The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires #1)

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Title: The Aeronaut's Windlass
Series: The Cinder Spires
Author: Jim Butcher
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 630
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
People live in Spires, miles long wide and high habitats, that keep them safe from the elements and creatures of the harsh and destructive world.
Fleets keep the Spires safe.
Now there is a war on between Spire Albion and Spire Aurora. This story is about introducing the disparate set of characters, introducing us to elements of this world and details one skirmish in the war that probably has deeper consequences for the rest of the story than we are aware of.

My Thoughts:
Impressive. Skillfully and wonderfully made. This is definitely steampunk but Butcher works it like a master and I actually liked it. That impressed me as well :-)

I liked the characters. Grimm was great [I'm kind of partial to that name now as I've been bing watching the tv show Grimm on Amazon Prime and I just imagined the Grimm from the tv show as the Grimm here in the book], Rowl the Cat was done to an absolute perfect T and yet not overused and hence simply a prop. The others all fit into a good slot and helped things along.

We only get hints about the world however. Which considering how big this book was was probably a good thing. Save the whole "this is what our world is like and this is how it came to be" plotline for another book. I will be looking forward to that plotline however.

Codex Alera is my favorite series of books andyet  I can't stomach the Dresden Files so I wasn't sure which side of the line this series would come down on. Happily, I loved it. As much as I want to go buy a hardcover though, I am waiting to see how long this series goes and in what direction it turns. If it is a 6 book series like Codex Alera then I can totally see myself buying these. If however it becomes some sort of open ended cash revenue river like the Dresden Files then I will remember this fondly with a small sigh of regret.

Highly recommended as  a fast paced, thrilling SFF story that will keep you engaged through the whole book.

The City of Ravens (The Cities #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.
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Title: The City of Ravens
Series: The Cities
Author: Richard Baker
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 324
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
Jack Ravenwild is a dandy, a thief, a magician and an utterly pompous kind of guy. So it isn't a surprise when he gets 3 different commissions from 3 different beautiful women. But since they all tie together in the end, it makes for a very light and fun adventure.

My Thoughts:
This was so deliberately over the top that I was rolling my eyes the entire time. Thankfully, Baker had enough skill and deftness of touch that I was also laughing while rolling my eyes.

Jack was an irrepressible character and had a flair for the fanciful. While most Forgotten Realms' books go for the faux-epic feel, or the dark and gritty, this was unabashed mockery of that. Either that or Baker is such a bad writer that he's a genius.
I wouldn't be able to take a steady diet of this, but every once in a while something silly is needed to counteract all the ridiculous authors who are miserable and take it out on us the readers.

After the bad experience I had with The Citadels series, I am encouraged that this started out so lightly.

Of Limited Loyalty (Crown Colonies #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.
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Title: Of Limited Loyalty
Series: Crown Colonies
Author: Michael Stackpole
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 483
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
Several years after the events in the previous book, the Crown sends another agent to investigate a splinter group that has gone its own way and is looking to establish itself as an autonomous town.
What that agent, along with Owen Strake and the rest of the gang, find is Cthulhu'ic and a menace to the whole world. Can an understaffed,under-dragon'ed and under-magic'd group of people survive?

My Thoughts:
I knocked off 2 stars because this is NOT a duology. It is a series that has apparently been abandoned.
Good story, lots of action, magic, intrigue and stuff. But the ending is a cliffhanger and not a wrapping up of the story. Considering book 1 was released in '10, book 2 in '11 [this book] and nothing has been made mention, that I could see, on Stackpole's site about a continuation, I am forced to accept the fact that Stackpole bailed out, again.

I think I shall have to be done with Stackpole's books until such a time as he finishes a series or goes back to writing stand alone novels. That I could handle.

At the Queen's Command (Crown Colonies #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.
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Title: At the Queen's Command
Series: Crown Colonies
Author: Michael Stackpole
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 450
Format: Kindle



Synopsis:
An Alternate Fantasy History. A history where the King James Bible is the King Robert Bible. A world where magic is real, wurms are used as troops and NorIsle and Tharyngia are fighting as viciously as England and France ever did.
Owen Strake is a soldier, sent on a mission from NorIsle to explore and update the outer frontier regions of Mystria.
Only Owen is a pawn being used for hidden means. Can he throw off his shackles, fulfill his mission AND foil the hidden agenda that could spell his death?


My Thoughts:
In response to the above question, the answer is "Of Course!".  Owen Strake is the main character of the book and I thoroughly enjoyed following along. Owen goes from a snobby NorIslean to a Mystrian Patriot.
We get the best of the late 1700's with magic, zombies and battles.

The last time I read Stackpole was back when he did his Age of Discovery trilogy, which was horrible. It put me off of him for many years. And after I recently went on his website, it seems that he'd been going through a dry spell back then and hated writing.

Thankfully, he was back in top form with this series. While very different from Talion or Once a Hero, it was just as enjoyable and in many ways seemed more mature, in talent. This was a joy to read and my only complaint is that it is part on only a duology instead of something longer.

Cry of the Ghost Wolf (Chosen of Nendawen #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.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Cry of the Ghost Wolf
Series: Chosen of Nendawen
Author: Mark Sehestedt
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 311
Format: Kindle







Synopsis:
Hweilan escapes, fights, gets captured, brokers a deal, then has to deal with the demon lord and finally she has to deal with Nendawen himself. Because Nendawen literally lives to hunt, even outside of his own plane of existence.

My Thoughts:
The first 75% of this book deals with the hobgoblins and Hweilan. Not until the last bit does Hweilan face off against Jagen Ghen. That made this drag and made this feel very fluffed out.

The battle was anti-climactic, the interjection of Hweilan's father into the overall storyline was not well handled and felt like it was tacked on so Sehestedt "could" write another series if feasible. So while I rated all 3 books the same, I enjoyed the first book the most and each successive one less. That is not a good way to end a series.

Hand of the Hunter (Chosen of Nendawen #2) (Forgotten Realms)

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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.

Title: Hand of the Hunter

Series: Chosen of Nendawen

Author: Mark Sehestedt

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: SFF

Pages: 304

Format: Kindle

 

 

 

Synopsis:

Hweilan is Nendawen's Chosen. But being a Hunter is about training as well as instinct.

If she can survive the training, can she survive the mountains of Highpass and the clans of hobgoblins living there?

Oh no's!

 

My Thoughts:

Book One was all about the setup. Just like in all cliched Quest/Revenge stories, you have to have a Training Arc.

 

This was the training. First Hweilan learns all about herbs and nature and stuff from a little green'ish goblin. Yep, Yoda makes his appearance in Forgotten Realms. Then she becomes all bad ass warrior'y with a fox warrior. Next she learns magic'y things from a Spider lady. Finally, she is hunted by Nendawen himself.

 

Now she can hunt down Jagen Ghen the demon and his brethren. But she rescues some knights, gets captured by hobgoblins and the book ends with them all in prison while the hobgoblin queen decides whether to turn Hweilan over to Jagen Ghen or not.

 

With that kind of ending, I immediately started the 3rd and final book. Not sure if I approve of that or not.

 

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1286786/hand-of-the-hunter-chosen-of-nendawen-2-forgotten-realms

Deathstalker War (Deathstalker #3)

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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.

Title: Deathstalker War

Series: Deathstalker

Author: Simon Green

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: SFF

Pages: 532

Format: Kindle

 

 

 

Synopsis:

The time for Rebellion is NOW! With 2 more missions under their belt, the Rebellion moves things into high gear and begins its assault on the Empress herself.

Owen must decide if he will be a Force to be Reckoned With after the dust settles or just a historian again.

 

My Thoughts:

This was a lot of fun. 2 battles where the Empire is attacking its enemies and 1 battle right on Golgotha [the home asteroid/planet of the Imperial Court] between the Empire and the Rebellion.

That is a lot of fighting, and it was good.

 

This book wraps up the rebellion against the Empire and is a good place to stop if you've been on the line about these books. You get some resolution and a clear cut ending. For those of us who want to keep going, there are still all the Aliens, AI of Shub, Hadenmen and other boogly-wooglies to keep us interested.

 

This series has been a good pulp read more than anything so far. Nothing excellent stands out but on the flipside, nothing bad or negative sticks out as well. I am ok with the majority of my reads being like that.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1285814/deathstalker-war-deathstalker-3

Straits of Hell (Destroyermen #10) 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.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.

Title: Straits of Hell

Series: Destroyermen

Author: Taylor Anderson

Rating: 0 of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: DNF

Format: Kindle

 

 

 

My Thoughts:

I had to quit at the 10% mark because it was obvious that things were getting bigger in scope instead of resolved.

 

I read my last Destroyermen novel last year and was on edge about continuing the series due to Anderson simply bloating things up with new groups of humans, all over the place. This time I quit at the French/Italian/German/something group that shows up to ally with the Japanese. I think these are the french nazi's from the previous book.

 

Just how many groups of lost humans have come to this world, why have they not connected before and why does Anderson do this to us? So I am done. I don't care how well written these might be, Anderson is out of control in regards to story and plot and I won't help him anymore by buying these.

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1285601/straits-of-hell-destroyermen-10-dnf

Without Warning (The Disappearance #1)

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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.

Title: Without Warning

Series: The Disappearance

Author: John Birmingham

Rating: of 5 Battle Axes

Genre: Action/Adventure

Pages: 576

Format: Kindle

 

 

 

Synopsis:

A "wave" of energy appears, covering American, Southern Canada and Northern Mexico. Every single human in that area is simply gone.

The world is in chaos, Americans abroad [citizens and military] are left without a country, trying to survive and figure out what the next step is.

 

My Thoughts:

We follow several military groups, a U.S Ranger turned journalist, an Engineer in the state of Washington and some sort of mysterious spy woman in France. At first I wasn't sure how having so many points of view was going to work but Birmingham was able to weave the story through each group and it worked. Nothing was confusing or jumbled up.

 

I felt thoroughly "out of place" as any of the characters with what had happened. What made it even more so was the fact that we never find out what has caused the wave. The whole world doesn't know and it is creating chaos, as much as the world's One Super Power suddenly being gone. I enjoyed this and found Birmingham's portrayal of how things would go down exactly as I would expect it too.

 

The main thing that bothered me was the Secret Spy lady. She didn't fit into the story and for the amount of time garnered on  her, nothing was wrapped up. It wasn't a bad storyline and it showed the chaos in Europe really well but I was hoping for some sort of resolution.

 

*Spoiler for the Ending*

 

Having the wave simply disappear as the last sentence in the book? That guarantees that I'll be reading the sequel!

Original post: Bookstooge.booklikes.com/post/1284977/without-warning-the-disappearance-1