While this is part of one of my favorite ongoing series, this installation was a little meh; 3.75 stars. The problem I think was that this story was focused on too many potential threats, as opposed to one big one. There’s internal problems in the Library (politics and doctrinal differences mostly, but also some likely hidden agenda from an unknown in the upper echelons), Alberich is back (Librarian gone bad final boss type), Irene is still on probation and getting unpleasant job assignments, something’s wrong […]
Eyeballs, cats, and tiger spirit monks, and a whole lot of kung-fu
This book reminded me in some ways of The Ghost Bride, but it’s also the total opposite in other ways. Both novels have a feisty heroine, but The Girl with Ghost Eye’s Li-lin is a lot more self-sufficient and less maiden in distress than Li Lan. Li-lin is a martial artist who has the ability to see supernatural creatures, and she’s also the daughter of the head of a priesthood specializing in protecting people from evil spirits in late 19th century San Francisco’s Chinatown. She […]
Nerd alert: this is a review of a book about sentence diagramming
I saw Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog recommended on a friend’s Goodreads list, put it on my To Read list and my Amazon wish-list, then forgot about it until my brother gave it to me for my birthday a few months ago. I’d started it a while back, but then had to put it down when work and life got a little busy. Now that things are a little quieter, and I saw a recent article about the Oxford comma being declared legally necessary (a decision […]
If Mr Incredible were a bad guy in a past life
Imagine a world that combines elements of The Incredibles, Discworld, and Marvel. That’s what you get in Forging Hephaestus (Villains’ Code Book 1). I really enjoyed this combination, and I really, really hope the series continues for at least a few more volumes. The basic premise is that the world contains meta-humans, those with special powers, and such people often become either heroes and join the Alliance of Heroic Champions, or a villain who joins the guild of villains. The organization and bureaucratization of crime […]
How would blemmyae react to cussing?
I’m not sure what to make of the Trials of Apollo series. I’ve really liked Rick Riordan’s other series Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase, and while there are plenty of shared features and characters, this series just doesn’t have quite the same fun factor. The Blemmyae are probably the best villain assistants since the Minions, made especially entertaining by the fact that Riordan presents them as stereotypes of Midwestern nice/Stepford wives. Since I’m originally from Minnesota, I find it funnier than maybe I should the […]
Lacking Evil-Geniusness
I should have seen it coming. The first of this series was a best-seller, and I didn’t think it was that great. The second installment was also a NYT best-seller, and I figured maybe this one will be better. I was wrong. It was not better; if anything, Moriarty was worse than The House of Silk. I can at least understand why people were interested in the book. They premise involves what happens immediately after Reichenbach Falls to both Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, a time-frame […]
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