War Master's Gate (Shadows of the Apt #9)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
Empress Seda and Cheerwell Maker, sisters and enemies in magic, both are trying to gain a magical prize from the Bad Old Days of the inapt.
At the same time Collegium is once again threatened by the Wasp Empire, as is the last remaining Ant City of Sarn.
And through, under, around and over it all is a vague menace from the Past, waiting to burst through to light of day and rule the world yet again.

My Thoughts
Where the previous book, The Air War, was primarily about armies and tech, this book returned to the magical roots of the series
Seda is consolidating her power, Cheerwell is still trying to figure out what her newfound powers mean and the battles for the Wasp Empire's supremacy go on.

At over 700 pages [that does include an appendix of names and a short story that fills in a specific part of the story but isn't necessary for it], I never felt like this book dragged.

There was a good balance of magic, tech fighting, politicing both internal and external. It also seemed that Tchaikovsky did a much better job in this book of keeping the scope of his story a little more focused on characters we already knew about. While we are introduced to new characters, they are mainly supporting characters to the main cast.

And you know what? Collegium finally gets conquered. Maybe that will knock some of the arrogance out of the residents, unless it kills them of course.

And the Worm. A "new to us" kinden that was so bad that thousands of years ago the whole Inapt world united to defeat this fearsome foe. And they weren't truly defeated, simply locked away. So guess what happens here? Seda, in her arrogance, accidentally unlocks them. Oh boy, that can't be good! The book ends with the disappearances of whole villages, all the people simply vanished.

In the notes, Tchaikovsky does note that the series is wrapping up. I'm glad to be honest. I want some resolution. Even if he continues the story in another series, I need an end to this. I am guessing/hoping 3 more books? We'll see.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Shattered Mask (Sembia #3) (Forgotten Realms)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
Family Uskevren is thrown into turmoil once again as an old enemy rises and tries to revenge from beyond the grave. Family member is pitted against family member and untried spoiled brats must step up and become the next generation of heroes for their House.

My Thoughts
This story was a bit confusing, as I'd gone on and read the first Erevis Cale trilogy, which takes place after at least some of these books. So Erevis was back to being a butler for the Uskevren instead of a priest of Mask. Plus, there were time shifts in the story from the past, without any real warning.

I enjoyed all the fighting. And there was a ton of that! However, the Uskevren children are still the wretched brats we were introduced too earlier. Arrogant, rich, idle, cursed, secretive and completely untrustworthy. Really good setup for the second Erevis Cale trilogy :-)

And a dead enemy risen from the grave, from Hel itself, is pretty good. Lots of magic and a funny and malicious sidekick fill things out.

I think I'll be reading the rest of this series before going back to Erevis.

Rating:3 of 5 Stars
Author: Richard Byers

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE #13 & 14 (Manga Monday)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
Sakura, Syaoran and Co go to a world that has a giant library full of books of magic. And one of them has Sakura's feather/memory.
Volume 13 deals with a little side story about Kurogane and Volume 14 sees the feather recovered and the group onto the next world.

My Thoughts
Contrary to my expectations [I stopped reading the series back in October '12], I actually enjoyed reading these volumes.

Part of that was that these 2 volumes were a single story with an intro into the next story.
Volume 13 is about Lee seeing Kurogane's past and seeing the events that have turned him into the warrior and killer that he is. It cements the whole Sensei/Grasshopper thing that Lee and Kurogane have.

In the next volume we see the team actually getting Sakura's feather and fighting off the guardians set in place to protect it. There are several interludes where we see Syaoran's double [with the eyepatch], Wei-Fang Reed and Yuko the Timewitch.

Wei-Fang obviously has some big plan that involves Clow Reed's legacy and Sakura and her memories are somehow tied into it as well.  We'll see how CLAMP does with small stories for each volume or 3 and the larger story over a longer range. Honestly, I feel like I've missed nothing by not remembering much from volumes 2-12. Not exactly a stellar endorsement is it?

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Artist & Author: CLAMP

Mansfield Park (Classic)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
A young girl, Fanny, is sent to live with her rich relations as a sop to their guilty conscience for how they treated her mother when she made a culturally poor matrimonial choice.
Fanny, a shy retiring girl, must navigate the pitfalls of growing up amongst her cousins, whom all but one are spoilt brats and bring no credit to the family name.

My Thoughts
Wow, what a difference a couple of years makes. When I read this back in '06, everything was overshadowed by the ending, where Fanny marries Edmund, her first cousin who she had loved since a young girl.

This time around I was able to savor the story and just enjoy Austen's writing.

Fanny is almost the polar opposite of Elizabeth Bennet. She is shy, sickly, given to much introspection, tries to please everyone and when she can't due to her principles, will say the barest necessary to show she doesn't agree.

