Refeshingly Original in an Unoriginal Genre
932473
In a world that has been contaminated by genetic engineering, the story opens on the young woman Maya who, we learn early on, has been left an orphan through a tragic lab accident claiming both her scientist parents. In the walled safety of Harbour City where she lives, this condemns her to a bare existence of closet sized living quarters and extreme prejudice from her more favored counter parts. The continued friendship of the well placed young man, Taylor, and his parents are really the bright spots to a pretty dismal existence. As the tale unfolds, we find that though there are others who can aspire to and do live in better circumstances, everyone is required to make sacrifices. Food is rationed, left overs or scraps are unheard of. Space is at a premium, to the point that a single family dwelling from the past is surmised to have housed dozens of people. Also there a rules for everything, or rather for the good of the population. The only sentences provided by the penal code are televised fights to death, called Sub Wars, from which only a very few have the hope of returning from to citizenship and city life.

A series of unfortunate decisions send Maya and Taylor to Sub Wars where they meet the Warden Laurie whose job is to train them to survive the battles not realizing that that there is an entirely different path waiting for all of them. What follows is a fast paced adventure filled with mutant humans, nocturnal predators and plant life that can protect itself.

In the beginning the story is a bit stilted, with a lot of exposition fit into the conversations and relationships between the characters and the situation that lands Maya and Taylor into trouble seems far fetched given the strictures of their society. However once the story leaves the city, it and the characters move full speed ahead, being both enjoyable and intense.

There is always the chance of becoming preachy when dealing with an ecosystem apocalypse. I happy to say that wasn't the case here. Instead, the story is a surprisingly original take on the theme.

Poor Taylor seems to be more of a plot device, at times, than a character and some of the outside characters, such as Baba, could stand to be fleshed out a bit more. The reader has to trust in the main characters experience when dealing with them. Luckily those characters, Coal in particular, come across as trustworthy. There is plenty of unwritten back story begging to be told and I imagine plenty more story to come.
4105732
I'm a fan of American composers like Robert Rich, Steve Roach, and Michael Stearns.  All of their music is well made, but even though they were influenced and got their start from European synthesists, their music is distinctly American in style.  The ambient music of the U.S. is great but after listening to Centrozoon, a duo presumably from Germany, I am reminded of why I enjoy this music in the first place.  The music is fresh yet has an underscore of warped and mutating sounds made from vintage synthesizers.  It's more than just a novelty sound.  For it to be interesting, the sounds must go somewhere, and the here the music really conjures up a truly otherworldly feel.  Having said this, the music is not of the exciting roller coaster variety.  It lingers like some of the darker music by Harold Budd; in fact, one piece sounds like it could have been an outtake from Lovely Thunder.  Take that lingering, icy drift and combine the slow alien machine bubblings of the modular synths and something quite fresh takes form.
3808177
This album features a dumbly simple and cheesy style, but executed in a way that's intelligent, because the production and construction are spot-on. No track is bad, but there's a slight weighting of the real killer tracks to the beginning. 'One More Time' is a 4-to-the-floor house stomper, which uses vocodored vocals that are exuberant but contain just a hint of melancholy that hints towards the sad-dance style of, say, Underworld's 'Born Slippy', or perhaps more accurately, Roger Sanchez's 'Another Chance'.

'Aerodynamic' is all out guitar madness, with a (surely programmed) solo that moves at lightning pace, backed by a funky arrangement; it's what Air's '10,000Hz Legend' should have sounded like when they went prog. 'Digital Love' is one of the poppiest tracks here, almost slightly parodying the ballad format, but with a winning hook and an absolutely killer chord cadence in the bridging section, which carries it through. 'Crescendolls' is all 'Remedy'-era Basement Jaxx, while 'Veridis Quo' is highly reminiscent of Kraftwerk, with its more minimalist electro. Throughout, they dabble in elements of hip-hop, soul and funk to complement their sound.

