Posts

CHAIN REACTION - Lee Child and Andrew Child

Image
Reacher! It feels good to have another Reacher novel in hand.  Jack Reacher can be a hard man to find when you want him but when you have the resources of the U.S. military intelligence at your disposal even finding Reacher is possible. Fortunately, General Susan Turner has that ability.  Turner needs to have someone look into an incident - off the record - in which one of her IT reports was killed in Colorado. Officially declared a mugging gone wrong, Turner suspects there's much more to it. And the fact that there is likely a breach in their internal communications suggests that it might be an inside job. Reacher, along with Turner and her most trusted aide, slowly unravel a multi-billion dollar scheme involving cutting edge technology.  Being unable to ask for much help, not knowing who to trust, severely handicaps the trio in their efforts to avenge the slain soldier and secure the military's communications once again. What is there to say about this? It's a Reacher n...
Post a Comment
Read more

STRIXHAVEN: OMENS OF CHAOS - Seanan McGuire

Image
I'm familiar with Magic the Gathering - I understand the mechanics of it and I know people who once played it almost religiously - but I have never played the game or gotten into all the various cards.  I am also generally not a fan of reading books based on a game ... I've yet to read one that I've enjoyed. BUT ... I am a big fan of Seanan McGuire's work and I was definitely curious to see what she could bring to to this game franchise. Five students from different worlds/universes/realities are invited to attend Strixhaven - an elite school for training those who already have a propensity for wielding magic. There's a war that's been devastating the Multiverse. Some worlds have managed to come through fairly well so far, but others have been all but destroyed. One student, Eula Blue, comes to Strixhaven from a world that has not survived the war very well, and she feels like an outsider in a community of outsiders. The new group of students is setting the stag...
Post a Comment
Read more

GRIM FOLK TALE - James J. Butcher

Image
An unusual magical illness is affecting the children of Boston. Junior Auditor Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby and his partner, the veteran Hunstman Mayflower, are tasked by the Department of Unorthodox Affairs with uncovering the cause and putting a stop to it - by any means necessary - before it spreads even further. It doesn't take long into the investigation, however, before Grimsby and Mayflower encounter some strange beings that appear to have ancient origins and a heck of a lot of magic power. The duo will visit a depth far below the streets of Boston to face off against unbelievable monsters and then off to a completely different reality, drawing on every bit of knowledge and strength they can muster to protect the humans on earth. This series actually is getting better and better with each book. The character of Grimsby has grown nicely through the series so far and while I've read the previous three books, I don't think it's necessary to have read them in order to e...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE SCAM - Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg

Image
On the surface, it would appear that FBI agent Kate O'Hare is hot on the trail of con man Nicolas Fox. The truth, however, is that the pair are working together to bring down some of the biggest criminals in the crime business - people who are untouchable by standard, legal means. People like Evan Trace - the casino magnate know for his welcoming of the wealthiest patrons who like taking risks, but also known for his brutality. To infiltrate Trace's kingdom, Fox and O'Hare will have to get Trace's interest and an invitation to gamble 'off-the-record' - which is part of his major money-laundering operation. And to do that, they'll have to look and act the part of a couple of billionaires just looking to have a good time, even if it means losing a few million on some gambling. And to do that ... well, the FBI won't miss a few million dollars if it gets put back in time, right? Fox and O'Hare will be pit against some of the world's most dangerous mo...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE REAVER - Richard Lee Byers

Image
My youth was spent reading a lot of sword & sorcery (Robert E. Howard, Lin Carter, Fritz Leiber, etc) and playing a great deal of dungeons and dragons. Since then (some 40-50 years later!) I've had a desire to recreate some of that youthful S&S and D&D fun. It would seem a natural fit then to read books from the Dungeons & Dragons publishing company. Maybe it's that my expectations are too high, but I've just not found the enjoyment that I've been hoping for. This book is the fourth in a series and perhaps this is some of the problem because I never felt pulled into the story. I was an observer to the action rather than experiencing the action. The story: A pounding rain is disrupting everything in Sea of Fallen Stars and the coastal areas around it. From destroyed crops to to a halt in trading, the people affected are willing to do anything to recover. That includes worshiping the dreaded goddess Umberlee. Umberlee's chosen warrior is an undead pira...
Post a Comment
Read more

PARANORMAL PAYBACK - Jim Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes, editors

Image
Like a lot of urban fantasy readers, I consider myself a fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. Anything with Jim Butcher's name on it is going to get my attention in the form of reading the book. This is, though, only the second time I've read a collection edited by Butcher and Kerrie L. Hughes (and the last time I did so was nine years ago!), and I was really looking forward to it. Sadly, it didn't quite live up to my expectations, which is doubly surprising not only because the hands of Butcher and Hughes are over everything, but because there are some big names included here. For my tastes, three stories stood out above the rest.  Two of those were from our two editors, Jim Butcher's "Mister Petty" (a Dresden Files story featuring Goodman Gray ... a monster P.I.) and Kerrie L. Hughes' "The Broom" (which was easily my favorite piece in the book - it's a bit darker, which I really liked).  Probably my second favorite was "A Cle...
Post a Comment
Read more

THE MAGIC OF TRIBBLES - Terry J. Erdmann & Gary Hutzel with Paula M. Block

Image
 As a fan of the original Star Trek television series, I've been supportive of all the subsequent shows under the Star Trek umbrella. But as my heart is with TOS (The Original Series), my favorite episodes of the other series' are those that connect directly to TOS. Scotty recreating the older, familiar Enterprise bridge in the holodeck of a Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) is one, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's (DS9) "Trials and Tribble-ations" episode is another. This short book (only 133 pages) takes a look at how "Trials and Tribble-ations" came about and what it took to make the show looks as authentic as it did. It's been some time since I last watched this particular episode (maybe as long ago as a decade?), but I remember being excited but how great it looked - how incorporating the DS9 crew appeared seamless. It didn't look like simple green-screen technology ... and it wasn't. I had not realized how much work was put into ...
Post a Comment
Read more