Hanzel

The sixth book in the series, and by far the most boring, my apologies to Mr. James, Entropy factory, a ship so huge......gargantuan comes into mind, actually planet size factory, with all these capabilities, working unceasingly and I feel so robbed...........nothing happened, absolutely nothing, ship to ship battles, done that for the past five books, what would have excited me was..........even I do not know....that was how I summed up this reading.....interesting first part, then downhill........again the things that could have been done with that knowledge......

Something fell off, Imagine raiding your opponent's gigantic base/power plant/manufacturing plant, you could have anything you ever wish for..............but something.............

Book Five of this really fascinating space opera, about human civilization, the trials they had to go through, the never ending skirmishes and war against all alien species that want to destroy us, finally we come to the most intimidating and most powerful alien race, the Scions, after the events of Book Four, another trial, and this time a bigger ship, the likes of which, the Space Corp has ever seen, The Hydranus, a ship that maybe rivals the Death Star, in a universe far, far, far away...................

The start was a page turner, the feeling of helplessness against such a humongous structure, the desperate plan, the actual fight and............stop........because of the unpredictable nature of the psi powers, Becky Keller ordered the strike to stop, if the Space Corp. want to salvage a win.............

So a second strike was ordered, we finally read how the structure truly belies the enormity of the inside.........all the technology, the intricacies........and sadly the Space Corp failed to.......................

Ahhhh such a pity..........Book Six, I am hoping you are the silver lining.................................

This was for me not a let down, but a bit slow and boring...........a bomb planet, a planet turned into a bomb..........................should have been so exciting since this is a first for me, but the process of turning the planet, came out as rather bland, I was ummmmm snoozing by the end of the chapter, the battle between the the three Trivar battleships/capital ships and the lone ES Devastator, was more exciting and that move executed by Captain Keller was hockey, funny and effective.

So for the fourth book of this short but action filled space opera(????), this one was the sole exception...........I can say only one thing, TRIVAR, honestly if they can self regen, they would have been UNSTOPPABLE!!!!

Too bad all the new tech was not much of a use for Joe Nation, unlike Becky Keller's......................................................................

When Heir to the Empire came out, I was truly wondering who this Thrawn character was, and how dare they say that if he were the one guarding the Death Star, The Emperor would have ruled forever........what and My Lord Vader was just a footnote, so I started reading the first book, just so I can heap all my disgust on this, this Admiral Thrawn, if not for this emotion called love, My Lord Vader, would still be alive and the fates might have given him a different ending............hence the end of the Empire of Emperor Palpatine!!!!

I was honestly surprised that I am particularly starting to root for this blue colored non human, the things he accomplish thru sheer deduction and studying the movements of his opponents.......Masterful!!!! And so my hate for this Admiral, slowly turned to wonder then to hope that he can wrest back the control of the galaxy to the Empire, through the whole series, I was hoping and hoping but ultimately that hope burned.........again The Empire, My Lord Vader.....................defeated again!!!!!!

Years went by................when I learned of this book that will supposedly, tell us how Thrawn became one of the most distinguished Admiral of the Empire, I naturally got a copy, and after finishing it...........so this was how Thrawn began and he met My Lord Vader when he was that foolish jedi Anakin Skywalker!!!!! A truly worthy individual then and an eye opening read........

In one seating again, I am almost done with my reading challenge or almost three fouths done, this series is addictive!!!!!

Ok so what happened but the excitement and energy seem to have tapered off, same story getting better, we learn some new things, the lore expands some more(Mr. Fox please write the prelude to this!!!!). Nara, why did they have to do that????

Ok, take a deep breath...............Book Four!!!!!

It really gets better!!!! Imagine every ring, watch, armor and etc., with the mechanics of this particular universe they have the ability to evolve same as you, even your transportation!!!!

And the story gets better and better, we see a lot of character growth, the mystery of both Aran and Nara, Voria and Crewes(my favorite hahahahah that scene with the Goddess Nieth)!!!!!

