REVIEW: Resurrection: Demon Squad by Tim Marquitz

Resurrection: Demon Squad by Tim Marquitz
Publishing information: Kindle Edition
Publisher: Damnation Books
ASIN: B005347SZ8
Series (Book 2)
Copy: Given by Author
Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "Book 2 in the Demon Squad series.

Armageddon averted, the world returns to business as usual. Unfortunately for Frank "Triggaltheron" Trigg, business as usual sucks.


His night out interrupted by a horde of kidnapping zombies, what could possibly be worse? The resurrection of the Anti-Christ, that's what. Caught in the middle of a supernatural pissing match between the Devil's wife, a legion of undead, and an overachieving necromancer, Frank must survive long enough to stop Hell from being unleashed upon humanity; Again."

It is no secret that I am a fan of Tim Marquitz. Aside from being a all-around good guy, he does a great job of writing fast-paced and action packed stories. Resurrection: Demon Squad is no exception.

Resurrection takes place not long after the events in the first book Armageddon Bound. However, instead of giving the reader a lot of background and infodumping. Marquitz assumes that you already know the events from the last book and sets out to continue the adventures of Trigg. There are a few clues interwoven within the story to jog your memory but it is so well done that you really forget that it is there.

Many of our favorite, and not so favorite characters are back for round number two and we also have a few new individuals who enter into the story. Each character is well written and provide a new wrinkle in the mythology that is being created. The only real complaint that I have with the characters is Trigg himself. He does not grow much as a character. He also does not seem to learn from his mistakes. That said, it is a minor complaint and I hope that it is something that Marquitz thinks about when he gets around to writing his next novel in the series.

Without giving things away I will say that the story is interesting. The historical references are given a new twist and I think Marquitz had a lot of fun with the plot of the story and all of the characters we are introduced in this edition. The addition of zombies was also a nice touch and a great way to start the series up and build up from there.

Overall, there is very little if anything to complain about in this sophomore effort to the series.

Why this series has not been picked up by a major publishing house is beyond me. With every new short story and novel Marquitz continues to write interesting and compelling stories. It is hard to go wrong with anything he has written. If you have not read Marquitz then now just might be the time to start. Resurrection: Demon Squad is a long awaited sequel to a great Urban Fantasy series. Recommended.

Plot 7/10
Characters 7/10
Style 7.5/10

Overall 7/10

REVIEW: Disciple of the Dog by R. Scott Bakker

Disciple of the Dog by R. Scott Bakker
Publishing information: Hardback; 288 pages
Publisher: Forge: 23 November 2010
ISBN 10: 0765321904
ISBN 13: 9780765321909
Standalone
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Inside the Book: "And you wonder why I’m cynical. I’ve literally ‘seen it all before.’ The truth is we all have, every single one of us past the age of, say, twenty-five. The only difference is that I remember.”


No matter how hard he drinks, gambles, or womanizes, Disciple Manning simply cannot forget: not a word spoken, not an image glimpsed, not a pain suffered. Disciple Manning has total recall. Whatever he hears, he can remember with 100% accuracy. He can play it back in his head for an infinite number of times without a single change. This ability makes him a dangerously unorthodox private investigator.


When a New Jersey couple hires Manning to find their daughter, who joined a religious cult before vanishing in a small rust-belt town called Ruddick, he finds himself embroiled in a mystery that will pit his unnatural ability to remember against his desperate desire to forget."

Last year, I read Bakker's Prince of Nothing series which had me up and down while reading it. To this day I am still on the fence as to whether or not I should continue the second trilogy titled Aspect-Emperor. In an attempt to figure out whether I want to read it, I decided to give him another chance to win me over and purchased Disciple of the Dog. After all, a man who remembers everything sounds interesting.

Disciple or Diss Manning is an interesting character. He is very sarcastic and not exactly what I would call sophisticated as he has ex-strippers bounce in and out of his dilapadated office as temporary employees and lovers. Sometimes his internal monologue is witty and other times it is really annoying. I gave him ample opportunity to win me over and as I continued reading I found myself feeling dirtier as a result of my contact with him. Anybody that had an inkling of kindness or exhibited a pinch of goodness was immediately looked down upon and was smeared by either a few thoughts from the main characters or by some slight that a character felt left them open to critique. It wore me down. I hated Disciple Manning nearly halfway through the novel. The first few chapters I thought he was interesting and by the end of the novel I really did not like him. Even the majority supporting characters are rotten to the core. The couple that hires Disciple are tarnished. It was hard to find anyone with normal or outstanding morality.

