Rob

Executive Summary: I don't normally do a lot of short stories, and I hadn't planned to read any of these until someone pointed out you could get them all in one collection and that they were pretty good. I'm glad I picked it up, but I'm not sure that I will pick up any of the other short stories unless there are other collections like this available in audio.

Audiobook: Grover Gardner does another good job. I'm never quite blown away by him, but he's a pretty good fit for the series, and thus I continue to listen to it rather than read.

Full Review
The rating of this book is an average of my ratings for each of the three stories.

I thought the first story The Mountains of Mourning was the best of the three and gave it 4 stars. I really liked the focus on Miles trying to end the practice of child murder on his home planet, especially as it is a topic so close to him.

I didn't think the second story, Labyrinth was nearly as good. I struggled with the romance element and found it a bit creepy. It still had some elements I thought interesting, but it was the weakest and I gave it 3 stars.

The final story The Borders of Infinity was also quite good, although not as good as the first story. You really get to see Miles use his brain to outsmart larger and stronger opponents, and that's one of the things I enjoy most about the character and the series so far. 4 stars.

Executive Summary: I thought this book started slow and ended fast. The middle was good, but overall it made for a so-so book.

Full Review
I'm not sure if this is a book I would have picked up myself. I hadn't heard of it before it was chosen as the July pick for Sword & Laser, and the blurb didn't really excite me much.

I'm not a hard sci-fi person by any means, but I do like for the science to be explained in a way I can follow and doesn't distract me. That is probably harder in a near-future book like this, where it's easier to see how we could get from here to there.

This book focuses more on the human aspect of being an astronaut than the technology side, but the sci-fi aspect plays an important role with how it ends. I felt like a lot of that was rushed and not at all earned by what came before it.

I think the middle of the book is where it shines best when you're focused on the aftermath of such a long time spent in space, and this mystery hanging over the main characters head.

I think it took too long to start revealing the details of that mystery though which lead me to feel like the reveal was rushed and unearned.

Overall I'm glad I read this book, but I wasn't blown away by it. Things set up for a possible sequel, but I'm happy to leave things off where they are.

Executive Summary: This series seems to alternate between great books and just good ones. This was a good one. I felt like too much time was spent setting things up and just as it was set, it ended. 3.5 stars.Audiobook: Tim Gerard Reynolds does his usual fantastic job. I've enjoyed every book he's narrated, and none more than those written by Mr. Sullivan. The narration helped me through some of the slower parts at the start of this book.Full ReviewSo far I've rated both [b:Age of Myth 26863057 Age of Myth (The Legends of the First Empire, #1) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507307691l/26863057.SY75.jpg 24657657] and [b:Age of War 18052169 Age of War (The Legends of the First Empire, #3) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1516720471l/18052169.SX50.jpg 25336191] as 5 stars but [b:Age of Swords 32337902 Age of Swords (The Legends of the First Empire, #2) Michael J. Sullivan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481987017l/32337902.SY75.jpg 25336186] was a 4 and this one 3.5. I found both started slow but ended strong.It's almost as though he needs a book in between to set things up. With the way this one ended he's certainly set up for the next book to be another fantastic one. I just wish it didn't spend so much time meandering at the start.Things certainly took an unexpected turn for me, but I wanted to see what was going to happen next immediately. Because the book took so long to get there if left me a bit disappointed. That said this was still a good book, just not at the level of some of the others.Given how it ended I'm eagerly awaiting the next one, especially because I know it's already been written. I'm hoping the release will be either later this year or earlier next year when hopefully all the setup of this book is finally paid off.

Executive Summary: I thought this was a much better entry that the last one. We finally get some progress on the main story plot, although once again not as much as I was hoping.

Audiobook: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is fantastic as always. When the previous books weren't quite as good as the earlier ones, his narration helped keep me engaged. In a better book like this one he elevates it that much more.

Full Review
I've never been in a rush to catch up on this series, and that was especially true after the last entry. I tend to leave it for when I need something light and have a small gap of time between books. This series has a unique world building compared to many other detective urban fantasy series, and that's one of the main reasons I've kept coming back.

