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Tyson Adams Reviews
Book lover and science nerd.
See more from me at http://tysonadams.com
Currently reading
Kill or Be Killed, Vol. 3
The Problems of Philosophy
Dead Ever After
Babylon's Ashes
The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work. Alain de Botton
Deadpool by Joe Kelly Omnibus
Solomon Creed
Frost Burned
Is the correct term for the abduction of shapeshifters werenapping?Our favourite coyote is back, the rest of her pack less so. Some mad fool has decided to abduct Adam and the rest of the Tri-Cities werewolves. They also come after Mercy and all of her friends. That's one way to invite yourself to be dinner I suppose.
Halfway through the novel I was reminded why I've been enjoying the Mercy Thompson series so much. Patricia Briggs sets a plot in motion but doesn't follow the standard path you would expect. Without spoiling things, we get more plot and a different endpoint than you were initially expecting. Most authors would set that initial plot in motion and try to make the ride enjoyable. Briggs makes the ride to the shops enjoyable but also changes the destination for somewhere with ocean views.
Slipping: Stories, Essays, & Other Writing
Could zombies be a viable replacement for slave labour? Asking for a certain electronics company. And most clothing manufacturers.Slipping is an interesting collection of writing from the brain of Lauren Beukes. From enhanced athletes to bored ghosts, these stories display Lauren's spec-fic interests. There are also a few essays at the end of the collection, one of which explains the personal inspiration behind The Shining Girls; an essay well worth reading.
I met Lauren at a writers' festival where she was running a workshop on, surprise surprise, writing. I really enjoyed reading the aforementioned The Shining Girls as it was a highly enjoyable mix of crime and spec-fic. So I was looking forward to reading this collection. As with any collection of previously published works, there are highs and lows. For me the highs outweighed the lows, with Slipping, The Green, and Ghost Girl being amongst my favourites. I think the strengths of this collection come from the South African cultural influence to Lauren's writing, which gives far more grittiness to the bleak sci-fi stories than you usually see.
If you're a spec-fic fan, or a fan of Lauren's writing - and how could you not be? - then you will find some compelling stories in this collection.
I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.
River Marked
There are times when you really need a bigger boat.Mercy and Adam have decided to get married and go on a honeymoon. Of course, everyone else has plans on their time, including a few odd jobs they could do. Such as figure out why so many people are disappearing near the river... At least Mercy isn't repairing cars on her honeymoon.
In River Marked we have some reveals about Mercy's real father. This hints at things to come as well as explaining why she seems to have been attracting trouble. As always, Patricia Briggs has progressed the series and characters, filling in the gaps in a natural and satisfying way. We never get all the answers, but Briggs is revealing them without it feeling like she has been obstinately hiding details or making them up on the fly.
Silver Borne
Returning overdue books has never been quite this dangerous.Mercy borrowed a book to help her understand the fae. But when she tries to return it she finds the bookstore owner has disappeared and several nasty foes who wouldn't mind eating her. If only Samuel was feeling himself and someone wasn't trying to sabotage date night with Adam she could deal with this situation.
Despite their standalone nature, the plot of the books in this series overlap a lot. While you could jump into the series with Silver Borne and enjoy it without any problems, the significance and development of the plots would be a little incomplete if you hadn't read the previous instalments. That said, this novel feels like a turning point in the series, with Mercy starting to come into her own. Hard to comment without spoilers, and it really is just easier to read and enjoy.
Make Me
Does Reacher leave enough people alive to have criminals warning one another on the Deep Web about not messing with him?Jack Reacher decided to catch a train to a small town for a change and by walking around as per usual he managed to piss off the local criminals. This will end well for the criminals.
Lee Child is a master of not wasting words. If there is exposition then it is important to the plot. Make Me is no exception. The twist for this thriller is revealed in little details throughout the story. It comes through as no less shocking.
While I have grown a little tired of the formula for the Reacher novels, they still remain entertaining reads.
Bone Crossed
Vampire ghosts: the undead undead?A few weeks earlier, Mercy killed one vampire too many, and now Marsilia and her vampire seethe have found out. Out of the blue pops her old out-of-state college friend with a ghost problem that she hopes Mercy can help with. What convenient timing.
It is refreshing to read a fantasy series that doesn't get bogged down in world building waffle. Aside from being written as though they are standalone novels - whilst being a continuing adventure - there isn't any fat on this lean series. And as the series has progressed it hasn't fallen into a rut, nor become formulaic. I'm already halfway through the next in the series and enjoying each Mercy Thompson outing as much as the first.
Iron Kissed
A walking stick that follows you around is surely a sign to slow down, right?Mercy is asked to help investigate a series of Fae murders, because mechanics are great at that sort of thing. That goes so well that her friend and former boss, Zee, ends up on the hook for a murder he didn't commit. Of course, what happens on the rez stays on the rez, so the Fae are quite happy for Zee to take the fall. Mercy isn't happy for Zee to take the fall.
