Ship of the Line

I don't read them often anymore (sadly there was a time when I read everyone that came out) but I've not read a bad Star Trek novel.  If you like the shows it's a given you'll enjoy the books.  This one features Captain Frasier Crane, and First Officer Niles, at least that how it came across.  On the whole a fun and totally forgettable book.

Dragon Season

Pretty standard fare.  Some neat ideas, and a fun premise.  No real tension, or love for the characters.  But, hey for a quarter this was pretty good.

Addendum, summer 2004

Gee, could I have said less about this book?

Garrett Investigates (©2004)

Deadly Quicksilver Lies (©1994)

Seven books in, and Mister Cook delivered a bit of a clunker this time around. There have been dark elements to his stories before, so I'm not adverse to having things bleak - but this time there's an under current of nastiness. I suppose it had to do with the more homophobic elements - I'm not saying they aren't in character for Garret. After all, he is a hard boiled gum shoe, who likes his woman hot, and his enemies dead.

Deadly Quicksilver Lies features most of the characters I've come to expect. Morley, Saucerhead, Winger, and the addition of a talking (okay, cussing) parrot named Mister Big - or more commonly, "the GD Parrot". But the action and situations this time out didn't have any real intensity or hook to make me give a crap. The love interest seemed to be going along nicely, and then it abruptly fizzes out. It felt true to life as far as those things go, but in a book you expect ribbons and bows.

The thing that I do like about this story, is that it adds another layer to the Garrett onion, and over time the world that Mister Cook has created is wonderfully textured, and full of odd twists and turns - and when a story doesn't measure up to the level you expect it to, it's a little disappointing. However, there are two more to go in the omnibus, so I'm going back in to see what the next adventure holds.

Reviewed July 22, 2008

Petty Pewter Gods (©1995)

This is the eighth book in a row I’ve digested by Mister Cook, and it was pretty good fun. This time around there’s a lot of hubbub going on with the gods. Apparently with all of the new people coming into the city bringing their religious baggage the street of gods has had to do some housekeeping to make room for the new arrivals. As you can expect, this means the gods are jockeying for their positions, and the fringe elements are at risk of losing their position. Which is exactly what happens – there’s space for one pantheon, and there are two factions vying for the spot.

Let the madness begin ...

I know there are plenty of winks and nods to Raymond Chandler (because other reviews say there are) and his infamous detective Philip Marlowe, but I’ve not read any Marlow (uh oh, I've spelt it two different ways. How is it spelled?), so for me Cook's stories stand on their own.

Oddly enough, Garrett finds himself in the middle of the activity – and before you can say “pass me a beer” he’s up to his raised eyebrow in gods, goddesses, and red heads.

The cool thing about reading the stories in an omnibus format is that although the stories stand on their own, I can’t help but treat each adventure as a giant chapter. In that respect I enjoy the stories for what they are and I’m probably a cheap date in that I’m easily amused. While after eight books, there are elements that are somewhat predictable; this is offset by the familiarity with the characters. You expect them react a certain way, and sometimes like real people they don’t do things they should.

While Petty Pewter Gods was a lot of fun, and it was good fun while it lasted – it was one of those stories that took its time to develop and then rushed to a conclusion (of sorts). I’m not complaining – I’ve already started Faded Steel Heat. Why not? It started the page after this one ended.

Reviewed September 29, 2008

PS It's spelled M A R L O W E, in case you were wondering.

Faded Steel Heat (©1999)

Another Garrett adventure, and another fun read. While not the best of the books so far, I'd place it in the middle of the pack. The story so far: The war is over and everyone is coming home, and the tensions you’d expect from a sudden influx of people, coupled with racial overtones equals a volatile situation. In the midst of this Garrett gets embroiled in the middle of what starts out as an extortion investigation.

Before long bodies are dropping, and groups are forming to clean up the city – well clean as in take out anything non human. There’s mystery, intrigue and beer. Oh, and a bunch of shape shifters who are up to no good.

Garrett has his parrot, and his usual companion, The Dead Man abruptly disappears for much of the story - then conveniently appears again in the most unlikely of places: beer anyone? (Ha, that's a spoiler of sorts) The build up of Glory Mooncalled’s character comes to a head – and not to add a real spoiler I’ll just say that it was a major WTF moment in the series.

Still, I’ve been enjoying the series as a whole, and that’s why I read: for the enjoyment.

Thank you Mister Cook

Reviewed October 2, 2008

The Goldenwing Cycle
Glory (©1993)
Glory's War (©1995)
Glory's People (©1996)

I bought this book based soley on the cover art by Darrell Sweet. Glory is a Goldenwing, a huge ship that sails the universe. Humanity has reached out to the stars, and Glory visits a planet that was populated by South Africans intent on maintaining apartheid. Of course the society never flourished. Civil war has decimated whatever advances were once enjoyed.

Glory arrives to deliver a shipment ordered many years ago. The story that follows is entertaining, and although Coppel rides the edge of being preachy he never really goes overboard. The characters are pretty solid, and the pacing is pretty standard stuff. This is space opera, and Coppel weaves an engaging tale.

I plunged into the second book right after finishing Glory. This one was almost as good as the last one. To my pleasure as Coppel continues the series, he writes them so that the books could stand alone as well. This time Glory finds itself in the middle of a war between colonies.

The two factions use Glory as the middle ground for peace talks. Of course both sides want to take Glory for their own purposes. The story is engaging, and Coppel could easily be writing a thriller, the space setting is added to make it feel like SF. There is some weirdness in the space entity "Terror" thing which is just stupid, and is a distraction from the story (although I get the feeling that Coppel is building to something that just won't go away).

On the whole though this was a very good book, with an awkward ending with no resolution. Oh well, it was still very good. Although I'm not sure how long it'll stay with me.

Glory's People is the third and apparently last of the Goldenwing books. This time we get to go to a world populated by people who have modeled their society after 16th century feudal Japan. Glory arrives and early on Duncan is targeted for assassination by a ninja. The book picks up on the "Terror" aspect introduced last time around, and really goes to town. The cats get to play a major role in this story.

The crew of Glory are bent on tracking and destroying the "Terror" and the cats want to help. As a story it was fun to read, and nicely paced, but this was a book I had to work to enjoy. The cats got to be a pain, and the hokey way in which the "Terror" was handled just did not work for me. At all. The climax with the battle at the end of the universe was stupid. Still, in all a good book (I'll bet that caught you off guard), and overall the concept of the Goldenwing is wonderful. I could have stopped after the first book, but like a lot of readers I tend to read all of the books in a series. Case in point And Eternity by Piers Anthony.

Reviewed February 17, 2001 and February 25, 2001

Sylvia (©2007)

Bryce Courtenay is a really good storyteller. Among my favourite books are The Power of One and Tandia. Sylvia is a story of the ill fated Children's Crusade. Sylvia has the voice of an angel, more brains than smarts, and a birth mark shaped like a fish.

This is one of those tales that needs to be read for what it is: a story. There's a lot going on, and rather than poke and look for flaws, I read the story expecting to be entertained, and on that front I enjoyed myself. I did enjoy the aspects relating to faith and wanting to believe, and if you look hard enough, you'll find something. With the Children's Crusade as a back drop it served as an interesting look - although it was heavy handed - at the negative aspects of religious hysteria. There are fun moments as well involving secondary characters who are supposed to be unclean and ungodly who end up showing more compassion and grace than the so called religious leaders.

While Sylvia is not the best book I've read, it was a good solid read, and on that front I liked it just fine, thank you very much.

Reviewed March 18, 2008

Airframe (©1996)

It's been a couple of years since I've read anything by Mister Crichton. This one was sitting on my shelf just waiting its turn, which finally came the other day. This was one of my flu specials. Stuck in bed with no where to go, I decided it was time to be a man and take the perilous journey into the unknown.

The story reads like a house on fire, or if I'm to keep to the theme, like a plane in a dive. The story in a nutshell: Norton makes planes. They want to sell a bunch of planes. One of their planes has a little oops where people die and luggage gets manhandled, putting the sale at risk. To make things worse there's an unsavory television expose being put together that could really make things messy for Norton.

Before you can say little black box, there's a whole lot of stuff going on. There's mystery, intrigue, and more mystery. Not a perfect book, and there's a lot of fuss about nothing at times, but boy howdy I couldn't put it down.

There were some fun details particularly regarding the debunking of the black box myths. In fact the whole behind the scenes aspects to the design and safety of the aircraft was very cool.

If you hate flying, this might not help, but it's a pretty cool story, and one that provided a few hours of relief.

Reviewed March 3, 2006

Little, BIG

Ever read one of those books that you finish and say to yourself, "What the heck was that all about" and then think about the thing for days and days afterward?  I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but this book looks like a kids fairy tale, however what lurks within the dust jacket is a very grown-up, well written, and ambitious novel.  There is a lot going on here, and if you don't keep up you get as lost as most of the characters seem to be in this book.  A satisfying read, and one that will stay with me for a long time.

Beasts (©1976)

This was an interesting book. Not the easiest thing I've read in a while, and the premise of gene manipulation to produce hybrids of lions and foxes that are sentient took some suspending of disbelief, but the overall story is actually quite engaging.

Truth be told I'm just not smart enough to really understand or "get" a lot of this new fangled stuff.

I read to be entertained, and I don't mind meaty subjects - I just like a straight forward tale.

Crowley weaves a hell of a tale, and mixes it up with an alternate future that despite being pretty bloody farfetched, is pretty engaging. The pacing felt a little sluggish at times, and felt longer than the couple of hundred pages it ran.

Still, not to dismiss the book, it was good - and if you're looking for a different kind of story, you could do worse.

Reviewed September 12, 2004