David Woodger

This was exactly the kind of book I'd hoped it would be. Fun, exciting, violent – a large roster (but not too large) of interesting characters get involved in intersecting story-lines and it's set in a medieval world with all sorts of people and places plus some powerful sorcery. This is sword-and-sorcery at its best. And the best news is that this is a story in three parts so there's lots more to come. I'll be starting the second volume within days. Wicked fun.

This book was an interesting compendium of stories linking up the various elements of the Periodic Table. Not only did I learn about the various scientists who discovered this or that element, but I learned a good deal about many of the elements themselves. It was entertaining enough that I kept coming back to it to read more. I've got a much better understanding now of elements and what makes them differ from each other. And I didn't even realize that elements can change (or decay) into other elements. Never really thought about it, I guess. Now I know how it can happen (though not every element does this.) Lots of cool facts and odd stories about odd scientists are embedded in this book. Recommended for anyone interested in science, especially those without a Ph.D. It's rocks for jocks.

While browsing online, I came across this book and whatever site happens to mention it, has good things to say about it. So, in the mood to try a sword-and-sorcery tale based on ancient Persian culture and legends, I gave this one a shot. Here's a bit from the flap copy:

In 8th century Baghdad, a stranger pleads with the vizier to safeguard the bejeweled tablet he carries, but he is murdered before he can explain. Charged with solving the puzzle, the scholar Dabir soon realizes that the tablet may unlock secrets hidden within the lost city of Ubar, the Atlantis of the sands. When the tablet is stolen from his care, Dabir and Captain Asim are sent after it, and into a life and death chase through the ancient Middle East.

The story is narrated by Captain Asim, a likable warrior in the house the vizier, Jaffar. I almost lost interest somewhere in the first third of the story but pressed on regardless and was soon hooked anew. It's a well-written tale infused with the culture of ancient Persia. I enjoyed the writing, the story and the well-drawn characters. You could tell that the author had done a lot of research into this time period and it paid off.

Although set in the same world as his First Law trilogy, it's not important to have read the trilogy first. (Though, I have – years ago – and Best Served Cold as well). Abercrombie always writes a good story. As I started this one, though, I had my doubts. It's essentially the tale of a battle that rages for a little over three days in some unremarkable area of the world near a walled town called Osrung. The Union forces are led by Marshal Kroy and the Northmen are led by Black Dow. There are dozens of characters we follow on both sides. Several of them will die. One of my favorite characters was Bremer dan Gorst, a huge hulking swordmaster with an unnaturally high squeaky voice. Another was Calder, a noted coward among the Northmen, but also a son of a deceased former king of the North. By the time I got to the last third of the book, I kept turning pages to see what would happen. Who would die? It was a very good ending too.

Though set in the same alternate steampunk world as The Bookman, this story stands on its own for the most part. This story is set three years after the events portrayed in The Bookman and begins in France. Our protagonist is Milady de Winter, a headstrong operative of the Quiet Council. The Council is sort of an elite police unit though with an agenda of its own. Milady is tasked with investigating a strange murder scene which blossoms into something much bigger and more dangerous.

Although my wife read The Bookman and liked it, she got about halfway through this one and said, “Oh gross!” and tossed it away in disgust. I thought that boded well for me. This story is indeed darker than The Bookman and I also enjoyed it more as well. Like in The Bookman, famous people from other works of literature pop up here too. I won't spoil it for you by telling you who, though. I am really enjoying this trilogy and looking forward to the final volume, The Great Game, due next year.

The plot thickens. Some characters die. Some change. Some go on to greater things. Bayaz and crew go traveling and meet with danger. Glokta has even more questions. Collem West battles Bethod and his Northmen. Threetrees and crew get into some bloody melees. Eaters attack. Jezal slowly becomes less of an ass. New characters are introduced. Mysteries deepen. And who are Valint and Balk? Can't wait to get my hands on the conclusion this August. (Note: the title comes from the quotation: “We should forgive our enemies, but not before they are hanged.” ~ Heinrich Heine)

It was a promising set-up: there's two cousins, they played imaginative games together as kids. Then one, Danny, played a cruel prank on the other, Howard, and soon after they lost touch. Now they're adults. Howard has changed, become exceedingly rich, and has bought a castle somewhere near Prague. He invites Danny over for some nebulous help in Howard's renovation of the castle. What are his motives?

