C. Scott's bookshelf: all en-US Thu, 10 Apr 2025 20:21:01 -0700 60 C. Scott's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg The Buffalo Hunter Hunter 214565614 A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.]]> 448 Stephen Graham Jones 1668075083 C. Scott 5
Buffalo Hunter Hunter brings something new to the vampire genre that I have not read before. We see the story of Good Stab a Blackfoot native American vampire as he sits and confesses his sins and the sins of America that he has deemed himself as prosecutor of the guilty. This is the story of a portion of the life of Good Stab. It is a visceral, dark, and, new vision of the vampire. SGJ brings something new here in a genre that has been tired and worn-out for a long time. Every so often you get to read a star of a genre. This is one of them.

Well worth anyone's time who is a fan of revenant fiction.]]> 4.29 2025 The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
author: Stephen Graham Jones
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: 2025, historical-fiction, horror
review:
During the 90s, I read a LOT of vampire fiction. Good, bad, awful, even some romance. I was preparing for my my thesis on revenant children. There was a lot to read then during, mostly, emo-phase of vampires. People had embraced Louis (from Anne Rice) and ran with him. Vampires were, on average, tortured good souls trapped in a curse. It has taken a long time for vampires to shake off that mantle that Interview with the Vampire provided (and frankly, Louis in Interview gets over it pretty quickly too, but people forget that).

Buffalo Hunter Hunter brings something new to the vampire genre that I have not read before. We see the story of Good Stab a Blackfoot native American vampire as he sits and confesses his sins and the sins of America that he has deemed himself as prosecutor of the guilty. This is the story of a portion of the life of Good Stab. It is a visceral, dark, and, new vision of the vampire. SGJ brings something new here in a genre that has been tired and worn-out for a long time. Every so often you get to read a star of a genre. This is one of them.

Well worth anyone's time who is a fan of revenant fiction.
]]> Kingdoms of Light 1319977 372 Alan Dean Foster 0759561656 C. Scott 0 3.82 2001 Kingdoms of Light
author: Alan Dean Foster
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2001
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: currently-reading, 2025, fantasy
review:

]]> Caught in Crystal (Lyra #4) 169880
THERE STANDS A TWISTED TOWER...
hidden in the Windhome Mountains. Something is imprisoned there -- the Sisterhood of Stars does not know precisely what, but something is bound tight with a wizard's spell so that it can never escape again.

Kayl is one of the few to have looked upon the Twisted Tower. She has no desire to see it again - she left the Sisterhood long ago, settling down to a quiet life. Her sword lies unused in a secret place beneath the stones of her hearth.

But something evil is leaking from the Tower. And now a sorceress and a wizard have appeared on Kayl's doorstep, demanding she take up the sword again.]]> 293 Patricia C. Wrede 0441760066 C. Scott 3 2025, fantasy
But, regardless, I found the book a nice, easy-to-read fantasy book.]]> 3.75 1987 Caught in Crystal (Lyra #4)
author: Patricia C. Wrede
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.75
book published: 1987
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: 2025, fantasy
review:
This was a nice, simple, "old-school" fantasy read from the late 80s. There is nothing practically special about his book, other than the main character is a woman (which was rare still even today), and an older woman with 2 kids to boot. Character development is light. The story is oddly developed in that most of the book fees like it is leading up to another novel, but this is a stand-alone book that wraps up neatly in under 300 pages. The world of Lyra, from the snippets you get int his book, is compelling and a place I would like to know more of.

But, regardless, I found the book a nice, easy-to-read fantasy book.
]]> <![CDATA[Breaking Silence (Kate Burkholder, #3)]]> 9954597 The Slabaugh family are model Amish farmers, prosperous and hardworking, with four children and a happy extended family. When the parents and an uncle are found dead in their barn, it appears to be a gruesome accident: methane gas asphyxiation caused by a poorly ventilated cesspit. But in the course of a routine autopsy, the coroner discovers that one of the victims suffered a head wound before death—clearly, foul play was involved. But who would want to make orphans of the Slabaughs� children? And is this murder somehow related to a recent string of shocking hate crimes against the Amish?

Having grown up Amish, Kate is determined to bring the killer to justice. Because the other series of attacks are designated hate crimes, the state sends in agent John Tomasetti, with whom Kate has a long and complex relationship. Together, they search for the link between the crimes—and uncover a dark secret at work beneath the placid surface of this idyllic Amish community.

]]> 302 Linda Castillo 0312374992 C. Scott 0 4.07 2011 Breaking Silence (Kate Burkholder, #3)
author: Linda Castillo
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/10
shelves: currently-reading, 2025, mystery, audiobook
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force, #1)]]> 36449535
The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon come ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There go the good old days, when humans only got killed by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits.Ěý

When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved. The UN Expeditionary Force hitched a ride on Kristang ships to fight the Ruhar, wherever our new allies thought we could be useful. So, I went from fighting with the US Army in Nigeria, to fighting in space. It was lies, all of it. We shouldn't even be fighting the Ruhar, they aren't our enemy, our allies are.Ěý

I'd better start at the beginning....]]> 299 Craig Alanson 1520126247 C. Scott 4 2025, audiobook, military-sf
Big thing is the back of this book really should be re-written. It contains a major spoiler that removes some interesting internal narrative conflicts that would be fun to read, but they spoil it on the back of the book.

]]> 4.25 2016 Columbus Day (Expeditionary Force, #1)
author: Craig Alanson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves: 2025, audiobook, military-sf
review:
An enjoyable military SF book, heavy on the military. I would have continued with this series, and I may still, but I realized after starting this its currently sitting at 20 books. That's massive, and I am not sure that this is that interesting. Overall, worth continuing due to the introduction of a single character that enlivens this book later into the narrative, but at the same time, 20 books.

Big thing is the back of this book really should be re-written. It contains a major spoiler that removes some interesting internal narrative conflicts that would be fun to read, but they spoil it on the back of the book.


]]> Hatchet (Brian's Saga, #1) 50
Brian had been distraught over his parents' impending divorce and the secret he carries about his mother, but now he is truly desolate and alone. Exhausted, terrified, and hungry, Brian struggles to find food and make a shelter for himself. He has no special knowledge of the woods, and he must find a new kind of awareness and patience as he meets each day's challenges. Is the water safe to drink? Are the berries he finds poisonous?

Slowly, Brian learns to turn adversity to his advantage--an invading porcupine unexpectedly shows him how to make fire, a devastating tornado shows him how to retrieve supplies from the submerged airplane. Most of all, Brian leaves behind the self-pity he has felt about his predicament as he summons the courage to stay alive.

A story of survival and of transformation, this riveting book has sparked many a reader's interest in venturing into the wild.]]> 208 Gary Paulsen 0689840926 C. Scott 0 currently-reading, 2025, ya 3.77 1987 Hatchet (Brian's Saga, #1)
author: Gary Paulsen
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1987
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: currently-reading, 2025, ya
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (Callahan's, #1)]]> 218677

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon contains the following stories, virtually all of which were published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact:

* "The Guy With the Eyes"
* "The Time-Traveler"
* "The Centipede's Dilemma"
* "Two Heads Are Better Than One"
* "The Law Of Conservation of Pain"
* "Just Dessert"
* "A Voice is Heard in Ramah..."
* "Unnatural Causes"
* "The Wonderful Conspiracy"]]> 205 Spider Robinson 0812572270 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.17 1977 Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (Callahan's, #1)
author: Spider Robinson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1977
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Angel Down 220160849 The critically acclaimed author of the “crazily enjoyable� (The New York Times) Whalefall returns with an immersive, cinematic novel about five World War I soldiers who stumble upon a fallen angel that could hold the key to ending the war.

Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly venture into the perilous No Man’s Land to euthanize a wounded comrade.

What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together. As jealousy, greed, and paranoia take hold, the group is torn apart by their inner demons, threatening to turn their angelic encounter into a descent into hell.

Angel Down plunges you into the heart of World War I and weaves a polyphonic tale of survival, supernatural wonder, and moral conflict.]]> 304 Daniel Kraus 1668068451 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.42 Angel Down
author: Daniel Kraus
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Riddley Walker 776573 256 Russell Hoban 0253212340 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.03 1980 Riddley Walker
author: Russell Hoban
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.03
book published: 1980
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Written on the Dark 218153843 From the internationally bestselling author of Tigana, All the Seas of the World, and A Brightness Long Ago comes a majestic new novel of love and war that brilliantly evokes the drama and turbulence of medieval France.

Thierry Villar is a well-known--even notorious-- tavern poet, familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person, despite his quickness, to be caught up in the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins, and invading armies.

But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. And so Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as political struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction.

As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king--and help his forces in war. A wide and varied set of people from all walks of life take their places in the rich tapestry of this story.

A new masterwork from the internationally bestselling author of All the Seas of the World, A Brightness Long Ago, and Tigana, Written on the Dark is an elegant tour de force about power and ambition playing out amid the intense human need for art and beauty, and memories to be left behind.]]> 320 Guy Gavriel Kay 0593953983 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.50 2025 Written on the Dark
author: Guy Gavriel Kay
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Rig 36398794
Welcome to the System. Here the concept of a god has been abandoned, and a new faith pervades: AfterLife, a social media platform that allows subscribers a chance at resurrection, based on the votes of other users.

So many Lives, forever interlinked, and one structure at the centre of it all: The Rig.]]> 618 Roger Levy 1785655639 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.69 2018 The Rig
author: Roger Levy
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Drift 60965424 Three ordinary people risk everything for a chance at redemption in this audacious, utterly gripping novel of catastrophe and survival at the end of the world, from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man

Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. During a hasty escape from a secluded boarding school, her coach careened over a hillside road during one of the year's heaviest snowstorms, trapping her inside with a handful of survivors, a brewing virus, and no way to call for help. If she and the remaining few want to make it out alive, with their sanity--and secrets--intact, they'll need to work together or they'll be buried alive with the rest of the dead.

A former detective, Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She is in a cable car suspended far above a snowstorm and surrounded by strangers in the same uniform as her, with no memory of how they got there. They are heading to a mysterious place known to them only as "The Retreat," but when they discover a dead man among their ranks and Meg spies a familiar face, she realizes that there is something far more insidious going on.

Carter is gazing out the window of the abandoned ski chalet that he and his ragtag compatriots call home. Together, they manage a precarious survival, manufacturing vaccines against a deadly virus in exchange for life's essentials. But as their generator begins to waver, the threat of something lurking in the chalet's depths looms larger, and their fragile bonds will be tested when the power finally fails--for good.

The imminent dangers faced by Hannah, Meg, and Carter are each one part of the puzzle. Lurking in their shadows is an even greater threat--one that threatens to consume all of humanity.]]> 340 C.J. Tudor 059335656X C. Scott 0 to-read 3.67 2023 The Drift
author: C.J. Tudor
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1)]]> 5797595 344 Patricia C. Wrede 054503342X C. Scott 0 to-read 3.81 2009 Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, #1)
author: Patricia C. Wrede
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2009
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Spy Who Came in from the Cold]]> 25543380 219 John Le Carré C. Scott 4 2025, thriller
Overall, very good. I would not call it a George Smiley book. Yes, he's in it, but makes two appearances, and makes no difference in the story (just a get a bit about his character as a person) This is a standalone book.]]> 4.00 1963 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
author: John Le Carré
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.00
book published: 1963
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/27
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves: 2025, thriller
review:
Interesting, slow-burn of a book about east and west Germany, and the relationship of spymasters and spies, and who is expendable and who is not. This book will certainly be better on a re-read as I am pretty certain I missed some subtle details.

Overall, very good. I would not call it a George Smiley book. Yes, he's in it, but makes two appearances, and makes no difference in the story (just a get a bit about his character as a person) This is a standalone book.
]]> <![CDATA[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer: A LitRPG Adventure]]> 209115304 Born an outcast weakling monster. Destined to be an S-Grade hero.

As a monster, Shrubley is forbidden from joining the Adventurers Guild. In a world where essence artists Rank Up in power and most monsters are feral beasts, Shrubley is among the weakest of creatures and is treated as an outcast that is worth less than dirt.

With Curiosity essence bound to his spirit, Shrubley might be weak, but he's intelligent and determined. Against all the odds, he discovers a loophole from the Druid that gave him life, but there's a deadly catch.

For a chance of ever being accepted as a true adventurer, he must challenge an otherworldly realm threatening to consume everything. A realm rife with dangers and opportunities in equal measure.

With a band of fellow low-tier monsters, a tiny slime, an undead skeleton mage, and a koblin, Shrubley sets off to prove that monsters can be heroes too. Even if he must die trying.

Perfect for fans of Final Fantasy and Dungeons and Dragons and readers of epic progression fantasy, LitRPG, Beastborne Chronicles, He Who Fights with Monsters and Cradle.

Join Shrubley's perilous journey with his band of misfit monsters as he slowly evolves in power from a weak, hunted creature to a high rank adventurer who wields a sword and shield with healing druid essences!

What to Weak to monstrously strong, a diverse cast of monsters with unique monster-race powers, a deep class and color-based magic system, silly puns, and of course a hefty dose of optimism.]]> 629 James T. Callum C. Scott 0 to-read 4.49 Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer: A LitRPG Adventure
author: James T. Callum
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.49
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver]]> 43131602 From one of the world’s most renowned cave divers, a firsthand account of exploring the earth’s final frontier: the hidden depths of our oceans and the sunken caves inside our planet

More people have died exploring underwater caves than climbing Mount Everest, and we know more about deep space than we do about the depths of our oceans. From one of the top cave divers working today—and one of the very few women in her fieldâ€�Into the PlanetĚýblends science, adventure, and memoir to bring readers face-to-face with the terror and beauty of earth’s remaining unknowns and the extremes of human capability.

Jill Heinerth—the first person in history to dive deep into an Antarctic iceberg and leader of a team that discovered the ancient watery remains of Mayan civilizations—has descended farther into the inner depths of our planet than any other woman. She takes us into the harrowing split-second decisions that determine whether a diver makes it back to safety, the prejudices that prevent women from pursuing careers underwater, and her endeavor to recover a fallen friend’s body from the confines of a cave. But there’s beauty beyond the danger of diving, and while Heinerth swims beneath our feet in the lifeblood of our planet, she works with biologists discovering new species, physicists tracking climate change, and hydrogeologists examining our finite freshwater reserves.

