Page 3 of posts filed: reviews

Review: Cibola Burn

Posted on 2014-08-12 at 12:51 by Dave

Some problems require diplomacy. Others require Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante.

Two years after the ring has opened up Earth, Mars, and the Belt to a whole new universe of planets, a dispute arises on a newly discovered habitable planet between illegal settlers and the corporation claiming to rightfully own it. The diplomatic powers that be claim that there’s

Posted in reviews | Tagged cibola burn, erik davies, james sa corey, the expanse

Review: Blood Song

Posted on 2014-07-14 at 06:29 by Dave

Blood Song (Raven’s Shadow: Book 1) [Downpour | Audible] By Anthony Ryan, Narrated by Steven Brand for Penguin Audio Length: 23 hours, 8 minutes

In a time where people are chomping at the bit for George R.R. Martin’s next installment in A Song of Ice and Fire, there’s no shortage of epic fantasy novels to choose from. Anthony Ryan’s debut novel Blood Song has seemingly come out of nowhere, and it’s easy to see why so many of Martin’s readers are devouring it: Blood Song feels a lot like the continuing

Posted in reviews | Tagged anthony ryan, blood song, penguin audio, raven's shadow, steven brand

Review: The Shining Girls

Posted on 2014-07-07 at 04:36 by Dave

The Shining Girls By Lauren Beukes, read by Khristine Hvam, Peter Ganim, Jay Snyder, Joshua Boone, Dani Cervone, and Jenna Hellmuth Length 10 hours, 36 minutes

The Shining Girls is like the Magic Tree House from hell, where we trade a magical portal of benevolent discovery for the sinister house Harper Curtis discovers - house that feeds him with the names of victims he's destined to brutally murder. A Prohibition-era drifter all too ready to except his fate, Harper skips  through 20^th century Chicago

Posted in reviews | Tagged hachette audio, Lauren Beuekes, the shining girls

Review: Rags and Bones

Posted on 2014-07-01 at 05:36 by Dave

Rags & Bones Edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt, Read by Mark Cabus, Bernard Setaro Clark, and Reay Kaplan Length: 10 hours, 58 minutes

Reboots and remakes get a bad rap. I know - that’s a controversial stance to take. For instance, let's look at Star Wars, which has Death Star levels of angst aimed at it as if it were Alderaan, because Disney and Lucasfilm are wiping out the expanded universe. But here’s the thing – those beloved stories don’t cease to exist. A lot of those old stories and characters

Posted in reviews | Tagged melissa marr, neil gaiman, rags and bones, saladin-ahmed, tim pratt

Review: Afterparty

Posted on 2014-05-22 at 05:56 by Dave

Afterparty by Daryl Gregory, performed by Tavia Gilbert Length: 10 hours, 52 minutes

Imagine going to church, taking communion, and as soon as you swallowed the wafer and wine, seeing God right beside you. Or, if not God, an aspect of God – one that you could converse with, argue with, beg, weep with, and scream at. Now, imagine all that if you were an atheist.

Regardless of what you believe or do not believe, as a science fiction fan you have to wonder: short of this miraculous wafer falling from the

Posted in reviews | Tagged daryl gregory, religion and addiction, tavia gilbert

Review: Motherless Brooklyn (FINALLY!)

Posted on 2014-05-01 at 05:07 by Dave

Motherless Brooklyn By Jonathan Lethem, read by Geoffrey Cantor 10 hours, 9 minutes

This is the story of a private detective who has Tourette’s syndrome who is obsessed with trying to figure out who killed his boss. It’s mystery novel, but the mystery really takes the backseat to Lionel, a hilarious heartbreak of a protagonist, and one of the most intriguing characters I’ve come across: Lionel Essrog.

At least, that’s how I remembered it. Motherless Brooklyn is a novel I’d read probably a decade ago. It

Posted in reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged Geoffrey Cantor, jonathan lethem, motherless brooklyn

Review: Joyland

Posted on 2014-03-31 at 06:17 by Dave

Joyland By Stephen King, read by Michael Kelly Length: 7 hours, 33 minutes

Sometimes, I feel like fun is a dirty word. Especially when it comes to entertainment, we'll put words like "cheap" or "Junk" or "Trash" in front of it. We might dismissively call the art - be it books, movie, tv, music, whatever - low brow, or shrug it off as a summer/beach read. I think we do ourselves a disservice by dismissing fun. I think fun serves an important function - one that makes us human. And so I really dig that

Posted in reviews | Tagged coming of age, michael kelly, review, stephen king

Review: Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line

Posted on 2014-03-28 at 04:27 by Dave

Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line By Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham, Read by Kristen Bell Length: 8 hours, 42 minutes

If you’re like me, you’ve already been to the movie theater, or hit up your VOD (or both!) and spent nearly a couple of hours of bliss. And if you’re like me, you finished watching the movie with a big smile on your face, but were left craving a little bit more

Enter the first Veronica Mars novel. When I first heard about this book, I was – to put it mildly - a little anxious

Posted in reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged kristen bell, veronica mars

Review: Star Wars: Honor Among Thieves

Posted on 2014-03-13 at 07:03 by Dave

Star Wars: Honor Among Thieves (Empire and Rebellion, Book 2) by James S.A. Corey, read by Marc Thompson Length: 9 Hours, 52 Minutes

This is the Han Solo book you're looking for.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I read all the Star Wars books. I stopped right before the New Jedi Order (when I was in college), and since then have only read two -- Zahn's Scoundrels and Schreiber's Death Troopers. In general, the Expanded Star Wars Universe became too much of a chore for me - the continuity got

Posted in reviews | Tagged james sa corey, marc thompson, star wars

Review: Star Wars: Scoundrels

Posted on 2014-03-13 at 06:56 by Dave

Star Wars: Scoundrels By Timothy Zahn, Read by Marc Thompson Length: 14 hours, 1 minute

I was born in 1977, the year of Star Wars. Empire Strikes Back was the first movie I saw in theaters, and I’ve been a would-be Jedi ever since. When Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire series came out, I ate up every page of those books, and I read many of the subsequent books. But around the time the New Jedi Order came out, I got burned out on the Expanded Universe books.

Fast forward to Disney buying Lucasfilm, and

Posted in reviews | Tagged marc thompson, star wars, timothy zahn