Scott Rhine

1 star, Trigger Warnings not disclosed

PILLARS OF THE MOON
by Scott Rhine

This story could have been amazing. It did not come with any trigger warnings, if it had, I wouldn't have selected it to read. This is not only a science fiction/fantasy novel, but it is also a FF novel. I didn't sign up for that. Yuck!

Too bad that authors can't simply write a good story, without adding in all of the trigger stuff.

Highly disappointed. I received a complimentary copy I was under no obligation to post a review.

#pillarsofthemoon #disappointing #triggerwarnings #booksGOsocial #scifiFantasy #purge #scottrhine… (más)

Book Info: Genre: Fantasy
Reading Level: Young Adult
Recommended for: Fans of character-driven YA fantasy, sword and sorcery, alternate worlds, role-playing games, Native American legends and lore
Trigger Warnings: fighting, bullying including attempted murder, violence, killing, murder

My Thoughts: This is book 1 in the Behind the Walls of Sleep series. While I normally edit for this author, I was unable to do so for this book due to my recent cancer diagnosis, so instead I am reading it for review.

This is not a book for someone who likes a lot of shoot'em up bang-bang action, as a great deal of the story revolves around Daniel learning who he is, both in the waking world and in Astra, and his abilities and talents begin to manifest in both areas. Overall this is quite different from most of Rhine's other works, but still a great story. If you like strongly character-driven coming-of-age YA fantasy, including elements of sword and sorcery, role-playing and even Native American lore and legends, then snatch up this new book. It actually just became available on Amazon today, 4/13/14.

Meanwhile, book 2, Shaman, should be out by summer, if not sooner. Watch for it.

Disclosure: I was given an early version of this book and asked for my opinion. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: When we close our eyes at night, we all see the same ancient place. Exploring Astra is like living a video game. Tomorrow, I’m going goblin-tipping with some of the other wizards. The first rule of being a dream wizard is “no photos.” You don’t want the bad guys finding you where you have no powers. The waking world sucks.

Since Mom went to prison, the Nevada foster system sent me to Minnesota to meet an Uncle Joe I never knew I had. Snow loses its charm after five days. Only music and the dreams make my life bearable.

The weird thing is that elements of the worlds are bleeding into each other. Someone is trying to kill me, and I’m not sure who: the criminal underworld, the elves, or the crazy wizard causing these freaky storms.… (más)

This is the second book in the Jezebel Series by Scott Rhine, and I have to say that I liked the first book better, but not by much. This is still a excellent book, it will definitely hold your interest, has great characters, and imagery, the problem I had was with the ending as you will see, but that is a taste issue, you may not agree with my choice. Overall, the novel was wonderful and well executed, and I would recommend the series to people looking for action/adventure along with alien technologies. Mysteries also abound in this book, so keep reading to see more.

THE PLOT: Jezebel Hollis, now head of Fortune Aerospace and her husband Benny Hollis, have had a child named Miracle Redemption Hollis, who is our new protagonist. At the age of six, an attempted kidnapping plot is foiled, but it leaves the girl scarred emotionally, as she killed someone with powers passed to her from her mother Jezebel. The next thing we know Red, her nickname, is flying to the astronaut school on an island somewhere in the Pacific. She brings with her a half sized model of a landing craft to go to the alien Eye in the Sky. She is supposed to be in finishing school in Switzerland. The book details Reds adventures as well as the former team of Fortune Aerospace who are now running the school. The war continues, even though the UN is now involved and countries have each signed up to put an astronaut through training, some still don't believe that we should contact the aliens and others want to control everything that's found there. The action is non-stop, with romance being a side-line, as with teenage students you can't stop hormones from flowing. The plot was good with a number of different story arcs taking place under the main arc of getting to the Eye in the Sky. For plot I give this an 8/10.

