Category Archives: New Adult 18up

Review: The Land’s Whisper by Monica Lee Kennedy

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, ,

landswhisperThe Land’s Whisper
Monica Lee Kennedy

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Since he was a boy, Bren has looked up to Darse as a father. When Darse receives word through a portal that he’s been called home to another world, Bren determines to follow his friend. Once through the portal, though, Bren discovers a power he’d never known. The land speaks to him, offers him knowledge beyond anything he could imagine, and Bren hungers for it, even if having it means betraying those he loves. A powerful queen sends Bren and Darse on a quest to find her daughter, and Bren must make a terrible choice. If he locates the missing girl and brings her home, he may lose his ability forever. But if he abandons the quest, his friend may die and he will lose his honor.

The first few chapters of this book jump around from one character’s point-of-view to another’s. Most of those initial characters only appear once or twice at the beginning and then never again as narrators through the rest of the book. Their experiences are important to the story, but beginning there made it a little confusing for me. (I’m easily confused, so really, it could just be me. Hard to say.) I wanted the story to begin with Bren. He was far and above my favorite character, and once his story began, I was a lot more interested in finding out what would happen next.

The relationship between Darse (Bren’s mentor and father figure) and Bren was really cool. I loved watching Darse figure out how to shift from father to mentor to friend and watching Bren figure out his own path apart from his affection for Darse.

This is a bit of an odd story. It definitely has an otherworldly feeling to it. That otherworldliness reminded me a little bit of The Waterborn by Greg Keyes. If you like stories about journeys into strange worlds with a coming-of-age feel, this would be a good book to check out.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Trigger warning for victims of rape or sexual abuse.

A creepy man holds a girl captive and heavily drugged. The narrative describes him fondling her breast. It alludes to further abuse, but doesn’t overtly describe those events. It’s clear that she and a boy who carries the memories of her abuse are traumatized by it.

Spiritual Content
An evil spirit walks the land. At an invitation, it will take control of a victim, but soon the person will die. The spirit will continue to try to use the body of the dead victim to achieve its ends. This gets a little bit icky, but there’s not a whole lot of description.

Characters in the story worship a trio called the Three. One character teaches two men about healing that comes from wading into a river or body of water and speaking one’s internal hurts/sins over it. The sins/hurts are washed away in the water.

Some people possess a gift to communicate with the land. Each land has its own personality and different motives. The gifted can communicate and draw immense power from the knowledge available through the connection with the land. The hunger for power can become a destructive force or a force for good.

Violent Content
There’s less actual violence and more creep-factor. A giant lays traps to collect travelers. He’s brutal to those he catches, causing one captured man a serious break in his femur.

Some people have discovered a way to remove memories from the minds of others. It’s a terrible process for the victim, which one character refers to as his mind being raped. The trauma is clear in the way the characters react, and those scenes bear a pretty big creep-element.

Drug Content
A putrid cream aids in the process of stealing memories from a victim.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: Nirvana by J R Stewart

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, New Adult 18up, Sci-Fi, , ,

Nirvana
J R Stewart
Blue Moon Publisher

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Seventeen year-old punk rock star Larissa Kenders has a cause to fight for and a soul mate who understands her better than anyone. But when her lover, Andrew, a brilliant programmer for a powerful company, disappears, Kenders has to take all she’s learned in her quest to protect animal rights to a whole new kind of fight: one to find and save the man she loves. With corporate thugs closing in around her, she must decode clues Andrew left behind about why he may have been murdered. She’ll need help, but choosing the wrong ally could cost her life.

My number one issue with this novel is that I really don’t think it qualifies as YA. Though the narrator is seventeen, all of the issues she deals with are adult issues. There’s no sense of coming-of-age, or sort of graduating into the adult sphere. She begins the novel living independently with her adult boyfriend and then investigating his disappearance on her own.

I really liked that Stewart brought music into the story and used punk music in particular in the way he did. I loved that Kenders had a cause important to her and that the music was a big part of her platform for that cause, yet it lent itself to other parts of the story pretty seamlessly.

I loved her relationship with Andrew. They seemed to really get each other and have a relationship worth fighting for. I loved the scenes where Kenders goes into the virtual world and meets Andrew and it’s laced with the snippets of reality. I LOVED the layering of virtual and real overlapping so tightly that it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended. The theme is explored in discussions between characters a little bit as well – whether events experienced in the virtual world are at all real. Such a great thread. It felt very Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to me, and I totally enjoyed that.

I felt like there was a really abrupt jump in the part where Andrew disappears. I don’t want to give too much away, but one chapter ends with Kenders saying she’s going to go find him and the next begins with a huge event that left me feeling like I missed a few pages. Over all it wasn’t a big deal. There were a couple of times where the boys are kind of like, hey we’re smart, so you (Kenders) sit tight and let us do the hard thinking. It made sense in terms of the plot, but sort of sidelined her as the protagonist and put her more in the damsel-in-distress position. I liked the story better in the scenes in which Kenders was playing a more active role in the story.

