Avid Reader

Review forthcoming.

This is a review copy from www.paranormalromance.org. You can see my review at their website, here:

http://www.paranormalromance.org/reviews/review.php?id=33698

Cheers!

I fluctuated between giving this audio four or five stars. I decided on five, because, despite the occasional florid language (this is Doctor Who, after all, and we are talking about the Time Lords. A certain amount of hyperbole is allowed. ;) )the story really is amazing.

The results of Charley's continued existence come to a head, here. The brilliant thing is about the Doctor is, he never accepts defeat. It is also the worst thing about the Doctor. He is presented with a seemingly unsolvable problem: In order for Time to be protected, he must sacrifice his companion, a fact which Charley realizes and accepts. The Doctor, in typical fashion, finds a third option, through sheer bull-headedness and ingenuity.

Only, this third option comes with one heck of a consequence.

You can't be in Doctor Who fandom for more than five minutes without being spoiled for the fact that the Doctor is Zagreus. It's clear that Paul McGann was having a ball playing Evil!Eight, even in the few minutes we got of him at the end (could have done without the "I AM Zagreus!!" roar, though. The bits leading up to it were fantastic, though).

I'm curious to see what kind of villain Zagreus will be. My money's on a sly, insidious evil, rather than the bombastic kind favored by the likes of Davros. Only time (heh) will tell, I suppose.

Creepy, and depressing. Both Baker and McCoy did an awesome job, though. I haven't heard Project: Twilight, so I suspect I'm missing bits(I didn't realize this was a sequel until I was into it).

This is the type of story that I don't think Classic Who could have done. I suspect current Who might have trouble, come to that. I can't say I enjoyed Project: Lazarus, but it was certainly a fascinating listen. For that, and for the excellent voice talent, I give it 4 stars.

I gather that this isn't one of the well-liked Big Finish stories. I can't understand why people hate it so. The Roof of the World isn't as gripping as Chimes of Midnight(for example), but it's hardly at the bottom of the list.

I continue to enjoy the 5,Erimem and Peri TEAM TARDIS. I appreciate the way Big Finish builds up their original characters without slighting old favorites. The background we learn about Erimem is intriguing, and the friendship between she and Peri continues to shine.

For these reasons, I give The Roof of the World a solid three stars.

An enjoyable tale, but not especially brilliant. I must admit, my attention wandered sometime around the point the Solarians showed up. I quite liked the aliens in this one--as soon as they stopped reminding me of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings. An unfortunate bit of voice acting, there.

Charley's rant to the Doctor regarding his penchant for martyrdom was particularly well done, and spot on. The Doctor (whichever incarnation) has always had a tendency toward grand gestures and melodrama. It's nice to see Charley poke a hole in Eight's fatalism.

I'm giving this three stars because I couldn't help wanting more. A greater depth to the story and characters. Big Finish at its best can really knock it out of the park. Embrace the Darkness was a good, solid effort, but not a particularly memorable one.

Sometimes, you need a warm, comfortable book. A book the equivalent of a good cup of tea. What I Did For a Duke is like that. It's both a charming and relaxing read.

More like 31/2 stars. An interesting set up, and I can see how the series will eventually evolve. Will I buy the next one? Possibly. The concept is intriguing, even though Romana and Leela aren't particularly favorites. That being said, they were interesting here

Fatal Shadows was a quick, enjoyable read. Lanyon writes with an easy familiarity that pulls the reader in immediately. You can't help rooting for Adrien English, a fellow who keeps trying, even when he's out of his depth(and knows it).


That said, I was certain who the culprit was fairly early on, and I would have liked a little more depth to the actual mystery.

Charming, fun and fluffy. A nice mind-break.

I wanted to like this, I truly did. There was quite a bit of fun dialogue. Orson Welles' reading of The War of the Worlds could have made for an excellent Who story, full of atmosphere and just a dash of horror.

