Tag Archives: book reviews

Review: Star Wars: Scoundrels, by Timothy Zahn

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cover art: Star Wars Scoundrels, by Timothy ZahnStar Wars Scoundrels, by Timothy Zahn (LucasBooks 2013)

Remember the reward Han Solo earned in the original Star Wars movie (A New Hope) for his part in the Death Star’s destruction? The money that would have let him pay off Jabba the Hutt? Well, he lost it to pirates, and now he’ll take just about any crazy chance to make some cash.

So when a stranger offers a fortune to recover an even larger fortune in stolen credits, Han and Chewie are in. They’re smugglers, not thieves, but they have connections. Counting their employer, Eanjer, Solo’s team numbers 11.

The challenge: infiltrate the estate of a major crime boss, recover the credits with equal shares for each. Why is Eanjer so generous with his money? He claims it’s as much about revenge as about cash. But Lando is quick to point out Han’s history of not always trusting the right people.

The complication: Imperial Intelligence wants access to the same estate, and if they can manipulate Solo’s 11 into taking all the risks, so much the better.

Risks? It may be impossible.

Because it’s a heist novel, the first quarter is setup—interesting rather than action-heavy. Once the team begins to act, there are chases, explosions and plenty of danger in true, over-the-top caper style. And there’s a bit near the end that takes on extra significance when you remember that in the films, Han Solo was played by Harrison Ford, who also played Indiana Jones.

Scoundrels is a satisfying puzzle novel with plenty of adrenaline, and you don’t need to know more than the basics about the original Star Wars trilogy. I was expecting Han, Chewie and Lando, and was pleased to see Winter as another team member. Apparently Kell will also be familiar to those who’ve read more of the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels than I have. The other characters are new for this novel, and they’re worth meeting.

It’s a plot-driven novel, but the characters are well-developed, with their own struggles, tensions and interactions. It’s interesting to see Han in a planning role here… shades of General Solo in days to come. And the setting is impressive: the heist is to go down during the planet’s annual Festival of Four Honorings, amid the crowds and lavish displays. Characters, technology and setting never upstage the plot, but support it and enhance the experience.

Timothy Zahn is an award-winning, bestselling author known for both his original science fiction and his work in the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

[Review copy from my personal library. Amazon link is an affiliate link for The Word Guild.]

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Review: Shaded Light, by J.A. Menzies

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Shaded Light, by JA MenziesShaded Light, by J.A. Menzies (MurderWillOut Mysteries, ebook version 2013)

It’s the July long weekend, and there’s a house party at George and Ellen Brodie’s new mansion in an exclusive Toronto community. Expected guests: their son, his close friend, Ellen’s country cousin, both of George’s lawyer business partners and their wives.

But there are also unexpected guests, three to be exact: a black sheep nephew, an ex-wife, and a wallflower sister.

Add in two household staff to complete the picture.

At least one of the fourteen will die before the party’s over. Because at least one other among them a murderer.

Shaded Light reads like a contemporary Agatha Christie novel. Instead of Hercule Poirot, readers meet Detective-Inspector Paul Manziuk (man’s-hook) and rookie detective Jacqueline Ryan. He’s experienced, old-school and white, she’s young, female and black.

Manziuk’s under pressure to catch a serial killer who leaves no clues, and now he’s handed the Brodie case too. He doesn’t have time to find out if Ryan can do the job… or if she’s just a political appointment.

To solve the case, Manziuk and Ryan must pierce the suspects’ outer facades and untangle the secrets within. It’s fun to watch them learn to work together along the way.

Shaded Light is book one in the Manziuk and Ryan mystery series, originally published by St. Kitts Press in 2000. The newly-issued ebook includes the author’s original prologue, omitted from the print book. The prologue works well to set the tone, and I think it’s an improvement.

I read the print version years ago and was curious to read it again. The story holds up well to a second reading. As it happens, I only remembered a few details and none of them spoiled the ending. Even if I’d remembered whodunnit, it would have still been a good read to watch the case set up and the unfold.