So here we go with Book THREE!!!!

TO BE CONTINUED.............

Wow that was really something, ok so the characters continue growing, Lockwood is not as secretive as before(although he is still hiding something), Lucy continues to be the overachiever in this group (also her talent is becoming stronger, I only wish she can control it), George as a researcher the best of the best, others, well his hygiene still is a big issue, The Skull still as obnoxious and sinister as before and a new staff member Holly Munro, hired because they had too much on their plate!!!!

So we still have the usual type one and twos, hoping for a type three or higher!!!!!

So when the Deity you worship perishes what do you do??? Continue worshipping or look for a new one, this series for me is really quite subtle, is it me or is the author asking you this question????

A superlative story telling, building up until well it makes you think, again I made some rather hazy guesses and supposition, the first book was about rediscovering faith even if the source died already (kind of like hmmmmmm C???) and those worshipper never stopped, still hoping for a resurrection .............the second book was about death “ABSOLUTE” and again even that does not stop the myriad worshippers in believing.............

Ummmmm I think the idea is making my mind spin.........ok so for the first book we have Shara and Sigurd playing a big roll with Mulaghesh playing in the sidelines, this time Mulaghesh is the star and both Shara and Sigurd are on the sidelines (actually Sigurd is not a role player, making me think the author has a higher goal for him).............

Ok enough of this metaphysical stuff on to Book Three!!!!!

DRAGGING, at first this was what I felt as the story started, and here I thought there were so many 5 stars from goodreads, so read along I did.......................................................................

Wow!!!!!!!! When you start the good parts it jumps at you (clap clap clap Mr. Bennett!!! Those five stars were not flukes), this is a story of the waning of Magic and the start of Science, at first those unknown tidbits(Blink, The Divinities, the Divine)were a drag because you kept hinting and hinting and nothing..........nothing happened, and your choice of protagonist Shara Thivani a Diplomat(?????)
and her secretary Sigurd(now him I like, violent let the fist do the talking type), and your antagonist was the uhhhhh..........dead gods or no, humans who love the dead gods or wait, the arrrggghhhhhh........well that was what I felt until the slow unraveling of the story, who the Divinities are, the Divine, the miracle.......all of these!!!!!! What a revelation(honestly never has a book bamboozled me so.................

I am now a certified Bennettic.......keep them coming!!!!! Ohhhhh I see the trilogy was done!!! Ok then Book two here I come!!!!

Amazing!!!! Truly amazing, seldom do I read a second book that is as action packed as the first one or much much more.........the action truly never stop, honestly I hate short, short, short stories but this one even at 200+ pages still pack a lot!!!!

At the end of Augmented, we are introduced to the Antaron an indestructible entity that devours absolutely everything, luckily these entities came from their enemy's side (called the Estral, nine foot tall humanoid like race) of the Galaxy, fast forward to the introduction of the second book and we are introduced to a mysterious race the Trivar - a rat biped, as the story unfolds, the Trivar became the antagonist for the Space Corps, Antaron for the Estral...........even if I already know how it was to end, still it was a gripping and exciting, Kudos to you Mr. Anthony James!!!!

Whew!!!!! I can not wait for the third book!!!!

I finished this one in what??? six hours??? That was how exciting and interesting this one is.........

And wow always, the human race when faced with adversity, they truly shine and embody the meaning of the most intelligent of all species(at least in sci-fi), facing against unbeatable odds, a plan is hatched to bring the fight to the Trivar's homeworld, even with all the technological break through of the human race, there will always be someone stronger, much more intelligent and technologically superior than you............

Avoiding spoilers, Far Strike introduces another race, the Scions and as the story rolls along...........SURPRISE!!!! Just how surprising, all of these races are connected The Trivar, Antaron and the Scions!!!!

And here I was thinking that Becky Keller and Joe Nation are so powerful due to their augmentation, but that is not the case, again a rousing applause to the writer, not only were our protagonist almost killed but their augmentation was put through everything and just barely save the day!!!!

