Safehold series "Off Armageddon Reef" first book gets series off to an interesting start
357311
"Reef" is a god to great start to what Weber says will be a multi book series.  You must like military fiction and the examination of comparative religions.  There are sections in this and follow up books where I questioned Weber's choice of tactics and the resulting deaths of thousands of people. The basic plot of the series seems to be following generally the plot of an eariier novella.
1765704
I always love to get my hands on the first book in a new alternate history series. Taylor Anderson has really started out well with the saga of an old worn out Great War "4-stacker" destroyer, USS Walker, and it's iron crew.

Anderson accurately depicts the desperate state of the US Asiatic Fleet in the early days of W.W. II: worn out equipment and ships, dud ammunition, torpedoes that don't work, and confused leadership. Lt. Commander Matthew Reddy, a recalled-to-duty Annapolis graduate, is placed in command of the destroyer as the tensions leading up to the events of 7 December, 1941 are increasing. Other interesting characters emerge in the telling of the tale--Chief Bosun's Mate Fitzhugh Gray, Gunners Mate Dennis Silva, to name a few. After a vividly described battle between a Japanese battlecruiser, Amagi, and Walker accompanied by Mahan, the damaged destroyer enters a strange squall that shifts the ship and crew into an alternate universe at the same time and place.

The Walker emerges into a new world populated by bizarre and very alien creatures: a species of peace-loving mammals called "lemurians" by pseudo-naturalist Courtney Bradford (a former petroleum engineer), and a voracious race of reptilian predators, the "Grik." The Walker and Captain Reddy are reluctantly drawn into yet another war in the new universe.

Several well drawn battles take place amd the Lemurians emerge as an effective ally in a struggle against the Grik; many well developed Lemurian characters also emerge: Adar, the "sky priest," Keje, commander of the Sallisa home, and Chack Sab-At, a recruit into the U.S. Navy and liason between the races. A romantic interest is provide in the guise of Lt. Sandra Tucker of the U.S. Navy nurse corps.

Most of my reviews don't belabor plots and slavishly reiterate the story line--I generally tend to focus on writing style, technical accuracy, chaacter development, and overall readability. I am pleased to report that this is a very nicely executed work in all of these regards. Author Anderson is to be commended on his first novel; a solid *5-star* effort. Highly recommended.
1070330
David Donachie has begun a new series with this book.  It continues with #2 "A Shot Rolling Ship" and #3 "An Awkward Commission" with possibly others to follow.  "By the Mast Divided" sets up the characters and begins dual story lines following the lives of John Pearce and Ralph Barclay (Pearce's enemy).  This book and the second end in cliff-hangers, so be prepared to read further.  Once the series begins, the action is fast and well paced.  Donachie has written other Age of Sail series that I enjoyed, notably the Privateerman Mystery (Harry Ludlow) series of 6 books and the fictional history of Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton.  Worth a read.
1289491
If you haven't read the SafeHold series from the beginning, you're not going to understand much of whats going on now.  This is book 8 and each book is jammed packed with more details than a thousand books could hold.  I kid you not.  Thats the whole thing about this series; its so detailed that you can get lost or just plain tired of reading about the minutia going on throughout the world of SafeHold.

SafeHold happens to be a planet of refuge for the former Terran civilization.  They fled when an alien species called the Ghbaba found Earth by detecting its sophisticated electronic emissions.  The Gaba promptly set about destroying Terra and all its citizens.  Fortunately, a colony ship was able to evade the Gabas and found the planet SafeHold.  While most of the colonists were in cryosleep, the ship's crew sets about creating a world that would advance without technology.  They established a new religion and called it the Church of God Awaiting with several members of the starship crew identified as Archangels.  They wrote an elaborate Writ which contained the books detailing what rules each Archangel expected the people of SafeHold to follow.  Some were very strict, extremely strict and were not liked by several other Archangels.

Anyway, all the colonist awakened on the same day with only implanted memories of what their past lives were supposed to have been.  These people were living in an age of deeply held religious convictions and ruled by Kings and Queens.  Trading was done by horse, wagon and sailing ships.  So, it was a very primitive civilization and it was intended to stay that way.  It was also supposed to be a peaceful civilization where men lived without fear of other men and certainly without fear of the Church of God Awaiting.

