Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Monday, August 13, 2018

Worst Contact ★★★☆☆

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Title: Worst Contact
Series: ----------
Author: Hank Davis - Editor
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 384
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A collection of short stories about First Contact between Humanity and Aliens. Ranging from the humorous to the droll to threatening to the downright ironically twisted, this collection just about covers it all.

My Thoughts:

Overall, this was a good collection of short stories. I do like collections like this because you can read one or two, walk away for a day, come back the next day and not need to have remembered anything. Each story is self-contained.

The reason this didn't get 4 stars from me is because the Editor, Hank Davis, has his own little blurb before each story. Mainly a ultra-mini biography or bibliography about the author of the story. I found they interrupted the flow of my reading and I really didn't enjoy them. Also, there were 2 or 3 where he talks about the authors political leanings and without fail they were very liberal to the outright Communist. I felt like he was singling them out for special attention as no other political affiliation was mentioned for other authors. If I want to hear the praises of the Left sung, I'll go read something about Barack Obama. Keep that stuff OUT of my SF please and thank you.

The humor, both wacky, ironic and menacing, all worked for me. Vaguely threatening is fantastic when it is pulled off correctly. Things get a little dated with some of the stories when ever “tech” is used. I remember one story talking about translating video being the easiest because pictures are “universal.” Anyone who uses digital video today and has to encode their own bluray/dvd's and runs into different codex compatibility issues knows that “universal” is a crock of rotten milk. 50 years is a long time in terms of technology * wink *

I definitely would have enjoyed this more if the Editor hadn't stuck his oar in on each story, but then, if he doesn't, how is anyone supposed to know how great and smart he is? So depending on how you feel about editorial things, that might not be an issue at all for you.

★★★☆☆

Friday, August 10, 2018

Heir of Sea and Fire (Riddlemaster #2) ★★★★☆

Title: Heir of Sea and Fire
Series: Riddlemaster #2
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 215
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Raederle, the woman betrothed to Morgan, sets out to find him as he has gone missing. She hooks up with some others, one of them being Morgan's younger sister and sails all over. Morgan has thoroughly disappeared though and the landheir power has been passed on to his brother. This usually means the original holder of said power is dead and almost everyone but Raederle believes Morgan to be dead.

Part way through Morgan is revealed to be alive and chasing after the Bard who betrayed him AND that the wizard Ohm has been masquerading as The One (the magical master of the whole land). Raederle must convince Morgan to not take his vengeance against the Bard as it will destroy who Morgan is.

Raederle also comes into powers of her own. She finds out that one of her ancestors was a shapeshifter from the sea and this blood has bestowed peculiar power to her. Considering that the shapeshifters were doing their best to kill Morgan in the previous book, Raederle isn't sure how Morgan is going to act when he finds out his betrothed belongs to those who wanted him dead.

The book ends with a showdown between the dead of Hel, controlled by Raederle and the Bard and Morgan. Morgan is convinced to show mercy and then he and Raederle set out to track down Ohm and get some answers for all the mysteries going on.

My Thoughts:

While I am giving this 4stars this time, I completely understand myself for giving it 2 stars back in '07. This was trying to tell a fantasy story that needed a trilogy and McKillip kept going between fantasy writerstyle of the day and her own style of lyrical prose. It makes for an unsettling read as at one point you'll have everything spelled out for you and then 10 pages later some monumental revelation is made as an aside in some oblique reference to some myth.

That was the weakness of this book and I am not sure that it can truly overcome that weakness. It's the same problem I had with Riddlemaster of Hed and the main reason I wouldn't recommend these as starter books for someone looking to get into McKillip.

Now that being said, since I have already read almost everything of McKillip's and am currently re-reading everything, I can appreciate this book for its strengths.

This borrows heavily from Welsh/Welch (love that grapejuice by the way!) myth with the lands of Hel, Awn, etc and the unsettled dead and magic held by the lands rulers. If you've ever read The Prydain Chronicles by Llloyd Alexander, you'll recognize a lot of the places and situations McKillip uses in this book. I think having that pre-existing knowledge will help a lot in understanding just what is going on, since there is so much happening without being spelled out. McKillip was writing for a well-read audience and I think a more modern audience will miss out on a lot of references, references that make this a much fuller, richer story.