Overall I think this is a cool sci-fi story. It definitely reminded me of some of the recent VR movies that I wanted to like, such as Surrogate with Bruce Willis (I liked this better, actually.) I think it will have more appeal outside the YA audience. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but I feel like it’s more of an adult sci-fi novel with a young narrator.

Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.

Sexual Content
Descriptions of kissing and a lead-in to sex, but no description of the actual exchange.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
Brief descriptions of torture tactics used to pressure a man to give up information. A man is killed in an explosion that leaves his body badly burned.

Drug Content
None.

Review: TAP: The All Powerful by J. K. Brown

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Sci-Fi, , , ,

The All Powerful
J. K. Brown

Amazon | Goodreads

When the Alyon military wrongly sentences Jason for committing an impossible crime, he and two allies must escape before they’re killed. As Jason, Josh and Jacqui explore the world outside the military, they discover powerful abilities their commanders kept secret from them. They also find other allies with secrets of their own. Together the team vows to stop Shadow Leader, the sinister man who seems to be at the center of everyone’s problems. The only problem is finding a way to overcome him.

I loved that this story is written in present tense. I’ve only read a couple of stories written that way before, but I really like that it keeps the action feeling really urgent and immediate. The characters were interesting. Vend’s backstory really captivated me, and I liked the old man who helps the team along the way. None of the characters were as complete as Jason himself though, and I found a couple of the girls to be a bit uneven. Sometimes they were really together and smart and other times they sort of flaked out. It’s not that someone couldn’t be both, I just felt like a little more integration of those two roles would have made them more believable.

From reading the author’s note in the back of the book, it seems like this idea might possibly have started as a video game concept? Or maybe the author had wanted to write a video game at some point? Not sure. But the story definitely has the feel of a FPS video game with strong military themes and magic. Some elements of the story world were really cool. The haunted house was super creepy.

I think this book would appeal most to gamers who like Diablo or Call of Duty style games or books with a more plot-oriented, military-focused telling.

Language Content
A couple references to Hell. A commander refers to “damning evidence.”

Sexual Content
Brief reference to a girl having been enslaved by a man. She doesn’t specify what he’s made her do.

Spiritual Content
Scarletta has an ability to summon a powerful spirit being who protects her and her allies. It’s mentioned that others have similar abilities or can learn to summon spirits. Some characters command Shadow element, which is like a physical darkness. Other elements can be controlled/used too, like fire, wind, light, etc.

Violence
Several battle scenes. Brief references to torture or characters having been enslaved. The detail isn’t overly graphic, but there are enough scenes that it’s perhaps a better fit for older readers.

Drug Content
None.

Review: The Dredge by Jaimie Engle

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, New Adult 18up, Sci-Fi, , ,

The Dredge
Jaimie Engle

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Crushed under the powerful Regime, Marrok and his mother slide deeper into poverty. Driven by a strange vision, Marrok spends the last of his money on a bet that’s beyond a long shot. And then wins. But what seems like his salvation soon becomes his worst nightmare. Ambrosia, a mysterious woman who leads a resistance network, knows about Marrok’s power and believes he has come to save them from the terror of the Regime. Ambrosia isn’t the only one interested in Marrok, though. He feels powerfully drawn to Chantelle, a girl he meets in the gambling hall. It isn’t long before she’s saved his life, more than once. When the Regime closes in around them, Marrok must find the courage to stand up against a terrifying evil.

At roughly seventy pages, The Dredge is a pretty quick read. A lot happens in those pages, so the story pulled me through from beginning to end. I liked Marrok as well as Chantelle, a girl who helps him along the way. There’s a little bit of romance, but it’s very sweet. I liked the storyworld created by Engle in this piece. It felt like the same kind of universe you might meet Captain Malcolm Reynolds or Luke Skywalker in.

Language Content
“Hell” appears one time.

Sexual Content
Physical contact between opposite sexes is forbidden. Marrok feels drawn to a girl and they touch hands and briefly kiss. They spend a night in one another’s company, sharing a mattress, but just sleeping.

Spiritual Content
A prophecy foretells a savior coming to destroy the regime. A powerful woman believes Marrok is the one to whom the prediction refers.

Violence
Brief battle scenes. The Regime is brutal, but the descriptions are not gory.

Drug Content
Marrok goes to a gambling hall and orders a strong drink.

Review: As White as Snow by Salla Simukka

Book Review and Content, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, New Adult 18up, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

As White as Snow by Salla Simukka
Translated from Finnish by Owen F. Witesman
Skyscape/Amazon

After risking her life to bring down a crime ring in Finland, seventeen year-old Lumikki retreats to the anonymous streets of Prague, hoping to find a little peace. Instead she finds a young woman claiming to be her long-lost sister whose life may be in danger. Even though she finds the girl’s story suspicious, Lumikki can’t turn her back on the girl and the mystery surrounding her.

