Sunidesus Reads

Storm Front, by Jim Butcher

This is the first book in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

I found this series through my typical... watch a TV show, find out it's based on a book, read the books... method. And just about invariably the books are better, but that's just the way that kind of thing works.

This falls under that contemporary fantasy genre which is just great fun. In this case the main character is a wizard (and advertises as a wizard, not that anyone believes him) who works as a PI in Chicago. And what is it about this particular genre that there's so many PI's/detectives?

So there's a missing husband, another wizard messing around with some seriously dark magic (who of course wants to kill Harry), giant scorpions, and a nasty new illegal drug.

Since this is the first in the series we also meet or are introduced to a bunch of people/things for the first time. Bob is quite a bit different than the Bob in the TV series, his personality is very similar, but his history is different. Murph of course, and the White Council enforcer dude whose name is escaping me just at the moment. There's fairies, and quite a bit about the "Rules" since the new wizard is very much not following said rules!

Blood Debt, by Tanya Huff

This is the last of the Blood Books by Tanya Huff. *sniff, sob, cry*

Yeah, I know there's the "Smoke &" trilogy that at least has Henry and Tony, but I am so ridiculously in love with the Henry/Vicki of the first four books and I want more of those!

If you haven't read the first 4, you shouldn't read this here post as it'll give away all kinds of stuff, so stop reading!

So, Vicki's a vampire now and is with Mike. Henry's elsewhere with Tony and a ghost is haunting him. He asks Vicki for help which creates all kinds of problems since he's lived for 400+ years believing that two vampires can't be in the same territory without killing each other.

Even though the two of them do kind of figure out how to co-exist, it mostly just made me sad that they lost the relationship they used to have. Yes, they're still friends, but it isn't what it used to be and that's sad. Seeing them figure out how to control their instincts and decide what is necessary and how much is just Henry's "this is the way it's always been." It was hard, I'm glad they somewhat worked through it, but I still wish they could be close like they used to be. Not having to be so guarded with each other all the time.

Egads, I seem to be a tad attached to these guys!

It is a very good book (as are the previous ones) it just had this sad overtone to it (for me anyway,) that made it a little harder for me to read than the other ones.

The Cold Moon, by Jeffery Deaver

Before I start this I just have to say how completely in love I am with my ebook reader. It rocks my socks! I've been feeling like I've been reading more since I bought it so I went through my archives and counted. I used to average a book or two a month, since the reader's arrival I've read seven books in about a month and a half. Doesn't matter what I'm in the mood for, there'll be something on it that fits. I've always tended to read multiple books at the same time and this just makes it even easier. Just thought I'd share how much I'm enjoying my new gadget.

Anyway! On to the book! This is the latest in the Lincoln Rhyme series by Jeffery Deaver.

There's a lot of internal stuff going on for Sachs in this one. She has her first case that's her's and isn't one she's working with Lincoln. There's quite a bit to do with her dad too.

A new character gets introduced here that is now the main character in at least one other book (which I haven't read yet) that I think is supposed to become another series. The interaction between her and Lincoln is really interesting since she's all about people and witnesses and he really doesn't like those at all!

The case itself ends up being ridiculously convoluted (but then, they all are so that makes sense) and there's good guys that you think are bad guys and bad guys that maybe aren't so bad, or maybe they're worse. Whenever I read a Deaver book there's a number of times when everything seems solved and then I look at how much book is left and there's waaaaay too much left for everything to be figured out already. There were at least two or three of those moments in this one. But I really like that about his books, there's this constant "well, what on earth is going on then?" feeling.

And just to give myself enough information without giving everything away for anyone else... this is the one with the OCD clock guy and the overeating dude.

Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

This is the first of a series by Stephenie Meyer. There are three so far, but I believe a fourth is scheduled to be published later this year.

This was recommended to me because of my recent devouring of the Blood Books by Tanya Huff. Ya know, vampire stuff. These are geared younger than the Huff books, the main person (main human anyway) is in high school.

The book was ok. Kinda predictable. It kind of irritates me when I can see exactly where a certain story line or plot point is going and it takes forever for it to arrive. As soon as Bella sees the "odd family" in the lunchroom it's quite obvious who they are and why they're so different and standoffish. But then you have to wait through quite a bit more book before she figures it out.

Of course I always find supernatural stuff very fun so whenever there's people who have special abilities or whatever I really enjoy that. And as most authors do, the vampire rules are slightly different. They can go in the sun, but they don't unless they're alone because they look completely different in direct sunlight. So they tend to live places that are cloudy most of the time! Regular food is out, but animal blood works, it doesn't have to be human.

Let's see... plot-wise (and so I remember which book this was which is the whole point of this) some other vamps show up in the territory of the "good vamps" that we care about and want to have Bella for their own and of course that just can't happen so there's a big old fight and of course a couple loose ends.

New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer

This is the second in a series by Stephenie Meyer. I'm sure the series has an official name, but I'm not sure what it is! I did read this fast, but it was more of a "wanting to spend the day in bed reading" than "must finish book" kind of thing.

I had similar issues with this one as I did with the first one. There's big creatures prowling around in the woods... gee, ya think those might be werewolves? And that the boys in local Native tribe that are suddenly acting oddly... they just could be involved?

It just frustrates me when characters take forever to arrive where I already am.

Plus this time there was the added problem of me really not caring one little bit that the main character was all depressed. She's just so insanely broken by her boyfriend leaving and it didn't seem realistic to me. There's really never an explaination for why she's so incredibly attached to this guy. Yeah, he's a vampire and he's hot, but that's as far as it goes. Every time she's pinning after him it's just that he's "perfect". OK, fine. What makes him perfect? Why do you love him so much?

Werewolf boy on the other hand seems to be a real person. He's much much more three dimensional than either the girl or the vampire. Much more interesting. I actually cared about his issues!

But of course, it's a vampire book and I just can't help myself so of course I read it and I'll read the rest of the series too.

SCE: Have Tech, Will Travel

This is the first of the "dead tree" versions of the SCE ebooks; it has the first four ebooks. I have read it before, but it isn't listed here so it must have been at least 2 and a half years ago. I was wanting to start reading this series again, but I wasn't remembering who exactly everyone was and what had happened and all of that so I figured a little re-reading was in order. And I didn't actually read this in one day despite what the time stamps say. I tend to read more than one book at the same time and sometimes I finish multiple books pretty close together.

The first 3 all have Geordi in them which makes me happy since he's my favorite. Of course there's never enough of him in any ST books, but I'll take what I can get. The third one (the one with the Friend spaceship) could have done interesting things with him and the whole concept of cybernetic implants, but it wasn't even mentioned. I totally get that there was a story to tell with one of the actual main characters of the series, but I still found it disappointing that there wasn't at least a throwaway line or two.

Anyway, my own personal hang-ups aside... the first two books deal with a gigantic ship and the thousands upon thousands of passengers that must be missing. Of course they do turn up and it isn't pleasant.

Book the third is mostly about 110 dealing with what happened to 111. It fleshes out a lot of Bynar society and culture which is interesting.

The fourth is part one of a two-parter; the second part is in the second omnibus edition. It has an interesting premise that comes from a TOS episode (I believe it's "The Tholian Web" but I'm not positive) involving a ship stuck in a rift between our universe and another.

SCE: Miracle Workers

This is the second anthology in the SCE series, it has ebooks 5-8.

I have read this before, but it was quite some time ago and I wanted a little refresher.

The first book is the second part of the last book in the first anthology, the one with the Tholians and the ship stuck in Interphase. After that there's three stand-alone books.

First off (or second really) they have to go get something from Empok Nor to fix DS9 so we get to see Nog. And Corsi and Fabe kinda get involved with each other, but not exactly.

The third book is set up a little differently, it's all about Sonya and a lot of it is told through her log entries while she's away on a mission by herself. And even though it isn't listed this way in the table of contents, it's actually two ebooks but they were smooshed together for the anthology version. Which makes sense.

Maximum Ride - Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports, by James Patterson

This would be the third book in the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson.

I'd say I had a similar reaction to the first two. It's a fun read, not very complex, but it isn't meant to be so that's ok. And besides, kids with wings? That's just kinda cool to contemplate.

This one does wrap up a number of the loose ends and I was assuming it was going to be the end of the series, but I just saw a posting on-line somewhere for a fourth book so I guess not!

My one complaint is the whole weird blogging/kid revolution thing. Yes, as a kid that would have appealed to me in a book and since this is aimed at "young adults" that makes sense. But, as a sort of grown up (and when exactly do I become a grown up? I sure don't feel like one most of the time!) it just seems kind of ridiculous. Yes, I blog and have for years and I do think it can do amazing things. But this went waaaaay beyond that. And without any "adults" involved. I just have a hard time believing a bunch of kids could go storm some military complex without any kind of guidance or planning or anything.

I know, it's a story, it's fantasy... and I have no problem accepting kids with wings! But when there's an element that brings me out of the story, I think that's a problem.

But mostly it's just a fun quick read!

Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer

Third in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer...

First off... same issues as I had with book the second... so I shan't rehash them here. I'll just do a little plot business for my own memory.

The bad guys from the first book are back and want revenge, so the vamps and the were have to defend Bella. Which involves them working together which they're programmed not to do.

And there's this whole "Bella has to choose" thing going on through most of it, which makes the above mentioned issues more annoying. The guy who's more believable and interesting is of course the one that she isn't being written to want. It's frustrating, the author is clearly capable of writing an interesting three-dimensional guy, so why aren't both guys written that way?

1632, by Eric Flint

This would be the first of the Assiti Shards series or the 1632 series or whatever you want to call it! And it's by Eric Flint.

I've looked at this one I don't know how many times and thought "I should read that, I bet I'd like it." And now that I've finally done so... I did indeed like it a lot! It has a similar feel to S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire series. Except instead of everything not working, it's an entire town that gets sent back in time. So the rules of physics haven't changed, but everything outside this one town has. So even though stuff works, there aren't going to be replacement parts coming, power is going to have to be generated somehow, and the people aren't exactly going to behave like we're all used to!

I did end up finding myself on wikipedia every other chapter or so because real historical people kept showing up and I wanted to know who they were and what actually happened. So I've learned things about the King of Norway and the war that was going on at the time and all kinds of interesting things!

Just like Dies the Fire this one had me doing the "what would I do?" thing while I was reading it. And even though stuff would still work in this universe, it freaked me out a bit more than Stirling's. I think it's the idea that there is absolutely nothing familiar left outside of your one little town.

It's an incredibly interesting book and idea and I'm very much looking forward to reading more in the series. I really liked watching the "natives" learn about American style democracy and equality and justice and all these ideas that we very much take for granted, but at that time would have been completely foreign and unthinkable.

And how do you prepare yourself for everything to break down? The modern technology is great and gives a huge advantage, but only for as long as it lasts. Sure, you could figure out how to make some things, but there'd be no way to make so many of the things that would eventually quit working.

So... very interesting and good book. Lots to think about, and I learned some history stuff that I never would have otherwise!