John

An enjoyable cozy mystery set in a quaint Irish village. There were some stretches of imagination (the sleuth has 4 school-age siblings who work in the family bistro and never attend school?), but overall well written. Enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, and an answer that is obvious only in hindsight. I look forward to reading more books in the series.

An enjoyable read in a novel high fantasy setting, but not a very satisfying ending. I did enjoy the parallel stories, depicting events in two different timelines with many of the same characters, one telling the story of how they met, which the other tells of their adventures in the present. There were queer relationships throughout the book, but they were present and unremarkable, which was both nice and unusual. It was also fascinating that while the main character jumped into several bodies through the story, several of them female, the main character maintains a male perspective without really commenting much on the physical aspects of the body he is inhabiting (which makes sense after one learns of his true form). Ultimately, though, this read like an introductory book, setting up the first part of the bigger story. I sure hope there are more books featuring these characters yet to come, since I did enjoy their company during my reading.

I enjoyed the story, but I did not feel it was one of Scalzi’s better books. While the world building was imaginative and at times amusing, the main character was nearly entirely a puppet throughout the narrative. Things happened to him, he was never really in control of his situation. And it’s sad because I often felt he was on the edge of making his own way in the really messed up world he was trust into, and was disappointed with how he ended up. I honestly don’t understand how this made the Hugo finalists list.

A good book to read if you're considering adoption. A lot of anecdotal information about open adoption and how it plays out in the real world.

I was somewhat disappointed that there was no mention of how open adoption might be different in families headed by same-sex couples, and was somewhat turned off by the book's insistence that all adoptive parents must deal with the grief that arises from infertility. Not all families start because the adopters are infertile.

A light read which sometimes seemed to focus more on the scenery and social life in Santa Fe than on the story, but was satisfactorily enjoyable. Characters were well imagined, the pacing was good, and the details of the setting, namely the tearoom and the local area, were sufficient to ground the story firmly in reality. There is a supernatural element that is introduced and slightly explored, but not resolved, which leaves a thread open for later books in the series. I really only had two complaints. First, the ending felt rushed, with a minimum of build-up. It was nearly a case of “blink at the wrong time and you'll miss it.” And second, the story succumbed too much, in my opinion, to the cliches and tropes of female-led murder mysteries. Where is it written that the women who take up sleuthing must always fall for the bad boy detective who is damaged goods? Despite my complaints, it was an enjoyable read and I will likely pick up the next book in the series.

I just finished “The Kuiper Belt Job” by David D. Levine. Quite satisfying! It's a Space Opera wrapped around a puzzle box of heists and capers, with a mystery that kept me guessing till near the very end. Each section of the novel was narrated by a different member of the crew, adding their insights, suspicions, and past experiences to the narrative, and was very well executed. I enjoyed it quite a lot.

What happens when a very conservative Christian decides to spend a year as a gay man in order to understand the enemy? Not unexpectedly, he gains a great deal of insight and becomes a strong ally in favor of equality. That's the story told by Tim Kurek in “The Cross in the Closet”, a book I recommend highly.

Tim grew up in a very religiously conservative family in Nashville, Tennessee. While attending Liberty University, the largest, private, Conservative Christian college in the US (if not the world), Tim encountered someone from SoulForce, a liberal religious organization dedicated to non-violent and peaceful demonstrations in favor of equality. Tim's faith was shaken when the SoulForce representative said that despite their differences, he loved Tim. Some short time later, Tim was set back on his heels when a friend of his came out as lesbian and was summarily kicked out of her home by her conservative religious parents. Tim knew that his Christian responsibility at that time was to condemn her “choice” to be lesbian and to counsel her to return to Christ, give up the lesbian nonsense, and all would be right. But he found he could not. He found himself wondering what kind of parent would do that to someone like his friend, a person he cared for deeply.

Tim had a crazy idea that seized him entirely. He needed to know how life would be different if he had the label “gay” applied to himself. So, he decided to “go gay” for a year. No, not fully gay, but to tell people he was, including his friends and family. On New Year's Day, he “came out” to his brother (though lying to his brother caused him to be physically ill all over their back porch). Word spread quickly, and Tim's mom heard before Tim had a chance to talk with her. Then his church friends learned. It started easily enough, but kinds spun out of control. Tim says that the worst part was having so many of his friends just turn their back on him, not even attempt to change him back. He was dead to them.

