Review: Imperative By P.A. Wilson

★★★☆☆ Imperative: Book One of the Quinn Larson Quests. By P.A. Wilson

 Urban Fantasy is another of my favorite genres to read, I love the idea of mythical, magical beings living and working side by side with us yet hidden from view of all but a few sensitives. 
Vampires seem to be the most frequently depicted of the UF creatures, and I'm not much of a vampire fan, so I was delighted and intrigued to see that Imperative focused on fairies, sidhe, and magic users rather than vampires or werewolves.

Set in Vancouver Canada, Imperative is told in from the point of view of Quinn Larson, a young wizard (young by wizarding standards at least) who inadvertently witnesses not only the murder of a human by a fairy, but also a strange transaction between the murderer and a hooded Sidhe.
In order to protect the humans from death by fae and to keep them from discovering and eradicating the Real Folk, Quinn takes it upon himself to find out just what's going on and stop it before its too late.
Quinn is aided in this quest, primarily by a pixie named Olan, who had been tasked centuries ago to protect the humans, and later a witch named Cate.

Aside from who I'd consider to be the main characters there is also is a colorful cast of secondary characters, all of which are of the magical persuasion, fairies and pixies, witches wizards, sidhe, spirits and even a goddess or two.  All of whom are well written and three dimensional.  The fairies are depicted well and the lore seems well researched, especially the demeanors and ethics of the sidhe.  That alone warranted a star in this review as I find very little as annoying as when lore is rewritten just to suit a story.

This was a very easy read, though it seemed to get a bit choppy through the last quarter of the book, and I didn't care at all for the way it ended, I would be interested in reading more of Quinn's adventures.

Quinn reminded me a bit of Harry Dresden, though he's doesn't have that accidental hero aspect that Harry does. I enjoyed Quinns quips and sarcasm, both internalized and vocalized.

One thing that I was taken aback by was the fact that Quinn is male, even though Quinn is repeatedly referred to as a wizard I spent almost half the book I was incredibly surprised when he made mention of going to the barber for a shave, Yes, Quinn is male, but because I'd read him as a female for so much of the book, it took a conscious effort for me to think of him as male through the rest of the book.  I'm not sure how I made the mistake, though I blame it partially on only ever knowing Quinns that were women, and that the previous book I read of Ms. Wilson's had a female protagonist.

I gave this book 3 stars instead of 5 for a number of reasons.  Though the characters were very well done and the book was easy to read I found it easy to put down as well.  It felt at times like I was missing something, and found myself having to go back to see if I really had missed a page.

Quinn referrers to himself as a Real Folk throughout the book and I was left confused as to what wizards and witches are in that world. Quinn is not a fairy or a Sidhe or anything else not human, yet he considers himself to be separate from humans.  I'm not sure if its just magical human vs. mundane human or if there is something intrinsically different between wizards/witches and humans in Quinn's world.  Hopefully this will be dealt with in later books, but I found it confusing.  More back history on Quinn would have been nice too, He seems reluctant to talk about himself and I felt like I never really got to know him on more than a surface level.  The ending seemed rushed, it left me hanging and not in an enjoyable way, more of a "that's it?" kind of way, but I will attribute that to the ongoing nature of these books.  They aren't so much separate stories featuring the same characters but more of a continuation of events from book to book.

I do plan on giving Compulsion a read at some point but I think I'm more interested in Ms. Wilson's mystery series than I am in the urban fantasy.


(DISCLOSURE: I received Imperative as a gift from Ms. Wilson in exchange for an honest review, the preceding review is just that, my honest opinion of the book. Also the cover image and link contains my Amazon Affiliate link, if you purchase the book via that link I make a small commission.)

Review: Hubris by P. A. Wilson

Hubris (A Charity Deacon Investigation) By P.A. Wilson ★★★★★


I love mysteries, thrillers, suspense; give me anything with a dead body and I'm happy.  In Hubris we get a body within the very first chapter.

Charity Deacon is a private investigator slash freelance journalist, who, after witnessing a mid-day murder disguised as a car crash and later accepting a missing persons case, finds herself plunged into the dangerous underworld of Vancouver.  Where prostitution, human trafficking, and the rule of Chinese gangsters is just a normal day.

Told from Charity's point of view Hubris is a fast paced page turner, we meet Charity, her best friend Lu, her friend-with-benefits Jake, and her client Val very quickly.  Quick actually does a good job of describing Hubris, but that could just be because I had a hard time putting it down.

