Tag: H.B. Kurtzwilde

Servant for the Present by H.B. Kurtzwilde

hbk_tsaof3_servantforthepresentTitle: Servant for the Present
Series: The Secret Art of Failure, #3
Author: H. B. Kurtzwilde
Genre: Science Fiction & Space Opera/ BDSM & Fetish/Shapeshifters
Length: Novel (285 pages)
Publisher: Loose Id (May 18th, 2015)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 3.75 Hearts
Blurb: As the Servitors strive to end their hellish Time of Waiting, they must choose what is to come for themselves and their students.

Gun-slinging monk Kourt Crowe, is a master of secrets, including Assassination, Hunt, and Trigger; he’s also a fan of rock music, a gourmand, and an accomplished gardener–not to mention being a sexy alien shape-shifter, who loves sex in all its forms. His student and lover Kato Giavanni, self-described five-star hottie, is a badass hacker and psychic spy on a journey of sexual self-discovery.

Once again stand together to protect their Fellowship. With their love stronger than ever, a bond tempered by pleasure and pain forming the foundation of their defenses, they are prepared to defeat any enemy. But with the youngest generation of their College to watch over, and threats from within the Fellowship itself, they seemed destined once more to fail.

Though they have no hope of success, they gather their brothers in a new kind of battle: restoring peace to the Fellowship itself. By reviving long-lost arts and seeking out knowledge long assumed lost, they themselves threaten the very peace they hope to create. They unsettle the compromises that have crippled the traditions of their Fellowship.

But in this moment of chaos, the opportunity arises to forge a family that is intended to endure–but it has to begin with them.

ISBN: 978-1-62300-910-6

Product Link: http://www.loose-id.com/the-secret-art-of-failure-3-servant-for-the-present.html

Reviewer: Shorty

Review: This the third book in The Secret Art of Failure series. In this installment, we find Vanni giving a lecture about sage and deciding to become one himself. Kourt has finally accepted his feelings for Vanni. I do have to say though I enjoyed this series it is very confusing at times and left me feeling lost.

That is not to say it was not good though. There is a lot of complexity to this series. So I would suggest you read it from the beginning of the series as some things will confuse you if you pick another book in the series without reading the first. I was glad to see that some things that confused me in book one and two were answered in this one.
Very well written book that draws you into a mysterious and

fascinating world. Full of drama, mystery and two men coming together. As well as twists that leave you spellbound.

Good read.

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *

Proberia by H.B. Kurtzwilde, 2nd edition

24675282Title: Phoberia (2nd Edition)
Series: N/A
Author: HB Kurtzwilde
Genre: Science Fiction
Length: Novel (204 pages)
Publisher: Loose Id (3 Sept 2014)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5Hearts
Blurb: The corporate colony of Cadose HQ has a technological disaster brewing in its data pillars. The only man who can save them is Dixon Sinonyx, nanotech operator. But Dix himself is in need of help, both to solve the puzzle of Cadose’s reckless violations of safety protocols, and his own loneliness. Athen Dendrophile seems the perfect solution to both problems, but his youth and enthusiastic passion are as attractive as they are a dangerous distraction.

Though Dix is going crazy with the need for human contact, he fears doing damage to a seemingly innocent youth. Athen soon proves himself anything but innocent, and yet Dix can’t shake the fear that he is in more danger than he can understand. With the data pillars nearing meltdown and their mutual desire at the boiling point, they must find a way to put their differences aside to survive the hostile, brutal world that is crumbling all around them.

NOTE: This book was previously released by another publisher but has been substantially edited and revised.

ISBN: 9781623003708

Product Link: http://www.loose-id.com/phoberia.html

Reviewer: Prime

Review: I’m not going to lie, this is a difficult book to read, but the payoff is a fun Cyberpunk type of future. You need to keep paying attention, which I think is what sometimes takes away from my personal enjoyment. I’m all for mindless, simple plots after a long day.

Perhaps I’ve been watching too much Doctor Who reruns recently (well, that’s a lie, one can never have too much David Tennant!), but the story gives a strong Doctor Who vibe to me. If you’re not a Whovian, perhaps think of something like Tron or the character of Mr Universe in the movie Serenity.

Okay, that’s all my pop culture references out the way. Onto more important things.

Our two main characters are Dix and Athen. They are both tech-heads, so there is all matter of jargon including “defragging”, “system integration” and all other words that remind me of Star Trek. There are also some rather mind-boggling descriptions of computer processes that have been created purely for this story.

I’m going to say that this is what makes this a difficult read because this isn’t just a simple out of this world adventure. Dix has been hired to repair the core computing/internet network of the Cadrose Corporation on the planet Cadrose. The colony is also called Cadrose. Think of that what you will.

Dix is human, a rarity and this touches on a feature common of science fiction which essentially points out the pointlessness of being racist or xenophobic or whatever. Everyone is different but the minorities are always picked on. Partly because when Dix seeks to hire a helper, he wants a fellow human, who turns out to be Athen.