He started spending time in the local gayborhood, presenting himself as gay. To keep himself safe, and to learn how to give a more convincing act, he entrusted a gay friend of his with his secret, and they became “boyfriends” for the duration of the experiment. (Ultimately, that didn't go as well as it could be hoped.) He took a job as a barista at a predominately gay coffeeshop, went to gay karaoke, joined a gay softball league, and spent a lot of time reading books with gay themes, very much like many gay men just out of the closet.

It didn't take him too long to realize that most of his stereotypical views of gay people were entirely wrong. Gay people led normal lives, formed stable relationships, supported each other in times of crisis, and made deep friendships.

The experiment went in some interesting directions, and the section of the memoir where Tim joined up with SoulForce for a peaceful demonstration at the Vatican Embassy in New York was a powerful message of redemption. He also ran into devastating problems with his brother and other family members. Along the way, he discovered that he had transferred the hate he used to have for gays onto conservative Christians, and went through a process of reconciliation so that he could truly love all people despite their differences.

I found the book to be truly compelling. I am not Christian, but I am gay. I know what life is like in the closet and as an oppressed minority. I have a LOT of respect for someone like Tim willing to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. He came out of the process a changed man, still a Christian, but a truly loving one. If I ever meet him, there's no way he's not getting a big hug. I highly recommend reading this book about a journey from ignorance to understanding, from hatred to embrace, from a fear of “other” to a more universal love.

I quite enjoyed Joseph Carriker's novel, set in the world of Aldis, the setting for the Blue Rose table-top role-playing game.

The prologue opens the book with a dire situation that looks like certain doom to a pair of agents of some sort. The main text of the book then follows the adventures of a trio of agents sent to find out what happened to the first pair. Most of the book takes place in and around the smugglers city of Serpent's Haven, a ramshackle city built in the middle of a dire swamp, with all of the muck that comes with that sort of environment. Haven is thoroughly a hive of scum and villainy. The three protagonists are Soot, a self aware raven (in this world, self-aware animals are relatively common and called “Rhydan”) who has several magic abilities including the ability to heal wounds; Ydah, a brutish-looking warrior who is still dealing with a deeply personal loss she suffered a year previously; and Morjin, a master spy with a talent for predicting the future and a heart of gold that is his Achilles heel. The three who are more comfortable working alone must band together to unravel the mysteries around Serpentl's Haven before those mysteries come looking for them!

Most of the book worked very well for me. I quickly came to care about the main characters and several of the supporting cast. The pacing was excellent, managing to avoid a droopy middle section by continually ramping up the pressure on the protagonists. The descriptions were colorful without being overwrought. I had a strong sense of place in the city, and could easily picture it from the imagery the author provided. The surrounding countryside was less clear to me, possibly due to my lack of experience in swamps. It was at various times described as being mostly scrub and grasses poking up out of squelchy mud, and at other times as having plentiful trees. Most confusing to me was the hunt for a pool of water surrounded by a thick corpse of trees that wasn't seen until the characters were nearly in it. One other amusement was that, after being described as “rare” or at least uncommon, Rhydans make up a significant portion of the cast, nearly half of the introduced characters. That was fine by me; their presence added a great deal of flavor to the world.

The book also presented the amazing diversity that is a cornerstone of the setting. Beyond having self-aware critters running (and flying and slithering) around, the humans and humanoids in the novel didn't bat an eye at who people preferred as bed partners, nor whether they took part eras to bed at all. Morjin is an unrepentant flirt who falls into love (and bed) with both male and female lovers equally, and is an open “constellation” marriage with a man and a woman back home in the capital city (quit some distance from where the action takes place). This was presented merely as an aspect of the character as he woos another man in Serpent's Haven. Additionally one of the other characters is shown to be asexual or aromantic towards the end of the book, and while it leads to a awkward moment, everyone recovers with great ease and remain fast friends. It's refreshing, honestly, to escape the typical tropes that come from an adherence to heteronormativity.

About the only thing about the book that didn't work for me was how it ended. The exciting story introduced in the prologue ended in an exciting climax. But instead of a short denouement to wrap things up neatly, there were three more chapters detailing the loves of the characters as they made their way back to the capital city of Aldis, the living arrangements they all come to, how they celebrated a winter holiday, and introduces what seems to be the plot for a follow up work. I won't say it was tacked on, since it flowed naturally from the rest of the story, but it did have a feeling of a movie that went on longer than it should have (I'm looking at you, “Return of the King”). Perhaps I'm just too stodgy and set in my ways, but I prefer less drawn-out resolutions once the story presented in the first scenes has been resolved.

Overall a strong book, which I did enjoy a great deal. As I'm in the planning stages for a game set in the same universe, it helped bring the setting into clearer focus, and helped me understand the tropes and customs that are present in the niche genre. If you enjoy romantic fantasy, or have an interest in the setting g for the Blue Rose game, I strongly recommend picking this book up and giving it a read.

Book five of the ongoing supernatural spy series, and a good read. In this outing, the Drood family faces a resurgent Satanist conspiracy. Yes, Satanist, as in devil worshippers who revel in human sacrifices. Ongoing traitors in the Drood family continually hamper Eddie and his family as they try to wipe out this new conspiracy, and their mysterious Grand Sacrifice. A lot of twists and turns along the way, including some unexpected and terribly poignant sacrifices among the Drood. Along the way, Eddie comes face-to-face with the realization that sometimes his motives are not amongst the purest, and put his own soul in jeopardy. My only disappointment is that one of the betrayers is telegraphed fairly early and obviously, and I wanted to hit Eddie upside the head to warn him of the impending knife in the back. And just as in the previous book, the ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, leading directly (one hopes) into the next book. I guess I'll find out for sure soon.Book five of the ongoing supernatural spy series, and a good read. In this outing, the Drood family faces a resurgent Satanist conspiracy. Yes, Satanist, as in devil worshippers who revel in human sacrifices. Ongoing traitors in the Drood family continually hamper Eddie and his family as they try to wipe out this new conspiracy, and their mysterious Grand Sacrifice. A lot of twists and turns along the way, includ ...

Continuing the adventures of the cast from Dauntless, so if you liked the first book, you'll like this one. The main character grows in nuance, some antagonistic characters get their comeuppance, yet the enemy remains relatively monolithic and faceless.

This was one of those books that was enjoyable while reading, but ultimately less than satisfying when it was done. The main character only occasionally became sympathetic, and his views of the universe were unrelentingly negative, which were never really explained (especially in light of other viewpoints presented in the novel that were significantly at odds). He was angry, but if there was a cause for his anger, I don't recall it.

The imagination behind the setting, though, is immense. The images and concepts presented as background material are really what kept me reading. From the mind-bogglingly cosmic construction of Orbitals, to the unimaginable size of some of the starships presented, to the intriguing development of some of the alien cultures, there's plenty to gawk at in this book.

I decided to read this book due to my enjoyment of “The Expanse” on SyFy. I rather enjoyed the book, and while there are some major differences between the show and the book, I thought the show really captured the major themes of the book. If anything, the show downplayed some of the stronger sequences of the novel. I'm very much looking forward to both the next season of the show, and to reading the rest of the series. I think I'll start the next book now, as a matter of fact.

A very solid follow-up to Spellwright, introducing new characters, new conspiracies, and new magical languages. I must say I absolutely loved the character Francesca, such a delightfully acerbic wit, and felicity of tongue! I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the story.

I generally do not like anthologies. Most of them are very uneven, and stories that don't catch my interest often cause me to put the book aside. So, I was skeptical when a friend recommended this anthology to me. “Trust me,” he said.

I'm glad I did. There wasn't a single story in this book that failed to catch my interest. Even though the stories had wildly different genres, settings, and styles, they all were captivating. Some were funny, some were thought-provoking, and some were kind of just “out there” yet still entertaining.

If you enjoy thoughtful, well-written, science-fiction and fantasy stories, add this book to your collection.

I've just now finished reading Curtis Craddock's third, and sadly final, book in his Risen Kingdoms novels. This was a joy to read. The characters remain fresh and surprising yet entirely consistent with the previous stories. The novel is full of swashbuckling daring-do, (aero)nautical adventure, and twists and surprises at every turn. The author continues to bring strong, smart, and capable female characters to the fore, in every way equal to the men in the setting. I'm sad that this is the final chapter we'll get in the lives of these characters, but I'm hopeful in time the author will return to the setting to explore some of the other nations and cratons floating above the gyre. Even if he doesn't I'm quite satisfied in the way the story ended.

I found the book to be a quite enjoyable sci-fi political action space opera yarn full of twists and surprises. Just what I needed to push the Covid blahs away for a while. My only gripe is that the end of the book doesn't really wrap up anything. Rather, it pretty much ends setting up book 2. That said, major thumbs up!

An interesting speculation on the nature of individual freedom and literal investment in each other. This is more of a political thought experiment than political thriller. Some of the big events occur off screen. But the interaction between the two main characters, Justin Cord, the “Unincorporated Man”, and his nemesis Hektor Sambianco, champion of self-incorporation, made this book worth the read. It's not often that I wind up torn between the two characters, both of whom have virtues and flaws. I know I'm supposed to be on the side of Cord, since he's the “hero” of the piece, but Sambianco makes a number of very strong points. In the end, I found this to be a stronger book than expected, and much less of a libertarian fantasy than other reviews had led me to believe. I'm not sure I'll continue the series, but I did wind up enjoying this book.

I had a hard time finishing this book. It took a long time for all of the actors in the story to appear, and I found very few of them to be particularly sympathetic. What kept me going was the need to understand the two central mysteries of the story. The conclusion was satisfying in that it answered all of the posed questions, brought justice to the guilty, and ended logically. I'm not sure I'd recommend the book, however. I thought it was excellently written; I just didn't care for it much.

This book was recommended in a Facebook group of fans of Space Opera. GIven the review in the recommendation, the ad copy in iBooks, and the low price, I grabbed a copy without reading the “sample” I could have downloaded. I was unprepared that the story would involve significant amounts of magic right from the start. And the first chapter was all about drivers of magic-fueled racing cars, which are not a stale of the space opera I thought I had purchased. I almost put the book down at that point, but the first main character we meet, Nilah, is thrust into a tantalizing mystery that compelled me to keep reading. In the second chapter, the character of “Boots” is introduced, a garrulous and embittered veteran of a war in which she fought for the losing side, she now is making her living selling treasure maps to gullible treasure seekers. She too gets thrust into the same mystery. The story spirals nearly out of control at that point, with both of them being captured by the crew of a pirate ship (that Boots once served on and sold a bogus map to), and still being pursued by an overwhelmingly powerful and relentless foe. It certainly turns into a grand space opera yarn at that point, with lots of action, perilous conflict, personal sacrifice, and yes, magical feats. I especially enjoyed the fact that the good guys employ heaping amounts of intelligence and ingenuity rather than simply blowing through their opponents with superior firepower. They are smart, capable people facing down formidable odds. The book has a thoroughly (to me) satisfactory ending while leaving some major threads open for the follow-up books. I enjoyed it a lot more than I had expected after the first chapter.

While I was entertained by the book, I'm not sure I'd recommend it to anyone who isn't already a fan of the 7th Sea role-playing game setting. While the novel takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of some of the nations of the fictional continent of the setting, it does so at the expense of really getting to know the main character. For most of the story she is merely reactive, not really showing that she's growing in maturity or the ability to make her own way in the world. Perhaps the title of the novel was a too accurate description.

There were other moments in the novel that really strained my ability to suspend disbelief. For example, in one part of the story we're expected to believe that two people can carry a casket sized crate of gold coins through a deadly maze, up a steep flight of slippery stairs, through a jungle, and up onto the deck of a ship all while carrying their unconscious crewmate. Have you ever done the math to calculate what a crate of gold coins would weigh? I suspect the author did not.

