Sunday, November 30, 2014

The Alabaster Staff (The Rogues #1) (Forgotten Realms)


The Alabaster Staff - Edward Bolme This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer


Title: The Alabaster Staff
Series: The Rogues, Forgotten Realms
Author: Edward Bolme
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 320


Synopsis:
A young girl is entangled in a plot between factions of the gods Tiamat and the fallen god of Unther [where this story takes place]. Also in play are the political powers of Unther and another nation that is trying to take them over.
Kersin [or whatever "exotic" spelling the author makes it to be], the young woman, is forced to steal the Staff of Necromancy, give it away, watch her erstwhile allies get slaughtered, taken into protection by a powerful lord, shadowed by said lord's bodyguard and in the end, try to prevent the raising of a dead mad god.

My Thoughts:
The first chapter is very misleading, as it follows a young boy who steals into the city and steals some fruit to survive. He then gives some fruit to Kersin and we never see him again. I felt very bait-n-switch'ed.

But after that, I enjoyed this. The purple prose was really kept to a minimum and that in and of itself made this worthy of enjoyment. Kersin was a likeable main character and there was no love story, or even worse, a love triangle. Thank goodness for that!
The inclusion of the Harpers was a nice touch too, especially since I like the idea of an underground group of Good Guys doing good things to make the world a gooder place :-)

The ending fight was nice and climactic, with a zombie god and all. Looking forward to the next book in the Rogue series.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Seal of the Worm (Shadows of the Apt #10) (Final)


The Seal of the Worm - Adrian Tchaikovsky This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Seal of the Worm
Series: Shadows of the Apt
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 624


Synopsis:
The Wasp Empire is collapsing beneath Seda's actions. The Worm's Empire is breaking free.
And the world as the Kinden all know it is changing.


My Thoughts:
This was more enjoyable and a good bit deeper than I was expecting.  I suspect it had as much to do with my frame of mind [ie, Thanksgiving] than with the actual book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It wraps things up while giving us a rousing good adventure story.

The series overall made me feel like I was on a roller coaster. Not because Tchaikovsky's style significantly changed, but because it seemed the focus, the sub-genre almost, changed at the midpoint.

From starting out as a Heroic Quest to save Collegium from the Wasp Empire it changed to a much more relational, "think out the consequences" type of story.
I have to admit, I did NOT like the change after book 5. But the stories were still good, just different than what I had started out with.

With this ending book and seeing how everything works together, I do heartily recommend this series to any Fantasy fan who wants something that is just a tiny "bit" different. I did find the whole Kinden aspect to be wicked cool.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Masters of Doom


Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture - David Kushner This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Masters of Doom
Series: -----
Author: David Kushner
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Biography
Pages: 301


Synopsis:
A Quick and Dirty Biography of John Romero and John Carmack, the Co-Creators of ID Software, which gave us Doom and Quake.

My Thoughts:
Overall, I'd say this was a pretty lackluster book. Serious issues were quickly gone over, motivations and thoughts barely sketched out, no footnotes, quotes or anything of substance.

However, it brought such a dose of Nostalgia that I practically felt like a kid again! I remember my first computer, a dx2-66, on which I ran DOS 6.22 [not that nasty ol' 6.20 mind you!] and was the envy of my friends because I'd saved up and bought a cd-rom 4x. Oh man, I was blazing.

I didn't really play Doom, but was introduced to Doom II: Hell on Earth. It was fantastic. It was everything my young self craved. Guns. Violence against a legitimate target. Being a bad ass hero. Double barreled shotgun. Puzzle solving along aside adrenalin inducing action.

Then Heretic and Hexxen came out, based on Doom's graphic engine. Medieval Doom with bows and arrows, magic arcane items, more intricate puzzles. And Hexxen with its multi-hub puzzles. It was all awesome.

Then Quake. I remember Quake so well because it required a Pentium 75 and my neighbor had just gotten one and there was no way I was going to be able to afford one for quite some time.

And this book brought back all those memories and feelings. And that is why this was rated so high.

The book itself was about two raging egomaniacs with different strengths who wouldn't and couldn't work together or with others. Because of that, they made and lost great people, companies and games.
Kushner tries to end on a happy note, but you know it won't last because nothing has changed in the John's lives except their current circumstances.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Pippi Longstocking (Pippi Longstocking #1)


Pippi Longstocking - Florence Lamborn,Nancy Seligsohn,Astrid Lindgren This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Pippi Longstocking
Series: Pippi Longstocking
Author: Astrid Lindgren
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Children
Pages: 80


Synopsis:
Pippi Longstocking, the strongest girl in the world, moves into Villa Villecula, all by herself.
Her neighbors have adventures with her and romps ensue.

