Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Human Factor (Omega Force #8) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Human Factor

Series: Omega Force #8

Author: Joshua Dalzelle

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF

Pages: 250

Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Jason and Omega Force are back and on track. Only to get pushed off a cliff when they find out that human bounty hunters are looking for Jason.

Humanity has allied itself with a little known species and has been given the slipdrive and a new planet. All the aliens want in return is the old drive from the ship that Burke destroyed in Savage Homecoming. This is all being done in secret with only a select few knowing about the wheeling and dealing. One of those select few cuts her own deal with the aliens, takes over the colony planet and strongarms Earth into making her its ruler.

Now it is up to Jason, with no help, to save Earth again. Of course, one of the girls saves his bacon. But is it the former military captain who is now an Admiral, or the Pretty Pretty Princess? The mystery, the enchantment, the romance of it all!

By the end of the book Earth and everyone on it now knows they are a 1bit player on a very large stage.

My Thoughts:

The Galactic Princess girl from the previous book is pretty much dismissed. Kellea saves Earth but only because Lucky writes her a note telling her that Jason still loves her. Come on, a fracking battle robot has better relationship skills than these 2 humanoids? I don't like relational drama in my books. Jason is still acting like an 18 year old boy instead of the man he is. For all that the Princess was the focus of the previous book, I also didn't like how she was just shelved when it wasn't convenient for her to be around. It felt VERY heavy handed by the author especially after how she was so played up before.

Other than that, I really enjoyed the rest of the book. Probably one of the best Omega Force books so far. There is so much potential here and it's really only limited by the author's imagination. I hope he's up to the task of thinking of new, cool storylines and doesn't fumble and turn this into one of those “it's obvious the author has no idea what to write so he just threw some stuff onto the wall to see what sticks” kind of things.

Writing relationships is definitely not Dalzelle's strongpoint and I hope that he either does a lot of practice and gets better or just leaves it alone in future books. If he can avoid making “relationships” a prop in his stories, he'll probably be ok.

★★★☆☆

Monday, December 18, 2017

Final Exam (Oh My Goddess! #3) ★★★★☆ (Manga Monday)

Series: Oh My Goddess! #3

Author: Kosuke Fujishima

Rating: 4 of 5 Stars

Genre: Manga

Pages: 152

Format: Paper edition

Synopsis:

Various chapter stories usually with comedic overtones. Belldandy is crowned Queen of Nekomi Tech. Belldandy and Kei go on a date only to have it ruined by Urd and Sayoko. Megumi invites the motor club over and Urd has them play a magical game of Life.Kei has to take exams but ends up with a brainless double that gets dressed up like a girl taking it for him. Finally, Sayoko's cousin attends the Tech and tries to make moves on Belldandy with rather predictable results.

My Thoughts:

This was a very humorous volume. What stood out to me was the dinner date between Kei and Bell where both Sayoko AND Urd interfere. Sayoko to try to steal Kei from Bell. Ok, an aside here. I still don't understand why Sayoko is SO determined to steal Kei. It makes for a great ongoing plot point but I really do have to turn my brain off to accept it. Urd interferes because she's on a mission to get Kei and Bell together conjugally. And yes, conjugally is a real word, I looked it up to make sure! So, during this dinner date Sayoko is trying to be a third wheel and Urd sees it. Urd enchants a roasted turkey to life and it jumps off the serving cart and begins running at and attacking Sayoko. I just about died laughing.

Of course, things aren't quite so funny when Sayoko's sleazy cousin shows up and tries to force Belldandy to abandon Kei and be his girlfriend. It had real stalker/rape vibes and while it was shown as something bad, the fact that a character was acting like this at all was a reminder that I was reading something from almost 30 years ago. I don't remember this type of thing being an ongoing issue in future volumes but I'll definitely be more aware of it now.

On to the art!

This is a very simple and clean piece of art but at the same time it really expresses everything I like about Belldandy. It's obvious she's no ordinary girl, as evinced by her sitting on top of a power pole. At the same time her femininity is in no way compromised. The long flowing hair, the simple shoes, the dress with the sash and apron, the small smile. It all comes together to show a beautiful woman who is extraordinary but not a sexpot. I think that Fujishima did an excellent job of creating beauty without salaciousness. * thumbs up *

★★★★☆

Previous Oh My Goddess! Volumes

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Pines (Wayward Pines #1) ★★★☆½

Series: Wayward Pines #1

Author: Blake Crouch

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF, Thriller

Pages: 315

Format: Digital edition

* SPOILERS *

I am usually not one to worry about spoilers in my reviews. However, this book is predicated on the tension created by the main character, and hence the reader, not knowing what is going on. So read further at your own risk. I'll make the last paragraph a quick summary of how I felt about the book without any spoilers so you can have something to read if you're worried about spoilers.

