Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

 

Four-star review of Girl from Nowhere by James Maxwell 

This is the first book in the Firewall Trilogy. Maxwell has built a fantastical world for this trilogy, filled with humans and other strange animals. Taimin’s parents are killed, and he’s injured to start his adventure. Raised by his aunt, he develops survival skills, which of course he needs later in the story. Much of what happens is predictable for this kind of story and some is contrived. I could have used a map to understand the relationship among the firewall, the wastes, the city, etc., and how big it all is. I am curious to see what happens in the next part, including what they find.

Tuesday Book Review - Late again

Four-star review of Fool Me Once by Harlan Corben

 

This was definitely a page-turner. A returning special-ops pilot witnesses the death of her husband and investigates his death and that of her sister (and a few other people). Assorted men help her. She’s suffering from PTSD, but that doesn’t explain some of the moves she makes. Few of the characters are fleshed out into believable people. The ending was more of a “What the…?” as an unsatisfying twist and I felt the final chapter about twenty-five years later from a different POV was added because the reveal was not reader-friendly. Still, I had a hard time putting the book down when I was reading it. 

Tuesday Book Reviews on Thursday

 Since I missed last week, here are two reviews

Four-star review of Excelsior, book one of New Frontiers by Jasper T. Scott

 Interesting first book for a series. This one takes place in the 2790s at a time when the world is divided into East, governed by the Confederacy, and West, where the Alliance calls the shots. Alexander and his wife live in the West and have traveled North to escape poverty but also to receive injections to be immortal and have perfect looks. To do this, he had to join the Alliance navy. At the start of the story, he is captain of a spaceship with a mission to go through a wormhole and determine if the planet, Wonderland, on the other side would be a good new home for Earth humans. The foreshadowing through the early parts of the book tended to give away what would happen later in the book. Still, this was an interesting story with good characters. The bits about time dilution that would mean a trip that took five months would translate to years on Earth were quite believable. I’ve enjoyed Scott’s books before, and although this wasn’t the best, it was still a quick and good read.

 

 

Four-star review of What Child is This by Rhys Bowen

 A short, quick read, really a long short story. Sweet and seasonal, it tells of a couple, Maggie and Jack, bombed out of their home on Christmas Eve in 1940, who find an abandoned child in an abandoned house in another part of London. The setup to enable them to continue to live with the child is a little too coincidental. Still, the characters are engaging, and the story gives a historically accurate picture of what citizens of London had to endure during the WWII bombings softened by the kindness of strangers. I hadn’t expected such a heart-warming story since Rhys Bowen usually writes mysteries.