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  rid ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2017-01-01 06:57 +0000
    Re: rid ==> Read In December ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) - 2017-01-01 07:01 +0000
      Re: rid ==> Read In December Don Kuenz <g@crcomp.net> - 2017-01-01 19:32 +0000

#461354 — rid

Happy New Year!

And here's what I was reading in December

One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews
http://amzn.to/2ikQkRx

The latest in the Andrews's "Innkeeper" series.  I liked this one better
than the last which was marred by a Kumbaya ending.  Dina DeMille's
Texas (and intergalactic) inn, the Gertrude Hunt is hosting the last
members of a pariah species while she and her scooby gang are gathering
the singleton instances of The Archivarian, a multiple inteligence who
gathers all his pieces from time to time to share information.  Those
who help in these periodic reunifications are granted the answer to
a question from the being who has, essentially, cosmic knowledge.
Gathering the pieces would be hard enough if a) the inn weren't under attack
from forces determined to complete the extermination of Dina's guests,
b) Dina's sister weren't in big trouble on a hell planet and c) some unknown
force weren't able to corrupt Innkeepkers.  Dina's sister and neice are
good new characters and provide a probable way to keep another major character
around.  Fun book.


Chosen (Djinn Wars I) by Christine Pope 
http://amzn.to/2iuNkCv

Got this as part of a free Amazon bundle, and it is also free on its own.
After a strange new disease wipes out 99+% of the world's population,
one of the survivors has found happiness in a secluded apocalypse refuge
(no hers -- the bolthole of a real estate mogul who did not survive) though
she wonders at how she was guided there.  And perhaps her fellow survivor
is not exactly what he seems, and perhaps the plague was not exactly
natural either.  Kind of a "meh" for me.  Fairly romancy and more setup
than story.

"Close To You" A Downside Ghosts Story by Stacia Kane
http://amzn.to/2hB7oyJ

A Christmas story with Chess Putnam and Terrible.  Since Christmas has been
banned in the post "ghosts return to kill us all" world, we suspect that
finding an Christmas celebration will work out poorly for all concerned,
and that is certainly true here.  This is fairly short, but Chess and Terrible
are always nice to spend time with, which considering her myriad addictions
and his job of killing people is odd, but very true.

Famine's Feast (Templar 4) by Debra Dunbar
http://amzn.to/2iCmO7z

Aria Ainsworth, Baltimore's only Templar, has a lot going on in her life.
She's about to cross the Rubicon with her vampire flame despite all evidence
pointing to those relationships *always* ending badly, her best friend is
back from the dead and inhabiting a resin fox figurine, and she is immersed
in plans to get rid of her demon mark and make her soul wholly her own again.
Unfortunately, the city is under attack by a plague demon, and even the
vampires are being affected.  Unless Aria can find who summoned the demon
and convince him to banish it, the city will continue to suffer, and her
new lover's clan may be too sick to fight off an outcity takeover.
Unfortunately, Aria doesn't have any idea how to do that.  She does, however,
have allies..  I think Dunbar's "Imp" world books are still her best, but
the Templar is a solid series, and so far better than her recent foray into
SF.

Clidepp Deja Vu Thomas dePrima
http://www.deprima.com/bookdetails/b_clideppdejavu.html

Due to dePrima's ongoing tiff with Amazon, you will need to pick up the
ebook (and so far the POD) of this from his site.  In this third entry in
the AGU (sub)series, up-and-coming spaceforce Lieutenant(jg) Sydnee Marcola
is sent back into Clidepp space on another covert mission.  This time to
return the Clidepp minister her force extracted last time based on faulty
intelligence that he had planned and excuted an atrocity in GA space.
Given her previous experience, *that* mission is (barely) within something
that might be assigned to an Lt(jg), but somehow even before the mission
starts, the parameters keep expanding until as nominal "Captain" of the
ship, Marcola has many senior officiers reporting to her.  Then the mission
actually starts, and nothing goes to plan.  Somehow Marcola has to cope
with hundreds of unexpected freed slaves, lack of supplies not starting
a war.  I felt this book was weaker than the previous one as the GA force
was not really in any danger from the Clidepp forces given that their
tech was so much in advance there were able to operate undetected on the
Clidepp capital world itself for months.  What actual danger there was came
from logistics, and while starvation will kill you just as dead as a bullet,
it's not as dramatic.  Also I felt that Marcola a) went way over the edge
in dealing with her problems once and b) had a huge and mostly undeserved
stroke of luck at one point.

Shadow Marked: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Shadows of Salem) (Volume 2)
by Jasmine Walt & Rebecca Hamilton 
http://amzn.to/2iRAJpw

I was mediocre on the first of these, and now having read the second
could not now tell you what it was about; so I won't.  I think this series
is just not for me.


Warrior's Conquest: A Medieval Timetravel Romance (Knightspell Book 1)
by Elle James & Delilah Devlin 
http://amzn.to/2iCt27c

I had read serveral of Devlin's Caitlyn O'Connel books and liked them.
They were a bit romancy, but fun urbans about an ex-cop whose psysic abilities
drove her off the force and almost crazy.  Amazon kept sending me notices
about her other books, which seemed to be mostly cowboy and SEAL erotica, but
this one sounded like a return to fantasy, and it is, but I also suspect it
is mostly James as the voice seems different and the romancy-ness seems
more fuzzy headed.  Jacqueline Frazier has recently received a legacy
from a distant aunt in England, an ancient book of prayers that has been
in the family since the middle ages.  Inspired, she decides to incorporate
one of them into her performance as a bard at the local Ren Faire.  She should,
perhaps, have paid more attention to the warning in the book, and ends
up translated from the Faire to the England of 1153 and the middle of an
ongoing cival war.  Luckily she is captured immediately by Lord Rathburn
who is a decent sort in a mideval way and compellingly hunky even if he
doesn't particularly believe in independant women.  Well, you can guess
where this is going, and it goes there in spades.  If, as I suspect, this
is mostly James, I think had we more Devlin we might have gotten more
plot points about "Am I changing history?  Should I?"  than the we
did get.  In the end really too much of a pure romance for me. 
-- 
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

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#461355 — Re: rid ==> Read In December

oops, meant to change the title to "Read In December"
before posting..
-- 
------
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

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#461390 — Re: rid ==> Read In December

Ted Nolan <tednolan> <ted@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:
> oops, meant to change the title to "Read In December"
> before posting..

The acronym is obvious to me. Regardless, it's good of you to clear up
my unfounded suspicions of an e e cummings lower case passive-aggressive
vibe with a hint of H. L. Mencken sarcasm. ;0)

FWIW, my own (paltry next to yours) Read in December will be posted
momentarily. It still needs some work.

Thank you,

--
Don Kuenz KB7RPU

I've got a little list - I've got a little list. - Gilbert

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