Duneby Frank Herbert544pp (Paperback)My Rating: 8.5/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.38/5Good Reads Rating: 4.32/5 Winner of the first Nebula award in 1965 and co-winner of the Hugo award, Dune is regarded with an almost reverent awe by some. As one of the first science fiction novels to emphasize characters, Dune is the precursor to many of the modern books in the genre that we read today. In spite of its reputation as a must-read novel in the genre, I put off […]

Dragons Wildby Robert Asprin368pp (Trade Paperback)My Rating: 6/10Amazon Rating: 4.6/5LibraryThing Rating: 3/5Goodreads Rating: 3.3/5 Dragons Wild is Robert Asprin’s return to solo writing after a long run of co-authored books and marks the beginning of a new humorous fantasy series from the author of the Myth and Phule’s Company books. Though his best work is now nearly twenty years old and many of his recent efforts have been uneven (and that’s being generous), Dragons Wild shows glimmers of Asprin’s previous […]

Last Dragonby J.M. McDermott400pp (Paperback)My Rating: 7/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.94/5Good Reads Rating: 3.25/5 J.M. McDermott’s debut Last Dragon is one of the books published under the new Wizards of the Coast Discoveries imprint. Discoveries includes novels by new authors in all types of speculative fiction instead of just epic fantasy with settings outside of the Forgotten Realms universe. The goal is to publish more mature fiction that appeals to adult readers instead of the simplistic but fun stories that […]

Hoodby Stephen Lawhead496pp (Hardcover)My Rating: 7/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 3.94/5Good Reads Rating: 3.96/5 Hood is the first book in the new “King Raven” trilogy by Stephen Lawhead. Scarlet, the second book in the series, is also available, but the concluding volume Tuck has not yet been released. Much like the tales of King Arthur, Robin Hood is a story that has evolved over the years and Lawhead wanted to tell the tale set during the time it seems to have […]

The Player of Gamesby Iain M. Banks416pp (Paperback)My Rating: 9/10Amazon Rating: 4.5/5LibraryThing Rating: 4.25/5Good Reads Rating: 4.06/5 I have wanted to read one of the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks for quite a while and one that sounded particularly interesting to me was The Player of Games. Unfortunately, that particular title was difficult to find in the U.S. — until it was reprinted here a couple of months ago. I am very glad it was since this is definitely […]

A Kind of Peaceby Andy Boot303pp (Paperback)My Rating: 2/10Amazon Rating: 4/5LibraryThing Rating: 1/5Good Reads Rating: 1/5 A Kind of Peace by Andy Boot is the first book in the “Dreams of Inan” series. “Dreams of Inan” is a shared world universe similar to Forgotten Realms in that more than one author writes stories that take place in Inan, a land in which technology and magic are intertwined. It is supposed to be an action-filled, fast-paced fantasy adventure, but unfortunately, it […]