Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Monday, October 12, 2015

Salem's Lot

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.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.

Title: Salem's Lot

Series: -----

Author: Stephen King

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Horror

Pages: 470

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

An evil house continues to draw evil inhabitants to it in a small Maine town. This time it is an ancient Vampire and nothing can stop him.

My Thoughts:

King is a consummate writer, which is why I keep reading him. However, I don't like what he writes about with such skill, which is why I only read one book a year of his.

So a vampire tries to take over a town. And kind of fails. But no one wins and the town is abandoned but some vampires appear to survive. it was a good "bad is bad and the good guys are pretty wussy but keep on fighting" story.

My main beef with King is that he believes, or represents, Good as something pathetic and struggling. I understand that viewpoint, as it is all to easy to look at our world and assume that but it isn't true and it cuts across the very depths of what I've based my life on. So that is why I keep my entanglements to a minimum.

I think my only question/problem was why the vampirism didn't spread like a plague? It made NO sense to me. Other than that, this was black velvet.

One more King off the list, one more King enjoyed.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1269043/salem-s-lot

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Night Watch (Night Watch #1)

Review:

Title: Night Watch

Series: Night Watch

Author: Sergei Lukyanenko

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Pages: 498

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

There is a War going on, between the Light and the Dark. Humans don't know about this war until they become "Others", people with extraordinary abilities who must then choose either the Light or the Dark.

Anton is one such Other and we follow him through several stories as he learns and grows in the bleakest place of all, Russia.

My Thoughts:

I was all over the place with this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, hated it in places, was ready to call down the fires of heaven upon Lukyanenko several times and was completely and wonderfully morose through most of the book.

I was expecting one story. What I got was 3 or 4 and it worked well. Each story started out from the viewpoint of someone other than Anton and then chapter One would begin from Anton's pov and it was 1st person. It was a jarring change but I found it to fit perfectly with the tone of the whole book.

One of the things that made me want to put this down was the utter and complete Dualistic nature of the Light and the Dark. Neither were evil or good, but simply Were. And Light always came off as the weaker [which it usually does in Dualism, see Terry Brooks Word & the Void as another example] and in fact Anton pretty much says so in the first story. That leads into how the Other leaders of the Light and Dark play games with humans, the opposite Side and their own members. Anton encounters this several times and it almost breaks him. I know it would have broken me.

Anton. What a fantastic character. Drinking vodka by the *whatever large units one drinks alcohol by*, falling in love, doing his best while not understanding half of what is going on and pondering. I love pondering even while sometimes hating it. Recently, during one of the Classic Club reads, I told someone that I felt like I had a Russian soul, ie, I wasn't happy unless I was miserable. That sums up Anton and in many ways I felt like if I had to be a character, I would have to choose Anton.

This was a translated work so it was tough to tell if the rough edges were because of the author or the translator. This book was by no means a wonderful jewel of literature but it was an engrossing look into the Urban Fantasy landscape. And unlike a certain Wizard (filed under W in the telephone directory - That is Harry Dresden, future me, since you'll probably forget), Anton's complaining and misery didn't wear on me. It was him and it fit like a glove.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1267570/night-watch-night-watch-1

Thursday, October 08, 2015

The Jedi Doth Return (William Shakespeare's Star Wars #3)

Review:

Title: The Jedi Doth Return

Series: William Shakespeare's Star Wars

Author: Ian Doescher

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: SFF

Minutes: 215

Format: Audio book

Synopsis:

No summary, why bother? I know this story beyond what I care about.

My Thoughts:

I ended up listening to half of this while working at the office the other weekend. And that was a problem. I knew this story, so I didn't feel it necessary to actually listen to this and hence I would simply zone out and miss huge chunks of the story.

Which was ok since I knew the story.

But if this had been another book, it would have been a complete failure and I would have missed so much that nothing would have made sense. It did make me realize that I can only listen to audiobooks while driving to and from work.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1266800/the-jedi-doth-return-william-shakespeare-s-star-wars-3

Monday, October 05, 2015

The Djinn

Review:

Title: The Djinn

Series: -----

Author: J. Holloway

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Christian Fiction

Pages: 268

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

If Batman was a staunch Protestant, in one of the Crusades AND he had leprosy, you'd pretty much have this book.

In the past, Solomon stopped 12 golems from destroying Jerusalem by trapping them in his underground treasure chambers.

Now, one man is searching for the means to re-animate and control said golems for his own nefarious purposes.

My Thoughts:

I'm being pretty generous with that 3 star. It really felt more like a 2 1/2 but there were some cool moments, and I just had a good time this evening routing a nemesis, so I'm pretty happy.

The "mystery" of the djinn is easily seen through and that takes away from some of the suspense of the book. If Holloway had focused more on the golems and less on the djinn, I might have enjoyed this more. The whole djinn vs the corrupt crusader was rather meh.

Theology-wise, hearing someone spout some very hard core Protestant ideas [the Catholic church is not Christianity, I can believe in Jesus and still be a Christian without acknowledging the Church, etc] in this time period was a little disconcerting. Not bad, just very unexpected. It really came across as 21st century.

There were a couple of times where Holloway obviously kept info from the reader but not from his characters and I did not like that. It was deliberate enough to notice and came across as trying way to hard. Kind of like a 10 year old waving his left hand while he uses his right hand to "magically" pull colored scarves from his right sleeve.

I think I'll give Holloway's other books a chance. One chance, mind you. maybe in a couple of months.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1265434/the-djinn

Saturday, October 03, 2015

Murder on the Orient Elite (Grimnoir Chronicles #3.5)

Review:

Title: Murder on the Orient Elite

Series: Grimnoir Chronicles

Author: Larry Correia

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: SFF

Minutes: 74

Format: Audio

Synopsis:

A short story after the end of the truly awesome Grimnoir Chronicles trilogy.

Jake Sullivan must save a luxury air yacht from unknown forces. Sadly for him, that includes the Imperium, the newly strengthened Russians, a German psycho and even possibly his own employer.

My Thoughts:

I loved the Grimnoir books dearly. I think they are the best that Correia has written and so I was happy to jump into this, especially after Buyer of Gadgets glowing Review.

Thankfully, Jake Sullivan was still the same heavy with the same humor as in the trilogy. He's strong and capable and wicked smart. I really enjoy intelligent characters and ones that have a dry, wry sense of humor are even better. Everything that intrigued me about the original trilogy is here in this short story as well.

The narrator does a good job of switching voices so it was very easy to tell who was talking and conversations weren't awkward because of trying to figure out which character was speaking.

I got this for free back when it was released, but it took me a long time to get around to it. There is another Grimnoir Chronicles that takes place much later in time and I'll eventually track that down as well. I just can't quite stomach paying $4 for 60 minutes of audio.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1264330/murder-on-the-orient-elite-grimnoir-chronicles-3-5

Friday, October 02, 2015

The Dragons of Dorcastle (Pillars of Reality #1)

Review:

Title: The Dragons of Dorcastle

Series: Pillars of Reality

Author: Jack Campbell

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: SFF

Pages: 336

Format: Kindle

Synopsis:

The Mechanics Guild and the Mages Guild have run of the known world. And they hate each other and teach their acolytes to act as if the other guild is nothing but a fraud.

So what happens when a young Mage and a young Mechanic have to rely on each other to survive? Why, this excellent story is what happens.

My Thoughts:

I really like Jack Campbell's SF. So I wasn't sure what to expect when I realized he'd started another series that was SF, Fantasy, Steampunk'ish and YA. I went into this with almost zero expectations of enjoying it and not a little trepidation.

Thankfully, I enjoyed myself immensely.

A lot of adventure, a lot of action, lots of hints about big bad things in the Future and a nice little bit of teens falling in love for the first time. That can be real nice if handled with a deft hand and not with buckets of emotional slop.

I'd really like to write more because I had such a fun time reading this. But honestly, I don't feel the need to express WHY I enjoyed something. I simply note that I did enjoy it. Now, the opposite isn't true. If I don't enjoy something, there is a much better chance of me detailing the WHY of that. I know part of it is that I don't need to remember why I liked a book, just that I did. I do like to know why I didn't like a book however, as in most cases in 10 or 15 years I forget what the book was about and if the premise sounds interesting, I need to know why not to try it again. Sometimes my mind is a funny place.

Looking forward to the already written sequel already.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1264003/the-dragons-of-dorcastle-pillars-of-reality-1