Behind Blue Eyes

Never Die by Rob J. Hayes My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received an eARC of this book from the author. Now, that’s what I’m talking about when I say I love the Grimdark subgenre. This is it exactly. Many describe Grimdark fantasy as that which is bleak and full of misery, lacking in hope. But to me, that’s not what it is at all. It might have some of these things on the surface, but it’s much more than that. I see it more as the story of grey characters striding the line between being a hero and a villain. It’s a struggle within and the study of the internal conflict that the characters must deal with as they contemplate and live with their choices. Never Die is full of blood and mayhem and poor odds of survival and success for our characters. But at the heart of that is hope, as each of them looks within and considers the balance between right and wrong. Ein is a child “gifted” with the ability to bring fallen heroes back from the dead. In exchange, th...

Strong Ending A Journey from Combat to Comedy by Audible Originals My rating: 5 of 5 stars So after my last couple of audiobooks didn't go so well, I wondered if it was me. I couldn't concentrate, couldn't focus. Couldn't give a rat's ass about the story I was ignoring. This was just what I needed. It was short, so it wasn't intimidating at all. But it was long enough to show that I do have focus and an attention span if I'm interested in the subject. As a veteran, I appreciate the efforts made to help these vets treat their depression and PTSD and anxiety through comedy. I cracked up several times, and I could hear how therapeutic it was for the vets sharing their experiences. I never went through any combat situations during my time in the Air Force, but I have always had a spot in my heart for those that have. View all my reviews

City of the Dead by Kristi Belcamino My rating: 4 of 5 stars Want a fast paced story that you can't put down until you're finished, go with Gia Santella. It took me a few chapters, but once I was hooked, I could do little else. I have the first four in a collected ebook, and held off the temptation to jump right into book 2, only because I have a few other things I need to finish before the year ends. View all my reviews

Bound - A Book of the Ancestor Short Story by Mark Lawrence My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was amazing. A short story, yes, but it was as satisfying as a longer work. Fans of Nona and Ara and the Book of the Ancenstor books will love this. It's a self contained story that gives us a snapshot into the lives of these girls, a great teaser for the next book. I'll be reading it again, and it even made me want to go back and reread the first two novels. View all my reviews

The Methuselah Treatment by T.C. Powell My rating: 4 of 5 stars Here's a nice little story set in a scary near future. It was a bonus to the end of the Death of Dulgath novel by Michael J. Sullivan. I'd certainly be curious to check out more in this dystopian future. View all my reviews

Song by Jesse Teller My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book One of the Manhunters series starts off with a hook, with our “hero” Rayph playing a game in a bathhouse and a serving boy approaches. "I’m afraid we are about to be interrupted.." See full review at Grimdark Magazine View all my reviews

Ella Dethroned by Brandon Barr My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a freebie over at AudFans. It made for a decent two-hour listen, introducing the Song of the Worlds. I'll still want to read the main series, but this was well written if a little romancey in parts. It was meant to be a preview to the audiobook versions of the main books coming out soon. The reader isn't bad, but I'll probably go to the ebook versions that I've already purchased. I'd review the actual AudFans edition, but the last time I did that it got deleted. View all my reviews

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received an ebook review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley . I really have mixed feelings here. This book took me two months to read, but it wasn't the fault of the writing. Initially I had a tough time getting hooked, but then I was definitely all-in for awhile. Personal events kept me from staying on track though, and by the end I was having difficulty focusing on the fine details. That said, the worldbuilding here is phenomenal. There were some early action scenes where I could vividly picture the events through the author's prose, and it really came to life in those moments. The last 20% or so I found hard to visualize and focus, but as I mentioned before that may be in part at least to personal distractions keeping me off track. I do think this is an author to watch, as it was my second novel to read from him. View all my reviews