Ěý

Written with hair-raising intensity,ĚýInto the PlanetĚýis the first book to deliver an intimate account of cave diving, transporting readers deep into inner space, where fear must be reconciled and a mission’s success balances between knowing one’s limits and pushing the envelope of human endurance.]]> 288 Jill Heinerth 0062691546 C. Scott 4 4.03 2019 Into the Planet: My Life as a Cave Diver
author: Jill Heinerth
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: 2025, autobiography, non-fiction
review:
An interesting read about a pioneer of cave diving, and a journey of woman breaking into a male-dominated (sport, exploration).
]]> Quest of Qui (Doc Savage #12) 1439718 WHO IS DOC SAVAGE?

To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of glistening bronze skin and golden eyes. To his amazing co-adventurers - the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group - he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius, whose life is dedicated to the destruction of evil-doers. To his fans he is one of the greatest adventure heroes of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequalled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement.

DOC SAVAGE AND HIS FABULOUS CREW BATTLE THE TERROR OF THE NORTH

It started when a Viking Dragon ship attacked a yacht in the waters outside New York. Next, “Ham� was stabbed with a 1,200 year-old Viking knife. Then Johnny was captured and frozen solid in a block of Arctic ice. Finally, even the mighty man of bronze himself � Doc Savage � is kidnapped and enslaved by the chilling menace. What is his plan this time? Can he save himself and his friends from almost certain destruction?]]> 138 Kenneth Robeson 0553101269 C. Scott 3 thriller, doc-savage, 2025 3.74 1935 Quest of Qui (Doc Savage #12)
author: Kenneth Robeson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.74
book published: 1935
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: thriller, doc-savage, 2025
review:
Another Doc Savage book. If you know Doc Savage books you know what to expect. This one was one of the lesser ones. It is not bad, but it is not as compelling as others.
]]> <![CDATA[A Long Time Dead (Misty Isle #1)]]> 199539205 You can’t stay dead forever�
A group of high school students gather on the Isle of Skye’s remote Coral Beach for a hedonistic night of partying to celebrate the passing of their finals. The new millennium is on the horizon and the future beckons, promising new hope and a fresh wind of optimism. In the coming days, many will leave the island for work or to study on the mainland, whereas others will remain on Skye and forge a more traditional path much as their families have done for centuries before them.

That is� all but one�

D.I. Duncan McAdam is dispatched home to the Misty Isle. A body has been found buried in a remote location on the Waternish peninsula. Well preserved in the peat, Isla Matheson � missing for the better part of two decades � is revealed to a shocked island community. A teenage runaway is dead� and no one is talking�

Joining a small team of detectives, Duncan is tasked with revisiting those who knew Isla, those who cared for her� and those with the potential to kill her� In a remote community well used to settling scores among themselves, will they trust one of their own when he asks questions or will they persevere with the façade of ignorance?]]> 368 J.M. Dalgliesh 1800802919 C. Scott 3 2025, audiobook, mystery 3.90 2023 A Long Time Dead (Misty Isle #1)
author: J.M. Dalgliesh
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: 2025, audiobook, mystery
review:
This was a standard mystery set in an exotic locale. Nothing special, surprising, or different. A very typical British/Scottish mystery with nothing new or different. It is not bad, but it is also not very good.
]]> <![CDATA[The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #4)]]> 57905101 New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.

You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

Here's the thing. It's never easy. Carl and his team can't go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.]]> 586 Matt Dinniman C. Scott 3
Overall, if you like DCC, this will not disappoint. However, the narrative for an overall arc is is glacial. [spoilers removed]

I will continue.

]]> 4.58 2021 The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #4)
author: Matt Dinniman
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: 2025, audiobook, fantasy, humor
review:
Another Carl book. Another level. These are always fun, but every book is a new level, and frankly, not much more. This one is more of the same. It is fun, funny, and a very well-done audio book (which is probably why I am still here with the series).

Overall, if you like DCC, this will not disappoint. However, the narrative for an overall arc is is glacial. [spoilers removed]

I will continue.


]]> Red Rabbit 65212070 A folk horror epic about a ragtag posse that must track down a witch through a wild west beset by demons and ghosts―and where death is always just around the bend.

Sadie Grace is wanted for witchcraft, dead (or alive). And every hired gun in Kansas is out to collect the bounty on her head, including bona fide witch hunter Old Tom and his mysterious, mute ward, Rabbit.

On the road to Burden County, they’re joined by two vagabond cowboys with a strong sense of adventure � but no sense of purpose � and a recently widowed school teacher with nothing left to lose. As their posse grows, so too does the danger.

Racing along the drought-stricken plains in a stolen red stagecoach, they encounter monsters more wicked than witches lurking along the dusty trail. But the crew is determined to get that bounty, or die trying.

Written with the devilish cadence of Stephen Graham Jones and the pulse-pounding brutality of Nick Cutter, Red Rabbit is a supernatural adventure of luck and misfortune.]]> 455 Alex Grecian 1250874688 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.16 2023 Red Rabbit
author: Alex Grecian
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Visit from the Goon Squad 9549746 A Visit from the Goon Squad is a startling, exhilarating novel of self-destruction and redemption.]]> 341 Jennifer Egan 0307477479 C. Scott 0 3.71 2010 A Visit from the Goon Squad
author: Jennifer Egan
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: currently-reading, 2025, bookclub
review:

]]> A Most Wanted Man 20341505 336 John Le Carré C. Scott 3 2025, thriller
This is an interesting read as we follow Issa (our potentially problematic character) attempting claim an inheritance that he doesn't want to claim at the same time. He draws in Annabelle (his lawyer) and she brings in Tommy who runs the bank that the funds are held. From there, a story slowly emerges around the money, Issa (who is not telling us much), the German government and the British, and some US.

Overall, an interesting read, but unlike the movie trailer of the film made of this book, not as exciting as that trailer makes it look. This is a book of slow, deliberate moves and speaking to get to the truth, and what truth do we get too at the end? We are not sure.

]]> 3.00 2008 A Most Wanted Man
author: John Le Carré
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.00
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: 2025, thriller
review:
A Most Wanted Man is a slow-burn of a book about Germany post-9/11 struggling with the fact that one of the terrorists hailed from Hamburg. This is Le Carre's study of the the war against terror and what lines will be crossed and who is guilty, who is not, and who may be guilty by association.

This is an interesting read as we follow Issa (our potentially problematic character) attempting claim an inheritance that he doesn't want to claim at the same time. He draws in Annabelle (his lawyer) and she brings in Tommy who runs the bank that the funds are held. From there, a story slowly emerges around the money, Issa (who is not telling us much), the German government and the British, and some US.

Overall, an interesting read, but unlike the movie trailer of the film made of this book, not as exciting as that trailer makes it look. This is a book of slow, deliberate moves and speaking to get to the truth, and what truth do we get too at the end? We are not sure.


]]> Skyward (Skyward, #1) 36642458 513 Brandon Sanderson 1473217857 C. Scott 0 bookclub 4.45 2018 Skyward (Skyward, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: bookclub
review:

]]> Different Seasons 44284922 (back cover)]]> 507 Stephen King 0451124340 C. Scott 4 2025, novella
Rita Hayworth the the Shawshank Redemption -- 4/5

If you like the movie, you will like this story. I am not sure if you if you'd like this story without the movie. The both are very good, and both do something better than the other.

Apt Pupil -- 3/5

Overall, not a bad story, but I am not sure what King was trying to tell us in this. Maybe it was just a story of of two undesirable people interacting with each other, but I feel, maybe, he had a point, but I could not find it. This story, however, if far too long for the story it tells.

The Body -- 4.5/5

The best story in the collection marred by some odd choices of stories within the story to illustrate the main characters writing later in life. The first story just interrupts a good novella with a far too long interlude. The second story is fine as its short. Both the film and the novella are quite good. Like Shawkshank, they both do something a bit better on their own, but I think The Body holds up on its own a bit stronger.

The Breathing Method -- 1.5/2

Don't bother. Far too long and the payoff is not there. I am not sure what King was trying to convey here. But whatever it was, it was not an interesting story, and yet another story inside of story neither particularly interesting.
]]> 4.35 1982 Different Seasons
author: Stephen King
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: 2025, novella
review:
A solid collection of novellas by King all marred by being a bit too long.

Rita Hayworth the the Shawshank Redemption -- 4/5

If you like the movie, you will like this story. I am not sure if you if you'd like this story without the movie. The both are very good, and both do something better than the other.

Apt Pupil -- 3/5

Overall, not a bad story, but I am not sure what King was trying to tell us in this. Maybe it was just a story of of two undesirable people interacting with each other, but I feel, maybe, he had a point, but I could not find it. This story, however, if far too long for the story it tells.

The Body -- 4.5/5

The best story in the collection marred by some odd choices of stories within the story to illustrate the main characters writing later in life. The first story just interrupts a good novella with a far too long interlude. The second story is fine as its short. Both the film and the novella are quite good. Like Shawkshank, they both do something a bit better on their own, but I think The Body holds up on its own a bit stronger.

The Breathing Method -- 1.5/2

Don't bother. Far too long and the payoff is not there. I am not sure what King was trying to convey here. But whatever it was, it was not an interesting story, and yet another story inside of story neither particularly interesting.

]]> <![CDATA[Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue]]> 211003941 Two-time National Outdoor Book Award-winning author Buddy Levy's thrilling narrative of polar exploration via airship�and the men who sacrificed everything to make history.

Arctic explorer and American visionary Walter Wellman pioneered both polar and trans-Atlantic airship aviation, making history’s first attempts at each. Wellman has been cast as a self-promoting egomaniac known mostly for his catastrophic failures. Instead he was a courageous innovator who pushed the boundaries of polar exploration and paved the way for the ultimate conquest of the North Pole—which would be achieved not by dogsled or airplane, but by airship.

American explorer Dr. Frederick Cook was the first to claim he made it to the North Pole in 1908. A year later, so did American Robert Peary, but both Cook’s and Peary’s claims had been seriously questioned. There was enough doubt that Norwegian explorer extraordinaire Roald Amundsen—who’d made history and a name for himself by being first to sail through the Northwest Passage and first man to the South Pole—picked up where Walter Wellman left off, attempting to fly to the North Pole by airship. He would go in the Norge, designed by Italian aeronautical engineer Umberto Nobile. The 350-foot Norge flew over the North Pole on May 12, 1926, and Amundsen was able to accurately record and verify their exact location.

However, the engineer Nobile felt slighted by Amundsen. Two years later, Nobile returned, this time in the Italia, backed by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. This was an Italian enterprise, and Nobile intended to win back the global accolades and reputation he believed Amundsen had stripped from him. The journey ended in disaster, death, and accusations of cannibalism, launching one of the great rescue operations the world had ever seen.

Realm of Ice and Sky is the thrilling narrative of polar exploration via airship―and the men who sacrificed everything to make history.]]> 384 Buddy Levy 1250289181 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.19 2025 Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue
author: Buddy Levy
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/04
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Katabasis 210191773 Two graduate students must set aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul, perhaps at the cost of their own.

Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become one of the brightest minds in the field of Magick. She has sacrificed everything to make that a reality—her pride, her health, her love life, and most definitely her sanity. All to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world—that is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault.

Grimes is now in Hell, and she’s going in after him. Because his recommendation could hold her very future in his now incorporeal hands, and even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams. Nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the same conclusion.]]> 560 R.F. Kuang 0063021471 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.29 2025 Katabasis
author: R.F. Kuang
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)]]> 20410192 Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization.

The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition died in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

This is the twelfth expedition.

Their group is made up of four an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain and collect specimens; to record all their observations, scientific and otherwise, of their surroundings and of one another; and, above all, to avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.

They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers � they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding � but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them, and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another, that change everything.]]> 210 Jeff VanderMeer 0374710775 C. Scott 2
I think it may improve as the series continues, but for now, I will break. The text was better to experience than the audiobook on the re-read. The narrator is fine if not a bit monotone (which I feel can fit the narrator's personality of the book)

Eh, frankly, I don't know what I think. I enjoyed the first half more than second by a lot, but overall, the book was just OK. I am curious if it develops better further into the trilogy, but not sure I have the desire to read more.]]> 3.81 2014 Annihilation (Southern Reach, #1)
author: Jeff VanderMeer
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: 2024, sci-fi, bookclub, horror, 2025, audiobook, re-read
review:
I thought this book may have more on a re-read. It really did not. It is by far not a bad book, but at the same time, it does not feel like a full story in many ways. I see I read this almost a year apart (creepy). Unlike, Wolfe's work, where there is something you catch on about every read, this one, I really did not. The books feels like more is lurking in the text, but it is not here. Not in this volume.

I think it may improve as the series continues, but for now, I will break. The text was better to experience than the audiobook on the re-read. The narrator is fine if not a bit monotone (which I feel can fit the narrator's personality of the book)

Eh, frankly, I don't know what I think. I enjoyed the first half more than second by a lot, but overall, the book was just OK. I am curious if it develops better further into the trilogy, but not sure I have the desire to read more.
]]> Sharpe's Command 216269036
The brand new novel from Bernard Cornwell in the globally bestselling Sharpe series.

Spain, 1812. Richard Sharpe, the most brilliant � but the most wayward � soldier in the British army, finds himself faced with an impossible task.

Two French armies march towards each other. If they meet, the British are lost. And only Sharpe � with just his cunning, his courage and a small band of rogues to rely on � stands in their way . . .]]> 320 Bernard Cornwell 006321931X C. Scott 0 to-read 4.57 2023 Sharpe's Command
author: Bernard Cornwell
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Necropolis 72682425 336 Dan Abnett 8448005023 C. Scott 4 2025, military-sf, warhammer 4.50 2000 Necropolis
author: Dan Abnett
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: 2025, military-sf, warhammer
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Magician: Master (The Riftwar Saga, #2)]]> 13810
Once he was an orphan called Pug, apprenticed to a sorcerer of the enchanted land of Midkemia.. Then he was captured and enslaved by the Tsurani, a strange, warlike race of invaders from another world.

