2024
Fantasy Mystery
Review: There should have been a publisher description or a genre designation that this is gayer than Stephen Fry’s fanny pack.
Besides the gay crushing that pounds you senseless from the backside, this was a good read as old Nightingale is there to save the story line. The supporting caste are artfully rendered while Gussie is a bit of a flighty pillock. As it is a novella, only three stars are available for the entire rating.
3.0/5
Review: This was really quite good as we follow Cole and Summer throughout their inevitable collision. Freya and Arlen make for a great supporting cast that may have their own story to tell. These meandering paths are integral within the build and coalesce with impunity, although they are not entirely free from punishment. Just a bit confusing at first as the characters seemingly wander around without focus.
And why is Cole so good with limited coverage? Movement, plain and simple. He is constantly casting about for reason while chasing some hottie thief across the rooftops while plunging to his death from great heights. What is not to love? Summer is also deeply involved in avoiding detection and plotting an escape from Torrick while infusing her personality into it.
It was almost like I had to go through pages of backstory and history as pennance for the characters I wanted to follow. Most readers will not give a fuk about the Kings of this and that, the Honeybird lovers song or princess whatevers familial history, yet it builds a great foundation for a continued series.
P-Date: 2024
Genre: Mystery
Review:
Ah another English crime novel exemplary of the detailed genre which provides filler if nothing else.
While not complete crap, the novel ends up being the least interesting thing to read amongst a plethora of novels that get to the fuking point.
Rating: DNF
2024
SciFi
Review: Another YA novel set in a narcissistic reality.
Everything and I mean EVERYTHING is about Kaia. Yeah, someone actually went and put a twist on the often used name KAI. Yep, she did that.
Kaia likes to HIYAH! down the glacial slopes in her glacier board because it is so cool and stuff and if she could just save enough money to get in a race while buying her dad a new helmet that would be so rad. But there is evilly peeps around and she is just so mad and stuff. Like when everyone got blown up and she was so in grief and shock but people died cause of her and she will never be good enough so I cried for a long time then got better with sick friends. Not the real sick kind but cool sick.
Rating: 1.2/5
Review: For me, this was one of the best in this series which isn’t saying a lot as I liked them all. A kind of reverse Count of Monte Cristo mystery. There is an assumption of identity sans revenge. Again, there are a multitude of suspects to confuse the issue yet there is an artful rendering of linkages between them.
The continued sexual flexibility of everyone runs a little flat for me, as when marriage is discussed there are casual and considered choices between both sexes. Shin is equally flippant with regards to his bisexuality in that he flutters about when a good looking man is around. Ho-hum. This is a consistent theme with all the novels in the series which makes one wonder if the author is not professing his own inclinations or hitching his novel to the current woke post. At least you are not bludgeoned with it.
Rating: 4.6/5
Description: 2023. Extraordinary detective Daidoji Shin returns, in a wonderful locked-room murder mystery like no other, in this lively novel from the epic fantasy world of Legend of the Five Rings Opening night at the Foxfire Theater is set to be a huge success for Daidoji Shin, amateur detective turned theater impresario. The City of the Rich Frog’s leading lights are all there, but even as the performance begins, the Three Flower Troupe’s new lead actress is found dead backstage–and everyone in the venue is a potential suspect.
Review: A classic who-done-it mystery set within the theater confines. A slight shift from the previous novels where Shin takes on complicated schemes bound within broader consipiracies.
Mystery
Review: Another awesome story line that has a comfortable air about it. From the most evil character to the diminuative, all weave a great tapestry.
Shin plys the world as an effete snob that hides a brilliant mind. He has a sense of humor that comes across the pages making you chuckle here and there at Kasami’s expense. The only mild detraction is the total unbelievability of Emiko, a blind woman taking out 4 plus young ronin with her cane sword. AND she is at the heart of all things clandestine. Riiiiight.
P-Date: 2020
Genre: Mystery
Review: I read the last in this series A Bitter Taste and doing so revealed some hidden build aspects to the initial novels. More depth to explore while reading. The character builds are phenomenal as is the scene development.
I am really enjoying this series. This was perhaps a bit short in the reading yet still a great time.
Rating: 4.7/5
P-Date: 2023
Genre: Thriller
Review: I thought this might have an element of mystery but we know who it is and why they are doing evilly things. Would have been easy to intill a sense of mystery by merely changing the circumstances of the initial escape. This change would have broadened the scope of the story line and created more depth to the characters.
As per the novels title, the fourth prisoner is Eddie Howard. The author uses the factual names of the original escapees but contrives the name of the fourth. The National Archives for Alcatraz prisoner listings contains no such name. The closest we come to the historical record was a man named Preston Howard. Why not use that name? This was a research fail by the author in my opinion.
As it is, it chugs along a well trodden path of grim instances and narrow escapes prior to the grande finale of justice served. There were abundant continuity errors, as well as scenes that lacked logical progression.
As mentioned, a little mystery was needed as the real escape from Alcatraz continues to evade a definite conclusion.
Rating: 2.0/5
Viking Jam 