Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Friday, November 17, 2017

The Monstrumologist (The Monstrumologist #1) ★★★★☆

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Title: The Monstrumologist

Series: The Monstrumologist #1

Author: Rick Yancey

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: Horror

Pages: 452

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

12 year old Will Henry has been taken in by Dr. Pellinore Warthrop, as both his parents died in a fire and Will's father worked for Dr. Warthrop. This is his story, recorded from a series of journals written much later.

Dr. Warthrop is a monstrumologist and he makes it his life to study monsters. When a graverobber brings the corpse of a headless monster to Dr. Warthrop, events from the past begin to catch up with the present. Dr. Warthrop's father was also a monstrumologist and it turns out he was trying to domesticate the anthropophagi and brought some to America. Now they have bred and attacked and killed a family in New Jerusalem.

Dr. Warthrop brings in a professional monster hunter, Dr. Kearns and they, along with Will Henry and some former soldiers from the town of New Jerusalem must seek out and kill the nest of anthropophagi. Led by a cunning matriarch, the anthropophagi won't succumb easily. It doesn't help that Kearns appears to be an immoral killer who lives for the thrill of it. Who will live and who will die? Nobody important to the continuation of the series dies, if that's any comfort.

More importantly, are these journals true or is the old man claiming to be Will Henry just a nutcase who died alone and ungrieved?

My Thoughts:

Lovecraftian through and through. While not cosmic horror, it is horror meant to be beyond that of mortal ken. It is also written to mimic someone writing from the 1880's'ish, so if you don't like Dickens, you might have some issues with the style and pacing.

Horrific, brutal and harsh. Mentally, emotionally, physically.

Will Henry might be 12 years old, but this book is in no ways meant for a 12 year old. Blood, brain matter and gore. Warthrop is the worst sort of person, forgetting his own humanity and never recognizing it in others. He is the quintessential Mad Scientist and I hated him. Will is going to grow up with scars so deep that he'll probably end up dying while doing his duties. Much like his father, who probably died due to Warthrop's hidden experimentation.

It was really hard to read this book and enjoy it. Will is abused by Warthrop mentally and emotionally and pushed beyond his physical limits, not because Warthrop is out to hurt him,but because Warthrop is obsessed. This was a true Horror genre book to me.

It was well written and since I enjoy Lovecraft AND Dickens, the style didn't bother me one bit. In some ways it reminded me of a version of Frankenstein, but with all the gore and violence noted. I can't quite put my finger on why, but it just seemed very Frankenstein'ish to me.

I'll continue the series on but I'll be taking note of the tone of the series and adjust myself accordingly.

★★★★☆

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles #5) ★★★★☆

Series: Dune Chronicles #5

Author: Frank Herbert

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF

Pages: 484

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

1500 years have passed since Leto II, the God Emperor of Dune, has died and relaxed his iron grip on humanity. After his death came the Hard Times and the Scattering. Humanity spread out to stars beyond count. Only now, they are returning and they want control of the Old Empire. Ix has produced mechanical space navigating machines and the Tleilaxu produce the Spice by the ton from their axlotl tanks.

The Bene Gesserit are still playing their genetic game. They have been continuing the line of Duncan Idaho gholas through a connection with the Tleilaxu. They have also been keeping their hand in the Atreides gene line and their top protector, Supreme Bashar Miles Teg, is an Atreides who's mother was Bene Gesserit. She also trained Teg in the Bene Gesserit ways.

At the same time, a young girl named Sheena starts communicating with the worms. She comes under the Bene Gesserit's control and they're plan is for her and the latest Duncan Idaho to mate and have lots of little worm talkers. Things don't quite go as planned.

Honored Maitres, some of the returning forces, attack several Bene Gesserit worlds and put Sheena, Duncan and Teg all in danger. Teg is captured, levels up under torture and escapes. He rescues Duncan and eventually Sheena and they go off in a No-Ship. No-ships are invisible to guild navigators and other prescient beings.

