Sunday, August 31, 2008

Lost Souls - Lisa Jackson

Lost Souls is a mystery about missing women, a vampire cult, and a young women who seems to attract serial killers like flowers attract bees. Kristi Bentz is the daughter of a famous cop and has been the focus of other books by Jackson. I started with this book but I'll be visiting the others. I just have to figure which of Jackson's books they are!

Kristi had a near death experience in a previous story and can see people who are about to die or come close to dying. She's started back to school and just happens to pick a campus where female students are going missing. She also coincidentally rents an apartment that one of the missing girls lived in. The story is addictive, meaning it was hard to stop reading. I found excuses to keep going until I finished the book. Highly recommended.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Breaking Dawn - Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn is the fourth and final novel in Meyer's Twilight Saga. I'm not going to do anything to spoil this for you. If you read the first three books in this series you have to read this one. If you haven't read the first three books then read them so you can read this one! You will not believe the twist that this book introduces. It is amazing and well done. Very highly recommended.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass is a real kid's adventure. Lots of fascinating characters pepper the story like witches, daemons, talking bears, and cliff-ghasts. The best part for kids is that Lyra, the heroine, is not just carried along by the adults in the story, she's the driving force in most of the action. Be aware that this book is not conclusive. It ends in a cliff hanger of sorts, and there's a sequel that's required reading.

The Golden Compass
is supposed to be a kid's story. I enjoyed reading it but I don't know any kids the age of Lyra who could read it and really understand what's going on. I didn't see the movie made from this book, but if the producers were true to the book I would expect the movie to be just as confusing.

My recommendation is read the book along with your kids and make sure you understand what's going on so you can answer questions as they go. Given that caveat, highly recommended.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Triple - Ken Follett

Triple is a spy story set in the cold war days. It starts at the end of WWII, in order to introduce the main characters. Then the story jumps ahead a couple of decades to pit the Soviets against the Israelis and the Palestinians in a triple play for the fuel to make nuclear bombs. This is an excellent novel. There's plenty of suspense and action and a little romance. Highly recommended.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Last Colony - John Scalzi

The Last Colony is the sequel to Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades. The characters are familiar and Scalzi has woven the three stories into a very satisfying conclusion with this novel. There are still lots of aliens and action, but there are some twists and turns in this book you won't anticipate. Highly recommended.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons

Watchmen is a graphic novel that alternates between picture pages and supplementary material to support and complement the main thread. I just can't get into graphic novels. I like the story line but for me the pictures distract rather than enhance the story. If you like graphic novels you'll probably love this one. The ending is pretty amazing. Recommended.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Twisted - Andrea Kane

Twisted is a book about ex-FBI agent Sloane Burbank. She's a consultant now, since she left the FBI after being injured in the line of duty. The novel focuses on a serial kidnapper, rapist, and murderer who abducted one of Sloane's childhood friends. The tension escalates as more women begin to disappear and Sloane's old boyfriend is the FBI agent Sloane finds herself working with. I'm not trying to be vague, but I don't want to spoil this for anyone. It's an excellent book. Highly recommended.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi

The Ghost Brigades is the sequel to Old Man's War. They share the same universe and are temporally in sequence but there is very little overlap in characters. This story is focused on the special forces of the CDF and one traitor's attempt to wipe them out. I really like Scalzi's writing style and the way he mixes plenty of action with an interesting story line. Highly recommended.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Old Man's War - John Scalzi

Old Man's War is the first in a series of books about a future world where humans can enlist in the Colonial Defense Forces at the age of 75 years and receive a new lease on life. This story follows John Perry. John's a widower who's wife was planning to enlist too, but she didn't make it to 75. There are lots of aliens, battles, and some surprising twists. It's an old fashioned science fiction adventure, like the paperbacks I used to read when I should have been studying, several decades ago :) Highly recommended.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Naked in Death - J.D. Robb

This is the first book in Roberts' Eve Dallas series. It introduces almost all the main characters in the series and answers lots of questions I've had as I read the novels in almost random order. It goes without saying, the story is excellent as always. I wonder when Peabody shows up? Highly recommended.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Dead of Night - J.D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan, and Mary Kay McComas

Dead of Night is a collection of four stories by four different authors. The first pits Eve Dallas against a vampire in a tale by Roberts. I have to admit this is what drew me to the book. The other three stories are excellent introductions to their respective authors. All were shaded toward the supernatural and all were well worth reading. A magic coin, a magic castle, and a magic carpet all anchor unique tales with romance as their common thread. Highly recommended.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

The Immortal Highlander - Karen Marie Moning

I admit it. I should pay more attention to the genre when I pick a book. But The Immortal Highlander sounded like an adventure with swords and sorcery. However, even a category like romance is misleading when it comes to this book. Why not just call it a book about sex? The heroes and heroines think about sex, talk about sex, and of course have sex more than they do anything else.

The story line, aside from the sex, is interesting and there's suspense, magic, swords, and Faeries. This story is definitely rated X, but I enjoyed it. There are many books in Moning's Highlander series, but I'm not likely to pursue them. When I was a teenager I'd have dogeared the pages I now skip over. I'm not a teenager any more. Her brand of "romance" is not what I prefer. Recommended.