Edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Read in October 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Average rating: 3.05 stars
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Category: Reviewing
eBook Review: Three Princes by Wheeler (2.5 Stars)
Three Princes by Ramona Wheeler
Read in January/February 2014
In the beginning, there were only Two Princes – Oken and Mabruke, apprentice/journeyman and master spies of the Egyptian Empire, an empire that never fell and where Cleopatra didn’t kiss an asp. The offspring of Caesar and Cleopatra multiplied and prospered across the centuries, bringing us to the golden age of culture and civilization we normally associate with the Victorian era. Never fear, Victoria and Albert have their parts to play in the political theater bubbling across Europe and between the two Empires of the Old and New Worlds.
And that’s where our Third Prince, Viracocha, makes his dramatic entrance, as a member of the royal family of the Inca/Aztec Empire of the New World. Logically, to the author at least, if Spain never rose to prominence, then the South American continent wouldn’t have been invaded and devastated by the Conquistadors. Instead, they flourished and prospered just as their Egyptian peers did in the Old World.
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Book Review: Peacemaker by Stewart (4 Stars)
Read January 2014
Publisher’s Synopsis:
Caleb Marcus is a Peacemaker, a roving lawman tasked with maintaining the peace and bringing control to magic users on the frontier. A Peacemaker isn’t supposed to take a life—but sometimes, it’s kill or be killed…
After a war injury left him half-scoured of his power, Caleb and his jackalope familiar have been shipped out West, keeping them out of sight and out of the way of more useful agents. And while life in the wild isn’t exactly Caleb’s cup of tea, he can’t deny that being amongst folk who aren’t as powerful as he is, even in his poor shape, is a bit of a relief.
But Hope isn’t like the other small towns he’s visited. The children are being mysteriously robbed of their magical capabilities. There’s something strange and dark about the local land baron who runs the school. Cheyenne tribes are raiding the outlying homesteads with increasing frequency and strange earthquakes keep shaking the very ground Hope stands on.
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My Best Reads of 2013
Yesterday, on the last day of 2013, I posted my uncle’s best reads of last year. Today, on New Year’s Day 2014, I’m looking back at my reading for the past twelve months.
After Amazon acquired GoodReads in the Spring of 2013, I resolved to not rate or review books on that site going forward. I spent many hours relocating my existing reviews (and ratings) to this blog, where I can maintain my voice, my thoughts and my opinions as I see fit, without fear of censorship, tampering or deletions.
Guest Post: My Uncle’s Best Reads of 2013
I’m relinquishing my blog today to my favorite uncle so he can share his essay on his best reads from 2013. You’ll have to wait for another day to learn the answer to the question ‘Why doesn’t he have his own blog?’ Currently, he is a retired Air Force Colonel, writing historical and speculative fiction and painting and teaching watercolor. And now without further ado …
∞ ∞ ∞
In 2013, I read a record number of books and don’t plan to read that many again in one year. I don’t just read for pleasure. I am an author-wannabe, so some of my reading is researching what’s on the market. (That’s my story.) And, I have a lifelong love of history, so I read a lot of history, biography and alternate history stories. Also, at church I give a Bible study a month, so I’m always looking for ideas to steal . . . uh, in a Christian-sort-of-way. Finally, I love humor. So, I occasionally give extra credit to stories that tickle my funny bone.
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Book Review: Ysabel by Kay (3.5 Stars)
Read in Nov/Dec 2013
Synopsis (excerpts from author’s website Bright Weavings):
Provence, in the south of France, is a part of the world that has been—and continues to be—called a paradise. But one of the lessons that history teaches is that paradise is coveted and fought over. Successive waves of invaders have claimed—or tried to claim—those vineyards, rivers, olive groves, and hills.
In Guy Gavriel Kay’s novel, Ysabel, this duality—of exquisite beauty and violent history—is explored in a work that marks a departure from Kay’s historical fantasies set in various analogues of the past.
Book Review: Allegiant by Roth (4 Stars)
Read in December 2013
Synopsis:
The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories.
But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love.
My Thoughts:
Roth redeemed herself, at least in my mind, with Allegiant. While not perfect, I felt more at home with the direction the plot took than what happened in the middle weak-link book Insurgient (which I didn’t bother to review because it disappointed me so much). For my review of Divergent, follow this link.
Audiobook Review: Rendezvous with Rama by Clarke (4 Stars)
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke
Read by Peter Ganim
Original novel winner of the following awards: Hugo Award for Best Novel (1974), Nebula Award for Best Novel (1973), Locus Award for Best Novel (1974), British Science Fiction Association Award for Novel (1974), Jupiter Award for Best Novel (1974), Seiun Award for Best Foreign Novel (1980), John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (1974)
Synopsis: At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind’s first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams…and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits – just behind a Raman airlock door. Includes an exclusive introduction by Hugo Award-winning author Robert J. Sawyer
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Book Review: Total War Rome: Destroy Carthage by Gibbons (DNF)
Total War Rome: Destroy Carthage by David Gibbons
DNF (no star rating because I did not finish reading it)
Attempted to read during September, October and November 2013
I wanted to love this book. I read a blurb about it from one of my many book-related newsfeeds, through Tor’s RSS feed. Here’s a link to the article penned by the author: Ancient Rome and the Destruction of Carthage: The Stuff That Dreams Are Made On.
I started reading with high hopes, because I’m always fascinated by ancient history. I’ve read other historical fiction novels set during the time frame of the ancient Roman Empire and enjoyed them. I also enjoy movies that visit that time period.
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eBook Review: A Princes of Mars by Burroughs (3.5 Stars)
A Princes of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Read in September 2008
I read this as an ebook from the Project Gutenberg edition of this novel.
I found this a very enjoyable read via my BlackBerry on my morning commute and before bed.
I was amazed at how well this novel appealed to me. For a science fiction novel published in 1912 (actually as a six-part serial in a magazine that year), it has stood the test of time quite well. Granted what we know of Mars makes much of the story ludicrous if you look at it strictly from a factual point of view. But if you suspend belief and imagine that Mars is actually not the Mars we know, but an imaginary world or planet of Burroughs devising, then it’s a fine story in an interesting setting.
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