Book Review: Verissimus by Donald Robertson and Zé Nuno Fraga

 
FIND the book at you favourite book seller << click

Linzé's rating: 🦋🦋🦋🦋 - read on to find out what I liked about this graphic novel

   I have been a student of Stoicism for a few years now, so when the opportunity presented itself to review this book, I jumped to volunteer.

   It is not a book about Stoicism, but rather a mix of history, Stoicism practice and the life of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. The graphic novel format worked quite well to keep the reader's attention in mixing these three elements successfully, without being overly educational.

   I liked the illustrations. They were composed with a pleasing colour scheme and well done to enhance the story elements, as well as the historical setting of the novel. The artist was successful in bringing to life the difficulties and life experiences that Marcus faced in his life with the way the characters are portrayed. Evaluating each illustration as a painting would not be possible, but overall the story was a cohesive with both text and art contributing equally.

   While the story, and the additional text, engages the reader the historical facts and Stoic philosophy is brought to life in an entertaining way.

   I have never read or reviewed a graphic novel before, and was quite impressed with the execution on especially such a subject matter.

   I recommend this graphic novel for people interested in the life and history of Marcus Aurelius (or Verissimus as he was also known), but it is not a book to learn the philosophy or daily practice of Stoicism. It does not claim to be such a teaching aid, but rather to entertain and inform.

If you are interested to learn more about Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism, click here for a free copy of a guide written by Donald Robertson.

Link https://donaldrobertson.name/2022/06/25/get-our-guide-to-marcus-aurelius-and-stoicism/

Until next time!

💜 Linzé

Book review: BEING BETTER by Kai Whiting and Leonidas Konstantakos

AMAZON LINK

 I received (gratefully) a copy of the book from Kai and volunteered to review it. I don't write reviews in the same way other people do, so I won't blame you if you would rather not go to the trouble of reading this review.

I won't rehash the synopsis nor the contents of non-fiction books, there are other reviews(1) if you prefer those instead. My review is purely based on my experience of reading the contents and how it will (or do) impact my life as a Stoic practitioner.

That being said, let's get stuck in.

I have been a student and practitioner of Stoicism going for five years now. I started the practice because I needed to learn to deal with the incredibly stressful environment of the industry I was working in at the time. Since leaving my last employer, I am now fully self-employed, I have continued the practise purely because of the benefits to myself.

This book has enriched my practice but also increased my understanding of Stoicism as being more than a way of improving myself. Studying translations of the original texts of the Stoics is not easy for someone who is not a linguist nor a trained philosopher. Being Better, and the work done by the authors helps to make the original texts more palatable for a modern mind.

“Stoicism is a practical philosophy that provides an antidote for troubled times, while it also keeps our ego and excesses in check when things are going well. Stoicism helps us to understand ourselves and other people better and to navigate a path through life’s challenges and successes. Zeno and his Stoics understood that the “good life” is rooted in communal living, which includes partaking in civic duties, building strong local ties, and being open to, and appreciative of, the universal community that extends across the whole world.

Stoicism won’t remove all of life’s obstacles, but it helps us to think differently about them. It won’t provide us with all the answers, but it gives us the ability to form the questions that ultimately lead to the solutions. Stoicism may be more than two thousand years old, but Zeno’s wisdom is as powerful as ever.”

Although a very practical philosophy, I found that there is more to learn about Stoicism and to understand my place in the greater society I live in. Oftentimes we see ourselves as an island, but with more study and greater understanding, it has become clear that my life has an impact on more than my own improvement as a person.

Using my work as a consulting engineer to explain: What I do directly impacts the products and companies that I work with. This then ripples out to the people and industries that end up using these products worldwide.

Although I have been aware of this for some time, the greater influence of what I do (or neglect to do) could have a much wider impact than what I thought at first. The details are not important, but what is important is that I need to be continually aware that I have to do the right thing, make the right decisions, and advise my clients to the best of my knowledge and abilities. This is not easy to do, but a constant reminder of the Stoic principles of wisdom, self-control, justice, and courage makes it possible.

