Winter Rose ★★★★½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Winter Rose
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 173
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Rois, younger sister of Laurel, is a wild young woman who loves the woods. She finds a hidden pool behind a curtain of wild roses and in the process of drinking from it one day, sees a stranger coalesce out of light and shadow.

She later finds out that a young man, Corbet Lynn, has returned to the village to repair and live in his ancestral home. His father supposedly murdered his grandfather in the middle of winter long ago and the grandfather cursed him and all his descendants. But no one knows what the curse actually is.

Rois feels an attraction to Corbet and in a dream is told to never let him go. Back in the real world, it becomes obvious that Corbet is in love with Rois's older sister Laurel, who is engaged to Perrin, a local farmer. Rois figures out that Corbet is from the fairy world, ie, The Wood and in a dream-like trip there, comes across Corbet's father, Tearle Lynn. He is under the spell of the fairy queen and when the fairy queen tries to take Corbet for her own, Tearle fights his ensorcellement and ultimately ends up dead in our world in the Lynn house and Corbet has disappeared.

With Corbet gone in deepest mid-winter, Laurel begins to fade away, much like their mother did years and years ago. Rois offers herself up to the Fairy Queen but her humanity ends up breaking the spell the Queen has over her, Corbet and Laurel. Laurel wakes from her infatuation with Corbet and Corbet realizes he was trying to be in love with her humanity to keep himself out of The Wood. Since he is free, he can choose Rois and she can choose him.

The book ends with spring just around the corner and Corbet beginning to truly rebuild Lynn Manor.

My Thoughts:

One of the reasons I like to re-read books is to re-evaluate how I feel about them. When I read this back in '07, even though I praised it highly, my feelings were just how unpleasant everything was. So I went into this with some trepidation, wondering how it would be. I really shouldn't have worried as it turned out. I enjoyed the daylights out of this read.

Ominous, that is probably the best word to describe the tone for this book. The setting of winter and the Cold and the Wild Hunt and the Fairy Queen and Nial Lynn (the cruel grandfather who set this all off) and even such mundane things as roses and thorns just give out vibes of ominosity (I love making up words that aren't real, at least in my reviews). In the hands of someone else that all might have been extremely depressing, but in McKillip's hands, the lyrical words swept me along and brought me back into the spring and the sunlight.

The thing that stopped me from bumping this up all the way to a full 5star rating was the whole thing with Corbet and Laurel. While it was explained and made part of the story, I wish there had been another way. I don't like reading about infidelity, even if it's only emotional and all because of magic.

Other than that, this was a perfect book. I think when I read it again, some time in the future, I'll try to read it mid-summer and not in the middle of a bleak New England winter.

Kinuko Craft does the cover again and I have to admit, it is probably one of my least favorites by her. Most of that is because of my dislike of the Fairy Queen in this story and since she's THE cover, it just makes me go “blah”. But when you look at the full piece of art by Craft, you can just see what a gorgeous work this is. It goes hand in hand with the book and fully complements it.

★★★★½

• Winter Rose (2007 Review)

Sackett Brand (Sacketts #10) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Sackett Brand
Series: Sacketts #10
Author: Louis L'Amour
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 160
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

William Tell Sackett and his new bride Ange are making a start of it. With the gold they had, they bought enough supplies to start a new life in the West with cattle. When Tell goes ahead to scout, he's shot and falls into a river. He escapes those hunting him and makes his way back to where Ange had the wagons. There is no trace of the wagons OR Ange.

Tell survives and hunts down information after finding Ange's body. A rancher, co-owner of the Lazy A, is responsible. Nobody knows that he killed Ange and he must kill Tell to keep his secret, for NO one will work for a man who kills a woman. Said rancher hires a large group of gunfighters under the claim that Tell tried to kill him.

The word goes out that a Sackett is being hunted. Other Sacketts come a running and Tell only has to survive until they arrive. Of course, he has to survive 40 gunfighters who are all hunting him.

He survives and the other Sacketts take down the gunfighters. The book ends with Tell surrounded by his family.

