CLYDE WISHAM
Currie gives us another good military SF book, extending his Odyssey series to book seven. This time, the Empire is coming with an entire sector fleet. They aren't messing around.
I am now tagging these books as fantasy as well as military and science fiction, because some fantastical (as in mythic) characters have started taking important roles.
In my opinion, not as gripping as some of the earlier books in the series. 3.5 stars.
As the book opens, Joe Picket is just settling into his new status as a game warden without portfolio. He hasn't a territory of his own and is acting as a general troubleshooter, traveling around the state wherever needed. When someone starts hunting and killing hunters in a most gruesome fashion, the Governor naturally puts Joe on the case as part of a multi-agency investigation. Surprisingly Joe's boss and bane, Randy Pope, becomes directly involved and even seems supportive (if somewhat reluctantly). As the story develops and the body count rises, multiple characters become involved, including a famous man tracker, a well-know animal rights activist, an old nemesis (Vern from book 1), and Joe's friend Nate Romanowski. Local law enforcement continues to be self-serving and largely incompetent. The hunter of hunters remains unidentified and it is up to Joe and Nate to solve the mystery.
There is quite a lot of violence and suspense, and the story ends with a typical C.J. Box twist.
Though the mystery is resolved, Box leaves a few loose strings at the end of this book. One presumes that they will be taken care of in later books.
A solid 4 stars.
The study of the history of life on this planet has come a long way. Knoll pulls it all together nicely in this well-written volume. Though not simplified, the clear and logical writing make it accessible to the educated and curious layman. The numerous charts, photographs, and diagrams are a huge plus.
First Knoll sets the framework for what the book aims to achieve. Then each chapter centers on a different aspect of the journey of life. As the book builds, we learn how biological, physical, chemical, geological, and environmental processes interacted over deep, almost incomprehensible spans of time to cumulate in the wondrous explosion of multicellular life in the Cambrian (and thus eventually produce the world that we know).
Very good book.
In this the fourth book of the series, Maisie Dobbs, psychologist and investigator, takes on the case of an artist who has fallen to his death. The police have dismissed it as an accident, but Maisie has a hunch that there is more to the death. In the course of her investigation, she finds that there is indeed much much more. As the range of her investigation grows, Maisie encounters secretive and possibly dangerous organizations. Little is truly as it seems. And as always in this series, WW1 continues to cast its dark shadow.
An incredible true story. This book chronicles the tough journey home of the crew of a Pan-am 314 flying boat in the weeks just after the Pearl Harbor attack. Trapped far from home by the war, Captain Ford and his crew were forced to make an almost impossible 31,500 mile journey with inadequate supplies, fuel, and charts. The story is little known now and was overshadowed by the events of the war at the time. While reading this story, I was struck again and again by the skill, courage, and can-do attitude of the crew. Part of the Greatest Generation indeed.
Good book.
The weakest of the Lanny Budd series so far. Lanny travels the world, does spy stuff, goes into danger, meets famous people, and romances lovely women. But somehow, Sinclair managed to make it boring. (I don't know if I will continue with this series. Several of the earlier volumes were quite good, and [b:Dragon's Teeth 544532 Dragon's Teeth Upton Sinclair https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347542975s/544532.jpg 16805421] was excellent. So ... maybe.)
If someone starts this book expecting a reprise of [b:The Martian 18007564 The Martian Andy Weir https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1413706054s/18007564.jpg 21825181], they will be disappointed. Artemis ain't that. It is, however, a pretty good book in its own right. What we get is a pretty good caper story with a bit of action and some fairly interesting characters. The special twist is that it takes place on the Moon. And, as one would expect since Andy Weir wrote it, it is also a real nerdgasam.3.5 stars rounded up.
In this the third book in the series, Maisie Dobbs takes on three new cases. Two of them intersect with each other and have troubling links to Maisie's WW1 experiences. She must return to France and face her own inner demons. In addition to that, someone is stalking her and seems to wish her harm. Maisie must watch her back.
Good book. Rather more than just another cozy mystery.
(Aside: Looking over the reviews, it seems that almost all the readers of this series are women. I suppose I must be a rare exception.)
ACtA is set several hundred years before the Honor Harrington series. It is not a safe time. Shadowy and powerful forces have decided that the Manticore binary system has great value and plan to take it over by force. The chronically underfunded and understaffed Manticore space navy will find itself with its back to the wall and in a fight to the death.
Good military SF with a lot of intrigue and some interesting characters.
Quite a good baseball, time travel, historical fiction mash-up.The protagonist, Sam Fowler a 1980s modern day man, is transported to post civil war America by some mysterious means. There he meets lots of interesting and famous people, has adventures, helps to form early professional baseball, and of course finds love. A good, well written yarn and a fun read.(Side note: I categorize time travel stories as science fiction or fantasy based on the time travel mechanism. If it is based on some kind of technology/science, whether explained or not, I call it SF. That would include stories like H.G. Wells's [b:The Time Machine 2493 The Time Machine H.G. Wells https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327942880s/2493.jpg 3234863] and Heinlein's [b:The Door Into Summer 348 The Door Into Summer Robert A. Heinlein https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342241886s/348.jpg 2055615]. If it is caused by some unknown force or isn't explained at all, I call it fantasy. Examples are this book and Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.)
This book is placed several hundred years before the Honor Harrington series. At that time Manticore was just a little backwater kingdom of little interest. The story starts a little slowly – understandable as the writers have to introduce the characters and build the economic, political, and social situation of the time. However, it really gets going in the second half and provides a strong action finish (as we would expect from David Weber and Timothy Zahn).
Pretty good space opera with a strong military thread.
I bought this book some six months ago. For some reason I didn't read it right away (well I do have a huge TBR pile). That was a mistake of sorts as it turns out that I quite loved TFFLoHA.
What is it about? Well I'll not give anything important that you cannot get from the book blurbs, but it is a most peculiar time travel story. Think Ground Hog Day (the movie) writ very large. Not just one day, but a whole life over and over. Claire North has thought about it very deeply and a very good story has resulted.