Being Better reminded me that slacking on my own learning, could be detrimental to others around me. I love learning, but it is the awareness that it is continuous learning that contributes to living a virtuous life. I am by no means the only person who does what I do, so it also brings the added responsibility of bringing this mindset to those within my influence, Stoic philosophy notwithstanding.

One thing about Being Better that particularly spoke to me was “the principle of 'Only the educated are free' [which] embodies a continual search for wisdom and a perpetual questioning in order to know what to do or not to do and how best to succeed.”

Only once I understood the impact this had on Sparta (discussed in chapter 7) did it resonate with my own opinion of the situation in my own country. South Africa has had turbulent times due to corruption and crime at the highest levels of government.

Overcoming the wrongs of decades of history, by the more wrongdoing of the “uneducated recent past” will not be simple. But learning from the Stoics like Sphaerus could provide a way forward even for the modern problems that countries dragged down by corruption could benefit from.

This sounds like an impossible task for a modern country with massive issues of which economic decline is just one. But what will happen if I in my own small way manages to influence someone, who then influences someone else, who eventually is in the right position to make the right impact at the right time? I am not that important, nor do I think that it will necessarily be because of me living a virtuous life, but what if it does?

Another aspect that was clarified (at least to my mind) is the principle of “living in accordance with nature”.

“...a Stoic’s appreciation of Nature goes beyond taking selfies and a superficial enjoyment of breathtaking sights and sounds. It involves a profound thirst for the kind of knowledge that helps us understand how the world works and our position within it.”

Living in accordance with nature has always been a matter of interpretation in many articles on the subject that I have read over the years, but I think that the authors explained it in a way that makes sense irrespective of my own beliefs.

Being Better is a book to introduce people to think about these things, and could have a much wider impact on how we think about our roles, our circles, our lives, than what we can imagine.

The questions posed at the end of each chapter raised my thinking about these issues. The book does not provide the answers, because the answers cannot be given. After all, it is up to us, up to me, to ask the right questions for our situations, to seek the answers that we need for our own lives and communities.

“Stoicism is not about doing the impossible or trying to singlehandedly solve complex social or environmental issues. It’s about consistently doing what you can within the life you lead using the personality, knowledge, social role, network, and skillset that you already have.”

And this in essence is why I decided to study Stoicism and why I wanted to read this book. To practice Stoic philosophy and to live a virtuous life with “the decision to strive for eudaimonia, that is to say, for a life worthy of being lived and for a world worth living in.”

I recommend reading Being Better because it increased my understanding of some of the practical aspects of Stoicism. The examples (both historical and modern) provided the practical ways that people have lived their lives in a way that can inspire every one of us to strive for eudaimonia, a life worth living.

A last comment: I own and study several translations of the works by Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. If you are interested in learning more about Stoicism, a comprehensive list is given at the end of the book with the appropriate references to the text in each chapter.

(1) Academic review, and Kai's comments about the book

Linzé's rating: 4.5 💜

Book Review: BLOOD AND MAGIC by Ilana Waters

An ancient, ruthless vampire. A gutsy witch hippie. Both walk into a bar.

And all hell breaks loose.

From USA Today bestselling author Ilana Waters:

Bloodseeker Titus isn’t looking for trouble—just a quick meal. But when his path crosses the witch Abigail’s, that plan gets shot to Hades.

Abigail is a member of the Paranormal Investigation Agency (PIA), a secret organization that can spell death to supernaturals. Titus vows to stay as far away from her as possible. But when Abigail suspects a high-ranking PIA member of a monstrous plot, she vows to investigate. For that, she needs Titus’s special skills.

Against his will, Titus is swept into a world of exploding gas mains, lethal bird-shifters, and sadistic vampire minions. The only way out? Uncover the PIA’s murderous secret. Which means going up against the powerful figure at the center of it all. The only problem is, that person will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Even if it means destroying every supernatural in their path.

