2019 was literarily a good year.
The ten best books I read (in no particular order):
1. Recursion by Blake Crouch
2. Wanderers by Chuck Wendig
3. Cardinal Black by Robert McCammon
4. Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky
5. They Thirst by Robert McCammon
6. Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams
7. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
8. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson
9. Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
10. Someone Like Me by M.R. Carey
The worst book I read all year was Adjustment Day by Chuck Palahniuk. If I were to provide Palahniuk with an award every time he's earned this distinction from me (4 times now), he'd be running out of shelf space to display them by now. He will not be in contention for any more of my shelf space and reading time going forward.
Number of books read: 52
Book signings attended:
Brandon Sanderson - Starsight (Although, technically, I didn't really attend the signing, since I didn't stick around for all the chaos. I just grabbed my book and bailed. But since I showed up and had to wait in multiple lines to get my book, I'm counting it.)
2020 books I'm looking forward to:
The Holdout by Graham Moore
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
Providence by Max Barry
The Last Emperox by John Scalzi
If it Bleeds by Stephen King
Shakespeare and Squirrels by Christopher Moore
Utopia Ave. by David Mitchell
Malorie by Josh Malerman
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Early Riser
by Jasper Fforde
402 pgs
In Jasper Fforde's latest book, he creates an alternate version of earth, in which the Ice Age has persisted to modern day. Because of the inhospitable conditions during winter, 99% of the human population hibernates during it. Just like bears, they gorge themselves in preparation for sleeping through winter, and they're then watched over and protected during their sleep by the Winter Consul, a government agency consisting of those tasked with ensuring their safety and survival during hibernation.
But hibernation is not without its risks. There's the risk of starving to death if you didn't build up enough fats beforehand. There's the danger of being eaten by rats, suffocating from CO2 build up, and the risk of becoming a nightwalker, by waking up too early into a zombie-like condition known as Dead in Sleep.
The wealthy and privileged can afford to take a drug called Morphenox beforehand, which ensures hibernation will be peaceful and dreamless, in order to minimize unnecessary calorie usage during sleep.
Charlie Worthing is a rookie member of the Winter Consul Service who quickly finds himself in over his head. There's an outbreak of viral dreams that affects thousands, there are nightwalkers, monsters known as Wintervolk, and a conspiracy involving HiberTech, a corporation that makes its money from the hibernation industry.
The premise of the story, while good, isn't what makes the book so enjoyable. It's Fforde's wit and mastery of the English language that makes it so good. Fforde's books are never easy to describe, and this one is especially so. But it was a book that I simply enjoyed each sentence it contained.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
402 pgs
But hibernation is not without its risks. There's the risk of starving to death if you didn't build up enough fats beforehand. There's the danger of being eaten by rats, suffocating from CO2 build up, and the risk of becoming a nightwalker, by waking up too early into a zombie-like condition known as Dead in Sleep.
The wealthy and privileged can afford to take a drug called Morphenox beforehand, which ensures hibernation will be peaceful and dreamless, in order to minimize unnecessary calorie usage during sleep.
Charlie Worthing is a rookie member of the Winter Consul Service who quickly finds himself in over his head. There's an outbreak of viral dreams that affects thousands, there are nightwalkers, monsters known as Wintervolk, and a conspiracy involving HiberTech, a corporation that makes its money from the hibernation industry.
The premise of the story, while good, isn't what makes the book so enjoyable. It's Fforde's wit and mastery of the English language that makes it so good. Fforde's books are never easy to describe, and this one is especially so. But it was a book that I simply enjoyed each sentence it contained.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Friday, December 20, 2019
The Philosopher's War
by Tom Miller
389 pgs (The Philosophers series #2)
Picking up where The Philosopher's Flight left off, nineteen-year-old Robert Canderelli Weekes has successfully fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming the first male to join the US Sigilry Corps' Rescue and Evacuation service. It's a previously-all-female military service, which uses expert "empirical philosophers," who use a unique form of magic to fly into battles to retrieve the wounded and fly them to aid stations.
Robert knew life in the R&E Corp was going to be hard, but he didn't know it was going to end up being this hard, what with the long grueling hours of flying rescue missions into battle zones, not to mention the fact that being the first and only male allowed to do it added unique challenges as well. But eventually he begins to win over the respect of his superior officers and other women in his division. Eventually, his natural talents become evident and he catches the attention of General Tomasina Blandings, who recruits him to join a secret--and unauthorized--group of flyers she intends to use for more than just R&E missions. She plans to use Robert and a select group to bring about the defeat of the German army and the end end of World War I.
With these first two books, Tom Miller has created his own unique and entertaining alternative history story, one that is tense, filled with action, and very entertaining. I don't know whether he intends to write more stories featuring Robert after this one, but regardless, I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
389 pgs (The Philosophers series #2)
Robert knew life in the R&E Corp was going to be hard, but he didn't know it was going to end up being this hard, what with the long grueling hours of flying rescue missions into battle zones, not to mention the fact that being the first and only male allowed to do it added unique challenges as well. But eventually he begins to win over the respect of his superior officers and other women in his division. Eventually, his natural talents become evident and he catches the attention of General Tomasina Blandings, who recruits him to join a secret--and unauthorized--group of flyers she intends to use for more than just R&E missions. She plans to use Robert and a select group to bring about the defeat of the German army and the end end of World War I.
With these first two books, Tom Miller has created his own unique and entertaining alternative history story, one that is tense, filled with action, and very entertaining. I don't know whether he intends to write more stories featuring Robert after this one, but regardless, I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Saturday, December 14, 2019
The Judge Hunter
by Christopher Buckley
348 pgs
Christopher Buckley follows up his last book The Relic Master, which was set in the 16th century, with another historical satire, The Judge Hunter. This time Buckley sets his story in the 17th century, but again, uses historical, but obscure characters from that period to tell his story. Samuel Pepys as a member of the British Parliament and a high-ranking administrator in the Navy, but he is noteworthy because he kept a detailed diary every day for a decade, a diary that has provided insight into what daily life was like in England in the mid-1600s. Pepys had a brother-in-la named Balthasar de St. Michel (Balty), whom little is known about, who Buckley has turned into an aimless, bumbling man who gets sent to the American colonies on a wild goose chase by Pepys, who wants to get him out of his hair for a time.
Balty believes he was sent to New Netherland to hunt down two judges, who were responsible for the death of King Charles I. But his real purpose is to be a distraction to the Dutch long enough for British warships to arrive and wrest control of the colony away from the Dutch.
Buckley seems to have toned down his level of satire in these last two books. It hasn't been nearly as in-your-face and entertaining as it was in his earlier books like Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and No Way to Treat a First Lady. And I'll admit, if I had read either of these last two books first, I probably wouldn't have been interested enough to go back and read his earlier ones. But thankfully, I did read those first, and having enjoyed them as much as I did, I'll keep reading to see where he takes things from here. I understand he's planning to set his next four books in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, respectively. I'm hoping as the settings become progressively more and more modern, that Buckley will increase his level of wit and satire as well.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
348 pgs
Balty believes he was sent to New Netherland to hunt down two judges, who were responsible for the death of King Charles I. But his real purpose is to be a distraction to the Dutch long enough for British warships to arrive and wrest control of the colony away from the Dutch.
Buckley seems to have toned down his level of satire in these last two books. It hasn't been nearly as in-your-face and entertaining as it was in his earlier books like Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and No Way to Treat a First Lady. And I'll admit, if I had read either of these last two books first, I probably wouldn't have been interested enough to go back and read his earlier ones. But thankfully, I did read those first, and having enjoyed them as much as I did, I'll keep reading to see where he takes things from here. I understand he's planning to set his next four books in the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, respectively. I'm hoping as the settings become progressively more and more modern, that Buckley will increase his level of wit and satire as well.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Old Bones
by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
369 pgs (Nora Kelly series #1)
In Old Bones, Preston and Child bring back an old familiar character from the early Pendergast books, Nora Kelly, to launch a new series. Nora, now working as a curator at the Santa Fe Institute of Archaeology, is approached by a man named Clive Benton, who possesses the journal of Tamzene Donner, a member of the infamous Donner Party. Benton wants to recruit Nora to lead an expedition to find a lost camp used by the ill-fated group of pioneers, a camp which he believes is not only historically significant, but he has good reason to believe there is a large cache of gold coins buried somewhere near it.
Benton, Nora, and a small group sets out to find the camp, which they're quickly able to do, but shortly after they begin excavating the old bones it contains, they discover much more than they were anticipating.
Around the same time Nora is approached by Benton, FBI agent Corrie Swanson, a supporting character from the more recent Pendergast books, is assigned to investigate a series of grave robberies and killings, all involving a family with ties to a member of the Donner Party who survived.
These two story arcs eventually meet and combine to form a story that is both entertaining and interesting. I haven't been the biggest fan of several of the more recent books by Preston and Child, and I'm hoping this new series will infuse some new life into their books, including the ones featuring Aloysius Pendergast.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
369 pgs (Nora Kelly series #1)
Benton, Nora, and a small group sets out to find the camp, which they're quickly able to do, but shortly after they begin excavating the old bones it contains, they discover much more than they were anticipating.
Around the same time Nora is approached by Benton, FBI agent Corrie Swanson, a supporting character from the more recent Pendergast books, is assigned to investigate a series of grave robberies and killings, all involving a family with ties to a member of the Donner Party who survived.
These two story arcs eventually meet and combine to form a story that is both entertaining and interesting. I haven't been the biggest fan of several of the more recent books by Preston and Child, and I'm hoping this new series will infuse some new life into their books, including the ones featuring Aloysius Pendergast.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Imaginary Friend
by Stephen Chbosky
705 pgs
Christopher's mother, fleeing an abusive relationship, takes her seven-year-old son and moves to the small ton of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. She has no money and no possessions, but she's determined to start a new life for the to of them, safe from the violence and threats she's endured.
But shortly after arriving, Christopher begins hearing voices. They speak to him from the clouds and from a white plastic bag, warning him of the dangers of a "hissing lady." Following the voices, Christopher enters the woods near town one day and disappears. Six days later, when he walks back out of the woods, Christopher has changed. The changes aren't immediately obvious, even to his mother, but they begin to manifest over the coming days and weeks.
Before he went missing, Christopher struggled in school. Numbers and letters always seemed to be jumbled up when he'd see them. But when he returns, they all seem to fall into place, and he quickly begins outperforming all the other students in his class. Christopher is also obsessed with building a tree house in a specific tree back in the woods, a tree house that for some reason, he knows he must finish before Christmas, or something terrible will happen.