However the reason I tend to prefer epic fantasy over other forms is I like big stories. This series has an overarching series that I want to learn more about, but the last few entries seemed to meander and offer almost nothing of the big picture. Thankfully that wasn't the case in this one.

Things still didn't move along as much as I'd have liked, but far more than the last two. Some interesting new elements to the larger picture were added in as well with the introduction to some history of the female practitioners.

Overall this was a fun and light read that scratched the itch I was looking for. It's also renewed my interest in the series a bit more and I probably will pick up the next book in the next few months rather than sometime next year.

3.5 stars. Review eventually. Maybe.

Executive Summary: A bit longer than I'd have liked, going deeper into history on some things than I was interested in, but the tech stuff was pretty fascinating. 3.5 stars.

Audiobook: For fiction I always want a memorable narrator, but for nonfiction someone forgettable is best. I want the story to speak for itself. I thought Joe Ochman fit the bill nicely for me.

Full Review
I'm always fascinated by computer history, and the story behind Stuxnet is both fascinating and terrifying. Here we are many years later and it doesn't seem like computer security has improved all that much.

It's easy to think that Iran just isn't as advanced as the US, and that's how they were susceptible, but the reality is more about the amount of money spent and probably the fear of retaliation. We may never know the full details of Stuxnet, but this book seems to do a pretty good job of not only attempting to put all the pieces together but fill in the history of the events that led to the attack.

As I read this for technical side, I found my attention drifting at times when she would focus more on the history of Iran and its nuclear program. Overall I'd have liked for it to be a bit shorter, maybe summarizing some of the historical elements more, but still a pretty enjoyable read.

StoryIt's an end of an era. I haven't really read super hero comics with any regularity since I was in high school. The main draw for me on this was G. Willow Wilson. What kept me coming back was Kamala though. Her nerdy traits and the way she interacting with other super heroes were things that I see in myself. In some ways this volume was a nice ending to Ms. Wilson's run, but in other ways I was disappointed. Not a lot happens, but the things that did were pretty significant. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but maybe a bigger send off than what we got.I'm going to miss Ms. Wilson's writing. I may give her wonder woman a shot, or maybe I'll give [a:Saladin Ahmed 4025591 Saladin Ahmed https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1325700680p2/4025591.jpg]'s run a shot. I haven't decided yet.ArtworkI'm not sure who did the art, it's change a few times over Ms. Wilson's run but it's stayed pretty true to the original artist's stuff, which I appreciate since I liked that so much.

Executive Summary: A fun and light start to a new series. I'm no a fan of novellas or Urban Fantasy but I really like Brian McClellan so I gave this a shot. I'm glad I did.

Audiobook: I really like Luke Daniels, he fits especially well for this kind of book. That was another big selling point for me on this book. Audio is definitely the way to go for this series in my opinion.

Full Review
Most urban fantasy series I've read have fallen pretty flat for me. I was reluctant to give this a try, especially since it was a novella. However I really like Brian McClellan and I managed to catch a deal on the book so I gave it a shot.

It suffers from a lot of the usual urban fantasy tropes. The main character is a kind of bounty hunter/repo agent rather than a detective, but it still plays out in a similar fashion. It was just different enough to hold my interest though.

The world building at least seems some unique. I like how he uses death as the catalyst for both this book and the larger story. I found the bigger story more appealing, but the main plot of the book was still pretty good too.

I'll be interested in checking out the next book, but I may wait to catch another deal on the audio again.

Executive Summary: I found this book to be well written, but largely uninteresting.

Full Review
I've had this book on my to read pile for awhile but I never got around to it. Then Sword & Laser picked it for their June book. I came to it just off of an underwhelming book that I struggled to read for months.

I'm not sure if it was that mentality or that I just wasn't in the mood for this book I can't say. There were some parts I enjoyed. In particular I liked the ending, but the middle of the book dragged for me.

Much like my previous book I would go for days without picking it up and I could barely get through more than one or two chapters at a time.

