Jason Cox

Rating 3.5
Intersting take on what happens when an AI arrives and then promptly “gets loose.” If you like Scott Meyer's other stuff, you'll most likely enjoy this book. It's not especially deep in regard to the characters, but it's a pretty fast-paced storyline. The bigger problem is that I didn't find any of the characters to be especially connect-worthy, including the AI, and some of them were just people that were loathsome, which was obviously intentional, but there wasn't balance for the other side.

Rating 3.9

Interesting and different book by Scott Meyer.
I've loved all of his Magic 2.0 books, and what really comes through is the wry humor that is a consistent feature of Meyer's novels. While technically this is a SF book as it is set on a future earth colony planet, the book is almost entirely focused on social structures and the interplay between characters. Honestly, this same fact is true of the Magic 2.0 books.

Master of Formalities tells the story of a royal family and the interactions between their staff as they are all involved in an interstellar conflict between the elegant House Jakabitus (the primary focus) and the less refined Hahn Empire. While you get to know the royal families, the real star of the show is the primary house staff of House Jakabitus, especially their Master of Formalities Wollard.

There is a ton of character development and character interplay, which is really what makes the novel fun and interesting. While there are a few novel ideas that add a tiny touch of futuristic flair (Eutalytics - nano robots that clean and sterilize everything but also serve as security and also create viewing screens on any surface), it's mostly just used for ambient effect.

More interestingly, in this future society, planet-based cultures have diverged widely over time and utilize strict sets of rules to function. The rules keepers -the Masters of Formalities, and trained to advise the rulers and help them make decisions that are within precedent and avoid breaking the societal rules.

The audiobook version was well narrated with no significant issues that would make for an annoying experience.

2nd read of Armada (as an Audible Audiobook) by Ernest Cline

Thoughts:
• I enjoyed it more the second time around more than the first. Not really sure why, but some aspects just didn't stick out as much this time as last.
• The pop culture references were pretty good, though still not nearly as good as Ready Player One.
• Still too much unnecessary language for younger readers.

Overall, I'd call this a “fun” read and recommend it to anybody who enjoyed the pop-culture references and near-Sci-Fi aspects of Ready Player One. Just don't expect it to be a sequel or nearly as good.

A fitting sequel to the first Bobiverse novel (We are Legion), For We are Many picks up right where you'd expect. It moves the storylines from the first novel forward excellent fashion and is an enjoyable, fun read. You get to follow along with the Bobs as they try to save the remnants of humanity from a post-nuclear Earth. The discovery of other worlds continues as does the interaction with other sentient species. There is something of a cliff-hanger at the end, so go ahead and prepare to start book 3 - All These Worlds as you won't want to wait.

With the movie coming out and looking very interesting, I wanted to tackle this one. I can hardly count the number of people who have recommended this series and named it their favorite series ever, so I went into it with eagerness and anticipation.

This is my first Stephen King novel. I'm not a big fan or horror in general, so I've stayed clear of his stuff in general, even though most avid readers I know love most of his stuff. Maybe I should have just avoided it. Or maybe I'm missing something. The writing itself is well done. The story could have promise.

[SPOILER ALERT!!!]

I just didn't like it.

Here's my big issue with The Gunslinger: the primary character (protagonist) is so deeply flawed that he's unrelatable. Unlikeable. I've read plenty of “dark” fiction with “grey” characters and that doesn't generally bother me. In most of those cases, there is some element of redemption that comes into play for the protagonist. Or some aspect of the protagonist's personality that makes him appealing despite the flaws. There's reason to home he will get better.

But then there's the Gunslinger. The man with serious talents who appears throughout the book to simply sacrifice anyone noble in his life to meet his ends. And his nemesis, the Man in Black, who is supposed to be this shadowy figure of evil... but who, now that I've just finished reading the book, might actually be the “Good Guy” in this one. But the thing is, the Gunslinger isn't likable. He doesn't seem to stand for anything. He seems to be created through an act of vengeance, and rather impulsively. Where is the nobility in his personality or character? He seems to be framed as the good guy by the author, but it isn't backed up with anything.

Maybe this is the book to read if you're a murderer and you just want to feel better about yourself by rationalizing that “nobody's really a good guy anyway, that's all just in their head.” And I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who like the fact that this seems to be what is portrayed in the book. The ends don't justify the means. And the quest to find the Dark Tower doesn't have any meaning.

