Julie Kenner - Demon Hunter series
Carpe Demon
California Demon
Demons are Forever
well done - if Buffy grew up settled down and had kids, then started hunting again. sometimes pushes the romance a bit, but mostly very good stuff.
20080516
Julie Kenner - Demon Hunter
20080501
Dean Karnazes - Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an all-night runner
Astounding, and gripping. Started flipping through it, and got so hooked I finished it up while supposed to be working.. Very readable, it's almost spiritual - but without any touchy-feely stuff. an 8.
20080410
John Levitt - Dog Days
John Levitt - Dog Days. 20080410. Modern fantasy. a bit unpolished much like the early Butcher novels, I was a bit surprized to find it was his 3rd book, it felt more like a first novel. The characters took a bit to develop but the plot went well. Magic structure was a bit simple, but then things were added to flesh it out more. Hook of being a musician who is also magical, but doesn't bother with it much is pretty good. Not bad at all, I was going to say it was a sort of a magic-mystery but it's not really a mystery, more an investigation where they already know who did it mostly. a 6. There's to be a sequel.
20080227
Louis Sachar - There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom
Louis Sachar - There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. R. YA. Not quite what I'd expected from the title, but a good self-redemption story. A little dated, but nothing serious. The class Bully/gross kid
becomes a regular kid and pulls him self out of his hole. Some stuff resonated well, esp the taking pride in being the worst at something. Good analysis of the fear of failure so don't attempt therefore you can't fail. a 6.
20080226
Mirror Mask
Watched the DVD last night, 1st time I'd seen it since it was in the theatre. Even better than I remembered, the first time I'd thought she looked too old, but I didn't see that this time, there were a few parts where she acts like a brat, but it does follow her character. Then I'd thought she was lead thru the danger too easily and didn't have to do anything on her own, but while there was a bit of that, it wasn't as much as I'd remembered, and if it was all a dream, it was all her anyway... so while not perfect it is great a 9. The Sphinxes were just as creepy, and the really useful book was even more heroic.
20080225
Jerry Spinelli - Loser
Jerry Spinelli - Loser. YA. interesting voice, very much like a news report on the kid. Follow Z from birth to jr. high, loves school, but is a failure at success. Yet he has a quality of never giving up never giving in and always enjoying himself. There isn't an overall plot, but there is a bit at the end with the snowstorm that it quite touching. good. a 7.
20080220
Alichino 1
Kouyu Shurei - Alichino 1. R. 20080220. beautifully drawn manga, the Alichino seem somewhat like the old cruel and beautiful elves, they steal souls, and grant wishes. It's not always easy to follow the story, or tell the characters apart, but the art is wonderful.
Doll 1
interesting manga, collection of related shorts, relating to artificial humans 'dolls' as servants, substitute children, lovers, mothers. very soft SF, more to do with the relationships than the tech. good a 7. nice art and well done stories.
Pet Shop of Horrors
Pet Shop of Horrors - short stories with mythical beasts sold and generally gremlin like rules and the breaking of them is the horror of the patrons - yet! with a very likeable shop owner and not a creepy tone. a 7
Yun Kouga - Loveless 1
Loveless 1 Yun Kouga - started out interesting, good art, but then got all yaoi-ish. Did like Yuiko quite a bit, a good character. a6.
Felipe Smith - MBQ 1
Felipe Smith - MBQ1 - really good, excellent storytelling, good art, good story, some great perspective. an 8, a modern 'slice-of-life' not a standard sf manga.
20080201
Barbara Corcoran & Bradford Angier - A Star to the North
Barbara Corcoran & Bradford Angier - A Star to the North. R. 20080201 a YA novel in the vein of Hatchet - sort of, set in the late 1960's as there is mentions of the 'evil' Hippies & LSD, but beyond that bit of anarchonism it's pretty well done. a 6. teen boy and his younger sister visit canada wilderness and take a thrilling canoe ride, also quite a bit about growing up and apart from their parrents, they sort of run away, but more of a taking the summer off, the sister sneaks along. Some good self reliance, and a nice sibling relationship.
20080130
Dean Koontz - The Husband
Koontz, Dean - The Husband. R. 20080130 an interesting thriller. the revelation of the villians is interesting. The villians themselves are a bit flat, but a good comon man thrown into extraordinary circumstances, some weird childhood experiances, but the love of the husband for his wife was a good hook. a 6.
20080119
Andrew Clements - Things Not Seen
He wakes up one morning and is invisible... but it's more of how he develops than some sort of spy mystery. an excellent bit of young romance, and a great family story. an 8.
Denise Vega - Click Here (to find out how i survived seventh grade)
a cute and quite well written teen story. makes an accurate reference to Harriet the Spy. Friendships and hardships of middle-school. a 7.
20080111
David Weber - Honor Harrington Series
Weber, David. Honor 01 On Basilisk Station. R
Weber, David. Honor 02 The Honor of the Queen. R
Weber, David. Honor 03 A Short Victorious War. R
Weber, David. Honor 04 Field of Dishonor. R.K. possibly the best one! (also saddest..)a 10. still my favorite. the Duel.
Weber, David. Honor 05 Flag in Exile. R.K.
Weber, David. Honor 06 Honor Among Enemies. R.K.
Weber, David. Honor 07 In Enemy Hands. R.K.
Weber, David. Honor 08 Echoes of Honor. R
Weber, David. Honor 08b Worlds of Honor 01 More Than Honor R
Weber, David. Honor 08c Worlds of Honor 02 Worlds of Honor R
Weber, David. Honor 09 Ashes of Victory. R.x(hb) excellent. Honor series is a 9/10!
Weber, David. Honor 09b Worlds of Honor 03 Changer of Worlds. R.K.
Weber, David. Honor 10 War of Honor. R. 2004112?. where WhiteHaven gets Samantha & Honor & WH learn they Love each other - not one of the better ones, all politics, little action. a 5.
Weber, David. Honor 10b Worlds of Honor 04 The Service of the Sword. R. 2004121?
Weber, David & Eric Flint. Honor 10c Honorverse 01 Crown of Slaves. R. 200510? Zilwicki, Erewhon. an 8-9
Weber, David. Honor 10d Honorverse 02 The Shadow of Saganimi. R. 200510? HB.BC a 7. at least it's a return of individual action, not admirals & politics, but no Honor.
Weber, David. Honor 11 At all Costs. 20080111. More personal, a bit less politics, but still not enough adventure and too much going on with secondary characters. At times the battles become lists of numbers of missiles and sound more like math equations than stories. With so many characters it is at times, hard to remember who's in what navy. The introduction of a 3rd party villain, brought over from the Honorverse series with Flint, was good as it was getting depressing to see 2 groups of essentially good guys slaughtering each other. The end is a bit depressing many popular characters getting killed, but the stuff about Honor's personal life was fun. Good but not as fun an adventure as the earlier stuff. a 7. R.X.
