All The Way To The Gallows by David Drake

Ever laugh so hard that people turned to stare at you?

Well that happened to me more than once the first time I read All The Way To The Gallows.

It is hard for me to pick my favorite story in this Anthology, all the stories are by David Drake, but "Airborne All The Way" is the first one that made people stare at me when I started laughing so hard I cried.

But "Mom and the Kids" or "A Very Offensive Weapon" are better stories in my opinion.  They both made me laugh out loud the first time I read them.  And they still make me laugh most of the time when I reread them.

I think I would probably pick "A Very Offensive Weapon" as my favorite most days.  There is more word play humor that writers and thespians will appreciate.  For example, many of the Elves in this story are named after actual tranquilizers.  And I like to think of myself as a writer.


Also fans of other authors might be interested in this book, since at least a couple of the stories feature input from other authors.  Larry Niven and Roger Zelazny to name two of which I am certain.

Another of the stories was originally intended to tie in with Magic The Gathering.

I don't recommend this book for everyone, because much of the Humor is Gallows Humor, which many people find offensive.  Also I would rate it PG-13 for sexual innuendo.


But for anyone that likes, or needs, to laugh at death and despair I suggest you read it today if possible. 

But if you have any self consciousness, do yourself a favor and read in private.

Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Imager by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

In Imager Modesitt has created a new world with a new unique magical system, like he did years ago with the first "Recluse" book.

We are introduced to this new world, and the magic of this world, through the eyes and life Rhenn, a young man, or teenager if you prefer, that comes from a well to do merchant family.

The magic of this world requires a person to visualize, or Image (Imagine?), what they want to create very clearly.  There is more to it than that, just like the magic of Recluce, since only a small percentage of the world has the ability.

This is just the first book in the Imager trilogy, there are two more books about Rhenn already in print.  Which is a good thing, because your going to want more after reading Imager.

I am happy to say I really like this book.  I have been a fan of Modesitt's books for a long time, but previous book or two before Imager didn't interest me much.

I almost gave up on his books when I read Empress of Eternity , I think his passion for poetry influenced that book to much for my taste.

I really like the Imager series and recommend it to everyone that is interested fantasy.  If you liked the Recluse series you will like Imager. 
 

Modesitt doesn't seem to like writing more than 2 or 3 novels based on the same protagonist.  If you have read his Recluse series you have seen that before.

Modesitt is following that pattern with this series.  There is new book in the Imager series, Scholar, that will be out in November featuring a new protagonist, that is set further in the past, than the current Imager books.

Check the right side of my blog for links to Modesitt's, and other authors, blog and web page.

Issola by Steven Brust

Issola is my favorite book in the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust.

I would not recommend this book for people that are unfamiliar with the series.  You would be missing far to much of the back story for many of the plot lines to truly make sense.

For fans of the series, I wholeheartedly endorse it, as I mentioned above this is my personal favorite of the series.


The story begins with Lady Teldra finding Vlad in the wilderness.  She has come to request his aid in locating some missing people.  Then the trouble begins.

Spoiler Alert  Don't click the read more unless you want some spoilers or have already read the book.

Hammered: Iron Druid book 3 by Kevin Hearne

I like Hammered much better than Hexed I think it might actually be may favorite of the series to date. We find out more about Atticus and his friends, lot of back story is filled in on his friends.

I do get the feeling though reading this of a RPG (Role Playing Game), Atticus might end up with a truly interesting collection of magical weapons and artifacts if this keeps up.

 One minor quibble I have though, it seems that Kevin Hearne likes to throw sex scenes in more in the fashion I would expect from a TV show or movie than most of the books I read.  It is done for comic effect, or along with violence, not really because of any attachment of the characters involved.

It seems clear that Atticus, despite being over 2000 years old still deals with the opposite sex about as well as a 12-14 year old when feelings are actually involved as opposed to lust.  It is clear that Atticus & Granuaile are in love with each other, but they can't even say the word "love" without it being "pretend".

