Time Fixers (Miles in Time Book 2) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Time Travel YA Continues with a Timeless Volume

 Time Fixers (Miles in Time Book 2) by Lee Matthew Goldberg; Time Travel YA Continues with a Timeless Volume 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Well The Hardy Boys are at it again. No, not those Hardy Boys. Simon and Miles Hardy, the time traveling brothers from Lee Matthew Goldberg’s 2-Part YA Science Fiction Time Travel series. The first volume, Miles in Time, involved the adventurous detective Miles going back in time to prevent his scientific technogeek older brother, Simon from being murdered by unidentified assailants. He saved his brother but made a mortal enemy in Omni, the secret sinister organization that put the initial target on Simon’s back. 

The second volume, Time Fixers is a stronger, more personal, and also more focused adventure that raises the conflicts. This time Simon is able to improve his time travel device to travel beyond the previous week. Instead it can send the traveler back to 1999. For the brothers, that means one important thing. In the present, their mentally ill mother is institutionalized. They can go back to when she was in high school and resolve the family trauma that led to her years of addiction and mental illness. The brothers are not alone. Miles told his girlfriend, Maisie about the previous time traveling adventures. She comes with, hoping to resolve a family conflict of her own with her missing mother. The trio become embroiled in not only their own family histories but the origins of Omni whose members might be all too familiar to them.

In the first book, the focus was on adventure with some family drama thrown in. This one reverses that by devoting more time on the family drama and minimizing the adventure but still making it an important part.

There is deep trauma that is explored particularly with Miles and Simon's mother, Patty. When they left her, she was addicted to pills, spoke in monosyllables and non sequiturs, and committed self-harm. The years of being broken and non-functional took their toll. She is lost to her family in the present so the brothers want to change her past.

Once they see Patty's family, Simon and Miles understand their mother more. Before they pitied and cared for her. Miles in particular often nursed her when his father, Kip could not. However, as much as they missed the loving and involved woman that she briefly was when they were small, she is now a remote cypher to them. They can't break through her precarious vulnerable exterior and have given up trying to communicate with her. She is less a mother to them and more of an object of pity, concern, and frustration.

In the past, they see their mother as a feisty multifaceted emotional girl who is hurt at home and trying different means to detach herself from that hurt. The brothers focus on the causes of what made their mother turn out the way that she did rather than the effects of what it created. Patty is a person who had her life ahead of her and could have lived it openly and creatively with plenty of love, acceptance, and support but was stopped by  abusive and narcissistic parents. The boys have to rescue their mother not only from her toxic home but from herself and the woman that she turns into.

Patty isn't the only person that the boys and Maisie try to help. They try to prevent a tragedy in Kip’s young life that left him withdrawn and falling into self-isolation. Maisie also recognizes her parents' struggles and insecurities so she doesn't end up alone. The teens are given insights into their parents as people, kids like them who were uncertain, confused, awkward, idealistic, intelligent, rebellious, immature, curious, surly, argumentative, cynical, and ready to challenge the world that their kids would later inherit. They are going through the same struggles about identity, acceptance, and belonging that their children are going through in the 2020’s.

There are  other aspects of the book that shine. There are  humorous moments when Simon, Miles, and Maisie go to the past and gape at the weird fashions, old fashioned technology, and the music. There are also clever references about the time period that border on nostalgic.

The adventure also goes through some fascinating twists, climaxes, and resolutions. The trio are stalked by enemies that use a variety of means like threats, manipulation, and feigning friendship to find their technology, divide, and destroy them.

It's also interesting to see Omni in its earlier form as a small organization with few employees but nefarious goals before its 2020's incarnation as a widespread conspiracy with various members, outlets, and schemes. We also see how the agents got involved with this organization, why they joined, and why they stayed when conscience should have told them otherwise. Similar to their parents, the kids see their adversaries as people who had reasons for what they did and could have lived different lives. Instead they chose a path that led to financial gain, corruption, violence and self-destruction.

Time Fixers is a brilliant book about how choice and trauma shaped our past and created our present. It also happens to be a great thrilling adventure to spend time with. 

Icy Heart, Empty Chest by Holly Lee and The Hat Man by Greg Marchand

Icy Heart, Empty Chest by Holly Lee 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

Icy Heart, Empty Chest by Holly Lee is great at world building by creating a modern society of fairies, nymphs, elves, kelpies, and other magical creatures. It has a fascinating albeit gruesome plot and characters with potential. However, it is a slow paced book that gets repetitive very quickly.

In an alternate universe in which magical creatures live their daily modern lives, Cora is a barista, bounty hunter, smuggler, and art thief. Her client Finneas gives her a new assignment to retrieve a kelpie’s heart from the witch who stole it and give it to a potential buyer. While investigating Filla, the witch who took the heart, she learns that the heart belongs to Damien, a kelpie who is also her ex. He is alive but is growing weaker without his heart. Cora must choose between duty of following her assignment and a love that never really ended.

The strongest aspect of this book is the world building. It does not pull the old standard “Fairylands are stuck in a pastoral arcane Medieval like society" trope. If human society changes, there is no reason to assume that Fairy Worlds wouldn’t. They live in a society where magic and technology combine to create a world that is both fantastic and identifiable. 

This is a world where nymphs and sprites live next door to each other in suburban homes. Where an elf runs the local cafe. Where a doctor might treat your illness or injuries or you might get a witch to do it. Lee clearly had a lot of fun with treating magical characters like people that we might see every day. They just happen to have powers to create storms, curse people, heal with their hands, or teleport from one place to another. 

Some might have large ears, fur on their whole bodies, wings, sharp fangs, or look more animal than human. But they are just like you and me. They go to work or school, go shopping, run errands, hang out with friends, spend money, relax at home, and live mundane lives while having awesome powers and fascinating physical characteristics. 

The book has a promising character and its plot is alright for the most part. Cora isn’t a smuggler simply for money. She steals because she loves and appreciates art. Her love of art is inherited from her late father. In a way, her career keeps her memory of him alive even if her pursuits aren't exactly legal.

Cora’s love for her father also is evident in her conflicts with Damien. In fact, their fathers had a violent confrontation. As children who are close to their parents will do, Cora and Damien defended their old men and ended their relationship in a battle of words. While Cora rejects what she lost, she recognizes that Damien doesn’t deserve to have his heart taken out and doesn’t want his death on her conscience. No matter how their relationship ended, she does not want to be the one to give him a death sentence. 

The most serious drawback in the book is its pacing and it drags what would be an interesting plot. The heart assignment is well executed and there is genuine suspense in Cora’s search and retrieval of the heart. It could be a thrilling cat and mouse game that happens to have a living macguffin and lucky for Damien, a patient that is actually alive to take part in the search.

However the slowest moments occur during Cora and Damien’s reunions. There are several chapters devoted to them discussing their conflicts before they are resolved. A few are fine because this is a couple with a lot of serious baggage but those chapters repeat themselves. Cora and Damien spend a lot of talking in circles over the same topics and discussions without coming to any resolution or clarity. 

The pacing drags down what could be an interesting book with a fascinating premise and characters and makes it tedious and even boring. Their conversations could have been shorter, or came to the main points quicker. Also instead of talking about their issues and telling each other how they feel, they could show each other. What is overly verbose could have more action showing the two coming closer together emotionally on this heart stopping, pun not intended adventure. 

The Hat Man by Greg Marchand 

A supernatural creature that has gained popular culture relevance is The Hat Man. a mysterious tall figure with no facial features and dressed in a black suit, coat, and fedora appears from out of the shadows and stands over an unwilling victim usually in their bedrooms, in an abandoned street, or the woods, somewhere they are alone. It doesn’t touch them or talk to them mostly. It just stands there as a frightening silent presence. The Hat Man is most commonly associated with sleep paralysis as humans have largely reported seeing it in their bedrooms and over their beds before approaching REM sleep. There are urban legends of Benadryl users taking large quantities of the antihistamine to purposely encounter the figure. 

