Novelnaut

Exploring the Depths of Novels and Writing

The Corpse Reader

By: Antonio Garrido

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

My wife and I used to watch CSI:Las Vegas all the time.  They moved the day that it played and it conflicted with something else that we had going on, and we fell out of the loop.  But, we loved the show.  We still occasionally pick up replays every once in a while.  Needless to say, when I was sent The Corpse Reader, with the explanation that it was a story about Song Ci, the Chinese official widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of the modern CSI methods, I was pretty excited about reading it.

Unfortunately, it almost falls down on that part.  While there’s plenty in the book on his methods, and some cases to prove them, it’s short on any real explanation on how he came about getting the methods.  Instead, it’s almost written off as some sort of hyper-observational skill. That aside, it’s still a good book.

It’s got a good mix of fictional work intermixed with some historical facts that give the story a bit of credence.  The characters are well thought out, and play well with (and against) each other.  The book was originally written in Gariddo’s native Spanish, and translated for English readers.  The translation makes it a bit hard to judge the actual writing of the author, as it’s always an unknown just how much the translation changed the original work.  The story and plot flow well, though, so I’m guessing the translation is a pretty good one.

Despite some small (I feel like I’m being nitpicky) issues, the book is a good one.  Having just read River of Stars, it was somewhat interesting to see some of the same elements in this book.  Overall, the story is a good one, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this book on several “best of” lists at the end of the year.

Pick up a copy of The Corpse Reader on Amazon

Corrupt Practices

By Robert Rotstein

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

When a debut novel gets a glowing blurb from someone the likes of Sue Grafton, you should probably guess that it’s going to be a pretty good book.  Even if “legal thriller” isn’t necessarily my genre du jour.  To be honest, I don’t know that I’ve read enough legal thrillers to even have a solid base to compare Corrupt Practices to something.

Corrupt Practices throws us into the world of Parker Stern, a fallen superstar trial lawyer who developed a case of stage fright after his boss and mentor committed suicide, who’s stopped practicing.  He’s forced to face the demons of his past and present when a past partner in the law firm, calls him from jail asking for Parker to represent him.

The case leads us head on into Parker’s past, as we learn how tangled it is with his present.  The reader is left wondering, on several occasions, whether he’s taken on more than he can handle, and at what point he’ll just crumble away, leaving us with a half filled story.

Overall, it’s a good novel.  I felt that there were a couple of places where the writing felt a little flatter than it should have; where it just felt a bit awkward.  Those were easy enough to overlook on the full scale though.  Rotstein pulled several plot lines together throughout the book to give an intricate story that never left a dull moment.

Corrupt Practices will be a sure favorite among those who regularly read legal thrillers.  It’s currently (as of this writing) scheduled to be published on June 4, 2013.  You can order it at Amazon.

The Doll

By Taylor Stevens

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

I find that I often receive books for review that are a bit outside of my normal reading circles.  It’s part of why I like reviewing books.  It makes me stretch a little bit and read new material from new authors, or different genres.  I suppose that The Doll is a thriller/suspense novel as it is categorized.  More fitting, perhaps, would be a spy thriller.  Although, not really a spy book.   It’s a cool mashup of spy type activity, ala Jason Bourne, and detective sort of lines.  Hard to pigeon-hole into any one fitting.

Stevens melds a world of underground human trafficking, spy-for-hire action, and sends the reader into an action packed thriller that leads us from Texas to Croatia and beyond as Monroe, the protagonist, struggles with lives in the balance.

The Doll is the third novel in the series that centers on Vanessa Michael Monroe.  I felt that there were one or two details that would have become clearer had I read the first two novels in the series, but overall, I think that a reader could easily pick up the book and get into the story without that.  The writing is clear, and the plot is fast moving and filled with action.  If there’s one thing that I could pick out from the plot is that it almost seemed to go a bit too fast at times.  But, that could easily have been me, and not the book.  I tend to prefer longer, “thinking” novels, which a thriller/suspense novel is not really meant to be.

