Molly Fyde

All posts tagged Molly Fyde

Book Review: Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace (The Bern Saga Book 4)

Posted by tjhapney on January 15, 2015
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Molly_peaceDescription / Blurb:

In the conclusion to the Bern Saga, Molly and her friends are reunited while two wars erupt. An entire universe hangs on the actions of Parsona’s crew, and not all of them will survive.

 

 

Review 4 of 5 Stars

This last book in the Bern series was interesting. The series wrapped up well with Molly and her friends overcoming insurmountable odds to save the day. It reminds me of the old Saturday matinee adventures, but I digress. I really enjoyed the back story on the wadi, but felt some of the other flashbacks broke the story up in a way that wasn’t necessarily conducive to a smooth reading experience. There was some interesting information, but some character backgrounds were more interesting than others. I loved the little reveal at the end regarding the Bern Seer. I enjoyed watching the bad guys get what was coming to them, etc. Altogether it was a fun sci-fi action adventure series and I enjoyed it. The characters throughout the series were well done and easy to relate to. I especially loved Cat, Molly’s parent’s friend from long ago. In fact, I generally like what Hugh Howey does with characters for the most part. He creates characters with flaws. Sometimes those flaws are significant, but that doesn’t necessarily keep you from feeling for them. Walter is a good example of this for the Bern series. He’s a character you would love to hate for the many things he does, but he’s so socially challenged that you almost can’t help feeling sorry for him and pulling for him to do the right thing. If you enjoy a good action adventure chase across the universe, then you may very well enjoy these book. That’s going to wrap it up on this series. So many books to read and so little time recently…

Book Review: Molly Fyde and the Blood of Billions (The Bern Saga Book 3) by Hugh Howey

Posted by tjhapney on January 9, 2015
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Molly_bloodDescription/Blurb:

Picking up where Molly Fyde and the Land of Light left off, the third book in the Bern Saga finds Molly and her crew separated and the entire galaxy in jeopardy. Whether or not it can be saved will depend on their determination to reunite. And a quest for fuel on Molly’s homeworld uncovers a sinister conspiracy involving thousands of murders. It’s the same case her parents got sidetracked on so many years ago. Will Molly have better luck in solving it?

 

Review 3 of 5 Stars

I read lots of interesting stories over the holidays. The first order of business was to finish up the Molly Fyde series, which I did. The Blood of Billions is the third book in Hugh Howey’s Bern Saga. I have enjoyed reading this series and am glad that I decided to read some of Hugh Howey’s earlier work. Mr. Howey is one of my favorite newer authors and I have a lot of fun reading his books. In fact, I took a trip through some other of his stories that I’ll review here later in the month. Molly Fyde is once again in peril. This book leaves things unresolved so I’m glad I had the fourth book ready to go before reading it. Our characters are once again in peril and there is a lot going on. I have to say that this was not my favorite book of the series. I didn’t like that so many things were unresolved going into the fourth book, but since I’ve already read the fourth book I can say that things were wrapped up pretty well in the end. Walter is a problem character in each of the books and this one is no exception. Unfortunately, having Walter on your team is kind of like have a 5-year-old computer prodigy with no social skills or moral compass. He’s computer smart, but socially he doesn’t function very well. The book is split between the ‘real’ world and the ‘hyperspace’ world in this book. I very much enjoyed getting to know some new characters, but it seemed the pacing was a little off in this volume. None of this book’s issues kept me from reading the next one and overall I thought the series was really good and I enjoyed it. Sorry for the short review, but by Book 3 it is hard to come up with new things to say about the continuing story. I’ll post the review for Book 4 in the next few days and then there are many more to follow.

For those of you interested in what is coming up next, I’m writing/scheduling the reviews from my holiday reading now. In the next couple of weeks I’ll be reviewing Book 4 of the Bern Saga by Hugh Howey, Open Minds (Book 1 of the Mindjack Trilogy) by Susan Kaye Quinn, Promises of London (short story) by Hugh Howey, Schism (Book 1 of the Pearseus series since I started at Book 2) by Nicholas C. Rossis, This Night So Dark (The Starbound Trilogy) by Amie Kaufman, The Alien Chronicles – various authors and The Shell Collector by Hugh Howey. That’s all for today. It’s cold here and I plan to curl up with a book until the sun returns.

Book Review: Molly Fyde and the Land of Light (The Bern Saga Book 2) by Hugh Howey

Posted by tjhapney on December 20, 2014
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Molly_LightDescription/Book Blurb:

What began for Molly as a simple journey to retrieve her father’s old spaceship, has turned into an epic adventure with far-reaching consequences. For years, she dreamed of reconnecting with her past. Now she’s going to meet it in a way she never expected: Head-on.

Her father is alive. Her mother’s memories are trapped inside his old ship. She’s on the run from her very own Navy, and now has been tasked with the impossible:
Rescue her parents. Save the galaxy. End a war.

Before she can begin, however, Molly must first help a friend in need. One of her crew members is in trouble, a life hanging by a slender thread. There’s only one place to turn: the home world of Humanity’s sworn enemy, the very race Molly and Cole have been trained to meet in battle and have been conditioned to fear and loathe.

Planet Drenard. The next stop for the starship Parsona.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

This installment in the Bern series takes Molly and her crew to Drenard, the home of the enemy humans have been fighting for years. Once again this story is pretty much a non-stop action adventure sci-fi ride. The main characters in these stories are somewhat young, but that hasn’t detracted from my enjoyment of the series at all. It would probably be enjoyable to teen sci-fi fans, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t meant for the rest of us to read. I hate it when people complain that the characters in a story are too young and that because of that it must be a young adult book. Some pretty heavy stuff happens in these books including fairly graphic violence and the characters’ reactions to those happenings, which doesn’t generally happen in young adult books to my knowledge.

Molly is a young woman who has had a lot thrust upon her. She’s been kicked out of the Flight Academy and is now traveling through the galaxy in the hopes of rescuing her parents. Molly follows her heart when it comes to making and protecting her friends, which often leads her into dangerous circumstances. Despite this Molly perseveres and tries to do what she feels is right even when it doesn’t seem to be in her best interest. Molly, Cole, Walter, Edison and Anlyn are the main characters in this installment of the series and they have to overcome fear and hatred to continue on their mission.

Their adventure leads them into dangerous territory and even more dangerous circumstances to try to win their freedom. The characters are easy to identify with and I found it easy to get caught up in the story. Reading science fiction has been my love since I was a teen (over 30 years now). In that time I’ve developed a love of hard sci-fi, military sci-fi and dystopian sci-fi, as well as action adventure sci-fi. This book is definitely none of the first three, but fits nicely into the action adventure category. If you are looking to have someone include long theoretical formulas in the book, then this probably isn’t the book for you. If you enjoy stories that dart around the universe meeting new characters and going new places while the characters run for their lives and try to figure out the clues that will lead to their survival, then I think you would enjoy this story.

There were a few spelling errors and incorrect word usage, but not so much as to be a real problem. This is one of Hugh Howey’s earlier works and I suspect that as Mr. Howey’s career moves forward he isn’t spending much time going back to edit his first books. I more than understand this. I published a romance that I wrote 20 years ago primarily as a test of how to market an e-book. Several people have commented that they didn’t like the way it ended and that they wanted more,  but I don’t have any interest in rewriting that book as I’m now 60,000 words into my new sci-fi book and am looking forward, not back. Oops, guess I’m wandering off topic. Nevertheless, I am about to finish the third book in this series and have thoroughly enjoyed reading these books thus far. There are some far-fetched things from time to time, but who am I to say what will happen in the universe as time passes. Perhaps Hugh Howey really knows the Bern Seer.

 

 

Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue (The Bern Saga Book 1) by Hugh Howey

Posted by tjhapney on December 18, 2014
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Molly_ParsonaDescription/Blurb:

It wasn’t easy for Molly being the only girl in Flight Academy, but getting expelled was even worse. Abandoned by her family when she was young and now tossed from the only home she’s ever known, her future looks bleak.

But then Molly hears that her father’s old starship has turned up halfway across the galaxy. Setting off to retrieve the old craft, she hopes it will hold clues to his disappearance. Accompanying her as a chaperone is Cole, her old flight partner from the Academy.

Molly can’t believe it. She’s now the proud owner of her own starship. Her Spring Break is going to be spent traveling across the galaxy with a cute boy. Could things possibly get any better?

Little does Molly know, they are about to get much, much worse . . .

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I’ve read all of the other Hugh Howey books at this point so I thought I’d try his earlier series about Molly Fyde. It wasn’t hard to tell that this book was an earlier work. I’m actually on the third one in the series now, but I found Molly’s character development to be interesting. Along the way you see many traits in Molly that later appear in other characters by Hugh Howey. Molly is a strong, independent young woman and she is a fun companion to travel along with on this action adventure ride.

The story and romance between Molly and Cole, her friend from the Academy, might seem to some as if it belongs in a young adult book, but I found the story to be well-written. This story was no more a young adult book than Ender’s Game was in my opinion. It just went a different direction. I wasn’t looking for a romance novel so the light romance between these two as they are growing up didn’t bother me at all. I enjoyed the book very much and immediately began the second one.

Molly begins this tale at the Flight Academy, but before long she and Cole are ready to set off on an adventure of their own, before having an even bigger adventure thrust upon them. Walter is another interesting character, but I’ll leave him for you to discover on your own. The story was fun, engaging, and kept my interest. I found the different planets and their populations to be interesting as well and Molly’s back story with her parents promises to lead to new adventures in her future. All in all I enjoyed the story and the characters.

As I stated near the beginning of this review, I’m already on the third book. That’s about as good of a recommendation as I can give. If you are interested in reading some of Hugh Howey’s earlier stuff then jump right on in for a science fiction action adventure. The series has kept my attention this far and I am enjoying traipsing about in this new universe with Molly Fyde and her companions. This first book in the Bern Saga was entertaining reading and the hours easily slipped by while I followed Molly and her friends on their adventures. I hope you enjoy it.