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I'm in again, but keeping it open ended. If you need a number, I guess 80.
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Jan 3, 2014 02:34
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Slow beginning to the year, but this is what I have so far. Not in any particular order: 1: The Pretender: Rebirth by Steve Long Mitchell/Craig W Van Sickle 2: The Unwelcome Warlock by Lawrence Watt-Evans 3: Known Devil - Justin Gustainis 4: One Foot in the Grave - Wm. Mark Simmons 5: Earth, Air, Fire, Custard - Tom Holt 6: In Your Dreams - Tom Holt 7: The Portable Door - Tom Holt 8: Once in a Blue Moon - Simon Green 9: Ex-Purgatory - Peter Clines 10: The Unhandsome Prince - John Moore 11: A Fate Worse Than Dragons - John Moore 12: Bad Prince Charlie - John Moore 13: Disenchanted - Robert Kroese 14: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett 15: Faded Steel Heat - Glen Cook 16: Who's Afraid of Beowulf? - Tom Holt 17: The Cleansing - Sam Kates The Pretender was bad. Review in the "Just finished" thread. Unwelcome Warlock was awesome. Known Devil was pretty good. OFITG was meh. Not great, interesting story idea, but just "meh". EAFC was decent. In your Dreams was ok. Portable Door was good. OIABM was awesome. Ex-Purgatory was pretty good. Unhandsome Prince was decent, but kinda "meh" AFWTD was ok. BPC was ok. Disenchanted was pretty good. Monstrous Regiment was decent. Faded Steel Heat was ok. Not great, just odd. WAOB was decent. Not great but pretty good. The Cleansing ... not great. Not bad but a new take on the apocalypse. Kinda weird, but readable.
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Feb 12, 2014 01:49
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Roydrowsy posted:Also, the praise from people like Glen Beck and Bill O'Reily plastered on the cover makes me feel dirty holding it in public. See, perfect reason for a kindle right there.
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Feb 16, 2014 17:23
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:
18: The Sheriff of Yrnameer - Micheal Rubens 19: The Eye of God - James Rollins 20: He Drank, and Saw the Spider - Alex Bledsoe 21: Wake of the Bloody Angel - Alex Bledsoe 22: Dark Jenny - Alex Bledsoe 23: Burn Me Deadly - Alex Bledsoe 24: Exoskeleton - Shane Stadler 25: The Sword Edged Blonde - Alex Bledsoe 26: Rook: Let's Avoid the Apocalypse, People. - Carolyn McCray 27: Fixer - Gene Doucette Sheriff was pretty good. It's a sci fi, almost Pratchett esque kind of book. Worth a read. Basic plot is smuggler/robber guy gets in WAY over his head, and crazy poo poo continues to happen to him. The Eye of God was... eh, I wanna say good but it wasn't exactly terrific. It's the latest from the Sigma Force series. It's got an interesting plot but it just seems to kinda drag around a bit plot wise. Basically, a satellite crashes and before it goes offline, it transmits a picture of a destroyed eastern seaboard because of quantum physics and misc technology. The SF has to figure out why, and how to stop the apocalypse shown in the pic. All the Alex Bledsoe novels are pretty good. The first one (Sword edged blonde) has a rather odd plot but handles itself pretty well. Burn me Deadly has a bigger "WHOA" kinda plot, Dark Jenny is an Author legend retelling which is pretty good, WOBA is a pirate adventure, and HDASTS is the latest in the series. It's pretty good, but went a bit too sci fi for my tastes. Still, pretty great series. Exoskeleton SSSSUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKEEEEDDDDDDD. Big explanation of why in the "What did you finish reading" thread. Suffice to say, the plot falls apart when you think about it for more than 10 seconds and it's just a waste of a good premise. Rook was pretty good, but apparently the author just kinda wrote it and vanished into other series because the sequel was supposed to be out 2 years ago and still nothing. It's sort of like a Felix Castor/John Taylor novel except the lead isn't quite as gigantic of an rear end in a top hat. Fixer is a pretty good novel. A guy can "fix" time to save people from accidents, and others (MYSTERIOUS OTHERS!!!!) don't appreciate that.
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Feb 24, 2014 15:54
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ToxicFrog posted:
Hard Magic has one of my favorite ever lines. "I just got angry and squished the fucker."
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Mar 4, 2014 08:34
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Siminu posted:4. Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly is a shortish prequel that, while a fun read, didn't grip me as much as the rest of the trilogy. This kinda caught me as well, and it took me a while to realize what was bugging me about it. The prequel is WAY more informative and exposition filled, and more actiony/adventurey than the trilogy. It's sort of like... it has more hope in it than the other books. It's written more in a, not really a happier tone but more upbeat feeling. The other books are basically grimdark urban noir fantasy where this one is sort of more in line with a somewhat more violent Dresden Files. Still wish he'd continue the series though.
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Mar 5, 2014 02:25
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:18: The Sheriff of Yrnameer - Micheal Rubens 28: Raising Steam - Terry Pratchett 29: Snuff - Terry Pratchett 30: Making Money - Terry Pratchett 31: The Tamarack Murders - Patrick McManus 32: The Huckleberry Murders - Patrick McManus 33: The Double Jack Murders - Patrick McManus 34: Avalanche - Patrick McManus 35: The Blight Way - Patrick McManus 36: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett 37: Unseen Academicals - terry Pratchett 38: Thud! - Terry Pratchett 39: Going Postal - Terry Pratchett 40: Dead Things - Stephen Blackmoore 41: Deep Storm - Lincoln Child 42: The Dirty Streets of Heaven - Tad Williams 43: The Rook - David O'Malley Well, all the Terry Pratchett books were pretty good. I avoided the ones about the wee free men, or the witches since they aren't my favorite characters (plus I can't loving understand those little midget bastards). The Patrick McManus books are all part of the same series, Sheriff Bo Tully. It starts out pretty humorous, but by the latest book it's not so much humor and more about the crime solving. Still, if you enjoy his other work with short stories, you'll enjoy this series. Deep Storm was decent. I'd read it before but it's been a long enough time where I'd spaced on some of the details. It got a bit crazy towards the end, but all in all it seemed like a decent enough book if you don't think too hard about the science behind it. The Rook was pretty good. A little weird, but definitely something I can see following as a series. Decent premise, decent follow through, and best of all, decent plot. Dirty Streets was... kind of odd. It seemed a lot like fan fiction of a show I've never watched, if that's a way to put it. It wasn't particularly well written (and some of it was just hosed up and bizarre), and the ending was a complete deus ex machina considering the rest of the "lore" in the book, but it was still somewhat entertaining. Weird premise though. I'm planning to check out the next book in the series to see if it goes anywhere interesting, or if it just sort of meanders around and shits itself. Dead Things was a pretty decent book. Not terrific, but worth a read. It kinda suffers from the "ANGRY PROTAGONIST IS SO ANGRY AT THE WORLD" sort of thing like Fight Club had, but the writing is nowhere near as horrible.
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Mar 27, 2014 19:52
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Nah, I have a list of "want to read" that I keep on my kindle, but basically it's whatever grabs my fancy at the moment.
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Mar 29, 2014 15:51
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thespaceinvader posted:29: Hard Magic gets a near-complete reversal from me. Once I'd figured out that despite what the dust jacket said, it WASN'T a magical noir detective story set in the thirties, which it was trying SO hard to seem like in the first few chapters, and just settled in to enjoy it for what it is (fun magical adventure/spy story, not noir in the slightest), I really enjjoyed it, to the point that I was up til about 1am last night reading (but not finishing) it - it's drat long. Finished it this morning and had a great time. Heartily recommend it. The Grimnoir series is basically depression era x-men meets steampunk, but in a good way.
