Karlstar's Spam-ified reading thread

January reading

The Great Admirals: Command at Sea by Jack Sweetman
Provenance by Ann Leckie
The Lost Fleet: Boundless by Jack Campbell
The Lost Stars: Perilous Shield by Jack Campbell
Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling
City of the Beast by Michael Moorcock (or Edward P. Bradbury) Paizo reprint

February reading
Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski
All the Seas of the World by G.G. Kay
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin
Radio Free Albemuth by Philip Dick

March reading
The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip
An Army At Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson
The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
The Warrior Livesby Joel Rosenberg
The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

April reading
The Hive by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston
The Black Irix and The Weapon Master's Choice - short Shannara stories by Terry Brooks
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
Daughter of Darkness by Terry Brooks
The Chronicles of Amber II by Roger Zelazny

May reading
Termination Shock - left over from April
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
The Breaking of Northwall by Paul O. Williams (re-reread)

June reading
Trumps of Doom by Roger Zelazny
100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings
Beyond the Gap by Harry Turtledove
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher

July reading
Dragons of Deceit by Weis and Hickman
Descent into the Depths of the Earth by Paul Kidd
John Grimes: Survey Captain by Chandler
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Oliver Twist by Dickens

I use a 1 to 10 rating system because I started rating books on the internet using a 10 point system and because I like the additional granularity. Here's my rating scale explained. Checking my LT books, the 8 ratings stop right around book 500, so I'm consistent there, but I only have about 70 books rated 9 stars or higher, so either I'm being too tough or there just aren't that many 9 or 10 star books. I would guess my most common rating is 6, I like most of what I read.

1 - So bad, I couldn't finish it. DO NOT READ!!!
2 - Could have finished, but didn't. Do not read. This one means I made a conscious choice not to finish, usually about halfway through the book. Something is seriously wrong here.
3 - Finished it, but had to force myself. Not recommended, unless it is part of a series you really need to finish.
4 - Finished it, but really didn't like it. Not recommended unless you really need something to read.
5 - Decent book, recommended if you have spare time and need something to read.
6 - Good book, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.
7 - Good book, recommended for everyone. I may have read it more than once, and would consider buying the hardcover edition.
8 - Great book, I would put it in the Top 500 of all time. Read more than once, I probably have the hardcover.
9 - Great book, top 100 all time. Read more than once, if I don't have the hardcover edition, I want one!
10 - All-time great book, top 50 material. Read more than twice, I probably have more than one copy/edition.

My ratings also include the Slogging Through the Mud (STTM) rating/index. This goes back to one of Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books where she spends WAY too much time actually describing how the army spent days slogging through the mud. If there is a lot of travel in the book and too much time describing the traveling, the STTM rating will be high.

Happy new thread mate! Finally a spammer produced a vaguely useful result.

Happy new thread!
I will let others add the spam.

>1 Karlstar: >3 haydninvienna: and >4 clamairy: Ha! I think I'd prefer to say that I am here to offer piffle rather than spam.

Happy new thread - An Army At Dawn has been on my "meaning to get around to it list" for years. So many books....

>1 Karlstar: Good luck with your new thread.

>5 jillmwo: I think the end of Jim's last thread contained a level of piffle about spam.

>6 ChrisG1: It really is a good, army-focused history. Very detailed without going too far. I've read the whole Liberation trilogy, they were excellent.

Happy new thread! Like jillmwo, I'm more likely to offer piffle than spam.

Happy new thread! I hope you'll read lots of good books to fill it!

The discussion over in The Dispossessed thread made me think of this.

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas

The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light

But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade

There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream, "Oppression"
And the oaks just shake their heads

So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
"The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light"

Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe, and saw

The Trees, by Rush

>11 Karlstar: Excellent.

>11 Karlstar: A poem with such a dark ending, even if there is more light in the forest.

Time for reviews.

An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943
STTM: 5 - there was a lot of mud in Feb - May
Rating: 8 out of 10

If you are interested in the growth and development of the American Army during World War II, from a basically non-existent force to one with experience, you'll find this a good book. It is detailed without being too detailed and I don't think any action is left out. He covers everything from logistics to politics and the quality, or lack there-of, of the commanders. This is all about the army, very little time is spent on the navy and none on the air force. A great start to his Liberation trilogy.

Was it memorable? Yes, though the details had gotten blurry with time.
Was it immersive? Yes, I enjoyed the writing style and level of detail.
Would I read it again? Most likely, this is my 2nd reading.

The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin
STTM: 3 - very little travel, not a lot of character growth
Rating: 7.5 out of 10

I really enjoyed this one, but not as much as The Left Hand of Darkness. I think LHOD has better characters and makes better use of them, but The Dispossessed does a more thorough job of exploring the basic concept she is presenting. I can't give this one an 8 yet as I have not read it more than once and I do not have more than one copy and I'm not sure I need more than one.

Please see the discussion on this book in the Group discussion thread at https://www.librarything.com/topic/348782

Was it memorable? Yes, very much so.
Was it immersive? Mostly, it lagged in a couple of spots.
Would I read it again? Possibly, though I'm not sure I need to.
Would I recommend it? Yes, but only to a limited audience.

>15 Karlstar: I absolutely understand your responses to it!

>16 jillmwo: It is a really good novel, just not sure it would appeal to everyone, or even a lot of people, but it would appeal a lot to the right audience.

Done with The Warrior Lives, fairly certain I've read it before but did not have a copy. That book is where the Guardians of the Flame series started to go downhill.

>15 Karlstar: I have The Left Hand of Darkness on my TBR mountain. I'm hoping to get to it eventually.

I really liked the author's The Lathe of Heaven.

>19 fuzzi: I really enjoyed my re-read of LHoD, I think much more than the first reading. I believe I have read The Lathe of Heaven but do not own it and don't recall much about it.

>19 fuzzi: >20 Karlstar: The Lathe of Heaven is, IMHO, an oddball among UKL's works. It doesn't take place in Earthsea or the Ekumen or any of her other usual worlds. She has fun with her protagonist's name (George Orr) and with his peculiar "affliction." The doctor with whom he works is a very interesting character in a philosophical way. As I recall, there were a few great quotes in this one, such as "How could a sane person live in the world and not go crazy?" I haven't read it in many years--maybe I'll put it back into the queue.

Jumping around between The Audacity of Hope (75% done), The Lost Metal, and The Chronicles of Amber, which jumped onto my reading list when it arrived last week.

>22 Karlstar: The Chronicles of Amber is a long-time favorite of mine! My last reread convinced me to make the effort to read more of Zelazny's work & added Lord of Light and The Dream Master earlier this year.

>22 Karlstar: >23 ChrisG1: The Chronicles of Amber have been on Mount Tooby for over a decade now. I really need to get to them.

Are you enjoying The Audacity of Hope? I loved Dreams from My Father, and bought Audacity around the same time, but never started it. I did the Audible book for A Promised Land, and thought that was outstanding. There's a lot more selfdepricating humor than I was expecting.

>24 clamairy: I am! A few times he's a little bit too partisan for me, but most of the time he's very centrist, which is what I always liked about him. He's also a Dad of 2 daughters, which I can relate to.

>24 clamairy: >25 Karlstar: I’ve read all 3 of President Obama’s books and thought well of all of them. Dreams from My Father in particular is a really terrific book. He is a bit nerdy too, which I approve of.

>26 haydninvienna: Totally! And unashamedly so!

>23 ChrisG1: I tried rereading Lord of Light, which along with the Ambers I had enjoyed in high school, a couple of years ago. I'm afraid the suck fairy had paid quite a visit to Sam and his world, or perhaps to my own sensibilities. I couldn't get through it at all.

>28 Jim53: I got through it, but didn't love it. Amber is MUCH better.

>28 Jim53: >29 ChrisG1: I feel much the same way about Lord of Light. It was just ok.

I'm enjoying The Lost Metal, I'm about halfway done.

For me the Amber books have fared well in subsequent reads. I've heard some criticism because there's a lot of smoking and not enough strong women. Doesn't bother me a bit.

>28 Jim53: >29 ChrisG1: I think the Amber books (at least the first five) are the best of Zelazny's works. I've been trying to read the rest of his stories and some I just can't get into, others are pretty good.

>32 fuzzi: Lack of strong women? What about Dara???

>33 ChrisG1: exactly. And what about Vialle, the blind princess who marries Random?

The Warrior Lives by Joel Rosenberg
STTM: 6 out of 10 - more traveling than anything else
Rating: 4 out of 10

I really enjoyed this series when it first came out and I've re-read it up to this point. I now realize that this book is where the series went rapidly downhill. For those not familiar with the Guardians of the Flame series, this is a fantasy series written back in the '80s when the 'Earth people get transported to a fantasy game world' trope was popular. For the first four books, the adventurers turned residents struggle to survive, to build a kingdom for themselves and make the world a better place.
In The Warrior Lives, the attention turns to Jason Cullinane, the son of two of the adventurers. Unlike previous books, this one is almost entirely fixated on Jason, not the whole group. Also unlike previous books, almost nothing happens while Jason is told about 80 times that he's not his father, the great Karl Cullinane, warrior and leader. After about the 3rd time, that gets really old. Otherwise the world is fine, the writing is fine, the characters are ... fine. Now I remember why I read this one previously, but didn't own it.

I realized recently that after this one, Rosenberg turned the series into his own version of The Three Musketeers, including some very familiar looking titles. This one was kind of a dud though.

>35 Karlstar: Like you, I found the first few books of the series enjoyable enough. It does go downhill the further it goes on though. I think I read a couple more after this title just because they were there and while not being great they were at least readable.

Done with The Lost Metal, that was quite a ride. Back to The Chronicles of Amber.

Nine Princes in Amber went pretty quickly, on to the 2nd part, The Guns of Avalon.

>38 Karlstar: I've reread that series (first five books) several times. Never gets old for me.

>39 fuzzi: I am enjoying it, I think this is my second reading, but the first was a long time ago.

I'm done with The Guns of Avalon, which was also good. These are short, quick reads. Not sure what is next.

Happy Easter to all who celebrate it! For the first time since we've moved here, we were able to get together at my parent's house with all of the local family. None of the remote folks made the trip, but it was nice to have everyone together, even my 2 grand-nephews who were celebrating their first Easter.

Thank you, sir! And, belatedly, the same to you.

>42 Karlstar: Happy Belated Easter to you!

>44 clamairy: Thank you. Trish bought me And There Was Light, so I'll be reading that soon-ish, thanks to you.

In reading news, I'm working my way through The Hive, which is surprisingly good.

>45 Karlstar: Oh, I hope you enjoy it!

I'm ashamed to admit I have never read any OSC. I know... My daughter is always telling me I need to at least read Ender's Game.

>46 clamairy: I am a fan of Ender's Game and the three books that came after, plus the Shadow series. Also the first 4 books of the Alvin Maker series, though the last one was a little meh. I've also enjoyed some of his urban fantasy? books, like Homebody, which is excellent and Magic Street and Lost Boys

For our anniversary, we went to a small resort-ish town, at least it is trying to be one, and Trish booked us time in a salt cave. '20 tons of Himalayan salt' says their site and 'authentic European style salt cave', which was really just a room made out of salt that looked like a cave, with a nice water wall and music. Very relaxing.

Congratulations for your anniversary. In Siberia entering a salt mine was not regarded as a very relaxing thing to do.

A Dunk and Egg TV series!! I'd rather they did this one (properly) and skip the Dance of Dragons.

https://deadline.com/2023/04/hbo-orders-game-of-thrones-prequel-night-of-seven-k...

>50 Karlstar: I heard about this yesterday! I really enjoyed this book. It's basically everything I loved about A Song of Ice and Fire and none of the bad stuff. (Okay, maybe very little of the bad stuff would be more accurate.)

>51 clamairy: I agree completely. All of the intrigue and noble houses conflict, the history, characters, etc; less of the bad stuff.

>49 pgmcc: Thank you. We definitely both felt like we were breathing better when we got done. 45 minutes of quiet was nice, but that's not all that unusual for me.

Done with The Hive and I read a couple of the Shannara short stories that are available on Kindle, The Black Irix and The Weapon Master's Choice. I moved on to Termination Shock, which has a really strange beginning, but certainly interesting.

Way overdue for a review.

The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
STTM: 3 out of 10 - very little travel, some growth
Rating: 7 out of 10

This continues the Mistborn Era 2, or Wax and Wayne series and is book four, possibly the last book. Unlike previous entries in the series, both Steris and Merasi get their own sections of the book. For fans of Sanderson's Cosmere, there are tie-ins to previous books, previous series and even other worlds. Some of those tie-ins felt right to me, even if a bit contrived, I'm sure others went right over my head but I did not mind.

At heart this is a typical fantasy, 'save the world' novel. In addition, Sanderson has matured the allomancer and feruchemist powers of Wax, Wayne and Merasi to the point where this really feels like a superhero novel and less like a fantasy novel, but that was true for me with the previous book. I can't say too much more without giving away too much about books 1-3 for folks who haven't read them.

The characters are good, sometimes excellent. The action is good, but very busy. I wish he expanded on the world a bit more in this book and the doomsday nature of it felt forced. Otherwise, I thought this was very good.

You may recall we had to say goodbye to our older cat at the end of February. Not two weeks later, a cat showed up at our back door and after hanging around for a few cold nights, Trish let him in. He was starving but clearly had been someone's cat. Despite trying to find an owner no one has claimed him and he's not chipped, so we named him Loki and he's settled right in. Meet Loki, feline of chaos.

>56 Karlstar: You named him well! The look on that face is very superior god-like.

>56 Karlstar:
Hi, Loki. Welcome to The Green Dragon.

>56 Karlstar: He looks as if he has a lot of personality!

>56 Karlstar: Oh, how wonderful. What handsome guy. I'm very happy he found you.

>56 Karlstar: He was clearly sent to find you! What a handsome boy!

>56 Karlstar: Hi Loki! Karlstar, you are now definitely owned by a most superior being (at least in his own opinion); may that state bring all concerned much joy.

Many years ago, while we were still in Pretoria, we lost a very pretty half-grown tuxedo cat to what the vet said was "feline AIDS" one Easter weekend. The very next day a large cat with almost identical markings appeared at the back door demanding food. After which it settled on my lap, purring mightily, and only moved when we went to bed -- and New Kitty settled just where she could be cuddled if the hoomins woke up in the night. Nobody claimed her, so she gained the name of Felix and stayed with us for years, mostly dividing her time between the kitchen, my lap and "her" bed.

>56 Karlstar: What a face! One should remember one's place in the household with that cat maintaining the rule and role of authority. Be sure meals are ready on time.

>57 MrsLee: >58 pgmcc: >59 MissBrangwen: >60 clamairy: >61 Sakerfalcon: >62 hfglen: >63 jillmwo: Thank you! Trish estimates he's about 8 months, so he's still a youngster and likes to run around like it. He also likes to hog my side of the bed before I can get in it and will sit in either of our spots on the couch if we get up for even a minute. He a very mild-mannered cat, that face is mostly a 'don't take my picture' face, not his usual look. He is kind of bossy though, in the usual cat way.

It does seem like he was sent, with the timing on when he arrived.

>57 MrsLee: But don't all cats look like that? As Sir Pterry said somewhere, cats used to be worshipped, and they have not forgotten. He's a handsome boy anyway.

Loki looks like a character! Congrats on being chosen by him.

>56 Karlstar: Great look lol Annoying human ;) I have a Loki too. Be careful what you name your pets hehe

>66 tardis: Thank you, we're quite happy that we were chosen.

>67 Narilka: For a few days after he first moved in, when I couldn't think of a name and I wasn't sure he was staying, he was 'Bob'. Then for some reason Luke/Lucky popped into my head and he became Loki.

I'm behind on reviews again and I skipped one, so here's a mini review.

The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
STTM: 4 - not for travel, but some (a lot?) of history review
Rating: 7 out of 10

I enjoyed this book, but because it was written over 15 years ago (before he was President) it is a little bit dated. I was enjoying it quite a bit until the middle, when I realized that each new section was going to come with an infodump/history review I didn't need. Other than that, it was good. I really enjoyed the fact that we are both Dads of two daughters and that's how he looks at a lot of things.

>69 Karlstar: I wish to reread Dreams From My Father (as an audiobook this time) and then ultimately get to A Promised Land, and thought about reading The Audacity of Hope before that because I'm a completist... But I am still not sure about this plan. The history might be more interesting to me because I'm from Germany and while I know the most important things about US history, I don't know many of the details, but rather the basic facts.

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
STTM: 7 - so much traveling, plus some personal growth
Rating: 8 out of 10

This was a re-read, but the previous reading was a long time ago. This is the first two novels in the Amber series, Nine Princes in Amber and The Guns of Avalon.

Both books follow Corwin, a Prince of Amber. At first, he is in an institution in New York state in the late 1960's, with no memory. He quickly escapes, goes to NYC and then finds his sister, still with no memory. I thought these initial scenes were actually amusing, they are now so far out of date. That didn't detract from the book, especially since it doesn't last long. 'Amber' is the name of a world in the multi-verse, to Corwin, the original and best world. Nobles of Amber can travel the multi-verse via plane shifting, moving themselves, vehicles and others to adjacent worlds, while they gradually get closer to the target world.

This is standard quest/political fantasy as Corwin attempts to gain the the throne of Amber. I really enjoyed the writing and descriptions, several times it struck me how vivid the descriptions were. I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a bit-old fashioned in many ways, but still good.

Was it memorable? Yes, very much so.
Was it immersive? Yes.
Would I read it again? Possibly, since I've now read it twice it may be a while.
Would I recommend it? Yes.

>69 Karlstar: I'm glad you enjoyed this one.

>70 MissBrangwen: I loved Obama's first book. I skipped the second, though it is floating around here somewhere. His third book is amazing, but as Karlstar pointed out the info dumps can become overwhelming. I did it as an audio, read by Obama himself, so they weren't so bad.

>71 Karlstar: I really need to give this series a try.

>70 MissBrangwen: I will likely read another of his books, not sure which one.

>72 clamairy: They are fairly short so there's not a big investment. I think I'll read the next one soon.

>71 Karlstar: "I thought these initial scenes were actually amusing, they are now so far out of date"

When I read these back in 2009, the first thing I noticed was everyone just constantly chain-smoking All The Time. :D

Great series, I really do need to reread at least the first sequence again sometime soon.

>74 saltmanz: Right, it felt like they went though 5 packs a day, yet somehow always had cigarettes.

Termination Shock is too much like an encyclopedia at times, so I started reading Daughter of Darkness (by Brooks) but it is just too YA for me, so I've circled back to start Chronicles of Amber II. I'll likely finish Termination Shock, but I can only take it about 2 chapters at a time at this point in the book.

Congratulations about Loki - he's a very handsome cat and apparently has excellent timing!

>76 Karlstar: Stephenson used to write well-paced, well-plotted books but recently he's been unable to resist infodumping and making his political biases clear. I finished Termination shock and liked it better than Seveneves (which I loathed) but I'd say Reamde was the last novel of his that I really enjoyed.

>78 Sakerfalcon: & >76 Karlstar:
I enjoyed a lot of Stephenson’s books for the ideas, but found most of them had “meh” endings. REAMDE was the one that had the best ending and it was a really exciting ride. seveneves was very disappointing and it is the last of his books that I bought and read. It killed my interest in any subsequent books.

>77 NorthernStar: Thank you. We're really enjoying having him around the house.

>78 Sakerfalcon: Definitely, there are times in Termination Shock where it feels like he is saying "I know something you should know, so here's everything I know about it in excruciating detail." >79 pgmcc: I picked up Seveneves, read one chapter and never picked it up again. You two are just making me glad I didn't finish. Maybe I'll give REAMDE a chance, someday.

>80 Karlstar:
One of the things I found interesting about REAMDE was that all the technology in it existed at the time it was written. It was a story that could be actioned at the time. No soft-Sci-Fi in it.

Done with the first of the 3 novels in Chronicles of Amber II, The Sign of the Unicorn. Continuing on with the second, The Hand of Oberon.

Interesting article. Are we readers or consumers or both? Does it matter?

https://www.tor.com/2023/05/04/a-reader-is-not-a-consumer-of-books/?fbclid=IwAR3...

>83 Karlstar: Well theoretically at least one can read or alternatively one can listen to an audio book. Or one might consult. From some perspectives, each of those is a form of content consumption. (There's also something known as non-consumptive reading which is what they call it when a search tool or similar computer crawls a text. But that's a rabbit hole that can indeed drive one around the bend.)

That said, I'm currently reading Alberto Manguel on reading and he's a REAL reader. (Yes. That tossed-off phrase is also worth an examination. Because are there unreal or fake readers?)

>84 jillmwo: Good point about audiobooks.

>83 Karlstar: Great article. I love this:

Our selves are constructed from the shitty stuff of consumption, but we remain feeling people nonetheless.

That book Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma is going on my wishlist.

>86 clamairy: But doesn't that contradict her point? If artists make books, we have to buy them for the artist to make a living. If they put a negative connotation on consumption, the artists don't make a living. I don't like the 'consume' terminology, I'll stick with reading and readers; but the anti-consumerism is misplaced on her part, a bit.

P.S. Edited, my original response looked like it was a reply to your post >86 clamairy:, not her quote, which is not what I meant. Sorry if the original was rude.

Done with Chronicles of Amber II. That was good. I think I'll be picking up Termination Shock again, at least for a bit.

Termination Shock is just slow going. More boring parts than interesting parts. I did find it a bit amusing that when it came up that some islands off of Albania used to be part of Venice, centuries ago, I remembered that had already come up in Children of Earth and Sky.

>89 Karlstar: Republic of Venice. May still be available.

>90 haydninvienna: It is available from multiple vendors from abebooks.com, not cheap though.

There is this, which is only $3.49 on Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/City-Fortune-Venice-Ruled-Seas-ebook/dp/B0051ANPSI/ref=sr...

>91 Karlstar: I bought mine from the Indiegogo campaign.

I was just introduced to the existence of this book today:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31457146803&cm_sp=Searchmo...

>93 Karlstar: Are you buying a copy? That does look interesting.

>46 clamairy: I do like the first two Ender books, and the first two Alvins, but I have stopped reading Card because he's a pretty virulent outspoken homophobe.

>56 Karlstar: Great shot. I hope you will enjoy being Loki's rescue human.

>95 Jim53: I too have stopped supporting Card for the same reason.

>95 Jim53: & >97 ScoLgo: 💩 Well, I'll borrow that one book for free from Libby, and never give him a cent.

>94 Narilka: Most likely, I think I need to add it to my Tolkien related books collection. abebooks had multiple copies available.

>96 Jim53: We are enjoying having Loki in the house quite a bit. He seems to like it here too.

Catching up on some reviews.

The Black Irix and The Weapon Master's Choice.
STTM - 4 a little travel, a little growth, typical Brooks
Rating: 5 out of 10

These are two short stories are set early in the Shannara series. The Black Irix occurs almost immediately after the events of The Sword of Shannara. I can't say too much about it without giving away events in Sword. I thought it was good, it really should have been a chapter or two at the end of Sword, as it ties things up and gives some good character information.
If you are familiar with the books, you'll recognize the title Weapon Master. This is another short story involving Garet Jax, it may even occur before Wishsong in the chronology.

Of the two, I liked The Weapon Master's Choice better. We learn a lot more about Garet Jax the person and the story is interesting.

I officially DNF'd Daughter of Darkness. It just felt like Brooks has lost his ability to produce a convincing story. I like the characters, just wish the story was better. I'm plodding through Termination Shock, so skipping ahead on reviews.

The Chronicles of Amber II by Roger Zelazny
STT(S) - 8 - so much travel and some self-awareness
Rating: 7 out of 10

This is an omnibus edition of novels 3, 4 and 5 of the Amber series - The Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon and The Courts of Chaos. The action picks up immediately after the events of books one and two and you really should read the first two to follow the story.

Without giving too much away, these three books all continue to follow Corwin as he attempts to unravel the mystery of how events in Amber got to this point. He soon learns that among his brothers and sisters are 2 different factions, all having different ideas on who should rule Amber, with their father missing. The Sign of the Unicorn is mostly Corwin still learning who is in which faction. The Hand of Oberon has Corwin learning even more about Amber, their opponents and what to do next. In the third book, The Courts of Chaos, we meet some new characters who are important to the story and Corwin goes on a really long, shadow to shadow journey to try and get to the center of the whole mess. Along the way he meets some mythological characters who clearly are derived from the Norse pantheon.

The second and third book are why there is a Slogging through the Shadows (STTS) rating on this one. Even if brief, Zelazny persists on describing Corwin's journeys through shadows, which results in long paragraphs that often look something like a long run on sentence of adjectives.

We learn why Corwin is doing what he is doing, we learn a lot more about a few of his brothers and sisters, though some persistently remain little more than names (Bleys, Gerard, Flora). We also learn a lot more about the relationship between Amber, shadow worlds, The Courts of Chaos, the mysterious Dara and The Pattern. These are standard classic fantasy, but well done.

Was it memorable? Yes, in a general sense, though now book 3 and 4 have blended together.
Was it immersive? Yes, I did not want to stop reading it.
Would I read it again? Probably not, this was my second reading and I'm not sure another is needed.
Would I recommend it? Yes.

Unfortunately while LT says I have the follow-on books, they were damaged in the flood and are gone, I will have to replace them. I think of my 14 Zelazny listed here in LT, I now have 4.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there, I hope you have a great day and feel celebrated and recognized.

Finally done with Termination Shock, still trying to decide what's next.

>56 Karlstar: smart kitty!

Our current feline in residence was a kitten abandoned by her feral mother. The tiny 4 week old kitten started following my son around the yard, meowing for him to help. She's a rotten and spoiled empress of the house now.

>93 Karlstar: ouch, OUCH. And only $5??

ETA: new on Amazon for $11.59 plus tax. I'm going new.

And it's ALL YOUR FAULT!

>105 fuzzi: I had so far resisted the temptation to get even a used book, but I won't be able to for much longer! I had to buy a replacement for Trumps of Doom first.

How old is the kitten now? Loki is all settled in and bossing us around, he's very vocal when he doesn't get what he wants.

>106 Karlstar: Deborah, aka Little Debbie will be 2 in July. She rules.

>107 fuzzi: Awww, very regal!

Next up is And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, which was a BB from claimary. In between reading that, I'm also reading The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov.

>109 Karlstar: I hope you enjoy* that one as much as I did!

*I'm pretty sure 'enjoy' is not the right word to use for a book like this. I cannot think of a better one right now.

>110 clamairy: I'm sure I will and it is off to a good start. Did you think of the word yet? I'm enjoying it but I think I know what you mean, there's another word more appropriate to such biographies.

>111 Karlstar: Perhaps 'appreciate' would be more suitable.

Posting this here and in the Wheel of Time thread, finally a date for the Wheel of Time! I guess maybe they delayed it to not interfere with Rings of Power? Doesn't matter, I'm just happy to see season two coming.

https://www.tor.com/2023/05/24/the-wheel-of-time-finally-has-a-season-2-premiere...

A list! I was surprised how much I agreed with the choices.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230522-the-100-greatest-childrens-books-of...

>114 Karlstar: You're right! That is a great list of titles that I recognized but also some I hadn't ever heard of. I'm thinking in particular of the inclusion of No Kiss for Mother which is a new one for me.

>115 jillmwo: I thought it had a great mix of books I'm familiar with and some intriguing looking newer books I haven't read before, makes for good lists for the grandkids.

Still working on And There Was Light, which is excellent. We took a day trip last week, so in between chapters, I bought a Kindle copy of an old favorite, The Breaking of Northwall and read that. It is still good.

Review time, since I missed last weekend.
Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson
STTM: 3 - some travel
Rating: 6 out of 10

The other ratings for this one here on LT are roughly the same, though the reviews aren't great. I thought the diverse cast of characters - Saskia, Queen of the Netherlands; Rudy (Red) a US veteran turned feral pig hunter and drone expert and Laks, a Canadian born Sikh who returns to the family roots were all interesting and well done. There's also other international characters that round out the cast.

The story is basically how one person can come up with an idea for mitigating climate change and with enough money - implement it. The fun then starts when multiple countries and other rich people realize that the solution may solve their problems too - or make them worse.

The fun parts are when Stephenson is telling us about the solution and the impacts. The not so fun parts are when he wanders off into endless explaining of things he thinks he knows that we don't, in way too much length. I got past those parts though and for the most part enjoyed the book. There's some ominous warnings here about disinformation and deep fakes and the power of state manipulated media. That part was quite concerning. The ending wrapped up a little too neatly, quickly and sadly.

Was it memorable? Yes, actually, it is still quite vivid in my mind.
Was it immersive? No, I had to pause or even skip a bit at times.
Would I read it again? Probably not. Not sure, ask me in 10 years.
Would I recommend it? Yes, to someone who wants to read a climate change related 'thriller' that drags at times.

I finished And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, which was excellent. Thanks to >112 clamairy: for the recommendation. On to Trumps of Doom, to pick up my Amber re-read, and Blood Song, as I bought it for a friend and will read along with him.

>119 Karlstar: I'm very glad that you enjoyed the Meacham.

You're making me thin about revisiting Amber. It has been a l-o-n-g time.

>121 Jim53: I am enjoying the re-read so far, the descriptions are quite vivid and the action is decent. It isn't as in depth or complex as what we expect today, but for a change of pace, it is good.

The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
STTM: 4 - Solarians don't travel, they robot, but there's growth
Rating: 8 out of 10

A rare 8! My opinion of this book and the rating have gone up since I last read it. I will now try to find a good hardcover copy.

This is the second of the 'Robot Novels' and the second in the Elijah Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw mystery novels. 'Lije' Bailey is a police detective who is called to Solaria, by specific request of the Solarian government, to solve a mystery. The one thing that never happens and can't happen on Solaria - a murder. The summons to Solaria is quick and the trip is immediate, maybe too quick, but Lije is on Earth just long enough to make it clear that Earthers, who now either live in Domed or underground cities, have serious issues with going outdoors - they just don't like open spaces of any kind and robots are still banned.

Solaria is the opposite - 20,000 people only, on the whole planet and for every human, there are hundreds of robots! The people live alone in large estates, their every whim tended by robots and they meet only by teleconference. Sound familiar?

The issues of remote living and AI/robots in this book that are so current right now really hit home with this reading. It is an ok, not great mystery, but I think this book has been under-rated in its exploration of the very strange Solarian society and its reflection on the confined, anti-robot Earth society.

Was it immersive? Yes, I read it in a day.
Was it memorable? It may not have been in the past, but it is now.
Would I re-read it? Quite likely.
Would I recommend it? Yes, you should read it!

>123 Karlstar: The oddest things surface in my brain sometimes as I'm reading other people's threads. Your reference to Daneel in The Naked Sun caused my brain to dredge up the memory of an old filksong sung to the tune of "She'll be comin' round the mountain". A friend of mine used to sing it at science fiction conventions... (click on the link at the top there named Caves of Steel - https://www.swil.org/FILKS/filkbook1.html#0)

I don't suppose you were aware of this little ditty at all? If not, do read to the end of the lyrics shown there, because the final pun makes it all worthwhile...

>124 jillmwo: That’s a candidate for Bad Joke of the Day.

>125 haydninvienna: I know, right? Sometimes my brain dredges up the most bizarre stuff; it processed the word Daneel up there in #123 and as if by magic, I found myself warbling bits and pieces of the song and trying to recall how the rest of it went.

>124 jillmwo: That is an odd thing! I'm amazed at your powers of recall. Kind of a fun tune though. I definitely was not aware of its existence.