This is not that story. Instead, Gatiss throws everything but the kitchen sink into the plot. It's as if he pulled out an encyclopedia and made a list. America in the 30's:

Gangsters? Check.
Nazis? Check.
Russians? Check.
Bad accents? Check.

Throw in some Martians-who-are-not Martians, a completely stereotypical villain, and mix.

McGann and Fisher do what they can, as always, with what they've got, but it just isn't enough to save the dismal plot.

Once, when I was still at University, I bemoaned the fact that a side character in my novel seemed to be stealing the show from the lead. "Of course," my teacher said. "He (the side character) has more agency."

Moon Thadin, the main character of In Enemy Hands, has this problem. She lacks agency, that push that propels our hero through the story. Without it, it was difficult to care about her.

Thadin is a scientist so obsessed with her work, she spends much of the novel blind to the manipulative politics around her. When she is told--repeatedly--by others that the project she's working on could be turned into a weapon, she shrugs the warnings off.

By the halfway mark, she's willing to concede the point, but spends another few chapters dithering on an escape plan. It's Srin, her research partner(and lover), who sets things in motion for the story's third act. Srin is charismatic and likable; his illness(a form of retrograde amnesia) intriguing. Quite frankly, I would have enjoyed the book quite a bit more if he had been the focus.

Alas, that was not to be. In the third act, Srin becomes too ill to function, and Moon Thadin is forced to grow a spine.

The last few chapters of In Enemy Hands are quite good. Tension is high, and Moon is actually being proactive, rather than reactive. The story is rolling to its conclusion. "Will Srin be all right? Will he and Moon gain their freedom?"

Unfortunately, we never find out. The plot comes to a screeching halt without a real resolution.

Which brings me to the second thing that drove me nuts about In Enemy Hands: The Ending that Wasn't.

Folks, there are enough loose threads in this book to crochet a blanket. Never have I been so flummoxed by an ending. I kept clicking the 'forward' button on my Kindle to see if I had missed something--hints of a sequel, perhaps. Nothing.

I wanted to like this book. It had received several rave reviews around the Internet, and the concept was solid. Srin was truly entertaining, and Augustin managed to revive my interest in the last third of the book.

However, In Enemy Hands left me disappointed overall.

The plot was a bit thin on the ground for this one, and the ending was a bit predictable. Still, an enjoyable listen for an afternoon. Better than The Tao Connection, but not up to the standards of Test of Nerve or Comeback.

I'm very ambivalant about this series. One the one hand, the historical detail is amazing, and I truly enjoy the main characters. On the other, every book in this series seems to center around a sex crime of some sort, and it would be nice for a change of pace in that regard.

Add in a set of recurring villains who are either massively evil or insane, and the plot of The Pillow Book of Lady Wisteria is almost crushed by the sheer amount of moustache twirling.

That being said, I didn't hate the book. Sano and Reiko really make this series, and the political intrigue within the Shogunate is fascinating.

One thing Rowland does very, very well is paint a vivid picture of Japan in the 1600s. Currying favor and political maneuvering are a part of daily survival. I enjoyed watching the author's chess game unfold.

Sano and Reiko are likable characters, while still being very much a product of their environment.

While Reiko can defend herself admirably, she's far from Xena: Warrior Princess. In the glut of Urban Fantasy ass-kickers, it's nice to see a woman who can be awesome, while still staying true to the time and culture she lives in.

Likewise, while Sano is far from being a saint, he's deeply devoted to justice, and it's clear he loves and values his wife as an individual. In a time where women were considered little more than window-dressing, that's quite an accomplishment.

Thus, I'll be continuing this series. Perhaps the next book will contain a plot more worthy of the protagonists.

A friend once asked me my opinion of Silence of the Lambs. "It's a brilliant movie. I will never watch it again," I told him. I feel much the same about Mockingjay, Susan Collins' final installment of the Hunger Games trilogy.

