The Pusher (87th Precinct) ★★★✬☆

 

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 by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Pusher
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 111
Words: 50K

From Bookstooge.blog

A pusher is killed and it is made to look like a suicide. But it is all a setup to frame the son of the Lt. Of the 87^th Precinct. The son is a junkie and the Lt locks him in his room while he goes through withdrawals. Meanwhile, the detectives track down the guy who is trying to blackmail the Lt, and who has also killed several other people.

Oooph, another gritty entry. I’m beginning to think that Darren, in leaving his comment on The Mugger, might have been correct. There is nothing suave here. This is heroin overdoses and whores being beaten to death and families being torn apart by drugs and cops almost dying from being shot at point blank range.

But at the same time, I was hooked. I think I read this in one sitting. It helps that it is so short. I guess people in the 60’s actually worked and got things done, so any entertainment had to slot in wherever it could. Of course, all those hippies went and ruined everything and that is why I am cursed today to be sitting on my couch, eating pizza while enjoying doing nothing. My goodness, my life is so brutal!

While not being disturbingly graphic, McBain doesn’t sugarcoat a thing. It makes me wonder about the people for whom stories like this aren’t fictional at all, but every day life. It also makes me wonder (again) if this is a series I want to continue. I think I’m going to have to take this a book at a time and maybe space them out a bit more. I think I have a total of 5 of these on my kindle right now. Once I’m done with them, I’ll read some other series for a bit and decide if I want to come back.

But the attraction of a short, tight story is undeniable.

★★★✬☆

• All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Thraxas and the Oracle (Thraxas #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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Thraxas and the Oracle
Series: Thraxas #10
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 184
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The armies have come together and they all, under the leadership of Lisutaris, begin the march to Turai to take the fight to the orcs. Thraxas has been made head of Security and his number one job is to find Deeziz the Unseen before she wreaks havoc on the barely holding together armies. Add to that that Lisutaris must consult with an Oracle who has been banned and whose followers have been wiped out by the true church.

Thraxas is going to have a very hard time. Worst of all, there are no taverns and Lisutaris has told him to stop drinking.

The oracle proves right in all her accounts that do come to pass, Thraxas does find Deeziz (who escapes yet again) and the allied armies surprise an orcish one and completely route it. Now they can begin to head to Turai.

My Thoughts:

This was probably the weakest Thraxas story to date. In the middle of an army is not the place to have Thraxas being a gluttonous drunk. It just didn't work for me this time. Thraxas is just hit or miss for me and I can't figure out the why's and wherefore's of the formula regulating that. I guess it's just a mystery! In terms of enjoyment, this was a bunt. I still connected with the ball, but it didn't knock it out of the park for me.

If I were to recommend these books to anyone, I'd say to stop at book 8. Yes, there isn't any resolution at the end of that book, but 2 books later there still isn't any resolution. Also, considering that it has been 3 years since this book was published and there hasn't been another, I'd say Scott has dropped the creative ball and is done as an author. These are not long books. If you are on fire, it doesn't take 3 years to write a sub-200page book. It is only when struggling that that is the case.

Scott needs to write one more book where the armies take back the city of Turai, Thraxas marries Makri, becomes the proconsul of the newly renovated Turai and the whole gang (Lisutaris, Gurd, Tamrose, etc) all hang out at a brand new bar and shirk their duties. The End. Seriously.

★★★☆☆ 

• Previous Thraxas Reviews

Thraxas and the Ice Dragon (Thraxas #9) ★★★☆½

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: Thraxas and the Ice Dragon
Series: Thraxas #9
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 198
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Thraxis, Makri and Lisutarus all survive and end up in the small kingdom of Samsarina, which is quite strict about such things as public drunkeness, thazis use and dwa. Not the best place for our three Heroes to end up!

But Samsarina is a staging ground for the surrounding kingdoms to gather, create a warhost and march on Thraxas' beloved city of Turai and free it from the orcish horde that has conquered it.Of course, by the time they all actually agree, there might not be much of Turai left.

Lisutaris, as head of the Magic Guild, must contend with other jealous sorcerers who want her removed and themselves installed as head of the Guild and then most likely as head of the Warhost.

Makri enters a fighting contest because they are broke and Thraxas has a sure fire gambling plan, ie, Makri will win every fight and make them rich.

Thraxas runs across an old flame, now a duchess and her daughter is convinced someone is out to kill her. Thraxas is hired as Number One Investigator to find out what's going on.

It all ends with Makri winning the fight because she was kind to a baby dragon. Mama dragon eats Lisutaris's Number One Foe and Thraxas solves the crime AND wins over 10,000 gurans. Everybody, except the dead sorcerer, is happy!

