reviewerID stringlengths 10 21 | asin stringlengths 10 10 | reviewerName stringlengths 0 49 ⌀ | helpful list | reviewText stringlengths 0 32.8k | overall float64 1 5 | summary stringlengths 0 452 | unixReviewTime int64 861M 1.41B ⌀ | reviewTime stringlengths 9 11 |
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A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 075536189X | TChris | [
290,
298
] | Until Tuesday is much more than the feel-good story about service dogs I was expecting. Luis Carlos Montalván's book provides a brief but uncompromising look at the conduct of America's most recent military incursion into Iraq and the impact it had on soldiers who were placed in impossible positions. It also i... | 5 | More than a feel-good story | 1,304,380,800 | 05 3, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765301075 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Visiting aliens deliver conflicting messages. An alien emerging from a newly formed mountain in the United States warns that invaders are about to destroy the earth with a process that will harvest raw materials to build ships that will go on to destroy other worlds. Robots emerging from a newly formed boulder in Aus... | 4 | 3 1/2 stars | 1,285,113,600 | 09 22, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765303612 | TChris | [
149,
175
] | Could there be a more ambitious title than Existence? David Brin earns forgiveness for his hubris by pulling off a dazzling exploration of humanity's response to the inevitable end of everything -- a redefinition of human existence. No small story, Existence strives for epic status. It is far-reaching, thought-provokin... | 5 | Fighting entropy | 1,340,064,000 | 06 19, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765309416 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | You know The Android's Dream isn't meant to be taken seriously long before genetically altered electric blue sheep make their appearance. The sheep and the title combine to form a not-so-subtle reference to Philip K. Dick's classic novelDo Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?(the inspiration for the filmBlade Runner). F... | 4 | A fun romp | 1,325,894,400 | 01 7, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765312727 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | KOP is set on the planet Lagarto. Hammond's depiction of Largato as a seedy, economically deprived world is particularly well done; Lagarto seems to come alive, as if it were a character in the novel. KOP's protagonist, Juno Mozambe, is a law enforcement officer employed by the Koba Office of the Police. His historic... | 4 | A fun blend of sf and noir | 1,286,755,200 | 10 11, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765312743 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Juno and Maggie are back in another brisk, violent story of life on Lagarto. The plot is capably summarized by other reviewers on this site, so I will limit my comments accordingly. The noir atmosphere so masterfully created in KOP is just as effectively rendered in EX-KOP. Particularly strong is a subplot involving... | 4 | A strong sequel | 1,286,755,200 | 10 11, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765327716 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | A central character in Lou Dobbs' novel is Ted Dempsey, the "most popular commentator" on a news network. Dempsey, who has the best sources in new broadcasting, prides himself on educating Americans about illegal immigration and porous borders. He annoys politicians because his commentary is unassailably correct and ur... | 2 | Self-love | 1,403,136,000 | 06 19, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765328410 | TChris | [
62,
67
] | Larry Niven has often worked in collaboration, and it's good to see him working at all, given his age. Not many writers born in 1938 are still kicking out science fiction. Gregory Benford might have manned the laboring oar but, having been born in 1941, he's not much younger. Ignoring the trendiness of modern sf, Be... | 3 | Volume One: Uninspired | 1,350,345,600 | 10 16, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765328615 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | B. Kent Anderson is a capable writer. He has a good sense of pace, his prose is clean, and he has a sharp eye for detail. It's unfortunate that he chose to write a formulaic thriller that rests on an absurd premise.Cold Glory is the latest entry in the ever growing field of (for lack of a better term) historical conspi... | 3 | A formulaic thriller based on an absurd premise | 1,310,256,000 | 07 10, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765328909 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Although The Fund seems to be marketed as a financial thriller, the plot is driven by terrorist bombings. The Shari'ah-complaint fund that gives the novel its title is less important to the story than the terrorist attacks. Narea serves up a smorgasbord of culprits, including the Venezuelan and Cuban governments, al-Qa... | 3 | Killer cats? | 1,304,985,600 | 05 10, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765329409 | TChris | [
14,
15
] | Harry Ransom made a brief appearance inThe Half-Made World, as did his light-making apparatus. In the follow-up to that novel, Ransom's goal is to build the city of the future, with parks and tall buildings, where freedom and democracy reign. The Rise of Ransom City, Ransom's autobiography, recounts his travels and e... | 5 | Defies categorization (4.5 stars) | 1,353,974,400 | 11 27, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765330075 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Friendless, obsessed with rocketry, and only "partially present for any human interaction," Charlie Colquitt is, in the words of his Savings & Loan manager, "destined to be lonely and largely unnoticed." He is, however, noticed by Hobe Hicklin, the recently released convict who robs the S&L; before it opens, when only ... | 4 | Trouble on the mountain | 1,337,731,200 | 05 23, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765331926 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | I winced a few times as I read Code White. It's a reasonably good thriller with some serious flaws.Dr. Ali O'Day is pregnant and she's not quite sure whether that condition was caused by her husband Kevin or her head of neurosurgery, Richard Helvelius. Kevin, a software geek, has been working with Helvelius to develop ... | 4 | Promising but flawed (3.5 stars) | 1,365,811,200 | 04 13, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765332299 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Superheroes endure in the imagination because they speak to our desire to empower the powerless, to be inspired by the iconic. Superheroes in science fiction have gained new life by the trendy notion of transhumanism, the use of technology to enhance human abilities. The current breed of supermen aren't born on Krypt... | 3 | The Green Blaze fights crime, has lots of sex, and talks too much (3.5 stars) | 1,351,296,000 | 10 27, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765334224 | TChris | [
16,
17
] | The "ancient secret society trying to control us all" plot has been done to death, but The Incrementalists takes an unusual (although only partially successful) approach. The novel departs from the norm in two ways: it doesn't feature the mindless chase scenes that too often characterize secret society novels, and the ... | 4 | An ancient secret society love story (3.5 stars) | 1,379,980,800 | 09 24, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765334372 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | If you have a processor in your head, you don't need a watch or a cellphone or a DVD player or a GPS device. Of course, you don't need a computer because you are hardwired to one, and you don't need all the complications of real sex because virtual sex is almost as good. You can eat vile-tasting vegetable cubes and foo... | 4 | A fun novel that falls short of its potential | 1,400,544,000 | 05 20, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765336278 | TChris | [
16,
17
] | The Ilmatarans inhabit Ilmatar, naturally enough, but since they live on the sea bottom, having evolved where volcanic vents warm the water far below the ice-covered surface, it isn't easy to observe them. An attempt to do so leads to an inadvertent first contact between a human and a group of Ilmataran scientists. It ... | 4 | Underwater aliens (4.5 stars) | 1,390,867,200 | 01 28, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765336901 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | The title of Poison Pill has a double meaning. It's the name given to a strategy to prevent hostile takeovers of corporations -- in this case, a pharmaceutical company -- but its literal meaning is also applicable. Someone is poisoning the company's leading product (a headache remedy) in order to destroy the company's ... | 4 | A tasty pill, but difficult to swallow | 1,383,609,600 | 11 5, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765336928 | TChris | [
10,
11
] | Afterparty begins with a parable, which seems appropriate for a book that is about the intersection of science and God. Daryl Gregory's characters offer a variety of viewpoints about the nature of religious belief -- some have faith, some don't -- but the novel is intended to entertain, not to persuade the reader to ad... | 4 | Questions about illusions (4.5 stars) | 1,398,124,800 | 04 22, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0765374188 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The Ophelia Prophecy is more akin to a trashy romance novel than a serious work of science fiction. It isn't what I expected from a reliable publisher like Tor. The novel might appeal to fans of romance who are willing to overlook its shortcomings. It didn't work for me.Asha St. John, an Archivist who studies informati... | 2 | Girl meets bug | 1,396,310,400 | 04 1, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0770436056 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Jens Vall is an arms dealer in Stockholm. While trying to deliver a shipment of weapons, he's thrust into the middle of a turf war between two organizations of drug dealers. One is headed by Ralph Hanke and the other by Hector Guzman. While Hector is in hospitalized, he forms a bond with a nurse, Sophie Brinkmann, and ... | 4 | Caught in a nightmare | 1,363,564,800 | 03 18, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0770436072 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Jens Vall is an arms dealer in Stockholm. While trying to deliver a shipment of weapons, he's thrust into the middle of a turf war between two organizations of drug dealers. One is headed by Ralph Hanke and the other by Hector Guzman. While Hector is in hospitalized, he forms a bond with a nurse, Sophie Brinkmann, and ... | 4 | Trapped in a nightmare | 1,388,620,800 | 01 2, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0770436315 | TChris | [
19,
21
] | Although I'm convinced the world doesn't need another zombie novel, Fiend twists the genre in an interesting way. The title could refer to zombies, or it could refer to the dope fiends who are the novel's protagonists. They were metaphorical zombies, spending their lives "walking that thin line between suicide and pr... | 4 | A methaphorical novel: meth addict as zombie (4.5 stars) | 1,373,673,600 | 07 13, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0770436404 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | A Constellation of Vital Phenomena is a haunting novel of exquisite prose and striking images, of big themes built upon small, poignant moments. Every character, no matter how minor, rings true. Rarely has a debut novel so impressed me with its power and beauty.Sonja Rabina is a trauma surgeon who left London and retur... | 5 | Life goes on | 1,371,945,600 | 06 23, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0770436854 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Luca and his mother have lived an isolated life. It was a fun life when Luca's mother was happy but she was more often depressed and withdrawn, unable to overcome a loneliness for which her anti-social nature was partly responsible. Luca is a kid with issues, including his well-founded fear that his mother, who won't w... | 4 | What to do with a dead mom | 1,394,323,200 | 03 9, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0786866543 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Lost Daughter of Happiness is a remarkable novel, a love story unlike any I've read. It unfolds in alternating points of view. Writing in the second person, as if she were speaking to Fusang, looking back at Fusang's life from the present day, the narrator's language is factual, unemotional, sometimes bordering o... | 5 | A remarkable novel | 1,286,928,000 | 10 13, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802119700 | TChris | [
