One does not simply leap in to at Dan Simmons novel.  You slowly immerse yourself until you are treading water and trying not to drown.  This one’s more in line with Drood, which I liked except when I didn’t.  Henry James and Sherlock Holmes team up to stop Irene Adler’s bastard son from assassinating Grover Cleveland at the Chicago’s World Fair.  If you’re as excited as I am by reading that, jump on this shit.  But this convoluted plot gets bogged down with existentialism and constantly […]

I guess I just don’t like fantasy books by guys named Terry.  Or guys named Terry.  Except Terry Crews.  He’s the bestest. This is a direct descendant of Tolkien, I mean, so much so that it reads like The Hobbit.  But this bridged us to the Eddings, Jordan, Dragonlance, McCaffrey lineage, which gave us the later greats.  So it’s sort of eat your vegetables.  I’m at least giving it the trilogy to test it.  And it’s not bad.  But it’s been so well-trod it’s like […]

Dunne hits the ground running with her sequel, flinging Gail into supervillain prison.  It’s Orange is the New Black meets Every Goddamn Martial Arts Movie ever as she gets trained by the foremost supervillain of all time, which takes the form of her getting the shit kicked out of her before being flung literally out of prison.  From there, the book goes through so many secrets and double agents its ridiculous.  And Dunne’s not helping herself by replacing the Twilightesque mooning of the two lovers […]