Chanticleer Book Reviews

Tag: Action/Adventure

ETHYR by M.P. Follin – Middle-Grade Fantasy, Gamers, Action/Adventure

Twelve-year-old Skyler Beam cops a squat onto his bean bag chair and logs into his favorite game Ethyr – his only real form of pleasure these days. He powers up his avatar, SkyWyz12, and goes in search of his friends across the lunar surface but strikes out. He is alone for the moment. Soon, a nameless player appears, who possesses impressive skills beyond the game’s design, and takes an interest in Skyler. Within minutes, the silent companion gets a bit too clingy for comfort, but SkyWyz12 can’t shake the irritating avatar and then discovers why. “Skyler Beam, I’ve been looking for you.” Skyler freaks, logs out, and slams his laptop cover closed.

Ethyr is a multi-player game offering different scenarios such as the House of Dragon dojo where players spar (clobber) each other to earn colored belts, or Lunarscape, where, propelled by jetpacks, they can fly around the Moon.

Skyler tells his friend and fellow Ethyr enthusiast, Ellie, of his encounter with the silent avatar and asks her to join him in the game later that day. She agrees, and they meet inside the dojo, along with two friends from his old school, Eddie and Brian. Soon, a mysterious, silent opponent appears, and the game morphs into something real. Skyler’s friends disappear, and he is locked in hand-to-hand combat with his opponent – with actual swords. Skyler gets his butt kicked and ends up with a sword point tickling his throat. His opponent, Neshama, suddenly allows him up and begins to answer a few questions. Once Skyler escapes the game, he grows more determined to learn more about Neshama’s and his secrets.

Now Skyler’s world begins to tilt off its axis. Unexplainable incidents and events occur all around him. He craves answers, but there is only one way to find them: he must re-enter Ethyr. Unfortunately, to do so, may come at the incredible cost of his life or lives of those closest to him.

Follin excels at creating the settings for Skyler’s everyday life both inside and outside of Ethyr. Her smooth prose, realistic dialogue, tension and conflict between the characters, descriptions, surprising twists and turns, and solid pacing make for a delightful read for all ages.

Ethyr – the novel – is a real pleasure to read!

M.P. Follin won 1st Place in the 2016 Gertrude Warner Awards for Ethyr.

June 18, 2018
The IMPROBABLE JOURNEYS of BILLY BATTLES: Book 2, Finding Billy Battles Trilogy by Ronald E. Yates – Action/Adventure, Historical Fiction, War, Literary

Ronald E. Yates continues the robust adventures of a lawman, gunslinger, and journalist in The Improbable Journeys of Billy Battles, the second volume in his trilogy about the title character.

As in the first volume of the trilogy, William “Billy” Battles addresses the reader, but Ted Sayles, Billy’s great-grandson, is the one who compiled Billy’s life story through studying his great-grandfather’s journals, letters, newspaper articles, tapes, and other materials. And what an adventurous life it is! Living a full one hundred years, William Fitzroy Raglan Battles was born in Kansas in 1860 but eventually travels the world. Readers familiar with the first volume will no doubt want to continue William’s journey with the second book which begins in 1894. The Improbable Journeys, however, can function as a stand-alone volume because Yates takes great care to bring the reader up to speed with what has already taken place.

The opening chapters of Book 2 find William aboard the SS China, bound for French Indochina although the ship will make stops along the way. He is grieving the loss of his beloved wife and seeks to assuage that grief with travel, leaving behind his mother and young daughter, Anna Marie. However, the Pinkerton Detective Agency is hot on his trail, investigating William’s part in the deaths of members of the Bledsoe family back in Kansas.

His future is also set in play when he meets Baroness Katharina von Schreiber, a brilliant intellectual who, despite her aristocratic German title and surname, was born and raised in Chicago. Like William, her spouse is dead but the circumstances involving Rupert’s death are suspicious, and she takes great pains to avoid questioning by the authorities. William learns that some officials believe she’s in possession of top-secret German documents that she confiscated from her husband. There’s much political intrigue, but Katharina and William delight in each other’s company, and he feels the first stirrings of romance since his wife’s death.