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Apr 27, 2014 14:32
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:28: Raising Steam - Terry Pratchett 44: Blood and Iron - Jon Sprunk 45: Origin - J.A. Konrath 46: The Memory of Death - Trent Jamieson 47: Vampire Council : Hunted - Patrick Kampman 48: Chance in Hell - Patrick Kampman 49: Texas Hold 'Em - Patrick Kampman 50: Witch's Kurse - Glenn Bullion 51: Monster Hunter Legion - Larry Correia 52: Monster Hunter Nemesis - Larry Correia 53: Broken Blade - Kelly McCullough 54: The Entropy Conflict - David Conyers 55: The Eye of Infinity - David Conyers 56: The Palace Job - Patrick Weekes Blood and Iron was decent but not really that great. I liked this guy's first series better. It took a LONG time to actually get vaguely to the point of the plot, but at least it sets up the action nicely for the following book. Origin was decent. Not great, but b movie horror kind of decent. Basically the US finds Satan in a sarcophagus when they are digging the Panama Canal and decide to keep him hidden away in a special bunker in the middle of the desert, and he wakes up. It's got it's bad points, but it reads sort of like a somewhat decent b horror movie. Memory of Death was a surprise, and fairly decent. I'd recommend if it you liked the series. Vampire Council was a bit odd. I went into it thinking it was the 3rd Chance book (the others being Chance in Hell and Texas Hold 'Em) except it wasn't. It's a story all on it's own, but based in the same world. It's a decent read but not fantastic or anything. Chance/Texas were both ok but hard to pin down. They are almost romance, and almost good urban fantasy, but just kind of an odd duck. Still, worth a read if you like vamps and werewolves and some decent humor. Witch's Kurse is the latest book by Bullion. All his books seem to be in the same world, and this was a sequel to the last book. Not terrific, but not bad. More interesting and a bit of a backstory over anything else. Monster Hunter Legion/Nemesis - both pretty good, almost Nemesis kinda suffers from the DBZ ANIME bits about GONNA POWER UP NOW. Gives the backstory on Agent Franks though, so it's still a decent read. Should be released in a few months, or you can buy the e-arc like I did off the Baen website. Broken Blade - Did not really like it that much to start, but it grew on me. Entropy/Eye are both short story collections but I loving LOVE this guy's work. Well worth it if you are a Lovecraft fan. The Palace Job was pretty good. I had asked for recommendations for pratchett styled fantasy and this was recommended. It was quite a bit more violent than I had thought it would be, but overall once it picks up it rocks pretty well. Nothing really stands out as OH poo poo AMAZING in this batch, but all were decent reads.
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Apr 28, 2014 17:30
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:WAit, the Fine and Pleasant Misery guy wrote mysteries? How are they? Any good? Yup. Surprisingly good. There's a little humor in there, but nothing like his short stories get with the slapstick. It's treated as a serious thing. I was pretty surprised by it. They start out pretty funny, but it seems the more of em he writes the less humor really gets into the book and he focuses more on the murder aspect of it. Still, if you are a fan of his short stories, you will probably dig his murder mysteries 
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Apr 29, 2014 11:52
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I've asked before but never got an answer on it. Does Annihilation ever pick up? I was reading it for a while, and just... it's basically just talking about HOW WEIRD this tunnel is, or HOW WEIRD this thing is, and nothing seems to be going on except these people talking about stuff they see. I'm all for lovecraftian weird poo poo, but I kinda want something to happen. Gimme a shoggoth chasing someone or something.
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May 19, 2014 01:18
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Yea, they started exploring a tunnel and finding weird poo poo, and the main POV character was thinking something weird was going on because she seemed to see different stuff than the other lady (at least that's how I remember it). I'll swing back into it and give it a try. I kinda paused it when it just seemed like it would be more of an exploration book rather than an interaction type of book, if ya get my drift.
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May 19, 2014 02:09
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:44: Blood and Iron - Jon Sprunk 57: Skin Game - Jim Butcher 58: The Forever Man - Pierre Ouellette 59: Rivals - David Wellington 60: Cold Days - Jim Butcher 61: Men At Arms - Terry Pratchett 62: Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett 63: Eric - Terry Pratchett 64: Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett 65: Sourcery - Terry Pratchett 66: The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett 67: The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett 68: Ansible 15715 - Stant Litore 69: Pyramids - Terry Pratchett 70: Mort - Terry Pratchett 71: Hostile Territory - Tom Andry 72: Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett 73: Desperate Times - Tom Andry 74: No Hero - Tom Andry 75: Sinner - Greg Stolze 76: Talus and the Frozen King - Graham Edwards 77: The Amulet - William Meikle 78: The Chapel Perilous - Kevin Hearne 79: All Bad Things - Stephen Blackmoore 80: Code Zero - Jonathan Maberry 81: The Dame, The Doctor, and The Device - Chris Holm, etc. 82: Darker Things - Rob Cornell 83: Hot Lead, Cold Iron - Ari Marmell Lots of books read this month, and all of em pretty good. Obviously the Discworld books are amazing. Skin Game - Latest Dresden Files book, and it's pretty awesome. Not gonna spoil anything about it, just gonna say it's been worth the wait. Can't review The Forever Man at the moment. It's an earc and part of that means no good/bad reviews till it's published. Rivals was decent. A little weird, but decent. David Wellington is starting to learn how to write an ending that just doesn't immediately slam to a halt. Basically a brother and sister get super powers, and then fight a lot when one wants to be a hero and the other just wants to do what they want. Cold Days - Second to last Dresden Files book, and if you like the series you will dig the book, nothing more to be said. Ansible 15715 is a short story/novella with an interesting premise. Basically, while a young girl is being burned alive in salem during the witch trials, she's trying to warn us of a horrible upcoming event. Give it a read, it's actually pretty damned good. No Hero/Desperate Times/Hostile Territory - Imagine if you were a normal dude, who happened to be the ex husband of one of the most powerful heroes on the planet? Now, imagine you were a PI and you investigated "Supers"? That was the hook that drew me into the series, and it's actually been pretty good. Can't wait to see where they take the series. Gets kinda dark in places, which is a bit of a welcome change from most superhero novels. Not "dark for the hell of it" dark though, just "wow that got pretty noir". I'd recommend em. Sinner - Eh... weird book. I liked it, but the plot was pretty scattershot. Basic plot is supervillain turns himself in and goes to jail. EVERYONE thinks this is some sort of weird ploy on his part and then everything just goes completely bonkers. Talus and the Frozen King - Didn't like it that much. Imagine a stone age/bronze age Sherlock Holmes. Now, imagine that instead of writing a good Sherlock story, you had the character hand hold and pontificate about every single logical thing he's seen in the book. No real mystery since the book blatantly tells you what's going on, and if you don't get the big mystery reveal, you really have not been paying attention. It's unique, and probably worth a read just on the fact it's a stone age/bronze age sherlock holmes, but it's not a series I see myself following. The Amulet - Pretty decent book. It's a mixture of detective story meets lovecraftian horror, and it handles it pretty well. I think there's a few more books in the series but I only grabbed the first one. I liked it enough to try the next one though. It's based in england, so for US people like myself some stuff just didn't quite catch (monologues about driving from one place to another past some landmark in a country I've never been in and probably never will go to), but it's nothing super plot important. If you like detective novels and you like weird amphibian monstrosity weird poo poo happening, you'll dig the book. The Chapel Perilous - short story/novella of the Iron Druid. Basically his version of the hunt for the holy grail. Not fantastic, not horrible, but interesting. Nothing I'd recommending avoiding this month, even at the worst Talus was a decent read. Edit - Updating now so I don't forget later on. All Bad Things was pretty good. Hard to really describe but basically it's a post apocalyptic story about a crazy dude starting a church. Code Zero just sucked. Writeup in the airpport fiction thread. The Dame, The Doctor and The Device was not that great. It sounded kinda cool, and it's basically a short story collection that centers around time travel and is written by different authors all writing about the same guy. Only problem is it kinda sucks. Darker Things was the first book in a new? series. Guy gets tracked down by daughter he didn't know he had, vampires attack them, turns out guy is a former spec ops guy who killed supernatural threats, life goes wonky. Decent read though. Nice to see a book about a kid written where the kid isn't a magical genius or a complete spaz. Hot Lead, Cold Iron is the first book in a new series by Ari Marmell, who I already liked as an author because of his Corvis series. This book is way completely not the same as that series though. This is a noir book based in the 20s or so. Slang is used that's appropriate to the time (chicago typewriter for tommy gun, etc). Main character is an elf who is also a PI. Surprisingly pretty great. It's got a gritty noir feel to it, and is actually a somewhat decent mystery. Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 18:56 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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May 28, 2014 01:52
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Might wanna give a review or something so you don't get probated. Just listing stuff is sort of frowned upon.
