JT LawrenceCritiques
Auteur de Sticky Fingers: 12 Short Stories
Critiques
It's about a midwife who's at work helping a woman give birth, as midwives are prone to do.
Apparently, one needs to trust ones midwife, and Janita assures the reader of this thus making it a fact.
Maybe it's probably not a great book to read if you are pregnant.
Deep Ocean Blues -- Yudhanjaya Wijeratne
An interesting little novella based in a deep ocean thorium mine with a human, an AI and a bunch of OctoPods as workers: OctoPods are cyborg octopuses in case you were wondering.
It mostly explores the same theme as Blade Runner, as in, what is it to be me.
I am left thinking that there's at least a full length novel in this deep underwater world and the onshore world that supports it and squabbles over the rights. There's certainly a lot of interesting space for a novel or three to explore and fill.
Melting Shlemiel — Jason Werbeloff
An interesting allegorical novella that has as a good metaphorical dig at those who build walls of exclusion around themselves.
Set in a very pious Jewish area of Jerusalem, during 2054, it's pretty obvious who the author is pointing at and why. The Jewish state first build walls to separate and defend their country, then it's walls to separate and defend each town, then each district, then each house, until each person has their very own impregnable, permanent second skin.
Can also be read as a fun little dystopian/cyberpunk thing if you don't want to think too much.
By far, the worse of the 4 stories in 2054.
Nuff said, move along, nothing to see here.
How We Found You is the sequel to How We Found You. I've not read the first book, but I did not find it hard to get into this book, although I did several times during this book think that I really need to read How We Found You to get the backstory to the story in this book. Just to get the know the characters that I've come to care for, a bit better.
The setting for How We Found You is in the future, not that far for in the future, but it feels like another world. The futuristic technology is one aspect that made me love this book. To read about how everything has progressed fascinated me. But, there are those that are afraid how the progress that sees the birth of children not through the usual way as a sign of the end. For Kate does this mean that there are those that want to kill her son. And, they will try every means necessary to succeed.
First, I want to say that this book intrigued me from the beginning. I loved the setting of a futuristic South Africa, of a cult after children to stop a prophecy and of a mother who that will do everything to protect her children. The writing is fabulous, I was pulled into the story and the only thing I regretted was not reading the How We Found You first. Yes, you can read this as a stand-alone, but I personally would have started with book one. But, at least I have the first book to read now.
I will end this review by saying that this book is marvelous and I greatly enjoyed reading it!
I want to thank TBConFB for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
This story seems to be targeted to younger readers or perhaps somebody in search of some casual distraction. The central premise behind this particular story was quite a stretch, even for fantasy. In addition, it often seemed like there was too much going on and not much in the way of character growth (thankfully the author did manage to avoid long descriptive sections, aka info dumps, that seem to be the rage with many of my selections these days). It worked great in the background; however, I found myself frequenlty drifting in and out of the story. While I did enjoy it, I also had a hard time trying to figure out if it was trying to be silly, like Harry Potter, or gritty, like Harry Dresden, as it appeared to swap back and forth alot. Ultimately it didn't do justice to either; however, it was good enough that I am looking forward to the sequel.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
My personal favorite story was Gatsby’s Double. To me it was almost as if the narrator of the story was someone suffering from schizophrenia which made it an interesting change of pace of MCs.
If you’re looking for something dark and twisted, this collection is perfect. Easy to listen to in one sitting.
This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.
I don't normally read short stories - I'm kind of keeping them for when my memory only has a 20min retention span! But I had the chance to listen to this series of 12 tales and I really enjoyed them.
They made me smile in a dark sort of way. I can't help but wonder what goes on in this author's mind.
An added bonus for me was that the author is from South Africa and while this didn't affect most of them, it did add an interesting slant.
I enjoyed the narration by Bianca Flanders, clear and well paced. I'm surprised to see she's not narrating the next two collections.
I'm not sure I had a favourite story, but maybe Traveller's Slacks: Trip Advisor gone mad, will be the one that sticks in my mind. That and the kamikaze baby, as I was looking after my new baby grandsons at the time.