The book ends with the Bene Gesserit planning on being conquered by the Honored Maitres and planning on subverting the Tleilaxu for their own purposes.

My Thoughts:

I was able to appreciate just how this is the beginning of a new Dune trilogy. The first, Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune all form a tight weight on one side of the see-saw. God Emperor of Dune is really the pivot point and here we begin to see the other side of the balanced weight. It is almost exciting to realize such a literary device.

There is a lot of talking going on in this book and I mean a lot. Monologuing, diatribes, half-finished sentences, blah, blah, blah. Herbert gives us all the unnecessary in excruciating detail while completely ignoring a fantastic action story. But hey, that's typical Herbert for you. In many ways, this could have been as exciting a novel as Dune with its huge scope and action scenes. Teg and Duncan are running from a planetary invasion of Honored Matres for goodness sake. Sheena is balancing between the Sisters and the Rakian Priesthood and the Bene Gesserit are dealing with Face Dancers that can mentally imprint and BECOME that person, to the point that the Face Dancer loses its own self-identity and forgets that it is a Face Dancer. Those are all completely awesome ideas.

And Frank shoves them off to the side to talk about control and sex and government and esoteric religious ideas. Don't get me started on the sex. Not graphic, but it is underlying everything. Reading my review from '12 when I last read this, it was obvious that that was what stood out to me then. This time I was able to look past it a little, but still, it is like the Spice. It is in everything, it is everywhere and you can't get away from it.

It doesn't get much more Freudian than THAT!

The main reason this gets a 4star rating and not a 4/12 or 5, is because so many of the ideas are cloaked in half-sentences and unfinished thoughts. That kind of writing infuriates me. If you have a clever idea, or a big idea, or just a plain old hum drum idea, state it! Don't hint at it, don't take an upskirt photo surreptitiously, don't hem and haw around the edges. Grab that sucker, throw it down on the bed and ravish it! As you can tell, Frank's freudian obsession with sex has overcome me and now everything I say or do will have some sort of sexual connotation.

So I'm going to end this review. Read this book ONLY if you've read the previous 4 and liked them all. Not liked them a little bit, but liked them a lot. You're going to need that “like” to get you through.

★★★★☆

Thursday, November 09, 2017

The Player of Games (The Culture #2) ★★★☆ ½

Series: The Culture #2

Author: Iain Banks

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF

Pages: 417

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Gergeh, the greatest game player, of any game in The Culture, is bored. His materialistic and hedonistic lifestyle is wearing thin and since the Culture is all about materialism and hedonism, he's in for a bad time.

Thankfully, Gergeh gets in touch with Contact, a branch of the non-government that deal with contact between The Culture and other spacefaring races. A newly contacted race is an actual Space Empire, something the Culture doesn't want around because an Empire is full of violence and dangerous ideas. Thankfully, this Empire is completely bonkers over a Game.

Gergeh is the Culture's Representative in the Game that will decide who the next Emperor will be. It is a purely symbolic gesture for Gergeh, as he cannot become Emperor. But the Empire wants to show its citizens that no outside “Culture” can tell them what to do or beat them at their own game.

Of course, Gergeh beats them all, by the skin of his teeth, sets in motion the downfall of the Empire as its very psyche is shattered and once back in Culture Space, suddenly all is well with Gergeh and he's satisfied with his inane, empty and completely meaningless life. Score one for The Culture!

My Thoughts:

First, Neal Asher's Polity Universe has been likened to Banks' The Culture novels and after reading this, I can see why. However, where Asher gives us characters who are in the thick of things and have a brain and have a modicum of moral backbone, Banks gives us characters who have been coddled since before birth and live a life of ease and pleasure so stultifying that it made me feel stupid just reading about it.

Now, onto what I really thought of this.

This is all based on the assumption of humanistic materialism. Basically, there is nothing but matter and the interactions of matter. There is no God, there is no soul, there is no afterlife, there is no Meaning. Everything is pointless drivel in the end because you just die and become somebody's snot. If I was a believer in this, I'd just go around and kill as many people as I could for the pure thrill of it and the adrenalin rush.

