The View From the Bridge by Nicholas Meyer
ISBN: 9780670021307
An account of Nicholas Meyer's involvement with three Star Trek films as well as his career in the movie business. The man best know for bringing together Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud in The Seven Per-Cent Solution had ironically never been interested in Star Trek until he was brought on board to save the film series.
ISBN: 9780670021307
An account of Nicholas Meyer's involvement with three Star Trek films as well as his career in the movie business. The man best know for bringing together Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud in The Seven Per-Cent Solution had ironically never been interested in Star Trek until he was brought on board to save the film series.
i: Winter's Heart
ii: Risk Assessment
iii: Scarecrow
iv: A Time to Heal
v: A Time to Kill
vi: Crossroads of Twilight
vii: The Undertaker's Gift
viii: The Runaway Jury
ix: A Time for War, A Time for Peace
x: The Girl Who Played With Fire
xi: New Spring
xii: Consequences
xiii: The Greatest Show on Earth
xiv: Articles of the Federation
xv: Seven Ancient Wonders
xvi: Knife of Dreams
xvii: Sandstorm
xviii: Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years
xix: Daedalus
xx: Daedalus's Children
xxi: The Gathering Storm
xxii: Anansi Boys
xxiii: Up Till Now
xxiv: The Six Sacred Stones
xxv: Assassin's Apprentice
xxvi: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
xxvii: The Big Four
xxviii: The Mystery of the Blue Train
xxix: Black Coffee
xxx: Peril at End House
xxxi: Murder on the Orient Express
xxxii: After the Funeral
xxxiii: Dead Man's Folly
xxxiv: Tickling the English
xxxv: Royal Assassin
xxxvi: Assassin's Quest
xxxvii: Spartan Gold
xxxviii: Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years
xxxix: Shades of Grey
xl: Country of the Blind
xli: The Portable Door
xlii: One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night
A Time to Hate by Robert Greenberger
ISBN: 9780743462891
Description
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew become caught in the middle of a violent outbreak of destruction between the Bader and Dorset races that have colonized the planet Delta Sigma IV as they race against time to stop the carnage and save their own lives.
Reviewed on 7th February 2010
This is the lowest in Star Trek noveldom I've visited in a long time. Very little happens until the final few chapters, and even then it's nothing that could not have been guessed from the previous novel. In fact, several of the major plot points have so blatantly been coming that it's a surprise there wasn't some sort of twist at the end. Admittedly it is lining up characters for their places in Nemesis but it's getting a bit silly when the entire plot seems to be just for the sake of one tiny set up.
For this is the book in which Riker and Troi finally decide to get engaged... and the author's attempts to explore this relationship by separating the two characters are sadly quite dire. Star Trek just cannot do romance. It's a well established fact, and this book proves it with both Riker and Troi and the going nowhere feelings between Picard and Crusher. It's just tiresome because the reader already knows where it is going.
The plot itself is next to non-existent. We follow characters who do next to nothing, and even the interesting interplay from the first half between Riker and Seer is missed out of this - Riker is paired with his sulky father, leading to little by way of conversation or interesting exploration of the alien races (one of which hilariously comes from Dorset!). There are holes in the plot (no combadge should mean no universal translator) and continuity problems (someone leaves but then is still there) which just make the novels seem badly written and edited. I'm not surprised that this pair are the only two of the nine out of print - they just aren't up to scratch.
In fact, the end is where it gets interesting - we finally get the proposal, Crusher comes out of her stupor and makes a decision and some interesting hints are let lose about what is to come in the next few novels. At least it's David Mack next - that should make for a more entertaining read.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9780743462891
Description
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew become caught in the middle of a violent outbreak of destruction between the Bader and Dorset races that have colonized the planet Delta Sigma IV as they race against time to stop the carnage and save their own lives.
Reviewed on 7th February 2010
This is the lowest in Star Trek noveldom I've visited in a long time. Very little happens until the final few chapters, and even then it's nothing that could not have been guessed from the previous novel. In fact, several of the major plot points have so blatantly been coming that it's a surprise there wasn't some sort of twist at the end. Admittedly it is lining up characters for their places in Nemesis but it's getting a bit silly when the entire plot seems to be just for the sake of one tiny set up.
