The Lost Years (Hell Divers #1.5) 3Stars

 

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: The Lost Years
Series: Hell Divers #1.5
Author: Nicholas Smith
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 79
Words: 25K
Publish: 2024

Hell Divers was written in 2016 and then Smith wrote a bunch more novels in the series. Then apparently in 2024 he wrote a novella chronicling what happened to X after the events from the first book and before the second one. I did not pay attention until AFTER the fact and so have read this out of publication order. I am a big fan of publication order, because it means you are reading the series as the author “intended” it to be.

This felt exactly the same as Hell Divers in terms of Smith’s writing ability. Even though 8 years had passed in the real world and Smith had written many more books, I never would have known by the writing that this wasn’t written two days after the first book. Smith can’t write characterization to save his life. X is the same hunk of plastic that he was in the first book. Now, sometimes that doesn’t matter and to some people, it doesn’t matter at all. I have found, and am finding, that it “can” matter to me. Most of the time I don’t care for a plastic piece being ham handedly moved from Point A to Point Q. In this series, I am finding that it does matter to me. I don’t like X, at all. I don’t care if he saves a puppy at the end, he’s still just a piece of plastic, nothing more and that bothers me.

Now, I like all the action and that is what is keeping this from getting 2.5stars, but I must say, I’m going to need Smith to up his writing game in Book 2 to continue the series.

The problem is, since Book 2 was written before this novella, and I noticed zero improvement, I have a VERY bad feeling the next Hell Diver book will be my last. I’m withholding judgement just to be on the safe side. Writers have surprised me in the past, so it could happen again.

*fingers crossed

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

 he was Commander Xavier “X” Rodriguez—with ninety-six dives under his belt, the most experienced Hell Diver on the airship known as the Hive. Time after time, he dived through the electrical storms, returning with parts to keep his home in the sky. Then, on a jump into Hades, the most hostile environment in North America, he sacrificed everything for mission and team. They returned to the airship with the fuel cells needed to keep the Hive running, but X was left behind.

This is the story of how he becomes the last man on Earth. His will drives him to keep fighting, to survive the monsters and the radiation in the wastes, to find a way back home. But as the days pass, he feels the things that make him human slipping away. He has become a waif, a phantom, with little to live for. Then he stumbles upon something that makes him feel again.

This is the chronicle of those lost years, told for the first time ever.

The Wedding of Groo (Groo the Wanderer #42) 3.5Stars

 

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: The Wedding of Groo
Series: Groo the Wanderer #42
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 24
Words: 2K
Publish: 1988

Hahahahahaahahaa, another fine kettle of fish Stanley! (that’s a Laurel and Hardy reference there by the way).

Granny Groo is at her worst, scheming away and just like in the previous issue, seems to succeed at the beginning. Of course, as was shown in that issue, Groo always messes up her scams in the end. And he does so spectacularly here :-D It all centers around marriage scams and man, when Aragones wants to draw an ugly woman, he can draw an UGLY woman. I was shuddering.

I included this picture because of the last panel. I know I always go on about how skilled Aragones is with his drawings, but man, LOOK at the last panel. With only two speech bubbles and his art, he totally conveys how much Groo and Brunda do NOT want to be there. Look at the rug, look at their posture, their faces. It ALL says “no, we don’t want to do this”. And that is one of the reasons I keep on reading Groo. Aragones is a skilled tradesman in the comic craft and it shows. Plus, his style of humor just clicks with me :-)

★★★✬☆

From Bookstooge

Granny Groo and the Gypsies use Groo to run more scams. First they have him “marry” an ugly woman with a large dowery using one of the gypsies as a priest, thus invalidating the wedding legally. They then use that dowery to buy themselves enough props to look like royalty and Groo is turned into the Prince of Chichester. Granny then schemes to have Groo marry a princess, thus setting the Gypsies up for life. Of course, Groo ruins everything at the end and is chased off scene by the Princess, her father the King AND Granny Groo.

• All of My “Groo the Wanderer” Reviews

An Old Friend of the Family (The Dracula Files #3) 3Stars

 

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: An Old Friend of the Family
Series: The Dracula Files #3
Author: Fred Saberhagen
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 142
Words: 66K
Publish: 1979

Morgan Le Fay was vampirized by Dracula all those years ago and resents that fact. She has planned her revenge against Dracula by going after the descendants of Mina Harker, who secretly had twins by Dracula.