CHARACTERIZATION: Rhine shines here as always, with both faculty and students. He has an international cast of characters that he has to portray, and he does a wonderful job using dialogue, physical description, movement, habits, hobbies, food, likes and dislikes to characterize his characters. You even feel sorry for one of the evil characters at one point, because Rhine's world is always in shades of gray, never black and white, his palette has warm and cools grays in it, giving him the tools that he needs to shades his characters in different ways. Red herself, was a spoiled brat, but so loyal to her friends that she was just like Jezebel, she would hurt herself to help them. Zeiss too was a wonderful character. A natural math genius, low key, who understood people, and was kind to others. A natural pattern recognition specialist, he could see patterns where other people couldn't, unless they were enhanced by the pages. Sojiro was also fabulous, gay, a Manga artist extraordinaire, he drew Red's team as characters from a Manga comic. It was priceless. For characterization, I give this novel, a 10/10.

IMAGERY: The imagery in this book is up to current Rhine standard, you can see every image in your head. While Rhine is pretty spare with his prose, as most words go toward characterization and action, this works to generate a picture of what's actually occurring in the novel. If you have any imagination at all, the images should pop into your head like a movie, in fact, this whole series would make a fabulous movie series. Rhine has always done a fabulous job of creating exactly the image he wants without a lot of extra adjectives and adverbs. It's just the way he writes his prose – characterization, dialogue, action, imagery, plot, are melded together into a whole - pushing the story arcs forward at blinding speed. It's just how he does things. You can see every detail of what is going on while the action unfolds. It's the choice of details that he highlights that make it so cinematic. He could be a movie director or screenplay writer. My bet is that he thinks in images, which is how he writes this way. For imagery, I give the novel a 10/10.

THE GORE SCORE: There is some gore in this book, as there is still a war on. There is a physical beating that is described in detail, with each kick and punch, with each injury explained after attack. There is also psychic torture as well. That is harder somehow to read than the physical beating, though they both happen to characters I really liked, the second one felt like such a violation – almost a mind rape. It was horrible, but the effects themselves end up better than expected due to some unexpected things happening at the end. At the beginning of the novel, during the kidnapping, there is much shooting described in detail, and one person literally explodes. For gore, I give this novel, a 7/10.

DIALOGUE: Again, Rhine has his way with words using dialogue. He definitely uses it to his advantage as part of characterization, as well as to describe other characters, to add wit and humor to the novel, and of course to communicate information. With an international cast to portray, Rhine had to sharpen his pencil, so to speak, as he had a number of accents to do, even though the book is all in English, he still had to build different accents for different international characters. This was not over done, which I appreciated. My favorite accent was that of the Polish bomb technician, who was on Red's team. It reminded me of a friend of mine from work, who spoke exactly the same way. Rhine uses dialogue as one of his tools to add to the characterization, imagery, plot and humor of his novel. I give the dialogue 9/10.

PACING: Like all of Rhine's novels you travel along at the speed of light; every one of Rhine's novels is a page turner. You won't find one that has a slow spot, or even a dull part, some even speed up toward the end due to dramatic tension that builds and builds over the course of the novel – almost exploding to conclusion at the end. The transitions in this novel were all well thought out and smooth. You shift from one character's POV to another, but they all make sense, and are so easy to follow, you can tell who is speaking by the dialogue itself, as each individual voice is so recognizable. For pacing, I give this novel a 10/10.

THE ENDING: I don't know whether you would call it creative differences, or just the fact that I hate cliff hangers, but I really did not like the ending of this book, you get a big surprise at the end, and then when you are at the jaw drop moment the book stops, leaving you hanging there, wanting more. Will I read the next book – you bet I will. Did I hate the ending – you bet I did. It could have been done so many other ways and not left the reader feeling left hanging high and dry. The first novel feel complete all by itself, while this one felt like one complete book plus the very beginning of a second which teased you to no end. I hate being teased. Now all I want to do is to read the third book, as Rhine intended, but that was a dirty trick to play on anyone. His writing made me read his novels all by themselves, why put a hook in? Why not trust that the story is good enough that the readers will continue to invest in them after already reading two books? I can't answers these questions, obviously, and I am currently not a writer, so I don't know the pressures they are under, but Scott, trust that you are good enough that people will continue to read your series. Your story is fantastic. I will in continue it a heartbeat, so no more cliffhangers, please. I give the ending, a 5/10.

