Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE #15 & 16 (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
Sakura is asleep from the last Feather and the group ends up on a world that is on its last legs due to acid rain and no fresh water.
2 buildings in Tokyo still have reservoirs, both protected by some sort of magic.
The group battles the remnants of humanity, Fei-Wang is involved, Lee's twin is involved, only we find out the Lee who has been part of the group is a clone and the original has made sacrifices to Yuko the time witch for some reason.

My Thoughts
This was a confusing storyline. We had the world specific, Feather recovery story. We had the overarching story that deals with the evil Wei-Fang, Yuko and the group overall. We have revelations abounding about individuals. And then we get a new sidestory about some of the side characters.

It was just so busy!

Art wise, I slowed my reading to actually Look. CLAMP does great work, even if their characters look like taffy pull. Of course, I like that look.


Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Artist & Author: CLAMP

Jersey Guns (The Executioner #17)

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
Mack comes back to the US, to heal and rest from his Sicilian escapade, only to be dragged into a battle with the Talifero brothers in Jersey.

My Thoughts
Pendleton is back as the writer and I'm glad. We get the ol' Guts and Glory Mack back and does he play hell with the mob.

Book starts out with Mack being chased from the airport by some mobsters, barely escaping and finding a hiding place at a chicken farm. Where, coincidentally, the owner is a former Vietnam war doctor who Bolan met in the war. He also meets said dr's sister. Of course.
One thing leads to another and Bolan loves the sister but warns them they are in danger.

So of course the Mob finds them and kidnaps them. Bolan rescues the sister and attempts to rescue the brother. He does recover him, but not in time to save him. So Bolan returns and wipes out the Talifero brother in charge and massacres his minions, something around 100 guys.

In one of my reviews for an earlier book, all I put was "Blam, blam, blam!" This book added some high explosive rounds, some bazooka type missiles and mortars and it was rinse and repeat.

Some times you just need some action to cleanse the palate of all our modern ideas of how to accomplish the impossible. Killing the badguys is such a nice, simple, clean and elegant solution.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Author: Don Pendleton

War Master's Gate (Shadows of the Apt #9)

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
Empress Seda and Cheerwell Maker, sisters and enemies in magic, both are trying to gain a magical prize from the Bad Old Days of the inapt.
At the same time Collegium is once again threatened by the Wasp Empire, as is the last remaining Ant City of Sarn.
And through, under, around and over it all is a vague menace from the Past, waiting to burst through to light of day and rule the world yet again.

My Thoughts
Where the previous book, The Air War, was primarily about armies and tech, this book returned to the magical roots of the series
Seda is consolidating her power, Cheerwell is still trying to figure out what her newfound powers mean and the battles for the Wasp Empire's supremacy go on.

At over 700 pages [that does include an appendix of names and a short story that fills in a specific part of the story but isn't necessary for it], I never felt like this book dragged.

There was a good balance of magic, tech fighting, politicing both internal and external. It also seemed that Tchaikovsky did a much better job in this book of keeping the scope of his story a little more focused on characters we already knew about. While we are introduced to new characters, they are mainly supporting characters to the main cast.

And you know what? Collegium finally gets conquered. Maybe that will knock some of the arrogance out of the residents, unless it kills them of course.

And the Worm. A "new to us" kinden that was so bad that thousands of years ago the whole Inapt world united to defeat this fearsome foe. And they weren't truly defeated, simply locked away. So guess what happens here? Seda, in her arrogance, accidentally unlocks them. Oh boy, that can't be good! The book ends with the disappearances of whole villages, all the people simply vanished.

In the notes, Tchaikovsky does note that the series is wrapping up. I'm glad to be honest. I want some resolution. Even if he continues the story in another series, I need an end to this. I am guessing/hoping 3 more books? We'll see.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Shattered Mask (Sembia #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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
Family Uskevren is thrown into turmoil once again as an old enemy rises and tries to revenge from beyond the grave. Family member is pitted against family member and untried spoiled brats must step up and become the next generation of heroes for their House.

My Thoughts
This story was a bit confusing, as I'd gone on and read the first Erevis Cale trilogy, which takes place after at least some of these books. So Erevis was back to being a butler for the Uskevren instead of a priest of Mask. Plus, there were time shifts in the story from the past, without any real warning.

I enjoyed all the fighting. And there was a ton of that! However, the Uskevren children are still the wretched brats we were introduced too earlier. Arrogant, rich, idle, cursed, secretive and completely untrustworthy. Really good setup for the second Erevis Cale trilogy :-)

And a dead enemy risen from the grave, from Hel itself, is pretty good. Lots of magic and a funny and malicious sidekick fill things out.

I think I'll be reading the rest of this series before going back to Erevis.

Rating:3 of 5 Stars
Author: Richard Byers

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE #13 & 14 (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
Sakura, Syaoran and Co go to a world that has a giant library full of books of magic. And one of them has Sakura's feather/memory.
Volume 13 deals with a little side story about Kurogane and Volume 14 sees the feather recovered and the group onto the next world.

My Thoughts
Contrary to my expectations [I stopped reading the series back in October '12], I actually enjoyed reading these volumes.

Part of that was that these 2 volumes were a single story with an intro into the next story.
Volume 13 is about Lee seeing Kurogane's past and seeing the events that have turned him into the warrior and killer that he is. It cements the whole Sensei/Grasshopper thing that Lee and Kurogane have.

In the next volume we see the team actually getting Sakura's feather and fighting off the guardians set in place to protect it. There are several interludes where we see Syaoran's double [with the eyepatch], Wei-Fang Reed and Yuko the Timewitch.

Wei-Fang obviously has some big plan that involves Clow Reed's legacy and Sakura and her memories are somehow tied into it as well.  We'll see how CLAMP does with small stories for each volume or 3 and the larger story over a longer range. Honestly, I feel like I've missed nothing by not remembering much from volumes 2-12. Not exactly a stellar endorsement is it?

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Artist & Author: CLAMP

Mansfield Park (Classic)

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 girl, Fanny, is sent to live with her rich relations as a sop to their guilty conscience for how they treated her mother when she made a culturally poor matrimonial choice.
Fanny, a shy retiring girl, must navigate the pitfalls of growing up amongst her cousins, whom all but one are spoilt brats and bring no credit to the family name.

My Thoughts
Wow, what a difference a couple of years makes. When I read this back in '06, everything was overshadowed by the ending, where Fanny marries Edmund, her first cousin who she had loved since a young girl.

This time around I was able to savor the story and just enjoy Austen's writing.

Fanny is almost the polar opposite of Elizabeth Bennet. She is shy, sickly, given to much introspection, tries to please everyone and when she can't due to her principles, will say the barest necessary to show she doesn't agree.

Austen's characterization of the society was a joy to read even while being a scathing commenting. The other son and 2 daughters were contrasted against Edmund and Fanny and their lack of character made the book work. Other "minor" characters, such as the Crawfords, showed us more of a society that was rotting from within and how that affected peoples lives.

This was a slow read, in that the pace set by the characters is mostly sedate and moving easily from one point to another. Not until the end do things feel rushed, when Austen throws everything up in the air and we get to see how it all falls down. Interest-wise I found myself wanting to read this even on days that I don't normally read my "Classics Club" book. Austen is just that good.

And this is the kind of romance I like. No steely gazes like diamond drills or heaving bosoms or softporn. This was REAL romance and I find myself wishing for more books like this. I guess I shall have to be satisfied with Austen's 7.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Jane Austen

Raptor 6 DNF (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

My Thoughts:

The description for this book made it seem that it would be about a Special Forces team whose leader was a Christian. A girl was going to be involved somehow.

So my expectations were all pumped up for a Mack Bolan kind of book. Lots of mayhem, bullets flying, explosions, damsel in distress, badguys befuddled and ultimately killed.

So when the Team is described like slabs of man-meat, eyes are "drilling through" like diamonds and the lead female dramatically faints in the hero's arms after an attack, I was angry beyond belief.

This was a romance, albeit a non-porn one like most of what I see out there.

Most of my anger and disgust stems from the fact that I felt like this was a real Bait-N-Switch. If this had been presented as a romance, then I would not have even tried it and both I and the author would have been happier with me not reading it. Instead, now we have another author added to my "Authors to Avoid" list.

I hate expending emotional energy on crap I don't like.

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Author: Ronie Kendig

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