Mike Phillips (5)Recensioni

I received this through the Early Reviewers program at Library Thing. This book was difficult to read, but not because it was a heavy subject. It was difficult because it was very confusing. There were four or five different points of view in the first six chapters of the book, and the reader is thrust into each, without getting any of the background on some of the major themes that run through out the book. While I normally feel like I generally pick up easily the major points and settings of the books I read, in this one I felt I didn't get the basic background of one of the main groups until I was about three-quarters of the way through the book. While the main storyline would have been interesting enough if flushed out more, it was disjointed by what seemed unnecessary point of view changes, or information that didn't seem to pan out in the end of the book. I still am not certain how or who the title pertains to.

Additionally, the e-book was formated poorly. There were no chapters in the contents section, so if you wanted to go back to something, you had to go all the way back to the table of contents page and use the links on it. But it also refused to show the bookmarks I had placed, so you had to keep track of that if you backtracked for something. Chapters seemed to start whenever on a page, and not on a new one. And there were a few pages that had from 1-5 lines on it only, but it wasn't an end of the chapter. The formating just added to the overall frustration withe the book.

Interesting Book

"I received this through the Early Reviewers program. This book was difficult to read, but not because it was a heavy subject. It was difficult because it was very confusing. There were four or five different points of view in the first six chapters of the book, and the reader is thrust into each, without getting any of the background on some of the major themes that run through out the book. While I normally feel like I generally pick up easily the major points and settings of the books I read, in this one I felt I didn't get the basic background of one of the main groups until I was about three-quarters of the way through the book. While the main storyline would have been interesting enough if flushed out more, it was disjointed by what seemed unnecessary point of view changes, or information that didn't seem to pan out in the end of the book. I still am not certain how or who the title pertains to.

Additionally, the e-book was formated poorly. There were no chapters in the contents section, so if you wanted to go back to something, you had to go all the way back to the table of contents page and use the links on it. But it also refused to show the bookmarks I had placed, so you had to keep track of that if you backtracked for something. Chapters seemed to start whenever on a page, and not on a new one. And there were a few pages that had from 1-5 lines on it only, but it wasn't an end of the chapter. The formating just added to the overall frustration withe the book."

After finishing this book my first thought was, "What the crap did I just read?" It's hard to compose a plot summary because most of this novel is frankly inexplicable. The common phrase, "Show don't tell" is a great piece of advice and one this author could benefit from following. Crazily enough, it would also help if the author told a little more too.

I often found myself wondering who the various characters are and why I should care. Does this novel take place on earth or some other planet? Who are the strange invaders? Aliens? Refugees from a far more advanced culture? There are Jinn's witches, ghosts, the list goes on and on. None of it makes any sense.

Here's what I got out of it: There is a remote jungle civilization, basically stone age, maybe bronze age but with the addition of shamanistic magic. The civilization finds themselves under attack by an invading force of highly advanced outsiders. One man must set out on a quest to save his people.

This novel is extremely disorienting. Characters wander in an out with no apparent purpose. The most jarring is the main character's love interest. She is introduced as someone he knew as a child but hasn't seen in years. Literally two days later they are married. The worst part is they don't even seem to like each other. She is abrasive and emasculating. He is insensitive and juvenile. After some extremely uncomfortable honeymoon sequences, she disappears from the book for the rest of the novel, just as abruptly as she arrived. Gross. Just awful from beginning to end.

Mitch is struggling, after an industrial accident left him badly scarred with few resources left. He resorts to busking, beginning to build a new life with new friends – and things are looking up when he finds a woman who likes him and is able to look past the scars. This new life seems to be really beginning.

Except the woman, Elizabeth isn’t entirely human – and she has something that the nefarious and domineering Baron wants – and he’s willing to extort a wizard, Hume to help him get it. Mitch is some easy collateral damage in his schemes.

On the plus side? We have the beginnings of a wide, gritty world with an oppressive dark underworld populated by a myriad of supernatural creatures and quite possibly a dark anti-hero in the making

And I stopped this book at about page 210 out of 290. I thought about pushing those last 80 pages, but I was already bored and skimming and I truly was not interested in continuing for one more page. I was bored, I didn’t care about the characters, I didn’t care about the story and the world was broad but had no depth.