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Jun 1, 2014 14:41
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:57: Skin Game - Jim Butcher 84: Good Omens - Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman 85: The Spirit War - Rachel Aaron 86: Ghost Story - Jim Butcher 87: Changes - Jim Butcher 88: Turn Coat - Jim Butcher 89: Small Favor - Jim Butcher 90: White Knight - Jim Butcher 91: Shattered - Kevin Hearne 92: Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher 93: Dead Beat - Jim Butcher 94: Blood Rites - Jim Butcher 95: Death Masks - Jim Butcher 96: Seal Team 13 - Evan Currie 97: The Nightmare Dimension - David Conyers 98: Summer Knight - Jim butcher 99: Deeper - Jeff Long 100: Goddamn Freaky Monsters - Rick Gualtieri 101: Sunset Strip - Rick Gualtieri 102: Property of a Lady Faire - Simon Greene 103: Public Enemy Zero - Andrew Mayne 104: The Gift - Dave Donovan 105: Basketful of Crap - Steven Campbell All the Butcher books were pretty good, think the worst of the lot will always be "Proven Guilty". Just wasn't that into the book. The rest though, pretty awesome. Good Omens was awesome. I still picture Crowley in my head as Mark Sheppard even though the description in the book doesn't really match him, but dammit it just FITS. Spirit War was pretty good. It's book 4 of 5 from the Eli Monpress series, and it's a pretty fun, lighthearted fantasy series. Not heavy, grimdark, or just overall horribly violent, just a fun read. Shattered is the latest Iron Druid novel. It's... well it's decent and I am enjoying the new character added, but somehow or another the book just seemed a bit off. Still, it's one of the better in the series. Hard to believe there have been 7 of em. Seal Team 13 was just kinda...odd. Interesting idea (the less people know about creepy poo poo, the stronger the veil is to keep the baddies out, but more and more people are discovering poo poo, which means more and more weird poo poo happens, etc). It's a decent read as well. Kinda rare that an airport fiction novel has a group of people and they don't have weird poo poo like "Angry sniper woman", or "Magical negro who is a loner" or "Native american who is quiet and communes with nature". It's worth a read at the least Nightmare Dimension is pretty good. I love lovecraftian horrors, and I have yet to really find a series that is better than the stuff written by Conyers. Deeper was sort of good, but also a let down. It's the sequel to The Descent which was pretty good, but this one just sort of retreads some ground but gives us such unlikable characters as a ANGRY SOCCER MOM and MYSTERIOUS SATAN GUY, and it all kinda falls apart storywise. Bonus points for having a dumbshit navy SEAL who manages to gently caress up everything he wants to do. Goddamn Freaky Monsters is the latest book in the Bill the Vampire series, and works pretty well. It's a fast read, although it's a fairly long book. Mostly cause it's an action packed kinda read. Clears up the cliffhanger from the last book, and handles the story pretty much perfectly. Long plots are starting to come together, and it's getting to be a fun(ner) read. Sunset strip is a novel in the same universe as Bill, but starring a different main character. It's pretty fun though. Little weird sometimes, but it's worth it. Property of a Lady Faire - Newest Drood book by Simon Greene. Little strange, but if you are a fan of the series it's one of the better ones. I'd loving love it if his macro setting for "it was the easiest thing in the world" got broken though. God I hate that phrase. Public Enemy Zero was decent. The idea kinda falls apart if you think about it, and the main character sort of ends up being a bit of a prick even though you are supposed to sympathize with him, and the ending is just plain retarded, but the story is a decent one. Sort of a low budget sci fi movie that works as long as you don't think about it much. The Gift was just weird. I kinda liked it, but the problem was the synopsis is basically ALIENS ARRIVE TO GIVE GIFTS TO PEOPLE BECAUSE OF A HORRIBLE INVASION and the entire loving book takes place BEFORE THE GOD DAMNED INVASION. It's an ok read but the blue ball effect from having pretty much no real conflict other than the usual "army vs normal dude" just sucks. Could have been a great opener to a series and keeping it space opera destruction and spaceships and aliens and all kindsa cool poo poo, but instead it opted for the humanity route. Basketful of Crap is another Hard Luck Hank novel, and it's fairly good. I enjoyed the first one more, but the second one gives basically another big story in the same universe where it turns out the ending to the first book wasn't an actual happy ending for very long. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one. Lot read this month, but I can't really point at anything and say "GOD THIS BLOWS". Even as lovely as The Gift was it wasn't horrible, just a waste of potential.