J.A. Menzies is the pen name of N.J. Lindquist, a Canadian author, speaker and teacher who writes fiction and non-fiction for adults and young adults. She’s a founding director of The Word Guild, co-editor of the Hot Apple Cider anthologies, and she’s usually juggling two or three projects at a time. With such a diverse list of activities, you can see why she chose to use a pen name to minimize reader confusion. To learn more about the author, visit Canadian Mystery Author J.A. Menzies.

Shaded Light and its sequel, Glitter of Diamonds, are both available as ebooks, and J.A. Menzies is working on a third in the series. I look forward to spending more time with these two detectives.

Purchase links for Shaded Light: Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Kobo, Ganxy.

[Review copy provided by the author. Amazon links are affiliate links for The Word Guild.]

Review: Though Mountains Fall, by Dale Cramer

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Though Mountains Fall cover artThough Mountains Fall, by Dale Cramer (Bethany House, 2013)

Caleb Bender has done what he believed God wanted: transplanted his family to Paradise Valley, Mexico, to establish an Amish community free from governmental interference. Other families have followed him, and after three years, the population is over 100, including many children.

They’ve survived illness and bandits, and their farms are thriving, but they live in the shadow of violence. And unless they can convince a Bishop to join them, Caleb knows the community will fold.

Caleb’s own world is folding. He’s already buried a son in Mexico, and now he’s losing a daughter. When she marries outside the Amish community, he’ll have to count her as dead to his family. Grief, and doubt that he heard God right in the first place about pioneering this settlement, threaten his peace.

Against this backdrop, Though Mountains Fall shares the story of two of Caleb’s daughters, Miriam and Rachel, and the men they love. And their sisterly bond that will stand “though mountains fall”.

Dale Cramer is an excellent writer, and this novel is no exception. The fact that I enjoyed it less than the previous two in the series has to do with there being less adventure and more relationship dynamics. Plus, the story itself required a darker tone or Caleb would never have faced his personal crisis. The ending warmed my heart, though.

This is the third and final book in the Daughters of Caleb Bender series, but readers who want to follow the family into the next generation can pick up Dale Cramer’s earlier novel, Levi’s Will. For more about Christy Award winner Dale Cramer and his books, visit DaleCramer.com. You can also read an excerpt of Though Mountains Fall.

[Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group.]

Review: The Halcyon Dislocation, by Peter Kazmaier

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The Halcyon Dislocation The Halcyon Dislocation, by Peter Kazmaier (Word Alive Press, Second Edition, 2012)

Dave Schuster is an engineering student at Halcyon University, located off the coast of North Carolina. His uncle is the University Chancellor but they don’t cross paths often—until a physics experiment gone wrong rips the entire island out of our current space-time and plants it on another planet.

The theory is that the experiment shifted them—dislocated them—within time to a parallel Earth. The immediate goal: survival until the equipment can be rebuilt for an attempt to reverse the process. Well, survival and exploration. After all, there’s a whole new world out there, and Halcyon’s resources won’t last the months it may take to get home.

The Halcyon Dislocation follows the classic science fiction storyline of humans on a strange, new world. I appreciated Dave’s mention of my favourite Jules Verne novel, The Mysterious Island, and although there are similarities (they’re stranded, the land seems uninhabited but full of potential, they survive by adapting and inventing) this is a far different plot.

Without giving too much away, I can say that the explorers encounter remnants of a past civilization which developed differently from that of our own Earth. This alternate Earth has enough in common with ours to make it easy for readers to imagine, with key differences in plant and animal life that provide the richness of a foreign planet.

The novel also explores how human society might look if controlled solely by an intellectual, rationalist approach. Dave’s friend Al is perhaps the only spiritually-healthy Christian influence we meet, and he comes under extra attack from the leaders, who label him mentally ill because he claims to communicate with God.

The Halcyon Dislocation delivers a mix of action, danger, intrigue, philosophical and religious discussion, and even a bit of romance. It’s a long book, which is often a plus in the science fiction genre, and Dave and his friends certainly experience enough variety in the course of the story that there’s no risk of the reader asking “Are we done yet?”