My Thoughts:
I remember reading this back in gradeschool and thinking it was the most humorous book ever. It was the Gold Standard of Funny.

Reading this now, I can understand why my young self was so enamored. It is immature, all about the kids and them having Adventures that every kid can only dream about.
The adults are adults from a kids perspective, existing but usually getting in the way.

I'm rating this 3 because I'm an adult. But for kids, and my Inner Kid, I'm giving it a 5.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

The Ivanhoe Gambit (Time Wars #1)


The Ivanhoe Gambit - Simon Hawke This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: The Ivanhoe Gambit
Series: Time Wars
Author: Simon Hawke
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 228


Synopsis:
In the "Future", war is waged by keeping points of soldiers who fight in past battles. Those keep track of the points are the Elite, who also double as Time Agents who prevent paradoxes from occurring.
Well, one of these Refs goes rogue and tries to derail the timeline by taking Richard the Lionhearted's place in History and changing everything.
A group of soldiers are sent in to stop a Paradox from happening and they happen to land in the story of Ivanhoe. And thus the story proceeds.

My Thoughts:
I would have eaten this stuff up like pudding back in the early 90's, but since I've read a good bit of Time Travel, Time Paradox AND the original Ivanhoe, well, this was only so-so.

First off, Hawke takes the Ivanhoe story as his outline and then interweaves his own, so to be honest, I felt like he was cheating. Yeah, you heard me, cheating. If someone reads this and it gets them to read the actual Ivanhoe, then I'm ok with that, but to be honest, I don't see that happening.

If I compared this to food [ I'm hungry right now :-D ] I'd have to go with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, made with skippy peanut "spread", on super de duper processed sliced white bread. It does its job, but you don't want more than 1 in a great while.

There are 12 in the series. I wonder if I can read them all? At least unlike that terrible Endworld series, this is internally consistent with how the characters act.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Bone Key (Supernatural #3) DNF @30%


Bone Key  - Keith R.A. DeCandido This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Bone Key
Series: Supernatural
Author: Keith DeCandido
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: DNF


My Thoughts:
Due to personal and religious reasons, I will not be finishing this book.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Savage Fire (Executioner #28)


Savage Fire - Don Pendleton This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer


Title: Savage Fire
Series: The Executioner
Author: Don Pendleton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 138


Synopsis:
Leo Turin is apparently under a kill order from the Mafia and someone knows he's a fed. And someone in the feds is a dirty fink linked to the mafia.
If he stays, he dies, if he leaves, he dies.
Mack doesn't turn his back on his friends. And if it means killing even more outrageous amounts of mafioso, then so much the better.

My Thoughts:
Really enjoyed this one. The head of the Mafia, whom Mack spared [even while blowing his legs off] a couple of books back, is fighting for what's left of his life and his position. Leo is caught in the crossfire and nobody knows who is fighting for who because of the veil of secrecy the mafia uses.

But Bolan won't be stopped. He kills, he destroys and in the process he sets up Leo to a new mafia lord who can feed the Feds even more info. Everyone but the Mafia wins!

Man, I love it when the badguys get moyduhed!

Monday, November 17, 2014

Gankutsuou Vol. 1-3 (Manga Monday)


Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Vol. 1 - Yura Ariwara,Mahiro Maeda
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Vol. 2 - Yura Ariwara,Mahiro Maeda
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo, Vol. 3 - Yura Ariwara,Mahiro Maeda
This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Gankutsuou
Series: Gankutsuou
Author & Artist: Mahiro Maeda, Yuri Ariwara
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 600+

Synopsis:
A manga adaptation of the anime, which in turn was based on the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.
Sadly, while the book was Brilliant and the Anime was gorgeous, this was disjointed, disturbing and overall a real disappointment.

My Thoughts:
I was very disappointed in this.  The focus was on only one of the antagonists, the young people were almost cutout and there were some seriously messed up Freudian expressions.
My main problems with this were the following:
1) Villeforte kills his second wife and Gankutsuou brings her back to life.
2) Villeforte uses his daughter Valentine to replace his dead first wife, and I do mean uses.
3) Madame Villeforte, kidnaps her child and Valentine and does some seriously perverted things with Valentine.
4) The whole family end up torturing and keeping Villeforte as they torture slave.

