Cold Water by Dave Hutchinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For anyone who has read the Fractured Europe series by Hutchinson, they'll feel right at home in this expansive near-future worldbuilding filled with great characterization.

Truly, we're all almost here, now, a dystopian near-cyberpunk complex future that focuses more on a detailed investigation than the espionage of the previous novels, plus we're headed into new territory with a completely different MC that we briefly saw in the third novel.

There are no issues in reading this first. It does dovetail wonderfully, however, and it gives me a rather awesomely complete picture of so many post-country countries, be it eastern or western Europe OR America.

Definitely a good novel for thriller lovers who like their settings extremely well thought-out and complex.

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The Alchemaster's Apprentice by Walter Moers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Let's just call it the adventures of Echo the Crat. Because that's what it is.

Of course, that doesn't quite do the culinary genre justice, nor does the bargain to eat all he wants for the low, low price of being rendered into tallow for an evil old man quite do the stakes justice.

That's merely the appetizer.

There's a lot of great imagination in here, packed page by page, evoking a Goethian nightmare, an intellectual paradise, and a taste for tongue (not merely for the words it swirls) bar none.

The novel is worth a great, slow, lazy read. Don't worry if you get fat on words. I promise, the author won't process you for your fat. I promise.

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Pax by Sara Pennypacker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm reading this one with my girl. She was obviously captured by the cover and she loves foxes, so it was a rather no-brainer.

As for the read? Me, personally, I just had the feeling like I was watching a long episode of Lassie with a few minor changes: Lassie was actually a domesticated fox and Timmy found a philosophical woman mentor... while the rest of the world was going to war.

Peace and War, right? Well, it was cute enough. I probably wouldn't have read it without sufficient impetus from the outside, but I don't regret it. It was cute.

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A Touch of Jen by Beth Morgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

How very, very odd. By all my personal standards, I wouldn't think I would have enjoyed this kind of novel. Between the insecurities, the little quirks, obsessions, and self-deprecatory humor, it mostly read like a contemporary. You know, relationship-laden, constant obsession, class consciousness, even a tragedy that never quite feels like a tragedy.

The obsession is real, however, and while this is officially a rather humorous horror novel, it never feels like a horror till near the end.

And me? I guess it just slipped in and made me interested despite everything. The end, however, was pretty great. Sick, but great.

Not bad at all. Simple premise, executed slowly. Kept me guessing until the end.

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Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love the concept of this novel. Some far future creating-your-own-worlds stuff going on here. The premise is far from simple but easy to visualize: continents floating around in an enormous artificial balloon. Artificial suns inside.

The story, itself, however, feels nothing like hard-sf. Indeed, it feels like all the best features of a STEAMPUNK novel. Lots of airships, air battleships, airbikes, and a wild (but eerily familiar) plot of revenge, rebellion, piracy, treasure hunting, and discovery.

I really found both parts -- the premise and the swashbuckling adventure --rather charming. Maybe depth of characterization was lost in the overall plot, but really, it was a fascinating adventure. And make no mistake: it was a real steampunk adventure in all the best ways.

I absolutely recommend this for fans of either point. I know I'll be continuing. This is my first Schroeder and I'm loving the worldbuilding imagination.

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Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This might be a case of having read too many modern interpretations of classic Greek adventures. Or perhaps it's because I've read too many really good ones.

But as it is now, this particular PoV retelling of Atalanta, a devotee of Artemis and for a while, the only female who joined Jason and the Argonauts on their fateful quest (before Medea) IS filled with a good handful of great scenes and important messages, but it is also somewhat filler-y. I lost a bit of my patience with some of the scenes that should have been solid characterization WHILE propelling the plot, so in the end it was kinda watered down.

There ARE some good scenes in it. When she's fighting, she shines. Unfortunately, a lot of the other bits suffer from a lack of original sources, or rather, it's all whole cloth. Interpolation. Even the old legends relegate her to a token, and that's even addressed in this book, but honestly, it's like taking Arwen from LotR and giving her a full novel from her PoV and only from the records we have in the original text. The movies was already a huge extrapolation. In the end, it's all just a wild yarn that FEELS like fan fiction. Maybe it's good fan fiction and it pushes the right agenda for the day, but a lot of it just feels... off.

In my opinion, if it was shorter and sharper, like an arrow through a number of hearts, I'd be whooping and crying with joy and relief. Unfortunately, this wasn't that kind of novel.

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Around the World in 80 Birds by Mike Unwin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Birds.

















