The third “Quarters” novel is a direct sequel to Fifth Quarter, picking up all the unfinished business left behind last time. I certainly wouldn’t recommending starting here as we’re in the middle of a mess of unlikely proportions. The good[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Archive for Books
This was a good idea for the subject of an Osprey book. While he’s remembered today for costly defeats thanks to the phrase ‘Pyrrhic victory’, in his time he was considered one of the best generals there was. And it[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
This is a relatively early Star Trek novel and it shows. Vulcans were one of the obsessions of the early fandom (…with good reason), and this novel obviously flows out of that. The bulk of the novel happens on Vulcan,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I happened upon a positive friend’s review at the same time this went on sale, and picked it up. I’m glad I did, it is a good book. The name “Galatians” doesn’t mean much to anyone who has not spent[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The first Temeraire book had one big question that was never answered. China had sent a dragon egg to Napoleon. The reason why highly isolationist China should do this was wondered at a couple times in the first novel, but[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
All right, I wouldn’t have ever thought of a book on Napoleon’s German allies on my own, but this is a very good, if limited look at just that. This is a look at just the 1809 Danubian campaign. There’s[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Prime Directive came out a bit after my primary era of reading Trek novels, money was tighter, and there were just too many coming out. But, it got a fairly good marketing push at the time, as one of the[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Osprey’s book on Castile and Aragon is really more about Trastamara rule, with Enrique II taking the throne of Castile in 1369 and the Hapsburg Charles II taking over Spain in 1516. The beginning of this tale is familiar to[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Once again, Guy Gavriel Kay does not disappoint. That said, the very beginning didn’t really grab me (especially the caper on Rian’s Island). But partway through chapter 3, Blaise, our main character, gets ambushed, and I was hooked for the[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Dominic Lieven’s position as a professor of Russian studies shows clearly in this book. He clearly knows whereof he speaks as he tackles the last stages of the Napoleonic Wars from a Russian perspective. And he is quite right in[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…