What a surprisingly fun book!
The Barbary Pirates is the fourth novel following the exploits of American adventurer traveling around the globe in the 19th century working for Napoleon, the American president, the British Empire or anyone willing to pay him enough to keep him in booze, women, and adventure as he does his job. This go `round, after taking a few scientist "savants" on a tour of the seedy side of Paris for some illicit womanizing and gambling ends up in front of Napoleon and tasked with finding an ancient weapon rumored to have the power to burn naval fleets.
During his mission he encounters his arch-nemesis, an old flame, and possibly finds Atlantis.
Ethan Gage is an interesting protagonist. He's by no means perfect in the Dirk Pitt mold, nor awesomely capable as Jason Bourne. Ethan Gage is a man who would rather mooch a living drinking, gambling, and enjoying the company of the fairer sex than risk his life on an adventure. Yet when faced with the task at hand, and having no choice but to move forward, he comes up with a plan, often not a very good plan, and does what he can to save the day often at unnecessary risk to his own life and those around him.
The Barbary Pirates kidnap the son he never knew he had, giving Ethan reason to be more resourceful and find a solution in order to bring him back together with his son and his old flame.
I normally don't read historical fiction, and often find it difficult to stick with novels told in the first-person (as this story is) - but The Barbary Pirates has shown me what I'm missing and has me wanting to go back and read the previous Ethan Gage novels! The author's publicist contacted me about reviewing this book, and had an ARC sent to me. I'm glad she did!
The Barbary Pirates should be available for purchase April 1, 2010. Check it out!
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. When they do, I'll mention it in the review. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).
Monday, February 22, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Book Review: Forty-Eight X
Forty-Eight X: The Lemuria Project by Barry Pollack
What do you get when you cross monkeys with a couple of archaeologist, the military, top scientists, and a woman who thinks her father was framed for a murder-suicide?
You get an enjoyable action novel with fun characters, an interesting story, and an ending with an ick-factor.
The US military gathers scientists on a remote island to conduct genetic experiments to design new breed of warrior to cut down on the deaths of our sons and daughters in the armed forces. During the first mission of these new warriors, they leave behind a single piece of evidence that leads archeologists on a search for the source of the evidence. And the scientist in charge of the research fakes his own death to explain his disappearance to his peers, only his daughter doesn't believe the story.
From terrorist camps to the halls of academia to neighborhood suburbia and to remote island beaches, Forty-Eight X doesn't monkey around.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. I got this one from IJustFinished. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).
What do you get when you cross monkeys with a couple of archaeologist, the military, top scientists, and a woman who thinks her father was framed for a murder-suicide?
You get an enjoyable action novel with fun characters, an interesting story, and an ending with an ick-factor.
The US military gathers scientists on a remote island to conduct genetic experiments to design new breed of warrior to cut down on the deaths of our sons and daughters in the armed forces. During the first mission of these new warriors, they leave behind a single piece of evidence that leads archeologists on a search for the source of the evidence. And the scientist in charge of the research fakes his own death to explain his disappearance to his peers, only his daughter doesn't believe the story.
From terrorist camps to the halls of academia to neighborhood suburbia and to remote island beaches, Forty-Eight X doesn't monkey around.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. I got this one from IJustFinished. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).
Book Review: Through The Triangle
Through The Triangle by C.P. Stewart
A father and his estranged teenage son embark on a fishing trip; the father with the hopes of reconciling with his son. They are joined by a murderer masquerading as another tourist as the boat captain and his assistant take them out off the coast of South Florida. After losing radio contact with the Coast Guard while attempting to assist another boat in distress during an unusual freak storm, the find themselves in what can only be the future. The future brings them new technology, new dangers, and new friends.
This was a surprisingly good book. Lots of action, some nice character development, and a great story.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. I got this one from IJustFinished. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).
A father and his estranged teenage son embark on a fishing trip; the father with the hopes of reconciling with his son. They are joined by a murderer masquerading as another tourist as the boat captain and his assistant take them out off the coast of South Florida. After losing radio contact with the Coast Guard while attempting to assist another boat in distress during an unusual freak storm, the find themselves in what can only be the future. The future brings them new technology, new dangers, and new friends.
This was a surprisingly good book. Lots of action, some nice character development, and a great story.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. I got this one from IJustFinished. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).
Book Review: The Gentle Assassin
The Gentle Assassin by William Rogers
What a pleasant surprise! When I requested The Gentle Assassin to review from I Just Finished, it sounded kind of interesting. With a blurb that says "Deep in the Nevada Desert, ex-CIA Agent Nathan Bitterroot is about to embark on the most daring mission of his life", and mentions his brilliant scientist nephew, time travel, a mysterious crystal, and Nathan's "burning desire" to settle an old score". Yeah, it sounded interesting.
Then I saw the cover in-person. Okay, I admit it, I do often tend to literally judge a book by its cover. This book is a good example of why I shouldn't. I put off reading this book for a few weeks mostly because of the cover. The cover shows a boy, maybe a 13-year old, with a broken arm, holding a revolver in his good hand pointed at the reader. His image seems Photoshopped onto a boring blue and white light that seems to be radiating from directly behind him, which is then placed onto the main black background of the book cover.
The boring cover does not affect the story though. Nathan Bitterroot, surrogate father to his scientist nephew Scott who seems to have discovered the ability for a person to travel in time back into his own consciousness, and an assortment of other friends attempt a time travel mission for Nathan to avenge the death of his father at the hands of the Las Vegas mafia.