A book about powered individuals (called a Variant in the US), the twist no super heroics, no rejoicing, no parades, everything is done secretly even the Variants live their lives mundanely(although most of their time were used for training), the time, after world war II, and the onset of the cold war between the USA and USSR (for the new generation, USSR meant Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, the only country in my opinion that gave Uncle Sam a run for his own money).

This one reads like a spy-thriller with powers, hmmmm a Jason Bourne with bullet proof body and eidetic memory (had to consult a dictionary for the word), where every fight is in the shadow or unseen!! Just think the CIA and KGB personnel running around the world with actual phenomenal abilities, one minute you see two ordinary individuals walking towards each other, then suddenly.............oh you thought you saw something.......

This is a good read, the author truly captured the time and the various nuances (ideology and etc. also one of the worst attitude of a person - a racist)during those bygone days..........

Book two here we go!!!!

Again, I failed to guess the correct villain to this one.............tsk tsk tsk, and here I thought finally a linear story, Mr. Stroud you truly are unpredictable or maybe I am going senile........

Anyway, another wonderful story, we begin to see some more developments character wise and some of the more enigmatic characters are being fleshed(?) out!!!!!

Bring on Book 3!!!!

This is my kind of sci-fi, I mean you have a fully augmented android, a psi officer that is also augmented, what force can even defeat them, well read this one and you will find out!!!!

Action starts from start to finish, ship to ship, one on one, one against many, every facet of combat, and to think they have a true enemy, but those do not compare to the horror they faced!!!!

Can not wait for the sequel..............

Gunpowder period in time, I have an absolute abhorrence to this particular time, maybe because while in battle, both sides just march until a certain point and start shooting at each other........this to me is so illogical, a pity Brian Mcclellan was able to made his powder universe different and interesting, this one just made me hate it again............

Well, this particular was slow in starting, it had a lot of viewpoints to introduce, hey let's face it, this is an Army, among the protagonists, I sincerely like Ihernglass, then Captain D'Ivoire and least is the Colonel Vhalnich (this guy has a lot of secrets that I can not guess).......

Then the introduction of some magic and the mystery surrounding it..........hope the action heats up on the second book!!!!

Ghosts, ghosts and more ghosts.........oh wait on this particular universe, they are called Visitor and each one belongs to a class either Type One, Two or Three(I am assuming there are since there were some talks regarding this certain type).......and they can be captured or be seen by kids......just like in the “Real World”(again another assumption).......has to do with their unadulterated views in life until they get jaded by too much logic.......

Lockwood & Co, another agency that deals with Visitor, but unlike other agencies, this one is headed by Anthony Lockwood, and together with George Cubbins they are 2/3 of a unique triumvirate, the last one being Lucy Carlyle, aside from the three, there are no others, supposedly each agency has an adult to supervise and help, but not Lockwood & Co, the three operatives are enough for any assignment.......

This has a lot of potential, I was sincerely surprised by the pace of the story, the characters introduced, the antagonists(although not all antagonists are Visitors....), a refreshing way to look at ghosts and their hauntings.........and still mysteries abound.............a true recommendation for anyone who likes their ghost story, funny, witty but still scary as heck!!!!! Oh this is a YA, honestly I do not like YA, but due to the story, mystery and the characters, I am staying for the rest of the series!!!!

Monster Squad, so far the only opponent they have been fighting are vampires and yet this just make it more interesting, maybe just maybe there are things out there much much more powerful, how about werewolves...... and now we are introduced to the Father of all vampires known as The Sicarii, a being that existed during the establishment of the Roman Catholic Religion, as if that is not exciting enough, the next part of the plan is to look for the Progenitor of the Werewolf race.........fun times ahead Monster Squads!!! Time to load up and start shooting!!!!!

Hmmmmmmmmm............if you had the opportunity to watch the earlier Hong Kong fantasy movie genre, then this might be your cup of tea, coffee or whatever.............