The Hat Men inspired the look of various characters like Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, The Babadook, and Creepypasta’s Slenderman. He has also appeared in the horror films, Shadow People and The Shadow Man, the documentaries The Nightmare and The Hat Man: Cases of Pure Evil, the games LSD: Dream Emulator and Deep Sleep, the Jason Pargin novel, John Dies At the End, and The Twilight Zone episode, “The Shadow Man.” The Twilight Zone episode in particular builds on the legend by depicting The Shadow Man as attacking people except “the one under whose bed (they) lay.” Unfortunately, the young protagonist finds himself the prey of a Shadow Man from under someone else’s bed!

The most recent portrayal of this enigmatic eerie and otherworldly figure can be found in Greg Marchand’s horror novel, The Hat Man. Similar to The Twilight Zone episode, it shows a Hat Man who isn't just terrifying because of its mere presence. It isn’t above using violence to make a point. 

This version of the Hat Man appears after a couple excavate trees for their gum. Instead of the expected sap from a slash pine, blood emerges and the two stumble upon an abandoned grave. They then see a terrifying figure dressed in a fedora who attacks the couple. Once unleashed, The Hat Man attacks various characters in violent ways. Two brothers searching for the monster are separated then murdered with great efficiency by The Hat Man. It falls to Sadie Burrows and Colton Garrett, who lose loved ones to the Hat Man, to investigate the mystery of this strange specter, its origins, and hopefully how to stop it. 

This book embellishes The Hat Man mythos by giving it more agency, character traits, and even a backstory. Instead of being a silent detached observer, it is an aggressive creature of action and rage. He uses his sharp claws, ice cold death breath, and superhuman strength to overpower then kill its victims. The action removes the more ominous ambiguous presence from the legend but makes sense from a storytelling point of view in this context. 

In some ways, Marchand combines the behavior of The Hat Man with more malevolent spirits like the dybbuk, which possesses and torments the living and the revenant which returns from the dead to inflict harm or terror. 

The behavior of the Hat Man becomes more understandable once we learn about its backstory before its death. It was once a person that was involved in horrible things and died graphically and violently. It is trying to seek the vengeance and justice in death that was denied in life. It’s not a particularly understandable or sympathetic character in the past or present, but knowing that it was once human gives it more of a relatable edge.

 There are many people filled with such hatred in their hearts that they make life miserable for those around them. Their words, actions, and very presence stirs negative emotions within people and they almost delight in that persona. They could fly into violent rages or play cold sociopathic mind games, but no matter their means they bring cruelty and inspire fear, despair, dependance, self-blame, guilt, submission, anger, fury, trauma, depression, anxiety, complacency, and apathy. Now picture a person like that with coming back to life after their death and having supernatural abilities. It’s very easy to see why The Hat Man leaves such an impression on those he encounters.

This presence is also augmented by the personal suffering inflicted by the human characters. Sadie is coming off of an abusive relationship in which her ex hurt her dog, Buddy, who would later be killed by The Hat Man. A vet assistant and animal lover, Sadie’s strongest emotional core was her dog and the Hat Man destroys it. 

Colton’s family is extremely dysfunctional, particularly his troubled, addicted younger brother, Trevor, whom Colton has always taken a paternal role towards. He also greatly admires his older steadier brother, Bill, who is also the Sheriff. Both are murdered by The Hat Man. In killing them, The Hat Man also deprives Colton of his strongest emotional touchstones. 

It’s not enough for The Hat Man to kill someone physically, he destroys them emotionally by removing those they love the most and leaving them completely vulnerable and helpless when he comes after them.

That is the atmosphere that surrounds the book. It is a cruel world obsessed with death and violence that is reflected by an even crueler afterworld where the violence doesn’t end. Instead it increases. One of the more disturbing passages occurs when Sadie, Colton, and their friends hunt for The Hat Man during a Mardi Gras parade and stare befuddled and shaken at a float from The Hat Man Krewe, a float that not only honors the terrifying spirit that ruined their lives, but turns him into an attraction. It is one thing to become victimized by a disturbing person or presence but it is another thing to see that same presence glamorized into a figure of fun, sexuality, or worse admiration. 

The Hat Man book reveals a lot about a supernatural creature but it also reveals a lot more about the humans who talk about it. 

The North Sea Killer by Dale E. Manolakas; The Mantis Corruption The Mantis Gland Series Book 3 by Adam Andrews Johnson

 The North Sea Killer by Dale E Manolakas 

Dale E. Manolakas’ The North Sea Killer is a short but tight thriller about a rich aristocrat with a very dangerous side. 

Edward Kenworthy is the second son of the Duke of Belford, a prominent British family. Besides being a wealthy playboy, he is a serial killer and his latest conquest is Chloe Bridgeport, an American senator’s daughter. When she goes missing, the trail appears right at Edward’s doorstep and his collection of dead bodies and other activities won’t be hidden for long.

There isn’t a moment in this book that is wasted because of its short length and tense plot. It tells a fascinating Psychological Crime Thriller from beginning to end that takes multiple view points of the murders, the coverups, the investigation, the arrest and trial of Edward’s colleague and cohort, Greg Sterling, the estate gamekeeper’s son, and the eventual accusations and evidence mounting against Edward. 

Edward makes for a charismatic but terrifying killer. He is reminiscent of the type of villain found in old Alfred Hitchcock films who hides his sinister intent underneath a veneer of wealth and privilege. He is the center of a very wide circle of the elite and famous, people who get drunk, take drugs, sleep around, and run wild. 

One of his favorite places to scout for potential victims is the International Edinburgh Festival because it fits both aspects of his personality. It’s a public place to go where he can see and be seen among the fashionable and idle rich elite. It’s also somewhere he can find young female victims far from home, easily attracted to his charm, and who may not be reported missing for while if ever. This location selection reveals that Edward spends just as much time maintaining this entitled surface as he does killing women. It is the surface that allows him to do such nefarious things without getting caught. 

After all, Edward could always call a solicitor, one of his father;s contacts, crooked and prestigious law enforcement officers, one of the estate’s many employees, or a partygoer and an alibi is provided, money is thrown around, bribes are offered and taken, threats are made, a witness is paid off, a case is dropped, a body is hidden, and Edward is home free and clear. These are resources that Greg doesn’t have so it’s no surprise that when the law comes, they come for him and try him as the killer instead of Edward. Greg is made the fall guy and Edward is all too willing to throw him under the bus so he can continue his private activities. 

To be fair, no one looks particularly good in this book. Many characters reveal a duplicitous nature underneath their surface. Chloe’s friend, Shannon Kelly is a distraught key witness but she is also an aspiring actress who is willing to use her friend’s death as a launchpad to her own career. Her father, Senator Jeffrey Bridgeport, is clearly grieving and wants to see justice done but also knows that he can get sympathy votes that will take him far into politics, perhaps to the White House.

 The prosecution and defense attorneys, Thomas J. Dodd and Penelope Thompson respectively use the case to raise their own standards and those of causes that are important to them. Then there’s Edward’s father, The Duke of Belford, who becomes aware of his son’s violent tendencies, has his own speculation, and has to weigh whether he wants to protect his family name and legacy or provide evidence against his son and give Edward’s victim the justice that she deserves. 

The North Sea Killer is a tense thriller that peeks into various minds in a murder and its aftermath the investigators, the witnesses, the allies, the attorneys, the judge, the court staff, the jury, the observers, the friends, the family members, the victims, and the murderers. 

The Mantis Corruption (The Mantis Gland Series Book 3) by Adam Andrews Johnson 

Now we return to Teshon City and its world of Shifts, people with extraordinary abilities provided by the Mantis Gland and their sworn enemies, The Messiahs, a theocratic powerful religious cult that force Shifts into isolation, imprisonment, and extinction while killing them and feasting on their glands. The first volume, The Mantis Variant introduced us to this Science Fiction world and its protagonists Ilya, a Shift with the ability of flight, Dozi, a human runaway and their new family The Mystic, who has healing abilities, Theolon Mystic’s husband, and Lahari, their Shift daughter. The second volume. The Mantis Equilibrium introduces us to some new characters like Nanyani and Tachma, new Shifts and Auntie Peg, the eccentric leader of the Anti-Messiah resistance. It also makes the series darker by raising the stakes, putting the characters in more violent and destructive situations, and killing off an important cast member.

If possible the third volume, The Mantis Corruption gets even darker by giving us characters with stronger and more chilling powers and severe graphic body modification. It also expands the concept even farther by taking place mostly outside of Teshon City and putting the regular cast in supporting roles towards the end. 

West of Teshon City are the wastelands of Xin. Sumi and Harakin are among the many who were forced into the military from the time that they were children. They are also the only non-humans in their regiment and have abilities that help their destructive commanders. Harakin can manifest light and can create photon blades that emerge from her hands as weapons. Sumi can transport people and objects from one place to another.North of them the village of Kestapoli where a woman named Tisa can create figures out of shadows that do her bidding resides. She encounters a new companion Olona, an organic mechanic who builds prosthetic body parts. The four characters end up ostracized and isolated from the oppressive regimes that surround them. They have to go on the run and into hiding. If only there was a resistance group made up of humans and Shifts, that fight these regimes perhaps in Teshon City. Meanwhile, at Gunge there is a colony that could serve as a warning for the avaricious and cruel Messiah. They absorbed the Mantis Glands and also everything else from the Shifts including their bodies.

This is the volume that is larger, larger in setting, larger in powers, larger in scope, and larger in conflicts and consequences. Instead of focusing on the core characters in and around Teshon City, it focuses on some new characters in new places.

We get to see more of the world that surrounds the entire series and the people who reside in these different locations. Xin for example is a savage militarized wasteland whose residents have to fight for survival. Kestapoli by contrast appears more picaresque, almost reminiscent of a Medieval village but many of its residents are just as cruel and intolerant towards Shifts as the Xinian military are. This focus on surrounding communities reveals that the conflict against the Shifts is a universal one that is seen in several countries, villages, cities, and cultures.

Along with the expansion, this volume emphasizes the darker aspects particularly with the character’s physical and psychological states. The book is very upfront with how child soldiers are formed with the violence, regimentation, and forced executions faced by Sumi and Harakin. Their superiors are intentionally cruel and sadistic as one would expect a militaristic society to be. 

However, there is something just as threatening, maybe even more so from the people of Kestapoli. It doesn’t take much to turn this seemingly normal peaceful community into a bloodthirsty volatile mob that will turn on their own as Tisa discovers with her bigoted parents. We expect nothing resembling empathy or loyalty from Xin so we are not disappointed when none is shown. But the rejection from Tisa’s family hits the soul because these are people who should have loved her but instead do not accept her as she is.

The darkness is also felt in the more physical attributes. In previous books, the Shift’s powers were amazing and would probably be ones that Readers wouldn’t mind having. Who wouldn’t want to fly from one place to another or use superior strength to lift heavy objects? On a hot day wouldn’t it be fun to use your ice giving powers to cool yourself off or use fire on a cold day? Yes the Shifts have the potential to be dangerous but when they are used as weapons, it’s accidentally as Nanyani shows in the last book.

In this volume, the Shift abilities are not only strong but powerful and potentially destructive, facts acknowledged by those who lead them. Sumi and Harakin are forced to use their powers to kill in very graphic ways. In one chilling chapter, Sumi observes various prisoners and obeys her commander’s orders to kill them. She does so by using her transportation abilities to move their hearts and other organs from their bodies and crush them while the remaining body parts explode. Shifts are born with these abilities and can’t always help or control what they do with them but there are those who will exploit those abilities for their own ambitions.

By far the most graphic, stomach churning, and unforgettable aspects of the book are the Gunges. They are creatures from nightmares, are no longer human, and have metamorphosed into complete monsters in body and personality. Some have extra arms and legs growing out from their torsos. Others are covered with eyes that belonged to their victims. Others’ throats retain different voices of those that they absorbed going from low bass to high soprano in one conversation. One character has absorbed so many Mantis Glands that he is a large misshapen gelatinous blob of various body parts merged into one form that can barely move. It’s not a place to let the imagination dwell too much if they don’t want to have trouble sleeping afterwards. 

The expansion and the darkness cover the book so much that when the plot returns to Teshon City and the original characters, the book changes. The original characters and setting are missed and it's great to see them back again. It’s also wonderful that Sumi, Harakin, Olona, and Tisa are in a place with a diverse group of friends and allies that welcome and accept them. 

However there are some concerns. Among them is that the meeting between old and new characters happens so late in the book. We have gotten so used to this new environment that returning to the old one is almost jarring and abrupt. Yes, we expected the groups to meet. That was a given but when it happens it does almost as an anticlimactic afterthought instead of a natural progression. Perhaps they could have just given this book to the newcomers and have them meet the older characters at the very end, during the last couple of chapters. That way their new acquaintanceship can be fully explored in Part Four.

The other issue concerning the meeting of worlds is what happens to the action afterwards. The meeting is abrupt but so are some of the following chapters which deal with many of the fights and battles. The conflicts are anticlimactic and move too fast. This is especially egregious when some of the characters that confront and vie against each other have been around since the beginning. The confrontations have little build up and require more resolution and follow through to make a more gradual approach. Instead it feels like, “That’s all after three books? That’s all there is? What happens in the next two books?” 

The expanded universe, new characters and the darker atmosphere are the best aspects of this volume and the reunion with older characters is a nice return, but the third book probably needed more work to make this volume stand out from the previous two.

Cerberus: The Sheriff, The Gimp, and Queen of The Underworld (Founders Universe) by Chad Miller; Go West Ancient Olympians

Cerberus: The Sheriff, The Gimp, and Queen of The Underworld (Founders Universe) by Chad Miller; Go West Ancient Olympians

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: 

First, I apologize for the derogatory term to describe a person with leg injuries. It is in the title and will only be used in that context. 

What can be more interesting than a retelling of Greek Mythology? How about a retelling of Greek Mythology complete with cowboy hats, six shooters, showdowns, saloons, and lots of gunfights?

That's what you get when you read Cerberus: The Sheriff, The Gimp, and The Queen of The Underworld by Chad Miller. It retells the story of the Ancient Greek pantheon as a Western. It's a unique interpretation that borrows heavily from its original source and is able to turn it around in new and interesting ways.

Ari is a gunslinger who has been disabled and disfigured since birth. He was abandoned as an infant and was raised in isolation by Zeke, a mysterious benefactor. As an adult, Ari has a large killing record and an unquenchable thirst for violence and vengeance against a world that despised and abandoned him since birth. He receives messages from Zeke informing him of the various enemies that he wants Ari to kill. Along the way, he faces opposition from Sheriff Posey and Deputy Leena, the law in the land. Auntie Phyllis controls the brothels, thieves, outlaws, and scallywags in town and has her own vengeance to gain on this mysterious gunslinger/assassin. As Ari’s kill count grows higher, his various enemies are forced to put their heads together to fight their common foe. But once united they may find their common foe is not who they thought.

Cerberus has a lot of fun with the “Olympian Gods and Goddesses Go West” premise. The characters are recognizable not only by their role in a traditional Western but also as members of the Greek Olympian pantheon. For example Herman the gregarious telegraph operator who loves gossip is easily recognizable in his ancient form as Hermes the swift-footed Trickster and messenger god. Who is that beautiful buxom lady emerging from her shell to flirt and spend time with the fellas for a brief time and for money? That’s no lady, that's Annie, the classic hooker with a heart of gold counterpart of Aphrodite, Goddess of Love and Beauty. Those twins that are consummate warriors, handy with bows and arrows and his dark solitary nature contrasts with her sunny more humanistic personality? They can’t be anyone else but Artemis and Appolonia, outlaws and gender swapped counterparts of Artemis, Goddess of the Moon and Hunt and Apollo God of the Sun and various other attributes including Music, Poetry, and Healing. If you are ill or injured there is no one better to go to than Applius, town doctor since he is the current incarnation of Ascelipus, the God of Healing. 

Because of this connection to Greek mythology, it’s easy to see where the various plot points are going. When Aunt Phyllis, Queen of the Underworld, has her eyes on Phillip, the handsome young son of Demetrius, a prosperous farmer whose crops feed the town, it's not hard to recognize the parallels between them and Hades, Persephone, and Demeter respectively. It’s also a given that Phillip will be pulled into Phyllis’ service, an irate Demetrius will threaten to burn his crops to the ground if he doesn’t get his son back, and the three will work together on an arrangement where Phillip will work for his father’s farm for part of the year then serve Phyllis’ needs for the other half. 

