Sunidesus Reads

Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2), by Jim Butcher

And here we have the second Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher.

This one involves werewolves, and more than one kind of them at that! And each kind has their own rules of course. I have no idea how much of these are based on folklore and how much is from Mr. Butcher's head. It seems each author changes the rules slightly for all the various paranormal creatures. Which makes sense. They aren't real after all!

And I've now been staring at the screen for a good ten minutes trying to come up with something to say. It probably doesn't help that I'm writing this a good month after I finished the book. (The date on the post is when I finished it, I just held off on the actual publishing of said post until I wrote something and it's now a month later than that there date)

So yeah, werewolves, mob boss, general bad stuff, Murph getting mad at Dresden... all that.

The Ship Who Sang, by Anne McCaffrey

I'm not going to do a big long thing for this one. It's the first in the "Ship Who" series by Anne McCaffrey. I've read it a number of times, but I was in the mood for this series so here it is!

This one is about Helva (she is the Ship Who Sings naturally), and it's more a collection of novella/short stories than one novel.

Forests of the Night, by S. Andrew Swann

I've read this before, but I felt like reading it again so here it is! It's by S. Andrew Swann and there's three more books in the series.

The whole idea is that genetic engineering became a reality, and of course the military wanted to create soldiers. But messing around with humans was off limits, so animals were made intelligent and changed so that they could be the soldiers. The wars are basically over now, but there's still all of these creatures left (They're called "moreau"s as in The Island of Dr.) who have to somehow be integrated into society.

Mr. Main Character (Nohar) is a tiger, but there's rabbits, foxes, bears, a mongoose, rats, dogs... all kinds of interesting people/animals. And they all have to somehow live with the humans. Which obviously creates some problems. I find all those little things really interesting. Like not wanting to wear clothes, having issues with one's tail falling asleep 'cuz you have to sit in a chair made for a human, instincts that are fine in the jungle, but maybe not so great downtown or dealing with clients.

As far as plot stuff... Nohar is a PI and gets asked to look into the death of a politician. And of course things rapidly go downhill.

PartnerShip, by Anne McCaffrey

I've been in the mood for re-reading very much loved books lately... this is the second in the Ship series by Anne McCaffrey.

I find the "shell-people" concept incredibly interesting. These people that are incredibly powerful and yet incredibly helpless at the same time.

Anyway! This one features Nancia as the brain, and then the group of Family brats that she transports on her first assignment after she graduates and gets her ship. It follows the lot of them and bounces between them all for a few years to tell the whole story of what happens and how it all interconnects.

Unlike Helva from the first book, Nancia does know who her family is and she stays connected to them. I like that difference, I think it keeps her more human. A lot of the story is about her growing up and learning how to make decisions for herself.

The Ship Who Searched, by Anne McCaffrey

And continuing my re-reading kick... another in the Ship series by Anne McCaffrey.

The brain in this one is Tia and this time there's a consistent brawn too, Alex.

Tia is quite a bit different than the other brains in the series so far (and after for that matter) in that she's 7 or 8 (I don't remember exactly without looking it up) before she becomes a shell-person. And it takes some significant doing by a doctor and another shell-person to get her in the program in the first place.

Once she's ensconsed in her ship, the searching refers to her attempt to find out what made her sick (forcing the whole shell thing) and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.

Wizard's Holiday, by Diane Duane

Number 7 in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane...

I read the first six books in this series quite a while ago and it was a lovely little surprise to find two more.

In this one Nita and Kit go on a sort of wizard foreign exchange program which is supposed to be a bit of a holiday for them and of course isn't. They have to help an ancient race of people from becoming completely stagnant.

And Nita's sister is at home and there are wizards staying with them as part of the program and while they're there they discover that there is something seriously wrong with the sun and they have to fix it.

The City Who Fought, by Anne McCaffrey

More re-reading... This is maybe my favorite of the Ship series by Anne McCaffrey.

I really like Simeon. And the name of his brawn is totally escaping me just at the moment! Oh well.

Anyway, this time the brain is a station manager so there's lots more regular people around instead of just the brawn. He gets to be a father which is cool.

There's lots near the end of the book that's just heart-wrenching though. The whole thing with him getting taken out of his column is just scary, but what gets me every time I read this is what he does to get Amos to take care of his brawn since he can't. He very clearly wants to, but isn't physically able.

The Ship Who Won, by Anne McCaffrey

Continuing the re-reading... as is probably obvious from the title, this is part of Anne McCaffrey's Ship series.

The brain is Cari and the brawn Keff. They have a wonderful relationship that is just really fun to watch. She's the princess and he's her knight and they have this whole pretend thing going on between them all the time.

They work for a different organization or part of the government or something than most of the rest of the ships in the series. So instead of getting sent on errand type missions they're explorers and go out looking for new planets and sentient species.

Of course they find a couple and nothing is as it seems and they have to figure it all out. And there's frog princes and magicians and it all fits with the way they interact with each other.

I just really like the relationship in this one. She's always wanting to keep him safe and he wants to go on "quests" for her.

Jumper, by Steven Gould

This is the first Jumper book by Steven Gould. There's two more at the moment, but I'm really really hoping he'll write more!

The movie that's out right now is loosley based on this book, but I always like to read books before seeing the movies and since I want to see the movie I needed to read the book! I ended up liking the book a lot. (and still haven't gotten around to seeing the movie)

The basic idea is that this teenager figures out that he has the ability to "jump" anywhere that he has been before and can remember well enough. He has a pretty crappy home life so he starts by running away and living on his own. And then he has to figure out how to have relationships with people and do more than just jump from place to place without getting hurt or endangering the people he cares about.

On the surface it's such a cool fantasy, such a cool ability to have and just imagine what you could do! Just go somewhere once and then you can go back whenever you want and not have to worry about the time it would take to get there or the expense. But once people start finding out what you can do... things are going to get dangerous. I can't imagine a government agency that wouldn't want to somehow lock that person up either to use them or so they wouldn't be a threat.

I very much love the Aerie that he builds himself. A peaceful place, far away from people that only he can get to. I would love to have a place like that. And he loads the places with shelves and shelves full of books and I kinda have a thing for books so that just makes it even better.

Reflex (Jumper)

This is the second "Jumper" book by Steven Gould. It takes place a little more than 10 years after the first book.

I had an incredibly hard time reading this, but at the same time I had to keep reading it because I wanted to get past what was happening. I ended up reading it in maybe a day and a half since I wanted to get Davy out of where he was. There were huge chunks that I just cried through because the bad guys were doing such horrible things to him.

Which isn't to say it's a bad book, it's not. I wouldn't have cared what was happening to him if it were a bad book!

I very much hope that there'll be more books with Davy and Millie, I like them a lot and I want to know what happens to them. But I'd really like them to be happy! I realize you need some kind of conflict or there's no plot, but maybe something not quite so extreme next time?

Old Man's War, by John Scalzi

Scalzi is a new author for me and I quite like him. If I'm remembering correctly this book was originally offered as a serial on his blog I believe and got enough good word of mouth that a publisher picked it up. Very cool.

In the acknowledgements he says he was influenced by Heinlein quite a bit which is fairly obvious in reading the book. And he uses sci-fi author names within the story as place/people/thing names which is kinda fun. Like a little game of "spot the reference."

So, the general idea is that there are colonies on other planets that need to be protected. But the colonies are doing all they can just to survive in hostile environments so they need a military force. Which is recruited from the retired populations of Earth. All the people know when they sign up is that they will somehow be made healthy/young/fit/something and will be able to be soldiers. Of course it isn't quite as simple as they all think, but you knew that already.

There's a very similar tone to Starship Troopers and it's very much that these people are fighting for their buddies and not really for any government.

And then there's the Ghost Brigades... who weren't quite people to begin with and start out with adult bodies. So there's these elite soldiers that are emotionally toddlers. The interactions are rather interesting to say the least!

I quite enjoyed the writing style too, I can't quite figure out the exact word I want to describe it... kind of irreverant I guess. Not quite as formal maybe. I don't think I'd want everything I read to be written this way, but it's a nice change now and then.

The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi

This is the follow up to John Scalzi's Old Man's War.

This time we find out a ton more about the Ghost Brigades and how they work and how they're different from the "regular" soldiers (who aren't really all that normal themselves). There's quite a bit about what kind of rights they have or should have. They're created people and on paper they have the same rights as more conventionally created folk, but in practice they're almost slaves. Doing what they're told because it's what they're supposed to do. How can they make decisions about what they want for their future if this one life is all they've ever known?

We also find out more about Jane and what's happened to her since the end of the last book. And there's the always slightly odd bits about the generals being teenagers because of the nature of who they are. (and I mean odd-good, not odd-bad)

The naming convention for the soldiers is another fun little game (at least I think it is) except the characters are aware of it so they talk about it some too, it isn't just the reader noticing this time.

Pegasus in Flight, by Anne McCaffrey

Well I've clearly been in an Anne McCaffrey mood lately!

This is number two in the Pegasus/Talent series. They go before the Hive/Talent series. There aren't overlapping characters between the two series, but they are very much related sets of books!

I love this book, but then I really enjoy most of McCaffrey's books. I think the Talent series and the Ship series are maybe my two favorites of hers. Of course I'll probably start re-reading Pern soon and decide that's my favorite. Except that I know I've re-read the Talent and Ship series many more times than I've re-read Pern so maybe not.

Anyway! This is the book where we meet Peter who is the one who figures out how to use gestalt. The other plot-lines belong to Tirla and the children trafficking, and Rhyssa et al dealing with the space station.

I just love contemplating the idea of telepathy and telekinesis and all that. It's just so cool!

Jumper: Griffin's Story, by Steven Gould

This is the third in the Jumper series by Steven Gould, it's the backstory of one of the characters in the movie.

This one didn't make me quite as upset as Reflex did, but it had its moments! I just felt so incredibly bad for the kid. He's so little and he's having to deal with stuff that no one ever should. The bad guys are so ruthless in pursuing their goals and it makes my heart break every time someone close to him gets hurt.

I still haven't seen the movie, but I did read a couple reviews that complained that certain things weren't really explained. I think some of that does get explained in the book, at least to an extent. But not having seen the movie I obviously can't be sure.

I do hope that there'll be more books though! I really like these even if they do have parts that make me cry. But I figure an author that can make me care about a character enough to get emotional when stuff happens to them is a very talented person!