Porcelain: A Memoir (Non-Fiction) ★★★☆ ½

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title: Porcelain: A Memoir

 Series: ------

 Author: Moby

 Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

 Genre: Autobiography

 Pages: 408

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Moby, the music artist, looks back on his life from his late teens until the release of his album, Play, in 1999.

My Thoughts:

I've enjoyed various songs by Moby, as I like the kind of music he puts out. I'm not his greatest fan, nor do I know all his albums or all his songs or anything like that. I'm a casual fan. At best. I knew that one of his songs was the end song for the movie Bourne Identity. I knew that he was a vegetarian [turns out he's vegan] and I knew that he had, at some point, claimed to be a Christian.

Non-fiction is not the genre [notice how I lump it ALL together? That should tell you something] that I like to take long swims in. I prefer to let others have that privilege. But my recent read of Deadhouse Gates really left me needing something very different to get me back in the reading groove. This popped up at the library, I believe, so that is how I ended up reading it.

How do I review a book that is pretty much a journal? There is no plot. Moby goes all over the place even while keeping things very chronological. We might get introduced to Karen in one chapter and then he's with Josephine in the next with no rhyme or reason. This was not an indepth, exhaustive look at Moby's life. It touched on highlights that have apparently stood out to him up until 1999, when things started going his way?

3 things stood out to me. He had a very hard life growing up and overcame being the token poor boy where he lived. Relationally, he needs to grow up and make a commitment to one of the ladies and stop searching for “The One”. Love isn't just a feeling and he chases the feelings, time after time after time. Finally, while he might call himself a Christian, I'd be forced to say he's “spiritual”. He's interested in “God” but it is apparent that while he's read and even studied the Bible, he doesn't think that the God of the Bible is the God he's after. It is sad to see and he even acknowledges his gradual loss of Faith, but he never claims to have had Faith in Jesus Christ. So from my perspective, what has he really lost? A feeling.

This is definitely geared more towards those who are musicians themselves. When he starts talking about “the beatback interwoven with the attack high on his RGB-304” I have no phracking clue what he's talking about, specifically. I can glean that he's doing something musical with one of his instruments. In all honesty, that is enough, but it would have been nice to understand a little more sometimes. I felt like the dumb kid peeking through the window occasionally.

With all of that being said, I still enjoyed this read. I learned more about a guy whose music I like. I jumped the rut of SFF for a day and I learned that I am pretty damned satisfied with my life even if I'm not famous, making 100K a year or sleeping with pornstars. If Moby, whose real name is Richard Melville Hall, writes another memoir about later in his life, I'll be reading it for sure.

★★★☆ ½ 

Ombria in Shadow ★★★★☆

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title: Ombria in Shadow

 Series: ------

 Author: Patricia McKillip

 Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

 Genre: Fantasy

 Pages: 316

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Ombria, Greatest City in the World. Ombria, a City said to Co-Exist with it's own Shadow, a city in its own right.

The King has died, his mistress thrown out of the palace, the prince a drugged lackey to the Regent and a bastard cousin trying to stay alive amongst the factions. Throw in a sorceress and her helper and you have the ingredients for intrigue, love and just maybe how Fairytales come to be.

My Thoughts:

Another fantastic book by McKillip. Ombria is a city that appears to trade places with it's own shadow every couple of generations but no one can ever remember the actual change. Stories come about that hint at it, but nothing concrete.

That is just the backdrop of this book and isn't the central point, but the idea of The Past, A Shadow, The Undercity, all flow through the narrative like a deeper current in a wide river.

The actual story about the little prince, his father's mistress, the bastard who wants to protect them both and the sorceress's apprentice was really good. The tension was there for the whole story and you just didn't know what was going to happen.

The ending was appropriately Fairytale'ish and I liked it. McKillip is a talented author and I just like her stuff.

★★★★☆

1. Review from 2007

Deadhouse Gates (Malazan Book of the Fallen #2) ★★★★☆

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}   

 Title: Deadhouse Gates

 Series: Malazan Book of the Fallen #2

 Author: Steven Erikson

 Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

 Genre: Fantasy

 Pages: 868

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

I am trying to do this from memory, without looking at all my update posts. Ha.

A rebellion is brewing on a continent and is led by Sha'ik. It is foretold she will be reborn and lead the rebellion against the Malazans and blood will flow like an ocean. She dies.

A bunch of Malazans are running for their lives to make it to the city of Aren, a port city that is still under Malazan control. This group is led by Coltaine, a Fist and former rebel himself. He must lead 40,000 civilians and thousands of soldiers across a continent where everybody wants to kill them all. And the High Fist in Aren? Does nothing. A renegade Fist is chasing them with multiple armies. Coltaine gets the civvies to Aren, then dies with his whole army due to treachery by the High Fist. Who in turn is betrayed and destroyed, along with HIS army of Malazans. Not a good time to be a Malazan soldier.

A noble Malazan girl is imprisoned in a pogrom and sent to the mines along with some others. They escape, make their way through the desert, and the noble, Felisin, becomes Sha'ik Reborn. She also happens to be the sister of the Empresses' right hand woman, Adjunct Tavore.

A group of characters from the first book come across 2 powerful beings, one of who is almost 100,000 years old but has memory problems. They follow a path to a Gate in an Azath House [hence the name of the book] which promises a path to ascendancy [godhood] for shapechangers. Turns out it is a trap for all the shapechangers to imprison them in the Azath House. The group gets lots of clues about lots of things and then goes their separate ways at the end.

An assassin is out to kill the Empress for outlawing his friends and their army from the first book. His adventures as he travels and then the stunning revelation that it is all a hoax and a plan to unite everybody against an even greater threat. He chooses to not kill her and goes his merry way.

Various characters are introduced and either die, have their storyline cut or just fade away. Or, they might be a major character in future books. You can't tell.

That is it. All from memory. I'd like to see you do so well. If you want to check, feel free to click on these old Readalong Posts from Bookstooge and Dragons&Zombies.

My Thoughts:

This was a readalong with Dragons&Zombies. I enjoyed the process and having someone else reading the same stuff helped motivate me to pay attention and ask questions. That being said, I took more notes reading this than I have for any other book in years. Normally, I read a book and then write stuff up after. If I had tried to do that with Deadhouse Gates, I would have missed out on so much that I would have wondered what I had actually read. The problem is, once I started taking notes, it became obvious just how dense this book is. My usual review style can be likened to looking at some architectural plans for a skyscraper. This time, I wandered the building with DeeZee from basement to attic and explored all the nooks and crannies. I came away with 2 thoughts which left me with opposing feelings.

First, this was some spectacular writing. It is a tapestry of such fine story threads that it can be hard to keep them separate. In many cases, they aren't separate, but interweaving in and out and around and Erikson keeps it all in the air and going well. You can almost feel the care and effort expended in the story.

Second, Erikson is a dickhead. There is no other explanation for it. In Gardens of the Moon we get dropped into a story without a lot of info, but that can be sussed out. Here in Deadhouse Gates, Erikson deliberately writes to confuse. What else can it be when you have anywhere from 2-6 points of view in EACH CHAPTER and almost no clue that you are switching pov's except for a double paragraph break? It didn't feel like he was out to tell a story and didn't care if his readers didn't quite get it all. It felt like he was gleefully obfuscating and confusing information just because he could. That doesn't mean it is impossible or that you can't figure stuff out, but taking a page of notes for each chapter is not what I want when reading Escapist Literature. So that pissed me off.

This book tired me out and took every word I had. In the next book, Memories of Ice, I am going to have to find a way to deal with it differently, as I can't write this much again for one book.

To end, I recommend this book if you want some complexity beyond imagining and don't mind heavy doses of Existentialism. But for goodness sake, have some lighter reads lined up either during it or right after, you're going to need them.

PS,

This was my 3^rd time reading this and it still felt like my first. I am also adding the “Best Book of the Year” tag. It really is that excellent even with my complaining and bellyaching.

★★★★☆

1. Gardens of the Moon
2. Deadhouse Gates from 2008 & 2009

Infinity Engine (Transformation #3) (Polity) ★★★★☆

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title: The Infinity Engine

 Series: Polity: Transformation #3

 Author: Neal Asher

 Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

 Genre: SF

 Pages: 575

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The End Game is in sight. Penny Royal, that black AI that nobody can seem to predict, control or even understand, continues to move the players like chess pieces.

Prador and Humanity move together as the Atheter makes it clear that it won't be kept on Masada. The Brockle is convinced that it is destined to take Penny Royal's place. There are a lot of players, a lot of threads and Penny Royal weaves them altogether with a Black Hole.

And pretty much becomes a god and watches the end of the universe and it's beginning and it tries to figure out how to stop the loop.

My Thoughts:

I thought this was the best of the trilogy. With various threads coming together, it is easier to understand what is actually going on. And the ending is the wry humor I expect from Asher.

The one thing I didn't care for was Asher's continued needling of religion. In several cases anyone who is religious is compared to a mentally ill person who obviously can't think straight. I've also realized that Asher always makes any Separatists idiotic douchebags just to show how awesome it is to always bow to a greater central authority. I spit on that. He continually makes his point [with battle axe bluntness sometimes] about how powerful the Polity AI's are and how much the humans really NEED them to run things. But this whole trilogy was about how poorly the AI's DO handle things. They are not omniscient, all powerful beings. They're just as flawed as their creators and even “self” improvement leads to problems half the time. So Asher pretty much argues against the case he makes in the first place. So phrack Central Authority. It's called Responsibility.

The character that I liked the most this time around was Sverl, the prador turned AI with a golem body. How weird is that? But Sverl does a fantastic job of showing multiple points of view from one character, as he has aspects of Prador, AI and humanity, all rolled into one. I don't know what it is, but something about him just appealed to me.

I think that for whatever Asher writes next, I am going to wait to read the whole thing instead of reading them as they come out. There was too much going on for me to remember everything from book to book and I know that lessened my overall enjoyment.

★★★★☆

1. Dark Intelligence
2. War Factory

The Indomitable Fortress (Eyeshield 21 #24) (Manga (non) Monday) ★★★★☆

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title:        The Indomitable Fortress
Series:     Eyeshield 21 #24
Author:    Riichiro Inagaki
Artist:      Yusuke Murata
Rating:    4 of 5 Stars
Genre:     Sports Manga
Pages:     200
Format:   Digital Scan

Synopsis:

The Oujou Highschool is hosting a festival and the Devil Bats attend. Some to have fun, some to spy. With all that they see, the Devil Bats go for a quick 3 day counter-training program to hopefully deal with what they learned.

Then the fateful game between the Devil Bats and the Oujou White Knights begins. It will be an epic battle between individuals and between 2 teams that have simply dominated to this point. There are no more tricks, no more time to do special training, no more people to pull in at the last moment. It is now Mano E Mano and one team is going to go on to the Christmas Bowl and one team will have its dreams crushed forever.

My Thoughts:

It's been quite some time since I read Then Came the Showdown! [Vol 23] and I was just in a manga slump. So today I decided that after church, I was going to sit down and read this volume,no matter what. It also helped that I needed something much lighter than the Deadhouse Gates Readalong that I've been participating in with Dragons&Zombies. I also wanted to sneak in one more book before April ended so I could at least list a double digit number instead of a single number :-(
[Yes, as much as I may naysay and decry, I am VERY aware of my numbers]

The Festival was fun. The kind of humor that Eyeshield 21 excels at. The stupidest guy from the White Knights and the stupidest guy from the Devilbats end up in a quiz show against each other and it was just so perfect that I laughed my head off.

Which was good. Because the game is going to be intense and drawn out. This is one of the battles that we've been waiting for since the earliest books. It is raining and the atmosphere is appropriately gritty. Things start off explosively, with both sides immediately giving it 100% from the get go and leaving no reserve for later. This will be a game of stamina and whoever folds first will be crushed.

I am preparing myself for this game taking at least 3 books. The other time a long drawn out game was shown, I did find myself getting bored so we'll see if that happens again.

★★★★☆

1. Review of Volume 19
2. Review of Volume 18
3. Review of Volume 17
4. Review of Volume 16

The Architect of Aeons (Count to the Eschaton Sequence #4) ★★★☆ ½

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title: The Architect of Aeons

 Series: Count to the Eschaton Sequence #4

 Author: John Wright

 Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

 Genre: SF

 Pages: 397

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The Hyades emmissary makes it to earth. Since Montrose and Azarchel were both exiled to the outer limits of the Solar System, they couldn't participate. They do come back, learn that the Hyades simply vacuumed up all the humanity they wanted and sent them to colonize uninhabitable planets.

Earth, the moon and Jupiter are all now planet brains. Montrose and Azarchel go their separate ways, do their separate thing, plot and counterplot until it is time for Rania to return. Passing thousands of years in sleep or otherwise, we see humanity change, morph, mature and just begin to take their place in the larger cosmos.

The book ends right before Rania is supposed to return. So there is at least one more book. Bugger that!

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this much more than the previous book. The time skips become huge, sometimes 10's of thousands of years. So I just wasn't as invested in the story, hence it made it easier to just coast along.

Honestly, the whole “will Humanity be free or be slaves” thing going on between Montrose and Azarchel is getting a bit boring. You can only upgrade humanity so many times before it loses its “oomph”. And how come Montrose and Azarchel keep being smarter than even living planets? It doesn't make sense, no matter how much Wright starts bringing in “alternate Monument data” and other such rubbish.

This is Empty Calorie Science Fiction. There is nothing wrong with it, as long as you know you are getting that. I was under the impression that this was the final book so I was a bit pissed off when I reached the end and bam, Rania hasn't returned and there was still no resolution. But unlike the previous book, I wasn't bored. So take from that what you will.

★★★☆ ½

1. Count to a Trillion
2. The Hermetic Millennia
3. The Judge of Ages

The Great Controversy (Non-Fiction) (Audio) ★★★☆☆

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title: The Great Controversy

 Series: -------

 Author: Ellen White

 Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

 Genre: Non-Fiction

 Pages: Lots of Minutes

 Format: Audio Edition

Synopsis:

A history of the True Church, the Remnant, according to Ellen White. Also goes into the details of the Tribulation and makes plain the prophecies written in Daniel and Revelation about the end of the world and Jesus Christ's Second Coming.

My Thoughts:

I suspect ones' appreciation for this book will vary according to how much weight you put on Ellen White being a prophetess. If you believe that she was, you'll take this book in the spirit in which it was written. Much like the Book of Acts, statements of fact. If you don't believe she was a prophetess, you'll have to dismiss much of this book. And if, like me, you're ambivalent or on the line, there will be lots you agree with and lots you'll dismiss.

I go to an Adventist church and I keep Saturday, the 7^th Day, as the Sabbath. I also have no problems with modern day prophets. Revelations makes it clear that there will be 2 final prophets in the end days and layered prophecy about John the Baptist makes it clear that there will be a second “Elijah” to foretell about Christ's second coming.

With all of that being said, I am not convinced that Ellen White was a prophetess with God's authority inspiring her writings. She was a Godly woman who was smart and I don't automatically dismiss her teachings, but much of what she writes can only be accepted if you believe that she had the authority to say it in the first place. Her re-interpretations of the Millerite calculations about the dates in Revelations leave a LOT to be desired [ie, they're vague as all get out. Which is contrary to her claims of having worked it all out. If you can't say when Christ is coming back, don't say you can]

The good side of things is the emphasis on the Sabbath as the Commandment that most of the church has thrown aside. I'm a big Saturday Sabbath keeper, always have been and its just refreshing to hear someone say so without a lot of the flummery that modern protestants use to justify Sunday as the Sabbath [as opposed to the Lord's Day].

I listened to the audio version put out by the Ellen White Estate, which was free at http://ellenwhiteaudio.org/great-controversy/ and narrated by Dennis Berlin. I put it on my phone and listened to and from work. So I'd get little chunks here and there. I started this last September. In another month or two I'll probably download another of White's books and start listening to it as well.

★★★☆☆

Dragonfly Falling (Shadows of the Apt #2) ★★★★☆

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
 Title: Dragonfly Falling

 Series: Shadows of the Apt #2

 Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

 Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

 Genre: Fantasy

 Pages: 692

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The Empire defeats a supposedly unbeatable Ant City with new weapons and we are introduced to the Head Artificer of the Empire. A half breed named Drephos. He takes Totho under his wing and Totho ends up throwing his lot in with the Empire so that he can make what he wants and take the respect he feels he deserves.

The Empire makes an alliance with another Ant City that has a grudge against Collegium. With the city of Tark out of the way, the Vekken can take Collegium. Stenwold must muster the forces of Collegium to throw back this attack.

Cheerwell is captured and escapes. Salma is captured, escapes and begins a guerilla war against the Empire. Tisamon and Tynisia go to the last surviving Mantis stronghold so that Tynisia can earn her Master Swordsman badge.

We are introduced to the Wasp Emperor; a young, insecure man who ends up with a Mosquito kinden as counselor. This Mosquito promises him eternal life if he can get ahold of a certain object of power. A disparate group is sent to Collegium to recover this box and ends with one of the group going off on their own to sell the box to the highest bidder.

Fighting, fighting, fighting!

My Thoughts:

I powered through this. It is just one massive battle scene after another. You get a reprieve, just long enough to catch your breath, before Tchaikovsky throws you head first into another fight. I read the second 50% of the book in one afternoon and I almost felt like gasping when I was done, the battles were so palpable.

We also learn that Magic isn't quite so gone as many of the Apt kinden would like to believe. As long as there are InApt kinden, magic will continue to exist. So far, all the magic I've seen is pretty bad stuff. Taking fears, darkness, rage, hatred and a lust for power and turning them into usable power. There is no Gandalf the Grey kicking around this land. Magic was used for subjugation and that was why the Apt kinden overthrew their masters hundreds of years ago and claimed the land.

The politics of the Empire begins to take a big part of the book as well. It is not nearly as monolithic as presented in the first book. There are political factions as well as Security factions and the Empire has truly gotten big enough that people are beginning to think of taking some of that power for themselves. It makes the Rekef [the Security people of the Empire] a much more scary thing, as we see it begin to fracture and be used for personal power instead of being an Idea.