Just because they are based on mythological characters doesn’t mean that they are bound to the original stories. Sometimes they purposely counter them to distance themselves from what had gone on before. One of the most interesting aspects like that is the working relationship between Sheriff Posey and Deputy Leena, this book’s answer to Poseidon, God of the Seas and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, War and Handicraft. In mythology the two might be uncle and niece, but they are also frequent rivals vying for patronage to Athens or taking opposite sides during the Trojan War. But in Cerberus, the duo are allies and have a surrogate father daughter relationship. Sure Posey spends a lot of time on his boat in the lake and would rather be fishing. Okay Leena has a tendency to put people, including her boss, off with her know-it-all attitude and high standards. Posey’s laid back paternal demeanor counters with Athena’s more high handed approach to law enforcement making them a great team that compliments one another’s strengths and weaknesses.

So where does Ari fit into all this? Well, he is a composite character. His background of being abandoned at birth, disfigured, and isolated from the rest of the society puts him as a counterpart to Hephaestus, God of Fire, Metalwork, and Craftsmanship, and Blacksmith to the Gods. However instead of living in a secluded hut crafting firearms for the townspeople like his forebear, Ari serves the purpose of another character: Ares, God of War. He is the blade of vengeance that strikes at anyone who is his target. Like the savage brutal aspects of war, Ari doesn’t care who his victim is. He will kill anyone regardless of who they are or what they have done. They are just names, targets to be destroyed at the orders of Zeke (whose remoteness, long term schemes, ulterior motives, and penchant for womanizing echo his mythological doppelganger Zeus).

It’s never stated how or why these characters line up with Greek mythology whether they are descendents who are destined to follow their predecessors, reincarnated spirits, or it's just a coincidence that their paths line up with those who have gone on before. Barring any in-universe explanation the reasonable answer is Miller likes Greek Mythology and westerns and couldn’t decide which to write about so he decided to split the difference. 

One thing is for sure is that unlike their mythological sources, these characters are all too human. That means there are very few supernatural occurrences that can’t be explained away. Zeke’s messages to Ari seem to come out of thin air or are divinely sent but could just as easily be formed by a guy who has many spies, is great at eavesdropping and obtaining information without getting caught, and has an almost inhuman and potentially sociopathic psychological understanding of human nature at its worst. 

That also means that unlike the residents of Mount Olympus and beyond these characters are all too mortal and can die and die they do. The passages describing Ari’s murders are particularly graphic and individualized. They are gruesome and particularly over the top so that the Reader could think that no matter what they did, they certainly didn’t deserve to be a checkmark on someone’s kill list for arbitrary reasons. 

Perhaps the mortality of the characters and the differences and similarities to mythology is the point. Fate and destiny are common themes in mythology and that’s what is being explored in Cerberus. Zeke,as Zeus, positions the characters, particularly Ari, where he wants them and observes them mostly from afar. He uses and toys with them for his own pleasure, amusement, and self-righteous need to settle scores. He treats the other characters like they don’t have any agency of their own and are incapable of living their own lives and making their own decisions. They are programmed to live according to pre-chosen stories and narratives. The moment comes when they realize that they are being played, break their programming, and change the narrative into something else, becoming somebody else. 

 

Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

Keep On Glowing Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage; The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood; Mission: Red Scythe by C.W. James

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow by Robin Emtage 

 Every woman has a fire, power source, inside that is forged by resilience, wisdom, and unstoppable feminine force. Some call this fire a glow. All women have it but not all are aware of it or use it to its fullest potential. Sometimes it fades over time or is buried under years, sometimes decades, of conditioning. It can dim and fade away into nothingness if not nurtured and cared for. Robin Emtage, beauty stylist, holistic glow expert, and founder of Silktage Tropical Inspired Beauty Products, wrote Keep On Glowing: Your Guide to Graceful Empowerment and Unstoppable Glow to help inspire women to discover and retain that glow throughout their lives.

Emtage’s Keep on Glowing Method consists of five pillars: Radiant Mindset, Sacred Self Care, Glow Rituals, Protective Boundaries, and Unapologetic Expression. Emtage describes this method as one that is designed to help readers return to themselves with grace, confidence, and an unstoppable glow.

Each chapter focuses on different concepts like creating a bold mindset for lasting radiance, practicing self-compassion for inner glow, gaining confidence and beauty that blossoms with age, reclaiming inner power, protecting glow in relationships, giving permission to shine, glowing forward and inspire, aging with intention and conscious glowing, using age-defying rituals, crafting a glow that lasts, building momentum through small deadly wins,practicing the art of saying no and creating boundaries, reimagining radiance and recognizing beauty beyond the mirror, building the life that you deserve, designing a life that radiates inside and out, and glowing forward. 

The book features advice and wisdom that is clearly explained with encouraging words. For example “Chapter 2: Be Your Own Best Friend: Self-Compassion for Inner Glow,” has words about “The Foundation of Self-Compassion, “The Glow Killing Inner Critic,” and “The Glow Boosting Power of Self-Talk.” “The Power of Self-Talk” section suggests ways of verbally turning negative self-criticism into positive and encouraging affirmations. For example, instead of saying, “I’m bad at this,” Emtage suggests changing the limiting sentence to “I’m learning and every step makes me better.”

Activities inspire readers to list their concerns, ways that can be improved, and identifying positive attributes. For example “Chapter 3: Embrace Your Radiance: Confidence and Beauty That Blossoms With Age”, includes various rituals, writing exercises, and actions that help guide the inner glow to shine. For example “Radiate Gratitude: Unleashing the Glow of Appreciation”, suggests that readers write down one thing that they like about themselves to remind them that they are worthy of admiration and respect especially from themselves. 

The chapters also include Glow Actions and Affirmations as final takeaways to preserve the inner glow. “Chapter 4: Reclaim Your Feminine Power: Unlocking Your True Glow” includes a Glow Action of writing a letter to oneself declaring a commitment to living fully in their power. They are encouraged to reveal what they will no longer tolerate, what they will say yes to, and to read the letter whenever they feel their light dimming. The Glow Affirmation for this chapter is “I reclaim my glow with every choice, every boundary, and every act of self-love.” 

The Belgian Girls by Kathryn J. Atwood

This is a summary of the review. The full reviews can be found on LitPick.

The Belgian Girls tells two stories. It combines the adventures of two women, a real life figure and a fictional character from the two different World Wars, to tell an intergenerational story of courage, sacrifice, freedom, heroism, and rebellion against oppression. 

The first chronological one is the true story of Gabrielle “Gaby” Petit, a barmaid in pre-WWI Belgium. Infuriated by the presence of German soldiers in her country, she organizes a spy network to pass information and defeat her country’s enemies. The second story, the fictionalized account, is that of Julienne Gobert, newly arrived in Brussels with her widowed father. She hears the story of Gaby Petit and is inspired to also become a spy and Resistance fighter against the Nazis as they devour the country around her. 

The stories perfectly merge together with characters, plot threads, and situations that link the two together. For example both protagonists were recently hit with trauma even before their involvement with the war efforts.The traumas leave these young women feeling unprotected in a changing world that is becoming more complicated but also tests their resilience, independence, and willingness to challenge their surroundings. 

The dual narration of the book shows how important it is to look to the past and learn how to live during tough times. Those tough times bring out the best in both women. Gabrielle, who lived a hard existence, learns to empathize with others and fight for her country. Julienne is pulled from her previous mousy timid nature and is moved by Gaby’s story. She becomes bolder and more courageous during times of danger. Both women are willing to fight and die if they have to.

The stories of Gabrielle Petit and Julienne Gobert remind us that one of the best ways to survive tough times of war, violence, tyranny, death, oppression, and poverty is to look to the past and how others lived during them, adapted to their surroundings, fought against them, and became heroes. Perhaps in doing so they can become heroes in the present.

