Story
From the cover…
They call them revivors – technologically reanimated corpses – and away from the public eye, they do humanity’s dirtiest work. In the near future, where a never-ending war drones on, they are the infantry. Back home, they sustain a black-market trade in labor and pleasure models.
Nico Wachalowski is an FBI agent investigating the revivor black-market. While undercover to bust a smuggling ring trading in revivors for the sex trade, Nico uncovers something far more sinister.
Someone wants to start a war, and the best front line troops are the ones that are already dead.
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Ender’s (Authorized) Companion
The Authorized Ender Companion is an encyclopedia to the universe of Ender’s Game. Jake Black has compiled detailed character summaries, technical specifications and essays regarding various aspects of the Ender series created by Orson Scott Card.
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Once upon a time, Chattacon was held at the Read House in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was a good-sized regional convention with attendance in the 1500 range. I don’ t know what their numbers were this year, but it seemed sparse. Chattacon now makes its home in the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn.
Chattanooga Choo Choo Locomotive
The Choo Choo is a converted railway station on 24 acres, with a decommissioned wood-burning locomotive on display. (I’m told the train was built in 1880, and last used by the Smoky Mountain Railroad in 1940s) There are passenger cars that have been converted into sleeping rooms. The accommodations are spread out, but the staff is helpful and cheery. We were in “Hotel III”, and aside from having a wait for the bell cart and attendant, it was a painless check-in.
We had a mutual brain TILT moment when we first entered the hallway of Hotel III. The long, narrow corridor was brightly decorated, and strangely reminiscent of The Shining. Fortunately for us, there were no Twins in that corridor. They only appeared in our imagination, and our fingers remained mute and still. The secure wireless connection sucked wind, but other unsecured connections were available. Read more
Story
Jaime Waterman was part of the first mission to Mars. During his exploration of the barren surface he found signs of life, structures built for some unknown purpose. Thanks to a celestial claims law, and Jaime’s Native American heritage, the Navaho Nation is in charge of Mars.
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It’s been a busy week for me. I’ve got a lot back-end tweaks done and I’m working on even more. Once I get things done I might release a couple of ‘em as plug-ins. We’ll see how useful they are to everyone here at FanaticSpace first. I got some comment formatting done too. Finally found a way to check and see if the commentator is a crew member here without having to hard code anything. That’s easier on me because that means I can add to the Crew without changing code.
Speaking of adding to the FanaticSpace Crew, there are two new authors. That means more cool stuff to look forward to.
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Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness continues Erec’s adventures in Alypium. Can it improve on the strong beginning of the story found in Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye?
Story
Erec returns to the Kingdom of the Keepers when he learns that Balor Stain may become King. The only way to stop Balor is to return and perform the quests to become King himself.
It won’t be easy. Baskania has been hard at work in Erec’s absence. A cleaver PR campaign to cast doubt on Erec has taken hold. No one even believes that he is Erec Rex. What they do believe is that Erec cheated during the competition and that Balor Stain is the real winner.
How do you help people that don’t want your help?
My Opinion
How does The Monsters of Otherness stack up against The Dragon’s Eye?
Pretty darn well. The story moves forward and you start to get a look at the overall structure of the story. Kaza has said that part of the basis of the story is the trials of Hercules. The quests that Erec has to perform are certainly Herculean.
The first book, Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye, was a great introduction to the world of Erec Rex. The Monsters of Otherness is where the action really gets started. Not only do we get to see Alypium again, we also get to see some very different parts of the magical world.
Magical and mythological creatures were talked about quite a bit in the previous book. This time they’re a huge part of the story. The magical world of Erec Rex is expanded and explored. Erec’s history is expanded too. We learn a little more about his past and why he is so important in this book.
What I liked
Everything from the First Book. All the strong points of the first book are still there.
Mythological Creatures. I really enjoyed Kaza’s version of the creatures of myth and legend. There’s some pretty cool stuff going on in Otherness.
Snail Mail. I just found that funny. I guess it appealed to the geek in me.
Jam Crinklecut. The best butler ever.
What I didn’t like
Rosco Kroc. To be fair, I don’t think he’s supposed to be likeable. He seems affable and charming to some of the characters in the book, but I think the reader is supposed to be suspicious of him. That isn’t why he made the list though. He’s mentioned here because of my theories about him. I won’t leave any spoilers here, but I’ll start a discussion about it in the forum if you want to check it out.
Verdict
Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness is a great follow up to Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye. It not only retains the charm and action of the first book, it builds on it. It expands the magical world and ups the stakes for Erec.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who has read The Dragon’s Eye. I’d also recommend reading the Dragon’s Eye if you haven’t already, just so you can read this one.
I’m already looking forward to the rest of the books in the series.