Buy the book @ Amazon

I volunteered to review this book as part of a blog tour.

This story moves very fast from the beginning, and it requires a focused mind to keep up. I liked that. Even when the pace slows down, and it didn't happen often, there was a lot of things going on or information to be digested to keep up.

Despite the pace of the story, the plot is not complicated, and the subplots do not overtake nor dominate the main plot line. Given the pace of the main story, the lack of strong subplots was a good thing.

The two main characters' first meeting set off sparks that supported the entire story and their motivations for their actions.

Their interactions sometimes made me laugh, and the author did well to establish the kind of rapport that supported the pace of the story and the high action scenes.

Both Abigail and Titus' characters worked well in the setting and the action scenes. Although both main characters, and several of the other characters, had supernatural abilities, the author didn't use their powers as quick fixes to help get them out of trouble. The scene with the uncontrollable flying metal disc quickly drew the reader into understanding that while magic might be involved in action scenes, it was not going to be an easy answer to every problem the two main characters were going to encounter in the rest of the story.

The underlying tension of romantic interest between the two main characters remained subtle and was not distracting of the main plot, which remains the action, fantasy setting of the book.

Since prequels are invariably written after the first book of a series, the author made sure that were no assumptions needed to be made by the reader based on the progress of books that came before it in real time, and yet after it in the timeline of the story.

Overall a lovely read and the story will fall into the recommended category for readers of both witch and vampire genres. Readers who don't like romance will also enjoy this book.

My rating 

Eyes wide shut...a book review

The Unstoppable Creative by Todd Brison

I don't know about you, but I have been getting tired of the new 'writing books and courses' that are being advertised all over the internet. I mean what's wrong with the thousands (yes, thousands!) of books and courses already available? Are authors now telling the rest of us that writing is not the thing anymore, it is teaching? Then I guess we should go into teaching.

Personally, I own more than a handful of books about writing, writing better, writing for the internet, blah, blah, blah. Instead of reading more books about writing, I have been looking for books about being a writer. Yeah, there is a difference, and a big one too.

So it was with real anticipation that I volunteered to review Todd's latest book, The Unstoppable Creative. And it is not just for writers. Or artists. Most of us think that unless you do art, or are an author, you are not creative. You couldn't be more wrong because Creativity (with a capital c) comes in many forms.

What I particularly liked about the book is that the author doesn't tell you: Now THIS is the best way. There are many, many articles and books out there to tell you that to be successful or be the best writer or artist, you have to do the next five steps, and bam! Success rolls in the front door.

For those of us who have been in this game for a while, it is more a question of if it's not working for me, what can I learn for it to make my situation work for me.

There are no quick fixes, but there are ways for creative people to get more from the hours that they do have. And before you roll your eyes, no there is no ONE solution. As much as my life, my writing, and my art differ from yours, a strategy that works for me will probably make you break out in hives.

The Unstoppable Creative is a book for people to understand what creativity really is, and how you can develop a strategy (and plans) to make your own creativity work for you. How you can make your own creativity earn money for you.

As with any changes you start with yourself and your way of thinking about your life and your creativity. The author does mention people who have made things work for them, and not all of them in a way that you might think. It is a focus on learning and understanding and often outside your usual situation. Since I study a wide range of topics, it is this outside-the-box approach to learning that resonates with my own philosophy about my own creativity that I appreciate about the book.

Writers and other creatives need to understand what it is they truly need to do to grow in their art, in their own person, to achieve what it is they want out of their art. The author outlines the limitations we create for ourselves, the wrong stories we tell ourselves and believe, that destroys the opportunities we might have seen as a result.

But the book also helps us to understand how we can overcome these limitations. How we can set our own course and that we don't need much beyond our own belief in ourselves to live the life we want.

My creative life starts with me, and if you want to take that step too then this book is a must-read for you.

My rating: 

NOTE: The book launches today. If you are interested in where to find it, please pop over to Facebook or Twitter where I will share the link as soon as it is available. 