Mission: Red Scythe (A James Vagus Thriller) by C.W. James

This is a summary of the review. The full review is on LitPick.

This book combines the flashy colorful adventures of a Ian Fleming James Bond novel with the duplicitous realistic tension of a John LeCarre novel.

In 1965, orphaned James Vagus is given an interesting offer. John Smith represents MIS-X the mysterious benefactor of James’ education. Smith notes James’ youth, good looks, amiable but reserved personality, and affinity for languages. MIS-X is looking for young recruits to go to places where the youth hang out like concerts, colleges, and class trips and gather information unobtrusively. In other words they are looking for teen spies. James is the perfect potential spy. He accepts the proposal, is given a partner Dakota Walker, and receives his first major assignment. He is to trail Otto Stradt, a corrupt businessman with ties to Eastern Europe. This assignment leads James and Dakota straight to a conspiracy involving scientists studying the potential of killer biology and the governments who will pay top dollar for such research. 

 James and Dakota are spies with all of the gorgeous locations, beautiful people, and cool toys and gadgets but also have an awareness that the governments that one works for can’t always be trusted, that agents can be quickly betrayed, and murder is never far away.

There is a seedy underside to this seemingly glamorous world, a seedy underside that young adults in their late teens and whose brains haven’t been fully developed are being thrown into. 

There is a constant awareness of death and betrayal that surrounds the characters. Even the characters that are on each other’s side may not be completely trustworthy as these young characters are encouraged to do everything they can lie, steal, have affairs, break laws, and murder to please their country and allies. There are moments that if the characters don’t expect betrayal from the presumed good guys, the reader might.

The only real true honest bond is that between James and Dakota. There are moments when one is captured, the other is willing to go through extremes to rescue them even if they risk blowing their cover. In this world of dishonesty, corruption, secrets, and murder the most honest moment is when the two partners acknowledge not only their friendship but also their brotherhood.

A Sense of Home: The Land of The Great Lakes by N.Z. Kaminsky; Beautiful Ethereal Bildungsroman About Lucid Dreaming, Creativity, and Imagination

 A Sense of Home: The Land of The Great Lakes by N.Z. Kaminsky; Beautiful Ethereal Bildungsroman About Lucid Dreaming, Creativity, and Imagination 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery 

Spoilers: N.Z. Kaminksy’s novel A Sense of Home: The Land of The Great Lakes lives up to its name. Once you open this beautiful lyrical book and fall into this bildungsroman of a young girl experiencing an ethereal evocative world of lucid dreams, creativity, and imagination you will feel like you are coming home. 

Tyra Blair lived in the city of Moss in the parallel world of Azure. It is much like our Earth with similar history, pop culture, and problems. One of those problems is war. When soldiers and their trained beasts attack Moss, Tyra and her family are forced go into hiding in the town of Marigold which is beautiful but the people there are cold and unpleasant. In exile, Tyra's parents implode as her mother Scarlett becomes depressed and her father Logan retreats into alcohol. Tyra is forced to become self-reliant while dealing with trauma, nightmares, and aching loneliness. She can only find comfort in books and nature. 

One day, she meets Koda a friendly squirrel. He guides her to a mirror where she can visit her favorite books and stories. This experience opens up a brighter lucid dream world. Her lucid dreams appear throughout her life as she grows and deals with many personal issues of loss, fighting parents, unemployment, unsatisfying romances, separation, war, tyranny, and death. These lucid dreams help her survive and dream of the day when she will leave to join The Land of The Great Lakes. Not Minnesota, it is a fabled land of thought, imagination, and beauty that can only be reached by invitation.

This book is one that grabs Readers's attention and holds on causing them to remember the little details long after they are done, particularly Tyra's lucid dreams. They are definitely the highlights of this book. 

Tyra and Koda’s trips into books delight any bookworm. The duo see Lady Death tries to con her godson doctor into letting her kill his patient. A man is confronted by and consumed by his shadow self. Grandfather Frost warms an abandoned maiden and many more. Through these experiences, Tyra is immersed into worlds of imagination, courage, adventure, and escape. The characters aren't content to wallow in loss and self pity like her parents. Instead, they persevere and fight with strength, cleverness, and kindness. In doing so, they challenge the status quo and reshape the world. Through them, Tyra is inspired to find ways to reshape hers. 

The book journeys aren't the only situations that Tyra's lucid dreams conjure up. She is able to befriend fantastic creatures like a pair of adorable furry monsters who would not be out of place in a Muppet special. She communicates with the deceased who send her wisdom that they were unable to when they were alive. They offer guidance on her path through signs, riddles, and visions. Her dreams not only provide an escape from a troublesome existence but gives her the means to survive it and aspire towards a greater path.

The best book to compare A Sense of Home to is another one that I recently read, The Art of Agony by Amy Felix. They are both coming of age stories about young women exploring the inner depths of their minds to survive during dismal dark times but the executions are polar opposites. 

The Art of Agony is about Eva, the protagonist becoming aware that the world is a dark meaningless place, even her own mind can't be trusted, and no one cares about how she feels. In A Sense of Home, Tyra's mind is opened to more enlightened possibilities. She sees a world beyond the one in which she lives that gives her a sense of purpose and more meaningful existence.

 While The Art of Agony is a more cerebral introspective perspective, A Sense of Home is a fuller, more evocative, ethereal, and a more intelligent perspective. It is one thing to come to the realization that life is hard and everything is stacked against you, but it is another to admit that but to find some meaning, purpose, and value in it anyway. That's why in some ways A Sense of Home is more mature than The Art of Agony which while excellent in exploring angst and the source of it, can also be lost in, overwhelmed by, and consumed by that same angst. Why bother doing anything at all if nothing matters? Why bother writing about it?

 A Sense of Home tells us that what we dream about, long for, hope for, create, inspire, love, and bring to life is enough of a reason. If we are only a spark in this vastness in the universe, then we might as well find something that isn't harmful but worthwhile. Something that gives us contentment and some kind of pleasure about being alive.

The War on Love And My Ex-Mother God Who Became a Mummified Corpse by Andrew-Ryan Profaci; A Powerful Memoir About Cults, Deification, and Love of Others and Oneself

 The War on Love And My Ex-Mother God Who Became a Mummified Corpse by Andrew-Ryan Profaci; A Powerful Memoir About Cults, Deification, and Love of Others and Oneself 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

This review is also on Reedsy Discovery.

The Love Has Won cult is one of the most bizarre cults particularly with how it ended according to Andrew-Ryan Profaci’s expose, The War on Love And My Ex-Mother God Who Became a Mummified Corpse. 

To understand this book is to understand the cult itself, its leader Amy Carlson, its origins and its controversies. Between 2000-2007, Carlson became interested in New Age philosophy and participated in the Lightworker forums. There she met Robert Saltsgiver AKA Amerith WhiteEagle who introduced Carlson to paranormal phenomena and believed that she was divine. In late 2007, Carlson left her third husband, children, and her job as a McDonald’s manager in Dallas, Texas. She ceased contact with her family and left to join WhiteEagle in Colorado to form the Galactic Federation of Light, later known as Love Has Won. 

The Love Has Won cult did daily live streams on Youtube and even though Carlson had 12-20 members living with her in her Crestone,Colorado home at any given time, most of the members were contacted through social media. Their philosophies were an amalgam of New Age practices, elements from Abrahamic religions, conspiracy theories, and popular culture. One of their strongest tenets was the removal of ego to ascend into a pure spiritual being of love and energy. They believed that Carlson was the latest incarnation of a 19 billion year old being who gave birth to all of creation, whose other past lives included the queen of the fabled lost continent of Lemuria, Jesus, Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and Marilyn Monroe and that she would lead people into a mythical 5th Dimension. Carlson was called Mother God and she had a revolving door of lovers, including WhiteEagle (who left in 2014) and Profaci, each of whom took the title of Father God. Carlson believed that she could communicate with a number of deceased celebrities like Robin Williams, Whitney Houston, and Rodney Dangerfield. Love Has Won also spoke of concepts like Atlantis, Anunnaki, and Reptilians. 

