Book Reviews

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Rusty
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Re: Book Reviews

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Fire Season by David Weber and Jane Lindskold - The sequel to A Beautiful Friendship starts a couple of years later as Stephanie Harrington is approaching her 15th birthday. She still doesn't have many friends, but enjoys hanggliding, working with the Sphinx Forestry Service and hopes to get her provisional air car license. A group of scientists from another star system arrive to study the treecats and among the delegation is the son of one of the scientists - Anders, a boy around Stephanie's age. The book has a couple of forest fires that need to be dealt with, an accident that leaves the scientists stranded and in danger and a fair amount of teenage angst. Overall, it was a fun and fast paced book.
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Changes by Mercedes Lackey - The third book in the Collegium Chronicles starts at the beginning of a sweltering summer. Mags is now known as a top kirball player (sort of a cross between rugby, soccer and polo), but he has other things on his mind. He is chosen to accompany the King's Own Herald into Haven on an undercover mission to try and locate the foreign spies who wreaked havoc over the winter. His friends, Bear, Lena and Amily, all have their own problems to deal with as well and the summer heat has tempers flaring. This was a pretty good book and sets things up nicely for the final book in the series.
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Day of Doom by David Baldacci - This book wraps up the Cahills vs Vespers series. It wasn't too bad. I did like the original 39 Clues series more than this sequel series, though.
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Redoubt by Mercedes Lackey - The fourth book starts with the wedding of the Prince of Valdemar and all of the celebration festivities around the castle. Just after the celebrations end, Mags is knocked out, drugged and kidnapped. When he eventually emerges from his drugged condition, he manages to escape and finds that he is in Karse, the hostile southern neighbor to Valdemar, and must find his way home. A decent continuation to the series.
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The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff - An urban fantasy that takes place in Calgary. Alysha Gale is a member of a large family that is able to influence the world around them with charms and magic. She moves to Calgary when her grandmother disappears. Alysha takes over her grandmother's eclectic junk shop and becomes involved with various members of the fey community while soon discovering that a group of dragon lords have crossed over from the underrealm and more danger is on the horizon. Very enjoyable like most of Huff's books.
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Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris - The first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series (which is the basis for the tv series True Blood) introduces Sookie a waitress at a bar and grill in Louisiana who has the ability to read minds. Then she meets Bill, a vampire who happens to be the one person that she has met whose mind she can not read. Vampires are legal citizens in this world, though there is still some prejudice against them. There are several murders to deal with and plenty of other action. It was a decent enough book and I'll probably listen to the rest of the series eventually since I have the audiobooks.

Under the Vale and Other Tales of Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey - The seventh Valdemar anthology contains a number of familiar characters from previous anthologies and lots of entertaining stories as well from various corners of Valdemar and neighboring areas. I'm not a big fan of short stories in general, but I've enjoyed these anthologies quite a bit.
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Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin - The first book in the Myth Adventures series is just as much today as when it came out 35 years ago. Of course, I didn't read it until 5 years later, but still. A crazy mix of fantasy and humor that centers around a 'demon' named Aahz from the dimension Perv and a magician's apprentice named Skeeve from the dimension Klah. Skeeve has been an apprentice to Garkin for several years, but has not made a lot of progress. An assassin kills Garkin just as he summons his old friend Aahz as a practical joke on both Skeeve and Aahz. Aahz is also a magician, but his powers are temporarily removed due to a joke powder used by Garkin. Skeeve becomes Aahz's apprentice and they hit the road together.
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Myth Conceptions by Robert Asprin - Another fun romp as Aahz helps set Skeeve up as the Court Magician for the kingdom of Posseltum, because everybody knows what a cushy job being a Court Magician is. Except that after Skeeve gets the job, he finds that he is expected to take on and defeat an invading army from a powerful empire that is just outside the borders of Posseltum.
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Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare - The final book in the Infernal Devices trilogy wraps things up nicely. Mortmain is still a threat with his automatons, but nobody knows where he is. The members of the London Institute of Shadowhunters learn of Mortmain's whereabouts, but the Consul of the Clave does not trust the information or the London members. The end of the book lasts quite a while after the climax but brings the story up to the present day (from the 1870s) and ties into the Mortal Instruments series even more.
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Fyre by Angie Sage - The final book in the Septimus Heap series wraps everything up nicely. A lot of the characters from previous books make an appearance. Jenna is about to be crowned Queen, but is worried that her Dragon Boat is dying. Two evil wizards escape from their imprisonment and threaten the Castle. Plenty of action, humor and fun in this satisfying finale.
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Myth Directions by Robert Asprin - Another rollicking adventure with Skeeve and Aahz. Tananda takes Skeeve dimension hopping in search of a birthday present for Aahz. They end up getting in trouble while stopping in Jok to get some food and it all leads to a big game between Skeeve and friends and two rival groups from Jok. Lots of fun.
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Hit or Myth by Robert Asprin - Aahz's cousin comes to Klah and convinces Aahz to return home to Perv. Skeeve gets into several tight spots after Aahz leaves, including a king who absents himself to escape a royal wedding, a magician who shows up and seeks to become his apprentice, and the mob who show up looking to find out what happened to the army that Skeeve made disappear. Plenty of fun as Skeeve shows that he has grown due to Aahz's tutelage.
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Myth-ing Persons by Robert Asprin - A group of con artists escape to another dimension through the back door of Skeeve and Aahz's residence. They must either pursue and capture the con artists or find themselves liable to the merchants of Deva for reimbursing the damages caused by them. Matters get complicated when Aahz gets framed for murder and thrown in jail, leaving Skeeve to put together a rescue. Plenty of fun, as usual.

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Little Myth Marker by Robert Asprin - Skeeve knows nothing about cards, but wins big anyway through luck. However, as part of his winnings, he wins a marker for the debt of one of the players. The marker is not an IOU on a piece of paper, though, but a little girl named Markie. A couple of new characters are introduced in this book, including Bunny, Don Bruce's niece who is sent to be Skeeve's moll in order to maintain the image of the mob.
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Re: Book Reviews

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M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link by Robert Asprin - This book was a bit different since it features 5 stories, each one centered around a different member of Skeeve's circle of friends/associates. Some of the stories were more interesting than others, but overall I enjoyed the book. I think I like the Skeeve centered books more, though.
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