Tag: scifi

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#BookReview: Smoke and Mirrors by Richard Bard

Satisfying Conclusion. Originally, this book and its predecessor were called a “Duology” within the overall series, and in that sense, this book provides a satisfying conclusion to that two-book storyline (that I still feel could have been condensed into one book, even just taking these two books as is and combining them to form a 600 ish page book). It also does a good job of setting up the next book via a particular unresolved thread that leads to a blatant cliffhanger – so blatant that the author tags a note just a couple of lines later swearing that the story will continue. (As those of us reading years later already know.) Overall a great continuation to the series, and I’m looking forward to diving into the next book momentarily.

This review of Smoke and Mirrors by Richard Bard was originally published on October 27, 2018.

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#BookReview: Brainchild by Richard Bard

Good But Incomplete. As with any of the books in this series after BRAINRUSH, read the earlier books first. That said, the author introduces some new writing techniques into this book that are a refreshing change of pace, and that is most welcome. HOWEVER, the reason I dinged this book a star is because it feels like the author took one story and broke it into two – similar to how Hollywood did a lot of book to movie adaptations there for a while with the last book, except obviously here this is an author himself doing it to his own book. Yes, the combined single book of this one and the next one would have likely gone over the 600 page mark, and maybe the author didn’t think that would sell as well or some such. But this feels like a money grab, even with the solid story, with the splitting into halves.

All of that said, there is more peril than ever built into this book, though the peril in this tale is more personal (vs the last book’s more global scale).

If you’ve gotten this far in the series, you won’t be disappointed with the story here – and you’ll be reaching for the next one as soon as you’ve finished this one!

This review of Brainchild by Richard Bard was originally published on October 26, 2018.

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#BookReview: The Enemy of My Enemy by Richard Bard

Excellent Continuation. This book continues the storyline and pacing from the previous book and raises the stakes quite a bit in the process. If you enjoyed the first book, you’ll enjoy this one, but as this is the second book in the series, you really do need to start from the beginning.

I wound up dinging this one a star because of the author’s continued miscommunication about guns. The vast majority of which do not have “clips”, they have “magazines”. And there are *few* fully automatic pistols, virtually none of which even military contractors would be allowed to have on the streets of the United States. So while the author continually refers to characters having “automatics”, they really should be “semi-automatics” or even just “pistols” or “sidearms”.

All that said, this series is a solid thriller with elements of scifi – if you like either genre, you may well like this series and I absolutely recommend checking it out.

This review of The Enemy of My Enemy by Richard Bard was originally published on October 25, 2018.

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#BookReview: Brainrush by Richard Bard

What A Rush. This was a very good book, even if I did have a few quibbles with it as an Autistic. The action is among the craziest I’ve seen in novel form, in all the best ways. And the pacing of the abilities and how they are discovered is slow enough to seem “plausible” and yet quick enough to keep the action going well. Excellent work, looking forward to the rest of the series.

This review of Brainrush by Richard Bard was originally published on October 23, 2018.

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#BookReview: Jurassic Dead 2 by Rick Chesler and David Sakmyster

Zombie Dinosaurs Attack Washington DC. Seriously, what more do you need to know, particularly in the modern political climate? This book continues shortly after Jurassic Dead left off and ups the ante even more than the “zombie dinosaurs exist” premise of the first book. Read Jurassic Dead first, but you’re going to want to start this book immediately following it!

This review of Jurassic Dead 2 by Rick Chesler and David Sakmyster was originally published on September 30, 2018.

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#BookReview: Jurassic Dead by Rick Chesler and David Sakmyster

Zombie. Dinosaurs. Read it for that premise alone! Seriously, what more do you need? Do you want me to tell you that this was a very fast paced, easy read full of action? It was. Do you want me to tell you that there was enough resolved here to make it feel like a complete story? It was. Do you want me to tell you that the authors left enough open to continue the overall story arc? They did. Now, quit reading this review and go pick up this book!

This review of Jurassic Dead by Rick Chesler and David Sakmyster was originally published on September 28, 2018.

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#BookReview: The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker

Not Your Typical Post-Apocalypse Story. This book played out like a FAR superior version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road – so fans of that book (and sadly, it has legions) should like this one as well. Except whereas that book was so extremely dark, bleak, and miserable, this one tries to approach things with a much more plausible, real world tone and outlook. Yes, there are challenges. But we face them one step at a time – for hundreds of thousands of steps. Overall a very refreshing yet serious take on the post Apocalyptic genre, and a worthy first ever Century Book for me.

This review of The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker was originally published on September 26, 2018.

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#BookReview: The Sky Is Falling by Peter Biskind

Left-Central Elite Doesn’t Get Movies. I wanted to like this one, I *really* did. The title and description sounded *awesome*. Unfortunately, the book itself was a gold mine – the single *worst* description of a book I’ve ever used. Meaning you have to sift through a LOT of detritus to find even a single good flake, and an actual nugget worth of goodness is even more rare. Biskind looks at movies as old as WWII and as recent as Black Panther, all in service of a central premise that is so fatally flawed as to be laughable. This subject could have been handled very differently and a compelling case could have been made, but Biskind failed to really even make an attempt to make it. That said, his publisher has their stated goal of “sparking conversations”, and in *that* regard, this book may be at least somewhat successful… though maybe in the “any press is better than no press” kind of way.

This review of The Sky Is Falling by Peter Biskind was originally published on September 11, 2018.