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Book Review: Grimmworld: The Witch in the Woods by Michaelbrent Collings

cover art for Grimmworld The Witch in the Woods by Michaelbrent Collings

Grimmworld: The Witch in the Woods, by Michaelbrent Collings

Shadow Mountain Publishing, March 2024 (not yet released)

ISBN: 9781639932320

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition

Buy: Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com

 

Michaelbrent Collings writes good thrillers, and writes them fast: his pace has always been Dean Koontz-like. Grimmworld is his first attempt at a middle grade fantasy novel, and not surprisingly, it’s very good.  Collings has no trouble shifting his high-octane writing to fantasy, Kids and adults both will love this.

 

The book is a nifty new way to use Grimm’s Fairy Tales for backdrop.  The first 90 pages are a bit slow, but it’s just the setup for the real story.  Twins Jake and Willow Grimm are living in a new town, where their parents are involved in top secret research.  Through a collision of multiverses, the twins wind up in Grimmworld, where all the old fairy tales actually happen, for real.  However, the endings are very different in Grimmworld, and not happy ones, either– the original Brothers Grimm changed the endings when they wrote them.  Once the story shifts to Grimmworld, it takes off, and kicks into high gear. Jake and Willow do get some scientific explanation for the different worlds from a friend and wizard, Old Eli.  Collings does a nice job balancing a plausible scientific theory and making it understandable to young readers..  The ‘bubble’ analogy the author used really helps tie this section together.  The lovable, enigmatic mole-rat, Chet, also helps the twins, although his Cheshire-cat style of talking does drive them somewhat nuts.

 

The last half of the book is fantastic, with Jake and Willow attempting to save Hansel and Gretel from the witch’s oven.  There are a lot of outstanding riddles and puzzles in this section: riddling hasn’t been this much fun since Bilbo went toe to toe with Gollum all those years ago.  The ‘slow camel’ race and magic tree demonstrate real planning on the author’s part, and they are simple enough for readers to follow.  It’s the perfect wrap-up to a very good story.  Thankfully, this isn’t the end: Collings has already promised another if he gets a good response from readers.  Based on this, he won’t have any trouble getting it.

 

Bottom line is, this does what a good middle grade fantasy should do: thrill younger and older readers alike.  Schools should have this, to help kids see that reading has a LOT more to offer than staring at cell phones.  As for the author, who knows what else he has in his bag of tricks? Recommended.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on March 2, 2024 by , Reply

Book Review: Synchronicity by Michaelbrent Collings

cover art for Synchronicity by Michaelbrent Collings

Synchronicity by Michaelbrent Collings

Written Insomnia Press, 2021

ISBN: 38744369R00197

Availability: paperback, Kindle edition ( Amazon.com )

 

Synchronicity, the newest thriller from Michaelbrent Collings, succeeds in most areas, while missing in a few.  His trademark skill of writing action sequences and maintaining a fast pace is on full display, but the story does skimp a little on fleshing out the plot for the reader.  It’s a decent read, just not quite to the level of excellence of his most recent novels.

 

“Book” Malcolm is a small-time pickpocket and thief who drifts through life, taking what he can.  One day, unknown people try to kill him on a subway platform.  With their light-speed method of fighting, abnormal healing powers, and the ability to shift consciousness from one body to another, they resemble the characters in The Matrix.  Then, Book is on the run, pursued by some and aided by others, as he struggles to answer the question: “why me?”  Later, Book becomes aware of his own powers, and tries to stop the villains from using the consciousness-shifting device to achieve world domination.

 

Collings has always been good at making a story move quickly and providing plenty of action along the way, and Synchronicity continues the trend.  As always, it starts off fast; the destruction on the subway platform happens in the first few pages, and the pace never lets up until the end of the story.  The numerous action sequences (and there are a LOT) are well detailed and thought out, and show the author’s usual flair for bone-crushing intensity, as well as violent gunfights.  In terms of a straight thrill ride of a story, Synchronicity hits the target dead-on.