My Thoughts:

Gotta admit, it took me by surprise when L'Amour had Ange killed. I did not see it coming, especially so early. It really affected how I read the rest of the book. While it gave Tell a real motive to survive and for revenge, L'Amour's writing of Ange's death probably affected me more than it did Tell.

This was a very quick read and it was even quicker given certain stock phrases and ideas that L'Amour uses in almost every book of his. You don't read these for originality at all but to see the Right prevail and the Wrong fail. Truth and Justice. Sometimes you need to read that those Ideals actually do exist and that there are men willing to bear the burden of being responsible for them. I read this in about 2-3hrs, so it was quick.

There just isn't much else to say. These reviews of the Sacketts are more about getting the synopsis so when I look back in 10-15 years I don't have to feel like I need to read these again.

★★★☆☆ 

• Previous Sacketts Reviews

Destroyer (Expansion Wars #3) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Destroyer
Series: Expansion Wars #3
Author: Joshua Dalzelle
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 336
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The mystery Spectre ship has been hitting secret Federation outposts that not even most of the Federation knows exists. When the Tsuyo Corp puts pressure on the Fed Congress to not respond, Admiral Wright and her superior Pitt, are both very suspicious. Jackson Wolfe is let off his leash and given direct orders to find and destroy the Spectre.

He saves the sentient AI computer and it comes up with the idea that the Warlord controlling the Spectre is trying to gain control of all the former Phage ships lying around. This would allow the Warlord to pretty much rule Darshik and Human space uncontested.

Wolfe ends up having to sacrifice the AI to take out the Warlord and his Spectre. Now that the Darshik threat is taken care of, the Feds can begin to concentrate on the Eastern Star Union.

My Thoughts:

This was just like all the previous Expansion Wars books. Thankfully, Dalzelle sidelines Celesta Wright and as a very small side character she is great. Dalzelle just can't write more than one character at a time and Jackson Wolfe takes his attention. It's an obvious weakness of Dalzelle's and considering it is manifested in his Omega Force series as well, it's just something I as a reader will have to put up with.

The story was kind of blasé to be honest. It felt like this whole “trilogy” really should have been one longer book. While the trilogy storyline was pretty good, the particulars of each book fell kind of flat. The Darshiks and the Uushins just weren't very threatening and while the Warlord and the Spectre made a great villain, he wasn't giving much time as a “character”. I think there would have been a lot more tension if the “mystery” of the Uushin and the Darshik had never been and the Warlord had taken centerstage. I mean, a brainship? That is just cool.

I know I complained a lot. I still enjoyed this, but it was more of an “it's ok” enjoyment than a “Awesome, what a great book” enjoyment.

I do know that with the next Black Fleet related trilogy that Dalzelle writes, I'll be passing on reading each book as they come out. I'll just wait until the Reunification Wars trilogy is done and read them all in a row. I'm hoping that reading them closer in a row will allow for a better experience, kind of like what I had with the original Black Fleet

★★★☆☆ 

• New Frontiers (Book 1)
• Iron & Blood (Book 2)
• Black Fleet Trilogy (Book 1-3)

Martin Chuzzlewit ★★★★★

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Martin Chuzzlewit
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 954
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Martin Chuzzlewit, the Elder, has a falling out with his grandson, Martin Chuzzlewit, the younger. It all centers around the Elder's ward, Mary Graham. Both men being cut from the same cloth, ie, stubborn, they go their separate ways. The Younger to seek his fortune so as to be able to provide for Mary and the Elder amongst his other relatives to see if any of them are worthy of being his heir.

We meet a veritable cornucopia of people along the way.

Mr Pecksniff, a relative of the Chuzzlewit's. A more self-righteous, moralizing, hypocritical and thoroughly sleezy character you couldn't ask for. The Elder goes to live with Pecksniff and his 2 daughters. The Elder allows Pecksniff complete control over him so as to see if there is even one drop of selflessness in him. Also living with Mr. Pecksniff is Tom Pinch, a humble character who believes the best of everyone and while talented, always believes that it is the genius in others that makes his doings so good.

