Book Review: Hammerhead by Jason Andrew Bond

Hammerhead
by Jason Andrew Bond

Jeffrey Holt tears apart decommissioned ships that have been crash-landed in the Nevada desert. He’s a shipbreaker, no one of consequence—just as he wants it. However, decades after his role in the world mattered, someone is trying to kill him. Searching for a reason, he tears into the bridge of a derelict Kappa-Class freighter and finds corpses. As he stands on the bridge considering how to stay alive, a hand grips his leg...

When I saw the cover of the book, my first reaction was "Space:Above and Beyond?!". For fans of the TV show from the 90's S:AAB had a fighter plane called a Hammerhead, which the cover of this novel illicit-ed to a degree. However of course the big was nothing about S:AAB. Although now that I think about it, the author could have gotten inspiration from the show, and the novel could almost be called a homage or fanfic of what happened Fifty years later.

But I digress, the novel is about Jeffrey Holt, a man approaching retirement, who helps dismantle spaceships. He does this on the ground, where the ships are crashed, in the equivalent of a desert graveyard. One day though someone tries to kill him just as he's going to work, and he finds bodies and someone not quite dead in the wreckage of the latest decommissioned ship. Realizing his life is still endanger he calls on some old skills from the War as an Ace fighter pilot and lights off around the globe, hunting down this mystery, on the run from the military, and showing why he was a Hammerhead.

Bit of a spoiler, but part of the background plot is that most of the current generation in this novel, think there were never any aliens, or never any actual fighting during the First Solar War. Which leads to people thinking that Holt is delusional, or just a made up cog in a conspiracy. In all honesty I wrote a timeline, with background, and some details for something similar, in which a fracture humanity is attacked in space (just in our own Solar System) by an unknown alien invasion, lasting several years, after which no Alien survived leaving humanity puzzled as to where they came from. However in mine I at least had them leave traces of their technology since it's so hard to vaporize all traces of force capable of multiple D-Day invasions, which is why the whole Conspiracy in Hammerhead drove me a little nutty. Again however I digress.

Overall the novel was pretty good, although I would have preferred more polish, and a better ending. Not quite Deus-Ex but it was rather to neatly tied up. The fun parts were in the hide and go-seek during the Middle parts which had action, adventure, mystery, and some pretty fun fighter combat tucked in. If the author could have made that twice as long, any military sci-fi lover would be drooling. As is, it's still a good recommendation for those who like Military Sci-fi, or even Space:Above and Beyond, all from a more independent novelist.


Cost 4.00
Rated 3.00

Book Review: Control Point by Myke Cole

Control Point
Myke Cole
(Shadow Ops #1)

Lieutenant Oscar Britton of the Supernatural Operations Corps has been trained to hunt down and take out people possessing magical powers. But when he starts manifesting powers of his own, the SOC revokes Oscar's government agent status to declare him public enemy number one.

Ugh, why is it that time after time even after looking at a cover, reading excepts and reviews, that I find myself surprised when the book is nothing like I imagined? To be fair, most times the book is "better" then the descriptions as they are used to lure in the larger common denominator. Yet in this case I once again, find just the opposite. I went in expecting a book about a world similar to ours, where magic is more common place, to follow an Elite combined forces unit made up of Magic Users and Gun operators. Kind of like a Magic wielding Delta force. Heck the cover even said "Black Hawk Down Meets the X-Men". Yet the book is farther from the truth.

What's the book really about then? It's about a near future world, where magic or mutations have manifested in a percentage of the population, where the governments around the world scared to death of this new order turns the entire world into a semi-fascist state. One where any user of magic is either killed or forced to be in the military with no chance of parole. Of course in such a harsh world order there would also be resistors like our titular hero who becomes a leader of some of these. No but first before becoming a leader, he has to be one of the most unsympathetic, most idiotic soldiers in the Army. One who honestly is a more a danger to those who follow him, then those he's supposed to fight against.

So we have an unsympathetic hero, check. We have a story about someone rebellion against the evil oppressors without a real good character growth curve, check. And we have a rather black and white representation of people, the either you are for us, or you are against us approach, check. About the only good thing is some of the battle scenes, and even then when our hero narrates to much, it gets a little to whiny.

