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Thoughts on THE OTHERS

~ shawnaborman ~ 5 Comments

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? I’m not here to complain about life, so I won’t even get into it. Today, it’s time for a book review! No, it’s not the last Wednesday of the month, but Rachel Lachney from Books Forward (a marketing firm I’ve reviewed for before) contacted me to see if I was interested in reviewing a fantasy dystopian type book and I said sure. The Others by Evette Davis was released yesterday (the 17th) by SparkPress. My reviews are honest and unbiased. Let’s get to it!

The Others follows Olivia Shepherd who has strong empathic powers, but has spent most of her life ignoring and suppressing them. When a time walker appears in her room, Olivia is forced to acknowledge her abilities and the fact that the Others, magical beings like witches and demons and vampires and fairies, exist alongside humans. She’s drawn into a mysterious organization called The Council that manipulates the human world by dabbling in human politics. What will her role be in all of this? Is she capable of changing the world?

Sounds fun, right? It’s not. The blurb on the book is super misleading. It sounds like it’s going to be a fantasy driven book with an in depth look at the Council and how the Others live and work. But instead, it’s basically about a woman who ends up running a small political campaign in California and all the fantasy is secondary to that. The blurb also mentions a dystopian San Francisco. You can’t really call it dystopian if it’s just real life San Francisco. It’s just San Francisco in 2022 (yes, the book literally dates itself which is weird).

Aside from the misleading blurb, the plot and pacing were poorly done. The plot was super awkward. I think it wanted to be a political thriller, but it’s basically just a rant against MAGA America (which I totally get) and someone’s fantasy about fighting against it. Most of the book is a mundane political campaign. Everything cool and important happens off the page or is glanced over. Olivia has no idea how to use her powers, but two pages later she has everything mastered. It’s ridiculous. There are basic expectations when you pick up a fantasy book (like seeing the MC struggle with their power before they figure it out), but this book skips them all. Then, after a slog of two thirds of a book, a car explosion is thrown in and at the very end, a surprise parent reveal is made (if you were paying attention even just a little bit, it’s not a surprise). And there was a completely random almost-threesome thrown in for a laugh. I don’t know if I was supposed to read this book high for it to make sense or what, but it definitely doesn’t work when you’re sober.

The characters don’t do much to improve things. Olivia is an annoying and entitled person. She doesn’t seem to care about anyone else as long as she gets her way. William is supposed to be a southern gentleman, which is really just code for a douchenozzle. Everyone else are cookie cutter stereotypes and its sad. Elsa and Lily could have been great, but they just fade into the background. Everything good about this book gets pushed into the background.

The writing is another thing I have nothing nice to say about, since most of the problems stem from bad writing. I feel like I’m being harsh, but a quick scan of other reviews tells me I’m not alone in my thinking.

Ultimately, I almost gave up on finishing The Others and I probably should have. There’s nothing remotely satisfying about this book. I won’t be checking out the other two in the trilogy if they come out.

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Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. One and a half, actually. One because it’s been written. A half because some people seem to like it. I don’t recommend it, though, unless it has undergone massive revisions since I received my ARC.

Thoughts on MAGIC BY ANY OTHER NAME

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this delightful Wednesday? Things here are coasting along. I know it’s not the last Wednesday of the month, but this is an extra book review for the month! A while ago, Simone Jung from Books Forward (a marketing and publicity firm) got in touch and offered me access to an ARC for a fantasy book in exchange for a review. The premise was interesting, so I said sure. Magic by Any Other Name by Alison Levy was released yesterday (the 7th) from SparkPress. Let’s get on with the review!

Magic by Any Other Name follows Ivy (aka Georgette) as she and her best friend Mei-Xing run away from Ivy’s emotionally abusive mother and insane family. As she struggles to build her new identity as Georgette, she collects a strange but powerful found-family to help her figure out who she is while she helps them. Werehyenas, vampires, Valkyries, and numerous other magical folk fill the pages of this book. Plus, there’s the human love interest. But before she can settle down, Georgette must confront the darkest parts of her upbringing as a witch as well as work through her trauma.

The plot is standard fantasy fare. Witches enslave “familiars” (any other magical creatures collectively called fae for some reason) by branding them. But one young witch uses the brand to share power with her magical friends. One of her new friends’ family member (wife) was taken by the big bad (fae traffickers) and together they must save her. Things go from bad to worse until finally there’s a happy ending. Wrap it all up in family trauma and that’s the book. Not bad. I enjoyed the plot for what it is.

The characters ranged from fleshed out and interesting to stereotypes. I wanted more out of Kazimiera. She was on the flatter end of the spectrum, as was Mei-Xing. Georgette and Ishak were the fleshiest, so to speak. I wasn’t particularly a fan of Ishak. The whole point of the book is emotional growth, but Ishak keeps playing on Georgette’s guilt instead of trusting her to help him because she wants to. It’s super annoying. He does it all the way through and no one calls him out on it. Yes, she’s a witch. Yes, her kind are generally dicks. But she’s proven her loyalty to the fae time and time again. Stop being an asshat.

