Behind Blue Eyes

The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Excellent still on the re-read. Upon reflection though, I have come to the conclusion that this definitely works better for a reader that has already read the Revelations series. It's good on its own or as an introduction to the overall series, but will mean more to a reader that's already familiar with the main characters. Oh yes, and the narration by Tim Gerard Reynolds is superb, as expected. View all my reviews

Driving to Geronimo's Grave: and Other Stories by Joe R. Lansdale My rating: 5 of 5 stars Review copy eARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley Joe R. Lansdale has been on my radar for many years, and always seemed to be an author I’d enjoy. But the shame of it is that until now, I’ve only read one or two short stories of his. This collection was fantastic, and if it’s any indication of a consistent writing style from Lansdale, I’ll certainly be reading more of his work in short order. “Driving to Geronimo’s Grave” – I had no idea where this story was going as it got started, but wasn’t disappointed. Terri was the best part of this. I really got a feel for the Great Depression setting here. “In the Mad Mountains” – You know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually read an HP Lovecraft story. But even so, I recognize when something is “Lovecraftian”, and this is certainly it (confirmed by the author’s notes after the story). Besides that, it remin...

Street Freaks by Terry Brooks My rating: 4 of 5 stars *eARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. I enjoyed this. It was certainly different than any Terry Brooks that I’d read before, and I’ve read a lot of Terry Brooks. Loyal fans will probably like this as his storytelling quality is there, even if we’re looking at a dystopian future instead of epic fantasy. It appeals to all age groups, being friendly in tone to younger readers, but mature enough in content for older ones as well. Because the main hero and majority of the characters are teens, this would work well as being categorized YA, but it’s a good story regardless. The pacing and plot are pretty good overall, but there are a couple of plot points that didn’t make a lot of sense. The overall story was fine, but some of the hidden motivations with the “adults” in the story weren’t clear. Maybe they weren’t supposed to be, but it made for a distracting feeling as I came to the end. The...

Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames My rating: 5 of 5 stars That hit the spot. I’ve been looking for this book for years, needing to read something that was just a whole bunch of fun. Reading this story of a bunch of retired mercenaries getting the band back together for a final tour was a dip into my entertainment history. Back in my Air Force days, I had a group of men and women that gathered once a month for a truly epic Saturday. We’d meet for breakfast and then gather at one of our houses for an all-day session of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. We bought up the 2nd Edition books as they came out and had to try everything. I’d play those old cassettes on my way to the games (or to breakfast and back if the session was at my house). I remember jamming to Nazareth’s “Hair of the Dog” as I went to one of these, nearly 30 years ago. I even named a character/villain “Britney Fox” after one of the semi-popular hair bands of the day and jammed their c...

Fallen Empire by Keith McArdle My rating: 3 of 5 stars Now, that was interesting. There's a lot to enjoy in this short(ish) book. It starts off being the story of a badass fighting assassin highlander but quickly becomes something much more epic in scope. What I took for a story about a single flawed hero turned into a stage of several flawed actors. But when you throw in witchery, possessing demons, giant intelligent spiders, and some mean-ass fighting wolves, what's not to love? Fallen Empire starts out as the tale of Vyder Ironstone, our badass fighting assassin highlander mentioned above. He takes on a quest to save a kidnapped prince from an enemy kingdom but before he can get moving on his quest, he's jumped by some foresters he had previously clashed with in a tavern. He's quite messed up and near death, but his servant Miriam senses he's in trouble and gets him to a healer. This leads them to a old Wiccan woman to fix wha...