The players in place, now the Cadrose Corporation’s computer systems need to be dug through and repaired. This leads me to point out another important feature of science fiction: there is the talk of governments/ major companies overreaching their powers with the everyday folk. Both Dix and Athen are complex characters, especially Athen who had a difficult upbringing. For that reason the slow unfolding of their intimacy feels right as the guys really get to know each other and their respective quirks.

Forgive me while real life intrudes for a moment: if you’re someone dealing with bioinformatics (as well as a sci-fi fan), this may actually also make a lot of sense to you, especially if you’re dealing with network analyses. I know, that’s a really niche group, but hey, that’s what I think from personal experience.

After that spiel, it should be clear if science-fiction and geek romances are your thing, then you’ll enjoy this. However, the romance side of things is rather subtle, so I describe this first and foremost as a sci-fi adventure.

This is a great, great book but I fear it sometimes lost me when the pace dropped off at point to deliver long explanations and the jargon. I advise not to read this one tired.

* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *

Volunteered to the Future by H.B. Kurtzwilde

19171429Title: Volunteered to the Future

Series: The Secret Art of Failure #1

Author: H. B. Kurtzwilde

Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera

ISBN: 978-1-62300-558-0

Length: Novel (256 pages)

Publisher: Loose Id (December 2nd, 2013)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3.5 Hearts

Reviewer: Thommie

Blurb: Kourt Crowe, the last remaining Servitor assassin, also a shape-shifter, lives to restore the lost golden age of the Fellowship of Servitors. His first husband died over a century ago, and, since then, he’s been fighting his battles alone. This next battle may be more than he bargained for, as he finds himself head-to-head and body-to-body with a promising, but troubled human student.

Evicted from his college for broken vows, self-described five-star hottie Kato Giovanni isn’t ready to hang up his dreams. With his razor-sharp mind and native genius for theoretical mathematics, he convinces badass Master Kourt to take him on as a student. He wants to learn. Really, he does. But he can’t help testing all of his teacher’s boundaries.

Product Link: http://www.loose-id.com/the-secret-art-of-failure.html

Review: This is perhaps the most challenging book I’ve read on account to understanding terms and writing a review that does it justice. The blurb might seem easy as pie, but trust me this is a book that requires all of your attention, all of your imagination, and a great deal of general understanding of things. Trying to see this book and make sense of it with something that you’ve felt, lived, or seen before in your life, while doable, it’s quite difficult to do.

From my understanding, you must read the Guide to Survival series in order to comprehend a bit about Kourt’s previous life with his lover and the word/worlds in which he travels and exists.
As for this book, my comprehension of it comes down to the point that Servitors are in touch with their inner “chi” aka telsma. Others, who couldn’t reach the telsma, went on research and sources, reading and proofing every truth in life, and there are the ones in between. These people live their life in constant training and discipline in order to be true servitors of the greater good.

Adjusting this with our own reality, it makes me think of university nerds versus military guys. Books vs. activity, knowing vs. doing etc.

Vanni is a special human striving to be a Servitor. He can analyze and mathematically see truths. I can’t even say it in words now, but he is unique when it comes to one talent he has, that of Speech, that translates on Vanni being able to do all sorts of things, from talking with every creature he comes in contact with (even trees for crying out loud) to see the truth behind those words.
The universities tried to manipulate him into making a vow with a student so that he could pass that knowledge, but being not a Master yet he couldn’t make the false vow, hence it broke his own vow with his own college. Of course the masters didn’t want to take responsibility for being idiots and downright stupid, so they out-casted him, resulting to Vanni being taken by yet another extraordinary Master who is himself a bit of an outcast, or rebel as he claims. However, this new Master will challenge all of Vanni’s learning and end-up breaking everything in order to rebuild him from scratch the proper way of a Servitor.

I really, really am having trouble saying a summary of this book with my own words. Half of the book I had no idea what on earth was going on and that doesn’t help. Honestly, I only started making sense of some things from 50% onward. End result?

I liked the characters. I want more of them. I’m guessing I’ll have more of them when book #2 comes out.
Kourt was weird; he’s not human, but he can take the shape of one. His personality is all over the place and nowhere. He is so multi-dimensional I can’t begin to count. He’s still very charming in his complex, very alluring as a character. As I said, I want more and in the end, I felt as if this book ended right about the time I started making sense and understanding what’s going on.

Same goes with Vanni with the difference that I have a better image of him in my head. I can actually picture Vanni and say he’s one hot guy, though quite stupid in his genius. Ah! That’s the best description I have for him. He’s like this super talented, genius kid, that remains naïve as a kid. One moment you see him making leaps in learning, the next he’s having quite the trouble understanding simple things like emotion and letting go. Vanni also suffers for a great deal of brainwashing due to his training with Masters that were incapable to train him properly, therefore all his learning is by half.

The sex part here, surprise-surprise, confused and frustrated the heck out of me. Hot as it was, it was still in the same level of what-the-heck-is-going-on with the rest of the story and plot.

The only thing I can add to this review at this point is that this is the first book that was such a hardship reading it, yet I never wanted to stop and mostly when the end came, I got pissed because it ended. I feel like a masochist that can’t have enough of its punishment, because said punishment is so freaking good.