Embustero by Scott Cleveland

Embustero is the follow up to Cleveland's Pale Boundaries, which I reviewed here. As there may be people who haven't read the first book, I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum in this review.

Terson Reilly leaves Nivia via his reluctant rescuers. As he's a potential witness to their illicit activities, he's given a choice to join the crew or spend his time in the brig until they can drop him off some place safe. He ultimately decides that a working passage is better than going stir crazy in the brig, but he soon finds that fitting in on the ship, the Embustero, isn't much better than Nivia.

Meanwhile, the situation on Nivia has come to a boiling point for Halsor Tennisor. He's given the order by his mother, the head of the crime syndicate, to shut down the Family's operation and eliminate the Minzoku—the original settlers of Nivia who have been in hiding on a continent-sized wilderness preserve—including his mistress, Dayuki. But Tennisor isn't the only person in the operation to have cross-cultural ties. Love drives another to protect his wives from the oncoming slaughter.

The two plots are kept separate for most of the book, which is fine as at this stage of the game as forcing them together would've been too much. When it does happen, it serves as a reminder how past misunderstandings can snowball into tragedy.

Cleveland remains true to his characters' realism. Terson maintains his loner identity and it takes him many chapters before he lets his guard down enough to let others in. It isn't easy for him as there are others who refuse to cut him any slack. For every progressive step he makes, someone pushes him back. And Halsor remains the villain that you almost root for, until he gets Terson in his sights.

While Terson is aboard the Embustero, Cleveland lets us know that life aboard spaceships isn't nifty like it is on Star Trek. Life as a trader is hard work. Cleveland gives us all the nitty gritty on balancing the financials, dealing with pirates, maintaining discipline among the crew, and keeping the ship functioning. This is the sort of thing that will turn off space fantasy readers, but hard sci-fi fans will appreciate the honest approach.

As for the technicals, the book is well-edited. There are only a handful of typos, scattered throughout the book. The dialogue is spot on and seamlessly blends with the exposition. Cleveland's writing style displays a maturity typically only seen in seasoned veterans.

As with Pale Boundaries, the overall story (that is: Terson vs. Halsor) ends unfinished, but this time the current issues have been resolved. Being more familiar with Cleveland's writing style, I recognized the peaks in the two plots. While there is a rather lengthy denouement, with the conclusion of Embustero the reader feels that they've come to the definitive end of a chapter in the overall saga. But it's easy to see that Cleveland has more in store for both Terson and Halsor.

Scott Cleveland has crafted another wonderful story with a plots full of scheming characters to keep readers engrossed from start to finish. His characters, whether good or bad, are all real human beings with the strengths and vulnerabilities that come with the territory. It's a cynical universe where even good people assume the worst of others and act accordingly. Cleveland deftly shows how nothing good comes of it.

If you enjoyed Pale Boundaries you'll definitely want to pick up Embustero. The GoodReads page lists where you can find it.

The Participants by Brian Blose

Amazon link

Meet Hess and Elza. Like Nick and Nora, Harry and Sally, Pat and Tiffany, they're a memorable couple, trading wisecracks and getting out of difficult situations. The difference with Hess and Elza is that they're linked eternally, through countless Iterations of worlds. They are Observers, a handful of humanoids sent by a Creator to observe His/Her/Its world (though, if this Creator is so omnipotent, why does “He/She/It” need anybody to do the observing for “Him/Her/It”?). Other Observers go through their Iterations as different genders, but Hess and Elza are always a man and a woman. They constantly snipe at each other, each accusing the other of “participating” in the world too much. They seem to be the only Observers with empathy. Like other Observers, they can die, but are dead only temporarily. Every time one pops up in a different Iteration, they seek the other. It is much more difficult in preliterate and even pre-Internet worlds. Other Observers, who do much more shape-shifting, seem jealous of them, and some who see themselves as having more executive privileges seek out opportunities to submit them to torture (imagine torturing someone who never dies). The worst-case scenario? “Dying” and being buried, left to lie quietly underground, perhaps for centuries. This is why Zack, Hess' alter ego, a convenience-store clerk, is afraid of the dark.

This book pulls the reader in; it has been written with a lot of imagination. Who are the best Observers? The ones who watch passively, or the ones who participate out of an overwhelming empathy? What would a blind Creator desire?

