Matthew ThompsonCritiques

I personally believe the book's official plot description to be really misleading, because it makes you believe that Lily is an evil person, which the book proves from the very start that she is frustrated about her situation, more than anything else.

That said, this is the first time I have read a book starring: conjoined twins! Just that Lily died when she was an infant during surgery to separate her from Rose's lower back, but her soul is stuck to Rose's body and fully incapable of communicating with anyone. Not even ghosts can see her.

Lily has lived this way for Rose's entire life, and she's pretty fed up seeing the world from Rose's back. She can see and hear everything that goes on, but she can't smell, touch or taste anything, much less be able to share her thoughts (which are expectedly riddled with age appropriate swearing).

Rose of course doesn't know any of this. She has lived her entire life with her dad in the English countryside sometime in the 1950's, and would have continued to live without knowing about her sister's plight until two classmates taunt her to accompany them one evening to practice some spells from an occult book. Most of the wacky spells don't work, but Rose recites the incantation to make spirits visible, and what do you know? Lily's tethered ghost appears and Rose can hear and see her for the first time!

After recovering from the shock on behalf of both startled parties, Lily suggests that they should recite a spell that could open the portal to the spirit world in order to liberate Lily from her imprionment. Little did they know that they would enter the netherworld of Killian and enjoy plenty of wacky adventures in the search of their deceased mother who could be the only person capable of separating them.

I really, really liked the worldbuilding. Killian is just this strange planet with little countries inspired by different Earth eras where dead humans live a temporary second life. Sadly the bewildered sisters can't enjoy a tour of their strange surroundings because both humans and incomplete spirits (derisively called primitives) aren't welcome and the current ruler of this world usually executes them. Most of the book is a wild goose chase where the girls meet eccentric friends such as Pei, Stanley, and a small group of petty criminals transformed into human sized ayes, while the governs and bounty hunters are chasing them wherever they go.

Rose is bashful, whereas her sister Lily is very sassy and with a lot of attitude issues. Lily starts to develop a softer side when she discovers she can do amazing things Rose can't in the spirit world (I won't spoil it though). I really enjoyed Stanley's character. He's just really funny and stubborn. The Irish brothers are also interesting. The chapter that delves into their human life paints them as victims, but they now live in Killian as ruthless mercenaries.

All in all, the book really surprised me by how much fun it was to read it in one go, and had it not had the misfortune of being placed in a highly competitive group in this year's spfbo, it would have easily made it to the semifinals of its assigned blog.

Even if YA isn't your favored genre (given the sisters are 9 years old, I think this book is technically middle grade although a mightily darker one), this book has all of the adventure and none of the heroine does insanely stupid things, boring Mary Sue tropes or something that a lot of people hate: teenage love triangles. This is a story of sisterly love that was very fun to read!

So much potential!

Imagine a world where vampires are not only commonplace, but they have been enslaved by humanity. Forced to live underground and work unmentioned thankless jobs for eternity, they are also fed donated blood which keeps them alive, but devoid of the pleasures of savoring blood from the source.

But vampires do have a small edge. Any human that is unfortunate enough to be turned becomes enslaved as well. And enslavement is no walk in the park. Rape, humiliation and an insanely restrictive life where being chained up and muzzled like an animal in exchange for the privacy to bathe without human watcher armed with deadly UV guns watching their every movements grants us a glimpse into the miserable life of Matias.

And he has his heart set in the right place to compete in the annual Ablaze tournament, a sort of Hunger Games panacea of violence and victory where vampires voluntarily sign up (the story doesn't specify how but it probably involves spend money or some kind of favor from their human masters). Contestants get a combat nickname, are assigned one of 8 different arenas located in the surface during broad daylight and rely on trapdoors and an assortment of other puzzles that could either opening doors to stay in the shadows, or becomes engulfed in flames of deathly sun rays. To make things more interesting, contestants are issued their own UV guns and can lure other vampires to their deaths for extra points.