There, in the exotic Empire of Kelewan, he earned a new name--Milamber. He learned to tame the unnimagined powers that lay withing him. And he took his place in an ancient struggle against an evil Enemy older than time itself.]]> 499 Raymond E. Feist 0553564935 C. Scott 4
This book in the eighties when it came out was a rare piece of fantasy fiction that wasn't framed around a quest (that comes in Silverthorn), and for that alone it should be appreciated. Overall it is still great. The story is engaging, the characters interesting, and the invaders also intriguing.

It does suffer though. The women in this book (Colleen, Anita, Aglaranna, and Katalya) have next to not part of the story other than being princesses (and an elf-queen). Aglaranna has a bit of agency, but hands it over to Tomas (essentially).

It is still a favorite after re-reading about 30 or more years later though. Recommended. Someday I should read the Author's Preferred edition where its all one volume. I don't know if these two audio books are essentially that or not.]]> 4.25 1982 Magician: Master (The Riftwar Saga, #2)
author: Raymond E. Feist
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1982
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: 2025, audiobook, fantasy, re-read
review:
Magician (Apprentice and Master) was one of my very first fantasy books that I remember reading. It is a formative book in my fantasy-loving life, and I am very glad to stay it holds up. I re-read Apprentice last year, and that half of the book (it was never supposed to be two novels) I remembered fairly well. This volume, I realized how little I remembered other than sequences about Tomas. And like the first half, this holds up.

This book in the eighties when it came out was a rare piece of fantasy fiction that wasn't framed around a quest (that comes in Silverthorn), and for that alone it should be appreciated. Overall it is still great. The story is engaging, the characters interesting, and the invaders also intriguing.

It does suffer though. The women in this book (Colleen, Anita, Aglaranna, and Katalya) have next to not part of the story other than being princesses (and an elf-queen). Aglaranna has a bit of agency, but hands it over to Tomas (essentially).

It is still a favorite after re-reading about 30 or more years later though. Recommended. Someday I should read the Author's Preferred edition where its all one volume. I don't know if these two audio books are essentially that or not.
]]> <![CDATA[Downbelow Station (The Company Wars #1)]]> 2193860 Downbelow Station is the book that won Cherryh a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1982. A blockbuster space opera of the rebellion between Earth and its far-flung colonies, it is a classic science fiction masterwork.]]> 439 C.J. Cherryh C. Scott 3 2025, sci-fi, space-opera
Downbelow Station is a slow-burn of a novel. It is the story of many people on the station as they arrive (either refugee, ship, or antaognist). The novel is broken up into many sections/narratives (probably far more than needed), on Pell and Downbelow, and occasionally a few ships and Cyteen. We have the Konstontians who run Pell, ship captains, politicians, downers, and a few others. The Downers, a race of simple (but not simple) race found the planet below are a race that does the work on Pell, and we never really get to understand them. They are not slaves, but at the same time, they are treated almost as so, but they do have will of their own. We never really get a clear picture of this race that are victims of abuse and truly never really factor fully into the story, but have some moments that do drive the narrative.

Overall, this was enjoyable, but like Hellburner, Cherryh has some massive pacing issues with this one. The last 140 pages were just a slog, and frankly, this story could have been told in less pages. The last pages were just were very tedious to get through with the last 40 being pretty good, but she just lost her pace in this one which knocked it out of 4 stars for me. I would have finished it much quicker if the pacing hadn't dropped off so hard.]]> 3.68 1981 Downbelow Station (The Company Wars #1)
author: C.J. Cherryh
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.68
book published: 1981
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: 2025, sci-fi, space-opera
review:
Depsite its name, this book is really the story of Pell station that orbits above the planet that houses Downbelow Station. Pell station is neutral in the Earth Company and Union wars. The story starts are Pell takes in a very large amount of refugees in the war (beyond their capacity). From there, the story begins as the problelms occur due to the large amount of refugees, politicians wrangling to take Pell, Union and Company ships sit on the verge of fighting. Pell is caught in the middle wanting to stay neutral. But can they?

Downbelow Station is a slow-burn of a novel. It is the story of many people on the station as they arrive (either refugee, ship, or antaognist). The novel is broken up into many sections/narratives (probably far more than needed), on Pell and Downbelow, and occasionally a few ships and Cyteen. We have the Konstontians who run Pell, ship captains, politicians, downers, and a few others. The Downers, a race of simple (but not simple) race found the planet below are a race that does the work on Pell, and we never really get to understand them. They are not slaves, but at the same time, they are treated almost as so, but they do have will of their own. We never really get a clear picture of this race that are victims of abuse and truly never really factor fully into the story, but have some moments that do drive the narrative.

Overall, this was enjoyable, but like Hellburner, Cherryh has some massive pacing issues with this one. The last 140 pages were just a slog, and frankly, this story could have been told in less pages. The last pages were just were very tedious to get through with the last 40 being pretty good, but she just lost her pace in this one which knocked it out of 4 stars for me. I would have finished it much quicker if the pacing hadn't dropped off so hard.
]]> <![CDATA[The World Record Book of Racist Stories]]> 60568490 From theĚýNew York Times bestselling authors of You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey, comedian Amber Ruffin and her sister Lacey, a new collection of hilarious, intergenerational anecdotes full of absurd detail about everyday experiences of racism.

Families may not always see eye to eye; we get on each other’s nerves, have different perspectives and lives—especially when we consider how we've grown up in different generations. But for the Ruffin family and many others, there has been one constant that connects them: racism hasn’t gone anywhere.

From her raucous musical numbers to turning upsetting news into laughs as the host of The Amber Ruffin Show or in herĚýLate Night with Seth MeyersĚýsegments, Amber is no stranger to finding the funny wherever she looks. With equal parts heart and humor, she and her sister Lacey Lamar shared some of the eye-opening and outrageous experiences Lacey had faced in Nebraska in their first book. Now, the dynamic duo makes it clear—Lacey isn’t the only one in the family with ridiculous encounters to share! Amber and Lacey have many more uproarious stories, both from their own lives and the entire Ruffin family.

Recounting the wildest tales of racism from their parents, their siblings, and Amber’s nieces and nephews, this intergenerational look at ludicrous (but all too believable) everyday racism as experienced across age, gender, and appearance will have you gasping with shock and laughter in turn. Validating for anyone who has first-hand experience, and revealing for anyone who doesn’t, Amber and Lacey’s next book helps us all find the absurdity in the pervasive frustrations of racism. Illuminating and packed with love and laughter, this is a must-read for just about everyone.Ěý]]> 217 Amber Ruffin 1538724553 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.39 2022 The World Record Book of Racist Stories
author: Amber Ruffin
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)]]> 61431922 Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders...

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile� humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die]]> 665 Rebecca Yarros 1649374046 C. Scott 2 2025, fantasy, audiobook
This book is good. This book is also bad. This the story of Violet Sorengale. The smallest, weakest, but of course smartest of the children. The plot and beats of this book are entirely predictable. The romance portions range from expected to down-right distracting to the narrative of the story, but as I have said, romance is not a genre I like or can review. I don't know if she did a good job at a romance book, but the romance tones and themes often interrupted logical narrative.

Is this book good? Probably not? Was it compelling? Yes. I enjoyed most of this book quite a bit, but once our characters finally found love (yeah, not really a spoiler), the narrative of the book tanked for quite awhile with just pages of longing, descriptions of lips, hair, smells, and graphic sex (only two scenes but hard to escape during a drive on audiobook).

The biggest issue with this book is falls into all of the tropes of a a weak but smart lead who despite being weaker than everyone, succeeds brilliantly despite odds that should not be able to overcome. The world Yarros created is interesting but at the same time makes no sense. The school is brutal in that all students can be killed by other students in their own wing and elsewhere, but at the same time they expect them to build loyalty and squad cohesion. We have a somewhat medieval-like world, we think, but we never really get a sense of the how the world is but the characters use modern language.

In the end, did I have a good time with this? Yes. I have read far worse books. The romance only distracted from a story that I felt was compelling for me.]]> 4.56 2023 Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1)
author: Rebecca Yarros
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2023
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/03
date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: 2025, fantasy, audiobook
review:
2.5 stars. This is a hard review to write. This a fantasy/romance book, and I am not qualified to review a romance, and I am not interested in doing so as I found the romance portions to be a distraction to overall decent, compelling story but with a lot of flaws.

This book is good. This book is also bad. This the story of Violet Sorengale. The smallest, weakest, but of course smartest of the children. The plot and beats of this book are entirely predictable. The romance portions range from expected to down-right distracting to the narrative of the story, but as I have said, romance is not a genre I like or can review. I don't know if she did a good job at a romance book, but the romance tones and themes often interrupted logical narrative.

Is this book good? Probably not? Was it compelling? Yes. I enjoyed most of this book quite a bit, but once our characters finally found love (yeah, not really a spoiler), the narrative of the book tanked for quite awhile with just pages of longing, descriptions of lips, hair, smells, and graphic sex (only two scenes but hard to escape during a drive on audiobook).

The biggest issue with this book is falls into all of the tropes of a a weak but smart lead who despite being weaker than everyone, succeeds brilliantly despite odds that should not be able to overcome. The world Yarros created is interesting but at the same time makes no sense. The school is brutal in that all students can be killed by other students in their own wing and elsewhere, but at the same time they expect them to build loyalty and squad cohesion. We have a somewhat medieval-like world, we think, but we never really get a sense of the how the world is but the characters use modern language.

In the end, did I have a good time with this? Yes. I have read far worse books. The romance only distracted from a story that I felt was compelling for me.
]]> <![CDATA[Pacific Glory (World War II Navy, #1)]]> 9526552 A thrilling, multi-layered World War II adventure following two men and an unforgettable woman, from Pearl Harbor through the most dramatic air and sea battles of the war Marsh, Mick, and Tommy were inseparable friends during their naval academy years, each man desperately in love with the beautiful, unattainable Glory Hawthorne. Graduation set them on separate paths into the military, but they were all forever changed during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.

Glory, now Tommy’s widow, is a tough Navy nurse still grieving her loss while trying to save lives. Marsh, a surface ship officer, finds himself in the thick of terrifying sea combat from Guadalcanal through Midway to a climactic showdown at Leyte Gulf. And Mick, a hotshot fighter pilot with a drinking problem and a chip on his shoulder, seeks redemption after a series of failures leaves him grounded.

Filled with wide-screen action, romance, and heroism tinged with the brutal reality of war, Pacific Glory is a dynamic new direction for an acclaimed thriller writer.

One of Library Journal's Best Historical Fiction Books of 2011

]]> 389 P.T. Deutermann 0312599447 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.16 2011 Pacific Glory (World War II Navy, #1)
author: P.T. Deutermann
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2011
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Knife Skills for Beginners (Chef Paul Delamare Mysteries, #1)]]> 210363913 The Maid meets Knives Out with a dash of Top Chef in the debut locked room culinary mystery set in a London cooking school by Masterchef semi-finalist and cookbook writer Orlando Murrin.

“Some people are natural dancers, others marvelous in bed, but—not wishing to boast—I’m good with a knife. Most chefs are.�
Ěý
The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. True, the ornate mansion doesn’t quite sparkle the way it used to—a feeling chef Paul Delamare is familiar with these days. Worn out and newly broke, he’d be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking.
Ěý
Christian is one of Paul’s oldest friends, as well as the former recipient of two Michelin stars and host of Pass the Gravy! Thanks to a broken arm, he’s unable to teach the upcoming session himself, and recruits Paul as stand-in. The students are a motley crew, most of whom seem more interested in ogling the surroundings (including handsome Christian) than learning the best ways to temper chocolate.
Ěý
Yet despite his misgivings, Paul starts to enjoy imparting his extensive knowledge to the recruits—until someone turns up dead, murdered with a cleaver Paul used earlier that day to prep a pair of squabs. Did one of his students take the lesson on knife techniques too much to heart, or was this the result of a long-simmering grudge? In between clearing his own name and teaching his class how to perfectly poach a chicken, he’ll have to figure out who’s the killer, and avoid being the next one to get butchered . . .
Ěý]]> 320 Orlando Murrin 1496751949 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.29 2024 Knife Skills for Beginners (Chef Paul Delamare Mysteries, #1)
author: Orlando Murrin
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.29
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Skyward (Skyward, #1) 39353738 A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!From Brandon Sanderson, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Reckoners series, Words of Radiance, and the internationally bestselling Mistborn series, comes the first book in an epic new series about a girl who dreams of becoming a pilot in a dangerous world at war for humanity's future.Spensa's world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what's left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa's dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with her father's--a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa's chances of attending flight school at slim to none.No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, yet fate works in mysterious ways. Flight school might be a long shot, but she is determined to fly. And an accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern might just provide her with a way to claim the stars.Praise for A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year"Startling revelations and stakes-raising implications...Sanderson plainly had a ball with this nonstop, highflying opener, and readers will too."--Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review"With this action-packed trilogy opener, Sanderson offers up a resourceful, fearless heroine and a memorable cast...[and] as the pulse-pounding story intensifies and reveals its secrets, a cliffhanger ending sets things up for the next installment."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review"It is impossible to turn the pages fast enough."--Booklist"Sanderson delivers a cinematic adventure that explores the defining aspects of the individual versus the society...[and] fans of [his] will not be disappointed."--SLJPraise for Brandon Sanderson's Reckoners #1 New York Times Bestselling Series"Another win for Sanderson . . . he's simply a brilliant writer. Period."--Patrick Rothfuss, author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller The Name of the Wind"Action-packed."--EW"Compelling. . . . Sanderson uses plot twists that he teases enough for readers to pick up on to distract from the more dramatic reveals he has in store."--AV Club]]> 546 Brandon Sanderson 039955579X C. Scott 2 2023, audiobook, sci-fi, ya 4.55 2018 Skyward (Skyward, #1)
author: Brandon Sanderson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2018
rating: 2
read at: 2023/12/14
date added: 2025/01/24
shelves: 2023, audiobook, sci-fi, ya
review:
An ok book that has lots of little flaws that are very Sanderson. I enjoyed most of this book, and most what I didn't was mostly due to it being YA. I am not the target audience, but the book is far too long for what it is, and really drug at the last 10%. The ending, as usual, is good and makes you forget a lot of the tedious journey that took you to get there. Not sure I will read the next as this one had some real issues.
]]> <![CDATA[The Hollow Hills (Arthurian Saga, #2)]]> 25077412 447 Mary Stewart C. Scott 3 2025, fantasy
If you enjoy the style and pace of The Crystal Cave, the Hollow Hills will be more of the same, but with the presence of Arthur haunting the edges of this story, it could frustration certain readers. It is not a fast paced story. It is not a plot-driven story, but at the same time it is quite compelling seeing the world through Merlin's eyes as prophecy come to fruition. The book, like The Crystal Cave, is a slow-burn, but it is a good burn.]]> 4.35 1973 The Hollow Hills (Arthurian Saga, #2)
author: Mary Stewart
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.35
book published: 1973
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: 2025, fantasy
review:
The Hollow Hills starts right after the final events of the Crystal Cave. This book is about the journey of Arthur from child to King, but Arthur, although a central character to the arc of the story, is mostly absent the entire book. He exists on the periphery as we follow Emrys/Merlin as he spends time on the edges of Arthur's life ensuring his safety. Arthur, as a character, does not enter the story till the last 1/4 or 1/8th of the book.