I have the next two collections on audio, so I'm looking forward to some new insights into the brain of JT Lawrence.
This book was a huge surprise. Fantasy is not normally my chosen genre, but I decided to give this a listen for something a little different, and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. There are witches and spells, as i'd kind of expected, but also past life regression and reference to the historical persecution of witches, which seemed to anchor the book and give it depth.
Raven Kane was a hugely likable character, a struggling witch, suffering from asthma and an issue with burning, blistering skin. She lives in her grandmother's crumbling wooden house and tries to make a living by doing spells on request. Other services are available, some less legitimate than others. It is this that leads to her becoming persecuted in a modern day re-enactment of the witch burnings of old.
A clever idea that worked really well.
I loved the narration by Roshina Ratnam, who had a delightfully subtle South African accent. She managed great men's voices as well as women's and had perfect pacing.
Probably my only issue with the book was the similarity in the names of the High Priestess (Levinia) and the head of the Wicked Witches (Luella). I only sorted out these two in the last 10%, when both appeared together in the same scene, but I guess that is one of the problems with audio.
I can't wait for the next books in the series to be available as audiobooks, hopefully with the same narrator.
36 Deliciously Twisted Short Stories
By: JT Lawrence
Narrated by: Roshina Ratnam, Bianca Flanders
This is an audible book I requested and the review is voluntary.
I thought this book had quite the range of story genres! All short bites! There were a few 3 star reviews in there but most were 4 stars and some excellent 5 stars too! There is something for about everyone...but know they some have dark humor, or odd tales/endings, bizarre plots, and weird characters which make for delicious bite size treats!
The narration was done very well.
As the story develops, Keke pulls in more allies. Kirsten helps her pull info together. Marko is her tech guy, breaking into secret databases and stuff. As much as I liked Marko, I did find that he made it a little too easy for Keke to break sophisticated codes, etc. That was the one weakness of this story.
Twists and turns as Keke explores one lead after another. Perhaps someone at the SurroCloister is playing her. Perhaps this mysterious group Alba is setting her up. It’s a delicious nest of suspects. Keke certainly is having fun with the chase, at least until the bodies start hitting the floor.
There’s also a wonderful sexy side to Keke that I appreciated. Little sensuous scenes are spaced throughout the story. The pacing is great – I never got bored with the characters or the plot. Looking forward to the next in the series. 4.75.5 stars.
The Narration: Jean Ann Douglass did a good job. All of her character voices were distinct and her male voices were believable. I loved her mischievous voice for Keke, and also her flirty voice for Keke during the sexy bits. There were no technical issues with the recording. 5/5 stars.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by JT Lawrence. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
I’m thoroughly enjoying this series! The prequel gave us a taste of what was possible from these characters and setting. Kirsten and Keke make a great team. They are both dedicated journalists and each has a history of being in dangerous situations. Set in a near future South Africa, showers & swimming pools are practically unheard of, the fertility rate has plummeted, and paper communications (like printed receipts, etc.) are practically unheard of. Yet tech has continued to progress. I loved this aspect of the book! Keke has a tattoo that changes colors with her insulin levels, letting her know when she needs a shot. Some people have implants tied to a small tablet (called a tile) for all their communication stuff and more.
There are several flashbacks sprinkled through out the story. It did take me a while to realize that they were flashbacks. I know I should have picked up on that sooner, I just thought this flashback character had some fascination with the 1990s. Anyway, the flashback storyline turns out to be very important for our main characters and over all, I liked it. All told, 4.5/5 stars.
How We Found You review
This was a pretty good sequel though if you picked it up without Book 1, you could read it as a standalone.
Kate (aka Kirsten) is raising her two kids (Silver & Mally) with her brother Seth and their very good friend Keke. She knows that Mally is special and she has her guesses as to why but she’s not sure what to do with it. Pretty soon, it becomes apparent that someone is after one or both of her kids and she has to unravel the mystery she walked away from 4 years ago in order to save them.
