Kill City Blues: By Richard Kadrey

KILL CITY BLUES

SUMMARY

Another day, another apocalypse.

James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has managed to get out of Hell, renounce his title as the new Lucifer, and settle back into life in L.A. But he also lost the Qomrama Om Ya, an all-powerful weapon from the banished older gods. Older gods who are returning and searching for their lost power.

The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall—a global shopping paradise infested with Lurkers and wretched bottom-feeding Sub Rosa families, squatters who have formed tight tribes to guard their tiny patches of retail wasteland. Somewhere in this kill zone is a dead man with the answers Stark needs. All Stark has to do is find the dead man, recover the artifact, and outwit and outrun the angry old gods—and natural-born killers—on his tail.

But not even Sandman Slim is infallible, and any mistakes will cost him dearly.

REVIEW

If you liked the previous Sandman Slim Books then you'll love Kill City Blues, it's as simple as that. 

Kill City Blues is dark, funny, and chalk full of kick butt action. Stark has a new mission in this installment in the series, find the Qomrama Om Ya and use it to stop the old gods from coming back and killing everyone and everything. This mission breaths new life into the series and revitalizes the energy of the story.

On top of that, readers will be pulled in from the first page and wont be able to put it down until the last. Kadrey writes some of the most disturbing and excellent action scenes out there and to say Kill City Blues is full of them is an understatement. 

Readers will enjoy seeing characters of all sorts from the previous books in the series make an appearance, and will be especially delighted to see Vidocq not have a sizable role again but also see him in action.

Really all that you need to know is that Kill City Blues is dark, disturbing, and full of action. This book is not for everyone but if you've read and liked the previous books in the series then this is definitely the book for you.

INFO

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Published: July 30, 2013

Price: $24.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Kill-City-Blues-Sandman-Novel/dp/0062094599/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1375200487&sr=8-1

The Darwin Elevator: By Jason Hough

THE DARWIN ELEVATOR

SUMMARY

In the mid-23rd century, Darwin, Australia, stands as the last human city on Earth. The world has succumbed to an alien plague, with most of the population transformed into mindless, savage creatures. The planet’s refugees flock to Darwin, where a space elevator—created by the architects of this apocalypse, the Builders—emits a plague-suppressing aura.

Skyler Luiken has a rare immunity to the plague. Backed by an international crew of fellow “immunes,” he leads missions into the dangerous wasteland beyond the aura’s edge to find the resources Darwin needs to stave off collapse. But when the Elevator starts to malfunction, Skyler is tapped—along with the brilliant scientist, Dr. Tania Sharma—to solve the mystery of the failing alien technology and save the ragged remnants of humanity.

REVIEW

The Darwin Elevator is fantastic and Jason Hough is a talent to watch.

Does that have your attention? Well it should.

The Darwin Elevator is just plain fantastic. Not only is it filled with nonstop pulse pounding action, but Hough truly shocked me in some of the decisions he chose to pursue in the book. These decisions end up affecting the entire series in a very dramatic way, promising to leave readers in a constant state or excitement and anticipation.

Of course, not only is The Darwin Elevator filled with twists and surprises that will astonish and entrance readers, Hough also created a set of characters that are absolutely amazing. Obviously readers will love Skyler and Tania, as they’re strong protagonists who are just trying to make the best of a terrible situation. But Neal and Blackfield are also so wonderfully complex. They each have done enormous things, (some terrible, all with lasting effects) but each feels completely justified in their actions. And those are only the main characters. Sam, Kelly, Prumble and the rest of the crew are also fantastic, they are all three dimensional, unique, likable, and a lot of fun to read about.

As for the pacing, Hough does a fantastic job switching between story lines, perfectly timing it so that readers are constantly left on the edge of their seats.

All in all The Darwin Elevator is a fantastic book and Jason Hough has really outdone himself with his debut novel.  With plenty of shootouts, backstabbing, and explosions The Darwin Elevator is perfect for readers of science fiction, dystopian societies, or just someone looking for a really good action and adventure book.

INFO

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: July 30, 2013

Price: $9.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/The-Darwin-Elevator-ebook/dp/B00BABT9VY/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375196166&sr=1-1&keywords=the+darwin+elevator

Ex-Communication: By Peter Clines

EX-COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

In the years since the wave of living death swept the globe, St George and his fellow heroes haven’t just kept Los Angeles’ last humans alive—they’ve created a real community, a bustling town that’s spreading beyond its original walls and swelling with new refugees.

But now one of the heroes, perhaps the most powerful among them, seems to be losing his mind.  The implacable enemy known as Legion has found terrifying new ways of using zombies as pawns in his attacks.  And outside the Mount, something ancient and monstrous is hell-bent on revenge.

