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  The Sons of Simeon are religious extremists in Israel. Their focus is finding and persecuting sorcerers. This not exactly in line with government law, but the government tends to look the other way. When a demonstration ends with a brutal murder, the empath Reed becomes the next target for the extremist groups. Reed has sorcerer friends and 'normie' friends, all looking for ways to protect the unlikely target. But Reed is the one who will need to protect his friends from the Sons of Simeon. And it gets trickier when Reed's focus becomes distracted because he falls madly in love. This book ... this book just didn't do anything for me. On the surface, this should be right up my alley of interest.  Alternate reality with sorcerers and empaths?  Yeah, I like that. A familiar yet unique location (I've never been to  Israel). I like that, too. There's some romance here, which is fine - I don't read sci-fi/fantasy for the romance, but don't mind it being ther

This is book #3 (which of course means it's the fifth book in the series, because there's a #.5 and a #.75 before #1) and I've never read any of the other books.  Certainly I've missed out on some character history and character-building, having not read the other books, but generally I didn't feel I was missing out on too much. Johannes Cabal is a necromancer. He is quite intent on furthering his studies and learning everything possible to increase his necromancer abilities.  When he is approached by members of The Fear Institute (where they are trying to find the very embodiment of fear) and asked if he would be interested in visiting Dreamland (in the flesh and not just as a dream), he is eager to accept. There, Cabal and three members of the institute find themselves hunted by any number of strange beasts (such as walking trees and men made of stone). Slowly, methodically, members of the group are killed off until it is only Cabal and one member of the Instit

  I am all in favor of anything that will get school-aged kids to read.  Books based on a popular television or movie franchise are a great way to get kids reading, and is there any better franchise out there right now than the Disney-owned Star Wars series? There's a new space station about to be commissioned and there will be many high-level dignitaries arriving for the dedication.  A ship on the way to the ceremony experiences catastrophic explosions, ripping the ship apart. Fortunately, a maintenance in the area is able to rescue the passengers and they are able limp along to a habitable moon while they wait for rescue.  But is the moon already inhabited?  Are there unknown dangers? Teen Jedi, Vernestra, is among the survivors.  She is currently charged with protecting her padawan, a young inventor (Avon Starros) and J-8, Starros's unusual droid.  The two will face a number of tests, challenging the youth to stay the course and trust in the Force. The writing is crisp and t

Most of us in the Western world know that out of respect for the United States we shouldn't but products made in China. But our reasons probably differ slightly. We've likely heard that Chinese workers earn a substantially low wage and they work long hours, which is how China can undercut other countries and their exports. And it's possible ... possible ... that we've heard the term "slave labor" in connection with the Chinese work force.  But what does that even mean? In 2012, a woman in Oregon opened a cheap Halloween headstone decoration that had been purchased at K-Mart. But inside the packaging was a letter - a plea for help - from a Chinese prisoner forced to make and package the cheap, strange decoration.  The letter is written in both Chinese and broken English. Feeling the need to do something, the woman reported the note to a local newspaper, and to Human Rights Watch, the United Nations Human Rights Council, and Anti-Slavery International. Getting

Dan Hendricks is a former CIA agent, now an agent-for-hire.  He'll work for anyone or any country willing to pay his fee. Being a mercenary like this, usually tracking down criminals and working for those who may not trust him, has Dan constantly looking over his shoulder and fearing he's not long for the world of the living.  Each new case could easily be his last but this one is certainly his most unusual. Hendricks is tracking down information on Jacques Fillon. Fillon died saving a fellow passenger in a bus crash in northern Sweden. But as Hendricks soon learns - things are not as simple as they might seem on the surface.  Jacques Fillon, it appears, never existed. Can Dan Hendricks solve the mystery of Jacques Fillon before a troublesome past comes to haunt him? This book seems to have all the necessary ingredients of a spy thriller, except that it's not particularly thrilling. The central problem is with our protagonist, Hendricks.  I can't really call him our her

Mila Blackwood is a Naval officer with a secret ... she, and others of her country, know how to 'shroud.' Shrouding is the ability to travel around the planet in a matter of seconds by using alternate realities. This is useful because Mila and her countrymen are currently at war and there are enemies everywhere.   Mila captains a submarine which has been infiltrated by an enemy ('Dhavnak') agent. And when she and another sailor are identified as having unique abilities that could alter the outcome of the war, they become specific targets. When the knowledge of her unique ability comes to light, scientists on her own side require Mila to submit to a battery of tests, some which have her recognizing that her own side doesn't trust her.  Where should she direct her loyalty? Her younger brother has already switched loyalties. For the moment, the only one she trusts is herself. This book was incredibly .... eh. There is a promise of military science fiction, some tempora

  Evelyn Caldwell is an award-winning genetics researcher.  A strong, motivated women, she is surprised when one morning she receives a phone call from a woman named Martine asking for Evelyn's help.  Evelyn's husband, Nathan, is bleeding out in Martine's kitchen.  Martine, Evelyn learns, is Nathan's mistress.  So why would she call Evelyn for help? Martine is a clone.  Of Evelyn.  She is a direct result of Evelyn's genetics research. But she was not created by Evelyn.   Martine is a patient, gentle, obedient version of Evelyn ... characteristics Evelyn would never subscribe to ... created by Nathan, using Evelyn's research.  And she wasn't the first. Now the Caldwell women will work as one to clean up the mess that was Nathan. But if caught, who will take the fall for Nathan's murder?   While the book has a strong science fiction component to it, this is more of a revenge thriller than sci-fi novel. Author Sarah Gailey does a nice job of making the clon

