The Sorcerer (The Return of the Archwizards #3) (Forgotten Realms)

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Title: The Sorcerer
Series: The Return of the Archwizards #3
Author: Troy Denning
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 320
Format: Kindle Digital edition

Synopsis:

Galaeron fights against the Netherese, along with some of Mystra’s Chosen, while the elves and their allies continue the battle against the Phaerim. The good guys mainly win and the Netherese mainly lose, but not completely.

And Galaeron ends up with both his human lover and his elf spirit mate. And he’s more powerful than ever since he’s gotten control of his shadow.

My Thoughts:

Lots of things happened and then bam, the end.  Just like with the previous books, I had a very hard time figuring out what the author was doing or saying. It was as if my mind was dulled or clouded. Most of it was just Denning’s writing style though. I think I’ll pass on any future books by him if I can avoid it.

The biggest thing for me, as an Erevis Cale fan, is that we see in this book how the Dracolich [undead Dragon wizard, ie, a dragon that is just bones] came to be under the spell of guarding the shadowrealm where Erevis encounters him. This series also explains a bit some of the power in dealing with the Weave and the Darkweave.

Other than that, this was blase and confusing and a poor example of the Forgotten Realms. Of course, some people would say that about ANY of the FR books, so take my saying it with a grain of salt.

My Review of Book 1, The Summoning
My Review of Book 2, The Siege

^{Thanks to Mogsy at Bibliosanctum for putting me onto the idea of putting links to previous books in a series at the end of a review.}

Death's City (Blood on the Reik #2) (Warhammer)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Death's City
Series: Blood on the Reik #2
Author: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 416
Format: Kindle Digital scan

Synopsis:

When we last left our heroes, they were surrounded by the Witch Hunter's forces with no escape. So the beginning of this book they obviously get captured, Hanna gets a sigil that seals her powers and she'll literally explode if they can't get it off. But they do escape, thanks to Fritz's now fully transformed chaos brother.

The trio hooks up with an old wanderer who helps them to Marienburg, where everyone gets various jobs to survive. Rudi continues his hunt to find his real parents and to figure out just what this "heir" thing is all about.  City adventures ensue and by the end of the book the trio have to run again, as the Witch Hunter has caught up to them.

My Thoughts:

Rudi has got to be the dullest clod of dirt in the whole field. He runs right into the arms of the chaos worshippers who just keep on trying to kill him and sacrifice him. I'm hoping that this time around he learned his lesson. There is obviously a schism within Chaos's ranks [big surprise there, right?] about what do with Rudi. One group wants to sacrifice him for some reason and the other group doesn't want to sacrifice him, but we have no idea what they DO want. With the Witch Hunter and the powers of the Empire behind him, you have a very big 3rd player.

Near the end, the Witch Hunter kept trying to talk to Rudi about something but Rudi wouldn't let him get a word in edgewise. I can't say I blame him but still, the stupid Witch Hunter should have just yelled "I know 'Information X'" instead of trying to "talk" to Rudi. You can't kill someone's relatives and friends, then capture them and once they escape expect them to sit quietly while you explain "what is really going on".

On the writing aspect of things. Too may little pointless details were included. I know they were written in to give the book depth and all that malarkey, but it really came across as padding. I don't need to know about breakfast, break, lunch, afternoon, dinner and night time details of their journey on the road.

With all of that, this was a fun read. Rudi being on the City Watch gave rise to some good action scenes. I do feel like I need to hunt down a Warhammer wiki page and start reading these in more of an order than I have with the Forgotten Realms books. Random isn't the best way to read a vast collection of books.

Petrodor (A Trial of Blood and Steel #2)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Petrodor
Series: A Trial of Blood and Steel #2
Author: Joel Shepherd
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 525
Format: Kindle Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Sasha is now in the city of Petrodor. Various political factions are vying for the role of leading a new army against the Serrin. The Serrin in Petrodor are playing their own game, unfortunately for them, they don't understand humanity nearly as well as they think. And the humans allied with the Serrin are split as well. Then once the Priesthood gets involved, all bets are off.

Sasha must navigate allies, enemies and some who are both at the same time.

My Thoughts:

I've given this series 2 books worth of my time. I simply didn't like this one either.

Narrowed it down to the fact that I don't like one single character. The story was intriguing, the political, religious and species aspect of things were well done and complex and the fighting was fun to read about.

But without even one character to like or root for, it wasn't worth it. So I'm dropping this. I'm kind of hesitant about trying his Cassandra Kresnov series now. Sure glad I discovered him with his Spiral Wars series and not this.

Savage Homecoming (Omega Force #3)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Savage Homecoming
Series: Omega Force #3
Author: Joshua Dalzelle
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 261
Format: Kindle Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The synth that initially found Jason on Earth, who was all set to betray, backstab and sellout Jason, is back. With a vengeance. The synth knows where Earth is, knows who to mess with to manipulate Jason and its got some new allies. Big hitters that can wipe out the tech of a whole planet.

So Jason has to save Earth, save the girl, save his new connection with the alien government who is funding Omega Force and come to terms that he can never go back to Earth again. That is a lot to put on one man's shoulders.

