Hissers, by Ryan C. Thomas, 2011

Hissers, by Ryan C. Thomas, 2011

I know what you are wondering, so I will start by saying, "Yes, it's another <groan> zombie story."  In a sea of zombie novels out there, the only thing that sets this book apart is the main cast of characters happens to be all junior high teens kids. And as such, the story is told from their immature point of view.

In the prologue, the dialog between a general and scientist in a government lab pretty much sets up the entire story to come. While the epilogue doesn't do much except sets up the sequel.

The meat of the story contains no plot twists or surprises. It's fairly straightforward; survive while starting at location A and travelling to location B. What might some find of some interest is how the teens thought process worked and placed them in several bad situations. In essence, lack of information coupled with immaturity led them to some bad decisions.

Somewhere in zombie groans, grunts, and grabs, a teen coming of age tale was buried. It wasn't until the latter half of the book when I finally got a whiff of it.

author: Ryan C. Thomas

For me, I found it hard to relate to the point of views of the teens nor believable. A few times, I felt some inconsistencies with how, I thought, a teen behave given the predicament.

Others reviewers claimed the story to be fast-paced and full of action. I mostly disagree. With the exception of a few scenes, most of everything with importance to the plot occurred at a humdrum pace. While I get, the entire story takes place over one weekend, adding chapter opening lines that state date and time to elicit urgency and haste didn't work for  me. Instead, it had the reverse intended effect.

My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5 stars) - I did not like it.

Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 #1), by Scott Meyer, 2014

Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0 #1), by Scott Meyer, 2014

Thoroughly enjoyable and humorous without all complications of lengthy world-building and plot setups.  Nerds, geeks, and gamers alike will especially take to the story and immediately related to the pop culture references from the 70's through the 2010's.

 In short, Martin Banks discovers a file on the internet that allows him to manipulate reality through tiny changes. With that discovery, he mucks up is life in his timeframe and escapes to the Middle Ages and poses as a wizard.  Upon arrival in the Middle Ages, Martin meets another wizard named Philip who takes him under their apprenticeship and introduces him to other wizards who are actually fellow time travelers as well.

After a couple minor surprises and plot changes, Martin eventually becomes fully initiated as a wizard and join his fellow wizards to battle with Merlin. Merlin is actually another fellow time traveller named Jimmy who turns out to be the bad guy.

Upon defeat of Merlin/Jimmy, Martin and rest of the wizards decide to send Jimmy forward in time, but before Martin's timeframe, without powers as punishment for the wrongdoings.

At the end, Martin doesn't get the girl, Gwen. Gwen, who was later revealed to be a Witch (female wizard), parted ways from the Middle Ages heads further back into the past to Atlantis, where female wizards have all but few have chosen to have gone.

We don't really see Martin neatly tying up loose ends with the troubles he caused in his own timeframe. What we see is probably best described as a setup for the next book in this series; the dead giveaway being Merlin/Jimmy showing up just nearby Martin's location is Martin's timeframe taking meticulous notes and with villainy flair.

I think the only warning, if it can even be considered a warning, is that Martin's character isn't easy to like. At least not at first. Martin isn't particularly bright nor well-intentioned until about half way through the book.  At that point, we see some genuine character development and start to, not only root for Martin, but he becomes wiser and likeable.

All in all, the book was a witty, comedic romp through medieval times with a likeable cast of characters. If you are a sci-fi or fantasy fan, this book will not disappoint you.

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 stars)  It was amazing!

ITIL Foundation by Global Knowledge, 2014

This book is a great start for anyone desiring to start the path to ITIL Certification and is designed to present the information necessary to enable you to pass the certification exam.

As a reference tool, the book is very clear starting with concise definitions, followed by detail explanations accompanied by graphics, and finished of with summaries.

Topics covered are as follows: Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement.

My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 out of 5 stars) - I really liked it.

Ready Player One (Ready Player One #1) by Ernest Clines, 2011

Ready Player One (Ready Player One #1) by Ernest Clines, 2011

Taking place in the dystopian future of 2044, where everyone is connected to a virtual reality called Oasis, our hero Wade Owen Watts races to solve puzzles to win the ultimate prize of wealth.


I've read a lot of dystopian/sci-fi novels, some good and some bad, but very few that stand out among the crowd.  Ready Player One is a definite stand out.

Ready Player One is probably one of the best, if not coolest, sci-fi stories around. It's sure to wow any pop culture fan, especially those who have lived through the 80s and 90s. This book seemed to be endless pop culture nostalgia; everything from the Atari 2600 to ZZtop, or Pac-Man to Rubiks Cube are referenced.

Wade Watts is the average teenage outcast who prefers to lose himself in obsessing over this game (egg-hunt), while simultaneously escaping his pathetic trailer park life. Wade tells us the story of how he became a legend.

