Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Wednesday, July 31, 2024

July '24 Roundup & Ramblings

Raw Data:

Novels – 13 ↓

Short Stories – 0 –

Manga/Graphic Novels – 0 –

Comics – 1 ↑

Average Rating – 3.62 ↑↑

Pages – 3572 ↓

Words – 1331K ↑

The Bad:

Mansfield Park – 2Stars of Stone Cold Jane Austen really letting the team down

The Good:

A Study in Brimstone – 5Stars of Pure Literary Genius!

Monster Hunter International – 4.5Stars of the best monster killing you’ll ever read

Movie:

Didn’t review anything this month. Just wasn’t feeling it.

Miscellaneous Posts:

Personal:

The first half of this month was insanely busy (for us). Those first two weekends were just jam packed. I use my weekends to recover from the week, so when I have to expend valuable “social” energy on a weekend, I really notice it. Thankfully, things settled down and got back into a more normal groove.

After last months R&R where I went on and on and on, I decided that just wasn’t going to do, so I started/continued those “My Week” posts where I blab about all the super interesting things that happen to me, like being in the Emergency Room for 9hrs or getting paid for 5hrs of driving instead of doing actual work. All those gripping, exciting and enthralling stories (and no oxford comma! ha). It has worked well for me. I get to blab about something non-book oriented but that’s not “themed” so I don’t feel pressured to be creative. The bonus is that it’s been on my scheduled “don’t need to blog day” (Friday) so if I don’t feel like saying something, I don’t have to. It’s been great!

And can I talk about that average rating from the Numbers section? 3.62!!!! That is the highest monthly rating I’ve had this year. I am wicked happy about that. That is partly why I do those numbers each month. Sometimes my memory of how the overall reading time went gets fuzzy near the end of the month and it serves me well to do the hard facts.

Cover Love:

While the cover is a little dark (in terms of lighting, not content), MHI gets the nod this time. I was severely tempted to stick with Kalin, but I chose modesty and guns over swank and boobs.

Plans for Next Month:

Sometimes I wonder why I even do this portion of the R&R. Forgive me while I indulge in a moment of self-pity for a couple of sentences.

Wah wah wah

I do the same thing every stinking month. I review some books. I put up some pictures of magic and superhero cards. I put up a piece of artwork. I review a movie or tv show. I blabber nonsense. Every. Single. Month. I want to be one of those bloggers who are just bursting with creativity and doing something new every single month. Most of the time I readily accept that I am a steady, plodding blogger. But there are a few times a year where I just WISH I could be an “arteest” and wow everyone for a post or two. Or ten, twenty or even one hundred! (might as well dream big)

Ok, somebody call the wambulance, show’s over. Time to go cut down a tree, translate some chinese curses and shoot a groundhog, all with my bare hands, my eyes closed and while in a strait jacket. Tada!!!!

Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Monster Hunter International (MHI #1) 4.5Stars

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: Monster Hunter International
Series: MHI #1
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 477
Words: 194K

What a difference 12 years makes! When I read this back in ‘12, I gave a lengthy (for me, back then) review detailing all of my issues with the book. Not big issues, but things that stood out to me. I read that review AFTER re-reading this and had myself a good laugh.

So, characterization. Still pretty shallow. After some of the cardboard I’ve read since 2012 however, my sensitivity is greater and this book benefited from it. No one else really has a voice besides Z (Owen Z Pitt, the main character), but that’s ok. We’re getting introduced to everyone and so much happens so fast that I didn’t miss characterization this time around. Most of the time I don’t anyway. I’m not a namby pamby mama’s boy after all.

This was originally self-published on a forum for gun fans and thus the writing isn’t up to the level of Rex Stout or Patricia McKillip. But once again, I’ve read A LOT MORE drek in the last 12 years and so that bar has really sunk. Correia sailed right over it without breaking a sweat here. Honestly, if I hadn’t mentioned the writing in my original review, I’d not have mentioned here at all.

Gun porn. This is where I laughed my head off. Oh, how I have changed so much in this regards, so, so much. This time around, I wouldn’t have qualified this as gun porn at all. Mainly because I knew what he was actually talking about when he started talking gun and bullet specifications. I knew the brands, I knew calibres, I knew the difference between a single stack and a double stack magazine. This time around, this was just a gun guy talking guns and apparently, I am now a gun guy too. Not at his level mind you, but enough that I wasn’t bored. I suspect for most of you, you’d qualify this as gun porn, hahahahaa.

Bad guys, so many bad guys. It was awesome! And they weren’t pansey-ass bad guys who fell over when you made fun of their outfits and hurt their feelings. These were rip your face off, beat you until all your bones are broken and THEN kill you kind of bad guys. What makes it so much better though is that the good guys still kill them in droves. Yes, it was indeed awesome.

When this was originally, published, it was supposed to be a trilogy and that was it. I had no plans to ever re-read this “trilogy”. But here we are now. There are 8 or 9 books in the main MHI series, with several spin off series and a collection of short stories (I believe). We’re talking 12+ books, probably close to 15. AND I’m re-reading this. My poor mid-30’s self just had no idea what the future held, that’s for sure. Hopefully that will help me to not make Nostradamical Predictions and end up with egg all over my face.

The reason this didn’t get 5stars from me is because of the theological content. You just have to “believe” and “have faith” and that’s good enough. The Bible, the Koran and the Kama Sutra will all work if you just believe in them enough. I’d have been ok if Correia had just side stepped the issue altogether.

I loved this re-read though, thoroughly enjoyed it to the max. I am especially looking forward to the rest of the series now.

★★★★✬

From MHI.Fandom.com

Synopsis – Click to Open

After learning of a monster by the name of Lord Machado was planning on using an ancient artifact to open a portal to the Old Ones to summon the Dread Overlord, MHI launched a massive attack at Desoya Caverns to battle Lord Machado and his minions and to stop the portal from being opened. This event caused the death of the most MHI employees in one day, other than the Christmas Party. It also resulted in the collection of the largest PUFF bounty in company history after Owen Pitt successfully defeated Lord Machado and Koriniha, the true mastermind behind everything

Monday, July 29, 2024

Erosion - MTG 4E

I never saw this card played. Three blue pips is simply too expensive unless you have a convoluted plan that absolutely needs this. In which case, you probably have about seven other plans as well, all of which cost less and do more. But this is what the Color Pie USED to mean. Blue was not land destruction. So when a card was land destruction and it was blue, there was a drawback of it costing much more.

`rambles off into nostalgic rant about the good old days of Magic…

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Westmark (Westmark #1) 3Stars

Title: Westmark
Series: Westmark #1
Author: Lloyd Alexander
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: MG Fantasy
Pages: 102
Words: 44K

This is the first in the Westmark Trilogy by Lloyd Alexander, the author of the Prydain Chronicles. I classified it as Fantasy, not because there are magic spells, or talking animals, or even enchanted artifacts but because the world of Westmark is NOT our own. This goes back to the roots of Fantasy, which have been corrupted over the years to mean something quite different than how it started out. I’m quite ok with fantasy incorporating the magical, but the magical shouldn’t BE the defining aspect of Fantasy. So go into this with no expectations of prophecies and curses and you’ll be just fine.

I did not enjoy this as much as the Prydain Chronicles. While both are middle grade, this FELT more middle grade. Problems are solved with the greatest of ease (said the man on the flying trapeze!), which is fine in MG fiction, but sometimes things were just solved a little too easily. The Evil Prime Minister is overthrown with one word from the King, even though the PM has spent years consolidating his power, over the King, over the Nobles, over the entire land. Poof, he’s gone. That’s not a problem for a twelve year old reader and if this were my introduction to Lloyd Alexander, it probably wouldn’t be a problem for me either. But things weren’t quite this simple and simplistic in the Prydain Chronicles, so I as an adult reader KNOW that Alexander can write a more complex situation while still keeping it on the twelve year old’s level.

At its heart, this was a coming of age story mixed with love and adventure. I read it in my tweens and teens and I remember enjoying it quite a bit. Now that I’m re-reading this as an adult, I’m still enjoying it, but I don’t ever see myself reading it again in the future.

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia

Synopsis – click to open

It is a complicated and politically dangerous period in Westmark. The country’s ruler, King Augustine IV, has slipped into dementia, depression and illness since the supposed death of his only child, Princess Augusta, over six years ago. Despite the efforts of the queen, Caroline, and the court physician, Dr. Torrens, the King is increasingly manipulated by his chief minister, Cabbarus, who has designs on the throne. While the ill king is kept distracted by a series of mystics and charlatans who claim to be able to speak to his dead child, Cabbarus increases his control over Westmark, restricting freedoms and abusing the king’s powers.

Young Theo, an orphan, has been raised in a small town, Dorning, by a printer named Anton. After the pair accepts a job from a travelling salesman they are investigated by Cabbarus’ men, who declare their job illegal and proceed to destroy their press. In the ensuing scuffle and chase, Theo attacks a soldier and Anton is shot and killed.

With no one else to turn to, Theo takes to the countryside, eventually meeting up with the men who hired him and Anton for the printing job: Count Las Bombas, a con artist, and his dwarf driver/partner Musket. Theo joins up with them, rather reluctantly, and ends up participating in their money-making schemes. They eventually discover a girl named Mickle, a poor street urchin, who has a talent for throwing her voice and mimicry. The count builds a charade around Mickle, dressing her up as the Oracle Priestess and putting her on display, claiming that she can speak to the spirits of the dead.

Theo, despite his growing affection for the bright but vulnerable Mickle, begins to find his new life too dishonest for his tastes and abandons the group, eventually falling in with Florian, an anti-monarchist and rebel who plans revolution with his band of loyal followers whom he calls his “children”. Meanwhile, Mickle, Las Bombas, and Musket have been arrested for fraud, Cabbarus has attempted to have Dr. Torrens assassinated and a politically minded journalist, Keller, goes into hiding to save himself from Cabbarus’ wrath.

Events come to a head when Theo plots to break his old companions out of prison, with help from Florian and his friends. Their reunion, however, does not last long; Cabbarus has tracked them down and has them all arrested. He brings the group to the Old Juliana, the palace of King Augustine IV and Queen Caroline, where reveals his plans to the group and of how the “Oracle Priestess” will be his pawn to his uprising to the throne. While in Old Juliana, Mickle comes across a trapdoor leading to a water canal, and her memories race in her mind as she remembers her childhood. This leads to her high fever and Theo’s worry of her having to act. Cabbarus presents the group to the King and Queen and the courtiers as the Oracle Priestess, and suddenly Mickle’s long-repressed childhood memories come to the surface, revealing treason, attempted murder and corruption in the heart of the Westmark government. It is later revealed that Mickle is the long-lost Princess Augusta and that chief minister Cabbarus was responsible for her disappearance.

Eventually, on the subject of Cabbarus’s punishment, Theo, on behalf of his conscience, sends him into exile, instead of killing him.

Saturday, July 27, 2024

The Elusive Mrs Pollifax (Mrs Pollifax #3) 3.5Stars

Title: The Elusive Mrs Pollifax
Series: Mrs Pollifax #3
Author: Dorothy Gilman
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 166
Words: 55K

Great, Mrs Pollifax gets involved with hippies AND commies. Just when you think the problem lies outside the USA, you find out that stupid and dumb as dirt hippie teenagers MAKE the problems wherever they go. Ahhhhh, if it had been up to me, I would have let all of them die the most horrible death. That would teach them. Thankfully, Mrs Pollifax takes pity and so the story doesn’t end right at the beginning.

It is incredible how Gilman organically increases the danger level without it feeling like she is forcing things. I never once was thrown out of the story with that “Oh please, THAT couldn’t happen” feeling. While this isn’t quite a “cozy”, it is adjacent to that genre but manages to avoid the pitfalls. I continue to be impressed with Gilman’s skill here.

A simple premise that is well done without being overdone. I appreciate that simplicity.

★★★✬☆

From Wikipedia.org

Synopsis – click to open

Mrs. Pollifax is sent, as a tourist, on a routine assignment, to deliver the eight forged passports she is carrying, concealed in her hat, to the Bulgarian Underground. Unbeknownst to her, her boss, Carstairs, has been strong-armed into having her take other items along, sewn into her coat. On the way, she meets a group of back-packing college students at an airport, and offers to help when one of them is arrested by the secret police, upon arriving in Sofia. Mrs. Pollifax then leads both friends and foes on a merry chase, as she travels around Bulgaria, on a series of absorbing, and interwoven, adventures, including helping to rescue the student and several political prisoners from the seemingly impregnable Panchevsky Institute

All of my “Mrs Pollifax” Reviews

Friday, July 26, 2024

[Reblog] Cosmic Desire or My Week VI

The entirety of the cosmos feels better with you present,

I travelled several parts of it,

Chasing your essence;

Which leaves me gasping every time for more,

Tomorrow is a vain concept without you.

~reblogged from The Master Procrastinator from “Pink and Blue”

Some weeks are busy and full and give me stories to tell. Even if I have to embellish “a little” bit. Those make for great blogging weeks. But boy, do they suck for actually living. Other weeks are a nice slow roll of hour after hour, day after day, night after night. Not much happens during those kind of weeks. I get up, I go to work, I come home, I eat, I read, I blog. I do unfun things like pay bills. I do fun things like watch “Keeping Up Appearances” (for those who don’t know, KUA was the absolute zenith of 90’s British sitcoms. It was the Queen of them all). I really prefer those kind of weeks.

And lo and behold, it was that kind of week. I got some new art for next month, I bought some plane tickets for a family visit later this year, I read the next Metaframe War book (spoiler, the review will NOT be pretty). I ate chili cheese hotdogs. Yes, you read that right. They have the technology, I have the money, and hoo yah, it’s a party in my mouth!

Oscar Mayer now makes Chili Cheese Hotdogs.

This is the kind of week I crave. Nothing putting pressure on me, no emergencies, no “oh no, I HAVE to do X”, nothing but get up and go to work. I might complain about my job at times, but I actually enjoy being a crew chief of a land survey crew. I am contributing something concrete and useful to society, I am not being a parasite or a scumbag. And I can go to bed at night feeling good about it.

One of the fun things I did was starting to investigate a higher capacity 9mm handgun. Right now I own a Sig P938, a subcompact that holds 7 bullets and is small enough for me to wear inside my waistband without printing (ie, having it outlined through my clothes). The only problem is that I’m only accurate with it to about 25ft (8meters) because of the short barrel. That is about 8-12 steps for most people. It means that to cover the doors into our church, I have to sit in the back row. That really has never been a problem because since our church has gone full hog into the streaming mania, the back row was the only place it was easy to avoid the cameras. In the last month we have gotten a 3rd camera that has removed that blind spot. Which means half my reason for sitting in the back is now gone. So it just feels like I am tethered to the back now because of my accuracy issues. The way to overcome that is to buy a full sized 9mm pistol, with a much higher magazine capacity and a longer barrel.

I’ve been looking at a CZ P-10 F, a Czech made pistol that holds up to 19 rounds with a standard magazine. The biggest issue is if the grip will be too fat for my hands or not. I have small hands and most full size pistols are just not comfortable for me to hold. If it fits my hands ok, I could easily sit 3 or 4 rows closer to the front if I wanted to. But right now, this is just all in my head. I don’t have $400 to throw down on a gun at the moment. But I enjoy doing my “homework” on the issue.

And that should be a wrap! From Poetry to Hotdogs to Guns. Just need an apple pie to make this 100% American 😉

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Rufferto II (Groo the Wanderer #30) 3.5Stars

Title: Rufferto II
Series: Groo the Wanderer #30
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. No forgetting poor Groo this month!

Finally, Groo has found something even dumber than he is. Rufferto the dog. The opening page to the comic gives us the previous comic in one page with the people involved just shaking their heads and rolling their eyes at Groo’s stupidity. It was a good refresher for those of us who might have accidentally skipped reading Groo for a month.

Nothing but people trying to swindle Groo, each other and the Royal Couple. Groo ends up with money, Rufferto and gets to end the comic fighting everybody. Which is What Groo Does Best!

This wasn’t a deep read, nor can I spout some bull caca to make it seem like this was A Big Important comic with messages about the Human Condition and a funny message that will bring us all together. No, this was a comic book and it entertained me for about 15minutes and that’s all I needed from it. It delivered in spades, just like all the previous Groo comics and I am thankful for that. Sometimes a cheese pizza is all you really want. And sometimes a Groo comic is all I really want.