I can understand why this book is so beloved. If I had read it at a younger age or possibly at a different time in my life I'd probably have liked it better. I'm just glad to have finally read it and to be moving on.

Executive Summary: A much better entry than its predecessor. The new characters really breathed life into a series that for me seemed to be running out of ideas.

Audiobook: Luke Daniels does his usual fantastic job. This series is currently an audible exclusive, but even if it wasn't I'd do this one in audio anyways. He does a variety of voices and really adds that extra something to the book.

Full Review
I really have enjoyed this series. Some more than others. I find most of the main characters kind of obnoxious but I find the humor pretty solid and the world building fantastic. The time travel element has never been my favorite part and I feel like the last book really took that to an extreme.

Thankfully this book used it far less and instead focused on largely new characters. There is Gilbert and Sid who have show up with cameos a few times in the series, but have had very little “screen time”. I found them probably the most likable of the magicians in the series so far.

And instead of the main focus being Martin, Gwen and Phillip instead its Martin and Gwen's kids: Mattie and Brewster. They are typical teenagers and much like the other characters in the series can be frustrating at time. However it's a new kind of frustration and that plus Gilbert and Sid.

I think this book works as kind of a soft reboot and I'll be curious to see what he has in store for the next book.

Executive Summary: This book starts out quite strong, but as it goes on it becomes essentially two interconnected stories and I liked one of those stories a lot more than the other. 3.5 stars.Audiobook: Malcolm Hillgartner did a solid job with the narration. I checked and he's the same narrator as [b:Reamde 10552338 Reamde Neal Stephenson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1305993115s/10552338.jpg 15458989] so I appreciate the continuity. He does some voices, but nothing that really blew me away. Audio is a good option, but not really a must listen.Full ReviewNeal Stephenson has been one of my favorite authors since I first picked up [b:Snow Crash 40651883 Snow Crash Neal Stephenson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1530057753s/40651883.jpg 493634] in college. I've enjoyed just about every one of his books. He has a writing style that tends to meander at times, and is prone to tangents. I always seem to find this just as entertaining as the main plot. This book didn't seem to have any major tangents, but it did follow his other typical pattern of telling multiple connected stories in one book.This book is a loose sequel to [b:Reamde 10552338 Reamde Neal Stephenson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1305993115s/10552338.jpg 15458989] and shares characters and history with [b:Cryptonomicon 816 Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327931476s/816.jpg 1166797]. If you haven't read those books, you can probably read this stand alone, but of the two Reamde would be the better one to have read as some the characters at the center of the plot for this book were also at the center of that.I enjoyed Reamde and the start of this book as it feels much the same. However by the end of the book more time is spent inside the simulation and less out in the real world. Things feel far more like a fantasy book rather than sci-fi. Now I love a good fantasy story, and that makes up the majority of the books I read, but I found this one to be far less enjoyable than the sci-fi story that preceded it.Overall I found this book good, but not great. I'll happily pick up his next book and more than likely enjoy it. If you've enjoyed most of his past works, you'll probably enjoy this. If you haven't ready any of his work, there are better books to start with.

Executive Summary: After a rough start I liked the second half of this book enough that I'll probably continue on with the series.Audiobook: Gildart Jackson did a pretty good job, and helped keep me mostly attentive during all the setup of the first half of the book.Full ReviewThis one has been in my library for awhile. I'm sure I got a daily deal or I probably wouldn't have bothered. I used to love Urban Fantasy and read a ton of it, but after awhile I just got tired of it and pretty much everything new I've tried has felt derivative or uninteresting.For the first half of this book I was ready to lump this book in with all those others. Not only did this pale in comparison to Dresden Files, the origin story felt like copy/paste. It can be hard to remember that [b:Storm Front 47212 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1) Jim Butcher https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1419456275s/47212.jpg 1137060] is not the best written book.However it was the first urban fantasy book I read, so I didn't know any better at the time. And now I'm so many books into the series that it's hard to separate my love for the series and characters from the quality of the writing and story.So however unfair it may be the first book of a new Urban Fantasy series book, I'm always comparing it the entire Dresden Files series, not just [b:Storm Front 47212 Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1) Jim Butcher https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1419456275s/47212.jpg 1137060].I think if I'm being completely fair this book is probably slightly better, even if I liked it much less. The second half finally started to differentiate itself from Dresden Files.In particular, despite their near identical backgrounds Harry and Alex are quite different. Harry is a bruiser. He prefers to take the fight to the bad guys and solve his problems with fireballs and bullets.Alex however is a planner. His magical ability to walk possible futures means he's all about being prepared and avoiding the worst of what might happen. It is for this reason that I found the book growing on me as it went along.That said, it's still the first book in a series and that comes with some of the setup that comes for that. There thankfully seems enough here to differentiate itself from most other urban fantasy I've read. I'll probably pick up the audio for the next book whenever I'm in the mood for something lighter.

