Shei Darksbane

The meat of the story is really good stuff, and I like that it's a story that's taking its time in the telling.
I do wish fewer, or no, plot-relevant events happened either "off-screen" between books or in side-stories.
That said, the length is also becoming a concern because it would appear that the story is forgetting its own rules and plot points.

Things like:
-Ashes mention of her hunger never abating is what we were told was indicative of the Sang, not a Strigoi.
-In the first book we're told that she seems to get stronger by killing Sang, but this hasn't been mentioned for the last two books. She only feeds on humans.
-Ashes is constantly walking into houses despite not being invited. This was a critical point just last book when she couldn't reach the Blood Man. Yes, she can apparently circumvent it with shadow-hopping, but she's not doing that in this book. She just casually crashes into houses constantly.
-There's also stuff like Garibaldi. He claims that he sounds familiar because he's Rain's father and the story seems to treat it like that's the case. But Ashes made the same comment when she heard about him in the last book. So that can't be right.
-And, finally, in this book--Tamara! One of the major plot points is that Tamara is persona non grata because when she was possessed her body was used to commit mass murder. But according to the book's own plot twist that shouldn't be possible because the demon was in Charles at that time. It doesn't work.

Some of these I could see being explained away later in the series. But that last one is pretty critical and never addressed.… (altro)

To start with – if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had already read, and enjoyed, every other book written by this pair of authors (not including a short story, which I haven’t read yet), I probably wouldn’t have given this book here a third chance. Yes, third. First doesn’t really count – it was just a causal like look over the book after completing the second book by this pair. Second one though – that one counts, it does. Since I started, and then fled the book. I just . . .. Well, that was longish ago. Third time was this time so I’ll just relay that one.

To a large extent, it probably would have been better if the book had started with any other character instead of the captains. I hadn’t actually realized it until stumbling through it and getting to other points of view, but the first, the captain’s point of view is that way on purpose. It’s off putting and annoying as hell though. Part of the reason why I didn’t immediately ‘get it’ is all the ‘errors’. Like the repeated use of words and phrases in, the supposedly, ‘non-point of view’ section. As in times when the phrase ‘it was’ was repeated. ‘The dog it was it was very large.’ (not an exact quote) or times when the word ‘the’ was oddly used. Mostly, though, it was the very unnaturally disjointed flow of the captains sections. I literally had to read the first page about 12 times just to figure out what the bloody hell was being said. It wasn’t that it involved difficult words, or the like, it was just so bloody weirdly worded. Took me getting to other points of view and seeing how smoothly, for the most part, those sections were, then getting back to the captains and again encountering the rough disjointedness of the captains to finally realize that her sections were that way on purpose. Once I realized that, everything began to become easier to read.

Right, so. I probably would have noticed, hmm . . I’m fairly certain I would have noticed . . . the similarities between this book and ‘Firefly’ (the 2002 show that was on Fox briefly). Well, at least vaguely. For the most part, only one of the characters has something of a 1 for 1 match. All the rest are vague. To a large extent, from the little given on the TV show, and in this book, Inara Serra (the ‘companion’ on the show), and Kalah Sirrah appear to be roughly similar characters. The rest, as noted, are mostly pushing puzzle pieces around, and pounded some pieces where they probably don’t really go.

Also on the ship, Branwen Hawke, Captain of Destiny Abounds, has some rough similarities with Captain Mal Reynolds of Firefly. Well, both had military backgrounds that both were trying to put behind them. Both captains of a starship. And . . . that’s basically it in similarities. Not really similar, eh? Oh, and both using ships uncommon – though the Firefly was a cargo ship much outdated to the time Captain Mal flew it, while the Destiny Abounds being a rather technologically advanced spaceship.

Prisoner 286 has some vague similarities to a combination of two Firefly characters - Jayne Cobb/River Tam character. 286 has some super advanced fighting skills that seem kind of magical, somewhat like River, has some vaguely anti-social tendencies somewhat like River (though more how, at times, River might suddenly go from looking like she’s sleeping to running around ripping things apart); but also has the ‘doesn’t give a shit’ vibe that Cobb has, is as talkative as Cobb is, and is something of a bully like Cobb.

