An Open Letter to the SFF Community Regarding Norylska Groans by Clayton Snyder and Michael R Fletcher

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is (checks blog name) Paul and I’m here today to give you some important information about this new book Snyder and Fletcher are peddling. Norylska Groans is a dangerous book. It may cause any of the follow: muscle twitches, swollen ankles, foul-smelling feet, and painful itching around the eyes. All brought on by hours staring at the pages of this book… unable to put it down.

Three pieces of of evidence point to this issue:

1. Addictive characters. As an ex-soldier, Gen is still stumbling around trying to find a job suitable for his innate fighting skills. When he’s let go from his job in the slaughter house, Gen is desperate to find a way to provide for his family, especially with a child on the way. An opportunity falls in his lap… but it comes with risk. Can he be an enforcer for a rival gang? /// Kat comes from a well-to-do family, but after falling on hard times and with her fiancee just starting out as a barrister, she searches out for a part-time job. She applies for a position in the secretary pool with the police force, but is subsequently “volunteered” to become one of the officers herself. /// Each thrown into the life of the criminal or the law… a mentor over each character’s shoulder to guide them through the growing pains (I’ll get to that next.)
2. Deceptively Cool Magic System. Here is the devilry these authors have created… The concentrated memories and personality traits of individuals are injected into stones and then worn on necklaces. Memory Stones can be used to add memories/ information to a person’s head. The knowledge of allies, names of suspects, and information about the power system that lords over the population… Personality Stones can balance out or enhance any deficiencies or excesses in one’s emotional fortitude. Need grit, we got a stone for that! Need less fear and anxiety, we got a stone for that! /// When the magic is removed from the wearer’s neck… poof, the skills and memories disappear. All the guilt and mental pain slides away and as Kat’s mentor Mak puts it, he can sleep like a baby. But the reader will not forget… I will never forget!
3. Dove-tail plotting and all the rest of the stuff. The story is told through alternating chapters from each main character’s POV… and this includes a bit of cross-over plotting. This may cause dizziness, nausea, and an extreme shortness of breath. (More bc it was cool than because of excitement. but it’s still very dangerous!) And I saved one of the best or most calculating offense for last: The Setting. No one can take a step in this city without it landing in snow or muck. Puke, feces, blood, brain matter? It is all there in the rambling Russion-inspired northern city of Norylska. Its population constantly pulling each other back down into the various slums and ghettos controlled by the gangs. If there’s one book you could catch dysentery from, it’s this one!!! NOTE: I would advise using hand sanitizer before and after reading.

Gen is willing to take the risk of criminality to ensure his family has what it needs… and Kat thrown into the gutters to try to weed out the evil of the crime syndicates.

By the power invested in me by my little blog… I declare this book RAD! But dangerous… so very dangerous!!!

5 out of 5 stars

Signed: Paul from Paul’s Picks.

Thank you to the authors for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest declaration.