CLYDE WISHAM
This book pulled me in right away. In fact, it took me off of another book that I was quite enjoying.
A fast-paced mix of mystery and military SF told in the first person, it hit my sweet spots.
Colonel Carl Butler is nearing retirement when he is dispatched to Cappa Three, a remote but economically important planet, to investigate the disappearance of a young officer. There, the human occupiers are fighting a seemingly endless native insurgency.
Things don't go smoothly. Someone is obstructing his investigation, and it seems that there is a deeper mystery related to the MIA officer. Eventually Butler is forced to go planetside to find answers. Things then rapidly go south. We get a good mystery, a doozy of a conspiracy, and lots of boots in the dust military action. The ending is a stunner.
Good first book. Mammay knows how to spin a yarn; a writer to watch. A solid four+ stars.
(I pre-ordered Mammay's next book.)
This completes my re-read of the original Dread Empire's Fall trilogy. Good story about the disintegration (at least the beginning thereof) of an empire when the despotic power that holds it together disappears.
One thing I like about this series is that Williams doesn't posit any magical advanced technology. With the possible exception of wormholes for interstellar travel, everything is an extension of known science and technology – no FTL drive or communication, no inertial compensators, no newly discovered energy sources. That means, to get around in star systems in any reasonable time, ships (and the people in them) have to endure extended periods of high-G acceleration. That of course applies to space combat too. (Power for all this comes from antimatter, for which practical handling technology has been developed.)
I look forward to more adventures of Lady Sula and Lord Martinez.
[b:Genesis 36284236 Genesis (First Colony, #1) Ken Lozito https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1506077574s/36284236.jpg 57946223] starts like a straight-up military SF story, but then morphs into a story about establishing an interstellar colony. (Though military themes continue throughout the book.)The writing is a bit spotty and the characters could be better developed, but even so the story pulled me in quickly. We get new colony start-up problems, mysterious alien ruins, military training, monster attacks, and a Big Danger.Several mysteries are introduced but not satisfactorily resolved. Major spoilers: (Why did the Syndicate destroy Chronos Station? What happened to the original inhabitants of the planet? Why are the local predators so aggressive? What really happened back on Earth? What is the nature of the approaching danger?) I presume they will be dealt with in subsequent books in the series.Pretty good SF. I'll give the series at least one more book. 3+ stars.
Good finish to a good series. This book continues the story of the first two books (and again in epistolary format). As in those books, the pace never lets up; it is literally a case of do-or-die. (Avoid this book, in fact the entire series, if you are bothered by lots of death and violence.)You need to have read to first two books before this one. The story picks up right where [b:Gemina 29236299 Gemina (The Illuminae Files, #2) Amie Kaufman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1480097137s/29236299.jpg 44560442] ends. The sassy, hyper-competent teenagers from the first two books are back and a couple more are added in this book. My favorite character continues to be AIDAN.The audiobook is a very well done multi-voiced performance.(Negatives:- The ‘blipping' of curse words was irritating. Why did they do it?- IMHO, the romantic bits are rather mawkish.- The epistolary format began to wear on me after a while. YMMV.)
This is Leckie's personal story of his experiences as a marine during WW2. There are no big picture views of the war in this book. (See Lickie's other books for that.) It is strictly grunts-eye view all the way. Brutal, poignant, and at times hilarious, Leckie pulled no punches in this narrative and didn't spare himself. 3.5 stars rounded up.
A quick read and a good primer on super-volcanoes, focusing on Yellowstone. It doesn't feel dumbed down though it is written to be accessible to the non-specialist. Osborn corrects some common misconceptions and gives specific numbers about the history of eruptions (volume, type, frequency, extent, and composition). I gained new knowledge from this little book about the structure of the Yellowstone super-volcano – specifically about the size and extent of the hotspot, plume, and magma chambers (that's right, plural). The numerous illustrations and tables are useful.
The slightly snarky title notwithstanding, KYAG is a pretty good introductory science book.
As in the first book in the series, incredibly and unbelievably skilled and courageous teenagers fight against impossible odds to save ... well ... everything. This story features lots of action, violence, death, and plot twists. The pace never lets up. There is also a bit of young romance.
The audiobook is a very well done multi-voiced performance.
Be warned that the story neither begins nor ends with this book.
4.5 stars.
OK, I am now an official Dennis E. Taylor fan. TST has a very different feel from his Bobverse books, but is just as good. As I have come to expect from Taylor, we get lots of nerdy goodness.
This book gives us some interesting characters trying to do their best in a very strange situation. None of them are bad guys really, just people making the best decisions they can with limited information.
With a twisty plot, some space action, and life-or-death decisions for the human race, what's not to like? 4+ stars.
I quite enjoyed this genre-crosser of a story. The format is a little odd in that the entire story is told through a series of hacked and intercepted documents of various kinds. But, it works. The main character is Kady, a 17/18 year-old girl. Her love interest, Ezra, is another important character and a total bad-ass. Though young, Kady is very smart and very tough – which she has to be, because this story really puts her and everyone else through the wringer. I hesitated to call this YA because it is so violent. But, with the teenage main characters what else can it be?