💜  LinzéB

Review: The Blue Unicorn's Journey to Osm by Sybrina Durant

illustrations by Dasguptarts

It is a story for young adults featuring a tribe of unicorns threatened by an evil overlord. It is mainly a story about finding friendship, love, and learning to fight together to defeat the evil that threatens them.

Buy the book: Amazon

The main characters set off on a journey to help fulfil the prophesied destiny of Blue, born without a metal horn. The story details their adventures and how they all learned that together they could find their way back home.

It has been a long time since I read a story intended for a much younger audience, and I did enjoy it. The illustrations (watercolour paintings) were bright and depicted various scenes throughout the story. The colouring book option, I am sure would appeal to the intended audience.

Given the nature of the story, I would say the book would appeal more to girls than to boys.

I reviewed the PDF version of the book, and here was the only thing that detracted from my enjoyment - the font of the text made it difficult to read, even on a computer screen. I don't know what the other formats look like, but a different font (such as Times New Roman) would have made it an easier read.

Overall a nice story, and worth reading.

My rating: 

(the review is part of a b00kr3vi3ws blog tour)

Book Review: EATING ROBOTS by Stephen Oram

The future is bright…or is it?
Step into a high-tech vision of the future with the author of Quantum Confessions and Fluence, Stephen Oram.
Featuring health-monitoring mirrors, tele-empathic romances and limb-repossessing bailiffs, Eating Robots explores the collision of utopian dreams and twisted realities in a world where humanity and technology are becoming ever more intertwined.
Sometimes funny, often unsettling, and always with a word of warning, these thirty sci-fi shorts will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

Goodreads Amazon India Amazon US

A universal booklinker link that detects which country you're in and links to Eating Robots myBook.to/EatingRobots

Linzé's Review

Each and every story surprised me, some in a good way, some not so good. These surprises are purely based on my personal preferences and reactions to reading them. While I liked some stories more than others, each story was well executed. The author manages in every single instance to draw the reader deep into the story line. The characters are formed quickly in the mind of the reader, and it isn't difficult to empathise with them, irrespective of the details of the plot or the outcome of the story.

Some of the stories have a gruesome subplot and yet the innocence with which the characters are portrayed makes it easy to be drawn into their world where they 'live' their realities and beliefs. As the reader, my reactions were purely based on my own world view, and yet the author did an amazing job of tempering any subjective reactions that someone from our time would have towards the activities that the characters engage in. Science fiction lends itself to a wide base of technological developments in various fields, some of which are more palatable to us than others. By exploring these technologies in the stories portrayed here, our eyes are opened to the practicalities of what these technologies may develop into.

Overall the stories have been written in an exceptional style. Science fiction sometimes makes 'showing, not telling' a difficult thing to accomplish in creative writing, but the author has done so with a high level of skill.

Despite my personal reactions (I grew nauseous while reading Real Meat and Eating Robots, and had to stop reading for a few minutes) the compilation is an excellent example of a collection of stories in the genre.

  

Linzé's rating: 💜💜💜💜

Book Review: Dream Crusher by Natacha Guyot

I volunteered to read and review this book.

Amazon buy link

I love science fiction, but this book turned out to be a fantasy story rather than science fiction. Mentioning space travel does not science fiction make. There are no other science based elements, soft or hard core, in the story.
Crystals and mystics and alien races with supernatural powers are the realm of fantasy and I would rather classify it as such.
The story is rather thin on the ground in the action scenes. Very little details on what happens and the reader is left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Whether the battles are won or lost, it wasn't possible to get into the action when it was underway. Only the mystics' reactions to the crystals were explored.
I liked Vahika. The priestess was no pushover, and the subtle undercurrent of attraction between her and Morden felt realistic in the scenes where they interacted with each other.
I also liked the way Sorred, one of Morden's team members, was portrayed. He had a temper. It made him real.
The character that impressed me the least was Morden himself. It was a surprise that his characterisation as the main character was not as one would expect of the leader of a group of soldiers. It took a few chapters to realise that Morden had no flaws. He had issues, but he was portrayed as a perfect character.
He was the hero. He liked children; they liked him. He was considerate towards his team members - rather foregoing sleep than bother theirs by snoring. He didn't even swear or get angry. Explicit text is not required to understand a character's internal dialogue.
It was difficult to relate to him. He was just too likable, too nice, and nothing made me root for him. He had no inner conflicts to resolve, and the battles themselves were too vague to really grip my attention.
When one of the group was killed during a battle, there were no emotional reactions from any of the main characters. Even experienced soldiers would have had some reaction to the event, whether they liked the victim or not.
Internal and external tension was lacking throughout the entire book.
Their so-called rogue mission didn't create too many sparks either. It was listed as the primary conflict in the synopsis and yet there was little to draw the reader's emotions. Their boss accepted their decision, and the anticipated fall out didn't realise with the expected level of conflict.

The story was easy to read, but I find it difficult to recommend it, even to readers of YA fantasy books.

Linzé's rating

Book Review: CORPORATE CITIZEN by Gabriel Valjan

Title: Corporate Citizen: Roma Series Book Five

Genre: Mystery-Suspense/Thriller

Author: Gabriel Valjan

Website: www.gabrielvaljan.com

Publisher: Winter Goose Publishing

Purchase link: http://amzn.to/2b9E2qE

About the Book from the back cover:

A call for help from an old friend lands Bianca and the crew back in Boston. On a timeout with Dante, due to revelations in the aftermath of the showdown in Naples, Bianca is drawn to a mysterious new ally who understands the traumas of her past, and has some very real trauma of his own. Murder, designer drugs, and a hacker named Magician challenge our team, and Bianca learns that leaving Rendition behind might be much harder than she thinks.

About the Author:

Gabriel Valjan is the author of the Roma Series from Winter Goose Publishing as well as numerous short stories. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where he enjoys the local restaurants, and his two cats, Squeak and Squawk, keep him honest to the story on the screen.

Twitter: @GValjan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gabriel-Valjan/291400997547203

Linzé's Review

I volunteered to read and review this book as part of a blog tour. It wasn't until I opened the ebook that I realised it is the fifth book in a series.

It doesn't take you long to realise that the books must be read in order, despite the claim that they could be read as standalone books. There is a lot of history between the characters and their past associations that is not revealed in the story.

The story is complicated with several murders, conspiracy theories and conjecture that makes it difficult to follow given the context and history.

I liked Nick. He is not the main character and yet he is easier to understand and empathise with than the others in the story. He enters the story as a suspect and gets involved in the process. While he has his issues, his character is likeable and also someone the reader can sympathise with.

Bianca is the main character and the lead investigator in the story. If it wasn't for the character list at the start of the ebook, it would have taken the reader at least four chapters to get that information. As a character she appears cold and distant, even though her actions (she touches her friends and the cats without hesitation) say the opposite. As the main character she is not easy to relate to, and that might also be because of the lack of reading the first four books in the series.

Her past and her issue with intimacy was explored without any depth, and might again be because I haven't read any earlier books.

The other characters were sometimes confusing. They were either addressed by a nickname (prior history again), first name, or last name. It makes it difficult to figure out who is who, despite the character list. A list in a printed book is easier to refer to than in an ebook.

I liked the cats and the way they took part in the story. Their individual characters were well woven into the story, although in the end, they could have served as an opportunity to explore more of the 'human' side of the characters.

In the end, I remained confused as to the motivation of the antagonists in the story for involving some of the characters in their schemes. Again, maybe details in earlier books, or setting up a plot for the next book somehow.

The plot was complicated and the author did hint throughout the story what the reader should expect at the ending, yet all the while creating an expectation of a different outcome. It was not entirely a satisfying ending, despite continuing the story with another book.

There is a sixth book in the series, and from the way this book was written, the story would simply carry on.

It is difficult to rate the book based on my experience, so my rating is based on my experience of the characters, the plot, the structure and the limited backstory as presented.

My rating

Book Review: THE STRANGER by Anna del Mar

When a mysterious stranger is your only hope...

The scars of the past have left their mark, both physical and emotional, on former military pilot Seth Erickson. Off-grid in the far reaches of the bitter Alaskan wilderness, he wants only to be left alone with his ghosts. But he can’t ignore a woman in need—beautiful, stranded and nearly frozen with fear.

Summer Silva never imagined that the search for her missing sister would leave her abandoned on a wintry back road, barely escaping with her life from a cold-blooded killer for hire. Now, hiding out in the isolated cabin of the secretive wounded warrior who saved her, Summer knows she must do what she fears most. Putting her trust in a stranger is all she has left.

All defenses are down

After a fiery first night together, Seth and Summer are bound by a need as powerful as a Bering Sea superstorm—and vulnerable to enemies just as fierce. For Seth, reawakened by desire, there is no sacrifice too great, no memory too dark, to keep Summer safe. But murder and treason lurk everywhere and Summer may not survive Alaska’s ruthless winter.

A Wounded Warrior Novel. This book is approximately 110,000 words

Buy Links

Amazon           Carina Press            Barnes and Noble         Kobo Books        Google Play

Linzé's Review

Meet Summer and Seth - polar opposites just looking for a fight to happen. The story starts with animosity, distrust, and opposing goals when they meet.

But the reader soon learns why these feelings are there and why both the main characters are reacting like that and you want to root for them to get some common ground.

Seth is a likeable character and even from the start you cannot help but warm up to him, grouchiness notwithstanding. Burdened with the responsibility of his company and the threat of a take-over, he still comes across as a man of honour, and integrity. And being hot and sexy does help even if a pang of sympathy will creep into the fray. The character shows more depth as the story develops and make for a believable and very likeable hero.

Summer appears to be a flighty empty head, walking around in the Alaskan winter with high heels and a power suit does give that impression. Yet, you soon realise that there is much more to this caring woman who would literally go to the ends of the earth for her family. She lives with a difficult disorder that leaves her vulnerable to certain situations. But she doesn't let her weaknesses determine her life. A strong character that takes the challenges thrown her way and deals with them the best she can, always following her heart.

Thrown together the difficulties of their respective families and friends create a storyline that moves at a fast pace, yet slows down when their relationship intensifies. Trust takes time to build and the author explored this initial rift between them with sensitivity and guts at the same time.

It is a book laden with action, suspense, hot and steamy romance, yet touching on the base human fragility of having to survive against the odds. Trust, compassion, even forgiveness and understanding is portrayed in this very likeable story. It is more than a romance novel, it is a rollercoaster ride that will play with your emotions and yet leave you with a satisfied sigh at the end.

Linzé gives The Stranger:

Book Review: My Last Love Story by Falguni Kothari

Amazon link

I volunteered to review this book with some trepidation since I didn't like another book written by the same author. Boy, was I surprised...in a good way.

This is not a romance, it is a love story. Love as the definition of more than the relationship between husband and wife, between lovers. The relationships in this book are complicated and such a reflection of the issues of real life, that you cannot help but being drawn into their problems.

This is no boy-meets-girl, overcome some issue and live happily ever after story. It a story that explores the pain and uncertainties of suppressed needs, deep-seated guilt, the dictates of society and family expectations.

Meet Nirvaan, Simeen's husband. A character portrayed with such a zest for life that at times you forget that he is struggling with cancer.

Meet Zayaan, Nirvaan and Simeen's best friend. The third of their trio who enters their lives after a long absence. An absence that is shrouded in secrets, pain, and uncertainty. While they need each other, the three friends struggle to resurrect their deep connection amidst their physical attraction, their families, and Nirvaan's looming demise.

Lastly, there is Simeen who is the center and the point of view character of the story. The reader lives through her struggles as she tries to please everyone, despite her own wishes, and battles to find the courage to stand on her own two feet. The reader learns the secrets of her nightmares and the journey she is on to find peace and strength amongst people who judge her harshly. She learns that relationships are more complex than what they first seem and that love, friendship and support often come from unexpected people.

The story is a painful journey of dealing with the past, struggling with the present and learning to form real relationships to face the future.

The author handled the intricacies of all the relationships with a sensitive hand. The problems in all the relationships were there, but not overwhelming the main story between the three friends. The story is emotional and touching. The bedroom scenes were well written, and the reader experiences Simeen's emotions with her, good and bad.

Some scenes in the story were a bit long, but it was not a struggle to read the entire book. Be prepared to giggle, to cry and live with a bunch of amazing characters for twenty chapters and finding real love in all its forms. Overall it was a book well worth the time, and I will gladly recommend it to anyone who will appreciate a literary love story.

My rating of My Last Love Story by Falguni Kothari

Book Review: THE KNOW PRESERVATION by Ed Kurst

The Kindle edition

It has been a while since I read a sci-fi novel, so it was with some uncertainty that I volunteered to read and review THE KNOW PRESERVATION.

Quantum physics, nuclear reactors, particle accelerators, the past, the present and the future all rolled into one heck of a ride.

The start of the story will leave you confused and wondering what is going to happen with all the characters and their agendas. I quickly realised that to keep track of what is going on, and it was a good idea to read as much of the beginning as possible. There are many characters in this story and keeping track of them had been a challenge. Often authors assign names, and therefore identities, to unimportant characters, and it creates havoc for the reader in trying to keep them straight.

In The Know Preservation, there are nineteen characters of which seventeen play a major role in the story. The other two are not featured so prominently, but they are important to the backstory to understand the history. It wasn't always clear who was who since the author sometimes used only their first names or last names during introductory chapters. It took a chapter or three to start connecting the names to figure out which characters were in the scene or dialogue.

I liked John Preston, the main character. He is an engineer and was portrayed in ways that could only be described as typical of engineers. His character always acted within the constraints set upon him by the author. His physical limitations resulting from his health issues were offset against his intellect - his biggest asset being employed in the plot. He wasn't a soldier, and neither was his character ever changed into one even in the combat scenes.

I also liked Stacey Hanson. Her determination and will to win were portrayed in every action and decision in the story. You understand her motivation and drive soon, and you have to take your hat off to her in the way she manages to do what is required.

You also get to meet the great Albert Einstein. His character flows seamlessly into the plot and his contribution to it is quite believable. Some of his travels with John delivered amusing scenes.

John and Stacey's journeys into the past and future are fraught with problems as they start to unravel secrets that have been kept from them. They learn about the real reasons two particle accelerators were built on opposite sides of the globe. They uncover the role-players, the double agents, the undercover agents, the horrors of the past, and the decisions that were in the distant past made to set generations of people on a path towards averting a catastrophe.

As soon as the action starts, the story becomes easier to read and yet the tension proportionally ramps up to throat tightening levels. What are they going to do? Will they take the risks to change the outcome? Will the risks be worth the price they could pay?

The action in the story is handled with aplomb and an exceptional eye for detail. The resulting one-on-one combat scenes are graphic, and you will feel the pain, the suspense and in some case the helplessness the characters are struggling with as they try to fulfill their mission.

Some of the other characters will gain your sympathy, yet others will make you cringe in horror at the things they do or have done. The good guys are not perfect people, which makes their characters so much more likable.

As an engineer myself, I love the humour and have a huge appreciation for the author's handling of the science in the story. It might not be easy for every reader to get the science (fiction) in the story, but I suggest that you battle on as the story will unfold in more palatable scenes.

The writing was well executed, and the story moves forward at a good pace. Despite the complications of the scientific terminology in the story, it was a terrific read and a thrill ride from the first page.

The first chapters are short, and it will help the reader to read them in one sitting to get a feel for the story and the multiple plot lines. My notes were detailed for the first twenty chapters to try and keep track, but after that the storyline flowed, and the different plot lines started to flow together or made more sense as the story unfolded.

