Audiobook from Penguin Audio Narrated by George Newbern Length: 24.5 hours
The sequel to City of Golden Shadow and the 2nd book (of 4) in the Otherland sAudiobook from Penguin Audio Narrated by George Newbern Length: 24.5 hours
Picking up where City of Golden Shadow left off, this book moved the pieces of all the players in the story without seeming to progress the plot too much. This is a common feature of "middle books" so was expected, though made the reading (listening) slow sometimes. At the point that City of Golden Shadow left off, the "hero" group was somewhat divided, with Renie and Xabbu in one simulation, Orlando and Fredericks in another, and the rest of the "hero" group in yet another sim. Paul Jonas' sim, too, went through a few worlds, separated from the rest of the crew. Much of this book was spent with them still spilt, each learning more about the rules of the simulation world through their experiences in the world. Martine's character, and her disability, were explored in detail in this book, bringing her to the forefront of the third hero group as a main character (to go along with Renie and Orlando). The bad guys also moved, and some of their motives were identified...and the mysterious Sellers, while staying in one (hidden) location, seemed to be doing more to try to help bring down the Otherland.
All in all, there isn't much to say about this book that I didn't say about City of Golden Shadow. I enjoyed this book, though didn't think it was as strong as the first book in the series. In this book, author Tad Williams had some fun with the simulation worlds, making alternate worlds of popular stories such as The War of the Worlds and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was fun to go through the book and try to see what book was referenced (if any) for each sim world. The book was fun and the cyberpunk ideas were interesting, but there was nothing new introduced in this book. The rules were better defined through the course of the plot, but there wasn't a lot of actual progression towards the heroes saving the day (or not).
The audiobook was great to listen to, if the narration was slightly slow. I listened to it slightly sped up (using the 1.5x feature for spoken word playback on my iPhone) and it seemed perfect. The only downside to listening to these books in audio is that now I want the 3rd book in the series, Mountain of Black Glass to come out in audio...I'm not sure when or if it will be done, but I hope that it does come soon so that I can continue listening instead of having to switch to some printed media. Audiobooks are a great way to experience this series (so far)....more
Kristin's note: This book is free from Audible until around 12/20/14. Get it!
The last time Brandon Sanderson and Audible teamed up to do a short storyKristin's note: This book is free from Audible until around 12/20/14. Get it!
The last time Brandon Sanderson and Audible teamed up to do a short story, they released Legion, a story about a guy (Steven Leeds) who has "superpowers" in the form of multiple identities/personalities. It was a 2.5 hour story about Steven...doing something. In honesty, I don't remember it well, as I was recovering from major surgery at the time I listened to it, and according to my review, I thought the idea was interesting but the implementation was clunky.
This time around, in Legion: Skin Deep, I was a lot less medicated but the implementation seemed a lot more polished. In this second book in the "Legion" world, everything seemed to click for me. The story, a search for a missing body that holds some sort of code, seemed more believable, the characters and rules more fleshed out...I even thought the narrator was pretty darn good this time around!
The story itself isn't particularly deep..you're not going to find greater meaning or anything like that, but it was definitely entertaining and the premise is still fascinating. I suggest that pretty much everybody give the book a try, free is free, after all. It gives a good sample of what Brandon Sanderson's style is like while telling an engaging short story. Who knows, you might end up trying something else from Sanderson as a result... ;)...more
Typing this on iPhone, pardon typos. I realized that I finished the book after reading it for a week without even adding it to my "Currently Reading" Typing this on iPhone, pardon typos. I realized that I finished the book after reading it for a week without even adding it to my "Currently Reading" shelf so figured I'd do this now while I thought of it.
Basically, I liked the "android bounty hunter" part and didn't care about the Mercerism part. The emphasis on the latter yielded the 2 stars for "it was ok." I really liked the idea of hunting androids and the moral issues it creates. I also liked the idea of animals as an outlet for humanity, to a point of having electric animals. I liked the questions of relationships between really human-like androids and humans.
PKD apparently had a history of mental illness and, as with "We Can Build You," this book seemed as if written by two people--one "normal" person and one who was mentally ill. The result is that PKD portrays mental issues quite realistically even if they add nothing or detract from the story.
After this second story of his that I've read resulting in a solidly "meh" feeling from me, I don't feel a strong need or urge to try anything else from him...though I don't rule it out. It probably won't be this year, though....more
In which Patrick Rothfuss made me cry a little bit as I listened to the author's words at the end.
This is a novella (a short story? I don't remember In which Patrick Rothfuss made me cry a little bit as I listened to the author's words at the end.
This is a novella (a short story? I don't remember nor do I care about the definitions for such things) about the side character from The Kingkiller Chronicle, Auri. This story takes you into not only her world, the world in the hidden sections of the university where Kvothe spends most of his time, but into her mind.
It's not a story for everybody. Some people will probably be made uncomfortable by it. It doesn't "follow the rules" of story telling in the classic sense. The only really protagonist in the story is Auri...but she's also, in many ways, the antagonist. A girl who's (as Rothfuss puts it) "broken," it seems that if this were our world, our time, she'd be diagnosed on the autism spectrum and might have OCD. She gets in her head and everything has to fit "just so" in the way that makes sense for her. When it doesn't, she gets upset.
I really enjoyed this insight into the underside of the University and the world of Tarbean...and a little more of what makes Auri tick. It's not for everybody, but it'll probably hold an element of most of us...it certainly did for me....more
Audiobook from Audible Studios Narrated by Brandon Massey Length: just over 11 hours
Heraclix and Pomp: A Novel of the Fabricated and the Fey is a story Audiobook from Audible Studios Narrated by Brandon Massey Length: just over 11 hours
Heraclix and Pomp: A Novel of the Fabricated and the Fey is a story about mortality, at the end of the day. It has horror and fantasy trappings, but at its core, it deals with finding oneself and dealing with mortal matters. The story is told through the guise of Heraclix, a golem, pieced together from many beings, and Pomp, a fairy faced with mortality. I think this book is probably a 2.5-star book...on the one hand, I liked the characters and the world and the idea. But on the other, I was bored a lot of the time when listening, and the book felt repetitive.
The book seems to do a lot of moral speaking, all from the frame of Heraclix or Pomp. Brought together when a sorcerer's attempt at a spell goes haywire, Heraclix suffers a re-birth of sorts, while Pomp is nearly killed in the doing of the magic. Bound by their shared experience, they set off to first escape the sorcerer and then to learn more about Heraclix's past. As he travels Europe and The Middle East, Heraclix learns whose parts literally make up his whole--he is a golem of patched together parts from people, most of whom he learns about in his travels. Pomp, meanwhile, is from the land of the Fey, used to being a prankster and not having to worry about a thing. However, the sorcerer almost killed her, brining her face to face with her on mortality, so she learns more of what it is to be human (or at least, human-like) while helping Heraclix learn about himself.