We spent most of the book following Mitch – the young man who became a busker after his terrible industrial accident (with some very unsubtle “rawr, Unions are bad!” rhetoric around it). The young man who has very little, if any real connection to the supernatural. The supernatural kind of happens around him or we’ll start to follow a story about one of the actual supernatural beings – and then it’s back to Mitch and his guitar and his friends and generally a whole lot of minutiae I have been given zero reason to care about. That’s what gets me – it’s 200 pages in and only now is Mitch having the Supernatural reach his storyline in an overt way: and that’s because he fed a cat that turned out not to be a cat. All this time spent on him and I really do not care about his character and find him a massive distraction to the actual story.

And the other characters who are involved in the quest to find the MacGuffin are just not that well developed in comparison – or at all. We have the Baron who is an evil, despotic… thing. No I have no idea what he is or what he can do, it’s never explained. He just is. And he wants his MacGuffin.

There’s Hume, the wizard who could be an interesting character but, alas, we have to spend more time with Mitch badly scarred by the terribad evil unions. Hume has a sister who is Damselled that forces him to work with the Baron to rescue her. He glares and grumbles a lot – and looks for the MacGuffin, again no real character

And then there’s Elizabeth, who has the McGuffin and plays magic pixie dream girl to Mitch. That’s about it – she has the MacGuffin but we don’t know how or why, or even fully what she is or what that means or anything about her other than the fact she’s not put off by Mitch’s scars and is rather whimsical. Manic Pixie Dream girl – I mean elf. Manic Pixie Dream Elf. Or possibly fae.

Read More½

I thought this book was okay. It is definitely a mystery that one has to solve which makes the book really interesting. I am not usually into science fiction books but this one was different. Rakam is a character who goes into a journey to find himself and along the way he finds different types of groups of people. He has supernatural powers (I liked that touch very much!) he has the gift of sight which means he can vision things happening beforehand. Really interesting book but at times I felt like it was a bit confusing. However, a good read to all of those who enjoy science fiction. Thank you Library thing for giving me the opportunity to review this piece!

Reign of the nightmare price is based on various groups of Natives fighting against a unknown "advance" enemy who comes to claim their land as their own. Now, I did get a little lost in the details at some points, but i think most people will like the story line because almost everywhere in the world Natives fought for their homeland against Settlers. Characters were very interesting and most of the time the writing had you right there in the thick of it. I am going to assume that this is Mike Phillips first book, which make me a little more lenient because when it did get going you couldn't put it down, but the parts where you were lost really did throw you off. Im going it give it 3 stars.

Too many story lines, too many points of view, a broken timeline of events and characters that are unrelatable left me not liking this tale. As I stated the idea behind the work is an important one to be told and reminded, but it was poorly illuminated in this tale. Major re-work is needed to make this a credible and enjoyable tale to read.

Reign of the Nightmare Prince is an Avatar-type story, without the avatars. The decaying Earth is desperate to find new worlds and does not care about indigenous people, who are designated 'hostiles.' An unusual, and effective twist is that parts of the story is told from the invaders' point of view; we see their tensions within the group, and dangers on an unfamiliar planet, and their complete disregard for life on other worlds, coupled with a complete lack of empathy for other people. Earth is now a terrible place to live, and finding other more pleasant worlds is all that matters.
The beginning is a little slow, but well worth persisting, as the story becomes more involving and exciting so that you are left breathless, and rooting for the hero, Rakam.
I believe that young people would enjoy this book very much; it might even encourage boys to read.
I have to admit that I still haven't worked out where the title came from.

When I first started reading this book, 1) it was hard to get into, and I wasn't really quite sure where it was going. I was actually glad when the view point switched from the natives of the planet over to the humans in the story, and liked reading that portion of the book, and 2) I really thought this was going to turn into a rip-off of Avatar. I was pleased when it wasn't a complete rip-off of that, though you can definitely make parallels throughout the book.

I thought there was some clumsy writing in parts of the book, and it took about half of the book to really get into the story, but once that happened, I was eager to keep reading.

I was not able to get into this book and have yet to finish it. There was some mysterious aspects of the plot that kept me reading, but the slow pacing prevented me from becoming engaged in the book.