Building on his background in scientific research and as a university professor, Peter Kazmaier writes “fiction at the intersection of adventure, science, faith and philosophy.” The Halcyon Dislocation is Book 1 of The Halcyon Cycle, and it sets up nicely for a sequel. Dr. Kazmaier’s most recent book is Questioning Your Way to Faith, which takes place on the  Halcyon campus before the Dislocation. You can learn more about the author and his books at PeterKazmaier.com.

[Review copy provided by the author.]
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Review: Wrecked, by Jeff Goins

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Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life, by Jeff GoinsWRECKED: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life, by Jeff Goins (Moody Publishers, 2012)

You know those books you buy because you’re sure they’ll have a big impact on your life? And then you leave them alone because you sense the process will be uncomfortable?

Don’t do that with this book.

Yes, buy it, but do yourself a favour and read it.

Based on the subtitle (When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life), I expected a book full of painful stories. That’s why it sat on my e-reader for so long, untouched.

Wrecked does share experiences—the author’s and others’—with the homeless and the poor, and they catch at the heart but not in a damaging way.

The main point I took from the first chapters is that yes, the needs are overwhelming, and no, we can’t make it all better, whatever “it” is. But it’s okay—even healthy—to step into others’ hard places and to offer what small help we can, even if it’s only by our presence.

Many of us hold back because we fear the pain. Since reading Wrecked, I understand that entrusting the pain to God’s wiser care is enough. I don’t have to fix it, just to do my part in His work. In fact, the book warns,

When we rush past these messy and uncomfortable moments, we take away the experiences that teach us mercy. [Wrecked, Kindle Locations 411-412]

Jeff Goins’ premise is that we each need to be wrecked to learn how to fully live. To learn that it’s not all about us. The wrecking “process” is unique to each of us. As such, the book focuses more on “what next?”

For younger adults,  he talks about not perpetually chasing yet another wrecked experience but learning the value of commitment, of sticking with a person or situation when things get hard. This is part of growing up, and it’s preparation for long-term commitments like careers, marriage and children. I liked his suggestion that our mobile younger adults begin with short-term commitments of 1-2 years (for work and volunteering, not marriage!).

Commitment teaches us to persevere for the long term, to choose to do the hard-but-right thing even when that’s something mundane like changing diapers, one more day at the 9-to-5, or simply routine chores. That’s just as much a denial of self as going on a short-term mission to serve the needy. It’s serving others and not indulging ourselves.

I’m in the older age group, and the challenge to “do the hard thing” has encouraged me in the same-old-same-old of responsibility. I’ve found myself repeating that advice when I’m tempted to slack off or whine about preparing yet another meal or cleaning another bathroom.

Wrecked is a book I’ll go back to again. I’ve taken advantage of Kindle’s highlighting feature and marked many passages. Here are a few:

We’ve believed a lie. We’ve been told life is about us. [Wrecked, Kindle Locations 451-452]

If you don’t acquire the discipline to push through a personal low point, you will miss the reward that comes with persevering. [Wrecked, Kindle Locations 1468-1469]

Jeff Goins is a 20-something writer with a heart to share what he knows. I’ve gained a lot from his blog and newsletter. Visit Goins, Writer to learn more about who he is and what he does. You might want to check out his podcast series The Wrecked Sessions, where he explores “what it means to live a more selfless, purposeful life.” To read more about Wrecked and to access sample chapters, click here.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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Review: Freeheads, by Kerry Nietz

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Freeheads by Kerry NietzFreeheads, by Kerry Nietz (Marcher Lord Press, 2011)

Freeheads is the final book in the Dark Trench Saga. (Links to my previous reviews: A Star Curiously Singing and The Superlative Stream)

The novel opens with Sandfly and HardCandy en route back to Earth, where Sandfly knows he must somehow share what he’s learned about the true God with the people they left behind. But there are—surprise!—complications. Will he make it home, or will he get diverted again from his path? How can he speak, and who will listen?

I enjoy the characters, especially Sandfly, HardCandy and DarkTrench, and it’s good to reconnect with some people from their past. This story is all in Sandfly’s point of view except for an opening recap where Trench has a turn at narration. (I know Trench is “only” a ship, but there’s enough AI and personality in him to make him likeable.)

