Spiral Hunt (2009) Margaret Ronald Apparently John Scalzi has created a devious plot to separate me from my money. He’s calling it “The Big Idea” and has authors talk about their recent works. The last book to catch my attention was Margaret Ronald’s Spiral Hunt. Since ordering that I’ve been all but avoiding his site […]
The Stepsister Scheme (2009) Jim C. Hines As you may or may not know, I love folk tales and fairy tales. I also love things derived from folk and fairy tales, which is why I love Fables, and Sandman, and Hellboy. Authors who work myth and characters from folklore into their works. So when John […]
Unfallen Dead (2009) Mark Del Franco Connor Grey is still helping Detective Murdock of the Boston PD solve cases in the Weird, still has a crush on Meryl, and is still fighting the Darkness that stole his abilities. Unfortunately, things have gotten even more confusing after the events of Unquiet Dreams. The Taint is wreaking […]
Wings of Fire (1998) Charles Todd Wow. Just like the first book, A Test of Wills, the second book, Wings of Fire was also quite depressing. Which leads to me to wonder: why am I surprised that a murder mystery is depressing? After all, the very premise of a murder mystery is that someone has […]
Thirteen Orphans: Breaking the Wall (2008) Jane Lindskold I really like Jane Lindskold’s writing. Brenda Morris thinks she is simply taking a vacation with her father, but she quickly learns the trip is much more–that her father took her to California to introduce her to her magical heritage. Unfortunately, this simple trip turns dark when […]
Excursion to Tindari (2000) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli A young man is found dead just outside his front door in what seems to be a mafia killing. This event would have passed almost unnoticed, except that a distraught man calls to report that his parents–who live in the same building as the murdered […]
The Snack Thief (1996) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli The third book in Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series finds Montalbano investigating a man found murdered in an elevator, while Augello investigates a shooting on a fishing boat that left a Tunisian dead–shot ostensibly by a Tunisian police boat claiming the fishing boat was no […]
The City of Falling Angels (2005) John Berendt I loved Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil so when I came across it in paperback, I picked up a copy of City of Falling Angels. And then proceeded to not read it for several years. Part of the problem was because I had no […]
Hellboy Vol 7: The Troll With and Others (2007) Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, P. Craig Russell This is another collection of shorter stories, and as usual, these collections tend to be my favorites. Though I do have to admit, that from reading Mike Mignola’s introductions to the various Hellboy short stories, I have apparently missed […]
B.P.R.D. Vol 2: The Soul of Venice & Other Stories (2004) Mike Mignola, Miles GUnther, Michael Avon Oeming, Brian Augustyn, Guy Davis, Geoff Jones, Scott Kolins, Joe Harris, Adam Pollina & Cameron Stewart In The Soul of Venice & Other Stories, Mike Mignola invited several other artists and writers to help him write five new […]
The Shape of Mercy (2008) Susan Meissner I received The Shape of Mercy to review, and when I read the first couple chapters I had a sinking feeling–I don’t typically like books about young women finding themselves. But I knew I’d be getting a sub story about a young Puritan girl who was a victim […]
Doctored Evidence (2004) Donna Leon A querulous old woman is killed in her apartment, and suspicion automatically falls upon the maid. Scarpa closes the case, but when Brunetti comes back into town, new evidence–that Scarpa wants to dismiss unheard–comes to light. This book is not just about discovering who killed a nasty old woman and […]
Cast in Fury (2008) Michelle Sagara Let me get this out of the way: I hate this cover. The scene seems to be a depiction of events from the last book, Kaylin does not once wear a dress–especially a dress that horrific–in this book, and the bracer is so badly photoshopped onto her arm her […]
Blood and Iron (2006) Elizabeth Bear I put off reading Blood and Iron because I haven’t been in the mood for epic fantasy. But I added it to the pile of books I took on my trip, and picked it up when nothing else seemed to suit. First of all, Blood and Iron is set […]
Hellboy Vol 4: The Right Hand of Doom (2000) Mike Mignola Have I mentioned that I am really enjoying the Hellboy books? I am. They’re a lot of fun. Like The Chained Coffin and Others, The Right Hand of Doom is also a collection of short stories centered on Hellboy. The first story in the […]
The Shadow Roads (2004) Sean Russell The Shadow Roads is the final book in Sean Russell’s ‘The Swans’ War’ trilogy. Having escaped the Stillwater (those who survived) the children of Wyrr now prepare for battle. In the realms of the Renee and the Wills mortals prepare for war, even without Hafydd there to control and […]
The One Kingdom (2001) Sean Russell I love Sean Russell’s writing. I’ve read everything he’s written that I could get my hands on, including the mystery series he co-wrote as T.F. Banks. The One Kingdom and the other books he has written are very different from the supernatural fantasy that I most often scarf down. […]