Mistletoe & Magic: A YA Books Central Holiday Anthology by Melissa A. Craven My rating: 0 of 5 stars So far I've only read the story by Angela N. Blount , titled "Young Saint Nicholas". I picked this up as this author is a friend of mine, and I am a huge fan of her work. Yes, I know I just said she was a friend so there might be some bias, but trust me this lady can write compelling stories. I've read everything she has published (and even one that hasn't ;)) and I'd be a fan even if I hadn't met her on Goodreads. That said, this particular story is wonderful. It's quite different from other work Blount has published, but it doesn't suffer for that. This is a story of a future otherworld version of Saint Nick. I understand that it is a glimpse into his world and that there is much more to come later. As a taste, this was fantastic. It was enough to enjoy for the moment, yet make certain that I will scoop up a...

The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Excellent still on the re-read. Upon reflection though, I have come to the conclusion that this definitely works better for a reader that has already read the Revelations series. It's good on its own or as an introduction to the overall series, but will mean more to a reader that's already familiar with the main characters. Oh yes, and the narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds is superb, as expected. View all my reviews

Driving to Geronimo's Grave: and Other Stories by Joe R. Lansdale My rating: 5 of 5 stars Review copy eARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley Joe R. Lansdale has been on my radar for many years, and always seemed to be an author I’d enjoy. But the shame of it is that until now, I’ve only read one or two short stories of his. This collection was fantastic, and if it’s any indication of a consistent writing style from Lansdale, I’ll certainly be reading more of his work in short order. “Driving to Geronimo’s Grave” – I had no idea where this story was going as it got started, but wasn’t disappointed. Terri was the best part of this. I really got a feel for the Great Depression setting here. “In the Mad Mountains” – You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually read an HP Lovecraft story. But even so, I recognize when something is “Lovecraftian”, and this is certainly it (confirmed by the author’s notes after the story). Besides that, it remin...

Street Freaks by Terry Brooks My rating: 4 of 5 stars *eARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. I enjoyed this. It was certainly different than any Terry Brooks that I’d read before, and I’ve read a lot of Terry Brooks. Loyal fans will probably like this as his storytelling quality is there, even if we’re looking at a dystopian future instead of epic fantasy. It appeals to all age groups, being friendly in tone to younger readers, but mature enough in content for older ones as well. Because the main hero and majority of the characters are teens, this would work well as being categorized YA, but it’s a good story regardless. The pacing and plot are pretty good overall, but there are a couple of plot points that didn’t make a lot of sense. The overall story was fine, but some of the hidden motivations with the “adults” in the story weren’t clear. Maybe they weren’t supposed to be, but it made for a distracting feeling as I came to the end. The...

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames My rating: 5 of 5 stars That hit the spot. I’ve been looking for this book for years, needing to read something that was just a whole bunch of fun. Reading this story of a bunch of retired mercenaries getting the band back together for a final tour was a dip into my entertainment history. Back in my Air Force days, I had a group of men and women that gathered once a month for a truly epic Saturday. We’d meet for breakfast and then gather at one of our houses for an all-day session of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. We bought up the 2nd Edition books as they came out and had to try everything. I’d play those old cassettes on my way to the games (or to breakfast and back if the session was at my house). I remember jamming to Nazareth’s “Hair of the Dog” as I went to one of these, nearly 30 years ago. I even named a character/villain “Britney Fox” after one of the semi-popular hair bands of the day and jammed their c...

Fallen Empire by Keith McArdle My rating: 3 of 5 stars Now, that was interesting. There's a lot to enjoy in this short(ish) book. It starts off being the story of a badass fighting assassin highlander but quickly becomes something much more epic in scope. What I took for a story about a single flawed hero turned into a stage of several flawed actors. But when you throw in witchery, possessing demons, giant intelligent spiders, and some mean-ass fighting wolves, what's not to love? Fallen Empire starts out as the tale of Vyder Ironstone, our badass fighting assassin highlander mentioned above. He takes on a quest to save a kidnapped prince from an enemy kingdom but before he can get moving on his quest, he's jumped by some foresters he had previously clashed with in a tavern. He's quite messed up and near death, but his servant Miriam senses he's in trouble and gets him to a healer. This leads them to a old Wiccan woman to fix wha...