Good concept, annoying hero. Recommend only for those die hard military sci-fi junkies.


Cost 8.00
Rated 4.00
** Update: I was reading a post by Cat Valente whose doing some guest posts for Charles Stross on his site, and she had some interesting things to say about people disliking novels, even if they are the best thing since sliced bread. To that end, let me amend that although I didn't particular enjoy this book (mostly because I really didn't like the main character, and the fact that the cover and other reviews were pretty misleading) that it wasn't that bad. It's actual writing, grammar, layout, etc was quite sound and it did flow pretty well. So it wasn't a bad book, just either very sub-genre specific (military pron) or so non-specific as to make it just blah to me. My recommendation from above still stands, but I'm also just one voice, where many others obviously DO like this novel **

Book Review: Villians Inc by Marion G Harmon

Villains Inc
by Marion G Harmon
(Wearing the Cape #2)

Astra has finished her training and is now a full-fledged Sentinel, but things are not going well. She suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the public revelation of her relationship with Atlas has caused her popularity to nose-dive.

To complicate things, the Teatime Anarchist's intervention has changed the course of events--leaving her with lots of knowledge about the way the future was before the Big One, a complete future-history that is now out of date.

And just when she thinks she's getting a handle on things, unfolding events (a bank-robbery and a horrific murder) show that one of the nastier pieces of the old future isn't so out of date after all; unless she solves a murder before it happens, Blackstone is going to die.

In the first book, Astra became a Superhero, found love, lost love, fought the bad guys, and won all be it at a cost. So what do you with for an encore? Deal with a public that doesn't quite like anymore, the police who bore admire and find you annoying, a ghost in the shell, and a mystery that's less intricate but probably more deadly then before. Oh and Godzilla trying to trash Chicago. Can't get anymore fun then that.

Villains Inc is as much as the first novel, Wearing the Cape. On the other hand, I think as a sequel it needs a little more polish. Probably because the first novel languished longer on the author's desk, allowing them to tweak it a lot more. Where as Villains Inc was written due to the overwhelming popularity of the first novel. However it is still quite a good read. It did lack some of the finer plot intricacies of the first novel as well, but again not by much.

When I read the first novel back in August of 2011, I gave it a high review then, with a Cost of 3.00 and a rating of 7.00.  With the sequel I still think it's well worth it's price and heavily recommended it for those who enjoy really good Superhero drama and adventure.

On that note however, the author has advised that his next novel although set in the same universe will follow Artemis and not Astra. Although Astra's story may be continued at a later time.



Cost: 3.00
Rated: 6.00

Reading Log, January 2012 (Part 2)

Monster High
by Lisi Harrison
[Monster High #1] 

The monster community has kept a low profile at the local high school, but when two new girls enroll, the town will never be the same. Created just fifteen days ago, Frankie Stein is psyched to trade her father's formaldehyde-smelling basement lab for parties and prom.

But with a student body totally freaked out by rumors of monsters stalking the halls, Frankie learns that high school can be rough for a chic freak like her. She thinks she finds a friend in fellow new student Melody Carver-but can a "normie" be trusted with her big secret?

Short review, it's a Young Adult novel, about young teenage monsters living with their secret monster community, but attending a normal high school. High on angst and idiotic behavior, about trying to be true to yourself, and low on trying to really understand one's self. Good for the Young Adult crowd, and decently well written with polish. Annoying that that that the story arc is broken up into rather short books. Probably a good recommend for the Twilight type crowd, but not for me.

[Cost 9.00 / Rated 5.00]

Blaze of Glory
by Sheryl Nantus

Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.

Jo Tanis fights evil—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her, pitting them against each other in staged fights.

When Earth comes under attack, suddenly it becomes deadly real. Millions are going to die unless Jo can cobble together a team from the surviving supers. Including Hunter, who seems to know more than he should.

Forcing former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. She must decide if Hunter is friend or foe—and become a real superhero.