Synopsis:

Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke wakes up next to a river. He stumbles into town, apparently called Wayward Pines, without much memory of anything. He is taken back to a hospital where it is revealed to him that he and his partner were hit by a mack truck and he left the hospital without permission. Little things aren't adding up though and Ethan's inner self keeps warning him.

Alone, with no money, no weapons, no vehicle, no way to contact his superiors, Ethan must survive whatever is going on at Wayward Pines. He does remember that he was tracking down some other secret service agents who disappeared after investigating Wayward Pines.

When he comes across his ex-partner, who is now inexplicably aged 30 years and runs into another woman claiming to be from the 1980's, Ethan is completely confounded. Then when it becomes obvious that the road doesn't lead out of the town and all the ways out on foot are fenced off, Ethan knows SOMETHING isn't right.

Ethan finally escapes, only to fall into the hands of David Pilcher, a super rich, super smart genius who has predicted the end of humanity due to gene and environmental failure. Pilcher has setup Wayward Pines as the last bastion of Humanity and it is now 1000 years since Ethan walked the earth. Humanity is no more and what humanity became, brutal carnivores that were intelligent but without enough intelligence to build a civilization, now roams the desolate earth. Pilcher deep froze his 1000 chosen in the hopes of restarting humanity and by the end of the book Ethan chooses to become his right hand man and enforcer.

My Thoughts:

My very first thought when starting this was that Ethan was doing some sort of cross reality transfer between blackouts, much like the main character in Ted Dekker's The Circle series. Something was obviously off, but I had no idea what. After the second time when Ethan pulls some bone headed, gut reaction, thing, I just decided that I wasn't going to figure out what was going on and to let Crouch chauffeur me to the end of the book, like he was going to do no matter what I wanted.

It was a very frustrating experience but not at all bad. It was meant to be frustrating and I felt so much sympathy for Ethan even while yelling at him in my head. He didn't know what was going on and I had no idea what was going on, so I couldn't even call him on being stupid. And he really does some stupid things. For a former military vet AND a secret service agent, he didn't strike me as aggressive enough or willing to do what was necessary. Now, he's injured and without money or much clothing, so some of it is understandable. But if you wake up in a town where other Secret Service agents have disappeared and even the sheriff is acting weird, you steal some clothes, some money, a car and get out. And when the road loops back and you're weirded out, head out cross country on foot, but BE PREPARED! It wasn't until he was being chased by the blood thirsty mob of townsfolk that he really started showing his qualities as a vet and agent.

The revelations by Pilcher about his Frozen Chosen [hahaha] and the state of the Earth was really interesting. Of course, Crouch's assertion that humanity would e/devolve into some kind of super predator is so much bs that I knocked a star off just for that. For frack's sake, genes don't work that way. If there was a breakdown in the gene code, you'd simply have a massive die off of humanity. I'm a diabetic being kept alive by 1^st world tech, so I fracking know. Genes breaking down would lead to massive deaths at births and any that survived would be crippled in body and or mind and would be killed off by nature in one form or another. It would NOT turn us into super predators that could survive the conditions. But with all of that, I have to wonder where the next 2 books are going to go? How do you fight a whole world over run by creatures like that?

Overall, I enjoyed my read of this; much better than his blankety blank Dark Matter and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the trilogy as I have no idea what those 2 books could possibly contain.

★★★☆½

Saturday, December 16, 2017

The Heretic's Apprentice (Brother Cadfael #16) ★★★☆☆

Series: Brother Cadfael #16

Author: Ellis Peters

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 256

Format: Digital edition

Synopsis:

A young man returns with his dead master from their journey to the Holy Land. There is some question about whether said master can be buried at the Abbey due to some of his statements said many years ago. All is resolved.

However, a jealous man then accuses the young man of heresy so as to get him out of the way of a job. When said jealous man turns up dead, things don't look good for the young man. Throw in a young woman, a dowry, an Abbot that toes the Church line completely and you have a recipe for a mystery.

