Saturday, December 30, 2006

December 2006

LORD OF THE ISLES: MASTER OF THE CAULDRON
-D. Drake-fantasy
-Another island, another danger. Cashel goes to help his and Ilna's mother, Ilna and Chalcus go to rescue little Merota, and everybody else stays behind and fights. Hahahaha.

HOUSE
-F. Peretti & T. Decker-thriller
-oh man! This was creepy, scary, and awesome. A serial murderer traps 4 people in a house. He is either a demon or demon possessed and his House Rule is that they must kill one of their group to let the others live. There is also a little girl[an angel?] and some inbreds. It ends up being about their souls and hearts. I liked it a lot.

CROWN OF THE ISLES: THE FORTRESS OF GLASS
-D. Drake-fantasy
-a new trilogy wrapping up the Lord of the Isles Saga. 2 Magicians of cosmic power duke it out. Chalcus and Merota die, and in the end all the multiverses kind of come together into one new land. Very 2 dimensional, you don't feel a thing when people die, but it is a good fantasy yarn. Cheap fantasy is probably the term for this whole series.

STARWARS:DARTH BANE: PATH OF DESTRUCTION
-D. Karpyshyn
-scifi-1000 years before New Hope. A showdown between the Sith and the Jedi is taking place. The Sith have become a watered down version of the Jedi, espousing mutual help for mutual benefit. Into this comes a young man who takes on the name of Bane. Through his training he realizes the Sith have fallen from their original precepts and begins to plot. This book introduces us to the "modern" Sith idea of "One Master, One Disciple". And the Sith mantra, very opposite of the Jedi mantra. Overall, a good light read. Worth buying for its historical roots.

THE IDIOT
-F. Dostoyevsky-Russian Fiction
-the adventures of Prince Myshkin. A mental patient who is cured, falls in love with one woman, is scorned by her, falls in love with another young lady, the first woman intrigues to break them up just to show she can, he is forced to choose between them, chooses the first woman, she leaves him at the altar for a former lover, who then kills her in revenge, the second woman marries badly and becomes estranged from her family and the Prince ends up an Idiot back where he came from. Not uplifting at all in my opinion. I liked the story overall, but the author skipped whole months near the beginning and then would spend inordinate amounts of time recounting peoples speeches. There were times I wondered if I was reading some sort of political/theological diatribe, which to be honest, these writings are. It's under my belt, done with.


THE IRONTOWER: THE DARKEST DAY
-D. McKiernan-fantasy
-wrapup to the IronTower trilogy. Tuck ends up shooting the Myrkenstone, which destroys Modru and sends Gyphon back beyond the spheres. He is blinded. Ends up him marrying Merrile Holt and living out the rest of their lives as historians.

TEMERAIRE: IN THE SERVICE OF THE KING TRILOGY
-N. Novik-fantasy
-set in the era of the Napoleanic wars. Dragons are a part of life. The worlds' armies have learned to domesticate them and use them for warfare. A special group of the military, called Aviators, has come into being. Follows the adventures of Captain Laurence as he goes from being a British Navy Captain to an Aviator. First book, about him and Temeraire[the dragon] was good. Temeraire hatching, growing up, learning to fight, etc. It was a well written adventure yarn. The 2 following books, on the other hand, I didn't enjoy that much. Follows them to China and then as they make their way back to England. Political intrigue, dragon rights, etc, filled these stories instead of battle and action. I would have a hard time reading any further about Temeraire if future volumes[if there are any] continued in this vein.

STAR SONG & OTHER STORIES
-T. Zahn-scifi
-a collection of short stories by Zahn. Nothing to really write home about, but if I could find it for under $20 in hardback, I'd buy it.

THR3E
-T. Dekker-psychological mystery
-I am glad this was my third book by Dekker, cause it blew me away and now I have very high expectations for everything else I read. Tempered by what I've already read. Incredible! One man, 3 completely distinct personalities, battling it out. A psychological take on the Trey Nature of Man[at least according to Dekker]-ourself, our sin self and our regenerated self. I don't agree with his conclusions, for I believe that once a man is saved, he is Regenerated, a completely new being. The flesh is not a "nature", but an outergarment. But anyway, this was an excellent book even if I did want to kill Kevin for being such a wuss and stupid idiot throughout most of it.

OBSESSED
-T. Dekker-fiction
-Deals with Jews, Nazis and treasure, both of jewels and of people. An orphan Jew in the 70's finds his mother after she dies. She leaves cryptic clues leading to the Stones of David[the 5 David used to slay Goliath] and to the woman of his dreams. All the time pursued by a vengeful Nazi who uses Occultic practices. Dekker seems obsessed with using pathetic main characters. None of them yet have to be in the heroic mold. Just need to get used to it I guess.

THE ANUBIS GATES
-T. Powers-scifantasy
-an old, rich eccentric discovers certian portals in which it is possible to time jump. Takes a group back, one gets left behind, his story. Ends up fighting a bunch of crazy egyptians who want to change history so that Egypt rises again, while doing this he becomes a little known[in the future] poet. I had read this in highschool, so had a vague rememberance of what was going to happen, but it was still a nice surprise overall. Very enjoyable.

PERCHANCE TO DREAM & OTHER STORIES
-M. Stackpole-fantasy/scifi
-a series of short stories. Some interesting. Had one about the Dream Raids in The Dragoncrown War Cycle and one from Talion:Revenant. The 2 that stood out in a badway were one that told about the 4th Magi, who raised Judas, and one about God getting sick of everything and allowing all the other gods to make their play on earth, from the perspective of Loki and the Norse gods. Very mixed opinion.

CITY OF PEARL
-K. Traviss-scifi
-after reading her Republic Commando books, I had very high hopes. Which were dashed. This is about an eco-cop that goes on a mission to another planet. Finds humans and aliens and becomes a new type of alien. The book was about paganism and earth worship. It was not a pleasure to read and I shall be sticking to her Starwars stuff from now on.

MASKS OF THE OUTCASTS
-A. Norton-scifi
-consisting of Catseye & Night of Masks. Blase. I suspect that teens would enjoy this more than adults. It is geared toward a younger audience. Which is why I remember Catseye nostalgically. Should have left it that way :-)

STARWARS: LEGACY OF THE FORCE: BLOODLINES
-K. Traviss-scifi
-oh man. This was reading Episode III all over again. Jacen has completely fallen to Lumiya's lies about the Sith and is only one step from becoming a true Sith. Boba Fett looks for his daughter, finds his granddaughter. At least one of the ARC's[from RC] is alive, so Fett is trying to find him to find the anti-aging gene therapy he must have used. Ben is falling sway to to Jacen, but sees the evil in what Jacen is doing. The book ends without anything being wrapped up[of course, it is a 9 book series]. Jacen has come to think he must kill Tenel Ka and their daughter to become a Sith Lord able to save the galaxy from war. He is truly warped. I have no idea where this series is going to go. If LotF ends up being all Eastern and Everything is Right, Nothing is wrong, then I will be done with StarWars when this series ends.

SONG FOR THE BASILISK
-P. McKillip-fantasy
-utterly mesmorizing. This was even more Poetry and Silk than her others. I have no idea how she does it, but her words are so fascinating, drawing me in like nothing else I've experienced before. I shiver at her power.