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Jun 27, 2014 04:00
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:84: Good Omens - Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman 106: Critical Failures - Robert Bevan 107: Critical Failures 2 - Robert Bevan 108: d6 - Robert Bevan 109: 2d6 - Robert Bevan 110: Unrelenting Terror - P.S. Power 111: Nightfall - Stephen Leather 112: Midnight - Stephen Leather 113: Nightmare - Stephen Leather 114: Riddle in Stone - Robert Evert 115: The Omega Project - Steve Alten 116: Redemption Song - Craig Schafer 117: The Long Way Down - Craig Schafer 118: Kumquat - Jeff Strand 119: A Snake in the Grass - K.A. Stewart 120: Spirit's End - Rachel Aaron 121: I Am Legend - Richard Matheson 122: Gorgon - Greig Beck 123: Mercury Revolts - Robert Kroese 124: Clovenhoof - Heide Goody/Iain Grant 125: The Forever Man - Pierre Ouellette Critical Failures/2/d6/2d6 are all the same sort of story set in the same world. Basically, role playing guys get trapped in a D&D style game and have to figure out how to get out, and have adventures in the mean time. They are sophomoric, filled with horrible jokes and a half orc making GBS threads himself constantly, but they are also god damned hilarious. Well worth a read if you want funny in your D&D. Unrelenting Terror sucked balls. It was just flat out horrible. The entire premise of the book was retarded, and it fell COMPLETELY short of the build up of the description. It's supposed to be a horror book that makes you feel haunted, but all it is ends up being just a slag through some dumb b movie grade bullshit that peters out like a penny bottle rocket. Nightfall/Midnight/Nightmare is a self contained series about a guy who keeps getting told he's going to hell, and surprisingly there ends up being demons and satan worshippers involved. The first book is fairly decent, but the others just repeat the same story, and when the whole shebang ends it just literally leaves tons of plot holes open. I can't recommend it unless you are REALLY hard up for some light urban fiction/horror based out of London. Riddle in Stone is the story of a scholar librarian dude who leaves his village and tries to do a treasure hunt but gets hosed up by goblins. There's more to it than that, and while it was kinda nice reading about the hero of a fantasy novel that WASN'T Fabio in a loin cloth, the book kinda ended up just being "meh". It had good points and bad points, and it was decent enough for me to start reading the sequel. Just sorta... hell I guess "Unique" is the best term I can use for it. The Omega Project was also rear end. He somehow took a plot point of "asteroid smashes into planet, causes widespread extinction" and turned it into a weird liberal rant about politics, and made the main character a jew who will never stop letting you know that he is, in fact, of the jewish persuasion and also this is an important plot point because he's a jew. I mainly kept reading to see how far the rabbit hole went, and it went straight down into a shithole. Let my pain mean something and just avoid this book altogether. Long Way Down/Redemption Song are the first 2 books in a new urban fantasy series, and surprisingly it's pretty damned good. I took a chance on the first book, but after I finished reading it I went ahead and bought the second. It's actually a great read. Surprisingly, considering a succubus is one of the main characters, there is very little sex in the book and it isn't a weird "This is really porn, but we call it a book because if Anita Blake can have a series so can I" sort of novel. I'm not against sex, I'm just against it when it's not written well, and unfortunately in this genre most authors can't. Starts out a little rough but by chapter 3 I was hooked. Kumquat, weirdly enough following that rant, is a romance novel. It's actually really good. It surprised the gently caress out of me. I love the author's other work like Wolf Hunt and the Andrew Mayhem series, but this is a complete chance of pace. It handles the emotional roller coaster of what relationships start like, the weird feelings, the awkward moments and the general bliss of falling in love amazingly well, while keeping the story interesting enough to read with bad poo poo happening to the main character as is the norm for most of Strand's work. A Snake in the Grass was decent. Not terrific, not bad. If you are a fan of the series you will probably dig it. If you've never read the series about a guy who sword fights demons to make them give up their contracts for human souls, this book will not sell you on it. Read the first two. If you still like it, keep on reading. This basically just sort of sets up a subplot and builds up a longer story. Spirit's End is awesome. A reread from last year, but I really do love the series. Great end to it. I Am Legend was ok. WWWAAAAYYYY better than that poo poo movie they made out of it, but wow this book did not age well. Still, it's a classic. Gorgon was awesome. I love this series, and while this isn't "Crazy Iranian President sending muslims through a black hole to meet Allah" levels of batshit, it was fairly crazy. If you are a fan of this series you will love it. Mercury Revolts was pretty good. It's set in the middle somewhere with no specific time like "3/4 of the way through book 1, a side adventure". Basically it's Mercury in the American Revolution and all the wonderous joy that can bring in novel format. Clovenhoof was an odd duck. It tried to be Good Omens, but it wasn't QUITE good enough. Basic idea is that the devil is kicked out and fired from his job for sub standard management, and has to deal with living on earth as a human. Crazy poo poo ensues, and basically that's it. The plot meanders around a bit, but overall it's a decent read. The Forever Man - Got this as an EARC, and couldn't review it till it came out. It's a fairly decent book. A little weird on the premise, but the overall idea is this guy learns how to basically end up being immortal with some help, and the protagonist's brother is one of those ways. It's a bit of a mystery meets sci fi meets just weird poo poo, but overall it's pretty decent. Could be better, could be worse. Overall recommendations for the month are the Critical Failures series, Kumquat, and The Long Way Down/Redemption Song and Gorgon.
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Jul 26, 2014 19:36
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:106: Critical Failures - Robert Bevan 126: Robot vs Slime Monsters - A. Lee Martinez 126.5: Twittering from the Circus of the Dead - Joe Hill 127: The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty 128: The Reckoning - Jeff Long 129: Super - Ernie Lindsey 130: Broken Souls - Stephen Blackmoore 131: Hard Luck Hank: Screw The Galaxy - Steven Campbell 132: Hard Luck Hank: The Early Years - Steven Campbell 133: Hard Luck Hank: Delovoa - Steven Campbell 134: The (sort of) Dark Mage - Nelson Chereta 135: After The Rabbit - Nelson Chereta 136: New Avengers: Breakout Prose Novel - Alisa Kwitney 137: The Dark Lord's Handbook - Paul Dale 138: Questing Sucks! - Levin Weinberg 139: Game Night - Jonny Nexus 140: NPCs - Drew Hayes Robot vs Slime Monsters was pretty awesome. Only didn't like one story that much, but the others were hilarious. I love this guy's work. It's a collection of short stories, each set in the books that he has written, so if you are a fan of the author (like I am) and you have read his books (like I have), you will get to hop back into each one and rock it. It's really nice seeing the various writing styles he can use also. Dude rocks. TFTCOTD was a short story from Joe Hill that was pretty good, but kinda retarded as well. The premise is "young girl tweets about being attacked while at the CIRCUS OF THE DEAD", and it IS an interesting (and very short) read, but the whole idea of tweeting OH GOD CALL THE COPS when you ARE ON A loving CELL PHONE kinda defeats the point of a horror novel. The Universe Builders was ok. It could have been a LOT better, but the story picked up about halfway through the book and became less lovely. Basically the main character is a god and he's trying to hold down a job as a "builder" (where they get to build universes). His arch rival and all around bully/rear end in a top hat from school is sabotaging his project, and then things happen. It's kind of a neat idea, and the perspective shift in the book is pretty nice but it's also a bit of a slog. The Reckoning was pretty good. I like Long's work. This was a horror story about a group of people who were digging for MIA bones in Cambodia getting stuck in a haunted/spooky rear end ancient city. Only real irritant was the main character being a rape survivor, because it didn't really add anything to the story and felt like it was tacked on for just general "feel bad for this character, FEEL drat YOU" points. Still, good book. Super was a story about a guy who does Superhero Assassinations, because sometimes Superheroes are actually colossal assholes who are also drug dealers or pedophiles and basically need to die and the government sends him to kill em. It's... it's an interesting book, and worth the read if you are a comics fan, but if you aren't I'd pass on it. Could be a lot better, but could have been a hell of a lot worse. 