Thursday, December 31, 2009

2009 In Review

1: Shadow of the Hegemon-Orson Scott Card-442
2: Acorna: The Unicorn Girl-Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball-254
3: Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa #16-Clamp-184
4: Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa #17-Clamp-182
5: Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa #18-Clamp-184
6: Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa #19-Clamp-183
7: Oh My Goddess! #30-Kosuke Fujishima-151
8: The Three Musketeers-Alexandre Dumas-738
9: One Piece #19-Eiichiro Oda-210
10: Acorna: Acorna's Quest-Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball-282
11: The Count of Monte Cristo-Alexandre Dumas-618
12: Dragon Ball #1-Akira Toriyama-175
13: Adam- Ted Dekker-400
14: The Prince of Nothing: The Darkness That Comes Before-R. Scott Bakker-577
15: The Dragon Keeper Chronicles: Dragonspell-Donita K. Paul-334
16: The Last Rune: Beyond the Pale-Mark Anthony-622
17: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide-Douglas Adams-815
18: Shaman King #13-Hiroyuki Takei-190
19: Shaman King #14-Hiroyuki Takei-190
20: Shaman King #15-Hiroyuki Takei-186
21: Dinosaur Beach-Keith Laumer-186
22: Catch-22-Joseph Heller-443
23: Blessed Child- Ted Dekker & Bill Bright-351
24: A Man Called Blessed-Ted Dekker & Bill Bright-356
25: King Kelson's Bride-Katherine Kurtz-374
26: The Dragonriders of Pern: Dragonflight-Anne McCaffrey-188
27: The Dragonriders of Pern: Dragonquest-Anne McCaffrey-250
28: The Dragonriders of Pern: The White Dragon-Anne McCaffrey-295
29: Hellsing #1-Kohta Hirano-204
30: Hellsing #2-Kohta Hirano-188
31: Hellsing #3-Kohta Hirano-190
32: Hellsing #4-Kohta Hirano-205
33: Amazing Agent Luna Omnibus #1-Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir-502
34: Miss Marjoribanks-Margaret Oliphant-497
35: Noble Dead: Dhampir- Barb & JC Hendee-376
37: The Lost Fleet: Dauntless-Jack Campbell/John Hemry-283
38: The Lost Fleet: Fearless-Jack Campbell/John Hemry-295
39: Oz: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz-Frank Baum-272
40: Inuyasha #1-Rumiko Takahashi-183
41: Inuyasha #2-Rumiko Takahashi-190
42: Hellsing #5-Kohta Hirano-205
43: Hellsing #6-Kohta Hirano-191
44: Hellsing #7-Kohta Hirano-190
45: Battlefield Earth- L. Ron Hubbard-942
46: Oz: The Marvelous Land of Oz-Frank Baum-291
47: Noble Dead: Thief of Lives- Barb & JC Hendee-410
48: Noble Dead: Sister of the Dead- Barb & JC Hendee-405
49: Oz: Ozma of Oz-Frank Baum-272
50: Inuyasha #3-Rumiko Takahashi-196
51: Inuyasha #4-Rumiko Takahashi-186
52: Inuyasha #5-Rumiko Takahashi-190
53: Inuyasha #6-Rumiko Takahashi-188
54: School Rumble #1-Jin Kobayashi-176
55: School Rumble #2-Jin Kobayashi-174
56: School Rumble #3-Jin Kobayashi-174
57: School Rumble #4-Jin Kobayashi-174
58: School Rumble #5-Jin Kobayashi-176
59: American Notes & Pictures from Italy-Charles Dickens-unfinished
60: The Harper Hall of Pern: Dragonsong- Anne McCaffrey-140
61: The Harper Hall of Pern: Dragonsinger- Anne McCaffrey-192
62: The Harper Hall of Pern: Dragondrums- Anne McCaffrey-167
63: Inuyasha #7-Rumiko Takahashi
64: Inuyasha #8-Rumiko Takahashi
65: Inuyasha #9-Rumiko Takahashi
66: Inuyasha #10-Rumiko Takahashi
67: Inuyasha #11-Rumiko Takahashi
68: Inuyasha #12-Rumiko Takahashi
69: Inuyasha #13-Rumiko Takahashi
70: Inuyasha #14-Rumiko Takahashi
71: Inuyasha #15-Rumiko Takahashi
72: Inuyasha #16-Rumiko Takahashi
73: Inuyasha #17-Rumiko Takahashi
74: Inuyasha #18-Rumiko Takahashi
75: Looking Glass: Manxome Foe- John Ringo & Travis Taylor-463
76: Inuyasha #19-Rumiko Takahashi
77: Inuyasha #20-Rumiko Takahashi
78: Inuyasha #21-Rumiko Takahashi
79: Inuyasha #22-Rumiko Takahashi
80: Inuyasha #23-Rumiko Takahashi
81: Inuyasha #24-Rumiko Takahashi
82: StarWars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor-Matthew Stover-311
83: A Child's History of England-Charles Dickens-unfinished
84: Noble Dead: Traitor to the Blood- Barb & JC Hendee-396
85: Case Closed #1-Gosho Aoyama
86: Case Closed #2-Gosho Aoyama
87: Case Closed #3-Gosho Aoyama
88: Case Closed #4-Gosho Aoyama
89: Jane Eyre-Charlotte Bronte-502
90: Master Humphrey's Clock-Charles Dickens-144
91: The Bourne Identity-Robert Ludlum-535
92: Oz: Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz-Frank Baum-256
93: The Bell at Sealey Head-Patricia McKillip-277
94: The Bourne Supremacy-Robert Ludlum-646
95: The Twelve Kingdoms: The Vast Spread of the Seas- Fuyumi Ono-294
96: Reborn! #1- Akira Amano
97: Reborn! #2- Akira Amano
98: Oz: The Road to Oz-Frank Baum-261
99: More Than One Universe-Arthur C. Clarke-554
100: The Bourne Ultimatum-Robert Ludlum-unfinished
101: Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Cestus Deception-Steven Barnes-457
102: Bridge to Terebithia-Katherine Paterson-191
103: The Council Wars: There Will Be Dragons-John Ringo-719
104: Inuyasha #25-Rumiko Takahashi
105: Inuyasha #26-Rumiko Takahashi
106: Star Wars: The Clone Wars-Karen Traviss-256
106: Recluce: Natural Ordermage-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-496
107: A Madness of Angels-Kate Griffin-538
108: A Two Handed Engine-Henry Kuttner and C.L.Moore-UNFINISHED
109: Oz: The Emerald City of Oz-Frank Baum-UNFINISHED
110: This Is Not A Game-Walter Jon Williams-367
111: Bleach #21-Tite Kubo
112: Bleach #22-Tite Kubo
113: Reborn! #3- Akira Amano
114: Reborn! #4- Akira Amano
115: Reborn! #5- Akira Amano
116: Star Wars: Cloak of Deception-James Luceno-342
117: Red Mars-Kim Stanley Robinson-572
118: The Lost Fleet: Courageous-Jack Campbell-299
119: With Friends Like These...-Alan Dean Foster-232
120: Bleach #23-Tite Kubo
121: Bleach #24-Tite Kubo
122: Bleach #25-Tite Kubo
123: The Lost Fleet: Valiant-Jack Campbell-284
124: The Swan's War: The One Kingdom-Sean Russell-517
125: Xxxholic #13-Clamp
126: The Lost Fleet: Relentless-Jack Campbell-320
127: King Raven: Tuck-Stephen Lawhead-443
128: Taken: The Candle of Distant Earth-Alan Dean Foster-262
129: Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight-Michael Reaves-343
130: The Charmed Sphere-Catherine Asaro-473
131: Visions of Fantasy-Isaac Asimov, editor-180
132: Crown of the Isles: The Gods Return-David Drake-398
133: Reborn! #6-Akira Amano
134: Reborn! #7-Akira Amano
135: Fruits Basket #22-Natsuki Takaya
136: Crossroads: Shadow Gate-Kate Elliott-475
137: Pip & Flinx: Running from the Deity-Alan Dean Foster-255
138: Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Street of Shadows-Michael Reaves-306
139: Corean Chronicles: Alector's Choice-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-510
140: Translucent #1-Kazuhiro Okamoto
141: Yu-Gi-Oh! #1-Kazuki Takahashi
142: Yu-Gi-Oh! #2-Kazuki Takahashi
143: Yu-Gi-Oh! #3-Kazuki Takahashi
144: The Swan's War: The Isle of Battle-Sean Russell-467
145: The Cryptonomicon-Neal Stephenson-UNFINISHED
146: The Council Wars: Emerald Sea-John Ringo-490
147: Reborn! #8-Akira Amano
148: Noble Dead: Rebel Fay-Barb & J.C. Hendee-416
149: Pip & Flinx: Trouble Magnet-Alan Dean Foster-272
150: Inuyasha #27-Rumiko Takahashi
151: The Bronze Canticles: Mystic Quest-Tracy and Laura Hickman-453
152: The Swan's War: The Shadow Roads-Sean Russell-433
153: Vampire Hunter D-Hideyuki Kikuchi-238
154: Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars: The Mandalorian Armor-K.W. Jeter-387
155: Fahrenheit 451-Ray Bradbury-190
156: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-174
157: The Bronze Canticles: Mystic Empire-Tracy & Laura Hickman-391
158: Inuyasha #28-Rumiko Takahashi
159: Around the World in Eighty Days-Jules Vern-287
160: Frontier Magic: Thirteenth Child-Patricia C. Wrede-344
161: Cat-A-Lyst-Alan Dean Foster-206
162: Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars: Slave Ship-K.W. Jeter-324
163: Night Angel: The Way of Shadows-Brent Weeks-661
164: Star Wars: Coruscant Nights: Patterns of Force-Michael Reaves-288
165: Inuyasha #29-Rumiko Takahashi
166: Firebirds-edited by Sharyn November-420
167: No Need For Tenchi! #1-Hitoshi Okuda
168: No Need For Tenchi! #2-Hitoshi Okuda
169: No Need For Tenchi! #3-Hitoshi Okuda
170: No Need For Tenchi! #4-Hitoshi Okuda
171: No Need For Tenchi! #5-Hitoshi Okuda
172: No Need For Tenchi! #6-Hitoshi Okuda
173: No Need For Tenchi! #7-Hitoshi Okuda
174: No Need For Tenchi! #8-Hitoshi Okuda
175: No Need For Tenchi! #9-Hitoshi Okuda
176: No Need For Tenchi! #10-Hitoshi Okuda
177: No Need For Tenchi! #11-Hitoshi Okuda
177: No Need For Tenchi! #12-Hitoshi Okuda
178: Corean Chronicles: Cadmian's Choice-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-510
179: Yu-Gi-Oh! #4-Kazuki Takahashi
180: Yu-Gi-Oh! #5-Kazuki Takahashi
181: Yu-Gi-Oh! #6-Kazuki Takahashi
182: Yu-Gi-Oh! #7-Kazuki Takahashi
183: The Darkwar Saga: Flight of the Night Hawks-Raymond Feist-UNFINISHED
184: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #1-Hitoshi Okuda
185: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #2-Hitoshi Okuda
186: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #3-Hitoshi Okuda
187: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #4-Hitoshi Okuda
188: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #5-Hitoshi Okuda
189: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #6-Hitoshi Okuda
190: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #7-Hitoshi Okuda
191: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #8-Hitoshi Okuda
192: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #9-Hitoshi Okuda
193: The All-New Tenchi Muyo! #10-Hitoshi Okuda
194: The Last Rune: The Keep of Fire-Mark Anthony-593
195: The Last Rune: The Dark Remains-Mark Anthony-643
196: The Last Rune: Blood of Mystery-Mark Anthony-579
197: The Last Rune: The Gates of Winter-Mark Anthony-565
198: The Last Rune: The First Stone-Mark Anthony-513
199: Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars: Hard Merchandise-K.W. Jeter-338
200: Summer of the Monkeys-Wilson Rawls-283
201: Pern: The Masterharper of Pern- Anne McCaffrey-366
202: Wolf: Through Wolf's Eyes-Jane Lindskold-579
203: Pern: The Renegades of Pern-Anne McCaffrey-305
204: Vampire Hunter D: Raiser of Gales-Hideyuki Kukuchi-215
205: Pip and Flinx: Patrimony-Alan Dean Foster-228
206: Star Wars: Jedi Trial-David Sherman & Dan Cragg-345
207: Vampire Hunter D: Demon Deathchase-Hideyuki Kukuchi-178
208: Magicians of Quality: The Mislaid Magician or Ten Years After-Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer-328
209: Vampire Hunter D: Tale of the Dead Town-Hideyuki Kukuchi-167
210: Pern: All the Weyrs of Pern-Anne McCaffrey-404
211: Reborn! #9-Akira Amano
212: Inuyasha #30-Rumiko Takahashi
213: Inuyasha #31-Rumiko Takahashi
214: Imager-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-432
215: Reborn! #10-Akira Amano
216: Codgerspace-Alan Dean Foster-309
217: Corean Chronicles: Soarer's Choice-L.E. Modesitt-540
218: The Red Badge of Courage-Stephen Crane-142
219: Bleach #26-Tite Kubo
220: Wolf: Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart-Jane Lindskold-602
221: Neon Genesis Evangelion #1-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
222: The Black Stallion-Walter Farley-187
223: JAG in Space: A Just Determination-John G. Hemry-259
223: JAG in Space: Burden of Proof-John G. Hemry-293
223: JAG in Space: Rule of Evidence-John G. Hemry-276
224: The Commonwealth: Drowning World-Alan Dean Foster-315
225: Bartimaeus: The Amulet of Samarkand-J. Stroud-462
226: Neon Genesis Evangelion #2-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
227: Neon Genesis Evangelion #3-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
228: Neon Genesis Evangelion #4-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
229: Neon Genesis Evangelion #5-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
230: Eyeshield 21 #1-Riichiro Inagaki
231: Eyeshield 21 #2-Riichiro Inagaki
232: Eyeshield 21 #3-Riichiro Inagaki
233: Eyeshield 21 #4-Riichiro Inagaki
234: Eyeshield 21 #5-Riichiro Inagaki
235: Eyeshield 21 #6-Riichiro Inagaki
236: Eyeshield 21 #7-Riichiro Inagaki
237: Eyeshield 21 #8-Riichiro Inagaki
238: Eyeshield 21 #9-Riichiro Inagaki
239: Eyeshield 21 #10-Riichiro Inagaki
240: Eyeshield 21 #11-Riichiro Inagaki
241: Eyeshield 21 #12-Riichiro Inagaki
242: Eyeshield 21 #13-Riichiro Inagaki
243: Eyeshield 21 #14-Riichiro Inagaki
244: Eyeshield 21 #15-Riichiro Inagaki
245: Eyeshield 21 #16-Riichiro Inagaki
246: Going Postal-Terry Pratchett-377
247: Lady Audley's Secret-Mary Elizabeth Braddon-440
248: The River Into Darkness: Beneath the Vaulted Hills-Sean Russell-451
249: Star Wars: Millenium Falcon-James Luceno-317
250: Night Angel: Shadow's Edge-Brent Weeks-636
251: Bartimaeus: The Golem's Eye-Jonathan Stroud-562
252: Bleach #27-Tite Kubo
253: Neon Genesis Evangelion #7-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
254: Neon Genesis Evangelion #8-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
255: Neon Genesis Evangelion #9-Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
256: Twilight-Stephanie Meyer-498
257: Wolf: The Dragon of Despair-Jane Lindskold-729
258: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #1-Kazuki Takahashi
259: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #2-Kazuki Takahashi
260: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #3-Kazuki Takahashi
261: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #4-Kazuki Takahashi
262: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #5-Kazuki Takahashi
263: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #6-Kazuki Takahashi
264: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #7-Kazuki Takahashi
265: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #8-Kazuki Takahashi
266: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #9-Kazuki Takahashi
267: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #10-Kazuki Takahashi
268: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #11-Kazuki Takahashi
269: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #12-Kazuki Takahashi
270: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #13-Kazuki Takahashi
271: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #14-Kazuki Takahashi
272: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #15-Kazuki Takahashi
273: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #16-Kazuki Takahashi
274: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #17-Kazuki Takahashi
275: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #18-Kazuki Takahashi
276: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #19-Kazuki Takahashi
277: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #20-Kazuki Takahashi
278: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #21-Kazuki Takahashi
279: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #22-Kazuki Takahashi
280: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #23-Kazuki Takahashi
281: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist #24-Kazuki Takahashi
282: Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa #20-Clamp
283: Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa #21-Clamp
284: Reservoir Chronicle Tsubasa #22-Clamp
285: Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Outcast-Aaron Allston-302
286: Looking Glass: The Claws that Catch-John Ringo & Travis Taylor-443
287: Noble Dead: Child of a Dead God-Barb & JC Hendee-464
288: Night Angel: Beyond the Shadows-Brent Weeks-720
289: Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen-Christie Golden-272
290: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World #1-Kazuki Takahashi
291: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World #2-Kazuki Takahashi
292: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World #3-Kazuki Takahashi
293: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World #4-Kazuki Takahashi
294: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World #5-Kazuki Takahashi
295: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World #6-Kazuki Takahashi
296: Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World #7-Kazuki Takahashi
297: The River Into Darkness: The Compass of the Soul-Sean Russell-353
298: Jurassic World: The Lost World-Michael Crichton-390
299: The Long Price Quartet: A Shadow in Summer-Daniel Abraham-304
300: The Long Price Quartet: A Betrayal in Winter-Daniel Abraham-291
301: The Elven Ways: The Four Forges-Jenna Rhodes-547
302: Ranma 1/2 #1-Rumiko Takahashi
303: Ranma 1/2 #2-Rumiko Takahashi
304: Ranma 1/2 #3-Rumiko Takahashi
305: Ranma 1/2 #4-Rumiko Takahashi
306: Ranma 1/2 #5-Rumiko Takahashi
307: Ranma 1/2 #6-Rumiko Takahashi
308: Ranma 1/2 #7-Rumiko Takahashi
309: Ranma 1/2 #8-Rumiko Takahashi
310: Delver Magic: Sanctum's Breach-Jeff Inlo-445
311: Stargate-Andre Norton-144
312: Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Abyss-Troy Denning-352
313: When Worlds Collide-Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer-192
314: The Winds of Dune-Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson-448
315: Landover: A Princess of Landover-Terry Brooks-352
316: Haze-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-303
317: Warbreaker-Brandon Sanderson-588
318: Ranma 1/2 #9-Rumiko Takahashi
319: Ranma 1/2 #10-Rumiko Takahashi
320: Ranma 1/2 #11-Rumiko Takahashi
321: Chrono Crusade #1-Daisuke Moriyama
322: Chrono Crusade #2-Daisuke Moriyama
323: Chrono Crusade #3-Daisuke Moriyama
324: Chrono Crusade #4-Daisuke Moriyama
325: Bartimaeus: Ptolemy's Gate-Jonathan Stroud-501
326: The Dark Elf: Homeland-R.A. Salvatore-271
327: The Dark Elf: Exile-R.A. Salvatore-256
328: The Dark Elf: Sojourn-R.A. Salvatore-270
329: Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull-James Rollins-330
330: Ranma 1/2 #12-Rumiko Takahashi
331: Ranma 1/2 #13-Rumiko Takahashi
332: Ranma 1/2 #14-Rumiko Takahashi
333: The Riftwar Saga-Raymond Feist-1295
334: Alcatraz versus The Evil Librarians-Brandon Sanderson-308
335: Icewind Dale: The Crystal Shard-R.A. Salvatore-344
336: The Godless World: Winterbirth-Brian Ruckley-654
337: JAG In Space: Against All Enemies-John G. Hemry-203
338: The Iron Elves: A Darkness Forged in Fire-Chris Evans-416
339: Wolf: Wolf Captured-Jane Lindskold-520
340: Twilight: New Moon-Stephanie Moon-563
341: Kingmaker, Kingbreaker: The Innocent Mage-Karen Miller-642
342: Titan-John Varley-302
343: Icewind Dale: Streams of Silver-R.A. Salvatore-377
344: Ranma 1/2 #15-Rumiko Takahashi
345: Ranma 1/2 #16-Rumiko Takahashi
346: Ranma 1/2 #17-Rumiko Takahashi
347: Inheritance: Eragon-Christopher Paolini-544
348: Icewind Dale: The Halfling's Gem-R.A. Salvatore-378
349: Kingmaker, Kingbreaker: The Awakened Mage-Karen Miller-712
350: Alcatraz versus the Scrivener's Bones-Brandon Sanderson-322
351: Castings: Blood Ties-Pamela Freeman-461
352: Clone: The Clone Republic-Steven Kent-384
353: Inheritance: Eldest-Christopher Paolini-668
354: Legacy of the Drow: The Legacy-R.A. Salvatore-316
355: Ethan Starke: Starke's War-John Hemry-216
356: Ethan Starke: Starke's Command-John Hemry-210
357: Ethan Starke: Starke's Crusade-John Hemry-218
358: A.I. Love You #1-Ken Akamatsu
359: A.I. Love You #2-Ken Akamatsu
360: A.I. Love You #3-Ken Akamatsu
361: A.I. Love You #4-Ken Akamatsu
362: A.I. Love You #5-Ken Akamatsu
363: A.I. Love You #6-Ken Akamatsu
364: A.I. Love You #7-Ken Akamatsu
365: A.I. Love You #8-Ken Akamatsu
366: Inheritance: Brisingr-Christopher Paolini-748
367: Cleric Quintet: Canticle-R.A. Salvatore-203
368: Ranma 1/2 #18-Rumiko Takahashi
369: Ranma 1/2 #19-Rumiko Takahashi
370: Ranma 1/2 #20-Rumiko Takahashi
371: Ranma 1/2 #21-Rumiko Takahashi
372: Dragon and Liberator-Timothy Zahn-364
373: The Iron Elves: The Light of Burning Shadows-Chris Evans-360
374: Hawkmoon: The Jewel in the Skull-Michael Moorcock-128
375: Hawkmoon: The Mad God's Amulet-Michael Moorcock-122
376: Hawkmoon: The Sword of the Dawn-Michael Moorcock-130
377: Hawkmoon: the Runestaff-129
378: Midas World-Frederik Pohl-276
379: After Worlds Collide-Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer-190
380: Recluce: Mage-Guard of Hamor-L.E. Modesitt Jr-716
381: The Stoneways: Reiffen's Choice-S.C. Butler-463
382: The Forlorn-Dave Freer-260
383: Malazan Book of the Fallen: Gardens of the Moon-Steven Erikson-543
384: Malazan Book of the Fallen: Deadhouse Gates-Steven Erikson-683
385: Star Wars:Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil-Drew Karpyshyn-296
386: One Piece #21-Eiichiro Oda
387: Cobra War: Cobra Alliance-Timothy Zahn-246

