Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Blood of Aenarion (Warhammer: Tyrion & Teclis #1) ★★★☆☆

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Title: Blood of Aenarion

Series: Warhammer: Tyrion & Teclis #1

Author: William King

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 416

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

6000 years ago, the world was besieged by the forces of Chaos and on the edge of destruction. An elven Mage worked a great magic that drove the chaos forces away but one of the demons was caught and trapped within the spell. The mage was only able to finish the spell because Aenarion, mightiest elf warrior, threw everything he had against the forces of chaos.

Now the spell is unraveling and the demon is out for vengeance against the descendants of Aenarion. Two of those descendants, Tyrion and Teclis, are just reaching the age of being presented to the King to see if they carry the curse of Aenarion and to have their possible futures foretold. Both of the twins are possibly the mightiest of elves in their respective arts, Tyrion has the potential to be a warrior without peer and Teclis may plumb the depths of the magical arts not seen in Millenia.

Now the twins must work together to survive Elven political infighting and a demon who is out to kill them. Not much of a life.

My Thoughts:

My first impression: Bleak.

While it is very similar to Forgotten Realms in style, in tone it is so different that it is hard to even lump them together. There is no hope, there is no lasting victory and Chaos WILL destroy the world at some point.

We follow the twins as they reach the age of majority and begin to have responsibilities that their father has run away from. Having lived in the backwoods of nowhere, neither twin is prepared for what it means to live in an Elven city. The elves of Warhammer are most definitely not in the mold of Tolkien's elves. They are just prettier humans that live longer and things are just as nasty as in any political system.

With the twins exhibiting major traits of Aenarion [peerless warrior and mage extraordinaire] just as the super spell is unraveling, it is pretty easy to spot what is going to happen. But that didn't detract from the story at all. William King appears to be a decent author and his skill level brings this up a notch. The climactic battle at the end with the twins channeling the power of some other Force [are there forces of Law to counter Chaos in Warhammer?] is pretty good. Of course, the demon isn't destroyed so you know he/it will be back again to cause problems in the next 2 books.

I don't know enough about the Warhammer universe so I have questions. I suspect though that I'll have to just keep on reading to get those answers. As long as the writing quality stays at this level and not at the Blood on the Reik, I should be ok with the darker overtones.

★★★☆☆

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Return of the Archon (Omega Force #5) ★★★☆☆

Series: Omega Force #5

Author: Joshua Dalzelle

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 325

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Crusher, the biggest, (almost) baddest member of Omega Force has a secret. And it catches up to him in this book.

He is the Archon. The military leader of his system, who was exiled to keep the peace between the warriors and the politicians. As usual, politicians have botched things up even more and a small select group has been tasked with bringing Crusher back so he can restore the balance. Crusher must rescue his mentor, figure out a way to stop this mess from getting any bigger and make the choice of whether he will be staying with Omega Force or not.

And there is a someone working behind the scenes with their own agenda.

My Thoughts:

My initial thought was that the Archon was some super villain from one of the characters' past. Return of the Archon just SOUNDS ominous. So imagine my surprise when it turns out Crusher is the Archon and the Archon is supposed to be one of the good guys keeping peace between various warrior factions and the politicians in his star system.

This was a cracking good adventure story filled with prison breaks, ship to ship battles and a whole warrior culture just about ready to boil over. We also get to see the aftermath of Lucky [the battle synth robot] sparring, friendly like, with some of the warriors. I hope that in future volumes Dalzelle has the skill to actually write a good one on one battle scene between 2 high powered beings. It would definitely increase my enjoyment of the series as a whole.

I was thinking of bumping this up to 3.5stars because I enjoyed it more than the Brother Cadfael book I had just finished, but when comparing it to the other Omega Force books, it was right in line with them, so my rating stayed at 3. Which isn't a bad thing. Bookstooge's Ratings Explained

The writing was the best so far. The verbal fighting between members of the OF, which I found off putting in a previous book, was still here but conveyed in such a way that it didn't come across as two people hating each other and being forced to get along. It came across as 2 team member with widely varying personalities being in the same small space. That in itself is reason enough for me to keep on reading this series. I feel like this book was better crafted than the previous ones but it is hard to tell objectively. I do know that with this book I would recommend the OF series to someone, whereas before I would have danced around the issue.

