M. A Gardner

I sort of stumbled upon this book while looking around at the Kboards forum and the striking cover drew my interest enough to read the plot description on Amazon. Lest to say, I purchased the book immediately and I was not in the least disappointed.

Nala and her bubbly and overly optimistic older sister Hazina were kidnapped from a conquered village in Egypt and sold into slavery. Shackled to a group of another 14 young women and forced to take turns pushing a cart while walking in China's desertic wastelands with blisters forming on her bare feet, Nala has been left daunted by the horrors of mankind and probably hates herself even more than the slave trader that merely sees her as a passing commodity and the men that want to buy her.

A part of her wishes she could find the courage to commit suicide, but she fears for her sister's fate who tries to remain upbeat that at least they are still together. Angered at herself that she is jealous of her sister's beauty and cheerful demeanor, she would do anything to break free and revenge the corrupt Han society for what they did to her.

After kicking a potential client that tried to fondle Hazina, Nala is saved from a brutal beating from the slave trader by a strange man that covered his face and whose piercing amber eyes stroke Nala's interest immediately. Much to her surprise, the man decides to purchase all 15 women at the same time and they end up in a luxurious estate enjoying the perks of adequate food and silk clothing.

Without knowing the identity of the man and the reasons why he purchased them, one day his servants begin requesting the women to leave their safe room in order to meet him in person. They never return the following day. The women start getting nervous that they might have been purchased by a renowned gladiator that is rumored to routinely murder his sex slaves.

When it was Hazina's turn to leave, Nala offers to take her place and hiding a dagger beneath her dress, she greets the strange man by attempting to kill him. Shocked by her hatred and drive, the man gives her a strange offer: he will allow her to attempt to murder him once every night and if she misses the chance, she is obliged to talk a little bit about her home and persona or else he will murder the other hostages.

Can Nala outwit this strange man that is argued to be the best fighter in the land and discover his true intentions before it is too late?

Majestically written with a poetic yet very fluid prose, you get into Nala's troubled head while she fights between two conflicting thoughts of hating and at the same time starting to harbor true feelings for the mysterious man that purchased her. Hazina only makes fleeting appearances in the story but you truly feel Nala's suffering as a slave, the painful bruises on her shackled limbs, the immobility and the emptiness of being unable to choose her fate. The pacing of the story keeps things moving yet granting you a chance to get to know the cast and overall it was a really pleasing short story to read.

I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes open for this author that shows great promise and hope his other fantasy themed books are just as thrilling to read.… (mehr)

I sort of stumbled upon this book while looking around at the Kboards forum and the striking cover drew my interest enough to read the plot description on Amazon. Lest to say, I purchased the book immediately and I was not in the least disappointed.

Nala and her bubbly and overly optimistic older sister Hazina were kidnapped from a conquered village in Egypt and sold into slavery. Shackled to a group of another 14 young women and forced to take turns pushing a cart while walking in China's desertic wastelands with blisters forming on her bare feet, Nala has been left daunted by the horrors of mankind and probably hates herself even more than the slave trader that merely sees her as a passing commodity and the men that want to buy her.

A part of her wishes she could find the courage to commit suicide, but she fears for her sister's fate who tries to remain upbeat that at least they are still together. Angered at herself that she is jealous of her sister's beauty and cheerful demeanor, she would do anything to break free and revenge the corrupt Han society for what they did to her.

After kicking a potential client that tried to fondle Hazina, Nala is saved from a brutal beating from the slave trader by a strange man that covered his face and whose piercing amber eyes stroke Nala's interest immediately. Much to her surprise, the man decides to purchase all 15 women at the same time and they end up in a luxurious estate enjoying the perks of adequate food and silk clothing.

Without knowing the identity of the man and the reasons why he purchased them, one day his servants begin requesting the women to leave their safe room in order to meet him in person. They never return the following day. The women start getting nervous that they might have been purchased by a renowned gladiator that is rumored to routinely murder his sex slaves.

When it was Hazina's turn to leave, Nala offers to take her place and hiding a dagger beneath her dress, she greets the strange man by attempting to kill him. Shocked by her hatred and drive, the man gives her a strange offer: he will allow her to attempt to murder him once every night and if she misses the chance, she is obliged to talk a little bit about her home and persona or else he will murder the other hostages.

Can Nala outwit this strange man that is argued to be the best fighter in the land and discover his true intentions before it is too late?

Majestically written with a poetic yet very fluid prose, you get into Nala's troubled head while she fights between two conflicting thoughts of hating and at the same time starting to harbor true feelings for the mysterious man that purchased her. Hazina only makes fleeting appearances in the story but you truly feel Nala's suffering as a slave, the painful bruises on her shackled limbs, the immobility and the emptiness of being unable to choose her fate. The pacing of the story keeps things moving yet granting you a chance to get to know the cast and overall it was a really pleasing short story to read.

I'm definitely going to be keeping my eyes open for this author that shows great promise and hope his other fantasy themed books are just as thrilling to read.… (mehr)

Starting in 1898 with the final throws of the Martian invasion, humanity is at a breaking point. However, the human bacteria prove deadly to the Martians and on mass, they die, leaving their advanced technology for the humans to scavenge. Skipping ahead to 1924, the world leaders have decided it’s time to take the fight to Mars and a massive invasion is launched.

I’m a fan of HG Wells’s works, including the original War of the Worlds. So of course I was thrilled to dive into a novel that told a story of what humans did afterwards. How does a failed Martian invasion change the course of humanity’s history? Gardner and Rust give a decent answer to that question.

I think this book would have extra interest to those who have studied WWI. There’s plenty of European and North American names to recognize in this novel such as Charles de Gaulle, Rommel, George Patton, and so on. You don’t have to be particularly knowledgeable about any of these historical figures to enjoy their characters in this tale. I was a bit surprised that the Asian countries weren’t represented at all. Also, since it was a world wide Martian invasion in 1898, I was initially hopeful to see how that great leap in tech affected many of the countries in Africa and South America. Alas, those continents are barely mentioned.

There’s plenty of great tech in this tale. First, I really enjoyed that some tested and true war machines of WWI were in this book, like the Fokker airplanes. There’s also some brand new vehicles made especially for the Martian invasion. However, I did notice that the physics of Mars was skimmed over when it came to actual battles.

Now, let me get out my little polished soap box. There is exactly 1 female character (Nurse Hill) in this entire book and she doesn’t appear until the last hour of the story and she isn’t plot relevant at all. There’s a few other ladies mentioned as wives or mothers. This pains me. Here we are in this fascinating science fiction novel that’s essentially about the survival of the species, and the women aren’t present. Sigh…

OK, so moving on. I loved that we got a look into Martian society through the Martian characters. Their society is suffering from stagnation and the inability for their leaders to admit that there’s a real threat coming from Earth. I really enjoyed watching the various Martians struggle with this.

The pacing of the story is good with strategy, reflection, and action all well intermingled. I never suffered from battle fatigue nor did I feel that the story bogged down here or there. As an aside, I liked that Hitler was receiving psychiatric help and was an exceptionally minor character in this book.

I received a free copy of this book via The Audiobook Worm.

The Narration: Samuel Hoke was a very good fit for this story. He performed several different accents as needed and was consistent with them throughout the story. Each character was distinct.… (mehr)