So before we get to the explication of weirdness, a couple of things of note that might lend context to this review: 1. With the exception of 2013, I’ve read one of these books a year. I can’t handle more than one in a 365 day period. I think I skipped last year because I ran out of time and also I didn’t care. 2. I spent all of last weekend finally watching season one of Legend of the Seeker, the TV show made by Rob […]
Alif the Meh
In a Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker with the handle Alif shields his clients — whoever will pay, including dissidents, Islamists, and Westerners— from online surveillance. Alif loves an upper class woman, Intisar, who has unfortunately been betrothed to a princely type. Alif is of course heartbroken. But then Alif’s computer is breached by a nefarious “Hand”, despite his expert precautions, and Intisar secretly sends him The Thousand and One Days, an ancient and secret book of the djinn. Things get weird, and Alif […]
What if the NAZIs had won?
I will admit to y’all up front that I have no idea what I’m about to say in this review. I don’t want this to become one of those roadblock reviews for me. You know, the ones where you just can’t figure out what to say because the whole book just overwhelmed you, and you can’t even figure out your own reaction, let alone how to sum up the book for other people. I have no idea what my reaction is, or how to sum […]
Magic mixes with Hindu mythology in another Kate Daniels adventure
This is the third in the series, still in 2040 Atlanta where magic and tech surges alternate and wreak havoc, and humanity shares the planet with strange creatures of all sorts. The first half of Magic Strikes is classic, but heartbreaking. Heroine Kate Daniels races against time to save her– and my–favorite teen werewolf Derek from a gang of death fighters he has angered by encouraging a beautiful young would-be defector from their ranks, but she arrives too late. Derek’s body is discovered shattered and […]