Elantris ★★★✬☆

 

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Title: Elantris
Series: ----------
Authors: Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 621
Words: 205K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Elantris was once a place of magic, and the immortal Elantrians were gods in the eyes of people, with the divine ability to create and heal with a mere wave of a hand. Anyone in Arelon had the potential to become an Elantrian through a magical transformation known as the Shaod. But ten years ago, a cataclysm known as the Reod somehow destroyed the magic of Elantris, the inhabitants of the city became "cursed," and the city was sealed off from society. Anyone affected by the Shaod is now thrown into Elantris to stay there forever, still immortal, but cursed with unquenchable hunger and unhealable pain.

The book focuses on three principal characters whose stories intertwine. Much of the book occurs in groupings of three chapters, one for each of the three main characters. The majority of the story takes places within the country of Arelon.

Main characters

There are three main point-of-view characters in the story:

Prince Raoden, the prince of Arelon, is transformed into an Elantrian at the beginning of the book. After the Reod, Elantrians were cursed with dark splotches on their skin and hair falling out. The cursed cannot die or be killed except by drastic measures, such as burning or beheading. A major part of the curse is that their bodies can not repair themselves, so they continue to feel the pain of a stubbed toe or bruise forever. Over time the minor injuries accumulate, eventually driving them all insane. Elantrians do not need to eat, but they feel torturous hunger when they don't. Once Raoden is transformed, he is immediately sent to Elantris in secret while his father pretends he has suddenly died. Raoden's storyline centers on his efforts to retain his sanity and improve the Elantrian way of life beyond the anarchy to which it succumbed when Elantris fell. He does this by displaying amazing skills as a leader and getting the Elantrians to focus on work, as opposed to their constant suffering. He also manages to calm and disperse or incorporate the gangs which were terrorizing new Elantrians upon their arrival.

Princess Sarene is the princess of Teod and would have been Raoden's political bride had he not been cursed. Raoden has never personally met her, so it comes as a surprise to her when she discovers upon her arrival in Arelon that they are considered to have been married if either of them dies before the wedding. Widow of a supposedly dead prince and a new member of the mostly ill-suited Arelon nobility, she struggles to find out what exactly is going in all affairs concerning the nobility of Arelon, the downtrodden common people of Arelon and Elantris, and what exactly happened to her now deceased husband. Sarene's storyline follows her attempts to stabilize and improve the monarchy and political system, which encouraged nobles to mistreat the peasants. While spending her time in Arelon, she learns of Gyorn Hrathen, and relies upon her knowledge and skills to prevent his religious revolution.

Gyorn Hrathen, a Derethi gyorn, otherwise known as a high-ranking priest, arrives in Arelon with a mandate to convert the country to the Derethi religion within three months' time, or his religion's supposed armies will come to destroy the entire nation of Arelon. He parades around the nation to spread propaganda with the intention to make Arelenes hate Elantris and Shu-Korath, and, in turn, convert to Derethi. He takes advantage of the corrupt nobility of the region in order to reach his end goal, often holding secret meetings with them that involve bribery. Hrathen's storyline focuses on his efforts towards politically maneuvering the Arelene aristocracy, with the ultimate intention being to place a converted Derethi on the throne. The novel occasionally focuses on his inward struggles as he feels he must come to terms with the religion he is supposed to believe, for even he questions his work ethic at times.

Aons

These are central to the book's plot. They are the means by which the Elantrians perform magic. Many characters' names are variations on the Aons, as is customary in this fantasy world. The images of the many Aons can be found in the back of the book. Raoden rediscovers many of the Aons while in Elantris, preserved in scrolls that have not been consumed by the decay of the city. He learns to invoke the Aons, but finds they have lost their power, which is the ultimate cause of Elantris' collapse. Near the end of the book, Sarene helps Raoden discover that the shapes of the Aons coincide with physical landmarks and natural features located around the country. A massive fissure in the earth that now cuts through the country 'altered' these landmarks, which in turn caused the Aons to lose their power. By 'reconstructing' the Aons to now incorporate the fissure in their design, Raoden restores the Aons' power. After realizing that Elantris and its surrounding cities are just one big Aon, he draws a giant line to represent the fissure, which restores Elantris and the Elantrians to their former glory.

My Thoughts:

Back in the day (from 2006 onward), Sanderson was the king of fantasy in my eyes. Everything he was writing was resonating with me. His stories were what I wanted to read. Then I got married, life happened and I've changed albeit so slowly that it wasn't really noticeable to me. Back in '19, Matt did a review of Elantris and while it has taken me almost 2 years, I've gotten around to re-reading it myself.