I enjoyed the world that Aguirre developed, and I enjoyed the characters. The book takes place in the time shortly after The Crusades, in parts of the world I don't often see come up in books. Heraclix and Pomp run into vagabonds, sorcerers, gypsies, kings, nomads, and a host of other characters as they search between Vienna and Instanbul--and a variety of places in between, including a trip to Hell. The telling of the various stories of the lives that Heraclix was a part of was charming and not like most things I've read.
But...somehow, it wasn't enough. I repeatedly found my mind wandering during the narration, found myself having to go back to the beginnings of chapters to see what I'd missed. The book seemed to work very well one chapter at a time...at first, but even then, I was finding other things to read. Some of the language used seemed purposefully obscure, and a lot of the scenes felt like repeats--Heraclix and Pomp enter a setting, they find some part of Heraclix's past, they are chased out into another setting, rinse, repeat. I think if the book had been shorter, it might have helped. It's not that it was bad (it certainly wasn't), but I think more might have been left on the editor's desk.
The narration, performed by Brandon Massey, was decent. HIs voice is strong, good for an audiobook, if a little droning at times. The biggest "problem" with the narration might be more due to the story itself. It was sometimes hard to keep track of characters, of who was who. This was especially problematic when characters from the early parts of the book would be re-introduced at the end of the book. Audiobooks are much harder to flip back through to refresh your memory, after all. Massey's voice sounded familiar to me, though looking through my library, he hasn't narrated anything else that I've read. His voice would be good in a mystery or other novel when there are only a few characters.
All in all, I liked this book, but wished that it had been a little less obscure and a little less repetitive. That doesn't mean, though, that you shouldn't give it a try if it sounds interesting. But maybe try it out in a print format....more
Great book, very smart and entertaining. If you liked this book and don't read the blog, you're doing yourself a dis-service. And read xkcd while you'Great book, very smart and entertaining. If you liked this book and don't read the blog, you're doing yourself a dis-service. And read xkcd while you're at it, too. In short, Randall Munroe uses simple math and physics to answer what if questions (such as, what if a pitcher pitched a baseball at .995 the speed of light?). He researches statistics and does modeling that even my non-math-inclined mother would understand. As a bonus, he cues his references and adds his classic comic style to it, too, to illustrate what he's talking about.
Everybody should read this book. It's chapters are short, making it a prefect bathroom or "short burst" book to read. I'm just sad that I'm done with it....more
Audiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 8.75 hours
I received this audiobook for free from the publisher in exchange forAudiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 8.75 hours
I received this audiobook for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
It's hard to tell for sure, but I think A Midwinter's Tail might be the final book in the Magical Cats series. The author has started a new series, the Second Chance Cat mystery series (though under a different name, Sofie Ryan. If this does turn out to be the final installment in the series, it ended on an okay note. Some secondary story lines that have crossed multiple books got wrapped up, though the mystery itself was somewhat...silly.
Two and a half months after the events in Final Catcall, Mayville Heights finds itself in kind of a bad way...again. This time, Dayna Chapman, ex-wife of long-term townie Burtis Chapman, dies at a charity event for Kathleen's "Book Buddies" library program. Kind of a downer of a way to have a charity event, eh? While Burtis and Kathleen may not be as close as others in this series, Kathleen still finds herself trying to help Burtis. As usual, after a close call at the end, the killer is apprehended, thanks to quick thinking by Kathleen--and of course, some help from her magical cats, Owen and Hercules.
As in Final Catcall, this book felt a bit meandering. There were a lot of background elements brought up in the beginning (before the murder) and story lines wrapped up at the end (after the murderer was found). The references to some Edgar Allen Poe works were...sort of weak, they felt forced. The story itself did have an element of surprise, but the wrappings of it were pretty out there. Even if this isn't the final book in the series, it's the one most recently published (in October, 2014), so it seems that there will be some time until the next book's released...which I'm considering a good thing. Reading three books back to back emphasized some of the issues with the books, and this one's issues were more pronounced than previous books.
Cassandra Campbell did a great job with this book, too. If you want to read these books, audio is a perfect format since she's such a great narrator. The "light" quality of the books means you can get other things done while listening and Campbell's narration pulls you right into the story....more
Audiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 8.75 hours
I received this audiobook for free from the publisher in exchange forAudiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 8.75 hours
I received this audiobook for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Another in the Magical Cats mystery series, Final Catcall is the first book that actually directly comes after its predecessor in the series. Picking up right where Cat Trick left off, Kathleen and the town of Mayville Heights is still trying to put on the town's fall celebrations, in spite of all the craziness going on around them. Having successfully identified Michael Glazer's killer, the town seems ready to move on, though Marcus is rather frustrated with Kathleen for her "interference" in his cases.
While this book was ostensibly about the murder of Hugh Davis, a well-known director in town to direct a production for a theater festival, a lot of it was also spent with Kathleen trying to figure out her relationship with detective Marcus Gordon--and whether or not she would stay in Mayville Heights. The acting connection provides a vehicle for the readers to get to know Thea, Kathleen's mom, as she is invited to the town to direct the play after Hugh's murder. By the end of the book, the reader has met not only Thea, but Andrew, Kathleen's boyfriend from Boston (the one who went off and got married after they had a fight, prompting Kathleen to take the temporary librarian position in Mayville Heights). And, of course, the mystery is solved. Thankfully for the sake of readers sick of the Marcus/Kathleen hot/cold thing, their relationship is also better defined by the end of the book, so hopefully the next book won't focus on so much of the "romance" side story.
In what might seem to be a step back, this book felt a bit more predictable and a bit more...meandering. While I realize that Kelly needed to resolve the Marcus/Kathleen thing as well as determine if she was going to stay in Mayville Heights (and her decision for doing so or not doing so), those sub-plot elements seemed more important than the actual mystery. Unfortunately, those aren't the parts I particularly care about. If time is going to be spent on sub-plots, I'd so much rather learn more about the cats and Wisteria Hill. Maybe now that Roma is going to live there, we'll get a better picture in future books.
As I always say, Cassandra Campbell is a perfect narrator for this audiobook. She makes listening to the book so easy, so enjoyable, it really is as if I'm a part of the town, inside Kathleen's head. I think her narration makes the audiobook the perfect vehicle for the story, so much so that I look for excuses to listen to more of the book....more
Audiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: just over 9 hours
I received this audiobook for free from the publisher in exchaAudiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: just over 9 hours
I received this audiobook for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
The magical cats are back, bringing Kathleen back with them. In a wonderful return to Mayville Heights, narrator Cassandra Campbell brings us another mystery from small-town Minnesota. On the one hand, it's fun being back with familiar characters--it's like being a resident of the small town, of knowing everybody by name (and possibly knowing too much about them, as seems to happen in small towns). On the other, if this town really existed, I'd be worried to visit, as they seem to have a lot of high-profile murders to visitors.
