August '11

TIFFANY ACHING: THE WEE FREE MEN
-T. Pratchett-epub-289
-fantasy-taking place in Discworld, but not necessarily in the Discworld series. A young girl by the name of Tiffany Aching has to defend her land against the queen of the faerie world. Mainly because Tiffany's grandmother is dead and so she can't do it. Tiffany is a witch in the making. Granny Weatherwax comes in at the end. It is called "Wee Free Men" because Tiffany gets help by the Nac Mac Feegles. Little blue pict'sies. Drunk, rowdy, almost indestructable but fun and lovable none the less. This was classic Pratchett WITH excellent writing, tight plot and everything was funny, not stupid. Best Pratchett ever!

DRESDEN FILES: PROVEN GUILTY
-J. Butcher-epub-557
-urban fantasy-Harry saves one of Michael's kids and takes her on as an apprentice. I felt like Harry is a complete idiot, and an arrogant one to boot. He always takes everything on his shoulders, without trying to spread the responsibility and then he whines and complains about how hard things are. He ALWAYS acts like he is the only one who can do anything. Well, he isn't. And one man can't do EVERYTHING! Get over yourself and your poor little pity party of the past.

TIFFANY ACHING: A HAT FULL OF SKY
-T. Pratchett-epub-299
-fantasy-Tiffany goes off to get some witchy training. Only a monster, a mindless Hiver, takes her over. She gets free, then has to defeat it. Has some help from Granny Weatherwax and learns some lessons about what being a witch really means. Not nearly as much about the Nac Mac Feegles, so this wasn't as funny. Still a solid book and very enjoyable.

WHEEL OF TIME: LORD OF CHAOS
-R. Jordan-epub-1223
-fantasy-I can feel the gears beginning to grind to a halt. Lots of "big ticket" things seem to be introduced, but go no where. Examples: the "super" Myrdrral-he appears to be more powerful than the Forsaken, but we really find out nothing about him. The Bowl of the Wind-appears to be the answer to all the weather problems, but it takes the WHOLE book for them to even start looking for it. Not nearly as enjoyable as the previous books.

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: UNABRIDGED
-A. Dumas-epub-1606
-classic-this was my first time reading the Unabridged version. It was not good. Where as the Barnes and Noble abridged edition was a tight, thrilling story of vengeance and final redemption, this was a maundering convoluted monstrosity filled with "current pop culture" references that added nothing and detracted. Side stories kept pulling me away down dead end paths. I was very disappointed. Still a good story, but the story gets lost in Dumas's wordiness and love of conversations. I would never recommend the Unabridged version, that is for sure.


Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell

Ebook, 420 pages
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I dreaded this book, I have to admit. I didn't see how Campbell could continue the series WITH Geary without losing much of what I loved about the original Lost Fleet books.

Thankfully, I was hugely disappointed :) This was just as good as the previous books, and in some ways, better. There was not nearly as much explicit space battle tactics explained in painful detail. Whoohoo!

Geary is still Geary and dealing with a government that doesn't want him, balancing those who hate him, love him, want to use him and want to kill him. And he has a wife. A strong spirited woman. [I suspect a good strong spanking might work wonders, for both of them ;)]

We get lots of kind of info about the aliens, and new ideas about them and it is made real just how ignorant humanity is about the universe they live in.

Good stuff! Looking forward to the rest of these...



Wintersmith (Tiffany Aching, #3) by Terry Pratchett

Ebook, 341 Pages
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Liked it more than the second book, less than the first book.





Perfect Shadow: A Night Angel Novella by Brent Weeks

Ebook, 70 Pages
My rating: 2 of 5 stars


If you wanted more info about Durzo Blint, this short story will at least be a good appetizer. If you want totally unnecessary sex that doesn't advance the story in any way, this is for you. Take out the lust and hormones, and the page count goes down by at least half. However, it does let you know how Durzo turned into Durzo. So Night Angel fans will enjoy this no matter.


Skin Game by Max Allan Collins

Ebook, UNFINISHED
My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I felt like I had missed an entire book between the last and this. I just couldn't get into it and dropped it very quickly.




Shadow Magic by Patricia C. Wrede

Ebook, 256 Pages
My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This reminded me of Andre Norton's older writings. It was dry, straight forward telling of an atypical fantasy.

Nothing really was bad, but it didn't draw me in, or make me laugh, or make me go "wow" like most of Wrede's stuff. I think this was her older series, so it is to be expected.

I'll be reading more in this series, but I'm not really excited about that fact :)



Stonewielder by Ian C. Esslemont

Ebook, 640 Pages
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is what I think all of Steven Erickson's book SHOULD have been like. Lots of action, a smidge of philosophy and just some down right wicked cool characters.

While Esslemont's Crimson Guard felt like it was just hanging out there all by itself, Stonewielder felt like an integral part of the Malazan Series. Part of it was several characters are from the Crimson Guard, so I wasn't introduced to a completely new set of characters, there was some continuity from CG. That went a long way towards making me more comfortable.

Man, this was just cool! The storm riders, the koreli, the Lady, Skinner the skumbag [at the end]. AND Leoman of the Flails!!!. I had always wanted to know what happened to him, and now I find out. Wicked!!

So basically, I enjoyed this a lot. and look forward now to more of Esslemont as his own writer instead of just an extension of Erickson. Way to go ICE...



T2: Rising Storm by S.M. Stirling

Ebook, 384 Pages
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Much more than even the first book.

John Connor is truly becoming the man who takes down skynet. Of course, I saw that Skynet would come about from Wendy's interference from a mile away but hey, mankind HAS to create Skynet, right?

More of the differential timeloops are talked about, so it will be interesting to see how Stirling wraps up that side of things. Looking forward to the final book.




MONTHLY SUMMARY

10 Novels
1 Unfinished Novel
1 Novella
6085 Pages

July '11

MEMORY, THORN AND SORROW: TO GREEN ANGEL TOWER
-T. Williams-epub-1374
-fantasy-the conclusion to the trilogy. Everybody meets up at Green Angel Towers after much trial and hardship; only to learn it is all a trap and that the prophecy of Nisses was a lie by Ineluki, who wanted to use the power of the swords to bring himself back. Everybody has a kum-by-ya moment and they all forgive Ineluki and he can't handle it and so all his plans go poof. Seriously. It was written a bit more epically than that, but that is what it boils down to. Simon turns out to be an heir of the original king of Hayholt and he marries Miriamelle and everybody starts the business of rebuilding. So many things I misremembered or didn't remember at all, made me glad for this reread.

BARDS OF BONE PLAIN
-P. McKillip-dtb-329
-fantasy-a bard misuses his power and is cursed to live without his music until he can fix his error. This was as pretty as any of her other books, but without so much mystery, so I found it easier to deal with.

ABOLETHIC SOVEREIGNTY: CITY OF TORMENT
-B. Cordell-epub-UNFINISHED
-fantasy-I am giving up on the Forgotten Realms universe. I just can't get into it. So I won't waste my time. I leave it to those who do like it. More power to them.

POLITY: HILLDIGGERS
-N. Asher-epub-505
-scifi-an alien entity is messing with 2 worlds. The Polity interferes in its own non-interfering way. I didn't find this very interesting. Not very much AI humor, or over the top brutal war. Oh well, Asher can't write to please me all the time I guess.

COBRA WAR: COBRA GUARDIAN
-T. Zahn-epub-388
-scifi- I came in with such low expectations after the first book that I actually liked this. Still seems a loose story and characterization is so spread between different people that I don't really care about any of them.

GREEN RIDER: BLACKVEIL
-K. Britain-epub-773
-fantasy/romance- I started this book fulling expecting it give it one star. I was uber-pissed about the length of time between book 3 and this. I didn't care about Britain's "reasons" given on her blog or anything else she had to say.
As the story went on, I got over that. This was a half decent story with some real interesting possibilities and I was thinking, OK, this deserves 3 stars 'cause I'm liking this.
Then things got all romance'y. And by romance'y, I mean angsty, poke my eyes out with the characters whining about their love or lack thereof. And the consumation scene? Next thing you know, the next book will be a soft porn romance, sigh. A lot of things felt like they were thrown in because the author would have liked something like that, not because it was integral to the story.
Finally, the ending cliffhanger. Britain really needs to wrap this series up. Instead, she keeps making this bigger and bigger. If I have to wait another 4+ years before the NEXT book, and it isn't the final book, then I will not be reading it. Period.
Miss Britain, get over yourself and wrap this thing up. You want to write more, fine. Do it with another series. I'm just about ready to get rid of my 3 previous hardcovers in the series and be done with you. I can't recommend your Greenrider series anymore because I don't know when it will end and I will not put others through this same path of daggers that I have gone through.

DARK ANGEL: BEFORE THE DAWN
-M. Collins-epub-291
-scifi- Having never seen Dark Angel, just heard of it, I was interested in the books. If the books were interesting, I'd probably check out the tv series [even with the incomplete ending].
Standard prequel. A child super soldier escapes into a post-apocalyptic world and grows up trying to escape her former captives and trying to find her brothers/sisters.
Nothing superduper about this book, but I certainly didn't feel like I'd wasted my time. I'll definitely be checking out the tv series based on my reading of this book.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: KINGS OF CLONMEL
-J. Flanagan-epub-357
-ya fantasy- Even though Will is a full fledged ranger, he is still working with/under Halt.
In this story, we find out a lot about Halt's past. Will, Horace and Halt are called together as a new task force for dealing with threats outside of the Kingdoms borders.
Once again, tension was just right, laughs were just right. Just a touch of naive'ness and simplicity that makes it a YA title.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: HALT'S PERIL
-J. Flanagan-epub-348
-ya fantasy- The finishing of the story begun in The Kings of Clonmell. Pretty much the same comments as for Kings of Clonmell. These 2 books really should have been one.

