drews

I had previous watched the HBO Series His Dark Materials and did enjoy it the TV show and now I have started this series as a whole starting with the golden compass

This world has the feel of a steem fantasy set in a alternate earth universe where everyone has a animal companions referred to as daemons which for me at least is a unique take on alternative earth.

The world that we find our main character Lyra in, is controlled by a religious orgnization known as the maigsterium aka the catholic church which is reference in a few different ways and seems to, like the tv show to be heading into a conflict between religious dogma and scientific advancement, which I think is the point of these books to begin with.

One could argue I think that this is a young adult series, between the young protagonist and the animal companions in a way it has a kind of cozy feeling of growing up while taking on that call to adventure, like harry potter, Lyra is very young when she gets her call to adventure and I am certainly enjoying this book series so far.

I found the writing style to be simple and easy to read, while still doing a great job and world building and character development. The anthropomorephized bears with their armor are prob some of my fav aspects of this world, as well as the unique take on wtiches which unlike other fantasy, are not the typically dark, ugly forest women who prey on unsupecting victims lol

all around fun read and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

I read this as part of my cantenbury classics of science fiction and fantasy.

This book/story is essentially a type of time travel story where a man gets hypnotized in 1887 and falls asleep for 113yrs to wake up in the future in the year 2000

Aside from that, there is really nothing really scifi about this at all. The entire story is really nothing more than a conversation between 2 people about socialist utopia of 2000 and how great it is vs capitilist society of 1887 with little to no arguments or points in favor of capitalism to any great extent and as such is much more of a manifesto on socialism than a inherent and true scifi story of any interest.

An Ember in the Ashes is what I would describe as a grimdark fantasy. Slavery, violence, brutality, betrayal. An Empire with a stranglehold on the populace and a brutal military school sets the stage for a a dark, tense and rather enjoyable read

So many of the scenes and descriptions of what some of these characters have to endure brings out so much in the way of feelings of empathy. I found myself really caring about the characters and hoping to see them succeed.

If you are a fan of grimdark I feel like you will enjoy this one

This book was a typical Robert Langdon symboligist story filled with fast paced action packed adventure shall we say.

As much fun as I had reading this book, its hard to give it a great rating mainly because I found the plot predictable and the shocking reveals were quite frankly not that shocking. Where did we come from, Where are we going?

These question and the big revelations surrounding them were not all that shocking at all and easily predictable I found even for those who don't have a strong foundation in scientfic way of thinking.

While the book was not terrible, it was fast paced, full of actions and a fun ride, its predictability of who did what and when just makes it hard for me to give a glowing review

This book is full of ludicrous crazy ideas that do not comport with reality in anyway

That however is part of the fun of this book. It is for sure not character driven nor does it have any character development in any real way but it is full of adventure and a fun imaginitve ideas of what it is like in the center of the earth long before we knew anything about the actual make up of the earths crust or world

From underground oceans, to dinosaurs and prehistoric plants this book was honeslty entertaining.

That being said it is a bit dry in the writing style at times and the characters were a bit 2D, so it loses marks there but love the imagination behind this epic adventure, overall good, not great or amazing but good

Full disclaimer, I work in the Canadian Telecom industry so I will keep my comments brief rather than detailed to avoid any conflict of interest

For myself as this book is closely tied to my work it was a very interesting read and helped give me significant insight and anaylsis behind the headlines of one of the biggest mergers and aquitsitions in canadian history all while Rogers communications was going through significant changes to its top leadership over a 2-3 yr period in the wake of Ted Rogers death, the company patriarch and the one who started it all.

Its a good read if you are interested in corporate governance

This was a fun one. The unseen university is forming a football (aka soccer team) to take on the other soccer teams in the city of akh morpork, however while that is the central plot device the book is not really about that all

I found that this book really was more about finding value in ourselves and not getting hung up on the way we were born or created. It challenges the idea that stereotypes are reality and that we we can find value in our selves.

One of the main characters, MR Nutt is a orc, and discovers this about himself and has beceome overwhelmed with finding value within himself despite societal pressure to view him with the stereotype of his race.

Juliet another character also embarks on a bit of self discovery as a fashion model and love interest of another character.

All in all this is a great read

This is a short story written in 1858 about a mad scientist that is obssessed with the micro world he discovers in his microscope

The story is narrated in the 1st person and tells the story of a man who is driven to obsession with what her discovers to the point of crimes of passion in his pursuit of learning.

