Review: Lord of Shadows

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Arrived today on my Kindle as I pre-ordered it as soon as it was possible.
Will start reading instantly!

And as expected, I enjoy this a lot, because these characters are so real, and I care about them, even though I cannot stand some (Jace).

“You think angels are gentle,” said Julian. “They are anything but. They bring justice in blood and heavenly fire. They take vengeance with fists and iron. Their glory is such it would burn out your eyes if you looked at them. It is a cold and brutal glory.”

A bit too much with the Julian / Emma relationship, and with Julians spindoctoring and putting family first instead of The Greater Good (meaning the rest of the whole world), this book resulted for me in strongly disliking Julian, nearly as strong as Jace (an arrogant bloke). In fact, if he is not stopped I see him going down a dark fork in his life-path.
The females, be it the few girls or the women are much better (exceptions like the Faerie Queen just prove the point).
Most of the time I considered how many major characters and which I would kill in the end and while I was not entirely wrong, I was still surprised by the final showdown. Although I would have killed a few different people different.
Ending with a brutal fight and major cliffhanger.

Recommended page-turner, does not work as a standalone, Lady Midnight should be read before, the other Shadowhunter-books not necessarily, but it helps. And now I am waiting for the next book, which is listed on Goodreads with a publication date of 2019, nearly 1.5 - 2 years away.

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Review: Lord of Shadows

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Arrived today on my Kindle as I pre-ordered it as soon as it was possible.
Will start reading instantly!

And as expected, I enjoy this a lot, probably these characters are so real, and I care about them, even though I cannot stand some (Jace).

“You think angels are gentle,” said Julian. “They are anything but. They bring justice in blood and heavenly fire. They take vengeance with fists and iron. Their glory is such it would burn out your eyes if you looked at them. It is a cold and brutal glory.”

A bit too much withe the Julian / Emma relationship, and with Julians spindoctoring and putting family first instead of The Greater Good (meaning the rest of the whole world) this book resulted for me in strongly disliking Julian, nearly as strong as Jace (an arrogant bloke). In fact, if he is not stopped I see him going down a dark fork in his life-path.
The females, be it the few girls or the women are much better (exceptions like the Faerie Queen just prove the point).
Ending with a major cliffhanger.

Recommended page-turner, does not work as a standalone, Lady Midnight should be read before, the other Shadowhunter-books not necessarily, but it helps. And now I am waiting for the next book, which is listed on Goodreads with a publication date of 2019, nearly 1.5 - 2 years away.


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Review: Scared to Death

Scared to Death by Rachel Amphlett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Snatched this up for 99 ct. (Euro) than I got the daily email from the Fussy Librarian informing me of the bargain. Spur-of-the-moment-buy, blurb sounded interesting, takes place in the (as of yet pre-BREXIT, still united) UK, and was endorsed by Robert Bryndza, while I normally ignore popular authors endorsing, sometimes even condemning such endorsed books to the "never-read-never-buy" list (from S. King, J. Patterson I cannot believe people buy these to be real), I needed no more convincing to buy this, and the price was just right for a new author. Female heroine!

Starts as a page-turner. And keeps that pace, although some of it is by the numbers.
So far, I will say, the endorsement by Robert Bryndza is correct, pushes quite a few buttons for me: strong heroine with a bad incident in her (just happened) past, UK, up-to-date technology-wise, she is in a normal relationship with a man, romance is ok, but plays so far not big role in the story, which is ok for me.

Throw in bullying and a twist I did not see coming after the 50% mark, a place where some books, even from well-known and (by me) respected authors drag.
The twist adds a theme I really like, with hints of the saw movies, hard to tell without spoiling anything.

The writing is appealing to me, comparable to the following authors / series, bearing in mind, that it is set in the UK (as of yet with BREXIT voted for and looming, but not negotiated). Some expressions might seem strange to US-American used readers.
For fans of these series (Author - Heroine):

Angela Marsons - Kim Stone
Robert Bryndza - Detective Erika Foster
M.J. Arlidge - DI Helen Grace
Celina Grace - Kate Redman (too much romance and not strong enough heroine for me)
Griffiths, Elly - Ruth Galloway (must admit, I have only read the first book yet)
Robert Dugoni - Tracy Crosswhite

Which also means, if you know yet only some of these and really like them, I would guess, you might like the others, too.
Though I would have stopped reading the Kate Redman series, but I subscribed to an email newletter by the author and was invited to write a review for an arc and I also was informed by the author when a book is cheap for short time.

Finished it yesterday evening/this morning in bed just after midnight.
All loose ends where solved, some a little to neat, and one to many family ties.
After the case a nice ending with a good idea.
Length was just right for me, but some may find it too short, but the normal price of the book should be just right for that length, I think.

Recommended, 5 stars for the beginning of a good series, hopefully the next book(s) are as good as this. Already bought the second book.

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Review: Queens of Geek

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liked this a lot, but it just seems too neat, I was always fearing something REALLY bad happening, but it did not. Instead most things just solved itself, it was just to neat & meek, and in the end it felt, meh, just to nice. So no 5 stars for this.
Recommended and will probably read more books from this author (would like a sequel to this!).