My recent re-read of his Mistborn books showed me that yes indeed I had changed. This re-read of Elantris really cemented that. I've been complaining about how Sanderson has gone the young adult route with his books and how I lamented that choice. Well, after reading his older stuff, it does appear that he's always BEEN young adult and I just didn't notice because it fit me so well at the time. Now that I've changed, I notice the rubs. Arggggg! Sometimes growing up isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I think Peter Pan would agree.

Overall, I did enjoy this re-read. Sanderson shows his ability to be creative with magic systems (something that nobody has surpassed him in yet, just copied in one way or another) and his propensity for wordiness and descriptive bloat are in full view. If you like having all that detail, then you won't be disappointed. If that type of thing bothers you, then I'd recommend not reading Sanderson. He's got the wordiness of Charles Dickens but without being “at that level”. He's definitely way above the majority of most authors in the SFF arena, but he's not a classic.

Sanderson wrote another series, Alcatraz versus ….., and it had been left in limbo due to publishing issues. He finished it up and I was planning on re-reading the previous books and then reading the final book. After this journey through Mistborn and Elantris, I think I'm going to wait a bit. I feel like I am in mourning for who I used to be.

This experience is one of the reasons I try to re-read books. They are yardsticks against which I can measure myself. Books don't change, I do but they do allow me to see that change.

★★★✬☆

• Elantris (2006 Review)

Summer Lightning ★★★★☆

 

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Title: Summer Lightning
Series: Blandings Castle #3
Authors: PG Wodehouse
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Humor
Pages: 240
Words: 84K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Hugo Carmody, who became secretary to Lord Emsworth following the failure of The Hot Spot, the night club he ran with Ronnie Fish, is conducting a secret affair with Millicent Threepwood, Emsworth's niece. They hide this from Lady Constance, who is distracted with worries that the book of memoirs her brother Galahad is writing will bring shame to the family.

Ronnie, meanwhile, is secretly engaged to Sue Brown, a chorus girl and an old friend of Hugo. When they run into Lady Constance in London one day, Ronnie introduces Sue as Myra Schoonmaker, an American heiress he and his mother Lady Julia recently met in Biarritz.

Ronnie travels to Blandings, where Baxter has just returned, called in by Lady Constance to steal the memoirs. Hoping to get money out of Lord Emsworth, his trustee, Ronnie claims to love pigs, but his uncle has seen him bouncing a tennis ball on the Empress' back, and is enraged. Ronnie, inspired, steals the pig, planning to return it and earn his uncle's gratitude, roping in Beach to help; they hide her in a cottage in the woods.

Hugo is sent to London to fetch a detective; the job is refused by Percy Pilbeam. Hugo takes Sue out dancing, but when Ronnie arrives at the club he sees Pilbeam, who admires Sue, sat at her table. Ronnie gets angry at Pilbeam, makes a scene, spends a night in jail, and in the morning snubs Sue, who he believes has betrayed him. Millicent, feeling the same about Hugo, breaks off their engagement also. Meanwhile, Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe, worrying about the memoirs, hires Pilbeam to retrieve them; Pilbeam agrees, realising he can use the pig-finding job to get into the castle.

Sue heads to Blandings, posing as Myra Schoonmaker. Just after her arrival, Mortimer Mason, Sue's employer, visits Galahad in the library to discuss the memoirs. He recognizes Sue in the garden and talks about her, so Galahad learns her true identity, sharing the knowledge only with Sue. Percy Pilbeam arrives, recognises Sue, and tries to get her help in his memoir-stealing scheme. Baxter, meanwhile, has grown suspicious that the pig was stolen by Carmody as a means of insuring his job; he spots Beach heading off to feed the pig, and follows him, just as the storm breaks.

Beach reaches the cottage to find Hugo and Millicent, gone there to shelter from the rain. Their relationship is healed, Hugo having explained about Sue and Ronnie, and Beach, protecting Ronnie, claims he stole the pig for Hugo to return and win Lord Emsworth's favour. Beach leaves, as Carmody takes the pig to a new hiding spot.

Baxter accuses Beach in front of Emsworth, and the three of them head to the cottage, Emsworth growing ever warier of Baxter's sanity. They find no pig, Carmody having moved it to Baxter's caravan, where Pilbeam, also caught in the rain, saw him stow it. While Emsworth, Lady Constance, Gally and Millicent go to dinner with Parsloe-Parsloe (lured away to leave the memoirs unguarded), Ronnie Fish confronts Pilbeam, and learns that Sue was indeed out in London with Carmody, and that she has come to Blandings to be near Ronnie.

