Heart of Granit - James Barclay

The world has become a battleground in a war which no side is winning. But for those determined to retain power, the prolonged stalemate cannot be tolerated so desperate measures must be taken.

Max Halloran has no idea. He's living the brief and glorious life of a hunter-killer pilot. He's an ace in the air, on his way up through the ranks, in love, and with his family's every need provided for in thanks for his service, Max has everything . . .

. . . right up until he hears something he shouldn't have, and refuses to let it go. Suddenly he's risking his life and the lives of all those he cares about for a secret which could expose corruption at the highest levels, and change the course of the war.

One man, one brief conversation . . . a whole world of trouble . . . 

My thoughts:

It's sci-fi, but at the same time, there is not a lot of sci-fi, but at the same time it's everywhere. Because when it's on it's on! It's Top Gun with dragons, but to be fair I can not remember a single thing from that movie so maybe it's wrong to compare those two. Let us begin.

There are dragons, but see they are not really dragons. It's alien DNA spliced with other to create these things that you can fly in. Live in (oh that was freaking insane). And they need to to fight for control of earth. Because as we can see today we are using too much of our resources, and in this future it's a constant war to get more to feed your inhabitants. 

A lot of the book is aerial battles, it's very heavy military sc-fi, it always take me some time to get into because I tend to get into that easier by watching than reading. Lots going on at the same time, and what a cool movie that would make.

But there is more than aerial battles. Holloran, a pilot, learns something he should not learn. Conspiracy alert. A pilot's life is also really short since that whole sitting in your dragon, hearing it's mind will make you crack.

I would have liked to learn more about the alien DNA. Since there are no aliens here, but the whole aliens has been here thing that hits you and explains one thing was fascinating.

Conclusion:
Battles in the sky, a country using their own as fodder for war. Insane pilots, and one that just wont let it go. It was innovative and cool

But I did have a hard time this time with the whole military thing.  Mostly cos of the many battles.

Paperback, 416 pages
Expected publication: August 18th 2016 by Gollancz
Sci.fi
In exchange for an honest review

Review: Once Walked with Gods - James Barclay

Series: Elves 1
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 400
Published: July 14th 2011 Gollancz

The elves have fled to Calius, seeking to escape the overwhelming power of the demonic Garonin. A desperate last stand in their own dimension saved the race, at the cost of 100,000 elves lost to the Garonin. The elf who led that fight, Takaar, is blamed for the losses and has gone into hiding. Now the weakened elf race is tearing itself apart in civil war, human mercenaries have arrived in Calius and are ripping the continent apart. Only one elf can unite the elves. And only one elf believes in him. A young warrior named Auum sets out to bring back the shamed hero and save the elven race.

My thoughts:

This is the start to a new fantasy series set in a world the author knows well. He has written other books that take place 3000 year after this one and now he has gone back to look at the history of the elves. Or what I felt it to be, the massacre and destruction of them.

The elves have one big enemy, themselves. They are made up from different threads, let's just say races, and those will now start to fight between themselves and they especially go after the leaders. Their world is breaking apart. Oh those stupid elves, the whole point behind all of this is for some to get power and they use humans to do it. But we all know you can't trust humans. The elves should have known better. The whole book turns into one horrific slaughter. It is the the big bad Empire/Colonists/you name it who turns on the natives for their resources and slave labour and the elves have nothing to put up against the magic the humans wield. Just as other "explorers" had firepower.

But do not think all is lost. No the elves have one group of fighters who can take on anyone, they are just so few. And then there is Takar who is crazy and lives alone in the forest and 90% of the elves hate him after he left the elves on their home world to die. But he had to save the new world. I understand.

The thing that bothered me was that I had a hard time getting into this book. It felt confusing since everything happened so fast, it is truly action fantasy. Also the names, I had no idea who was a boy or a girl and it took quite some time to get it all in. Maybe in the end there was too much happening for me. I usually say I am not that into character driven novels but here I would have wanted more.

But even with those troubles I still got really fascinated because I want to know what will happen to this poor elven nation. I just want to go there and kick out those humans. I also wondered what happens in those later books since that would leave me clues of the state of the elves in this world.

Conclusion:

It left me with a funny feeling. The book was not for me but still I crave more. The author was just that good. I really do want to know what happens next. He has a good voice and imagination, I will give him that. Because of that I would still recommend it to people who like they fantasy a bit more action filled.

Rating:

ok

Cover

cool

Source; For review

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My flash fiction

Two stories :D One to make Melissa happy and another to please other Melissa