Actually, there's a lot of cool and interesting details on 80 different impactful bird species written in an engaging way that really worth the gander.

I mean, seriously, don't be turkey. Finch this up and sing its praises like a nightingale.

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Duskbringer by Actus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't say I mind more tournaments, especially getting to know (and/or kill) students from other schools. It's fun. I mean, they really had it coming to them with all the destroy reality bits.

*shrug*

But it's the friendships they make along the way that really sets the tone of these books. So very, very wholesome.

And if you're wondering, what's so special about these books? It's LitRPG and it's very comforting while we aren't in the struggle to stop a whole devoured reality with corruption scenario. :)

It's the little things. And now more people know how bad it's getting.

I can't wait for the next in the series.

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Greenblood by Actus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's so funny to read such a wholesome near-YA LitRPG that has a Lovecraftian Eldritch monster.

Talk about keeping your darkness close.

And yet? Wholesome. The friendship and trust is palpable on more than one level.

The rest of the book s pretty great with all the schooltime, the training sessions, the void-devouring gravity bombs, school meals, and trust.

I have to say I'm delighted and I continue to be delighted.

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Bunny by Mona Awad
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, Bunny. I should like to tell you about Bunny, Bunny. It'll wrap you up in it's warm, safe arms and tell you everything you wish you had going on in your life and it'll be precious, Bunny. Really.


Just... wow.

From the first page to the end, it was a wild trip, with neck-cutting razor prose, complete with exploding heads.

I LOVE this novel. It's a true horror in all senses of the word. It chilled me to the bone as if Barbie was real and Clueless was truly evil. And how it began? I swore I was about to read a novelization of that classic movie, Heathers. And I wasn't far wrong. Was I, Bunny?

Muahahahahaha what delicious, screwed-in-the-head, bizarro fun. I LOVED the originality.

And just so you know, if you want to know what creative writing workshops are like.... well, the language has it's legs wide open, Bunny. I reveled in all of it.

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Blackmist by Actus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Perfectly crafted LitRPG that's light on the explanations and heavy on the fun.

What's not to love about a summoned magical beast that just HAPPENS to be an Eldritch Horror? Especially when you share a bit of your soul with them and vice-versa? It's both heartwarming and full of eyes. Lots and lots of eyes.

Going to school has never been so fun. :)

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The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-Read 4/20/23:

Read with my daughter!

Her review:

Before I read this book, I watched the movies. I thought there was a lot of details. But after reading the book, there's a lot more details in the book, and less. (Too much that isn't in the book and too little that was.)

I really liked the time at the end of the book where Gandalf said Bilbo had changed and I really loved all the songs, especially of the elves.

The Desolation of the Dragon was my favorite section.

Overall, I loved the entire story. I totally recommend this for anyone who loves adventures.


My addendum review:

Ditto. :)



Original Review:

Fourth time reading? I think so. Or maybe fifth. But any way you look at it, I'm a fanboy of the whole world, the author, and the writing.

From a pure enjoyment view, it's a pure delight. From Bilbo's annoyance with the dwarves to Bilbo's annoyance with the dwarves and all his hobbit relations, I can't get enough.

But what about the obvious correlations with Beowulf?

Meh, this is better. :)

Did I love Gollum, the wargs, Beorn, the spiders, the grey elves, the men of Dale, the jewel under the mountain, or SMAUG? Oh, yes. And the pointy-hat guy, too. :) And the wonderful songs. And the delightful pacing. And countless details that only enrich the history of this realm. :)

Is it better than just about any fantasy out there?

Possibly. There's more depth here than just about anywhere. And that's including massive tomes with dozens of volumes in the more modern varieties. This one is simply rich and well-written. :) And, of course, it has been copied and plumbed for all its depth in so many imitators.

Let's hear it for the king of all YA fantasy!

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Snow by Ronald Malfi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Quite an interesting monster-bash. Setup is pretty cool, literally in the snow, and the pacing is fast, fast, fast. The characters were very amusing.

I won't say this is the best book ever but if you want a breakdown in a small town during a massive snowstorm and all the feel of zombies while being something a lot more interesting, then I definitely recommend this book. It's just ... fun.

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Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This Dresden book is quite unpredictable. It's gloriously chaotic.

Even on a re-read, of which this is, I kept getting lost in the woods, so to speak. So many interesting plot elements kept me and Harry hopping. Between an interesting horror convention, great character development for Molly, events with Mouse, Thomas, and especially Murphy, I often didn't know which way was up.

