Fallen Masters-John Edward

Fallen Masters


John Edward

Tor, Sep 18 2012, $25.99

ISBN: 9780765332714



Astronomers locate the dark mass and determine that the cloud hurtles toward the Earth like an arrow targeting a bulls-eye. However scientists are bewildered as to what this phenomenon is and how to prevent a calamity. Religious leaders representing all denominations are also at a loss as to what can be done. NASA scientist Jason Chang informs the President of the United States that Dark Matter has appeared from apparently a location in the Abell 2744 galaxy cluster with a trajectory destination earth.



Internationally respected inspirational singer Charlene St John heads to Mexico for her last performance as she has terminal cancer and is hoping to gain an audience with the Lady of Guadalupe; whom many believe is the Virgin Mary. Psychic Mama G envisions evil in space that will make humanity extinct unless this malevolence can be stopped. Surgeon Tyler Michaels lost his wife and unborn child while he saved someone else. He and Nurse Rae bond as both feel the cloud traveling towards earth is evil coming to destroy mankind. The dark horde waits for their advanced party to complete the first mission including the assassination of the American President and the abduction of the First Son as destination earth has begun.



Fallen Masters is an entertaining good vs. evil thriller that focuses on mankind’s final days in which the last hope is the inherent goodness in most people. The storyline makes a plea for readers to allow their inner spiritual goodness to flow free in order to make a better place to live for everyone. Although the characters are stereotypical to the nth degree, John Edwards’ fans will enjoy the psychic's novelization of his spiritual message.



Harriet Klausner

Stormdancer-Jay Kristoff

Stormdancer


Jay Kristoff

Dunne, Sep 18 2012, $24.99

ISBN: 9781250001405



The Shima Imperium has left the isles on the verge of environmental extinction. The industrialization of the islands has polluted land, air and water as the powerful Lotus Guild worships the lotus that fuels the sky ships, but poisons the soil making it useless and pollutes the water with run-off and turns the air into smog from the ship’s exhausts. The four clans feel hopeless as the spirit animals are becoming extinct and their mad Shogun Yoritomo-no-miya expedites the Shima Isles turning into a wasteland.



Yoritomo tasks a team to capture an arashitora, a creature part-eagle and part-tiger. Sixteen year old Kitsune Yukiko and her father know the mission is impossible, but failure means execution in a horrific way. In the last wilderness, her father maims Buruu the arashitora. When Yukiko and Buruu meet, both are shocked that they understand each other. As they team up, the pair meets enemies of the Shogun and the Lotus Guild while battling to survive against underworld demons and the might of the Shima Imperium.



Young adult and older readers will appreciate this excellent feudal Japan steampunk fantasy starring a vivid dying landscape serving as a reminder of the long term impact of pollution and a strong cast trying to survive or thrive in the dying isles. Although the Shogun is not developed beyond being a malevolent mega maniac, fans will enjoy the coming of age adventures of a teen girl and an injured mystical spirit animal.



Harriet Klausner

Alice in Zombieland-Gena Showalter

Alice in Zombieland


Gena Showalter

Harlequin Teen, Sep 25 2012, $18.99

ISBN: 9780373210589



On what should have been her sweet sixteenth birthday, Alice Bell tasted tragedy. Zombies killed her mom, dad and younger sister, and Alice’s innocence. Besides numbing grief and bone marrow deep need for revenge, Alice regrets that she believed her late father was a lunatic when he insisted monsters lived.



Alice believes she is targeted by these evil beasts for death too. She knows she cannot confront the malevolents by herself, but never expected Cole Holland, the student at school with the worst reputation, to become her defender and mentor. With him and his friends accompanying her, Alice prepares for war against the zombies; unaware that her new ally has secrets that make zombies look like preschoolers.



The first White Rabbit Chronicles is an exciting teen urban fantasy starring a terrific protagonist whose entire life changes in a nanosecond. The key cast is fully developed while enhancing Alice’s coming out party. Although references from the Carroll’s classic starts as fun, these citations eventually distract from what overall is an entertaining zombification of Alice.



Harriet Klausner

Covet-Melissa Darnell

Covet


Melissa Darnell

Harlequin Teen, Sep 25 2012, $9.99

ISBN: 9780373210565



In Jacksonville, Texas until recently Savannah Colbert never comprehended why the Clann overtly loathed her. At school Tristan Coleman refused to acknowledge she existed as he was warned to keep his distance. That ended when she came back from a week of absenteeism totally changed as Sav and Tristan became an entry (see Crave).



After a warning from the Vampire Council to never see Tristan or else, Sav ends their relationship to protect her beloved from what she is tuning into. Tristan refuses to accept her assertion that it is over as he knows there is more to this. Vowing to find a way for them to be together, neither is ready for what awaits them.



The second Clann teen urban romantic fantasy is an engaging coming of age thriller. Both protagonists mature out of necessity as much as due to their love, while the support cast enhances the insight into the Darnell vampire mythos. Leisurely paced for the most part, readers will enjoy this fresh vampire romance.



Harriet Klausner

Aquarian-Jan Coffey

Aquarian


Jan Coffey

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Aug 18 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9781479104574



Teenager Killian feels alone as her mom died a few years ago and her dad ignoring her remarried. When she graduates from the Green Mountain Academy in Vermont, her maternal great Aunt Hannah Winthrop invites her to stay at Cuttylea Island with her; she accepts in spite of the isolation with Hyannis being three hours away by boat and limited electronic access.



In a storm, a frightened Killian, who cannot swim, sails in a small boat when the driver picks up Perth, an Olympic Gold medal quality swimmer. Hannah welcomes her niece who will work at the nearby inn. Killian is attracted to Perth, but as a wallflower accepts he is out of her league. When she hears a mother’s plea to rescue her children, Killian is confused as the woman is dead. Meanwhile Perth confuses her as he seems to like her before instantly turning into a grouch. However, Killian becomes concerned when Dr. Davenport and a team arrive ostensibly to study wind energy, but asks questions about Perth’s wheelchair bound father Walter. Wondering what is going on with elderly Lynx warning her to leave, Dr. Davenport’s inquiry and what the birthmark on her lower back has to do with pentagrams inside older abodes. Killian seeks the truth.



Aquarian is an exhilarating young adult paranormal mystery that will have the audience wondering like the heroine what is happening at Cuttylea Island. The storyline starts leisurely as the heroine’s personality and the island setting of “no cell phone service; no cable TV; no mall … and no Facebook” are established. Once done, the plot turns into a fascinating tale as Killian begins to learn the dangerous truth about her ancestry and that of Perth.



Harriet Klausner

Bad Glass- Richard E. Gropp

Bad Glass


Richard E. Gropp

Del Rey, Sep 25 2012, $15.00

ISBN 9780345533937



A biological incident leads the government to quarantine Spokane, Washington under military control. There is no information as to what has happened except for sporadic leaks out of the shutdown metropolis.



Photographer Dean Walker breaches the military sentry around the city to sneak into Spokane with plans to take shots of whatever he finds in order to tell the world and gain fame. He is unprepared for what he sees in the embattled city. Dean is fortunate to meet struggling survivors in a world turned grotesquely anti physics as time no longer flows in the same way and monsters are everywhere and people trapped at the subatomic level within solid items as Dean’s mission changed from informing the world to surviving this inner collapsing world.



This is an exciting cautionary horror tale that uses Dean’s photos to describe the grotesque state of Spokane. PTSD becomes a common link between those still clinging to their humanity and theorizing what happened though like readers not knowing for certain. Although a deeper look at the change in physics would have been appreciated, Bad Glass remains one of top horror thrillers of the year, as fans will relish this profound psychological drama of the end of civilization when a city collapses.



Harriet Klausner

Dearly, Beloved- Lia Habel

Dearly, Beloved


Lia Habel

Del Rey, Sep 25 2012, $16.99

ISBN: 9780345523341



By the end of the twenty-second century, much of the planet was devastated; the United States nuked itself into a united wasteland. Central and South America consolidated as New Victoria with the capital in New London, Nicaragua. The society is based on the historians' interpretation of life in Britain during the reign of the late nineteenth century monarch.



Not all is idyllic as the Laz virus has created sentient and feral zombies. Most humans refuse to distinguish between the two classes of zombies as a majority of the humans believe a truly dead zombie is a good zombie. However, some individuals like teenager Nora Dearly knows otherwise ever since she met Punk undead Bram Griswold who saved her life (see Dearly, Departed). The civil rights issue explodes into hostilities especially between the Changed dead and the Murder alive. Collateral damage is an acceptable norm by the two enemies as each believes innocent civilians is an oxymoron. However, as both extremist sects focus on a zombie sympathizer who’s dearly father the scientist seeks a cure for Lax, the heated dispute changes for the worst when a zombie with a new strain of the virus emerges.



The key to this great futuristic urban fantasy is Habel World as the author makes her vision seem vividly real through an insightful historiographical premise and a racist profiling. Action-packed, readers will relish the second Dearly thriller as the heroine and her allies push for equal rights for all, her endeavor enables the Changed and the Murder to agree on one thing: Nora’s permanent demise.



Harriet Klausner