Review: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator 2: Judgment Day by Randall Frakes

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book added so much to the story that the movie tells. More emotional impact, more data, more thoughts from Skynet.



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Review: Hunting Harkonnens

Hunting Harkonnens by Brian Herbert

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



A short story about the elder Harkonnen heir, who crashlands on some planet and ends up surviving a hunt by Agememnon and who fades into obscurity.

A pointless piece of drivel that came across as sad, reaching and failing.



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Review: The Vicar of Nibbleswicke

The Vicar of Nibbleswicke by Roald Dahl

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A Vicar who occasionally reverses words. Ends up being told by the village dr to walk backwards to fix it.
And in the Dahl'ian Universe, that works :)



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Review: Matilda

Matilda by Roald Dahl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Matilda is a child genius who uses her extra mental powers to right a wrong for her favorite teacher.

Dahl's portrayal of authority figures is atypical for him. I think that besides Dahl growing up when he did and the experiences he had, he is simply able to tap into a child's mind and see the world through their eyes.

Adults are nigh unto gods, in many respects, to most kids, like Greco-Roman gods. And Dahl understands, captures, portrays and satirizes that relationship.

And we get a funny yarn out of it all :D



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Review: Esio Trot

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book was lacking Dahl's satire and bite, but considering that there were no children involved, not surprising.
Well written and typical Dahl solution to a simple problem :)



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Review: Choice of the Cat

Choice of the Cat by E.E. Knight

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



So the main character turns into a Cat instead of being a Wolf. And some romance with some other Cat. Some sort of new menace, blah, blah, blah.
I enjoyed this as much as the first book, but don't know how the overall series will end up going...



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Review: Judgment at Proteus

Judgment at Proteus by Timothy Zahn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



At the end of Book 4, when Zahn introduces the return of the badguys, I had no idea how he was going to wrap it all up.

He does simply by having the bad guys be small in number [which totally makes sense], it just wasn't made obvious in Book 4, so my mind immediately jumped to huge, galaxy spanning numbers.

Anyway, this was just one "I see your plan and have planned for your plan" scenario after another.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot once I got into the story but am glad Zahn wrapped things up. Compton has had enough imo...



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Review: Lilith: A Snake in the Grass

Lilith: A Snake in the Grass by Jack L. Chalker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Having read the paperbacks in highschool, I bought the hardcover omnibus edition in college and I must have read it then, because I KNOW I've read this series at least twice, but I have no record of it after 2000 [which is when I started keeping track of the books I read].

Anyway. This was a nice light, fast, action-oriented scifi novel about aliens, cloning, etc, etc.



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Review: Dracula

Dracula by Bram Stoker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Absolutely fantastic! A dread overhung the entire book without being gory or resorting to cheap tricks.

This was like reading a Dickens' book but not quite so heavy on descriptions of the surroundings. I would have given it 5 Stars except Helsing just went on and on instead of saying what he needed to quickly.

Written back in 1897, it is easy to see how our culture has shifted and changed.

Just a good story about a monster and good triumphing over evil against all odds.



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Review: Starless Night

Starless Night by R.A. Salvatore

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Considering that this book "whatever" of the Drizzt series, I had some hopes that the writing would be a bit better.

It wasn't.

I am going to finish this "Legacy" sub-series of Drizzt, then I'll be done. It is sophomoric writing and I don't have time to waste on crap like this. Storyline might be great in terms of ideas, but the technical aspect of the writing just makes me want to hurl.



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