I found this story to have a focus on the encentricities of a mad scientist and obsession. HIs reclusiveness and how he manages to entrap his self in the world he discovered whether in his own mind or a reality of the world of the story we shall let the reader determine

not much else I can say without spoiling the story but overall I found it to be good read and I found myself really wanting to follow the story and see where his obsession takes him.

The biggest drawback being that as a short story it has so much potential to evolve into a longer book of novel lenght, overall 3.5/5 stars for me

This is the final book in the Codex Alera series by Jim butcher. I certainly enjoyed it and its a good read and series overall.

While I dont have much to say about the book or series as a whole, if you like elemental magic system, non-human fantasy people, and some dark elements along with lots of action then you will probably like this series as a whole.

Long Chills and Case dough is a short story by Acclaimed writer Brandon Sanderson. This was surprise 5th story from the secret project kickstarter campaign that as far as I know no one was expecting. And for Sanderson it really is a short story at 68 pages long

Going in I knew this was a detective story, the cover of the book certainly gives that much away at least.

This short story gives the feel of a classic Dixon Hill setting (picards favorite detective holo program for the trekkies out there)

This was fun quirky and quick read about a Detective in 2151 investigating a crime with all the classic 1920s chicago mob private eye detective story. From the old building he works out of, to the lack of clients and the secretary who answers the phones and does some sluthing work for him. For a fun simple story the setting is just fine and no issues there, but that is where the good stops imho

I can see why this was not published in tradional or even self pub format. In the preface Sanderson states he wrote this story back in 2002 but did not publish it then or since as he has not found the right outlett to do so.

This book just does not, I guess age well in the modern Era. Derrins is a a extremley misogynistic and sexist character who has adopted the classic 1920s private detective way of speaking and culture. Often refering to his secretary as doll, skirt, etc.. and commenting that her job is to answer the phone and do her nails. At one point he is appears surprised that she is not just a secretary but a doll or skirt with brains.

Our main character is only called out once on his misogyny, and barley at that. It's just hard to believe that his mindset and way he thinks is acceptable in the setting of this book. There is nothing in this future world that suggesst that this is part of the overall culture of the society he is in.

I don't have a inherent problem with sexist characters in books, or racist of any other ist, When those characters are done well and it fits with the story in a effective way, but in this case Derrins sexisty misogyny is treated as no big deal, and the one time he is called out felt like nothing more than an attempt to call it out to say "see I called it bad"

If you are new to Sanderson do not read this book, at least not until you have read the rest of his works. This is not who Sanderson inherentley is as a writer, this is just a bad book or bad story overall, it only gets points for being a quirky fun little story but otherwise just not what I would call a good story

I just finished this book, it is the 2nd book in liveship trilogy by Robin Hobb

one thing that has been driving me a bit crazy in this seriesl lol, is the "one who remembers" plot line with the serpents. It has felt that there is no purpose to it has felt like filler for the series until close to the end of this book in which we get more context of what and how it is all coming together, and its about time! lol

Malta is certainly taking a bigger role along with the mad ship in this book as the plot thickens so to speak, over all a great read and an amazing series. I am actually starting to like paragon lol

Making Money by Terry Pratchett. Is this a critical review of the banking system, or does this book praise the the genious behind its design?

Well that might not be for me to say, but will say that this book like so many other Terry Pratchett books comes with its usual hilarity and poking fun at things we tend to take for granted or are common place in our world and society.

This book really is a good read. A well known criminal from Discworld takes over the banking system in order to restore faith in both banks and money

As usual it pokes fun an the rich elite who run the worlds banks and the idea that ciminals are the best people to run banks. Its just a fun read and worth while I would highly reccommend it.

This is the final book in the main arc of the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. My personal rating is more a reflection of the series as a whole

This series was one of the first epic high fantasy series I had read and I fell in love with the series from the start of my 1st read through. I love the characters, the world building and the general ideas throughout this series of books. So much so that I named 2 of my kids after characters from this book series.

My reading tastes however have evolved over the years and I just finished my re-read of the series as a whole. Terry Goodkind has been known to be a somewhat of a controversial author in the fantasy community, something I did not know when I first read the series but on the re-read I have come to understand why that is.

It is no secret that Terry Goodkind was heavily inspired by Ayn Rand and libertarian ideals in the writing of this book series. These ideas of liberty self determination etc.. are repeating over and over and over and over and over again like a mantra to the point of becoming overly repetitive throughout the books from Wizards first rule to Confessor

The bad guys, Emperor Jagang and his imperial order we are reminded over and over again about how evil they are and how good and right Richard and his circle of freedom fighters are good. Good kind goes out of his way to paint the bad guys as so terribly and in a way that at times feels like he is beating you over the head with it, and then some and does the same thing in reverse with the good guys

This book series gets excessivley preachy at times with political philosophy and idealism which can get quite tiresome at times in the excess.