William’s journeys bring him face to face with the realities of late 19th-century colonialism. As an American traveler and journalist, native peoples expect that he will sympathize with their struggles against colonial powers. After all, America set the example for the rest of the world by throwing off the chains of England more than one hundred years earlier. In the Philippines, Katharina’s brother, Manfred, supports a secret organization that seeks to overthrow colonial rule and establish independence for the nation. And while William has great admiration for the Philippine revolutionary leader, Aguinaldo, William is coaxed into military service. He fights alongside American soldiers from Colorado and Kansas – even though he knows all too well that McKinley’s “Proclamation of Benevolent Assimilation” is not truthful; the U.S. ultimately annexes the Philippines not as “friends” but as invaders and conquerors.

These fascinating chapters are narrated with an experienced journalist’s objective and encompassing eye. Yates, also a journalist, does an exemplary job of having William note every angle of the despotic nature of colonialism and the vast and complex difficulties involved in native peoples achieving independence.

The book is not without humor. William is witty and candid, occasionally sliding into cowboy-speak, and he knows a cast of characters, real and fictional, who provide surprising hilarity throughout the book. Bat Masterson is on hand, as is Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith. We leave William anticipating more dangerous exploits, one involving Francisco Villa, better known as “Pancho Villa.” Thank heavens this is a trilogy because it’s clear Billy Battles adventures are far from over.

Ronald E. Yates won first place in the 2016 Chanticleer International Book Awards for Somerset, Literary category.

May 24, 2018
REALITY GOLD by Tiffany Brooks – YA, Action/Adventure, Family & Social Issues

Riley Ozaki is eighteen and trying desperately to find a way out of her reality as a recent social pariah. With her reputation at rock bottom, she decides that only a huge gesture can repair her social standing, win back her father’s approval, and gain her some new friends. She decides to participate in a reality tv show. What could go wrong?

Reality Gold by Tiffany Brooks features the behind the scenes reality of reality tv—everything from love triangles and mind games to real life buried treasure and murder. This novel is a fast-paced romp through tropical jungles and into deep, dark caverns where allies may not be who they say they are and legends abound.

Riley arrives at Black Rock Island off the coast of Brazil, her home for the next few weeks, ready to put in the work needed to repair her reputation. But there is a darker side to the reality show that Riley wasn’t expecting. When cameras turn up destroyed and fellow castmates suffer injuries, Riley quickly realizes the mind games began the minute the cast landed on the beach.

Not only will the group of contestants be competing for a cash prize, but the producers of the show have added an extra challenge—whoever can find the hidden treasure rumored to be on the island will receive an additional cash prize—and it soon becomes clear that the games may turn deadly. Legend has it that seven must die before the island reveals the treasure. Six have died in the past, including Riley’s close family friend, Miles Kroger.

Tiffany Brooks has crafted an incredibly readable, fast-paced, YA coming of age adventure novel where everyone has a secret, and no one is who they seem. The first-person narration and short chapters make this a compelling read, one where readers will find themselves thinking ‘just one more chapter.’ The setting is lush and captivating, the characters are intriguing, and Riley Ozaki is a protagonist for today’s readers—she’s smart and resourceful, and smack in the middle of a journey to self-discovery. She must embrace life’s realities, including loss and deceit, to discover for herself what she truly wants in life and who she is.

May 8, 2018
SOULS UNTETHERED SAGA, Book 1 by K.J. McPike – YA Metaphysical, Contemporary, Action/Adventure
Lali Yavari has her hands full. She’s the oldest of five siblings, a bright, sensitive daughter of a scientist (her father) and a loving mother. Except, her mother up and abandoned the family leaving only a cryptic note behind. And now Lali’s having strange visions of things and people she does not know coupled with the disturbing ability to astral project her consciousness to another place—another dark and beautiful place.