While most of their beliefs seem bizarre and outlandish, but mostly harmless, they also developed more hateful and violent rhetoric especially before Carlson’s death in 2021. They were believers in the now debunked QAnon conspiracy theory that there was a secret cabal of Liberal Democrats who abducted children, sacrificed them, sucked on their adrenochrome to preserve their youth, whose main hideout was the basement of the Comet Ping Pong Pizza Parlor in Washington DC (a pizza parlor which doesn’t have a basement nor any known ties to any conspiracy whatsoever), and that Donald Trump secretly led a fight against them. Bitterly ironic considering the recent implications with plenty of eyewitness accounts and evidence that Trump himself was engaged in pedophilia with disgraced and deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein and his henchwoman Ghislaine Maxwell. Love Has Won also believed other conspiracy theories such as that COVID 19 and the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre were hoaxes, and in 9/11 and Holocaust denials. They followed many racist and antisemitic tenets such as the Great Replacement Theory, globalist cabals, and support for Adolf Hitler.

The cult faced allegations from ex-members citing practices like physical abuse, sleep deprivation and mental torture. Despite having a zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol, Carlson was frequently intoxicated and addicted herself. The group travelled between Colorado, Oregon, California, Florida, and Hawaii between 2018-2021. Carlson was diagnosed with cancer in 2020 and due to the cult’s caveat against doctors, her worshippers refused to send her to the hospital or get her medical treatment. She was last seen in public on April 10, 2021 and is believed to have died on April 28, 2021.

Carlson’s mummified corpse was discovered in the mission house near Crestone. She was found in a sleeping bag wrapped in Christmas lights and her face was covered in glitter as a makeshift shrine. The state of decay revealed that she had been dead for weeks. Seven members were charged with abuse of a corpse and child abuse because there were two children in the compound. The members revealed that Carlson consumed colloidal silver which the cult promoted as a cure for COVID-19 and resulted in her having an emaciated frame, thinning hair, and blue-gray discoloration on her skin. Her cause of death was reported as “global decline in the setting of alcohol abuse, anorexia, and chronic colloidal silver ingestion.” After her death, remaining cult members separated and formed splinter groups including Joy Rains and 5D Full Disclosure. 

The story of Love Has Won itself is a twisted tale of divine worship, mental manipulation, and belief gone horribly wrong. Profaci’s memoir takes us inside a personal journey into a cult and specifically their leader whom he felt equal parts fascination, fear, love, and loathing.

Profaci lived a life marked by loss and endless searching. A tempestuous divorce and custody battle put him and his brothers in the hands of their father who had a criminal history. Profaci’s nights were as rocked with tension as his days when even as a child he was awakened by hypnopompic hallucinations of dark creatures standing at the foot of his bed. These incidents caused years of sleep disorders and a belief in the paranormal, supernatural, and conspiracy theories. This and his father’s neglect and escalating verbal abuse led to Profaci feeling lost, insecure, and curiosity about the deeper issues like his place in the world.His teenage years were rocked with criminal activity, being almost molested by a pedophile, and getting involved in a fatal car accident. He fell even further down the spiral and became addicted to painkillers. A person facing addiction, trauma, insecurities, depression, openness to ethereal and terrifying paranormal experiences, and existential quests for meaning is a perfect candidate for culthood and Profaci was no exception.

 A search down various spiritual paths, communicating with gurus, reading New Age books, and exploring believer websites, and message boards led him right to Amy Carlson, The Mother God. Profaci was attracted to Carlson’s youthful exuberance, enchanting charisma, mystical beliefs, and the two struck up a correspondence and friendship. He paid for and attended online sessions with Carlson and her group and became aware of signs around him that at the time seemed supernatural. After a job loss, he decided to go see Carlson in person.

Profaci’s memoirs are notable because of what they include but also what they leave out. Profaci left the group long before Love Has Won got involved with QAnon and focused on conspiracy theories, antisemitism, and racism. He only heard about those second hand after communicating with other ex-members. He also was a witness primarily to verbal abuse and the occasional physical abuse but was no longer a member during the torture sessions. Above all, he cut ties with Love Has Won completely by 2021 and was in the hospital for chemotherapy when he heard about Carlson’s death and display of her mummified corpse. Because of this Love Has Won is seen strictly through his eyes and personal experiences. It leaves out many parts to the story, most notably the most newsmaking, graphic, and sensationalistic aspects. 

What remains is a deeply personal human story about how one person is drawn into a cult but most importantly what keeps them there after all common sense should have told them to leave. In Profaci’s case, it boils down to a simple reason. He was in love with its leader. Their first face-to-face meeting illustrates this point. Profaci expected the warm, empathetic, wise, enthusiastic, charming guru with whom he communicated online. What he got instead was a fragile, sickly, intoxicated woman half asleep and fallen over in drunkenness. He suspected then and there that Carlson was a fraud but his empathy for this woman in her shattered state compelled him to remain.

There is considerable doubt whether Profaci ever believed in Love Has Won’s philosophies or not. Most of the time, he comes across as a detached deadpan snarker. Recalling his decision to remain with Love Has Won despite his disastrous first meeting with the presumed Mother God, Profaci writes, “I didn’t know how far this ‘awakening’ would push me or how much of myself I’d have to lose just to keep up. But I knew one thing: This path does not offer refunds. You paid with your soul or turned back empty-handed. So I paid.”

When Carlson declared Profaci to be her lover and latest Father God, he was nonplussed and did not look at this promotion with honor. Recalling the previous Father Gods who came and went before him, Profaci wondered, “What did that make me? Father God #3? 4? 5?”

What stands out the most in this book is Profaci’s devotion to Carlson herself not to her Mother God persona but to Amy, the human woman who was just as lost and just as confused as he was, built a spiritual path to find her solutions, and got swept up in her own delusions.

Profaci’s empathy for his leader is most prominent during the frequent power struggles among members. A compelling conflict involved Profaci and another member KG who slowly climbed the ranks to become a Healer and part of a threesome with Carlson and Profaci. 

After KG’s ascension, the cult’s forums became flooded with messages from divine beings called Quantums. Through KG’s encouragement, Carlson believed the Quantums were real and began to rely on their unquestionable authority. As the group’s online conversations with the Quantums increased so did their claims and personalities. One of the Quantums claimed to be Robin Williams and Carlson actually claimed to represent Williams through visions and meditations. 

The book The War on Love includes transcripts of the conversations between the Quantum Beings and Love Has Won members. It’s perfectly clear that they, specifically Carlson, were in the grips of a widespread delusion and were willing to follow it through to the end. The irony that the leader of one delusion can be so swept up in a completely separate one cannot be understated. Sometimes the most manipulative can be the most easily manipulated by others. It shows how the assistants learn from and surpass the master in cruelty.

That’s what happened between Carlson and the Quantum Beings. Profaci had doubts about the whole experience. At first he wanted to give the Quantums the benefit of the doubt, however inconsistencies in their teachings and Carlson’s reliance on KG to facilitate the conversations with them aroused his suspicions. After some investigation and soul searching, Profaci revealed the truth that KG completely fabricated the Quantum’s existence and communications in an attempt to seize power within the cult. 

The Quantum Account is important to Profaci’s involvement with Love Has Won for many reasons. Among them is that it shows Profaci’s inner conflict between his doubts about cult doctrine and protective affection for Carlson. As Carlson came to terms with KG’s deception, Profaci comforted her. He almost broke her from her Mother God delusion to accept herself as Amy. He saw the glimpses of the real woman underneath the mask of confidence and alleged divinity and tried to convince her to accept and love her real self. Unfortunately, other members had private conversations with her and the mask slipped back on and firmly stayed on. The vulnerable woman that Profaci was anxious about was replaced by the remote and unapproachable Mother God and Profaci was not going to get her back.

It also was one of the first incidents that caused doubts about the cult and led to Profaci’s abandonment of them. Eventually those doubts would increase as Carlson insisted that he was full of ego. Any question of authority, any slight infraction, any disagreement was seen as ego and selfishness getting in the way. However, Profaci became aware of the hypocrisy of her words when the whole cult was built on her ego that said that she was the Mother of All Creation and Love Incarnate. Eventually, Profaci could no longer reconcile his concern for Carlson with his criticisms for Love Has Won. Disillusioned, Profaci eventually left the cult and his former girlfriend/guru behind.