Forward Unto Social Media

We've finally done it. The New Podler Review of Books has taken its first step into social media. You can now find us on GooglePlus.

So why did it take us so long? Because no one wanted to do it.

Back when the blog's namesake founder was here, site promotion was his responsibility. There was a MySpace page, but when he went AWOL that page stagnated and died. And then MySpace died too when everyone abandoned it for Facebook. While MySpace has come back from the dead as some music and movie industries promo monster, its new form is alien to us.

So that left the members of the Podler Staff to handle PR. Yes, we received your invites to friend you on Facebook but no one wanted the responsibility of managing a Facebook page. I abhor Facebook because I'm an anti-social curmudgeon. Excuse me a second. Hey, you kids! Get off my lawn! Where was I? Oh yeah, Facebook. So while I hate it, the others all have busy lives and didn't need the extra time suck.

So why are we now on GooglePlus? It's all Rob's fault.

Rob dragged me, kicking and screaming, to GooglePlus. After sitting around for a while, safely ignored under my rock, I realized that as far as social media goes, it wasn't so bad (I prefer GoodReads but that's different). I created a page for the Podler blog and invited the other staff members to become "managers" so that they can share in the headache... err uhh I mean why should I have all the fun? ;-)

So when we have reviews or other posts, we'll post a link there. There will be GooglePlus only content like the +1's and links to other articles. Hopefully someone with more social media sense than me will figure it all out and show me how it's done.

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DED

In a Season of Dead Weather by Mark Fuller Dillon

Grab a comfy chair by the fire, a hot drink, and a book of good horror stories.  Those rattling shutters outside?  Just the blowing snow.  Those shadows dancing in the corner?  Fire light, nothing more.  And the whispers behind your chair are your imagination.

Maybe.

That’s the feeling Mark Fuller Dillon conveys throughout his short story collection In a Season of Dead Weather. In most of the stories, it was never quite clear whether the “horror” was in the narrator’s mind or if it was real. The reader was left to interpret at the end.

And that worked for me. Each Lovecraftian tale was expertly crafted, with poetic and visceral language describing characters enduring the loneliness and isolation of a long winter in the country or the city. Dillon is a Quebec native, so he’s no stranger to maddeningly endless winters (I’m a west Michigan native, so I can sympathize).

Most of the stories were quite literary and a little confusing to me, a genre reader. But their narrative styles, descriptions, and situations were so unique that I found myself eager to read on just to hear the language rather than find out what happens to the characters.

In the first story, “Lamia Dance,” a medical student takes a break from his studies – and braves the snow – to attend a film festival where see a film that brings back haunting memories from his childhood. The film’s images of violence and anatomy seemed quite erotic to the narrator. “Lamia Dance” was either a story about being pushed into a profession that the narrator did not choose for himself...or about a budding serial killer.

In “Never Noticed, Never There,” Tom Lighden sees ghastly apparitions in terrible pain on the streets of Ottawa. He is the only one who sees them, as every one else simply walks past them without a second glance. Dillon implies that society has become good at ignoring the pain of others, as we are too busy with our own lives to notice.

If you’ve ever been stuck alone in the woods during winter, you’ll understand the characters’ bleak situations in “Shadows in the Sunrise,” “The Vast Importance of the Night,” and “Who Would Remain?” Blizzards keep the narrators from civilization, they lose time, and see clawing shadows. Is it madness, ghosts, alien abductions? The reader is left to wonder if it’s all real or if winter has claimed the characters' sanity. While the three stories had similar themes, their unique characters and situations sufficiently differentiated them.

“The Weight of Its Awareness” had a middle-aged man revisiting a seemingly deserted, walled-off home that he originally tried to explore when he was eighteen. Grotesque sculptures now decorate the gardens, and a dark presence spies him from the home’s blackened windows and infects his mind. The story seemed like an extreme version of “curiosity killed the cat.” It was the weakest of the seven stories for me; although “weak” is a relative term since even this story kept me enthralled.

The strongest story for me was “When the Echo Hates the Voice.” Paul Bertrand is a brilliant, handsome young man who’s always the life of any social gathering and constantly seeks any excuse to be around people. The reason is that he cannot stand to be alone, for that is when the voices and faces visit him. Told by a narrator observing Paul, the story suggests a struggle between two personalities: one that seeks companionship and social reward, and one that seeks to keep us isolated from each other.

