Reviews: The Alexandria Link and Old Man’s War

 

The second of the Cotton Malone series, The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry is a thriller with twists and turns. Cotton’s bookshop is attacked with rockets just before he learns his son has been kidnapped. He’s maneuvered into a race to find  the hidden scrolls and papyrii from the Alexandria Library have been hidden.  Fast paced and entertaining.

 

The first book of the Old Man’s War series, John Scalzi posits the idea of a world where 75 year olds enlist and fight the wars of humanity. Humans are colonizing the galaxy but there are other races doing it too. So, when humans on Earth become old they are offered the opportunity to join the Colonial Defence Forces and fight to protect the colonies. That must mean that the CDF has to rejuvenate them somehow right?  So off they go to war.

A romp across the galaxy with lots of shoot ‘em up action and some interesting forays into alien thinking, and a re-evaluation of just what it means to be human.

Review: Box Nine–Jack O’Connell

A very noir mystery, with scifi aspects. A new designer drug is on the streets which is set to create havoc. The narcotics squad hopes to find the distributors and cut off the supply before too much damage is done.

The tale is told mostly in stream-of-consciousness through the eyes of several of the cops and several civilians involved.  Most fail to appreciate the horrors of this drug, as all are jaded and focused on their own problems and issues and believe they’ve seen it all.

Gritty, all too realistic in nature.

E-Reading and E-Readers

 

I vastly prefer virtual books to dead tree editions. Primarily because I have arthritis in my hands and forcing open a paperback makes my hands ache. Hardbacks are even more difficult for me to read in bed, although they work okay when I’m sitting in a chair.

I’ve had a number of e-readers, being a gadget girl from the get-go. And now I’ve taken the step of getting a tablet to use as an e-reader.  I chose the Nexus 7 which is new, bright and shiny.

Thoughts on using it as an e-reader-

It is noticeably heavier than my Nook with Glo-light. But not so heavy that I can’t read it in bed. It is very very bright but tuning down the brightness lets me read for a goodly long time with no sign of eye-strain or tiredness vs reading on the Nook with e-ink.

The Nook, and the Sony e-reader I also have, obviously go far longer without a charge. The Nexus needs a charge every night/day.

I had some issues with trying to find a good and easy way to add books to the tablet (this was far easier with the e-readers).  Calibre would not see the tablet at all, but I found a solution, by buying a Calibre app in the Google Play store that lets Calibre see the Nexus wirelessly, which is great. I can now sync with either my desktop or my laptop and all I have to do is have it nearby either one.

As for actual reading apps, at the moment I’m using the Sony app from the Google Play store which works great, but I also have others on there, like the kindle app etc. But since calibre can, with some help, convert all my books to epub, I can read with whatever reader I prefer.

Bottom line: with prices dropping for tablets, a tablet as an e-reader works fine in my opinion, so long as it is smaller and lighter than the 10 inch tablets that are out there.

Review: A Shadow of Summer- Daniel Abraham

  

Set in a vaguely Eastern sort of world, where thoughts can be made flesh by ‘poets’ who then enslave the resultant creature. The creature, an andat, is then held captive and forced to act in ways to increase the power of the city-state the poet serves.

One young man in training to be a poet, leaves the school because he finds the brutality of the training unacceptable. He eventually meets up with a young man he’d himself trained and who is now a poet, and finds himself drawn into a mystery involving murder and disappearances and treachery.  And even discovers the andat is somehow involved.

Complex plotting, very well drawn characters, and an intriguingly different world.  I enjoyed this greatly and plan to continue the trilogy.

Review: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice–Laurie R. King

Enjoyable pastiche wherein a retired Sherlock Holmes meets up with a precious teen, who then becomes his apprentice. Russell and Holmes strike up a surprising relationship which grows over time.

The characters are well done, the world certainly believable. I found the mysteries a bit light and easily seen through, but everyone tells me the series gets better so I shall plod onwards and read more  Russell and Holmes adventures.

August Reading Summary and September planned reads

August summary:

The Eight - Katherine Neville – thriller
The Mysterious Lady Law - Robert Appleton – steampunk
The Killing Moon - N.K. Jemisin  (a Library Thing  ER read) – fantasy
Mission to Paris -  Alan Furst (a Library Thing  ER read) – espionage
Medicus - Ruth Downie – historical mystery
The Iron Wyrm Affair - Lilith Saintcrow (a Library Thing ER read) – steampunk

I had a great August reading experience. I enjoyed everything, but particularly [The Eight] and [The Iron Wrym Affair]

 

My planned reading for September:

A Shadow of Summer - Daniel Abraham (TIOLI 17, and Reading thru Time Seasons) – fantasy
Box Nine - Jack O'Connell - (TIOLI 8, and 12 in 12 monthly challenge) – sci fi mystery noir
The Last Kingdom - Bernard Cornwell (TIOLI 6 and Quarterly Challenge Medieval Times} – historical novel
The Beekeeper's Apprentice - Laurie R King (TIOLI 4) – Sherlock Holmes pastiche
Tooth and Claw - Jo Walton (TIOLI 14) – steampunk

Each also works for my LT 75rs group reads for  September Series and Sequels.