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: A Time To Die Series: Victor the Assassin #6 Authors: Tom Wood Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Action/Adventure Pages: 316 Words: 100K
From Bookstooge.blog
Victor is now working for the British, since the CIA really doesn’t want someone who was implicated in trying to nuke New York City. His latest assignment is to erase an eastern european crime lord. In the process Victor tries to help a woman who’s been sold into prostitution. She dies, the crime lord dies and Victor kills the man who killed the woman. Then there’s the assassins who are trying to take the new bounty put out on Victor’s head by someone who has a LOT of details on him (well, one of his identities anyway). Victor goes mano-a-mano in a junk yard and emerges victorious by lying to his adversary and putting two bullets in him point blank.
Nobody lives happily ever after, hurray!
These are great books for what they are. Action packed adventures of an assassin with his own code of rules that he lives assiduously by. By this time though, he’s made enough enemies and somebody has sold his identity (well, one of them) so he’s not only trying to complete an almost impossible assignment for the British but he’s dodging assassins at the same time. I loved it.
At the same time, I wonder how many more books the author can stretch things out before Victor’s identity is irreparably compromised? While I have no problem with assassins constantly coming after Victor, there are only so many false identities he can burn through. For someone who needs to remain anonymous, every id burnt is another escape route now denied him. I feel like Victor is running down a hill with an avalanche right behind him. How long can he outrun it?
I don’t see him ever retiring and living his remaining days out on some sunlit beach with a cold drink in one hand and a gun in the other. He’s going work until he’s killed. Not exactly something to look forward to in the series but it fits with everything that has happened so far.
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
Ed, Alphonse, and their mechanic Winry go south in search of Izumi Curtis, the master alchemist who taught the brothers how to use alchemy. But in the boomtown of Rush Valley, an encounter with a pickpocket turned them down a different path in search of an auto-mail blacksmith whose handiwork is the best that Winry has ever seen. Then the action flashes back to the past to show how Ed and Alphonse first learned alchemy…”
Chapters
Chapter 17: The Boomtown of the Broken Down
Chapter 18: The Value of Sincerity
Chapter 19: I’ll Do It for You Guys!
Chapter 20: The Terror of the Teacher
Chapter 21: The Brothers’ Secret
I have a feeling this series is going to run at the 3star rating more times than not. At least until I get into new territory where I don’t vaguely recall stuff from the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime.
There was nothing at all bad about this volume. But there was nothing that made me laugh. Or cry. Or get excited. Or mad. Or depressed. It just kind of rolled along. I know I’ll read the whole series, because I’ve never actually known the ending (the original anime was produced before the manga was ended, so they made up their own ending) and I want to know it. But I can’t say I’m super excited when this rolls around to read.
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: Murder by the Book Series: Nero Wolfe #19 Author: Rex Stout Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars Genre: Mystery Pages: 189 Words: 69K
From Wikipedia:
Inspector Cramer takes the unprecedented step of approaching Nero Wolfe for his help on a stalled murder investigation. Leonard Dykes, a clerk for a law partnership, was found dead in the East River. The police found in Dykes’ apartment a list of men’s names and Cramer wishes to have Wolfe’s opinion on it. But other than suggesting Dykes may have been trying to invent an alias, Wolfe can’t help.
A month later Wolfe, is approached by the father of Joan Wellman, a reader for a fiction publisher, who was killed in a hit-and-run incident, late at night in Van Cortlandt Park. After reading a recent letter that Joan had written to her parents, Wolfe realises that the name ‘Baird Archer’, an author whose novel Joan was reading for her employer, had also appeared on the list found in Leonard Dykes’ apartment.
Wolfe orders Archie Goodwin to explore the link between Archer’s novel and the two murder victims. To that end, Archie arrives at the office of Rachel Abrams, a stenographer, mere minutes after she has been thrown out of a window to her death. In the moments before the police arrive Archie confirms that Baird Archer was one of her clients. Wolfe decides to begin the investigation with Dykes, and Archie arranges a meeting with the female employees of Corrigan, Phelps, Kustin and Briggs, the law partnership Dykes worked for. During the meeting, tempers flare and in a resulting argument the former senior partner of the firm, Conroy O’Malley, is mentioned. O’Malley was disbarred for bribing a jury foreman to fix a case, and while Dykes was blamed for exposing him to the Bar Association it becomes clear that all four of the partners have motives to betray him.
