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BethBrockBooks Review

“Ash and Echoes” by August Li

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Ash and Echoes is a Romantic Fantasy Epic. I don’t have the opportunity to read many of those, and I don’t think I’ve read anything quite like this work, but if I had to pick something similar, the closest I can think to compare it to is Deckard’s Baal’s Heart trilogy or The Devil’s Fire by Sara Bell. Baal’s Heart is probably the most similar since it was also a trilogy and menage. The power of three! Our main character, Yarroway L’Estrella, is a bit of an odd ball (my favorite). Not only is he a magic user–something I interpreted … Read more

“Mnevermind” Trilogy by Jordan Castillo Price

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Here’s my review of the first book in the trilogy: This is an urban science fiction story, about a man named Daniel, who works in a memory modification adventure agency, kind of like in Total Recall, but cooler—because Daniel’s gay. Yes, gayness makes everything cooler. The plot revolves around a glitch Daniel’s experiencing in one of his “love programs”—there are many hilarious moments concerning this plotline. I don’t get to read a lot of humorous MM, but JCP is a master of the dry wit. The story takes on an interesting dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream quality, reminding me of Inception. In some moments … Read more

“Greenwode” by J. Tullos Hennig

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To all you historical fantasy fans–check this out. The flavor of Greenwode hit me as a historical, but there’s a bit of magic, and it’s loosely based off of the legend of Robin Hood.  Loosely.  Otherwise, the language, the setting, and the voice was all very Old English.  Hennig did a lot of research, and has a section in the back of the book devoted to how much she did. I don’t read a lot of historicals, but I enjoyed this one.  The magic kept things interesting for me, and the language was not something I was used to, therefore … Read more

“Infected: Paris” by Andrea Speed

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Infected: Paris is a novella by Andrea Speed, and a prequel to the Infected series. I had only read Infected: Prey, the first book, before I read this. I really liked Paris. I’m a sucker for a black-haired, blue-eyed beauty. The narrator is mainly Roan McKichan, but there are some Paris point of view scenes as well. If you start with this book, you’ll still get the general set up of the world, which takes place in contemporary Seattle, where everything is essentially the same, except that a small percentage of the population has a cat infection…or turns into a … Read more

“Candle, Cup, and Casket” by Desiderii

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Note: This was recommended to me by Carole Cummings.  I’d heard that this novel (about 800 pages) was some sort of fan fiction, based off of the TV show “Merlin”.  I’ve seen some of that show, and that series isn’t based in space, and the characters are…different.  I suppose the only reason I’m quibbling over details, is because I think the author could take full ownership of this brilliant piece of literature.   King Arthur in space!  The story is told mainly from Merlin and Arthur’s point of view.  There’s magic and technology, and it’s interesting to see how they … Read more

“There Will be Phlogiston” by Alexis Hall

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Note: Someone in QSF Discussions told me about this book – I forget who – but I wanted to thank them.  I had no idea what I was getting into before I stepped into it, except I think we were discussing bisexual characters, and so everything was a pleasant surprise. This is a MMF Steampunk Novella, and I should note that this is #5 in a series.  I didn’t know that before I started it, but I didn’t find that to be a problem either, because it’s an origin story of sorts, our of bad assed trio. The backdrop is … Read more

Review: “Psychic Storm” by Aasheim, Andrijeski, Chase, Ellisson, Hunter, MacDonald, Mayer, Price, Ryan, Wood

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Note: This bundle was mainly MF Spec Fic Romance, but I was asked to do a review because it does have one MM book in it.  I wanted to support the fact that a MM novel was included in a MF bundle.  I would like more people to read LGBTQ+ fiction, and I think that this is a great idea.  Let’s keep a watch on how this goes…  Here’s to the future!   I love psychic abilities in my speculation fiction, and this bundle had everything from dream-walkers to life-stealers to clairvoyants, and yes, a few of our protagonists can … Read more