Imagine her surprise when one of the people from her visions shows up as the new kid (#hottie_alert) at school! The surrounding cast includes her boy-crazy best friend, Paisley (and Paisley’s new annoying side-kick), and Nelson, a buddy Lali has grown up with since pre-school. Just to be clear: Nelson is not fond of NewBoy, Kai. In fact, Nelson is downright irritated over all the attention Lali is suddenly giving to the new boy. But Kai’s arrival at school is no accident. He knows more about Lali than she does—why she’s having visions and, perhaps more importantly, what the visions mean. He may even be able to help Lali decipher her mother’s note, thus solving the puzzle of her whereabouts.

But his assistance comes with a price. Kai’s baby sister also disappeared shortly after she was born, and Kai wants Lali to find her. Kai knows something no one else does: Lali is the only person who can astral project to the alternate reality of Alea.

Alea is filled with thick white trees and grass that’s red and yellow. Beautiful or not, Lali soon learns that Alea is a dangerous place whose citizens are watched by a controlling government with a police force known as the “Eyes and Ears.” Could this surveillance operation have something to do with Lali’s mother’s disappearance? If so, what has her mother done to earn their wrath—and how is her mother connected to Alea in the first place? Past and current events collide in a deeply suspenseful narrative that will have readers turning page after page to determine which characters are good and which are evil. Fittingly, Lali’s brothers and sisters get in on the action and the adventure ramps up in nail-biting intensity.

McPike gives us a strong family full of teasing, quarreling and sarcasm, yet indisputable evidence of a deep and abiding trust between brothers and sisters alike. The dialogue is fast-paced, witty, and wholly believable throughout the book. Here we have a splendid contemporary metaphysical young adult novel that deserves a place alongside our beloved Ursala Le Quin.

Souls Untethered is the story of an endearing, resourceful teenager who will stop at nothing to reunite her family.

*Note: Souls Untethered original title, Xodus, won first place in the 2016 Dante Rossetti Awards for Paranormal Y/A Fiction.
- Writing: Excellent
- Sex: None
- Violence: Some physical combat, nothing graphic
- Narration: Prologue is in 3^rd person; the main novel is in 1^st person; Epilogue is in 3^rd
- Tense: Past
- Mood: Suspenseful with comedic moments
April 28, 2018
KEELIC and the PATHFINDERS of MIDGARTH (The Keelic Travers Chronicles Book 2) by Alexander Edlund – Science Fiction, Middle-Grade Coming of Age, Action/Adventure
When it comes to high-adventure Science Fiction, why should adults have all the fun? Alexander Edlund’s novel, Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth proves that younger readers want in on the action.

Twelve-year-old Keelic Travers has adults all around him dropping their jaws because he has just defeated the evil pirate Jaw Take-ta-Kua in battle and taken possession of the outlaw’s ancient battleship. In doing so, he rescues his parents from Jaw’s clutches, reversing the traditional scenario of parents protecting their child. Surely all the survivors of this recent war are eternally grateful to Keelic and will follow his every order?

Well, no.

Imagine how his parents and most of the other adults feel about taking orders from a 12-year-old, even one who can pilot a starship. While Keelic does his best to present a mature and confident facade, the reader witnesses his private moments of self-doubt, nightmares, and even adolescent jealousy when Leesol, a lovely and intelligent girl, converses with other boys. He may only be twelve, but Keelic is already struggling to balance the responsibilities of his professional life with the challenges of adolescence.

Plot and characterization fit nicely together in this novel as Keelic decides he wants to train to be a Pathfinder, a member of a highly elite team of people who explore the galaxy. To become a Pathfinder requires an extensive study with a curriculum of topics such as route finding, alliance and negotiation, threat identification range, vector speeds and energy signatures, as well as astrophysics, and planetary geophysics, among other subjects. This schooling gives Keelic a chance to interact with classmates close to his age, including a pair of twins who offer comic relief from time to time. The group, known as Keelic’s “Complement” engages in challenging and exhausting training that will test them individually and as a team. While the Pathfinders-in-training learn to trust one another implicitly, Keelic has another plan in mind.

