Book Reviews
Review: “The Dark Path” by Walter H. Hunt
Reviewing books, especially when you’re trying to write your own, makes you a bit self-conscious. When you’re asked for an opinion, you have to approach each title as a reader who is looking for a good escape. That self-conscious feeling only gets worse when I review works written by people I know. I want to give an honest opinion–but if I don’t like it, the friendship is irrevocably marred.
Review: “The Martian” by Andy Weir
The Martian is a decent hard Science Fiction novel and I certainly didn’t regret reading it. I just wish there was more substance to the protagonist’s side of the story. I hope that this will not be the only novel that Weir does, as I look forward to seeing how he grows as a writer.
Review: “Love in the Time of Fridges” by Tim Scott
When I reviewed Outrageous Fortune earlier in the year, I referred to it as absurd . . . in a good way. Absurdist science fiction. Because it wasn’t laugh out loud comedy, it wasn’t The Hitchhiker’s Guide, but it sure wasn’t taking itself too seriously either.
Review: “The Princes of the Golden Cage” by Nathalie Mallet
The Princes of the Golden Cage is a good little read. It’s not an uber mystery and it’s not an epic fantasy but it’s a nice amalgam of both. After the story gets moving along there are some interesting twists and turns with some not so typical resolutions. There are a nice variety of characters and the settings are gorgeous in my mind’s eye.
Review: “Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword”
Do you hear that sound? That is the sound of a thousand Sacred Cows of Fantasy being tipped in the night.
Let me share a piece of wisdom I’ve picked up being the reviewer for the Dragon Page. You simply cannot go wrong reading anything Tee Morris writes. You won’t find a better blend of action, humor, suspense, and romance anywhere else.
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: “Scream Queen” by Edo van Belkom
So, why am I writing about a card game I played weeks back when I should be informing you about the latest novel sitting on top of my all-to-high reading stack?
When you use cheesy horror tropes to make a card game that spoofs horror stories, you get a fun and exciting game, when you use cheesy horror tropes to make a paperback novel that seriously attempts to be scary, you get a shitty paperback novel, like Scream Queen.
Review: “The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail” by Michael Spradlin
The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail is one of those books I picked off the shelf at random. I love books about knights and castles, and one about teens in that time period sounds cool to me. And wow, the first book I read this summer turned out to be one of the best all year!
