Carl AlvesCritiques

WOW, OH WOW!! I enjoyed reading this book so much that I was rapidly reading as I battled by the son's of Thor side, That trickster, Loki, had sent giants and other beings to battle at Ragnarok while he stayed safe and caused a virus o the people of Earth that killed billions just so he would declare himself king of the Earth! As the battle of Ragnarok continued it was up to Magni and Modi to finally seek out their uncle, Loki, to stop him waging war and to kill him.

What do you get when you cross inquisitive kids, an Ouija board and a spirit hell bent on revenge?

I was intrigued when I heard this novel is like a cross between Stranger Things and The Exorcist. I have a soft spot for kids taking on the supernatural aspects of life and this novel delivers. Kenna and her friends decide to play around with her brother’s Ouija board one afternoon and start the process of unleashing an evil presence into their world.

Kenna is around 10 years old and her maturity level was very refreshing even though she effectively comes off as a younger sibling (if that makes any sense). Jake, her brother, is the logical rock of the story. Supportive, calm and loyally protective with a future in professional fighting. As they set out to fix what they did the reader is drawn in by the fierce family bonds and loyalty of friends. Fun fact, like most horror movies, the parentals always seem to be MIA.

Even though this novel has elements of violence and possession the author also wove underlying themes that focus on fixing your mistakes, pushing forward when times are tough, forgiveness and sticking together.

Overall this was a quick and easy read. The characters are lovable. There is graphic violence, sexuality, possession, spirits and drugs. I honestly think the creepiest part was the opening chapter and the rest was more a supernatural thriller.

Thank you to the author, Mr. Carl Alves, for the opportunity to read and review this novel for an unbiased opinion. I recommend this book for readers who enjoy creepy reads with younger MCs!

REVIEWED: Reconquest: Mother Earth
WRITTEN BY: Carl Alves
PUBLISHED: January, 2014

“Reconquest: Mother Earth” is a military science fiction thriller with plenty of action, suspense, and just enough romance to soften the hard edges of SEAL-cum-hero Mitch Grace. Mitch is a throwback to archetypical heroes of noble swashbucklers or chivalrous knights; he is a warrior able to face the most daunting of foes, challenge the downtrodden with grand speeches of freedom to raise themselves up, and all the while brush off physical advances from any admirer as he stays true to his only love, Deborah. Though not marketed as YA, this would fit well into the genre, and in a good way. Carl’s writing bridges the YA and adult worlds. At times the plot could turn a bit predictable and flat, but Carl makes up for that with the vast universe he’s imagined, filled with far-flung worlds and its array of colorful denizen aliens, some good, some evil, and some—surprisingly—compassionate to Mitch’s cause, as the last freedom fighter of Earth. Overall, it’s a fun read, and though satisfactory closure is found by the last page, one may hope that Carl revisits his characters and continues their adventures in a follow-up sequel.

Four and a half out of Five stars

Life is not good for Andy Lorenzo. He’s overweight, has no friends, no social skills, he drinks too much and he gambles away his money. He does have one skill though. He’s the most powerful exorcist in the world and demons fear him. Unlike the old exorcism rites that priests use, Andy can enter people’s souls to fight and kill the demon possessing it.

Andy was raised by the church but he isn’t necessarily religious and some priests don’t like him, but they can’t argue with the results of his work. He’s destroyed hundreds of demons but his luck is about to change. His newest client is a young girl named Kate but as he enters her soul he finds that there is more than one demon waiting for him. He then finds out that the church has kept secrets from him which will change his life. He’s in for the fight of his life and he’s going to need all the help he can get as he decides what’s really important to him.

Battle Of The Soul by Carl Alves is a supernatural thriller that’s a little different from other horror novels based on exorcisms. While the church and religion does factor into the story it isn’t the main plot. This is about how a looser finds that he is much more than he thought and then he is left with a choice of what to become as he finds the secret to his powers. My favorite part of this book was Andy. He’s the ultimate underdog and he has just one thing he’s good at, killing demons. Andy reminded me of Ash in the Evil Dead movies but we do find out that Andy has a big heart and it’s his biggest weapon.. We hear of him bringing candy and comics to orphans and how he plays with Kate when she is in remission from her possession and we see that even though he is a misfit he cares. The author shows Andy as flawed but when the chips are down he always does the right thing. Andy is an easy character to relate to because he’s just a regular guy playing the hand of cards that life has dealt him.

As I was reading Battle Of The Soul I found myself thinking that this book has the feel of a superhero story. It looks and sounds like it would be a horror novel but it’s more of an action packed thriller. The fight scenes are well described almost to the point where you feel the author could have left a little to the imagination. Also the demons come across more like super villains and not overly terrifying. This isn’t to say that this was a bad read, it just came across as more action than horror. This book is a fresh spin on an idea that we see a lot in the world of horror. I think the concept of a man entering a soul and becoming a superhero is a great idea and I hope Carl revisits this idea in future books.

