Warriors of the Rainbow - A. D. Harvey

one sentence summary:
this was a really fucked up story.

review:
I think I liked this book... maybe... I am not really sure. It was a short read and the imagery was well done and very strong. It was a really weird book, it left me shaking my head in confusion. The writing was great but the story was so disjointed. I recommend this is you miss that WTF feeling you got from reading Geek Love.

4/10

Ape House - Sarah Gruen

one sentence summary:
when greed takes over people can do terrible things for their own entertainment.

review:
this was a really well thought out and beautifully executed story, I particularly enjoyed the main characters and their platonic relationship (nice for a change) with each other. I also learned a lot about Bonobos, they are fascinating creatures and they were the highlight of the book. Humans, I have concluded are terrible creatures and the world would be a lot better off with out us. I recommend reading this if you don't mind being pissed off at the world for a bit and are looking for a great, well written story.

9/10

Fangland - John Marks

one sentence summary
 A reporter travels to Transylvania following a story and disappears, her source shows up in New York and strange things start happening.

review
This is a well written story with an original idea pushing it. The characters are well developed and deal with the situations they are thrown into in a realistic way, which is nice. The dialogue is a bit stilted from time to time and the action is a bit off (but I can't quite put my finger on why). All in all it is a moderately well done modern Dracula story.

7/10

You Went Away - Timothy Findly

one sentence summary:
a woman struggles to keep from falling apart during WWII

review:
this is a beautiful work, short and with no wasted words. The emotions it dragged me through were more than enough to last a life time. There was so much tragedy and love expressed in the short work it was amazing that Findly could express his story with such flow and consistency (not to mention beautiful prose). It is a really short read, just go read it.

9/10

A Yuletide Universe - ed Brian M Thomsen

one sentence summary
a collection of totally quirky short Christmas stories.

review:

a real hit and miss collection, all of the stories are worth reading even if only because the really terrible stories make the next ones seem better. the strong authors who I love (Gaiman, McCaffrey, and Willis) stories can be found elsewhere, I recommend doing that as they were almost disapointing anyway.
6/10

Darkness Series - Harry Turtledove

one sentence summary:
WWII with dragons and magic instead of tanks and bullets.

review:
this idea was very good but the novels were far to long and drawn out. I enjoyed parts of them but other parts were nearly boring. The romantic side to the story was terribly written, but the one conniving bitch character was really well done. For the most part the solder and general characters were interchangeable and didn't really have much texture. I wouldn't recommend these UNLESS you love LOTR and also enjoy detailed military fiction.

5/10

Grim Reaper: End of Days - Steve Alten

one sentence summary:
Injured war vet has to save the world, or at least his family.

review:
Fast paced this novel starts of fast and gains momentum as it goes along. With the right mix of point of view characters you get to see everyone perspective, from the crazy person who starts the end to the people trying to stop it from different angles. The writing is well executed and the plot is well thought out. All in all for a suspenseful thriller I would call this one a success.

7/10