Showing posts with label abandoned. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abandoned. Show all posts

Friday, January 12, 2018

The Rite (Forgotten Realms: The Year of Rogue Dragons #2) ★☆☆☆☆ DNF@30%


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Rite
Series: Forgotten Realms: The Year of Rogue Dragons #2
Author: Richard Lee Byers
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 352/Abandoned
Format: Digital Edition













Synopsis:

More and more dragons go rogue and the various characters attempt to figure out what the badguy Sammaster has done by backtracking him. One group to a mystic monastery currently under siege by dragons and another group to a some wizards who are working on Sammaster's notes.

DNF'd at 30%



My Thoughts:

My first DNF of the year. Man, I was bored with this story. There are several factors leading into that though.

First, I have had a string of 4star books since the beginning of the year. My standards were thus higher. 
Second, I was on the fence about Forgotten Realms the whole of last year and kept giving them chance after chance. This year, No More Mr Nice Guy.
Third, I don't want to keep on eating badly cooked literary mac-n-cheese where I KNOW that half the stuff is half-baked.
Finally, work was physically brutal this week and I ended up taking today off because of how hard Monday-Thursday had gone. Hiking an hour using showshoes, carrying 60lbs of equipment, shovelling out traverse stations all day, breaking trail, pulling a sled filled with 200lbs of equipment during the day, then ending the day by hiking an hour out with 60lbs of equipment again.

If I had read this last year, I probably would have given it 2.5stars and struggled through the final book in the trilogy. Not this year. I am done with this book and this trilogy and the whole Forgotten Realms series. It is written for a completely different target audience than me and I need to stop trying to shoehorn myself into that demographic. Objectively, it was the same as the first book, but I just don't have the patience to deal with it anymore.

I have enough books on my Oasis and in Calibre to last me 2 years. That's if I don't add a single thing. So why should I persist in adding books that have an extremely high chance of being lower than 3stars? Not worth it.


★☆☆☆☆ 






Friday, December 01, 2017

Crossover (Cassandra Kresnov #1) ☆☆☆☆½ DNF @45%


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Crossover
Series: Cassandra Kresnov #1
Author: Joel Shepherd
Rating: 1/2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 467/Abandoned
Format: Digital edition









Synopsis:

DNF @45%


My Thoughts:

Due to some of the moral subject matter, I abandoned this book and will not be reading any more in the series.

☆☆☆☆½







Tuesday, November 21, 2017

The Voice of Mars (Starship's Mage #3) ☆☆☆☆ ½ DNF@13%


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot, Librarything & Tumblr by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Voice of Mars
Series: Starship's Mage #3
Author: Glynn Stewart
Rating: 1/2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 310/Abandoned
Format: Digital Edition








Synopsis:

DNF'd at 13%.



My Thoughts:

Due to some of the moral subject matter, I abandoned this book and will not be reading any more in the series.

☆☆☆☆½







Thursday, October 19, 2017

The Punch Escrow ☆☆☆☆ ½ DNF@42%


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot, Librarything & Tumblr by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Punch Escrow
Series: ----------
Author: Tal Klein
Rating: 0.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 333
Format: Digital Edition








Synopsis:


All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there a thing of which it is said,
    “See, this is new”?
It has been already
    in the ages before us.
11 There is no remembrance of former things,[d]
    nor will there be any remembrance
of later things[
e] yet to be
    among those who come after.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-11
English Standard Version







My Thoughts:

SYLVIA
“I had an abortion, Joel.”
….
“I guess about a month later , I realized I was pregnant. Keeping it was never an option. I had career plans, and my dad wasn't well,so I...”
….
“I'm sorry I never told you.”



JOEL
“I love you, Syl. You made the right choice.”

That “you made the right choice” killed this book completely. Between the, once again, complete lack of originality [go watch the movie The Prestige, or read some foundational science fiction] that I moaned about in Dark Matter and that complete disregard for the most helpless of human life, I am done.

☆☆☆☆ ½







Friday, October 13, 2017

Bane of Malekith (Warhammer: Tyrion & Teclis #3) ★☆☆☆ ½ DNF@27%


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot, Librarything & Tumblr by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Bane of Malekith
Series: Warhammer: Tyrion & Teclis #3
Author: William King
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 416
Format: Digital Edition









Synopsis:

DNF @ 27%




My Thoughts:

Nothing was happening. I was not in the mood for some b-quality fantasy book to give me a modicum of entertainment. This was no worse than the previous 2 books but that is damning praise. It was like eating spaghetti but without any sauce or meatballs or spices.

