Life Knocks Review

I’m not quite sure where I should begin with the review this week. Even though I finished Craig Stone’s Life Knocks a few days ago now I still don’t feel like the dust has quite settled yet. There are so many questions and philosophical points from it that are still going around and around in my head...

So I’ll try starting from the beginning (duh). For a good first chunk of this book you will probably not know what is going on or where it is leading. We start off with an email that Colossus Sosloss sent to his bank colleagues in 2004 the day he decided to quit the rat race and embark on a new life of freedom - something most of us have fantasised about doing at one point or another. The rest of the story then alternates between that time period, slowly moving up through the years and 2010 when Colossus moves into a new flat. 

 

If you are still unsure what it is about I’ll tell you now. The book is about life and the ups, downs, mistakes, luck and love of an ordinary man. It is also a very honest look at life and while some people may find a few of the characters in the story outrageous and unbelievable, I will say this; I believe in all of them. I have met some people in my own life which defy belief...but that’s a story for another time. 

Throughout the narrative, you sometimes hear Colossus’s thoughts and his philosophical musings on life or certain situations. 

Though my favourite has to be one regarding a certain Hawaii sunset; I have never before heard a sunset being described as a child smashing crayons into god’s face before - but it works and it made me laugh. 

One of my few complaints about the novel is grammar and typing errors. While I have always found a few in every self-published novel or traditional novel that I have ever read I felt there was a few too many in Life Knocks. I’m not meaning errors on epic proportions here but it could maybe use a second look. 

Yet besides that this is a personal story well told with a lot of imagery, humour and philosophical musings on everyday life which we can all relate to on some level.

I give Life Knocks 7/10. 

It's available on Kindle here.

Alchemist Now Available On Smashwords

Hey guys, just to let you all know that my novel, Alchemist, is now available in other formats on Smashwords for $0.99

You can also get a preview of the book to try before you buy here. 

You Are Just A Guest Short Story Review

This week I have been reviewing a short horror story penned by James T Kelly. 

You Are Just A Guest is about a married couple who have just moved into their first home and told through a series of blog entries by writer Annie and her husband Jon’s Twitter account. 

Upon moving into their new home Annie and Jon start hearing strange noises, namely in the walls which gradually get worse and worse as their days in their new home move on. After Annie sees something in the mirror one evening the couple call in a medium to help them try to find out what is haunting their home but things do not end well. 

For a short story this tale builds the suspense well, considering it is told through blog posts and not much dialogue. It starts off with the couple dismissing the strange events in their home before stepping up a gear as they become more frightened and you’ll want to read right to the end. 

My only complaint though is that you never really find out what it is that is haunting them, which is a bit disappointing. 

I really liked the horror references though and the Twitter one to Assassin's Creed (which I am a fan of :) ). 

Anyway, this is a pretty solid short story from the pen of a new, upcoming author. I look forward to reading James T Kelly’s other works in the future.

You Are Just A Guest gets 6/10

You Are Just A Guest can be found on Kindle here.

Wings of the Divided Review

This week I’ve been reading a book about angels - and no, not the bible and no not my own novel, Stars and Satellites *cough*...moving on. 

I have in fact been reading Wings of the Divided by CJ Sullivan. The story is set in the town of Edenton in the US - though most of the characters are from further afield. The plot centres around several characters whose separate lives become entwined when two angels, Gidyon and Noam, turn up on Earth. 

After fleeing from three fallen angels who are trying to kill them, the two take shelter in a church where they meet Max, a man who is praying for the safe return of his missing son, Harry. After being convinced that they really are winged wonders Max agrees to put them up while they try to work out why the three fallen angels chased them to Earth. 

The chapters in the story are told through alternating points, including the bad guys and some of the co-characters.

Now I’ll admit, when I first started reading this I thought the plot was going to centre on Gidyon and Noam trying to destroy cultists brainwashed by a false religion that the three fallen angels were sent to create - a plot point which is established very early on. 