It’s a dynamic of good versus evil with a bit of David and Goliath thrown into the mix. And while Keelic doesn’t have a slingshot, he does have the intelligence and battle skills needed to consider slaying the most destructive menace in space.

To Edlund’s great credit, the dazzling technology of the future is believable and inspires awe with prose that often merges the empiricism of science with the ethereal mysteries of space, resulting in beautiful, resonating language.

Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth will appeal to a broad age range of readers – in much the same manner as the Harry Potter series continues to capture the attention of all.

And while Keelic and Harry may be growing up in vastly different places, they both begin as adolescents who realize special gifts and undertake an atypical education to develop and hone those gifts. If Keelic and his classmates found themselves at Hogwarts instead of the Pathfinder Academy, they likely would have fit right in with the other brave and loyal Gryffindors. Star Wars and Star Trek enthusiasts, as well, won’t want to miss this book or any others in The Keelic Travers Chronicles.

Luckily, outer space is large enough to fit every single fan.

A futuristic YA Science Fiction pick that will capture readers’ imaginations and entertain them for years to come. Keelic and the Pathfinders of Midgarth belongs in the hands of those who yearn for a great read with enchanting lands, fantastical adventures and a hero with a lot of heart.
April 3, 2018
SEAJOURNEY (ARKEN FREETH and the ADVENTURE of the NEANDERTHALS, Book 1) by Alex Paul – Epic Fantasy, High Seas Adventure, Middle Grade

What’s more fun than Neanderthals? How about Neanderthals on the high seas? Now that we have your attention…

Author Alex Paul delivers a highly imaginative, middle-grade epic fantasy adventure-packed story with everything you could ever ask for to have a rip-roaring good time.

SeaJourney (Book One) opens with an ancient archive stating that the Arken Freeth, lived 11,000 years prior, before the great flood. It follows that Arken’s world is inhabited by saber-toothed tigers and other monstrous beasts – and populated by both humans and Neanderthals.

It’s Arken’s fourteenth birthday and he’s looking forward to graduating from school and going on a sea journey with his classmates. All he needs to do is balance a huge rock on a small point. That sounds easy enough, right? Well, he fails.

The only way he can redeem himself is to combat Gart, a very large, bully of a boy who happens to hate him. Arken wins the skirmish – and more of Gart’s wrath in the process. However, both boys will board the Sea Nymph with their classmates to serve their country, Lanth. It turns out that the people of Tolaria (allies of the Lanths) are under attack. Yolanta, King of Tookan, is even now traveling with pirates to hunt down Tolarian Princess Sharmane and steal her magic necklace. The Sea Nymph is readying for war.

Arken meets a girl named Talya, a freckle-faced scout-in-training, who warns Arken that Gart plans to kill him. And when word reaches the Sea Nymph that Princess Sharmane’s vessel has been attacked, Arken, who has proved his worth leads the charge against the enemy ship. Somewhere in the middle of all that is happening aboard the Sea Nymph, there’s a Neanderthal who is gearing up to join in the fun.

With three other Arken Freeth volumes in production, SeaJourney introduces readers to a worthy hero and reveals some of his secrets and hidden powers. The book is well suited for tweens who identify with the underdog who overcomes hardships and ultimately triumphs. Also, our heroine is not based on her looks so much as her energetic attitude.

With fast-escalating action on every page, a likable, capable hero, plenty of mystery and an abrupt ending, readers will be lining up for more. Arken Freeth and the Adventure of the Neanderthals, SeaJourney #1 is sure to please those who crave fantastical adventures with pirates, underdogs, prehistoric beasts, and Neanderthals!

March 11, 2018
FROM the SHADOWS by KB Shaw – YA, Science Fiction, Action/Adventure

In the tradition of H. G. Wells and Isaac Asimov, K.B. Shaw’s From the Shadows piques the reader’s imagination. In the world where Cameron Rush, a shy, geeky boy from Wisconsin, and Rosa Costas, the bright, sassy daughter of a New Mexico ranch foreman, live, twenty-first-century technology makes a quantum leap and changes the nature of human experience.

