Mermaid Precinct by Keith R.A. DeCandido

 

Mermaid Precinct by Keith R.A. DeCandido
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Catching up with the characters prior to reading the latest novel in the series.

I've had the pleasure of reading the Precinct novels by Keith R.A. DeCandido for many years so when this latest novel was launched via kickstarter way back when it was an easy sell to contribute and patiently wait for the results, it was worth the wait.
The demise of the city state of Barlin has drastically increased the number of people living in Cliff's End and pushing the city guard beyond their limits. The Lord and Lady of the city have allowed the creation of new precincts and an increase in manpower although not enough and the pressure to keep the peace only increases when the undercurrent of tension explodes and leaves a man murdered. To complicate matters the Pirate Queen is also dead, believed murdered and Lieutenant Danthres Tresyllione and her partner Torin ban Wyvald investigate.
Mermaid Precinct builds successfully on the novels that preceded it taking the well constructed locations within Cliff's End and the people there in and adding the complexities as the native population have to absorb a significant influx of refugees which bring about shortages in all areas including jobs and a clash of cultures even over as something as trivial as beverage choice. The Pirate Queen plot is a more traditional who done it as we learn about the delicate balance this woman did her work including risking her ship and crew to save the half breed children destined to die simply for existing. This also allows us to learn more about Danthres but even here we see the clash of expectations and prejudice rise to colour the investigation.
A very worthy addition to the Precinct novels and while you do not have to read them in any order to enjoy them there is certainly a benefit in picking up the first novel (Dragon Precinct) and going from there, not forgetting the short stories that bridge the gaps between the novels.

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Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

While it was on offer from Zavvi I decided to buy myself a 4K copy of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

While nothing compares to the Errol Flynn version of the take this was not a bad effort and the boxset is certainly worth the price I paid.

 

Heroic: The Golden Age by Evan Currie

 

Heroic: The Golden Age by Evan Currie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Heroic: The Golden Age is in actuality the fourth novel in the Superhuman series which began back in 2018. In this novel five years have passed since the alien probe "infected" humanity and brought about the rise of super powered individuals. Alas the effects are biased towards those with violent and aggressive tendencies meaning the war between "Hero" and "Villians" to put it in comic book terms is woefully one sided. Nevertheless the man who was known as The Marine fought valiantly but has not been seen publicly for five years and things have only gotten worse despite government backed enhanced law enforcement (LEO's) and huge leaps in technology to fight those that use their gifts for criminal and antisocial purposes. The main narrative of this novel is the siege of New York as a mob war between the Mafia and Russian groups explodes as enhanced goons come into play and the victors strengthen their hold on the city thanks to being able to "create" on demand their enhanced "soldiers" some of which have talents well beyond being able to fly or throw a car across the street.
Against this background we focus on two young people, Novah Isabella Islay who is new to the area and very intelligent especially in the sciences and Devin Meeran who has a gift for coding and an obsession with Superhumans and his streaming channel. Not an obvious couple but fate has things in store for them as the war for possession of New York raws around them and super powered fall one by one along with hundreds of police, national guard and civilians.
I was delighted when this fourth novel came out, I'd enjoyed the first three but upon reading I was sceptical if a novel without the main character from the first three would keep my interest. Without any doubt it did, I really did not want this novel to finish as the characters across the spectrum were all well written and interesting to follow with some creative events going on as the world watch New York once again come under the pressure of historic and tragic events.

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A Warship Named Sky: A Hero's Story by Saxon Andrew

 

A Warship Named Sky: A Hero's Story by Saxon Andrew
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thoroughly enjoyed this low key scifi story set well into the future of humanity after two aggressive nations took their wars to the stars and were promptly stomped on by the galactic community. The result an Earth united under a world government with trading ties to other worlds. We meet Angle Barrett soon after he loses the love of his wife (Sunny) and two years later he opens the last gift she bought him, a small model spaceship which was to signify their desire to travel to the stars together. Angle decides to search for a real spaceship matching this model and after jumping through some hoops the "unflyable" ship is sitting in his backyard. He dives into research and believes the ship which is hundreds of years old may have been from the almost mythical race known as the Sorjourn and that is where his adventure really begins.
I found the novel a very easy read, it flows quickly and smoothly and the narrative builds in a very well written manner as Angle is exposed to greater threats and circumstances that would have been the death of him without his interaction with significant others. I was surprised how invested I become in Angle and the other two characters the are part of the "Hero Story" and truth be told the ups and downs hit me dead center, I was wiping my eyes far more times than even with media that sets out to tug out the heart strings. Overall a very comfortable read with an engrossing story and likeable characters and at spine that has an old Trek feel about it in which looking for answers is often more rewarding that using force to remove an obstacle.

