(Life After 1) Huntress by Julie Hall

The room was packed wall-to-wall with huge, well-muscled guys! My stomach dropped. I’d been mistakenly drafted by the afterlife division of the NFL. This had to be a mistake.

Then I thought, "Eaten alive? How was that even possible when you were already dead?"
  

(Life After 1) Huntress by Julie Hall Review

My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below --- the spoiler line ---. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. Original draft review 05/20/2021. Final Review 1150± words, 5/6/2021

My Rating

I recommend this 3 star Young Adult, Christian, Fantasy novel... It is lathered in she-teen hormonal love/emotional insanity. It has enough bad writing in it to make you scream, yet enough wonderful story to make you cry, or at least think.... that is if you are a Christian or are inclined to consider living as if Christ loved you enough to died for you.

I know 3 stars isn't a ringing endorsement. Then my opinion on ratings makes that moot. I will make another confession shortly.

Despite the glaring shortcomings in this book, Audrey's story does have it's moments, and I never doubted where author, Julie Hall's heart was. The story, overall, was good enough to get some bragging rights that you can find on Julie's website .

Internet going out isn't precisely helping here....

Pre-confession: During the time I spent on skid row, 100+ Christians handed me Chapter 24 of this book. Those pamphlets never convinced me. But they did make me wonder enough that when I could no longer stand to live, I said to the God I didn't believe in, "Just let me die." That was December 29, 1969. I've never doubted His love for me since. I've doubted His sanity, His choices, His intelligence, I've called Him unkind names, I've sworn at Him, I've spoken to Him in languages I can't understand, then wondered what the hell I said. My life hasn't been terribly different from others. I think my kids love me. I think everyone who's ever loved me, still does. May not like me much, but I deserve that. The "Pre-confession" is to alert you to the fact that this book can reach really deep into some people. I'm one of them.

As a character Audrey, in Huntress, is about two stars above Holden Caulfield in pitiful. 3 stars. Hands down, she is infinitely better than Holden in every other imaginable way, but damn, if her comprehension of the human male is as portrayed in this novel, we are doomed as a species.

Confession: I've listened to the entire "Life After" series at least 3 times, possibly as many as 6 times. Always, sleeping, working, doing chores, shaving, showering, or otherwise not listening to it. You do wake up, take breaks, turn off the shower, so eventually you hear a lot of it. So to be fair to Julie (and to add 4 reviews to my 2021 count) I decided I would actually listen to the entire Life After series, one book at a time. I know this is a magnificent book. I know it is a pitifully bad book. Yep, both. The story is rather consistent. It is a good story from Huntress through Dominion (with a novella on Logan thrown in). The twists and character grown as the books go by can make it great fun. I cried, for personal reasons, and for our entertainer, Julie Hall's magic.

Okay, you made it pass the TMI section...

The book reminded, in some ways, of Frank Peretti's Darkness series. That is largely due to the prologue and epilogue in Huntress, but I'm cheating slightly here... I've actually read the whole series as well.

Generally: ----- The Spoiler Line ----- Audrey dies, lands in Heaven, entirely mind wiped (as in no memories of her life). Through no fault of her own she misses the (apparently) mandatory "Newly Dead, Welcome to Heaven Orientation". Then all 5 foot 3 inches of her gets assigned to demon combat duty. After the "assignment" Angel's double check to make sure God knows what He's doing, One Angel takes Audrey to meet her mentor and trainer, Logan.

Logan, a good looking, slightly older hunk, stops his combat training with another "hunter" to speak with the Angel who informs him he will have a new trainee to mentor. With Audrey the only other person with the Angel, Logan looks pass her and then says, "Great, where is he?"

Did I mention Audrey is a sheltered, confident, hormonal, and oblivious about males, teenage woman?

Audrey dies lands in "heaven" as a warrior with "Logan" as trainer. Romona becomes her nearly only friend. She's missed "orientation" that provides the newly dead all the details they need to fit in so "Audry" isn't fitting in at all.

Seriously, this novel is a baffling mess. Julie Hall does so many things right, I could kiss her. She also does so many things wrong... well the story makes up for almost all of that.

It all does make sense in way I suppose any born again Christian 17 year old hormonal confused dead girl would entirely understand.

My Notable Notes: One minute I want to strangle Julie for writing Audrey the way she did. Then I'm touched. Then my inner critic goes to sleep. Then Audrey tries to figure out Logan again... and I'm back to strangle mode.

Likes and Dislikes: If you haven't figured it out, I'm all over the place with this novel. Bad writing, but touching. I've critiqued a lot of manuscripts. This one would have taken me days to write. But when I can suspend my disbelief about Audrey's thick naivete about Logan in particular, I can roll with this story. Julie may have needed more help getting this story to market, but she clearly understands what it takes to tell a story and does a pretty good job at that.

The Technical: About the writing critique? Sorry. I'll need cash up front to do this critique.