Profaci never writes Carlson as a manipulator, con artist, or someone who wanted to fool innocent victims solely for financial gains. The monetary benefits were there and she clearly enjoyed her rule over innocent people but Profaci also saw someone who was in serious need of love, acceptance, and belonging. In fact, he saw Carlson as someone who genuinely wanted to believe that she was who she said she was. She repeated her claims of being a Mother God so often that she thought that they were true. It was a means of gaining some psychological and spiritual hold and control in her life. Her dangerous ego pushed her into a dark path that she created but could no longer separate from. By the end, there was no division between Amy Carlson and Mother God. She became the illusion that she created and fell in love with it. 

Profaci’s book is a profound look at love. His love for Amy Carlson kept him in a dangerous place, but it was his discovery of love for himself that broke him out and set him free.

The Last Ritual by Dragos Gaszpar; A Fantasy That Is Sometimes Too Dark and Somber For Its Own Good

 

The Last Ritual by Dragos Gaszpar; A Fantasy That Is Sometimes Too Dark and Somber For Its Own Good 

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: When a book starts with the line “we killed God,” you know that you are in for a dark somber time. That's what you get with The Last Ritual by Dragos Gaszpar, a dark Epic Fantasy which is mostly set during extensive battles between mortal enemies.

A group of traveling companions have spent centuries fighting against the beastly Leath. After some of their companions are killed in their latest battle, they think that they have an advantage when one of their own, Tarra returns from captivity with a Leath named Skar in tow. Having one of their enemies in their camp gives them an opportunity to study and understand the Leath and fight them smarter rather than harder. 

The somber tone is the book’s biggest strength but oddly enough is also its biggest weakness. It answers a fundamental question of whether a book can be too dark for its own good. The Last Ritual says, “yes.”

The tone is what makes this Fantasy novel realistic which sounds like a contradiction in terms but in this case it works. It serves as a deconstruction of tropes which are often found in Fantasies.

While battles are the norm for many novels and death is expected, that's often a side feature of the conflict. In this case, victory in war gives way to endless slaughter and the heroism faced by the characters is switched instead for brutal inescapable violence. There are no wins when enemy armies have been fighting against each other for a long time. Instead, it is a resigned weariness that forces them to move forward because to end it would lead them to wondering what the point was in all of the fighting in the first place.

The constant battles can be weary not only to the characters but to the Reader as well. The book starts out suspenseful as some characters are met with death pretty early giving an intentional ill ease. But the fights and violence are so frequent and repetitive, that battle fatigue sets in. It becomes harder to remember strategies, motives, and actions. After a while, the battles are interchangeable. The Reader squirms with impatience and even boredom mirroring the emotions of the characters who live for the fight but are sick of it as well.

The dour nature can be found not only in tone and plot but in character as well. The companions face not only the Leath but disagreements from within. For example, Tarra who has spent time with the Leath suggests a more communicative and understanding approach that encourages dialogue and negotiation with them. Her colleague Silanna is more fiery tempered and is in favor of slaughtering every Leath and letting the god that they just killed rise from the dead to sort it out later. Melaan, who serves as the primary protagonist, hovers between the two ideologies, violent fury at the Leath and empathetic humanity, especially the more that he talks to Skar and sees a multifaceted complex individual and not a mindless monster. 

The characters face their own views about mortality, prejudice, xenophobia, and what happens when the enemy is more within than outside. They argue and bicker a great deal amongst themselves. Just like the battles they often go back and forth on a regular basis. However, just like the fights against the Leath, the characters' personal struggles become tedious and cringy. At one point they stop an emergency situation just to have another argument that gets more shrill, irritating, and makes the Reader root for the Leath to end it. The protagonists' feelings towards each other also plays into realism that the constant struggle against the Leath is what holds them together as a unit. Without it, they wouldn't be close or even friends. 

The Last Ritual is a book that thrives on being as troubling and morbid as possible. It works but it also goes a long way and leaves the Reader feeling hollow and empty.

 

July -August Book List

 

July-August Reading List List 

Well not bad, could have been better towards the end.

The good news for my pocketbook anyway is that I have more regular clients resulting in more requests. The majority will be short nonfiction reviews so expect a few pages of those in the next couple of months. But there are some new full book clubs in which I am a member DP Books, Mocking Owl Roost Magazine, and Hidden Gems Books so I have some brand new assignments. Because of that the work on some of my other clients notably Voracious Readers Only will be greatly reduced to one review per month.

The Belgian Girls by Kathryn Atwood*

Mission Red Scythe by C.W. James*

Sense of Home: The Land of The Great Lakes 

by N.Z. Kaminksy

The War on Love and My Ex-Mother God Who Became a Mummified Corpse by Andrew -Ryan Profaci

The Last Ritual by Dragons Gazpar

Cerberus: The Sheriff, The Gimp, and The Queen of the Underworld by Chad Miller 

The Bellfontaine Haunting by Marie Wilkins*

The Bangkok Girl( A Lee Jensen Novel) by Sean O’Leary

The Hat Man by Greg Marchand

Hope in Paris (The Teddy Bear Chronicles Book 1) by Donnalyn Vjota

Icy Heart, Empty Chest by Holly Lee

House of Grace by Patricia M. Osborne 

The Mantis Corruption (The Mantis Gland Series Book 3) by Adam Andrews Johnson 

The Lindens by Barney Jeffries

I am also editing and proofreading Elyria's Journey by Rina Hodson

you have a book that you would like me to review, beta read, edit, proofread, or write, please contact me at the following:

Bluesky

Facebook

Goodreads 

Instagram

LinkedIn

LitPick

Reedsy Discovery

Threads

Upwork

Email: juliesaraporter@gmail.com 

Prices are as follows (subjected to change depending on size and scope of the project):

Beta Read: $50.00-75.00

Review: $50-100.00**

Copy/Content Edit: $100-300.00

Proofread: $100-300.00

Research & Citation: $100-400.00

Ghostwrite/Co-Write:$200-400.00

*These are books reviewed for LitPick or Mocking Owl Roost and will only feature a summary and a few paragraphs with links to the full reviews on their sites. 

**Exceptions are books provided by Henry Roi PR, LitPick, Reedsy Discovery, Hidden Gems, Mocking Owl Roost, Voracious Readers, and DP Books. Payments of short Nonfiction reviews are already facilitated through Real Book Review, Amazon Book Groups, Michael Cheng, Five Stars Books, and Book Square Publishing. 

Payments can be made to my PayPal, Payoneer, or Google Wallet accounts at juliesaraporter@gmail.com

Well that's it. Thanks and as always, Happy Reading.

The Art of Agony (The Nihilist Duet Book #1) by Amy Felix; Uncomfortable, Confusing and Thought Provoking Books About Being Mentally Ill in a World of Nothingness

 

The Art of Agony (The Nihilist Duet Book #1) by Amy Felix; Uncomfortable, Confusing and Thought Provoking Books About Being Mentally Ill in a World of Nothingness

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: There are two things that instantly help the Reader understand the type of book they are reading when coming across Amy Felix’s The Art of Agony. One of them is the name of the series, The Nihilist Duet. The second is the opening content warning which states in bold lettering that this novel is not a romance. You are instantly told this is going to be a strange, dark, uncomfortable, troubling, disturbing, critical, skeptical and pessimistic ride. Those early assumptions are certainly warranted. This is deconstruction of various genres such as Romance and Conspiracy Thrillers by focusing on the troubled souls that reside within them.

The Sinnenberg Mental Institution in Germany has two new patients, twins Eva and Isak Jager. They have been institutionalized under suspicious circumstances that suggest guilt more from those around them than their own. One of their fellow patients is Sebastien Guzman who has his own violent history and background of questionable guardians. Along with the story of their institutionalization, rebellion against authority, and desires of escape, we are treated to flashbacks of their lives before their institutionalization and what led them to this placement. Along with the three protagonists, we are also treated to chapters of dialogue that suggest that Eva, Isak, and Sebastian are being observed by some authority for some unknown and possibly nefarious purpose. 