Sometimes I loved Kate and sometimes she was tedious. Even though I understand why she’s stressed out and sometimes loses her temper and wits, I still wanted to give her a small slap to bring her back to reality. Freaking out isn’t going to keep anyone safe and it did create a few lags in the story. I still find Kate’s synethesia fascinating and so many of the side characters are great, including the new guy Zach.
Keke is my true fascination. I want to be her side kick! So I was a little sad to see how limited her role was in this book. The plot is wrapped around a prophecy that has the kids caught up in it. I really enjoyed how this unfolded. 4.5/5 stars.
What Have We Done review
Wow! What a mind trip! This tale opens several years after the ending of Book 2 but there’s plenty of things in this story that refer to earlier books in the series so it wouldn’t make a stand alone book. Mally and Silver are both nearly 16 and they have grown up in a very different world than their mother Kate (who is a self-imposed technosaur). For the first half of the book, we’re really just getting to know the tech of the day and catching up with the characters we’ve fallen in love with along the way.
Keke is still my favorite character. She’s got a bigger role in this novel than she had in Book 2 (yay!). Marko, her friend with benefits/non-exclusive significant other, has run off to an ashram in India and Keke is a little heartsick over it, not knowing if he will ever return. Meanwhile, Seth (Kate’s twin brother) has stuck around to help raise the kids and he still has this torch burning for Keke. By the end of this book, I think he might be a great fit for her even if she’s still pining for Marko. Kate herself is trying to be a good mom but two rebellious kids in a world filled with tech that Kate doesn’t fully understand makes things difficult. Zack has been doing hard time at SkyRest for all those pesky murders in Book 2.
OK, so robots are everywhere and doing everything for humans in this near future South Africa. Some robots are strictly service bots with no AI and then there’s a whole range of AI in the more complex bots. Some bots have rights and some don’t. Like sexually harassing a lingerie bot is illegal but is only referred to as interference and doesn’t carry the same weight as such an act against a human. There’s those that are fighting for equal rights for the bots and there’s those that don’t want any rights for the bots.
Then a few bots loose their crap and people die. Runawayrunawayrunaway! The ending gives us a big mindscrew. Yep. Oh my! I loved it because it means our heroes have to take a big leap. 4.5/5 stars.
Narration review
Roshina Ratnam is phenomenal with this series. I’m loving her narration and really appreciate the skill she brings to the table. This tale is set in a near future South Africa and there’s several African accents. I’m completely untutored in African languages but Ratnam was made it possible for me to hear the differences in the various accents (for example, Zulu and Nigerian). She also did a great job with Kate’s wildly swinging emotions (as needed), Seth’s fear & determination, Keke’s deep concern, and Marko’s intense fear. She had perfect little kid voices for Mally and Silver. 5/5 stars.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by JT Lawrence. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
There are several flashbacks sprinkled through out the story. It did take me a while to realize that they were flashbacks. I know I should have picked up on that sooner, I just thought this flashback character had some fascination with the 1990s. Anyway, the flashback storyline turns out to be very important for our main characters and over all, I liked it.
Seth was a very interesting character. At first, I didn’t like him but I was intrigued by him. He comes off all hard angles and has some hidden mission. He’s not above using people to attain his goal. As a loyal member to the secret organization Alba, his chemgineer skills come in very handy. As the story unfolds, it is eventually revealed that he has a connection to our main characters and then he becomes even more interesting and even a little likable.
The pacing was perfect in this story. The suspense is built up and then action happens and then more suspense followed by more action. There’s even a few brief sex scenes to spice things up. I did feel that a few times a character would jump to some conclusion too quickly. For example, one of the characters out of the blue becomes concerned that they might have an implanted tracker, so they go hunting for it so they can cut it out. I felt this was tossed in at the last minute.
Everyone has secrets and that gave the story several twists and turns. I especially enjoyed James, aka Marmalade. Kirsten has synesthesia and so she often sees her friends in colors and she sees James as Marmalade. He became a very sympathetic character at the end. He’s managed to hide his secret live for decades! But after he explained things, I could see his side a bit. I didn’t agree with everything, but I could understand how he got to where he was.