★★★☆☆

Thursday, June 08, 2017

The Rose Rent (Brother Cadfael #13) ★★★☆☆

Series: Brother Cadfael #13

Author: Ellis Peters

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 239

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A young widow, the owner of a well to do business, gave a house she owned to the Abby, on the condition that they pay a “rent” of one white rose on the anniversary of her husband's death. Should the rose not be delivered or the widow not be able to take it, the Abby forfeits the house and it reverts back to the widow.

She is pressed on all sides by suitors but when a young monk is killed and the rose bush burnt, things have moved into serious territory. Then when the widow disappears and another man shows up dead, Cadfael must solve what is going on before the widow ends up dead. Things have a happy ending when Cadfael solves the mystery and the widow ends up with the local leather worker who is a widower with a young daughter.

My Thoughts:

Not really much to say about these. First off, it's a Mystery and that's not my go-to genre so I'm pretty meh about it. Second, it is a Cadfael mystery, so there's a lot of just kind of hanging around while things happen. Being a monk really cramps his style.

There is a lot of descriptive stuff that I simply blew by. I just didn't care. I'm sure it set the tone but that was lost on me.

Cadfael is a literary palate cleanser for me. It is well written, I don't expect much and it delivers just enough to keep me happy. Kind of like those baskets of bread rolls at restaurants that you munch on before your food arrives.

★★★☆☆

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Shin vs Sena (Eyeshield 21 #27) ★★★★★

Series: Eyeshield 21 #27

Author: Riichiro Inagaki

Artist: Yusuke Murata

Rating: 5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Sports Manga

Pages: 200

Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

The conclusion to the game between the Devil Bats and the White Knights. With under 2 minutes left, the Devil Bats score a touchdown and take the lead. It would appear to be all over but the White Knights won't go down without a fight. Making an incredible comeback, Shin manages to make a touchdown with only 1 second left on the clock.

Now, the Devil Bats must catch the kick-off, run the ball down the field, avoid the whole White Knight's team and score a touch down. Can Sena overcome total exhaustion, the spectre of defeat and Shin to make the Devil Bats dream of the Christmas Bowl come true?

If you think I'm going to tell you, screw you!

My Thoughts:

Just kidding!

Of course the Devil Bats win. There wouldn't be much point to a 37 volume manga series that ends at Vol. 27 now would there?

But my goodness, even while I “knew” that the Devil Bats had to win, I wasn't sure it was going to happen right up until the last page. Now that is how you do “tension”. I would also say that this was the ultimate, so far, in showing heart and guts. If the series HAD ended here, I would be more than satisfied with the time I spent reading this.

Now that I have given a volume 5 Stars, I'm probably going to be extra tough on the next couple, so expect more “nit picky” complaints. A concern I do have is how they're going to top this. I sure hope the momentum of the series stays strong.

★★★★★

Review of Vol. 26

Tuesday, June 06, 2017

October's Baby (The Dread Empire: A Cruel Wind #2) ★★★☆☆

Series: The Dread Empire: A Cruel Wind #2

Author: Glen Cook

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 247

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Ragnarson, the mercenary leader from the previous book, gets pulled back into leading a campaign for

a queen who's kingdom is falling apart after her husband's death. Part of the problem is that it is suspected that her heir is actually a changeling switched at birth. Another issue is that the Dread Empire is working behind the scenes, this time with the faces of the children of the sorcerers from the first book. Nothing like daddy issues to get folks riled up.

In the end, there is huge battle, magic gets negated for the duration of the battle, both sorcerous children are either slain or depleted of power and the heirs of the kingdom under dispute are poisoned by a mysterious character. Yep, the book ends with kids dying from poison.

