Category: Book Review
Hollowland by Amanda Hocking
(Cover picture courtesy of Amanda Hocking’s Blog.)
“This is the way the world ends – not with a bang or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door.”
Nineteen-year-old Remy King is on a mission to get across the wasteland left of America, and nothing will stand in her way – not violent marauders, a spoiled rock star, or an army of flesh-eating zombies.
After enjoying Amanda Hocking’s Trylle trilogy, which was admittedly light reading but still good, I decided to give Hollowland a go. I mean, it’s about zombies and it was free on Amazon at the time so why not? I had already read Amanda Hocking’s work and liked it so it seemed like it would be a winner.
Except it wasn’t. The plot was so cliché that I could pretty much predict all of the plot twists. And certain elements were so unbelievable that I have to laugh. A pet lion, really? Even if it was tame before the apocalypse, it certainly would not have stayed tame after Remy freed it from a bunch of zombies. Okay, if I suspend disbelief on that front long enough I still find the rest of the plot either trite or unbelievable.
Harlow is thirteen but is so immature you would think she’s eight years old, Remy knows how to get things done but is an unemotional robot and Lazlo is just plain annoying. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the fact that Remy’s little brother is taken by the government for immunity testing and Remy wasn’t is just a little unbelievable considering they’re siblings and therefore could share the same DNA that makes them immune.
The characters were unlikeable and the plot was, well, nonexistent. Remy and the gang do a bunch of travelling and get chased by zombies a couple of times, find the quarantine zone and just relax until the very end. Trust me, you can predict what happens at the end by chapter two. Honestly, I would have expected quite a lot more from Amanda Hocking, considering that I enjoyed her Trylle trilogy. Sure, it was a little predictable and there were a few clichés, but there was nothing on the level of Hollowland.
Moving on from the characters and the plot, I did find one good thing about Hollowland: the zombies. The zombies are more of the 28 Days Later fast zombie type than the traditional slow type. They display a lot more intelligence than zombies in some books and even lay an ambush for the characters at one point. However, there is exactly zero information on the virus/parasite/whatever that caused the zombies and virtually no backstory about how or when the apocalypse started. It’s frustrating because that’s the one element I actually enjoyed in the story.
Overall? I’d give Hollowland a solid ‘meh’. The zombies are okay, but the characters and plot are either boring or unbelievable.
I give this book 2/5 stars.
Zombie, Inc. by Christine Dougherty
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Twenty-five years after the deadly plague, the United Five State Republic’s most successful company, Zombie, Inc., is in trouble. Will a simple case of dwindling supply and lessening demand be the end of them or will Zombie, Inc. find a way, however unpalatable, to survive?
Zombie, Inc. is an awesome new twist on the whole evil corporation trope. I don’t say that lightly either because the evil corporation trope is done quite a bit these days, not entirely undeservedly. Politics aside, if you love zombie novels you’ll love this new take on the zombie mythos.
Christine Dougherty’s zombies are pretty standard fare: they’re generally slow but the new ones are obviously stronger and faster. However, what’s done with the zombies by Zombie Inc. is incredible: since zombies aren’t as much of a threat as looters 25 years post-apocalypse, they’re used as chained-up watchdogs. Zombie Inc. has built its whole business model on the fact that there will be enough zombies to supply this guard dog demand, but now that the zombie supply is running out what will the corporation do?
I think you can sort of guess, but let me tell you more about Christine Dougherty’s post-apocalyptic evil corporation. People at Zombie Inc now work seven days a week because it’s safer, they work ten hour days minimum and get only 2 days off per year for their first year of work. Two days a year! And the world is so changed that everyone just accepts this without question; Zombie Inc. is there to protect you, after all. In between the chapters in a series of training manual clips, press releases and advertisements we learn a whole lot more about Zombie Inc. and its less than savory business practices.
With world-building like this it would be easy to let the evil corporation theme steal the scenes and leave the characters undeveloped. I won’t say that Christine Dougherty had absolutely amazing character development, but her characters were interesting and generally well-developed. I particularly liked Carl’s backstory, even if Candy’s was a little random. Once we got to see things from Dill’s (Dillalia’s) point of view, she started to carry the story on her shoulders, especially toward the end. Carl was still my overall favourite character because of his tragic past, but Dill was decent enough.