Reign of the Nightmare Prince left me with mixed feelings. Let's start with the title. Although there were hints and suggestions of ideas that might have evolved into a story that matched the title, they never blossomed. Also, throughout the read, it often lacked descriptive elements and supporting information which left me wondering if the author still has some of the story stuck in his head. When there was description, it often felt forced or contrived. Also, there seems to be some incongruities and underdeveloped side stories.

On the good side, the story itself kept me wanting to read on to find out what happened next. It centers around a somewhat tribal people being decimated by a group of soldiers and how they fight back. You eventually learn that it is happening on another planet which is being cleansed by human mercenaries of all signs of previous habitants for incoming settlers who are already on their way.

All-in-all, Reign of the Nightmare Prince has a lot of potential but should go through at least a couple more revisions before being published.

I won this e-book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers/Member Giveaway Group.
I have mixed feelings about this book. It wasn't a bad read, but I think the story jumped around too much. It got confusing as to what was going on. And at the end of the book it left a lot of questions unanswered. The book did have an enjoyable list of characters, and they fit the story perfectly. It's just too much was left unwritten I think.

I originally read this book once and was totally confused at several points in the book. When I finished the book, I thought, "That's it? Maybe I missed something?" So I read the book again hoping that I would comprehend it better. Maybe I had just read it too quickly. Um, no. I did comprehend it better; however, I had the same results. I still think that the intertwining plots were confusing. Sometimes when the plot would change, I was left wondering who are these new people? How do they relate to the story? What is actually happening in the story? What is actually happening in the background that given to us?

The ending was abrupt. I was left wondering about a few of the characters. For example, what became of Betu and the sick children? Betu was the best part of the book.

This book actually reminded me of something I would have read in school that the class would analyze, and because of this, I did not enjoy it. It felt too much like a class assignment.

I think it would have been better if the setting would have been stated clearer. Such as does it take place in Africa or another third world country, or does it take place in a fictional place, or is it another planet?

Really, what was the editor thinking.....when they decided to publish this thing?

The e format of this book was poor. When I went back to another page to review something, there was no easy way to do it, I just had to keep scrolling until I got there. There were no shortcuts to chapters.

Overall, this was my least favorite of the books I have had to read, and I review on two different sites. Definitely, thumbs down!

I received a copy of this e-book from LibraryThing in exchange for doing an honest review.

I tried reading this book several times. Regrettably I couldn't get past page 79...can't put my finger on the problem other than it simply didn't capture my attention.

It is always a wonderful piece of luck when I get to read some new science fiction. Reign of the Nightmare Prince is a real treat. I liked the cover art, cared for the characters right away and raced through the story to see how it would all work out in the end. I was, of course, disugusted when I found out who the 'boogeymen' really are (it was pretty suspenseful until the mystery is taken away and you are faced with an ugliness in human nature that no-one can ever be comfortable with). I was worried about the ending, it did come up a little abruptly, I was wondering to myself "Is this a series? Am I just reading the first one?" I'm happy to say that the story ended satisfactorily, and I have an interest in seeing what might happen next. Will we see more about these characters and this world? I hope so!

There’s a long tradition among Western writers of lionising ancient ways of life, as if there’s something better about giving up all the trappings of modernity and wallowing about in the pain and dirt. The myth of the noble savage is responsible for such idiotic beliefs as the power of alternative medicine and the idea that anything that refutes the scientific process is necessarily true. Worst of all, it gave us Avatar – a movie that makes Smurfs 3D look like Citizen Kane.

Reign of the Nightmare Prince is just like Avatar – noble savages in tune with nature are attacked by evil technologists who want to take their resources – but differs in one respect; you care what happens. The story’s told from the point of view of one of the alien natives who’s returning from their version of Walkabout to find out monsters are killing off the rest of his people, and follows his attempts to muster a defence in the face of impossible odds.

Although it’s an entertaining and fun read, it’s not explained why the aboriginal population of an alien planet feels so human and a lot of the non-native attackers are almost as one-dimensional as Jake “I see you” Sully. Also, the end was so abrupt it felt like a sixth grader who’s suddenly reached the word limit on an English essay but don’t let that put you off.

