Category: Reviewing

Book Bingo

Lansing Community Library‘s Winter Reading Program

Book Bingo

Lansing Community Library Winter Reading Program Book Bingo

Here’s my adult bingo card so far:

B I N G O
An Author Whose Last Name Stars With a “W” A Book in a Series A Nobel Prize in Literature Winner Book Read a Favorite Book from Your Childhood Check Out and Read a Magazine
A Book Related to Science Fiction A Book Related to Science An Author Whose Name Starts With a “M” A Dystopian themed Book An Author Whose Name Starts With a “B”
A Fairy/Folk Tale Book A Non-Fiction Book ***
Free Space!
***		 Classic Literature A Book About Time Travel
An Audiobook An eBook A Suspense Novel A Book about a President Historical Fiction
A book That Was on Display in the Library A Caldecott Book (Winner or Honor) A Book That Was Made into a Movie A Biography A Book About Kansas

A Green highlight means I’ve already read a book that fits that category (and possibly more than one category).  I’ll figure out where to put them once I finish a couple more books.  To see what I’ve read so far this year (2015), visit my GoodReads book challenge page here.  Or click here to see what I’m currently reading.

A Yellow highlight means I have books I could read right now that fit that spot.

Looks like I need to find a book about a President to read.  Any ideas?

Book Review: Sword of Michael by Wynne (2.5 Stars)

The Sword of Michael by Marcus Wynne

2 to 2.5 out of 5 stars

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Marius Winter doesn’t walk the road of the shaman-warrior alone. He has powerful allies in the Other Realms and in ordinary reality. His spirit guides are a Lakota war-chief and medicine man, First In Front; Tigre, a powerful feminine spirit who appears as a white tiger; and Burt, a spirit raven who channels an old Jewish bookie from the Bronx.

Now Marius is targeted by a powerful sorcerer. In the battle for the souls of his friends and lover, he must storm the gates of the underworld and fight through the Seven Demi-Demons of Hell to the deepest dungeons to confront Belial himself.

My Thoughts:

I found myself skimming and skipping most of this book.  The first two-thirds seemed your standard urban fantasy with a supernatural flare, demons and angels, the old Holy War, tied into or growing out of the Fall of Atlantis.  The dialogue was forced and re-used one-liner clichés poorly.  After about the sixth time I’d read a ‘one-liner’ I just about gave up.  I forged on, but the ‘pay off’ didn’t pay as much as just felt off.

Continue reading “Book Review: Sword of Michael by Wynne (2.5 Stars)”

Book Review: Tarkin by Luceno (3 Stars)

Tarkin by James Luceno

3 out of 5 stars

Read in October 2014

Releases November 4, 2014

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Bestselling Star Wars veteran James Luceno gives Grand Moff Tarkin the Star Wars: Darth Plagueis treatment, bringing a legendary character from A New Hope to full, fascinating life.

He’s the scion of an honorable and revered family. A dedicated soldier and distinguished legislator. Loyal proponent of the Republic and trusted ally of the Jedi Order. Groomed by the ruthless politician and Sith Lord who would be Emperor, Governor Wilhuff Tarkin rises through the Imperial ranks, enforcing his authority ever more mercilessly . . . and zealously pursuing his destiny as the architect of absolute dominion.

Rule through the fear of force rather than force itself, he advises his Emperor. Continue reading “Book Review: Tarkin by Luceno (3 Stars)”

Book Review: Abyss Beyond Dreams by Hamilton (3.5 stars)

The Abyss Beyond Dreams
A Novel of the Commonwealth

by Peter F. Hamilton

3.5 out of 5 stars

Publisher’s Synopsis:

The wait is over. Bestselling science fiction master Peter F. Hamilton is back with the first of a new two-book saga set in his popular Commonwealth universe. Distinguished by deft plotting, a teeming cast of characters, dazzling scientific speculation, and imagination that brings the truly alien to life, The Abyss Beyond Dreams reveals Hamilton as a storyteller of astonishing ingenuity and power.

The year is 3326. Nigel Sheldon, one of the founders of the Commonwealth, receives a visit from the Raiel—self-appointed guardians of the Void, the enigmatic construct at the core of the galaxy that threatens the existence of all that lives. The Raiel convince Nigel to participate in a desperate scheme to infiltrate the Void.

Once inside, Nigel discovers that humans are not the only life-forms to have been sucked into the Void, where the laws of physics are subtly different and mental powers indistinguishable from magic are commonplace. The humans trapped there are afflicted by an alien species of biological mimics—the Fallers—that are intelligent but merciless killers.

Yet these same aliens may hold the key to destroying the threat of the Void forever—if Nigel can uncover their secrets. As the Fallers’ relentless attacks continue, and the fragile human society splinters into civil war, Nigel must uncover the secrets of the Fallers—before he is killed by the very people he has come to save.

My Thoughts:

After spending a month or two reading World War I fiction and non-fiction as well as a somewhat depressing post-apocalyptic dystopian novel, I needed something lighter and a bit more uplifting.  I switched to space opera.  I lucked into several ebooks available as pre-release eARCs via Netgalley, this being the third one I’ve read of the four I found (see my two previous reviews on The Chaplain’s War and A Call to Duty).

I enjoyed Hamilton’s writing style, but I must admit to being a bit confused or at least uninformed about his existing Commonwealth and Void universes.  This was my first Hamilton novel so I dived right in and either sank or swam by his efforts.  To his credit, even with limited world-building or recap exposition in the Prologue, I gleaned enough to make the read enjoyable.

Continue reading “Book Review: Abyss Beyond Dreams by Hamilton (3.5 stars)”

BOOK REVIEW: Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie | SF Signal

http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2014/10/book-review-ancillary-sword-by-ann-leckie/

Another review of Ancillary Sword and it is a bit more in depth than the previous one I reblogged earlier today.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Book Review: The Chaplain’s War by Torgersen (4.5 Stars)

The Chaplain’s War

by Brad Torgersen

4-4.5 out of 5 stars

Release Date: 10/7/2014

I previously read parts of this as a short story and as novella (one of which was nominated for a Hugo last year and got my enthusiastic vote).  This novel fills in the gaps in Chaplain’s Assistant Harry Barlow’s past and a few important bits of his future.

The original stories were expanded and an additional story line added to pull all of the narrative into a cohesive whole.  I related well to Harry Barlow and had no trouble re-reading parts of his story.  Continue reading “Book Review: The Chaplain’s War by Torgersen (4.5 Stars)”

Book Review: A Call to Duty by Weber and Zahn (4 Stars)

A Call to Duty

by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars

A new series in the Honorverse, slated to be released next week.  We find ourselves back before Manticore knew it had a major wormhole, back before it had any spaceship building industry and soon after a Plague that wiped out much of its nascent population.  One of our protagonists is Travis Long, who enlists in the RMN (Royal Manticore Navy) while his supposed friends rob a neighboring jewelry store.  Travis acquires a couple of monikers during basic training that reflect upon his always by the book philosophy with respect to rules and regulations.  The political climate on Manticore has a faction of the civilian government clambering to dismantle the Navy and/or replace it with a Coast Guard like service that patrols the local system and protects merchants and miners from pirates.  The action ramps up when Manticore sends representatives to a Haven sponsored military surplus spaceship sale.  Pirates (or what we are led to believe are pirates initially) masquerading as legitimate buyers attempt a heist of their own on a much grander scale than Travis’ juvenile delinquent buddies.

Continue reading “Book Review: A Call to Duty by Weber and Zahn (4 Stars)”

Book Review: Stormdancer by Kristoff (4 Stars)

Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff

4 out of 5 stars

Read in late August 2014

Synopsis from MacMillan’s site:

Stormdancer is the first in the epic new fantasy series The Lotus War, introducing an unforgettable heroine and a stunningly original dystopian steampunk world with a flavor of feudal Japan.

The Shima Imperium verges on the brink of environmental collapse; an island nation once rich in tradition and myth, now decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshipers of the Lotus Guild. When hunters of Shima’s imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a legendary griffin, they fear their lives are over. Any fool knows the beasts have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.  Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, the girl Yukiko finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled griffin for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her. But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire. Continue reading “Book Review: Stormdancer by Kristoff (4 Stars)”

Book Review: The Guns of August by Tuchman (4 Stars)

The Guns of August

by Barbara W. Tuchman

Read by John Lee

Winner of the Pulitzer Price for General Nonfiction 1963

4 out of 5 stars

Thanks to Barbara, I now know more about the first month of World War I than all my previous half-century of accumulated, absorbed knowledge. Not only do I know more, but I understand the how. How Europe ended up in a terrible stalemate and war of attrition that lasted four more years. The why will have to wait until I can read her other history The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914.

On August 23rd, I attended a discussion of The Guns of August sponsored by the Kansas City Public Library, the Kansas City Star‘s FYI Book Club and hosted at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial. There were many attendees from all over the Kansas City metro area and we attempted to stay focused on Tuchman’s novel, not straying to far before or after. A great hour of discussion on an excellently researched and composed history of the outbreak of the Great War. Continue reading “Book Review: The Guns of August by Tuchman (4 Stars)”