First a quick explanation!
Due to some severe health issues over the last few years, and a lingering chronic condition, my planned review schedule went right out of the window and I have been scrabbling ever since to get it back on track.
In an attempt to try to regain some lost ground, I have been scrunching some of my (overdue) reviews together into one or two posts each week: shorter reviews, but still covering all of the points I intended to.
That’s the plan anyway, so let’s keep the 2025 momentum up with some more book love!
Title: The Seven Hungers: Brine Council
Author: Morgan Quaid
Publisher: Dark Ether Press
Blurb: Heed the Brine song, for the Old Gods have returned, and the world will drown in brine and darkness.
On the back of his confrontation with the Crimson King, formerly disgraced Crown sorcerer, Ambrose Drake, is sent to picturesque Port Douglas to investigate a curious emergence. Still reeling from his recent elevation to Regional Director, Drake and his companions are confronted by something ancient and hungry which has clawed its way out of the briny depths.
Drake must meet this challenge while struggling to control the powerful Sovereign who resides within his flesh, a Hungerborn being that threatens to tip the balance and send Drake and his companions to a watery death.
Brine Council is a fast-paced, urban fantasy thriller with horror elements throughout. Fans of The Dresden Files, The Laundry Files, Constantine, and Hellboy will love this second book in The Seven Hungers series.
**NOTE: This book contains graphic descriptions of nightmarish monsters, with a dash of gore. If you’re turned off by horror elements, this may not be the series for you. If you’re fine with a little creepy, monstery type terror, then fill your boots! **
Review: This is the second book in the Seven Hungers urban fantasy-horror series and, like the first, it is packed with loads of action and magic. I would definitely recommend reading the books in series order, as this picks up right where Book 1 left off, as Ambrose, Winter, Rook and Janus have to throw themselves straight into repelling another terrifying Hunger invasion while still reeling from the aftermath of the Crimson King events. Plus, there is loads of character backstory and worldbuilding which you need for some things to make sense!
This would have been an easy 5-star read for me (I love a bit of snarky, urban fantasy-noir!), if it wasn’t for how almost bullet-proof main character Ambrose feels from the very beginning of this story. By the end, I felt like he could get ripped into 2cm squares and I would still feel confident that he would somehow emerge more or less whole and still fighting. It does make his character fun to read and allows for constantly escalating levels of peril, but also lowers the stakes for me a little, as I couldn’t get a real sense of any limits to his power, resources or sheer dumb luck!
That aside, I really like all of the characters and worldbuilding, and how the plot is different from the first but slowly building on it too, and I am fascinated to find out more about the Hungers, Lilith, and how someone might possibly recover from long-term disembodiment, so I will definitely continue to follow this series with interest.
Purchase Link: Brine Council on Amazon
Title: Boneless
Author: Coyote JM Edwards
Publisher: Independently published
Blurb: A vampire without their wolf…
Grim’s best friend is missing. With the Ember Guard baffled and the list of victims growing by the day, Grim’s going to need a lot more than coffee and takeout to solve this case.
Grim can see the bones, but can they learn how to follow them alone? And how do you find a kidnapper whose captives steal themselves away?
The Ember Bones novellas feature an honest depiction of platonic intimacy, thrilling mysteries, and happy endings galore. Sink your teeth into this cozy modern fantasy.
Review: I actually found this short urban-fantasy-mystery-noir novella a little easier to get into than Unbury the Bones, as I felt like I had a better grip on the characters. The two novellas could easily be joined together to form one full-length story, in fact, as this story carries straight on from the cliffhanger ending in Book 1.
I really missed Argyle’s positive influence on the tone of the story here, as Grim is a much more sombre and reflective character and the two work well together to create a balance. I also found myself getting a little bit frustrated at how long it took for Grim to piece certain clues together which felt quite glaring to me, but then, I wasn’t struggling with the deep emotional distress that they were throughout the book!
As before, this is an interesting story world and characters that I would love to see more of – the unique lore and worldbuilding hiding behind just these short plots is so intriguing – so I will definitely be reading more Ember Bones in future too (I feel like I’m saying that a lot these days and my TBR pile never seems to get any smaller… I wonder if the two are related?!)
