Book Reviews
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: “The Enterprise of Death” by Jesse Bullington
The Enterprise of Death really broke my normal reading rules. You see, normally if I stop reading a book that’s it — Game Over. I just don’t pick books back up and continue them. I did put The Enterprise of Death down several times, because it was just too intense for me. And, at one point I stopped reading it for a couple of weeks while I went on to other books
But I kept coming back to The Enterprise of Death, because I just had to find out what happened to the characters.
Review: “7th Sigma” by Steven Gould
I have to admit that I didn’t buy 7th Sigma because of the excerpt called “Bugs in the Arroyo” that you can find for free on the Tor website. I bought it because of Summer’s love for Steven Gould’s Jumper. I’ve never read Jumper, but Summer’s enthusiasm for Gould is contagious.
Review: “The People of Sparks” by Jeanne DuPrau
Hi, first I need to say that there are going be spoilers in my review. I can’t help it, there just no way to talk about it and not spoil the first book for you. So if you have not read it yet, I’m just letting you know.
Review: “The Ghost Brigades” by John Scalzi
Ghost Brigades is a pageturner with surprising emotional rewards, but I’m hoping that Scalzi plans to write more books in this universe, because as it is there are too many ideas here for his own good.
Review: “A Young Man Without Magic” by Lawrence Watt-Evans
A Young Man Without Magic is very easy to read. While some events seem like they were shuffled around to fit the outline instead of being part of a natural progression, everything works. Every time I found myself starting to get the slightest bit bored with what was happening, something exciting broke the page and I was hooked again.
Review: “The Dragon DelaSangre” by Alan F. Troop
Alan F. Troop writes well. His prose has a nice, tight style, and he tells a well constructed, if somewhat convoluted, story. I enjoyed large portions of the book. But the story suffers from two miscalculations that makes the book unfulfilling overall.
Review: “Ysabel” by Guy Gavriel Kay
Ysabel is my first Guy Gavriel Kay book. He’s one of those authors that I’ve always heard about. Maybe it’s the memorable name, I don’t know. But he was always just kind of out there as one of those authors that I knew I was supposed to read and simply hadn’t.
In case I was wondering, I guess, if he was worth the hype, Kay opens Ysabel with a 3-page prologue that was, simply, stunning.