As with any Asian fantasy novels, we have the righteous and undying hero, his numerous companions who inevitably dies for the party or left behind, but in the end comes back in the nick of time to fight the overwhelming Boss!!!!!

This one had potential, asian mythology is flashy, lots of convoluted plots within plots, so this series is a bit of a let down, the only thing that kept me reading is Kai and his supposedly mysterious ability, so yes Mr. Lee I do hope we have something flashier, dastardlier(?) and more mystical!!!

This one felt a bit rushed.........even the fight on the Dismantler's launching yard was not written in Mr. Bennett's usually technical but informative approach, maybe after five books of tackling the Krall, the author felt he had to hurry and settle the war between the two(krall vs humans)..............

From the first book to this one, I felt FINALLY!!! FINALLY!!!! We won a deciding match against this barbaric and savage aliens, after numerous gene mods and some further enhancement of the existing technology of the Krall's, the human race emerges as the supreme species in our branch of the universe, hardly even relishing this wondrous victory, we are introduced to another sinister alien species namely the Thandol, same technology as the Olt'kitapi, same attitude as them...........I sincerely hope, seeing the Krall and their savagery.........this one for me as they were introduced, were on a bit on the tame side............

Looking back, on how we were able to win against such a strong and technologically advanced race, I hope these new opponents are treated differently..........also new tech please(as I am reading this I feel really silly since this series was already finished!! Oh well hope there is something to look forward to......)

Another satisfying read, this series is getting better (although this is my own opinion), this time, the Krall have step up, finally we are introduced to the Olt'kitapi dismantler ships, the Krall's great neutralizer, used only when they (the Krall) feel threatened (so they do lose, but the percentage is really low).............

The war against the worthy Enemy has been going on for two decades, the humans as aggressive as they are have shown the Krall what they (humans) when pushed into a corner can really do, we have new devices, new technology in such short period of time, and yet we are losing, if not for the Kobani, we would have followed the other alien species wiped out by the Krall, As few in numbers as they are the Kobani were able to bring the fight to them.....thus resulting in bringing out these massive machines that were not really meant to be weapons.........

I never liked “wordy” novels, since I fall asleep easily, but Mr. Bennett's pacing is such, even though there are a lot of discussions, it always leads to something wonderful or heart breaking........

Book Five here I come!!!!!

Finally, The END..........and yet I feel so sad, it has been 20+ years, this series is truly an epic in every sense, from the start when Moiraine went to Two Rivers to try and save Rand and company, until the ending of this book, you realize there are books that truly mirror our mundane existence, minus the magic of course..................................

When this series started, we see Rand and his fellow youths, start from being clumsy, inexperienced individuals to become the Ruler of the land( The Dragon Reborn), the Amyrlin, the Prince of the Ravens, Lord GoldenEyes and so forth.........for this I thank Mr. Jordan, you have made this characters as alive as they can be, for us to care, sometimes to laugh with them, sometimes to shrink back in fear with, to cry with the decisions they had to make.............until finally all that has been prophesied came to pass and we see the true gems!!!!

The final book, from the start until the final line, is one huge fight, truly the end of the world, where all the stakes were against Rand and his friends, here we see the hands of Mr. Sanderson, a writer who is not afraid to lay to rest individuals that we have followed for the past 10 books (until now, I still think, “that”really did not help nor hinder the story for a bit, Siuan Sanche and Gareth Bryne why????), such is the writing ability of Mr. Sanderson (I am truly sorry Mr. Jordan but I do not think you could have done what Mr. Sanderson did) that I almost did not finish the book, I loved those two, finally a happy ending.......and yet.........then again another momentous event, too much, Mr. Sanderson, TOO MUCH............we cared for them, all of them, the most heroic hero to the dastardly villain, still................almost, almost did not read the end after those two events, but no............there are more to come...............

Behind every dark cloud lies a silver lining................in the end......a truly, truly wonderful read......... “The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.” {Please I am not plagiarizing their wonderful works}.......................Maybe there will be tale of the Fourth Age................

Another satisfying 4.5, why not a five well...........I find the Krall becoming less intimidating...........

A very, very, stunning and full of surprises third book, just when you think, Us humans can not top having ripper telepathy, infrared sight, and all the recent gene mods, now comes age regression, now who would not want that??? Again goes to show, in adversity, human ingenuity conquers all.......without spilling anything, well let us just say, FINALLY we can fight back, and this time win convincingly...........

Again Krall's supposedly invincibility, and their EGO, this will be their downfall, they are so used to winning that, any effort to grow has disappeared and instead they stagnate, well this third book just made them vulnerable and basically indolent..........

Exciting, truly exciting times ahead, I can not wait for any new developments, gene modifications, tech upgrades........this series just keep on flying higher!!!!!!!

I think 4.5 would have been better, this second book answered everything foreshadowed in Book One!!!!
Well, well, well........after a couple years, Mirikami and his group have finally cracked the genes that would have given them a fighting chance against the Kralls, at the same time, again as I have said human ingenuity when faced with an obstacle that threatens him and everything he loves.............prepare to find another obstacle!!!!
One of the few books that makes the series better and better (Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time comes to mind)..............
Again as is my motto in life and reading, READ BOOK TWO it is really fascinating and engrossing!!! The only problem for me for this series, when you are standing a pedestal, you tend to stagnate...........what do I mean.............Open the book and read!!!!!

It has been I think a decade since I read Drizzt further exploits, when I left him, he was recuperating from injuries suffered from the Hunter's Blade Trilogy.

I was excited to read about him again, since aside from Dragonlance and Ravenloft, Drizzt was one of the reasons I survived my childhood, his battles against his own race, his indomitable will to pursue whatever is out there!!! Reading it familiarity sets in, Bruenor, Regis, Catti-brie and Wulfgar my friends, my long lost friends, and wow I forgot some details(Wulfgar got married hmmmmmmm) but still, It was “THEM” and as in real life they started drifting away..............and the menace of King Obould always like the perennial black cloud...........

Sitting here, gathering my thoughts, I really am quite surprised that I am not as excited of this particular ending as I was 10 years ago, somehow this story came out juvenile like, maybe because it was released 2003 and it is 15 years after now..........

So with every trilogy, there is a second and a third book...............Pirate King next!!!!

Ok, so this has so called demons/devils in it, and it happened to one of my favorite period in human history, World War 2...................that is why I forgot all my previous books to do read this(sadly as I was so excited I forgot to put this one on this site, you might think I finished this in one seating unfortunately no it was two weeks worth of seating).

First Chapter, I was ok this is it, mood setting, rather dark and you can feel the panic people must have felt when Nazi Germany attacked, as the story continued, I felt the pacing a bit slow, but of course since we are dealing with the start of WWII, maybe it was just like that, after a few chapters, my exuberance faded, I was a bit disappointed, not only was demonology an uminportant part of the big picture but it was used in the shadows, this book felt like what spies would be doing if they had the ability to call up demons(term here was yoking), and yes it was like that we have a group of good demonologists going after their opposites, as usual the protagonists are on the losing side, historically the whole of Europe was on the losing side then specially from 1940-1941, and so the story continued, 1942 came and Europe was starting to fight back, still the German flattened all oppositions, on the magickal side the protagonists are losing their members one by one...........

Reading the succeeding chapters, we never saw our heroes triumph on a large scale, everything felt like a minor irritation, If I were the opposing karcist(oh yes demon yoking magic users are called by this appelation)I would have also laughed, the only redeeming part was 1945, or D-DAY, this is real action here no magic, no nothing, just simple human will to succeed against a dangerous ideal and a truly horrible person, by this time I was just reading along, trying to finish this one, why??? Well no more magic, demons were......well you will know, if you read the novel.

Much as I hate to stop reading this, I guess the concept of the whole thing still excites me plus there is a sequel(please Mr. Mack make this a real breath taker) and a sample chapter, as of now I am still hoping!!!