My Thoughts:

I was just confused for most of this book. A lot of names get thrown around, a lot of places mentioned, MANY battles are referenced and not a one could I remember from the previous book. It felt like this was referencing previous books that I had not read, but I believe I am reading these in publication order. So either Cook has the idea for prequels or he's just throwing stuff at the reader “because”.

Outside of that, I was still confused. Shifts of perspective and time, while clearly outlined at the beginning of each chapter, sometimes covered years and might only be a couple of pages. While 2 days might take up 10 pages. I just kind of held on and got the gist of the story.

Sorcerers, politics, big battle. Kids dying. That part just weirded me out. Neither of the heirs were actually the king's, but while we know about the changeling, I don't believe we ever know who fathered the heir actual. So why the heir actual had to die, I have no idea.

Not a bad read, but I felt like I was constantly in a mudhole fighting to get to firm ground and then sliding back into the pit.

★★★☆☆

A Shadow of All Night Falling (Book 1)

Monday, June 05, 2017

Warrior King (Odyssey One #5) ★★★★ ½

Series: Odyssey One #5

Author: Evan Currie

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 334

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Humanity and the Priminae are working together and have created a new class of Interstellar Warships, the Heroics. Cpt. Eric Weston continues as the head officer upon the Flagship Odysseus. His current assignment is to backtrack the Drasin and find out who or what was controlling them.

At the same time, the aliens, simply known as The Empire, are missing a Drasin fleet. They're not to happy about that and they set out to follow the Drasin to see what happened. When the Odysseus and their carrier group, which includes the new Destroyers we are introduced to in King of Thieves, run into the Empire's Fleet, a battle ensues in which Humanity kicks butt.

Of course, now Humanity has picked a fight with an Empire that includes 149 star systems. We are in SO much trouble.

My Thoughts:

It's been a year and a half since I last read a book in the Odyssey One universe. Man, Currie is getting better. I really enjoyed Out of the Black, but when I read the first 2 Scourwind novels, I figured he couldn't top them. I was wrong. This was just as good.

There were 2 space battle scenes and they were both memorable. One was a small destroyer against an unarmed shuttle. That was more a battle of wits than anything. The Battle Group fight was just a massive brawl in space. The T-guns were useless, so that made the battle even more exciting.

We get a little bit of “universe” building going on but this was just like the previous books. Fighting, In Spaaaaace! It just doesn't get more fun than this.

★★★★ ½

Sunday, June 04, 2017

The Isle of Battle (The Swan's War #2) ★★★★☆

Series: The Swan's War #2

Author: Sean Russell

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 468

Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

Hafydd follows Alaan into the Stillwater, who in turn is followed by Elise. The Stillwater is a swamp that was created by their uncle when he cast a spell to sunder the lands and to prevent him from going through Death's Gate. Each of Wyrr's children bring a group of followers with them and at some point each group must decide if their leader is truly worth following.

Meanwhile, the Rennes and the Wills begin their battle out in the known world. But with various smaller players potentially playing both sides, who is to know who will win? All of this is told through the eyes [ha] of Lord Carral, who is blind and Lady Lynne, who hides in her night garden so no one will see her hideously burned face.

My Thoughts:

While the first book, The One Kingdom, was much like the river that most of the story played out on, this book was very much like the Stillwater that half the story takes place in. A lot of paddling, a lot of fighting, a lot of movement but eventually it all leads to the characters simply trying to stay alive and to get out of the swamp.

This is once again a very character driven story. Lord Caral, father of Elise, thinking she is dead makes deals with the Renne to try to bring about a peace between the 2 families. He heads off to battle, even while being blind, and it is a testament to Russell's skill that the story doesn't suffer at all when being told from a blind man's perspective. In many ways I enjoyed the story parts more from his perspective than any of the Siblings [Hafydd, Alaan or Elise].

Things escalate. Where as in the first book we are dealing with the Children of Wyrr, *powerful sorcerers* [insert your own ghost noises], suddenly we're dealing with their Uncle, who was powerful enough to sunder the lands and cheat death for Millenia. Combine that with Hafydd's desire to cheat death and suddenly you have an Uncle and a Nephew, both powerful sorcerers, who are willing to work together even while trying to control the other. It is like stepping into the shallow end of a swimming pool that turns into a pond that then turns into an ocean. Unexpected depths and currents.

