The Very Best of Tad Williams (ARC)

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 by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
A collection of short stories that range from the Scifi to Fantasy to Horror to Happy. We even get an Otherland story that takes place AFTER Sea of Silver Light.

My Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book of short stories. Some were happy and funny and made me smile. Other stories though, oh man, they made me shudder. They were down right scary! One of them was a movie script and it worked perfectly.

Williams does a masterful job at writing Epic storylines. So I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. And it was great. Short story collections either seem to work out really well for me [Alan Dean Foster is my favorite short story teller] or they bomb so bad it makes me gag [Mike Resnick wrote a whole book with Space Safari themed stories, ugh!]. So I was happy this was the former and not the latter.

And the cover art is gorgeous, as many of you noted on my status updates. I have to thank all of you who mentioned it because I have to admit it didn't even cross my radar.

Finally, the reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 was because there were a couple of stories that I found downright anti-Christian. So if you're not a Christian you probably won't even notice it.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Tad Williams

The Infinity Gauntlet + (Manga Monday)

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
Thanos, a super villain, gets a hold of all 6 of the Infinity Gems and becomes the new god of the universe as we know it. And only Adam Warlock is Super Enough to possibly stand against him.

My Thoughts
First off, I know this isn't manga. But I'm lumping all comics, graphic novels and manga into Manga Monday. Besides, Graphic Novel Monday doesn't really roll off the tongue you know?

I not only read the actual graphic novel which is comprised of the Infinity Gauntlet issues 1-6, but also all the crossovers and histories. So in total this was about 47 comics instead of just 6.

While I understand that this is a comic aimed at the teen and younger crowd and that hyperbole is the Word of the Day in comics, several things just didn't make sense.

The Infinity Gem supposedly grants all power, wisdom, knowledge, etc, etc to its holder. But my goodness, it really doesn't. It is limited by the wearer's limitations, which makes its power pointless. As Thanos finds out. After killing half the multiverse, taking down the most powerful entities that ever existed and humbling Earth's Heroes, he is defeated and the Gauntlet taken by Adam Warlock. Who nobody trusts but is now so powerful that the Heroes don't really want to fight him. And thus it ends. Thanos is back to normal, the whole universe restored by Warlock, the Infinity Gauntlet still exists and nothing is truly resolved.

I'm just too old for comics. The level of Suspension of Belief needed is more than I can muster. I'm still going to read the next two Sagas, The Infinity War and The Infinity Crisis. Both have 50'ish comics associated with them, so it'll be a slow read, even more than this.

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Author & Artist: Various

The Gilded Chain (A Tale of the King's Blades)

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 blade is bound to a foppish nobleman, only to find he's just a pawn in the politics of the kingdom. He is then rebound to the King, has a series of adventures in a foreign land, comes home and ends up as Prime Chancellor, only to have his adventures in foreign lands come back to haunt him in the worst way. And Ambrose, the king, is still playing politics.

My Thoughts
When I finished Lord of the Firelands,  I didn't see how Duncan could write another novel that was as good, much less better. Well, I was wrong and glad of it.

This was a corker of a novel.  It dealt almost exclusively with Chivian politics and characters and we find out a lot more about the workings of Ambrose the King and his attitude towards the Blades, the Kingdom, just about everything.

In this book we follow Blade Durendal, as he is used, abused and treated like an object instead of a man by his king. We get to see how Durendal must reconcile his magical bonding [which allows him to in no way harm the king] with his strong sense of right and wrong.
The issue at hand is immortality, but at such a cost that Durendal knows it is evil. We see him from the start of his Blade years until his retirement and at each point along the way he must be so imaginatively creative in his thinking and doing that it was a true feat of mental gymnastics. It was a joy to read.

This was a straight up adventure story seasoned with a little fighting, a little politics, a little magic and a little romance. Highly recommended!

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Author: Dave Duncan

The Spider Stone (Rogue Angel #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.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
A sacred stone, said to be a gift from Anansi to an African tribe, is being pursued for various reasons and by various people. Some say it is a treasure map, others a supernatural symbol of Anansi's protection and others a curse.

My Thoughts
First off, while I know these are throw-away adventure stories, they do more than just dabble in the supernatural. They make philosophical and theological statements and that gets my inner Lion roaring away. But I still enjoy the adventure side of things.

Alex Archer is a catch-all for whatever author is writing that particular book and each author seems to be bringing their own pet political and theological ideology into the books. This time, we get smacked with the evils of the White Man, the pureness of the tribes of Africa [except for when they weren't, but that is glossed over] and how killing is Evil, with a capital E. Which means that Annja must feel guilty and all dark-sidey when she has to kill someone with her sword in self-defense or in defense of the innocent.

