by Jane | Feb 17, 2017 | Write Here Write Now
Death Marked by Leah Cypess is the sequel to Death Sworn, which I reported on earlier, and looks to be the last book in the series. In this book , Ileni, who was charged with training assassins in Death Sworn, is now at the Imperial Academy of Sorcery. The Academy is a school of the Empire she was raised to hate, and she is separated from Sorin, her assassin lover, who believes she is there as a spy to bring down the Empire. The lead teacher at the Academy is trying to recruit her for their side, and although Ileni meets people at the Academy she likes, her instincts about the evil of the Empire do not prove unfounded.
Death Marked is a book of internal conflict. Ileni is torn among three groups: the Renegi village in which she was born, made up of a group of people expelled from the Empire; the assassins she spent a year training; and the imperial sorcerers, with whom she is now training.
A fine follow-up to Death Sworn, Death Marked follows Ileni while she makes a very difficult choice of loyalties — all the groups she’s been associated with have good points and bad. What should she do? If you enjoyed Death Sworn, pick up Death Marked. I’m just sorry there’s not a third book.
by Jane | Feb 12, 2017 | Write Here Write Now
The Mercy Journals by Claudia Casper is an apocalypse novel told through the journal of Allen Quincy. The downfall of society as we know it has been brought on by World War III and out-of-control climate change. Millions have died, nation states have fallen, and times are hard. Though there is some semblance of civilization, it’s as though it’s in its infancy. Allen lives alone with only his forbidden goldfish for company, and holds down a job in restricted item enforcement when he isn’t drunk or high.
Things are pretty much the same day to day for him until he meets a woman, then lost family members begin to show up. Therein lies the story. It is a tale of a man lost, a man who wants to do the right thing, if he can only figure out what that is, and the journey he must go through.
With more of a literary than genre feel, The Mercy Journals is a short book for your soul. Take a peek.
by Jane | Feb 3, 2017 | Write Here Write Now
I didn’t know what to expect when I started watching Netflix’s The OA. It was described by Netflix as follows: “Seven years after vanishing from her home, a young woman returns with mysterious abilities and recruits five strangers for a secret mission.” It sounded genre, so I started watching. The first episode was intriguing, but didn’t really grab me. I wasn’t even sure it was genre — it seemed like the story of a woman who had been abducted (and not by aliens), and the only ability she seemed to have was calming a vicious dog.
Things got interesting, however, when she gathered a group of five misfits from the local high school and started telling them her story. But not just to get things off her chest — to involve them in a mystical project to find the other people who were held captive with her.
The lead character Prairie (also known as the OA) is fascinating, the lead villain chilling, and the five misfits round out the cast with their own stories in the mist of what is happening. Once you get into it, you won’t want to stop. I binge-watched the last four episodes in a single sitting. I can’t wait for the next season to come out. An amazing show!
by Jane | Jan 27, 2017 | Write Here Write Now
Last week I reviewed Gods of Night, the first book in the Star Trek Destiny series. This week I will review the last two. The second book in the series is Mere Mortals. I enjoyed this book more than the first. By this book, the reader has a pretty good handle on the crews and what they have gone through, and it’s easier to follow.
While the story of the Columbia continues (now in the distant past), Dax has been forced to stop her investigations in the present without a final determination of what happened. She has discovered some things, but the rest remains a mystery. Meanwhile, Captain Riker and his crew have discovered the Caeliar on a new planet, along with Captain Erika Hernandez of the Columbia, miraculously youthful.
Picard and Dax are now both battling the Borg, and the war is still not going well. But there is more on the horizon for these two crews. They discover and explore subspace tunnels that have appeared in their sector. There they encounter hostile species from the Delta quadrant who they must defeat before they can get back to their fight with the Borg.
In this book, things are more interesting and intriguing. Although there seem to be several separate stories, they are coming together, but will really coalesce in Lost Souls.
Lost Souls follows Riker, Picard, and Dax in their fight against the Borg, but now they have a new ally — Captain Erika Hernandez. In addition, there is another story taking place in the far distant past — another part of Hernandez’s crew trying to survive on a hostile planet.
As you might expect, all of these stories must combine in some way to make a satisfying end to the story. And they do. Although about one-third of the way through the last book, I was able to guess a pretty substantial truth about the Borg, there were more surprises to come.