For this is the book in which Riker and Troi finally decide to get engaged... and the author's attempts to explore this relationship by separating the two characters are sadly quite dire. Star Trek just cannot do romance. It's a well established fact, and this book proves it with both Riker and Troi and the going nowhere feelings between Picard and Crusher. It's just tiresome because the reader already knows where it is going.
The plot itself is next to non-existent. We follow characters who do next to nothing, and even the interesting interplay from the first half between Riker and Seer is missed out of this - Riker is paired with his sulky father, leading to little by way of conversation or interesting exploration of the alien races (one of which hilariously comes from Dorset!). There are holes in the plot (no combadge should mean no universal translator) and continuity problems (someone leaves but then is still there) which just make the novels seem badly written and edited. I'm not surprised that this pair are the only two of the nine out of print - they just aren't up to scratch.
In fact, the end is where it gets interesting - we finally get the proposal, Crusher comes out of her stupor and makes a decision and some interesting hints are let lose about what is to come in the next few novels. At least it's David Mack next - that should make for a more entertaining read.
0 Comments
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
ISBN: 9781847245458
Description
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate.
Reviewed on 6th February 2010
This is a weird book. For a start it uses some weird language, but then it is translated from Swedish so many idioms may not translate naturally. The characters are weird too - some less than others - in fact the character who is meant to be the weirdest seems to actually be the least so by the end, as everyone else has become weirder still. The weirdness is magnified in their sexual practices - either Sweden is very liberal or this author is a bit mad.
The plot has a very good idea behind it, though at points it becomes extreme, and is the main positive point about the novel - the drive to continue reading is from wanting to find out how the plot continues. The characters are mostly surprisingly likeable, despite their odd natures, but seem to be a little two dimensional in places - while in others they seem to act contrary to their established nature.
The strangest thing about this book is that it is full of what appears to be product placement. In one section the author spends half a page extolling the virtues of a particular model of laptop, and in others recommends software, authors etc. This seemed really out of place in a novel and was quite distracting form the serious nature of the plot when you are suddenly confronted with a list of technical specifications.
It's not well written - well, not in English anyway - but is compelling, and is certainly better than anything Dan Brown has produced. It is very definitely mainstream fiction, as its sales figures would suggest. It's just a bit of a romp really with some rather extreme practices thrown in. I'll certainly read the sequel, but I'm not sure it's one I'd recommend to my friends, and certainly not to my mum.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9781847245458
Description
Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her uncle is convinced it was murder - and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit but dysfunctional family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and the tattooed, truculent computer hacker Lisbeth Salander to investigate.
Reviewed on 6th February 2010
This is a weird book. For a start it uses some weird language, but then it is translated from Swedish so many idioms may not translate naturally. The characters are weird too - some less than others - in fact the character who is meant to be the weirdest seems to actually be the least so by the end, as everyone else has become weirder still. The weirdness is magnified in their sexual practices - either Sweden is very liberal or this author is a bit mad.
The plot has a very good idea behind it, though at points it becomes extreme, and is the main positive point about the novel - the drive to continue reading is from wanting to find out how the plot continues. The characters are mostly surprisingly likeable, despite their odd natures, but seem to be a little two dimensional in places - while in others they seem to act contrary to their established nature.
The strangest thing about this book is that it is full of what appears to be product placement. In one section the author spends half a page extolling the virtues of a particular model of laptop, and in others recommends software, authors etc. This seemed really out of place in a novel and was quite distracting form the serious nature of the plot when you are suddenly confronted with a list of technical specifications.
It's not well written - well, not in English anyway - but is compelling, and is certainly better than anything Dan Brown has produced. It is very definitely mainstream fiction, as its sales figures would suggest. It's just a bit of a romp really with some rather extreme practices thrown in. I'll certainly read the sequel, but I'm not sure it's one I'd recommend to my friends, and certainly not to my mum.
0 Comments
The Final Chapter by Russell T Davies, Benjamin Cook
ISBN: 9781846078613
Description
Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook expand their in-depth discussion of the creative life of Doctor Who to cover Russell’s final year as Head Writer and Executive Producer of the show, as well as his work behind the increasingly successful Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-offs.
Reviewed on 3rd February 2010
This second book is just as good as the first, although that is partly because the first half of this volume is the text of the first book, just without the scripts. The second half is brand new and covers the time from the end of the first book to the end of Russell T Davies' tenure at Doctor Who in the form of an e-mail exchange between Davies and journalist Ben Cook.
