Review: Nabukko by K.R. Gadeken

Nabukko (The Nabukko Trilogy, #1)

by K.R. Gadeken

Release Date: June 2, 2024

2024 K.R. Gadeken

Ebook Edition; 430 Pages

ISBN: 979-8990421301

ASIN: B0CZ68D35Q

Genre: Fiction / Science-Fiction

Source: Review copy from author

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Eff wakes up on a strange planet, with no memories of her past or how she got there. After months of solitary exploration, a chance encounter with a group of colonists changes everything, catapulting Eff into far more mysteries, secrets, and bizarre circumstances than she could have ever bargained for.

Can she trust these colonists? Why does she get the feeling they are hiding something? And how is she tied to their mysterious circumstances?

As tensions rise and allegiances shift, Eff must navigate the challenges of the planet, the colony, and her own fractured memories if she hopes to uncover the truth.

 

 

My Thoughts

Nabukko is the first book in an intended trilogy, and I found this to be really intriguing. I really enjoy science-fiction books that are more mystery-related rather than military (although I love those too!), and I especially love it when we have an unreliable narrator.  Eff doesn't have memories of what happened three months prior and when she learns the other colonists are suffering from a similar fate, albeit not quite as severe as she, she undertakes to discover what is happening to her and to the others.  There was a lot of mystery surrounding Nabukko and I love how the author doesn't just tell you everything, but you have to figure things out for yourself, like peeling away the layers of an onion.

 

First of all, it took me quite a while to realize how unreliable Eff was as the narrator. Once I started cluing in, I actually liked her a lot more as the tension kind of leveled up and I became invested in trying to figure out what was happening to her memories and what was happening around her. With little episodes of nightmares thrown into the mix, you start to get an eerie idea of what went down, but not all of the pieces fit at this point. Despite the fact that Eff is not always believable, I did like her character development and enjoyed her as a character. She was actually quite clever and quite uncanny, able to distinguish when someone was lying to her or withholding information.  I enjoyed the friendships she formed and thought the relationships were quite interesting. The secondary characters were quite entertaining and added a lot of depth to the story as well as some much needed comic relief. 

 

The plot is rather gripping and I didn't mind that it was a bit slow towards the beginning as the author used the time to set up characters as well as some intriguing plot points that would play a huge role later in the story. As I've mentioned, there are some pacing issues, but I didn't mind these too much as the strong world-building more than made up for the issues.  There were quite a few twists and turns, some of which were predictable, some of which caught me off guard. And I was definitely not expecting that ending!

 

Verdict

Nabukko was a very entertaining science-fiction novel with great world-building, strong character development, and some interesting twists and turns. While the pacing had some issues, I was able to overlook that by focusing on the rather intriguing mystery of why Eff was on the planet and how the colonists figured into her problem.  The secrets were revealed bit by bit and the author's style was to let the author figure things out, a style I really appreciated. I am looking forward to starting the next book soon.  

 

 

 

Review: Antimatter Blues by Edward Ashton

Antimatter Blues (Mickey7, Book #2)

by Edward Ashton

Release Date: March 14, 2023

2023 St. Martin's Press

Kindle & Audiobook Editions; 304 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250275059

ASIN: B09Y45J7S1

Audiobook: B09YG3V8BR

Genre: Fiction / Science-Fiction

Source: Review copy from publisher

3.75 / 5 Stars

Summary

Summer has come to Niflheim. The lichens are growing, the six-winged bat-things are chirping, and much to his own surprise, Mickey Barnes is still alive―that last part thanks almost entirely to the fact that Commander Marshall believes that the colony’s creeper neighbors are holding an antimatter bomb, and that Mickey is the only one who’s keeping them from using it. Mickey’s just another colonist now. Instead of cleaning out the reactor core, he spends his time these days cleaning out the rabbit hutches. It’s not a bad life.

It’s not going to last.

It may be sunny now, but winter is coming. The antimatter that fuels the colony is running low, and Marshall wants his bomb back. 

 

My Thoughts

Antimatter Blues is the second book in the Mickey7 series and features an expendable human. The concept is pretty unique, and it meant that Mickey's job was to do the ones that would likely kill you as his consciousness and memories would be regenerated into a new body if he is killed.  The previous book dealt with him getting his independence, so I was curious as to how he was doing in this sequel. I loved the fact that they were now in what is their version of summer, enjoying the fresh air, figuring out how they were going to survive the next winter cycle when Mickey learns they are running out of energy and he needs to recover the antimatter bomb he has secreted away with the Creepers. 

