Saturday, November 17, 2012
Review: Battle Earth
Battle Earth by Nick S. Thomas
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Sadly, what was a very interesting premise devolved, extremely quickly, into a poorly worded, ill-thought out, grammatically awkward story.
Short sentences. I felt like Thomas was throwing his sentences out like machine gun bursts. Accurate, but quick and over before you knew it. I was almost breathless by the end of a paragraph.
The high power rifle-like device fired a metal anchor that impeded in the concrete wall and expanded within it...
Impeded? sigh.
...and sped off at an unusually fast velocity.
It is sentences and word choices like the above that made me quit at the 40% mark.
Then the story part. Humanity has outposts on Mars, the Moon and space bases. And we let the aliens land, unimpeded [please note the correct usage] on Earth? You NEVER let a military force take its objective without a fight.
This is supposed to be about elite fighting forces, but they just fold like cards.
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
Review: Joust
Joust by Mercedes Lackey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A fleshed out version of the first book of the [b:The Pit Dragon Chronicles, Volumes 1-3: Boxed Set: Dragon's Blood, Heart's Blood, and A Sending of Dragons|81148|The Pit Dragon Chronicles, Volumes 1-3 Boxed Set Dragon's Blood, Heart's Blood, and A Sending of Dragons|Jane Yolen|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328875980s/81148.jpg|117577].
Interesting, just predictable, but in a fun way. Dragons and warring nations and stuff. We'll see how the rest of the series holds up...
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Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Review: Another Fine Myth
Another Fine Myth by Robert Lynn Asprin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Funny, in a stupid way, not zany like [a:Terry Pratchett|1654|Terry Pratchett|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1235562205p2/1654.jpg]. I smiled almost the whole way through the book.
The mis-adventures of an apprentice magician, his new green scaled demon mentor, his young dragon, a unicorn and a sexy assassin.
A lot o the humor is situational and also wordplay [names, etc are play on words].
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Monday, November 12, 2012
Review: xxxHolic, Vol. 04
xxxHolic, Vol. 04 by CLAMP
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This kind of dragged to be honest. I enjoyed the stories, but they weren't very suspenseful or engaging.
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Sunday, November 11, 2012
Review: The Vanishing Tower
The Vanishing Tower by Michael Moorcock
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Elric gets to deal with more schizzle, a woman and his counterparts.
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Friday, November 09, 2012
Review: Footfall
Footfall by Larry Niven
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Baby Elephants try to take over the world, from OUTER SPACE!
that is enough for me :)
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Review: Charon: A Dragon at the Gate
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate by Jack L. Chalker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Well, I think it is official. I only like Chalker's [b:The Four Lords of the Diamond|7184707|The Four Lords of the Diamond (The Four Lords of the Diamond, #1-4)|Jack L. Chalker|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1258936790s/7184707.jpg|7704807], everything else of his that I've read has been blase to bleh.
So what makes this different? It has many of the same themes as his other books. I think part of it is that I read this back in highschool and it made an impression on me, and it has stuck.
Also, who wouldn't want to have an idealized body made by your mate while you get to make her body to suit you?
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Monday, November 05, 2012
Review: Dragon's Blood: A Fantasy
Dragon's Blood: A Fantasy by Jane Yolen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This starts out from the scifi standpoint, with starships, galactic empires, etc.
And then you have dragons.
Then you get a really great story about a boy on the cusp of manhood who steals a dragon and raises it to successfully fight in the Dragon Pit [hence the Pit Dragon Trilogy]. And there is a girl.
This book holds up well. Meant for children and ya, it certainly tells a story that an adult can enjoy as well.
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Saturday, November 03, 2012
Review: Frankenstein
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was NOT at all what I thought it would be going in.
The daemon [Frankenstein's monster] was not the monster in this book. Yes, he committed grievous acts of violence and psychological torture and should have been properly punished, ie, killed, but Victor Frankenstein was the character that made me shudder with horror, loathing & revulsion.
A completely self-absorbed, self-centered genius, Victor showed me the worst of humanity. He ignores his family to pursue his own ambitions. He creates a new life, and then immediately spurns and rejects it, his reason being that it was ugly and revolted him. He created it ugly, it didn't spontaneously turn into fugly ugly man when it was given life.
Once Victor denies his creation, he simply ignores the very fact that he created it for several years. He doesn't seek it out to try to reconcile with it. He doesn't seek it out to kill it, even though he is convinced it is "evil" from its life's inception. He ignores it, almost like if he pretends it didn't happen, then it didn't.
He falls sick, very similarly to how Raskolnikov [from Crime & Punishment ] does after he commits his crime. Victor knows he has committed an unforgivable sin, but he won't, he can't, admit he was in the wrong.
Then the daemon strikes. It begins an attack against Victor that is truly horrific, as premeditated and thought out as if from the mind of a master criminal. Death, death and death. Interludes of peace. Tauntings, whispers, obsession.
In the end, I found this story to truly be a horror story. Victor claims that the spirits of his deceased relatives give him strength to hunt the monster down. Where was that strength before? Why did Victor not hunt it down before? What made Victor ignore the fact that HE was the true killer of his family,not the daemon?
There was only room in Victor's life for Victor. The daemon, Victor's father, his brothers, his lover/wife, all only impinged on Victor's life as much as he lets them.
Victor Frankenstein was a true monster who made others pay the price for his own horrific deeds. He refused to think about the consequences of any of his actions and he only regretted past actions as they inflicted pain upon him.
This was not a scary book, by any means, and I suspect many people would be bored by it. Those same people who read the Twilight Saga, play the lottery, eat their hamburgers, watch the television and generally lumber through life. So, can you think for yourself?
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Thursday, November 01, 2012
Review: Libriomancer
Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ok, if Dresden was a librarian, and not a total whiner, this is probably be his story.
I'm sure this was a good story, at least, I didn't hate it. But all I could think of was Dresden Rip Off, Dresden Rip Off, the whole way through.
Sure, fans will point out ALL the differences, but all I saw was magician, loner, trench coat, on parole by the Magic Police, targeted by vampires and others.
I liked the writing enough that I'll try some of Hines' other stuff, but no more of this series, as I couldn't even finish Dresden...
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