3/5 stars tops. Broken Souls is the new Blackmoore book, and it is awesome. If you liked the first book, Dead Things, you will loving LOVE this book. It's got an interconnected story to the rest of his universe, it builds the story up fairly well, and still leaves you with a few gut punches. Can't recommend it enough if you liked Dead Things. Hard Luck Hank series stuff is basically just the sequel to the first book, plus a few short story collections to flesh out the world a bit. I like the character, so I really loved these books. Also, they are on Kindle Unlimited so yay for free reading. The (sort of) Dark Mage/After The Rabbit are the first 2 books in a series, and they kinda suck. The first book is interesting, as it follows a Dark Mage on his first trial out in the real world, having to deal with people and settings completely different from what he is used to or expecting. ATR kinda sucked though. It took a fun and joy of the first book, and kinda pissed it away with a one note character (wacky gay ogre! hah!) and general "The author didn't really think this whole plot thing through, did he?" feeling. Most of the time the second book in the series is the worst, so I'll probably give the next one a shot. There was such a tonal shift between the first and second book that it was just kind of jarring. New Avengers was a novelization of the first few books of the New Avengers series, and was handled pretty well. They mostly focus on Hawkeye and Black Widow for the story, but it makes it a decent storyline when you realize this guy shoots arrows and she basically is a spy, and they are supposed to help save the world from people who can do incredibly powerful stuff. I'd recommend it if you are a fan of the comics. The Dark Lord's Handbook was... I want to say it was good, but it was just kind of weird. Decent read though. Worth reading if you are on a humor/fantasy kick like I was. Plus, it was cheap. Questing Sucks! was just a bad book. One note character who's main trait is to be so god damned annoying that you want him to die painfully, only he never does. The plot wanders around like a drunkard at a carnival, and there are plot holes you can throw a truck though. Bad, bad bad bad bad bad bad book. I made the mistake of reading because apparently the incredibly annoying lead character was going to die horribly and then he never loving did. It's a one star book and that's being generous with it. Game Night, on the other hand, was pretty good. It's a story about Gods playing D&D, and the world they create is real, so the perspective shift from "Gods around a table" to "actual characters in the scene" is pretty cool. I'd recommend it if you are on a fantasy kick. It's actually pretty good. I want to say it's like Discworld with the way the writing is handled, but that will give a bit of a wrong impression, so just assume it's pretty decent and grab it if you like. NPCs asks the question "What happens to the gaming world when the people playing the game leave?", and it handles it pretty well. Basically a "questing group" gets killed off pretty quick, and a group of NPCs from the local village where they managed to die have to take over the roles and go visit the king, because the king is batshit crazy and will raze the town if he thinks they had anything to do with the missing adventurers. Pretty great book. I was on a bit of a fantasy kick (still am), but out of everything I'd have to recommend the Hard Luck Hank stuff, Broken Souls, Game Night, and Robot vs Slime Monsters as the highlights of this particular update. Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Aug 10, 2014 |
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Aug 10, 2014 22:19
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:126: Robot vs Slime Monsters - A. Lee Martinez 141: The Sorcerer's Widow - Lawrence Watt-Evans 142: Critical Failures 3 - Robert Revan 143: The Blinding Knife - Brent Weeks 144: Gun Monkeys - Victor Gischler 145: The Automatic Detective - A Lee. Martinez 146: The Infinity Agenda - David Conyers 147: The Elder Codex - David Conyers 148: Chasing the Moon - A Lee Martinez 149: Too Many Curses - A Lee Martinez 150: Immortal and the Madman - Gene Doucette 151: Immortal At Sea - Gene Doucette 152: Hard Boiled Immortal - Gene Doucette 153: In the Company of Ogres - A Lee Martinez The Sorcerer's Widow is the latest in the Esthar series ( I think ). Pretty good. Happy fantasy novels are always welcome since 99% of the time it's rape, torture, wars and just general negative poo poo. Critical Failures 3 was awesome. If you liked the first 2, then this is going to be your lucky day. It got a little weird in a spot, but basically this book has dethroned City of the Lost as my favorite book involving a psychopathic midget. The Blinding knife was a reread because I started The Broken Eye and could not remember what the gently caress happened in the last book. Gun Monkeys was pretty great. It's a noir novel, and STRICTLY a noir novel. Nary a spell or hex or fairy in sight. It had me laughing a few times though, which was pretty surprising. All the Martinez books are books you should own. Same as Discworld. Great writer, and he writes in a ton of different styles, and pulls em all off. Can't recommend him enough. The immortal series are short story/novellas featuring the immortal Adam from the Immortal series by Gene Doucette. Basically just filler backstory as to his life since we don't learn much about it in the books, but they are worth a read if you enjoy the series. Conyers had some great stories, the 3rd was a reread but the 4th was a new one. Few typos in there, which was kinda weird. I feel like I forgot a few books, but eh, if I remember what the hell they were I'll update the list. Stupid_Sexy_Flander fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Sep 2, 2014 |
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Sep 1, 2014 21:23
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:141: The Sorcerer's Widow - Lawrence Watt-Evans 154: The Living End - Craig Schaefer 155: The Misenchanted Sword - Lawrence Watt-Evans 156: Spider Man 3 - Peter David 157: No Hero - Jonathan Wood 158: The Grendel Affair - Lisa Shearin 159: Bloodlight : The Apocalypse of Robert Goldner - Harambee K. Grey-sun 160: We Are All Completely Fine - Darryl Gregory 161: Circles in the snow - Patrick F. Mcmanus 162: Hellenic Immortal - Gene Doucette 163: Interesting Times - Matthew Storm 164: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison 165: Voices From Beyond - Simon Green 167: Origins of a D-List Supervillain - Jim Bernheimer 168: Confessions of a D-list Supervillain - Jim Bernheimer 169: Hidden - Benedict Jacka 170: Chosen - Benedict Jacka 171: The Getaway God - Richard Kadrey 172: Kill City Blues - Richard Kadrey The Living End was pretty awesome. Great book that didn't end up exactly the way I thought, but was still pretty damned good. If you liked the first two books, you'll dig this one. Misenchanted Sword was pretty great. I love the Esthar series and wanted some happy fantasy to read. Spider Man 3 was the novelization of the movie with a few differences in the script. Overall, not worth a read. No Hero is a pretty decent urban fantasy set in London, where Dept MI37 (all 4 of them) work to keep the world safe from monsters, critters, and rogue wizards. The Grendel Affair is the first book in the series called SPI Files, and is kinda decent. I was worried because it had the tropes of Southern woman lead, mysterious agency, handsome and withdrawn bodyguard, and super powers so I went into it thinking "Holy poo poo please don't be some sort of weird fuckfest romance" and it wasn't. Decent story to it, and I do plan to pick up the second book. Bloodlight was loving horrible. Just, jesus it was a chore to read and basically it was horrible and I'd give it the same rating as herpes if I could. We Are All Completely Fine was a decent story. Little weirder than I thought, but the basic gist of it is a group of survivors from incredibly creepy supernatural poo poo all end up in a therapy group and share their stories. Circles in the snow was the last Tully novel released, and was actually pretty good. If you liked the other mystery books he's written, you'll dig this one. It was a little weird, but I can see where he's going with the series... kinda. Hellenic Immortal was a reread, but a good one. I like the book. Interesting Times was decent. It's the first book in a new series, I think, and it's an interesting take on the whole urban fantasy idea. The book opens with an accountant barely surviving an assassination attempt and kinda runs from there. Worth a shot. The Goblin Emperor I did not like that much. I basically kept reading because the story seemed somewhat interesting, but it suffered a bit from the old fantasy trope of "let's invent a language and then throw fantasy words around with no definition, and then just substitute well known species from D&D with different names". I can't really recommend it, but it did fill the nitch I was looking for of vaguely happy fantasy without grimdark bullshit. Just the annoyance of weird little things like calling them emperor "Serenity" instead of "Emperor" because they are elves and that's what they do in this magic fairyland of wonderfulness! and that got annoying really fast. Plus I couldn't really sympathize much with the main character because he just sort of struck me as whiny. Dude became Emperor and can't seem to find actual friends, and spends a lot of time moping around because of it. Voices from Beyond is the latest Ghost hunters novel from Simon Green. I didn't dig it that much. It's basically starting to bug me that the books have all been the same thing over and over and over. Very little plot advancement, and the general theme is "team goes to haunted place, haunted place is SHOCKINGLY not what they thought, incredibly bad poo poo happens, guy takes off glasses and stares at it with glowing eyes, Everyone is in danger, no one dies or is injured and then the book ends". At least with the Drood series there's a vague idea of danger for the main characters. Nothing in this series so far. Confessions and Origins are exactly what the titles say. Confessions is the first book, Origins is the second book that was recently released that gives a bigger backstory to the characters. Worth a read if you dug the original. Hidden/Chosen were both pretty good. I enjoy this series, and reread Chosen because I couldn't remember wtf was going on at the beginning of Hidden. Kill City Blues and The Getaway God were both pretty good. I had to reread KCB because I couldn't remember wtf was going on at the beginning of TGG, but TGG turned out to be pretty interesting. Kept the pace up through the book and left me wondering how in the hell they were going to finish the book. The ending was a bit abrupt but nowhere near as bad as the third books ending. All in all, save for Bloodlight, it was a pretty good month.