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Review: Scared to Death

Scared to Death by Rachel Amphlett
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Snatched this up for 99 ct. (Euro) than I got the daily email from the Fussy Librarian informing me of the bargain. Spur-of-the-moment-buy, blurb sounded interesting, takes place in the (as of yet pre-BREXIT, still united) UK, and was endorsed by Robert Bryndza, while I normally ignore popular authors endorsing, sometimes even condemning such endorsed books to the "never-read-never-buy" list (from S. King, J. Patterson I cannot believe people buy these to be real), I needed no more convincing to buy this, and the price was just right for a new author. Female heroine!

Starts as a page-turner. And keeps that pace, although some of it is by the numbers.
So far, I will say, the endorsement by Robert Bryndza is correct, pushes quite a few buttons for me: strong heroine with a bad incident in her (just happened) past, UK, up-to-date technology-wise, she is in a normal relationship with a man, romance is ok, but plays so far not big role in the story, which is ok for me.

Throw in bullying and a twist I did not see coming after the 50% mark, a place where some books, even from well-known and (by me) respected authors drag.
The twist adds a theme I really like, with hints of the saw movies, hard to tell without spoiling anything.

The writing is appealing to me, comparable to the following authors / series, bearing in mind, that it is set in the UK (as of yet with BREXIT voted for and looming, but not negotiated). Some expressions might seem strange to US-American used readers.
For fans of these series (Author - Heroine):

Angela Marsons - Kim Stone
Robert Bryndza - Detective Erika Foster
M.J. Arlidge - DI Helen Grace
Celina Grace - Kate Redman (too much romance and not strong enough heroine for me)
Griffiths, Elly - Ruth Galloway (must admit, I have only read the first book yet)
Robert Dugoni - Tracy Crosswhite

Which also means, if you know yet only some of these and really like them, I would guess, you might like the others, too.
Though I would have stopped reading the Kate Redman series, but I subscribed to an email newletter by the author and was invited to write a review for an arc and I also was informed by the author when a book is cheap for short time.

Finished it yesterday evening/this morning in bed just after midnight.
All loose ends where solved, some a little to neat, and one to many family ties.
After the case a nice ending with a good idea.
Length was just right for me, but some may find it too short, but the normal price of the book should be just right for that length, I think.

Recommended, 5 stars for the beginning of a good series, hopefully the next book(s) are as good as this. Already bought the second book.

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Review: Three Corners to Nowhere

Three Corners to Nowhere by Martin Caidin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Have a search running here on Goodreads for a book since July 2014, look here: plot details of a book I am looking for.
Stumbled over the German version "Verschwunden im Bermuda-Dreieck" and bought it for a few Euros as a paperback. Not even finding a blurb at that time, it was a long shot.

As Waldo asked for it, a quick review:
This is for the German translation, my guess is, the original will be the same. Even though the book is from 1975, computers play a certain role in the plot, but they do not go into technical details. Aviation and quite a few well known (and a few made up) disappearances in the so called Bermuda Triangle are featured.

This began slow, speeded up and was staying interesting for me, as I am well aware of the various theories and explanations of the instances in the Bermuda Triangle, about 40 years ago I read the german translation of Bermuda Triangle.
But others may find the suspense lacking sorely after about mid-book.

Without giving away the ending, it was a surprise, even for me.

Solid three stars, regarding that you have search this book and might only find it used, also maybe overpriced, I would advise to only buy it cheap, less than 5 Eur/Us$ + p&p. An ebook would have been preferable, the German Paperback had very small print for me (as is often the case with paperbacks). Currently (May 16th, 2017) there is no ebook in English nor German available.

Recommended 3 star-read, do not expect too much, but as it is, I found it to be reasonable realistic, if you can say that about the Bermuda Triangle, so it is not too fantastic or make believe. The search for answers follows the advice of Sherlock Holmes, without mentioning it in the same words, always an open mind. Rather well done was the analyzing of statements which came from a military background and turned out to be glossed over and sugarcoated.

It would have been a rather fast read with 176 pages, if not for the small print (for me). My guess is, you could read it in a few hours of a long, rainy Sunday afternoon.
The German cover (a face of a woman) has nothing to do with the content, although a few women are featured. There is smoking, a few macho sexist remarks, but nothing over the top and for the time when it was written and published, normal. Nothing racist, and as computers and technology play a role here, it was as up-to-date as it could be.

There could have been more mystery or suspense and a certain angle was not researched (the rocket-start). But then it would have been longer, and that could have made this well boring.

The ending might disturb some, but I found it while un-satisfying, at least interesting.

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Review: Three Corners to Nowhere

Three Corners to Nowhere by Martin Caidin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Have a search running here on Goodreads for a book since July 2014, look here: plot details of a book I am looking for.
Stumbled over the German version "Verschwunden im Bermuda-Dreieck" and bought it for a few Euros as a paperback. Not even finding a blurb at that time, it was a long shot.