18,
20
] | As a divorced police detective in Marquette, Michigan, Sunderson's life is generally sedate. The kind of crime that requires detective work is far from rampant in the Upper Peninsula. His hobbies include trout fishing and surreptitiously watching a teen neighbor arise naked from her bed each morning. Sunderson is su... | 4 | The aging man's blues | 1,317,340,800 | 09 30, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802119727 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Walking to Hollywood is the kind of novel that usually annoys me: the writer is a character in the book, interacting with others who exist in the real world. Novels of that ilk usually come across as self-indulgent acts of conceit, no matter how self-deprecating the author manages to be. After a promising start, this o... | 2 | Pointless | 1,308,355,200 | 06 18, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802119743 | TChris | [
9,
10
] | The Summer of the Bear tries to be many things at once: a mystery (involving possible espionage), a family saga, a children's adventure, a comedy, at least two love stories, a bit of a political/environmental story, and maybe a fantasy (the last could also be read as a story of spirituality). It succeeds at some of t... | 4 | A mystery/comedy/family saga and more ... too much more | 1,307,750,400 | 06 11, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802119875 | TChris | [
46,
50
] | On the day scheduled for their divorce hearing, Kelly Hays flees to a boutique hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans while Michael Hays drives west of the city to a plantation called Oak Alley. Kelly brings bottles of Macallan and Percocet with her: an ominous combination of traveling companions. Michael brings... | 5 | The strong, silent type | 1,310,774,400 | 07 16, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802119956 | TChris | [
6,
6
] | John Mahoney is the minority leader in the House of Representatives. His daughter Molly has been arrested for insider trading. Mahoney turns to his fixer, Joe DeMarco, to get Molly out of trouble. Is Molly guilty? Is someone trying to frame her to put the squeeze on her father? The fast-moving plot involves a lobbyist,... | 4 | The eighth Joe DeMarco novel | 1,372,204,800 | 06 26, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120059 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | In 1985, Ezekial Cooper is 42 and sufficiently depressed about his failed life to contemplate ending it. Having dropped out of the college life he loved and its promise of a rewarding future, Zeke returned to grunt work near his hometown in Tennessee. Years later, Zeke is experiencing something more serious than a midl... | 4 | Zeke: past and present | 1,328,659,200 | 02 8, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120083 | TChris | [
11,
11
] | Spilt Milk begins with the rambling narrative of a hospital patient, Eulálio Assumpo, speaking to a girlfriend who, it soon becomes clear, is present only in his imagination. Assumpo is old -- he says his life has become "unbearably long, like a fraying thread" -- although whether he is actually one hundred yea... | 5 | A life in recollection | 1,354,320,000 | 12 1, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120253 | TChris | [
6,
6
] | Set in Scotland, Where the Bodies Are Buried is a carefully constructed, multi-layered mystery with convincing characters told in winning prose. Christopher Brookmyre writes Tartan Noir, but Where the Bodies Are Buried is a departure from his typical fare. His novels have tended to feature recurring characters and th... | 4 | "I need to put a name to my sins, and I need to wear that name." | 1,344,556,800 | 08 10, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 080212027X | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Infrared is a contemplation of love, sex, family, and survival, but it is fundamentally a gradually developing snapshot of Rena Greenblatt. Over the course of a weeklong vacation in Tuscany with her father (Simon) and her father's wife (Ingrid), Rena comes into focus. Nancy Huston builds Rena's life by layering opinion... | 4 | The hidden face of reality | 1,341,619,200 | 07 7, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120326 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | All wars are fought, in significant part, on the propaganda front. As warfare has become more sophisticated, so has news management. Fobbit (the term infantry grunts apply to soldiers who never leave the relative safety of the Forward Operating Base in Baghdad) ably captures the military's attempt to manage the news ... | 4 | Fighting on the propaganda front | 1,347,148,800 | 09 9, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120466 | TChris | [
7,
8
] | Robert Olen Butler returns Pancho Villa to life as a supporting character in his latest novel. The Hot Country follows a literary path marked by Graham Greene (among others) -- within the trappings of a thriller, the author undertakes a deeper study of human nature. The "hot" country is Mexico in 1914: hot because o... | 4 | "You bring a country together by finding someone you can all agree to hate" | 1,349,308,800 | 10 4, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120660 | TChris | [
49,
51
