Liviu's bookshelf: 2019_release_read en-US Sun, 19 May 2024 22:28:00 -0700 60 Liviu's bookshelf: 2019_release_read 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[1941: The Year Germany Lost the War]]> 42201328 Bestselling historian Andrew Nagorski takes a fresh look at the decisive year 1941, when Hitler’s miscalculations and policy of terror propelled Churchill, FDR, and Stalin into a powerful new alliance that defeated Nazi Germany.

In early 1941, Hitler’s armies ruled most of Europe. Churchill’s Britain was an isolated holdout against the Nazi tide, but German bombers were attacking its cities and German U-boats were attacking its ships. Stalin was observing the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and Roosevelt was vowing to keep the United States out of the war. Hitler was confident that his aim of total victory was within reach.

\By the end of 1941, all that changed. Hitler had repeatedly gambled on escalation and lost: by invading the Soviet Union and committing a series of disastrous military blunders; by making mass murder and terror his weapons of choice, and by rushing to declare war on the United States after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Britain emerged with two powerful new allies—Russia and the United States. By then, Germany was doomed to defeat.

Nagorski illuminates the actions of the major characters of this pivotal year as never before. 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War is a stunning examination of unbridled megalomania versus determined leadership. It also reveals how 1941 set the Holocaust in motion, and presaged the postwar division of Europe, triggering the Cold War. 1941 was a year that forever defined our world.]]> 381 Andrew Nagorski 1501181114 Liviu 5 4.02 2019 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War
author: Andrew Nagorski
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/19
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2024, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Excellent nonfiction book on the title topic that reads like a novel.
]]> <![CDATA[The Enemies of Rome: The Barbarian Rebellion Against the Roman Empire]]> 46158727

Rome’s history follows a remarkable trajectory from its origins as a tiny village of refugees from a conflict zone to a dominant superpower. But throughout this history, Rome faced significant resistance and rebellion from peoples whom it regarded as barbarians: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Goths, Vandals, Huns, Picts and Scots.


Based both on ancient historical writings and modern archaeological research, this new history takes a fresh look at the Roman Empire through the personalities and lives of key opponents during the trajectory of Rome’s rise and fall.]]> 508 Stephen P. Kershaw 1643133101 Liviu 5 3.76 2019 The Enemies of Rome: The Barbarian Rebellion Against the Roman Empire
author: Stephen P. Kershaw
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2024/04/17
date added: 2024/04/17
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2024, top_25_2019_books
review:
A bit short and really summary in each chapter (so it's more like an extended Wikipedia summary than anything else) but witty and extremely well written. If you want to know about an episode or more, it's useful to read other more elaborate books, but the style of this one definitely makes it entertaining
]]> <![CDATA[Fortune's Fool (Eterean Empire, #1)]]> 45274933 A bad reputation, a metal arm, and a burning need for revenge�

Once played as a pawn in a deadly game of feuding Houses, Kyrra d’Aliente now makes her living in male guise as the ruthless mercenary Kyris di Nada. Yet hidden beneath her tough exterior lies a woman driven by one thing: the belief that her lost love, killed in the war he fought on her behalf, is still alive. But when Kyrra is offered the chance to assassinate the man who betrayed her, the seductive song of revenge changes everything.

In a world of scheming gods and precarious loyalties, vengeance comes at a deadly cost. As the treacherous web of her past tries to trap her once again, Kyrra must make a choice: kill the man who stole everything from her, or risk everything to save the man she loves.

Fortune’s Fool is the award-winning first book in the Renaissance-inspired Eterean Empire epic fantasy series. If you like powerful heroines, complex political intrigue, and slowburn romance, then you’ll love Angela Boord’s gripping tale of love, betrayal, and revenge.

Pick up a copy of Fortune’s Fool and begin your own exciting journey through the Eterean Empire today!]]> 737 Angela Boord Liviu 5
Hard to say why it didn't blow me away as I expected after the first few pages, maybe because it tried to do too much, maybe it needs a reread to fully appreciate as while familiar to some extent (based in a sort of Italian city-states universe dominated by brutal, but occasionally subtle powerful clans for whom anything goes as long as it furthers their power) there are a lot of specific aspects that take time to be really understood, maybe the writing's energy fluctuated too much and that combined with the length of the book made it such a start-stop reading experience ...

Hopefully, there will be more in this universe since it is fascinating ]]> 4.03 2019 Fortune's Fool (Eterean Empire, #1)
author: Angela Boord
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/08/23
date added: 2022/08/24
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2022, t_notable_books_2019
review:
A book with all the elements (interesting world-building, two narrative strands - past and present - that combine quite well, secrets, twists, first persona narration from a very interesting heroine - who incidentally has one of her arms cut off and is cast out from the position of heir to a small noble house to be a common servant for being discovered to have terminated her pregnancy after being seduced and abandoned by a dashing young aristocrat of a powerful rival house - excellent supporting cast, both on her side and the bad guys so to speak etc) to be a big-time favorite, but somehow I partially struggled to finish it - there were times I was sure I will give it up only for something to reignite my interest and I definitely am interested in what comes next as the ending is at a good tbc point, so overall I liked it well enough to recommend it.

Hard to say why it didn't blow me away as I expected after the first few pages, maybe because it tried to do too much, maybe it needs a reread to fully appreciate as while familiar to some extent (based in a sort of Italian city-states universe dominated by brutal, but occasionally subtle powerful clans for whom anything goes as long as it furthers their power) there are a lot of specific aspects that take time to be really understood, maybe the writing's energy fluctuated too much and that combined with the length of the book made it such a start-stop reading experience ...

Hopefully, there will be more in this universe since it is fascinating
]]> A Brightness Long Ago 41458663
Danio's fate changed the moment he saw and recognized Adria Ripoli as she entered the count's chambers one autumn night--intending to kill. Born to power, Adria had chosen, instead of a life of comfort, one of danger--and freedom. Which is how she encounters Danio in a perilous time and place.

Vivid figures share the unfolding story. Among them: a healer determined to defy her expected lot; a charming, frivolous son of immense wealth; a powerful religious leader more decadent than devout; and, affecting all these lives and many more, two larger-than-life mercenary commanders, lifelong adversaries, whose rivalry puts a world in the balance.

A Brightness Long Ago offers both compelling drama and deeply moving reflections on the nature of memory, the choices we make in life, and the role played by the turning of Fortune's wheel.]]> 423 Guy Gavriel Kay 0451472985 Liviu 5
While the other two novels work on a larger canvas, here the story is confined to the Italian peninsula (Batiara) where two famous mercenary leaders, each a minor lord with his town, and who deeply hate each other for reasons that are slowly revealed throughout the novel, are usually hired by important nobles and states to attack or defend various other minor city-states and always are on opposite sides, while in the respite between such, they plot to extend their domains and counter the other extending his domains respectively.

The main characters of the novel - an educated young man from a tradesman family of Seressa - Venice - whom we first see as a clerk at the court of another successful condottiere with a very dubious reputation as his nickname of The Beast suggests and who by chance becomes an accomplice in his murder, the niece of one of the two generals above who happens to be also the youngest daughter of one of the most powerful dukes of the peninsula and who wants to live a life of freedom and adventure like a man, at least for a time, rather than be married to a noble or become an abbess as her usual fate would be, a woman healer who wants pursue her calling and be independent and later the younger and carefree son of the powerful Sardi (Medici) family of Florence whose cousin is the recently crowned Pope and whose father and older brother are very important power players - all become involved in the intrigues and feuds of the two nobles as well as with each other mostly by fate and coincidence, as when the young man, Danio recognizes the young noblewoman Adria disguised as a comely peasant girl and latest victim to be of the Beast (per his well deserved nickname), and not only he doesn't denounce her but helpes her escape after killing the Beast, but not before being stabbed by him in the leg as he was starting his sick games with his prey, or later when the young Sardi goes to proposition a young woman who did very well in a horse race, not realizing who she is and how dangerous such propositioning may turn out to be, while of course the healer Jelena happens to be at hand in each episode...

The book flows very well and moves between the main pov's storylines and the more general military and political storylines quite deftly while being written in the lyrical prose that is customary of the author.

Highly recommended]]> 4.12 2019 A Brightness Long Ago
author: Guy Gavriel Kay
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/17
date added: 2022/03/16
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, mainstream, read_2022, top_25_2019_books
review:
A Brightness Long Ago is the second of a set of related novels set in an alternate Mediterranean world of 1450-1500 and following related characters and stories, though each of three novels to date (Children of the Earth and Sky, A Brightness Long Ago and All the Seas in the World) has different main characters, so they can be read independently.

While the other two novels work on a larger canvas, here the story is confined to the Italian peninsula (Batiara) where two famous mercenary leaders, each a minor lord with his town, and who deeply hate each other for reasons that are slowly revealed throughout the novel, are usually hired by important nobles and states to attack or defend various other minor city-states and always are on opposite sides, while in the respite between such, they plot to extend their domains and counter the other extending his domains respectively.

The main characters of the novel - an educated young man from a tradesman family of Seressa - Venice - whom we first see as a clerk at the court of another successful condottiere with a very dubious reputation as his nickname of The Beast suggests and who by chance becomes an accomplice in his murder, the niece of one of the two generals above who happens to be also the youngest daughter of one of the most powerful dukes of the peninsula and who wants to live a life of freedom and adventure like a man, at least for a time, rather than be married to a noble or become an abbess as her usual fate would be, a woman healer who wants pursue her calling and be independent and later the younger and carefree son of the powerful Sardi (Medici) family of Florence whose cousin is the recently crowned Pope and whose father and older brother are very important power players - all become involved in the intrigues and feuds of the two nobles as well as with each other mostly by fate and coincidence, as when the young man, Danio recognizes the young noblewoman Adria disguised as a comely peasant girl and latest victim to be of the Beast (per his well deserved nickname), and not only he doesn't denounce her but helpes her escape after killing the Beast, but not before being stabbed by him in the leg as he was starting his sick games with his prey, or later when the young Sardi goes to proposition a young woman who did very well in a horse race, not realizing who she is and how dangerous such propositioning may turn out to be, while of course the healer Jelena happens to be at hand in each episode...

The book flows very well and moves between the main pov's storylines and the more general military and political storylines quite deftly while being written in the lyrical prose that is customary of the author.

Highly recommended
]]> <![CDATA[Frontiers of the Imperium (Central Imperium Book 1)]]> 43404354 311 Jan Kotouč Liviu 5
Soon after a "final" Solar System war that devastated Earth and the human race in general, powerful but relatively few in numbers aliens (Protectors) bring Earth into their ordered galactic empire, where humanity expands on countless worlds and both thrives and is exploited while due to its fast reproduction soon becomes the second race of the polity, organized into a commercial empire under the aliens' protectorate until the Protectors get into a fight with new powerful aliens (who essentially want to replace them and exploit humanity's productivity for their benefit) and more or less destroy each other. This leaves humanity's Imperium unchallenged for some centuries, until the present day, when chronic problems festering for most of this time- inequality, corporate greed, latent hostility between the genetically enhanced nobility and the commoners, border wars with nomadic aliens etc - seem to intensify as if they are orchestrated by some unseen enemy.

So after a few seemingly unconnected assassinations, Emperor Adrian tries to disperse the members of his family and Daniel Hankerson, his nephew, 9th in succession, and a fleet intelligence officer is posted to the newest and most powerful navy coordination ship, Hermes, sent on a showing the flag mission to the backward ends of the empire, opposite where the border wars are going, though Daniel has first to survive a casino shootout when a robbery seemingly goes wrong and the robbers target him for death...

With his pet rabbit Jazz and friendly but grumbling roommate Keto, Daniel settles on Hermes and soon makes the acquaintance of war reporter Hila Eban, a woman of many parts and with a deep hostility (for very good reasons we find out slowly) to the enhanced aristocracy of the Empire of which Daniel is such a prominent member, but as they say, opposites attract...

In related action, the villains are now bringing their plans to fruition and Daniel's death is among the most important of them for reasons we also find out in time, though of course having Hila and special robot bodyguard Kelvin at his side makes killing Daniel a harder proposition than it would usually be...

And so it goes, with pages turning by themselves until the expected tbc point.

Excellent stuff and highly recommended.]]> 4.21 2019 Frontiers of the Imperium (Central Imperium Book 1)
author: Jan Kotouč
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2022/02/28
date added: 2022/03/01
shelves: 2019_release_read, read_2022, top_25_2019_books, genre-sf
review:
The novel takes a little to get going and then is predictable to a large extent (at least if one read lots of military space operas), but nonetheless, it has a lot of energy, great main characters and despicable villains that one loves to hate, while the universe setting is quite interesting though not uncommon in space opera.

Soon after a "final" Solar System war that devastated Earth and the human race in general, powerful but relatively few in numbers aliens (Protectors) bring Earth into their ordered galactic empire, where humanity expands on countless worlds and both thrives and is exploited while due to its fast reproduction soon becomes the second race of the polity, organized into a commercial empire under the aliens' protectorate until the Protectors get into a fight with new powerful aliens (who essentially want to replace them and exploit humanity's productivity for their benefit) and more or less destroy each other. This leaves humanity's Imperium unchallenged for some centuries, until the present day, when chronic problems festering for most of this time- inequality, corporate greed, latent hostility between the genetically enhanced nobility and the commoners, border wars with nomadic aliens etc - seem to intensify as if they are orchestrated by some unseen enemy.

So after a few seemingly unconnected assassinations, Emperor Adrian tries to disperse the members of his family and Daniel Hankerson, his nephew, 9th in succession, and a fleet intelligence officer is posted to the newest and most powerful navy coordination ship, Hermes, sent on a showing the flag mission to the backward ends of the empire, opposite where the border wars are going, though Daniel has first to survive a casino shootout when a robbery seemingly goes wrong and the robbers target him for death...

With his pet rabbit Jazz and friendly but grumbling roommate Keto, Daniel settles on Hermes and soon makes the acquaintance of war reporter Hila Eban, a woman of many parts and with a deep hostility (for very good reasons we find out slowly) to the enhanced aristocracy of the Empire of which Daniel is such a prominent member, but as they say, opposites attract...

In related action, the villains are now bringing their plans to fruition and Daniel's death is among the most important of them for reasons we also find out in time, though of course having Hila and special robot bodyguard Kelvin at his side makes killing Daniel a harder proposition than it would usually be...

And so it goes, with pages turning by themselves until the expected tbc point.

Excellent stuff and highly recommended.
]]> <![CDATA[Antonius: Second in Command (Antonius Trilogy, #2)]]> 48567120

Having proven himself as a formidable cavalry commander, Marcus Antonius finally earns a position at his kinsman Julius Caesar’s side. However, Caesar is an exacting general, demanding complete allegiance from his staff, even when his decisions put him at odds with the Senate. Marcus’s loyalty to Caesar comes at a cost, and he soon finds himself embroiled in mob violence and military mutinies. As civil war brings Rome’s Republic crashing down, many a relationship is torn asunder, including Marcus’s marriage. Determined to rise triumphant in Rome’s new era, Marcus faces his fears, his failures, and his enemies—not the least of whom is himself.

Amid the crisis of the Ides of March, Marcus must don the mantle of ruthlessness to carve his own legacy in Rome’s history. Enemies have been made, wills have been read, and heirs proclaimed.

But in Rome’s civil unrest, blood answers only to blood.]]> 421 Brook Allen 1732958521 Liviu 5 4.79 Antonius: Second in Command (Antonius Trilogy, #2)
author: Brook Allen
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.79
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/28
date added: 2021/08/28
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2021, t_notable_books_2019
review:
An excellent sequel that starts where book 1 ended; this book has no slow moments and compels one to turn pages, though it is marred by some historical errors (eg the assassin Decimus Brutus was not an Optimate but one of closest of Ceasar generals who was actually named in his will as a secondary inheritor which of course angered the plebes immensely when the will was read) that are harder to dismiss than in the first volume where some of the stuff while unlikely, could have happened
]]> <![CDATA[Antonius: Son of Rome (Antonius #1)]]> 44308281
After young Marcus Antonius's father dies in disgrace, he yearns to restore his family's honor during the final days of Rome's dying Republic. Marcus is rugged, handsome, and owns abundant military talent, but upon entering manhood, he falls prey to the excesses of a violent society. His whoring, gambling, and drinking eventually reap dire consequences. Through a series of personal tragedies, Marcus must come into his own through blood, blades, and death. Once he finally earns a military commission, he faces an uphill battle to earn the respect and admiration of soldiers, proconsuls, and kings. Desperate to redeem his name and carve a legacy for himself, he refuses to let warring rebels, scheming politicians, or even an alluring young Egyptian princess stand in his way.]]> 418 Brook Allen 1732958505 Liviu 5 4.39 2019 Antonius: Son of Rome (Antonius #1)
author: Brook Allen
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/08/25
date added: 2021/08/25
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2021, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Starts fairly slowly, but once we get to Antonius growing up and going east to recover from his misfortunes and debauchery, the novel gets really going and it is excellent with narrative energy that keeps one turning pages.
]]> Diary of a Dead Man on Leave 43093465 From bestselling author David Downing, master of historical espionage, comes a heart-wrenching depiction of Germany in the days leading up to World War II and the difficult choices of one man of conviction.

In April 1938, a man calling himself Josef Hofmann arrives at a boarding house in Hamm, Germany, and lets a room from the widow who owns it. Fifty years later, Walter Gersdorff, the widow’s son, who was eleven years old in the spring of 1938, discovers the carefully hidden diary the boarder had kept during his stay, even though he should never have written any of its contents down.

What Walter finds is a scathing chronicle of one the most tumultuous years in German history, narrated by a secret agent on a deadly mission. Josef Hofmann was not the returned Argentinian immigrant he’d said he was—he was a communist spy under Moscow’s command to try to reconnect with any remnants of Germany’s suppressed communist party. Hofmann’s bosses believe the common workers are the only way to stop the German war machine from within. Posing as a railroad man, Hofmann sets out on his game of “Russian roulette,� approaching Hamm’s ex-party members one at a time and delicately feeling out their allegiances. He always knew his mission would most likely end in his death, and he was satisfied to make that sacrifice for the revolution if it could help stop Hitler and his abominable ideology. But as he grows close to the Gersdorffs, accidentally stepping into the role of the father Walter never had, Hofmann begins to wish for another kind of hope in his life.]]> 312 David Downing 161695843X Liviu 5 3.97 2019 Diary of a Dead Man on Leave
author: David Downing
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/03/14
date added: 2021/04/03
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2021, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Unexpectedly gripping and good
]]> Trials and Tribulations 53084702 331 Jean Grainger Liviu 5 4.56 Trials and Tribulations
author: Jean Grainger
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/26
date added: 2021/02/28
shelves: 2019_release_read, read_2021, mainstream, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Excellent entry (ending?) in the Robinswood story; still captivating, life-affirming, and a pleasure to read with pages turning by themselves
]]> <![CDATA[Return to Robinswood (Robinswood #2)]]> 44057153 One Irish house, two very different families, and a war that changed everything.

