Amazing Agent Luna #6-10 (Manga Monday)

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Title: Amazing Agent Luna #6-10
Series: Amazing Agent Luna
Author: Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
Artist: Shiei
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: ------

Synopsis:
Luna gets close to Anders, finds out about Nightfall, leaves the Agency, finds out Jennifer is her birth mother, is under a death notice from the Agency, gets back with Jonah and has to deal with the Bruckenstein's yet again.
And her little sister Terra has been decanted and is trying to kill her.

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed these, even with all the teen drama and angst and hormones. However, I did find that about 1 manga a day was all I could handle. I read volumes 6 & 7 together and by the end of volume 7 I was almost ready to quit :-)

Count Bruckenstein is a great comedy villain. When Shiei draws him in chibi form, I want to laugh my head off. His wife, Elyse, on the other hand, is a true villain. Cold, calculating and pure evil.

The inclusion of Terra at the end of volume 10 is great. It helps to know that volume 11 is the last volume in the series.

Twin Cities Run (Endworld #3)

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Title: Twin Cities Run
Series: Endworld
Author: David Robbins
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 212


Synopsis:
Alpha Triad finally makes it to the Twin Cities to pick up the medical equipment that Plato has requested.
Sadly, due to their complete and utter incompetence and total idiocy, the group gets separated and doled out among the various factions remaining in the city.
Thankfully, Brother Joshua brings them all together and peace and harmony float down like a gentle rain on them all.
And so they have a chance to get the equipment they need, but do they do that? Nope, they head right back to the Home to report the good news, because what difference can a month or 2 make, right?

My Thoughts:
This has moved far beyond silly or any such thing and has gotten into the down right stupid.
Alpha Triad takes Black Beauty with them back to the City, since she knows the lay of the land. But she doesn't advise them and they don't ask her any real questions. Then they decide it is a good idea to head into the city, on foot, at night.

From there, the decisions get even worse. The Triad, the different factions, all of them, just keep making the stupidest decisions one after another.The worst was right at the end when the group  has brokered a peace deal and decides to leave WITHOUT getting the equipment they came for. WHY?!?!? All that blood, death and fighting and now you just want to chuck it and do it later?


I wonder what Robbins was thinking when he wrote this stuff. In many ways, it seems like the logic of a 10 or 11 year old boy who has never actually even had a field trip but dreams up what he thinks an adventure would be like. My problem is that I can't even make fun of it anymore. They act that stupid. I guess I'll have to blame it on in-breeding because nothing else can account for such mental deficiencies.

One other issue that seems to be arising is that nobody ACTS like WWIII was 100 years ago. Everyone acts like it happened to their parents and they are just figuring out now how to survive in the world.

I'm giving this one more book to pick up even a half star's worth or I'm done. Campy or whatever I can deal with, but not stupid.

Robinson Crusoe (Classic)

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Title: Robinson Crusoe
Series: -----
Author: Daniel Defoe
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 271

Synopsis:
Robinson Crusoe, young and affluent, completely spurns the advice of his father and becomes a sailor and has various mishaps before being wrecked on a deserted island.

Survives on the Island for many years, finally gets rescued, becomes rich and then the book ends.

My Thoughts:
I read this book on my phone, so this was a filler when I only had a couple of minutes to read at a time.

I did not like Crusoe in the beginning of the book. He was young, arrogant and senseless. His actions were selfish, short sighted and in many cases just plain stupid.
However, once he was marooned on the island, he began to grow up and become someone with some sense.

Once he got off the island, he seemed to slip back into being a stupid man again. The book ends with his wife being dead and him deciding to head off to Brazil again and no mention of their children is made. Just boom, no wife, off he goes to adventure.
The other thing that bugged me was that Crusoe kept blaming his bad habits on fate, destiny, etc instead of taking responsibility for his own ass decisions.

I can see why this is a classic. A story of survival in the worst of circumstances and eventual rescue and riches. I doubt I'll read this again though.

The Gatekeeper's Son (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.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.





Title: The Gatekeeper's Son
Series: -----
Author: Chris Fladmark
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: YA Fantasy
Pages: 313


Synopsis:
Junya [who I insist on calling Junior in my head] is the grandson of a billionaire, the son of a ninja and the Inheritor of a brand new power of the gods of light and darkness.
Another world is involved, lots of fighting, a cute chick and lots of YA'ness.

Junya must fight the minions of Light AND Dark, as he is the cross between them. He must save his grandfather, save his mother, destroy an evil monster and keep a legion of other worldly super ninjas from killing him, all at the same time.

My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this for what it was, a boys' fantasy novel. I don't think I'll be reading any more by this author but that isn't a negative on his part. It just means that it is a bit too YA for me to handle.
It takes consummate skill to write a novel for both men and boys and as this is Mr Fladmark's debut novel, he deserves credit for writing a very good boys novel.

Lots of fighting, your prerequisite cute girl, secrets out the wazoo, ninjas and a badguy who helps Junya for his own ends, *insert evil laughter*. That was the good stuff.

The 2 main issues for me were as follows:

1) Junya goes from being a shy, almost cowardly boy, to this strong young man who can manage a multi-billion dollar company with no real in between phase. It felt very awkward to me.

2) Junya's father. He is in the story, but is so token that the reality is that Junya might as well have been raised by a single mother. He is supposed to be with them and part of their family, but he plays such a small part, even emotionally, that he comes across as a prop more than a real character.

Other than that, no real issues worth discussing. This is the beginning of a series, but it ends up just fine that I don't feel the need to read any sequels. And the Series title is missing because Fladmark hasn't given it one yet.

Sword of the Archon/Cadman's Gambit (Shader #1) DNF

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 Title: Sword of the Archon/Cadman's Gambit
Series: Shader
Author: D.P. Prior
Rating: 1/2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: Did Not Finish


Synopsis:
Completely unable to tell what the heck was going on.

My Thoughts:
First thing. Turns out this is an Indie writer and in typical Indie *&^%$# fashion, Prior screws his readers over by releasing a "second edition" of this book, but with a completely different title and no indication inside that these are the same books.

That was enough to make me want to rage quit before even starting.

Then, the plot and characters. For perspective, I was confused but able to follow Erikson's Gardens of the Moon but this? Forget it. I was lost and wasn't able to figure out where, when or what was going on by the 25% mark.

And final nail in this novels coffin was the graphic rape scene. It wasn't explicit but it was brutal, horrible and completely outside the bounds of anything I ever want to read. It revolted me, it sickened me and it completely put Prior on my Authors to Avoid list.

This was a big fat Did Not Finish.

Acapulco Rampage (Executioner #26)

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Title: Acapulco Rampage
Series: The Executioner
Author: Don Pendleton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 126


Synopsis:
Mack heads to Acapulco to take out a fledgling movement, the New Mafia, headed by a Jew.
Said Jew doesn't like the Old Mafia telling him what to do and Mack makes a deal with him, be Unaffiliated and The Executioner will leave him alone until he crosses the line.
Sadly, the Old Mafia isn't going to take this lying down, so complete and utter mayhem ensues, Mack Bolan Style.

My Thoughts:
I can't get enough of these books. Mack crashes a luxury yacht into the New Mafia's headquarters, hijacks and lands their jet in the ocean and finally blows their base off the side of a mountain and into a bay.

How much more awesome do you need? And the super hot chick being the bad guy, cool beans.

Shallow, truly plotless, characterization is zero but so much fun. Kind of like how I imagine bungee jumpers justify their actions :-)

Vanity's Brood (House of Serpents #3 Final) (Forgotten Realms)

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Title: Vanity's Brood
Series: House of Serpents, Forgotten Realms
Author: Lisa Smedman
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 320


Synopsis:
Arvin must rescue Karell before she gives birth. At the same time, he must prevent Sybil from freeing the Serpent God and becoming its Avatar.

My Thoughts:
The maundering end to this trilogy.

Arvin pretends to not know which way he wants to react for most of the book and the reader is expected to go along and then act surprised when he makes it.

The romantic angle between Arvin and Karell is milked for all it is possibly worth. Arvin's heritage is revealed and that makes everything ok between him and Karell.

Glad I read this, but definitely not worth buying the hardcovers, unlike some of Smedman's other Forgotten Realms works.

Walden & Civil Disobediance (Classic)

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Title: Walden, Civil Disobediance
Series: -----
Author: Henry Thoreau
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 326


Synopsis:
Thoreau moves to Walden pond to live as a squatter for 2 years and rhapsodizes, as all scatterbrained, out of touch with reality poets are want to do, about how wonderful Nature is and how the Simple Life is the best.

In Civil Disobediance, Thoreau shows how him going to jail for a week because he wouldn't pay his tax is the height of him being completely independent. He also tries to make the case that any group of rational human beings really don't need a government because the Milk of Human Kindness will naturally flow between them all.

My Thoughts:
What a monumental tome of total Prickness.

Thoreau is an ass and every line he writes in this book simply confirms that fact. Nothing he writes has a true bearing on reality, everything is colored, warped and distorted by his belief that Nature is Pure and Kind and can Teach us Lessons. (and yes, the caps are on purpose, you can practically hear them)

I am glad I read this but no more Thoreau for me.

The Bacta War (X-Wing #4) (Star Wars)

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Title: The Bacta War
Series: X-Wing, Star Wars
Author: Michael Stackpole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 350

Synopsis:
Wedge, Coran and Co fight Isard and kill her in the end. Coran and Mirax get married and Mirax's dad, Booster Terrik, gets a hold of a Star Destroyer for his personal gad about the universe.

My Thoughts:
I really did enjoy this. It is just recently my desire to write reviews has plummeted, so I'm mailing these in and keeping track that I read them.

The Invaders Plan (Mission Earth #1) DNF

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authored by L. Ron Hubbard.

Read this back in junior high. This time around, I couldn't take the utter incompetence of the main character, who is a lackey for the villains.

Written that way on purpose, but it was just embarrassing and I was very uncomfortable.

Did not finish and will stick to Battlefield Earth & Final Blackout if I feel the need for some Hubbard.