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Old Booklogs
Since we're at a convenient break point, I'll put new booklog entries here starting in May.
Here's the first two months of entries (okay, month and a half):
Score:
5 - buy in hardcover
4 - buy in paperback
3 - buy used
2 - get from library
1 - okay, but not worth seeking out
0 - boing (well written, but I couldn't get into it)
-1 - disappointing
-2 - flawed
-3 - couldn't finish
-4 - couldn't even begin
-5 - I can't believe I read the whole thing
3-11-05
Caroline Stevermer, _When the King Comes Home_
Tor (2000) ISBN: 0-312-87214-3
Score: 2
This is a prequel to her "___ Of Magics" books, and can be read as a stand alone. It's a fairly quiet tale of an apprentice artist who gets mixed up in a necromantic attempt to usurp the crown.
3-13-05
Scott Westerfeld, _Touching Darkness_
Eos (2004) ISBN: 0-06-051954-1
Score: 3
This is the second book in the Midnighters series, and matches the quality of _The Secret Hour_. There are a few hooks for future books, but nothing that requires sequels.
3-16-05
Rosemary Edghill, _The Warslayer_
Baen (2002) ISBN: 0-7434-3536-2
Score: 1.5
Glory McArdle, star of "The Incredibly True Adventures of Vixen the Slayer" (the 21st century successor to Buffy and Xena) gets sucked into a fantasyland that is in desperate need of a hero. Interesting premise, but it didn't grab me the way her Twelve Treasures series did, and some of the plot twists were awfully predictable. There is room for sequels, but no need for them; I personally wouldn't mind a prequel explaining how the Amazons got involved.
3-18-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Heir Apparent_
Roc (1987) ISBN: 0451148207
Score: 3
This is the fourth book of the Guardians of the Flame and is also available in the omnibus _GotF: the Heroes_. It lost points due to the annoying title character and a somewhat contrived plot, but is otherwise a solid installment in the series. Ends on a cliffhanger.
3-20-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Warrior Lives_
Roc (1988) ISBN: 0451450019
Score: 3
Fifth book of the series and second half of the above omnibus. The story is mainly a resolution of the cliffhanger left by the previous book. Same strengths and weaknesses.
3-27-05
Charlaine Harris, _Shakespeare's Landlord_
St.Martin's (1996) ISBN: 0-312-14415-6
Score: 1.5
This is the beginning of an amateur detective series set in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. A fun, quick, read though not much of a mystery. It does not leave any loose ends, so there's no particular reason to keep reading.
3-28-05
Steven Brust, _Agyar_
Tor (1993) ISBN: 0-312-85178-2
Score: -1
This is a classic as defined by Mark Twain: I really didn't like it, but I'm glad to have read it. It is a dark, urban fantasy unrelated to anything else he's written. There is a fine line between an author being clever, and being annoying, and this book really annoyed me. The narrator leaves a lot of stuff unsaid, so there's a lot of reading between the lines needed, and I may have liked it more if I hadn't already known SPOILER (but that wasn't the author's fault in any way). (I want books that make me think, and wonder, and speculate *after* I put the book down; having to think *while* reading isn't fun.) I
certainly would have liked it more if Agyar was the least bit sympathetic, but instead I kept hoping Vlad Taltos would show up and put him out of his misery. It would also have liked more information on how the supernatural stuff worked, especially for things important to the plot (like Jill biting him). And Agyar rationalizing his actions by blaming the embalmists didn't help any.
3-29-05
Carole Nelson Douglas, "Something Fishy"
Cozy Noir Press (2003) ISBN: 0-9744742-0-7
Score: -2
I bought this on impulse from the author when I met her at a con last month. Midnight Louie and Divine Yvette go to Maine to film a cat food commercial and meet Cthulhu. I normally don't like short stories much, but I like the series this is part of; I've now decided I read the series for the larger story arcs (which aren't touched by the short stories). If you want Lovecraft as seen through the eyes of housepets, read Zelazny's _A Night in the Lonesome October_ instead.
4-1-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Road to Ehvenor_
Roc (1991) ISBN: 0451451406
Score: 3
Book six of the Guardians of the Flame series, and included in the omnibus _GotF: to Home and Ehvenor_. A bit of a mixed bag; it's narrated by Walter Slovotsky (who is really cool), but his marriage is having problems (which is never fun). The first half was realistic and unpleasant, the second half was enjoyable but didn't make much sense. One plot thread left dangling.