I am really not having good luck with the Warhammer universe. Savageddt has suggested I try some Gotrek and Felix. My only reservation is that those books appear to also be written by William King and I'd really like to try someone else. Guess I'll be spending some time this weekend checking some other Warhammer series out.

★☆☆☆ ½






Sunday, September 10, 2017

Threshold (Chess Team Adventure #3) ☆☆☆☆ ½ DNF@39%


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot, Librarything & Tumblr by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Threshold
Series: Chess Team Adventure #3
Author: Jeremy Robinson
Rating: 1/2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 351
Format: Digital Edition





Synopsis:

Did Not Finish at 39%



My Thoughts:

“So, what, Christianity is founded on a magical charlaton?” (Jack Sigler)
 
“Jesus spent his childhood in Egypt, as did Moses, so it's possible both men found some ancient source of knowledge and used what they learned to perform amazing miracles.” (Hercules)



Yeah, I'm done with this.When Christ's Divine Nature is denied, then I stop reading. I will also not be reading any more by Jeremy Robinson.

☆☆☆☆ ½






Saturday, March 25, 2017

The Lord God Made Them All (All Creatures Great and Small #7) DNF@10%


This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything and linked at Goodreads & Mobileread by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title:       The Lord God Made Them All
Series:     All Creatures Great and Small #7
Author:   James Herriot 
Rating:    Unrated 
Genre:     Non-fiction
Pages:      388
Format:   Digital Edition 
 





Synopsis:

Even more stories from the Vet. And apparently he goes to Russia, or something.




My Thoughts:

I abandoned this at the 10% mark. I just couldn't take any more cutesy stories about animals or the people. The people just pissed me off. So I endured for almost 40 pages. Then when he starts off about him going to Russia, and preparing his reader for that adventure, I just gave up.

Almost 400 pages was too much and I had really reached my limit of animal stories about 2 books ago. Nothing wrong with this book, hence the Unrated rating. I am using this as a lesson to teach myself when I need to abandon a series sooner.









Saturday, February 04, 2017

The Sea Devil's Eye DNF@18% (Threat from the Sea #3) (Forgotten Realms)


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 WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.
Title: The Sea Devil's Eye
Series: Threat from the Sea #3
Author: Mel Odom
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 356
Format: Kindle Digital edition






Synopsis:

Abandoned, Did Not Finish.


My Thoughts: Maudlin Memories Abound

Part of why I abandoned this was because I had just finished Gardens of the Moon and I was still reveling in my first 5star read of 2017. ANY book was going to have a hard time following that. However, all the glaring faults of this Forgotten Realms trilogy were really brought into the light after staring into the previous book.

I was at a part where the main boy character [he's 20'ish, but 'boy' is the best description] is being talked to by the main love interest and she's pouring her heart out and simply asking him if he loves her. This boy has a very big "I'm not worthy" complex and he's an introspective melancholic. In fact, he acts EXACTLY like me when I was 18-22. So my problem isn't that he's unbelievable, it is that he's just plain selfish and WON'T look at anything other than how he wants to. My real life problem was solved when a professor at bibleschool answered one of my self-absorbed questions by laying into me and simply telling me the truth, in front of the whole class. I didn't change overnight but I did begin to think about other people. In this trilogy, the boy has his professor moments but he stays self-absorbed. Maybe later in the book that changes, but after 2+ books, I was done.

A young hero needs to mature. However, if you're only writing a trilogy, don't drag that "grow up" point to the last chapter. It's unpleasant for me as a reader because I have to put up with the character until then.

Nothing of the quality of this book was any less than the previous two. I'd simply had enough of the characters and the authors wanking around.

Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Abaddon's Gate (The Expanse #3) DNF@7%


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 WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.
Title: Abaddon’s Gate
Series: The Expanse #3
Author: James Corey
Rating: 1/2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: DNF
Format: Kindle digital edition




My Thoughts:

Due to a Christian pastor living in a homosexual relationship and that being portrayed as acceptable [by the writers, the readers and the Bible by inference], I will not be finishing this book or continuing with this series.


Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Alien Morning DNF@20%


Alien Morning - Rick WilberThis  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: Alien Morning
Series: -----
Author: Rick Wilber
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: DNF
Format: Hardcover edition









My Thoughts:
 
Rick Wilber chose to include a lesbian couple that were "married" in the storyline. I abandoned the book at that point and will not be reading more by this author.


Friday, November 25, 2016

Demelza (Poldark Saga #2) DNF@6%


Demelza: A Novel of Cornwall, 1788-1790 - Winston Graham 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: Demelza
Series: Poldark Saga
Author: Winston Graham
Rating: Unrated
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: DNF
Format: Kindle digital edition








My Thoughts:

This DNF was definitely a "me" thing and not because there was something truly wrong or outrageous with this book.

I tried at least 4 times to get into it and each time I found myself simply not caring one whit about any of the characters or the situation they were in. Not a dislike but a complete apathy that you could drown in. So I gave up. Forcing myself to read something is just going to waste my time and I'll end up writing a completely scathing review and wasting emotional strength that I need to save for something real.

 

Thursday, November 10, 2016

The Store DNF@25% w/ Extreme Prejudice


The Store - Bentley Little 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 Store
Series: -----
Author: Bentley Little
Rating: 0.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Horror
Pages: 436
Format: Kindle digital edition








Synopsis:

The Store is coming to smallville, Arizona. Bad things have happened at other Store's across the country. Bad things have happened during the construction of the Store. Very Bad Things happen during the interview and initiation process to work at the Store.

And that is where I had to stop.


My Thoughts:

This book typifies Horror for me and why I don't read it as a genre. I don't have anything to say about the writing, or the story as a whole or anything else.

The 3 following happenings made me feel sick to my stomach and forced me to stop.

1) A sleazy young man is being interviewed to work at the Store. He's taken to the video surveillance room and is shown the women's dressing room, where he proceeds to watch the sister of the girl he's sleeping with, try on new jeans. The manager tells him that sometimes the women aren't wearing panties.

2) The aforementioned young woman applies to the Store. During her interview she is told that she'll have to take a polygraph test, with only the manager in the room. He tells her to take her blouse and bra off so he can affix the electrodes to her body. She does. And the manager leers at her the whole time. Then she has to give a urine sample. In the office, in front of the manager. She does.

3) The young woman is hired. She comes early on her first shift and is taken down to the basement. She is told to strip down to her bra and panties and forced to run a gauntlet between other employees [most of whom she knows] who inflict physical and verbal damage on her. At the end, they all say they love her and she responds in kind.


Now, I don't care if those instances are presented as wrong and bad, which they were. I don't want to read about the degradation, humiliation, torture and complete helplessness of a young woman. I don't want to invite the evil of that manager into my thoughts, and hence, into my house. That type of thing is sick and to use it for entertainment is sick as well.

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%


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.
`

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%.
`

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.
`

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Blowback (Scot Harvath #4) DNF@35%


Blowback  - Brad Thor 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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Blowback
Series: Scot Harvath
Author: Brad Thor
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thiller
Pages: DNF
Format: Kindle digital edition







 
My Thoughts:

Scot Harvath is an arrogant ass hat of a main character. So when he just stayed that way, I realized that the author, Brad Thor, is deliberately writing him that way.

Therefore, I'm done. There IS a difference between being competent and being a jerk. Also, once again, all of Harvath's supposed former military training seems to have gone out the door. He doesn't ACT like a highly trained former SEAL, former Secret Service agent. He is not a fun character to read about. Half the action of this thriller seems to derive from his bad decisions.

It makes me wonder about Brad Thor.

Sunday, June 05, 2016

Age of Myth (Legends of the First Empire #1) (ARC) DNF@13%


Age of Myth - Michael J. Sullivan I received this copy from the publisher through Netgalley.com and that in no way has influenced my opinion in regards to this review.
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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Age of Myth
Series: Legends of the First Empire
Author: Michael Sullivan
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: DNF
Format: Digital ARC





My Thoughts:

Due to the inclusion and normalization of homosexuality, I will not be continuing this book or series.

Brilliance (Brilliance #1) DNF@16%


Brilliance - Marcus Sakey 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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Brilliance
Series: Brilliance
Author: Marcus Sakey
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: DNF
Format: Kindle digital edition








My Thoughts:

Due to the inclusion and normalization of homosexuality, I will not be continuing this book or series.

Monday, March 28, 2016

The Dracula Caper (Time Wars #8) DNF@38%


The Dracula Caper - 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.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Dracula Caper
Series: Time Wars
Author: Simon Hawke
Rating: 1/2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: DNF
Format: Kindle digital editions







Synopsis:
The Multiverse continues the war. Now Drakov, the crazy russian, has introduced genetic creatures, namely were-wolves and vampires, into "our" timeline in London in an effort to destabilize our timeline and destroy us.


My Thoughts:
This book is where I stop reading this series. It wasn't that the plot was any cheesier than previous books. It wasn't that the characters were suddenly stiffer than cardboard, because they've always been standup cutouts.

Nope, I quit because this was more than half exposition about Time War physics and other such immaterial crap. This was the 8th book in the series. I don't need the whole primer for the Time Wars, an exposition about why things are so bad and history of each character and why they are the way they are.

It frustrated me so much that I just quit, the book and the series.

Good riddance!