Imaginary Friend is a horror story that seems inspired by Stephen King and Stranger Things. It's a fantastical and epic story. It's Chbosky's first book in twenty years, and based on it, even if it takes twenty years to write his next one, I bet it'l be worth the wait.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
705 pgs
But shortly after arriving, Christopher begins hearing voices. They speak to him from the clouds and from a white plastic bag, warning him of the dangers of a "hissing lady." Following the voices, Christopher enters the woods near town one day and disappears. Six days later, when he walks back out of the woods, Christopher has changed. The changes aren't immediately obvious, even to his mother, but they begin to manifest over the coming days and weeks.
Before he went missing, Christopher struggled in school. Numbers and letters always seemed to be jumbled up when he'd see them. But when he returns, they all seem to fall into place, and he quickly begins outperforming all the other students in his class. Christopher is also obsessed with building a tree house in a specific tree back in the woods, a tree house that for some reason, he knows he must finish before Christmas, or something terrible will happen.
Imaginary Friend is a horror story that seems inspired by Stephen King and Stranger Things. It's a fantastical and epic story. It's Chbosky's first book in twenty years, and based on it, even if it takes twenty years to write his next one, I bet it'l be worth the wait.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Friday, November 22, 2019
Dry Bones
by Craig Johnson
306 pgs (Longmire series #11)
Dry Bones, the 11th installment in Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire series, begins with the discovery of the largest, and most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton ever found. Jen, as she's soon named, is discovered in Absaroka County, Wyoming, on the ranch of Danny Lone Elk, an elderly Cheyenne cattle rancher, and she's estimated to be worth around $8 million.
Soon after the discovery of Jen, Danny Loan Elk's body is discovered floating face down in a turtle pond on his ranch, and it's up to Walt to figure out who needed him dead. But with Danny's family, the Cheyenne tribe, and the federal government all claiming rights to Jen, it's not going to be easy.
Dry Bones is just another example of whey Craig Johnson's series is so good, and why it seems to be growing in popularity with each book that comes out. Even with the ending of the Netflix series based on it a few years ago, it seems like I come across fans of the books more often now than ever before.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
306 pgs (Longmire series #11)
Soon after the discovery of Jen, Danny Loan Elk's body is discovered floating face down in a turtle pond on his ranch, and it's up to Walt to figure out who needed him dead. But with Danny's family, the Cheyenne tribe, and the federal government all claiming rights to Jen, it's not going to be easy.
Dry Bones is just another example of whey Craig Johnson's series is so good, and why it seems to be growing in popularity with each book that comes out. Even with the ending of the Netflix series based on it a few years ago, it seems like I come across fans of the books more often now than ever before.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Friday, November 15, 2019
The New Girl
by Daniel Silva
475 pgs (Gabriel Allon series #19)
When the daughter of Khalid bin Mohammed, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, disappears, the prince reaches out indirectly to the one person who he knows would be able to find her, the man who also happens to be the least likely person who should be willing to help. But Gabriel Allon, the head of Israeli Intelligence, recognizes the potential opportunity this presents. He knows that if he's able to successfully find and return Khalid's daughter to him, that the Prince could become an invaluable ally in that influential Muslim country, an ally who could be instrumental to operations for decades to come.
Daniel Silva's books have always been good, but the last few have been exceptional. They've represented a new high for the series (now 19 books in) and The New Girl continues on that trajectory. It's fantastic.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
475 pgs (Gabriel Allon series #19)
Daniel Silva's books have always been good, but the last few have been exceptional. They've represented a new high for the series (now 19 books in) and The New Girl continues on that trajectory. It's fantastic.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Monday, November 11, 2019
Adjustment Day
by Chuck Palahniuk
316 pgs
I've made the decision it's time to move on from Chuck Palahniuk, and I don't feel guilty. It's him, not me. I can't keep reading garbage books just because every once in awhile he writes a great one. I know they can't all be Fight Club, or even Rant, but do the misses have to be so terrible? I wish he could be like so many other authors and right average to pretty-good books most of the time and then every once in awhile knock it out of the park. But Palahniuk never writes an average book. It's either a home run, or he falls and knocks himself out trying to get out of the dug out.
Adjustment Day wasn't worth my time to read, nor is it worth the additional two minutes it's taking me to write this.
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
316 pgs
Adjustment Day wasn't worth my time to read, nor is it worth the additional two minutes it's taking me to write this.
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Monday, November 4, 2019
The Girl on the Porch
by Richard Chizmar
150 pgs
I might be a fan of Richard Chizmar. My introduction to his writing was Gwendy's Button Box, which he co-wrote with Stephen King, and which I liked, but wasn't sure at the time how much I should credit Chizmar vs. King. Then I read his solo follow-up to that book, Gwendy's Magic Feather and enjoyed it just as much, sans King.So, I decided to pick up his novella-length story The Girl on the Porch, and the hits keep coming.
The story centers around the identity of a girl who in the middle of one night rings the doorbell of a couple of houses in a small neighborhood. None of the neighbors answered the door, since it was around 3:00 AM, but the next day, when Kenny and Sarah Tucker check the footage of their home security system, they see that it was a half-clothed woman with a shackle hanging from one of her wrists, who frantically rang their doorbell numerous times before running away and disappearing. When the police begin investigating, and when the girl's body turns up a short time later, tensions in the small community begin to build as neighbors begin turning on each other, questioning how much they really know and should trust one another.
The story is short and only takes an hour or two to read, which is both a positive and a negative. Chizmar doesn't waste much time with backstory and character development. He just throws you into the heart of the mystery and takes you for a ride. Unforunately though, I felt like the premise of the story merited a lengthier book. I would have loved for a longer and more gradual build up, along with an ending that didn't feel quite so abrupt.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
150 pgs
The story centers around the identity of a girl who in the middle of one night rings the doorbell of a couple of houses in a small neighborhood. None of the neighbors answered the door, since it was around 3:00 AM, but the next day, when Kenny and Sarah Tucker check the footage of their home security system, they see that it was a half-clothed woman with a shackle hanging from one of her wrists, who frantically rang their doorbell numerous times before running away and disappearing. When the police begin investigating, and when the girl's body turns up a short time later, tensions in the small community begin to build as neighbors begin turning on each other, questioning how much they really know and should trust one another.
The story is short and only takes an hour or two to read, which is both a positive and a negative. Chizmar doesn't waste much time with backstory and character development. He just throws you into the heart of the mystery and takes you for a ride. Unforunately though, I felt like the premise of the story merited a lengthier book. I would have loved for a longer and more gradual build up, along with an ending that didn't feel quite so abrupt.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Wednesday, October 30, 2019
They Thirst
by Robert McCammon
616 pgs
They Thirst is the third vampire book I've read in the last month, which wasn't a coincidence. I had been saving all three to read around Halloween, because I figured, if any of them were terrible, I could rationalize wasting time reading them because they're the types of books that should be read at this time of year. Fortunately, Robert McCammon delivers, once again.
Andy Palatazin grew up in Hungary, where, as a boy, he learned first hand that vampires exist. His father, who had gone out with a group of men during a winter storm to hunt down a vampire who had been hunting in their village, returned in the middle of the night, having been "turned." Andy and his mother fled and eventually ended up in California, but he never forgot the terror and violence he witnessed that night. Now, decades later, Andy is a cop in L.A.. trying to protect its citizens from more mundane threats.
But a powerful vampire, Prince Vulkan, has decided to make L.A. his home as well, with plans to turn the whole city into an army of vampires before spreading to the rest of the country, and eventually, the world. It's Andy who is first to recognize the work of Prince Vulkan for what it is, and with the eventual help of a small group of people, sets out to find and stop him.
They Thirst is one of McCammon's earlier books (1981), and it reads like a book from that period. It's a little cheesy at times, but it shows the progression he was making as a writer and storyteller. I found myself both smiling as I read it and not wanting to put it down.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
616 pgs
Andy Palatazin grew up in Hungary, where, as a boy, he learned first hand that vampires exist. His father, who had gone out with a group of men during a winter storm to hunt down a vampire who had been hunting in their village, returned in the middle of the night, having been "turned." Andy and his mother fled and eventually ended up in California, but he never forgot the terror and violence he witnessed that night. Now, decades later, Andy is a cop in L.A.. trying to protect its citizens from more mundane threats.
But a powerful vampire, Prince Vulkan, has decided to make L.A. his home as well, with plans to turn the whole city into an army of vampires before spreading to the rest of the country, and eventually, the world. It's Andy who is first to recognize the work of Prince Vulkan for what it is, and with the eventual help of a small group of people, sets out to find and stop him.
They Thirst is one of McCammon's earlier books (1981), and it reads like a book from that period. It's a little cheesy at times, but it shows the progression he was making as a writer and storyteller. I found myself both smiling as I read it and not wanting to put it down.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Blood Communion
by Anne Rice
256 pgs (Vampire Chronicles series #15)
Fifteen books into Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles series and I think I've gone back and forth from "loving it," to "I'm done" four or five times so far. Even while reading this latest book, I found myself alternating between extremes multiple times. My dilemma is deciding whether the good parts are worth suffering through the bad, and whether Rice is her on worst enemy when it comes to crafting a story that feels like it's leading somewhere.
In this latest installment, Lestat learns that the ancient vampire Rhoshamandes, who killed Maharet, the ancient matriarch of the vampiric family, has resurfaced and is once again picking off members of the hierarchy of vampires. The confrontation between the two of them, which was one of those moments of greatness in the series, should have been the climax and ending of the the book. But instead, Rice places it at about the midway point, and then drags the second half of the book out without an equally rewarding conclusion.
A couple of years ago, when I read Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, I said I wasn't a fan of the direction the series was going, but that I'd withhold judgment until I'd read the next one. Well, this was the next one, and the jury's still out. I'm not any clearer on where the series is going. I'm hopeful Rice has an idea and plans to get there sooner, rather than later. But I'm afraid she's just wandering around aimlessly with the cast of characters she's spent 15 books, and 40 years, assembling and telling their stories.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
256 pgs (Vampire Chronicles series #15)
In this latest installment, Lestat learns that the ancient vampire Rhoshamandes, who killed Maharet, the ancient matriarch of the vampiric family, has resurfaced and is once again picking off members of the hierarchy of vampires. The confrontation between the two of them, which was one of those moments of greatness in the series, should have been the climax and ending of the the book. But instead, Rice places it at about the midway point, and then drags the second half of the book out without an equally rewarding conclusion.