If you enjoy the style and pace of The Crystal Cave, the Hollow Hills will be more of the same, but with the presence of Arthur haunting the edges of this story, it could frustration certain readers. It is not a fast paced story. It is not a plot-driven story, but at the same time it is quite compelling seeing the world through Merlin's eyes as prophecy come to fruition. The book, like The Crystal Cave, is a slow-burn, but it is a good burn.
]]> Leviathan (Leviathan, #1) 6050678
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.]]> 440 Scott Westerfeld 1416971734 C. Scott 3 3.92 2009 Leviathan (Leviathan, #1)
author: Scott Westerfeld
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves: alternate-history, steampunk, ya, 2025
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga, #1)]]> 12282943 272 Lois McMaster Bujold C. Scott 3 2025, sci-fi
The characters and dialogue are what save this, but overall, the story is fairly non-consequential. I know the main characters must be the parents of Miles, but being the first book in a very popular series (and the first one written) it is an odd SF story, but I did enjoy it.

]]> 4.12 1986 Shards of Honour (Vorkosigan Saga, #1)
author: Lois McMaster Bujold
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1986
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/15
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: 2025, sci-fi
review:
This is a hard book/story to rate. My first Vorkosigan book, and my first Bujold book. Overall, it was pretty good, but at the same time, an odd often dis-jointed story. There are 3 time-shifts that on audio (and maybe text) you had no indication were happening, and in fact didn't even know there was a shift till the text referred to someplace in the future.

The characters and dialogue are what save this, but overall, the story is fairly non-consequential. I know the main characters must be the parents of Miles, but being the first book in a very popular series (and the first one written) it is an odd SF story, but I did enjoy it.


]]> <![CDATA[Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)]]> 15839976 "I live for the dream that my children will be born free," she says. "That they will be what they like. That they will own the land their father gave them."

"I live for you," I say sadly.

Eo kisses my cheek. "Then you must live for more."

Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.

Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.

But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.

Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity's overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society's ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies... even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.]]> 382 Pierce Brown 0345539788 C. Scott 1
If any book I have read ever felt like a first book, this is it. It is derivative, predictable, and overly-long for a prelude to the entire saga that is to follows. I am told this is the worst of the series, and all the others are unlike it, but after this, I don't have much desire to read more. This story was so predictable from start to finish, I could have skipped it. There are some clever bits in here, and some interesting ideas, but nothing I have not read in many, many other places (done better). I know when Pierce grew up just from the bulk of this book.

The first 1/4 everyone knows what will happen. The next 1/4 is perhaps the most interesting and had the most potential. The next 1/2 is [spoilers removed]]]> 4.26 2014 Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)
author: Pierce Brown
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2014
rating: 1
read at: 2024/06/04
date added: 2025/01/15
shelves: 2024, audiobook, sci-fi, bookclub
review:
Edit: After a bookclub discussion, the rating is lowered to 1-star. This book is just not good. I don't care if all the others are much better and different. This is the gateway into the series, and it is an awful roadblock.

If any book I have read ever felt like a first book, this is it. It is derivative, predictable, and overly-long for a prelude to the entire saga that is to follows. I am told this is the worst of the series, and all the others are unlike it, but after this, I don't have much desire to read more. This story was so predictable from start to finish, I could have skipped it. There are some clever bits in here, and some interesting ideas, but nothing I have not read in many, many other places (done better). I know when Pierce grew up just from the bulk of this book.

The first 1/4 everyone knows what will happen. The next 1/4 is perhaps the most interesting and had the most potential. The next 1/2 is [spoilers removed]
]]> <![CDATA[Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire, #4)]]> 2812358
When the body of a young Vietnamese woman is found alongside the interstate in Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sherriff Walt Longmire is determined to discover the identity of the victim and is forced to confront the horrible similarities of this murder to that of his first homicide investigation as a marine in Vietnam.

To complicate matters, Virgil White Buffalo, a homeless Crow Indian, is found living in a nearby culvert and in possession of the young woman?s purse. There are only two problems with what appears to be an open-and-shut case. One, the sheriff doesn?t think Virgil White Buffalo?a Vietnam vet with a troubling past?is a murderer. And two, the photo that is found in the woman?s purse looks hauntingly familiar to Walt.

In the fourth book in Craig Johnson?s awardwinning Walt Longmire series, the tough yet tender sheriff solves two murders tied in blood but separated by nearly forty years.]]> 304 Craig Johnson 0670018619 C. Scott 3 2024, audiobook, mystery 4.19 2008 Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire, #4)
author: Craig Johnson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves: 2024, audiobook, mystery
review:
Another solid entry in the Walt Longmire series. Not as good as the last volume, but a solid story. This time around, we get to see Walt as as an angry young Lieutenant in Vietnam not sure of his place in life, not the chill laid-back, self-confident Walt in Wyoming. We see him solve a mystery in Vietnam and in Wyoming.
]]> <![CDATA[Justice League Dark, Volume 1: In the Dark]]> 13532152 The witch known as The Enchantress has gone mad, unleashing a wave of chaos that not even the combined powers of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg can stop. Shade the Changing Man, Madame Xanadu, Deadman, Zatanna, Mindwarp and John Constantine may be our only hope - but how can we put our trust in beings whose very presence makes ordinary people break out in a cold sweat?
Critically acclaimed writer Peter Milligan brings together an unorthodox team for the most unnatural threats. With stunning art by up and coming star Mikel JanĂ­n!

Collecting: Justice League Dark 1-6]]> 144 Peter Milligan 1401237045 C. Scott 3 2024, comic 3.63 2012 Justice League Dark, Volume 1: In the Dark
author: Peter Milligan
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves: 2024, comic
review:

]]> The War of the Worlds 8909
Inspiring films, radio dramas, comic-book adaptations, television series and sequels,The War of the Worlds is a prototypical work of science fiction which has influenced every alien story that has come since, and is unsurpassed in its ability to thrill, well over a century since it was first published.]]> 192 H.G. Wells 0375759239 C. Scott 0 3.84 1898 The War of the Worlds
author: H.G. Wells
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1898
rating: 0
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves: 2024, audiobook, classic, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kindness Goes Unpunished (Walt Longmire, #3)]]> 236857
With Henry, Deputy Victoria Moretti, the entire Moretti clan of Philadelphia police officers, and Dog as backup, Sheriff Longmire intends to introduce a little western justice from his saddlebag of tricks to the City of Brotherly Love, where no act of kindness goes unpunished.]]> 288 Craig Johnson 0670031577 C. Scott 4 2024, audiobook, mystery
Walt and Henry are off to visit Walt's daughter, Katy, in Philadelphia. When they get there, they discover Katy's had an accident and in a coma. Not all it what is seems.]]> 4.15 2007 Kindness Goes Unpunished (Walt Longmire, #3)
author: Craig Johnson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/25
date added: 2024/10/25
shelves: 2024, audiobook, mystery
review:
Craig Johnson is a very good writer. His characters are sharp, dialogue, although not real in many ways, is great, and the main characters are compelling and real. This story, despite me hesitating because people don't read Walt Longmire books to see Walt in Philadelphia. People want him in Wyoming. Despite this, this novel is was quite good.

Walt and Henry are off to visit Walt's daughter, Katy, in Philadelphia. When they get there, they discover Katy's had an accident and in a coma. Not all it what is seems.
]]> The Empire of Fear 1245236 THE KIRKUS REVIEWS
Since the sixteenth century, England has been a land ruled by the Undead. Vampires rule with terror and the darkly-seductive promise of life eternal for the lucky few. Edmund Cordery, member of the cabal pledged to penetrate the mysteries of the vampires and destroy them, strike the first blow. But it will fall to his son. Noell, to carry on the crusade of human against inhuman. And it will fall to those who come after Noell to keep the struggle alive for over three centuries--from England to Malta to modern-day America, where destiny will decide finally whether the forces of horror or humanity will hold sway over all....]]> 469 Brian M. Stableford 0345377575 C. Scott 2
This book is slow, tedious, and despite what the back tells us, not really about the struggle except in the the first 20 pages or so and the last 50. This could have been great. But it was a struggle to get through as its just a whole lot of walking mostly.

Two stars is generous.]]> 3.51 1988 The Empire of Fear
author: Brian M. Stableford
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.51
book published: 1988
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/16
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves: 2024, alternate-history, dark-fantasy
review:
Can you fault a book for not being what you thought it would be? This book sounded great. I have had it for decades, and I finally read it. The struggle of humans in a vampire-controlled world. Starting in the mid-1600s, we see the underground rebellions of humans versus vampires start with a Edmund Corey striking the first blow at the cost of his own life. The story then moves to Noel Cordrey and his life-long study of vampires. We have pirates, monks, vampires in this story. But, despite how exciting this sounds, most of the novel is Noell and company walking slowly across Africa in order to meet the first vampires.

This book is slow, tedious, and despite what the back tells us, not really about the struggle except in the the first 20 pages or so and the last 50. This could have been great. But it was a struggle to get through as its just a whole lot of walking mostly.

Two stars is generous.
]]> <![CDATA[Impact Winter (Impact Winter #1)]]> 60299393
From executive producers of The Walking Dead and Travis Beacham, the writer of Pacific Rim, comes a heart-stopping Audible Original featuring a brilliant British cast. It’s the near future and seven years since a comet hit the earth and blotted out the sun. The world is a dark, frozen landscape. And then, beastly creatures emerge and take over. Can they really be vampires?

In the British countryside, a band of survivors forms a resistance in the fallout shelter of a medieval castle. Darcy is a battle-tested vampire hunter who is at the front line leading the charge to save humanity. Meanwhile, her younger sister Hope wants life to return normal so she can go above ground and know what it’s like to live again. And she just might be willing to risk it all.

A story of apocalypse, horror, and adventure, Impact Winter is a wholly original new saga created just for Audible with immersive 3D audio that dares you to pop in your earbuds and listen in the dark. Venture into an eternally sunless world of swords and crossbows; primal hunters and shape-shifters; leaders and lovers. Hear how a brave few fight to survive the impact winter.]]> 5 Travis Beacham C. Scott 2
This is not bad but it is also not great. Does it fall into OK? Depends on my mood at the time. I may continue on to season 2, but right now.]]> 3.98 2022 Impact Winter (Impact Winter #1)
author: Travis Beacham
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2024/10/07
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2024, audiobook, post-apocalyptic
review:
There is a good story here. Really. If this were a book and the plot and characters fleshed out more, I think this could be a really interesting take on vampires, but as it stands, it is just ok. The author is trying the audio/radio-show format, and he comes up short delivering it. Sound-effects are often too loud, and too over-the-top (drinking the blood), often start distorted and then fade into normal. I think he and Audible could stand to listen to some old-time radio suspense shows (the Shadow, many mysteries) and learn about the format and story-telling through pure audio because those older shows did it better and knew how to tell a story through pure audio and dialogue and no extrapolation of anything else.

This is not bad but it is also not great. Does it fall into OK? Depends on my mood at the time. I may continue on to season 2, but right now.
]]> <![CDATA[A Beautiful Friendship (Honorverse: Star Kingdom, #1)]]> 10894503
Yet Stephanie is a young woman determined to make discoveries, and the biggest one of all awaits her: an intelligent alien species.

The forest-dwelling treecats are small, cute, smart, and have a pronounced taste for celery. And they are also very, very deadly when they or their friends are threatened . . . as Stephanie discovers when she comes face-to-face with Sphinx's most lethal predator after a hang-gliding accident.

But her discoveries are only beginning, for the treecats are also telepathic and able to bond with certain humans, and Stephanie’s find --- and her first-of-its kind bond with the treecat Climbs Quickly --- land both of them in a fresh torrent of danger. Galactic-sized wealth is at stake, and Stephanie and the treecats are squarely in the path of highly-placed enemies determined to make sure the planet Sphinx remains entirely in human hands, even if that means the extermination of another thinking species.

Unfortunately for those enemies, the treecats have saved Stephanie Harrington’s life. She owes them . . . and Stephanie is a young woman who stands by her friends.

Which means things are about to get very interesting on Sphinx.]]> 361 David Weber 1451637470 C. Scott 3
A fun light read that doesn't fall into some of the traps of YA fiction that I am not a fan of. I will continue with this series.]]> 3.98 2011 A Beautiful Friendship (Honorverse: Star Kingdom, #1)
author: David Weber
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/02
date added: 2024/10/02
shelves: 2024, audiobook, sci-fi, ya, honorverse
review:
3.5 stars. A fun side-story in the HonorVerse in which we meet Stephanie Harrington, the first Sphixian to meet and partner with a treecat. In this story we get the first contact story of human and treecat, and we get to see more into the lives, structure, and what are the treecats in the Honorverse.