The concept/plot reminded me of bit of Playing for Keeps, although it's more accurate to say the concept is identical to Other People's Heroes and In Hero Years... I'm Dead. Superhero fights are fake, designed to keep real violence down to a minimum. The only problem is, when someone turns up who doesn't know it's fake, the whole world goes down the drains. While not unique in concept, the plot is different enough from the other novels I listed to be enjoyable on it's own. Also like all the other novels, the status quo is dumped by the end, to reveal a much more random world later, one that should lead to some rip-roaring super adventures. Another decently well written novel by a newcomer, one worth the price. Recommended for the Superhero enthusiasts.

[Cost 4.50 / Rated 5.00]

Nobody Gets The Girl
by James Maxey

Richard Rogers wakes one morning to find himself transformed into an invisible man. Suddenly thrust into a new life as a superhero called Nobody, he fights alongside two stunningly sexy superheroines – Rail Blade and the Thrill – in an effort to thwart the evil schemes of global terrorist Rex Monday. Sparks fly, adrenaline pulses, whole cities fall, but in the end, Nobody gets the girl!

Short review: A fun highly stylized look at if Dr Manhattan of Watchmen hadn't come back blue, but as a normally looking human, whose still a god. Okay, not quite what the novel is really about, the main villain and his origins really remind me of Dr Manhattan from Watchmen. While the hero, is the Invisible man, only really just the man whose not real. Fun to read, although a little complex at some points. But a good short novel from the author of Bitterwood.

[Cost 5.00 / Rated 4.00]

The Noise Within
by Ian Whates
[Noise #1]

On the brink of perfecting the long sought-after human/AI interface, Philip Kaufman finds his world thrown into turmoil as a scandal from the past returns to haunt him and dangerous information falls into his hands. Pursued by assassins and attacked in his own home, he flees. 

Leyton, a government black-ops specialist, is diverted from his usual duties to hunt down the elusive pirate vessel The Noise Within, wondering all the while why this particular freebooter is considered so important. Two lives collide in this stunning space-opera from debut novelist Ian Whates!

Reminded the most of Peter F Hamilton's books, for it's complexity and the interweaving of high technology into a rip-roaring space opera. Unfortunately, of the two books in the duology, I liked the first book much more then the second. The first book felt like a much more conventional mystery in a sci-fi universe with a lot of characters intermixing, but still all on their own paths and plots. While  the overall picture remained a tantalizing mystery. While also not non-stop action, what there was of it, was also much more straight forward and believable. I'd give it an A for effort and writing style, and recommend it to those who like a more complex plot, with some good space opera style action scenes. But really, skip the second novel, and let your imagination fill in what you think was going to happen.

[Cost 6.00 / Rated 6.00]

The Noise Revealed
Ian Whates
[Noise #2]

While mankind is adjusting to its first ever encounter with an alien civilisation – the Byrzaens – black ops specialist Jim Leyton reluctantly allies himself with the mysterious habitat in order to rescue the woman he loves. This brings him into direct conflict with his former employers: the United League of Allied Worlds government.

Scientist and businessman Philip Kaufman is fast discovering there is more to the virtual world than he ever realised. Yet it soon becomes clear that all is not well within the realm of Virtuality. Truth is hidden beneath lies and there are games being played, deadly games with far reaching consequences.

Both men begin to suspect that the much heralded ‘First Contact’ is anything but first contact, and that a sinister con is being perpetrated with the whole of humankind as the victim. Now all they have to do is prove it.

Because in this the second novel, what was complex, just becomes kind of shallow and one track, with the plot although still following several characters, barely veered off the now much more narrow plot track. Without reading the ending, I could fore see where the plot was going, and how annoying the whole two book set seemed.

So if you've got to read the end of the duology, then I'd recommend the novel. But like I stated above, save the money, let your imagination write a better plot for you.

[Cost 6.00 / Rated 4.00]

Reading Log, January 2012 (Part 1)

Is it that time again? Is this thing even on? Testing, one, two...Of course it is! January has run it's course and it's time for the monthly recap. Which in hindsight should have been broken down into a mid-month review again as I certainly read enough to fill them both. And after having tweaked the post format with my look ahead for the year, I'm adopting the newer format for this reviews. Although in further retrospection as I'm now including the publisher's descriptions, this is taking up more room.

Well if I get industrious this next month, maybe I should play with each book review getting it's own post, then adding a short review at the end of the month.

Och well, time for this month's review!