] | Wash is an examination of slavery -- more specifically, the breeding of slaves as if they were horses -- from a variety of perspectives. Although some of the novel is narrated in the third person, the text is frequently divided into sections that tell the story from an individual character's point of view. Wash (more... | 5 | Inhumanity and healing | 1,360,454,400 | 02 10, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120695 | TChris | [
13,
13
] | Both history and biography, The Black Russian is sort of aHoratio Alger storywith a twist. Hard work and perseverance are the formula for success, but in this case success was possible for a black American only because he became an entrepreneur in Russia, where his race was not an obstacle to achievement.Born in the M... | 4 | Horatio Alger with a twist | 1,362,700,800 | 03 8, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120733 | TChris | [
30,
33
] | If you've read Jim Harrison you know what to expect (gentle humor poking fun at the hapless male) and what not to expect (commas) from his writing. The River Swimmer is a short volume consisting of two novellas. The first addresses the familiar theme of Harrison's recent work: the aging man's need to renew his life,... | 5 | Two novellas: an aging man and a young man ponder life | 1,357,516,800 | 01 7, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120792 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Bear is Broken opens with Leo Maxwell describing the scene as someone shoots Leo's brother, Teddy, in the back of the head. Teddy is a successful criminal defense attorney in San Francisco and Leo, having recently passed the bar, hopes to follow in his footsteps. True to form, the police make clear their hatred of crim... | 4 | A promising introduction to a new writer of legal thrillers | 1,362,873,600 | 03 10, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 080212089X | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Where the Bodies Are Buriedintroduced readers to actress-turned-detective Jasmine Sharp. In When the Devil Drives, Jasmine has inherited her uncle's detective agency. Alice Petrie hires Jasmine to find Alice's sister, Tessa Garrion, from whom Alice has long been estranged. Tessa was last known to be working as an ac... | 4 | The second Jasmine Sharp novel | 1,367,366,400 | 05 1, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802120997 | TChris | [
19,
22
] | Joyce Carol Oates writes about horrors that none of us want to imagine, and does it with such seductive prose we can't stop reading. Yet Oates' great talent is to find the horrific in both the commonplace and in the unthinkable. Daddy Love begins with a momentarily misplaced car that leads to a child's barely contained... | 4 | The horror of child abduction | 1,356,220,800 | 12 23, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802121128 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | The first several pages of Wrecked are devoted to the narrator's frank and detailed description of the steps she takes to give sexual pleasure to her husband. Elizabeth Kiehl's narration is alternately clinical and erotic, and occasionally touches upon the science and psychology and politics of sex. Readers who don't a... | 2 | Left me feeling wrecked | 1,372,032,000 | 06 24, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802121276 | TChris | [
27,
30
] | The Shanghai Factor is not Charles McCarry's best effort, but even a lesser McCarry novel is entertaining. This one is as much a mystery novel as a spy story, but it never quite develops the suspense and intrigue that fans of those genres crave.A new agent, assigned as a sleeper in Shanghai, immediately breaks the rule... | 4 | A second tier spy novel | 1,368,316,800 | 05 12, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802121586 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Most of the Dashiell Hammett stories in this volume are previously unpublished; the rest are previously uncollected. They display a range of storytelling that goes beyond the detective noir for which Hammett is best known. The works in this volume are uneven and some are incomplete, but it's a must for the Hammett comp... | 4 | Must reading for Hammett completests; good reading for Hammett fans | 1,384,387,200 | 11 14, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802122043 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Carol Jordan, unemployed and burdened by her sense of guilt for her brother's death, is getting her life back together (or not) by restoring the barn in which her brother was murdered and by caring for a new dog. Paula McIntyre, a member of Jordan's Major Incident Team with the Bradfield Metropolitan Police before it w... | 3 | The eighth Carol Jordan novel (3.5 stars) | 1,386,633,600 | 12 10, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802122051 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Red 1-2-3 is built on a clever premise. An undistinguished writer of crime fiction who happens to be a serial killer decides to write an instruction manual for serial killers. He has selected three redheads as victims to illustrate his methods. He intends to commit and memorialize the perfect crime because, well, he's ... | 3 | Clever premise wasted | 1,393,027,200 | 02 22, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802122477 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | When one of Glasgow's most notorious crime figures is gunned down in a car wash, DS Catherine McLeod is anxious to pin the crime on Glen Fallon, toward whom the evidence convincingly points. As readers of the series know, Catherine hates Fallon. Series readers also know that Fallon, apparently seeking absolution for ki... | 5 | The third Jasmine Sharp/Catherine McLeod novel (4.5 stars) | 1,400,371,200 | 05 18, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802126022 | TChris | [
9,
10
] | Joyce Carol Oates' latest collection of stories isn't for the faint-heated. The title story -- about a girl who doesn't come home from school -- focuses less on the terror that the girl will experience than on the guilt her working class mother feels at leaving her eleven-year-old daughter home alone until she returns... | 4 | Not for the faint-hearted | 1,320,105,600 | 11 1, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802126030 | TChris | [
