Onward with Kindle Freebies

It seems as though our friends at Amazon are getting better at offering the free Kindle format books which others automatically do.

What this means is that I have been able to download some favourites free from such authors as:

David Drake
Andre Norton
David Weber
Eric Flint

This has kept me going over the Easter holidays and reminded me of  such characters as Daniel Leary and Adele Mundy,  Honor Harrington  and many others. Witch World novels, Merlin's Mirror, Star Soldiers and 1632 are all well worth a read.

I think I will be keeping on with my following of the free lists in Kindle for a while more ...........

Kindle freebies - the search for entertainment

Nope, not trying to be patronising, in fact the opposite. I am trying to share my experience on the wealth of good stories, authors and entertainment available within the FREE book section of Kindle's Fiction.

After reading good reviews and purchasing stories, only to be disappointed, I decided to change my tack. Therefore what I did was to choose stories from the Free Books section on Kindle. Following reviews helped, but I was looking for new authors (for me) from whom I would be willing to purchase further works.

The beauty with this approach, is that regularly you get a mix of books produced by recognised authors (free for a limited period) interspersed with new self-published material. It's a no-lose scenario for your pocket and you are rewarded with some great stories. Now, I do admit that there are a similar number of less polished works which flick across your reader, but I found myself more willing to perservere and with less frustration due to the simple fact that I have not paid for this material.

My internal review of work, which will spill forth onto page soon, was much more objective without the pressure of purchase.

Why not try the process? After all it costs nothing but your time...

Here are some of the latest stories I have found and enjoyed:

Wyvern by A.A. Attanasio (Historical Fiction)
Bad Company by John Childress (Action and Adventure)
Dawn Of The Tiger by Gus Frazer (Action and Adventure)
Magnificent Guns of Seneca 6 by Bernard Schaffer (SF/Western)
Bakkian Chronicles, Book 1 - The Prophecy by Jeffrey Poole (Fantasy)
Q - A Thriller by K D George (Action and Adventure)
The Wrecking Crew (Janac's Games) by Mark Chisnell (Crime, Thriller and Mystery)
Hell's Gate by Michael Parker (Historical Fiction)

Spinward Fringe - Origins by Ralph Lalonde

This is something I downloaded as it was free and had lots of good reviews. I certainly wasn`t disappointed. This is a well-written space opera which the right mix of underdogs, heroes and villains. The world building and characters go well together and the technology is believable. Most of all though it's a great adventure, lots of excitement, space battles and enough of a plot to keep you hooked all the way through.

The main character is Jonas Valent who starts off as an unsatisfied worker who gets his kicks from illegally taking part in military simulations. Once caught out he is tested and sent with his crew to find new allies, technology and defeat his home colony's enemies.

Great FREE start to a series I'm enjoying.

a very clear FOUR AND A HALF out of FIVE.

Review of The Prophet of Panamindorah by Abigail Hilton

This is something different. It is well read and works as an Audiobook. I originally listened to her other work - The Guild of The Cowry Catchers - which is set after this trilogy. She has created a unique world, with its own species, yet manages to convey human emotions to her characters.

The Prophet trilogy tells of the coming of age of its main character Corellian, yet provides a backdrop of war, scheming, backstabbing and excitement. Many characters take part, each race having its protagonist and reflecting the nature of the beasts which form it. These semi-human creatures love, fight and die amidst a world of magic. Although at times it flirts with being a YA novel it is definitely targetted at a more mature audience.

Split into concise episodes and manageable parts, the author reads well and captured me very quckly. I have now gone back to listen to the second series with pleasure. Although this is now availabe in a Kindle version, I listened to all of the podiobooks one after another and will listen to them again.

Well done Abigail and I look forward to further books in this series.

My rating is a clear FOUR AND A HALF out of FIVE.

Review of Tertiary by John Coppinger

Another from my Pitch Me! SF Thread. This was a good sample size, unlike a couple of short stories which barely allowed a written sample after the author's notes and preamble.

Tertiary tells the tale of a Dinosaurian civilization which leaves clues and messages within what at first appear as fossilized remains. A secret code and visions begin to affect the original three-person archeological crew, whose disbelief is gradually turned to certainty. The sample takes us from the original dig site, to the scientists laboratory (introducing other characters along the way) and even to their own flats as the back story builds. Visions of terrible happenings hint at danger and the need for help.

All in all a promising start to the novel, even including a drawing (well done as well) of the dig site. My only concern was a little over the formatting - there appeared no breaks between scene changes, causing one paragraph to run into another and leaving me to go back and check when we had, for instance, arrived at the laboratory, or Laura's flat. This interrupted the flow and made it seem slower than it was in reality.

As I said, good promising start, with a believable storyline and characters. Sorting out the scene changes would have raised the mark. THREE AND A HALF out of FIVE from me.

Review of Vallar by Cindy Borgne

This story tells the tale of a colonized Mars where everyone wants to get back to Earth and feels that the way to do so is amalgamate all the corporate factions into one. It is told through the eyes of Ian Connors, one of a pair of psychics used by a rather dour Admiral Beacon. Expansion through subjugation seems to be the order of the day here, which sets up a back-plot of conflict between the gentle Ian and authority. Oh, and there's a mysterious girl involved as well.

Vallar has all the ingredients of a light Sci-Fi tale, and I would guess this is more of a YA novel in outlook. No great or shocking technology, aliens or unexplainable science.

The downloaded sample, this was one from my Pitch Me! thread too, starts off a little slowly for me, but picks up from Chapter Two onwards, until by the end of the read I was engaged. My nitpick, if any, is that from a personal viewpoint the gentleness of the tale did only that, engage me. There was no grabbing me by the collar and dragging me along, or unexpected twists and hidden challenges leaping out to shock me. Yes, I know, as a reader perhaps I am a little strange.

So, for me THREE out of FIVE - a nice, gentle tale, to while away the hours.

Review of Dead Mech by Jake BIble

This is another story I listened to as an Audiobook. The write-up drew me in with the story line of Mechs, Zombies and Zombies in Mechs. I wasn't sure what a Drabble novel was, and the idea of the book written in 100 word slices kind of raised some questions - as an audiobook it works.

It's set in a post-apocolyptic world, with Mechs created to combat zombies. Then the Mech Pilots become zombies and all hell breaks loose. I liked the way we followed a unit whose task was to use their brains, technology and firepower to rid the world of deaders. Then we had the manic Dead Mechs stuffing food (bodies) directly into their cockpits all the while indiscriminately killing. An out-of-kilter government, nasty human survivors where the strongest took what they wanted and, did I mention zombies?

If you like zombie novels, violence, descriptive gore and an anarchic fun ride, then you'll love this. As an Audiobook, as I said it works, the only detraction being the, in my opinion, overly long introduction and ads at the back - I just wanted the action. However, once it started, then no complaints from me.

I'll be interested to see how this trilogy pans out, as I'm not sure how you maintain this type of ride through three books. Fun to find out though. FOUR out of FIVE from me.