This gets tiring after a while to the point where we want scream OK WE GET IT ALREADY!

That being said the world building, the characters and the overall story and plot I still do really really love and enjoy. To be Honest I am torn, while I really struggle with the black and white objective good and bad guys and strong libertarian ideals to the point of political rheteoric I still can't help but love everything else about these books. The charcters, the world, the magic system so much good mixed with so much bad. 15 yrs ago I might have given near 5 star rating, but now with half good and half bad 2.5 stars for the series as a whole for me

This is probably my Favorite of Sanderson Secret Projects Novels

The premise is that Nomad is running from a mysterious group called the Night Brigade and he has been jumping from world to world in the cosmere trying to escape this group that is hunting him.

There is so much I want to say but don't want to spoil it for those who might read it at some point. What I can say is that if you are a cosmere fan or not I think you would enjoy this kind of sci/fan book. Its got its science fiction aspects as well as Cosmere magic system and investure within this book with several references to both Scardial from Mistborn and Roshar from Stormlight Archive

I love the connections, I love discovering more info about Wit/Hoid (cosmere fans know it, if you dont know it read more cosmere lol) and the shards of Andolnasium I am trying really hard not to spoil anything here and will be doing a video review on my channel

This is set on a unique world that is essentially melted and reformed daily from the intense energy and heat of its sun and the people of this world live on the run from the sun travelling the world trying to stay on the nightside of this world and imho this is a very unique setting for a cosmere world and one I really like reading about

not much more I can say about this without spoilers so I will leave it at that for now

This is the 2nd Robin Hobb book series I have started and honestly I have to say I like it better than the Farseer trilogy. As I understand this book takes place in the same world as Farseer

I love the idea of these live ship traders and their live ships being sentient beings with a magical connection to their families. The idea of a ship having feelings, intellect, ability to go mad, have mental illness but also be uniquily tied to or bonded to their families is just a really awesome idea

One thing I will say is that the one character Kyle, I can't stand that guy and honestly if one can hate a fictional character I do hate this guy lol, but for me that is a sign of good writing if a author can make you hate or love a character as Robin Hobb has done here.

Althea's plight is one I just wanted to keep getting back to as well as Wintrow and how they deal with things and overcome their trials and struggles, however the side plot with Malta is not something I cared a whole lot for, but also can't help but wonder if this side plot will come to have more importance in future books, which I get the feeling it might

Book 4 of the Codex Alera was IMHO the best entry so far. Tavi heritage is revealed and enemies gained and lost, allies created in unexpected ways, battle, war, politics this was a very enjoyable read.

Tavi's character growth as he learns to discover his Furies and come into his power sets him up to be the leader he was born to be, I am loving this series.

This is the 2nd book in the Faithful and the Fallen, for sure a good improvement over the 1st book. I felt it had a bit more character focus than book 1, but did at times find my mind wandering and not keeping my attention

I did enjoy however the fighting pits, battles, characters etc.. overall a good read and enjoyable series

Just finished my #reread of Naked Empire by Terry Goodkind

2/5 stars. It gets points for having characters I love but loses everywhere else for what felt like nothing more than a rant about failing to see evil and how horrible it is

Every step of the way it was another lecture on the right to life, liberty and freedom, and yet I can't help but still love these characters so I do want to finish my reread but after that never again

This was a re-read for me. I first read the series years ago, probably over 20yrs ago now and fell in low with these books. I loved the charactes, story etc.. mainly because it really aligned with my personal world view at the time

However over the yrs that has evolved, and I have started to understand why people dislike this series so much and to be honest this is probably the worst of the books.

This book introduces 2 new characters, Oba and Jensen Rahl, children of Darken Rahl that are supremely ungifted and the gifted are blind to them in the sense they cannot sense them with their gift and thus they are immune to magic

Both had very different upbringings resulting in very different character traits which this book constrast quite well very much expressing the idea of nature vs nurture.

However this book did not need 700+ pages to tell their story, and could have easily been done as a novella or short story. It just did not or should not have taken so much page time for essentially a side quest to explore these ideas. Many of the other charactes who are supporting or main roles in the overall story make virtually no appearence, and when they do some felt way out of place or even character from how they were established in the previous books of the series. Overall this is just not a good book overall. I give it 2.5 stars as I still like the series overall, if not as much as I used to

I had high hopes for this book. It was also the viewers choice book review from bac in march on my youtube channel that I finally got around to getting done

I had heard alot of good about this series and was excited to read it but it honestly fell flat for me in some ways. I did not connect with the characters for the most part but did enjoye the overall story itself

The world is a interesting world with Giants and reference to gods which has always been a interest to me when gods are invovled in our fantsy so it gets points for world building and mythology but loses points for flat characters

overall I give this 3.5 stars so not terrible but not great

I loved this book. Space opera where you know the end from the begining but that is not an issues because this story is not about how it ends, but how we got there.

