PolyWogg
Ottawa Public Library
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PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 25, 2023
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 22, 2023
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Plot or Premise
It's time for a double celebration -- Winter Solstice and Zoey's birthday. If only she wasn't dealing with three men after her body, friends who are beginning to doubt her, Neferet and Loren scheming, and a best friend who remains undead.
What I Liked
I liked the scenes near the start where her friends and parentals have no clue how to help her celebrate her birthday, with only her ex-bf Heath and grandma really "getting" her preferences.
What I Didn't Like
The story isn't as solid this time, with most of it leading up to a plan to save Stevie Rae while distancing Zoey from her friends. The various near-sex scenes are ridiculous as the virtuous and virginal Z claims she's just overcome by her emotions but getting closer and closer to sex with three different guys throughout the story. And after three books, it rings really false at this point. The romantic confusion is mixed with the sexual confusion, but the sexual side really isn't that confusing.
The Bottom Line
Leader or emotional wuss? Time to decidePlot or Premise
It's time for a double celebration -- Winter Solstice and Zoey's birthday. If only she wasn't dealing with three men after her body, friends who are beginning to doubt her, Neferet and Loren scheming, and a best friend who remains…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 22, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A young recruit enters a war college for dragon riders, compelled to enrol by her mother, a high-ranking military officer.
What I Liked
I had seen this book in a bookstore in Maine when I was travelling over the summer, and it seemed like a fairly normal YA fantasy novel. It had some "legs", and sounded good for the description, so I snapped a pic of the cover and downloaded it to my TBR pile when I got home. I assumed Jacob would likely read it first; we have similar tastes in those types of books, and I knew nothing about the author Rebecca Yarros or her other books. About a week ago, a woman I follow in video clips described the book as a cross between Divergent, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings. But she also talked about spicy scenes, her lingo for sexual interactions ranging from kissing to full-on sex scenes. I thought maybe I should read it before giving it to Jacob.
Holy crap. Yeah, he's not reading it. While I hate to spoil anything, the sex scenes read more like Penthouse Forum than YA. Graphic references to insertion of fingers, slippery genitalia, etc. It apparently reflects more of Yarros' erotica in previous romance novels.
But going back to the story itself, I found the plot solid and see why someone would see it as a cross of fantasy with Divergent. Violet may be there against her will, preferring to have become a scribe instead, and despite her own fragile physical condition, she is definitely Dauntless-class. The training is good, and you even get to see an American Ninja Warrior course built into the training, although it isn't labelled as such, obviously, even if it is clearly a Warped Wall obstacle. I don't know if it's a trilogy or not, maybe ongoing, but I'll read the next ones.
What I Didn't Like
I found the book a bit long and slow in parts, and the constant "I love John, but I also love the bad boy Zach" angst that is common to YA romances was a bit tedious in places. I am way too old to care about that crap. The reader has no delusions about who will be the "winner" of her heart.
I also would have liked a LOT more info about the other wings, other factions (like scribes and healers), and even more so for information about the dragons themselves. They're super cool, yet the book drops info about them like reciting a Wikipedia page.
Finally, the ending has a two-part twist for what's really going on (easily seen) and who's involved, and I had pretty much figured out what was coming, just not sure which "choose your own adventure" ending it would be amongst three.
FYI, the sex scenes were way over the top and more yawn-inspiring or silly than erotic.
The Bottom Line
More dragons, less sexPlot or Premise
A young recruit enters a war college for dragon riders, compelled to enrol by her mother, a high-ranking military officer.
What I Liked
I had seen this book in a bookstore in Maine when I was travelling over the summer, and it…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 20, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Within the school, Zoey has ascended to lead the Dark Daughters in place of Aphrodite, but outside the school, humans are going missing and then turning up dead.
What I Liked
In the first book, the newness of the premise was enough to overcome fairly cliché writing. None of the characters had much depth to them, they were either good or bad, and the teen angst was overwhelming at times with little nuance. In this one, Zoey's struggling with balancing her new responsibilities, some weird stuff she keeps seeing, romantic entanglements with multiple males (three at last count) and a changing power dynamic between her, Aphrodite and Neferet. As Nyx has told her, not all darkness is bad and not all lightness is good, and the change for Aphrodite and Neferet are great.
What I Didn't Like
The stuff with Loren, a poet and professor, seems completely out of left field, and while future books explain it, it really seems odd here. The giant plot twist isn't hard to see coming, but what it means and the level of complication keeps it fresh. However, the ending relationship with Neferet changes too dramatically.
The Bottom Line
Not all lightness is goodPlot or Premise
Within the school, Zoey has ascended to lead the Dark Daughters in place of Aphrodite, but outside the school, humans are going missing and then turning up dead.
