The Book Stacks

Eon, by Greg Bear, is a book that I can only call Mind Boggling! (the capitals are deliberate) Eon is set in our near future, when Astronomers find an asteroid heading our way. If you don’t know, this is the stuff of nightmares for most people – anything over about a ten kilometre diameter would have a fair shot of wiping life from Earth and anything much bigger would certainly do the job.

But there are peculiarities about this one. As they observe it, the trajectory alters. There’s a cloud of some kind forms around it and eventually it settles into orbit around the Earth. Of course, as anyone would, humans decide to send some people up to have a look.

Greg Bear has written some excellent books, including Forge of God, Anvil of Stars and the unusual Songs of Earth and Power, and I looked forward to reading Eon. It doesn’t disappoint.

Eon is a bit of a slow starter in that it seems a little prosaic at first, more like a mainstream novel than what it turns into – riveting high-class Science Fiction. Greg Bear has penned a masterpiece work, taking his reader to limits of imagination and science they probably thought they’d never see, and he has done it well enough that some of the hardest science concepts are delivered in easily digested form.

The expeditions reach The Potato as it is known in Russia, or The Stone in the US, to find there is an entry at one end. They enter and find themselves in a vast cylindrical cavern, like an ice hockey puck, with a city plastered around the inside wall. As they investigate, they find strangeness multiplied, as well as an entry into another such cavern, then another until all in all they find six such hockey-puck caverns, each different and each less understandable than the first.

When they find out it was built by humans, the shocks are felt across the world, but these are nothing to the shocks that come in the seventh cavern!

Eon is a signature book I think, on by which many people will remember Greg Bear. He has stretched the limits of good Science Fiction and made an eminently readable book that will leave the reader sitting stunned for some time.

***If you would like to read my review of Eon to compare, you can find it here.

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Check out The Book Stacks Review Policy

Of course, I’m so utterly distracted that *other people* had to tell me the blatantly obvious fact that we are half way through the year. Wow. Anywho, what better excuse for a round up, right?

Books Reviewed:
*Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
*Holler for Your Health: Be the Key to a Healthy Family by Teresa Holler
*Moments of Clarity by Michele Cameron
*Xenocide by Orson Scott Card
*Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card
*Project Apocalypse by Anita Bell
*The Spell of Rosette by Kim Falconer
*Mad Kestrel by Misty Massey
*ShapeShifter: The Demo Tapes by Susan Helene Gottfried
*The Secret of Dragonhome by John Peel
*Erotica Cafe by Tilly Rivers
*Dead Ringer by Mary Burton
*Mainline to the Heart by Clive Matson
*Cabal of the Westford Knight by David S. Brody
*The Flow of Time and Money by Dr. Lloyd Watts
*The Cult of the Amateur by Andrew Keen
*Abarat by Clive Barker
*Caught Between Two Worlds by Scott Russell Hill
*Earth – A Visitor’s Guide by Ian Harrison
*Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies
*Lizzie’s Rake by Hazel Statham
*The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax
*Synarchy Book One – The Awakening by DCS
*Living Like You Mean It by Dr. Ronald J. Frederick

Wow. You don’t really think about everything you have done until you actually sit back and look at it. I was amused to find a 1/5 star rating on our pointless (as far as I know) rating system on one of my reviews. It was a not recommending review, so I wonder who put that rating on…

Eh, it’s a lot better than outright harassment, which I’ve been able to escape so far.

What books have you read so far this year?

Born and educated in Boston, Massachusetts, Pat McDermott grew up in a family full of music and myths that have found their way into her stories. She is a member of The New Hampshire Writers’ Project, Seacoast Writers’ Association, Romance Writers of America, and Celtic Hearts Romance Writers. A frequent visitor to Ireland, she lives in New Hampshire, where she is currently working on her next novel.

To find out more about the author and her work visit http://www.patmcdermott.net/

A Touch of Cleverality
By Pat McDermott

What does a writer do when a story’s dauntless heroes and delicious villains speak with foreign accents? At first, I tried writing dialogue by chopping words and adding apostrophes to simulate the Irish accents that abound in A Band of Roses. That did little to get the wonderfully lilting words I heard in my head onto a page so a reader could hear them the same way I did.

My first trip to Ireland helped solve the dilemma. The tour guide handed out a list of Irish-English vs. American-English words to help us Yanks fit in with the locals. We learned that in Ireland a cookie is a biscuit. French fries are chips, and potato chips are crisps. Interesting, but irrelevant to my story. Still, the idea of using the local vernacular intrigued me. I decided to investigate Irish slang.

