Monday, October 31, 2016

Devil Bats Take Flight (Eyeshield 21 #6) (Manga Monday)


Eyeshield 21, Vol. 6: Devil Bats Take Flight - Riichiro Inagaki, Yusuke Murata 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Devil Bats Take Flight
Series: Eyeshield 21
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 208
Format: Digital Scan







Synopsis:

After a brutal game, the Devil Bats manage to tie the score at the end of the game. The de facto leader of the Sphinx admits that since the Devil Bats tied on the Sphinx's home turf, that it is a win for the Bats. So the Devil Bats are the ones to play the American team.
Then everyone goes and watches a game between the White Knights and gods and undisputed champions of highschool football, "The Something Or Others" [I tend to lose track of the names as they don't mean anything to me]. In the previous season the White Knights almost unseated them but a pair of freshman turned the game around. Now those freshmen are experienced and trained. And they destroy the White Knights. The leader of the two looks like he'll be the Nemesis of Sena, as he is portrayed as a pretty bad guy.


My Thoughts:

Finally, we get someone who is just plain bad and not "striving to be better" and all that macho stuff. He's just at the end of the volume but it is apparent that he'll be around for some time, as his talent and his teams quality make them the top team.

The game between the Bats and the Sphinx's ended up satisfactorily without the "underdog team wins every game by hook or by crook" that is the hallmark of many Disney movies. I do like how the manga-ka's breakdown a particular part of the game [albeit in a simplistic way] and make it the focus of one whole game, hence allowing the new Devil Bats, as well as the readers unfamiliar with football, to become "experts". I'm a social sports fan, so I don't know how this would come across to a serious football fan. They'd probably laugh it off or point out all the wrong things :-) But it works for me and considering that this is a manga, I suspect the target audience are not hardcore Patriots fan [the Patriots are the Number One team here in the United States and have been since they came into existence in 1792!]
`

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Thraxas and the Dance of Death (Thraxas #6)


Thraxas and the Dance of Death - Martin Scott 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Thraxas and the Dance of Death
Series: Thraxas
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 256
Format: Kindle digital edition









Synopsis:

Lisutarius has lost a priceless gem that helps protect Turai against an orcish invasion. So she hires Thraxas to find it without anyone else finding out. But of course things don't go quite according to plan and everywhere the gem goes, death follows. So much so that an enterprising fellow starts a betting ring on how many people will die before Thraxas can find the jewel.
An undead sorcerer comes to town to steal the jewel for himself, falls in love with Makri and threatens Thraxas.


My Thoughts:

It was nice returning to Turai and watching Thraxas threaten, bluster and bumble his way through yet another investigation.
Things get a little bit more serious as Thraxas must deal with politics, having his investigators license revoked, Tanrose leaving the inn and a possible orc invasion just as the city is being wracked by a dwa epidemic and the elves are weaker than ever.

I tore through this in about 3 lunchbreaks. The only problem is that by the time I get around to writing a review, I'm halfway through the next book and get the details muddled in my head. But I remember having fun reading this, so I think that is enough.
`

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Hominid


Hominid - R.D. Brady 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.
Title: Hominid
Series: -----
Author: R.D. Brady
Rating: 1/2  of 5 Stars
Genre: ----
Pages: Abandoned
Format: Kindle digital edition










My Thoughts:

The author references the main character's brother as gay and married to another man. I'll not fill my mind with such perversions.
Abandoned at 5%


Vets Might Fly (All Creatures Great and Small #5)


Vets Might Fly - James Herriot 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Vets Might Fly
Series: All Creatures Great and Small
Author: James Herriot
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-fiction
Pages: 240
Format: Kindle digital scan








Synopsis:

Jim is training to be a pilot for the RAF during WWII and various people and circumstances bring back memories of his vet times in Darrowby. At the same time his wife is expecting their first baby and he relates several instances of him sneaking away from training to be with her.