Pilbeam gets tipsy, and tells Beach about Sue, and then tells Carmody that he saw him hide the pig. Carmody, in a panic, calls Millicent at Matchingham Hall; she advises him to tell Emsworth where the pig is at once. He does so, Emsworth is overjoyed, and agrees to their marriage, much to Lady Constance's disgust.

Meanwhile, Baxter intercepts a telegram meant for Lady Constance from Myra Schoonmaker in Paris, and goes to the imposter Sue's room to retrieve a note he sent her, criticising Lord Emsworth. Trapped by Beach bringing her dinner, he hides under the bed while she and Ronnie are reunited. Ronnie spots Pilbeam climbing into the room to steal Galahad’s memoirs, and chases him downstairs; the returning dinner party assume they are fleeing Baxter, now confirmed as mad by the presence of the stolen pig in his caravan, and Emsworth charges into Sue's room with a shotgun. Baxter crawls out from under the bed, flustered and enraged by his experience and Emsworth's harsh words, reveals Sue's deception and storms off.

Galahad, learning that Sue Brown is Dolly Henderson's daughter, reveals that he loved her mother but was forbidden to marry her, and views Sue as a kind of honorary daughter. He tells Lady Constance that he will suppress his book if she agrees to sanction Sue and Ronnie's marriage, and to persuade her sister Julia to do likewise. Pilbeam, hearing this as he once again climbs the drainpipe, gives up his mission, leaving Galahad to tell Sue the old story of Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe and the prawns.

My Thoughts:

First off, somehow I skipped over the second book in this “very loose” series and I think I know how it happened. Book 2 is called “Leave It To Psmith” and it is part of another series by Wodehouse about some chappie named Psmith. So technically, it is book 2 of Blandings Castle and book 4 of Psmith. Good thing it isn't confusing at all eh? I've got it sorted out now though, so at some point I'll eventually get around to it. Not sure if it will be next or the last one I read.

On to this book.

Wodehouse has a short introduction and one of the paragraphs goes thusly:

“A certain critic – for such men, I regret to say, do exist – made the nasty remark about my last novel that it contained ‘all the old Wodehouse characters under different names’. He has probably by now been eaten by bears, like the children who made mock of the prophet Elisha: but if he still survives he will not be able to make a similar charge against Summer Lightning. With my superior intelligence, I have outgeneralled the man this time by putting in all the old Wodehouse characters under the same names. Pretty silly it will make him feel, I rather fancy.”

Now, how can you read something like that and expect this book to be anything but an uproariously good time? The answer is that you can't. Unless you're a horrible person without a good sense of humor. If that describes you, I will pray for you. Because you're going to need it! It is a little known fact but amongst the deepest of the theologians and apologists for Christianity it is known that Saint Peter will ask everyone just one question that will determine if they get into heaven or not. That question is “Did you like PG Wodehouse?” Astounding, isn't it? I always knew I was a good Christian!

Since you've had your theology lesson, time to move on to the bits and bobs of the book. In many ways I am enjoying these more than the Jeeves & Wooster series and I put that down squarely to having many more “main characters” than just J&W. While each novel so far has had 2-3 “main” characters, most of the time they don't get any more time than 3-4 other side characters. So you end up with 5-6+ characters all running around doing their thing and Wodehouse deftly weaves in the humor and misunderstandings that make me roar with laughter. It really does feel like I am reading a “weaving”, a tapestry of human humor and silliness.

I am hoping the larger cast of characters can keep things fresher, as J&W were getting stale by the end.

★★★★☆

• All of My "Wodehouse" Reviews

• All of My “Blandings Castle” Reviews

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #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: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2
Authors: Peter Laird & Kevin Eastman
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 42
Words: 3K

Synopsis:

Dr Baxter and his assistant April have created robotic mousers to help with the city's rodent problem. Baxter goes nutso and decides to use the mousers to rob banks and eventually hold the entire city hostage. When April refuses to join him, he dumps her into the sewers and sends some mousers after her.

She encounters the turtles and they all head back to the secret lab to put Dr. Baxter out of business. Baxter initiates a fail safe where all the mousers will come back to the lab and eat everything within it. With only moments left, April and Donatello figure out a way to shutdown the power and stop the mousers.

My Thoughts:

This was a great little Mad Scientist story. We're also introduced to April O'Neil who I know is part of the Crew in later stories. Whether Eastman and Laird created her with that in mind or as a one off isn't apparent here but the fact that she now knows all about the turtles and didn't die is probably a good indicator that they had plans for her from the get-go.

