Unpredictable WWII YA fantasy quest mythos

Elyse Hoffman serves up a believable fantasy quest based on Jewish folklore, a unique plot involving biblical artifacts, and a lovable mute orphaned protagonist in Uriel. The story is set in WWII German-occupied Poland and opens with Uriel lying on the street of his ravaged Polish village, Zingdorf.

A car of Germans carrying Major Brandt and his conscripted linguist, Uwe Litten, drive by and the linguist shouts for them to stop. He gets out and stares at the carnage. He’s horrified to see dead bodies of old men, young women and men of marriageable age amid smoldering buildings, including a vandalized Synagogue.

Major Brandt stares out at the broken glass and furniture littering the streets, and finds it odd because he hadn’t ordered his men to take care of Zingdorf yet. He figures it is the work of the local anti-Semites.

Uwe, the linguist, spots the body of a boy about the same age as his own son. He imagines what the child thought as he died, and notices he is hugging a golden notebook against his chest. On the cover, written in large black letters is the name Uriel. Uwe slips the book into his pocket and starts to read it while riding in the back seat of the car as they travel to the house where they will be staying. The book is filled with stories based on religious fables penned in the child’s handwriting. The stories fascinate the man.

Uriel awakens and is distraught that his beloved golden notebook is gone along with everyone and everything in Zingdorf. Angels Raphael and Gabriel arrive amid the ruins and heal the boy, and learn that he can see them. They explain they couldn’t have come sooner because when in the presence of evil they experience debilitating pain. The angels tell Uriel that Michael, the Guardian Angel of God’s Chosen people is missing, and they have no idea where he is being held. The evil being perpetrated against the Jewish people has weakened the angel and they worry that the Angel of Death has captured him. They see Uriel as a child sent from Hashem to help. He is not an angel and can walk among the Germans without pain. They offer Uriel the opportunity to find and rescue Michael, and he accepts.

This captivating YA story, builds with steady momentum. It had me hooked within the first few pages. As an Angel Finder, Uriel learns the evil people cannot see him, so when the German linguist, Uwe, can see him it is a surprise. Uwe becomes Uriel’s sidekick. He hides the boy in his room within Major Brandt’s house where Uriel is delighted to find that the linguist has his notebook. The two read the stories before bed, and a close relationship develops.

Uriel makes a deal with the Angel of Death to release Michael, but it requires several mini quests to gather items like David’s harp and Joseph’s cup. Each quest is a little more dangerous, and while Uriel occupies his day sneaking off on his quests, Uwe grows to become the brains, heart, and inner strength of the story as he is forced to work among the Germans as a translator.

Each page fed my hunger to know what happened next and created new hunger to know more. Just like real life, things are not cut and dried. Hoffman delivers a well-told tale that’s action-packed, original, unpredictable and closes with a satisfying end. I give it a solid 5 stars and recommend The Book of Uriel to readers young and old who enjoy quests for artifacts and the of good vs. evil. I think people who enjoyed reading The Paris Architect: A WWII Novel by Charles Belfoure would enjoy this story. But I offer a word of caution to parents of preteens, because the actions of war are gruesome and can be too much for those sensitive to the evils of anti-Semitism, war and related violence.

As BookHookup, I am a long-time book reviewer and I received The Book of Uriel as a free review copy and have not been compensated for reviewing or recommending it. This review is posted in collaboration with #Blackberry Book Tours. Some links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliate sites.  

 

About Author Elyse Hoffman

Elyse Hoffman is an award-winning author who strives to tell historical tales with new twists. She loves to meld WWII and Jewish history with fantasy, folklore, and the paranormal. She has written six works of Holocaust historical fiction: the five books of The Barracks of the Holocaust and The Book of Uriel.

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Gritty intergalactic PI whodunit

Hot Ash by Russ Colchamiro is an intergalactic sci-fi mystery that melds urban grit, futuristic technology, and crime into fast-paced pulp fiction you can’t put down. The story is told through the classic first-person narration of the protagonist, intergalactic private spy for hire, Angela Hardwicke.

 

Hardwicke and her partner-in-training, Eric Whistler, are hired by Camile Engquist following the mysterious death of her wealthy, elderly husband, Iggy, who built a real estate development company from the ground up. The widow had worked by his side for years and was set to step in and run the company but somehow the will was changed without her knowledge just before he passed. The stepkids get it all and pushed her out without a cent. Camile claims her stepkids stole her inheritance and Hardwicke thinks there may be some merit to the woman’s claims and takes the case.

 

Hardwicke works the case with her young protégé, Eric Whistler. Their relationship provides another layer of interest to the story. He’s like a dog that wants to be let off the leash to prove himself and she says he isn’t ready. As the story progresses there’s much more to it than that.

 

Russ Colchamiro does a masterful job of creating a dystopian Sci-fi backdrop in this fast-paced mystery that dives into the real estate development taken over by the wealthy Engquist kids. The case takes Hardwicke and Whistler down the path of corporate succession where they find themselves deep in the world of the haves and have-nots. Clues raise questions that take the case in a whole new direction pointing to synthetic concrete and a drug known as Hot Ash. What does one have to do with the other, if anything? And what do they have to do with Iggy Engquist’s death, if anything? The answer to those questions takes Hardwicke and Whistler off-world to an imposing domed city with clean air and a sinister underbelly. What they find is more dangerous and runs deeper than they could have imagined.