I liked the trilogy Star Trek Destiny. I liked the fact that there were a lot of female characters in command positions and that it used characters and storylines from all the Star Trek series except TNG. That being said, as mentioned before, it was hard to keep the crews straight and especially to keep track of all the new characters. It was also hard to remember all the references from the TV shows and movies. I rewatched the last three movies and had been near the end of streaming DS9 while I was reading, so that helped, but there were still some references I could not get.
David Mack is a good writer, and I thought he stayed true to the original characters. The only problem I really had was viewing Ezri Dax as a starship captain, though I suppose, after getting used to her symbiont and growing in her career, she might have made it to command. The only other fault I can find in Mack’s writing is that he spends too much time in certain scenes that aren’t necessary to move the plot along.
Do I recommend it? If you’re a Star Trek fan and don’t mind wading through 828 pages to get to the goodies, go for it! There are some revelations in the final book that are worth it.
by Jane | Jan 17, 2017 | Write Here Write Now
Star Trek Destiny is a trilogy by David Mack. The bulk of the book takes place 16 months after the last movie, Star Trek Nemesis, though there are large sections taking place in the past. The three books are Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls.
In Gods of Night, there are two main plots. In one, Ezri Dax, captain, of the Aventine, is on a recovery mission for an Earth starship, the Columbia, which was lost in the Gamma quadrant two centuries earlier. Her job is largely investigatory, trying to discover how a Warp 5 ship was able to travel to the Gamma quadrant.
The second plot has Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise, and William Riker, captain of the Titan, fighting a war against the Borg. In this story, the Borg is not trying to assimilate, but wants to exterminate, the Federation and its allies. And they seem to be winning.
This first book is a little confusing, simply because so much is going on. You have to keep track of the two plots already mentioned (really three, because Picard and Riker are on different missions), plus there is the story of the Columbia playing out in the past. You also have to keep track of all four crews. Happily, the crews are listed in the appendices, but it’s still difficult. In addition, Voyager is in the story, playing a small part, and there is a group of leaders and diplomats back on Earth planning strategy.
That said, there are some interesting stories being told here, especially the story of the Columbia and their encounter with a new species called the Caeliar. It’s also good to have so many characters from three different series, even if it does create confusion. As you near the end of Gods of Night, you realize this is not a stand-alone book and it is best, if possible, to read all three books as closely together as possible. Otherwise, you’ll never keep track of all the plot lines.
I consider this book a good start to a trilogy. I’ll review the next two books in my next post.
by Jane | Jan 3, 2017 | Write Here Write Now
In order to fully appreciate a new Star Trek book I just started, I decided to rewatch the Next Generation movies (all except for the crossover Generations). As usual when I go back to Star Trek material, I am surprised not only by what I do and do not remember, but also my enjoyment of each film.
Take, for instance, First Contact, the first all-TNG film, much better than I remembered. The Enterprise travels back in time to prevent the Borg from assimilating Earth in the past and stopping our first contact with another alien race (the Vulcans). This movie is a lot of fun. It features Zephram Cochrane, the man who developed warp drive, who is nothing like the legend he became, Borg drones on the Enterprise, and a scared 21st —century woman who finds herself in an unlikely situation. All crew members had good parts in this film and had to work together to get things back to normal. That’s what makes for good Trek.
The second movie is Insurrection. In this film, there is an excellent villain played by F. Murray Abraham, who wants to displace a village of people from their planet, so he can use it for his own purposes. The Enterprise is drawn in on the ruse that they were there to simply observe the settlement, but a malfunctioning Data leads them to the truth. A good film, with many elements of what makes Star Trek great. Still, I think First Contact edges it out.
The last film in the series is Nemesis. The basic story is that a clone of Jean-Luc Picard lures him and the Enterprise to his planet for nefarious purposes. I didn’t care much for this one. There was a lot of action, but I would argue too much action and not enough story.
While fans are continually discussing the merits and ranking of original series movies, I have never seen one for TNG. But this is mine — I rank them in the order they were produced: First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis. What’s interesting is that the ones I prefer were both directed by Jonathan Frakes, while the director of Nemesis was Stuart Baird, a Star Trek newbie. I guess there’s something to be said for knowing your material.
