Tag: amreading

Graphic Novel Review: #TheTwin by Karel Jan Kosman

Categories Graphic-Novel, Science-Fiction, Young AdultLeave a Comment on Graphic Novel Review: #TheTwin by Karel Jan Kosman

Author: Karel Jan Kosman
Release Date: 27th April 2018
Genre: Science-Fiction, Graphic Novel, Young Adult
Series:
Format: E-book 
Pages: 106 pages
Publisher: Quires Investments RLLLP
Blurb:

TheTwin is an entertaining and engaging social science fiction. A vividly illustrated story of twin planets, twin heroines, and twin virtues. Food for thoughts served in laconic nuggets of the hashtag age. 

Colorado teenage friends discover a twin planet of Earth in a parallel universe. An adventurous reporter records their quest, and gradually drawn into the story finds the love of his life. 

#TheTwin addresses young readers who will enjoy meeting the planetary twins and their eight female co-stars.

Review

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

#TheTwin by Karel Jan Kosman is a very unique science-fiction novel that is sure to make you question a lot of things both ordinary as well as extraordinary.

I feel a little unsure about this book even though the book has a very compelling concept and a lot of potential, it somehow falls to bring everything together. The writing felt flat and the characters felt too underdeveloped for the kind of story that was conceived. I strongly think that with such a strong plot, one needs to have really good characterisation and a very good narrative to support as well as compliment it. And that is what was lacking in this book.

The graphics were good and I was able to detect a hidden theme running in them which was quite a surprise. I enjoyed them as they were crisp and clear.

I still liked the overall plot and the way the story was told in three different parts and feel that hardcore sci-fi fans might enjoy this story.

You can also read this review on Goodreads and Amazon

Book Review: The Blazing Chief (The Deschembine #3) by Matt Spencer

Categories Matt Spencer, Urban FantasyLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Blazing Chief (The Deschembine #3) by Matt Spencer

Author: Matt Spencer
Release Date: 12th October 2020
Genre: Urban Fantasy | Post Apocaliptic Fiction
Series: The Deschembine Trilogy (Book #3)
Format: E-book 
Pages: 578 pages
Publisher: Back Roads Carnival Books 
Blurb:

For untold ages, the refugees from the land of Deschemb have lived secretly beneath the surface of human society. Now modern civilization crumbles as their ancient feud boils to the surface. As chaos and brutality engulf the world, strange alien forces reshape the lands for a new beginning…for whoever survives.

In the frozen Canadian wastes, the United Deschembines take shelter in an abandoned military base, under the leadership of Jesse Karn, Zane Rochester, and Sally Coscan.

In the Louisiana swamps, Rob and Remelea press towards the ruins of New Orleans, for a final confrontation with Talino.

In Brattleboro, Vermont, a long-forgotten doorway opens, to a land beyond living memory, where two lifelong enemies must journey as allies, to save two worlds, or destroy them.

You can find The Blazing Chief here: Amazon | Goodreads

Book Review

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Blazing Chief by Matt Spencer is the third and the last instalment in the Deschembine trilogy. The first book is The Night And The Land and the second one is The Trail Of The Beast.

This book brings this amazing apocalyptic trilogy to an end and what an end it is! I love how the author treated all the characters with an equal amount of respect giving them all (even the ones I did not expect) a well-rounded ending. I was so glad that the book lived up to all the anticipation that was built-up in the first two books and that it ended on a higher note than either fo the first two books!

I loved the ending because it wasn’t exactly how I had predicted it to be. So it did surprise me though not entirely, but that’s understandable because I was able to see the character arcs (which were very nicely done) in the first two books being a writer myself. The thing I loved best about this book (and event he earlier books) is that the author delivered on each and every promise that he had made at the start of the series and that makes it a very well-rounded story on the whole.

I loved the action-packed climax and the tension that was present throughout the book leading to a wonderful climax. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend this wonderful trilogy to all dystopian and apocalyptic (and post-apocalyptic fiction. I am sure you all will love this book!

