THE HAUNTED MAZE

THE HAUNTED MAZE by Theo Fenraven

Pages: 75

Date: 01/11/2014

Grade: 4.5

Details: Novella

Own / Kindle

The burb:

“Still in his twenties, Percy Callendar is one of the richest men in the world. In an attempt to find the future love of his life—and because he likes to have fun—he builds the ultimate haunted house and assembles a select group of men to go through it. 

Sage Donovan, owner of a fledgling IT company, is the seventh applicant to receive an invitation. He figures completing the maze—something no one has done yet—will guarantee fame and maybe fortune, and he immediately accepts despite having a little problem with anxiety. 

Witches, spiders, ghosts and ghouls are the least Sage has to deal with, because before the night is over, he will face his deepest fear, changing his life and Percy’s forever.”

My thoughts:

They say good things are worth waiting for. I’m not the most patient of creatures and waiting for Amazon to get their act together and release ‘The Haunted Maze’ was very frustrating, but...I have to admit it, well worth the wait in the end. Talk about building anticipation...

Theo Fenraven amazes me. Every time I start one of his books I find myself diving into something completely new. This author doesn’t repeat himself, he flirts with genres and then moves on to the next one, always flexing his artistic muscles and pushing himself and the reader to extend their boundaries. Of course the amazing aspect of this flexing is not so much that he does it, but that he not only gets away with it but manages to own each of the genres he tackles as well as put his personal spin on it.

It’s hard not to fall for Sage. He’s presented as an honest, good and reliable young man who wants to do and be the best he can be. His perseverance when faced with his deepest fear was described so well I almost experienced his anxiety as well as his determination to overcome it.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to think or make of Percy. His scheme is, of course, utter madness and yet there is something sweet and almost innocent about his hope and belief he might find a man who will love him in the middle of a haunted house.

The same is true for Richard, Percy’s lawyer and friend. I couldn’t quite pinpoint him. Like Percy he sounds impersonal and ‘big business’ a lot of the time. And yet there are these gestures and casual remarks suggesting both men might be basically good. This of course makes the characters more interesting and realistic. While having a clear cut distinction between sympathetic and despicable characters can make a story easy to read, it rarely makes a book or the characters in it fascinating. And if Percy and his haunted house are to be described as anything, fascinating would be the word to use.

Once Sage enters the Maze the story blew me away. The various scenes, the different kinds of horror and the puzzles he has to solve were all cleverly thought out and presented so well it was possible to visualize the creatures and monsters. Sage’s internal conflicts as a result of rationally knowing everything he sees and experiences is fake and the very real fear he experiences regardless, was recognisable and made him all the more realistic. His internal dialogue as well as the comments he makes to Percy, who he knows is observing him, added a wonderful touch of humour to the story and put a smile on my face on more than one occasion.

I loved how Theo Fenraven managed to portray a burgeoning relationship between two characters who spend most of their time apart from each other. Initially the only interaction between Percy and Sage takes place without face to face contact, through short conversations over the intercom. And yet, despite the lack of direct contact the reader is in no doubt these two men are getting to know and appreciate each other more with each new horror Sage faces.

I really don’t want to say anything else about the story. Exactly what imaginative horrors Sage runs into and how he deals with them should be a surprise to the reader. The same is true for what happens when Percy’s carefully laid plans are thrown into turmoil. Reading this book is very close to visiting a haunted house. The reader, like Sage, has no idea what to expect next. Each turn of the page may bring a new surprise or shock, just like turning each corner in a haunted house would bring you face to face with something else to make you startle and scream. Very well done, Mr. Fenraven.

The Haunted Maze, despite its title, is a love story, be it that we only get to see the very early stages of the romance. In most books that would result in me wishing the story had been longer. The Haunted Maze didn’t leave me feeling disappointed though. By the time the story ended I’d seen enough of Sage and Percy to believe it was possible for them to be something special together. This was one book in which how they got to that point was far more interesting than what might happen afterwards could ever be.

As always – and I do seem to reflect on this in every review of books by this author - the writing in The Haunted Maze is breathtaking and awe-inspiring. I’ll never understand how Theo Fenraven manages to create such vivid pictures with so few, yet very carefully chosen, words. Reading his books is pure reading delight for me and I can’t wait to see what he’ll be coming up with next.

Buy link for The Haunted Maze on Amazon: http://smile.amazon.com/Haunted-Maze-Theo-Fenraven-ebook/dp/B00P47DVJQ/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1414928030&sr=8-8&keywords=The+Haunted+Maze

THE BOOK OF LIFE

THE BOOK OF LIFE by Deborah Harkness

Pages: 592

Date: 06/08/20114

Grade: 5

Details: No. 3 All Souls Trilogy

            Received from Headline Publishing

            Through Nudge

Own: ARC

The blurb:

“After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies.

At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency.

In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

My thoughts:

“Even the darkest places need to be brought into the light of day, or else they’ll grow until they swallow a man whole.”

I’m always slightly apprehensive when I pick up the much anticipated final instalment to, what has been up until then, a fantastic trilogy. There is always the fear the finale won’t live up to expectations, that the author won’t be able to pull all the threads together. And those fears were busy niggling at me before I picked up ‘The Book of Life’. I loved both ‘A Discovery of Witches’ and‘Shadow of Night’ when I read them. I had fallen for Diana Bishop, the witch, and Matthew Clairmont, her vampire. In the first two books the author had woven a mesmerising web filled with mystery, suspense, danger, magic and love. I needed ‘The Book of Life’ to be at least as good as its two prequels had been.

The wonderful news is that it is. This book is the crowning glory of this trilogy. It more than lives up to expectations, answered all my questions and kept me enthralled from the first chapter.

The story picks up more or less where ‘Shadow of Night’ ended and drops the reader right back into the story. There are enough small reminders to refresh the reader’s memory although I would strongly advice against reading this book unless you’ve read the prequels.  

I really don’t want to say a whole lot more about the story. I know part of my enjoyment while reading the book was that I was never completely sure what might happen next, or who would show up and why. I will say that I loved reconnecting with characters I’d come to love while reading the first two books.

The love between Matthew and Diana is as beautiful as always and yet stops short of being overly idyllic. The author has her characters say things you wish someone would say to you; things you would have loved to have said to a loved one.

“My heart no longer knows where I end and you begin.” – Matthew

And,

“If you truly love someone, you will cherish what they despise most about themselves.” – Fernando

I loved the following quote about social media. Since blue is a relaxing colour for me too, I completely get this line of thought. In fact it was one of  those ‘that’s so blindingly obvious I can’t believe it hasn’t occurred to me before’ moments.

“She could not imagine why these companies all chose shades of blue for their logos. Blue had always struck her as such a serene, soothing color, yet all social media offered was endless agitation and posturing.” – Ysabeau

Or the moment when Matthew declares that he does not and has never ‘sparkled’.

One of the strengths of this book is that it doesn’t provide all the answers. We’re not given a fairytale ending. There are no miracle cures (not even for vampires) and problems don’t just evaporate. In fact, one or two problems continue to form a threat. I wouldn’t mind if that meant we might get to visit with Diana and Matthew again in the future but I won’t be upset if it doesn’t. The author leaves us at a point where things have slotted into place for this couple. Yes, they will face obstacles in the future, but we know they’ve reached a place where, together, they can face pretty much anything.

This was very close to a perfect reading experience. I lost myself in the story on the first page and didn’t resurface until I had read every single word. It is the sort of book you want to race through because you need to find out what will happen next and how they are going to solve their problems. It is also the sort of book you want to drag out for as long as you can because you know this is the last of it and you don’t want the story to end. I can’t wait to see what Deborah Harkness is going to come up with next.

“To every question I have ever had, or ever will have, you are the answer.” – Matthew

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

RETURN ON INVESTMENT by Aleksandr Voinov

Pages: 336

Date: 17/06/2014

Grade: 5

Details: Copy received from author

Kindle

The blurb:

“Martin David, an eager but inexperienced financial analyst, is the newest member of the investment team at Skeiron Capital Partners in London. His boss is an avowed financial genius, but he’s also overbearing and intense. Despite his erratic behaviour, Martin can’t help being drawn to him both professionally and personally. 

Too bad his boss doesn’t seem to feel the same. In a firm where pedigree and connections mean far more than Martin’s newly-minted business degree, Martin feels desperately inadequate—at least until he meets the enigmatic investment manager Alec Berger, who promises to help Martin establish himself in the financial community. Martin is so charmed by Alec’s sophistication and wit that he gives him data that should have stayed confidential. 

Then the financial crisis hits. Banks burn, companies teeter on the brink, and Skeiron’s survival is at stake. Martin is pushed into the middle of the fight for Skeiron—against both the tanking economy and a ruthless enemy who’s stepped out of the shadows to collect the spoils.” 

------------------------------------------------------

My thoughts:

“With his less-than-conservative long hair he looked leonine – a predator in the boardroom, the feline equivalent of the shark prowling the seas for blood.”

‘Return On Investment’ starts with a bang. In fact, to say the prologue pulls you right into the story would be an understatement. I’m not going to say anything else about it except that I defy you to read those first few pages and not feel the urge to read on.

If I’m perfectly honest I have to admit that the words ‘financial thriller’ would under most circumstances be enough to turn me away from a book. In fact, the only reason I did not only want to read this book, but also all but begged the author for a review copy is my complete and utter trust in Aleksandr Voinov’s abilities to bring me a story I will lose myself in.

You have to admire an author who is able to completely captivate you with a thriller set in an environment you know little to nothing about and haven’t really been interested in either. But, Mr. Voinov managed exactly that. Martin’s journey gripped me from the first page and I only got more entranced as the story progressed.

In fact, most characters in this book intrigued me because none of them were what they at first appeared to be. I found myself changing my mind about characters as the story progressed. There were moments when I surprised myself by rooting for somebody I had previously despised and hating someone who had come across as a good guy only chapters before. In most thrillers the distinction between the good and bad guys is obvious from the start. In this book the reader has to wait and see. We learn as Martin learns and just like him we have are eyes opened to unpleasant truths as well as happy surprises.

Return On Investment is not be a typical Aleksandr Voinov romance. In fact I wouldn’t call this book a typical anything. ‘Return On Investment’ is basically a good story spanning various genres and more than lives up to the standard I’ve come to expect from this author. We meet characters who are far from perfect and all the more realistic and recognisable for it. And while the whole financial wheeling and dealing may be a bit more technical than I and other uninformed readers can properly follow, it is done with such skill and ease the reader can almost believe they understand it all. Besides, the whole ‘real-world’ financial debacle is fresh enough in our memories to allow us to understand the atmosphere even if we are a bit vague on the details.

Martin David may be a bit old for the concept but in many ways this is a coming of age story. Martin learns his way around life both professionally and emotionally, and it is a beautiful journey to observe. It was fascinating to watch Martin grow from rather innocent but eager to please into far more secure, balanced and fair.

First and foremost this book is testament to Aleksandr Voinov’s amazing ability to tell a terrific story. I am by now convinced I would read a fictionalised version of the telephone directory provided he had written it. His smooth writing combined with sparkling and realistic dialogue, fascinating characters and an intriguing plot never fails to captivate me. If you’ve enjoyed earlier titles by this author I would advise you not to be deterred by the ‘not a standard romance’ label this book comes with. Read the book; I would be surprised if you didn’t end up enjoying it far more than you thought you might. And you never know, you may learn something about financial shenanigans in the process.

“Why the fuck had he agreed to sex? Because his body liked arrogant assholes far more than his rational mind did.”

PATCH DAY

PATCH DAY by Mychael Black

Pages: 38

Date: 06/06/2014

Grade: 3+

Details: No. 2 Dungeon Crawl

             Received from New Changeling Press

             Through Love Romances and More

Own / Kindle

The blurb:

“Gamer Elijah Burrows has rather seamlessly taken over the life of his game character, Elian Surgis, in the world of Timiria. Alongside his lover, the lupine mage Sarin Eckhert, Elijah leads survivors of Sarin's mystical order through the wilds of the province of Tasmorum. They manage to stay just one step ahead of Timiria's monarch, King Mirov, who seeks to destroy every magic-wielding soul connected to the Labyrinthine Order.

From encounters with a mysterious group of traders on the road, to a revelation of epic proportions, it's a miracle Elijah has any time to explore his relationship with Sarin. Then Fate throws a wrench into the mix: the appearance of another "traveler" -- another gamer stuck in the game world Elijah now calls home. But this particular gamer has ulterior motives that have nothing to do with the Order's survival”

My thoughts:

Dungeon Crawl is probably best described as a serial novel and as such should be read from the start. I would strongly advise against reading ‘Patch Day’ if you haven’t read ‘Loading,Please Wait’ yet.

Elijah Burrows has very quickly settled into his new life in Timiria. The world that up until recently only existed in his game console is now his reality and he is more at home here than he has been in his ‘real’ life for a long time. That’s not to say life as Elian Surgis is easy. Under threat from King Mirov’s army and assassins, Elijah has to rely on skills he barely knew he had in order to keep the people travelling with him as well as himself and the man he is starting to love, safe.

