Sunday, May 31, 2009

May '09

BLEACH #23-25
-T. Kubo-manga

THE LOST FLEET: VALIANT
-J. Campbell-scifi
-284-much better than the 3rd book. More space fighting. Also a traitor trying to kill Alliance people and ships. And the alien side of things gets explored a little more. Geary admits he is in love with Capt Desjani. Enjoyed this.

THE SWAN'S WAR: THE ONE KINGDOM
-S. Russell-fantasy
-517-a land was torn asunder in the distant past by 3 siblings. Today the land groans under a schism of two families. But the Siblings' spirits have returned to finish what they could not last time, conquer all. Follows the adventures of different people caught up in this whirlwind. Very slow for the first 9/10th's of the book and no huge gratuitous displays of magic. 3 people have been "possessed" by the ancient siblings. I'm looking forward to the next book.

XXXHOLIC #13
-Clamp-manga

THE LOST FLEET: RELENTLESS
-J. Campbell-scifi
-320-the Lost Fleet finally makes it back to Alliance territory. In spite of overwhelming odds, alien intervention and sabotage by officers in his own fleet, Geary makes it home. Ends with them planning a raid on the Syndic CEO homeworld to cut the head off of the snake and then deal with the aliens as best they can. A good cut off point for the series, but maybe he'll do one more in this series? Just checked the bibliography on his website, John G Hemry and it looks like he WILL be writing another book, due out in '10.

KING RAVEN: TUCK
-S. Lawhead-historical fiction
-443-the finale to the Robin Hood legend. Bran enlists the help of other Cymry [welshmen] and some Freinc lords and forces Rufus for the rulership of Elfael. So the story ends happily, unlike the original Robin Hood legend. I enjoyed this, but it all just seemed a bit to pat at the end. Everybody just goes "oh, ok, lets do the right thing after years of not and call it a day". But it was an ending that made sense, even if I didn't particularly care for it :-)

TAKEN: THE CANDLE OF DISTANT EARTH
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-262-the gang all make home to their respective homeworlds. However, Walker and George both decide, just as they find our solar system, that they have "grown" and that now they want to travel. Gee, wish they had decided that before they set out with a whole fleet! And the Villinji who kidnapped them and has been chasing them, well, what do you know? He has a sudden change of perspective and sees that maybe other sentients aren't just "goods" to be sold. How heartwarming . Foster forced this ending and it didn't fit with everything that had gone on before. Glad I never bought these.

STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS: JEDI TWILIGHT
-M. Reaves-fantasy
-343- Den and I-Five, from the Med-Star duology show up trying to find Pavan's son[from Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter]. Jax is his name and he is/was a jedi. Takes place after Revenge of the Sith, so the Jedi are being hunted. Jax is a whiner and a loser and I didn't like him at all. I was more interested in Den and I-Five. Also has a big Xizor tie-in[prequel info for Shadows of the Empire]. This book could go either way with fans. Either like it for the tie-in info or dislike it for its complete mediocrity. While I enjoyed the Med-Star duology, I didn't care for this at all. It does, however, show how the remaining Jedi felt after Revenge of the Sith.

THE CHARMED SPHERE
-C. Asara-fantasy
-473-a world where magic is defined by shape [for power] and color[for type]. A really cool premise. A small kingdom is under threat from a neighboring kingdom and must use its mages to supplement it's army. So it sounded good. Then I met the characters. Bunch of whiny, pansy, selfish, no self confidence bunch of pathetic losers. The characters teenager'ish angst and self-doubt completely ruined this book for me. It was not enjoyable and I will not be reading any more by Asara.

VISIONS OF FANTASY
-I. Asimov, editor-fantasy
-180-a series of short stories by different well know fantasy writers. YA, but written well enough that I enjoyed the stories very much too.

THE CROWN OF THE ISLES: THE GODS RETURN
-D. Drake-fantasy
-398-a VERY satisfying ending to the Lord of the Isles, Crown of the Isles series. Garric and Co face the invasion of 'new' gods since the Change did away with all of their old familiar gods. So of course, they break up into groups and go fight. And by the end, Ilna, Cashel and Sharina end up Ascending and become the new Sister, Shepherd and Lady. Pretty cool actually. I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. The writing, while familiar, didn't grate on me like Mirror of Worlds did. It seemed a bit fresher, more polished. Really enjoyable and a good, happy ending.

REBORN! #6 & 7
-A. Amano-manga

FRUITS BASKET #22
-N. Takaya-manga

CROSSROADS: SHADOW GATE
-K. Elliott-fantasy
-475-the hopelessness of the characters really grated on me. What can they do, as mere humans, when supernatural powers, for good, have turned bad? It was once again unnecessarily sensual. Violent. I just don't know if I'll even read the others as they come out. This just depressed me.

PIP & FLINX: RUNNING FROM THE DEITY
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-255-Pip goes to a low tech world to hide and get repairs. Instead of staying hidden in his ship, he goes out and makes contact with the natives, setting a war in motion. He, and the A.I. of the ship, stop the war and take off. This was PATHETIC! Nothing but Pip feeling bad for himself and doing stupid things and feeling bad about those, etc, etc. Foster has totally lost the FUN that started this series. Boooo!

STAR WARS: CORUSCANT NIGHTS: STREET OF SHADOWS
-M. Reaves-fantasy
-306- much better! Jax has matured enough to stop being a whiner. The gang ends up trying to find out who the murderer of a famous Camaasi artist is, because his assistant wants help getting off world. Vader hires a jedi-killer to hunt Jax. That doofus Captain from the prequels, Typho, is on some vendetta to avenge Padme, cause apparently he was in love with her. That story arc was just LAME! Better than the first book, but definitely NOT a "buy" book.

COREAN CHRONICLES: ALECTOR'S CHOICE
-L.E. Modesitt, Jr-fantasy
-510-set thousands of years before the first trilogy. The ifrit's are cultivating Corus, and another planet Efron, as possible replacements to their current homeworld. Both are vying to be the home of the Master Scepter. This story deals with the Alector [ifrit] and the Cadmium [human] who have to deal with uprisings, etc that threaten to bias the Archon on their current homeworld against Corus. Overall this story reminded me a LOT more of a Recluce book. It took me over a week to read it and it just didn't engage me like the original trilogy. Plodding, that is a good word for this book. The 2 main characters were completely un-engaging. The plot has enough stuff hidden way for the future books that I was constantly trying to figure out if something I didn't understand would be explained later in this book, in another book, or not at all. Not a good thing for a smooth read.

TRANSLUCENT #1
-K. Okamoto-manga

YU-GI-OH! #1-3
-K. Takahashi-manga

THE SWAN'S WAR: THE ISLE OF BATTLE
-S. Russell-fantasy
-467-absolutely fantastic. Haffyd goes after Alaard to kill him and Elise chases after Alaard to save him. Fills out the picture in regards to the Children of Wyrr, who have taken on human hosts to live again. Engaging, quick [not slow like The One Kingdom] and opens up an even bigger world than we thought. Wyrr, and his Brother Aillyn are at odds. I know this is a trilogy, so I have to wonder how Russell is going to wrap everything up in 1 book.

CRYPTONOMICON
-N. Stephenson-fiction
-UNFINISHED-gay brits, violent marines, math, and 3 story lines that have no relation to eachother 150 pages into the story. Not going to waste any more of my time.

THE COUNCIL WARS: EMERALD SEA
-J. Ringo-fantasy
-490-Herzer and Co go south to some islands to make an alliance with mer-people to take preventative action against Paul's plans to invade across the ocean. Ok, no more of this series for me. Lots and lots of sex stuff. It was a naval story with dragons. And lots of sex, that didn't have anything to do with the story other than to spice it up. Bleh.

REBORN! #8
-A. Amano-manga

NOBLE DEAD: REBEL FAY
-B. & J.C. Hendee-fantasy
-416-the group goes into Elven land to find Leesil's mom. They give up their weapons and "trust" the elves, who are really bent on destroying them. Kind of like the U.N. and the United States. So basically everybody acts like a complete idiot and nobody even tries to think. They rescue his mom and then leave. Chap finds out his memory has been selectively sliced, at birth, by the Fay, so he is just a tool. It was just to much with everybody reacting like they were on hair-triggers instead of actually trying to think. And Leesil needs a good beatdown to get rid of his attitude.

PIP & FLINX: TROUBLE MAGNET
-A.D. Foster-scifi
-272-Flinx gets involved with some gang kids while trying to decide if humanity is worth saving. Basically, Foster slaps on the name of Pip and Flinx to sell this mediocre Commonwealth novel. A bit of action, and very little whining by Flinx, make this book mediocre instead of abysmal. Foster appears to have run out of ideas, real ideas, for Flinx and this novel really shows that. Nothing original, nothing exciting, no advancement of the "Must stop the BIG BAD Thing that will destroy us all" plot [which is really lame imo anyway], in fact, so much nothing that without Foster's name on it, this book would have died before ever getting out into the wild. I just want this series to end now. Foster has ruined it completely by trying to milk it for close to 30 years. Shame on him!