The act of time travel, though, has unintended, far-reaching consequences for everyone involved. The book ends with another unexpected time-travel event.
There's more to the story, and a surprising narrator to parts of the story that I really want to mention but I think doing so would spoil the surprise.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. I got this one from IJustFinished. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).
What a pleasant surprise! When I requested The Gentle Assassin to review from I Just Finished, it sounded kind of interesting. With a blurb that says "Deep in the Nevada Desert, ex-CIA Agent Nathan Bitterroot is about to embark on the most daring mission of his life", and mentions his brilliant scientist nephew, time travel, a mysterious crystal, and Nathan's "burning desire" to settle an old score". Yeah, it sounded interesting.
Then I saw the cover in-person. Okay, I admit it, I do often tend to literally judge a book by its cover. This book is a good example of why I shouldn't. I put off reading this book for a few weeks mostly because of the cover. The cover shows a boy, maybe a 13-year old, with a broken arm, holding a revolver in his good hand pointed at the reader. His image seems Photoshopped onto a boring blue and white light that seems to be radiating from directly behind him, which is then placed onto the main black background of the book cover.
The boring cover does not affect the story though. Nathan Bitterroot, surrogate father to his scientist nephew Scott who seems to have discovered the ability for a person to travel in time back into his own consciousness, and an assortment of other friends attempt a time travel mission for Nathan to avenge the death of his father at the hands of the Las Vegas mafia.
The act of time travel, though, has unintended, far-reaching consequences for everyone involved. The book ends with another unexpected time-travel event.
There's more to the story, and a surprising narrator to parts of the story that I really want to mention but I think doing so would spoil the surprise.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Sometimes publishers or authors give me their book or product free so I can review it. I got this one from IJustFinished. Sometimes I get books I want to read for my own enjoyment from PaperBackSwap. The product links in the reviews take you to Amazon.com, where if you buy the linked item I get a very small percentage of the purchase price (because I like cash).
New DVD Series from the Creator of VeggieTales
What's In The Bible? It's a new DVD series from Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, coming in March of 2010. I recieved a sneak preview from Tyndale House Publishers.
The DVD opens with Phil Vischer in a nice office setting telling us about himself, what happened with VeggieTales, and what he hopes to do with What's In The Bible? and why he teamed up with Tyndale. This part of the DVD was nice. Phil, the voice of Bob the Tomato, is like an old friend and it's nice to learn exactly why he lost VeggieTales; a story I hadn't heard completely until now.
After that is a short video promo for the series. The footage from the series saddens me. I understand it's aimed at young children, but so was VeggieTales and that was a great series even for adults. The puppets come across as cheap PBS wannabes. The voice acting seems crude and overdone, sometimes to the point of being unintelligible. And the live action human characters seem frantically overdone imitations of the Wiggles.
My kids are too old for this series. If I had younger children they might enjoy it, since it seems geared towards the very young, maybe toddler-aged children.
I sincerely hope the series will turn out to be better than the promo makes it seem. Kids need good Christian educational TV to distract them from video games and internet and some of the less-appealing shows on PBS and other "children's" networks.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Tyndale sent me the aforementioned promo DVD free for review. They didn't pay me. I sometimes get free books and such as review material.
The DVD opens with Phil Vischer in a nice office setting telling us about himself, what happened with VeggieTales, and what he hopes to do with What's In The Bible? and why he teamed up with Tyndale. This part of the DVD was nice. Phil, the voice of Bob the Tomato, is like an old friend and it's nice to learn exactly why he lost VeggieTales; a story I hadn't heard completely until now.
After that is a short video promo for the series. The footage from the series saddens me. I understand it's aimed at young children, but so was VeggieTales and that was a great series even for adults. The puppets come across as cheap PBS wannabes. The voice acting seems crude and overdone, sometimes to the point of being unintelligible. And the live action human characters seem frantically overdone imitations of the Wiggles.
My kids are too old for this series. If I had younger children they might enjoy it, since it seems geared towards the very young, maybe toddler-aged children.
I sincerely hope the series will turn out to be better than the promo makes it seem. Kids need good Christian educational TV to distract them from video games and internet and some of the less-appealing shows on PBS and other "children's" networks.
Disclaimer of Disclaiming: Tyndale sent me the aforementioned promo DVD free for review. They didn't pay me. I sometimes get free books and such as review material.
A Simple Meme
I'm procrastinating on the four (omg, four!) reviews I need to write - writers block sucks! But I found an easy meme to pass the time!
1.What Book Are You Reading Now?
The Thirteenth Hour by Richard Doetsch
2.Why did you choose it?
I thoroughly enjoyed his first two novels.
3.What's the best thing about it?
Action/Suspense/Intrigue, a main character that whole-heartedly is in love with his wife, and a unique story telling device.
4.What's the worst thing about it?
Not enough time to sit down and finish it!
1.What Book Are You Reading Now?
The Thirteenth Hour by Richard Doetsch
2.Why did you choose it?
I thoroughly enjoyed his first two novels.
3.What's the best thing about it?
Action/Suspense/Intrigue, a main character that whole-heartedly is in love with his wife, and a unique story telling device.
4.What's the worst thing about it?
Not enough time to sit down and finish it!
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