What I Liked
In the first book, the newness of the premise was enough…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 20, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A young girl's body starts the change to become a vampire, so she has to go to a vampire finishing school, leaving behind her friends and family.
What I Liked
This school is not Hogwart's for vampires. First of all, the characters are mid-teens, dealing with romantic angst, sexual desires, and confusion about relationships and their future. In the first big scene with vampires, the main character, Zoey Redbird, accidentally sees two young vamps having oral sex in the darkened corridors at the school. I suppose there's a joke in there about magic wands, but mostly, the scene sets the age and content of the series squarely in the more mature part of the YA world. Zoey quickly demonstrates that she has special powers for a young vampire, and ends up antagonizing the cool clique while befriending the nerd herd. The newness of all of it overcomes some of the teenage angsty parts.
What I Didn't Like
The teenage angst. The first book isn't completely horrible; it's the age the books are meant for, but at some point, even her friends were ready to move on to more important topics than her budding interest in boys.
The Bottom Line
Interesting premise, not bad for a startPlot or Premise
A young girl's body starts the change to become a vampire, so she has to go to a vampire finishing school, leaving behind her friends and family.
What I Liked
This school is not Hogwart's for vampires. First of all, the characters…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Sep 27, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A robbery crew is planning to rip off an entire small apartment building of tenants in one night.
What I Liked
I had read a lot of Sanders' novels before I got to this one, out of order. While it is the first of the Edward X. Delaney series, he is a relatively small part of the book near the end. Instead, it reads like the same structure of the movie, the Usual Suspects (which drew inspiration from the book). There are scenes in the present day, after the day of the robbery, with people being interviewed about what happened. But in addition to their witness statements, there are also numerous electronic surveillance tapes of the various criminals being surveilled by a bunch of different police groups, none of which are talking to each other.
What I Didn't Like
I was on the fence for the rating between four stars or five. While the book is awesome, there is a niggling detail in the plot that bothers me. The "premise" of all the surveillance is that all of these crooks were being surveilled by separate law enforcement units (different precincts, different federal agencies, and so on), and so none of them had the "big picture" to prevent it. Which is fine, it's a tale as old as time as they say, and a popular theme for crime sprees like serial killers. No one was looking at the cases as connected. Which is fine as a premise, except in each of the fictional tapes referred to as the premise for the book, it is very clear not only that a crime is about to happen, but in many of them, the actual day of the crime, at least one of the major players, and in some cases, the address of the building. Yet NONE of the law enforcement agencies portrayed as running the wiretaps bother to warn the precinct where it will happen, or when, or how? It's not very realistic in plotting, as the tapes are made several months in advance, according to the text. If it was all in the week ahead, potentially the transcripts weren't ready or nobody had listened to the tapes yet, sure. But months ahead, someone would have warned someone so the cops could be ready. In the end, I decided it wasn't a big enough plot device to knock it down a full star.
The Bottom Line
The first book of a master storytellerPlot or Premise
A robbery crew is planning to rip off an entire small apartment building of tenants in one night.
What I Liked
I had read a lot of Sanders' novels before I got to this one, out of order. While it is the first of the Edward X.…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Sep 26, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
People from the future are reaching back again into a version of their past.
What I Liked
When I read Peripheral, I had no idea it was part of a trilogy or that there were other books in the series. I just knew that I enjoyed Gibson's writing and looked for other recent books by him. I found Agency, and initially thought it was a similar theme to the previous book, not that it was actually in the same universe. A young woman is hiding from the paparazzi because of a relationship she once had with a very famous guy and takes on a computer-related job to pay the bills. She is to interact with a virtual assistant / pseudo game-AI and see how lifelike it can appear, and whether it displays signs of self-agency. The company intends to monitor all of her interactions with the program, use it to improve it, etc. Except the program doesn't like that, and becomes more self-aware. Everyone involved realizes the program is more than they thought, and the woman is now in danger from the people who hired her who want to shut everything down, others who want to access the program, etc. It's a race to the end where no one but the program knows the finish line.
What I Didn't Like
There is a nebulous connection between this reality and the previous book, but it seems to be further back in time. Yet some of the other characters from the slightly later past end up getting involved too, without much explanation if they are crossing old timelines or not. Plus, while the series is called Jackpot, you never find out really what the Jackpot is or why it's named that…at some point in the future, a series of lines of societal degradation finally reach a tipping point, much of the world's population gets eliminated, and you end up with a huge divide between the rich and poor -- all after the "Jackpot". Maybe it will be explained in Book 3, not yet announced. The socio-economic manipulations are not quite as prevalent, but some societal stuff happens in the background, far enough back that you are now in the recent timelines of our own society, yet way beyond what we can do even now.