I got a hundred pages in and then... Nope. I'm not finishing this. First of all, Danny is too much of a weird loser to be interested in as the main character. What kind of supposedly straight 30-something guy wears brown lipstick, anyway? And then there's the shifting viewpoints with unexplained other characters. Got kinda meta, kinda fast. And, finally, the whole bit about having people conversing but not including quotation marks in the text... I find that style highly annoying. Not for me.

After reading the excellent Daemon last year, I had to wait until this year to find out what happened with the loose ends. Freedom™ continues the story and tells us what happens to Detective Pete Sebeck, NSA Agent Natalie Philips, Jon Ross, Loki, and the Major. It's a fast read, almost as fast as Daemon, but it's not nearly as propulsive as Daemon was. Still, even in the slower spots of the narrative, the ideas that Suarez expounds on are interesting and dovetails ominously with some other non-fiction I've read recently. One bit that especially resonates is the portrayal of an evil seed company and its deleterious effect on farmers. There are a few crazy action scenes sprinkled into the story but unfortunately they don't gel together as well as in Daemon. But this book is worth it alone just to discover how everything plays out. Loki's denouement is especially fitting.

I'm not going to chime in with all the praise that's been heaped on this novel. Frankly, it was a struggle to get through. I made myself finish it. The story is narrated by a young doctor named Natalie in a Balkan country dealing with the after effects of war. She tells the story of her recently departed grandfather and the stories that were central to his life. But really I found the story to be very disjointed. At times it was interesting but at others it was dull, plodding, overly descriptive stuff. I found very little of the story to be compelling and after about a third of the way in, I wasn't really in the mood to continue. I thought it might get better. Mostly it left me a little confused and apathetic. She is a good writer, though, but a more cohesive plot line was lacking.

I'd heard that the BBC were producing a show based on this book. That got me interested and I was ready for something unusual as well. This book is set in the late 1800s during the Napoleonic wars. Magic is a real thing but no one has been practicing it in England for hundreds of years. Until Mr. Norrell enters the scene.
This book is just over a thousand pages set in tiny type (my paperback copy, anyway). The pace is leisurely but the subject is interesting and the style is old-fashioned. So I was drawn in pretty quickly in the first few hundred pages. But trying to read this at night with tired eyes, reading glasses, and small type often meant that I'd only get through about ten pages at a time. I started this book in March, got to page 750 and decided I needed a break. That break included reading about seven other books.
And then Netflix picked up the BBC show. I watched the first two episodes and thought the show was great fun. So that got me all interested again and I wanted to finish the book before getting to a point in the show that was beyond where I'd read to in the story. Those last 250 pages were read pretty quickly and, indeed, the pace quickened considerably as well. I was glad I perservered. I'm about halfway through the show now and ready to continue watching. I think they've done an excellent job with the casting so far and the pace of the show is brisk.

I read this short tale out loud to the kids. The fact that it was first published in 1939 might account for the plethora of vocabulary words it contains. But the kids followed along just fine and learned a little about Ben Franklin to boot. The story is narrated by Ben's pet mouse Amos who enjoys taking most of the credit for Ben's inventions.

In 1870 the vampires rose up and conquered the northern lands of Earth in a catastrophe known as the Great Killing. The survivors fled to warmer climes that the vampires usually avoid. By 2020 the two great human powers of the world are the Equatorian Empire and the American Empire. Princess Adele of Equatoria becomes a pawn in the coming human-vampire war. She is aided by a mysterious adventurer known as the Greyfriar. It's a world of airships, gas attacks, swords and machine guns. The story reads like an old-fashioned adventure serial come to life but with a healthy romantic element stirred into the mix. It's a fast-paced read, the first of a planned trilogy. It's got some fun action scenes in it and some characters that are not much of a step above one-dimensional. The story slows down a bit in the middle. I'm not sure if I'll continue with the series.

This is a great finish to a wicked fun fantasy series. I started reading this one right after finishing the earlier book because I was so hooked into the story and the many wonderful characters. This book starts strongly and just carries through the entire length with never a dull moment. Our hero, Tavi, is on his way to help what's left of the Aleran people defeat the vord queen and her countless minions. There are fun surprises in store, secrets come out, and confrontations occur. People get revenge and it all ends very well. I highly recommend this series to any fan of epic fantasy.

This one had popped up on my radar back when I started seeing trailers for the movie version. I never did see the movie but I've read two other books by this author (The Death and Life of Bobby Z, California Fire & Life) and really liked them. So I snagged this one out of the local library and ended up polishing it off in just three days. It's written in a very cool, slangy, breezy style... it's an effortless, summer read. I thought the characters were really cool and just thought the story and writing were a lot of fun. I gotta read more by this author.

