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Tag: books
Want signed copies of The Expanse books?
Want signed copies of The Expanse books? Well minus the last (book 9) which has yet to be released, and the in between novellas.
Continue reading Want signed copies of The Expanse books?
Review: Hammerfall
Hammerfall
by C. J. Cherryh
The Gene Wars series #1
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My Rating: 
2 out of 5 stars
First Published: May 14th, 2004
Read from: Mar 28 – Aug 20, 2020
Waiting, and waiting, and waiting… for the Hammer to Fall.
I love most of Cherryh’s work, but not this one which took me forever to read, likely due in large part because the book was such a drag. The writing style and prose is often quite good as typical with Cherryh, but in the context of what occurs it is all so drawn out, repetitive, and monotonous that it was hard to enjoy and make it to the few interesting or truly emotional bits.
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Writing of Earth & Man 2020_174
“Writing of Earth & Man” taken 6/22/2020
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Review: The Wind Through the Keyhole
The Wind Through the Keyhole
by Stephen King
The Dark Tower series #4.5
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My Rating: 
5 out of 5 stars
First Published: April 24th, 2012
Read from: July 1 – 7, 2019
A Storyteller’s Tale
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve read any Stephen King. Not sure why, as I’ve always loved his work. I read the Dark Tower series several years ago, and enjoyed it for the most part. With the books of the series ranging from 3 to 4 stars of 5 and at least one a definite 5. Anyway, for whatever reason I have managed to pick up other authors’ works instead of King over the last few years, and somehow never managed to read this story added after The Dark Tower series was concluded. I’m glad I finally picked it up and read it, as it is one of the best tales by an author who is undeniably one of the best story-tellers of our day.
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Tak Strategy Game in Lego!
[Update 4/21/16: Added download link to LDraw MPD file of the Lego 5×5 hybrid Tak board and pieces model.]
One of the books I’m currently reading is The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, which is the second book in the fantasy series The Kingkiller Chronicles. While reading this excellent book, there are a number of scenes that describe the main character learning a strategy game called Tak that uses a board and stones. It’s sounds like a mixture of the abstract strategy games of Go and Mancala with some special pieces such as the strategy game of Chess, and ways of placing the stones that gives them different powers as the game of Checkers.
Well, today Rothfuss announced that the game designer James Ernest had designed an actual game using the brief descriptions given in the book. What’s more they were running a Kickstarter campaign to polish and produce special versions of the game for its supporters. There is a video showing the game being played, and it really is a sweet piece of work. The basics of the game are a snap to learn, yet it has a ton of strategy, looks fun, and is kind of beautiful in the way it starts, builds and can shift from one area of the board to another. You can play it yourself online at PlayTak.com. Continue reading Tak Strategy Game in Lego!
‘The Martian’ Meets ‘Ready Player One’
A friend of mine pointed out a little bit of sci-fi geek trivia I hadn’t heard yet that features a neat little short story…
Andy Weir, author of the very popular novel “The Martian” wrote a short bit of fan fiction in the “universe” of Ernest Cline’s very popular “Ready Player One”. Apparently Cline heard of it, liked the story and it’s implications, and got approval to include it in a recent edition of Ready Player One, effectively adding the story to the RP1 “canon”. Continue reading ‘The Martian’ Meets ‘Ready Player One’
Review: Nemesis Games
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey
The Expanse series #5
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My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
First Published: June 2nd, 2015
Read from: Mar. 1 – 10, 2016
The Best Novel In the Series!
For me that headline is saying a lot. I have really liked this series as a whole. But I have never given any of the novels (and only one of the novellas) my, “I loved it,” rating of 5 out of 5 stars…. Until now. Read the Full Review
Review: Summer Knight
Summer Knight by Jim Butcher
Dresden Files series #4
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My Rating: 
3.5 out of 5 stars
First Published: September 3, 2002
Read from: Feb. 18 – Mar. 1, 2016
I really liked this book when it started, but began to lose interest and see the “man behind the curtain” too much for my liking near the end. Still a very enjoyable read… Read the Full Review
Review: Zoe’s Tale
Zoë’s Tale by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War series #4
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My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
First Published: Jan. 30, 2016
Read from: Feb. 18, 2016
Ok… to Good… to Really, Really Good!
When I started this I didn’t realize it was basically a retelling of the previous book in the The Old Man’s War series, “The Last Colony”, only from the perspective of Zoë, the teenage daughter of the protagonist of most of the books. So I started off disappointed with this book. I checked some other people’s reviews just to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind and that, yes, I had indeed read this story before. There I discovered that besides the different perspective on the previous story there were some new things, and that much of it was… well, patching some of the parts of “The Last Colony” that had issues. So I took my time reading this, as I was not really “in” to it. I expected my disappointment would continue, and I considered giving the book the boot early on.
I’m REALLY glad I stuck with it. Read the Full Review