Review: The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

Rating: 4

Husband: loved it

Found it: SHBS

Price: $1.50

Finished it: early 2012

Synopsys:

It tells the story of the gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, and his quest to catch the man in black, the first of many steps towards his ultimate destination - the Dark Tower.

Review: 

I had read these story when I was much younger and had really forgotten what it was all about and never did complete the series, which I am in the middle of now.  Stephen Kings writing in this is gritty, dirty, and desperate. I can taste the sand between my teeth while reading this.

If the first line in this book doesn't just grab you by the neck and make you want to read more, I don't know what will.

"The man in black fled accross the desert, and the Gunsligner followed".

Fraking beautiful.

Review: Living with the Dead, Year One - Joshua Guess

Rating: 4
Husband: Loved it
Got it: Kindle
Price: $5.99
Finished it: last month

Synopsys:
(Comprised of Book I and Book II already available on Kindle) Living With the Dead - Year One is a serialized story of everyday life at the beginning of and during the zombie apocalypse. Its original format was and is an almost daily blog.

Told in the author's own voice, LWtD is the story of a group of survivors in central Kentucky, working to stay alive amid the violence and chaos of a crumbling civilization. Faced with threats and challenges that tax their endurance and force them to make terrible choices, the story follows the survivors day to day.

From the viewpoint of one man and his friends, the answer to the question of what people will become when the rules no longer apply begins to emerge. For some, it is violent conflict.

For others who only want to live in peace, this is a journey toward understanding that in a world of the dead, the only choice is to truly live.

Review:
This was awesome.  The "book" is done blog style, including typos and all - as the author Joshua Guess explains - to make it seem more real. 

This is also a real time blog, (http://www.livingwiththedead.net/) that you can follow daily as well, so, should you be a dedicated blog reader, you really don't have to buy anything. You can just got and start at post 1 on the blog and go on through. However, I liked the story, I want to support self pub'ed as much as possible, and I LOVE zombie stuff, so we bought it.

I really enjoyed the time lapse, the urgency, and the how the characters adapted and changed through the different circumstances they were challenged with.  I do enjoy reading blogs, and this fit in well with that.  It was snapshots, sometimes cliff-hangers, sometimes long and rambling, but all in all, well thought out for what could possibly happen should there be a zombie outbreak and the world as we know it go bye-bye, and there is still the interwebs to write about it.

I really enjoyed the description of the zombie mutation, I liked the twists that it held later on. It kept it more fresh in terms of out-thinking "mindless" zombies.   There were the occational times where I was brought out of the story by some continuity stuff, and a few times I didn't think that the activity matched the time stamp (farming times, etc), but all in all a wonderful entertaining and great peek into the lives of surivors.

If you like blogs and zombies (and who doesn't.... do you hate bacon too?), the give this book a shot.

Review: John Carter of Mars Collection - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Rating: 4
Husband: loved it (long ago when he was a lad)
Got it: Nook
Price: $0.99 for them ALL!
Finished: 2012

Synopsys (A Princess of Mars):

Let the adventures begin, as Captain John Carter finds himself transported to the alien landscape of Mars-where the low gravity increases his speed and strength exponentially. Taken prisoner by Martian warriors, he impresses them with his remarkable fighting skills, and quickly rises to a high-ranking chieftain. But the heroic Carter's powers thrust him right in the middle of a deadly war raging across the planet--and a dangerous romance with a divine princess.

Review: 
After getting dragged unwillingly to go see the Disney film for John Carter of Mars, I was HOOKED. I know the movie got terrible reviews, but I think that had a lot more to do with misplaced expectations then the quality of the movie.

I came home and immediately downloaded the books onto my nook and got to reading that night.

The collection includes three novels by ERB:
A Princess of Mars
The Gods of Mars, and
Warlord of Mars

The style is different then what people read/write now; very documentary style/journal-esk, but I have to say that I was captivated.  I managed to get through all three books in a week. I couldn't put them down and I read well into the early hours of night.  Work suffered.  The dog did not get his regular length morning walks. I was tired.

I don't think that I have had that much book enjoyment for 99 cents ever!  If you have not read these, then I really suggest you do. Also - content appropriate for YA.  Very modest back in the day! 

Also. I love Tars Tarkas!!

Review: The Adamantine Palace - Stephen Deas

Rating: 4
Husband: Liked it
Got it: Retail bookstore
Price: $8.95
Finished: late 2011

Synopsys:
The power of the Realms depends on its dragons. With their terrifying natures tempered by a mysterious liquid, they are ridden by the aristocracy and bred for hunting and war. But as dangerous political maneuverings threaten the empire, a single dragon has gone missing. And even one dragon-returned to its full intelligence and fury-could spell disaster for the Realms...



Review:
I really liked this book! Stephen Deas dragons were a dangerous mix of Anne McCaffrey's intelligent Dragons of Pern and the man eater/hater from the movie Dragonslayer.  Color me totally sold on these dragons! I just couldn't get enough of the dragons and the magic used to enslave them.

The political drama was not much to my liking, there was a little too much and a little too contrived. It just didn't hold my interest, which was sad because the opening had a lot of promise with an excellent bit of backstory!   I would have liked tighter writing on the political manoeuvrings, and more about the dragon culture that the characters/world is based on.

Husband thoroughly enjoyed it and we were looking forward to the second book.  Review coming next.