Traveling again, this time for work and family. For me to read on the trip on my Kindle, Trish bought 100 Places to See After You Die by Ken Jennings. Yes, that Ken Jennings! Quite amusing so far, but it took me so long to get my Kindle hooked up to the hotel wifi, I didn't get much reading done so far. Darn web pages and weak security.

Done with 100 Places to See After You Die. It was a fun, 1-3 page summary of 100 different mythological, religious, book, TV, movie and 'miscellaneous' versions of afterlife. Ken was careful to avoid major religions or any semblance of competition between them. It was a fun read and very short; I will admit I skimmed a couple that were based on TV shows I never watched.

On to Beyond the Gap and my re-read of Blood Song, my friend has started reading his copy so I'm reading along.

>129 Karlstar: So THAT's the Ken Jennings book that was getting the spotlight!! I hadn't followed any of the links to read the description but between what you show here and what I read just now as the marketing blurb, I get it. Sounds like fun.

>130 jillmwo: Yes, they actually made a reference to it on the show the day it was released. Apparently this is his 6th book of this sort, just judging by the ad page at the end of 100 Places. Looks like he's tackled comedy, Europe. maps and Because I Said So!: The Truth Behind the Myths, Tales, and Warnings Every Generation Passes Down to Its Kids which I might have to get.

>131 Karlstar: ROFL As it happens, my husband made it through one of the initial Jeopardy qualifying interviews this month. One of the things they told him was that, if you don't make it through all the steps for being selected to be on the show, you have to wait 12 months before you can begin the process again. The woman conducting the session noted that it took Ken Jennings three separate tries (so 3 years overall) to make it on the show as a contestant!

>132 jillmwo: So he might still make it! At this point he's doing better than Ken.

>132 jillmwo:
Good luck to your husband.

My latest addition to the Tolkien shelf. For whatever reason, I did not have a hardcopy of The Silmarillion, which was fixed by my daughter, she gave it to me for Father's Day.



Edited:
Found the hint in an old post in LT, I actually had to make changes to the photo on my PC to get the orientation changed, no matter how it looked on my PC.

>135 Karlstar: A beautiful, if elongated book! I have no answers for you, but that's why I quit posting photos on LT. Sometimes they work, but when they don't, none of the advice given seems to work with my equipment.

>135 Karlstar: very nice. I still have my original hardcover, but that cover is gorgeous.

>136 MrsLee: This is the first time it has happened for me, I even tried a couple of combinations of the height and width parameters, which I didn't expect to help, and they did not.

>137 fuzzi: It also has Tolkien's illustrations in it.

>135 Karlstar: What a lovely gift. I've had similar problems with photo uploads. I don't remember what I did to fix it either. I think I may have opened the photo in an image editor like MS Paint and then resaved it.

>139 Narilka: MS Photo viewer says it is properly oriented, when I tried rotating it, LT just kept it rotated. Very puzzling.

I have that edition as well. I did not NEED another copy of The Silmarillion but splurged on it because the production values were so impressive. Books *should* be beautiful. Packaging the content attractively does serve as a value-add (at least in my perspective).

>141 jillmwo: I didn't need one either, but since I have it rated so highly, by my own scale, I needed a hardcover version!

I finally did what I should have done in the first place and searched in the Talk about Librarything group and there was an answer there.

>140 Karlstar: Not photo viewer but an actual editing app. You basically resave the image from a separate app and then mine uploaded properly to LT.

Edit: What did Talk recommend?

>143 Narilka: Exactly that, but the 'Photos' application on my PC did the trick. I actually had to change something, in this case I cropped most of the background, then save it. Just saving didn't do anything.

Review time!
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle by Jon Meacham
STTM: 0 - very little travel, no slogging
Rating: 9 out of 10

From my LT review:
This is a fantastic biography of Abraham Lincoln. From his humblest of beginnings until the end, it covers his entire life. The book is divided into 6 sections, with 4 of them being during the Civil War years. It focuses primarily on Lincoln the person and what he thought and believed and very little on the people around him, with the exception of his wife.
As this was just written in 2022 it definitely has a contemporary feel, as Meecham shows (subtly) that Lincoln faced some of the same fears and prejudices that we face now. He also makes an effort to show how Lincoln's goals were practical - he tried to accomplish what he thought could be done, not necessarily all that he wanted to be done. A very good mix of material from Lincoln himself, as well as many contemporary sources. Really excellent.

Meacham picked some great material from Lincoln for this book that echoes our concerns today - such as the quote from Lincoln when he was concerned about 'mobocratic' rule; or how the 'Know Nothing' party members were anti-immigrant (Italian, German, Irish, at the time) but were told to just say 'I know nothing'.

I would normally give this an 8 because I most likely won't buy another copy and may not read it again, but I was reminded this week that for NPS scores, an 8 is 'neutral'! So it gets a 9.

Was it immersive? Not really, but immersive for a long, in depth biography.
Was it memorable? Yes.
Would I re-read it? Possibly. Ask me in 8 years or in 2040.
Would I recommend it? Yes, you should read it!

Thanks again to claimary for recommending this. Surprisingly emotional ending.

The Breaking of Northwall by Paul O. Williams
STTM: 8 - lots and lots of traveling
Rating: 8 out of 10

This is classic post-Apocalyptic scifi/fiction. Published back in 1984, it is a relatively short novel. I first posted this one to LT in 2009, but I had to update my review after this reading.

I've always enjoyed this series, this I believe is my 3rd reading. Set sometime in the far future after some apocalypse has destroyed civilization and most people, it is set when technology and society are just about to reach a tipping point. The Pelbar are safe in their stone cities, but the wise Protector of Northwall knows she has to force them to adapt their rigid ways. They quarrel with their neighbors, the nomadic Sentani and Shumai, for no known reasons, and to the west and east, more hostile groups are emerging.

Jestak, the primary character, was sent on a mission/exile from Pelbar, the 'capital' city, basically for being unwilling to follow orders. He returns with tales of the cities of the East and new friends from other groups - but without his companions. Exiled again, he sets off again on a long journey to unite the local groups and meet a new threat in the West. A seasoned survivalist and traveler, his greatest ability is making friends by setting an example.

Williams has changed all of the names and obscured the geography quite a bit, but this is clearly set in middle America. I enjoy trying to puzzle out the renamed geography of these novels.

If you don't like 'love at first sight' as a plot element, you may roll your eyes at some parts of this book, but I didn't mind it.

Was it immersive? Yes.
Was it memorable? Yes, this is well done.
Would I re-read it? Not sure it needs a 4th reading, but maybe.
Would I recommend it? Yes, especially if you like post-Apocalyptic fiction without a lot of political drama.

Trumps of Doom by Roger Zelazny
STTM: 6 - more shadow traveling
Rating: 5.5 out of 10

Yes, that's a wishy-washy 5.5. My original rating on this was a 5, but that might be too harsh, but I'm not sure that this one rises up to a 6 either.

This book was written over a decade after the original 5 books of the Amber series, so it has updated technology. Computers and computer programming now enter the plot. This book follows Merle/Merlin, Corwin's son. Unfortunately, other than that, the plot of this one is way too much like the plot of the first five books.

Every year on April 30, someone tries to kill Merle while he just tries to live his life in our Earth. After 3 or 4 years of this, he finally decides to figure out who is behind it. At that point, we enter the same plot line - it might be a family member, it might be someone from the Courts of Chaos, there are no clear suspects. Merlin spends a lot of time hopping from shadow world from shadow world, either chasing or being chased, while not really making a lot of progress. There's a plot to attack Amber!

The writing is still good, but the sameness of the plot really dragged down the rating of this one. I'm not sure I'll continue with my re-read of this series, I may have reached a good stopping point, especially since I don't have the next book.

Done with Aeronaut's Windlass, I'm not sure if I'm going to read an old book from the TBR pile or something recent.

>148 Karlstar: Being between books is always a weird feeling for me. There's almost a feeling of being lost or unmoored, but there's also the excitement of having so much to choose from.

I'm glad you enjoyed the Jon Meacham. That ending though... I don't have a clue how he managed to make Lincoln's death feel so fresh and painful after 150 years.

>145 Karlstar: and >149 clamairy: You two are not helping me avoid Jon Meacham's book on Lincoln. Here I am trying to extricate myself from nineteenth century history and you're flinging about BBs.

>149 clamairy: I don't take long to decide, but lately I've just been deciding to start more than one at a time. Not sure what that means.

>150 jillmwo: It really is good! I didn't think it overlapped Team of Rivals more than absolutely necessary, I never felt I was reading the same material again.

I settled on the new Weis and Hickman Dragonlance book, Dragons of Deceit. Unfortunately I made the mistake on Friday of helping the people who came to get our old couch move it,since they really needed a 3rd person. I've been laid up with a strained back ever since, so I've had a lot of reading time and finished it today and now need to pick the next book.

>152 Karlstar: Oh no! I hope it mends quickly, but not too quickly if you're enjoying your reading time.

>152 Karlstar: Ouch! It's so hard not to volunteer when a third is needed. I try to tell my husband his helping lift days are over, but he has been down the last week after helping someone who had a bad back cart wood up a hill. Sadly, it's hard for us to find youthful helpers.

>152 Karlstar: And that is why our hoped-for move will be done by professionals! Hope you mend quickly.

>153 clamairy: I'm not minding the reading time.

>154 MrsLee: >155 haydninvienna: Unfortunately you are correct, my days of moving heavy furniture are way past.

>152 Karlstar: Hope your back mends quickly (after giving you just a bit of extra reading time)!

>152 Karlstar: Ouch! I hope your back will be better soon. And yes, as >157 Jim53: suggests, use the down time for reading!

>153 clamairy: >154 MrsLee: >155 haydninvienna: >157 Jim53: >158 Sakerfalcon: Thanks everyone.

Its better enough that we did some cat sitting today and a couple of errands, but still not up to yardwork. That wasn't going to get done anyway, all it has done is rain the last two days.

Edited to remove myself, when will I stop doing that?

I know where I'm stopping next time I drive through Syracuse, which I do multiple times per year.

https://www.syracuse.com/food/2023/07/her-cheese-stands-alone-syracuse-shop-owne...

>160 Karlstar: We expect a full report! (With pics and tasting notes!)

>147 Karlstar: I recall being underwhelmed with the second series, not sure I even read the next book.

Oh, wait. I see it in my library, and the third, and the fourth. But did I read any of them?

>162 fuzzi: I have the same reaction. I used to own the next book, I probably read it, don't recall a thing.

>161 clamairy: I see what you did there. :) Not sure when it will be, but I will file a report.

Still resting my back, so I have more time to read, I finishedDescent Into the Depths of the Earth, which is a misleading title as it is a descent into the depths of Oerth, the home world of the original AD&D Greyhawk campaign and is a pretty decent novelization of the module series D1-D3. Good old fashioned fantasy adventure.

Because it has been sitting on an end table for about a year, I started John Grimes: Survey Captain, one of the old scifi books I got from a friend long ago. If the 4 novels in it weren't so short, I wouldn't have finished the first one. I'm reading the second one just to see where it goes, then I'll stop, these really aren't very good.

>164 Karlstar: A collected version of some of the John Grimes novels, which I found in a bookstore in Vancouver years ago, has the distinction of being almost the only book I've ever dumped in a hotel room. I was delighted when I found it in the shop, but as you say, they reelly aren't very good.

>164 Karlstar: Sorry you're still having issues. And I'm even more sorry that the books you picked to read are so mediocre. (But now you can donate them and have more shelf space.)

>165 haydninvienna: I should learn to check the reviews here on LT first! The omnibus edition I was reading has zero reviews and the 2nd novel in the collection The Big Black Mark has a whopping 2, one of which isn't even a review. At least I may be saving someone from reading it.

>166 clamairy: Thanks. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Descent into the Depths, but I knew exactly what I was getting before I started, since the Paul Kidd D&D novels are well regarded, if you like that sort of D&D based sword and sorcery. I also should have trusted my instincts on the Chandler book, there was a reason it sat unread for 12 years.

I'd already picked my next read, so it is on to my Everyman's Library edition of Frankenstein. Can't go wrong with that.

How'd I get so far behind on reviews?

100 Places to See After you Die: A Travel Guide to the Afterlife by Ken Jennings
STTM: 0 - none of the listed locations is the afterlife of mud, thankfully
Rating: 7 out of 10

This was a quick, entertaining read. As the title says, it is a travel guide so Ken Jennings writes a short, 1 to 3 page summary of what you might experience in 100 different afterlife situations, ranging from Egyptian mythology to South Park and Lost. He includes mythologies, some major religions, books, TV shows, movies, music and theater and a miscellaneous category. He does include the Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise/Heaven from Dante's trilogy. A few others that are included:

Diyu of Chinese mythology; the Ghost Road of some indigenous American peoples, (he admits there are many variations on this); Xilbalba from the Mayans; all in the Mythology category. The Bardo from the Tibetan book of the Dead; the Eighteen Hells from Buddhism; Limbo from Catholicism (now closed!); The Spiritual World from Swedenborgianism; and others in the Religions category. Aslans Country; The Empyrean; King's Cross; Riverworld (from the Farmer novels) and many others in the Books category. The Third Sphere from the book What Dreams May Come (he mentions the great movie) and The Undying Lands from Tolkien too. Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey makes the movies section; Hotel Hades from Cabin in the Sky and Iowa (I'll let you guess why); and many others. The Good Place, Twilight Zone and Upload along with the previously mentioned South Park and Lost are in the TV section.

There's a lot here and except for a couple of places, I don't know enough to quibble with what Ken included and what he left out or got wrong, I just enjoyed it. Considering how much I enjoyed skimming through it for this review, it is a borderline 8, but I'm not going to ever buy another copy and I may never read it front to back again, but it is highly likely I'll pick it up for a reference sometime, just like any of my other mythology books.

Not sure why LT refuses to show the previous touchstone, even after I selected it from the only choice on the list, so let's try the short version: 100 Places to See After You Die.

Beyond the Gap by Harry Turtledove
STTM - 10! So much slogging, so much mud, so much dung, so much character growth
Rating: 5 out of 10

I've always been a fan of Turtledove's Elabon, I prefer to call them the Fox series. Those are his 'barbarians and Empire' semi-historical fantasies. Beyond the Gap is similar in setting. There's the Rhaumsdalian Empire, very civilized, (for Middle-Ages level of civilization) that is sited where the Great Glacier used to be, generations ago. The Bizogot barbarians (Visigoths?) live right up to the Great Glacier and live a tough, nomadic life. When one of the Bizogot Jarls reports that there is an opening in the Great Glacier, a group sets out to explore it.

Hamnet Thyssen, the primary character, is an Earl in the Rhaumsdalian empire and he, the Bizogot Jarl, a scholar, a rogue-ish type warrior, a bumbling wizard and others Including his ex-wife who's now married to the scholar set out to find this Gap and see what's on the other side and just maybe find the fabled Golden Seat.

This is where the slogging comes in. Its a long way to the glacier. Its a long way through the Gap. Hamnet both misses, hates and still loves his ex wife. We hear about that a lot. A LOT. He's got a lot to process and a long trip to do it. There's cold, mud, snow and we get told a bunch of times that up by the glacier, there are no trees, so the Bizogots cook their food over mammoth dung fires. As Hamnet will tell his companions many times, having dung smoked mammoth is better than no food.

Not only that, but this is a long trip with some very clever, wise people who all manage to understand each other a lot better by the end of the trip. Too wise and too clever, after a while it just feels like we're being beaten over the head with the character growth. Everyone is too clever, except the redshirt guards, no one cares about them. Eventually the group does find interesting things and there's a good amount of conflict set up for the next book.

Since the next book is unlikely to repeat the long journey of dung fueled self-discovery, I may give it a shot, I like his books, usually. For right now though, I think I'll hold off.

>168 Karlstar: The marketing "stuff" for this title references the inclusion of a section on the afterlife envisioned by the Klingons. Was that section relatively well-handled? They did do a handful of episodes in Star Trek:TNG and Deep Space Nine that dealt to some extent with Worf wrestling with the return of Kahless and what happens when the honored dead arrive in Stovokor...

>171 jillmwo: The section on Sto-Vo-Kor and Gre'thor is two pages and seems fairly well done, while there have been many seasons and iterations of Star Trek, I'm not sure just how much information on the Klingon afterlife is available. I thought it was good, but I haven't checked Wikipedia or any other source to see if it is available elsewhere.

>170 Karlstar: For the second time today, your review on Beyond the Gap has made me laugh. Sorry you had such a shi*ty read!

>170 Karlstar: & >173 Silversi: The best part for me was the "red shirt guards." :o)

>173 Silversi: >174 clamairy: I knew I could count on the folks here to get the references. It makes it easy to write reviews.

Finally finished the re-read of Blood Song, it may have been better the second time around. Now on to more focus on Frankenstein, though I'm also reading Oliver Twist at night on my Kindle, but that one is not quite catching my interest yet.

The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
STTM: 2 - very little travel
Rating: 6 out of 10

I have read only one of the Dresden series, so I am not an expert on Butcher's work. I did enjoy the Codex Alera series, so I was looking forward to this one.

This is set on a new world of his own devising. One of my minor issues with the book is that we aren't told much about the world. All we know is that people live on 'Spires' built a long time ago by someone else and humans don't live on the surface because it is dangerous and hostile. The Spires are built out of some nearly indestructible material and humans live on different levels on the spire.

The technology level is basically steampunk - magic and early/mid 19th century technology. The primary transportation is by airship, which are wooden ships, powered by crystals that manipulate the 'ether' and allow them to fly, if you have enough crystals to provide lift, propulsion and control. These airships have 'cannon' that basically fire plasma bolts, not cannonballs. The bigger the ship, the more armor and cannon it can have, etc, like salt water navy vessels. People use the same crystal technology, rigged into a gauntlet, to basically have blasters.

There are three primary characters, Grim, an airship captain, Gwen, a young lady from an influential family and Bridget, a young lady from a good but no longer well off family. Gwen and Bridget meet in the space marines. I mean, spire guard. There are a couple of other characters, including a young warrior and a young, eccentric lady who for lack of a better term, is a wizard. There's also cats.

The characters are good and there's plenty of action. I would have preferred a bit more time for plot. I also didn't care at all for some of the terminology - what the heck is 'Habble Morning'? Is that a mashup of 'Habitat Level'? It was never explained that I recall.

This would have been better, for me, if he'd cut out a bit of the action. The best part were the parts with the cats.

>177 Karlstar: Good write up. I thought the book allowed for growth of the writer, the characters and the world. Guess we have to read the next one to see if that happens. :)

>177 Karlstar: Well, it does sound interesting. But I'm not sure I need to read this.

>178 MrsLee: The next book is due out in November, I guess we'll find out! I actually pre-ordered the Kindle edition.

>179 clamairy: Maybe wait until book 2.

Working my way through Oliver Twist and a little bit of Frankenstein on the side.

Done with Oliver Twist, moving on to Frankenstein, though I'm now wondering why I decided to read two 1800's novels back to back.