Review: Ballistic (Palladium Wars #2) by Marko Kloos

Ballistic (The Palladium Wars #2) by Marko Kloos
Publication Date: May 26, 2020
My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I debated giving this installment 4 stars, because I really like Kloos's writing, but "oh good, the story's finally beginning" is not what a reader should be thinking at the end of Book 2. If Aftershocks read like an extended prologue, Ballistic reads like the first few chapters of the story: we get a lot of quiet background, pieces seem to be moved into place, but just as the main action appears to begin . . . roll credits.

This book and Aftershocks could have been smushed together into a single novel, and I think it still would've read like an extended prologue to the main action. Frankly, I think a reader could easily skip the first book and jump right in here, which isn't what you want to see in a series like this.

I'll pick up Book 3, because again, I really like Kloos's writing. But I'll do so with the stated hope that I'll stop feeling like I'm waiting for the main story to finally begin.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Providence by Max Barry

Providence by Max Barry
Publication Date: March 31, 2020
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Faced with a losing war against a spacefaring race of huge and hostile bug-like creatures (nicknamed "salamanders"), the countries of the world unite (with much grumbling, as this shit's expensive!) to build a fleet of AI-powered Providence-class battleships, crewed by the best and the brightest. The latest Providence battleship---which is never named, unless I missed it, which seems relevant--- are Gilly, the socially awkward tech genius; Anders, a handsomely psycho weapons officer; Beanfield, the Life Officer---think ship's counselor---and Jackson, the captain, a survivor of a devastating salamander attack.

But isn't that a pretty small crew for a massive battleship, you ask? To which I reply: yes, you're right! That is absolutely a question you should be asking!

Halfway through Providence, I was convinced I'd figured out the twist: the aliens would turn out not to be real, you see, and the entire ordeal would be revealed as some hideous corporate experiment. Or the aliens were real, but the salamanders were just the equivalent of artificially-created drones, and Our Heroes' mission would turn out to be to encounter the real aliens, the intelligent masters behind the curtain.

I won't say if I was correct; best to read this for yourself. But I will say this: this book is either incredibly nihilistic or exactly the opposite, and I still find myself still chewing over which it was.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Killing Fog by Jeff Wheeler

The Killing Fog by Jeff Wheeler
Publication Date: March 1, 2020
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A patchwork of petty kingdoms, nestled in the ruins of a fallen magical empire, face a rising horror when an expedition to discover a lost city goes horribly awry.

Bingmei, who was born with pale skin and hair---a condition viewed as a 'sickness' in her homeland---and who can literally smell people's intentions, was orphaned when her mercenary parents and grandfather were murdered, and now trains for revenge. When she ends up in possession of a magical blade--one of many magical objects left behind by that now-fallen empire, whose use summons a mysterious but deadly fog to strike the wielder down---she ends up joining her mercenary band on a quest that accidentally sets in motion a series of very unfortunate events.

I'd say this read like a YA novel, but I've read too many YA novels that seemed more 'adult' than this. (And this seemed way too long for a YA novel, frankly.) I enjoyed it a lot at the start, but as the story progressed my interest waned dramatically, until by the end I was really ready for the whole thing to just be done.

There's clearly talent here, but there's a . . . simplicity? to the writing that annoyed me so much that I knocked off several stars. It constantly read like the author was terrified his readers wouldn't understand the characters' motivations, so he decided to over-explain, flat-out announcing things that should have been intuited by the reader. I glossed over that tendency at first, but the book's so much longer than its plot really needs that I really couldn't ignore it by the end.

It's hard to say this was bad; I've read bad books and this wasn't that. But it's equally hard to call this good, and  . . . that's the heart of it, I think.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Imaginary Numbers (Incryptid #9) by Seanan Mcguire

Imaginary Numbers (Incryptid #9) by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publication Date: February 25, 2020


Sarah's book! IT'S SARAH'S BOOK!

That's literally what I shouted (yes---out loud, like a lunatic) when a random package from Penguin Random House showed up on my doorstep, containing an ARC and a paper telling me I'd won one of those contests that I always enter but never, ever win, but somehow managed to win this time, and can you think of a more perfect day than that? Of course you can't. Don't lie.

(But I lied, gentle reader, because it turned out this isn't Sarah's book. Not entirely. This is Artie's book as much as Sarah's---well, at least on a 60/40ish or 65/35 split, though I'd have to crunch the page count to be sure. A fun surprise, and a welcome one; I really like Artie, and it was a lot of fun to see inside his head.)

Sarah Zellaby leaves Ohio for the Price family compound outside of Portland, mostly healed from her ordeal but very much aware she (and everyone else) is using the word 'mostly'. A dangerous encounter in the airport leads to far greater dangers descending on the House of Price, as Sarah reunites with her family, has to deal with her very complicated relationship with Artie, and is forced to face her fellow cuckoos and her own cuckoo biology.

It's difficult to say too much about the plot without being too spoilery. Suffice to say: the mice return (though I could have done with more mice! I know they're the seasoning and not the sauce---it's just that after their disappearance in the last book, I was expecting a bit more mice here than we actually get), the cuckoos descend, and by the end, nothing will ever be the same. And I mean that in the most literal way possible.

Are the cuckoos evil?

Yes.

And no.

And yes, oh god yes.

And no.

What they are, above all things, is invasive. I thought the earlier books gave us a good understanding of what that meant, but . . . prepare to learn some new stuff, children. It's gonna be a wild ride.

And that ending . . . oof. That is a big ending in and of itself, to say nothing of the potential . . . implications . . . for a certain longstanding background plot. I shall say no more than that.

Included at the end is a short story called Follow the Lady, which I'd actually recommend you read before the main book, if that makes any sense. It follows Antimony and her crew as, heading home, their car breaks down in a certain small Michigan town where they encounter a very familiar face. Much of the story is more or less a recap of the previous Antimony arc, so if you need a refresher this is actually a pretty great way to get yourself caught up.

Overall: definitely pick this up, and prepare to start whining about how the next one is a year away.

Review: Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed

Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed
Publication Date: March 3, 2020
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There are two stories here. One is the story of two longtime BFFs separated by class, race, and genius, now teetering on the cusp of adulthood and wondering how to reconcile their vastly different places in the world with an enduring friendship that might be blossoming into something more. The other is a tale of cosmic horror, of the hidden magical secrets of this world and the worlds beyond. If you'd asked me before picking this up which I'd prefer I'd have picked the latter without blinking; eldritch horror is the best of all horrors, and anyone claiming otherwise is a liar. But to my surprise, it was the story of Johnny and Nick---she a white world-famous child prodigy who has quite literally changed the world, and he the very brown working-class son of Guyanese immigrants, working at a grocery store and wondering about his future---that had me reading on.

Johnny and Nick have been BFFs since early childhood, when both were taken hostage during a terrorist attack and ended up getting shot with a single bullet, then remaining friends ever after, despite living in two very different worlds. Their relationship sits the heart of this story, and the author achieves a rapport between the two that took definite skill. Their relationship---he, unsure of his place in the world and very unsure of his place in her world, she keeping more secrets than anyone too young to drive ever should---pops off the page, with dialogue that feels fresh and real. I kind of found myself wishing I was reading a story about them facing something other than eldritch horrors, and that's pretty insane for me, cause usually I'm the person yelling that the book needs to stop with the interpersonal crap and get back to the eldritch horrors. (And oh, that ending . . .)

The main issue here is that the story really needed time to breathe. A lot more time. Once our main antagonist enters the story (and to be frank, that entity seemed less 'eldritch horror' and more 'video game villain') we're sent off on a worldwide adventure that feels oddly rushed and insubstantial. The story veers wildly from place to place, plot point to plot point, with our characters getting hit with quests and revelations and infodumps and new scenery. . . and nothing really has enough time to gel. Too often the worldbuilding felt unfinished, with Johnny giving infodumps in the place of plot development.

Overall, this had a lot of potential, and the author manages some really great rhythms between her two protagonists. But it needed to be longer than it was, with more care given to the worldbuilding.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman

The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publication Date: January 7, 2020


The latest book in the Invisible Library series is definitely better than some of the previous installments, but alas, still fails to achieve the sublime perfection of the first book. (I blame the plot's stubborn refusal to stay in Mad Victorian World, as I have dubbed Irene and Kai's current home base; none of the other worlds we see come close to matching the glorious batshittery of that one, so part of me just keeps wondering why we keep leaving the awesome world to go see so many less awesome worlds. I'd thought the events of the most recent book set up plausible ways for Kai and Irene to stay put in a plausible way, but if this book is anything to go by, that's not to be.)

The good news: It's time for a heist! It's hard to go wrong with heists. Irene, with Kai tagging along, gets roped into joining a crew of Fae (and one interesting dragon) who are stealing a mysterious painting in a version of Vienna under constant lockdown by a special government agency hunting magical creatures. (With an added twist I saw coming much sooner than I wanted to.) Along the way we learn some very interesting info about Kai's family, and then some very interesting and very dangerous info about different members of Kai's family, which seems like it'll be very relevant in future books.

The less good news: the plot meanders a bit, the heist could have been a bit better, and I had trouble differentiating between several members of the heist crew.

Overall: a good installment, but not a great one. I was entertained, which is the most important thing, and some tantalizing tidbits of dragon lore tied everything in with the overarching series plot in a reasonably interesting way. This was better than some recent installments, but again: still not quite up to the level of the first book.

Review: Frozen Orbit by Patrick Chiles

Frozen Orbit by Patrick Chiles
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Publication Date: January 7, 2020


Four astronauts blast off in a nuclear-powered ship en route to Pluto, chasing after a secret decades-old Soviet mission that went awry. (I'd recommend readers avoid this book's Amazon/Goodreads description, as it basically spoils the big reveal. And not subtly, either.)

This was . . . not to my taste. Hard science fiction soars when it explores new realms of the possible, but it's also infamous for flat characters, tedious science descriptions, and emotionless prose. Frozen Orbit, alas, falls prey to two of those three mighty sins: the characters are pretty lifeless and the prose tends to plod. Moments that should feel emotional instead feel hollow, clunky. (I actually found the scientific descriptions to be somewhat interesting, which is unusual for me in this subgenre. )

The political machinations at home seemed unrealistic, and I didn't find any of the subplots (the 'mystery' of the Soviet commander's journal, the A.I., the relations between the crew) very engaging. It takes about two-thirds of the book to actually get to Pluto, which surprised me, and not in a good way; the early sections felt almost like filler.

Overall, I thought the description made the book sound a lot more interesting than it turned out to be---in part, I suspect, because the description basically spoils the 'mystery' of what was waiting at Pluto.

I received a free copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.