For someone dropping into this without having read the first part there are a few places where the first half doesn't make sense. In the original, scripts in progress were included at the points where Davies sent them to Cook, but to save space these have been removed from this volume. The text still makes reference to these extracts though, and no notes have been added to explain where they were meant to be.
Honestly, I didn't find the second half to be as enjoyable as the first. The two authors seem to be more comfortable with each other and Ben is less 'invisible' than before. The discussion tends to be less about writing Doctor Who and more of a biography of Davies - both his history and day-to-day life. The e-mails become longer and longer throughout, which isn't a bad thing but loses some of the informality of the original book.
Overall though it's still a good book. It's absolutely huge, and addictive reading - it almost makes you feel like you are part of the conversation and actually know the participants. I'm just hoping that the story doesn't stop here, and that Ben can continue to correspond with Davies though his next projects, or with Steven Moffat who has taken over Doctor Who.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9781846078613
Description
Russell T Davies and Benjamin Cook expand their in-depth discussion of the creative life of Doctor Who to cover Russell’s final year as Head Writer and Executive Producer of the show, as well as his work behind the increasingly successful Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures spin-offs.
Reviewed on 3rd February 2010
This second book is just as good as the first, although that is partly because the first half of this volume is the text of the first book, just without the scripts. The second half is brand new and covers the time from the end of the first book to the end of Russell T Davies' tenure at Doctor Who in the form of an e-mail exchange between Davies and journalist Ben Cook.
For someone dropping into this without having read the first part there are a few places where the first half doesn't make sense. In the original, scripts in progress were included at the points where Davies sent them to Cook, but to save space these have been removed from this volume. The text still makes reference to these extracts though, and no notes have been added to explain where they were meant to be.
Honestly, I didn't find the second half to be as enjoyable as the first. The two authors seem to be more comfortable with each other and Ben is less 'invisible' than before. The discussion tends to be less about writing Doctor Who and more of a biography of Davies - both his history and day-to-day life. The e-mails become longer and longer throughout, which isn't a bad thing but loses some of the informality of the original book.
Overall though it's still a good book. It's absolutely huge, and addictive reading - it almost makes you feel like you are part of the conversation and actually know the participants. I'm just hoping that the story doesn't stop here, and that Ben can continue to correspond with Davies though his next projects, or with Steven Moffat who has taken over Doctor Who.
0 Comments
A Time to Love by Robert Greenberger
ISBN: 9780743462853
Description
A century ago the long-running conflict between two alien civilizations ended when both of them colonised the same distant planet, becoming instead a shining example of inter-species cooperation and coexistence. Now an investigation headed by Kyle Riker -- estranged father of Commander William Riker -- has revealed how fragile their hard-won paradise is.
Reviewed on 31st January 2010
Book five in this series is an odd fish. I'm not quite sure how to characterize it. The set up seems to be a bit of a murder mystery story on an alien planet known for being the one place where two enemy species are able to live in peace.
The problem arises when the mystery fails to generate any clues. The story merely follows the characters travelling around doing very little while the situation worsens. A true mystery story would have been littered with hints as to what Kyle Riker was up to, but there are absolutely none. It just leaves me feeling uninspired as a reader.
The alien creations themselves are far from novel - two races who hate each other living on one planet is an idea that I feel Trek has done to death and it's a bit cheap not to come up with something more. The main characters seem awkward too and slightly unreal - only Crusher seems to have any real depth to her in this one, where to my mind this should be a Riker book. Maybe this will improve in book two though.
I'm torn between whether the use of Riker's father is a cute tying up of an old story or whether it's simply another coincidence too far, but I suppose I will have to wait until the second part before deciding once I actually know what the plot is.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9780743462853
Description
A century ago the long-running conflict between two alien civilizations ended when both of them colonised the same distant planet, becoming instead a shining example of inter-species cooperation and coexistence. Now an investigation headed by Kyle Riker -- estranged father of Commander William Riker -- has revealed how fragile their hard-won paradise is.
Reviewed on 31st January 2010
Book five in this series is an odd fish. I'm not quite sure how to characterize it. The set up seems to be a bit of a murder mystery story on an alien planet known for being the one place where two enemy species are able to live in peace.
The problem arises when the mystery fails to generate any clues. The story merely follows the characters travelling around doing very little while the situation worsens. A true mystery story would have been littered with hints as to what Kyle Riker was up to, but there are absolutely none. It just leaves me feeling uninspired as a reader.