Evil is a Matter of Perspective: An Anthology of Antagonists by Adrian Collins My rating: 5 of 5 stars When this was announced by Arian Collins over at Grimdark Magazine as an upcoming Kickstarter, I couldn’t wait to jump on board. As I have always found myself intrigued by well written villains/adversaries, I knew this was something I wanted to experience. I’ve discovered while watching the Marvel shows on Netflix that the characters I’m most interested in, (Kingpin, Punisher, and Killgrave) are always the “bad guys”. These shows have great writing, such that they really dig deep into what made the villains..villains. While they don’t justify what they’ve become, these stories give some perspective, some insight on how they came to be the way they are. So yes, I was excited to have that experience In narrative form. Some authors have entertained me over the years with this concept, telling stories of the “bad guys” within the overall works that br...

Knee-Deep in Grit: Two Bloody Years of Grimdark Fiction by Adrian Collins My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book is a great taste of short grimdark stories, and though they're all classed in that "subgenre", there is a huge variety in this collection. The settings and styles are all different, but they share some common elements: blood and grit and darkness. I was actually surprised at the amount of sci-fi in this group of stories. All this time I thought of "Grimdark" as something one would get from Joe Abercrombie or Mark Lawrence, full of anti-heroes that cut and bludgeon people to death. You get that here, but the subgenre covers more ground in setting than I'd expected. It makes sense though, people die in space too. I received an eARC of this wonderful book from the amazingly cool editor, Adrian Collins. No strings, just a means to start early. I liked the first few stories enough that as soon as Adrian announced that p...

Ghosts of Tomorrow by Michael R. Fletcher My rating: 4 of 5 stars Done With Mirrors? This Fletcher guy and his mirrors! Here we get a cyber-virtual near-future version, but a lot of this stuff is done with smoke and... mirrors. Or scans.. combat chassis. What's not to love? View all my reviews

The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone My rating: 5 of 5 stars I bought this for my grandbaby, in the interest of getting him away from electronics and into real books. We read it 4 times in the first sitting. Even then I had to cut him off so he could go home and get to bed.... #Win View all my reviews

Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received an eARC copy of this book through the Penguin First to Read program. Then, since school was bogging down my pleasure-reading time, I used an Audible credit to buy the audiobook once it became available. This was a great idea, because I was able to really devote some good listening time to one of my most looked-forward-to books of the year. Ever since loving Red Sister so much, I've been itching to get back into Nona's world. Without spoiling anything, I will say that I found the early part very engaging, with some significant early surprises. It slowed down a bit through the middle, but then those last several chapters had me at the edge of my... earbuds. So now the next book is one of my most looked-forward-to books of next year. View all my reviews

Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares by Pierce Brown My rating: 3 of 5 stars I downloaded a copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley This was fun, but I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. While it was great to get a visual on the Red Rising universe, as well as a background prequel tale, this somehow lacked the magic that made the main series so memorable. It's a good treat for Pierce Brown fans, but I probably wouldn't recommend to someone that hasn't read his work. Besides what I mentioned above, the material would spoil some of the good stuff in those books. View all my reviews

The White Tower by Michael Wisehart My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3 1/2 stars. If you like big, meaty, epic fantasies, this could be just what you're looking for. I wanted to rate it higher, as I really enjoyed this one. But where it scratched the surface of being something great, it never really got there. As a first book in a series, I don't have any worries that the overall story will click into place and be satisfying, but at this stage in the game I find myself wanting more. That is a good thing too, as I'm intrigued enough to want to continue... The execution was pretty good and the characters were interesting. It just felt a bit long winded at times and I did get confused by the sheer volume of characters and side stories going on. Still, I'm looking forward to the second book, and to the side/prequel series that's already been started. I will also add here that the audio as read by Tim Gerard Reynolds makes the story more enjoya...