STG's

The Shepherd's Crown is the last book by Terry Pratchett in the Discworld. I've read a ton of the novel, mostly a few years ago when I first started following the series. I haven't read most of the latest. The book is good, as usual, although not really in the scale it'd need to truly be a satisfying end for the series - which could only be possible if it was an epic. Still, very enjoyable. I'd like to see the series continue with other writers, but that seems unlikely right now. It reminds me of the trilogy of new Foundation books by Bear, Brin and Benford which were pretty good and took it on innovative paths... I imagine a lot of people will instead think of the new books in the Dune series by his son - some of which I personally liked but that were really battered for not being as good as the original...

Prompt Me, by W.P. Kimball, is a harder book than usual to define. It is a set of many short stories inspired by Reddit's WritingPrompts subreddit - where the post authors send writing prompts and people can write their own stories as comments. I got it because I occasionally read these (when they end up on the Front Page for me, usually), and I've grow to notice how many good stories the author posted. There are plenty of great stories in this book, in several genres. Some are touching, some are clever, and some made me LOL hard. Very much recommended.

Windows 8.1 Missing Manual - by David Pogue - is a nice view into many ways of doing things in Windows 8.1 that you probably ignored. Pretty good, and full of useful tidbits. Obviously less relevant with Windows 10 already out.

Aftermath: Star Wars: Journey to The Force Awakens - by Chuck Wendig - is a book in the Star Wars universe. It takes place after the last movie in the original trilogy, and is itself part of a trilogy. The book mostly covers a tiny bit of the aftermath - an Empire meeting, and the people who stumble on them - Captain Wedge Antilles, a Y-Wing pilot returning home, her son and a bounty hunter. On other words, mostly the minor characters. Chewie and Han Solo do appear, but it is just like there was a checkbox that demanded they appeared in the book. Maybe they will do more in the rest of the trilogy. People seem to really have disliked the book (2 and a half stars on Amazon right now). Personally, I enjoyed it, but it is definitely nothing memorable.

Fate of Ten is the latest - and penultimate - book in the I am number Four series. This takes part just after the invasion begins, and people start getting powers. Overall, pretty good, but somewhat short - as usual.

The Phoenix Code, by Catherise Asaro, is a SF book about a group trying to make the first sentient android. It is somewhat entertaining, but it mostly moves a little too slowly, and I was expecting the final twist from the beginning of the book. The twist takes so much time to appear and is so clearly hinted at that I was actually bothered by how long it took. Overall, OK. I've read some other books by the author (long, long ago) and they were both better and more innovative.

RocketsRocketsRockets is a shooter with (you guessed it) rockets. It looks OK and everything, but I just hate the control scheme (press the direction you want to go - feels MUCH MUCH worse than the alternate Thrust/Left/Right/Brake), and the constant zoom in/out is very annoying. The music is OK, though :-)