My Thoughts:

This is a series that continues strong story telling but the sameness of the stories brings the rating down for each book. I think my rating would be higher if I read one of these a year instead of every 2 months.

I was hoping for more military training stories than I got. What I did get were all very compact and led right into a vet story. I think the most amusing story was about his son being born. Jim asked the nurse if he was "normal" because he was such an ugly little thing and asked if he could see another baby, "just to compare". The nurse got upset, Jim was confused and I just grinned. Newborns ARE ugly but you'd think a vet would be used to that whole thing.
`

Friday, October 28, 2016

The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw (League of Princes #3)


The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw - Christopher Healy 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw
Series: League of Princes
Author: Christopher Healy
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 529
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:

The League of Princes get involved in yet another madcap escapade and the various princess' are involved. An old enemy returns and uses the bards to make the Princes' into villains, puts a price on their heads and begins a conquest of all the Kingdoms.

Surprise, surprise, everything turns out ok. I know that is totally shocking to anyone who has read the previous books, but believe it!


My Thoughts:

Ehhh, this was ok, just like Book 2 but not as fun as Book 1.  Three books worth of these characters was just too much for me. They were fairytale caricatures shoehorned into a "regular" fantasy novel. The novelty was amusing but it wore thin and in this book wore out for me.

For a series called The League of Princes', this sure had as much to do with their various love interests taking the stage as it did with them. If I wanted to read the PC, Lady Power schtick, I'd go read some Urban or Paranormal Fantasy, thank you very much.

It wasn't a bad read, it just didn't live up to the first book, which unfortunately seems to happen with a lot of series, no matter what genre they might be in. It left me feeling slightly lacking in the Enjoyment Factor. I do recommend this if you're looking for a fairytale parody or something very light.
`

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds


Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds - Alastair Reynolds, William Schafer, Jonathan Strahan 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Beyond the Aquila Rift
Series: -----
Author: Alastair Reynolds
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 784
Format: Kindle digital edition






Synopsis:

A range of short stories showcasing Reynold's universe. Ranging from the Near Future to a Million Years in the Future, from Horror to Post-Humanity, from the personal to the galactic, this collection has something for just about any SF fan.


My Thoughts:

I read this collection, thanks to Antao's Review about a month ago. Book recommendations like this are why I can never go back to solitary book reading. I wouldn't have picked this up on my own [not being a huge fan of hard sf and this "looked" like hard sf] but I am glad I read it. It was thoroughly entertaining and being a bunch of short stories it fit into my lunch breaks perfectly.

When it comes to short story collections I don't usually keep notes on each story. I tend to simply eat them in a gulp and rate the overall meal. However, at the end of this book was a collection of notes by Reynolds about how each story came to be. With that handy little reminder I was able to pick out a story or two that stood out above the others.

My pick of the litter is Diamond Dogs. A group of people must answer puzzles in a successive row of rooms. If they answer wrong, there is a punishment. At the top of the structure is an advanced computer left by aliens now extinct. One man wants that computer for himself and he is willing to use anyone to get his desire.  There is a nod to Budry's book Rogue Moon and the movie Cube. If you've partaken of either of those, you'll know pretty much how this goes.

I shall digress here.

The reason that Cube stands out in my memory was because it was the first movie that I saw, graphically, the wanton hatred and execrable violence and filth that was on a lot of peoples minds. I remember feeling sick after watching Cube and realizing that there were not only people who thought these things up, but who sought after them. I'm a bit more jaded now, but even still, I have a graphic violence tag just to remind me that certain levels of violence are not ok to get used to in my reading.

/end digression.

Not that this story was graphically violent, mind you, but it referenced Cube and thus one memory led me to remember this one.