The alien creations themselves are far from novel - two races who hate each other living on one planet is an idea that I feel Trek has done to death and it's a bit cheap not to come up with something more. The main characters seem awkward too and slightly unreal - only Crusher seems to have any real depth to her in this one, where to my mind this should be a Riker book. Maybe this will improve in book two though.
I'm torn between whether the use of Riker's father is a cute tying up of an old story or whether it's simply another coincidence too far, but I suppose I will have to wait until the second part before deciding once I actually know what the plot is.
0 Comments
Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie
ISBN: 9780007120703
Description
First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond! then came the 'suicide' that was murder! the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat! a suspicious death in a locked gun-room! a million dollar bond robbery! the curse of a pharoah's tomb! a jewel robbery by the sea! the abduction of a Prime Minister! the disappearance of a banker! a phone call from a dying man! and, finally, the mystery of the missing will.
Reviewed on 28th January 2010
This is an odd collection. There doesn't appear to be anything in particular to tie the stories together other than that they contain Hastings and Poirot - the settings are diverse and there doesn't appear to be any sort of chronological flow between them - in some the pair are living together and in others not. I'm not convinced that it works as a collection.
Each story therefore is stand alone and this makes for easy reading, as beginning, middle and end can be devoured in one sitting... although the middle parts of each story seem to be the parts that have been removed to make them short stories. Each tale is characterized by 1. Someone reports a mystery to Poirot; 2. Poirot sits down and thinks about it; 3. Poirot announces the solution. To me this seemed a little bland - the speed doesn't give the reader much chance to think about the mystery before revealing the solution - but then this covers up the fact that many of them are unsolvable, or at least have many possible solutions, with the evidence available.
What is nice is that not all the mysteries are murders. There's a nice range of puzzles for Poirot to solve, which almost makes up for the grating way the characters stay the same and have the same arguments all the time. But only almost.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9780007120703
Description
First there was the mystery of the film star and the diamond! then came the 'suicide' that was murder! the mystery of the absurdly cheap flat! a suspicious death in a locked gun-room! a million dollar bond robbery! the curse of a pharoah's tomb! a jewel robbery by the sea! the abduction of a Prime Minister! the disappearance of a banker! a phone call from a dying man! and, finally, the mystery of the missing will.
Reviewed on 28th January 2010
This is an odd collection. There doesn't appear to be anything in particular to tie the stories together other than that they contain Hastings and Poirot - the settings are diverse and there doesn't appear to be any sort of chronological flow between them - in some the pair are living together and in others not. I'm not convinced that it works as a collection.
Each story therefore is stand alone and this makes for easy reading, as beginning, middle and end can be devoured in one sitting... although the middle parts of each story seem to be the parts that have been removed to make them short stories. Each tale is characterized by 1. Someone reports a mystery to Poirot; 2. Poirot sits down and thinks about it; 3. Poirot announces the solution. To me this seemed a little bland - the speed doesn't give the reader much chance to think about the mystery before revealing the solution - but then this covers up the fact that many of them are unsolvable, or at least have many possible solutions, with the evidence available.
What is nice is that not all the mysteries are murders. There's a nice range of puzzles for Poirot to solve, which almost makes up for the grating way the characters stay the same and have the same arguments all the time. But only almost.
0 Comments
Quite Ugly One Morning by Christopher Brookmyre
ISBN: 9780349108858
Description
Yeah, yeah, the usual. A crime. A corpse. A killer. Heard it. Except this stiff happens to be a Ponsonby, scion of a venerable Edinburgh medical clan, and the manner of his death speaks of unspeakable things. Why is the body displayed like a slice of beef? How come his hands are digitally challenged? And if it's not the corpse, what is that awful smell?
Reviewed on 24th January 2010
Jack Parlabane is something of a para-journalist... whose skills seem more akin to a burglar or spy, and who does very little journalism throughout. When his new neighbour's corpse is found in rather unusual circumstances he teams up with the ex-wife of the deceased and a local police officer to investigate.
The story is fast moving, with new discoveries coming thick and fast, and unlike the majority of detective novels the reader is let in on who the baddies are and some of their plans fairly early on - and although in other books this has been a quite torturous approach as the investigation stumbles around, here it works. The scenes jump from character to character very quickly in a style very different from what I am used to reading, which causes a little confusion as you get re-oriented at the beginning of each chapter. Indeed, it was some time before I fell in to who was going to be the main character.
