Archives for reviews - Page 17
Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison [Book Review]
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison My rating: 5 of 5 stars Goblin Emperor is by far the best single point of view political intrigue story I've read. It's also up there as one of the best fantasy books I've read. The primary story line in Goblin Emperor is about imperial court intrigue as seen from the point of view of an unexpected emperor. The Goblin Emperor The whole of Goblin Emperor is told in a single first person point of view by Maia, the fourth son of the Emperor and the product of a mixed marriage. Not pleasing to the emperor Maia was exiled to a remote country manor to be brought up by a cousin when his mother died. Several years later his father and three elder brothers are killed in an airship crash. Maia unexpectedly becomes the…
What if? by Randall Munroe [Book Review]
What If? : Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is just fab. It made me laugh out loud several times. Also science, lots of lovely science with nice twists. Well I say nice, but really evil twists. That's what makes it funny and interesting. What if? by Randall Munroe English: Last panel of the xkcd webcomic "Philosophy". On the xkcd site, it displays with the tooltip "It's like the squirt bottle we use with the cat." (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Randall Munroe is best known for the xkcd comics (and if you haven't read them then you really must). 'What if?' comes from an offshoot of the popularity of xkcd. People have been sending Randall their 'what if?' questions and Randall has been off to do some research to answer…
RK Gold – an Author Interview
RK Gold, the author (picture credit: RK Gold) The first author interview of 2016 is with RK Gold, an award winning author of magical realism. RK Gold is an American from Buffalo NY and has studied creative writing at university. RK Gold writes poetry and short stories as well as longer works. RK Gold - the interview How long have you been writing for and what made you start writing? I began writing when I was in elementary school, but it was more talking about writing and then occasionally jotting down a story. It was not until February 2014 (the final semester of my senior year) did I realize it was all I wanted to do. I wrote my first book in March that year, though I still have not done anything with it; it's my first book so I am…
The Force Awakens [Film Review] – #NoSpoilers
The Force Awakens (AKA Star Wars Episode VII) is probably the only movie I've been to see twice in the cinema. I saw it the first time on the Sunday after The Force Awakens was released. I'm not an obsessive Star Wars fan, at least not compared to some of the people I know (like my 10-year-old son), but I have seen all the movies multiple times (on DVD) and in my twenties I ran a Star Wars roleplaying campaign. So I know the material pretty well, and I enjoy it. Star Wars is Fantasy Han Solo (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Star Wars is not science fiction, it's fantasy with a space opera theme. This is an important distinction, because it directs how we should suspend disbelief when watching it. You can test this easily, fantasy confuses space and time to suit…
Fight Another Day by J.M. Langley [Book Review]
Fight Another Day. Langley by J M Langley My rating: 5 of 5 stars Fight Another Day has been sitting on my shelf for years, right next to MI9 (which I only realised was co-authored by J M Langley). I'm not sure why it took me so long to get round to reading it. It fits my usual preferences in a number of ways. It's a first hand accout by an infantry officer, it's about escaping from a POW camp, it's about organising secret agents to work in nazi-occupied Europe. Any one of those would have got Fight Another Day onto my to-read list. Fight Another Day Fight Another Day tells the story of Jimmy Langley from his enlistment in the special reserve of the Coldstream Guards. He gets mobilised in August 1939 and goes to France, and we are…