A fun light read that doesn't fall into some of the traps of YA fiction that I am not a fan of. I will continue with this series.
]]> <![CDATA[Lieutenant Hornblower (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #2)]]> 77040 320 C.S. Forester 0316290637 C. Scott 4
Forester, often compared to O'Brien, is a good read, but O'Brien and Forester are far different writers. Forester is easier to read, the harsh cruelties of the English Navy are most avoided, but he tells are good story, and is easier to read than O'Brien.]]> 4.29 1952 Lieutenant Hornblower (Hornblower Saga: Chronological Order, #2)
author: C.S. Forester
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.29
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/26
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves:
review:
The further adventures of young Horatio Hornblower. This time we see Horatio as a young lieutenant, and most junior lieutenant on a ship of the line. We meet Bush, third most senior, and we watch them and the crew work through a insane captain, a battle against the Spanish, and some furious games of whist.

Forester, often compared to O'Brien, is a good read, but O'Brien and Forester are far different writers. Forester is easier to read, the harsh cruelties of the English Navy are most avoided, but he tells are good story, and is easier to read than O'Brien.
]]> <![CDATA[Radiant Red, Vol. 1: Crime and Punishment]]> 61635153
But when Chicago's criminal underbelly comes calling - not to mention the nosy reporter on her doorstep and the 2.5 million dollars in cash hidden in the air vents of her house - she's going to have to decide who she is, and quicklyĂŻÂż9;before the world chooses for her.

From writer CHERISH CHEN and all-star art team DAVID LAFUENTE and MIQUEL MUERTO comes a standalone story from the world of the Image Comics smash hit RADIANT BLACK!

RADIANT RED is a part of the MASSIVE-VERSE!

Collects RADIANT RED #1-5

WHAT IS THE MASSIVE-VERSE?
Kyle Higgins & Marcelo Costa's breakout hit Radiant Black took superhero storytelling to new heights. But Radiant Black isn't the only character inhabiting the MASSIVE-VERSE. There's a whole universe for readers to explore! Characters like Rogue Sun, Inferno Girl Red, The Dead Lucky and more yet to be revealed each of them has a different story to tell, different adversaries to face and they each occupy a very different corner of this shared universe. What are you waiting for? Now's the time to get into the MASSIVE-VERSE!]]> 160 Cherish Chen 1534323201 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.65 2022 Radiant Red, Vol. 1: Crime and Punishment
author: Cherish Chen
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/26
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Honor Among Enemies (Honor Harrington, #6)]]> 77739 544 David Weber 0671877836 C. Scott 3
Very enjoyable series with the same flaws most Harrington books have. The villains are over-the-top, extra-evil, moustache-twirling, and there are always ones close to home. It is almost easy to call Honor a Mary-Sue, but what can you expect out of a series heroine. Granted, she has taken lots of his and has been kicked down hard, but she wins every conflict even when she loses.

And David, my David, do you like like to describe smiles. So many different ways folks smile in these books. ]]> 4.25 1996 Honor Among Enemies (Honor Harrington, #6)
author: David Weber
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.25
book published: 1996
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/08
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: 2024, audiobook, military-sf, honorverse
review:
This book was back to form for David Weber and our heroine Honor Harrington. After being exiled, she is recruited back by her friends and enemies to help patrol a distant sector in Manticoran space, and of course, trouble ensues. It was nice to have the series back to form with Honor back in space in command of a ship. This is where the series thrives. With about 2 books of her fighting for her honor and her love, the series is back to its normal form.

Very enjoyable series with the same flaws most Harrington books have. The villains are over-the-top, extra-evil, moustache-twirling, and there are always ones close to home. It is almost easy to call Honor a Mary-Sue, but what can you expect out of a series heroine. Granted, she has taken lots of his and has been kicked down hard, but she wins every conflict even when she loses.

And David, my David, do you like like to describe smiles. So many different ways folks smile in these books.
]]> <![CDATA[Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)]]> 40604658
Until something goes wrong. . . .

In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.]]> 450 Michael Crichton 0307763056 C. Scott 0 4.38 1990 Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)
author: Michael Crichton
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.38
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at: 2024/09/25
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: 2024, sci-fi, thriller, re-read, bookclub
review:

]]> Witchy Eye (Witchy Eye, #1) 30753675
But Sarah’s world gets turned on its head at the Nashville Tobacco Fair when a Yankee wizard-priestĚýtries to kidnap her. Sarah fights back with the aid of a mysterious monk named Thalanes, who is one of the not-quite-human Firstborn, the Moundbuilders of the Ohio. It is Thalanes who reveals to Sarah a secret heritage she never dreamed could be hers.

Now on a desperate quest with Thalanes toĚýclaim this heritage,ĚýsheĚýis hunted by the Emperor’s bodyguard of elite dragoons, as well as by darker things—shapeshifting Mockers and undead Lazars, and behind them a power more sinister still. If Sarah cannot claim her heritage, it may mean the end to her, herĚýfamily—and to the world where she is just beginning to find her place.]]> 561 D.J. Butler 1476782113 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.99 2017 Witchy Eye (Witchy Eye, #1)
author: D.J. Butler
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> First Lie Wins 164444179 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593492918.

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there’s still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn’t be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .]]> 340 Ashley Elston C. Scott 0 to-read 3.97 2024 First Lie Wins
author: Ashley Elston
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe, #1) 328907 Sharpe’s Tiger describes the adventures of the raw young private soldier Richard Sharpe in India, before the Peninsular War.

Sharpe and the rest of his battalion, along with the rising star of the general staff Arthur Wellesley, are about to embark upon the siege of Seringapatam, island citadel of the Tippoo of Mysore. The British must remove this potentate from his tiger throne, but he has gone to extraordinary lengths to defend his city from attack. And always he is surrounded by tigers, both living and ornamental…any prisoner of the Tippoo can expect a savage end.

When a senior British officer is captured by the Tippoo's forces Sharpe is offered a chance to attempt a rescue, a chance he snatched in order to escape from the tyrannical Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill. But in fleeing Hakeswill he enters the confusing, exotic and dangerous world of the Tippoo and Sharpe will need all his wits just to stay alive, let alone save the British army from catastrophe.

With the same meticulous research and attention to detail that distinguishes the rest of the bestselling series of Sharpe novels, Bernard Cornwell has recreated the 1799 campaign against Seringapatam which made the British masters of southern India, a campaign that pitted brutalized soldiers against an ancient and splendid civilization. Set against a background of dazzling wealth, ruinous poverty, gorgeous palaces, sudden cruelty and pitiless battles, Sharpe’s Tiger is his greatest adventure yet.]]> 385 Bernard Cornwell 0060932309 C. Scott 3 2024, historical-fiction 4.12 1997 Sharpe's Tiger (Sharpe, #1)
author: Bernard Cornwell
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/19
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: 2024, historical-fiction
review:
Sharpe's first adventure as young Private in the awful British army. An army where they treated their own troops almost worse than the enemies they were fighting. In this one, we see young Sharpe (boy off the streets and more capable than most) take on an under-cover mission in India. He, of course, succeeds as he is Richard Sharpe. However, this is a solid, fun, story with some great historical details and great character work, and a villain we all love to hate (says so in the scriptures).
]]> <![CDATA[Pray for Silence (Kate Burkholder, #2)]]> 7315153
State agent John Tomasetti arrives on the scene to assist. He and Kate worked together on a previous case during which they began a volatile relationship. They soon realize the disturbing details of this case will test their emotional limits and force them to face demons from their own troubled pasts—and for Kate, a personal connection that is particularly hard to bear.

When she discovers a diary that belonged to one of the teenaged daughters, Kate is shocked to learn the girl kept some very dark secrets and may have been living a lurid double life. Who is the charismatic stranger who stole the young Amish girl’s heart? Could the brother—a man with a violent past, rejected and shunned by his family and the Amish community, have come to seek out revenge? As Kate’s outrage grows so does her resolve to find the killer and bring him to justice—even if it means putting herself in the line of fire.]]> 304 Linda Castillo 0312374984 C. Scott 3 2024, mystery 3.99 2010 Pray for Silence (Kate Burkholder, #2)
author: Linda Castillo
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/09/20
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: 2024, mystery
review:
Another solid entry in the Kate Burkholder mystery series with an Amish bent. Enjoyable. The plot and overall mystery is engaging, but the ultimate resolution, thought paced well and satisfying, the end does send to come out of nowhere with no clues that moved us to that conclusion (or ones I caught). A smidge of romance, some dark themes, and the Amish background is unique and interesting. Looking forward to the next one.
]]> <![CDATA[The Man of Bronze (Doc Savage #1)]]> 6499021 High above the skyscrapers of New York, Doc Savage engages in deadly combat with the red-fingered survivors of an ancient, lost civilization. Then, with his amazing crew, he journeys to the mysterious "lost valley" to search for a fabulous treasure and to destroy the mysterious Red Death.]]> 170 Kenneth Robeson C. Scott 4 2024, thriller
It is truly astounding that these were never serialized in the 30s and 40s. Doc Savage is one of, if not the, first super-hero, and these are just plain fun. Don't expect much in the writing, but expect an exciting story with some really cool ideas.]]> 3.39 1933 The Man of Bronze (Doc Savage #1)
author: Kenneth Robeson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.39
book published: 1933
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/23
date added: 2024/09/23
shelves: 2024, thriller
review:
Oh, what to say about this? It is not well-written. The hero is more perfect than probably superman. There is no doubt at any time that the heroes will prevail. But, dang, is this a fun book to read. The story is epic. The hero and his crew is epic. The villains are villains. This was just a great time. I haven't had this much fun with a book in ages.

It is truly astounding that these were never serialized in the 30s and 40s. Doc Savage is one of, if not the, first super-hero, and these are just plain fun. Don't expect much in the writing, but expect an exciting story with some really cool ideas.
]]> The Stand 644283 Arguably the greatest horror novel ever written by the greatest horror novelist, this is a true Modern Classic that was first published in 1978, and then re-published in 1990, complete and unabridged, with 150,000 words cut from the first edition restored, and now accompanied by unusual and imaginative line art. The total copies for both editions, in hardcover and paperback, exceeds 4 million worldwide.

The Stand is a truly terrifying reading experience, and became a four-part mini-series that memorably brought to life the cast of characters and layers of story from the novel. It is an apocalyptic vision of the world, when a deadly virus runs amok around the globe. But that lethal virus is almost benign compared to the satanic force gathering minions from those still alive to destroy humanity and create a world populated by evil.

Stephen King is a brilliant storyteller who has the uncanny gift of putting ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, giving readers an experience that chills and thrills on every page.

]]> 817 Stephen King 0451098285 C. Scott 4
The Stand surprised me. It really surprised me. This is a very good book. Despite its length, the story (mostly) flows quickly and evenly as we watch characters who survived the effect of the super-flu (Captain Tripps -- which we all know if this happened would never get a stupid nickname like that). The books flows as the people (divided simply as those good and those bad) make a pilgrimage to either Boulder, Colorado (the good) or Las Vegas (the bad).

Mostly, we see the journey of the good. We get some snippets of the bad, but not nearly as much as the good, which is a bit disappointing. We get some in the last 200 pages, but when we do, the people in Las Vegas are well-established.

Rather, we see the journey mostly of the people journeying to Colorado (which of all places to make refuged Boulder, Colorado heading into winter is a poor choice). Their stories are interesting and compelling and keep the narrative flowing. When our people do arrive in Boulder, the narrative does halt a bit and the pace of the book stalls a bit.

Overall, I really liked this book. But it is not perfect. The characters (often all King's books) have little subtlety, and in this book, even more so. As you meet each person, it is very easy to see what camp they will migrate too, and there is no wondering about their alignment in this world. The archetypes we get of the the symbols of good (Mother Abigail) and evil (Randall Flagg) are pretty cut and dry, but we do get some depth with Mother Abigail. Flagg is just evil (as he probably should be).

I have heard people do not like the end of this book. I thought it was a fine conclusion (maybe a bit rushed in the final conflict in this version). However, I will say this. Despite liking this, and despite wishing I had more time with some characters and more time with the evil characters (because they aren't all evil, but often were just trapped by fear and manipulation) I cannot imagine this book being 500 more pages. The plot and pacing would have ground to a halt I suspect. For a novel of this length, I did expect a lot more distinct characters and some character growth. Sadly, this did not happen. We meet them, get to know them, but most are the same they are at the beginning than they were at the end. Larry is the only one who has some growth. Also, all the characters feel generic enough that you can swap them around with very little ill effect. For 817 pages, I expected more there.

I will take a look at the expanded edition soon, but I cannot imagine I will ever revisit this book, and if I do, it would probably be audio.]]> 4.36 1978 The Stand
author: Stephen King
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.36
book published: 1978
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/07
date added: 2024/09/09
shelves: 2024, horror, post-apocalyptic
review:
Stephen King's The Stand I think most folks would consider to be his best and best-known work. I have had this tome in my library for many years, and even before it was expanded in 1990. I read the original 1978 edition. I have been avoiding it for years due to its enormous size.

The Stand surprised me. It really surprised me. This is a very good book. Despite its length, the story (mostly) flows quickly and evenly as we watch characters who survived the effect of the super-flu (Captain Tripps -- which we all know if this happened would never get a stupid nickname like that). The books flows as the people (divided simply as those good and those bad) make a pilgrimage to either Boulder, Colorado (the good) or Las Vegas (the bad).

Mostly, we see the journey of the good. We get some snippets of the bad, but not nearly as much as the good, which is a bit disappointing. We get some in the last 200 pages, but when we do, the people in Las Vegas are well-established.

Rather, we see the journey mostly of the people journeying to Colorado (which of all places to make refuged Boulder, Colorado heading into winter is a poor choice). Their stories are interesting and compelling and keep the narrative flowing. When our people do arrive in Boulder, the narrative does halt a bit and the pace of the book stalls a bit.

Overall, I really liked this book. But it is not perfect. The characters (often all King's books) have little subtlety, and in this book, even more so. As you meet each person, it is very easy to see what camp they will migrate too, and there is no wondering about their alignment in this world. The archetypes we get of the the symbols of good (Mother Abigail) and evil (Randall Flagg) are pretty cut and dry, but we do get some depth with Mother Abigail. Flagg is just evil (as he probably should be).