They must get 1 challenge to unlock the escape elevator before the arenas become flushed with sunlight, ensuring their deaths. Killing vampires along the way grants extra points, which are critical to reach the final round and potentially win their freedom.

Matias has his heart set in the right place, and wants to be free in order to liberate his wife Sara and his infant daughter Jade. He doesn't harbor any ill feelings for the other vampires, and only wishes to defeat them honorably. But other contestants are not as decent, and he must be leery of assassins and tricksters during the freebie resting days in the cavernous prison.

The instant I read the book, the story got me hooked. Matthew has a really good knack for creating fascinating characters and worlds that suck you in (literally). In that sense, I could instantly view a movie version of this story to be a huge crowd draw. Who wouldn't want a new Hunger Games featuring enslaved vampires? W00t W00t!

And I love the relationships Matias forms along the ways with his competitors. If there was anything that detracted me from giving the full 5 stars was because some parts of the writing were confusing and I needed to read them twice. Descriptions of the individual arenas with different themes were sorely missed and it felt like the book was more of a rush to the conclusion without fully enjoying the ride.

I really believe the story could have been turned into a novella, there was more than enough backstory to do this and I would have literally devoured it. Despite the flaws, I thoroughly enjoyed this story, and believe the author should seriously consider a full-fledged novella. Dystopian paranormal book lovers would be thrilled to read this!

While I could not read the ARC the author kindly gave me before the book was published, I sincerely appreciate the kind gesture!

This is the 3rd book I have read from this author, and just like my previous reads, Empire of Ash and Blood did not disappoint me. This author's books are always such a thrill to read, and yet they seldom ever get any reviews. This saddens me because he has quickly earned a spot as one of my favorite fantasy authors.

I would not know whether my review of this book's equally good prequel Ablaze in Mirth where I was begging for a full-fledged series is the reason why this book was ever made, but I will beg, beg and beg for a sequel. Please make it happen! ;)

Instead of a remake of Ablaze in Mirth with a longer story, Empire of Ash and Blood opts for a nonlinear story where some critical events happened thousands of years ago, others around 5-10 years and the rest in the present. We also get several POVs from a very ethnically diverse cast where some of them are humans, and the rest are vampires, aka bloodmen.

Our Ablaze champion Matias from the prequel pretty much ruins the reader's expectation that The Haven, where champions go after a Hunger Games battle to the death among enslaved vampires, is an equivalent to true freedom in the Pretorius Empire. I believe a considerable portion of Matias's behavior early in this novel is fueled by feeling pissed off. The Haven is little more than an underground gulag where nobody can leave even with good behavior. There is no possibility of going outside in a wired cage to look at the moon or breathe fresh air. While everyone gets a monthly dowry to spend on blood, gambling, or prostitutes, even minor criminal offenses such as burning a book get added to a 12-hour life clock. Drones study footage within every corner of the prison and enact their verdicts at once without offering these so-called well-regarded champions the chance to perform community service for a time reduction. Drones zap you dead with UV lights when you use up your 12 hours. The idea that a champion could face death by burning 120 books seems like a miserable prize for the annoyances they took to win such a daunting tournament.

Can champions even have contact with the outside world? Pretty much none. All correspondence by email is monitored, and champions can only chat with humans. It doesn't surprise me that a man suffering from survivor's guilt and a hunger for true freedom like Matias would not feel satisfied with his current situation. The book focuses almost solely on Matias's POV during this section of the story, so at first, I had zero ideas what to expect. While I enjoyed hearing from Matias again and wondered how this story would develop, I believed this was the only good part of the book, but not great. The pacing seemed a bit off at times, and some grammar had odd syntax.