Purchase Link: Boneless on Amazon
Title: Pacific Dash
Author: Chet Nairene
Publisher: Banana Leaf Books
Blurb: PACIFIC DASH is a colorful new novel tracking the vagabond life journey of Dashiell Bonaventure, a young American who roams Asia for decades, visiting beaches, vice dens and casinos, all in pursuit of thrills and truth. This vivid work of gaudy fiction transports readers to exotic worlds and will delight all fans of armchair global travel, adventure fiction or romance.
In 1968, a job transfer catapults young Dash’s family across the globe, leaving the cornfields of Illinois for far-flung Hong Kong. In his youthful innocence, the teen believes this expatriate high school adventure is just a temporary detour but he is mistaken, for thus begins his lifelong odyssey drifting between continents and crisscrossing Asia in an adventure of self-discovery.
He roams for decades, traversing Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar and more. Eccentric and flamboyant personalities roll through his life as Dash wades through jungles, beaches, and cities of the Far East.
Along the way, he falls desperately in love but also makes bitter enemies. He saves lives and nearly loses his own, backpacking and motorcycling across Indonesia. He finds a gig working on an illegal floating casino offshore from Singapore. And as the decades pass, he eventually attains impossible wealth after pioneering the 1990s VIP gambling junket business in Macau, hosting ‘whale gamblers’ from across the region.
And that’s when his troubles REALLY begin.
PACIFIC DASH is the next best thing to taking your own journey down the colorful back alleys of Asia. Sparkling with anecdotes and color, this story is designed to charm readers by parachuting them into the festivals, culture, and vice dens of the Far East. Exhaustively researched and historically accurate, this book was written by a veteran “Old Asia Hand” and is an education in itself as to cultural practices and the astounding sites of SE Asia.
The story unwinds at a furious pace, truly a mad dash: From a sudden disaster at international high school in cosmopolitan Hong Kong … to fantasy years jetting around the globe as the collegiate protégé to the world’s reigning literary rock star … From a dreamlike backpacking idyll through culture-lush Indonesia … to an unplanned decade riding a sleazy floating casino in the Straits of Malacca … and finally on to Dash’s stunning rise to power as the wealthiest Westerner in Asia and king of Greater China’s casino business.
With PACIFIC DASH, readers experience life amongst Asia’s elite, the young princesses and princelings at the international high school in 1960s Hong Kong. They hang out with Aussie surfer dudes in Bali and go tromping down the 1970s hippie trail to Afghanistan, Nepal and beyond. They thrill to illegal high-stakes baccarat tables on the high seas and gorge on spicy foods eaten by hand off banana leaves. And they fall in love with the gorgeous Fiona Lo Ting-Ting and make friends with intriguing characters like Snakehead Goh, PY (Little Fatty) Lee, Chickie Schmidt and Jackson Toh.
This karma-laced tale is akin to a mash-up between a Paul Theroux travel narrative and Alex Garland’s ‘The Beach’ … with a pinch of Forrest Gump too, as amazing, unexpected adventures just keep happening to good old Dash. Many readers also liken it to the infamous “Flashman” series by George MacDonald Fraser.
PACIFIC DASH is the newest offering from BANANA LEAF BOOKS, a new imprint specializing in the adventures of Westerners adrift in Asia.
Review: Pacific Dash is a fictional travel memoir of the main character Dashiell Bonaventure. We start with Dash in Hong Kong for his schooldays, then follow him to Illinois, Bali, Malaysia before returning to Hong Kong in a grand finale that ties all of his disparate adventures together. He faces explosions, drownings, bike accidents, dabbles in gambling rackets with various crime lords, is kidnapped – the list of his action-packed encounters could go on and on, as he fits a lot of drama into the years covered in the book.