I am also realizing, on this re-read, that there is no Super Group to win a few battles and turn the tide. This is a battle for survival and very few characters are guaranteed that. Achaeos apparently dies as do boatloads of side characters. Stenwold Makers corp of spies keep getting wiped out and it is brutal to watch. This might be a fantasy series, but it really does show the ugly side of war.

This was just as good a read as the first time back in '10. It just was a bit darker for me.

★★★★☆

1. Review of Book 1
2. Review from 2010

Ride the River (Sacketts #5) ★★★☆ ½

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title:         Ride the River
 Series:      Sacketts #5 
Author:    Louis L'Amour 
Rating:     3.5 of 5 Stars 
Genre:     Western 
 Pages:      192
 Format:   Digital Edition 

Synopsis:

Echo Sackett, the youngest descendant of Kin Sackett, must travel to Philadelphia to sign some papers upon which she will get $3000. All is not as it seems through and greed and corruption must run their course.

Echo gets her inheritance, but it is a long way back to the hills of Tennesee and the corrupt lawyer has hired thugs and murderers to get that money back. Being a Sackett, Echo isn't too worried. She knows the land, she has a gun and she has a mission. With a little help from a Chantry [another family associated with the Sacketts], Echo shows that the Sackett blood hasn't thinned one bit. And now that the Sacketts have spread all over [it is 200 years since the last book], Family Loyalty rears its head and when one Sackett is in trouble, the rest come running.

My Thoughts:

I have been waiting for this book for 5 books. This is a Western, Sackett book. Echo is the fiercely determined, independent main character of the story. I really enjoyed reading her story.

Being a woman, L'Amour doesn't have her get into brutal fistfights with some other characters, but that is what the Chantry was for. As well as a possible romantic angle. It all worked pretty well.

The sense of urgency, of running, of having to make it to “home” to be safe, came through loud and clear. Echo might have had a gun and known how to use it, but she couldn't just shoot everyone and lollygag her way home. And since she's the tracker and the shooter, she's the one who must stay safe.
This was what I wanted in a Sackett book. Urgency, guns, chivalry, evil characters, people defending themselves [!!!] and everyone taking responsibility for their actions, good or bad.

I've added the cover of the edition I read, but here are a couple more that have existed through the years. From the redneck hillbilly look to the more modern characterless look, you can really see how the story has changed its face to appeal to the readers. Makes me wonder about us readers through if that first cover really sold the book?









★★★☆ ½ 

1. Review of Book 4

The Parched Sea (Forgotten Realms: The Harpers #1) ★★☆☆ ½

^{This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, Booklikes & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title: The Parched Sea

 Series: Forgotten Realms: The Harpers #1

 Author: Troy Denning

 Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars

 Genre: Fantasy

 Pages: 310

 Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The Zentarim, followers of the god Cyric, are trying to forge a path through the desert to establish a lock on future trade routes. This “forging” includes the pacification of the tribes of the desert, whether by bribery or coercian, the Zentarim don't particularly care. The tribes must either support the Zentarim or perish tribe by tribe at the hands of the lizard mercenaries hired by the Zentarim.

Into this situation comes Lander, a relatively new Harper. He has been chosen to oversee the situation and do what he can to unite the tribes against the Zentarim. He comes across a lone survivor of one of the tribes, an outcast young woman named Ruha, who has been outcast for her magical powers. Now it is up to these 2 to convince children in the guise of tribesmen to confront a force that only promises riches.

With the help of a god, Ruha and Lander can do it. But the victories that the Harpers win are not without cost, as Lander finds out.

My Thoughts: Spoilers

I've read enough Forgotten Realms books to know when I've hit a good one or a bad one pretty soon from the get go. Unfortunately, this was a typical Troy Denning book, which means it was mediocre pablum, even given the context of the universe he was writing in. So this was not a good book.

The Harpers sub-series is written by enough various authors that I'm not giving up on it just from the first book, but I have to say, this does not bode well.

Lander was not a very engaging main character and when he dies near the end, it was more of a “meh” moment than anything else. Ruha is more of token “woman” than anything even while becoming more central to the story than Lander. For a Harpers novel, they certainly didn't play much of a part. The little bit I did see of them makes me wonder if I'm going to enjoy their adventures or not. They seem to be meddlers and instead of taking direct action, manipulate others to do their work [dirty or otherwise] for them. While they claim to be proponents of freedom, etc, they sure don't act like it.

★★☆☆ ½