My Thoughts:

Man, I'd forgotten just how much light hearted fun these Thraxas books are. Filled with witty banter, huge amounts of alcohol, drugs and a Fat Private Investigator, you simply can't go wrong. Throw in the whole realm of fantasy and you've got a sure fire winner.

Everything that I have written about previous Thraxas books still applies to this one as well. Shallow, whiny, tiresome one liners, this has them all in spades.

BUT THAT IS WHAT A THRAXAS BOOK IS ABOUT!!!!

So I just sat back, let the shenanigans roll along and had a jolly old time. I would say that Thraxas is like a circus peanut. A small amount goes a long way and you definitely don't want to overdose. But my goodness, when you haven't had circus peanuts for over a year, and you open that bag and pop that first delectable sugar delight into your mouth and feel it melting on your tongue, it is good!

★★★☆½

• Previous Thraxas Reviews

Gridlinked (Polity: Agent Cormac #1)

^{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: Gridlinked
Series: Polity: Agent Cormac #1
Author: Neal Asher
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 433
Format: Kindle Digital edition

Synopsis:

Ian Cormac has been gridlinked for 30 years where 20 years is supposed to be the maximum. Ian's effectiveness in the service of Earth's AI is what caused the continued link. Recently though, Ian has started exhibiting signs of gridlink addiction, an inability to interact with other humans and unable to think for himself.

When a planetwide accident happens on the remote world of Samarkand and an extraterrestial alien known as Dragon reappears, Earth Central sends in Agent Cormac. However, the AI always has games within games within games and having unplugged Ian, allows his enemies to know where he is going. Why solve 1 problem when you can solve 5?

My Thoughts

Another home run of a read.  Having read Asher starting in 2010, with this book and continuing on his Polity series, it was good to re-read this and see how his writing has been polished up. Make no mistake, this was rough writing; not bad, but without some of the polish you see in later books.

If I had to choose one word to describe this all, Ultra-violence would be that word. Entrails, brain matter, dismembered limbs, broken, burst, or burnt body parts, alien flesh or fluid spattered across the landscape. Guns, garrottes, bombs, knives, lasers, bare hands [or golem hands as the case may be], alien teeth, cars, spaceships, all are used as weapons. It is phracking awesome!

This is a novel, and series, about Humanity and Post Humanity. If a human can live for 200 years, upload his mind to a golem body if he so chooses all the while living in a society run by A.I.'s of godlike intelligence, what kind of society will emerge? Asher doesn't get sidetracked from his story to show us the nitty-gritty but we do get little peeks here and there. And those little glimpses are fascinating.

To the plotmobile! Space-gates connect planets. One explodes and destroys a worlds' population. Ian must investigate and figure out what is going on. At the same time, some of Ian's old enemies are tracking him down to kill him. Add in an alien and my goodness, you have so many chainsaws in the air that any guess might kill you if wrong.

The whole idea of aug's and messing around with your mind to expand it intrigues me to no end. The idea of A.I.'s ruling humanity in the background while letting humanity grow mentally is also fascinating. Of course,the whole thing is predicated on the idea that something better can come from something lesser. A machine intelligence that is greater than humanity and without humanity's flaws. Great idea, but I can't buy it for real and so it kicks me out of the story occasionally.

Overall, I loved this book, was just as intrigued this time around as I was in '10, loved the violence, love the mystery of the plot and am looking forward to the rest of the series. These rereads have been good so far and so I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Let's see if I can put that off for a bit, shall we?

Here's some alternate covers, because some of these are just plain awesome. I'm usually not a big fan of putting pictures into reviews, but in this case, I feel some of these represent the book better than the cover here, especially the last one.

 

Thraxas and the Sorcerers (Thraxas #5)

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 Sorcerers
Series: Thraxas
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 186
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

The Sorcerer's Guild needs a new Leader and everyone is meeting in Turai. Each City State is putting forth its top Sorcerer for the job. Unfortunately for Turai, their top Sorcerer is a thazi addled addict who can't even walk straight, much less run a Guild of the most powerful people in the realm.
So it is up to Thraxas and others to buy, threaten, cheat, extort and whatever else is needed, to get the votes for their Sorcerer. And Thraxas has been made a Tribune, so he's officially back in the Politics Game.

My Thoughts:

This was a murder mystery mixed with rigged elections and so much dwa that it felt like I, the reader, was practically swimming through the stuff. So pretty much, just like all the previous books.

I have the omnibus, The Complete Thraxas, and have been reading these on my phone, back to back. I think I reached my limit here. Need to take a break and put these back into the regular queue.