So there you have it. Go forth and read, if the fancy takes you.
`

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Slave of Sondelle DNF@4%


Slave of Sondelle - Bevan McGuiness 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Slave of Sondelle
Series: -----
Author: Bevan McGuiness
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: Abandoned
Format: Kindle digital edition








My Thoughts:

Excerpt:
Chapter 1
He stopped digging.
     The only sound he heard was his own laboured breathing; his panting breath disturbed the dirt in front of his face. The darkness was total - he could not see his own hands, or the blood he knew was welling from his torn nails and scraped knuckles. He lifted his head head slightly, bumping on the top of the tunnel.
     There it was again - that sound. With an effort, he controlled his breathing, trying to listen for whatever it was he'd heard twice now. His heart thumped in his chest, but he managed to quieten its frantic pace with a calming exercise he'd learned. In the silence, he listened again.
     Dripping. Was it water? A moment's fear swept over him. Where was he? Had he gone too far? Was there a river or a lake nearby? His fingers gripped the dirt, feeling the moistness. Had he been wrong to assume the moisture was his blood? In the dark, with the earth all around him, he felt the panic start to take hold.

/End Excerpt
(all grammatical errors are probably mine as I typed the above out by hand)

If you don't have a problem with pages of that style of writing, then this book just might be for you. It did not improve but stayed at that level or even descended a bit. I quit when the MC started fighting some monster.  Technically correct writing isn't enough, you need to be able to handle words like a dance partner. If I had to describe this book, or the short portion I managed to get through, as a dance, I would describe it as 2 uncoordinated teenagers who have seen a waltz and are trying to dance it from that memory.

Not pretty at all if you actually know how to waltz or have seen professionals dancing.

Not bad at all for an indie really. However, this was not an indie release. This was a Big 5 Publisher release. It rather shocked me that something like this passed muster. Well, on to the next book.
`

Monday, October 24, 2016

Powerful (Eyeshield 21 #5) (Manga Monday)


Eyeshield 21, Vol. 5: Powerful - Riichiro Inagaki, Yusuke Murata 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Powerful
Series: Eyeshield 21
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Scan







Synopsis:

Now that the Devil Bats have an actual team, Harima takes them to watch a game played by other teams so that the newbies can see at what level more advanced teams play at. Harima also ups their training by making them participate in building the new clubhouse.
After watching the game, Harima signs up the Devil Bats to play a visiting American highschool team. However, the contest was rigged and another, higher profile, team was chosen. Harima hacks into the system and forces a duel between the Devil Bats and the Taiyo Sphinx to determine who will play the Americans.


My Thoughts:

This was a good volume. Seeing the White Knights struggle and their fan favorite QB stuck in the hospital wrestling with doubt, makes them seem that much more worthy as opponents to the Devil Bats.

The beginning of the game against the Sphinx is a good one. The linebackers of the Devil Bats, who we've only seen overcoming everything thrown at them, get flattened by the Pyramid of the Sphinx. Their confidence is shattered and not even Sena/Eyeshield 21 can get their spirits up. Of course, Harima has a plan for even this setback and using the natures of his linemen puts the "oomph" back in them.

Harima also shows his skills as a QB while the weak nature of the Sphinx's QB begins to crack under the pressure. It is rather nice to see Harima actually playing football instead of just whaling on the team and shooting off guns and rockets.

Sena plays a very small part in this volume and I suspect that will be the case from now on. Football being such a team sport, it can't rely on 1 individual to carry the whole story. My only gripe is the fact that Eyeshield 21 is supposedly a Notre Dame vet and Notre Dame is a college, so why would a college kid be in highschool? I know the American version of highschool doesn't exactly correspond to Japanese Highschool but I figured it was still all the same at the end.
`

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Caliban's War (Expanse #2)


Caliban's War - James S.A. Corey 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Caliban's War
Series: Expanse
Author: James Corey
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 583
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:

The protomolecule is transforming Venus at a ferocious rate. So much so that everyone, Earth, Mars and Belters, are extremely worried about it.
At the same time someone has figured out how to weaponize the original piece of proto-crap into controllable super soldiers. All they need is children with completely compromised immune systems. But of course, things don't quite go as planned and everything begins to spiral out of control.