So, if you're reading this review, answer me this: is there reason to keep reading? What have I missed in my “read” of the situation in the book? Is there redemption down the road, or is it just as much a straight march into ruin as it appears to be?

I read this book in anticipation of discussion on the relatively new podcast - No Dumb Questions which has been awesome. They recently covered Ready Player One (in depth, and did a great job, making some fantastic points) and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson is the next book they plan to cover. I listened to the unabridged Audible version and have to say I rather enjoyed it.

The book has 2 predominant storylines: The first deals with the 1893 World's Fair which was held in Chicago (at the time, The World's Columbian Exposition was considered the pre-eminent exposition in the world and was a huge deal, much more so than in the past 50 years). It was also a source of national and city pride where architecture and inventions took the main stage. There were many firsts at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair - the first Ferris Wheel, the first large-scale use of AC electricity, the first moving walkway, electric boats, the largest building in the world. The book covers much of the history of the fair and the intrigue involved in it.

The second storyline deals with America's first serial killer H.H. Holmes (born Herman Mudgett) who was trained as a physician, but operated a “pharmacy” and owned a rather large building near the World's Fair. The sensational murders of Jack the Ripper in London occurred just before the killing spree of Holmes and there is even some speculation (not in the book) that they are one in the same person. The in depth account of Holmes' history and various crimes, as well as his investigation is interspaced throughout the book and is interesting in it's own right as so many of the things he did were unheard of at the time.

While all of the events in the book occur simultaneously, the storylines don't really intertwine otherwise. No shared characters on both storylines. Probably because so many books/movies/shows have a similar setup, but then ultimately bring the characters together to integrate the storyline, it ended up feeling a bit disjointed when they didn't integrate. Also, though there were portions of the book which were “faster” in pace, there were also other sections where it plodded quite a bit. (Hence the 4 stars)

For all that, I still found the book worthwhile and quite interesting, mostly from a historical perspective. Definitely worth the read.

Fantastic 3rd novel in The Expanse series.

James Holden and his crew again find themselves in the middle of major events going on in the solar system. It looks pretty bleak at the beginning of the novel and they almost lose the Rocinante. What happens in the rest of the book is eye opening and appears to me to open up the potential of the story tremendously.

It was a little disappointing that Avasarala was nowhere to be found in this novel. But something makes me think she'll be back. Far too interesting of a character to just let fall off the radar.

I'm going to keep this review especially short because I can't think of anything else I could say that wouldn't be a spoiler.

Book 2 of The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey is a fantastic follow-up that pulls off the unusual feat of being a better book than the first book in a series.

This one follows James Holden and his small crew as they find themselves once again in the middle of events swirling around the solar system. On the “other thread” you get to meet U.N. Undersecretary Christen Avasarala and see her fight a political battle against nearly insurmountable odds. The third major character is Bobby Draper, a Martian marine who encounters and survives an early protomolecule monster encounter.

All of this maneuvering occurs under the ominous transformation occurring on Venus after the events of the first book sent the protomolecule there, instead of Earth.

Along the way, you get to know these extremely interesting characters, see them change, and handle some pretty sticky dilemmas in creative ways.

Overall, while the Expanse books fall into the category of “Space Opera,” I'd caution you against thinking of them that way. Space Opera has become synonymous with the concept of cliche space stories. They reuse and recycle old themes, characters, and situations and you end up with very similar stories. Sometimes it's just a re-worked western set in space. They tend to be fun, fast reads, but the common theme is cliche. There is essentially nothing cliche about these books. They are original and gritty. The characters are far outside the norm, and you get to know them and their motivations very well.

Add to that the fairly realistic way in which real physics are dealt with, and you give the story a bit of a hard science-fiction edge.

Not my favorite Vlad novel, but pivotal

This is probably the pivotal novel in the series thus far.

All the characters you've come to know and love are here, but Vlad's life gets completely jumbled and this marks the beginning of his downward spiral. It's all just a little painful to watch.

Rating: 3.7

Fairly interesting read focused on the idea of the “platform” in the commercial space. Not to be confused with the Michael Hyatt style individual platform (which is basically your professional/personal/social presence on the internet which you use to forward your ideas and showcase your talents). This book is more focused on what I would describe as “integrated commercial platforms.”

For example, the Android ecosystem is a platform. It includes a standard set of apps and APIs which are commonly used in phones and tablets. Google also has their larger web based platform that includes Chrome, Google docs, their cloud services, Maps/Earth, Youtube, G+, etc. Apple has it's platform with iOS/MacOS (you can include those together or keep them separate) which includes the OS, mail app, safari, iTunes, iMovie, Quicktime, and all the rest.

Basically these are tightly integrated applications (+/- hardware) that work together to make certain things easier for the end user and at the same time serve to keep that user tied to the platform. A long-term Mac user isn't very likely to switch to Windows (or Linux) because they likely have a large investment in software, hardware and peripherals that work a certain way together. Not to mention the years of experience using the interface that helps in productivity.

Those are commonly understood platforms. But there are others. Amazon has it's platform. Facebook is a platform (so was MySpace). Uber is a platform. AirBnB and more.

All of this movement to socially-integrated platform businesses is producing a 4th wave of change. This book talks about that change and the effects it has on legacy industries and governmental regulation. There is a fair amount of discussion regarding governmental involvement, but I found it to be either balanced or directionless (maybe the author hasn't made up his mind on the issues - at times he seems liberal and at other times libertarian). Overall, the political discussion isn't preachy or burdensome.

If you're looking for a roadmap on how to best direct your efforts to ride the wave of the Platform Revolution, I don't know that this book delivers on that promise. But if you're firmly rooted in a legacy industry and want to better understand these changes and therefore get some insights that you might use to get your company out of the muck of the past, this is a good overview that should give you an idea of what is going on and why.

Yet another fast and furious novel by Daniel Suarez.

This guy definitely has the knack for writing novels which start up quickly and move fast the whole way through. He generally takes an idea from some sort of technological advancement and crafts a story around how that can either go wrong, or be taken too far. In that sense, he's somewhat similar to Michael Crichton and I suspect that if you've enjoyed Crichton's stuff, you'll enjoy Suarez' works as well.

In this novel, the scene is set in the not-too-distant 2030's. America has lost it's position as global technological leader by resisting change and missing out on the biotech revolution that comes with disruptive force. Asia is the place to be and the whole novel is set in southeast Asia. The main character is an agent with Interpol working with a unit which aims to stop the many groups of underground genetic manipulators who promise to use CRISPR techniques to alter embryos, providing the baby with exceptional strength, intelligence, etc. All of this is highly illegal, of course. One particularly advanced and powerful group rises above the rest and sets up the battle that proceeds.

The main protagonist, Ken Durand, gets attacked in a crowded area and is infected with a “change agent” that ultimately transforms him into his arch enemy (and is supposed to kill him). Unexpectedly, he survives, discovering that that form of genetic change is possible, but unable to convince his team of his true identity, he has to go on the run from both Interpol and the Huli jing cartel.

This book isn't deep. The characters are pretty consistent, but shallow. It basically reads like an action movie, which is just fine with me. Change Agent would probably make a very fun movie. Don't expect huge character development, but I don't really think the novel suffers any in that department, because there definitely is character growth and change. The characters you get to know are pretty diverse and pretty reasonable.

Rating 3.5

This definitely wasn't my favorite Reacher novel, but I guess after 13 books in the same series, can you really expect every one of them to be fantastic? No, not really. After a while, they get pretty formulaic. In some ways, that may be what the majority of the readers actually want. They want that familiar “feel” of their leading character, and see how they're going to deal with the given scenario.

In that sense, this is a great Jack Reacher novel. All the typical elements are there.

So what's my beef with Gone Tomorrow? It may be me majoring on the minors, but I felt the “set up” was weak. Reacher got in deeper than I think was justifiable for the given situation. And he went farther than I felt was justifiable given that set up. By the end, you feel pretty fine about what goes down, but for 4/5 of the book, the actions of Reacher belie the nobility of the character that has been established throughout the series. While he has the capacity to be a violent character, in the previous dozen books, it's very well established that he's only going to go there when the situation truly deserves it.

In this book, it felt like an unjustified rage rant. Like someone had done something personal to Reacher. Or his family. But the setup isn't personal. If this were a movie, I would strongly suspect that an editor cut some critical material or something. Maybe that's what happened here, as well.

