Book Reviews

This was a fun read.  Not your utopian view of the universe where all advanced races work together but the opposite, where how to serve your fellow beings is a cook book.  Yeah, there is a lot of interspecies barbequeing going on but they do have an interesting FTL drive and medical technology.  There is also very little description going on.  Just the plot.  I like that.  There are three more books in the same universe and I will have to try them.

Dave K

So far I've read the first three books in the series, a graphic novel, and a novella set in the same universe.  I suppose that says a lot about what I think of the writing.  I found the novella in the new books section of the library, read it, liked Butcher's style so started the series.  I'm getting book four in a few days.

If another author has thrown more obstacles at his protag I haven't read it.  Every page is a new problem for Harry, often of his own making.  So if you want an example of how to do that read one of these.

The second thing Butcher does well is writing a series.  There are a few continuing characters but others come and go.  The stories do conclude with each novel (so far) but there are unanswered questions to keep you coming back. 

The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss

Winner of the Quill Award

The author of this debut novel is the friend of a friend. She sent me The Name of the Wind as a surprise Christmas present. While this made me wary of reading it, the cover art and title were intriguing, and the jacket teaser really grabbed my attention. Although this book had an auspicious beginning, it became a page-turner unlike one I've read in years. I couldn't put it down. Now, we often say this about books, however, not only could I not put The Name of the Wind down, I began to snap at my wife when she interrupted my reading, became highly annoyed when I had to housework instead of reading, and didn't do anything else in my spare time until this book was finished. It grabbed a hold of my life and would not let go. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this is the first book in a series.

Ah, but what type of book is The Name of the Wind? It is a high fantasy. We follow the main character Kote, now an innkeeper, as he retells his past life, one he wants to so desperately leave behind, yet, of course, cannot. His past life steadily creeps back into his life as the Chandrian once again threaten the world. The characters engage the senses, the villains fill your veins with ice, and you wonder what trouble Kote will create next. All the standard fantasy tropes exist (mysterious women, good vs. evil, a gifted child, etc., although no elves and dwarves yet), yet Rothfuss weaves the intricate story masterfully, as if he's written many more novels, as if the wind is a part of him.

If you enjoy fantasy, this is one of the best fantasy books I have ever read.

Lastly, Rothfuss was also a winner of the Writers of the Future Contest (mentioned in the acknowledgments) of the book. Be inspired (and maybe a tad jealous!).

This is a collection of Man-Kzin war short stories set in the Known Universe created by Larry Niven but written by different authors. OK, there is one short story by Niven but that's all.

I like this universe and all the species in it and it all works even if written by different authors. There is one thing worth mentioning to a group of writers. Of of the authors, Hal Colebact is Australian and writes with a bit of an accent. In particular he uses the word lernt instead of learned. I was amazed how such a little thing would pop me out of the story. Anyway, good stories and good writing.

This is a Man-Kzin war novel in the Known Universe created by Larry Niven but written by a different author. From an interview I heard Niven doesn't like writing war stories so he opened the Man-Kzin era to other writers. I think he has to OK the concept of the story before it can be published.

This is a long novel. Very long, 963 pages. Some of that is used to explain the Kzin and there is a prologue written as a academic paper to explain the history a bit for those new to the Kzin story line. Without that and a lot of the (well done) info dumps throughout the novel this could have easily been reduced a couple of hundred pages. I took this along as pool side reading on our vacation. That was a mistake because 1) it is done well enough that I spent too much time reading it and 2) it is long enough that it took most of the vacation to get through.

Those two points sum up my review, good but too long. It is good so do buy it and read it when its length won't be a problem. Don't start it before a project deadline or finals.

Dave K

For those who don't know this is an anthology of the winners of the past years quarterly winners. It is free to enter and the author has to not have been professionally published. Check the web site - http://www.writersofthefuture.com/ for more details. On to the review.

It is not a bad collection, I read almost all the stories (I skipped one). A few ended before I understood what was happening but I did finish most of them. A few were good. I liked about half which is a good hit rate for me.

There are also a couple of pieces on writing and I can use any help in that area I can get. Probably the best use of the book is to show you what type of story the contest likes. If you are going to enter the contest, and why not it is free, you need to know what the judges like.

Dave K

You would think I would learn by now that Dozois and I have very different tastes but NOOOO.

I've read 13 of the 18 stories so far. I liked two. I will read he rest so stay tuned for an update. Most are of the category - did anything happen in the story? I checked the reviews on Amazon and they are split between my opinion and liking it.

* * *
I finished the stories, maybe two or three more that I liked.

Bottom line: if you like Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction: you will probably like this. I don't.

This is not SF. It is a story to be used as a basis for a video game. This is OSC's first techno-thriller.

It's a fast read. It's fairly well written but a bit preachy in parts. The idea - a civil war in modern America- is interesting. It's just not executed well. Either OSC is a big enough author that he doesn't get edited any more or they wanted to work on the game and he had a tight deadline. For those who think it right wing propaganda, it's hero is a military officer but so is one of the bad guys. I don't think it is any more right than the Forever War series by Halderman.

Bottom line: don't spend money on it, especially the hard cover but I did read the whole thing so it is not that bad. The library or a friend would be a good source.

This was a book by a Brit; "Simon" was the last name if I recall correctly. It's fantasy done private eye style. Two city guard captains (Hawk and Fisher, married) investigate fantastical crime scenes by using standard detective methods (clues, interrogation, logic, etc). It's a clever tweak on the traditional fantasy.

However, most of the time the characters just aren't very smart about their methods. I think this reflects more on the author not being very good writing detective fiction (characters are only as smart as their authors, thus why authors need to do significant study and research). I wanted to kick the characters for being slow and thinking like 14 year olds sometimes.

Still, I kept reading. I liked the characters. They were strong, honest characters with a sense of duty. These are always good role models (well, except the cracking skulls part, but it came with the tough job).

Was it worth reading? Yes. Was the writing good? Not really, passable maybe, but not good. This might be a good study of style juxtaposition, but don't taking it too seriously. It's pure pulp.

This is Mario Acevedo's first book and it is set in Denver so I had to get it. Overall I enjoyed it. It's a quick read. The MC is a recently converted vampire who now works as a Private Investigator. He relies on his vampire powers to get his job done but things go bad on this job. There is a major twist at the end but who doesn't do that these days. So if you need a quick fun read this qualifies.