THE LAST DAY
-G. Kleier-dtb-484
-fiction-a book written right before the Y2K craze. A woman is the begotten daughter of god and everything takes place on and around the New Year of 2000. At first I thought it was blasphemous, but several comments made me realize the author didn't know a thing about Christianity and was just kluging popular ideas together. My main tipoff was his off the cuff reaction of the 7th Day Adventists to this "new messiah". He simply didn't have a clue. Second was the repeated references to "church/temple of the self. God is inside." Antithesis to true Christianity. Everything else fell pretty flat as well. Characterization came out candy thin and by the end everyone was all 'lets love everybody and do the right thing' without any real change or reason for change. Romance was forced onto us like an ugly old relative wanting a kiss on the mouth. The plot relied on action sequences driven by mega-maniacal authority figures that made me cringe with their fakeness. Overall, this is one book I really should have not finished, but I had to so I could call it the utter, complete piece of trash it is. AVOID AT ALL COST!

WHEEL OF TIME: THE FIRES OF HEAVEN
-R. Jordan-epub-877
-fantasy-Intensity ratchets up and we get the famous "Who Killed Asmodean?" scene. A wicked cool battle between Rand and Rhavin, involving bale fire and portals. Matt starts using/acknowledging his martial memories. Moiraine and Lanfear disappear through a Sangreal/Terangreal and seem to die. Rand is starting to fight the madness, which seems to be a mixing of wills with Lews Therin, the former Dragon. The badstuff-every female seems to be so angry. I mean counseling angry. Jordan really let the ball drop in the characterization department with this. It is a real turn off.

GRIMM DRAGONBLASTER: A MAGE IN THE MAKING
-A. Alistair-epub-264
-fantasy-10,000 years in the future. Humanity has almost destroyed itself, then recovered. Magic has come forth and male magic become dominant. A talented mage killed his leader and was banned. Now his grandson is on trail to becoming a mage. We find out that a witch was responsible, behind the scenes, for the grandfather killing the leader, and she is interested in Grimm now. Basically covers from 7-17 years of Grimm's life. I really didn't care for this. I'll keep the rest around for a year or so, but if I don't read any more, I'll get rid of them.

STAR WARS: OLD REPUBLIC: LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH: SENTINEL
-J. Miller-epub-27
-short story-the direct sequel to the story before. The jedi marooned hooks up with a sith and they decide to turn their backs on their respective orders and live in the wilderness.

T2: INFILTRATOR
-S.M. Stirling-dtb-513
-scifi-follows Terminator 2. In many ways this reminded me of the Sarah Connor Chronicles tv show. No time jumping or friendly terminator though. The Connors meet up with the man the T800 was based on. And a more organic terminator, called an Infiltrator, is sent back to try to change things by creating Skynet instead of trying to kill the Connors. Even though that is still a mission priority. The Connors take her down, but she has a replacement hidden away for the next book. Her name was Serena and many of the situations were similar to the T:SCC but John was more charismatic, mature and starting to bear the burden of being mankind's next savior, instead of being a whiny teen with responsibility issues.

STAR WARS: OLD REPUBLIC: DECEIVED
-P. Kemp-epub-348
-scifi-another stand alone novel in the Old Republic era. Basically a Sith engineers the downfall of Coruscant, only to have it be taken away by political intrigue by his sith 'allies'. he kills a jedi master and that Master's former padawan, now a Jedi Knight, comes to Coruscant to take revenge. There is a side story about some smuggler and his crippled daughter. Overall, the last Old Republic book I'll be buying. It was so blase and the characters had no time to get any real depth. It felt like the Star Wars universe was turning into a Forgotten Realms kind of place. Hack and Slash writing with completely forgettable characters.

TIME TRADERS
-A. Norton-epub-400
-scifi-a book with 3 separate short stories all tied together by common characters. Basically, humanity finds the ability to time travel and the Americans are going through history trying to find the Russians, who seem to have found some advanced tech way in the past. Turns out it was from an alien spaceship. The russians get all their bases destroyed and the americans start tiptoeing. Ends with a group of americans finding an intact spaceship and making a trip to the aliens world. The alien empire seems to have fallen and humanity looks to have a free hand.
I really enjoyed this. Norton writes in the classic scifi style and it was nice to have some straight forward adventure stories without all the psychological baggage.

STARSHIP: MERCENARY
-M. Resnick-epub-338
-scifi-The Crew become mercenaries and win battle after battle, usually through brain, not brawn. Clever, witty. Same as the previous books. If you liked them, you'll like this.

WWW: WAKE
-R. Sawyer-epub-388
-scifi-a young blind girl is given sight with some new tech, and along the way a young AI is born, and they come into contact. And some story line about the chinese killing off 20,000 of their own people to stem the start of a H1N5 super flu. Must tie together in the later books. It was interesting, well written and the characterization was very well done. But it wasn't captivating. The birth of the AI isn't explained, it just kind of spontaneously happens.

VLAD TALTOS: ORCA
-S. Brust-epub-313
-fantasy-Vlad tries to save an old ladies land in exchange for healing the boy who helped him from the previous story. In the process, corruption is found to the top level, but nothing can be done about it. And we find out that Keira is Sethra Lavode and that Vlad has a son by Cawti, who he doesn't know about.

MONTHLY SUMMARY
17 Novels
1 Short Story
1 Unfinished Novel
8317 Pages

June '11

ABOLETHIC SOVEREIGNTY: PLAGUE OF SPELLS
-B. Cordell-epub-290
-fantasy- taking place sometime soon after the death of Mystra [recorded in the Lady Penitent trilogy], the world has changed. A blue fire plague has changed the land, the magic and made it possible for ancient evils to possibly return. Deals with one small sample of the twisted magic that can recall the Aboleths. Having a new set of characters for each sub series in the Forgotten Realms doesn't sit well with me. I understand it, but the only continuity provided is on a world wide scale, which is too big for me. I'll keep plugging away at the Forgotten Realms books, but as backups, not as primary reads.

WHEEL OF TIME: THE SHADOW RISING
-R. Jordan-epub-907
-fantasy-fantastic! Some really cool storylines. Forsaken are starting to be real characters instead of just non-entity bogeyman. Rand is starting to explore his powers on a very large scale. Perrin is back in Two Rivers, becoming the Lord he is destined to be. Matt is still Matt, running from responsibility while searching money, girls and drink. The women are becoming the arrogant characters that they hated in Morraine.

ACACIA: THE OTHER LANDS
-D. Durham-epub-504
-fantasy- I really enjoyed this. Where War with the Mein took me a while to get into, I was already hooked and ready to go from page 1 with this book. Follows the 3 royals and the consequences of the Guild poking its nose into business it doesn't understand. Basically, another war is coming to Acacia, with ALL the clans of the Other Lands instead of just 1. Magic, the book of Elenet, the Santoth and hinted consequences are integral to the story as well. Looking forward to the final book.

DISCWORLD: THUD!
-T. Pratchett-epub-297
-fantasy-a dwarf is murdered and Vimes must solve the crime before a war breaks out between the dwarves and the trolls with Ankh-Morpork caught in the middle.

5 NOVELS
-D. Pinkwater-dtb-648
-ya fiction-5 different novellas by Daniel Pinkwater. All dealing with teens or early teens and written for teens. Some ya books are written for ya AND adults. Not so this. Still well written and funny, just not AS funny as I remember :-)

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: ERAK'S RANSOM
-J. Flanagan-epub-327
-ya fantasy-Erak, oberjarl of the Skandians, is betrayed by one of his own. Will and company attempt to free him. With lots of difficulty and near death experiences they do. Ends with Will becoming a full fledged ranger. Laughter and tension in equal measure underpinned by a new environment. Also, truly Will's coming of age story, where he must act on his own without help from Halt.

MONTHLY SUMMARY
6 novels
2973 pages

May '11

WHEEL OF TIME: THE DRAGON REBORN
-R. Jordan-epub-595
-fantasy-Matt gets caught up with the girls. Perrin is back with Moirane. Rand is on his own, trying not to kill anyone with his new burgeoning powers. Everyone ends up at Tear, where Rand takes Callendor, a sword of the one power, and fulfills a part of the dragon reborn prophecy. More people are being introduced and things are starting to get complicated. Each of the main characters, the 3 male and the 3 female are starting to form their own subgroups. Really wanted to break my one a month rule and read the next one, but I'm holding it off.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: LORD OF THE SHADOWS
-D. Shan-epub-97
-ya fantasy-Darren finds out that a Lord of the Shadows will turn the world into a wasteland, and the Lord of Shadows will either be him or Steve. So either way, Darren loses. Turns out Mr Tiny is an agent of chaos who does what he can to cause problems and stir the pot.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: SONS OF DESTINY
-D. Shan-epub-125
-ya fantasy-Darren kills Steve, but then allows Steve's dying lashout to kill him, in an attempt to foil Mr Tiny. Mr Tiny's daughter plots with Darren and they concoct a plan to change things to allow the vampires, vampaneze and humans to all survive and eventually become one race. I was glad the series was over. After the 5th or 6th book, the story lost its shiny newness and became much darker than what I was enjoying.

DRESDEN FILES: DEAD BEAT
-J. Butcher-epub-386
-urban fantasy-Harry has to fight some necromancers. The White Court of Wizards is pretty much wiped out and Harry is made a Warder. Typical Dresden.