Gergeh, the main character, is just about at that point. But he's had all bad things removed from his genes, because obviously anything bad must have a material cause and it must be in the genes.

I was told over and over how great the Culture was, how so many advances had been made, how gene-tweaked everyone was to make them better people in all ways. And yet Gergeh is a bored, selfish, narcissistic (I like that word and use it a lot) bastard. His every thought, desire and action gives lie to what we're told about the Culture. At least Asher is a bit more honest in his Polity books about people wanting to swan off after about 300 years or so.

I was recommended this as the first Culture book to read and I'm glad I did. It was engaging and fun once Gergeh started playing the Game in the Empire, But that didn't happen until almost the 40% mark. That first 40% was a killer for me.

I plan on reading more, but if I continue to react to the rest of the books like I did this one, I probably won't last the entire series. I feel like I broke out in a bad case of “Righteous Judgement” while reading this.

Maybe I completely read this wrong and Banks is being a satirist about The Culture? But I don't get that vibe.

★★★☆ ½

Monday, November 06, 2017

Wrong Number (Oh My Goddess! #1) ★★★★☆

Series: Oh My Goddess! #1

Author: Kosuke Fujishima

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: Manga

Pages: 160

Format: Paper copy

Synopsis:

Keiichi Morisato dials the wrong number from his dorm room and ends up on the Goddess Hotline. Thinking it is a joke by his seniors, he wishes that the young woman who appears before him be his girlfriend forever. Belldandy is a real goddess and Keiichi's wish comes true. He and Bell are now part and parcel.

This leads to many hijinks, as the Ultimate Power does whatever it has to to keep them together.

Belldandy becomes a student at Nekomi Tech, where Keiichi is learning to become a mechanic/engineer/something. Suddenly, Keiichi has gone from Zero to Hero with the beautiful Belldandy at his side. Sadly, it's not all fun and games as jealously rears it head.

But between Keiichi just being a nice guy and Belldandy actually loving him and being a goddess, they'll work things out. But can Keiichi keep everyone from finding out that Bell is a goddess? And when the book ends, his little sister has just moved in with them.

My Thoughts:

This was just pure fun. It was light and fluffy and romantic and pretty much what every single guy wants to happen to him. Back in the day, this hit my romantic spot right on target, as I was short, thought I was a really nice guy and knew a couple of young ladies who I thought were goddesses.

Now, being married for just under a decade, this was still just as fun. I laughed out loud several times. Being written by a guy, about a guy, I think this will appeal to males more? It is really tough to tell though. I'd certainly recommend at least reading this book to check out if you like the over-arching idea.

The art is a little rough, but in the kind of way that gives it character and uniqueness, not in a slap-dash kind of way where it seems the manga-ka was drunk that day and couldn't be bothered. The piece I've included here is a great representative of the art style for this volume. Bell and Kei sitting on the roof of their temple/home. I'm going to try to include a sample from each volume so you can see the evolution of the art style as Fujishima grows more into his role as a mature manga-ka.

I LIKE black and white manga. It just works for me.

It is episodic. This was written chapter by chapter and released in a weekly or monthly magazine in Japan. Darkhorse just published the chapters in one book and there aren't clear dividing lines at all between chapters. In fact, there aren't chapters at all. Which can make it feel almost whiplash'y as you jump from one adventure straight into another. But hang on and you'll have a good time. A lot of info is thrown at you, such as Keiichi being at a tech school, having a sister, etc, etc, but it is never overwhelming. Belldandy is the bell of the manga and she always takes center stage.

I am really glad this was so fun.

★★★★☆

Friday, November 03, 2017

The Cygnet and the Firebird (Cygnet #2) ★★★★ ½

Series: Cygnet #2

Author: Patricia McKillip

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 315

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Taking place 2 weeks after the Sorceress and the Cygnet, we follow the continued adventures of Nyx Ro and Meguet Mervaine.

