Behind Blue Eyes

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng My rating: 4 of 5 stars That wasn't normally something I'd read, but thanks to Audible and the Ford Audiobook Club on Goodreads, I scored a free download and gave it a try. I'm glad I did too. This was an engaging study of a mixed race Chinese-American family in the 1970s, and their way of dealing with the prejudices of the time. More than that, in their coping with outside sources, it's a study of this family and their relationships with each other. It's a study of the ways they deal with a tragedy, as well as the people they became leading up to the tragedy. The five members of the Lee family are all sympathetic characters, each in their own way. While I certainly wouldn't agree with many of their choices, it was very touching to see how they became the way they were. View all my reviews

The Dragon Factory by Jonathan Maberry My rating: 3 of 5 stars 3.5 stars. Honestly, this was a bit of a letdown from Patient Zero. It had plenty of action and suspense, and plot and characters. It just didn't have the bullets-flying kick assery of the first book. Still, pretty good stuff. Some of the villains were stereotypically dastardly, but others were good. I didn't care for the increase of POV switches away from Joe Ledger that this one took. It was jarring for his story to be first person, and then about half the rest of the chapters were third. The extra .5 star comes from the ending. I was rather impressed with the way the final shakedown came about. Nice heartstring play there, Mr. Maberry. ETA: Oh yes, at least a half-star must go to Ray Porter for his reading. Very nice. His character voices were excellent. View all my reviews

The Company by K.J. Parker My rating: 3 of 5 stars So how do I review this? Hmmm. I think I'll begin by warning off those that might want to read this without any expectations going in. I won't post spoilers per se, but I will be addressing the flow of this book, beginning to end. That said, What in the actual fuck? There, I feel better for having said that. Truth is, after finishing that I wanted to tear my copy to shreds, stomp on them, and kick the scraps into a firepit with the the heat of a thousand hells blazing through it. So yeah. What the holy fuck was that??? Let's start at the beginning. The premise looked interesting, a story about five war veterans getting together after the war and settling a new home on a faraway island. Rewards for their years of service, yada yada. Of course there will be a conflict of some sort to stir things up, etc. Good so far. I love the writing. K.J. Parker has a real talent for storytelling and characte...

The Martian by Andy Weir My rating: 5 of 5 stars That was. Well. Wow. I really don't have words. Except that it might be my favorite book of 2014. View all my reviews

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well. That was different. How do I review a book I didn't understand? For that matter, how do I rate a book I didn't understand? Or better yet, how do I like a book I didn't understand? Well, it happened. What happened, I don't know so much. But I enjoyed the ride. So yeah. The writing is beautiful in this book. It will take you places...err places you won't recognize, but places where you will go "whoah..dude". Seriously, I don't know what it is, but Reynolds does have a great narrative voice, even if his science is way beyond my comprehension level. Imagination like that and supra genius scientific mind, dude could be dangerous. A special shout out to John Lee for his narration, once more being essential in getting me through out-there British science fiction. View all my reviews