All in all, I felt the author Lee Child took the main character somewhere unjustifiable. I'll read the next book or two fairly carefully as this is a direction that would definitely end the series for me.

What did you think? Am I overreacting here?

Fun and fast-paced sequel to Daemon.

The characters are fun and the situations are very interesting and although the book was written quite a while ago, the topic is very timely for our society today. Hot touchpoints include AI, liberty, political ruling classes, GMO big-Agriculture, and Augmented Reality.

The writing style and vocabulary is pretty simplistic, but that's what makes it a fun, fast read. The character development is a little thin, but the book takes place in what seems to have been less than a week's time (or close to it).

If you enjoyed Daemon, definitely pick this one up. If you have interest in the social aspects of high technology, especially those topics mentioned above, this is definitely worth the read. I enjoy the “world” that has been built here and would be very interested in a 3rd sequel.

(I'm currently reading Suarez' latest - Change Agent and enjoying it quite a lot)

Briefly, this was an interesting book and a fun read. But it still only gets 3 stars.

It's fun to think about the future and the things that may be coming technologically to change our lives. That said, this book seemed to have a pretty narrow focus. A few specific examples, but not nearly enough and not reaching far enough into the future. It seems like the focus of Tomorrowland is on the next 5-10 years and not that much farther into the future.

For that reason, if you're planning to read this book, I'd suggest you go ahead and read it now. In a few years it's likely to be out of date.

The writing style was fine. There wasn't an overt political agenda. It just overall lacked enough ideas of what's going to change in the future with examples to back it up.

In brief, this book aims to educate business decision-makers regarding the likely disruptive change coming in the wake of VR (Virtual Reality), AR (Augmented Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality).

If you're a deep computer geek (like me), this book isn't likely to tell you anything you don't already know, but that's not its point. This one is geared to non-tech-heads who already have thriving businesses to warn them that change is coming. It is, I think, successful in making this clear.

Through the book, the author describes the technologies and their recent advances and differentiates VR, AR and MR. He discusses several of the major players in the industry. Then he goes over several of the current examples of how these technologies are already being used in a few select instances.

The book was clearly written in mid-2016 and given the rapid evolution of this field in the industry, I suspect it will be out of date by 2018. However, it is probably something almost every big-business CEO better read. Scoble does a good job of paralleling the potential disruption from the coming wave of VR/AR/MR technologies to that of the rise of the internet and how big an impact it has had on many industries.

He gives good examples of where the state of the current art is limited, but is prescient enough to know that things are going to change and change very quickly over the next couple of years. For this reason, business leaders at least need to be aware of the technology. From one standpoint, being aware of this could lead some businesses to leverage the technology into new products or capabilities in existing products or customer interactions. From another standpoint, it could be used to at least avoid forced obsolescence (look at the effect of the internet on retail in general and bookstores in particular, for instance).

Overall, it was a very quick read and I found it quite interesting.

This is a very interesting and deep read with plenty of hard science and an interesting take on civilization on our planet and perhaps throughout the universe.

While a of people have been absolutely raving about this book, and I did enjoy it, I won't say The Dark Forest is perfect. That said, it certainly covers very interesting material, with ideas that I've never seen mentioned anywhere else, which accounts for much of the interest in The Dark Forest. But it's not an easy read (even in audiobook) as the characters are very difficult to connect with.

While this book is a direct sequel to The Three Body Problem, which was another fantastic book, the characters from the previous book aren't really found here. The TriSolarans are on their way and Earth is trying to develop a defense. The problem is the sophons have locked down humanity's ability to advance their level of basic science and are spying on everything the humans are doing to create a defense. Humanity's response is to create the Wallfacer project - 4 humans are selected who are supposed to utilize deceit as the humans' only advantage. Of the 4, the unlikeliest of the bunch, Luo Ji is the one the TriSolarans want dead. He is largely the focus of the book.

The problem is that I found the main protagonist to be impossible to connect with. As the events unfolded, that lack of connection. He's moody, underachieving, and privileged. The other Wallfacers in ways are even worse.

The really interesting content in the book becomes clear in the last 1/4 of the book and involves the discussion of The Dark Forest - the idea that the galaxy/universe is full of hostile civilizations all competing for limited resources, all unable to trust one another and therefore inevitably to be in conflict. This proposes the ultimate answer to the Fermi Paradox - the reason we see no evidence of other life in the universe is that all other life is hiding. As soon as your civilization makes its presence known, another, more powerful civilization will come in to eliminate you.

Much of the book is used to set up analogies for this within human society just to illustrate this very point. But the big idea is truly fascinating and actually makes sense. It's frightening. Ultimately, this is what makes the book worthwhile. It's not easy to get through and I can't say I truly enjoyed the story or the characters. But to get to the ideas, it's worth the slog.

Great start to a gritty but fun fantasy series.

Great start of a fantastic and fun series that is likely to go to 17 novels or so. Grittier than most fantasy I've read, but not “needlessly” so. Great characters and situations. Has a sleuthy feel to it as well. Often a lot ‘deeper' than you initially think the books are, but it doesn't hit you until then end of the book.

My rating: 3.7

This is the 3rd book of the Vlad Taltos series and follows pretty closely after the second time-wise. For some reason, this is one of my least favorite Taltos books.

The story, without giving away too much of the entirety of the plot and/or spoilers involves Vlad caught in a tight spot, which is fairly typical. In this case, he's stuck in the middle of a 2 way power struggle. Only in this case it's not just from a professional standpoint - he's stuck from a personal standpoint as well as his wife, Cawti has become involved on one side.

Of course, in typical Brustian style, Vlad gets stuck deeply in a jam and is able to figure out a plan that is ultimately still pretty satisfying from this reader's standpoint (YMMV).

Spoilers follow:

No, really, read with caution if you don't want to get to the heart of this one.

This book is, I think, supposed to be very introspective. Vlad is put in a place where Cawti and everyone else in the book is asking him to choose sides. Easterner vs Dragerean. Peasantry vs nobility. Love vs business. Family vs aspirations.

That's all fine and it definitely comes through. The problem is that I don't think Brust was successful at making me care. Cawti goes from being Vlad's heart to someone who has essentially chosen revolution over Vlad. She has essentially gone through all the same decision-making process as Vlad and the end result is she didn't choose Vlad. And she's mad at him about it. And somehow as a reader, we're supposed to be gut-wrenched about that? This is the thing that I find hardest to swallow. It's a sucker punch, both to Vlad and the reader. The whole novel the tension and angst between those two just made me angry at her for putting him in that position. And so quickly. It speaks pretty poorly of how emotionally committed Cawti is to Vlad. Others may find this to be fantastically done, but I didn't enjoy or get anything out of that.

The rest of the conflict issues made more sense. Vlad's internal struggle between being an Easterner and his newly-learned preincarnation history makes sense. And his war with Herth and even with the Easterner organization. The way he handles all of that seems very true to character. As does his decision not to choose a side in the end.

Overall, it's an essential story in the series. But not one of my favorites. Still a 3.7, which isn't bad. Have to round up and give 4 stars, though.

My Rating 4/5

This was a very interesting read. With the world embroiled in the drama of a new presidency and the recent election with accusations of Russian hackers influencing the election, this looked like a good topic to “read up” on. I plopped 3 books into my shopping cart (@War, CyberSpies, and Dark Territory) all of which were well reviewed and started with @War.

I'm going to keep this review pretty general: it was engaging and well written in an entertaining style. It primarily covers the U.S. military use of surveillance and hacking techniques starting with 9/11 and the war in Iraq. It follows a rough timeline from the Bush administration through the Obama administration and details several prominent military and political figures involved in policy and implementation of techniques. There is ample discussion of corporate security and involvement with the government and how this plays into the overall threat situation of which the average citizen mostly oblivious.

While I found this book to be quite interesting, and there are discussions of several individuals in the book (including Snowden and his effect on policy), the focus is very squarely on the use of our cyber forces in the recent past as well as the ongoing incursions and threats coming primarily from China and Russia. There is little detail regarding operations in the last 10 years, for understandable reasons, as this is a topic that is being held tightly under wraps for the most part by the government.

I have a very libertarian political view and I felt the author did a good job of keeping the political tone of the book extremely neutral, which is a rarity these days, especially considering he was pretty in depth with political appointees in both the Bush and Obama administrations. Kudos for that!