Several dictionaries suggest that the word “slang” originated from the Norwegian phrase “slengja kjeften” (literally, to sling the jaw). Whether it did or not, “sling the jaw” is a great phrase—and no one “slings the jaw” better than the Irish.

I read through several volumes on the subject and found drisheens, shinogues, and sheilamaids, but such words were useless if I’d need a glossary at the end of my book. Thankfully, I found a treasure trove of terms that wouldn’t flummox a reader at all. The context in which I used them would easily define them, and a few key phrases would not only help round out my characters, they’d also delight every dog and devil. With more than enough ammunition for several books, I got to work.

Revising A Band of Roses caused no botheration at all. In fact, it was easy cakes. The boat that had simply sunk was now gone for its tea. The fella merely in love developed a soft eye for his lady. And that idiot who’s always foostering about? What an eejit!

At first I felt pig-ignorant exploring such a power of words. Now I think I can pass myself, though I’m only trotting after the true jaw-slingers. Irish slang twisted hay with my imagination, and some of it left me gobsmacked. I decided to buff up the English accents in A Band of Roses with British slang, but that’s a pair of shoes I’ll save for another day.

There. All done and dusted.

Heading to the beach with nothing to read? Now you can head out in style with a book from one (or more!) of your favorite authors!

Pump Up Your Book Promotion is hosting our very first Summer Beach Reading Giveaway. Four great authors with 4 chances to win!

All you have to do is head on out to one of the blogs listed below and follow directions to win. It’s that easy!

As the Pages Turn is giving away a copy of Dorothea Hover-Kramer’s Second Chance at Your Dream!

This is the first book to apply the breakthrough insights of Energy Psychology to healthy aging. Energy Psychology is an exciting new healing method that changes the vibrational patterns in the energy fields to produce rapid emotional healing and a sense of well-being. With the help of the over fifty exercises for rebalancing yourself offered in this book, you can face the challenges and opportunities of later life to create a time of energy, abundance and joy.

You can visit Dorothea online at www.secondchancedream.com.

Click here to enter!

Fiction Scribe is giving away a copy of DCS’ Synarchy Book 1: The Awakening!

Thirteen bloodlines, The Brotherhood, fanatically loyal to their gods, the Anunnaki, have controlled the planet since his-story was written. In 1925 Stefano Vasco Terenzio, head of the Terenzio crime family makes a deal with the Anunnaki to solidify his control over the American Mafia. Clever and manipulative, Stefano’s true goal was to put his family in a position so one day they would be able to turn on their masters. Two generations later, the shockwave he ignited was still being felt. Now, as the world inches closer to 2012, time is running out.

The only thing in the Brotherhoods way is Terenzio, a family now divided as a truly epic battle begins that will determine whether mankind continues existing in a world of lies, or shatters the chains that have held it prisoner since his-story was written. Shocking yet hopeful, Synarchy slowly unravels the tightly laced reality we have created for ourselves. Blending the metaphysical with conspiracy, fact with fiction, debut author DCS has opened up a world that will force you to rethink everything you believe about your own. The knowledge within provokes the question; do you really want to know?

You can visit DCS on the web at www.synarchynovel.com.

Click here to enter!

The Book Stacks is giving away a copy of Dr. Ronald J. Frederick’s Living Like You Mean It!

So many of us long to feel more alive, connected, and secure in our lives, particularly now, in these challenging and difficult times. Why is it so hard? Part of the problem, says Dr. Ronald J. Frederick, has to do with a fear of our feelings—a feelings‐phobia—and the consequences of expressing our feelings to others. It’s this fear that keeps us stuck, detached from the wisdom inside us and distanced from the people around us. And yet positive emotional experiences can actually “rewire” our brain and free us up to experience ourselves and our lives more fully. LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want by Ronald J. Frederick, shows how we can overcome our feelings phobia in order to enjoy more satisfying lives.

You can visit Dr. Frederick on the web at www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com

Click here to enter!

Zensanity is giving away a copy of Richard Aaron’s Gauntlet!

Six hundred sixty tons of Semtex is detonated in a massive explosion in Libya – the last of a deadly stockpile. The operation seems to have gone smoothly, but within minutes of the explosion, CIA agent Richard Lawrence discovers that one shipment of the explosive was hijacked en route to the destruction point. Days later, a glory-seeking “Emir” broadcasts to the world that he is planning a massive terrorist strike against a major U.S. landmark. And he gives a timeline of one month.

