Book Reviews

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Jinx by Meg Cabot - Jean Honeychurch, known as Jinx by most, moves to New York City from Iowa due to a problem with a stalker. She is going to finish off her junior year of high school and spend the summer with her aunt, uncle and cousins. However, her cousin Tory is not the friendly child that she remembered from 5 years previously. Instead, she's into witchcraft and is a stuck up rich girl and doesn't seem to like Jinx very much. An entertaining novel with a touch of the paranormal.

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Dealing With Dragons by Patricia Wrede - Cimorene is a princess in a fairy tale land where princesses aren't expected to do very much, except eventually get captured by a dragon and then rescued by a knight, whom they will marry. It is even set up for them by their parents at times. Cimorene tries her hand at swordplay and other things as she is growing up, but her parents put a stop to it when they find out. She eventually runs off on her own and becomes a live in servant with a dragon and has no plans to be rescued since she likes it where she is. A pretty entertaining start to a 4 book series.

Everlost by Neal Shusterman - Nick and Allie die in a car accident, but run into each other on the way to the light. Instead of getting to their destination, they end up in Everlost as Afterlights, ghostly figures who can not really interact with the living, and have to be careful or they might sink through the earth all the way to the core. The only residents of Everlost are children under the age of 16 and some Afterlights have been there for over a century. They have an adventure as they try to find out more about Everlost and also try to make it back home again. A good first book in the trilogy with plenty of action.

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The Invaders by John Flanagan - Hal, Stig and the rest of the crew of the Heron have escaped from Hallasholm and are in search of the pirate Zavac, who stole the treasured Andomal. Their only hope of regaining their place in Skandia is to recover the Andomal. There is lots of training and also plenty of action in the middle book of this trilogy as the Herons make a few allies and have to liberate a town from the pirates. I've enjoyed all of Flanagan's books so far.

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Jake Ransom and the Skull King's Shadow by James Rollins - Jake and Katie Ransom are the children of archaeologists who mysteriously disappeared during a Mayan expedition and are presumed dead. During an exhibition of their parent's artifacts in London, the two are transported to a strange place where a number of displaced people, including Maya and Romans, live in an era of dinosaurs and strange foliage. They have to survive and also figure out a way back home. This was an entertaining book and I'll start the sequel later today.

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Spirits in the Park by Scott Mebus - The second book in the Gods of Manhattan series picks up where the first book left off. There are signs that the land is trying to throw off the barrier over Central Park. An earthquake and a blackout cause lots of unrest, but a big storm is heading toward the island. Rory and his friends search for a way to lift the barrier without a war breaking out between the Munsee tribe who have been trapped in the park and the other residents of Mannahatta. A pretty good sequel.

Everwild by Neal Shusterman - Battle lines are being drawn between Mary Hightower and Nick (aka the Chocolate Ogre). Both are gaining followers as their differing viewpoints on the residents of Everlost makes a skirmish inevitable. Allie is traveling with Mikey McGill and finds that three years have passed in the living world since the accident that sent her to Everlost. She tries to track down her parents and find out if her dad survived the accident. Plenty of action and it is nice to see other parts of the US and what parts of them have crossed into Everlost.

Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx by James Rollins - It seems that each book is going to focus on a different culture. The first book focused on the Maya and this book dealt with a lost tribe of Egyptians. More encounters with their evil opponent as Jake and friends try to unravel the mysteries of time that confront them. An entertaining and quick read.

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While sorting comics this week, I managed to listen to the four audiobooks from the Song of the Lioness quartet.

Alanna the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce
Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce - In this series, 10 year old Alanna disguises herself as a boy so that she can go to the capital and train to be a knight. She takes the place of her twin brother who wants to study magic instead. Her disguise works and she does well. The first book covers her page years, the second book her squire years, the third book her first year as a knight as she travels into the desert and stays with one of the tribes there and the fourth book more traveling and returning home to end a threat to the crown. I enjoyed the series a lot and have read it several times. This was the first time I'd listened to the audiobooks, though, and the narrator did an excellent job.

