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New Age Lamians

Oviatt’s (The Stix, 2013) short novel, the first of a planned series, introduces a post-apocalyptic world in which huge snake-women and a shady organization hold sway.
After a mysterious, decades-long lightning storm decimates civilization, most people live in small, hardscrabble groups, far from the ruined cities. Twenty-six-year-old Jackson Bellony is one of these people, living with his father in a cave in the woods, and often hearing drifters’ tales of the Lamians—giant, malevolent half-woman/half-snake beings that the lightning somehow awakened. The Earth’s last remnant of technology is controlled by a group called The Company, which thrives thanks to “wireless energy...harnessed underground in a liquid form.” For unknown reasons, The Company occasionally drops care packages of food and other necessities near Jackson’s home. One day, a Company hovercraft lands, and men in black suits take blood samples from the locals, claiming it’s for a medical test. But after Jackson is kidnapped by Company men, he learns that they’re seeking something called the G factor, which allows people to survive injection with “techno fibers.” This trait, which Jackson has, lets the Company turn him into the perfect weapon against the Lamians. It’s a formulaic tale that’s been told many times: a young, naive hero; fearsome monsters only he can fight; and montages of physical and intellectual training. (The serum not only bulks up Jackson’s muscles, but also lets him absorb information quickly and easily.) Jackson’s immediate love connection with Amber, another injectee, is likewise predictable. Oviatt makes clear from the beginning that the Company has sinister intent, although this first volume doesn’t reveal the extent of the plans. The book does offer unique monsters for the heroes to fight. However, the Lamians have no personality, and could be swapped out for any other invincible foe. The book hews closely to a popular sci-fi formula, but does little to distinguish itself from the pack.
A familiar, by-the-numbers dystopia.

Pub Date: April 17, 2014

ISBN: 978-1497305540

Page Count: 150

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: July 29, 2014

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DARK MATTER

Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.

A man walks out of a bar and his life becomes a kaleidoscope of altered states in this science-fiction thriller.

Crouch opens on a family in a warm, resonant domestic moment with three well-developed characters. At home in Chicago’s Logan Square, Jason Dessen dices an onion while his wife, Daniela, sips wine and chats on the phone. Their son, Charlie, an appealing 15-year-old, sketches on a pad. Still, an undertone of regret hovers over the couple, a preoccupation with roads not taken, a theme the book will literally explore, in multifarious ways. To start, both Jason and Daniela abandoned careers that might have soared, Jason as a physicist, Daniela as an artist. When Charlie was born, he suffered a major illness. Jason was forced to abandon promising research to teach undergraduates at a small college. Daniela turned from having gallery shows to teaching private art lessons to middle school students. On this bracing October evening, Jason visits a local bar to pay homage to Ryan Holder, a former college roommate who just received a major award for his work in neuroscience, an honor that rankles Jason, who, Ryan says, gave up on his career. Smarting from the comment, Jason suffers “a sucker punch” as he heads home that leaves him “standing on the precipice.” From behind Jason, a man with a “ghost white” face, “red, pursed lips," and "horrifying eyes” points a gun at Jason and forces him to drive an SUV, following preset navigational directions. At their destination, the abductor forces Jason to strip naked, beats him, then leads him into a vast, abandoned power plant. Here, Jason meets men and women who insist they want to help him. Attempting to escape, Jason opens a door that leads him into a series of dark, strange, yet eerily familiar encounters that sometimes strain credibility, especially in the tale's final moments.

Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant—provided the reader has a generously willing suspension of disbelief.

Pub Date: July 26, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-101-90422-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016

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READY PLAYER ONE

Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.

Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles. 

The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three. Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.

Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.

Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-307-88743-6

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: April 18, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2011

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