Much of the book focuses on two female characters: a vampire slave named Luna, who grudgingly works as a prostitute in Egypt, and a human of Filipino descent named Analyn. When Analyn shows up at Luna's prison one day to test her blood illegally during a routine bloodman wellness interview, the test comes positive, spiraling a considerable string of events that moves the book's second half forward. I enjoyed both characters very much, even though they seldom spend any time interacting with each other. Luna has lived under brutal human owners her whole life, so she is shy but very devout in her religious beliefs. In contrast, Analyn genuinely cares for vampires and wants the empire to abolish slavery. Analyn's POV isn't featured all that much in the story, but when she does, she commands a huge degree of respect, knowing she was risking her life because she believed she was doing the right thing. I can't say much more because it would be a spoiler, but they both grow, especially Luna, as the story progresses. Neither woman ends up as the character they were in the beginning.

The story of Kesi is repeated a lot in the prequel novella, and we finally get to enjoy a few chapters way into the past about her POV growing up in rural Sudan alongside... well, that is a spoiler. I will mention these chapters are quite important in the greater scheme of the book's worldbuilding.

As for Matias, in the book's second half, he is quite busy sending endless text messages to a fellow named Master Rocco. The exchanges may be real or fake, but they are always quite entertaining red herrings that will leave the reader guessing nonstop.

Our final POV, which is featured quite a lot in the second half of the book, is a human woman from Ireland named Ciara, who is Emperor Pretorius's wife. I don't recall her appearing in the prequel. While I enjoy having a middle-aged female character POV, the way she only interacts with her butler Naji and a good portion of her POV are mental ramblings of one-sided feelings for Naji seemed kind of... I dunno. I like the handful of scenes where she interacts with her increasingly mentally deranged husband, but her POV chapters were my least favorite of the book. I tend to like queens that have been in the power game for a while to have some more street smarts. Instead of running her very own fake companies to embezzle imperial money into offshore accounts, she just wanders around the gardens complaining about the color of her dress half of the time.

I have difficulty talking more about the book without spoiling the fun. Still, while I believe the book could get an extra set of editorial eyes to fix unclear grammar, I had a whole deal of fun reading this book. I loved to cheer for Luna as she became more determined. Guessing the true ending without being distracted by the plentiful red herrings kept me amused the whole story. I loved the ending that leaves plenty of story available for an equally entertaining sequel.

So, hop right in and enjoy the ride. This book is worth it!

The afterworld never seemed this adventuresome. :) This second volume of the series has a lot of great things going for it. We've still got the patchwork recreation of the Earth and a great deal of the people who died on the original Earth, but ever since the cliffhanger in volume one, we've got truly major changes in this sector.

Let me back up. The world-building is rather unique. This is very much a heavy Science-Fiction universe, with nearly god-like aliens scooping up the dead from our world and recreating whole worlds for the dead to live on. The recreations are not usually perfect recreations. Cities from across the world could be mashed together in very interesting ways, and so the people who arrive there with new flesh and blood must adjust or perish to who knows where.

That's a lot of people.

Of course, all of that changes when the whole sector gets invaded by other aliens and everyone goes on the run.

All previous alliances based on law or affiliation take a back seat to plain survival in the face of imminent and overwhelming invasion.

This is neat. We got to know all these characters and appreciated their conflicts with each other, and being forced to band together is yet another way to mesh the world. This time, it's purely social and quite amusing.

No spoilers, but I can promise some really big events and a very satisfying end. I love this kind of creative vision. Authors who take big chances like this really need to be rewarded.

So go out there and read him, folks! :) It's worth it.


Thanks goes to the author for a copy of the novel for review! It was entirely my pleasure to read. :)

Epi-G, Domino Galaxy. I love novels that tie into a much larger universe, in general, so even though Twin Souls by the same author is a YA adventure taking place in this universe, it's about as far away as you can get from this novel in tone or subject matter as you can get while still being firmly rooted in the afterlife.

Yup. Afterlife. Of course, the novel reads like a police procedural, a cat and mouse of hunting down unauthorized angel blessings from both sides, but for me, the real joy is in picking up all the details about the half-multiverse/half-galactic colonization feel of the setting, for where else can we dump Marakech and Hong Kong into the center of the USA, copy-and-paste fashion on some distant world and welcome in the newly dead, like Bruce Lee and other Ultimate Celebrities, and generally get on with our lives regardless of language and cultural barriers.