POLITY: SPLATTERJAY: ORBUS
-N. Asher-epub-361
-scifi-An old captain, a war drone and a Polity ship head to a neutral zone between Polity and the Prador kingdom. The prador from the previous Splatterjay books turns into what the king is, a mutated prador. In the process, it is revealed that the splatterjay virus is actually a form of Jain tech, which emerges and is barely headed off by the King of the Prador, who dies. Closer ties are hinted at between the Pradors and Polity. Fantastic book, and not a single "human" character in it. Asher can write.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: SORCERER OF THE NORTH
-J. Flanagan-epub-230
-ya fantasy-Will is sent to a quiet castle after his adventures in Skandia. However, he is immediately dispatched on a secret mission to the North to check out claims of sorcery going on. Finds out a nephew of a Duke is trying to take over and make an alliance with the Picti. Alice is involved, and gets captured.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: SIEGE OF MACINDAW
-J. Flanagan-epub-236
-ya fantasy-the conclusion to the story. Horace is sent north and the 3 friends overcome and win the day. Overall, this story arc captured in a nutshell why I like this series: flashes of humor when things start getting dark, determined heroes who won't give up and right winning over evil.

MEMORY, SORROW AND THORN: THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR
-T. Williams-epub-824
-fantasy-a young scullion boy, who is a hopeless clutz, ends up becoming embroiled in a plot by an elder race to supplant the humans. Rereading this so soon after finishing Williams Shadowplay series, it is real easy to compare. This series holds up much better than the Shadowplay series. Simon, the main character, is likeable. Yes, he has his annoying traits, but he is growing into someone the reader can cheer for. So many of the same ideas in this series are taken to greater depths, but you can see where Williams is starting to repeat himself. I was fearful that this wouldn't hold up to the memories, but just like the Otherland series, this was even better the second time around.

STARHAMMER
-C. Rowley-epub-277
-scifi-the human race meets the Lowan, and become enslaved. One human hooks up with a resistance group and they find the Starhammer. An ancient weapon meant to fight the Vang, it destroys stars at a time. Ends rather abruptly with the humans dictating terms to the Lowan.

STAR WARS: OLD REPUBLIC: KNIGHT ERRANT
-J. Miller-epub-310
-scifi-follows one young jedi knight who is stranded in the Sith empire. She runs around causing havoc and ends up rescuing a bunch of kids while facing down several different sith lords. Very abrupt shifts from sith lord to sith lord. Felt forced and I didn't really enjoy it.

MEMORY, SORROW AND THORN: THE STONE OF FAREWELL
-T. Williams-epub-727
-fantasy-A lot happens. Now that is an understatement. The history of the 3 Swords is starting to be revealed as well as why Ineluki is doing what he is. Simon gets stranded with the elder race in their bastion of peace, until Ineluki attacks them as well. Princess Miriamelle is gadding about and not helping. Josua and company make to the Stone of Farewell and begin figuring out what they can do. This is epic, and not just in size. I blew through it and really wanted to read the next book right away, but I think I'll enjoy the final book more with some space between.

RESIDENT EVIL: CALIBAN COVE
-S.D. Perry-epub-134
-game novelization-sucky to the sucky'th degree. I barely made it through this nauseatingly predictable and boring book. The attempts at characterization were so badly executed that it would have been better if Perry had left it alone. Maybe a HARDCORE fan of the Resident Evil games would enjoy this, but I can't imagine anyone else who would.

ASIAN SAGA: TAI-PAN
-J. Clavell-epub-655
-historical fiction-Wow. I really enjoyed Shogun, but this was on another level of greatness. Follows one English trader who is trying to get into the chinese market and is lobbying for Hong Kong. Tons of drama and excitement. Political and cultural adventures. Family and Foes. The main character's strength of will dragged you the reader along with him. I felt excited when he was excited, sad when he was sad, etc, etc. Definitely a favorite now.

EMERALD EYES
-D. Moran-epub-217
-scifi-a disjointed and confusing novel about the emergance of a new genetic line of Homo Sapiens. Telepaths, who appear to be the ancestors of time travellers. Who are popping in and out of the story and making things even more confusing. Story segments were not segued well and it felt very herky-jerky. I guess this is a series, but I won't be reading any more.

STARSHIP: PIRATE
-M. Resnick-epub-165
-scifi-the captain and crew decide to pirate other pirates. By the end of the story they realize that that won't cut it and are thinking about becoming mercenaries. Resnick's universe is full of historical character references and this one was with Dickens. I loved it.

MALAZ: BAUCHELAIN AND KORBAL BROACH
-S. Erikson-epub-180
-fantasy-3 short stories about how Emancipor Reese becomes the man servant to the "evil" duo. They are almost side characters in each story, just giving a little push here and there to influence things. I found this amusing.

MALAZ: CRACK'D POT TRAIL
-S. Erikson-epub-154
-fantasy-1 story. A bunch of poets fall in with some bounty hunters who are chasing Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. The poets have to tell a story and whoever gets the least votes gets eaten [they are going through inhospitable lands]. Very lyrical and I still don't understand the ending very well at all. To confusing for my taste.

POLITY: PRADOR MOON
-N. Asher-epub-173
-scifi-the first contact/fight between the Polity and the Pradors. Shows the beginnings of the higher end augs/human mix that blur the line between man and machine. Very violent, mainly because of how the prador eat everything.


MONTHLY SUMMARY
18 Novels
5846 Pages

April '11

STARSHIP: MUTINY
-M. Resnick-epub-163
-scifi-taking place in the same universe as the Santiago books, this is about a misfit Space Navy guy who is so disgusted at his superiors, for punishing him for doing a good job because it wasn't by the book, that he convinces a ragtag crew to turn pirate with him. I guess there are several more books in the series. I'm going to try to find them.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: KILLERS OF THE DAWN
-D. Shan-epub-129
-ya fantasy-the 3 hunters, Crepsley, the Vamp Prince and Darren, hunt down the lord of the vampaneze. Crepsley kills him at the cost of his own life and the others escape. Only to find out that Steve was the Lord all the time. So Mr Crepsley died for nothing.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: LAKE OF SOULS
-D. Shan-epub-161
-ya fantasy-Harkat Mulds is going to die. So Mr Tiny allows him and Darren to go on a quest to find out who he was in a previous life to save himself. Darren and Harkat go through adventures and find out. Then they come back and prepare to start doing stuff again in our world.

WHEEL OF TIME: THE GREAT HUNT
-R. Jordan-epub-618
-fantasy-the women go to Tar Valon to become Aes Sedai and the men go after the Horn and the dagger, otherwise Mat is going to die. The Black Ajah is revealed as a real thing, Artur Hawkwing's armies come back. Rand starts channeling for real and is pretty much recognized as the Dragon Reborn by a small group of men. He has an epic battle with Ba'alzamon and defeats him, but at the cost of taking an unhealable wound. This was fantastic. Even better, imo, than the previous book. Lots of epic'ness and glimpses into a world that is older, more mysterious and intriguing, than we can truly imagine. I am simply enjoying this without thinking of the future books, cause that would spoil things. These beginning books are the reason this series is so fantastic. It has a solid foundation.

CASTLE BRASS: QUEST FOR TANELORN
-M. Moorcock-epub-80
-fantasy-the end of the Eternal Champion series. Hawkmoon, along with Corum, Elric and Erekose [the eternal champion who remembers all his incarnations, unlike the others] must battle 2 sorcerers from outside the multiverse who want to take all its energy [hence destroying it] and use it to become greater in their own dimension. Much like the time in Elric, all 4 become 1 and defeat them. In the process, Law and Chaos and the Balance are destroyed and humanity is left to fend for itself. Hawkmoon finds his children at Tanelorn. He goes back to Castlebrass with them and his wife to live out his life instead of staying in Tanelorn. I have read the stories of Hawkmoon, Elric and Corum and after reading this, am tempted to go find out Erekose's story. A good ending to this universe of Moorcock's.

LOLITA
-V. Nabokov-epub-363
-fiction-the story of Humbert Humbert, a pedophile who is telling his own story after killing a man who lured Lolita away from him. Gist of the story-Humbert, who is european, marries a widow with a young daughter to be near the daughter. The mother dies, Humbert takes Lolita traveling around the U.S. for 2-3 years in an effort to completely possess her. She slips away. He gives up trying to find her. She comes to him for money, married and pregnant. He finds out how she slipped away. He goes and kills the man [not her husband, who is the father of her baby] and is writing his memories down to present to the jury and judge. He is a nutcase, so he writes all over the place. He is deluded, thinking he is perfectly fine and doing the best for Lolita. So it is obvious that you, the reader, cannot take at face value what the writer, Humbert, is writing. Overall, a disgusting book that gives more weight to the idea of simply killing all pedophiles instead of sending them to jail.

OTHERLAND: SEA OF SILVER LIGHT
-T. Williams-epub-1002
-scifi-the finale to the Otherland story. Dread takes over the network and wreaks havoc. The group offline figure out a way to communicate with the Other, which turns out to not be an AI, but a telepath in a satellite in earth's orbit. It destroys itself, Dread is in a life coma, Lando Gardiner is alive online only, and Mr Sellars has created a new lifeform, an electronic form, which takes off into space. The otherland Network survives as a pale imitation and is hidden away by the group until it can be integrated easily into the existing networks of the world. And there are shocking revelations about Paul, but it works out all good. Overall, a good wrap up to each storyline.
As a re-read, this series held up. It was slow going at first, confusing, but then all the threads started coming together and forming on awesome story. Since this series held up so good, I think I will go and re-read Memory, Sorrow & Thorn with a lot less trepidation.

