Book Reviews

The latest indie book reviews from Self-Publishing Review

Review: Tilogos: A Treatise on the Origins and Evolution of Language by Sherman P. Bastarache

This book is written by a Canadian mechanic with an interest in the origin of language. He has obviously spent a great amount of his life reading and thinking about this question, not just as a technical quandary but rather a personal one.

As a Christian with no other language knowledge past that of high school, and only English at that, he makes a grand statement with this work but sometimes he doesn’t seem to quite grasp the principle he tries to illustrate, maybe because he has not dedicated time and energy to formally studying the discipline in which he […]

2020-02-21T07:51:46+02:00October 23rd, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Secret of the Songshell (The Spectraland Saga) by Brian Tashima

When you pick up a fantasy genre book for teenagers, you expect Tolkeinesque trekking through rocks and meeting strange hybrid creatures, right? You expect lengthy descriptions of mountains, tunnels and pathways, yes? You expect charm, betrayal, adventure and friendship across species and a hero with the odds against him, don’t you? You get all of this in the first volume of this Saga by Hawaiian author Brian Tashima, but he adds some extra ingredients to make his writing unique.

Firstly, the touch of his Hawaiian culture comes through: There is a laid back, grass roots way that Tashima writes that […]

2014-05-09T21:36:16+02:00October 19th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: Price of Justice by Alan Brenham

It takes a certain kind of mystery or crime thriller to hold my complete attention. The cookie cutter plot lines of James Patterson make me laugh every time I see him hanging out on the New York Times Bestseller list. I enjoyed the occasional Mary Higgins Clark or John Grisham back in my high school days, but even they don’t do it for me today. Thomas Harris has always been a fav, but he’s written all of five books in three decades.  These days author Gillian Flynn has me screeching like a vamp crazed teen girl every time a new […]

2014-05-09T21:37:15+02:00October 17th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Cancelled by Elizabeth Ann West

Cancelled by Elizabeth Ann West has some problems, but it is a quick, easy read that often contains enough intrigue to keep a reader skimming through the pages. It’s the story of Johnathon, a twenty-seven-year-old robotics engineer who has finally started a relationship with his best friend and business partner, Alexis. But then Kellie, a one-night stand from his past, shows up and announces that she is pregnant with his baby. Johnathon must figure out what to do about Kellie and Alexis while also dealing with work concerns and family drama.

The novel is very dialogue-heavy, giving it a sit-com […]

2014-05-09T21:38:31+02:00October 9th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Random Rationality: A Rational Guide to an Irrational World by Fourat Janabi

Fourat Janabi’s book is something you want to like to begin with – the biography of the author stating, “I am writer, a co-founder, an entrepreneur, a photographer, an explorer, and an idiot,” a sign that indicates a person on the right side of crazy, and therefore I looked forward to diving into this short and well laid-out work.

Janabi thankfully, given the subject matter, does not talk at the reader. It is written simply in the tone of a man at a dinner party, making profound use of his imaginary orange box. And the subjects are vast, uncomfortable, mutable […]

2019-01-22T17:54:57+02:00October 2nd, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: My Trickster by Serafima Bogomolova

Serafima Bogomolova’s debut novel, My Trickster, begins by throwing the reader off balance and continues to do so throughout this quirky novel. The story begins when the enigmatic Angela Moreuax summons her old business partner and lover Juan MacBride to Moscow to help with her latest project. When McBride arrives he finds the situation is not at all what he expected. The surprises continue to pile up, both for MacBride and the reader.

The story is told with dual and often overlapping points of view. We see the action from the point of view of Angela (La) alternating somewhat randomly […]

2014-05-09T21:41:55+02:00October 1st, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: After This…An Inspirational Journey for All the Wrong Reasons by Marcus Engel

Marcus Engel was only 18 years old when, as a well-liked sports student on a night out, the car he was in collided broadside with a drunk driver, flinging him from the vehicle and causing eye injuries so severe he lost his sight completely. This book is his autobiographical work describing the journey to accept blindness at the peak of his youth, and the tremendous lessons Marcus learns as he struggles with the inevitable truth: he will now live without sight for the rest of his life.

From the outset, it is clear Marcus is a talented storyteller. He is […]

2020-02-21T07:38:06+02:00September 26th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Ambril’s Tale: The Return of the Dailluth by Wendy D. Walter

Any mention of the fantasy genre these days brings to mind Harry Potter, particularly if school-age magic workers just discovering their talents are involved. However, it is worth noting that J.K. Rowling didn’t invent child wizards, schools of witchcraft, or many of the familiar tropes of the Harry Potter series. She simply worked in a tradition that goes back a long way. She did it beautifully, of course, but so did many before her, including Ursula K. Le Guin, Susan Cooper, and Diana Wynne Jones.

With Ambril’s Tale, Wendy D. Walter has made her first contribution to this […]

2012-09-25T15:57:42+02:00September 25th, 2012|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |
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