sci-fi | Reading Backwards book reviews

d e a d . w i n t e r Zombie apocalypse. The scenario has been reworked again and again, and has become pretty predictable. Something spreads through the population, turning almost everyone into shambling, undead creatures in search of braaaaains. A ragtag group of unlikely companions hole up together to beat back the hoard. The odds are stacked heavily against them. Luckily, S. Dave Shabet has put a new spin on the old story. He’s got one hell of a framing device. Full Story	The Merry Gentry Series, books 6-8 By Laurell K Hamiltom Read: April 2010 Rating: Phwoar I tried really hard not to let them all run together, but they did. Rather than try to pull the last three books apart, I’m just going to shove ‘em in one post and mention what lasting impressions I have. A Lick of Frost I was [...] Full Story	A Stroke of Midnight By Laurell K. Hamilton Read: March 2010 Rating: Whirlwind Time moves differently in the sithen. Merry says, “I wish we had more time!” and suddenly they do. Time is moving glacially outside the hill, giving them all they need… to catch a killer. The book begins with a press conference, sometime in the afternoon (I [...] Full Story
Until Forever By Johanna Lindsey Read: Feb 2010 Rating: Convoluted There’s a LOT of fun to poke at this thing. Before I have fun, let me say that it wasn’t awful. It wasn’t really good, either. BOOK-IN-A-MINUTE, Git-style (Yes, that means spoiler) Roseleen: I am a history professor with a penchant for old weapons. Look at this [...] Full Story	Amazon By Barbara G. Walker Not Read: Feb 2010 Rating: zones out I’m trying to be good, really I am. But 50 pages out of 170 isn’t such a bad run… The book is awkward and boring and it reads like what it is–a work of fiction by a feminist scholar that has been described (by [...] Full Story	Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell By Susanna Clarke Read: December 2009 Rating: Engrossing For the record, I am including this in the 2009 50Book list, because I read the vast majority of it during December. So there. Mein gott, this has been sitting on my shelf since FOREVER. And it is one daunting brick of a book, too. Over 1000 [...] Full Story
Whom God Would Destroy By Commander Pants Read: October 2009 Rating: Fun What could be more appropriate than to talk about god and mental illness? Even better, how about people who aren’t as ill as they seem? Commander Pants (yes, that’s his nom de plume) has written a novel that cleverly forces one to question human nature while making [...] Full Story	General Winston’s Daughter By Sharon Shinn Read : June 2009 Rating: Ho hum? Well, it wasn’t terrible. There were some good points, but it certainly wasn’t Shinn’s best. (It’s feeling a little redundant saying that…) Essentially, it’s a story of imperialism, told for a young adult audience with a penchant for romance. Averie’s father is a general in [...] Full Story	Powers of Detection Edited by Dana Stabenow Read: Sept/Oct 2008 (review finalized May 2009) Rating: Abysmal It was a noble goal. Dana Stabenow writes sci fi/fantasy, and when someone suggested she try her hand at a mystery competition she laughed. But she said she’d try and it turned into a story. It was too long for the competition [...] Full Story
Megatokyo by Fred Gallagher Read: Continuously, reread May 2009 Rating: Brills Get sucked in: http://www.megatokyo.com/ If you’ve been reading webcomics for any period of time and haven’t come across Megatokyo you’re not surfing the right comics. Ever seen the Sad Girl In Snow trope? This is where it was born. Megatokyo is a lot of things, [...] Full Story	The Subtle Knife By Philip Pullman Read: August 2008 Rating: Disappointing Gentle readers, it is a sad day for my bookshelf. I am usually very good about finishing the books I pick up, I hate stopping partway, unless they’re really trash. Even when something becomes mediocre, I see it through, if only to see how bad it gets. [...] Full Story	The Golden Compass(es) By Philip Pullman Read: August 2008 Rating: Intense I totally missed the boat on this one. It’s a real shame, because I think I would have quite liked it at the time it was published, and I was just ten years old. At 22, I’m much more critical of some things, and less easy to [...] Full Story