Sounds amazing, right? This new technology could take tailgating to a new level. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong?

Only, Robert K. Merton’s law of unintended consequences still prevail. So, there is that…

Fifteen-year-old Cameron and Rosa have never met in person. However, they know each other well, as they met in a chat room, and talk daily on their multiComs. The couple takes GundTech’s multiCom technology — computers, without cameras, that capture images and display them in a way that allows virtual eye contact among users—for granted. It’s been around forever, well, at least ten years. They also take for granted their personal AIs.

A multiCom computer’s artificial intelligence (known as its AI) allows it to think, have personalities, experience emotions, and develop self-images. Each computer’s AI is unique and requires that the user demonstrate respect and courtesy to get a requested response. Cameron and Rosa understand this — as the rules of operation were clearly explained in the operating instructions. Therefore, they are never surprised when Sam and Vee, their respective multiCom AIs, sometimes add their two bits worth during conversations.

But they never expect to meet the AIs in person.

Unbeknownst to them, Cameron and Rosa were preordained centuries ago to play an integral part in the technological evolution triggered when GundTech’s mysterious creator introduces the Interactive Holographic Transmitter. With the IHT, time and space can be manipulated enabling humans, alone or collectively, to touch, see, hear, and ultimately, smell, and taste events as they happen.

Throughout this complex, fascinating tale, Shaw manages to keep the teen protagonists real and likable. They are “in touch” with their families, community, and school; they tease, flirt, grumble and complain, and impress the reader with their spirit and ingenuity.

In this well-crafted book, the amalgam of speculative fiction with a hint of Gothic eeriness works very well. What happens, to whom, how, and why is the stuff of possibility thinking. Fast-paced and engaging, with no loose ends, From the Shadows provides readers no opportunities to rest or close the book. Here’s a YA novel that’s a good read for any age.

March 2, 2018
TWISTED THREADS by Kaylin McFarren – Thriller/Suspense, Steamy Romance, Action/Adventure

Interested in a holiday cruise? Surround yourself with luxury, romance, secrets and multiple murders while traveling through the Caribbean with author Kaylin McFarren in her new sexy, action-packed book, Twisted Threads. There is only one assignment for a Japanese crime lord’s favorite assassin: take out a dastardly couple in less than ten days. But can Akira Hamada complete her mission without losing her head and heart during her most steamy and complicated hit thus far?

It isn’t part of the assignment to fall in love with someone close to murder suspects, Sara and Paul Lyons, but then Akira has never been bound by rules. Devon returns Akira’s feelings with all his being. However, there are notorious secrets between them, and now this surging romance is putting his life at risk as well. With no avenue for escape, multiple disappearances and murders increase the onboard tension. And that’s not all. Descriptions of the steamy scenes behind closed doors are beyond intense, with exhilarating adult situations and language.

So, will Akira successfully hit her assigned targets? Will she find out who is murdering cruise guests before becoming the secret assassin’s next victim? If Devon and Akira survive this murder mystery and the truth is revealed, will their hot romance flounder? There is only one way to answer these questions, and we are confident readers will be delighted in picking up Twisted Threads and finding out for themselves.

There is only one assignment for Mitsui-san’s favorite assassin, but can Akira complete the mission without losing her head and heart? Get on-board for Kaylin McFarren’s most steamy and complicated assassination suspense thriller so far!

December 4, 2017
AIR of VENGEANCE: WINDHOLLOWS, Book 1 by Trayner Bane – Children’s Book, Action/Adventure, Fantasy & Magic

Fantasy takes you to worlds that never were or never could be. Good fantasy lets you live in that alternate reality while linking you seamlessly to the realities, the frailties of the human condition.

Air of Vengeance is the first of a series of novels for middle-graders and young adults and succeeds on both levels.

In a faraway land called Windhollows, two races live side by side, symbiotically producing different gasses, or Essences necessary for sustaining their lives together. The ability to produce Essence also determines everyone’s place in society. As the book begins, with no ability to produce Essence, nine infants become pariahs or Bare Pants literally from the moment of their birth.

