The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #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.com by express permission of this reviewer.


Synopsis
Kip must survive becoming a Blackguard while Gaven must survive losing his ability to command all 7 colors. All this while the Color Prince is bent on raising up the old gods of Color and destroying the mono-theism of the Chromeria.

My Thoughts
It took me almost 6 months to read this book. Not because it wasn't good, but because I started this as my "gym" book, and well, my time at the gym has practically disappeared between one thing and another.

Once this series is done, I look forward to re-reading it in one gulp.

Kip is a fantastic character. He is the just the right amount of young hesitation, insecurity and doubt to make him feel real, but at the same time he has moments of genius, courage and heroics so that I can root for him and not feel like he's a whiny douchebag.

Gaven & Daven. For all the time given to the imprisoned Gaven, and his torturous escape from the prison, I was thinking he was a bit more of a better man than he turned out to be. So when Daven simply killed him, after Gaven's horrible revelation, it was a very weird feeling. I was glad he was dead, but then it felt like it was a buildup for no reason. And to be honest, Daven posing as Gaven still confused me at times with who did what as who, when, and why and... and I think you get the idea.

Weeks seems to be a very talented storyteller but the one thing that I pick is his use of "real world" profanity. I understand that people are going to curse, swear and generally profane the things that their world holds holy. So why do words like "shit" and "fuck" repeatedly occur? Those things would still be sworn by, but not those specific words. Kind of like in Battlestar Galactica, they use the word "phrack". I find that to a weakness of Weeks' [ha, get it?] and I'm  hoping that as he matures, he'll go the route that Zahn or Sanderson has gone, ie, very light on the profanity and with "in world" words when used.

In the Night Angel Trilogy, I found the violence a bit disturbing, as a lot of it was directed at women and children. Thankfully, not nearly the same amount of time is given to it in this book, but it is still there, reminding us of just how bad this Lightbringer world can be.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Author: Brent Weeks.

The Last Unicorn

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 express permission of this reviewer.

Synopsis
All the unicorns but 1 have disappeared and she sets out on a journey to find out what happened to them. Along the way she meets up with various characters and has various adventures. And everything good is ripped away, her dreams crushed, her love destroyed, her hopes dashed.

My Thoughts
The ending tries to salve over the horribleness that is the book, but it didn't work for me. So while this technically has a happy ending, it is pretty obvious that Beagle is a product of his generation and is pretty much a sad sack of hopelessness and a person that I wouldn't mind giving a swift kick in the pants to.

While intended or not, while reading this book I felt like Beagle was trying to tear down every hope, dream and wish that makes up fantasy and replace it with his raped, dirty, rat infested vision of reality. I cannot abide those who write to tear down because they cannot have.

This was wonderfully written and almost magically lyrical and I suspect that most who read it will love it. But I am in the minority in that regards. I'll not be reading any more by this author.

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars

Author: Peter Beagle

The Knight (The Wizard Knight #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 by express permission of this reviewer.


Synopsis
A young boy from our world is transported to fairyland, then to another world. Once there, he meets a fairy goddess who grows him up overnight. His various adventures while trying to be a knight and refind his fairy love.

My Thoughts
While I enjoyed the writing and story [having read Wolfe's Book of the Long Sun and thought it was pure trash, this was a delightful surprise], something just seemed off-putting about how the narrative jumped around.

I haven't read any other reviews, so I haven't been influenced that way, but to be honest, my first thought was that the main character was autistic. I still think so.
There was a lot of the "boyish" in the character, which is to be expected as he is supposed to be 12 or 16 or something until he's magically "adult'ed" and I found that rather charming. But the timelessness, the odd hesitancies, the complete and utter honesty, the vagaries, it was different enough that it made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

The whole world was engaging. From the various levels of reality, the monsters, the fairies, the side characters good and bad,the giant mystery dog, it all was interesting and well constructed.

I am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Wizard, very soon.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Author: Gene Wolfe

The Realms Thereunder (Ancient Earth #1) DNF

This author, Ross Lawhead, is Stephen Lawhead's son, so I had high hopes.

However, I am sick and tired of main characters who are whiny, broken people. I get enough of that in my own life and in real life. I DON'T want to read about it in a book.

And when they are kids and then older teens/young twenty somethings, it makes it worse for me.

The story follows two 12/13 year olds who accidentally awaken 2 of Arthur's knights and apparently they have an adventure and save the world. The story splits between that time and "now", 8 years later. The girl is psychologically broken by the experience and barely holding on. The boy is now a homeless vagrant. As youngsters the girl is bossy but afraid and the boy is rebellious and stupid.

None of those circumstances appeal to me in any shape, way or form.

So goodbye young Lawhead, you blew your chance with me.


Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com

The Scorpion (Legend of the Five Rings: Clan War #1)

Synopsis
In a fantasy Japan ruled by an emperor who must balance the 7 Clans, the Scorpion Clan leader has a prophecy revealed to him that the current "Divine" line of Emperors will herald in doom for the entire world by allowing Feng Lu, THE demon, to be loosed.