A couple of years ago, when I read Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, I said I wasn't a fan of the direction the series was going, but that I'd withhold judgment until I'd read the next one. Well, this was the next one, and the jury's still out. I'm not any clearer on where the series is going. I'm hopeful Rice has an idea and plans to get there sooner, rather than later. But I'm afraid she's just wandering around aimlessly with the cast of characters she's spent 15 books, and 40 years, assembling and telling their stories.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
The Redeemer
by Jo Nesbø
397 pgs (Harry Hole series #6)
In The Redeemer, the sixth book in Jo Nesbø's Harry Hole series, Hole is up against a professional assassin named Stankic, a former Croat soldier, who gained the nickname "Little Redeemer" during the war that broke up Yugoslavia.
The story begins back in 1991 with the rape of a 14-year-old girl at a youth camp run by the Norwegian Salvation Army. The girl's attacker was never found. The story then jumps ahead twenty-two years to the killing of a Salvation Army officer during an outdoor Christmas concert in Oslo. When the brother of the officer killed is later the target of a murder attempt, the Norwegian police believe the brothers' entire family is being targeted and Harry is assigned to the case.
Harry's investigations tie the two brothers back to the same youth camp where the young girl was raped, and eventually lead him to Croatia and onto the trail of Stankic, who has one more killing to complete before he plans to retire. As Harry closes in, Stankic becomes desperate and even more dangerous, until it's Harry's life that's on the line.
The Redeemer is a slight departure from the previous books in the series in both style and feel. I thought Nesbø held a lot of key aspects of the story back for most of the book, which ultimately led to a very satisfying conclusion, and I found my impressions of Harry changed more in this book than in any of the others so far. He's still a broken and conflicted protagonist, but I found him much more sympathetic in this one.
If you've never read any of the books in the series, this probably isn't the one to start with. It's good, but I think it's much better if you're familiar with the events that have led up to this one.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
397 pgs (Harry Hole series #6)
The story begins back in 1991 with the rape of a 14-year-old girl at a youth camp run by the Norwegian Salvation Army. The girl's attacker was never found. The story then jumps ahead twenty-two years to the killing of a Salvation Army officer during an outdoor Christmas concert in Oslo. When the brother of the officer killed is later the target of a murder attempt, the Norwegian police believe the brothers' entire family is being targeted and Harry is assigned to the case.
Harry's investigations tie the two brothers back to the same youth camp where the young girl was raped, and eventually lead him to Croatia and onto the trail of Stankic, who has one more killing to complete before he plans to retire. As Harry closes in, Stankic becomes desperate and even more dangerous, until it's Harry's life that's on the line.
The Redeemer is a slight departure from the previous books in the series in both style and feel. I thought Nesbø held a lot of key aspects of the story back for most of the book, which ultimately led to a very satisfying conclusion, and I found my impressions of Harry changed more in this book than in any of the others so far. He's still a broken and conflicted protagonist, but I found him much more sympathetic in this one.
If you've never read any of the books in the series, this probably isn't the one to start with. It's good, but I think it's much better if you're familiar with the events that have led up to this one.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Friday, October 11, 2019
Cardinal Black
by Robert McCammon
462 pgs (Matthew Corbett series #7)
Cardinal Black is the seventh book in Robert McCammon's fantastic series featuring Matthew Corbett. I've heard McCammon is only planning to have a couple more books in the series, which makes me both excited and disappointed at the same time. I can't wait to see how the story ultimately ends and how things end up for Corbett and the rest of the characters McCammon began introducing in Speaks the Nightbird. But at the same time, I don't want the story to end.
Events pick up in 1703, right where Freedom of the Mask left off. Matthew has found himself with no alternative but to assist the very man he's been trying to stop for months: Professor Fell. Fell has given Berry Grigsby, the girl Matthew has fallen in love with, an elixir that is causing her to rapidly deteriorate mentally to that of a child. She no longer recognizes Matthew, nor does she even know who she is anymore. Matthew has been forced to track down and retrieve a book of chemical potions, which was stolen from Fell, in order to find a possible cure for Berry.
He is joined on his search for the book by Julian Devane, one of Fell's assassins, and it doesn't take long for both of them to find themselves involved in a deadly game in London's underworld that will test both of their skill sets to their limits.
Each of the books in the series has been great, but Cardinal Black is one of my favorites so far. I found myself picking the book up every chance I could get, even if I only had a few minutes to read, and that's not something a book gets me to do very often. Once again, McCammon brings one installment of his overall story to a satisfying conclusion, only to jarringly set the stage for the next one. But that's a big reason why I enjoy his books so much.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
462 pgs (Matthew Corbett series #7)
Events pick up in 1703, right where Freedom of the Mask left off. Matthew has found himself with no alternative but to assist the very man he's been trying to stop for months: Professor Fell. Fell has given Berry Grigsby, the girl Matthew has fallen in love with, an elixir that is causing her to rapidly deteriorate mentally to that of a child. She no longer recognizes Matthew, nor does she even know who she is anymore. Matthew has been forced to track down and retrieve a book of chemical potions, which was stolen from Fell, in order to find a possible cure for Berry.
He is joined on his search for the book by Julian Devane, one of Fell's assassins, and it doesn't take long for both of them to find themselves involved in a deadly game in London's underworld that will test both of their skill sets to their limits.
Each of the books in the series has been great, but Cardinal Black is one of my favorites so far. I found myself picking the book up every chance I could get, even if I only had a few minutes to read, and that's not something a book gets me to do very often. Once again, McCammon brings one installment of his overall story to a satisfying conclusion, only to jarringly set the stage for the next one. But that's a big reason why I enjoy his books so much.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
The Ships of Earth
by Orson Scott Card
382 pgs (Homecoming series #3)
The Ships of Earth is the third volume in Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series. Nafai, his wife, and the rest of the group the Oversoul led out of Basilica, are traveling through the desert to where the ancient starships were left 40 million years ago. If they can get to them without killing each other first, they can take the ships back to earth.
The story Card is telling is interesting, but mostly because I'm familiar with the source material he pulled from. I'm enjoying seeing how he's taken that original religious story and converted it into an epic science fiction tale. I'd enjoy discussing the book with someone who had no idea it wasn't 100% Card's and see what they thought of it.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
382 pgs (Homecoming series #3)
The story Card is telling is interesting, but mostly because I'm familiar with the source material he pulled from. I'm enjoying seeing how he's taken that original religious story and converted it into an epic science fiction tale. I'd enjoy discussing the book with someone who had no idea it wasn't 100% Card's and see what they thought of it.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Wanderers
by Chuck Wendig
782 pgs
When I hear a book is being compared to The Stand, and favorably no less, I have to check it out. In the case of Chuck Wendig's new book Wanderers, I'm really glad I did. There's just something about a good post-apocalyptic, dystopian story that makes me happy for some reason. So, I'm always excited when a good one comes around.
The story begins when Shanna, a 17-year-old girl, wakes up to find her young sister Nessie is missing from her bed. That in and of itself isn't unusual or alarming, but when she finds Nessie a few minutes later, just how unusual and alarming the situation is, quickly becomes apparent. She finds Nessie walking alongside the road outside the house, barefoot adn unresponsive. At first, she thinks Nessie is merely sleepwalking, but when nothing she does will wake her, and when her attempts to physically stop her and take her back to the house cause Nessie to scream, shake violently, and act as if she's about to explode--literally, Shanna quickly realized something serious is going on.
By the time she goes back, wakes her father, adn the two of them catch back up to Nessie, she's wandered even further away from the house, and still shows no sign of waking nor stopping. Within a few minutes, Mr. Blamire, Shanna's math teacher, walks out of the morning mist along side of the road and approaches Nessie. Shanna can tell he's in the same state Nessie's in, adn when he gets to her, he turns direction and begins slowly walking right behind her. Gradually others join the group one by one, usually being followed by frantic family members or friends trying to "wake" them with the same results Shanna had. It doesn't take long for the local news to get word of the strange phenomena, and very soon, the "sleepwalkers" become a national headline.
Right around this same time, the CDC identifies a strange and deadly new fungal disease. The disease infects the host's brain, initially causing cold-like symptoms, but within weeks, the person begins experiencing hallucinations, often leading to suicide. Eventually the person dies and his or her whole body releases millions of spores into the air, potentially infecting thousands more.
As the story goes on and the group of sleepwalkers and their shepherds continues to grow mile after mile, Wendig gradually and expertly lays out the scope and magnitude of the story he's telling. Government agencies become involved, along with religious zealots and white supremacists. All trying to figure out what's going on, whether it's the apocalypse, and what ethnic group is to blame for it, respectively.
I had never heard of Chuck Wendig before seeing this book at the bookstore, so I didn't know what to expect, but I was very impressed. The story is fantastic, and his characters are well developed. A lot of books this big take a few hundred pages to build up and set the stage before they set their hook. That's not the case with Wanderers. The story grabbed me right from page one, and it didn't let up until the end.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
782 pgs
The story begins when Shanna, a 17-year-old girl, wakes up to find her young sister Nessie is missing from her bed. That in and of itself isn't unusual or alarming, but when she finds Nessie a few minutes later, just how unusual and alarming the situation is, quickly becomes apparent. She finds Nessie walking alongside the road outside the house, barefoot adn unresponsive. At first, she thinks Nessie is merely sleepwalking, but when nothing she does will wake her, and when her attempts to physically stop her and take her back to the house cause Nessie to scream, shake violently, and act as if she's about to explode--literally, Shanna quickly realized something serious is going on.
By the time she goes back, wakes her father, adn the two of them catch back up to Nessie, she's wandered even further away from the house, and still shows no sign of waking nor stopping. Within a few minutes, Mr. Blamire, Shanna's math teacher, walks out of the morning mist along side of the road and approaches Nessie. Shanna can tell he's in the same state Nessie's in, adn when he gets to her, he turns direction and begins slowly walking right behind her. Gradually others join the group one by one, usually being followed by frantic family members or friends trying to "wake" them with the same results Shanna had. It doesn't take long for the local news to get word of the strange phenomena, and very soon, the "sleepwalkers" become a national headline.
Right around this same time, the CDC identifies a strange and deadly new fungal disease. The disease infects the host's brain, initially causing cold-like symptoms, but within weeks, the person begins experiencing hallucinations, often leading to suicide. Eventually the person dies and his or her whole body releases millions of spores into the air, potentially infecting thousands more.
As the story goes on and the group of sleepwalkers and their shepherds continues to grow mile after mile, Wendig gradually and expertly lays out the scope and magnitude of the story he's telling. Government agencies become involved, along with religious zealots and white supremacists. All trying to figure out what's going on, whether it's the apocalypse, and what ethnic group is to blame for it, respectively.