Freeheads is a fun read and a good end to the series, perhaps my favourite book of the three. As the situation got more and more complicated, I kept wondering how the author would write his way out of it, but of course he did, in a way that surprised and satisfied me.

The Dark Trench Saga books have been well-received with nominations and awards, and Freeheads won an EPIC 2013 eBook Award in the Science Fiction category. Kerry Nietz has a new novel out now, Mask, which I’ll be reviewing shortly. You can learn more about the author at nietz.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: The Knitting Fairy, by Jaime Marsman

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The Knitting FairyThe Knitting Fairy, by Jaime Marsman (Shade Tree Publishing, 2012)

Librarian’s Assistant Molly Stevenson has her life planned out. In fact, The Plan is stuck to her fridge where she can review it regularly. She loves her job, and if she can survive until her abrasive boss retires, she’ll inherit the position.

Until a woman who looks just like Mother Goose comes into the library with a long-overdue book. And then Molly gets fired. And then Mother Goose (whose real name is Carolyn) finds her and offers her a  job in a knitting store.

A knitting store? Molly had no idea such things existed or could turn a profit. As Carolyn would say, she’s been “denying her inner knitter.”

On impulse, Molly turns her back on The Plan and takes the job. And discovers she loves to knit. (Learning is an understandable condition of employment.)

The Knitting Fairy is a light-hearted mystery that knitters are sure to love. It’s not a murder mystery, but Carolyn’s store, Crabapple Yarns, has been receiving threatening calls. And shortly after Molly starts work there, people’s knitting projects begin getting mysterious “help”. Customers joke about a knitting fairy, but who’s behind this? When the “help” changes to sabotage, it has to be stopped. But how?

The story is told in first person, and Molly makes a cheerful and funny narrator. Suspects abound, and I completely missed the clues about the Knitting Fairy’s identity. How the culprit gets access to the knitters’ projects doesn’t really work for me, but it’s a minor point. And the book has a few more copyediting errors than average. I read the Kindle version, but it’s also available in print.

The Knitting Fairy is book 1 in the Crabapple Yarns series, so I hope to see book 2 in the future. Jaime Marsman is a knitwear designer as well as a novelist. Visit her website to learn more about the book and author (scroll down the page to see the options) or stop by the Yarns From Crabapple Yarns blog to see what the novel’s characters have to say. You can also find Jaime Marsman on Facebook.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: Speaking From Among the Bones, by Alan Bradley

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Speaking From Among the Bones cover artSpeaking From Among the Bones, by Alan Bradley (Doubleday, 2012)

Flavia de Luce lives with her father and two older sisters in a decaying English country manor in 1951. She’s almost 12 and has already solved four murders, to the chagrin of the local constabulary (who are beginning to show her some grudging respect).

In this mystery, she discovers another body—this time in conjunction with the excavation of the village church’s patron saint’s tomb, honouring the 500th anniversary of his death. Why do the Bishop and the Magistrate want to block the project? What’s the secret hidden in the Magistrate’s creepy manor? And, of course, who killed the dead man?

Flavia’s family fortunes are slowly succumbing to what her father calls “His Majesty’s leeches” and in this novel the dreaded day comes when Buckshaw Manor must be put up for sale. The crisis, plus perhaps a bit of maturing among the sisters, gives them a common focus. I appreciate Alan Bradley’s deftly understated portrayal of the family dynamics, and I’ve come to care for the somewhat dysfunctional de Luces and their staff.

Although Flavia is a “child sleuth” there’s a rich depth to the stories that make them satisfying to (and designed for) adults. I like the humour and the word choices, and Flavia’s fixation with chemicals and poisons. She’s one of those delightful characters that you might not want to live with but who’s awfully fun to read about.

Alan Bradley’s mysteries are gentle reads in the “Golden Age” style, and this one ends with a surprising turn that has me a little perturbed about having to wait a whole year to find out what will happen next (in The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches). This is a series that builds on itself, so for maximum enjoyment a reader would begin with book 1, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. But you can start with any one of them and not feel out of place.