The Doll falls somewhere in the middle of the road for me.  It’s not my normal genre, and not one that I feel particularly drawn to.  As such, I wouldn’t grade the novel all that high.  Maybe a 3 star shot for me.  However, I would say that if you’re a fan of the spy thriller/suspense novel, picking up this or any of the Monroe series novels would probably be a good pick up.

As of this writing, The Doll is scheduled to be released on June 4th, 2013.  You can preorder it now, or buy it tomorrow, on Amazon.

Ex-Patriots

By: Peter Clines

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

It wasn’t that awful long ago that I was reviewing the first novel in this series, Ex-Heroes.  In my review of the first one, I told you that it was a terribly fun read.  So, I jumped at the chance to read Ex-Patriots in hopes that it too would be a whole lot of fun to read.

Ex-Patriots picks up shortly after Ex-Heroes leaves off, rejoining the heroes and their group of survivors in the city of L.A., and their fortress they’ve dubbed “The Mount.”  Once again, Clines uses the alternating chapters structure, where we have one chapter in the now, and one in the past.  Because of the recency of my having read Ex-Heroes, it took me no time at all to get right back into the style.  Each of the past chapters lends a little bit into the story, and sets up the events that happen in the now chapters.

Ex-Patriots is just as well written as Ex-Heroes was, and just as fun to read.  He managed to find a way to bring the story along, develop the characters, and not make it seem like more of the same old situation.  After all, in a world where the super majority of the population have turned into zombies, how many major plots can be gained?  The ending clearly sets up another novel in the series, but does it in a way that also clearly ends the novel and the plot lines that carried us through the novel.

Once again, the book is full of fun superhero and zombie action, with plenty of other fun stuff thrown in to keep it lively.  I’ll be looking forward to reading the next one soon.

River of Stars

By: Guy Gavriel Kay

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

When I began reviewing books, I imagined that I would have a never-ending supply of books that I loved to read and review.  For the most part, that isn’t the reality.  I do, however, get the opportunity to receive a book from an author that I love.  Kay is one of those authors.  I started with his Fionavar Tapestry many years ago, and have since moved on through his library as he releases new novels.  River of Stars is set in the same “universe” as that of his novel Under Heaven.  I say “universe” because, really, the novels are set in a “universe” that is a near carbon copy of our own.  Each deals with a different historical dynasty of the Asian people.

The beauty of a Kay novel, to me, is that the stories are so very real.  It isn’t all about this huge plot arc that inevitably ends in the world finding it’s balance and the hero winning the day.  His characters are real, with real emotions, real ambitions, and real disappointments.  He makes you feel for the characters in such a way that you root for them throughout the novel, and feel those emotions right alongside them.

If there’s one thing that both this novel and Under Heaven share that I dislike is that the names of the characters is hard to follow.  That’s more of an issue on my part than on his, as he’s named the characters in keeping with naming conventions of the times he’s writing about.  Which brings me to another thing that I really like about his novels.  He’s an impeccable researcher.  Or maybe he has someone do it for him.  If that’s the case, he’s an impeccable research combiner.  ;)  In any case, I think he writes stories that are very true to the era that they’re meant to take place in.

River of Stars follows several characters through a few formative years in their lives, and leads us through the fall of a dynasty and the survival of it’s remaining people.  He does it by beautifully weaving the tales of each of the characters into a wonderful story that’s a pleasure to read.  I was immersed into the story until the end, and then felt that subtle form of sadness that only the ending of a terrific book can bring.

Some classify Kay’s works as fantasy.  Others as historical fantasy.  I suppose that’s somewhat accurate.  But, much like many of the classics being taught in literature classes around the world, his works belong in a category of their own, as epic literature classics.  Even if you don’t read fantasy regularly, you really should pick up a Kay novel and see what you’ve been missing out on.

