Shadows of Sanctuary (Thieves' World #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.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Shadows of Sanctuary
Series: Thieves' World
Editor: Robert Asprin
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 338
Format: OCR Scan






Synopsis:
Further stories from the city of Sanctuary, recently taken over by the Empire.
It just keeps going lower into the gutter.

My Thoughts:
Janet Morris writes several of these stories and she seems to be a huge fan of the M/M mercenary idea. What a disgusting pervert. This was going downhill anyway, but that pushed this into the "won't be reading any more of this series" territory.

And it was becoming more about the Empire as much as Sanctuary. I don't want to read about some grubby Empire and some disgusting mercenaries.

Echoes in Time (Time Traders #6)

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: Echoes in Time
Series: Time Traders
Author: Andre Norton, Sherwood Smith
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 288
Format: Kindle





Synopsis:
Ross, his new bride Eveleen and a bunch of other Time Agents, both American and Russian, head to the world where they originally found the Baldie chrome ship.
A russian group of time agents have already been dispatched and have disappeared so Ross and Co must solve that mystery and figure out if it is some Baldie plot to destroy humanity.

My Thoughts:
My phracking goodness, relational, relational, relational. Ross and his wife. Americans and Russians. Agents and agents. Agents and aliens. Aliens and...
you name it, Sherwood sticks it in there.

The previous TT book I disliked because it was a romance, plain and simple. This was worse, in many ways, because it was all about feelings and self-introspection and solving deepseated issues. I can like those kinds of books, but Time Traders was about raw, powerful men getting a raw deal and then fixing it. Preferably with large amounts of violence of one sort or another while at the same time using their brains to keep things under control.

I feel that I was riding a Harley motorcycle for the first four books and then suddenly, when I stopped for gas, someone switched it out with a pink vespa. You don't change vehicles mid-ride. It is one thing to restart a series, but to change the tone this drastically, well, you might have done better to start a new series altogether because you sure lost this fan.

There is one more TT book and I plan on reading it but as far as I'm concerned, there are only 4 Time Traders books.

Badland (Warlord #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.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Badland
Series: Warlord
Author: Jason Frost
Rating:   of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 171
Format: Kindle






Synopsis:
Eric Ravensmith continues his hunt of Dirk Fallows who still has his son Tim.
And the United States is sending in a space shuttle to recover some secret science stuff that is on the now island of California.

My Thoughts:
Man, this was pretty bad. Cannibal children, the freaking space shuttle! Come on, if the mainland wanted something from California, there are easier ways than the space shuttle. And astronauts with a minimal of military training.

Eric almost rescues his son, Fallows is brainwashing Tim and one woman leaves on the space shuttle and the other stays behind. Gratuitous sex scenes allround.

Ugh....

A Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle (League of Princes #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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: A Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle
Series: League of Princes
Author: Christopher Healy
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 497
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
The Princes all come together, some willingly, some not so willingly, for another adventure to save ALL the kingdoms.
From Briar Rose.
And lots of other things happen along the way.

My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this, but not quite as much as the previous book, A Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom.
Part of that was that the new'ness of the idea wasn't new now. Another part was the continued romance subplot about everybody not sure who they're actually in love with. I didn't like that at all.

I liked the pictures. They captured the various characters rather well and lent a humorous air to the book.

Double Crossfire (The Executioner #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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: Double Crossfire
Series: The Executioner
Author: Don Pendleton, Steven Krauzer
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 185
Format: Kindle






Synopsis:
A flare up in the Turk/Armenian conflict draws in the USSR and a heapload of heroin.
It is up to Mack to stop the drugs and the commies!

My Thoughts:
This was tough to read. I don't know why NOW I have an issue with the trite shallowness but it was so glaring that I couldn't get past it. I suspect I'm going to have to limit these to one every month or two.

Sigh...

Pawn's Gambit: And Other Stratagems (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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.








Title: Pawn's Gambit: And Other Stratagems
Series: -----
Author: Timothy Zahn
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 342
Format: Kindle



Synopsis:
A collection of short stories that Zahn has published in magazines. The first half of the book was stories that I'd read in other paperback collections of Zahn's collected short stories and the last half of the book, with the exception of the titular story, Pawn's Gambit, were all new.

My Thoughts:
I was expecting all new stories, so to have the first half be ones that I'd read before, or multiple times [as I've bought almost all of Zahn's old books in paperback] was a bit of a letdown.
Even with that, those stories were still excellent.

Then came the new stories and it was evident that Zahn has NOT lost his touch for encapsulating an idea and creating a story around it. His latest Cobra books have been rather a disappointment to be honest and I've been wondering if Zahn's time as an author was starting to get near the end. These new stories show that he is on top of the game as never before.

Which leads me to wonder, who has changed more, me, or Zahn? I read Cobra back in middle school and it has stayed on my "I love this book!" shelf ever since. Maybe the latest books in that series are showing me how "I" have changed as a reader and not so much that Zahn has changed as an author.

