Debbie's Spurts

Verdict?  BLIP!

A seriously brief sample; I've read longer flash fiction.  Basically, we now know the main character spent her childhood with her family.  Duh.

So, no conclusion.  Neither good nor bad.  Promises elements I might like if done well (fantasy, other world) and elements I will loathe if done wrong (the special heroine with special talent gets special rank/attention).

Which I already knew before reading the sample.

I won't be buying at hardcover prices.  Will watch everyone else's reviews.  Will keep an eye out for paperback pricing on ebook or for library to get the ebook.

Oh, I just remembered -- isn't this the same publisher (Harper Collins) that listed ARCs on NetGalley that were missing their final chapters?

Seriously, I deleted all of them, my profile says zero reviews with no top reviewer ranking -- yet, they still show.  I cannot find them when looking but can follow links to notifications that someone liked and see them that way -- for example, I see a review* at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1325572125?type=review#rating_89560574 . 

I even deleted all of my books except what I'm currently reading plus a handful to show as favorites on profile (and for book comparison purposes).

I have repeatedly asked goodreads staff about with no results.

*In case they do remove the most recent I found, a screenshot proving I did see it:

On Twitter, Tor says this works worldwide, so give it a shot even if you're not in the US.

Publisher's description:

"Since leaving his homeland, the earthbound demigod Demane has been labeled a sorcerer. With his ancestors' artifacts in hand, the Sorcerer follows the Captain, a beautiful man with song for a voice and hair that drinks the sunlight.

The two of them are the descendants of the gods who abandoned the Earth for Heaven, and they will need all the gifts those divine ancestors left to them to keep their caravan brothers alive.

The one safe road between the northern oasis and southern kingdom is stalked by a necromantic terror. Demane may have to master his wild powers and trade humanity for godhood if he is to keep his brothers and his beloved captain alive."

AaaarrrrggghhhhhHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I need a good GIF for that horrible panic-y feeling I get when booklikes site appears to be down (the error page talking about Cloud Flare).  Only a brief few moments just now, but still scary.

And another for the panic I felt when someone mistakenly posted about "Cloud Front" instead of "Cloud Flare."... (because if we got Cloud Front error messages that could indicate that Amazon had bought booklikes--could also just indicate booklikes had purchased space on the Amazon cloud front servers, but I panic easily about book site shutdowns any more.)

Got some really big shoes to fill when book description claims:

"…With the danger of Peter Brett’s The Warded Man, heart of Naomi Novik’s Uprooted, and lyricism of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, this is the first chapter in a series destined to be a classic…"

 

Really?  Going to be that good?  Sample may tell.

Is it a caution to anyone else when the writing is described as lyrical?  I mean, yes, there are great books that can be described as nothing less but just as frequently can mean over-descriptive, longwinded (sometimes even pretentious) books not worthy of the praise.

Oops!  Two YA books came thru library waitlist while I'm reading a very favorite author of adult epic fantasy -- Patrick Rothfuss.  I love a well done YA but not usually back to back and these could prove if-fly.

Until a few recent posts on booklikes about The Heir, I had actually decided against reading it.  

I also wasn't particularly thrilled with the last Throne of Glass book (series had gotten incredibly far away from what first chapters of first book in series seemed to be developing), so Queen of Shadows  could restore my interest in or kill that series for me.

This reader's personal opinion, ©2016, all rights reserved, not to be quoted, clipped or used in any way by Penumbra Publishing, goodreads, Google Play, amazon.com or other commercial booksellers* 

Glad I finally got around to trying this author I've been curious about.  Of course it was on the fluffy side plus I'm not a fan of cozy mysteries -- but still a nice read with engaging characters.

I checked and now suspect part of the fluffy/breezy feel to it was because I was missing some character backgrounds by not having read her Jade Calhoun series.

The mystery itself ... well, not the pay-attention-and-you-can-make-logical-deductions-from-the-clues-and-evidence sort of mystery.  Not that any of the main characters pretended to be detectives or even had an interest in mysteries; they even actively destroyed some evidence to avoid tangling with police.  No one missed clues because too stupid.

Keeping in mind I'm not a huge mystery fan and only read some cozy ones for the "funny" parts -- I liked the characters, story and the "funny" bits,  I didn't care for the part of the mystery where potential suspects would give off good vibes or bad vibes to characters sure of their instincts for no apparent reason other than author wanting to keep reader guessing (I suppose).  Mystery got solved with  a meh moment because all depended on a suddenly revealed connection between two characters totally out of the blue for rest of story.