The author likes to employ the gimmick of providing a scene where the characters are in dire straights and then setting the following scene a significant amount of time prior to the first scene. This can be effective if sparingly used, but I felt it was overused in this novel. Add that to a very abrupt ending, and I walked away unsatisfied. An interesting if overly convoluted plot marred by incredulous feats, character development that mostly happens “off camera”, and gimmicky storytelling.

I mostly enjoyed this book. Having read the Black Mage trilogy a few years back, I enjoyed stepping back into the world, and seeing how some of the details in that trilogy were originally instituted. The story was satisfactorily concluded.

That said, there was one area that greatly disappointed me. And here begin some significant spoilers! In the last third of the book, a minor character is revealed to be homosexual. Kachiro is handled in a compassionate way despite living in a culture that is very hostile to homosexuality. Though married to a more prominent female character, he has a younger male lover who the wife knows about and accepts. Then the story veers directly into the distasteful “bury your gays” trope when the young lover is murdered with absolutely no reason or perpetrator revealed. It's tragic for no purpose and does nothing for the story. Worse, in his moment of ultimate grief, his loving wife chooses that moment to lead a group of women to safety from the war that had arrived in the city. And then he is not seen again. It left me feeling disturbingly cold after warming to the revelation that queer folk actually exist in this fantasy world. And it makes me hesitant to read later works by Ms. Canavan.

A very enjoyable sequel to Arabella of Mars, the wonderful YA novel Mr. Levine put out last year. Arabella has a tendency towards rash action, but is smart enough to get herself and those she cares about out of danger when needed. A great role-model for young readers, and quite a compelling character for readers of all ages. This time she sets off to rescue her husband-to-be who has been captured by the French, lead by the tyrant Napoleon, on Venus. Together with her chaperone, the stately Lady Corey, she hires a crew to mount a rescue, but things don't go at all to plan. Great action, well-rounded characters, and a nearly believable setting of planetary romance and sailing between the planets all combine for a very satisfactory story. I'm eagerly looking forward to the next (and last?) book in the series.

I wrote this three hours ago:

I'm a little more than halfway through “An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors”, a debut novel from Curtis Craddock, and I'm seriously enjoying it. A fantasy based loosely on Europe of the Musketeers era, but the nations are chunks of rock floating in a turbulent sky, with airships plying the traderoutes. Sorcery is reserved for the nobility, and it's all twisted and a bit obscene. The principle characters are a princess of one of the ruling families, born with a deformed hand and a lack of sorcerous ability, and her sworn protector, a musketeer. With no warning, they are thrust into the middle of vast political schemes and machinations, which are igniting sparks that could lead to all out war. There are fascinating mysteries to solve at every turn, and shocking revelations when least expected. And on top of all that, there's a hint the heroine may be part of the fulfillment of prophecy that may mean the end of the world. The world building is turned up to 11, and so far the story is equally vivid. I sure hope it ends as well as it's begun!

Three hours later and I've finished the book. Wow, I so did not disappoint. An absolutely thrilling climax with multiple page-turning escalations. I rarely give books a full five stars. But this novel certainly earned them. I can't wait to read Craddock's next outing!

I just finished the latest Toby Daye novel, “Once Broken Faith”. I thought it an enjoyable read, but it felt short and not very notable. Unlike previous installments, it didn't really feel like anything monumental or world-changing happened. It felt more like this one was just picking up the pieces left on the table after the previous book. Maybe I'll feel otherwise after some reflection. Still, “not very notable” Toby Daye books are better than most! :-)

I've been a fan of the “Jon and Lobo” books since finding the first one. As others have said, this one wasn't as action-packed as others in the series, but it does dive much more deeply into Jon's background, and explores what drives Jon the way that he's driven. It doesn't give all the answers, but the way in which his background parallels the story of the child soldiers in the book was very illuminating. If you've been following the series for a while, this is a must-read. But if you're new to the series, go back and start at book one. This books presumes you know enough of the background of the setting, and probably won't make as much sense without that grounding.