Nikki Daniels is a single mother of a teenage boy, Cody. She owns her own business (home appraisal) and she's got a younger boyfriend (Jake) with whom she's hoping to start a new business. It's an ideal life, right?  Except it's not as ideal as it might appear on the surface.  Nikki wants to be in real estate and not home appraisal or the restaurant business that she's starting with Jake. Cody is a teenager and has no interest in what Nikki says. Jake is often emotionally distant and Nikki wonders if he's just using her to to finance his dream. But worst of all, her father, Ronnie, has been released from prison and he's coming to live with Nikki Ronnie, a charming con man, has been estranged from his family since his sentencing, but his early release from the correctional facility (due to a  technicality) has him nearly slipping into his past behavior (especially conning women to bed) and he feels the best thing for him is to move in with his daughter and gr

  I'll repeat this every time I read a horror novel ... novel-length horror is difficult sustain.  There are very few names that stand out in this field because so few can doo this well.  Clive Barker is among those few. Poland at the end of World War II. Our protagonist, unnamed, a thief, is looking for a man named Mamoulian - a gambler who never loses. Move forward a few dozen years where Marty Strauss, a prisoner in the United kingdom, is offered early, supervised release. The condition? He will go to work for a wealthy recluse, Joseph Whitehead. How hard can it be?  It has to be better than rotting away in prison, right? When Strauss finally finds himself in Whitehead's inner sanctuary he learns that Whitehead is trying to get himself out from an oath he doesn't think he even made in the first place with a certain Mamoulian many years ago. But is this nothing more than part of a (Damnation) game? This book is a reprint, originally published in 1985, and apparently this

  I know next to nothing about dragonflies and damselflies but I've been very interested in learning more, and when I saw this book available, I was eager to request a copy. The title, Chasing Dragonflies , really spoke to me, and I love the painted rather than photo cover. Chasing Dragonflies is an apt title as author Cindy Crosby seeks out new dragonfly and damselfly experiences the way bird watchers will take trips with the hopes of catching sight of a new bird to add to their lists. But Crosby's journey is almost too personal. It sometimes appears cathartic - particularly as Crosby reflects on her cancer, aging, and family. She nicely ties these thoughts to the peaceful pursuit of dragonflies (and damselflies). And as a memoir, I really enjoyed this book and Crosby's quite poetic language. As a "Natural History" (part of the book's subtitle)?  This is a little less clear. There is some solid science and fact woven into this "Personal History" bu

Vincent Alan Chell has a lot to say. He talks about his wife, Yael, who committed suicide.  He talks about a cult group that meets in a church basement. And he talks about the robots serving mankind and how the Peacemaker - an artificial intelligence - has been controlling the peace for decades. Vincent Alan Chell talks, and not much else. The most important thing to know about this book is not what it has to say, but how it says it.  This book is told as a series of interviews - Chell answering questions ... without the questions presented to the reader.  Instead, a square black bullet indicates where a question is posed and all we get is Chell's response.  Clearly we could generally infer what the question might have been, if we wanted to. "If we wanted to."  That's the key.  There is very little here to keep a reader engaged. Given the challenge of the style of writing for this book, we need to be brought in to something really interesting or really exciting right

What happens if you don't make your payments on the starship you're flying? It gets repossessed, of course. But what does it take to repossess a starship?  Firstname Lastname is about to find out.  Firstname Lastname is a young woman (and yes, that's really her legal name, due to a clerical error, but she goes by "First") who is one of the very few humans left in the universe (a botched invasion of Earth left both the invaders and humanity nearly exterminated) and she's wandering, looking for work wherever she can find it. Often that comes by way of jobs that aren't exactly legal. She's hijacking cars and selling them to a fence when she finds herself caught in a trap specifically to catch car hijackers. But this trap isn't set by law enforcement, but by an individual pulling together a crew of skilled thieves to work as a legal (but just barely) team repossessing starships. It takes some time for the team to adjust to, and trust, one another, but

I suspect that there has been a great deal of anticipation for this book - the newest book by the much-acclaimed author of the Eragon series, Christopher Paolini.  Kira Navárez is on a routine survey mission when she discovers an alien artifact.  This might be an exciting discovery if it didn't bring with it an invasion - not the first contact humanity was hoping for, but not unexpected, either. Now Kira is an expert on this aggressive race (often referred to as "Jellies" do to their resemblance to jellyfish) and will be meeting them on the front line of space battle. That's a pretty brief description for a book that's nearly 900 pages long but I think it's pretty appropriate and ultimately that's the problem with the book. This is a first contact novel, with the alien race being aggressive.  This is certainly not a new theme in science fiction, so we would be looking for some aspect that is original and exciting.  And I can't find it. There is a lot o