Alyce Caswell - Author
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Book Reviews

Jeffy in the Multiverse of Koontz

29/5/2022

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Elsewhere by Dean Koontz

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Jeffy Coltrane receives "the key to everything" from a vagrant who seems to have a problem with reality. But then cold men in uniforms show up looking for the key, which helps its bearer jump through the multiverse to different worlds. Anyone who uses the key or knows of it is constantly hunted - but now Jeffy and his daughter have a chance to fill a hole in their lives. Is it worth the danger?

Wow, so Koontz really, really excels at pacing. This was unputdownable, even though it wasn't an excellent book. I did enjoy the fact that it was slightly different from other multiverse stories (less time in other worlds = fewer bogged down scenes), but I also felt that things were slightly too easy for Jeffy and co. And the bad guy was seriously stereotypical (you know the type, always the most deviant of deviants). A cracking read, nonetheless.

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In the Shadow of the Old Canon

28/5/2022

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Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen

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Cato Neimoidia has declared itself neutral in the Clone Wars, but a devastating attack has laid waste to one of its cities and now they are demanding an investigation. Obi-Wan is sent in the Republic's place, newly alone without his former Padawan, and finds that Neimoidians have many more nuances than he realised. And he is more in need of Anakin's help than ever.

While I liked the idea of this book, I felt that it didn't quite live up to my expectations. Too much meandering and too little engagement - an impression not doubt spurred on the prose constantly getting bogged down in lengthy self reflection by the characters. I find myself missing the Clone Wars books of the old canon. They had to follow similar rigid rules, I imagine, but still managed to be exciting and convey a feeling of danger.

This all said, Brotherhood is an easy, undemanding read, just not especially memorable.

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Second and Second to None

4/5/2022

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Corpselight (Verity Fassbinder #2)
by Angela Slatter

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Verity Fassbinder is back in the thick of things - and she's also heavily pregnant. Something wet and gross and deadly is lurking in Brisneyland, but it doesn't offer the same danger that a mysterious kitsune does...or the appearance of those thought lost. Verity can handle an attack from all sides...but can she also protect her family?

Easily the best book of the trilogy and definitely not bogged down by the issues that usually afflict a book 2 in a trilogy - although, it's obvious this was meant to be more than trilogy (and how I wish it was a proper series). I've always liked how David was used in the other books and this is no exception. Verity is a character who is grounded by her family and she's not the isolated hero that pervades so many other novels (side note - even I'll admit that isolating her in book #3 was a stroke of genius). Anyway, I loved Corpselight and I'll forever be salty that this "trilogy" didn't get the marketing it deserved.

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Reading Outside the Comfort Zone

3/5/2022

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Magpie Murders (Susan Ryeland #1)
by Anthony Horowitz

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Atticus Pünd could ignore what seems to be the accidental death of a housekeeper, but when the body count continues to rise he is drawn to a small English village - the typical setting for the typical English crime novel. But he is fictional and so is his world. Even he could not conceive what a few missing pages might lead to when an editor goes on the hunt for them...

Look, this is an incredibly clever book and it was almost masterful in its execution. But it is definitely not my thing. I read it because A) my aunt sent it to me and B) the cover was exquisite (except, as it turns out, I had got my hands on an uncorrected proof and sadly the real cover isn't as good). I'm also a little tried of this type of female character that male authors seem to enjoy writing - usually they make abysmal decisions that make me dislike them enormously.

Anyway, Horowitz achieved what he set out to do. Which is create a book that plays with the crime genre and inserts the reader as a detective themselves. So this is actually very good and I can appreciate that...but it's not good enough to make me swear off my undying hatred of the crime genre. ;)

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Time Wounds Some Books

30/4/2022

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The Good, the Bad and the Undead (The Hollows #2)
by Kim Harrison

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Rachel Morgan is struggling to make bank, to avoid a demon who's marked her, to not get eaten by her vampire roommate - and oh yeah, now she has to catch a serial killer who's going after witches who know a thing or two about ley lines. So it'd be dangerous if she, a witch, also started acting like she knew something about ley lines...

This was a MUCH stronger novel than the first one and I'm glad I gave it a chance. I was really drawn in by Rachel's struggles and she irritated me less - clearly Harrison managed to get a better grasp on her the second time around. I would have rated this more had I read it when it was published...but the rampant sexism - and oof that homophobic joke - had me cringing so hard in 2022.

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    About

    Alyce Caswell, when she isn't buried in a book or drinking her way through a giant pot of tea, is a keen writer of science fiction and romance. She has published two novels and four novellas in her space opera family saga, The Galactic Pantheon Series.

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  • Home
  • Books
    • The Galactic Pantheon >
      • The Tortured Wind
      • The Twisted Vine
      • The Flickering Flame
      • The Shifting Ice
      • The Whispering Grass
      • The Creeping Moss
      • The Galactic Pantheon Novellas
      • The Adventures of Grace Pendergast, Galactic Reporter
    • The Shadow of the Gods
    • Dealing with the Demon
    • Love and Lockdown
    • The Eyes of Charon
    • Sweet Delights
  • Other Works
  • Book Reviews
  • Contact