If you’ve got some downtime while you’re committing genocide on an alien planet you could do worse than Mike Phillips’ début.

http://bit.ly/oWvXqJ

About a race of people who come to a new world and attempt to wipe out the previous race so they can settle there, this book held my attention. Written from the point of view of the natives, and mostly from one tribesman, it makes you think about what it must have been like to be an Inca or an African when the scary Europeans descended upon them and took over with brute force. You root for the little guy; you want the tribesmen to win.

This book flowed pretty well, but it was a little supernatural for my taste. However, all in all, I liked it! If you are into a little bit of sorcery and a lot of adventure, this may be a good book for you.

I received a copy of this e-book from LibraryThing in exchange for doing an honest review.

I enjoyed this e-book immensely. It took a bit for me to get into the book at the beginning but that may have been do to the genre of the book I read before this one. Once I was able to get into it, I had a hard time stopping, even at night when I was supposed to be sleeping.

The characters are well written and that helps to make them more real.

I think the ending leaves it open for a sequel book but that is just me.

All in all, a great book!

Thanks for sharing it.

I think the charactor develpoment and plot were very convincing and keep the action moving along. The time frame explored was a very intersting choice and well written.½

I enjoyed most of the book, I did get lost and confused at times. Probably just me. I was thinking in ways its like when explores came to south america. Natives where killed and robbed of thier gold and jewels. Sacred places ruined. I saw in someone review they thought of Africa. Its amazing how same book hits different people different.
Rakam is on a journey traveling and learning about different groups trying to find what his path will be. He has the gift of sight. Those who have gifts train and then go on like a vision quest. He goes to see different animals that this one village use, but as he comes to it, it is completly destroyed. Even the rocks surrounding their fire pits is gone. He sees what happened in a vision. He heads for home to warn his people and finds village after village destroyed even their sacred places.
Rakam is bit by snake and he almost dies a riverdog saves him and brings him fish while he heals. After he realizes that his visions are gone but a new power has imerged.
He warns his people and shows them the armor they where that their arrows cant hurt. They flee to the marsh king to let others know of these enemys that kill and destroy everything and hope by joining can stop them somehow.
It is interesting story of natives having to fight for thier lands and beliefs. Different groups having their traditions. Choosing good over evil. What fight is worth dying for.

I was given this ebook in exchange for honest review.

I don't always look forward to "small press" books eagerly, and after reading this one decided I should probably stop that attitude. I found this one very entertaining, a quick and interesting read. It has a different perspective on humanity, one that can be a little disturbing at times.

Character build-up was adequate, and even if it was slightly predictable at times, I didn't mind it. Many times books will drag in the middle, the "fill" section, but this one moved right along.

WSill this one be a classic? Probably not, but it's still one I woul recommend to a friend into sci-fi, and would read more by th same author.

I truly enjoyed Reign of the Nightmare Prince, a thought provoking, clever, new, science fiction novel. There is a mystery for the reader to solve, just as the novel's native inhabitants must determine who these new "Mashaitani" (if I am not mistaken, I believe the author has used a middle-eastern word "Shaitan", which means Satan or the Devil and added an "i" to indicate that these invaders are "from the Devil", and then inferring from the use of "Ma" as a prefix before the proper names for other various groups of people in the novella, I believe the "Ma" means that they are "people of, or from, Satan, or the Devil" - I hope I have deciphered this terminology correctly) are, so they can defeat them, or they will be wiped from their own planet. The pacing is great; I never lost interest and was compelled to keep reading.

It is organized without a primary narrator. Each chapter is told from the perspective of one of several main characters (and once from someone minor, with the purpose of giving the reader a better understanding of what is happening in this world as a whole). Apparently, several other readers found it too jarring or difficult to understand when the author changed the viewpoint -- primarily back and forth between someone from the native population and then sometimes the following chapter would be devoted to the viewpoint of one of the invaders. Personally, I was completely able to follow the various story lines and was intrigued as to the mystery of the invaders. I was pleased to have been able to figure out their true purpose on the planet very early. This was possible because the story is well written. Phillips discloses the situation in a slow but steady manner, keeping the mystery going, in an effort I think, to force people to wonder if this is a situation that is happening here in our world called Earth (there is so much about this story that makes a reader think about the way Africa was colonized by the Europeans, and is still being raped by the West today) rather than the far off planet with two moons (although the invaders very well might be from Earth). Ultimately, all the mysteries are resolved by the end. However, he has left two very small threads only partially resolved; perhaps Phillips did this with the intention that they be used to develop conflicts and drama in a new book or two as sequels.