As Peter Clines weaves these elements together in yet another masterful, shocking climax, St. George, Stealth, Captain Freedom, and the rest of the heroes find that even in a city overrun by millions of ex-humans...

…there’s more than one way to come back from the dead.

REVIEW

So I don't usually like zombie books. I'll read them every now and then but usually I just find them off putting. 

That said, I loved Ex-Communications and the other Ex books in the series.

The author, Peter Clines, has taken a wonderful blend of superheroes put into an impossible situation (the end of the world), added in social elements for this situation (such as new religions that pop up and the problem of getting the people you're protecting to do what's best for them without being a dictator), and a touch of humor and funny pop references. 

But besides finding a truly fantastic recipe for a plot, he's also stuffed each of the Ex books (and especially Ex-Communications) with nonstop action and fantastic characters. In fact, these are not just one off books in which good guy battles zombie/monster, saves world, everyone's happy. These are complex characters who are at their core humans who are just trying to survive and adapt, whether that be from the problems outside (zombies and demons) or from their own internal turmoil from the decisions they have made and the people they have lost because of those decisions. Because of this each book in the series is somewhat different, with the characters building off of the ramifications of the previous books and shaping their characters. Personally I love this, I think it adds another dimension to the characters and to the book overall, allowing readers to become more invested with the characters with every page they read.

All in all I loved Ex-Communications. It's fast paced, full of action and battles, and has just enough humor to make you crack a smile. If you're looking for a book that will suck you in from page one and not let go until its over then look no further.

INFO

Publisher: Broadway Books

Published: July 9, 2013

Price: $14.00

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Ex-Communication-Novel-Peter-Clines/dp/0385346824/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373436678&sr=1-1&keywords=ex+communication

SYLO: By D.J. MacHale

SYLO

SUMMARY

THEY CAME FROM THE SKY

parachuting out of military helicopters to invade Tucker Pierce’s idyllic hometown on Pemberwick Island, Maine.

They call themselves SYLO and they are a secret branch of the U.S. Navy. SYLO’s commander, Captain Granger, informs Pemberwick residents that the island has been hit by a lethal virus and must be quarantined. Now Pemberwick is cut off from the outside world.

Tucker believes there’s more to SYLO’s story. He was on the sidelines when the high school running back dropped dead with no warning. He saw the bizarre midnight explosion over the ocean, and the mysterious singing aircraft that travel like shadows through the night sky. He tasted the Ruby—and experienced the powers it gave him—for himself.

What all this means, SYLO isn’t saying. Only Tucker holds the clues that can solve this deadly mystery.

LOOK TO THE SKY

because Pemberwick is only the first stop.

REVIEW

Lets start with the basics. SYLO is fantastic and you should read it. 

Now that that's out of the way, if you're wondering why SYLO is so great then I'd recommend you keep reading.

SYLO is a fantastic book filled with tons of action, mysteries, and shocking events. It's a great book to get reluctant readers hooked into, like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, this book never slows down. So if you're looking for something that will absolutely captivate you until the last page, then this is the book for you.

On top of that, the characters are fantastic. These are not your typical cookie cutter YA protagonists that boldly go against the villain, wildly defeating the odds and the villain, who has had years of experience and preparation, only to be brought down by the random upstart young boy or girl. Instead SYLO is filled with a whole range of different characters. Some are incredibly smart, and yet wont be able to see the whole picture, like any normal human, thereby making a terrible mistake, costing lives. Other's are petty and scared to the point that they can't move, frozen in indecision. And finally there are others will are scared out of their minds but other factors will cause them to get the job done, not to win some great and amazing battle, but simply to survive.

On top of the above mentioned range of protagonists, there are other smaller characters (can't say who because that will give away spoilers) that readers will be shocked by their actions, leaving readers slack jawed dumbfounded, thereby adding to the shock and mystery element of SYLO.

But If you've ever read DJ MacHale's books before then you know that he loves to introduce little things alongside these shocking turn of events early on that will be important to the overall story in later books. These are the types of things that readers will barely glace at the first read but after book two and three are out, they are frantically rereading searching for these clues to see if they can see the chain of events. All in all it's a pretty impressive display of planning and literary talent.

All in all I really liked SYLO. I was engaged from the first pages, I liked the characters, and was truly shocked by some of the events that occurred in the story. I fully recommend SYLO to anyone looking for an exciting and engaging YA book, and personally I can't wait for the next book in the series, Storm.

INFO

Publisher: Razorbill

Published: July 2, 2013

Price: $17.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/SYLO-ebook/dp/B009VMC6M8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=