December '09

A.I. LOVE YOU #1-8
-K. Akamatsu-manga
-the whole series. By the guy who went on to do Love Hina. This series was just this side of pornographic. It was also a blatant ripoff of Oh My Goddess in the first book or two.

INHERITANCE: BRISINGR
-C. Paolini-748-pbook
-YA fantasy-Eragon fights off Murtagh again, learns the source of Galbatorix's power, gets a new sword. Oromis and his dragon die. Roran learns lessons about politics and leadership. And we all find out that there is to be one more book. For some reason I didn't enjoy this as much as Eldest, but I have to admit, I think the story was better.

THE CLERIC QUINTET: CANTICLE
-R.A. Salvatore-203-epub
-fantasy-some evil group makes up this evil potion and tries to destroy a library, which for some reason is the center of everything in this particular region. The protaganist, Cadderly, is a young gifted mage who ends up helping the badguys and then destroying them. Extremely trope'ish. Dwarves, warrior woman who love him, jealous rival, etc, etc. Definitely not high reading. It was bland enough that it almost lost my interest. We'll see how the second book holds up. If it isn't any better, I'll probably drop the series.

RANMA 1/2 #18-21
-R. Takahashi-manga

DRAGON AND LIBERATOR
-T. Zahn-364-pbook
-YA scifi-the finale to the DragonBack series. Jack and Draycos, along with others, save the fleet of immigrants and in the process figure out that a Human/K'da pairing are immune to the Death ray. All the badguys get defeated after much daring-do and Jack ends up as the Ambassador to the new colonists, who have been given a world by the rich guy, who turns out to be Alison's grandfather. This was a good YA series. Fantastic Zahn.