The book is a little crude. Okay, very crude. Not in terms of the writing but in terms of the amount of blood, excrement and otherwise detailed descriptions of comedy gore. It's certainly not horror, but black humour might be a better choice of label. It's generally not laugh out loud funny, but it's certainly not subtle - it is his first novel that I have read though, so it will be interesting to see how it develops.
It was in all an enjoyable quick read, though the characters are not incredibly deep and the whole romp is slightly less than believable - particularly some of the misfortune that befalls the bad guys. I'll stick with Brookmyre for book two.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9780349108858
Description
Yeah, yeah, the usual. A crime. A corpse. A killer. Heard it. Except this stiff happens to be a Ponsonby, scion of a venerable Edinburgh medical clan, and the manner of his death speaks of unspeakable things. Why is the body displayed like a slice of beef? How come his hands are digitally challenged? And if it's not the corpse, what is that awful smell?
Reviewed on 24th January 2010
Jack Parlabane is something of a para-journalist... whose skills seem more akin to a burglar or spy, and who does very little journalism throughout. When his new neighbour's corpse is found in rather unusual circumstances he teams up with the ex-wife of the deceased and a local police officer to investigate.
The story is fast moving, with new discoveries coming thick and fast, and unlike the majority of detective novels the reader is let in on who the baddies are and some of their plans fairly early on - and although in other books this has been a quite torturous approach as the investigation stumbles around, here it works. The scenes jump from character to character very quickly in a style very different from what I am used to reading, which causes a little confusion as you get re-oriented at the beginning of each chapter. Indeed, it was some time before I fell in to who was going to be the main character.
The book is a little crude. Okay, very crude. Not in terms of the writing but in terms of the amount of blood, excrement and otherwise detailed descriptions of comedy gore. It's certainly not horror, but black humour might be a better choice of label. It's generally not laugh out loud funny, but it's certainly not subtle - it is his first novel that I have read though, so it will be interesting to see how it develops.
It was in all an enjoyable quick read, though the characters are not incredibly deep and the whole romp is slightly less than believable - particularly some of the misfortune that befalls the bad guys. I'll stick with Brookmyre for book two.
0 Comments
The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
ISBN: 9781857235692
Description
The Seanchan invasion force is in possession of Ebou Dar. Nynaeve, Elayne and Aviendha head for Caemlyn and Elayne's rightful throne, but on the way they discover an enemy much worse than the Seanchan. In Illian, Rand vows to throw the Seanchan back as he did once before, although signs of madness are appearing among the Asha'man.
Reviewed on 22nd January 2010
A seventy day gap between the previous novel and this one seems to have been a little too long as I have lost track of who several characters are and what others are up to. In a way I pity those readers who have been reading these books as they were published - they do suffer from a lack of catch up at the beginning, instead assuming that you have put one book down the same moment that you pick up the next.
This book starts well, then ducks down a little toward the end, before jumping back up again at it's conclusion. For the most part the storyline comes in chunks, with a section the length of any normal paperback focussing on just one character's story before moving on to the next, which makes the book feel more structured than one that flits around. Toward the end though it switches back to flitting for a while as the various threads are tied up, which while necessary feels a little awkward.
The main focus of this novel is back to Rand I felt, but with equal parts dedicated to Elayne and Egwene in the first half and to a lesser extent Perrin. Several coincidences occur that are just about believable as the characters pretty much continue with what they were doing before, with the added bonus of a Seanchan attack. I still think of Rand as the main character despite the rather large ensemble cast and so was glad to be back in his head for significant portions of this book.
I am disappointed with the characterization of Nynaeve in this one though - despite only a day having passed from the previous novel she has undergone something of a paradigm shift overnight and barely says a word. Mat is also completely absent again which is irritating as we're left completely in suspense. There were only a few passages that irritated me. One big reveal was made far to easily, then another. The aforementioned coincidence was deal with well, but there was an occurrence near the end where the reader was left to infer what had happened in the narrative, but the glossary at the end gave it away completely. I recommend not reading the glossaries - they contain spoilers but none of the information you need about what has happened in the earlier books.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9781857235692
Description
The Seanchan invasion force is in possession of Ebou Dar. Nynaeve, Elayne and Aviendha head for Caemlyn and Elayne's rightful throne, but on the way they discover an enemy much worse than the Seanchan. In Illian, Rand vows to throw the Seanchan back as he did once before, although signs of madness are appearing among the Asha'man.
Reviewed on 22nd January 2010
A seventy day gap between the previous novel and this one seems to have been a little too long as I have lost track of who several characters are and what others are up to. In a way I pity those readers who have been reading these books as they were published - they do suffer from a lack of catch up at the beginning, instead assuming that you have put one book down the same moment that you pick up the next.
This book starts well, then ducks down a little toward the end, before jumping back up again at it's conclusion. For the most part the storyline comes in chunks, with a section the length of any normal paperback focussing on just one character's story before moving on to the next, which makes the book feel more structured than one that flits around. Toward the end though it switches back to flitting for a while as the various threads are tied up, which while necessary feels a little awkward.
The main focus of this novel is back to Rand I felt, but with equal parts dedicated to Elayne and Egwene in the first half and to a lesser extent Perrin. Several coincidences occur that are just about believable as the characters pretty much continue with what they were doing before, with the added bonus of a Seanchan attack. I still think of Rand as the main character despite the rather large ensemble cast and so was glad to be back in his head for significant portions of this book.
I am disappointed with the characterization of Nynaeve in this one though - despite only a day having passed from the previous novel she has undergone something of a paradigm shift overnight and barely says a word. Mat is also completely absent again which is irritating as we're left completely in suspense. There were only a few passages that irritated me. One big reveal was made far to easily, then another. The aforementioned coincidence was deal with well, but there was an occurrence near the end where the reader was left to infer what had happened in the narrative, but the glossary at the end gave it away completely. I recommend not reading the glossaries - they contain spoilers but none of the information you need about what has happened in the earlier books.
0 Comments
The Rainmaker by John Grisham
ISBN: 9780099179610
Description
Rudy Baylor is a newly-qualified lawyer: he has one case, and one case alone, to save himself from his mounting debts. His case is against a giant insurance company which could have saved a young man's life, but instead refused to pay the claim until it was too late. The settlement could be worth millions of dollars, but there is one problem: Rudy has never argued a case in court before, and he's up against the most expensive lawyers that money can buy.
Reviewed on 11th January 2010
This Grisham is a good read - it's certainly picked my interest in his novels back up again after the disappointing read that was 'The Chamber'. Baylor is, as per the Grisham cliché, a fresh out of law school lawyer, thrust into the evil scheming world of American court cases. In this case, he has to sue an Insurance company, and really it's far too easy for him.
There are some problems with this book. It flip-flaps around. The narrator (it's first person) starts off lucky for a few chapters, then gets really unlucky, then flips back to lucky, before suddenly diving back into unluckiness... and the ending is exactly the same as the end to every other Grisham legal thriller I've read. It's unbelievable. Also, Grisham is sadly deficient when it comes to writing romance - the characters meet, then nothing happens, then suddenly they are instantly in love having barely said a word to each other. I hope this is one area in which he improves, or drops.
But this book is good fun. After the somewhat slow start in which we're tempted with three different plots - and if I hadn't read the back cover blurb I wouldn't know which would be the one to take off - it turns into a bit of a romp, as the young lawyer makes fools of his enemies. It's entertaining and the story flies by. Sadly though only two of the plots are resolved, and then only one decently... it almost seems like Grisham started writing without knowing how big one of the plotlines would get, then wrote one out halfway and tried, failingly, to back out of the other.
But I want to end on a happy note, because I did enjoy this book, and it's got me back into a Grisham reading mood. I'm ready to meet the next fresh-faced newly graduated lawyer, and find out what evils he is fighting.
0 Comments
ISBN: 9780099179610
Description
Rudy Baylor is a newly-qualified lawyer: he has one case, and one case alone, to save himself from his mounting debts. His case is against a giant insurance company which could have saved a young man's life, but instead refused to pay the claim until it was too late. The settlement could be worth millions of dollars, but there is one problem: Rudy has never argued a case in court before, and he's up against the most expensive lawyers that money can buy.
Reviewed on 11th January 2010
This Grisham is a good read - it's certainly picked my interest in his novels back up again after the disappointing read that was 'The Chamber'. Baylor is, as per the Grisham cliché, a fresh out of law school lawyer, thrust into the evil scheming world of American court cases. In this case, he has to sue an Insurance company, and really it's far too easy for him.
