ReadingBifrost

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In Earle’s The Thirteenth Prophet, fashion trends extend to implanted personality traits. The world is obsessed with the next upgrade, the next mix of Control and Desire traits to send them to the top of their careers or a bit of Bliss and Satisfaction to just enjoy it all- denying themselves the hardships of creating their own personalities for the easiness of uploading the fictional ones. Society is shutting down without anyone noticing- there’s no political rallies and no one even thinks to vote anymore.

Mulligan Burke is one of the few who sees the flaws in the system and wonders if the Prophets are really willing to split their souls to create the millions of upgrades people are so desperate for. When one of the twelve Prophets die, Burke is hired as a P.I. to determine who killed Defiance.

“I am made of so much more than this flesh, this body of mine. But I’m slowing, I’m old, and I’m so much less than I used to be.”

I am so in love with this short story. I just really wish Earle would have used “Who killed Defiance?” as a tag line for the story, because that’s basically the issue of the story in a very political aspect. In a society that follows the latest trends, goes with the flow, Who Killed Defiance? I’m not going too far into that aspect of the story, though, and let the readers decide for themselves.

The characters are great, even Defiance whom you don’t actually get to see in the story still has such a strong presence I can still create a picture of the character. Mulligan Burke, of course, is the main character. He’s a old-fashioned, hard-boiled, noir-worthy detective. Burke is a refreshing character to the story. He’s not ignorant to the technology at hand, he simply refuses to use it.

Overall, The Thirteenth Prophet is a page-turning short story that I would recommend to anyone fond of futuristic science-fiction and mystery.

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Mature-Content Rating: Violence, Abuse, Mild Sexual Themes


“Xavier Holstone elegantly glided across the white tiled floor with a crooked smile as if he liked that everyone stared at his tanned skin and ash blond hair. His oval face was severe with high cheekbones and a perfectly straight nose. His muscular, but thin, build made a few girls blush, though his dark eyes saw no one as he made his way to an empty table in the back. Ava didn’t really think he was attractive, but there was something dangerous about him.”

Under a Blood Moon is the first in a series about a group of teenage Enchanters first gaining their powers and then immediately being thrown into the darkest kind of evil their world knows.

The story was intriguing enough to keep me reading all the way till the end, but there were choppy points, plot holes, and plain and simple character screw-ups that had me cringing. To start off, I never did figure out just why the book was given its title. It could be that I missed something, but I usually keep my eyes open for that, and plus the title should be obvious.

As I read on I was deep into the plot and the characters, but the relationships between Ava and the others in her coven kept me from developing a strong link with any of them. Jeremy, the only one in the coven I felt like I could connect with, seemed to barely have a part at all. The two really strong characters that held this book together were Peter, Ava’s main love interest, and Xavier, one of the main antagonists. I have to give one complete star just for Xavier, the arrogant jerk that is makes it feel so good to hate.

Ava was always quick to figure out the goings-on, but slow to respond if she responded at all. There were many times things could have been prevented if Ava would have just responded correctly to the situation. Likewise, the others in her coven were quick to dismiss her thoughts without any real explanation why. Richards did do a great job of weaving the story of Ava’s mother and father into her own, though.

Most of the interaction between Ava and Peter was amusing or sweet or agonizing thanks to Peter’s character that takes control, but near the end of the book there’s a long interaction between the two that can only be described as a Q&A session. Peter asks a question, Ava answers, Peter asks, Ava answers, Peter asks… Richards was trying to relay information to both Peter and the readers quickly, but that little session seemed really fake and bored me.

The powers. Oh, the powers! What is a book on magic without interesting powers? This is just the first installment of the series and the teens are just learning what they can do with their magic, but there’s great potential and lots of room for Richards to play with, and hopefully introductions to more coven members with special powers of their own.

Overall, Under a Blood Moon is a good, quick paranormal read for those that like magic and elements with a touch of romance between the pages.

Two Hundred And Twenty-One Baker Streets is an anthology of fourteen Holmesian stories all written in a variety of genres and times.