This issue had much higher resolution pictures making up the cbr file, so it was a much better visual read. Of course, it still looks like the creators used nothing but Number 2 pencils to draw this. I guess I am pretty spoiled by either more modern comics (Bone) or higher quality ones (Asterix). Of course, I think budget had more to do with it than anything. Akira was being published at this time and that artwork isn't anything near as rough as this.

The main reason I bumped this up a half star from the previous issue is because with the introduction of April I was expecting some heavy fan-servicey shots; which never appeared. While Eastman & Laird's skill as artists is still in the budding stage, it doesn't take much to turn a woman into a sex fantasy and they chose not to go that route. It was nice to not to have to deal with that kind of thing.

★★★✬☆

Hangman's Holiday ★☆☆☆☆ DNF@55%

 

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Title: Hangman's Holiday
Series: Lord Peter Wimsey #9
Author: Dorothy Sayers
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 234 /DNF@120
Words: 63K /DNF@32K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia:

Lord Peter Wimsey stories:

• "The Image in the Mirror" - Wimsey must help a man with situs inversus, who believes he is going mad after being haunted by a doppelganger.

• "The Incredible Elopement of Lord Peter Wimsey" - A man studying Basque culture enlists Wimsey's help in saving an expatriate American woman whom the villagers believe is bewitched.

• "The Queen's Square" - Wimsey attends a fancy dress ball during the Christmas season, where several people dressed as chess pieces become suspected of killing a female blackmailer.

• "The Necklace of Pearls" - Wimsey tries to avoid scandal when a fun-filled Christmas Eve at Sir Septimus Shale's house turns into an uncomfortable affair after a priceless pearl necklace goes missing.

• Montague Egg stories:

  • "The Poisoned Dow '08" - Mr. Egg arrives at a client's house to find him dead, and the police in need of evidence about a shipment of bottles Mr. Egg delivered earlier.

  • "Sleuths on the Scent" - Mr. Egg uses his knowledge of various professions to flush out a murderer hiding in a pub.

  • "Murder in the Morning" - Mr. Egg finds himself one of those suspected in the murder of a client, and gives evidence at inquest.

  • "One Too Many" - Mr. Egg's knowledge of the train ticket system helps the police find an absconding banker and his secretary.

  • "Murder at Pentecost" - While trying to win a bet against an Oxford University student, Mr. Egg discovers the motive and opportunity of a very clever murderer.

  • "Maher-Shalal-Hashbaz" - After helping an impoverished child sell her cat, Mr. Egg discovers the cat has run away from its new home and in tracing it back discovers the brutal murder of more than fifty cats and an elderly man.

• Other stories:

  • "The Man Who Knew How"- A man becomes obsessed with finding and stopping what he believes is a serial killer.

  • "The Fountain Plays" - A man being blackmailed tries to figure out how to rid himself of his tormentor, but finds himself at the mercy of a second blackmailer.

My Thoughts:

This is the book where Sayers and I part ways. I realized it was her, and her writing style, that grated on me and not necessarily the character of Lord Peter Wimsey. I figured this out because half this blasted book wasn't EVEN ABOUT Lord Wimsey. I felt cheated and tricked.

When Sayers can be bothered, she can tell a great story. The problem is that she messes up her stories by making it all about the mystery and the process instead of the story itself being the central point. I don't want to solve the mystery or have every blasted detail etched into my brain. I want a good story. Apparently Mrs Sayers disagrees with me and I'm forced to believe that so do her adherents.

Be that as it may, I'm done. This wasn't the first LPW book that I wished was finished quicker, but the fact that I simply quit after the second Montague Egg story was enough. Enough is enough is enough.

★☆☆☆☆

• Whose Body? (Book 1)

• Clouds of Witness (Book 2)

• Unnatural Death (Book 3)

• The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (Book 4)

• Lord Peter Views the Body (Book 5)

• Strong Poison (Book 6)

• Five Red Herrings (Book 7)

• Have His Carcase (Book 8)

Carrying On His Will ★★★★✬

 

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: Carrying On His Will
Series: One Piece #16
Arc: Baroque Works #5
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 189
Words: 9K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Piece_chapters_(1_186)

"Avalanche"

"The Summit"

"Enter Tony Tony Chopper"

"The Castle of Snow"

"Quack Doctor"

"Skull and Cherry Blossoms"

"Clumsy"

"Snowy Tale"

"Carrying on His Will"