In addition to the romance elements (which actually don't get very sweaty as Kady and Ezra get very little time together), we get space battles, an insane computer (or is it?), a plague that turns people into zombies, and lots of action. The pace never lets up.
I wanted to give this book five stars but finally couldn't because of something toward the end of the story (sorry, can't tell as that would definitely spoil the book). So, 4.5 stars.
The audiobook was a very well done multi-voiced performance.
More years ago than I really care to count I read several Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories. I remember very few of the details now, but I do remember that I enjoyed them. So, this book was a welcome trip into the past for me. It consists of four linked stories – a short story, two novellas, and a novelette. Together they form the origin story for those two likable, deadly, and very unlikely rogues.
A very good history of the incredible mobilization of American industrial might during WW2. Very well researched and quite detailed, this is the true story. I hadn't realized how unprepared the USA was for war in 1939. The amazing thing is how quickly things were turned around, mostly through the efforts of a few American industrial leaders. Some of the heroes of the great effort are well known. However, others have drifted into obscurity while some who were really not so important have been made to seem so by various interest groups. Also, the can-do, get-it-done attitude of Americans of the time from all levels of society was a big advantage.
The USA avoided the pitfalls of over-centralization that troubled German and Japanese industry during the war. However, that had a down side as it generated the mighty military-industrial complex that plagues us even to today.
Good book, well written.
I enjoyed Sokoloff's first four ‘Moon' books. This one not as much. I think she let her dislike of visceral antipathy toward the Trump administration get in the way somewhat of telling the story. Other than that, it is a pretty good book.
Update: This book won't get out of my head. I am bumping my rating up to four stars.
It seems Nora Roberts decided to write a post-apocalyptic paranormal fantasy. And, she did a pretty damn good job of it. This is a pretty dark book. There is death, lots of death. And there is dark evil. Of course there is also hope (otherwise it wouldn't be much of a story) and there are some good and courageous characters. This appears to be the beginning of a series. I expect I will continue with it.
Oh, this was quite a fun read. Basically it is a tale of murder and espionage. A couple of bodies turn up in mysterious circumstances, and they seem to be related to some important missing military documents. Lord John Grey gets on the case. Crime investigation was certainly different back then (CSI and Chicago PD this ain't), but Lord John proves to be a capable investigator – resourceful and quite relentless. The clues lead here and there and some folks aren't what they seem. But in the end ... but that would be telling (you'll have to read the book!).
What sets this story apart for me is the details of the life of both high and low folk in London of the early 1700s. Diana Gabaldon obviously did a lot of research. The glimpses of life in brothels and of the mollies of London were enlightening. Also, I was happily surprised by the low-key humor that crops up here and there. Lord John is an attractive character, and he is obviously a favorite of Gabaldon.
Good book. A solid four stars.
I am quite enjoying this series about the early days of the star kingdom of Manticore. In this story as the title implies, Manticore is out for revenge against those who attacked it. They are also desperately trying to discover why some shadowy entity wants to conqueror the star kingdom – remote and relatively unimportant as it is.
Travis Long and Lisa Donnelly head out on separate missions to try to achieve those goals. Minor spoilers: Unexpectedly (to me at least), they find strong allies in The Republic of Haven and The Andermani Empire. Axelrod's agent Llyn continues to be very competent, lethal, and downright nasty as he works to achieve Manticore's downfall.
Meanwhile, back in the star kingdom, tension builds as some politicos try to take advantage of young queen Elizabeth. She will need (and find) unexpected allies as she takes over as the new monarch.
(Aside: I think that the addition of Timothy Zahn and Thomas Pope has given Weber back some of his mojo.)
A solid four stars.
Devotion tells a very compelling true story. In fact, the book actually tells two stories. The first is the story of two unlikely friends – Naval aviators Lieutenant Tom Hudner, winner of the Medal of Honor, and Ensign Jesse Brown, the Navy's first black aircraft carrier pilot. We learn of their origins – Tom Hudner a son of white privilege from the North East and Jesse Brown a son of the poorest of poor Mississippi share-croppers. Then we learn how they became fighter pilots, how they became friends, and how together they learned the harsh realities of war. The second story tells of the hardships and bitter fighting endured by some young marines who were among those cut off and surrounded by the Chinese army during the harsh North Korean winter of 1950. The two stories touch on each other at several points – the key one being when the aviators provide close air support for the imperiled marines. They are stories of true courage, friendship, heroism, and sacrifice.
A well-written book about events that few know about nowadays, and a good read for military history buffs. A solid four stars.
I quite enjoyed Shannon Hale's Goose Girl. I was expecting a sweet story, but it isn't really, though it does get sweet in places. And in fact, as you might expect as it is based on (or at least inspired by) a Brothers Grimm story, it gets quite grim in places. There is treachery, violence, murder, and other nastiness aplenty. To balance that, there is also courage, friendship, steadfastness, and kindness. The main character, Ani, has to deal with tough times and grow up fast. Hale crafted a plot which twists and turns and several times went where I did not expect (which I like).
To sum up – good story, well told.