Tag Archives: Reading

Left handed what now?

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The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


There were a couple of things that caught my attention right away with this story. The first was it didn’t start with the story, the book started with an explanation of the fact that it was slightly alternate history. The next thing was that the wizard was named Merlin.

I almost put the book down right then. Merlin is so deeply, desperately overused I almost stopped.

I pushed on and finished the book. I enjoyed the story once I got past a couple of things, and the world building had some interesting bits. I don’t know that I’ll go any further in the series, but I’m glad to have checked this one off the TBR pile at least.



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Bonus bit for anyone who actually reads my review stuff here rather than directly on Goodreads. Once I got past the fact that the “Merlin” of this book was NOT in fact yet another Arthurian remake, I still couldn’t shake it. I could only picture the actor from the movie remake of the story from 2019 where Angus Imrie plays Merlin as a gangly, hyperactive teenager who uses a lot of hand-wavium and snapping to make things happen. Here’s a clip for you to enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/D53UhlAAXFw?si=emr3SHNG3__wRmoh

Pair a what?

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The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Time travel is something that gets a strong reaction when it’s coming from a science fiction point of view. This time travel is coming from a mystery point of view and that helped the story a lot. It had a cast of characters that were believable. The setting was limited, but contained a number of interesting bits that could keep a reader guessing.

My biggest issue with this book was the way the main character is portrayed. The main character is a woman, but is written exactly like a man with makeup and a pony tail.

I think this is a worthy entry into the time travel genre – a discussion generator.



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Short

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Shadows of the Short Days by Alexander Dan Vilhjálmsson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I have learned over time that I prefer characters that are at least a little bit heroic. I understand the preference and try to keep it in mind when I’m reading books containing anti-hero types.

I don’t think I would classify this characters in this book as anti-hero types. I would classify them as horrifyingly narcissistic. They can’t get past their own hang-ups and it costs them, and all of the people around them everything.

I really struggled with this book. I wanted to like it, and I just couldn’t stand these characters. I liked different world building and different myths, but it wasn’t enough for me.



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Claws and something

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Of Claws and Fangs by Faith Hunter

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I picked this book up as a book club selection. I wouldn’t have known about it otherwise.

This collection is aimed at fans of the Jane Yellowrock world. It’s various shorts from various places all pulled into one book. That’s great – if you’ve read all the other stuff. The most challenging part of this book is that the majority of these stories are muted at best if you don’t know all the character back stories, histories or where all this fits into the larger world.

It’s not that this isn’t well written. It’s fast and easy to read. It’s like asking somebody to watch Avengers Endgame without watching any of the other movies. The impact just won’t be there. You don’t have the history. This book is for fans to get all the juicy in between bits, but it really wasn’t for me.



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Uncommon Indeed

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Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is another book I would not have picked up on my own. This was a recommendation / selection from the Watch The Skies fan group / book club. I’m quite glad I did get it and read it.

I would place this story in the same category as “The House in the Cerulean Sea” and “Victories Greater Than Death”. The main character is trans, and Asian. Not anything I relate to, but this book is written in such a way that the empathy is there. I was pulling for Katrina. I wanted Satomi to help her.

The characters are interesting. The setting has the feel of a place the author knew well. The story has a lot of hope in it, and that feels like something we could use more of. You should pick this one up.



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Oath

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Love the Elmore cover art!

Oath of Swords by David Weber

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I picked this up for two main reasons. First, I was between a couple of science fiction reads and wanted something unlike either. Second, I am an old school lover of sword and sorcery stories. Oath certainly fit the bill for old school sword and sorcery.

I really enjoyed the simple fact that the paladin Bahzell was NOT what one might expect from the modern depictions or presumptions about what it means to be a holy warrior. This holy warrior also happens to be a berserker with an physical presence that can’t be ignored.

The world building here is solid. The magic system plays within the rules that are set out. The travel between places and the hardships involved with that travel all rang quite true. I would quibble with the way the characters spoke, but it was consistent throughout the book. Once you got the hang of how the words were flowing it was easy to read.

IF you’re a fan of old school sword and sorcery novels I’d recommend you pick this one up.



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The City We Became

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The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read, finished and enjoyed this one. It was a very real feeling set of characters who moved through and met the very Lovecraftian challenges arising in New York City together. As a reader I clearly got the mental struggle each of them went through as their lives changed when the spirit of the city itself became part of them. It was refreshing to see the wide variation in points of view as well.

I likely would have enjoyed this story a lot more if I were in some way involved or invested in NYC. Honestly, being a Boston person my whole life, it made a lot of the ‘feel’ a little bit off for me. I could easily see a reader diving deep into this story and being in love, but that wasn’t ever going to be me.

If you’re a fan of existential horror, you’ll probably like this book quite a lot.



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Hypothetically

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Hypothetically, our science fiction and fantasy group focuses on reading things within those categories. This was not the case this month

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Side note – I hate that Kindle automatically marks things as “read” on here no matter how many times I change the setting. It’s terrible and stupid to boot.

On to the book itself. I don’t know how a romance novel snuck into the line up for the science fiction book club, but it did. I remain skeptical, but the book does contain scientists and it is fiction… so we’ll go with it?

I found the people in this book to be very real, if not entirely relatable or likable. I know we’re supposed to be cheering for the main character, but she just lies to people all the time. She’s very damaged and unlikable (at least to me).

I have seen others that have been down on this book as a whole, but it was light and quick and gave me everything I was expecting from a romance novel.

If this is the sort of story you enjoy, I would suggest going and reading Bellwether by Connie Willis. It’s a bit older (96) and was nominated for a Nebula award. The story revolves around a scientist studying fads and prediction. IF you enjoy that, then go and read more of Willis’s work – you’ll be glad you did.



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Colonyside

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I do like the jungle planet

Colonyside by Michael Mammay

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This one fits the same mold as the previous two in the series.

Carl still doesn’t really grow or learn… we get more and more back story, and that’s good, but he gets played again and again. His blind spots are massive and he ignores them.

This is a good book that fans will enjoy. I’m glad I read it to finish out the series (and this one does end a little better) but I think I’m done.



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Spaceside

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Spaceside by Michael Mammay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m going to be less spoilerific for this review.

Carl is still Carl in this book. The track record of 0 growth continues unbroken. He does have more background given about his life and reason for being in the place where he is, but he doesn’t move forward or learn… again.

There are a couple of returning characters that are enjoyable as much as side characters can be. I didn’t peg the story as quickly this time, but I think some of that was based on the way the whole thing became something of a corporate convoluted mess. I did NOT like the ending where things are resolved… mostly, except a couple of really important things. That sort of ending really irritates me. Give me an epilogue or something – wrap it up. I’ll pick up the next one if the character and/or story interest me. Forcing somebody to get the next one by leaving major things hanging is a jerk move and I resent it.

Once again, this is a very good action thriller that needs the space travel / aliens thing in order to work. Fans of military science fiction will still very much enjoy this story… just know you’re going to need to get the next one for this one to be fully resolved.



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