Farscape Season 1 - overall review

Over on the ScaperChronicles podcast, I participated in their Farscape Season 1 wrap-up episode (which has yet to come down the feed). Throughout the first season in each episode of the podcast, the crew has been rating each episode of Farscape.

My ratings were initially very high for most of the episodes I discussed on the podcast. With the wrap-up, I wanted to go back and rework my ratings - rate all the episodes, since I didn't get to discuss them all, and lower my high ratings to reflect that I rarely like to give a 10/10 score. My feeling there is that there's always room for improvement, even if what I've just seen seems perfect.

So here is a list of each episode and my rating. Even the ...mediocre episodes, including 1 that most people have called the worst episode of the series, I rated with a 5 or a 6 as none of them, I thought, were just plain unwatchable. Even the episodes I didn't rate highly had some redeeming value at some point and were, therefor, at least worth a middle of the road 5-rating.

Ep #	Ep Title	Rating
1	Premiere	8
2	Exodus from Genesis	6
3	Back and Back and Back to the Future	6
4	Throne for a Loss	8
5	PK Tech Girl	9
6	Thank God It's Friday, Again	6
7	I, E.T	8
8	That Old Black Magic	8
9	DNA Mad Scientist	9
10	They've Got a Secret	8
11	Till the Blood Runs Clear	8
12	The Flax	7.5
13	Rhapsody in Blue	5
14	Jeremiah Crichton	5
15	Durka Returns	7
16	A Human Reaction	8
17	Through the Looking Glass	8
18	A Bug's Life	7.5
19	Nerve	8.5
20	The Hidden Memory	8.5
21	Bone to Be Wild	5
22	Family Ties	9

If you've never seen Farscape, and you consider even remotely a fan of science fiction, go watch it now. If you're a fan of a great writing and continuity, go watch now.

Book Review: Boneyards

The latest installment in the Diving series, Boneyards by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, finds wreck-diver Boss now the leader of a huge corporation researching the science behind Dignity Vessels and profiting from their discoveries. The Lost Souls company still seeks out wrecks of ancient Dignity Vessels, in part to keep them out of the hands of the Enterran Empire, and to rebuild them is possible for their own use.

Coop, the commander of a Dignity Vessel lost in time, returns with most of his crew and has Boss helping him track down the Dignity Fleet, if it still exists. Boss and Coop's crews work together in an uneasy relationship because they know the technology they're using can be deadly in the wrong hands.

Boss started as a solitary wreck-diver, exploring long-abandoned starship wrecks or leading tourists through them. With her exposure to Stealth Tech - Dignity Vessel technology - she's grown into the head of a large corporation and often has to rely on her team and people who know more than she does. She's still Boss though, no matter who she puts in charge of certain aspects of the company. Even though she tends to want to do everything herself, she knows her own weaknesses and struggles with letting others have control.

Diving the Wreck, the first novella in this series was fan-freaking-tastic, followed by City of Ruins, another good novel. Boneyards is good, not as good as those first two - but still a fun read and I want more in this universe. There are some short stories that I need to track down. Boneyards seems to be one of those bridging the story novels that sets up the next book that I'm sure will be another excellent entry in this series.

Like City of Ruins, Boneyards features two concurrent stories. One plot line follows Boss and Coop as they eventually find the titular Boneyard. The second storyline features Squishy, a former crewmate of Boss, as she returns to the Enterran Empire's Stealth Tech research program in order to destroy their data and prevent more lives from being lost.

The initial transition to Squishy's story seemed abrupt to me. There was a chapter end and an obvious new section starting, but it still felt like the transition could have been smoother. I'm not sure why I feel that way: City of Ruins had alternating story lines and I didn't have a problem with it there.

Squishy's storyline also moves back and forth between the current time and various periods in her past that have relevance to what she's going through now. That, too, kinda bothered me, but not enough to keep me from enjoying the book overall.

The two storylines come together explosively at the end. The Boneyard awaits. I like the play in the title of this book. The Boneyard is the place Coop and Boss are trying to find; Boss has also spent most of her life diving the boneyards that are the wrecked ships she explores.

Boneyards, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, was provided to me by the publisher for review.

Catnap

This is often what happens when I read:

My wife's cat, Miss Kitty Fantastico, joins me and then the drowsy hits - even if it's a fantastic book.

Book Review - Shadow Ops: Control Point

This isn't Harry Potter magic, muggle. In fact now that I think about it, this is more along the lines of Role Playing Game magic. The combination of magic users and military reminded me a bit of the Rifts table-top RPG, but set in Present Day.

Shadow Ops: Control Point, by Myke Cole, starts right in the thick of the action, as an American military SOC Team attempts to take down two magic users at a school who have just discovered their magical abilities - or "gone latent" as the lingo of the book presents it. These magic users are "selfers" - they're using their magical abilities for themselves and not for their country. The problem for Oscar Britton, a pilot on the mission, is that the two selfers are high school kids and if they don't surrender they'll be killed.

The Supernatural Operations Corp, SOC for short, consists of sorcerers working for the military: pyromancers, necromancers, aeromancers, etc. They've all gone through special training to control their magical abilities and to also focus their magic to suppress other magic users, allowing them to be easily captured. Throughout America, and the world, Selfers are gathering in rebellion against established laws controlling the use of magic for official use only.

After the mission ends, Oscar discovers his own magic powers and instead of reporting himself, runs. He's quickly caught again, and sent to a special training camp for civilian and military magic users on contract to the government where he has to decide to run again or become part of a team using their magic abilities for the country.

Shadow Ops presents a near-future America, and world, where magic has suddenly appeared and no one really knows what to do about. The politicians enact laws for things they don't understand and the military conducts operations against citizens on American soil. It's kinda scary presenting a world like that. The politics don't play a major role, though, more of a background motivation for the on-going story.

As I read this book, I sympathized with Oscar's internal ethical conflict: should he use his new powers against civilians and others because they represent a clear and present danger to the rest of the country? Or should he run, and not let others control his power. It all harkens back to Stan Lee, "With great power comes great responsibility." Not only does Oscar Britton have to decide what to do, but he's surrounded by people he's beginning to care for, and others he wants to help - his decisions will have ramifications for those people as well.

The magic in Shadow Ops covered all the bases: shooting lightning bolts or flames, healing, necromancy, elementals, and more. There was no wand-waving or spell shouting. The description of the action, magic and traditional, was exciting and worked well. It didn't occur to me while I was reading it, which is a good thing, but looking back the magic system seems lifted right out of a role playing game. It worked very well within the structure of the story though, and didn't seem at all like I was reading game-play.

There's just something fun reading about a covert military team shooting bullets from a gun with one hand and shooting lightning from the other hand.

Shadow Ops: Control Point, by Myke Cole, was provided to me by the publisher for review, is the first in a series, and is due to be published on January 31, 2012.

Book Received (and I am so reading it)

Thanks to the publisher and author!

Book Received (and now I'm reading it)

Thanks to the publisher and author!

Book Review: Mecha Corps

Darn good mech action!

That pretty well sums up my review of Mecha Corps by Brett Patton. I read a Gundam series awhile back, and the Robotech novels, and Starship Troopers, and Armor. Other science fiction I've read has had powered armor in one form or another. They've all been good, but Mecha Corps just freakin' kills it! This book, apparently the start of series called the Armor Wars, is what all mecha fiction should be like.

It starts out much like other military fiction: Matt Lowell is on his way to boot camp to start his life as a mech pilot. One of the other cadets is a jerk, and I was surprised by his fate. I figured he'd either last longer, or come back as a ghost in the machine. Neither happened. Matt also meets a girl and falls for her, but he's more interested in piloting mech than building a relationship.

At Mecha Training Camp, Matt learns of a new type of Mecha much more powerful than anything that has existed before. He also learns of the impending war with the leader of a group of genetically engineered humans thought eradicated in a previous war. Matt's past comes back to haunt him as his training is accelerated and his experience with the mecha grows - all leading to an exciting final battle with the new mecha in action.

One thing that I found different about the mecha here, is what I assume is the use of nanotechnology. It's never blatantly said that the mech armor is based on nanotech - it's called biotechnology, but the abilities of the powered armor to do very unique things seems to stem from a use of nanotechnology.

Every hero needs a love interest, and every love story seems to need some angst to keep it interesting. While the human relationships within this story take a backseat to the awesome war machines, those relationships still drive the story. Matt's growing relationships with his teammates informs his decisions and his own growth, even though he puts himself and his piloting skills above those relationships.

This is a series I'm thrilled to find and can't wait for the next one!

Mecha Corps, by Brett Patton, was provided to me by the publisher for review.

Noah Primeval news release (Do want!)

This book sounds interesting! Definitely adding it to my "Want to read" list.

It’s the first in a series called Chronicles of the Nephilim and is now available in e-book and paperback formats on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.

Noah Primeval is a fantasy retelling of the beloved story of Noah for a new generation. In an ancient world of darkness, fallen angels breed giants and enslave mankind to evil. Noah, a tribal warrior, has been prophesied to save humanity from the coming destruction of the world. But Noah’s wife and son are captives of these dark forces – and he’s not going anywhere without them.

Brian Godawa | Hollywood screenwriter explores Noah account with speculative novel | FamilyFiction.com

'via Blog this'

My Top Five Reads of 2011

image source

Here's my list of the top 5 books I liked the best out of everything I read in 2011.

5: Mecha Corps - While I only mentioned it in passing, I thoroughly enjoyed it. (I need to give a real review soon.)

4: City of Ruins - I love Boss, and this series overall.

3: Ready Player One - just a fun book.

2: Robopocalypse - an exciting war with robots!

1: Leviathan Wakes - This is what Science Fiction should be! (And I'm looking forward to it's sequel.)

Honorable Mention: Firebird - brings the series back on track after a kind of depressing installment.


Happy New Year!