Patricia Briggs keeps upping the ante with this series. Mercy may have some devoted friends but there is quickly becoming very few groups in the Tri-Cities area that aren't pissed at her. Whether it be the vampires, the Grey Lords of the Fae, her two competing suitors, elements within the wolf pack, or the local anti-magical beings hate groups, Briggs has made Mercy's life tough. This makes for compelling reading. Some people won't like the climatic scene for how far it goes, but what is a decent protagonist without deep psychological scars? <--- not a spoiler... kinda.
Anomalies
With all the positive reviews talking about this being an unputdownable page-turner that will keep you entertained for two days, this review is to say that it is rubbish and only takes a few hours to read.It had the lamest twist ever and we're probably just lucky that the characters weren't wearing tin-foil hats and discussing crab people living in the hollow Earth. Straight out of the conspiracy theory nutter handbook.
Presumably the sequel will have mind-control chemtrails being sprayed by the shape-shifting reptilian overlords who have taken the form of world leaders and celebrities because reasons.
NB: posting review on behalf of my partner.
The Jekyll Revelation
When life imitates art, which was imitating life, which goes on to inspire art, do you have to still underline meaningful phrases in a book for when you're caught? Asking for a friend...Rafe is your average underpaid civil servant scientist living in Topanga Canyon, California. As long as he avoids the local bikies and their meth lab, two local petty criminals, and his landlady's boyfriend, he should be able to study his coyote pack in peace. Yeah, doesn't happen. When he discovers a trunk which belonged to Robert Louis Stevenson things go sideways, and he uncovers the truth about Jack the Ripper.
The Jekyll Revelation is an interesting novel that combines historical fiction with a modern day tale. Leveraging an intriguing factoid suggesting Robert Louis Stevenson was a person of interest in the Jack the Ripper murders - due to the play based upon his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - made this story compelling. Masello manages to emulate Stevenson's style* for the found-diary passages interspersed between the chapters of Rafe's modern adventures. And the twist. I thought I had figured it out early on. I was wrong.
As a kid I was a fan of Robert Louis Stevenson's, so this was an enjoyable read. I'm not normally a fan of stories that co-opt famous historical figures - unless it is done in the style of a James Rollins or Steve Berry historical McGuffin adventure - as it can feel like shoehorning. But I enjoyed the melding of two timelines to tell a tale of Jack the Ripper. It worked well, with this feeling like Stevenson's final tale.
* I'll admit it has been decades since I read Robert Louis Stevenson's oeuvre as a kid, so my memory of his style could be muddled.
NB: I received a review copy ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review.
Blood Bound
Never do a favour for something as it will come back to bite you. Mercy Thompson is just your typical small business owner: fixing cars, keeping customers happy, seeing ghosts, dating werewolves, and being asked to do a vampire a favour. The favour involves helping Stephan with a vampire sorcerer, and that goes just as well as you'd expect. With the death-toll rising and even vampires and werewolves powerless against the sorcerer, it looks like Mercy is the only one who can stop evil.
Blood Bound is the second Mercy Thompson novel by Patricia Briggs. Where the first novel had more of a crime novel vibe, this is its own beast. Mercy may be the protagonist, but the world doesn't revolve around her, so many things happen without her, yet ultimately drag her into the fray. This makes the series quite refreshing and enjoyable for me. I'm looking forward to reading the next instalment.
Worth Fighting For
“Worth Fighting For”. Worth buying? Bolt’s own audience doesn’t think so.http://junkee.com/andrew-bolt-wrote-a-book-and-no-one-bought-it/81625
Havana Lost
If a family saga is told about a mob family's saga, does algebra mean it ceases to be a family saga?Headstrong teen, Francesca Pacelli, is a mob boss' daughter living in Havana at the dawn of the Cuban Revolution. Rather than leave for the USA, she falls in love with a revolutionary. Her father takes that news so well that he even sells arms to the rebels to get her back. Good thing she grows up to be a mob boss herself.
When I started Hellmann's Havana Lost I had been expecting a more standard crime novel. It took me a while to realise that this was going to be a saga stretching from the 1950s in Cuba to modern day USA. Love and tragedy fill the story to the brim, making for an interesting read. But without a protagonist to follow throughout the novel, I felt a little lost. This was partly because I wasn't prepared for the saga - should have read the blurb I suppose - and partly because there is a lot of setup to the story with Francesca's character.
So as long as you are prepared for the Pacelli family tale of love, loss, and coltan mines, you should enjoy this.