I loved all the science fiction and fantasy references. Thundercats! The ending answers all the questions presented in this book, so it stands well on it’s own. Marco, who I met in the prequel, had a brief mention or two in this book and I did miss his presence. I hope to see more of him in Book 2. All told, 4.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Roshina Ratnam did a great job with this narration. I felt she had perfect voices for both Keke and Kirsten. Her male voices were believable and she had distinct voices for all the characters. There was a little bit of South African slang and Ratnam voiced that well (to my untutored ear). 5/5 stars.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by JT Lawrence. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Kate (aka Kirsten) is raising her two kids (Silver & Mally) with her brother Seth and their very good friend Keke. She knows that Mally is special and she has her guesses as to why but she’s not sure what to do with it. Pretty soon, it becomes apparent that someone is after one or both of her kids and she has to unravel the mystery she walked away from 4 years ago in order to save them.
Sometimes I loved Kate and sometimes she was tedious. Even though I understand why she’s stressed out and sometimes loses her temper and wits, I still wanted to give her a small slap to bring her back to reality. Freaking out isn’t going to keep anyone safe and it did create a few lags in the story. I still find Kate’s synethesia fascinating and so many of the side characters are great, including the new guy Zach.
Keke is my true fascination. I want to be her side kick! So I was a little sad to see how limited her role was in this book. I think this is partly because I started this series with the prequel, which is told from Keke’s point of view and where Kate/Kirsten is just a side character. I want more Keke please. Kate needs a vacation and Keke obviously has adventure and intrigue to spare.
It was great to see Marko too (Keke’s significant friend with benefits) but he also had a limited role in this story. Seth is another fascinating character because he’s something of a mercenary, but one with a code and a heart. He played such a big role last book that I missed his presence in this tale (again, he has a limited role). At this point it’s probably clear that Kate had too much page time and all these great characters didn’t get enough time.
Silver and Mally were realistically done, which I appreciated. Sometimes they were perfect little sweet angels and sometimes they were mischievous little devils trying Kate’s patience. This made it so much easier to connect with the kids.
The plot is wrapped around a prophecy that has the kids caught up in it. I really enjoyed how this unfolded. There’s brief moments where Kate thinks the kids are safe, that she knows who to trust…. and then, boom! Everything changes with one action or one reveal. Great use of suspense. The story wraps up answering the mystery for this book. I look forward to Book 3! 4.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Roshina Ratnam is phenomenal with this series. I’m loving her narration and really appreciate the skill she brings to the table. This tale is set in a near future South Africa and there’s several African accents. I’m completely untutored in African languages but Ratnam was made it possible for me to hear the differences in the various accents (for example, Zulu and Nigerian). She also did a great job with Kate’s wildly swinging emotions (as needed), Seth’s fear & determination, Keke’s deep concern, and Marko’s intense fear. She had perfect little kid voices for Mally and Silver. 5/5 stars.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by JT Lawrence. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Keke is still my favorite character. She’s got a bigger role in this novel than she had in Book 2 (yay!). Marko, her friend with benefits/non-exclusive significant other, has run off to an ashram in India and Keke is a little heartsick over it, not knowing if he will ever return. Meanwhile, Seth (Kate’s twin brother) has stuck around to help raise the kids and he still has this torch burning for Keke. By the end of this book, I think he might be a great fit for her even if she’s still pining for Marko. Kate herself is trying to be a good mom but two rebellious kids in a world filled with tech that Kate doesn’t fully understand makes things difficult. Zack has been doing hard time at SkyRest for all those pesky murders in Book 2.
Silver is way into full immersion. She loves her RPG games but also the circle of friends she has there. She’s good at it too so she wants to get a weave implanted so she can go even further in her favorite immersive game. Alas, that’s not allowed until she’s 18 or perhaps at 16 with her mom’s permission. She’s too impatient and that leads to trouble. Then there’s Mally who has fallen in love hard with Vega, a sentient robot. The two have been in a relationship for several months after meeting online and then later in real life.
I really liked catching up with Zack. His past 12 years are covered in a series of short flashbacks to show how his trial went, basic incarceration, how he ended up at SkyRest, and all that goes on there. There’s this odd character, Bernard, who terrorizes (or perhaps looks out for) Zack. Her character arc grows unexpectedly in the last quarter of the novel and I wouldn’t mind learning more about her.
OK, so robots are everywhere and doing everything for humans in this near future South Africa. Some robots are strictly service bots with no AI and then there’s a whole range of AI in the more complex bots. Some bots have rights and some don’t. Like sexually harassing a lingerie bot is illegal but is only referred to as interference and doesn’t carry the same weight as such an act against a human. There’s those that are fighting for equal rights for the bots and there’s those that don’t want any rights for the bots.
Then a few bots loose their crap and people die. Runawayrunawayrunaway! The second half of the book is more interesting to me because so much happens, there’s so much action, but also these really good questions of how many rights man-made AI should have and are they really a danger, or rather, more dangerous than the average human. Lots of great, intense scenes here!
The ending gives us a big mindscrew. Yep. Oh my! I loved it because it means our heroes have to take a big leap. But I also hated it a tiny bit because the ending isn’t definitive and I don’t know if there’s another book in the series. The tale could end here… but then there would be some lingering questions concerning Marko and Vega and a few others. All together, I quite enjoyed the ride. 4.5/5 stars.
The Narration: Roshina Ratnam continues to give a great performance. While there were fewer opportunities to perform various African accents, Ratnam still had distinct voices for all the characters and her male voices were believable. I especially enjoyed her emotionally charged scenes, like that big one between Silver and Kate near the end. She also had great slightly robotic voices for the AIs. I liked her angry, jealous, protective voice for Bernard. 5/5 stars.
I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by JT Lawrence. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Deep Ocean Blues
reminds me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Loved the octopods though I feel for them. The story moves slowly and I couldn't really connect with Parul.
The Memory Hacker
moves along more quickly; erased memories and child robots await you. I enjoyed this read. Memory hackers don't sound too far fetched when you really think about it.
Melting Schmiel
wasn't my favorite. The story had cool aspects. I mean imagine having to eat shotgun blasts of energy?
The Camille
was a great way to end the anthology. This story is out of this world and really makes you think. I'd love to read more about The Camille and it's fight. Please Colby, can I have some more? Ha!
The whole anthology needs editing though.
I struggled to get into this book; at 20% it seemed like nothing was happening. Then, slowly, it picked up. I'd guess we weren't supposed to particularly like Slade Harris, but I find it hard to support a lead character that I don't like. He was the ultimate misogynist, using and dumping women on a whim. As an author, he felt he needed to behave this way to generate material for his novels, a likely story.
The best part of the book, for me, was the feel of Johannesburg and South Africa, the lurking danger and constant threat of crime.
The sex scenes were a bit over the top, though to be fair, we were warned about that - my book was stickered with an 'adult material' warning.
The audiobook I was listening to, narrated by J. Austin Moran II, was well read, if a touch slow. Mr Moran's voice was deep and gravelly and at first I thought it a strange voice for a narrator, but in fact it perfectly suited the self centred Slade Harris, who tells the story in the first person.
While I was considering abandoning the book at 20%, I went on to GoodReads to decide whether to continue and noticed many reviews praising the ending, so I kept going. Maybe those reviews led me to expect too much. I can't say more and spoil the book for others, but I wasn't as bowled over by the ending as many reviewers were.
Thankfully not all authors with writers block resort to planning their love interest's demise.
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It's written in a kind of freeze frame style, like each paragraph is describing an image, a feeling, a thought. Each a separate entity, pieces in the puzzle. A little strange at first as it's different from the normal narrative flow we get so used to expecting, but once you get used to it it really works.
This is my first read of Janita's work and i have to say that i like it and i'm looking forward to reading more.