Tag: Superhero Science Fiction

Tomorrow’s End (The Path of a Savior #1) by G.M. Morris

Posted on September 13, 2022 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

Oh how I wanted to DNF this thing. The start was riveting: all action, mystery, and a smattering of arcane magic, but then that ended. What came next was an attempt at a science fiction-oriented treatise on philosophy, religion, and free will. Sure it was coupled with demons, aliens, mysterious super powers and global threats, but, for me, it was just a slog.

Tomorrow’s End is not particularly hard to follow. There are two seemingly main stories once you get past the intro. Kevin Knight is an abused teenager who is afraid of the dark, and, surprisingly, being groomed to be the savior of Earth. On the other side there is the super-mysterious orphan Daren who has amazing powers, aged up incredibly quickly, and is squashed by more demonic masterminds (or maybe the same… you decide).

Their stories almost run in parallel, but are disjointed enough to have a “where is this going?” vibe.

The main focus is on Kevin, and his reluctance to take on the role he is destined for. Cue all the free will, moral philosophy and good versus evil lectures and diatribes. I get that the author was trying to hammer the idea home in several of the presented aspects and power dynamics, but, for me, it was much more of a distraction than anything else.

I’ll give Mr. Morris credit for the invasion and action scenes. They were fantastically choreographed, and rolled out a ton of alien tech and demonic gore. Again, they leaned heavily on the forced morality of the novel’s theme, but they were still stupid fun.

All-in-all, this one is a hard pass for me. Sure, the second book may clear up the bulk of the “WTF” moments I had towards the end of this one, but there weren’t any real firm hooks to get me to make the attempt. For me, the cover and blurb had me completely pulled in, but the text just didn’t deliver.

A Red Moon Over Rhyll (The Dryad’s Crown, #3) by David Hopkins

Posted on July 13, 2021 by - Book Review

A Red Moon Over Rhyll: Book Three of the Dryad's Crown by [David Hopkins, Daniel Decena, Francesca Baerald]

There is something completely magical, and utterly frustrating about serialized short fiction. That being said, Mr. Hopkins has been quite adept at tapping into the cliff-hanger aspect of it that I seriously admire.

When we last left our intrepid heroes, Gydan and Yurig, children of the mysterious Silbrey, had just escaped certain doom from what can only be described as a sleeper attack near their farmhouse. An attack that gained Gydan a dragon, Yurig a spellbook, and Silbrey a sense that not all was well in the tiny corner of the world they inhabited. To make matters worse, the trio was headed into uncomfortable territory to “do their duty” to Bren Caius, the high general of the land: with whom Silbrey has a very distinct history.

The maddening thing about reviewing short fiction is trying to put a certain point across without giving away the meat of the story. As I am not deft at dodging and feinting around anything, I will just tell you, this book is where it starts to get deeply spicy.

As is his forte, Mr. Hopkins presents a situation that amplifies itself into a white-knuckled area of “What the hell happens next?!?!?!?” in a very gentle manner. New epic heroes enter the scene, and we are introduced to the most imposing of epic villains. A Hidden Burrow Near Barcombe was just a taste of the action that was to proceed. We tasted some blood, and Mr. Hopkins was happy to oblige us with a tad more.

Shifting gears, I do have to give even more kudos to the world building that is going on with this series. There is a new level of politicking that goes on in A Red Moon Over Rhyll that is just absolutely sublime. One thing I found very welcome was an expansion of existing character development on top of these new twists. This started out a Silbrey series, but I’d be willing to bet that Gydan and Yurig will be polished into the sheen of the deepest heartwood during this progression. I’m elated and a little afraid.

Bring on book four!

The Horror of Supervillainy (The Supervillainy Saga Book 7) by C. T. Phipps

Posted on March 12, 2021 by - Book Review

** This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review **

The Horror of Supervillainy (The Supervillainy Saga Book 7) by [C. T. Phipps]

Once again, dropped right in the middle of a well-established series. The Horror of Supervillainy, however, really worked out incorporating new readers.

Designed as a complete homage to the comic book world of superheroes and supervillains, The Supervillainy Saga series plays fast and loose with character development, tangible timelines, and, most importantly, recaps. Mr. Phipps starts the story with a foreward that explains directly to the reader just what comics have inspired this book, and how our main character, Gary Karkofsky, got into his current situation, and, briefly, what that situation is. Kudos for the recap, it has a super “True Believers” feel to it.

Jumping into the story, we find Gary, aka Merciless: The Supervillain without Mercy™, attempting to maintain a conversion from villain to hero, and, oddly, getting hired by a talking raven to go rescue the President’s daughter from Dracula. Yeah, that’s one hell of a setup.

From there, the hilarity ensues.

Gary is one of those perfectly balanced characters. By his own admission, his alignment is Chaotic Neutral, and that just allows for a whole lot of fun to happen. Couple this with Gary constantly spouting smart-ass pop culture references while being accompanied by companions from other timelines/dimensions, and it really falls into that familiar comic book scenario. Having had a significant comic book habit for a very long time, it is absolutely obvious that I am the target audience for such an adventure.

And now, of course, I’ve fallen for it. Mr. Phipps has succeeded in piquing my interest in the previous six books. Mission accomplished, sir.

What really gets me is the very serious tone and plotting that happens around all the goofiness in this novel. There is some very fantastical superhero-y things going on, but there is also some very serious morality issues being addressed. Maintaining that balance with the high “fun factor” of this book is no small achievement.

I guess, from here, I’ll be off to find out a bit more about Gary.