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Sep 21, 2014 18:12
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That one is easily the worst in the series, so if you love it, the rest are gonna be amazing.
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Oct 20, 2014 02:07
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:154: The Living End - Craig Schaefer 173: The Skin Game - William Miekle 174: Even - Andrew Grant 174.5: Naga Please - Robert Bevan 175: Jhereg - Steven Brust 176: Wolf Hunt - Jeff Strand 177: Wolf Hunt 2 - Jeff Strand (EARC) 178: Half a Prayer - Rick Gualtieri (EARC) 179: Goddamn Freaky Monsters - Rick Gualtieri 180: The Brothers Cabal - Jonathan Howard 181: The Sirens - William Meikle 182: Impact - Adam Baker 183: The Unwelcome Warlock - Lawrence Watt-Evans 184: Holes in the ground - J.A. Konrath 185: Gil's All Fright Diner - A. Lee Martinez 186: The VonDish Ambassador - Lawrence Watt-Evans 187: With a Single Spell - Lawrence Watt-Evans The Sirens and Skin Game are the last 2 books of the Midnight Eye files, a detective series that William Meikle wrote a while back. Great books though. It's more... realistic than the general UF books we get, where the detective is some supernatural creature and knows all the ins and outs of the worlds. This series is more like "Normal dude gets hip deep in weird poo poo, then poo poo gets weirder and weirder", and no "WHOOPS TURNS OUT I'M A HALF FAIRIE VAMPIRE DEMON CHILD" kinda plot device. Dude's normal, stays that way. Great series though. Even was... odd. Written by Lee Child's younger brother, it stars a british guy as a spy. It's completely an airport thriller kinda book, but to be honest the plot in the first book goes loving EVERYWHERE. It's not really a bad thing though, just odd. Still, it was interesting enough for me to pick up the second and third books. Naga Please is a short story in the Creatures and Caverns series, and is great. I love the series. Jhereg is book 1 of the Taltos series. It's... unique. I thought the series was going to be about a vampire cause the dude's name is Vlad, but it turns out he's just a normal fantasy character assassin guy. Interesting read though. Wolf Hunt is a 5 star book by Jeff Strand you need to own. Wolf Hunt 2 is his newest book, coming out in December, and it's around a 4.8 star read. If you liked the first book you are gonna like the second. Batshit insanity meets terrific dialogue. Half a Prayer is the upcoming book in the Tome of Bill series and I got lucky enough to be a beta reader. It's going to be a great story, and it's entering it's final editing process now. Should be out for the holidays. If you like the Bill series, you are gonna dig this book. Goddamn Freaky Monsters is the latest book out in the Bill series and I had to reread it to remember wtf was going on before hopping onto the beta read. The Brothers Cabal was good. I didn't like it as much as the last book he did, but it was still very well written and extremely action/adventure-y, wll worth grabbing if you enjoyed the others in the series. Impact kinda sucked. It wasn't as bad as Terminus but it fell incredibly short of the first novel in the series. I'm... not entirely sure why I keep reading this series. He keeps throwing in kinda cool poo poo that seems like it'll be awesome and then forgets about it and moves back to standard zombie-ish books. This one is called Impact because they were trying to nuke something and the plane crashed in the desert, and the world's officially a shithole with massive radiation everywhere from nukes. No clue what's going to happen on the next book but I'll probably grab it as well. Gil's is a great book, 5 star. Haunted diner, and frankly telling you more than that would kill some of the fun with the book. Holes in the ground is a 2 part book (both in the same book, just... odd) where 2 diff authors wrote 2 similar stories to be a sequel to Origin (which was a kinda decent horror novel). Neat, and worth a read, just weird. The Lawrence Watt-Evans books were amazing. All in all, great month for reading. No massive crapsackular books. Even the worst (probably being Impact) was still something that was fast paced and kinda interesting.
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Oct 22, 2014 13:16
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I found that the Nekropolis series by Tim Waggoner handled the whole Zombie Detective thing WAY better.
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Oct 23, 2014 01:05
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Stupid_Sexy_Flander posted:173: The Skin Game - William Miekle 188: Space Captain Smith - Toby Frost 189: Yuletide Immortal - Gene Doucette 190: Immortal at the Edge of the World - Gene Doucette 191: The Blasted Lands - James A. Moore 192: Seven Forges - James A. Moore 193: Reign of Evil - Weston Osche 194: Winter's Reach - Craig Schaefer 194.5: The Kabul Incident - Mat Nastos 195: Severance Package - Duane Swierczynski 196: The 6th Extinction - James Rollins 197: Yesterday's Hero - Jonathan Wood 198: The Curse Merchant - J.P. Sloan 199: All You Need Is Kill - Hirosi Sakurazaka 200: The Prophecy Con - Patrick Weekes 201: Extinction Game - Gary Gibson 202: Die and Stay Dead - Nicholas Kaufmann 203: Dying is My Business - Nicholas Kaufmann 204: Dead Clown BBQ - Jeff Strand Sort of a slow month, but some good reads. Just finished up Space Captain Smith and I'm working on the 2nd book in the series. Very british, but a fun read. The Immortal Series is great, but I kinda both love and hate the new book because it solves a long ongoing mystery in the series and I don't know if I like how it was handled or if I'd have preferred it going on for a few more books. 7 Forges/Blasted Lands is a pretty good fantasy series by James A. Moore. It's... it's hard to explain. It's not written particularly well, but something about the story just makes you want to keep reading. After I finished the first one I immediately bought the sequel, and holy gently caress the second one ends on such a blue balls worthy cliffhanger it ain't even funny. Reign of Evil is the latest Seal Team 666 novel and it involves a racist King Arthur coming back and killing off everyone who isn't white in Britain. It's, well it's hosed up. Fun read though for military gung ho HOOAH poo poo though. Winter's Reach is by the same dude who did the Daniel Faust series, except instead of a vaguely alcoholic necromancer it's a fantasy book set in Not Medieval England and Not Medieval Italy, and holy gently caress it is bleak. Great book, but god drat it was such a jarring tonal shift from the first series that it surprised me. Not as overly grimdark-ish as some fantasy can be, but there's pretty much no one in the book except a dead guy who even vaguely counts as being happy, so be warned. Worth a read though! Kabul Incident is a short story from the guy who did the Weir series, and it's basically a setup for the original book. Book prequel for the series. Not bad, not great, just ... there if you require more background on your superhero novel series. Severance Package was sort of good. Interesting premise (Boss calls everyone in for a weekend day, locks down the floor and arms sarin bombs, says you can either drink a poison or get shot, but you gotta die), but holy gently caress the author needs to work on an ending. This one is almost as bad David Wellington. It just loving, ends. Good read though, so worth a shot if you think the premise sounds cool. 6th extinction is the latest Sigma series book, and is pretty good. Considering the worst one in the series was about mormon nanotechnology gone amok, a weird little alien disease that kills everything is not entirely retarded. Yesterday's Hero is good. Just, go buy it. Go buy No Hero as well, cause that's the first book in the series. Curse Merchant was actually surprisingly good. I was so incredibly pissed off at the "friendzone" idiot protag in the book that I was seriously considering dropping the book, but I kept going and holy gently caress the payoff was amazing. Great urban fantasy. Not quite up to Dresden Files levels of good, but a hell of a first book. AYNIK was weird. Interesting, but weird. Read it because of the movie. Prophecy Con! Awesome! I love this series . It's well worth the read if you liked the first book, The Palace Job.Extinction Game kinda sucked. Interesting premise, but just felt kinda like it was going all over the place with how the book was supposed to make you feel. It went from OH poo poo DANGER to OH poo poo INTRIGUE to OH poo poo wait what the gently caress? to OH.. drat I kinda don't care anymore. Get it if you have a hard on for apocalyptic themed sci fi. DASD/DIMB are both pretty good. I really enjoyed the first book, but the second book was better. Gonna keep an eye on the series. Dead Clown BBQ (and the expansion pack) are both amazing works by Jeff Strand and contain horrible stories of horrible things happening to horrible people. Great read for just weird horror.
