I’d sworn off Ringo’s Aldenata universe. Really, I had.  You see, though, I was at the library with my son as he pulled references for a college project and there, on a shelf of new arrivals, was The Tuloriad.  “Okay,” I told myself, “I’ll just check out a page or two.  It can’t do any […]

Dave Freer is one of my favourite authors - hence my pushing of Save the Dragons. He writes books that are fun to read and yet possess layers of plot, character and thought-provoking stuff to make you come back and reread. I have in fact read his latest, Dragon’s Ring, at least twice since I […]

In the opening of her new space opera novel, Darkship Thieves, author Sarah Hoyt immediately introduces us to her heroine, Athena Hera Sinestra, who is in the opening stages of a very bad day.  She wakes to the certain knowledge that someone has jimmied the door to her stateroom aboard her father’s.  This can only […]

This book has been a long time coming for fans of Lars Walker’s character, Father Aillil and his Norse sponsor and friend, Erling Skjalgsson.  Thankfully, Lars kept up the good fight and obtained a new publisher (Nordskog Publishing, Inc) who has done this latest novel the justice it deserves.  Released in a wonderfully comfortable trade […]

There’s no better cure for a bad case of Weber than a good dose of Czerneda.
Rift in the Sky is the concluding third book of Julie Czerneda’s Stratification trilogy which is the second trilogy in her Clan Chronicles series (the first trilogy being The Trade Pact Cycle, a noteworthy collection of novels that not-so-coincidentally includes […]

Okay, we all know that there are no new ideas in fiction, right? Especially when it comes to manga.  The Japanese are absolute masters of running over the same opossum to the point that they’ll vary the positions of the entry and exit of the tire treads by millimeters just to see what changes on […]

Just in case you, like me, managed to miss it, the Maximum Ride series of YA (young adult) novels by James Patterson are best sellers.  Bona fide best sellers.  As in, the kind of success that every author dreams of best sellers, not just “good for YA” best sellers, i.e. movie-coming-out-soon-with-hordes-of-expectant-fans-already-looking-forward-to-seeing-it-because-they’ve-read-the-book best seller.
Still, not quite […]

This is not your average Disney anthropomorphic pink-fluffy-soft-headed adventure story. Which means that it’s already off to a good start.
The Mice Templar: The Prophecy is a high-quality hard-bound collection of graphic novel episodes that introduces the reader to the world of The Mice Templar.  Prepare yourself for a world where mice defend the night and rats […]

So, there I was, stuck in Rockford, Illinois. Not that much of a hardship, mind you, considering that I was sucking down a mocha while meandering through the science fiction and fantasy section of the local Borders.  In any event, the book whose cover caught my eye and whose jacket copy eventually opened my wallet […]

To truly appreciate the manga version of The Third, you really ought to seek out the anime version first.  So, for the purposes of this review, I’m going to discuss the both the anime and the manga.
The main character of both versions of The Third is Honoka.  With her self-aware AI sand tank, Bogie, she […]