Book Reviews

Judgment of Blood: Book Two of the Gearteeth Trilogy

In 1890, a disease that turned sane men into ravenous werewolves swept through the United States like wildfire. On the brink of humanity’s extinction, Nikola Tesla and a mysterious order of scientists known as the Tellurians revealed a bold plan: the uninfected would abandon the Earth’s surface by rising up in floating salvation cities, iron and steel metropolises that carried tens of thousands of refugees above the savage apocalypse. The remnants of mankind huddled fearfully in the clouds, waiting for the werewolves to devour each other.

Twenty years later, beasts still rule the world below and now only the salvation city of Wardenclyffe remains aloft. But a telluric deadzone has caught Wardenclyffe in its riptide, forcing it toward airspace where its miraculous machinery will no longer function.

Elijah Kelly, an infected Thunder Train crewman exiled to the ground, ranges ahead of his beloved home, determined to keep it safe no matter the cost. Desperate to neutralize the deadzone before the flying city crashes, Eli discovers a brutal truth: humanity still exists on the ground, paying a terrible vampiric price for their survival.

Faced with an impossible choice between sacrificing thousands of innocent lives or betraying the rebels fighting for their freedom against an oppressive regime, Eli is forced to rely on an unlikely ally lurking deep within his own blood, his only hope if he wishes to defy the inevitable.
Twenty years later, only one salvation city remains aloft, while the beasts still rule the world below. Time has taken its toll on the miraculous machinery of the city, and soon the last of the survivors will plummet to their doom. But when Elijah Kelly, a brakeman aboard the largest of the city’s Thunder Trains, is infected by the werewolf virus, he discovers a secret world of lies and horrific experiments that hide the disturbing truth about the Tellurians.
When the beast in his blood surges forth, Elijah must choose between the lives of those he loves, and the city that is humanity’s last hope of survival.

Book Reviews

The Tale of the Young Witch

When the age of witchcraft and sorcery died out, the world moved on, and most people believed they would never see its magical influences ever again. But it wasn’t so. The past has an uncanny habit of reinventing itself in the present, and the magic surrounding witchcraft cannot easily be undone.
Now in 1901, 450 years after the perceived death of witchcraft, an unsuspecting teenager, Amelia Twigg, is about to discover that not only does magic and witchcraft still exist, but it has found in her a vessel in which to manifest itself.
When a floating broom in her cellar makes it clear that magic is still around, Amelia is initially skeptical. But when it becomes apparent that she is indeed a witch, with powers that she could scarcely believe, she is hesitant to use them, fearful of the consequences and the future.
All that, however, is quickly put aside when she becomes the target of a secretive cabal who are intent on unlocking the secrets of witchcraft for their own uses once more.
Now, relentlessly hunted by this group, Amelia must find a way to stay one step ahead as she comes to terms with her abilities. But can she evade them long enough to learn how to use the powers she has been granted? Or will they find her before the magic inside of her can truly become effective?

Book Reviews

Gearteeth

On the brink of humanity’s extinction, Nikola Tesla and a mysterious order of scientists known as the Tellurians revealed a bold plan to save a world ravaged by a disease that turned sane men into ravenous werewolves: the uninfected would abandon the Earth’s surface by rising up in floating salvation cities, iron and steel metropolises that carried tens of thousands of refugees above the savage apocalypse.
Twenty years later, only one salvation city remains aloft, while the beasts still rule the world below. Time has taken its toll on the miraculous machinery of the city, and soon the last of the survivors will plummet to their doom. But when Elijah Kelly, a brakeman aboard the largest of the city’s Thunder Trains, is infected by the werewolf virus, he discovers a secret world of lies and horrific experiments that hide the disturbing truth about the Tellurians.
When the beast in his blood surges forth, Elijah must choose between the lives of those he loves, and the city that is humanity’s last hope of survival.

Book Reviews

The Vitruvian Mask

1881: The electric lights of Paris have been extinguished.
The Naturalist revolution is over. Adelaide was on the losing side.
Once the Royal Scientist for the now-deceased cyborg monarch of France, she’s now a fugitive, in hiding from the new king’s Police Sécrète.
Pregnant and alone, she seeks refuge in a Parisian hospital but things have changed there too. What was once a cathedral of Science is now a bastion of ignorance and superstition.
The battlefield veterans whose Augmented prosthetics she once created are shunned by the new regime and come to the hospital for her help. But her nemesis, the father of her child, has returned to France and threatens to reveal her illegal activities to the authorities.
Can Adelaide repair her Augmented patients without losing her freedom … or her life?
The Vitruvian Mask continues the story of Adelaide Coumain, the Roboticist of Versailles, that began in The Archimedean Heart.
Book 2 in the world of The Robotocist of Versailles

Book Reviews

The Archimedean Heart

Paris 1880, the City of Light.
Clockwork nobles of the Court promenade through the halls of Versailles, while Watcher spheres and cyborg police menace citizens in the streets.
The Royal Physician Scientist works frantically on an automaton designed to replace the failing sovereigns, but will it be ready in time to save the monarchy?
In the cafes of Montmatre, Henri paints the common people chafing under the reign of the Augmented monarchs and dreams of a France free of machines.
John yearns to capture the essence of beauty in his paintings with the luminous Marie-Ange as his muse—and handmaid to the ancient Queen of France. With his brother entangled in revolution, he must choose between the artificial beauty of Court and the movement to restore France.
How much humanity can be lost before you are no longer human?

Book Reviews

City of Whispers: Imperial Assassin, Book 1

A disgraced assassin. A sinister conspiracy. Will her one shot at redemption be her last?
Dhani Karim was once the Empire’s most feared assassin. Framed for a murder she didn’t commit, Dhani is exiled to a remote desert city and forced to work alongside former spy Parvan Gorshayik – a broken man hiding a deadly secret.
Yet even as Dhani locks horns with her prickly partner, dark forces gather in the city, planning to overthrow its peaceful rulers and begin a quest to conquer a kingdom.
Struggling to navigate a land where she’s one of the few who can’t wield magic, things get worse when Dhani barely survives a brutal attack, and the one person she can trust, Parvan…vanishes. Soon, circumstances point to a ruthless cult, and Dhani finds herself in a race against time to stop a bloodbath that will consume thousands of innocent lives.
Can she expose a deadly conspiracy before it causes a massacre?