the MCs declared their love for each other and decided to move away.  Oh yeah, the bad guy got away.  It was totally unsatisfying. I went online and discovered that book two in the series concerns the brother of the heroine taking up the chase for the bad guy. I have it in my TBR, but honestly?  I'm not that anxious to read it. 

Concrete Evidence by Rachel Grant

DNF

Evidence Series - Book One

Just far too much male gaze in this one.  The hero is a leering idiot, there's a huge plot point concerning the threat of gang rape, and it just all feels distasteful.  At this point, I'm ready to think that Rachel Grant is a pen name for a man who writes pot-boilers.

Really not my speed, sadly.  I have no idea how it rates 4+ stars on Goodreads. 

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang

3.5 Stars

The Poppy War - Book One

Well.  This book was touted as one of the best of 2018 and it is nominated for a 2018 Nebula award for best novel.  I didn't like it as much as the majority of people seem to have.  I have read 5 of the 6 nominees and this was my least favourite of them. (Spinning Silver is the one I've not read.)

First off, let me say that the book is well-written read for all that.

My problem lies with expecting to see something new and different, but all I really saw were the same fantasy tropes that have been around forever.  The orphan child with the mysterious background.  The Chosen One.  Hidden magical powers. Gods run amok.  I think the only thing that was was even remotely new was that the book is set in an alternate historical China, or that's what I felt it was.  I was disappointed, and even though, like I said, the writing was good, I found that disappointment colouring my read.

My other problem was with the protagonist, Rin, the orphaned peasant girl with the dark skin. This is her story, but I felt that things were just happening to her.  I don't know that I felt her grow from her somewhat naive 16 years of age at the beginning of the book to her beaten, tortured, suffering (according to her words near the end of the book), 19 year old self.  I was told that she did, but I never FELT it.  At one point, she's yelling at one of her close friends, crying out that she's suffered fro so long, been beaten and tortured and betrayed and near killed etc... so she deserved getting her revenge, and I thought... but were you really?  I was told she did, but....  I dunno, she never really came alive for me. 

And you know, this book is rather grim-darkish.  It's not promoted as such, but I think it really is. In the last third of the book, things get very violent and dark and at times just downright horrific.

So, anyway, I really didn't get what all the big excitement was about.  Will I read the second book that's due out this summer?  Probably, but I'm not in any rush. 

Lost Things by Melissa Scott and Jo Graham

3.5 Stars

The Order of the Air - Book One

I thought this was a cool read.  Set in the early 1930s, a period that I'm quite fond of, it's the tale of a small aviation company run by veterans of the Great War and how they get involved in a dangerous, thrilling occult adventure with its roots back in ancient times. 

We have the three aviators, Lewis, Alma and Mitch, and the Jerry, the archaeologist.  The First World War, the Great War, left its scars on everyone that fought and these four are no different.  There are the obvious wounds, such as Jerry's missing lower leg, Mitch's abdominal scars, and there are also the mental and emotional wounds that all four suffer from.  I liked all of them and I thought the authors did a good job of introducing and portraying them.  It's the first in a series of books, so I expect to be learning more about them - especially my favourite, Mitch.  I think he was the least fleshed out, but maybe that's because he doesn't seem, right now, to be as complicated as the other three? 

So, the adventure includes an ancient evil from the time of the Emperors Claudius and Nero and possibly even before. We have a demon run amok and our quartet are on the chase.  The only real problem I had with the whole thing was the time we spent reading about the intricacies of the aircraft involved.  I didn't feel I needed to know things in such detail, either about the Terrier plane or the dirigible. The one part where I felt it worked was the big chase scene.

Now, I have to say, the book reminded me of a favourite book of one of my favourite authors - Katherine Kurtz and her Lammas Night. It also reminded me of her Templar series of books, but mostly Lammas Night.  I wonder if the authors were inspired by her? 

Anyway, I enjoyed my read and as it's the first volume of an omnibus, I have the next 2 books in the series to look forward to!  If I was one to binge read, I'd be reading them right away, but I like to space my series out for the most part. 

A Duke By Default by Alyssa Cole

4 Stars

The Reluctant Royals - Book 2

So this is a daunting book only because it's one of the darlings of 2018.  EVERYONE loves this book and it's a darling of Romancelandia.  So I was a little wary going into it.  The last time I read a book that was so universally loved, it was The Bollywood Bride, and I hated it.  Did not see what any of the fuss was about.

Thank God, this book was a different experience.

So, I had been advised that I didn't need to have read the first book in the series to enjoy this one, but I'll tell ya, I wish I had.  There were so many instances where the heroine's past was mentioned that had important bearing on the plot but were never explained that my wondering took me out of the story.  And the story was GREAT, so this was quite bothersome.  I STILL don't know the deal with Portia's (the heroine) sister.  And it BUGS me.  So YES, READ THE FIRST BOOK.

So, Portia is a screw up, who, it turns out, suffers from ADHD.  This explains many things about her and her issues.  I liked her.  I liked her a lot. I liked that she was smart and clever. I liked her smart mouth and like many of her friends and her sister, I often wanted to shake her to make her believe she wasn't the mess she thought she was. 