This book chronologically follows the events of Copycat Killing. This time around, it's Kathleen's cat Hercules who finds the victim, Michael Glazer. Glazer was originally from Mayville Heights but moved away shortly after a family tragedy many years ago. He returned to the small town to try to encourage a tour company to set up tours there; the entire town is on display! Unfortunately, in his return, he rubbed many of the townsfolk the wrong way and there end up being a lot of suspects.
In every book in this series, Ms. Kelly has improved her mystery writing style. Where the first book (Curiosity Thrilled the Cat) was overly predictable, this one definitely kept the whodunnit going to the very end. I thought I had the murderer pegged pretty early on, and I was intrigued to find out that I was wrong. The story also continues the narrative of the townspeople, and it's quite relaxing getting to know them better. Of course, this "same" formula can make the format a bit predictable, and some might mark that against the book. The only thing I'm really still "wanting" from the series that I'm not getting is more information about what makes the cats magical. I like the format of the stories and each time I read a new book, it's like returning to an old friend. But I really do want to know more about those cats and Wysteria Hill/Manor in general!!!
As usual, Cassandra Campbell's narration is perfect. I easily believe that she's Kathleen and that the listener is just another person in town, listening to things going on. I can't wait to read the next one, Final Catcall....more
Clean Sweep is an urban fantasy-type book with some interesting twists. Unfortunately, the narrator of tNarrated by Renee Raudman Length: About 8 hours
Clean Sweep is an urban fantasy-type book with some interesting twists. Unfortunately, the narrator of the audiobook had a voice that didn't fit the character and was so out of place that it made the book very difficult to listen to.
Dina is an innkeeper, a woman who runs a B&B in Texas. Her inn has magical properties and she has magical capabilities, her role being that of a neutral protector in a version of Earth/USA that includes normal humans but also has vampires, werewolves, and other magical beasts. The main thrust of the story is that Dina's inn becomes the site for a showdown between two sides in a big family disagreement, though the book was more than halfway through before any of this became evident. The first half (or slightly more) of the book was world building and character introduction more than it was purely essential to the plot.
In Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews has some interesting ideas about magic. I think I might be persuaded to read another book set in this world/series, assuming it was quicker to get to the point/didn't do as much world-building, and assuming that I read it, not listened to it (or that the narrator was someone else). In Ms. Andrews' world, the magical entities are by and large aliens from other worlds who find themselves on earth for a variety of reasons. What appears to be magic to "normal" people is actually uber nanotechnology or other futuristic technologies at work from alien worlds. There are many aggressive entities, such as the werewolves and vampires, but there are also places like the Inns, the Switzerland's of the magical world. Innkeepers are to take no sides and to protect whoever signs the contract and pays to be a guest at the inn.
All of this goes awry when some creatures known as stalkers start killing dogs in the town where Dina's inn is. At first, she believes that a local werewolf named Sean is to blame, but after killing two (with the help of Sean) and studying them, she comes to find out that these creatures may have been hired by vampires as part of a massive (and deadly) family feud. The world-building is mainly done by Dina explaining how the "magic" came to be to Sean, who knows nothing of the history of his species' home planet or how his species came to earth. Through these explanations and through Dina's preparations to help protect the vampires who are staying at the inn, the reader learns about other worlds, wormholes, and the true source of "magic."
The book also has a side plot that was touched briefly upon, a story of Dina's parents' inn vanishing one day. Dina does a bit through the course of the narrative to try to find them, but it seems fairly obvious that it's a side thread to be explored in later books/as a series arc. While most of the book is purely urban fantasy, there are also some hot and steamy scenes that are typically found in romance novels. Many urban fantasy books these days seem to have these scenes, whether they add to the story or not (in this case, not). There is also a possible threat, the local police officer thinking Dina is up to no good, but that thread is unceremoniously dropped just before the main thread of the story picks up, about halfway through. It's not clear if this topic will be revisited in later books or if it was just an editing miss.
Clean Sweep is a fairly typical, action-packed urban fantasy story. There aren't any deeper themes or morals to be had from it, though the idea of magic as uber technology is kind of fun. The book, once the actual plot started, was pretty quick to go through and fairly simple/straight-forward. This isn't a book that's going to make you think, or require lots of focused reading time to enjoy.
The only major negative is with the audiobook specifically. Dina is supposed to be a 23 year old woman living in Texas. Unfortunately, she sounds like an old grandmother from the deep south. The voice and the description of the character just don't align. The narrator's voices for the men were surprisingly good, but her overall voice just sounded old and tired. In parts where there was a lot of action, she actually sounded even worse, over dramatizing her voice acting. I actually thought she was going to die a few times. It was downright uncomfortable and annoying to listen to, and I cannot recommend the audiobook. If another book in this series is released, I may give it a go in print/Kindle, but won't be listening again unless the narrator changes....more
Audiobook from Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Narrated by Sean Mangan Length: About 4.5 hours
I've never heard of Matthew Reilly, but apparently he's a fairlAudiobook from Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd Narrated by Sean Mangan Length: About 4.5 hours
I've never heard of Matthew Reilly, but apparently he's a fairly big author from Australia. The buzz on the internet (based on other reviews at Goodreads and Wikipedia) is that he's mostly know for action thriller-type books, and apparently his books are well-researched and quite deep. That isn't the case with this book, Troll Mountain: The Complete Novel. That said, I get the impression that his other books are not young adult books, so maybe that's why.
Originally written as a serialized novel (split into three parts), Troll Mountain is the story of Raf, a youth from a small village, and his quest to get an elixir for his sick sister. To get this elixir, he must defy his village elders and make his way to Troll Mountain, a mountain fortress guarded by...yes, trolls. The sickness (which turns out to be something like scurvy) has impacted not just Raf's sister but others in his village, caused in part because the trolls have dammed the river that feeds the village. They also claim to have come up with a cure for the sickness, but exact a costly price--one life in exchange for a vial. During his quest, Raf makes friends with a hermit, Ko, who is a wise elder figure. He also makes unlikely friends with a troll who was exiled from Troll Mountain, Doom. Together, the three take on the trolls and hope to save the day. Along the way, Raf also learns about stereotypes and about knowledge-seeking, and not taking everything you've heard second-hand at face-value.
This book is a short stand-alone novel. It's a fairly generic, semi-predictable tale of an orphan boy on a quest to save his village. It does appear that the author has left some hooks in the book to write pre-quels and/or sequels, though. The world is setup as a fairly primitive land with a history where people seemed to be the humans of today. It also ends in a predictable manner but in a way that could explore "what happens next" if Reilly desired to re-visit this world. Throughout the quest, Ko tries to give Raf lessons about life, though it seems that sometimes even Ko doesn't follow his own lessons. For example, there was "common knowledge" that the mountains in the North went on forever, but when Raf realized they didn't, Ko didn't believe him and seemed shocked. This was a bit of a flaw in Ko's character and made him seem inconsistent. There was another lesson that Ko tried to impart, about the difference between cleverness and wisdom, that didn't really come to much fruition. The other "morals" that were fairly generically written all came back around by the end of the story.