Now it is up to the crew of the Firefly, errr, Rocinante, a U.N. official, a Ganymedian soybean scientist and a Martian Marine to stop the badguys, save the kids and give humanity a chance to collect its breath before Venus takes everyone out.


My Thoughts:

Hot diggity! I am enjoying this series like it is a huge bowl of vanilla bean icecream. It just hits the spot. Thankfully this time around Holden isn't as much a dew'y eyed idealist and I liked this kick ass version of him better, even if he and his Belter lady didn't.

The number of viewpoints increased and I was worried that it would make things confusing or unstable. Never happened. Having the extra viewpoints of the soybean scientist, UN official and martian marine simply expanded the scope of the story.  I also felt like "Corey" summed up politics really, really well. A game to those who play.

By the end of the book Venus has become it's own player in the story and we see its opening moves. But of war, exploration or a game, we don't know. I am really looking forward to the next book when it comes through my reading rotation in about 2 months.

On the tv side of things, I figure I'll read "ahead" to the 3rd book before starting the tv series. I like the books enough that I'm actually hesitant to watch the tv show as it'll put limits of my imagining of the characters and everything. Once I watch the tv show, I'll be picturing those characters as I read the rest of the books. Sometimes that can be good but sometimes it can be pretty bad.
`

Friday, October 21, 2016

Water Sleeps (The Chronicles of the Black Company #9)


Water Sleeps - Glen Cook 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.wordpress.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Water Sleeps
Series: The Chronicles of the Black Company
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 480
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:

15-20 years after the end of She is the Darkness. The Black Company has been reduced to being a gang under the leadership of Murgen's wife and Sleepy, Murgen's apprentice. Sleepy's goal is to get to the Glittering Plain and free the Black Company, get revenge on those who put them there and to kill Lady's sister. But the Company as a gang is a mere shadow of the Company as a Military Company.
But as has been shown in previous books, even Shadows have teeth. And Sleepy takes the Company, present and past, to a place that even Croaker couldn't imagine.


My Thoughts:

The devolving of the Black Company continues. It was sad to see. The two feuding mages, getting old, having a stroke? A military company reduced to a straggling, struggling ragamuffin group of neerdowells. Yet this was just as compelling a story as the previous ones. Cook does a fantastic job of showing a real face in a fantasy world.

I liked Sleepy better than Murgen as a narrator but I suspect more of that had to do with my dislike of Murgen's out of body, through time, traveling. Being in one place and one time was rather refreshing.

The ending was pretty obvious and would have actually been a pretty good end to the series. There is one more book so I'm looking forward to seeing how Cook "really" wraps things up.
`

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Morning Star (Red Rising #3) DNF@20%


Morning Star - Pierce Brown 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.
Title: Morning Star
Series: Red Rising
Author: Pierce Brown
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 544
Format: Kindle digital edition










Synopsis:  Spoilers

Darrow has been broken. But he has been rescued and now he must change the coming revolution from something that only wants to destroy to something that will destroy & rebuild.


My Thoughts:

Pierce Brown has chosen to include homosexuality in this story and treat it as normal and ok. It is a perversion and not ok. I will not allow my mind to be dulled into thinking that wrong is right by constant social pressure and association.
DNF'd at 20%.
`

Monday, October 17, 2016

Intimidation (Eyeshield 21 #4) (Manga Monday)


Eyeshield 21, Vol. 4: Intimidation - Riichiro Inagaki, Yusuke Murata 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Intimidation
Series: Eyeshield 21
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Scan







Synopsis:

The Devil Bats have a Pride Game against another highschool, which is known for it's delinquents and quarterback with arms like rubber bands. The Chamelion's are prepared for Eyeshield 21, but with Monta now on the team, the Devil Bats can run the ball or pass it. A good battle ensues and the Chamelions obviously lose and end up as Harima's slaves.
With the very public victory, the Devil Bats have tryouts and gain enough new members to have an actual team without Harima resorting to terror/blackmail tactics to force people to play. The Devil Bat's are on their way.