PET SEMATARY
-S. King-dtb-411
-horror-A story about a cemetary that brings things back to life. A very long build up about a family of 4 who move to Maine, befriend an old yankee who tells the father about the cemetary. The family cat dies, so the father buries it and it comes back, but it is "off". Then the young son [pre elementary school] dies and the father buries him secretly. The son comes back possessed by whatever evil powers the cemetary and kills the wife and old neighbor. The father kills the son, burns down the neighbor's house to cover his tracks and buries his wife immediately, because he believes that the time gap is what accounted for things not working for his son. Ends with his wife coming back into the house, and the rest is left to our imagination. Now, the last 50 pages deal with the horror. The first couple of hundred are the build up and yet, that build up was just as enjoyable, if not more, than the ending. Hints about the evil of the burial ground were given, vague stories by the old yankee neighbor, myths about the Indians who created it. A sense of dread was quietly building up the entire time and you knew the son was going to die and be brought back and that nothing good would come of it. Fantastic, keep me glued to the pages, kind of writing. Makes me wonder what King could have written if he'd gone into another genre.

MECHWARRIOR: WARRIOR: EN GARDE
-M. Stackpole-epub-388
-scifi- I was really looking forward to Stackpole's writing and hoping he would make this universe interesting. I will probably not be reading any more in the mechwarrior series. I'll keep them in my library, but not on my reader. The blow by blow mech fights did nothing for me, I couldn't connect with the characters, and the multiple storylines were just wicked confusing.

MOBY DICK
-H. Melville-epub-UNFINISHED
-classic- I got half way through this and then just couldn't stomach any more. The story was interesting. The problem was that there were more chapters akin to National Geographic articles on whales than chapters dealing with the plot. Maybe someday I'll read a condensed version that has all the useless crap [and yes, chapters going into details about whales and how they are made up, or the process of catching a whale, or skinning a whale, or "whatever" a whale, are USELESS in regards to the plot] gone and I'll be able to actually read a story, but not with this version.

HULL ZERO THREE
-G. Bear-epub-256
-scifi-a man wakes up in a spaceship with little to no memory and completely disoriented. He has to figure out what is going on, to stay alive, and hook up with other "wake up"ers and make a choice that will affect the whole colony ship. This was confusing to read, a deliberate style by the author. Part way through everything you thought you knew was turned on its head. Who are the good guys, who are the bad guys, what in the world is going on, who am I? I didn't realize Greg Bear had written this before I read it and it reminded me once again that I just don't care for his stuff.

THE MAGICIANS
-L. Grossman-epub-390
-fantasy-a 17 year old is taken to an academy where he finds out magic is real and he has the gift. A coming of age story, but from the viewpoint of someone who is self-centered. All he wants is to be happy, but he is always thinking the next "thing" will make him happy. Ends with him realizing he has to make his own happiness, or some such thing. It started out really cool, but then kept descending into a depressing swirl of meaninglessness. A good look at someone with power who has no anchor point, no real meaning with their life. Not recommended.

THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS
-J. Wyndham-epub-196
-scifi-a new kind of plant is discovered/invented, one that is mobile, carnivorous, and filled with all sorts of new useful oils/chemicals. Then one night there is a meteor shower and the next day anyone who watched it is blind. Follows one man as he tries to survive the collapse of civilization. This actually had almost nothing to do with the triffids, the plants. More about the collapse of civilization as 99% of the world dies off in blindness. The triffids are just a bogeyman that appear once in a while and a future threat. Blardy, blardy blar...

MONTHLY SUMMARY
12 novels
1 unfinished novel
4157 pages

March '11

SHADOWMARCH: SHADOWHEART
-T. Williams-epub-738
-fantasy-the conclusion to the Shadowmarch tetralogy. A god is resurrected, but not the god Sulepsis [the mad monarch] thinks, the god is defeated. Brionny and Ferris get together, Barick becomes the leader of the Qar for its last generation and everyone else just kind of survives. I wasn't impressed, sadly. I doubt I'll ever re-read this series.

STAR WARS: CLONE WARS: GAMBIT: SIEGE
-K. Miller-epub-UNFINISHED
-scifi-ugh. What can I say? The 2 Gambit books should have been 1 and heavily edited. I just got so bored with Siege that I gave up. More Anakin whining, more stolid Kenobi, lots of nothing happening. Yeah.

STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: ALLIES
-C. Golden-epub-314
-scifi-Luke and Ben make an uneasy alliance with some of the Sith to go after Aboleth, some sort of super powerful force using bogey-woman, Skywalkers to destroy her, Sith to use her. She just keeps switching bodies, so when it seems that Luke has her dead to rights, oops, nope, now she's somebody else. While this is happening, Daala is losing it about the Jedi defying her control. Jaina and Jag break off their engagement. And all the insane jedi are now sane, since Abeloth isn't exerting such control over them. Enjoyable but nothing fantastic.

STAR WARS: FATE OF THE JEDI: VORTEX
-T. Denning-epub-360
-scifi-more chasing and fighting from the Skywalker/Sith/Aboleth group. And the jedi decide to take their future into their own hands instead of allowing Daala to do that for them. Sets things up for a huge confrontation, or even a total withdrawal of the jedi from the Galactic Alliance.

THE WHEEL OF TIME: STRIKE AT SHAYOL GHUL & RAVENS
-R. Jordan-epub-35
-fantasy short story-2 short stories. Strike is a historical fragment telling a barebones about the sealing of the Dark One and the Breaking of the World and Ravens is about Egwene, at 9 years old, on a shearing day. Neither add huge amounts to the WoT world, but just little interesting bits.

STAR WARS: LOST TRIBE OF THE SITH: PURGATORY
-J. Miller-epub-30
-short story-a jedi is on the sith world, having crashed. He takes in a disgraced Sith, who finds out he is a jedi. It ends with the appearance of the Sith about to betray him to gain her status back.

AMAZING AGENT LUNA #1-6
-DeFilippis & Weir
-manga-volume 6 was new to me. Not nearly as engaging as the first several volumes. Glad to see it out however and since DeFilippis and Weir are american, maybe we'll see a nice close to this story, but not holding my breath.

ONCE A HERO
-M. Stackpole-dtb-513
-fantasy-a good reread, but, doesn't hold up as well simply because the convergence of the past and present is already known to the reader and so much of the suspense of the story depends on the reader NOT knowing that. Still a fantastic fantasy book, just not as interesting on the 4th or 5th reread :-)

PERCY JACKSON: BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH
-R. Riordan-epub-243
-ya fantasy-Percy and Co have to find Daedolus, the creator of the labyrinth, in order to get him to help them close it down so that Camp Half Blood can't be invaded. Kronos takes over a body and is now corporeal and things aren't looking good for the Olympians.

WHEEL OF TIME: NEW SPRING
-R. Jordan-epub-317
-fantasy-the prequel to the WoT series. Having read it before, and up to book 9 or 10 of Wot, I could read it first. For a first timer, it should definitely not be read until at least after book 8 simply because I'm sure it reveals things quickly that are teased out in the series. And it is a nice light read without most of Jordan's literary "quirks" that drive us batty. A good start to a long series.

MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN: THE CRIPPLED GOD
-S. Erikson-epub-953
-fantasy-the end of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. It was about 500 pages of existential whining, much like the previous book or 2, then it got serious about the action and things happened. But that first 1/2 to 2/3 of the book were just plain torture. Why does it take Erikson 5 pages of monologuing build up to accomplish something that he writes in 2 paragraphs? It was worse than Ayn Rand. It was a great story, the action was fast, furious and violent, the characters were all intertwined fantastically, but I can't recommend this series because Erikson ruined it with his need to bash us over the head with his philosophical viewpoints. Pages upon pages upon pages of them! That being said, it did end well. I was satisfied with the ending and felt like I had closure.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: THE ICEBOUND LAND
-J. Flanagan-epub-222
-ya fantasy-Will and the Princess are taken as slaves for Skandia and Will becomes addicted to some drug. Princess makes a deal with the kind hearted Skandian who originally captured them and she and Will escape to a mountain hut for the winter. She weans Will off the drug. Meanwhile Halt insults the king and gets thrown out of the kingdom so he can search for Will. Ends with them all finding eachother but with a horde of mongols ready to invade Skandia.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: BATTLE FOR SKANDIA
-J. Flanagan-epub-238
-ya fantasy-Halt, Will and the others are trapped in Skandia by the mongol horde. They make an uneasy truce with the Skandians to provide training so the Skandians don't get their butts handed to them on a platter. They defeat the horde at a terrible cost and the main group survives and gets home, with a treaty with the Skandians.

SCHOOL RUMBLE #1
-J. Kobayashi-epub
-manga-a converted cbr file. It read ok on my 505, but I didn't really like it. Hoping the original cbr's are much more readable on my new 10.1 Android tablet.

WHEEL OF TIME: EYE OF THE WORLD
-R. Jordan-epub-702
-fantasy-a re-read in preparation for the final novel in the beginning of next year. Incredible. The scene in the beginning where Rand sees the dark horseman and everything is winter dead and the atmosphere is dreadful, it really got me. It was good writing. The story was cool and there was so much that I just didn't remember. There were times that I didn't like characters, but I know more of that is coming, so I tried to let it go. But it is really hard to not want to kill Matt for being a complete asshole in the middle of Shadar Logoth. Definitely going to go slow with this series, one every couple of weeks, no back to back readings, so as not to burn out. And I really like the new TOR covers as well :-)

OTHERLAND: THE MOUNTAIN OF BLACK GLASS
-T. Williams-epub-749
-scifi-things really start to come together in this book. We found out the ultimate aims of the Grail and the Circle. Paul Jonas has a bit revealed about his past and the group makes it back together. Fantastic writing, tons of action. Dread is a great bad guy.

