Posts

Showing posts from November, 2015

Video War - Book Review

Video War - by Stephen Manes - is seriously old - 1983. I actually got it into a video game related bundle at StoryBundle, and was fairly sure it was a new book that was very retro :-) The main story is about an attempt to ban arcades in a small town. Of course, the story also veers into the political organization create to avoid this, and the personal life of the protagonists. The book is pretty light and very "young adult", but was still very enjoyable.

The Aeronaut's Windless - Book Review

The Aeronaut's Windless, by Jim Butcher, was a wonderful surprise to me. I don't always like the steampunk style, but since I knew the author from the Dresden files, I decided to try the sample. After finishing, I immediately bought it, and proceeded to sleep much, much, later than usual - I just couldn't put it down. The story setting is certainly off the beaten path - people live on huge spires because the ground and mist are full of very dangerous predators. The tech level is mostly steampunk, and the Builders are constantly referred to, which clearly implies that the spires were created by much more advanced tech. Weapons are mostly based on crystals that can deliver huge blasts of energy, edged weapons or rarely, gunpowder based guns, because rust is pretty common and dangerous here. There are huge airships, which are of course a large part of the focus on the story. They stay aloof using lift crystals and power crystals, which take their energy from the "ae

Brainweb - Review

BrainWeb, by Douglas E. Richards, is the sequence to Mind's Eye - where a man gets kidnapped and experimented on, and as a result gets implants that allow him to use the web and read minds. In this sequel, he is working for the government when an impressive terrorist attacks takes place. The idea for it is pretty awesome, and it is unstoppable. The action here is great. You might assume that the books end with the attack being stopped. But no, this is just the beginning of the book. The rest is still good, but this start was a tough act to follow. It is still pretty good, however. Recommended, but read the first novel before reading this one - it is not really required but it will be much more enjoyable.