I had never heard of Chuck Wendig before seeing this book at the bookstore, so I didn't know what to expect, but I was very impressed. The story is fantastic, and his characters are well developed. A lot of books this big take a few hundred pages to build up and set the stage before they set their hook. That's not the case with Wanderers. The story grabbed me right from page one, and it didn't let up until the end.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Monday, September 23, 2019
Dracul
by Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker
493 pgs
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading Dracul, Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker's prequel to the iconic book Dracula., written by Dacre's great-granduncle Bram Stoker. But before I say anything about the story, I think it's worth mentioning that the backstory of how the book came to be, which is outlined in the Authors' Note at the end, is fascinating and should not be neglected. It adds significantly to the story and explains ho anyone could have the audacity to try to add anything to Uncle Stoker's tale.
The backstory outlines Stoker and Barker's research of Dracula, which included the discovery of a lost journal of Bram Stoker's and the rare opportunity to review the book's original annotated manuscript. The manuscript interestingly begins on page 102, a fact Stoker and Barker deftly use in explaining the origins of their prequel. The story they were able to piece together from the journal and the notes is a great addition to the book and the vampire genre in general.
In the story, Bram Stoker himself plays the role of one of the main characters, and it begins in 1868, with a then 21-year old Bram hiding in the tower of a castle one night trying to ward off Dracul with nothing but holy water and some crucifixes. He's frantically trying to write down and record the events of his life, which led to this point, hoping that even if he dies, or something worse, his story will have a chance to be told.
From there the story goes back in time to Bram's early childhood and the mysterious woman named Ellen Crone who tended to him and his sister Matilda. Ellen took particular care of young Bram, who from birth had been a sickly child who spent almost all of his early childhood confined to his bed. IT wasn't until Ellen arrived and mysteriously healed him that he was able to begin living a full life. Ellen mysteriously disappeared from their lives ad Matilda made it her life's mission to find out what Ellen did to change Bram like she did.
Numerous times in her search for Ellen over the years, she would catch a fleeting glimpse of a woman in a crowd she was sure was Ellen because she looked like she hadn't aged a day since she left, but as soon as she was seen, she'd disappear again.
The story sunk its teeth into me (sorry, I tried to resist) and didn't let go. It's a vampire story that stays truer to the original character than probably any of the hundreds of other vampires stories that it inspired, and it's well worth the time it takes to read it.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
493 pgs
The backstory outlines Stoker and Barker's research of Dracula, which included the discovery of a lost journal of Bram Stoker's and the rare opportunity to review the book's original annotated manuscript. The manuscript interestingly begins on page 102, a fact Stoker and Barker deftly use in explaining the origins of their prequel. The story they were able to piece together from the journal and the notes is a great addition to the book and the vampire genre in general.
In the story, Bram Stoker himself plays the role of one of the main characters, and it begins in 1868, with a then 21-year old Bram hiding in the tower of a castle one night trying to ward off Dracul with nothing but holy water and some crucifixes. He's frantically trying to write down and record the events of his life, which led to this point, hoping that even if he dies, or something worse, his story will have a chance to be told.
From there the story goes back in time to Bram's early childhood and the mysterious woman named Ellen Crone who tended to him and his sister Matilda. Ellen took particular care of young Bram, who from birth had been a sickly child who spent almost all of his early childhood confined to his bed. IT wasn't until Ellen arrived and mysteriously healed him that he was able to begin living a full life. Ellen mysteriously disappeared from their lives ad Matilda made it her life's mission to find out what Ellen did to change Bram like she did.
Numerous times in her search for Ellen over the years, she would catch a fleeting glimpse of a woman in a crowd she was sure was Ellen because she looked like she hadn't aged a day since she left, but as soon as she was seen, she'd disappear again.
The story sunk its teeth into me (sorry, I tried to resist) and didn't let go. It's a vampire story that stays truer to the original character than probably any of the hundreds of other vampires stories that it inspired, and it's well worth the time it takes to read it.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
The City in the Middle of the Night
by Charlie Jane Anders
366 pgs
The City in the Middle of the Night is a science fiction story big on ideas, heavy on social commentary, and light on fun and enjoyment. It's a story that takes place on a planet called January, on which humans settled and established a civilization many years ago, a civilization now waning. January itself is a planet consisting of two extremes. Half of the planet continually faces its sun and is too hot to inhabit, and the other half faces deep space, and is too cold. Nevertheless, humans built two cities there, Xiosphant and Argelo, right along the edge of the daylight and the darkness.
Sophie and Bianca are college roommates at a privileged university in Xiosphant, who just like January, exemplify two extremes. Bianca comes from the light side of Xiosphant, and a family of wealth and means, and Sophie, who comes from the dark side of the city, comes from little and had to essentially force her way in to the school.
Sophie is in love with Bianca and when Bianca one day steals a small amount of money to buy her and her friends drinks, Sophie takes it upon herself to take the fall when the police get involved and is "executed" for her crime. Her form of execution is to be thrown out of the city and left to die of exposure outside its walls. But instead of dying as was intended, Sophie is able to survive.
She survives with the help of the crocodiles (stay with me a little while longer), which are the native species on January. They're intelligent, telepathic, resemble large furry lobsters, and unsurprisingly, are feared and hunted by humans. They have their own city in the middle of the dark side of the planet and it's there that Sophie finds refuge and learns to communicate with, and ultimately love the species as a whole.
Sophie would be content to live out the rest of her days with the crocodiles, but she's destined to play a larger role on January, one that ultimately could determine the fate of the whole planet.
I had such high hopes for this book. I really enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky, the only other book by Anders that I'd read, and so I was hoping this book would grab me and hold me the way that one did. Unfortunately, it never did. I never found myself caring about Sophie, or anyone else in the story, nor the revolution she ends up leading. I also found the social commentary, which the book is clearly providing, a little heavy handed and unappealing.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
366 pgs
Sophie and Bianca are college roommates at a privileged university in Xiosphant, who just like January, exemplify two extremes. Bianca comes from the light side of Xiosphant, and a family of wealth and means, and Sophie, who comes from the dark side of the city, comes from little and had to essentially force her way in to the school.
Sophie is in love with Bianca and when Bianca one day steals a small amount of money to buy her and her friends drinks, Sophie takes it upon herself to take the fall when the police get involved and is "executed" for her crime. Her form of execution is to be thrown out of the city and left to die of exposure outside its walls. But instead of dying as was intended, Sophie is able to survive.
She survives with the help of the crocodiles (stay with me a little while longer), which are the native species on January. They're intelligent, telepathic, resemble large furry lobsters, and unsurprisingly, are feared and hunted by humans. They have their own city in the middle of the dark side of the planet and it's there that Sophie finds refuge and learns to communicate with, and ultimately love the species as a whole.
Sophie would be content to live out the rest of her days with the crocodiles, but she's destined to play a larger role on January, one that ultimately could determine the fate of the whole planet.
I had such high hopes for this book. I really enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky, the only other book by Anders that I'd read, and so I was hoping this book would grab me and hold me the way that one did. Unfortunately, it never did. I never found myself caring about Sophie, or anyone else in the story, nor the revolution she ends up leading. I also found the social commentary, which the book is clearly providing, a little heavy handed and unappealing.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Gwendy's Magic Feather
by Richard Chizmar
333 pgs (Gwendy series #2)
If I'm going to be entirely honest, even though there were two authors' names on the cover of Gwendy's Button Box, only one of the names mattered to me (guess which one it was). Not because I didn't like Richard Chizmar, I'd just never read anything by him before. That being said, I enjoyed the story so much, that when I learned that Richard Chizmar had written a sequel by himself, it didn't really matter to me that Stephen King's name wasn't going to be on the cover. I wanted to know what happened next.
Gwendy's Magic Feather continues the story of Gwendy Peterson, now a 37-year-old, first-term congresswoman from Maine. Her life since the events of the first book has been relatively charmed. She's found success as a novelist, a filmmaker, and now in D.C. representing her constituents back in Castle Rock.
When the button box reappears inexplicably in her townhome one evening a few days before Christmas, without a note or another appearance by the mysterious Richard Farris, Gwendy is left with only the temptations of her own thoughts as to whether the box, and the powerful gifts it dispenses, could, or should, be used again.
When Gwendy flies home to see her parents for the holidays, she takes the box with her. But she returns to a Castle Rock currently under a dark cloud. Two girls have recently gone missing, and the police have no idea what's happened to them. Soon after her arrival, a third girl goes missing, and Gwendy, with her box, might be the only chance any of them has for surviving.
Any disappointment I might have had with Stephen King not being an author of this book were quickly forgotten when I started reading it. Richard Chizmar does both the character and town King created justice. Like the first book, it's a novella, and with its short chapters, it makes for a very quick, but satisfying read. I enjoyed it enough to place an order for another of Chizmar's books as soon as I finished this one, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else he has to offer.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
333 pgs (Gwendy series #2)
Gwendy's Magic Feather continues the story of Gwendy Peterson, now a 37-year-old, first-term congresswoman from Maine. Her life since the events of the first book has been relatively charmed. She's found success as a novelist, a filmmaker, and now in D.C. representing her constituents back in Castle Rock.
When the button box reappears inexplicably in her townhome one evening a few days before Christmas, without a note or another appearance by the mysterious Richard Farris, Gwendy is left with only the temptations of her own thoughts as to whether the box, and the powerful gifts it dispenses, could, or should, be used again.
When Gwendy flies home to see her parents for the holidays, she takes the box with her. But she returns to a Castle Rock currently under a dark cloud. Two girls have recently gone missing, and the police have no idea what's happened to them. Soon after her arrival, a third girl goes missing, and Gwendy, with her box, might be the only chance any of them has for surviving.
Any disappointment I might have had with Stephen King not being an author of this book were quickly forgotten when I started reading it. Richard Chizmar does both the character and town King created justice. Like the first book, it's a novella, and with its short chapters, it makes for a very quick, but satisfying read. I enjoyed it enough to place an order for another of Chizmar's books as soon as I finished this one, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else he has to offer.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Monday, August 26, 2019
Stone of Farewell
by Tad Williams
589 pgs (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series #2)
Stone of Farewell is the second book in Tad Williams' original Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. I say "original," because he's currently writing another trilogy (along with some shorter individual stories), which also take place on the continent of Osten Ard, years after this one concludes. There is a lot going on in this series, and while both books so far have had everything I hope for in epic fantasy, they've each played their own unique role in the series as a whole.
The Dragonbone Chair did an excellent job of introducing Osten Ard and the different races and characters who live there. It also got Williams' story off to a strong start, introducing Simon, the orphaned kitchen scullion who serves in Hayholt Castle, who finds himself in the middle of the fight against Pryrates and the evil forces of the Storm King., which have started to take over Osten Ard. In The Dragonbone Chair, Simon is among a group on a quest to locate the three swords: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, swords believed to be the key to destroying the Storm King once and for all.