Fuzzy Nation - John Scalzi

A reboot of the 1962 classic science fiction novel Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper.

Jack Holloway works alone, for reasons he doesn’t care to talk about. Alone in the wilderness of an untamed, barely taped planet, he is content to be an independent contractor, a prospecter surveying at his own pace.

Then, in the wake of an accidental cliff collapse, Jack discovers a seam of unimaginably valuable jewels, to which he manages to lay legal claim just as ZaraCorp is cancelling their contract with him for his part in causing the collapse. Briefly in the catbird seat, legally speaking, Jack pressures ZaraCorp into recognizing his claim, and cuts them in as partners to help extract the wealth.

But there’s another wrinkle to ZaraCorp’s relationship with the planet Zarathustra. Their entire legal right to exploit the verdant Earth-like planet, the basis of the wealth they derive from extracting its resources, is based on being able to certify to the authorities on Earth that Zarathustra is home to no sentient species.

Then a small furry biped — trusting, appealing, and ridiculously cute — shows up at Jack’s outback home. Followed by its family. As it dawns on Jack that despite their stature, these are people, he begins to suspect that ZaraCorp’s claim to a planet’s worth of wealth is very flimsy indeed… and that ZaraCorp may stop at nothing to eliminate the “fuzzys” before their existence becomes more widely known.

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If a brilliant writer, publishes a new novel that's more homage to a particular classic then a re-write of that classic, is it still that classic? Fuzzy Nation, in short, is a brilliant treatment of a classic novel from Sci-Fi's "golden age". Having read the original, and this generation's version I was struck by how much it both made me nostalgic for those earlier novels, while also thoroughly enjoying the novels of today. I won't say that Scalzi somehow dug up Piper, channeled his spirit and wrote the novel for this generation. No, Fuzzy Nation is most definitely Scalzi all through, while at the same time you can see the influence of Piper.

Or in length, it really rocks.

So if you like some of the pulps, like a good adventure, subtle but pervasive humor, and well a better story about corporate greed and alien exploitation then Avatar, then I strongly recommend this book. And no science degree needed to understand this science fiction.

(cost: 12.00 / rated: 9.00)

Diving into the Wreck - Kristine Kathryn Rusch
(Diving Universe Book 1)

Boss loves to dive historical ships, derelict spacecraft found adrift in the blackness between the stars. Sometimes she salvages for money, but mostly she's an active historian. She wants to know about the past — to experience it firsthand. Once she's dived the ship, she'll either leave it for others to find or file a claim so that she can bring tourists to dive it as well. It's a good life for a tough loner, with more interest in artifacts than people.
 
Then one day, Boss finds the claim of a lifetime: an enormous spacecraft, incredibly old, and apparently Earth-made. It's impossible for something so old, built in the days before Faster Than Light travel, to have journeyed this far from Earth. It shouldn't be here. It can't be here. And yet, it is. Boss's curiosity is up, and she's determined to investigate. She hires a group of divers to explore the wreck with her, the best team she can assemble. But some secrets are best kept hidden, and the past won't give up its treasures without exacting a price in blood.
 
What Boss finds could rewrite history, cost lives, and start an intergalactic war.

When I got done with this novel, the first thing that popped into my head, was that it reminded me a lot of Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series and even the Engine of Gods series. The narrative, pacing, and even some of the subject make a kind of slow burn Indiana Jones Sci-Fi Archeology mystery. ie, something also like a slower, less intense and more spacey version of some of Dan Brown's novels.

That being said, like all those novels, some of the personal interactions feel a little stilted. Probably due to the nature of the novels though so I'm not faulting it that much. I do like Alex Benedict's interactions more then the Boss, but likely further books in the series will improve on those. Also as the entire book is in a first person narrative, we can also ascribe some of that to the narrator themselves and not the writer.

All in all, it's still a good book. As mentioned above, if you like mystery, a bit of slight horror, and a bit of adventure, you should like this novel.

