Nicholas C. Rossis

All posts tagged Nicholas C. Rossis

Pearseus: Vigil (Book 3)

Posted by tjhapney on March 13, 2015
Posted in: Book Review, Fantasy, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

VigilDescription/Blurb:

It’s a difficult time on Pearseus. Teo Altman has assumed control of the Capital and has his eye on Parad’s children. Pratin and his monsters have laid siege on Malekshei. The Old Woman has forsaken Lehmor and the First. And Sol is preparing for the Capital’s inevitable invasion.

As Malekshei’s defenders fight for their lives, they realize they need an army to stop Pratin. To raise that army, they must do the unthinkable: wake up those who have been sleeping under Pearseus for the last hundred thousand years.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I received a copy of this book for beta reading and a fair review. I’ve become particularly attached to this story as time has gone by. I read Rise of the Prince and Mad Water some time ago. After a while, I found myself reading the prequel to the series because I didn’t have any continuing story to turn to. Fortunately, Nicholas Rossis is a diligent writer and we now have the third full book in the series.

Compared to the other books in the series this is an all-out action adventure story. The political games have all been played and in this volume the characters are forced to fight for what they believe in or lose it all. The author did a good job of wrapping up the outstanding story lines–even some that I didn’t realize would need wrapping up–and that added a great deal to the overall story.

All of my favorite characters were back in the action. There was plenty from Moirah, Lehmor, David, Sol, the Old Woman, etc., as well as the host of opposing forces. The action carried on right to the end. I enjoyed it very much and was happy to not be left with a bunch of lingering questions with regard to what became of the characters. Overall, this was a satisfying read and I look forward to more stories from Mr. Rossis in the future. The whole set is bundled for under $4, which should make it easy to catch up if you haven’t read the previous volumes in the series.

Next up is The Legacy Human by Susan Kaye Quinn. I missed the March 2nd release date that I was hoping to get a review in for, but I’m excited to read this new book from Ms. Quinn. I enjoyed the Mindjack Trilogy that she wrote previously and thus far The Legacy Human is shaping up pretty well. I’m glad that I’ll have some time to curl up with it and read this weekend. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week and has a great book somewhere handy.

 

Busy Month – Reviews coming for three great books.

Posted by tjhapney on March 4, 2015
Posted in: Random Thoughts. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

February is my birthday month and I was especially busy last month trying to incorporate beta reader comments into my own book. I have also been doing some beta reading for friends. Never fear, though, I read a ton of stories and just have to report back now.

I have reviews coming for new books from Nicholas C. Rossis (the latest Pearseus volume, Vigil), Susan Kaye Quinn (The Legacy Human (Singularity #1)) and The Alien Chronicles, which includes a host of works by other authors including Peter Cawdron’s story, Alien Space Tentacle Porn and another personal favorite of mine from this anthology, Guests of the Chitterer Liberation Force by Blair S. Babylon.

I’m hoping to have the first of these up later today if my real life cooperates. Thanks to all of you for your patience and continuing support of this blog.

-TJ

Book Review: Pearseus: Schism (Book 1) by Nicholas C. Rossis

Posted by tjhapney on January 22, 2015
Posted in: Book Review, Fantasy, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , , , , . 9 Comments

schismDescription/Blurb:

“Humanity starts over. Again.”
 Described as “Game of Thrones meets Dune,” Pearseus is a dark epic fantasy series with a sci-fi twist that takes ancient Greek history and myths and transports them to space. Pearseus: Schism is a short novelette that lays the back story to the best-selling series.
 It’s New Year’s Eve, the year of 2099, but the distinguished guests aboard the Pearseus won’t get to countdown seconds; soon they’ll be counting bodies and survivors after the spaceship’s crash landing on another planet. 
 The good news? The planet is seemingly hospitable both in resources and in terms of the natives’ attitude towards earthlings. 
The bad news? They might have come on this planet bare of possessions, but what they haven’t been able to shed are the shortcomings of their human nature. Will that be the sole threat to a unified future, or is the new land and its first inhabitants not as innocent as they look?

