CLYDE WISHAM
In this sequel to Parker's Appaloosa Hitch rides into Resolution – a town in a bit of turmoil. Hitch takes a job with one of the local strongmen, and Cole later joins him. Soon more gunslingers show up, some honorable and some not, and things get tense. Toss in a Shoshone war party and some nefarious dealing and – you guessed it – the bullets start flying. Cole and Hitch have to choose a side.
I am really enjoying Parker's Cole & Hitch stories. There are four of them in total; too bad there won't be any more.
Leviathan Wakes is good space opera. It is also a detective story with a touch of horror. I'll definitely read the rest of the series as it comes out.
I gave Leviathan Wakes four stars because it seems somewhat unfinished. It isn't a cliffhanger, but there are unanswered questions. I may revise my evaluation upward as the series progresses.
Extra! I bought the eBook version from Amazon. It came bundled with Daniel Abraham's The Dragon's Path, which was a nice surprise as it wasn't even hinted at in the product description. (It was announced on the cover, but I didn't notice on the thumbnail image.)
This book was interesting to me as a former armor officer myself. I have read Colonel Hans von Luck's [b:Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck 958743 Panzer Commander The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck Hans von Luck https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1320414939s/958743.jpg 1971640] which tells the story of WW2 combat in the European theater from the command point of view and also Paul Carell's [b:Scorched Earth: The Russian-German War, 1943-1944 311806 Scorched Earth The Russian-German War, 1943-1944 Paul Carell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387751965s/311806.jpg 16019035] which gives a detailed overall history of the Russian-German war. This book filled a gap by giving an account of small unit actions (from squad up to company level). Carius was in the heat of battle all the way, and he was a very competent small unit commander.Unfortunately, I cannot honestly give this book a 4 or 5 star rating. There are several reasons. It just seems too dispassionate to me. Just another day at the office, was it? Also, at the time of writing, he was still super pissed-off about the treatment of German soldiers after the war. He overdid that aspect while conveniently overlooking the many horrible things done by the Germans during the war. Finally, his disparagement of the American soldier for lack of aggressiveness in the closing pages seemed small-minded and unnecessary. (That was in the closing weeks of the war when the Americans knew they had won. It was just a matter of time. Why would you press your luck?)In final analysis, this is a good book to read if you are interested in armored action during WW2, especially on the Eastern front. Otherwise, you can give it a skip.(Recommended first person accounts of combat: [b:Company Commander: The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II 182134 Company Commander The Classic Infantry Memoir of World War II Charles B. MacDonald https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1367149319s/182134.jpg 176005] by Charles B. MacDonald, [b:Brazen Chariots 874392 Brazen Chariots Robert Crisp https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348637776s/874392.jpg 859747] by Robert Crisp, and [b:The Heights of Courage: A Tank Leader's War on the Golan 34657 The Heights of Courage A Tank Leader's War on the Golan Avigdor Kahalani https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347770997s/34657.jpg 34628] by Avigdor Kahalani. All great.)
Five from Far and Weird contains five short stories that are more than a little unusual – and, very enjoyable. Sarah Hoyt has quite an imagination. I was especially taken by Dragon's Blood.
Highly recommended. Here are short descriptions of the five stories (mostly taken from the author's own descriptions).
A Grain Of Salt – When a Man wakes up in Chinese hell accused of defaulting on his tomb payment, he must wonder — and does — what has been going on since he died. More than he can guess, it turns out.
Scraps Of Fog - The ghost of a Portuguese King comes to lead a girl to her own happiness.
The Girl With The Golden Lute - A girl, a mysterious pilgrim, crusaders, a curse... This is based on a Portuguese legend.
Magician's Throne - There is a magical league that extends across all universes, including ours. Here the place of magical gathering is a coffee shop called Magician's Throne. The story concerns a quest for the Arthur — i.e. the true king.
Dragon's Blood - When an errant knight's son goes looking to make his fortune in dragon's blood, he ends up finding something quite different instead. Quest fantasy with a twist.
On the afternoon of August 24, 79 AD, pyroclastic flows emitted during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius destroyed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Those towns were completely buried and were subsequently forgotten. They were rediscovered in the early 1700's.