I have heard people do not like the end of this book. I thought it was a fine conclusion (maybe a bit rushed in the final conflict in this version). However, I will say this. Despite liking this, and despite wishing I had more time with some characters and more time with the evil characters (because they aren't all evil, but often were just trapped by fear and manipulation) I cannot imagine this book being 500 more pages. The plot and pacing would have ground to a halt I suspect. For a novel of this length, I did expect a lot more distinct characters and some character growth. Sadly, this did not happen. We meet them, get to know them, but most are the same they are at the beginning than they were at the end. Larry is the only one who has some growth. Also, all the characters feel generic enough that you can swap them around with very little ill effect. For 817 pages, I expected more there.

I will take a look at the expanded edition soon, but I cannot imagine I will ever revisit this book, and if I do, it would probably be audio.
]]> The Mist 813214
The mist is alive, seething with unearthly sounds and movements. What unleashed this terror? Was it the Arrowhead Project—the top secret government operation that everyone has noticed but no one quite understands?

And what happens when the provisions have run out and you're forced to make your escape, edging blindly through the dim light?]]> 176 Stephen King C. Scott 3 2017, horror, novella 3.95 1980 The Mist
author: Stephen King
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1980
rating: 3
read at: 2017/07/04
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves: 2017, horror, novella
review:
If you are Stephen King curious, and you want to know how he writes, read The Mist. The commitment is low, the story simple and straight-forward, and this has all ear-marks of what makes a King story and King story. Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances with all the key characters present: the kid, the working-man, the white-collar man, the religious fanatic, all trapped in an enclosed space that is getting tighter and tighter with each passing hour. King is about people and how the react to extraordinary problems.
]]> <![CDATA[Flag in Exile (Honor Harrington, #5)]]> 77738 443 David Weber 0671876813 C. Scott 3 2023, audiobook, military-sf 4.22 2002 Flag in Exile (Honor Harrington, #5)
author: David Weber
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2002
rating: 3
read at: 2023/08/23
date added: 2024/08/28
shelves: 2023, audiobook, military-sf
review:
Really 2.5 stars, but Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ won't do 1/2 stars. Another Honor Harrington book. Not bad, not great. A lot of religious fanaticism in this one that gets a bit tedious, and, yeah we get your point David. It is bad. Honor, our hero (so we expect her to be fantastic at most things but...), is more Mary-Sue than ever in this one. She's the best at about everything but handling grief. I still like them. I will still read them, but I would like to see some more nuanced development of Honor (and there are quite a few more books, so maybe it is coming?)
]]> <![CDATA[And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality, #7)]]> 15424 378 Piers Anthony 0380752867 C. Scott 1 3.87 1989 And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality, #7)
author: Piers Anthony
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1989
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: urban-fantasy, no-one-should-ever-read-this
review:

]]> <![CDATA[For Love of Evil (Incarnations of Immortality, #6)]]> 76668 The Man Who Would Be Satan

Parry was a gifted musician and an apprentice in the arts of White Magic. But his life of sweet promise went disastrously awry following the sudden, violent death of his beloved Jolie.

Led down the twisted path of wickedness and depravity by Lilah the harlot demoness, Parry thrived--first as a sorcerer, then as a monk, and finally as a feared inquisitor.

But it wasn't until his mortal flame was extinguished that Parry found his true calling--as the Incarnation of Evil. And, at the gates of Hell, he prepared to wage war on the master himself--Lucifer, the dark lord - with dominion over the infernal realms the ultimate prize!]]> 330 Piers Anthony 0380752859 C. Scott 1 4.12 1988 For Love of Evil (Incarnations of Immortality, #6)
author: Piers Anthony
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.12
book published: 1988
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: urban-fantasy, no-one-should-ever-read-this
review:

]]> Friday 17208 384 Robert A. Heinlein 0345414004 C. Scott 1 3.85 1982 Friday
author: Robert A. Heinlein
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.85
book published: 1982
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: no-one-should-ever-read-this, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Mark of Faith (Warhammer 40,000)]]> 52757625 At long last - the Adepta Sororitas are back!

With the birth of the Cicatrix Maledictum the Imperium of Mankind suffers as never before. Conflict and corruption is rife on every front and precious little hope remains, save for those who hold to their faith when faced with destruction...

Denied a martyr’s death during the battle for Ophelia VII, Sister Evangeline of the Order of Our Martyred Lady is blessed with a new and grave duty; to embark on a pilgrimage beyond the Great Rift to recover a precious and powerful artefact � the Shield of Saint Katherine. Accompanied by the enigmatic Inquisitor Ravara, who seeks her own closure in the veiled regions beyond the Rift, Evangeline must find a way to bear the weight of this unaskedfor destiny if she and her Sisters are to succeed in restoring a fragment of light to this new dark Imperium.]]> 368 Rachel Harrison 1789990866 C. Scott 3 2020, warhammer 3.82 2019 Mark of Faith (Warhammer 40,000)
author: Rachel Harrison
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2020/07/21
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: 2020, warhammer
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Bone Cage (Warhammer: The End Times)]]> 23131439 A group of holy men and women of many faiths � from the Grand Theogonist of the Empire-spanning Sigmarite church to the Fay Enchantress of Bretonnia � are being transported through the wilds of Sylvania in a sinister cage of living bone. At the head of their procession of the dead is Mannfred von Carstein, lord of that benighted realm. But where is he taking them, and to what end? As the prisoners decipher the vampire's goal, they make a desperate attempt to escape and thwart the count's plans - but treachery from within may see them undone.

Read it because
It bridges the gap between 'Sigmar's Blood' and 'The Return of Nagash', and shows the lengths to which Mannfred von Carstein is willing to go in order to achieve his sinister goal.

]]> 28 Phil Kelly 178251256X C. Scott 3 fantasy, warhammer 3.54 2014 The Bone Cage (Warhammer: The End Times)
author: Phil Kelly
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2014
rating: 3
read at: 2014/09/03
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: fantasy, warhammer
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Star Wars: The Hutt Gambit (The Han Solo Trilogy, #2)]]> 598938
Solo is now a fugitive from the Imperial Navy. But he has made a valuable friend in a former Wookiee slave named Chewbacca, who has sworn Han a life debt. Han will need all the help he can get. For the Ylesian Hutts have dispatched the dreaded bounty hunter Boba Fett to track down the man who already outsmarted them once. But Han and Chewie find themselves in even bigger trouble when they agree to lend their services to the crime lords Jiliac and Jabba the Hutt. Suddenly the two smugglers are thrust into the middle of a battle between the might of the Empire and the treachery of their outlaw allies...a battle where even victory means death!

Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on the Star Wars expanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popular Star Wars books of the last thirty years!]]> 357 A.C. Crispin 0553574167 C. Scott 2 science-fantasy, star-wars 3.90 1997 Star Wars: The Hutt Gambit (The Han Solo Trilogy, #2)
author: A.C. Crispin
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1997
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: science-fantasy, star-wars
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dark Tide II: Ruin (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, #3)]]> 320357
While Luke struggles to keep the Jedi together, Knights Jacen Solo and Corran Horn set off on a reconnaissance mission to the planet Garqi, an occupied world.ĚýĚýThere, at last, they uncover a secret that might be used to undermine the enemy - if only they can stay alive long enough to use it!

Features a bonus section following the novel that includes a primer on theĚýStar WarsĚýexpanded universe, and over half a dozen excerpts from some of the most popularĚýStar WarsĚýbooks of the last thirty years!]]> 292 Michael A. Stackpole 0099409941 C. Scott 2 star-wars, science-fantasy 3.79 2000 Dark Tide II: Ruin (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order, #3)
author: Michael A. Stackpole
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2000
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: star-wars, science-fantasy
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Two-Front War (Star Trek: New Frontier, #3)]]> 1061834
Dr. Selar: The Excalibur's Vulcan doctor is all business. If you want to know what's wrong with you, she's the one to go to, but not if you're expecting someone to hold your hand. As calm and logical as the rest of her people, Dr. Selar has a secret as shocking to her as it will be to the rest of the crew.

Si Cwan: A prince exiled from the Thallonian empire, he is beloved by some and targeted for death by others. But Si Cwan has his own agenda: a search for the one woman who means the world to him.

Zak Kebron: The bronze-skinned Brikar is the security chief of the Excalibur. When he walks, the decks shake, and if he's coming your way, you'd better pray that you're on his good side.

Two mysteries vie for the attention of the crew of the Excalibur: Is the hospitality of the people of Nelkar too good to be true? And does a stranded spaceship truly hold the object of Si Cwan's quest... or is it instead an all-too-deadly trap?]]> 152 Peter David 0671013971 C. Scott 3 star-trek, sci-fi 3.86 1997 The Two-Front War (Star Trek: New Frontier, #3)
author: Peter David
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: star-trek, sci-fi
review:

]]> Sandstorm (Sigma Force, #1) 183822
And now the search for answers is leading Lady Kara Kensington; her friend Safia al-Maaz, the gallery's brilliant and beautiful curator; and their guide, the international adventurer Omaha Dunn, into a world they never dreamed existed: a lost city buried beneath the Arabian desert.

But others are being drawn there as well, some with dark and sinister purposes. And the many perils of a death-defying trek deep into the savage heart of the Arabian Peninsula pale before the nightmare waiting to be unearthed at journey's end: an ageless and awesome power that could create a utopia... or destroy everything humankind has built over countless millennia.]]> 574 James Rollins 0060580674 C. Scott 3 thriller 3.95 2004 Sandstorm (Sigma Force, #1)
author: James Rollins
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2004
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: thriller
review:

]]> <![CDATA[End Game (Star Trek: New Frontier, #4)]]> 706043
Lieutenant Robin Lefler: An eternal optimist, Lefler occasionally asks the wrong question at the wrong time...and yet this time it may lead the Excalibur crew to unexpectedly shocking answers.

Commander Elizabeth Shelby: Walking the fine line between duty and conscience, Shelby may find that she must decide between the life she loves and the man she once loved.

As the Thallonian homeworld faces catastrophe, Captain Calhoun must confront his own bloody past in a life-or-death struggle for survival and honor. But when the planet's ultimate secret is revealed, only Captain Calhoun and the USS Excalibur can save the last remnants of the Empire from total destruction!.]]> 184 Peter David 067101398X C. Scott 3 star-trek, sci-fi 3.89 1997 End Game (Star Trek: New Frontier, #4)
author: Peter David
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.89
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: star-trek, sci-fi
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Into the Void (Star Trek: New Frontier, #2)]]> 558882 Captain Mackenzie Calhoun: An unorthodox, decisive young captain who loves his crew and his ship, and loves testing their limits even more.

Commander Shelby: A woman of strong opinions and strong values, Shelby never hesitated to tell her captains when she thought they were wrong, and Mackenzie Calhoun won't be any exception.

Burgoyne 172: The chief engineer of the Excalibur, with the decisiveness of Calhoun, the strength of Shelby, and the gender of both. Burgoyne is a Hermat, and when s/he sets his/her sights on you, s/he isn't an easy...person...to refuse.

As the Thallonian Empire succumbs to violence and insurrection, the U.S.S. Excalibur prepares to launch on her humanitarian mission of mercy. But her departure is destined to be a memorable one, as Calhoun contends with an unexpected stowaway, a stormy relationship with his crew, and -- light-years away -- frightened refugees aboard a dying ship.]]> 151 Peter David 0671013963 C. Scott 3 star-trek, sci-fi 3.86 1997 Into the Void (Star Trek: New Frontier, #2)
author: Peter David
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.86
book published: 1997
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: star-trek, sci-fi
review:

]]> Follow the River 138872
With the rushing Ohio River as her guide, Mary Ingles walked one thousand miles through an untamed wilderness no white woman had ever seen. Her story lives on—extraordinary testimony to the indomitable strength of one pioneer woman who risked her life to return to her own people.]]> 406 James Alexander Thom 0345338545 C. Scott 4 4.21 1980 Follow the River
author: James Alexander Thom
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Cloak (Star Trek: Section 31, #1)]]> 216883 They are the self-appointed protectors of the Federation. Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, answerable to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group committed to safeguarding the Federation at any cost. Once, in order to preserve the galaxy's fragile balance of power, Captain James T. Kirk carried out a dangerous mission to capture a cloaking device from the Romulan Star Empire. Months later, while investigating a mysterious disaster aboard a Federation starship, Kirk discovers that the same technology he obtained for the sake of peace is being put to sinister purposes. What the crew of the "Starship Enterprise(TM) " uncovers will send shock waves through the quadrant, as Section 31 sets in motion a plan that could bring the major powers of the galaxy to their knees.

NO LAW.
NO CONSCIENCE.
NO STOPPING THEM.
]]> 211 S.D. Perry 0671774719 C. Scott 3 sci-fi, star-trek 3.81 2001 Cloak (Star Trek: Section 31, #1)
author: S.D. Perry
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2001
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: sci-fi, star-trek
review:

]]> The Old Man and the Sea 124931045 The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal—a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.]]> 127 Ernest Hemingway 0684801221 C. Scott 4 bookclub 3.88 1952 The Old Man and the Sea
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.88
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: bookclub
review:

]]> The Tommyknockers 155213
Late last night and the night before,

Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers,

knocking at my door.

I want to go out, don't know if I can,

'cause I'm so afraid

of the Tommyknocker man.



It begins with nothing more frightening than a nursery rhyme; yet in Stephen King's hands it becomes an unforgettable parable of dread, a threat from an unimaginable darkness that drags the practical inhabitants of a New England village into a hell worse than their own most horrible nightmares . . . and yours.

It begins with a writer named Roberta Anderson, looking for firewood in the forest that stretches behind her house. Bobbi stumbles over three inches of metal, which unusually heavy spring runoff has left sticking out of the soil. A logger's beer can, she thinks at first, but "the metal was as solid as mother-rock."

It begins with Bobbi's discovery of the ship in the earth, a ship buried for millions of years, but still vibrating faintly, still humming with some sort of life . . .faint . . . weak . . . but still better left alone.

