Book Reviews
Review: “Woken Furies” by Richard K. Morgan
Waiting to meet a friend for lunch the other day, I stood outside a restaurant in Manhattan’s TriBeCa with my face buried in Woken Furies, the latest book from Richard K. Morgan. The restaurant manager spotted me reading and approached me eagerly: “Is that the new Takeshi Kovacs?” The funny part is, this was the second time I’d been approached by a rabid fan while reading one of Morgan’s books.
Review: “The Darkest Part of the Woods” by Ramsey Campbell
Have you ever had a sore spot like an aching tooth, an ingrown toenail, or a spot on your arm where you just got a shot? You know, some place that kisses you with a sharp pain if you don’t leave well enough alone? What do you do? You touch it, squeeze it, push on it. There you go, a grown-up, intelligent human being with a toothache, and you’ll actually bite down hard. When you can’t take the pain anymore you let up and wonder at your stupidity. Then, you go and do the same thing again half an hour later.
The Darkest Part of the Woods, by Ramsey Campbell, was a toothache I wouldn’t stop biting down on. I don’t know how many times I set the book down after an hour of reading, completely bored, totally uninterested… just to pick up the book again the next day.
Review: “Black Blade Blues” by J. A. Pitts
The thing I love about urban fantasy is that it doesn’t take place in some pretend land where everyone can shoot lightning from their eyeballs – it’s here, where we live. There’s always the little extra bit of excitement that it could happen when the story is set in a town you’ve been to, maybe even lived in.
Review: “Happily Ever After” edited by John Klima
Happily Ever After is an anthology edited by John Klima, in which each story was in some way inspired by a fairy tale. I am an absolute sucker for any kind of fairy tale retelling, but good ones are few and can be difficult to find. So this particular anthology was right up my alley. Plus any editor who was inspired to make an anthology by Neil Gaiman’s “The Troll Bridge” is guaranteed to have fantastic taste in stories.
Review: “Chance Fortune and the Outlaws” by Shane Berryhill
Chance Fortune and the Outlaws is a fun story that pays homage to classic comic books and throws in young people having to deal with more than just learning to use their powers. If you enjoy a good read along the lines of Mr. Potter and his friends, comic book superheroes or just want something different to entice younger readers I would recommend this book.
Review: The Piaculum
Just between you and me, I thought the life of a book reviewer would have more glamour to it, you know? A little cash, a little flash, a little redheaded something on my arm once in a while.
Nope. The life of a book reviewer sucks. No chicks. No cool cars. Have to dig around in the couch cushions for laundry money.
But sometimes I come across a book that makes me smile.
Review: “Fire Study” by Maria V. Snyder
Oh, Yelena. You crazy, headstrong, impulsive, bleeding heart, acrobatic trickster, I have missed you. I hope Ms. Synder takes it as a compliment that I have read each of her books in no more than two days. For all the work that goes into them, part of me feels that I should somehow be savoring them more. But if I did, then I wouldn’t find out what happens next as quickly as I need to.
Review: “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown
If Alfred Hitchcock produced and directed the television show 24, the end result would be The Da Vinci Code, a strap-yourself-in-and-hold-on-for-dear-life of a read that lives up to the hype and does not disappoint.