THE IRON ELVES: THE LIGHT OF BURNING SHADOWS
-C. Evans-360-pbook
-fantasy- I actually liked this better than the first book. Another Star comes down to yet another land wanting its independence. Only this time there are things capable of destroying the shadow stuff, the Iron Elves included. Everybody was a jerk though, not a single character was really likable. If this doesn't change in the next book, whenever it comes out, that will be it for me. A semi-interesting story isn't worth a bunch of people you'd like to punch.

HAWKMOON
-M. Moorcock-502-pbook
-dark fantasy-consisting of The Jewel in the Skull; The Mad God's Amulet; The Sword of Dawn; The Runestaff. This was blase, really. Nothing Hawkmoon faced seemed overwhelming, nor was he really likable like Corum, nor ultra-tragic like Elric. And then he doesn't die in the end. It felt like a thin vegetable soup.

MIDAS WORLD
-F. Pohl-276-pbook
-scifi-several short stories chronicling mankind once unlimited energy is discovered. The push to the stars, the takeover [albiet peacefully and by our letting it go] of the earth by robots. An interesting little tale.

AFTER WORLDS COLLIDE
-P. Wylie & E. Balmer-190-pbook
-scifi-the group from earth makes to to Bronson Beta, only to find they are not alone. Other groups from earth have also made the crossing, and some of them are inimically opposed to Henderson's group. After a time of figuring stuff out, the bad guys are taken out and the good guys have the planet to themselves, for their children.

RECLUCE: THE MAGE-GUARD OF HAMOR
-L.E. Modesitt Jr-716-pbook
-fantasy-the final [for me] Recluce book. It was really more of the exact same. I've had enough for at least a year I think, if not longer.

THE STONEWAYS: REIFFEN'S CHOICE
-S.C. Butler-463-pbook
-fantasy-a young man, heir to 2 kingdoms, is kidnapped by wizards so they can control him and sow chaos in the world, thus strengthening their rule. Several of the boy's friends attempt to rescue him: a dwarf, a shapechanger, and 2 childhood friends. They get him back, only to have him go back to the wizards right at the end of the book. Is Reiffen under their spell, or attempting to fool the wizards and overthrow them? I would almost classify this as YA, because the characters are young teens, and the writing seems geared toward a younger, simpler audience. Looking forward to the next in this trilogy.

THE FORLORN
-D. Freer-260-epub
-scifi-you know those books that you think "well, maybe it will get better by the next chapter" only you think that for the whole book and it doesn't? This was one of those. Blatant sexuality, scumbags and betrayal upon betrayal. I certainly won't be reading anymore by this author. Very disappointed.

MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN: GARDENS OF THE MOON
-S. Erikson-543-epub
-fantasy- definitely appreciated this more the second time around of reading. It really helps knowing a general outline of what is happening so you can comprehend the details.


MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN: DEADHOUSE GATES
-S. Erikson-683-epub
-fantasy-I just realized, the Sha'ik rebellion ISN'T the Pannion Domin. I kind of skimmed over that fact last time. The question I have, is Icarium, a Jahg, the same thing as a Jaghut? Or are those different things? So many details just not explained. Hopefully more explanations in the later books.

STARWARS: DARTH BANE: DYNASTY OF EVIL
-D. Karpyshyn-296-pbook
-fantasy-the conclusion of the Darth Bane Trilogy. Bane discovers the secret of essence transfer and takes over Zanna while getting a new apprentice. Not as interesting as the preceding books.

ONE PIECE #21
-E. Oda
-manga

COBRA WAR: COBRA ALLIANCE
-T. Zahn-246-epub
-scifi-a start of a new Cobra trilogy. However, it doesn't start very promising in my opinion. In the other cobra books, Zahn starts each new story with a new generation and doesn't include the old generation very much at all. A clean break. It worked well. He doesn't do that here. Jin Moreau Broom gets a message for help from Qasam and it turns out another Troft Demesne is taking it over to kidnap all the spine leopards to let loose on the main Cobra World to distract the Cobra's while they take over the Cobra Worlds. It deals with Jin, some of her children and a bunch of Cobra-wannabe Qasamans. Zahn focuses more on the Qasamam "cobras" than on the real ones. And the whole Qasaman paranoia thing wore thin. Let the Cobra's kick Troft butt. And that just wasn't what was happening. Given this is a trilogy, the storyline is going to be stretched out, but still, this opening felt weak compared to the first 2 cobra books. Of course, time and memory might be biasing me against it.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

November '09

ICEWIND DALE: THE CRYSTAL SHARD
-R.A. Salvatore-344-pbook
-fantasy-the continuing adventures of Drizz't. A magical do-hickey from the bowels of hell comes to the surface and takes over a weakminded wizard. He threatens 10 towns and it is up to Drizz't and a new character named Wulfgar to save the day. Kill dragons and demons, face down hordes and get magical weapons. Good for what it is.

THE GODLESS WORLD: WINTERBIRTH
-B. Ruckley-654-pbook
-fantasy-a world where the gods made 4 races. One went bad and the other 3 banded together and committed genocide, then turned on eachother. The gods left the world in sorrow. One race disappeared, 1 split into factions and went to the woods and the third, the humans, split into medieval style clans. This is the story about the possible fulfillment of a prophecy stating the gods would return. Honestly, very little "grand" magic, more of a blood and mud medieval story. Follows a clan that is almost wiped out. It wasn't bad, it just seemed very slow and boggy reading. Since the library doesn't have the next book, doubt I'll read it.

JAG IN SPACE: AGAINST ALL ENEMIES
-J.G. Hemry-203-epub
-scifi-the final book in the JAG in Space series. Paul has ticked off enough people that he is being reassigned to Mars. But before he goes, he has to participate in another courtmartial for someone on their ship who has been selling secrets to the SASAL's. He and Jenn get married hurriedly at the end and then that is it. Kind of a "going out with a whimper" ending. Not sure why this series was so popular.

RANMA 1/2 #15-17
-R. Takahashi
-manga

ICEWIND DALE: STREAMS OF SILVER
-R.A. Salvatore-377-pbook
-fantasy-Bruennor the dwarf, along with some others, set out to find his ancestral home that he was driven from over 2 centuries ago. Mix in an assassin going after the halfling, a wizard going after Drizz't because he thinks Drizz't has the Crystal Shard and a dragon trying to kill them all, and you get a good rollicking adventure story.

TITAN
-J. Varley-302-pbook
-scifi-a complete piece of crap from the late 70's. A spaceship encounters a huge thing and end up crashing on it. An artificial world. A quest to find the guiding intelligence behind it. Madness, perversion and drugs. Basically, this story boiled down to hardcore feminism, lesbians and cocaine. Yeah, on a self aware planetoid type thing.

KINGMAKER, KINGBREAKER: THE INNOCENT MAGE
-K. Miller-642-pbook
-fantasy- there are 2 races in a land cutoff from the rest off the world, for its own protection. A fisherman from the lower caste race becomes the trusted advisor to the Prince, a higher caste race. Their adventures that draw them together and tear them apart. The King keeps the wall of protection up, but its cost is in his blood. This book ends with the king dying and the evil ruler from the outside world taking over the royal magician and turning the prince against his advisor. I really enjoyed this. The writing just drew me in. The dialogue was clever without being shallow, the problems were big without being pretentious and the characters were very real. I look forward to reading more by Miller.

TWILIGHT: NEW MOON
-S. Meyer-563-pbook
-fantasy- my final foray into the Twilight universe. This book sucked. Bella was a completely selfish, self-centered, suicidal, insecure, self-lying bitch. If this is the type of character teen girls want to read about and emulate, then we are all doomed. But maybe we'll get lucky and all those stupid types will just off themselves and do the world a favor. Maybe that is actually Meyer's sinister secret plan. A kind of Literary Eugenics Master Plan? LEMP for short ;-)

WOLF: WOLF CAPTURED
-J. Lindskold-520-pbook
-fantasy-Firekeeper and Derian are captured and taken South, to a land where people know about Royal Beasts and use them for future telling. Firekeeper learns about her origins and how she came to be with the wolves. Lindskold takes this book down a path I was not very comfortable with. Firekeeper wants to be a wolf and be with Blindseer. Practically bestiality. I hope the rest of the books in the series turn from this path, or I'm done with them.

THE IRON ELVES: A DARKNESS FORGED IN FIRE
-C. Evans-416-pbook
-fantasy-across the Sea, there is some evil witch elf who wants to cover the world in darkness, or some such. A group of elves have been marked by her, with one ear being turned black. Such elves are called the Iron Elves and cast out from elven society. They became a group of fighters in the human empire. They were disbanded for disloyalty, before the book begins. This book deals with the reforming of the Iron Elves, only without any elves except for the Captain, who is an elf who hates nature and who nature seems to hate in return. The New Iron Elves have to fight some battle and in the end realize that they have carried out the will of the Witch Elf and everyone is all sad. Darren recommended this, so I was really looking forward to it. Didn't really care for it though. I'll read the next, but only because the library has it.

INHERITANCE: ERAGON
-C. Paolini-544-pbook
-YA fantasy- a young boy finds a dragon egg, one of the last 3 and bonds with it. Minions of the dark king come looking for him while he is away and end up razing the farm he lived at and killing his uncle. He hooks up with an old dragonrider and learns swordsmanship and dragonriding lore. Makes it to the main hideout of a group of rebels who are fighting against the evil king. Oh my, I just realized this is Star Wars on dragons. And at the end? He scry's an old man in blinding white who is going to protect him and further his training. Can you say Tolkien? Not bad really, but nothing really wonderful. Good YA stuff to hook them.

ICEWIND DALE:THE HALFLING'S GEM
-R.A. Salvatore-378-pbook
-fantasy-Drizz't and company go rescue Regis, the overreaching greedy halfing. Ends at Cattie Brie and Wulfgar's wedding. This stuff is one step up from the Mars series by Burroughs. But palatable, unlike Burroughs :-)

KINGMAKER, KINGBREAKER: THE AWAKENED MAGE
-K. Miller-712-pbook
-fantasy-the finish to this duology. Morg takes over the next in line to be king and becomes king. Has Asher executed and the Prince exiled. Asher is spirited away and comes back to finish off Morg. While this book was longer, it seemed shorter, a lot shorter. While Innocent seemed to be about Asher's journey from fisherman to Olken noble, Awakened seemed a rush to finish the story.

ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SCRIVENER'S BONES
-B. Sanderson-322-pbook
-YA fantasy-Alcatraz is on his way to a safe place when he gets a call from his Grandfather, who is at the Library of Alexandria. The stronghold of the Librarians. His dad has entered and his Grandfather is going in after him. So Alcatraz, along with some new relatives, take a detour to rescue everyone. Interesting. Not as funny as the first one, but it might be because I was expecting it.

CASTINGS: BLOOD TIES
-P. Freeman-461-pbook
-fantasy-1000 years ago, one group of people invaded a land and dispossessed another group. This book deals with the remnants of that dispossessed and how some want revenge. The format was different. Each chapter, whether 1 page or 50 pages, followed one character. And it switched between at least 10 different characters. By the end of the book you began to see the hint of an outline of how all these different threads were coming together. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the rest of this trilogy.

CLONE: THE CLONE REPUBLIC
-S. Kent-384-pbook
-military scifi-the galaxy is ruled by the U.A.[Unified Authority]. Their will is enforced by an army of clones, who are programmed to not know they are clones. One man, Wayson, is a new type of clone, promptly discontinued, because he is self-aware and has an insatiable bloodlust in battle. Basically about his rise through the ranks and the politic'ing going on around him. It was an ok read, but I am just not a big fan of military scifi overall. Won't be reading any more in the Clone series.

INHERITANCE: ELDEST
-C. Paolini-668-pbook
-YA fantasy-Paolini definitely matured between the writing of this book and Eragon. This is a lot more original but still keeps the solid foundation. Very enjoyable. Eragon comes into his own as a rider, only to have to fight against Murtaugh, his brother, who has been turned by Galbatorix.