As Waldo asked for it, a quick review:
This is for the German translation, my guess is, the original will be the same. Even though the book is from 1975, computers play a certain role in the plot, but they do not go into technical details. Aviation and quite a few well known (and a few made up) disappearances in the so called Bermuda Triangle are featured.

This began slow, speeded up and was staying interesting for me, as I am well aware of the various theories and explanations of the instances in the Bermuda Triangle, about 40 years ago I read the german translation of Bermuda Triangle.
But others may find the suspense lacking sorely after about mid-book.

Without giving away the ending, it was a surprise, even for me.

Solid three stars, regarding that you have search this book and might only find it used, also maybe overpriced, I would advise to only buy it cheap, less than 5 Eur/Us$ + p&p. An ebook would have been preferable, the German Paperback had very small print for me (as is often the case with paperbacks). Currently (May 16th, 2017) there is no ebook in English nor German available.

Recommended 3 star-read, do not expect too much, but as it is, I found it to be reasonable realistic, if you can say that about the Bermuda Triangle, so it is not too fantastic or make believe. The search for answers follows the advice of Sherlock Holmes, without mentioning it in the same words, always an open mind. Rather well done was the analyzing of statements which came from a military background and turned out to be glossed over and sugarcoated.

It would have been a rather fast read with 176 pages, if not for the small print (for me). My guess is, you could read it in a few hours of a long, rainy Sunday afternoon.
The German cover (a face of a woman) has nothing to do with the content, although a few women are featured. There is smoking, a few macho sexist remarks, but nothing over the top and for the time when it was written and published, normal. Nothing racist, and as computers and technology play a role here, it was as up-to-date as it could be.

There could have been more mystery or suspense and a certain angle was not researched (the rocket-start). But then it would have been longer, and that could have made this well boring.

The ending might disturb some, but I found it while un-satisfying, at least interesting.

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Review: A Perfect Evil

A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not very suspenseful, even if some reviews say otherwise.
Nice romance, but way too much, and no real sex scenes.
Ending saved it somehow, as I really liked the cliffhanger ending leading into the next book. Also not everything is solved with history repeating itself, not to spoil anything I will tell no more.
What disturbed my reading-flow most, was the POV changing a lot, with POV from 5 or more different persons. The Killer could have been more fleshed out.
But also, despite the solid 3 stars (with respect to the ending), not really recommended by me. Read at your own risk. May warrant reading the next few books to see wether the story and author grows better. Not really sure wether I will do that, although some are reasonably priced. Also, this book was way older than I thought, so they still use Modems and only few have cellphones (no smartphones). So, maybe I skip a few from the series and read one of the newer ones. Going through the list, I just realized, I already read one of the newer ones, but did not rate it nor reviewed it (it was before I wrote reviews for Goodreads).

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Review: A Perfect Evil

A Perfect Evil by Alex Kava
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Not very suspenseful, even if some reviews say otherwise.
Nice romance, but way too much, and no real sex scenes.
Ending saved it a somehow, as I really liked the cliffhanger ending leading into the next book. Also not everything is solved with history repeating itself, not to spoil anything I will tell no more.
What disturbed my reading-flow most, was the POV changing a lot, with POV from 5 or more different persons. The Killer could have been more fleshed out.
But also, despite the solid 3 stars (with respect to the ending), not really recommended by me. Read at your own risk. May warrant reading the next few books to see wether the story and author grows better. Not really sure wether I will do that, although some are reasonably priced. Also, this book was way older than I thought, so they still use Modems and only few have cellphones (no smartphones). So, maybe I skip a few from the series and read one of the newer ones. Going through the list, I just realized, I already read one of the newer ones, but did not rate it nor reviewed it (it was before I wrote reviews for Goodreads).

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Review: Ready or Dead

Ready or Dead by P.M. Kavanaugh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Short Romaction, just so ok. Thought this would be the prequel to a series, and it should be, but there is so far just one other book, not really a series. Not sure wether I will buy and read that. Had this on my wishlist at Amazon.De. Cannot really remember why.
Straying into SF/Near Future with the Gadget-driven technology. A longer book could be Cyberpunk, but this one does not really feel like it.
Not recommended, not enough suspense nor twists, too much reliance on romance. Maybe 3 stars is too much for this, but it was reasonably cheap (1,08 Eur, that is 1.18 Us$), and without reading more from the author I tend to give the benefit of doubt.

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Review: Truly Madly Famously

Truly Madly Famously by Rebecca Serle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Complications, revelations, better than the first.
Lots of romance, more twists, drama, also a few revelations I did not see coming.
Still no sex, squeaky clean, which just does not feel right with me.
Paige is growing, and as I do not want to spoil it, I will stop here.
Four stars for the differences to the first book and some more adult decisions.
Basically this feels for me the whole time like something bad will happen soon, but I am surprised that it does not, so it feels a bit shallow. Missing suspense, crime, catfights, whatever, so thinking about it, 4 stars may be a bit much. Still have not seen more than the first episode of the TV-show, there was more drama, but also a lot changed, so I will add to this review than I have seen the first season.


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