We have another branch of the Chuzzlewit family introduced and the father there dies soon after and the son, Jonas, takes over. Jonas is a mean, grasping, simple, villianous fellow. He marries one of his cousins, Pecksniff's younger daughter, for her dowry and then gets involved in a huge money scam. It is revealed that Jonas murdered his father so he could inherit and he, Jonas, then murders another fellow who knew of this and was the leader of the money scam. Jonas ends up penniless and commits suicide by poison on the way to jail to avoid the gallows.

The Younger meets up with Mark Tapley, a jolly fellow who believes it is his duty to serve under poor conditions so as to “bear up and be jolly”. Martin and Mark head to American, get boonswaggled into buying a swamp, almost die and then come back to Englad. Martin changes and realizes how selfish he has been and begins working on becoming a better man. Mark realizes that he's going to be jolly no matter what circumstances he's under, so he marries the widower of a local inn and decides to be a jolly taproom owner.

Tom Pinch, the assistant to Mr. Pecksniff, has always believed that Pecksniff walked on air. However, when he interrupts Pecksniff's plans to marry Mary Graham so as to get an even greater grasp on the Elder and to hurt the Younger, Tom has his eyes opened. He is secretly in love with Mary himself but knows she loves the Younger and honors that love. He does what he can to protect Mary and is fired by Pecksniff. He makes his way to London to his sister's and a friends and begins working as a clerk under mysterious circumstances. The friend, John Westlock, a rich young gentleman, falls in love with Ruth Pinch and by the end of the book they are married and Tom is living with them, bringing kindness and gentleness to all he comes into contact with.

Pecksniff is taken in by the money scam that Jonas is involved in and when the masterminds abscond to America with all the money, Pecksniff's estates became collateral for all the other people involved. The Elder reveals that he knows of his villianous ways concerning Mary and cuts Pecksniff out of his life for good. Pecksniff ends up a drunken hobo.

The Elder and the Younger are reconciled when both realize what asses they have been. The Younger marries Mary with the Elder's blessing and they live happily ever after.

My Thoughts:

It has been 10 years to the month since I last read Martin Chuzzlewit. So this re-read was definitely due. It was also a complete smashing success. Dickens give full reign to his verbosity but this time around, I was able to appreciate the wordsmithing that took place instead of being annoyed by the windy wordiness. Part of it was that Dickens is making his characters fully fleshed out with the long passages, the little, or not so little, passages of dialogue. He is building these characters from the ground up and much like a real person, they have quirks. Dickens gives us his characters, fully quirked!

While this is entitled Martin Chuzzlewit, I found that Tom Pinch was the real hero of this book. Dickens explores Selfishness through his characters, deliberate or otherwise and Tom Pinch is the antidote to that all. While others are sunk in schemes and plots, Mr Pinch is nothing but kindess and love. He seeks out ways to help anyone who comes across his path and takes upon his own back the rod meant for another. There were times where I wanted to just shout “You GO Tom Pinch!”

The rest of the side characters also made this book what it was. From Bailey the little rascal boy to Mrs. Gamp, to the survivors of Eden (the swamp Martin and Mark go to in America), to the politicians in America. Oh man, Martin's time in America was great. Dickens doesn't spare his cousins across the Pond one bit. Caricatured and lampooned, Dickens shows us a land that has not yet gone through the fire of its Civil War and it is not a pretty picture. Money, slander and violence were the watchwords then. Which goes to show that not much has really changed here in 175 years.

Now on to the two Martin's. None of this story would have happened if either of them weren't such pigheaded boneheads. Thankfully, Dickens doesn't make them the main focus of the story even while using them as the skeleton upon which the whole book hangs. The various side characters give us flesh, blood, emotion, etc, making for a pleasant read. If it was just a book about the side characters it would have gone “sploosh!” in a bloody, fluidy mess and if it was just a book about the Martins, it would have been Skeleton War, and honestly, who wants THAT in a Charles Dickens book?

yeah, yeah, I know. Putting in a gratuitous skeleton war picture in a Charles Dickens review. Shameless!

I found that I had to almost literally hold myself back from racing through this. Dickens was a wordsmith and I am finding that the goals in reading something from a wordsmith are different from the goals I have when reading something like Forgotten Realms. When I was in the right mind frame, I enjoyed the long, convoluted passages immensely. It was when I got impatient and tried to hurry things along that I ended up wishing that Dickens hadn't been quite so verbose. I feel that my time reading this was well spent though and that my time was rewarded with some great storytelling and some really good writing. Reading good writing is one of the best ways to learn how to spot bad writing. I also gave this my coveted “Favorite” tag. Now you know I mean serious business!

To end, this first step along my Dickens re-read path was completely successful. I appreciate his skill even more and I find his stories even more universal in touching upon humanity in all its glories and in all its shame. Bravo Mr Dickens!

★★★★★ 

• Martin Chuzzlewit Part I (2008 Review)
• Martin Chuzzlewit Part II (2008 Review)

Terrible Master Urd (Oh My Goddess! #6) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Terrible Master Urd
Series: Oh My Goddess! #6
Author: Kosuke Fujishima
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 140
Format: Paperback

Synopsis:

The first full book plot. Mara is trying to awaken the Lord of Terror and it is revealed that Urd is his heir. She's had her goddess license suspended for constantly lying and so is wide open to the temptation to take power whereever it may come from. LoT (Lord of Terror) possesses Urd and is on the way to destroying the whole universe. Keiichi gets captured and then accidently reveals that there is a master Total Destruction program. This allows Urd to release the wolf Fenrir and the LoT then jumps from Urd to Fenrir.

Fenrir/LoT then summons the Cosmic String (string theory plays a rather large part of this plot) and is going to cut it and so destroy the universe. Only he needs a goddess made 10 Dimensional scythe to do so. So the LoT jumps from Fenrir to Kei, as he knows that the 3 goddess will make one of those handy dandy 10D scythes to separate him from Kei's body. Belldandy disobeys 'daddy', ie The Lord and releases her seal, making her “Nigh Invulnerable!” (if you don't get the Tick reference, go read ben edlund's graphic novels).

The 3 goddesses trick LoT to jumping into a computer disk, hence freeing Kei and stopping the threat of the end of the universe. Skuld then wipes the disk clean with a magnet thus removing the threat of the LoT for good. The whole Yggrasil system is out of whack though, so there will be consequences. The book ends with Belldandy revealing that she is staying with Kei becomes she loves him and not because of the contract.

My Thoughts:

This was just ridiculous. 15 years ago I could read, accept and enjoy such ridiculousness with ease. It slid down my throat like a bite of chicken finger dipped in sweet&sour with some vegetable fried rice on top. Mmmmm! However, while I still really like said food concoction, the same can't be said for the shenanigans pulled here.

This was the first time that the manga-ka goes from a chapter by chapter story to an overarching plot and his lack of experience really shows. Things “just happen because” and they make zero sense. The revelation about Urd being part demon? I've been under the assumption that the Lord was the father of all 3 of the goddesses but with this revelation, does this mean that god sleeps around? Or is the Lord not actually god but just a super powerful angelic being? Fujishima just pulls explanations out of a hat to suit where he wants the story to go without thinking through the consequences of those explanations.

This was definitely slapstick humor. One thing I did laugh about was when LoT takes over Kei he, the LoT, threatens to hurt Kei by hitting himself on the head with a hammer. Now that is funny! The rest of it though, it kind of flew by me and made me go “huh” instead of laughing.

I know I've complained a lot here but this wasn't a bad volume, it was just a very juvenile volume. I do have to admit though that my heart kind of sank when I was done with this volume and I realized I had 42 more volumes to go.

On to the artwork! Here we get Keiichi possessed by the Lord of Terror. Goth Kei! His “look” and how the LoT used him was probably what saved this volume from a blasé 3star rating. I mean, look at him! Hahahahahaa.

★★★☆½

• Previous Oh My Goddess! Reviews

Robin: A Hero Reborn (Batman/Robin #3) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Robin: A Hero Reborn
Series: Batman/Robin #3
Author: Chuck Dixon & Alan Grant

Artist: Norm Breyfogle & Tom Lyle
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 192
Format: Paper Edition

Synopsis:

Tim Drake has been helping out Batman after the death of Tim's mother and his father's incapacitation by poison at the hand of the Obea Man. Batman refuses to allow Tim to don the Robin costume and tells Tim that disobediance in that regard will be where their partnership ends. Batman is dealing with with random people putting on skull masks and then committing crimes of whim. He tracks down the mastermind but is captured by the Scarecrow and subjected to several of his potions. Tim figures out what is going on and decides that he has to help Batman even if it means he can't ever be Robin. Tim saves Batman and Vicki Vale and Batman realizes and acknowledges that Tim IS capable of being the next Robin. A new suit is revealed and Tim becomes the next Robin.

Though his detective skills are up to snuff, the physical side of things aren't as well taken care off so Tim heads off to France to train under the last surviving Sensei of a martial art. While out one evening he sees a girl being harassed by a gang and tries to intervene. He gets his butt kicked, badly. He tracks them down and ends up rescuing Clyde Rawlins, a rogue DEA agent who is after the killers of his family. The gang leads back to Edmund Dorrance, aka the King Snake, the most dangerous man in the world, at least according to Lady Shiva.

Robin takes some street brawling lessons from Rawlins, finds out that Dorrance has gotten ahold of some manmade Bubonic Plague and plans to release it in Hong Kong so the mainland Chinese will get nothing when they take over Hong Kong in a few years. Lady Shiva is involved because she wants to pit herself against the King Snake. Robin takes some lessons from Shiva as well and eventually all 3 of them head to Hong Kong. They assault Dorrance's HQ where the plague is stored and stop it from being released. Rawlins' dies at the hands of the King Snake and Robin fights against him as well. Shiva has been playing a long game and tries to turn Robin into a killer and make him her protege, hence one-upping Batman. Robin refuses to murder Dorrance, so Shiva tosses Dorrance off of a 50story building.

Robin returns to Gotham and stops the gang that has transported all of Dorrance's fortunes. He cleans house and Batman tells him he did a good job and that he's truly ready to be Robin now.

My Thoughts:

Before I actually review anything. Buying books is dangerous. When I reviewed the 2 previous Batman/Robin books, I thought that I didn't own them so I read them in digital format. Well, when I went to pick this volume off of my shelf, low and behold, I saw that I DID own them. Sigh. I didn't buy it from Amazon, as it's not in my order history, so I'm guessing I bought it some time with a Barnes&Noble giftcard some Christmas. I just can't remember. So beware your bookshelves, they might have hidden surprises!!!

There is a quote from Clyde Rawlins that I feels sums this book up perfectly:

“But this is getting too freaky. Killer bimbo's, nazi plague bombs...

...I feel like I'm living out a National Enquirer headline.”

This was released soon after Jason Todd's death, as it was felt that Batman really did need a sidekick. So this is chockful of the 90's. The proto-EU is talked about, the ChiCom's takeover of Hong Kong, the styles, it was all good! I'm not sure how a young person of today would view that, or if it would just be something they pass over. But for me, it was a good trip down memory lane.

Now, that being said, I was probably 14 or 15 when I originally bought this Robin graphic novel and the next. I can see why I liked it so much. However, since I've changed just a little bit since then (my 40^th is coming up this year) my outlook has a bit more perspective to it now. The whole training thing? Packing 3 different styles in doesn't take weeks, it would take years. In comics, that is how it works though, but it was pretty obviously a “flaw” to me this time around. The billionaire blind super martial artist schtick was also on the gimmicky side.

However, I still really liked this. Tim Drake is a careful, introspective teenager who thinks before he reacts and plans as much as he can for the unknown. He doesn't allow himself to be overcome by his emotions and doesn't allow vengeance to be his driving force. In short, he is everything that a sidekick of the Batman needs.

The whole coloring side of things worked for me as well. I'm a big fan of bright and splashy costumes and the yellow and greens and reds were outstanding in the new suit. And thankgoodness no more short pants for Robin! It was very much a complimentary suit to Batman's in regards to what it was capable of.

This was a fun, fast paced adventure of the new Robin coming into his own. I'd highly recommend it to teens and recommend it to any fan of the Robins if they wanted a history lesson.

★★★★☆ 

• All Robinverse Posts
• A Death in the Family
• A Lonely Place of Dying

Temple of the Serpent (Warhammer: Thanquol & Boneripper #2) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Temple of the Serpent
Series: Warhammer: Thanquol & Boneripper #2
Author: C.L. Werner
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 416
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Thanquol is blamed for the loss of the warpstone in the previous book and various skaven faction leaders all plan on killing him. To survive, he goes on a mission with the assassin faction to wipe out the leader of a city sacred to that faction. The assassins were driven out long ago and a race of lizardmen took it over. Now it is up to Thanquol and a small army to penetrate a dangerous jungle, find the city, kill the leading magician and make it back home. Hopefully with loads and loads of loot.

There is a magic toad, who has the power of mathematics from the higher powers, that is orchestrating many strings. In response to the skavens coming to the city, he brings a boatload of humans to balance out the equation and to see what the final solution will be. The final solution? Every single human dies by the end of the book. Almost every single skaven is killed and the lizardman magician dies as well. The toad goes back to contemplating mathematics.

Thanquol gets back to the ship and after a fight with zombie pirates, abandons the ship in a lifeboat and the magic toad magically has it go back to the skaven capital. That is how the book ends.

My Thoughts:

I rather enjoyed this dark fantasy. Having a villain as the main character allows me to root against him and when things fall apart around him, it isn't a bad thing but a good thing. It also helps that skavens as a race are just despicably cowardly creatures and the author does a fantastic job of getting into Thanquol's head and showing how he can switch his thought process on a dime. Each skaven is completely self-centered, so what is good is what is good for them at that moment.

I knew that the human storyline was going to be a bloody mess, but I figured the mercenary guy, Graetz Adalwolf, might survive. I did not see him killing himself to escape the attention of the magical toad. Good call though, as that would probably end up having been hell on earth for Graetz. There was only one female human character, so she was the obvious love interest, but it was written in such a desultory manner that it was no surprise when she bites it at the end. In fact, with just a very small re-working, the whole human storyline could have been done away with. But since they provided at least half the blood and entrails, this story would only have been half as fun without them.

Boneripper. Once again, not really a character but a name. Thanquol seems to have quite the limited imagination when it comes to naming his rat ogres, so when they unsurprisingly die in one violent way or another, he just names the new one Boneripper. Bonerippers remind me more of a force of nature than a character. Kind of like a super violent magical spell that Thanquol has, but in the shape of an ogre.

Now, like I stated at the beginning, I did enjoy this. I only rolled my eyes once, right near the end. Some human zombies that the skaven army had encountered takes over the ship that Thanquol needs. Can anyone say “Pirates of the Caribbean”? Sigh. But it did allow the current Boneripper to die and become a food source for Thanquol on his magical boat ride back to his home. Ok, that whole “magical boat ride back home” thing had me rolling my eyes too.

But I still want to read the final book in the trilogy. Considering how I've felt about previous Warhammer books, that counts as a stunning success for me.

★★★☆☆ 

• Grey Seer (Book 1)
• Other Warhammer Reviews

The Voyage of the Sable Keech (Polity: Spatterjay #2) ★★★★☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Voyage of the Sable Keech
Series: Polity: Spatterjay #2
Author: Neal Asher
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 593
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Taylor Bloc, a reif and new leader of what is left of the Cult of Anubis the Risen, commissions a gigantic ship to be built on Spatterjay. He convinces all of the remaining cult reifs and a lot of those who had left, to pay for a voyage following in the footsteps of Sable Keech and at the end of voyage this will allow them all to undergo the change and get their original bodies back, just like Keech. He hires a bunch of Hoopers, convinces Janers Anders to come along and kidnaps Erlan to get her on board. Throw in that the Hive Mind Janers is working for is now dealing with another hive mind, the fact that Bloc is insane and controlling a hooder with Prador thrawl tech and that some golems show up on board without anyone knowing why and bam, you have a situation.

On top of that, Vrell, the young prador from the previous book survives and makes it to his now dead father's ship. He is infecteed with the spatterjay virus and doesn't know what that is going to lead to. A Prador war vessel comes from the Prador Kingdom on direct orders from the King to make sure that Vrell doesn't get off Spatterjay alive. Somehow the King has mastered the virus himself and doesn't want any but his descendants to have access to the powers it gives a prador. So it is up to Sniper, a Polity wardrone, to save a prador so said prador can cause chaos in the kingdom. Talk about irony.

The final storyline follows a giant whelk. Think a giant slug with tentacles and a conch shell. It is hunting down Erlan for killing one of it's offspring but gets sidetracked and ends up going after some other Hooper ships. A lot of carnage happens, a LOT!

In the end the golems are revealed as agents of the other hivemind, which is having an argument with itself and can't decide if splitting into 2 minds is worse than death or not. It decides to die. Sable Keech is revealed as one of the reifs, as he has been hunting down Blok for crimes in the Polity. Sniper and Polity AI come to an agreement with Vrell. The whelk gives up on her revenge and just has more babies.

My Thoughts:

Dropped this a whole star because of the giant whelk rape/sex scene. Yes, you read that right. Asher delivers a gigantic “nature in the raw” sex scene. Including a corkscrew penis. What the frack man!?!?!?!?!?!? And why the heck didn't I think to warn myself about it back in my review in 2011? I'm wondering if I repressed the whole thing.

Other than that, this was probably just as gory and violence filled as The Skinner. Of course, throwing a hooder into the mix was guaranteed to do that! I think this trilogy is the high tide of Asher's violence. I don't remember any of his other books quite reaching the heights scaled here. Some may be sad, some may be happy about that. I for one am in the sad group. Aliens and entrail ripping just go together in my book. Like peanutbutter and pickles on toast.

I liked this book. I liked all the various storylines and how they fleshed out each other even while not necessarily being needed for each other. I liked the few times that we really got to see the Old Captains in action. I thought the prador Vrell's storyline was the weakest. However, it did really come across to me just how long ago the Prador/Polity war was. It didn't happen 15 years ago. It's been long enough that most people aren't even sure it actually DID take place. Not only does the space continuum of the Polity continue to expand with each book, but so does the time side of things. This is a firmly established universe and little things like that remind us the readers of that fact.

One regret'y type thing is that after this trilogy I don't think we see the Hive Minds again. I would really like to see a book dedicated to that at some point. Oh well, if it hasn't happened by now, it probably won't.

★★★★☆ 

• The Voyage of the Sable Keech (2011 Review)
• All Previous Spatterjay Reviews
• All Previous "Polity" Reviews

Revolution (Omega Force #9) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Revolution
Series: Omega Force #9
Author: Joshua Dalzelle
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 334
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Lucky takes on a mission that will lead him to find out where his lot-mates are, if they still exist. During that process, Omega Force becomes embroiled in a plot to take down the ConFed by a sentient AI. During the action to take down the AI, Lucky is killed and Omega Force must go on.

The book ends with Lucky's lot-mates, the 36 surviving 700 series battlesynths, taking refuge on Terranovus, humanity's secret second planet. It also turns out that everything was orchestrated by some shadowy, mysterious figure who has a grudge against Jason Burke and the rest of Omega Force. And to top everything off, Lucky “might” not be dead afterall.

My Thoughts:

Another decent Omega Force novel. Everyone new we met in the previou book gets shunted aside and everyone new we meet in this book I'm guessing will be shunted aside in the next book. I have learned to simply accept that this is how Dalzelle operates.

Just based on the action, I was going to give this a half star bump, up to a coveted 3.5 (the crowd goes wild!) but the ending with the faux-mysterious antagonist taunting Burke and Lucky's not-demise, well, they kind of annoyed me. So OF keeps pace at 3 stars. Honestly, that's pretty good for an indie that churns out 1-3 books a year. Dalzelle has a good editor and it really shows because I'm never drawn out of the story by either bad grammar/punctuation/etc or really awkward “what does he mean” sentence structure.

No romantic entanglements in this book. Thank goodness. The focus is on the friendship between Lucky and the rest of Omega Force and I thought it was carried off pretty good. I found it interesting that Lucky was never meant to be a battlesynth nor how ANY of 700 series were meant to be. I am kind of hoping that we'll see more of the 700's in later books, but given Dalzelle's track record, I suspect they'll get used in 2 more books then never heard from again. He just can't flesh out side characters enough to make them last for multiple books.

I was satisfied with this read and plan on continuing the Omega Force series as it gets released. I have caught up to what Dalzelle has written, so no more backlog to go through.

★★★☆☆ 

• Previous Omega Force Reviews

Wayward (Wayward Pines #2) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Wayward
Series: Wayward Pines #2
Author: Blake Crouch
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF, Thriller
Pages: 324
Format: Digital Edition

* SPOILER ALERT *

I am usually not one to worry about spoilers in my reviews. However, this series seems to be predicated on the reader not knowing what is going to happen. As such, just giving fair warning that this review will spoil the heck out of the book. I will take the last paragraph to sum up my feelings without spoilers.

Synopsis:

There's a new sheriff in town and his name is Ethan Burke. He knows all the secrets of Wayward Pines and knows what David Pilcher is keeping from most of the residents, that they exist 1800 years in the future and that humanity is extinct and the world over run by mutant aberrations.

But when one of the residents turns up dead, stabbed and then drained of all blood, AND she was secretly working for Pilcher, Ethan has a real mystery on his hands. When it is revealed there is a group of people in Wayward Pines who are part of a secret society, Ethan must infiltrate them.

Ethan might be toe'ing Pilcher's party line of secrecy but when he reveals the truth to his wife and finds out that the children of the town are being brainwashed into thinking Pilcher is a god, Ethan must decide. Lies, deception, murder and safety? Or truth, honesty, trust and the chance of annihilation at the hands of the abbey's?

The book ends with Ethan successfully revealing the truth to all the town's residents and Pilcher, in revenge, turning off the electric fence that surrounds the town. Talk about a frakking cliff hanger!

My Thoughts:

Wow, wow, wow. I am very impressed here. After the roller coaster of the Pines, I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a couple who wanted truth and freedom more than comfort and security. Dang, we need more books with people making hard choices like that. I'm not sure I felt “inspired” after reading this, but it sure was close.

Anyway, this took place in just a couple of days. It was kind of a whirlwind experience. Burke has to investigate a murder that ends up leading back to Pilcher, figure out how to tell his wife the truth without getting them all killed, take back his son Ben from a school system that is obviously brain washing him AND somehow let the whole town know the truth of their situation without getting them all killed or sending them into suicidal despair.

There was also a very small side story about one of Pilcher's men who has been out wandering the wilderness, figuring out how to survive amongst the abbeys. Of course, it is revealed that he's Ethan's former boss and Theresa's lover while Ethan was in cold storage. Talk about a drama just waiting to explode and destroy everything! I expect the final book to be rather explosive.

I really liked how Ethan took charge and let the whole secret out of the bag. Consequences or Pilcher's wrath be damned. This was the whole “Live Free or Die” mentality that I like so much about my state. Sadly, it's not everyone that can handle it, as most of the United States today proves. * very sad face *

So why the 3.5star rating? Here's my issues. If the whole human race degenerated in a mere 2000 years, then the humans in Wayward Pines only have 2000 years until their descendants degenerate. Actually, less than 2000 since they have a much smaller gene pool. Throw in “millions” of abbey's and that number shrinks to probably 1 generation. Pilcher has spent billions of dollars just to play god for 30 to 40 years? The bigger issue for me was how the book ended. I'd classify it as a mega-cliffhanger. The whole town is now open to the abbeys as part of Pilcher's fit of pique? It didn't bother me as much as it might have because I have the final book and the choice to go immediately to it or to wait. But since the whole trilogy wasn't written all at once, it would have totally pissed me off if I was reading these as they came out. Not cool.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, just as much as the first book and I am really looking forward to the final novel in this trilogy.

★★★☆½

• Pines (Book 1)