I don’t generally talk about book structure unless it’s glaringly flawed, so guess what! It’s not great. Every chapter is from a different POV. Usually, it switches between three characters, but there are at least nine POVs that get at least a chapter. It’s too many to keep track of, especially when they show up once and that’s it. It’s also unnecessary. The prologue being from the aunt’s perspective could have just as easily been in Ivy’s perspective. The aunt didn’t play a role at all in the book. And the guy who just shows up to die. His chapter was useless. Nico’s chapters were okay, but not exactly necessary either. Same with Neil. There should be like five POVs, tops. Any more and it gets super hard for the average reader to follow.

Me to half these POVs.

The writing itself was nice. There was a lot going on, but the pacing was pretty good. It dragged in the beginning, but got better.

Ultimately, I enjoyed Magic by Any Other Name for what it is. A found-family fantasy story. If there’s another one, I’ll give it a shot. It’s called book one, so I’m guessing it’s supposed to be a series, but it’s an okay stand-alone.

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Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. There’s room for improvement, but if you enjoy fantasy and found-family stories, it’s not bad.

Thoughts on Evangeline’s Heaven

~ shawnaborman ~ Leave a comment

Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing on this last Wednesday of August? Are you ready for all things spiced pumpkin? I’m not, but according to people who are into that, it’s already happening. Coffee, donuts, beer. Enjoy! I’m just going to sit here and wait for all things peppermint to start happening. But, enough about that. It’s book review time! This month, I decided to go with another fantasy in the hopes of having a better experience than last month. Evangeline’s Heaven by Jen Braaksma was released from SparkPress yesterday (the 30th). As usual, I must thank them and NetGalley for giving me access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

It’s a nice enough cover, but her wings are violet, not blood. And why is she naked?

Evangeline’s Heaven is basically a retelling of the fall of Lucifer from his daughter’s perspective. Throw in a little Romeo and Juliet romance arc and you’ve got the story. War between the Commoners (fought for by the Dragons) and Dominions (fought for by the Archangels) rock the Seven Heavens. Evangeline (a mixed blood angel who happens to be the daughter of the leader of the Dragons) wants to save her father’s life, but makes some unsettling discoveries along the way. She’s forced to team up with Michael, the son of the leader of the Archangels in order to save the Heavens from more chaos. But things just keep getting more complicated.

I’ll be honest with you… I was hoping for something more like Angel Sanctuary and less of a thinly veiled ‘eat the rich’ rant that randomly waffles between God sucks and God is great and settles somewhere around God might be okay. C’mon. Do better. I don’t mind a story with the moral of ‘the upper class is horrible and needs to realize the lower class are people who deserve rights too.’ But don’t force it down my throat repeatedly on every page. Let it unfold naturally in the story. Otherwise, especially in a story about angels and shit, it feels super preachy. No one wants that. And I know. You’re judging me right now and assuming I’m a heartless asshat just because I get annoyed when writers don’t know how to be subtle. I assure you that I’m not. I completely agree with the message. It’s the method of how to get that message across that I disagree with. This book is basically the equivalent of shouting down at someone until they play dead just to get you to shut up. That doesn’t work when trying to persuade people to think your way. It just isn’t a healthy form of communication.

Okay, now I’m just being a dick. Apologies.

Aside from that, I wanted more from the characters. We’re constantly with Evangeline who is super whiny and annoying. Now, I don’t have to like the main character in order to like a story as long as I like the side characters. The problem here is that all of the characters are flat and beyond stereotypical. Lucifer is suave and manipulative and hiding dark deeds and desires. But he loves his daughter. But, does he really? The couple of times he shows this love could also just be him manipulating her for future plans. And then there’s Michael. He’s just a lovesick teenager, really. There’s nothing special about him. The few other characters we get to meet are just filling their role. They don’t have any personality. It’s sad.

The plot had potential, but it needed a little more thought. Some things were great, like the key/book thing, but a lot of it felt rushed and random. It definitely seemed like it was written by a pantser (someone who writes without plotting things out first) who didn’t bother to go back and smooth out certain details. I’m a pantser. It happens. And maybe this was completely plotted. I have no idea. It’s just a feeling I get.

Ultimately, in case you didn’t pick up on it, I did not like Evangeline’s Heaven. I was hoping for so much more, but it fell flat. Oh well.

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Overall, I gave it 2 out of 5 stars. Mostly because I can’t do one and a half on most sites. If you’re super into the fall of Lucifer stories, check it out. I guess. But you’re not missing anything by giving it a pass.