Makes the characters seem far more shallow in my opinion.  Really, Atticus and Oberon have a deeper relationship than Atticus can handle with women.  And Oberon is a dog!

Hexed book II in the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne

Kevin Hearne's second book in the Iron Druid series Hexed continues the story of Atticus, the last Druid, living in modern Arizona.

I don't like this book as much as the first one, not sure why, I think the pacing is a bit different.  Not bad pacing, just not as smooth a fit with my reading rhythm.

I have already started book three which I am liking much better than Hexed.  Book three reminds me more of book one, but I still recommend reading Hexed
because book three won't make much sense without reading book two first.

***
After more thought and finishing the third book, I realized part of what I didn't like about Hexed was how weak Atticus seemed in this book vs the first one.  In the first book he personally kills two gods, the first one without any real effort.

So the amount of effort and help he needs in the second book to deal with problems that are far less than a god trying to kill him personally just doesn't make sense.

Plus I know a bit about guns, so the whole "steel jacket bullets" just didn't make any sense.  Normally, only older (like WWII) or Com Block military rifle ammunition will have steel jackets.  Or Com Block handgun ammunition.  I think he could have handled that better by just stating since the gun was a steel (iron) weapon they wouldn't work against that enemy.

So I guess it is nitpicking.  But he uses Holy Arrows in the same book, so stone or wood tipped arrows would have worked well IMO and fit with the story.

I do really like Coyote, and am looking forward to seeing more of Coyote in the fourth book based on hints already dropped.

Hounded: The Iron Druid by Kevin Hearne

A great first novel by Kevin Hearne!

If your like me, you have a handful of authors that you love and treasure deeply.  Your always waiting for their next book to come out, save for the few days it takes to read their current masterpiece.

So when I discover a new author, even if they are only okay, it brightens my week.  Since I will have something new to read.  Plus one more author making me wait impatiently wait.

When I find a new author, that is good enough that I say forget sleep.  That is for TV watching!  I get giddy.

Hounded: The Iron Druid is such a novel, even better there are already three books out in this series.  I finished reading Hounded in one sitting.  I immediately ordered the next two books, on my Kindle, and started reading the next book right away.

Though I was tired enough I soon went to bed, I continued reading for another 40 minutes or so on my Blackberry, PDA/Smartphones work better for reading in bed than the Kindle IMO.  The lighted screen works better in the dark for me.  I much prefer the Kindle's Screen though for long periods of reading.

Hounded: The Iron Druid is what I would call light, amusing reading.  I would describe it as a mix of Lois Bujold and Patricia Briggs with a sprinkling of Terry Pratchett.  He adds snippets of Shakespeare, TV shows, movies, & modern slang for comic effect. 

Some of the fight scenes are very amusing, some are so so, Romance he handles more like Bujold does in the Miles books, your not going to find description of sex scenes.  Action stops "before the bedroom" pretty much and resumes afterwords.  Though both women and men get chances to admire hot members of the opposite sex with little or nothing on either in romance scenes and for shapeshifting.

Some people may be offended or more likely annoyed by religious comments, but this is fantasy novel that has a Druid as a central character.  I can't think of any other possible negatives.

If there is something more you would like me to cover in review please post below.  I am trying to balance providing information about the book for people while avoiding spoilers.

I really like this book, will be posting reviews on the next two books soon.  Will also provide some more information on Kevin Hearne in future reviews.

The Name of the Wind: The Kingkiller Chronicle: Day One by Patrick Rothfuss

If you read a lot of fiction, you know how hard it can be at times to find a good NEW book.  This book is the first new one I discovered in 2011.  It was published in 2007, first book in a new series.  The luck was with me, because book 2 was published in March of this year.

I only had to wait a couple of weeks after I finished the The Name of the Wind for The Wise Man's Fear to come out.


For more about the author including book signings check out Patrick Rothfuss website