Bookish Wednesday: To Serve and Protect by Glynn Stewart

This week I’m back with a book in one of my favorite genres. It’s To Serve and Protect, ONSET Book 01, by Glynn Stewart.

Plot: Let me get this out of the way, I absolutely despise this book, I’m not going to pull punches, and the fact that this book is an Urban Fantasy is as bad a blight on the genre as Twilight is. The plot is bland, uninsipired and completely nonsensical in terms of power levels for most of the story. Then there’s the constant repetition of the title phrase over and over and over again. It’s fine to make the title a part of the plot, but it is not okay to constantly bludgeon your readers with that phrase. After about the 5th time every time I saw someone say those words I wanted to throttle Mr. Stewart. By the end of the book I was thoroughly done with putting up with the nonsense title, and the almost complete lack of humor throughout the book was unacceptable to me. For me humor has always been a good sign of writing and the lack of it in this book just showcases how poor a writer Mr. Stewart is to me, especially when some of the best Urban Fantasy books I’ve read have humor in truckloads.

Characters: We get a small town cop that gets roped into the supernatural and is one of the most unlikable main characters I’ve ever read. David White is one dimensional, boring and all around a complete and total tool. The rest of the cast is no better, honestly every time a character died I cheered. I don’t tend to do that for characters ever, but because of the awful writing this book has I couldn’t wait for every single character to die a horrible death if it would spare me from hearing the stupid title phrase again. It’s a pity that David has a boatload of plot armor and does not die some horrible death, which is pretty obvious when you consider that this is the first book in a series about the character.

Overall: Stay far away from this book, series and I’m going to go out on a limb here and say author as well. Mr. Stewart took all the good things about Urban Fantasy and completely and utterly ruined them. If you want a good Urban Fantasy go read the Demon Accords series by John Conroe, it’s actually well written, has an amazing plot and cast of characters and is actually funny without any repetition of the title every single freaking chapter.

Serial Saturday: New Journey Old Soul Chapters 1-20 by Vhiyungrang

This week for Serial Saturday I’ve got a Fantasy story for you all, what you thought I only was going to do LitRPGs? It’s The New Journey of an Old Soul Chapters 1-20 by Vhiyungrang!

Plot Synopsis: The story of a soul seeking new adventure in a new life. A secret wish to find some things he never really found in his old life. Will the universe have other ideas for him again?

Plot: Let me get this out straight away, this isn’t a story for children and it contains some topics and subjects that may make you uncomfortable. I won’t say more than that there are sex scenes (although they add nothing to plot so skipping is completely ok). As for the plot this combines some concepts from Eastern Fantasy (Xuanhuan) into Western Fantasy although if you are expecting Coiling Dragon you will be sorely disappointed.  The plot is pretty damn amazing, and I thoroughly enjoyed this story’s first arc which is covered in these 20 chapters. This novel is completed just so you are aware.

Characters: Nelah is our main lead, and I find him to be quite enjoyable. The rest of the cast is also quite good as well.

Overall: A solid story, and a must read. That is, if you can stomach some uncomfortable subjects.

For those who like: Eastern Influences, Fantasy, Reincarnation, Awesome Plot, Fantastic Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, or some uncomfortable subjects.

Personal Status: Completely Read.

TNT: Everyone Else is a Returnee Book 06 by Toika

This week for Translation Necessary Thursday I’m covering the sixth set of chapters in Yu IlHan’s adventures. It’s Everyone Else is a Returnee Book 06 by Toika!

Plot Synopsis: Having adopted a dragon as his son, Yu IlHan has set up his armor and weapon shop Vanguard that sells equipment to those who helped him out during prior events, like Kang MiRae and her group. But the storm is only intensifying and what is coming towards Earth is something even Yu IlHan wasn’t expecting to happen….

Plot: This is a fun set of chapters, mostly because it really sets Mir up as a badass in his own right. I won’t say much other than that, because it would really be too spoilerific.

Characters: Mir was probably my favorite character in this set of chapters, although MiRae and YuNa were great as well.

Overall: The story has really taken off now, and the ride only continues to get more intense from here on out. If you aren’t reading this series yet, you really need to do so.

That’s it for this week’s Translation Necessary Thursday.

Manga Monday: Neo Maou Dante by Go Nagai

This week for Manga Monday I’ve got a Quick Review of a remake to an old series. It’s Neo Maou Dante by Go Nagai!

Plot Synopsis: The story begins with an expanded account of God’s attack on Sodom from the original Maou Dante series. I won’t go into too much detail, but let’s just say that this is a very dark series. Kids absolutely should not read this.

Characters: We get introduced to the main cast, Dante a child prodigy turned weapons developer, his Sister Olga, and Medusa his beautiful and highly intelligent assistant.

Art: The art is incredibly old school, which is probably intention on the Mangaka’s part as this is a remake of a series that was abruptly cancelled in the 1970’s.

Overall: It’s a pretty dark series, but if that’s your cup of tea then Neo Maou Dante will be just for you.

For those who like: Tragedy, Action, Drama, Remakes, Dark Plots, Interesting Cast of Characters, Retro Artwork.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.

Bookish Wednesday: A Power Renewed by Robert W. Ross

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m covering the first entry in an Urban Fantasy series I ran across recently. It’s A Power Renewed, Book 01 in the Sentinels of Creation series, by Robert W. Ross!

Plot Synopsis: Out of the smoldering ruins of the war in heaven Archangels Raphael and Michael cannot believe the agreement made between God and His Morning Star, Lucifer. Unwilling to either destroy the fallen Angel or leave him with a free hand upon the world, God sets in motion a struggle that will span the millennia from creation to present day. Two Sentinels are invested with the ability to bend the laws of creation to their will and each represents the primal forces of Order and Chaos…

Plot: The plot is pretty good, and it’s also filled with tons of pop culture references which is awesome. It’s not the best Urban Fantasy I’ve read, maybe touching on the quality of Jim Butcher’s work, but not nearly as good as The Demon Accords by John Conroe. Mostly because while the characters are snarky, they just don’t get the same quality and amount of snark out that even a single line of Lydia’s can bring to bear.

Characters: The entire cast is pretty interesting, and while I’m kind of sad that Michael is depicted as an asshole, angels are described that way in lots of the Old Testament. Kellen our main character is irreverent and witty, but it sometimes feel forced with him. The rest of the cast is okay as well, but there are times when I wanted them to stop spouting pop culture references and just get on with the tasks at hand.

Overall: A good, but not excellent, Urban Fantasy series. If you are needing an Urban Fantasy book to read, you could worse than A Power Renewed. You could also do better though.

For those who like: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Time Travel, Magic, Good Plot, Interesting Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above.