Posts filed: reviews

Ever Felt Like a Convention Wanted to Kill You? -- Dave Reviews I Am Providence

Posted on 2017-08-31 at 04:57 by Dave

I Am Providence
By Nick Mamatas, Narrated by Joel Richards and Rachel Jacobs
Length: 8 hours, 58 minutes
[Audible]

The first convention I ever went to was San Diego Comic Con, right around 1998. It was a huge deal, but you could still buy tickets easily enough and you didn't have to camp out overnight waiting to get into the panels. But it was enormous, and it was crowded. The second convention I went to was a small SF/F/H literary con also in San Diego, where the panels averaged about 10-20 guests. I

Posted in reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged fandom, h.p. lovecraft, joel richards, nick mamatas, rachel jacobs

"Twisted and Frighteningly Relatable" -- James reviews The Circle

Posted on 2017-04-06 at 13:25 by Sam

The Circle
By Dave Eggers
Narrated by Dion Graham for Random House
 [Audible | Downpour]

-- Review by James Alexander --

Like a novel-length episode of Black Mirror, Dave Eggers’ The Circle paints a twisted and frighteningly relatable picture of technology and human nature gone wrong. The story beings with Mae Holland, a recent college graduate, bored, broke and overqualified at her nightmare of a job in public utility. She’s eventually recruited into the Circle, an exciting, all-encompassing tech

Posted in reviews | Tagged dave eggers, dion graham, james alexander, the circle

"The past can’t be changed, but it can be learned from." -- James reviews Snapshot

Posted on 2017-02-28 at 19:21 by Sam

Snapshot
By Brandon Sanderson
Narrated by William DeMeritt for Audible

— Review by James Alexander —

Snapshot is one of those books you know will probably be a movie soon right away. I mean that in the best possible sense, the premise is just too good. In a city of millions, detectives Davis and Chaz are the only real people. Cops in this futuristic world have taken to using “Snapshots”, large scale, holodeck-like re-creations of the past to solve crimes.

Let’s say a murder is committed Monday with no

Posted in reviews | Tagged brandon sanderson, james alexander, snapshot, william demeritt

"You Want Me to Blow Up the Afterlife?" Dave Reviews City of Blades

Posted on 2016-11-03 at 05:34 by Dave

City of Blades (The Divine Cities, Book 2)
by Robert Jackson Bennett, Narrated by Alma Cuervo
Length: 20 hours, 27 minutes

The gods have been destroyed. This isn't myth or ancient history -- it happened less than a lifetime ago. They were oppressive and made slaves of much of humanity until the eventual uprising came. But if the gods are all dead, then what happened to the afterlives they created, and those left in them?

But really, I'm only scratching the surface. Straight up: City of Blades is the best

Posted in reviews | Tagged alma cuervo, divine cities, reviews, robert jackson bennett

Review: The Dispatcher by John Scalzi, read by Zachary Quinto for Audible

Posted on 2016-10-11 at 14:44 by Sam

The Dispatcher by John Scalzi Read by Zachary Quinto for Audible

Free until November 2, The Dispatcher is an audio-exclusive short novella from John Scalzi, read by Zachary Quinto -- best known for his role as the Nimoy-approved Spock in the recent Star Trek reboot and the menacing, power-stealing serial killer, Sylar, in Heroes -- who "brings his well-earned sci-fi credentials and simmering intensity to this audio-exclusive novella from master storyteller John Scalzi."

The book starts just a bit heavy

Posted in reviews | Tagged audible, john scalzi, zachary quinto

Why Are People Sending You Legs? -- Dave Reviews Career of Evil

Posted on 2016-08-31 at 04:34 by Dave

Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike, Book 3) by Robert Galbraith, read by Robert Glenister Length: 17 hours, 58 minutes Buy: [ Downpour | Audible | IndieBound ]

"How many people do you know would send you a severed leg in the mail?" an investigating police inspector asks Cormoran Strike just after the detective reported he'd received an appendage in the post.

"Four," replies Strike, without missing a beat.

Welcome to Career of Evil, the third Cormoran Strike book by Robert Galbraith, a.k.a. J.K. Rowling's

Posted in reviews | Tagged cormoran strike, j.k. rowling, robert galbraith, robert glenister

A toxic need for closure -- James reviews The Girl on the Train

Posted on 2016-06-11 at 19:33 by Sam

The Girl on the Train By Paula Hawkins Read by Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey, and India Fisher [ Downpour | Audible ]

-- Review by James Alexander --

The hype surrounding The Girl on the Train, especially given the upcoming film adaptation, may want you to believe it is the next Gone Girl. It’s not. It’s nowhere near as sensational or propulsive as that. This is a drama set at a much lower key, which makes up for its melodrama by taking things in a darker, more personal direction.

Its unusually

Posted in reviews | Tagged james alexander, the girl on the train

Does Brandon Sanderson have superpowers or is he just chained to his laptop? James reviews Calamity (The Reckoners, Book 3)

Posted on 2016-03-14 at 18:09 by Sam

Calamity: The Reckoners, Book 3 By Brandon Sanderson Narrated by MacLeod Andrews for Audible

-- Review by James Alexander --

Does Brandon Sanderson have superpowers or is he just chained to his laptop? It feels like the Reckoners trilogy has only just begun and the conclusion is already here. And it isn’t the only thing he’s been doing right now.

The setting combines today’s familiar trends of post apocalyptic and superhero fiction into something wholly unique: a world where super powered beings dubbed

Posted in reviews | Tagged brandon sanderson, james alexander, macleod andrews, the reckoners

For Those of Us Who Have Spent Way Too Much Time at IKEA! Dave Reviews Horrorstör

Posted on 2016-03-07 at 04:59 by Dave

Horrorstör By Grady Hendrix, narrated Tai Sammons and Bronson Pinchot Length: 6 hours, 16 minutes

Does anyone else out there have an aversion to IKEA? Like, someone suggests we pop over there real quick, maybe bribes you with coffee and cinnamon rolls, and then BAM. The whole Saturday has mysteriously disappeared? Wait, what just happened to me this past weekend?

Horrorstör is one part Office Space, and one part haunted house story. Thankfully, the haunted house in Horrorstör is essentially an IKEA.

I

Posted in reviews | Tagged bronson pinchot, grady hendrix, horror, humor, tai sammons

Dark Terrain, Dying for More -- James reviews Career of Evil

Posted on 2016-01-21 at 19:28 by Sam

Career of Evil (Cormoran Strike, Book 3) [Downpour | Audible] by J. K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith, read by Robert Glenister

Review by James Alexander:

Freed by her pseudonym, J. K. Rowling immediately plunges Career of Evil into some awfully dark terrain. “Robert Galbraith’s” Cormoran Strike detective series has never shied away from grim material before. Even as the reader is shown a supermodel's defenestration and an erotic fiction writer gruesomely murdered in the fashion of one of his

Posted in reviews | Tagged cormoran strike, j.k. rowling, james alexander, robert galbraith, robert glenister