The Bottom Line
More like books set in the same universe than a trilogyPlot or Premise
People from the future are reaching back again into a version of their past.
What I Liked
When I read Peripheral, I had no idea it was part of a trilogy or that there were other books in the series. I just knew that I enjoyed…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Sep 25, 2023
Governing CanadaGoverning Canada, BookA Guide to the Tradecraft of Politics
by Wernick, MichaelBook - 2021Book, 2021
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Jul 10, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Michael Wernick is a former Clerk of the Privy Council in Canada and his book provides advice on the "tradecraft of politics" i.e., what Prime Ministers or Ministers do or should consider doing while in office…or at least the "how" of a given day.
What I Liked
The opening was quite strong, I felt, with some good information on life from the view of being the Clerk. It had a very down-home, practical feel to it, and I was excited to see where it was going to go. I particularly liked that it was not about reform or how things "ought" to be, but stayed pretty focused on "how it (currently) works". As Wernick notes, there are lots of other books out there that talk about reform or changes in general or comparisons of how certain leaders have governed. While much of the book is about decisions of PMs or Ministers, I was more interested by the elements around the roles, behaviour and attitudes of political staff, as well as the operational aspects of being a DM. I particularly liked his insights into the structural imbalance that "…political offices tend to underestimate implementation risks and costs and to be impatient about time-lines, whereas departments tend to be overly cautious and are likely to go to what they are familiar with as a solution." There was also some good insights into the way Comms people view announceables or deliverables from the political side (short-term, pointed) and departmental side (potentially longer-term, incremental).
What I Didn't Like
The middle section of the book lagged for me. What started off as down home guidance that would benefit anyone started to read more like a memo to the PM or a Minister for a transition note. At times, it even veered somewhat into Machiavelli's The Prince, minus the advice that it is better to be feared than loved. Yet much of that detailed or pointed behavioural advice is likely of little interest to the average reader, and I felt my interest dropping with each passing page, until the DM section started.
Disclosure
While I do not know the author, I have worked closely with his sister and respect her immensely.
The Bottom Line
Great insights into the hidden world, with just a twinge of memo languagePlot or Premise
Michael Wernick is a former Clerk of the Privy Council in Canada and his book provides advice on the "tradecraft of politics" i.e., what Prime Ministers or Ministers do or should consider doing while in office…or at least the "how"…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Jul 08, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Spenser looks into the case of a missing teen who looks like a runaway until an amateurish ransom demand arrives.
What I Liked
Dipping back into classic Spenser seems indulgent, and perhaps even a bit of a cheat. In this book, you see him meet Susan for the first time and you know where it will all lead. She's the kid's guidance counsellor and makes suggestions to Spenser about what the kid is like and where he might be hiding, if he is hiding at all. Later, when Spenser roots out a scamming component of a bodybuilder who confuses having muscles with being tough, there are surprisingly open-minded and advanced treatments of gender identity issues and being gay. Not completely reflective of more modern interpretations, but pretty advanced for the era. I also love the introduction of the ongoing Spenser theme for being able to handle yourself in a fight and keep going.
What I Didn't Like
Some of the secondary characters are a bit basic, including the parents.
The Bottom Line
Nice to meet you, Mrs. SilvermanPlot or Premise
Spenser looks into the case of a missing teen who looks like a runaway until an amateurish ransom demand arrives.
What I Liked
Dipping back into classic Spenser seems indulgent, and perhaps even a bit of a cheat. In this book, you…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Jul 08, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A new police officer in London is about to get a dull desk job when his career gets a boost -- he meets a ghost who witnessed a murder.
What I Liked
Originally called Midnight Riot, the book focuses on Peter Grant who is about to get his first assignment as a police constable in London. When he meets a ghost who witnessed a bizarre murder that involved a beheading, he's not sure if he's going crazy or has just been handed a career opportunity. Much of the book is about him learning about magic being real, and there are lots of fun cultural cross-references to other magical books or shows. In Harry Potter land, he's a Muggle who just got his letter for Hogwarts, except the training ground is a division in the police force made up of one Inspector who investigates the "funny" cases. Called The Folly, apparently they have been policing for years, but there isn't much happening, so they have an arrangement with magical folks to have one wizard on the payroll. Now two, as Peter joins him.
I love the efficient leaps in explanations that magic is real and how it works. Rather than going into really long boring backstory, they might say, "Hey, some of the magical folk would like a Ministry of Magic". Short, pointed cross-reference, and the story moves along. I was fascinated in book 1 of the series with the focus on how all the rivers are goddesses and minor goddesses, and how the stronger ones can use glamour to compel the weak-minded to do their bidding. Jedi mind tricks without the midi-chlorians. And it is the world-building that drives the beauty of the first book more so than the mystery.