THE UPSHOT: If this book had a typical Rhine ending, this book would have been a high 5 star book, but take into account that not all people dislike cliffhangers as much as I do, or at all for that matter, and you may still believe that this book rates a high 5 star rating. As it is, the book is excellently written, has in-depth characterization, cinematic imagery, witty and humorous dialogue, light speed pacing, a tightly written and well executed plot and what you have is an excellent novel with an ending that I personally did not like, but that's me. You may feel differently. I have read all Mr. Rhine's novels and have enjoyed them immensely. He brings a new vision to science fiction and fantasy that hasn't been there before, and I very much appreciate that. I recommend him to everyone who wants an innovative author who's not scared of genre busting, has some traditional influences, but takes them to brand new heights. He is one of my Authors to Watch in 2012, and I believe Scott Rhine, is a true gem in the indie crown. Read him and revel in his ideas and wonderful prose, not to mention his incredible storytelling. I know that I do, and can't wait for the next book in this series to come out. The final score for this book is 52/60, a low 5 stars.

MLB SCORE CHART

50 – 60 5 STARS
40 – 49 4 STARS
30 – 39 3 STARS
20 – 29 2 STARS
10 – 19 1 STARS
00 – 09 0 STARS… (más)

Jezebel's Ladder is the first book in the sci-fi series by Scott Rhine which is quite spectacular. His imagination continues to innovate at all levels as he creates new technologies that are of alien origin; alien in the sense that the origin is unknown and clearly not human. This first book is far more then a set up for the rest of the series, it is a self contained thriller all by itself, and Scott pulls out all the stops as he plunges the reader headlong into a war between multiple factions. To say that it is exciting would be like saying 0 degrees Kelvin is cold.

THE PLOT: There are alien artifacts – called pages, because that is what they look like. They currently are spread across the globe. Elias Fortune, an aerospace and porn tycoon, has amassed a number of pages, and is recruiting people to help him get more. Jezebel is one of the people who gets recruited. She was a mathematics major in college before she became a dancer in Vegas, and a magician's assistant. As time goes on, she is exposed to a number of pages, and becomes amazingly talented at a great number of things. Because the pages provide breakthrough abilities, countries and corporations around the world would kill for those pages, and so Fortune Aerospace is at war with a number of different entities; each wanting the other's pages and not shy about spilling blood to get them. An organization within Fortune Aerospace is built to detect, defuse, and debrief any incoming threats as well as recruit new people for the organization. There has to be a reason for the abilities that pages give people, but what is it? Do aliens want to talk to us? Meet us? Is there something close by that will send out a signal when we are close to achieving our goal? It is not only a multi-sided war for pages themselves, but a search for the area where the pages originated, and a sci-fi tale of alien technologies that are so innovative they are beyond conception. This was a tightly plotted tale, with enough twists and turns to please any mystery buff, but don't be fooled by the magic, keep your eye on the sky and you'll finally see what's going on. For plot, I give this novel, a 9/10.

CHARACTERIZATION: Scott has a way with characterization in all of his novels. He writes his characters so that you feel that you really know them, with all their conflicted feelings, their romantic fumblings, their quirks and foibles, and even the evil people are understandable – which makes him a rarity in the sci-fi world, where instead of shades of gray things tend toward black and white. There are so many shades of gray in the world of Mr. Rhine, that you can't help but feel for his characters, because they come across as human as you or I, and you want them to succeed at what they are trying to do. In this novel, Jezebel, our protagonist, has some obvious faults, but has the biggest heart in the world. She would do anything for anyone under her protection, to the detriment of herself. That type of loyalty is so rare in this day and age. For characterization, I give this novel a 10/10.