Hellboy Vol 3: The Chained Coffin and Others (1998) Mike Mignola Unlike the previous two volumes, which were along the lines of novellas, The Chained Coffin and Others is a collection of Hellboy short stories. As I’m a big fan of short stories, I really enjoyed this collection. And as a fan of folktales and […]
Girl Genius Vol 7: Agatha Heterodyne and the The Voice of the Castle (2008) Phil Foglio, Kaja Foglio, Cheyenne Wright It’d been so long since the last Girl Genius volume came out, I’d all but forgotten about it. So I was very excited when my copy of Agatha Heterodyne and the The Voice of the […]
Hellboy Vol 1: Seed of Destruction (1994) Mike Mignola and John Byrne After starting my comic reading life with Sandman, it’s been hit and miss for me since then. I love Ex Machina and Fables. But didn’t care for Preacher or Lucifer or Constantine. Michael reads and likes almost anything he picks up, but it’s […]
Runaways Vol 8: Dead End Kids (2008) Joss Whedon, Michael Ryan, and Christina Strain Finally! The next installment of Runaways! And boy have things changed. First and foremost, Brian K Vaughan gave up his writing duties on Runaways to Joss Whedon. Second, the format changed, and instead of the little tiny book, Dead End Kids […]
Fatal Remedies (1999) Donna Leon I started Fatal Remedies immediately after I finished A Noble Radiance, wasn’t sure about the direction the story was taking, and then picked it up again today, as I have a whole stack of Guido Brunetti books waiting to be read. What I was unsure about was how things were […]
Crisscross (2004) F. Paul Wilson Jack is still in the Repairman business, despite the fact that Gia doesn’t like the way she never knows if he’ll return safely from his fix-it jobs. And with Gia’s pregnancy (Despite the fact this is a multi-book pregnancy, Gia is only at 20 weeks. She might be pregnant for […]
Death and Judgment (1995) Donna Leon In two seemingly unrelated incidents, a truck goes off a cliff, killing the driver and his unexpected cargo of lumber and women. And months later, in Venice, Commissario Guido Brunetti is given the investigation of the murder of a prominent local loyal, whose unblemished record is enough cause for […]
Death in a Strange Country (1993) Donna Leon The second Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery (how I managed to read the third book instead of the second in two different series within a week is beyond me) finds Guido awakened to come down to a canal as a body was found in the water. The stab […]
The Haunted Air (2002) F. Paul Wilson The sixth Repairman Jack novel, Haunted Air takes place a year after the events of The Tomb. Jack is still in turmoil after the events of Hosts as he attempts to deal with Kate’s death. Like the previous books, Jack is still learning more about The Otherness, and […]
Magic Burns (2008) Ilona Andrews The sequel to Magic Bites, Magic Burns continues the story of Kate Daniels, magic user, fighter, and no longer mercenary, but instead member of the Order, a group that helps keep the peace in a dangerous and uncertain world. While taking a case as a mercenary, Kate stumbles upon a […]
Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale (2002) Holly Black Tithe came up multiple times as a recommended book for me on Amazon, but when I read the description and saw it was a about a sixteen year old, I thought, “No thanks. Not in the mood for teen angst.” But I finally put Tithe on my […]
Stardust (1997) Neil Gaiman & Charles Vess I’ve been a fan of Stardust for years. In fact it is the first comic I ever bought, although I called it a book, because it had, you know, lots of words and stuff. And didn’t really look like a comic. I eventually got over that, and it […]
White Night (2007) Jim Butcher I’ve been reading the Dresden Files series for awhile now, even when Harry was annoying the crap out of me, by being incredibly stupid and obtuse. But the books got better, and Harry got smarter, and the stories have been getting better ever since. When Murphy calls Harry to come […]
All the Rage (2000) F. Paul Wilson The third Repairman Jack novel, Conspiracies, has not been reprinted, and the used prices were a little steep, so I skipped Conspiracies and went straight to the fourth book, All the Rage. As with the previous two Repairman Jack books I read, I very much enjoyed All the […]
Legacies (1998) F. Paul Wilson The second Repairman Jack book takes up an undetermined time after the events of the first book, Tomb. The indeterminate time is most likely due to the fact that there were 15 years between the two books. When a local AIDS clinic where Gia volunteers is robbed, she convinces Jack […]
Death at La Fenice (1992) Donna Leon Guido Brunetti is vice-commissario of police in the Venice, and a good detective as well. When a world famous maestro is found dead in his dressing room, from what seems to be cyanide poisoning, Guido is immediately pressured to find the killer, lest Venice receive bad press. Although […]
The Tomb (1984/2004) F. Paul Wilson Repairman Jack fixes things. Not appliances or houses or anything so prosaic, but instead fixes situations. When he is asked to “fix” two separate problems at the same time, little did he realize that the situation would turn deadly–and the girl he loves in mortal danger–the girl he loves […]
Heroes: Volume One (2007) As previously mentioned elsewhere, we finally finished watching Heroes. (Yes, I know we’re slow. But we were watching the DVDs.) Heroes: Volume One tells the stories in between the shows. We not only see Nathan and DL discovering their powers, but we also learn more about some of the characters who […]
Going Postal (2004) Terry Pratchett Going Postal is the next Discworld book in line, and like Monstrous Regiment, the primary characters are new ones. Although other characters continue to make an appearence, and Lord Vetinari plays an important part in the story, like Monstrous Regiment, Going Postal requires no previous knowledge of Discworld, which makes […]
Kitty and the Silver Bullet (2007) Carrie Vaughn The fourth kitty book sees Kitty returning to Denver for a family emergency. Unfortunately, he return places her in the middle of a vampire turf war where she is requested to take sides. As this was the fourth Kitty book, was I a little leery when I […]
When Gods Die (2006) C.S. Harris Last year I picked up What Angels Fear on because I thought it looked mildly interesting. I was pleasantly surprised to find an intriguing and fascinating Regency thriller. I then placed the the second book in the series When Gods Die on preorder, which means I’ve been waiting since […]
Dzur (2006) Steven Brust I’ve been reading Steven Brusts Vlad Taltos novels since about 1994, and I’ve been snatching them up eagerly as they’ve come out–at least until Dzur. Not because I don’t still love Vlad, but because I love reading this books, and don’t like reading hardback. So I decided to bite the bullet […]
Girl Genius 5: Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess Agatha Heterodyne and the Clockwork Princess is the fifth volume in the Girl Genius series. Agatha is still traveling with the Circus of Adventure, Gil still thinks Agatha is dead, and Agatha still wants to meet up with her friends and newly discovered family. Unsurprisingly, she […]
Girl Genius Vol 4: Agatha Heterodyne and the Circus of Dreams (2006) Phil & Kaja Foglio I got lucky and the next Girl Genius came today (well, volumes 4 and 6 arrived. 5 should be here tomorrow.) I ended up tearing through volume 4–so much for drawing things out. Of course as soon as I […]
Girl Genius Vol 3: Agatha Heterodyne and the Monster Engine (2004) Phil & Kaja Foglio Now that Agatha is settling into Castle Wulfenbach, she is beginning to come to terms with her abilities. Now, she must learn about her heritage, and how her skills and her family’s past will change her life. We also see […]
The Shape-Changer’s Wife (1995) Sharon Shinn Everything I’ve ready by Sharon Shinn I have really liked, so when I saw The Shape-Changer’s Wife in a used bookstore, I picked it up. Then I left it on the bookshelf in one of those weird fits I go through, of worrying that a book–especially an earlier book–by […]
The Essential Bordertown: A Traveller’s Guide to the Edge of Faerie (1998) Terri Windling & Delia Sherman The Essential Bordertown is a collection of short stories set in Bordertown, the land between our world and Faerie. The stories are written with a teenage audiences in mind, with primarily teenage characters, and parts of a “traveler’s […]
The Traveler (2005) John Twelve Hawks The Traveler has been my riding the PRT/sitting in waiting rooms book for the past month. However, once I got a third of the way into the book, it moved out of my jacket pocket and became my primary book to read. Maya is the daughter of a Harlequin–a […]
Poltergeist (2007) Kat Richardson I enjoyed Greywalker enough that I pre-ordered Poltergeist when I came across it. This was a decision I did not regret. I liked Poltergeist even better than I liked Greywalker. Harper Blaine is still coming to terms with her ability to see and move into the Grey, the paranormal realm populated […]
Marvel 1602 (2006) Neil Gaiman, Andy Kubert, Richard Isanove I’ve been wanting to read this for awhile, but not enough that I would actually by it for myself. So I instead bought it for Michael of his birthday, so we could both enjoy it. (And yes, I let him read it first.) In Marvel 1602 […]
The Line Between (2006) Peter S. Beagle The Line Between is a collection of short (and some not so short) stories by Peter S. Beagle. It contains two short stories that are related to two of his books. Two Hearts is a sequel to The Last Unicorn and looks at some of the characters from […]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows (2007) J.K. Rowling Seven and a half hours. Although not seven and a half hours straight, since there was a very large break in the middle to have dinner with my family. Which was good, because I had to hand it off to Michael, so hopefully he’ll be able […]
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003) Mary Roach I was wandering the bookstore and Stiff was sitting on one of the display tables, one of the “Recommended Summer Reading” tables or something like that. I’d heard a review or interview or something like that when it first came out, but never ran across […]