Austen's characterization of the society was a joy to read even while being a scathing commenting. The other son and 2 daughters were contrasted against Edmund and Fanny and their lack of character made the book work. Other "minor" characters, such as the Crawfords, showed us more of a society that was rotting from within and how that affected peoples lives.

This was a slow read, in that the pace set by the characters is mostly sedate and moving easily from one point to another. Not until the end do things feel rushed, when Austen throws everything up in the air and we get to see how it all falls down. Interest-wise I found myself wanting to read this even on days that I don't normally read my "Classics Club" book. Austen is just that good.

And this is the kind of romance I like. No steely gazes like diamond drills or heaving bosoms or softporn. This was REAL romance and I find myself wishing for more books like this. I guess I shall have to be satisfied with Austen's 7.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Jane Austen

Raptor 6 DNF (ARC)

I received this copy from the publisher through Netgalley.com and that in no way has influenced my opinion in regards to this review.

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

My Thoughts:

The description for this book made it seem that it would be about a Special Forces team whose leader was a Christian. A girl was going to be involved somehow.

So my expectations were all pumped up for a Mack Bolan kind of book. Lots of mayhem, bullets flying, explosions, damsel in distress, badguys befuddled and ultimately killed.

So when the Team is described like slabs of man-meat, eyes are "drilling through" like diamonds and the lead female dramatically faints in the hero's arms after an attack, I was angry beyond belief.

This was a romance, albeit a non-porn one like most of what I see out there.

Most of my anger and disgust stems from the fact that I felt like this was a real Bait-N-Switch. If this had been presented as a romance, then I would not have even tried it and both I and the author would have been happier with me not reading it. Instead, now we have another author added to my "Authors to Avoid" list.

I hate expending emotional energy on crap I don't like.

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Author: Ronie Kendig

The Very Best of Tad Williams (ARC)

I received this copy from the publisher through Netgalley.com and that in no way has influenced my opinion in regards to this review.

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
A collection of short stories that range from the Scifi to Fantasy to Horror to Happy. We even get an Otherland story that takes place AFTER Sea of Silver Light.

My Thoughts
I really enjoyed this book of short stories. Some were happy and funny and made me smile. Other stories though, oh man, they made me shudder. They were down right scary! One of them was a movie script and it worked perfectly.

Williams does a masterful job at writing Epic storylines. So I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. And it was great. Short story collections either seem to work out really well for me [Alan Dean Foster is my favorite short story teller] or they bomb so bad it makes me gag [Mike Resnick wrote a whole book with Space Safari themed stories, ugh!]. So I was happy this was the former and not the latter.

And the cover art is gorgeous, as many of you noted on my status updates. I have to thank all of you who mentioned it because I have to admit it didn't even cross my radar.

Finally, the reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 was because there were a couple of stories that I found downright anti-Christian. So if you're not a Christian you probably won't even notice it.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Tad Williams

The Infinity Gauntlet + (Manga Monday)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
Thanos, a super villain, gets a hold of all 6 of the Infinity Gems and becomes the new god of the universe as we know it. And only Adam Warlock is Super Enough to possibly stand against him.

My Thoughts
First off, I know this isn't manga. But I'm lumping all comics, graphic novels and manga into Manga Monday. Besides, Graphic Novel Monday doesn't really roll off the tongue you know?

I not only read the actual graphic novel which is comprised of the Infinity Gauntlet issues 1-6, but also all the crossovers and histories. So in total this was about 47 comics instead of just 6.

While I understand that this is a comic aimed at the teen and younger crowd and that hyperbole is the Word of the Day in comics, several things just didn't make sense.

The Infinity Gem supposedly grants all power, wisdom, knowledge, etc, etc to its holder. But my goodness, it really doesn't. It is limited by the wearer's limitations, which makes its power pointless. As Thanos finds out. After killing half the multiverse, taking down the most powerful entities that ever existed and humbling Earth's Heroes, he is defeated and the Gauntlet taken by Adam Warlock. Who nobody trusts but is now so powerful that the Heroes don't really want to fight him. And thus it ends. Thanos is back to normal, the whole universe restored by Warlock, the Infinity Gauntlet still exists and nothing is truly resolved.

I'm just too old for comics. The level of Suspension of Belief needed is more than I can muster. I'm still going to read the next two Sagas, The Infinity War and The Infinity Crisis. Both have 50'ish comics associated with them, so it'll be a slow read, even more than this.

