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My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Witch on the Water ( Amazon / Smashwords ) is the sequel to Rowan of the Wood ( Amazon / Smashwords ). I enjoyed the first book quite a bit, although I don’t think it’s suitable for the younger audience it’s intended for. The second book doesn’t have the sexual innuendo so is more suitable for that particular audience.
However, this book wasn’t as strong as the first. It was good, but not as riveting and the pace was much slower. There were some really interesting scenes and topics covered, but generally speaking the characters felt uncommitted to the storyline and this affected the overall reading experience for me. I especially found Cullen’s moodiness irritating. The biggest letdown was the climax, which sort of fizzled out and felt like a carbon copy of the first book. It should have been much bigger, stronger, getting the adrenaline going and leaving the reader eager for the next book, but that’s not what happened.
In truth, I have little else to say, which is unusual for me. I don’t think I’ll bother with any more books in this series.
Originally posted on another site on 21 April 2010.
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Rowan of the Wood (Amazon
Meanwhile, a second story is unfolding. A story of legends, myths, witches and vampires. We move through the centuries with another character, a woman who is desperate to find her lost love and will do anything to stay alive long enough to find him.
The story is written in a way that held my attention, but as a writer I could see its flaws. Firstly, there’s a lot of telling rather than showing. However, most of the time I was comfortable with this as the telling was mostly done in a storyline that covered about 1400 years and I appreciate how hard it would be to “show” all that passed during that time. Secondly, although the author has noted the intended audience as “young adult”, I felt the age of the young boy – a 12 year old – together with the book cover shown actually targets a younger audience…and the content is not suitable for the younger age group (in my opinion). This could have been easily resolved by increasing the age of young Cullen to about 15 or 16. Thirdly, there are many similarities between Cullen and Harry Potter – so many, in fact, that I found it distracting at times because I felt as if Harry was the model used when Cullen was created. Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know, but I think it’s a shame that Cullen didn’t come across as his own person.
These things aside, I enjoyed the story. The characters fit together well and their motivations were realistic. I found that the author’s writing style was easy to read for long periods of time without becoming fidgety. In fact, I finished the book in a very short period of time and have already started the second book.
This book is recommended to readers who have a mature mind, a young heart and enjoy books about never ending love and adventure.
Originally posted on another site on 11 April 2010.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
MageSign (Amazon / Smashwords) is the sequel to RealmShift (Amazon / Smashwords), both written by Alan Baxter.
You can read my review on Realmshift here.
Being the second book in a set, I expect more from the story and the author…and I got both.
We return to Isiah three years later. Nothing much is happening in his life, so he decides to check out something that had been bothering him since the death of his old enemy, Samuel Harrigan. What starts out as a simple errand type job, becomes a nightmare filled with gods, sorcerers, demons, witches and a ninja type figure that proves quite a distraction.
I was pleased to revisit the setting and find familiar faces, I was even more pleased to discover that the author’s writing style has improved tenfold. MageSign isn’t a “shoot ‘em up” storyline like the first book (which, I should add, was fast paced and kept the pages turning), but a more realistic storyline with more suspense and tension (even a touch of sexual tension, which was unexpected). And…where Realmshift had a complicated religious thread which slowed the story down, MageSign doesn’t have that problem. I found the flow to be almost seamless, which means I could get into the story and stand right beside the characters and stay there. I find this experience improves everything about reading – my enjoyment triples and my reading time becomes more involved and less fidgety too.
MageSign is slower paced, but that doesn’t mean the story is lacking, because it isn’t. The suspense builds to such a degree that you can almost feel the pressure accumulating within Isiah when he finally faces the antagonists of the story. This tension is what forces the reader to keep turning the pages. It’s not only essential to find out what’s going to happen next, it is of the utmost importance to witness the final battle between good and evil — because, as I saw on a TV show recently, “Evil triumphs, when good men do nothing”. When I saw that phrase, it made me think of MageSign.
Truly a good story, written with a strong voice. Highly recommended.
Originally posted on another site on 25 February 2010.
I was doing the rounds of my blog roll (found at the bottom of this page) to catch up on other people’s news, when I came across Indie Author: Avast Ye Lubbers, And Hear Ye Me Pirate Tale of Two Clicks!.
The words not only rang true for me, I felt like climbing the tallest building in my area and shouting out my agreeance. Greed! It’s going to be the downfall of the publication industry.
Isn’t it better to sell a lot of books at a small cost than hardly to sell any books at a high price? The more people who read the books, the more people will talk about the books and the more people who will buy the books. This, long term, will be more beneficial for all concerned.
How can a publisher justify selling a printed book for $14 and an electronic version of the same book for $13? How can they sleep at night knowing they are ripping people off? Why do readers pay the price? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, an ebook should be at least half the price of the printed version.
Then again…perhaps this “ebook war” is intentional. Perhaps the publishers are deliberately sabotaging epublishing because they want it to “go away”. Or, perhaps greed is the only motivation behind their actions. If so, the industry is doomed.