LEGACY OF THE DROW: THE LEGACY
-R.A. Salvatore-316-pbook
-fantasy-the next series in the Drizz't series. The dwarves have taken control of the mines. Drizz't's sister regains Lolth's favor so she attempts to hunt down Drizz't with Entreri's help [the assassin]. Regis is kidnapped and used as a pawn and the group must enter the Underdark to rescue him and to free Drizz't from the Drow. Cattie-Bri and Wulfgar have a falling out and Wulfgar apparently dies while in battle with one of Lolth's servants.

ETHAN STARKE: STARKE'S WAR
-J. Hemry-216-epub
-scifi-a sergeant is sent to the moon to take everything for the US. The US has fallen under the power of corporations, who have bought the powers that be in Washington. Who in turn micromanage the army, from the backlines. After yet another disastrous fight in which inept generals chew up a whole division following a plan that had no basis in reality, Starke mutinies and takes over.

ETHAN STARKE: STARKE'S COMMAND
-J. Hemry-210-epub
-scifi-Starke makes a truce with the civ population, fights off mercenaries hired by the gov't and deals with a betrayal from within. Lots of fighting and action. The one thing that kind of turned me off was how dumb and hick'ish Starke can view himself. Someone who can make the smart decisions he does is not stupid and yet he can sit back and pretend his is just a dumb soldier.

ETHAN STARKE: STARKE'S CRUSADE
-J. Hemry-218-epub
-scifi-A final push by a corrupt gov't fails, a populace demanding their rights and other countries snapping at the US's heels all lead to the fall of the current regime, the moon colony becoming another state and Starke and Co getting pardons and living happily ever after. This was much more enjoyable than the JAG in Space series, but still had that civic's lesson taste to it.

Friday, October 30, 2009

October '09

STARGATE
-A. Norton-fantasy
-144-a young man of half blood [Starman and native] must go with the last group of Starmen leaving the planet. They use a "gate" to travel to alternate worlds of the same world. Due to being chased, they are stranded on a world where the Star Lords are evil, corrupt gods. The young man helps with the downfall of the evil Star Lords and then travels on, looking for a world never inhabited. A nice YA novel that is well written but brief. To bad more authors today don't take lessons from Norton. She knew how to write!

STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: ABYSS
-T. Denning-fantasy
-352- Luke and Ben go on some weird force trip and meet dead people. Some darkside force is manipulating the sith to capture the Skywalkers. More Jedi go crazy and there is more confrontation between the Galactic Alliance and Jedi Order.

WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
-P. Wylie & E. Balmer-scifi
-192-the world is on a collision course with 2 planets heading into our solar system. A group of scientists gather a group of select people and work on a rocket ship to take them to the second, smaller, hopefully inhabitable planet. For something written back in the 1930's, this was really good.

DUNE: THE WINDS OF DUNE
-B. Herbert & K. Anderson-scifi
-448-a direct sequel to Dune Messiah. This looks at Alia as she is forced to deal with the Empire after Paul so abruptly leaves. Jessica plays a big part too. Where the Dune Chronicles were big in scope and vision, these books between books by Herbert and Anderson seem to be looking at the nitty-gritty, the small. And I don't like that contrast. Dune SHOULD be big and galactic and over-arching. I'll continue to read these other Dune books, but I have no interest in buying them. Messing with immediate past, far past and ending the series is one thing, messing between books is another. It is just messy.

LANDOVER: A PRINCESS OF LANDOVER
-T. Brooks-fantasy
-352-this was just another tired rehash. About Ben and Willow's daughter. She is a teenager and rebellious and is sent off to a library to fix it. She rebels, Edgewood Dirk the prism cat convinces her to go anyway, she goes, discovers an evil magician [there only seem to be evil or inept magicians in Landover by the way] who is trying to open a gate to Abaddon and in the end takes care of everything and learns a valuable lesson about listening to her elders and yet doing exactly what she wants to anyway. I am not sure I can stomach much more of Brooks' stuff. Give me at least another year or two.

HAZE
-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-scifi
-303-I gave Modesitt a final chance with this book. He failed. It is at least 1000-1500 years after the fall of the American Empire but at least 2-3 times per chapter the main character is reminded in one form or another how evil they were and how enlightened and wonderful this new society is. First off, who even talks about empires thousands of years in the past. The past is forgotten and the evils of a generation are glossed over by newer evils. It was just another diatribe against capitalism wrapped in Modesitt's scifi universe. Only his Recluce stuff for me now.

WARBREAKER
-B. Sanderson-fantasy
-588-an interesting stand-alone story. People can give their "breath" [life essence] to another person and it enhances certain aspects of perception. The overall story deals with a kingdom split in the past that are now being manipulated to go to war by a third country. Deals with people who were present at the first split 300 years ago and how they are either trying to make up for what they did or running away from it. My first thought was how much like Mistborn it was, but it was different enough that it didn't feel like a copy. There was a lot of humor and I just laughed out loud several times. I would like to see Sanderson explore this world or the Elantris world more. But given his involvement in the finishing up of The Wheel of Time series, that is doubtful. This was a worthwhile read.

RANMA 1/2 #9-11
-R. Takahashi-manga

CHRONO CRUSADE #1-4
-D. Moriyama-manga

BARTIMAEUS: PTOLEMY'S GATE
-J. Stroud-YA fantasy
-501-the conclusion to this trilogy. Turns out certain demons have been planning revenge on the human race. They have figured out a way to take over a human host which gets rid of many of the drawbacks of being summoned. Nathanial finally stops being a complete ass right at the end and kills off all the hybrids with Gladstone's Staff. Finally, he unleashes the complete potential of the Staff to destroy the leader and in the process gives his life up. I have to admit, at first I didn't like the ending. Then I realized these books were about Bartimaeus, not Nathanial. Probably won't be reading any more by this guy though.

THE DARK ELF TRILOGY
-R.A. Salvatore-fantasy
-805-consisting of Homeland, Exile and Sojourn, this chronicles the beginnings of Drizz't Do'Urden, renegade drow. From his birth and growing up years in which he realizes he cannot be a typical drow [capricious, backstabbing, evil], his exile in the Underdark and realization that the Drow will never cease trying to kill him, to his journey to the surface world and his adventures to gain acceptance, these stories tell of a Drow of great skill and kind heart. Okay, so not the best writing ever, pretty shallow, but a good rousing tale to wile the time away.

INDIANA JONES & THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL
-J. Rollins-fiction
-330-the final nail in the Indiana Jones franchise's coffin. An old Indi is kidnapped by russians, along with a loser kid, who turns out to be his son by the woman from the first Indi movie. Aliens are at the heart of this adventure and they all go into a big black hole at the end or something. Glad I read the book and didn't spend money on seeing the movie.

RANMA 1/2 #12-14
-R. Takahashi-manga

THE RIFTWAR SAGA
-R. Feist-fantasy
-1295- the complete original Riftwar Saga, which includes Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness At Sethanon. After having idolized this series from my highschool days, it was good to re-read it with a more mature reading taste. It still stands tall :-). A fantastic tale. A bit unpolished, but given it was Feist's first series, to be expected. Adventure and magic and fighting and bad bad guys and good good guys. I like this and would still recommend it.

ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS
-B. Sanderson-YA fantasy
-308-oh my. What a tale. Cross A Series of Unfortunate Events with something light, upbeat and funny, with a dash of the Mistborn non-hero, and this is what you get. I laughed the entire way through the book. A thirteen year old boy finds out that he is an Ocularist and must fight evil Librarians, who want to box and order everything. His grandfather helps him along with 2 cousins and a 13year old girl who is a knight. Their powers are hilarious. Alcatraz can break things. His grandfather can be late for anything, his cousins can trip and speak gibberish. I don't know how this will hold up to repeated readings, but on a first read, it was GREAT!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

September '09

NOBLE DEAD: CHILD OF A DEAD GOD
-B. & JC Hendee-fantasy
-464-Magierre and Co go to the place she's been seeing in her dreams, brought upon by the black cloud thing. Get there, find some ultra-powerful artifact, leave and go their separate ways. This sucked. It was nothing but bickering, fighting, distrust and non-hope the whole way through. There was no joy, no light, no happiness. If the next book's tone is the same, I will be done with this series.

NIGHT ANGEL: BEYOND THE SHADOWS
-B. Weeks-fantasy
-720- the conclusion. A LOT happens. I'm still confused, to be honest. People pop back up from the dead, have new names, get possessed, get un-possessed, lots of battles, prophecies, etc, etc. Honestly, I felt like I was in a maelstrom reading this book. Just dragged along for the ride. Weeks did such a good job of weaving so much together that I can't pick particular threads to write about, it was all woven so tight. Blint coming back and his ability to still use the little black magic thing was a bit much though. Needs to be edited for profanity.

STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: OMEN
-C. Goldman-fantasy
-272-Jysella Horn [Corin and Mirax's daughter] goes nutso. More politic'ing between the Jedi and the GA. Luke and Ben trace Jacen's path of travels. And Ship [the sith ship] finds the Sith World and starts training them. Opening things up for another fall of the Jedi and ascendancy of Sith. Kind of sad.

YU-GI-OH! MILLENNIUM WORLD #1-7
-K. Takahashi-manga
-I really didn't enjoy this series. Going back thousands of years in Yugioh's memories to change fate. A bunch of old world style duels with stone tablets, sucked really. One final duel between Yugioh and Yugi to send Yugioh [the pharaoh] peacefully to the afterlife.

THE RIVER INTO DARKNESS: THE COMPASS OF THE SOUL
-S. Russell-fantasy
-353-whew. This was SLOW! Just like McKillip has her own unique style, so does Russell it appears. It is definitely not for everyone and I am hesitant to read any more of his stuff. Basically, Eldrich [the mage] stops the last of the Tellerites [rogue mages who want the arts to continue] and uses tons of people to gain this end. A sad and melancholic story. Not nearly as enthralling as the Swan's War trilogy.

JURASSIC WORLD: THE LOST WORLD
-M. Crichton-science fiction
-390-the novel sequel to Jurassic Park. Another island, Site B, is discovered by a scientist friend of Ian Malcom [who doesn't die, it turns out] and he finances an expedition. Malcom along with 3 engineers/designers and 2 stowaway kids go to the island. Everything goes wrong, as Malcom predicts and dinosaurs eat people. This was a rehash, and not a very good one. I can see why the movie added lots of people [to get eaten!]. Jurassic Park was cool, this was tired.

THE LONG PRICE QUARTET: A SHADOW IN SUMMER
-D. Abraham-fantasy
-304-a loose confederacy of kingdoms keep the rest of the world at bay with the power of Andats. Andats are beings forced into physical form by poets and they have the power of their name. Seedless is the andat in this story. He removes all the seeds from wool, in the blink of an eye. Gives the kingdom a huge economic advantage. He can also remove the living seed from anything. So if another kingdom attacks, he would be used to kill all the unborn babies and destroy all the crops of that particular kingdom. However, andats don't want to exist in our world, so they are constantly fighting their owners/poets to escape. Seedless sets up a scenario where he is working with the enemies of his poet. He intrigues so that the poet repeats a horrible deed from his past, unknowingly, until after the fact, in the hopes of breaking the poet so he kills himself and frees Seedless. The story is from the perspective of a young man who walked away from the poet's school and who has become a common laborer. A very complex world, but so sad. Nobody is happy. There is no joy, no happiness. Everyone is concerned with money, power, etc, etc. No one is content, but yearning after something, usually something out of their reach. Seedless succeeds in gaining his freedom and the kingdom falls.

THE LONG PRICE QUARTET: A BETRAYAL IN WINTER
-D. Abraham-fantasy
-291-turns out the common laborer from the previous book is an heir to another kingdom, except heirs figure out who is going to rule by killing off all the competition. Brother against brother. However, this time a sister enters secretly so she can have her lover/husband be the new king. So the sister conspires with outside forces to kill off all the brothers and blame it all on the main character. In the end the sister is revealed the hidden heir takes over. So much betrayal, backstabbing, fear, loneliness. It was not enjoyable and I don't know if I'll be reading the next book in the series.

THE ELVEN WAYS: THE FOUR FORGES
-J. Rhodes-fantasy
-547-a world where elves suddenly descended after mages had wiped themselves out. For hundreds of years the elves have been trying to remember where they came from and how to get back there. This follows 2 halfbloods. One becomes the spy for the queen of the elves and the other grows up with a dweller [think hobbit/dwarf cross] family. The elves have accords to not war with eachother and this series deals with how those accords are failing. In this novel, a renegade elf forces demons into weapons to make them super-powerful. And it comes down to the 2 halfbloods to stop him. I will probably read this series but no other by the author. It just wasn't interesting enough to me to search out her other stuff.