Right from the start I found myself easily connecting with his witty personality. While he does make mistakes along the way, his perfectly flawed nature makes his character and this whole journey very compelling. He's intelligent, no question, but he gets ahead of himself, learns a few life lessons, falls in love; showing us that he's human, above all else. Along the way, we meet characters who are or become, Wade's loyal friends in this hunt. Having a common enemy will bring people closer, and I loved seeing the sincere integrity of some of these other players. In the end, it shows how important it is to lean on others to help, instead of greedily trying to go through it alone. This is something we see during Wade's transformation in this story. He starts off as an introvert with self-esteem problems and comes out a true hero.

My rating: ★★★★★ (5 out of 5 stars)  It was amazing!

Ex-Patriots (Ex-Heroes #2) by Peter Clines, 2013

Ex-Patriots (Ex-Heroes #2) by Peter Clines, 2013

Ex-Patriots is the second novel in Peter Clines' Ex series and takes place two years after the first novel. This time instead of our lineup of heroes fighting Los Angeles gangsters, super-villains, and zombies, they are fighting the U.S. Military super-soldiers, super-villains, and zombies.

This installment in the series introduces us to some new characters who become welcome additions to our Ex-Heroes; Captain Freedom and the Driver join  St. George, Cerebus, Zzap, and Stealth

The story is told similarly to the way as Ex-Heroes with the "Now" and "Then" times; cleverly introducing flashback moments for showing the history of several characters and how their actions or events they lives by led up to the actual set of events in the "Now" time.

Unfortunately, a lot of the flashbacks, "Then" time, of the supersoldiers were of no interest to me. I didn't see the importance of the backstory or history of a super-soldier that was a secondary character in the story. I simply found myself speed-reading through those portions.

What I liked best about is the pop-culture infused tale of superheroes surviving the zombie-apocalypse is that it takes in Hollywood; mentioning and describing sites and landmarks I am very familiar with.

Overall, the climax left much to be desired. At best, it petered out and for me, didn't feel like an ending.

On the entire series, I would say the Ex-Purgatory (#4) is the best and stands on its own with prior knowledge of the previous books. Ex-Heroes (#1) comes to a second best and serves as a good introduction the entire series.  Ex-Communicated (#3) ranks the same for me as Ex-Heroes. The addition of Corpse Girl to the team was fantastic. And that leaves Ex-Patriot in last place for me.

My rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.

Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion, 2010

Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion, 2010

Zombie boy R meet human girl Julie. R decides not to eat Julie and save her instead, beginning a strange and somewhat creepy sweet romantic relationship.

It's a not-so-typical zombie story. It's more like a zombified Romeo and Juliet story with the zombification in reverse.

The language in the story was beautifully crafted and carefully chosen to elicit wistful love and longing feelings.  Light humor and delight punctuated what otherwise would be just creepy or unnerving.

I found that it was easy to notice when R was calling Perry's memories or if he was just thinking himself during the beginning and ending of the book.  Towards the middle, I had to read back a paragraph or two when something didn't make sense only to find out the "point of view" switched.

My biggest complaint was Julie's dad. His character seemed to appear towards the end of the book and as the bad-guy.  It was too convenient of a plot device to move the story to a close.

Some of my favorite passages from the book:

"Are my words ever actually audible, or do they just echo in my head while people stare at me, waiting? I want to change my punctuation. I long for exclamation marks, but I’m drowning in ellipses."

"None of us are particularly attractive, but death has been kinder to me than some. I'm still in the early stages of decay. Just the grey skin, the unpleasant smell, the dark circles under my eyes. I could almost pass for a living man in need of a vacation."

All in all, the book was ok.  There is a movie version released in 2013 that has different ending. Maybe the movie version is better.

Isaac Marion

movie trailer:

http://youtu.be/qrI8YIZsBok

Authors Website: http://www.isaacmarion.com/warm-bodies/


My rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2 out of 5 stars) - It was ok.

Death Lord: A God in the Machine Novel by Larkin Magnus, 2014

Death Lord: A God in the Machine Novel by Larkin Magnus, 2014

The book came with a high recommendation from a friend who knows my taste fairly well so I figured I would enjoy this book. Boy was I wrong. I'm not sure it was a case of my expectations being so high as a result of the recommendation or if was just bad. But it just goes to show that what one read can be great for one person but unexpectedly terrible for another.

The Death Lords, a space military squad of genetically engineered soldiers with technological enhancements and psychic powers, space salvage mission unfolds in five parts and suddenly ends.

The book came across to me a bit space operatic, with definite stripes of military sci-fi, blended with a lot of fantasy.

Between the minimal dialogue among characters and the wordiness in minutiae as a tool for world-building, I found I couldn't care less about the characters and the story simply slow.

My rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1 out of 5 stars) - I did not like it.