While some of the stories focus on the mystery like the original books, others focus on the familiar yet outrageously creative characters of Sherlock and Watson or the new worlds constructed by the author. Even Ms. Hudson has a go at being a bioengineer instead of her mildly fascinating landlady persona. And how is a collection complete without a few gender-bending fics in which Sherlock and Watson are teenage schoolgirls? College campuses, 70’s New York, modern day London, a traveling circus, and many other times and places are included in this anthology.

As for the plots, some of the authors created their own mysteries, some reinvented old ones, and others had a combination of both. How can you have an anthology of Holmesian stories without at least one touching on how Sherlock survived The Reichenback Fall? Answer: You can’t, and it was brilliant. One story had a strong philosophical feel to it when Watson and Sherlock were forced to question the world they lived in and their own existence within it.

One thing that disappointed me was in the title it states that it is ‘An Anthology of Holmesian Tales Across Time and Space’, and although it contains plenty of the ‘across time’ part I was really disappointed that it didn’t have a Sherlock space opera. One story did touch on space but it didn’t have enough of that futuristic feel to be completely counted as a ‘space’ story.

Overall, Two Hundred And Twenty-One Baker Streets has a story for everyone. It’s full of brilliantly written tales that any fan of Sherlock can appreciate.
(Advance copy provided by NetGalley.)

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“I don’t want to move in for a closer look, I really don’t, but overpowering curiosity’s propelling my feet forward, taking Finley with me. This is nothing like a Sea-Monkey.”

A few days ago I reviewed the first of this series. In this second installment Mick and Finley don’t go looking for trouble, but just so happen to stumble upon it anyway when PJ, a very much spoiled rich boy Mick’s age, has his Sea-Monkey turned into a mermaid.

I liked this book just a bit better than the first, probably because there was more interaction between the brothers. Mick tends to overthink things when it comes to his brother, and in this story he was put into situations where he had to let Finley make his own choices. Finley, on the other hand, had to stand up against the older brother he looks up too.

PJ is a spoiled little brat who is used to having what he wants when he wants it. When his Sea-Monkey goes psycho, PJ is convinced she didn’t really mean to nearly bite his arm off. Of course, going on the adventure with Mick and Finley may have changed him a bit by the end of the story.

A mysterious uncle was mentioned again, one I hope will make an appearance in a future story. He seems like the family’s go-to guy when they need strange or hard to find objects such as Mick’s pitchfork from the first book. His character intrigues me even though he has yet to make an actual appearance in the series.

Overall, I would recommend this second book to 8+, as it wasn’t as gory as the first. But I do have to say there was mention of a drunken man, so as always PARENTS: read the books first. See if there’s anything you’re not comfortable with your kids reading, and judge by your own kids levels.

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“This is not a pleasant place to be, even without zombies trying to eat me. Having Finley as company is something I didn’t realize I needed until I got it.”

As C.S. Lewis stated, if a children’s story is only enjoyed by children, it’s a bad children’s story. How to Navigate Zombie Cave and Defeat Pirate Pete centers around an adventurous boy named Mick and his younger brother, Finley. Each chapter is a ‘step’ in how to navigate the cave and defeat the pirate, which was a small but nice addition.

Mick’s character is impulsive, adventurous and very protective of his younger brother. He seems to try to act mature to help his struggling mother, but it often leaves him in a load of trouble. Finley is imaginative and a thinker. Like a true young boy, he can come up with ‘useful’ things older kids and adults wouldn’t even think of.

The story is alright for the first in a series. The author’s world isn’t introduced very well in the first book, so some bits are a tad confusing until it’s explained further later on. The adventure is fun, if not a bit gory, and the interaction between the brothers brings the entire book together.

Overall, this is a nice start to the series. I would suggest, however, that parents be strongly cautioned and should read the book themselves first to see if they deem it appropriate for their own children.

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“I already knew that, but it’s nice to hear you say we’re the same disgusting flavor of cake. That might be the best thing a girl has ever said to me.”