All in all, this was an ok book. It was too obvious what was going to happen, and the world nor characters weren't particularly well-developed. They ended up feeling a little flat, a little too predictable. More frustrating, the sense of struggle or real danger was never there while I listened. It seemed like Raf was going to get through every obstacle a little too easily, and his survival/success were never in question. I realize that it was written for a young adult audience. I think that if I'd read it when I was 9 or 10, it might have felt less flat, as I was a far less mature reader in general and longer books with numerous details would have probably lost me or at least, not been fully appreciated/understood. So, this is probably an OK book for a younger reader who's never read the genre and isn't looking for complexity. I'm not sure that I can really recommend it for experienced readers of the genre.
I should make a comment on the narration. The narrator was a bit slow for me. He would pause after each sentence for longer than I expected. Also, some of his pronunciation was a bit odd, but that might be because he was Australian. Anyway, I ended up using the faster audio speed setting within the iPhone playback and it worked reasonably well. The narration was fine if nothing particularly special....more
Audiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 9.75 hours
I don't have a lot to say about Copycat Killing that I didn't say aboAudiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 9.75 hours
I don't have a lot to say about Copycat Killing that I didn't say about Curiosity Thrilled the Cat or Sleight of Paw. This was another "Magical Cats" mystery, complete with librarian Kathleen Paulson, her cats with seemingly magical abilities, Owen and Hercules, and her friends living in small-town Minnesota. This time around, there were two murders in the town: a local artist was murdered, and it turns out that the remains of a long-missing town member was also found. As the series has evolved, author Sofie Kelly has gotten better at writing her mysteries. In the first novel, it was pretty obvious what was going on from a very early part in the book. Now in the third book in the series, there seems to be more development of the mystery, and things aren't quite as obvious early-on. As a side note, if I were a person living in this town, I'd move out--it's had a lot of murders in just over a year!!!! :D
As with the previous books, I enjoyed this light-hearted mystery. I like the characters, it feels like they could be people I'd call friends in real life. Even better, the mysteries are fun and not too creepy/gruesome. I wish that, three books in, there were more development on the cats' magical abilities. It's been long-hinted that their abilities might stem from the house where they were found, but Kelly hasn't expanded upon that. In this third book, she created an opening for this to be developed in the next book, but it feels like ti should have been addressed by now.
Narrator Cassandra Campbell did another great job reading this book. It's always easy to tell who's talking and the feeling of the various conversations. She puts emphasis when characters use exclamations or ask questions, and she's really easy to listen to.
At the end of the day, if you're looking for some light summer fun in the form of a mystery, you might enjoy the Magical Cats audiobooks...maybe even more so if, like me, you're a bit of a crazy cat lady. ;)...more
I received a copy of this book directly from the author in exchange for an honest review
Scarlet Quest is a self-published book by author A.J. MartinezI received a copy of this book directly from the author in exchange for an honest review
Scarlet Quest is a self-published book by author A.J. Martinez. The book is a fantasy story with some promising elements. It's a story of Auron, leader of The Band of the Fox, a mercenary group in the land of Odealeous, and his battle against a deceitful king and against his own past and promises. The book is set in an imaginative earth-like world, where dragons used to rule the lands and became gods. There are a variety of areas covered in this book, each with its own character and backstory. This is a book with some interesting ideas, though, that gets mired in poor grammar, odd turns of phrase/word usage, and story inconsistencies.
In summary, Auron finds himself at odds with the King, a king who is at times power-hungry and at other times seems to want to undo the damage done by his ancestors to his family name. Accused of killing the King's son, Auron is punished by having his village attacked. His mercenary band, The Band of the Fox, strikes out to try to protect the village by going on some missions set by the King. His band is to go to the south, where war has either been going on for a long time, or is about to come to a close, and help the King's knights defeat the southerners. It should be mentioned that the King's knights are lead by a former band member who was kicked out of the Band of the Fox and still has a chip on his shoulder over it. Auron is sent on a quest to retrieve a powerful jewel from his homeland, a land from which he escaped as a teenager, never expecting to return.
The book is filled with action scenes and magic that uses at least two systems. Many of the action scenes are brutally violent. Sometimes, the violence seems unnecessary or even out of character. The characters, in their "private moments" talk of mercy and only killing those who really need to be killed--but then in the next scene, they're found slaying armies or brutally attacking an "enemy" for the smallest of slights. Diplomacy is not a word in the languages of these lands, apparently. The magic system--or possibly systems--is reminiscent of some of the magic from Final Fantasy or other similar role playing games. Each magic wielder has mana that they must expend do perform magic, and the types of magic are similar to those found in classic Japanese role playing games. Such magic includes healing magic, water magic, fire magic, lightning magic, and "effect" magic which can cause a person to become poisoned or blinded or paralyzed. In fact, many of the key fight scenes, especially those at the end, reminded me of big boss battles in my favorite Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest games. The descriptions were very similar to the effects that the game characters go through and what is actually displayed on the screen in those games, and the characters themselves seem to be archetypical RPG party characters (the white mage, the fighter, the hunter, the paladin...). There may be another magic system that uses pentacles; only one character (Auron) uses magic that uses pentacles, but he does it a few times. Unfortunately, there isn't much back-story for the magic and how it works and why some people can use it and others cannot, but maybe that is something the author intends to explore in a different book.
As interesting as all this sounds--and as I said, the book has some interesting ideas--it is hard to recommend this book to a casual reader. The book, between the poor grammar and odd word choices, almost feels like it was written in some other language and then translated by a machine into English. There are phrases such as "his eyes bloomed..." when characters are surprised, or "his swords were incinerated" when the swords are on fire, phrases that don't make sense. Further, the written tense (past/present) is often confused, sometimes in the same sentence, making it awkward to read. There were also many sentence fragments, jarring the reading process. There were times that I had to read sentences/phrases multiple times to ensure I got the proper meaning, which slowed down and confused the entire reading process. To that end, this book really needed a good editor (hard to do for self-published authors, I understand, so I'm trying to account for that in my rating and this review).
An editor also would have helped with keeping the story consistent and identifying areas that could be pared down or all together removed. Character back stories/motives seemed to change, sometimes within the span of a few pages. Originally I thought that this might be because the author was trying to show how insane a character was, that they really had mixed motives. When it happened with more than one character, though, it became obvious that there were just inconsistencies that needed to be cleaned up. For example, in one section, the king has an internal dialog about how he wants the people of his land to love him and he wants to bring peace to the land, make up for what his ancestors did. In the next section, he is shown to be cruel and his internal monologue implies that he wants nothing but power and dominance over the land. These things do not add up. The story is also muddled/bogged down by long passages that don't advance the story or seem unnecessary. Many of the fight scenes were long and repetitive. There are only so many times you need to read that the guy is good with swords and killed everybody without taking so much as a scratch (another note: his characters were too strong for it to really seem "realistic."). There was an entire scene that happened on a different continent, a continent with some interesting science and features, but were otherwise mostly irrelevant to the story. The main character (Auron) could have learned what he needed much more organically, without having to create this world that had no place in the larger context of the story other than "a neat part of the world."
All in all, I'm giving the book 2 stars for the ideas, severely hampered and reduced by the execution. It's hard to recommend, unfortunately, due to the considerable issues with the language and grammar. I would love to see what would happen with this world with a good editor....more
Audiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 10.25 hours
Just like the first book in the Magical Cats Mystery series, CuriosiAudiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 10.25 hours
Just like the first book in the Magical Cats Mystery series, Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, I enjoyed this book. This time, the murder victim was an elderly resident of Mayville Heights, MN, a beloved former teacher. Unlike in Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, Kathleen wasn't a suspect, but one of her friends, Ruby, was. In the last book, the actual murderer was pretty easy to spot early on, even if the motive wasn't. This time, I didn't figure it out until just before Kathleen did, though in retrospect, I should have.
Sleight of Paw followed the same formula followed by Curiosity Thrilled the Cat. It was the same main cast of characters, same setting, a lot of the same small-town "drama," and the same path of events. This isn't to say that it was bad, but that unfortunately, this book didn't give any more insight into one of the most interesting aspects of the series--how the cats got their powers and if any other cats from the same area have similar powers.
Once again, Cassandra Campbell's narration was spot-on. I enjoyed listening to the book and basically spent my Saturday finding excuses to listen. Time to clean up the dishes? Great! Need to clean the sweet potatoes? Awesome! Watching the World Cup? Who likes the commentators anyway?! The next book in the series is the last one available in audio and I'm really looking forward to listening. I don't know what else I'll have to say that I haven't said already, but I will definitely enjoy the day or two it takes to listen!...more
Audiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 10.5 hours
I enjoyed this book. It was a book almost written for me and my sillyAudiobook from Random House Audio Narrated by Cassandra Campbell Length: 10.5 hours
I enjoyed this book. It was a book almost written for me and my silly cat, Oz. It was exactly the type of book I needed after reading a lot of dark and sort of heavy fantasy and science fiction lately, to say nothing of real life. Curiosity Thrilled the Cat was a light murder mystery type book, the type of book I devour like popcorn. The book was fairly mainstream, though did have a fantastical element... The cats in the story have magical powers. The magical powers seem to be related to where the cats are from and possibly the family who used to live there...but a lot of that is only alluded to in this book.
The story is a fairly straight-forward murder mystery. Kathleen, a relative newcomer to a small town in Minnesota, is a librarian at a local library. The library is going through some major renovations, which serves as a secondary and tertiary plot device, though the main thrust is of course the murder. The murder victim is a visiting Composer and Conductor, a man named Easton who was in town to run the annual music festival in the town. Finding herself one of the prime suspects, Kathleen ends up doing some sleuthing on her own, though she is aided by her cats.
Kathleen's cats are Owen and Hercules. Owen seems to have some powers of invisibility, while Hercules can literally walk through walls. Both also seem to understand humans and have a nose (an ear?) for what's going on and finding clues related to the mystery. The cats were necessary helpers for Kathleen solving the mystery, though the sub-plot of where they came from was also developed pretty carefully in this first-in-a-series of books set in the same town with the same people and cats. Kelly leaves some openings for the reader to make assumptions not only about Owen and Hercules but also about the other cats from the same place. Her text also suggests that the storied history of the home (now abandoned) that they were from may hold some magic, too.
All in all, the mystery in the book was fairly predictable. I think I figured out "whodunnit" when Kelly dropped the first major clue--a clue found by Hercules. But even with that, the story was light and fun to read, the story-telling and world-building felt natural, and I looked forward to hearing how Kathleen finally put all the pieces together. Slightly less elegant was one of the secondary story lines, a sub-plot where the contractor working on the renovations at the library wanted to chase Kathleen away so that his girlfriend(?), the former head librarian, could resume the post that she'd quit. The secondary story didn't make much sense in the context of this book, but may play a role in the larger plot of the series.
Cassandra Campbell's narration was fantastic. She's done the narration for many books with female leads, and it's no wonder why. Being a woman, her voice is a natural fit for the narration, unlike when some men do narration for mainly female roles and it feels forced or that they're trying to use a different tone for a "woman's voice." She didn't try to use a different tone for the male voices, which was a good thing. It felt like she was reading the story to me and made it easy to listen to. I'm looking forward to listening to the next book in the series, which Campbell also narrates. What can I say? I'm kind of a crazy cat lady myself (with only one feral cat, thank you very much), and I'm a sucker for a fun murder mystery......more
Audiobook from Brilliance Audio Narrated by Simon Vance Length: ~3.25 hours
This is another book in the Foreworld Sidequest world, another story based onAudiobook from Brilliance Audio Narrated by Simon Vance Length: ~3.25 hours
This is another book in the Foreworld Sidequest world, another story based on the a real-life character in a real-life time. This time, the character is William the Marshal, a knight who served Henry the Young King. The story grounds itself it William's time with Henry the Young King, about a relic that Henry earned and William's promise to Henry on Henry's deathbed. William promised he would lead a crusade, though while trying to gather the funds to do so, the Oliphant (a supposed relic from the time of Charlemagne) that was buried with Henry is stolen by assassins. The Knights Brethren charge William with its recovery, declaring that failure to do so would give rise to a new crusade.
The self-contained story finds William set out on this task, coming across new crosses and double-crosses and creating alliances with some of the most unlikely characters. The tale was entertaining with many fight scenes--indeed, it seemed that William travelled primarily from scuffle to scuffle and had some semi-mystic power to not only survive but survive victoriously in each skirmish. To be fair, in such a short story, it can be difficult to keep track of motives and characters, and sometimes this was the case here, but in general, it was a short and fun story.
Simon Vance narrated this story, another diversion from series regular Luke Daniels. As usual, Vance's work was not only fantastic, but with his English accent, it felt like he "belonged" in the world. Unlike other stories, this one didn't reference characters or places mentioned in other books/stories, minimizing the chance for confusion with pronunciation differences. This makes the story more "stand-alone" but may also be frustrating for those hoping for more stories from well-known characters. Regardless, it was an entertaining way to spend a lazy weekend afternoon....more
Audiobook from Brilliance Audio Narrated by Angela Dawe Length: 14.25 hours
And so it ends. When I started The Mongoliad series last year, I thought it wAudiobook from Brilliance Audio Narrated by Angela Dawe Length: 14.25 hours
And so it ends. When I started The Mongoliad series last year, I thought it was just a trilogy. I had no idea what to expect with the series as a whole and with the idea of "group fiction." I had no idea I'd be getting into a historical fantasy-type book (series) with a little mysticism thrown in for fun, had no real idea the breadth that the series would take. Now that I'm done with the main series of Foreworld books, I'm a little sad to see them go. Certainly I've liked some better than others, but this book, Siege Perilous, was a fitting and mostly satisfying end.