This is a really unusual and original book – a rollercoaster of highs and lows as Dash rides the wave of good and bad luck across Asia, somehow always miraculously coming out on top (just!) through sheer luck, karma or fate. His narrative voice is consistently naive and innocent, no matter what experiences and criminal elements he is exposed to and everything just seems to happen to him, to his perpetual surprise. (He reminded me very much of Robin Hobb’s passive protagonist characters like Fitz and/or Nevare, but transposed into a modern non-fantasy world.)
The plot seems to have a loose structure, with no real beginning or end, just a sequence of peaks and troughs which you can still see stretching out ahead of Dash after the final resolution.
There were a couple of aspects of the story that I struggled a little bit with: Dash’s view of women seems to categorise them all as either ugly bitches or exotic goddesses of beauty and goodness, with not a lot of nuance between, and he has a tendency towards casual racism – misnaming people with nonsense like Yin Tin Tong or Ning Nang Nong – with no malice but a cavalier attitude towards the feelings and humanity of other people which seems to characterise his entire approach to life. What the kids might call ‘real Main Character energy’!
But, luckily, you don’t have to like someone or agree with them to enjoy reading their action-packed life story and, taken as a fictional tour through Asian travel, landscapes and culture, this is very readable and entertaining.
Purchase Link: Pacific Dash on Amazon
Title: Happy Bastards
Author: Alex Monaco
Publisher: Monabooks Publishing
Blurb: Do you feel unsatisfied with your life, work, or relationships? F!*k satisfaction! There’s something more than happiness and success. Break through the limits society has put on you. Discover a meaningful life, full of bliss and joy, experienced by happy bastards.
Happy Bastards is a radical memoir and self-development book written by entrepreneur, blogger, and life provocateur Alex Monaco. Alex looks you straight in the eye and tells you your beliefs must change if you want to experience real bliss. And while unflinchingly exploding the delusions we tell ourselves, he also gently guides you to a new, better narrative for your life that will grant you the sheer joy you never thought possible.
If you like hard-won wisdom, in-your-face advice, and doing instead of complaining, then you’ll love Alex Monaco’s best-selling kick in the pants.
Here’s just some of what you get after reading this book:
- Increase your human value without any plastic surgeries, a perfect body, money, or “success.”
- Discover what a quality life really is!
- Become a more respected person in all areas of your life.
- Learn to create better goals and achieve them faster!
- Change your life and become the person you always wanted to be!
- Unlearn the Top Twelve beliefs that stop you from finding happiness and joy!
If you’re ready to accept the harsh truth and reframe your thinking, get your copy of the Happy Bastards manifesto today!
Review: Motivational non-fiction book Happy Bastards takes a look at the kind of people the author admires and wishes to emulate and sets out steps for how to manifest their life quality for yourself.
The author’s tone comes across as excited and enthusiastic, but also somewhat bombastic and didactic, depending on how you feel about this kind of motivational instruction. He appears to have supreme confidence that what works for him will work equally well for everyone and that the only reason people might fail to succeed is that they don’t try hard enough or believe in themselves enough.
The anecdotal evidence relies quite a lot on survivor bias and extrapolating to the general from the individual. For example, one woman mentioned was poisoned but ‘made up her mind’ to survive and did, so Monaco reasons that you needn’t die from so-called ‘certain death’ if you just fight hard enough and keep the right mindset. Of course, this discounts the possibility that many of those who did die in that situation also fought equally hard not to and ‘made up their minds’ not to but died anyway, so their stories don’t make it into the record. Monaco is keen to attribute any advantages he has in life to his hard work and positive mindset – and those clearly do contribute to his success – but his insistence of the universal application of these methods suggests that anyone who doesn’t have his advantages is just making excuses for not working hard enough or not having the confidence to take risks.
That said, the book contains some good, basic ideas about living life fully and in the moment; believing in yourself; putting your all into everything you do; and being more of a “happy bastard” in every situation. None of this is new, but Monaco’s simple, direct expression, forceful charisma and sheer exuberance are likely to help those messages reach new audiences who don’t usually subscribe to ‘mindfulness’ or ‘wellbeing’ ideas. And the book is full of rhetorical questions, imagination exercises and hyperbolic exhortations to keep the flow brisk, conversational and easy-to-digest.