20071126
Bomb Queen
Bomb Queen comic book (Image)
V1. Great black comedy! emphasis on the comedy, with plenty of fan service, a mature readers title - not erotic, but with enough gratuitous nudity and language to warrant it. Mostly she gets her wardrobe blown off fairly often. Very funny, and violent with an overall social commentary that doesn't bludgeon you with a moral. an 8
V2. more of the same great stuff, a bit more fan service perhaps. an 8
V3. starts to get a plot, and crosses over with shadow hawk, less humor to the detriment of the title, starts to be more about where it's going not what's going on. Something that happens often to humor titles, once the characters are developed plot starts to leak in, and it waters down the humor. (see oots) a 6
20071103
Bleach - Anime, Season one
What's with the title? It's got to mean something in translations that I don't get. Still Bleach is one of the better anime I've seen. Maybe not as good as NGE, but close. It starts a little slowly, but quickly hooks you in, it has a good long plot and the episodes are often 2 or more part stories. Near the end of season one before then go to soul society, are some of the best episodes, but you need the background of the earlier got really appreciate them. Once they get to Soul Society they throw in some stupid characters for pure comedy relief and I didn't care for them as much, still the overall plot is going along nicely and the adventure is great. The animation has some interesting character designs, the people are not always standard fare, and that was neat. The intro has some great 70's-ish style. Death-Gods, and evil souls. Season one a 9,. season 2 an 8 season 3 a 9
20071025
Alan Moore - Promethea
Promethea, a superheroine explicitly from the realms of the imagination drawn by J.H. Williams III, explored Moore's ideas about consciousness, mysticism, magic, écriture féminine and the Kabbalah [wikipedia] . Intensely well written as just about anything from Moore, this series seems to contain his entire magic philosophy, and in fact over half of the issues are a primer on magic, kabbalah, tarot, etc, as Promethea learns it, by traveling the Qabbalistic Tree of Life. The series explores Moore's ideas about art and magic, combining elements of superhero action, metaphysical theorizing, and psychedelic hallucination, all focused on the adventures of Promethea, a metafictional character that possesses magical power over the real world. Promethea is also notable for wide-ranging experimentation in visual style and storytelling technique on the part of Williams and Moore [wikipedia]. Visually stunning with unusual layouts and art techniques, with characters commonly breaking the 4th wall, it is often a rather didactic philosophy lecture, yet overall is an intriguing and uplifting story. a 7.
20070930
S.E. Hinton - Hawkes Harbor
Wow, I hate to give away anything but this is the oddest vampire story I've ever read. but good! the ocean tramp travel and friendship and storytelling kell & jamie at the beginning was good, and would have even been good enough for a novel, but then hawkes harbor, and weirdness, and vampire - and then not, and IRA and death and redemption, the end tho happy is still sad. a 7. interesting, excellent character. the setting running from the 50's to the 80's is slightly dated, but doesn't really matter. finding your place, and being happy in it.
20070927
CHARLES DE LINT - MOONHEART
DE LINT, CHARLES. MOONHEART. Old pre Arthurian Celtic, Talsien and Magwin (Merlin) come to America or at least Canada. Also native American Canadian stuff mantious. All very very neat, the House reminds me of the house in Little Big and the characters are well likable and the story is nice, fulfilling, sad that friends were lost but the evil was overcome and things are good. a 10
DE LINT, CHARLES. SPIRITWALK. SEQUEL TO MOONHEART - And a good one too, more a collection of stories containing the same characters, or a few short stories that are linked and one long piece I think moonheart was better but only because it was all one long piece. a 9
ROALD DAHL - JAMES & THE GIANT PEACH
DAHL, ROALD . JAMES & THE GIANT PEACH . CH, R. best dahl book a 10 .
STEVEN K. Zoltan BRUST - TO REIGN IN HELL
BRUST, STEVEN K. Zoltan. TO REIGN IN HELL. R. SATAN'S SIDE OF THE STORY. A 10! certainly the best Satan story ever.
John BRUNNER - THE SHEEP LOOK UP
BRUNNER, John. SHEEP LOOK UP, THE. PB. R. A very hard hitting sf cyberpunk w/o the cyber. an apocalypse novel which ends as the apocalypse begins. well written, but I thought too many characters with not enough to differentiate between them too many times I was confused at who was who. The damn scariest novel I have ever read! extrapolating the environmental problems we currently have and if we continue like we are we will end up as sheep. Entirely convinced me to become a Trainite (but one of the peaceful ones) If you've ever been worried about the environment but put off doing anything you'll never do it again after reading this book. The scariest thing is that it feels so real. There's hardly a thing that seems implausible let alone unlikely! disease run rampant, mega toxic fallout, wearing masks to breathe in any city. The jumping pov to all the many characters really brought the global perspective to you made the problem all the more huge looking. Liked the design of the book as well many many small
episodes, advertisements, tv, news, billboards, etc. And the chapter quotes were horribly great. Unfortunately the solution wasn't very nice. Real but not nice. Recommended more for it's ideas and philosophy than for spectacular writing style but worth getting thru the problem places to see the whole picture. a 10 for content a 6 for construction and an 8 for style = 8
STEVEN R. BOYETT - THE ARCHITECT OF SLEEP
BOYETT, STEVEN R. ARCHITECT OF SLEEP, THE. R. GREAT STORY ALTERNATE WORLD- RACCOONS INSTEAD OF APES, SIGN LANGUAGE INSTEAD OF SPEACH, INTELLIGNET RACCOONS! SPELUNKING, MARTIAL ARTS, A HERO WITH GLASSES! there's written bk 2 but never pub, & was designed as trilogy -editorial prob's creative differences etc. squashed it. probably will never be finished and it's a damn shame. A 10
Wow! there's a slim chance the Architect might be someday finished and published in it's entirety!!
Which is quite a bit better than the last time I checked his website where he thought there was no hope of him ever going back and completing the last book
Lloyd Alexander - Prydain Chronicles
Alexander, Lloyd. Prydain Chronicles. HB. R. YA. one of my very favorite books as an early teen. doesn't hold up as well as some on a later reading, but I remember thinking this was just the best series ever! when I read it. It's a good mythic Celtic fantasy, with excellent characters. a 10 / 6.
Kim Harrison - Hollows series
Harrison, Kim. Dead Witch Walking. R.20060529, reread 200709
Harrison, Kim. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead. R.20060530, reread 200709
Excellent series very reminiscent of Hamilton's Anita Blake but without feeling like a knock-off. interesting characters, stumbles a bit on the 1st book, throws a lot of stuff in all at once, but once you get the setting and background the story flows smoothly. Witches, vampires, werewolves, pixies and elves oh my... magic as a college course, demonology, dark books, vampire mobsters. Sexy main characters, tough, 'runners' sort of bounty hunters/detectives. excellent settings, such as their home/office/church. a 9.
Harrison, Kim. Every Which Way But Dead. R.20060531, Reread 20070927. #3 in the series. drifting toward Hamilton much more sex in this one, but not over done yet. Ceri appears, more to do with Trent & her father, much more with Big Al. set in an alternate present where creatures have come 'out'. very similar to Laurel K. Hamilton, but unique enough to be it's own thing.
If you like this try Laurell K. Hamilton - Anita Blake. Charlaine Harris. Kelley Armstrong. Robin Mckinley - Sunshine. Nancy Collins - Sonja Blue. Carrie Vaughn.
20070924
Tamora Pierce - The Immortals
Wild Magic. shades of Bradley's Hawkmistress, and again Lackey's Heralds. a stronger more emotionally gripping story than the first of Lioness. Continuing the same land with the Lioness grown and with children. about 9 years since the end of the lioness quartet. Return of the Immortals - the mythological beasts, harpies, gryphons, dragons, fae, etc. good an 8.
Wolf-Speaker - the valley of the magical and intelligent beasts, or at least once Daine's done with it. off in it's own direction, so less of an homage to Bradley. good an 8.
Emperor Mage. land of slaves and cages, an good adventure, and quite a bit more god-works going on, some more hints of her father. an 8.
The Realms of the Gods. a good conclusion to the tetralogy, much ado with gods, and beats gods, meets her parents, and new darkings, and big battle against forces of chaos. a bit disjointed, but fairly epic. some romance brewing, and a good happy ending. an 8 the series.
good Young Adult fantasy that isn't such kids stuff that adult fantasy readers would be bored, and isn't so violent or sexual that even youngster who read above their grade wouldn't enjoy it.
20070923
Tamora Pierce - Song of the Lioness
Alanna, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman who Rides like a Man, Lioness Rampant. nice Young adult stories in the vein of Lackey's original Herald series. a 7. some romance, some growing up and overcoming obstacles, some magic, quests, the woman in a mans job was nicely underplayed, and not an overt theme. The friendships and the villain were a bit too easy or too evil and the first couple felt at times written down to a certain level, but the 2nd 2 didn't have that feel as if she let the story flow on its own.