(cost 9.60 / rated: 7.00)

Model Spy - Shannon Greenland
(The Specialists Book 1)

Teen genius Kelly James is in a lot of hot water. A whiz with computers, she agreed to help her college RA, David, uncover some top-secret information. After all, she doesn’t have many friends and David has always been nice to her. it doesn’t hurt that he’s supercute and irresistible, too. All she has to do is hack into the government’s main computer system. but a few hours later, her whole life changes. she is caught and taken in for questioning, only this isn’t your run-of-the-mill arrest. rather than serve a juvenile detention sentence, she accepts the option to change her name and enlist in a secret government spy agency that trains teen agents to go undercover. As if that wasn’t overwhelming enough, she discovers that David works for this agency as well! And before she even begins to understand what is going on, she’s sent on her first mission as an undercover model. And who better to partner with than David himself!

Urk. Now I enjoy the occasional Young adult novel. Even a YA novel that isn't Sci-Fi. I spent a couple of years confined by librarians to the children and young adult section, so I had to learn to enjoy what I read. It's just that when I read this my brain just went splat. It wasn't that the book as a fantasy, it's more the whole plot and character interaction is a little to unbelievable. I know the point was to make a Charlie's Angels style series for teenagers, about globetrotting spys, in settings that obviously are different then what the are used to. But per this series it usually meant taking them from their personal and comfortable settings and glamming them up. Really it felt like the whole point wasn't about exploring how great they really are, but how great the world of the rich, famous, or popular is for them to be in.

So that being the case, I didn't enjoy this novel very much. To teens who read Vogue and Us, it'd probably be a good fit. Just not for me.

(cost 7.00 / rated 3.00)

The Outback Stars - Sandra McDonald
(Outback Stars Book 1)

Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is a hero. She has the medals and the scars to prove it. She's cooling her heels on Kookaburra, recovering from injuries sustained during the fiery loss of her last ship, the Yangtze, and she's bored – so bored, in fact, that she takes a berth on the next ship out. That's a mistake. The Aral Sea isn't anyone's idea of a get-well tour.

Jodenny's handed a division full of misfits, incompetents, and criminals. She's a squared-away officer. She thinks she can handle it all. She's wrong. Aral Sea isn't a happy ship. And it's about to get a lot unhappier.

As Aral Sea enters the Alcheringa – the alien-constructed space warp that allows giant settler-ships to travel between worlds, away from all help or hope – Jodenny comes face to face with something powerful enough to dwarf even the unknown force that destroyed her last ship and left her with missing memories and bloody nightmares. Lieutenant Jodenny Scott is about to be introduced to love.

It felt like a cross between Honor Harrington and Quartershare and not quite in a good way. The universe, setting and plot were rather novel, but the character interaction just seemed to lack depth. The half military half trader feel just also didn't quite gel with me. Thus all the intrigue and danger in the second half the book also felt a little out of place. It was still a fairly good novel, and likely the rest of the series is better, but the first book is enough for me to pause and feel wary about venturing down this particular rabbit hole. However if you like Quartershare there is a good chance you'll like this novel well enough also.

(cost NA ebook, 8.00 paperback / rated 5.00)

Star Fraction - Ken MacLeod
(Fall Revolution Book 1)

In a turbulent twenty-first-century Britain ruled by an absentee Hanoverian royal family and controlled by US/UN technology cops, security mercenary Mohn Kohn; Janis Taine, a scientist on the run from the US/UN; and Jordan Brown, a teenage refugee from a religious fundamentalist cult, become caught up in a series of events, controlled by a rogue computer program, that could change the world.

Oh goodie, a Pre and post Singularity novel infused with essences of Cyberpunk, this has Ken MacLeod written all over it. Oh he wrote the novel? That explains why it felt so good. Having read Newton's Wake another of the author's novels prior to this, I can say with certainty that Ken MacLeod really understands the Singularity. From the possibilities inherent in Nano, to how Alien and yet not AI can be, he can really craft a wonderful story in a universe on and over the edge of technology.

Modern fans of Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, take note, you'll like this book as well. Heck if you also liked Charles Stross' Eschaton Series, you'll also feel particularly at home. And the best part? There are three other stand alone novels in the same universe. Different characters, different stories, but all with the same essence and narrative styling. Also all in two omnibus double novels, which definitely make them a bargain. Highly recommended for those who like a good action orientated novel set in a singularity.

(cost 10.00 with the second novel combined / rated 7.00)

To be continued...