All the mismatches and the inherent conflicts were delicious. Angels who may or may not be human-ish or alien-ish, working for or being used by much more powerful alien entities that set up all these many, many after-death colonies across the galaxy, become just pawns or fugitives rather than the mental-imagery of good and divine winged emissaries. I mean, let's face it, all societies, galactic or otherwise, are subject to bureaucracy and regime changes, too, not to mention failures of Vision and tech. :)

My only complaint was how slow such concepts came to be developed, instead focusing on rather long sequences of rather average police procedural stuff rather than the good stuff. (Or what I'd call the good stuff, the mind blowing stuff, the fast action, the really weird.) It gets good for this by the end, but the times in-between was just... okay.

Oh, and the fact that the end was too cool to end right there. Meany. Of course, two books in the series, now, and I'm hooked. Crazy, crazy good when it's good.

Thanks to the author for the ARC!

This is an enjoyable YA adventure tale set on earth and in one of the more interesting afterworlds I've read.

I mean, what YA SF adventure could be good without killing off the characters and sending them right into the hereafter, right? Goodbye mortal coil.

Oh? The characters are ghosts? Well, one may be, but she's kinda angry to be entwined with her twin, and the only way to separate them is through a quest among the lands ruled by the Govern, the aliens made of spirit that control, to good and ill effect, the many, many worlds, the cut-and-paste duplications and innovations from earth and earth's people.

Imagine my surprise when this world-building got even better, when I discovered that all the dead have colonized the galaxy in grand fashion, that the dead can either stay the same age on earth or decide to move on and grow old, elsewhere. So pretty, and varied, too, where minor rulers and even people from earth can temporarily make their own realms however they wish, but don't think this is a heaven. The alien overlords provide plenty of conflict even without the human bad-guys. :)

Like mobsters, bandits, steampunk-like innovations? How about tentacled beasties and teleportation?

And let's not forget our MCs, either, who are richly drawn and provide a very satisfying tale to us.

I'm looking forward to reading the adult novel set in the same universe, now!

Thanks definitely goes to the author for the ARC of this pleasurable and easy read. :)

There's absolutely no doubt that author Matthew Thompson intended MAYHEM to be a fast paced, gonzo styled expose of Australian outlaw Christopher Binse. If you like that style, then the problems telling where the myth of Binse's own making ends, and the recounting starts might not be so concerning. For this reader there seemed to be some self-awareness issues, with Binse and the author, coming across as number 1 subscribers to the myth they were attempting to build.

I will admit that I was over the idea of Binse's hard man reputation when the blame for everything bad that ever happened to him came down to the women in his life. It wasn't helped by the feeling that somehow this was a "naughty little boy" and that everything would have been just okay if somebody else had stopped him. Nor was it clear that there was any awareness that his father came across as a complete waste of space, and whilst some early intervention in the justice system might have derailed the worst of the behaviour, trying to make out that Binse is an exasperating, big-hearted "Aussie outlaw" was frankly frustrating and annoying.

Either way, the style of the book was slightly too "reverential" for this reader's liking. It seemed too focused on the myth, and not enough on the reality of who Binse is and what he did. Whilst they might have had a go at redemption, at no stage did Binse ever really seem like the "tortured soul" of the blurb. Rather the whole thing felt like a transparent reputation construction, and an attempt to turn a thug into some sort of "misunderstood hero". There's nothing much in this story that seems in any way educational for any wild children of the future, and a lot that serves as a tutorial in how to blame everybody else if they do get into trouble.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-mayhem-matthew-thompson

A fun, well-written, true account of an unfulfilled new father pushing his limits over a few months in Colombia. Doing pretty much everything anyone tells him not to, he emerges a much happier person.

I confess to being misled by the title, and reading the blurb too fast: I had thought it was the story of a kidnapping ordeal. It's not.