DELVER MAGIC: SANCTUM'S BREACH
-J. Inlo-fantasy ebook
-449-magic was all sucked up into a sphere hundreds of years ago and sealed away because it had become tainted and was destroying the land. The seal has been breached by the sphere itself [it has become semi-selfaware] and it is up to a small group of various races to find it and destroy it. This must have been Inlo's first book or something. It was almost painful to read. I think he had a thesaurus by his side when he wrote because his descriptions are always with words that are "too much". It was very shallow, very amateur. Not a good impression for a first book. Hopefully he improves with the next books in the trilogy.

RANMA 1/2 #1-8
-R. Takahashi-manga

Sunday, August 30, 2009

August '09

COMMONWEALTH: DROWNING WORLD
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-315- yet another novel of the commonwealth. And guess what? You have several different species all stranded together on an inhospitable world who must rely on each other to survive. Also guess what again? Another sentient being is found in plant life. Surprise! Man, Foster needs to stop. His stuff is becoming as rote and as badly written as Edding's stuff was before he died.

BARTIMAEUS: THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND
-J. Stroud-YA fantasy
-462-a young magician in training calls up the djinni Bartimaeus to revenge himself on another magician and in the process saves England from a revolt of other magicians. This was very occultic, with all the pentagrams and incense and whatnot. And all the footnotes by Bartimaeus threw the whole rhythm off. Couldn't read half a page before you had to stop the main story and read a stupid footnote. Like that through the whole book. Very poorly executed. I'll probably try the next one, but it is definitely taking a backseat in the bookline.

EYESHIELD 21 #1-16
-R. Inagaki-manga

GOING POSTAL
-T. Pratchett-fantasy
-377- a smooth talking conman is conned by Lord V into taking over the Post Office. It was amusing and interesting, but not riotous or outlandishly weird like most of Pratchett's early stuff. Discworld in Depends, if you know what I mean.

LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET
-M.E. Braddon-classic
-440-a young woman, whose husband has run off to Australia to make his fortune, gives herself a new name and ends up marrying an old rich lord. The husband returns, Lady Audley kills him and her secret is safe. Except that her husband was good friends with the lord's nephew, Robert. Robert investigates his friends disappearance and turns up all of Lady Audley's secrets. She is put away in an insane asylum. In the end she dies a couple of years later and her husband, who she supposedly killed, turns out to be alive, and in Australia. Written back in the 1860's, I'm sure this was shocking stuff; bigamy, murder, etc, etc. Sadly, today, the social foundations that made this story shocking no longer exist and so the story descends into a mere murder mystery. I feel so jaded on society's behalf.

THE RIVER INTO DARKNESS: BENEATH THE VAULTED HILLS
-S. Russell-fantasy
-451- The last of the mages who is determined to end magic. A schism of mages who want to revive magic. And all the people who are drawn into this battle. Basically follows several people as they attempt to find the entry way to Faery, the source of the mages power and the source of the mages themselves. Ends up with everyone trapped in some caves and finding their way out. As in The Swan's War, this was slow, understated and more about the characters than anything else.

STAR WARS: MILLENNIUM FALCON
-J. Luceno-fantasy
-317-2 years after Invincible. The Solo's go on an adventure to find out the history of the Millennium Falcon. In the process, they meet up with a Clone War era pilot who is trying to fulfill his last mission, which involved the Falcon. Overall, the history parts were cool. The Solo's were working it backwards from when Han won her and the pilot was working forwards from when he crashed and burned her. The "present" plot about some treasure to restore honor to the Republic [the last mission of the pilot] was kind of fuzzy and was almost a carbon copy of the Han Solo at Star's End in its ending. It was even mentioned, so it was deliberate. This was just a fill in story to tie the Legacy of the Force series into the new Fate of the Jedi series.

NIGHT ANGEL: SHADOW'S EDGE
-B. Weeks-fantasy
-636-Kylar tries to make a life with Elene and without killing. He ends up going back to the fallen city and rescuing Logan. Another wetboy, girl, kidnaps Uly and takes all traces of Kylar's love for Elene. Elene thinks that Kylar has left. The Wetboy girl breaks a spell placed on her by the Godking by using old bonding magic with Kylar and kills the Godking. Kylar is now married to Vi, the girl wetboy. And Durzo comes back right at the end. He's not dead. Going to be interesting to see how Weeks ties everything up in one final book.

BARTIMAEUS: THE GOLEM'S EYE
-J. Stroud-ya fantasy
-562- yet another subversive government magician working to overthrow the current regime. Bartimaeus and the kid get thrown together. This time the Resistance plays a big part. And are dupes for some big player. The kid is a wretched brat and really arrogant to boot. I enjoyed this more than the first though, LOTS less footnotes.

BLEACH #27
-T. Kubo-manga

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION #7-9
-Y. Sadamoto-manga

TWILIGHT
-S. Meyer-fantasy
-498-a 17year old girl moves in with her dad in a small town in Washington. Going to her highschool are what turn out to be 5 vampires. She falls in love with one, and he with her. They are 'vegetarian' vamps, eating only animal blood. Another group of vamps come in and one is taken with the girl. He decides to hunt her. The vege-vamps rally around her and save her and destroy the bad vamp. This is the epitome of young-girl romanticism. Undying love, mysterious rugged lover, etc, etc. Meyer's did a good job of capturing what it feels like to be in love for the first time. I suspect that the girl will be turned in later novels. I kind of enjoyed this, a guilty, embarrassing pleasure.

WOLF: THE DRAGON OF DESPAIR
-J. Lindskold-fantasy
-729-Melina Shield has married the Healed One of New Kelvin and is working on setting free an ancient dragon to consolidate her power. FireKeeper and Co must stop her. All the while, settlers are starting to move beyond the Iron Mountains, threatening the Royal Beasts. King Tedric proclaims them off limits, but it seems like war between humans and royal beasts is in the near future. Lindskold uses the growth of humanity as a reason why humans are starting to push beyond the Iron Mountains, but with all the wars and the sub-standard standard of living among the majority of peoples, it doesn't really seem reasonable that there are that many people yet.

YU-GI-OH! DUELIST #1-24
-K. Takahashi-manga
- Yeah, I liked this series. Of course, the rules for cards were pretty loose and everyone pulled "secret" abilities out of their butts ALL the time, but it was cool. And having played myself I could enjoy the strategies as a player and not just a reader. Good stuff.

TSUBASA: RESERVOIR CHRONICLE #20-22
-CLAMP-manga

STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: OUTCAST
-A. Allston-fantasy
-302- the next Star Wars storyline. Jedi seem to be going rogue; going insane and gaining new, unknown talents. Luke is exiled from Coruscant by Daala and the GA, as a means for the GA to try to take control of the Jedi Order. Luke, along with Ben, are trying to follow Jacen's journeys to see if they can find out where he went bad so as to prevent it happening again. I enjoyed this. Not sure if I want to own these though.

LOOKING GLASS: THE CLAWS THAT CATCH
-J. Ringo & T. Taylor-scifi
-443- the next Adventures of the Vorpal Blade II. Two Guns is married, Dr Weaver is a sidelined character and Miriam [the genius linguist who hears the voice in the ship] has taken over from Mimi for weird/genius female role. The ship finds a big artifact, and in order to deny it to the Dreen, figure it out. Turns out to be a big, solar system sized entertainment system. They turn it into a weapon to fight the Dreen. And there are some bio-engineered purple crab thingies that turn out to be Dreen eaters. So the Dreen are fought off, again, and the Alliance of humans, cheerick and hexohaurs[or whatever] have a bit of breathing room. I got this as a free download off of Baenbooks, and I have to say, I am glad I don't own this in pbook format. What a waste of paper that would be.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

July '09

THE LAST RUNE: THE FIRST STONE
-M. Anthony-fantasy
-513- the end of the series. The rifts of Nothingness are diverted, all magic is canceled out and people decide to live on Eld or Earth, never to meet again. Travis and Grace both grew out of the whiny, self-doubters that they were in Beyond the Pale and that was nice. Sadly, Anthony chose to make deviant lifestyles a major part of this series. And because of that, I cannot give this series any credible review. Nor will I be reading any more by him.

STAR WARS: THE BOUNTY HUNTER WARS: HARD MERCHANDISE
-K.W. Jeter-fantasy
-338-the end to this series. It was a mediocre ending to a very mediocre trilogy. Boba Fett was not the main character and he was 2 dimensional. The writing was insipid and didn't make you feel anything, even disgust. This series was warm, bland mushy oatmeal. At least Karen Traviss gives some depth and personality to Fett.

SUMMER OF THE MONKEYS
-W. Rawls-fiction
-283-a young teen boy in the Ozarks in the late 1800's spends his summer trying to capture trained zoo monkeys that escaped from a train wreck. Many misadventures and hilarious happenings are chronicled. There is a big reward for the monkeys and Jay wants a pony and a .22 rifle. He catches the monkeys after a big storm and ends up using the reward money to let his sister have an operation to fix her useless leg. And he gets a pony and rifle in the end anyway. This was a good feel good YA novel about a simple boy living during a hard time.

PERN: THE MASTERHARPER OF PERN
-A. McCaffrey-fantasy
-366-the story of Master Robinton from his being born til the events of the first Dragonrider trilogy. An extremely talented boy is ignored by his perfectionist father even while being better than him. Amazing that Robinton turned out as well as he did. A very enjoyable tale, even though McCaffrey shows her true colors in regards to her views on marriage and sexuality.

WOLF: THROUGH WOLF'S EYES
-J. Lindskold-fantasy
-579-a young girl, raised by Royal wolves [bigger and smarter] is taken back to medieval civilization as the possible heir of a kingdom. Turns out she isn't, but she ends up saving the King and helping the kingdom. The first in at least 6 Wolf novels. This was a very enjoyable read. There was NO angst, no bitter self-recriminations. The author kept the emotional tone of the book upbeat, forward moving and didn't let you get mired in despair and the past. Worth getting in hardback.

PERN: THE RENEGADES OF PERN
-A. McCaffrey-fantasy
-305-deals with those who were holdless, for a variety of reasons, during the beginning years of Threadfall. Almost the same period as DragonDrums but from different viewpoints. Sets up just right for the following book, All the Weyrs of Pern. Looking forward to it.

VAMPIRE HUNTER D: RAISER OF GALES
-H. Kikuchi-fantasy
-215- D must fight with the leftover experiments of some great Noble dr. Vampires who can live in the daylight. Bloody, sexual and just pulp fiction. This stuff is about on the same level, literary wise, as the Mars series. Shallow and action instead of plot.

PIP AND FLINX: PATRIMONY
-A.D. Foster-fantasy
-228-Flinx is hunting down his father. Finds out that he doesn't have "a" father, or even a mother. The sperm and egg were manmade. Whoop de do. Pathetic.

STAR WARS: JEDI TRIAL
-D. Sherman & D. Cragg-fantasy
-345- Anakin earns his Jedi Knight spurs leading the recapture of a planet that has some communications essential to the Republic. And a side story about some people meeting through the battle and falling in love and getting married by Anakin at the end. This was really dumb. Asajj Ventress is displayed prominently on the cover, but she appears twice or thrice, through a holo-projector, that is it. The side story about the couple is forced and adds nothing to this novel. This wasn't even blase.

VAMPIRE HUNTER D: DEMON DEATCHASE
-H. Kikuchi-fantasy
-178- D, in direct competition with a clan of Hunters, goes after a Vampire who has absconded with a willing woman. The pair are trying to get to space to escape. Pretty much everybody but D dies. No loose ends that way. I have one more VHD book, and that will be it. In this one, a woman is raped, repeatedly by her 4 brothers. Kikuchi is one sick bastard.

MAGICIANS OF QUALITY: THE MISLAID MAGICIAN or TEN YEARS AFTER
-P. Wrede & C. Stevermer-fantasy
-328- the third in the series. Once again in letter form between Cecily and Kate. This time there are also letters between their husbands. About the railroads in England and how they are affecting the ley lines of magic. Turns out there is a big huge magic spell surrounding England that makes invaders settle in and become part of the culture. This one just didn't get my attention like the first 2 did. Glad I read it, but satisfied with just owning the first 2.