Stone of Farewell picks up right where it left off, but it goes much deeper into the lives of the several main characters. As the book begins, Simon is in the troll city of Yiquanuc, recovering from his battle wounds. While there, he has a dream in which he's instructed to find the Stone of Farewell, a mythical place he's told he, and all who travel there, will be safe for a time, as they rally together and prepare to make their stand against the Storm King.
That's a very short summary of a 589-page, densely-packed book, but with so much going on, it's hard to do it justice briefly. Ultimately, the book left me ready to start book three: To Green Angel Tower. But with it being roughly twice as long, I'm going to wait at least a couple of months before I start it.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
589 pgs (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series #2)
The Dragonbone Chair did an excellent job of introducing Osten Ard and the different races and characters who live there. It also got Williams' story off to a strong start, introducing Simon, the orphaned kitchen scullion who serves in Hayholt Castle, who finds himself in the middle of the fight against Pryrates and the evil forces of the Storm King., which have started to take over Osten Ard. In The Dragonbone Chair, Simon is among a group on a quest to locate the three swords: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, swords believed to be the key to destroying the Storm King once and for all.
Stone of Farewell picks up right where it left off, but it goes much deeper into the lives of the several main characters. As the book begins, Simon is in the troll city of Yiquanuc, recovering from his battle wounds. While there, he has a dream in which he's instructed to find the Stone of Farewell, a mythical place he's told he, and all who travel there, will be safe for a time, as they rally together and prepare to make their stand against the Storm King.
That's a very short summary of a 589-page, densely-packed book, but with so much going on, it's hard to do it justice briefly. Ultimately, the book left me ready to start book three: To Green Angel Tower. But with it being roughly twice as long, I'm going to wait at least a couple of months before I start it.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Tigerman
by Nick Harkaway
337 pgs
Tigerman is the latest book by Nick Harkaway, an author I'm becoming increasingly a fan of the more books he writes. He's the son of John le Carré, but he doesn't write in the same genre as his father. In fact, I'm not quite sure what genre Harkaway's books are in. They don't fit neatly into any of them. Case in point...
Lester Ferris is a 39-year-old Sargent in the British army, who's currently fulfilling a quiet assignment as the British consul on the island of Mancreau, in the Arabian Sea. Mancreau is a dying island. It was left scarred and polluted by decades of chemical manufacturing, so much so that seismic activity, which took place a decade or so ago, released clouds of toxic gases over the island, causing those who live there to face frightening diseases and severe birth defects.
One day, while Ferris is having tea in a small café, armed bandits crash through the doors and murder the owner. Things could have been far worse, if it weren't for Ferris's heroic actions. He single-handedly overpowers the bandits using nothing but a muffin tin, and while doing so, wins over a 10-year-old orphan who witnessed it. The boy goes by the name Robin and he's obsessed with comics and the heroes in their stories. A relationship forms between the two of them and Robin eventually convinces Lester to become a superhero. Together they create an eclectic costume with a gas mask, pieces of metal, and bits of bone and fur, and Lester finds himself stopping crimes in spectacular fashion as his alter ego: Tigerman.
Within the pages of Tigerman, Harkaway manages to successfully cram multiple types of stories together. On the one hand, it's a superhero-origin story, filled with some pretty impressive action scenes. On another hand, it's a mystery, as Lester continually searches for where Robin came from. But at its center is the story of the relationship that forms between the two characters, a relationship that changes both of them forever.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
337 pgs
Lester Ferris is a 39-year-old Sargent in the British army, who's currently fulfilling a quiet assignment as the British consul on the island of Mancreau, in the Arabian Sea. Mancreau is a dying island. It was left scarred and polluted by decades of chemical manufacturing, so much so that seismic activity, which took place a decade or so ago, released clouds of toxic gases over the island, causing those who live there to face frightening diseases and severe birth defects.
One day, while Ferris is having tea in a small café, armed bandits crash through the doors and murder the owner. Things could have been far worse, if it weren't for Ferris's heroic actions. He single-handedly overpowers the bandits using nothing but a muffin tin, and while doing so, wins over a 10-year-old orphan who witnessed it. The boy goes by the name Robin and he's obsessed with comics and the heroes in their stories. A relationship forms between the two of them and Robin eventually convinces Lester to become a superhero. Together they create an eclectic costume with a gas mask, pieces of metal, and bits of bone and fur, and Lester finds himself stopping crimes in spectacular fashion as his alter ego: Tigerman.
Within the pages of Tigerman, Harkaway manages to successfully cram multiple types of stories together. On the one hand, it's a superhero-origin story, filled with some pretty impressive action scenes. On another hand, it's a mystery, as Lester continually searches for where Robin came from. But at its center is the story of the relationship that forms between the two characters, a relationship that changes both of them forever.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Sunday, August 11, 2019
A Quiet Flame
by Philip Kerr
386 pgs (Bernie Gunther series #5)
A Quiet Flame is the fifth book in Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series, a series I started reading 11 years ago, but one that for some reason, I've allowed six years to pass since I last read a book in it. It features Bernie Gunther, a German police detective and current private investigator, who served as an SS Officer in Dachau during WWII. He's led a complicated life, due in part to his sympathies for the Jews and his opposition to the Nazi party, even while he served as an officer in it.
As the book begins, Bernie leaves Germany for Argentina in 1950, where he's seeking exile from his home country. But it doesn't take long for his past to begin playing a role in his present once again. His reputation as one of the best homicide detectives in Germany becomes known to the authorities in Buenos Aires, and he soon finds himself recruited to help in the investigation of the murder of a 15-year-old girl. The murder bears a striking resemblance to two unsolved murders Bernie investigated in Berlin back in 1932. So, Bernie begins investigating other Germans now living in Argentina, specifically, those who played an active role in the atrocities of the War.
Bernie's investigation uncovers dark secrets in Argentina, and not just those being hidden by the former Nazi officers who fled there. High-ranking officials in Argentina also have secrets they're willing to kill to protect, and Bernie's investigation threatens them.
A Quiet Flame is another solid book in the series. It was a good reminder to me of why I started reading the series in the first place, and it also encouraged me to read the next book, sooner rather than later.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
386 pgs (Bernie Gunther series #5)
As the book begins, Bernie leaves Germany for Argentina in 1950, where he's seeking exile from his home country. But it doesn't take long for his past to begin playing a role in his present once again. His reputation as one of the best homicide detectives in Germany becomes known to the authorities in Buenos Aires, and he soon finds himself recruited to help in the investigation of the murder of a 15-year-old girl. The murder bears a striking resemblance to two unsolved murders Bernie investigated in Berlin back in 1932. So, Bernie begins investigating other Germans now living in Argentina, specifically, those who played an active role in the atrocities of the War.
Bernie's investigation uncovers dark secrets in Argentina, and not just those being hidden by the former Nazi officers who fled there. High-ranking officials in Argentina also have secrets they're willing to kill to protect, and Bernie's investigation threatens them.
A Quiet Flame is another solid book in the series. It was a good reminder to me of why I started reading the series in the first place, and it also encouraged me to read the next book, sooner rather than later.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Thursday, August 1, 2019
The Dinosaur Knights
by Victor Milán
444 pgs (Dinosaur Lords series #2)
There are a couple of things to be aware of, if you're considering reading Victor Milán's Dinosaur Lords trilogy. The first is that it's a fantasy series set in a world called Paradise, which resembles Europe in the 14th century. There are kings and lords and dukes, and seemingly never-ending feuds and wars between them. There are knights who fight those wars for their kings, which leads to the second thing to be aware of . . . the dinosaurs. There are dinosaurs on Paradise, and some of them have been domesticated and are used as beasts of burden and some are ridden by the knights fighting those wars. If that second thing makes your eyes roll back in your head and causes you to pass on the series without giving it a chance, you'll miss out on a pretty good story.
George R.R. Martin provided the blurb on the books' covers, in which he calls it ". . . a cross between Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones." That's not to say the series is as good as either of them, but it has its moments, and in this, the second book in the trilogy, those moments are more frequent than they were in book I.
Milán picks up right were he left off at the end of The Dinosaur Lords. Karyl Bogomirskiy and the dinosaur master Rob Korrigan are leading the efforts to defend the city of Providence, where Imperial Princess Molodia and her servant have just arrived seeking sanctuary from Duke Falk von Hornberg. And, in the west, the servants of the Creators, known as the Grey Angels, have begun to form their army by turning humans into mindless killers. All of this results in some impressive battle scenes, featuring armored triceratops, ferocious Allosaurus, and the real kings of the series--Tyrannosaurus Rex.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
444 pgs (Dinosaur Lords series #2)
George R.R. Martin provided the blurb on the books' covers, in which he calls it ". . . a cross between Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones." That's not to say the series is as good as either of them, but it has its moments, and in this, the second book in the trilogy, those moments are more frequent than they were in book I.
Milán picks up right were he left off at the end of The Dinosaur Lords. Karyl Bogomirskiy and the dinosaur master Rob Korrigan are leading the efforts to defend the city of Providence, where Imperial Princess Molodia and her servant have just arrived seeking sanctuary from Duke Falk von Hornberg. And, in the west, the servants of the Creators, known as the Grey Angels, have begun to form their army by turning humans into mindless killers. All of this results in some impressive battle scenes, featuring armored triceratops, ferocious Allosaurus, and the real kings of the series--Tyrannosaurus Rex.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
It Devours!
by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
347 pgs (Welcome to Night Vale series #2)
It Devours! is the second book to take place in Night Vale, the fictionalized desert town made popular in the long-running podcast Welcome to Night Vale. It's a town that's a little reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, but the version of it, had it been created by Stephen King instead. Ghosts, aliens, and mysterious government agents are commonplace in Night Vale, and if there's a conspiracy theory that has ever been thought of, chances are, it's true in Night Vale.
The stories that take place in Night Vale, both those told in the podcasts, and those in the two books so far, are not driven by any particular plot, most of the time. In fact, the plot is really secondary to the atmosphere and feel of the story. That's not to say there isn't a plot, there is, but the story meanders around the plot and only seems to come back around to it occasionally. Surprisingly, that's a big part of the appeal for me. Much in the same way I enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I found myself simply enjoying the journey, and not necessarily the destination.
As far as the plot goes though, here's a small taste: There's a mysterious void that keeps "appearing" in random places in Night Vale, which swallows up whole buildings and anyone who happened to be inside of them at the time. The local religion, The Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and local scientists are at odds to try to explain what the void is and to understand where and when it will appear next.