There's something down right confusing and uncomfortable about The Art of Agony. Something that provokes the Reader by purposely getting under their skin. Something that stays within the dark recesses of their mind and subconscious like a bad memory that is suppressed but should be acknowledged.  

This book is one of the best but also one of the most disturbing books that I read so far this year. 

The backstories of the characters are where a lot of the darkness lies. Eva recalls being molested by a religious family friend. She responds with verbal hostility and affects an arrogant demonstrative attitude. Her retaliation in the matter results in institutionalization. Instead of taking her side, her superficial mother has her committed as a means to silence her and get her out of her life. 

Eva strikes back at her captors and challenges them in various sessions by not participating and glowering in disdain. There are moments where she uses her sexuality as a weapon, as if inflicting her pain on others will somehow make her pain go away. She is a creature of understandable hurt and rage. She suspects ulterior motives from everyone so often strikes back at those around her before they strike her. 

While Eva lives in a dark cloud of suspicion, Isak’s hurts are less visible. It takes awhile for him to follow his sister’s path and when it does, the results are just as traumatic as Eva’s. Part of the trauma is because he spends so much time trying to be Eva’s polar opposite, much to his sister’s early chagrin, who derides him as the “family favorite” without realizing that he is no more loved or respected than she is. He acts like the perfect son and student but has hidden imperfections.

Isak is quiet, remote, and lives inside his own head. Eva’s hostility is known but his negative emotions are buried underneath a cold introverted surface. This surface analyzes his thoughts towards others before he acts. He has a troubled sexual history of his own, but it is one in which he thought that his logic and calculated thought could protect him. The pain that sends Isak to Sinnenberg is self-inflicted as though his head could no more protect him than Eva’s body could protect her. 

Sebastien, the third member to their triangle, comes from a different place than the Jager Twins. He has been at Sinnenberg for a long time, long enough to take active part in and lead group sessions. He gets to know and bond with the twins and becomes a facilitator in helping them face their own unhappiness while coming to terms with his. 

If Eva uses her body and Isak uses his mind, Sebastien uses his heart and emotions. Despite trying to be a welcoming presence to new patients, he has emotional violent tendencies. Before his institutionalization, he committed a violent act, one that came from fury, anger, and impulse. There are verbal and accusatory parts of his mind that tries to resonate his acts of violence with his current responsibilities. They remind him that his warm empathy towards his fellow patients can also burn and blaze with unfelt passion and potential homicide. 

Eva, Isak, and Sebastien are damaged individuals who have one way or another been hurt and respond by hurting others or themselves. Felix is very realistic with how her protagonists are depicted and that can be found in the lack of romance among them. They are capable of feeling. There are moments of familial love between Eva and Isak and companionship between them and Sebastien but that’s as far as it goes.

 Much of their issues are sexually related, Eva’s especially. They have naturally skewered outlooks at lust, love, togetherness, and partnership so they are not going to find a quick fix relationship that will heal all wounds. Instead, it is enough to find someone who might understand the insanity that surrounds them every day because they see it too. Sometimes it’s enough to have someone say, “No you’re not crazy. They really are after you because they are after me too!”

What makes this book so disturbing and unpleasant is the undercurrent of Nihilism, nothingness. Through their own individual experiences on the outside, Isak, Eva, and Sebastian are betrayed by those around them: friends, family, lovers, school, work, religion, home. The institutions that surround them become a mockery as they can't find comfort or protection in them.They are left unable to trust anyone, even themselves.

These characters are cold, barren, alone, numb, used, abused, and cast adrift.They used their body, mind, and emotions to gain back some feeling or control in their lives and ended up with more pain and less control than they had before. Sinnenberg becomes a microcosm of that world around them, the world in which they have no control.They were surrounded by nothingness before and nothingness afterwards but now only on a smaller scale.

There are hints throughout the book that there are larger conspiracies and plans involving the patients, particularly The Jager Twins. Once again like with the romantic aspects, it is dealt with realistically.

 In other books, the protagonists would get to the heart of the conspiracy, try to escape, and either burst it wide open or die trying. Here however, it just becomes yet another thing that traps the characters. Another link in the chains of captivity since their youth, possibly since birth. They may try to escape (and to their credit make a great attempt at escaping), but will in one way or another will always be captives.

Life inside and outside the institution is the same. They just have different ways of capturing, detaining, and holding a person. Sometimes the only meaning that can be found is to find understanding in others who have been through that experience and through oneself in surviving it.

The Assassin's Heart by Chuck Morgan; Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes

The Assassin's Heart by Chuck Morgan; Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes 

 The Assassin's Heart by Chuck Morgan 

This is a short review. The full review is on LitPick 

The Assassin's Heart is an enthralling character driven Thriller about an assassin who begins to question her allegiances when her own heart and emotions are on the line.

 Delia Cahill seems to live a perfect enviable life. She's happily married to Mark, a government employee and has a great career as a high powered attorney with a noted list of rich and famous clients. She is actually a high priced assassin with a tremendous kill list and an excellent reputation as someone who gets the job done. Her latest assignment is Alexander Thorne, a tech genius who created an app that can penetrate any system, network, and defense. However, her heart gets in the way as Delia finds herself falling in love with her target.

Delia straddles the line between consummate professional and romantic heroine and plays both extremes rather well. She's like a praying mantis or a black widow spider, attracting her captive before destroying him. In fact she is so effective at her job that it would be nice to see more of this side of her as a remorseless killer.

Mostly we see her when she realizes that her job isn't what she thought. Her relationship with Alexander becomes a deal breaker between her and the Organization. After she falls in love, they go through extreme measures to break her, treating her just like she used to treat her targets. 

Delia lived a life of violence that overpowered her enemies and tried to live without a conscience. It worked until her conscience overpowered her. 

Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes 

It turns out the dead need just as much emotional and psychological help as the living. Just like the living, the dead sometimes meet in groups to talk about them. Dead People Anonymous by Loraine Hayes is an entertaining, hilarious, and heartfelt look at life after death and the support groups that they form. 

Lexi died at age 28. She wakes up surrounded by other ghosts that have their own stories to tell. There's Billy, a soldier who died during the Vietnam War and finds Lexi very attractive. Vivian is the group leader and Team Mom who suffered loss and rejection in life. Malik appears to be the youngest as he died at 11 but since he's the first who died, he is the wisest and most experienced when it comes to rules of the dead. Dominic is a surly argumentative sort on the surface but has a hidden heart of gold. Maria is quiet but retains the insecurities and neurosis that she had in life. Finally, Chester is the oldest, dying at age 98 and has a lifetime of regrets and memories. The Dead People Anonymous group is there for each other.

The living impaired talk about their problems, discuss the circumstances of their deaths, and what they need to do to cross over to the next plane of existence wherever that may be.

The world of the dead is very detailed with all of the rules and standards that the dead follow. Like all good Fantasies, Hayes took great care in creating and planning her imaginary world and it shows in her writing. 

The ghosts are restricted to various rules. They feel emotions strongly and those emotions can be quite contagious among them. They can relive moments in their pasts as observers and maybe learn things about those moments that they suppressed on Earth. Yes Heaven and Hell exist and the choices that they made in life and after death could serve as gateways to either location.

The ghosts can touch each other but not humans.

They can leave and observe humans, but during times of stress or enlightenment, they find themselves transported back to the building where the group meets. It's also not a good idea to visit friends or family. It's not forbidden but it brings out the worst emotions and could lead to permanent relocation in one direction or another.

These rules are intriguing as Lexi navigates her way through being dead, making mistakes, and adjusting to her ghostly afterlife.

The book also has a strong sense of character development as we get to know each group member, what they were like in life, who they left behind, and what unfinished business holds them back. 

Each character's past is explored and we touch on various human experiences through the eyes of those who had to leave humanity behind. These are stories of lost loves, missing family members, unfaithfulness, anger, jealousy, age, grudges, unspoken words, regrets, and wanting to know if their lives had any meaningful impact and if there was some part of themselves that lived on in some way. 

In the end that's all anyone wants to know, dead or alive. If they actually mattered.