There are some problems with this book. It flip-flaps around. The narrator (it's first person) starts off lucky for a few chapters, then gets really unlucky, then flips back to lucky, before suddenly diving back into unluckiness... and the ending is exactly the same as the end to every other Grisham legal thriller I've read. It's unbelievable. Also, Grisham is sadly deficient when it comes to writing romance - the characters meet, then nothing happens, then suddenly they are instantly in love having barely said a word to each other. I hope this is one area in which he improves, or drops.
But this book is good fun. After the somewhat slow start in which we're tempted with three different plots - and if I hadn't read the back cover blurb I wouldn't know which would be the one to take off - it turns into a bit of a romp, as the young lawyer makes fools of his enemies. It's entertaining and the story flies by. Sadly though only two of the plots are resolved, and then only one decently... it almost seems like Grisham started writing without knowing how big one of the plotlines would get, then wrote one out halfway and tried, failingly, to back out of the other.
But I want to end on a happy note, because I did enjoy this book, and it's got me back into a Grisham reading mood. I'm ready to meet the next fresh-faced newly graduated lawyer, and find out what evils he is fighting.
0 Comments
A Time to Harvest by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore
ISBN: 9780743482981
Description
Centuries ago a hardy band of survivors, fleeing a planetary catastrophe, took refuge in the inhospitable asteroid belt. Now they must make a choice: to go on as they are on the crowded but functional asteroids or to give up all they have worked for in a desperate plan to rebuild their dead home planet.
Reviewed on 7th January 2010
The second half of this duology is a slight improvement on the first, containing more action and a plot that moves more quickly. It's also easier to follow as we are aligned with both parties this time from the outset and can understand what's going on from both points of view.
One thing I've noticed and am ambivalent about is that the authors like to drop in references to a lot of prior events in the Star Trek continuity, but then take up a couple of paragraphs explaining it in a little too much detail. In one or two places this is justified where it is essential to the plot (or, I suppose, filling in the reader on events of the first book - although why would you read the second part without reading the first, and both were published simultaneously so it's not like you could have forgotten...) but in others it seems a bit of overkill - why not just leave the references as an added bonus for those that will get them and let everyone else gloss over them? Instead I have a couple of paragraphs that I end up skipping over because I know what they are telling me.
The main thing that I dislike about this book though is the way it seems to be forced to build in the direction of the film Nemesis. Yes, I know that the entire point of this series is to fill the gap between Insurrection and Nemesis, but there are really irritating parts, particularly having to explain how Data lost his emotion chip, that I really wish these novels could have done without.
I'm hoping that the rest of this series will have slightly less introspective characters. Picard, La Forge, Crusher all seem to have been fairly grumpy in this one, which gets a bit over the top when it happens over and over again. Having said all the above, I still enjoyed reading this.
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ISBN: 9780743482981
Description
Centuries ago a hardy band of survivors, fleeing a planetary catastrophe, took refuge in the inhospitable asteroid belt. Now they must make a choice: to go on as they are on the crowded but functional asteroids or to give up all they have worked for in a desperate plan to rebuild their dead home planet.
Reviewed on 7th January 2010
The second half of this duology is a slight improvement on the first, containing more action and a plot that moves more quickly. It's also easier to follow as we are aligned with both parties this time from the outset and can understand what's going on from both points of view.
One thing I've noticed and am ambivalent about is that the authors like to drop in references to a lot of prior events in the Star Trek continuity, but then take up a couple of paragraphs explaining it in a little too much detail. In one or two places this is justified where it is essential to the plot (or, I suppose, filling in the reader on events of the first book - although why would you read the second part without reading the first, and both were published simultaneously so it's not like you could have forgotten...) but in others it seems a bit of overkill - why not just leave the references as an added bonus for those that will get them and let everyone else gloss over them? Instead I have a couple of paragraphs that I end up skipping over because I know what they are telling me.
The main thing that I dislike about this book though is the way it seems to be forced to build in the direction of the film Nemesis. Yes, I know that the entire point of this series is to fill the gap between Insurrection and Nemesis, but there are really irritating parts, particularly having to explain how Data lost his emotion chip, that I really wish these novels could have done without.
I'm hoping that the rest of this series will have slightly less introspective characters. Picard, La Forge, Crusher all seem to have been fairly grumpy in this one, which gets a bit over the top when it happens over and over again. Having said all the above, I still enjoyed reading this.
0 Comments
