Mom Kat Reads

Monday, July 21, 2025

5 Editors Tackle
The 12 Fatal Flaws of Fiction Writing
by C.S. Lakin
with Linda S. Clare, Christy Distler, Robin Patchen, and Rachel Starr Thompson

This book was recommended for a class that I am taking and having read it, I can very easily understand why. I have since recommended it to someone I know who is working on writing their first novel as I believe this book will be extremely helpful for them during the writing process. It very clearly describes the main problems that many authors face when writing a novel, and it offers potential solutions for each of these issues.

This book covers quite a bit of information, so it may take some time to read and fully absorb all of the knowledge and wisdom that it is attempting to share. But I can honestly say that those who take the time to read it and attempt to eliminate any of the “fatal flaws” that may run through their writing will not be disappointed with the results and improvement in the responses to their own tales.

While I have not written a book myself, given that I have reviewed a number of books, I was already familiar with a number of these fatal flaws and have seen them in some of the books that I have read and reviewed over the years. I may not have always been able to put into exact words why something may have bothered me about a story, but when reading the descriptions of those same issues and the potential ways to solve or avoid them, those reasons become much clearer.

This book is an excellent source of information for anyone who is writing a novel or even a short story. It will definitely help with avoiding quite a few pitfalls whether you are planning on trying to get your book published through a publisher or are planning on publishing independently. It can also be helpful for anyone just wanting to improve their storytelling skills in general. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is writing a story to share with others. It is a fantastic resource book for both new writers as well as for anyone hoping to improve on existing skills.

If you are a writer, this is one book that I highly recommend adding to your collection. This is also one that I feel could be very helpful to editors, specifically developmental editors, as it helps the reader to recognize at least some of the potential problems that authors might inadvertently incorporate into their writing. (I know that I have been guilty of some of them myself, and I've never written or tried to publish a book.)

Monday, July 14, 2025

Prudence
written by Gail Carriger
Narrated by Moira Quirk

Prudence, now a young woman with a preternatural for a mother and a werewolf father is herself a metanatural; the only one born in centuries. She is capable of "borrowing" the form and abilities of any supernatural being she touches while they revert to being mortal for as long as she retains their supernatural abilities. Prudence is also the adopted daughter of a vampire—an arrangement that was made before her birth as the only way to prevent the local vampire hive from trying to kill her mother before Prudence was born.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story, which focused on the next generation of characters from the Parasol Protectorate series rather than their parents and enjoyed it. Though I do wish that they had used the same narrator as they did in the first series; mainly because the changes in the way the characters from the original series were voiced seemed vastly different in style from how they sounded when spoken by the previous narrator. But it was only those particular characters’ voices that bothered me, and likely only because I was so used to the previous narrator's style.

The voices of the characters that were not in the original series, however, felt much more welcome and did not bother me in any way. This narrator also did an excellent job of keeping each character's voice distinct from all others.

One thing that I found amusing in this story involves a stolen snuffbox that is hiding tea inside. And, if you have been reading my reviews for at least the last year or so, you know that I have been enjoying the teas purchased from Punk Teas. Whenever I ordered tea from them, a free sample of another tea had been included with my purchase, and their sample sized tins look suspiciously like small snuffboxes. At one point, I asked a representative from their company if this had been intentional as I know that Ms. Carriger has worked with Tea Punk Teas to create at least one tea inspired by another of her books, but it seems that it was merely a coincidence. (The size of the small tin merely being very convenient for tea samples.) But it was fun to discover it as part of the story I was currently listening to.

I think that anyone who enjoyed the Parasol Protectorate Series and anyone who enjoys Steampunk tales should enjoy this one. (Especially while enjoying drinking a nice, refreshing cup of tea, something which is a very important part of this book.) I know that I enjoyed both this book and my tea while I listened to this story. And whether you listen to the audiobook, as I did, or you read the pages of the story yourself, I think that you will find it a fun tale.

Amazon requires me to state that I have an Amazon Associates account that I use to generate the links to the books on their website. Purchasing something after following those links will earn a few pennies for me off the sale, though as of yet I have not earned anything from my Amazon Associate links.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Mortal Coils: The Necromancer's Apprentice
by Chris Durston

Mara is an apprentice necromancer, not by choice, but because a master necromancer decided to make her his apprentice, and if she refused, her family would pay the price for her refusal. Over time, she has gotten used to the evil nature of her existence and grown in power. They are at the last task she must complete to no longer be considered his apprentice, but will be a full necromancer in her own right, making her family finally be safe from this monster's harm. However, once the task is completed, he kills her, sending her to the realm of the dead until he can master the spell that will bind her soul to him as an undead servant; one with all her awareness and power intact. Not wanting this to be her fate, Mara is in a hurry to find a way to cross over to where her former master cannot call her back from the Sunless Crossing. But she can’t manage this on her own, and soon finds herself as part of an adventuring party for the first time.

I received and read a review copy of this book. It is a tie-in novel to the Black Ballad roleplaying campaign, and like the other Sunless Crossing novels, it is one I enjoyed reading. I enjoyed watching Mara learn to see that friends are not always a weakness. Sometimes, they are what makes life (or in this case, death) worthwhile. It’s not easy to learn to trust when for most of your life, you have had to hide your true thoughts and feelings from those closest to you.

Watching Mara grow as a person after her death made for an interesting story. It’s not often that one learns those lessons after they have died, but before then, she had no one who could show her the value of trust and friendship. And ultimately, the value of putting others’ needs and desires ahead of your own. I truly enjoyed this aspect of the story. The idea that it is never too late to learn to care about others is a very strong and important lesson.

Anyone who enjoys RPG tie-in novels, fantasy adventure stories, or character driven stories about discovering who you truly are and what you want out of life should enjoy this book. It’s a interesting story that I think many will enjoy. I did.

Monday, June 30, 2025

Safe Passage:
Through the Wildlands of Capherayna
by Karen Menezes

After many days of walking through an-old growth forest, The Lightbender, a man trained extensively from birth in a variety of holistic and metaphysical as well as scientific methods has found his way to a village in need of his help. The new ruler of a neighboring kingdom has declared a war on the peaceful village in an effort to steal their land, as well as the land of all the nearby villages also living in the forest. And when the villagers refuse to either join his kingdom—a much more modern society with a great deal of technology—or to abandon their homes, he sends in his military to shoot the children first, since killing the children will cause despair and make it less likely that the adults will continue to resist.

This was an interesting story, and while it took me a while to actually realize what it was about (there was a great deal of necessary worldbuilding in order to explain not only The Lightbender and those like him, but what was happening around these villages and why the neighboring kingdom was so determined to control them). It also took me a while to realize that this was likely supposed to be a world similar to if not actually our own, though it wasn’t taking place in any part of the world with which I was familiar.

The author did a wonderful job of describing the forest and the people living there, spending so much time in their world, that when the soldiers arrived with guns and a plan to bomb the villages if necessary, it was rather jarring to me; I had completely forgotten that there were modern societies in this world, as the people focused on were ones that chose to live without technology. However, to me the pacing of the book felt slightly off. There were long sections where it was very calm and sedate, with a great deal of narrative description. And though much of it was necessary, it caused much of the urgency that I expected to feel to be missing.

Also, when the people were hiding from the soldiers in the forest with The Lightbender and others like him who were trying to help hide, heal, and protect the people from discovery, some of the recovering children were not seeming to grasp the need for quiet, despite the fact that they had been shot and left for dead by the soldiers, with a great many of their friends and family having not survived. To me, this seemed like more than the few specifically mentioned as having PTSD from the violence should have been more traumatized by it, rather than acting out because they were bored, or loudly voicing a desire to return home. (I’m sure that I would find it very difficult to return to a place where I had nearly been killed and watched many others die.)

But don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy reading this book, and would happily read more of the series. I believe that many of my issues revolved around the amount of necessary world building in order for me to grasp what was happening in this story and understand the why behind it. But I do need to include some trigger warnings for this book, as there is some violence, some violent shooting of innocent children. So it is likely that this book is not a good fit for everyone. But I do feel that many people will enjoy this story. Even with the issues I felt the book contained, overall I did enjoy reading it.

Monday, June 23, 2025

To Slay a God,
by Brian Fitzpatrick

When the god of pestilence and decay seeks to enter their world to continue a path of world destruction that it has successfully completed on other worlds, Severina and her companions must destroy it before it can destroy everything. But what happens once they manage that task but die in the process. And when they all arrive in the Sunless Crossing, can they help to save the realm of the dead from a dead god that wants to take over that realm before venturing on to destroy every other world?

I read a review copy of this book and, like the previous books in the Sunless Crossing series of Black Ballad tie-in novels, this was an interesting one. I liked seeing how the characters reacted to learning not only were they now dead, but that the evil they had thought defeated was now working on taking over the realm of the dead. I enjoyed the differing perspectives from the characters. You could easily see how their lives had affected the way they viewed their deaths and afterlives.as well as the surprises that were thrown at them.

I also liked how we could see their views on multiple things changing as the characters learned more about not only their new surroundings, but about themselves along the way. I truly enjoyed the obvious character growth that takes place in this story. It is one that if you aren’t paying attention, you may not notice it, but that when you are watching to see how and if the characters grow and develop along the way, it is clearly there.

If you like fantasy stories full of adventure and that have a good vs evil theme, books that are RPG tie-in novels, and the Black Ballad RPG game then I believe you will enjoy this book. Even if you haven’t played Black Ballad or play RPG games, this is still a very entertaining fantasy adventure novel that I think many will enjoy. I recommend giving this book, and this series, a try.

Monday, June 16, 2025

Paramour Book 1: Moneta
by George Bachman

Following a violent attack, Blondie lies near death. But she is not the main character in this tale: her mother Moneta is. The majority of this tale flows across two different timelines. One where Moneta is younger, and one involving her daughter Blondie at the same age. There is a parallel in these two storylines as much of Blondie’s life seems to mirror Moneta’s. Both seem to have the same interests, and they seem to often make the same mistakes.

I read a review copy of this book, and parts of this story I found to be very interesting. I enjoyed the characterizations, and the parallels between the two timelines. But I also have to warn readers that I do need to include some trigger warnings for this book. There are some incidents involving violent and descriptive sexual assault on a near-adult minor. There are some traumatic events in this story that could trigger PTSD for some readers. And there are also abusive relationships within this book.

I did enjoy much of the characterization and parts of the story, but I feel like there was too much in-depth description of the science (or made up science for this story) within the book that went far beyond my ability to comprehend. And in my opinion, these instances often dragged on for too long, causing me to want to skim over them as I was not really understanding why so much time was being spent on these specific conversations. While I do recognize that parts of them were essential to the story, I believe that shortening or condensing certain conversations would have held more fully held my interest rather than causing me to want to skim through them.

Overall, while I did have some issues with parts of the story, I did enjoy others and was often interested in what was going on, even if I didn't always understand it. Would I be interested in reading the next book in this series? Probably. I believe the second book will likely clear up some of the questions that the answers were never revealed in this book, and hopefully would explain what actually led up to the opening scene. (I have an idea about that, but I have no idea if my guess is correct, or if there are other questions that I don’t even know to ask yet.)

So while I think that some will find the technical discussions involving memory and the brain fascinating, I think that for the rest of us, if you can get past the sections that seemed to slow down my interest, and can get past the trigger warning issues within this tale, then I believe you will probably enjoy this story. It is definitely an interesting concept, even if I think some parts could have used a bit more development and refining before publication.

Monday, June 9, 2025

The Memory Thief: Streets of Nox Valar
(Chronicles of the Crossing Book 1)
by CD Corrigan

Rasa fell to Ashen Fields of the Sunless Crossing with no memory of anything that had gone before. She didn’t know where she was, what her name was, or how she came to be there. She didn’t even know that she was dead. Almost immediately, she was being attacked by monstrous creature after monstrous creature, again, without knowing why. When Secan found her, she at first assumed he was another being simply determined to try and kill her and almost tried to do the same to him as she had to the other … things that had attacked her. Together, they set off to try and find a way to help her regain her memory and figure out where she belonged in the realm of those who had died. What they didn’t know was the dangerous plot that was being implemented by an Angel that endangered the balance of life/death in the Sunless Crossing.

I read an advance review copy of this book, and like the other tie-in novel to the Black Ballad RPG game, I enjoyed this one a great deal. There is a lot going on in this book, keeping the pace fast and drawing the reader of this fantasy series quickly into the story and making them want to know more about what is really happening.

Thus far, I have been enjoying this series. It is an easy read, well written, and quite entertaining. Those who enjoy role-playing games, have read any of the other Black Ballad tie-in novels, or who have played an RPG set in the Black Ballad world of the Sunless Crossing, will likely enjoy this book a great deal. It is a very entertaining story, and the realm of those who are currently dead, but aren't yet ready to enter their afterlife is a fascinating one that I believe readers will enjoy... whether they have played the RPG game itself or not.

The characters are another great source of entertainment for the reader, and I can easily imagine the difficulty in waking up with no memory only to have someone try to convince you that you are dead, even though to yourself, you feel as alive. It would be one thing to have a memory of being killed, but with no memory at all? That would be quite difficult, I would imagine, at least until something convinced you otherwise.

There are some interesting subplots in this story that I think made it a book that was quite difficult to put down, and one where I kept wanting to know what would happen next. I think that if you give this book a try, you won’t be disappointed.