I enjoyed It Devours!. It's a fun story that had me smiling often. I've only listened to a handful of the podcasts so far, and to be honest, I think the types of stories Fink and Cranor come up with for the town are better suited for that format, but the books offer an interesting and more in-depth visit to this small desert town where the possibilities are endless.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
347 pgs (Welcome to Night Vale series #2)
The stories that take place in Night Vale, both those told in the podcasts, and those in the two books so far, are not driven by any particular plot, most of the time. In fact, the plot is really secondary to the atmosphere and feel of the story. That's not to say there isn't a plot, there is, but the story meanders around the plot and only seems to come back around to it occasionally. Surprisingly, that's a big part of the appeal for me. Much in the same way I enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I found myself simply enjoying the journey, and not necessarily the destination.
As far as the plot goes though, here's a small taste: There's a mysterious void that keeps "appearing" in random places in Night Vale, which swallows up whole buildings and anyone who happened to be inside of them at the time. The local religion, The Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and local scientists are at odds to try to explain what the void is and to understand where and when it will appear next.
I enjoyed It Devours!. It's a fun story that had me smiling often. I've only listened to a handful of the podcasts so far, and to be honest, I think the types of stories Fink and Cranor come up with for the town are better suited for that format, but the books offer an interesting and more in-depth visit to this small desert town where the possibilities are endless.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Monday, July 15, 2019
Deep Fathom
by James Rollins
454 pgs
I've been a pretty big fan of James Rollins' Sigma Force series for many years. Each book in the series (which come out every year like clockwork) is a fun, fast-paced, check-your-sense-of-realism-at-page-one thriller that offers hours of entertainment. But before he launched the series, he wrote a handful of stand-alone books--Deep Fathom is one of those.
The book begins on the day of the first solar eclipse of the new millennium. Ex-Navy SEAL, Jack Kirkland and his salvage ship "Deep Fathom" are somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, searching for an old sunken Japanese ship, which was purported to have been carrying millions of dollars' worth of gold bricks when it sank. Jack and his team are hoping to find the ship and claim the salvage. He's able to locate the ship with the use of a small submersible, but just when he reaches the gold, an underwater earthquake triggers a large volcanic eruption and Jack has to flee to the surface before his sub can be destroyed.
The earthquake, which turns out to be only one of many deadly disasters which occurred at the same time around the Pacific, occurred right at the time of the solar eclipse, and the Deep Fathom is soon sent to search the site of an airplane crash nearby, another casualty during the eclipse. When Jack gets his ship to the site, he learns that the plane that went down was Air Force One, which crashed with the President on board.
Deep Fathom is a decent book. Rollins keeps things moving along at a pretty quick pace, and he keeps it pretty interesting throughout. But having read the many books he's written since, it's clear he was still honing his writing skills. The characters are pretty one-dimensional and the dialogue (which I think to this day he needs some more practice on) leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, I started reading his books with the later ones. I think if this was the first of his books I read, I might not have been interested enough to continue reading his others.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
454 pgs
The book begins on the day of the first solar eclipse of the new millennium. Ex-Navy SEAL, Jack Kirkland and his salvage ship "Deep Fathom" are somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, searching for an old sunken Japanese ship, which was purported to have been carrying millions of dollars' worth of gold bricks when it sank. Jack and his team are hoping to find the ship and claim the salvage. He's able to locate the ship with the use of a small submersible, but just when he reaches the gold, an underwater earthquake triggers a large volcanic eruption and Jack has to flee to the surface before his sub can be destroyed.
The earthquake, which turns out to be only one of many deadly disasters which occurred at the same time around the Pacific, occurred right at the time of the solar eclipse, and the Deep Fathom is soon sent to search the site of an airplane crash nearby, another casualty during the eclipse. When Jack gets his ship to the site, he learns that the plane that went down was Air Force One, which crashed with the President on board.
Deep Fathom is a decent book. Rollins keeps things moving along at a pretty quick pace, and he keeps it pretty interesting throughout. But having read the many books he's written since, it's clear he was still honing his writing skills. The characters are pretty one-dimensional and the dialogue (which I think to this day he needs some more practice on) leaves a lot to be desired. Fortunately, I started reading his books with the later ones. I think if this was the first of his books I read, I might not have been interested enough to continue reading his others.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Friday, July 12, 2019
Isaac's Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
by Erik Larson
273 pgs
As you can tell from this blog, I read very little by authors who write non-fiction. But Erik Larson is one of the few whose books make it to my list, and each one has been worth my time. This one was no exception. Even though it's one of his earlier books, and the shortest one I've read so far, because it was written by Larson, it was both educational and entertaining at the same time.
Isaac's Storm is the historical account of the hurricane that hit Galveston Texas in 1900, killing somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people, making it the deadliest natural disaster in United States History. Isaac Cline was the chief meteorologist at the U.S. weather Bureau's Galveston office at the time, and it was his belief that the Galveston area would never lie in the path of a hurricane. He had made his belief known in newspaper articles prior to 1900, so hen reports started coming in of the storm in the Gulf of Mexico, Cline didn't raise the alarm until it was too late for people to take steps to protect themselves.
Larson does an excellent job of not only detailing the storm and its devastation, he also does an admirable job of breathing life back to many of the people who lived in Galveston at the time, whose lives either ended, or were forever changed by the storm.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
273 pgs
Isaac's Storm is the historical account of the hurricane that hit Galveston Texas in 1900, killing somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people, making it the deadliest natural disaster in United States History. Isaac Cline was the chief meteorologist at the U.S. weather Bureau's Galveston office at the time, and it was his belief that the Galveston area would never lie in the path of a hurricane. He had made his belief known in newspaper articles prior to 1900, so hen reports started coming in of the storm in the Gulf of Mexico, Cline didn't raise the alarm until it was too late for people to take steps to protect themselves.
Larson does an excellent job of not only detailing the storm and its devastation, he also does an admirable job of breathing life back to many of the people who lived in Galveston at the time, whose lives either ended, or were forever changed by the storm.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Monday, July 8, 2019
Recursion
by Blake Crouch
326 pgs
For the past couple of years, anytime anyone asked me for a book recommendation, the first book I've thought about has been Dark Matter, by Blake Crouch. It's the first and only book by him I've read, and I loved it. It's a mind-bending science fiction book that's hard to describe, and to even try to, runs the risk of spoiling the experience for whomever I recommend it to. So, I simply tell them to read it. Recursion is just as mind-bending, just as enjoyable, and I'll be recommending it just as often.
Like its predecessor, Recursion is a difficult book to describe, so I won't say much. But at its core, it's about memory, and the role memory plays in time. The book begins in 2018 with a NYPD detective responding to a suicide call. The "jumper" is a woman who tells him she suffers from False Memory Syndrome--a new condition that has recently begun to afflict people, suddenly giving them a new set of memories of a life they never lived.
The book then jumps back to 2007, to a scientist named Helena Smith, who is approached by one of the wealthiest men in the world, who offers her his unlimited resources to fund her research in to memory and curing Alzheimer's. As the book continues to jump back and forth between the events of 2007 and 2018, Crouch slowly unfolds the scope and magnitude of the story he's written...and it's impressive.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
326 pgs
Like its predecessor, Recursion is a difficult book to describe, so I won't say much. But at its core, it's about memory, and the role memory plays in time. The book begins in 2018 with a NYPD detective responding to a suicide call. The "jumper" is a woman who tells him she suffers from False Memory Syndrome--a new condition that has recently begun to afflict people, suddenly giving them a new set of memories of a life they never lived.
The book then jumps back to 2007, to a scientist named Helena Smith, who is approached by one of the wealthiest men in the world, who offers her his unlimited resources to fund her research in to memory and curing Alzheimer's. As the book continues to jump back and forth between the events of 2007 and 2018, Crouch slowly unfolds the scope and magnitude of the story he's written...and it's impressive.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Beartown
by Fredrik Backman
418 pgs (Beartown series #1)
Beartown is a story about a small Swedish town and its love for the sport of hockey. Most of its residents seemingly live or die according to whether its local junior team, The Beartown Ice Hockey Club, wins or loses. And this year, they have a really good team, mostly due to their star player, Kevin, the son of the wealthiest family in town, who by all accounts, is destined to play in the NHL within a few years.
But Kevin's future, and that of the hockey club itself, are all put in jeopardy, when one night, during a victory party, Kevin sexually assaults Maya, the daughter of the club's general manager. Maya tells her parents what happened a week later, and it's then that the true nature of the town and its residents is exposed. Many of them are quick to blame Maya for what took place, refusing to believe their star player could be capable of what she's accused him of doing.
I found a lot to like with Beartown. It's about much more than just hockey (although I would have been fine with it if that had been all it ended up being about). Backman offers a great profile of small town mentality, and the culture of youth sports today, and he does it through a great story with strong, relatable characters.
I've enjoyed each of teh books Backman has written so far, and Beartown is a great example of why. I'm excited to read its follow-up, Us Against You, to find out what becomes of Beartown, the hockey players, and the rest of the characters Backman has created.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
418 pgs (Beartown series #1)
But Kevin's future, and that of the hockey club itself, are all put in jeopardy, when one night, during a victory party, Kevin sexually assaults Maya, the daughter of the club's general manager. Maya tells her parents what happened a week later, and it's then that the true nature of the town and its residents is exposed. Many of them are quick to blame Maya for what took place, refusing to believe their star player could be capable of what she's accused him of doing.
I found a lot to like with Beartown. It's about much more than just hockey (although I would have been fine with it if that had been all it ended up being about). Backman offers a great profile of small town mentality, and the culture of youth sports today, and he does it through a great story with strong, relatable characters.
I've enjoyed each of teh books Backman has written so far, and Beartown is a great example of why. I'm excited to read its follow-up, Us Against You, to find out what becomes of Beartown, the hockey players, and the rest of the characters Backman has created.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Monday, July 1, 2019
Wait for Signs
by Craig Johnson
183 pgs (Longmire Series)
Every Christmas Eve, Craig Johnson writes a short story featuring Walt Longmire that he gives away for free as a Christmas gift for his readers. Wait for Signs is a collection of those stories so far.
Some of the stories are minor mysteries, just on a smaller scale than the ones Walt tackles in the full-length novels, and some of them simply offer short scenes from his past, that provide a little more of the background of his life and relationship with his deceased wife. Either way, they're fun and enjoyable, and worth reading for anyone who watched the series, or reads the books.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Some of the stories are minor mysteries, just on a smaller scale than the ones Walt tackles in the full-length novels, and some of them simply offer short scenes from his past, that provide a little more of the background of his life and relationship with his deceased wife. Either way, they're fun and enjoyable, and worth reading for anyone who watched the series, or reads the books.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Verses for the Dead
by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
337 pgs (Pendergast series #18)
Verses for the Dead is the 18th book in the Pendergast series, and while it's not a bad book, it, along with some of the more recent books in the series, makes me question how well the series is aging. It seems to have lost a step or two along the way, and I'm starting to wonder whether Preston and Child are struggling to come up with unique and seemingly bizarre cases for Pendergast to investigate. The fact that their next collaboration, Old Bones, which will be published in August, is a departure from the series and begins a new one featuring Nora Kelly, makes me that much more certain that they have.