Blending Farscape with Independence Day, perhaps with a touch of Star Trek and Mad Max, author Carl Alves offers a traditional fast-action science fiction novel of aliens and humans fighting for life or finance on planet earth. In the first few scenes, the conquest begins. Then our hero, SEAL Mitch Grace, is left to find his way in the aftermath. Can he recover the planet for human beings? Can he make friends with the enemy? Can he survive as a Star-Trek style gladiator? Can he conquer monsters and argue with rebels, human and alien? Can he…?

Since this is traditional-style sci-fi, there’s plenty of yes-he-can in the answers, lots of fun, exciting set pieces, and a fast-flowing storyline that, just occasionally, might make readers pause for thought about our real world too—just as all the best sci-fi should do.

Fast, fun, and not too scientific, Reconquest: Mother Earth is an enjoyable quick read. Don’t think too hard about the details, suspend your disbelief, and enjoy the ride.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I offer my honest review.

A college student, a high-school misfit, and a grandfather with strange tales to tell form one half of Conjesero’s tapestry. Meanwhile San Francisco homicide detective Kevin Russel and colleague Rita Tedesco, plus wounded friend and a beautiful romantic lead, follow a parallel tale. But it all comes together halfway through Carl Alves’ novel, with instant celebrity Kevin tackling images of werewolves, contemplating love, and insisting against all odds that he must protect and serve. The race is on to ensure the conviction of a murderer and find the serial killer of unconnected strangers. At which point the story gathers serious momentum via interesting tidbits of criminal psychology, and fascinating mythology of the supernatural. By the end of the book, all these characters seem real, their challenges absorbing, and their road to recovery pleasingly laid-out.

Conjesero starts with a bang, slows down, then speeds to a frantic conclusion. The final action scenes feel perfectly plotted for a movie, and there’s a nice complexity to questions of whether breaking rules and allying with evil might be allowed in the cause of destroying a greater evil. In the end it’s not what’s seen that matters, but what lies underneath, both in relationships and in criminal investigation—a wise and nicely nuanced conclusion to a cross-genre novel with romance, action, suspense, police procedures, monsters and more.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I voluntarily offer my honest review.

My original Blood Street audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

What happens when vampires cross into the path of a mob boss? Blood flows freely on both sides!

Alexei, a centuries old vampire loves to spend time in the limelight and with beautiful people. He selects his victims with care much like a serial killer. He selects the wrong victim early on and madness ensues. Enzo Salerno’s man is viciously murdered and now he wants the man responsible to pay with his own life. Salerno runs his business in the style of the old-fashioned Italians – with a vengeance! At first suspecting a retaliating mob hit, Salerno sends his scores of men to the street to find who the responsible party is and exact revenge. Then he discovers there really are vampires!

Magnus, the leader of the brood of vampires and Alexei, finds he must try to negotiate with the mob boss and the FBI in order to protect his brood. Alexei’s growing paranoia along with jealousy pushes things further and escalates the deadly encounter. Salerno successfully strikes fear in the heart of the vampires. Both sides retaliate with a ferociousness that is mind-boggling!

This is not your predictable tale of man vs vampires; it is full of twists and turns leaving you stunned at the ending. Carl Alves takes a common theme (man vs vampire) and makes it fresh and unique. My expectations were that this book was going to be like so many other vampire books but instead I found so much more! Alves takes the story beyond the norm but keeps it realistically grounded through the human characters.

I found this book to be highly intriguing in many different ways. Alves builds the story around the conversion to vampirism method, the personality and mentality of Alexei and the characters dancing around one another exacting revenge and delivering messages in a vile and vicious manner. This is a good book, one that I would listen to again and highly recommend to anyone who enjoys the darker side of vampires and humankind as well as anyone who loves action! It well written and thought out, there are no holes or issues.

Steve Williams did an exceptional job of narrating; the different accents were spot on and difficult – Philly brogue and Old Russian. He never messed up or became confused. I thought he did a wonderful job. He used his voice to infect the listeners with excitement, fear and danger. He also inflected confidence and weakness when appropriate. Williams pronounced the words properly and clearly.

Anyone who loves action and adventure as well as vampires, this is your book!

Production quality of the audiobook was very good, there were no issues or concerns.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

I got this for free as part of a review group. I think I picked this up originally through LibraryThing.

I've tried to read this completely, picked it up and stopped several times. I just can't stand the writing style. The history seems well done, and I'm not sure if it's supposed to have this whole Cain and Abel throughout time feel to it deliberately or not.

3.5 stars

The story has a lot of promise, and the plotting helps.