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Reading further will divulge too much about this book, and is for those who enjoy literary analysis.

-- EXCEPT for the FINAL PARAGRAPH --

That section would still be a very useful review and will not give anything away.
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One thread involves the remaining Mashaitani (whose numbers are decimated after the final assault), and their backup plan if everything went wrong in the battle. Prior to the final assault, the leader Crenshaw had told Smitty to bring any of the remaining trustworthy survivors -- killing the ones he cannot trust -- and lead them to a prearranged location disclosed by Crenshaw to Smitty. The survivors were to gather together and follow the instructions to travel to the plains over the mountains, where they were to wait for the imminent arrival of the colonists' ships and to try and hook up with the coming colonists and their space ships. They would pretend to be marooned scientists from an earlier expedition, with the ultimate hope that Crenshaw, Smitty and the few others would be able to take the next transport home within 5 years. They would have to keep the true nature of their mission from the colonists. It had been Crenshaw's secret mission to wipe the Natives from the planet by not only killing them and then cremating their remains, but also by eliminating any signs that they had ever existed. This is why they had destroyed the holy places, including any written marks on various stones and trees, as well as their huts and villages. They were being paid a big bonus by "the company" to produce an empty planet, all ready for the coming colonists to inhabit, without a humanoid native population with whom to fight or compete. Had all gone as planned, it had been Crenshaw's secret desire to take, with his men, the capitol city and the neighboring mines and rule all as its governor.

The other thread would be Rakam returning to help free Timbo, who is under the evil influence of a Jinn, and his army, lost in the haunted forest with the souls of the Choklotan, who are all at the mercy of the Muklak. In this book he has promised to return to help free the souls of the Choklotan from the Muklak, as well as Timbo and his people, but only after he defeats the invaders. The book ends with him having accomplished this goal and we assume that once he has recovered from his injuries from that final showdown with the invaders, he will honor his promise and return to the haunted forest to help them all.

The Characters are well developed and likeable. All have recognizable voices, differing sufficiently from one another so that at the beginning of each chapter, the reader quickly knows which person is currently the focus and narrator. They are not stiff or stereotypes. Even the antagonists have some redeeming qualities readers can identify and appreciate; perhaps some readers can even like them. All of this is to Phillips' credit. It even reminds me of the descriptive style of Frank Herbert (my favorite Sci-Fi writer); he also had each chapter devoted to one perspective from a variety of numerous characters in his books (sometimes one of the main characters, sometimes one of the planet's ordinary subjects - a lowly soldier or even a humble servant). Another aspect that reminds me of Frank Herbert is the interconnection of all the living things of this planet with the two moons...Phillips even has the rocks and rivers having influential life force energy as well as plants and animals - this was especially notable in Mabetu's spirit journey to save Rakam. Frank Herbert was almost obsessed with the importance of ecology and the energy of a living planet, even giving sentient consciousness to ecosystems or insect hives. Herbert did all this I believe in an effort to use science fiction to explore the problems of exploiting our planet, with the hopes of enlightening readers to the current problems facing our planet.

The very best Sci-Fi uses an alien setting to expose and examine problems in our own real world. I thoroughly enjoyed Phillips' clever use of the tragedies of the colonization of the African continent by Europeans (which is an ongoing situation under the guise of the global economy) as well as Americans and other Westernized nationals, including the emerging Chinese. I have read about and seen news focusing on how villages occupying lands discovered to have oil have been surgically attacked by mercenaries - it is burned to the ground, the people with the village. The mercenaries are supposed to burn away any remnant of the village, so that no one can prove it had ever been there. Sadly, these things are done with the consent of the government because they have been paid a great deal of money to look the other way by the oil company. Sometimes, the mercenaries are members of that country's own military. Some people have managed to escape with their lives and are speaking out about this horror. Africa is still a continent rich with natural resources attracting foreigners attempting to take what they want by any means. One has only to look at how the middle class (necessary to any republic or democratic country for the continuing growth, economic health and welfare of all its country's citizenry) disappears and the people become impoverished, while a few leaders of that country become wealthy (and the countryside becomes polluted - where the rivers are no longer fit to drink and the fish have died off, so that there are no fish to feed the people, and the waters are poisonous to the plants in the fields, thus they are barren and the people stave, or they are poisoned by the few plants that do grow because they have sucked up the poisons through their root systems from the highly polluted water) whenever oil is discovered in a particular country or area. In Africa, it is actually not in the best interests of the people as a whole, for the West to discover some natural resource it desires. It always ends with the people, as well as the land, losing out.

