reviewing – Page 6 – Into the West

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.

Continue reading “eBook Review: Three Princes by Wheeler (2.5 Stars)”

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.

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eBook Review: A Princes of Mars by Burroughs (3.5 Stars)

A Princes of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

3.5 out of 5 stars

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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Audiobook Review: The Knife of Dreams by Jordan (3 Stars)

The Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer

3 out of 5 stars

Listended/Read in February 2013

Loial and Mat tied the knot (but not with each other). Perrin and Faile end their two book separation. Nine months can’t come soon enough for Elayne (or me). Egwene and Eliada under the same roof but not speaking to each other. Nynaeve returned Lan to Malkier along the Borderland Scenic Byway. Someone please give Rand a hand!

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Audiobook Review: Crossroads of Twilight by Jordan (3 Stars)

The Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan

Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer

3 out of 5 Stars

Read in January 2013

I listened to the audiobook edition. Apparently unabridged doesn’t include the Glossary. It’s a good thing I own the hardcover for reference and for the maps.

Crossroads of Twilight is one of my least favorite books of the Wheel of Time series because of the turgid plot. The train wreck that started ten books ago finally comes to a crashing halt, right before it teeters and ultimately falls off the cliff for the long slow-motion plummet to the end, four books later.

Using male and female readers helped especially with the switching viewpoints.

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Book Review: Among Thieves by Hulick (4 Stars)

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

4 out of 5 stars

Read in March 2013

Probably closer to a 3.5 (mostly because I didn’t completely connect with the characters) but I’ll balance that with a 4.5 for excellent sword fight scenes and nearly non-stop action and intrigue. Reminded me of watching the series 24 sort of mashed up with the mini-series Pillars of the Earth through the lens of underworld organized crime and a dash of dark magic. Hard to put down and stayed up late to finish. Continue reading “Book Review: Among Thieves by Hulick (4 Stars)”

Book Review: Hounded by Hearne (3.5 Stars)

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

3.5 out of 5 stars

Read from February 25 to 28, 2013

This type of urban fantasy could easily grow on me. Absolutely no zombies and only one token cameo vampire. I didn’t mind the pack of werewolves.

All the rest of the ‘paranormals’ hailed from Celtic mythology. Oberon the Irish wolfhound got the best lines, often at the expense of our hero, the Iron Druid.

A fun fast read.

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Book Review: Those Who Hunt the Night by Hambly (3.5 Stars)

Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly

3.5 out of 5 stars

Read in October 2009

Vampires without the romance. Very refreshing. Well drawn historical setting in late 19th or early 20th century London and Paris.

James Asher, a professor of philology at Oxford, and his wife Lydia, also a doctor, but of medicine, are reluctantly coerced into investigating the case of a serial vampire killer. Don Simon Ysidro, a Spanish vampire old enough to remember (and barely survive) the great London fire of 1666, forces James into his service by threatening Lydia’s life.

Rather than risking his wife’s precarious safety and sending her into hiding, he recruits her help in tracking down both the vampire killer, and the vampire victims haunts and hidey-holes. Lydia pursues the research through probate courts, registrar of deed office, newspaper articles and other public records and resist’s the siren call of the medical pathology mystery of vampirism while James accompanies Ysidro to interrogate London’s undead citizens.

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