 

However, it takes more than just breakneck speed to engross some readers start to finish, and that’s where Synchronicity falls a bit short.  It’s almost too fast, and doesn’t allow the plot enough time to breathe, in terms of explanation.  It’s written so the reader never knows more than Book himself throughout the story, and that’s good for character development, but frustrating for the reader.  There is little backstory or dialogue between other characters to give readers some explanation prior to the big reveal at the end.  This makes it harder to get interested in the characters, since you don’t know much about why they are acting like they are.  It’s a shame, because the reason behind the consciousness-jumping technology is quite clever, but it doesn’t get much page time.  More breaks from the hyper-speed of the narrative to detail the plot would have gone a long way.  It’s a good action book, just a little more one-dimensional than Collings’s usual writing.

 

Synchronicity will probably keep his legions of fans entertained, but first-timers might want to start with Scavenger Hunt or the Stranger series instead, to get a better perspective on his writing.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on September 20, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Stranger Danger (Stranger, #3) by Michaelbrent Collings

cover art for Stranger Danger by Michaelbrent Collings

( Amazon.com  )

Stranger Danger by Michaelbrent Collings

Written Insomnia Press, 2020

ISBN: 979-8575116776

Availability: paperback, Kindle

 

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”

 

Stranger Danger is the third volume in the series featuring Legion, a teacher of justice and pain.  Like the unfortunate of the Biblical parable, Legion may have demons inside him and be quite crazy, in a figurative and literal sense.  But that doesn’t stop him from teaching people the error of their ways, in a bone-cracking, skin-pulping fashion.  If you’ve read the other two volumes (Stranger and Stranger Still) then you can’t miss this one, it’s the best one yet.  If you haven’t, this is still a great read.  Minus a couple small issues, it can still be read and understood as a stand-alone.  It’s every bit as good as Stranger Still (reviewed here ) but with the few minor tweaks made, this one is a notch above its predecessor.

 

As in the prior volumes, Stranger Danger runs two concurrent threads that start off separate, but eventually twine together.  Legion, a man with the ghosts of his brothers (Fire and Water) always with him and talking to him, stars in the first one.  He simply goes (or is led) to a place with a lot of wrongdoing, investigates the source of problems, and rectifies the wrongs inflicted on innocents, in an agonizing fashion.  This time, the site of mayhem is Tree City, a standard city with a ghetto overrun by four separate street gangs.  Legion’s story thread soon intersects with that of Candela Garcia, a cop who has been on the run from a psychopath for years, and has finally settled in Tree City, determined to make a better life for her son Chase, and the people of the city.  Her son makes the mistake of falling in with Wolf, the leader of one of the gangs.  Candela has to deal with the double trouble of helping her son and stopping the gangs from decimating the city.  Fortunately for her, Legion believes in stopping evil also, and the two of them use their opposing methods and beliefs to bring justice to the city.

 

Stranger Danger has the usual hallmarks of Collings’s writing in this series: extremely fast pace, excitement, and a mild touch of gore.  It’s the small touches that push this book above the previous one.  Fire and Water, the ghostly spirits in Legion’s head, are much better developed. Their advice does play a critical role in assisting Legion, but their constant verbal squabbling with each other also provides some occasional light-hearted moments.  The contrast between the two main characters also helps.  Candela is a straight-arrow, by-the-book cop who despises corruption and can’t be bought.  Legion understands right and wrong, but has no concept of laws when it comes to applying punishment.  Where Candela would make an arrest, Legion would break bones and crush pelvises.  It adds a nice dynamic to the story.

 

The character of Legion has also evolved.  Before, he was emotionless.  Now, at times, he actually experiences fear and (gasp!) happiness of a sort.  He isn’t flawless in his retribution either: one could make the case that a couple of the people Legion injures didn’t deserve it– they were just flunkies doing their legal jobs.  It’s different then the usual “good” or “evil” dynamic usually found in the series.  At the same time, Legion starts to question whether he should only punish the sinners, or maybe try helping out good people who don’t need correcting.   It all adds up to a more complex and interesting character.

 

Stranger Still is the best entry yet in a series that appears to have a ways to go.  Now, it’s just a matter of counting the days until the next one is released.  Recommended.

 

 

Contains:  violence, profanity, gore

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on February 24, 2021 by , Reply
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