To learn more about Alan Bradley and the Flavia de Luce mysteries, visit Flavia de Luce or pop over to Canadian Living‘s Saturday Afternoon Book Club to read an interview with the author about this newest book in the series.

[Review copy from my local public library. Amazon link is an affiliate link for The Word Guild.]

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Review: Sinking Deeper, by Steve Vernon

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Sinking Deeper cover artSinking Deeper: Or My Questionable (Possibly Heroic) Decision to Invent a Sea Monster, by Steve Vernon (Nimbus, 2011)

Fourteen-year-old Roland lives in the dying seaside town of Deeper Harbour, Nova Scotia. His parents have separated, and when he’s with his police-chief father, he sleeps at the jail while his dad does night patrol.

Except when his grandfather convinces him to sneak out for some prank-type vandalism. That’s how the story opens, and lest parents be concerned, there are consequences and restitution. There’s also, through a madcap series of events, the inspiration of how to revitalize the town’s tourist industry so Roland’s mom won’t make him move to Ottawa in search of a better future.

Roland, along with Grandpa Angus, 15-year-old Dulsie, and her father Warren, will create a sea monster. And they do—through spreading rumours and building an actual “Fogopogo” for the townspeople’s “sightings”.

The story is told in the first person with evocative descriptions like this one:

I … squoodged the sleep-sand out of my eyeballs with the sides of my fists. (p. 3)

And observations like this one:

The idea that had been sneaking around the basement of my imagination jumped up and smacked me directly between the eyes. (p. 30)

This is a fun novel, heartwarming in places, and with plenty of humour. It also has plenty of depth, which, sadly, makes for a more realistic ending than I’d hoped. But the characters are delightful, and Roland discovers new layers to these people he’s grown up with and thinks he knows.

I heartily recommend Sinking Deeper for young adult readers and adults who are still in touch with their 12-to-14-year-old selves. Sinking Deeper was nominated for the Silver Birch and Hackmatack Awards.

Steve Vernon is the author of four collections of Maritime ghost stories, the children’s picture book Maritime Monsters, and more. He and his publisher, Nimbus, are local to me, but I heard of this book through a blog giveaway (and won!) You can learn more about Steve Vernon at his blog and on Facebook.

[Review copy won from Polilla Writes.]
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Review: Hill of Great Darkness, by H. C. Beckerr

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Hill of Great DarknessHill of Great Darkness, by H. C. Beckerr (WestBow Press, 2011)

In the year 2037, a prototype spaceship called Magellan sets out from Earth on a mission to test a revolutionary new propulsion system—and disappears. The US government will label what happens next “The Magellan Incident” and bury it deep in classified files. An international terrorist group will use whatever means necessary to find the truth and use it for mass destruction.

There’s much to like about this story. The technology is clever and plausible (to this non-scientist reader), the spacecraft itself is funded privately instead of being tied to a particular government’s agenda, there’s a terrorist threat, there are interesting characters, and there are surprises. There’s even a link to the past and the mysterious disappearance of the Native American people known as the Mississippians, of whom I had not heard.

The story is narrated from an omniscient viewpoint, complete with sprinkles of dry humour. While the voice is natural for relating anecdotes over coffee, the low-key delivery often “tells, rather than shows,” which might better suit a literary tale than an action-based plot.

The characters are a mix of heroes, scientists, ordinary folk and villains. Perhaps my favourite is Simone Syette, a brilliant Ugandan scientist who speaks her mind, trusts in Jesus Christ, and is the inventor of Magellan‘s drive unit. It’s clear that the author knows and loves his characters and has put serious time into developing them.

Hill of Great Darkness is a good story that could have been fantastic. The elements are all there, waiting to be teased out by a gifted editor. I’d love to see what Marcher Lord Press would have done with this.

The novel is well worth reading, and the ending sets up a sequel. You can read an interview with H. C. Beckerr at The Old Stone Wall (that’s where I won a copy of the book)  and connect with him on Facebook. Hill of Great Darkness is available in softcover, hardcover, and ebook formats. Amazon.ca, Amazon.com.

[Review copy won through a giveaway at The Old Stone Wall. Amazon links are affiliate links for The Word Guild.]

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