I don' really feel like there was a lot of character development in this book, but I was so focused on the first contact business that it didn't really matter.  Mickey had contact the Creepers and open communication with them if he was to be successful and I found this part fascinating. I feel like a lot of books make contact look so easy, but the author made Mickey struggle with understanding and communication was a challenge with the Creepers, something I enjoyed.  It also made their lives difficult and put them in dangerous situations due to misunderstandings, something to which I could relate. With differing customs and ways of doing things, this is exactly how it should be.  

Now, with all of that being said, Mickey is ...a bit of an a**hole.  He can be snarky and doesn't really think through his actions before doing them, often putting himself and others in danger.  It actually makes for some interesting dynamics between himself and his friends, and he definitely doesn't endear himself to the rest of the crew.  To have Mickey play diplomat to the Creepers would have given Commander Marshall nightmares, but there was no one else to do it so you can imagine some of the things that happened in this book because of Mickey's recklessness.  

The plot itself began rather slowly and I was worried it would continue in that vein. Luckily, it picked up about one-third into the book and never let go, and I really enjoyed the creepers and learning a bit about their really fascinating culture. And then we learn there is another group of aliens on the planet, so it just ramps up even more and I loved it, the dynamics.  A lot of this was only touched upon in the first book, so I was happy to learn more in this book.  However, it did not disguise the fact that the plot was pretty basic and simple; this is not a bad thing as I think plots can be too convoluted and sometimes a more simplistic narrative is the way to go as it allows the author to focus on other things, such as the Mickey's meetings with the alien species and its consequences.  

Verdict

Antimatter Blues was a worthy sequel to Mickey7. A light action-filled read, it focused on the Creepers and developing relationships with the species with whom they were sharing this new world. I did feel like the book got a bit repetitive and didn't think it was necessary to include so much from the first book which means that I do think you should read them in order simply to get a deeper understanding of Mickey and some of the relationships.  And while I enjoyed the action and contact with the Creepers as well as learning about their cultures, the story line was simplistic and there wasn't a lot of character development.  I do recommend this series to anyone looking for a lighter, fast-paced read, especially with the Mickey7 movie due to be released.

 

Review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary

by Andy Weir

Release Date: May 4, 2021

2021 Ballantine Books

Kindle Edition; 476 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593135204

ASIN: B08FHBV4ZX

Audiobook: B08GB4FH52

Genre: Fiction / SF

Source: Review copy from publisher

4.5 / 5 Stars

Summary

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission--and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.

 

My Thoughts

Project Hail Mary certainly had a gripping opening, one that had me hooked, and kept me reading way longer into the night than I should have.  I certainly found it intriguing how a biologist with a PhD who was teaching grade 8 would end up in a spaceship light years away from Earth tasked to save his planet. And the result was fascinating. 

 

While at first I had the feeling I was in the same setting as The Martian, that soon wore off as there were quite a few differences, as you would expect in a completely different novel.  The same sarcastic sense of humour was there, but that is what I enjoyed so much in the other novel and I was happy to have that back in this book.  I even found myself chuckling quite a few times at some of the situations in which Ryland found himself, and then that self-deprecating humour would come through, and I would think What would Mark Whatney do?  Oh year, science the sh&^ out of it!!  And that is exactly what Ryland did. 

 

Ryland Grace is one of those characters I just couldn't help liking.  While he understood the seriousness of where he was and what he was doing, it didn't let him down and he just got to work to try to figure out how to solve the problem he was given.  I liked his overall positive attitude, and while he might have been self-effacing on Earth, he had no choice but to take on tasks that were out of his comfort zone on the spaceship as he was the only one left.  And the conditions were harsh.  And this is where the math and the science comes in.

 

Best thing about this book? Rocky, hands down.  I'll leave it up to you to discover who or what that is. 

 

I have a background in science, but my background is biological science, not math and I remember distinctly swearing an oath that once I left university I would never touch another calculus or physics textbook again in my life unless I had to transport it somewhere.  Luckily, I remember enough that I actually found the science quite fascinating and liked the really heavy scientific discussions that were occurring on almost every page.  Some of them almost, and that's a big almost, made me want to delve into a physics journal again so I did the next best thing: I asked my son who is a mathematical physics major instead.   For someone who has little science background though, the scientific overload may be a little too much.  Personally, the balance between the science, the ethics, the dialogue, the plot, and everything else was quite good.

The story itself was quite intriguing and I did spend a lot of time reflecting on our planet and how things would go if we were in a similar situation.  The story jumps back and forth between his current situation and how he actually got  there, and there are a lot of ethical considerations that would make for some great discussions, something I think the author was trying to highlight. 

 

Verdict

Project Hail Mary was a delight, one full of intrigue and surprising twists, especially since I went into having avoided any and all discussions on it that I could.  I thought it was intricately plotted, with some major underlying themes that would make great discussion points, interesting characters, and a very satisfying ending.  I loved the intricate scientific details and thought the author did a great job blending the story and the science together.  If you enjoyed The Martian, I feel you would enjoy this book as well. 

 

Review: Domesticating Dragons by Dan Koboldt

Domesticating Dragons

by Dan Koboldt

Release Date: January 5th 2021

2021 Baen Books

Kindle Edition; 345 Pages

ISBN: 978-1982125110

ASIN: B08QZVJ77N

Genre: Fiction / Sci-fi

Source: Review copy from publisher

4.5 / 5 Stars

Summary

Noah Parker, a newly minted Ph.D., is thrilled to land a dream job at Reptilian Corp., the hottest tech company in the American Southwest. He’s eager to put his genetic engineering expertise to use designing new lines of Reptilian’s feature product: living, breathing dragons.

Although highly specialized dragons have been used for industrial purposes for years, Reptilian is desperate to crack the general retail market. By creating a dragon that can be the perfect family pet, Reptilian hopes to put a dragon into every home.

While Noah’s research may help Reptilian create truly domesticated dragons, Noah has a secret goal. With his access to the company’s equipment and resources, Noah plans to slip changes into the dragons’ genetic code, bending the company’s products to another purpose entirely.

 

My Thoughts

Domesticating Dragons caught my attention simply because the word 'dragons' was in the title and I was curious as to how a science-fiction book was going to handle a subject that you would typically find in the fantasy genre.  I was definitely not disappointed as I found myself enjoying this book quite a bit, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the main characters and the dragons.  It was just pure fun.

 

Noah is one of those characters that really grew on me as the story progressed.  I wasn't a huge fan at the beginning as he was so consumed with his own agenda; I was sympathetic to the fact that he was trying to help his brother receive gene therapy, but was refused because they couldn't get an official diagnosis, and Noah was going to use the dragons to help, but it was more his attitude and his way of going about things that wasn't so endearing.  However, he definitely grew on me as the story progressed and I came to like him more and more.  I thought the author did a great job unveiling his personality and making him likeable, especially once the dragons came into the picture and he began to care for something other than his own agenda.  Noah did have a pretty good sense of humour as a main character, and I definitely appreciated his self-deprecating attitude. 

As a counterpoint to his days spent coding, Noah was a geocacher, and I really enjoyed those chapters devoted to his searches for those treasures. Here he runs into an old acquaintance, his ex-girlfriend's roommate, and together, they try to beat some of the more difficult geocache locations which are out in the Arizona desert. Summer was a really fun character to get to know, and if I have any criticism in this book, it's that I didn't get to learn as much as I wanted about her as she was  a really interesting character. And she could kick butt too!! There is definitely a lot more that happens with this side of the story, but there are spoilers here and I don't want to give anything away.  

I particularly enjoyed some of the added chapters from sales representatives or I guess they would be more like dragon help-lines.  They were pretty funny and added a lot of comedy/hilarity to the story; I couldn't help laughing out loud at some of the them.  Unfortunately, I could actually see some of these scenarios actually occurring.

The story itself moves rather quickly, especially in the second half of the book where most of the action really takes place.  And although there is a lot of talk about the funny types of dragons, and the cuddly ones, the author never lets you forget how dangerous they can be through certain scenes and certain scenarios.  It took everything in me not to check the last page of the book to make sure a certain dragon survived as I was more attached to it than to the main characters. 

 

Noah has a PhD in genetic engineering, and the book spent a lot of time talking about coding and genetics, something I appreciated.  The company for which he works, Reptilian, has created dragons to replace dogs which were wiped out several years ago due to a viral pestilence that has no cure. Noah's job was to help find the genetic markers that would turn the instinctual nature of a dragon to eat you into one that is domesticated, playful, and relatively tame.   The whole coding process and the types of dragons they created was pretty cool, and I even started longing for one myself.  Even one of Noah's previous programs was incorporated into the program at Reptilian and the coders all competed trying to create the perfect domesticated dragon, all within company parameters, of course, because the coders' agendas and the agendas of the CEO are not necessarily compatible. And this is where a secondary plot line comes into play. And this is where I will leave it as it's better not knowing what will happen.

Verdict

Domesticating Dragons was a lot of fun and I devoured the book.  I do have a science background as well as history background, but I have no experience with genetics and coding so, to be honest, I have no idea if any of this is even remotely feasible.  I really enjoyed reading about the scientists' process as they discovered the domesticated dragons as too many science-fiction books tend to focus on the end result and not the process.  The plot moved quickly, especially in the second half, and the characters were interesting. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something a little different. And it involves dragons!!

 

 

 

Review: Ship of Destiny by Frank Chadwick

Ship of Destiny (Sam Bitka, Book #2)
by Frank Chadwick
Release Date: March 3rd 2020
2020 Baen
Kindle Edition; 480 Pages
ISBN: 978-1982124434
ASIN: B084QFQWJR
Genre: Fiction / Science-Fiction
Source: Review copy from publisher

4.5 / 5 Stars

Summary
When a mysterious alien probe materializes from Jump Space and remotely reprograms The Bay's star drive, Sam and his crew begin an involuntary voyage that takes them three thousand light years out of known space, across the galactic rift to the Sagittarius Spiral Arm, and into the heart of an ancient, previously unknown civilization—the first encountered by Humans and the other five races of the Cottohazz—Stellar Commonwealth—in over a century. The genetically altered immortals known as The Guardians, a race so old they do not remember their own origins, soon turn murderously violent.

Now Sam and his crew must elude capture by the Guardians, find some means of reprogramming their own star drive, and then return to the Cottohazz with the news of a powerful new civilization bent on their destruction. But they may also be carrying the secrets of the origin of their own star drive and of the path to immortality.

My Thoughts
Ship of Destiny is the second book in the Sam Bitka series, and I really enjoyed this book.  This is the first book I have read by this author, but I have become a huge fan and plan to read his other books as soon as I can.  And while this book is the second book in a series, I had no problem jumping into these alien worlds and understanding what was happening.  I also have to admit to a bit a fangirl crush on Sam Bitka.  He actually reminded me a bit of Captain Picard so if you are a fan of Star Trek, you will understand the draw that Sam can have others.  

While this book apparently picks up not long after events in the first book, the reasons for Sam's promotion and eventual tasking to "USS Cam Ranh Bay" are loaded in political warfare between two brothers and a nephew, something of which I only got a taste.  But it was enough to understand the deep undercurrents that were going on and to realize that Sam must have annoyed some important people; however, being a hero, they just couldn't ship him off to nowhere as how would that look?  Unfortunately for Sam, he ended up on a ship that was remotely reprogrammed by an alien probe which hurtled their ship thousands of light years away from their known space.  And this is where I loved Sam; he was able to keep control of a crew that could have gone ballistic, but his leadership ability and his tactical genius kept everyone alive.  They meet up with the immortal Guardians, aliens who behave like gods to their own people, and not necessarily like benevolent gods either.  

I really enjoyed all of the characters. I have always enjoyed science fiction for its political intrigue and this one was no exception.  And while the political stuff was interesting, I did feel that it didn't quite go deep enough for my liking which is why I didn't quite give it five stars.  However, the space battle scenes are quite amazing and they feel so realistic.  I am not a scientist, nor do I have a background in physics, but I was engaged in the scenes and could feel the tension right to my toes.  I like how the author showed some of the thoughts from the alien POV as well.  In fact, I would have liked a bit more of their POV as it was interesting.  

The plot moved at a good pace, a nice balance between action and calmer periods.  I have never read this author before so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to say I was shocked a couple of times in this book over events and even yelled out a "What?! No!!!"   After the first shock, I read with a bit more trepidation as I wasn't sure I could handle any more shocks.  Science fiction can sometimes get bogged down with too much technical details, but the author was able to explain a lot of the stuff in layman's terms so the reader wouldn't get lost, something I appreciated.  

Verdict
Ship of Destiny was a lot of fun to read and I definitely enjoyed the whole 'space opera' feel of this book.  The characters, especially Sam Bitka, were interesting, and flawed, something that I like as it makes them more empathetic.  While I can't say for sure how accurate the science was in this book (my science background leans more towards biological sciences), it sounded good and I could understand a lot of it so I have to give credit to the author for his ability to explain things really well. I highly recommend this book and I will be reading the first book in this series at some point as well. I am looking forward to more books in this series as I have a lot of questions for the author. Who exactly is Te-anna? 

Review: Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Golden Son (Red Rising, Book #2)
by Pierce Brown
Release Date: January 6th 2015
2015 Del Rey
Kindle Edition; 430 Pages
ISBN: 978-0345539823
ASIN: B00I765ZEU
Genre: Fiction / Science-Fiction
Source: Review copy from publisher

5 / 5 Stars

Summary
Golden Son continues the stunning saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. Now fully embedded among the Gold ruling class, Darrow continues his work to bring down Society from within.

My Thoughts
I enjoyed Golden Son even more than Red Rising for a variety of reasons: the writing was quite a bit stronger; the characters were more developed, especially the female ones; and the action was considerably higher, going from one thing to another, where I was actually looking forward to those peaceful moments so I could catch my own breath.  I liked the descriptions of the Gold's political system explained through the action and consequences of the events as it made it much more interesting, and I liked learning more about the different types of colours as I find the whole concept fascinating.

First of all, I have an impossible liking for Darrow, no matter what he does.  And he does plenty in this book.  What I especially like about him is that he is not perfect, he makes a lot of mistakes and pays for them quite dearly, something we learn pretty much in the first two chapters.  And yet, he is one of those characters that you know will eventually succeed at what he does next, it's just the anxiety that builds up waiting for what he is going to do next as the author is very skillful at hiding Darrow's actual thoughts and plans until they actually happen - it's definitely a great way to build tension and wonder what will happen next to your favourite characters.  And I always look forward to the moment when Darrow comes out on top as it's so cool, even if he just got his ass whooped a couple of pages previously.  In Red Rising, Darrow was much colder than the one we see in this book, and I definitely liked how his character developed from beginning to end as it made you empathize wholeheartedly with the situations he ended up in as well as some of the problems he had with some of his friends, and you couldn't help but root for him or want to shake him at times.  Otherwise he would seem like a cold-hearted beast rather than the Darrow who is fighting for equality and freedom for all.  I especially liked the moment he promoted a Blue to pilot and ordered a whole set of colours to defeat the Golds on the ship as it showed his humanity and what he was fighting for to those lower colours as well as to his friends.  It also showed his friends who exactly he was as a person.  Quite a moment!  However, all characters have their flaws, and I really, really, really wished that Darrow would listen to his friends a bit more and take their advice as he could so easily avoid some problems if he did.

The plot in this one is quite different than in the first book, but it really needed the set-up of Red Rising to work the way it did.  First of all, the action is so much more explosive right from the beginning.  I thought Darrow would be almost invincible, but the author set me right about that idea right from the beginning and I didn't know what to think after that.  Packed with interesting historical tidbits about the foundation of the current political situation, the book is full of action-packed sequences, politics, space warfare (reminds me of my old Atari games), and some ground warfare as well.  I won't pretend to understand all of the technological stuff that was used in here, but it was fun to read about irregardless. And the twists and turns, like the first book, are plenty, to the point where I didn't know who to trust anymore. Like I said before, because some of the action was so intense, it was nice to have those breaks once in a while in order to take a breath before being plunged right back into the action.  

And to be honest, I was planning on giving this book a four-star rating until the last chapter when I was blown away by a humdinger of an ending.  Considering the twists and turns that had been happening throughout the book, I should have seen something coming, but I didn't.  I've already read Morning Star, so I know what happens next, but the only reason I read the last book so quickly is because of the ending as I just had to know what happened.   And I was shocked to realize how much I liked a lot of the characters, something I understand when the big twist happened at the end, wondering exactly when these people broke through that barrier and made me empathize with their situations as well.  Betrayal at its best, folks!!

Verdict
Golden Son was on a whole other level than Red Rising and I had really enjoyed reading that one too. I felt the characters were much more developed in this one, especially the women who were strong, powerful, and mighty (and maybe a bit scary?) The plot was crazy, full of non-stop action, the type where you shake your head and wonder how that just happened crazy, but I loved all of it.  I have developed a huge fondness for Sevro and love the friendship that is developing between Darrow and Sevro, but I have also taken a huge liking to Ragnar as well. If you like science-fiction, great action, awesome twists and turns, and endings that will catch you off guard, then you will definitely enjoy this book, although I do recommend that you read from the beginning in order to understand Darrow's motivations. 

