Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: phone

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Thursday, December 29, 2016

Thraxas Under Siege (Thraxas #8)

^{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
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Title: Thraxas Under Siege
Series: Thraxas #8
Author: Martin Scott
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 272
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis: Spoiler

Turai is besieged by the orcs. Everyone, including Thraxas, must pull duty on the walls. At the same time, it gets out that there is an artifact that can raise storms and it is missing. If it falls into the hands of the Orcs, Turai is doomed. The head mistress of the Sorcerer's guild hires Thraxas to find said artifact. He is also hired to find 14,000 gurans of hidden treasure, the finders fee which will enable Thraxas to get in on a high stakes card game. Because hey, being under siege doesn't mean life has to stop.

While this is all going on, it is deep winter and the winter malady is hitting people right and left. Sometimes a little to close to Thraxas's circle of acquaintances. The book ends with the orcs over running Turai and Thraxas dragging Makri and Lisutarius into a boat and escaping.

My Thoughts:

Thraxas is dense. There is no denying it. People literally falling ill, with no symptoms beforehand, as soon as they step into the Avenging Axe and he doesn't suspect a thing? Throw in that an orcish sorcerer named Dazeez the Unseen is known to be out and about and you have to roll your eyes.

This was exactly like the previous books. Thraxas complain, Thraxas eats and fights, people harass Thraxas, Makri prances around in her chain mail bikini, Thraxas ignores said spectacle. Thraxas solves some of the issues and not others.

The card game was the highlight for me. In it Thraxas is playing against an orcish sorcerer and other high lords of Turai. The stakes are Makri's hand in marriage or the storm artifact. What a game.

The ending was ok. It could either be taken as the end of the story and series, or just a temporary set back. In the omnibus edition, this is the last story but i know there are 2 more, as I have them in my tbr list. So I'm wondering if Martin ended the series and then picked it back up again. I am glad to know that there are more Thraxas stories. We all need more stories about fat gluttons who are more worried about their bellies than beautiful women. Even beautiful women who fill out chainmail bikinis :-D

Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Thraxas at War (Thraxas #7)

Synopsis:

While the war council for Turai is in session, a Senator is murdered and Lodius is the main suspect. Lodius' wife hires Thraxas to prove his innocence. Thraxas reluctantly takes the case. The orcs pull a sneak attack on Turai with the help of a traitor and while the city survives, no allies are going to be able to help for months.
Thraxas solves the case but it is completely overshadowed by the traitor and the war. Ends with Turai under siege.

My Thoughts:

This really sucked me in. A lot of the time the "mystery" doesn't do much for me and I just swing along for the ride. But for whatever reason, this time around, it just sucked me in.

The war story is bigger than one book so while this is the start, it doesn't conclude anything or even really continue. I guess I'll have to read the next book or 3 to finish that.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Thraxas and the Dance of Death (Thraxas #6)

Thraxas and the Dance of Death - Martin Scott

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

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, September 27, 2016

Obsidian Worlds

Synopsis:

11 short stories showcasing the writing talents of Jason Werbeloff.

My Thoughts:

Filth. Pure and simple. I felt like I had spent the time reading immersed directly in raw sewage from the author's mind.

Moral and Sexual perversions. Hatred, cruelty and loathing, against self and others. Whenever a character wasn't completely and deliberately unlikable, they were crass and vulgar to the extreme. And this was not crap writing. Werbeloff does a good job showing his writing chops. Sadly, he wastes it with subject material so vile. The only thing missing was child abuse.

I can only highly recommend skipping this and I know I sure won't be checking out any other writings by this guy.
`

Saturday, September 03, 2016

Thraxas at the Races (Thraxas #3)

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.
`

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Thraxas and the Warrior Monks (Thraxas #2)

Thraxas and the Warrior Monks - Martin Scott

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.
`

Monday, August 08, 2016

Thraxas (Thraxas #1)

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.
`

Tuesday, August 02, 2016

The Complete Stories #2

Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories Vol. #2 - Isaac Asimov

Synopsis:

A large collection of short stories from Isaac Asimov.