As I said at the beginning, I’m a genre reader and rarely read stories just for their styles and language. Dillon’s In a Season of Dead Weather is one of those rare works that can make even a genre reader like me want to take a second look at the literary. Highly recommended.

Available on Smashwords.com.

The Scottish Movie by Paul Collis

Legend has it that Shakespeare's play, Macbeth, is cursed. As such, the superstitious who work on the play will refer (and insist others do the same) to it as "The Scottish Play". Many have speculated as to the reason, but Harry Greenville writes a novel with his own explanation: the Bard stole the idea from someone else. Shakespeare's victim then sets out to exact revenge through sabotage.

Greenville, an aspiring actor living in L.A., makes the mistake of uploading it to a website where it is pilfered. When Greenville learns that his story is being made into a movie, he sets out to exact revenge of his own.

There's such a superb attention to detail here that I would swear that Collis worked on a movie set at one point in his life or he performed a mind meld with someone who did. Collis introduces us to the boredom of limo drivers, the humiliating subservience of runners, the brown nosing of the wannabes, and the egos of Hollywood's lords. But at no point does Collis resort to stereotypes. All of his characters, no matter if they're major or minor, felt real. And Greenville is a likable protagonist. While he's out for revenge, at no point does he turn dark. His antics are more of the prankster variety.

I do have two complaints though. Collis uses single quotes throughout the book for dialogue. When nested quotes arise, as in when there's speech within speech, Collis sticks with the single quotes so it becomes a bit confusing as to when the speaker stops. I realize that single quotes are preferred in the U.K., but then double quotes are required for quotes within quotes, no? There are also some POV shifts without any sort of transition so I got momentarily confused as to whose thoughts we were hearing.

I must admit that my favorite part of the book was the beginning when we're reading Greenville's story about how Shakespeare stole the idea for Macbeth. This section is a fantastic piece of historical fiction and showcases Collis's talent. I hope he considers writing something in this vein in the future.

For more information about The Scottish Movie, as well as purchasing information, check out the website.

Cover Story - No More Bad Covers

It has been a long standing tradition of independent publishing that lousy book covers were the norm. So many authors shunned investing any money in their covers that they doomed themselves to ridicule (at best) or obscurity. While it might not necessarily be prudent to judge a book by its cover, all too often it was a safe bet that a crappy cover meant crappy writing. Potential readers chuckled and moved on.

In defense of the mass of indie authors who chose low quality covers, the big stumbling block to a quality cover was price. Spending five hundred to a thousand dollars on a cover for a book that would be exceptionally lucky to earn $100 for the author was an investment most chose not to make. When I scored a cover for my novel for $200, I was psyched. But I'm here to tell you today that everyone can have a professional looking cover for $200 or even much less.

I was relating my tale of book cover design woe (which I'll share in a later post) with my friend and fellow indie author, Terry Green, the other day. She informed me that there's a group of illustrators who are targeting the hordes of indie authors with inexpensive covers. The trick is for the book cover designers to whip up a mock book cover which they will then turn around and sell to the first author to throw money down. Of course, the cover has to match your story. It would really be inappropriate to slap a scantily clad woman's ass on the cover of your "Dirty Dozen in space" novel, but someone's going to do it because sex sells.

Neither Terry nor I have worked with any of these designers, nor are we endorsing them. But when an indie author can get a cover for their book for less than $50, how can he/she pass it up. Without further ado, here's the list:

• Author Marketing Club
• CCR Book Cover Design
• Go On Write
• Kalen O'Donnell
• Littera Designs
• Phycel Designs

Indie authors no longer have excuses for bad covers. And with the money you save, you can hire an editor to proofread your work.

Thanks again to Terry Green for sharing these links with me (and now our blog readers).

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DED

Author Interview with Mike Gullickson

Greetings, fellow bibliophiles! Today I have the pleasure of introducing you all to Mike Gullickson, author of The Northern Star:  The Beginning.

Erin aka The Bookworm: "Thank you for agreeing to do this interview! First, Tell us about what inspired the story?"

Mike Gullickson: “A lot of my novels start with images that pop in my head. I wish I could draw. My mom insists I can, but she’s referencing dinosaurs from 4th grade and that’s when I peaked.

For The Northern Star, I distinctly remember when it came into existence. It occurred about ten years ago while I was listening to Radiohead’s “I Might Be Wrong.” There’s a line in the song:

There is no future left at all/That I know

(I checked. It’s actually “There is no future left at all/That I think,” but it’s too late to go back, I heard “that I know” for the last decade.)