The only track that doesn't totally convince me is 'Something About Us', which is a kind of loungy, jazzy ballad, but on this particular style the robot vocals don't really work in the same way as they do on, say, 'Digital Love', and you long for someone like Air collaborator Gordon Tracks (voice of their 'Playground Love') to lend it some genuine style and grace. The track still isn't bad, though. Its perhaps a bit of a shame that the only truly organic vocals come on the last two tracks. Nevertheless, the strike rate here is exceptionally high, and its an album worth owning even for people who aren't usually fans of such music.
4874923
Something original in the paranormal genre! Fun - and funny - lead characters who seem like "real people", several preternatural beings with various powers and abilities, and enough terror and mayhem to satisfy those who like horror with their paranormal novels. There are some editing weaknesses, but the story is fresh and enjoyable.  There are sexually graphic scenes and language, though not classified as "erotica".
4803661
At first, I wasn't quite sure what to make of this. The style is frenetic; the language a sort of souped-up Cockney with flashes of literary dazzle like fireworks going off amid the fast-paced, gritty street patter. It is not, as another reviewer has said, a thriller in the ordinary sense of the term. There is action, yes - plenty of it, in fact - and part of it is set in the criminal underworld of two countries, but the overall effect is more literary than these elements seem to suggest: the characters matter as much, if not more, than the plot itself. It's really a sort of modern-age moral fable, told with great lashings of dark humour and witty dialogue. I've seen it compared to this and that - Layer Cake and Elmore Leonard; Fear and Loathing and Irvine Welsh - but it's really quite unlike anything I've read before, and I suppose that's why it took me a while to settle into it. The writing certainly grabs you by the throat, but the story plays with your expectations in more ways than one. So if you like to be surprised, and if you want to read something totally fresh and original, then this is probably a book for you. By about a quarter of the way through, I was completely won over. It's the kind of novel I'll probably want to re-read some day. It's exciting as a story, but exciting as literature, too. I'm definitely looking forward to Mr Gould's next book.
876879
This is an excellent group of short stories that are presented in, more or less, the classical style, yet have a freshness, a distinctively unique quality to the writing.  There is a new tone to the stories, familiar, yet different enough to be entertaining reading. There are some with whiplash endings echoing O. Henry, and others require a bit of thought and interpretation.
The plots are new, interesting and believable enough for a SH pastiche; with one exception, the last story "Yellowhat". I have no idea what the author was going for with this story.  The plot is most far-fetched, and I won't be a spoiler, but to me anyway, the ending was incomprehensible. Actually, if someone does come up with an explanation I'd like to hear it.  I was torn between a rating of 4 or 5 stars for this book, and Yellowhat was enough for me to go with 4.  I got the impression the author wrote himself into a corner with this one, and just pulled an ending out of his hat. That one example however, shouldn't deter anyone from reading this book.  I was very pleasantly surprised by it's quality and entertainment value. I would definitely read more of this authors work.
2859948
While the beat may be dated in texture, the delivery of the rhymes themselves come off smooth and instantly intriguing.  I actually love the use of the 80's pop throwback here, especially on the chorus that just makes the track feel nostalgic but also oddly modern and revolutionary in ways.  I can see Kanye West kinds of style dripping from Theophilus London, and I really like that.  It's wet with originality despite being undeniably influenced by yesteryear.  My only concern would be whether or not Theophilus could sustain this sound without overdoing it or coming off as one-dimensional.  It certainly works on `Why Even Try', but I'm afraid that if this is his only trick (oh please god don't let it be) that after about four tracks his album would become stale.  That said, judging this solitary track I can't help but praise it immensely.  I just gobbled this all up.  This song is so `chill', so suave and cool and just undeniably something to peak interest instantly.

I'm completely sold and will be purchasing more music from Theophilus London VERY shortly!
3442810
Gets back to the originality of the show and characters
299418
I first discovered Poul Anderson in the early 1970's and over the past 30 years have managed to collect practically every book he's ever published--a total of more than 80 novels and short-story collections, including his very rare historical "The Golden Slave."  Up to this point I chose not to keep only one of those I read ("The Devil's Game"), but I'm afraid this title will make Number Two.  SF has always been fundamentally an optimistic genre--even dystopic stories usually feature a maverick or two beating their wings against the bars of society's cage--and while in the end "Starfarers" also posits a rebirth of the human spirit, it left me feeling somehow unsatisfied.  Perhaps it's that Anderson's earlier work (like the great Ensign Flandry and Nicholas van Rijn/Davey Falkayn series or the retellings of Norse sagas), despite a lurking shadow of decadence (the "Long Night" often referred to by Flandry, the Nordic gloom of the sagas), focuses on characters who are truly heroic, larger than life (though far from perfect), while the "Envoy"'s crew seem more to be an accidental association of rather ordinary folk.  Perhaps it's the picture he paints (rather improbable, to my mind) of a humanity that (in some unexplained way) manages to confine itself to Earth (and a few widely scattered colonies) without overwhelming the planet with its numbers and waste.  Or perhaps it's the way he portrays what seems to me a change in the basic human character over the 10,000 years of "Envoy"'s absence; after all, anyone who has read widely in history understands that people today aren't too basically dissimilar to those of ancient Egypt and Sumeria--or, for that matter, the Australian aboriginies and other modern counterparts of Stone Age humanity.  Even the very late Anson Guthrie series had more of a basically upbeat tone than this one does.  It's true that his Tahirian aliens are wonderfully original and excellently drawn, and the starfaring Kith--clans of traders--are a people worth knowing.  And even in his age, the author lost none of his lyrical style.  But if you're looking to get familiar with the best of Anderson, don't start with this novel.  I'd go so far as to say that only utter completists should trouble to keep it in their collections.
1816539
Combining elements from 80s television with classic pulp stories like Conan, BARBARIAN LORD weaves an original story in a world that seems strangely familiar. Though taking place in a non-Earth setting, the story borrows heavily from Norse mythology and Nordic traditions, but does so in a refreshing and complex manner, making the character of Barbarian Lord not just a brute, but a principled and even poetic warrior borne from a culture that values honesty and heroism.