Finders Keepers
Enter a world where people obsess over books that aren't Harry Potter.Peter Saubers' family is having a tough time of it. The GFC has hit hard, his dad was hit hard with a car, and the arky-barkies might tear the family apart. Then he stumbles upon a literal treasure chest: stolen money and notebooks from the late John Rothstein - a reclusive author in the mould of JD Salinger. Of course, the man who killed for those notebooks, Morris Bellamy, has a wee fixation on Rothstein and his character Jimmy Gold, so not even a life sentence will stop him coming for Peter Saubers and his treasure.
I'll be honest, I was going to give up on this book. If it hadn't been Stephen King I probably would have. This is the second novel in the Bill Hodges trilogy, and Bill doesn't show up until a third to half-way through the novel. That is part of what makes this novel frustrating. It takes a long time to set things up and get the plot moving, with that first third or more acting as backstory that you're not quite sure has a point to it.
But the final third of the novel redeems this ignoble start in a taut and suspenseful manner. Definitely not one of King's better works, but if you can get past the waffly backstory, this is an okay read.
Killfile: A Novel
There are times that I'm glad people can't read my mind: I'd hate to have someone else humming The Proclaimers.John Smith is a specialist who helps wealthy clients with tricky problems. He has a talent for hostage negotiations, corporate espionage, and gleaning people's deepest secrets thanks to his ability to read minds. Who'd have thought that reading people's minds would turn his latest job into a death sentence.
Killfile is the first novel I've read from Christopher Farnsworth since his excellent Nathaniel Cade series went on hiatus four years ago. I read the Nathaniel Cade series back to back and loved every second of those supernatural thrillers. Killfile was similarly enjoyable with the paranormal thriller element pitched nicely into the realms of corporate espionage and CIA interrogation programs.
Also, as a scientific skeptic (i.e. scientist who hears all the kooky claims and demands evidence) it is always fun to read the conspiracy claims in a more rational format. Dusting off MKUltra and utilising it as a plot point in fiction rather than an outlandish conspiracy tickles me in all the right ways.
Chris' novels continue to be highly enjoyable reads.
The Seventh Plague
After the first nine plagues, is the tenth plague free?A missing archeologist reappears out of the desert in a semi-mummified state. With him he brings a biblical disease that threatens to yadda yadda the world. A brilliant businessman has designs on using the disease for his own ends. Only Sigma can uncover the ancient McGuffin to you get the idea before ticking clock.
I'm going to preface this review by saying that I'm a long time fan of James Rollins' blend of pseudo-science, mythicism, and tehcno-thriller. His Artefact McGuffin Adventures are usually very entertaining reads.
Here's the but. I don't know if I just had a lower tolerance for the narrative this time, or if Rollins has introduced a bash the reader over the head style to his writing now. Regardless, it is annoying and hackneyed, and something I'd expect from Dan Brown, not James Rollins. It makes you notice the other problems, like the factual errors in the story. The suspension of disbelief is always high with these sorts of novels, so to have Dan Brown-ified the writing lowers my enjoyment and rating.
An example of what I'm talking about was an exchange early on between the Sigma members about disease categories. We've just been told that this is a super deadly disease with X% death rate, and we're then told the disease death categories, which again states this is super deadly. Okay, so us dumb readers need to be informed that this disease is really bad. But to imply that the Sigma team of science experts who deal with this sort of problem semi-regularly would have to be bashed over the head with the explanation the way they were is silly. I immediately had in mind four or five ways to write that section that weren't out of character, repetitive, and mind-numbing to the reader.
That all said, this was still a reasonably well paced thriller, with decent tension, especially into the final act. If you like Artefact McGuffin Adventures, then this is an okay instalment.
Cry Wolf
Do werewolves smell of wet dog when they are in human form?Anna is having a tough week. After breaking up with her old pack she moves to the middle of nowhere with a guy/wolf - Charles - she has only just met. Then when a rogue wolf starts attacking people, she has to help Charles track it down before it exposes the pack. But is it really a wolf?
Cry Wolf is another werewolf series from Patricia Briggs, set in the same universe as the Mercy Thompson series. After being won over by the Mercy series, I decided to give Alpha and Omega series a read. So I started with the Alpha and Omega novella and I am still scratching my head as to why it wasn't just included as the first few chapters of this novel. If you intend on reading Cry Wolf, do read Alpha and Omega first. Or don't: I'm not your mother.
This was quite a hard book to rate/review. It was an enjoyable read, but the breaking of the story between the main novel and the introductory novella throws out the narrative a bit. The romance between an abuse survivor and a really old life-long bachelor as the central plot is interesting, but it does tend to wander as the other events of the novel occur. At times I felt the story was just happening with no real point or destination in mind, but it felt like things tied together in the end. And for a Patricia Briggs story set in the same universe as the Mercy Thompson series it is going to draw comparisons. Whilst I'd recommend this book (and novella), it isn't as good as Mercy and her adventures.
My recommendation is that you'll enjoy reading this to sate your hunger for werewolf stories when you run out of Mercy Thompson novels to devour.