Yet the story does not go down this route and the false religion issue becomes very much a subplot, which I liked. Instead the book focuses more on all the different characters coming to terms with their personal demons and trying to sort their lives out. It’s also refreshing to read a book of this genre which is not about the end of the world, as this has become a clique among many books and films about angels and demons. 

Although if you want to see supernatural beings beating the hell out of each other - you will not be disappointed. Let’s just say Noam kicks ass when fighting bad guys.

The characters, especially the likes of Noam and fallen angel Laphelle have a lot of depth to them, which makes them very likeable and you genuinely care about what happens to them.

But there was one character that did disappoint me a bit and that was Malynko. Considering he is meant to be the devil’s right hand man, he just did not strike me as being very evil. He just seemed a little too laid back to fit the bill and Laphelle -another fallen angel - proved to be much darker. 

But despite a slightly bland villain this book ticks all the right boxes. It has a gentle, if as times very dark storyline, memorable characters and very good scene setting and if you think you know how it’s going to end, you’ll be in for a surprise. 

There are some questions left unanswered in the story, but as this is the first in the series, I think that can be forgiven. 

Wings of the Divided: The Divided Book One gets 8/10. 

It is available here on Kindle. 

Blood Slave Review

For the last couple of weeks I have been reading Blood Slave by Travis Luedke, which is part of his larger The Night Life series. 

To be honest this book is going to be a little hard to review - not because it’s bad or anything, it’s just that there is a lot of sex and adult themes in it and I like to try and keep this blog family friendly. 

So I’ll start by saying this: this isn’t a children’s book or a novel for teenagers. I know vampire novels are all the rage with the teen demographic right now but this is absolutely nothing like Twilight. In fact, once you have read Blood Slave, you will definitely see the vampires in Twilight as a bunch of pansies. 

But I digress. Blood Slave is told in the first person narrative by our protagonist, Hope. Hope is an ‘escort’ for lack of a better word - and is trapped on the prostitution circuit. Her life changes over night though when she meets a woman called Lia, who she quickly learns is a vampire. Once Lia realises that she cannot brainwash Hope from remembering their evening together, she takes her home to her master, Enrique, where they try to figure out what to do with her. Hope is allowed to live but at the cost of being a blood slave, which basically means sleeping with vampires and never seeing anyone she used to know ever again to keep their existence secret. 

 

However, it is not all bad as Enrique treats Hope like a princess and over time she is accepted into his mini-vampire family. Yet as the story reaches its climax, Hope’s happy new life is shattered when her old one comes back to haunt her. 

If you liked Tru Blood, you’ll probably really like this. It is very dark, gritty and does not squirm away from adult themes and it is very gripping - you will not be able to put it down.

You know when you see a violent or bloody scene in a movie and you cover your eyes for a couple of seconds until it has past? I caught myself doing that with this book, then I realised that the lines were not going to go away until I read them. I’ve never done that before, so it shows you how violent and gritty this tale is. 

I can honestly say I’ll be reading the sequels and I suggest you do too. 

 

Blood Slave gets 9/10. 

It's available for Kindle here. 

Troll Short Story Review

This week I have being reading Troll, a short story by co-author penname Wodke Hawkinson. 

As the title suggests, the tale revolves around the appearance of one of these fantasy creatures in modern day America. 

One quiet night in a quiet town suddenly takes a fanciful air when the police department starts receiving calls of a troll sighting under a local bridge. Two officers are despatched to investigate and return with a short and seemingly mutated man. 

Darrin Croft is the hapless sheriff who is left spending the night trying to figure out who the strange little man is and if he is simply mad and deformed or is in fact a troll. 

Without spoiling it, the ending will certainly take you by surprise. 

Although it is short, the story does well to convey the reactions of the police characters when they first encounter the strange, diminutive man. The reactions and dialogue of the characters feels very realistic for people who are forced to face such an unusual happening of myth and magic in their modern day town. 

I give Troll 7/10. 

Troll is available for Kindle here.