To summarise the overall message of the book: work hard; believe in yourself; follow your goals; respect your value; don’t listen to anyone who wants to knock you down; keep a Positive Mental Attitude; be happy with what you have got and who you are, but also strive to do and be better; and be confident. All important lessons to master for good mental health and I can’t argue with any of them. Following those mantras is very likely to help transform you life into a more successful and positive version, if not the full Alex Monaco, HB version of it!
Purchase Link: Happy Bastards on Amazon
Title: 1000 Fun Facts for Immature Adults, Vol. 1
Author: Bryan Spektor
Publisher: Independently published
Blurb: If you want to flex your brainpower and impress just about everyone, then keep reading…
Did you know that the average adult produces enough saliva in their lifetime to fill two swimming pools?
Or that there’s a small town in Central America where fish literally fall from the sky every year without fail?
In today’s digital age, what’s life without selfies? Well, in the 1800s, getting a good shot in a snap was unheard of. Since being photographed back then would take hours, people had to wear back braces just to keep still.
Imagine adding these fun facts – and hundreds more – to your arsenal. They can be quite handy when you want to put an end to that excruciating awkard silence in social gatherings, stand out from the rest of your colleagues in the office, or simply dazzle your date.
After all, serving an earful of trivia just may be the quickest way to someone’s heart – as this book would tell you, hearing is your fastest sense with a near-instant response time of 0.05 seconds.
What’s more, knowing little tidbits of mind-blowing information may be just what you need to level up your “small talk” game.
At the very least, you can have hours and hours of highly entertaining conversations – just add a little dose of fascinating facts and you’re good to go!
Inside, here is just a small fraction of what you will discover:
- How to sound like a genius without having to do the hard work
- Seriously fun facts that will give your #adulting life a boost – who says being a grown-up has to be boring?
- Useful information that just may save your life… for instance, discover which fruits are laced with cyanide!
- Obscure facts that will help you conquer trivia game night – leave your opponents eating your dust every single time
- 100+ things to know about different cultures around the world – find out unique quirks and blend in with the locals wherever you go
- A treasure trove of cool facts, funny jokes, and even funnier drawings in every single chapter
- The secret to Marilyn Monroe’s famous hourglass figure – what did she eat every single morning to maintain her svelte physique?
And much more.
Remember when you were a kid and that amazing feeling you had whenever you found out something new?
There’s no stopping you from rekindling that simple joy of discovery, that wide-eyed curiosity, and that sense of childlike wonder… no matter what age you’re at.
Whether you’re into facts that sound too unbelievable (but are definitely true) or random bits about science, history, food, celebrities, your body, and the universe – or perhaps you’re just in need of a lifeline for long trips and family reunions – this book has got you covered.
Review: If you’re looking for something interesting and amusing to add to your toilet-library then this is definitely the book!
Although it is aimed at ‘immature adults’, there isn’t much that my curious 9-year-old couldn’t handle and it is written in a very accessible, quirky, light-hearted style, with plenty of humorous asides to keep things entertaining.
The facts cover all sorts of topics: animals; science; space; the environment; people; entertainment; sports… there is something for everyone in here.
This book would make a great novelty gift for a Secret Santa, stocking filler or birthday extra and the writing style alone made me want to read more from this author. I would recommend this to anyone who likes ‘strange but true’ style trivia, pub quizzes or just funny writing in general.
Purchase Link: 1000 Fun Facts for Immature Adults on Amazon
I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, so it is rare for me to have two in one batch – one the motivational screed from Alex Monaco and the other a collection of fun facts from Bryan Spektor.
The Morgan Quaid fantasy and Coyote JM Edwards novella are both the second in their respective series, so I already knew what to expect there – check here for my reviews of Crimson King and Bury the Bones – whereas Chet Nairene’s fictional travel memoir was a completely new one for me.
Support indie authors by giving a try to whichever takes your fancy, and don’t forget to leave a review if you enjoy it! Happy reading, keep shining, and stay cosy in this chilly spell 🙂