Raederle was a great character. She wasn't pie in the eye in love with Morgan, since she had only known him as a friend growing up. But since he was her betrothed, she was going to find out what happened to him. It showed a core of steel in her character. That showed her as strong but not some kickass heroine where her femininity was completely overshadowed by her being a man with breasts. She wasn't a warrior, she couldn't sail the ship she was on but there was NEVER any doubt that it was Raederle driving and leading everyone else on. When she confronts Morgon about his quest for vengeance, she doesn't kick his legs out from under him and pin him down until he submits. She supports the parts of him that she does admire and lets him see that and lets that support decide him.

The supporting characters, from Morgon's younger sister to the ghost of the King of Hel (that is him on the cover, lusting after his skull, which had been nailed to a midden pile and that Raederle used as a bargaining chip in obtaining his help) to Morgon himself were just as good.

To end, I once again thoroughly enjoyed another McKillip story while definitely not recommending this as a starting place for anyone thinking about a McKillip journey. Get some “experience” with her as an author and then come back to this.

★★★★☆

Wednesday, August 08, 2018

The Lonely Men (Sacketts #12) ★★★☆½

Title: The Lonely Men
Series: Sacketts #12
Author: Louis L'Amour
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Tell Sackett gets unknowingly embroiled in the marriage problems of his brother and his sister-in-law. She wants to hurt her husband and the best way to do that is to hurt his brother, so she tells Tell that her son was kidnapped by Apaches and won't Tell please rescue him. This will lead to Tell going into Mexican Territory and either being killed by the Apaches, the desert or the Mexican Army. Thing is, she doesn't have a son.

But Tell gathers up a couple of other Lonely Men and chases down the Apaches. They rescue four children and hook up with the older sister of one of the captive kids. Once they rescue them, it is a running battle back to the States.The children and the older sister make it but only Tell and one of the Lonely Men do. Once back, Tell is embroiled yet again by his sister-in-law (who is very disappointed that he came back alive) and put in jail.He faces down a lynch mob and confronts her. She hires some badmen, who end up getting it from the Apaches and Tell leaves his sister-in-law in the desert with Apaches just behind them.

A good man might never hit or harm a woman, but a good man CAN step aside and stop providing protection to a bad woman.

My Thoughts:

This was some good old cowboys and indians adventure. I enjoyed this quite a bit and found it to be the perfect mix of western, rescue and goodguy versus badguy to make me happy. Just don't have anything else to say about it I guess.

★★★☆½

Previous Sacketts Reviews

Monday, August 06, 2018

Heldenhammer (Warhammer: Legend of Sigmar #1) ★★★☆☆

Title: Heldenhammer
Series: Warhammer: Legend of Sigmar #1
Author: Graham McNeill
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 341
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Sigmar, son of a local king, has a dream. A dream of uniting all the various tribes as a single united human empire to withstand all the creatures of chaos. This is his story of how he unites the warring tribes whether with force, guile or brave deeds.

He loses his bloodbrother in a fight against orcs and the twin brother, Gerreon, holds it against Sigmar for years. Sigmar is betrothed to Gerreon's sister Ravenna but Gerreon ends up killing her as well when he attempts to kill Sigmar. Gerreon flees and is seen no more.

Sigmar is turned back from the doors of death by his father and told he has a destiny to prevent the end of humanity. Once king, Sigmar begins uniting the tribes and providing mutual protection against the various orc raiders and wild animals, etc. A few human clans resist and are wiped out. Then an Orc Warlord arises and unites the orcs and goblins into one massive army and descends onto the human occupied lands to wipe them out. Sigmar and all the kings, along with some of the dwarves, face off against this monstrous horde. Sigmar kills the orc Warlord and breaks the horde and all the kings bow to him as Emperor.

The book ends with the remnants of the tribes destroyed by Sigmar taking Gerreon in and plotting vengeance.

My Thoughts:

This didn't do much for me. The big things, the action and adventure, those are gone into. But the little things, like why does Sigmar have a comet with two tails as his emblem, is completely ignored. Obviously McNeill has a lot to pack into 3 books and can only make room for a certain amount but why did a boy getting cut with a sword on a training field take precedent over the freaking symbol of Sigmar himself?

If you've ever read Dicken's A Childes History of England, you'll get that same vibe here. “This” happened and then “that” happened and then Sigmar did “Exploit” and then everybody made him Emperor.