Synopsis: a rogue vampire is causing a lot of problems in Philadelphia, with both the established vamp brood, the Mob, and the law. What to do?

I like the shifting alliances, and that all 3 main groups have both (semi)admirable characters and loathsome ones. The Mob contingent was especially effective this way.

Unfortunately, none of the characters really came to life themselves; they had their basic character descriptions, and then reacted more according to the needs of the plot than with internal motivations. I think Alves tried to bring more life to them- certainly his Mob boss is somewhat more complex than is usual for criminal kingpins- as is his second-in-command, Sophie.

...And that brings me to the main women, who are 100% physically gorgeous. Some are smarter than others- a decent differentiation- but they all start out as 10+++ on the looks scale. AND, what's more- even the most capable and intelligent ones are 100% willing to throw things over for Their Man (or Vamp, as the case may be). The secondary women can be shrewish, but are generally also well-nigh-perfect physically. What- no old women? None who have put on weight from all that Italian cooking they're doing?

Back to the men: I don't really see Enzo, the Mob boss, having a lot of patience with the mess his subordinates seem to make fairly regularly. He went into the Mob vs legit biz because he couldn't stand the rules... and yet, as the Mob boss, he has no choice but to put up with pretty sketchy "soldiers", which he can't even effectively fire. We see less of management challenges with the law, but similar seems to happen there.

And the vamps? It simply does not make sense that Magnus, the Head Vamp, would put up with so much crap from the rogue, especially when the rogue is directly challenging his leadership. Family? OK, maybe, at first. But if Magnus was half as good a leader as he is described as being, he would not let the rogue be the reason that half or more of his brood died. Especially considering the challenging.

So there's a lot of it that is not great. I'll also add the copy-editing, or the lack thereof; lines are "toed" not "towed", unless you are shipboard, for example, and that's only one of many- the funniest was when Alves clearly meant "wine and dine", but instead it was printed as "whine and dine"- rather different!

The language is often raw, but I'd expect that of gangsters. There is also much gore.

In short: the premise and the shifting and morphing alliances are solid and fascinating. The characterization- especially combined with meeting the needs of the plot- and the writing, could both use work. It would help if behavior did not often seem so arbitrary.

I received this book in exchange for writing an honest review.½

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have never read a book that has both vampires and the mob, wasn't sure if I was going to like it. I was right I didn't like it, I was amazed by the story. I like the authors style and I found myself unable to put my Kindle down. It is a fast-paced action story that will leave you on the edge of your seat wondering what is going to happen next. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

This book was really surprising to me. I love mafia books and films but I have never been much of a fan of vampire fiction. However the combining of the two genres worked surprisingly well and kept me invested in the story the whole way through. I would highly recommend this book.

I got this for free as part of a review group. I think I picked this up originally through LibraryThing.

I've tried to read this completely, picked it up and stopped several times. I just can't stand the writing style. The history seems well done, and I'm not sure if it's supposed to have this whole Cain and Abel throughout time feel to it deliberately or not.

I received this copy free via a member's giveaway in exchange for a review.

Two for Eternity, is a story of twin brothers Raiken and Vrag who are constantly reborn into the world and have an influence on the world for good or bad.

I really enjoyed this book, the author had obviously done his research in the historic elements of the story, and managed to adapted his characters into events that felt natural. The book concentrates on Raiken primarily and follows his lives and achievement and his constant battle against his brother who he believes is pure evil.

I preferred the historic parts of the book, and felt the once in the modern world the plot lost a little of its magic and at times jumped to fast in the lead up to the end, that sais I would like to read more about this brothers and hopefully if Carl Alves is thinking about a second book, I would like to see it follow Vrag story, a character I believe that could have much “fun” in history.

Overall a very good book I would highly recommend.

Interesting book. Far from my "usual" genre of book, even though it involved historical events almost like an alternate history type of book, so definitely not what I was expecting. That being said, it was an interesting read. I didn't really like the jumping around in the time line at first, but it made sense. I do wish the author had explained *how* the 2 main characters came into being. The book gave some very intriguing aspects to some famous historical events. I'm still attempting to fully digest the plot of the book and where it might go from there because it sure left a lot of possibilities for the future.

I received this book as an Early Read through Library Thing to read and rate so here goes...

I loved the book! Couldn't put it down, started it yesterday morning and finished it this afternoon. A story of good and evil, light and dark, two brothers that cannot live apart but all hell brakes loose when they are together. You come to hate Vrag and his will to do pure evil, and you can relate to Raiken's goodness but at the same time his killer side as he tries to stop Vrag.

I loved the way the author tweaked with history to make it fit into the story, or better yet... the way he made the characters fit into history to come up with a plausible story of how things could have happened!

Good read... I will be on the lookout for more books by Carl Alves!