Their inability to produce Essence is no accident. Rip Stinker, a brilliant but twisted scientist, invents a weapon that destroys the babies’ ability to produce Essence as revenge against the father of one of them for acts he felt destroyed his life.

What is fantasy soon becomes tragedy. Billy, one of the children, grows up in a household where his mother all but despises him for being who he is. She divorces his father, who loves his child despite his issues and sustains him through his miserable childhood.

The other eight are all abandoned by their parents at birth and shuffled off to an orphanage. The fateful eight band together at the orphanage and form a friendship that protects them from the worst societal prejudice yet still suffer the effects of their parents’ abandonment because they were different. They call themselves The Spent.

When Billy finally meets The Spent, he discovers the love and friendship circumstances denied him, even as they are jealous of him because he actually had parents. What they cannot foresee is the reappearance of Rip Stinker into their lives, whose plan is to take control of these emotionally and physically fragile young beings and turn them into monsters who will wreak havoc on society at large while staying under his control. Billy, who is initially overjoyed to join with them, sees Stinker as a Pied Piper and refuses to go along with Stinker’s nefarious plans.

Following the geography and the terminology of The Land of Windhollows is made easier by a map of the land, which resembles a bear claw, and a full glossary explaining the customs and languages of the various peoples who live there.

Bane treats his readers to various monsters, sci-fi weaponry, and a unique story that delivers an impact as its characters find themselves, variously, as outcast, then friends, and finally, divided by their version of what constitutes a better life: a path of goodness or a descent into darkness.

The novel ends on a cliff-hanger, with everyone’s destiny hanging in the balance.

Follow the links to read our reviews of Darkness Falls, and the third in the series, Axe Breaker.

November 29, 2017
MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT by Ann Charles – Action/Adventure, Mystery, Romance, Thriller

Ann Charles has another true winner on her hands as she reunites the intrepid band of archeologists led by Angélica García for the second installment of her crackerjack series A Dig Site Mystery. From the very first sentence, Make No Bones About It is an entertaining thrill ride of the first order.

Top-notch archaeologist, Angélica García, admits that after her divorce she “suffered from trust issues—as having no faith in her own ability to judge character.” She leaves her university teaching job for a change of pace and heads to Mexico where she is hired by the National Institute of Anthropology and History to clean up and prepare derelict dig sites (ruins) for the current tourism boon— archaeo-tourism.

Angélica’s latest project has a few challenges she must overcome. It is located in a remote part of Mexican jungle infested with a myriad of hazards: scorpions, spiders, toxic fauna, bloodthirsty insects, hungry Jaguars, mounds of skeletal remains, and a seemingly endless supply of deadly rattlesnakes. Oh, and it is the same place where her mother, a top archaeologist in her own right, was killed in a helicopter crash—some say because of a curse.

To accomplish her mission, Angélica is joined by her father, Juan, a brilliant man nursing a leg injury who is saddled with his fair share of superstition anxiety. Quint Parker, a handsome photojournalist that jets off across the globe on assignments on short notice, but returns to lend a hand and tug on Angélica’s heart strings: she is ready with open arms and a razor-sharp machete! Pedro, her quasi-adopted brother and helicopter pilot, and several others round out a solid cast that adds color, context, and pathos to the story.

Angélica leads the team to unlock and document the secrets of the ruins, but she is consumed by a quenchless drive to complete her mother’s unfinished work. As the team delves deeper into labyrinth warning signs abound and it becomes clear that they are in mortal danger. The book’s first sentence states, “The Mexican jungle had devoured the remains of the dead, bones and all,” and so for those who ignore history could become history.

At the beginning of the book, Ann Charles discusses her extensive research, which pays off tremendously and adds incredible depth and texture to a well-crafted story. Additionally, C.S. Kunkle’s fabulous illustrations are dramatic, prescient and add substance to the story.

Make No Bones About It, simply put, is one of those books you pick up and cannot put down.

June 20, 2017