1.22.2012

 

The Restoration Game


by Ken MacLeod, 257 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A

So this book is about Lucy Stone, who works for a small Scottish company that designs computer games. She's also the daughter of Amanda Stone, the world expert on Krassnia, a small region in Russia/Georgia that isn't technically it's own country. When she was a little girl, Lucy actually lived there with her mother, and across several generations had inherited some Krassnian blood.
Things get underway when Amanda coerces Lucy into getting her company to create a version of their upcoming 'Dark Britannia' game based on Krassnian legend to help support some nebulous agency/agencies' goal for a revolution in Krassnia. And the whole Krassnian legend is actually tied up in a terrifying experience Lucy had as a child in Krassnia and what exactly is the ancient secret that lies on Mt. Krassnia - which is where the scifi bit comes in.
MacLeod does an excellent job of weaving all the plot threads together by the end.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 9:46 PM
 

I am the Chosen King


by Helen Hollick, 577 pgs, paperback
Series: The Lost Kingdom book 2
Overall Grade: B

A really detailed novel following the main players in the English nobility (and Duke William of Normandy) in the years before the Battle of Hastings and the Norman Conquest. Even though you know the English will lose, you end up feeling really sympathetic for them.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 9:41 PM
 

Caveat Emptor


by Ruth Downie, 336 pgs, hardcover
Series: Gaius Petreius Ruso series book #4
Overall Grade: A-

Another series of ancient Roman mysteries! This one occurs during the Roman Empire, the reluctant sleuth (Ruso) is an army doctor by training, and this particular mystery is sent in Roman Britannia. The dilemma involves a tax collector and his brother who went missing with the taxes from a nearby town. Eventually you feel as frustrated as Ruso, learning more about the Roman bureaucracy and monetary system than you ever wanted to know.
BTW - the title translates to "buyer beware"

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 9:32 PM

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