Red Equinox by Douglas Wynne - A Goodreads Review

Red Equinox by Douglas Wynne

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 stars - on my scale, it was enjoyable, but I am likely to give the book away as I won't read it again.

A rather derivative take on the Lovecraftian mythos.



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Night Shifted by Kate Paulk - A Goodreads Review

Night Shifted by Kate Paulk

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


2 star review - on my scale, 2 stars is a book that probably isn't worth the time.

Vampire fan fic. 

I wouldn't have finished it if it was any longer.



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The Forgotten by Bishop O'Connell - A Goodreads Review

The Forgotten by Bishop O'Connell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 stars - barely - on my scale, a 3 star book was an OK read, but I'm likely to give it away as I won't want to read it again.

This book violated Dann's Dictum for authors.  Simply put, don't write a series unless you can make every installment top notch work.  While the first book was great, I had to work to get through this one.

There was far too much magic that was nebulous.  The protagonist almost wanders along in a bit of a fog.  The use of higher mathematical symbology for the protagonist's means of expressing magic was a little clunky.

Also, my digital copy of the book contained at least a dozen easy to fix grammar and spelling problems.  The publisher just didn't put enough effort into making this the best book possible.



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The Stolen by Bishop O'Connell - A Goodreads Review

The Stolen by Bishop O'Connell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


4 stars - on my scale, if I loan out a 4 star book, then I want it back so I can read it again.  It probably was closer to 4.5 stars.

This was a great tale that created a new vision of faeries, magic, the Irish, and how they all work in our modern world.  The protagonist was particularly inspiring in his dogged pursuit of the kidnapped child.

I devoured this book.



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The Trench by Steve Alten - A Goodreads Review

The Trench by Steve Alten

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 stars - on my scale, 3 stars was a good read, but not good enough that I would want to read it again.

This book violated Dann's Dictum for authors.  Essentially, don't bother writing a series if you can't have all of the books measure up.

While book one, Meg, was a fantastic read, The Trench simply was not that good.  It was an enjoyable read.  It was time well spent.  It simply was no where as ground breaking or engaging as the first book was.

The ending sort of lost me. The antagonist had apparently gone to a lot of trouble to "train" a megalodon shark to respond to certain noises with the intent of luring the protagonist into the shark's kill zone. It just wasn't a believable ending.

Add to that the fact that very little new information about megalodons was presented in the book and it was only mildly engaging.



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Meg by Steve Alten - A Goodreads Review

Meg by Steve Alten

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


5 star review - on my scale, 5 stars is a book that I would be willing to buy for others.

And in this case I will have to buy it for myself as one of the dogs ate my copy.

Just a great read.  Excellent presentation of how dramatically different a dinosaur is from the animals we have among us today.  Very interesting characters and a well developed plot.

You just cannot ask for a better read than this book.



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George Washington's Secret Six by Brian Kilmeade, Don Yaeger - A Goodreads Review

George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution by Brian Kilmeade

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Gave this a 4 star review, but it was closer to 3.5.

On my scale, 4 stars is a book that I expect to get back if I loan it out as I want to read it again and 3 stars is a book that I will recommend, give away, but don't want it back.

This was an engaging historical read.  It was a little short on details of the operational minutiae of the spy ring.  It did cover in broad strokes how the ring developed and operated.  Quite an interesting read.



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Slow Apocalypse by John Varley - A Goodreads Review

Slow Apocalypse by John Varley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2 Star review - On my scale 2 stars probably isn't worth picking it up.

I read the first 1/4 of the book and did not finish it.

This was an interesting concept, but it failed in that the primary impact of the "apocalypse" simply didn't much impact on the primary characters.

Aside from losing electricity and having to camp out, they were not significantly impacted by the series of disasters. Given their proximity to one of the major impact zones, this wasn't a very realistic representation of the unfolding disasters.

I just couldn't get into it.

The book was well written and well edited. It just didn't grab my interest.

A better take on this general idea was Lucifer's Hammer.

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