SIN, by Shaun Allan, Audio Book narrated by R. D. Watson

Today I am discussing the most recent of my audio-book purchases, Sin. I have in the past referred to the written version of this book by indie author Shaun Allan as  "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest meets Finnegan’s Wake." Beautiful plays on sarcastic, witty words formed into lyrical, wonderful prose. I thought the written book was wonderful, but I am here to tell you, the Audio Book as read by R.D. Watson is nothing short of AWESOME!

THE BLURB:

Dead, dead, dead. Say it enough times and it becomes just another word. What would you do? Could you kill a killer? Does the death of one appease the deaths of a hundred? What about that hundred against a thousand? What if you had no choice? Meet Sin. No, not that sort of sin, but Sin, crazy as a loon (you ask Sister Moon), and proud of it. Sin locks himself away in an asylum and, every so often, gets violent. That's only so they'll give him those nice drugs, though. The ones that help him forget. It's a pity they don't work.

MY REVIEW:

Sin is a dark, urban fantasy, written with a large dose of sardonic humor. We hear the tale from the man who was given the name 'Sin Mathews' at birth, but who goes by the name of Sin only, as the last name doesn't matter; only the name which is the sum of his parts matters. R.D. Watson's reading of Allan's shining, witty, prose is moving and brilliant in every aspect. He gets into Sin's head, and you are completely spellbound.

Sin finds a coin, a two pence coin, or perhaps the coin finds him. Either way, this is the catalyst for Sin's curse. He finds himself flipping the coin compulsively -flip, catch - and it arcs through the air he sees images of disaster and death, which is then reported on the news. Eventually he realizes every time he flips the coin, someone dies; sometimes a lot of people die in what he believes are 'unnatural disasters' timed perfectly to the flip of the coin.  Though he tries to avoid flipping the coin, he finds himself doing it anyway.

No matter how he tries, he can't throw it away, or lose it. The coin always comes back to him when he buys something and gets his change; or even just appearing in his pocket.

Sin receives a letter from his sister Joy, telling him she had found a coin, and when she flipped it she made lives. She wrote that the responsibility for making the world happy was too much for her. She was alone in a world of happiness she couldn't be a part of, and she killed herself.  Sin apparently had found his coin right after her death.  He decides to check himself into an insane asylum in order to get the sort of psychotropic drugs which will render him incapable of seeing the visions, and flipping the coin.

Sin's conversations with Dr. Connors in the opening chapter are adversarial, and illuminating. For the most part, he enjoys his stay in the asylum, but, being sane, he sees the sordid truth in the callous treatment and chronic over-medication of the patients.

Although posing as a mentally ill patient works for a while, the medications soon cease to be effective and he decides that since the coin always comes back to him as if by magic, maybe he has the power to teleport.  He resolves to commit suicide by teleporting himself into the heart of a furnace, hoping for instant incineration.  Unfortunately, he finds himself on a beach, instead of in Hell where he had hoped to be.

Sin has an encounter with Joy who tells him death is not what it is cracked up to be. She warns him "a storm is coming".  He continues his inadvertent journey, trying to get his bearings. After a chance meeting which reveals more of his powers, he finds himself in Grimsby, the home of his childhood.

The atmosphere throughout is surrealistic, but it is well-balanced. I adore Allan's lyrical, intimate style of prose, as in this series of images describing Sin's disorientation, “History doesn’t relate whether Jonah, Gepetto, and Pinocchio sat around a table eating pizza, sharing stories of prophecy and puppetry while in the belly of the whale, but I thought that I could relate to being swallowed whole.”

Throughout the novel, Sin's ruminations are self-mocking, and world-weary, yet naive and innocent.  He bears the guilt of the world, and suffers the unbearable pain of being the cause of so many deaths, but still he finds ironic humor in every situation. Joy is grounded and guides him to the truth, but is not allowed to tell him anything.

 Nothing is what it seems in this tale, and right up to the end, you are not sure which reality is real.

The facts come out, or do they?  This book is a roller-coaster ride from the start to the finish, and I give it 5 stars for originality, and if I could I would give this audio-book version ten!

Sin is available as an audiobook at Amazon.  Buy it here!
If you are in the UK - you can buy it HERE!


OR you can go to these fine vendors:

The link for Sin ebook is Http://getbook.at/SinEbook

The iTunes audiobook is:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/audiobook/sin-unabridged/id829162177?l

Audible.com is: http://bit.ly/SinAudibleUS

Audible.co.uk is: http://bit.ly/SinAudibleUK

Cherry Hill cd is: http://bit.ly/SinAudio

And Cherry Hill MP3 is: http://bit.ly/SinMP3

Fall of Angels, L.E.Modesitt Jr.

I had one of those weeks where I cracked open 4 indie books, and shut them after getting a third of the way into them. No plot? No problem--No way.  So I was looking around my dusty shelves and came across my beloved Saga of Recluce collection and picked up "Fall of Angels."  Written in 1997 by L.E. Modesitt Jr., this is one of the most enduring fantasy series of modern times.  I think its longevity has to do with the way the saga takes place over many generations, and takes you into both sides of the conflict, with not usually more than two books dealing with a particular protagonist.


