The Timekeeper Conspiracy (Time Wars #2)

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.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: The Timekeeper Conspiracy
Series: Time Wars
Author: Simon Hawke
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 225



Synopsis:
The main character from the previous book gets bored with being a civilian and joins back up with the military. He's put on a special mission along with the surviving member of the previous mission. They have to stop a terrorist group from creating a time-split, since nobody knows WHAT will actually happen if such an event were to occur.
Only this time they are under the command of the Intelligence Branch [ie, the Timekeepers] and those guys have their own little game going on.
The novel/history for this book is the Three Musketeers.

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this more than the previous book. Most likely it was because I am accustomed to the author using a novel as a Historical Fact. That didn't sit well in the first book, but now that I know that is the Way Things Are, I can adjust.
Plus, I liked The Three Musketeers a lot more than Ivanhoe.

I thought that the whole cat-n-mouse game between the Intelligence Agent and the main Terrorist was really good. The twists and turns weren't that obvious to me and so I was kept in pleasant suspense right to the end.

Part of the fun for me with these books is that I have read the original novels, so seeing Hawke weaving his own story inbetween the original is great fun. I know how the original ends but figuring out how Hawke's part of the story will get there as well is engaging.

Don't get me wrong, these books are NOT literary classics and will never be such. But they are a fun afternoon's read and after this book, I'm a little more excited about the rest of the series than I was after book 1. And the covers are pretty cool too...

Arizona Ambush (The Executioner #31)

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.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Arizona Ambush
Series: The Executioner
Author: Don Pendleton
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 124



Synopsis:
Mack is tracking down the Mafia lords as they raise their heads and he's cutting them off. Only this time, he gets a hold of a Potential Presidential Contender who's caught between the Cosa Nostra and the Kosher Nostra. And said PPC is dirty as sin but no Mafia member.

My Thoughts:
Once again Bolan must deal with someone who is entangled with the Mafia while not being of the Mafia. It is starting to play havoc with his goals and rules he has set for himself.

This book reminded me a lot more of the Punisher than of Mack Bolan. In this Mack takes out who he has to, after giving those not of the Mafia a warning. If they ignore it, he takes them out.

The focus is shifting from Bolan killing the Mafia to realizing there are other threats out there. He's still only killing them, but he's not so blinkered to the realities of a flawed world.

Pippi in the South Seas (Pippi Longstocking #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.leafmarks.tumblr.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Pippi In the South Seas
Series: Pippi Longstocking
Author: Astrid Lindgren
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Children
Pages: 80


Synopsis:
Pippi takes her friends to the Island where her father is king and they all have a grand time. They come home, celebrate a late Christmas and vow to never grow up. Thus ends the series.

My Thoughts:
I accidentally read book 3 before book 2 due to a snafu on my kindle. But it is really no biggie.

I enjoyed this more than the first book and found in it the humor I had remembered and was expecting from book 1. These are fun books that appeal to a child's imagination and allows them to see a world where THEY are in control.

I'm not one to beat the Sexist drum, quite the contrary in fact. But if I had to choose between a Pippi and some of the modern young women paraded as paradigms of the Modern Woman, I'd choose, recommend and champion Pippi every time.

The Unholy Cause (Supernatural #4)

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.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: The Unholy Cause
Series: Supernatural
Author: Joe Schreiber
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Media Tie-in
Pages: 231



Synopsis:
Sam and Dean head down South and get involved with a demon that is trying to use Judas Iscariot's Noose for some nefarious plan that will further the Big Plan of Lucifer making Sam his vessel.
Castiel is searching out Judas himself to find out the Truth about God [because talking to the guy who betrayed the Son  of God is SUCH a good idea].

My Thoughts:
When it comes to Supernatural, I really have to turn off my Theology'ometer because it is so mixed up and silly. It isn't serious enough for me to take the time to pick out all the stupid bits.
But there are times when something makes it buzz so loudly that I just have to.

Overall, the book was just a typical Supernatural episode. Sam and Dean ride into town, fight demons and then take off. Castiel is all powerful and still whining about searching for God. And there is a LOT of action. Would have been a good episode.

So, this bugged me in the show, as well as this book. Cas's 'search' for God. They are angels, His messengers and are, according to the Bible, right in God's Presence. Kripke, the creator of the show, sidesteps all this by making God an absent god. It just pisses me off. And Cas keeps asking the badguys about God for goodness sake.
It was just one of those things that I really can't overlook, unlike much in the show :-)

Damia (The Tower and the Hive #2)

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.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Damia
Series: The Tower and the Hive
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 391



Synopsis:
The Rowan and Jeff are pushing out babies left and right. Afra, a T4 who was in love with the Rowan, translates his feelings into protecting their children. And is the target of the 3rd child's seduction, Damia.
Then Damia grows up and they get it on. And lots of adventures happen inbetween all that.