What I Didn't Like
There are two scenes in the book that are a little out of character with the rest of the book. One is a huge elongated action scene involving an opera company, a pretty broad swatch of people being controlled, etc. All of it way beyond what the "magical antagonist" should be capable of doing. It reads almost like satire or spoof at that point, something more akin to Douglas Adams than JK Rowling. The second scene is the near finale that suddenly has Peter pursuing a suspect through magical happenings that also have not really been party to the story up to that point. Almost as if Hans Gruber in Die Hard was falling to his death and suddenly had the ability to sprout wings. I don't want to spoil things any more than that, but it's almost like, "Oh, I forgot to mention I can do this." It detracts a bit from the amazing world that has been built.
The Bottom Line
Great opener, but a little unevenPlot or Premise
A new police officer in London is about to get a dull desk job when his career gets a boost -- he meets a ghost who witnessed a murder.
What I Liked
Originally called Midnight Riot, the book focuses on Peter Grant who is about to…
How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It ComingHow I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming, eBook
by Brown, MikeeBook - 2010eBook, 2010
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Jul 07, 2023
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Back in 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided to create a definition of a planet, one which demoted Pluto from "planet" to merely a "dwarf planet". Dr. Mike Brown had found objects beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt that were as big as Pluto, and astronomers were revisiting the definition of a planet -- if Pluto was "in" scope, then the new object (or objects) would be planets too; if Pluto was "out", then so were the new planets. Dr. Brown's findings helped drive the need for a new definition.
What I Liked
I like the book for two reasons. First and foremost, it is highly engaging. It is written in plain-language with details about his personal life and other events going on at the time he was spending enormous amounts of time going back and forth between images and clicking a mouse "no". Second, Dr. Brown makes it pretty clear early on that he did not create or change the definition, but rather that his work helped inform and nudge the decision-makers of the IAU when it was time to make a decision. It was an interesting element to see him, the potential discoverer of what would have been the 10th planet, saying "no", what he found and by extension then Pluto, should not be planets. I also enjoyed seeing some limited excerpts of the interplay with the Communications departments and a somewhat cynical yet likely accurate view of journalism and scientific discovery.
What I Didn't Like
I was not particularly persuaded by the arguments put forth why all the other objects that were smaller than Pluto should be elevated to be on the same status, nor that Planet X (or its successors) shouldn't be planets too. At one point, he uses a metaphor of an alien visiting our galaxy and seeing the big 4 planets first -- and thus that is the definition of a planet, aka size. It undercuts the entire argument in my view. And it's why I took a point off. Of the 200 other possible items in the list that "could" be planets, few have sufficient mass to be rounded nor have their own satellites.
The Bottom Line
My solar system still includes Pluto but it was a fun readPlot or Premise
Back in 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided to create a definition of a planet, one which demoted Pluto from "planet" to merely a "dwarf planet". Dr. Mike Brown had found objects beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt that…
Directed by James BurrowsDirected by James Burrows, BookFive Decades of Stories From the Legendary Director of Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, Will & Grace, and More
by Burrows, JamesBook - 2022Book, 2022
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 30, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
This is an autobiography of the director of multiple hit TV series over the years, including Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, and Will & Grace.
What I Liked
I have followed the blog of Ken Levine (MASH, Cheers) for a number of years, and he touted the biography of James Burrows in his blog on several occasions, and noted that he's even referenced in the book (minimally as it turns out). But it was enough for me to be interested. When I look at Burrows' IMDB profile, I see tons of shows I've watched and enjoyed over the years: B Positive (3 EPs), Will & Grace (246 EPs), The Big Bang Theory (both pilots), Good Morning, Miami (1 EP), Friends (15 EPs), Caroline in the City (21 EPs), Frasier (32 EPs), Cheers (237 EPs), Night Court (1 EP), Taxi (75 EPs), Laverne & Shirley (8 EPs), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show (4 EPs). So yeah, he's experienced with a lot of successful shows, and he's executive produced a number as well. And he has a wealth of stories to share about some of the shows. Some of them are cute and interesting even.
What I Didn't Like
I think I was perhaps spoiled by the frank style of Ken Levine, and was expecting more of the raw experience behind the scenes. Instead, I got more of a distant view of all of the shows. For some of them, where he was an integral force, I felt like I could have been reading the biography of the guy in charge of craft services. There was very little meat. Once in a while, he dives in for a second, maybe ten times in the book, and about 7 of them are to seemingly take credit for something (like how the Friends' actors all negotiated as a block for raises or how he comforted Mary Tyler Moore when she was going through a rough patch). In most of the book, the message is he worked with all wonderful fabulous people and it was all relatively smooth sailing all of the time, everyone was one big happy family.
