The Ivanhoe Gambit (Time Wars #1)

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.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: The Ivanhoe Gambit
Series: Time Wars
Author: Simon Hawke
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 228


Synopsis:
In the "Future", war is waged by keeping points of soldiers who fight in past battles. Those keep track of the points are the Elite, who also double as Time Agents who prevent paradoxes from occurring.
Well, one of these Refs goes rogue and tries to derail the timeline by taking Richard the Lionhearted's place in History and changing everything.
A group of soldiers are sent in to stop a Paradox from happening and they happen to land in the story of Ivanhoe. And thus the story proceeds.

My Thoughts:
I would have eaten this stuff up like pudding back in the early 90's, but since I've read a good bit of Time Travel, Time Paradox AND the original Ivanhoe, well, this was only so-so.

First off, Hawke takes the Ivanhoe story as his outline and then interweaves his own, so to be honest, I felt like he was cheating. Yeah, you heard me, cheating. If someone reads this and it gets them to read the actual Ivanhoe, then I'm ok with that, but to be honest, I don't see that happening.

If I compared this to food [ I'm hungry right now :-D ] I'd have to go with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, made with skippy peanut "spread", on super de duper processed sliced white bread. It does its job, but you don't want more than 1 in a great while.

There are 12 in the series. I wonder if I can read them all? At least unlike that terrible Endworld series, this is internally consistent with how the characters act.

Bone Key (Supernatural #3) DNF @30%

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Title: Bone Key
Series: Supernatural
Author: Keith DeCandido
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: DNF


My Thoughts:
Due to personal and religious reasons, I will not be finishing this book.

Savage Fire (Executioner #28)

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.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer


Title: Savage Fire
Series: The Executioner
Author: Don Pendleton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 138


Synopsis:
Leo Turin is apparently under a kill order from the Mafia and someone knows he's a fed. And someone in the feds is a dirty fink linked to the mafia.
If he stays, he dies, if he leaves, he dies.
Mack doesn't turn his back on his friends. And if it means killing even more outrageous amounts of mafioso, then so much the better.

My Thoughts:
Really enjoyed this one. The head of the Mafia, whom Mack spared [even while blowing his legs off] a couple of books back, is fighting for what's left of his life and his position. Leo is caught in the crossfire and nobody knows who is fighting for who because of the veil of secrecy the mafia uses.

But Bolan won't be stopped. He kills, he destroys and in the process he sets up Leo to a new mafia lord who can feed the Feds even more info. Everyone but the Mafia wins!

Man, I love it when the badguys get moyduhed!

Gankutsuou Vol. 1-3 (Manga Monday)

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Title: Gankutsuou
Series: Gankutsuou
Author & Artist: Mahiro Maeda, Yuri Ariwara
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 600+

Synopsis:
A manga adaptation of the anime, which in turn was based on the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo.
Sadly, while the book was Brilliant and the Anime was gorgeous, this was disjointed, disturbing and overall a real disappointment.

My Thoughts:
I was very disappointed in this.  The focus was on only one of the antagonists, the young people were almost cutout and there were some seriously messed up Freudian expressions.
My main problems with this were the following:
1) Villeforte kills his second wife and Gankutsuou brings her back to life.
2) Villeforte uses his daughter Valentine to replace his dead first wife, and I do mean uses.
3) Madame Villeforte, kidnaps her child and Valentine and does some seriously perverted things with Valentine.
4) The whole family end up torturing and keeping Villeforte as they torture slave.

Most of this was implied, [except #3, & 4] and not graphic but it was even more disturbing for not being in your face.

Also, Gankutsuou is shown to be the mega-mind of Chateau D'if that merges with Edmond Dantes, thus allowing Edmund to live and Gankutsuou to roam the universe. This made things to be almost Gothic, like Science Not Understood.

I can't recommend this manga. Go watch the anime and be amazed however.

