Joe's Updates en-US Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:52:23 -0700 60 Joe's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Rating843574900 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:52:23 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe Santoro liked a review]]> /
Joe Santoro liked Lyn's review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Kevin Eastman
"Damn!

Not sure what I was expecting but this was much better.

Kevin Eastman and team do an above average job of putting together an “Old Man Turtle� kind of story as we are in the near future but an ugly dystopian sort of setting. One of our favorite mutants is left but he can still talk to his brothers in his mind.

Our protagonist is back in the NYC underground and is looking for vengeance and some resolution. We have some very cool backstory and fun flashbacks and this story is also very readable. Not sure how they divvied up the writing and art tasks but this was solid throughout.

Good times.

description"
]]> ReadStatus9268828974 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:51:23 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe wants to read 'The Mask of Dimitrios']]> /review/show/7460924693 The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler Joe wants to read The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler
]]> Review7460902592 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 20:39:46 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe added 'Ramses: The Son of Light']]> /review/show/7460902592 Ramses by Christian Jacq Joe gave 2 stars to Ramses: The Son of Light (Ramses #1) by Christian Jacq
bookshelves: historical_fiction
I was hoping for some actual history when I picked this up.. thinking it was a series that might move through Egyptian history, which I know very little about.

I know enough to know they didn't have Criossants though,very silly. The author also decided to take a one off line in the Illad that they passed through Egypt on the way home and turned it into a court visit that lasted years... and included Homer himself (a
bout 300 years before he was born, give or take).

So we don't have history, but maybe its a good story? nope. Apparently the entire 5 book story is just about Ramses.. this book is just his life before he was Pharaoh. And is the the most perfect person in the history of Earth. There are like 10 vignettes show how amazing he is at absolutely everything.. its repetitive, and not very interesting. By the end I was almost rooting for his annoying scheming older brother to win.

Hard pass on the rest of the series... glad I only got the one.
]]> Review7443841569 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 20:43:15 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe added 'One Human Minute']]> /review/show/7443841569 One Human Minute by Stanisław Lem Joe gave 3 stars to One Human Minute (Paperback) by Stanisław Lem
bookshelves: satire
I grabbed this off the shelf at the library on impulse after seeing a couple reviews for other books by the author. Sadly, it was misfiled as science fiction, when in fact it is three I guess you would call them essays, but the author.

The 1st is a review/prologue to a fictional book of statistics that seems to mostly exist to make fun of people's fascination with the Guinness book of World Records, which gave me some nostalglia vibes but wasn't particularly interesting.

Then 2nd one was much more interesting, about military power, where Lem very accurately predicts drones (he actually pictures them as mechanical insects, but the concept is the same). One wishes the current administration would get on board with that instead of spending a fortune on a new fighter plane that is already obsolete.

The final one is about aliens and if they exist or not... nothing to Earth shattering there. I probably would have been more interested overall if I knew more about the author and where he was coming from (other than just that it was the cold war era and the author is Polish).. not the best first book to read. ]]> Rating841411944 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 20:42:26 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe Santoro liked a review]]> /
Joe Santoro liked Mike's review of A Canticle for Leibowitz:
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.
]]> Review7438747633 Wed, 26 Mar 2025 21:28:01 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe added 'Life Hunt']]> /review/show/7438747633 Life Hunt by Kurt Brand Joe gave 3 stars to Life Hunt (Perry Rhodan, 43) by Kurt Brand
bookshelves: space_opera
No more Atlan i this one... instead we get a John Marshall and a 2nd gen Mutant corps telepath trying to steal immortality serum from the Aras for Thora, while Perry mopes in Hellgate..
Now, I've got a few problems with this. Perry Rhodan is running an interplanetary empire.. he has time to use his special task force to essentially run to CVS for him? That's OK?

Also, we had a big long quest for Perry and co. to be immortal, but now the regular doctors can do it? The implications there.

It would have made alot more sense to just have them them go back to the Wanderer (or even just off camera) say Thora and Krest were exceptions.

On the plus side, MIcro-Man was a really good shock short. And in the scientifilms section, they were talking about series. The last one mentioned was Superman. The weird thing was, the author wrote it like it was just some generic SF concept and not the most known Superhero in the world, calling it 'based on a comic strip by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster'. I thought that was wild.

Also, the cover is awesome, but Pucky is not in the book at all. I think that's supposed to be a 'Frogh'.. which were security in the zoo, but those are described at 16 foot long snake like creatures, not two headed dragons.

speaking of 'Froghs'.. it seems the translators was feeling punny this book... it was extremely groan-worthy and threw me right out of the story.. I hope it doesn't continue. ]]> Rating840734049 Wed, 26 Mar 2025 21:27:23 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe Santoro liked a review]]> /
Joe Santoro liked Will Dockery's review of Life Hunt (Perry Rhodan, 43):
Life Hunt by Kurt Brand
"Another one of my letters was published in this number, although so heavily edited it is barely worth mentioning now. This was back when I was still "William Dockery". Mainly, my letter quickly praised Wendane Ackerman's translation and mentioned that in order to begin reading more Perry Rhodan I'd signed up for German class in my Freshman year of high school. Little did I know high school would send me off in a very different direction, leaving, eventually, no time to follow even the Perry Rhodan books that were appearing monthly. Alas, my interest strayed not long after this volume."
]]> Comment288618361 Sat, 22 Mar 2025 19:20:24 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe commented on "February 2025 - A Canticle for Leibowitz - Spoilers OK" in Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels]]> /topic/show/23024810-february-2025---a-canticle-for-leibowitz---spoilers-ok Joe made a comment in the Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group:

Oleksandr wrote: "
Without the travels of Brother Francis and his death, our knowledge of the worth beyond the monastery would be minimal for monks cared more about the past than the present

That's a really good point! I think my wife's issue was she was made he was killed, but she's generally not a fan of characters she's been invested in dying, so that's not the book's fault ;) ]]> Comment288618248 Sat, 22 Mar 2025 19:16:55 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe commented on "March 2025 -- The Goblin Emperor (Spoilers Allowed)" in Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels]]> /topic/show/23063389-march-2025----the-goblin-emperor-spoilers-allowed Joe made a comment in the Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group:

I read this a while back.... it was decent. I bit slow, but not a bad coming of age book. ]]> Review7426319855 Sat, 22 Mar 2025 19:07:39 -0700 <![CDATA[Joe added 'Time's Lonely One']]> /review/show/7426319855 Time's Lonely One by K.H. Scheer Joe gave 4 stars to Time's Lonely One (Perry Rhodan #42) by K.H. Scheer
bookshelves: space_opera
I had taken a little Perry break since the first big storyline ended last book, and then there's a time skip. I was looking forward to what was next, and this book didn't disappoint... as Atlan is introduced.

I know he's important based on looking up stuff and looking for the books, but I don't really know why, so this book (told first person from Atlan's point of view) introduces him. It seems he slept through the rise of the New Power (assuming nuclear holocaust was eminent) and woke up to discover that didn't actually happen.

At first, Atlan seems like a nice guy, but it because more clear he's up to no good, eventually stowing away on a ship with Perry and leading to a duel on the harsh planet of Hellgate. Very good intro and I'm looking forward to see what they do with him next!

One of the shock shorts was good too, 'Going Home' by Kris Neville.. a meloncoly spacer tale which was a nice change of pace. ]]>