4-3-05
F. Paul Wilson, _Reborn_
Dark Harvest (1990) ISBN: 0-913165-52-2
Score: 1.5
The second novel of his Adversary Cycle, this one is more solidly in the Horror genre and lacks the sappy ending of _The Keep_. It gains a point for having sympathetic characters on both sides of the conflict, but loses a point for killing most of the cast without resolving much of anything. I read this in the hopes of learning more about certain characters (the Lady and the Twins) mentioned in the Repairman Jack novel _Conspiracies_, but sadly, they aren't mentioned in this book.
4-3-05
Donna Andrews, _Owls Well that Ends Well_
St. Martin's (2005) ISBN: 0-312-32938-5
Score: 2.5
Sixth book of the Meg Langslow series (amateur detective mysteries). Like the first book (_Murder with Peacocks_) Meg is in charge of organizing a large family event, this time a yard sale. The plot follows the established pattern: guy everybody hates is killed, Meg has personal reasons to prove the innocence of the guy arrested, murderer exposes himself by trying to kill Meg. The characters are still fun to watch, and with Meg's family, it's not too surprising she trips over a corpse every week.
4-6-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Road Home_
Roc (1995) ISBN: 0451454332
Score: 2
Seventh book of the series, and second half of _GotF: to Home and Ehvenor_. The half narrated by Walter was quite enjoyable, but the other half was about Jason being an idiot.
4-7-05
MaryJanice Davidson, _Undead and Unwed_
Berkley Sensation (2004) ISBN: 0-425-19485-X
Score: 3
First book of an urban fantasy/vampire romance series; very, very similar in tone and style to Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series. The book starts with Betsy dying and discovering she's a vampire. Betsy turns out to be immune to some of the normal vampire weaknesses, which annoys the megalomaniac who rules the local vamp population, except for a couple independents who are convinced Betsy is the prophesied Queen of the Undead. Betsy of course wants nothing to do with any of them, and concerns herself with more important matters, like retrieving her collection of designer shoes from her greedy stepmother.
4-10-05
F. Paul Wilson, _All the Rage_
Forge (2000) ISBN: 0-312-86796-4
Score: 2
Fourth Repairman Jack book, this one about drugs. Once again Jack (a professional vigilante in New York City) gets involved in weird stuff while trying to mete out poetic justice.
4-13-05
Alexei Panshin, _Star Well_
Ace (1968) ISBN: 0-441-78405-4
Score: 2
Introduces Anthony Villiers, a gentleman rogue who is paid by his family to stay away from home. The narration was a bit awkward and the story lacks the polish and sophistication of the Drake Maijstral books by Walter Jon Williams, but I still enjoyed it enough to look for the sequels.
4-16-05
Robert Weinberg, _A Logical Magician_
Ace (1994) ISBN: 0-441-00059-2
Score: 2.5
A hard to find urban fantasy, with a premise similar to Butcher's Dresen Files (myths and folklore are true, but secret; set in modern Chicago). But it feels more like Anderson's _Three Hearts and Three Lions_ or Pratt and de Camp's Incomplete Enchanter stories (reason trumps superstition, academic quickly becomes a powerful wizard).
4-18-05
F. Paul Wilson, _Hosts_
Forge (2001) ISBN: 0-312-87866-4
Score: 2.5
Fifth Repairman Jack novel, this time he has to deal with his sister, a nosy reporter, and a virus that turns people into a hive mind.
4-23-05
Thorne Smith, _Topper_
Modern Library (1926) ISBN: 0-375-75305-2
Score: 1.5
This book is claimed to be the invention of the American ghost story. Amusing in many places, but it's not quite the style I like. And it's hard to believe there was a time when learning to drive was exciting and slightly vulgar.
4-24-05
MaryJanice Davidson, _Undead and Unemployed_
Berkley Sensation (2004) ISBN: 0-425-19748-4
Score: 3
Second Betsy Taylor novel. Someone is killing vampires, and the Queen of the Undead is responsible for stopping it. Which is rather inconvenient since she just started working at her dream job: selling shoes at Macy's.
4-27-05
F. Paul Wilson, _The Haunted Air_
Forge (2002) ISBN: 0-312-87868-0
Score: 2.5
Sixth Repairman Jack novel. Psychics, ghosts, and guys who abduct little kids.
4-29-05
Suzanne Collins, _Gregor the Overlander_
Scholastic (2003) ISBN: 0-439-43536-6
Score: 1
Pre-adolescent boy and his baby sister fall out of the laundry room into an underground world full of giant bats, rats, roaches, and spiders. Events ensue exactly the way the prophecy said they would. First of a series.