Soon after, the four lawyers—James Corrigan, Emmet Phelps, Louis Kustin and Frederick Briggs—approach Wolfe, keen to avoid further scandal. The men agree to send Wolfe all correspondence relating to Dykes, including a resignation letter he submitted. When they receive the letter, Wolfe and Archie discover an odd notation, apparently in Corrigan’s handwriting, which corresponds a verse in the Book of Psalms. The same verse – “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help” – was used for the title of Baird Archer’s novel, which confirms to Wolfe that Archer was a pen name of Dykes and his novel a Roman à clef based on O’Malley’s downfall.
Archie is dispatched to Los Angeles to persuade Dykes’s sister Peggy to help them trap her brother’s murderer. Archie writes a letter to the law firm purportedly from Peggy asking for advice over the legal rights of her brother’s novel, and hires a local private detective to pose as a literary agent. Soon after, James Corrigan unsuccessfully tries to acquire the manuscript, resorting to violence and attempted theft in order to do so. Archie begins to tail Corrigan, but soon after his return to New York Wolfe receives a rambling phone call, apparently from James Corrigan, which is abruptly ended with the sound of a gunshot. The police discover that Corrigan has apparently committed suicide, and the next day Wolfe receives a suicide note written by Corrigan confessing to having exposed O’Malley and committed all three murders to keep his secret.
Although the authorities are willing to rule Corrigan the murderer and his death a suicide, Wolfe has a breakthrough and summons the major witnesses to his office. There, he reveals that the supposed suicide note was flawed in one crucial respect; it claimed that Corrigan was aware of the contents of Dykes’ novel, when in fact Corrigan’s actions in Los Angeles clearly demonstrated that he had never seen the manuscript before. In fact, Corrigan was murdered by Conroy O’Malley, who had staged his death as a suicide. O’Malley had discovered that Corrigan had betrayed him via Dykes’s manuscript and had committed the other murders both to frame Corrigan and cover up his actions. After holes in his alibi are discovered, O’Malley is charged and convicted of murder.
Ahhhhhhhh yeaaaaahhh. When Rex Stout wants to write, boy howdy can he write! This was like sinking back into the most comfortable couch imaginable with a big fluffy blanket and a mug of the most delicious hot chocolate ever. Nothing like the grime, grit and dirt from 87th Precinct.
I loved every second of this. And what’s more, being about a book just put the cherry on top. Sure, several people die. Very nice people I’m sure. But I didn’t know them, their deaths weren’t described in gruesome detail and beyond a name and a clue placeholder, they didn’t force me into the nasty murder box. Comfortable crime, that’s what I’d call it.
It was also really nice to get back to a full length novel instead of 3 novellas. I know I harp on that a lot, but it makes a big difference to me. I realize also that Stout pretty much wrote on commission to earn a living so novellas would do that easier than full length novels. But by gum, full novels are where its at as far as pure enjoyment goes. * slams fist * And that’s final!
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 Captain of the Monte Cristo Author: Sarah Wilson & John Gunningham Rating: 1 of 5 Stars Genre: Fantasy Pages: 147 Words: 41K
From the Publisher
Love, betrayal, and revenge … in space.
Edmund Dante is a promising young officer in the Company, but when his loyalty to his ship’s captain endangers the crew’s future, his betrayal is inevitable. Years later, Edmund and his unusual bio-ship – The Monte Cristo – are out for revenge. Will Edmund be able to go through with it when he realizes what it will cost?
Lovers of space opera, classics, adventure, and LitRPG will love this action-packed short novel. Follow Edmund Dante and his sidekick Jack through the futuristic society in the Company and watch them accomplish his ultimate revenge.
I knew going into this that it wasn’t going to be a fantastic read. At about 150 pages, it wouldn’t be feasible to expect a great story from one of the greatest stories ever told (The Count of Monte Cristo) but I did have hopes it would be a good story.
In all fairness, the potential for a good story was there. The idea that everyone dueled in the future via virtual reality game called Baccarre, while not original, was fun to read about. Having the Monte Cristo be a living spaceship was cool.