Review: Journey into the Flame by T.R. Williams

Journey into the Flame (Rising World Trilogy, Book #1)
by T.R. Williams
Release Date: January 7th 2014
2014 Atria Books
Ebook Edition; 448 Pages
ISBN: 978-1476713366
ASIN: B00BSBR42C
Genre: Fiction / Science-Fiction
Source: Review copy from publisher

4 / 5 Stars

Summary
In 2027, a cataclysmic event known as the Great Disruption shook the world. An unexplained solar storm struck the earth, shifting it four degrees south on its axis. Everything went dark. Humanity was on the verge of despair. Then a man named Camden Ford, fleeing a band of marauders, went into the Ozark Forests where he discovered a set of ancient books called the Chronicles of Satraya.

Thirty years later, the world is a different place. Thanks to the teachings of the Chronicles, hope has been restored, cities rebuilt, technology advanced. The books have also found a different owner: Logan Cutler, a young painter who mysteriously inherited them when Camden disappeared. But when Logan auctions off the books to pay his debts, they fall into the wrong hands. The Reges Hominum, a clandestine group that once ruled history from the shadows, is now launching a worldwide conspiracy to regain control. And the books are at the center of its plans.

When another original set of the books is stolen and several members of the council tasked with disseminating their philosophy are murdered, Logan realizes hes made a terrible mistake. With the help of Special Agent Valerie Perrot and the wisdom of the Chronicles as his guide, he embarks on an epic quest to find the last set before its too late.

My Thoughts
Journey into the Flame is the first book in a planned trilogy, and frankly, I enjoyed the blend of mysticism and spiritualism with science-fiction and action.  If you like a post-apocalyptic adventure mixed in with mystery, secrecy, spiritualism, suspense, thriller, and action, then you will probably like this one quite a bit, as I did.

First of all, there is a bit of a mysterious atmosphere to this world that takes place over thirty years after an unexplained solar storm destroyed most of the earth's population in 2027.  Although we get a bit of a glimpse into what the world was like in the early days, it's most thirty years later, and people are still struggling to make sense of the events thirty years earlier.  It's also at that time period when the younger generation has never known anything different from their current situation, while the older generations attempt to deal with the world as it is now and try to remember what it was like before the Disruption.  And not everyone is happy with the way things are now.  This type of situation has allowed a group called the Reges Hominum to work behind the scenes to try to gain absolute power in a world they believe they should regain dominance over once again, similar to their forebears. And they will do anything, including murder large groups of people, in order to gain that dominance.

The main players in this novel, Logan, Valerie, and Mr. Perrot, were quite interesting in their own way.  Logan is the son of the original discoverers of the Chronicles of Satraya, a set of spiritual books that were discovered when things were at their lowest after the Disruption.  Everything in this novel revolves around the books and I found the spiritual teachings and revelations to be quite fascinating.  This might not be for everyone, but I never felt like the author was being preachy like I have felt in some of the Christian novels, so I just went along for the ride and enjoyed the story.  Keeping an open mind and remembering that this is a science-fiction novel certainly helped with that.  I definitely liked some of the scenes with the blue candle (spoiler) and hope to see more of them in future novels.

All of the characters were quite interesting, but because there were so many layers to the story, I think it was difficult to really character build and develop them in this novel.  The plot was a bit complex and you had to pay attention to everything that was happening or you could miss something important.  There was one obvious connection that I missed completely and I'm still not sure how I missed it as I usually pay attention to these things.  I thought the author did a great job keeping things mysterious enough about the Chronicles that you just wanted to find out more; and yes, there is plenty more to learn.

Verdict
Journey into the Flame was interesting and intriguing, and I definitely enjoyed both the spiritual and science-fiction elements found in here.  The author manages to blend mysticism and spirituality with action and suspense quite well, and I don't think that is easy to do.  As mentioned before, I thought the characters lacked a bit of depth, but am hoping character development will be explored further in upcoming novels as it would add quite a bit to the story.  For readers who are interested in these things, this novel is very thought-provoking and appealing; I also thought it was quite fast-paced and interesting from a suspense point of view.  I'm looking forward to digging into book two, Journey Through the Mirror.