Executive Summary: I thought this started out strong and fell off a bit before finishing strong. I'll probably continue on with the series at some point.

Audiobook: Robert Glenister does a fantastic job. He's an excellent fit for Strike in particular. It helps when the book got slow that I enjoy the narration so much.

Full Review
I thought the first book in this series was fine, but I found the pacing on the slow side. The pace of this book seemed better, at least in the early going. Over time I came to be annoyed at the subplot with Strike and his assistant Robin. It just got to be tedious after awhile.

The mystery itself was fine but nothing spectacular. I probably enjoyed the stuff with Strike's brother the most. Much like the last book I thought things really picked up at the end.

I find the deliberate hiding of details from the reader an annoying technique. I don't mean not revealing all, but essentially showing the characters discussing things in a way the reader is not privy to.

Overall much like the last book I enjoyed this enough that I'll probably continue on, but I'm not going to rush off to pick it up.

Executive Summary: This is another one of those books where I seem to be in the minority of my friends. The premise sounded excellent, but I struggled with the first half. It finished stronger than it started, saving it from a 2 star rating, albeit barely: 2.5 stars.

Full Review
The book was well written. The concept of reliving your life over and over again with all of your memories was fantastic. However the execution of the story just left me unengaged.

I'm not sure what I expected this book to be exactly, but it definitely had a different tone than I was looking for. It's starts off on such a bleak note for me that I think it instantly put me off it completely.

I'm stubborn though so I pushed through for awhile until I got to 40% mark and then I just ignored it for about a month. Instead of moving on to another book, I just didn't read at all. I finally decided to push through the final 60% over the long holiday weekend and I guess I'm glad I did.

I thought the ending was a lot better than the beginning. Maybe all that time away allowed me to reset and come in with proper expectations. I'm not really sure. Either way, I'm happy to be done with this book, and I probably won't pick up another by Claire North moving forward.

Executive Summary: I didn't think this book was nearly as good as [b:The Black Echo 32508 The Black Echo (Harry Bosch, #1; Harry Bosch Universe, #1) Michael Connelly https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1344265342s/32508.jpg 48262], but I still enjoyed it for the most part.Audiobook: I think Dick Hill did a good job again. It makes me disappointed that he doesn't so the whole series. I think I only have 1 or 2 books left that he narrates, which is a shame.Full ReviewI don't read a ton of mystery stories. I used to read a lot more of them when I was younger. I've always been on the lookout for a good series to add into the mix of all the fantasy and science fiction I read and I thought this might be a Unfortunately I felt like this book was a step back. It was still good, but not nearly as enjoyable to me as the first one. Often times a long running series like this can repeat some of the same patterns, but I didn't expect it to be so prevalent in the second book.I'm already a bit tired of Harry's love of jazz and the tendency to go after “damaged/vulnerable” women. I'm also not sure how much of the “cop who plays by his own rules” I want to deal with moving forward.That said the actual story of the book was pretty good and I liked how it played out, even if I didn't always like some of the subplot stuff.I'll probably continue on with the 3rd book if I can get the audio for cheap or more ideally from the library.