The Blurb:
Now in Fall of Angels, Modesitt moves deep into Recluce's past to chronicle the founding of the Empire of the Legend, the almost mythological domain ruled by woman warriors on the highland plateau of the continent of Candar. He tells the story from the point of view of Nylan, the engineer and builder whose job it is to raise a great tower on the plateau known as the Roof of the World. Here the exiled women warriors will live and survive to fulfill their destiny. Here a revolutionary new society will be born . . . if Nylan can get the tower built and defenses in place before the rulers of the lowland nations come with their armies to obliterate them all. And if Nylan can learn to control the magical powers that are growing within him.

Thus Modesitt relates the story of how magic comes into the world of Recluce, in a fantasy novel destined to please the growing Recluce audience and win new readers to the series.

Fall of Angels is the sixth book of the saga of Recluce.


My Review:
Two radically different magics--The black of order vs the white of chaos--this is the central facet of each tale in the saga.  In each book the protagonist is either of the black or white persuasion, and in a few there is a grey area of magic. In Fall of Angels, Modesitt explores the side of order, the black magic of healing and building.

At the outset of the tale, we meet a crew that by happenstance, is made up of women, with only three male crew members. Nylan is the ships engineer, and, as are all the officers, he is connected into the ships neuronet, the mental command center that completely controls the ship and its environment. Ryba is the ship's captain, and while she and Nylan have a sexual relationship, there is no doubt that she is in command. I didn't say romantic, because though they sleep together and care for each other, there is no romance involved. As a result of a great battle, they are thrown into an alternate universe, above a strange planet. With no way to return, they are forced to land.

They are "angels," humans from the various cold planets of Heaven. Most are from Sybra, the coldest planet, but a few are from Svenn, a warmer planet. Nylan is half-Svenn. The Sybrans cannot take the heat of their new world and are pretty much trapped in the cool mountains. Unfortunately the first thing that happens is they have landed on a world previously colonized. It probably happened in the same way, but by the Rationalists of the warmer worlds of Hell, those humans called 'demons' with whom they have been at war with for thousands of years. The lord of the land immediately attacks them, and the conflict is on.

This tale takes the concepts of traditional gender roles and twists them inside out. If she hadn't been thrown out of her universe, Ryba would never have had the chance to rise any higher than she already had, as women are considered technically equal, but there is a glass ceiling most women can't break through. In their new world, she makes sure the three men know they are now the ones with lesser stature, coldly telling Gerlich, "I could amputate both your arms and you would still retain your stud value." She is determined to build a culture where women have all the power and men are simply a means to reproduction. She is deadly, calculating, and will ruthlessly use anyone to achieve her goal.

Nylan is a strong man but he is not a leader, and feels like he has no other options, other than to march along with plans Ryba sets down for them. Using their failing technology he forges the weapons and builds their tower so they can survive the first winter in their mountain home. As events unfold and his relationship with Ryba disintegrates, he is confused and unsure of what to do. He is a man with a temperate mind, believing in equality with neither sex having the upper hand. A few of the women feel the same way he does.

This age old conflict makes for an awesome tale.  Each character is sharply drawn, and the contrasts in their philosophies and the way they relate to each other drives this to a dramatic finish. I have read this entire series several times, and absolutely love it.  In my opinion, this is one of Modesitt's better tales.

Reprisal, by Thomas A. Knight

Reprisal, by Thomas A. Knight is the third and final book in the Time Weaver series. A Canadian, Knight is an avid D&D player and understands the nuances of fantasy from the point of view of a participant.

The Blurb:
Galadir is in trouble...

Their hero is missing in action, and the trouble isn't over yet. The remnants of the Findoor army, led by Malia, flee into the west after the dark wizard Grian usurps the throne.

Grian is the most dangerous threat the people of Galadir have ever faced. With a massive army of undead, he invades a kingdom to the west. Narshuks to the south are dying of a disease unleashed by Grian. Wizards to the east struggle against his wraiths to hold on to their stronghold and the libraries within.

Hope comes from an unlikely source, as one man hatches a plan that will show Galadir they can fight for themselves. But Grian has finally found what he's been looking for, and as he prepares for his final assault on the east to capture what he seeks, all of Galadir confronts him, brought together by a mysterious force.

All of the pieces are in place, but nobody can be sure if the resistance will be enough to defeat Grian once and for all.

The battle for Galadir has begun.


My Review:
The tale opens with a fierce battle, and continues on that note. Malia and Ceridan desperately attempt to get their forces to safety.

A terrible spell has been unleashed on Findoor, waking the dead and turning them against any and all intruders. Malia Corsair has evolved into a strong, and headstrong character. She fights with all her heart.

Seth is still missing, and the wild rifts around Findoor have settled or stopped. The evil wizard Grian appears to have the upper hand.

Meanwhile, things aren't going too well in Iowa. Dave McAllister has his own troubles.

It's an awesome opening for an awesome book.

Knight sets the scenes well. There are many exciting twists and turns as Malia, Seth and Serrin battle to save both Galadir and the Earth as we know it.

His characters are fully fleshed and real, they behave the way they should, even the bad guys. Mathers is still stupid and Grian is consumed with evil. The dungeons of Galadir are dank and dreary, and the forests are full of the life you would expect. The cities of Earth are high-tech and urban. The system of magic Knight has written into this series is logical and feels natural. The action is pretty much non-stop, as Knight winds up all the many story threads, bringing the tale to a fabulous ending.

With each book in this series, Knight has gained strength in his ability to tell a good tale. All in all, I found this book to be a satisfying conclusion to an excellent trilogy. A reader could purchase this book without having read the first two and be happy with the tale, but I highly recommend reading the entire trilogy.