But.
The author’s idea that portraying Edmund at the beginning as a “good” guy because he won’t kill even pirates who are attacking their ship and putting everyones’ lives in danger? I was in complete agreement with the other characters about him (ie, it was the height of selfishness, self-centeredness and childishness). Baccarre was just another take on Yugioh and “It’s time to da-da-da Duel!” virtual fighting. The Monte Cristo as a super smart living ship came straight from the manga Gankutsuou. Then having Albert be Edmund and Mercede’s son and Mercedes dying, it was just too much of a change for no good reason.
Add in that the writing was simply workmanlike and in no ways brilliant? If you’re going to try to retell a classic story, your writing had better live up to original. Both Wilson and Gunningham, in terms of skill, belong to the group of people who write fan fiction and post it online, hoping some idiot will support them. It wasn’t even badly written, which almost makes it worse. It was just completely pedestrian.
I looked at other reviews online before posting this and people were giving it 5 stars and saying great and wonderful it was. Either they are shills, or they are idiots or they wouldn’t know a good book if I hit them over the head with it. This was NOT a good book. I don’t care if you liked this book, because taste is subjective (sadly), but it is not a good book in any way, shape or form. So don’t say that it is. It is trash and the authors should be ashamed of writing such subpar crap and sullying the good reputation of The Count of Monte Cristo. I’ve seen that they have done the same thing to Moby Dick but that was released in 2017 and there’s nothing else from the duo since them. But Wilson has managed to pump out 120 “books” on Amazon, so that should tell you all you really need to know.
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 Emperor’s Finest Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #7 Authors: Sandy Mitchell Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars Genre: SF Pages: 288 Words: 102K
From Wh40k.lexicanum.com & Bookstooge.blog
Part One
After his harrowing escape from the Necron Tomb on Inheritus Prime, Ciaphas Cain regains consciousness in the Apothecarion of the Reclaimers’ Strike Cruiser Revenant, and makes the acquaintance of the battle force’s commander, Captain Gries, and Apothecary Sholer and Techmarine Drumon, who have collaborated on the augmetic fingers grafted onto Cain’s hand in place of the two lost to the Necrons. Since Cain was originally assigned as the Commissariat’s liaison to the Reclaimers, there is no reason why he shouldn’t accompany them on their mission to suppress a rebellion on Viridia.
According to a short excerpt from Jerval Sekara’s often-used travelogue, Viridia is a productive Agri World that is the hub of several important mining stations on the surrounding moons and asteroids. The whole system is a vital source of raw materials for the subsector, which explains why a minor civil insurrection on what would otherwise be considered a rustic backwater merited the intervention of the Emperor’s own Astartes…
Unfortunately, by the time the Revenant translates into the system, the conflict has escalated into a full-blown civil war. Several elements of the PDF have defected to the rebels, including a small SDF flotilla that attacks the Revenant upon its arrival. These small ships are no match for the Strike Cruiser, and Gries prepares to embark for the surface immediately. Despite the manifest danger, Cain always feels safer on the ground than in the void, and accompanies them in their Thunderhawk.
The rebels are already besieging the capital city when Gries and Cain land inside the Palace and introduce themselves to Governor DuPanya.
The loyalist PDF commander explains that the rebels are divided into several feuding groups, and the Imperials’ only advantage is that they are fighting each other as much as the loyalists. But Gries and Cain look closer at the tactical display and notice something wrong: the feuding between the rebel factions is a charade, and they have in fact organized a superbly coordinated cordon around the city – more coordinated, Cain notices, than he would expect from a Guard unit of the same size. Any counter-attack the Imperials launch will have to conceal the fact that they are on to the rebels’ trick, or they will close the trap even more quickly.
Gries outlines a three-pronged assault; one detachment of the Reclaimers will secure strategic points inside the city, while another attacks the rebels’ armour contingent. A third force is needed to neutralize the rebels’ mobile artillery batteries; since the approach will need to be secret, their best option is through the sewer tunnels – a job unsuitable for Space Marines in Power Armour. Cain is unwise enough to point this out, inadvertently making it seem like he’s volunteering to lead the mission.