And that line haunted me with imagery that became The Northern Star. The story changed significantly since those first images, but that’s how it began. An inconsequential fact: I first wrote The Northern Star as a screenplay. It was horrible.

Other external inspirations that shaped me are Stephen King (like many authors, On Writing is my bible), Guillermo Del Toro, and Terminator 2, because as a kid, I wanted to be one.

Erin:  ”So you are a RadioHead fan? What are some of your favorite songs? Any other music inspire your writing?“

Mike: “It’s funny. Just by volume of listening, I’d be considered a huge radio fan (I’m 100% certain I’ve listened to “I Might Be Wrong,” more than anyone else in the world. I wrote the first two novels of The Northern Star with it looped), but it’s become almost a workman-like relationship. For whatever reason, Amnesiac and Kid A (two Radiohead albums) transport me to the place I need to go in order to write this stuff. It’s almost Pavlovian.

If you want to know what songs are The Northern Star, they are:

"You and Whose Army?" (Radiohead, Amnesiac)

The entire song reminds me of the latter half of the series when most of the characters, especially the bionics, are nearly unrecognizable from where they came. You forget so easy, is a line in it that still gives me chills.

"I Might Be Wrong" (Radiohead, Amnesiac)

Previously discussed. The catalyst that started the whole series. I don’t think the novels would exist without this song, which is kind of weird.

"The National Anthem" (Radiohead, Kid A)

This is the song I play before I start writing anything to do with the series. Jeez, I’m starting to sound weird, but if you meet me, I’m super normal. No matter what city I’m in, people always ask me for directions. That’s how normal I am.

"How to Disappear Completely" (Radiohead, Kid A)

A song of intense loss and tragedy, which this series has in spades (Lyric: In a little while . . . I’ll be gone). So many of the characters lose themselves in this story, and some of them know that to make right, their sacrifice will be even greater. One of the characters is a sociopath, and I think, as the story progresses, he may be the most tragic of them all. I’m listening to it right now, and I can feel a swell of emotion for them.

I can’t think of any other music that’s inspired my writing, but I do listen to AC/DC a ton.“

Erin:  ”Who was your favorite character you’ve ever written? Why?“

Mike:  "This is a great question because my gut reaction surprised me. Intellectually, it would be John Raimey (the character that ties the entire series together), but emotionally it’s Jeremiah Sabot, Cynthia Revo’s bodyguard/lover.

He’s loyal to Cynthia without being weak. And while most people in that situation (she’s the smartest, wealthiest, and most powerful person in the world) would wilt and lose their identity, he’s etched out clear boundaries. In her expertise, she’s the boss. But in his (war) he gives her no quarter. In one situation, he doesn’t even let her speak. Of all the characters, he knows exactly who he is and what he must do, and there’s something admirable about that. And his love for Cynthia is absolute.

Incidentally, Sabot is my wife’s favorite character, too.“

Erin:  ”I love how the characters of Evan and Xan play off each other even though they never meet. I’m sure most readers would characterize Evan as a “villain” character but would be a little troubled by where to place Xan. We certainly can’t characterize him as a hero. Would you characterize him as an anti-hero?“

Mike: “One of the editors, Justin, asked the same thing, “ugh, is Xan bad?” No. He isn’t. He’s looking out for his country, and their interests aren’t our own. I don’t like ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ I think it’s boring and simplistic and not true to life. I’m not the first to say it, but bad people don’t think they’re bad. It doesn’t mean their not, just that there’s an impetus for their actions.

I have a soft spot for Xan. Subterfuge takes on a whole new meaning when powerful Sleepers (cyberspace hackers) can read a person’s mind and even sway their predilections. It makes spying look like patty cake, and he is aware that his kind (in the book, I call them ‘shadow men’) are a detriment. He surprised me a bit.

The difference between Xan and Dr. Lindo rests in their motives. Dr. Lindo wants power. His end game is for him alone. Xan desires a sane world. It’s like divergent evolution. Their end goals are similar, but their reason for getting there is completely different.

