Absence Makes The blah blah blah, or: What I Read This Summer

Yeah, it's been that kind of summer...

If you've been following along the past year or so here, you know that my family and I moved near the end of last year. That was a move just across town. Then, at the end of April earlier this year, my wife and I picked up and moved again, this time to the Seattle area for her job. We spent the first month living in an extended stay hotel while we looked for a permanent place to live and while I looked for a job. Our kiddos followed us out a month later, after their school year ended.

As my wife already had a job out here, much of that first month I spent looking for a job. Finally, at the end of May someone finally hired me, the kids flew out to join us, and we moved to our new house all in the same week. Then I was in training for a couple of months working pretty much whatever schedule they told me to work. Now I'm off training and on my "normal" schedule (working pretty much whenever they tell me to work).

In the little bit of down time I had, I did manage to get some reading in this summer - all of them ebooks on my phone as my hard-copy TBR pile is still packed away. I didn't have the time to record all the books I read, nor to write reviews. Here's a list, in no particular order, of the books I read this summer along with a brief notation of my thoughts on the book:

On Basilisk Station  by David Weber and
The Honor of the Queen by David Weber. I started reading the Honor Harrington series years ago with the 3rd book or 4th book in the series. I figured I should probably go back and see how it started with these first two books. Good stuff.

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey. 3rd book in The Expanse series. Fantastic stuff!

The Spires of Denon, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A novella set in the Diving the Wreck universe. Interesting story, not featuring Boss and her crew. Love this universe.

Engaging the Enemy (Vatta's War), by Elizabeth Moon. This is a book in the middle of a series I hadn't read any of before, nor have I read anything else by Elizabeth Moon. This was a pretty good book. Light on action, mostly characters moving around setting themselves up for the next book, with a few space battles and some other conflicts too. I'm sorry I started in the middle (I seem to do that with series), because I would have enjoyed reading the entire thing from start to finish. Good book.

Guild Wars: Sea of Sorrows, by Ree Soesbee. Third book in the series set in the world of the Guild Wars 2 MMORPG (that my wife works for). Each book is independent of the other, but all in the same world. This one was the best of the three. Makes me wish there were more books set in this world.

Insidious, by Michael McClosky. Good SF book set in our solar system in the nearish future. First of a series. Read kind of like a video game.

Crucible: Star Wars, by Troy Denning. I'm a Star Wars fan, and have enjoyed reading the books over the years. Lately they've all pretty much sucked (I stress lately, the early books were much better). This one was a little better than most of the recent ones, but still wasn't great.

Razor's Edge: Star Wars, by Martha Wells. I pretty much skimmed through this book just to find out the highlights. What I read was not good.

Kenobi: Star Wars, by John Jackson Miller. I was really looking forward to this one. Only the parts that actually had Obi-wan Kenobi in them were the least bit interesting. I'm not really enjoying the Star Wars Expanded Universe lately. I keep hoping, and keep being disappointed.

Codex Born: (Magic Ex Libris: Book Two), by Jim C. Hines. Sequel to Libriomancer. Love this series. Love Jim C. Hines. Read his stuff now!

Weird Space: Satan's Reach, by Eric Brown. Sequel to The Devil's Nebula, which featured some really gross aliens invading our universe. Apart from one scene with a similar feel to it, this one was not gross. It also sets up the 3rd book in the series. This one was better than the first.

Protocol 7, by Armen Gharabegian. I kept expecting something to happen, most of the book was setup and I kept wanting to stop and go read something else. Then the ending sped by, and was kind of disappointing. 

Gods of Risk, by James S.A. Corey. Short story set in The Expanse universe. Not bad. A quick look at what normal people are doing while the main characters are off doing their things in the main novels.

The Humanity's Fire Trilogy by Michael Cobley (Seeds of Earth, The Orphaned Worlds,The Ascendant Stars). I read the entire trilogy back to back. Interesting world-building. I was sorry to get to the end of the series, because I wanted to stay in that world longer.

I think I read a few others... but I don't see them on my ereaders, and I was negligent in updating GoodReads.com.


That was my summer. How was yours? Did you read anything good? Let me know in the comments if there's something I should read!

Finished Them!

Image by silentart08.deviantart.com

I finally finished the last of those three anthologies I was trying to read simultaneously. I finished the Space Battles one first, then the Superheroes book. Last night, I finished the G.I. Joe anthology Cobra Wars.