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Dec 11, 2014 02:06
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List for 2014! 1: The Pretender: Rebirth by Steve Long Mitchell/Craig W Van Sickle 2: The Unwelcome Warlock by Lawrence Watt-Evans 3: Known Devil - Justin Gustainis 4: One Foot in the Grave - Wm. Mark Simmons 5: Earth, Air, Fire, Custard - Tom Holt 6: In Your Dreams - Tom Holt 7: The Portable Door - Tom Holt 8: Once in a Blue Moon - Simon Green 9: Ex-Purgatory - Peter Clines 10: The Unhandsome Prince - John Moore 11: A Fate Worse Than Dragons - John Moore 12: Bad Prince Charlie - John Moore 13: Disenchanted - Robert Kroese 14: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett 15: Faded Steel Heat - Glen Cook 16: Who's Afraid of Beowulf? - Tom Holt 17: The Cleansing - Sam Kates 18: The Sheriff of Yrnameer - Micheal Rubens 19: The Eye of God - James Rollins 20: He Drank, and Saw the Spider - Alex Bledsoe 21: Wake of the Bloody Angel - Alex Bledsoe 22: Dark Jenny - Alex Bledsoe 23: Burn Me Deadly - Alex Bledsoe 24: Exoskeleton - Shane Stadler 25: The Sword Edged Blonde - Alex Bledsoe 26: Rook: Let's Avoid the Apocalypse, People. - Carolyn McCray 27: Fixer - Gene Doucette 28: Raising Steam - Terry Pratchett 29: Snuff - Terry Pratchett 30: Making Money - Terry Pratchett 31: The Tamarack Murders - Patrick McManus 32: The Huckleberry Murders - Patrick McManus 33: The Double Jack Murders - Patrick McManus 34: Avalanche - Patrick McManus 35: The Blight Way - Patrick McManus 36: Monstrous Regiment - Terry Pratchett 37: Unseen Academicals - terry Pratchett 38: Thud! - Terry Pratchett 39: Going Postal - Terry Pratchett 40: Dead Things - Stephen Blackmoore 41: Deep Storm - Lincoln Child 42: The Dirty Streets of Heaven - Tad Williams 43: The Rook - David O'Malley 44: Blood and Iron - Jon Sprunk 45: Origin - J.A. Konrath 46: The Memory of Death - Trent Jamieson 47: Vampire Council : Hunted - Patrick Kampman 48: Chance in Hell - Patrick Kampman 49: Texas Hold 'Em - Patrick Kampman 50: Witch's Kurse - Glenn Bullion 51: Monster Hunter Legion - Larry Correia 52: Monster Hunter Nemesis - Larry Correia 53: Broken Blade - Kelly McCullough 54: The Entropy Conflict - David Conyers 55: The Eye of Infinity - David Conyers 56: The Palace Job - Patrick Weekes 57: Skin Game - Jim Butcher 58: The Forever Man - Pierre Ouellette 59: Rivals - David Wellington 60: Cold Days - Jim Butcher 61: Men At Arms - Terry Pratchett 62: Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett 63: Eric - Terry Pratchett 64: Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett 65: Sourcery - Terry Pratchett 66: The Light Fantastic - Terry Pratchett 67: The Colour of Magic - Terry Pratchett 68: Ansible 15715 - Stant Litore 69: Pyramids - Terry Pratchett 70: Mort - Terry Pratchett 71: Hostile Territory - Tom Andry 72: Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett 73: Desperate Times - Tom Andry 74: No Hero - Tom Andry 75: Sinner - Greg Stolze 76: Talus and the Frozen King - Graham Edwards 77: The Amulet - William Meikle 78: The Chapel Perilous - Kevin Hearne 79: All Bad Things - Stephen Blackmoore 80: Code Zero - Jonathan Maberry 81: The Dame, The Doctor, and The Device - Chris Holm, etc. 82: Darker Things - Rob Cornell 83: Hot Lead, Cold Iron - Ari Marmell 84: Good Omens - Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman 85: The Spirit War - Rachel Aaron 86: Ghost Story - Jim Butcher 87: Changes - Jim Butcher 88: Turn Coat - Jim Butcher 89: Small Favor - Jim Butcher 90: White Knight - Jim Butcher 91: Shattered - Kevin Hearne 92: Proven Guilty - Jim Butcher 93: Dead Beat - Jim Butcher 94: Blood Rites - Jim Butcher 95: Death Masks - Jim Butcher 96: Seal Team 13 - Evan Currie 97: The Nightmare Dimension - David Conyers 98: Summer Knight - Jim butcher 99: Deeper - Jeff Long 100: Goddamn Freaky Monsters - Rick Gualtieri 101: Sunset Strip - Rick Gualtieri 102: Property of a Lady Faire - Simon Greene 103: Public Enemy Zero - Andrew Mayne 104: The Gift - Dave Donovan 105: Basketful of Crap - Steven Campbell 106: Critical Failures - Robert Bevan 107: Critical Failures 2 - Robert Bevan 108: d6 - Robert Bevan 109: 2d6 - Robert Bevan 110: Unrelenting Terror - P.S. Power 111: Nightfall - Stephen Leather 112: Midnight - Stephen Leather 113: Nightmare - Stephen Leather 114: Riddle in Stone - Robert Evert 115: The Omega Project - Steve Alten 116: Redemption Song - Craig Schafer 117: The Long Way Down - Craig Schafer 118: Kumquat - Jeff Strand 119: A Snake in the Grass - K.A. Stewart 120: Spirit's End - Rachel Aaron 121: I Am Legend - Richard Matheson 122: Gorgon - Greig Beck 123: Mercury Revolts - Robert Kroese 124: Clovenhoof - Heide Goody/Iain Grant 125: The Forever Man - Pierre Ouellette 126: Robot vs Slime Monsters - A. Lee Martinez 126.5: Twittering from the Circus of the Dead - Joe Hill 127: The Universe Builders: Bernie and the Putty 128: The Reckoning - Jeff Long 129: Super - Ernie Lindsey 130: Broken Souls - Stephen Blackmoore 131: Hard Luck Hank: Screw The Galaxy - Steven Campbell 132: Hard Luck Hank: The Early Years - Steven Campbell 133: Hard Luck Hank: Delovoa - Steven Campbell 134: The (sort of) Dark Mage - Nelson Chereta 135: After The Rabbit - Nelson Chereta 136: New Avengers: Breakout Prose Novel - Alisa Kwitney 137: The Dark Lord's Handbook - Paul Dale 138: Questing Sucks! - Levin Weinberg 139: Game Night - Jonny Nexus 140: NPCs - Drew Hayes 141: The Sorcerer's Widow - Lawrence Watt-Evans 142: Critical Failures 3 - Robert Revan 143: The Blinding Knife - Brent Weeks 144: Gun Monkeys - Victor Gischler 145: The Automatic Detective - A Lee. Martinez 146: The Infinity Agenda - David Conyers 147: The Elder Codex - David Conyers 148: Chasing the Moon - A Lee Martinez 149: Too Many Curses - A Lee Martinez 150: Immortal and the Madman - Gene Doucette 151: Immortal At Sea - Gene Doucette 152: Hard Boiled Immortal - Gene Doucette 153: In the Company of Ogres - A Lee Martinez 154: The Living End - Craig Schaefer 155: The Misenchanted Sword - Lawrence Watt-Evans 156: Spider Man 3 - Peter David 157: No Hero - Jonathan Wood 158: The Grendel Affair - Lisa Shearin 159: Bloodlight : The Apocalypse of Robert Goldner - Harambee K. Grey-sun 160: We Are All Completely Fine - Darryl Gregory 161: Circles in the snow - Patrick F. Mcmanus 162: Hellenic Immortal - Gene Doucette 163: Interesting Times - Matthew Storm 164: The Goblin Emperor - Katherine Addison 165: Voices From Beyond - Simon Green 167: Origins of a D-List Supervillain - Jim Bernheimer 168: Confessions of a D-list Supervillain - Jim Bernheimer 169: Hidden - Benedict Jacka 170: Chosen - Benedict Jacka 171: The Getaway God - Richard Kadrey 