Book Reviews
Review: “Five Seasons of Angel”
You know that a pop culture staple has gone far beyond the normal range of fandom and reached saturation when serious academic studies relating to the psychology, philosophy, and morality of show and of its characters are being published.
To my knowledge, only Buffy the Vampire Slayer (with two academic conferences dedicated to it so far) and Godzilla fall into that category, but Buffy’s spinoff, Angel, should be right beside them.
Review: “Poison Study” by Maria V. Snyder
Enraptured. I cannot remember the last time I read an entire book in one sitting. I could not, did not, put it down.
Yelena is everything you could ask for in a heroine: courageous, clever, resourceful, vulnerable, and strong. From the outset, her situation is dire. She is given a poison that will kill her if she does not return for her daily antidote. And even if she doesn’t, she may simply die from doing her job well.
Review: “Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty” by Raymond Benson
Let me begin by saying that I wanted to love this book. I love the game, I love the characters, I love reading; it seemed a natural fit. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. What I ended up reading was an “okay” version of a story that I know could have been much better.
Review: “Gone” by Michael Grant
Grant has successfully written himself a real suspense-filled saga about a group of small city kids placed in extraordinary circumstances and dealing with problems that would cause any well-seasoned and trained adult to go crazy.
Review: “The Goddess Test” by Aimée Carter
What I didn’t expect was to be reaching for a tissue in the first twenty pages. Ms. Carter nicely sidesteps the whole unequal romance trope by placing the emotional center of the novel in the relationship between our heroine Kate and her mother Diana. Kate’s frantic grief over her mother’s looming death drives the plot and gives more weight to the story than a YA romance would normally command.
Review: “Demon Angel” by Meljean Brook
If there was ever a time a fantasy reader wanted to dip their toes into the romance waters, it would be this book by debut author Meljean Brook. Don’t let the cover put you off because behind the clinch embrace is a detailed urban fantasy with a good bit of action.
Review: “Crater County” by Jonathan Miller
So there I am at Ice Escape, and a young man starts chatting me up about his book, Crater County: A Legal Thriller of New Mexico. It’s a slightly supernatural legal thriller, he says. And I says, “A slightly supernatural legal thriller? I don’t think I’ve ever read something like that.” And he says, “How’d you like to review the book?” I says, “Sure, why not?”
We said a lot.
Review: “No Dominion” by Charlie Huston
The book is marvelously written and very heavy on dialogue and vivid, yet dark, descriptions. Twists and turns abound, unfolding the story at a steady pace. It is also written as a first-person, present tense story, a style that I usually find jarring and unbelievable.
