CLYDE WISHAM
Fascinating glimpses into the experiences of Soviet women serving at the front in Big 2.
They filled all kinds of roles. They were pilots and snipers, laundry workers and cooks, doctors and field medics, tankers and partisans, gunners and sappers, and many more. Those that survived were changed forever by the harshest of wars.
The adventures and perils of Maisie Dobbs continue in volume 17.
It is 1942. Maisie is no longer working for the Special Operations Executive. She intends to devote more time to her family and her private practice. But, the all-encompassing war continues to impact with her work as a private investigator.
In this story, Maisie is approached by a young ferry pilot who has stumbled across something very odd. The proper officials don't seem very interested in it and Maisie agrees to take up her case.
At the same time, Maisie's husband is tasked with protecting a very important American while she is in England. Oddly enough, as things develop, it begins to seem that elements Maisie is investigating may have some bearing on his job.
And as if that were not enough, Maisie's adopted daughter is having problems at school. Things there, also, are not as simple as they at first seem, and the problems may have deep roots.
In Maisie's seventeenth outing Jacqueline Winspear gives us a good story involving multiple characters and intertwined mysteries.
Solid 4 stars.
P.S. After writing the above, I read some of the other reviews. I noticed a few negative comments that seem to be applying present day attitudes about male/female dialogs and relationships to the story. It was a different time – 80 years ag0 at the time I write this! I commend Jacqueline Winspear for doing her best to show the world as it was rather than as some think it should have been.
N. K. Jemisin's writing fu is unmatched. In spite of that, however, The Obelisk Gate didn't work for me as well as [b:The Fifth Season 19161852 The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) N.K. Jemisin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386803701l/19161852.SY75.jpg 26115977] did. I think perhaps the relentless darkness of the tale troubled me a bit. I also had some WSoD problems.This book is highly rated by many people (some whose opinions I trust); so, YMMV.3+ stars.
Blue Remembered Earth is good SF – as I have come to expect from Alastair Reynolds. Not his top work for me (that place is held by [b:Pushing Ice 89186 Pushing Ice Alastair Reynolds https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309197028l/89186.SY75.jpg 2622804] followed by [b:The Prefect 89195 The Prefect (Prefect Dreyfus Emergency, #1) Alastair Reynolds https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327988786l/89195.SX50.jpg 3102565]), but still a good read.Late in the 22nd century multiple global crises have changed the geopolitical landscape, and Africa is home to the major powers. Geoffrey Akinya is a biologist. Though he is a member of the powerful Akinya Space clan, he is only interested in studying elephants and enabling their future. However, that is not to be. When his famous grandmother dies, he is tasked with retrieving something listed in her will. That sets Geoffrey and his sister off following clues to an old mystery. Their quest will take them all over the solar system. Along the way they find unexpected allies, suffer betrayals, and encounter lots of desperate situations.As usual with an Alastair Reynolds story, there are lots of twists and cool speculations on future tech.Solid 4 stars.
Prior to reading this book I was vaguely aware that the U.S. Coast Guard did important things during WW2, but wasn't sure exactly what. This book brushed away that vagueness. When it comes to operating small boats in costal areas, who else would you turn to but those who specialize in such things? The Coast Guard of course!
Ken Wiley's book is a well-told war story and coming of age story.
Solid 4 stars.
This is a great look at progress over the years in our knowledge of evolutionary biology. For me some of the most interesting parts are the descriptions of the various scientists who added to that knowledge bit by bit – often against opposition from entrenched viewpoints/interests.
Good popular science. 4+ stars.
I rather enjoyed this story about a young cop working in a modern London in which magic is returning. But, it didn't grab me as much as I had expected it to after reading some reviews. Perhaps fantasy isn't quite my thing at the moment. Also, I expect if I had a good knowledge of London geography and history it would have been even more interesting.
Anyway, pretty good fantasy/crime/horror crossover.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Another good book in the series. Linda Nagata has an awesome imagination. (This is one of her far-future books. She also does fantasy and near-future techno-thrillers equally as well.)Our intrepid crew continue their dangerous exploration of what was previously human space with surprising results.This is not a stand-alone story. One needs to start with [b:Edges 43483913 Edges (Inverted Frontier #1) Linda Nagata https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546820501l/43483913.SY75.jpg 67627795]. (Or, you could push it even farther back. [b:Vast 14654789 Vast (The Nanotech Succession, #3) Linda Nagata https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348626540l/14654789.SY75.jpg 1176062] is also a very good book and it tells the earlier adventures of a couple of the main characters in the Inverted Frontier series.)Good SF. Solid 4 stars.
I haven't read the first Virgil Flowers book. This is the first one my library had, so that is where I started. Turns out this one stands alone well, but I reckon it is slightly spoilerish for the first book.
Anyway, I quite enjoyed Heat Lightning. It seems that someone is killing men execution style and leaving the bodies at veteran's memorials. Davenport is super busy; so, Virgil Flowers gets the call. Flowers moves in in his laid-back style, asking questions and generally shaking trees to see what falls out. It soon becomes apparent that the killings are very professional, and they are related somehow to an incident many years ago in Vietnam. Someone is on a vendetta.
Soon things get violent and deadly with plenty of action and gunplay, and with the killers always one step ahead. Flowers has has his work cut out both solving multiple mysteries and staying alive. The finish is both exciting and satisfactory.
Good crime fiction. Solid four stars.
Very detailed, scholarly, and well researched, Embraching Defeat is the book to go to if you want to understand the postwar period of Japanese history.
The first three parts – Victor and Vanquished, Transiting Despair, and Revolutions – engaged my attention the most. They deal with the post-war experience of the Japanese people on both a small and large scale. (I suppose that is where my main interest is.)
