Donna Jo Napoli - Beast

An interesting retelling of the Beauty & the Beast story, with the Beast a persian noble. Touted as both Exotic (& Erotic but I think that was a typo), and a young adult novel. Overload of middle eastern in the first chapter, but once that is out of the way, it's smooth and quick. Persia to India to France, the locals are well drawn. Well written with a sweet ending. a 5, X.

Alan Dean Foster

Alan Dean Foster - Lost and Found
The Light-years Beneath My Feet
The Candle of Distant Earth.
A trilogy of short novels, a broker Kidnapped by aliens and joined by a modified intelligent dog, travel the universe trying to get home. The ending was sort of bland. There was some fun stuff along the way, but not really much adventure. More a story of personal growth. a 5, X

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.

Catherine Asaro

Asaro, Catherine. Primary Inversion. R.X. 20070113. Soz and Jub heirs to feuding empires fall in love, much shakespearian. a 5.
Asaro, Catherine. Catch the Lightning. R.X. 20070114. interesting blend of high-math science SF and romance and sadistic psi vampire types - with strong overtones of Jacqueline Lichtenberg's sime-gen series. Not spectactular but good adventure and well done romance. 100's years later. acidentially into the alternate past of 1987 LA. then back, some darkoverian feel. a 5.
Asaro, Catherine. The Last Hawk. R.X.` 20070117. the thought dead brother was instead lost and kidnapped by a society esentailly reverse muslim with the women in charge and the men in hoods and harems. the Dice game as a meme-program was interesting, and that aspect I quite liked, but overall while slightly better written still the same theme and feel, not quite as much sadism, but still... a 5.5.

Nina Kirki Hoffman - A Fistful of Sky

Hoffman, Nina Kirki. A Fistful of Sky. R.20061102. a good modern fantasy. romantic. family of powers. simple living life. a family story with magic. kind of similar to Alice Hoffman. ends oddly tho. a 5.

Mario Acevedo

Acevedo, Mario. The Nymphos of Rocky Flats. R. 20060919. TPB. Interesting vampire story, Gulf war syndrome a cover for vampirism, UFO's, Roswell, vampire hunters, Nymphomaniacs, Red uranium, death and murder, and redemption. dryads, and potions, and turning people to frogs! Secret vampire organization. a Mexican-American vampire P.I. investigating the nymphos, secret DOE compound. then the weirdness starts. pretty good adventure. a 6.


Mario Acevedo - X-Rated Bloodsuckers, sequel to Nymphos. R. 200801? TPB. It has the elements of the original, but not the angst, and unfortunately not the level of sarcastic humour. The ideas are there, but the humour just didn't come across as well. Still fun, and a good adventure, set in the valley this time, with vampires and porn stars and evangelists, but not quite as good as the first. a 5.

Gail Carson Levine - The Princes Test

Levine, Gail Carson. The Princes Test. R. 2006071? cute novella, ya, classic princess tests, pea in the bed etc. nowhere near as good as Ella enchanted. but of the same style. a 5