A magician invades Ro Holding looking for a hidden key of Chrisom's. Nyx and Meguet foil him. At the same time a magical firebird that turns everything to jewels and gold with its cry comes to Ro Hold. Nyx figures out it is an ensorcelled young man and in her studies he, she and Meguet all go to the land of Saphier. Where the first magician lives as well.

Saphier is ruled by the son of a magician and a dragon and he, Draken, wants ALL THE POWER. And he wants Ro Hold. It is up to Brand (the ensorcelled young man, who happens to be Draken's son), Nyx, Meguet and Rad (the first magician) to put a stop to Draken's quest to conquer all of time and space.

The dragons solve it all because the humans are annoying them.

The End.

My Thoughts:

SO MUCH BETTER THAN The Sorceress and the Cygnet. There is no Corleu. In fact, there are no stupid characters; confused, unsure and discombobulated characters, but not an idiot in sight! And that pushed this book right into traditional McKillip territory. Beautifully worded phrases, symbols and pictures with much deeper meanings, lyrical prose that you have to follow like a song. It was everything that I like about McKillip.

I found this more polished, more lyrical and more fantastical than Sorceress. Sorceress was a rough fairytale told by farmers after a tough season of haying. Firebird felt more like a courtly bard singing a story before the entire court. Obviously, with me being King Bookstooge, I prefer the latter.

I was glad to have read the duology so close together. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed Firebird so much if I didn't have the immediate taste of Sorceress still on my mental tongue.

This, along with Austen, is the kind of romance that not only can I stand but actively enjoy. It is understated but powerful, much like a current in a river. Too many authors rely on the rapids of the river for their romances and it always upsets my literary canoe and tosses me into the drink. I don't like that. But this, this is like gliding down the Mississippi on a shady day. You can't ask for much better.

★★★★ ½

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Stinger ★★★☆☆

Series: ----------

Author: Robert McCammon

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF

Pages: 542

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

2 Aliens come to the dying town of Inferno, Texas. One takes over the body of a 6 year old girl and the other takes anything it wants and turns it into a human/scorpion hybrid thingy. One is chasing the other and the whole town of Inferno is now involved.

Taking place in one night, we follow various townspeople as they do their best to survive not only the night but the threat to all of humanity that the Stinger represents. Lots of people die, the whole town has a coming together change of attitude and the good alien wins and steals the starship to go back to its planet to fight against the forces of the bad alien, who gets blown up by old dynamite.

My Thoughts:

Sadly, after my Stinger Update, there was no mindblowing'ness. This felt exactly like McCammon's The Border and while that's not bad, there was nothing in this book to make me want to read more by the author.

As much as I rant/complain/whatever about hating touchy-feeling'ness in the books I read, I still do want some characterization. In this story there were just too many people who were all focused on, hence diffusing any possible connections. And the characters that did have some page time, well, they felt very forced. The 2 young men who were leaders of their respective gangs, coming together as friends after the attack, yeah, yeah, yeah. The cowardly sheriff who overcomes his fear and while not a hero, at least isn't hiding. The airforce officer who stops the planes from shooting down the good alien right at the end and thus ending his career. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you have the good alien who takes over a 6 year old girls body and her parents.

The other thing that stood out to me was the lack of guns. Apparently, the only people who have guns are either the law enforcement officers or a crazy gang member who has a huge stash of guns along with dynamite. Nobody else has guns. IN TEXAS. That is like writing a story about the city of Boston and writing all the drivers as polite people who follow the rules of the road and are safe drivers. It just ain't so! That whole town should have been bristling with guns and that phracking alien wouldn't have known what hit it.

There was also no sense of menace, no atmosphere. Competent enough writing but nothing outstanding or great.

For all that complaining, I still enjoyed this read. The alien burrowing through the ground and snatching people and creating dopplegangers with metal teeth and stuff? That was cool. When it happens to a horse, even cooler! Then when the dopplegangers are just appendages and can turn into people sized scorpions? Awesome! Blowing it up with dynamite in its own ship? THE BEST!

