Bob Lee > Recent Status Updates

Andy "The Martian" Weir's new book is about Jasmine, a snarky 20-something who lives in the sole Moon colony, which is a vacation resort for the rich. She's poor and delivers packages (esp. contraband) arriving from Earth to sustain a meager living. One of the rich dudes enlists her to in big nefarious plot. A fair amount of foul language and sophomoric sex refs, but I'm enjoying it. She goes from frying pan to fire.

Donaldson is my favorite fantasy author, and so far this book is great. It starts with a battle of men on horseback with wizards from both sides hurling destruction. The main character, the Prince of the southern country, leads his band with a secret weapon to take on the wizards of the northern country aggressors. The consequences take him on a trek to find a new way to defeat them.

This section had a really well done battle--a sci-fi version of tanks/trooper transports vs. infantry. The hero, Gar, from his study of Earth's battles, designs a way for his few defenders to withstand the mechanized assault using only laser beams and laser cutters. Well done.

Some good fights--with assassins! I had a small chuckle when the protagonist Gar performs, essentially, a Vulcan nerve pinch on two fellows simultaneously. Then..off on a spirit quest to save the world! It's an interesting mix of sci-fi and fantasy so far.

Unfortunately, at the half way point, this is too much like the famous warfare quote: Long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of terror. The battle scenes are great and well done, but it seems like most of this is people slogging through London and it surounding suburbs and commenting on the devestation. Ugh.

I wonder if this war will ever end? Interestingly, for most of this part, the German planes are staying well back behind their lines, so the Brits keep crossing over no Man's land (maybe 10 miles or so) looking for mostly straggler spotter planes to shoot down. Also, they never seem to care about the anti-aircraft (Archie) as it is totally ineffective.

I was really excited to purchase this since I loved Baxter's authorized sequel to the Time Machine (called the Time Ships). Interestingly, the cover looks nothing like the one here on Goodreads (and I prefer the one I got). So far they mention that people freaked out over each Mars opposition that the Martians would come back, and so all telescopes are banned! (Figures-head in the sand). It's now 13 yrs later...

This sequel takes a dark turn -- (ex. wife beating). And it also shifts between the Tearling (about to be invaded) and events hundreds of years in the past before people migrated to the Tearling. So I have mixed feelings so far, but it sure is keeping me reading.

So far this is more of a space opera, other than the one fantasy element of the planet's consciousness. It had in this section a nice space battle (the ship does an Immelmann turn to escape? Well, I guess if the Millenium Falcon can do it!). And there's an insectoid alien who's a chameleon assassin that made me think of the one in Men in Black that puts on a person's skin (Edgar?). So this was a fun part.

The book has great WWI dogfight action, although since this is a long book it has started to feel slightly repetitive. It has some interesting philosophical perspectives when the pilots argue about the war and how many rich folks avoid fighting and benefit from it. An insightful part is how during Christmas, the lines sang, gave gifts (etc.) but then didn't want to fight any more. They had to be forced.

Interesting novel -- an alien race that seems both primitive in some ways (ex. use net traps) and advanced in others (ex. genetic engineering capability). Includes a mix of discrimination between two similar races (denoted by a different eye color). And it has some mystical elements (such as the planet talking to the protagonist) that reminds me a bit of the Gaia mythos.

Read the sample after getting a recommendation from a friend, and added it to my 'want to read' list. One week later got a Goodreads e-mail on a 1-day sale of the e-book so picked it up! (A good reason to mark books here.) Premise: Princess raised in the woods by 2 people, now a teen and guards come to get her since the Queen is dead and it's her turn to sit on the throne awaiting assassination! Cool.

Bad: Cheng Xin (female protagonist), doesn't want to work on FTL drive so gives all her stuff to a fellow whom she doesn't trust and goes into hibernation. She made him promise to wake her if there's a major problem. Gets woken up, essentially stomps her foot and says, "Keep your promise!" and goes back into hibernation. Best part: multiple space habs but the workers' one doesn't rotate. All people and bldgs float!

Next 100 pages: An interesting intellectual question introduced. If there are aliens out there who destroy you as soon as they find out your planet hosts intelligence, what could you do to prove to them you are no threat (now or ever). But then it goes into a 33 page fairy tale!! (A fellow with aliens being closely watched makes one up to hint at something to help Earth. I was okay until it went on and on and on!!)

sigh--the few mildly interesting parts are overwhelmed with the totally annoying sections. I dislike the main gal even more now--she's a total wimp. She doesn't overcome adversity so much as get sent from one thing to another. And..I guess if you never heard of nor read "Flatland" you might find the many pages of traversing a higher dimension interesting.