I wish to mention two other aspects of the novel which pleased me. Rakam's life is saved by an otter, who he names Betu. She brings him fish when he was nearly dying. She not only saved his life, she represents the Almighty gifting him with divine help (a reference is made later in the book that otters are messengers from the Almighty). Perhaps the Almighty (in Rakam's universe) has sent him Betu because Rakam is going to be the instrument to save his people and planet, but also as a reward for having survived the temptation from the Jinn. Mike Phillips may not be aware of this but in the early Christian mythos in Ireland, otters were believed to bring fish to aesthetic monks isolated on rocky islands. The fish not only represented physical sustenance, but also symbolized spiritual nourishment since the fish was a symbol for Christ (this also is a symbol for the eating of the Eucharist). I personally believe that this tradition of otters saving man's body and spirit with gifts of fish predates Christianity. I am sure it was unintentional on Phillip's part, but the coincidence might be serendipitous. In any case, the relationship between Rakam and Betu is a sweet and gentle one and brings joy and happiness to situations within the story that might otherwise be too sad.

The other aspect that pleased me was the romance that develops between Rakam and the princess. The writing allows the reader to feel the relationship blossom without any coarse sexual descriptions. Even the killings lack gory descriptions, yet the crime of genocide is still comprehended. It is refreshing to find an author who can convey both horror and romance without explicitness. This novel is enjoyable for adults and also can be read safely by youngsters.
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-----DISCLOSURE------

I received this book through a LibraryThing's early review give away in exchange for an honest review after finishing the book. I do not know Mike Phillips, his agent or anyone from his publisher. There is nothing that could have biased my review.½

An excellent read. Creates a world that is consistent and interesting and tells a story that flows with characters that are believable. Will look forward to further books by this author.

I received an advanced copy of Reign of the Nightmare Prince from the publisher for proofing and review.

When I began reading this manuscript, I have to say I was a bit unsure about where it was taking me. At times, I was a bit distracted because it was jumping from one scene to another. I was having a difficult time imagining the characters and setting for a while. I was immediately reminded of the European settler’s invasion which eventually drove out the American Indians, but I knew that wasn’t quite right either. Finally, it is obvious the “Europeans” are far more advanced than I was visualizing, and they are indeed form a future Earth. I think a few illustrations within this story would go a long way in tying some of the elements together for the reader.

Rakam is an extremely likable and well-rounded character. You can tell from the very beginning he has a kind soul, and he will be able to accomplish great things. Of course, I absolutely adore Betu (given my fondness for animals in literature). The way Rakam takes Betu in and the bond they share just further demonstrates his true character. My favorite character is Mabetu for his humor and downright spunkiness! One of my favorite quotes of the story is by Mabetu:

“You had better be delusional,” said Mabetu gruffly. “Or does your wife feel like a hairy old man?”

I think Mike does a great job developing his characters. I love how the Shaitani are both barbaric and destructive, yet they still possess some redeeming qualities. It makes it more difficult sometimes to decide whose side you should be more supportive of, because, essentially, we would be the Shaitani if anything were to happen to our world. How exactly would we behave in a desperate situation? How have we behaved in our past? (I’m pretty sure we know the answer to that).

I understand that some may find this book a little difficult to get into, and if you aren’t much of a sci-fi/fantasy sort of person, you may not have the patience to stick with it. Those of you who do, I believe, will easily be able to find something to love and/or relate to in the story.

Mike Phillips will be interviewed on JournalStone’s Blog Talk Radio show, JournalJabber, co-hosted by yours truly, on Tuesday, August 9 at 8PM CST. Tune in to learn more about Mike and Reign of the Nightmare Prince (like where exactly did that title come from?)—and who knows what else!

www.journalstone.com/journaljabber

This review can also be found at www.gatheringleavesreviews.blogspot.com.