 

This story is superbly written with an authentic gritty PI who-dun-it feel. It’s unpredictable, action-packed, and fast-paced with well-developed characters, including a strong female protagonist in Hardwicke. She’s an engaging hard-boiled but vulnerable sleuth. Clever but second-guesses herself at times, and Whistler makes a perfect complementary sidekick. Another big positive in my mind is that the Sci-fi techno-babble makes sense. It delivers a futuristic setting filled with out-of-this world technology, shady characters, fistfights, shootouts, double-crosses, and backstabbing. The thing I enjoyed most about Hot Ash is that I couldn’t figure it out until the author tied things up in a tidy package at the end and delivered them to my lap. 

 

I give Hot Ash a solid five stars and recommend this book to Sci-fi enthusiasts who enjoy a good murder mystery with a PI who fights to stay alive while prowling the shady parts of town and the dark minds that govern them. I think those who enjoy crime thrillers, in general, will be happy with this story. As a word of caution, this book does contain plenty of strong language and violence. It’s not excessive and befits the story.

 

While Hot Ash is a stand-alone mystery, it is number three in a series that can be read in any order, and now that I’ve read it, I’ll be checking out Crackle and Fire (Book 1) and Fractured Lives (Book 2).

 

As BookHookup, I am a long-time book reviewer and I received Hot Ash as a free review copy and have not been compensated for reviewing or recommending it. This review is posted in collaboration with #Black Phoenix Book Tours. Some links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliate sites.

 

 About the Author

 

Russ Colchamiro is the author of the sci-fi mystery novels Crackle and Fire and Fractured Lives, featuring his hardboiled intergalactic private eye Angela Hardwicke. He is also the author of the rollicking time travel/space adventure, Crossline, the SFF backpacking comedy series Finders Keepers, Genius de Milo, and Astropalooza, editor of the sci-fi mystery anthology Love, Murder & Mayhem, and co-author of the noir anthology Murder in Montague Falls.

 

A member of the Mystery Writers Association, Hot Ash is Russ’s third book in his Angela Hardwicke series and has written more than a dozen short stories for various anthologies. He is also the host of the long-running podcast Russ’s Rockin’ Rollercoaster, interviewing a who’s who of science fiction, crime, and mystery authors. Russ lives in New Jersey with his wife, two ninjas, and his black lab Jinx.

 

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Multicultural romance drama edged in suspense

Mrs. Varman reads like period drama with an Indian theme. The book opens with a whirlwind romance between American-born Julia (Mrs. Varman) and Indian-born Sachin. He falls madly in love with Julia, and they marry, but his family is unhappy about it. As the first two chapters unfold, they seem destined for each other until the loss of their first baby through miscarriage. That tragic incident changes the trajectory of their relationship. They become strangers living in the same house. By chapter 3,  stories of the ugly underbelly of the Indian culture, including dysfunctional families, child trafficking, poverty, abuse, and even murder, replace the struggles of Mrs. Varman's marriage. These stories introduce new, complex characters, including an orphaned boy named Vijay, who struggles to survive.

As the chapters progressed, I thought the book to be an anthology with a theme of life in India amid various castes, and I wondered what ever happened to Mrs. Varman. I was happy when her storyline returned in chapter 10 as Julia and Sachin plan for a trip to India. Julia learns how to wear a saree and cook Indian food to impress her husband’s family in India as she prepares for her first trip out of the United States. Traveling away from the familiar makes her feel more dependent on Sachin. The more dependent she feels, the more she wants her relationship to work.

Upon arriving in India, Sachin’s aunt and grandmother welcome them, but as soon as Sachin is alone with his grandmother, she tells him she’d much rather have a grandchild than the gifts he brought for her. He can’t bring himself to tell her that Julia can have no children since the miscarriage. His distant relationship with Julia is palpable, but they blame it on their long journey when the aunt asks if something is wrong. While Granny tells Sachin she had higher expectations for his life partner, she is secretly happy to have Julia visit, but Julia feels emptiness even while around all these relatives. At this point in the story, the boy, Vijay, has grown into a young man looking for love, and the story begins to take a new direction with suspense, danger, and temptations.

 

The cultural details Sanjeeta Behera weaves into the backdrop of this story, like Granny wiping red tobacco spit from the side of her mouth and the common practice of licking fingers when enjoying good food, carry the reader to new experiences. Scents from rich spicy curries to the filth and noises of the streets are enlightening and engaging.

This story takes some unexpected twists and turns, and had me hooked to find out what Julia decides to do regarding her marriage and the love for which she longs. I recommend this book to people who enjoy dramas filled with interesting characters with complicated relationships and plenty of secrets. On the downside, the sesquipedalian vocabulary is somewhat off-putting. For instance, after the young boy, Vijay, is cheated from earnings promised him, “He became a victim of pecuniary dishonesty and hesitantly accorded deference to their barbarity and injustice by accommodating it within a shelter of his fortitude.” The story of Mrs. Varman, itself, I would give 4 stars, but due to the verbose writing style, I give it 3 stars.

As Book Hookup, I am a longtime book reviewer, and I received this book as a free review copy and have not been compensated for reviewing or recommending it. This review is posted in collaboration with BookTasters. Some links in this post are affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliate sites.