Monday, December 22, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Confessor
Confessor, by Terry Goodkind
The politics seem to be fading away, but good lord the speechification is ridiculous. Plenty of opportunities to shorten things up. It's like he didn't want the book to be shorter than its predecesors so rahter than add more story, he just repeated the same things over and over and over... and over and over. Zoinks. This has been repeatedly billed as the end of the Chainfire saga. I wonder if that also means the end of The Sword of Truth. I somehow doubt it, though there are no obvious enemies left. I guess we shall see. I'm glad I read this series, if it is over, it certainly went through some lean times, but there was some good in it as well.
The politics seem to be fading away, but good lord the speechification is ridiculous. Plenty of opportunities to shorten things up. It's like he didn't want the book to be shorter than its predecesors so rahter than add more story, he just repeated the same things over and over and over... and over and over. Zoinks. This has been repeatedly billed as the end of the Chainfire saga. I wonder if that also means the end of The Sword of Truth. I somehow doubt it, though there are no obvious enemies left. I guess we shall see. I'm glad I read this series, if it is over, it certainly went through some lean times, but there was some good in it as well.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Lord Foul's Bane
Lord Foul's Bane, by Stephen R. Donaldson
Well, back to fantasy. I really like the world created in this series. I like Donaldson a lot, as well. I feel like his "heroes" are usually flawed loser types who are able to overcome there failings to be heroic, whether they want to or not. This is a fun, if somewhat dark, series.
Well, back to fantasy. I really like the world created in this series. I like Donaldson a lot, as well. I feel like his "heroes" are usually flawed loser types who are able to overcome there failings to be heroic, whether they want to or not. This is a fun, if somewhat dark, series.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Counterplay
Counterplay, by Robert K. Tanenbaum
Finishing the third of these new Karps, I find that I can go ahead and read through them ok. I feel like I am either becoming inured to his rightie politics or his vitriolic post 9-11 mood has changed and he has started going back to where he was before. The story's become less "realistic" and more James Patterson like, though there is a lot of dense junk to wade through. Whereas before that dense stuff was what I liked. Oh well.
Finishing the third of these new Karps, I find that I can go ahead and read through them ok. I feel like I am either becoming inured to his rightie politics or his vitriolic post 9-11 mood has changed and he has started going back to where he was before. The story's become less "realistic" and more James Patterson like, though there is a lot of dense junk to wade through. Whereas before that dense stuff was what I liked. Oh well.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Hoax
Hoax, by Robert K. Tanenbaum
We finally bid farewell to Michael Gruber and it is obvious. Things seem much less polished, the language is much harsher, particularly with regard to epithets, it just is not as good. By the end, tough, I had adjusted my expectations abit and it was ok. It worked out a bit like a Tanenbaum book written by James Patterson. Really, this article says it well. http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/case-missing-ghost-0 By Jules Older, San Francisco Magazine
We finally bid farewell to Michael Gruber and it is obvious. Things seem much less polished, the language is much harsher, particularly with regard to epithets, it just is not as good. By the end, tough, I had adjusted my expectations abit and it was ok. It worked out a bit like a Tanenbaum book written by James Patterson. Really, this article says it well. http://www.sanfranmag.com/story/case-missing-ghost-0 By Jules Older, San Francisco Magazine
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
True Justice
I felt like there was a bit of a jumb in the overall character story, I feel like Lucy and the twins got a lot older out of nowhere, but I didn't really have a problem with it. There were also some issue-type discussion that i found myself glossing over as I read, eager to get to the rest of the story, but there was some significant discussion about abortion and what should or should not be legal. Seems like Marlene got headed in the direction of being a defense lawyer in this one. Which could be interesting. A good quick read. I can't comment on the abortion stuff because I wasn't paying close enough attention to catch which way they were pointing. So, there you go.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Act of Revenge
Act of Revenge, by Robert K. Tanenbaum
More good stuff from the Karps. Marlene goes a little crazy here, which begins a bit that I don't particularly like. Also, we end with Tran leaving the nest, which is a devlopment I also don't care much for. Lucy is beginning to fully develop, and I like that. I remember having read this one before, which has not been true with most of the others. I tend to break these books down into two parts. There is the story that is a part of the individual book and then there is the character development within the book, within the larger frame of the series. I think I like the series because the characters develop in real ways from book to book, but the stories that are contained in the book are also good. This particular in-book story is one of the better ones that I've read so far. Good stuff, over all.
