Review: The Queen's Poisoner

The Queen's Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not generally a fan of YA and younger books, but I truly enjoyed this one. Interesting ideas, characters you can care about and not an angst in sight.

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Review: Mechanical Failure

Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a DNF for me. Found the humor sad and didn't give a hoot about the main character. I struggled through 155 pages to decide I really didn't want to read it any more.

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Review: Royal Flush

Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ah, Lady Georgiana. Fun entry to the series.

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Review: Watchers of Time

Watchers of Time by Charles Todd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rating: I love this series. Very psychological and the plots are complex enough to present a lot of questions.

Ian is recuperating from an injury and so is sent off to the north of England to talk to a Priest about his concerns regarding the recent murder of his friend, another priest. Of course it all turns into quite a mess when Ian begins to delve into the hidden depths of a small village.

Ian, struggling still with his mental state after service in WWI, has a depth and understanding that means he can connect with the odd and downtrodden which lets him uncover a lot of secrets wherever he goes. And, he's tenacious and really doesn't much care if he's possibly ruining his own career when he takes on the powerful.

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Review: Kushiel's Dart

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Did Not Finish.

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Review: Wake of the Bloody Angel

Wake of the Bloody Angel by Alex Bledsoe
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rating: I do love Eddie and his friends. And sometimes his enemies.

Eddie, sword jockey, is hired by his friend Angelina to track down her husband, an infamous pirate. Eddie, per usual, finds himself swept up into ancillary mysteries galore. And he gets to hang out with his fellow sword-jockey Jane.

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Review: Thereby Hangs a Tail

Thereby Hangs a Tail by Spencer Quinn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Okay but a bit repetitive. Chet, alas, is no Oberon,.

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Review: Quantum Night

Quantum Night by Robert J. Sawyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rating: Super science-y and intriguing premise

Okay, I can see why some folks might not like this but I was super happy to see quantum physics and neuroscience married in this outing. A bit preachy it seemed at times, but really, given the premise, it could hardly avoid it.

IT is particularly appropriate given current events...

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Review: A Head Full of Ghosts

A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a DNF for me.

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Review: The Collapsing Empire

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rating: What a fun and exciting read!

The empire might be about to self-destruct but as usual with politics, everybody is trying their best to get a leg up on what will be left.

Snarky, science-y, action-y, with an intriguing idea and world, and especially with characters who are well drawn and folks you can care about. Even the Emperox!

Highly recommended for sci fi fans. I can't wait for book 2.

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Review: Appleby On Ararat

Appleby On Ararat by Michael Innes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rating: Far from my favorite of the series.

Rather silly story of Appleby stranded on a tropical island after the ship he was on was torpedoed. WWII tale, with spies, lies and a nice dog. Casual racism rather marred it for me.

Yes, I know...

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Review: King's Dragon

King's Dragon by Kate Elliott
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Rating: Exciting tale that kept me reading

Although I do have issues.

Firstly, way too much religion. I don't mind the religion as such, but details about the set up of the clergy seemed way too much at times, and got in the way of the storytelling.

Secondly, okay, enough with the recreation of medieval Europe for fantasy novels. Be more creative!

All that said, the characters were interesting, well drawn, and I wanted to know what would happen to them. There were plot twists I didn't see coming, although they were set up well and after the fact you understood how you got there, so there is definitely that.

All in all, I'll most likely read more of this series, since I want to know how it all turns out, how folks fit together, since that wasn't clear yet as of the end of the first book. But there is only one real cliffhanger, but if you don't want to know how that turns out, the rest of the storyline is pretty well tied up, or at least enough that the book felt finished and not just cut off.

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