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I know I usually put some kind of disclaimer about whether I received the book from the author, publisher, etc. and I haven’t done that in the past month. I signed up for the free trial of KU and have been reading whatever I pleased of the books available. I do have more submitted books to read, but thought I’d enjoy checking out my trial subscription for a month. Anyway, any books recently that do not indicate where I got them came from the subscription. I’ve been pounding away pretty steadily at the list of books I picked to read from it before the 25th of the month.

Anyone who reads this blog sees comments by Nicholas Rossis fairly often. I first discovered Mr. Rossis’ writing from Rise of the Prince, Book 2 of the Pearseus series.  As Book 2 did a good job of describing what had gone on before, I went ahead and read Book 3 after that. Given the aforementioned KU trial, I finally got around to reading Book 1. It was interesting to read the prequel to the other stories. I truly enjoyed reading the story itself instead of just the explanations given in the later books, though those explanations were plenty to allow me to know what important events had taken place in the past. However, reading the explanations in later books is kind of like reading a history book. You know what happened and you know it was important, but you didn’t get to see it yourself.

So, Schism begins on the ship Pearseus during a New Year’s Eve party, but none of the guests expect the turn that their evening will take. One man, listening to the voices in his head, changes all their lives and leaves the survivors struggling to pick up the pieces on the planet where they crash. Power is a seductive drug and those who seek it will stop at nothing to get what they want, but could there be something else leading the crashed colonists to seek control over their fellow passengers? That’s what you will have to discover on your own if you haven’t yet read this series. There are fantasy elements to this science fiction story, but it was all wrapped up nicely together and I didn’t have any problem moving in that direction with the author.

Schism filled in the pieces for me as far as getting to see it myself. I really enjoy Mr. Rossis’ stories and have now reviewed several of them. The Pearseus series is an excellent story about mankind starting over on a new planet, ill prepared as the characters are. Mankind has many issues in the manner we deal with one another and this book shows many of the ways that we treat one another, why we don’t fight for ourselves when we should, etc.

Anyway, having read the ending of the story previously, there really weren’t any surprises for me here. I was just filling in the back story. I really enjoyed the novella. It’s not all that long (under 100 pages), but it gives a more detailed explanation of the basic information for the beginning of the story if you started reading later in the series like I did. If you haven’t read the series then this is obviously the right place to start. I think this is an interesting series and that Mr. Rossis did a good job with it. The books that follow it are even better. I hope you get a chance to read the series.

Book Review: The Power of Six by Nicholas C. Rossis

Posted by tjhapney on October 23, 2014
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction. Tagged: , , . 5 Comments

SixDescription/Blurb:

Six science fiction short stories written by the author of Pearseus, the epic fantasy series that has reached #1 on Amazon. This edition includes one extra story, written by Amos M. Carpenter.

Although they seem to be concerned with various themes, there are certain passions that run through them. What is the nature of reality; digital and corporeal? Is there more to the world than we can see? How far can we trust our senses? What are the consequences of our actions, and is it possible to change them? And if so, would we simply repeat same mistakes, or make new ones?

The anthology includes the following stories:

“Simulation Over”: How far can we trust our senses?
“For the Last Time”: The law of unintended consequences meets Murphy’s law during a man’s unexpected time travel.
“The Hand of God”: What do the game characters do when we stop playing?
“I Come in Peace”: an award-winning short story that poses the question: how far would man go to alleviate his loneliness?
“A Fresh Start”: If we were free to go anywhere in time and space, where would we choose to go?
“The Sentry”: What is a Sentry to do when the monster that steals away his family’s most precious possessions reappears?
“Big Bang”: A friendly game turns into much more in this short story written by Amos M. Carpenter.

Humorous and poignant, these short stories are exciting, intriguing and imaginative.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I picked up Nicholas C. Rossis’ book of short stories after reading the latest Pearseus installment. Mr. Rossis’ storytelling style is one that drew my attention back after the latest novel and I was looking for a little more. The Power of Six (plus one) was a good collection of short stories and made for good afternoon reading. There are six stories by Nicholas Rossis and the last one is by Amos M. Carpenter. I’m just going to give a short synopsis/review of each story.

Simulation Over was an interesting story for lovers of AI stories. Our characters find themselves in strange circumstances within their office building and are struggling to get out. The AI in charge of the building apparently has some leftover issues from too many disaster simulations and that’s where the fun begins. I enjoyed this story. It wasn’t what I expected from the way the story began and I liked that.

For the Last Time is an interesting look at the problems of time travel. This story had some interesting points to think about and was enjoyable overall.

The Hand of God was right up my alley. As an avid gamer I especially found this story entertaining. As the description of the story states this is a story exploring what happens to a game’s characters when there’s no one to play. I had not read the description of the stories when I started the book. Mr. Rossis did a good job of getting the reader into the game so to speak.

I Come in Peace is an interesting story. I really enjoyed it. I liked the way the alien was incorporated into the story. For those who have read the Pearseus books the entity in this story should seem somewhat familiar.

Fresh Start was a story to make you think. Our character is off traveling when some unexpected circumstances lead him to learn what is really important in life.

The Sentry was really just a cute little story. It made me smile. It’s not very long and I don’t want to spoil it so I’m going to leave it at that, but was one of my favorite stories in the book.

Big Bang by Amos M. Carpenter was an interesting story along the same line of those that Nicholas Rossis did in this collection. I really enjoyed reading Big Bang. It was definitely a different and witty way to look at how life in the universe may have begun. I found the story interesting and the writing style complemented Mr. Rossis’ so that the story did not seem out-of-place.

As a whole this short story collection was an interesting way to while away a few hours on a sunny afternoon. Each story is designed to make you think outside of the box regarding how we perceive things, which I really enjoy and found it to be a bargain for under $1. I’m sure I’ll be reading more of Nicholas Rossis stories as I’m patiently waiting for Book 4 in the Pearseus. This was a fun read especially for those who enjoy short stories. I do and hope that you may enjoy some of these tales yourself.

I’m making a special effort to clear out some of my backlog so expect more reviews soon. Happy reading.

Book Review – Pearseus: Mad Water (Book 3) by Nicholas C. Rossis

Posted by tjhapney on October 9, 2014
Posted in: Book Review, Science Fiction, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

MadWaterDescription/Blurb:

In the third book of the best-selling Pearseus series, the incessant scheming of the various players and their nebulous puppet-masters has brought about major change. Cyrus is now the new ruler of the Capital, struggling to fight Jonia’s revolt along with his own demons. Gella strives to keep abreast of Teo’s devious plans in order to end the war with Jonia. David returns to the First in an effort to overcome his loss of the Voice. Lehmor’s struggle to reunite with Moirah brings him to uncharted territories, where the enigmatic Iota play with minds, senses and the future of the entire planet. Old foes and unlikely new friends appear as invisible forces continue to pry humanity apart. Masks drop to reveal the ultimate truth: on Pearseus, everyone has their own agenda. And they’ll stop at nothing to achieve it.

Review 4 of 5 Stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I do not receive payment in any form for this blog.

Nicholas Rossis has managed to capture my attention with the Pearseus series. Each of the books is a standalone story and can be read separately without being too lost with regard to what’s going on. I started at the second book and have now read the third book. Needless to say I should probably go back and read the first one, but the author does an excellent job of explaining things along the way so that you can catch up if you come late to the party. In fact, I had forgotten how engaged I was by the story from reviewing the second book, Rise of the Prince, until I started reading this one and was immediately brought back to the story.

There are all kinds of problems on Pearseus. Far more than I could ever list here and have it be coherent, but it sure keeps things interesting. The Pearseus series covers a period of about 300 years. I haven’t read the first book, Schism, but a pretty good rundown is given in the second book and Mr. Rossis does an excellent job of explaining things along the way for newcomers to the series. There were some typos and incorrect word usage in this book, but overall the story is interesting enough that I didn’t mind coming back for a second tour of Pearseus.

Rival factions are going all out in this latest installment. Mankind may have been thankful that Pearseus was suitable for human habitation when they crash landed, but the centuries since have taken a toll on mankind as Pearseus’ other inhabitants wage war with and through the humans. The Orbs and the Whispers, benevolent and corrupting entities that sprung to life when Pearseus was terraformed by the First’s human ancestors, influence the humans who inhabit Pearseus in this war.