Robinswood Estate, County Waterford, Ireland. 1946.

Years of neglect and abandonment have left the family seat of the Keneficks almost derelict, but the new Lord Kenefick and his charming young wife Kate, are determined to breathe life into the old house once more.

The war is over and they have survived, so now they must set about making a bright future for themselves and their family. But the shadows of the past are ever lurking, and there are many who are not willing to see the new Lady Kenefick as anything more than the housekeeper's daughter.

Kate’s family, the Murphys, find themselves once more, inextricably entwined with both the Keneficks and Robinswood, but this time everything is different. Or at least they hope it is.

The legacy of the war cannot be erased, and the events of those fateful years will not be forgotten. Can Robinswood provide a haven for those who need it, or are the scars of the past too deep?

Return to Robinswood is the second book in The Robinswood Story.


]]> 280 Jean Grainger Liviu 5 4.51 Return to Robinswood (Robinswood #2)
author: Jean Grainger
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.51
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/10
date added: 2021/02/10
shelves: 2019_release_read, read_2021, top_25_2019_books
review:
Somewhat to my surprise, I really liked this novel even more than the first Robinswood one; this is less romance and more family saga following the main characters as now they are settled, have families etc. A great, entertaining, and life-affirming read
]]> <![CDATA[Wicked by Design (Hester and Crow)]]> 45180825 1819.

CORNWALL.
Four women sit in the candlelit drawing-room at Nansmornow, an ancient Cornish manor house. The air is thick with unspoken suspicion and secret malice. As Hester Lamorna pours tea for her three guests, she has no idea one of them is about to rock her new marriage to its very foundations.

ST PETERSBURG.
Half a world away, Hester's impossible and charmismatic husband, Jack 'Crow' Crowlas, will be caught up in a chess game of sexual manipulation, played out across the sumptuous ballrooms of St Petersburg. All Hester and Crow hold most dear will be tested to the limit and beyond: their love for each other and their child, and for Crow, the loyalty of his only brother.

]]> 464 Katy Moran 1786695383 Liviu 5 3.55 2019 Wicked by Design (Hester and Crow)
author: Katy Moran
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2021/02/02
date added: 2021/02/10
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2021, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Similar in style to the first novel in the series (Hester and Crow) and set in the same universe a few years later, the novel follows the same main characters from England to Russia. While I thought Hester and Crow somewhat better - the alt-history setting reads quite originally there, while here it loses some of the power and same with the characters who are now more "established" so to speak, I still quite enjoyed this one too and I definitely plan to get and read the third series installment due later in 2021
]]> <![CDATA[The Fall of Erlon (The Falling Empires Saga, #1)]]> 51850656
Elisa Lannes was once heiress to the mighty Erlonian Empire. But when her mother abandons the empire and her emperor father is defeated on the battlefield and sent into exile, the world she would rule collapses around her. As enemies converge on the capital, Elisa must join with the last of the empire's loyal soldiers to escape the evil that hunts her and her family.

With the help of her father's generals, can Elisa find the strength to fight for her people? Or will a twist in the tide of the empire's last war awaken an evil far greater than the enemy's blade?

The Fall of Erlon is the first in the new military fantasy series from author Robert H. Fleming. If you like deep fantasy worlds filled with colorful characters and massive battles, the gods and generals of the Falling Empires Saga is for you.]]> 332 Robert H. Fleming Liviu 3 3.77 2019 The Fall of Erlon (The Falling Empires Saga, #1)
author: Robert H. Fleming
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2021/01/23
date added: 2021/01/23
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2021
review:
A fairly disappointing novel with an extremely intriguing universe (a sort of Napoleonic set up with some magic); the problem is that the writing is just un-engaging which leads to the characters and storyline being so; I kept reading hoping the story will spring into life so to speak at some moment and it never did.
]]> <![CDATA[The Towering Flame (The Survivors #1)]]> 48689920 186 Robert I. Katz Liviu 5
This is the first volume in what has the potential to become a superb series, while it has a conclusion of the main conflict that starts the hero's saga and an ending at a good stopping point.
The writing style may not be to everyone's taste as it has a less energetic feel than similar books from other authors, but as noted it really grows on the reader (this is not the first book I read from the author so I knew what to aspect) and the characters, inventiveness, the zigs and zags of the story are what powers the book and makes it one I have greatly enjoyed]]> 4.11 2019 The Towering Flame (The Survivors #1)
author: Robert I. Katz
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/10
date added: 2020/11/10
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2020, t_notable_books_2019
review:
The novel starts somewhat slow but grows on the reader and there is a point when one must turn the pages to see what happens; it contains a mixture of sf and fantasy tropes with a Renaissance-like feel - intrigue, local wars etc; the local planet has been colonized long ago by men and women who have a special ability - manipulation of matter with their mind using internal and external sources of energy - and the Empire wanted to isolate them and create a sub-race of powerful humans to help in their wars; however at least so far there is a limit to the power which indeed has been developed to some extent - one side effect seems to be high longevity - but far from what the human technology has achieved and overall not that practical, the Empire fell and the immortal (sort of - his physical body dies but his memories are preserved in the next incarnation) Viceroy who leads the planet mostly by guile and implied threats than overtly, still has the Imperial mission overriding everything

This is the first volume in what has the potential to become a superb series, while it has a conclusion of the main conflict that starts the hero's saga and an ending at a good stopping point.
The writing style may not be to everyone's taste as it has a less energetic feel than similar books from other authors, but as noted it really grows on the reader (this is not the first book I read from the author so I knew what to aspect) and the characters, inventiveness, the zigs and zags of the story are what powers the book and makes it one I have greatly enjoyed
]]> Eugenia 51103549
Un roman răvășitor despre România anilor 1930�1940, inspirat de Jurnalul lui Mihail Sebastian

O ambițioasă frescă a României anilor 1930�1940, Eugenia este un roman vibrant, scris pe mai multe niveluri, în care ficțiunea și realitatea se împletesc pentru a pune sub lupă originea urii și a violenței și, nu în ultimul rând, uimitoarea rezistență a celui mai fragil dintre sentimente � dragostea. Articulându-se în jurul Jurnalului lui Mihail Sebastian, povestea de iubire imaginată de Lionel Duroy ocolește judecățile definitive, dar nu și întrebările dureroase. În 2019, cărții i-a fost acordat Premiul Anaïs-Nin.]]> 411 Lionel Duroy 6067795639 Liviu 5
A great cameo of Curzio Malaparte, dark humor and twisted irony add a lot to the novel.]]> 3.93 2018 Eugenia
author: Lionel Duroy
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2020/11/08
date added: 2020/11/08
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2020, romanian_language, t_notable_books_2019
review:
A very interesting and absorbing book (definitely helps if you read M Sebastian's journal as the book is in large part about his life and based on his journal though it has much more); the only criticism I would have is that it lacks balance on occasion as Eugenia, the narrator jumps from a naive journalist to a hardcore partisan, saboteur, and assassin a bit too fast and easy, only to move back to maybe not as naive, but still much more naive than one would think journalist...

A great cameo of Curzio Malaparte, dark humor and twisted irony add a lot to the novel.
]]> The Dollmaker 40535851
Letter by letter, Bramber Winters reveals more of her strange, sheltered life in an institution on Bodmin Moor, and the terrible events that put her there as a child. Andrew knows what it is to be trapped, and as they knit closer together, he weaves a curious plan to rescue her.

On his journey through the old towns of England, he reads the fairy tales of Ewa Chaplin--potent, eldritch stories which, like her lifelike dolls, pluck at the edges of reality and thread their way into his mind. When Andrew and Bramber meet at last, they will have a choice--to break free and, unlike their dolls, come to life.

A love story of two very real, unusual people, The Dollmaker is also a novel rich with Andrew's quest and Bramber's letters unspool around the dark fables that give our familiar world an uncanny edge. It is this touch of magic that, like the blink of a doll's eyes, tricks our own.]]> 416 Nina Allan 1787472531 Liviu 5
Overall, this is a novel I highly recommend and I suggest to at least try reading a few chapters and see if it doesn't unexpectedly grow so much on the reader that not only one cannot put it down, but one kind of regrets when it ends and would love to read more about the main two characters]]> 3.35 2019 The Dollmaker
author: Nina Allan
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/10/29
date added: 2020/10/29
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2020, top_25_2019_books
review:
Another novel that took a while to get seriously into, but once I passed the 20 pages or so mark, I just couldn't put it down until the excellent ending; charming, great characters and very interesting as a story too, though with patches of (almost unexpected) darkness that we discover as we go along - the book while a first-person narration from the very short (almost a dwarf) Andrew Garvie, the dollmaker, employs both first-person letter writing from his pen-pal and doll aficionado, Bramber, and stories from the writer and doll creator Ewa Chaplin who first brings the two together when Bramber inquires in an add about anyone knowing about Chaplin as she was planning to write a book about the enigmatic writer, so it vastly expands its universe beyond Andrew and his life story.

Overall, this is a novel I highly recommend and I suggest to at least try reading a few chapters and see if it doesn't unexpectedly grow so much on the reader that not only one cannot put it down, but one kind of regrets when it ends and would love to read more about the main two characters
]]> <![CDATA[Blood in the Forum: A Novella of Ancient Rome (The Marius Scrolls Book 2)]]> 51275827 Politics. Betrayal. Assassination.

Rome, 133 b.c.
Gaius Marius is back from war in the West. They fought for the peace and prosperity of Rome, but the legions return to find the Eternal City far less peaceful and prosperous than they had hoped.
People are starving, homelessness abounds, war after war has overtaxed the legions. And the revolutionary tribune, Tiberius Gracchus, thinks he has a solution for everything.
Political parties are developing, the people are up in arms, the senate is enraged. And Tiberius is at the center of it all.
Before Marius has a chance to reacclimate to civilian life, he’s thrust into this political upheaval in Rome. His allegiances are put to the test as Rome is almost brought to the brink of civil war. For the first time in the history of the Republic, blood will be shed in the forum.]]> 107 Vincent B. Davis II Liviu 5 /review/show...)

Would definitely interested to read more from the perspective of Marius, but I will definitely try the Sertorius books too soon; this one was very good and I highly recommend it]]> 4.29 Blood in the Forum: A Novella of Ancient Rome (The Marius Scrolls Book 2)
author: Vincent B. Davis II
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.29
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2020/06/11
date added: 2020/06/11
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2020, shorts, t_notable_books_2019
review:
A longer, better fleshed out novella about the rise of Marius, this time as protegee of Scipio Aemilianus in the turbulent times of Tiberius Gracchus just after the fall of Numantia where young Marius first came to the attention of the great general (events chronicled in the shorter Son of Mars, /review/show...)

Would definitely interested to read more from the perspective of Marius, but I will definitely try the Sertorius books too soon; this one was very good and I highly recommend it
]]> <![CDATA[The New Achilles (Commander, #1)]]> 41159274
But war has followed him to his refuge at Epidauros, and now a battle to end the freedom of Greece is all around him. The Mediterranean superpowers of Rome, Egypt and Macedon are waging their proxy wars on Hellenic soil, turning Greek farmers into slaves and mercenaries.

When wounded soldier Philopoemen is carried into his temple, Alexanor believes the man's wounds are mortal but that he is not destined to die. Because he knows Philopoemen will become Greece's champion. Its last hero. The new Achilles.

In Christian Cameron's latest historical novel the old orders of the world begin to fall apart as Rome rises to supremacy - and Greece struggles to survive.]]> 416 Christian Cameron 1409176568 Liviu 5 review on reread-2020

this is one of the books that show clearly why it matters when you read it as on original publication it left me cold, while now (because book 2 was published and it started quite intriguing so I decided to revisit the series), I really enjoyed it - some of the criticisms in the review below (basically the book takes a while to develop, the sideshow feeling, the uneven pacing) remain valid, but now all those felt minor and I felt compelled to turn the pages until the end and to start book 2 (The Last Greek) immediately - ultimately I really enjoy the author's historical fiction and the love for detail and care for as much "authenticity" as possible (which imho is really hard since while human motivations and generally "human nature" is largely the same as then, the culture and civilization one was immersed in was quite different in ways that are hard for us to envision, so any such book will ultimately be an interrpretation, but im opinion at least the author makes a concereted effort to keep it honest so to speak...)

so while i will leave the original review below, on this reading I highly enjoyed the book, I felt its narrative power and I definitely recommend it now








(original review on publication 2019)
as a huge fan of the author's historical fiction (Long War and Chivalry are among my all-time top historical fiction and Tyrant was excellent too), I was really excited to see this one sort of by chance and I immediately got it and read it but for some reason it just didn't work for me; maybe the first person of the Long War and Chivalry made the main characters so much more interesting than the characters here, maybe the setting which was kind of a meh side story -as the Romans will come soon(in historical terms) and crush all opposition, this is like reading about say the Balkan wars of 1912-13 as opposed to WW1, interesting if you really care about the region, but meh otherwise unless the author's characters stand out and here they just didn't

ok and with some moments that reminded me of the author's best work but I suggest you read the series above if you haven't and skip this one unless you are a great fan of Hellenistic, immediately pre-roman Greece (and for example the famous classic The Corn King and The Spring Queen which takes place to some extent at least during the same period and place here, while not the most accurate historically fiction, still resonates with me years later, while this will be forgotten by tomorrow)]]> 3.97 2019 The New Achilles (Commander, #1)
author: Christian Cameron
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/05/28
date added: 2020/05/28
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2019, read_2020, t_notable_books_2019
review:

review on reread-2020

this is one of the books that show clearly why it matters when you read it as on original publication it left me cold, while now (because book 2 was published and it started quite intriguing so I decided to revisit the series), I really enjoyed it - some of the criticisms in the review below (basically the book takes a while to develop, the sideshow feeling, the uneven pacing) remain valid, but now all those felt minor and I felt compelled to turn the pages until the end and to start book 2 (The Last Greek) immediately - ultimately I really enjoy the author's historical fiction and the love for detail and care for as much "authenticity" as possible (which imho is really hard since while human motivations and generally "human nature" is largely the same as then, the culture and civilization one was immersed in was quite different in ways that are hard for us to envision, so any such book will ultimately be an interrpretation, but im opinion at least the author makes a concereted effort to keep it honest so to speak...)

so while i will leave the original review below, on this reading I highly enjoyed the book, I felt its narrative power and I definitely recommend it now








(original review on publication 2019)
as a huge fan of the author's historical fiction (Long War and Chivalry are among my all-time top historical fiction and Tyrant was excellent too), I was really excited to see this one sort of by chance and I immediately got it and read it but for some reason it just didn't work for me; maybe the first person of the Long War and Chivalry made the main characters so much more interesting than the characters here, maybe the setting which was kind of a meh side story -as the Romans will come soon(in historical terms) and crush all opposition, this is like reading about say the Balkan wars of 1912-13 as opposed to WW1, interesting if you really care about the region, but meh otherwise unless the author's characters stand out and here they just didn't

ok and with some moments that reminded me of the author's best work but I suggest you read the series above if you haven't and skip this one unless you are a great fan of Hellenistic, immediately pre-roman Greece (and for example the famous classic The Corn King and The Spring Queen which takes place to some extent at least during the same period and place here, while not the most accurate historically fiction, still resonates with me years later, while this will be forgotten by tomorrow)
]]> <![CDATA[Through the Gate (The Chronicles of Cornu #1)]]> 48736032 485 L.J. Dalton Jr. Liviu 3 4.01 2019 Through the Gate (The Chronicles of Cornu #1)
author: L.J. Dalton Jr.
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2020/05/08
date added: 2020/05/10
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2020
review:
I actually saw book two in the series by chance as a recent release and the first pages were very interesting so I decided to start the series from book 1; it was definitely useful that book 2 interested me since this one by itself would have likely been open and put down after a while as the writing is very "I want to tell people what happened from the beginning and even before so I am going to actually not only do it but spell it out in detail with some side analysis to boot" rather than fiction; still an interesting enough universe and setup so I went fast through it; finally the action gets going in the last few chapters and they are fairly good; personally I think the series should have started there rather than with all the "that's what happened and this is how the hero was born, grew, was a boy genius and also a gentleman and officer until he went through the portal as all of that could have easily been inserted later as flashbacks if needed; overall I would suggest to try volume 2 and refer to this as needed
]]> <![CDATA[Passages (Destiny's Crucible, #6)]]> 52969660
When Mark took his aisle seat aboard United flight 4382, he was ignorant of three facts. The fellow passenger in the window seat was named Joseph Colsco. Neither of them would ever set foot on Earth again. They both would be cast naked on an alien planet.

Adapt or die. Those were the choices. Determined to grasp the chance at a second life, Mark plunges into an adventure he couldn’t anticipate and leading to a future he can’t predict.
]]> 505 Olan Thorensen Liviu 5
Overall - slow and fairly mediocre start and middle, much improved last part and hopefully with the great (though expected) ending we get back to what made the first teratology so awesome (my review of it linked below

/review/show...]]> 4.42 Passages (Destiny's Crucible, #6)
author: Olan Thorensen
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/23
date added: 2020/04/05
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
After a tetralogy about Josef Kolsko and a mixed bag of stories, the 6th Anyar book starts a new series which will bring more Amerykans in focus - we already know a little about Mark Kaldwell from a short story in Tales of Anyar which takes place more than mid-point through Passages. Passages brings some older threads back into play, but overall it lacks the spark that made the first 4 books so awesome; I get why Mark's experience has to be different than Jozef's and the irony here works ok (Jozef just wants to live a quiet life, Mark wants to change the world and get rich and famous and destiny switches their roles so to speak...), but it also makes for a less satisfying storyline overall; the last part is excellent though, both a travelogue of the world, action, and surprises, so Passages becomes there the not-to-be-put-down novel that the first 4 books were.

Overall - slow and fairly mediocre start and middle, much improved last part and hopefully with the great (though expected) ending we get back to what made the first teratology so awesome (my review of it linked below

/review/show...
]]> <![CDATA[Lords of Deception (War of Four Kingdoms 1)]]> 52779819 Emperors and kings thought it had been buried long the Order of the Candlestone was defeated, the grim deeds of its assassins forgotten and its dangerous alchemy shunned. But Arasemis, an eccentric warrior-scholar, is determined to revive the Order and return the continent to its primitive origins, if he can control his apprentices.

Arthan Valient is a young nobleman from a respected family who wrestles with providing honorable service to a weak king. Thrust into a powerful position before he is ready, Arthan must navigate the political intrigue of a court in slow collapse, while avoiding Arasemis's new assassins.

Arasemis, Arthan, and their companions learn that help can be found in the most unlikely of places, even as the shadow of war looms across the continent. But trust is always elusive.