VAMPIRE HUNTER D: TALE OF THE DEAD TOWN
-H. Kikuchi-fantasy
-167-The cleanest, morally, so far. Also the dumbest. D goes to a floating town where experiments have gone on to spread vampirism like a plague instead of through bites. I'm not going to be reading any more of this trash.

PERN: ALL THE WEYRS OF PERN
-A. McCaffrey-fantasy
-404-picks up with the people we know communicating with Aivas to carry out plans to get rid of Thread permanently. It was ok but I could see that this book should have been one to wrap up the Pern series. Sadly, it is still going.

REBORN! #9
-A. Amano-manga

INUYASHA #30 & 31
-R. Takahashi-manga

IMAGER PORTFOLIO: IMAGER
-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-fantasy
-432- another series by Modesitt. I manfully made my way through this, but I don't plan on reading any more. A world where Imagers exist. People who can "imagine" things into reality, or out of, depending. Follows a young man who is a painter who turns out to be an Imager and his trials and tribulations as he moves up the ranks. 2 things:
1-STOP the confounded preaching! This seemed to be a book on Modesitt's philosophy and world view. I don't care! Considering that this has been in other books of his, I decided that I didn't have to put up with it. It ruins the story and really bogs the plot down with dry boring info that I, the reader, DON'T need to know.
2-I am sick of self-effacing, stoic, perfect people whose only problem seem to be that everybody else is keeping them back. The hero is smarter than everybody, more intelligent, harder working, more ethical, etc, etc and then he goes and says inane things like "well, I'm only trying my best" or such crap. The hero seems like a machine that would do better without people in their world.
So, to end this. Another Modesitt regurgitation that has no really original ideas and is blase and mediocre without the charm that makes Recluce semi-palatable.

REBORN! #10
-A. Amano-manga

CODGERSPACE
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-309- 5 retirees find an old alien spaceship buried on earth. The AI is confused, after 1million years, and turns to them for commands. Also has a story about the AI's of earth leaving their duties and searching for non-human intelligent life. Funny and light and serving absolutely no purpose beyond a little humor. Good read.

COREAN CHRONICLES: SOARER'S CHOICE
-L.E. Modesitt-fantasy
-540- the end of this trilogy. The alector and the cadmian become the forbearers of the Talented. Acorus is severed from Efrit and all those linked to it either adapt to Acorus's lifeforce or die. I didn't really enjoy this. For the end of the world as they know it, the characters sure don't show much panic or haste or any emotion of any kind. I've got 1 more Modesitt book on tap and if it doesn't change drastically, I think I'll give him up except for Recluce.

THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE
-S. Crane-historical fiction
-142-a young man goes to the Civil War full of vim and vigor, all set to conquer everything. He runs away the first time and subsequently fights like a demon in later battles. This was a coming of age story full of the inner thoughts of a boy. It was pathetic and "very modern", ie casting doubt and despair on everything. Probably never read it again.

BLEACH #26
-T. Kubo-manga

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION #1-5
-Y. Sadamoto-manga

WOLF: WOLF'S HEAD, WOLF'S HEART
-J. Lindskold-fantasy
-602-Melina Shield maneuvers things so that the artifacts Vallora took are sent for study to New Kelvin, with Melina as the understudy. The group must stop her. Lots of politic'ing and kind of sad. Firekeeper finds out a bit of history from the Royals about Royal/Human interaction. In the end Firekeeper has to give up what she wants and tries to please both humans and Royals. She's the one stuck in the middle.

THE BLACK STALLION
-W. Farley-YA fiction/classic
-187-a teen boy returning from India is shipwrecked along with a wild stallion. Is eventually rescued along with the horse. Turns out the horse could be a racer, so a friend helps him train it. Ends up racing the 2 fastest horses and winning. Simple and yet very well written and engaging.

JAG IN SPACE: A JUST DETERMINATION
-J.G. Hemry-scifi
-259- a young man, Paul Sinclair, is fresh out of Space Academy and on a ship for the first time. One of his side duties is to be the ships legal advisor. The captain fires upon a civilian ship outside of US territory and is court-martialed. Sinclair testifies on the captain's behalf, even though he doesn't like him at all, because he believes that the charges brought against the captain do not reflect accurately. Ends up with Sinclair getting involved with an officer on another ship and the captain being reassigned to some backwater office, instead of getting hung.

JAG IN SPACE: BURDEN OF PROOF
-J.G. Hemry-scifi
-293- an accident on board kills an officer. Evidence points to the officer working outside of given parameters and all blame is hung on him. Sinclair finds evidence of a coverup by another officer, an admiral's son, and sets out to prove the first officer innocent, post-humously.

JAG IN SPACE: RULE OF EVIDENCE
-J.G. Hemry-scifi
-276- on a joint mission, the sister ship of Sinclair's ship blows up. On board is Sinclairs girlfriend, Jen Shen. She is implicated and court-martialed. Everything is circumstantial and unprovable, but Shen is the scapegoat. Sinclair uses his parents former military pull to find some problems about a new engineering piece of equipment. Turns out the equipment wasn't ready and Shen is exonerated. They become engaged. Now, what I thought of these three books. It pretty much is the same for all 3. Very slow, and not until at least halfway through does the main plot start to form. Until then you just have a description of life shipboard and everything. The legal stuff is very legal, and hence dry. Interesting, but definitely not something you'd get excited about. I think these could be a precursor series to the Lost Fleet series, before Space had been divvied up. Definitely in no rush to get the final book now. I can wait.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

June '09

INUYASHA #27
-R. Takahashi-manga

THE BRONZE CANTICLES: MYSTIC QUEST
-T. & L. Hickman-fantasy
-453-the saga continues, in 3 stories again. Deals with a new set of people, mostly the children or relatives of those from Mystic Warrior. The human world is about a group of mystics trying to find the original city of the gods. The elven world is about a group trying to find an artifact in the capital city of the Kyree. The goblin story is about a goblin sent to spy out on a trollish city and discovers a whole library of books. Overall, I actually liked this better than the first. More going on, and a better understanding of everything. Not sure how the 3 worlds coming together is going to work out, interesting to find out.

THE SWAN'S WAR: THE SHADOW ROADS
-S. Russell-fantasy
-433-the conclusion to The Swan's War trilogy. Alaan, Elise and their respective groups face off against Hafydd and his. Death, also known as Meachi, is trying to get free from the spell that walled him in from the living. Everything comes together quickly in the end and Death is walled in again, Hafydd goes back to the river and Alaan and Elise go their ways. The groups all go back to their ways of life, forever changed. To be honest, it seemed a bit to pat and quick. I enjoyed the ending, but with such humble beginnings[the feud between the Will's and the Renne's], to escalate things to Death himself trying to walk the earth again, it just seemed almost anti-climactic. Well written, well thought out though. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this trilogy and am looking forward to re-reads already :-)

VAMPIRE HUNTER D
-H. Kikuchi-fantasy
-238-the first novel in the Vampire Hunter D light novel series. A young woman is bit by a local Noble and hires D to kill the Noble to free her. A local human thug, some mutant rebels and other demons all come together to make life hard for D as he just tries to do his job. Obviously a first novel. Descriptions go something like this "The wind snarled like a beast across the barren sky". It is like using fingerpaints to do a portrait. Gets the job done, but kind of makes you groan at the amateurishness of it. No real character development, but since I'm guessing D is the only character common in all the books, not surprising. A nice light read.

STAR WARS: THE BOUNTY HUNTER WARS: THE MANDALORIAN ARMOR
-K.W. Jeter-fantasy
-387-2 stories. One taking place around New Hope and the second during Return of the Jedi. About Boba Fett. First story is about Fett taking down the Bounty Hunters Guild. The second story is what happens to him after being eaten by the Sarlacc. Not really sure how canon this is, considering all that Traviss has written about the Mando and Fett himself. I'm enjoying it though. No jedi, lots of assassins and bounty hunters though. Looking forward to the next 2.

FAHRENHEIT 451
-R. Bradbury-science fiction
-190- in the nebulous future the masses are entertained with mindless drivel and books are banned, hunted and burned when found. One man discovers how empty everything is and goes on the run from the authorities and finds others like himself. Ends with the US being nuked and the premise that these "book rememberers" will help rebuild civilization. I can't say I really enjoyed this book. The writing style was annoying, too dramatic, over the top, when describing the internal struggle felt by the protagonist. And a culture that allows the youth to grow up to be cattle, it couldn't survive very long. The kind of people needed to make a culture survive that was described couldn't grow up in the culture described. It doesn't fit.

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
-Sir A.C. Doyle-mystery
-174-a series of short stories about the cases Holmes solves. Slowly but surely working my way through The Complete Sherlock Holmes.

THE BRONZE CANTICLES: MYSTIC EMPIRE
-T. & L. Hickman-fantasy
-391-the conclusion to the Bronze Canticles trilogy. The goblins get a rift gate to the human world and invade. The Shuraj[dead magic] elves are going to be destroyed by the Kyree and get a gate to the human world. The elves make alliance with the humans and work together to close the gates. The gates are closed and the goblins are hunted down. The end. I really didn't care for this ending. The story was cool and all the action was nice. But the whole point was the "Binding of Worlds", which never happened. The Hickman's just let it slide for a later time. Bleh to them!

INUYASHA #28
-R. Takahashi-manga

AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS
-J. Verne-fiction, classic
-287- an englishman takes a bet that he can go around the world in 80 days. With his french manservant, he takes off. He saves an indian woman, is pursued by the police as a suspect in a huge bank robbery, and has lots of adventures. Gets home and to the Club exactly on time. Marries the girl and gets the bet money and the real robber is apprehended. This was a good read. Exciting, informative [for the time] and not real long either.

FRONTIER MAGIC: THIRTEENTH CHILD
-P.C. Wrede-fantasy
-344-Wrede turns her hand to the Americas, and specifically the Frontiers. Taking place in the mid 1800's, this is about a girl, whose brother is the 7th son of a seventh son, and she is the 13th child. Grows up thinking she is somehow bad because of being unlucky number 13, until the family moves west to help expand a college town. This is the pioneer story, like Caddy Woodlawn or Laura Ingals Wilder, with magic. This story ends with Eff, the girl, saving some pioneers by using a non-conventional way with some magic in dealing with some magical bugs. Sounds kind of funny, but this was a good book and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series as it comes out.

CAT-A-LYST
-A.D. Foster-fantasy
-206-super beings, that are catlike, watch over earth to let it grow up at its own pace. A rogue SB tries to ruin everything. Humans end up setting things straight. This was a stupid novel and I don't have anything good to say about it. Might have been a good short story though.

STAR WARS: THE BOUNTY HUNTER WARS: SLAVE SHIP
-K.W. Jeter-fantasy
-324-having 2 different storylines at different time periods is confusing when trying to write a review. Boba Fett does this, Boba Fett does that. It is just reading adventures about Boba Fett that have a very thin connection.

NIGHT ANGEL: THE WAY OF SHADOWS
-B. Weeks-fantasy
-661-a young boy becomes the apprentice to the cities top wetboy [super duper assassins] and grows up. Lots of intrigue and politics and the city falls to a northern kingdom. Turns out the Wetboy had a magical item and it ends up bonding with the apprentice, allowing him to become the next Night Angel, a creature that is a balance to 6 other magical creations. It was a bit brutal and graphic. I'll be reading the next 2, but have no desire to own them. Really well written for a first novel though.

STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS: PATTERNS OF FORCE
-M. Reaves-fantasy
-288-the conclusion. A young force adept, very powerful is found and hunted. Hooks up with the Pavan group. There is a confrontation with Vader and bota [from the Medstar books] is used. Vader has a bad "trip on bota" and the good parts of the group escape. Jax learns his father loved him and I5, the sentient robot, ends up getting a "soul", or something that can be sensed in the Force anyway. This series almost seems to make light of how the hunt for the remaining Jedi went. This was a mediocre series that wasn't interesting. Not anything like the MedStar duology, sadly.

INUYASHA #29
-R. Takahashi-manga

FIREBIRDS
-S. November, editor-fantasy
-420-an anthology of scifi and fantasy. A bunch of short stories. Some were good, some were simply mediocre and some I thought were stupid. Not a bad collection to introduce to a YA though.