The story itself is neatly framed using talking birds to fill the reader in when the less ponderous Barbarian Lord doesn't bother to summarize. It is an interesting bit of world building, and a fresh device to keep the story moving along without getting too bogged down by long stretches of travel or battle. The pace of the narrative is fast --- its a tale of revenge, where Barbarian Lord is set up by a jealous neighbor and stripped of his property. There may be a certain inevitability to the story, but there is a lyric quality to the writing --- a sense that this is a saga, a story to be sung and not simply told. It might not reinvent the wheel, but its use of magic and the way it sets up ghosts, monsters, allies and obstacles is at the very least fun and striking.

The artwork seems simplistic, favoring fairly straightforward and realistic depictions of characters with a bit of a cartoonish touch, evoking things like He-Man, especially with the skull-heading villains. The relative simplicity of the lines for the characters, though, is underscored by the detailed and varied landscapes that dominate BARBARIAN LORD. The lack of color is handled well, and its absence never seemed detrimental as the story unfolded. A sweeping tale, the artwork is appropriate to the story and to the character of Barbarian Lord himself, who is simple in his dealings but capable of great depth of thought and sudden violence.

Where BARBARIAN LORD seemed to falter slightly was in its lack of diversity. The story is made up almost entirely of large, white men, which is likely an attempt to capture the stereotypical image of the Viking and to point back to characters like He-Man and Conan. While there might not be quite the Nordic literary tradition of emphasizing diversity, that doesn't work as an excuse for anything produced today. For a work that creates its own setting, the graphic novel stays rather slavishly to the perceived history of northern Europe, with its lack of prominent women or non-whites, and that was a little disappointing to see.

Overall, though, BARBARIAN LORD is a rather charming story, one that mixes humor and action well. Barbarian Lord himself proves that he can think as well as fight, as he shows during the hilarious poetry fight that plays like a modern day rap battle. The bits of magic and mysticism are interesting and keep the world mysterious, and the quest is compelling enough to follow. Although it would have been nice to see the male dominance complicated, in the end it's a novel retelling of the standard barbarian story, and succeeds at being fun and funny. For what it is, I would recommend it for fans of the genre or anyone feeling nostalgic for a good barbarian tale.

Reviewed by Charles Payseur.
1393263
There's an old saying among writers (and creatives in general) that there's "nothing new under the Sun." Fortunately, R.J. Harris has turned that tired old trope on its head. In all the young-adult fiction I've read over the years (it's a lot...) I haven't stumbled upon an idea quite as fresh as this one in a while. It was so refreshing to open this book up to a new kind of story, with Native American characters taking center-stage and diving into an entire mythos of lore, spiritual awakening, latent magical powers, ageless sage leaders, and, naturally, angsty young people battling not only big scary monsters, but themselves in a conflict of deep personal struggle, of self discovery, of a painful past, and of a hopeful future.

Harris gives us a nice formula and layout here, with each chapter of The Spirit Breather featuring both the voices of Joseph, handsome, if brash, immortal member of an ancient race of Native protectors; and Emily, an unsuspecting, fierce young woman who struggles to move past a life-altering event and discover her destiny, and how she's connected to something much larger than herself. In hearing from both of these characters, and in experiencing their inner monologues, struggles, feelings, etc., we are graced with dynamic characters who grow and change throughout the course of the story, and who help us explore some very compelling themes about the power of self transformation. They are not passive products of the world around them but, rather, active participants in their own destinies. Joseph experiences new emotions and struggles to define how he feels because of the distance between himself and his humanity. Emily, on the other hand, grows into the hero everyone around knows she is, but that she herself can't seem to accept. It is these transformations that fuel the forward motion of the plot in Harris' engaging tale.

