CLYDE WISHAM
Miles Vorkosigan's adventures continue in this the sixth book* in the series. Miles and Ivan have been dispatched to the capital of Cetaganda to represent Barrayar at the funeral of the Cetagandan empress. Things start to go very strange as soon as they arrive. A priceless relic goes missing, and there is something odd about an apparent suicide. The young envoys are soon caught up in a Cetanandan internal power struggle. A series of puzzling and dangerous incidents cause Miles to suspect that he is being set up as a scapegoat. Plunged into a strange and intricate society and with nobody to trust, he must rely on his wits and find new allies. There are crimes to be solved and a mystery to unravel, but any misstep could be his last.
This book doesn't have quite the pace of the previous *The Vor Game*, but I think it is better plotted. I quite enjoyed it. 5 stars (4+ stars updated to 5 stars by Grover Gardner's narration).
* In internal chronological order.
This is quite a good duel timeline historical mystery with a nice twist near the end.
The early timeline is based on the real murder of a good-time girl in Fairbanks in 1915 -- somewhat altered to make it fit this Kate Shugak story.
The later timeline (set early this century) picks up a Kate who, though still hurt, is much recovered from the events of Hunter's Moon. She is hired as security for a political candidate who has been receiving death threats. Of course things go bad and bodies start showing up.
As in most books in this series, Alaska itself is a major character. Also, Kate has some wonky personal problems involving her heart, a runaway teen, and a nutso mom.
The publishers intro text gives a good idea of the overall setup. You might want to read that first.
Solid 4 stars.
Interesting read though not as good as Kloos's Frontlines and Palladium Wars books IMHO.
This story is an offshoot from the Frontlines series. It has two very different parts. The first part is all about the MC and her fellow colonists fighting for survival on "Scorpio" a human colony world that has been overrun by Lankies. The second part, following a deus ex machina episode, is much less intense. It follows the MC as she tries to adjust to a new life. It is probably setting things up for the next book in this new series.
The publisher's cover text gives a good idea of what to expect in the first part.
3+ stars, but I cannot quite round it up.
TVG provides another romping Miles Vorkosigan adventure. It is the sixth book in publication order but the fifth novel in internal chronological order. I think the series is best enjoyed in chronological order (YMMV).
This story starts with Miles graduating from the Barrayar military academy and being assigned to a freezing arctic station as a meteorological officer. He is informed that this assignment will give him a chance to deal with his issue of not treating authority with the proper respect. That of course doesn't work out. π―
In this book the hyper Miles's ability to get into trouble surpasses even the level in The Warrior's Apprentice. However, I think he is a more complex, thoughtful, and believable character in this story. Also, this story further develops some important secondary characters -- most especially Emperor Gregor. After a bit of a slow start the action becomes fast and furious as Miles goes from crisis to crisis.
The ending, as I have come to expect from Bujold, is quite satisfying.
I am quite enjoying the audio versions of the Vorkosigan saga. Mostly rereads but it seems I somehow missed this one back in the day.
Solid 4 stars.
When two high school boys disappear, Navajo tribal police officer Joe Leaphorn is faced with a difficult sleuthing job. As he starts his investigation, it soon becomes apparent that things are getting deadly. And he also finds that nothing is straight forward -- there seem to be multiple mysteries. Why are the FBI and DEA on the scene? Are the disappearances related to upcoming native religious ceremonies? And, what is going on at a nearby archeological dig and in an odd-ball hippy commune?
Pretty good neo-western crime fiction from back in the 1970's. I'll check out more Joe Leaphorn stories.
Tireless, brave, highly skilled, and incredibly lucky, Virginia Hall was one of the most effective allied agents operating in France during WW2. A Woman of No Importance tells her story in great detail.
She was an exceptional woman who never got the credit she deserved. In addition to fighting alongside the French Resistance, she set up and controlled intelligence networks that fed back vital information on German dispositions and plans -- first for the British SOE and then for the US OSS.
