Audible Book Review: Derelict by LJ Cohen

This is a YA sci fi with some interesting dynamics; engaging enough.
Derelict
Written by: LJ Cohen
Narrated by: Bill Burrows

Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
Series: Halcyone Space, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:06-02-15
Publisher: Interrobang Books
Genre: Sci Fi, YA
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
When Rosalen Maldonado tinkers with the derelict freighter, she's just hoping to prove she deserves a scholarship to University. She certainly doesn't count on waking the ship's damaged AI or having three stowaways, Micah Rotherwood and brothers Jem and Barre Durbin, along for the ride. They all have their private reasons for hiding aboard and lives they are seeking to escape, but if the accidental crew can't work together and learn to trust each other, they'll die together, victims of a computer that doesn't realize the war ended decades before any of them were even born.
©2014 Lisa Janice (LJ) Cohen (P)2015 Lisa Janice (LJ) Cohen

Review:
Rosalen is a young teen who is brilliant with computers. Her cold hearted and abusive father refuses to sign papers for a university scholarship. Ro begins to tinker with a derelict freighter moored outside of their space station. She runs into another troubled teen, Micah, the son of one of the higher ranking officers. Micah is doing secret botany experiments on the freighter. Ro suspects his work may be illegal but she is willing to keep his secrets in exchange for hers.

Ro discovers another hidden cargo on the freighter that she thinks is connected to her own father. She is intent on getting the derelict ship to operate to show her own skills even if that action plays into her father’s plans. Ro enlists help from a younger friend, Jem, who has great programming skills. Jem doesn’t realize Ro’s intent but when he begins to think she can activate the ship he drags his brother Barre onto the ship too. Barre is a gifted musician but their doctor parents don’t appreciate his music. They are ready to send him away which would separate the brothers.

Ro manages to activate the damaged AI on Halcyone. When the ship takes off like a scared rabbit, it takes the combined efforts of Rosalen and Jem, with surprising input from Barre, to get and keep control of the AI. The teens are all in trouble just for being on Halcyone but they face greater danger from two leaders back on the station who are intent on getting the ship’s hidden cargo. They will take drastic measures, without regard to the lives of the teens, to complete their covert plans.

The story has some usual YA elements including dysfunctional parents and teenage angst as they try to establish independence. Each of the four teens struggles in their family settings with different reactions. I liked the inclusion of the AI as a side character and really enjoyed the unique interplay of the characters’ skills that allowed the teens to succeed only by working together. I didn’t care for the handling of the friendship of Ro with another female working in communications. The story moves a bit slowly at first with the introduction and development of the characters. Further on there is good action and suspense.

There are some unrealistic events near the end, but the ending leaves the storyline open to allow more adventures for Halcyone and the teens. I would like to listen to the next book to see where the author takes the characters. I recommend this particularly to readers who like easy sci fi.

Audio Notes: Bill Burrows does a good job with the character voices and the portrayal of emotions. I am pretty sure I would not have enjoyed reading this in print/ebook as much as I enjoyed listening to it.

I received this audio from the publisher through Audiobook Jukebox. This qualifies for my Audio Challenge and the March 2016 TBR Challenge.

Book Review: Chakana: Encounter In The Sacred Valley by W.E. Lawrence

This is a fast paced and exciting ‘Indiana Jones’ style adventure with romance.

Chakana: Encounter In The Sacred Valley
by W.E. Lawrence

File Size: 2617 KB
Print Length: 346 pages
Publication Date: January 4, 2016
ASIN: B01A7PZ3MM
Genre: Action Adventure
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

In 1940, James Fleming, the original British secret agent, races on a high-stakes mission to track down the lost Incan treasure of King Huascar. Along with Kate Rhodes, a policewoman on leave from Ohio, he decodes clues and faces the challenges of the Chakana designed to allow only the most devoted to escape alive.

Among the ancient ruins of Peru, disaster hides around each corner as they battle Incan death traps and an international artifact smuggler who will do anything to acquire the hidden wealth. If James and Kate fail, the Nazi’s Third Reich could win WWII and take over the world. Intrigue, danger, adventure, and even romance abound in this quest to save the free world.

Review:
James Fleming was a young British Officer in training in America when he was rescued from a marshy bog by the lovely, young Kate Rhodes. Years later he is surprised when Kate shows up in Peru looking for her brother, a missing archaeologist. Kate has accompanied a professor of antiquities who is helping unravel the puzzle of an Incan decoding machine marked by the Chakana, an Incan cross shape. Such hidden instructions usually lead to a treasure of gold!

James isn’t in Peru for a treasure hunt exactly. He is undercover trying to catch a big time smuggler, Soros, who poses as a legitimate artifacts dealer. Solos is intent on finding gold to invest in the Nazi’s Third Reich so it is of utmost importance that James stop him from getting to the treasure. Soros is smart and ruthless. He will torture for information and kidnap parties of interest to get what he wants.

James and Kate make a good team hunting and collecting the clues needed to complete the decoding box. Many of the clues require two people and not just any two, but two lovers. James and Kate figure they can pretend or bluff their way through the challenge but the Incan traps have planned otherwise.

I greatly enjoyed the puzzle challenges and the dangerous escapes that James and Kate face and mostly conquer. I was a little surprised by the intensity of the sexual scenes in a story set in the 1940s, but what was I thinking? Twenty somethings are sensual beings whether in the 1880s, the 1940s or present day. Given Kate’s strong minded independence, standing up for herself as a police officer in a man’s world, I shouldn’t have found her liberated behavior that surprising.

The story moves at a good pace with Indiana Jones type of villains and dangers. The writing is crisp and flows well. The relationship between Kate and James is warm and I enjoyed how the ending left room for future development and adventures for the pair. There were several good history tidbits that I liked and found informative. This is worth the purchase for readers who enjoy action and adventure with romance.

(There was a glaring misuse of grammar that should have been caught in editing. Since I read a NetGalley version I will not note the specific phrase here but I will note it in my comments to the publisher.)

I received this from the publisher through NetGalley. It qualifies for NetGalley Challenge, TBR Triple Dog Dare, C on Alphabet Soup and March 2016 TBR Challenge.

Book Review: The Path of the Bullet by M C Jacques

This is a fast read and engaging mystery.

Path of the Bullet

by M C Jacques

File Size: 1846 KB

Print Length: 196 pages

Publisher: Matador (November 24, 2015)

Publication Date: November 24, 2015

ASIN: B018ITMGK6

Genre: Mystery, Crime Thriller

My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

A ruthless assassin at large in the UK and heading for a target in Cambridge… an office steaming with jealousy and passion… a hero’s body found in a war museum and a disconsolate man – gnawed at by ghosts from his distant and recent past – charged with finding the murderer.

With a steadily increasing fusion of murder, intrigue and suspense, the floundering Mark McKay finds himself thrown onto a hotbed of deception, fraud, incest and even a neo-Nazi’s murderous intent.

Set in Cambridge at around the turn of the millennium, The Path of the Bullet, the first of the new Cambridge Mysteries series, explains how McKay forsakes his hermitic existence on the Lincolnshire coast and becomes attracted to the beautiful city of Cambridge in both mind and body.

Review:
Mark McKay has personal issues but responds promptly to the call of a friend to investigate the murder of a soldier at the Royal War Museum. As McKay begins to interrogate the workers, he discovers there have been numerous acts of sabotage kept quiet. He also gets several leads that point to one female employee, Sarah Millar. There is a theory that the killing may have had connection to a terrorist cell. McKay visits the bar and café near Sarah’s apartment, running into several Arab characters.

McKay gets help through email research provided by an American journalist who was an old college friend. He also coordinates with the local police. McKay gets mugged early in the investigation. Later a second body is discovered with two different bullet wounds that confuse the investigation even more.

The story starts out and moves at a very fast pace. In the first few pages it is easy to be confused by multiple suspects but the author repeats the list at about 12% making the characters and their connections clear as they are explained to McKay. I liked McKay’s character and I really liked the British jargon and descriptive, fast tone of the writing. It felt the story was on fast forward which was disconcerting for that first 10% but after that I liked it. The story and action blended well to keep me engaged. There is a bit of time jumping where the author moves forward in time so that some of the comments are reminisces but I found that to be an interesting technique. I would be interested to read more in this series. I recommend this to readers who enjoy a fast, PI centered mystery.

I received this title through NetGalley for an honest review. This qualifies for NetGalley Challenge, TBR Triple Dog Dare and March 2016 TBR Challenge.

Audible Book Review: Agenda 21: Into the Shadows by Glenn Beck

This is an engaging dystopian following book one. They both have an agenda to educate the public to the dangers of the Agenda 21 policies. 
Agenda 21: Into the Shadows
Written by: Glenn Beck
Narrated by: Jeremy Lowell, January LaVoy

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:01-06-15
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Genre: Sci Fi, Dystopian
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
The sequel to Agenda 21, from number-one New York Times best-selling author and nationally syndicated radio host Glenn Beck.
"I knew those men were our enemies, but they, like everyone else in the Republic, were nothing more than servants. Rule followers. They had no choice. But I did. I had a choice and I made it. I knew then and there that, no matter what happened, I would never go back. Never."
It was once named America, but now it is just "the Republic". Following the worldwide implementation of a UN-led program called Agenda 21, the once-proud people of America have become obedient residents who live in barren, brutal Compounds and serve the autocratic, merciless Authorities.
Citizens mainly keep their heads down and their mouths shut - but Emmeline is different. When the Authorities took her mother away, she started questioning the world around her. What happened to her mom? Why is everyone confined to grim living spaces and made to eat the same food cubes every day? Why was her own baby taken from her to be raised in the Children's Village? And are the rumors that somewhere out beyond the fence live those who got away during the Relocations - the so-called shadow people - really true?
When Emmeline's questions lead to the realization that she will never see her child again, she decides to escape the Compound with her partner David and their baby Elsa. Fleeing the armed enforcers of the Earth Protection Agency, and facing the unknown for the first time in their lives, Emmeline and David run into the shadows in the desperate hope of finding something they'd only heard stories about from those who'd lived before the Relocations: freedom.
©2015 Mercury Radio Arts, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon and Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Review:
Americans no longer own their own land or choose their own jobs in this society. The people have been relocated to government compounds where they live under the dictates of the Republic authorities who make the rules. Food and water are rationed and children are separated from their parents. Emmeline was able to get a transfer to a new job working at the Children’s Village so she could be near her baby, Elsa. Then she overhears the leaders say that they are going to send the children to another location.

Emmeline has already lost her first assigned mate and her parents. Emmeline convinces her loving partner, David, to help the small family, including an 8-year-old boy, Micah, escape to the lands outside the fences. David’s parents soon follow with the hope of leading the authorities away from their children. Those seeking freedom find help from surprising sources but will they be able to outpace the armed pursuers?

The Earth Protection Agency (EPA) sends out a crew to search for the rebellious citizens. They will bring the adults back to be punished as an example to others. The children are to be brought back to the farm because they are an important resource to be raised to be obedient workers. The EPA crew is led by an experienced chief who is proud and arrogant. He is annoyed that three of his team are new, including a female trainee. This is one of the first females put into the program and he sees only one use for an attractive female out in the field.

This story picked up right where the first book, Agenda 21, ended. I questioned Emmeline and David running out with little in supplies and knowledge. Still, I enjoyed the strength of Emmeline’s independence and determination and I loved the inquisitive and helpful character of Micah as they learned to forage and find shelter. The story presents a distinct difference between the characters seeking freedom and the power hungry and selfish authorities.

The story moves at a good pace and kept me interested. I liked how the authors wove the themes of freedom and God’s grace into the action and relationship dialogues. I recommend this to readers who enjoy dystopian stories that focus on the struggle for freedom.

Audio notes: The alternating narration between Jeremy Lowell and January LaVoy makes the story move very well. They both did a good job with the characters and made the story more engaging for me.

This was from my Audible library and qualifies for Audio Challenge, TBR Triple Dog Dare and March 2016 TBR Challenge. It also qualifies for “A” in Alphabet Soup Challenge.

March 2016 Take Control of Your TBR Pile Challenge

I wasn't sure I would do this event but when I checked the rules the books have to be released before 3/1/16 so I should have a good group of those except for a few of the new March releases on my list.
I have a list of review titles this month so I am not going to guess which other TBRs I'll get to, but I will slip them in as I can!

Thank you to the host: Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
The basics:

For the entire month of March you focus on reading/listening to books in your TBR pile released before March 1, 2016. They can be eBooks, physical books or audiobooks. Let’s clean off those shelves, finish those series and trilogies and have some fun.

Check the link for all of the rules -- and HAPPY READING!