Some elements – an investigative reporter working to uncover a far-reaching scandal aided by a brilliant but odd girl – may remind readers of Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Yet despite the drama and suspense, the story’s pace chokes on pointless flashbacks featuring a failed romance between Lumikki and her transgender partner. Perhaps Lumikki is too smart, for she often foils the plans of her enemies with seemingly little effort. To digest the ending requires a firm willing suspension of disbelief as Lumikki resolves one mystery only to abandon pressing charges or consequences on some guilty parties.

As White as Snow is the second book detailing Lumikki’s crime-fighting exploits. Perhaps reading the first book, As Red as Blood would have given me a better reference point for understanding how the relationship flashbacks related to the current story. Without having read that first book, it’s hard for me to say. As a fan of Larsson’s Dragon Tattoo books, I felt this story, which is advertised as a comparable tale, really couldn’t compare to the complexity and machine-tight plot found in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But perhaps that comparison set the bar too high?

Language Content
Profanity used very infrequently.

Sexual Content
Lumikki has flashbacks to her relationship with Blaze, who is a transgender boy. Blaze ended his relationship with Lumikki due to worries that she couldn’t accept his transition. Lumikki feels she never judged Blaze and loved him regardless of any issues related to his transgender-ness. She remembers some sexual experiences rather vividly – PG-13 kind of stuff. These scenes don’t really connect to the present story at all. Blaze never enters the story in any way other than in the flashbacks, and they never add to the current tale.

Spiritual Content
Lenka is a member of a cult whose practices have some connection with Christianity. The cult members believe they are members of one family, and their practices reference Jesus and God. There are references to other cults in which members have committed suicide en masse.

Violence
An assassin tries to catch and kill Lumikki, but he’s a bit clumsy about it.

Drug Content
A girl takes sleeping pills on orders from her spiritual leader.

Review: The Waterborn by Greg Keyes

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, New Adult 18up, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

The Waterborn
Greg Keyes
Open Road Media

Twelve year-old Hezhi longs to know the secret ways of her father’s kingdom. Something happens to her family members as they reach maturity, but no one can tell her what. She will brave dark tunnels through abandoned ruins and the savage dislike of the palace librarian to uncover the truth about her cousin’s disappearance. What she finds places her own life and the lives of the only people she loves in grave danger. Through a dream, she sends a call to a faraway hero.

Perkar’s only desire is to free the beautiful stream goddess from the terrible devourer. She advises him to forget her, but he will not be dissuaded. He sets out with companions on a journey he hopes will bring him the means to kill the powerful god who harms the goddess he loves. When a strange dream reaches him, he can’t be sure if answering the cry for help aids the god he wishes to destroy or harms him. Determined to find the answers, Perkar determines to follow his quest to whatever bitter end may wait for him.

One of the things I liked about this story was the way that seemingly insignificant characters emerged to play pivotal roles. Often I didn’t see it coming, but the unfolding story made so much sense. How often in real life do we not realize our true allies or the people who will come to play important roles in our lives until circumstances reveal them? I liked that this story has a larger stage. There were just enough details from various cultures to make them interesting and more-or-less believable. It definitely made the journey feel more epic to follow Perkar through these different territories and peoples. The scope of the story reminded me of the likes of Elizabeth Moon’s The Deed of Paksenarrion.

Though the characters are young (I think Perkar is 17 or 18) the tone of the story is more adult fiction than young adult fiction. Most of the other elements would appeal to readers of either genre. (See below for content information.)

Language Content
Infrequent use of profanity.

Sexual Content
Brief but explicit sexual scenes. Perkar has an experience early in the story and another later on in the tale. A suitor tries to take advantage of Hezhi, but she stops him.

As Hezhi reaches puberty, her power wakes. It’s strongest during her monthly period. There’s not a lot of description about this, but it’s an important note in the story, so if you’re squeamish, be warned.

Spiritual Content
For Hezhi, the River is the only god, and his blood runs through all members of her family. Priests perform mysterious rites which servants are unable to speak about. Some of it is a little dark. They perform a ritual over Hezhi that’s a bit creepy. As Hezhi comes to understand her power, she uses it against others who would try to harm her. She summons a creature to her aid at one point. Her castle is also home to a number of ghosts. Priests use special brooms to “sweep” the palace of any nefarious spirits.

Perkar’s people believe in and witness a multitude of other gods with varying degrees of power and complex relationships with one another. Perkar and his companions often sing songs and leave offerings to various gods along their journey. Part of his journey involves wanting to kill a god, though he does not know if such a thing is even possible.

Violence
Violence seems to plague Perkar on his quest. Some of his actions cause death not only to his enemies but his allies as well. Some battles contain brief but gory descriptions of warfare. Hezhi also causes some death and destruction. Descriptions are brief, but intense.

Drug Content
Perkar and his people sometimes drink a strong ale called woti.