Mockingjay is even more brutal than the previous two books, and that is saying quite a bit. But while The Hunger Games and Catching Fire had a hopeful narrative running through it, there is no such ray of hope here.

After being run through the area--twice--I was looking forward to Katniss gaining her independence and striking back at her oppressors. Instead, I got a tale of the viciousness of war, and how it affects those caught up in it.

And there is where my difficulty lies. I applaud Collins' intentions, and I can't say that her message wasn't delivered well. But there is such a thing as overkill (no pun intended).

Let's go down the roster, shall we?

*Finnick Odair: Having had a mental breakdown since the last book, wanders around in his underwear in a kind of fugue state. Recovers enough sense of self to find and marry hometown sweetheart, only to be sent out on a mission and decapitated horribly.

*Johanna Mason: Survived the arena in Catching Fire Has a mental breakdown during a training exercise and becomes a drug addict.

*Peeta Mellark: Captured in the last book. Survived torture by the Capitol only to be brainwashed into an assassin. Prone to murderous rages. Recovers some stability by the end of Mockingjay, but still has flashbacks.

*Primrose Everdeen: Katniss' sister. Survives both previous installments only to be killed in a massive bomb strike that murders several other children.

Katniss Everdeen: Our heroine. Having survived both arenas, is now an emotional wasteland. Never achieves true agency, as she's manipulated by the rebellion she serves. Has several bouts of PTSD, watches comrades die, kills others in the line of duty. Nearly becomes a drug addict, and starves herself. Sees her little sister, Primrose, die in front of her eyes(this last is especially cruel, given Katniss entered the Games in order to protect Prim). Finally achieves some peace at the end of the book. Possibly.

Toss in a few random deaths, and the torture of minor characters, and Mockingjay becomes a horror show. I hear the books have been optioned for film rights, and I can't imagine how these could be made without an R rating.

An epilogue attempts to show Peeta and Katniss healing, but it's just too little, too late. I wanted to see more of the reconstruction after the war. There's a feeling that the newly elected President might be a good one, given the few conversations she's had with Katniss. And there are some signs of infrastructure revival. Aside from that, very little effort is made to depict the aftermath. I know we're meant to see Katniss' two children as a sign of rebirth for her, but even that didn't hit the right note for me.

For all this, I can't say it's a bad book. Mockingjay is fast paced and gripping, and Collins does get her point across. It's just not the story I wanted to read. There is such a thing as the story being overwhelmed by the message.

I hear you, Ms. Collins: War is hell. I just wish you'd showed humanity's strength and beauty as well.

This novel, much like Grimspace before it, took a while to draw me in. Once Aguirre hit her stride, however, I was engrossed.

A few thoughts:

*I'm missing something in the March/Jax dynamic. On a thematic level, I get it--he's the brooding anti-hero to Jax's brooding anti-heroine. I'm a bit burned out on the trope, though. It would be nice if one of them was happy, for five seconds, at least. I was relieved that the couple was separated for half the book.

So, why then, did I give this book as many stars as I did?

*Teamwork! Everyone in Jax's crew provided their own skill--no one was a waste of space. Aguirre added more characters to Jax's band of merry people, and despite my early reservations, the characters to gelled really well. We'll have to see what March's reappearance does for that group dynamic.

*Velith! The alien bounty hunter with a heart. He was, without a doubt, the most steadying influence on Jax.

*The Grimspace universe is opening up, giving us a sense that bigger things are happening. Unlike the first book, Wanderlust ups the stakes in a big way. And Jax finally grows a bit as a character when she sees that there is much more to be concerned about than just her own internal drama.

I sincerely hope this trend continues, and the books don't get bogged down in the inevitable angst I'm sure March will bring. The universe is a fascinating one, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the larger plotlines pan out. If I'm right, then we're seeing the beginnings of an over-reaching war arc that will culminate in the final Jax book.

I'm looking forward to it.