Book Review Earth's First By MJ Caan

In Earth’s First by M.J. Caan, humans’ obtain super powers via the arrival of an alien.

Truth be told, when I opened this e-book, I thought it would be all about city leveling battles, maidens in distress, you know, hero stuff. What I got was a story made up of characters, each with a sympathetic back story that keeps them human, even when they no longer able to make such a claim.

Maura Riley is the star of the show. A woman abused by her husband and the only reason why she stays is because of her son.

Personally, I would have left with my kid as soon as a hand was raised to me. But that’s just my own belief. 

Upon the First’s arrival on Earth, she gains super strength and speed from coming in contact with him. From there, she joins the government in order to understand what has happened to her and locate other like herself.

Without going into greater detail about the story as every character introduced has a part to play, I will end by saying that the sequel better be forthcoming soon and I give this book a four out of five.

Frost Arch by Kate Bloomfield Book Review

The reason why I clicked onto the link for Frost Arch, book one of the Fire Mage Trilogy, by Kate Bloomfield was originally due to the cover. It was dark and a bit edgy.  The reason why I bought it? The blurb. Sci-fy meets fantasy. A post apocalyptic world that had me thinking off Fallout and FF at certain times.

The stories MC, Avalon is a fire mage who can’t control her powers and runs away from home due to the fear that the family secret would be revealed. From there, the story deepens she gets a winged fox for a pet and befriends the local healer and is stalked by a person who is said to bring death.

Frost Arch is one of my favorite reads of this year for many reasons: the characterization, the fact that I don’t get the characters confused and the cover. But I am not saying that it is a perfect book. Like a lot of ebooks, the editing leaves much to be desired. But I can deal with bad grammar and fragments. It is a first person story; say it is done of purpose to show that the character isn’t the smartest bulb in the building. One thing I can’t stand is the fact she destroyed the entire tire of power she created. “I don’t think levels exist anymore.”

I’m sorry, but earlier in the story Avalon is credited as a level five fire mage yet stunted in a way. Then later, she kicks the butt of one of the most powerful mages around and has the nerve to say levels don’t exist anymore. That is just wrong. I can deal with the blurb only being partially worked into the story- she mentions human slavery and readers get the idea that this could be a revolution story- it keeps me on my guessing- and expecting a sequel-, but removing a tier of power in a story where it plays a key role tends to make me want to dock a full star.

Nevertheless, kudos goes out for a great debut novel from a talent that I look forward to reading in the future.

 

Frost Arch recieves a three out of five.

 

P.S. This story reads like a young adult. I hate reviewing young adult novels. They cause good reviews to turn into rants... I’ll post that later…maybe.