Jack Conner

Definitely falls under the dark fantasy category- not my typical category but a nice change up- and certainly not for the squeamish. At first, I was a little overwhelmed with all the names but not too far in, they all snapped into place.

I'd take a Tolkien orc over the baddies in this story any day of the week- these guys are nasty, downright cruel monsters. If they have a good side, you won't find it and you probably won't want to look. I liked the return of such fantastical creatures such as vampires and werewolves- stuff you don't seem to find as much in fantasy as you do urb-fan (how odd is that?).

The story has a good premise that it is building on, one you'll want to see where it leads to.… (altro)

Note: This is Volume 3 (or Part 3) in the series and I feel this is a series best read in sequence. Volume 1 is freaking awesome but it also gives you a good basis for the characters’s motives in Volume 2. Also, I want to say that the author has made things a little confusing by combining parts or dividing them up. So sometimes we have volumes and sometimes we have parts.

Once again, we have another interesting and enjoyable tale from the Atomic Sea! This is just a great series about messed up fish-faced people. In Vol. 2, we left our heroes trying to find another altar for Layanna to do her big thing. They decided to try for the heart of Octung, where the Cathedral of Lors rests in Golna. Things don’t go as planned – cue evil laughter!

Dr. Avery remains one of my favorite characters. In general, he’s a rather gentle soul, but that benevolent characteristic is slowly being beaten out of him by this quest of Layanna’s. He once had a daughter and his memories of her come into play in this book. How much would he sacrifice to have her alive and whole again, as if that were possible?

Janx and Hildra are still around, as well as the monkey. Every fish-faced dirigible crew that’s out to save the world needs a monkey. Hildra makes me laugh even though most of her lines are pretty simplistic.

Much to my delight, Captain Sheridan, who I think is now an Octung General, makes another appearance. This time she wants more from Avery than just his body. Plus she has more to offer Avery than bedroom restraints, decent food, clean water, and a place in the medical research unit. Dr. Avery will have to make the hardest choice of his life in this book.

We lost a favorite character in a previous book but that character gets another shot at fame in glory in this tale. There’s plenty of opportunities for our heroes to turn sell-outs and leave the rest of them to be sacrificed. Layanna is obviously driven to complete her mission but she also has this deep natural drive that is sometimes at odds with her bigger goal. This series continues to grip me! Where will the author take us next in this fishy tentacle land?

I received a free copy of this book.

The Narration: Ray Greenley continues to give us an excellent performance. I love all his fishy voices. Really, I don’t know how he does it! Plus there’s some pretty emotional scenes in this book and he does a great job with those as well. I still love his voice for Sheridan who can be both sexy and a stone-cold killer.… (altro)