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I finished a couple of books during my Chicago trip and a couple of books since then.

The Sorcerer's Secret by Scott Mebus - The final book in the trilogy wraps things up nicely. A war is brewing as Rory and friends search for the truth behind the bad guy and a way to avert the battle. He finds that the truth centers around his father, whom he hasn't seen in many years. A pretty entertaining finale.

Everfound by Neal Shusterman - This was also the final book in a trilogy. Mary Hightower returns after her a scar wraith accidentally extinguishes one of the skinjackers. Allie goes to extreme measures to end the threat of Mary's other skinjackers who have been reaping kids from the living world. An entertaining interlude takes place in Chichen Itza and everything finally comes to a head at the site of the first nuclear bomb test, which happens to be a vortex that attracts all sorts of things into Everlost. A very nice final book.

Oath of Swords by David Weber - The first book in the Bahzell fantasy series. The audiobook narrator does a great job with the variety of voices. I loved the book before, but the narrator just adds to the enjoyment. Bahzell is a 7ft 6in. tall hradani, one of the races that split off from humans many years in the past. He is an honorable barbarian who has to leave town fast when he saves a girl from rape and murder. He also is very stubborn and ignores the dreams sent by one of the gods who wants Bahzell to be one of his champions.

Starfleet Academy: The Assassination Game by Alan Gratz - A large group of cadets start a game where they have to get one of their fellow cadets alone and 'kill' them with a spork until only one cadet remains. The game is interrupted somewhat when an aggressive canine type race sends several members to a medical conference and a couple of terrorist bombings take place. A nice, fast paced novel set in the new Star Trek universe.

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The War God's Own by David Weber - The second Bahzell book follows Bahzell and friends as they return to Bahzell's home in Hurgrum. A war is near with the Bloody Sword branch of the Hradani, but a group of Sothoii think to take advantage of the warriors being away from home by taking out the rest of the Horse Stealer tribe. Bahzell and his newly formed chapter of Tomanak are the only thing that stands in the way. A very good continuation of the series.

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Wind Rider's Oath by David Weber - The third Bahzell book picks up shortly after War God's Own. There are a few problems brewing on the Sothoii Wind Plains. Bahzell is called to the aid of a Courser herd which suffered a major attack. The Coursers are giant horses with the intelligence of humans. Kaeritha sets out to investigate the difficulties that the War Maids are having with their neighbors in one of their towns. The War Maids are composed of Sothoii women who leave behind all of their familial ties and many are known for their martial ability. Another new character who plays a major role is Leanna, the 15 year old daughter of Baron Tellian. Tellian is one of the most powerful of the Sothoii nobles, but due to political maneuvering, Leanna may be used as a weapon against her father and forced into an unfavorable marriage. She decides that the War Maids may be a better choice. Overall, a pretty entertaining book, though Weber starts to show his tendency to linger with the villains and their long discussions for longer than necessary.

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The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein - In 2075, the moon has around 3 million residents, most of whom are convicts serving out their sentence or the descendants of convicts. Being sent to the moon is pretty much a one way trip, though, since bodies that are on the moon for too long can't adjust to the heavier gravity of Earth for long. The people on the moon are under the thumb of the Lunar Authority, headed by the Warden. They are required to send numerous grain shipments to Earth, but get little in return. The book centers on Mannie, a talented computer technician; Wyoming, an attractive political rabble-rouser; the Professor, a subversive intellectual; and Mike, a powerful sentient computer. They discover that famine and food riots are only a few years away and decide that revolution is the only way to fix the problem. The deck is stacked against them, but they start working on a plan to maximize their chance. This was a very entertaining novel. Some people may have a bit of trouble getting into Mannie's lunar way of speaking, but it didn't take long for me to adjust. I think this is definitely one of Heinlein's better novels.

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Methuselah's Children by Robert Heinlein - The Howard Families were started in the late 1800s as an experiment in longevity. People who had both sets of grandparents alive and healthy were encouraged to marry and have offspring of their own. After several generations, the resultant progeny had lifespans approximately double that of the rest of humanity. The oldest of them was Lazarus Long, who was born in 1912.

This books starts in 2125, around 11 years after a small part of the Howard Families revealed their existence to the public as an experiment, thinking that humanity might finally be ready to accept them. However, disbelief in heredity being the cause of their longevity leads to mounting pressure to forcibly extract the process used to extend their lives. Since no such process exists, the Howard Families need a way to escape and the solution may lie in the colony ship awaiting completion in Earth's orbit.

The book moves at a brisk pace and Lazarus Long is a very entertaining character. He doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his family, but still commands their respect. The story sets the stage for quite a few more adventures, though I'm not sure how many of them Heinlein actually chronicled. Lazarus Long does feature in at least a couple of other books.

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War Maid's Choice by David Weber - The fourth Bahzell book takes place 7 years after Wind Rider's Oath. Leanna is an established War Maid and is about to turn 21, legal age for the Sothoii. She has her eye set on Bahzell, though this union would be looked down upon by many. The forces of evil are at it again with a plot to kill the king of the Sothoii and blame it on Baron Tellian, Leanna's father. I enjoyed the book, but Weber continues his tendency to give his villains center stage with their long, drawn out plots and discussions. The book is a bit ponderous for all of that and probably would have benefited from being edited down to a smaller, more focused work.

Beyond This Horizon by Robert Heinlein - This is one of Heinlein's earliest novels and depicts a future society that is near Utopian in many respects. One of their biggest problems is how to dispose of the excess wealth that circulates through the system. While there were a number of interesting parts to the book, I found it to be below average in terms of Heinlein's works. I did not like his archaic depiction of women and the latter third of the book is very boring. Defintely a dated work, though it isn't totally without merit. The first 2/3 of the book is much better than the final part.

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On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony - In a world where both magic and science coexist, a man decides to commit suicide, but ends up killing the Incarnation of Death instead. This means that the man becomes the new Death and must fulfill the duties of his office. He slowly becomes comfortable in his role and meets the other Incarnations of Immortality, but finds himself at odds with Satan and must find a way to prevail. I've loved this book for many years and enjoyed the audiobook a lot as well.

6xH by Robert Heinlein - 5 short stories and a novella by Heinlein. I enjoyed all but one of the short stories and the novella was pretty decent so overall this was a good book. Not among his best, but fairly entertaining. The main story was about a man who arrives home each night with no memory of what he did during the day and what his profession is. He hires a husband and wife team of investigators to follow him and find out, but something sinister becomes involved and threatens them.

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Airman by Eoin Colfer - The Saltee Islands are a small sovereign nation between Ireland and England that were given as a cruel joke to a knight in the 1100s. However, when diamonds were found in the island, the equation changed. In the late 1800s, Conor Brokeheart is the boy who was born in a balloon and has a love for flying and science. His father is a popular leader in the Saltee army and his best friend is the princess, Isabella. However, he (and the kingdom) is betrayed by the evil Marshal Bonvilan and must find a way to survive and later escape from years of imprisonment. I thought this was a fun novel. It's a bit different from Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, but it has plenty of action and a good story.

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Redshirts by John Scalzi - A group of transfers to the Universal Union's flagship, the Starship Intrepid, soon discover that there are a number of things that are not quite right aboard the Intrepid. For one thing, their department chiefs become scarce whenever the captain or first officer venture into their departments. Also, there is an extremely high mortality rate during away missions from a variety of extremely weird circumstances, though the main bridge crew always survives. New crewmembers are especially susceptible to dying. Scalzi's parody of Star Trek is very entertaining and funny and is also very meta. While the codas at the end were decent, I think the book might have been better off without them. The main book itself is definitely worth reading for any Star Trek fans or fans of the genre itself.