DISCWORLD: AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS
-T. Pratchett-epub-170
-fantasy-a group of mice become sentient, so does a cat and they hook up with a little boy who plays the pipes. They run scams to get rid of "rats". At one village they come across something bigger, a king rat, and take him down and at the end try to come to terms with the village. Make peace, as it were. Amusing and light and easy.

PERCY JACKSON: THE LAST OLYMPIAN
-R. Riordan-epub-234
-fantasy-the wrap up of the series. Kronos and Co. almost take over. Luke redeems himself in the end, lots of info is learned about lots of people and things settle down, for a little bit. Rachel is the new Oracle and Annabeth and Percy hook up. A new "great" prophecy about the end of the world pops up right at the end. So it ends on a good note, but with the chance for more if the author feels like it.

MONTHLY SUMMARY
13 novels
1 unfinished Novel
2 short Stories
7 manga
5818 Pages

February '11

ATLAS SHRUGGED
-A. Rand-epub-1360
-fiction/philosophy-a bare outline of a story covering the philosophic underpinnings of the objectivest movement. One man, John Galt, removes the best and brightest from the world so that they cannot keep being preyed upon by the "looters". Ends with the collapse of the country [possibly world, but we never actually know] and the thinkers getting ready to take their country back. This was not necessarily an enjoyable book to read, mainly because the characters were simply avatars of ideals that the author holds and every couple of chapters one would start spouting the objectivest viewpoint, in expansively great detail, completely shattering the flow of the story. But like I said, this wasn't really a story, just a cover.
Now to discuss the philosophy part. It posits that there is no God, no afterlife, nothing spiritual, just the material. Hence, the goal of man is to make himself happy. Rand states that each man doing his best to make himself happy will, in the end, make many more people happy as well. Trickle over happiness. Responsibility is a point that is hugely stressed and greatly needed in our day and age. Overall though, this is not something that a Christian could subscribe to. Parts of it, yes. I realize this book delves a lot deeper than what I just wrote, but I don't want to write a treaty myself.

FISHERMAN'S CHILDREN: PRODIGAL MAGE
-K. Miller-epub-UNFINISHED
-fantasy-the sequel to the Kingmaker, Kingbreaker duology. 10 years later. I couldn't stand this. While Asher was a joy to read about before, now he and Dathne are just nagging people who are completely, willfully, blind to their children's emerging talent. I realize that is a large thrust of the story, but when I just want to throttle every adult character, well, that ruins the reading experience.

POLITY: SPLATTERJAY: VOYAGE OF THE SABLE KEECH
-N. Asher-epub-412
-scifi-10 years after the events of Skinner. A surviving prador gets infected with the hooper virus and ends up going back to Prador space to challenge the king. Also deals with a bunch of reifs who are trying to recreate Sable Keech's resurrection. All ties together and stuff.

BARTIMAEUS: RING OF SOLOMON
-J. Stroud-epub-344
-ya fantasy-Bartimaeus around the time of Solomon. Nothing noteworthy or worth writing about.

OTHERLAND: CITY OF GOLDEN SHADOW
-T. Williams-dtb-770
-scifi-a near future where online is almost as real as rl. Some rich people, however, are creating an online world to rival the real world. Various characters get sucked into the story line, even if we, the reader, don't know where they fit into the overall picture. A very good job of building the story up, reaching a satisfactory conclusion, while keeping the plot wide open. I read this in the bookclub hardcover edition, which, while hardcover, isn't as big as a first edition. Man, what a pain! I had to constantly use 2 hands, rest the book on something, etc, etc. It was unwieldy. I will be reading the rest of the series on my ereader for sure!

CIRQUE DU FREAK: ALLIES OF THE NIGHT
-D. Shan-epub-130
-ya fantasy-Darren runs into Debby, and she gets taken by Vampaneze and the group has a run in with the Vampaneze Lord.

DRESDEN FILES: BLOOD RITES
-J. Butcher-epub-344
-urban fantasy-Harry goes to work as a bodyguard/investigator for a small time porn film producer. The White Court is involved, Harry finds out he has a half-brother and it looks like he and the female cop could end up hooking up.

MECHWARRIOR: MERCENARY'S STAR
-W. Keith-epub-371
-scifi-Gray Death Legion is hired by a planet to help throw off a Great House's yoke. Lots of "then he fired his PPC, then the massive 125mm chaingun until the..." blah blah blah. These are interesting little war stories, but nothing that I ever would get really excited about.

SHADOW WAR: SHADOW MOON
-C. Claremont-epub-UNFINISHED
-a sequel to the movie "Willow". I got about 3 pages in and then realized I just didn't care about this at all, nor was I interested.

THE TWO JUNGLE BOOKS
-R. Kipling-epub-309
-fiction-the name is really misleading. There are several short stories about Mowgli and his adventures in the Jungle, but there are just as many short stories about seals, eskimoes, etc, and TONS of stupid 'songs' that I really couldn't enjoy this like I did Kim.

CASTLE BRASS: COUNT BRASS
-M. Moorcock-epub-83
-fantasy-5 years after the events of The Runestaff. Hawkmoon is happily living with his wife and 2 children at Castlebrass. Then 3 friends appear from the dead, and it turns out that one of the Dark Empire Techno-mages is still alive and dimension hopping and trying to topple the new regime. Hawkmoon deals with him, but all his friends die, again, and when Hawkmoon wakes up, it turns out everything of the last 5 years was a delusion and he had been mad. Never had a wife or kids [she died at the last great battle against the Dark Empire] and imagined everything.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: RUINS OF GORLAN
-J. Flanagan-epub-195
-ya fantasy-a foundling is taken into the Ranger trade and saves his master and becomes a good ranger. This was actually quite well done. From the beginning to end, I found the main character open, engaging and a good stereotypical hero type. I like those :-) A good plot, with hints and then some real meat, about an overall danger to the kingdom and you know the main character will be playing a pivotal role to save the kingdom. And it deals with knights, monsters, etc, etc, so it is all cool.

PERCY JACKSON: LIGHTNING THIEF
-R. Riordan-epub-237
-ya fantasy-Percy Jackson is a delinquent. Kicked out of schools every year, failing almost every grade, etc, etc, but not a troublemaker. Turns out he is a son of a Poseiden and a human. Someone stole Zeus's thunderbolt and everyone thinks it was Percy. So he has to find it, return it, clear his name and stay alive while every godling tries to kill him. Really enjoyable and Riordan does a fantastic job of explaining Greek mythology without boring the reader and bringing it up to the 21st century.

PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS
-R. Riordan-epub-181
-ya fantasy-turns out Kronos is trying to take back the universe from the gods. So Percy and Co. have to set out to find the golden fleece to heal their camp. Only it turns out it was a long term trap by Kronos. Turns out one of the children of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades will forever change the world of the gods on their 16th birthday. However, those three had agreed to have no more kids with mortals. Only they lied. Everyone thought Percy was the only one, but the fleece brought back to life a daughter of Zeus.

MECHWARRIOR: PRICE OF GLORY
-W. Keith-epub-327
-scifi-Gray Death Legion gets suckered. They fulfill a contract to get a world of their own as a base. Only it turns out the world has a secret Lost Library and Com Star [a supposedly neutral techno-religious group, which acts like a secret 6th Great House] wants that library. So lots of backstabbing, betrayals and fighting. The Legion survives, barely.

ARTHURIAN SAGA: THE CRYSTAL CAVE
-M. Stewart-epub-338
-fantasy-another Arthur saga. This is about Merlin, obviously. Lots of non-christian god stuff and setting the historical stage for Arthur. I didn't really care for this and the story just never drew me in.

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
-L. Montgomery-dtb-309
-fiction-fantastic story. A little orphan girl comes to live with 2 old people [brother and sister] on Prince Edward Island. She forever changes their lives with her personality, etc. Extremely engaging, well written, great characterization, never boring and a story that has such a timeless plot of love and change, that I can see this becoming a "classic" in the future. It should anyway :-)

OTHERLAND: RIVER OF BLUE FIRE
-T. Williams-epub-768
-scifi-the group gets split up, then comes back together, all the while we're finding out more about the Grail Society and hints of what is going on with the Otherland Network.

PERCY JACKSON: THE TITAN'S CURSE
-R. Riordan-epub-196
-ya fantasy-Percy and Co have to deal with yet another prophecy and have adventures and it turns out that a son of Hades is alive, he was just stuck in a hotel that warped time. But Thalia [daughter of Zeus] joins Artemis, so she will never turn 16, so the prophecy won't apply to her.

RANGER'S APPRENTICE: THE BURNING BRIDGE
-J. Flanagan-epub-212
-ya fantasy-Will ends up on a mission with Horace to stop a surprise attack by Morgarath on the kingdom. He and some girl, who turns out to be King Duncan's daughter, are kidnapped by Scandians and the last scene is of Halt seeing the boat take off with them aboard.

CASTLE BRASS: CHAMPIONS OF GARATHORM
-M. Moorcock-epub-80
-fantasy-Hawkmoon is convinced to go on a mission and he ends up giving his soul to another champion for a short while on another quest. And his wife returns and she remembers their children too. So something is up. Oh yeah, seems to be some sort of cosmic smackdown going on, Lords of Chaos and Law are fighting for their existences.

MONTHLY SUMMARY
19 novels
2 unfinished novels
6966 pages

January '11

RESIDENT EVIL: UMBRELLA CONSPIRACY
-S.D. Perry-epub-142
-game novelization- having never played RE, having only seen the movies, this was all new to me. You could tell it was from a game, but I still enjoyed it anyway. Shallow characters, basic puzzle plot with some some-what scary monsters thrown in made for a half-decent read. Definitely going to be reading more in the series.