Conclusion As I've "pre-confessed", I'm a Christian and the later chapters in this book rang my "too close to home" bell. But it is essentially a story about a confused girl thrown into a confusing (to her) situation, and then most the rest is her trying to figure out what most dead folks learned in "Orientation" which she missed for some unclear reason. Although there was mention of some people learning better by doing.

Read on: FIX THIS , 2021
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Author: Julie Hall
Narrator: Vanessa Moyen
Book Retailers: Julie Hall Retail Links
Read & Runtime: Chapters: 29 - Print length : 360 pages Runtime: 8h 48min

Calixta

“And this was the first time I died!”

“But if you are a mage and you received your power the second time you died, doesn’t that mean you are now obliged to work for the king?”

(Vanquishers of Alhambra 1) Calixta by Omayra Vélez

My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below --- the spoiler line ---. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. Review 1250± words

My Rating:

I reluctantly recommended this 3.5 star fantasy romance novel.

Calixta is a whore house madam. Not just any old slut with good management skills. Sold into slavery at 8, she's been trained to be far beyond the best. She speaks, reads, & writes in several languages, talks intelligently about any topic. Her brothel is the best in the Alhambra. And Calixita herself wears the tattoo of an "exotic". Among the most beautiful and most extensively trained in her profession. Few of the royals can afford an hour with her. That was before the first time she died.

Arriving at death's processing center, Calixta did not have the proper items to be processed and was hauled into an emergency meeting with the Virtues. Among these were Wisdom, Justice, Hope, Love, Peace, to name a few. Their job is management on behalf of "Father" (aka "Boss of the Virtues") and these "Virtues" had unusual news for Calixta. She's special; and the dark, painful life she lived wasn't suppose to happen that way, and worse... her mission is not complete. She'll being going back to that body that was just shot in the chest while protecting one of her pregnant girls.

Generally:            ----- Possible Spoiler Line -----
Jadro is high level management of evil incarnate and his boss has high expectations of him conquering the entire world. He's been highly successful. He's already murdered the mentors of Alhambra's Vanquishers who are now almost entirely untrained. Most are unaware of who they are. He's just received information that the third Vanquisher has been identified.

Dark Matter

“Until everything topples, we have no idea what we actually have, how precariously and perfectly it all hangs together.”

“It’s like we get so set in our ways, so entrenched in those grooves, we stop seeing our loved ones for who they are."

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below the spoiler line. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. Review 800± words

My Rating:

I recommend this interesting character driven 3.5-star science fiction quasi-quest novel where our protagonist and antagonist is Jason Dessen. Jason is not just Jason. (Yes, sounds confusing. Read it & it's not confusing.)

Our protagonist Jason has chosen a road less traveled. He could have been somebody. Awards, accolades, admiration of his professional peers. No one doubted that Jason was brilliant and likely would fast track to the top. Even Jason knew it and in rare moments regretted it.

Instead of fame and fortune, he chose instead, Danielia and his son Charlie. Rather than winning fantastic awards, being admired as the best among his profession, he chose family nights, wine, and warm fires on cold nights. He'll wash, Danielia can dry the dishes.

What Blake Crouch does in Dark Matter is peek behind this veil we think of as reality.

Generally: --- Possible Spoiler Line ---
There has long been a hypothesis that everything that can happen, has happened. In this theory, every time anyone makes a life altering choice, a new universe is born. Each choice opens a door in a maze of universes.

Warrior Fae Princess

“The lion, the yeti, and the dingy hotel suite,” Charity said as Devon ran right. “One wonders why that never became a beloved children’s book.”

“The time will come when you need to make a choice. ...—to give her a life—you must take the hard road,...”

(Warrior Fae 2) Warrior Fae Princess by K. F. Breene Review

My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below the spoiler line. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. Review 800± words.

My Rating:

Recommended 4.5 star fantasy paranormal romance novel. Charity and Devon are our protagonist and co-protagonist in a continuation of the Warrior Fae series, the eighth novel in the Demon Days, Vampire Night world. In this novel we are primarily trying to save Charity from herself. A quest novel.

Additionally, Ms. Breene is beginning to wrap up the multitude of "loose ends" in the Demon Days, Vampire Night world. Eight books into a series "highly recommending" is overkill. If you've read eight, you're mumbling to yourself at this point (04/01/2021), "Can you hurry up, Katie?" Be patient, there is a publish date for Book 9: Revealed in Fire.

Generally: --- Spoiler Line, cross at your own risk ---
Chairty is reaching her magic puberty and her magic is literally knocking people around. Her lack of control of her magic endangers herself and those around her. Much like any teenager, there's emotional chaos going on.

The Burning God

“Dying was easy. Living was so much harder—that was the most important lesson Altan had ever taught her.”

“Her voice, thin and reedy, faded without echo into the frigid air. But she screamed it again, and then again, and then again. It felt so good to say that she'd survived, that she'd #!@% finally come out on top, that she didn't even care that she was screaming to corpses.”