I think I failed this experiment of mine miserably. I figured reading three short-story collections each with a different theme and setting would make for a nice change back and forth between worlds. Turns out I didn't like that aspect of it at all! With the space-based stories in Space Battles, each of them put me in a mood to continue reading more space combat stories. With the superhero stories in Masked and the G.I Joe stories in Cobra Wars, I wanted to keep reading in the hopes the next story would be more comic-book-y and fun.

The collection of stories in Space Battles was mixed: some were great, some were good, some were just okay. The stories in Masked were often dark, and overall didn't really convey the fun world of superheroes to me. The Joe stories were, overall, okay but, to me, didn't capture the flavor of the comics. Granted, it's been years since I read a G.I. Joe comic book. I kept expecting some flavor to the characters, something to make them interesting and stand out. It seemed the only characters that actually had any depth were the civilians and other characters created by the authors for their invidual stories, whereas the Joes were just place-holders for real characters. That's sad, because these characters can and should be very interesting.

To be fair to the Joe stories, there were a couple of times where a characters thoughts would get deep about the incidents going on around him, but I believe that served more as the author's point of view on the topic than on the stories. Also, these Joe stories were loosely connected. A couple of times, later stories would reference an event in an earlier story - even though each story was written by a different author. That being said, I'd absolutely love for there to be more G.I. Joe anthologies or novels, though. It's a world rich for prose story telling, if they can give some depth to the characters.

Recent Reads Coming Into 2013

Since the end of November, I've finally had a bit of time to catch up on reading, which had taken a back seat to more pressing family wackiness. I've read some good stuff too!

Just after Thanksgiving, I read The Kassa Gambit by M.C. Planck. This was a good mystery sheathed in very good sci-fi. The cover makes it look like it might be military science fiction, but it really isn't for the most part. The main characters are a private cargo ship captain and a spy. The story goes very dark just before a happy-ish ending. Hoping to see more in this universe soon!

Then in December I grabbed Myke Cole's Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier. I really enjoyed the first novel in this series and was suprised that the main character from that book took a back seat to a new character's story arc. Eventually the two meet up, though. I found it interesting that, at least to me, the first novel portrayed the military in a very positive light, even though the main character didn't really agree with them. This second book seemed to portray the military in much less positive way - but I guess that could be due to the situation the Forward Operating Base was facing. This is a good series, military science fantasy I think is the term that's being used to described it: Modern day military with magic and other dimensions.

The first book I started this year was The ABACUS Protocol: Sanity Vacuum by Thea Isis Gregory. This is set in the far future, as recent graduate gets her first job on space station to upgrade the Artificial Intelligence that helps run the place. In this setting, an AI became sentient on Earth and horrible things followed. Humanity keeps AIs in check to make sure they never achieve sentience again. This was a good book! (And it had cats!)

After that, I finally got around to reading a book I've been wanting to pick up since it was published last may. Weird Space: The Devil's Nebula by Eric Brown is a far future story as humanity's empire shares an uneasy border with a hostile alien race. However, some colonists ventured beyond the far border of the alien's territory, and what they encouter there wants to take over everything, starting with our minds. This is a good space adventure in an intriguing setting. It's also kinda gross in places, but I guess that's the point of the Weird. There's a sequel due out this year that's on my wish list.

And I recently finished one last year's birthday gifts from my wife. Wayne of Gotham by Tracy Hickman. I've been a fan of Hickman since I was a teenager reading the Dragonlance novels when they came out. I'd heard good things about Wayne of Gotham and was excited to get this. In it, an aging Batman relies on technology to enable him to perform the same feats he used to be able to do on his own (carry Harley Quinn over his shoulder up a flight a stairs without getting winded). Hickman makes interesting use of technology in the Batsuit and Batmobile, and the story fleshes out Alfred's family, as well as the story of Bruce Wayne's parents, which is really the main story, as it haunts Bruce in modern day with repurcussions from things his father did. Good stuff, but not your typical Batman versus his rogues gallery story.


The Kassa Gambit, The ABACUS Protocol, and Fortress Frontier were each eARCs from NetGalley. I bought The Devil's Nebula myself because it sounded interesting. Wayne of Gotham was a gift from my lovely wife.

Two Series Finished: mini-reviews

I recently read the final installment of two different book series, and I'm sad to say that I'm glad they're done.

Recent Reads Autumn 2011

I've been on a reading kick lately, devouring these books and loving every minute of it! I have not been on a writing kick. It is called Sporadic Reviews afterall...