Here's the first two months of entries (okay, month and a half):
Score:
5 - buy in hardcover
4 - buy in paperback
3 - buy used
2 - get from library
1 - okay, but not worth seeking out
0 - boing (well written, but I couldn't get into it)
-1 - disappointing
-2 - flawed
-3 - couldn't finish
-4 - couldn't even begin
-5 - I can't believe I read the whole thing
3-11-05
Caroline Stevermer, _When the King Comes Home_
Tor (2000) ISBN: 0-312-87214-3
Score: 2
This is a prequel to her "___ Of Magics" books, and can be read as a stand alone. It's a fairly quiet tale of an apprentice artist who gets mixed up in a necromantic attempt to usurp the crown.
3-13-05
Scott Westerfeld, _Touching Darkness_
Eos (2004) ISBN: 0-06-051954-1
Score: 3
This is the second book in the Midnighters series, and matches the quality of _The Secret Hour_. There are a few hooks for future books, but nothing that requires sequels.
3-16-05
Rosemary Edghill, _The Warslayer_
Baen (2002) ISBN: 0-7434-3536-2
Score: 1.5
Glory McArdle, star of "The Incredibly True Adventures of Vixen the Slayer" (the 21st century successor to Buffy and Xena) gets sucked into a fantasyland that is in desperate need of a hero. Interesting premise, but it didn't grab me the way her Twelve Treasures series did, and some of the plot twists were awfully predictable. There is room for sequels, but no need for them; I personally wouldn't mind a prequel explaining how the Amazons got involved.
3-18-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Heir Apparent_
Roc (1987) ISBN: 0451148207
Score: 3
This is the fourth book of the Guardians of the Flame and is also available in the omnibus _GotF: the Heroes_. It lost points due to the annoying title character and a somewhat contrived plot, but is otherwise a solid installment in the series. Ends on a cliffhanger.
3-20-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Warrior Lives_
Roc (1988) ISBN: 0451450019
Score: 3
Fifth book of the series and second half of the above omnibus. The story is mainly a resolution of the cliffhanger left by the previous book. Same strengths and weaknesses.
3-27-05
Charlaine Harris, _Shakespeare's Landlord_
St.Martin's (1996) ISBN: 0-312-14415-6
Score: 1.5
This is the beginning of an amateur detective series set in the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas. A fun, quick, read though not much of a mystery. It does not leave any loose ends, so there's no particular reason to keep reading.
3-28-05
Steven Brust, _Agyar_
Tor (1993) ISBN: 0-312-85178-2
Score: -1
This is a classic as defined by Mark Twain: I really didn't like it, but I'm glad to have read it. It is a dark, urban fantasy unrelated to anything else he's written. There is a fine line between an author being clever, and being annoying, and this book really annoyed me. The narrator leaves a lot of stuff unsaid, so there's a lot of reading between the lines needed, and I may have liked it more if I hadn't already known SPOILER (but that wasn't the author's fault in any way). (I want books that make me think, and wonder, and speculate *after* I put the book down; having to think *while* reading isn't fun.) I
certainly would have liked it more if Agyar was the least bit sympathetic, but instead I kept hoping Vlad Taltos would show up and put him out of his misery. It would also have liked more information on how the supernatural stuff worked, especially for things important to the plot (like Jill biting him). And Agyar rationalizing his actions by blaming the embalmists didn't help any.
3-29-05
Carole Nelson Douglas, "Something Fishy"
Cozy Noir Press (2003) ISBN: 0-9744742-0-7
Score: -2
I bought this on impulse from the author when I met her at a con last month. Midnight Louie and Divine Yvette go to Maine to film a cat food commercial and meet Cthulhu. I normally don't like short stories much, but I like the series this is part of; I've now decided I read the series for the larger story arcs (which aren't touched by the short stories). If you want Lovecraft as seen through the eyes of housepets, read Zelazny's _A Night in the Lonesome October_ instead.
4-1-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Road to Ehvenor_
Roc (1991) ISBN: 0451451406
Score: 3
Book six of the Guardians of the Flame series, and included in the omnibus _GotF: to Home and Ehvenor_. A bit of a mixed bag; it's narrated by Walter Slovotsky (who is really cool), but his marriage is having problems (which is never fun). The first half was realistic and unpleasant, the second half was enjoyable but didn't make much sense. One plot thread left dangling.