Executive Summary: An enjoyable finish to the series that didn't quite live up to the promise of [b:Red Sister 25895524 Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481038440s/25895524.jpg 45777900] for me.Audiobook: Heather O'Neill once again does a good job with this. She does a few voices and adds that little extra something I've come to expect from a good audiobook.Full ReviewThis is now the second series by Mark Lawrence I've completed (the other being his Broken Empire trilogy) and I like this one far better. Nona and her friends are fantastic characters. The world building is excellent. I love the warrior monk trope so seeing a variation with a warrior nun is pretty cool.I've enjoyed all of the books in the series, but none of them as much as [b:Red Sister 25895524 Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481038440s/25895524.jpg 45777900]. This book was still quite enjoyable and I thought it was a good conclusion to the series, however I found it a bit slow at times and never quite sucked me in like the first book.Overall though I think this is a great series and really worth your time. I still think it has one of the greatest opening lines of any book/series I've ever read and this book did a nice job bringing you back to that opening line and beyond.

Story
This was an interesting take on “living in the moment”. One of the janes doesn't want to return home at the end of the summer so they do something foolish to extend their time.

I continue to find this series endearing. It talks about a lot of friendship and making the kinds of friends who like you for you are and not pretending to be what you're not to fit in with the crowd. It does so with humor and fantasy elements that always have me reaching for the next volume.

Artwork
I feel like the artwork is different every volume. Early on it was fairly consistent, but now it seems like they keep rotating through artists. None of it is ever bad, it's just never quite the same.

Executive Summary: It's hard to say why I gave this book 5 stars without massive spoilers, so I'll simply say that I was always looking for reasons to keep listening, and had I been reading it instead I would have finished it much sooner.Audiobook: Another great job by Jefferson Mays. Early on I didn't find him that impressive, but when he didn't do [b:Cibola Burn 18656030 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405023040l/18656030.SY75.jpg 26109318] I realized how much I liked him for the series. I'm not sure if he's a narrator that I'd pick up another series for, but he's the only one I want narrating this series now.Full ReviewThis series has quickly become one of my favorites and each new book was always one of my most anticipated and best reads of the year. I still really enjoyed [b:Persepolis Rising 28335696 Persepolis Rising (The Expanse, #7) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1481562381l/28335696.SY75.jpg 48382887], but I wasn't happy with all the turn of events.When they announced this one was delayed from December to March I figured it was due to the the time they've spent writing the show, and was happy to wait if it meant a return to form. It was definitely worth the wait.I'm really happy the show got picked up by Amazon and I hope they get to complete the series because once the final book is published I'd have a big Expanse (get it?) in my reading schedule.If you haven't read the books, or watched the show you're missing out and I highly recommend checking out one (or both) because I think they are fantastic. Now I'm going to eagerly await the release of Season 4 and then (hopefully) book 9.

Executive Summary: I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected to. It wasn't as fun as his NPCs series but given that I'm not a big fairy tale fan, I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun he made it.Audiobook: I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the 3 narrator approach, but it seemed to work well. I'm not sure which of the male narrators was the primary, whoever voiced Jack, but they did a good job with the overall narration beyond just reading Jack's parts. Both other of the others did a good job as well. If Mr. Hayes writes a sequel, I hope they hire the same three again. It definitely worked well in audio.Full ReviewI really enjoy Drew Hayes [b:NPCs 22088245 NPCs (Spells, Swords, & Stealth, #1) Drew Hayes https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1400095217s/22088245.jpg 41426688] series, but I haven't read any of his other stuff before. There has been a bit of a trend to write modern fairy tales, or to repurpose traditional fairy tales. I've read a few and I enjoyed the show Grimm, but it's not something I was really itching for reading more of.I mostly picked this book up because it was on sale and a bit on the strength of his other books I've read. The majority of this book is episodic. Each chapter uses a classic fairy tale and puts a (often humorous) twist on it. I recognized most, but not all of the stories, but as I said fairy tales aren't really my thing.I tend to prefer a bigger story than something episodic like this, but it really seemed to work well, and he did still manage to build a pretty compelling glue story connecting them all together.My favorite part was learning the backstories of the three main characters. I had kind of guessed two of them, but one of them took me by surprise. It's possible if I knew fairy tales better, I'd have been less surprised but it's hard to say.Overall this was a pretty fun/light read and I'd definitely pick up another if he wrote it, but if not it ended in a pretty decent place.