Aside from Sabot, I think most of the characters are anti-heroes. You can’t help but be flawed in their circumstances.“

Erin:  ”Tell us about your upcoming book.“

Mike:  "The Northern Star: Civil War takes place ten years after The Beginning. While the world governments have calmed, they are increasingly wary of MindCorp’s jurisdiction over them, as their citizens reside almost completely on-line, turning national borders into lines on a map.

Raimey is sent to the Congo to confront a warlord who is raiding valuable mineral mines that MindCorp needs to maintain and grow the network. Tank Minors (infantry-based bionics) have been in service for three years. Mike Glass is the first of that kind, and by the Civil War he is the most advanced. Always cold, he has found someone that he connects to, and even for him, loves.

Dr. Lindo, now the Secretary of Defense, manipulates the world’s leaders for his final plan. The corrupt he blackmails, the righteous he threatens what they hold dear. MIME CPU’s whisper his will in cyberspace. “The Twins” – two advanced Tank Majors – enact his will on Earth. And only Cynthia Revo stands in his way.

I thought it’d be an easier re-write than The Beginning. I was wrong. But if I can pull it off, I think this will be an excellent addition to The Northern Star series. The last book, The End, is gonzo.“

To read more of the interview visit the Bookworm's Fancy. Click here to read the New Podler Book Review post on The Northern Star: The Beginning. To visit Mike Gullickson's page please click here.

Ellipsis Tirade

el·lip·sis – noun \i-ˈlip-səs, e-\

1. a : the omission of one or more words that are obviously understood but that must be supplied to make a construction grammatically complete;  b : a sudden leap from one topic to another
2. : marks or a mark (as …) indicating an omission (as of words) or a pause

The above definition is taken from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Since I’ve begun to read indie author works, I’ve noticed that writers seem to be in love with these three little dots. So much so that they misuse them all the time. At first, I thought it was just one book or author but after ten plus books where 75% of them misuse the ellipsis, I feel the need to step in.

The main use of an ellipsis is to shorten a quotation or to show a trailing off in speech. Here is an example of each. For the quotation, let’s take a simple quote from Cicero:

Original – “A friend is, as it were, a second self.”

Ellipsisfied – “A friend is . . . a second self.”

Notice that is replaces an unnecessary portion of the quote. The addition of the ellipsis does not change the meaning of the quote. Now let’s use it to show a trailing off in speech or thought in dialogue.

“Fiddlesticks!Where did I leave those darn . . . ?”

But what about using an ellipsis to build tension? Even though it seems to be a widely used (and accepted) practice to use the ellipsis this way, I cannot find any book/site on writing styles that states that it should be used this way. But I’m not going to fight against the stream here. Language and grammar are ever changing creatures.

I tend to agree with the Writing Forward Blog which states:

“We can also use an ellipsis to indicate a pause or unfinished thought. At the end of a sentence, an ellipsis represents trailing off into silence.Using an ellipsis to represent a pause can get a writer into trouble.

We tend to pause a lot in speech. Pauses give us a moment to collect our thoughts or add emphasis to what we’re saying. But in writing, a page peppered with ellipses wreaks havoc on the eyes.The same applies to unfinished thoughts.

A lazy writer might use ellipses to indicate, “and so on,” or “et cetera.” In text messaging and social media, many people use ellipses where they believe the reader will implicitly understand what would be stated next. In professional-grade writing, we finish our thoughts, so ellipses used for this purpose should be rare.

However, when we are writing dialogue, an ellipsis can come in handy, especially if we want to show a character’s speech trailing off. Keep in mind, though, that ellipses, like exclamation points, should be used with caution and only when truly needed for emphasis. As a general rule, don’t use it unless you must.”

PLEASE, AUTHORS!  I BEG OF YOU!  When writing your novels, use ellipses sparingly! Also remember that ending a chapter in an ellipsis is redundant.  The tension builder is already there.  A well written story already has me thinking “Oh!  I so need to read the next chapter to find out what happens to [insert character here]!”.

Here are three great resources for using ellipses:

1. Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing
2. Capital Community College’s Grammar Page (with handy drop down menu)
3. Writing Forward’s Ellipsis Page

</end rant>

This post originally appeared over at The Bookworm's Fancy.

The Mighty Quinn by Paula R. Stiles

Quinn Bolcan is a small-time ex-criminal who has the ability to drain energy from things, be it physical or magical. This talent proves to be beneficial (defusing bombs) and deadly (body heat loss can lead to frostbite). When the story opens, Quinn is unaware of his ability and, over the course of the novel, learns how to control it. Needing to get out of town (Vancouver) after a pot farm raid, he takes on the role of courier. His lawyer has a package that needs to be delivered to Montreal and it "isn't the kind you want to send by Fedex."