My Thoughts:
First, this book is as much about Afra as it is about Damia. It is simply a very long, drawn out romance with some science-fiction and action elements thrown in. Still pretty enjoyable however.

My main quibble was with the attempted seduction by Damia of Afra when she was still a teenager. One, it was silly [Oh Afra, won't you rub suntan lotion on me? Oops, you missed a spot, right down here] and Two, it was disturbing. The sexualization of minors is not something I find acceptable or want to read about.

Overall, a good light adventure romp.

Oh, I HATE the new covers. They are definitely aimed at the teen female crowd. I'm just glad I read this back when it came out so I could read it again. With the original cover.

The Plague (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.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: The Plague
Series: -----
Author: Albert Camus
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic Literature
Pages: 400


Synopsis:
A small French town contracts the Plague and this is the rather detached and unemotional account of it all.

My Thoughts:
I did a Buddy Read of the Plague  with Cleo.

To be perfectly honest, I hated this book. Every single character had the focus on their bad side. Even if it was a mediocre, blase apathetic bad side. You see everyone as a petty character acting pettily. Even the Dr, who fights the plague with everything in him, is fatalistic and rather laise-faire in his attitude.

Camus is pretty heavy-handed in allowing his philosophy to color this book. Which isn't surprising but not necessarily pleasant.

Camus deserves to have this called a Classic. It is well written, a good depiction of a sub-section of humanity and it tells a good tale. I am glad I read this. But I'm glad I go to the dentist too, so keep that in mind.

Hopefully next month's Classic read will be a bit more upbeat.

The Boy and the Peddler of Death (The Tale of Onora #1) DNF @40%

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.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: The Boy and the Peddler of Death
Series: The Tale of Onora
Author: Dylan Saccoccio
Rating: 0.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: DNF at 40%


Synopsis:
From what I could make out, some great mage had destroyed the Elven Empire of the North a generation ago.
Now there is a boy, who I can't tell if he's human or elven or something else who is verbally sparring with his father, who it turns out 'might' be the aforementioned mage? I really couldn't tell.
There is also an Elven woman with a baby, but all that is said is that she is running away from something.

My Thoughts:
The spoiler following is a sample of what the writing has been like for my entire read so far.

AT THE OPPOSITE END of the Steppe, the aroma of foreign spice and earthiness drifted with the breeze, swirling with the scent of vanilla and clove. A legion of figures swiftly crept out from the valley towards the break of day. Their silhouettes coasted over the arid terrain. They displayed a sexually attractive dexterity. Though the figures were young, they were suitable for midnight deeds by virtue of their maturity.

Beneath the veils of their elegantly shrouded bodies, the Oussaneans had bronze skin. Their fiery hair and feline irises ignited with enthralling sensuality. The Oussaneans habituated that it was not enough to merely conquer a people. They must seduce them.

The Caliphians had a lust for these women, an addiction even. The Oussaneans would hardly succeed at the art of seduction were they not masked by some sort of honor. If one had experienced the dilemma between stealing the life of his soul mate and refusing to do so at the consequence of his own death, he may know the feeling of fighting against these women.

The Oussaneans swept over the terrain. Their glaives and scimitars swayed gracefully like willows in the wind. Every tangible piece of their armor and weapons bore the inscription of the moon, the symbol of the Lunaega Province.

As the legion made their way east, an ominous gallop grew louder and louder until it matched the sound of thunder breaking the sky. A warhorse, blacker than oblivion, more powerful than a herd, tilled the soil as each hoof cut through the earth. The monstrous steed was clad in dark obsidian armor. Its ruby red eyes burned like embers from a diabolical fire. However, it was not the horse that was frightening. It was the rider of that demonic steed and what followed him that struck terror into the hearts of men.

(hide spoiler)

A whole book like that folks. Over-dramatized, bloviated, purple prose that mires you down in its own self-importance.  A whole blasted book.

At 40% I thought I would have had some idea of what was going on. But the characters were simple delivery mechanisms for the author to describe to his heart's content while at the same time informing us of all sorts of deeply mystical/philosophical musings/rants. And info dumps. In Purple Prose.

It was puerile. What is worse, it thought it was grandiose with all its verbiage and synonyms and utterances beyond the ken of mortals. It was not engaging, it was not interesting, it was not well written. It was the superfluous spew of a wanna-be philosopher who didn't have enough sense to realize what silliness was coming out of his mouth.

In all fairness, this is probably not any worse than some young silly lord composing Poetry [with the Capital Emphasized!] for his latest infatuation back in the day. But back then only the poor young lady and maybe a close friend or two, had to listen to his stuff. If he tried to read it at the local tavern, I'd be the first to call him drunk and dunk him in a water barrel. Water barrels are known for their powerful restorative effects.

The one positive was the cover and the cover for the sequel. They were both GORGEOUS and I say that as a man. I will probably visit the artist (Virginie Carquin) 0n her own site and check out what else she has to offer.

Cobra Outlaw (Cobra Rebellion #2) (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.leafmarks.com by express permission of this reviewer.





Title: Cobra Outlaw
Series: Cobra Rebellion
Author: Timothy Zahn
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 320

Synopsis:
The Broom/Moreau family [don't get me started on this whole Broom thing. I know Zahn is doing this to keep it from becoming patriarchal, but blast it, I started this series with a Moreau and I want to stay with a Moreau] is pretty much all over the place.
Some are on Aventine dealing with the Dominion of Man take over of the Cobra Worlds.
Some are on Qasama trying to enlist their aid against the Dominion.
Some are in Troft space, trying to figure out what the heck is going on.
And some are just in space running all over.

My Thoughts:
First, lets get all the ARC crap out of the way, because that has nothing to do with the book itself.
Netgally ONLY allowed me to send this to my kindle. Not to download it to Kindleforpc or to Adobe. Nope. Email only to my kindle. That rather irked me because I really, really prefer to download, put into Calibre, use the count-page plugin and then sideload to my kindle. Using the countpage plugin allows me to get a page count based on number of characters and page breaks, thus allowing me to have a uniform way to compare the books I'm reading. Not having that is like using your hand while it is asleep; you can do it, but everything is just a bit off.

Ok, on to the review proper.

Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one, Cobra Slave. I felt like there were too many threads running at the same time for such a small book [small only in comparison!] and hampered each thread in what was told.
I really just want one, maybe 2 points of view for these books. It feels like Zahn is trying to write "bigger" than he can. The original Cobra had one viewpoint and one continuous storyline. Given, we're 8 books in and 100 years later, but still, I LIKED the original formula.

On the plus side of things. This wasn't boring like the previous trilogy [Cobra War trilogy]. There are several great Cobra action scenes [building hopping is one of my favorite Cobra abilities]. Also, the Trofts are being introduced as real characters, with one from the Unknown Demesne taking a large role near the end of the book.

Overall, a good solid SFF book by Timothy Zahn. As a caveat, I do hope that he stops writing the Cobra books soon. Don't milk it because after reading what I have, I'd be satisfied now with the Original Trilogy.

Deadspawn (Necroscope #5)

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.com by express permission of this reviewer

Title: Deadspawn
Series: Necroscope
Author: Brian Lumley
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Pages: 558


Synopsis:
Spoilers.

Harry is a vampire. And he raises several others from their dead ashes. And he messes around with other ESP'ers talents. Eventually he runs away to Starside after dealing with a serial murderer who is also a necromancer.
On Starside things aren't looking so good either. The Dweller has devolved, Karen is alive and Shaithis has hooked up with the original Vampire, who just happens to be called Shaitan. Yeah. The original Cast Out One.
Finally, nukes are involved!

My Thoughts:
Each book so far in this series has really pushed the edges. However, this one really disturbed me. The pages long perverted vampire sex; the descent of Harry and the choices he makes that kills off friend after friend after friend; the complete and utterly distorted philosophy dumps mixed with new age feel good crapola.

It all combined to make me feel like I'd been dragged through a septic tank.

However, it was still really good writing and due to how much I've enjoyed the previous books, I'm going to let the next book have a chance. But if it approaches the level of disturbingness that was this book, then I'll be done with Lumley.

Swordmage (Blades of the Moonseas #1) (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.leafmarks.com by express permission of this reviewer.

Title: Swordmage
Series: Blades of the Moonsea, Forgotten Realms
Author: Richard Baker
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SFF
Pages: 373


Synopsis:
An adventurer returns home after 10 years abroad, only to find nothing is as it was when he left. Not only that, but foreign economic powers are moving in, his step-cousin is trying to take over politically AND a Lich King is looking for his long missing Codex of Spells. Oh yeah, a goblin king is trying to take over the whole area as well.

My Thoughts:
Our protagonist, Geran, is a problem child, never satisfied with what he has. So he spends a decade ignoring his responsibilities to his family and gallivanting around. He ends up in Myth Drannor, in love with an elf and then ruins that all by cutting off another elf's hand, in an illegal duel.
So he skips off to home and is shocked to find everything is changed.
And is forced to take action to save his family, his town and everyone he loves.

Lots of action, undead action,  battles and whatnot. Thin on character development, but who ever reads a FR book and expects character development? The goblin thing seemed kind of a third leg to the overall story, but considering that the longest battle near the end is directly because of the horde, I guess I can overlook that.

Honestly, I'm up in the air if I will finish this trilogy or not. I guess I'll take a break and decide after the 2nd book in a month or so.