Luffy carries Nami, and later Sanji as well, uphill and over a steep stone wall to bring them to Doctor Kureha. Everyone recovers quickly under her care and that of her blue-nosed pet reindeer, Chopper, who can think, speak and assume human appearance since eating a devil fruit. Kureha tells Nami about Chopper's difficult past, and Luffy decides to take him with them. Wapol arrives at the castle, intent on reclaiming his former home. In a flashback, Chopper meets the quack doctor Hiruluk and spends a year in his care. When Hiruluk is dying of an illness, he chases Chopper away to spare him the sight. Chopper, learning about Hiruluk's reason for chasing him, goes on a dangerous journey to find a poisonous mushroom to cure him. Impressed with the reindeer's compassion, before he dies Hiruluk arranges for Kureha to teach Chopper medicine.

My Thoughts:

Yep, this had all the feelz. Even while I know that the manga-ka is doing it deliberately and trying to manipulate the feelings of his readers, it still gets me.

Luffy and Sanji are taking Nami to the doctor, only to face avalanches, giant killer snowboarding rabbits and then the doctor herself. Thankfully, Nami is saved but we're introduced to Chopper, a reindeer that ate the human-human fruit and so has human characteristics, as well as apparently 3 different forms.

Walpole and Luffy confront each other and then the manga-ka fades to black and tells the backstory of Chopper. With all the attention you know he's going to end up on the crew. It's also where all the feelz come into the picture. There is also some backstory to Vivi and the kingdom of Alabasta and the world government and rebels.

Overall, we find out a lot of “little bits” about the world we're reading and about some of the characters. The volume ends with the flashback fading to the presend and Luffy headbutting King Wapole. So you know the next volume is going to be an epic fight amongst gum-gum fruit powered people :-D

Chopper is definitely going to be just as humorous as the rest of the crew. In this picture is the first meeting between him and Nami. He's so funny!

★★★★✬

• 
  All My "One Piece" Reviews

Stryker's War ★★✬☆☆

 

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Title: Stryker's War
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #3
Author: Josh Hayes
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 197
Words: 63.5K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

Feel the thunder!

Stryker Company always brings the fight, but when they relieve embittered and embattled Republic marines, they find an enemy unwilling to stand up and face them. Tasked with protecting the Republic's interests on a mining world, the legionnaires face roadside ambushes, double-dealing locals, and constant sabotage.

And the mission isn't as straightforward as they thought it would be.

As skirmishes escalate into coordinated ambushes and assaults, two squad leaders, Talon and Lankin, are forced to chase after the sparks threatening to ignite the entire populace into a full-blown insurgency. Denied the legionnaires and resources they need to contain the situation, a single platoon fights to complete a mission requiring all of Stryker Company. The outnumbered platoon must work their way from glittering coastal ports, through steamy jungles and dust-covered mines, to find an enemy hidden seamlessly among the indigenous populace.

The cost is high; the sacrifice great...but nothing short of death itself will stop the legionnaires of Stryker Company from completing its objective. In this stand-alone tale of combat, brotherhood, and sacrifice, these legionnaires will learn what it truly means to make the ultimate sacrifices for their friends.

My Thoughts:

This Order of the Centurion sub-series is straightup Military Science Fiction without a hint of the Space Opera that I enjoy so much from Anspach and Cole.

I had the exact same issues with this book that I did with Iron Wolves. The main character/s are a bunch of worry warts with possible mental issues all the while operating in a hostile environment with idiots for bosses. I'm sure this would appeal to military vets, as it seems to be aimed at that crowd but as someone who came in on the Star Wars'ish space opera vibe for the Galaxy's Edge, this is not for me.

As such, I'm abandoning this sub-series and will start another one. Sigh, my first letdown in this series :-/

★★✬☆☆

• All My "Galaxy's Edge" Reviews

• Galaxy's Edge: Season One

• Galaxy's Edge: Tyrus Rechs

• Galaxy's Edge: The Savage Wars

• Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion

Not Quite Dead Enough ★★★★☆

 

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: Not Quite Dead Enough
Series: Nero Wolfe #10
Author: Rex Stout
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 150
Words: 51K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

Not Quite Dead Enough

Archie has recently joined the Army and is now Major Goodwin. His high rank, as a rookie GI, reflects the fact that the Army recognizes and is making use of his civilian expertise by assigning him to domestic (counter) intelligence, specifically a unit based back in New York City, where Archie lived with his erstwhile boss Nero Wolfe before enlisting.

Since most of his civilian investigations had been done with Nero Wolfe, the Army also wishes to have Wolfe do intelligence investigations, but Wolfe thinks he didn't kill enough Germans in the previous war and so is more intent on joining the army as a soldier, not intelligence officer.

To this end, pleas from the Pentagon to this effect have been ignored, and indeed the whole household routine Wolfe is (in)famous for has already been abandoned during Archie's short absence in favor of strict adherence to wartime rations (inconsistent with gourmet dining) and losing weight, which Wolfe and Fritz Brenner (the live-in cook/chef) attempt by morning exercises on the west river banks, while letters not to mention mountains of other correspondence pile up in the previously tidy office/study in the brownstone. As ludicrous as the whole setup might seem, even Goodwin, when he arrives back in New York from Washington to discover it, is unable to budge Wolfe, at least at first.

Meanwhile, on the (scarce) flight back to New York from Washington, Archie has annoyed wealthy and beautiful Lily Rowan, whom he met earlier in Some Buried Caesar and with whom he has the beginnings of a romance, because he has no time for her, even though she has gone to great lengths to get the seat next to his. Lily, by way of counterattack as much as anything, asks him to look into a problem a girl-friend of hers is having. Archie, having assessed the grim situation at Wolfe's brownstone, seizes an opportunity to be doing something useful, even if he isn't directly carrying out his assignment from the Pentagon.

Archie (who tells this story as he does all Wolfe stories), likes Lily but wants to be in control, and in an impish assertion of independence he takes Lily's friend to the Flamingo nightclub as part of his "investigation", causing Lily to storm home in a mild fit of jealousy. But soon she asks Archie's help in a bigger problem: her friend is dead. After rushing to the scene, Archie decides to implicate himself in the crime and get his picture in the paper, reasoning that getting him out of jail is no more foolish a war effort for Wolfe than pathetic dockside exercises. In the end, Archie carries out his assignment from the Pentagon (despite having his picture in the paper as a murder suspect), Lily gets herself a boyfriend, and Wolfe solves the underlying crime, but not without teaching both Lily and Archie a thing or two about the consequences of mixing business with romance.

Booby Trap

Major Goodwin has been working for Army Intelligence for some time already, and has recently concluded a dangerous mission concerning another problem besides the Nazis: greed by munitions contractors jockeying for post-war power, in the present case by industrial espionage concerning an advanced type of grenade.

Although Archie has managed to unravel a major piece of the puzzle by a recent mission in the South, another officer in his unit, Captain Cross, has just been murdered at a New York hotel, and the remaining members of the unit, plus Wolfe and Congressman Shattuck, have gathered in an Army office to discuss some anonymous letters that Shattuck, as Chairman of a Congressional war committee, has been receiving about how industrial espionage is compromising the war effort and is therefore a national security matter. During the meeting, one of the officers, whose son has just been killed in action in Europe, suddenly announces that he wants to go to Washington to confer with General Carpenter, the Pentagon official in charge of the unit. He has brought a suitcase with him, and his highly irregular request is granted. Earlier, Archie has been issued one of the advanced grenades in question which he kept in Wolfe's house, now his Army barracks, mostly as a souvenir, but Wolfe didn't like to have it in the house, and before the meeting Archie has returned the grenade to the Army—i.e. the same office.

The meeting breaks up, since the unit is rapidly depleting (one dead, another heading to Washington, the rest under scrutiny because of the letters). As Wolfe and Goodwin are returning to the building later on the same day, a massive explosion is heard. Since the building is operated clandestinely by Army Intelligence, the NYPD, in the shape of Inspector Cramer show up, but Wolfe and Goodwin's uncooperativeness, normal as it has been in civilian matters, confuses Cramer now that Goodwin wears an Army uniform — the same uniform Cramer's son is wearing in Australia.[1]

The story ends with Archie taking another date to the Flamingo Club — and not Lily Rowan. Unlike a Sam Spade or Raymond Chandler story, any actual romantic impulses that Archie may have are cleared into the wings, and even this final action is not necessarily a celebration but may itself contribute to the war effort in its own small way.

My Thoughts:

Another 2 novellas squashed into 1 book. The format took me by surprise with Black Orchids but it worked out really well here. Archie being in the Army for World War II was a bit disconcerting at first but since it didn't actually affect the story line (his assignment was to get Wolfe working on a piece of intelligence work for his country) besides jerking the cops around a bit (more than usual that is), it quickly became background information.

I have to admit that my distaste for WWI or II stories came into play while reading this. More in that I just glazed over details as they just didn't interest me.