I also found the start of the book really odd. He goes on at great length about how he didn't want to be on Broadway, he didn't want to be involved in plays and musicals, he didn't want to have anything to do with that world because his father was a legend. So he went out of his way, or so he claims, to NOT be in his father's shadow and do something else. Except perhaps for the first 25-30 years of his life where he did exactly that, being involved in plays and musicals, even in a couple of places getting hired as he was the son of a legend, and even working with his dad on some productions. Which in and of itself would be fine if he said, "I tried so hard and failed" to enter his father's world, but no, it is written as if he really succeeded in being independent. Then he got his "big break" out West to do TV stuff, and he makes it sound like he was an integral part of work with Mary Tyler Moore. He did four EPs. I don't know what other role he did on their shows, but they weren't enough to be credited if he did other EPs as it suggests. Overall, I'd take almost any post of Ken Levine's over this entire book about his fifty-year career.
The Bottom Line
Apparently he worked on amazing shows and got to know fabulous people, and there was never any conflict or interesting developments anywhere.Plot or Premise
This is an autobiography of the director of multiple hit TV series over the years, including Taxi, Cheers, Frasier, Friends, and Will & Grace.
What I Liked
I have followed the blog of Ken Levine (MASH, Cheers) for a number of years,…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 29, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Agatha Raisin retires from an active public relations life in London and settles down in a small town, expecting a relatively quiet existence.
What I Liked
The general premise is interesting, with a pie she enters in a contest ending up somehow killing someone. There are lots of characters running around, and once things settle down, it has the basis for a good universe to visit.
What I Didn't Like
I struggled with three aspects of the story. First and foremost, Agatha herself is not particularly likable. She's spent her career generally being oblivious to others, but now that she has moved to a small town, her intent is to get to know the locals and ingratiate herself. Except as she does, she basically does so rather offensively by trying to fake her way into winning a baking contest and condescendingly considering local efforts to organize anything as obviously underwhelming. Second, the whole murder is rather obvious, but even within the investigation, some stuff is assumed away while others are painstakingly investigated with no real avenue to pursue. And some of the information that people learn, with a weird out of place point-of-view shift at convenient moments, is held back. Finally, some of the characters are simple clichés, rather than fully formed. Supposedly that makes them "funny", I just found them annoying.
I do have another complaint, but it doesn't affect the rating. If it did, zero would be in the cards. The story is quite old at this point, and I was reading the first one from 1992. In the copy I bought, they included a short story as an extra, in honour of the 25-year anniversary of the book's debut. Except there is no warning whatsoever about the story and what you're about to read, and how it fits into the timeline other than it is present day. And yet, with no sense of spoiler, there are references to two characters and all that has gone on with them over the last 25 years. It's not quite as bad as, say, reading the short story and it saying, "Oh, remember the case you had where the butler did it?", it doesn't give away murder mystery reveals, but rather it reveals the nature and extent of the relationship Agatha has had with two main characters in the series. I won't even talk about it here, as they would be major reveals, and I confess I was quite dismayed to learn it from the shortstory. I am intending to read the whole series, but I'd rather not have known in advance.
The Bottom Line
Good start for a series, okay book on its ownPlot or Premise
Agatha Raisin retires from an active public relations life in London and settles down in a small town, expecting a relatively quiet existence.
What I Liked
The general premise is interesting, with a pie she enters in a contest…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 27, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Six years after Jurassic Park turned into a human slaughter by rampaging dinosaurs during a storm, the chaos theorist Ian Malcolm is back to join a rich academic in visiting Site B, a nearby island that was the production facility for the original Park's dinosaurs.
What I Liked
The story is a bit of a retread of the original, with a bit of added mystery of what happened at the site that is now long dormant. There is a bit new in the ways that the dinosaurs interact and less about "how" they were created from the first book.
What I Didn't Like
I have three significant problems with the text. First and foremost, Ian Malcolm supposedly died during the first book, and I can overlook his resurrection for this book, except after having experienced severe trauma from being near dinosaurs, he voluntarily goes back into the dinosaur world with no obvious sense of fear or even foreboding. He's almost as naïve as the original Hammond from book 1. Secondly, the book reads almost like a documentary on the feeding habits of a group of cows. There is virtually NO menace for the first 60% of the book. Ian knows better, the rest may not, but mostly it is just a bunch of aggressive dinosaurs walking past the humans with nary a sniff. Lastly, there is a giant "mystery" of how certain animals ended up in a specific nest area. They couldn't have got there on their own and other dinosaurs couldn't have lured or moved them there. But in the end, the blasé explanation of how the dinosaurs died doesn't answer how they ended up where they did. Nor any other history of the island. It's still well-written, but there are some gaping plot holes that make no sense at all.
