REVIEW SUMMARY: The sequel trilogy to the best seller, Wool Omnibus, which takes a leap back in time to show how the chaos started.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A silo architect finds out too late what he’s been building, loses track of his wife and memories, and must uncover the secret behind the silo in order to make everything right.

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW
PROS: Strong beginning; empathy for major characters; challenging philosophical themes about war and sacrifice to survive as a human race.
CONS: Third Shift (Book Three) slowed the story way down with minor revelations and sparse action.
BOTTOM LINE: While the first half gave hope that this sequel could surpass Wool Omnibus, the story went downhill from there. Shift is still recommended for Wool fans, and it will not kill interest in reading the concluding volume although but it did not meet expectations.

(Spoiler Warning: This review will have spoilers for people who have not read Wool, and only general spoilers for those who have yet to read Shift. Reviews for First Shift: Legacy and Second Shift: Order can be seen at the reviewer’s home page.)
Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: A character-focused zombie story whose characters you’d rather ignore.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A flu outbreak in Northern Ireland overcomes quarantine efforts as the dead rise and survival efforts bring out the worst in most people.

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW
PROS: A few memorable scenes; Irish accent in narration added to immersive experience.
CONS: Characters mostly unlikable; rambling plot; obtrusive prose.
BOTTOM LINE: The story is dominated by people being jerks, mixed in with some zombies, and ends up with more head-scratching than nail-biting moments, leaving this reader uninterested in any sequels.
Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Space Opera for fans of Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert’s Dune prequels, introducing a new universe with creatively inventive worlds, aliens, intergalactic travel, and an epic war to come.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A failed revolution against the tyrannical Constellation government places exiled leader, General Adolphus on a planet at the outer reaches of a new frontier, where geological instability has earned it the name, Hellhole.  General Adolphus proves more resilient than the Constellation’s Diadem presupposed, and with the help of a new alien species, prepares to free the galaxy from its tyrannical government.

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Symbiotic nature of alien life creates interesting relationship with humans; sympathetic characters invest readers in epic war to come.
CONS: Telegraphed plot lacks surprises needed to exhilarate reader, including cliffhanger ending.
BOTTOM LINE: Nostalgic readers of Dune prequels will enjoy similar story telling style in Hellhole, but will be disappointed by a cliffhanger ending predicted hundreds of pages before.

Hellhole begins with an emotional conclusion to the revolution against the tyrannical Constellation government, which serves to create strong empathy for the main character, General Adolphus, and a starting point for the moral dilemma of sacrificing innocents as a means to an end.  What follows sets General Adolphus up as a leader on an outcast planet, Hellhole, and his discovery of ways to free a cast of sympathetic characters from various forms of oppression. The chaotic environment on Hellhole entertains while developing characters like his love interest, her daughter, and a heroic love interest for her.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: A technically well-written story about vampires and the quest to stop AIDS, but over-description and a disappointing plot twist stole interest.

BRIEF SYNOPSIS:  A doctor adopts a Romanian orphan baby and discovers a secret that makes her enemy number one for a Mafioso band of vampires.

MY RATING:

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Well-researched in science, location, and vampire lore; visceral action
CONS: Technical jargon slowed the story; weak characters; the turn halfway through removed almost all interest in finishing the story
BOTTOM LINE: Probably looked good as an outline, but the execution failed to keep interest, especially after a midpoint twist threw most of it out the window.

Children of the Night begins with a preface of the author’s first hand research visiting Romania and historical locations important to Dracula’s life, and the tragedy of that country’s orphan problem. The story begins with a team of Americans visiting Romania to investigate the orphanage system in order to report back with recommendations for aid. The characterization is interesting enough to keep you reading, and when this section ends, the reader is left with a haunting revelation about the vampires’ plans.

Read the rest of this entry

James Smythe was born in London and now lives in West Sussex. Since receiving a PhD from Cardiff University, he has worked as both a Creative Writing teacher and as a writer/narrative designer of video games.

His debut novel, Hereditation, was published as part of Parthian’s Bright Young Things series in 2009. His next book, The Testimony, a novel about the voice of God, terrorism and the apocalypse, was published in April 2012 by HarperCollins (Blue Door). In December 2012, HarperCollins (Voyager) published The Explorer, a science fiction novel in the vein of 2001 and Solaris.

In April 2013, HarperCollins (Blue Door) will publish The Machine.

He currently writes a continuing series of articles for The Guardian called Rereading Stephen King. He can be found on twitter @jpsmythe and Facebook.

He is represented by Sam Copeland at Rogers, Coleridge & White.

Tim Ward: First off, I have to ask, at any point from the conception of The Explorer to its release did you ever laugh out loud at how hard it might be for reviewers or interviewers to talk to you about the story without spoiling anything? If not, feel free to do so now.

James Smythe: Ha! I didn’t, I must admit. It never really occurred to me until I was finished about the difficulty talking about certain… developments in the novel. But the pacing was quite careful: even if you have the first reveal ruined, as it were – the narrative-driving one – hopefully the second, more emotionally-resonant reveal will still come as a shock. A few people have mentioned what happens at a certain point in the book, and that’s fine. It’s tough; and maybe they don’t see it as spoilers? Having said that, some people have said that the reveal that Cormac’s crew are all dead is a spoiler, but that happens in the first line of the book, so I think that one is fine.

And you’re right: it is really hard to talk about the book without spoiling anything.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: This book keeps you engaged and interested from page one.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A journalist joins a team of astronauts on an expedition to the farthest point in space humans have ever traveled. The mystery that awaits is more dangerous than trying to reach it alone.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Fascinating story; empathetic and beautiful struggle of an explorer separated from his family; epic, outer space anomaly leaves the reader burning for more
CONS: The mystery is not completely resolved.
BOTTOM LINE: The Explorer earns a “can’t miss” recommendation for its mind-bending, heart-wrenching, avalanche of a reading experience.

Read the rest of this entry

REVIEW SUMMARY: Comic book in prose sends us inside the heads of heroes and villains fighting for the world and those they love.

MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A mysterious threat to Arcadia forces the last superhero to choose between being a husband and saving the world.

MY REVIEW
PROS: Superhero adventure with heart, mystery, and immersive action that makes reading about these characters a moving experience.
CONS: The prose may take too many liberties in what the reader understands to be happening, and the mystery of The Blue may be too slow of a burn to hold some reader’s attention.
BOTTOM LINE: May require more concentration and patience than some readers will give, but if they do, they’ll be rewarded with a philosophical gem on heroes, sacrifice, and the meaning of life in a corrupt world.

I don’t read comic books and I’m not really a fan of superheroes. That said, I can appreciate a tremendous cover, and was intrigued by the premise of a world where all but one of the superheroes gave up their powers to save the world.

Read the rest of this entry

Hugh Howey is as kind as he is a talented writer, and this live reading of The Walk Up Nameless Ridge will prove that I mean that as a compliment. Recorded from his reading at ChiCon7, this story is a Science Fiction adventure inspired by his ride to the top of publishing. Instead of Kindle charts, his unnamed narrator is striving to be the first to summit a 60,000 foot mountain on a distant planet. “The Walk…” has made it to #7 on the Kindle Singles chart. Now, let’s see how far our narrator makes it.
Read the rest of this entry