Behind Blue Eyes

Double Feature by Owen King My rating: 4 of 5 stars So I read this in May, but didn't write a review. I meant to. And today I picked up the copy of a chapbook given out at a book signing. This is a series of deleted scenes and scrapbook entries. We'll, I enjoyed it and it brought back some of what I felt when reading Double Feature. First off, Owen King has a brilliant imagination. I am fascinated with the fictional movie career of Booth Dolan, and the film industry glimpses we get of Sam Dolan as he works on his own production. For much of this book, I was going "huh?" as I wasn't exactly sure where it was going. It seemed to shift around at will, like a Coen Brothers or Tarantino film. But that's a good thing! As I read these little extras, I really had that impression reinforced. Four months later, and the positive feel I got when finishing this book remained, much as it does years after watching a film by one of those directo...

Read in April, 2012 Here's another bonus review. This one stands out as a rare "bad" review of a King book. Note that it sits at 3 stars. For my King ratings, that's pretty low. For my Dark Tower ratings, that's abysmal. The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King My rating: 3 of 5 stars .... Uummmmm. What do I say? For as long as I've been on GR, I've seen the debate on the Dark Tower. Which story era is more enjoyable? The "present day (sorta)" ka-tet of Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake, and Oy. Or the "Young Roland" era when he ran with Alain, Cuthbert, and Jamie? So as I'm about to start this book, I find out that many of the "present day" crews are disappointed because we get a little time with the ka-tet, only to have the story shift back in time with Roland telling another story of his youth, much like Wizard & Glass. That book seems to be either a least favorite or a most favorite with everyone. With me, it wa...

Read in April, 2009 This is one of my earliest reviews from Goodreads, and is to this date it is far and away my most popular. I'm not sure why, really. It's not my best, I don't think. But I'll post it here. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 5 of 5 stars It reminds me of Ocean's Eleven meets The Italian Job, but set in Mordor after Sauron has ruled for 1000 years or so. In many fantasy stories, a dark lord is rising and it is up to our heroes to defeat him before that happens. In this, the Dark Lord is already set in place as the status quo and the heroes have to motivate others to want a change.....Yet there is a noble class of The Lord Ruler's flunkies who will need to be scammed and robbed along the way, to finance this big revolt.....I love it... The pace, style, and grand-heist-scheme-in-a-fantasy-setting plot remind me of Michael J. Sullivan 's The Crown Conspiracy while the characters and rags-to-revolutionary story mak...

The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J. Sullivan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I received a free ebook ARC copy of this book from NetGalley. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Each one of these books that I read brings it all home. They remind me why I read in the first place. Looking back, I've sometimes wondered if I'd given too high praise of these because I knew and got along well with the author. But no, that's not it. While that's true enough, the books are really that good. Any built in bias on my part is very small, if present at all. The Riyria books keep me engaged from the first page to the last. They show me characters that I care about to the point where I cringe if something bad happens to them. And there are often moments of "no, he didn't just go there" or outright laughter at an unexpected quip or bit of banter between the characters. I've enjoyed Sullivan's books from the ...

The Bank of Fear by David Ignatius My rating: 3 of 5 stars This was a First Reads win on Goodreads, so thanks go out to Goodreads and to the publisher (Norton). I had some serious mixed feelings here, and had to remember that 3-stars = "liked it". And I'd say that I liked it more than, I didn't like it. There were some issues that I didn't care for along the way, but for the most part I enjoyed the experience. It was a bit slow going early on. As I was introduced to the characters, I wasn't impressed. Book smart they might be, but they couldn't distribute an ounce of common sense to the lot of them. They were so stupid, it was unrealistic. Unrealistic that they could BE that dumb, and unrealistic that they didn't die from their stupidity. Especially the main character, Sam Hoffman. How a financial investigator could move along at his steady pace of gaffes and blunders made it difficult for me to suspend belief. And I read...

Razor's Edge by Martha Wells My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received a free ebook ARC copy of this book from NetGalley. Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. 3 stars, but was almost 2. I had some really mixed feelings about this book. At times, I enjoyed it. At other times, I just wanted it to be over. I'll start with the cons: 1. Describe describe describe. This was heavy-handed. When every nut and bolt and widget is described down to the corners, the story loses momentum. Or never gains any. And while good description can help give a clear picture, this did the opposite. The more I read, the more I couldn't visualize anything. 2. The tone was dry. It didn't seem to have highs and lows. Even when the story should have, the tone remained the same throughout. 3. The pacing. It never seems to let up. While this was probably meant to give the narrative suspense, it just served to drag i...

V Wars by Jonathan Maberry My rating: 2 of 5 stars 2.5 stars. This looked like it might resemble World War Z with multiple authors and vampires. It was more like World War Zzzzzzzzzz. The "war" was a cold one and the overarching story seemed to deal more with social consciousness than with staking bloodsuckers. Oh wait. Just saying that makes me racist against vampires. Should I not use the "V" word? I'd hate to be banned from a cable tv network 30 years from now because they found out I said "vampire". That said, I did enjoy some of the stories. Mostly I was intrigued with the Maberry sections and those by Nancy Holder. The rest pretty much reminded me that I hate vampires. Well, at least none of them sparkled. It wasn't a horrible read, and the audio format really worked well for this work. Still, I would have liked to have seen more bullets fly and less political agenda. View all my reviews

Paladins of Shannara: The Black Irix by Terry Brooks My rating: 4 of 5 stars That was a cool little story. A direct sequel to The Sword of Shannara , this gives us a further adventure with Shea, Flick, and Panamon Creel. View all my reviews

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers My rating: 3 of 5 stars That was impressive, I'll admit. A historical fiction with a secondary plot of romance and a dash of the fantastic. What is impressive to me most is that the story remained engaging, even when the romantic aspects kicked in. They weren't heavy or distracting, and actually fit the story really well. View all my reviews