If you've read my reviews of the previous books (Book One, Book Two, Book Three, and Book Four), you'll recall that my biggest frustration with these books is the expanse of story that is covered. There are multiple plot lines with widely varying characters across a wide geographical area. This makes it hard to keep track of who is who and what's going on in any given story line, and made the books less "fun" to read. This book didn't have the same problem. There were still a few story lines (3-4), but they quickly came to all be in the same setting; we were able to see the same event from a few different points of view. Without the confusion of the world and the various goals each person was trying to meet, since those had all come together, it was much easier to follow, and as such made the overall story more enjoyable to read (listen to).
This may have also been helped by the fact that this seems to have been written by only one person. Previous books in the Foreworld Saga were written by at least 3 authors. I'm not sure if these were group writing events, where everybody weighed into each plot line, or if everybody wrote a separate story, but the end result was a difficult-to-follow main story. At first, I wasn't sure if E.D. deBirmingham was a real person or if it was a pseudonym for a group of the writers, but this 2012 Sword & Laser Google Hangout with the authors from the series demonstrates that she's really just one person. She also seems to be one of the only women in the project, if not the only woman. I think the woman's touch on the writing--the battle scenes in particular--was observable in the book as the battle scenes were not as...well, drawn out in this one, as they were in past books.
Plot-wise, this book wraps up the story of the quest for the Holy Grail. Early on in the series, it became obvious that Percival had visions and was on a quest of some sort for the Holy Grail. All of the movements of the Knights Brethren was driven by that. They met and worked with the Binders and the Shield Maidens, they fought the Mongols and the Levonian Brotherhood, all along their quest. When we left the Knights Brethren in Katabasis, the Mongols had been left to decide their new Kahn of Kahns, Ferronantus had died trying to preserve the Spirit Banner, and Raphael found himself talking to Leanne and Gonsuk to get the small sprig of wood that was important to the Spirit Banner and the Mongols. Back in Rome, Cardinal Vieshi had been elected Pope after mad Father Rodrigo was killed by Ferrens after trying to kill Ohseriweh (a Binder orphan). Ohseriwheh was sent away from the Holy Roman Emperor (King Frederic) to protect the Holy Grail that Father Rodrigo had held/used, and Ferrens became a member of Frederic's court. This book more or less starts with that setup, and takes us along with Raphael, Percival, Ferrens, Ohseriweh, Cardinal Vieshi, and Levonian Herrmeister Deitrich. Through various means, they find themselves in Carcassonne, in a part of the Crusade involving the Cathars and an isolated mountaintop fort. I don't want to spoil the plot, so that's where I'll leave it, but suffice it to say that the book mostly takes place here, through the eyes of these characters, as they struggle to find the rightful vehicle for the Holy Grail.
As much as I enjoyed this book, I did not particularly enjoy the audiobook version. The narrator for this book was Angela Dawe, a break from the previous books' narration by Luke Daniels. Dawe's voice had some quirks that didn't work for me with an audiobook. Quite often, it seemed like she had an higher voice at the end of the sentence than the beginning. This made it sound like some of the sentences were questions, rather than statements. Her pacing was odd, too. There were longer-than-normal breaks between each sentence, the silence lasted just a beat longer than expected. Oddly, the narration didn't seem to take a breath or pause when I would have expected there to be commas. Further, and this may be due to editing, there wasn't much of a gap between section breaks within a chapter. This made it hard, sometimes, to know immediately that a new point of view was coming and would make me confused until my brain registered that there was a section break. I'm not sure what lead to this narrator's selection, but I wasn't as happy with it as I was Luke Daniels' narration.
All in all, I'm glad I read the series. I actually will not be leaving the world quite yet, as I have a few of the SideQuest Adventure books and another side story in the world. I'll be reading those soon, to keep up my familiarity with the world. I definitely think that listening to this book shortly after finishing Katabasis helped keep the overall plot in my head. To those who might be interested in reading the Foreworld Saga books, I do strongly recommend reading at least the 5 main-line books in order and in close time proximity to one another. Siege Perilous, while in many respects an outsider in the saga, may have in fact been my favorite, and provided a mostly satisfying end to the Saga....more
I think this book suffered (for me) from overhype. I had coworkers telling me it was pretty good. I had many people on Sword & Laser saying it was greI think this book suffered (for me) from overhype. I had coworkers telling me it was pretty good. I had many people on Sword & Laser saying it was great. I even heard that an astronaut said it was great and technically pretty accurate. There was no way it was going to live up to the (over?)hype. I also suspect that survival-type stories aren't for me. This was one of the first ones I can remember reading. In the end, it was probably more technically accurate than most books but still wasn't what I expected given the praise it got. Honestly, if the rest of the book was okay, I wouldn't have even thought about the technical parts (after all, the guy doesn't do this for a living). But the other parts of the book were just okay, which then made me pick on everything. I contemplated, as I walked around work this morning, giving this book 1 star. I settled on 2.5 stars but since Goodreads doesn't do half-stars, I rounded down. It was ok. It could have been more.
I think adventure/survival type books work well when you care about the characters. I get the impression that lots of people cared about the characters, but I was kind of underwhelmed. Mark Watney's character resonated with people because they liked the humor in his narrative voice, and probably because a lot of people think astronauts are awesome. Having worked with a few, I can attest that astronauts are people. Some are jerks. Some are great. Yes, they're pretty smart cookies all in all, but they're just people. And, like many engineers, many have a sarcastic sense of humor (as Mark's was in the book). My problem was that he wasn't deep enough. He didn't go through real despair (that was written). He was always upbeat, always sarcastic...which is fine, but is hard to show his growth or other development. And, given that I have the same sarcastic sense of "humor," and work with a lot of people who also do, it wasn't so much like reading humor as reading work interactions. I tried to listen to the audiobook but I found the narrator's voice kind of irritating and the dialog too much like listening to my own thoughts or like being at a work meeting. No, thank you. The other characters seemed equally flat, there didn't seem to be much emotion. In a book about survival, other than the adventure, isn't the book supposed to be a vehicle for exploring the human mind?
