Saturday, March 29, 2008

3-29-08 The Nightingale's Lament by Simon R. Green - Fiction

4 - This one gets a 4 only because we don't see Suzie Shooter in this book and I've really taken a fancy to her. But Simon R. Green still puts out a great Nightside story. We do get to meet Dead Boy, another enigmatic character who partners with John for a case involving a singer whose songs make people commit suicide. Regardless, she packs the house every show. A little more is revealed about John Taylor's power but, of course, it doesn't help him figure out anymore about himself or his mother. Another stand out book.

3-25-08 The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - Fiction

5 - I picked this up on many recommendations from my coworkers at the bookstore. If you like Kim Harrison or any other alt-reality fantasy, I bet you'll enjoy this. The first book in the Thursday Next series, the reader is introduced to Thursday, a LiteraTech agent who is sucked into working with another Special Ops division. The Eyre Affair is set in Britain in a 1985 that never existed. Dodos are pets, Wales is a separate country with heavily guarded borders, and England is basically run by a corporation called Goliath. It is a mystery with numerous literary references and entertaining characters. Any book that has a performance of Richard III done in "Rocky Horror Picture Show" style and a character named Jack Schitt is just the kind of weird for me.

3-20-08 The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison - Fiction

5 - Kim Harrison keeps this series fresh by having all the characters continue to move forward. Rachel and Ivy continue their dance of trying to find a blood balance by trying new charms, spell, and practices; Jenks and his family are about to move back into the church as it's getting cold outside. And then, of course, all hell breaks loose, in this case literally. Al returns, Keasley's secret past is revealed, Ceri has her own secrets, and Trent...well Trent is his usual cold and calculating self until he needs Rachel's help. Plus, in this installment, we get to meet a gargoyle and more secrets than Keasley's and Ceri's come to light. Each time I read one of these books, I immediately want to re-read all the others because the characters are so likable and the continuing story is so good!

3-15-08 Shavetail by Thomas Cobb - Fiction

3 - This book is mainly a character study of a private, a lieutenant, and a captain in the United States army. It is set in 1871 in Arizona when it was still only a territory. Private Ned Thorne joins the army at 17 to escape his past in Connecticut. The reader gets to experience the discovery and harshness of Arizona through his eyes and the eyes of Lieutenant Anthony Austin, a gentle soul who serves under his best friend, Captain Robert Franklin. Because this is a character study it is slow moving. Cobb dedicates each chapter to one character and tells the story through his particular point of view. All in all it was an interesting book, but a little slower than I prefer.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

2-29-08 Agents of Light and Darkness: A Novel of the Nightside by Simon R. Green - Fiction

5 - This series has sucked me in. Clever sarcastic/dark humor and weird twists on reality make these fantastic quick reads. Fans of Kim Harrison and other alternate reality fantasy books should definitely try these. John Taylor and Suzie Shooter (You gotta love how she got that name) end up in the middle of an almost war between the angels of Heaven and Hell. All sides are looking for the Unholy Grail, the Judas cup, from which Judas himself drank from at the Last Supper. A really fun read.

2-20-08 The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes - Fiction

2 - This book started out great: weird characters, a strange murder, the hint of not-quite-right. And then it turned into the Energizer bunny - it just kept going and going and going. By the end of the book, the great conclusion !SEMI-SPOILER! is that the two murders at the beginning meant nothing and were only used to draw the main character, and the reader, into the mess that was the main storyline. Blah. The most interesting characters, The Prefects (which I couldn't help but picture as Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum which actually made them creepier), were only in maybe the last 50 pages. I just was not happy with this book at all.