The characters are beautifully flawed and, at times, a bit neurotic, which makes for interesting growth and some phenomenal interactions with side characters (the lovable Chandler, for instance; or the unstable, shady Derrick). The Spirit Breather takes readers on a fun, unique ride through the wilderness of Western Carolina, and delves into the mystical, and beautiful culture of the Cherokee in a page-turning, action-packed volume that will keep readers guessing, and have them begging for the next chapter in Joseph's and Emily's stories.
4439187
There is certainly a shortage of female-fronted rock bands: those that exist usually do so to appeal to a 13-18 female demographic and not much else. That is a shame, because bands like Flyleaf and Evanescense prove that there can be a universally appealing edge to rock music when a good set of high-pitched pipes cuts out in front of the mix. For the Christian audience, add Fireflight to that list.

I refuse to promote this band as anything new or original. This is the kind of radio-ready hard rock you've heard a hundred times before; it relies heavily upon its frontwoman's vocal and lyrical hooks. However, it's certainly a step forward from the somewhat forgettable album "Unbreakable," which, while well-made, channeled cliche after Christian cliche through almost every song's lyrics. As with all bands attempting to pour out a straightforward Christian perspective into a singable melody, Fireflight cannot seem to entirely escape the occasional cliche (lines such as "you've got me desperate" and "I'm addicted to you" are indeed tired). Such lyrical hiccups are the exception rather than the rule, and the melodic and lyrical hooks on songs such as "For Those Who Wait" and "What I've Overcome" will stick in your head - just like all radio-friendly rock anthems should do.

Musically, Fireflight delivers the kind of catchy, headbanging riffs that every rock lover wants to hear, but not much else. The listener will not be hearing soaring guitar solos or interesting musical twists during the heavier portions of the album. That said, the album slows down on "Name" and "Recovery Begins," to which I have to critique the former for it's me-too orchestral sound and praise the latter for the hauntingly simple melody and thick, layered accompaniment. Found everywhere else are crunchy guitars and Dawn Richardson's crystal clear vocals, and the result is quite solid if not original in any way.

Overall, "For Those Who Wait" treads a very familar direction, both musically and lyrically. The only only riff here that will sound instantly recognizable five years later is probably the introduction to "Desperate," and - guess what - it happens to be this album's first single. There's a lot to like here, just not much to truly love. It is certainly a worthy buy for anyone wanting something solid in the rather anemic line of really crunchy, universally appealing Christian rock, but not for someone looking for something unique. That gets this album a solid four stars out of five.

Everything said and done, "For Those Who Wait" is a step forward for Fireflight and has me wondering "what could be in store for those who wait for their next album?"

Ten-point Scale: 7.5 out of 10
Genre: Christian / Rock
Objectionable Content: None
Recommended: Worth the purchase
854864
Ranging from the very traditional-sounding "B'chol dor Vahdor" all the way to Chaim Parchi's boisterous "Chad Gadya" (track 5), this is definitely a bizarre collection, but refreshingly original all the same.  My kids love hearing me try to sing along to the endless tongue twister of Parchi's "chaddi-gaddi-gaddi-gaddi-gaddi ya-a" and I can never resist the challenge!
After years of "same old-same old" Pesach albums, this one truly is different.  With its mix of English, Yiddish, Ladino, and a bunch of other languages, there's something for everybody here.  All those "Chad Gadyas" do get a tad monotonous after a while, though.  This album probably could have done with fewer of those and maybe a "Dayeinu" (which, interestingly, means "enough already!") or two instead.  That's not a complaint, though, just a suggestion.
The instrumentation here is sophisticated and exciting.  If you've had it up to here with those soporific "kiddush and mah-nishtana" Pesach albums, this is definitely one to blast full-volume when you're vacuuming or scrubbing behind the fridge getting ready for Pesach; a joyful reminder of why we're doing all of it in the first place.
1174292
What I liked about this book was that it was truly original. The concept here is that the protagonist can "psychically" experience other times and places by touching artifacts from those periods. So he becomes involved in an archeological dig which takes him back to the distant past through the unearthed artifacts.  The scenes from the prehistoric past are very well done and again a fresh and unique story.

