Review: Sandorn’s Prison by Thom Bedford

This book started with a bang. Action and suspense were apparent from page 1 as marines were sent to rescue their comrades imprisoned in a mining facility that hasn’t been used in 100 years. Things go incredibly wrong and lots of people lose their life.

The story slows down after the initial scene as the reader is transported from the distant planet to a well-inhabited space station. From there, a good chunk of the book is dedicated to character development and showing the ins and outs of being an administrator during a war. There is some action during these parts, but it’s not as exciting as the beginning of the book.

I didn’t totally hate learning about the characters. They were pretty interesting individuals, and I was fairly surprised that the marines weren’t stereotypes that you normally see in space operas. They were given credible human qualities, including emotions and flaws.

I also liked the images included with each chapter. I thought that added something nice to the story.

The last few chapters of the novel were just as exciting as the beginning, and I found myself completely engaged with the end. It’s apparent that there will be another one in the series, and the author revealed just enough to make me want to find out more.

The biggest issue I had with this story was the fact that it kept referring to a military campaign that had taken place several months before this story occurs. I kept thinking that if that battle had been so important, why wasn’t it focused on more? Then, I found out that this is the second book in the series.

While reading the first book would have given me some more background information, I was still able to tell what was going on without having to have read the first one. I wasn’t overly lost and still enjoyed the story.

If you enjoy space opera stories that focus on battles and military campaigns, you may want to check this book out. Maybe start with the first one...

This Week's Books

For the celebration this week, I am highlighting my books Wucaii and Coming from Nowhere.  One of them is fantasy and the other is sci fi, but they both have female characters who are struggling to find their place in a new world.  More info can be found below!

It has been 500 years since Aelana has been home, and a lot has changed in that time--including her. As a half-dragon, half-human hybrid, she has been traveling the universe destroying worlds. Both anxious and excited to return, she wonders what she will find. Her memories of home are filled with pain and loss, especially for her first and only love. She knows he won't be there, but will his memory? Will her anguish remain?

JD does not have a past—at least not one that she can remember—and that makes living life on Mars challenging.

With nowhere to go, she is sent to the local military academy where she is trained to become a member of the elite secret police. While there, she becomes a pawn in Roger’s struggle for military dominance and Chris’s rebellion to overthrow the military regime.

She supposedly holds a secret that will change the face of the soldier, but, unfortunately, she doesn’t know what that secret is. Her only desire is to find the truth of her existence, and finds herself thrust into a realm where the truth of her past and present is more horrific than she ever imagined.

Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Giveaway

I’ve teamed up with 25+ fantastic authors to give away a huge collection of Young Adult Sci Fi & Fantasy novels to 2 lucky winners, PLUS a brand new eReaderto the Grand Prize winner!

Oh, and did I mention you'll receive a collection of FREE reads just for entering?

You can win my novel, The Appeal of Evil, plus books from authors like Brenda Hiatt, Matthew Mather, and Cidney Swanson.

Enter the giveaway by clicking here.

Good luck and enjoy!

Katie wants to invest her heart and soul in love, but she may lose both to Hell.

Katie, a senior in high school, is torn between loving the "good" guy, her childhood friend Wes who makes promises he doesn't keep and abandons her when she needs him the most, and the "bad" guy, the new kid at school Josh who is also a real demon from Hell. Katie wants someone who pays attention to her and puts her first, but what is she willing to give up to find him?


Find out in book one of this thrilling young adult paranormal romance by Pembroke Sinclair.

YA/NA Sci-Fi & Dystopian Giveaway

Movie Review Monday will return next week so that I can bring you a YA/NA Sci-Fi & Dystopian Giveaway.

Register for your chance to win here.

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Influential Movies

The other night, while my husband and I were surfing the channels looking for something to watch, we came across the Sony Movie Channel, and it happened to be playing Krull.  I really like this movie, despite it's faults, and I used to watch it when I was a kid.



After that particular film was Yor, The Hunter from the Future, and that made me laugh out loud.   I recently bought the DVD from Amazon, and my boys and I watched it on one of our vacation days.  It was not good.  It's pretty freaking terrible, but it's another movie I watched as a child.  (I picked this particular clip so you could experience the bitchin' title track.)


I've been nostalgic lately.  Over the weekend, my sister and her kids came over so we could watch Ewoks: The Battle for Endor.  Man oh man, talk about a terrible film.  If you want, you can watch the entire movie on YouTube.  The whole time, all my sister and I could wonder was what was up with Wicket's eyes?  They didn't blink, and although they were supposed to give him a teddy bear look, they were kind of creepy.  But, again, this is a movie I watched as a kid.

I don't know why I have such a drive at the moment to revisit childhood movies.  Perhaps it's because I actually have some time on my hands to do so.  Whatever it is, it's been a lot of fun.  I'd forgotten about a lot of these films, and a lot of them should have remained forgotten.  But at the same time, they have reminded me why I fell in love with sci fi, fantasy, and horror in the first place.  And it's rekindled my creative desire.

As far back as I can remember, I've always watched these kind of films.  My dad would record them off TV and put them onto VHS for our viewing pleasure.  We also watched B horror movies on TNT and Monstervision.  I absolutely loved it!  To this day, I still enjoy a good creature feature and cheesy science fiction.  They made me what I am.