RESIDENT EVIL: ZERO HOUR
-S.D. Perry-epub-141
-game novelization-this is actually book 0. Shows how the T-virus got loose and the one character from the Bravo group in book 1 has her adventures here. Not actually very exciting.

LADY PENITENT: ASCENDANCY OF THE LAST
-L. Smedman-epub-214
-fantasy-Eilistrae loses to Lolth, but saves what drow she can, who return to being dark elves. But another god steps in to continue the game, the old god of the dark elves. This was a confusing book with changes just happening for no real reason that I could figure out. Weakest of the whole series imo.

THE STRAIN: THE FALL
-G. Del Toro & C. Hogan-epub-267
-thriller, fantasy-the rogue vampire takes out all the other ancients by blowing up nuclear plants where their bodies are. So in one blow he takes out the competition, destroys humanities ability to fight back and extends night over the planet. Definitely a middle book where things look their bleakest. The old jew vampire hunter dies, the boy is kidnapped, humanity is on the ropes. Not as engaging as the first book however.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: VAMPIRE MOUNTAIN
-D. Shan-epub-109
-ya fantasy-Darren and Mr Crepsley go to Vampire Mountain for the vampire gathering and so Darren can be presented and accepted by the Vampire Princes.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: TRIALS OF DEATH
-D. Shan-epub-83
-ya fantasy-Darren has to complete 5 trials to gain acceptance. He fails and is sentenced to death.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: THE VAMPIRE PRINCE
-D. Shan-epub-122
-ya fantasy-Darren escapes, but the vampire who helps him turns out to be a traitor, who is trying to help the vampaneze. Darren returns to Vampire Mountain to warn everyone and the vampaneze are wiped out. Darren is spared by becoming an honorary Vampire Prince. However, there is a huge threat, a lord of the vampaneze, who is prophesied to almost wipe out the vampires.

CIRQUE DU FREAK: HUNTERS OF THE DUSK
-D. Shan-epub-87
-ya fantasy-Mr Tiny prophecies that only Darren, Mr Crepsley and one other Vampire have the chance to kill the Lord of the Vampaneze. They have to hunt him down on their own. This chronicles their first chance, and failure.

MECHWARRIOR: THE SWORD AND THE DAGGER
-A. Mayhar-epub-248
-scifi-introduces us to a galaxy where humanity has spread, then splintered into factions, with each trying to rule the whole. Follows one plot to remove a king of one "clan" for the furthering of another clan. Nothing special, but enjoyable with promise for a huge amount of stories.

SHADOWS OF THE APT: SALUTE THE DARK
-A. Tchaikovsky-epub-392
-fantasy-the wasps are poised to take over the lowlands. But due to mosquito kinden interference, the emperor is killed and replaced by his sister, which allows the rest of the world breathing room. Almost everybody from the original book is dead, with only Stenwald, his niece Cheerwell, Totho and the wasp Athric still around. New characters come and go. But the core group is just about gone. It makes for a very dynamic story, and I actually like it. [this time]

ARTEMIS FOWL: ETERNITY CODE
-E. Colfer-epub-163
-ya fantasy-Artemis makes up a new invention with fairy tech and promptly loses it to an American shady dealer. His adventures, with the fairies, of getting it back. and Butler is put out to pasture and his younger sister might be stepping into the role of body guard.

CHROMOSOME 6
-R. Cook-dtb-457
-medical thriller-a naive scientist messes about with genes and monkeys to produce "doubles" for rich people so they have perfect match organs when needed. But that is almost the sidestory. The other part of the story is about some morgue doctor/detectives finding out all about it because of a high profile death. Things go along at an ok clip, then right at the end everything wraps up in the snap of the fingers. Boom, problems all solved, yada yada yada. Completely unimpressed and ruined any positives I had about the book.

ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SHATTERED LENS
-B. Sanderson-dtb-292
-ya fantasy-the Librarians are invading the remainder of the free lands, Alcatraz's dad runs off to find a way to give everybody Smedry powers and Alcatraz ends up in the middle of a battle. Not nearly as funny and smart alecky as the previous books. Either I'm used to it, or Sanderson is forcing it. Wraps things up in such a way that this could be the last book [even though events are not wrapped up] but leaves openings for another [probably if publishers will give it a go].

SHADOWS OF THE APT: SCARAB PATH
-A. Tchaikovsky-epub-560
-fantasy-Cheerwell is now inapt, due to some mystical hokum due to her moth lover dying. She mopes about. So Stenwald sends her on an expedition to a city that is apparently full of inapt beetles. The empire of black and gold is also interested in this city, so Athric, who has been having some real issues with being married to the new empress, jumps at the chance to get. Lots of things happen and Athric and Cheerwell get together. The city is almost taken, but the Slug kinden, who are major magicians, rouse themselves to destroy the army that has almost taken the city. Turns out that the ghost of the mantis who killed the emperor has been haunting Cheerwell and the book ends with it going after its daughter, where ever she is, and Cheerwell and Athric following the ghost. So yeah, a new story arc is commencing. This story continues to feel full, alive, vibrant and interesting. Information about the world is detailed enough to give you a picture of all that you don't know. Kind of like a tease. I like it.

MECHWARRIOR: DECISION AT THUNDER RIFT
-W. Keith-epub-298
-scifi-a young mechwarrior survives a surprise attack on a back edge world and leads the fight to take it back, so as to give his clan a chance to survive. Looks to be the start of a sub-series about this particular branch of merc mechwarriors.

GEORGE'S MARVELOUS MEDICINE
-R. Dahl-dtb-89
-children's fiction- George, an 8 year old, is tired of being tormented by his nasty old grandmother. So he mixes up a fantastic potion to replace her medicine. Only it turns her into a giant. So George's father gives it to all the farm animals. When that batch runs out, George tries to make another batch. The final batch makes things shrink, and the nasty grandmother drinks it all, thinking it is tea. A very "epitome" of Roald Dahl.

MONTHLY SUMMARY
15 novels
1 childrens book
3664 pages

2010 In Review...

Below is the list of all the books I've read/attempted to read and all the manga/graphic novels I've read/attempted to read in 2010.

For all you data lovers [like me], here is a quick and dirty breakdown:

149 books
[even though to be honest, I think there are about 4 or 5 short stories in that number]

124 manga/graphic novels

14 unfinished books

1 unfinished manga/graphic novel

50,136 pages read.
[no page data for manga/gn, cause that would just be not right. plus, I didn't keep track of pages for the unfinished books. So I'm sure the actual number is a bit higher, but hey, who is counting? ;-) ]










