Book Review – ‘Demon in Sight’ (#6 Translucent) by Dan Rix

 The saga of Leona and her discovery of dark matter and alien beings draws to an epic climax.

Genre: Y/A, Science Fiction

No. of pages: 337

From Goodreads:

It’s like somebody hit the pause button for the entire planet.

Earth’s streets are jammed with motionless cars, their still-warm occupants slumped over the steering wheels, bodies paused mid-breath. They have no pulse.

The sun has winked out, plunging the globe into permanent darkness. Fire no longer burns. Electronics sputter and die, inexplicably drained of charge. The whole world, and all seven billion inhabitants, are in suspended animation.

But three people are awake. 

‘Demon in Sight’ was a well anticipated read. Having to wait over a year for it to be released in paperback after the e-book publication date, and having enjoyed the previous five novels in the series, there were a lot of expectations wrapped up in this finale. It stayed true to the tone and writing style we’ve come to expect from Dan Rix and the protagonist, Leona.

I had been hoping for a little more seriousness and maturity from Leona herself. But she still had her moments of idiocy and stubbornness. Personally it was a little infuriating, but she has been this way all along, so why did I expect some miraculous transformation I don’t know. Characters aside, the plot itself is pretty amazing Rix has a way of letting things go wrong for his protagonists and there is a very organic feel to how they react and find solutions to overcome roadblocks.

‘Demon in Sight’ is another quick engaging read. There is plenty of mind-bending action and science fiction theory to warp your mind. I love his concepts. I will say there was a something about the writing style of this finale that felt a little flat: maybe it was my feelings at Leona slipping back into her behavioural patterns from earlier in the series, that immaturity; or the sudden soppiness between her and love interest Emory. The angst was gone. Something just wasn’t grabbing me as much as before. It feels all very ‘teen drama.’

That aside, the action and adventure aspect to this series, and indeed this finale is cool beyond measure. I was enthralled by those climactic scenes and this is definitely the novels stand out feature. The tension and challenges Rix weaves into the narrative is what I will keep coming back for.

Leona definitely has a unique style of facing challenges – which I found to be an admirable trait, but that remaining thread of jealousy and reactionary impulses held me back from truly loving her. Emory morphed in this final book to become a true, if not, somewhat overly sappy romantic lead. I felt like he needed to be in more of the action, show more physical prowess, and challenge Leona for control a bit more. The best friend, Megan, took a back seat for most of this novel. I could usually count on her for some hilarious one liners, or leading Leona astray, but there was very little Megan for those moments to break the tension. Fellow cast mates, Sarah and Natasha instead have their time to shine. Providing maturity and level-headedness for the team they helped form in saving the world. I really appreciated having them so prominent in ‘Demon in Sight’ and found a small amount of disappointment at the series ending and not having to get to spend more time with them.

The Translucent series is definitely bang on the money for a YA science fiction read – skewed more for a younger market in tone, but definitely interspersed with some adult content. I’d either like to have seen more mature protagonists, or have the adult content removed to give this series a better chance at being marketed to the best demographic. Rix is certainly a fantastic writer, and I enjoy his novels, but there needs to be just one level up on the editing/publishing end of his process. I’ve found an occasional spelling or grammatical error and some issue with the formatting or presentation of the physical book. ‘Demon in Sight’ was superior in this aspect of the series. But I feel with this small attention to detail, it will give him an even more professional edge.

I’m certainly eyeing off another series to jump into next, and with Rix being such a prolific author there is definitely plenty to choose from.

Overall feeling: Bittersweet goodbye

© Casey Carlisle 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Black Sun’ by Dan Rix

A plot line that zigs and zags…

Genre: Y/A, Science Fiction

No. of pages: 304

From Goodreads:

Orbiting three hundred miles above an alien planet, Space Shuttle Endeavour desperately searches for signs of life following the mass abduction of all humanity. Its crew: an Air Force colonel, an astronaut, and two teenagers.

To Leona, the mind-numbing hours of radio silence mean everyone who loves her is dead. Onboard, the one boy she might confide in hates her guts. It’s all she can do to not give up.

But when an explosion knocks the shuttle out of orbit, forcing them to crash land on the dead planet, it seems all hope is lost.

But no one expects the bizarre reality awaiting them on the surface.  