My interest flagged a bit in the parts about the machinations around the creation of the Japanese constitution and the formation of the political system that exists to this day. These are very important subjects. However, I had difficulty pulling it all together and found myself wishing for a synopsis. YMMV.
The final parts – Reconstructions and Epilogue – take a look at the post-war experience's impact on the subsequent development of Japan. Entire books could be (and have been) written about this. Dower's outlook is informative and interesting.
All in all, a very good history.
Solid four stars.
This book changed my views on Anthony and Cleopatra. Prior to reading this, my outlook had primarily been formed by Plutarch (and yes Shakespeare also). Strauss showed me that they were in fact much more complex, capable, and extremely powerful individuals than I had thought.
That entire period was amazing. It was by no means pre-ordained that Octavian would triumph; and had Anthony and Cleopatra prevailed, the world would be a very different place now.
I hadn't been aware of how important Marcus Agrippa, the leader of Octavian's forces, was to Octavian's victory. His skill and loyalty were major to Octavian emerging triumphant .
Stephanie's review is the one that got me to read this book. I suggest you read her review if you are considering this book.
All in all, a good history told in great detail.
4+ stars.
Solid ending to a very good series.
Jefferson Mays provides a good narration. However, I found the ending a bit difficult to follow. For me it seems to require close reading. Anyway, I went back and reread the final two chapters in text.
I reckon one needs to read the earlier books in the series first. Otherwise, I think they may have a bit of trouble understanding things.
4+ stars.
OK I quite enjoyed the basic story. We get do or die action, a mystery to be solved, really bad guys doing nasty stuff, a small close-knit team going up against long odds – what's not to like?
Well, actually several things caused me to knock my rating down to three stars.
First, the romance angle was a bit too standard and too heavy for my taste. YMMV.
Possible spoilers from here on.
The Valovians pushed my WSOD to the limit. They appear to be humans but with magical psi abilities (telekinesis, telepathy, teleportation, healing ability, and doubtless others). WTF? How? I finally decided that they were space elves and just went with the ride.Then, everybody is soooo damn pretty, and so damn skillful and smart. Really?And my final problem -- the main character has an alien companion. It is small, cat-like, very cute, has telepathic/tele-empathic abilities, is probably smarter than you think, and its species is protected on its home world. Ring any bells? Really? That is very close to a knock-off of Honor Harrington's Nimitz, don't you think?
But still, overall I enjoyed the story. YMMV.
How does innovation work? First Matt Ridley gives us a number of examples from throughout history. Then he analyzes what those examples tell us. Here is a clue – innovation and invention are very different things. Inventors, leaders, would be innovators, and yes the rest of us, would do well to understand how innovation really works – what helps it and what hinders it.
Good book. Read it.
(I read a library copy, and then immediately bought a copy to keep.)
In book six Murderbot, our favorite SecUnit, gets caught up in a murder investigation at Preservation Station.
It should have been easy as that is just the kind of job it was designed for. Unfortunately, things don't go smoothly. First of all station security doesn't trust it, which makes things awkward. (After all, Murderbot is a SecUnit and everyone knows they are prone to go rogue.) And then, as the investigation proceeds it becomes evident that this isn't simple human-passion driven murder. Something much deeper is going on. The killer's tracks have been very skillfully covered. All of Murderbot's considerable abilities will be called on to solve the mystery and bring the culprit to justice.
Murderbot remains a grumpy droid. The story is spiced up with its trademark internal (mostly) sarcastic and witty observations on the actions of bumbling humans.
The previous book in the series was a full length novel, but here Martha Wells returned to the novella length, which I think is more suited to the series.
Anyway, damn good story. Kevin R. Free provides an excellent narration.
Solid four stars.
Interesting and rather unique first contact story. But, it just ends soon after a momentous event. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but the story obviously isn't over. Dr. Brin, when can we expect more?3.5 stars rounded up.Update: Just dropped by David Brin's website and found that there is in fact a sequel. ([b:Castaways of New Mojave 58911646 Castaways of New Mojave David Brin https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1630586785l/58911646.SX50.jpg 92824336]) Not very easy to discover. The publisher (1632, Inc.) needs to upgrade their marketing.
Claire DeWitt has to be one of the oddest detectives ever. She is kind of spooky, she has no fear, she gets inspiration from dreams and I Ching, she drinks too much, and she does drugs. Additionally, she seems to be in a perpetual state of existential crisis, with events of her past dogging her ceaselessly.
Such a person should be a total wreck, no? But au contraire, she is “the best detective in the world”.
Claire DeWitt returns to New Orleans, a city where she has a lot of history, to investigate the disappearance of a DA attorney who went missing during Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans is still a broken city. It and its citizens have not yet recovered from the trauma. Her investigation takes her deep into the NO gang culture. She knows it is dangerous, but she cannot help but go where her detective sense takes her. She has adventures, some of them internal, on the fringes of society as she follows her unconventional path to the truth.
An odd-ball story, but I liked it.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Mamelukes is the fourth novel in Jerry Pournelle's Janissaries series. (Unfortunately, it is also his final novel.) When Jerry passed away, he left behind the nearly completed manuscript, and his son, Phillip Pournelle, took on the task of finishing it based on his father's notes. David Weber, a fan of the series, also came on board to help polish the story.
It is a damn good book, entirely consistent with Pournelle's earlier work in the series.
For more details about the book and how it was completed, I suggest listening to the three podcasts dedicated to it at the publisher Baen's website. (Episodes on May 29th, June 5th, and June 12th of 2020.)