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Spock's World by Diane Duane

 

Spock's World by Diane Duane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Spock's World is easily one of my top five Star Trek novels, I own a rather battered hardback copy of the novel and as an ebook and have read it more times than I probably should but it is really that good. In this novel we get the main storyline which deals with the Vulcan population considering pulling out of the Federation, a global debate is imminent and people from all walks are invited to debate the proposition in front of the Vulcan people. As you would expect all our favourite characters get their time under the spotlight and we get many secondary characters playing major roles as the story unfolds. In addition to this main story we get a number of secondary elements dealing with aspects of Vulcan from the birth of their star system, their evolution into sentience, Surak, Sarek and many other aspects which add so much more to the Vulcan that we knew so little about from the tv series.
Personally I simply love reading about the birth of the first Vulcan language and the experience of wonder as the world is opened to a single vulcan who looks beyond what he can see and is determined to face the unknown. The "Forge" a huge desert where life is forever lived on the edge provides the backdrop to a chilling story of passion and anger and underlines how known Vulcan physical traits played their part in the history of its people. The story of the political/economic and eugenic aspects of the vulcan society seen through the interaction of two of the main "houses" on the verge of a major space exploitation project is beautiful and sorrowful to read but reveals so much of what Vulcan was before Surak. As for Surak his story is wondrous and inspiring and his revelation after seeing an antimatter weapon used on Vulcan's sister planet shows how near the edge these people were before Surak brought sanity to his people. Finally Sarek a master of computer tech posted to the Vulcan embassy on Earth and his rise as an attache finally as ambassador and his meeting to one Amanda Grayson. There is a lot more in the novel, some of which has been expanded upon in other works by Diane but overall the structure of this book is perfection giving you a great core story with to coin a phrase "fascinating" looks into Vulcan society. Spock's World is a must read for any original series Star Trek fan but sits apart as Vulcan and its people have been portrayed significantly different in recent tv and film and for me at least those recent stories and insights failed to love upto what Diane created for her readers.

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First Strike by Christopher G. Nuttall

 

First Strike by Christopher G. Nuttall
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Earth was alone or so they thought until they were visited by a member of the most advanced race in the galaxy and provided with technology and materials along with a warning, their existence would soon become known and to survive humanity would have to unite or suffer the consequences. Years later the Earth once again faces a very real threat, the race known as the Hegemony can expand in only one direction and they have already occupied one human colony world and humanities status as a minor race could see the Hegemony being allowed to simply take Earth and its colonies with the full support of the major races in the galaxy. Faced with ever shrinking options the leaders of Earth opt for a military first strike to retake their lost colony, the goal is to drive the aliens back to gain status and recognition maybe even allies amongst the major races. A daring roll of the dice for if the very small Federation Military fail, Earth will at best become a colony at worst removed from the stars.
First Strike was a very entertaining military scifi novel, I liked the galaxy as painted by Christopher with a very organised number of races under the umbrella of the a race which helped to raise them to their place amongst the stars. We get some political aspects in play both from humanity and the alien races, lots of space pew pew and ground missions with some pirate action thrown in. Overall a very satisfying standalone scifi novel.

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Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2022 - Robert Greenberger

 

Thrilling Adventure Yarns 2022 by Robert Greenberger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just finished the latest Thrilling Adventures Yarns (2022 Edition) once again funded through Kickstarter and edited by Robert Greenberger (also contributes a story) and again came away thoroughly entertained. Granted I liked some of the stories more than others but I enjoyed all of them especially that moment before starting each one when you are not sure what you are going to get more so from authors who you are very familiar with. The stories span across a number of well used genres so there is literally something for everyone but again it's difficult not to like the stories on offer from detective dramas within the "real" world or with a supernatural leaning or something out of the myth/legend given a spin you wouldn't see coming, also, some great artwork. As usual you will have one or two that resonate and for me that would be The Ghosts of War by Steven Savile and Riding in Cars with Girls by Geoffrey Thorne. Highly recommended anthology, infact why not pick up all the editions of the series, I won't lead you wrong.



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Limited Edition Kobayashi Maru Medallion

Limited Edition Kobayashi Maru Medallion

I picked up this little beauty from Fanattik the other day, it wasn't overly expensive and while not that big it is heavy and feels like you are getting a lot of value. 

 

From Beyond by Jasper T. Scott & Nathan Hystad

 

From Beyond by Jasper T. Scott & Nathan Hystad
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Are we alone, well the answer could be the non-human craft that is drifting through the solar system on a trajectory towards the sun. Its existence is a very closely kept secret which includes repurposing an upcoming Mars supply mission led by Commander David Bryce. The potential future of the human race is put into his and his crews hands (after signing a very one sided NDA) and along for the ride is a covert assassin known as Dark Three. Meanwhile on Earth a desperate and lethal search for evidence of a some sort of crashed object has a man known as Atlas travelling across Asia chased by killers and maybe some US military associated elements, could the Mars mission and this trail of evidence be linked...
From Beyond is from authors I've read before and while overall the novel (first in a series) entertained it lacked a little something which for me precludes reading book two. The Earth based narrative couldn't hold my interest when compared to the space based one and the second novel "Signal" looks like it will lean towards the former. This is certainly not a poor novel by any means, some good characters and like I said the space based aspect was very good, it still gets a solid mark but this series isn't for me.

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