Other than that, I really liked this. We get a sacred stone and all that that means, ie, warlords, treasure hunters and witchy-women. There are some serious kickass fights, ranging from fisticuffs to swords and daggers to guns to vehicle mounted assault weapons.

The ending wraps up as quickly as the previous 2 books and I'm beginning to sense that the ending is the least important and least thought about part of the book. I mean, BAM, every badguy dies and the goodguys get the goods at the last 2% of the book.

I suspect these books will be lucky to get a 4 star from me, ever, but a run of 3 stars is pretty good by me. I don't need The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher for every fantasy book series :-)

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Author: Alex Archer

The Great Darkening (Epic of Haven #1) DNF

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

I found a review for this title on Amazon that fit my reading experience to a T.  I almost don't want to write anything because I'll feel like I'm "copying". Ha. Could NOT FINISH THIS.

Anyway. This suffered from the the "Tell because I don't know how to Show" syndrome. Quite possibly one of the worst cases I've seen in a long time. It might be just fine for a middleschooler but at over 400 pages I don't see many in that age group going through the whole book. It drove me absolutely batty.

Secondly, the prose. While it wasn't strictly purple, it definitely was of the Grape Kool-aid variety. Over descriptiveness abounded everywhere. It felt like I was reading a book report and the student was padding their report to get the prerequisite number of pages. But for all that, everything felt and seemed flat.

Thirdly, the "deep and hidden meanings" in just about every paragraph. Triplett tries TOO hard to bring out his "♪♪ Christian Message ♪in Disguise ♪♪" [sung to the Transformers tune]. I'm a Christian myself. I don't have a problem with that.
Stephen Lawhead preached Christianity through his Pendragon Cycle [Arthurian Legend] books and I ate it up. C.S.  Lewis hits you over the head with it in his Space Trilogy.
But Triplett seems to feel the need to make it all very mysterious and "meaningful". Kind of like if your 3 year old came up to you and said "Daddy, I made this picture. I drew you in it, RIGHT HERE!! [excited finger jabbing]. But you're hidden so no one can see you!" It didn't feel natural. The story didn't seem to flow from the Belief but the Belief was forced into the story.

Finally, I won't even bother with the plot. The above 3 things completely overwhelmed it so I don't feel it is even necessary to discuss.

So I tried. I went up to 21%. But after my Crash and Burn with The Wizard by Wolfe, I realized I needed to gird up my reading loins and not allow myself to suffer through a bad book. Mediocrity and poor craftsmanship are hallmarks of a bad book to me.

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Author:  Robert Triplett

The Wizard (The Wizard Knight #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
Sir Able is back and the story continues just as discombabulated and confusing as the first book.

My Thoughts
I hated this. While the style was as discomfiting, stupid, confusing and all around idiotic as the first book,at least the first book was original. This was just crap.

And at over 600 pages, it was grueling.  This confirms that I'm not a Gene Wolfe fan, nor will I ever be.

I have to admit, I don't know WHY I didn't DNF this. I definitely should have. It had all the earmarks. I blame it on my cousin who highly recommended both of these books. I think I kept waiting for it to "get better".

The only good thing is now it is over. Wow, that is pretty bad isn't it?

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Author: Gene Wolfe

The Shining

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 family goes to a remote hotel to be caretakers for the winter. The father is a drunk, the mother with mother issues of her own and a 5 year old boy with an ability to interact with the supernatural called "the shining".

My Thoughts
I've never seen the movie with Nickolson, but the cover showing him completely nutzed out was enough to keep me from watching it. But I've read enough King to know that his books, while creepy and horror filled, aren't the kind to give me nightmares.

So a King book a year helps me keep things shaken up.

I found this to be as creepy and disturbing a book as I've yet read. Having a child be at the center will tend to do that. And a whole hotel filled with incorporeal horrors that are becoming more and more corporeal and that are completely malevolent adds perfectly to the mix.

But what I found to be the most disturbing was Jack's [the father] descent into complete and utter madness. He first gives in to his temper, then his desire for drink and finally is willing to sacrifice his wife and son because he thinks it will mean his personal advancement. Instead of being Danny's protector, he becomes as much a nemesis as the spirit of the hotel.

Thankfully, Danny has a protector in his mother [albeit a weak and mostly neutralized one] and a hotel employee who also has a small amount of the shining himself. Needless to say, Danny is rescued from the power of the hotel and the hotel destroys itself.

I found the themes of good and evil, the self-destructiveness of evil and the weakness of mankind to be utterly fascinating. The only thing I don't care for in King's writing is his ignoring of the power of good. He portrays evil but good is always portrayed as barely there or overcoming by happenstance. I wouldn't want to read these books without the solid Christian basis I have or I might find these horribly depressing.

I think one of these a year is enough for me. Highly recommended if you like creepy and disturbing with just a smidge of hope.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Stephen King

Death Note #12 The End (Manga Monday)

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
Near and Light finish up their end games and it all comes down to one meeting with all the members of both the Japanese and American Kira hunters for the showdown. And Ryuk shows his true Shinigami colors.

My Thoughts
This was awesome. At the end of Book 11 Mello took action on his own, only it was calculated by Near and miscalculated by Light.

And that is what this final battle of wits comes down too. Who was one step ahead? Near proves that HE is the true successor to L and Light/Kira's superior. But Kira almost makes it. He asks Ryuk, the shinigami, to help him out right at the end. But Ryuk refuses and thus Light/Kira perishes.

And the manga ends with showing the world almost back to how it is today. Which was the point the manga-ka was trying to make. Kira changed the world for the better, but that didn't make it right. And Kira being brought to justice didn't necessarily make the world a better place.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Tsugumi Ohba
Artist:Takeshi Obata

Lord of the Firelands (A Tale of the King's Blades)

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
2 young men graduate from a school where they are trained to be the King's bodyguards, magically bound and in the binding given great powers.
Only these 2 youngsters don't take the oath of fealty and a whole story of the past rolls forth from that. It also propels them both towards a future they can only guess at.

My Thoughts
This story starts out with the above as the beginning: 2 youngsters graduating. Which leads to a confrontation with the king and a history is revealed.
That history starts with a sacking of a town and the kidnapping of a young lord. Said young lord helps out the raiders leader with another sacking, which gets the raider the kingship of his land. He marries a royal he kidnapped in the second raid and has a son.
We follow the son growing up until he is forced from the land in a coup.

Then we switch to after the confrontation with the king and the young man, Raider and his Blade, Wasp, go back to Baelland to see if Raider can take back the kingship. Ends up becoming the next king and making war on the land that he graduated from.

If you think my synopsis and first couple of paragraphs are confusing, I agree. This book was not strictly linear and great parts were not about the main character, but setup and explanation.

It made for a great read, but not easily explained. The political intrigue, the action, the characterization, it all was top notch. Very little swordplay but I barely missed it.

There are 3 books in the King's Blades series, but from the little forward that Duncan included, it sounds like they are overlapping somewhat and telling things from different viewpoints, once again not linear story telling.

I am looking forward to the next 2 books.

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Author: Dave Duncan

Honor Among Thieves (Star Wars) (ARC)

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 by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
Taking place between A New Hope & The Empire Strikes Back, Honor mainly follows Han as he tries to work for the Rebellion while keeping his independence. His part of the story revolves around picking up a deep undercover Rebel agent who has news of a big Empire plan. At the same time Leia is involved in negotiations with various and sundry to raise funds for the Rebellion and Luke is heading out on one of his early missions.

And surprise, all 3 stories tie together.

My Thoughts
I enjoyed reading this. I enjoyed the Big 3, alone, young, fighting for Right. Unlike the later series where authors have interjected their own Doubting Thomas worldview into the books and ruined the characters, this was "back to the basics" Star Wars.

Han is a good character to follow around. He's a rogue, an adventurer, a funny arrogant pompous windbag AND he's got Chewie. Man, I love Chewie. I also found it enlightening about how Han is fighting his feelings for Leia and his involvement in the Rebellion. There is a minor character who "could have been" Han in 10-20 years and Han realizes this.

I don't want to get all anime'y and "power of friendship and rainbows", but this shows how Friendship is what saved Han from becoming just another scraggly smuggler and turned him into the great man we all love and like.

The main thing I didn't like was the main female lead, the undercover agent. She just reminded me of Mara Jade in so many ways that if I'd been Zahn I'd be screaming about rip-offs, etc. She was Mara without the lightsaber and force.

And you know what? I'm still not over what happened to Mara in Sacrifice and I'm happy that Karen Traviss, the horrible, horrible woman who wrote it, has pretty much ended her Star Wars career.

(hide spoiler) And this just brought back all those memories of reading Sacrifice back in '07.

I did like how they showed the precursor of Centerpoint Station however. I really like tie-ins like that.

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Author: James Corey