My Thoughts:

Unfortunately, most of these stories I had already read. So there was almost nothing new and without the shiny of "new", I can't say that Asimov's stories are all that engaging.

Nothing is bad or boring. They just aren't the type of stories that I want to read again and again. Most of them have a "hook" at the end and if you already know that hook the whole story loses most of its punch. I also found that a large portion of these were longer stories than in volume 1.

I have seen references to a 3rd volume of short stories but as far as I can tell, they were never published. That is too bad because I would like to see a finishing up of all of Asimov's stories.

Saturday, June 25, 2016

The Complete Stories #1

Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories, Volume 1 - Isaac Asimov

Synopsis:

A large collection of short stories from Isaac Asimov.

My Thoughts:

This was a fantastic collection. Last month Gregor Xane was pushing Short Story month/week and I ended up with this collection on my phone.

While not every story was a grand slam, I certainly enjoyed every story. This really showcased Asimov's ideas, his writing skills and the times that he lived in. In many ways, the optimism of the 50's just glowed through the words, like gold in a furnace. It kind of made me sad.

On the other hand, some of the predictions and working out of things really made me laugh. Multi-vac, Asimov's Supercomputer that will solve all the problems, is probably the best at showing this. Multi-Vac just gets bigger and bigger and in many ways becomes Asimov's Science God. And in one story, that is exactly what happens.

But even while living "in the future" and seeing how Asimov totally got some things wrong, it didn't lessen, even a tiny bit, the worthiness of this collection. Good writing and clever ideas will win through anything.

Friday, April 08, 2016

Madame Bovary (Classic)

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert, Lydia Davis

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: Madame Bovary
Series: -----
Author: Gustave Flaubert
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 365
Format: Ebook digital edition

Synopsis:
Emma Bovary is married to Dr. Bovary and is the "Madame Bovary" of the title. The story starts out with the Dr though and gives us in a chapter or 3 his history until he marries Emma. Once married, we get the story from Emma.
And what a story it is. A story of discontent, selfishness, betrayal, greed, lust and the ultimate end of all of those things.

My Thoughts:
I read this on my phone, so it was read a page at a time, here and there, now and then. I did not read large chunks at a time. I suspect that helped my enjoyment of this immensely.

If you had told me that reading about Emma's self-destructive spiral leading to her suicide would be enjoyable, I most likely would have drummed you out of whatever establishment we both were inhabiting at the moment and made sure that you weren't drunk, high or mistaking me for somebody else. But I did enjoy this a lot. Part of it was the writing. Flaubert handled words like a master wordsmith. When somebody is skilled at something, it shows and it makes it easier to watch/read/partake of whatever they are offering.

Like I said at first, reading this in tiny chunks just worked out really well. I got a taste of how horrible Emma was, and let me tell you, a shallower, vainer, stupider and down right pleasure seeker was never written but it was never overwhelming or despair inducing because it was read in manageable chunks. Most classics I plow through and this would have been like getting dumped on by a manure tractor. But instead I simply got splashed by a car passing by and then went home and changed clothes. It made all the difference.

It also made a difference that Flaubert didn't glorify what Emma was doing. He simply let the results of her actions catch up to her. I'm a big advocate of moral cause and effect and while some of that can be seen on a personal level, more of it is on a macro level and not seen for a generation or two on a national level. So seeing it work out the way it did was actually encouraging instead of discouraging.

On a personal level, reading this book has made me even more grateful that I have learned to be content and that I have a wife who loves me and is content as well. It doesn't mean I don't dream or want to improve our lot in life but it means that if I can only afford a 20 year old used car, then so be it. Reading this also reminded me that thoughts lead to actions and have consequences.

I think I have said enough. I'm not sure I'd want to read this again because I probably wouldn't enjoy it as much.