Tag: author Dan Ackerman

A VVivacious Review: For a Glance (The Serpent’s Throne Trilogy #1) by Dan Ackerman

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

I am conflicted, terribly conflicted. I picked this book for all the wrong reasons and therefore I ended up putting off actually reading it till the very last moment. One of the reasons that I was put off by this book was Lucifer himself. There was a time when the Devil was elusive but now he is all over my TV, it just doesn’t hold the same appeal but I knew I had to read it and I did and I was kind of swept up, up and away.

I don’t know what to categorize this book as, since it takes place almost exclusively in Hell with a few forays into Earth, so it is definitely fantastical and we deal with a lot of demons and angels so definitely paranormal and there are elements of love scattered all throughout and  in-between the never-ending introspection of the Satan. It is a weird book and if someone had described it to be, I could have probably never imagined myself liking it but I really enjoyed reading it.

“I don’t know, I can’t decide. There’s a litter of kittens in my bedroom, sweetest little things you can imagine, wobbly on their legs, prancing around but as soon as I lie down to sleep, I’m Everest and they have to climb me.”

Reading this book made me feel like for a very short time I got a whiff of a story that came as quickly as it disappeared leaving me bereft and hungry for more. It’s kind of like a day in the life of Satan kind of thing except we are with him for more than a few days. It was really interesting having this take on the world-weary Satan in love with so many around him but unable to keep them close. It was weird how much he loves so many of his children, his demons, the Fallen and the very concept of love.

“Love can do things to you, it’ll have you doing things you never thought you’d do.”

“Ah, love is one thing. And it always meant more to you than it did to us. But we were Hell-born and you were an angel.”

This was such a novel concept, a Satan that loves at times I would even forget who he was and just accept this take on him but then he would turn around, all the darkness hiding beneath would seep around surrounding you like a dark damp cloud. For a character I had thought was done to death the author managed to make him so much more interesting, the Devil capable of devouring any and all but, as he tells his father, “Ever your creation—as much as it chafes me, Lucifer”.

This story follows Lucifer as he interacts with the lives of five other characters:

1.      Jack – Jack is a human in love with a demon named Eodus, and Lucifer agrees to give Jack permanent residence in Hell if he were to kill someone for him in return.

2.     The boy trapped in the Fourth – The Fourth is the part of Hell where the souls that damn themselves go. The boy is trapped in an endless cycle of reliving his torment and he finds himself in Hell because his parents always said he would end up there.

3.     Mercy – The woman who tries to assassinate the Devil so that she will be accepted into her family again.

4.     Ira – The whore on Ninth who looks just like Eodus and fascinates the Devil from the moment he lays eyes on him.

5.     Junius – Oh! Junius is special. “Everyone knows it. Junius, the one who leaped after you. Your most trusted and faithful, all the way up on that pedestal where you keep him.”

Though my most favourite character of this story after Satan himself was Imogen. She was amazing. I just really liked her and I don’t know why because as I sit here typing these words I realise that we actually don’t know anything about her but I like her, I really do. Sometimes you fall in love with a person for the words they use even though their words never reveal anything about themselves but sometimes they end up revealing more than we realise.

I loved how Hell was structured and how it works and I loved a whole lot more characters than I realised as I type up this review. I need to talk about how much I love Rema and Inri both characters I hope we get to see more off.

Though I loved how this story was told as if you are travelling with a storyteller in a caravan and you start hearing the story after its already begun and have to leave the caravan before the story is over. It feels that way although I think I must confess that it doesn’t appear or feel incomplete. It is very much a whole story but it gives the feeling that it is part of so much more. I don’t know where this story is supposed to go but I am not opposed to finding out.

I loved the cover. I liked the colours used and the fonts and how the front is actually a map of the Ninth and actually gives a lot of details relevant to the story.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: October 1st 2018 by Supposed Crimes, LLC
ISBN139781944591779

A VVivacious Review: That Doesn’t Belong Here by Dan Ackerman

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Emily and Levi are out on the beach when they find a silver pickup truck in the middle of the ocean. When Emily and Levi go to investigate they find someone trapped in the back seat, injured.

But this someone isn’t human, it’s something else and nothing like anything they have seen before but as it turns out that isn’t even the most interesting thing about Kato. Because the fact of the matter is that Kato is part of a sentient species.

Levi is struggling with himself and his sexuality. Making things worse is the fact that Kato seems to like him and not only is Kato a man but he is also not a human and Levi can’t seem to deny that he feels something for Kato too.

This is a really short story at least as far as I am concerned. My reader puts this at 146 pages but with the speed that I flew through the pages,this book might as well have been 50 pages long instead of thrice that.

This book had me hooked from the beginning. I read the first chapter which I found in the author’s email requesting the review but I couldn’t stop after having read only a single chapter and I would have seriously bought this book just to find out what was next if it had already been published. But it wasn’t so I couldn’t, but I did download a sample off of Smashwords which had a lot more content but still not enough to satisfy me and I remember going off on a hunt to find a book to distract me until I could get my hands on an ARC. Thankfully I got it the next day and I finished it in the same day.

God this book was unbelievable. It had such an amazingly well-executed premise and just the concept of this book had me so hooked, imagining that there is a sentient species right here on Earth that we know nothing about. I also loved the author’s idea of not having Kato be an alien because initially, I thought that was the lines along which this story would be headed but it didn’t and I fell a little bit more in love with this book.

As if that wasn’t enough to make the story good, the author tops it off with some amazing characters, perfect in their imperfections. I was already in love with Kato throughout the book but I didn’t realise how much till Kato finds himself in trouble and then I couldn’t wait for him to get out of it. But what was surprising is how much I loved Levi. I think I loved the fact that Levi wasn’t super model hot and he actually had some fat on him. The fact that Levi is confused, doesn’t quite understand who he is and at the same time struggles with his body could have gone really wrong because I don’t appreciate a self-deprecating personality in denial but Levi, God Levi makes it work. What was amazing about Levi was how his inner worth always shone through and his quiet strength was always on display no matter how blind he was to both these qualities of his. I also loved Emily, she is just such a contained character and I loved her independence and her confidence and her tendency to worry. This was one woman that I genuinely admired.

I can’t think of a single character in this book supporting or otherwise that wasn’t memorable and I truly fell in love with all of the nice ones and hated all the other ones.

The story doesn’t let up for a second because even though the story line moves slowly the pace of the book is fast. Things move slowly but at the same time it feels like everything is moving by too quickly or maybe it was my own reluctance of not having the book end coupled with my eagerness to know what happens next that made me feel that way.

This book ends suddenly, it is like reaching the top of a crescendo and instead of being gently guided down you find yourself in a free fall. I loved the ending but at the same time, I wanted more. This book truly had a dichotomy of emotions rising up in me.

There are a few loose ends that aren’t tied up in this book. Firstly, the fact that we never find out how Kato ended up in that trunk and secondly, we never find out what Charlotte wanted to discuss with Kato. Not that I mind too much. As far as I am concerned this book was perfect in spite of its flaws.

This book is amazing but it was imagination that flows throughout this book that has me so enraptured with this book and all its characters.

Cover Art. I really like the cover for the book not because of the picture that adorns it, which to be honest I find a little childish but what I love about the picture is that I can see how that image inspired this body of work or vice versa which makes this image more than just how it looks because it might look childish but it has depth.

Sales Links:  Preorder at Amazon 

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: October 1st 2017 by Supposed Crimes, LLC
ISBN13
9781944591892