Sigh--some things seem totally out of place at the beginning (like it starts with a magician/witch at Constantinople in 1453 but this has nothing to do with the first 100 pages!) It has some mildly interesting science (like a different twist on Project Orion [use nukes to propel a spaceship]. Some stuff though makes no sense, like who they choose as the person to travel. Lousy female main character too.

I didn't care for the first 2 books in this series, so am hoping this concluding novel is better. I figured I needed to see how it ends given the time I spent reading the earlier releases. We'll see.

I'm liking it so far. A gov't ex-special forces fellow is given the job of stopping a brilliant woman psychopath. She tries to convince him that she's innocent, and it's some higher-up in the gov't that's the killer/megalomaniac.

The only thing I thought was a bit unrealistic occurred now at the mid-way point where the women was a bit out of character. Otherwise really good.

Since the physicist's discovery about 1/3 of the way into the book, I've been puzzling over what use it is. Well, it's finally revealed here just past 1/2 way, and it was an ingenious twist I didn't see coming. Well done! I can't wait to read more.

I only just started this, and am already absorbed in the details about her experiences. I'd never heard of a 'bark mitzvah!"

What a cute book. The reason I'm reading this is that I found out recently that it deals with a little fellow who lives on an asteroid. I remember in high school my friends taking French had to read it, and I assumed it was about a kid around the time of Louis XIV. (Taking German, I had to read stories like The Metamorphosis by Kafka in German or course). Although an adult, I'm enjoying the story and the pictures

So far this is a great story with lots of action. Two shadow groups are after a physicist's shocking discovery. About 1/3 of the way through you find out what the discovery is, but the even the physicist didn't know of what practical use it is. (Me neither!!)

This book is truly awesome. Written by a Brit who flew on the WWI Western front it is an inside look into the daily lives of the pilots. I just read a section where the pilot is shot down flying low, but luckily lands on his own side of the front. Still, he's almost shot by his own folks, and then they even arrest him, thinking he's a German spy! Ha ha..."Where's your plane?" "Back over that hill!" Right...

The first novella, The King's Justice, is dark, foreboding, but excellent. A stranger with special powers arrives in a small village searching for an innocent's murderer. Interestingly, it's written in 3rd person, present tense, which I've never seen but really grips you. I'm partway into the 2nd novella, The Auger's Gambit, and it reminds me of Stephenson's Mordant's Need books. Lots of palace intrigue.

Really interesting start - spider-like alien lands in Toronto and asks to see a paleontologist. It's investigating mass extinctions, since its own planet as well as others seem to follow a specific pattern. After a great start, the book spends a bit too much time philosophizing about God having created the universe and seemingly interfering periodically. On p.270 and they are no closer to solving the mystery.

On to X-1, X-2 and X-15. I didn't know much about those early rocketplane activities. Didn't know on another flight, Yeager was told not to go over Mach 2.3 and he did, ship tumbled, his helmet broke the canopy and then fogged, he pulled it out of the tumble/spin at 25,000 feet. Also, X-15 design had a tail on top and bottom - solution to not be the 'fastest plow' on landing to blow off the bottom fin? Wait, What??

This is a book about rocketry before NASA. Some of these guys were nuts -- ex. early rocket put nose-down into a bucket of water for cooling with the nozzle sticking up. Assistant ignites by tossing a flaming rag into the nozzle. Improvement? Years later Werner von Braun used a lit can of gasoline on a 12 foot pole! Loved the photo of the Opel RAK 2 rocket car (RAK 1 was 1928!)

Crazy things keep happening in this book to the lawyer, so there aren't any dead spots to the narrative. But there were a couple of times where an earlier character was mentioned and I had to check X-ray on my Kindle to remind myself who that character was. BTW. This book is an Amazon Kindle First book for April -- so free if you ave Amazon Prime.

I watched the OJ trial miniseries, which was MUCH better than I expected, and then I saw this new fiction book by the prosecutor, Marcia Clark. I have to say that her writing is excellent. This is a murder mystery with a lawyer protagonist. There is a big twist 1/3 of the way through that I didn't see coming that keeps the story really spellbinding. There are lots of characters, and the e-book has x-ray - great!

Today through the end of October I'm giving away 2 signed copies. Enter here to win: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Good luck!