Book Reviews

The latest indie book reviews from Self-Publishing Review

Review: Emperor Norton’s Treasure Hunt by William Durkin and Shayne Durkin

★★★★★ Emperor Norton's Treasure Hunt by William Durkin and Shayne Durkin

In 1955, a year when the American Dream was fresh and alive, the San Francisco Chronicle had stiff competition to remain in business amidst the city’s infamous newspaper wars. Under tremendous pressure to succeed, an idea is born – like a diamond from coal: a treasure hunt. Not just any treasure hunt, but a treasure hunt of the ages. With clues to be given and real-life locations to visit, readers would fight tooth-and-nail across the city to find Emperor Norton’s lost prize… if it exists at all. With colorful characters both human and animal alike, follow along with this […]

2019-02-11T08:36:01+02:00November 28th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , |

Review: The Black River Chronicles: Level One by David Tallerman and Michael Wills

★★★★ The Black River Chronicles: Level One

Finding a unique angle in a new fantasy series can be difficult, and creativity remains the most important element in the genre. In The Black River Chronicles: Level One (Black River Academy Book 1) by David Tallerman and Michael Wills, readers are fortunate to find a brand new world filled with recognizable characters – or at least classes – and a heartfelt tale of growth and friendship. It’s a keen mixture of the familiar and the innovative.

For anyone who has ever played a role-playing game, the concepts of leveling up and choosing a class are very familiar, but […]

2017-02-17T05:39:57+02:00November 27th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Review: A Pyre of Roses by Roland P. Joseph

A Pyre of Roses

Michael Attzs is a man with no past. He has but a flash of memory of a man leaving him in an orphanage in a Trinidadian village under the iron rule of Catholicism and colonialism, but this is all he has of his childhood. When his wife and child are brutally killed, a mysterious stranger wants to finger him for their deaths. Even police procedural documents show different events, while secrets and lies hide the truth – but why? Things get really strange when he marries a woman that seems to have just as little past as he does, and […]

2019-02-11T09:09:45+02:00November 23rd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: Winter (A Crow Creek Novel) by Thomas Drago

Winter by Thomas Drago★★★★★

With the third installment of the Crow Creek series, author Thomas Drago brings yet another high-octane story arc to his fans. After the Red Queen has been brought down, Amanda Simmons has rebuilt Carolina Entech, the corporation that built alliances with Carolina Energy and even the US Army. Now she’s hoping to bring back a powerful nuclear air carrier by harnessing the power of the sun. But things are about to get very weird very quickly, and yet again Sheriff Gleason of Crow Creek is going to have a fight on his hands – with mortality, this time in […]

2019-01-22T05:45:35+02:00November 23rd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: , , |

Review: Molto Mayhem by Deanne Wilsted

Molto Mayhem by Deanne Wilsted

Molto Mayhem is a romantic family-set story based around Lucia, freshly-returned to Tuscany from her new home in San Francisco, now hoping to spend time with her extended family, namely her slightly crazy aunt Christina and uncle Gianni, and a strange British guy called Aiden with whom she finds herself wandering dilapidated buildings in search of abandoned religious icons.

As in Eat, Pray, Love, the Italian flavor of this book lies in the crumbling herbs and baking of her uncle’s cooking, and the drifting beauty of the Tuscan landscape, and readers are going to find themselves salivating at the […]

2019-02-11T09:20:27+02:00November 22nd, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: |

Review: Time is for Dragonflies and Angels by J.M. Erickson

★★★★ Time is for Dragonflies and Angels by J. M. Erickson

Time is for Dragonflies and Angels, the new book from sci fi author J.M. Erickson is a collection of short stories in the tradition of the classic science fiction writing compendiums, evoking well-loved writers such as Aldous Huxley and George Orwell, with clear influences from other giants of the genre as we go along.

This is more directly apparent in some stories over others, such as Neurogenesis which is a riff on the ending of Flowers for Algernon, or To See Behind Walls using The Secret Life of Walter Mitty as its key inspiration. It gives the […]

2018-03-16T09:55:32+02:00November 21st, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |

Review: Rightful Heir (The Penhalion Legacy Book 2) by Becca Ketelsleger

★★★ Rightful Heir (The Penhalion Legacy Book 2)

Becca Ketelsleger’s new female-led fantasy saga, Rightful Heir, Book Two of the Penhalion Legacy, will be welcomed by fans who enjoyed the previously released Book One Noble Warrior, serving as the sequel, with characters from the previous book making an appearance here once again.

Adventurous 16-year-old Detta Antille is a normal enough girl who lives with her “Ma” on a small farm in the village of Fraunc, somewhere far from the sumptuous royal castle where her brother resides, in Bryton. But when her mother dies, she must travel with her brother to the royal city, where he serves […]

2016-11-29T10:27:35+02:00November 17th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: |

Review: In the Mouth of the Lion by J. Guenther

★★★★½ In the Mouth of the Lion by J Guenther

Overflowing with rich history and a huge amount of research, In the Mouth of the Lion is a thorough and wildly entertaining piece of fiction based in real fact. Tackling a novel that requires putting yourself in the shoes – and mind – of Hitler is ambitious, to say the least, but Guenther delivers a surprising level of empathy and insight, giving readers a different view of history.

What makes the book particularly effective is its basis in real events. While the story of Carl Jung visiting and diagnosing Hitler sounds fantastical, it’s actually based in fact, as Jung […]

2017-01-31T11:51:18+02:00November 15th, 2016|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: , |
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