]]> 536 Christopher C. Fuchs 1946883018 Liviu 5
The ending is at a good stopping point and while the next two novels in the universe that are to be released soon happen some centuries before during the colonization of the southern continent by the more advanced technologically northern continent, I definitely plan to read them when they are released while the planned direct sequel of this has become a hugely awaited book (in the timeline of the novel, it is the other way around as now the southern states are more powerful and only a failing treaty keeps them from invading the north, though war in between them also brews and the old age "magic" of the now mostly absorbed southern natives is making an unwelcome at least for the rulers, re-apparition)

I also would recommend exploring the author's page where there are some more details about the world.

Overall highly recommended and a top 5 novel of the year for me.]]> 4.22 Lords of Deception (War of Four Kingdoms 1)
author: Christopher C. Fuchs
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.22
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/07
date added: 2020/03/29
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
One of the best fantasy debuts I've read in a while. The writing style takes a little to get used to as it is more old fashioned and closer to Dumas say than to modern top class fantasy and same with the naming conventions and more generally the universe of the novel which is complex and with a long history which bears a lot on the novel - while the list of characters and the glossary at the end are really useful, they do have some spoilers so it may be better to just keep reading as things will make sense eventually. However, the depth of the universe, the very interesting characters (heroes, villains, major and minor), the action that keeps one guessing (and the quite high body count of characters for that matter) and more generally the narrative force of this novel is such that once one starts understanding what it is all about and gets a feel for the setting, it is really hard to put it down.

The ending is at a good stopping point and while the next two novels in the universe that are to be released soon happen some centuries before during the colonization of the southern continent by the more advanced technologically northern continent, I definitely plan to read them when they are released while the planned direct sequel of this has become a hugely awaited book (in the timeline of the novel, it is the other way around as now the southern states are more powerful and only a failing treaty keeps them from invading the north, though war in between them also brews and the old age "magic" of the now mostly absorbed southern natives is making an unwelcome at least for the rulers, re-apparition)

I also would recommend exploring the author's page where there are some more details about the world.

Overall highly recommended and a top 5 novel of the year for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Mihai Caraman - un spion român în Războiul Rece]]> 52585122
„«Afacerea Caraman» a devenit una dintre marile acțiuni de spionaj ale Războiului Rece și a generat implicații geopolitice, geoeconomice și geostrategice pe termen mediu și lung. Experți și reprezentanți ai elitei serviciilor de spionaj și contraspionaj occidentale și-au exprimat uimirea, respectul și aprecierea pentru modul în care ingeniosul spion român a țesut cu migală, timp de un deceniu, o rețea de agenți care a pătruns în cele mai tainice și bine păzite locuri, unde se redactau și se arhivau secrete esențiale ale Alianței Nord-Atlantice [...].� - G-ral bg. (r) Gheorghe Dragomir]]> 608 Florian Banu 6067936127 Liviu 5
Later, Caraman was marginalized by his superiors and after the Pacepa scandal of 1978, when the traitor general defected due to the fear of being exposed as a spy or for corruption, or both of course - not sure of the truth as Pacepa is a master liar and his popular books are masterpieces of self-promotion and evasion and as an aside a few months before his defection, a truck containing a lot of western material goods from refrigerators to coffee machines and whatnot, all destined for Pacepa and many other information officers that were mostly his cronies was stopped at the Romanian border by a quirk of fate, since the border supervision duties had changed hands recently and the current guards had not yet been informed of the "usual arrangements", creating a scandal that couldn't be swept under the rug and leading to a corruption investigation in the information services, while at about the same time intelligence that a high ranking (western) spy was active in the Romanian Information Services was confirmed also, so one can draw their own conclusions -Caraman was retired, while being investigated by the Securitate until the fall of communism in 1989; then Caraman was recalled to lead the Romanian Information Services in the critical period 1990-1992 during those deeply dangerous years when the tectonic plates of Europe shook hard

The book starts with his childhood: born in Moldavia in 1928, but raised in Cahul and Ismail until 1940 and then from 1941-44 - both part of the Romanian province of Bessarabia which was conquered by the Russian Empire in 1812, reunited with the motherland in 1918, only to be reconquered by the Soviet Union in June 1940 - under their secret understanding with Nazi Germany in August 1939 when as de facto allies, the two dictatorships partitioned Eastern Europe between them - while after a brief reunion with Romania from 1941-44, the province was retaken by the USSR and split, most of it becoming the Moldova Republic (which cahul belongs to today), the rest given to Ukraine (which Ismail/Izmail, about 60 miles away from Cahul, belongs to today) - so he was a double refugee from Bessarabia and lived in fear of deportation to the Soviet paradise with his parents and sisters for a while; later he attended the law school in Cluj but being poor, he couldn't afford his living expenses so he had to withdraw and went to military school which was fully sponsored by the state where he specialized in information work which led to his postings abroad as undercover agent; Caraman is considered the best Romanian spy of the cold war and the book amply demonstrates why that is so; combining historical notes, extensive interviews with Mihai Caraman (and many others), lots of documents, bibliographical material from a lot of similar works and an excellent fluent style, the author did a great job in this book which is not only informative but a pleasure to read.

Overall - history/biography at its best]]> 3.90 Mihai Caraman - un spion român în Războiul Rece
author: Florian Banu
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.90
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2019/07/29
date added: 2020/03/21
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, romanian_language, top_25_2019_books
review:
Found it by chance in a Romanian bookstore, I opened it to see what is about and it captivated me from the first page so I bought it on the spot and essentially couldn't put it down and read it whenever I had time until I finished it -never heard of the subject of the book, Mihai Caraman, who was a Romanian undercover operative posing as a diplomat in Paris between 1958-1968, where he managed to recruit a few agents who worked for NATO and provided a lot of top-secret material; his spy ring was exposed when his former second in command defected to the USA in 1968 and all involved were arrested and condemned to long prison sentences, though Mihai Caraman was allowed to leave France in peace - he could have been expelled of course though not arrested as he had diplomatic immunity - since France and Romania were undergoing a renewal of the historical friendship between the countries and no one wanted to upset the apple cart so to speak, hence originally the arrested spies were presented to have worked for the KGB, only later in the early 70's the truth being told in the French press

Later, Caraman was marginalized by his superiors and after the Pacepa scandal of 1978, when the traitor general defected due to the fear of being exposed as a spy or for corruption, or both of course - not sure of the truth as Pacepa is a master liar and his popular books are masterpieces of self-promotion and evasion and as an aside a few months before his defection, a truck containing a lot of western material goods from refrigerators to coffee machines and whatnot, all destined for Pacepa and many other information officers that were mostly his cronies was stopped at the Romanian border by a quirk of fate, since the border supervision duties had changed hands recently and the current guards had not yet been informed of the "usual arrangements", creating a scandal that couldn't be swept under the rug and leading to a corruption investigation in the information services, while at about the same time intelligence that a high ranking (western) spy was active in the Romanian Information Services was confirmed also, so one can draw their own conclusions -Caraman was retired, while being investigated by the Securitate until the fall of communism in 1989; then Caraman was recalled to lead the Romanian Information Services in the critical period 1990-1992 during those deeply dangerous years when the tectonic plates of Europe shook hard

The book starts with his childhood: born in Moldavia in 1928, but raised in Cahul and Ismail until 1940 and then from 1941-44 - both part of the Romanian province of Bessarabia which was conquered by the Russian Empire in 1812, reunited with the motherland in 1918, only to be reconquered by the Soviet Union in June 1940 - under their secret understanding with Nazi Germany in August 1939 when as de facto allies, the two dictatorships partitioned Eastern Europe between them - while after a brief reunion with Romania from 1941-44, the province was retaken by the USSR and split, most of it becoming the Moldova Republic (which cahul belongs to today), the rest given to Ukraine (which Ismail/Izmail, about 60 miles away from Cahul, belongs to today) - so he was a double refugee from Bessarabia and lived in fear of deportation to the Soviet paradise with his parents and sisters for a while; later he attended the law school in Cluj but being poor, he couldn't afford his living expenses so he had to withdraw and went to military school which was fully sponsored by the state where he specialized in information work which led to his postings abroad as undercover agent; Caraman is considered the best Romanian spy of the cold war and the book amply demonstrates why that is so; combining historical notes, extensive interviews with Mihai Caraman (and many others), lots of documents, bibliographical material from a lot of similar works and an excellent fluent style, the author did a great job in this book which is not only informative but a pleasure to read.

Overall - history/biography at its best
]]> <![CDATA[A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution]]> 45031867 From an award-winning historian, a magisterial account of the revolution that created the modern world

The principles of the French Revolution remain the only possible basis for a just society -- even if, after more than two hundred years, they are more contested than ever before. In A New World Begins, Jeremy D. Popkin offers a riveting account of the revolution that puts the reader in the thick of the debates and the violence that led to the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a new society. We meet Mirabeau, Robespierre, and Danton, in all of their brilliance and vengefulness; we witness the failed escape and execution of Louis XVI; we see women demanding equal rights and black slaves wresting freedom from revolutionaries who hesitated to act on their own principles; and we follow the rise of Napoleon out of the ashes of the Reign of Terror.

Based on decades of scholarship, A New World Begins will stand as the definitive treatment of the French Revolution.]]> 640 Jeremy D. Popkin 0465096662 Liviu 5
Highly recommended ]]> 4.14 2019 A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution
author: Jeremy D. Popkin
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/02/06
date added: 2020/03/01
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2020, t_notable_books_2019
review:
I read lots of books about or set during the French Revolution, so there wasn't that much new overall here, though it followed the fates of some lesser-known participants contrasting them with one another or with famous persons, as well as intertwined the story of slavery and civil rights in Haiti (and France which was the first western country to seat black deputies in the parliament in 1793 though it turned out to be temporary of course) for the black and mixed-race population which brought many contradictions of the Revolution to light, but overall the book was still gripping and quite balanced read that went beyond the usual customary Thermidor reaction to Napoleon's coronation when the Revolution was finally dead, so in particular, the lesser-known story of the Directory government of 1795-1799 with its twists and turns gets a full airing here

Highly recommended
]]> <![CDATA[Necessary Sins (Lazare Family Saga #1)]]> 51802443
Joseph Lazare and his two sisters grow up believing their black hair and olive skin come from a Spanish grandmother—until the summer they learn she was an African slave. While his sisters make very different choices, Joseph struggles to transcend the flesh by becoming a celibate priest.

Then young Father Joseph meets Tessa Conley, a devout Irish immigrant who shares his passions for music and botany. Joseph must conceal his true feelings as Tessa marries another man—a plantation owner who treats her like property. Acting on their love for each other will ruin Joseph and Tessa in this world and damn them in the next.

Or will it?

NECESSARY SINS is the first book in the sweeping Lazare Family Saga that transports readers from the West Indies to the Wild West, from Charleston, Paris, and Rome into the depths of the human heart. Passion, prejudice, secrets, and a mother’s desperate choice in the chaos of revolution echo through five generations. If you enjoyed THE THORN BIRDS or the novels of Sara Donati, dive into Elizabeth Bell’s epic historical fiction today.

Finalist for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship
Second Place in the Maggie Awards for Excellence in the category Novel with Strong Romantic Elements]]> 522 Elizabeth Bell Liviu 4 4.23 2019 Necessary Sins (Lazare Family Saga #1)
author: Elizabeth Bell
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/09/04
date added: 2020/02/26
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2019
review:
Good but not quite what I expected at least based on the blurb; interesting enough though, so I plan to check out the next volume
]]> <![CDATA[The Cruel Stars (The Cruel Stars, #1)]]> 43093526
The enemy has returned and, with a brutal and decisive attack, knocks out almost all of humanity’s defenses. Now on the brink of annihilation, humankind’s only hope is a few brave souls who survived the initial attack: Commander Lucinda Hardy, thrust into uncertain command of the Royal Armadalen Navy’s only surviving warship. Booker3, a soldier of Earth, sentenced to die for treason, whose time on death row is cut short when the Sturm attack his prison compound. Princess Alessia, a young royal of the Montanblanc Corporation, forced to flee when her home planet is overrun and her entire family executed. Sephina L’trel, the leader of an outlaw band who must call on all of her criminal skills to resist the invasion. And, finally, Admiral Frazer McLennan, the infamous hero of the first war with the Sturm hundreds of years ago, who hopes to rout his old foes once and for all—or die trying.

These five flawed, reluctant heroes must band together to prevail against a relentless enemy and near-impossible odds. For if they fail, the future itself is doomed.]]> 412 John Birmingham 0399593314 Liviu 5 3.91 2019 The Cruel Stars (The Cruel Stars, #1)
author: John Birmingham
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/02/13
date added: 2020/02/13
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2020, top_25_2019_books
review:
Fun if you are in the mood for a retro mil-space opera with modern sensibilities but the classic don't stop and think too hard about what happens as you will lose the enjoyment; the characters and setting worked well and kept me turning pages, while the narrative has energy and doesn't let up; but again, just take it as it is and do not expect "serious" sf here - the next book is a huge asap as I really want to see what happens next
]]> The Man Who Saw Everything 42972048
The Man Who Saw Everything is about the difficulty of seeing ourselves and others clearly. It greets the specters that come back to haunt old and new love, previous and current incarnations of Europe, conscious and unconscious transgressions, and real and imagined betrayals, while investigating the cyclic nature of history and its reinvention by people in power. Here, Levy traverses the vast reaches of the human imagination while artfully blurring sexual and political binaries-feminine and masculine,]]> 199 Deborah Levy 1632869845 Liviu 3 3.66 2014 The Man Who Saw Everything
author: Deborah Levy
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2020/01/26
date added: 2020/01/27
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2020
review:
ok'ish and short but I expected better - the prose lacked the sparkle of Swimming Home
]]> <![CDATA[Salvation Lost (Salvation Sequence, #2)]]> 44020966
But in a chaotic universe, it is hard to plan for every eventuality, and it is always darkest before the dawn.]]> 494 Peter F. Hamilton 0399178864 Liviu 5
However, the last part of the book twists in quite unexpected ways and a lot of what we think we know is shown to be questionable if not wrong by the end of the novel, so it really requires an immediate re-read and figuring out the clues which question pretty much everything we thought we knew...

Overall an excellent book, raising the level of interest of the series by the way things turn in the last part of the book

And just for a tidbit, let me add a short quote (with spoilers removed) from the latter part of the novel, where there are quite a few revelations including that Yirella is descended from one of (the new) characters in this book:

Yirella smiled bleakly. “One of my ancestors was the first ****.�
“Uh, I didn’t think we had ancestors. You know, not actual family.�
“They let me check my genealogy back on Juloss as part of my therapy. It was supposed to help give me a sense of belonging—which it did, a bit, I guess. Some of my DNA comes from **** descendants.”]]> 4.27 2019 Salvation Lost (Salvation Sequence, #2)
author: Peter F. Hamilton
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/07/03
date added: 2020/01/27
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
Salvation Lost opens as an immediate sequel to Salvation - starting exactly when/where that one ended after a prologue set in the future with the cast from that sequence- and it just rocks; it has mostly the same characters but a few new ones appear too (including some secondary ones from Salvation having a more central role here)

However, the last part of the book twists in quite unexpected ways and a lot of what we think we know is shown to be questionable if not wrong by the end of the novel, so it really requires an immediate re-read and figuring out the clues which question pretty much everything we thought we knew...

Overall an excellent book, raising the level of interest of the series by the way things turn in the last part of the book

And just for a tidbit, let me add a short quote (with spoilers removed) from the latter part of the novel, where there are quite a few revelations including that Yirella is descended from one of (the new) characters in this book:

Yirella smiled bleakly. “One of my ancestors was the first ****.�
“Uh, I didn’t think we had ancestors. You know, not actual family.�
“They let me check my genealogy back on Juloss as part of my therapy. It was supposed to help give me a sense of belonging—which it did, a bit, I guess. Some of my DNA comes from **** descendants.�
]]> The Silent Patient 40097951
Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.]]> 336 Alex Michaelides 1250301696 Liviu 4 4.17 2019 The Silent Patient
author: Alex Michaelides
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2020/01/23
date added: 2020/01/23
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2020
review:
Narrative power and an interesting twist but same stuff that makes me usually avoid these kinds of books (contemporary psychological thrillers), namely lots of mumbo-jumbo psychology, all about the beautiful and famous, suspension of disbelief killing coincidences etc; still, this one was better than most I tried as it mostly kept my attention till the end, due to the author's narrative power; would definitely be interested to read more by the author
]]> <![CDATA[An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent]]> 41067507 The thrilling true story of Richard Sorge - the man John le Carré called 'the spy to end spies', and whose actions turned the tide of the Second World War

Richard Sorge was a man with two homelands. Born of a German father and a Russian mother in Baku in 1895, he moved in a world of shifting alliances and infinite possibility. A member of the angry and deluded generation who found new, radical faiths after their experiences on the battlefields of the First World War, Sorge became a fanatical communist - and the Soviet Union's most formidable spy.

Like many great spies, Sorge was an effortless seducer, combining charm with ruthless manipulation. He did not have to go undercover to find out closely guarded state secrets - his victims willingly shared them. As a foreign correspondent, he infiltrated and influenced the highest echelons of German, Chinese and Japanese society in the years leading up to and including the Second World War. His intelligence regarding Operation Barbarossa and Japanese intentions not to invade Siberia in 1941 proved pivotal to the Soviet counteroffensive in the Battle of Moscow, which in turn determined the outcome of the war.

Never before has Sorge's story been told from the Russian side as well as the German and Japanese. Owen Matthews takes a sweeping historical perspective and draws on a wealth of declassified Soviet archives - along with testimonies from those who knew and worked with Sorge - to rescue the riveting story of the man described by Ian Fleming as 'the most formidable spy in history'.]]> 448 Owen Matthews 1408857782 Liviu 5
highly recommended whether one is new to the life and deeds of the arguably greatest spy of all times or one has read bunch of books about him before]]> 4.09 2019 An Impeccable Spy: Richard Sorge, Stalin’s Master Agent
author: Owen Matthews
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2020/01/12
date added: 2020/01/12
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2020, t_notable_books_2019
review:
An excellent biography of the famous soviet spy - read quite a few of them from the (hagiographic but still entertaining ) Russian ones almost four decades ago to more recent western ones and this one is entertaining and well written with the special touch the author brings from his Russian side of the family (as his grandmother was a neighbor of one of Sorge's handlers in the Soviet intelligence for example);

highly recommended whether one is new to the life and deeds of the arguably greatest spy of all times or one has read bunch of books about him before
]]> <![CDATA[The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century]]> 35576093 A bracing assessment of U.S. foreign policy and world disorder over the past two decades, anchored by a major new Pentagon-commissioned essay about changing power dynamics among China, Eurasia, and America--from the renowned geopolitical analyst and bestselling author of The Revenge of Geography and The Coming Anarchy.

In the late thirteenth century, Marco Polo began a decades-long trek from Venice to China. The strength of that Silk Road--the trade route between Europe and Asia--was a foundation of Kublai Khan's sprawling empire. Now, in the early twenty-first century, the Chinese regime has proposed a land-and-maritime Silk Road that duplicates exactly the route Marco Polo traveled.

