Category: Book Review

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#BookReview: Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer

I don’t care who you are, where you are from, what you are doing, or what your religious or political beliefs are – you NEED to do yourself a favor and read this book.

The author is a former Southern Baptist preacher who one day woke up to the realization that perhaps much of what he had been taught and was teaching about Jesus was wrong. As he began his own journey to truly discovering Jesus and all the implications of Him, he stumbled across some dramatic discoveries that would shake him to the very core. He founded InternetMonk.com, where he began writing about this journey, and eventually wrote this book.

I literally wound up highlighting about half the book on my Kindle. It was THAT mind blowing.

Fair warning though: No matter your beliefs – and my own were relatively similar to the author’s going into the book – be prepared to be challenged, perhaps in ways you never considered. To me, that is perhaps the greatest value of this book.

This review of Mere Churchianity by Michael Spencer was originally published on September 10, 2011.

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#BookReview: Callsign: King by Jeremy Robinson and Sean Ellis

I’ve read every single book Mr. Robinson has put out so far, though Mr. Ellis is new to me. So I have a pretty good feel for Mr. Robinson’s writing…

… and like the title says here, I couldn’t tell that there were two authors involved in this project. It flows just like any other CHESS TEAM book, though the only member of the Team that appears in this one is the titular leader.

The story is GREAT – basically 1/5 of a full-team CHESS TEAM book, full of the same type of action, adventure, and ancient mystery that series is becoming known for. Overall, this novella adds to the overall mythos in a surprising (based on the prior mythos) yet refreshing way, and portends even more adventure for the Team in the face of the new twist. While having read the prior CHESS TEAM books will give a richer depth to the story, this novella could also serve as a good intro to the overall style for those hesitant to commit to a full book, and thus can be recommended for both fans of Mr. Robinson as well as people looking for new action-adventure authors.

I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing where Mr. Robinson and Co. go with this novella series – 2011 just got a lot more interesting!

This review of Callsign: King by Jeremy Robinson and Sean Ellis was originally published on July 11, 2011.

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#BookReview: Insomnia by Jeremy Robinson

Overall, the short stories in this collection are just that – short. Yet Robinson still manages to tell distinct, engaging stories in each. The explanations after each are rather interesting as well. For example, the motivation for the actual ‘Insomnia’ short story was Robinson’s own battle with a disorder he has given a character in one of his actual books and how it typically keeps him awake at night longing for sleep.

This project was something Robinson has called a “test bed” of ideas, and many of them worked well.

Going down the list:

‘Insomnia’ could very well be made into a 1984-type long form book, and the possibilities there are intriguing.

‘The Eater’ was intriguing in short form, as the story of three young brothers who deal with an unknown black substance, but I think a long-form treatment would have to go a more horror route, which I’m personally not a fan of.

‘Harden’s Tree’ could very easily be made to fit into an almost ‘Chess Team’ style book, and was another solid short story.

‘Star Crossed Killers’ was a Mr and Mrs Smith style story that worked well in this collection.

‘Counting Sheep’ could be very interesting as one scene of a much longer story.

‘Hearing Aid’ was probably my least favorite of this collection, but I appreciate that Robinson is stretching what he normally does.

‘Dark Seed of the Moon’ could be another potential book for Robinson, and maybe even an ANTARKTOS level series if played right.

Overall, the collection was very solid and a refreshing look at an author actively working to test and refine his craft.

This review of Insomnia by Jeremy Robinson was originally published on Jan 26, 2011.

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#BookReview: The Last Hunter (Collected Edition) by Jeremy Robinson

This book was originally published in 5 parts. Here are my reviews in order:

DESCENT:

I’ve been speaking with the author over the past couple of days about this book, and my trepidation of buying it even though I am an avid fan of his work. The reason for my trepidation is one factor alone: the Young Adult classification.

But I bit the bullet and bought the book last night – and even though it didn’t arrive on my Kindle until 12:01a, I’ve already finished it. It is that good. I don’t know how Kindle lines translate to pages, but as far as length goes this was 4K or so lines compared to 6K or so from Lee Child’s Worth Dying For, which was the first book I bought on my Kindle.

TRUST ME: Buy this book! It is from the ANTARKTOS RISING universe, and as its title implies, it is set up to be a multi-part series. That fact – that you can feel throughout that it is destined to be a multi-book story – is the ONLY drawback to this book. It is set at least a few years prior to the events of ANTARKTOS RISING, as the creatures are still buried under the ice.

The story is intense. Shortly after his 13th birthday, a young boy travels to Antarctica – the land of his birth – with his parents. While there, he is abducted, taken underground, and broken. He is forced to learn an entirely new way of life, encountering myriad strange creatures. He is nearly killed several times, and comes face to face with many of the entities and characters from ANTARKTOS RISING, many of which are terrifying. Along the way, he becomes a strong, stealthy hunter – the last hunter.

It is at this point that he learns what is truly expected of him – and that there is much more to him than even his captors realize.

This story takes the ANTARKTOS RISING mythology to a whole new level, and I’m going to have to re-read that story now! Truly looking forward to seeing how this new series comes out, and how it dove-tails into the ANTARKTOS RISING story line. This is truly Young Adult in name only, and while it is debatable as to whether this is truly among the author’s best work – or maybe even the best (a claim he made yesterday), if you’re a fan of Jeremy Robinson – or Matt Reilly or David Golemon – you’ll be THRILLED with this latest addition.

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#BookReview: Instinct by Jeremy Robinson

I literally finished this book in about 36 hours after starting it – I couldn’t put it down!

The action starts with the Chess Team getting ready for a relaxing barbeque with the President – his way of thanking them for their battles in PULSE and other successful missions between the books, since they refuse any other medals or commendations.

All of a sudden, the Team is called out on a mission – without Deep Blue, their eye-in-the-sky fearless leader.

King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, and Rook get dropped into a hot LZ in Vietnam along with Pawn, a CDC virus specialist. The mission is to keep Pawn alive while she can track down a cure to a virus that has already claimed the life of the President and threatens to kill every male on the planet – including King, Knight, Rook, and even Bishop.

Facing Vietnamese Special Forces, along with a far more sinister and unknown adversary, the Team fights to keep Pawn alive, as well as themselves. Will they survive, or will the adversaries – human, virus, and unknown – kill every single member of the Team and doom humanity?

For that, you’ll just have to read this AMAZING book.

Pay attention to the end of the tale for the reveal of Deep Blue’s real identity, among other surprises…

This review of Instinct by Jeremy Robinson was originally published on Amazon on June 28, 2010.

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#BookReview: Anarktos Rising by Jeremy Robinson

This was an AMAZING book. Better than Cussler’s *Atlantis Rising*, better than Alten’s *Domain*, and yet this guy doesn’t have a major publishing contract yet!!

I found Jeremy Robinson on myspace after he invited me to be his friend there. Ordered Antarktos Rising and Didymus Contingency that day from his site, got them two days later, and had Antarktos finished 2 days after that. (Actually closer to within 36 hours. 300+ page book, and when I wasn’t working or sleeping, I was reading it. It was THAT good, and THAT interesting!)

As far as specifics: The ‘Day After Tomorrow’ type scenes early in the book were excellent, as was the ending of that sequence. (Touches of 10.5 there.) The battle scenes with the Chinese army were excellent – you could TOTALLY see the Red Army doing exactly as they did – as was the tension in the American team, particularly after they ‘adopt’ another member. Furthermore, I found that the theories revealed in the endgame were intriguing, in a similar fashion as to those revealed in the later stages of Alten’s ‘Domain’.

I fully look forward to a sequel, and have officially found a new author that will have at least one buyer of any book he puts out as long as I am alive.

This review of Antarktos Rising by Jeremy Robinson was originally published on Amazon on Feb 25, 2008.

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Featured New Release of The Week: The Beautiful Strangers by Camille Di Maio

This week, we’re talking about a new to me time period of historical fiction from yet another new to me Lake Union author. This week, we’re talking about The Beautiful Strangers by Camille Di Maio.

This was an excellent tale of going on a quest to find one’s true self – and along the way, we meet and get a very human look at some Hollywood legends in Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. Monroe in particular is central to the tale in the back half of the book, even when off screen – she inadvertently provides a major revelation, just from being human and wanting something comforting from her childhood.

But the tale of Kate Morgan’s quest to find herself is the tale of the book, and it is truly beautifully executed. From frustrated waitress in her family’s restaurant to naive traveler to finding herself in a place she never actually thought she’d be, Kate is truly the star of this book – even with Monroe present in several scenes with her.

And then there is the titular Beautiful Stranger – the one Kate is sent on a quest to find. The author’s decision to end every chapter with more of this being’s perspective is intriguing, and in fact drives much of the story as it unfolds. And yes, there is in fact another beautiful stranger in the book, hence the plural of the title. But who is it? Well, you’ll just need to read the book… 😉

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release Of The Week: The Spitfire Girls by Soraya M. Lane

This week we’re looking at a tale of three people who come together to face nearly insurmountable odds during World War II. This week, we’re looking at The Spitfire Girls by Soraya M. Lane.

The story here was brilliantly executed… in its first two thirds. In this section, the drama focuses around the race to determine who will be the first female to pilot a four engine bomber beyond training and the race to get Spitfire fighters to the USS Wasp for an emergency trip to Malta to shore up defenses there. Lane brilliantly balances the personal and the professional through this section across all three of her leading ladies, and the book truly shines.

But after the race to get the Spitfires to their staging base, the book switches gears and the balance of the drama stumbles as the primary emphasis is placed on the personal while the professional primarily happens off screen and is more often told of in letter form than shown. While there are still some haymakers thrown here, including one that touched this reader personally with his father having similar struggles, it just isn’t quite as “unputdownable” through this section as the first two thirds of the book were.

But the final chapter of the book is an excellent ending to the mainline story, and while the epilogue is arguably unneeded, it does at a final exclamation – and catharsis – point.

Overall, a strong book that could have been stronger, and I’m looking forward to reading more work from this author.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release of the Week: Loving Liberty Levine by Colin Falconer

This week, we look at a multi-generational tale of a mother’s love from yet another new-to-me Lake Union author. This week, we look at Loving Liberty Levine by Colin Falconer.

This book was a bit structurally divergent from most other Lake Union books I’ve read – while also being longer than others at 442 pages, it divided those pages up into nearly 70 short-ish chapters rather than the more common 20-30 mid-length chapters. Since I was just having a discussion about such things in one of my Facebook book groups recently, it felt worthy of mentioning here.

Overall, the story is very nicely told, beginning circa 1912 or so in Russia and then moving to the US in 1913, where the majority of the rest of the story – save for the last couple of chapters – plays out primarily in New York City. The descriptions of life as an immigrant Jew seem accurate to my knowledge of the actual history and yet tell an excellent tale of a family doing whatever it takes to give their daughter the life they think she deserves. Along the way we encounter World War I – also a topic of two other recent Lake Union books -, the Roaring Twenties, Prohibition, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Depression, and finally, World War II, where we end. The story ultimately calls into question the lengths a mother is willing to go through for her child and the secrets she is willing to bear, but even goes deeper than many books that explore these issues and dares to go into infertility and what truly makes a mother. It is for these last two reasons in addition to simply great storytelling that this book rises above many others. Excellent book, yet another smash hit from Lake Union. Very much looking forward to seeing more work from this author.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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Featured New Release of the Week: The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen

This week, we look at an excellent historical fiction novel from yet another new=to-me Lake Union author. This week, we’re talking about The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen.

This book presents an interesting case when looking at it alongside Aimie K Runyan’s Girls On the Line, as both tell a story of a woman falling in love in the middle of World War I – Line from the perspective of an American socialite who chooses to go to the battle lines in France, and Garden from the perspective of a British socialite who feels she must remain in her own country, yet still has a burning desire to do something to help the cause. The fact that both authors can tell such dramatically different stories using the exact same time period and very similar beginnings is a true testament to the power of story telling, and both are to be commended for their strong work.

This book in particular is very reminiscent of Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy or Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell in that all three books have the same general feel to them and all three books tell the tale of a woman whose parents aren’t quite noble but wish to be seen in those circles who leaves home to find her own way in life and encounters both love and difficulty in the process. While those books both clock in at over 1000 pages (at least the versions I read in the same summer, 20 years ago later this year), this one is a far quicker read at roughly 300 pages that retains the best elements of its longer “cousins”. Literally my only real complaint about this book is fairly nitpicky – the titular garden doesn’t come in until roughly 2/3 of the story is told, and is never once referred to by the name in the title within the story.

A truly excellent book in its own right, it really is one to read regardless of your feelings of those other stories. If you’re a fan of these other stories, you’re going to want to go pick this one up immediately. Very highly recommended, very much looking forward to seeing what is next from this author.

And as always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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