Book Review of Valkyrie by Craig Alanson

Posted by Dawn Ross on January 16, 2020
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Valkyrie (Expeditionary Force Book 9)Valkyrie by Craig Alanson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Valkyrie is Craig Alanson’s best novel in the Expeditionary Force Series. Get ready for more humor and more creative problem-solving. Then hold on to your pants for the last quarter or so of the story. It has even more awesomeness than usual, especially the cliffhanging ending.

This ninth book in the series is a little different than the others. Instead of little steps leading to the conclusion of an adventure, it’s really two separate adventures. In the first adventure, Joe Bishop is resigned to the fact that Earth can’t be saved. So rather than focus on this problem, he uses his new pimped out starship to kick furry alien ass instead. He has those kitties chasing their tails and hissing mad. Then one last amazing idea nearly takes those kitties out of the picture.

The second adventure has to do with another set of aliens who plan to experiment on human children. Saving the children will put both Earth and the humans on Paradise at great risk. But because it’s the lives of children and because Bishop comes up with yet another crazy idea, the Valkyrie crew proceeds with the rescue op. And this is the part where the story gets more intense than a Class O star. Plan on reading early in the day or you will end up reading way past your bedtime and being cranky at work. Maybe you can just call in sick, then mope around all day because you can’t read the tenth book yet.

In one way, this second adventure ends in success. But in another, it ends in a complete disaster. I won’t spoil it for you other than to say that you will be so angry at the cliffhanger. You’ll be even more upset when you realize the sequel will not be out for many months yet! Really, though, the ending makes me love this book more.

If there’s one thing I generally don’t like in Alanson’s books, it’s when he changes the point of view character from Bishop to one of the minor characters. Bishop is the Expeditionary Force! I don’t care about anyone else (except perhaps Skippy and Adams). However, whenever Alanson changes the point of view, it’s necessary—and thankfully not excessive.

If you haven’t read Alanson’s first eight books in this series, I highly suggest you do this. You’ll find yourself going through wormhole after wormhole of adventures. Then jump into Valkyrie for an even crazier ride!

View all my reviews

StarFire Dragons, Book One of the Dragon Spawn Chronicles – Now Available on Amazon

Posted by Dawn Ross on January 15, 2020
Posted in: The Dragon Spawn Chronicles. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment
StarFire Dragons by Dawn Ross

Click the book cover above to order the Kindle eBook on Amazon.

Yay! I’m so excited to share that my first sci-fi novel has been published. You can find the paperback version and the eBook version of StarFire Dragons on Amazon:

StarFire Dragons by Dawn Ross in Paperback

StarFire Dragons by Dawn Ross as an eBook

StarFire Dragons is the first book of the Dragon Spawn Chronicles. It begins the journey of a young dragon warrior with a dark past and dangerous gifts. Will he grow to be a villain just like his father, or will he become a hero? Doing the right thing isn’t easy, especially with everyone against him.

Book Review of Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

Posted by Dawn Ross on January 9, 2020
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Old Man's War (Old Man's War, #1)Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When a friend told me how good Old Man’s War by John Scalzi was, I wasn’t sure I believed them. A story about an old man fighting just didn’t capture my interest. But I took a leap of faith for two reasons. One, my friend has good taste. Two, the novel is labeled as a sci-fi and anything can happen in a sci-fi.

And it did. I was not disappointed. Much of the first half of the book is about an old man, John Perry, who decides to enlist in a galactic war even though he has no idea what he’s getting himself into. It’s compelling because it’s a mystery as to why him and other old people like him are being recruited. And it’s an even further mystery as to why old people would want to enlist.

Just when I thought I had the mystery figured out, something else happened. I practically slapped my forehead and yelled duh! when it was revealed. I should have known, but Scalzi is great at misdirection.

After the reveal, the story picks up into a lot of gruesome action. If you love action, don’t be put off by the story’s initial slowness. It’s all worth it. Trust me. The range of hostile aliens that he fights are interesting and diverse. Most stories have one or two antagonists, but the variety of antagonists here are broad—and that’s okay.

If there’s one thing about this book I had a hard time swallowing, it was how Perry came to be a part of a special forces team. Scalzi tried to set it up by having Perry use tactics that no one else thought of and survive a hostile attack when no one else survived, but it wasn’t enough for me. However, this is just my opinion. And I didn’t feel it ruined the story. I was engrossed in every moment.