I liked the hero, Tav, the Duke by Default of the title.  He was older, 37 to her 30 (THANK GOD for mature characters!!) and your typical taciturn Scot.  And he was HOT.  And he forges weapons, swords, daggers, axes... the whole thing!  That's darned sexy.  Anyway, he hit all the right buttons for me. 

From my lofty 62 years of life, I thought that if they only would take an hour or two to actually talk about all these things that bothered each of them about themselves, the whole emotional mess could have been dealt with quickly and easily.  But we wouldn't have a story then.  *LOL*  And it was a good story, maybe a little heavy at times with the ADHD and the immigration problem, but the author's writing style is breezy and fun (a big reason why AC is a fave of mine.) which saved it from being too lecture-y. 

In the end, it was a really good romance.  I totally enjoyed it and I can easily see how it garnered so many accolades and such noisy support. Just read the first book first!

Of Sand and Malice Made by Bradley P. Beaulieu

3.5 Stars

The Shattered Sands - Book 0.5

So this is a big novella that takes place before the beginning of the epic series and introduces us to a teenage Cedi. It's basically the story of Ceda and her battle with the ehrehk, Rumayesh.  Ehrehks are creatures created by the gods long ago and there's nothing good about them. 

The book reads like three serial installments of a story which, for me, was a little off-putting.  Flow-wise.  A matter of personal preference, I think.  Other than that, it was a pleasure to sink into the author's writing again.

At any rate, it was cool to see more of young Ceda and indeed just to visit Sharakhai again.  We get to see a bit of other favourite characters too.  It was a fun read.

Caliban's War by James S. A. Corey

4 Stars

The Expanse - Book Two

Excellent sequel to the first book of the series.  All our favourite characters have returned... well most of them.  :)  I have been firmly confirmed in my favouritism towards Amos and Chrisjen Avasarala. That being said, I love most of the characters.  And we get to meet the stellar Bobbie Draper, Martian marine extraordinaire. She and Chrisjen working together are the absolute best.

The plot of this book clips along at a decent pace and the writing style makes it an easy, fluid read.  I have to say that I've watched all 3 existing seasons of The Expanse and have found that the they're fairly faithful to the books and the changes not too jarring. 

Anyway, loved my read and am looking forward to getting to book 3, which I have on tap soon.  :)

Jacked Cat Jive by Rhys Ford

4 Stars

Kai Gracen - Book Three

Thank you Rhys!  I swear, Rhys' books never disappoint, and this, the 3rd in the series that stars my favourite of her characters certainly followed suit. 

I don't quite know what to say, except that Kai is his usually cranky, soft-hearted, brave, cynical self and I still am in love with him.  :)  I was happy that his relationship with Ryder, the elfin lord made some progression.  I love their banter, I love what's unsaid between them and I love how they have each others' backs, no matter what.  Ryder makes me chuckle. 

I was also happy to get the chance to know Cari a little better.  I wish she'd had a little more to do though and that we could have explored her special power a tad.  But she's a ballsy young lady and I quite enjoy her.  The new character of Kerrick was interesting - Ryder's cousin yet so very unlike Ryder.  And then there was Bannon who I found even MORE interesting.  No doubt we'll be seeing more of her in future books.  And we got the chance to visit with that uber crankass, Dempsey.  I enjoyed that too. 

So there was adventure, some sadness, some great fights, some romance, some growing social awareness and loyalties being forged stronger. It was a thrill ride and I loved it!  It's going to feel like FOREVER until the next one!

A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe by Alex White

4 Stars

The Salvagers - Book One

I hemmed and hawed about rating this book between 3.5 and 4 stars, but I went for 4 stars because it was a lot of fun.  I saw it described somewhere as a Firefly-esque story mixed in with some Fast and Furious and that works for me. We have a rag-tag group of characters hieing their way across the galaxy in search of a rather mythical warship that would be one helluva salvage score.  It's mostly space opera with a hefty side order of magic and while the magic was never really explained, I found it didn't matter much to me.

There are some fun characters here and I became fond of most, if not all of them.  I loved the banter between them all and even if one of the main characters, the youthful race car driver, Nilah, made me want to shake her at times, it was an amused shake. 

Only a couple of things bothered me, and they were probably small, but whenever I came across them in the book, it threw me right out of the story for a moment or two.  Firstly, the author decided that ships aren't "she" in this far future universe, they are "he". Don't know why, there's never an explanation or anything, but every time the ship was designated this way, it gave me pause.  The other thing was that the Captain called his crew Miss Thing, Missus Thing, Mister Thing (whatever their family names were) and it felt so out of place in this futuristic universe that I was pulled right out of the story.  I found it peculiar. 

Anyway, all in all, it was a super fun read and if you enjoy KB Wagers Idranan Trilogy or James Corey's Expanse series, you'll probably enjoy this one. I'm looking forward to the next book - it's on my list.