NO NEED FOR TENCHI! #1-12
-H. Okuda-manga
- this takes place after Episode 6 of the OVA. Lots of enemies popping up and bothering Tenchi and the girls. Or silly side adventures. Way too much shojo stuff. Nothing really like the anime. It wasn't very funny and it wasn't very moving. I'm thinking about getting rid of them now.

COREAN CHRONICLES: CADMIAN'S CHOICE
-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-fantasy
-510-the second book dealing with Dalyn and Mikel, an Alector and a Cadmian. Rogue Alectors are transferring in and it is up to Dalyn and Mikel to navigate the political hidden agendas and figure out what to do and how to do it semi-safely. This was annoying. The politics are as confusing to us the reader, probably more so since we don't have prior experience and knowledge, as to the main characters. Keeping track of what Alector is supposedly supporting which Duarch and Highest and all the military ranking, it is confusing and does not make the read interesting.

YU-GI-OH! #4-7
-K. Takahashi-manga
-the final volumes of the original Yugioh manga. I enjoyed it, but at times the way the badguys were allowed to cheat and get away with it was almost eye-rolling. I mean, Kaiba kidnaps Yugi's Grandfather and displays him dying in a cage in front of a huge crowd of kids and everyone is like "Yeah, Kaiba, you're the coolest" while Yugi's group is "We believe in you Yugi, you can DO it". A little to much sometimes. The final 2 books, dealing with Bakura though, were pretty cool.

THE DARKWAR SAGA: FLIGHT OF THE NIGHT HAWKS
-R. Feist-fantasy
-UNFINISHED

THE ALL-NEW TENCHI MUYO! #1-10
-H. Okuda-manga
-I think I actually liked this better than the original manga series. More action and fighting and less Sasami rescuing little animals and being cutesy. Ends and I don't think that there will be any more. Enjoyable.

THE LAST RUNE: THE KEEP OF FIRE
-M. Anthony-fantasy
-593

THE LAST RUNE: THE DARK REMAINS
-M. Anthony-fantasy
-643

THE LAST RUNE: BLOOD OF MYSTERY
-M. Anthony-fantasy
-579

THE LAST RUNE: THE GATES OF WINTER
-M. Anthony-fantasy
-565

Sunday, May 31, 2009

May '09

BLEACH #23-25
-T. Kubo-manga

THE LOST FLEET: VALIANT
-J. Campbell-scifi
-284-much better than the 3rd book. More space fighting. Also a traitor trying to kill Alliance people and ships. And the alien side of things gets explored a little more. Geary admits he is in love with Capt Desjani. Enjoyed this.

THE SWAN'S WAR: THE ONE KINGDOM
-S. Russell-fantasy
-517-a land was torn asunder in the distant past by 3 siblings. Today the land groans under a schism of two families. But the Siblings' spirits have returned to finish what they could not last time, conquer all. Follows the adventures of different people caught up in this whirlwind. Very slow for the first 9/10th's of the book and no huge gratuitous displays of magic. 3 people have been "possessed" by the ancient siblings. I'm looking forward to the next book.

XXXHOLIC #13
-Clamp-manga

THE LOST FLEET: RELENTLESS
-J. Campbell-scifi
-320-the Lost Fleet finally makes it back to Alliance territory. In spite of overwhelming odds, alien intervention and sabotage by officers in his own fleet, Geary makes it home. Ends with them planning a raid on the Syndic CEO homeworld to cut the head off of the snake and then deal with the aliens as best they can. A good cut off point for the series, but maybe he'll do one more in this series? Just checked the bibliography on his website, John G Hemry and it looks like he WILL be writing another book, due out in '10.

KING RAVEN: TUCK
-S. Lawhead-historical fiction
-443-the finale to the Robin Hood legend. Bran enlists the help of other Cymry [welshmen] and some Freinc lords and forces Rufus for the rulership of Elfael. So the story ends happily, unlike the original Robin Hood legend. I enjoyed this, but it all just seemed a bit to pat at the end. Everybody just goes "oh, ok, lets do the right thing after years of not and call it a day". But it was an ending that made sense, even if I didn't particularly care for it :-)

TAKEN: THE CANDLE OF DISTANT EARTH
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-262-the gang all make home to their respective homeworlds. However, Walker and George both decide, just as they find our solar system, that they have "grown" and that now they want to travel. Gee, wish they had decided that before they set out with a whole fleet! And the Villinji who kidnapped them and has been chasing them, well, what do you know? He has a sudden change of perspective and sees that maybe other sentients aren't just "goods" to be sold. How heartwarming . Foster forced this ending and it didn't fit with everything that had gone on before. Glad I never bought these.

STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS: JEDI TWILIGHT
-M. Reaves-fantasy
-343- Den and I-Five, from the Med-Star duology show up trying to find Pavan's son[from Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter]. Jax is his name and he is/was a jedi. Takes place after Revenge of the Sith, so the Jedi are being hunted. Jax is a whiner and a loser and I didn't like him at all. I was more interested in Den and I-Five. Also has a big Xizor tie-in[prequel info for Shadows of the Empire]. This book could go either way with fans. Either like it for the tie-in info or dislike it for its complete mediocrity. While I enjoyed the Med-Star duology, I didn't care for this at all. It does, however, show how the remaining Jedi felt after Revenge of the Sith.

THE CHARMED SPHERE
-C. Asara-fantasy
-473-a world where magic is defined by shape [for power] and color[for type]. A really cool premise. A small kingdom is under threat from a neighboring kingdom and must use its mages to supplement it's army. So it sounded good. Then I met the characters. Bunch of whiny, pansy, selfish, no self confidence bunch of pathetic losers. The characters teenager'ish angst and self-doubt completely ruined this book for me. It was not enjoyable and I will not be reading any more by Asara.

VISIONS OF FANTASY
-I. Asimov, editor-fantasy
-180-a series of short stories by different well know fantasy writers. YA, but written well enough that I enjoyed the stories very much too.

THE CROWN OF THE ISLES: THE GODS RETURN
-D. Drake-fantasy
-398-a VERY satisfying ending to the Lord of the Isles, Crown of the Isles series. Garric and Co face the invasion of 'new' gods since the Change did away with all of their old familiar gods. So of course, they break up into groups and go fight. And by the end, Ilna, Cashel and Sharina end up Ascending and become the new Sister, Shepherd and Lady. Pretty cool actually. I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. The writing, while familiar, didn't grate on me like Mirror of Worlds did. It seemed a bit fresher, more polished. Really enjoyable and a good, happy ending.

REBORN! #6 & 7
-A. Amano-manga

FRUITS BASKET #22
-N. Takaya-manga

CROSSROADS: SHADOW GATE
-K. Elliott-fantasy
-475-the hopelessness of the characters really grated on me. What can they do, as mere humans, when supernatural powers, for good, have turned bad? It was once again unnecessarily sensual. Violent. I just don't know if I'll even read the others as they come out. This just depressed me.

PIP & FLINX: RUNNING FROM THE DEITY
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-255-Pip goes to a low tech world to hide and get repairs. Instead of staying hidden in his ship, he goes out and makes contact with the natives, setting a war in motion. He, and the A.I. of the ship, stop the war and take off. This was PATHETIC! Nothing but Pip feeling bad for himself and doing stupid things and feeling bad about those, etc, etc. Foster has totally lost the FUN that started this series. Boooo!

STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS: STREET OF SHADOWS
-M. Reaves-fantasy
-306- much better! Jax has matured enough to stop being a whiner. The gang ends up trying to find out who the murderer of a famous Camaasi artist is, because his assistant wants help getting off world. Vader hires a jedi-killer to hunt Jax. That doofus Captain from the prequels, Typho, is on some vendetta to avenge Padme, cause apparently he was in love with her. That story arc was just LAME! Better than the first book, but definitely NOT a "buy" book.

COREAN CHRONICLES: ALECTOR'S CHOICE
-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-fantasy
-510-set thousands of years before the first trilogy. The ifrit's are cultivating Corus, and another planet Efron, as possible replacements to their current homeworld. Both are vying to be the home of the Master Scepter. This story deals with the Alector [ifrit] and the Cadmium [human] who have to deal with uprisings, etc that threaten to bias the Archon on their current homeworld against Corus. Overall this story reminded me a LOT more of a Recluce book. It took me over a week to read it and it just didn't engage me like the original trilogy. Plodding, that is a good word for this book. The 2 main characters were completely un-engaging. The plot has enough stuff hidden way for the future books that I was constantly trying to figure out if something I didn't understand would be explained later in this book, in another book, or not at all. Not a good thing for a smooth read.

TRANSLUCENT #1
-K. Okamoto-manga

YU-GI-OH! #1-3
-K. Takahashi-manga

THE SWAN'S WAR: THE ISLE OF BATTLE
-S. Russell-fantasy
-467-absolutely fantastic. Haffyd goes after Alaard to kill him and Elise chases after Alaard to save him. Fills out the picture in regards to the Children of Wyrr, who have taken on human hosts to live again. Engaging, quick [not slow like The One Kingdom] and opens up an even bigger world than we thought. Wyrr, and his Brother Aillyn are at odds. I know this is a trilogy, so I have to wonder how Russell is going to wrap everything up in 1 book.

CRYPTONOMICON
-N. Stephenson-fiction
-UNFINISHED-gay brits, violent marines, math, and 3 story lines that have no relation to eachother 150 pages into the story. Not going to waste any more of my time.

THE COUNCIL WARS: EMERALD SEA
-J. Ringo-fantasy
-490-Herzer and Co go south to some islands to make an alliance with mer-people to take preventative action against Paul's plans to invade across the ocean. Ok, no more of this series for me. Lots and lots of sex stuff. It was a naval story with dragons. And lots of sex, that didn't have anything to do with the story other than to spice it up. Bleh.

REBORN! #8
-A. Amano-manga

NOBLE DEAD: REBEL FAY
-B. & J.C. Hendee-fantasy
-416-the group goes into Elven land to find Leesil's mom. They give up their weapons and "trust" the elves, who are really bent on destroying them. Kind of like the U.N. and the United States. So basically everybody acts like a complete idiot and nobody even tries to think. They rescue his mom and then leave. Chap finds out his memory has been selectively sliced, at birth, by the Fay, so he is just a tool. It was just to much with everybody reacting like they were on hair-triggers instead of actually trying to think. And Leesil needs a good beatdown to get rid of his attitude.

PIP & FLINX: TROUBLE MAGNET
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-272-Flinx gets involved with some gang kids while trying to decide if humanity is worth saving. Basically, Foster slaps on the name of Pip and Flinx to sell this mediocre Commonwealth novel. A bit of action, and very little whining by Flinx, make this book mediocre instead of abysmal. Foster appears to have run out of ideas, real ideas, for Flinx and this novel really shows that. Nothing original, nothing exciting, no advancement of the "Must stop the BIG BAD Thing that will destroy us all" plot [which is really lame imo anyway], in fact, so much nothing that without Foster's name on it, this book would have died before ever getting out into the wild. I just want this series to end now. Foster has ruined it completely by trying to milk it for close to 30 years. Shame on him!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

April '09

THE COUNCIL WARS: THERE WILL BE DRAGONS
-J. Ringo-fantasy
-719-in the 41st century mankind lives in a utopia. People do whatever they feel like while a computer program called 'mother' makes sure that nobody kills somebody else and that everyone gets all the energy they need. 'Mother' is overseen by a council of humans. It has split into 2 factions. One wants to just keep things the way they are, the other wants to return to the "good old days of hard work and character building" with them in charge, of course. A coup happens. In the ensuing fight, earth is deprived of all her energy, and hence her gadgets. So everyone has to go back to pre-coal industrial happenings. One guy rallies a town and prepares for the attack by the other people. The good guys win but the council wars look like it could be generational, so everybody settles down to live a long, pre-industrial life. It was quite interesting. Ringo confuses me though. One minute he is talking about patriotism, importance of a strong military and the dangers of a bloated federal govt, etc, etc and then 2 people are shacking it up like it is totally normal.