So basically a family is terrorized and Dracula comes to the rescue. Also, Saberhagen just throws continuity out the window, as Mina was supposedly arisen and living with Dracula now. So why does Dracula act like a lovesick puppy when he sees the 16 year old great-great(?) granddaughter of Mina? Because he’s a sick perv and is an evil vampire. Stake that sucker!

Remember kids, there are no good vampires. Ever. Not even Angel or Spike. Stake those suckers too!

★★★☆☆

From Fandom.com

The Southerland family left the old world to start anew in America, but little did they know that a blood-feud, older than history itself, would follow them through the generations to come. Kate Southerland, the first born of the latest generation of Southerlands, has been murdered, but she is not dead.

Her little brother, Johnny, has also vanished, a severed, bloody finger the only clue. But the Southerlands have no clue what they've fallen into. Their enemy is no mortal madman, but the undying mistress of evil enchantment, Morgan Le Fay, and the Southerlands are not her true target. She seeks to do battle with their protector, their defender, the only man who is capable of saving this mortal family from a war they've never realized was waged.

Live and Let Die (James Bond #2) 3Stars

 

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: Live and Let Die
Series: James Bond #2
Author: Ian Fleming
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 199
Words: 69K
Publish: 1954

Much more enjoyable than Casino Royale. Not a hint of misogny even while being just as action packed, even more so in fact.

Mr Big is a great villain. He’s smart and covers all the angles but he’s still a brutal thug at heart and that comes through in every interaction Bond has with him. Him being devoured by the very creatures he was using to protect himself was fantastic.

It’s amazing how much goes on and yet Bond still seems to mostly just travel around. This is very much a Cold War thriller and not anything like the Jason Bourne movies. A gentleman’s game. I have a feeling that is the path these stories will follow.

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia

The British Secret Service agent James Bond is sent by his superior, M, to New York City to investigate "Mr Big", real name Buonaparte Ignace Gallia. Bond's target is an agent of the Soviet counterintelligence organisation SMERSH, and an underworld voodoo leader who is suspected of selling 17th-century gold coins to finance Soviet spy operations in America. These gold coins have been turning up in the Harlem section of New York City and in Florida and are suspected of being part of a treasure that was buried in Jamaica by the pirate Henry Morgan.

In New York, Bond meets up with his counterpart in the CIA, Felix Leiter. The two visit some of Mr Big's nightclubs in Harlem, but are captured. Bond is interrogated by Mr Big, who uses his fortune-telling employee, Solitaire (so named because she excludes men from her life), to determine if Bond is telling the truth. Solitaire lies to Mr Big, supporting Bond's cover story. Mr Big decides to release Bond and Leiter, and has one of Bond's fingers broken. On leaving, Bond kills several of Mr Big's men; Leiter is released with minimal physical harm by a gang member, sympathetic because of a shared appreciation of jazz.

Solitaire later leaves Mr Big and contacts Bond; the couple travel by train to St. Petersburg, Florida, where they meet Leiter. While Bond and Leiter are scouting one of Mr Big's warehouses used for storing exotic fish, Solitaire is kidnapped by Mr Big's minions. Leiter later returns to the warehouse by himself, but is either captured and fed to a shark or tricked into standing on a trap door over the shark tank through which he falls; he survives, but loses an arm and a leg. Bond finds him in their safe house with a note pinned to his chest "He disagreed with something that ate him".[1] Bond then investigates the warehouse himself and discovers that Mr Big is smuggling gold coins by hiding them in the bottom of fish tanks holding poisonous tropical fish, which he is bringing into the US. He is attacked in the warehouse by "the Robber", Mr Big's gunman, and in the resultant gunfight Bond outwits the Robber and causes him to fall into the shark tank.

Bond continues his mission in Jamaica, where he meets a local fisherman, Quarrel, and John Strangways, the head of the local MI6 station. Quarrel gives Bond training in scuba diving in the local waters. Bond swims through shark- and barracuda-infested waters to Mr Big's island and manages to plant a limpet mine on the hull of his yacht before being captured once again by Mr Big. Bond is reunited with Solitaire; the following morning Mr Big ties the couple to a line behind his yacht and plans to drag them over the shallow coral reef and into deeper water so that the sharks and barracuda that he attracts in to the area with regular feedings will eat them.

Bond and Solitaire are saved when the limpet mine explodes seconds before they are dragged over the reef. Though temporarily stunned by the explosion and injured on the coral, they are protected from the explosion by the reef and Bond watches as Mr Big, who survived the explosion, is killed by the sharks and barracuda.

Howl from Beyond - MTG 4E

 

That is one ugly monster. Glad he's not related to me! It is also cards looking like this that kept me from playing black back in the day. If my parents had seen this, they probably would have been like "Nuh uh, you're not playing THAT game any more". I knew this, so I just avoided the whole issue. Who says teens are dumb? 

Monster Hunter Files (MHI #7) 4Stars

 

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 Files
Series: MHI #7
Author: Larry Correia
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 300
Words: 117K
Publish: 2017

When I originally read this back in ‘17, I gave it 4stars. I was hoping that maybe I could inch this up a halfstar, but sadly, the Jane Yellowrock story ("She Bitch, Killer of Kits") still kept that from happening, again. I just dislike Jane Yellowrock, period. I did skip the John Ringo story, as it was just a chapter from the final Monster Hunter Memoirs book and I’ve since read that trilogy.

When I went to read this, this time, I saw Schmidt’s name on the cover and thought “huh, that name sounds familiar”. Turns out he had compiled and edited a couple of Predator collections that I had read, namely Eyes of the Demon and If It Bleeds. Eyes was just a horrible collection of modern writers who didn’t know diddly squat about the Predators and Schmidt should have been ashamed of himself for allowing such a collection. That is the reason he’s not getting a spot in the “Authors” part of the info block from me this time around. He’s a dink.

And on to the positive.

I think that A Knight of the Enchanted Forest was once again my favorite story. I never thought about dipping pepperoni pizza in ranch dressing before this story and to be honest, while it does sound yummy (in an excess kind of way), I still haven’t worked up the courage to actually try it. Maybe 2025 will be the year! (actually, make that exclamation point a question mark, I’m still not brave enough)

Mr Natural by Jody Nye was the story about a group of hippies who raised a demon that enhanced nature, but at the cost of human sacrifice. That was the story that I talked about shooting hippies and commies and ended up getting in trouble in a group over on Librarything about it. Ahhh, good memories, that’s what that is :-)

"Huffman Strikes Back" was a surprise, in a good way. Of course, it was coauthored by The Dink, so I’m giving ALL the credit to the co-author, Julie Frost. This story was about the brother of the werewolf that Owen Zastava Pitt (the main character in the MHI series) threw out of a skyscraper in the first book. Huffman was just as insane and twisted as his brother. He was also just as petty and small minded. It was good to see him get his!

Another good re-read in the MHI universe and I am happy to report that the series is holding strong. Onward!

★★★★☆

Publishers Blurb and Table of Contents

For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats small and large—and in some cases very, very large. Now, join us as MHI opens their archives for the first time. From experienced Hunters on their toughest cases, to total newbies' initial encounters with the supernatural, The Monster Hunter Files reveals the secret history of the world's most elite monster fighting force.

Discover what happened when Agent Franks took on the Nazis in World War Two. Uncover how the Vatican’s Combat Exorcists deal with Old Ones in Mexico. And find out exactly what takes place in a turf war between trailer park elves and gnomes. From the most powerful of mystical beings to MHI’s humble janitor, see the world of professional monster hunting like never before.

Introduction by Albert Lee

"Thistle" by Larry Correia

"Small Problems" by Jim Butcher

"Darkness Under the Mountain" by Mike Kupari

"A Knight of the Enchanted Forest" by Jessica Day George

"The Manticore Sanction" by John C. Wright

"The Dead Yard" by Maurice Broaddus

"The Bride" by Brad R. Torgersen

"She Bitch, Killer of Kits" by Faith Hunter

"Mr. Natural" by Jody Lynn Nye

"Sons of the Father" by Quincey J. Allen

"The Troll Factory" by Alex Shvartsman

"Keep Kaiju Weird" by Kim May

"The Gift" by Steve Diamond

"The Case of the Ghastly Spectre" by John Ringo

"Huffman Strikes Back" by Bryan Thomas Schmidt and Julie Frost

"Hunter Born" by Sarah A. Hoyt

"Hitler's Dog" by Jonathan Maberry

Afterword

Biographies

• Monster Hunter Files (2018 Review)

• All of My “MHI” Reviews

Evil Ascending (Dark Conspiracy #2) 3Stars

 

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: Evil Ascending
Series: Dark Conspiracy #2
Author: Michael Stackpole
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 259
Words: 90K
Publish: 1991

Another decent story by Stackpole in the Dark Conspiracy rpg gameworld. In the last book, we followed Tycho Caine as he fought the Darklord Fiddleback. In this book, we still follow Caine but we also follow an alien who was created to fight Darklords like Fiddleback as well as a protege of Caine’s as he hunts down the training school Caine came from.

This wasn’t anything I’d recommend to you all now, that’s for sure. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t have that pizazz that Stackpole “could” bring to his own projects. It came across for what it was, a writing project to pay the bills for a year or two. Those kinds of books aren’t necessarily bad nor should they be automatically avoided, but I do think their consumption should be limited, just like cheetos.

INSERT CHEETOS.JPG

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher & Bookstooge

In this, the second book of the Fiddleback Trilogy, the war of Dark Lords against humanity expands. Rajani, the daughter of an ET, struggles across a ruined Earth to destroy the Dark Lord Fiddleback.

Fiddleback's former puppet, Tycho Caine, assumes the identity of Coyote and takes on his mission: protecting humanity from the creature that created him. Caine's mission leads him to a Tibetan monastery, where the dimension-walking monks help him discover his true nature.

One of Coyote's aides, Sinclair MacNeal, travels to Tokyo to find the enclave of assassins where Fiddleback forged Caine in a very deadly weapon.

Where these three paths converge, Dark Lords class, and reality bends like heated wax.

Samurai (Usagi Yojimbo #2) 2Stars

 

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: Samurai
Series: Usagi Yojimbo #2
Author: Stan Sakai
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 152
Words: 15K
Publish: 1989

After reading The Ronin (book 1) last year, and since I’m done with manga (I stopped Demonslayer back in May) and the last graphic novel I read was that horrible Batman/The Shadow: Murder Geniuses fiasco, I wanted something that I thought would satisfy me.

Boy, did I choose wrong.

There was absolutely nothing “bad” about this story. Usagi (the rabbit Samurai) recounts the battle that set him on the path of the ronin (a leaderless samurai) and how he dealt with that aspect of his life. It was decent. What dragged this book down for me was the inclusion of a bunch of other stories about other comics that the same publishing company put out alongside Usagi Yojimbo. Each Usagi comic was about 20-22 pages long and then they added 12-15 pages of some other animal related comic to bulk the comic up to the 36 page mark. I ended up skipping those and it really annoyed me. Enough so that I don’t plan on reading any more of Usagi Yojimbo. Just not worth the slog.

And at this point, I think my only comic medium is now going to be Groo.

★★☆☆☆

Synopsis by Bookstooge

Usagi recounts his origins to another wandering Samurai. There are also several non-Usagi Animal stories which were related to other comics put out by the same publishing company.

Slow Horses (Slough House #1) 3.5Stars

 

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: Slow Horses
Series: Slough House #1
Author: Mick Herron
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 309
Words: 112K
Publish: 2010

Fraggle recommended this series in the Recommend Me a Book V post and I think getting to it within seven months is pretty fast, for me :-)

Slough House is where British secret agents go when they are failures. Now, there are different kinds of failures and so you get a real disparate group of people here. We follow River Cartwright and boy, he IS a failure. Not because of the incident that sent him to Slough House (turns out he was framed) but because he won’t listen to anyone or stop to think through the consequences of what he wants to do. Plus, he just doesn’t listen, literally. There were several times where the author has him “tune out” of a conversation and River goes into his own headspace. I was kind of hoping he would die and make the world a better place.

But River Cartwright isn’t the only character and that is the saving grace of this book. From an obnoxious hacker who nobody likes to the head of Slough House, these people ARE people. They aren’t cliches or stereotypes but actual people and I enjoyed that. The plot about MI5 “solving” a problem it purposely created and having it go off the rails was pretty good.

I was pretty happy with this book and I think I’ll be reading more in the series. That is always a good feeling.

★★★✬☆

From Wikipedia

Slough House is an MI5 office overseen by Jackson Lamb, a crotchety Cold War era agent, where "Slow Horses" (disgraced agents) are relegated to pushing paper and sorting through bins.

Everyone has a reason for being at Slough House. River Cartwright accidentally shut down London King's Cross railway station during a training assessment, a mistake he claimed resulted from being fed false information. Louisa Guy misplaced an arms dealer, Min Harper left confidential information on a train and Roddy Ho for his repulsive personality. Only Sidonie "Sid" Baker, a new agent at Slough House has unknown origins. Baker starts to be given assignments in the field and quickly attracts the envy of other agents. After Baker is tasked with following a disgraced conservative journalist, Robert Hobden, Cartwright does everything he can to get involved.

When Hassan Ahmed, a British-Pakistani university student, is kidnapped and held hostage by the white nationalist group Sons of Albion, the agents of Slough House begin to wonder what they can do to help. The Kidnappers announce they will behead Ahmed on a live stream in 36 hours, rain, hail or shine. What the agents of Slough House don't know is that the terrorists have been infiltrated by a former Slow Horse, Alan Black, who has been secretly tasked by the deputy director of MI5, Diana Taverner, to sabotage the Kidnappers as a publicity stunt for the agency.

Hobden suspects foul play, as he previously overheard Taverner in a bar discussing creating sting operations on far-right political groups. When Hobden begins to make attempts to expose the scheme publicly, Taverner convinces Jed Moody, a discontent Slough House agent with a background in international espionage, to plan an assassination attempt on Hobden. Unbeknownst to Moody, Cartwright and Baker are monitoring Hobden's house the night he attempts a masked break-in. Before noticing the intruder, Baker reveals to Cartwright she was assigned to Slough House to survey him. The pair rush to Hobden's defence. A violent scuffle results in Moody accidentally shooting Baker. Hobden and Moody flee into the night, while River rushes Baker to the hospital.

Realising what he's done, Moody returns to Slough House for supplies in preparation to go on the run. Both Louisa Guy and Min Harper return to work after hours for some private time together and rush to attack the masked intruder. The embroiled Moody and Harper fall down the office stairs, where Moody dies instantly after breaking his neck on impact. After Jackson Lamb is alerted to the death of two of his in one night, he begins to piece together Taverner's meddling in his affairs.

Hobden rushes to the house of Peter Judd, a conservative politician. While Judd is reluctant to help Hobden expose MI5's antics, Hobden threatens to release a compromising photo of a young Judd throwing a Nazi salute.

Meanwhile, the kidnappers have discovered and killed the traitor within their ranks. After they change their plans and take their hostage on the road, Taverner begins to look to hide her involvement. Taverner begins to alert people within MI5 that one of the kidnappers was a former Slow Horse and tries to pin the situation on Jackson Lamb. Lamb decides to break into the MI5 headquarters with Cartwright to find evidence and confront Taverner with proof she is framing the agents of Slough House.

The other Slow Horses work to track down the van the kidnappers had hired. Working through the known aliases of the former Slough House agent who infiltrated the group, the Slow Horses find the booking. Roddy Ho works out how to hack the rental company's navigation system and they alert the police of the forest where the kidnappers have stopped. The two remaining kidnappers in the meantime had begun to argue, disagreeing about actually killing Hassan. Hassan uses the opportunity to escape and hide in the forest before he is saved by the police.

In the days after, it is announced that Robert Hobden died in a hit-and-run accident and Cartwright discovers all records of Sid Baker have been wiped from existence, her status now unknown.

Holy Strength - MTG 4E

 

Unlike last week's "Holy Armor", this actually looks "holy" to me. I can practically hear the angelic choirs singing in the background.

1. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

2. Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Cherubim and seraphim, falling down before thee,
Who was and is and evermore shall be.

3. Holy, Holy, Holy! though the darkness hide thee,
Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
Perfect in pow'r, in love, and purity.

4. Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity.

There you go, your weekly dose of hymnary. Bet you didn't expect that :-D