Cadfael and Hugh solve the murder mystery side of things and Ellis Peters gets to view her theological views using various Abbots, Bishops, whatevers. If we could only all get along, then it wouldn't matter what we believe or the words we use to express said beliefs. (My synopsis of Peters' views which I vehemently disagree with)

My Thoughts:

Every once in a while I am reminded that I am reading about a Catholic monk in the 1100's. As such, the views expressed by various characters can run very counter to my staunch Protestant beliefs. But it makes for a very interesting read instead of just a dull murder mystery. The biggest thing that I enjoyed seeing was how the characters referenced Scripture very rarely and various Church Fathers quite a lot. You can believe in almost anything if you just go with what men have written ABOUT the Bible instead of reading it for yourself. But even that idea goes against everything that the Catholic Church calls orthodoxy. Thank God I'm a protestant.

The whole mystery part was rather blasé to be honest. The man we're supposed to think is the main culprit practically has neon signs pointing at him, so I knew it couldn't possibly be him even while having no other options. I'm not the kind of reader that tries to figure the mystery out before the main character. Besides, arrogant jackasses like Poirot withhold information, so what's the use? I'm just along for the ride.

On a completely non-review note, I've begun using “series” tags on Wordpress. I have to admit, I never understood why people did that before, but now that I'm thinking of organizing my WP site to be more user/link/post friendly, I understand. I LOVE how my reviewing style keeps on changing to meet various wants and needs. Still not going to see me on twitter or facebook though.

★★★☆☆

Brother Cadfael 1-15

Friday, December 15, 2017

With Mercy Towards None (The Dread Empire: A Fortress in Shadow #2) ★★★☆½

Series: The Dread Empire: A Fortress in Shadow #2

Author: Glen Cook

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 268

Format: Digital edition

Synopsis:

The El Murid Wars that are referenced in the Cruel Wind trilogy.

These are a series of wars between El Murid and his captains and the northern kingdoms, not just against Haroun and his guerilla warfare group. A tide of warfare that sweeps in first one direction and then another.

Each side seems to be on the cusp of victory when something happens to reverse their fortunates. Talented generals die, politics interfere, etc, etc, etc.

We are also introduced to a young Mocker and see his rise and how he becomes intertwined with Ragnarson. We also see how Ragnarson goes from a mercenary recruit to a leader of his own mercenary group.

My Thoughts:

When I was reading the Cruel Wind trilogy I remarked how I felt that I was missing out because the characters were referring to certain incidents that we the reader had no idea about. Well, this A Fortress in Shadow duology answers all of those questions.

Glancing through other reviews, I've seen the word “sweeping history” used a lot and I have to admit, that is probably the best way to describe this book. At some points we get right down and dirty with the characters, seeing how they think, seeing events that shape their thinking and then we'll suddenly zoom out and 2 huge battles that reverse the course of everything get 2 paragraphs. Cook is following a small group of individuals and really walks that line of showing their individual story within the context of the larger scope of all that is going on.

In many ways, it seems that Steven Erikson and his whole Malazan world is modeled more on this Dread Empire series than on Cook's Black Company. By modeled on, I actually mean “wholesale lifted from”. I don't know that I have seen so many ideas and plot points and characters and working out of things used so much so similarly. Of course, it could be that I'm just starting to get enough books under my belt to finally notice the cyclical nature of writing from one generation to another. Which wouldn't be cool as I'd have to become an even more jaded, cynical and grouchy old coot to handle it.

The writing wasn't quite as rough as the previous books but it was by no means a smooth vanilla coke zero.

★★★☆½

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Vanguard (Genesis Fleet #1) ★★★☆☆

Series: Genesis Fleet #1

Author: Jack Campbell

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF

Pages: 333

Format: Digital edition

Synopsis:

Humanity is expanding to the stars and old Earth and the original Colonies are tired and are inward looking. Anyone with a dream can go forth. And so can anyone looking to fleece said dreamers.

This is the story of how the civilization we came to know in Campbell's Lost Fleet series came into being.

A Geary is on Glenlyon and forced to protect it, understaffed and undercut by the very politicians who placed the burden on his shoulders. He must defend his planet from another star system that wants to claim jump and take over. He must also make an Alliance [yes, the beginning of THE Alliance] with another star system for mutual benefit and protection.

Mele Darcy is a former Earth Marine who is tasked with protecting Glenlyon on the ground. With a volunteer force, she must take over the enemies base and stop their incursion before it is too late.

Both are successful. And at the end of the book, given their hat, a pat on the shoulder and a “thank you but we no longer need your services” speech from the damnable politicians whose asses they just saved.

My Thoughts:

I actually had to put this down at one point because I was so pissed off at the politicians in the book AND the main characters. Campbell, a former military man, is very big on having his good characters play by the rules even when others are doing everything to bend or break those rules. Intended or not, it has always come across to me as “the rules are the rules so we keep them because they are rules” and not because of any deeper meaning BEHIND the rules. Laws are simply social constructs and outside of a few moral laws, I consider laws to be neither inherently good or evil. So when one group dismisses the laws, that contract is now null and void between me and them.