My Thoughts:

I always feel iffy about giving manga 5 stars. However, this volume had more humor than the first volume AND gives us a good football game and a tryout from hell. For a light sports manga I couldn't have asked for a more perfect volume.

Sena in playing the Chamelion's realizes that, since he has faced Shin and the Whiteknights, nobody else can really intimidate him. In the end it is Eyeshield 21 doing the intimidating. Monta has found his home as a receiver. He is good at it, gains encouragement from his team mates and provides the fans with all the funny monkey action they want. We also see just a little bit into some of the player's family lives and while not groundbreaking, it does create a depth that separates them from some of the more 2d characters.

I settled in to read this prepared to slog. Instead, I laughed my head off and tore through it like I was running a sprint. I am also adding it to my best book of the year list. Sometimes something light & fluffy is what I need and this really fulfilled that need today.
`

Sunday, October 16, 2016

The Last Guardian of Everness (The War of the Dreaming #1) DNF@70%


The Last Guardian of Everness - John C. Wright 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Last Guardian of Everness
Series: The War of the Dreaming
Author: John Wright
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 333
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:  Spoilers

Galen Waylock, a spoiled young brat who is very talented, thinks he knows better than his grandfather. So when he receives a vision that he thinks foretells the end of the world, he charges in instead of investigating like his grandfather tells him too.
Which leads to Galen being possessed by his ever so great Grandfather, a malevolent magician working with the devil. There are other characters and it is obvious that a lot of various religious Ideas are represented.


My Thoughts:

Fairytales can be good. However, most of that is because they are short. Things happen, boom, Happily Ever After. If you take the time to think about them, then you begin to wonder just what in the world was going on and how did such stupid idiots survive to propagate?

This book was a 300+ page fairytale.

It was not written badly or unskillfully. There were no egregious errors. However, it bored me out of my mind and I couldn't get past the style and the idiocy of some of the characters. It is a good thing this wasn't my first book by Wright or I would have consigned him to the "Authors to Avoid" list and that would have been a shame.


On an unrelated note, I have about reached my limit with Booklikes. I can't comment without going through hoops [thanks to you who did comment on my posts], I can't load my dashboard and even this review took a couple of reloads to get all the parts of the page to appear. If things haven't improved, site-wise, by the end of the month, I'll be leaving. If things do improve, then the next goal will be staff interaction by the end of the year. Just wanted to give you all a heads up about where my thoughts are.
`

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Stiletto (Checquy Files #2)


Stiletto - Daniel O'Malley 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Stiletto
Series: Checquy Files
Author: Daniel O'Malley
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 585
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:  Spoilers

The Grafters have set in motion events so that they can join the Checquy. A Checquy agent, Felicity is given the job of being the bodyguard to a Grafter, Odette. Both have grown up with horror stories about the other's organization.
Unfortunately, a small group of young Grafter's doesn't WANT join the Checquy and they are willing to go to war, and kill millions of normals, to keep the merger from happening.
Now Felicity and Odette must work together to stop this group while their bosses must work together to make sure the merger happens. Magic and Bio-Technology working together.


My Thoughts:

When I finished this, I realized it had been 4 [!!!!] years since I had read the Rook. Definitely worth the wait though. I was expecting another Myfanwy Thomas story and it took me a while to realize that this book was NOT about her. Took me even longer to realize that Felicity and Odette were the main characters and not just the openers.

The humor was just the same as the Rook. The action however had much more to do with genetic thingies than ghosties and goblins, even though there was an incident that involved a dead Checquy agent gone bad. The twisty-turny plot raced ahead at Formula 1 speeds. It felt like a Thriller, whereas the Rook definitely had that Mystery vibe going on.

O'Malley can write! I laughed, I got frustrated and I was triumphant. I can't ask for much more than that. Of course, I hope it isn't another 4 years before we get the next Checquy book. I also added this to my Best Book of the Year List.