In the major lead essay, recently released by the Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment, Robert D. Kaplan lays out a blueprint of the world's changing power politics that recalls the late thirteenth century. As Europe fractures from changes in culture and migration, Eurasia coheres into a single conflict system. China is constructing a land bridge to Europe. Iran and India are trying to link the oil fields of Central Asia to the Indian Ocean. America's ability to influence the power balance in Eurasia is declining.

This is Kaplan's first collection of essays since his classic The Coming Anarchy was published in 2000. Drawing on decades of firsthand experience as a foreign correspondent and military embed for The Atlantic, as well as encounters with preeminent realist thinkers, Kaplan outlines the timeless principles that should shape America's role in a turbulent world: a respect for the limits of Western-style democracy; a delineation between American interests and American values; an awareness of the psychological toll of warfare; a projection of power via a strong navy; and more.

From Kaplan's immediate thoughts on President Trump ("On Foreign Policy, Donald Trump Is No Realist," 2016) to a frank examination of what will happen in the event of war with North Korea ("When North Korea Falls," 2006), The Return of Marco Polo's World is a vigorous and honest reckoning with the difficult choices the United States will face in the years ahead.

"These essays constitute a truly pathbreaking, brilliant synthesis and analysis of geographic, political, technological, and economic trends with far-reaching consequences. The Return of Marco Polo's World is another work by Robert D. Kaplan that will be regarded as a classic."--General David Petraeus (U.S. Army, Ret.)]]> 304 Robert D. Kaplan 0812996798 Liviu 2 3.73 2018 The Return of Marco Polo's World: War, Strategy, and American Interests in the Twenty-first Century
author: Robert D. Kaplan
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2020/01/11
date added: 2020/01/12
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2020
review:
disappointing - nothing really but the so-called conventional wisdom which has been failing consisintely for the [ast few years; waste of time
]]> <![CDATA[The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World]]> 40697556
The rise and fall of the British Empire; the emergence of America as a superpower; the ebb and flow of global challenges from Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Soviet Russia. These are the headlines of history, but they cannot be properly grasped without understanding the role that population has played.

The Human Tide shows how periods of rapid population transition -- a phenomenon that first emerged in the British Isles but gradually spread across the globe--shaped the course of world history. Demography -- the study of population -- is the key to unlocking an understanding of the world we live in and how we got here.

Demographic changes explain why the Arab Spring came and went, how China rose so meteorically, and why Britain voted for Brexit and America for Donald Trump. Sweeping from Europe to the Americas, China, East Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, The Human Tide is a panoramic view of the sheer power of numbers.]]> 355 Paul Morland 1541788362 Liviu 3 3.66 2019 The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World
author: Paul Morland
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2020/01/01
date added: 2020/01/04
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2020
review:
It started very strong with a discussion of how demography dictated or at least was very influential in a lot of historical events, but when moving towards the present it became a cliche spouting book and almost unreadable
]]> <![CDATA[The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture]]> 43565328 From the “master of historical narrative� (Financial Times), a dazzling, richly detailed, panoramic work—the first to document the genesis of a continent-wide European culture.

The nineteenth century in Europe was a time of unprecedented artistic achievement. It was also the first age of cultural globalization—an epoch when mass communications and high-speed rail travel brought Europe together, overcoming the barriers of nationalism and facilitating the development of a truly European canon of artistic, musical, and literary works. By 1900, the same books were being read across the continent, the same paintings reproduced, the same music played in homes and heard in concert halls, the same operas performed in all the major theatres.

Drawing from a wealth of documents, letters, and other archival materials, acclaimed historian Orlando Figes examines the interplay of money and art that made this unification possible. At the center of the book is a poignant love triangle: the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev; the Spanish prima donna Pauline Viardot, with whom Turgenev had a long and intimate relationship; and her husband Louis Viardot, an art critic, theater manager, and republican activist. Together, Turgenev and the Viardots acted as a kind of European cultural exchange—they either knew or crossed paths with Delacroix, Berlioz, Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, the Schumanns, Hugo, Flaubert, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky, among many other towering figures.

As Figes observes, nearly all of civilization’s great advances have come during periods of heightened cosmopolitanism—when people, ideas, and artistic creations circulate freely between nations. Vivid and insightful, The Europeans shows how such cosmopolitan ferment shaped artistic traditions that came to dominate world culture.]]> 483 Orlando Figes 1627792147 Liviu 5 /review/show... and a top 10 book of mine from 2015), I was spoiled to a large extent about the main protagonists, but the reconstruction itself is just superb and the author's erudition and prose that made his books about the Russian Revolution and Russain Culture such successes, shine here too.

Highly recommended]]> 4.17 2019 The Europeans: Three Lives and the Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture
author: Orlando Figes
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/04
date added: 2019/12/04
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
An excellent book about the advent of European modernity (mostly arts, literature, but also science and politics) through the intertwined lives of the diva Pauline Viardot and her "co-husband" the famed Russian writer and progressive nobleman who was at the forefront of the abolition of serfdom and of the integration of the Russian culture (including music and painting, not only litearture and theater) within the European canon, Ivan Turgenev. As it superposed to a large extent with the awesome novel/historical reconstruction The Edge of the Nest by C. Cruise (/review/show... and a top 10 book of mine from 2015), I was spoiled to a large extent about the main protagonists, but the reconstruction itself is just superb and the author's erudition and prose that made his books about the Russian Revolution and Russain Culture such successes, shine here too.

Highly recommended
]]> <![CDATA[Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI]]> 41447564
And yet, by the time he was done to death in the Tower of London in 1471, France was lost, his throne had been seized by his rival, Edward IV of the House of York, and his kingdom had descended into the violent chaos of the Wars of the Roses.

Henry VI is perhaps the most troubled of English monarchs, a pious, gentle, well-intentioned man who was plagued by bouts of mental illness. In Shadow King, Lauren Johnson tells his remarkable and sometimes shocking story in a fast-paced and colourful narrative that captures both the poignancy of Henry's life and the tumultuous and bloody nature of the times in which he lived.]]> 736 Lauren Johnson 1784979635 Liviu 5 4.32 2019 Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI
author: Lauren Johnson
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/12/01
date added: 2019/12/01
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
very engrossing and quite a fast read despite its length
]]> <![CDATA[Under Occupation (Night Soldiers, #15)]]> 44452711
From the master of espionage and intrigue, this novel about heroic resistance fighters in 1942 occupied Paris is based on true events of Polish prisoners in Nazi Germany, who smuggled valuable intelligence to Paris and the resistance.
Occupied Paris in 1942, a dark, treacherous city now ruled by the German security services, where French resistance networks are working secretly to defeat Hitler. Just before he dies, a man being chased by the Gestapo hands off to Paul Ricard a strange looking drawing. It looks like a part for a military weapon; Ricard realizes it must be an important document smuggled out of Germany to aid the resistance. As Ricard is drawn deeper and deeper into the French resistance network, his increasingly dangerous assignments lead him to travel to Germany, and along the underground safe houses of the resistance--and to meet the mysterious and beautiful Leila, a professional spy.

Alan Furst has been called "one of the best contemporary writers" by David McCullough, and "the most talented espionage novelist of our generation" by Vince Flynn.

]]> 210 Alan Furst 039959230X Liviu 3 3.27 2019 Under Occupation (Night Soldiers, #15)
author: Alan Furst
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.27
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/11/26
date added: 2019/11/26
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2019
review:
the worst Alan Furst I've ever read, almost like a cliche combination of his work written as a pastiche by a ghostwriter... On the other hand, it has enough cool stuff to have kept me reading and giving it an average grade - though this only shows what we are missing and how much better it would have been if this were a "real" Alan Furst novel on par with his otherwise superb work
]]> <![CDATA[Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924]]> 35960124
In Petrograd, a fire is lit. The Tsar is packed off to Siberia. A rancorous Russian exile returns to proclaim a workers' revolution. In America, black soldiers who have served their country in Europe demand their rights at home. An Austrian war veteran trained by the German army to give rousing speeches against the Bolshevik peril begins to rail against the Jews. A solar eclipse turns a former patent clerk into a celebrity. An American reporter living the high life in Paris searches out a new literary style.

Lenin and Hitler, Josephine Baker and Ernest Hemingway, Rosa Luxemburg and Mustafa Kemal - these are some of the protagonists in this dramatic panorama of a world in turmoil. Revolutions and civil wars erupt across Europe. A red scare hits America. Women win the vote. Marching tunes are syncopated into jazz. The real becomes surreal.

Encompassing both tragedy and humor, the celebrated author of 1913 brings immediacy and intimacy to this moment of deep historical transformation that moulded the world we would come to inherit.]]> 739 Charles Emmerson 1610397827 Liviu 5
Definitely would be interested to a sequel (or more) as outside of the above, we also meet (and here noting only the surviving characters by 1924 as there were also notable characters like Rosa Luxemburg and Woodrow Wilson that passed away like the impatient revolutionary within our period) Hemingway, Freud, Einstein, Mussolini, the Kaiser, Mustafa Kemal, Andre Breton, William du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Eamon de Valera, Clare Sheridan, Nadya Ulyanova, Josephine Baker so a reconstruction of their and others that come to the fore activities in the next 15 years say would make for great reading too.

Highly recommended]]> 4.05 2019 Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924
author: Charles Emmerson
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/20
date added: 2019/11/20
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
One of the best history books I've read recently - very engaging style and an interesting structure following the main events of the period through the activities of quite a few characters of which some of the most notable are the principled non-tipper (starting in New York 1917), the impatient revolutionary (starting in Zurich 1917), the Georgian bank-robber (just released from Siberia and going back to Petrograd 1917) and the mangy field-runner (starting in the trenches of the western front), but with many, many others and it obviously ends in 1924 with the (un)heroic death and the start of the public afterlife of the impatient revolutionary, the beginning of the domination of the bank-robber and the marginalization of the non-tipper (which as we know ended with an ice-pick to the head in Mexico) and the release of the mangy field-runner from an ultimately short (just under a year out of a 5 year sentence) but productive stay in prison where he wrote his soon to be very successful book about his struggle...

Definitely would be interested to a sequel (or more) as outside of the above, we also meet (and here noting only the surviving characters by 1924 as there were also notable characters like Rosa Luxemburg and Woodrow Wilson that passed away like the impatient revolutionary within our period) Hemingway, Freud, Einstein, Mussolini, the Kaiser, Mustafa Kemal, Andre Breton, William du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Eamon de Valera, Clare Sheridan, Nadya Ulyanova, Josephine Baker so a reconstruction of their and others that come to the fore activities in the next 15 years say would make for great reading too.

Highly recommended
]]> <![CDATA[Master of Sorrows (The Silent Gods, #1)]]> 39308821
But what if the boy hero and the malevolent, threatening taint were one and the same?

What if the boy slowly came to realize he was the reincarnation of an evil god? Would he save the world . . . or destroy it?

Among the Academy's warrior-thieves, Annev de Breth is an outlier. Unlike his classmates who were stolen as infants from the capital city, Annev was born in the small village of Chaenbalu, was believed to be executed, and then unknowingly raised by his parents' killers.

Seventeen years later, Annev struggles with the burdens of a forbidden magic, a forgotten heritage, and a secret deformity. When he is subsequently caught between the warring ideologies of his priestly mentor and the Academy's masters, he must choose between forfeiting his promising future at the Academy or betraying his closest friends. Each decision leads to a deeper dilemma, until Annev finds himself pressed into a quest he does not wish to fulfil.

Will he finally embrace the doctrine of his tutors, murder a stranger, and abandon his mentor? Or will he accept the more difficult truth of who he is . . . and the darker truth of what he may become . . .]]> 448 Justin Call Liviu 3 3.82 2019 Master of Sorrows (The Silent Gods, #1)
author: Justin Call
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/11/14
date added: 2019/11/14
shelves: 2019_release_read, read_2019, genre-fantasy
review:
made me turn the pages until the end as it seemed the book will really get interesting on the next page but it never really did, so highly unlikely will read more in the series; liked the style of the author though as that kept me turning the pages so if the story is more on one's taste than mine, this can be interesting
]]> <![CDATA[Legacy of Ash (Legacy Trilogy, #1)]]> 44287627 Legacy of Ash is an unmissable fantasy debut--an epic tale of intrigue and revolution, soldiers and assassins, ancient magic and the eternal clash of empires.

A shadow has fallen over the Tressian Republic.

Ruling families -- once protectors of justice and democracy -- now plot against one another with sharp words and sharper knives. Blinded by ambition, they remain heedless of the threat posed by the invading armies of the Hadari Empire.

Yet as Tressia falls, heroes rise.

Viktor Akadra is the Republic's champion. A warrior without equal, he hides a secret that would see him burned as a heretic.

Josiri Trelan is Viktor's sworn enemy. A political prisoner, he dreams of reigniting his mother's failed rebellion.

And yet Calenne Trelan, Josiri's sister, seeks only to break free of their tarnished legacy; to escape the expectation and prejudice that haunts the family name.

As war spreads across the Republic, these three must set aside their differences in order to save their home. Yet decades of bad blood are not easily set aside. And victory -- if it comes at all -- will demand a darker price than any of them could have imagined.]]> 800 Matthew Ward 0356513343 Liviu 4 3.94 2019 Legacy of Ash (Legacy Trilogy, #1)
author: Matthew Ward
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/11/05
date added: 2019/11/06
shelves: 2019_release_read, read_2019, genre-fantasy
review:
I really liked the writing in this one and some of the characters were interesting, but the world-building felt constricted and there was way too much magic or maybe better put, magical, all-powerful beings for my taste. Still, a strong narrative kept me turning the pages somewhat to my surprise and I definitely plan to keep an eye for the next book if only to see where it goes as the ending is quite interesting.
]]> <![CDATA[Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands]]> 43899574 Dan Jones, best-selling chronicler of the Middle Ages, turns his attention to the history of the Crusades � the sequence of religious wars fought between the late eleventh century and late medieval periods, in which armies from European Christian states attempted to wrest the Holy Land from Islamic rule, and which have left an enduring imprint on relations between the Muslim world and the West.

From the preaching of the First Crusade by Pope Urban II in 1095 to the loss of the last crusader outpost in the Levant in 1302-03, and from the taking of Jerusalem from the Fatimids in 1099 to the fall of Acre to the Mamluks in 1291, Crusaders tells a tale soaked in Islamic, Christian and Jewish blood, peopled by extraordinary characters, and characterised by both low ambition and high principle.

Dan Jones is a master of popular narrative history, with the priceless ability to write page-turning narrative history underpinned by authoritative scholarship. Never before has the era of the Crusades been depicted in such bright and striking colours, or their story told with such gusto.

]]> 464 Dan Jones 0525428313 Liviu 5
Overall a great read and highly recommended]]> 4.11 2019 Crusaders: The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands
author: Dan Jones
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/03
date added: 2019/11/06
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Excellent (and reading like a novel for most of the book) book about the Crusades with vignette-like stories that present all the larger than life characters (popes and preachers, scholars, warriors, emperors, sultans, queens and princesses) of the relatively familiar tale though here it encompasses the whole range from the Holy Land, to Sicily and the Islands of the Mediterranean to Spain and Portugal, but also the Crusade against the Cathars and the ones in the Baltic area. While fairly long as a book, it still reads fast as the period covering some 3 centuries is full to the brim with events. With an epilogue leading to the present, I felt that the only major weakness of the book is not to put the Crusades into the larger historical context of the struggle for domination of the Middle East and more generally of the Mediterranean basin - one could argue that the first Crusade started under Alexander or maybe even under Darius and Xerxes going the other way and so it went with the Muslim conquests from the 7th century on and the Byzantine and later Western counterattack (which is the subject of this book) only a part of the story. On the other hand I liked that the author kept away from easy ideological judgements and emphasized that the religious part while essential at the start, got more and more diluted as times passed by and while he jumped from the 15th century to the present, the anti-Habsurg alliance of France and the Ottoman Empire from Francis and Suleiman to essentially the late 19th century would have made that point very clearly.

Overall a great read and highly recommended
]]> <![CDATA[King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV]]> 41728439
King of the World is a magnificent and startlingly insightful account of the man who dominated the seventeenth century more than any other. To what extent did Louis have absolute power, or was decision-making in the hands of ministers and mistresses? How much of the extravagance of Versailles was for show, and how far was Louis himself the show? How could such a civilized man commit so many acts of barbarism? How effective was he as a ruler and a general? Did he leave his country stronger or weaker than it was before? Mansel offers original and persuasive answers to these questions, and weaves a brilliant tapestry of the life of one of the most compelling figures in European history.]]> 640 Philip Mansel 1846145996 Liviu 5
Written with skill and reading almost like a novel, while pointing out various things connecting the era of Louis the XiV to today (not only Versailles which is the obvious inheritance of the modern era, but also the fact that the borders of France which were much enlarged under his reign remained pretty much the same until today with the exceptions of a few Belgian towns lost in the Spanish succession war and a few others), I really liked this one and highly recommend it]]> 4.04 2019 King of the World: The Life of Louis XIV
author: Philip Mansel
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/11/01
date added: 2019/11/01
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
This was an excellent book and quite better than I expected; due to the vastness of its subject (the Sun King's reign lasted 72 years and for 50+ of them he was in true control at least in so far the administrative and technological development of the era allowed it) the book feels rushed here and there and I would have liked more on the crucial mid 1670'd to the mid 1680's in which he transformed from a young, bright, warlike but enlightened monarch to the one who persecuted, murdered and expelled the Huguenots and the Jansenists, impoverished his people who died in mass famines due to relentless war against almost all of Europ, war in which the armies under close control of the king burnt and pillaged their way through Western Germany, Northern Italy and Belgium - which was quite shocking for the day as after the 30 Year war, the rulers of Europe felt that war should be limited and even in the invasion of Holland in the early 1670's the king was much milder - and also which invited brutal retaliation when the fortunes of war turned against France.

Written with skill and reading almost like a novel, while pointing out various things connecting the era of Louis the XiV to today (not only Versailles which is the obvious inheritance of the modern era, but also the fact that the borders of France which were much enlarged under his reign remained pretty much the same until today with the exceptions of a few Belgian towns lost in the Spanish succession war and a few others), I really liked this one and highly recommend it
]]> <![CDATA[The Burning White (Lightbringer, #5)]]> 30169100 IN THE DARKEST HOUR, WILL THE LIGHTBRINGER COME?

Gavin Guile, once the most powerful man the world had ever seen, has been laid low. He's lost his magic, and now he is on a suicide mission. Failure will condemn the woman he loves. Success will condemn his entire empire.