The Translucent series has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride – so much going on, characters popping in and out of established traits – and ‘Black Sun’ sticks to this pattern. We go back to annoying and immature Leona at the start of this novel… why are you punishing me Dan Rix? I was just starting to like her and now it feels like nails on a chalk board.

Leona took this step backwards for much of the novel, but I was glad to see her redeemed before the end – though this is something that is going to have me deducting a point. After so much growth and development I don’t want to waist a large part of the book reading drivel. I also got annoyed at the repeated phrase of Leona biting her nails – surely you can use your writers brain and come up with a few more synonyms Mr Rix.

A tawdry sex scene later in ‘Black Sun’ did nothing for me. It was uncouth and animalistic (and sudden,) no build-up of emotion to the moment. I thought I was reading soft core erotica. It seems to be the trend in YA at the moment, many titles have rough and urgent copulation that doesn’t add a lot to the story or the characters’ motivations; and I can only guess it’s included for sensationalism and titillation. It’s not something you expect to read in YA science fiction if it is not driving the story forward in some aspect.

I was delighted again for the last quarter of ‘Black Sun’ when we got ballsy Leona again, thank goodness. I hope her strength and sassy nature remain throughout the final novel in this series.

Loving the twist with her love interest Emory! And I didn’t really have a clue what was going on. That kind of plot developments is what keeps me reading.

The sci-fi element is fan-bloody-tastic! Dark matter, portals, white space, black holes, evil entity/alien… I’m totally engrossed. Still trying to make sense of everything – and appreciate how it’s not all explained and the story keeps changing – Leona being an unreliable narrator – well, they all are, because no-one knows what the hell is going on. What started off as slow and annoying, ‘Black Sun’ changed its tune with pacing towards an end that was invigorating. All that craziness (and the conclusion in a hum-dinger of a cliff hanger) – now I’m hankering for the 6th and final book to come out near the years’ end.

Overall feeling: I had ups, I had downs

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Slaying Shadows’ by Dan Rix

Each book in this series is better than the last – I’m totally hooked!

Genre: Y/A, Science Fiction

No. of pages: 263

From Goodreads:

The girl sobbing in 16-year-old Leona Hewitt’s bedroom has the same long dark hair as her, the same startled hazel eyes as her, the same stuck-up nose as her. She’s identical in every way . . . and she’s here to take Leona’s place.

By a twist of fate, Leona has until midnight on Halloween to outsmart her evil double and steal back her shattered life—and her soul—or forever become a ghost.

But all the clues point to a startling truth. To her horror, she’s learning the other Leona has more claim to her old life than she does—even to her boyfriend.

Could it be that after all this time, everything she knows about herself is a lie?  

With a series that seems to be on an upward trend, I was eager to jump into ‘Slaying Shadows, but held off for a month, so I wouldn’t need to wait an incredibly long time until the next instalment is released. But thankfully, it’s not too far away, and with what went down in this novel, I was certainly lead on a thrilling ride.

Things are finally making sense. Consequences are finally being dealt with a heavier dose of reality than I’ve seen in the previous books giving it a darker tone. I loved it. The pacing is so much faster, so much more action takes place, and our protagonist Leona is really put through the ringer.

We see more character growth from Leona, not only from the challenges she has faced, but also in taking ownership for her actions – good and bad. I think that is the single most aspect of this series so far has really stood out.

I did have an issue with Leona popping in and out of dark matter – when had it become so plentiful and easy to come by? Previously it was such a scarce commodity, and now whenever she needed it, it was there.

There were many twist and turns I did not see coming – Megan, Emory, and with Leona herself. I am usually pretty clued on with my reading and can guess storylines and plot twists well in advance – but in ‘Slaying Shadows’ – either because I was so wrapped up in the action or drama; or because it’s just so out there, I had no idea what the eff was going on. Just brilliant.

So we get a lot of answers in ‘Slaying Shadows,’ but we also get many more questions posed, and by the end I was chomping at the bit for ‘Black Sun…’ but I’m going to have to wait until the physical book is released.

I got so excited with all the new elements introduced in this novel. Though that was tarnished by the “happenstance” of the main cast being thrust together by the hand of fate – that part of the story felt a little Machiavellian from the author… the organic nature of the story dwindling. But that’s just me nit picking. ‘Slaying Shadows’ was still immensely entertaining and left me begging for more.

I must say the end scene was a stroke of genius – I loved how it was described and the build of tension… but argh – a cliff-hanger!! Dan Rix you ruin me!

4 books down, 2 to go. Bring it on Mr Rix.

Overall feeling: It just keeps getting better.

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – ‘Ash and Darkness’ by Dan Rix

And she bounces back for the win!

Genre: Y/A, Science Fiction

No. of pages: 212

From Goodreads:

It’s called dark matter, a living substance secreted by a meteorite that can make people invisible. Sixteen-year-old Leona Hewitt has been wearing it for twelve hours. It should be every teen’s fantasy—unbeatable pranks, a front row seat in her crush’s bedroom, a place to lick her wounds all alone. And it is . . . it is. 

Until she can’t get it off.

In an instant, the fantasy becomes a nightmare. She’s stuck like this, invisible. Scratching at it, burning it off, cutting her skin off with a knife—nothing works. Dark matter is eating her, consuming her body like a bacteriophage and leaving behind a ghost.

But when she wakes up in her bedroom, seemingly back to normal—only to find the city outside abandoned and ghostly quiet, she realizes she’s been transported to an impossible parallel realm. Electronics barely function, food turns mealy and rotten, fire snuffs out in seconds . . . and the only signs of life are the clues to a strange riddle left behind by a dead girl.  

After being disappointed in ‘Of Starlight’ I was hesitant to pick up ‘Ash and Darkness,’ but glad I finally caved. This was so much better than I was expecting!

We really delve into the science fiction aspect of the series, the implications of dark matter, what it is, all come to the forefront and had me begging for more.

Gone is whiny, immature, wise-cracking Leona. We get a triple dose of survivalist-never-giving-up Leona. And it was such a refreshing take for this franchise that my faith in Dan Rix is restored. I’d like to say, skip book two, but there is important information you need to understand what is going on in ‘Ash and Darkness’ all I can say is – persevere. It gets so much better! Character development shines abound. I really hope Rix continues in this fashion for the rest of the series, because if Leona turns back into a flake I’ll be holding me a book burning party.

Pacing in this installment is above par in comparison to its predecessor. You get a sense of time, urgency, isolation and desperation. Especially in a landscape of unknowns. I completed this book in a day because I was so eager to find out what happens. With such great pacing and an easy styled narrative, you can fly through this novel. Granted some of the sections dealing with the physics of dark matter had me re-reading, but that was a good thing. Not only was I learning something science-y, I was genuinely fascinated in the world Rix has created.

Word of warning – it does end on a cliff hanger, so have ‘Slaying Shadows’ ready and waiting if you aren’t the type of person who deals well with waiting. This book marks the halfway point in a series of six books to the franchise, and I am truly excited and intrigued to see where it will all go.

Overall feeling: Faith restored!

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – Of Starlight by Dan Rix

A follow-up suffering from the possibility of fading into invisibility….

Genre: Y/A, Science Fiction

No. of pages: 255

From Goodreads:

It has been three months since Leona Hewitt dumped the body of her crush’s younger sister in the woods, praying he would never find out who did it. It has been three hours since she led him back to her rotting corpse.

And three minutes since she showed up in Leona’s bedroom, alive.

The culprit is a living substance secreted by a meteorite that can make people invisible . . . and apparently bring them back from the dead too. But something is terribly wrong with the girl claiming to be Ashley Lacroix. She doesn’t sleep. Sometimes, when she thinks no one is listening, she talks to someone who isn’t there. She says her soul has been eaten. She says Leona must die.

Now, evading an unseen enemy, Leona must dig up the startling truth behind Ashley’s death before an insidious creature claims its next victim. Only the truth may be more chilling than she ever could have imagined. And the next victim may be herself.  

I still enjoyed all the elements in ‘Of Starlight’ that I had from the debut of the series, ‘Translucent,’ but there was a whole arena of problems that affected ‘Of Starlight’ which had me shaking my head. Still, a fun science fiction romp with lots of potential.

Some aspects of story that were introduced did not make sense and did not flow. I felt like this instalment was missing the touch of a content editor. There were so many illogical happenings I was practically growling with frustration. Simple obvious solutions to many situations our protagonist and her best friend, Leona and Megan faced were overlooked.

Additionally, Leona and Megan felt immature. I wanted the experience to age them, they were after all, dealing with life and death situations, so some seriousness was called for. Though I did like the moments of comedy dispersed throughout – like their puns and a few slapstick moments – it broke the tension when it was needed. I would have loved to have like to gotten more of this, in context.

The relationship between Leona and Emory did not feel real, unlike the previous book, Leona’s behaviour fell into insta-love or stalkery territory. It was making me cringe a little.

Dan Rix did a great job in creating tension and his action scenes are fantastic to read, I just wish the story wasn’t so disjointed and the plot better thought-out. This read like a first draft. There were so many storytelling devices that could have been improved.

I’m also at a loss at what this book was supposed to achieve – it didn’t drive the plot forward too much and I got a sense we were treading water until some really good stuff is going to happen (we can only hope) in books 3 & 4.

The potential for this to be an outstanding book was there, it just fell so, so short of the mark. We need an intelligent read and challenging plot lines in science fiction, otherwise it reads like really bad fan fiction.

I’m hoping this trend doesn’t continue in the following books, ‘Ash and Darkness’ and ‘Slaying Shadows’ because Leona is a bold, sassy and intelligent heroine; and the set up of her and Emory’s relationship lends itself to some great tension and possibility of a redemption story.

Stay tuned to see whether I feel if this series delivers on all my hopes.

Overall feeling: What the hell happened?

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Book Review – Translucent by Dan Rix

An alien encounter of a different kind.

 Genre: Y/A, Science Fiction

No. of pages: 266

From Goodreads:

When a meteorite falls near her campsite in the San Rafael Wilderness, troubled teen Leona Hewitt ventures down into the crater looking for a souvenir. What she discovers changes her life.

Contained in the meteorite is a sticky, mucous-like fluid that bends light, cannot itself be seen, and seems to grow in the presence of living tissue. It’s drawn to her.

But when a government team arrives in hazmat suits and cordons off the meteorite impact site, Leona questions her decision to take it home with her. For one thing, there are rumors of an extraterrestrial threat.

For another, it has been speaking to her.

It wants to be worn . . . stretched on like a second skin. It’s seeking out her weaknesses, exploiting her deepest fear—that the only boy she’s ever loved will unearth the vile secret in her past and see her as a monster. Now it promises salvation.

It can make her invisible.  

A great little science fiction read. It starts off cliché, and the protagonist, Leona, annoyed me many times. But the concept of the mythology is very interesting. ‘Translucent’ has been a great introduction into Dan Rix and his writing.

I must admit, the cover is what attracted me to this book – and don’t get confused – there is another novel by Lauren Bird Horowitz with a very similar cover. (Why do publishers do that?) But once I read the blurb, the addition of sci-fi and an alien substance that you can wear –ding- I’m sold and this title was instantly added to my cart for checkout.

Our protagonist Leona. While I loved reading her story and the narrative style, I did not agree with many of her decisions. I understood her reasoning, but her actions had me shaking my head many times – but hey, it made good reading. We see some kind of arc and character development for her, (and then everything is left up in the air.) Leona, is tormented with guilt. With a fantastic back story which is unravelled throughout the course of the novel, you are able to see this history influencing many of her decisions. Even though she is not my favourite character, she is definitely well written.

Megan (the best friend) felt like my best mate. She embodied all the idiocy that we had in high school. And, while not the voice of reason, was genuinely looking out for both her and Leona. I was a little disappointed that her story line had dropped away towards the end. Without Megan ‘Translucent’ would have been considerably less entertaining.

Emory, Leona’s love interest, felt the least convincing character – I felt there was not a lot that justified his actions. Was he sad? Was he a bad boy? Why was he so predatory with Leona? I wanted more insight into his psyche in order to relate to him. Maybe we’ll get more in the following books, maybe we won’t. But I’m on the fence with Emory.

While there is resolution at the conclusion of ‘Translucent,’ I wanted more of a solid ending (though I do like a good cliff-hanger). There was a bit too much left hanging for me to feel totally satisfied – even if it is the first in a series– it’s the first in a four book series (at the time this review is being published.). It was as successful as many other debut novels. But I nonetheless was hooked, and really enjoyed the experience, devouring the novel in a day. I’m planning on reading ‘Of Starlight’ in the next few weeks and see if Dan Rix is going to hook me as another must have author.

It’s something I would recommend, but don’t expect amazing things; though the whole dark matter-invisibility thing is cool.

Overall feeling: Oooh, that was pretty good.

© Casey Carlisle 2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Casey Carlisle with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.