book review | The Electric Heir by Victoria Lee | Feverwake 2

Author: Victoria Lee
Title: The Electric Heir
Series: Feverwake 2
Genre: LGBT books; Fantasy
Pages: 480
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

I hate reading sequels after such a long break, but sometimes it happens anyway. Read “The Electric Heir” by Victoria Lee, second book in the Feverwake series.

About the Book: A dangerous game of revolution, to overthrow, eliminate a cruel, tyrannical, and seemingly immortal leader. Deadly when you are his beloved, most trusted protégé. But it’s what Naom must do to help the people, save his loved ones, and, hopefully, redeem his own consciousness, soul.

My Opinion: At the core – amazing story. Witchcraft, superpowers, are a disease that can be cured, and must be cured, lest it takes your life. So you end up choosing between these amazing things you can do, and sanity, life. But it’s poorly written. There’s pages upon pages of overbearing information that doesn’t add anything to the story. Deep dives into side topics to make a point that was clear a while ago. And, the good old, lack of character development. I don’t even remember some of the names anymore.

Lots of potential, and that’s why it gets a 4 out of 5.

book review | The Sicilian by Mario Puzo | Godfather 2

Author: Mario Puzo
Title: The Sicilian
Series: The Godfather 2
Genre: Crime; Thriller
Pages: 416
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

Can’t recall why I kept “The Sicilian” by Mario Puzo, second book in the Godfather series, for so long, unread. But, figured, since I really can’t remember the reasons, probably time to read it.

About the Book: In an ungodly regime, where those in charge are robbing people blind, and poverty forces people to turn to crime, Salvatore Giuliano rises above it. After becoming a fugitive over a wheel of cheese for his family, Giuliano turns to the necessary evil. He robs those who have more than enough, more than their share, and helps those who can’t help themselves. Soon his name becomes that of a saint, and not that of a criminal on the run. But empires built on crime are fragile. All it takes is one betrayal, one chink, one weak link…

My Opinion: Apart those few things that never age well in classic (or just old) books, the tale is pretty damn good. You can definitely sense the mastery of Mario Puzo, even if this book isn’t as great as the Godfather was, it’s still a beautifully woven story of mafia knit family, bound by omerta, by duty, by honor.

A very fine read, firm 4 out of 5.

book review | The Bar in the Middle of Nowhere by Tom Abrahams | The Watchers 3

Author: Tom Abrahams
Title: The Bar in the Middle of Nowhere
Series: The Watchers 3
Genre: Sci-Fi; Dystopian
Pages: 12 h 1 min
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

Finished “The Bar in the Middle of Nowhere” by Tom Abrahams, third and last book in The Watchers trilogy. And while it really wasn’t my cup of tea, I’m glad I finished it.

About the Book: Dawn of the last, final battle between good and evil, the fight for balance, the fight for life, and afterlife itself. And Zeke is to lead the fight, a team into another time, a different world, where they’ll need to stop the very apocalypse itself. No pressure.

My Opinion: It’s an interesting story, just poorly written, with a very painful lack of character development that really affects the experience. That isn’t to say these are bad books, bad tale. Merely, it could’ve been way better.

I’ll keep the author in mind, in case there’s something else appealing in the bibliography. This one gets a 3 out of 5.

book review | Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking

Author: Stephen Hawking
Title: Brief Answers to the Big Questions
Series: –
Genre: Science Literature; Physics
Pages: 256
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

Gave fam several books in December, since it’s a month of birthdays for us. Among them there was another Stephen Hawking book, “Brief Answers to the Big Questions“, which I now have borrowed to read.

About the Book: As title suggests, Stephen Hawking answers, in brief, those big questions humanity is facing. From space travel, to colonies on other planets, to AI, and our very future as human species.

My Opinion: A very interesting book on several very interesting topics. Exploration of other planets, and AI based future being my absolute favorites of all time, but others are easy to read too, no high knowledge requirements. It’s well written, approachable, and has a few words from Lucy Hawking, Stephen Hawking’s daughter, that were both heartwarming, and sad at the same time.

Beautiful. A 5 out of 5.

book review | The Bar at the Edge of the Sea by Tom Abrahams | The Watchers 2

Author: Tom Abrahams
Title: The Bar at the Edge of the Sea
Series: The Watchers 2
Genre: Sci-fi; Dystopian
Pages: 11 h 38 min
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

Finished “The Bar at the Edge of the Sea” by Tom Abrahams, second book in The Watchers trilogy. Read it in hopes it’ll be better than the first…

About the Book: In this drowned world there is a legend of a mythical sword awaiting a worthy hand. Someone who will know how to find it, someone who will be able to survive the challenges. Someone as the notorious pirate, a powerful ruler of his own country on the sea, the captain of his own ship. He’s aware he might not be worthy, yet is ready to risk taking it by force. While Zeke with the team of other watchers chase the man to stop him.

My Opinion: The Story had some interesting lore, events, and even action. There was a little bit, just the tiniest bit of character development. And it was very different from the first book. Not great, still. Just good enough for me to not quit the trilogy. And, I genuinely believe that is enough, for the most part, so best of luck to the author farther in the career.