17,
20
] | Thomas Cook's books are always filled with penetrating insights, sharp observations of human nature. Deception and betrayal, common themes in Cook's novels, percolate from the center of The Crime of Julian Wells. Although the story is driven by a secret -- what is the crime to which the title refers? -- it is the rea... | 5 | Betrayal is "like a landslide in your soul" | 1,343,433,600 | 07 28, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802126049 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Originally published in Great Britain in 1969, Murder in Mount Holly is one of Paul Theroux's early novels. A prologue introduces its three main characters: Herbie Gneiss, having unwillingly dropped out of college, must even less willingly find a job so he can support his gluttonous mother after his father's death. Mr.... | 4 | Early Theroux: an offbeat comedy | 1,323,129,600 | 12 6, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802126065 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The Boyfriend opens with the murder of a beautiful young escort in Los Angeles. Her parents hire Jack Till to find the killer. The reader learns in chapter one that this isn't the only escort the killer has murdered, and it doesn't take Till long to search for similar crimes. Till's pursuit of the killer takes him to P... | 4 | Methodical detective pursues methodical killer (3.5 stars) | 1,362,096,000 | 03 1, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802126081 | TChris | [
16,
18
] | There are few novelists of intrigue I admire as much as Thomas Cook. Whether he's writing a spy story, a crime novel, or a courtroom drama, his approach is unconventional. Tension derives not from action but from the intense probing of his characters' lives. In Sandrine's Case, Cook uses a criminal trial to reveal n... | 5 | A different take on courtroom fiction | 1,375,747,200 | 08 6, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802129927 | TChris | [
37,
42
] | How does something come out of nothing? A thin girl in England during World War II compares creation myths as she ponders the question. Her church teaches her of a "grandfatherly figure" who created everything from the sun to the peacock in six days. Her reading ofAsgard and the Godsintroduces her to a more appealin... | 4 | A thin girl ponders Norse gods | 1,328,227,200 | 02 3, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802170862 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | In 1943, five-year-old Éva Farkas is hidden in a sack of flour and smuggled by train across the Hungarian border. From there Éva is transported to a Romanian village that was once part of Hungary. Her father's sister, Kati, has agreed to keep her. Éva's mother is Jewish but the village has alrea... | 5 | Learning to live without fear | 1,309,564,800 | 07 2, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802170900 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Lorenzo Cumi is a boy in a bubble. He has no friends. As a kid who imagines his room to be "a cube that floated through space," Lorenzo is untroubled by solitude. He believes he would be content as a prisoner in solitary confinement. Lorenzo knows he isn't "normal" but he's studied his classmates so that he can pretend... | 5 | A boy in a bubble ... and his annoying half-sister | 1,327,708,800 | 01 28, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802170927 | TChris | [
15,
15
] | Beautiful Thing grew out of an article Sonia Faleiro wrote about Mumbai's "bar dancers" that was never published because it wasn't considered newsworthy (perhaps because the bars were officially banned in 2005). It is true that Faleiro's subject isn't groundbreaking, yet the world she investigated -- a world she found... | 4 | Worthy of attention | 1,331,942,400 | 03 17, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802767125 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Project Pendulum is one of the Millennium series of books published by Byron Preiss. Each book dealt with a different science fiction theme. The subject of Project Pendulum is time travel. The story (really more of a novella or long short story than a novel) is reprinted inCronosalong with two more of Silverberg's t... | 3 | Interesting but not absorbing | 1,292,716,800 | 12 19, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0802768636 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Homecoming is one of the Millennium series of books published by Byron Preiss. Each book dealt with a different science fiction theme. The subject of Project Pendulum is dinosaurs (a subject that isn't exclusively in the realm of sf, liketime travelorfirst contact, but dinosaurs do make occasionalappearancesin sf n... | 3 | Dinosaurs return | 1,291,161,600 | 12 1, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0803261624 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | The story of Victor Stott is said to be one of the first novels about a superman. That is true only in a limited sense. Victor has no unusual physical gifts, no superhuman strength. He is, however, intellectually superior to other humans, a super-genius. And Victor apparently knows of his superiority from the momen... | 4 | Fear of the extraordinary | 1,293,753,600 | 12 31, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 080410428X | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Stuart Kaminsky's death in 2009 brought an end to the career of a prolific and talented crime writer. His novels about Porfiry Rostnikov might be his finest work. Known to his colleagues as "the Washtub" because of his stature, Rostinikov is a pragmatic, persistent, apolitical cop whose bum leg does little to hamper ... | 4 | The Washtub goes to Siberia | 1,350,604,800 | 10 19, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0804136572 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Ex-Heroes was originally published