Behind Blue Eyes

Peacemaker by K.A. Stewart My rating: 3 of 5 stars I received an eArc copy of this from NetGalley. 3 stars, almost 3.5. Here is a nicely structured novel of the Weird West. It made for a quick, enjoyable read if you like a bit of magic added to your Westerns. Lawman (Peacemaker) Caleb Marcus and his trusty familiar Ernst travel out west on their new assignment and realize that something isn’t right in the small town of Hope, somewhere in Kansas. That said, I couldn’t rate it higher than that. While there was a huge amount of potential here, most of that wasn’t quite realized. I’ll start on the positives though: The magic system is very impressive. Stewart explains the basics of Arcane powers as used by Caleb and the characters that aren’t either Barren (born without ability) or Scoured (the power burnt out of them). There is mystery with it, but we get to see how Caleb uses it and how an old war wounding has left him partially hampered. The magic employed by the Cheyenne is similar,...

Batman, Vol. 2: The City of Owls by Scott Snyder My rating: 5 of 5 stars Holy Owlshit, Batman! That was fun. I have to say, I'm very much impressed with Scott Snyder's Batman in this DC "New 52". The artwork by Greg Capullo is phenomenal and Snyder's writing is cutting edge. The characters, story (both current and backstories), and the layered depth of Gotham as told by Snyder and Capullo (and others) is simply brilliant. It's friendly to new readers and old fans alike. I'll be reading more of this title, to be sure. View all my reviews

Runner by Patrick Lee My rating: 4 of 5 stars I received a free eARC copy of this book in exchange for a review. Wow! What a rush! This thing takes off running (pun intended) from the very beginning and doesn't let up. Lee has a talent for suspence and for quickly developing characters. Just a few pages in, I cared what happened to Samy Drydan and Rachel and I really couldn't put the book down easily through the whole thing. This book struck me as something of a cross between The Bourne Identity and Firestarter . Lots of action, plot twists, and character relationship dynamics at every turn. And not only is Lee great at building the suspence, he has a skill for tapping the emotions of his reader (or this reader at least). So why not 5-stars? It's closer to 4.5, to be honest. As riveting as the plot is, a lot of the aspects of it are pretty far-fetched. Disbelief was suspended though, with the skilled writing and fast pace. I'm definitely interested in reading more ...

Orders is Orders by L. Ron Hubbard My rating: 4 of 5 stars I won a free copy of this book through a GoodReads First Reads giveaway. Thanks also to the publisher (Galaxy Press) for providing this copy. 3.5 stars. I think that this is now my favorite of the Golden Age stories that I've read from L. Ron Hubbard. This one is about a couple of Marines that are trying to get some essential supplies into a besieged town in China, but they have Japanese forces in their way. It's a great glimpse into history, to a time where tensions between the Americans and Japanese were building. A great afternoon read. View all my reviews

Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon My rating: 4 of 5 stars Now that was a big ass book. Well, not exactly. But it's a big-un. It's pretty good though. I've often heard how this is similar to The Stand by Stephen King, which is one of my all time favorite novels. And it is similar, though different. I mean, they're both big ass epic books about the end of all things and the people that survive to set shit right again. Good vs. Evil and all that. "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." -R.E.M. But the characters are different, with their own backgrounds and situations. The way things are handled is different. Enough that this book stands well enough on its own. Figuratively, of course. I mean, books don't really stand. Not even The Stand . They have no legs. They'd have to be thick legs too, to hold these big ass books up. View all my reviews

Deadpool Classic, Vol. 1 by Fabian Nicieza My rating: 2 of 5 stars Well, that was disappointing. Back in the day when I regularly read X-Men comics and those about their splinter groups, Deadpool was one of my favorite supporting characters. This is actually a good illustration as to why he made a good supporting character. That is, not a focus character. This volume includes New Mutants #98 , the first two Deadpool miniseries (The Circle Chase & Sins of the Past) , and the first issue of the long-running Deadpool series. The New Mutants issue was one I enjoyed back in the day, as it was part of the story where Cable takes over the New Mutants and transforms them into X-Force. The Rob Liefield days, yanno. Here by itself, it's disjointed. If you didn't know the story of the New Mutants, most of this comic would be confusing. It is the first appearance of Deadpool, though, and that part of it certainly fits. The Circle Chase was boring. Lots of mercenaries chasing a sec...