Oh, does anyone know what Checquy means? I'm too lazy to look it up :-D
`

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The Autumn Republic (Powder Mage #3)

The Autumn Republic - Brian  McClellan 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Autumn Republic
Series: Powder Mage
Author: Brian McClellan
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 619
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:  Spoilers

Tamat is back. Taniel is being chased by Adrom forces, his own forces. Adamat is acting as a go between for forces beyond his imagination.
The gods are at war and they are being killed,one by one. That god/god slayer is convinced that HE will rule the world as a paradise. Can what is left of the Powder Mages fight a god, an invading army and win an election. Not without blood, sweat and black powder.


My Thoughts:

This ends the series on a bloody, dirty, gritty note, just like how it started. It is a relatively satisfactory ending and as much of a happy ending as you can expect from a Flintlock Fantasy.

Even after 3 books, I was still confused with various names of people, nations, etc. It all just blended in together and I went a long for the ride. I'm sure I missed out on some details and what not, but honestly, I just didn't care.

I know that isn't exactly a ringing endorsement but while I liked the overall plot and ideas, I just couldn't get past the grim grittiness of it all. If you like that kind of thing then you'll love it here.
`

Saturday, October 08, 2016

The Empire of the East (Book of Swords #0)


Empire of the East - Fred Saberhagen 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Empire of the East
Series: Book of Swords
Author: Fred Saberhagen
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 512
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:

This is an omnibus edition that contains 3 short novels [probably novella's in today's world]
The Broken Lands
The Black Mountains
Ardneh's World

Basically how the West is trying to stop the encroachment of the Eastern Empire and the adventures thereof.
Taking place in a fantasy setting that quickly becomes apparent that it is actually post-apocalyptic, you get a mix of magic and tanks, etc. The story follows one young man as he goes from a farm boy to a warrior. The scale goes from one province to the Whole World.


My Thoughts:

This is the prequel stories to the Book of Swords series and I can't recommend reading this until you've read the Sword series first as it would really spoil some of the mystery in that.

However, as stories go, I found this enjoyable and it fit perfectly with the tone of the Swords series. Light on character, almost no tension and things just happen. I own the Sword books and am tempted to buy this JUST to have it on my shelf. I doubt I'll ever be re-reading this though. It is a good one off read and does answer a lot of questions posed in the Swords series.

As a standalone book, it works pretty well too. And it is infinitely more interesting than Saberhagen's Berserker series. Recommended if you liked the Sword series OR if you have no plans of ever reading them.
`

Wednesday, October 05, 2016

The Running Man


The Running Man - Stephen King 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Running Man
Series: -----
Author: Stephen King
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 260
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:

Ben Richards signs up for the Games to earn money for his sick daughter. He knows that the Running Man is rigged but all he needs to do is stay ahead of the hunters for 3 days and his wife and daughter will receive his earnings.
This is the story of Ben Richards, fighting for the survival of his daughter while having it televised as entertainment for the masses.


My Thoughts: Spoilers

The emotions in this book were palpable. Richards' hopelessness, despair, cynicism and determination rolled off the pages and over me like a wave. I never got depressed from it though, as his determination was in the forefront and simply ruled his every thought and action. Ben Richards was a very desperate man, but he was not a broken man.

Taking place in 2025, King displaces the issues of his day from the late 70's and early 80's and simply magnifies them into the future. It isn't a pretty picture.