You can visit Richard online at www.richardaaron.com.

Click here to enter!

Four great authors, four chances to win! Hurry before contests end!

I am beginning to truly love Sunday Salon. It is connecting me to a lot of wonderful book lovers who I might have never met otherwise. I’m a bit shy, but I do love to make new friends. So, hello everyone!

I’m still waiting for my BookCrossing kit to arrive. I can hardly wait! I should start picking out books to release…

Remember to play the Monday game for your chance to win a book of your choice and bookmark.

Newly Arrived:
…

Reading:
In Bad Dreams – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley
The Daughters of Moab - Kim Westwood
Scattered Leaves – Richard Roach
Song of Sorcery – Elizabeth Scarborough
Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul by Kathy Balland

Going to Read:
Saffron Dreams – Shaila Abdullah
The Vision – C.L. Talmage
Fallout – C.L. Talmage
The Scorpions Strike – C.L. Talmage
Kissing Games of the World – Sandi Kahn Shelton
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
The Twisted Citadel – Sara Douglass
Season of Sacrifice – Tristi Pinkston
Copper Star – Suzanne Woods Fisher
Copper Fire – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Lost Diary of Don Juan – Douglas Carlton Abrams

Upcoming Reviews:
Mr. JM Review: Eon – Greg Bear
Mr. JM Review: Ringworld – Larry Niven

So what’s on your list?

Welcome to this week’s A Book By Any Other Name!

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 31 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* title in the total.)

My forfeit? If you make it to 31 titles, I will draw a name from the participants and that person will win a copy of any one of the books on this page along with a bookmark (or two!). I’ve decided this is a much better way of doing things rather than offering the SAME book over and over.

Choice is good!

So if you’d like a chance to win, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance to win a book - regardless if you have won a book previously!

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

Wait

I Say: Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn

You Say…

Heading to the beach with nothing to read? Now you can head out in style with a book from one (or more!) of your favorite authors!

Pump Up Your Book Promotion is hosting our very first Summer Beach Reading Giveaway. Four great authors with 4 chances to win!

All you have to do is head on out to one of the blogs listed below and follow directions to win. It’s that easy!

As the Pages Turn is giving away a copy of Dorothea Hover-Kramer’s Second Chance at Your Dream!

This is the first book to apply the breakthrough insights of Energy Psychology to healthy aging. Energy Psychology is an exciting new healing method that changes the vibrational patterns in the energy fields to produce rapid emotional healing and a sense of well-being. With the help of the over fifty exercises for rebalancing yourself offered in this book, you can face the challenges and opportunities of later life to create a time of energy, abundance and joy.

You can visit Dorothea online at www.secondchancedream.com.

Click here to enter!

Fiction Scribe is giving away a copy of DCS’ Synarchy Book 1: The Awakening!

Thirteen bloodlines, The Brotherhood, fanatically loyal to their gods, the Anunnaki, have controlled the planet since his-story was written. In 1925 Stefano Vasco Terenzio, head of the Terenzio crime family makes a deal with the Anunnaki to solidify his control over the American Mafia. Clever and manipulative, Stefano’s true goal was to put his family in a position so one day they would be able to turn on their masters. Two generations later, the shockwave he ignited was still being felt. Now, as the world inches closer to 2012, time is running out.

The only thing in the Brotherhoods way is Terenzio, a family now divided as a truly epic battle begins that will determine whether mankind continues existing in a world of lies, or shatters the chains that have held it prisoner since his-story was written. Shocking yet hopeful, Synarchy slowly unravels the tightly laced reality we have created for ourselves. Blending the metaphysical with conspiracy, fact with fiction, debut author DCS has opened up a world that will force you to rethink everything you believe about your own. The knowledge within provokes the question; do you really want to know?

You can visit DCS on the web at www.synarchynovel.com.

Click here to enter!

The Book Stacks is giving away a copy of Dr. Ronald J. Frederick’s Living Like You Mean It!

So many of us long to feel more alive, connected, and secure in our lives, particularly now, in these challenging and difficult times. Why is it so hard? Part of the problem, says Dr. Ronald J. Frederick, has to do with a fear of our feelings—a feelings‐phobia—and the consequences of expressing our feelings to others. It’s this fear that keeps us stuck, detached from the wisdom inside us and distanced from the people around us. And yet positive emotional experiences can actually “rewire” our brain and free us up to experience ourselves and our lives more fully. LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want by Ronald J. Frederick, shows how we can overcome our feelings phobia in order to enjoy more satisfying lives.