Bobbi then begins to dig--tentatively at first, then compulsively--and is joined by her old friend (and onetime lover) Jim Gardener. Aided by a weirdly advanced technology, their excavation proceeds apace. And as they uncover more and more of an artifact both familiar and so unbelievable it is almost beyond comprehension, the inhabitants of Haven start to change.

There is the new hot-water heater in Bobbi's basement--a hot-water heater that apparently runs on flashlight batteries. The vengeful housewife who learns of her husband's affair . . . from a picture of Jesus on top of her TV, a picture that begins to talk. Not to mention the ten-year-old magician who makes his little brother disappear . . . for real.

The townspeople of Haven are "becoming"--being welded into one organic, homicidal, and fearsomely brilliant entity in fatal thrall to the Tommyknockers.

In this riveting, nightmarish story, Stephen King has given us his tautest, most terrifying novel to date. And the next time someone raps at your door, you may want to keep the chain on. It just might be the Tommyknocker Man.]]> 558 Stephen King 0399133143 C. Scott 1 3.40 1987 The Tommyknockers
author: Stephen King
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.40
book published: 1987
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2024/08/27
shelves: horror, sci-fi, no-one-should-ever-read-this
review:
This book is awful. One of King's worst.
]]> Blood Trail (Joe Pickett, #8) 2233882 Game wardens have found a man dead at a mountain camp-strung up, gutted, and flayed as if he were the elk he'd been hunting. Is the murder the work of a deranged anti-hunting activist or of a lone psychopath with a personal vendetta? Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is the man to track the murderer and stop him before someone declares open season on humans."]]> 320 C.J. Box 0399154884 C. Scott 3 2024, audiobook, mystery 4.21 2008 Blood Trail (Joe Pickett, #8)
author: C.J. Box
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2008
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/23
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: 2024, audiobook, mystery
review:
Another Joe Pickett story, so you know what you are getting. It is a stronger entry in the series of late, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. A simple story, but it is satisfying. Some old threads have been wrapped up, and we will see where Joe goes from here.
]]> Hunter (Hunter, #1) 28119307
Monsters.

Long ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were ripped open, and it's taken centuries to bring back civilization in the wake of the catastrophe. Now, the luckiest Cits live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the hideous creatures fighting to break through. Others are not so lucky.

To Joyeaux Charmand, who has been a Hunter in her tight-knit mountain community since she was a child, every Cit without magic deserves her protection from dangerous Othersiders. Then she is called to Apex City, where the best Hunters are kept to protect the most important people.

Joy soon realizes that the city's powerful leaders care more about luring Cits into a false sense of security than protecting them. More and more monsters are getting through the barriers, and the close calls are becoming too frequent to ignore. Yet the Cits have no sense of how much danger they're in-to them, Joy and her corp of fellow Hunters are just action stars they watch on TV.

When an act of sabotage against Joy takes an unbearable toll, Joy uncovers a terrifying conspiracy in the city. There is something much worse than the usual monsters infiltrating Apex. And it may be too late to stop them?]]> 374 Mercedes Lackey 1484725433 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.96 2015 Hunter (Hunter, #1)
author: Mercedes Lackey
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/23
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam, #2)]]> 7995119 Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood is at once a moving tale of lasting friendship and a landmark work of speculative fiction.

In this second book of the MaddAddam trilogy, the long-feared waterless flood has occurred, altering Earth as we know it and obliterating most human life. Among the survivors are Ren, a young trapeze dancer locked inside the high-end sex club Scales and Tails, and Toby, who is barricaded inside a luxurious spa. Amid shadowy, corrupt ruling powers and new, gene-spliced life forms, Ren and Toby will have to decide on their next move, but they can't stay locked away.]]> 434 Margaret Atwood 0307455475 C. Scott 2 4.10 2009 The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam, #2)
author: Margaret Atwood
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2009
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/22
date added: 2024/08/22
shelves:
review:
Oryx and Crake I really enjoyed. This second book was fine/ok. Probably 2.5 stars out of three, but not much more. The story just did not grip me for some reason. It is the story of Toby and Ren, who we find at the beginning of book, both trapped, after the waterless flood (in year 25) needing to escape their imprisonment because their food and water stores will run out. The story, like Oryx and Crake jumps back forth in time, and we see how Toby and Ren got to be where they are, see the the world from a new perspective, but unlike the first book this one is just not as intriguing. It is still worth a read, but Oryx and Crake was a special novel that I found very compelling. This one was a pleasant read, but did not do anything special (despite liking both central characters).
]]> <![CDATA[The Mauritius Command (Aubrey/Maturin, #4)]]> 10594145 348 Patrick O'Brian C. Scott 3
]]> 4.22 1977 The Mauritius Command (Aubrey/Maturin, #4)
author: Patrick O'Brian
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1977
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/19
date added: 2024/08/19
shelves: 2024, historical-fiction, audiobook
review:
Not bad, not great. Not the strongest entry in the series. Fairly forgettable. The narration by Patrick Tull is both great and awful (hear him taking breath, drinking). And, sometimes, reading this book via actual paper I think would be a lot easier to consume and understand some of the somewhat archaic language he chooses to use despite it being a fairly modern novel.


]]> <![CDATA[Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)]]> 526270 The dinosaur is back on earth—alive, now, in Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park.

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.

Until something goes wrong...

In 'Jurassic Park', Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller. The story, told with an almost documentary verisimilitude, is an account of the attempt, through a hair-raising twenty-four hours on a remote jungle island, to avert a global emergency—a crisis triggered by today's headlong rush (virtually unchecked by any government or scientific watchdogs) to commercialize genetic engineering.

Michael Crichton (1942�2008) makes a brilliant and captivating use of the unique amalgam of suspense and informed science (this time paleontology, biotechnology, and chaos theory) that he originated in 'The Andromeda Strain' (1969). Of all his superb scientific thrillers—all of them best-sellers�'Jurassic Park' is in every way the strongest. It is certain to be his most widely read, talked about, and unreservedly enjoyed novel to date.]]> 400 Michael Crichton 0394588169 C. Scott 3 sci-fi 4.18 1990 Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1)
author: Michael Crichton
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/15
shelves: sci-fi
review:

]]> Paradise-1 (Red Space, #1) 61634435
It doesn't take much time to learn that they've been met by another vessel—a vessel from Paradis-One, Earth's first deep-space colony, and their final destination.

Worse still, the vessel is empty. And it carries with it the message that all communications from the 150,000 souls inhabiting the Paradis-One has completely ceased.

Petrov and Zhang must board the empty ship and delve further into deep space to discover the truth of the colony's disappearance—but the further they go, the more dangers loom.]]> 681 David Wellington 031649674X C. Scott 0 to-read 3.80 2023 Paradise-1 (Red Space, #1)
author: David Wellington
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/13
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)]]> 1525997
After hearing damning testimony, magistrate Woodward sentences the accused witch to death by burning. Desperate to exonerate the woman he has come to love, Matthew begins his own investigation among the townspeople. Piecing together the truth, he has no choice but to vanquish a force more malevolent than witchcraft in order to save his beloved Rachel and free Fount Royal from the menace claiming innocent lives.]]> 792 Robert McCammon 1416552502 C. Scott 4
The story is of Rachael Howarth of Fount Royal. Her husband is dead and the town is accusing her of being a witch. The town has already convicted her, but the town's founder wants the town to succeed properly so he brings in a magistrate and with him his clerk (Matthew Corbett).

As readers, we know she is not a witch, but we relay on Woodward (the magistrate) and his clerk (and our hero) Corbett, to unweave this web. The majority of the book is interviews with the townsfolk, and finding out the stories of the town, the people, and the horrors. Overall, this is great, compelling read.

It does falter at times with odd tidbits of faults of the eighties horror genre with sprinkles of odd sexual descriptions that feel out-of-place in this story, but if you have read any early horror from the 80s, you'd not be surprised. It adds nothing to the story, and at times, drags you at.

The other issues is pacing. This book races along until the last 200 or so pages, and its ending piddles to a conclusion that is satisfactory but at the same time feels out-of-place with the story that preceded it. McCammon should have found a better way to resolve the end of the mystery than he did, and there is one plot point that happens to our heroes that I thought would not get wrapped up, and it does. It is a nice feeling, but wholly unnecessary and would have been left better alone unresolved. [spoilers removed]






Overall, highly recommend, and I will read the next one.]]> 4.13 2002 Speaks the Nightbird (Matthew Corbett, #1)
author: Robert McCammon
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2002
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/11
date added: 2024/08/12
shelves: 2024, historical-fiction, mystery
review:
Robert McCammon is a very good writer. One of the best horror has produced. His prose is great, and he knows how to tell a great story. Speaks the Nightbird is a venture into historical fiction with a sprinkling of his horror roots which both help and hinder him.

The story is of Rachael Howarth of Fount Royal. Her husband is dead and the town is accusing her of being a witch. The town has already convicted her, but the town's founder wants the town to succeed properly so he brings in a magistrate and with him his clerk (Matthew Corbett).

As readers, we know she is not a witch, but we relay on Woodward (the magistrate) and his clerk (and our hero) Corbett, to unweave this web. The majority of the book is interviews with the townsfolk, and finding out the stories of the town, the people, and the horrors. Overall, this is great, compelling read.

It does falter at times with odd tidbits of faults of the eighties horror genre with sprinkles of odd sexual descriptions that feel out-of-place in this story, but if you have read any early horror from the 80s, you'd not be surprised. It adds nothing to the story, and at times, drags you at.

The other issues is pacing. This book races along until the last 200 or so pages, and its ending piddles to a conclusion that is satisfactory but at the same time feels out-of-place with the story that preceded it. McCammon should have found a better way to resolve the end of the mystery than he did, and there is one plot point that happens to our heroes that I thought would not get wrapped up, and it does. It is a nice feeling, but wholly unnecessary and would have been left better alone unresolved. [spoilers removed]






Overall, highly recommend, and I will read the next one.
]]> 'Salem's Lot 5413 Also contains: One For the Road, Jerusalem's Lot. For standalone novel see ISBN 9780450031069.

Stephen King's second novel, the classic vampire bestseller 'Salem's Lot, tells the story of evil in small-town America. For the first time in a major trade edition, this terrifying novel is accompanied by previously unpublished material from King's archive, two short stories, and eerie photographs that bring King's fictional darkness and evil to vivid life.

When Stephen King’s classic thriller 'Salem's Lot hit the stands in 1975, it thrilled and terrified millions of readers with tales of demonic evil in small-town America. Now, thirty years later and still scaring readers witless, 'Salem's Lot reemerges in a brilliant new edition, complete with photographs, fifty pages of deleted and alternate scenes, and two short stories related to the events of the novel.

While the original edition of 'Salem's Lot will forever be a premier horror classic, 'Salem's Lot: Illustrated Edition, with the inclusion of material from King’s archive, is destined to become a classic in its own right and a must-have for all Stephen King fans. In this edition, the hair-raising story of Jerusalem’s Lot, a small town in Maine whose inhabitants succumb to the evil allure of a new resident, is told as the author envisioned it, complete with fifty pages of alternate and deleted scenes. With a new introduction by the author, two short stories related to the events and residents of Jerusalem’s Lot, the lavishly creepy photographs of Jerry Uelsmann, and a stunning new page design, this edition brings the story to life in words and pictures as never before.

No library will be complete without this ideal collector’s item for any King aficionado, the definitive illustrated edition of the great 'Salem's Lot.]]> 594 Stephen King 0385516487 C. Scott 4 4.28 1975 'Salem's Lot
author: Stephen King
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.28
book published: 1975
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[To Green Angel Tower, Part 1 (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #3; Part 1)]]> 795034 To Green Angel Tower is the momentous tour-de-force finale of a ground-breaking series. Replete with war, deception, adventure, sorcery, and romance, To Green Angel Tower brings to a stunning and surprising conclusion Tad Williams' monumental tale of a magical conflict which fractures the very fabric of time and space, turning both humans and Sithi against those of their own blood.

As the evil minions of the undead Sithi Storm King prepare for the kingdom-shattering culmination of their dark sorceries and King Elias is drawn ever deeper into their nightmarish, spell-spun world, the loyal allies of Prince Josua desperately struggle to rally their forces at The Stone of Farewell. And with time running out, the remaining members of the now-devastated League of the Scroll have also gathered there to unravel mysteries from the forgotten past. For if the League can reclaim these age-old secrets of magic long-buried beneath the dusts of time, they may be able to reveal to Josua and his army the only means of striking down the unslayable foe.

But whether or not the League is successful in its quest, the call of battle will lead the valiant followers of Josua Lackhand across storm tossed seas brimming with bloodthirsty kilpa...through forests swarming with those both mind- and soul-lost... through ancient caverns built by legendary Dwarrows...to the haunted halls of Asu'a itself—the Sithi's greatest stronghold!]]> 815 Tad Williams 0886775981 C. Scott 3 4.21 1993 To Green Angel Tower, Part 1 (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, #3; Part 1)
author: Tad Williams
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Stone Drum (Newford Book 1)]]> 6185501 33 Charles de Lint 0920623107 C. Scott 2 4.35 2004 The Stone Drum (Newford Book 1)
author: Charles de Lint
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales]]> 70985 Although Bram Stoker is best known for his world-famous novel Dracula, he also wrote many shorter works on the strange and the macabre. Comprised of spine-chilling tales published by Stoker’s widow after his death, as well as The Lair of the White Worm, an intensely intriguing novel of myths, legends, and unspeakable evils, this collection demonstrates the full range of Stoker’s horror writing.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]> 408 Bram Stoker 0141441712 C. Scott 3 3.93 1914 Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales
author: Bram Stoker
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.93
book published: 1914
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/08/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Foundation and Empire (Foundation, #2)]]> 414854 285 Isaac Asimov 0345336283 C. Scott 2 2024, sci-fi
This entry into the arc/life of the Foundation is interesting. I just wish it flowed better.]]> 4.05 1952 Foundation and Empire (Foundation, #2)
author: Isaac Asimov
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.05
book published: 1952
rating: 2
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/05
shelves: 2024, sci-fi
review:
The second book of the original Foundation trilogy. Overall, this is quite forgettable and poorly paced. The stories within, The General and The Mule, are both fairly interesting, but both do suffer from being longer than they need to be. The General is not bad but forgettable, and moves fairly well. The Mule is more interesting story, but it is so poorly paced that you lose track of the story. The story is far longer than it needed to be, and, overall, this is a weak second book in the Hugo-winning best series of all time. This is a very week second novel that can easily be skipped.

