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Review: Truckers: The First Book of the Nomes
Truckers: The First Book of the Nomes by Terry Pratchett My rating: 3 of 5 stars While this book started off kind of slowly, it does eventually pick up and get pretty darn interesting. The story begins with the last of the nomes making a desperate play to try and leave their lives behind because…
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Review: Specials
Specials by Scott Westerfeld My rating: 3 of 5 stars The story of Tally Youngblood is over. At least, the Extras chapters that were included at the end of this book seemed to suggest it was a kind of epilogue to the Tally Trilogy. I didn’t like this book as much as the the first…
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Review: Sandman Slim
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey My rating: 2 of 5 stars A good read for October, I guess. I didn’t really know what this book was about at all. I’d gotten it during a free ebook Friday for B&N years and years ago. The title made it sound like it was a detective noir or…
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Review: Golden Son
Golden Son by Pierce Brown My rating: 3 of 5 stars To be fair to Mr. Brown, I find it hard to fairly rate second books in a trilogy. They have to both be the middle part of what is essentially one large story split into 3 books (or pdfs or epubs) and also as…
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Review: Buying Time
Buying Time by Joe Haldeman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Earlier this year I read The Forever War for the first time after having read Starship Troopers. So when there was a Humble Bundle with a bunch of books I didn’t care about, but which had a book by Joe Haldeman, I jumped on…
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Review: The Lives of Tao
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu My rating: 4 of 5 stars While reading The Lives of Tao I kept having this nagging feeling in my head that there was something familliar aobut this story. Then it hit me, it seems as though Wesley Chu was given the writing prompt, take Scientology and make…
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Review: The Holy Bible: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness
The Holy Bible: Abridged Beyond the Point of Usefulness by Zach Weinersmith My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book is like God Is Disappointed in You except each book of the Bible is only 1-2 setences. Like the other book, the humor comes from finding a funny way to express what’s actually in there.…
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Review: Wild Cards
Wild Cards by George R.R. Martin My rating: 4 of 5 stars With anthologies, I *usually* just present the status updates I made while reading, sometimes with some modifications since there are character limits on the updates. However, Wild Cards is a bit different. Like the Machine of Death anthology that Dan gave me, Wild…
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Review: Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 124
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 124 by Neil Clarke My rating: 4 of 5 stars A great issue. As always Neil Clarke selects some pretty amazing stories for this issue. The Ghost Ship Anastasia – It’s the space trope no character is ever wise to – you DO NOT inspect a distress call on a space ship!…
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Perfect Blue
I used to hate Hunger Games because I considered it to be yet another example of America getting credit, fame, etc from another culture’s work; Battle Royale in this case. Eventually, I got the Hunger Games Trilogy from a Humble Bundle and read it, realizing that while the plots were the same in the abstract…
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Review: Elantris, Part 3 of 3
Elantris, Part 3 of 3 by Brandon Sanderson My rating: 4 of 5 stars Well, I’m done. That is one heckuva first-time novel for an author. I have a feeling this Sanderson kid is going places. Joking aside, it was a well-done novel that leaves the world open for a slew of books in the…
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Review: Battle Royale Slam Book: Essays on the Cult Classic by Koushun Takami
Battle Royale Slam Book: Essays on the Cult Classic by Koushun Takami by Nick Mamatas My rating: 3 of 5 stars It’s been over a decade since I read Battle Royale. It was a book that amazed me with its emotional resonance. It was the first book that ever made me tear up with the…
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Review: Uncanny Magazine Issue 1: November/December 2014
Uncanny Magazine Issue 1: November/December 2014 by Lynne M. Thomas My rating: 4 of 5 stars Yet another demonstration of authors who are doing great things with the short story format. I’ll definitely be buying other issues. As usual for magazines and anthologies, a collection of my status updates. “The Uncanny Valley” – An intro…
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Review: Uncanny Magazine Issue 1: November/December 2014
Uncanny Magazine Issue 1: November/December 2014 by Lynne M. Thomas My rating: 4 of 5 stars Yet another demonstration of authors who are doing great things with the short story format. I’ll definitely be buying other issues. As usual for magazines and anthologies, a collection of my status updates. “The Uncanny Valley” – An intro…
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Review: Put this in your brain
Put this in your brain by Stu Norvath My rating: 3 of 5 stars As usual, a collection of my status updates. Overall a good set of essays. Some deeper than others. Intro – Neat intro by a member of MCR about the role that games play in our lives “Backward Flow” – About Dune…