Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE #17, 18 & 19 (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
Volume 17 concludes the adventure on the Acid Rain world, where Sakura comes into her own, Fai becomes a semi-vampire dependent on Kuragane, the Clone Lee rampages across the multi-verse in search of feathers and the original Lee must come to grips that Sakura doesn't view him as "Lee" at all.

Volume 18 and 19 deal with the crew on yet another world, where they are playing human fight chess and Sakura must be the Master. They think they are playing ot repay a village that the clone Lee destroyed, but Sakura is playing for deeper, darker and more important stakes.

My Thoughts
Where I've been complaining about Sakura being a non-character, in these volumes she almost becomes another person. She goes on adventures, becomes a wiser, but sadder, young woman.

Things get complex at the end as Sakura plays things so that she can travel on her own to prevent 2 futures, both of which are repugnant to her. Thus a 3rd universe is born and Wei-Fang's plans to control everything is put in jeopardy.

I added a 1/2 star because Sakura really takes charge and becomes a lot more like the Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura. This series needed this, because Lee was quickly becoming the main character and Sakura just a side-character.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Artist & Author: CLAMP

The Widowmaker Unleashed (Widowmaker #3)

Synopsis
Jefferson Nighthawk, the original Widowmaker, has been cured of his disease and released back into the land of the living. He just wants to settle down and live the rest of his days out quietly with a good woman.
However, the jobs his 2 previous clones pulled have made him a whole boatload of new enemies, ones he doesn't know at all. So it looks like the Widowmaker has a choice, come out of retirement or die!

My Thoughts
While I enjoyed this book, it seemed rather short compared to the others. However, it is as long page-wise as the previous two.

Jefferson gets out, expects to retire, but keeps sticking his nose into situations that draw him back into the bounty hunter lifestyle. He keeps "saying" he wants out, but his actions say otherwise.
Eventually he creates another clone to the Widowmaker and fakes his own death so he can live in peace.

This would be much better as an ending to the overall story instead of as a stand alone story. I think if you read all 3 of the Widowmaker books in a row, that this would have been a better tale, as it would have been directly resting on the previous stories.  As a story by itself, however, I found Jefferson Nighthawk to be a cantankerous, selfish, deliberately blind and obtuse old man. His abilities didn't outweigh his un-likable'ness.

When I read the 2 book, I found out there was a 4th book. I hope to hunt it down and read it in the next couple of months, because overall I have really enjoyed the Widowmaker books and think they rate right up there with the Santiago Duology.

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Author: Mike Resnick

Sea of Time (Kencyrath #7) (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
Kothifir the Great, ruled by an obscenely obese god-king, peopled with colorful, dueling guilds, guarded by the Southern Host of the Kencyrath. Here Jame arrives, only to find that the turbulent city claims more of her attention than she thought possible.
Traveling through Time, dealing with the four Elemental gods, dealing with her own God and his priests, Jame just deal with internal and external threats and pressures.

My Thoughts
I was enjoying this up until the 45% mark. Then everything that I didn't like about the previous books reared it's ugly head until the 90% mark.

Jame, and her brother Tori, both act stupid. They won't take action, they hesitate, they allow threats against themselves to go completely unanswered, they practically invite people to harm them.

At one point Jame is thrown down a hole to an Under-City by the high City's Intelligence group. They try to kill her. And she does NOTHING about it. It doesn't enter into her equation at all.

A lot of "blind eye" turning goes on; by Jame, by Tori, by the Kothifirites, by the Kencyrath. Enough by so many people that I couldn't enjoy my read a whole lot.

Plot-wise this book doesn't advance the overall plot very much. The theological questions about the Three Who Are One still remain, the Kencyrath are as divided, stupid and self-centred as in any book before and the Lords of the Kencyrath, ie Jame and Tori, still aren't leading.

I am DONE with this series. If I could get stand alone novels maybe I could keep going. But Hodgell is making this a series, albeit a pointless and never-ending series, ala GRR Martin'esque style.

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Author: P.C. Hodgell

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE #15 & 16 (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 is asleep from the last Feather and the group ends up on a world that is on its last legs due to acid rain and no fresh water.
2 buildings in Tokyo still have reservoirs, both protected by some sort of magic.
The group battles the remnants of humanity, Fei-Wang is involved, Lee's twin is involved, only we find out the Lee who has been part of the group is a clone and the original has made sacrifices to Yuko the time witch for some reason.

My Thoughts
This was a confusing storyline. We had the world specific, Feather recovery story. We had the overarching story that deals with the evil Wei-Fang, Yuko and the group overall. We have revelations abounding about individuals. And then we get a new sidestory about some of the side characters.

It was just so busy!

Art wise, I slowed my reading to actually Look. CLAMP does great work, even if their characters look like taffy pull. Of course, I like that look.


Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Artist & Author: CLAMP

Jersey Guns (The Executioner #17)

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
Mack comes back to the US, to heal and rest from his Sicilian escapade, only to be dragged into a battle with the Talifero brothers in Jersey.

My Thoughts
Pendleton is back as the writer and I'm glad. We get the ol' Guts and Glory Mack back and does he play hell with the mob.

Book starts out with Mack being chased from the airport by some mobsters, barely escaping and finding a hiding place at a chicken farm. Where, coincidentally, the owner is a former Vietnam war doctor who Bolan met in the war. He also meets said dr's sister. Of course.
One thing leads to another and Bolan loves the sister but warns them they are in danger.

So of course the Mob finds them and kidnaps them. Bolan rescues the sister and attempts to rescue the brother. He does recover him, but not in time to save him. So Bolan returns and wipes out the Talifero brother in charge and massacres his minions, something around 100 guys.

In one of my reviews for an earlier book, all I put was "Blam, blam, blam!" This book added some high explosive rounds, some bazooka type missiles and mortars and it was rinse and repeat.

Some times you just need some action to cleanse the palate of all our modern ideas of how to accomplish the impossible. Killing the badguys is such a nice, simple, clean and elegant solution.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Author: Don Pendleton

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