The Tower and the Hive, by Anne McCaffrey
I adore Anne McCaffrey, but I'm all sad that this is the last book in the "Talent" series! I want there to be as many Talent books as there are Pern books!
Nothing horribly insightful about the book or anything, mostly just saying I read it, I enjoyed it, and I want more!
Death of Sleep, by Anne McCaffrey
This would be another Anne McCaffrey book. (Can you tell I like her?) My copy of it is actually in a three-in-one book that has two other books from the same series in it. Just finished part one last night. It's a tad drier than most of her books, but I still enjoyed it and read the whole thing in just slightly more than a week.
Right now I mostly want to start the second book 'cuz I want to know what happens to Lunzie! It's just not nice to end a book on a cliff-hanger!
Dinosaur Planet Survivors, by Anne McCaffrey
I just had to find out what happened to Lunzie in the last book I read. And of course I had the next one on my shelf just waiting for me. There is a book that goes before this one called "Dinosaur Planet" that starts near the end of The Death of Sleep and ends in the same spot. But as soon as I started it I realized I'd read it a while ago! So I happily skipped to the next book.
I think I really just have to echo what I said about the last book. It's a little drier than a lot of her books, but it's still a good read. It's like there's just enough to make me want to know more about the characters. Kinda frustrating!
Deathstalker Legacy (Owen Deathstalker), by Simon R. Green
This would be the sixth book in a decent length series by Simon R. Green. When I finished the fifth one it was supposed to be the last in the series, but then I was at the book store a year or so ago and found another one! Apparently the author changed his mind or something 'cuz now there's three more books in the series! Yay!
This one picks up about 200 years after the last one, so obviously there's a whole new set of characters to get to know. It's one of those wonderful books that's got a ton of pages (465 to be exact) but is also incredibly hard to put down. When I first picked it up I read the first 150 or so pages without even really thinking about it. I love that in a book. It's such a wonderful escape to be so totally engrossed in another world.
Deathstalker Return, by Simon R. Green
Another in the Deathstalker series by Simon R. Green. I sped through it just like I sped through the last one. I adore good books like that, but it's so frustrating when they're done! I know there's at least one more in this series, but it's only available in hardcover at the moment and that's just too expensive.
There's something about the "space opera" genre that I just love.
Blade Dancer (Stardoc), by S.L. Viehl
Yeah, so I haven't posted a new book in a while. I've been working my way through a non-fiction one that's taking a lot longer than I expected! I took a break the past week to read this one. I stopped at Borders the other day because I felt in the need for a couple new books. I was extremely excited to find two new ones by S.L. Viehl. I blazed through her Stardoc series a while back and thoroughly enjoyed it. Her aliens are more alien than any I've ever read before. They're so much more than "humans with different makeup" like most are. This time there's lots of half-alien/half-Terrans.
This one isn't really part of the Stardoc series, but it does take place in the same universe so there's bits here and there that are familiar. There's a new heroine with a whole new set of problems. The Jorenians feature prominently which I liked since they were such a huge part of the Stardoc story.
This is another one by S.L. Viehl. Just like Blade Dancer it's in the same universe, but has different characters. The main species in this one are the 'Zangians who are aquatic. The whole idea of pods and a lack of property and a quite pragmatic view of life/injury/death. It's a very different way of looking at the world, from the perspective of a dolphin-person. Lots of inter-species stuff too, I love the way Viehl writes aliens! And I have to say, I was quite attached to the main character by the end of the book.
SCE: Some Assembly Required, by
Well, I've certainly been on a sci-fi reading kick lately! This is book three in the "Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers" series. They're really fun books. They all started out as e-books, and each of the paperback versions has three or four e-books in it. The various stories all reference each other which I really like. Every now and then a character from one of the tv shows will show up, but for the most part they're all book-only characters. There's some really interesting one's too! A couple of the stories in this book focused on just a few of the characters and that was really nice. Kind of like a "Geordi episode" or a "Data episode".
There's really not a ton to say about it besides, it's Star Trek! And I'm a Trekkie!
It's amazing how much reading a person can do when they're stuck in airplanes and airports all day! I'm going to have to read something that's not Star Trek at some point I think. 
So today I had some more adventures with the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. There were earthquakes, plagues, a prison break, and a crazy computer!
Yeah, not much else to say about it. It's Star Trek, it's fun, it's great airplane reading!
Fall of Winter, by Jack C. Haldeman II
This is what happens when I read multiple books at the same time! I finish them near each other!
This one is by Jack C. Haldeman and I found out about it ages ago and have had on my Amazon list for quite a while. It's also been out of print for a number of years; I finally bought a used copy and now I've finished reading it and here we are!
The interesting thing about this book (and the reason I was interested in it) is that it had a main character who's deaf. Not the main character, but one of them. The guy is a space pilot and all pilots are deaf. Some are Deaf, but mostly the pilots have their auditory nerves removed when they finish training. It's really interesting, 'cuz there's this whole elite group of people that are needed for the civilization, but that same group in our world tends to be marginalized.
There's also a great big conspiracy and terraforming and class issues and a little romance too.
This is the latest in the Stardoc series by S.L. Viehl.
This one made me sad. It took me forever to figure out which character was Cherijo, and after it became clear it hurt that she was so destroyed. I'm really, really hoping that Viehl somehow figures out a way to "fix" her in future books. 'cuz I don't like a broken Cherijo! I like the kick-butt Cherijo that we all know and love.
The Disappeared: A Retrieval Artist Novel, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
I actually finished this a couple days ago, I just hadn't gotten around to posting it! Working the morning show and being half-consious will do that to a person
Anyway, this is a completely new author/series for me. It's by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (she spells Kathryn right!) and I stumbled across it at Borders a few weeks ago and it looked interesting so I picked it up. It's the first in the "Retrieval Artists" series so I now have a whole 'nother bunch of books to read. Always a good thing. The premise is that there is a kind of witness protection program for humans who are trying to escape from alien cops/bounty hunters. There's a number of companies that do the "disappearing" and something odd is going on with one company in particular. The catch is that it's technically illegal to disappear because the interspecies laws say that the aliens have a right to these people. I'm not going to say any more because that's going to give away major plot points!
Just the procedural aspects of the legal system are quite fascinating. And I quite enjoyed the characters too! It had me interested from the first chapter and that always makes me happy. I like when a book can engage me right away like that.
Dies the Fire, by S.M. Stirling
I'm back in my favorite genre with this one by S.M. Stirling, whom I thought was a woman until a couple days ago! I'm not sure why, but I've read previous books by this author and I'd always assumed it was a woman. But this book has an author picture in the back and he's a guy! I have no idea why I thought S.M. Stirling was a woman, but I did.
Anyway! I was wandering around Borders a few weeks ago and picked up this book and it looked really interesting. So it came home with me! (It's really amazing how those books keep sneaking into my "to be purchased" pile...) At any rate, I haven't read anything quite like this before. The basic idea is that all of a sudden electricity stops working. All over the planet. Poof. Gone. And it isn't just electricity, all types of engines quit, gunpowder doesn't even work right anymore.
Once I started really getting into the plot and characters it started making me think. What would I do in that situation? How would I survive? I love books that get you to do that.
My only issue is that it tends to have a Christians=BAAAAAD bend to it. And yes I know that there's horrible people out there that call themselves Christians, but it's incredibly frustrating when the only characters that are identified as Christians are nasty people. There's other people that are "good guys" that are "lapsed Lutherans" or are converting to Wicca. It leaves you with the idea that a strong Christian faith is a bad thing. There's no reason there couldn't have also been decent people who were identified as Christians to balance it out. Very irritating! Luckily it's a fairly small part of the plot!
So for the most part I really liked it and am looking forward to the next one in the series!
Deathstalker Coda, by Simon R. Green
This is the last in the Deathstalker series by Simon R. Green. *sniff*
I've really enjoyed this series and didn't want it to end at all. I don't really have anything to add to what I've said about this series before, just that I'm sad that this is the last one.
The Protector's War, by S.M. Stirling
This is the second in a series by S.M. Stirling, the first being Dies the Fire.
I know it got a number of crummy reviews on Amazon, but I liked it. Yeah, there isn't exactly a war like the title says, more of the buildup to it. I'm assuming that'll happen in the next book (I'm waiting eagerly for the paperback edition so I can get it, I want to know what happens next!)
I think the time jumps about 5 years from the end of the first book, so civilization is a little bit further along; we get to learn about some of the rest of the world, which is nice. Plus it's quite lengthy and I'm always a fan of a well written brick!
Extremes: A Retrieval Artist Novel, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
This would be the second book in the Retrieval Artists Series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the first was The Disappeared. For whatever reason, this one is out of print and I had to order it from a seller on Amazon. No idea what that's about since the book before and the ones after are still in print. And it's not like it was a bad book or something either! I quite enjoyed it. Lots of character development stuff happened for the main character and his former partner.
This one centers around a murder at the moon marathon and the possible involvement of a Disappeared in that and the following events. (about which I shan't go into detail so as not to ruin it for anyone who happens across this!)
I'm planning to go get number three in the series at Borders tomorrow. I'm home on vacation and I need another book!
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
This is the first book I've read by Neal Stephenson. It's one of those iconic sci-fi books that people talk about. I first heard about it while I was reading some Heroes boards; a number of people were comparing the Hiro in the TV show to the Hiro in the book. Other than the name and the sword carrying I'm personally not sure there's a ton of common ground.
I found it kind of interesting, but it took me quite a while to get into it at all. At least the first half just felt like a chore. It did get more engaging eventually, but it took a while. I think it had more to do with the writing style than anything, a lot of it felt really disjointed.
A lot of the ideas in it are interesting (and a little scary!) Corporations are basically in charge of everything, there's no laws to speak of... there doesn't seem to be much in the way of personal connections. The "internet" in the book seems really nifty though! It's the 3-D, avatars, virtual reality version that movies frequently use.
It was an interesting book and I'm glad I read it, there's a lot of movies and things that I can see got some of their inspiration from it, and that's always nifty to see. But I'm not sure I'll read anything else by the author for a while.
Changelings (The Twins of Petaybee, Book 1), by Anne McCaffrey
This follows after the Petaybee books by Anne McCaffrey. (Powers That Be, Power Lines, Power Play) It focuses more on the twins than the adults as they grow up. There's a lot of them trying to be more independent, but they also have to figure out who they can trust with their true natures.
I think I'd be hard pressed to find an Anne McCaffrey book that I didn't like and this one is no exception. I love the universes she creates.
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment, by James Patterson
This is what happens when I go home on vacation... I bring multiple books because I know I'll read a lot while I'm home. And then I don't read what I brought, I buy something new and read that. And have to fit the extra books into my suitcase on the way back.
Anyway! This is by James Patterson and is one of those "young adult" books that are wonderful guilty pleasure reading. We have kids that have been genetically messed with to have wings. They've escaped from the scientists and are on their own, but of course the bad guys hunt them down and they have to escape again. Yes, it's predictable, but I wasn't looking for difficult reading with this one.
It's fun fantasy reading, and I'm a total sucker for stories about people with special abilities/super powers.
Maximum Ride: School's Out - Forever, by James Patterson
The second book in this series by James Patterson. The second one picks up pretty much exactly where the first one left off, which is a great way to get you to buy the next book, I have to say!
There's a lot more of the conspiracy and destiny stuff in this one. What I said about the first one holds for this as well. It's fun light reading.
Really the only thing that bugged me was the Ari character. I know, these are kids with wings, I shouldn't expect reality, but the Ari stuff really rang false to me.
Ghost In The Shell - Stand Alone Complex Volume 1: The Lost Memory, by Junichi Fujisaku
I've been watching the Ghost in the Shell anime on Adult Swim lately and enjoying it quite a bit. I know it's originally a manga, but I've never been able to get in to those. But there's at least a couple actual books set in that universe and this is the first one.
The world they're set in has a very Matrix feel to it (I think the Matrix guys used GitS as one of their inspirations so that makes sense), the main character is essentially a brain inside an artificial body. Just about everyone is hooked up to a version of the internet, and people can be "hacked" though it.
It's a Japanese series so there's a lot of subtle differences in cultural priorities, what's acceptable behavior, what a person's goal in life should be... it's really interesting.
The story in this one has to do with teenagers that are becoming terrorists without any warning.
This is the first of the "Blood Books" by Tanya Huff.
I found out about this series in a slightly roundabout way. I've been watching Moonlight on CBS and in the forums for it on TWoP someone mentioned Blood Ties which is airing on Lifetime, and that that series is based on a book series. So of course I ended up at Borders since I like to read something before I watch it. (Over the weekend I watched most of the episodes of it that have aired so far and it's quite good)
So we have a former cop that is now a PI (she has retinitis pigmentosa and couldn't continue as a cop), her former partner/lover, and the illegitimate son of Henry VIII (who is a vampire). The story itself involves demons.
I think I finished this in all of about two days. Yes, I'm predisposed to like the mortal/immortal dynamic, but it's a really good story and well written and it was one of those books that I couldn't put down.
What I find absolutely fascinating about the book is that Henry (the vampire) is Catholic, he has a soul, he prays. It's pretty common to have books about supernatural stuff that just has evil vs. humans. And "good" vampires are only good because they deny their vampy ways. But this one is different. Yes, he's a vampire and he enjoys what he is, but he isn't evil.
slightly spoilery bit is next, quit reading now if you don't want to know...
There's a part where the demon is starting to come through and Henry prays and the demon is pushed back. There's an acknowledgment of the supernatural that is good. And that the good is just as powerful as the bad. It's just not something that's seen very often in the genre and I'm loving it.
This is book number 2 in the Blood Books series by Tanya Huff. Yes I read it in one day.
Clearly I'm enjoying this series, but there's only 5 of them and that makes me sad! But they're very re-readable so that's good.
The story in this one involves a family of werewolves and someone is hunting them. The family dynamic is very different than a human family (obviously!) but they're essentially a close-knit family that just wants to be safe. And ya know, turn into big dog/wolf/wer things.
The Henry/Vicki relationship moves quite a bit forward in this book. And the relationship Mike has with both of them changes. The scene when Mike is going to the farm to confront the two of them seriously had me laughing out loud at work.
This is number three in the Blood Book series by Tanya Huff.
Well, I managed to get this one to last about three days which is progress of a sort! I'm just glad these are all very re-readable or else I'd be very very sad, instead of just normal sad.
The Big Bad in this one is a mummy, sort of. And no that's not a spoiler, it's on the back cover of the book.
There's a lot of Henry's emotional insecurities and fears in this one which hadn't really been in the first two very much. He's not quite the invulnerable vampire he'd like everyone to believe. There's also more religion stuff in this one which I think is really interesting. There's a kind of struggle between ancient Egyptian gods and Henry and his belief in the One True God.
I know I talked about it before with the first book, but I find the author's treatment of religion incredibly refreshing. I'm such a sci-fi junky that most of what I read completely dismisses my own religious beliefs and while I have no idea what the author's personal beliefs are, she treats them with respect and I really appreciate that. It's such a rare thing to find.
And we have arrived at book number four in the Blood Book series by Tanya Huff.
This one didn't have a supernatural bad guy, but the human bad guys were plenty bad!
I'm having a slightly harder time coming up with something to write about this one. I bawled my way through the last 50 pages or so and I'm just kind of emotionally drained. I know there's another full book and a collection of short stories still, but I'm just not ready to read them yet. I don't think I'm ready to have everything be so different (as it will have to be because of what happened in #4).
Anyway.
There's a lot of Henry/Mike interaction in this one which is a very different dynamic than the Mike/Vicki & Henry/Vicki that's in the first three.
And now I'm going to read something completely different. I'm sure it won't be long until I finish the series, but just not quite yet.
A Sea of Troubles, by Steven and Christina York
A couple weeks ago I bought Sony's ebook reader and I'm completely in love with it. This is the first full book I read on it. Actually finished this at least a week ago, but I completely forgot to write an entry for it.
So! This is the first in a 6 part series of Next Gen books that bridge Generations and First Contact. At the moment they're only available as ebooks, but the SCE ones are released as paperbacks so I'm assuming these will be eventually as well. This one is by Steven and Christina York.
There's a changeling infiltrator and there's interesting stuff with Data and his emotion chip (which is a new thing for him at the time this is set)
The Oppressor's Wrong, by Phaedra Weldon
The second book in the Slings and Arrows Next Gen series... this one is by Phaedra Weldon.
I finished it a few days ago, but was was a bit forget-full with the posting thing.
This one is a bit more on the political intrigue side. At the time these are set the Dominion War is going on which of course breeds a lot of paranoia and fear because of the nature of the enemy.
I find short stories a little bit odd when they involved characters that you're used to seeing in full books. The stories are never as intricate, there isn't as much involved. They're fun, but they don't really capture me the way a real book will. There just isn't as much meat.
I did really like the Henry past stories, I always like finding out more about him and what he's been doing for 450 some years!
***If you haven't read book 4 stop reading now!***
Mostly it's just really odd not having Henry and Vicki together. I know they talk on the phone and stuff, but it just isn't the same. It makes me kinda sad.
At All Costs (Honor Harrington), by David Weber
This one is the latest in the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. I'm sure I've said it before, but I love this series. It has that whole epic/military sci-fi/space opera thing going on.
There's a lot of rather... unconventional things going on in Honor's personal life, and of course being who she is that causes all kinds of drama. The scope of the military stuff becomes insanly huge, which kind of scares me as far as the future of the story goes. The numbers of people involved is rather overwhelming.
And of course I made it the end of the book when I was at work and only had a few pages left and only a few minutes until I had to put it down... and I was crying. The way Weber ends it is really beautiful, but incredibly heart-breaking at the same time.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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?
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!
Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2), by Jim Butcher
And here we hav