The plot was well paced and although some of the plot twists were a little predictable, the characters and awesome world-building more than made up for it. In short, if you love zombies, you’ll love Zombie, Inc.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
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Water by Terra Harmony
(Cover picture courtesy of Terra Harmony’s site.)
Elemental powers in the palm of her hand…and it won’t be enough to save her.
When Kaitlyn Alder is involuntarily introduced to a life of magic, she becomes part of an organization hell-bent on saving the Earth. Just as her new-found life holds promises of purpose, romance, and friendship, the organization divides and a rogue member holds Kaitlyn hostage. Now one of the most terrifying men the human race has to offer stands between her and Earth’s survival.
Water is a contemporary eco-fantasy, the first of a four book series. This novel contains adult language and sexual situations (some non-consensual).
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
Water is an interesting book, for lack of a better word. It has some interesting magical scenarios and some good characters but it also made me slightly uncomfortable, which I suppose was Terra Harmony’s intention. If some of the scenes here hadn’t made me uncomfortable I suppose I should be in therapy right now.
Part of what I loved about Water is the whole mythos surrounding Gaias (women who control the elements). Kaitlyn accidentally found out she was a Gaia like many before her. She can control all of the elements, but unlike so many heroines actually has to train long and hard before she can even begin to master some of the most basic tasks. Her relationship with Micah complicates things slightly in her training and I like how when he does terrible things to her in the name of ‘training’ she gets mad at him and stays mad. No Insta-Forgiveness here, thank goodness. Later on, when we learn some of the horrifying implications of being a Gaia and what has happened to past Gaias a lot of what happens to Kaitlyn makes sense.
Obviously, I liked Kaitlyn as a character. She’s a heroine who, when she gets mad, stays mad at someone. Of course she’s capable of forgiveness, but some of the things that happen to her (the greenhouse incident comes to mind) aren’t easily forgiven. She isn’t a kick-butt heroine all of the time, but nor is she a damsel in distress. Her actions once she’s kidnapped prove that despite the psychological, physical and sexual torture she’s put through. I don’t want to go into much detail because of spoilers, but Terra Harmony put in a trigger warning for a reason when it comes to the last half of the book.
The only thing I didn’t really like was Shawn as the villain. On the surface he seemed like he had some motivation, but when you peel back the thin layers he’s not what I would consider a memorable villain. Maybe later on he gains far more motivation for wanting to get rid of Kaitlyn, but at the moment he definitely seems like your stereotypical mad villain. I’m picky with my villains, so that’s a comparatively minor complaint when you consider all of the good things Water has to offer.
The plot slowly becomes fast-paced after Kaitlyn discovers she is a Gaia and I’m so glad that Terra Harmony knew something about pacing. The tension slowly ratchets up as it builds up to the climax and even the ending doesn’t bring total relief. What a cliffhanger to leave readers with! Despite my misgivings about Shawn, Water was an overall great read that has some really good things going for it. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Air.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Lost in Shadow by Cynthia Luhrs
(Cover picture courtesy of Nomi’s Paranormal Palace.)
A relaxing vacation to Scotland turns deadly when a chance encounter with a mysterious stranger leads to murder. Shocked when she witnesses a man commit murder before disappearing in front of her eyes, Emily learns she possesses an extraordinary ability allowing her to interact with ghosts.
Unwittingly drawn into shadow when she intervenes to help Colin, igniting the ancient warrior’s long-buried desires, she unleashes a terrible curse. Now with only a week to break the curse, time is running out as they are locked in a deadly fight with forces that will stop at nothing to destroy them before they succeed. Intensely romantic and thrilling, Lost in Shadow portrays the struggle between redemption, retribution and the desire to find a love that transcends time.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
The whole unavenged ghost thing was really starting to wear on me before I read Lost in Shadow. Not because I had read many books about it, but because it seemed in pop culture there were no really new, unique takes on it. Pretty much every story sounded the same. That was until I read Lost in Shadow, of course.
Colin is now one of my new favourite love interests, not only because of that Scottish accent I seem so attracted to, but because he actually has a believable backstory for becoming a Shadow Walker. Despite his terrible past he’s also never that typical bad boy who needs to be shown the fun side of life by the heroine. It’s actually quite a refreshing change, especially when you consider how easily Cynthia Luhrs could have fallen into the cliché trap with the whole Scottish warrior/modern American girl dynamic.
