Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Monday, January 15, 2024

Deathlace - MTG 4E

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Conan the Defiant (Conan the Barbarian) 2.5Stars

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 by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Conan the Defiant
Series: Conan the Barbarian
Author: Steve Perry
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 133
Words: 60K

So the author has a thing for making Conan fight against 500 year old wizards who are as stupid as turnips. He also has a thing for Conan getting involved with busty non-human women. This time around it’s a zombie. And Perry throws in a regular babe too. I just rolled my eyes.

Once again, Perry uses some generic fantasy language to describe items. The “Source of Light”? Really, that’s the best you can do? These were obviously churned out within a week and any thought was absent from the writing. Makes me wonder if Perry looks down on those who read Conan stories, since he couldn’t be bothered to put any effort into these.

I think I would say that these “Conan” adventures by Perry are generic fantasy adventures with Conan’s name and description simply tacked on. Talk about tacky…

★★✬☆☆

From Wikipedia

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Conan falls in with Cengh, a priest of the Suddah Oblates, who is conveying a jewel known as the Source of Light back to his temple. Unfortunately, his talisman is coveted by a necromancer, Neg the Malefic, who plans on raising an army of undead warriors with the jewel’s magic. When an agent of Neg murders Cengh and steals the jewel, Conan seeks vengeance for his friend. Joining forces with a warrior woman, Elashi, and a beautiful zombie, Tuanne, Conan tracks the murderer back to his master. They overcome numerous menaces on the journey towards Neg’s stronghold, including the Men With No Eyes, henchmen of the One With No Name, and a swarm of spiders. Finally, Conan faces and kills Neg himself in a great battle.

Saturday, January 13, 2024

[Art] ...Suffering

Suffering is what we go through when we watch those near and dear to us go through the gauntlet of Pain. This stood out to me simply because of the tear running down his face. Little things like that matter to me.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Divide and Conquer (Groo the Wanderer #25) 3.5Stars

Title: Divide and Conquer
Series: Groo the Wanderer #25
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

Groo is a pretty obvious comic, so when I saw this page (page 5), I knew exactly where the comic was going to go. I didn’t know how it was going to get there, but I knew the destination:

And sure enough, that is exactly what happens.

The fun is watching Aragones lead us down the path to that destination. Just because we know the destination doesn’t mean we know the path the journey will take. Especially as Groo is involved and no journey with him is straightforward or logical at all! 😀

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge.blog

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Groo rescues a town from bandits, only to have them be attacked by another group of bandits. He rescues the town from those bandits as well. Then the two bandit groups unite. Groo teaches the villagers how to fight and it is a three way fight. Then they realize they have destroyed the town and all three groups join up to go pillage a different village. Good job Groo!

All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Shadow of Anubis (The Arcane Irregulars #2) 4Stars

Title: Shadow of Anubis
Series: The Arcane Irregulars #2
Author: Dan Willis
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 256
Words: 83K

I read the first book in this spinoff series, The Curse of the Phoenix, back in June of ‘22. It does not seem that long to me. But that’s why I keep records.

The original series, The Arcane Casebook, follows one Alex Lockerby, a magical detective who solves several mysteries each book that end up all tying together. In this Arcane Irregular series, we follow a series of people connected to Alex who solve various magical mysteries that are NOT related. That difference really threw me for a loop in the first book, as I kept waiting for Willis (the author) to tie everything into a nice neat bow. Thankfully, this time around I didn’t expect that and he didn’t disappoint. We’re both happy now.

Having a variety of mysteries to solve from a variety of viewpoints can be a hard thing to pull off. In fact, I’d usually bet against an author being able to pull such a thing off. But Willis manages it quite well. The switches between the various characters was done smoothly and I never felt a jarring change. He also introduced each change at a good point, so I wasn’t thinking “why can’t I stay reading THIS part?” My only issue is that Danny Pak feels shortchanged in this novel. I don’t feel that Willis has a good grasp of him as a person and so he’s almost a caricature or an idea of a person. The reason I mention that is because I did not feel that way about Agent Aissa. She had her own real voice and felt very distinct and separate and not just an Alex Lockerby clone with a name change (which can be the case in too many cases for indie authors). Despite what I said in Curse of the Phoenix about Willis seeming to have plateaued in skill, I have to admit I was wrong. Shadow of Anubis feels like a much better book and I hope that trend continues. And that wraps up my various thoughts on the book itself.

To end this review, I have to talk about the cover. I always have to talk about the covers that Willis uses in these Arcane series. They’re gorgeous! In this one, we see Agent Aissa on the left, Dr Bell (the real life Sherlock Holmes) in the center and the resurrected high priestess Sherry Knox on the right. I’m including a large version here just because it’s a very strong contender for Cover Love winner at the end of the month.

