Wolf (Book 2, Were Chronicles) --by Alma Alexander

Fiction / Fantasy

199 pages / 499 KB

5 Stars

It will be a long wait until Book #3, Shapeshifter, is out!

Book 1 in the series was Jazz's book. This book is her brother's book. It's all about Mal, and how he was able to manipulate the system so that when he turned, he became Wolf. What he didn't count on were all of the consequences.

Within a couple of weeks, he was taken by the Prime Alpha, to his new home, his new family, and not allowed contact with his birth family. Normal for those born into the Pack, but not for someone who knew and loved his family.

As a new Wolf, he lived on the compound, was watched, scrutinized, educated, and eventually, mated with Asia. All wolves are scientists, and his education leads to that end.

While accompanying his mate to one of the Turning Houses, where those were who are not lucky enough to have their own space must go for their 3 days of animalhood, he sees his sister, Celia. The sister he blamed himself for killing. The sister he loved and missed. And she is one of the 'half souled' — alive, but not in her body, due to the overdose of drugs she took years ago. The drugs that her little brother got for her so she could miss a Turn and meet her favorite author.

Mal vows to rescue her, with or without his mate's help. He must be loyal to his Pack, but he is also loyal to his birth family, and those loyalties do not mesh.

Wolves are, if nothing else, loyal. Extremely loyal, and by the time Mal and Asia get into serious trouble, they are in love, and have a cub on the way. They are not only mated, but bonded, and loyal to each other. This loyalty, and the Law of the Pack, come into play, in a somewhat surprising way.

This was a one-sit read. Literally. I enjoyed it so much that I skipped housework and read the book. Take your book, find a 'cave' to crawl into where you can read undisturbed and in comfort, and run with the wolves, at least for a while.

Another great book by Alma Alexander!

Random --by Alma Alexander

Fiction / Fantasy  

254 pages / 475 KB

5 Stars            

I had a hard time putting it down. Yes, it's YA, but it is suitable for any adults who enjoy a good fantasy about Weres. It's not filled with teen angst, or lust, or horny were-wolves, it's about a family of Randoms.

Like all weres, Randoms change with the full moon, usually starting about age 15, but they don't necessarily become true within a family. The first time they change, they change on the last warm- blooded animal they see as they change. Jazz's father is a cat, her mother a chicken. Jazz's sister, Celia was a cat, and Jazz? Well, she's a surprise. A true Random. A Wild Card in the mix.

Celia and Mal were youngsters when their family is forced to leave the Old Country and come to the New Country. As Shape-shifters, they were forced into being second class citizens, they were ostracized and during the three days of the full moon cycle, they were locked away, either in Turning Houses or in state approved rooms in their own homes where they turned from human to whatever.

Celia, the oldest child, spoke with an accent, and was quiet, intelligent, and gangly. She was bullied, not only by her peers, but by her teachers. The bullying and resulting emotional upheaval forced her to change, in public, in full view of everyone, which made the bullying worse. She dies before graduation, forced into it by one of her teachers.

Mal, younger, becomes angry and sullen, and Jazz, the baby, born in the New Country, is pulled out of school, and taught at home. She is protected from everyone. Her parents guard her, determined she will not be taken from them as Celia was.

Slightly before she changes for the first time, she finds Celia's diaries, and makes some startling discoveries that neither her parents nor her sullen older brother know. When she changes into something impossible, the family is thrown into fits, and it comes out that she knows about the death, and it was not suicide, as her parents thought, but accidental.

This story is a great story about teens who are "different" and coming of age, dealing with that difference, be it skin color, accent, or whatever. It's a good story on the damage that bullying causes, and how many students who are bullied do not report it, and why. And it's not always peers who do the bullying. It's about how people are turned into second class citizens, often with their agreement, though not their approval.

Alma Alexander has written a marvelous story, and frankly, I'm delighted that Wolf, #2 in the series is out, but I'm not gonna be happy when I finish it and have to wait for #3.

Abducticon --Alma Alexander

Abducticon —by Alma Alexander

Fiction / Science Fiction

199 Pages / 573 KB

5 Stars

No, that is NOT a typo in the title.

If you've ever been to a Science Fiction/Fantasy convention, 'con' to most people, you will love this book. If you've ever been involved in a con, either in setting one up, working one, or as a guest, you will recognize every single person Ms. Alexander writes abut. Perhaps not every single episode that happens, as, well, the entire con and the hotel, complete with mundane guests, is hijacked by time-traveling androids and taken for a ride around the moon.

Wouldn't that be a con to end all cons? And the reactions from the gamers? Absolutely priceless! Everything you could possibly want in a con is in this book, up to and including the replicators.

If you like cons, you will absitively posolutely LOVE this book. This is truly one of the funniest SF books I've read in years. Job well done, Alma Alexander!

Buy this book. Read this book. Review this book. 

How much does a world weigh? Will it fit in your pocket?

Weight of Worlds –by Alma Alexander

Fiction, Short Stories

828 KB

5 Stars

Ms. Alexander publishes several of her short stories in what she calls "triads" and this collection is a collection of some of those triads. They range from a god and his marbles to the world as seen through the point of view of a cat.

There is a feeling of old style fairy tales in this collection. Although none of the stories have a "happy ever after" ending (thank heavens!), they all have very satisfying endings, and none are particularly sad, they are the logical conclusions to the stories being told.

My biggest complaint was there just weren't enough of the stories!

Ms. Alexander is a marvelous writer, and definitely knows how to spin a yarn, and she knows just exactly the length it needs to be.

Some may find the introductions at the beginnings of each book and the stories a bit off-putting, but they are free to skip them and go right into the story proper. I, however, enjoyed them. (I also love Prologues and Prefaces and Epilogues. But, then, I also read foot notes.)

They are stories to be read again.