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Friday, December 24, 2021

The Key of Ahknaton by Graeme Rodaughan ★★★★★

the left side is a pawn with the shadow of a queen reading dream the impossible dream the right side is a profile of selene from underworld with a full moon backdrop
If Chloe is your favorite character this one’s for you.  Even if she isn’t, prologue aside, this is the best book Graeme has written.   The factions, the surprises, the violence, the body count - good times.  

Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Engineering Infinity

An orange and tan image of the Stargate Pyramid in a valley of sand with the caption From Russian with Love
Laika’s Ghost by Karl Schroeder ★★★★½ 
When an American finds evidence of a Russian pyramid on Mars he is hunted down by Google and other geopolitical entities.  Declining American witness protection he flees to Russia.  This proves to be a great decision because a small group of online patriots have been creating a new hope for Russia, and possibly the world.

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Come With Me by Ronald Malfi ★★★☆☆

When Aaron Decker loses his wife to a spree shooter he inherits her secrets, her obsession:  Allison had been hunting a serial killer.  

It felt like a dramatized version of Patton Oswalt’s life, but the epilogue indicates the author had more personal motives. 

I would like to say this was an exciting, or scary, story but it wasn’t.  Really, is there anything more boring, and depressing, than a serial killer targeting young women?

The epilogue gave him sympathy points otherwise it would have been an angry two stars.

Monday, November 29, 2021

Across the Void by S.K. Vaughn ★☆☆☆☆

Dominique Tipper in her Expanse look with space flying around her with a caption reading The Most Dislikable Brit in Space
Oh this was bad.

The way it was marketed I expected Interstellar, with a dash of 2010, and enough romance to bring me to tears. It was none of those things.

The Puppet Show (Washington Poe #1) by M.W. Craven ★★★★★

Photos of Richard Armitage and Renee Felice Smith with the caption Poe & Tilly Fiction's Best New Crime Fighters
“This wasn’t about justice, Poe. It was never about justice.” 


ALL THE STARS!!!


You dark twisty bitch of a book! I love you! So many threads to neatly bring together, so much mystery and pain, to burn. 

Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz ★★★★☆

A shadow silhouette of Bond pointing a gun in blue and gray with the words Death Was Now His Business superimposed

What I loved 

Fat gay bad guy!

Sixteen - the strong, intelligent, violent female spy.

The most vicious, effective, and soul-sucking potential Bond death. Any man, hell any person, would have gladly jumped in a shark tank.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp #3) by Vince Flynn ★★★★★

One soldier is pictured with a gun as the white house burns in front of his with a helicopter at the top right and a superimposed american flag at the bottom right corner
“Nothing else mattered, especially not the political operative who had brought this snake into the White House.” 

Better than Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down combined is the original, and politically damning, Vince Flynn version, Transfer of Power. These books are my new obsession. It’s 3:30 in the morning and I was suppose to wake up at 4:30 - I blame you for this Flynn! 

Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp #2) by Vince Flynn ★★★★★

A grey on grey painting of an assassin in Paris
Mitch Rapp is back! It’s just one more kill, a Libyan oil minister with a dark past, but now Rapp has gone from hunter to hunted. Who can he trust? Lone gunman are often just that - alone. Multiple international interests, action, violence, sex, betrayal - this felt like the best of old Clancy (maybe better). 

Monday, November 15, 2021

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Black and White Photograph of an old Covered Bridge
"She had wanted to find some trouble, and the Shorter Way Bridge had never steered her wrong." 


This is my first Joe Hill and I ate it up. Kate Mulgrew read this audiobook into a page turner, I haven't gone through a thousand pages this quickly ever! Even The Stand and Pillars of the Earth took over a week. 

Galactic Empires

Oscar Isaacs in his Dune look with the caption He Never Learned How to Lose
Firstborn by Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★★ 
Yes, six stars.  With shades of Ender’s Game and Gemini Man this was the best science fiction short I’ve ever read.  A full story and good glimpse into an imperial world on knife’s edge. Riveted!

Friday, November 12, 2021

Betrayal in Death (In Death #12) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Gaming image of the assassin from Hitman
Someone has sent an assassin to kill off Roarke’s people, one silver wire garrote at a time. 

Well, Eve’s not going to stand for that.

Judgment in Death (In Death #11) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Jaime Alexander looking stressed with a gun pointed a leather jacket with the caption I don't want to harm you
Someone’s killing cops and Eve has to face the gut churning fear... that it’s another cop.

Witness in Death (In Death #10) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Red theater curtains with the caption Theater Was Created To Tell The Truth About Life
Is there anything trickier than interviewing actors, than trying to find the truth in those whose profession is to embody a lie? 

Loyalty in Death (In Death #9) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Photograph of the New York skyline prominently featuring Lady Liberty
An old terrorist organization has come back from the dead to threaten New York.

Conspiracy in Death (In Death #8) by J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆

Comic style painting of crazy surgeon with stars in his eyes
Street people are turning up dead with their organs missing. Why would anyone want damaged organs? 

Midnight in Death (In Death #7.5) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Close up half face photograph of a bruised Evan Peters with the captions I'm Not Crazy
David Palmer has escaped! The worst serial killer that Eve ever brought down is back and looking for vengeance.

Holiday in Death (In Death #7) by J.D. Robb ★★★☆☆

Jack Nicolas in The Shining as Santa the caption reads I've Bee Naughty
It’s Eve & Roarkes first family Christmas. They are decorating trees, throwing a party, and learning what it’s like to be happy and normal.

But someone else is celebrating Christmas by dressing up as Santa and killing people violently.

Vengeance in Death (In Death #6) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Paul Bettany in his psycho priest look with the caption He Prayed For Grace, and Prepared for Murder
Someone is killing old friends of Roarkes and calling it holy vengeance. It’s up to Eve to hunt them down but first she has to face the man her husband was, the terror of the dark streets of Dublin.

Worlds Seen in Passing: Ten Years of Tor.com Short Fiction

A witch casting a spell with the caption Bones Do Not Lie
These Deathless Bones by Cassandra Khaw ★★★★★ 

Prince Joffrey’s witchy step-mother has officially given her last fuck.  It was hard to read, even briefly, about this waste-of-space prince, but it made watching his bones crawl all the more satisfying.

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Wounds: Six Stories From the Border of Hell by Nathan Ballingrud

A dark Goya style oil painting of the misery of Hell with a caption reading Each Sobbing Plea or Groan of Pain a Supplication to Their Lord Their Bleeding Bodies Were His Portrait Their Wailing Throats His Opening Eye
The Butcher’s Table by Nathan Ballingrud ★★★★★ 
Hideous beauty, confronting and objectionable grace - everything I ever wanted from Clive Barker.  

Friday, November 5, 2021

Blue Remembered Earth (Poseidon's Children #1) by Alastair Reynolds ★★★★★

Whales swimming in space with the planet below and moons around them with the caption The Panspermian Imperative: To Assist in the Proliferation of all Living Organisms into Deep Space

Un-for-gett-able. 

A new millennium foundation work of solarpunk and afrofuturism.  It’s hard to believe this has not been snapped up and made into a series.  Fools! 

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Space ship with a planet behind with ominous lightning the caption says Infinite Space Infinite Terror
The Jaunt
★★★★½
 
I was wondering about the sweet family trip to Mars, but then the story had a stopover in Providence and I knew where we were going :)

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Vermilion: The Adventures of Lou Merriwether, Psychopomp by Molly Tanzer ★★★★★

Attractive asian man/gender neutral person in lovely steampunk clothing
"I’m very glad to have met you. I never knew there was anyone like you in the whole world." 

I loved this book. 

Anything this unique makes description difficult but here goes: Early Anita Blake set in an unfamiliar paranormal post Civil War America with a je ne sais quoi of The Sky Is Yours.

The Sky Is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith ★★★★☆

Dragon in the sky being gazed at in the sunset
"From below, the dragon does not resemble a living thing. It is an oppression, a ceiling on the world." 

Ceremony In Death (In Death #5) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Dark priestess breathing out dark smoke
“I am a high priestess of the dark lord. Our numbers are legion, and I have powers that would make you weep.” 

Rapture in Death (In Death #4) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

A pencil sketch of an exhausted girl with smoke lines coming from her head saying You Can't Escape from Your Own Mind

Eve Dallas keeps coming across suicides with big smiles on their faces. Everything and everyone is telling her they’re just self-terminations but Lieutenant Dallas will not let it go!

Immortal in Death (In Death #3) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

a multicolored rose in a gold hand sized case on a wood table
The fatal gift of beauty. 
-Byron 

A drug that combines ecstasy, cocaine, steroids, and skin rejuvenation is hitting the fashion industry. Just because the side effects are deadly doesn’t mean models won’t kill for it.

Glory in Death (In Death #2) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Someone in New York is slitting throats for ratings and it’s up to Detective Eve Dallas to put him away... even if it means stepping on her friends toes.

Naked in Death (In Death #1) by J.D. Robb ★★★★☆

Black and white photos of Jaime Alexander and Justin Hartley with the caption Eve and Roarke
Just as good as my first read if not better on audiobook. If you like romantic suspense/police procedurals/who-done-its, do not hesitate to pick this up. 

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future

Image of black female scientist in yellow with the caption Science Builds the Future
Girl In Wave: Wave In Girl by Kathleen Ann Goonan ★★★★★ “Unlike earlier children, we have a new power. With the invisible power of literacy we can put ourselves in the place of others... We are far too addicted to the joy of learning and life to have time to contemplate the destruction of others.” 

Brilliant! Through individualized teaching methods, and minor nanobiotechnical assistance, all children are able to read and learn with an ease previously known to few. 

By empowering children, giving them the space and freedom to learn, they build, and pass on, a better world. 

It reminded me of Vegan Stories. Children have good moral instincts about what’s wrong but we acculturate them to accept degrees of violence: adulteration.

