Jason

(Note: There's two different versions of this book on GR: this one and another with the publisher listed as the author. No idea why. This review was originally posted on the page for the latter)

A solid 3 stars. I would have gone a little higher, but the text errors brought it down more than the lack of depth. I was fine with the latter for the most part because the book is more of a general overview of various cults and that's what I was looking for.

Great book. I liked how it's split into three sections: the first is basically a history of the Osage and the many trials and hardships wrongly imposed upon them. The second focuses on the FBI's investigation into the murders, which would put just about any mystery novelist to shame with all the ups and downs and twists and turns. Lastly, the third section is about David Grann's visit to Osage land and how his own investigations unexpectedly turns up evidence that the crimes against the Osage were much, much worse than what the FBI unearthed.

Another banger of an entry in the series.

So I knew that Hank Peterwald dies at some point in the series, but I didn't expect him to die in this book. Good riddance, tbh.

That was fun. The plot twist was unexpected, which is always nice. The dialogue was witty, the writing fine, which coming from the pen of Lawrence Block is to be expected.

Interesting and engaging. I have to wonder what the final product would have been like had Michelle McNamara lived. I equally wonder what her reaction would have been if she had been alive when the Golden State Killer was finally arrested.

As this was just a way to bridge [b: Kris Longknife: Defiant 129581 Defiant (Kris Longknife, #3) Mike Shepherd https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1410565714l/129581.SY75.jpg 124803] and [b: Kris Longknife: Resolute 129580 Resolute (Kris Longknife, #4) Mike Shepherd https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388777220l/129580.SY75.jpg 124802], there's not much to comment on or to review. I did laugh at Trouble playing Kris, though. And the whole bit with Jack getting drafted got a sensible chuckle out of me.

4.5 stars. Jal is one of my favorite characters in fantasy because he's just different. It's refreshing having a main character who's a coward, rather than the de facto courageous hero.

Certainly lived up to the hype.

Another fun mil SF romp. Andromeda McKee is fast becoming one of my favorite fictional women. Dietz has managed to create a character who is tough as nails when she has to be, but also can also show emotion and vulnerability. Andromeda avoids falling into the trope of basically being a female version of a male action hero.

I can't wait to finish the trilogy.

I read this book several years because I love military science fiction and thought that this would be a good one to jump into.

It honestly wasn't. The premise was interesting, though I thought it weird that no one was questioning why a cargo ship always seemed to be getting into all sorts of peril and deadly danger. Of course, the book reveals why - Because the captain is secretly working for the government and doing missions under the guise of being but a humble trader, selling his cabbages or whatever. - but it's just weird that nobody like “WTF?”.

What really bugged me is how under-armed the main character is. Her whole goal with serving on The Glorious Fool is to rack up the required years of experience so she can apply to join an elite special forces unit. But despite the Fool's rep, Devi only shows up with three weapons:

1. A plasma shotgun that can only fire a few shots before it's battery is drained (though it does double duty as a club)
2. A handgun that fires big armor piercing bullets, but with massive recoil (that can break arms if you're not wearing powered armor when shooting it).
3. And a blade coated in white phosphorus...that can only be used for 180 seconds before the fire has to be extinguished, less the phosphorus turns the blade brittle.

I know that it's probably dumb to criticize a book because of that, but I mean...come on. Devi is serving on a ship with a rep like the Fool's and she's only packing three weapons, two of them basically worthless?

For a character that's supposed to be a kicker of ass, Devi sure ends up on the wrong end of the ass whoopings. Almost every fight scene ends with her getting wrecked (or rekted, as the internet likes to say) and having to be rescued. I don't think her chances getting into that elite unit are looking good.

As for the romance, it was rather bland from what I remember of it. A Hallmark Christmas movie does romance better than what this book did. I didn't realize that there even was a romance element when I started reading and still wasn't 100% sure mid-way through.

I don't know, I might re-read this book soon and see if my opinion has changed in the six years since. As of right now, Fortune's Pawn is sitting somewhere between a 2.5 and a 3 stars.

Another enjoyable entry in the Kris Longknife series. Exciting with lots of thrilling action and space battle.

Having said that however, I may never forgive Mike Shepherd for killing off Tommy!

Understatement of the century, but Raymond Chandler had a way with sentences like a Renaissance sculptor had a way with marble.

Fair warning: The book does contain some homophobic slurs. Not really surprising given that it was published in 1939.

I have no idea what the hell I just read. It was weird, very weird. The ending was a disappointment because there was no payoff, or at least I didn't feel like there was. It felt like things were building to a climax...and it just never happened.

Edit: I'm revising my rating from three down to 1.5 stars. I kept thinking about this story today and the more I did, it's faults became more glaring. The development of the relationship between Agnes and Zoe had next to none. One minute the former is espousing the history of an apple peeler she's trying to sell to the latter, the next they're engaged in some bizarro sadist relationship conducted completely via email and instant messaging. There's no build-up over a long period of time so there's no real tension or even since of dread as Agnes descends (like a bowling ball dropped off the top of the Empire State Building) into madness.As for the "disturbing" nature of the plot, it isn't. What happens between Agnes and Zoe is weird and not much else. I was expecting to be creeped or grossed out to the point that I would DNF the book and honestly? We're probably talking like PG-13 for the most part. You could maybe stretch it out to an R rating (since I appear to have slipped into movie ratings somehow), but it's no more disturbing than like the first Halloween movie.

I think ultimately, the book would have been better if it had been longer, since then more substance, more meat could have been added to it.

Amazing. I went into thinking that because of the film, the might be over-hyped.

Dear reader, it wasn't. Admittedly, I haven't read much literary fiction so I don't have a barometer to measure The English Patient against, but I have to say that this is one of the finer novels I've read.

4.5 stars.

Yet another fantastic work by Nnedi Okorafor.

File this under “Books I Bought Years Ago and Should Have Read Years Ago” because I really should have. A fine first entry that makes me want to pick up the next book in the series. 3.8 stars.

Fantastic work of fiction. Worth the hype.

Fun book and interesting universe I plan to revisit in the future. My only complaint is that Tully's character development never developed, at least not to a satisfactory level. I get that since the story is told through the eyes of Pyanfar and thus filtered through her own perceptions and biases, it would have been nice to have seen Tully move further beyond half-crazed and scared.

Oh my poor heart!

3.5 stars

It was a good thriller, but there were certain oddities that stuck out. For example, the main character, John Knox, apparently had a bottomless pocket full of baseball caps and sunglasses because at one point, he was switching to new ones every several blocks as he walked.

His idea of “questioning” dudes basically consisted of hitting them in the crotch until their nuts and tonsils traded places.

Well, that was certainly a bonkers plot twist.

3.5 stars.

Was surprised by this one. Going by the opinion of Ken Follett himself, I didn't expect Paper Money to be a good novel, but it was. The ending was somewhat unsatisfactory, which is why the novel isn't getting a fourth star, but otherwise, I don't regret reading it.

Neil Gaiman doesn't write fantasy novels like everyone else and I am so thankful for that. Ocean at the End of the Lane is one of the best books I've listened to this year so far.

One hell of a book. That twist at the end, holy crap.

An absolutely wonderful book. My only complaint is that tea monks don't exist in real life, unfortunately.