Most of this was implied, [except #3, & 4] and not graphic but it was even more disturbing for not being in your face.

Also, Gankutsuou is shown to be the mega-mind of Chateau D'if that merges with Edmond Dantes, thus allowing Edmund to live and Gankutsuou to roam the universe. This made things to be almost Gothic, like Science Not Understood.

I can't recommend this manga. Go watch the anime and be amazed however.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Paragon Lost (A Chronicle of the King's Blades #1) (King's Blades #4)


Paragon Lost - Dave Duncan This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Paragon Lost
Series: A Chronicle of the King's Blades, King's Blades
Author: Dave Duncan
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 348


Synopsis:
Sir Beaumont heads up a special journey to get a new Queen for their King. And because of Politics and other bad things, completes the mission but loses all status and is kicked out of Iron Hall.
And the story finishes with him really completing the Mission and getting it all back.

My Thoughts:
There are times where I hate Duncan's use of the split timeline. We start the book at the 2/3rds mark chronologically, get introduced to the situation, then immediately jump back to the beginning, hear about that, then jump to the resolution.
It isn't nice neat segments though. But huge parts so you forget where you were or where you were heading. That is the main reason I took a star off.

Other than that, this was a great King's Blades story. While it is a stand-alone story, you are definitely served by knowing the history of the previous 3 books in the series.

Think European magic swordsmen in Russia. Messy, cold, brutal and lots of paranoia and fear.  More about politics and international incidents than magic sword fighting though. Well, you can't win them all.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Rowan (The Tower and the Hive #1)


The Rowan - Anne McCaffrey This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: The Rowan
Series: The Tower and the Hive
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 334


Synopsis:
Humanity has moved out into space, with help of the Talented. Those special people who have Extra Abilities, whether of the mind or body.
The most sought after, the rarest, are the Primes, Talents with multiple abilities and who can transport cargo from planet to planet, system to system.

One day, a Prime is discovered, a young child with no memories and no antecedents. She will grow up to become The Rowan, one of the Most Powerful Primes Earth has ever seen.
But what she discovers is even greater than her.

My Thoughts:
I remember reading this when it first came out. It was probably my first SFF book that was as heavy on the romance as it was on the SFF. So that was my memory, but it has been some time so I wanted to re-read this series and get my thoughts in writing.

I'd like to start out by saying that I did enjoy this book and will be continuing the series. However, this was a puff piece of girl power and the Perfect Man. Much like the Mack Bolan/Executioner series is a puff piece of Macho'ness.

It was fun seeing Rowan grow up. Meeting the heretofore new Prime and finding out about the Alien Menace. And dealing the first decisive blow. I am glad McCaffrey didn't make her characters sit around and debate the ethics of dealing with a real menace.

A good solid dray horse of a tale, even if not a racing stallion.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Deadspeak (Necroscope #4)


Necroscope IV: Deadspeak - Brian Lumley This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Deadspeak
Series: Necroscope
Author: Brian Lumley
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Pages: 517


Synopsis:
Harry is BACK. But his son, to defend his bad ass vampire self, took away Harry's Necroscope powers and returned him to Earth.
Now another Vampire is Ascending, one with the capability and know how to survive in our modern age. A Vampire who can Foretell the future. A Vampire who is the blood son of Faethor Ferenczi.
Can Harry regain his Mad Skillz, Defeat Janos and Prevent Faethor from taking over his mind?
Find out in this 4th Necroscope Novel!

My Thoughts:
I know my synopsis sounds ridiculous, but really, as much as I am truly enjoying the deliciousness of these books, they are just so THAT.

I really like the fact that these are also Cold War era thrillers as well as Vampires as Ultra-Monsters horror stories. The politics and how the world was at that time make this a lot of fun to read about. However, young people today will be missing out on a lot. They won't know who Nicolae Ceaușescu was or anything.

I think that Janos, the Vampire of this book, is the worst yet. He raped his mother repeatedly because he hated his father [and that is why this got the sexually explicit tag], allowed himself to be killed to survive until the present day, takes over a blood relative's body and then just plays mind games with Harry. Each Vampire gets worse in each book and it is wonderful. Vampires are BAD and these books show just what horrible monsters they are.

One thing that I wondered and kind of look forward to, is Harry killing Harry Jr. That little brat is now a Necroscoped Vampire who is a Super Genius. I don't care how good, strong or noble his intentions are, he is a Vampire and it will show at some point. And Lumley seems to like making Harry suffer and to I like seeing him suffer [he's really not the most likable of people] so having him kill his own son that he sacrificed so much for would just hit the spot I think.

Good stuff, eh!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Gunslinger Girl #15 Finale (Manga Monday)


Gunslinger Girl, Vol. 15: Finale - Yu Aida This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Finale
Series: Gunslinger Girl
Author & Artist: Yu Aida
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192


Synopsis:
The End of the series and the Social Welfare Agency. The terrorists are defeated but their sympathizers in the government mobilize to destroy the Agency. Which in turn allows the legitimate gov't to take out the rogue elements which have been hiding in plain sight.
We get to see how the various girls and handlers handle the future and in the end, how something good comes from all the death and destruction.

My Thoughts:
I am so glad that the previous volume was not the ending, as it showed the end of the battle but not the aftermath.
This was Sad and melancholic.
Seeing Henrietta and her handler dead [for sure with no questions] just cut me. I liked her the best of all the girls.
Watching the survivors wear out was hard too. You know they are going to die, we knew that right from the beginning, but seeing them drop off one by one, it was heart wrenching.

I did like the fact that the story ended with Triella's daughter making a success of herself in a normal life. The ending quote was very uplifting:
Yes, there is still
HOPE
in our world!

As a series overall, I found this went from the Action'y to Deeply Life Affirming to simply Touching. I highly recommend it.

Sunday, November 09, 2014

Nexus (Nexus #1) DNF


Nexus - Ramez Naam This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Nexus
Series: Nexus
Author: Ramez Naam
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF/Cyberpunk Prequel
Pages: DNF @ 46%


Synopsis:
Mankind is messing with their genes and dna and creating all sorts of miracles and monsters and possibly the next step in human evolution, the Post-Human.
One young genius and his friends have created a breakthrough using a nanobot type drug called Nexus5. The breakthough? Mind to Mind Contact...and Control.

My Thoughts:
Two main reason I didn't get past the 46% mark.

First, the profanity. It was "fuck" that and "shit" this every other sentence after the first chapter or so. I don't want to read that kind of language, as I do believe that what we expose ourselves to on a continual basis will change us in that direction.

Second, in the last couple of years the big bad bogeyman of the future is nano/bio/techno whatzuhazzits. Just like if you read Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, their stories are filled with either how wonderful Nuclear energy is and how every garbage disposal is a small nuclear reactor that powers your portable rocket pack OR how horrible it is and how mankind ends up destroying itself every time it is used. That is how I feel this story was. Horrible, terrible humanity destroying. So forget it.

One thing I did enjoy was how this is definitely Prequel Cyberpunk. Every wonder how societies like Snowcrash or Neuromancer came about? They didn't pop into existence over night. This story explores a world on the brink, but instead of humanity using the tech, it is all about the tech using humanity. And I just don't buy that. We don't understand 1/100th of the awesome miracle known as the brain, so don't tell me that some computer program is suddenly smarter. It might be able to do certain things more focusedly, [not sure that is even a real word, to be honest] but it will not have the depth, breadth and creativity of the Mind.

So there you have it.  Good plot overall, good grammar and story editing, just hit me wrong and I didn't like it. Maybe you will.

Friday, November 07, 2014

A Tale of Two Cities (Classic) (Buddy Read)


A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Series: -----
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic Literature
Pages: 443


Synopsis:
A Tale set during the times of the French Revolution which follows a French family living in England.
A story of Hope and Redemption even during the worst of times.

My Thoughts:
Fan-phracking-tastic! Having read this in the late 90's, then again back in '07, my decision to re-read Dickens every decade or so seems to be paying off.
This was just as good, if not better than previous reads and it was in no way diminished by being a re-read.

I thought Dickens did a masterful job of portraying the characters. Not one single person was a Superman with no flaws, but all had their strengths and weaknessess and Dickens used that to make them interact in such a way that it was more than believable.

Darnay was a polished but emotionally naive Frenchman. Carton was a diamond in the rough that only shined in the last minutes of his life. Lucie was a pillar of strength to her husband while putting her only daughter into harms way. Dr. Mannette survived the Bastille, rescued his son-in-law, only to see him re-taken by the Republic and Mannette himself reverting psychologically to his prison days. Defarge wants Justice but not untold bloodshed. Madame Defarge is hard and implacable and yet it is love that destroys her in  the end.

I loved this.

And I really enjoyed doing a buddy read with Book Cupidity as well. It was fun to see the other's updates and comments. Good times.

Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Warrior Spirit (Rogue Angel #9)


Warrior Spirit  - Alex Archer This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Warrior Spirit
Series: Rogue Angel
Author: Alex Archer
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 292


Synopsis:
Annja is recruited to find an old family relic with possible mystical powers, by the last in a clan of.....Ninjas!

And they are opposed by the Yakuza, another Ninja'y kind of guy and some monks.

My Thoughts:
My eyes were rolling so much while reading this that I had to change my glasses.
Ok, it wasn't quite that bad, but almost.

The Sword goes on the fritz whenever Anna isn't in real danger, which I find ridiculous. It completely took away the idea of Free Will and negated the idea that she could go all Darkside by killing innocents, which has been previously explored.

I don't expect much from my action books, but if you are going to try to be Philosophical, I expect something real, not some new age crap that has as much depth as a bikini.

And Mr Ninja? I have nothing to say *grin*

Monday, November 03, 2014

Azumanga Daioh Omnibus (Manga Monday)


Azumanga Daioh Omnibus - Kiyohiko Azuma,Stephen Paul This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Azumanga Daioh Omnibus
Series: Azumanga Daioh
Author & Artist: Kiyohiko Azuma
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 688


Synopsis:
Follows the highschool years of a group of young girls. Slice of Life type manga, with everything from humor to sadness to absolute saccharine sweetness.

The majority of the manga is the 4Koma style, ie, 4 single panel drawings one atop the other, which lends itself to very brief, intense one shots.
However, there are times where Azuma breaks away from this format to tell a slightly more connected story and then you get the typical manga layout.

My Thoughts:
Loved this, hence the favorite designation. It is light, comedic, fun, easy to digest and just generally a delight to read.

The omnibus collection collects all 4 volumes of the original manga and it is one monster book. I read a copy from the library and they used that special reinforcing clear tape on the spine and on the insides of the front and back cover, to keep it from cracking. It seemed to work and if I ever buy this volume, I'd definitely want something like that, as this is just too big for simple glue binding to handle.

I have to admit, if you had suggested that I would love a manga [and anime, which I do one, by the way] about highschool girls, I would have been very suspicious of you. But the comedy and lack of angsty pathos made this a series that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone looking to try out this new fangled fad thingy called manga.
The format also lends itself to easing a newb into the whole right to left reading of panels. Good practice for when you're trying to figure out some of those other more complicated series.

If you've read Yotsuba&! and liked it, you'll definitely enjoy this ancestor of it. And if you like this, you'll definitely want to read Yotsuba&! next.

Sunday, November 02, 2014

Balance of Trade (Liaden)


Balance of Trade - Sharon Lee,Steve Miller This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Balance of Trade
Series: Liaden Universe
Author: Sharon Lee & Steve Miller
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 670


Synopsis:
Jethri, young spaceborn Terran, is hated by his mother and she wants him gone. In one of those upsets of circumstances, Jethri is taken as a new apprentice, on a Liaden ship.

Adopted as the new heir of the Captain, Jethri is plunged into the Liaden world, filled with Honor, Melanti, and pitfalls he has no idea even exist. Thankfully, he acquires allies who help him as he in turn helps them.

My Thoughts:
As with previous Liaden novels, I simply loved this. I cannot pin down exactly what Lee & Miller do to make me love their books, but it hasn't failed yet.
One thought that did strike me was how much this reminded of "Jane Austen.....In Space!"  The light romance touches, the family/clan drama, it just struck as Austen-lite and I really liked it.

This story follows a different Liaden clan from the former books and I am glad of that. It actually follows a Terran who is becoming Liaden. So everything is from Jethri's viewpoint. I am glad to have read the previous Liaden books, as it gave me a background that helped me know pieces that weren't obvious.

Everything that characterized the former books was here as well. It does end incomplete, but not a cliffhanger.  Looking forward to the next book immeasurably. I wonder how long I can drag it out before I HAVE to read it?
*grin*