I give this book four out of five stars for depth of characters, an entertaining hard to put down read, and a plot that had my mind wrapped up in it when I wasn’t reading the book.
What I liked about the book:
1) The plot, In The Big Keep, the author drops you into Lena’s life and it is quirky and real in all the right ways. As a private investigator Lena takes on a missing person’s case that turns into something unanticipated. The mystery twists and turns, as does her personal life during the reunion of a tragedy that changed her life five years before.
2) The characters, I liked them all. From the protagonist to the minor characters, each one is brought to life in a way that is real and interesting. Olson has a talent for the subtleties and the natural flow of human interactions. This is apparent in the first chapter of the book, and it is not lost as the book progresses.
3) The dialog was sincere and related the relationships between the characters without the narrative ever having to do so. Each character had a unique and clear voice.
What I didn’t like about the book:
1) There were some things an editor should have caught. There were random typo’s throughout the work. Most glaring was the war’s a certain bad guy fought in did not correspond to the wars his bad guy partner fought in. There is a large gap in time between someone fighting three tours in Vietnam and three tours in Iraq. West Point graduates officers, not snipers. This might seem like a nit-picky detail to some, but these things matter a lot to others. It would be a shame for a paragraph to discredit the total work, which I happened to really enjoy. If the book is revised in the future I recommend just taking that paragraph out.
2) There were two scenes that hit hard against my wall of suspended disbelief. While I liked the scene where Lena faces one of her demons, it was a little far fetched for me. If she was going to do it, I don’t think she would have left her insurance box of evidence rolling around on his steps. I also don’t think she would have ever been granted access to a “notorious prisoner” in a federal facility. If she had I don’t think the conversation would have gone that well.
Lena Dane is one of the best female cop characters I have encountered. Ms. Olson you have won a new fan in me and I can’t thank you enough for bringing a real woman law enforcement professional to life. Book Review: Blood of Dragon’s (Volume Four of the Rain Wilds Chronicles), by Robin Hobb
While this fourth installment of the Rain Wild Chronicles is entertaining I give it three out of five stars for an unbalanced plot tempo, more repetition than is necessary in a book series, and the highly predictable ending. I’m a fan of happily ever after but the plot and sub plots were predictable with each one boxed into a crescendo finish or disaster.
What I liked about the book:
1) I’ve enjoyed how the city of Kilsingra has been almost a character itself. It is such a cool idea to see the new inhabitants of this ancient city explore the lives of old inhabitants by witnessing their memories captured in stone. Much more is discovered about the city in this book, and I enjoyed seeing its mysteries come to life.
2) It was good to see some resolutions for both dragons and elderlings. Especially the reconciliation or understanding established between Thymara and Sintara.
3) The one day battle was very entertaining. I wish less time was spent seeing the dragons and elderlings ready for battle, and more time was dedicated to seeing it.
What I didn’t like about the book:
1) It’s a complaint I’ve had reading previous books in this series, Hobb likes to repeat things, often. She did a better job of regurgitating information from previous books in this one, but some of it was not relevant. If we the reader witnessed certain actions take place in the previous chapter, we should not have to read a subsequent chapter with characters rehashing the previous chapters action. It’s just unnecessary and makes the story drag. Once again two hundred pages in and details are being repeated in the narrative about long established cultural elements.
2) Hest was built up as an unredeemable bad guy, but then he is put through paces during a horrific situation. I still didn’t care what happened to him, and I think entirely to many words were wasted on him. There was a nice little bow tied on his plot line, but this was not as powerful as I think it was built up to be. What happened to Hest was an obvious choice and it would have been more interesting for his ending to go in an unanticipated direction.
3) The length of time it took for the Thymara, Tat’s, and Rapskal love triangle to resolve was just annoying. To me this “confusion” and “need for time” made Thymara look weak minded. I like how she delineated herself from the memories Rapskal embraced and how she went about revealing this to Tat’s. However it was clear to me Rapskal was no longer in the running for her a quarter of the way into this book. How annoying for this resolution to be dragged through the entire book.
Book Review: Ansible 15715, By: Stant Litore
I give this short story four out of five stars for capturing my imagination and pinning it in a box where I couldn’t help but dwell on it’s ideas and hypotheses’.
This was a short story and in all its briefness you get to be terrified, mystified, thought provoked, and completely unsettled. If you like subjecting yourself to the “what if”, worst-case scenario, this is how the world shall end kind of thing than you will EAT THIS UP. I know I did, and to be able to arrive at this state in less than two hours speaks volumes to the talent of the writer. This is a thought provoking work that will give your mind plenty to contemplate. I’ve been vacillating between the ideals of an Islamic female transitioning across space and time to land in a human males body, to the idea that creatures would force a race of being’s into a state of hyper fear in order to feed off of them. How horrifically grotesque, thank you Mr. Litore.
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