My 9-year-old son attended a reading by the author and we bought him the book. He read the first 100 pages the same day and finished it a couple days later. He loved it (loved it!) and wanted me to read it too. Fish tells the story of a 12-year-old Irish boy who ends up having an adventure among pirates. It reminded me of the kinds of stories I read back when I was 9 or 10 years old myself. It's fast-moving, easy to read, and it's easy to identify with the main character who is nicknamed Fish because he's such a good swimmer. I think it's an excellent book for someone my son's age, but feels a little tame and watered down to an adult reader. But again, on the plus side, the author works in some genuine pirate lore which keeps things interesting.

This was a book I had planned to read aloud to the kids but when my eldest was starved for reading material, I threw this one his way. He read it in about 3 sittings – faster than I did anyway. He was delighted by it and recounted many of the fun parts to his younger sister. Any fan of fairy tales will be happy with this one. It manages to combine some of the best of the Grimm tales into one story featuring Hansel and Gretel. The author uses a lot of clever narration, jumping in here and there to address the reader directly, stuff like “Make sure any little kids around aren't listening to this next part.” After devouring the first half of the book, my son couldn't wait to tell me that Hansel & Gretel “had their heads cut off!” And my daughter added, “But they put them back on again!” And the author slips in some genuine bits from the source material to educate you a little about the fairy tales. It's told in a breezy, no-nonsense manner that makes for a fast, fun read.

Like thousands of others, I first heard about Justin Halpern's father via his twitter feed: twitter.com/ShitMyDadSays. The guy is foul-mouthed and very funny. This book expands on Justin's life with his very blunt father. It's full of profane one-liners and had me chuckling constantly. It's a thin book but long on laughs and surprisingly sweet. This will also be the basis for a new TV show. I read it in two sittings.

I was all fired-up to dive into some good old SF but about 200-odd pages in I gave up on this one. On the plus side, the dog-like medieval denizens of Tines World were very interesting. They had group-minds and acted as one in groups of four to six individuals. Definitely some clever stuff there. I was getting interested in the plight of two human children stuck on Tines World. But the other half of the story concerned the galactic “Blight” and focused on a human character named Ravna along with a couple other interesting aliens. But the motives and world-building in this section were too obtuse for me to get a handle on. I think the techno-babble did me in the most. But also Ravna's character wasn't very interesting. Reading this became more of a chore than fun so I made the decision to cut my losses. I'm in the minority with this viewpoint, but not alone.

This story is the first of a new series called A City of One Hundred Rows. Thaiburley is an immense city filled with strange creatures, rival gangs of thieves, and a class structure that has the elites living in the higher reaches of the city. Tom, a lowly street-nick witnesses a murder while snooping about in the upper levels. Tylus is a new member of the Kite Guard, an airborne police force. And Kat is mysterious young woman who gets thrown together with Tom as he eludes various pursuers.

I read this through to the end but it was slow going in places. Had a hard time buying the Kite Guard aerobatics. And the characters could have been more fleshed out. Kat was the most interesting one. I also wonder at the wisdom of having so many characters names beginning with T (Tom, Tylus, Ty-Gen, and Thomas – all different characters). For the most part the suspense just wasn't there.

Hyperion is a book you'll find in many top ten lists of science fiction. I'd never read this author but I'm certainly an SF geek so I thought it time to check out what the fuss was about. Thankfully, I knew going into this book that it ends on a cliffhanger and gets resolved in the sequel, The Fall of Hyperion. The story is set about a hundred years or so into the future and many worlds are populated by the Hegemony of Man. One of those worlds is Hyperion. And on this world lives a mysterious entity known as the Shrike. The Shrike mostly hangs out by the mysterious Time Tombs, said to be moving backwards in time. Seven pilgrims are on a voyage to meet the murderous Shrike, each for their own reasons. It's entirely possible most of them, if not all, will die. As they travel towards the Shrike, these pilgrims relate their stories to each other and these stories make up 90% of the book. For the most part these stories are very interesting, sometimes exciting, and always unusual. But the Poet character is so annoying and his story was the weakest. I hope he dies gruesomely. None of the stories are like the others. Some of the other pilgrims are the Scholar, the Soldier, the Priest, the Detective, and the Starship Captain.

I tried to read the followup: The Fall of Hyperion, but I got bored about 30 pages in and chucked it. Come to think of it, I don't much care for this author's writing style.