Story
Things picked back up a bit after last volume, but I'm still kind of just eager to see how things end. The series took a direction I wasn't expecting and that seems to be dragging things out. Hopefully this volume is an indication that we're moving again towards the finish.

Artwork
The art is fine at this point, although I still have some issues telling Eren from some of the others in the last few volumes. I feel like he looks a bit too much like Levi.

Executive Summary: I thought this started slow, but once it got going it got a lot better. So far it's probably the second best of the series. 3.5 stars rounded up.Audiobook: Grover Gardner once again does an excellent job with the narration. He does a variety of voices and Full ReviewI decided to read this book in publication order rather than chronological or the author's suggested order (which I think is basically just chronological). Up until now, I didn't feel like I was missing anything. This time, I found myself struggling to recall if I forgot a bunch of details from the last Miles book. However it appears that when she originally wrote this book she decided to jump ahead in time a fair bit after [b:The Warrior's Apprentice 61906 The Warrior's Apprentice (Vorkosigan Saga, #2) Lois McMaster Bujold https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1170597854s/61906.jpg 2792] and the went back later to fill in the details. I still plan to stick with publication order, but time jumps have been a bit jarring.So far I've found this series good, but not great. I do find Miles and his mercenary band far more interesting than the other books I've read so far. Thankfully it looks like the next book sticks with him.I don't really remember the supporting cast. I don't know if that's due to my own bad memory or the time jumps. I did struggle with with the start as I was trying to get my bearings and Miles just seemed to be sitting around stuck on Earth with very little of interest happening.Once I got back up to speed and the main plot got going, thing went along at a pretty good pace. I have a few more books already in this series on audible, so I plan to keep going for a bit, but I'm waiting for one of these books to really wow me.

Executive Summary: This is might be my favorite of the series thus far, and it's at least the best book since [b:Blackflame 35023786 Blackflame (Cradle, #3) Will Wight https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493626673s/35023786.jpg 56310116].Full ReviewI really loved this book and this series. I think if I had started reading it during the weekend it came out instead of a few days later and I'd have read it in 1-2 days instead of 4. Every time I picked it up, I just wanted to keep reading, but often I either didn't have enough time, or I was too tired to concentrate properly.After how much I loved [b:Blackflame 35023786 Blackflame (Cradle, #3) Will Wight https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493626673s/35023786.jpg 56310116], I found [b:Skysworn 36332410 Skysworn (Cradle, #4) Will Wight https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1506821104s/36332410.jpg 58010031] a bit of a letdown. [b:Ghostwater 40280403 Ghostwater (Cradle, #5) Will Wight https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1527845246s/40280403.jpg 62568044] was a better entry, but I wondered if the series had peeked in the third book. Then this book came along and kicked things into another gear.I watch a ton of shonen anime, and those series often become less interesting to me when the main character gets too powerful. I worried Lindon would be much less interesting the stronger he got.The typical solution to this problem is to add tougher and tougher enemies, which is a technique that Mr. Wight uses, but what sets it above for me is the cool variety of ways each of the characters get stronger.He also does a pretty good job with humor. I found myself laughing at something nearly as often as I was cheering for a badass fight scene. I especially love the way Mercy says hello to EVERYONE.My only minor issue is that I still find myself confused as to some of the larger cosmic events. I'm sure the more careful readers are getting all kinds of information out of these interludes, I find myself scratching my head. I'm hoping that in time all of this stuff will make more sense, and maybe I'll do a reread to see what stuff I was missing.This series continues to be highly entertaining and I'm eagerly awaiting the next book. I have a ton of questions, and he sets things up really nicely for what's to come next.

Executive Summary: A few minor problems, but I ended up enjoying this a lot more than expected.