The only flaw in the novel is the character development, which is a little unbelievable at some points. But if you're looking for a fresh sci-fi story line, this is a good one.
2293549
This book, while enjoyable, is neither unique nor creative.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close reads like an extended essay in a college fiction-writing seminar where the student, Jonathan Safran Foer, has been asked to write in the style of another author, David Grossman.  And honestly, it is B+ work.
To say that Foer was inspired by David Grossman's far superior See Under: Love, is not accurate.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an intellectual and creative borrowing (theft implying greater malice than is fair to assign, and expansion implying that he has added to and developed the original, which is not the case) of the earlier work, originally published in Hebrew and released in English in 1989.  Like Grossman, Foer centers his story on a quirky (slightly disturbed), intellectual boy left on his own to make sense of things in a world forever marked by unthinkable human tragedy (WWII and 9/11).  The creative weaving of different narratives, chronology, literary styles and language play is common to both.  But it is Grossman who created this unique construct that touches the reader with humanity, love, innocence, and occasional humor in the face of abhorrent evil.  It is his creation, not Foer's.  And in Grossman's words, there are brilliant, shining moments of heartbreaking tenderness and awareness - a feat not attained by Foer, whose ability to touch the reader is more maudlin.
It is interesting that Foer would have publicly acknowledged Grossman's See Under: Love as "The novel of the 21st century (NEWSWEEK August 2007)."  It is an unjust world we live in, a world where the unique and brilliant accomplishments of one man are given their due to another, and I suppose Foer's conscience troubles him.
So, if you think you like this book, read See Under: Love and then, think again.  But readers beware; While Foer's work reads like teen fiction, Grossman's work is a challenge for the sophisticated reader.  However, it will not disappoint.
It was good enough for Foer to imitate and you know what they say about imitation.
3475046
In Kelly Creagh's debut,&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Nevermore/dp/1442402008/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Nevermore</a>, the reader first meets Isobel:  a blonde cheerleader with the quarterback boyfriend. Varen Nethers, on the other hand, is everything Isobel isn't: long black hair, kohl around the eyes, and a dismissive attitude. When the two are paired together for an English project, each is irritated, but they soon learn there's more to one another than the stereotype.  As Isobel spends more and more time with Varen, she's drawn into the frightening world he's created in the pages of his notebook.  Varen's ideas don't just stay on the page, and Isobel must try to save them both from the dream world that threatens them.

NEVERMORE brings a fresh and dark take to the young adult paranormal romance genre.  Its original mythology centers on the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and the story is scarier than most, almost bordering on horror.  Because of this, the book should appeal to dark fantasy fans. The novel's greatest strength, however, lies in the relationship between Isobel and Varen and its development. Instead of the instant, unexplained attraction seen in other books, their relationship grows over time and for realistic reasons.  Character development for Varen is strong; he's more than just an angry goth boy and he becomes an appealing and desirable lead.  Isobel was also likeable.  Even though a cheerleader, she's depicted as quick, loyal, and not vapid: someone outside of the stereotype.  The novel also had consistent pacing that had me turning pages to see what happened next, even with its long length.

Despite these strengths, there were some aspects that could be improved. While the first two-thirds of the book focused on the characters' relationship with only a hint of the paranormal, the last third became solely about the supernatural. There was little transition for this shift, and I wished the two parts had been merged more seamlessly. Parts of the mythology also became confusing in this portion.  Secondary characters like Gwen felt too convenient. The writing also sometimes became cumbersome with drawn-out narrative or action sequences.  This made the story feel a little long, not because of actual length, but because it could have been told in fewer words with the same effect. The ending, while left at a definitive point, was a cliffhanger that will require reading the sequel to see what happens next.

In all, NEVERMORE was a unique and darkly enjoyable contribution to this genre, with lots of good relationship building and a new and frightening mythology. I hope that Creagh devotes more time to clarifying her dream world in the sequel and that secondary characters are given more depth and purpose as well.

Note: This review refers to an advance reader's copy.
756553
I had never heard of this band until a fellow co-worker suggested that I might like them.  I checked out some stuff on YouTube, liked what I heard, and then picked up this album.  These guys are certainly unique.  Although their material is somewhat retro in nature with a psychedelic bent not all that different from bands like The Flaming Lips or even some of their forefathers from the 60's, the band manage to be original and extremely creative.  Apparently this is the band's first album on a major label.  Not having any of their previous stuff I can't say how it compares, but I don't detect any "selling out" on any of this stuff.  The opening track "So American" is instantly catchy.  I also like "Head Is A Flame", "Everything You See", and "Sleep Forever".  Really, every track on here is pretty strong.  The vocalist's voice is different and took me a few listens to get used to, but once it sinks in his voice is the perfect complement to the music.  The bottom line is that I will definitely be seeking out more of this band's material.