When I read this back in '09, I noted how quick things moved. This time around, I didn't feel like it moved quickly at all. More things happen, yes, but much like Alice in Wonderland, they had to run as fast as they could just to stay in place. Nobody WENT anywhere. I am already interested what I'm going to think of this when I read it again in a decade or so.

The other change is that I went from 5stars to 4stars. The biggest part is because the ecopy I read was an unproofed digital scan. That has nothing to do with the book itself, but does go to show how formatting, grammar, spelling, etc really are the building block upon which a story is built. I'm definitely going to be buying an official copy for my read of the final book. At one point things were so garbled that I was tempted to pull my hardcover off the shelf and finish the book with that.

The other reason I dropped it down was because I felt overwhelmed by the introduction of Aillyn, Wyrr's brother and the sibling's Uncle. I thought that the Children of Wyrr were a big enough threat without suddenly making them small in comparison.

The good side of this book is that the writing is just as fantastic as the first. Russell writes slowly, ponderously and with the weight of his ideas pushing you on. It felt like a tsunami wave, that starts very deep in the ocean and isn't really seen until it hits the shore. The end of the book was the Shore.

In closing, I have no regrets about buying this trilogy in hardcover or in re-reading this. I recommend this trilogy by Russell unreservedly.

★★★★☆

Friday, June 02, 2017

The Coming of Wisdom (The Seventh Sword #2) ★★★☆ ½

Series: The Seventh Sword #2

Author: Dave Duncan

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 350

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Sorcerors are taking over cities and ruling them with much less graft and corruption than their swordsmen counterparts. The goddess obviously can't have this, so it is up to Wally to figure out the riddle and fix all the problems.

On a boat.

My Thoughts:

Enjoyed this more than the first book, that is for sure. Part of it was that this was not an intro story but with characters we already know about. Another part was that we don't get Wally wallowing in trying to reconcile 2 different world views. Internal self-angsting has it's place, but I don't particularly enjoy reading it. So the lack thereof in this book was rather nice.

The whole adventure pretty much taking place on a boat and on the river was nice. A different town every couple of chapters made for an adventure that never felt stale. And having things be between sorcerers and swordsman instead of swordsmen and swordsmen also added a nice difference from book one.

Several of the side characters got some real page time and became a lot more than just generic “helpers”. It is nice when characters become people.

Duncan is a good writer and when he's on top of his game and not pissing me off with his anti-religion bs, he keeps me captivated. This book kept me interested the whole way through and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

★★★☆ ½

The Reluctant Swordsman

Monday, May 29, 2017

Shadow's Edge (Night Angel #2) ★★★★ ½

Title: Shadow's Edge

Series: Night Angel #2

Author: Brent Weeks

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SFF

Pages: 645

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Kylar has sworn to give up killing to live in peace with Elene. They move to another city and Kylar begins life as an apothecary. But his hunger for justice causes him to go out each night, and while not killing, he does distribute justice to lowlifes and criminals.

All of that changes when his best friend Jarl, now the Shinga of Kylar's former city-home, comes begging for him to do one last job: Kill the godking. Unfortunately, another wetboy, Viv (who's a girl) is on the job to kill Jarl for the godking. Kylar watches his best friend die before his eyes. To make matters worse, Kylar must leave Elene (who he was going to ask to marry him the next day), for good. Because killing the godking is a one way job. He won't be returning from it.

He ends up hooking up with Viv through an incredible amount of circumstance twisting and they decide to work together to kill the godking. Turns out Viv is the godking's daughter and he has a magical hold of her. Kylar and Viv overcome through the magic of love (or at least, bonding magic) and everything is hunky dory.

Except Elene is kidnapped, Kylar can never be with her, he is magically bonded to a woman who killed his best friend, most of Kylar's friends and acquaintances are dead by the godking's hands and yet another city-state is waiting on the border to take over. And Kylar still doesn't know the cost of him coming back to life each time. He should really find out, you know?