INUYASHA #25 & 26
-R. Takahashi-manga

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
-K. Traviss-fantasy
-256-Jabba's son is kidnapped by the Separatists who make it look like it was the Jedi. The Jedi have to rescue the little slimer. Anakin has a padawan. LOTS of clone troopers die. Kenobi fights Asajj Ventress. Once again, Traviss's anti-jedi streak shows, strongly. Asajj is shown as some hurt little girl who is just trying to make up for her masters death by becoming a mass murderer.

RECLUCE: NATURAL ORDERMAGE
-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-fantasy
-496-a young punk is exiled from Recluce to Hamor. He turns out to be a "natural ordermage", basically someone who can't learn, just can or can't, do things with his power. Interesting and better writing than the early Recluce books.

A MADNESS OF ANGELS
-K. Griffin-fantasy
-538-urban fantasy. A sorcerer comes back from the dead 2 years after being killed. He has hooked up with a magic in the telephone lines. He was killed by his old master who wanted the telephone magic, the Blue Angels. Matthew, the resurrected guy, goes after his former master and lackeys to get revenge. The word that came to mind after reading this was "guttural". I don't like urban fantasy. If fantasy can be compared to water, urban fantasy is dark scummy water. There was no redeeming value about this book. There was SO much profanity/obscenity spewed out that I felt like I was standing in a sewer hole. I would never recommend this to anyone.

THE TWO HANDED ENGINE
-H. Kuttner and C.L.Moore-scifi
-unfinished. A bunch of short stories that all seemed to be gloomy and "psy" this and "psy" that. There was a nameless dread in almost every story that just got old after about the 3rd story.

OZ: THE EMERALD CITY OF OZ
-F. Baum-juvenile fantasy
-unfinished-Dorothy's aunt and uncle come to Oz after failing to make the farm work. It was just to much "oh, everyone is good and happy in Oz" in one chapter while the next shows some neerdowell getting together all the malcontent elements of Oz. Baum just contradicted himself and it was all extremely, to much so for me, sugary syrupy sap.

THIS IS NOT A GAME
-W.J. Williams-tech fiction
-367-This was great! Real world, bots, net gaming, social networking, murder, Russian mafya, national economies attacked, this book ties them all together. It started off kind of slow and odd, with the main character in a 3rd world country that was collapsing. But once she got back to LA, the main story took off. The ending was a bit rushed, imo. Basically, an overlapping and intertwining of the real world and the networld. It was a cool ride. However, due to the slow start and rushed, almost simplistic, ending, I don't think it was as good as it could have been. Really recommend it though to anyone who thinks that the net can't affect the real world :-0

BLEACH #21 & 22
-T. Kubo-manga

REBORN! #3-5
-A. Amano-manga

STAR WARS: CLOAK OF DECEPTION
-J. Luceno-fantasy
-342-An immediate prequel to Episode 1. I never was a big fan of Qui Gon, so that aspect of things didn't appeal to me. This was more a book of the politics of the day and as such, wasn't very exciting. More about Palps manipulating things. That was interesting :-) One thing I did like was the inclusion of Vergere. I wish we had the actual story of her turning though. Sadly, this was much like of most of Luceno's Star Wars books. Not badly written, but not exciting by any stretch of the imagination. I wouldn't recommend this to a casual Star Wars fan.

RED MARS
-K.S. Robinson-scifi
-572-a story about the colonization of Mars. It was filled with characters who had no redeeming qualities. Nothing in this book appealed to me at all. From dysfunctionality on a 100+people size to large paragraphs rambling about Mars to the pure pettiness of the characters involved, nothing interested me. It was almost like Robinson set out to write a book about the worst set of exceptional characters he could. I certainly won't be reading the other 2 Mars books.

THE LOST FLEET: COURAGEOUS
-J. Campbell-scifi
-299-things started to wear a bit in this book. Geary saves them, they complain. They get smacked up. Geary does this, Geary thinks that. Really need to move past the whole "running around in enemy territory" thing. This was almost a carbon copy of the 2nd book. Different names and places, but same idea. I want something new.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE...
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-232-a collection of short stories of some of Foster's early stuff. I enjoyed this. It was cool seeing ideas that were later expanded in his novels. Nothing really stood out but it was a nice light read and now my collection looks better, with this sitting next to ...Who Needs Enemies?.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

March '09

OZ: OZMA OF OZ
-F. Baum-children's fantasy
-272-Dorothy goes back to Oz and with the help of her old friends and Ozma and a yellow chicken, saves the Queen and children of Ev from the goblin king.

INUYASHA #3-6
-R. Takahashi-manga

SCHOOL RUMBLE #1-5
-J. Kobayashi-manga

AMERICAN NOTES & PICTURES FROM ITALY
-C. Dickens-non-fiction
-UNFINISHED- a travelogue from Dickens' trips to America and Italy. Boring. I got about 100 pages in and then started skimming the American Notes. By the end of that, I didn't even try to skim Pictures from Italy. Not like his fiction at all, really. But that is to be expected.

THE HARPER HALL OF PERN: DRAGONSONG
-A. McCaffrey-fantasy
-140- a young girl from a fishing hold has great musical talent. Due to her fathers holding to the old ways, however, it is discouraged. She runs away and in the process impresses 9 firelizards. Then she is picked up by a dragon rider and taken to the Harper Hall.

THE HARPER HALL OF PERN: DRAGONSINGER
-A. McCaffrey-fantasy
-192- Menolly's adventures in the Harper Hold. Trials to be overcome as she learns much about music and such.

THE HARPER HALL OF PERN: DRAGONDRUMS
-A. McCaffrey-fantasy
-167-follows the adventures of Piemur, a young lad whose voice changes. His adventures as the apprentice to the Master Harper, Robinton. Ends up on the Southern Continent. These 3 novels were in the same vain as her Dragonrider trilogy. Fresh, funny with just the right amount of adventure and adversity to keep you interested without getting you depressed or sad.

INUYASHA #7-18
-R. Takahashi-manga

LOOKING GLASS: MANXOME FOE
-J. Ringo & T. Taylor-scifi
-463-the Vorpal Blade and crew investigate a lost communications outpost. Stumble upon a new species who are being wiped out by the Dreen. Rescue them and come back to earth with the news that the Dreen will arrive within the next 10 years by spaceship. Bergstresser, aka Two-Gun, seems to be taking over as the main protaganist. No Mimi or anything. :-( Some things felt very shallow though. Like two-gun getting married. He meets a girl, talks to her for all of 4-6hrs, and when he comes back, they are planning on getting married. It just didn't seem at all plausible. I still am disappointed in this series though. The first book was JUST so good, oh well.

INUYASHA #19-24
-R. Takahashi-manga

STARWARS: LUKE SKYWALKER AND THE SHADOWS OF MINDOR
-M. Stover-fantasy
-331-soon after the Empire has fallen. A shadowy figure returns to reunite the empire. But it turns out he has some power to transfer his consciousness and he wants to trap Luke and take him over. Overall, this was on the level of The Crystal Star. It was just not on the same level as Stover's other StarWars books and that was very disappointing. It was more like reading some melodramatic play or something.

A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND
-C. Dickens-nonfiction
-UNFINISHED- Dickens writing a history of England for his son. BORING!

NOBLE DEAD: TRAITOR TO THE BLOOD
-B. & JC Hendee-fantasy
-396-Everyone goes back to Leesil's home so he can figure out what happened to his parents. He is a big ball of wussiness in my opinion. Find out a bit more about his past and some about the elves. I just wish everyone in the story would stop having such emotional hangups. Get over yourself and go do what needs to be done!

CASE CLOSED #1-4
-G. Aoyama-manga

JANE EYRE
-C. Bronte-classic
-502- a girl grows up in a school. Becomes a governess. Falls in love with the Master and the Master with her. He is already married though, to a mad woman. Jane leaves, finds her relatives and ends up with Mr Rochester when his wife commits suicide. I can see why this is a classic. Simple but not shallow. This showed the struggle of someone who did what was right, not necessarily exactly what they wanted. And it turned out all ok in the end.

MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK
-C. Dickens-short stories
-144- an old man and 3 others sit around and palaver. Basically this was a serialization between novels. It was not a story in and of itself. Not very interesting. The only thing going for it was the inclusion of Pickwick and the Weller's.

THE BOURNE IDENTITY
-R. Ludlum-fiction
-535- a man wakes up, bullet riddled and with no memory. Through the next couple of months he finds out he is a special forces agent gone outside cover to draw out and destroy an international terrorist. By becoming an international terrorist. Hunted by all, helped and loved by only 1 woman, Bourne must survive to find the truth, about himself and about Carlos. Very different from the movie with Matt Damon. This has another whole layer of politics and intrigue. Global. Complicated. I liked the movie better :-) I do plan on reading the next 2 books though to get the whole story.

OZ: DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ
-F. Baum-childrens fantasy
-256-Dorothy, her cat, a boy named Zeb and his horse get caught in an earthquake and go to the center of the earth. After many adventures they make it to the surface and go to Oz where they go home. This felt like a churned out novel. I didn't enjoy it like I have the other Oz books.

THE BELL AT SEALEY HEAD
-P. McKillip-fantasy
-277- A bell is heard at sunsight every day at a town. It has rung for hundreds of years. A magician comes to find it. In the process he sets free a magical realm that was taken over by his ever so great uncle. A house that hides doorways to the other kingdom. This was more prosey than her other stuff. I really enjoyed it.

THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
-R. Ludlum-fiction
-646- first, this has nothing to do with the movie. nothing. Webb's wife is kidnapped and Bourne must live again in order to save her. Everything is happening in HongKong and China. Turns out Marie was kidnapped by US forces to force Bourne to go after a rogue Mainland China guy who wants to take over HongKong and plunge the world into war. It was sickening to see how people were manipulated and used. Lots of profanity too, bleh.

THE TWELVE KINGDOMS: THE VAST SPREAD OF THE SEAS
-F. Ono-fantasy
-294- the story of En. The Taiho chooses a king. The king appears lacksadaisical and everything. A regent of the land starts up a rebellion ostensibly to make things better for the people. In truth he just wants praise. The King gets things taken care of with minimal bloodshed and the Enkai/Taiho, etc, etc, learn to trust the king. I really hope Tokyopop lasts long enough in the publishing biz to bring out all 7 novels. This was enjoyable.

REBORN! #1-2
-A. Amano-manga

OZ: THE ROAD TO OZ
-F. Baum-childrens fantasy
-261-Dorothy helps a shaggy man find a road and in the process they all end up in Oz for Ozma's birthday party.

MORE THAN ONE UNIVERSE
-A.C. Clarke-scifi
-554- a whole bunch of his short stories from the late 40's til the very early 80's. Recurring themes of American/Russian conflict, self-destruction on a planetary scale and the idea of man going to the stars. Depressing really.

THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
-R. Ludlum-fiction
-Unfinished-Carlos the Jackal is back and gunning for Bourne/Webb. I'd had enough about a man always on the run/hunt. Webb is now 50. Let the guy alone!

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS: THE CESTUS DECEPTION
-S. Barnes-fantasy
-457- Obi-wan goes to Cestus to stop the creation of semi-force sensitive robots. Diplomacy and fighting. A quad of clone troopers are involved too. Asajj Ventress is Dooku's representative. Having only read about her in the Legacy of the Force series, it helped me understand what went on then better. However, several references were made to previous encounters between her and Obi-wan which I'm guessing must have been comics only. That is stupid, referring to comics in a novel. Stick to other novels. Other than that, I thought this was ok, not wonderful or great, but not horrible either.

BRIDGE TO TEREBITHIA
-K. Paterson-ya fiction
-192-winner of the 1978 Newberry Award. Back in the 70's in some backwoods place. A 10 year old boy makes friends with a new girl from the city. Together they imagine Terebithia, a magic place safe from all the problems of school, home and the world. Jess's world is torn down when Leslie dies one day going to Terebithia when he doesn't. He stands back up though and continues on and introduces his younger sister to Terebithia, after building a bridge over the river. This was a very evocative book. It really showed the pain of growing up, of being a kid, the inherent unfairness that is practiced among kids and it showed the freedom available if one puts forth the effort to take it. This was a fantastic book. One sentence stood out though "It took them a long time to accept there what everyone could see by their TV's was OK anywhere else".[italics mine] It just made me realize how susceptible we humans are to having our reality defined by fiction. God spoke Truth. Satan spoke lies. Guess which we chose, and continue to choose? But this was a fantastic book. Definitely worth a hardcover buy.