All of that is just to say that this short story collection is good! It would be a great way to introduce someone to Zahn without overwhelming them with a series. For those of us in the old guard, who have devoured all the older books by Zahn, this is still worth it for the new stories.

One of the main reasons I took a star off was because several of the stories have ending commentary from Zahn, when they were part of another collection. Those commentaries show their age and in some cases, show they are part of another collection. Very lazy on the publisher's part. Cut or update. It was just jarring the way they cut n pasted.

Pacific Rim: The Official Movie Novelization

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: Pacific Rim
Series: -----
Author: Alex Irvine
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 352
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
A good movie novelization.
Aliens are coming. From the ocean. And we have to use gigantic robots to fight them off.

My Thoughts:
If you liked the movie for the fights and the action and raw, brute power, stick with the movie. This book didn't really portray the power side of things very well.

If you thought the movie was skimpy on characterization and mecha info, then read the book. It fills in a good bit of stuff without making the book different from the movie.

I'm usually not a fan of movie novelizations and don't bother with them. I either want to watch the movie OR read the book the movie is based on.

The Tomb of Hercules (Wilde and Chase #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 & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: The Tomb of Hercules
Series: Wilde and Chase
Author: Andy Mcdermott
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 541
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
Nina Wilde, now in charge of a large U.N. based agency, is stuck behind a desk instead of doing actual archaeological work.
Eddie Chase, now Nina's underling, is also stuck behind a desk. Not a good thing for anybody.
So when an old Ex calls, Eddie goes running. And Nina must chase him down or lose him. So begins a globetrotting adventure to find the Tomb of Hercules, a tomb legendary for its vast treasure trove.

My Thoughts:
After the rather over the top, lets kill 75% of the world kind of plot from the previous book, this simple smash, shoot and grab adventure was nice.

Let's see. Wilde and Chase drive a monster dumptruck from a diamond mine and take out some tanks and stuff. They go zipping down some rivers in one of those everglade airfan boats and have battles with some speedboats. They get captured by 2 different billionaires. Eddie's Ex is a bitch. They invade an underwater living area and Nina ends up chasing after Eddie in an experimental submarine that could blow up for no reason whatsoever. They find the tomb and watch as man after man fall prey to to the booby traps. And when you thought it was all over...they have to stop a nuclear bomb from going off in Manhattan while chained to a big boat.

Unrelenting action from beginning to end.

Flowers for Algernon

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: Flowers for Algernon
Series: ----
Author: Daniel Keyes
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 321
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
Charlie, a mentally retarded man, volunteers for an experimental surgery to boost his intelligence.
We follow his journey from beginning to end through a series of journal entries by Charlie himself.

My Thoughts:
ALL THE FEELZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!   I knew this followed the up and then down of Charlie and knew the ending but I have to admit, I was not prepared for how this hit me emotionally.
It was heartbreaking to read about Charlie and his "friends" at the bakery and to realize, before Charlie did, just what kind of "friends" they actually were.

To read about his burgeoning intelligence and to see his happiness and positive attitude melting before my eyes was like a kick in the gut, over and over and over again. I read this in one sitting because I couldn't put this down and I while I knew the ending, I had to see for myself. There was a time or two where I just put my kindle down  and hunched up for a minute or so to let the storm pass through.

By the time we came to his downward slide, it wasn't as bad, mainly because Charlie didn't realize how bad it was. Keyes does a great job of showing the reality without either being crass or gross or simplistic.

All in all, I am glad I hadn't read this earlier in life. I probably wouldn't have appreciated it and simply shrugged it off. But I am very glad I have read it now and have to admit, this is also in the running for best book of 2015. It hit me that hard.

King of Thieves (Odyssey One: Star Rogue #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.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission.
Title: King of Thieves
Series: Odyssey One: Star Rogue
Author: Evan Currie
Rating: of 5 Battle Axes
Genre: SFF
Pages: 352
Format: Kindle




Synopsis:
Now that earth has survived the drasin, humanity has regrouped and is sending out patrols to search for other drasin strongholds so they can send in the big guns to take care of them.
Captain Passer and crew are one such patrol. What they find is something even more important than the drasin and potentially just as deadly.

"That's no moon. It's a space station."

My Thoughts:
When this was released on Netgalley back in February, there was NO indication that it was the sequel to the Odyssey One series.  Now if you go to the amazon page, the series is listed as Odyssey One: Star Rogue. It is things like that that keep me from considering Currie as a serious author. Even while I enjoy his books.

With that out of the way...

Thoroughly enjoyed this adventure story. Space marines fighting dragons on an artificial moon that is invisible, can see all through the galaxy AND can act as a super duper magnifying glass for a star's energy.

Just fun military sf, plain and simple.