Posts labeled Ann Somerville
Review - Hidden Faults
My rating:
‘Jodi’ is a doctor trying to find a “cure” for one of his society’s greatest problems: paranormal abilities. ‘Paras’ are considered a threat, and once discovered they are marked with tattoos as well as forced to take a drug that inhibits their abilities. The problem is, the drug makes them almost useless for anything else, so they have become outcasts from the world in more ways than one. The government of Jodi’s country has used the “paranormal threat” to justify all sorts of restrictions, which the largely conservative society goes along with.
Tags: Speculative Fiction
Review - Unnatural Selection Collection
My rating:
“Unnatural Selection Collection” is an omnibus edition collecting three novellas featuring DC Nick Guthrie, his fellow detectives and his friends, especially Dr Anton Marber. I should warn you that there’s an inevitable bit of ‘spoilers’ in recounting all three books in one go like this. I’ve been careful not to reveal the mysteries of each book, but it’s impossible, I think, to discuss what happens in each book without telling you what the state of the relationship between the two main characters is.
Tags: Speculative Fiction Mystery
Review - Needful
My rating:
Another year or so has passed since the events of the last book, Games & Consequences, and things are not going well for Jerna and his family. His youngest daughter is fighting cancer while the older one is facing bullying at school. Love and honor compel Jerna to spend more time with his wife and children, and less time with his lover Ria. Ria feels lonely, and although he tries to understand Jerna’s situation, he can’t help but wonder if he can ever be really happy sharing Jerna with his wife and family.
Tags: Speculative Fiction Mystery
Review - Games & Consequences
My rating:
Games & Consequences picks up the story of Remastering Jerna. It’s a couple years later, and Jerna is happy in his life, with its somewhat unusual domestic arrangements. He spends four days a week as a manager at the exclusive Winds of Paradise hotel and bordello, while those nights are spent with Ria, the highly placed police inspector who helped set him free from his wrongful conviction in the first book.
Tags: Speculative Fiction BDSM
Review - Remastering Jerna
My rating:
Remastering Jerna is a really dark tale of suffering and redemption. In it, the author has created an alternate world not unlike our own, but with significant small differences. She spends many pages drawing this world and the main characters in rich detail, making everything three dimensional and very real in a very readable style that gradually draws you in. The title character, Jerna, is a teacher in a temple school with a wife and two daughters.
Tags: Speculative Fiction D/s BDSM
Review - Kei's Gift
My rating:
The best word I can think of to describe Kei’s Gift is “epic” - in the very classical sense of the word. This is a broad tale of the clash of two cultures, set in an alternate world not far removed from Earth’s ancient antiquity. The ‘clash’ is actually an all out war, and against this background our two heroes struggle to find peace, and each other. On the one side, we have Arman, a general in the Prij army.
Tags: Fantasy