It’s okay. A 3 out of 5.

book review | Tears in Rain by Rosa Montero | Bruna Husky 1

Author: Rosa Montero
Title: Tears in Rain
Series: Bruna Husky 1
Genre: Cyberpunk; Thriller
Pages: 431
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

What a fresh breath of air. Read “Tears in Rain” by Rosa Montero, original title “Lagrimas en la Iluvia“, first book in Bruna Husky series. A simple, but interesting piece of cyberpunk literature.

About the Book: Androids, replicants, have won their freedom, their place in the human society. But not their lives. Their life expectancy is a pittance of few years. Their memories remain mere fake implants, puny tales with a few cheap mementos to strengthen them. And they remain others in the eyes of the humans too. That’s bad in itself, yet it got worse as the dark market got hit by strange new false memories that drive androids insane, turn them violent, homicidal… This is something detective Bruna needs to uncover until it’s too late.

My Opinion: While not the best writing or even the story, it kept me entertained with the bite-sized pieces of lore, world building. Interesting characters, well paced intrigue that surrounds each one. Just good enough for me to be genuinely curious and excited for the next book.

Not bad, if not great. A firm 4 out of 5.

book review | The Bar at the End of the World by Tom Abrahams | The Watchers 1

Author: Tom Abrahams
Title: The Bar at the end of the World
Series: The Watchers 1
Genre: Sci-Fi; Apocalyptic
Pages: 400
Rate: 3/5 | Goodreads

I tried to read “The Bar at the End of the World” by Tom Abrahams twice. Second time succeeded, and finished this first book in The Watchers series.

About the Book: In the dying, drying up world of Zeke’s, it’s hard to tell criminals from government members. He ran from both of them. Ran for his life, away from death promised by both sides. And, wounded, battered, close to death… He woke up in a bar. A bar, where no one knows who he ran from, who he is. No one is looking for him, as the bartender offers ice for his drink. And no one’s explaining anything either, as the same man offers to help him with whatever chased him here…

My Opinion: The book is full of great ideas, elements, scenes even. There’s action, there’s sights. But even the best story will crumble if it’s not accompanied by well written characters. These here were all, without exception, barely developed, lacking in their own story when they even had one, lacking in character traits. No decent banter, no lore, no world building other than a few crumbs there and here.

The book gets a 3 out of 5, and I will give the second one a shot due to that little hope that tells me this was just the first book, and first books in the series tend to be less than.

book review | Fallout by Craig Alanson | Expeditionary Force 13

Author: Craig Alanson
Title: Fallout
Series: Expeditionary Force 13
Genre: Sci-Fi; Space Opera
Pages: 22h 29min
Rate: 5/5 | Goodreads

A great start to a new year with “Fallout” by Craig Alanson, 13th book in the wonderful Expeditionary Force series.

About the Book: Humanity’s, or rather, Joe Bishop’s plans have come back to bite them all in the ass, again. In a shape of enemies who think they’ve nothing to lose to either call a bluff, or make one last run for it. And yet, it seems like the scheming, plotting aliens are not their biggest or even immediate problem at hand…

My Opinion: The first half of the book was mediocre, full of dull politics, and what seemed to be filler plot, token activities, events, meant to keep the reader from getting to the precious point too fast. But once it picked up, oh did it pick up. Suspense, epic action, and a few heart-stopping moments, for good measure.

Another very good book. Sold 5 out of 5.

book review | The Helicopter Heist by Jonas Bonnier

Author: Jonas Bonnier
Title: The Helicopter Heist
Series: –
Genre: Crime; Thriller
Pages: 440
Rate: 4/5 | Goodreads

“The Helicopter Heist” by Jonas Bonnier has quite nicely began my year with a well planned bank robbery, heist. And it seems like the book is based on a true story.

About the Book: A group of men, professionals at what they do, gather for one, last, legendary job. Each one of them has very high stakes, and big reasons for this heist to be successful. So they each do their best, and plan A soon becomes plan B, and C, and the whole alphabet of plan webs where there’s no room for mistakes.

My Opinion: Annotation claims this is a fast paced tale. That’s a lie. It’s a slow book full of careful, meticulous planning, King-like side stories of side characters who get used and abused for information, and, finally, the heist itself at the very end of it. It’s not bad, even if it’s not perfect.

Not bad. A 4 out of 5.

2021 book summary | Night Mode Reading with Library Nosferatu

Another good year for the books, even if I read less than the last year, or the one before (2019 was excessive). Read 104 books, with a single comic book “Trauma Team” among them. A total of 33,212 pages.

The shortest book I’ve read was “The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter” by K.J. Charles with, I think, 62 pages total. And the longest one was a masterpiece by Brandon Sanderson, “The Way of Kings“, over a thousand pages, first in the series. Read it as a commission for a bookmark design.

Took many risks this year, discovered many great things thanks to that, including brand new series with no other than Vlad Dracula as the main villain, antagonist. Upcoming year I’d like to carve up more of the series, maybe finish a few of those ever-lasting ones. And I’d love to make a dent in the home library too. That way I could get rid of some books, give you some of the better ones, and make room for the ones I truly care for, and love.

To you, other dear readers, I wish nothing but quality in the next year. May every book be better than the next.

Your bookish nosferatu,
Vakaris