The book mostly whet my appetite for more information. It was a little surprising to read all that has been going on (essentially a cyber war between the U.S. and China and all major U.S. & multi-national corporations). Of course the only way this hits the news is when the media's candidate gets hacked, revealing many unscrupulous deeds. Why they haven't picked up on the depth and breadth of hacking and started calling more attention to this in general isn't all that hard to figure out, but it's still disappointing.

Take home: However safe and secure you feel like your online presence is, you're most likely much less secure than you think. Also, you can be certain that the U.S. government is recording essentially everything we all do online. Yes, everything. This makes me want to look a lot harder at encryption strategies for my home network and personal computing systems. You'll definitely want to pick this up if the topic intrigues you. But avoid it if you're already overwhelmed with all the “threats” that are out there and would remain in a blissful state of ignorance. Either way, take your passwords and PC security more seriously!

My rating: 3.8/5

This is an interesting and original story that falls into both the fantasy and science fiction genres, which is a bit unusual. Set mostly in the San Fransisco area, this book has a little bit of everything - geeky references, awkward teenage angst and “coming of age” story, futuristic tech references, magic (even with a wizarding school) and just a touch of romance. Whew, that's a lot, especially for what feels like a pretty short book.

A few things to note (spoilers!):
1. This book has that “good feel.” I'm not sure how else to describe it, but you probably know what I mean. It is fun to read and you like the characters. And you want the characters and world to keep on going so you're sad when it comes to an end.

2. Although a lot of books in this genre are good YA books, I don't think this is one of them. There's too much sex in it and it's handled pretty flippantly. If that fits with your morals and you're OK with your teenager reading that, so be it. But be informed. Also, it's generally darker.

3. Not a real happy ending. In fact, it's abrupt. Like the manuscript deadline hit and there was an all-nighter to get it finished.

Pros:
• Interesting characters where you get to see real character growth and that growth actually makes sense.
• Extremely interesting events and plot topic(s)
• Much better than average world-building (like I said, it's a comfortable & fun place to be while you're reading it)

Cons:
• The crux of the book is that both the tech side and magic side are worried that a great ecological disaster is coming. But this is just “assumed” to be the case without bringing the reader into this “understanding” through plot-building. It makes it feel like a hollow threat.
• There are a couple of “big battles” that are very momentous but essentially glossed over.
• The book essentially “builds” all the way to the end and then when you actually get there it ends pretty abruptly (as previously mentioned).

Overall, I enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky. But I think it would have been better as a 2 or 3 part series (300ish pages each).

Also, I “read” this as an audible unabridged audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job bringing the book to life.

I'm giving this book a 4.5/5 rating. I think everyone out there who thinks wealthy people are the problem should read it, though they won't.

Short summary: this book talks a bout the dangers of continuing on our current path. Look past the agenda of equalization and see the actual effects that has on our overall societal prosperity. Recognize that anything society or governments do to slow down economic expansion hurts the middle class and the poor disproportionately. This is not supposition or political point of view. It is economic fact and has been proven time and time again. This book calls out crony capitalism as the true enemy of economic freedom and cautions us from giving the government even more power.

I get a bit ranty past this point, so you might as well stop reading this review now. Thanks for your time :)

Capitalism is the most powerful force for economic equality that has ever been seen. This book shows how that works and why it works. While certain political parties will attack this thought as “failed trickle down economics,” the crazy thing is that there is no basis to the idea that trickle down economics is a failure. Time and time again prosperity economics has been proven to help everybody and equalize the playing field for everyone.

But, it's an interesting world we live in today, here in America. For some reason the media has chosen sides and there is a huge shift in how things are presented compared to how it used to be (the 70's and 80's). One major effect of this is that there appears to be a war on success. If you are successful, that's something to be ashamed of if you share the point of view of the general media. Only one side of the economic debate gets played (the Keynesian) and for that reason, many people think that makes all other economic models or points of view wrong.

But this is actually ridiculous. In many ways. Most importantly because the empiric data shows the Keynesian model is only effective for short periods of time and that the Chicago school or Austrian school economic models are much more accurate representations of how things actually work. Especially over time. But they have a disadvantage in that they don't fit the agenda of pushing for larger government and more governmental power/control.