Breaking Free starts with the main female character, Kelsie, in the present time talking with her therapist - her nanny waiting outside the door. After she receives a journal/notebook that belonged to JC, a friend she made in a wilderness therapy program over the summer, the story then starts switching from present time to Kelsie’s time in the program. The double perspective keeps the story interesting and going at a healthy pace, but the transition between the two are not executed very well. Usually Kelsie is talking to her nanny and begins a flashback scene. It also makes it hard to really form a connection with the characters other than Kelsie. Other than those snags, the change from past to present did add mystery and suspense to the story.

The storyline touches on deep topics such as losing family members, friends, drinking and cutting using a group of teens in the same wilderness therapy program as Kelsie. Kelsie’s character was forced into the program while her love interest, JC, voluntarily entered the program. The romance pops up between the two quickly and seems underdeveloped. The characters skip from a shaky friendship to love rather quickly and even then it doesn’t feel solid.

The second half of the book slows the story down considerably. There is no mystery, the suspense is minimal, and the story continues long after what I considered the climax of the book ended.

Overall, Breaking Free was a good read. I’d recommend for anyone who enjoys young/new adult contemporary romance, but be sure to notice the cautions that this book does hit on hard topics.

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“I am screaming, but not out loud. I am screaming inside, quietly, and I am thinking that I will never stop screaming. I will scream inside like this for the rest of my life.”

Maggie Elizabeth grew up without a mother, only her grandmother and a cold, hard father that worked in the mines all day and drowned her kittens every summer so he wouldn’t have to feed them. Maggie Elizabeth understood why he killed the chicken every Sunday for their dinner. It served a purpose. But she can’t understand what purpose her father has for killing her kittens, or why Bernard Lemieux kills wolves. When Tommie Stetter, the older boy Maggie Elizabeth proclaims she’s going to marry one day, comes back from hunting a she-wolf and states it probably had pups somewhere near, Maggie Elizabeth decided she had seen enough death and recruited Tommie and his sister Annie to care for the wolf pups.

The story is narrated by Maggie Elizabeth, so we see everything from the point-of-view of a 13 year old girl from the 1890s, which Swykert did a surprising good job. She seems to have a timid personality, but latter on in the book you find that her true personality is only muted because of her family life. As she spends more time with the wolves and Tommie, Maggie Elizabeth’s character starts to shine through and you really seen a significant growth.

Tommie Stetter is two years older than Maggie Elizabeth and the son of the mine’s rich manager. We don’t actually see Tommie’s true character, only what Maggie Elizabeth thinks of him, until the last half of the book. I was really unsure if Tommie actually had feelings for her or if it was all just wishful thinking floating around in the mind of a thirteen year old girl’s head.

Annie Stetter is Tommie’s younger sister and Maggie Elizabeth’s best friend. Maggie Elizabeth constantly describes Annie as being practical. Annie agrees to help with Maggie Elizabeth’s and Tommie’s plans, not seeing the purpose, but does so anyway to be a good friend.

The romance was tender and touching, mostly using words and expressions instead of getting physical (although kissing is involved). Though out the story Maggie Elizabeth becomes determined to save the wolf pups, to make a difference even though she couldn’t even save her kittens from her father. It’s a good lesson about standing up for your morals and chose to listen or lead.

I do have to complain about how often things are repeated. It can be argued that the narrator is a thirteen year old girl, and they do tend to go over things until it’s completely annoying, but I think here it could have been left out of the narration.

Overall, I really loved this book. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys coming-of-age stories and to middle school/ young adults (Just be cautious about letting a rebellious 13-year-old read it).

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First off, Classics in manga form? Win. But a western manga written back to front, right to left like a traditional Japanese manga? Not so much win. Reading Japanese manga in it’s original form is a novelty, but western manga pretending to be Japanese takes the novelty out of it.

The manga itself is adapted from the original novel, which makes me happy. (Of course a few liberties were taken.) But then again, the novel is 1,000+ pages and the manga is only 336, so you can guess that there was a lot that had to be chopped. I would have liked it better if the manga was spread out between even just two manga. Having only the one volume, the story was really rushed and there wasn’t time for any background on key characters or see any depth to the plot.

The art is okay. There’s nothing typically stunning and it doesn’t seem to capture the emotions of characters quite as deeply as I would like, but it’s not bad art either.