You can visit Dr. Frederick on the web at www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com

Click here to enter!

Zensanity is giving away a copy of Richard Aaron’s Gauntlet!

Six hundred sixty tons of Semtex is detonated in a massive explosion in Libya – the last of a deadly stockpile. The operation seems to have gone smoothly, but within minutes of the explosion, CIA agent Richard Lawrence discovers that one shipment of the explosive was hijacked en route to the destruction point. Days later, a glory-seeking “Emir” broadcasts to the world that he is planning a massive terrorist strike against a major U.S. landmark. And he gives a timeline of one month.

You can visit Richard online at www.richardaaron.com.

Click here to enter!

Four great authors, four chances to win! Hurry before contests end!

After last week’s Sunday Salon, I started feeling a bit pouty. Am I the only reviewer out there who isn’t a speed reader?

I don’t think it’s a negative reflection on me in any way; it’s just how I prefer my books. I’m just surprised (though I shouldn’t be) at how many speed readers are out there.

Has anyone here heard of BookCrossing?

I came across the site months ago and signed up, but then I promptly forgot about it. I didn’t really think I had the time for it, but it sounded like fun so I bookmarked it.

Lo and behold, I am back and it sounds like so much fun!

For those who aren’t familiar, BookCrossing is a site for book lovers who also like to do a little treasure hunting on the side - the treasure being books, of course. People all around the world are hiding books and hunting other books down, all in the name of fun and reading.

How could you not love a site like that?

Because I’m a bit of a nerd, I spent money I shouldn’t have and ordered one of the BookCrossing kits that come with the special stickers and such. I cannot wait until it arrives so I can start hiding books! Once I make some friends in there, I’ll start looking into ‘controlled releases’ as well, just because I’m cool like that.

If you’re on the site (or if you’re excited because of all my enthusiasm) feel free to find me. My username is JMSilver and I’m located in Australia. Even if we can’t hunt down each other’s books, friend me anyway. S’all good.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

You describe your life as full. Your days are jam-packed and busy. You have friends, work colleagues, family, maybe even a partner or spouse.

You are not alone.

Ron Frederick has come through a life where, like many of us, he had to find a way past his past. He had to learn, after leaving home, how to become who he needed to be to live the life he wanted and from the sound of it, he didn’t just wake up one morning and think, ‘Oh, that’s the path i need to take.’

That’s a good thing because helping people overcome their emotional issues is a road full of potholes, and Ron Frederick does a pretty good job of hole-filling for the reader.

Living Like You Mean (LLYMI) is a how to book with an easy-to-read style. One thing I found particularly helpful and interesting is that Frederick gives examples from his practice for the points he makes. He takes us on a journey along how to recognise where we are at in terms of handling our emotions, how he views the battlefield in which we play our personal war and what we can do about it.

There is no magic cure here. He doesn’t offer an instant fix, but he makes it clear we have to work at it. We need to deal with years of accumulated habit patterns and before we can do that, we have to recognise the patterns so we can adjust them.

And before that, we need to learn to see the emotions so we can label them. He gives steps we can take in all these areas.

In reading I found myself a bit impatient – the book seemed to be ‘talking about’ rather than addressing (to me) the waited for questions of what I could do about my issues with emotions.

*grins* Then I realised I was only on about page 80 and he actually HAD already covered a couple of important areas, including becoming aware of your feelings and of your defences.

I recently started using EFT (Emotional freedom Technique) as part of a program to try to deal with the fact that I am detached from emotion. Although others have had very good results, I found mine a little underwhelming. I see the processes LLYMI as enabling me in a more basic way than EFT, bringing me actions I can take to come out from behind the curtain that is between me and my feelings.

Then EFT should start to work more effectively, because currently i have problems identifying just what the feeling is I am trying to use tapping for.

I have just started my journey into my emotions – I hope to find my way across uncharted territory using the guide book that Ronald J Frederick, Ph. D. Has provided.

I recommend this book.
____
If you would like to win a copy of this book, leave a comment below telling me what emotion(s) you have trouble with in your life. The winner will be announced July 2nd.
____
Check out The Book Stacks Review Policy

“Now that summer is here (in the northern hemisphere, anyway), what is the most “Summery” book you can think of? The one that captures the essence of summer for you?

(I’m not asking for you to list your ideal “beach reading,” you understand, but the book that you can read at any time of year but that evokes “summer.”)”

Well, I’m not in the northern hemisphere, but when I read this prompt, one book came to mind…

The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Now, I know I have prattled on about this book more than once in the past, but I hope you won’t mind if I do it one more time.

I can’t tell you for certain that the first time I read this book was during the summer, but I’m fairly sure it was. And what a summer. I ended up renting that book from the library at least a dozen more times before finally being able to find a copy of my own.

The Blue Sword reminds me of summer for so many reasons. There is the fact that most of the book takes place in a desert, deserts are hot, summer is hot, yada yada. I think, though, that it reminds me of summer so much because summer is when I did most of my daydreaming and writing.

Oh, have I mentioned this is the book that inspired me to follow my dreams and write my own stories? (Before that I had always been writing, but the longer stuff was fanfiction.)

Time spent alone in the summer, daydreaming of story plots and faraway places or writing out those daydreams make up most of my pleasant childhood memories. I just wish I could meet the author to tell her my sincere thanks.

Are you like most people? You’ve got a busy and full life, a successful career, friends and family, and yet, for some reason, you feel like something’s missing. Do you find yourself wondering, “Is this as good as it gets?”

Many of us feel this way. We long to be more alive and present in our lives, more in touch with ourselves, and closer to those we love. Yet no matter what we do, we can’t seem to get there. As a licensed psychologist, I believe that a big piece of what is making us feel disconnected has to do with fear.

What are we afraid of? The answer may surprise you. We’re afraid of our own feelings. It’s our feelings that make us feel alive and vital, that bridge the gap between ourselves and others and help us to feel close. And it’s a “feelings phobia” that keeps us detached from the wisdom and power inside of us and at a distance from others.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. In my new book, Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want, I share a proven four-step approach to overcoming fear and connecting more deeply with yourself and others. You’ll learn how to:

• Break through old patterns and get unstuck,
• Open up to the energy and resources inside you and feel motivated,
• Get in touch with your personal truth and put an end to confusion and indecisiveness,
• Experience a profound sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging,
• Deepen and enrich your relationships and feel closer to those you love,
• Realize your true potential and experience greater fulfilment and happiness,
• ….and live your life like you mean it!

The strategies in this book offer more than a quick fix. They are based on cutting-edge research about how the brain works, develops, and changes. As such, they’ll not only help you feel more alive, vital, and present in your life, but will fundamentally change the way your brain works.

In addition, the book is full of stories of transformation of people who felt stuck, alone, despairing, but, in finding the courage to face their fears, in taking the risk to open up to their feelings and share them with others, changed in ways they never imagined possible. The same can happen for you.

With the right tools and practice your life and your relationships can be better. The capacity for change is there inside you, just waiting to come out. Living Like You Mean It will help you harness the wisdom and power of your emotions to transform your life.

To learn more about Living Like You Mean It, please visit: http://www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com/index.html

Though I am no big fan of the melting summer temperatures, I have to admit that I am more often in a better mood during the summer than I am during the winter. There is something about having cloudy days most of the time that gets me feeling a bit… down and tired.

Lucky for me, there has been some sunshine in Melbourne lately and I was able to get out and enjoy it!

Remember to play the Monday game for your chance to win a book of your choice and bookmark.

Newly Arrived:
Lose the Diet: Transform Your Body by Connecting with Your Soul by Kathy Balland

Reading:
In Bad Dreams – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Deniz and Sharyn Lilley
The Daughters of Moab - Kim Westwood
Scattered Leaves – Richard Roach
Song of Sorcery – Elizabeth Scarborough

Going to Read:
Saffron Dreams – Shaila Abdullah
The Vision – C.L. Talmage
Fallout – C.L. Talmage
The Scorpions Strike – C.L. Talmage
Kissing Games of the World – Sandi Kahn Shelton
Supernatural – Graham Hancock
Neutron Star – Short story collection – Larry Niven
Firebirds – Fantasy/Sci-fi Anthology – Edited by Sharyn November
The Foreshadowing – Marcus Sedgwick
The Redemption of Althalus – David and Leigh Eddings
The Serpent Bride – Sara Douglass
The Twisted Citadel – Sara Douglass
Season of Sacrifice – Tristi Pinkston
Copper Star – Suzanne Woods Fisher
Copper Fire – Suzanne Woods Fisher
The Lost Diary of Don Juan – Douglas Carlton Abrams

Upcoming Reviews:
Mr. JM Review: Living Like You Mean It – Dr. Ronald J. Frederick
Mr. JM Review: Eon – Greg Bear
Mr. JM Review: Ringworld – Larry Niven

So what’s on your list?

Welcome to this week’s A Book By Any Other Name!

The game works like this: Each week I will choose a word and offer a few titles that I’ve come up with containing that word in the title. Then it’s your turn to come up with book titles containing the same word, without duplication (yes, that includes my titles.) I would also like the author, but that is just so I can find the book if I want to read it.

The current challenge: I challenge you all to reach 31 titles containing the weekly word by midnight Friday, (with no more than 10 titles commented per person and not including *my* title in the total.)

My forfeit? If you make it to 31 titles, I will draw a name from the participants and that person will win a copy of any one of the books on this page along with a bookmark (or two!). I’ve decided this is a much better way of doing things rather than offering the SAME book over and over.

Choice is good!

So if you’d like a chance to win, join in!

If you don’t reach the goal, we’ll try again next week. If you reach the goal, I’ll have a brand new challenge for you next Monday where you’ll get another chance to win a book - regardless if you have won a book previously!

(If you’re feeling pouty about the ten titles per person limit, why not get a friend to come and comment as well? The more, the merrier.)

The word this week is:

Escape

I Say: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss

You Say…

If there was anything I didn’t want my reading to turn into, it was work.

Alas, it has happened anyway.

Without realizing what I was doing, I totally over committed myself to reviews for this month, locking me into what books I would read and when I had to read them by. Now, I’m liking all the books I have to read, but there are so many reasons I usually am careful to avoid doing this to myself…

I’m a bit of a moody reader. Sometimes I don’t want to have to think very hard, so I pick up a romance or ‘fluffy’ chick lit (no offense to romance or chick lit authors - I’m one of you!). There are times when I’m in the mood to learn new things, so I pick up non-fiction. Other times, it’s the pick of the draw off my ‘to be read’ shelf.

Yeah, I still can’t believe I had to buy a SHELF for all the books I have yet to read.

So, as you can imagine, having a set schedule may be ‘good for me’ in regards to reading things based on brain decision rather than heart decision, but it doesn’t make me any happier about it.

There is also the fact that I am just not a fast reader. Period. I love reading, but I never developed that whole speed reading thing. A fact which is fine with me, to be honest. If anything, I read slower because I like to savour books rather than consume them.

I first asked Mr. JM if he would like to be a part-time reviewer here because I couldn’t keep up with the ‘book review every Friday’ and he has helped me wonderfully. But, when I’ve booked myself in like I have for this month, it doesn’t help that he’s given me two reviews to put up because I have other things scheduled.

Blarg.

All else I can say on the matter is: lesson learned.

About the Book:

A plan is exposed, centuries in the making and so sinister not even the legend himself could have predicted the depth of its impact on the world.

In his lifetime, Stefano Terenzio had a merciless ambition for absolute power. Two generations later, the shock wave he ignited was still being felt. Now, as the world inches closer to December 21st, 2012, sides are chosen, families divide, and an epic battle begins that will determine whether mankind continues existing in a world of lies or shatters the chains that have held us prisoner since his-story was written.

The Review:

Full of intrigue and deep family connections, Synarchy Book 1: The Awakening, is a book that will suck you in if you are any sort of fan of the mafia-family style of story.

My ‘hiccups’ with The Awakening come with my feeling that this book needed another editor. The technical errors weren’t many, but there were enough for me to write a comment down on my review note card about them. There are also acronyms and terms which aren’t explained as well as certain things (like ‘harsh gray eyes’) that are repeated too often. As an editor, I can’t help but think these things should have been caught in the draft process.

There are other things that I feel are confusing enough for some readers to put the book down. I understand the importance of family in this book – and, in fact, I quite enjoy it – but the very number of Terenzios running around made me itch to get out a notepad so I could get all the family members names and how they worked into the family tree jotted down.

Even beyond the family, there are many characters and places introduced right from the beginning, not to mention the jumping around in time which – while serving the story well – might just serve as the last straw for readers.

DCS is a very talented writer, but almost every writer needs an equally as talented editor standing behind them to create a work of fiction that will truly take readers to a new world – and keep them there.

That all being said, I am quite impressed with this book. I can’t imagine the amount of time, research and natural talent it must have taken DCS to weave everything from New Age beliefs to conspiracy theories all together. Not only that, but to put it at the personal, family drama type of level while maintaining the ‘threat to the world’ feel of things. No doubt it was a project of love as well as blood, sweat and tears.

The Short Version:

I think The Awakening is a good book and a great start to a series. However, the technical errors along with the points that lead to confusion (that I mentioned above) keep me from recommending it with the enthusiasm I would have otherwise.

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