Unfortunately, over the many hundreds of years, the Church of God Awaiting had become corrupt.  Its principal Vicars were four in number and they were becoming very ruthless, unscrupulous, and immoral men.  They wanted to rule SafeHold with an iron fist not according to Gods Law, but according to theirs.  Fortunately, there was something of the old starship and the old civilization that was now stirring to life in the form of an Android named Merlin Athrawes.

In this book, a few more people are admitted into the Charisian/Merlin's inner circle to know the truth of their civilization, the war in Siddamark is going well during the winter with Carson Ironsides is tearing up the Army of God (AOG) along the canals.  Then the Charisians and their allies lose the Battle at Kudzu Narrows including two very valuable Ironsides along with about four-hundred Charisian seamen.  The last time Charisian seamen were made prisoners of the Church, they were publicly tortured and killed as heretics which they were not.  Now even the Churchs own Admirals are fearing for their own families safety not from the Charisians, but from their own Church of God Awaiting!

So, you have to read this series from the start to find out how Merlin Athrawes sets this entire civilization back on the right course.  It is an exciting adventure.  It is a science fiction novel and one of the best I have ever read.  Still, it has sailing ships and armies using crossbows and swords as fighting weapons. There are so many characters that I do not understand how the author keeps everything straight.  Additionally, something significant happens in every one of these books.  I cannot wait for the next book, but I know that it will not be available for probably two years.  Ill unhappily wait!
2787528
This is an interesting introduction to a new sci-fi series. Though it takes a while to get started, it makes sense as there is a lot of set-up needed to ground the reader in the new setting. Without giving away any major spoilers, this is a really engaging universe that is quite interesting once you get up to speed.
3654079
It took reading the epilogue to understand that this was the authors first book.  That is the ultimate compliment.  I like the storyline of the series.  I'm about to start the next book and look forward to it.  The concept of the Atlanteans isn't new but the story behind this series is definitely interesting and it will be exciting to see what happens when they wake up!  Keep writing and don't be afraid to make the hard choices.
641527
Looking for a sci-fi/military romantic suspense book that will keep you engaged, have you invested in the characters, and provide plenty of action and excitement?  Well, you'll find that right here in Winning Glory.  This book is a great start to an interesting series from Ann Gimpel, and will have you primed for the rest of the series.

The characters were realistic-even from the standpoint of the genetically altered ones.  The division between the men and women of the so-called "freaks" (the government's nickname for them) provides some extra friction within the story beyond that of the freaks versus the humans, and makes for an even more intriguing read.  Our lead female, Glory, is strong-she'd have to be to go through what she has and still try and make it on her own.  And Roy, the agent who finds her, is a great alpha male specimen-protective and strong while being drawn to Glory in a way he can't explain.

The secondary characters provide a good supporting framework within the story, and there's plenty of them that you'll be hoping to see in future books as you'll want to know their stories.

With plenty of excitement and suspense, Winning Glory will pull you in and leave you wanting to hear more in the overall story of the series, since even though things do wrap up for Roy and Glory in this book, it opens up so many more doors and plenty more plot extensions for future installments.

4 stars to Winning Glory, recommended to 18+ for language and adult situations.  I'm really looking forward to reading more of this series!
2137680
This first book in Cohen's Halcyone series is a great start. The main character, Ro Maldonado, is a prickly and talented young woman with an abusive father. And let me tell you, her father is a major jackass, a criminal, and an all-round candidate for worst father ever. However, his bad parenting is almost equaled by Micah Rotherwood's dad, a disgraced senator in league with Maldonado senior. All of the despicable behavior is in spoiler territory, so 'nuff said.

When Ro discovers Micah in the crashed derelict ship, she wants to move in as well. She's fascinated by the 40-year-old tech and wants badly to fix this abandoned ship for her own. Micah has been using the space for botany experiments, which involve growing some illegal plant material.

Jem Durbin is a brilliant kid who is a little bit infatuated with Ro and eagerly takes on projects to help her revive the Halcyone. His brother, Barre, is a genius in a completely different way involving music, but has a bit of a drug habit. When Jem finds Barre unconscious, he asks Ro to hack the medical system to get rid of any evidence of drugs in Barre's system. As soon as he can get his brother up and moving, he takes him to the Halcyone to hide out from their parents. Jem knows Barre will be sent to rehab if he's found, so off they go to join Ro and Micah on the derelict ship.

Okay, four brilliant teens messing about with an old ship. What could go wrong? Plenty is barely sufficient to cover it.