Victory of Eagles By Naomi Novik Read: July 2008 Rating: Intense I got an email alert announcing the release of this book, and was able to attend Naomi Novik’s very first book signing EVARR. She was excited, we were excited, and the space at the Greenwich Village B&N was standing room only. How cool was that?! She read [...] Full Story	Empire of Ivory By Naomi Novik Read: June/July 2008 Rating: Fascinating I put off reading EoI for a long while because I just wasn’t in the mood. I read the first three Temeraire books back in ’06 and they have since been passed on to both my parents. All our paperbacks now have warped spines and white, messy [...] Full Story	Cat’s Cradle By Kurt Vonnegut. Available @Amazon.com (but I’m too lazy to link right now) Read: September 2007 Rating: PHWOAR. See the cat, see the cradle? Book is farking brilliant. My apologies that I’m not more coherent about it, but I thought it was brilliant. Vonnegut is my new personal hero. In the course of Cat’s Cradle [...] Full Story
How I Live Now By Meg Rosoff Read: August 2006, December 2009 (review stands) Rating: Awesome I loved this book. I finished it within a day because it was so good. It was recommended to me by my good friend Sreya and she was so right. The novel is narrated by Daisy, a girl who grew up in New [...] Full Story	Mini Reviews (2006, January-June) Since time and interest don’t allow for every book to get its own lengthy review, I’m going to do some mini-reviews. Clod save us all. This install comes from the 2006 50 Book Challenge, which is going great guns, thanks. Books 1-20 were read during this time period. This mini review includes: Yentl’s Revenge (Essays [...] Full Story	V For Vendetta By Alan Moore and David Lloyd Read: April 2006 Rating: Headspinner And you though 1984 was tough. V For Vendetta takes Orwell as a jumping point and sets everything on its ear. I haven’t seen the movie, but I really hope it makes more sense than this fast-paced graphic novel. I was given this as [...] Full Story
1984 By George Orwell Rating: Phwoar Read: April 2006 I read this once before, in junior year of high school. I didn’t like it so much then. But now I’m in awe, sort of like the JK Rowling phenomenon. I really like it this time. And I’m amazed by the theory and complexity. It is so [...] Full Story	Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury Rating: Hmm Read: May 2006 In the last month I’ve upped by reading significantly. School put a severe dent in things, but I’m going to play catch up this summer. One of the things I’ve been meaning to do is actually read some of the classics. This is one of them. It’s [...] Full Story	The Running Man By Stephen King as Richard Berman Rating: Swift Read: April 2006 When looking for decent shortish novels, both my teacher and my father suggested early Stephen King novels. I was wary of it, since he doesn’t have a great contemporary reputation in my house, but I got this one at the gorgeous Jefferson Market Library [...] Full Story
The Blind Assassin By Margaret Atwood Rating: Hmn? Read: Dec 31st ’05-Jan 21st ’06 Look at how specific that timeframe is! I bought the book after years of oggling it on New Year’s Eve as something to read on the train ride home. My friends stayed for Times Square but I skipped out and got home perdy much [...] Full Story	With a Tangled Skein By Piers Anthony Rating: Frabjous Read: approx. 1998 (age 12), reread August 2005. I first read the Incarnations of Immortality when I was about 12, and I remember enough to know that I didn’t comprehend nearly as much as I will now, some 7 years later. (Yosh, has it really been that long?) I’ve reread [...] Full Story	Idoru By William Gibson Don’t send the nanotech after me! Amazon.com Rating: Evasive. Read: Freshman year (00-01), reread march 05 There are two people who may be upset that I did not enjoy Idoru, but I’m afraid I have to be honest. I found Idoru to be scatter-brained and evasive. I’ve never been a fan of [...] Full Story
The Handmaid’s Tale By Margaret Atwood Rating: Favorite. Read: Junior year (02-03), reread March 05. Updated July 2010. I love The Handmaid’s Tale. I love it so much that I finally bought a copy from the college bookstore, and I covet it like Offred coveted the small things she wished she could steal from her oppressors. I found [...] Full Story	American Gods By Neil Gaiman Rating: DIVINE. Read: Xmas 04 Holy crapmonkeys, I LOVE THIS BOOK. I can’t remember who gave it to me (Sreya?) but I ADORE it. Neil Gaiman is absolutely brilliant (and sexy, too). We begin with a framed convict on the day he is released from prison. All he wants it to go [...] Full Story