I don't think the adventure/survival genre is for me, especially if they're all like this. The basic plot of this book is "man faces adversity, man triumphs over adversity, man progresses towards his long-term survival goal, rinse, repeat." I got bored reading the book, especially once I became relatively certain that Watney would make it off of Mars. The number of things that went wrong, and the sheer insanity of those things, made me weary as I went through. I stopped caring if he would make it. The irony, of course, is that the reader never finds out if he (and the crew) did survive to make it back to Earth. Further unneeded drama was created by discussing how the Hermes space ship wasn't designed for the mission profile and the malfunctions Weir described. Since that was never followed-up on (I wonder if other parts of that got lost to editing), it didn't make a difference at the end of the story, so felt extraneous...of course, with those issues, the reader has to wonder if the crew made it back. I had to plow through the final 25% of the book. I came close to giving up.
Last and certainly least, the book didn't live up to the technical hype. In retrospect, I wouldn't expect NASA or an ambassador for NASA (such as Cmdr. Chris Hadfield) to be anything but positive, and in truth, the book was more accurate than most I've read. It's in NASA's interest for people to be excited about space, and if books like this do it, then so be it. From the Sword & Laser podcast and SF in SF reading/Q&A, I have gathered that Weir's basic mission profile came from The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must. There are issues with that plan, at least by today's technology.
The most glaring omission from The Martian is the effect of radiation on Watney. All of the equipment was designed to withstand the environment (radiation included), but space suits typically don't offer much protection. Cmdr. Hadfield has mentioned that when he (or other astronauts) are in space, they have to wear radiation dosimeters to ensure that they know how much exposure they've had any given day and cumulatively. This PDF from NASA gives a lot more information on radiation. An estimated 3-year Mars mission (it's not clear how much time would be spent on Mars in this profile, though I only skimmed the document) would violate some of the total dose requirements for younger astronauts (those most likely to be healthy to go on such a mission). The space environment would also likely wreak havoc on the jury-rigged things that Watney put together.
Another fairly major technical issue that was used for convenience was the EVA suit. While I would hope that by the time we'd be ready for a mission to Mars, we would have improved our suits from what they are now, EVA suits are a nuisance. In fact, at one point, Watney complains about how difficult it is to move and do things in his suit. But most of the time, he's just bending over, digging, doing fine-control tasks (such as changing the wiring on the rover batteries) all while wearing his suit and gloves. Having worn a suit prototype in a dive tank and having participated in space glove research (and therefore worn suit gloves to do tasks), I can attest, it's not like going for a stroll...even a stroll in a big puffy snowsuit. When I did the glove tasks, I could only do tasks that involved grabbing bulky things. I had to use all my hand strength (at the time, I was a regular climber, so my hand strength was pretty good) to close and open my hand. I was left with callouses and bruises on my knuckles, and I certainly wasn't doing anything that actually needed to work. I was putting 1/4" diameter pegs into holes and such. It strains logic. Similarly, at one point (37% according to where I marked it), Watney is noted to be exerting a lot of energy trying to work with Lewis to setup the solar panels and stuff (Weir actually says he was wheezing, which I took to be with the effort of the exertion). But later, he can move 29 panels on his own!?
Speaking of those solar panels...I have no idea what voltage human-rated space missions use for things that humans will interface with. The things I work with now are not for humans, and I didn't think to ask any of my human space systems colleagues before I left work. At one point, the book said that the panels had about 5% efficiency (I think--I remember because it stuck out how low efficiency that was). A simple Google search for "solar cell efficiency for space" will take you to websites for companies that make space solar cells. They are quoting ~28% efficiency. That's quite a difference. Further, I know that the satellites I work on support up to ~5.5 kW spacecraft. That is, the solar arrays can provide ~5.5 kW of energy. Watney said he was using 36 kW (actually I think he said 36 kW/h or 36 kWh, neither of which makes a lot of sense) per travel day. Without getting into too many details, suffice it to say that solar arrays are big. He said he was carrying 29 panels, I have to wonder what size...it strikes me anything that gigantic (and again, depending on voltage, since P=IV) wouldn't be conducive to carrying on a rover. It was hard to figure out what he was talking about in that respect.
I also took umbrage with some of the various crises/perils, technically. I find it impossible to believe that for this type of mission, that only 1 HAB-based antenna would be provided, that all of the backups would rely on the MAV. Weir/Watney goes out of his way to tell you about all the extra things he has, all the stuff he can use to be MacGyver, yet they somehow managed to have a single point failure of so critical a system!?! I almost threw the book down then. Weir's lack of engineering knowledge also showed when he said that Iris was "held in place by 5 bolts..." Those must be big bolts (1/2"+). But one of those bolts was sheared by a direct smack in the tensile load direction from a 300-lb payload (around the 51% mark for those playing at home). First off, 5 bolts is ridiculous. Second off, they pack that stuff in there quite securely (look at the 6th picture down on the left side), it would never float around like he says. And 300 pounds (even at 10g, that doesn't come near the tensile strength)? Bolts are much stronger than that. In the end, I could have been OK with the "crises" being as silly, if the rest of the book held up, and possibly if there had been fewer crises. But it went through too many rinse/repeat cycles and I got bored and then I got picky. And don't get me started on the end...
Also, I have a question. If the crew aboard the Hermes ship decided to commit suicide to ensure that at least one of them lived, would the remaining astronaut be able to eat the others, as was implied would happen at ~69%? If the others take OD on morphine, wouldn't their bodies be toxic? I don't know, I'm not a doctor nor a biologist...
I could go on, but really, it's not important. The technical stuff just started to grate on me as I got more bored with everything else. I guess I got my hopes up for more, but in the end, the book didn't live up to the hype. I guess Major Tom is the only stranded astronaut for me....more
A great collection of stories from submissions to the founders of the Sword & Laser book club. I think some of the authors have been published before,A great collection of stories from submissions to the founders of the Sword & Laser book club. I think some of the authors have been published before, for some this was their first published work. All were interesting and while I did have some favorites, I thought they were all quite worthy of inclusion in the anthology. I don't envy Tom and Veronica and the other people who had to select which stories went in and which didn't make the cut. Judging by the quality of these stories, I'm guessing that the overall level quality of the of submissions for all the stories was high.
Brief notes as I read each short story...
Soft As A Feather When Done Right by Nicole Feldringer: A cute story about some unintentional magic when a kid doesn't want to go to school on Valentine's Day.
A Night For Sprits and Snowflakes by Aidan Moher: What would your last thoughts be when you die? How do you handle death when it's all around you? This story really moved me, as more or less depressing as it was. It was about an attack in a nameless war on relatively helpless mercenaries. Every person's last moments were captured, all unique. And one survivor, the "coward."
Saltwater Skin by Kristy Sutherland: A selkie gives up her skin to be with the man she loves. But is she able to defy the traditional "mythos" of the selkie and stay with her life outside of the water, or will she be like all the ones in the stories and steal her skin back to go to the water? And in those stories, if she has to steal her skin back, does that mean that the other selkies weren't truly loved?
Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw: This story made me smile. I was reminded, during the scene with the golems, of Bilbo Baggins outsmarting the trolls in The Hobbit. Can you bluff your way out of a thieving gone awry?
The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed: I love it when the good guy wins and there's a happy ending. But I honestly think I would have preferred slightly more info on the magic and less on the steaks. But I still had a smile on my face at the end.
White Flame by Jeffrey N. Baker: The end of this was kind of gross. I actually got a Lies of Locke Lamora-type vibe from this one, but in a good way. It's interesting to consider how far you'd go for someone you trust, and also how/why people may abuse that trust.
How Fox Fixed the Sky by Stephen Case: This story reminded me of a lot of the Native American and other...more tribal myths, those that use animals. I liked it, but I'd like to know more of the influences, like which myths inspired it. That fox was pretty crafty.
A Good Man by Zachary Tringali: This story was kind of depressing, actually. Brotherly love spoiled by people seeking power for themselves, taking advantage of someone's physical weakness/sickness to bring a family to ruin. Oddly, this was the first story so far that I've actually found typos in.
Knowing Better by Paul Krueger: Another Fried Green Tomatoes moment in this story, I have to wonder if Krueger is a chef or otherwise works in a professional kitchen (or did in a past life). I only wish that he had been able to spend more time with the magic in Lysander's dagger and less on, "The secret's in the sauce." I wonder how Lysander was able to fool his boss for the cooking...
The Novice's Guide to Adventuring by Sean Tadsen: I like the idea of an adventuring guide and a guidebook of "do what I say, not what I do" with practical examples. Plus the two characters were a lot of fun.
The Osiris Paradox by Sarina Dorie: While this story took place in the stars, it definitely had a more mythical and fantastical feel than science fiction. Seems like an odd way to start the sci fi section, though that's not to say that I didn't like the story.
Leviathan! Leviathan! by Jacob A. Boyd: I liked this story a lot, the idea of "dragons" in the past being time-travelers trying to protect themselves. Definitely a new-to-me idea.
Jonah's Daughter by Adam Callaway: This one used a lot of big words. I had to use the dictionary on my Kindle a lot more than usual. I'm not sure what to make of using a whale as a spaceship-type vehicle. An actual whale. Or what scale they were traveling on or even if it was space. But it was an interesting idea.
Birdy by Rebecca J. Thomas: A relatively short story, more a ghost story than science fiction (or so it felt). I liked the idea of meeting the person you might have been, depending on what fate had in mind for you.
The Same International Orange by Luke R. Pebler: A sad/creepy story, for sure, and one that's easy enough to foresee possibly happening with robotics and automation these days. What happens to you when your job is taken over by robots? Worse, what happens when someone can look search your name online and find out everything about your actual life? Neither seem particularly far off.
Afterword by Mike Murphy: An author's life in his books flashes before his eyes. Definitely wild, given the books he wrote/had to live through.
Data Dump by Trisha L. Senbastian: Another easy-to-foresee near-future-ish book if you're terribly pessimistic. This time, it's about surgeons who can literally remove memories--a full dump or a partial dump--from a person. So much power...but who does it hurt?
Honeybun by Austin Malone: I'm reasonably certain that I saw a Futurama episode with this. I liked the comparison of "synthetic" people and thoughts to synthetic food--a honeybun.
False Light by Victoria Hooper: This was a bit of an odd story involving time travel and investigations of space pirates and mysterious deaths. I was kind of confused while reading this but I think that's more because I read it in the middle of the night while fighting insomnia.
Only Darkness by David Emery: A story that explores the boundaries between science and religion. It took a little while for me to "get" what was going on, but when I did, I enjoyed it....more
Audiobook from Brilliance Audio Narrated by Luke Daniels Length: 13.25 hours
When I reviewed The Mongoliad: Book Three in the Foreworld Saga, I didn't reAudiobook from Brilliance Audio Narrated by Luke Daniels Length: 13.25 hours
When I reviewed The Mongoliad: Book Three in the Foreworld Saga, I didn't realize that there were to be a 4th and 5th entry into the series. The book ended with the end of a major story arc (if not the most satisfying of endings) and I thought it was okay to leave it there.
But the story didn't end there. Where the story in the first three books in the series really covered the story of the Christians versus the Mongols, this book follows the Shield Brethren into Russia while the Mongols mostly start gathering to find their new Kahn of Kahns. There was a greater supernatureal element with this book than the previous ones, and it was interesting to see characters I thought we had left at the end of the first book (or thereabouts) make a reappearance. At the crux of this story seems to be old religion versus new religion. It is hinted that Cardinal Vieshi, a cardinal in Rome who we met in the 2nd and 3rd books, is behind an attempt by the Levonian Brotherhood to defeat the Shield Brethren and help "modern Catholics" take a hold in Russia. The old religion, though, the Shield Brethren, the Shield Maidens, and the native Russians, are on their own mission to keep the old religion not only still around, but still relevant. As part of this, the Spirit Banner, guarded so carefully by the Mongols in the first three books, is a central part to the plot with Ferronantus, Raphael, and the Shield Brethren. In a bit of an oddity, Leanne (former slave Chinese woman in Ogedai Kahn's retinue) has managed to save the sliver of...well, it's still not exactly clear what it is, but it's important enough that GonSuk had her protect it and it was attempted to be stolen from Ogedai in the first book. This gives her a tie--if she's not really clear on what the tie is--to the Spirit Banner and the Shield Brethren.
In some ways, this was a complete story. There was a central conflict, and the plot moved to bring that to a relatively satisfying ending. In some ways, the plot lines here were less confusing than in the previous books. There seemed to be fewer plots and fewer characters to keep track of, generally speaking. However, at the end, it got muddled. I suppose it might be just me--I often have felt like I've been "missing something" while listening to these books and this one was no different. Something happened at the end that I didn't quite grok, and it's obvious that it will play out for the 5th (and final, I think) book in the main Foreworld Saga. I hope that when I finish that one, it will make more sense.
Luke Daniels did the narration for this audiobook, as with the other Foreworld and Foreworld Prequel books that I have listened to. Sometimes, his narration is fantastic. He does different voices for the characters and makes it easy to get drawn into the world. However, between the odd names, multiple plot lines, and sometimes difficult/foreign words, it can be hard to understand what he's saying or what's going on. As with the other books, this is one that I think might be easier to read the print first, or at least have a copy handy so you can refer to the Cast of Characters and/or re-read confusing parts. Sometimes, Daniels would do lines in a characters voice and...well, in character. So if the character was to be whispering or muttering, Daniels would do that. This would make it hard to understand what he was saying, especially when he used the thick accents.
All in all, I think I liked this book better than I liked the end of the first three books. I look forward to seeing what happens in the 5th book--which I note is not narrated by Luke Daniels. I hope to read it soon, so that the end of this one is still fresh in my mind....more
terpkristin
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Books:
2014
(52)
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