This was the first story where a returning female occurs. We had met Lily Rowan before in Some Buried Caesar and she had fallen head over heels for Archie. She is a control freak used to getting her own way and Archie is an arrogant blowhard used to getting his own way. In other words, a match made in Hell. It did make me laugh to see the sparks fly! I don't expect to see her again, as Archie seems allergic to settling down or being committed.

★★★★☆

• All My “Nero Wolfe” Reviews

Act of Treason ★★★☆☆

 

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: Act of Treason
Series: Mitch Rapp #7
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 348
Words: 116K

Synopsis:

From the Publisher

Fallout from a horrific Washington explosion has just begun -- and so has CIA superagent Mitch Rapp's hunt for a killer with a personal agenda.

In the final weeks of a fierce presidential campaign, a motorcade carrying candidate Josh Alexander is shattered by a car bomb. Soon after the attack, Alexander is carried to victory by a sympathy vote, but his assailants have not been found.

When CIA director Irene Kennedy and Special Agent Skip McMahon receive damaging intelligence on Washington's most powerful players, they call on Mitch Rapp -- the one man reckless enough to unravel a global network of contract killers on an explosive mission that leads back to the heart of our nation's capital...and the inner sanctum of the Oval Office.

My Thoughts:

After the last book, Consent to Kill, where I rage quit because the author took the easy way out and killed off Rapp's wife and unborn child, I needed a time out with this series. A couple of months seemed long enough and so I dived back in, not sure what to expect.

Thankfully, I didn't get Rapp immediately jumping into bed with either a femme fatale or a dusky heroine. The romance was nil and Rapp is shown to be pretty unstable. He's still able to perform his job but he's starting to age (I believe he's 39 in this book) and he's simply in denial about the tragedy.

I thought Flynn did an excellent job of showing a man who is cracking up. I really feel like killing of Rapp's wife and baby was a mistake by Flynn, as I was looking forward to how he was going to balance the whole “killing machine vs family man” dynamic he had going. This book, while not redeeming that, at least didn't make it greater by having Rapp turn into the stereotypical action/adventure character of a bedhopping manwhore.

★★★☆☆

• All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Asterix and Cleopatra ★★★★☆

 

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: Asterix and Cleopatra
Series: Asterix #6
Authors: Goscinny & Uderzo
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 51
Words: 3K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

The book begins with an argument between Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, and Julius Caesar. As a triumphant invader, Caesar belittles the Egyptian people and suggests that Egypt, as a realm, is past its best. Infuriated, Cleopatra makes a wager with Caesar promising to build a new palace in Alexandria within three months. Cleopatra summons Edifis, who claims to be the best architect in Egypt. She promises Edifis that if he builds the palace on time he will be covered with gold; if he fails, he will be a meal for the sacred crocodiles.

Edifis responds to this assignment by enlisting the help of the Gauls, Asterix, Obelix, Getafix, and Dogmatix. Thanks to Getafix and his magic potion, the work goes forward on schedule, despite multiple attempts by Edifis's arch rival, Artifis, to sabotage the construction after Edifis says he doesn't want his help, claiming Artifis works people too hard. Artifis tells the workers to demand less whipping, which would slow construction. However Getafix gives the workers magic potion. Artifis bribes the stone-delivery man to throw his load away, before Obelix beats him up, causing him to reveal the truth, a henchman tries to lock the Gauls inside a pyramid, but Dogmatix helps them find their way out. He subsequently tries to frame the Gauls by sending a poisoned cake to Cleopatra, but Getafix makes an antidote enabling the Gauls to eat it, then cures the taster and claims eating too much rich food was giving him a bad stomach. Edifis is kidnapped and hidden in a sarcophagus in the house of Artifis, but Obelix frees him. Artifis and his henchman are forced to work on the palace, but without magic potion.

Just before the palace is due to be completed, Caesar intervenes by sending legions to try to arrest the Gauls, after he realises the three Gauls are in Egypt when a spy disguises himself as a worker, and sees the effects of the magic potion. The Gauls fight off the Roman soldiers, but the commanding officer proceeds to shell the building with his catapults. In desperation, Asterix and Dogmatix deliver the news to Cleopatra. A furious Cleopatra then hurries to the construction site to berate Caesar. Caesar's legions are ordered to fix the damage they caused (without any magic potion to help them) and the palace is successfully completed on time. Cleopatra wins her bet and covers Edifis with gold. Edifis and Artifis reconcile and agree to build pyramids together, and Cleopatra gives Getafix some papyrus manuscripts from the Library of Alexandria as a gift. The Gauls return, but Vitalstatistix criticises Obelix trying to give an Egyptian style point to menhirs.

