6.29.2013

 

The End of Sparta

by Victor Davis Hanson, 432 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B

Not everyone's cup of tea, Hanson weaves a historical fiction tale from bits and pieces of historical sources about the Boiotian defeat of Sparta and their following campaign into the Peloponnese to free the Spartan helots preceding the fall of Sparta from military power.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 9:52 AM

6.26.2013

 

The Windup Girl

by Paolo Bacigalupi, 359 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A-

A slow starter, but it picks up. 'The Windup Girl' takes place in a near-future Bangkok. A future where genetic manipulation has lead to horrific crop blights that adapt to improved crop strains almost as quickly as the scientists can make them. Most of the world is under the thumb of the few companies that continue to race against the diseases and keep humanity fed.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 3:35 PM
 

John Carter

PG-13, 132 minutes
Official Site | IMDB
Overall Grade: B

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 3:26 PM

6.22.2013

 

The Enchantress

by Michael Scott, 509 pgs, hardcover
Official Website
Series: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel book 6 & last
Overall Grade: C+

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 10:15 AM

6.17.2013

 

The Fugitive from Corinth

by Caroline Lawrence, 181 pgs, hardcover
Series: The Roman Mysteries X
Overall Grade: B+

I have to give the author props for the events at the beginning of the book. I would not have expected that to happen in a novel for kids, but then Lawrence has written a surprising number of sensitive topics into this series (the suicide of a witness in an earlier book springs to mind).
This tenth installment finds Flavia, Jonathan, Nubia & Lupus in Greece on their homeward journey after their voyages in the ninth book. A tragic turn of events leaves Flavia's father on the cusp of death and the 4 young sleuths tracking down their former tutor as the suspect from Corinth up to Delphi and down to Athens.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:05 AM
 

Steampunk Prime

edited by Mike Ashley, 236 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: C+

It's always some hit and some miss with anthologies and this is no exception. Ashley started out with the premise to resurrect little-known steampunk-esque stories original published from the 1880's to the 1910's i.e. the historical "era" on which the steampunk genre draws. At the time most of these stories would have been speculative fiction or outright science fiction. I'd also argue that some of the editor's inclusions sit much closer to sci-fi than steampunk. Once the author sets the story in the future, especially the far future, even if the technology they imagine is based on steam, that's sci-fi not steampunk.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:57 AM
 

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

R, 127 minutes
Overall Grade: B

I'll admit it. I watched this because it's on Benedict Cumberbatch's filmography. Based on a period spy novel set during the Cold War, the story revolves around a British intelligence organization that has been told it has a double-agent in its midst.
Not everyone's cup of tea, obviously, but I think they pulled it off well. Also a surprising number of homosexual subplots especially given the era and genre (one I've learned was added for the movie and is not in the novel.)

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:51 AM
 

Fall of Giants

by Ken Follett, ~960 pgs, paperback
Series: The Century Trilogy book #1
Overall Grade: B+

A surprisingly easy-to-read book despite it's intimidating size. Follett conjures up an interwoven international cast of characters from coal-miners to diplomats to royalty that I actually started to care about. We follow them up to, through, and following WWI and see through their eyes the war and the rise of communism in Russia.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:43 AM

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