The ending was written to leave a well-defined start for the next book, and yet not so open-ended that you feel dissatisfied with the result. It is the first book in a trilogy, and I look forward to the next book. I can safely say that Ed Kurst has at least one fan.

My rating of The Know Preservation by Ed Kurst:

Book Review: THE SEEING PLACE by Aziza Eden Walker

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I volunteered to the review the book. It is a romance novel set in South Africa, in Cape Town, mostly. We meet Thuli first, a woman who knows what she wants and has achieved a lot of success in her professional life already. Although you get the impression that she is older (I expected her to be in her early forties), it is actually a surprise when she does reveal her age to Andile. She is portrayed initially as rude and arrogant, and I found it difficult to like her especially her lack of manners when she first meets Andile.

Thuli's behaviour throughout the story is fairly consistent, and you eventually come to like the character. Yes, she does have good manners. The reader learns why she is so ambitious, and it is not difficult to empathise with her. She keeps some things to herself. This has some artificial feel to it, especially since all the characters in the story apparently knew this, and didn't tell Andile until later. Not all the supporting characters liked Thuli, so keeping the information to themselves did not make sense.

Andile is portrayed as a hard-working, yet struggling actor who has his own issues. He is likeable from the start, and comes across as the more human character. His issues and character traits are well portrayed in his behaviour towards the other characters, and shown rather than told. His inner dialogue also supports the behaviour he exhibits towards Thuli and the supporting characters.

Andile and Thuli's first meeting seemed to be the typical boy meets girl, they don't like each other and then fall in love kind of scenario. Their impressions of each other and interactions between them was reflected in their thoughts afterwards, instead of more focus being given to their actual dialogue and interaction.

There were several other characters in the story, and in some scenes I felt that their contributions were not supporting the main plot in moving the story forward. The scenes between Thuli and Andile could have been longer and more intense in some cases, instead of sacrificing words and scenes to have some of other characters in the story. This includes the love/sex scenes between the two main characters.

The sex/love scenes might have been edited to suit the publisher, to reduce the level of heat intended by the author. These scenes still felt too short for two people who had been desiring each other for a while. There was also very little emotion in these scenes and a lot more focus was given to the act itself.

The use of non-English words in the story was not too much and contributed to the local ethnic feel of the setting and the characters.

The opening of the story was well done. By the time Thuli gets to the small coffee shop, you feel just as hot, irritated and tired as she did.

The ending was done in such a way that it suited the style of the story, with a fairly satisfying result to tie up their happily ever after.

Overall the story was likeable and I read the whole thing in one sitting.

MY RATING of The Seeing Place

Book Review: The Yoga of Max's Discontent by Karan Bajaj

I volunteered to review this book as a blog host as part of a blog tour. The tour was cancelled before it commenced.

I first need to clarify my views on the contents of the book before providing the details of my impression of it. I do not subscribe in any way to the spiritual philosophy associated with Yoga or Hinduism. I will not comment on any religious or spiritual aspect of the story.

I found the story to be long with an old-fashioned narrative style - mostly telling not showing, and limited dialogue especially towards the end. The ending seemed abrupt which didn't feel right given the length of the novel and the extensive descriptions in the narration.

The main character, Max was well developed. The reader gets deep insight into his inner turmoil, personal issues, his guilt and his journey to find himself. The way Max is portrayed as a selfish ambitious man on the road to becoming more caring and aware is exceptionally well done.

While his behaviour towards his fellow man rises to new heights, the increasing distance and disinterest in his own sister is a contradiction which I found disconcerting to some extent. How could he care more about other people and less about his own sibling?

Other characters in the story were likeable and remained in character throughout Max's interaction with them. I enjoyed these characters and Max's relationships with them - some fleeting, and others longer. The longer relationships were explored in more depth and they contributed towards Max's search and journey to find that higher level of existence he sought.

Despite the spiritual content, and my misgivings on some aspects of it, I mostly enjoyed reading the story.

My rating: