ingres77 – Page 23 – Cannonball Read 17

Uh, weren’t we having a mutiny? (redux)

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi

July 5, 2019 by ingres77 2 Comments

The Collapsing Empire (4 stars) CBR11 Bingo: And so it begins. I read (and reviewed) this back in 2017, but had forgotten it when I tried reading its follow-up back at the end of last year. So, I put off reading book 2 until I could go back and re-read this. And here we are. These books take place far in humanity’s future. We’ve left earth and colonized parts of the galaxy using something called “the flow”, which is a system of highways or rivers […]

I enjoyed this book, despite the fact that I forgot all about it

War of the Spheres by BV Larson and James Millington

July 4, 2019 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

I first came across BV Larson a year ago, and wrote a 4,500 word review of his Undying Mercenaries series. While I enjoyed the books, I had some fairly serious problems with his characters and thought there may some underlying issues with Larson’s worldview. But I wasn’t sure how much of what I was picking up on was an actual indication of Larson’s thoughts, and how much was just fairly shallow writing about shallow people. Having read something else of his, I think I may […]

If Jack Reacher were written by Tom Clancy, but with monsters

Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry

Zero Tolerance by Jonathan Maberry

Material Witness by Jonathan Maberry

Deep, Deep Dark by Jonathan Maberry

June 11, 2019 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

Joe Ledger works for the Baltimore PD, and was an Army Ranger back before 9/11 blew up the world. He’s a pretty normal dude in his mid-30s, except he’s an absolute badass who’s really good at beating people up. We’ve seen this story told a thousand times. If this was a movie in the ’80s, it’d probably star Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. If it was the ’90s, it’d probably star Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis. If it was made today….I don’t know. Maybe the […]

When the horror of dystopia seems like a moderate improvement on reality

The Store by Bentley Little

May 19, 2019 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

Book synopsis: In a small Arizona town, a man counts his blessings: a loving wife, two teenage daughters, and a job that allows him to work at home. Then “The Store” announces plans to open a local outlet, which will surely finish off the small downtown shops. His concerns grow when “The Store’s” builders ignore all the town’s zoning laws during its construction. Then dead animals are found on “The Store’s” grounds. Inside, customers are hounded by obnoxious sales people, and strange products appear on […]

The truth is, men make terrible pigs

Circe by Madeline Miller

May 19, 2019 by ingres77 Leave a Comment

I knew almost nothing of Circe before going into this. I remembered that she was in The Odyssey, and that Odysseus lived on her island for a time, but nothing more than that. She is the daughter of Helios, and is an unremarkable and naive nymph. Shunned by her siblings and dismissed by her parents, she finally discovers that her power lies in witchcraft. Because of this, and for how she uses it, she is exiled for eternity by her father to an uninhabited island. […]

I came for the fighting, but stayed for the sweet, sweet love

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

April 8, 2019 by ingres77 3 Comments

I’m closer to 40 than I am 30, and I’ve never read The Iliad. I did, however, read The Odyssey in middle school, and quite liked it – though poetry has never been my thing, and the archaic formatting of the translation I read bothered me. Still. It was a good story, and I was in the florescence of my love for heroic fantasy, so The Odyssey kind of felt like the genesis for the types of stories I was reading at the time. So […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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