10.23.2015

 

Semper Fidelis


by Ruth Downie, 327 pgs, hardcover
Series: Gaius Petreius Ruso book 5
Overall Grade: B

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 9:21 AM

10.16.2015

 

Persona Non Grata


by Ruth Downie, 346 pgs, hardcover
Series: Gaius Petreius Ruso series #3
Overall Grade: B

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 11:42 AM

8.21.2015

 

Terra Incognita


 

     
 
by Ruth Downie, 382 pgs, hardcover
Series: Gaius Petreius Ruso series book #2
Overall Grade: B

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 7:56 PM

7.14.2015

 

Medicus


 

by Ruth Downie, 384 pgs, hardcover
Series: Gaius Petreius Ruso series book #1
Overall Grade: B+

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 4:02 PM

11.27.2013

 

Etiquette & Espionage

by Gail Carriger, 336 pgs, hardcover
Series: Finishing School book 1, spin-off series from The Parasol Protectorate
Overall Grade: B+

In this prequel spin-off series, Sophronia Temminnick, a curious and active young lady, is recruited to a mysterious finishing school. But Mademoiselle Geraldine's is not your typical finishing school for genteel ladies. Catering to the female progeny of intelligencers, evil geniuses and other questionable types, this airborne academy finishes teaching ladies how to behave and also how to "finish" their adversaries and collect intelligence. From the beginning Sophronia is at odds with a senior student, Miss Pelouse, who failed her graduation assignment and was dropped back to Sophronia's class. Only as Sophronia gradually makes friends and learns to apply her lessons does she start to uncover what secret Miss Pelouse is keeping and concocts a plan to thwart her.

Coming from Ms. Carriger, and set in the same universe at 'The Parasol Protectorate', I had high expectations for this book. While interesting and fast-paced, it took me a while to get invested in the students. Written from Sophronia's perspective, the reader definitely has the feeling of not knowing everything that's going on, sometimes frustratingly so, and I hope some topics will be developed more as the series progresses. A couple of characters from the Parasol Protectorate reappear as younger versions of themselves in this series, leaving me thoroughly confused about the timeline because their age disparity is much greater in the former series. I've never known Carriger to be sloppy with such details in her previous books, so I can only hope that this mystery will also be elucidated as this series progresses. Not one of the best books I've read this year, but certainly a series that I will keep in my to-read queue... now if I could just get a reserve on the second book from my library...

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:50 AM

11.05.2013

 

The Slave-girl from Jerusalem

by Caroline Lawrence, 209 pgs, paperback
Series: The Roman Mysteries XIII
Overall Grade: B+

 Although I've always thought the series was darker and more realistic than many YA series, this book seems even more so. (By the end, all 4 main characters have written their own wills.)
The story begins with Jonathan's sister, Miriam, who enlists the help of the 4 young sleuths in proving that her childhood friend was freed before her master died. The case rather quickly becomes bloody, and the slave-girl is shortly accused of triple-homicide.

Despite the presence of Flavius, or "Floppy", and Flavia's fawning over him, I enjoyed this story. There was a lot to learn about how Romans freed their slaves, wrote and enacted wills, and conducted criminal trials.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:16 AM

10.29.2013

 

Timeless

by Gail Carriger, 386 pgs, paperback
Series: The Parasol Protectorate #5
Overall Grade: A

The final installment in Carriger's 'Parasol Protectorate' series, the story timeskips forward several years so that the baby is now about a few years old. Alexia receives an "invitation" from the oldest living vampire queen to come visit her in Cairo and for Alexia to bring her daughter. The local vampire queen advises Alexia that this is not the type of invitation one can turn down, but demurs to say what the oldest queen might want. So while Alexia is in the midst of generating a satisfactory reason to travel to Egypt and preparing her family for travel, the beta from the Scotland pack returns from Egypt with important information that he fails to impart to Alexia before mysteriously dying. If that doesn't sounds like an auspicious start to one's tripplanning, I don't know what is!

I found Carriger's book to be a satisficatory ending to the series. We find out more about the God-Breaker Plague, the weaknesses of werewolves and preternaturals, some history on Alexia's father and Floote. There are a few teasing details that could easily remain as is, or allow future works. I particularly enjoyed the developments with Biffy and Prof. Lyall as those are two of my favorite characters in the series, and it was refreshing to have their narration often through out the story.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 11:31 PM

9.23.2013

 

Trimalchio's Feast and other Mini-Mysteries

by Caroline Lawrence, 114 pgs, paperback
Series: The Roman Mysteries
Overall Grade: B


A collection of short mysteries and character studies set between the first 14 books.

Again, it was intersting to learn more details about gladiator training, fullers and ancient Roman lamps, as well as some of the events that are hinted at in the books. All of the stories are quick reads, with commentary by the author on how she came up with the ideas for each, and an interview with her at the end of the anthology.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:59 PM
 

Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and Illusions

by Neil Gaiman, 339pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B

An anthology of stories, drabbles, poetry, and novellas by Neil Gaiman over a range of topics and genres.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:52 PM

8.16.2013

 

Somewhere Beneath Those Waves

by Sarah Monette, 327 pgs, paperback
Overall Grade: A+

Monette's prose is gorgeous. This book is an anthology of short stories, some appearing in print for the first time. The genres vary greatly, some are fantasy, some are horror, some are sci-fi, and some are hard to pin down. As you can guess, it's a bit hard to summarize such a diverse array of literature. I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the whole collection, and would especially recommend it to any fans of Monette's other works!