Paragon Lost (A Chronicle of the King's Blades #1) (King's Blades #4)

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Title: Paragon Lost
Series: A Chronicle of the King's Blades, King's Blades
Author: Dave Duncan
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 348


Synopsis:
Sir Beaumont heads up a special journey to get a new Queen for their King. And because of Politics and other bad things, completes the mission but loses all status and is kicked out of Iron Hall.
And the story finishes with him really completing the Mission and getting it all back.

My Thoughts:
There are times where I hate Duncan's use of the split timeline. We start the book at the 2/3rds mark chronologically, get introduced to the situation, then immediately jump back to the beginning, hear about that, then jump to the resolution.
It isn't nice neat segments though. But huge parts so you forget where you were or where you were heading. That is the main reason I took a star off.

Other than that, this was a great King's Blades story. While it is a stand-alone story, you are definitely served by knowing the history of the previous 3 books in the series.

Think European magic swordsmen in Russia. Messy, cold, brutal and lots of paranoia and fear.  More about politics and international incidents than magic sword fighting though. Well, you can't win them all.

The Rowan (The Tower and the Hive #1)

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.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: The Rowan
Series: The Tower and the Hive
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 334


Synopsis:
Humanity has moved out into space, with help of the Talented. Those special people who have Extra Abilities, whether of the mind or body.
The most sought after, the rarest, are the Primes, Talents with multiple abilities and who can transport cargo from planet to planet, system to system.

One day, a Prime is discovered, a young child with no memories and no antecedents. She will grow up to become The Rowan, one of the Most Powerful Primes Earth has ever seen.
But what she discovers is even greater than her.

My Thoughts:
I remember reading this when it first came out. It was probably my first SFF book that was as heavy on the romance as it was on the SFF. So that was my memory, but it has been some time so I wanted to re-read this series and get my thoughts in writing.

I'd like to start out by saying that I did enjoy this book and will be continuing the series. However, this was a puff piece of girl power and the Perfect Man. Much like the Mack Bolan/Executioner series is a puff piece of Macho'ness.

It was fun seeing Rowan grow up. Meeting the heretofore new Prime and finding out about the Alien Menace. And dealing the first decisive blow. I am glad McCaffrey didn't make her characters sit around and debate the ethics of dealing with a real menace.

A good solid dray horse of a tale, even if not a racing stallion.

Deadspeak (Necroscope #4)

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Title: Deadspeak
Series: Necroscope
Author: Brian Lumley
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Pages: 517


Synopsis:
Harry is BACK. But his son, to defend his bad ass vampire self, took away Harry's Necroscope powers and returned him to Earth.
Now another Vampire is Ascending, one with the capability and know how to survive in our modern age. A Vampire who can Foretell the future. A Vampire who is the blood son of Faethor Ferenczi.
Can Harry regain his Mad Skillz, Defeat Janos and Prevent Faethor from taking over his mind?
Find out in this 4th Necroscope Novel!

My Thoughts:
I know my synopsis sounds ridiculous, but really, as much as I am truly enjoying the deliciousness of these books, they are just so THAT.

I really like the fact that these are also Cold War era thrillers as well as Vampires as Ultra-Monsters horror stories. The politics and how the world was at that time make this a lot of fun to read about. However, young people today will be missing out on a lot. They won't know who Nicolae Ceaușescu was or anything.

I think that Janos, the Vampire of this book, is the worst yet. He raped his mother repeatedly because he hated his father [and that is why this got the sexually explicit tag], allowed himself to be killed to survive until the present day, takes over a blood relative's body and then just plays mind games with Harry. Each Vampire gets worse in each book and it is wonderful. Vampires are BAD and these books show just what horrible monsters they are.

One thing that I wondered and kind of look forward to, is Harry killing Harry Jr. That little brat is now a Necroscoped Vampire who is a Super Genius. I don't care how good, strong or noble his intentions are, he is a Vampire and it will show at some point. And Lumley seems to like making Harry suffer and to I like seeing him suffer [he's really not the most likable of people] so having him kill his own son that he sacrificed so much for would just hit the spot I think.

Good stuff, eh!