While the story could've been about Quinn's cross-country trip (Canada is big and interesting enough), Stiles only details two stops: a bar in the Rockies where Quinn has a run-in with a supernatural biker gang and the delivery of the package in Montreal. They do factor into the novel later on though. The real action happens across the border in Vermont where Quinn accidentally defuses a nuke. The rest of the novel covers Quinn's reluctant assistance to DHS agent Nan Carreira's investigation of the terrorists who set up the bomb in the first place.

Ok, so it's not the best cover. I've seen far worse since I came on board here at the New Podler. I believe that it's meant to convey the swarm of foes that Quinn faces, though a better cover might've been one of him draining the magic out of a zombie or holding a bomb in his hands as he's about to drain it. But I digress.

The story is told in multiple POV's, which enable Stiles to develop her characters. Stiles starts with Quinn's story, told in first person, and then switches to third person to relate Agent Carreira's encounters, along with those of the villains. Considering that a large chunk of the action takes place away from Quinn, this is essential as we'd miss the scheming of the villains, who would otherwise be two-dimensional. Quinn is the strongest, and most likable. We're privy to his thoughts and his wry sense of humor. It's through him that Stiles conveys her mastery of imagery (smells too!).

Stiles could be accused of going overboard with the supernatural stuff. There are lycanthropes, vampires, ghouls, sorcerers, zombies, demons, fairies, and more. There are some naturally occurring events too which, for me, were a bit over the top. These are explained as being a side effect of Quinn's energy draining powers, but I felt this avenue was left unresolved, particularly how he deals with these events.

As for the technicals, the manuscript is fairly well-edited, but it definitely could've used an extra pair of eyes as a few passages fell through the cracks. For example, refer back to the first paragraph of this review. I quoted a passage from the story where Quinn is talking to his lawyer about the package. It says "Fedex" but the proper name for the company is "FedEx".

The Mighty Quinn is an entertaining read. Its titular character carries the story through a gauntlet of supernatural entities and is almost as surprised as we are that he came out the other side. While Stiles is adept at her use of imagery and developing her protagonist, some unresolved elements lead me to think she may have bit off more than she could chew by cramming too much into one novel.

The Mighty Quinn is available in print and on the Kindle. For more information, check out the author's website.

The Northern Star: The Beginning by Mike Gullickson

Reviewed by Erin Eynard

The year is 2058. The great oil shortage that we have been warned about since the 1970s has finally come to pass, causing the Great Migration, where people began moving from the suburbs and back into the cities. Enter Cynthia Revo who successfully frees the mind from its physical prison. People now live more in cyberspace than in reality. But it is much more than that. Cyberspace is now the new reality. It has become necessary for almost every aspect of society. The economies of countries depend on it. But no one suspects the evil that lurks around the next cyber corner.

At first glance, I was prepared to dislike this book. I feared it was going to be a preachy environmental tale hidden behind a story that was part pre-Matrix, part Mechwarrior, and part Ender’s Game. I was delightfully surprised. I was treated to an old school science-fiction romp.

The characters are complex creations that grow and evolve throughout the story which, at its core, is a morality tale. Would you do bad things for the right reasons? When does the greater good trump personal freedom? Not even the villain is truly beyond redemption, though such redemption does not come in this book.

My one complaint is the addition of what, in my opinion, is an unnecessary section at the beginning of the book. It expounds on the background of a character that isn't a factor in the rest of the story. What we learn about him has already been covered by other characters in the story. In fact, he's probably the one non-complex character in the whole story. Oddly enough, the narrator for this part dies at the end of the chapter so even he doesn't have any value. Nor is the setting for this chapter important. It takes place in the jungles of Venezuela, but Venezuela is never mentioned anywhere else in the book. And the placement, early in the book, is all wrong and disrupts the flow. It breaks with how the rest of the book is laid out.

The book wraps up nicely with lots of action and suspense, setting up for the sequel brilliantly. I am looking forward to the next book which I’m sure will explore the question of at what point do we stop being human. At least, I hope it does. I give this book 4 out of five stars.

The Northern Star: The Beginning is available in a variety of formats. The links for which can be found on the author's website.