After agreeing to take Val's case, Charity's life grows a lot more dangerous, and the reader moves a bit closer to the edge of their seat.

I really enjoyed the set up and development of the characters in Hubris and of course, the story itself.  Ms. Wilson uses an informal language and tone in both the narration and dialog which results in a plot and characters that are completely believable.  Charity isn't a badass or a magic user, on the contrary, she's kind of clumsy and she talks to herself, frequently.  In other words, completely normal.  It is this normalcy of the characters, and the situations they find themselves that really makes this book such a page turner.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good paranormal story, the unexplainable, in-human monster stalking the streets is deliciously terrifying, but the human monsters are always far more scary.

Nearly impossible to put down, I would recommend Hubris to anyone who enjoys the detective novels or the suspense genre.  I for one, am glad I had the opportunity to read it, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next  (mis)adventure Charity gets herself into.

There only negative thing I have to say about this book is that in my copy of Hubris there were a few mis-spellings, and some typographical errors which made for a bit of difficulty, especially in one paragraph where it seemed a few words had been left out entirely.  But as no publication is perfect, these flaws are fairly minor, and I still rate Hubris as a five star story.

If you are looking for a fun story, a realistic heroine, and you're alright with staying up til 3 in the morning to finish a book, than you owe it to yourself to give this one a spin.

DISCLOSURE: I received Hubris as a gift from Ms. Wilson after I'd expressed interest in reading it, and she had expressed interest in my reviews. This in no way effected my review, and the above is my honest opinion of the book.

Book Review: Particle Horizon by Selso Xisto

  Particle Horizon by Selso Xisto ★★★★★


Let me start out by saying right off the bat that I don’t read a lot of Sci-fi, and when I do it usually takes the form of a novella or short story.
At over 300 pages, 49 chapters and a surprising amount of characters Selso Xisto’s debut novel Particle Horizon, is neither of those things.  What it is is an intricately detailed, and epic space opera.

What I dislike most about sci-fi is not at all present in Particle Horizon, so many sci-fi books seem to assume you have a degree in physics or rocket science, they go into great detail about molecular fusion, particle acceleration, string theory, rocket propulsion etc that the layperson reader begins to wonder if they might be reading a text book.

There is almost none of this in Particle Horizon, there is a bit of it of course, I mean it takes place in a distant future on a planet that is a hollowed out asteroid, there are going to be a few scientific terms, and some of them you may not be familiar with.  However when it comes to the descriptions of the machines, processes and theories of this world, they are very much written for the reader with only a limited amount scientific understanding.

I found the book a bit difficult to get into at first, though it has a very quick pace, it is a very meaty book, not one to be devoured in one or even two sittings, I found that I had to read it slowly, in little bites, allowing myself to absorb and digest it as I read.  

The characters are incredibly developed, even minor characters are given a three dimensional aspect that makes you interested in them as actual characters rather than scenery or filler.

Particle Horizon takes place in an unnamed time frame on an asteroid planet called AngelHaven, we are quickly thrown into the action of an invasion of religious zealots known as the Legion of the LightBringer infiltrate and begin a systematic and bloody purge on the people of AngelHaven.

We meet a number of characters in the first few chapters, in fact the first 10 chapters or so are devoted mainly to character introduction and set up, thankfully there is story progression through out, you won’t find a five page description of a room, or a long winded set up to a short scene, and even as we are learning about each new character there is plenty of action going on and around that description.

We find out a few chapters in that there are two sharply divided factions in this Universe, there is the UFW (United Free Worlds) who have denounced the existence of all deities, and there is the Legion of the LightBringer.  The Legion is viewed by most as a dangerous cult, born from the religious exiles on the desert planet of New Jerusalem the Legion has been systematically attacking UFW communities in the attempt to eradicate those who would eradicate God.

The action starts in the very first chapter with the Legion’s invasion, setting the tone for the rest of the book.  We first meet a cast of body gliders who are staging a dangerous counter attack against the Legion, and a bloody battle ensues.

Meanwhile in a tower high above the killing taking place on the ground, we meet AngelHaven’s greatest mind and his ‘daughter’ a cybernetic woman, known as Una.  Una was created to facilitate and help with unraveling the code behind something called  “the particle horizon” and has recently completed the final string of that research. Unbeknownst to her, this final string completes the research, and allows her father access to a power that could make him a god and destroy the Universe.