Continuing series?  Maybe.  Have to be in a mood (and possibly I should read the series that spawned this one first).

*©2016. All rights reserved except permission is granted to author or publisher (except Penumbra Publishing) to reprint/quote in whole or in part. I may also have cross-posted on The Reading Room, Libib, LibraryThing, and other book sites including retailers like kobo and Barnes and Noble. Posting on any site does not grant that site permission to share with any third parties.  

Ratings scale used in absence of a booklikes suggested rating scale:

★★★★★ = All Time Favorite 
★★★★½ = Extraordinary Book. Really Loved It.
★★★★☆ = Loved It.
★★★½☆ = Really Liked.
★★★☆☆ = Liked.
★★½☆☆ = Liked parts; parts only okay. Would read more by author.
★★☆☆☆ = Average.   Okay. 
★½☆☆☆ = Disliked or meh? but kept me reading in hopes would get better.
★☆☆☆☆ = Loathed It. Possibly DNF and a torturous read.
½☆☆☆☆ = So vile was a DNF or should have been. Cannot imagine anyone liking.  (Might also be just an "uploaded" word spew or collection that should not be dignified by calling itself a "published book." If author is going batshit crazy in the blogosphere over reviews -- I now know why they are getting bad reviews.  Or maybe author should take remedial classes for language written in until basic concepts like using sentences sink in. Is author even old enough to sign a publishing contract or do they need a legal guardian to sign for them?)

I've been randomly wading through enough of some freebies and downloaded samples to judge if want to read the whole book and ... good grief what was I thinking on some of them?

Are there contemporary writer workshops now teaching indies to constantly paragraph after paragraph string three sentences into one really long sentence (or even a really long mis-punctuated run-on sentence)?  Lousy flow and prosody when repeatedly done (even when correctly punctuated); variety is not something to avoid.

*sigh*

It's still working for me to look at a few of these on my ereaders in between starting my next read.  Otherwise, the books would just clutter up to languish on my ereaders.  

I get so excited when a brief look-see of a sample turns into dying to turn to next page only to find sample has ended.  Unfortunately, more frequently just leads to deleting the sample or freebie from device and cloud.

Now that years later so many books have glutted the market, the best thing for me has been to download nothing until I'm planning to read it (barring known to be fave authors and series I preorder)--not even while on free promotion.  If for some reason never free again, if I really want to read it after sampling I'll just buy it.  Cost of my time wasted and disappointment struggling with bad freebies versus cost of buying a book after liking the sample ... no contest.  (Likely better for authors anyway if only downloading books I'll be reading soon versus their book becoming one of thousands of freebies no one is reading.)

Only downloading if reading soon is no help with the downloads I've already amassed from when self-published books were so new and freebies so "exciting." Nor with ones I download to read right away then get distracted by a new release book or some book in a booklikes post .,. ooh ... look ... that book now looks more interesting because just saw it in a booklikes post ... off to sample new shiny!

I miss KFCs "Kentucky Beef." They were better roast beef than Arby's and a road trip favorite find en route to visiting relatives.  For some odd reason they also had better potatoes than KFC.

Well, more prophetic than the pedophile who told his cult from his jail cell the world would end April 2016.  Seriously, still ongoing in FLDS is what a 2015 CNN article says:

"..In layman terms, the husband is required to sit in the room while the chosen seed bearer, or a couple of them, rape his wife or wives," according to the document...

 

"FLDS men are no longer permitted to have children with their multiple wives. That privilege belongs to the seed bearer alone," the petition said. "It is the husband's responsibility to hold the hands of their wives while the seed bearer 'spreads his seed.'

 

...Brower said he was able to confirm similar reports of "seed bearers" through his own sources. "It's ritualistic procreation," Brower said, "performed on a ritualistic bed-slash-altar." As part of this new system, Warren Jeffs has withheld any relationships between husbands and wives, Brower said. Any touching between spouses outside rituals like these, even a simple handshake, can now be considered adultery in the church..."

Seed bearers, gross.  Not that child abuse and rape weren't already gross or that the pedophile and cohorts "reassigning" children and wives to other families wasn't horrid -- but this brings the creepiness of this book's ritualistic, non-consensual procreation to the real world.  

Whatever your views on polygamy, the way this cult operates is not plural marriage; women are not treated as wives nor are children treated as children.

j

Their multi-genre one intended to add the bookcovers in place of "?":