You can also read this review on 

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Book Review: The Great American Jew Novel by Michael Kornbluth

Categories Comedy, Humor, Michael KornbluthLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Great American Jew Novel by Michael Kornbluth

Author: Michael Kornbluth
Release Date: 
Genre: Family Life, Humour
Series:
Format: E-book 
Pages: 110 pages
Publisher: 
Blurb:

The Great American Jew Novel is a religious based, midlife crisis, reinvention tale, about a 9-year old daughter who becomes her Stay At Home Comedian Dad’s Talent Agent, to ensure he doesn’t give up on making money off his special brand of funny, in his pursuit to make his Do It All Dad Year come true. Along the way, Do it All Dad develops life altering friendships with female members of the Jewy Manhattan Book Club, a Jewish Super Angel, a new age Kosher butcher from Crown Heights and his younger plant based cheese wiz inventor brother, to form the Do It All Dad Hero Kosher Cheesesteak Food Truck, which proves Do It All Dad, isn’t the last self-loving Jewish New Yorker after all.

Book Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Great American Jew Novel by Michael Kornbluth is a heart-warming tale of exploring relationships of a father and daughter, who’s plight is also explored in trying to help her Daddy who is seemingly different from the rest and of friendships that get tested and of finding one’s self.

This is my second book by the author and I loved reading his familiar style of writing which has the quality of touching your heart without being too overdramatic and then smoothing out the potentially heavy emotions with undertones of quality humour. The characterisation was good and I loved reading about even the secondary characters. The overall concept was brilliant and enjoyed reading this book a lot.

Would definitely recommend it to everyone, no matter the genre preference. It is about relationships so I am sure most of the readers will be able to relate to this engaging book.

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Book Review: Controlling My Kids With Comedy, A Love Story by Michael Kornbluth

Categories Comedy, Humor, Michael KornbluthLeave a Comment on Book Review: Controlling My Kids With Comedy, A Love Story by Michael Kornbluth

Author: Michael Kornbluth
Release Date: 13th June 2019
Genre: Satire, Humour
Series:
Format: E-book 
Pages: 137 pages
Publisher: Stand Up Staffer
Blurb:

Controlling My Kids With Comedy, A Love Story, is a collection of essays and poems about an unplanned father of three falling for fatherhood and working from home as host of the Do It All Dad Year Podcast to score laughs with his shadow banned jokes from Twitter. Teaching us how controlling our kids through comedy, can make our kids great again. His fuss free children are living proof of it.

Book Review

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Controlling My Kids With Comedy, A Love Story by Michael Kornbluth is an endearing compilation of various forms of literature that were presented with an impressive sense of humour.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and ended up totally loving every bit of it! It is a short book which proved to be a very smooth read with brilliant writing accented with terrific comedy and endearing characters. The story told in pieces was excellent and had a really good sense of pacing and comic timing. I am really looking forward to reading author Kornbluth’s next book (which is already resting on my Kindle.)

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who likes to read quality humour.

You can also read this review on 

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Amazon

Book Review: The Trail Of The Beast (The Deschembine #2) by Matt Spencer

Categories Matt Spencer, Urban Fantasy1 Comment on Book Review: The Trail Of The Beast (The Deschembine #2) by Matt Spencer

Author: Matt Spencer
Release Date: 13th May 2019
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: The Deschembine Trilogy (Book #2)
Format: E-book 
Pages: 362 pages
Publisher: Back Roads Carnival Books 
Blurb:

Five years ago, Rob and Sally fled Brattleboro, Vermont. Now married, they are hiding out in a Florida backwater, hunted by both sides of the ancient, otherworldly feud between the refugees of the realm of Deschemb. Meanwhile, Sheldon follows a series of disturbing visions back to Brattleboro. Jesse and Zane’s search for the High Natural lands them at the center of a web of secrets and poison magic in New Orleans.
Within the lands, ancient forces rise towards consciousness, threatening to reshape the world on a cataclysmic scale.

Book Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Trail Of The Beast by Matt Spencer is the second instalment in the Deschembine trilogy. It is the sequel to The Night And The Land.