The Bottom Line
Good writing but about as exciting as watching cows eat grassPlot or Premise
Six years after Jurassic Park turned into a human slaughter by rampaging dinosaurs during a storm, the chaos theorist Ian Malcolm is back to join a rich academic in visiting Site B, a nearby island that was the production facility…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 26, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A young woman on a lunar base works to save money and build some capital.
What I Liked
The story seems incredibly realistic by focusing less on the tech details and mostly on the day-to-day life of Jasmine aka Jazz. She has a very basic life, scrambling to make ends meet as a porter / courier around the station and trying every day to find any angle to get ahead just a little bit, regardless of the small corners she has to cut. She doesn’t want to be rich, she just needs to pay off a large debt and have a bit left over to improve her daily life a smidge. When a big opportunity comes along, perhaps her one and only chance to get out from under, she has to make a decision if she’s willing to sacrifice her scruples and become a full criminal. And then after deciding yes, how far her commitment to others remains.
What I Didn’t Like
Jazz is good at rationalizing cutting corners, and she makes the leap incrementally to becoming a full criminal, but some aspects of the switch don’t quite fit. Put simply without spoilers, I was reminded of the adage that if you sleep with dogs, you get up with fleas … once she commits, she gets her hands a bit dirtier in other areas. Realistic that if she was in for a penny, she was in for a pound, but the big reveal near the end of the nature of the debt doesn’t really justify everything she did to get there.
The Bottom Line
Fast-paced story with portrayal of regular lunar lifePlot or Premise
A young woman on a lunar base works to save money and build some capital.
What I Liked
The story seems incredibly realistic by focusing less on the tech details and mostly on the day-to-day life of Jasmine aka Jazz. She has a very…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 25, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A rich industrialist with a vision creates a safari park on a secluded island for tourists, where the main attraction will be dinosaurs brought back to life through advanced DNA sequencing.
What I Liked
It's a bit hard to read the book without comparing it to the successful movie franchise that was built on the book. But the imagination to not only conceive of a dinosaur park for tourists and to conceive of a realistic way to make the science sound feasible even in 1990 (pulling dinosaur DNA from a long-dead mosquito trapped in amber) was simply fabulous to see.
Not surprisingly, the book is different from the movie (or more accurately, the movie diverges from the book), but a lot of the core elements are the same. An underappreciated computer nerd, a worried security chief, the storm that turns the island into a death trap, etc.
What I Didn't Like
Overall, I didn't feel any sense of wonder in the book. In the movie, for example, you could see the sense of "OMG these are dinosaurs" and the characters are wowed out of their socks. In the book, it is more like, "Cool, but let's talk about using night-vision goggles to see them, that's really interesting." I didn't feel the wonder of any of them.
In addition, some parts were a bit odd -- Grant is a loner bachelor but loves children (hates them in the movie, a better choice); Grant and the kids drift on the river with nothing much happening and tend to get back way too safely; the kids have Wesley-Crusher-syndrome and are able to get the computers working again; Hammond is almost a buffoon more than a visionary; and the ending is more about strange relations with Costa Rica, and a "final solution" than getting away from the raptors. Overall, I saw lots of edits that were done to the story from the book in order to put it on screen, and most of what they cut were good edits. I didn't feel like the book was so much "more" than the movie, perhaps even a bit less.
The Bottom Line
Great book but some of the movie edits made the story betterPlot or Premise
A rich industrialist with a vision creates a safari park on a secluded island for tourists, where the main attraction will be dinosaurs brought back to life through advanced DNA sequencing.
What I Liked
It's a bit hard to read the…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 23, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
The year is 1968, the location is Russia. Alexander's father defies the state and the KGB kill him. He and his mother must escape, and they have to choose between a ship going to the UK or one going to America.
What I Liked
The plot uses the same plot structure as Sliding Doors, the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow (this is sometimes called the "A/B" plot device). If you know the movie, you know there is always a scene at the start where the main character has to make a choice (A or B). In Sliding Doors, Gwyneth tries to board a subway -- and the story divides into two parallel tales, one based on whether she makes the train and one where she doesn't. In a recent TV show, Ordinary Joe, there were three storylines.
For this book, a coin toss is used to decide Alex and his mother's fate. The stories are told in parallel, bopping back and forth between them over time. In one timeline, Alexander becomes "Alex" in New York, a street trader and military guy vs. "Sasha" in London who is the academic. Both get involved in bigger issues, etc.
What I Didn't Like
A recurring problem with the fast pace of Archer's books is that it often reads almost like a fairy-tale life -- event A springboards him into event B which springboards him into events C, D, E, F, and then next thing you know, he's deputy only to God himself. It does read unrealistically at times, as every character goes on to something big in politics (like President or PM, etc.). In addition, the twist at the end as they wrap stuff up leaves one of the storylines very disappointing, all things being equal.
The Bottom Line
Great story, cute twist ending, but one storyline doesn't pay off.Plot or Premise
The year is 1968, the location is Russia. Alexander's father defies the state and the KGB kill him. He and his mother must escape, and they have to choose between a ship going to the UK or one going to America.
What I Liked
The…
Tom Clancy's Op CenterTom Clancy's Op Center, eBookLine of Control
by Clancy, TomeBook - 2005eBook, 2005
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 20, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
There's a crisis on the Pakistan-India border and Op-Center sends in Striker, their military arm.
What I Liked
The tensions between the two countries come off well, and most of the action scenes are done well.
What I Didn't Like
The emotional angst between members of Op-Center read almost like a soap opera, and any subterfuge is telegraphed so early it's hard to believe they are intelligence agents. On top of that, the battlefield has bunkers seemingly pop up out of nowhere, with zero indication of how they could have been built without anyone noticing.
The Bottom Line
Okay story, would prefer it without the soap opera scenesPlot or Premise
There's a crisis on the Pakistan-India border and Op-Center sends in Striker, their military arm.
What I Liked
The tensions between the two countries come off well, and most of the action scenes are done well.
What I Didn't…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 18, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A romance perverted by possession creates the basis for a long isolated life for a widow in a large house on a hill above a small town.
What I Liked
I liked the dual story near the start -- the current life in the town of Mill River and the past when the story of the resident of the house on the hill began. The initial opening -- that of a suicide -- set up a semi-mystery of "Who is she? Why is she killing herself?" that added some gravitas to the plot.
What I Didn't Like
The novel was nominated for numerous awards, and all of them touted the book as a mystery. As I said above, "Who is she? Why is she killing herself?". So you expect the story to somehow pay off as you see all the characters in the town below her mansion. I was disappointed in the ending that in fact, most of the town really has nothing to do with her. There's no real "mystery" per se, nor payoff in terms of connections. The ending is solid, albeit a bit schmaltzy, but I had to deduct a point for the fact that it is not better connected to the opening and there's no real sense of "mystery solved".
The Bottom Line
Solid story, light on mysteryPlot or Premise
A romance perverted by possession creates the basis for a long isolated life for a widow in a large house on a hill above a small town.
What I Liked
I liked the dual story near the start -- the current life in the town of Mill River…
The Case of the Missing MarquessThe Case of the Missing Marquess, eBook
by Springer, NancyeBook - 2007eBook, 2007
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 17, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Mycroft and Sherlock have a dead father, an aging mother who banished them, and a much younger sister. When Mom goes missing, Mycroft and Sherlock arrive to take charge, but Enola has things well in hand, thank you very much.
What I Liked
The matter-of-fact explanation of why the two brothers are long absent, and the brief overviews of both Mom and Dad's tendencies and personality go a long way in explaining the origins of both Mycroft and Sherlock. Both appear as caricatures of their own literary selves, literally in one sense, but Enola herself is quite charming as a young teen venturing out on her own for the first time. It has a bit of a part Holmes/part Nancy Drew feel to it, not quite as structured as a Holmes story with a bit of adventure a la Nancy Drew. One habit she has seems more Hercule Poirot than Sherlock however. While the story is written for the young adult market, it is quite readable for an adult.
What I Didn't Like
The explanation of what happened to Mom is quite basic, a mere hint from Sherlock in another conversation, but with little to explain the timing. And there are things that are "afoot" at two distinct places in time for a number of weeks each where Enola is doing something, all summed up in a short 2-3 paragraphs, but leaving out much of the "character" growth that would go with those activities.
The Bottom Line
A good story, but not quite HolmesianPlot or Premise
Mycroft and Sherlock have a dead father, an aging mother who banished them, and a much younger sister. When Mom goes missing, Mycroft and Sherlock arrive to take charge, but Enola has things well in hand, thank you very much.
What I…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 16, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Suze has a ghost problem -- four of them in fact. All teens from another high school in the area who died in a recent car accident.
What I Liked
The story has more of a "mystery" component to it, and there's even joking at the end about her being Nancy Drew. Except there's no real mystery behind it, the explanations are obvious from almost the very beginning how they died and even why. Gina is in town for a visit, and it's a nice addition to the story.