I don’t like piracy. There will always be those who will never pay for anything if they can get it for free, I’m not talking about those people. I’m talking about the people like me who would prefer to do the right thing. I write and I know the effort and sweat that goes into one manuscript. I want the creator of that manuscript to get what is due to them, but I understand why people turn to piracy when the asking price is set much too high.
What makes me angry is that the solution is simple. Stop being greedy and lower the prices! Again, this will be more beneficial for everyone.
Originally posted on another site on 19 February 2010.
Why does there have to be a war? If printed books are $18 (as they generally are in Australia), then an ebook should be at least half that price (in my opinion) as there is no paper, shipping, etc.
It seems to me that as ebooks become more popular, the book sellers are beginning to get greedier, which is pushing the prices of all books up, up, up. When will it stop? When people stop reading because they can’t afford to any more?
Read this article to find out the latest – The E-book Price War Isn’t Over Yet.
Originally posted on another website on 21 January 2010, but edited for the purposes of posting here.
The anthology, Speculative Realms, which includes my story Where Strength Lies, is now available in many ebook formats. These formats include epub for iPhone, iPod Touch, Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook and most mobile apps; mobi for Kindle and many handheld devices; pdb for Palm Pilot devices, PalmOS, Symbian OS and several others; and, then there’s pdf, rtf and plain text for use on computers and some other devices.
Visit the Speculative Realms page at Smashwords to find out more.
Originally posted on another site on 19 January 2010.
I know I’ve been a bit quiet lately, but it’s been absolutely necessary. I’m under contract to get some work done by the 25th of this month…and it’s looking as though I’ll make the deadline.
Speculative Realms is proud to announce that by the end of this week, the anthology will be available in many more formats. They are:
epub
An open industry format, supported by the Sony Reader, Barnes & Noble Nook, most mobile apps [Stanza, Aldiko, Shortcovers], and many other reading systems.
Sony Reader (LRF)
LRF is the format used on Sony Reader ebook devices.
Kindle (.mobi)
Mobipocket is an eBook format supported on Windows PCs and many handheld devices.
Palm Doc (PDB)
PalmDoc is a format primarily used on Palm Pilot devices, but readers are available for PalmOS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Smartphone, desktop Windows, and Macintosh.
PDF
Portable Document Format, or PDF, is a file format readable by most devices, including handheld e-readers, PDAs, and computers.
RTF
Rich Text Format, or RTF, is a cross-platform document format supported by many word processors and devices. Usually pretty good at preserving original formatting from Word documents.
Plain Text
Plain text is the most widely supported file format, working on nearly all readers and devices.
More details, including location where these can be purchased, will be announced as soon as they are available to the public.
Originally posted on another site on 6 January 2010.
It seems that ebooks are really started to make an impression. So much so that even Google is getting in on the act. Read the article below:
I think we haven’t seen the last of the players yet either. As readers shift their media type, slowly but surely, we will see other devices spring up on the market. Of course, this is good news for the ebook market.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Yesterday, I mentioned how I select books to read and Ether by Kristine Williams is an excellent example of that. Because of my current addiction to read ebooks I was combing Smashwords, a website that offers ebooks by new authors in many different formats. The prices are really low and that makes the “risk” easier to take. To buy a main stream book by a new author, the cost would probably be around $18 to $25 in Australia. To buy an ebook by a new author through Smashwords, the cost is about $0.99 to $7.00 (the average being around $3.00). Ether cost me $1.25 and was worth every cent.
I digress, as I was saying, I was combing Smashwords looking for my next victim when a cover jumped from the screen and yelled “pick me, pick me”. That cover told me instantly that the story was about our world entwined with another, and I love that type of story. I was intrigued to find out more. The blurb only pulled me in further so I quickly worked out how I could read the opening paragraph, which wasn’t difficult to do at all, and upon doing so was convinced this was a book I’d enjoy.
Ether is another world connected to our world. The only way through is with a key and there’s not many of them in existence. Daniel Harper discovers a strange key on his late uncle’s keyring when he inherits the house. When he uses that key to unlock the cellar door, he finds himself in a state of total confusion when he steps through the door into the path of an oncoming car – a strange looking car at that. The events that unfold from there are interesting and well written.
The characters had depth and I especially liked the way the author weaved humour into their personalities. It was amusing to read their reactions to certain situations, although if I found myself in the same situation it wouldn’t have been the slightest bit amusing. The characters were distinct and strong and believable. Ether (the world) wasn’t quite as developed as the characters, but not enough for it to be distracting and certainly not enough for me not to enjoy the story. In truth, I can’t quite say why Ether didn’t feel as rounded as it should have been, but something was missing.
That aside, I really enjoyed the story, the characters and the author’s writing style. I would definitely read something else written by her. In fact, I’ve already checked to see if there is anything else and…there is.
This ebook is highly recommended. I believe it’s also available in printed form too.
And to all those writers out there, remember, readers do judge a book by it’s cover so make sure yours is a great one.
Speculative Realms:
Where There's a Will, There's a Way
Includes my story "Where Strength Lies"
Buy now from Amazon and/or Smashwords
Or, go to the My Books page for more details.
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