4-3-05
F. Paul Wilson, _Reborn_
Dark Harvest (1990) ISBN: 0-913165-52-2
Score: 1.5
The second novel of his Adversary Cycle, this one is more solidly in the Horror genre and lacks the sappy ending of _The Keep_. It gains a point for having sympathetic characters on both sides of the conflict, but loses a point for killing most of the cast without resolving much of anything. I read this in the hopes of learning more about certain characters (the Lady and the Twins) mentioned in the Repairman Jack novel _Conspiracies_, but sadly, they aren't mentioned in this book.
4-3-05
Donna Andrews, _Owls Well that Ends Well_
St. Martin's (2005) ISBN: 0-312-32938-5
Score: 2.5
Sixth book of the Meg Langslow series (amateur detective mysteries). Like the first book (_Murder with Peacocks_) Meg is in charge of organizing a large family event, this time a yard sale. The plot follows the established pattern: guy everybody hates is killed, Meg has personal reasons to prove the innocence of the guy arrested, murderer exposes himself by trying to kill Meg. The characters are still fun to watch, and with Meg's family, it's not too surprising she trips over a corpse every week.
4-6-05
Joel Rosenberg, _The Road Home_
Roc (1995) ISBN: 0451454332
Score: 2
Seventh book of the series, and second half of _GotF: to Home and Ehvenor_. The half narrated by Walter was quite enjoyable, but the other half was about Jason being an idiot.
4-7-05
MaryJanice Davidson, _Undead and Unwed_
Berkley Sensation (2004) ISBN: 0-425-19485-X
Score: 3
First book of an urban fantasy/vampire romance series; very, very similar in tone and style to Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire series. The book starts with Betsy dying and discovering she's a vampire. Betsy turns out to be immune to some of the normal vampire weaknesses, which annoys the megalomaniac who rules the local vamp population, except for a couple independents who are convinced Betsy is the prophesied Queen of the Undead. Betsy of course wants nothing to do with any of them, and concerns herself with more important matters, like retrieving her collection of designer shoes from her greedy stepmother.
4-10-05
F. Paul Wilson, _All the Rage_
Forge (2000) ISBN: 0-312-86796-4
Score: 2
Fourth Repairman Jack book, this one about drugs. Once again Jack (a professional vigilante in New York City) gets involved in weird stuff while trying to mete out poetic justice.
4-13-05
Alexei Panshin, _Star Well_
Ace (1968) ISBN: 0-441-78405-4
Score: 2
Introduces Anthony Villiers, a gentleman rogue who is paid by his family to stay away from home. The narration was a bit awkward and the story lacks the polish and sophistication of the Drake Maijstral books by Walter Jon Williams, but I still enjoyed it enough to look for the sequels.
4-16-05
Robert Weinberg, _A Logical Magician_
Ace (1994) ISBN: 0-441-00059-2
Score: 2.5
A hard to find urban fantasy, with a premise similar to Butcher's Dresen Files (myths and folklore are true, but secret; set in modern Chicago). But it feels more like Anderson's _Three Hearts and Three Lions_ or Pratt and de Camp's Incomplete Enchanter stories (reason trumps superstition, academic quickly becomes a powerful wizard).
4-18-05
F. Paul Wilson, _Hosts_
Forge (2001) ISBN: 0-312-87866-4
Score: 2.5
Fifth Repairman Jack novel, this time he has to deal with his sister, a nosy reporter, and a virus that turns people into a hive mind.
4-23-05
Thorne Smith, _Topper_
Modern Library (1926) ISBN: 0-375-75305-2
Score: 1.5
This book is claimed to be the invention of the American ghost story. Amusing in many places, but it's not quite the style I like. And it's hard to believe there was a time when learning to drive was exciting and slightly vulgar.
4-24-05
MaryJanice Davidson, _Undead and Unemployed_
Berkley Sensation (2004) ISBN: 0-425-19748-4
Score: 3
Second Betsy Taylor novel. Someone is killing vampires, and the Queen of the Undead is responsible for stopping it. Which is rather inconvenient since she just started working at her dream job: selling shoes at Macy's.
4-27-05
F. Paul Wilson, _The Haunted Air_
Forge (2002) ISBN: 0-312-87868-0
Score: 2.5
Sixth Repairman Jack novel. Psychics, ghosts, and guys who abduct little kids.
4-29-05
Suzanne Collins, _Gregor the Overlander_
Scholastic (2003) ISBN: 0-439-43536-6
Score: 1
Pre-adolescent boy and his baby sister fall out of the laundry room into an underground world full of giant bats, rats, roaches, and spiders. Events ensue exactly the way the prophecy said they would. First of a series.