Enter Mira DuPanya, the Governor’s daughter and honourary Colonel-in-Chief of the household guard unit of the PDF, who volunteers a squad of her troops, but insists on accompanying them. Cain urges her in the strongest terms to stay behind and let the real soldiers get on with the job, but she refuses to listen. She points out that, as a Commissar, Cain has no direct command authority, and Cain is forced to concede the point (ruefully deciding that shooting her is not an option, if he wants to maintain a good relationship with the Governor).
As they make their way towards the rebels’ position, Cain is forced to admit that Mira knows her way around the tunnels, and the anti-intrusion traps. When they are under the rebels’ artillery park, Cain reluctantly says he will go up first (not out of bravery, but because he doesn’t trust the others’ stealth skills).
True to form, Mira insists on following him. Cain manages to mine the rebels’ artillery, but another member of their party attracts the attention of an enemy patrol. Cain and Mira are separated from them and forced to flee down a sewer tunnel, alone. There they come across a horde of mutants, led by Cain’s worst fear: a Purestrain genestealer. Cain manages to hold off the beast with his chainsword, but the two of them have no where to go as the pack of hybrids closes around them. Just as they are preparing for a semi-heroic last stand, the Purestrain and the rest of the genestealers are scattered by storm bolter fire, as a squad of Terminators from the Reclaimers teleport to their position, guided by Cain’s vox set.
With their lives unexpectedly spared, Cain and Mira make a mutual decision to forget their earlier friction and engage in a more “productive” working relationship…
Part Two
As the Reclaimers and the PDF are mopping up the remains of the insurrection and the genestealers, Cain is able to watch the drama from his suite at the Governor’s palace, Mira having persuaded her father that his abilities are most needed away from the front lines. Cain is cheered when Guard reinforcements arrive, accompanied by Jurgen, who is still piqued that Cain decided to go off to Inheritus Prime without him.
Captain Gries announces that the genestealers likely came to the planet on a Space Hulk, and their next mission is to track it down. At first, Cain wants no part of the job, but changes his mind quickly when Mira, fearing that he is about to leave the planet, insists that they need to have a serious talk about “us.”
After tracking down the space hulk, it is revealed that all the flipping nutjob Emperor people want to invade it to find old tech. So they do. And it is swarming with gene stealers and orks. A massive battle ensues, Astartes die left and right, Cain and Jurgen survive and Mira ends up marrying the planetary governor. The End.
First off, this book typifies why I don’t like the Astartes or to read about them. Arrogant, powerful but then completely overwhelmed and destroyed by creatures that regular humans take care of on a regular basis. I guess I expect a lot more from my “super soldiers” than the WH40K universe does. Plus, with them getting wiped out all the time, how are there any left to actually fight the forces of chaos and stuff? I’ve known this ever since I tried to read the first book or two of the Horus Heresy and is why I almost gave up on the whole Warhammer 40,000 universe altogether.
Thankfully, the Astartes and the Cog Boyz are simply side players and Cain and Jurgen take front and center and dazzle us, well ok, dazzle me anyway. But since I’m the most important here, that’s a Royal Us. Get used to it peasants. Cain gets to fight both orks and gene stealers all at the same time and it’s great. I kept waiting for a Tau contingent to pop in as well, but I was able to overcome my disappointment at that particular lack.
This also goes to show just how inhumane the Imperium of Man actually is. Humanity is a resource that the Emperor uses like straw. For that matter, who is running things anyway? The Emperor is a rotting corpse at the moment, so who runs things, a committee? I never really thought about that until this book, but who makes the Astartes do things? And why haven’t they completely fallen apart trying to take the Emperor’s place? And even if they don’t want to take over, who is running things? People, whether regular or genetically modified supermen, do not do well taking care of their own lives. They need someone to tell them what to do. And a whole space empire would fracture under it’s own weight if there wasn’t a hand on the helm.
I am sure all of those questions have been answered in the other 1000’s of WH40K books, because if I can think of those questions after reading under 50 of them, somebody else must have thought those same questions years and years ago. But I’m not going to go wading through the drek of the Astartes to find the answers. Call me Muhammad. And snap to it bringing that mountain to me, I haven’t got all day you know.
I like books that make me think weird little things like this. It’s fun and easy and if I don’t get my answers, my peace of mind isn’t disturbed.