With all of that, I don't think I'll be reading any more McCammon. Neither of the 2 books of his that I have now read make me want to read any more. If I had no tbr and that is all the library had, then I'd dive right in. But I have a huge tbr and hundreds of books I WANT to read. “Ok” just doesn't cut it in that situation.

I think these cover variations show rather well my feelings on this book:

What I was expecting

What I actually read

★★★☆☆

Monday, October 30, 2017

The Sorceress and the Cygnet (Cygnet #1) ★★★☆ ½

Series: Cygnet #1

Author: Patricia McKillip

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 235

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Corleu, a wayfolk man, gets lost with his love in a fog. He escapes, only to find it was all a setup by powerful characters from what he assumed was only folklore. The Gold King, the Blind Dancer, the Fire Bear, the Warlock and others all promise Corleu the return of his love and any wish he desires if he'll only find and deliver the heart of the Cygnet to them.

Nyx Ro has spent the last 9 years running from her responsibilities as Holders Daughter and gone far and wide across the land, learning more of magic than anyone even knew existed. Her Hold, symbolized by the Cygnet, is now in danger and Nyx must decide what she'll do. What she does is teach Corleu the magic he'll need, for she desires the power of the heart for herself.

Meguet Vervaine, sworn champion of Hold Ro, is without magic but she won't let that stop her from stopping Corleu OR Nyx. Only it turns out she isn't without magic, but filled with a different kind of magic, one to protect the Cygnet.

Everyone comes together in one climactic showdown, where it turns out that the Fairytale Powers were there simply to show Nyx her way, to awaken the powers within Meguet and to show Corleu his roots.

The book ends with them all eating cake and singing kumbaya around a campfire. That's me being a smartass, not how the book really ends. Just in case you couldn't tell.

My Thoughts:

When I first read the Cygnet Duology in '07 I was particularly annoyed with Corleu for being a muzzy headed muckerhead. That hasn't changed one bit in 10 years. I still found him just as annoying and stupid this time around as I did last time. I don't know if it is because I'm pigheaded or my Yankeeness or what, but if someone starts trying to manipulate me, my reaction is to just stop. There are consequences to that kind of in/action, but I just put my feet down. Corleu, and like characters, tend to float along like dandelion seeds being blown hither and yon, simply reacting to the threat right in front of them without thinking about what it means or anything. That always sets me off.

Thankfully, Corleu isn't the focus for the whole book. He's the focus for the first third, then Nyx gets her third and then Meguet gets her turn.

I have to admit that I skimmed some of this and I know that when you do that to a McKillip book you miss out on details. Basically by the end I still had NO clue why the Constellations all ganged up against the Cygnet or what they actually accomplished. I felt a bit like a muzzy headed muckerhead myself to be honest. Definitely a book I want to re-read again in the future to try to tease out the real meaning hidden in all the words.

This is not a McKillip book I would broadly recommend to just anyone. If you've read all her other stuff, then try this. But don't start with this, not at all.

★★★☆ ½

The Cygnet Duology (2007 Review)

Saturday, October 28, 2017

The Scarab Path (Shadows of the Apt #5) ★★★★ ½

Series: Shadows of the Apt #5

Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 721

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The Lowlands are not at war but Stenwold knows that won't last. In an effort to help Che get over the death of her lover Acheaos and to fulfill his mission of finding new allies, Cheerwell is sent as an ambassador to the near mythical city of Khanaphes, where a small Collegium delegation has been studying their history. When Che finds out that the whole city is supposedly Inapt, she jumps at the chance, figuring she can find a way to fix her own Inaptness.

Thalric, now Regent and forced lover of Seda the Wasp Empress, finds himself the target of high level assassination attempts. He is also being drawn deeper and deeper into the Empress's bloody magical rituals and it is destroying his soul. The Empire is trying to co-opt the natural enemies of Knanaphes and Thalric jumps at the chance to get away from the Empress and figures he'll be safe from assassins as well. Thalric is given the ambassadorship and he believes he is trying to find allies in Khanaphes, not knowing that the Rekef are working with the Many of Nem, scorpion kinden, to destroy Khanaphes.