Part of why I'm so pissy about this is that I went into this with the attitude that this trilogy had to really impress me for me to keep reading in the Warhammer universe even while I KNEW it couldn't and wouldn't. So I'm feeling hypocritical. Bleh. At the same time, I DO want to know how Sigmar became a god and I'm hoping why he didn't stick around and save the bloody world is answered. Just in case you didn't know, the world that Warhammer takes place in was destroyed by the forces of chaos when the creators of Warhammer ended the Warhammer game.

This was very much the quintessential media tie in that I've come to expect from most franchises. In other words, if you're invested in the game, media, whatever, you'll like the books simply because it tells more. If you're not invested in Franchise X, it probably won't do much for you.

I did give this the Ultra-Violence tag because the hammer of Sigmar really does some damage and McNeill doesn't shy away from describing it. Lots of brain matter enters into the equation, yuck.

★★★☆☆

All Warhammer reviews

Friday, August 03, 2018

A Path to Coldness of Heart (Last Chronicle of the Dread Empire #3) ★★☆☆☆

Title: A Path to Coldness of Heart
Series: Last Chronicle of the Dread Empire #3
Author: Glen Cooke
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 445
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The world has come as close as it ever has to having some peace, so obviously the Star Rider will stir things up. However, due to him having been so visible in the last 50 years, the main characters on the stage all know about him, from The Dread Empire to the King without a Throne to Bragi to Varthlokkur.

Mist, queen of the Dread Empire, secretly assembles a cast of people all presumed to be dead who have had interactions with the Star Rider. They begin a massive plot to take him down, all along parallel tracks not connected so that if one plot fails, another may get through.

This involves a whole new generation of people and we get hints of horrible things the Star Rider has actually been keeping contained for the world's safety. The plotters succeed and the tale peters out.

My Thoughts:

While there is a book of short stories still left in the Dread Empire saga, this was pretty much the wrapup to the overall story. Except it didn't really wrap anything up, it just “ended” while introducing the vague new threats the world would have to face and vaguely introducing the next set of people to face those threats. Cook seems to revel in showing the heroes growing old and failing in one way or another.

And here's my biggest caveat about this book. We are introduced to a minor wizard who is, for all intents and purposes, a pedophile. He's into pre-pubescent girls and while its made clear nothing is done against their will, the whole idea is abhorrent and Cook makes it out to be “just another thing”. I don't think I've seen that before in any of his books and if I do come across it again, that'll be it. The wizard is a major side character in this novel, so that keeps popping up.

Overall, it is apparent that Steven Erikson, of Malazan fame, stole much more from Cook's Dread Empire than from his Black Company series. When I finished this book, I just felt “ehhh”. Between the pedo-wizard and the non-closure of an ending, I had to ask myself “What did I get out of this”and the answer is “not much”.

The writing is at the same level as all the previous books, so without pedo-wizard this probably would have been a 3 ½ star book, but that inclusion dropped things pretty hard. I do plan on reading the collection of short stories to truly wrap up the Dread Empire series and then I have to decide what of Cook's writings I want to read next. I've got one or two trilogies/short series and then his much longer Garrett, PI urban fantasy series. I'm thinking of holding off on Garrett just because me and Urban Fantasy don't get along for the most part. Ahh well, that is months away, plenty of time to make up my mind and change it several times too!

★★☆☆☆

Wednesday, August 01, 2018

Play the Man ★★★★☆

Title: Play the Man
Series: ----------
Author: Mark Batterson
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Inspirational Non-Fiction
Pages: 224
Format: Hardcover

Synopsis:

Synopsis taken from the book:

"Somewhere along the way, our culture lost its definition of manhood, leaving generations of men and men-to-be confused about their roles, responsibilities, relationships, and the reason God made them men. It's into this 'no man's land' that New York Times bestselling author Mark Batterson declares his mantra for manhood: play the man. In this inspiring call to something greater, he helps men understand what it means to be a man of God by unveiling seven virtues of manhood. Mark shares inspiring stories of manhood, including the true story of the hero and martyr Polycarp, who first heard the voice from heaven say, 'Play the man.' Mark couples those stories with practical ideas about how to disciple the next generation of men. This is more than a book; it's a movement of men who will settle for nothing less than fulfilling their highest calling to be the man and the father God has destined them to be. Play the man. Make the man."

My Thoughts:

I read this book over the course of July for our men's group at church. One of the reasons there were so many “man” posts in July.

It started out a bit rough. I felt like it was an updated version of John Eldredge's Wild at Heart and I didn't find that particular book at all helpful. But once Batterson got into the 7 Virtues of Manhood, things turned around.

The specific 7 Virtues didn't really enter into the equation. I was more encouraged in how Batterson showed that being a Man of God was something purposeful, something you had to set your mind to. It was goal oriented and something that will last for your whole life. Just because I've done X, Y and Z in the past doesn't mean I get to slack off and coast later on. A Godly Man is always striving after God and since God is Infinite, our striving will never end. Some days I might have found that thought discouraging, but not during this book. It reminded me of just how great our God is and how much He loves us.

Batterson also goes into Jesus as Man a little bit and that was good too. Too often I think of Jesus as a superman just gliding through His life, snapping His fingers and making everything work. It was good to be reminded that He had to learn to read, that He pooped His diapers (or whatever the equivalent was in 4BC) and that He had hormones too. And yet through it all, He was Perfect.

The final thing that really made this work for me was that Batterson isn't trying to change the whole culture with some “7 Virtues” program. He doesn't say that this book will change the whole nation if only we all follow it. He presents it as something that each man must do on his own and must pass on to his sons. He makes being a Godly Man that individuals responsibility. He looks at the building blocks. If the foundations are solid, you can then build a good house. He also practices what he preaches with his kids and I found that immensely encouraging as well.

★★★★☆

Monday, July 30, 2018

Nicholas Nickleby ★★★★★

Title: Nicholas Nickleby
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 1029
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Nicholas Nickleby dies of a broken heart after speculating all his families money and losing it. He dies and leaves behind a wife and his young son Nicholas and a younger daugher Kate. He leaves them to the tender mercies of his brother Ralph, a rich money lender.

Ralph sends Nicholas to a school master as an aide with the promise that Ralph will take care of Mrs Nickleby and Kate as long as Nicholas stays the course. Said schoolmaster, one Wackford Squeers, is in cahoots with Ralph on various usurous objectives that Ralph has in mind. Squeers uses and abuses his charges and also gets free labor from a simple minded orphan named Smikes. When Squeers begin to beat Smikes almost to death, Nicholas intervenes even though he knows it means his Uncle Ralph will kick his Mother and sister out onto the streets.

Nicholas and Smikes join an actors troupe to earn a living. Nicholas receives a letter from an employee of his Uncle begging him to come back to London.

During this time, Ralph had used his niece Kate as bate to entice a young lord to get money from him. Kate begs her Uncle to spare her the shame of such a thing but Ralph will not relent. Money is his god.

Nicholas returns to London, defies his Uncle, starts a new job with the Cheeryble brothers. He comes across a beautiful young woman and has to contend with his Uncle and Wackford Squeers trying to kidnap Smikes. Many schemes of Ralph all come together around Nicholas and with the help of various friends, Nicholas overcomes all and sees Ralph ruined.

Nicholas marries the beautiful young lady, Kate marries Frank Cheeryble, the nephew of the Cheeryble brothers and everything works out well for the good guys and the bad guys all get their just desserts.

My Thoughts:

First, let's deal with something here. Wackford Squeers. I have been saying that name in dulcet tones for the last 2 weeks. I mean, how PERFECT is that name for a villain? Wackford Squeers, Wackford Squeers, Wackford Squeers. This could probably have been a 5star book just on the strength of that name alone. Thankfully, the rest of the book carries its weight as well.

The characters, all of them, are fantastic. From youthful, hotheaded and sometimes silly Nicholas to grasping, hate filled Uncle Ralph to poor, pathetic, heart breaking and sympathy inducing Smikes to cruel, petty and cowardly Wackford Squeers. Dickens doesn't just write ABOUT these characters, he brings them to life, in all their glorious ups and downs. I know that Dickens is shamelessly manipulating me with how he describes poor Smikes but I don't care because he does it so well. My heart broke for the poor wretch even while I KNEW that Dickens was doing this cold heartedly to bring about just such a reaction from me. And Wackford Squeers, my goodness, such a vile pot of avarice, cowardice and bulliness that I loved to hate him. Plus, singing his name to the tune of ♪Davey,♪ Davey Crockett,♪King of the Wild Frontier♪ fit perfectly and almost had me dancing with glee.

The trials and tribulations of Nicholas, Kate, various other side characters, all tie into a wondrous tapestry that simply enchanted me. Now, this being Dickens, and originally serialized, and Dickens being paid by the word, there were times that I was tempted to skim or let my mind wonder during some of the more descriptive pages or while Mrs Nickleby would wax eloquent about something that nobody cared about, but I overcame and read every word and I must say, I am richer for it. While Dickens isn't by any means a sparse writer, neither is he a wasteful writer. His descriptions bring the people walking the street alive. His words make the characters as real as real can be. When I was tempted to simply skip anything involving Mrs Nickleby and her pointless reminisces and get annoyed by her, it was what Dickens was aiming for. He wanted a character just like that and he created her from thin air.

While I gave this 5stars back in '07 and 5 stars again, I don't know if I'd recommend anyone starting their exploration of Dickens with this or not. First off, it is over 1000pages for the entire novel. Even the broken up edition I read back in '07 was almost 600 pages for each volume. However, thanks to the likes of Sanderson, Martin and Co, the Mega-Novel (trademark pending) is becoming main stream and the mere size of Dickens might not be quite the impediment it would have been even 20 years ago. The other thing would be this showcases the Victorian ideals to a T(ea) (haha!!!!) and that might be off putting those of modern culture. Nicholas not pursuing Madeline Bray because it wouldn't be proper as he wasn't of the same class anymore (she was monied while the Nickleby's weren't anymore) and Nicholas persuading his sister Kate to not accept Frank Cheeryble's proposal (at first) because it wouldn't look right since Nicholas worked for the Cheeryble Uncles. It is very much outside the egalitarian ideas we carry around today that I can see it turning people away. Now, that being said, anyone who IS turned off from Dickens because of something like that doesn't deserve to read the Master anyway. So no great loss.

After arguing with myself in the above paragraph, I have realized this book not only gets my unadulterated acclamation, but my highest recommendation AND the first of the year Best Book of the Year tag. I wish I could praise this book more, I really do but this will have to do.

Sincerely,

Bookstooge

★★★★★

Friday, July 27, 2018

Prador Moon (Polity #9) ★★★★☆

Title: Prador Moon
Series: Polity #9
Author: Neal Asher
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 353
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Chronicling the beginning of the war between the Polity and the Prador Second Kingdom. We see how the Prador exotic metal ships are so incredibly tough and how the war factories of the Polity came into being.

A renegade scientist, on the run from the Polity for experimenting with humans and augs, manages to sneak past the Polity's oversight and installs a bunch of new augs on several people. One of them is a Separatist and one of them is a scientist working on the Runcible project. The separatist uses his to coordinate an attack on a Polity world to destroy the AI and to open it up to the Prador. The scientist is using her expanded sensory apparatus, under the watchful eye of an AI, to begin using the Runcible system for ships in space and not just planet bound travellers.

We also follow Jebel “Ucap” (Up close and personal) Krong, one of the few survivors of the initial contact with the Prador. They killed his woman, so now he leads the survivors of the world of Avalon in fighting the Prador on the ground. By planting mines on their shells. It doesn't get much more Up Close And Personal than that!

One of the Prador has been tasked with capturing the Space Runcible and we get a real look at the Prador and their culture. Everything comes together when the Prador tries to capture the runcible and the scientist uses it to send a small moon through to destroy the Prador ship.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoy the stories about the Prador, mainly because Asher can go full bore violent without offending my sensibilities. I mean, how can I be turned off when he's writing about giant crabs eating each other and experimenting on humans and whatnot? They're the perfect villains.

When I read this back in '11 I noted that it was only 173 pages. This time around the page count was listed as 353. The only difference immediately noticeable was the 173page version was from TOR back in '08 and this version was from Nightshade Books in '13. But even then, there are various publications from both companies with wildly varying counts. Whatever, I do wish it had been longer, as it really worked for me.

The thing that kept this from getting bumped up a half star (most times when I re-read something and enjoy it just as much as last time I bump it up) was the lack of a single focused main character. The focus was split between the Separatist, the Scientist, Jebel Krong and the Prador Captain. It was fine, as their stories all were converging stories but I have to admit, I do really prefer a single character that ties it all together.

I'm listing this as Number 9 in the Polity universe just because I feel anyone reading Asher's Polity books would be best served to have read the Agent Cormac quintet and the Spatterjay trilogy. I believe this is Number 1 chronologically but a lot of what you'll read here won't be explained here and is explained in the aforementioned series.

If worlds getting nuked and tech and awesome fighting and giant sentient man-eating space faring crabs are your thing, this book gives it in spades.

★★★★☆

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Labyrinth of Reflections ★★★☆☆

Title: Labyrinth of Reflections
Series: ----------
Author: Sergei Lukyanenko
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 271
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

A Diver, a person who can exit the Deep at will, is caught up in something much bigger than he can imagine. It starts with him stealing the information for a new “cure for the common cold”, which leads to a job offer by the company he stole it from. He is then kidnapped and given the same job offer by a mysterious Man without a Face. This job? To go to the 33^rd level of a first person shooter game and rescue a user who has somehow become stuck and who the company hired Divers can't rescue.

The Diver has adventures, finds the love of his life in a virtual brothel and rescues the stranded user, only to find that the User isn't a human. He might be an alien, a human from the future, a human from a parallel universe or a newly emerged computer mind. Nobody knows but they all want a piece of the action.

Leonid, the Diver, takes the rescuee to a safe place and allows him to make his own choice. In the process. Leonid is attacked by all the forces the Deep can muster as well as by the creator of the Deep itself. With the help of the rescuee, Leonid fights them all off and somehow gains the ability to connect to the Deep without a modem (hahahahahahaa). The visitor leaves and Leonid leaves the Deep and decides to meet his virtual love in real life.

My Thoughts:

This was originally written in '96 or '98 I believe and my goodness, does it show. Lukyanenko waxes eloquent about the tech of the day and it isn't pretty. Pentium computers, MEGS of ram, 28800 modems, Doom. Then he mixes it with non-existing tech like full virtual reality body suits and the Deep, which works on the unconscious as a way to get around the horrible graphics of the day. It was such a mish-mash that it kept throwing me out of the story. You just can't DO the things he writes about on a 28.8K phone line.

This was pre-Matrix and the ideas are pretty cool, when Lukyanenko isn't waxing full on melancholic Russian that is. That gets old really fast. And I mean, really, really fast.

This felt more like a book where Lukyanenko was writing out his ideas of what it means to be human (while denying God and Communism in the same breath) and it felt rather sophomoric. At the same time, several of the ideas here were carried over almost wholesale into his Nightwatch series.

Overall, I don't feel like this was a waste of my time but I certainly wouldn't want to introduce anyone to Lukyanenko's writings with this book. I'd definitely steer them towards the Nightwatch.

★★★☆☆

Monday, July 23, 2018

Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids (Lucky Starr #2) ★★★☆☆

Title: Lucky Starr and the Pirates of the Asteroids
Series: Lucky Starr #2
Author: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 144
Format: Digital Scan

Synopsis:

Something funny is going on with the Pirates who inhabit the asteroids. While they seem to be growing in number and strength, their attacks have become more focused, tighter and a lot more strategic. Lucky and others from the Science Council build a spaceship meant to be captured and then exploded in a Pirate base. It's all a double, triple, never ending ruse though, as Lucky sneaks on board after alerting the Syrian Embassy anonymously of the “real” mission of the ship. The Syrians are in league with the Pirates and when everything in place, Earth will face a two fronted war.

Lucky uncovers just how far along the plans actually are and sets in motion events to prevent the war from ever starting. He comes across the man who had his parents killed 25 years ago who is the mastermind of the Pirates. While the Military is looking at dealing with the Syrians, the Science Council goes in secretly to the asteroid belt and using the information from the mastermind, clean out all the pirate nests. This collapses one front of the potential war, so the Syrians withdraw without a fight.

My Thoughts:

Yeah....this was rather boring. Also, Lucky wasn't much of a Space Ranger at all. He only used the mask the aliens gave him, in the first book, as protection so he could fly closer to the sun and catch up with some bad guys. No cool fight scene with it.

There were a couple of “fights” but they took place mainly in space and were as slow and clunky as you would imagine. No space ninjas here! It really boiled down to Lucky figuring things out last minute but not willing to tell his mentors because he didn't have all the “facts” to back them up. Then he'd race off to get facts.

I must have glossed over it in the first book, but apparently there is another Galactic Empire of the Syrians, from Sirius. I felt like I was stumbling over them without knowing who or what they were. Are they humans or aliens? What is their beef with Earth? This should have been dealt with a little more clearly.

If the series stays tonally the same as this book instead of the first, it is going to be real easy to understand why this series never became very famous. Even Andre Norton wrote more exciting stuff.

★★★☆☆

David Starr, Space Ranger (Book 1)