Ex-Heroes: A Novel

By: Peter Clines

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

As a huge fan of The Walking Dead, and as someone who’s been a fan of superheroes since I learned how to read a comic book, I’ll have to admit that I was pretty excited to give Peter Clines’ book, Ex-Heroes, a read.  After all, it melds both the recent zombie popularity with the never-ending popularity of superheroes.  But, could he do it without making either genre seem like it didn’t belong?

I’ve read a few other reviews of this book, and it seems that many of them disliked the book because of one thing or another, but it really boils down to them reviewing it for literary fiction.  I think that’s a mistake.  It’s a book about zombies and superheroes, not depression era interpersonal politics.  Or, maybe those reviewers need to just learn to read for fun once in a while.

Those reviewers are right; it isn’t an instant classic on the literary fiction scale.  But, what it is, is a really fun read.  From the very beginning of the book, the reader is picked up and carried along into the story.  The prose is written simply, which makes it a very easy read. Necessary, I think, to a good pleasureful read.  It does have a few spots of adult subject nature, but could easily be called a YA novel.

The comic book reading, zombie watching reader in me really enjoyed this book.  If either of those genres are in your repertoire, I suggest you do yourself the favor and pick yourself up a copy of Ex-Heroes.  (and probably the sequels as well)

• Ex-Heroes: A Novel
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The Mongoliad: Book Three (The Foreworld Saga)

By: Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo, Nicole Galland, Erik Bear, Joseph Brassey, Cooper Moo

Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

You might want to read my reviews of Mongoliad: Book One and Mongoliad: Book Two before moving on.  I don’t do spoilers, but it might make more sense to start at the beginning.  In the reviews for both of the first two books, I make mention of how the multiple, seemingly disjointed, plot lines bothered me.  And, in the review of Book Two, I closed by saying how it would be a sad thing to see the whole series fail if those plot lines weren’t brought together in some way.  In book three, the plot lines did finally merge.  While that, in and of itself, doesn’t make the series a success, it will certainly help it.

Much like in Book Two, it took me a while to get back into the story.  Book Three is nearly twice as large as Book Two, so even the 50-100 pages it took me to reacquaint myself with the characters and plot lines left me with plenty of book left to enjoy the story, and the ways that the authors finally tied all the lines together.  It was never dull.  In fact, being the last in this series of the saga, it was filled with plenty of action as the different plot lines were brought to a conclusion.  It becomes obvious, at the end of the book, that, while the series might be over, the saga is not.  We’ll be seeing far more of this world before the authors are done with it.

Throughout the series, the writing has been well done.  Despite having seven different authors contributing to the novels, it’s impossible to tell who wrote what, or notice any differences in style.  I can only imagine that is a hard task for even two authors.  I can’t imagine just how hard it is to do when there are seven authors contributing.  It’s either a testament to the aptitude of their editors, or to the skill of the authors themselves.  Either way, well done!

Overall, the series is wonderfully crafted.  I had a few moments where I got lost, or wasn’t entirely sure who the character was, but once I got my bearings, I fell right back into the story and was easily lost in it.  I’ve long been a fan of medieval fiction (must be all the Arthurian legend I read), and have read a few other stories set in the Mongolian Steppes, and the way the series melds and molds those two worlds together is very nice.

If you’re a fan of epic fiction, or historical fiction (which tends to be epic), you’ll be doing yourself a disservice by not reading this series.  It may soon be remembered as the Wheel of Time of historical fiction.

• The Mongoliad: Book Three (The Foreworld Saga)
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The King of the Crags: The Memory of Flames, Book II

By: Stephen Deas

When I read the first book in the Memory of Flames series, The Adamantine Palace, I gushed about how it was probably the beginning of one of the best fantasy dragon series’ ever.  Having read the second book, I was a little disappointed.  It might still end up being on that list, but the dragons certainly played a far smaller role in The King of the Crags.  In fact, aside from being present as mounts for the characters of the book, there’s really not a whole lot in here of the dragons we saw in the first book.  One pretty short section, and done.  If I have my guess right, though, I’d say that section is setting us up for some pretty spectacular dragon-ing in what remains of the series.