IMAGERY: Scott has a way with words that has always surprised me. While sparing on the prose, he gets his point across quite well while having an image of the action render in your head like a cinematic experience. Even without his beautiful book covers, It would be easy to image Jezebel and the others on the Fortune Aerospace Team fighting the war for the alien pages, being kidnapped, questioning enemy agents and such. Rhine makes it all believable with his descriptions which makes up a facet of the characterization of each member. One image stands out especially, Jezebel is being tortured by the enemy, tied up in the steam tunnels of a building. She is stalling for time, so that her rescuers can get there before the psychopath who kidnapped her can kill her. She is distracting him by getting him to rant about the things that made him go rogue. It is a dangerous game that she plays. If he gets too mad, he will kill her there and then. The clock is ticking and the madman is ranting, but who will wind up reaching the deadline first. At the same time, Jezebel is trying to loosen her bonds and is making headway – so a third option may be open to her, if she can just keep him talking, but not make him too mad, it is a balancing act like the man with the spinning plates on the sticks, the more plates he adds, the higher the odds are that one will drop. The dramatic tension in this scene is gripping to say the least. For imagery, I give this novel, a 9/10.

THE GORE SCORE: There is actually quite a lot of violence in this book. As the Fortune Aerospace Team is a at war with a number of factions, it is not surprising that there is violence, but Rhine does not glory in the violence at all, he just plainly states what occurs, and keeps right up with his rapid pacing. I give this novel a gore score of 5/10.

DIALOGUE: The dialogue in this novel is snappy and modern, with a bit of humor thrown in. It makes the book more entertaining with the wit it provides. Each character has their own voice. My favorite voice is that of Claudette who is Southern and speaks with wonderful colloquialisms common to the South, but maybe unknown elsewhere. It makes her character more sympathetic and likeable when she speaks like that. It reminds me of some people I know who are the same way – big hearted and friendly, but fierce when defending friends and family. Rhine gets that Southern accent just right. For Dialogue, I give this novel a 9 / 10. .

PACING: The pacing of all Rhine's novels is lickety-split-quick or LSQ, and this is no different, it's as if you are strapped on the back of a missile and when you breach the cover of the book, you launch. Up you go at tremendous speed, and because this is a smart missile, you dodge and weave from enemy fire, until finally you reach your target, exploding on impact, which is the last sentence of the last page. Then you put the book down, thinking of the wild strange trip you've just been on. This novel is no different. The pacing doesn't slow at any point, You go through the book from different points of view, and the transitions are easy as pie. For pacing, I give this novel, a 10/10.

THE ENDING: This novel built up dramatic tension until I was literally biting my nails, it was almost impossible to guess at the ultimate problem represented by the reaction of humans to alien technologies and so by the time you get to the last third of the book you are stunned into speechlessness by the problem presented to the characters you are reading about. It is so enormous, almost beyond comprehension and the clock is ticking, that you whip through those pages at warp speed. What a movie this novel would make! As we get down to the very ending, with little time to go, and all the world watching, I found myself holding my breath until the final resolution. Not only did it come out the way I wanted, I came out with a smile on my face, how's that for an ending. I give this novel, a 10/10 for ending.

THE UPSHOT: This is not your typical sci-fi space opera, it is more like Mission Impossible meets Close Encounters, with a dash of romance thrown in. The hard science is quite innovate and definitely present in this novel. The alien technology as I mentioned before is so innovative that I was amazed at Rhine's creativity in this book's conception. I would recommend this book to fans of action/adventure, mystery, sci-fi, and fantasy novels. It is also a great human interest story about what we human's would do if we were confronted with alien technologies without governments first controlling them. This is a wonderful novel and the first in a series. The second is Sirius Academy, which is out now. I give this novel a rating of 57/60, a very high rating of five stars.

MLB SCORE CHART

50 – 60 5 STARS
40 – 49 4 STARS
30 – 39 3 STARS
20 – 29 2 STARS
10 – 19 1 STARS
00 – 09 0 STARS… (más)