Killing the Dead by Scott Marlowe My rating: 4 of 5 stars Sweet. That's more like it. This was more of a short story than the first, which was a quick introduction. I can see where these will be an entertaining batch of stories once there are more out there. Encouraging. View all my reviews

Fine Wine by Scott Marlowe My rating: 4 of 5 stars I like freebies. This is one of those, and it sets up a new series of short stories about an assassin. Nice. Enjoyable story to start it off, but I'd have liked a bit more. I guess that's what a teaser is supposed to do though, eh? View all my reviews

Wolverton Station by Joe Hill My rating: 5 of 5 stars How cool was that? Perfect way to spend a lunch break (besides eating). I hate comparing Hill to his Dinh (Father), Stephen King, because Joe Hill is a brilliant author on his own merits. But I will say that this story shows another trait they share - the talent to take what might be a ridiculous idea in the hands of most authors and make it brilliant. That's all I will say on the comparison. That's really all I will say on the story too. It's too short to read a summary in a review when that time could be spent reading the story itself. But I'll say that, as with most Joe Hill stories, this kicks ass. And that I wish I was listening to Warren Zevon while reading it. Arrrroooooooowwwww .... Oh, and one more thing. Hill's awesome new word: businesswolf. I love it. View all my reviews

Black Towers to Danger by L. Ron Hubbard My rating: 3 of 5 stars I won a free copy of this audiobook through a GoodReads First Reads giveaway. Thanks also to the publisher (Galaxy Press) for providing this copy. Another fun pulp-era story from L. Ron Hubbard. This is the third of these that I've read over the last year, and the second one on audio. I'd have to say that this was my favorite of the three. This has a western feel, though the setting is actually in Venezuela, where rival oil drillers are competing. Guns and great escapes and brawls and a feisty young lady are the things that make Bill Murphy's life interesting. Plenty of action and some humorous side characters add to the flavor of it all. Sure, the dialogue is a bit dated, but this was written in the 1930s. For that, it isn't bad. It's actually not as out of place as it was in those other two stories I'd read. Overall, not a bad way to spend 2 hours, as the audio has a great cast of actors to pl...

The History of the Snowman by Bob Eckstein My rating: 3 of 5 stars Whoah. Chris read a non-fiction book about the history of snowmen? (Or snowpeople, to be PC) WTF? Well, two things happened to make this possible. 1. Simon & Schuster sent me an email wishing me a happy holiday (Merry Christmas to be un-PC) which included a link to a free ebook download of this. Cool. I like freebies. 2. I had a brief moment of holiday (Christmas) spirit on Christmas Day (December 25 if that C-word offends thee) . It was very brief, but long enough for me to start this book. And once I start something, my OCD (batshit crazy) kicked in and I couldn't not finish it. 3. (Okay, I lied. There were 3 things) I was doing a reading challenge and needed a book with a red cover. (Red isn't meant to offend either) 4. (Now doubling the initial things that made it possible. Get over it) Since I don't own a Kindle and there was no link to Nook, I had to download to my iphone. And that mean...

The Book by M. Clifford My rating: 2 of 5 stars Don't Read the Book You know. I really shouldn't complain. It warned me - told me flat out not to read it. But I did it anyway. So it's my fault. So this looked like a cross between Fahrenheit 451 , The Matrix, and Fight Club. Except, that didn't turn out to be the case. There was a good story here. It was implausible at times, but I can suspend belief and go with it. Except when I have to read it twice. Yes, read it twice. On the average, I probably read every sentence twice. Often, they made no sense, so I had to go over them again. Even when they did make sense, I couldn't trust them and read them again to make sure that what I'd read was, in fact, what was there. And that it made sense. Crap, my own sentences are starting to look like the ones in this book... Early on, I stated in a status update that an editor was needed. But now I can see why that didn't happen. The editor quit. Had to. There's no...

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens My rating: 4 of 5 stars I recently had a challenge task to re-read a classic I'd read in high school. I had also recently received a free audiobook copy of this book. So it all came together naturally, and here we are. The best of times and the worst of times. I really enjoy the writing of Dickens, though I've only attempted a few of his works. I don't always understand what's going on, but the flow of his language is beautful and engaging. This time around, I found SparkNotes online and kept up with the chapter summaries as I listened. This helped clarify a lot and caught me up on points where my focus had drifted off a bit. The reader was excellent, perfect for this story. I felt like I had to come back and review this, as I didn't write one when I finished. But ever since I have, the book has been coming back to my mind. It is such a moving experience. Not only for the writing, but for the sto...

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis My rating: 4 of 5 stars A fantasy classic! Well, that's original. But hey, it's accurate. This was my second or third readin, as I read it during my grade school years. What's changed? I've changed (gotten older) so I wondered if this book would hold the magic it'd had when I was a kid. Since I read much more epic and complex books now, I was concerned. But I need not have feared. While the "fairy tale" style of the book stands out now more than it had in my memory, it was still a very enjoyable story. The fairy taleness of it actually covered some of the flaws I might have pointed out had it been written in a more "mature" narrative. As it was, the style worked very well for the story being told. A friend of mine also reading the series said that it "felt like coming home". That was such a beautiful statement, and felt true. Thanks for sharing that thoug...

Mitosis by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 5 of 5 stars If you enjoyed Steelheart , you'll probably like this too. It's a great follow-up short story to that novel. Important: DO NOT read this if you have not finished Steelheart. It will spoil the novel for you. But if you have, it's a very cool action packed little story. It seems that it will be a nice bridge to the next Reckoners novel, [b:Firefight|15704459|Firefight (Reckoners, #2)|Brandon Sanderson|/assets/nocover/60x80.png|21979689]. View all my reviews