Bloodsworn by Tej Turner

Review by The Mole

Book 1 of The Avatars of Ruin

“Everyone from Jalard knew what a bloodoath was. Legendary characters in the tales people told to their children often made such pacts with the gods. By drawing one’s own blood whilst speaking a vow, people became ‘Bloodsworn’.

   And in every tale where the oath was broken, the ending was always the same. The Bloodsworn died.”

Since the War Of The Ashes the people of Sharma kept a standing army in case... well, in case. Representatives of the academy travelled around the country selecting the most promising candidates to be trained. In Jalard, Baird's job was to train the youngsters and recommend those he saw as fit for the academy. Kyra was the only woman this year who had got close to being noted by Baird and had high hopes of going.

Then an unexpected war started in an unexpected way and life promised to never be the same.

I received an ARC from the author/publisher as a PDF. We have as little to do with PDFs as possible because of formatting. They won't deliver any longer to our kindle (a very early model with no backlight) and my phone has a much smaller screen making reading very difficult, if not nigh on impossible. But I gave it a try so I could honestly say "no". I tried reading the first few pages with a lot of page manipulation. 

You know when you start to watch a TV box set on Netflix and suddenly it's two in the morning and you don't want to stop? That.

In most fantasy you quite quickly know who the hero is to be and who will be the focus. In this book Turner has a cohort of heroes who come and go so bank on no-one. Yes, a Bloodoath is sworn but what does it actually mean? It becomes apparent that the swearer may not know what needs to be fulfilled.

It moves fast in many arenas and jumps around time a little to rejoin earlier events. It's cleverly crafted but you never seem to get too attached to any one character. 

Combining magic, fighting skills, and characters who have left their village for the first time and are learning hard truths, there seems to be something for everyone in this.

It feels like this volume is almost stand alone leaving no cliff hanger but threads are left to carry forward to book two. The bloodoath is not fulfilled and happy ever afters still seem a long way off. I really loved this book and can highly recommend it to fantasy lovers.   

Having been reading Austen, Dickens, and some truly excellent crime recently, I wanted a change of pace - and I got it. 

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Elsewhen Press

It's Just The Chronosphere Unfolding As It Should by Ira Nayman

a Radames Trafshanian Time Agency novel (Transdimensional Authority Book 4)

Review by The Mole

In Random Dingoes we met Radames Trafshanian - a Time Agency agent - after Noomi and Crash's case was shown to involve time travel. In this book we follow a case of Radames' as she tries to unravel the occurrences of déjà vu that seem to be causing time anomalies and threaten the stability of the multiverse.

These stories are extremely funny - I am careful with the word "hilarious" as it invokes memories of watching Morecambe and Wise as a child and laughing until my ribs, quite literally, hurt. But who really wants that in a book? You'd never get the book finished as you kept having to find your place on the page! But Nayman's books are just short of that but...

Time travel is one of those things that it's so easy to get totally obsessed with as an author and as a reader, and the concept of the multiverse further complicates that. Nayman somehow sidesteps those problems and leaves you with a novel that almost feels plausibly real - until you think about it.

My own view is that Nayman is actually getting better at these stories and the books (I've only read 1 and 3) were never anything but good but do improve. I know that when I turned the last page to find the appendices came next I was disappointed - disappointed that there was no more and I would have to wait for book 5!

A read for YA/adult readers that love humour and scifi and don't take their reading too seriously.

Genre - YA/Adult Humour, Sci-Fi
Publisher - Elsewhen Press

Random Dingoes by Ira Nayman

Review by The Mole

A new drug is in town, Joy Joy, that causes the user to see their lives in other multiverses - at the same time! Noomi and Crash (see "Welcome To The Multiverse") are sent to track the dealer down but along the way another, more important, case comes up so they team up with Radames Trafshanian, a Time Agency agent, to find the user of an unlicensed time machine that threatens the fabric of the multiverse.

Nayman's work is always funny and quirky but here, more so than in the other books I have read by him, the plotting is deeper, more consistent and the story is stronger. It's almost a more serious novel except that it's not - it's still hugely entertaining making you smile on most every page - if not laugh out loud.

The study questions, at the end of each chapter are something not to be taken seriously (obviously, when you read them) but add to the humour - in case you are taking things too seriously.

Sci-Fi fans may not take Nayman seriously but here, in this novel, he approaches that hot potato of time travel that no-one gets 100% right and does a remarkably good job of trying. Come on Sci-Fi fans,stop taking it so seriously and take a trip aboard the Transdimensional Delorean - you may just enjoy yourselves.

Genre - Adult Humour, Sci-Fi
Publisher - Elsewhen Press

The Janus Cycle by Tej Turner

Review by The Mole

Janus is a nightclub but one with a reputation for tolerance and individuality.

The story is told through lives of 8 separate narrators although each is visited at some point and invited, nay pleaded with, by a girl to go to Janus every Friday. She encounters characters for the first time and refers to them by name but later when she meets them, they know her but she doesn't know them.

Is she making mischief or really a time traveller? And why is she trying to assemble all these people at the same time? And who is she running from?

Time travel is a concept that easily attracts plot flaws but in this short novel (218 pages) Turner has been extremely careful and crafted an excellent story. Some of the characters you will love and some you won't but give them all chance to be a part of the whole - it's well worth it.

Like "The Time Traveller's Wife", there is no technology involved instead there is a genetic trait that makes it possible. You know, believe or suspect from the very start of the book that something terrible is going to happen at Janus but no teasers are offered so when you find out you are totally unprepared for the horror about to unfold.

A real page turner that will keep you reading.

Genre - Adult Thriller, Sci-Fi
Publisher - Elsewhen Press

Welcome to the Multiverse * Sorry for the inconvenience By Ira Nayman

Review by The Mole

Noomi Rapier has joined the Transdimensional Authority and joins Crash Chumley on what is Noomi's first case. A man is found dead beside his Home Universe Generator but while his death doesn't appear suspicious the case is based around what he was doing to the insides of the Home Universe Generator - tampering with their workings is an offence. Noomi ends up chasing across multiple dimensions and meeting herself where ever she goes. Is she being played for a fool?

It's difficult to sum this book up. Think Douglas Adams. Think Tom Holt. Think Robert Rankin. Stir it all up with a little Spike Milligan and you start to get close. It didn't have me laughing out loud but it kept me smiling, amused, intrigued and reading. A great read that is highly entertaining and while it is funny throughout it isn't the kind of story that relies on one-liners and punchlines.

The story is sort of sci-fi but then again it also feels like fantasy as the sci-fi is SO different and extreme. It feels like a whodunnit but you won't be presented with enough suspects to even start guessing. There's a LITTLE sex in there but no real romance - it's all done in the best possible taste.

One thing I am confident of is that if you want something to not take seriously and lighten your mood then this will suit you.

Genre - Adult Humour, Sci-Fi
Publisher - Elsewhen Press

Buy Welcome to the Multiverse: Sorry for the Inconvenience from Amazon