Overall I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who hasn’t read the book. Even if you’ve watched the movie/play the plot is different enough to get confusing. For those who have read the book, this manga would be a nice little quick read to brush up on major points if you don’t have time to thumb through the entire book again.

(I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)

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“The frustrating thing is that each time my life changes, I leave little pieces of myself behind”

As soon as a couple of teenage girls started the ‘You don’t know me!’ ‘Well, you don’t know me!’ bickering at the beginning of the book, a little warning bell went off and the eye-rolling commenced. Okay, so we’re talking about 15 year old girls. Noted. Getting past the eye-twitching drama leads to the inconsistencies throughout the book.

Edie is first introduced as a fiery, short-tempered girl who would punch on anyone who crosses her. Skip ahead just a few pages and she turns into cowering kitten. At one point in the story the narration states that she ‘finally’ lets it all out and starts crying, when she’s been crying for the last 20 pages.

Another thing that aggravated me was when I finished the book, I realized there were several things that had happened and several characters that had no point to the story at all, or were just left hanging with no place to go.

The ‘romance’ was probably the worst part of the story. Edie, mother missing, enlists the help of Jermaine, a boy with big issues of his own. The romance seems to start out sweet and innocent enough, but at times Edie completely forgets about her mother missing and her father chasing her. She carelessly flirts with Jermaine, and even eyes several other guys in passing as the two search for her mother.

There’s a lot of adult/authority bashing; cops, teachers, random strangers. There was so much it became disturbing. Edie and Jermaine would be great candidates for the next Children of the Corn movie.

With that all out of the way, there were some good points made though out the story. It hits on topics such as school bullies, domestic violence (and how sometimes those two can coincide), and racism.

Overall the book was okay, but without at least one strong main character and consistent storytelling I can’t really recommend this one.

"Human beings have a fundamental need for physical and emotional space, and the desire to extinguish another life can arise when the boundaries of that space are violated."

This book was added to my reading list as soon as the translated copy was made known. The first thing I looked at was the translator, Stephen Snyder. I’ve read several of his other translated books before (ex: Revenge and Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa) so I wasn’t worried, and there’s no need to be. He kept Japanese honorifics (which I’m a fan of doing) and words that are harder to translate, choosing to explain them instead of downplaying them with a ‘close enough’ translation (such as hikikomori).

The book is divided into six chapters, each being narrated by alternate characters and each with their own perspective of the story and a confession to share. The different narrations allows the story to go deeper than just the accident/murder of of the teacher’s daughter. One point made is who is really blame for the incident. The teacher for bringing her daughter to work with her? One middle school boys accused? The parents? Society? Another key point is on revenge, and not just the teacher getting revenge for the death of her daughter.

The way the book is written allows the reader to empathize with all the main characters at some point in the story, maybe even start seeing a reasoning behind their actions. Then the story shifts to another character’s point-of-view and I felt that empathy fizzle away.

Overall this is a fantastic read. If you haven’t ever read modern Japanese literature this one is an easy read and a great for getting introduced into the genre. I also recommend to fans of mystery and crime novels set around families.

“Dysfunctional love, dysfunctional discipline, dysfunctional education, dysfunctional human relations. At first, everybody wonders how something like that could happen to such a nice family; but when you poke around a bit the dysfunction comes out, and then you see that it was bound to happen, that it was only a matter of time.”

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“We all pretended the monsters don’t exist. Most people can get away with that. They live in the day and lock their doors at night. They don’t look at what is out beyond their thin walls. They don’t see what the night shift brings out.”

Predator & Prey is a very short story, only 31 pages long, but packs a punch for paranormal romance readers. Horton sets his story in a city of dark corruption, where some of the more sinister crimes are overlooked due to their supernatural nature.

Lily labels herself as a survivor and hosts her after dark radio show to share with fellow survivors their experiences, but after she’s attacked one night and a mysterious man named Wolf tells her there’s only predators and prey she begins to question what she really is.

Wolf is most defiantly an Alpha-male character; very demanding and possessive. What he is isn’t exactly clear yet.

The romance isn’t quite strong between the characters yet, but there is an instant connection that pulls Lily to trust Wolf, going against her naturally distrusting personality.

