Friday, January 29, 2016

LOST SOULS by Seth Patrick ***

If you saw the TV series Revival and liked it there's a chance you'll like this book. I watched some of the show but was bored with the no story line thing going on. Like no why, no how, no explanations, blahblah so naturally I wasn't thrilled by the novel. I didn't like it, too many descriptions, not enough action. Who would name a kid NEVER???? Like Never went to school...so what someone didn't go to school? Or someone named Never didn't go to school? Confusing and dumb JMHO.

Monday, January 25, 2016

ZERO WORLD by Jason M Hough ****

This is sy fy and I didn't mind it too much. This guy Caswell has been sent on a journey thru a black hole or worm hole to another planet, he'd been there before but a technology implant is in his neck to erase his memory. He doesn't remember killing anyone on any of his "jobs". He's sort of a futuristic mercenary for a woman Warden named Monique. Some people are on Earth but from another planet making sure that each one speaks English (even tho everyone on Earth does NOT speak English). So he lands on another planet called Gartien and meets up with a female spy (I think) named Melni. They become partners in the task of killing off Alia somebody who is trying to upgrade the Gartiens with new technology defying a group called Prime, which Monique is part of, as even Caswell is part of which you don't learn till the end but his entire thinking changes over the length of the novel.

Some things were confusing like using blixxing as a swear word, Sometimes they are wearing or using gear that is incomprehensible and the descriptions lack enough detail so it leaves you thinking, "whatever" and you go right past it. At one point Caswell forgets how to use a gun, and believes he's never killed anyone even tho he turns beer bottles backwards in the fridge so he knows how many people he's killed on his missions. So that didn't make sense.

On page 440 after an unexpected event occurred he had sent a transmission recorded before everything happened and sent it to Earth. That was an impossibility. I didn't get how they could record something they didn't know would happen. Caswell spent so much of the early parts of the story without food or water yet managed somehow to live. I don't understand that either. He couldn't eat the food on Gartien due to bacteria (he thinks) and I have no idea how he could survive weeks without food or drink. It boggles the mind. Anyway the end is satisfactory. The story had a beginning, middle and end. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't edge of the seat thrilling either. It had no humor in it really, takes itself very seriously. I tend to compare SyFy with Adams. Sorry writer.
I would get it at the library. It's a large book so don't let it fall on your head.

Sunday, January 17, 2016

AVENUE OF MYSTERIES by John Irving *

Most novels require you to be lured into the story HARDCORE, if the author is unable to do this and just tells without showing I'm not going to be drawn in and don't GAS about the story.

I only got 14 pages into this and quit. Why? Pages and pages of nonsense about what Juan Diego calls himself from the past to the present-not kidding and why. Then there are umpteen paragraphs about "dump kids" from his past. There is a passage about what a shrug means...total arrogance of the writer to bring me here cuz I'm done.

Boring. Go to sleep reading something more interesting. Even if you're not tired this one will put you down or make you toss it across the room. Really not a fan.

Saturday, January 16, 2016

ALL THIS LIFE by Joshua Mohr ****

Not a mystery or murder novel, more like the movie "Crash" where all these people end up at the same spot at the same time at the end.

There are mostly computer users who think most of their life is glued to the internet but realize at the end it's not true. There is a story about an alcoholic mom and the story of her son and past girlfriend, then one about a kid who's sister commits suicide and thinks the internet is life, there's a madman of course, and parents, siblings etc.

Each story in itself is sort of interesting and as a novel it's okay for me, I didn't hate it but it's not my genre really. It holds interest but often you get confused which person's life we'r'e on that's the most distracting part of the novel. Otherwise library or buy it. Not all bad, mostly showing and no telling so it's more of a correctly written novel than most I read. This has a beginning, middle and end.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

HOST by Robin Cook *****

Never one to ignore a Cook book (intended) I picked up this one which is new. As usual it involves doctors, hospitals and drugs. A med student, Lynn, has a boyfriend Carl, who needs minor knee surgery but something goes terribly wrong and he ends up in the next door building for non brain functioning coma patients. Wonder why parents aren't asked if he'd like to be moved anywhere else?

The Shapiro building is mostly a  mystery and you learn more about it the more you read. Carl was forced into a coma to end up next door comatose. Lynn and her BFF Michael are on the search to figure out what happened to Carl, why he was in a coma following simple routine knee surgery and they had a lot of ground to cover to get to the end and learn the truth.

At one point Carl makes friends with an IT guy from Shapiro, a Russian, and Michael abuses the friendship offered by the Russian by stealing his fingerprint and his passwords to the Shapiro computers, which can only be accessed from inside the building. I imagine no one really GAS about the Russian friend but I thought it wasn't very friendly of Michael but I guess he had no other alternatives to get into the building.

All in all it had a sort of ending, both Michael and Lynn graduating from their med rotations or education and onto residency someplace. There are still 2 Russians after them but they don't have any immediate plans to go after them.

Fast paced, hard to put down and YAY an ending of sorts. Something about Cook doesn't like finality or happy endings..get used to it!

Monday, January 4, 2016

SATURN RUN by John Sandford & Ctein ****

This is almost 500 pages, so of course being who I am I think I can cut 100 pages out of this sucker so it's not as sleep inducing as it was.

USA and China have a space ship (year 2068 or so) going to space because it appeared from earth that aliens were moving back and forth to a moon of Saturn. There's your RUN, they are racing to get there first. The US gets there first on (of all things in hell) a ship named the Richard R. Nixon. which almost made me toss the library book into the trash. Pushing that absurdity aside I read it all and SPOILER ALERT there are no aliens to meet, only robotic crap that aliens created. There are no questions worth asking those useless pieces of crap.

 I won't give much else away except to say that traveling for 3 yrs to another planet can be tres boring. There is a bet going onboard the US ship on the date the ship's captain and some guy will screw so they hold off till it's a million then fuck and split it. Meantime back at the Chinese ship they are scurrying along slowly with mostly militia on board vs the US having mostly scientists aboard with very few weapons altho they have lots of technology even printers that can reproduce printers etc. So the inevitable happens at around page 400 on the way home to Earth when the Chinese are having so much trouble with their ship they come aboard the US ship and try to take it over with some bitch killing people every time she blinks even after all Chinese being throughly searched by the US teams. They did a crappy ass job. The new travelers used aerosolized LSD. Must have been a fun time for all.

I folded some pages where I think "she' was used instead of "he' or it was ambiguous for pages until they finally mentioned she was with a she, as in gay. For awhile I couldn't tell if Sandy was male or female. In one scenario the Chinese were on a trip to Mars for some reason, saw the Saturn business and were perfectly equipped to change course in their cargo ship with enough crap on board of food and water for 6 years? I wasn't convinced. Meantime how and why did a US ship guy become a Chinese spy? I mean the Chinese didn't even know the US was going to Saturn so how'd they plant someone on the ship? Reality sets in.

I'd like to know at what time in the world laws were written stating what piracy in the sky was, or what international laws were dreamed up for space travel? Ok, so I'm not gonna be around for 2068 but still, I'm clueless, so how long has space travel been going on? Sometimes Zhang is male and sometimes I think it's a she, I'm very confused, it's a large book and I just can't familiarize myself quickly to so many people, sexes and countries. There are very few VERY WELL drawn characters the rest are filler robots. I hate books with too many people and this has too many pages, too many people, too many scenarios of b.s. to get thru without encountering ONE lousy alien. I mean COME ON!! I read 500 pages and no alien??? Disappointed. Hence the only 4 stars.