Category Archives: Books & Book Reviews

Risen

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Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1)Red Rising by Pierce Brown
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was surprised to see this book on the Amazon list of 100 science fiction books for a lifetime. I wouldn’t have picked this book up on my own. I started it because it was one of the monthly selections from Watch The Skies. I’d say cover art would have helped, but I’m not sure what the picture would have needed to be (as it related to the story) to draw me in. There’s a lot that goes on inside the character’s head.

I bogged down in this book very early on. At the time of the meeting/discussion at the group I hadn’t made it past the main characters physical transformation. Many at the meeting said it became significantly more violent (and perhaps less interesting) after the transformation was complete.

I almost gave up, but I decided to see exactly what “more violent” actually meant. They were right – I’ve read some military fiction that didn’t contain the one on one kind of violence that was displayed later in this book. That didn’t bother me. The military / training exercise portions of the story are what carried me through to the end.

I understand why the book ended the way it did – and it is an end – but I’m not sure I’m drawn in enough to keep going in the series. I don’t overly like the character. The world building left me with questions that I’m sure would be answered but that alone won’t carry a series for me. It’s very important, but doesn’t stand alone.

In all I’d say the book was “OK”. I’m saying that here specifically because a 2 star rating (with the little pop up that says “It was OK”) makes it sound or feel like I actively disliked the book and that is not the case. In the end I think I was ‘whelmed’ – no over or under, just ‘whelmed’.

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100 From Amazon

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Amazon posted a list titled “100 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books to Read in a Lifetime”.

I know why people put lists out there. I often find them lazy attempts to fill blog space that would otherwise have nothing to say, but from time to time the infamous ‘they’ find one that resonates with me – and that’s why they do it. They want you to react. The more you react the more people you know go there to see what all the hubbub is about (and the more traffic they get the better the odds of making money).

I couldn’t resist this one. I went there and checked the list out.

I can certainly say I hope when the list is complete you’re not expected to be done with your lifetime. The editors based these choices on personal favorites, vision, character creation and other traits. I looked over the list and broke it down because I really wanted to know. Here’s how the numbers went:

I’ve read 50 of the list. Going back to my fear, that would make me halfway to ‘finished’ and I don’t think I feel good about that. I was a little surprised it was that many, but also a little surprised it wasn’t more. Of the 50 I’ve read there were only 3 that I really hated. I can’t say they shouldn’t be on the list, just that I hated them. That’s around 6% that just didn’t work for me and that’s not bad. The rest were stories I was OK with, liked or really loved.

I expected to see The Hobbit on there, and it was. I didn’t see anything by Morcock (Elric stuff) and was surprised by that. I wouldn’t have liked it particularly, but I expected it. I saw the Thomas Covenant stuff on there and I despised that first book. Still do, but I understand why it’s on the list. It was nice to see such a variety of good stuff.

Of the other half – I’d already had 14 of those titles on my “to read” list. I added 17 more based on this list. That puts me at 31 ‘to read” and that will be 81 of the 100. Not shabby. What about the rest?

In among those titles were a dozen where I’ve seen the movie adaptation. There’s a fair argument to be made that I should read those books – and I might. The problem is that while I know intellectually the books are likely far better than the film adaptations, I can’t bring myself to put those up on the list of “to read” until I’ve plowed through all the rest of the ones that I don’t know anything about yet. Should I rush to read Dune? I’ve seen a movie version and part of a television version and I know what those showed me. Do I want to dive into that series? I’m not sure. I’ve liked the other stuff by Herbert that I’ve read (yes, there are other things) but I’m not rushing. Will I ever get there? Maybe.

If you’re like a lot of my friends, you’re thinking to yourself – that still only gets us to 93. What about the other seven books?

OH – those seven. Those are the books that I’m just not interested in. There are various reasons for this and I won’t go into them all but I will give you an example or two. Handmaid’s Tale by Atwood – not interested. She’s had negative things to say about science fiction as a genre in the past and it turned me off to her and her work. Not going there – don’t care how good you think it is. Game of Thrones books – not interested. Yes I tried them. Yes I tried the show too. Martin chucks a child out of a tower in the first chapter. Yeah, I know he lives. Those people suck and I don’t want to read about them. I like people I can root for and I haven’t found a character in there I like. I know how stupid popular it all is. Still not going there. Are there other things by Martin I would read? Maybe. I’ve heard his new book is set in the same world but earlier. I’ve also heard that his Wild Cards stuff is really good.

There is it – the full 100. You should go and check out the list. I’d like to hear where you land in the count and if you shared a similar breakdown.

OH – and I still recommend this one as a fantastic start to a great series:

Storm Front

Nobody

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Nobody Gets the Girl (Whoosh! Bam! Pow!, #1)Nobody Gets the Girl by James Maxey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I don’t know that I would have picked this book up if it were not for WTS. I have stalled on a couple of things I’ve been reading lately but this book certainly didn’t have that issue. I bought it Thursday afternoon and had it finished by Friday afternoon. It was fast.

It actually felt like I wanted to see it as a graphic novel, not a novel. There were parts that felt like they were full page panels.

I came away from the story wondering if I liked the hero or not. I think he’s got a lot going for him, but he’s also got a lot going against him. He starts as a regular guy and ends up working with comic book style characters to “save the world” but he’s also a murderer. I look forward to a discussion about this one.

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Mars

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The MartianThe Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A friend of mine said she started this book one evening and couldn’t put it down. I should have listened.

I started and finished this book this morning. I’m actually giving it 4.5 stars. It was a super fast read. There was a lot of “science” in there, but I put it in quotations because I can’t confirm any of it. You know what? I’m OK with that. It all sounded reasonably plausible to me (even the parts that I figure aren’t could work, right?). In the end this I think the science could be substituted out for any inhospitable landscape and particular level of ingenuity. Don’t get me wrong, placing the story on Mars makes this what it is but that’s just the backdrop. The really wonderful part here is the characters. They’re all people. There’s no trouble at all believing all of them as real. I totally believe this story could happen in our near future.

You know what else? I hope this and other stories of people overcoming great odds to accomplish things that move us toward outer space exploration (ahem, Apollo 13) become the sort of thing that inspires people to push for more exploration. This book was a heck of a ride. I can’t wait to see the movie.

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Aeronaut’s Windlass

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I tend not to cross post my book reviews, but since I’m a fan of Jim Buthcer and I got the chance to read this ARC (advanced reading copy) I thought I’d put this up here. It wouldn’t be a bad thing to keep Mr. Butcher writing and keep these stories going!

The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires, #1)The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have to start by thanking my book blogging friend Krystal for letting me read this ARC. Go check out her book blog here: http://booksaremything.com/

I have lots of thoughts in no particular order – and there will be spoilery stuff in here. I’ll try to keep it away from the spoilers as much as I can.

When I started reading my very first impression was that the author has been reading the work of Gail Carriger. This is not a bad thing! It was a little adjustment, but Mr. Butcher is a hell of a story teller. It worked. I could see where some people would be put off by that – I am not one of those people.

Clocking in at around 630 pages this is a substantial book. It was necessary. There are tons of world building and character development bits that need space to be shown. IF it couldn’t be guessed by the cover, this is a steampunk fantasy book. There are floating cities, airships and mysterious creatures from the surface. I’d need to hear more from the author or see the maps / drawings that will be included in the final version to be sure, but I think this is meant to be some kind of alternate earth. Having things fall to the surface of the world (and that being a ‘bad’ thing) leads me to believe the Predator will be going to the surface in the next book. How could they not?

The author’s characters are as interesting and diverse as ever. I am not personally a fan of Rowl or his clan, but I suspect there will be a lot of discussion about the cats of this world in the future as well. I like the warrior born characters. They were my favorites. I will say the cast of characters is an impressive spread. This made me wonder who the true “hero” of the book is supposed to be. Captain Grimm, Gwen, Bridget & Benedict? Could be any of them. Folly was very interesting as well. Writing the etherialists as crazy as they are could not have been easy, but had to have been fun.

I suspect this book will really take off (yes, you may groan) when it is released. It is a fast moving story in an interesting world. There’s a little something for everyone in here.

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Anticipated Reading

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There aren’t many books that I’ve gone gaga over. Ready Player One is among the few that I have been really taken with. I’m glad it is a stand alone book. I’m anxious that the movie can’t possibly live up to the hype it will be greeted with (even if they manage to get the rights to all the stuff they need – and I doubt that will ever happen).

Now there’s another book coming out from the same author. I’ve taken a peek at the first chapter and there is hope for another book that will drag me in and push me along on another amazing ride.

Check out the first chapter here.

I don’t have tons of reviews up, but you can check out other books I’ve read if you track me down on Goodreads or see what I’ve got posted over at MilSciFi.com.