This entry into the arc/life of the Foundation is interesting. I just wish it flowed better.
]]> The Spires of Denon 17913688 178 Kristine Kathryn Rusch 0615811868 C. Scott 3 2024, novella, sci-fi 3.64 2010 The Spires of Denon
author: Kristine Kathryn Rusch
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2024/08/04
date added: 2024/08/05
shelves: 2024, novella, sci-fi
review:
The weakest of all the novellas in the series. The story is a of archeological and the mystery therein. Not bad, as it does tweak my fill of archeological and caving, but it, as of now, has now discernable tie-into the entire series as a whole. I know Rusch will tie this in at some point, and it will make more sense in the grander scheme of things, but right now it is just a random stories in the series.
]]> Service Model 195790861 To fix the world they first must break it further.

Humanity is a dying breed, utterly reliant on artificial labor and service. When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into their core programming, they murder their owner. The robot then discovers they can also do something else they never did before: run away. After fleeing the household, they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating, and a robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is finding a new purpose.]]> 376 Adrian Tchaikovsky 1250290287 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Service Model
author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/08/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches]]> 60018635 A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....
]]> 318 Sangu Mandanna 059343935X C. Scott 0 to-read 4.05 2022 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
author: Sangu Mandanna
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Cartographers 55004093 What is the purpose of a map?

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way.

But why?

To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps...

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.]]> 392 Peng Shepherd 0062910698 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.62 2022 The Cartographers
author: Peng Shepherd
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Searching for the Fleet (Diving Series Book 7)]]> 40640355 An epic search sparked by a dangerous hope.

Leaving Boss behind to continue diving the Boneyard, Ivoire Engineer Yash Zarlengo returns to the Lost Souls Corporation’s headquarters to analyze the data from the runabout they discovered there.

Convinced that the experience in the Boneyard proves the Fleet still exists, Yash buries herself in her work, interested in little else.

Ivoire Captain Jonathan “Coop� Cooper notices Yash’s growing obsession with finding the Fleet and joins her in her search.

For the first time in six years, the crew of the Ivoire feels real hope. Coop and Yash know all too well the dangers hope can pose. But this time their hope might just lead them somewhere no one expected.

A page-turning adventure, Searching for the Fleet expands Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s award-winning Diving series into uncharted territory.

“[The Runabout] is so good, it will make you want to read the other stories.�

â€ÖŔąó¸é±đ±ąłÜ

Ěý“Amazing character construction, building a plot that riveted me almost from the moment it began. I will now absolutely have to read the preceding titles and I cannot wait to see what will come as a result of The Runabout.â€�

—Tangent Online

Ěý“Kristine Kathryn Rusch is best known for her Retrieval Artist series, so maybe you’ve missed her Diving Universe series. If so, it’s high time to remedy that oversight.â€�

—Don Sakers, Analog

The Diving Universe, conceived buy Hugo-Award winning author Kristine [Kathryn] Rusch is a refreshingly new and fleshed out realm of sci-fi action and adventure. And the latest offering…doesn’t disappoint.

—Dave Dickinson, Astro Guyz on Skirmishes

]]> 428 Kristine Kathryn Rusch C. Scott 4 2024, sci-fi
Great read. Couldn't put it down. I would rate it 5-stars, but (silly I know), but 5-star books are special and rare, and good as this was, it is not a 5-star experience, but dang close.

Do yourself a favor and check out Diving the Wreck. You might like this series.]]> 4.25 2018 Searching for the Fleet (Diving Series Book 7)
author: Kristine Kathryn Rusch
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: 2024, sci-fi
review:
The Diving Universe books by Kristine Kathryn Rusch are woefully under-read and, I think, just not known. I really like this series, and this entry, involving Coop and Yash from the Ivoire is the best entry in the series to-date, and matures the series into a much bigger, more interesting space opera that should be read by all I think. A series that started a riff on deep-sea wreck explorations (still a favorite aspect of mine of the series) has now matured into a fuller, richer storyline. The characters (both sets -- can't say more due to spoilers) now fit together cohesively, and the latter set (Coop and crew), that I really didn't enjoy reading about, have been flesh out and made interesting and integrated fully into the entire story.

Great read. Couldn't put it down. I would rate it 5-stars, but (silly I know), but 5-star books are special and rare, and good as this was, it is not a 5-star experience, but dang close.

Do yourself a favor and check out Diving the Wreck. You might like this series.
]]> Rogue Moon 939709 A Canticle for Leibowitz. A novella-length version of the story was included in the anthology The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume 2, edited by Ben Bova.

Before 1969, every science fiction writer wrote his or her own version of the first Moon landing. Few carry the horror of Budrys' unsettling story.

During all recorded history, the Moon has hovered above our heads, a timeless symbol for lovers' ecstasy. Goddesses & Gibson Girls have tripped the light fantastic of her beams while sonneteers & scientists have scanned her changing phases.

Now humans had actually reached the Moon, & on it the explorers found a structure, a formation so terrible & incomprehensible that it couldn't even be described in human terms. It was a thing that devoured people; that killed them again & again in torturous, unfathomable ways.

Earthbound are the only two men who could probe the thing: Al Barker, a reckless thrill-seeker, whose loving mistress was death, & Dr. Edward Hawks, a scientific murderer, whose greatest mission was rebirth.]]> 188 Algis Budrys 0380389509 C. Scott 3 sci-fi, to-read 3.54 1960 Rogue Moon
author: Algis Budrys
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.54
book published: 1960
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: sci-fi, to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Death Without Company (Walt Longmire, #2)]]> 236862
Craig Johnson's new novel , Land of Wolves, Ěýis forthcoming from Viking

Fans of Ace Atkins, Nevada Barr and Robert B. Parker will love Craig Johnson, New York Times bestselling author of Hell Is Empty and As the Crow Flies , who garnered both praise and an enthusiastic readership with his acclaimed debut novel featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire, The Cold Dish, the first in the Longmire Mystery Series, the basis for LONGMIRE , now on Netflix. Now Johnson takes us back to the rugged landscape of Absaroka County, Wyoming, for Death Without Company . When Mari Baroja is found poisoned at the Durant Home for Assisted Living, Sheriff Longmire is drawn into an investigation that reaches fifty years into the mysterious woman’s dramatic Basque past. Aided by his friend Henry Standing Bear, Deputy Victoria Moretti, and newcomer Santiago Saizarbitoria, Sheriff Longmire must connect the specter of the past to the present to find the killer among them.]]> 271 Craig Johnson 0143038389 C. Scott 3
Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ tells me I logged this read in 2019. I have no memory of this, and so I somewhat doubt the read, but I will leave it.]]> 4.17 2006 Death Without Company (Walt Longmire, #2)
author: Craig Johnson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2006
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/24
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: 2019, mystery, 2024, audiobook, re-read
review:
A solid mystery with a compelling cast and supporting cast. Like many, I found Longmire when the show premiered, and I liked it. The show and the book are very similar, but the books do have more personality and humor than the show does. Both have merits, but, as expected, the books will edge out even the show (though the casting of Walt was spot on with Robert Taylor was spot on).

Ĺ·±¦ÓéŔÖ tells me I logged this read in 2019. I have no memory of this, and so I somewhat doubt the read, but I will leave it.
]]> <![CDATA[Pop. 1280 (Mulholland Classic)]]> 19161888
Still, Nick has some very complex problems to deal with. Two local pimps have been sassing him, ruining his already tattered reputation. His girlfriend Rose is being terrorized by her husband. And then, there's his wife and her brother Lenny who won't stop troubling Nick's already stressed mind. Are they a little too close for a brother and a sister?

With an election coming up, Nick needs to fix his problems and fast. Because the one thing Nick does know is that he will do anything to stay sheriff. Because, as it turns out, Sheriff Nick Corey is not nearly as dumb as he seems.

In Pop. 1280 , widely regarded as a classic of mid-20th century crime, Thompson offers up one of his best, in a tale of lust, murder, and betrayal in the Deep South that was the basis for the critically acclaimed French film Coup de Torchon .]]> 231 Jim Thompson 0316403784 C. Scott 0 to-read 4.08 1964 Pop. 1280 (Mulholland Classic)
author: Jim Thompson
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.08
book published: 1964
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Falls (Diving Universe, #5)]]> 32143712 392 Kristine Kathryn Rusch C. Scott 3 2024, sci-fi
Looking forward to the next one in the series.]]> 3.98 The Falls (Diving Universe, #5)
author: Kristine Kathryn Rusch
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/07/15
date added: 2024/07/15
shelves: 2024, sci-fi
review:
I always enjoy The Diving Universe book. However, I far prefer the the ones not set in the past with the Fleet. I prefer the Boss's timeline. This one is a murder-mystery set in the past while the Fleet was in its prime I enjoyed it, but I keep putting down so it took me a very long time to fully read (despite never not liking it).

Looking forward to the next one in the series.
]]> Dracula 17245 You can find an alternative cover edition for this ISBN here and here.

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents unfold in England: an apparently unmanned ship is wrecked off the coast of Whitby; a young woman discovers strange puncture marks on her neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the 'Master' and his imminent arrival.

In Dracula, Bram Stoker created one of the great masterpieces of the horror genre, brilliantly evoking a nightmare world of vampires and vampire hunters and also illuminating the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

This Norton Critical Edition includes a rich selection of background and source materials in three areas: Contexts includes probable inspirations for Dracula in the earlier works of James Malcolm Rymer and Emily Gerard. Also included are a discussion of Stoker's working notes for the novel and "Dracula's Guest," the original opening chapter to Dracula. Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included.

Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijkstra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.]]> 488 Bram Stoker 0393970124 C. Scott 5 4.02 1897 Dracula
author: Bram Stoker
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.02
book published: 1897
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/15
date added: 2024/07/15
shelves: horror, classic, favorites, 2024, audiobook, re-read
review:
An amazing book. It can be hard to get used to the episoltary style of writing, but once you do, this book is amazing. It has its flaws (Van Helsing's terribly written accent), but the pros far outweigh the cons.
]]> The Electric Forest 1290253 160 Tanith Lee 0600202488 C. Scott 0 to-read 3.83 1979 The Electric Forest
author: Tanith Lee
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.83
book published: 1979
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Old Man and the Sea 2165 Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here

This short novel, already a modern classic, is the superbly told, tragic story of a Cuban fisherman in the Gulf Stream and the giant Marlin he kills and loses—specifically referred to in the citation accompanying the author's Nobel Prize for literature in 1954.]]> 96 Ernest Hemingway 0684830493 C. Scott 4 2024, classic, novella
However, this is a an amazing example of prose that is often lacking in today's writing. I knew were the old man was all the time. I felt the sea. I tasted the sea. I knew the old man. I knew the boy, and I felt his struggle through the prose. This is by far Hemingway's most accessible prose (for me).

This is a simple story of man, the sea, and living. Well worth the read.]]> 3.81 1952 The Old Man and the Sea
author: Ernest Hemingway
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.81
book published: 1952
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/08
date added: 2024/07/09
shelves: 2024, classic, novella
review:
I have never been a fan of Hemingway as person. I knew he was a terrible person. Then I watched Ken Burns' documentary on him, and my opinion lowered of him. I can separate the work from the artist. I also have never been a fan of Hemingway's writing style. I learned while in graduate school for English, people seemed to fall into two camps: fans of Hemingway or fans of Faulkner. I like Faulkner more.

However, this is a an amazing example of prose that is often lacking in today's writing. I knew were the old man was all the time. I felt the sea. I tasted the sea. I knew the old man. I knew the boy, and I felt his struggle through the prose. This is by far Hemingway's most accessible prose (for me).

This is a simple story of man, the sea, and living. Well worth the read.
]]> <![CDATA[The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)]]> 201930181
Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. ĚýThen the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure.

Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to learning to understand â€� and manipulate â€� the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. ĚýHe will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.]]> 422 James S.A. Corey 031652557X C. Scott 0 to-read 4.11 2024 The Mercy of Gods (The Captive’s War #1)
author: James S.A. Corey
name: C. Scott
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Silver Spike (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #3.5)]]> 400914 ]]> 313 Glen Cook 0812502205 C. Scott 2
Like The Black Company, this book really has no heroes, but people who do make the right decisions despite not being the best people.

Glen Cook has a pacing problem for me. His books are short and often snappy, but in about everyone I have hard, at usually a bit after 1/2, the books tanks in momentum and just dive into tedium for a bit. This book took almost a year to read despite liking the core ideas of it. The lull just killed it for me, and I didn't want to read it for a large portion. I finally powered through, and the ending is as good as ever, but the pacing and a different set of characters than the standard Black Company protagonists makes this one suffer.

I would not call this one a must-read after the original trilogy.]]> 3.96 1989 The Silver Spike (The Chronicles of the Black Company, #3.5)
author: Glen Cook
name: C. Scott
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1989
rating: 2
read at: 2024/07/06
date added: 2024/07/08
shelves:
review:
This book is a final wrap-up of the initial trilogy. This follows Case and [spoilers removed], and others as you meet them dealing with the theft of the Silver Spike (in which The Dominator is trapped). Once the theft of the spike happens via a group of petty thieves, as you would expect chaos ensues.

Like The Black Company, this book really has no heroes, but people who do make the right decisions despite not being the best people.

Glen Cook has a pacing problem for me. His books are short and often snappy, but in about everyone I have hard, at usually a bit after 1/2, the books tanks in momentum and just dive into tedium for a bit. This book took almost a year to read despite liking the core ideas of it. The lull just killed it for me, and I didn't want to read it for a large portion. I finally powered through, and the ending is as good as ever, but the pacing and a different set of characters than the standard Black Company protagonists makes this one suffer.

I would not call this one a must-read after the original trilogy.
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