Totho the halfbreed, after rebelling from the Empire and running off with Drephos, has started his own Arms Dealer company called the Iron Glove. He is in Khanaphes to expand his market but everything takes a back seat when he finds out Che AND Thalric are in the city. He ends up fighting for the city and eventually realizes that Che will just never be his.

Everyone meets up in Khanaphes and nothing goes according to anybody's plans. The beetles are not Inapt, the Collegium delegation from before is either dead or mad, Thalric is still being hunted and no one can believe that the Scorpion horde attack will be any different from all the previous times.

Che and Thalric hook up for mutual survival, awake the Masters of Khanaphes [the Slug kinden, the original masters of magic], save Khanaphes, find out that Che is being haunted by Tisamon's ghost and then they both go chasing after said ghost when it is freed from its ties to Che and begins to hunt for its daughter Tynisia.

My Thoughts:

Every time I go into this Shadows of the Apt re-read, I wonder if the book will be as good as I remember from my previous read. So far, every book has been as good, if not better, than the original read. This was one of the better times.

My only complaint was Che. She can be a real Debby Downer and at times is just frozen with self-doubt, recriminations and fear. It is awkward to read about and rather embarrasing actually. But she's not that way ALL the time and most of the time I liked reading about her. But that is the only reason I knocked a halfstar off, other than that, this would have been a 5star read.

Tchaikovsky can write! I know I say that in these reviews, but I just sat back half way through this book and thought about it. He has talent and it's obvious he's worked hard as well. The combination of hardwork, practice and talent make for a fantastic book, or series in this case. It isn't just that he can follow the rules of grammar, etc, but he knows how to use his words outside of the written rules. It is kind of like watching a true martial artist. They can take any formalized move in their art and turn it into a thing of beauty just by executing it.

I liked the story this time around, a lot. It is really interesting how the Apt races want to not only turn their backs on magic but pretend it never existed. With Che being Inapt now, she must learn to do away with that attitude. It separates her from so many people, because they don't believe it and she can't explain it. The Battle for Khanaphes was awesome! The Khanaphir were just not ready for modern warfare and it was only thanks to Totho and his Iron Glove associates that the city even stood a chance. But even that wasn't enough and it was only through the magic of the Slug Kinden that Khanaphes survived. But even then, they aren't a very nice Kinden, very much an old Master Race of Inapt magicians. But no worries, they just go back to sleep, like the sluggards they are.

Finally, I enjoyed how Tisamon has gone from a hero, albeit, a somewhat broken one, to a ghost who will do anything and use anyone to further its aims. I know he plays more of a part in later books, but right now, I can't really remember how and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works out.

Completely recommended, but definitely part of a series. Start at the beginning and enjoy!

★★★★ ½

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Encounters (Mobile Suit Gundam: The ORIGIN #12) ★★★★ ½

Series: Mobile Suit Gundam: The ORIGIN #12

Author & Artist: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Manga

Pages: 400

Format: Hardcover

Synopsis:

Amura and Char continue and finish their fight. Char ends up taking a rocket launcher and blowing up the spaceship which Kycillia is on, thus completely destroying House Zabi and the leadership of Zeon. Everyone gets out safely and a bunch of the kids exhibit newtype mental powers, ie, they have a connection with Amuro while he's escaping. The main story ends at page 160.

What follows for the next 100+ pages are 3 smaller stories. One taking place in the past, with the birth of Char. One after the peace agreement between the Federation and Zeon in which Sayla is almost abducted to be used by Zeon loyalists as a new rallying point. The final story is of one of Amuro's friends being engaged to Fraw and begging Amuro to not take her away from him. Amuro realizes all his ties to the past are now cut and decides to go back to space and begin the work of helping humans, spacenoids, earthers, newtypes and oldtypes to all get along as one united family. Thus ends the ORIGIN manga.

Then there are 10-20 pages of interviews with various people involved in the manga. I skipped those, as I didn't care one bit.

My Thoughts:

First, it's been over 18months since I read the previous volume. Way back in March of 2016. I think I stopped because the library didn't have this final volume yet and I was slowly buying them. So they sat on my shelf. But now I've read the whole series and I have to say, Good Stuff to the series as a whole.

This ending volume got bumped down a 1/2star because of the pie in the sky utopian idealism exhibited in the storyline. I know that is the foundation for the Gundam franchise, starting with the original series back in 1979 but to see it so plainly stated here kind of made me cringe. The underpinning of it all is that Newtypes won't have war because they can understand each other through their shared mental connections. It is based on the idea that Man is basically good. Sadly, as a Christian, I know that isn't the case.

When the story ended at the 160 page mark, I was kind of shocked. I was barely over half way through the book and bam, the main story is done. Thankfully, the 3 other stories fill in a good bit. The prequel story about Char's birth I was really “meh” about, as I didn't care about the past. But the other 2 stories that took place after the ending, they were good wrap ups. Pretty much an Epilogue and I was satisfied with the story closing on them.

I think I would have enjoyed this final volume a little more if so much time hadn't elapsed since my last read. The tension, the impact, the “what will happen” feeling, that were all building up in the previous 11 volumes had gone. Kind of like a bicycle tire that has sat in the garage for 18months. Whenever I re-read this in the future, I'll definitely make sure to read the whole series at a regular pace and I hope that would make a difference.

Once again, I would have bought these even if I hated the story just for the quality of the books themselves. The hardcovers are sturdy and the pictures on them are fantastic. The paper itself is a joy to turn. It is heavy and glossy and it was made to be felt as you turned the pages. The color artwork mixed in with the regular black and white was balanced perfectly. I never felt thrown when it switched from one to the other. I also liked that this was oversized and so could see the detail of the artwork better. This was not your typical manga sized released. This was a very high quality release and I'm glad I've got them.

I recommend this for the story, as the Gundam franchise is so quintessentially “manga/anime” and I recommend the books from an artistic viewpoint as well. It is always good to have a high quality production to judge everything else by. They are expensive though. MRSP is $30 and some volumes are as low as $20 but still, you're looking at a couple hundred of dollars. That is an investment. Borrow them and if you are as smitten as I was, then starting buying a book at a time.

★★★★ ½

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Sackett (Sacketts #8) ★★★☆ ½

Series: Sacketts #8

Author: Louis L'Amour

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Western

Pages: 160

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

William “Tell” Sackett decides that since his younger brothers are so successful that he needs to do something important too. So he finds a hidden valley with a gold mine and a beautiful lost woman.

Gets hunted by golddiggers, some gunslingers out for revenge for their dead brother and a banker. Now THAT is scary! Just imagine the banker from The Bank of Evil in Despicable Me.

The beautiful woman rejects him because he's such a “savage killer”. Then he rescues her again, kills most of the badguys, gets shot and hooks up with the beautiful woman, who sees the error of her liberal, big city, gun hating ways.

Oh, if only more stories had that kind of happy ending.

My Thoughts:

Besides Ride the River, this was the most enjoyable Sackett story yet. It is also one of the simplest and straight forward ones as well. As well as eye rollingly western tropish. But that is WHY you read L'Amour.

When I married Mrs Bookstooge, if I had known that all I needed to do to get her to agree to me owning a gun was rescue her from a mountain, in a blizzard while being chased by desperadoes, well, that would have totally changed the equation. And doing it while carrying a wounded man who had tried to kill me? Psshawwww! But obviously, real life isn't that simple. I had to prove to her that her wishes came first for 9 years.

Honestly, I don't think that Tell Sackett was as big a man as me! I'd like to see him put up with some of the people I have. Of course, he'd probably just shoot them and have done. Ahh, the good old days

* huge grin *

★★★☆ ½