As the White King springs his great traps and the Chromeria itself is threatened by treason and siege, Kip guile must gather his forces, rally his allies, and scramble to return for one impossible final stand.]]> 960 Brent Weeks 0316251305 Liviu 5 4.22 2019 The Burning White (Lightbringer, #5)
author: Brent Weeks
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/30
date added: 2019/11/01
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
A very good ending to the series and I enjoyed it well enough, but it felt like a book that came a few years too late for me to really be excited by it compared to the first three volumes for example which were either top or second best for me for the corresponding years; after the 4th volume I felt the series went too long by a book and this one reinforced that feeling as books 4-5 could have easily been compressed to one volume imho
]]> <![CDATA[The House of Sacrifice (Empires of Dust, #3)]]> 42975419
But Marith is become increasingly mentally unstable and their victories cannot continue forever.]]> 480 Anna Smith Spark 0316511528 Liviu 4 3.80 2019 The House of Sacrifice (Empires of Dust, #3)
author: Anna Smith Spark
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/10/25
date added: 2019/11/01
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019
review:
A reasonable ending to the trilogy but not as good as the first two books as it felt forced to a large extent, or maybe juts it lacked the spontaneity and surprises of the first two volumes
]]> <![CDATA[The Last Dance (The Near-Earth Mysteries, #1)]]> 44067572 At the heart of a mystery unfolding in space, the opposing forces make a treacherous journey between Earth and Mars.

In space, mutiny means death—that’s why Inspector General Park Yerim is taking her investigation so seriously. The alleged mutineer is Captain Nicolau Aames, whose command of the massive Earth-Mars vessel Aldrin has come under fire. The vast System Initiative says he disobeyed orders, but his crew swears he’s in the right.

En route to Mars, Park gathers testimony from the Aldrin’s diverse crew, painting a complex picture of Aames’s character: his heroism, his failures, even his personal passions. As the investigation unfolds, Park finds herself in the thrall of powerful interests, each pushing and pulling her in a fiery cosmic dance.

Corruption, conflicting loyalties, and clashing accounts make it nearly impossible to see the truth in fifty million miles of darkness, and Park faces danger from every direction. All eyes are on her: one way or another, her findings will have astronomical implications for the Aldrin and the future of space travel.]]> 463 Martin L. Shoemaker 1542004314 Liviu 5
The narration mostly alternates between the Inspector General Park Yerim investigating the supposed mutiny on Aldrin and various characters recounting their most memorable past experiences with the presumed leader of the mutiny, Aldrin's captain Nicolau Aames though it eventually gets to the present, the events leading here and their resolution. I definitely do not want to spoil anything more since except for the ending which is sort of telegraphed maybe 50 pages before, the book keeps throwing surprises and hard science sf at the reader in a way I haven't seen in a while, way that reminded me why I love sf and at least used to read 100 novels in the genre a year a while ago. The only weakness (except for the boring first few pages) is the somewhat telegraphed ending, though it definitely was a cool and appropriate one and as the novel is advertised as a first volume (though it is self-contained) I definitely hope there will be more in this milieu and I would eagerly get them asap this time considering how impressive The Last dance was.

Highly, highly recommended and a top 10 of the year]]> 3.86 2019 The Last Dance (The Near-Earth Mysteries, #1)
author: Martin L. Shoemaker
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/08
date added: 2019/10/08
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
An excellent novel - I got it absolutely by chance as it featured in the Amazon prime email with the selection for the beginning of the month free prime book (which I generally ignore as I already have enough books on deck so to speak...), but the title, synopsis, and cover of this one attracted my attention and then I saw some very enthusiastic reviews, so I decided to give it a try and while the first few pages are kind of boring and almost made me put it aside, I did my usual routine on promising books that do not hook me early and started browsing every few pages at random and immediately the novel hooked me with the first story of the doctor and from then on it indeed became a novel not to be put down unless there is no other choice and I finished it in two sittings.

The narration mostly alternates between the Inspector General Park Yerim investigating the supposed mutiny on Aldrin and various characters recounting their most memorable past experiences with the presumed leader of the mutiny, Aldrin's captain Nicolau Aames though it eventually gets to the present, the events leading here and their resolution. I definitely do not want to spoil anything more since except for the ending which is sort of telegraphed maybe 50 pages before, the book keeps throwing surprises and hard science sf at the reader in a way I haven't seen in a while, way that reminded me why I love sf and at least used to read 100 novels in the genre a year a while ago. The only weakness (except for the boring first few pages) is the somewhat telegraphed ending, though it definitely was a cool and appropriate one and as the novel is advertised as a first volume (though it is self-contained) I definitely hope there will be more in this milieu and I would eagerly get them asap this time considering how impressive The Last dance was.

Highly, highly recommended and a top 10 of the year
]]> <![CDATA[Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World]]> 43885149 A "marvelous" (Economist) account of how the Christian Revolution forged the Western imagination.

Crucifixion, the Romans believed, was the worst fate imaginable, a punishment reserved for slaves. How astonishing it was, then, that people should have come to believe that one particular victim of crucifixion-an obscure provincial by the name of Jesus-was to be worshipped as a god. Dominion explores the implications of this shocking conviction as they have reverberated throughout history. Today, the West remains utterly saturated by Christian assumptions. As Tom Holland demonstrates, our morals and ethics are not universal but are instead the fruits of a very distinctive civilization. Concepts such as secularism, liberalism, science, and homosexuality are deeply rooted in a Christian seedbed. From Babylon to the Beatles, Saint Michael to #MeToo, Dominion tells the story of how Christianity transformed the modern world.]]> 624 Tom Holland 0465093507 Liviu 5
After that, the author chooses historical moments he believes illuminate best the evolution of Christianity and while some succeed better, some less so, the book starts having a scattered feel and sometimes bogs down into minutia, sometimes (at least i feel) it forces its interpretation to fit the theme of the book sort of ignoring the time in-between the moments - it is almost like Augustine (4th century) is followed by say Pope Gregory without too much about Justinian's era ( as another and arguably the major weakness of the book is in ignoring Eastern Christianity and forgetting how Constantinople was so much a counterpoise to Rome for 1000 years) for example.

Overall, definitely recommended but based on some very enthusiastic reviews (which in hindsight probably reflect the lack of previous exposure to these types of ideas for the respective readers) I expected more. ]]> 4.27 2019 Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World
author: Tom Holland
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/07
date added: 2019/10/08
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Erudite but written in a popular style that the author is known for (and sometimes these aspects clash and some awkwardness ensues but one can easily forgive and forget it), though in some ways it points out the obvious in less ideological style that similar other books (whether pro or against Christianity and its influence today). I think that the early parts that really show the huge difference in outlook we have vs say (what we still consider our cultural ancestors, the Greeks and the pre-Christian Romans) are the strongest parts of the book.

After that, the author chooses historical moments he believes illuminate best the evolution of Christianity and while some succeed better, some less so, the book starts having a scattered feel and sometimes bogs down into minutia, sometimes (at least i feel) it forces its interpretation to fit the theme of the book sort of ignoring the time in-between the moments - it is almost like Augustine (4th century) is followed by say Pope Gregory without too much about Justinian's era ( as another and arguably the major weakness of the book is in ignoring Eastern Christianity and forgetting how Constantinople was so much a counterpoise to Rome for 1000 years) for example.

Overall, definitely recommended but based on some very enthusiastic reviews (which in hindsight probably reflect the lack of previous exposure to these types of ideas for the respective readers) I expected more.
]]> My Beautiful Life 45313050 also appears in the collection Under My Skin

Over the past two decades, K.J. Parker has established himself as one of the most original voices in contemporary fantasy. Through works ranging in scale from multi-volume epics (The Engineer Trilogy) to standalone novels (The Company) to a vivid assortment of stories and novellas, he has earned his reputation as an imaginative, consistently absorbing storyteller. His novella My Beautiful Life can only enhance that reputation.

As the ironic title indicates, Parker’s latest tells the story of an individual life that takes extraordinary turns. As the story begins, the nameless, dying narrator takes us back to his childhood home in a remote corner of the ubiquitous Empire. The second of three sons, he lives there with his mother in a state of unrelieved poverty. Life eventually becomes so dire that the mother � who can only find work as a prostitute � is forced to sell one of her children. The oldest son, Nico, volunteers to be sold in order to protect his family, and that decision sets in motion everything that follows. Nico’s journey takes him, in time, to the heart of the Empire and the very center of power. Over time, he acquires considerable power of his own and uses it to bring his younger brothers into the circle of his influence, changing their lives forever. Under Nico’s guidance, the middle brother � our nameless narrator � achieves a destiny that will alter not only his own life, but the life of the Empire itself.

Written with wit, economy, and considerable style, My Beautiful Life is at once a profoundly gripping narrative and a rueful meditation on the workings of fate. Equally suitable both for long-time fans and for newcomers to Parker’s fictional universe, it is an essential � and hugely enjoyable � addition to a distinguished body of work.

Cover illustration by Vincent Chong

]]> 106 K.J. Parker 1596069309 Liviu 5
As a small preview, this is how the narration starts:

"I’ve done some truly appalling things in my life. I’m bitterly ashamed of them now. Saying I did them all for the best—and saying, those things weren’t my idea, other people made me do them, is just as bad; admitting that I’m a spineless coward as well as morally bankrupt. I’m a mess, and no good nohow.
I can say all that and get away with it; you can’t. Don’t even think about it. If you were to repeat what I’ve just told you word for word, let alone paraphrase it or add a few rhetorical flourishes of your own, they’d have you up for high treason and stretch your neck."]]> 3.98 2019 My Beautiful Life
author: K.J. Parker
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/10/03
date added: 2019/10/03
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Novella set in the author's standard pseudo-Byzantine world with the Robur as the barbarians here not the Aram Vei etc; the synopsis gives a good idea about the subject and there are some historical parallels to actual Byzantine history; a first-person narration, wry, less cynical than usual and with the expected twists from the author, though for once nothing really surprised me here. While Purple and Black is still the best in the novellas of this type, this one is entertaining and I read it in one standing as it's another one of the author's that cannot be put down until the end.

As a small preview, this is how the narration starts:

"I’ve done some truly appalling things in my life. I’m bitterly ashamed of them now. Saying I did them all for the best—and saying, those things weren’t my idea, other people made me do them, is just as bad; admitting that I’m a spineless coward as well as morally bankrupt. I’m a mess, and no good nohow.
I can say all that and get away with it; you can’t. Don’t even think about it. If you were to repeat what I’ve just told you word for word, let alone paraphrase it or add a few rhetorical flourishes of your own, they’d have you up for high treason and stretch your neck."
]]> <![CDATA[Hangman's Gate (War of the Archons, #2)]]> 45719967 The highly anticipated sequel to A DEMON IN SILVER , HANGMAN'S GATE continues the epic saga of the War of the Archons

After uniting the bandit clans, the Iron Tusk has swept into Shengen and taken control of the empire. With an army behind him, he marches along the Skull Road, ready to lay waste to the lands in the west. The mountain fortress of Dunrun and its rag-tag defenders are all that stand in his way.

With their country besieged on all sides, troubling rumours of a priestess amassing power in the north, and unnatural alliances to the south, no help is coming. Alone, they must hold back the inhuman powers of the Iron Tusk, or see life as they know it come to an end.

The old gods have returned...]]> 400 Richard S. Ford Liviu 5 3.85 2019 Hangman's Gate (War of the Archons, #2)
author: Richard S. Ford
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/09/27
date added: 2019/10/01
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
The direct continuation of A Demon in Silver - similarly to book 1, new characters are introduced and old reappear in vignette-style narrative though here I felt it was more coherent overall; the drawback was the more familiar subject (magic war, super-powerful evil one bent on world conquest etc) rather than the discovery one of the first volume; overall a good continuation and with a decent stopping point, but the series is clearly not done
]]> <![CDATA[A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness, #1)]]> 43539308
On the blood-soaked borders of Angland, Leo dan Brock struggles to win fame on the battlefield, and defeat the marauding armies of Stour Nightfall. He hopes for help from the crown. But King Jezal's son, the feckless Prince Orso, is a man who specializes in disappointments.

Savine dan Glokta � socialite, investor, and daughter of the most feared man in the Union � plans to claw her way to the top of the slag-heap of society by any means necessary. But the slums boil over with a rage that all the money in the world cannot control.

The age of the machine dawns, but the age of magic refuses to die. With the help of the mad hillwoman Isern-i-Phail, Rikke struggles to control the blessing, or the curse, of the Long Eye. Glimpsing the future is one thing, but with the guiding hand of the First of the Magi still pulling the strings, changing it will be quite another . . .]]> 481 Joe Abercrombie 031634186X Liviu 5
There are 6 main characters, all children of the original first law books (most of the original characters still are around at least to start with).

The 3 leaders to be, the lion, Leo dan Brock, whose mother Finree is currently the acting governor of Angland, the wolf, Stour Nightfall, son of Black Calder and nephew and heir of Scale Ironhand king of the North, who has decided that time has come to take back the protectorate still led by an old weary Dogman, and the lamb, prince Orso, son and heir of Jezal the first (Jezal having a few great cameos) who has an unmatched reputation for laziness, cowardice, uselessness and immorality.

On the girl side, we have the tough Rikke, daughter of the Dogman, epileptic but with visions that may turn out to be quite true and important, the even tougher Vick (dan Teufel), daughter of the iron mine camps and revolutionary to be and of course ruthless Savine, financier, businesswoman, socialite, founder of the new scientific Solar society, patroness of science, technology and inventions (only for profit of course) and daughter of the most feared man in the Union, inquisition chief Arch Lector Glotka.

They all have memorable parts to play, wars to fight, revolutions to foment or escape, and no less dangerous balls and feasts at the courts of the North and of the Union to attend.

With a superb cast including Yoru Sulfur, Bayaz, Calder, Finree dan Brock, Jezal and Terez, various other new (most notably Zuri, Savine's Gurkish personal "secretary", former Sergeant Gunnar Broad), and old characters from the First Law original books (Superior Pike, Wonderful and many, many others), the novel is even darker and more cynical than the first series, the body count keeps rising and overall it is Abercrombie at his best; top fantasy of the year to date]]> 4.47 2019 A Little Hatred (The Age of Madness, #1)
author: Joe Abercrombie
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/08/06
date added: 2019/08/06
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
One of my highly expected novels of 2019, The First Law: The Next Generation Volume 1, aka A Little Hatred, was even better than expected; clearly a first volume so the big picture is still unclear, but lots of things happen and there is a great ending that makes it a complete volume independent of sequels, though of course much is promised.

There are 6 main characters, all children of the original first law books (most of the original characters still are around at least to start with).

The 3 leaders to be, the lion, Leo dan Brock, whose mother Finree is currently the acting governor of Angland, the wolf, Stour Nightfall, son of Black Calder and nephew and heir of Scale Ironhand king of the North, who has decided that time has come to take back the protectorate still led by an old weary Dogman, and the lamb, prince Orso, son and heir of Jezal the first (Jezal having a few great cameos) who has an unmatched reputation for laziness, cowardice, uselessness and immorality.

On the girl side, we have the tough Rikke, daughter of the Dogman, epileptic but with visions that may turn out to be quite true and important, the even tougher Vick (dan Teufel), daughter of the iron mine camps and revolutionary to be and of course ruthless Savine, financier, businesswoman, socialite, founder of the new scientific Solar society, patroness of science, technology and inventions (only for profit of course) and daughter of the most feared man in the Union, inquisition chief Arch Lector Glotka.

They all have memorable parts to play, wars to fight, revolutions to foment or escape, and no less dangerous balls and feasts at the courts of the North and of the Union to attend.

With a superb cast including Yoru Sulfur, Bayaz, Calder, Finree dan Brock, Jezal and Terez, various other new (most notably Zuri, Savine's Gurkish personal "secretary", former Sergeant Gunnar Broad), and old characters from the First Law original books (Superior Pike, Wonderful and many, many others), the novel is even darker and more cynical than the first series, the body count keeps rising and overall it is Abercrombie at his best; top fantasy of the year to date
]]> Atmosphæra Incognita 43799943 Reamde) to the remote future (Anathem, Seveneves). But when Stephenson turns his attention to shorter forms, the results can be every bit as impressive, as this dazzling novella—itself a kind of tightly compressed epic—clearly indicates. Atmosphæra Incognita is a beautifully detailed, high-tech rendering of a tale as old as the Biblical Tower of Babel. It is an account, scrupulously imagined, of the years-long construction of a twenty-kilometer-high tower that will bring the human enterprise, in all its complexity, to the threshold of outer space. It is a story of persistence, of visionary imaginings, of the ceaseless technological innovation needed to bring these imaginings to life. At the same time, it shows us our familiar planet from an entirely new perspective, and offers vivid snapshots of the unique beauties and unexpected hazards of the “atmosphæra incognita� that lies between this world and “the deep ocean of the cosmos.� The result is pure pleasure, pure excitement, pure Neal Stephenson. No one with an interest in Stephenson's work, or in science fiction at its most thoughtful and ambitious, can afford to miss this latest edition to an extraordinary body of work.]]> 97 Neal Stephenson 1596069198 Liviu 3 3.63 2019 Atmosphæra Incognita
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/07/26
date added: 2019/07/30
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019
review:
another disappointing work from the author, this time a novella that has a great premise but mostly fails to deliver with wooden prose and uninteresting characters
]]> Moon Rising (Luna, #3) 36229297 Game of Thrones meets The Expanse

A hundred years in the future, a war wages between the Five Dragons—five families that control the Moon’s leading industrial companies. Each clan does everything in their power to claw their way to the top of the food chain—marriages of convenience, corporate espionage, kidnapping, and mass assassinations.

Through ingenious political manipulation and sheer force of will, Lucas Cortas rises from the ashes of corporate defeat and seizes control of the Moon. The only person who can stop him is a brilliant lunar lawyer, his sister, Ariel.

Witness the Dragons' final battle for absolute sovereignty in Ian McDonald's heart-stopping finale to the Luna trilogy.]]> 437 Ian McDonald 0765391473 Liviu 4 3.87 2019 Moon Rising (Luna, #3)
author: Ian McDonald
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/07/22
date added: 2019/07/29
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019
review:
for some reason I enjoyed this one less than the other 2 in the series - I tried to read it a few times until I got into its flow and while it had moments that captivated me, it felt less smooth than the previous volume and a bit repetitive; overall, a good conclusion to the series but the first two volumes reach a higher level of interest and excitement than this one
]]> <![CDATA[The Mage-Fire War (The Saga of Recluce, #21)]]> 41569618
Once again, prejudices against the use of chaos magic force Beltur and his companions to flee their refuge in Axalt. The rulers of nearby Montgren have offered them sanctuary and the opportunity to become the Councilors of the run-down and disintegrating town of Haven.

Montegren lacks any mages—white or black—making this seem like the perfect opportunity to start again.

However, Beltur and the others must reinstitute law and order, rebuilt parts of the town, deal with brigands—and thwart an invading army.]]> 544 L.E. Modesitt Jr. 1250207819 Liviu 3
Overall, mostly what one would expect after the previous two books, but the book felt slow, tired and repetitive except maybe for the last 50 pages; still interested in the presumably last novel about the founding of Fairhaven announced by the author for next year and as noted my opinion may change on a later reread ]]> 4.28 2019 The Mage-Fire War (The Saga of Recluce, #21)
author: L.E. Modesitt Jr.
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/07/08
date added: 2019/07/08
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019
review:
With the caveat that there is one more book in this extended sequence (though taking place some years later and not with beltur as main lead- one can speculate that Taelya will be main lead for various reasons, both related to what we know about Fairhaven to come and intrinsic to this 4 book sequence), so my opinion may change on re-read and /or on reading the next novel in this mini-series as it did in other mini-series of the author set in Recluce or Solidar, I was mostly disapointed by this one - it read slow (lots of pages dedicated to furnishing a house), repetitive even in most of the action sequences and the characters lacked the spark from earlier volumes, felt old and tired in many ways; the last 50 pages or so which change tack to some extent - while having some repeptitivness with other similar action-pieces from other author volumes - were better as they felt fresher and the action moved from the middle of nowhere (as (Fair)haven is still in the days of this book) to a more interesting place

Overall, mostly what one would expect after the previous two books, but the book felt slow, tired and repetitive except maybe for the last 50 pages; still interested in the presumably last novel about the founding of Fairhaven announced by the author for next year and as noted my opinion may change on a later reread
]]> <![CDATA[Aftershocks (The Palladium Wars #1)]]> 41211815
A naval officer has borne witness to inconceivable attacks on a salvaged fleet. A sergeant with the occupation forces is treading increasingly hostile ground. And a young woman, thrust into responsibility as vice president of her family’s raw materials empire, faces a threat she never anticipated.

Now, on the cusp of an explosive and wide-reaching insurrection, Aden plunges once again into the brutal life he longed to forget. He’s been on the wrong side of war before. But this time, the new enemy has yet to reveal themselves…or their dangerous endgame.]]> 286 Marko Kloos 1542043549 Liviu 5
Closer to space opera than pure military sf (though on a multiplanet solar system scale), the novel starts some 5 years after the end of a brutal 4+ year interplanetary war in which Gretia, the main Earthlike but militaristic society (and with Nordic/German like names and racial description of the population to boot) of a 6 planet system (the others being much less hospitable to humanity but compensating in their own ways) tried to subjugate the other 5 and eventually lost to the alliance led by their main opponents Rhodia (having the main alliance fleet and Anglo-like names and ranks) and Pallas (with their shock ground troops and Southeast Asian names and racial description), though it surrendered while still occupying enemy territory and without being invaded; under the surrender terms, Gretia is under alliance rule, has to pay huge reparations, its fleet was confiscated, its military disbanded and its main elite forces - the Blackguards - condemned as war criminals so subject to a 5 year pow imprisonment rather than the usual 2 for the regular soldiers

The main characters are Aden Robertson, a Gretian Blackguard intelligence major (with an Oceanian mother and a very good linguist) who is now just being set free from the Rhodian pow camps and has to decide what to do with the rest of his life after 17 years in the Gretian military, experienced Palladian sergeant Idina Chaudary of the allied occupation forces whose standard reconnaissance mission in the Gretian countryside goes bad in the first major incident since the peace, lt commander Dunstan Park, captain of Rhodian frigate Minotaur in charge of guarding the remains of the Gretian fleet (still under dispute between the alliance members 5 years on, as to whom gets what), a routine mission that turns out to be far from such, and finally but not least, Solveig Ragnar, 23, sole remaining child of major industrialist and former leading Gretian politician, Falk Ragnar - one of the 100+ council members who voted to start the fateful war and who is now banished from any interaction with his company or any political role in the "new" Gretia (as Solveig's much older brother Aden vanished 17 years ago after a brutal confrontation with their father and is presumed dead, while her Oceanian mother left her a year later and is now living a gambling socialite life in the casinos of Hades); Solveig by dint of being just under 18 when the peace treaty was signed is allowed to take the reigns of the failing family company from its interim managemnent now that she just graduated from college (any Gretian financial dynasty member whose company was involved with the war effort and was over 18 at the time of signing the peace treaty is not allowed to take any part in the company business or the political life of Gretia under said treaty, while Solveig was just 3 days under 18 then, so she and the Ragnar dynasty got lucky - or did they?) .

The universe (politics, society, technology) is extremely intriguing and the characters quite appealing, while the book has action, intrigue and of course promises a lot more to come, parallels to WW1 and all (there is a passage towards the end where confronted by Solveig as to why he voted for war, Falk expounds for the first time the seemingly reasonable Gretian point of view of why Gretia chose war and specifically the way they started and prosecuted it by invading helpless Oceania rather than taking on their main rivals, Rhodia and Pallas, as opposed to the Gretians were the aggressive, militaristic, often monsters point of view that we get from everyone else until then - Idina, Dunstan, various people whom Aden meets etc)

Highly, highly recommended and the unexpected sff hit of the year so far]]> 4.13 2019 Aftershocks (The Palladium Wars #1)
author: Marko Kloos
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/07/05
date added: 2019/07/05
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, top_25_2019_books, read_2019
review:
Quite an unexpected hit for me as I started but never progressed in the author's debut six-volume+ series Frontlines; an Amazon prime book of the month in July 2019, I got a sample in my email and the first page intrigued me, so I started reading and couldn't put the book down until the end, while volume 2 became a clear asap;

Closer to space opera than pure military sf (though on a multiplanet solar system scale), the novel starts some 5 years after the end of a brutal 4+ year interplanetary war in which Gretia, the main Earthlike but militaristic society (and with Nordic/German like names and racial description of the population to boot) of a 6 planet system (the others being much less hospitable to humanity but compensating in their own ways) tried to subjugate the other 5 and eventually lost to the alliance led by their main opponents Rhodia (having the main alliance fleet and Anglo-like names and ranks) and Pallas (with their shock ground troops and Southeast Asian names and racial description), though it surrendered while still occupying enemy territory and without being invaded; under the surrender terms, Gretia is under alliance rule, has to pay huge reparations, its fleet was confiscated, its military disbanded and its main elite forces - the Blackguards - condemned as war criminals so subject to a 5 year pow imprisonment rather than the usual 2 for the regular soldiers

The main characters are Aden Robertson, a Gretian Blackguard intelligence major (with an Oceanian mother and a very good linguist) who is now just being set free from the Rhodian pow camps and has to decide what to do with the rest of his life after 17 years in the Gretian military, experienced Palladian sergeant Idina Chaudary of the allied occupation forces whose standard reconnaissance mission in the Gretian countryside goes bad in the first major incident since the peace, lt commander Dunstan Park, captain of Rhodian frigate Minotaur in charge of guarding the remains of the Gretian fleet (still under dispute between the alliance members 5 years on, as to whom gets what), a routine mission that turns out to be far from such, and finally but not least, Solveig Ragnar, 23, sole remaining child of major industrialist and former leading Gretian politician, Falk Ragnar - one of the 100+ council members who voted to start the fateful war and who is now banished from any interaction with his company or any political role in the "new" Gretia (as Solveig's much older brother Aden vanished 17 years ago after a brutal confrontation with their father and is presumed dead, while her Oceanian mother left her a year later and is now living a gambling socialite life in the casinos of Hades); Solveig by dint of being just under 18 when the peace treaty was signed is allowed to take the reigns of the failing family company from its interim managemnent now that she just graduated from college (any Gretian financial dynasty member whose company was involved with the war effort and was over 18 at the time of signing the peace treaty is not allowed to take any part in the company business or the political life of Gretia under said treaty, while Solveig was just 3 days under 18 then, so she and the Ragnar dynasty got lucky - or did they?) .

The universe (politics, society, technology) is extremely intriguing and the characters quite appealing, while the book has action, intrigue and of course promises a lot more to come, parallels to WW1 and all (there is a passage towards the end where confronted by Solveig as to why he voted for war, Falk expounds for the first time the seemingly reasonable Gretian point of view of why Gretia chose war and specifically the way they started and prosecuted it by invading helpless Oceania rather than taking on their main rivals, Rhodia and Pallas, as opposed to the Gretians were the aggressive, militaristic, often monsters point of view that we get from everyone else until then - Idina, Dunstan, various people whom Aden meets etc)

Highly, highly recommended and the unexpected sff hit of the year so far
]]> The Doll Factory 38591165 The Doll Factory, the debut novel by Elizabeth Macneal, is an intoxicating story of art, obsession and possession.

London. 1850. The Great Exhibition is being erected in Hyde Park and among the crowd watching the spectacle two people meet. For Iris, an aspiring artist, it is the encounter of a moment � forgotten seconds later, but for Silas, a collector entranced by the strange and beautiful, that meeting marks a new beginning.

When Iris is asked to model for pre-Raphaelite artist Louis Frost, she agrees on the condition that he will also teach her to paint. Suddenly her world begins to expand, to become a place of art and love.

But Silas has only thought of one thing since their meeting, and his obsession is darkening . . .]]> 336 Elizabeth Macneal 1529002397 Liviu 5 3.76 2019 The Doll Factory
author: Elizabeth Macneal
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/06/12
date added: 2019/06/24
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Another unexpected find in a British bookstore that gripped me once I opened it. Interesting, atmospheric and quite dark on occasion.
]]> The Forest of Wool and Steel 40867533
Tomura is startled by the hypnotic sound of a piano being tuned in his school. It seeps into his soul and transports him to the forests, dark and gleaming, that surround his beloved mountain village. From that moment, he is determined to discover more.

Under the tutelage of three master piano-tuners � one humble, one cheery, one ill-tempered � Tomura embarks on his training, never straying too far from a single, unfathomable question: do I have what it takes?

Set in small-town Japan, this warm and mystical story is for the lucky few who have found their calling � and for the rest of us who are still searching. It shows that the road to finding one’s purpose is a winding path, often filled with treacherous doubts and, for those who persevere, astonishing moments of revelation.]]> 224 Natsu Miyashita 0857525182 Liviu 5
Highly, highly recommended]]> 3.76 2015 The Forest of Wool and Steel
author: Natsu Miyashita
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 5
read at: 2019/06/14
date added: 2019/06/24
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
A short novel (and the third unexpected book - all excellent, though this was the best - I picked by chance in a British bookstore on my recent visit there) and it was just awesome; the first half is among the best ever reading experience as it is magical and enthralling (the story is simple, a boy from an iso9lated mountain village in Japan gets to watch a piano tuner at work by chance when he is deputized by the principal of his school to greet him and show him around to the school piano, and seeing for the first time the "forest of wool and steel" that is the inside of the piano, he just finds an unexpected harmony with it and decides to become a piano tuner himself); the second half while still excellent is a bit more mundane as things settle down and become more predictable; great characters, lyrical prose (and of course translation) and a reading experience not to be missed

Highly, highly recommended
]]> Fall; or, Dodge in Hell 35429993 The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seveneves, Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon returns with a wildly inventive and entertaining science fiction thriller�Paradise Lost by way of Phillip K. Dick—that unfolds in the near future, in parallel worlds.

In his youth, Richard “Dodge� Forthrast founded Corporation 9592, a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered life, managing his myriad business interests, and spending time with his beloved niece Zula and her young daughter, Sophia.

One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong. Dodge is pronounced brain dead and put on life support, leaving his stunned family and close friends with difficult decisions. Long ago, when a much younger Dodge drew up his will, he directed that his body be given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Legally bound to follow the directive despite their misgivings, Dodge’s family has his brain scanned and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud, until it can eventually be revived.

In the coming years, technology allows Dodge’s brain to be turned back on. It is an achievement that is nothing less than the disruption of death itself. An eternal afterlife—the Bitworld—is created, in which humans continue to exist as digital souls.

But this brave new immortal world is not the Utopia it might first seem . . .

Fall, or Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are transforming our future. Combining the technological, philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.

]]> 896 Neal Stephenson 0062458736 Liviu 2 3.43 2019 Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
author: Neal Stephenson
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.43
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2019/06/06
date added: 2019/06/06
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019
review:
After a great start, the book bogs down into gibberish that is neither sf (see P Hamilton Void series for that), not portal fantasy (see M Stover) nor theology (lacks any moral dimension); 5 star for the first third, 1 star for the last two thirds and a huge, huge disappointment after such an awesome start
]]> <![CDATA[Spine of the Dragon (Wake the Dragon, #1)]]> 41555951 Spine of the Dragon, is a politically charged adventure of swords, sorcery, venegeance, and the rise of sleeping giants.

Two continents at war, the Three Kingdoms and Ishara, are divided by past bloodshed. When an outside threat arises—the reawakening of a powerful ancient race that wants to remake the world—the two warring nations must somehow set aside generational hatreds and form an alliance to fight their true enemy.]]> 528 Kevin J. Anderson 1250302102 Liviu 4 3.61 2019 Spine of the Dragon (Wake the Dragon, #1)
author: Kevin J. Anderson
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2019/06/04
date added: 2019/06/04
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019
review:
Reasonably interesting but I kind of expected better from the blurb (and other series of K Anderson which had more gripping first volumes, however they ended); I am not sure if it was the characters or the setting, but something didn't quite fit, though I kept turning the pages until the end
]]> <![CDATA[Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine]]> 40524017
During these centuries Rome gained in splendor and territory, then lost both. By the fourth century, the time of Constantine, the Roman Empire had changed so dramatically in geography, ethnicity, religion, and culture that it would have been virtually unrecognizable to Augustus. Rome’s legacy remains today in so many ways, from language, law, and architecture to the seat of the Roman Catholic Church. Strauss examines this enduring heritage through the lives of the men who shaped it: Augustus, Tiberius, Nero, Vespasian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Diocletian and Constantine.]]> 432 Barry S. Strauss 145166883X Liviu 5
highly recommended]]> 3.91 2019 Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine
author: Barry S. Strauss
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/31
date added: 2019/05/31
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
excellent books about the ten emperors of the title - a modern version of the classics (Suetonius etc) in the sense that it is engaging, full of anecdotes and very personal, but also contains a modern approach to history (trends, economy, the role of imperial women etc); it is not a book to really learn about the emperors (there are lots of good biographies that are more detailed plus unrivaled fiction of which some is alluded to here for that matter), more of a vignette like view of each but it is so engaging that I barely could put it down until i finished it

highly recommended
]]> <![CDATA[African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan]]> 40882235 This biography of the first foreign-born samurai and his journey from Africa to Japan is "a readable, compassionate account of an extraordinary life" (The Washington Post).

When Yasuke arrived in Japan in the late 1500s, he had already traveled much of the known world. Kidnapped as a child, he had ended up a servant and bodyguard to the head of the Jesuits in Asia, with whom he traversed India and China learning multiple languages as he went. His arrival in Kyoto, however, literally caused a riot. Most Japanese people had never seen an African man before, and many of them saw him as the embodiment of the black-skinned Buddha. Among those who were drawn to his presence was Lord Nobunaga, head of the most powerful clan in Japan, who made Yasuke a samurai in his court. Soon, he was learning the traditions of Japan's martial arts and ascending the upper echelons of Japanese society.

In the four hundred years since, Yasuke has been known in Japan largely as a legendary, perhaps mythical figure. Now African Samurai presents the never-before-told biography of this unique figure of the sixteenth century, one whose travels between countries and cultures offers a new perspective on race in world history and a vivid portrait of life in medieval Japan.

"Fast-paced, action-packed writing. . . . A new and important biography and an incredibly moving study of medieval Japan and solid perspective on its unification. Highly recommended." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Eminently readable. . . . a worthwhile and entertaining work." --Publishers Weekly

"A unique story of a unique man, and yet someone with whom we can all identify." --Jack Weatherford, New York Times-bestselling author of Genghis Khan]]> 518 Thomas Lockley 1488098751 Liviu 5
highly recommended ]]> 3.80 2019 African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan
author: Thomas Lockley
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/29
date added: 2019/05/31
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
an excellent book about the warring states era of Japan and the three warlords that ended it - it covers mostly the last years of Nobunaga as Yasuke - the hero of the (extremely fascinating) story got to be Nobunaga's personal bodyguard and (it is assumed) survived the assassination to help the Christian daimyo of the Nagasaki area win a famous battle - but it has forays in the past, the immediate future of the storyline and the present day

highly recommended
]]> Cari Mora 42118856 The Silence of the Lambs comes a story of evil, greed, and the consequences of dark obsession.

Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Driven by unspeakable appetites, he makes a living fleshing out the violent fantasies of other, richer men.

Cari Mora, caretaker of the house, has escaped from the violence in her native country. She stays in Miami on a wobbly Temporary Protected Status, subject to the iron whim of ICE. She works at many jobs to survive. Beautiful, marked by war, Cari catches the eye of Hans-Peter as he closes in on the treasure. But Cari Mora has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before.

Monsters lurk in the crevices between male desire and female survival. No other writer in the last century has conjured those monsters with more terrifying brilliance than Thomas Harris. Cari Mora, his sixth novel, is the long-awaited return of an American master.]]> 308 Thomas Harris 1538750147 Liviu 1 2.71 2019 Cari Mora
author: Thomas Harris
name: Liviu
average rating: 2.71
book published: 2019
rating: 1
read at: 2019/05/22
date added: 2019/05/27
shelves: 2019_release_read, mainstream, read_2019
review:
curious about this one after all the publicity and it was utter garbage from the writing to the font (looked like one of those huge letters font to fill in space on the page and bulk up the number of pages); have no idea how such dreck gets to be a bestseller
]]> <![CDATA[The Global Age: Europe, 1950-2017]]> 41378130 The final chapter in the Penguin History of Europe series from the acclaimed scholar and author of To Hell and Back

After the overwhelming horrors of the first half of the twentieth century, described by Ian Kershaw in his previous book as being 'to Hell and back,' the years from 1950 to 2017 brought peace and relative prosperity to most of Europe. Enormous economic improvements transformed the continent. The catastrophic era of the world wars receded into an ever more distant past, though its long shadow continued to shape mentalities.

Yet Europe was now a divided continent, living under the nuclear threat in a period intermittently fraught with anxiety. There were, by most definitions, striking successes: the Soviet bloc melted away, dictatorships vanished, and Germany was successfully reunited. But accelerating globalization brought new fragilities. The interlocking crises after 2008 were the clearest warnings to Europeans that there was no guarantee of peace and stability, and, even today, the continent threatens further fracturing.

In this remarkable book, Ian Kershaw has created a grand panorama of the world we live in and where it came from. Drawing on examples from all across Europe, The Global Age is an endlessly fascinating portrait of the recent past and present, and a cautious look into our future.]]> 670 Ian Kershaw 0735223998 Liviu 5 4.09 2018 The Global Age: Europe, 1950-2017
author: Ian Kershaw
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/26
date added: 2019/05/27
shelves: 2019_release_read, non-fiction, read_2019, t_notable_books_2019
review:
The usual "God's view" of European history in the given period but very well written and keeping one turning pages until the end; highly recommended and arguably among the best in the series - The Pursuit of Glory and The Pursuit of Power are the other truly outstanding books in the series, though all 9that i read at least) were interesting
]]> <![CDATA[The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)]]> 29774026 A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.]]> 848 Samantha Shannon Liviu 5 4.15 2019 The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)
author: Samantha Shannon
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/05/12
date added: 2019/05/27
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
Excellent fantasy - sometimes it felt a little long, but the gorgeous writing kept me interested till the end
]]> The Flight Portfolio 41552083 The long-awaited new work from the best-selling author of The Invisible Bridge takes us back to occupied Europe in this gripping historical novel based on the true story of Varian Fry's extraordinary attempt to save the work, and the lives, of Jewish artists fleeing the Holocaust.

In 1940, Varian Fry—a Harvard-educated American journalist—traveled to Marseille carrying three thousand dollars and a list of imperiled artists and writers he hoped to rescue within a few weeks. Instead, he ended up staying in France for thirteen months, working under the veil of a legitimate relief organization to procure false documents, amass emergency funds, and set up an underground railroad that led over the Pyrenees, into Spain, and finally to Lisbon, where the refugees embarked for safer ports. Among his many clients were Hannah Arendt, Franz Werfel, André Breton, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, and Marc Chagall.

The Flight Portfolio opens at the Chagalls' ancient stone house in Gordes, France, as the novel's hero desperately tries to persuade them of the barbarism and tragedy descending on Europe. Masterfully crafted, exquisitely written, impossible to put down, this is historical fiction of the very first order, and resounding confirmation of Orringer's gifts as a novelist.]]> 576 Julie Orringer 0307959406 Liviu 3 3.68 2019 The Flight Portfolio
author: Julie Orringer
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/05/12
date added: 2019/05/12
shelves: 2019_release_read, read_2019, mainstream
review:
with the caveat that it is truly hard to write a second masterpiece and The Invisible Bridge is such a hard book to equal, I was a bit disappointed in this one; when i opened the novel it immediately made me turn the pages and I was very engrossed in it for maybe a third but then it kind of went downhill as it became repetitive and the emotional interaction between Varian and Grant (not to speak between Grant and Katznelson) didn't really work, nor did after a while the immediacy of the Nazi threat as things seemed to work Casablanca style, the French police turned a blind eye if enough was paid and if things became too visible" more bribes would still do etc; the cruelty of US immigration policy and of various officials contrasted well with the efforts of Varian and of the vice consul who helped him till the bitter end and many of the secondary characters (from the famous like the Manns, Chagall etc to the helpers of Varian and even to the crooks of Marseille) were very well drawn and stood out, but overall after a superb third or so, I felt the novel really lost its focus and just meandered until it was hard to care anymore
]]> Shadow Captain 35077169 Two sisters ran away from home to join the crew of a spaceship. They took on pirates, faced down monsters and survived massacres . . . and now they're in charge. Captaining a fearsome ship of their own, adventures are theirs for the taking - and there's hoards to loot and treasures to find in the darkest reaches of space. But the rules are also more relaxed out on the fringes, as they're about to discover . . .

]]> 426 Alastair Reynolds 0575090634 Liviu 3 3.73 2019 Shadow Captain
author: Alastair Reynolds
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/04/20
date added: 2019/04/20
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019
review:
When starting this one, I thought it's the last volume of the series, so I kept expecting things to happen and the plot to advance, and the book got to the end without much happening - I figured out there must be at most another book by then, but overall while the first person narration kept me turning the pages, this felt like a thread the water novel to a large extent; i will take a look at book 3, but it better improve.
]]> <![CDATA[Hearts of Ice (Sunsurge Quartet, #3)]]> 41793288 Summer is gone, and the world is turning to ice.The Rondian Empress Lyra has lost her husband, her army is defeated and the deadly Masked Cabal have seized the Holy City. Her allies have abandoned her and her empire is spiralling into chaos - and her only weapon is a forbidden magic she dare not use. She can't survive alone - but who can she still trust?'Vibrant, memorable characters' - SciFi NowThe Eastern conqueror Sultan Rashid is victorious on the battlefield, but now he faces an enemy more deadly than Rondian the winter. Unless he captures a major city to shelter his huge armies, his plans to overthrow the West face ruin in the snow. But standing between his men and safety is the remnants of a defeated army led by a general who knows all about fighting for survival.'An epic journey of ordinary people destined to change the course of history . . . alluring . . . gripping' - BoHoMind.comThere are no easy options left. Lyra and her fellow dwymancers must master their deadly magic, whatever the cost. Even those who believe themselves to be fighting for good must grasp the reins of power with cold-hearted determination, and use even the most terrible weapon, if they are to stop the world from falling apart . . . for ever.]]> 672 David Hair Liviu 5
highly reccomended and a top 5 of the year for me]]> 4.26 2019 Hearts of Ice (Sunsurge Quartet, #3)
author: David Hair
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/03/26
date added: 2019/03/26
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
another superb entry in the moontide/Sunsurge series (book 7 and I am still expexting any new book with bated breath!); picks up where Prince of the Spearshad its devasting finale and continues at a non-stop breathless pace with lots of things happening including some shattering ones and obviously an ending that has some conclsuion like all the books in the series to date, but with all remaining to be decided in book 4

highly reccomended and a top 5 of the year for me
]]> <![CDATA[The Widening Gyre (The Remembrance War #1)]]> 42175982
Humans are safe. But it hasn't been easy. Not all Zhen were eager to welcome another species into their Empire, and humans have faced persecution. One of the first humans to be allowed to serve in the Zhen military, Tajen Hunt became a war hero at the Battle of Elkari, the only human to be named an official Hero of the Empire. He was given command of a task force, but when he failed in a crucial mission, causing the deaths of millions of people, he resigned in disgrace and faded into life on the fringes as a lone independent pilot.

When Tajen discovers his brother, Daav, has been killed by agents of the Empire, he, his niece, and their newly-hired crew set out to finish his brother's quest: to find Earth, the legendary homeworld of humanity.]]> 256 Michael R. Johnston 1787581454 Liviu 3 extra" - though given the ending of this one I kind of doubt as the predictable conclusion settled it firmly into the typical good guys vs bad guys next shootout to come

Overall ok, but far from fulfilling its early promise or the interesting blurb]]> 3.54 2019 The Widening Gyre (The Remembrance War #1)
author: Michael R. Johnston
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2019/02/19
date added: 2019/02/19
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019
review:
While it had a great premise and some early promise, the book became fairly predictable soon and there was nothing not seen many times before, while characters and prose were ok but not that memorable to raise this one above an average space opera; most likely won;t read more in the series, but who knows, maybe book 2 will have the
extra" - though given the ending of this one I kind of doubt as the predictable conclusion settled it firmly into the typical good guys vs bad guys next shootout to come

Overall ok, but far from fulfilling its early promise or the interesting blurb
]]> <![CDATA[Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (The Siege, #1)]]> 37946419
A siege is approaching, and the city has little time to prepare. The people have no food and no weapons, and the enemy has sworn to slaughter them all.

To save the city will take a miracle, but what it has is Orhan. A colonel of engineers, Orhan has far more experience with bridge-building than battles, is a cheat and a liar, and has a serious problem with authority. He is, in other words, perfect for the job.

]]> 350 K.J. Parker 0316270792 Liviu 5
While the ending has a conclusion so to speak, I really hope this is the start of a new series as advertised. There is an epilogue that sort of connects it with other works at least as some naming like met d'Oc, or events like Perimadeia's destruction, and the siege of Mezentia etc go, though all those are in the far future of the events here which are set in the author's faux Byzantine setting, though this time the empire's dominant race is named as the Robur - otherwise the City has the usual Byzantine stuff including the blue and green factions (though here they fight in the arena Roman style in addition to chariot racing), the bureaucracy, Senate, emperor etc

The main hero, colonel Orhan, chief of engineers is the only "barbarian" that has some moderately high rank - he is even a member of the "security council" of the empire in this quality but he is rarely invited to the meetings of course (the usual name for most barbarians is "milkface", though the term is illegal under Robur law as is "blueskin", the derogatory term the subjugated people of the Empire use for the Robur, though of course while prosecutions for using milkface are non-existent as after all the Robur would never ever use such a term, the ones for using blueskin happen often as Orhan informs us, since as all know the milkfaces are uncouth, coarse and deserve their roles as subjects, indentured servants - the empire abolished slavery but replaced it with the even better, indentured servitude, manpower for the armies and menial work, or for their women to work in the "entertainment business" as again Orhan puts it so nicely); as the book goes on we find out Orhan's past (at least in so far we can trust his narration - as KJ parker's heroes go he reminds of Saloninus though he is much less self-important and amoral), how he got to be a colonel and commander of engineers (the short of it, he is really good at doing stuff despite the bureaucracy and engineers for once are the ones where stuff really needs to be done) and much more; and then stuff happens and as the blurb has it Orhan has to defend the City against an unknown enemy that seems to have annihilated all the Imperial armies, destroyed or blockaded the Imperial fleets and isolated the City without any real soldiers inside, few war weapons (as blades and the like are galore of course), few provisions, no ships arriving at the docks and no one in authority present (the Senators, of course, don't count as they know only how to talk...), enemy that seems bent not on conquest but on total destruction...

But big events present big opportunities, so Orhan who is somewhat of an idealist at heart may be able to use this to bring on the "just society" where everyone from the low to the high (even including milkfaces and women) has a stake - though the people of the City still don't like jumped up milkfaces...

A few choice quotes:

"The Robur pride themselves on their good manners, and, besides, calling a milkface a milkface is Conduct Prejudicial and can get you court-martialled. For the record, nobody’s ever faced charges on that score, which proves (doesn’t it) that Imperials aren’t biased or bigoted in any way. On the other hand, several dozen auxiliary officers have been tried and cashiered for calling an Imperial a blueskin, so you can see just how wicked and deserving of contempt my lot truly are."

"It’s just occurred to me that maybe you don’t know very much about the Themes. It’s possible if you’re from out of town. Maybe all you know is that there are two rival groups of supporters in the Hippodrome, one lot with blue favors, one lot with green, and they cheer for their side in the sword fighting and the chariot races. Which is true. It started that way, certainly. Then, about two hundred and fifty years ago, the Blues took up a collection for the fighters� widows and orphans. Naturally, the Greens did the same. A bit later, they extended the fund to look after the dependants of Theme members; you pay a few trachy every week into the pot, and if you fall on hard times you get a bit of help till you’re on your feet again. Well, an idea that good was bound to catch on; just as bound to go wrong. Before long, the Theme treasuries controlled huge assets, invested in shipping and manufacturing since commoners can’t own land. Money brought power, which wasn’t always used wisely or honestly. Then the Greens started organizing the labor at the docks, the Blues did the same in haulage and the civil service, lower grades. Wasn’t long before the government got scared and tried to interfere, which got us the Victory riots—twenty thousand dead in the Hippodrome, when the City Prefect sent in Hus auxiliaries. Since then, the Themes have kept a low profile. What they do, the funds and all the activities that go with them, is strictly illegal, but since when did that stop anybody from doing anything? Besides, if you get sick or break a leg in this man’s town, it’s the Themes you turn to, or starve to death. Her father was a trustee of the Greens fund, and quite a big man in the movement; did a lot of bad things and a lot of good ones, until he neglected to sidestep in the Hippodrome and got skewered. I’d assumed he’d creamed off enough to set his daughter up for life, but it turned out he gambled it away as fast as he embezzled it. As far as she knows, there was enough left to buy her the Dogs. Actually, there wasn’t, and regimental funds had to come to the rescue. Well, it was that or three thousand regulation shovels, and we have plenty of shovels. I was always a Blue, incidentally, until I met her father. So, you see, people can change their minds, on even the most fundamental issues of conscience."

Excellent stuff and highly recommended and again I really, really hope the story continues soon]]> 4.01 2019 Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City (The Siege, #1)
author: K.J. Parker
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2019/02/13
date added: 2019/02/13
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019, top_25_2019_books
review:
First person narration, funny, irreverent, lots of twists - being a huge fan of the author and reading pretty much all his books, I saw some ahead of time as those occur frequently throughout his work, but it still managed to surprise me quite often.

While the ending has a conclusion so to speak, I really hope this is the start of a new series as advertised. There is an epilogue that sort of connects it with other works at least as some naming like met d'Oc, or events like Perimadeia's destruction, and the siege of Mezentia etc go, though all those are in the far future of the events here which are set in the author's faux Byzantine setting, though this time the empire's dominant race is named as the Robur - otherwise the City has the usual Byzantine stuff including the blue and green factions (though here they fight in the arena Roman style in addition to chariot racing), the bureaucracy, Senate, emperor etc

The main hero, colonel Orhan, chief of engineers is the only "barbarian" that has some moderately high rank - he is even a member of the "security council" of the empire in this quality but he is rarely invited to the meetings of course (the usual name for most barbarians is "milkface", though the term is illegal under Robur law as is "blueskin", the derogatory term the subjugated people of the Empire use for the Robur, though of course while prosecutions for using milkface are non-existent as after all the Robur would never ever use such a term, the ones for using blueskin happen often as Orhan informs us, since as all know the milkfaces are uncouth, coarse and deserve their roles as subjects, indentured servants - the empire abolished slavery but replaced it with the even better, indentured servitude, manpower for the armies and menial work, or for their women to work in the "entertainment business" as again Orhan puts it so nicely); as the book goes on we find out Orhan's past (at least in so far we can trust his narration - as KJ parker's heroes go he reminds of Saloninus though he is much less self-important and amoral), how he got to be a colonel and commander of engineers (the short of it, he is really good at doing stuff despite the bureaucracy and engineers for once are the ones where stuff really needs to be done) and much more; and then stuff happens and as the blurb has it Orhan has to defend the City against an unknown enemy that seems to have annihilated all the Imperial armies, destroyed or blockaded the Imperial fleets and isolated the City without any real soldiers inside, few war weapons (as blades and the like are galore of course), few provisions, no ships arriving at the docks and no one in authority present (the Senators, of course, don't count as they know only how to talk...), enemy that seems bent not on conquest but on total destruction...

But big events present big opportunities, so Orhan who is somewhat of an idealist at heart may be able to use this to bring on the "just society" where everyone from the low to the high (even including milkfaces and women) has a stake - though the people of the City still don't like jumped up milkfaces...

A few choice quotes:

"The Robur pride themselves on their good manners, and, besides, calling a milkface a milkface is Conduct Prejudicial and can get you court-martialled. For the record, nobody’s ever faced charges on that score, which proves (doesn’t it) that Imperials aren’t biased or bigoted in any way. On the other hand, several dozen auxiliary officers have been tried and cashiered for calling an Imperial a blueskin, so you can see just how wicked and deserving of contempt my lot truly are."

"It’s just occurred to me that maybe you don’t know very much about the Themes. It’s possible if you’re from out of town. Maybe all you know is that there are two rival groups of supporters in the Hippodrome, one lot with blue favors, one lot with green, and they cheer for their side in the sword fighting and the chariot races. Which is true. It started that way, certainly. Then, about two hundred and fifty years ago, the Blues took up a collection for the fighters� widows and orphans. Naturally, the Greens did the same. A bit later, they extended the fund to look after the dependants of Theme members; you pay a few trachy every week into the pot, and if you fall on hard times you get a bit of help till you’re on your feet again. Well, an idea that good was bound to catch on; just as bound to go wrong. Before long, the Theme treasuries controlled huge assets, invested in shipping and manufacturing since commoners can’t own land. Money brought power, which wasn’t always used wisely or honestly. Then the Greens started organizing the labor at the docks, the Blues did the same in haulage and the civil service, lower grades. Wasn’t long before the government got scared and tried to interfere, which got us the Victory riots—twenty thousand dead in the Hippodrome, when the City Prefect sent in Hus auxiliaries. Since then, the Themes have kept a low profile. What they do, the funds and all the activities that go with them, is strictly illegal, but since when did that stop anybody from doing anything? Besides, if you get sick or break a leg in this man’s town, it’s the Themes you turn to, or starve to death. Her father was a trustee of the Greens fund, and quite a big man in the movement; did a lot of bad things and a lot of good ones, until he neglected to sidestep in the Hippodrome and got skewered. I’d assumed he’d creamed off enough to set his daughter up for life, but it turned out he gambled it away as fast as he embezzled it. As far as she knows, there was enough left to buy her the Dogs. Actually, there wasn’t, and regimental funds had to come to the rescue. Well, it was that or three thousand regulation shovels, and we have plenty of shovels. I was always a Blue, incidentally, until I met her father. So, you see, people can change their minds, on even the most fundamental issues of conscience."

Excellent stuff and highly recommended and again I really, really hope the story continues soon
]]> <![CDATA[Dark Forge (Masters & Mages, #2)]]> 41948017 On the magic-drenched battlefield, information is the lifeblood of victory, and Aranthur is about to discover that carrying messages, scouting the enemy, keeping his nerve, and passing on orders is more dangerous, and more essential, than an inexperienced soldier could imagine . . . especially when everything starts to go wrong.]]> 400 Miles Cameron 1473217733 Liviu 2 4.37 2019 Dark Forge (Masters & Mages, #2)
author: Miles Cameron
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2019/01/29
date added: 2019/01/29
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2019
review:
Another very disappointing book that came with great promise after the superb Cold Iron; nothing really worked for me in this one - the action seemed contrived, the prose flat and the characters lost a lot of the interestingness from the first volume as the plot moved in ways I didn't really care for
]]> <![CDATA[The Gordian Protocol (The Gordian Protocol, #1)]]> 40963723 NEW STANDALONE NOVEL FROMNEW YORK TIMESBEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE HONOR HARRINGTON SERIES, DAVID WEBER

A Man of Two Worlds

Doctor Benjamin Schröder was far from a man of action. In fact, he was a history teacher � Chairman of the Castle Rock University history department � and if his life wasn't perfect, it was close. Until, that is the discussion of his star student Elzbietá Abramowski's dissertation on Operation Yellow Brick, the Pacific Allies' invasion of Vladivostok, staged through occupied Japan to meet their Imperial German allies, was brutally interrupted.

The psychotic episode that turned his entire world upside down struck with absolutely no warning, and it was more terrifying than anything he should have been able to imagine, leaving him with a complete, incredibly detailed set of false, nightmare "memories." Not just of his own life, but of an entire, ghastly world in which Operation Yellow Brick had never happened. In which millions of helpless civilians had been systematically slaughtered in "extermination camps" that were horrific beyond belief. In which there was still a Soviet Union. In which the Chinese Communists had succeeded, the Korean Peninsula had been permanently divided, thousands of nuclear warheads had spread their deadly threat across the entire Earth, and the Middle East was a festering sore of bloodshed, fanaticism, and terrorism.