This book is really more about Hardrian and his desperate effort to escape his family and bring peace and understanding to a galaxy at war with a alien race no one understands and its just getting started, as this is book 1 in the suneater series.

I loved this book, and so far am loving Hadrian as a character. Just a good read all around

I certainly enjoyed this book. This is the 2nd book the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb and I found this to be a very character driven book more than plot driven

This is not to say there is no plot or plot progressino there certainly is but I did find that this book focused alot of Fitz's character while the other characters were really background chracters to this story with not much in other view points.

Despite the title the book does not focus much on Assassin aspect of Fitz's character but rather his relationships with other characters, and as a character driven reader I thouroughly enjoyed this book and so far am really liking this series as a whole!

So this is going to be more of a review of the series as a whole than a single book.

Issac Asimov's Foundation series is a epic scifi series based in the far future galactic empire more than 20,000 yrs in the future. A time when Earth has long faded into myth and legend

LIke most good scifi, its not so much about the scifi as it is about the story of the rise and fall of civilization. This series is written in a way that is generally easy to follow without alot of complication and each book is set up in parts from 4-5 parts each and each part launches you 10 + yrs into the future.

Not so much a character as narrative driven story it focuses on the ideas of large crowds behavior can be predicted via laws of mathematics based on the main character Hari Seldon ficitonal science pyshochistory.

In alot of ways the books are quite dated in references to both technology, and social norms and ideas such as gender roles can come across as biased or stereotypes so it may not be good for everyone but for me I love the big ideas of this scifi, the epic scope and ideas that what is fact can fade to legend and myth over time.

Overall Foundation is in this reviewers opinion an awesome read as a whole series, only loses some points due to the dated nature of some of the references.

The Final conlcusion to the Shannara Chronicles follows Drisker Arc, Grianne omhsford in the forbidding, a demonic world which is also a prison a swell as Tarsha the last of the Druids.

I loved this final book in the Shannara world and it does make for a amazing conclusion to the Shannara world of Terrybrooks.

I have read all of shannarra at this point now that I have read this one. The characters are ones you really come to love and want to succeed. This is a world that is post apocalypic world that is similar to our own in alot of ways but of course wtih Elves and Dwarves.

I do love a good post apocalypic story line. Magic, intrigue, politics. this series as a whole has it all

my only complaint is that the ending was left too open and I know that there wont be any more in the shannara world. Tarsha is faced with a descion but we dont find out what the descion is and it just leaves us hanging!!!! why Terry are you doing this to us!!!!

This is the first Robin Hobb book I have had the pleasure of reading and I will say that I did enjoy it overall as my introduction to Robin Hobb's writing.

I had been hearing so much about Realm of the Elderings and Robin Hobb on booktube and to be honest I did not feel this lived up the hype, I was expecting a 5 star read, that is not to say it s a bad book by any means

Assassins apprentice focuses alot of our main characters Fitz and his progression you can call it of being passed around to different teachers to learn a variety of different things and skill sets, that is the bulk of the story so far. There are still 2 more books in this trilogy yet, so I am expecting it will just get better as we go along. But given that the actual plot progression was not athe bulk of the story itself

As for the writing style itself it is taken from a 1st person narraitve which I do admit I enjoy that as that way of writing in a way makes you the character whose viewpoint is coming through. I find that this helps to have empathy for the character and more invested in the story overall.

I will be honest in that I did not like how Fitz being an assasin was not hidden well in the respective courts. It was too obvious in that everyone seemed to know he was an assassin there to assisnate a paticular person. which seemed kind of backwards vs someone being discovered.

The Magic system is subtle in this story, With skilling and forging seeming to be the main types of magci, but will be honest after this first book I am still not really sure of what those are exactly. All I can really say is skilling has something to do with telepathic communication and forging is a bad thing, but never really explained. I find I enjoy a book better when by the time you finish reading the 1st book you have a clear and good understanding of the magic system and how it works which I did not find with this one. But am hopeful that future books will further develop that understanding, I for sure want to keep reading this series

overall 3.5/5 stars for me, with the anticiaption that it will get better