Review: Shadow's Witness: Sembia: Gateway to the Realms, Book II

Shadow's Witness: Sembia: Gateway to the Realms, Book II by Paul S. Kemp

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Thoroughly enjoyed this book. One long novel, as opposed to the previous book, but Kemp did a decent job.

The gore factor was a bit higher than I was expecting. Lots of graphic brains and body parts going every which way. Liked the fights and the demon was a pretty good adversary.

And I like Mask. I am finding him to be an enjoyable godling to read about, even tangentially.



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Review: The Halls of Stormweather

The Halls of Stormweather by Philip Athans

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Before I begin this review, I'd like to state that I have had a very hit or miss pattern with Forgotten Realms. I've read a couple of [a:Ed Greenwood|20513|Ed Greenwood|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1248120586p2/20513.jpg]'s Elminster books and found them extremely boring. Then I read the War of the Spider Queen series and absolutely loved it. Then, on recommendation from my brother, I started the Drizz't series. That was just awful! Then I found the sequel to the War of the Spider Queen, The Lady Penitent trilogy and once again, loved it! Then I tried the Abolethic Sovereignty trilogy and couldn't finish it.

So I'm always leery when trying a Forgotten Realms book/series, as I just don't know what I'll end up with.

I'd heard of Erevis Cale somewhere or other and wanted to see if he was an interesting character, so I dug around and found this to be the first book with him in it. And then I found it was a bunch of short stories centering around the Uskevren family, of whom Erevis was the butler.

I enjoyed the stories, as they introduced me to the city Selgaunt and the area of Sembia [do you know how long it took me to figure out that Selgaunt and Sembia were actually two different places and not just different names for the same place?!?]. I also found that the short story format worked well with each character, as we get a snaphsot of them without the author of said short story showing all their weaknesses by trying to write a full blown novel about that character.

So I just sped through this book, loving it and looking forward to the next. Which I've finished and will be reviewing tomorrow. Man, when Forgotten Realms is good, it is GOOD!



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Review: Night Fall

Night Fall by Nelson DeMille

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Ok, this was just plain boring. The story was blase, the main character was a complete dick [instead of being a smart alecky wisecracker like the author intended] and the ending, hit me in the gut hard. And I didn't like that.

I'm really of two minds about the ending. Part of me realizes that 9/11 is now part of history. As such, it is a circumstance to be used.

But a very visceral part of me rebels at having that incident used. I remember watching on tv when the crashes happened. I remember watching in utter disbelief, sure that I was seeing some fx footage, as the tower collapsed. I remember being sick to my stomach at the implications.

Other than the ending, this book was vanilla. In fact, vanilla is hard core, devil worshipping, baby eating, ultra-death metal, climate change is real, in your face screaming compared to this book.

Ugh.



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Review: Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Artemis goes bat crazy, some stupid fairy tries to kill everyone and we get preached at some more.

I think my only problem with this book is that the Vogons didn't come and destroy it when they had the chance.

Seriously though, I felt like Colfer lost his way with this book and just threw things at the and was hoping something would stick.

I'm going to read the next Artemis book, but if it isn't any better, then we'll have to part ways.



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Review: A Murder Is Announced

A Murder Is Announced by Agatha Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is the best Miss Marple I've read so far, and it is one of my favorites of Christie's so far.

An almost murder that leads to revelations, more attempts and actual murder.

For whatever reason, I just really clicked with this story. Gives me hope that the rest of the series won't be as mediocre as the previous books.



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Review: Agent of Change

Agent of Change by Sharon Lee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I am too tired and busy [working 70'ish] hours last and this week. But I wanted to write something before I forgot it all.

I LOVED this book. Not sure why. Part of it was it was simple, clean, elegant and classy. A good fun story that wasn't too long, didn't drag in any way, introduced me to a whole new universe and is part of a series that isn't epic.

Goodness, I'm tired of epic...



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Review: Guardian

Guardian by Jack Campbell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



At this point in the game, you're either reading this series because you love it anyway, or you're a sick twisted person who has some real issues with self-punishment.

thankfully, I love this series :D

Really not a lot to say. More of the same. Which is good as far as I'm concerned. Just wish I knew if this was the last book or not.

It could have been, and in many cases, should be. But there was no big This Is the End of the Series. THE END.



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Review: Wired

Wired by Douglas E. Richards

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I rated the sample I read 4stars, as the prologue and first chapter or two held some real promise of a kickass story.

And overall, this was a decent cyber-thriller. Near the middle it started getting philosophical/theological and denying the existence of God. Lots of psychobabble about evolution "forcing" survival traits on humanity.

Then in the prologue it lost it for me. Started talking about humanity "helping" god become God, or perhaps humanity becoming god.

Done with this author.



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Review: Time to Hunt

Time to Hunt by Stephen Hunter

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



If a year ago you had asked me if I would enjoy reading a book about a Vietnam sniper in today's world and that the story would revolve between today and yesteryear, I would have laughed at you.

If you had told me that I would LOVE the book, AND the series and begin to seriously think about owning them in hardcover and put them on my "favorite" shelf, I probably would have told you some very unpleasant things that I would do to you before that happened.

And look at me now!

I am absolutely loving this series. Part of it is that it is so well written. And having consistently been dipping my toe in the indie world, I appreciate good writing even more so.

The story is gripping, the characters are real and believable and I LOVE reading about a sniper. Something about the lone wolf aspect is really drawing me in. And the honest look at the downside to it all as well.

this is just a really well written book that I enjoyed and have been enjoying and I look forward to the rest of the series as well. I enjoy them enough that I might just go watch that movie, Shooter again for the hey of it...



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Review: Terminator Salvation: The Official Movie Novelization

Terminator Salvation: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I enjoyed this as much as I did watching the movie. I think I read this more to fit in with my "Read All Terminator Books" thing than because of some deep desire to read the novelization :)



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