At first Emily seems like a typical romance heroine in that she’s gone to Scotland to recover from a failed relationship and stumbles onto a great guy with a mysterious past. But what I loved about Lost in Shadow is that Emily is allowed to grow out of this two dimensional role and becomes a strong heroine in her own right. She doesn’t always just stand by waiting to be saved but at the same time she’s not one of these instant action girls that kicks butt constantly. Her past combined with Colin’s makes for an interesting relationship dynamic to be sure, but that added layer of the Shadow Walker curse makes it even more interesting.
I love how Cynthia Luhrs could have written a typical romance novel with very little world-building but didn’t. The Shadow Walker and Day Walker conflict is fascinating and we even get to see how the two types of ‘ghosts’ came into being. Throw in a mysterious way for Shadow Walkers to break their curse/gift and you’ve got the makings of a great fantasy novel as well. The romance between Colin and Emily is obviously still the main focus but despite my general distaste for romance novels, it didn’t bother me at all. In fact, the romance in this novel actually contributed to both the plot and the character development. It was a refreshing change.
I saw the ending coming a mile away, but I guess every once in a while you have to have endings like the one in Lost in Shadow, right?
I give this book 5/5 stars.
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Prophecy of Solstice’s End by Diantha Jones
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Summer Solstice is here. Let the games begin.
Nothing but lies (some of them her own) and deceit have brought Chloe to Olympus for the Solstice Olympic Games. As the Oracle and the special guest of the King of Myth, Chloe becomes immersed in a life of unfathomable luxury, taunting history, and overwhelming excitement. Though scheming and untrustworthy, the gods remain on their best behavior as the tension and anticipation builds around the outcome of the Quest of the Twelve Labors, the deadliest competition of the Games. All seems well on the celestial front…until athletes start turning up dead and a philosopher missing for months returns with a most terrifying story…
But that’s not all.
As Strafford confronts his troubled past and more is learned about the Great Unknown Prophecy, Chloe grows close to another, setting off a chain of events that will bring her face-to-face with a truth that will rock both of her worlds to their core.
And it’ll all happen before Solstice’s end…
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook copy from Diantha Jones as part of her blog tour in exchange for an honest review.]
With the first two books in the Oracle of Delphi series achieving high levels on the ‘awesome book’ scale I thought it would be hard for Prophecy of Solstice’s End to measure up. Yet Diantha Jones keeps surprising me over and over again. Once again, this book is better than the last one! And considering how much I loved Prophecy of the Setting Sunrise, that’s even more of an accomplishment.
I love how Chloe and Strafford’s relationship intensity is cranked up to 11 throughout the book. They’ve sort of settled into the whole being in a relationship idea and what results is whole new levels of commitment on both their parts as well as more drama later on. I can’t go into much more detail without giving anything away, but let’s just say that with the passion comes doubt and misunderstandings when Chloe joins Strafford in Myth.
One of my many favourite parts of Diantha Jones’ whole series is how she portrays the gods and goddesses from the Greek myths. Apollo is manipulative even with his own children, Hera hangs on every display of affection from her husband, Zeus is a scheming letch, etc. They’re portrayed as essentially the same people they were in the myths only now they’re in the modern day and are a huge threat to Chloe as the new Pythia. I also like how the children of the gods reflect their parents’ personalities, especially in the case of Aphrodite’s daughters. What was more interesting than how the gods were portrayed was the dynamic between them and their children. Some of the demigods fully accept their roles as heroes while others like Strafford are obviously questioning them. It certainly makes for lots more tension in Myth.
As with her last two books, Diantha Jones kept throwing twist after twist into the plot that blindsided me completely. The Regalis Stella problem from the last book? That’s not resolved yet either and in fact the problem is cranked up to 11 in Prophecy of Solstice’s End. In addition to that, Apollo’s war with Zeus is looming and it’s not as simplistic as it would seem. To be fair, nothing is simplistic in Prophecy of Solstice’s End and that’s one of the strengths of the Oracle of Delphi series: it keeps you guessing as to what’s going to happen next. And with that massive cliffhanger at the end of the book in the epilogue I’ll be left guessing about what will happen in Prophecy of the Betrayed Heir, the next book.
I give this book 5/5 stars.