Audiobook: Dick Hill does an excellent job. He does a few voices that really adds that extra something to make the audio book worth it. I was disappointed he only seems to narrate the first few books of the series then it's all over the place. I was ready to continue on in audio. Now once Dick Hill's run has ended, I'll have to decide what I want to do.

Full Review
This book hadn't been on my radar. I was familiar with the character from the Amazon series but I've never watched it. I used to read a lot more mystery and thriller books when I was a teenager, but in my 20s I mostly switched to fantasy and science fiction.

I've tried to return to mystery genre a few times now, but very little has every really ever grabbed me like it used to. Urban Fantasy loves the detective/cop/mystery framing device, so I guess it was easy enough to get that itch scratched.

I ended up getting this from a buy one get one sale and decided to take a chance. It has a few issues with character development. In particular Special Agent Eleanor Wish initially felt more like male wish fulfillment than an actual character. Harry does come off like a bit of a cliche himself. As the book goes one both develop into something more interesting than they first appeared.

I will say the book did do a good job of keeping me guessing and while I figured out some of the details, others caught me completely off-guard. Most mystery books seem to require a high body count, which never really appears to me. I like heist stories and other crimes far more than another who dunnit. Thankfully that seems to be the case here. There are a few bodies throughout, but while Harry is a homicide detective the case goes much deeper.

We'll see how the next few books hold up. I planned to come back eventually, but that looks to have been moved up a bit with the second book coming up on another buy one get one sale. Hopefully I'll enjoy it as much as this one.

Executive Summary: It's hard for me to be partial about this book as it combines two things that have consumed most of my time the last 15 years: World of Warcraft and Software Development.

Full Review
World of Warcraft changed my life. I've made lifelong friends and had unforgettable experiences that no other game before or since has matched. It's also coincided with my professional career as a software developer as I graduated from college the year wow was released.

Once upon a time I had aspirations to be a game developer, but somewhere along the way I decided I wanted to play games more than I wanted to write them. This book shows I made the right choice. I've spent far more hours playing World of Warcraft than I'd like to think about, but I don't know that I'd have wanted to put in the countless hours it took Blizzard to make.

This book combines two things I love in one package. When the kickstarter was announced I backed it immediately. Blizzard has been notoriously closed lipped about everything, especially the development of their games. I was a bit shocked to hear they not only approved of the book but also contributed various images.

It was fascinating to me to learn about early features that got cut, design decisions that were made and the marvel the game ever got released in the first place. For someone like me this was a perfect blend of storytelling and technology.

I don't think it's so technical that your average World of Warcraft fan wouldn't be able to follow it. I don't know if they will have the same enjoyment I did however. I found myself reading longer than I planned every time I picked it up. For that reason I gave it 5 stars.

I'd love to see similar books about the time and development of the game since it's launch, in particular the lessons learned and hardware and software details they applied to fix all the scaling and uptime issues they had in the early years of the game.

If you're interested in a peek behind the curtain of Blizzard, or World of Warcraft in particular this book is worth checking out.

Executive Summary: I found this one a bit slow in places, but it finished strong. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the last one. 3.5 Stars.

Audiobook: Roger Wayne does another quality job. His normal reading voice is clear and he reads with good tempo. Plus he does a few voices that gives the audio version that little extra something I've come to expect. I can tell just from the voices which character is talking and that makes for a more enjoyable listen.

Full Review
This series continues to be a lot of fun. The last book was probably my favorite of the series so far because it focused so much on Rogues, which has always been my favorite type of character to roleplay.

This one focuses more on Paladins, which I generally dislike. Paladins have a tendency to do what is right no matter what the consequences are and that kind of thinking has just never sat well with me. I guess I'm just a lot more Chaotic Good than Lawful Good.

The mystery tying the two main stories of the series continues to be interesting, but we learned very little new in this volume. I would have liked more with that regard. Things did get set up nicely for the next book, so maybe we'll finally get some more answers then.

Overall this continues to be a fun series, but I hope he's going somewhere with it and not simply meandering around on a neverending role playing campaign. For now I'm still on board with picking up the next book just as soon as it's available.