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Author & Artist: Various

The Gilded Chain (A Tale of the King's Blades)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
A young blade is bound to a foppish nobleman, only to find he's just a pawn in the politics of the kingdom. He is then rebound to the King, has a series of adventures in a foreign land, comes home and ends up as Prime Chancellor, only to have his adventures in foreign lands come back to haunt him in the worst way. And Ambrose, the king, is still playing politics.

My Thoughts
When I finished Lord of the Firelands,  I didn't see how Duncan could write another novel that was as good, much less better. Well, I was wrong and glad of it.

This was a corker of a novel.  It dealt almost exclusively with Chivian politics and characters and we find out a lot more about the workings of Ambrose the King and his attitude towards the Blades, the Kingdom, just about everything.

In this book we follow Blade Durendal, as he is used, abused and treated like an object instead of a man by his king. We get to see how Durendal must reconcile his magical bonding [which allows him to in no way harm the king] with his strong sense of right and wrong.
The issue at hand is immortality, but at such a cost that Durendal knows it is evil. We see him from the start of his Blade years until his retirement and at each point along the way he must be so imaginatively creative in his thinking and doing that it was a true feat of mental gymnastics. It was a joy to read.

This was a straight up adventure story seasoned with a little fighting, a little politics, a little magic and a little romance. Highly recommended!

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Author: Dave Duncan

The Spider Stone (Rogue Angel #3)

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

Synopsis
A sacred stone, said to be a gift from Anansi to an African tribe, is being pursued for various reasons and by various people. Some say it is a treasure map, others a supernatural symbol of Anansi's protection and others a curse.

My Thoughts
First off, while I know these are throw-away adventure stories, they do more than just dabble in the supernatural. They make philosophical and theological statements and that gets my inner Lion roaring away. But I still enjoy the adventure side of things.

Alex Archer is a catch-all for whatever author is writing that particular book and each author seems to be bringing their own pet political and theological ideology into the books. This time, we get smacked with the evils of the White Man, the pureness of the tribes of Africa [except for when they weren't, but that is glossed over] and how killing is Evil, with a capital E. Which means that Annja must feel guilty and all dark-sidey when she has to kill someone with her sword in self-defense or in defense of the innocent.

Other than that, I really liked this. We get a sacred stone and all that that means, ie, warlords, treasure hunters and witchy-women. There are some serious kickass fights, ranging from fisticuffs to swords and daggers to guns to vehicle mounted assault weapons.

The ending wraps up as quickly as the previous 2 books and I'm beginning to sense that the ending is the least important and least thought about part of the book. I mean, BAM, every badguy dies and the goodguys get the goods at the last 2% of the book.

I suspect these books will be lucky to get a 4 star from me, ever, but a run of 3 stars is pretty good by me. I don't need The Codex Alera by Jim Butcher for every fantasy book series :-)

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Author: Alex Archer

The Great Darkening (Epic of Haven #1) DNF

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 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 Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.com by express permission of this reviewer

I found a review for this title on Amazon that fit my reading experience to a T.  I almost don't want to write anything because I'll feel like I'm "copying". Ha. Could NOT FINISH THIS.

Anyway. This suffered from the the "Tell because I don't know how to Show" syndrome. Quite possibly one of the worst cases I've seen in a long time. It might be just fine for a middleschooler but at over 400 pages I don't see many in that age group going through the whole book. It drove me absolutely batty.

Secondly, the prose. While it wasn't strictly purple, it definitely was of the Grape Kool-aid variety. Over descriptiveness abounded everywhere. It felt like I was reading a book report and the student was padding their report to get the prerequisite number of pages. But for all that, everything felt and seemed flat.

Thirdly, the "deep and hidden meanings" in just about every paragraph. Triplett tries TOO hard to bring out his "♪♪ Christian Message ♪in Disguise ♪♪" [sung to the Transformers tune]. I'm a Christian myself. I don't have a problem with that.
Stephen Lawhead preached Christianity through his Pendragon Cycle [Arthurian Legend] books and I ate it up. C.S.  Lewis hits you over the head with it in his Space Trilogy.
But Triplett seems to feel the need to make it all very mysterious and "meaningful". Kind of like if your 3 year old came up to you and said "Daddy, I made this picture. I drew you in it, RIGHT HERE!! [excited finger jabbing]. But you're hidden so no one can see you!" It didn't feel natural. The story didn't seem to flow from the Belief but the Belief was forced into the story.

Finally, I won't even bother with the plot. The above 3 things completely overwhelmed it so I don't feel it is even necessary to discuss.

So I tried. I went up to 21%. But after my Crash and Burn with The Wizard by Wolfe, I realized I needed to gird up my reading loins and not allow myself to suffer through a bad book. Mediocrity and poor craftsmanship are hallmarks of a bad book to me.

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Author:  Robert Triplett