There is also absolutely NO supernatural aspect to this book. I'm not used to that coming from King, even though since this is a Bachman book it can be excused. It was also very short, once again, comparatively. I'm thinking next year's Stephen King book will be one of his fatter ones.
`

Tuesday, October 04, 2016

I Don't Want to Kill You (John Cleaver #3)


I Don't Want to Kill You  - Dan Wells 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: I Don't Want to Kill You
Series: John Cleaver
Author: Dan Wells
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal
Pages: 322
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:  SPOILERS

John Cleaver is doing A-OK. He's getting semi-along with his mom, he's going out with the hottest girl in school and the Demon Nobody is on her way to town. What more could a young psycho ask for?
Unfortunately for John, he's not quite as smart as he thinks and when another serial killer shows up in town, he doesn't know who is Nobody and who is just the "regular" killer. Can he afford to kill and maybe get it wrong or are the stakes too high? In the end, John's selfish obsession, brain smarts and experience just aren't enough and it takes his mom sacrificing herself to kill this new demon. And John and Brooke hook up as a new Demon Hunter Duo right at the end of the book.


My Thoughts:

Yeaaaahhhhh [said real slow and drawn out, not excitedly].

This book showcases the fact that John is still a teenager and as such thinks the world revolves around him and that only HE can do anything about anything. That thinking leads directly to his mother's death. I hope it haunts him for the rest of his fictional life.

Beyond that, I don't have much to say about the book. If you liked the previous 2 books, you'll like this. If you didn't like them, this certainly won't change your mind.

I won't be reading any more by Wells though. His sick fascination with serial killers might have a place in non-fiction, but to essentially "make it palatable" and present that interest to teens and young adults in that light is irresponsible. I ranted about Wells in my review of the previous book, so I all I have to say now is "Goodbye, you sick, sick man".
`

Monday, October 03, 2016

They Are Called the Devil Bats (Eyeshield 21 #3) (Manga Monday)


Eyeshield 21, Vol. 3: And They're Called the Devil Bats - Riichiro Inagaki, Yusuke Murata 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: They Are Called the Devil Bats
Series: Eyeshield 21
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Scan







Synopsis:

After a quick jump ahead of the White Knights, the Devil Bats are simply playing a delaying action. Shin is a machine that just mows down all opposition. However, something inside Sena responds and instead of running away, he gets faster. Instead of losing 0-99 like they did last year, they simply lose 12-62.  There is also an incident where Eyeshield 21 takes out the White Knight's quarterback and when he's in the hospital is becomes very apparent that said QB doesn't really want to be playing football.
The second half of the book is based on the football team looking to capitalize on how well they did to attract new players. Sena comes across someone who is playing for the baseball team, can catch anything, but is a terrible all-round baseball player. Insta-friendship :-)


My Thoughts:

There are times where manga is the perfect medium to express an ideal thought. Every excess of emotion that has ever been experienced can be experienced, less painfully and in many cases with great happiness, in this format.  Who doesn't remember that one small triumph in their life? For me, since this is a sports related manga, I can remember one summer camp where I won the 50yard dash, the 100 yard dash and the 1/4mile run. I got 3, plastic, gold medals, and was cheered by everyone. Everyone being about 40 other kids. It meant nothing in the long run and I wasn't suddenly on the path to stardom and track famousness, but it is a little golden point in my memory.

Reading this book was like watching others get their golden points, even if they are fictional characters. Monta, the new receiver, has to give up his dream of being a baseball player but he's encouraged by Sena that the ending of one dream can just be the start of another.

The humor was back up too and had me chuckling several times.
`

Sunday, October 02, 2016

Dinosaur Lake (Dinosaur Lake #1)


Dinosaur Lake - Kathryn Meyer Griffith 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.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Dinosaur Lake
Series: Dinosaur Lake
Author: Kathryn Griffith
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 439
Format: Kindle digital edition







Synopsis:

Henry, former New York City cop, now Chief Ranger, is dealing with budget cuts for his staff while the park he oversee's is dealing with some minor earthquakes. One of the tremors unearth's some heretofore unknown dinosaur bones and a group of archeologists descend on the find, like vultures on the rotting carcass of a cow. At the same time, long time members of the community are going missing, the group of local homeless people reports a monster eating some of their number and Justin, the ONE GOOD ARCHEOLOGIST, finds tracks leading from the water. Big tracks.

