Free E-Book Friday! #2 (9/23/11)

Hey, people! Free books are exciting, right? Well, here are a handful of fantasy e-books I discovered this past week that are totally and completely FREE! Two are short stories and the rest are novels. They are linked directly to the Kindle store on Amazon.com, but each might be free on other e-book store fronts, as well, if you are so inclined...

Have a great weekend, y'all!

This first e-book is one I reviewed on my blog only yesterday. I gave it a raving 5-star review!

"Drop Dead: A Lawson Vampire Bonus Story"
by Jon F. Merz

 Meet Lawson. A cynical, wise-cracking vampire charged with protecting the Balance between vampires and humans, he is part cop, part spy, and part commando -- a James Bond with fangs. Lawson mixes shrewd cunning with unmatched lethality to get his job done. He tries his best to dismantle conspiracies, dispatch bad guys, and live long enough to get home.
This time, Lawson has been given an easy assignment, a “dead drop.” That is until an old enemy returns…

From Within
by John M. Dow
 
Three strangers find themselves drawn to Wakely, a small village in the Scottish Borders, where a centuries-old conflict between two warring Celtic deities is drawing to its gruesome conclusion. A small boy holds the key to their survival, but first they have to find them. And they're not the only ones looking.

 

The Emerald Talisman (Talisman, #1)
by Brenda Pandos

To be normal, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would shed her empathic gift in a second. Life has been difficult since her mother's mysterious disappearance ten years earlier - an event she witnessed, but can't remember. Julia's situation becomes more complicated after a near death experience from a blood thirsty stalker. As high school students go missing it is clear there is a connection to her own experience--past and present. Someone has to stop the madness and a chance encounter with a creepy psychic foretells that only Julia is the key to stopping the madness, but it may require the life of the one she loves.

Marysvale

by Jared Southwick 

When accused of witchcraft, John does the only thing he's ever done"Run! That is, until he meets Jane, who lives in the bleak, imprisoned town of Marysvale. As their love grows, the dangers of Marysvale unfold; and for the first time in his life, John discovers there is something worth dying for. Marysvale is an action-packed story filled with monsters and tyrants, heroes and heroines.

Reckless Magic (Star-Crossed, #1)

by Rachel Higginson

16 year old Eden Matthews has been in and out of private schools for the last two years. Kingsley is her last chance to finish high school and she is determined to simply do that. But when she meets Kiran Kendrick and her world opens to something she thought only existed in fairy tales, she's unsure what her future will hold. Suddenly she is captivated by a boy who seems to be the source of all of her problems and struggling to rescue her best friend from a foreign prison. When attempts are made on Kiran's life, Eden alone must save him. Thrust into a world that is more make-believe than reality, Eden has to find her own destiny without losing those she loves most. Reckless is an intricate story of mystery, adventure, magic and love. Eden Matthews is an unlikely heroine set on a path to save the world and her loved ones before its too late.

"The Death Clock, a short story"

by J. Rock

Andie didn’t know what to make of the numbers.
She started seeing them when she got on the bus that morning. She didn't know what they meant...until she saw them run out...

Review: Hunger by Jackie Kessler

Hunger (The Horsemen of the Apocalypse: The Rider's Quartet, #1)

by Jackie Morse Kessler

Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Publishing Type: traditional

Publication Date: October 2010

Source: local library

Rated: Teen (14+)

Amazon.com

Lisabeth Lewis has a black steed, a set of scales, and a new job: she’s been appointed Famine. How will an anorexic seventeen-year-old girl from the suburbs fare as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse?

Traveling the world on her steed gives Lisa freedom from her troubles at home: her constant battle with hunger, and her struggle to hide it from the people who care about her. But being Famine forces her to go places where hunger is a painful part of everyday life, and to face the horrifying effects of her phenomenal power. Can Lisa find a way to harness that power—and the courage to battle her own inner demons? 

My Review

This book turned out to be very different from what I had expected. I read half of it feeling like it wasn't satisfying, or was missing something, but as I continued, I realized why I thought that at first. It wasn't because there was anything wrong with it. It was because I was expecting an entertaining fantastical escape, but this book becomes almost literary, actually, more serious. Once I realized that, my entire attitude about the book changed. Suddenly, this book took on a whole new meaning.

