Tynga's Reviews: July 2018

Saturday, July 28, 2018

Stacking the Shelves [317]

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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We are moving house over the weekend, so I cut my stack off a bit early this week. The full stack over at Reading Reality seems to have more books that I pretty much have to read than it does books that I want to read. But here are a few fun ones to tease you with.

Fly Girls by Keith O'Brien

Hard in Hightown by Varric Tethras and Mary Kirby

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale by Jane Yolen

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

by Marlene Harris at Saturday, July 28, 2018

Stacking The Shelves, sts 10 People left their mark

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Stacking the Shelves [316]

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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I received a couple of interesting books this week. But then, I always do. The full stack is over at Reading Reality, but I always like to share the highlights with you!

Hitting the Books (Library Lover's Mystery #9) by Jenn McKinlay

A Tall Dark Cowboy Christmas (Gold Valley #4) by Maisey Yates

The Wedding from Hell #1: The Rehearsal Dinner by J.R. Ward

This is a FREE prequel novella to Ward's upcoming contemporary romance/romantic suspense Firefighters series. If you're curious, it's a great chance to try before you buy.

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

by Marlene Harris at Saturday, July 21, 2018

Stacking The Shelves, sts 8 People left their mark

Saturday, July 14, 2018

Stacking the Shelves [315]

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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In the middle of my full stack over at Reading Reality there are a few books I want to highlight this week. Of course, there always are!

Entropy by Jess Anastasi

This is the 4th book in the author's Atrophy series of SFR, which I loved so much I gave it an SFR Galaxy Award. But at least part of the award was because at the time, it looked like the series was done, and it was terrific to be able to recommend a series that was complete where readers didn't have to wait for more installments. But it's not done yet!

Frenchman Street by Suzanne Johnson

This is the long awaited book 6 in the Sentinels of New Orleans series. It's been two years since the previous book, Belle Chasse, and I can't wait to see what trouble DJ Jaco gets into, and hopefully out of, this time around. Rumor had it that this would be the final book in the series, but I seriously hope that rumor is wrong!

The Hollow of Fear by Sherry Thomas

Last but not least, book three in the Lady Sherlock series. Which is awesome.

Please link your STS post in the linky below:

by Marlene Harris at Saturday, July 14, 2018

Stacking The Shelves, sts 11 People left their mark

Friday, July 13, 2018

Pierce Brown's Red Rising Sons of Ares by Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin, Eli Powell

Pierce Brown's Red Rising Sons of Ares

by Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin, Eli Powell

Series: Sons of Ares #1

Hardcover, 152 pages

Released: March 13, 2018

Source: Library

**Pierce Brown's Red Rising Sons of Ares by Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin, Eli Powell**

From the world of the best-selling YA series Red Rising comes a story of love and loss and rage!

In the future, when mankind has spread across the stars, the hierarchy of man is dictated by the color of one’s caste. The Golds rule all, but what will happen when one falls for a lowly Red? See how a forbidden love will set the course of events for the future and lead to the formation of the formidable Sons of Ares!

This prequel graphic novel introduces us to Fitchner au Barca before his days leading the Sons of Ares. We recall Fitchner as being a tricky sort, with a crude sense of humor and gory (or "gorydamn") penchant for violence. That doesn't mean he's without morality, though, but more like he bats no eye at crossing the line from killing humanely to killing in an animalistic fashion, especially if it's someone who's betrayed him.

Beginning with a brief introduction to the world and it's social hierarchy and origins, this graphic novel sort of skirts around Fitchner's past, showing him in an unknown undercover operation and flashing back to his beginnings and then to his time at the Institute. Mostly, I think this flashback serves to show how Fitchner had a long history of being belittled by his own color, forced to commit atrocities, and thus gives him a new perspective when he takes his position in society. Fitchner shows he isn't like other Golds when he rebels against what his society has taught him and values the lives of others after the horrors he's committed. He saves the lives of Reds caught in an explosion, Reds he's responsible for.

This marks his biggest change, moving from a lonely outsider to being accepted by a family. Here begins what we've only heard barely mentioned by Sevro in the original stories, the talk of his mother, Bryn. It follows her meeting with Fitchner, their marriage, and Sevro's birth -- our sweet little Goblin as a baby (who apparently always was called a goblin). It's easy to see where Sevro gets his attitude after these flashbacks to his father's early life, and their similar experiences of being bullied and shamed by other Golds for their appearance and height.

It is at this point that the novel's present and flashbacks meet up to continue the story. And what a horrifying tale it is, especially for those of us who might be parents of littles and fellow Howlers. Poor Sevro and his mother have been captured by the Board of Quality Control. Bryn is being questioned about her baby's father and Sevro's life is threatened as they want to carve him up to see how he's alive. It's possibly the worst nightmare come true. I won't say how it ends (mostly we know a bit from the novels), but it's in this fight that reveals Fitchner's ascendance to Ares.

This is the first time the world of Red Rising has been captured in art form. Eli Powell creates this world dark and smudgy and shadowed, both with literal shadow and the subject matter. While I liked seeing the science fiction schematics, I sort of feel like we do miss the emphasis of the action that is brought to life so well in the text. It's sort of the age-old, what's in your head is better than portrayals, whether in future film or in this graphic novel series. Not that Powell's art leaves things to be desired, but that the format of a graphic novel doesn't capture the same quality of the novels. There isn't as much dialogue and description because things are shown to the reader. It leaves some things more ambiguous than they might have been otherwise. Perhaps too, it was the nature of this story itself, too, as there aren't many positives. It's truly a rebirth narrative, "out of the ashes of Gold rises a 'god'".

It was not how I pictured Fitchner. He looked more like he was not finely molded, like a block of wood contrasted with typical Gold picturesque carving. I thought he would have perhaps a bulbous nose or just features that were too big for his face. I was also picturing all Reds looking like gingers, but Bryn seemed to have brunette hair. Not a big deal in the long run, but just a different perspective. I enjoyed reading this and will likely continue when more are pubbed but don't expect the full-bodied flavor of the other series. It's just an all-too-brief glimpse into the past.

— Reviewed by Kara

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by Kara at Friday, July 13, 2018

Adult, Dynamite Entertainment Publishing, Eli Powell, Graphic Novel, Pierce Brown, Red Rising Sons of Ares, Review, Rik Hoskin, Science Fiction, space fiction Leave your mark

Saturday, July 07, 2018

Stacking the Shelves [314]

If you want to find out more about Stacking The Shelves, please visit the official launch page!

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This week's full stack (over at Reading Reality) isn't quite as splendiferously ginormous as last week's stack. I'm not sure whether that's because even the fallout from the conference is well over, or because I'm closing out a day early this week.

We're closing on our new house tomorrow, and even though it's not until 2 pm I know I'm not going to get much of anything done in the morning except gibbering. But it's happeneing! It really, really is!