But when the multiple crapstorms hit -- and several parties seem to be playing deep games, with Harry as a most predictable pawn, this is where I'm at my most fascinated.

Oh, the places we go.

And did I mention that I love Molly? It's true. I love her here and I love her more, later, but it's all love. :)

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Voyage by Stephen Baxter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There is a very specific genre of SF I don't see much of anymore: the type that couches itself very firmly in real science history (in this case the NASA program) and then launches itself into big What-If territory.

I've seen this particular concept done many times, actually, and even most recently with the Daniel Suarez novels or even in the tv show For All Mankind.

I think it's a great thing. We need to have more entertaining renditions of history AND ask those questions such as What would it have been like to travel to Mars or Venus, reliant on slight or even major differences in our political history?

The fact that so much happened in the '80s, so much more than shuttle stuff, was a real joy to think about.

Space stuff now just makes me think about all the wasted opportunities and wasted brainpower and the fact that so much of our current deficits of imagination can directly be laid at the feet of short-sighted politicians with disingenuous arguments. I think of this one a lot: "All that money could go to the poor and hungry." Where in reality, all that "saved" money STILL never got the poor or hungry.

It should be enough to make everyone outraged. A great pull-together on a massive project like space could have lifted everyone up. Not just for morale, but in wealth as well. People would have been working toward an awesome goal.

These novels in particular should be an object lesson on wasted opportunity. Alas.

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Ex-Patriots by Peter Clines
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An absolute cliche from start to finish, but what should you expect from a total mashup of zombies versus superheroes with a slap and tickle of Patriotic Super Soldiers?

The conflict between the Old American Army and our random supers was about as conflicty as you might expect from any comic book.

That being said, it was pretty okay and an amusing read. Hooo-yaaah!


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Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I will just say one important thing and then I'll just ramble.

POLKA WILL NEVER DIE.

And with that, my ramble is this:

This is a re-read and this book happened to be the first one in the series in which I transformed from a happy fan to a rabid fan. Practically everything about it was fantastic, from the necromancer plotline to the Denarian plotline to Butters to Mouse to Polka and all the way back again to the necromancers.

I won't spoil anything, but I will say that I did cry a bit. It may not be from tears of sadness. It may be from sheer hilarity.

That being said, this is a FANTASTIC book. I'm also thrilled to remember that there are a few others later on that are even BETTER. Happy times. :)

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Fool by Christopher Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a really fun read if you're of a certain mind. I mean, yes, it's meant to appeal to Shakespeare fans, especially those who want a light take on all the tragedies, letting them come off as absurd (I'm looking at you, Lear) and generally poking some rather huge holes in some otherwise brilliant plays.

And on a line-by-line reading, there are a TON of great references and I'm sure you scholars will get a big kick out of it.

As for the OTHER part of the novel, the one that is meant to appeal to the absolute horniest of humanity, this novel is ALSO meant just for you.

I assume you're 14 and have a cumulative libido of a lifetime and you're just trying to squeeze it allll into the tightest bodice ripper you can find. This novel is also for you.

Everyone. I mean, EVERYONE is getting it on. Repeatedly. Especially the Fool.

Who is the intended audience?

Highschoolers forced to read Shakespeare.

If you want to get that feel on, this is absolutely the book for you. Enjoy!

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Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If I had to judge between book 2 and this one, I'd say the superior one was the other one. Stronger plot, maybe a little less love triangle, and I am really starting to get into the whole vampire angle while Mercy Thompson gets her investigations skills honed.

This one admittedly has a cool Fae angle but the plot was a bit all over the place. That only carries so long as the characters are interesting. In this case, it was merely okay.

The hard part of the novel (and I should say hard as in emotionally) was pretty hard. And no, it wasn't the inevitable choosing of a mate. The other bit was just UGLY. I appreciate how everyone else is so supportive and otherworldly emotionally smart about it, but it seemed so unrealistic in light of the whole alpha male dynamic that HAS been going on. I honestly think Mercy should be entirely in her rights to go off into the deep blue and stay out of all this nonsense until she gets her head on straight.

I guess that's why they call this fantasy. It's not the werewolves, vampires, or fae. It's the fantasy of appropriate reactions by people you count on.

Let's see where this really leads, or whether it'll be swept under the rug.

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Mammoth Books Presents Death in the Promised Land by Pat Cadigan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Oddly enough, this old Cyberpunk story is still better than a ton of mystery/Cyberpunk stories I've read over the years.

I'm a huge fan of Cyberpunk even if it's becoming our modern real-life dystopia. I am hard pressed to find any other genre that has proven itself as prophetic.