★★★★☆

From the Publisher

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It’s been a year since the events of the Jade Phoenix, but its legacy is still being felt. When a magical assassin makes his presence felt in the city, Lieutenant Danny Pak has to bring in Dr. Ignatius Bell to help him track down a terrifying killer, preferably before the tabloids find out about him.

Meanwhile, FBI Agent Aissa Mendes gets her first solo case, the murder of a foreign national. At first the case seems fairly straightforward, but the deeper she digs, the more she uncovers, including a dark secret from the city’s past. Eventually, her pursuit of truth brings international scrutiny on Aissa that could end her career before it gets started.

With her boss, Alex Lockerby, mysteriously out of commission, Sherry Knox finds herself trying to keep the detective agency afloat with only Alex’s apprentice Mike Fitzgerald to help. She is keeping things together, at least until her cards show her a horrifying vision, predicting that one skeleton in her closet isn’t willing to stay buried.

Tuesday, January 09, 2024

Empire’s Birth (Empire Rising #9) 3Stars

Title: Empire’s Birth
Series: Empire Rising #9
Author: David Holmes
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 424
Words: 164K

I enjoyed this, but. Yes, a big fat but.

(And feel free to make all the jokes you want)

There was almost ZERO space marine action. They are mentioned, but pretty much only as elements that are getting their butts (ha, there’s that big fat but again) kicked and being destroyed. Space battles get all the attention this time around and that did not please Emperor Bookstooge. It made the book drag for me. So if your jam is big space battles, then you’ll absolutely love this. But (ha!) big space battles are NOT my jam, so I merely enjoyed this instead of absolutely loving it.

I reviewed the first book (The Void War) in February of 2023. I’ve been steadily reading this series and enjoying it. But now that the Empire has been officially formed, I think it’s time to take a break for a bit and come back in a couple of months. There are currently 18 books in the series and I’m guessing it’s going to be one of those “never ending” series. I’m ok with those, as long as I know that’s what it is. I just need to space things out appropriately.

★★★☆☆

From Bookstooge.blog

Click to Open

Commodore Happypants gets crowned King of Space England. Then he marries the Empress of Space China and creates the Empire, thus becoming Space Emperor Happypants.

While this is all going on, the evil Karachnids are going around conquering more space civilizations and nuking planets like there’s no tomorrow. Earth is doing what it can do cause problems but until they get united as a species, things aren’t looking too good. It’s up to Space Emperor Happypants to get humanity all on one page, by the scruff of the neck if necessary, and drag them to victory.

Watch out Karachnids, humanity has a Space Emperor and we’re not afraid to use him!

All of My “Empire Rising” Reviews

Monday, January 08, 2024

Deathgrip - MTG 4E

Sunday, January 07, 2024

The Weapon from Beyond (Starwolf #1) 3Stars

Title: The Weapon from Beyond
Series: Starwolf #1
Author: Edmond Hamilton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 158
Words: 47K

I would have enjoyed this a lot more 15-20 years ago, maybe even 30.

Hamilton either didn’t know that space is three dimensional and thus when giving out coordinates, you need an X, a Y AND a Z or he was using terms that I am quite familiar with in ways they weren’t meant to be used. You can’t navigate space using degrees and azimuths as separate things, because they ARE the same thing. What Hamilton needed was “declination”, the up/down part of describing movement within a globe. So yelling out “they are heading out at fourteen degrees and double that for the azimuth” is absolute nonsense. It is meaningless technobabble, but it’s not really technobabble, but misapplied terminology to what we already do know. This is why authors need to be careful. Because some guy is going to come along and read their book and he is going to know the meaning behind the babble and will simply shake his head in disgust and say things like “this is for kids”.

Other than that, this was a decent SF adventure story about some guy all by himself moving from one group to another. Very macho and heroic and manly. I still need to read stories with those elements, I just need them woven in a bit more subtly. Like I said, 16year old me would have glomped onto this like I did with Wayfarer back in the day.

Finally, the cover. While it’s old skool to the max (this was published in 1967), it actually has a scene from the story instead of just some random picture of a space guy. Covers should be representative of what is inside, not just a lure to get you to pick the book up (they can be both and I have zero issues with the lure line of thought, it just needs to take a subordinate position).

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia

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Starwolf is a series of three novels by Edmond Hamilton featuring heavy-worlder Morgan Chane. Chane was the son of a human missionary family to a heavier-than-Earth-normal world (higher gravity) of Viking-like aliens. During the years of his life, his parents died and left him an orphan to be incorporated into the Starwolf society. As an adult he felt himself to be as much a Starwolf as his alien companions. After a dispute over plunder with a fellow Starwolf (leaving the other Starwolf dead), Chane flees (under threat of death) from Starwolf society. As a fugitive and hiding his ex-Starwolf status (the rest of the galaxy “declares a holiday when a Starwolf is killed”), Chane becomes part of a “Merc” human mercenary group commanded by a Merc named John Dilullo.

While in intersteallar space Morgan Chane survives a deadly chase by his ex-fellow robbers from Varnan, Starwolves, one of which he killed in a self-defence. On his escape he gets captured by an experienced starship captain, Dilullo from Earth who is leading a group of Mercs (mercenaries) with a mission to a planet called Kharal. Captain saves him, but quickly learns that he is one of Starwolves, well known robbers who raided almost entire galaxy and whom it’s usual to kill on spot. Learning about his trouble, captain Dilullo offers him to join his mission to Kharal and share reward. As usual for Mercs, the mission promised to be dangerous so in exchange for his help Captain offered to keep origin of Morgan Chane secret. After landing on Kharal they learn about details, reward, and about enemies of Kharal, the planet Vhol who they are at war with, and who are about to obtain super weapons capable to destroy entire Kharal. Mercs accept their mission and are tasked to find weapon’s whereabouts and destroy it before enemies of Kharali can use it. While on the Kharal, Morgan Chane gets jailed for trouble with natives of the planet. While in prison he gest contacted by Captain Dilullo who then tasks Morgan Chane with releaseing a Vhollian officer named Yorolin who was interrogated by Kharalli from the same prison where he was held.

Morgan Chane gets the job done and the team leaves for the Vhol unnoticed with prisoners on board. There, with great effort and trouble they learn about whereabouts of superweapons and set out toward nebulae. Vhol-lans send a cruiser after them. On their way they face Starwolves once again, but luckily appeared Vhol-lans cruiser gets involved and gives a chance for Mercs to escape the battle. By tracing cruiser’s path, they reach nebulae’s planet where super weapons were expected to be found, but find only enormous intergalactic spaceship wreckage. Mercs captured vhol-lans scientists present at the ship who explained that there was no super weapons and this ship belonged to an ancient powerful alien race called Krii, who accidentally landed on the planet, but survived in stasis for many years and were awaiting their rescuing fellows Krii-s who were expected to appear soon.

Mercs learn that Vhol-lans had one of their cruisers survived the battle with Starwolves and both landed on the planet. They prepared to storm Mercs positions, but soon the fight was interrupted by Krii-s second super-ship appearance. By using some unknown technology Krii-s made all weapons, power plants, and engines on the planet “frozen” and useless. Krii came to save their fellows and what was on the wrecked ship. Once they finished their job, the wreackage gets destroyed by Krii, leaving only trail in the sands and second ship disappears.

Mercs quckly depart for Kharal to get reward and set their way towards Earth.

Saturday, January 06, 2024

[Art] Pain...

We all suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. A lesson we all must learn, time and time again.

Thursday, January 04, 2024

Stalking the Dragon (John Justin Mallory #3) 2Stars

Title: Stalking the Dragon
Series: John Justin Mallory #3
Author: Mike Resnick
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 237
Words: 76K

THIS was the first book I read in ‘24 and my goodness, was it boring. I don’t mean there were sections that were boring, but the whole book was boring. It was like Resnick set out to tell an exciting story but right before he started he tripped over his portable Boring Machine and dosed himself with a 100% lethal dose of boring rays.

Who cares that you have to make five left turns to get to the corner of Boring Street and Boringer street in Magical New York? Carruthers, JJ’s partner who was a former hunter and could have added some extra ultra awesome gun action (she carries something like a .75calibre magnum handgun!) is sent off on meaningless tasks and she doesn’t do anything. JJ doesn’t do anything but trudge around, and he trudges around as boringly as Resnick (the author) can make him.

Being a shorter book, by the time I came out of my stupefaction and realized that I should have dnf’d this, I was already done. Resnick is really hit and miss for me, but man, this was “tie me down and make me watch Pollyanna 1000 times in a row” kind of boringness. I don’t know how he survived writing stories like this. Thankfully, this series is over. Bleh.

I have one more I’m going to try by Resnick, a Weird West series of 4 books. But now that the fog has lifted from my brain, if I’m bored, or even Not Super Entertained by the next series, I’ll be done. I do NOT want to repeat this complete waste of my time.

Much like Marley, I come to you warning you not to waste your time on this boring story. Heed my warning……. (insert ghost noises)

★★☆☆☆

From Bookstooge.blog

Click to Open

A miniature show dragon is stolen and JJ is hired to find it. Even the Grundy, the main suspect, wants him to find it. Turns out the owner stole it himself so he could place some bets and win big under aliases. JJ finds the dragon and enters it into the contest and wins and everybody isn’t 100% miserable. The End.

All of My “Mike Resnick” Reviews