Robert Harris took what we know of the eruption and the destruction and wove an exciting tale. The main POV character is a young engineer, Marcus Attilius Primus. He has just been dispatched from Rome to take over the care and maintenance of the Aqua Augusta, the aqueduct that provided water to the area around the Bay of Naples. Soon after his arrival in Misenum, the flow of water begins to fail and he has to organize an emergency expedition to repair the Aqua Augusta.
This is the start of an exciting and most dangerous adventure. In attempting to do his job, Attilius is forced to deal with obstructive and corrupt officials, mutinous subordinates, and a murderous plot against his life. Initially in the background, Vesuvius rumbles to life and changes the fortunes of all involved.
Recommended.
In Liberator's Ruin Johns has written a damned good debut novel. The novel starts off with multiple story lines that seem unrelated. The first story line is about the adventures of airship captain Nathaniel An'Rieyr and his crew. Then we have Anna, a deposed princess who is obsessed with driving out the invaders of her country and regaining her throne. She is the leader of the Illum resistance. And finally there is Thomas Ras'Kar High Inquisitor of the Rhivellian Empire, who has the job of ending the resistance in Illum. As these story lines develop, with quite a bit of violence and more than a little skulduggery, we learn more about the world they live in. In the end the story lines all come together nicely in an exciting and action filled finish.
At first – because of the use of some standard tropes, especially airships – I thought Liberator's Ruin was an alternate history steampunk novel. However, as the story developed, it became apparent that it is something else entirely (cannot say more without giving spoilers). And, that brings me to the subject of P. J. Johns writing style. Johns doesn't do infodumps. Instead the back story of the planet and the people is slowly revealed by the dialog and action. This is a style which I quite like. (It reminds me somewhat of Vonda Mcintyre.)
All in all, I can strongly recommend this book to SF&F fans.
Unfortunately I do have a few negative comments.
(Please note that none of these hurt the readability of the novel. But they were slightly irritating and kept me from giving the book five stars.)
- Liberator's Ruin needs just a little more work. I think the right professional editing could have tightened up and improved an already good story.
- The whole book most certainly needs a pass by a good proofreader. I noticed a cut-and-paste error, some misuse of homonyms, and a few grammar/punctuation errors. Also, at one point a revolver transformed into a single-shot pistol within the space of a single paragraph!
- Finally, the cover is rather ugly, and I can't see that it has any relationship to the story.
I cannot help but think that a few hundred dollars invested in professional editing and a cool cover would really help this book.
This eBook contains all four of the original .357 Vigilante novels that Goldberg originally published in 1985 under the pseudonym Ian Ludlow. Good value!
The stories feature lots of blood-soaked violence served up at a fairly rapid pace. Think Death Wish merged with Dirty Harry and with a generous dollop of gratuitous sex tossed in for spice. What's not to like?
This is a SOFTA* book on evolutionary biology. Professional and complete, it covers not only the most up-to-date aspects, but also has several good chapters detailing the history and development of evolutionary theory. However, be warned, there is no baby talk in this book. You will have to take on complex subjects (including some mathematics and analysis) and specialized terminology to get the most from this book. (I must admit I struggled at points. Good for the brain!)
I read the eBook version. However, biologists or paleontologists or any who are serious students of evolutionary biology, should probably get the hardback version because the tables and charts do not display well in the mobi [= Kindle] format.
(*State of the art)
This novel tells the story of Stephanie Harrington, Honor Harrington's ancestor and the first person to form a bond with a treecat. Stephanie is a precocious 14 year old, so this is Weber's first YA novel.
A Beautiful Friendship is an expansion of a short story of the same name that was earlier published in the anthology More than Honor. I suppose you could say that Weber is recycling his earlier work, but the expanded story made it work for me. I do wonder if this is the start of a new series. If so, my emotions are mixed. (Doesn't the man have enough on his plate already? !!)
I am a long time fan of Vernor Vinge. I have read A Fire upon the Deep three times and A Deepness in the Sky twice, and probably will read them again. However, Rainbows End didn't grab me as strongly. While the basic plot is quite good, the pacing seemed off and the characters just didn't seem realistic. So, my final judgment is: good story, but not up to the standard of his other books.