At the same time, his relationship with Sarin, a Lycan as well as a mage, is anything Elijah could have dreamed up and than some. With danger lurking around every corner and other ‘travellers’ working for the king who would destroy Sarin and all other mages, it is a miracle the two men have time to grow the relationship between them.

I’m enjoying this story. I like the concept – a man ending up inside his favourite game – and the way the author applies it. The story is well written and very easy to read. I also enjoyed the lighter moments in this story such as the reaction of some characters to Elijah’s ‘other world’ language and Elijah’s reflection on food:

“Though he had to admit, fresh, fire-roasted rabbit tasted a hell of a lot better than boxed macaroni and cheese.”

While there is a lot happening in relatively few pages, there is time for more tender and sexy moments as well. In fact, I think the balance between action and intimacy was just about spot on in this instalment.

“Sometimes, Sarin said. Words aren’t needed.”

Having said that, I do think publishing this story in instalments has one real down-side. Certain elements have to be present in each short novella in order to keep the reader fully in the story. The format means that scenes feel rushed at times. I would have like more detailed and longer descriptions as well as more time to settle into a scene before the next one starts.

Mind you, I am now rather fascinated with Elijah, Sarin and the world they’re trying to save and want to know what is going to happen next. I may wait until the full story is available before reading on though, provided I can keep my curiosity under control.

WOLF BOUND

WOLF BOUND by Theo Fenraven

Pages: 154

Date: 25/05/2014

Grade: 5

Details: ARC received from the author

Own / Kindle

The blurb:

“A year after suffering a disastrous end to his relationship with his partner, teacher Jon Anderson trades his apartment in the city for a lake house in the country. Told there is an author living nearby, Jon, who dreams of being a writer, goes in search of him and finds the attractive older man in a small, rustic cabin on a tiny island on a neighboring lake. Harrison Kalmes shows Jon around, but makes it clear he’d rather be left alone. Jon respects that wish until the night he and his friend, Suzie, drink a little too much scotch and impulsively decide to visit the island.

What happens then is the start of an incredible journey that will eventually take Jon all the way to mysterious and seductive Transylvania in Romania, where he searches for the answers that will save someone’s life while setting him on the road to rediscovering his own.

Beware the woods. Transylvania isn’t only about vampires.”

----------------------------------------------------------

My thoughts:

There’s so much I would love to say about this story, so many details I would like to describe and then rave about. I’ll restrain myself though. This story should not be spoiled for any reader. Every person picking up this book should have the same opportunity I had; to fall into Wolf Bound and discover all the delights it holds without (any) expectations beyond those the blurb provides.

Paranormal is a mostly unexplored genre for me. I may have read books and stories featuring werewolves or other shifters but they are few and far between. So I may be wrong when I say Wolf Bound didn’t read like a typical paranormal/shifter story. This, for me, was more a story about how characters deal with an unexpected, and on many levels, horrific change in their lives.

I liked this different approach. I was fascinated by the rawness of the emotions the  characters go through because I could relate to those feelings even if I’ve never found myself in a similar situation and never will.

Theo Fenraven is a magician with words. He paints the clearest pictures with only a few, carefully chosen and evocative words. Characters, their surroundings and the turmoil they go through are tangible without long descriptions or repetition. The reader is in Wolf Bound’s world with Jon and Harrison to such an extent that the smallest gesture or half a word is enough to feel what they are experiencing.

While this story, by its very nature, is a fantasy I was impressed by how realistic it felt while I was reading it. There was no need to suspend disbelief. The characters reactions to the situations they are facing may not always be beautiful or charming but they are exactly what I imagine they might be should I find myself up against what they have to deal with.

 

 

Regular readers of M/M romances may be surprised at how little ‘graphic’ sex they encounter in these pages. And, if I’m perfectly honest, I have to admit that I was surprised that I didn’t miss it; I enjoy a hot scene or two as much as the next person. I didn’t need them in this book though. The glimpses we got combined with the overall interaction between the characters gave me enough detail to imagine exactly what these two men would be like together without the author having to spell it out for me.

Once again Theo Fenraven has managed to take me by surprise and impress me. He is a masterful storyteller with an imaginative and versatile mind. I count myself lucky that I haven’t read all his previous books yet. I’m sure there are a few more ‘Fenraven’ gems patiently waiting for my attention.

Buy links:

ARe

Amazon US

Amazon UK

 

Related links:

 

Transgression

Blue River