Review: Washington I.O.U.

Washington I.O.U. by Don Pendleton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Bolan takes on the Mafia, who are poised to take over Washington DC.

This series is supposed to be over the top in many cases, but when the takeover of the United States by one middle mafia member is the story, and the taking out of that one mafiosi is how the whole plan falls apart, well, forgive me the excessive eye rolling.

However, it is during this story that Bolan helps out and accepts help from Brognola, and the situation is setup for the future if Bolan decides to work for the gov't on a secret level.



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Review: Goblin Hero

Goblin Hero by Jim C. Hines

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



As much fun as the first book was, this wasn't quite as fun, but it explored another goblin character almost as much as Jig.

A fat gobliness who wanted to be a magician and hated Jig because he wouldn't teach her magic. And pixies, those evil little balls of light. I mean, who DOESN'T hate pixies? Grrrrr. Bad pixie, bad!

All in all, even though I didn't find this as "fun" as the first book, I did enjoy it just as much. Definitely have the 3rd and final book in my TBR pile...



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Review: The Emperor's Soul

The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Even though this was touted as a "novella", at around 100 pages, this is just as long as some of the Elric novels by Moorcock.

And I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been on a roll recently with good books and for that I'm thankful. The afterwords by Sanderson places this in the [b:Elantris|68427|Elantris|Brandon Sanderson|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316637512s/68427.jpg|2908871] universe, but it had been so long since I read it that I wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Even with all the runing going on :)

There is also a list of other short stories by Sanderson and this has whetted my appetite to track them down and read them as well.



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Review: And Then There Were None

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I've got a bunch of Agatha Christie books that I'm working my way through this year. And I randomly chose this one to read now.

It felt extremely familiar. And then I realized, I'd read this before. Back in the late 90's. Only, it was called 10 Little Indians. I don't know why the name changed, but I suspect the evil touches of Political Correctness.

Anyway, this was awesome! Murder, murder, murder. And all based on a nursery rhyme. And even on this re-read, it was just a lot of fun to see the story unfold again. Extremely recommended.



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Review: Captain's Fury

Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I originally read this back in '10 [ My First Review ] and thought it was fantastic.

This time, I just flew through this book. It was great. I enjoyed the danger, the fighting, the tactics, the relationships and the story.

I love the fact that Butcher makes Tavi act outside the circumstances set up for him by others. Of course, it pisses me off when Tavi is maneuvered into impossible situations by people who call him on breaking laws while they themselves are grossly violating the laws.

Huh, kind of like liberals. Dang, maybe Butcher will make me political yet!



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Review: Ruins

Ruins by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



As good as the first book was, I wasn't sure if this book would live up to the premise of the first book, or lead me to a destructive crash like the starships from the first book.

Freaking fantastic. The same things that I liked about the first book are still here in this book. Rational people, figuring out their problems, figuring out WHAT their problems are and then doing something smart about it.

I was in the middle of [b:Wives and Daughters|383206|Wives and Daughters|Elizabeth Gaskell|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348267609s/383206.jpg|816009], and the estrogen floating in that book made my brain boil. So the cool, calm, calculating rationalism in this book was like a cold refreshing drink on a hot humid day. It might not be totally fair to base my rating on THIS book on how I was reacting to another book, but you know what? Anything that bumps UP a book is a good thing in my eyes.

Not that any of the characters in Ruins are perfect, far from it. There is plenty of interpersonal problems, lots of cat fighting [hahahahaha, you'll get just how amusing THAT statement is once you've read the book] and plenty of humanity showing in the group.

The intricacies of the plot, twisted even more so by Card's indepth look at Time Travel, is great. I've really enjoyed this and am looking forward to the rest of the series. I just hope doesn't pull a Jordan and die on us before he finishes the series, because I don't see a Sanderson waiting in the wings to wrap things up.



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Review: Eight Skilled Gentlemen

Eight Skilled Gentlemen by Barry Hughart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I enjoyed this book. I probably would have enjoyed it more and given it 5stars but for a few things.

All the versifying. Turned me off with it's repetition. Hostetler Tu's food rants. They were too long to be funny after the first one. They were just annoying.

Other than that, I really liked this book. Started out with a bang with monsters and vampires and plots, oh my! Reminded me a lot of the first book. I found the political intrigue just as interesting as the monster/myth hunting.

If you liked the previous books, you'll most likely like this one as well.



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Review: Cobra Slave

Cobra Slave by Timothy Zahn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I wrote my long [for me] review and accidently hit the back button on my browser because of my stupid touchpad on my laptop.

And so I lost it all.

Basically, I absolutely loved this book and thought that the Dominion of Man was the perfect badguy and I love having good badguys to hate.



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Review: Wool

Wool by Hugh Howey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A solid 3star, but no more. A story about a dystopian society, a wife who kills herself and her depressed husband/sheriff. Who ends up killing himself in the same way.

But! Did they actually die? At the end of this short story we're just not sure. In fact, I'm not sure about a lot of things.

I would recommend people read the omnibus edition, [b:Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1)|13453029|Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) (Wool, #1-5)|Hugh Howey|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349614200s/13453029.jpg|18979356], as they can immediately read the rest of the story without waiting. Not having the sequel immediately after reading the first story killed it for me, as I don't like dystopia for the most part and nothing in this story encouraged me to read more.



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Review: The Stress of Her Regard

The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Normally, I'd probably be giving this a 4star rating. It was extremely well written, exciting, horrifying, action-packed and chock full of blood and magic.

So stop there if you liked this book.

The main reason I'm going with 2stars is because the week that I read this book I worked double shifts almost every day, was coming down from dealing with my first ABB and had no emotional cushion to deal with this book.

It many ways it was brutal. When Michael wakes up the first morning and sees Julia and reacts, I almost screamed right along with him. When the children and relatives keep dying off, something inside me just curled up and died with them. When Keats did what he needed to to keep others safe, I almost cried. When Byron tried to have the best of both worlds [or at least the non-worst of both], I wanted to shoot him.

The only other books by Powers that I've read have been [b:The Anubis Gates|142296|The Anubis Gates|Tim Powers|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344409006s/142296.jpg|2193115] and [b:On Stranger Tides|15670|On Stranger Tides|Tim Powers|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327892085s/15670.jpg|17505]. Both were pretty cool and I especially liked Anubis, as it was pretty much a character kicking ass, making the best of a bad situation and coming out on top at the end.
This book, not so much. I felt like the characters, all of them, were barely making it through each day and that was just depressing to me the reader.

So to end. If you've enjoyed Powers other books, you'll probably like this one. If you like vampires, you'll probably like this one.
But if you're an emotional person like me, wait to read this until you've got some reserves to deal with it. You'll need it.



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