I love finding new local authors and Jeffrey Cook has set up another great AFK event you simply must check out! For more information, see the flyer below or visit the event’s facebook page here.
Tag Archives: Sechin Tower
Book Review: Ghost Storm by Sechin Tower
Ghost Storm by Sechin Tower
A YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel published by Sechin Tower (07/17/15)
Summary:
“…sometimes it’s better to stand out badly than to fit in adequately.” (Page 68).
Dean Lazarchek is still dean of students at the Mechanical Science Institute… for now. He still feels inadequate to lead his students and to keep them from harm, after all he was just a firefighter before he stepped in to fill his dead fiancé’s role as dean. She left large shoes to fill, but after fighting off the near destruction of the world as we know it, another threat looms on the horizon and this one has memory lane written all over it. Will Dean be able to prove to himself that he’s right for the job and save his students?
Keywords:
Tesla, Twain, Scientists, Hackers, Save the World, University, Experiments, Mad Scientists, Explosions, Bad Guys, Danger, Thugs, Technology, Clueless, Lighting, Storms
My Review:
Ghost Storm is told only from the point of view of Dean and in the beginning he’s a bit pessimistic/depressing/sad. I miss the chaotic brain of Soap and her female perspective in Ghost Storm. Having the POV of just one person and for him to be a grieving adult, pushes this third book in the series to a more advanced age group. There are explosions and evil and fighting to save the world still, but the mood and tone of the narrator makes for a more ‘adult’ book that would probably appeal more to an adultier audience.
Soap, a character we grew to love in books one and two is almost nonexistant in this third book. Most of the students are given less time and less action in this book, though we are introduced to a new student who helps to save the day, Cake.
Technology and science in the book is cool, still above my head, but way cool the things that they can do. The technology really is able to move the plot along, for without the Predecessors and their Teslanium there would be no bid to end the world or to destroy everything in the name of saving the world.
This novel was published by Sechin Tower on July 17th, 2015 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 4.25
Links for more information:
Local Event: Destination Staycation at the AFK Renton, WA June 27
8 local independent authors come together for one event. Selling and signing books all afternoon and evening.
AJ Downey, Sechin Tower, Lee French, Connie Jasperson, Lindsay Schopfer, Stephen Matlock, David Moore and Jeffrey Cook are the featured authors this time around.
at 2:00pm – 9:00pm
Next Week · 90°F / 60°F Clear
AFK Elixirs & Eatery
3750 E Valley Rd, Renton, Washington 98055
I’m excited to see some authors I’ve been reading and meet some new ones! Who’s coming down for burgers, beers, and/or books???
Book Review: The Non-Zombie Apocalypse by Sechin Tower
The Non-Zombie Apocalypse by Sechin Tower
A YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel published by Siege Tower Entertainment (07/16/14)
Summary:
“So zombies just remind me that you only have to be afraid of what you don’t understand.” (Page 49).
The Non-Zombie Apocalypse picks up just weeks after the Mad Scientist’s Institute leaves off with Sophie continuing her education at the Mechanical Science Institute and learning how to be a college student at just 16 years old. Though this book could stand alone, it features many of the same characters as the first book.
The Professor is at it again, but with a different sort of doomsday device, a zombie-like ‘non-zombie’ infection that will control the minds of everyone it comes into contact with. It is up to Sophie and her gang of misfit scientists at the Institute, along with her firefighter turned dean uncle ‘Dean Squared,’ to figure out what’s going on and how to stop it and save everyone (again).
Keywords:
Robot, zombies, non-zombies, DNA, Tesla, scientist, scientist heroine, Teslapunk, save the world, University, Mad Scientists, explosions, bad guys, misunderstood, danger
My Review:
I adore Sophie. She’s like the young adult version of Don in The Rosie Project by Graeme Simson. She is quirky and logical to a fault and in many social situations she misinterprets or misunderstands or can’t see social cues at all! Her interpretation of social interactions is adorable and hilarious at times. She is a character that everyone has met at one point or another in their lives and her perspective is fascinating.
Again, just like in Mad Scientist’s Institute, Soap displays her naïve/trusting behavior when she signs away her patent rights without a second thought to the consequences or ulterior motives from the same University president who tried to get her expelled just a month prior. Soap follows Creeper McCreeper into a dark and abandoned garage without too much suspicion. Even though now she’s seen some consequences of being trusting and naïve, she’s still unheeding of potential negative consequences.
It was quite clever of Tower to reintroduce all the characters and the setting in the first few chapters of this novel so that the reader didn’t have to read The Mad Scientist’s Institute before the Non-Zombie Apocalypse (I still recommend reading book one before book two). Tower used the same technique employed in the Animorphs series of describing the current characters and the current environment as a continuation of the story. This was done in a clever manner and I really liked how Tower handled making the second book in a series a complete standalone. Each book in this series is and will be conclusive and each subsequent book takes the same characters you’ve built a relationship with and continues with them on a different adventure.
This novel was published by Siege Tower Entertainment on July 16th, 2014 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 4.50
Links for more information:
Book Review: Mad Science Institute by Sechin Tower
Mad Science Institute by Sechin Tower
A YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novel published by Siege Tower Entertainment (12/09/11)
Summary:
“that’s the fun part about science: there are always mysteries to unravel.” (Page 123).
Sophie grew up in a world where electronics were readily available and her failed science experiments were continuously cleaned up by her father. After destroying the science fair and her chances of getting into a top school like MIT, Soap accepts her application to the Mechanical Science Institute in small town Bugswallow, Minnesota. Her cousin, Dean is waiting to meet her there, as he just accepted a position as dean of the Institute, even though he’s really only a fireman. There’s more than simply hidden labs and secret inventions afoot at the Institute, there are thugs and evil scientists who want to take the Institute’s secrets and use them for nefarious and evil purposes. It is up to Soap and Dean to stop the unknown ‘Professor’ from stopping the world as we know it.
Keywords:
Robot, college, creatures, Tesla, EMP, bad guys, Teslapunk, Doomsday, save the world, danger, Scientist Heroine, clueless
My Review:
Soap was so naïve it was cute. It was only through her ineptitude with the real world that the plot was able to proceed as it did. She allowed the bad guys to implicate her father, to get inside the Institute, and almost shut down the security systems for the entire building. Thankfully, her stupidity stopped her there. Tower almost took her naivety too far, but it is still barely believable. She’s only 16, though she is a genius, she has never really been involved in something nefarious and has no reason not to trust others. Soap is also adorably ignorant of social norms and her thought processes as she attempts to mimic normal interactions is hilarious. She creates charts to help her fit in, but of course, they don’t. Soap is like the girl version of a super nerd boy who can’t talk to boys. Or girls. She only fits in with other super science geniuses like those at the Mechanical Science Institute.
The villain and thugs were just short of being too stereotypical. Though it was easy to guess who the mysterious “professor” was behind the evil plans, I enjoyed how the plot thickened and the pacing quickened toward the end.
I really ejoyed Tower’s writing style. It was concise and witty and I loved Soap’s POV. I didn’t mind Dean’s POV and enjoyed the intertwining of the action between their two viewpoints.
This novel was published by Siege Tower Entertainment on December 9th, 2011 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 4.50
Links for more information:
Rachel Author Barnard 