The protagonist, Lisabeth Lewis, is an anorexic seventeen-year-old who meets Death, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and he tells her that she is the new Famine, one of the four Horsemen. She eventually gets around to her duties and learns what she can do with her new powers, and in the process, begins to open her eyes to understanding her own psychosis.

But, don't for one second think this book is just some after-school special on how anorexia is bad. That's not what this is about, at least not solely. Lisabeth travels to parts of the world where she sees how famine shows up in the lives of real people who have no choice but to starve, and realizes that she has the power to help them. In helping them, she overcomes her real problem: her own self-centeredness.

Lisabeth is self-centered in the negative way, the way in which a person thinks they are the worst thing ever, rather than the best thing ever. This story is about how that, too, is just as bad a neurosis to have as the other extreme version. Seeing that other people suffer from starvation teaches her to look outside of herself and quit being so blind to others.

It turns out that overcoming this problem helps Lisabeth to eventually get the real kind of help she needs. But, the truth is, everyone can relate to being too self-centered. It's an issue that speaks to all of humankind, and not just to modern women. That's why this book might not be what you expect when you read it. But, you'll find it is a wonderful work of literature that magically speaks volumes of the human condition in only a scant 174 pages.

Read this one with your critical-reading cap on. If you like to analyze speculative literature, especially the kind that deals with important contemporary issues, you'll get a feast out of Hunger by Jackie Kessler.

My score: 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Review: Things to Do in Denver When You're Un-Dead by Mark E. Stone

Things to Do in Denver When You're Un-Dead

by Mark Everett Stone

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

Reading Grade: Adult

Publishing Type: traditional small press

Publication Date: July 15, 2011

Source: ARC from Camel Press (publisher)

Rated: Older Teen (15+)

Amazon.com

For ten years Kal Hakala has been the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation's top man, the longest surviving agent in its blood-soaked history. There has been no case he couldn't crack, no monster he couldn't kill. Until a plague of zombies in Denver turns into an investigation of a vicious serial killer dubbed The Organ Donor. Fueled by rage and a hatred of all things supernatural, he dives headlong into the one mystery that could finally kill him. 

My Review

I received this title as an Advanced Reader Copy from the publisher, as requested by them, in exchange for a review. 

I'll admit, I thought this was going to be a comedy, based on the title alone, but it really doesn't have as much humor in it as I expected. It does have some humor, but it's not what I would consider a “comedy”. It's a bit serious, but not overly so. 

I really liked how this story explains why certain inspirational and genius people in history were able to do the amazing things they did. It was because they used magic from the World Under, which is a separate realm from our known world where supernatural beings are from. When the magic is not being misused (but it mostly is and that's why Kal has a great-paying job killing rogue supernaturals), it is being used by famous historical people to effectuate much needed change, develop technology, etc. Or, it's being used by Kal's magician sidekick, Alex, who is smarter than a sack of Einsteins.

Alex, wearing his trademark “birth control” nerd glasses, ended up being my favorite character along with his buddy Ghost, who is a creepy cyberspace-dwelling ghoul that can hack into literally ANYTHING encrypted like melted butter. He's the guy you want on your side. Ghost's origin story is very fascinating, but I only wish it hadn't been saved for the very very end. 

Alas, I did feel this novel was riddled with too many cliches that bogged it down. Sure, Dirty Harry spouted off cliches in his movies, but they only became cliches after his movies became big hits. Kal could have started his own original sayings, but every other sentence was something I've heard uttered a million times before. This kind of made me not like him as much as I probably could have. But, he was fairly well-developed and the reader finds out what motivates him from oodles of back-story.

Speaking of back-story, the other sort of off-putting issue was with the constant flashback chapters. Some are fine if they are appropriately placed within the plot. But, I found not only were they scattered throughout, even placed at the very end of the novel, they were often not particularly illuminating. It seemed like a few were completely unnecessary, or just didn't give me the info on the characters I was expecting they would deliver.

But, back to what I liked for a moment to wrap up my review: the end. The ending was very good and completely unexpected. In the last chapter I never expected what was coming and double that for the surprise happening in the epilogue. It was very fitting and satisfying, although the story preceding it needed to be edited better. Still, this story was decently written. Fans of urban fantasy starring characters like Kal Hakala might enjoy this title. 

My score: 3 out of 5 stars