Once again, like in Adamantine, Deas writing is good.  The characters are a bit overdone, but in a epic fantasy series like this, I think that’s on purpose.  We spend a lot of time floating around between several of the main characters as the realms are thrown into a war that hasn’t been seen since the Dragon War.  The amount of world building that Deas manages to write into the story without it ending up being boring is really good.  My biggest beef with it is that the map in the front of the book is sideways.  North is left, not up.  It wouldn’t have fit as well, maybe, but North is supposed to be up.

Having read the first book way back in the summer of 2010, I did have a bit of trouble at the beginning of Crags.  Mostly that was me having to catch up to the characters and remember what was going on.  If I had to read these as they were released, I would have had the same issues.  I would have likely benefited from a little bit better job of “reminding” the reader what had gone on.  Once I got my bearings again, it was off to the races.  The book is a good read, and ample reason for me to go looking for the next book in the series.

• The King of the Crags: The Memory of Flames, Book II
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Mannheim Rex

By: Robert Pobi

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

This is the second Pobi book I’ve reviewed recently. The first, Bloodman, was a pretty good book, so when I saw this one come from the publisher, I was excited to get it going.  In my review of Bloodman, I mentioned that a majority of my early adult reading years were spent with my nose in a Stephen King novel.  I think one of the things that draws me to Robert Pobi’s works is they’re similarity to some of King’s early work;  there’s a good deal of psychological horror/thriller involved, but also a good deal of physical horror/thriller as well.

Mannheim Rex is a story about a writer whose wife has recently died, who is attempting to move on and find a new path in life.  In doing so, he decides that a change of location is needed and buys an old mansion on the shore of a lake in a sleepy little town called Mannheim.  From there, the story takes off.  Very little of the plot is ever slow or droll, and Pobi’s writing is excellent.  Unlike in Bloodman, I never really felt like there were plot devices that were being obviously overlooked, and when a device did surface (once you’ve read it, you’ll have to excuse the pun), it was somewhere unexpected.

Rex is a long book, and as many of them of this length are, has a few slower parts.  None of them was overly long, and usually did contain some information that was necessary to the plot.  I don’t mind a few slow spots in a book so long as they actually contribute to the story, and these did.

The book blurb describes the book as an homage to Jaws, which, given the monster in the book, is fitting.  Readers who are fans of Stephen King (especially his early-mid career work) will find Pobi’s work to be very readable.  I know I have.

• Mannheim Rex
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Tears in Rain

By: Rosa Montero

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book to review. As is my policy with books that I receive for review, if I don’t like it, I don’t review it.

When I read the blurb on the back of the cover, and it said “Inspired by the movie Blade Runner”, I knew it was a book that I needed to read.  I’ve always been a fan of Blade Runner, although I haven’t read the book (don’t hate me), and so something inspired by the movie, that was about bionic clones called replicants, sounded like it was off to a good start.

Set in a future world where political and social lines have been broken, redrawn, and then broken and redrawn again, we are led into the story by detective Bruna Husky.  Montero does an excellent job of keeping the pace of the book moving, while filling the world she’s created.  It’s a world, significantly advanced from ours to be unrecognizable, and yet has many parallels.  Corruption, greed, and crime still fill the streets and back offices.  When a replicant shows up at Husky’s door and tries to kill her, it sets Husky off on a case that could affect the course of several nations.

Tears in Rain was originally published in Montero’s native Spain, and her native language, Spanish.  It’s been brought to us by Amazon’s amazoncrossing imprint, and translated.  While I found a few places where the translation didn’t come across as well as it probably should have, the majority of it was very good.  It’s hard to tell how much of the writing, and style is Monteros and how much is in the translation, but it came out very well.

If you’re a fan of Blade Runner, and would like a quick foray into a similar world, give Tears in Rain a try.  It’s a good detective novel on it’s own, and the addition of the Science Fiction elements only makes it better, in my opinion.

• Tears in Rain
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