Review: Prelude to the Shards

Prelude to the Shards by Michael Timmins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Well-Written and Well-Executed Beginning for a New Series

I enjoyed Prelude to the Shards. It was well written, had interesting and deep characters, and excellent world-building. Though it’s a typical start to an epic fantasy series, with several significant protagonists being introduced within their own plotline and background stories, it’s also really well done and put together. And unlike similar novels where each chapter shifts to a different protagonist’s POV, the three individual stories in Prelude are written as self-contained novellas.  

Each story in Prelude to the Shards is perfectly executed. The characters are introduced along with details about their background, personality, and quirks; their motivations for uprooting their lives and traveling, which I imagine will ultimately lead them to crossing paths in future books, start to develop as each story ends.  All three narratives are deep and descriptive, providing bits and details that slowly build the world and explain its politics, magic systems, and cultures. If every book in this series is as well done, this will be an excellent series.

My only gripe about Prelude to the Shards isn’t really a drawback -- it’s actually something that is executed well. All three stories contain their own mini-plots, but each ends right after the narrative climax but before anything is really, truly resolved.  The end feels rather sudden. You could say that each story ends “right when it was getting good.” But the word “Prelude” is right there in the title, so I suppose I should have expected as much.  It’s infuriating because it leaves me with tons of unresolved questions, but I have to say that the author has done an excellent job hooking me, and now I want to read the next book in the series, which isn’t out yet (as of the time I’m writing this).  So that’s a bit irritating.  But I guess if the only negative thing I can say about a book is that it left me wanting more, it’s not a negative thing.

C. J. Grey does a pretty good job narrating the audio version of the book. He does excellent, unique voices for the characters, matches the tone of the writing, and manages to pull off both male and female voices well. Prelude to the Shards was already good, and the excellent performance makes it that much better.

Special thanks to Michael Timmins, who provided me with this book at my request.

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Review: The Supervillainy Saga, Volume One

The Supervillainy Saga, Volume One by C.T. Phipps
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've reviewed each book that makes up this volume (The Rules of Supervillainy, The Games of Supervillainy, and The Secrets of Supervillainy) so, this is more or less a review of the series itself.  But if you haven't read or listened to any of the books in this series, you don't even need to read the rest of this review -- go ahead and buy it! You won't regret it.  Most omnibus volumes are a good value, but getting three books of the Supervillainy Saga for the price of one is one hell of a good deal. The Supervillainy Saga is easily one of my favorite series, and there would be no way I'd turn down this bargain.

Supervillainy Saga is a fun, light-hearted parody of the superhero genre that elicits nostalgia for the golden age of comics. It's purposely packed with superhero tropes and comic references yet is still wildly entertaining with a roller-coaster ride of a plotline. However, all the poking-fun at the genre does not prevent it from being a great superhero story (or supervillain story, I suppose), and its satirical approach is fun, clever, and unique; Phipps really enjoys writing Supervillainy Saga, and you can tell that it is a labor of love by someone who has a life-long passion for comics. 

Each book in the series gives a new satirical take on a genre of media or pop culture. For example, while the first focuses on comics, heroes, and villains, the second book is full of witty humor and parodies of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror genres.  Even with the humor and spoofs, Phipps still manages to make his characters interesting and has created them with unique personalities and interpersonal relationships, which continue to develop throughout each book and narrative arc. It's a rare thing to have such deep and unique characters in a light-hearted comedy series. My favorite thing about the series is that it is full of irreverent comedy, entertaining pop-culture references, and satirical allusion to classic comics; reading or listening to The Supervillainy Saga is a guaranteed way to lift your spirits and make you smile.

The narration is excellent and really brings life to the saga's characters.  Jeffrey Kafer is a talented narrator that has really managed to capture (or create) the personality of the primary characters through unique voices and makes this book very entertaining to listen to.  I already knew Kafer was an excellent voice actor, so it's even higher praise for me to say that he takes his performance to an all-new level with The Supervillainy Saga.  His excellent narration creates tense moments, engaging action scenes, lovable characters (even the villains!), and hilarious dialog.  Phipps and Kafer together make this book a great success.

Special thanks to C.T. Phipps, who provided me with this book at my request.