What I Didn't Like
The mystery is pretty basic and Gina's storyline / obsession with Suze's step-brothers is highly repetitive.
The Bottom Line
Okay ghostliness, needs more mysteryPlot or Premise
Suze has a ghost problem -- four of them in fact. All teens from another high school in the area who died in a recent car accident.
What I Liked
The story has more of a "mystery" component to it, and there's even joking at the end…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 14, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
A woman researches the history of women healers in the region of Czechslovakia where she grew up, tracing not only their history but her own.
What I Liked
The main character, Dora, is an academic looking back at the history of women healers that she heard all about when she was growing up. She believed the tales to be mere superstition, but as she looks back, she sees the way these women have interacted with the state, all the way back to trials for witchcraft. I initially thought the story would have some elements of fantasy and magic, but it is stays very much to the role of the skeptic reluctantly coming to respect her long lineage of women, most of whose lives ended relatively tragically. I was surprised how much I enjoyed seeing her deal with the Czech state as it went through periods of change, simple things like which records were "open" and which were "sealed", some of which showed extensive surveillance of her ancestors by the state but which are now available for viewing if you fill out the right form and access the right archive. I was as fascinated about the women healers as about daily life of each part of her lineage.
What I Didn't Like
The last 20 pages are a bit of a letdown. Without giving away the ending, the story pivots and you're left with a disappointing "so what was it all about?" more so than a solid closure. Up until that point, it's obvious why it was award-winning and a best-selling novel in its original Czech form, and why it deserved a good translation.
The Bottom Line
Great story with insights into Czech lifePlot or Premise
A woman researches the history of women healers in the region of Czechslovakia where she grew up, tracing not only their history but her own.
What I Liked
The main character, Dora, is an academic looking back at the history of women…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 12, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
Myron Bolitar is a inexperienced sports agent with one important client about to hit the big time if the client's past doesn't wreck everything.
What I Liked
I had seen reviews listing Harlan Coben's books as hilarious, some of the funniest mysteries out there. So I gave one a go. There are indeed some very funny moments, but not what I was expecting at all -- I was expecting more slapstick style humour than humour coming directly out of the character's and their lives. Most "funny" novels tend to have lots of one-liners, reading more like a comedy skit than humour derived from the interactions. I loved it.
The mystery of what's going on with his client whose ex-gf may or may not be dead, may or may not be blackmailing him, may or may not be threatening to ruin his squeaky clean image, and may or may not have anything to do with what's going on with the client. A good cast of supporting characters run around the story as Myron tries to solve the mystery in order to help the kid.
What I Didn't Like
The client and the football team negotiators were more cliché than any real depth to them, so I didn't care too much about any of them.
The Bottom Line
A solid outing with a solid amateur detective.Plot or Premise
Myron Bolitar is a inexperienced sports agent with one important client about to hit the big time if the client's past doesn't wreck everything.
What I Liked
I had seen reviews listing Harlan Coben's books as hilarious, some of the…
PolyWogg's rating:
Added Oct 10, 2022
Comment:
Plot or Premise
The author was born in Ghana and left his village at the age of 12 to seek a better life in Europe. His extreme journey included smuggling, trafficking, abuse, starvation, and the loss of friends along the way.
What I Liked
The story is told rather matter-of-factly, i.e., "this is what happened to me." And as such, it is both raw and immediate at times. It is easily accessible and the journey through the desert and the eventual crossing by raft is particularly compelling yet harrowing. It reads in places as if the story is one of the 1800s or early 1900s and people coming from Europe to Canada or the U.S. The migrant who has to just make a go of it by any means possible. Yet then you see references to modern times and are jolted back to reality. This is not 100-year-old history, these are events happening to real people on the ground now.
What I Didn't Like
I had seen multiple references to the book in international development feeds, mainly because now that he is older, he has started a literacy charity so that he can "give back" and make the journeys of other kids in Africa a little less traumatic. It is a noble sentiment, but frequently I read these "amazing tales" and think "meh". Many of them are no more compelling than any other person's journey, and well, I've read better. One of the challenges is that the level of detail is strong in some places, but with very little commentary. He glosses over serious issues with sex trafficking, sexual abuse of migrants, and some of the basic issues of how to make it in the rough world. I kept hoping for a bit of wisdom in stepping back to see what some of the experiences meant to his future "self" or personal philosophies, but there is little introspection.
The Bottom Line
Good for the international dilettante, not enough substance for development workersPlot or Premise
The author was born in Ghana and left his village at the age of 12 to seek a better life in Europe. His extreme journey included smuggling, trafficking, abuse, starvation, and the loss of friends along the way.
What I Liked
The…
Comment: