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Search tags: summer-book-bingo
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review 2016-08-30 02:35
Caliban's War
Caliban's War - James S.A. Corey

This book was every bit as good as the first in the series. They're long books that don't feel that long when you're reading them. It seemed like in no time flat I had knocked out 100-150 pages without quite realizing it.

 

Holden and the crew of the Roci are back in action, this time finding themselves leading the search for a missing child. The child came up missing shortly before an attack nearly destroyed her home, Ganymede. The alien protomolecule that destroyed Eros station in the first book is back in the form of the monster that attacked Ganymede. The protomolecule was supposed to have been marooned on Venus, so the question becomes, "How did it show up on Ganymede"? Also, is there a connection between the kidnapping of young Mei and the attack on her homeland? Not to mention, political tensions are running high, and the threat of a inter-planetary war looms on the horizon.

 

That's a sucky synopsis, but there's so much going on that it's hard to summarize without getting into spoiler territory.

 

Whereas in the first book, the story was told between the alternating viewpoints of Holden and Det. Miller, this time we not only see the story through Holden's eyes, but also Praxidike Meng (the father of the kidnapped child), Chrisjen Avasarala (a UN official from earth), and Seargent Roberta "Bobbie" Draper, member of the Martian Military and a survivor of the Ganymede attack. I found I really enjoyed the added viewpoints--especially Bobbie and Avasarala--as it really opened the story up more.

 

Note: Avasarala has already been introduced on the tv show. I'm hoping Bobbie will show up soon, too!

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review 2016-08-20 00:11
(Audiobook) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Book 5 - J.K. Rowling,Jim Dale

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review 2016-08-19 01:55
The Levee...
Michael McDowell's Blackwater Series, Books I-VI: The Flood, The Levee, The House, The War, The Fortune, and Rain - Michael McDowell

The Levee is the second book in the Blackwater Saga and while I enjoyed it, I liked the first book more. Of course, in the first book everything is new which it makes it more exciting but The Levee also didn't really have as much of the creepiness that I thought the first book had. I felt like this book was more geared toward setting up the playing field for what's to come.

 

Elinor plays one big role in this book but for the most part all of her scheming is pretty subtle and sly, then she kind of sits back and lets the chips fall where they may. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of her in book three though which I'm really looking forward to.

 

We were also introduced to a new and rather annoying character, Queenie & her two brats, excuse me, children, Malcolm & Lucille who show up on the Caskey doorstep broke and running from her abusive husband. She is a relative of James Caskey's wife, Genevieve, so he feels obligated to support them in the Caskey lifestyle but if I were him I would have sent her broke, country ass back to Nashville. She is so irritating and the redneck way she talks grates on my nerves but McDowell excels at character development so I wouldn't expect anything less. He's nailed her to a tee. I have this sneaking suspicion too that James Caskey is actually starting to like her now so I'm really hoping that they do not get together in the next book. I can only imagine what the matriarch of the Caskey clan, Mary Love, has to say about it. She likes her about as much as I do....

 

 

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review 2016-08-17 00:36
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian - Andy Weir

You do pretty much have to be a geek for this one, but I thought it was a lot of fun. This was the second time around for me, and I remember having really low expectations the first time I read it because it seemed incredible (as in I couldn’t believe it possible) that Andy Weir would be able to write a semi-plausible narrative of survival on Mars (seriously, that planet would be actively trying to kill you). But he did, and it works while being rather funny at the same time (especially some of the “paraphrased” conversations with NASA and other legal musings). I’m even bumping up my rating this time around.

 

Strongly recommended for space geeks. You know who you are.

 

(Yes, there are still flaws with the some of the science, but nothing drove me up the wall.)

 

I’m counting this as the “Adapted for the big screen” square for the Summer Book Bingo. Only one square to go!

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review 2016-08-09 11:47
Shades of Grey
Shades of Grey - Jasper Fforde

I'm going to do a crap job of reviewing this, because there's just too much to say, but if Monty Python did a movie adaptation of Orwell's 1984, it would look just like Shades of Grey.  Unfortunately, as much as I love Fforde's writing, I loathed 1984.

 

Shades of Grey takes place many centuries in the future, presumably in what is the UK.  The world is run by the collective and people are ranked by what color of the spectrum they can see (and they can only see one).  Everyone bows to the infallible word of Munsell, but rather than being a technologically advanced society, the collective embraces a progressively severe form of ludditism (it's a word, I looked it up), where every set number of years they have a "leapback" where more and more technology is forbidden, and by tech I mean things like bicycles.  The MC, Eddie Russet, and his father are sent to the outer fringes of their world by the collective so Eddie can do a chair census and learn humility.  While there he learns a lot more than humility.

 

The writing is classic Fforde.  In my one and only status update for the book, I said it felt like I was trapped in a Dali painting; between the pure absurdity and the color centric society, it's still the most apt comparison.  Everything about the story is absurd, from the biggest threat to the collective being swan attacks, to the fact that it's illegal to make spoons but not illegal to own them.

 

I didn't like science fiction as a genre when I started this book and even though I enjoyed Shades of Grey as much as I possibly could given my total dislike of the premise, I still don't like science fiction.  But I want to be clear that this is not the book's fault: Fforde's writing is excellent, the story filled with absurd humour and a plot that sneaks up on you and leaves you stunned; this is the book that teachers should be using instead of 1984; students would learn the same lessons about the evils of communism and fascism and 'Big Brother' but enjoy it a hell of a lot more.

 

Weighing my bias against SF and 1984 in particular with the very excellent writing on Fforde's part, I split the difference and went with a three star rating.  This is the first of a trilogy and even though this one had an ending that left me sputtering, I doubt very much I'll read the rest.

 

This horizon expanding read fills the very last square of my Summer Book Bingo card.

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