Lehmor, a member of the First, is one of my favorite characters in this story. Lehmor, who cannot become chieftain of the First tribe, the Wind Warriors, because he has lost an appendage and is not considered able-bodied is thrust into circumstances beyond his imagination with the Iotas, the remnants of a civilization lost during an accident, after an altercation with an old friend. Lehmor’s experiences teach him much of the events taking place on Pearseus and he is driven to protect those he loves amidst the machinations of ethereal beings, the Iotas and humans corrupted by the Whispers. Challenges seem to arise at every turn.

There are many intriguing characters in this story and I’d have to go into too much detail to explain why they are relevant which would lead to a ton of spoilers. If you enjoy dark sci-fi with plenty of plot twists then this may just be a good story for you. There are plenty of decisions and moral dilemmas to keep the characters busy and the reader interested.

The characters in this story really came alive for me. There are plots and plans at every turn among the various characters to keep things interesting and moving at a good pace, as well as a good mix of action and thought-provoking moments.I don’t know if there will be another book in this series, but if there is I’m willing to read it and perhaps you would enjoy them too.

Book Review – Pearseus: Rise of the Prince by Nicholas C. Rossis

Posted by tjhapney on May 12, 2014
Posted in: Science Fiction. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

PearseusBook Description/Blurb:

The handful of humans that crash-landed on Pearseus three hundred years ago, have now colonized a large part of the planet, rebuilding their civilization from scratch. In the process, they have created a dystopia for themselves, splitting into three competing factions: the Capital, the Loyalists and the Democracies, all embroiled in endless intrigue and constant warfare.

Peace of the Eclipse, an uneasy truce between the three parties, still holds – barely. While man turns against man, the First, Pearseus’ indigenous people, wage their own ancient war against a shadowy enemy; a war that threatens to destroy all of humanity.

The story unfolds through the eyes of its protagonists. Egged on by unseen forces, Styx, the increasingly paranoid ruler of the Capital, terrorizes her subjects. In a burst of cruelty, she murders General Parad’s son and feeds him to his father during a banquet. David, a young servant of Styx, accidentally finds out about the planet’s ethereal inhabitants and is forced to flee the Capital. Lehmor and Moirah, a recently married First couple, are caught up in humanity’s scheming. And in the Democracies, Sol becomes ruler of the city of Anthea, determined to lead it into glory.
As war looms ever closer, the protagonists find their lives in danger at every turn. Can love be found in the ruins of humanity’s civilization?

Pearseus is a page-turning science fiction adventure with strong space opera and metaphysical elements.  It mixes blood-curling drama with psychology, religion, history and philosophy, to offer the reader an intense, thought-provoking tale with surprising twists. In the end, justice without compassion is but tyranny

Review 4 of 5 Stars

This book benefited from the bump that I give anything I would give a half star since I also post these on Amazon and Goodreads. For me, it was a solid 3.5 stars. The story was unique enough to keep my attention. There was a decent amount of action and it was an interesting story of the good versus bad variety with some alien help for both sides. In a lot of ways this story seemed like a study in what motivates humans and how they can be influenced especially on an emotional level.

The book description does a pretty good job of explaining what the story is about. With regard to readability, I didn’t have any problem getting through it. The story flowed pretty smoothly with no gaping holes. It could be a standalone work as it gives enough background that you can figure out what is going on without too much effort even if you accidentally read the second book before the first one like I did. The writing was good and descriptive. The story was well thought out. Several different characters are followed and the author did a good job with that. At no time was I confused about what was going on or how it all fit together. On the whole I enjoyed it.

There were a few places in the story where there were typos/editing errors (or something going on – words out of order) that kind of stopped me, but they were weird like something you would get from a translation program (or so it seemed to me). Not sure what was going on with those, but they just weren’t normal errors you generally find and as always I take off a little for editing problems that make me have to stop reading mid-sentence. Anyway, aside from that it was a solid read. I looked forward to getting back to the story when I had to put it aside. Even with the weird errors I’d recommend it for the price. I noticed that the author has packaged Book 1 and Book 2 (this one) together if you want to pick it up as a single purchase. If you give it a try, I hope you enjoy it as well.