Book Reviews
Review: “Small Favor” by Jim Butcher
Small Favor is a great read and I think that the Dresden Files books are a great introduction to fantasy/sci-fi for someone who doesn’t normally read such genres. It’s a P.I. mystery with magic with strong characters, an over arching plots as well as smaller story arcs that finish up in single book… mostly.
Review: “I Am Number Four” by Pittacus Lore
“I Am Number Four” is a narrative driven story, full of twists, turns and danger for John and Henri. And while that keeps the pages turning, the story lacks any really fleshed out or interesting supporting characters for John.
Review: “Empress” by Karen Miller
Hekat, in Empress, is a difficult woman. And while I know that a part of me should cheer for this woman who raises herself up from a nameless no one to a ruler of her country, the other part of me can’t stand how difficult she is. Hekat is touched by the god. She is not inventing this. She really does have her deity on her side, protecting her as she slaughters the people who get in her way. Everything she does is fated. But I cannot get beyond how completely cold and ruthless she is to everyone around her.
Review: “Crater County” by Jonathan Miller
So there I am at Ice Escape, and a young man starts chatting me up about his book, Crater County: A Legal Thriller of New Mexico. It’s a slightly supernatural legal thriller, he says. And I says, “A slightly supernatural legal thriller? I don’t think I’ve ever read something like that.” And he says, “How’d you like to review the book?” I says, “Sure, why not?”
We said a lot.
Review: William Shakespeare’s “Star Wars” (Audiobook)
Seeming like a gag gift to get for people like me — where you know that we like Star Wars but you’re not sure what exactly we already possess in our collection — William Shakespeare’s Star Wars is an audiobook full of surprising quality and intelligence that should delight any fan of The Bard or of the Beard of George Lucas.
Review: “Calculating God” by Robert J. Sawyer
If you read science fiction, you have to read Robert J. Sawyer. That’s all there is to it.
Calculating God explores such mundane questions as “Was the universe designed by an intelligent creator?” “Is there a God?” “Does he influence the affairs of man?” “Why is there life in the universe?” Sawyer’s answers are the most imaginative you will ever read.
Guest Review: “Prisoners Under Glass” by R. Patrick
Young readers who love big, bold action, boisterous high jinks and bizarre images, all mixed up with a bunch of people prone to snappy dialog learning to rely on each other in life-and-death situations, will get a kick out of Prisoners Under Glass.
Review: “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”
Let me start off by admitting that I love both Zombies and Regency novels. So, naturally, when I saw a zombified portrait of Jane Austen on the cover of a book, I was intrigued. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a parody (or as the back cover describes it, “an expanded edition”) of Jane Austin’s classic regency novel Pride and Prejudice.