Unbeknownst to all is that Humanity has reached its evolutionary apex, and will soon be judged accordingly.

I very much enjoyed this book, the subject matter was similar to other sci-fi books in a lot of ways, but the voice and telling is fresh and original. It kept me guessing and surprised me on a number of occasions.

I recommend this book to all lovers of sci-fi, if you want a story that sucks you in and holds you tight, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with Particle Horizon.

Review: Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t often read Young Adult novels, in fact, I think that prior to Starcrossed, the last YA series I read was Harry Potter and that was easily 3 years ago. Its not that I think they are juvenile or below me, I just am rarely inclined to read about kids, and really that seems to be the only difference between the Young Adult genre and the “Adult” genre, the characters are teens, the situations may not be as explicit as they would be in a book geared towards adults and there is usually a school involved somewhere.

That’s my only excuse, I like to be able to relate to characters, and sadly it's often hard to relate to teens when you’re in your 30s.

That being said, I absolutely loved Starcrossed and cannot wait for Dreamless (the second book in the series). You may be wondering how I ended up reading it in the first place, especially considering the previous statement that I normally don’t read or relate to YA.

I’m not going to lie, it was a complete accident.

Since getting a Kindle Fire a few months ago, I’ve been reading more variety due to amazon’s free ebooks, one of these free books was what I thought to be a book of short stories, but it turned out to be a book of excerpts, great way to get someone hooked on your book, and I was hooked. I think I was left gaping when the excerpt ended, and had to immediately get the book so I could find out what happened next with Helen and Lucas.

When I first picked up the story I nearly skipped over it once I realized it was about a 16 year old who was stressing the first day of school, really, it was so beyond my normal realm of reading that I rolled my eyes and scoffed a bit, actually I think it was more of a snort than a scoff, but I digress.

I kept reading, mostly because I still thought I was reading a short story but I had also begun to grow slightly interested in what was going on. By the time the excerpt ended (six chapters in) I was hooked.

Josephine Angelini, the author of “Starcrossed” takes elements of Greek mythology, and the Trojan war and creates a vivid tale of the Scions (descendants) of the Greek gods, one that takes us from the days when the gods meddled in the affairs of man all the way to the modern day, where we meet the youngest generation of Scions.

Helen Hamilton, our heroine, has lived her whole life on the island of Nantucket, though she has always known she was different, she never thought it was due to anything more than her freakish height and strength, both of which she tries her best to either downplay or outright hide.

We meet Helen, in the days before the beginning of her junior year it should be a normal year but already the island is abuzz with the news that a wealthy family named Delos, has purchased one of the largest homes on the island, according to Helen’s best friend the kids in the family are all amazingly gorgeous, Helen however experiences a visceral reaction to the family's name and can’t shake the feeling that there is something wrong about them.

Soon after, Helen begins to have nightmares, and visions of wailing old women weeping blood, appear whenever Helen comes in contact with a member of the Delos family, visions and an intense rage toward the whole family, but it is Lucas Delos that seems to bring out the worst of Helen’s sudden and inexplicable bloodlust.

A series of strange and violent encounters culminates in a mad flight through the woods and Helen learns more about herself, her family and the Deloses then she ever could have expected.

“Starcrossed” is a fresh approach to the tale of doomed love, an urban fantasy Romeo and Juliet with a mythology twist, with elements of suspense and intrigue and well developed characters you forget you are reading a story geared towards teens and find yourself enveloped in the tale.

I literally couldn’t put it down, I never expected such an intriguing story nor did I expect characters that even if I didn’t exactly relate to them, I was very much interested in finding out what happened to them.

Published in 2010 as the first in of a trilogy, “Starcrossed” is a must read if you enjoy YA books, and even if you normally don’t enjoy them you owe it to yourself to give the first few chapters a read, click the cover to go to Amazon where you can read the first few chapters and for a limited time, you can get “Starcrossed”, an excerpt from the sequel “Dreamless”, along with an exclusive personal essay from Josephine, for the great promo price of $0.99.

“Dreamless”, the second book in the trilogy is due out the 29th of May, and I can't wait, you can pre order it from amazon and find out more about the whole series at Josephine Angelini’s website, and don’t forget to enter to win an ARC of “Dreamless” while you’re there!