Currently Reading: Systematic Theology

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

At over 1200 pages, and being my lunch break book, I have a feeling this is going to take me a year or so. Therefore, don’t expect a review any time soon, hahahahahaaa.

Jet (Jet #1) 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: Jet
Series: Jet #1
Author: Russell Blake
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 260
Words: 86K

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I gave a LOT of leeway to this book. If I was even a smidge less generous at the moment, I’d knock this down to 2.5stars. But I am feeling generous and have a stomach full of warm, yummy lasagna, so the book gets pass. This time.

The basic story is your typical Special Forces agent tries to get out and then is dragged back into the life, kicking and screaming. I was kind of hoping for a female version of Victor the Assassin. What I got was a very messy amateur rendition of Victor.

Jet is supposed to be the TOP operator that Mossad ever had. We’re talking so good that her instructors even told her to her face just how good she was. But between Blake’s amateur writing (he constantly switches between “clip” and “magazine”, sometimes in the same paragraph for goodness sake) and Jet acting like an idiot (in one instance she shoots someone and assumes they are dead. When she walks up to them, surprise, they aren’t dead and almost kill her) really made me question those qualifications. She was lucky at least 50% of the time. That’s not skill, not even close. Victor would have eaten this supposed agent at snacktime, forget even being a meal. So that aspect was very disappointing.

Now, as a brainless action/adventure book, this did have it. In spades. Jet fights in some sort of Mardi Gras party, She gets ambushed in Israel. And the grand finale is a massive fight on a super luxury cruise yacht of a billionaire Russian. Lots of people die and gun battles galore. It’s what I wanted.

Characterization was pretty nil. The side characters were completely two dimensional and Jet herself wasn’t much more than one of those franchise fiction heroines like Annja from the Rogue Angel series. Speaking of franchise fiction, there are 10 books in this series. I plan on taking these books one at a time though. If the next one doesn’t improve however, that’ll be it.

★★★☆☆

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From the Publisher

Summary – Click to Open

She faked her death……to save her life.
The plan almost worked.
Her code name: Jet. A lethal operative for the Mossad.
Many wanted her eliminated. Spoofing her own death was the only way to survive, but it didn’t work out like she planned.
The past doesn’t give up its secrets easily.
The tranquil island’s beauty was shattered in an instant. The attack forced her hand, and now she must make a decision. Will she stay dead, or return to a world that wants to kill her?

Disrupting Scepter - MTG 4E

Gone for the Week

Decided to take a week off from being online starting today. After last Sunday’s “Melancholia” post, it became obvious that I needed a rest. Add in that I was dealing with a stomach bug most of this past week AND that WordPress.com sold its users into digital slavery and completely changed the WPreader and well, it all came together to really mess with me. I take blogging very seriously and sometimes too seriously, so things like this do a real number on me.

I’ve got all the regular posts scheduled and they’re open for likes and comments, but I’m going to absent myself for a bit to recharge. Which means I won’t be visiting your posts either this week. So don’t take it personally 😉

Enjoy the week and I’ll probably be back Friday night or Saturday morning.

[Art] The Librarian

When I was a teenager, I volunteered at the local library several days a week during the summer. It wasn’t paid, but it allowed me to be around all the books, it helped me learn new things (how to check books out, check them in, catalog them, learn the filing and computer system, etc, etc). Fortunately, there were no librarians like this one working there. I’d have probably died from my hormones exploding 🙂

I chose this picture because of the boots. I like boots. From the little ankle boots with tiny heels to the more traditional under the knee ones to the right up over the knees, I like them all. I’ve never seen thigh high boots in real life though. Not even at the pumpkin festival where lots of people dress up.

Depending on how the WP reader displays the featured image, I may be forced to change it. But I won’t know that until this goes live. So my apologies ahead of time if the picture in the wp reader focuses on certain areas, that’s certainly not my intention.

The Winds of Gath (Dumarest #1) 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: The Winds of Gath
Series: Dumarest #1
Author: EC Tubb
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 168
Words: 45K

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Another short novel. I zipped right through it, enjoyed it immensely and then had to sit back and try to figure out why I enjoyed it so much. The story was ok. A young boy, Earl, stows away on a spaceship and becomes a Traveler and ends up on a world with some mystical singing stones. There’s a plot to replace an heiress and murder ensues and some good old fashioned mayhem. All in all there was nothing here that should have attracted me the way it did.

But upon some intense navel gazing and narcissistic mental contortions, I realized that I actually appreciated the writing itself here. Not because anything stood out, but because it was a totally smooth read without a single interruption of an awkward word or a wrongly turned phrase or a scene segue that was too abrupt. None of that happened. It was like Tubb was, gasp, an ACTUAL EXPERIENCED AUTHOR!!!! Oh Myrtle, say it ain’t so! I can be a picky reader. A word choice, while acceptable, will give me that bump in the road feeling if it’s not the exact correctly used word. It might not be the meaning but how it flows with the words around it. Words are like Lego pieces. One might do adequately, but another will fit better with its neighbors and a good author knows how to work them together. Tubb has that skill and that artistry.

That kind of thing can be subjective, so I know it’s not a big selling point, but it gives me hope for the rest of the series (however long it is. I believe it’s 30+ books?). Even if the stories themselves aren’t the greatest, I’m hoping the writing itself will carry me on through. If the stories are good, then that will be bonus! I feel like I’m in a Win Win scenario here.

Score for the Good Guys!

★★★★☆

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From Wikipedia.org

Summary – Click to Open

Gath is a world with a unique tourist attraction: a mountain-sized white noise amplifier. With no indigenous economy other than the tourist slave labor trade, Dumarest struggles to break free from this dead-end world. Dumarest becomes attached to the retinue of the Matriarch of Kund and unwittingly finds himself embroiled in the vicious and complex political intrigues of the Matriarch’s court. After some keen detective work from Dumarest and the ensuing deadly battle with the Cyclan, Dumarest prevails and escapes from the backwater planet.

Marvel Champions: The Sleevening

The day had come. It was time to stop looking at that box of Marvel Champions and take the next step. No, not playing it. What is wrong with you? WHY would you even think that? No, the next step was to sleeve the cards up. Duh.

There was also a bit of assembly but even such an anti-handyman as myself was able to overcome it and get things together.

So that’s that. NOW the next step is actually play it, hahahaha 😀