The real problem, as laid out well, is not capitalism, but Crony Capitalism. Where those who have tons of money and power use those resources to get special favors from their governments. And that is rampant in our system. But the answer isn't to give the government more power. It's to take that power away. Curtail lobbying jobs. Put in place term limits. Eliminate golden parachutes for senators who take campaign contributions from corporations and industries for years and then enact laws that please their masters. And when their constituents finally wise up and kick them out of office, they go to work for those industries lobbying the new senators for 7 figures annually.

That is the problem. This book does a good job at calling that out.

This book is simply fantastic.

Yet frustrating at the same time. The whole book begs the question “what has happened that Kvothe has lost his power?” Yet this is never touched upon. Obviously there will be a sequel or sequels (hopefully Rothfuss won't try to cram the entirety of the answer into a single tome!) But there is no other book that I can think of that leaves you hanging as sorely or as long.

The first time I read this one, 20 or so years ago, I don't think I truly realized how good a book this is. On second reading, it is absolutely fantastic. This book is also a reasonable choice for a starting point for the Vlad Taltos series of books as the events in the book actually occur chronologically prior to the first published book, Jhereg. (Personally, I'd say read Jhereg first, but they're written in such a way that you can start almost anywhere and pick right up. There is a combination tome - The Book of Jhereg which collects the first three books by publishing order. Definitely go with that if you're just getting started).

Yendi is a very early story in the Vlad Taltos series, covering several very momentous events that set the tone for events later in the series. In this novel, Vlad fights a territory war against a competing Jhereg named Laris. Both sides are supported by unseen patrons, and the events become bad enough that the Empress even notices and feels the need to intervene.

Along the way, Vlad is assassinated, meets his wife and uncovers a plot that spans hundreds of years and ultimately determines the Dragon heir to the empire.

As with all of the Vlad Taltos books, this is a fast-paced fun read. Brust writes with a very humorous style that I always find brings me several laugh out loud moments per book. While the book is quite action-packed, the backbone of the book is really a sleuthing tale wherein Vlad tries to figure out what is going on and then sets things up to try and win his war against Laris. As always, it's a fun, engaging read and the details are what ends up making it. All of the usual characters are here - Morrolan, Aliera, Kragar. Cawti and Norathar also show up in dramatic fashion.

Definitely worth the read.

This is a fun romping adventure wit ha nice twist. If you ever enjoyed playing Dungeon's & Dragons or anything similar for hours with your friends, you'll “get” this book.

A group of players starts a new campaign that the GM has invested a lot of time and effort preparing for them. A campaign that is “a lot more realistic” than their previous ones. That means they have to pay attention to every little detail. Unfortunately, as many gamers have experienced, there are always those in a gaming group who only care about certain parts of the gaming experience (the fighting) or who are so busy trying to figure out how to short circuit the “experience” to get to the loot. So not long after setting the stage for the campaign, the whole party ends up dead due to an unfortunate side effect of some mushrooms they found along the way.

But the NPC's (Non-Player Characters) in the campaign world are left to pick up the pieces when they find the bodies and realize this means the less-than-benevolent King may come to their town and destroy it because of these “lost adventurers.” So they have to take up the mantle and set off on an unexpected quest.

It's a pretty fun read. I'm not going to say there's anything exceptionally original about it, but it moves quickly, develops the characters and world, and definitely left a smile on my face after reading it. This is the first in a series, and I'll definitely pick up the next one to see what happens next. That said, this is a pretty well-contained story in itself. More like reading The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe than The Fellowship of the Ring.

Similar reads:
Off to Be the Wizard (Scott Meyer) (the whole Magic 2.0 series, in fact)

Part 3 of the John Scalzi Old Man's War series carries the torch quite well, delivering a good story, advancing/developing the characters we meet and ones we've come to enjoy in the previous 2 books.

Very briefly, this is a continuation of the story with John Perry and Jane Sagan as the primary protagonists. They've settled down as colonists on a human planet when the United Defense Force comes calling. Along the way, they are tricked and cornered. Scalzi continues his excellent way of telling stories, infusing suspense, action, and humor while producing a story that ends up feeling satisfyingly deep and nuanced.

If you haven't read any of these, definitely start with Old Man's War (which is first in the series) before moving on to The Ghost Brigades prior to picking up this one. Those are both 5-star reads, so it's worth the time and effort. This is a good series to invest your time.