My Thoughts:

Getafix the druid gets roped into helping an old friend in Egypt build a palace for Cleopatra, which is going to be a gift to Caesar. Asterix, Obelix and the magic potion get involved and hijinks ensue.

In each volume, every time Asterix and Obelix go on a boat they inevitably meet up with a specific pirate. In this volume he's mortgaged his first born for a new boat and when they see Obelix yoo-hoo'ing at them (he's bored and wants a fight), they sink their own ship so they don't have to fight the gauls. Eventually you see the pirate captain chained to an oar of a galley, as that's all he has credit for. It is very funny to watch their downward slide :-D

The running gag is everybody comments on Cleopatra's nose, “and a very pretty nose it is”. I wasn't sure what I was missing, as it wasn't funny or amusing. I'm wondering if the translators did a bad job OR, and I suspect this is more likely, the humor from creators just didn't carry through. It wasn't annoying, it just felt like a joke fallen flat. That kept getting repeated :-/

Dogmatix is now fully part of the team and actually plays an instrumental part in getting them out of a trap in the pyramid. Obelix definitely has a rapport with him and it's quite amusing to see the juxtaposition of big fat Obelix and little tiny Dogmatix.

★★★★☆

• Asterix the Gaul (Book 1)

• Asterix and the Golden Sickle (Book 2)

• Asterix and the Goths (Book 3)

• Asterix the Gladiator (Book 4)

• Asterix and the Banquet (Book 5)

The Scandal of Father Brown ★★★☆☆

 

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 Scandal of Father Brown
Series: Father Brown #5
Author: G.K. Chesterton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 239
Words: 65K

Synopsis:

Table of Contents

The Scandal of Father Brown

The Quick One

The Blast of the Book

The Green Man

The Pursuit of Mr Blue

The Crime of the Communist

The Point of a Pin

The Insoluble Problem

The Vampire of the Village

My Thoughts:

While not bad, I really didn't enjoy my read this time. I don't know if there was more, but I noticed the fact that Father Brown would almost like clockwork make a vague announcement and then express surprise when everyone would proceed on that statement in the logical direction the statement was leading. He'd then explain why they were all wrong and why his statement was still correct. But in a sense that nobody but himself would EVER have thought of.

Plus, I've not read the word “Puritan” or some derivative so many times in one novel. Not even the Scarlet Letter ranted against them as much! Apparently wanting to take care of your body by not ingesting various poisons that we all know will kill you is a sure-fire way of being a kill-joy and kill-joys are Satan's minions. Ok, it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty obvious Chesterton had a thing against Protestants. It was really annoying by the end.

This was the last Father Brown novel in this Chesterton omnibus and I am glad. Like several other mystery writers I have been reading, I'd reached my limit even with judicious spacing out. We'll have to see what I think of his other writings. I am looking forward to them because despite all my grumblings about Father Brown, I still think they are good writing. They just need to be read at a much greater length (like one a year perhaps) than I was willing to go.

★★★☆☆

• Innocence of Father Brown (Book 1)

• The Wisdom of Father Brown (Book 2)

• The Incredulity of Father Brown (Book 3)

• The Secret of Father Brown (Book 4)

Wrath of Empire ★★★★✬

 

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: Wrath of Empire
Series: Gods of Blood and Powder #2
Author: Brian McClellan
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Flintlock Fantasy
Pages: 533
Words: 190K

Synopsis:

After the invasion of Fatrasta and the capital city of Landfall, thousands of refugees seek the safety of Lady Flint's soldiers as she prepares for another war to prevent the return of Gods walking the world.

In the capital, Blackhat spy Michel Bravis must infiltrate the invading Dynize to find a person named Mara. Succeeding in this mission could mean winning the war.

Meanwhile, the Mad Lancers led by Mad Ben Styke are building their own army. They are sent on a mission to find and destroy the third Godstone, led by the bloodmage Ka-poel. But what they find may not be what they're looking for.

My Thoughts:

McClellan tells a fantastic story and I really enjoyed this book.

Unfortunately, this really could have been a 5star book for me, except for one minor thing. Namely Vlora Flint. Oh my goodness, I am really disliking her. Her guilt issues are driving me batty, right alongside her inability to take any advice. She'll ask all her comrades for advice and before they've even started, she's already dismissing them or telling them why their advice is wrong. It wasn't just once, but multiple times that this happened. Really got under my skin.

Other than that, this was just one long enjoyable read.

★★★★✬

• All My "Powder Mage" Reviews