My Thoughts:

Man, I plowed through this in 2 days, or just a little less really. I started Friday evening (hence my post A Small Selection) and was done by 10am Sunday morning. It was not a “I have to get through this, so man up, soldier and start marching” kind of drive. I just couldn't stop reading. Even while I knew roughly what was going to happen because this was a re-read.

The main downside to this book was that I had just read Return of the Crimson Guard and that book, while leaving me somewhat frustrated, also awed me with its depth, amount of plot threads being woven simultaneously and the battle scenes. Sadly, Weeks did not, really could not, compare. His writing was not bad, it was good in fact but it just wasn't AS GOOD. When you read two Epic Fantasy Books almost back to back, comparisons are going to happen whether you want them to or not. So read this after reading something by Michael Crichton or Modesitt and everything will be just fine.

For the record, I rated this higher than Crimson Guard. I enjoyed it more.

The biggest upside was a scene where Weeks totally riffs on Star Wars. As I stated, Viv is the godking's daughter. She's been developing feelings for Kylar during their stint together. Then, during one of the climactic clashes between the 2 wetboys and the godking, the godking lets it out that he's also Kylar's father. So a total Leia and Luke scenario. But it gets better. The godking then hollers out, “Just kidding!” I just about died laughing. Even now, while I'm typing this up, it still makes me laugh. And if you don't get the Star Wars reference, you'll lose nothing from the story. It just won't be as rich.

Like I mentioned in my Small Selection post, the violence here is pretty intense. Thankfully, it is not glamourized, but Weeks doesn't hold back in the slightest. Also the profanity is at the same level and of the same style as in Book 1. It's very anachronistic, besides being unnecessary.

There is another whole storyline revolving around Logan, the rightful King, that I'm not going to touch on.This is a 2 weave story and his is the second. It's pretty much about what a good man will do to survive and not cross the line into becoming a villain.

This book was just as good as when I read it in '09 and the trilogy as a whole is holding up as well.

*double thumbs up*

★★★★ ½

Downtown, Wing and a Prayer (Spiderman 2099 #6, 7) ★★★☆☆

Title: Downtown, Wing and a Prayer

Series: Spiderman 2099 #6, 7

Author: Peter David

Artist: Rick Leonardi

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Comics

Pages: 45

Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

Miggy survives his fall into “down town” with the aid of an anonymous doctor and immediately proceeds to act like an ass. He goes off before being fully healed or even knowing where he is. The Public Eye, under direct orders [yet again] from Stone, is looking for him to capture him. They find him but he is swept away by some guy who is the leader of the Freaks, a guy with metal wings and who can fly. Vulture 2099. Vulture wants Miggy to join him in his fight against the other gangs. Miggy refuses and runs off. A flying battle ensues.

At the same time, Miggy's brother Gabe heads downtown to look for Miggy, survives a mugging and ends up with a gun. While waiting outside his girlfriend's apartment, someone grabs his shoulder and he shoots without looking. The volume ends with it being a woman he apparently knows lying in a puddle of blood.

My Thoughts:

Frenetic is the word to describe the pace here. Miguel continues his boneheaded and impulsive behavior and just reacts. It certainly allows for fights and action scenes to naturally flow because anyone with half a brain would think and then avoid the fights. Comics, sigh.

Stone, the apparent villain, has a conversation with the CEO of Stark-Fujikawa and that guy knows that Stone used the Specialist for his own purposes and warns Stone that he won't forget that.

Vulture 2099 is introduced, but since I didn't really know anything about him in the 90's, I can't compare. He appears to be a man who has been experimented on, hence giving him his abilities, but those experiments also seem to have left him mentally disturbed. He's a bloody cannibal for goodness sake. I guess we'll see if he develops as a real villain or just a caricature of the character from the past.

I probably could have read the next issue right away, as it's a continuation of this story arc, but I couldn't take any more of Miggy or the “practically on speed” pace of things.

★★★☆☆