I was thinking Zimi must match up with Dr. Simon Tam, from Firefly, but then I thought more about it and thought that I might just be going for ‘medic on Destiny Abounds’ and ‘doctor on Firefly’ as basis. Like several others, Zimi appears to be a combined character. Fitting some of Shepherd Books gibberish and . . . gibberish into her character, combined with the medical part from Dr. Simon Tam (though Simon was a top medical professional, while Zimi is more self-taught –still, Zimi is much more skilled than you’d expect for someone basically self-taught), and the fighting skills of Simon (somewhat ineffectual (at least during one fight), desiring to do the right thing but might accidentally shoot one of the crew while trying to shoot an invader; so unlike Shepherd Book, who gave off the vibe of a pacifist type, but actually had been a skilled intelligence officer at some point).

The pilot of Destiny Abounds, Merlo, has an obvious match-up with the pilot on Firefly, Wash. Merlo, though, seems a lot more military than Wash (though both had/have military training). I’d been thinking that Merlo might be some combo of Zoe Washburne and Wash Washburne, though only because Merlo seems to want to find the military option in every situation, while Zoe was always ready for the military option, though not necessarily leading with it. Truth be told, other than having military training and being super good at piloting, there really isn’t that good of a match between Merlo and Wash (or Zoe). I mean, Wash liters stuff like dinosaurs figurines all over the place, while Merlo has no use for debris. They are barely similar. Just job title.

Also, somewhat obviously, the engineers on both ships vaguely match up. Vaguely. Kaylee is kind of socially awkward while being a brilliant engineer, like Mr. Leonard. But Mr. Leonard seemed scared of his own shadow, while Kaylee seemed to be more of the socially awkward, rather roll around in grease fixing things than bouncing around a party type.

And, right. Quite frankly, there’s a big chance I’d not have tried to ‘smush’ the two things together. This book and Firefly, if I hadn’t seen it in reviews. Hell, I could probably attempt to ‘mush’ any old show with the book. Like, say, Stargate. Branwen is kind of like Jack O’Neill – military veteran, kind of sits back watching the others do their thing, but ready to step in at a moment’s notice to take command. And, um, Merlo . . . um . . is kind of like the early brash Major Carter before she got seasoned. And . . . um . . . Mr. Leonard is like Sgt. Harriman, there to keep things running, but is on the side, watching – Mr. Leonard because he’s really really shy and fragile like, and Gary Jones because he’s a bit player with a few lines of dialogue (though in 112 episodes) …. Yeah, okay, I can’t match up Stargate with this book. Hehe.

Well, got distracted there with my little Firefly diversion. There are at least 5 points of view shared in this book. The main ones are Branwen Hawke, Merlo, Kala Sirrah Nazai, and Prisoner 286. The fifth involves a few times that Mr. Leonard gets to pop his head up glance around, meerkat-like. Hmms. There’s only one other passenger/crew member – Zimi Praff. I can’t recall if Zimi has any time taking over things.

The plot, to a large extent, seems designed to show how each crew member ended up aboard the Destiny Abounds starship, including how the ship itself got its name (it opens the book nameless). At first the ship consisted of Branwen as captain and Mr. Leonard as engineer. However they ended up on or with the ship is not mentioned.

Branwen Hawke is the captain but doesn’t really know much about technology. Apparently really old, but she dodges the age question as well as she can. Everyone else, unless I’m forgetting something, get described as being ‘young’ – many seeming to be described as being around 17 years of age or thereabouts (not sure why the book ended up being overrun with kids, but . . . whatever; though these are mostly observations made by other people gazing upon the characters, not internal thoughts or overt conversation – the young age, I mean). Mr. Leonard, as mentioned, is the engineer. He gives off a vaguely ‘I’m actually a robot pretending to be a human’ vibe, but the hints that are dropped probably leads me in a different direction. There is a super advanced civilization mentioned in the book on a planet. No one lives in this civilization except for children and either an A.I. or with A.I.’s. The artificial intelligent critters guide and protect the children. There is a relatively high likelihood, as expressed in the book, that the children are children because they had been regressed – had been adults but they themselves did something to themselves to move them back to the age of children – because of how fun it is to be a child with no responsibility, etc.. Well, the hints that are dropped seemed to indicate that Mr. Leonard might be somehow connected to that civilization. I might be reading into things, though so . . .. Either a kid who wanted to ‘play’ and explore – and therefore allowed himself to grow to adult size, or an A.I. from this civilization.