The story begins with the discovery of a human heart left on a gravestone in a Miami Beach cemetery. The heart is accompanied by a literary note signed by "Mister Brokenhearts" and is left on the grave of a woman who committed suicide a decade ago by hanging herself. The case is assigned to Pendergast and his new partner, who has been assigned to him as a result of the Bureaus' efforts to keep Pendergast, and his unorthodox methods, in check. It's soon discovered that Mister Brokenhearts killed the heart's owner by slitting her throat and splitting her breastbone, and his work is only beginning. Soon other women are killed in similar fashion, their hearts also being left on the grave markers of other cases of women who committed suicide by hanging.
As Pendergast and his partner Coldmoon race to discover the true identity of Mister Brokenhearts and stop him, they realize the clue to discovering who he is and why he's doing what he's doing, lies in the suicides that took place so many years ago.
Verses for the Dead is an interesting enough story. But ultimately it didn't live up to my expectations. Like the last few books in the series have been, it was good enough to keep me reading, and I'm sure I'll pick up the next book in the series as soon as it comes out. But it's a disappointment when compared to the great books from earlier in the series.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
337 pgs (Pendergast series #18)
The story begins with the discovery of a human heart left on a gravestone in a Miami Beach cemetery. The heart is accompanied by a literary note signed by "Mister Brokenhearts" and is left on the grave of a woman who committed suicide a decade ago by hanging herself. The case is assigned to Pendergast and his new partner, who has been assigned to him as a result of the Bureaus' efforts to keep Pendergast, and his unorthodox methods, in check. It's soon discovered that Mister Brokenhearts killed the heart's owner by slitting her throat and splitting her breastbone, and his work is only beginning. Soon other women are killed in similar fashion, their hearts also being left on the grave markers of other cases of women who committed suicide by hanging.
As Pendergast and his partner Coldmoon race to discover the true identity of Mister Brokenhearts and stop him, they realize the clue to discovering who he is and why he's doing what he's doing, lies in the suicides that took place so many years ago.
Verses for the Dead is an interesting enough story. But ultimately it didn't live up to my expectations. Like the last few books in the series have been, it was good enough to keep me reading, and I'm sure I'll pick up the next book in the series as soon as it comes out. But it's a disappointment when compared to the great books from earlier in the series.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Inspection
by Josh Malerman
387 pgs
Deep in the northern woods of Michigan, there's a tower, which serves as the home for 26 gifted 12-year-old boys, all of whom have been raised there since they were babies by a man they know only as D.A.D. The boys, whose names are simply the letters of the alphabet, have been raised their entire lives with no knowledge of the world outside their tower and beyond the grounds immediately surrounding it. Unbeknownst to them, they are the subjects of a bizarre and unsettling experiment. D.A.D. believes that "genius is distracted by the opposite sex," and so is raising these boys without any knowledge that females exist, believing that by doing so, he will help them to unlock their full potential.
While these boys have been growing up in their tower, being taught by special teachers, and reading books and watching movies made specifically for them to reinforce the idea of a one-gender world, a similar experiment has been going on in a separate tower a few miles away. Only in this tower, there are 26 girls, being raised by M.O.M. with no knowledge of the male gender.
But these children are all extremely gifted, and for M.O.M. and D.A.D. to assume they will never figure out something is wrong with the world they've been raised in is naive. In fact, a boy named J has recently begun to suspect that D.A.D. has been hiding something from them, and a girl named K has been bothered by something she thinks she's seen off in the distance, something that doesn't seem right.
Inspection is the second book by Josh Malerman that I've read, and they've both made me excited about him as an author. I've yet to read his breakout book Bird Box. But with its sequel scheduled to be coming out in October, I plan to read it soon. I'm looking forward to both books and I'm pretty confident I'm going to enjoy them even more than I have these first two.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
387 pgs
While these boys have been growing up in their tower, being taught by special teachers, and reading books and watching movies made specifically for them to reinforce the idea of a one-gender world, a similar experiment has been going on in a separate tower a few miles away. Only in this tower, there are 26 girls, being raised by M.O.M. with no knowledge of the male gender.
But these children are all extremely gifted, and for M.O.M. and D.A.D. to assume they will never figure out something is wrong with the world they've been raised in is naive. In fact, a boy named J has recently begun to suspect that D.A.D. has been hiding something from them, and a girl named K has been bothered by something she thinks she's seen off in the distance, something that doesn't seem right.
Inspection is the second book by Josh Malerman that I've read, and they've both made me excited about him as an author. I've yet to read his breakout book Bird Box. But with its sequel scheduled to be coming out in October, I plan to read it soon. I'm looking forward to both books and I'm pretty confident I'm going to enjoy them even more than I have these first two.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Someone Like Me
by M. R. Carey
500 pgs
In the opening scene of Someone Like Me, Liz Kendall and her ex-husband Marc, an ex-marine with a propensity for violence, get into an argument about his returning their two children, 16-year-old Zac and 6-year-old Molly, to her late again. As the argument progresses, unsurprisingly to Liz, it becomes physical and Marc knocks her to the floor and begins to choke her. But what is surprising to Liz (and to Marc) is the fact that she fights back this time. She gets ahold of a bottle, breaks it, and shoves it into Marc's face. The wound is significant, but not deadly, and the evening ends with the police taking Marc away and Liz comforting Zac and Molly.
But the events of the evening to continue to haunt Liz for the rest of the night, and not simply because of what Marc tried to do to her, but because of what she tried to do to him, and because of the way she felt when she did. When Marc had her on the floor, with his hands around her neck, Liz felt like she became a spectator in her own body, no longer in control of her body as she ground the broken bottle into his face.
Fran Watts is a 16-year-old girl who was kidnapped when she was a toddler by a deranged man named Bruno Picota. Although she was quickly rescued and returned to her family, she has suffered from PTSD ever since. The trauma also left her with an an imaginary companion named Jinx and a unique perception of the world around her. Sometimes, when she looks at things, what she sees "shift," almost as if she can see both it and a shadow version of it at the same time. Fran and Zac are classmates, and when Fran meets Liz, it happens again. She sees two separate and distinct versions of Liz.
Someone Like Me is a ghost story, but not your typical ghost story. It's smart and eerie, and Carey keeps the pace moving along throughout the story. It's the third book I've read by him, and while I'm still waiting for him to right a book as good as The Girl With All the Gifts, this one was still really enjoyable.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
500 pgs
But the events of the evening to continue to haunt Liz for the rest of the night, and not simply because of what Marc tried to do to her, but because of what she tried to do to him, and because of the way she felt when she did. When Marc had her on the floor, with his hands around her neck, Liz felt like she became a spectator in her own body, no longer in control of her body as she ground the broken bottle into his face.
Fran Watts is a 16-year-old girl who was kidnapped when she was a toddler by a deranged man named Bruno Picota. Although she was quickly rescued and returned to her family, she has suffered from PTSD ever since. The trauma also left her with an an imaginary companion named Jinx and a unique perception of the world around her. Sometimes, when she looks at things, what she sees "shift," almost as if she can see both it and a shadow version of it at the same time. Fran and Zac are classmates, and when Fran meets Liz, it happens again. She sees two separate and distinct versions of Liz.
Someone Like Me is a ghost story, but not your typical ghost story. It's smart and eerie, and Carey keeps the pace moving along throughout the story. It's the third book I've read by him, and while I'm still waiting for him to right a book as good as The Girl With All the Gifts, this one was still really enjoyable.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Skyward
by Brandon Sanderson
510 pgs (Skyward series #1)
Skyward begins a new series by Brandon Sanderson (which brings the running total to four active series he's writing). The series is targeted to young adult readers and falls into the science fiction genre. The book reminded me of both The Last Starfighter and Ender's Game, two of my favorites in the genre.
Spensa is a young girl who has dreamt her entire life of following in her father's footsteps and becoming a fighter pilot, protecting what remains of the human race from the Krell, the alien race that has continually been attacking them, ever since they landed on the world of Detritus. But the likelihood of that dream coming true, and Spensa ever being given the chance to attend flight school, are remote at best. Because Spensa and her widowed mother have been living with the shame of what her father did on his final battle against the Krell. In one of the largest battles in history, Spensa's father, one of the greatest fighter pilots ever, inexplicably deserted his squadron and was killed, leaving Spensa to spend the rest of her life branded as the daughter of a coward.
Skyward is a promising start to a series Sanderson has said will likely be four books long, and it has everything you would expect from one of his books. It has fast-paced action scenes, characters that are relatable and endearing, and just the right amount of Sanderson's subtle sense of humor.
Starsight, the second, is due out in November, giving me another Sanderson book to look forward to while I wait for the fourth book in The Stormlight Archive series.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
510 pgs (Skyward series #1)
Spensa is a young girl who has dreamt her entire life of following in her father's footsteps and becoming a fighter pilot, protecting what remains of the human race from the Krell, the alien race that has continually been attacking them, ever since they landed on the world of Detritus. But the likelihood of that dream coming true, and Spensa ever being given the chance to attend flight school, are remote at best. Because Spensa and her widowed mother have been living with the shame of what her father did on his final battle against the Krell. In one of the largest battles in history, Spensa's father, one of the greatest fighter pilots ever, inexplicably deserted his squadron and was killed, leaving Spensa to spend the rest of her life branded as the daughter of a coward.
Skyward is a promising start to a series Sanderson has said will likely be four books long, and it has everything you would expect from one of his books. It has fast-paced action scenes, characters that are relatable and endearing, and just the right amount of Sanderson's subtle sense of humor.
Starsight, the second, is due out in November, giving me another Sanderson book to look forward to while I wait for the fourth book in The Stormlight Archive series.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Saturday, May 25, 2019
Last Argument of Kings
by Joe Abercrombie
670 pgs (First Law series #3)
Last Argument of Kings concludes Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy. And although he has, and still is writing books that take place in the world of the First Law, the story arc he began with The Blade Itself has ended.
The Union is in a precarious position. The King is dead, along with both of his male heirs, and with no clear succession plan in place, and with an approaching war with the Empire of Gurkhul looming, the ultimate fate of the Union is unsure.
For years, Bayaz, the ancient First of the Magi, has been preparing for this exact moment, and has been laying the groundwork for a plan that will put a man on the throne whom he will have full control over. For years he's been grooming Jezal, the arrogant young swordsman, who turns out to be the bastard son of the old King, and as such, is the closest thing to a rightful heir alive.
Meanwhile, Logen Ninefingers, the barbarian warrior, has returned to the North to settle a score with King Bethod, and Glokta, the torturer, finds himself in Agriont in the middle of the Gurkish invasion.
Last Argument of Kings is a rewarding conclusion to Abercrombie's series. It's full of bloody battles and ruthless scenes of torture at Glokta's hands. But even better than those aspects of the story, is the extent of the political machinations rewardingly revealed by Abercrombie by the end.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
670 pgs (First Law series #3)
The Union is in a precarious position. The King is dead, along with both of his male heirs, and with no clear succession plan in place, and with an approaching war with the Empire of Gurkhul looming, the ultimate fate of the Union is unsure.
For years, Bayaz, the ancient First of the Magi, has been preparing for this exact moment, and has been laying the groundwork for a plan that will put a man on the throne whom he will have full control over. For years he's been grooming Jezal, the arrogant young swordsman, who turns out to be the bastard son of the old King, and as such, is the closest thing to a rightful heir alive.
Meanwhile, Logen Ninefingers, the barbarian warrior, has returned to the North to settle a score with King Bethod, and Glokta, the torturer, finds himself in Agriont in the middle of the Gurkish invasion.
Last Argument of Kings is a rewarding conclusion to Abercrombie's series. It's full of bloody battles and ruthless scenes of torture at Glokta's hands. But even better than those aspects of the story, is the extent of the political machinations rewardingly revealed by Abercrombie by the end.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Wednesday, May 22, 2019
The Malta Exchange
by Steve Berry
401 pgs (Cotton Malone series #14)
The Malta Exchange begins with Cotton Malone arriving in Italy, on a special assignment from MI6 to track down letters between Winston Churchill and Mussolini, rumored to have been exchanged during the early stages of World War II. These letters are believed to reveal embarrassing information outlining a deal Churchill tried to make with the Italian dictator, which would have kept Italy from entering the war. But this is a Steve Berry book, so things are never as easy for Cotton as they could be, and he soon finds himself being shot at and attacked by a bear.
The trail to the letters leads Malone to Cardinal Gallo, who has his sights set on becoming the next Pope. But Gallo, whose ascendancy to power within the Catholic Church has been the result of plots, blackmail, and murder, is a man driven by power and control, instead of faith and devotion to his religion.
Berry's love for history is fully displayed in The Malta Exchange, and it was those elements of the story that kept me interested and turning the pages. There are long passages focused on Constantine and the origins of the Catholic Church that I found to be the most entertaining parts of the story. Unfortunately, the plot itself was a little tiresome and the action wasn't up to what I've come to expect from Berry. Hopefully he returns to form with The Warsaw Protocol next year.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
401 pgs (Cotton Malone series #14)
The trail to the letters leads Malone to Cardinal Gallo, who has his sights set on becoming the next Pope. But Gallo, whose ascendancy to power within the Catholic Church has been the result of plots, blackmail, and murder, is a man driven by power and control, instead of faith and devotion to his religion.
Berry's love for history is fully displayed in The Malta Exchange, and it was those elements of the story that kept me interested and turning the pages. There are long passages focused on Constantine and the origins of the Catholic Church that I found to be the most entertaining parts of the story. Unfortunately, the plot itself was a little tiresome and the action wasn't up to what I've come to expect from Berry. Hopefully he returns to form with The Warsaw Protocol next year.
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Monday, May 13, 2019
Crucible
by James Rollins
461 pgs (Sigma series #14)
In Crucible, James Rollins's latest Sigma Force novel, Gray and Monk return to Monk's house late on Christmas Eve to find the house in disarray, Kat, Monk's wife, comatose from a blow to the head, and Monk's two daughters along with Gray's pregnant companion Seichan missing. With the help of Painter Crowe and their resources at DARPA, they quickly learn that the those responsible are also tied to the deaths of five women in Portugal the same night, women who were the leaders of a network of scientists funding groundbreaking advancements in AI (artificial intelligence) technology.
The Sigma team must simultaneously search for their team's loved ones, make heart-wrenching decisions as the extent of Kat's injury becomes clearer, and stop a group determined to use AI to send the world back to where it was hundreds of years ago.
Crucible is a fun and action-packed read. Rollins delivers what I've come to hope for and expect with his books. I turn off my sense of realism and just go along for the ride. There are definitely a few over-the-top elements to the story, but Rollins has become pretty adept at describing those and incorporating them int his stories in such a way that they almost seem plausible.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
461 pgs (Sigma series #14)
The Sigma team must simultaneously search for their team's loved ones, make heart-wrenching decisions as the extent of Kat's injury becomes clearer, and stop a group determined to use AI to send the world back to where it was hundreds of years ago.
Crucible is a fun and action-packed read. Rollins delivers what I've come to hope for and expect with his books. I turn off my sense of realism and just go along for the ride. There are definitely a few over-the-top elements to the story, but Rollins has become pretty adept at describing those and incorporating them int his stories in such a way that they almost seem plausible.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Thursday, April 25, 2019
The Call of Earth
by Orson Scott Card
304 pgs (Homecoming series #2)
The Call of Earth, book two in Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series, picks up right where The Memory of Earth left off. Nafai and the rest of Volemak's family, having been directed by the Oversoul through dreams to flee the city of Basilica, have begun their journey through the desert. General Moozh, using forbidden technology, has begun the systematic conquering of the surrounding cities in preparation for taking control of Basilica soon. All while many have begun having unsettling dreams. But these aren't sent by the Oversoul, these are sent by the Keeper of Earth, millions of light years away.
I enjoyed The Memory of Earth, but didn't think it was anything special, at least, not in comparison to Card's Ender series. I was pleased to find that The Call of Earth offered more promise than it did. It reinforced my decision to continue reading the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
304 pgs (Homecoming series #2)
I enjoyed The Memory of Earth, but didn't think it was anything special, at least, not in comparison to Card's Ender series. I was pleased to find that The Call of Earth offered more promise than it did. It reinforced my decision to continue reading the series, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from here.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Midnight Sun
by Jo Nesbø
273 pgs
I get excited when an author, who writes a series I follow, comes out with a stand-alone book. It's ice to be introduced to a new character, with the understanding that everything the author is ever going to tell you about him or her is contained in this one single book. Nesbø, who has his fantastic series featuring Norwegian police detective Harry Hole, has done this a few times now.
Midnight Sun begins when Jon Hansen, who goes by "Ulf," gets off a bus in a small town near the Arctic Ocean in Norway. He's a small-time hashish dealer, who only began dealing in order to feed his own use of the drug, and he's living on the run, hiding from killers hired by a powerful drug lord known as the Fisherman he double crossed. Ulf is hoping this small town, where the sun doesn't set for six months of the year, will provide an ideal place for him to disappear.
But Ulf isn't there long before he begins to become infatuated with Lea, the daughter of the town's minister, and fond of her ten-year-old son Knut. They're devout members of the fundamentalist Lutheran sect in town, which makes for an interesting dynamic between them as their relationship grows, and it's their relationship that Nesbø places at the center of his story. Even as the action picks up and the Fisherman's men begin to close in on Ulf, his relationship with Lea and Knut remain the biggest part of Nesbø's story.
Midnight Sun is a quick, enjoyable book. Like Blood on Snow, Nesbø's last stand-alone book, it's shorter than any of the Harry Hole books, and focuses more on the relationships between characters than on the mysteries surrounding a crime. But it still showcases Nesbø's ability to tell a great story.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
273 pgs
Midnight Sun begins when Jon Hansen, who goes by "Ulf," gets off a bus in a small town near the Arctic Ocean in Norway. He's a small-time hashish dealer, who only began dealing in order to feed his own use of the drug, and he's living on the run, hiding from killers hired by a powerful drug lord known as the Fisherman he double crossed. Ulf is hoping this small town, where the sun doesn't set for six months of the year, will provide an ideal place for him to disappear.
But Ulf isn't there long before he begins to become infatuated with Lea, the daughter of the town's minister, and fond of her ten-year-old son Knut. They're devout members of the fundamentalist Lutheran sect in town, which makes for an interesting dynamic between them as their relationship grows, and it's their relationship that Nesbø places at the center of his story. Even as the action picks up and the Fisherman's men begin to close in on Ulf, his relationship with Lea and Knut remain the biggest part of Nesbø's story.
Midnight Sun is a quick, enjoyable book. Like Blood on Snow, Nesbø's last stand-alone book, it's shorter than any of the Harry Hole books, and focuses more on the relationships between characters than on the mysteries surrounding a crime. But it still showcases Nesbø's ability to tell a great story.
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Monday, April 22, 2019
The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington
by Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch
358 pgs
As a writer, Brad Meltzer has his strengths and his weaknesses. I'll start with the latter: his dialogue. I've never been impressed with it. In fact, I was so put off by it in The Inner Circle, that I didn't read another one of his books for seven years. If The Escape Artist hadn't been about Harry Houdini, whom I find fascinating, I probably wouldn't have picked that one up either. Where Meltzer shines, however, is in his ability to dig up interesting, and usually obscure, mysteries and conspiracies from our country's past and build an entertaining plot out of them.
So, when I heard about his latest book, a non-fiction story about a conspiracy to assassinate George Washington, I was pretty confident I was going to like it. It had what I was looking for in a Meltzer book, but, since it was non-fiction, it likely wouldn't have much dialogue written by him. Win-win.
Meltzer tells the story of the conspiracy, which was put into motion during the early months of the Revolutionary War, to kill General Washington. It involved the Governor of New York, who was one of many loyalists to Great Britain living among the colonies at the time, a group of counterfeiters, and an iron mill forman who recruited loyalists to the cause.
My initial assumptions about the book proved true. It showcases what Meltzer is bast at, with little need for what he's weak at. His account of this little-known piece of history is fascinating, and it left me wondering why I'd never heard anything about it before.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
358 pgs
So, when I heard about his latest book, a non-fiction story about a conspiracy to assassinate George Washington, I was pretty confident I was going to like it. It had what I was looking for in a Meltzer book, but, since it was non-fiction, it likely wouldn't have much dialogue written by him. Win-win.
Meltzer tells the story of the conspiracy, which was put into motion during the early months of the Revolutionary War, to kill General Washington. It involved the Governor of New York, who was one of many loyalists to Great Britain living among the colonies at the time, a group of counterfeiters, and an iron mill forman who recruited loyalists to the cause.
My initial assumptions about the book proved true. It showcases what Meltzer is bast at, with little need for what he's weak at. His account of this little-known piece of history is fascinating, and it left me wondering why I'd never heard anything about it before.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
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