Example: Shooting someone is illegal. But if someone breaks into my place, they have broken that compact and I have every right to pull out my shotgun and shoot them. If I see someone breaking a window into my place and I yell out, “Hey, get the heck out of here” and they don't leave, I have the right to shoot them.

Campbell argues, through his characters, that you don't have the right to shoot them UNTIL they are fully in your house and pawing through your underwear drawer.

Obviously I am being a bit hyperbolic there, but it gets my point across. It makes for very ethical characters which is nice to read about but it can also be incredibly frustrating if your philosophy is different. I am a huge home defense advocate and am unabashedly an American Nationalist and should things ever go into space, I'd be a planetist :-) But that's another discussion.

There was just as much ground pounder action as there was space fighting and I really enjoyed that. Campbell can write some engaging battles and it is fun to read. I'll be reading the rest of the series as they come out but I don't think I'll be buying these. I've bought all the Lost Fleet, Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier and Lost Stars books but this one, it wasn't good enough to buy.

I'm not sure if coming into this new or having the whole Lost Fleet under your belt would be better. I suspect having all of his previous books would make this a better read, as you're invested in characters whose ancestors you're now reading about in the Genesis Fleet books.

★★★☆☆

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

The Sundering (Dread Empires Fall #2) ★★★☆☆

Series: Dread Empires Fall #2

Author: Walter Jon Williams

Rating: 3 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF

Pages: 454

Format: Digital edition

Synopsis:

Plucky young hero, Gareth Martinez, wins battles against the horrible Naxids using unthought of tactics using “mathz”.His terrible older brother schemes to make lots of money and gain power.

Plucky young heroine, Caroline Sula, who is really a street rat, wants to marry Gareth. Gareth wants to marry her. But the damnable Gene Checking Office kills her dreams like a fly. In fear and distress, Sula spurns Gareth only to have Gareth's older brother (the power hungry one, in case you missed it) arrange a marriage for Gareth with a beautiful woman from a powerful, but poor, Clan house. Sula, with broken heart, joins the French Foriegn Legion, to forget her troubles. Well, she actually joins the newly birthed anti-Naxid force, to oppose them when they take over the capital world.

The Drama. The Pathos. Find out what happens to them both in our next episode of General Dread Empire Hospital!

My Thoughts:

Pure Space (Soap) Opera.

I've read enough Jack Campbell Lost Fleet books to know that new tactics against stodgy old tactics almost always means insta-victory. There is nothing wrong with that as long as that is all you want. Because that is all you're going to get with this book. Gareth is not a genius, he's just trying out new things against people who aren't used to new things. In 5 to 10 years everybody will be trying out new things and seeing what works and writing new military engagement doctrines.

Sula brought this book down for me. Her knee-jerk reaction to Gareth's proposal and revelation that they'd have to have a gene check wasn't enjoyable to read about. The parts of the story where she's fighting the Naxid as they take control of the capital planet was much better and I wish there had been a lot more focus on that.

Overall, this was pretty decent. Nothing great, nothing inspired but also nothing terrible. If you're craving Space Opera, I'd recommend this to scratch that itch.

★★★☆☆

The Praxis (Book 1)

Saturday, December 09, 2017

Light (Kefahuchi Tract #1) ★☆☆☆☆

Series: Kefahuchi Tract #1

Author: M. John Harrison

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars

Genre: SF

Pages: 432

Format: Digital edition

Synopsis:

So much purposeful distortion that I'm not even going to bother to try to put up a synopsis. Trash like this isn't worth it.

My Thoughts:

I wasted my time reading this bloody piece of bolluxy crap.

The author is a clever fellow. You can tell because he's always having his characters do drugs, have sex and vomit. Nothing speaks more cleverly than multiple times of vomiting. Even as I'm typing I'm vomiting, on the floor, so that this review will be so much more cleverer.

I was expecting a real SF story. What I got was some pretentious wanker's drug induced hallucinogenic anal excretions.

This is the kind of writing that I would expect a brainless Oscar/Emmy/Whatever Winner to nod sagely about and say something along the lines of * insert typical hollywood soundbyte blather * or some Literati to talk about its 77 different layered meanings to each of us. In other words, total bs.

To close, this book brought me close to Patrick Rothfuss levels of rage.

★☆☆☆☆

Friday, December 08, 2017

Orb Sceptre Throne (Malazan Empire #4) ★★★★½

^{This
review is written with a GPL 4.0 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 WordPress, Blogspot, Librarything & by
Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission}
Title: Orb Sceptre Throne

Series: Malazan Empire #4

Author: Ian Esslemont

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 850

Format: Digital edition

Synopsis:

A golden mask is uncovered in the plains outside of Darujhistan. It belongs to the spirit that raises Tyrants up again and again. This time it calls the Segulah into its service. They and the Moranth, ancient enemies, duke it out until the Segulah are freed from the Golden Mask's domination, then they go back to their little Island Nation.

Kiska and Leoman of the Flails are in limbo, looking for Tayschrenn. They find him, restore his memories to him and they all return to do whatever hidden thingamajig Tayschrenn wants to do.

Also deals with various characters attempting to loot the fallen Moonspawn, all hoping to find the Throne of Night.

Plus about 6 other smaller threads dealing with such characters as Coll, Kalam, Baruk, Kruppe and others that we were introduced to way back in Gardens of the Moon.

My Thoughts:

When I initially read this back in 2012, I was not impressed at all. I still hadn't gotten that Erikson and Esslemont created bigger than life mythos for their characters, whether individuals or as a people, just so they could tear them down. So my thoughts regarding the Segulah were that they were the Pristine Warrior Culture; those thoughts were not only dashed, they were trampled into the dust on my first read and my rating and review reflected that.

This time around, what a difference. I didn't have those misconceptions about the Segulah and so their story didn't bother me. The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that there were just so many story threads going on. Some of those threads had nothing whatsoever to do with this book, ie, Kiska, Leoman and Tayschrenn but simply pushed an overarching story forward. I don't care for that. Other than that, I was pleased as punch.

It was sad to see characters from Gardens of the Moon becoming old or giving up in spirit. Coll turning into an old, wine addicted, fat counselor was especially sad. Baruk's subsumption by a demon seemed very cruel, considering how much he'd sacrificed for his city. And yet that is what happens to old heroes. They fail and a new generation must step up.

While I complained about the multiplicity of threads, they were tightly woven together and even the thread about Tayschrenn didn't detract from overall affect. It really was one story being told even if it took awhile for them all to get tied together.

This book is why I like to re-read things. My mind was completely changed from last time and I went from almost hating this book to really loving it. Most of that change was on my end and my perspective and expectations. 17 years of reviewing and I still marvel at how our expectations can shape how we react to a book. I was semi-dreading this re-read but it turned into a jewel instead.

Pretty satisfied this time around.

★★★★½

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

Prodigal Son (Frankenstein #1) ★★★☆½

Series: Frankenstein #1

Author: Dean Koontz

Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Pages: 498

Format: Digital edition

Synopsis:

Deucalion, otherwise known as Frankenstein's Monster, has been hanging out at some Zen Buddhist Monk Temple Mountain Retreat kind of place. But when Victor Frankenstein, now known as Victor Helios, appears on the scene, Deucalion knows that Victor is continuing his attempts to create a new breed of humanity and replace the old with the new.

At the same time, a mass murderer has appeared and this gets the New Orleans PD involved. Carson O'Connor, the sole caretaker of her younger autistic brother, is partnered up with Michael Maddison. They are the chief detectives and their goal is to bring this scumbag to justice.

Both of these events overlap. Can Deucalion put a stop to Victor's plan to exterminate humanity and can Carson find a killer who kills for the perfect body part? One of these gets answered and the other will take the rest of the series to answer.

My Thoughts:

I would classify this as an urban fantasy police procedural.

Deucalion's part is much smaller than I had hoped. He starts the ball rolling but then just kind of disappears. Koontz writes at the beginning that he started this whole project for a tv show and it really shows. When things moved over to Carson and the serial murderer side of things, I felt like I was reading a detective murder tv show.

In many ways I felt like this had the supernatural side of things that was missing from Koontz's Odd Thomas series. Victor Helios is truly one scary guy and while he's supposedly dabbling in super science, it really comes across as “magic”. Victor is cruel, intelligent, ruthless and so dedicated to his view of Materialism that it blinds him to anything else. This introduces certain flaws into his character and weakness that can be exploited.

There is a much longer story arc going on. I liked that the serial murder case was solved. It gave a good ending so I felt like I had actually finished a book. Yet the arc dealing with Victor and his plans to overthrow humanity seems big enough to fill the rest of the series with no problem.

I enjoyed my time reading this and look forward to the rest of the series. This is my second foray into Koontz territory and so far I'm pretty pleased. I always thought of him as second rate Stephen King horror wannabe but these books are showing me just how wrong I was. He's writing some good thrillers.

★★★☆½

Odd Thomas Novels