Working undercover, setting up cells, recruiting active agents, suborning enemy operatives, establishing escape routes, sometimes bluffing, sometimes just escaping with her life -- her activities were myriad. There is enough material in this book for many Hollywood movies.
The only drawback, IMO, is that it is a bit dry at points, but overall this is a very good narrative. 4+ stars.
In this story set in the final years of the Soviet Union, Martin Cruz Smith brought back Arkady Renko, the hero of Gorky Park. Arkady is no longer a top investigator. Having angered powerful people he has fallen about as far as possible and now works on the slime line of a Soviet factory ship. But when a young woman turns up dead, what is an investigator to do? Like a blood hound on the sent, he cannot help but unravel the mystery.
Good crime fiction in a very odd setting. Solid 4 stars.
With The Bezzle Cory Doctorow gives us another good book about the adventures of forensic accountant Martin Hench. This one centers on Hench's interactions with sociopaths who think it is great grins to run scams on and cheat those who are most vulnerable.
While not as tightly written and edge-of-the-seat suspenseful as the previous Red Team Blues, this is still a very good read. More please!
I listened to the audio version which is very professionally narrated by Wil Wheaton. (I got it from Libro.fm. It is not available at Audible because Doctorow refuses to have DRM on his works.)
This is one of the best crime novels I have read. There are three main characters. The first is young mother traveling with two little daughters and a dog. The other two are a smooth talking fixer and a stone-cold killer, both employed by a New Orleans mob boss.
Their stories intertwine as they make their ways across the country. Each is transformed by their journey, but in very different ways. Lots of interesting characters encountered along the way add color to the story. Things get very tense, life altering decisions have to be made, and the body count gets high.
I really cannot say much more without giving things away. (I recommend avoiding the publisher's cover text, which I think gives way too much detail.) Just read and enjoy.
Pretty good first novel under the [a:Robert Galbraith 383606 Robert Galbraith https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] pseudonym.This is a complex mystery featuring interesting characters and inventive usage of some crime-fiction tropes β including a nicely-distracting red herring and a slickly inserted Checkov's gun (not an actual gun in this case). The story is perhaps a bit overly descriptive of details of dress, locations, etc. at points, which felt like a bit of a drag on the narrative to me (YMMV). Good solid ending. I will probably read more of Cormoran Strike and Robin.3.5 stars rounded up.
Excellent military history β well researched, very detailed, and well written. In this book Rowland White makes a great case that the Mosquito was the best multi-purpose aircraft of WW2, covering its development and deployment throughout the war. The aircraft was incredible as were the people who flew it.
This book also tells the story of the Danish resistance to the Nazi occupation during WW2. That story is told interspersed with the story of the Mosquito in war until they come together in one of the most daring missions of the war.
Good book. 4.5 stars rounded up.
In this book Al Murray doesn't attempt to give us a comprehensive study of how allied command developed in WW2. Instead he gives ten case studies of WW2 commanders of various ranks β some famous, some obscure, some successful, others not so much. Well researched and written with considerable detail and a bit of dry wit, this isn't a dull history but rather an interesting picture of men under pressure struggling with a difficult job. I found this rather short book to be quite thought provoking. Especially the chapters dealing with the Burma campaign, which I knew little about, were quite enlightening to me.
Good book. 4+ stars
I had planned to read all of Upton Sinclair's Lanny Budd novels. But, I had to drag myself through this one, and I think it will be my final one. Perhaps by this time Sinclair was just grinding through the best-selling formula he had created. Or perhaps it is just that I have tired of both Lanny Budd and Sinclair's writing style. (I still think the early books in the series are quite good.)
Anyway, just two stars from me for this one. YMMV.
For this book Louis L'Amour obviously did a lot of research into 19th century hard-rock mining and in particular into the early development of the famous Comstock silver ore lode. Of course, being Louis L'Amour he seamlessly inserts that info into a damned good story about revenge, honor, and steadfastness in the face of great difficulty and danger.
Overall, quite a good novel β in the parlance of the old hard-rock miners, βdeep enoughβ.