Overall this is a great short story that I would recommend to paranormal romance fans, but since the author has promised more short stories with the same characters I’m hoping for a collection to be available instead of buying the individual shorts.

“Joel?”
“Yeah.”
“I have a question.”
“Shoot.”
“How is your English progressing?”
“What?”
“Well, I was wondering what part of ‘Keep Out’ and ‘No Trespassing’ and ‘Danger’ you don’t understand.”

In John A. Heldt’s The Mine, There were many topics Heldt touched on, but didn’t dig deeper into. The main character, Joel, found himself trapped in the past without his family, worried about his actions changing the future, worried about impending world war, about his future in the past, what will happen to his Japanese-American friend, and found himself falling in love with one of his grandmother’s college friends. But Heldt only skimmed the surface of these topics and I found myself disappointed that I only got a glimpse of the story before any real conflict could rise.

Joel is an excellently developed character. He’s quick witted, well educated, and cocky. However, his transitional period is a bit unbelievable. He’s suddenly tossed into the 1940s but shrugs and starts a new life without even thinking of further investigating the mine or the happenstance that brought on his sudden trip into the past (even though, as stated, he’s well educated).

Tom is a 1940s college student who met Joel (posing as a rancher-cowboy) when he helped Tom get rid of a few debt collectors making good on Tom’s failed gambling habits. Tom’s character is very much like a friend Joel has is his own time and the two instantly grow close. Their friendship in the story comes naturally and it isn’t hard to see Tom and Joel together in any time period.

Grace is a timid missionary’s daughter, who is also engaged. She questions her engagement when she meets Joel as a mutual friend of Tom. The love story between Joel and Grace, again, is a bit unbelievable. Heldt describes no other attraction than Grace being a blonde beauty, then Joel and Grace are madly in love.

Ginny (Joel’s grandmother!) is the character that really makes this story take flight. A true spitfire, she works as a journalist for a newspaper writing on eye-opening topics. True to the grandmother he remembers, this Ginny seems to be able to see straight through Joel and knows there’s something more to him than what he’s sharing.

Overall The Mine was an okay story, but it really lacked the depth it could have had with all the topics it touched on. I would recommend for fans of light romance or historical fiction.

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“He is Chewbacca, son of Zuzituck, Prince of the Sawas- a very powerful Wookiee tribe. It seems they’ve made Starkiller a god.”

I was excited about this one: seeing George Lucas’ original ideas for Star Wars turned into a graphic novel. The main thing to remember when starting to read this is that it is based off of an unfinished work. The technology, world building, plot and characters are full of holes. That being said, I’m on the fence of wether the writer and artist should have taken up more of a chance on their creative license or not. I didn’t want a completely finished work, but leaving the story as it was left the novel very jumpy and hard to follow.

The highlight of this novel is comparing the original script to the script that made the big-screen. We see familiar characters’ names playing different roles, characters we know shown with a bit of a twist (alien Han Solo), as well as introductions of new characters. Prince Valorum, a Knight of the Sith, is a particularly entertaining character.

As with most graphic novels, concept art is included in the back of the novel including feedback from the artist/writer on how they ultimately made their decisions. Also included are concept panels that were originally sent to George Lucas to get his support on the idea of creating the graphic novel.

Overall, as a graphic novel alone I wouldn’t recommend it, but any fan of Star Wars would love to compare the original ideas and characters to the stories that they know so well. Defiantly one to add to the shelves.

“With time rapidly running out, he used the technique that had served him well in so many of his previous incarnations. ‘Eeny, meeny, miny…’”

In The Crawling Terror The Doctor and Clara find themselves in a small village in England infested with rather large bugs. Of course, sticking to true Doctor Who fashion, big bugs isn’t the only thing going wrong in the village. Add a bit of secret World War II weapons, Nazis, a stone circle, and a few aliens in the mix then you have a great plot!

As with Silhouette and The Blood Cell, I won’t count off points for the Doctor’s behavior in the book since the books were written before the 12th Doctor series even aired, but as a whole all the characters fell flat. Clara (as much as I detest her character) hardly reacted to the situation at all, and the military were way too trusting in the Doctor for not being a part of UNIT.