1: Malazan Book of the Fallen: Memories of Ice-Steven Erikson-900
2: Stoneways: Queen Ferris-S.C. Butler-495
3: Star Wars: Imperial Commando: 501st-Karen Traviss-434
4: Malazan Book of the Fallen: House of Chains-Steven Erikson-722
5: Malazan Book of the Fallen: Midnight Tides-Steven Erikson-674
6: Malazan Book of the Fallen: The Bonehunters-Steven Erikson-909
7: Acacia: The War with the Mein-David Durham-UNFINISHED
8: Wolf: Wolf Hunting-Jane Lindskold-UNFINISHED
9: Robotech: Genesis-Jack McKinney-155
10: Robotech: Battle Cry-Jack McKinney-139
11: Robotech: Homecoming-Jack McKinney-147
12: Robotech: Battlehymn-Jack McKinney-115
13: Robotech: Force of Arms-Jack McKinney-155
14: Robotech: Doomsday-Jack McKinney-161
15: Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice-John Jackson Miller-29
16: Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn-John Jackson Miller-27
17: Codex Alera: Furies of Calderon-Jim Butcher-383
18: Codex Alera: Academ's Fury-Jim Butcher-404
19: Mirror of Opposition-Timothy Robinson-172
20: War of the Spider Queen: Extinction-Lisa Smedman-228
21: War of the Spider Queen: Annihilation-Philip Athans-225
22: War of the Spider Queen: Resurrection-Paul Kemp-232
23: Quadrail: The Domino Pattern-Timothy Zahn-229
24: Green-Ted Dekker-UNFINISHED
25: Robotech: Southern Cross-Jack McKinney-123
26: Robotech: Metal Fire-Jack McKinney-151
27: Robotech: The Final Nightmare-Jack McKinney-170
28: Malaz: Night of Knives-Ian C. Esslemont-237
29: Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon-John Miller-26
30: Vlad Taltos: Jhereg-Steven Brust-208
31: Vlad Taltos: Yendi-Steven Brust-167
32: Vlad Taltos: Teckla-Steven Brust-144
33: Codex Alera: Cursor's Fury-Jim Butcher-407
34: Battlechasers-Timothy Robinson-149
35: Darktower: The Gunslinger-Stephen King-UNFINISHED
36: Malazan Book of the Fallen: Reaper's Gale-Steven Erikson-969
37: Dreamwish Beasts and Snarks-Mike Resnick-UNFINISHED
38: Malazan Book of the Fallen: Toll the Hounds-Steven Erikson-961
39: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: And Another Thing-Eoin Colfer-247
40: Future Imperfect-Keith Laumer-441
41: Shogun-James Clavell-803
42: Vlad Taltos: Taltos-Steven Brust-161
43: Shadows of the Apt: Empire in Black and Gold-Adrian Tchaikovsky-571
44: Discworld: Jingo-Terry Pratchett-282
45: Doom: Knee-Deep in the Dead-Dafydd Ab Hugh-180
46: Star Wars: Death Troopers-Joe Schreiber-138
47: Robotech: Invid Invasion-Jack McKinney-135
48: Admiral's Ghost-NB VanYoos-UNFINISHED
49: Elven Ways: The Dark Ferryman-Jenna Rhodes-UNFINISHED
50: Dresden Files: Storm Front-Jim Butcher-184
51: Dresden Files: Fool Moon-Jim Butcher-214
52: Borderlands: Covenants-Lorna Freeman-375
53: Borderlands: The King's Own-Lorna Freeman-269
54: Borderlands: Shadows Past-Lorna Freeman-307
55: Codex Alera: Captain's Fury-Jim Butcher-387
56: Discworld: The Last Continent-Terry Pratchett-227
57: Robotech: Metamorphosis-Jack McKinney-148
58: Tears of Artamon: Lord of Snow and Shadows-Sarah Ash-387
59: Dresden Files: Grave Peril-Jim Butcher-255
60: Vlad Taltos: Phoenix-Steven Brust-189
61: Shadows of the Apt: Dragonfly Falling-Adrian Tchaikovsky-540
62: Shadowmarch: Shadowrise-Tad Williams-554
63: Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Backlash-Aaron Allston-304
64: Malazan Book of the Fallen: Dust of Dreams-Steven Erikson-946
65: Tears of Artamon: Prisoner of the Iron Tower-Sarah Ash-384
66: Vang: The Military Form-Christopher Rowley-228
67: Vang: The Battlemaster-Christopher Rowley-215
68: Demon Cycle: The Warded Man-Peter Brett-416
69: Demon Cycle: The Desert Spear-Peter Brett-579
70: Codex Alera: Princep's Fury-Jim Butcher-350
71: Codex Alera: First Lord's Fury-Jim Butcher-457
72: Foreigner-C.J. Cherryh-UNFINISHED
73: Bill, the Galactic Hero-Harry Harrison-185
74: Riyria Revelations: The Crown Conspiracy-Michael Sullivan-228
75: Discworld: Carpe Jugulum-Terry Pratchett-227
76: Dresden Files: Summer Knight-Jim Butcher-241
77: Doppleganger-Marie Brennan-UNFINISHED
78: The Lost Fleet: Victorious-Jack Campbell-331
79: The Fourth Realm: The Traveler-John Twelve Hawks-330
80: Pride & Prejudice & Zombies-Seth Grahame-Smith-UNFINISHED
81: Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Savior- John Miller-27
82: Star Wars: Clone Wars: Wild Space-Karen Miller-279
83: Star Wars: Clone Wars: No Prisoners-Karen Traviss-175
84: Boneshaker-Cherie Priest-416
85: Tears of Artamon: Children of the Serpent Gate-Sarah Ash-420
86: The Fourth Realm: The Dark River-John Twelve Hawks-368
87: Castings: Deep Water-Pamela Freeman-506
88: Castings: Full Circle-Pamela Freeman-404
89: Athabasca-Alistair Maclean-284
90: The Passage-Justin Cronin-766
91: Season of the Spellsong: Spellsinger-Alan Dean Foster-275
92: Season of the Spellsong: Hour of the Gate-Alan Dean Foster-217
93: Season of the Spellsong: Day of the Dissonance-Alan Dean Foster-235
94: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency-Douglas Adams-171
95: Shadows of the Apt: Blood of the Mantis-Adrian Tchaikovsky-354
96: The Twelve Kingdoms: Skies of Dawn-Fuyumi Ono-642
97: The Fourth Realm: The Golden City-John Twelve Hawks-358
98: Riyria Revelations: Avempartha-Michael Sullivan-237
99: Riyria Revelations: Nyphron Rising-Michael Sullivan-277
100: Vlad Taltos: Athyra-Steven Brust-259
101: The Oort Perimeter-Steven Lake-UNFINISHED
102: Empire: Daughter of the Empire-Janny Wurts & Raymond Feist-377
103: Robotech: Symphony of Light-Jack McKinney-158
104: Guardian of the Flame: The Sleeping Dragon-Joel Rosenberg-171
105: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance-Sean Williams-417
106: Empire: Servant of the Empire-Janny Wurts & Raymond Feist-627
107: Wars of Light and Shadow: Curse of the Mistwraith-Janny Wurts-UNFINISHED
108: The Lon Tobyn Chronicles: Children of Amarid-David Coe-600
109: Malaz: Return of the Crimson Guard-Ian Esslemont-681
110: Stormlight Archives: The Way of Kings-Brandon Sanderson-1035
111: Snow Crash- Neal Stephenson-520
112: Legends of Shannara: Bearers of the Black Staff-Terry Brooks-336
113: Lightbringer: The Black Prism-Brent Weeks-609
114: Riyria Revelations: Emerald Storm-Michael Sullivan-380
115: The Three Investigators: Secret of Terror Castle-Robert Arthur-79
116: Artemis Fowl-Eoin Colfer-143
117: Ancester-Scott Sigler-421
118: Dirk Gently: The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul-Douglas Adams-199
119: Star Wars: Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth-Karen Miller-293
120: Guardians of the Flame: The Sword and the Chain-Joel Rosenberg-251
121: Bios-Robert Wilson-214
122: Star Wars: Crosscurrent-Paul Kemp-214
123: Polity: Agent Cormac: Gridlinked-Neal Asher-346
124: Polity: Agent Cormac: The Line of Polity-Neal Asher-437
125: Discworld: The Truth -Terry Pratchett-239
126: Kim -Rudyard Kipling-307
127: Polity: Agent Cormac: Brass Man-Neal Asher-405
128: Brisingr-Christopher Paolini-PARTIAL REREAD
129: Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident-Eoin Colfer-146
130: Robotech: The Sentinels: The Devil's Hand-Jack McKinney-133
131: World at War: Into the Darkness-Harry Turtledove-684
132: Polity: Agent Cormac: Polity Agent-Neal Asher-403
133: Dresden Files: Death Masks- Jim Butcher-235
134: Polity: Agent Cormac: Line War-Neal Asher-395
135: Empire: Mistress of the Empire-Janny Wurts & Raymond Feist-656
136: Tau Ceti Agenda: One Day on Mars-Travis Taylor-UNFINISHED
137: Cirque Du Freak: A Living Nightmare-Darren Shan-148
138: Conrad Stargard: Crosstime Engineer-Leo Frankowski-231
139: Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant-Darren Shan-141
140: Guardian of the Flame: The Silver Crown-Joel Rosenberg-216
141: Battle Royale-Koushun Takami-491
142: The Strain: Strain-G. Del Toro & Chuck Hogan-353
143: Lady Penitent: Sacrifice of the Widow-Lisa Smedman-202
144: Cirque Du Freak: Tunnels of Blood-Darren Shan-139
145: Conrad Stargard: the High Tech Knight-Leo Frankowski-247
146: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II-Sean Williams-295
147: The Gambler-Fyodor Dostoyevsky-130
148: Mutation-Robin Cook-367
149: The Videssos Cycle: The Misplaced Legion-Harry Turtledove-288
150: Conrad Stargard: The Radiant Warrior-Leo Frankowski-281
151: Inherit the Stars-James Hogan-203
152: DragonLords: The Last DragonLord-Joanne Bertin-471
153: Conrad Stargard: The Flying Warlord-Leo Frankowski-232
154: Polity: Spatterjay: The Skinner-Neal Asher-375
155: Rendezvous with Rama-Arthur Clarke-255
156: Lady Penitent: Storm of the Dead-Lisa Smedman-209
157: The Sword and the Dragon-M.R. Mathias-524
158: Discworld: Thief of Time-Terry Pratchett-241
159: Acacia: The War with the Mein-David Durham-756
160: Swallows and Amazons-Arthur Ransome-204
161: DragonLords: Dragon and Phoenix-Joanne Bertin-695
162: Sword of Shadows: A Cavern of Black Ice-J.V. Jones-618
163: Star Wars: Red Harvest-Joe Schreiber-244


MANGA & GRAPHIC NOVELS
1: Oh My Goddess! #32-Kosuke Fujishima
2: Oh My Goddess! #33-Kosuke Fujishima
3: Ranma 1/2 #22-Rumiko Takahashi
4: Ranma 1/2 #23-Rumiko Takahashi
5: Ranma 1/2 #24-Rumiko Takahashi
6: Ranma 1/2 #25-Rumiko Takahashi
7: Amazing Agent Luna Omnibus #2-Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
8: Superman: The Death of Clark Kent-various
9: Fruits Basket #23-Natsuki Takaya
10: Ranma 1/2 #26-Rumiko Takahashi
11: Ranma 1/2 #27-Rumiko Takahashi
12: Ranma 1/2 #28-Rumiko Takahashi
13: Ranma 1/2 #29-Rumiko Takahashi
14: Ranma 1/2 #30-Rumiko Takahashi
15: Ranma 1/2 #31-Rumiko Takahashi
16: Yotsuba&! #6-Kiyohiko Azuma
17: Yotsuba&! #7-Kiyokiko Azuma
18: Train + Train #1-Hideyuki Kurata
19: Train + Train #2-Hideyuki Kurata
20: Train + Train #3-Hideyuki Kurata
21: Train + Train #4-Hideyuki Kurata
22: Train + Train #5-Hideyuki Kurata
23: Train + Train #6-Hideyuki Kurata
24: Elseworld: Superman: Dark Side-various
25: Ranma 1/2 #32-Rumiko Takahashi
26: Ranma 1/2 #33-Rumiko Takahashi
27: Kare Kano #1-Masami Tsuda
28: Kare Kano #2-Masami Tsuda
29: Kare Kano #3-Masami Tsuda
30: Kare Kano #4-Masami Tsuda
31: Kare Kano #5-Masami Tsuda
32: Kare Kano #6-Masami Tsuda
33: Kare Kano #7-Masami Tsuda
34: Kare Kano #8-Masami Tsuda
35: Yotsuba&! #8-Kiyohiko Azuma
36: XxxHolic #14-CLAMP
37: Ranma 1/2 #34-Rumiko Takahashi
38: Ranma 1/2 #35-Rumiko Takahashi
39: Ranma 1/2 #36-Rumiko Takahashi
40: Hunter X Hunter #22-Yoshihiro Togashi
41: Hunter X Hunter #23-Yoshihiro Togashi
42: Hunter X Hunter #24-Yoshihiro Togashi
43: Hunter X Hunter #25-Yoshihiro Togashi
44: Hunter X Hunter #26-Yoshihiro Togashi
45: Elseworld: Superman: True Brit-various
46: Case Closed #5-Gosho Aoyama
47: Case Closed #6-Gosho Aoyama
48: Case Closed #7-Gosho Aoyama
49: Case Closed #8-Gosho Aoyama
50: Case Closed #9-Gosho Aoyama
51: Case Closed #10-Gosho Aoyama
52: Case Closed #11-Gosho Aoyama
53: Case Closed #12-Gosho Aoyama
54: Case Closed #13-Gosho Aoyama
55: Case Closed #14-Gosho Aoyama
56: Case Closed #15-Gosho Aoyama
57: Case Closed #16-Gosho Aoyama
58: Case Closed #17-Gosho Aoyama
59: Case Closed #18-Gosho Aoyama
60: Case Closed #19-Gosho Aoyama
61: Case Closed #20-Gosho Aoyama
62: Case Closed #21-Gosho Aoyama
63: Case Closed #22-Gosho Aoyama
64: Case Closed #23-Gosho Aoyama
65: Case Closed #24-Gosho Aoyama
66: Case Closed #25-Gosho Aoyama
67: Case Closed #26-Gosho Aoyama
68: Prince of Tennis #3-Takeshi Konomi
69: Prince of Tennis #4-Takeshi Konomi
70: Prince of Tennis #5-Takeshi Konomi
71: Prince of Tennis #6-Takeshi Konomi
72: Prince of Tennis #7-Takeshi Konomi
73: Prince of Tennis #8-Takeshi Konomi
74: Prince of Tennis #9-Takeshi Konomi
75: Prince of Tennis #10-Takeshi Konomi
76: One Piece #22-Eichiro Oda
77: One Piece #23-Eichiro Oda
78: One Piece #24-Eichiro Oda
79: One Piece #25-Eichiro Oda
80: One Piece #26-Eichiro Oda
81: One Piece #27-Eichiro Oda
82: One Piece #28-Eichiro Oda
83: One Piece #29-Eichiro Oda
84: Prince of Tennis #12-Takeshi Konomi
85: Prince of Tennis #13-Takeshi Konomi
86: Prince of Tennis #14-Takeshi Konomi
87: Prince of Tennis #15-Takeshi Konomi
88: Prince of Tennis #16-Takeshi Konomi
89: Prince of Tennis #17-Takeshi Konomi
90: Prince of Tennis #17-Takeshi Konomi
91: Prince of Tennis #18-Takeshi Konomi
92: Prince of Tennis #19-Takeshi Konomi
93: Prince of Tennis #21-Takeshi Konomi
94: Prince of Tennis #22-Takeshi Konomi
95: Case Closed #27-Gosho Aoyama
96: Case Closed #28-Gosho Aoyama
97: Case Closed #29-Gosho Aoyama
98: Case Closed #30-Gosho Aoyama
99: Case Closed #31-Gosho Aoyama
100: Case Closed #32-Gosho Aoyama
101: Case Closed #33-Gosho Aoyama
102: Case Closed #34-Gosho Aoyama
103: Case Closed #35-Gosho Aoyama
104: Elseworld: The Superman Monster-various
105: Elseworld: Batgirl & Robin: Thrillkiller-various
106: Kare Kano #10-Masami Tsuda
107: Kare Kano #11-Masami Tsuda
108: Kare Kano #12-Masami Tsuda
109: Kare Kano #13-Masami Tsuda
110: Kare Kano #14-Masami Tsuda
111: Kare Kano #15-Masami Tsuda
112: Black Bird #1-Kanoko Sakurakoji
113: Black Bird #2-Kanoko Sakurakoji
114: Black Bird #3-Kanoko Sakurakoji
115: Elseworld: Batman & Captain American-various-UNFINISHED
116: Elseworld: Batman & Demon: A Tragedy-various
117: Elseworld: Batman & Houdini: The Devil's Workshop-various
118: Elseworld: Batman: Castle of the Bat-various
119: Elseworld: Batman: Dark Allegiances-various
120: Elseworld: Batman: Dark Knight Dynasty-various
121: Elseworld: Batman: Detective #27-various
122: Elseworld: Batman: Gotham Noir-various
123: Elseworld: Batman: Holy Terror-various
124: Elseworld: Batman: I, Joker-various
125: Elseworld: Batman: In Darkest Knight-various

December '10

DRAGONLORDS: THE LAST DRAGONLORD
-J. Bertin-dtb-471
-fantasy-a world where there are dragons, humans and a very few, rare DragonLords, humans who share a body with a dragonsoul and have great abilities. Follows the adventures of a dragonlord who finds his soultwin and is embroiled in the machinations of a kingdom in turmoil. Very well written, enjoyable and enough depth to make it feel meaty and satisfying.

CONRAD STARGARD: THE FLYING WARLORD
-L. Frankowski-dtb-232
-scifi-Conrad defeats the mongols and the timeline is totally screwed up. This one had a lot less wenching and technology'izing.

POLITY: SPATTERJAY: THE SKINNER
-N. Asher-epub-375
-scifi-a new storyline dealing with a world called Spatterjay. It has a virus that infects humans and makes them strong, regenerative and nearly immortal. But if they don't eat Polity foods [ie, human food], they turn into a skinner. A skinner is a creature that kills and destroys. This book was about a polity agent looking for retribution on a gang of Hoopers [what turned humans are called] that participated in the Prador war, on the Prador's side. Follows the agent, some Hoopers, a Prador and some AI's as they all come together on Spatterjay and deal with a skinner. I enjoyed this as much, if not more, than the Agent Cormac books.

RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA
-A. Clarke-epub-255
-scifi-humanity finds a giant spaceship coming into the solar system. They explore it and realize they are not alone in the universe. The story is about the group exploring the ship. Very little action, well written, but dull none the less. There is a whole series of Rama books, but I don't think I'll waste my time on any more.

LADY PENITENT: STORM OF THE DEAD
-L. Smedman-epub-209
-fantasy-another god enters the game between Lolth and her daughter. And loses. Undead battles, etc, etc. Find out more history about the drow. Same quality as the other books by Smedman.

THE SWORD AND THE DRAGON
-M.R. Mathias-epub-524
-fantasy-first off, the author is a complete asshole. I've run into him on various forums and not once was he civil to anyone unless they were kowtowing to him. That being said, this started out as a fantastic book. I was hooked from the first chapter. Sadly, near the end things really seemed to drag and I was glad when the end came. If there are ever anymore books in this same universe, I will definitely be checking them out!

DISCWORLD: THIEF OF TIME
-T. Pratchett-epub-241
-fantasy-Time has a baby and it gets split in two. The Auditors try using one of them to build the perfect clock, so that time stops. Death must reunite the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse [plus 1] and Susan must tie everything together while she meets and falls in love with the perfect man[for her]. Highly entertaining. Especially when scads of auditors take on human form for some reason or another.

ACACIA: THE WAR WITH THE MEIN
-D. Durham-epub-456
-fantasy-despite not being able to get into this book earlier, I was encouraged by those at Goodreads to try again, and I am glad I did. Complex, long term and with just enough twists and turns to keep things interesting, Durham has created a world that is potentially HUGE for exploring. Definitely looking forward to the other 2 in this series.

SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
-A. Ransome-epub-204
-ya fiction-a group of children spend a couple of weeks on an island and sailing a lake. Simplistic and not something I was really in the mood for. However, I can see how this would stir the imagination of young duffers and intrigue them greatly.

DRAGONLORDS: DRAGON AND PHOENIX
-J. Bertin-dtb-695
-fantasy-the dragons and true dragons find out about a dragon being held captive in a foreign land and set out to rescue him. In the process Maurynna is able to change and the DragonLords find yet another "hidden" DragonLord. I really enjoyed this novel. Depth and a very wide view of things kept my attention and separate plotlines never got tangled up. Well written. I just wish the 3rd book had been written [the back of this book, published in '98 says the author is in the process of writing it. So if it hasn't happened in 13 years, I doubt it will]

SWORD OF SHADOWS: A CAVERN OF BLACK ICE
-J.V. Jones-epub-618
-fantasy-Graphic. The word to best describe this book. Every negative emotion, every detail about frozen, dying flesh, every bad habit, all were described to such detail so as to make me hate this book. A young woman, who has the power to free an undead horde, must discharge her power in a safe place, the cavern of black ice. Her fate is thrown in with a young clans man who ends up clanless. They succeed in their quest, but more things are still on the horizon. I don't think I'll be reading any more by this author.

STAR WARS: RED HARVEST
-J. Schreiber-dtb-244
-scifi-the prequel, by several thousand years, to Death Troopers. Some Sith lord finds a sith holocron with plans for immortality and experiments on sith students. Thing go horribly wrong and everyone gets infected. A jedi gets involved and some random bounty hunter and pilot. Lots of descriptions to make creepy settings, but there was not really any tension or scariness involved. Enjoyed it a little more than Death Troopers though.

Monthly Summary
12 Novels
4524 Pages