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:32 PM

8.06.2013

 

The Charioteer of Delphi

by Caroline Lawrence, 210 pgs, hardcover
Series: The Roman Mysteries XII
Overall Grade: A-

Flavia's father is suddenly called on to sail his patron to Greece, fortuitously allowing Flavia & company to travel to Rome in time to find a missing, prized racing horse. But why was the horse so easy to find? Our young sleuths uncover a deeper mystery amidst the excitement of the chariot races.

I particularly liked all the details about chariot racing and the Circus Maximus this book lovingly used. That's exactly how I imagine I would use my own scholarship in a work of fiction. Also the scene with the morning worship of the lares and penates was interesting to me.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 12:07 PM

7.08.2013

 

The Sirens of Surrentum

by Caroline Lawrence, 196 pgs, hardcover
Series: The Roman Mysteries XI
Overall Grade: B-

This books sees Flavia & company finally back in Italy. But practically as soon as they arrive they receive a letter from Pulchra (a friend from a previous mystery), who is seeking their help in finding out who is poisoning her mother. So they're off to visit the Villa Limona again, along with a small covey of lustful young men and widows. They, along with Flavia's crush on the head of household Pollius Felix, make for a some what agonizing read, though sometimes humorous as Pulchra tries to teach Flavia how to beautify herself in adult ways.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 11:12 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

5.15.2013

 

The Colossus of Rhodes

by Caroline Lawrence, 173 pgs, hardcover
Series: The Roman Mysteries book 9
Official Website
Overall Grade: B+

This mystery takes place during a sea voyage, as Flavia & company sail with her father from their home in Ostia to the island of Rhodes, following up on the child-abduction ring they had previously fought against. There's a lot of nice details that all tie together at the end of this one. The only unappealing feature being Flavia's budding interest in men, which I and her friends could all do without.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:50 PM

4.29.2013

 

Cold Days

by Jim Butcher, 515 pgs, hardcover
Series: Dresden Files book 14
Overall Grade: A

Harry is back from the "dead" and now in the service of faerie queen of Winter, Mab, as her Winter Knight. And one of her first orders for him? Kill Maeve, the Winter Lady. Is it a test for Harry or does she really want Maeve dead? As Harry digs deeper, he finds that seriously bad things are scheduled to go down on Halloween, and they have to do with the true purpose of the island Demonreach. Harry is going to start pulling some reluctant answers from faeries and other supernatural creatures in order to put a name to whom or what is pulling the strings behind all the building turmoil in the magical world. And while he'd like to go it solo since he considers himself compromised by having to serve Mab, Harry's friends aren't going to let that happen, and we see Molly, Murphy, Thomas, and others return to aid him once again.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 5:38 PM

4.14.2013

 

Soulless vol.2

story original by Gail Carriger, art by REM, 242 pgs, paperback
Series: adapted from The Parasol Protectorate book 2
Overall Grade: A


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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:09 AM

3.27.2013

 

SPQR: A Point of Law

by John Maddox Roberts, #pgs, hardcover
Series: SPQR X

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 3:19 PM

9.16.2012

 

Inception


PG-13, 148 min
IMDb | Official Site
Overall Grade: A

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 1:01 AM

7.18.2012

 

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

PG-13, 129 min
Official Site | IMDB

2nd in the series

Overall Grade: B


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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:14 PM

7.07.2012

 

A Discovery of Witches

by Deborah Harkness, 579 pgs, hardcover
Series: All Souls Trilogy book 1
Overall Grade: B+

Plot: Diana Bishop is a decendent from two lines of powerful witches. She wants nothing to do with her innate powers and talents and instead has a promising career as a historian of alchemy. In the process of summer research, she calls up an alchemic text from an Oxford library that was long thought lost, and which all three races of creatures want. These three races of creatures, witches, vampires, and daemons, live among humans, blending in with various degrees of success, though they are actually genetically separated species from each other and humans. Now it looks like all the sides want Diana in order to get their hands on the book. And if Diana might just be falling into a forbidden romance with the vampire, Matthew Clermont, that has taken it upon himself to protect her, that might just bring even more trouble down about her ears.
Review: A romance without being overally sappy, this book has plenty of fantasy to keep the reader happy. Once the plot starts thickening in Oxford, you move to France, and from there to the US. The sequel promises to have Diana and Matthew back in time somewhere. Matthew's romantic self-restraint is explained in terms of his character's backstory, but it is still refreshing a suitor who is so romantic without clothes coming off. Diana is a bit Mary Sue, in her sheer number of crazy witch abilities, held back only by her inexperience and lack of training. I expect those gloves to come off in the next book or two as she gets trained up and then we'll reassess her Mary Sue-ness.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 6:29 PM

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