The knowledge that those false memories had come from somewhere inside his own psyche was terrible, but with the help of Commander Abramowski, a highly decorated Navy fighter pilot who’d been forced to deal with her own PTSD after crippling combat wounds invalided her out of service, he’s put his life back together. With Elzbietá's support, he's learned to deal with the nightmares, to recognize that they areonlynightmares that can't � and won't � be permitted to rule his life.

Until, that is, a lunatic named Raibert Kaminski knocks on his door one afternoon with an impossible and horrifying story about alternate realities, time travel, temporal knots, and more than a dozen doomed universes which must inevitably die if the temporal storm front rushing towards the distant future isn't stopped. He has to be lying, of course. Or completely insane. But what if he's not a madman after all? What if he's actually telling thetruth?

That possibility is the most terrifying thing of all. Because if he is, the false memories aren't false after all, and that other world is just as real as the one Schröder has always known. And if that's true, Benjamin Schröder is about to become the greatest mass murderer in human history, because he has tochoose. Whether he acts or refuses to act, Benjamin Schröder is the one man who will decide which universe lives and which dies, along with every star system, every galaxy � and every single human being � in it.

Including the woman he's discovered he loves more than life itself.

About David Weber:

“…a balanced mix of interstellar intrigue,counterespionage, and epic fleet action…with all the hard- and software details and tactical proficiency that Weber delivers like no one else; along with a large cast of well-developed, believable characters, giving each clash of fleets emotional weight.�—BǴǰ

�. . . moves. . . as inexorably as the Star Kingdom’s Grand Fleet, commanded by series protagonist Honor Harrington. . . . Weber is the Tom Clancy of science fiction. . . . His fans will relish this latest installment. . . .”�Publishers Weekly

“This entry is just as exciting as Weber’s initial offering. . . .The result is a fast-paced and action-packed story that follows [our characters] as they move from reaction to command of the situation. Weber buildsShadow of Freedomto an exciting and unexpected climax.”�Daily News of Galveston

“Weber combines realistic, engaging characters with intelligent technological projection and a deep understanding of military bureaucracy in this long-awaited Honor Harrington novel…Fans of this venerable space opera will rejoice to see Honor back in action.”�Publishers Weekly

“This latest Honor Harrington novel brings the saga to another crucial turning point…Readers may feel confident that they will be Honored many more times and enjoy it every time.”�Booklist

�. . .everything you could want in a heroine �. Excellent � plenty of action.”�Science Fiction Age

“Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!”–Anne McCaffrey

“Compelling combat combined with engaging characters for a great space opera adventure.”�Locus

“Weber combines realistic, engaging characters with intelligent technological projection . . . Fans of this venerable space opera will rejoice . . .”�Publishers Weekly

About Jacob Holo:

"An entertaining sci-fi action novel wi...]]> David Weber Liviu 2
Some humor saves it from being a complete disaster, but I would strongly recommend staying away from this.]]> 3.50 2019 The Gordian Protocol (The Gordian Protocol, #1)
author: David Weber
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2019
rating: 2
read at: 2019/01/24
date added: 2019/01/24
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2019
review:
Great promise which turned out to be a bust - essentially a time-patrol kind of adventure lacking any depth and with the suspension of disbelief flying off the window fairly soon: just as a simple example it is mentioned how the leader of the time patrol in the "crooked universe" - the one that created a temporal knot that must be unraveled to prevent the destruction of 15 other universes at the cost of course of destroying this one, so obviously said time patrol leader is opposed to the main heroes - goes back in time to spy on his rivals so nobody in the local power structure dares confront him, which shows he can time travel to his immediate past in his universe and come back, but 1: he doesn't think to go back in time and prevent the good guysTM escaping his prison with their secret tech - yes he doesn't know about it when the good guys chrono-vehicle appears in his universe but he knows it when they escape, so for example why not just go a few days back in time and tell himself to shoot them on sight and 2; when he tries to ambush the 21th century hero of the blurb to prevent the good guys using his knowledge and is thwarted why not go a few days in the past and simply kill him and so on and so forth

Some humor saves it from being a complete disaster, but I would strongly recommend staying away from this.
]]> <![CDATA[Endgames (Imager Portfolio, #12)]]> 39952612 Endgames is the twelfth novel in L. E. Modesitt, Jr's, New York Times bestselling epic fantasy series the Imager Portfolio, and the third book in the story arc that began with Treachery's Tools and Assassin's Price.

Solidar is in chaos.

Charyn, the young and untested ruler of Solidar, has survived assassination, and he struggles to gain control of a realm in the grip of social upheaval, war, and rioting. Solidar cannot be allowed to slide into social and political turmoil that will leave the High Holders with their ancient power and privilege, and the common people with nothing.

But the stakes are even higher than he realizes.

The Imager Portfolio
#1 Imager / #2 Imager’s Challenge / #3 Imager’s Intrigue / #4 Scholar / #5 Princeps / #6 Imager’s Battalion / #7 Antiagon Fire / #8 Rex Regis / #9 Madness in Solidar / #10 Treachery’s Tools / #11 Assassin’s Price / #12 Endgames

Other series by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
The Saga of Recluce
The Corean Chronicles
The Spellsong Cycle
The Ghost Books
The Ecolitan Matter

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.]]> 566 L.E. Modesitt Jr. 1250295696 Liviu 5
Overall recommended, but read first the original Imager books and the Quaeryt ones if not done so]]> 4.35 2019 Endgames (Imager Portfolio, #12)
author: L.E. Modesitt Jr.
name: Liviu
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2018/12/14
date added: 2018/12/14
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, read_2018, t_notable_books_2019
review:
Billed as the last Imager book, Endgames starts where Assasin's Price ended and goes for a few crucial months with an epilogue set decades in the future; enjoyable but very slow and quite repetitive and predictable by the end (regarding its main villains, motives and even resolution etc), it packs a lot of emotional punches along the way and lots of other goodies (including more references to Vaelora and more anticipation of Rhenn's times) ; still not sure how using Charyn's pov and having imagers just as background worked out finally, but I definitely enjoyed the long book in 2 volumes of which this is the second half, quite a lot overall and much more than the Alastar books, especially the last one there which was the weakest Imager book by far. Ultimately this series volumes rests on the main character and while Rhenn and Quaeryt are still my favorites, Charyn was considerably more interesting than Alastar

Overall recommended, but read first the original Imager books and the Quaeryt ones if not done so
]]> <![CDATA[Through Fiery Trials (Safehold, #10)]]> 39863276 With new alliances forged and old regimes fractured, Merlin--the cybernetic avatar of Earth's last survivor and immortal beacon to humanity--and the colonies of Safehold and have many adventures ahead in Through Fiery Trials, the continuation of David Weber's New York Times bestselling military science fiction series

Those on the side of progressing humanity through advanced technology have finally triumphed over their oppressors. The unholy war between the small but mighty island realm of Charis and the radical, luddite Church of God's Awaiting has come to an end.

However, even though a provisional veil of peace has fallen over human colonies, the quiet will not last. For Safefold is a broken world, and as international alliances shift and Charis charges on with its precarious mission of global industrialization, the shifting plates of the new world order are bound to clash.

Yet, an uncertain future isn't the only danger Safehold faces. Long-thought buried secrets and prophetic promises come to light, proving time is a merciless warden who never forgets.

"Vast, complex, intricate, subtle, and unlaydownable....The biggest thing in science fiction since Isaac Asimov's Foundation series."--Dave Duncan on the Safehold series

Safehold Series
1. Off Armageddon Reef
2. By Schism Rent Asunder
3. By Heresies Distressed
4. A Mighty Fortress
5. How Firm A Foundation
6. Midst Toil and Tribulation
7. Like A Mighty Army
8. Hell's Foundations Quiver
9. At the Sign of Triumph
10. Through Fiery Trials]]> 752 David Weber 0765325594 Liviu 5
In the meantime, lots of things happen and there is war, intrigue, romance (the kids have been growing fast after all and there are quite a few weddings to boot), the legend of the Athrawes family is continued by Merlin's (adopted) daughter doing some heroic things too (the son has to do the more boring midshipman duty first I guess), but there are also some wrenching deaths (mostly natural though not always), economic and political turmoil, revolution and dissolution of empires with the tragedies that ensue; new (and old) heroes, new villains, new technologies, old enemies turning friends and vice-versa and generally all one expects in a Safehold novel!

And as a small tidbit, a little text from when Merlin finally gets into the Temple (fairly early on in the story btw) - in disguise of course but still part of visiting Archbishop Staynair guard:

""If I thought Owl could hack the Temple, break into the system and reprogram all this . . . pageantry and turn it around on them..."
He put the temptation behind him and focused on the ceremony unfolding all around him."

Highly recommended and a clear early favorite for my top novel of 2019.

Below is probably my favorite passage from the book and one of my favorites from the series with a few names removed just to avoid major spoilers (it takes place in late 911 which should be obvious for anyone doing the math):

"“Because we may be running out of time,� she said very, very softly. “If the ‘Archangels� are coming back a thousand years after the Creation, and if they don’t react the way we all hope and pray they will, I’ll never see my twenty-second birthday.� His arms tightened around her again, but her eyes never flinched. “If there’s one family on the face of Safehold which will have to be destroyed if they try to reestablish the Proscriptions, shut down industrialization, it’s mine. They can’t leave us alive, if that’s the way they react. I realized that the minute Mom and Dad and Merlin explained it to us. In that respect, I’m Nimue Alban and they’re the Gbaba all over again, .
“But you don’t have to be.
***
But if you go home, if we arrange to grow ‘estranged� from your family—and I’m sure Mom and Dad would do that for your parents, your aunts and uncles, even if we could never explain to them why they’re doing it—then you and the other people you love may not have to be on the ‘Archangels’� list.
“So you can go home,� tears glittered on her lashes, “and a part of me wants you to do that, so badly. Wants you to get as far away from me, from my family, as you can. But the selfish part of me wants you to stay, and if we have only four years, then . . . I . . . want . . . those . . . years, .� She looked up at him. “I can’t announce our betrothal, not marry you the way I want. Not right now, and I may never have time to do that, to give us and your family that, but I want that time with you. I want to share it with you, to know you and I are husband and wife, whatever the rest of the world knows or doesn’t know. And the question I needed to ask you standing here, with you, is whether or not that’s what you want.�

The moon rode high and silver in a heaven of cobalt blue velvet, and the stars of Safehold were a magnificent diadem, draped across the night. It was cool, for Charis in November, and the private chapel’s open windows admitted the gentle night breeze that fluttered the candle flames.
It wasn’t an enormous chamber, although archbishops, as a rule, had larger chapels than mere bishops, and at the moment it was crowded. Indeed, it was far more crowded than the casual beholder might have guessed.
Maikel Staynair stood there, smiling as the young man standing at the sanctuary rail turned to watch an even younger woman enter the chapel. She wasn’t on her father’s arm, because her father already stood at the groom’s elbow as his best man. She was on the arm of a very tall man whose sapphire eyes glittered in the candlelight. That had been her parents� choice, not her escort’s, although Alahnah had agreed with tears in her eyes that if any living being deserved to stand sponsor to this marriage, it was Merlin Athrawes." ]]> 3.73 2019 Through Fiery Trials (Safehold, #10)
author: David Weber
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.73
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2018/09/20
date added: 2018/10/25
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-sf, read_2018, top_25_2019_books
review:
Finally, the first Safehold novel after the end of the war in At The Sign of triumph is here and it makes for an excellent read - covering some 15 years (March 901 to March 916 after a prelude between Merlin and Nahrmahn's avatar which is probably set in November 900) in shorter or longer snippets at various times and in various places, it starts with a recap (ostensibly from The Life of Merlin Athrawes, Zhakleen Wylsynn,Tellesberg, Royal University Press, 4217) and ends with a bang (almost literally) at a great stopping point, while showing the clear way forward in the storyline.

In the meantime, lots of things happen and there is war, intrigue, romance (the kids have been growing fast after all and there are quite a few weddings to boot), the legend of the Athrawes family is continued by Merlin's (adopted) daughter doing some heroic things too (the son has to do the more boring midshipman duty first I guess), but there are also some wrenching deaths (mostly natural though not always), economic and political turmoil, revolution and dissolution of empires with the tragedies that ensue; new (and old) heroes, new villains, new technologies, old enemies turning friends and vice-versa and generally all one expects in a Safehold novel!

And as a small tidbit, a little text from when Merlin finally gets into the Temple (fairly early on in the story btw) - in disguise of course but still part of visiting Archbishop Staynair guard:

""If I thought Owl could hack the Temple, break into the system and reprogram all this . . . pageantry and turn it around on them..."
He put the temptation behind him and focused on the ceremony unfolding all around him."

Highly recommended and a clear early favorite for my top novel of 2019.

Below is probably my favorite passage from the book and one of my favorites from the series with a few names removed just to avoid major spoilers (it takes place in late 911 which should be obvious for anyone doing the math):

"“Because we may be running out of time,� she said very, very softly. “If the ‘Archangels� are coming back a thousand years after the Creation, and if they don’t react the way we all hope and pray they will, I’ll never see my twenty-second birthday.� His arms tightened around her again, but her eyes never flinched. “If there’s one family on the face of Safehold which will have to be destroyed if they try to reestablish the Proscriptions, shut down industrialization, it’s mine. They can’t leave us alive, if that’s the way they react. I realized that the minute Mom and Dad and Merlin explained it to us. In that respect, I’m Nimue Alban and they’re the Gbaba all over again, .
“But you don’t have to be.
***
But if you go home, if we arrange to grow ‘estranged� from your family—and I’m sure Mom and Dad would do that for your parents, your aunts and uncles, even if we could never explain to them why they’re doing it—then you and the other people you love may not have to be on the ‘Archangels’� list.
“So you can go home,� tears glittered on her lashes, “and a part of me wants you to do that, so badly. Wants you to get as far away from me, from my family, as you can. But the selfish part of me wants you to stay, and if we have only four years, then . . . I . . . want . . . those . . . years, .� She looked up at him. “I can’t announce our betrothal, not marry you the way I want. Not right now, and I may never have time to do that, to give us and your family that, but I want that time with you. I want to share it with you, to know you and I are husband and wife, whatever the rest of the world knows or doesn’t know. And the question I needed to ask you standing here, with you, is whether or not that’s what you want.�

The moon rode high and silver in a heaven of cobalt blue velvet, and the stars of Safehold were a magnificent diadem, draped across the night. It was cool, for Charis in November, and the private chapel’s open windows admitted the gentle night breeze that fluttered the candle flames.
It wasn’t an enormous chamber, although archbishops, as a rule, had larger chapels than mere bishops, and at the moment it was crowded. Indeed, it was far more crowded than the casual beholder might have guessed.
Maikel Staynair stood there, smiling as the young man standing at the sanctuary rail turned to watch an even younger woman enter the chapel. She wasn’t on her father’s arm, because her father already stood at the groom’s elbow as his best man. She was on the arm of a very tall man whose sapphire eyes glittered in the candlelight. That had been her parents� choice, not her escort’s, although Alahnah had agreed with tears in her eyes that if any living being deserved to stand sponsor to this marriage, it was Merlin Athrawes."
]]> <![CDATA[The Storm (2) (Time of Heroes)]]> 40538902
The universe has shattered into chaos and monsters. Jon, the Leader, is dedicating his life to reuniting the scattered hamlets into a Commonwealth where all humans can live protected against the darkness and the things that live in that darkness.

But no man can reshape the universe by himself. Jon has Makers to build weapons and clerks to handle the business of government—but he also needs Champions to face the powers of chaos, which will not listen to any argument but force.

Lord Pal of Beune is one of those Champions. He has fought monsters and evil on behalf of Mankind, and he will fight them again. But now Guntram, the man who transformed Pal from an ignorant rube into a bulwark of the Commonwealth, has disappeared. Pal must locate his friend and mentor—and then he must battle an entity that may be at the core of the splintered universe!

Pal of A humane man in a universe full of inhumanity.

Pal of A strong man in a universe where some recognize only strength.

Pal of A hero who will keep going until something stops him--and who hasn't been stopped yet!

Praise for The
“I finished The Storm last night. I loved it. It was such a sweet read. Pal is one of [Drake’s] best people, humane and strong and generous, and his voice carries the whole book.”—Cecelia Holland

“Counterbalancing the setting’s strangeness, Pal himself is thoroughly levelheaded and decent, the kind of hero readers will enjoy rooting for. This is an enjoyable exploration of a pleasantly peculiar world.”� Publishers Weekly

"...a wonderful cast of characters in a fabulous world of courtiers, peasants, Beasts, and mysterious Envoys. Drake has imbued Arthurian legend with a convincing sf spin."� Booklist

About prequel The Spark :

". . . entertaining tale combining the feel of Arthurian legend with nifty far-future super science . . ."� Publishers Weekly

“Drake retells Arthurian legend to perfect effect� efficient world building and likable characters.”� Booklist

About David

“Drake deftly weaves a web of political machinations and intrigue that vividly depicts the costs of war. Fans of Patrick O'Brian's Maturin and Aubrey novels will enjoy this intricate, rousing space opera.� � Publishers Weekly

“[R]ousing old-fashioned space opera.”� Publishers Weekly

“The fun is in the telling, and Mr. Drake has a strong voice. I want more!”� Philadelphia Weekly Press

“[S]pace opera is alive and well. This series is getting better as the author goes along…character development combined with first-rate action and memorable world designs.”� SFReader.com

“[P]rose as cold and hard as the metal alloy of a tank…rivals Crane and Remarque…”� Chicago Sun-Times

“Drake couldn’t write a bad action scene at gunpoint.”� Booklist]]> 288 David Drake 1481483692 Liviu 5
While there is less novelty than in the first book, our narrator, (now Lord) Pal has to deal with new monsters, new dangers, and new mysteries, but that's par for the course for him; however dealing with social niceties - May, his lady friend, who is of noble lineage finds normal to bring a young cousin from her provincial estate and demand of Pal to use his status to get him accepted as a Champion, while Pal as the meritocratic boy from the marches finds that unacceptable and decides that the young lord must get in on his merits, which is hard to do when the allure of the capital with bars and women proves irresistible - can actually be much harder...

Another great ending point and quite highly recommended ]]> 3.83 The Storm (2) (Time of Heroes)
author: David Drake
name: Liviu
average rating: 3.83
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2018/10/11
date added: 2018/10/11
shelves: 2019_release_read, genre-fantasy, genre-sf, read_2018, top_25_2019_books
review:
A fast, fun and engaging read that continued the superb series started in The Spark.

While there is less novelty than in the first book, our narrator, (now Lord) Pal has to deal with new monsters, new dangers, and new mysteries, but that's par for the course for him; however dealing with social niceties - May, his lady friend, who is of noble lineage finds normal to bring a young cousin from her provincial estate and demand of Pal to use his status to get him accepted as a Champion, while Pal as the meritocratic boy from the marches finds that unacceptable and decides that the young lord must get in on his merits, which is hard to do when the allure of the capital with bars and women proves irresistible - can actually be much harder...

Another great ending point and quite highly recommended
]]>