This is the last page in the comic and it manages to recap the whole comic for your viewing pleasure.

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge.blog

Synopsis – click to open

The Adventures of Rufferto continue! The King and Queen continue to offer a reward for Rufferto and his 100,000 kopin collar. Soldiers try to find him. Swindlers find Groo and try to swindle him. Another King finds out about the collar and buys Rufferto off of Groo. The Swindler’s paint a dog to look like Rufferto and give it to the soldiers. And Groo is paid twice. And gets Rufferto back each time. And the comic ends with the soldiers, the swindlers and the other king all fighting over who cheated who the most. And Groo wins most of all with 2000 kopins and a fray!

All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Marvel Champions: The Deckening II

Today we will be talking about how to construct the Villain Deck. Last month I showed how to create your Hero Deck using the cards from the coreset box. While it was a simple process for someone used to constructing decks in various other card games, it might have been a little overwhelming for people who have never had to do that before. Thankfully, constructing the Villain Deck is MUCH easier. There are a lot less individual choices to make. While this might sound like a bad thing, it really makes everything much simpler, especially as the focus of the game is on the Hero.

Today, I will be walking you through constructing the Villain Deck using the villain Klaw.

As you can see highlighted in yellow with the big yellow arrow pointing to it, Klaw comes with a set of 21 cards that form the basis of the villain deck (called the Encounter Deck in the rule book).

Along with these cards, you will also add to the Villain deck the Hero “Nemesis” cards that come along with the hero. If you had chosen Spiderman, you would have a set of “Spiderman Nemesis” cards, once again highlighted in yellow. Each set of cards is named and numbered, making it very easy to keep them together.

Next, you would choose two Module sets to complete your Villain deck. Once again, each is numbered and labeled, making it very easy to assemble a Villain deck when you open the box. I chose the “Standard” and “Legions of Hydra” modules.

So to recap, you will add all the following together to create your Villain deck.

Villain card set
Hero Nemesis set
Module set x2

And that is that. Shuffle up, set your Villain aside, and set the Villain’s Main Scheme (included in the villain set of cards) aside and you’re ready to start playing. I hope that was easy to follow and made sense. If not, well, I guess there’s no hope for you, hehehehe 😉

Next month I am hoping to do another Playening post and to do a walk through of the high lights. But until then, remember:

There Can Be…..
…..Only None!

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

King’s Ransom (87th Precinct) 3.5Stars

Title: King’s Ransom
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 147
Words: 56K

A rich man, who has trampled everyone who ever got in his way, has his chauffeur’s boy kidnapped when the kidnappers confuse the two boys. The ransom is enough that the rich man won’t be able to push through his latest deal and so he doesn’t want to even try to cooperate. It’s not until his wife leaves him with their son that he finally begins cooperating with the police. With a police officer hiding in his car, the rich man drops off a suitcase of fake money and the couple who are holding the boy decide they want no more and release the boy and make their escape to Mexico.

I wasn’t sure how I was going to deal with this when I realized it was going to be about the kidnapping of a young boy. Especially when one of the kidnappers was a violent punk of a man who attacks the wife of his co-kidnapper and attempts to rape her. He doesn’t get that far, but that was his intent and I almost dnf’d the book at that point.

In many ways, this was more about the rich man and his journey of self-discovery that he was a complete bastard than about the kidnapping. The rich man was a real jerk but he was nothing worse than the businessmen of today who sacrifice whole companies and their entire workforce simply to increase a projected profit and feed the greed of the shareholders. It’s sad that the love of money destroys people like this, from the inside out.

On the plus side, we don’t get much about Cotton Hawes, the manwhore. I was quite ok with that. Steve Carella is once again front and center and I like him, as he’s a good cop.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher & Bookstooge.blog

Synopsis – click to open

The story centers on the moral dilemma faced by a wealthy man when he is forced to choose between using his wealth to fulfill a personal ambition or saving the life of a kidnapped child. Two of the three kidnappers repent and tell the police where the boy is and disappear. The boy is rescued.

All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Monday, July 22, 2024

Erg Raiders - MTG 4E

Sometimes having to explain what the card does takes up all the space and you don’t get any funny quotes like in Elvish Archers. That makes me sad.