More good stuff from the Karps. Marlene goes a little crazy here, which begins a bit that I don't particularly like. Also, we end with Tran leaving the nest, which is a devlopment I also don't care much for. Lucy is beginning to fully develop, and I like that. I remember having read this one before, which has not been true with most of the others. I tend to break these books down into two parts. There is the story that is a part of the individual book and then there is the character development within the book, within the larger frame of the series. I think I like the series because the characters develop in real ways from book to book, but the stories that are contained in the book are also good. This particular in-book story is one of the better ones that I've read so far. Good stuff, over all.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Reckless Endangerment
Reckless Endangerment, by Robert K. Tanenbaum
Moving into the wheelhouse of what I expect from these books, this one was good. The bad guys were Arab terrorists, but there were also good Arabs, and their fight was with Jews, not America at large, playing on the ancient Middle East stuff. There were plenty of bad guy Jews as well. There was also a Mexican element and I really imagine that the player of the movie version of the main Mexican bad guy would be really cool. These books are becoming a bit routine, but, the characters develop throughout, so that makes it reqrding. Lucy is beginning here to take instruction from Tran on how to act and the boys are getting older, Marlene's business is changing. I guess one of the things I appreciate about this series is the way the characters develop throughout the series beyond the main story of the book. Good, stuff. The hits just keep on coming.
Moving into the wheelhouse of what I expect from these books, this one was good. The bad guys were Arab terrorists, but there were also good Arabs, and their fight was with Jews, not America at large, playing on the ancient Middle East stuff. There were plenty of bad guy Jews as well. There was also a Mexican element and I really imagine that the player of the movie version of the main Mexican bad guy would be really cool. These books are becoming a bit routine, but, the characters develop throughout, so that makes it reqrding. Lucy is beginning here to take instruction from Tran on how to act and the boys are getting older, Marlene's business is changing. I guess one of the things I appreciate about this series is the way the characters develop throughout the series beyond the main story of the book. Good, stuff. The hits just keep on coming.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Irresistible Impulse
I liked this one a lot. We meet Tranh, the Vietnamese guy who becomes a big part of the Karps life. He is probably one of my favorite characters. Turns out in this book, Lucy is about in the third grade, so that was cool. I thought this one was really good. I think we begin to see a heightened strain on Butch and Marlene's relationship. The stories are complex. This is a good series, and this book is no different. A review of my casting:
Butch Karp - Edward Burns
Marlene Ciampi - Maybe Marisa Tomei?
Lucy Karp - varying ages, although the true test will be who plays her when she gets a little older
Zik and Zak - doesn't matter at the moment
Harry Bello - Bruce Willis in his 16 Blocks outfit
Guma - Paul Giamatti
Roland Hrcany - still working on it, maybe Hulk Hogan?
VT Newbury - Edward Norton
Tranh - Jet Li
Clay Fulton - Morgan Freeman
That'll do for now, I suppose.
Butch Karp - Edward Burns
Marlene Ciampi - Maybe Marisa Tomei?
Lucy Karp - varying ages, although the true test will be who plays her when she gets a little older
Zik and Zak - doesn't matter at the moment
Harry Bello - Bruce Willis in his 16 Blocks outfit
Guma - Paul Giamatti
Roland Hrcany - still working on it, maybe Hulk Hogan?
VT Newbury - Edward Norton
Tranh - Jet Li
Clay Fulton - Morgan Freeman
That'll do for now, I suppose.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Falsely Accused
Falsely Accused, by Robert K. Tanenbaum
By to the Karps, and this was a good one. Lucy is moving into her own right as a character here. We see bits of her connection to "Sister Theresa" which gets fleshed out later. We also begin to see her ability with languages. Marlene begins her new career as a supporter of downtrodden women/security-type/enforcer. And Butch does his private case that results in his being reinstated back into the DAs office. We all see a good bit of the reporter Ariadne Stupenagel. This is another good one with several seemingly disparate plots that get woven together into the same conencted story. An old device for Tanenbaum, but one I like. And, this book did not disappoint. I liked it a lot.
By to the Karps, and this was a good one. Lucy is moving into her own right as a character here. We see bits of her connection to "Sister Theresa" which gets fleshed out later. We also begin to see her ability with languages. Marlene begins her new career as a supporter of downtrodden women/security-type/enforcer. And Butch does his private case that results in his being reinstated back into the DAs office. We all see a good bit of the reporter Ariadne Stupenagel. This is another good one with several seemingly disparate plots that get woven together into the same conencted story. An old device for Tanenbaum, but one I like. And, this book did not disappoint. I liked it a lot.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Breakpoint
Breakpoint, by Richard A. Clarke
I did not like this one much. It was a bit of a technolgical, future-scare thriller. It even included a bit at the end that it was meant to be predictive of what could happen in the near future (the book is set in 2012, I think). That's not really my cup of tea, but fine, I trudged through it, but I did not think it was very well written. It was confusing and not fast enough for a pulp fiction book. It was dense and not charming or funny at all. There was no character that I felt particularly drawn to. Oh well.
I did not like this one much. It was a bit of a technolgical, future-scare thriller. It even included a bit at the end that it was meant to be predictive of what could happen in the near future (the book is set in 2012, I think). That's not really my cup of tea, but fine, I trudged through it, but I did not think it was very well written. It was confusing and not fast enough for a pulp fiction book. It was dense and not charming or funny at all. There was no character that I felt particularly drawn to. Oh well.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Corruption of Blood
Corruption of Blood by Robert K. Tanenbaum
This was still a Karp book, but it leaned a bit into reality as Karp was brought to Washington to head up an investigation into the assassination of JFK in the late 70s, much as Robert K. Tanenbaum himself led up an investigation into the assassination of JFK in the late 70s. There is a note at the beginning of the book mentinoing this point and assuring the reader that the book is fictional, but, of course, one cannot help but be intrigued by the potential connections between what comes out in this book and what was allowed to come out of the actual investigation. For a JFK buff, I think this book would be really interesting. As a Karp buff, it falls a bit lower than some of the others I have recently read. It was still ok, but not as good as the others. And had I had no interest at all in JFK, it would have been even worse. I llok forward to the next one where things will, presumably be back to normal. One point in the continuing development of the larger picture, this book introduced us to Sweetie, the Neapolitan mastiff adopted by Marlene. A fun character throughout the series.
This was still a Karp book, but it leaned a bit into reality as Karp was brought to Washington to head up an investigation into the assassination of JFK in the late 70s, much as Robert K. Tanenbaum himself led up an investigation into the assassination of JFK in the late 70s. There is a note at the beginning of the book mentinoing this point and assuring the reader that the book is fictional, but, of course, one cannot help but be intrigued by the potential connections between what comes out in this book and what was allowed to come out of the actual investigation. For a JFK buff, I think this book would be really interesting. As a Karp buff, it falls a bit lower than some of the others I have recently read. It was still ok, but not as good as the others. And had I had no interest at all in JFK, it would have been even worse. I llok forward to the next one where things will, presumably be back to normal. One point in the continuing development of the larger picture, this book introduced us to Sweetie, the Neapolitan mastiff adopted by Marlene. A fun character throughout the series.
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