A dinosaur exists, it is smart and it wants to eat people, a lot of people. For some reason it is now exclusively up to Ranger Henry and his trusty cohorts [ex FBI Agent that would make Fox Mulder blush, older but stern submarine operator and of course, THE GOOD ARCHEOLOGIST] to go down into the subterranean caves, while a huge earthquake is predicted, and hunt down the dinosaur so that the namby pambies in the Gubba'ment can't capture it and cause even more havoc.


My Thoughts:

What I wanted:
a story where a dinosaur caused havoc, ate people and then died in glorious battle.

What I got:
a story where a dinosaur caused havoc, ate people and then died in glorious battle.
However, that was only the backdrop of the story. The real story was about how sensitive Henry, Justin and the other men were and how they all bonded and formed everlasting ties of friendship [until the dinosaur ate some of them of course] and with the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP, defeated the mean ol' dinosaur.

At the 60% mark I started skimming. At the 75% mark I started reading 1 page in 10. And by the end I still got the story but without all the clutter.

This was over 400 pages and it should have been cut down to just under 300. To do that however, the characterization would have had to have been axed, the action ramped up and a lot of the extraneous weight gotten rid of. I don't need to know about Henry's daughter's bad life choices and how she's getting her life back on track and how Justin is falling in love with her. I don't need to know the backstories or family histories of the 2 men driving the submersible. Sure, it makes them "real" characters but so what? Those 2 men were dinosaur food.

Now my main problem. Henry. Loving, gentle, caring Henry. Who is supposed to be an Ex New York City cop. Who got shot by a 10 year old and had to plug the kid. He is an emotional Gary Stu and really made me sick. In one instance, his wife sneaks into the danger zone to get pictures of the dinosaur to save the local paper even though Henry has reiterated over and over and over how dangerous and smart the dinosaur is. So of course she runs into the dinosaur and Henry's best friend saves her, at the expense of his own life. Does Henry get angry or upset? Oh no. He gently and carefully takes care of his wife because she almost died and he really needs to focus on that. Forget about that her selfish actions DIRECTLY caused the death of a good man, for no point. In fact, it was probably better that George died that way, so he wouldn't end up in a nursing home or something.  The "bonding" scene between Henry and the former FBI Agent was what made me throw up in my mouth though. FBI-man tells a story about a whole town going missing and how the gubba'ment covered it all up. It added pages to the book without adding one bit to the dinosaur eating people.

The dinosaur eating people was the blank canvas for everything else to be painted on. It was the paper while it should have been the painting. Frustrating as Phrack.

There are 2 more books in the Dinosaur Lake series, but since I'm guessing they're in the exact same vein as this, I'd rather cut off my toes than read them. Because if I can read 1 page in 10 and still get the story, something is very wrong.
`

Saturday, October 01, 2016

September '16 Roundup & Ramblings






Welp, another month has flown by. And I do mean flown! It really feels like August is ending, not September.  This month was pretty good. 20 books. Knocked another Calvin & Hobbes book of the ol' TBR pile and started up my Manga Monday posts again, now that I have Eyeshield 21 on hand. That will up the numbers as I'll be reading one volume a week and reviewing it each Monday.

Best book of the month was Dune. I knew going in that I was going to love it, as it was part of my Project Reread, so it almost feels like cheating to put it as Best Book of the Month. But it was, so it stands :-)

Worst book of the month was easily, hands down, Obsidian Worlds.  Not much to say outside of what my review states.

Bookwraiths, over at Bookwraiths.com, has been doing a section called Friday Face Off, where he compares various covers of one book and picks which one he likes the best. I'm not going to be doing that, but I do think that highlighting covers can be a fun thing. Considering that I read almost exclusively ebooks, the only time I even see the cover is when the book is in Calibre before I put it on my kindle. So to take a minute and LOOK at the covers seems worthwhile.  I know the collage picture has them all, but they are small. So here's my 2 picks from this month: