Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: June 2015

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Odd Interlude (Odd Thomas #5)

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: Odd Interlude

Series: Odd Thomas

Author: Dean Koontz

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Pages: 289

Synopsis:

Odd Thomas, on his way to stop something or other, stops into a small town. And for goodness sake, discovers phracking E.T.

And E.T. would rather EAT you than make your stupid bike fly.

My Thoughts:

This was loads and loads more enjoyable than the previous book. Hijackings, crashes, explosions, gun battles. This was Odd Thomas at his quirkiest and his best.

Odd was in fine voice and his asides and whatnot were exactly what I was expecting and hoping for. The parts of the story written by the little girl [well, 12'ish I believe] were pretty good too. It made me laugh when she assumes Odd is "old", like maybe 30, or EVEN 35. Got to love time.

My only quibble was with how the dna thing worked. I know recently that "dna" is the big thing and "You Too Can Gain Superpowers, by Just Injecting This 'Stuff' Into You" is what is presented. I can usually ignore it, but this time it had me rolling my eyes.

So folks, DON'T WORRY! If some bugger sticks you with a syringe full of alien goop, you will simply DIE! You WILL NOT turn into an ALIEN. I hope that sets your minds at ease. I know I'll sleep better with that very important reminder. Because come on, admit it, doesn't everyone secretly worry about being turned into a hideous, cannibalistic alien/human hybrid?

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1193886/odd-interlude-odd-thomas-5

Monday, June 29, 2015

Battle of Loum (Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin #7) (Manga)

Review:

Title: Battle of Loum

Series: Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin

Author & Artist: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Manga

Pages: 420

Synopsis:

The War between Zeon and the Federation erupts! What has been 2 page flashbacks in previous books takes on horrifying proportions as we see the destruction of a whole colony and its catastrophic plunge onto Earth.

We see the War almost sputter to a stop and then inflamed into an inferno by people on both sides.

My Thoughts:

Oh man! This volume blew my mind.

It was horrifying. It showed "War" exactly how many people view it.

The story was terrifically good however. So much awesomeness packed into 1 volume. And once again, the art was the best part, but this time it was matched by the story. That is why this got 5 Stars.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1192310/battle-of-loum-mobile-suit-gundam-the-origin-7-manga

Sunday, June 28, 2015

King Solomon's Mines (Allan Quatermain #1) (Classic)

Review:

Title: King Solomon's Mines

Series: Allan Quatermain

Author: Henry Haggard

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Classic

Pages: 228

Synopsis:

An "old" elephant hunter leads out 2 other englishmen and one Zulu in search of the fabled diamond mines of Solomon.

One of the englishman is in search of his brother who has been lost these several years and the Zulu has his own secrets.

Fighting Nature, fighting Man, fighting for survival. It all happens in this book.

My Thoughts:

With my reading mainly taking place in the realms of SFF, action and adventure are a given. So this historical novel had to live up to those modern expectations.

Also, the cultural attitudes were very much of the times and hence the Europeans were simply better. In everything. I would call it negligent racism, as opposed to hostile racism.

Overall, glad I read this but I won't be reading any more in this series. I need at least dinosaurs eating people in my classic adventures these days, something more than just exploring the world.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1191698/king-solomon-s-mines-allan-quatermain-1-classic

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Homeworld (Odyssey One #3)

Review:

Title: Homeworld

Series: Odyssey One

Author: Evan Currie

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 507

Synopsis:

The other Political Bloc on Earth has created their own FTL ship and sent it off to explore an earth like planet.

Said spaceship runs into the Drasin and leads them to Earth.

It is now up to the Odyssey and its crew to save the Earth. If that is even possible against 2,000 Drasin ships.

My Thoughts:

Bloody fantastic. And spoilers galore.

This was pretty much one ginormous battle. We see the handlers of the Drasin for the first time and we see how the Drasin are being controlled, or not. Horrific really. Sentients sure are stupid, thinking they can control things that they really can't.

The battle for Earth was awesome. Humanity pulling moves out of its collective butt and doing things that no other race has tried, and succeeding.

Which made the ending all the more poignant. If you've ever watched Titan, A.E., you know how this book ends. Or at least that is the impression the author gives. Earth falls, a remnant of humanity taking refuge with the Priminae and hope splutters out like a candle under a bucketful of water.

I am really looking forward to the final book in this series [even though there is another series Currie has started that takes place after this one and that series starts with King of Thieves].

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1191354/homeworld-odyssey-one-3

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Fireblood (Whispers from Mirrowen)

Review:

Title: Fireblood

Series: Whispers from Mirrowen

Author: Jeff Wheeler

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: YA Fantasy

Pages: 440

Synopsis:

The plagues continue to wipe out humanity. One man attempts to lead a talented group to the Scourgelands to wipe out what he thinks is the source of the plagues.

Only to fail horrifically and have everyone in his group but one wiped out.

Now, almost 20 years later, armed with the information gathered from last time, this man must try again, with the child of the final survivor and a disparate group.

But how can this group fulfill this mission when they don't trust each other, or even the man himself who set things in motion?

My Thoughts:

I really, really enjoyed Wheeler's Muirwood trilogy and so was looking forward to this a lot.

Unfortunately, the Young Adult really showed through in this. Wheeler is writing for the teen crowd and while nothing he does is wrong, it just isn't aimed at me.

A good adventure story with 3 semi-likable teens [and come on, anyone who has EVER had to deal with teens knows they aren't likeable all the time, no matter how great they may be] who are having their coming of age ordeal. The storyline is fun, the adventure fast paced and the characters interesting.

I just found myself wishing this was over too many times. I'll be reading the second book in this trilogy when I roll around to it again on my kindle. I'll be deciding if Wheeler is for me or not for the rest of time based on that book :-)

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1189164/fireblood-whispers-from-mirrowen

Friday, June 19, 2015

Deathstalker (Deathstalker #1)

Review:

Title: Deathstalker

Series: Deathstalker

Author: Simon Green

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 531

Synopsis:

Took this from the book page itself:

Owen Deathstalker, last of his line, is a quiet man, a historian, remote from the stench of corruption and intrigue surrounding the Iron Throne at the head of the galaxy-spanning, tyrannical Empire. And then, inexplicably, Deathstalker is outlawed, forced to flee from one end of the Empire to the other. And as he does so, he discovers that resistance is growing, everywhere, to the Iron Bitch on the Iron Throne.

That is actually a really good summary.

My Thoughts:

Space Opera! Pure, unalloyed, unadulterated, unashamed, Space Opera!

Corrupt Human Empire. Telepaths, other ESP'ers, clones, all without rights. Feuding lords. Rebels and Rebellion. Laser guns AND swords.

And just to make sure this was completely over the top, a spaceship that was also a stone castle. A Castle, In Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace!

This was just fun to read. I did have to laugh, as the cover said something like "huge novel" or something [this was originally published in '95] and it was just over 500 pages.

Story-wise, this moved along very nicely from viewpoint to viewpoint and kept things fresh. Solid writing and good ideas made for a very good start to this series. And the revelations along the way promise to make the future books interesting as well.

I'm very satisfied with my read of this.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1187056/deathstalker-deathstalker-1

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The Yellow Silk (The Rogues #4) (Forgotten Realms)

Review:

Title: The Yellow Silk

Series: The Rogues, Forgotten Realms

Author: Don Bassingthwaite

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 320

Synopsis:

A trading ship is attacked by pirates and one of the traders has helped them.

Now a brother of said traitor must find out what happened and either kill his brother's killer or his brother himself.

And just to make things all ethnically ok, this is about a character from the eastern empire of Shou, where they just happen to have epicanthic folds, know martial arts and have all sorts of unusual weaponry.

So said Shou hooks up with a bard and they have an adventure.

My Thoughts:

Not bad at all. Token Asian character was so quick tempered and was always acting out that it pissed me off, but at least he wasn't some wizened Mr Myogi father figure.

It has been a while since I started this Rogues series so it is hard to compare this to the others, but I do know that I enjoyed this more than the previous one. This was an enjoyable one shot story that wrapped up just fine and was worth the time I spent on it.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1185949/the-yellow-silk-the-rogues-4-forgotten-realms

Friday, June 12, 2015

The Zenda Vendetta (Time Wars #4)

Review:

Title: The Zenda Vendetta

Series: Time Wars

Author: Simon Hawke

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 210

Synopsis:

The Time Commando's head out to mop up the last of the time terrorists, who are hellbent on causing a time split and potentially ending the universe.

However, the Commando's don't have all the info, as their commander has held back some very personal revelations.

My Thoughts:

First book where I hadn't read the original book this was based on. To be honest, I don't feel like I missed a thing and I also have no desire to search and read The Prisoner of Zenda.

That rat Mongoose [how ironic] is finally killed for real.

This was mainly about the head of the Time Commando's, Forrester and how his past actions are coming back to bite him, and everyone else in his timestream, in the butt.

Passable action but not quite enough to take your attention away from the lack of characterization and overall b-list writing.

Mediocre is the best word I can use to describe this. Good enough to keep reading for awhile but it does mean that if things don't change, that this series' death knell has tolled.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1183732/the-zenda-vendetta-time-wars-4

Thursday, June 11, 2015

The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft

Review:

Title: The New Annotated H.P. Lovecraft

Series: -----

Author: H.P. Lovecraft, Leslie Klinger

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Horror

Pages: 1008

Synopsis:

A compendium of Lovecraft's stories with historical, geographical and misc data footnotes to make this a fuller experience.

My Thoughts:

First, I found the annotation to be completely useless. Being from New England myself, most of the geographic and historical data wasn't new to me and the bits that weren't, I didn't care about.

There were also pictures of places where stories took place. I don't care to see the "Fuller House, repaired in 1997".

A lot of the historical and literary annotations I knew about as well. I'm just well read and experienced enough that this stuff wasn't for me. I definitely wasn't the target audience for the annotations side of things.

Second, the quality of the stories varied so greatly that I wasn't sure what I was getting into from page to page. Some were incredible, some were just complete and utter stinkers. Sometimes I believed the horrorness of the "unnameable horror" and at other times I was rolling my eyes so hard that my glasses practically jumped off my face.

Thirdly, I really wish I had this back in my teen years. I found so many things that other books I've read referenced. It would have made for a much richer reading experience. However, better late than never and I look forward to finding future Lovecraftian influence in the horror books I read.

Finally, I don't regret the time I spent on this monster book but I do wish more of the stories had been of higher caliber.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1183305/the-new-annotated-h-p-lovecraft