Very quickly the ship adds a pilot – Merlo. Quickly as in almost immediately after the book opens. Merlo is a young woman who has spent most of her live being trained to be a pilot and is therefore super advanced in piloting. She has also been trained in military matters. Most other training, unless related to piloting, has either not occurred, or been of lesser importance. Mostly not occurred.

The three member crew bump around the ‘clusters’ carrying things here and there until they reach a specific planet. On this planet they need to deliver some medicine. While delivering the medicine they are attacked. Injuries occur, etc. etc. (I don’t want to give everything away here), and they end up being worked on by a medic. Named Zimi Praff. Shortly thereafter Zimi joins the crew.

Meanwhile, as the ship has bounced around, Prisoner 286 and Sirrah have been having their own story unfold (as in, they are traveling down the same story path, while the ship crew is on a separate path). Eventually 286 & Sirrah’s paths cross that of Destiny Abounds and they board as passengers. Because Destiny Abounds is super quick.

And so, once everyone is on board the ship darts around speedily doing the business required by Kala Sirrah. Much time in space occurs. Some on planet. Battles occur, some relatively massive. All planet side (a comment is made by Merlo while gazing upon, the as yet named Destiny Abounds, about how it looked like (a) a super advanced ship, (b) that had no obvious weapons; since that comment was made by Merlo who had no clue about that ship, or its capabilities, the question about whether or not the ship actually had weapons or not is still up in the air – weirdly).

Enjoyable book. Sucked me in, spit me out, and now I write this, whatever this is, here. Just like the other series I’ve read by this author pair, books and short stories are already named and mentioned to be releasing soon. Soon was last year. Something occurred which adversely impacted their writing plans, so I’ve no idea if this first book in a series will actually end up being an orphan book. Three books and two short stories all got released in 2015 – normally I’d not make comments like I made except for the fact that they had made this website that seemed to be tracking their work and putting up blog posts. Everything kind of froze, though, with no new information, and the progress bar on the writing locked at a certain number (19%?) for something like six or so months.

Regardless, I look forward to further adventures in this series and in the Dakota Shepherd series.

February 18 2016
… (altro)

My second book by these author and in this series.

This book has kind of the ‘middle’ vibe that a second book in a trilogy, or the second book in a series has. The initial excitement of a new world to explore is starting to fade, there are hints of future conflicts, and there’s a certain amount of settling into roles/universes/etc. I had that vague idea, at least, while reading this one. I’m not sure if that actually works here.

In terms of action and adventure – for the longest period of time, the action involved wrapping up previous life (job), moving, preparing for new job. While also spotting things that hadn’t been spotted before, now that there are these heightened senses. There’s a kind of ‘slice of life’ vibe going on, just involving werewolves and the like. But then conflict erupts within the pack when Dakota meets the third in command, and conflict erupts outside the pack when a super powerful supernatural-like creature attacks.

Some might find it slow in parts and fast in others, but I liked the pace. I liked the deepening characterization of the people around and in Dakota’s new wolf pack.

There’s something of an odd dynamic going on in the romance department, though there’s a reason tossed in that seems plausible and reasonable. Dakota feels a pull towards two different women, one a wolf, one a vampire. One she rarely sees, the other she seems to see constantly. There were times when I started to lose sight of the appeal of the vampire, then they’d be together and it’d all rush back. I’m not wording this right. I have a tendency to do that, eh? Word things wrong.

Well, the long and short of it is that this is the second book in a series, so some of the freshness has faded, but there’s enough here to make everything exciting and fun to read about, and still leaving a strong desire to continue reading.