The excellent notes section after the story pointed out that, “In 1963, Finland made a decision to make education its number one economic priority, and the highly effective educational system that emerged is the result.” 

So now I have to read Finnish Lessons 2.0 and contemplate moving there. 

Dark Sky (Keiko #2) by Mike Brooks ★★☆☆☆

Yellow and black SciFi scene of a man with a gun under a space ship in the rain
Drift shrugged. “I’ve made a career out of never quite being killed by everything around me going wrong.” 
Plenty went wrong. 

Dark Run (Keiko #1) by Mike Brooks ★★★☆☆

Painting of an young asian woman piloting a space ship looking back over her shoulder glaring at her passengers
"Buckle up, everyone. Jia’s taking us down ahead of schedule, and incidentally has lost her fucking mind."

"I heard that."

"You were meant to." 

Friday, October 29, 2021

Treasure of the Abyss (The Kraken #1) by Tiffany Roberts ★★★★☆

Collage of romance in the water and a kraken with the caption Treasure of the Deep
Reread - This is exactly what the day needed, some kraken fun.

Merfolk May is Kraken Awesome!

Hold (Hold #1) by Claire Kent ★★★★☆

a collage that says Prison Lust with a still from the Chronicles of Riddick
Exactly as advertised! Hot intergalactic hetero prison sex smut with an HEA; on the food pyramid this would be a doughnut.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton ★★★★★


Clue meets Dark Matter.
 

Damn but this was good. Seven Deaths was the smartest murder mystery I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. An incomparable masterwork of the Who-Done-It genre.

The Dragon's Den: The Metaframe War: Book 3 (Metaframe War #3) by Graeme Rodaughan ★★★★☆

The Keep Calm sign with blood splattered and the M missing
"Violence will be my friend,” Anton uttered, a ferocious light behind his eyes." 

The Necromancer's House by Christopher Buehlman ★★★★★

A monster leaning over a kneeling chained man in a tower cell the caption reads He envies her fearlessness, how casually confident she is of her own power.  He was the same before he went to Russia.
My favorite Buehlman to date.

Dark urban fantasy with shades of American Gods, only Russian and wretched. 

American Gods by Neil Gaiman ★★★☆☆

Black and white photograph of Lucille Ball with a cigarette looking winningly at the camera the caption reads Hey, you wanna see Lucy's tits? in pink
This was not a good choice for an audiobook; there were too many POV, time, and state of being shifts.

Still, this was a highly imaginative odd ball tale.  And long.  It was interesting to hear what Gaiman, an Englishman, viewed as American gods: Media, Planes, Cars, Cancer. Pretty sure London has similar conveniences/afflictions. 

Engines of Desire: Tales of Love and Other Horrors by Livia Llewellyn

Image of the road to Cthulhu's pyramid with pilgrims the caption reads Our Work Renews the World
Take Your Daughter to Work ★★★★★ 
Sex as something pleasurable, soft and warm, is a mammalian concept. In the cold salty dark of fathoms, it’s not even survivable. This short story built in scales and slithers to a chilling reimagining of Lovecraftian horror.

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Magic Slays (Kate Daniels #5) by Ilona Andrews ★★☆☆☆

Black an white photo of The Fonz on water skis with a shark jumping behind him
“...surrounded by death on both sides, as if gliding through Armageddon.” 

This series has jumped the shark.

Magic Bleeds (Kate Daniels #4) by Ilona Andrews ★★★★☆

Kate Daniels sitting with a gun and the caption reads I will kill him
Kate is nearly as annoying as in Book One but that’s my sole complaint. This was another excellent action oriented story with sexy time, conflict, an epic battle and extraordinary resolution. 

Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels #3) by Ilona Andrews ★★★★☆

Two fighters facing each other before a match
The first rule of the Beast Lord is no competing in the Kumite.

Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) by Ilona Andrews ★★★☆☆

an elegant blue and black image of kate daniels pulling out a sword with a lion in the background and a starry night
Serious bad guys, well paced action, epic battles, and thickening plot - what’s not to love?

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #1) by Ilona Andrews ★★★☆☆

Drawing of Kate Daniels looking smug with two swords at her back and a white lion
“You’re not as funny as you think.” 
- Nick to Kate 

No Kate you really are not.

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

The Long Walk by Stephen King ★★★★★

Image of the Stephen Kings the long walk tire contestants stumbling and falling across the finish line with the caption God's Gonna Strike You Dead
I walked all eleven hours of this audiobook and I highly recommend you do the same. 

Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber ★★★☆☆

Image of a woman in hat with half her face in darkness the caption reads There are two sides to every woman.  One is rational, like a man, the other knows.
An ethnology professor specializing in primitive superstition stumbles upon his wife’s occult hobby. As Norman (for Normal?) loses his secular certainty his life unravels. 

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman ★★★☆☆

The Grim Reaper in the mist with skulls around
"I didn’t know how realistic a picture they had of their future. Their lack of a future, that is."