This book surpassed my expectations on so many levels! I was not expecting the conflicts to go so completely out of control on such level (in an obviously good way.) I was expecting to see more of the inter-personal and relationship conflicts, but this book has so much more to offer than just that. The characterisation was a really good development too and the new characters as well as the old ones, especially the old ones, were a treat to read about. I guess it won’t be wrong to say that I enjoyed this book even more than the last one! And I love it when this happens in a series.

The book picks up 5 years after the events of the first book and we get a good glimpse into those years, albeit from a distance which felt perfect to me. The larger conflict was the heart of this book and the author did not fail, whatsoever, to execute it well. And on top of that, there were the brilliant gory action scenes which completely knocked me off! Wow, I really, really enjoyed this book.

This book, in fact, the series (so far), would be great for anyone who’d like to explore a new author or a new urban fantasy series (that leans a bit on the dystopian side.)

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Book Review: Meatballs & Microphones: A True Story About Small Kitchens and Big Dreams by Gregory Patrick Travers

Categories Gregory Patrick Travers, memoir, Non-FictionLeave a Comment on Book Review: Meatballs & Microphones: A True Story About Small Kitchens and Big Dreams by Gregory Patrick Travers

Author: Gregory Patrick Travers
Release Date: 3rd June 2019
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Series:
Format: E-book 
Pages: 183 pages
Publisher: 
Blurb:
Being a cook and a rapper is hard work. Thankfully there are drugs to make it better.
They say out of all the aspiring rappers trying to make it, only 1% will ever find mainstream success. Gregory Patrick Travers pens a fiction-like memoir of the ups and downs of Vancouver rapper, joBlow. One of the 99% who didn’t. Set in the years 2010 to 2014, not only does the book give you a behind-the-scenes look at the world of underground hip hop and the politics of the chain restaurant industry, but it places you in the timeline of notable Canadian milestones like the 2011 Stanley Cup riots, the Occupy Movement, and the 2010 Olympics.
Meatballs & Microphones is a raw look into how one man’s chase for fame led to the destruction of every personal relationship he ever held dear. From bad band breakups to his struggle with addiction, to being homeless in order to pay for his tour expenses, this book lifts the veil of glamour surrounding fame and focuses on the hardships and downfalls that come with it.

Book Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Meatballs & Microphones by Gregory Patrick Travers is a touching and extremely relatable tale of someone who did not make it big in the music industry and, therefore, is a very realistic dig at the other side of the coin towards which a lot of people tend to turn a blind eye. This book is very much an eye-opener for anyone who either wants to enter the hip-hop music scene/industry or want to know how things really are behind the scenes.

I loved the writing of the author as it successfully delivered the context in a very relevant way and managed to pull at my heartstrings at the same time. I felt strongly for the author and was enraged in the last third fo the book, though thankfully, I was relieved by the ending as it turned out to be okay, if not great, for the author.

I’d definitely recommend this book to all the non-fic readers, but I’d also urge the fiction readers to check out this book as it reads really well (almost like a fiction novel) and tells a great story.

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Book Review: An Indelible Day by Cairo Marques

Categories Cairo Marques, Contemporary FictionLeave a Comment on Book Review: An Indelible Day by Cairo Marques

Author: Cairo Marques
Release Date: 23 July 2020
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Series:
Format: E-book 
Pages: 25 pages
Publisher: 
Blurb:
The story accompanies a single day of John C., a man of about thirty. In this short passage of time he has three dialogues with three different people. These dialogues, certainly, have shaped his day and, likely, will exist within him eternally.

Book Review

Rating: 3 out of 5.

An Indelible Day by Cairo Marques is a very unique and fresh take on the various facades we put on for different parts we play in our life. What makes this story even more interesting is that this book tells the story of the main character through a single day.

The writing was good for the most part and the characterisation was good (it had depth and layers) and the story, overall, was very interesting. Given that this book takes less than half an hour to read (a lot less actually,) it would be perfect for anyone looking for a quick engaging read.