Overall this is a great setup for the series as we learn about the main actors in the series books to come (there are three in the series as I'm writing this, so hurry up and get started now).

This is a strong opening to an entertaining series which is not all fluffy YA kid stuff. There is plenty of tech here to satisfy the hardcore Science Fiction fan.

Highly recommended. I'll definitely be hitting the other books in the series soon.
4217041
The Tethered Mage is the first book in the Sword and Fire series. Amalia is heir to her mother's place on the Raverran Council of Nine, but right now she's more interested in Alchemy than politics. The Mage Marked are normally taken into the Mews. as children. They are called falcons and the people who "jess" them are called the falconeers. The Falcons are used powerful weapons to deter other empires from attacking Raverra. Zaira, a fire mage, has escaped being caught until now. Unfortunately, it's Amalia who jesses her. Her destiny is changed from that day forward.

The tethered mage was a well-written book. Its pace is pretty steady but does fall a little slow in the middle. I enjoyed the world creation. There are some twists and turns that were surprising. I am looking forward to the next book.
4586070
This was the first book that I read in the Cedar Cove series, but even without having read any of the earlier books I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the books that follow.  I thought the author did a good job for new readers in giving them some background on the numerous characters, but I did need the handy "who's who" provided at the front of the book and, having put the book down, often had to pause to remember which character was which when I resumed reading.  Overall, it was worth the effort to catch up!
1933348
This review is based on a ARC-version of the book but I doubt that the final book will be much different. It is indeed a good start to a new series. Most of the book is pretty much setting the stage for the rest of the series, like the pilot show of a TV-series. The end result is that the stage is set for a somewhat Battlestar Galactica style book series although there are plenty of differences so I use the comparison somewhat loosely.

There are a decent amount of action, ground based, fighter crafts and capital ship action in the book although at times it does slow down a bit with lengthy interpersonal discussions. In general the action is well done and enjoyable to read though.

The author also managed to cram in no less than two attempts to take on the Corsican Empire although I have to say that some elements of these parts of the book felt a bit less thought through. For example you are taking on an interstellar empire and you are surprised, to the extent that you just give up, when they decide to throw a nuke at you. In the second attempt (slight spoiler ahead) they wham a battleship into another battleship and then they not only go on fighting inside for a lengthy amount of time but they somehow manage to jump away while still being stuck together. Felt very unrealistic to me. On the whole these are fairly minor complaints though.

As I wrote before, this book is very much a stage setter for the rest of the series and at the end there are several ongoing threads which of course all are entangled into the main plot of liberating Earth from the Corsican Empire and taking on the all bad Imperial Admiral. The book have all the basic plot elements for making a good action/adventure series. A few heroes, fast women (hey, Im a guy so I do like that stuff in my books), big ships and a really nasty and despicable bad guy.

I am definitely going to pick up the next book in this series.
601133
Good beginning to the series. Fans of fast paced space based fleet combat will enjoy it. The theme for much of this style of scyfy is atypical in that it is the Earth against the universe, but the author finds his hook with the characters and ship, and a mysterious subplot near the end. I have just started book two and it continues at the same fast pace.
980546
This is the first in a new series following eleven 'ultimate predators', beings that have been asleep for sixty-five million years and are only now reawakened to prevent destruction prophesied in an ancient Mayan prediction. These beings are far from human and although initially the reader isn't told what they are it's pretty easy to guess, particularly because of their names.

When Ty Endeka is awakened from his sleep in Ireland and taken to Houston to assist the godlike Fin to overcome the evil named Nine he struggles to keep his predatory nature contained. Especially when he meets his designated driver, Kelly Maloy, a music student who's trying to earn some extra money through being a driver. Kelly doesn't realise that she hasn't been picked randomly but that Fin has seen her in the future battle against Nine. As the supernatural world of evil, vampires, werewolves and other nonhumans is unfolded to Kelly she finds Ty is taking more and more of her attention - but is there any future between an ordinary girl such as her and a strange, predatory and ancient beast?