I like these and want to make sure that I keep on liking them.
`

Thraxas at the Races (Thraxas #3)

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

Synopsis:

This time Thraxas is hired by a Senator to find his missing artwork, that his dwa addicted wife has stolen to fuel her habit. Of course, just as Thraxas finds the loot, he also finds the Senators dead body and is charged with the crime.
He is rescued only to find he is now expected to guard an Orc chariot driver.
From the frying pan into the fire!

My Thoughts:

I am very glad to be using the half star rating system, that is for sure. These books are pure fun but not solid enough for a re-read. Plus, with the mystery being solved, I'm not sure that I'd enjoy slogging through the same territory again. But that in no way diminishes just how awesome these books are.

My only real complaint, again, is the lousy new covers. I suspect it has something to do with legal rights and what not. I also suppose that it is supposed to be Makri, the half human, quarter Elf, quarter Orc, woman who guards Thraxas' back and has the potential to be a love interest at the end of the series. But she's described as having slightly red skin, her hair is not dyed and while she does wear a chain mail bikini [for tips at the bar], she fills it out. I've seen the old covers and I have to say, they really appeal to me.

Thankfully, the author stays away from "character development" and over arching story arcs. Just the type of story I'm looking to read for 20'ish minutes a day while on lunch break.
`

Thraxas and the Warrior Monks (Thraxas #2)

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.anobii.com by  Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Thraxas and the Warrior Monks
Series: Braxas
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 256
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

Thraxas is hired to defend an apprentice who is accused of murdering his master. At the same time, some dolphins want him to find their magic healing stone, 2 rival groups of monks are trying to kill him to recover a 2 ton statue AND a shipment of the king's gold goes missing. And if that isn't enough, thugs are after Thraxas as are some of the leaders of the Guards.

In fact, it seems everybody wants Thraxas dead.

My Thoughts:

This was complicated, convoluted and fun; in fact, it was just as fun as the previous book. Sometimes, humor across books can change but this keeps the same tenor.

I tried to keep things straight in my head while reading so I could write about it, but half way through I just gave up. I just let the story roll me along like a pebble in the ocean.

When I'm done these Thraxas book, I'll have to go see if Scott wrote any more.
`

Thraxas (Thraxas #1)

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: Thraxas
Series: Thraxas
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 164
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

Thraxas, once time soldier and minor sorcerer, is now in his 40's, seriously overweight and kicked out of the palace sorcerers' squad. He is now a Private Investigator, on the cheap.
The elves have given the King a bolt of red cloth, which is immune to magic. At the same time, the orcs have lent a dragon to the King. It is election time, murders abound, drugs are flowing like water and everybody is hiring Thraxas. Which puts him in a LOT of danger. Even Makri, the human/elf/orc in her chainmail bikini and super warrior skills might not be enough to save him

My Thoughts:

Ok, the cover. The one on this edition I have seen before and I KNOW I turned away from reading this. Looks like some kind of cheap cosplay. However, I saw this series with this cover:



Now, that has just as much cheese, but it also shows Thraxas, Ahhh, and he is truly the center of this series. A fantasy private eye, who's fat. How much more funny do you want?

This was a good twisty turny mystery with lots of magical mayhem. I wasn't sure what to expect but I had fun every step of the way. Thraxas' self-deprecation does wear thin after the 2nd or 3rd reference however.

This series is on my phone and I look forward to the next several books. They are small chapters, which works out fine on lunch breaks.
`

Iceworld

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: Iceworld
Series: -----
Author: Hal Clement
Rating:     of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 221
Format: OCR Scan



Synopsis:
An alien teacher goes undercover to discover the source of a new, terrible drug. He goes to a world so cold that sulfur can be a solid.

My Thoughts:
This book commits the cardinal sin of being boring. I know it was written back in the 50's, but my take was that this book was written by an engineer about an alien engineer interacting with a human engineer who has engineer children. For me, engineers are like the government. They exist and I simply have to put up with them. My solution to both would be the same if I had my way: a bullet.

My second biggest issue was the whole "cold" issue. Not being up on my space history I am not sure when we found out all sorts of stuff about space, but the way Clement wrote I have to assume we, as humans, knew some stuff back in the 50's. I was under the impression that Space was cold. Any species that could travel interstellar distances would have dealt with a wide variety of planets, as well as Space itself. So the whole "Earth is SO cold" schtick just made me roll eyes, a lot.

If this was all that poor SFF fans had to read back in the day then I'll take today's system. I might have to deal with 99 pounds of pure poop, but at least I know there is a solid pound of good stuff. Whereas this book leads me to believe that there was 1 pound of books and maybe 1 ounce of SFF back then. And it was boring.