Overall, it was a good book with a good plot, but defiantly needed fine tuning on the characters.

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“Your guns don’t work,” the Doctor was saying, “and shortly after that happens, everyone always decides they need me-“

This story is told by the perspective of the Governor, who’s really a warden of an isolated prison on an astroid. A prison the 12th Doctor just so happens to find himself jailed in with nothing but a number for a name and and orange jump suit.

There’s much to speculate about the Governor and the Guardian, Bentley, but after most of the book has passed and you finally get to the Governor’s story it’s all given to you at once in just a few pages of information dump in the form of a backstory. It was an interesting tale, but I think if pieces of it were given throughout the book instead of one backstory blob it would have worked better.

The climax wasn’t very climatic. Again, it had an interesting tale but it seems Goss decided to throw a bunch of ideas together right at the end and hoped they worked well together. There is a definite disconnection from the first 75% of the book and the last 25%.

The one thing most Doctor Who writers get is the characterization, and Goss did a good job with The Doctor, Clara, and his minor characters.

Overall, The Blood Cell was a good, quick read for Doctor Who fans. I would recommend for the older whovians though, since it does tend to get a little on the gory side toward the end.

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When I first started to read this book, knowing I was going to review it after, I didn’t know how I was going to do so unbiased. It’s Doctor Who. One of Justin Richards’ (fan-girl, Mr.Richards!) Doctor Who books. Thankfully I didn’t have to worry, because the story was amazing and held its own in the literary world.

“Death is death,” Strax said. “You overcomplicate things.”
“Overcomplicate?” Clare said, irritated by his casual attitude. “This man was killed. Murdered.”
“And it is too late to come to his aid now,” Strax pointed out. “Better to determine his murderer’s strategy and lay out our own plans.” His tongue licked out briefly over his thin lips. “Shall I fetch the fragmentation grenades?”

In Doctor Who: Silhouette, the twelfth Doctor and Clara are lead back to Victorian London (after the Doctor said no to visiting King Author) due to an energy spike. Where else could they end up but at a Carnival! I was already hooked on the story by that point because I’m a sucker for freaky Carnival/Circus stories. The Seventh Doctor’s The Psychic Circus is still among my favorites.

The story has that typically odd flavor of Doctor Who. Sometimes you’re led in the right direction but for the wrong reasons, and sometimes you have the right reasonings but you’re going in the opposite direction. The book gives hits to the mystery like puzzle pieces, some of the pieces belonging to completely different puzzles to piece together. Of course at then end there’s always that ‘Ah ha!’ moment when everything finally fits together.

We don’t know much about the twelfth Doctor (at this time only four episodes have aired), but we do know that he’s not much of a people person and Richards has carried out that aspect of his personality perfectly. The Doctor runs around London, mostly on his own with his plans a secret, leaving Clara and the others to just trust that he knows what he’s doing. There’s even one part in the story when he seems annoyed with his own incarnations, (Spoilers!) which only irritated this Doctor. It was amusing to find that he couldn’t even stand to be around himself.

Jenny and Vastra always have the limelight in the TV shows featuring the Paternoster Gang, but in this book Richards lets Strax step up and shine. He has the chance to do his own detective work and even works at the carnival for a short time.

Clara is Clara. She annoys me in the show and she annoys me in the book, so taking that in consideration I’m guessing it’s fair to say she’s pretty much in character.

The antagonists are unique and creative, and you can’t always be sure who they are. The main antagonist is one you will love to hate. He/She is manipulative, clever, and resourceful with plenty of weapons at hand. Even the execution order by the Shadow Proclamation looming over his/her head doesn’t seem to phase him/her.

Easter eggs! There’s a few of them, and I won’t spoil everything and let you figure it out yourself, but one that amused me the most was one character named Jimmy Stone. Just had to throw that one in, didn’t you?

Overall, Doctor Who: Silhouette is a must read for any fan of the novelizations and highly recommended for anyone who likes to read carnival/circus mysteries with science fiction thrown in for fun.