172: Kill City Blues - Richard Kadrey 173: The Skin Game - William Miekle 174: Even - Andrew Grant 174.5: Naga Please - Robert Bevan 175: Jhereg - Steven Brust 176: Wolf Hunt - Jeff Strand 177: Wolf Hunt 2 - Jeff Strand (EARC) 178: Half a Prayer - Rick Gualtieri (EARC) 179: Goddamn Freaky Monsters - Rick Gualtieri 180: The Brothers Cabal - Jonathan Howard 181: The Sirens - William Meikle 182: Impact - Adam Baker 183: The Unwelcome Warlock - Lawrence Watt-Evans 184: Holes in the ground - J.A. Konrath 185: Gil's All Fright Diner - A. Lee Martinez 186: The VonDish Ambassador - Lawrence Watt-Evans 187: With a Single Spell - Lawrence Watt-Evans 188: Space Captain Smith - Toby Frost 189: Yuletide Immortal - Gene Doucette 190: Immortal at the Edge of the World - Gene Doucette 191: The Blasted Lands - James A. Moore 192: Seven Forges - James A. Moore 193: Reign of Evil - Weston Osche 194: Winter's Reach - Craig Schaefer 194.5: The Kabul Incident - Mat Nastos 195: Severance Package - Duane Swierczynski 196: The 6th Extinction - James Rollins 197: Yesterday's Hero - Jonathan Wood 198: The Curse Merchant - J.P. Sloan 199: All You Need Is Kill - Hirosi Sakurazaka 200: The Prophecy Con - Patrick Weekes 201: Extinction Game - Gary Gibson 202: Die and Stay Dead - Nicholas Kaufmann 203: Dying is My Business - Nicholas Kaufmann 204: Dead Clown BBQ - Jeff Strand 205: Daring - Elliot James 206: Charming - Elliot James 207 : Charmed I'm Sure - Elliot James 207.5: Surreal Estate - Elliot James 208: Dog-gone - Elliot James 208.5: Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls - Elliot James 209: Charmed I'm Sure - Elliot James 209.5 : Pushing Luck - Elliot James 210: Mythbreaker - Stephen Blackmoore 211: The Girl With All The Gifts - M.R. Carey 212: Unclean Spirits - Chuck Wendig 213: Strange Fates - Marlene Perez 214: The Blob - David Bischoff 215: Legion : Skin Deep - Brandon Sanderson 216: Prince of Suck - Steven Campbell 217: Gryphon Precinct - Keith R.A. Candido 218: End of Empires - Toby Frost 219: A Game of Battleships - Toby Frost 220: Goblin Precinct - Keith R. A. Candido 221: Unicorn Precinct - Keith R. A. Candido 222: Dragon Precinct - Keith R. A. Candido 223: Facial - Jeff Strand 224: Wrath of the Lemming Men - Toby Frost 225: Interstellar - Greg Keyes 226: God Emperor of Didcot - Toby Frost 227: Known Devil - Justin Gustainis All of the Elliot James books are either novels or short stories/novellas from the Charming series. It's an odd duck. Part of me likes it, but part of me kinda dislikes it since it didn't go quite in the route I had hoped for. The first book is ok, but suffers from "protagonist info dump" syndrome where instead of showing, there is a shitload of telling. Still, it's a decent read and I liked it enough to grab the rest of the series so far. I'll probably keep up with it, mainly because the monsters in it are not your usual fare. Only one that kinda sucked was Surreal Estate. Mythbreaker is book 2 of the Gods & Monsters series, and as my friend put it, it's probably the best book he's ever read about a gay, drug addicted alcoholic accountant. Unclean Spirits is the first book in the series. The entire idea is that all the gods and monsters of legend are real, and "our" god, (the big G, Yahweh, etc) is a usurper who basically took over all the heaven/hell dimensions they lived on and booted em down to earth with the rest of the worshippers. It's a unique idea, and the books are pretty good even if the endings just loving STOP. Serious blue balls on both of them. Girl with all the gifts was a very unique novel but I hesitate to say it was good. It's an incredibly slow burn, but when it finally pops, it is a great ride. Strange Fates was a decent book but it just felt weird. The whole idea is there's a 4th fate who was killed, Fortuna. She had a kid who's thread of life she hid. The other fates want to find him and kill him because of various reasons, but it just seems a bit odd to me that in the book he's FACING INCREDIBLE DANGER and then literally a page or two later he's talking about how he can't die. The complete lack of threat for him kinda kills any big feelings of "Oh poo poo the main character might die!" that you have, even when you KNOW he's not gonna die because if he did it'd be an incredibly short book. The Blob was the novelization of the 80s movie. Decent but the movie is way better at being both horrifying and also kinda gross. Still, if you want to read a book that contains the voice of a blob from outer space narrating how hungry it is, you could do worse. I thought it was a sequel to the movie, but nope, novelization. Legion was ok. Not spectacular but not bad either. I liked it better than the first book but then again the first one wasn't that great either. Prince of Suck is the latest/last? Hard Luck Hank book, and is pretty good. If you liked the first 2, then this one is worth grabbing. Facial is a short novel/novella by Jeff Strand, a man who's writing I like so much he got me to enjoy a romance novel. This, however, is not a romance novel. This book is hosed up. Just, weirdly hosed up. God damned hilarious though. Great dialogue and scenes. Grab it. The Precinct series is a CSI meets Fantasy police procedural that's actually pretty good. It's not really written as a hardcore WHODUNIT? but more of a "Let's take that idea and lob it into a fantasy world and see what happens!". They are all pretty awesome. Toby Frost's Captain Smith series was pretty good. It's incredibly british, but fun. Hell, there's a loving MLP reference in there and it's written well enough to not make me drop the book and go "gently caress it", so that's probably one of the best selling points I can give it. I read the novelization for Interstellar because I found it at wal mart for cheap, and I'm guessing it was the same as the movie, since I haven't seen it yet. It didn't really make me want to see the movie though. Interesting idea but I might wait for the blu ray, cause some of the scenes I thought HOLY poo poo THAT'S GONNA LOOK AMAZING but not amazing enough for me to spend 20$ on movie tickets. 5$ for a book? Eh, ok. Known Devil was book 3 of the Occult Crimes series and it's basically a UF police procedural that's actually pretty good. Kinda weird sometimes, but good. Best of the year has to be the Daniel Faust series, Jeff Strand's books, the Critical Failures series, and David Conyers stuff for H.P. Lovecraft related horrors. Also, gotta lob William Miekle in there as well cause goddamn that Midnight Eye Files series was good.
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Dec 31, 2014 19:48
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