This story was a reasonable read with an interesting background - that of the ancient predators - although it wasn't always easy to be convinced by the story with these creatures. However the characterisation in this story was rather weak - events take place and the characters react to them but the reader is never drawn deeply into their world and their thoughts. The romance aspect was fairly unromantic and perfunctory and it wasn't entirely clear to me why either main character fell in love with the other. The large cast of characters wasn't too unwieldy, however, and there were some interesting people introduced. Whether I can face reading the (presumably) following ten books in this series is another matter - this one was OK but nothing special and the slightly bland writing style would probably get dull fairly quickly.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book  Helen Hancox 2008
831280
Beginning of a series of books about a vampire Hunter and princess of Atlantis. Danger is just around the corner
673097
DESTINY: ILLUSIONS is an engrossing beginning to a new sci-fi series by Daniel Rafferty. The book was slow to start, mostly due to the prologue and an over dependence on back story. But I was pulled in quickly enough. This is one genre where world building is as interesting as the story itself. And when the action really got started, I couldn't put the book down!

I was a little worried going in that I wouldn't enjoy the story; it has such strong military and political undercurrents. But I was fascinated by the politics on each world. I connect more to characters than plot, and scenes aboard the Raptor were my favorites, although I am looking forward to reading more about the Naxon race as the series continues.

Initially, the conflict appears to be brewing between the humans and Peridians. So I was actually surprised by the ending. I don't want to spoil future readers, I will only say the ending left the series looking epic. I can't  wait for the next installment, SURVIVAL.
496627
I enjoyed this first book in the series, although i found a few things a little hard to swallow with it. Cor opened up to his new friends rather easily for bing someone that initially doesn't want friends at all, much less to ever be noticed. the villain was a good twist and all in all i enjoyed reading the book. i kept going back to it when i could, and will probably keep reading the rest of the series. there were a few funny lines as well.
2538396
This is a solid 3.5 stars, but instead of my usual giving it 3 stars, I am recording 4 stars for two reasons.

1. It is a world builder book and shows potential
2. It is a first novel from a new author

Story: 3.5/5
1: Being Vague, rambling plot with no little believable storyline
5: Ripping yarn, clever, thought provoking

A new author on the scene and I am convinced that if Cloudstone Key gets momentum well see a lot more of Darren Patrick. As a first novel I have to say that I am impressed with the story. The scene is set in a remote village on a north east coast. The village is famous for gathering Cloudstone out of the rock face. The stone allows the local Adept to record history on to them. It turns out that Cloudstone is one of 9 agates in the world, each with different powers. This story is centered around two lads from the village who end up on a journey across the lands.
This first book is really a world and character building story, it reminds me of the first book in Abercrombies The First Law series in that regard. It isn't a long story, but by the end of the book you have a good understanding of the world, the laws, the story of the stones, some magic and some of the players in the game.
For a first novel Patrick has done a great job in keeping the story relatively tight. There are a few areas that I was concerned with, for example there are parts where the author has seemed to use convenient methods to explain or move the story along. In a couple of scenes, our protagonist gets to see inside the head of members of The Shroud, who happen to be stalking him. This helps him learn almost all their plans and members in a couple of pages, I don't have a problem with this, as long as he keeps that skill and it is explained to us in book two how he does it. Secondly, travel anywhere in the world by sprinkling some powder also needs explanation and not just a means to allow the journey to quickly get to point B. I would have also liked to have seen more in the story of Petr and how he ends up in the role he does. It seems to have happened in the background quite quickly.

Overall I am really happy with the potential of this story.

Characters: 3/5
1: Unrealistic/unbelievable. Feel nothing for these characters
5: Fully engaged with the characters, believable. Researched.

I found the two main characters a bit clunky in the first three chapters and couldn't always remember which was which. But that soon changed as the characters developed. On a negative note, they are a bit good guy/bad guy and id like to see some development of Petr so that we get to understand him, as his character changed the most in the shortest of times. On the positive, you can easily see that Patrick has potential with developing characters and some of the interaction between them is encouraging.

Read Weight: Solid
Fluffy, Light, Solid, Heavy, Struggle

The story itself is a light easy read, I have marked it solid though as there are number of new things to learn. In this first book we are only given certain knowledge and you can tell that the story is much larger than we are given so far.

Engagement: 4/5
1: Not fussed about finishing
5: Could stay up all night

I was definitely engaged well. I really enjoyed getting back into it on the second night of reading and even shut down the xbox so that I could read more. The story kicks along at a bit of a fast pace, being an intro book and all, so youll not find time to wonder what is happening with the story.

Recommend: 4/5
1: Would advise you to read something else
5: Go read it now. It is THAT good

Absolutely will recommend this story. I am excited to read a book that offers a big story with interesting concepts. Especially when you learn that the story is from a first time author.
I am looking forward to starting book two The Peregrine Prophecy next week.