Book #18 of 2025: Doomsday by John Peel (2099 #1) A neat teen sci-fi thriller that I can just vaguely remember reading in my youth. Since the series was written in 1999 and set a century later, I thought it would be entertaining to revisit now that we’re a quarter of the way there, to …
Tag Archives: reread
Book Review: Jhegaala by Steven Brust
Book #4 of 2025: Jhegaala by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #11) There’s always been a noir element in the DNA of this fantasy sequence, but it’s rarely as overt as it is in this installment, which finds the ex-assassin Vladimir Taltos traveling in the East, far from the familiar Draegaran Empire. (For those reading his …
Book Review: Dzur by Steven Brust
Book #181 of 2024: Dzur by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #10) In this story, the former assassin Vladimir Taltos returns home to sort out some trouble with his ex-wife and the criminal organization they both used to work for, which still has a bounty on his head. That’s pretty standard plot fare this deep into …
Book Review: Issola by Steven Brust
Book #170 of 2024: Issola by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #9) The back half of this novel is rather good, representing an important step forward for former assassin and current fugitive Vlad Taltos, who’s come out of hiding to help a few friends who’ve been kidnapped by some sort of demigods. It also hinges on …
Book Review: Dragon by Steven Brust
Book #159 of 2024: Dragon by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #8) This 1998 title is a bit of an odd installment in the Vlad Taltos fantasy series. It’s not the first volume to take place earlier in the protagonist’s career, back when he was a low-level boss for the Jhereg criminal organization, but it’s unusual …
Book Review: ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King
Book #155 of 2024: ‘Salem’s Lot by Stephen King Author Stephen King has said that he wanted his second published novel to be a modern American version of Dracula, and almost half a century on, I think it’s fair to say that he succeeded in that aim. The parallels are there if you seek them …
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Book Review: Orca by Steven Brust
Book #148 of 2024: Orca by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #7) This 1996 fantasy novel finds its reformed antihero still in fugitive drifter mode, on the run from his former employers rather than working for them as an assassin-for-hire and district crime boss. It’s about a year after the events of book #6 Athyra, and …
Book Review: Flash Forward by Chris Archer
Book #139 of 2024: Flash Forward by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #7) Another propulsive installment of this 90s middle-grade science-fiction series, finally now firmly past its original formula of kid after kid turning thirteen, unlocking special powers, and facing off against a shapeshifting alien assassin. At this point, the core team of Ethan, Ashley, Jack, and …
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Book Review: Athyra by Steven Brust
Book #137 of 2024: Athyra by Steven Brust (Vlad Taltos #6) Given how the last volume in this series sort of blew up the overall premise, and how author Steven Brust has bounced around in the timeline before now, it would have been unsurprising for this sixth novel to be another flashback entry, taking place …
Book Review: Aftershock by Chris Archer
Book #128 of 2024: Aftershock by Chris Archer (Mindwarp #6) Another excellent and propulsive installment of this 90s middle-grade alien conspiracy series. We’ve got time travel now! The latest protagonist to turn thirteen and unlock special powers from her extraterrestrial heritage is one of the popular kids in school — not quite a mean girl, …
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