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Review: The Horror of Supervillainy

The Horror of Supervillainy by C.T. Phipps
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Why do they keep underestimating Gary?

It’s been a long, painful wait for the next Supervillainy Saga book and I was so happy when I saw that Book 7 was out, available, and narrated by the great Jeffrey Kafer. Gary continues to be too good to be a great villain yet too insane to be a good hero.  But that’s okay, he always carves out his own place and plays by his own rules.  Of course, if you are reading a review for Book 7, I’m assuming you’ve at least read or listened to a few of these books and know all that.  And if you haven’t, you really, really need to start.  Go and get Book 1 now!

Book 7 initially seemed to be looser on plot than some of the previous books, but in the end, everything came together so well that I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it coming. However, the insanity reaches new heights at the end of the book, so I don't even know where it can go here -- I hope there’s still more Supervillainy Saga to come. To say more would give it away, but this book is full of the same great puns, pop culture references, and crazy, Gary-related antics as the other books in the series. And just like in some of the more recent books in the series, there are some guest characters (both new and old friends) that really make this story enjoyable.

I can’t say enough good things about Jeffrey Kafer, he rocks all the voices, both male and female, including the numerous accents that I’m sure Phipps writes into the books just to challenge him. Kafer had always been on my “good” narrator list, but after listening to seven books in the Supervillainy Saga, he’s right up there at the top. 

Special thanks to C.T. Phipps, who provided me with this book at my request.

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Review: One Day as a Lion

One Day as a Lion by Jonathan E. Hernandez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had a hard time really deciding what to say about One Day as a Lion and how to rate it, as there are tons of great things about the book, but also a few nagging issues. At the start, I was pretty convinced this was going to end up as a three-star book, but by the end, I’d give it four stars. Averaging it out, it’s a solid three and a half stars, but I think there is a good chance future books in this series will be better. So overall, I’m rounding it up to four stars (since we don’t have a half rating).

The world-building was my favorite part of the novel and it involves a really unique take on human colonization and evolution. The Regime was a different kind of antagonist that I haven’t really seen before and I really found their xenobiology-based technology and distinctive culture fascinating. The level of development and detail put into the Regime is impressive. Talks-To-His-Spear’s POV chapters were great and everything involving the Regime was well done. I’d quickly pick up a novel that focused on the Regime’s POV that explored their culture, politics, and history.

My main critique of One Day as a Lion boils down to the quality of writing, particularly throughout the first half or so of the book. At the beginning of the book, most of the text is heavy on plot-driving dialog and action, but short on the descriptive text to really describe what’s going on and who the characters are. The pacing is odd and the story skips forward without transition text, which makes it hard to figure out how characters moved to a new location or scene. The missing transitions and “travel” scenes also meant less opportunity for character development, so most of the characters end up feeling flat and didn’t grow beyond their cliche military character tropes.

But, from what I understand, this is Hernandez’s first published book and the writing continued to improve as I moved deeper into the story. By the end of the book, I felt like there had been a dramatic improvement. I think the next book will be even better.

Ryan Kennard Burke narrates the audio version and does a good job with the story and unique characters. I don’t have any complaints about Burke’s performance, voices, or accents.

Special thanks to Aethon Books, who provided me this book free of charge at my request.

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Review: Aftershocks

Aftershocks by Marko Kloos
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 It's not Frontlines, but it's still pretty good

I know Marko Kloos by his Frontlines series, which has become one of my favorite military sci-fi to listen to. Knowing how great that series was, I dived into The Palladium Wars as soon as I got the chance. First, let me say other than being in the same type of military sci-fi genre, the two series couldn't be more different (but they are both excellent!). While Frontlines was a very personal story told from the first-person perspective of a soldier, The Palladium wars rotates between the point of view characters in each chapter, with each character being far separated from the others in this first book. I'm going to assume the series will follow the same formula usually used by this POV style and eventually the POV characters will be pushed together as either friends or foes as their individual storylines cross. I'm bringing up these points because much like other series that follow this formula, the first book is meant to set up the plot so that it can start moving into the first story arc and introducing the cast of POV characters. Therefore, it IS a bit slow -- but the world that is being set up is amazingly complex and detailed, the writing is excellent, and so far the plot is intriguing.

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