My Thoughts:

The odd thing with these Omega Force books is that I tend to enjoy them overall but not in bits. In other words, I liked Savage Homecoming taken in its entirety and the idea, but if you were to ask me when I was reading Chapter Q if I liked it, I'd probably be "meh".

Earth is menaced and even while Jason single handedly saves them, he's now a wanted man because he gets blamed for bringing the aliens to Earth in the first place. That sounds just like the humanity I know and hate, doesn't it?

The woman "mysteriously" referred to in previous books shows up and my goodness, I did not like her. It is now wonder she and Jason are ex's. She does what she wants without thinking of the consequences or about what she is trying to accomplish and Jason just goes along with it.  Thankfully, she gets relocated back to earth and we won't, hopefully, have to deal with her in future books. This sets things up for Jason to hook up with the alien Captain instead, at least she acts like a mature adult.

The various battles were pretty good but Omega Force had a lot of petty word fighting amongst it's members. Not banter, but spiteful little girl style spats. It really seemed out of character and I'm not sure exactly what Dalzelle was trying to accomplish with it.

An Excellent Mystery (Brother Cadfael #11)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: An Excellent Mystery
Series: Brother Cadfael #11
Author: Ellis Peters
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 253
Format: Kindle Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A wounded Crusader has become a monk who has been befriended by a mute young monk. In the power plays between the royalty, an abbey is destroyed and the monks therein scatter.

The aforementioned Crusader makes his way to Shrewsbury, where it is found out that the young woman he was to marry but forswore to become a monk, went to become a nun. Only she never arrived at the Abbey. Now a young man who was with the Crusader monk must track her down to press his own suit for her hand, if she is alive. If she is dead, then he'll pursue vengeance.

Caught in the middle of it all, is Cadfael. Seeing more than others, caring for all, trying to make everything work out without destroying a man, a name, a legacy or a young woman.

My Thoughts:  Spoilers

If you aren't as dull as dullard, you'll have figured out what is going on at probably about the same time as Cadfael. If you are that dull, here's a Pro Tip: young women can disguise themselves as boys.

And honestly, that is what made me shake my head over and over.  How does a woman disguise herself so thoroughly that nobody in a bloody Abby discovers it? She has to bathe sometime. She has to have her period sometime. It gets hot in the summer and she can't wear the monk's habit ALL the time. I get that a young woman can pass as a young man for a time, among strangers. But among a cloistered community? It just beggared my belief.

Apart from that, this was a half decent Cadfael story. He actually plays a rather small part. There is also a lot of "Historicalness" going on and those goings ons are what actually drive the story. Kind of like getting a history lesson on the sly.

Robin 3000 (Elseworlds: R3K #2)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Robin 3000
Series: Elseworlds: Robin 3000 #2
Author: Byron Preiss, et al
Rating: 1.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comic
Pages: 53
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

Tom Wayne begins chasing down some of his robot clones to prove to the rebellion that he isn't collaborating with the Skulp. During the process he allows himself and his group to be captured by the head honcho of the Skulp intellligence. Who has a time machine.

Tom escapes, visits just desserts upon the head skulp, gets visited by a robot Robin from Earth [which has been teleporting around the galaxy looking for Tom] who convinces him to take on the costume of Robin and continue the fight against the Skulp.

The End. Or is it?

My Thoughts:

Ok, I knew going in this was going to be a mess. Vol 1 was a great disappointment and this did no better. Once again, this was not a Robin story. This was a Super Smart Science'y guy has adventures, In Space! Tom just jets around, as Tom, and does things and what not.

The way things were presented on the back covers was cool and made it sound like this would be a kick butt action comic. But it isn't.

And the stupid Robin robot teleporting all over the galaxy looking for Tom just to give him the costume? That made NO sense nor did Tom's taking of the costume. He's the last Wayne. He should be taking on the Batman mythos.

But nothing about this 2 part series really made sense. And that "or is it?" ending. That reeked of desperation to get this turned into a regular series. Thank goodness it failed and we weren't subjected to more of this pablum.

Ugh.

Dawn of the Time-Out (Eyeshield 21 #16) (Manga (non) Monday)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Dawn of the Time-Out
Series: Eyeshield 21 #16
Author: Riichiro Inagaki
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:  Spoiler

It is the Devil Bats versus the Gunmen. Two super aggressive teams battling it. Unfortunately for the Devil Bats, the Gunmen are simply more aggressive and Kid's quick snap throw speeds up to compensate for blitz after blitz after blitz. To add more bad news to the mixture, Sena can't seem to compete with his old friend Riku and in fact Riku steals the ball from Sena and scores a touchdown.

This is all being televised and Musashi is at the hospital with his dad. Musashi's backstory is revealed and his reason for quitting football and highschool are shown. His dad beats him and tells him to get over himself and go help his team mates. Now with a kicker on the team, Hiruma has options.

But with a 20-6 deficit, is even Musashi going to be enough?

My Thoughts:

Wow, wow, wow!!! That is exactly how I started my review for #15 and it continues here. The game between the Devil Bats and the Gunmen starts with each team scoring a touchdown against the other by running the kickoff. Which means that there are 2 touchdowns within 1 minute of the game starting. I found that pretty exciting.

The Gunmen are just plain good and their quarterback, the Kid, is olympic quality. Hiruma is simply outclassed and his tricks aren't enough. Sena doesn't have the willpower to counter Riku and each member of the Devil Bats encounter their opposites and fail.

The return of Musashi is done pretty well. You can see where he gets his fire from. Also, his return re-energizes the Devil Bats and gives Hiruma another whole set of options to play with. Thus the volume ends and we have to wait until the next volume to see if the Devil Bats can come back from a 14point deficit.

Vet in a Spin (All Creatures Great and Small #6)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Vet in a Spin
Series: All Creatures Great and Small #6
Author: James Herriot
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 224
Format: Kindle digital scan

Synopsis:

James completes his pilot training and is all set to do his part in the RAF when a minor bit of surgery removes his A+ health rating and he loses his rating to fly. After kicking about, the RAF sends him back home to be a vet again.

Stories from his vet days are once again interspersed and make up the bulk of the book.

My Thoughts:

Another good edition of the Vet series. I really wish he'd done more about his actual time in the RAF though, as the little tidbits he doles out shows that he can tell much more than just animal stories.

The ending with him entering Darrowby, for the first time again, to start over and wondering if his vet skill have atrophied in the time he spent in RAF training is a good look at a young man who has done a lot but just isn't sure.

Soldiers Live (The Chronicles of the Black Company #10) (Final)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Soldiers Live
Series: The Chronicles of the Black Company #10
Author: Glen Cook
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 528
Format: Kindle digital edition

Synopsis:

The Final Chapter of the Black Company. The Company has made their home in the new world, but nobody wants to stay. Not the company, not the people of the world. So between Sleepy and Croaker, the Black Company once again invades their "homeworld."
But Kina, Shivetya and the Lady's Sister are still around and still plotting. Is the Black Company the people we have come to know in the last 10 books, or is the Black Company an idea that mutates and changes across time and across worlds?

My Thoughts:

What a fitting end to this series.  All of the characters we have come to know meet an appropriate end for the Black Company. Which means that about 9/10th's of them die.
That brings up the first thing that I appreciated about this series. Cook walks the razor thin line of making us care for and like particular characters and still making them meet the problems that they face without the assurance that they will survive. Cook doesn't introduce characters JUST to make them die but neither is anyone a Luke, Han or Leia.

The worlds go on. I like a happily ever after, but until the End of Days and the Judgement Day, I know that just won't happen. It is good to see how humans strive and continue to fight. I wouldn't like a steady diet of this bleak outlook but I do appreciate the reminder that life is tough and people we love do die.

Cook is also very deft with his philosophizing through his characters. Instead of being beat over the head, we get quick slaps to the back of the head. A little sting just to remind us.

Finally, the story. Cook took us through a journey that spanned worlds where we were only expecting towns. Powers and Prophecies came and went, people rose and fell and through it all the Black Company existed. In different shapes, in different forms, with many purposes but always surviving. I loved reading this series and thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in this world.

Robin 3000 (Elseworlds: R3K #1)

^{This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by  Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission.}
Title: Robin 3000
Series: Elseworlds: Robin 3000 #1
Author: Byron Preiss, et al
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comic
Pages: 59
Format: Digital scan

Synopsis:

It is the year 2999, Earth has been taken over by the Skulp and Bruce Wayne's descendant continues the fight for freedom using the Batman mythos. Unable to escape the Skulp, Wayne passes on the torch to his nephew and assistant, Tom Wayne, aka Robin.

Escaping from the Skulp, Tom must hook up with the resistance. The Skulp however, have created a cyborg of Tom and have it publicly collaborating with them and decrying the Wayne name.

My Thoughts:

This was a big disappointment. Batman the 30 eleventieth talks for  2 pages about being a martyr, then gets blown up. But he has enough time safely set Tom down.

Tom is not Robin. He gets a cyborg hand part way through this volume, but he's not a detective, he's not martial and he certainly hasn't been trained by a Batman, any Batman. He's just the Wayne heir. And no costume.

This was simplistic in the bad way. Things just happened, because. Meeting the scientist who gave him his new hand was the perfect example.

Tom's pilot friend:"My friend needs a new hand, here's our crashed spaceship in payment."
Dr: "Ok"
Tom upon awakening: "I am Tom Wayne, I can figure this hand out easily".
Dr: "Drat, a Wayne. But don't worry, I won't turn you in to the Skulp, because I don't feel like it."

That is a slight exaggeration, but not much and the whole tone of the book felt like a Hardy Boys in space. And no costume.

There are 2 volumes to this little Elseworld story, but after making it through this volume, I need a week before I want to tackle the next volume.  I'm disappointed in the simplicity of the story [with all the attendant weaknesses and lack of full bodied thinking] and the fact that "Robin" doesn't show up in his phracking costume!

Even this guy would have been better: