This is a YA fantasy that will resonate with teenagers. It has a marvelous tone, especially the dialogue. The two main characters have a wonderful relationship, realistically presented. While the vocabulary is advanced, the level of wit will also appeal to adults who influence the purchase of the book. Some of the parenthetical asides are […]
“Splinter: Onyros Chronicles Book One” by D. K. Thorne
The story starts out with far too much technical explanation. The setting and the science are too complex for the average reader to understand. We are bombarded with surrealistic landscapes, or perhaps mindscapes. We are inundated with psychological technobabble. Switches from second person to first person and past to present can give an added edge […]
“Womansplainer” by Shakil Somani
There is a strange contradiction in the writing of a Fantasy or Science Fiction novel. The setting, both social and physical, is more or less a function of the author’s imagination, but somewhere in it there must be an element of truth, or readers don’t connect with the story. One of the traditional truths is […]
“The Starship from Speculari” by Tom Briggs
This is a light-hearted, fast-paced Space Opera with no particular concern for scientific accuracy or plot logic. It is more concerned with personalities, relationships and entertainment. The hero is Joe Hanson, a farmer with an interesting background that makes it almost plausible that he might cope with being kidnapped by an alien and, through a […]
“Job Junky” by Rudy Ridolfo
This writer has done something rather impressive, here, that I wish many autobiographers would emulate. He has told us a great deal about what kind of person he is without talking about himself. He promised us a book about the jobs he has failed at, and that is exactly what he produced. There is no […]