Unfortunately, in terms of continued reading, there’s only a short story left to poke at that I’ve not yet read. There is mention of future books in the works, one even already supposed to have appeared, but it didn’t appear in the fall of 2015. So I be sad.

Hmms. My ability to write reviews appears to be tapering off. Bad me! Bad!

December 18 2015… (altro)

My first work by these authors.

I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting when I decided, kind of randomly, to try this book. I even did something I had somewhat gotten out of the habit of doing – checking out the preview before starting/downloading. Read the first couple of pages and got sucked in immediately. There’s a kind of hypnotic quality to the writing that grabs the reader by the scruff of the neck and tugs them further and further along. Somewhere along the way this tugging lessons, and the reader is gently let to walk on their own four paws (I do not know why I pictured a mother cat carrying along a kitten, these be werewolves not cats).

One example of the hypnotic pull – The first and second chapters seem as if they move from one moment to another. Flow naturally together. A security guard is prowling around at night, gets caught up in a robbery, captures that guy, and has something magical happen to them. They are all shocked and trembling and confused. They curl up to eat some food and attempt to rest. Second chapter starts. She’s clocking in at work, apparently the next day but . . . . somewhere along the way I realized that this was a flashback. Probably around the point where the first chapter got repeated. I just now looked and no, there’s nothing to indicate ‘One week ago’ or anything like that. Just moving from one chapter to the next. This is one of those things that kind of messes with my mind and causes me to get all annoyed and angry like. Yet, I just shrugged, caught up in the hypnotic pull of the writing.

So. There was that. The writing was good. Interesting fantasy world overlaying the non-fantasy world. A world of vampires, werewolves, magic users, fae, and others who are ‘awake’ and then there are those who are not ‘awake’. Who travel the world refusing to know the truth. Looking grey and uncolorful. These would be the humans (and any unawaken creature who shares some human dna, like, say, werewolves (which are born in this world, not made – though they have to be awakened).

There’s this neat way that the ‘awake’ world and the ‘unawake’ world is shown in this book. When Dakota goes outside for the first time after being awoken she’s confused. It’s like the film Pleasantville (not mentioned in the book) where some people are in color, and others aren’t. Those not awake appear grey and without color. Those awake share two characteristics – they are in color and they have aura’s mostly unique to themselves. That’s also why Dakota’s attacked for the first time – she’s awoken now, and so others like say a Vampire, sees her as something interesting. And unprotected.

Before we go too far down the road of ‘vampire = evil’ it should be noted that only one seemed to be described that way. One of the magic users/mentalists Dakota encounters has a vampire boyfriend, and Dakota herself is circling a female vampire.

Did I not mention that yet? Well, until it actually matters, it didn’t matter. For most of the story the fact that Dakota is a lesbian doesn’t really matter. Sure, near the beginning she mentions being attracted to a certain female she meets, but then she also ‘checked out’ the man that woman was with (more in noticing what he looked like and that he appeared handsome, less in the drooling way she was checking out the woman). Of course at some point it does matter. I mean this is, in addition to being a fantasy, a lesbian romance. And that rears its head to sniff the air and bounce around. I appear to finding weird word choices and phrases. Odd that. I had a point. I think I lost the point before I successfully conveyed said point.

Right so, this is a fantasy. It mostly takes place in an urban setting (Knoxville Tennessee and, Nashville Tennessee, Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and a moment or two in Dallas Texas), and takes place in a dwelling that may or may not be in a suburb/rural area (I forget now; just that it is in the mountains). Still, there’s a certain feel of being in a city, but the urbanness of the story doesn’t really seem to matter. So, should I call it an urban fantasy? Maybe. Paranormal activity occurs. Has a kind of different vibe though. Hmms. Well, um, it’s a fantasy that includes a bit of romance, a bit of lesbian stuff, mystery, magic, and . . . stuff.

This is a good solid great story. It just didn’t feel like a five star story. And I have no real idea why that might be. So, I’ll mark it down as a 4.5 story for now.

December 17 2015… (altro)