(Poppy War 3) The Burning God by R. F. Kuang Review

My thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings may be relevant before you venture below the spoiler line. Click the [Back] button there to return here if you take a look. Review 975± words

My Rating:

I highly recommend this 3.5 star novel/trilogy. It's sort of a historical novel, like Outlander, obviously far east of Scotland. The quasi historical fantasy of ancient Asia is expertly woven into a brilliant story about a pantheon of gods. Additionally, it's about how dealing with this pantheon of gods on a personal level makes the characters both powerful and crazy.

Match those powerful crazy god-filled-folks against the techno-advanced first-world-power-society who worship "the one true god" -- generously salt it all with political intrigue, backstabbing, hope, love, clashing of gods and hopelessness, then you've pierced the first level of depth to this trilogy.

Generally: --- Possible Spoiler Line ---
It gets deeper still. Yet, while reading/listening to this final book in the trilogy, The Burning God, I largely felt detached, almost uninterested. I can't identify why I felt this way. I was interested, anxious in all the places I should be, and so on.

Fused in Fire

“I smell drunk and look crazy. Trust me. My appearance IS the first line of defense.

What is happening? the vampire thought. Does she not need blood to survive?
“You are like a puzzle. What fun I will have figuring you out.”

(Fire & Ice 3) Fused in Fire by K. F. Breene

Audibook Narrator: Nicole Poole

Basic Info: Epub via PocketBook Android App has 34 Chapters containing 267 Pages. Audiobook on Smart Audiobook Player Pro: runs 9 hours and 9 seconds.

You may want to know my thoughts on Review spoilers, and ratings before you go beyond "Generally". Back button to return here

My Rating:

I would recommend this 4-star fantasy about Reagan Somerset to those who enjoy paranormal romance, humor, and world building that includes nearly all things rumored to exist from Tolkien to Rowling. The Fire and Ice Trilogy is for those who may like werebadgers, werewolves, and vampires, including powerful elder vampires like Vlad and Darius.

If Ms. Breene's Fire and Ice world were on TV it would blend X-files, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with Portland's detective Nick Burkhardt, one of the last Grimm's to confront the wild "Wessen" of Portland Oregon.

No offense to the cameo appearances of minor species like unicorns, dragons, T-Rex, or beloved evil clown demons. You may be surprised to find common goats and llama grazing unconcerned in the hallucinogenic wilds of hell, however.

Generally: (Entering Possible Spoiler Zone).
Our protagonist is Reagan Somerset who appears to be a rather unpredictable human female

(Illuminae 3) Obsidio

“Hey, if hostile battleship takeovers were easy, everybody would do it.”

“The die is cast. But today we will shake the table upon which it lands.”

) & full cast

(Illuminae 3) Obsidio by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Audibook Narrator(s): See List Below...
epub - 539 pages. Audiobook - 13:02:00 total

Order now from your favorite bookstore

My Rating:

HINT: This is book three of a trilogy. There are spoilers in this review. If you read the first two books in the trilogy, you'll be starving for this one.

Highly recommended 4.5 star science fiction novel. Obsidio is book three in the Illuminae series and here, at the end of the trilogy, we learn what Illuminae files are. But that's largely the conclusion of this book.

We start in a darker place. What started as a criminal hijacking of a criminal mining operation so far from the civilized galaxy that the nearest taco truck of a jump point station feels like it's a light year away - yet this bad actor company attacking another loose cannon company is now teetering on... not killing billions of people. No, not even trillions of people, but 2 entire universes. Billions of galaxies in each.

Generally: Spoilers certainly.
What? Two freaking UNIVERSES?

Yes, on a macro scale: This little SNAFU has developed some serious consequences. But this is a people story!

(Illuminae 2) Gemina

“It may comfort you to know that your death, while astonishingly violent, will likely be mercifully swift.”

“This tiny moment. In between the time you decide to pull a trigger and the time death arrives. There's just you and it and everything you're about to take away. It's too big. It goes forever.”

(Illuminae 2) Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Audiobook Narrator: Full Cast Listed below
Epub 646 pages, Audiobook 12:33:39 total

Title and Author links to where you may purchase the book. This is a rating primarily of the audiobook although I did read along in much of the ebook.... It easier to read the ebook in portrait, if your eyes are about 300% better than mine.

My Rating:

Highly recommended 5 star science fiction thriller novel, extraordinaire. If you don't want spoilers don't read the reviews of a second book in a trilogy? A review of a second book in a multi-book series is not possible without spoilers -- unless you say just about nothing, which I've grown weary of doing.

I will try NOT to be explicitly & blatantly spoiling but if you read even one sentence further, and you didn't want spoilers

... We both messed up. You read the blurbs, other reviews, and now this one.

Here we go...
We start again in media res. We are in the proceedings of the trial of Bei-Tech's massive crime which is pretty much all of what the previous book, Illuminae, is about. By now we know who is on trial, who they are related to, what atrocities they've wrought, and why Kady's boyfriend, per se, was ever at Kerenza to begin with. (Gives me Glenn Close quivers. Not sorry.)