Book Reviews
Dual Review: “Twelve”, “Thirteen Years Later” by Jasper Kent
Before I start reviewing Twelve and Thirteen Years Later I have to go on a rant, a rant about books with serial killers. The success of The Silence of the Lambs has meant a huge number of books featuring serial killers. I find the popularity of serial killer characters unnerving and annoying. Unnerving, because this hero worship of insane killers, is well unnerving.
Review: “Waking The Witch” by Kelley Armstrong
It’s difficult to keep a long running series fresh and interesting for the fans (and the author). Ms. Armstrong has achieved this in a number of ways, most obviously by changing the lead character in each book. But she also provides quality world building, well plotted mysteries and characters who grow and change in each book.
Review: “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J. K. Rowling
It’s pretty sad when you’re 33 years old and the highlight of your year is when the next new children’s book is finally out on the market. Deciding to skip the ridiculous lines and midnight “parties,” I pre-ordered my copy online, and only had to chew the tablecloth for four hours from when I woke up at eight o’clock, till the postman finally delivered my book at noon on Saturday.
And, just like last I did with Order of the Phoenix, I forgoed (forgew? forwent?) everything, and did nothing but read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (stopping for the occasional bathroom break) until I finished Sunday afternoon.
God, I love being a geek.
Review: “Star Trek FAQ” by Mark Clark
As a solid Trek fan I am always on the lookout for good books on the franchise, and Star Trek FAQ comes through in spades.
Review: “Team of Darkness” by Tony Ruggiero
In the twenty-first century, amidst six billion people and surveillance equipment able to tell a gnat’s sex from outer space, four monsters hid together in caves just outside the city of Kacianik, Kosovo, for nearly a century, until they attacked a captain of the US Army and left witnesses.
General Stone could barely contain himself. Vampires. Real life, blood sucking, coffin dwelling, God damned vampires. What if they could be captured? Studied? What if they could be kept under control and compelled to follow orders?
Review: “Seven Seasons of Buffy”
I try to avoid reading books out of order, and while it usually wouldn’t matter in this case, my having read Five Seasons of Angel before this one brings a couple of things to mind… the foremost being that while editor Glenn Yeffeth obtained fewer essays for the Angel collection, he also seems to have obtained more highly engaging essays for the it than for the Buffy collection. While that may sound like a minor slam of the Buffy collection, it’s not… it’s a big time golf-clap salute.
Review: “Killing the Rabbit” by Alison Goodman
This book is based in Australia yet blends in a bit of Japanese and Chinese culture. What doesn’t make sense is this South African Pharmaceutical Company is only killing Australian women with this trait and there is no mention of any other women in any other country. Resorting to the murder of those seven women and the other “loose ends” seems a bit drastic without taking into consideration the possibility of hundreds of women worldwide who might have the same genetic mutation.
Review: “Pandemic” by Scott Sigler
Podcast novelist (and self-proclaimed future dark overlord) Scott Sigler burst onto the horror scene a couple of years ago Infected. If you’ve read (or listened to) Sigler’s original novel, I need only say two words to make you shudder involuntarily — chicken scissors.