in 2010 by Permuted Press, an independent publisher specializing in zombie apocalypse fiction. The novel developed something of a cult following, leading to its republication by Broadway Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, which is a subsidiary of the world's largest publ... | 4 | Zombie apocalypse with a superhero twist | 1,362,009,600 | 02 28, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0804138281 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Micah and Izzy Grand are filmmakers in the silent age of Keaton and Chaplin. Their star is Harry Till, the appealing "everyman" of silent film comedy. Sadly for them, the age of silent movies is coming to an end. "Talkies" will soon be the rage, although the Grand brothers' producer assures them that talkies are just a... | 4 | The end of silent films | 1,402,531,200 | 06 12, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0804139024 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Martian is written in a lively voice that I can easily imagine belonging to a frustrated engineer. It isn't an eloquent voice but it isn't meant to be. Mark Watney has a right to feel frustrated as he narrates his story, having been (understandably) left for dead on the surface of Mars by a crew escaping from a hel... | 5 | A modern classic | 1,392,508,800 | 02 16, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0804814570 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | The Tuttle Classics edition of Rashomon contains six stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa, with an introduction by Howard Hibbet. "In a Grove" recounts a woman's rape and her husband's death from the conflicting perspectives of the rapist, the woman, and the husband, each of whom provides a different account of how the husb... | 5 | Japanese tales illustrate universal lessons | 1,296,259,200 | 01 29, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0805082549 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Volk's Game is a fast paced thriller with an abundance of violence that would seem gratuitous were it not for the carefully drawn characters Brent Ghelfi created to drive the story. Colonel Volk lost his leg fighting Chechen separatists while his beautiful (and dangerous) young friend and lover Valya carries emotional... | 4 | Strong characters set this apart | 1,283,385,600 | 09 2, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0805082557 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | InVolk's Game, Brent Ghelfi created an intriguing character: an emotionally damaged Russian patriot who is filled with contradictions; a ruthless killer who feels compassion for widows and wounded veterans; a thief who dispenses charity; a man who questions his capacity for love while sacrificing himself for the sake ... | 4 | Volk's Personal Journey Continues | 1,283,385,600 | 09 2, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0805088946 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Venona Cable departs from the storyline established in the first two Volk novels. Instead of battling with his past in the context of a present conflict, Volk is battling with his father's past, seeking to learn the truth about the man he never knew. When Volk's father defected to the United States, was he a trai... | 4 | A departure, but still a strong thiller | 1,284,508,800 | 09 15, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0805090924 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Richard "Diamond Dick" Jewell, a wealthy businessman, stable owner, newspaper publisher, and orphanage sponsor, is dead at his desk, his head blown off. He is found "clutching a shotgun in his bloodless hands," an obvious attempt to disguise a murder as suicide. Detective Inspector Hackett is joined at the crime scene ... | 4 | A literary mystery | 1,307,923,200 | 06 13, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0807137227 | TChris | [
4,
4
] | Abbott Awaits is a snapshot of Abbott's life at thirty-seven, a three month record of his wonderfully scattered thoughts about marriage and parenthood, neighbors and home repairs, freedom and constraint. Abbott feels entrapped by "his small beseeching world," by "the broken hinge, the moldy tub, the dog who has to pee... | 4 | A snapshot of Abbott's life | 1,300,060,800 | 03 14, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0811214915 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | The four stories in this short collection are perceptive, fiercely imaginative, and wildly funny. My favorite, "The Life and Adventures of Shed Number XII," is told from the viewpoint of a storage shed that dreams of being the bicycle it stores, then loses the dream when a barrel of cucumbers replaces the bicycle, bef... | 5 | Four fiercely imaginative stories | 1,286,150,400 | 10 4, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0811215865 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Roberto Bolaño's writing can be incredibly affecting. The first section ofThe Savage Detectives, focusing on the lives of young poets and their interaction in poetry workshops, is absolutely brilliant. There's some of that in Distant Star, but when the story veers away from poetry workshops and addresses the ant... | 4 | Not Bolaño's best | 1,285,200,000 | 09 23, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812558774 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | The beginning of this 1982 novel seems familiar. Donald lives a carefree life. Money is transferred into his account every month. When he tries to remember why, he gets a headache, so he stops trying. Taking his girlfriend to see his childhood home, he discovers that the town in which he grew up isn't there ... or ... | 4 | A science fiction thriller | 1,297,209,600 | 02 9, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812977084 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Nicole Blake should not be in France. She was invited to leave the country -- permanently -- after she finished serving her sentence at the Maison des Baumettes prison in Marseille. Nonetheless she lives with a rescued dog in an old farmhouse with a chicken coop in the Pyrenees, enjoying fresh eggs for breakfast whil... | 5 | A thriller with the feel of serious literature | 1,294,617,600 | 01 10, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812977092 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Jamal, a 15 year old detainee at Bagram, agrees to inform for the CIA and is relocated to Spain, where his handler, Harry Comfort, is close to retirement. Harry's successor pushes Jamal for information and Jamal responds by inventing a story about seeing a man from Bagram in Madrid. This sets off a flurry of killings... | 4 | A mixed review | 1,286,496,000 | 10 8, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 081298000X | TChris | [
70,
73
] | Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp are firmly established in the pantheon of Wild West legends, along with Jesse James and Billy the Kid. So many books have been written about them, fiction and nonfiction, that it may seem odd to find another novel based on one of these gunslingers. It must be their legendary status that dr... | 5 | A hard, determined, complicated man | 1,301,875,200 | 04 4, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 081298241X | TChris | [
11,
13
] | War stories cover familiar ground. Men go to war; some don't return. Those who don't die come back changed. Next to Love tells that story with a twist: its focus is not on the men who go to war but on the wives and lovers left behind. They furnish the novel's perspective on war's casualties: we see their reaction... | 4 | Three women changed by war | 1,308,441,600 | 06 19, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812984250 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Sometimes morbid, sometimes zany, often touching, and always original, the stories collected in Tenth of December are written in a light, conversational style -- typically the kind of conversation you'd have with someone who is a little dim -- that conceals their deeper meaning. Many of the characters are like the par... | 5 | Morbid, zany, touching, and original | 1,357,689,600 | 01 9, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812993586 | TChris | [
7,
7
] | The characters in Sad Sayrafiezadeh's stories live in a gloomy world. They are divided by race and religion. Business is bad. Factories have killed all the fish. A war is coming; the war has started; the war will never end. One day we are winning the war; the next day we are losing. It's too hot; it's too cold; i... | 4 | Stories that humanize the marginalized | 1,376,352,000 | 08 13, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812993969 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | We meet Philip at the funeral of his father, Charlie Topping. Also present is Charlie's childhood friend, the renowned novelist A.N. Dyer, now nearing the age of eighty. Philip gives us lengthy introductions to A.N.'s older sons: recovering miscreant Richard, a screenwriter noticed in Hollywood only because of his fami... | 5 | Fathers and sons | 1,378,598,400 | 09 8, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812995201 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | The Weight of Blood is a novel about two women who did not choose their lives but did their best with what they had. It is also a novel about families -- the "Blood" in the title -- and the heavy weight people are sometimes required by kinship to bear.It would not be politically correct to refer to the characters in Th... | 4 | Mother and daughter | 1,402,963,200 | 06 17, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0812995783 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Having been tainted during his 15 years in the United States by western notions of fairness and honesty, the narrator of Every Day Is for the Thief finds himself unprepared for the "informal economy" he encounters upon his return to Nigeria. Bribes are routinely demanded, unearned gratuities are expected, and outstretc... | 4 | More travelogue than drama | 1,398,729,600 | 04 29, 2014 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0815609841 | TChris | [
6,
6
] | Dance Lessons is a story of hidden truths and unspoken memories. The interwoven stories that comprise Dance Lessons begin with Ellen Boisvert, a child of French Canadian parents, and Fintan Dowd, an Irish immigrant working illegally as a Boston bartender. They meet and marry and are near divorce when Fintan dies in a... | 5 | Hidden truths, unspoken memories | 1,301,875,200 | 04 4, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0820316326 | TChris | [
0,
0
] | This coming of age novel has been compared (for its style and bravado) toA Confederacy of Dunces. Unfortunately, Fuhrman's novel takes few chances, offers few insights, and reflects none of Toole's caustic wit. An altar boy named Francis and his friends get in trouble at his Catholic school for drawing an explicit co... | 2 | 2 1/2 stars | 1,287,100,800 | 10 15, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0853457220 | TChris | [
5,
5
] | Blood on the Forge tells the story of three brothers: Melody, who finds the music in every place and situation; Chinatown, who finds the humor; and Big Mat, a relentless worker who studies the Bible and tries to find an elusive inner peace. They work as sharecroppers in Kentucky, accustomed to poverty and racism, unt... | 5 | Unforgettable | 1,293,494,400 | 12 28, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857660918 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | I don't go out of my way to read military science fiction because it is so often unimaginative. John Scalzi is an admirable exception to that rule, an inventive storyteller who gives complete personalities to credible characters. Like Scalzi, Dan Abnett has a loyal following so I thought I would try one of his novels. ... | 3 | Not the finest example of military sf | 1,301,356,800 | 03 29, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857660969 | TChris | [
23,
23
] | In his introduction to this novel, K.W. Jeter discusses the steampunk phenomenon. Distilled to its essence, Jeter's explanation is: If you name it, they will come. Jeter coined the word steampunk; readers wanted this new thing called steampunk; writers filled the demand for steampunk. Although I'm not a big followe... | 4 | An amusing steampunk romp | 1,303,171,200 | 04 19, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857661450 | null | [
1,
1
] | Someone is trying (with apparent success) to kill Zhang Qifang, the leading proponent of human rights for sentient Artificially Intelligent (AI) beings. The problem: there seems to be more than one Qifang. Hired to investigate the mystery are a highly advanced AI named Richards and his partner Otto Klein, a human cy... | 4 | The first Richards and Klein novel | 1,312,070,400 | 07 31, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857661493 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | My reaction to Omega Point is similar to my feelings aboutReality 36, the first Richards and Klein novel: Guy Haley's attempt to introduce an element of comedy detracts from the action-adventure science fiction story that dominates the plot. It's possible to write a tongue-in-cheek action-adventure sf novel -- John S... | 3 | The second Richards and Klein novel | 1,333,065,600 | 03 30, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 085766154X | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Tanyana Vladha is an exceptionally skilled pion-binder. Pions are friendly, sparkly, playful subatomic particles -- except for the red ones, which are angry and nasty. Pions can be manipulated for all sorts of constructive purpose, and their manipulation is the task of a pion-binder. Tanyana is using pions to build ... | 4 | A novel of pions and class conflict (3.5 stars) | 1,320,451,200 | 11 5, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857661930 | TChris | [
12,
14
] | Start by combining a depression-era gangster story with a comic book saga of superheroes wearing rocket boots, mix in a private detective, toss in a rogue robot, add an alternate history in which a parallel version of New York City is isolated and at war with an enemy that surrounds it, top it off with transdimensional... | 3 | Audacious and fun but seriously flawed | 1,324,944,000 | 12 27, 2011 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857662295 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Blackbirds is a surprisingly powerful, emotionally appealing novel that poses fundamental questions about fate. "Fate gets what fate wants," Miriam's mother always said, but what is fate? Is the future immutable? If you knew your fate, would you be able to change it? These are old questions, but Chuck Wendig shapes the... | 4 | Fate | 1,335,225,600 | 04 24, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857662325 | TChris | [
2,
2
] | Mockingbird fails to equal the emotional resonance ofBlackbirds, the novel that introduced Miriam Black, but it is written with the same intensity. Chuck Wendig again tells a fast-paced, enjoyable story that delivers a solid punch.If you read Blackbirds, you know that Miriam envisions the death of any person she touch... | 4 | The second Miriam Black novel | 1,346,198,400 | 08 29, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857662627 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | Jack's wife Charlotte and daughter Amy are von Neumann-type humanoids. The vN were created by religious folk who thought it would be nice for the unsaved to have some helpers after being left behind. That's an original premise, albeit an unlikely one -- are believers in the rapture likely to devote resources to making ... | 4 | A playful family drama/action-adventure/love story/comedy featuring mechanical humanoids | 1,343,692,800 | 07 31, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857662937 | TChris | [
62,
65
] | What does it mean to be posthuman? It means with the right software, you can fight like Bruce Lee and perform like Peter North. It means your mind can network with those of other posthumans. It means your intelligence is vastly superior to that of mere humans. But can humans and posthumans coexist? Does the rise o... | 5 | What does it mean to be posthuman? | 1,355,788,800 | 12 18, 2012 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857663631 | TChris | [
14,
15
] | The good news is that Three is a post-apocalyptic novel with no zombies. The bad news is that Three is a post-apocalyptic novel with the Weir ... which are kinda like zombies. Fortunately, there is more to the story than the Weir. Jay Posey has populated a "wild West" landscape with people who have chemically and me... | 4 | Clint Eastwood, after the apocalypse | 1,376,265,600 | 08 12, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0857868764 | TChris | [
3,
3
] | An alien (specifically, a Vonnadorian) comes to Earth to destroy evidence of a breakthrough made by Andrew Martin, a Cambridge professor of mathematics who proved the Reimann Hypothesis. To accomplish his mission, the alien must assume the unfortunate professor's identity and eliminate the unfortunate people who might ... | 4 | Funny but predictable | 1,372,809,600 | 07 3, 2013 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 0865531897 | TChris | [
1,
1
] | Isaac AsimovandBrian Aldissare among the science fiction writers who have incorporated theGaia theoryinto their writing. In Pennterra, Judith Moffett exports the concept to an alien world where everything, living and inanimate, is interrelated and in constant communication. The world of Pennterra is in perfect balanc... | 5 | Provocative and beautifully written sf | 1,292,630,400 | 12 18, 2010 |
A1DLVUJFANNU1Q | 087113716X | TChris | [
0,
0
] | Irish Americans ("narrowbacks") and Albanians dominate the cast of this well-written thriller. Tom Farrell devises a scheme to rob a hotel, pulling it off with the help of his friend and three recruits. Farrell has little chance to celebrate his successful heist before a series of unfortunate (and somewhat bloody) ev... | 4 | Vengeance and betrayal tempered with humanity | 1,283,558,400 | 09 4, 2010 |
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