Gunslinger Girl #15 Finale (Manga Monday)

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Title: Finale
Series: Gunslinger Girl
Author & Artist: Yu Aida
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192


Synopsis:
The End of the series and the Social Welfare Agency. The terrorists are defeated but their sympathizers in the government mobilize to destroy the Agency. Which in turn allows the legitimate gov't to take out the rogue elements which have been hiding in plain sight.
We get to see how the various girls and handlers handle the future and in the end, how something good comes from all the death and destruction.

My Thoughts:
I am so glad that the previous volume was not the ending, as it showed the end of the battle but not the aftermath.
This was Sad and melancholic.
Seeing Henrietta and her handler dead [for sure with no questions] just cut me. I liked her the best of all the girls.
Watching the survivors wear out was hard too. You know they are going to die, we knew that right from the beginning, but seeing them drop off one by one, it was heart wrenching.

I did like the fact that the story ended with Triella's daughter making a success of herself in a normal life. The ending quote was very uplifting:

Yes, there is still
HOPE
in our world!

As a series overall, I found this went from the Action'y to Deeply Life Affirming to simply Touching. I highly recommend it.

Nexus (Nexus #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.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Nexus
Series: Nexus
Author: Ramez Naam
Rating: 1 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF/Cyberpunk Prequel
Pages: DNF @ 46%


Synopsis:
Mankind is messing with their genes and dna and creating all sorts of miracles and monsters and possibly the next step in human evolution, the Post-Human.
One young genius and his friends have created a breakthrough using a nanobot type drug called Nexus5. The breakthough? Mind to Mind Contact...and Control.

My Thoughts:
Two main reason I didn't get past the 46% mark.

First, the profanity. It was "fuck" that and "shit" this every other sentence after the first chapter or so. I don't want to read that kind of language, as I do believe that what we expose ourselves to on a continual basis will change us in that direction.

Second, in the last couple of years the big bad bogeyman of the future is nano/bio/techno whatzuhazzits. Just like if you read Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, their stories are filled with either how wonderful Nuclear energy is and how every garbage disposal is a small nuclear reactor that powers your portable rocket pack OR how horrible it is and how mankind ends up destroying itself every time it is used. That is how I feel this story was. Horrible, terrible humanity destroying. So forget it.

One thing I did enjoy was how this is definitely Prequel Cyberpunk. Every wonder how societies like Snowcrash or Neuromancer came about? They didn't pop into existence over night. This story explores a world on the brink, but instead of humanity using the tech, it is all about the tech using humanity. And I just don't buy that. We don't understand 1/100th of the awesome miracle known as the brain, so don't tell me that some computer program is suddenly smarter. It might be able to do certain things more focusedly, [not sure that is even a real word, to be honest] but it will not have the depth, breadth and creativity of the Mind.

So there you have it.  Good plot overall, good grammar and story editing, just hit me wrong and I didn't like it. Maybe you will.

A Tale of Two Cities (Classic) (Buddy Read)

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.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: A Tale of Two Cities
Series: -----
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic Literature
Pages: 443


Synopsis:
A Tale set during the times of the French Revolution which follows a French family living in England.
A story of Hope and Redemption even during the worst of times.

My Thoughts:
Fan-phracking-tastic! Having read this in the late 90's, then again back in '07, my decision to re-read Dickens every decade or so seems to be paying off.
This was just as good, if not better than previous reads and it was in no way diminished by being a re-read.

I thought Dickens did a masterful job of portraying the characters. Not one single person was a Superman with no flaws, but all had their strengths and weaknessess and Dickens used that to make them interact in such a way that it was more than believable.

Darnay was a polished but emotionally naive Frenchman. Carton was a diamond in the rough that only shined in the last minutes of his life. Lucie was a pillar of strength to her husband while putting her only daughter into harms way. Dr. Mannette survived the Bastille, rescued his son-in-law, only to see him re-taken by the Republic and Mannette himself reverting psychologically to his prison days. Defarge wants Justice but not untold bloodshed. Madame Defarge is hard and implacable and yet it is love that destroys her in  the end.

I loved this.

And I really enjoyed doing a buddy read with Book Cupidity as well. It was fun to see the other's updates and comments. Good times.