Book Reviews
Review: “Blood Bound” by Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs has the unique gift of being able to make the reader believe, for the space of 300 some pages, of her truths. That vampires, fae, werewolves, and magic makers live in tentative harmony with humankind. Her world is just like ours, only a bit more dangerous and a bit more sexy.
Review: “Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor”
It sounds dark, ominious and serious, but Matt Stover keeps the novel light, fun and moving along at a crisp pace, something I can’t say of a lot of other “Star Wars” novels of late. If the title sounds pulpy sf, then you’re thinking along the right lines for this one.
Review: “Poison Study” by Maria V. Snyder
Enraptured. I cannot remember the last time I read an entire book in one sitting. I could not, did not, put it down.
Yelena is everything you could ask for in a heroine: courageous, clever, resourceful, vulnerable, and strong. From the outset, her situation is dire. She is given a poison that will kill her if she does not return for her daily antidote. And even if she doesn’t, she may simply die from doing her job well.
Review: “Medalon” by Jennifer Fallon
The first three books in the Hythrun Chronicles were actually known in Australia as The Demon Child Trilogy, and were bestsellers as well as finalists in Australia’s Aurealis Awards back in 2000. Here in the US, that trilogy is being combined with the books known as The Hythrun Chronicles Down Under to make it a 6-book series here.
Review: “Omnitopia Dawn” by Diane Duane
This was a refreshing read. A.I. has been through the ringer when it comes to scenarios, but Diane Duane brought something new to the table. It’s fascinating to see such an expansive game from multiple points of view – the players, the creators, etc.
Review: “The Sorority” Trilogy by Tamara Thorne
Tamara Thorne wrote The Sorority trilogy as the literary equivalent of a teen exploitation horror movie. It has dozens of girls in a sorority house, an evil sorority president, sex, ghosts, oral sex, dead football players, group sex, human sacrifice, and chipmunk sex. Reading a book like this makes me cry. In college I couldn’t get laid to save my life.
Review: “Star Trek: Inception”
In many ways, the concept behind “Inception” is an interesting one, but as I read the novel I kept thinking it might have worked better as a short story.
Review: “WWW: Wake” by Robert J. Saywer
Good science fiction speculates on things that are theoretically possible given some of the conditions and advances of our current level of technology. In many cases, the advances may be years or decades away from becoming reality, but in the case of Robert J. Sawyer’s new novel, “WWW: Wake,” part of his speculated future has become a reality far too quickly.