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Book Review: The Night and the Land (The Deschembine Trilogy Book 1) by Matt Spencer

Categories Matt Spencer, Urban Fantasy2 Comments on Book Review: The Night and the Land (The Deschembine Trilogy Book 1) by Matt Spencer

Author: Matt Spencer
Release Date: 13th May 2019
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: The Deschembine Trilogy (Book #1)
Format: E-book 
Pages: 362 pages
Publisher: Back Roads Carnival Books 
Blurb:
Among the local hippies and squatters of Brattleboro, Vermont, Sally Wildfire is on the run, hiding from her cruel, relentless family. She finds unexpected love with Rob, a bristly young man freshly awoken to alien sensations and ancestral memories of a long-forgotten realm…setting them both on a collision course with a brutal rite of passage, as the Wildfire family leaves a trail of mangled corpses on the road to Brattleboro. 

Book Review

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Night and the Land by Matt Spencer is a brilliant urban fantasy read that hooked me right from the beginning and left me wanting for more in the end! It is a perfect start to a trilogy and I am definitely looking forward to reading the next 2 books in this series.

The best thing about this book, for me, was the world-building. The author has woven an intricate universe that merges seamlessly with ours and leaves you wondering about the story having some truth to it. It is the best kind of fantasy when it makes you question your reality and for me, that is where this book wins!

Other than that, the characterisation was good enough, the narration was superb and the plot was simply out of the world. I loved every bit of it, though I am holding back one start cause I have a feeling the sequel might be better as it will be developing the world and characterisation further (or at least I hope so.)

I’d definitely recommend it to all fantasy readers. It is worth all the time!

You can also read this review on 

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Book Review: The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale by Neal Cassidy

Categories Neal Cassidy, new adultLeave a Comment on Book Review: The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale by Neal Cassidy

Author: Neal Cassidy
Release Date: 25th July 2019
Genre: New Adult Fiction
Series: 
Format: E-book
Pages: 294
Publisher: M&S Publishing
Blurb:
In the last days before the real world, six college friends prepare to take a bow in epic fashion.
After Sunday there’s just Harry, the future business owner; Justin, the medical intern; Trent, the hapless wanderer; and Clarence, soon to don the badge and blues. But now they have years of memories to honor, all packed into one weekend. Will they grow into their new adult roles? Will they go out in style with the girls? Will the four of them even survive the sheer level of debauchery?
Living in an apartment paid for by the Grandma, an ex-hooker turned millionaire, Courtney and Ling-Ling couldn’t be more opposite, yet are completely inseparable. Courtney and Harry have been hooking up for years, neither able to commit, but their imminent separation is about to test that arrangement, and Ling-Ling’s never-ending reciprocated crush on Justin just might become more than that.
Their lives intersect with that of Professor Goodkat, their idolized instructor who never quite “left” college himself. In Goodkat, we find the consequence of getting to live out a hedonist fantasy, and the possibility for change in anyone.
Hilarious, raunchy and uninhibited, “The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale,” captures contemporary society while chronicling the dreams, regrets, perspectives, and future after youth in an unbroken sequence of shockingly touching exploits. No longer armed with the excuse of college stupidity, these friends will go on a journey with higher stakes than a night out has ever had. Because there are things about themselves that blacking out can’t erase.

REVIEW

★★+1/2

The Final Weekend: A Stoned Tale by Neal Cassidy is a very unique novel with an abstract theme and seemingly vague plotline. I think I might have liked it better if the book had been a bit shorter as the abstractness of the book started to feel somewhat overwhelming after a certain point and I think that it could have been easily avoided by reducing the length of the book. Nonetheless, it’s not that I regret reading the book; it was a new kind of coming-of-age story which, I’m certain, would be more appreciated by the younger crowd. The one thing that I really liked about the entire book as the writing. The author showed some exceptional writing skills and had the plot been more refined, the book might have made it in the 3-star category.

If you’re looking for a. very unique experience and don’t mind reading an abstract story without stern plotting then you might actually like this book.

You can also read this review on Goodreads and Amazon