The book was so good, I immediately purchased the second one in the series. If you enjoy sci-fi and you want to enlist in a galactic war full of gruesome aliens, then Old Man’s War is for you. Seriously, you won’t be disappointed.

View all my reviews

Book Review of Short Story RA-K4 by D.H. Lamb

Posted by Dawn Ross on December 31, 2019
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

RA-K4: A Post-Apocalypse Sci-Fi Short Story (The Saltverse Book 1)RA-K4: A Post-Apocalypse Sci-Fi Short Story by D.H. Lamb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

RA-K4 by D.H. Lamb is a short story with promise. So why only three stars? Keep in mind that I am not entirely sure I am the best judge of a short story. I am used to reading novels with a lot more depth. Also, the author appears to be young. With more experience, I have no doubt their writing will grow.

RA-K4 is about the adventure of a cyborg. It begins with him being controlled and sent on a mission to retrieve a package. When he encounters the person who holds the package, a fight ensues. The cyborg’s control mechanism is destroyed in the process. The cyborg is now a man awakened. But he has no idea who he is or anything about the world he lives in. Fortunately, the person he attacked has some sympathy for him. This man, Isaac, is on an important quest to deliver this package. And he could use an ex-cyborg to help him.

The story is set in a very interesting post-apocalyptic world where the oceans are gone and occupied by salt flats instead. It is mentioned that it’s flat and hot, but not much else. As with other things in this story, it could use more depth. I’d like to “see”, “feel”, and “smell” more of what this world is like.

I really love the idea of a cyborg that is suddenly free of his constraints. There is so much promise in his “awakening”. Instead of being controlled, he now has free will. Yet he doesn’t know what to do with that free will. It’s an exciting concept. However, the awaking of this character is rather flat. He questions who he is and considers his options, but mostly he just goes with the flow in a nonchalant kind of way.

Isaac has a little more depth, but not much. The multiple decisions he makes, which are the ones that lead this adventure, are not very well explained. He, too, just seems to move forward in an easy manner.

The adventure is action-packed. It moves quickly from scene to scene and in a way that makes me want to keep reading. But because it is a short story, the urgency of the characters is not felt. It is explained, but not in a way that immerses me in their world and in their drama. I’m swept away, but I’m not feeling their struggle. I’m excited, but I’m not ever worried or frightened. The adventure was just too easy for me to ever be concerned.

Overall, this story doesn’t have much depth. But it is a short story and is presented as such. The author has great potential and is worth following. I’m interested in seeing this author grow as a writer. If you’re reading this, Lamb, I’d love to see you expand on this story in a way that immerses me with all five of my senses and with more emotional involvement. And I’d like the adventure to be more harrowing. This includes the quest as well as the cyborg’s struggle with his awaking.

View all my reviews

My Book Review Rating System

Posted by Dawn Ross on December 31, 2019
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

my read shelf:
Dawn Ross's book recommendations, liked quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists (read shelf)
I read a lot, but I seldom post reviews. I think it’s time to change that. I have recently posted my profile on Goodreads. You can choose to read my reviews on Goodreads, or you can also read them here on my blog.

Most book reviews go by a five-star rating system. This is the system I will use.

Five-Star Rating – A good book has a lot of important elements. But all those elements can be summed up into a story that is immersible, engaging, and entertaining. If I find a book I can’t put down and one I must think really hard just to find something that could be improved, then I am likely to give the book a five-star rating.

Four-Star Rating – A book given four stars is still a book I find immersible, engaging, and entertaining, but it has one or more things about it that could use improvement. Areas of improvement could include character development, story flow, predictability, and, yes, even grammar and punctuation errors. Nothing pulls me out of a story more than a mess of grammar errors.

Three-Star Rating – A book given three stars is still a book I find entertaining but perhaps not as engaging. It will also have more areas that could be improved.

Two- and One-Star Rating – I will not post a review of a book I felt was a two-star rating or below. As an author, I know how devastating a bad review can be. I also think that the quality of a work of art is subjective. What I might find boring may be considered interesting by someone else. If you see the list of books I’ve read on Goodreads and they have no rating, it’s either because I haven’t gotten to rate them yet (which is most likely) or I was not inspired to review them.

Dawn’s Review of Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

Posted by Dawn Ross on December 26, 2019
Posted in: Reviews. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Skyward (Skyward, #1)Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you’re looking to be entranced, Skyward by Brandon Sanderson is an exciting read. With a couple of very minor exceptions, this story had me flying into a make-believe world that I didn’t want to come back from.

Spensa, a seventeen-year-old girl, wants to be a pilot who fights against the mysterious race called the Krell. She struggles against the reputation of her father, who was said to have died while fleeing the battlefield. The story begins with her attempt to get into flight school and continues with the tremendous hurdles that Admiral Ironsides puts in her path. Amid Spensa’s journey are attacks from the Krell, a miraculous find of an AI, and the unraveling mystery of the Krell and father’s death.

The story started out as a tad slow but still engaging. When the action kicked in, it was awesome. Put the dogfights in a sky full of ancient space debris, and you have an obstacle course of fantastic action. My next favorite thing after the setting is the believable goals, motivations, and conflicts that Spensa faced. It’s not just Ironsides that she contends with. It’s the full pilots, her peers, and her own struggle with the meaning of the word coward. Her mother says, “…a coward is a person who cares more about what people say than about what is right.” But most of society believes it is better to die gloriously in battle than to eject from the cockpit.

One of the things I had a hard time swallowing was Spensa’s character in the first third of the story. She was supposed to be seventeen but acted more like a pre-teen. I realize teenagers can be rather immature, but Spensa was someone even my own seventeen-year-old daughter would find childish.

The other thing that I couldn’t quite believe was the reappearance of an AI named M-Bot. His first appearance in this setting was plausible, but his second appearance came very near to being a dues ex machina. It wasn’t quite so out of place that it put me off from finishing the story though.

Overall, Skyward is a wonderful adventure. If you love the idea of being a pilot and you are excited by exotic sci-fi worlds, then join Spensa on her journey to claim the stars.

View all my reviews

Getting / Giving Books as a Gift ?

Posted by Dawn Ross on December 24, 2019
Posted in: Miscellaneous. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
Wrapped Books

Image by Kerstin Riemer from Pixabay

As an author, I love the idea of people getting books as a gift. But I don’t always believe a book is the right gift. On the flip side, what do you think about getting a book as a gift? Let’s examine the possibilities.

Giving a Book

There are two instances where I believe giving books as a gift is a great idea. One, when you really know the person’s tastes because perhaps you also share their tastes. Perhaps you both exchange books all the time. Two, when you give books to children. I have a four-year-old son and he gets books all the time, not just for the holidays or his birthday. Whenever I see a good children’s book, I buy it. His library is almost as big as mine.

But is there a time when giving a book as a gift is a bad idea? I believe so. If you are not certain of a person’s reading preferences, it’s probably best not to make assumptions. The kinds of books we read are very personal to us. And we all have different tastes. Why not get them a gift certificate to a book store instead?

Self-help books as a gift is another really bad idea. Such a gift might be misinterpreted, such as the gift of a vacuum cleaner to your wife. What exactly does this kind of gift say to the person? Gifts should not be what you think someone needs. It should be something they want, something they might enjoy, and something they might not splurge on for themselves.

Getting a Book

What if you get a book from someone and you’re pretty sure you won’t like the book? How do you react? Will you try to read it anyway? I think it depends on who gave you the book and how close they are.

No matter what, I always react with a smile and thanks. Whether I read the book or not depends on the person who gave it to me. If it’s an acquaintance I am not likely to see again anytime soon, I will donate the book to a library. Surely, someone will want to read it. If the book is from a close friend or family member, I will probably read it and give a constructive opinion of it later.

Unless that is, the gifted book is a book they wrote themselves. I don’t know about you other authors out there, but I DO NOT give my book as a gift. Nor would I necessarily want a book written by one of my author friends given to me as a gift. My friends write in various genres. And unless that friend knows I love their books, I might feel like I have to pretend I really liked their book because it was given as a gift. It’s different, however, if that friend gives me their book in a manuscript form (not as a gift) and asks me to critique it.

Giving and getting gifts can be a very personal thing for both the giver and the receiver. As such, it’s always important to be a thoughtful and considerate giver and an appreciative receiver.