Review: The Silver Chair

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A good "quest" story.

I do have to admit that I came close to tears when Eustace and Jill silently requested to stay in Aslan's Country, but He had to tell them it wasn't their time yet. A moment of poignant longing for the Best of All to be right then.



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Review: Stardoc II: Beyond Varallan

Stardoc II: Beyond Varallan by S.L. Viehl

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I was hoping that Viehl would move beyond the rape in a tasteful way.

But about 40 pages in, Cherijo tries to jump Reever's bones, and thinks of their "previous time" [ie, the rape scene in book one] as something sexually stimulating.

What kind of sick author is Viehl? The victim of rape is saying it was good for her too? In most cases of rape, the victim reacts 1 of 3 ways:

1)They blame themselves and turn inward.
2)They say it doesn't matter and then become sexual predators, of a sort, themselves
3)They can't accept what happened, and so think of it as a good experience, ie, deny reality.

Cherijo exhibits classic symptoms of a psychologically broken woman.

And I'm supposed to enjoy reading about this? This is sick, sick, sick. Shame on Viehl.



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Review: Pathfinder

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



When your world gets filled with whiny, angsty, self-doubting, touchy-feely "men", then read this for a young man, more of a boy, who is one of those characters of self-reliance, assured and doubt-less.

It is really refreshing to read about characters like this once in a while. Provides a nice granite bedrock for the changable waves of most fiction.

Lots of timetravel blabber, medieval era society, and hints of what humanity might become.

I skipped paragraphs at a time when time 'movement' was discussed and I don't feel any less for it. But for those who like the convoluted, they might just eat it up.

And I really like how the first couple of paragraphs of each chapter deal with the very beginning of mankind traveling to this planet.



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Review: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was on par with Fatal Alliance in terms of overall enjoyment.

I was disappointed with how the Jedi leader, the Army commander and the main character all interacted. Trained professionals, all 3, but they acted like me when my blood sugar is dangerously low, ie, EXTREMELY STUPID. It just didn't fit.

I liked the whole super-bad-ship takedown part though.



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Review: The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Take a Jane Austen story in its infancy, spirit it away to the wrong side of the tracks, feed it crack and at 13, whore it out.

And that is what I felt this story was like.

James writing was so dense, so opaque, so much meaning hidden between the lines that I simply gave up trying to appreciate it and just slogged on through to get the bones of the story.

And I'm still not sure exactly what happened, or why.

I think the basic gist is of a young woman bent on not marrying, but who ends up marrying, regretting it and then at the end being taken by a man who wanted to marry her in the past?.

And other stuff dealing with family, fidelity and control.

The writing itself. Like I said, I gave up trying to pierce the veil James put up between me and the story, but I still appreciated the writing. It was well thought out. It was complex, complicated and correct. While I don't particularly like being left in the dark, at least James didn't try to sink down to the "common denominator" way of writing. His writing made me strive after something.

And we all occasionally need books like that.



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Review: Heirs of the Blade

Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I have enjoyed this series, Shadows of the Apt, since the beginning. A couple of the books were kind of meh, but overall, I have had nothing but solid enjoyment from Tchaikovsky.

This book follows Che, Tynisa and the Wasp Empress [Seda?] on their journeys. Che and Seda are somehow linked due to the Slug Lord magic and Che must come to grips with the fact that she exists in the world of magic. Tynisa is possessed by her father Tisamon's ghost to fill his dreams of death in fighting.

A good story of fighting, self-discovery and magic. A great story of societal changes, turning back the clock while marching forward in time.

I have the first 5 books in the PYR imprint. Then they dropped him for one reason or another. Haven't gotten the courage up to buy the other books in a different paper format. I will eventually though, this series is worth it.



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Review: Eyes Wide Open

Eyes Wide Open by Ted Dekker

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Once again, for the final time for me, Dekker disappoints. We get some weakwilled teens who must decide what is real.

From a theological perspective, Dekker vanilla'fies his theology so much [so as not to be preachy and turn off non-christians would be my guess] that I'm not sure if he's talking about Christianity or some sort of Zen-Buddhism/New Age/Love Yourself thing.

So while I've enjoyed Dekker's past books, his recent books just don't do it for me.



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Review: The Blight of Muirwood

The Blight of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A good second book in this trilogy.

It is becoming obvious that this world is an After Judgment, Different World than ours. And this world is due for it's Noah's Flood.

Plotwise, there is some succession "stuff" going on with another Wretched being the heir. And that messes around with Lia's emotions as Colver is involved.

This was much more romance'y than the first book. We find out a LOT more about how the medium works and lots of spiritual background. Pretty cool stuff.

Then comes the end and we find out Lia is actually the lost heir, and that a Blight [in the form of a plague that is 100% deadly] is coming to punish everyone for forsaking the ways of the medium.

I am impressed with Mr. Wheeler's writing.



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Review: Time Bomb and Zahndry Others

Time Bomb and Zahndry Others by Timothy Zahn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I remember tearing through Zahn's short story collections back in the 90's. I was an impressionable teen coming of age who loved star wars, scifi and videogames [X-Com: Terror from the Deep was the epitome of awesomeness].

Zahn's writing was clean, tight, introducing new ideas to me and great for discussions. I had another friend who also loved Zahn and we'd spend hours discussing the stories, the ramifications, etc, etc.

So I am thankful to Mr. Zahn for showing me good technical writing. [unlike some of the drek produced by "indies" today].

That all being said, the stories have paled with time. The ideas written about have been bandied about by many others since this was originally published.

Still recommended for ANY fan of Zahn's or those who enjoy S/F short story collections.



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Review: The Story of the Stone

The Story of the Stone by Barry Hughart

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



As wonderful as the first book was, this was a bit of a let down. I certainly enjoyed the read, it just didn't pack quite the same punch as [b:Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was|15177|Bridge of Birds A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was|Barry Hughart|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327940289s/15177.jpg|958087].

Li and Ox have to deal with a long dead sadist prince. In the process they find some "kind of lost" souls, go through the 10 layers of chinese hell, do their typical wenching and eating thing, and finish things up nice and neat.



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