In this case, it's a great mix that may be both the creative impetus of our worst nightmares and the pure joy of creation. Murder notwithstanding, of course. We're used to that.

As a mystery genre story, I'm quite amused, and more so because as I was reading it, I was pointing at it and saying to myself, "Hey, this is all in that Cyberpunk 2099 game!"

No stealing, of course, but the ideas are great. :) AR systems and players can be victims, too.

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Terry Pratchett: A Life With Footnotes: The Official Biography by Rob Wilkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was hesitant to read the biography of Terry Pratchett for one rather big reason: It's still too soon.

Fortunately, it wasn't all that bad. It's written well, the truth is polished to an amazing degree, and it's a very personal book. It is, after all, written by Rob Wilkins, who was TP's personal assistant for decades.

It is a good tribute. A beautiful tribute. If you know, you know. Terry Pratchett was a one-of-a-kind writer.

I particularly liked learning about his youth and his "wasted" years living a life, but it was the winding of his popularity that really got me. He was so surprised. And then, of course, is the whole Alzheimer's part of TP's life, and how TP took it head-on. That was particularly hard.

BUT.

All the great asides on TPs novels, their histories, is the best treat of all. We can always polish the truth. I'm glad to be able to do a little polishing, myself.

Well worth reading.

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Salvation by Shemer Kuznits
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This last book in the series really stuck to the landing. This LitRPG gave us a very satisfying end.

Prophesies, VI's, an epic land-and-air based battle, time compression, gods, sacrifice, and humor. What more can an entertainment shadow-hound desire?

Pure popcorn fun, and the hubris was DELICIOUS.



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Lockstep by Karl Schroeder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I miss SF like this. It used to be a big thing in the heyday of SF, where the idea and the exploration and extrapolation of an idea is much more important than, say, the fiction in which it is couched, but this kind of thing isn't all that common anymore.

In this case, we have Lockstep. 30 years in hibernation, 1 year awake. This allows all kinds of mining, transit time, robotic world-building, whole civilizations to take a foothold while still locked in normal space-time. It makes people live slowly. Very slowly. It provides a very even playground.

Want to travel to another world? Go to sleep, wake up there. Want to go back? No problem, the people you knew are still roughly the same age as you were when you left. It's a template for a functional interstellar empire.

That's pretty cool. It uses a lot of basic assumptions, of course, but it's a great thought-experiment.

As for the story, itself, we've got a powerful family that have taken over the stewardship, the very concept of Lockstep stemming from them, and the long lost brother -- after 14 thousand years -- has been recovered.

Cue adventure, trying to understand this civilization, intrigue, and huge power plays.

The actual story is of average amusement. I really enjoyed kicking around the options to have different times for Locksteps and political upheaval more than the adventure bits, but that's okay. In my opinion, it's more a novel of ideas than characters.

It's a breath of fresh air when comparing it to the modern deluge of lesser SF ideas couched in neverending characters. A better book would have both, of course, but alas.

Not too bad, all told. I'm going to enjoy trying out this author's other works.


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Conquest by Shemer Kuznits
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let's goooooo!

Goblin boss goes boss on all these settlements and towns. It's total conquest time and it shows. I mean, it's great that we have such a noble purpose, to save all those trapped minds from the VIs, but it certainly has the feel of evil taking over the whole world.

It has just the right kind of juxtaposition, I think.

Lots of action, almost non-stop, and this LitRPG ain't stopping for nobody. I'm loving the big progression time and heroic/anti-heroic stakes.


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Human Resource by Shemer Kuznits
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love it when an already good series takes a massive change and just runs with it, full stream.

The VI revolution has happened.

Now we've got a SOA/Warcraft novel going on, complete with heroes (monster, of course), resource management, and WAR.

Oh, yeah, we've also got a little Witcher plotline going on, which was handled well and was very amusing. Child of Fate (Destiny) indeed. Muahahahaha

Fun stuff. Let's save those human resources, shall we?

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Hobnobbing by Shemer Kuznits
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series is really picking up in this one. From just growing as a low level goblin to a goblin boss to a good defender of a good settlement, we jump right into infiltrating a monster city. Mostly it's for starting trade and public relations, but really it feels like we're in Oblivion and it's all city goodness. And of course there's an arena. We can't have a good RPG without an arena. Period.

But we can't have a good LitRPG without at least a LITTLE totally overpowered magic (let's enjoy our enchantments, folks) and some awesome crafted golem action.

Fun city action, all told, and I was totally into it. And that end? Well, it'll either make the series great or it'll destroy it. Either way, I'm down to see what happens.

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Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The good:

I love the original legend. I was very excited to dive right into a full novelization. I had such high hopes for full fleshing out. A lush retelling.

How did this hold up? Parts were quite fun. Perhaps a little of the beginning and the last 2/5ths of the novel were good and entertaining. I perked up nicely.

The bad:

The rest felt like a Sarah Maas school of literature romance. Tropey relationship three-way love-story stuff. You know, kinda perfect for YA fantasy carbon copy novels with all the same dark, misunderstood boy and the out-of-reach good boy. Most of the meat of the novel felt like this kind of filler. Lots of filler (at least to me) that bored me. It just skirted the meat of the legend and went on and on.


So, this is just my opinion, of course, but I'm tired of these old tropes.

On the other hand, there IS a very good novella in these pages. Not a full novel, but a great little novella that's tight and rich with lore and great characterization. If I had been presented that, I would have given this book a full five stars, easy.

I DO love myths, whether East OR West.

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Re-Read 4/4/23:

Finally finished this one with my girl. A big book, a wonderfully explanatory book (yeah, I'm looking at you, movies), and a tight book.

Each time I read this, I'm more impressed with all the deeper developments between Half-Blood Prince and DH, for all the obvious reasons. The Always reasons.

And now, my daughter has that understanding as well.

It was particularly gratifying when Harry (and my daughter) yelled, "Expelliarmus!"

Very, very impressive.



Original Review:

What a wonderful ride this has been. A long-overdue re-read was just what I needed.

I can step back from the hoopla and step back from the movies and really get into all the Grindelwald passages and connect the dots with Dumbledore. Best friends, no? One creates the wizarding war and sends his wizard troops out to conquer based on a young Dumbledore's words, only to end in a duel that leaves Dumbledore with the Elder Wand that was in his friend's hands for so many years. Of course, we get to skip the first one that ended in the death of Dumbledore's sister, but who knows, we will probably be seeing no only Dumbledore but perhaps some Pensives. :)

Such delicious stories to pick up soon with the sequels to Fantastic Beasts, no? Especially since we get such a nice close-up of our favorite villain!

Just what is the connection between the Obscurials and the Deatheaters, anyway? Oddly suspicious, no? And Ariana Dumbledore? I really need to know how Grindelwald's darkness leads to the informing of Voldemort's powers. :)


Okay! Maybe I really ought to talk about the book? I liked it better this time than the first time. A lot. It helps to have EXPLANATIONS over the movies, no matter how pretty all the action scenes are. :) It sounds like a recurring theme, no? Well, there are things that books do so much better than any other medium, and when it comes to UNDERSTANDING, it's peerless.

I didn't nearly get so annoyed at the absolutely nothing happening sections in the tale, either, unlike in the movie, because I was actually invested in all those little side characters this time. I wanted to know what was on the radio. It's kinda odd, no? The worst parts the first time around turn out to be some of the best if you CARE. :) Well, this time, I did, and I guess that's what makes a fanboy. Or a Potterhead. No?

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EvP [Environment vs. Player] by Shemer Kuznits
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

LitRPG has got to be some of the most consistently enjoyable genres that I've read in many years. While it never really goes out on a serious limb, all the elements of RPGs, leveling up, and survival (among other things like base-building) make it a joy.

This one is no different. The twist? The heroes are a goblin hoard.

Let's go goblins!

No complaints.

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And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novella was kinda slow to start for me. That's not to say it was bad, but I already knew it was going to turn out to be a "what-if" Narnia knock off that turned out to be real story. I've read others like this, of course, including Narnia itself, so I trusted it to be a little comfort read. Hopefully.

Fortunately, it's an Adrian Tchaikovsky story so it not only knows all the tropes but it successfully navigates them in a cool and interesting way.

That's it, really. Either you like the concept and love the execution, or you're lukewarm (like me) and enjoy the execution anyway. :)



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Life Reset by Shemer Kuznits
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This LitRPG runs with a neat little gimmick. High-level Character gets betrayed, transformed into a goblin grunt. The AI running the game runs with it and he must fight being turned into an NPC.

I say this simply, but like pretty much all LitRPGs, you either love the concept or you don't. I do. I loooove RPGs and have spent way too much time playing them in RL so this is all a humorous no-brainer, as far as I'm concerned.

Play as a baby boss? Hell yeah. Let's grow to become a BIG BOSS.

Sold.


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