The Dark Talent by Brandon Sanderson

This review may contain mild spoilers for the previous books in the ALCATRAZ series.

Fans of Brandon Sanderson’s ALCATRAZ VS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS series have been waiting for six years for book five, The Dark Talent (2016), which was finally published a couple of months ago by Starscape (Tor’s children’s imprint). Recorded books brought back Ramon de Ocampo for the audio version that was released at the same time. As I mentioned in my review of the previous book, The Shattered Lens, it’s hard to know which one to recommend because Starscape’s hardback version has wonderful illustrations by Hayley Lazo, but the audio version is superbly na... Read More

Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski

Baptism of Fire is the fifth book in Andrzej Sapkowski’s WITCHER series. It starts up immediately after the events in The Time of Contempt, which you must read before picking up Baptism of Fire. This review will contain spoilers for previous books.

Previously, in The Time of Contempt, Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri got caught up in a coup on the island of Thanedd. The Chapter of Mages was destroyed as the sorcerers and sorceresses were either killed or otherwise dispersed. Geralt was defeated and severely wounded and Yennefer disappeared. The Emperor of Nilfgaard took advantage of the chaos and invaded the northe... Read More

Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia

There is no way that any review I write about Monster Hunter Nemesis is going to have any sort of effect on anybody’s decision to read it. If you’re a fan of the extremely popular MONSTER HUNTER series, then you’re going to read Monster Hunter Nemesis, the fifth book. If you’re not, you won’t. And if you’re not in one of those two camps, you have no reason to be reading this review. But still I have to write it, because that’s my job.

So, for those of you who ARE fans, what you can expect here is exactly what Correia has given us so far: great characters, a fascinating story, witty dialogue, and brutal violence. This particular installment features my favorite character: AGENT FRANKS! He’s a huge indestructible man(?) who works for the U.S. Monster Control Bureau, a government agency that fights monsters and... Read More

He Drank, and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe

Eddie LaCrosse and his tough girlfriend, Liz, are back in Eddie’s fifth adventure by Alex Bledsoe. I’ve enjoyed each one of these stories, especially the audiobook versions produced by Blackstone Audio. The narrator, Stefan Rudnicki, has become the voice of Eddie LaCrosse for me — strong and gruff, but also sweet and sensitive.

The EDDIE LACROSSE books don’t have to be read in order — you could even start with this one — but each book fills in a little more of Eddie’s background and there is an overall story arc, mostly dealing with Eddie’s love life, so reading them in order would probably be ideal. Besides, each story is worthy to be read, so why not read them in order if you can?

In the prologue of He Drank, and Saw the Spider, we meet Eddie when he was 16 years younger. After abandoning his mercenary job, he saves an infant girl from a bear. (... Read More

Hunted by P.C. Cast

This one was so bad that I don't even want to write about it.

It's got all of the previous problems and more.

Zoey and her boyfriend issues are insufferable.

I'm done with this series.

Yuck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


House of Night — (2007-2014) with daughter Kristin Cast. Young Adult. Publisher: The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird’s world, vampyres have always existed. In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire — that is, if she makes it through the Change. Not all of... Read More

Damnation for Beginners by Alan Campbell

Alan Campbell has been on my TBR list for years, but I still haven’t managed to get around to reading his DEEPGATE CODEX. That is going to change soon, though, because I just finished his novella Damnation for Beginners which takes place in the city of Cog in the DEEPGATE CODEX world.

This short book is about Jack and Carol Aviso, who work as bank tellers for the greedy Henry Sill Banking Corporation. Jack and Carol know better than to keep their money with Henry Sill because nearly every day the customer account policies change and the customers continue to become further indebted to the company. Jack’s and Carol’s jobs are to explain the convoluted policies to the thousands of customers who line up daily to complain. The offices of the tellers are located in cabins in a huge cog embedded in a cliff. The cog rotates constant... Read More

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series started out as a trilogy, and should have stayed there. This fifth book in the series has devolved into nothing more but one incident of teenage groping and/or angst after another.

City of Lost Souls is very disappointing.

 

[Editor's note: Terry, a perfectionist, didn't want to post this short opinion as a review, but we thought you'd want to know, so we posted it anyway.]   Read More

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

Kate Daniels has opened her new business, Cutting Edge Investigations, but there’s just one problem: no clients. “If things kept going this way,” she muses, “I would be forced to run up and down the street screaming ‘We kill things for money.’” It’s not that she needs the money, really; it’s more that she wants to be a successful, independent businesswoman rather than just Curran’s consort.

So when a case comes her way, Kate takes it, even though it’s not the sort of mission she’s used to. Elite bodyguards were protecting an inventor of magical objects at a remote cabin in the woods. Someone got past the guards, killed one of them, and absconded with the inventor and his dangerous project. Kate must find out where the man and his device have been taken, especially once she uncovers a terrible truth about the device’s function.

Meanwhile, Kate and Curran are toge... Read More

Crown of Crystal Flame by C.L. Wilson

With Crown of Crystal Flame, C.L. Wilson concludes her epic Tairen Soul quintet. The series has always walked the line between romance and epic fantasy. In the later books, however, with the connection between Rain and Ellysetta mostly established (other than that pesky incomplete soul-bond issue), the balance has shifted more toward fantasy as the war with the Eld Mages moves to the forefront.

In this installment, the Fey and their Elven and Celierian allies make their last stand against the Mages. Meanwhile, the insurrection brewing within Vadim Maur’s stronghold comes to a head as well. The good guys are vastly outnumbered and the Mages have terrible powers at their disposal. Yet Rain, Ellie and friends refuse to give up hope, and help from an unexpected quarter may just be enough t... Read More