The heart of Disciple of the Dog is a mystery. The book has a very noir feel to it; however, the setting in present day. Not an easy thing to do and Bakker does a great job of making it work. The set up is interesting and the delivery is impeccable. I think this is the highlight of the story. The book comes in at just under 300 pages and the story telling is very tight. As Diss learns more and more about the case the reader is able to slowly uncover the truth. I also think that Diss grows up a little but I still had no empathy for him by the end of the novel. I would like to tell you more but as I set out to write this review I had a hard time deciding what to write about for fear of giving something away so, I just decided to not say anything at all and avoid risking telling you anything that could ruin the mystery. I will say that there is room for a sequel as the ending is open-ended. If there were some light at the tunnel I could see myself reading the series, but I do not see this happening.

When I finished Disciple of the Dog I found a dark and gritty mystery that had no one I could relate to or even feel pity for. One of the problems I faced when I read his Prince of Nothing trilogy. There are no good characters, only various shades of grey and more often black. I have to have someone to root for and so far Bakker has yet to give me anyone that I can. It makes reading difficult when you cannot find anyone with redeeming qualities. While the mystery is well done and the characters interesting the story itself is just dark and made for an uncomfortable read. It is the reason for the low score. I am still on the fence about starting his new trilogy and leaning heavily towards staying away from it.

Plot 8
Characters 6
Style 7

Overall 5.5/10

REVIEW: Regarding Ducks and Universes by Neve Maslakovic

Regarding Ducks and Universes by Neve Maslakovic
Publishing Information: Kindle
Publisher: AmazonEncore; 22 February 2011
ISBN 10: 1935597345
ISBN 13: 978-1935597346
ASIN: B003WQAZ3Q
Standalone
Copy: Provided by Publisher
Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "On a foggy Monday in 1986, the universe suddenly, without warning, bifurcated. Fast-forward to 35 years later: Felix Sayers is a culinary writer living in San Francisco of Universe A who spends his days lunching at Coconut Café and dreaming of penning an Agatha Christie-style mystery. But everything changes when his Aunt Henrietta dies, leaving Felix a photograph of his father and himself--dated ten days before Felix was born. It can only mean one thing: Felix has an 'alter' in Universe B. Panicked that his mystery novel may exist already, Felix crosses to San Francisco B and proceeds to flagrantly violate the rules of both worlds by snooping around his alter's life. But when he narrowly escapes a hit-and-run, it becomes clear that someone knows he's crossed over... and whoever it is isn't happy about it. Now Felix must uncover the truth about his alter, the events of one Monday, and a wayward rubber duck before his time in both worlds runs out."

When I received Regarding Ducks and Universes I really had no idea what to expect. The blurb made is sound like a humorous romp with the feel of Christopher Moore. to a certain extent, it is. But what I ended up getting was a light mystery more in the vein of China Mielville.

When we start the book we are in a transporter that allows individuals to travel from Universe A to Universe B. Neither universe is ours although both have a striking resemblance. However, Universe A relies on computers and has a serious inflation problem and Universe B still contains books and personal motor vehicles. Each universe was unique and I found myself being drawn into both of them without really realizing what was happening. Before I knew it, I was hunting for more of the little things to see how they compared to each other and our own universe. I also was looking for clues to the mystery the novel was attempting to solve.

Felix A (from Universe A) is our main character and from the moment we are introduced to him, he quickly comes off as a very real individual with real concerns and feelings. The rest of the characters do a decent job of rounding out the cast and some are wacky but overall they all add to the story. Felix A is a bored to death writer who dreams of writing a mystery novel and hopes to find out more about his double (Felix B) and to see if his double leads a better life than he does and if he has been beaten to the punch about his novel.

Another interesting thing about the two universes was how they came to be and how one could travel and communicate between the two. The two universes have a privacy law that far exceeds anything we have here in our universe and really holds the two universes together and to a certain degree, apart. The whole same yet different concept was explored in Mielville's The City and The City and Regarding Ducks and Universes is similar yet, much easier to take in. The rules are quickly established and then the characters look for ways to turn it to their advantage or in some cases blatantly disregard it.

There are many humorous incidents and observations within Regarding Ducks and Universes, which offer a few light-hearted moments. There are a few science fictional elements that make up the story but the core of the story is a mystery. As Felix A (from Universe A) and Felix B (from Universe B) work with and against each other to help different organizations find out just what event lead to the two (nearly) identical universes to become (slightly) altered. I really had no idea just what to expect when I started reading Regarding Ducks and Universes and found myself enjoying the adventure and mystery found within. It is a light read with a lot of great moments and a decent mystery that leaves you guessing until the end. The brilliance that I found in Regarding Ducks and Universes is that there is a lot of mystery in the book, from our character wanting to write a mystery novel, to his love of Agatha Christie, to the mystery contained within the book. The book itself is an enigma, wrapped up in a puzzle and all of it is done simply and without difficulty.

Plot 8
Characters 7
Style 7

Overall 7.5/10