My Thoughts
To be honest, this is filled with the most purplish of prose you'll ever come across. It is based on Japanese culture, but that would be like if a Japanese author read all of Louis L'amour's westerns and then wrote a book "about America" based solely on those.

I don't know anything about the Legend of the Five Rings except that there was a collectable card game based on it some time ago. So I'm sure I might be missing details.

The story. It reminded me of a Forgotten Realms book with its simplicity and man-handling of the plot. There was no attempt at subterfuge on the authors part at all, it was full on "get this story told" kind of thing. The Scorpions were supposed to be the intelligence of the kingdom, but man, do they screw things up royally. So instead of saving the kingdom, it looks like they set things up for the End of the World.

There are 7 books in this series and several authors participate. I hope some of the other authors do a better job. I like the idea, just not the execution of this book. I'll keep reading it until it forces me to stop.

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Author: Stephen Sullivan


Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com

A Malady of Magicks (Ebenezium #1)

Synopsis
A young apprentice to a powerful wizard must help the wizard get through all sorts of adventures while the wizard is under the weather of an allergy to magic.

My Thoughts
This book was trying to be funny. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. Sadly, in this case, it meandered from one to the other. Some of the mini-adventures were funny, some were kind of meh, and some were just downright stupid.

The constant jumping from one place/adventure to another without any warning was weird as well. However, the Apprentices constantly falling in love with whoever the lady of the adventure was was pretty funny.

The apprentice felt like he was the narrator and his character was tacked into the story. It might have worked better to have an omniscient narrator and have the apprentice be more of an actual character.

I'll be reading the next 2 in the series however.

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Author: Craig Gardner


Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com

A Christmas Carol (Classic)

Synopsis
Scrooge, the meanest, most cold-hearted man in England, is visited by 3 spirits on Christmas, in an attempt to change his fate.

My Thoughts
This is a classic for a reason. For one thing, it is short. Short enough to tell a good story, short enough to read over a single week, short enough to keep even a child's interest.
And Dickens brings forth his skill as a wordsmith and weaves a magic tale that will keep you entranced.

I think just about everyone in Western Civilization knows the story, at the least the basics. Scrooge has become synonomous with greed, miserliness and general grumpiness at anything fun. The spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, we know them.

For goodness sake, the MUPPETS made a movie based on this. And I have to say, it was a good movie too!

The changes in Scrooge came fast and furious and at times I wondered how someone could go from one to the next and be real, but the whole point Dickens was trying to make was that people could change, And while Dickens only alludes to Christ, his point was that Christmas was a changing point for the whole of humanity.

Now that I've read this [I believe I had read it in highschool, but not since], I can see it easily becoming a yearly traditional read.

Author: Charles Dickens

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars


Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com

The Green Brain

Synopsis
Socialists on earth are trying to remove every insect except for mutated/hybrid bees and bad things start to happen.

My Thoughts
I've read all the Dune books by Herbert and loved them. However, every other book I've read by him has not been very enjoyable. I am convinced that if it weren't for Dune Herbert would not be the name he is today.

Basically, bugs are taking over the world because the Communists in China and South America are trying to wipe them out and failing miserably about it and lying through their teeth.

This story is about 3 people trapped in the middle of Bug Country and how the evolving bug supermind is trying to communicate before everything is destroyed.

This felt like a mix of Greenpeace/PETA propaganda, with McCarthy like paranoidism and some very slow adventure story. Lots of introspection and "thought bubbles". I think David Lynch's movie version of Dune would be a perfect example of how much this was used in this book.

I think I'm done with Herbert. Cerebral can be good, but not when it excludes every other aspect of a story.

Author: Frank Herbert

Rating: 2.5 Stars of 5


Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com

Think & Grow Rich (Non-fiction)

Synopsis:
Mr. Hill takes us through the process of thinking like a champ and tells us it will work.

My Thoughts:
I suspect this book would be good for someone who actually wants to accomplish a large goal, or someone focused on attaining a large amount of money.

For me, I've accomplished the large goals in life I want [married, own our own place and work at a job I Iove] and money, while necessary, isn't something I want to be chasing after. I'm a Christian and the words Hill uses in describing how to attain riches are words I would only feel comfortable using about Jesus, not money.

However, there were some good tips about focusing, staying positive and other stuff. I am not a big non-fiction kind of guy. So if I read 2 non-fiction a year, I'm doing really good.

This was recommended to me by a really good friend who is a retired investment manager, so in all fairness, I actually finished this book more because of my respect of him than because of anything in this book.

Author: Napoleon Hill

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars


Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com

Snow in the Desert (Short Story) (Polity)

I started reading this and it sounded VERY familiar. And it turns out it was in a book of short stories by Asher, The Gabble: And Other Stories, and I wasn't going crazy.

So this short story is about a man who has regenerative powers and who Earth Central wants, along with unscrupulous bounty hunters who want his powers for themselves.
And a sexy cyborg.

Neal Asher just writes enjoyable stories.