Dragon Fate, by E.E. Knight: Final book in the fantastic Age of Fire series. Knight is one of my favorite authors. This book one took too long to wrap up, too much going on for the end of a series. I still enjoyed it though.

Mecha Corps, by Brett Patton: Part Starship Troopers (without the bugs), part Transformers. It'd make great anime. I loved it. Well-written mecha action.

Dark Rising, by Grieg Beck: Good modern-day military adventure. Iran tries to create and maintain a black hole. Stuff that accidentally goes into it, sends back something worse! Interesting premise and lots of action. I enjoyed it. Part of a series, but stands perfectly well all by itself.

Transformers: Exiles, by Alex Irvine: Sequel to the novel Exodus, prequel to the cartoon Transformers Prime. It was okay.. read like average fan-fiction.

Star Wars: Riptide, by Paul S. Kemp: Better than the 9-book series that's currently running with the main Star Wars characters. Interesting premise and I'm intrigued enough to want to know if there's another sequel planned.

Earthbound, by Joe Haldeman: Third in the Marsbound series. Kind of post-apocalyptic: aliens took away all of Earth's power generating abilities and nothing works. Quick resolution. I enjoyed it.

Good stuff! The publishers or authors sent me all of these for review except for the Star Wars book and Dark Rising. I picked those up at my local library, along with a few others that I haven't read yet.

Book Review: A Soldier's Duty

A Soldier's Duty, Theirs Not To Reason Why, by Jean Johnson takes places in the far future where Ia, a young female from a high-gravity planet has a horrendous, portenteous dream. A precognitive dream showing her the almost certain terible future for humanity. As precog, she navigates the possible futures in her visions and forms a plan centering around her and her abilities to see the future to change that fate and give humanity a fighting chance.

Three years later, she joins the Marines and quickly puts her plan into motion. Going through basic training and getting her first posting she earns a nickname and a reputation, and begins building the foundation of what will be her life-long efforts to steer humanity away from the terrible future she foresaw.

I really enjoyed reading A Soldier's Duty, the first book in a series. But I really wanted to not like this book at first. For some reason, my initial reaction to the premise and to Ia and her methods rubbed me wrong, but the story kept me reading and when it ended I wanted more.

It's pure military science fiction, complete with "Oo-Rahs!", call-signs, space ships, armored combat, and a smattering of aliens; plus Ia's navigation of the timeplains she sees in her visions- these all combine into an exciting and fun read.

A Soldier's Duty gets 4 Stars out of 5. I liked it a lot and want more.

The publisher provided my review copy of A Soldier's Duty, Theirs Not To Reason Why by Jean Johnson.

Book Review: The Fallen Moon Trilogy

Having read the first book in the series back in December, The Dark Griffin by K. J. Taylor, the publisher promptly sent me the follow up books for review: The Griffin's Flight and The Griffin's War.

The series follows Arenadd and his dark griffin Skade as they escape from captivity and make their way to the North, the homeland of Arenadd's people. The first book saw Arenadd, then called Arren, lose his position in society, become a murderer, lose his life, and regain a semblance of it with the dark griffin. The second book follows them both as Arenadd meets a strange woman, tries to find a cure for his curse, becomes a slave, frees the slaves, and begins his campaign to retake the North and free all his people. The third book sees the war in earnest and it's resolution. Along the way, Arenadd's arch-enemy Erian seeks him in an attempt to avenge the death of his father. Both Arenadd and Erian learn they have been chosen as avatars of their respective gods and must battle each other to determine who controls the North.

Arenadd is literally an anti-hero. To most of the people in the book he's the bad guy, the dark lord, the man without a heart. Only to his own people is he a hero. The author makes us feel for both Arenadd and Erian as the story progresses. We see Erian grow from a child trying to find a place in his father's world, to a tool for his griffin, to young man falling in love and trying to find a way to be worthy of that love, to being the chosen of a god. Arenadd grows from a young man that had seemingly overcome racial stereotyping in his village, to a condemned criminal, to a cursed man seeking revenge, to the chosen of a god, to the leader of a revolution.

While we feel for the main characters, some of the minor characters that we just start to like are killed in battle, others aren't mentioned for awhile and then reappear later at strategic times. Secrets from the main characters' past comes back to haunt them.

And I can't review the books without mentioning the griffins. Haughty, violent, hungry, and demanding, Taylor's griffins demand respect. Without humans, they're just wild, sentient beasts with magic. With humans by their side, they are fearsome creatures of barely contained power bringing status to their humans and death to their enemies. The griffins have their own society and customs, and it serves both the story and the world well.

This is a world with many mysteries barely touched on and many lands worth exploring. I hope K. J. Taylor revisits this world with other stories.

The Fallen Moon trilogy was provided to me by the publisher for the purpose of review.

Recent Reads January 2011

So far 2011 has not been a good year me for reading. I've only read one book so far! Normally by now I'd have four or five books finished, if not more. Finding the time to read has been a challenge. With that said, I've been remiss in posting about a couple of books I read last year, and I also want to mention the book I just finished and the book I'm reading now.

I just finished reading The King of Crags, book two of the Memory of Flames series, by Stephen Deas. I had a hard time at first knowing what was going on, who was whom, and what their motivations were; the book apparently picks up right after the events of first book and, to me, does little to explain what came before except for a little bit in passing that can be inferred from conversations or from other events. But once I got into the book, I couldn't put it down!

I happen to like a good dragon book, and The King of Crags doesn't disappoint with dragons. These dragons are oppressed by humanity, tamed by magic potions, and struggle to break free of their enslavement and enjoy the veritable buffet humanity should be to them. Humanity, on the other hand, seems to just enjoy going about maiming and killing each other over the control of kingdoms. Here and there throughout the book are hints of what was and is to come that could change the face of the world - hopefully the next book in the series brings this forth. I'm interested to see where the story goes!

The King of Crags is on sale February 1st. 

I'm currently reading March in Country by E. E. Knight, the ninth book in the Vampire Earth series. Vampire Earth is a post-apocalyptic series in the nearish future after the Kurians, a cthulhu-esque alien race, has taken over the world and feeds on the psychic aura from the humans their Reapers kill by sucking their blood. March in Country finds Major David Valentine still in Kentucky establishing a stronghold for the resistance government.

I'm about a third of the way through it and enjoying it immensely - E. E. Knight is one of my favorite authors.

Last year, I read a couple of books I've been meaning to blog about and haven't (hence the the title of this website). One book I read near the end of last year was Starbound by Joe Haldeman. Starbound is the follow-up book to Marsbound, a novel where humanity met an alien race on Mars and found out there was another alien race "out there", which just so happened to try to destroy the Earth. In Starbound, four humans and two martians set out to make contact with "The Others" and try to make peace.

I didn't have any problem getting into the story as the events of the first were mentioned or summarized as needed throughout the story. Starbound ends with a massive change to the way humans live, setting up the story for a follow-up book.

Late last year I also read Mad Skills, by Walter Greatshell; an intriguing book in which Maddy Grant suffers a terrible accident and injury to her brain. She later awakens to find she's been subjected to a procedure that enhances her brain function by implanting her brain with a tiny computer allowing her to network her brain functions, find, retrieve, and learn information faster than a computer. She struggles with the changes, and with her place in her world, fighting against those who changed her and finding out everything she's ever known is wrong - or is it?  The most interesting part of the book to me, upon finishing it, was wondering what parts of the story were real and which parts were programmed into Maddy's brain - or was the entire story a simulation in her brain? I want to know!

Mad Skills, Starbound, March in Country, and The King of Crags were all provided to me for review by the publisher.

Recent Reads August/September 2010

I'm behind on my reviews! I need to get "official" reviews up for Elfhunter, The Long Man, and Farmers & Mercenaries; I gave Elfhunter and The Long Man 3 stars out of 5, "Liked it," on the GoodReads scale and I gave Farmers & Mercenaries 4 out of 5 stars - "Really Liked It."

I've also finished reading Angel by Alton Gansky. Not quite what I was used to from some of his other books that I really enjoyed. Took me awhile to get into it but, once the Aster character showed up and the plot actually started moving forward, it was good.

I finally started and finished Signs and Wonders by Sharon Gilbert. I love Sharon's writing, but this book ended on cliff-hangar!! Aarrgh! Sharon, how could you tease me like that?! This is the second book in a series. The third is forthcoming. It's very obviously the middle book, as it serves to move the pieces around the board in preparation for the final chapter. Good book, but it suffers the middle-child syndrome.

Both of these recent reads I also gave 3 out of 5 stars at GoodReads.

And I read the latest Star Wars novel, Fatal Alliance. It's based on the upcoming MMO The Old Republic and set in that time period, thousands of years before the movies. Like most of the recent Star Wars novels, it was just okay, also earning 3 out of 5 stars from me.

I need some good space science fiction again, along the lines of Jack McDevitt or Kristine Kathryn Rusch's Retrieval Artist series.