Saturday, November 25, 2006

November 2006

KING RAVEN: HOOD
-S. Lawhead-historical fiction
-what Lawhead did for Arthur with his Pendragon cycle, he is now doing for the legend of Robin Hood. Taking place in the 1100's, in Wales, it follows a displace Cymry Prince who turns to outlawry to survive, and ultimately protect his people. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and am looking forward to the next 2 in this trilogy.

TAKEN: LOST AND FOUND
-AD Foster-scifi
-the first in the TAKEN trilogy. A man is kidnapped by aliens, held in a ship along with many other lifeforms, to be eventually sold as a "novelty" piece of entertainment to the highest bidder. A dog has also been taken and given enhanced intelligence to boost his price. These 2, along with 2 other aliens, stage a revolt and break free. Get in contact with a good force of aliens, but have no idea where their homeworld is, so they can't go back to earth. Ends with all 4 companions vowing to leave the aliens homeworld and search for their own homeworlds. Light, but crass humor dragged it down. I ordered the trilogy omnibus from the SFBC, but I'm not sure that order made it, so if I replace the order, I'll leave the trilogy out. Not worth buying.

IRON TOWER: THE DARK TIDE
-D. McKiernan-fantasy
-I read these in highschool and my second year of Bibleschool. My initial reaction was "total Tolkien ripoff". Now I'm not so sure. It is a Tolkien knockoff of Middle Earth, with elves, dwarves, men, warrows[hobbits, just a bit more warlike] and the such, but the story is a bit more unique I can see this time through. Evil Modru is stalking the land, and his minions are protected from Adons ban[death by sunlight] by the Dimmendark. Follows 4 warrows in their adventures, as they start together in the Boskeydells and to their separation at the Fall of Challeron Keep. Don't think about Tolkien[ie, comparing it] and you'll enjoy this. If you compare them though, this doesn't come off very good. So don't :-)

GENESIS OF SHANNARA: ARMAGEDDON'S CHILDREN
-T. Brooks-fantasy
-this is the first in trilogy that ties the Word and the Void Trilogy to his Shannara series. This was a well written book. Dark enough like the W&V series but without as much of the hopelessness of it. The future envisioned by John Ross is here. Demons and once-men roam the world while humans hide behind walls in enclaves that are slowling falling to the demons onslaughts. Follows one Knight of the Word as he is sent to find and protect Nest Freemark's son, the gypsy morph, who has not aged in the last 80+ years. Another Knight[and these 2 seem to be the last 2 alive, all the others falling prey to the Demon Gask's machinations] is led to protect a group of elves who are on a quest to find the Elven lodestone, in which the Elcrys can hide and survive the coming destruction. The final focus is on a group of kids[teens and early 20's] who have banded together and are led by a youngman named Hawk, who has a vision[and who is the gypsy morph, it is revealed at the end]. I enjoyed this, without the emotional problems I had with the W&V series.

IRON TOWER: SHADOWS OF DOOM
-D. McKiernan-fantasy
-Lots of happenings. 2 of the warrows return to the Boskey to warn their folks, only to find they have to fight Modru's forces their. The other warrow throws in his lot with a dwarf, an elf and the new Highking, as they seek to gather the Southern forces to march north and defeat Modru. Walk through the Deeve[Kraggen-cor] and defeat the Gargon[a reptiled biped, who freezes victims with fear]. Ends with them going into a battle as they journey back North for a small scale assault on Modru's Iron Tower. Modru is Gyphon's servant and Gyphon was Adons adversary.

STARWARS: DARTH MAUL: SHADOW HUNTER
-M. Reaves-scifi
-An immediate prequel to Episode One. Follows Darth Maul as he hunts down a Neimoydian who is trying to sell info about the upcoming Trade Embargo for Naboo. Maybe a fan of Darth Maul would like this a lot, but I found it very blase. I am going back and forth as whether to buy it or not, for it is the immediate events leading up to Episode One. We'll see if I can find a cheap bookclub edition somewhere.

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS: THE END: BOOK THE THIRTEENTH
-L. Snicket-juvenile fiction
-the series ends. much as it began. It seems everyone in VFD is an orphan, no matter what side of the schism they are on. The Baudelaires end up taking care of Kit Snickets baby[Kit dies], Olaf dies and reveals that he was always in love with Kit, and the story ends with the Orphans sailing off a deserted island to go live in the world, as normal people.

GODDESS OF THE ICEREALM
-D. Drake-fantasy
-latest installment of the Lord of the Isles saga. I rather enjoyed. Another Ilna from an alternate world is trying to take over everything. Lots of battles and as generic as the others, but I enjoyed it anyway. Magic, magic, everywhere.

STARWARS: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE
-S. Perry-scifi
-taking place between ESB and RotJ, it focuses on a battle between Vader and the leader of the crime organization Black Sun, both of whom want Luke. Vader wants him alive, Xizor wants him dead. Call it an immediate prequel to RotJ. Ok. I'd buy it in hardcover if I would find it for under $5.

THE AWAKENERS: NORTHSHORE
-S. Tepper-fantasy
-this is a really weird book. It drops you into an unknown world, into the middle of a story without any explanation. I've been able to glean the following: man came to this new world, which was already inhabited by sentient flying beings, who were on the verge of extincting themselves by over eating their foodstock. We were poisonous to them, but their blood gave humans longevity. So a system was setup where our dead become their food, and people "disappear" as live food. In exchange, select few humans are given the longevity treatment. Basically at the flashpoint where the people are beginning to realize what is going on. Really hard, because there is so much new stuff that you have to extrapolate.

THE AWAKENERS: SOUTHSHORE
-S. Tepper-fantasy
-This concludes this series. One group flees Northshore to the Fabled Southshore, another group rises up in revolt, a third group also rises up in revolt, but clashes with the second group over the first. It was just an odd series. Nothing to recommend.

MONSTER
-F. Peretti-fiction
-started out REALLY scary, then just got all non-scary. A good tale about bigfoot, a christian couple and mad scientist trying to prove evolution. I wanted more scary though. Very enjoyable though. Much more researched and thought out than The Oath and it really showed.

PARADISE: SHOWDOWN
-T. Dekker-fiction
-my first Dekker book. Heard a lot about him. Now I've read him. I like it. About a Battle for the town of Paradise between children using Books of History[in which the writer's writings come true]. The Story of Christ told all over again. It reminded me of the Visitation a good bit.