The Lost Realm

The Charlemagne Pursuit: A Novel by Steve Berry

rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is the 3rd of Steve Berry’s books that I’ve read and it continues the same trend that I’ve found with his books, especially the Cotton Malone series. That is to say where Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon novels give you a taste of historical conspiracies, yet leave you wondering at the end if what is hypothesized is true, Steve Berry hits you over the head with it and leaves you dazed and sometimes confused.

That said, it’s still a decent read. It wasn’t the most enjoyable of his books that I’ve read, but it still kept me involved (for the most part) in the storyline. If you’re a fan of Dan Brown, you’ll likely enjoy Steve Berry.

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The Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company by Glen Cook

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Glen Cook does a great job with the continuing stories of the Black Company. The only thing that seems odd about this Omnibus is the 3rd book “The Silver Spike”. While a decent book on its own, it seems fairly out of place with the other 2 books (the first two books follow Croaker and the Lady into the South, while the third book follows Darling, Silent, Razor and the others than didn’t leave with Croaker).

All 3 books are enjoyable, and typical non-stop Glen Cook action the entire way. A great read for any Fantasy Fan.

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Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

rating: 4 of 5 stars
This latest installment in Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels starts with a bang and doesn’t let up through the entirety of the novel. Other than a rather explicit romp with a past lover, Sookie finds herself in one mess of trouble after the next.

Overall it was a rather enjoyable installment. Much darker than the earlier books, though they’ve been heading this way over the last few. A number of characters that we’ve grown accustomed to having around in this world are now gone and I know I’ll miss at least one of them.

My only real complaint is that the ending seemed much too abrupt, I felt almost cheated when I finished the last page of the book.

Anyway, bring on book 10!

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Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Overall it was a good read, though Clive’s prose did leave me a little baffled at times (for one, I found that the book, at least in the beginning, contained way too many metaphors for my liking). I also found it interesting that he wrote himself into the book as a bus driver/teacher in the Gobi Desert.



In my opinion, the bulk of the book could have been compressed. Nearly half the book is spent setting up the global oil crisis created by the oil company utilizing the Khan’s fortune.



Anyway, a decent read, though more of a pulp action read.


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Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a great read. I’d easily consider it one of the best Sci-Fi books that I’ve read. It became a little morally preachy near the end, but the majority of the book was an enthralling read.



I’d definitely recommend this book to any sci-fi fan.


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Chronicles of The Black Company by Glen Cook

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Completely enjoyed this trilogy. About a quarter of the way into it, I found that I was having trouble putting it down. A great sign of a great book.

Raw, visceral and compelling characters. I can’t wait to read the other books in this series (providing that I can find them).

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Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
Was a decent read, though I did not find the characters as well developed as in her other books. Harper seems to have a lot less spunk and passion than Sookie, maybe this has to do with her back story being a lot darker.



Though that being said, I found a lot of the back story repetitious and I hate to say it a bit boring. I found myself glossing over it a bit while reading.



I think the character/setting could have promise, but I think Charlaine needs to focus more on the story than the back story. Perhaps the subsequent books will move more in this direction


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Courtesy of Williams-Sonoma, this soup makes a great spring soup.  I’ve always been a fan of lemon/chicken soup, and this surely does not disappoint.  A lovely fiesta of flavour, this soup will have you enjoying every last drop in your bowl.

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Simple, yet fun salad.  Great for entertaining or on a warm summer’s day.

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I normally enjoy a Michael Crichton novel, relishing escaping into the thrilling almost science fiction of some of his earlier works such as: Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Timeline, Sphere, and Congo.  However, this one left me a bit dizzy, trying to piece together the separate, unrelated view points into a cohesive plot line.  It tries to come off like the movie Snatch, separate seemingly unconnected view points that over the course of the story show a relation that heightens each individual story, but falls short of that goal.

Instead it reads more like a collection of author notes on varying elements of genetics and bio-engineering pieced together to try and represent the author’s views on the topic.  The pieces that are there are fairly well written, but a number of the characters come off as shallow and poorly represented.  I also found that a number of the story arcs weren’t closed to my satisfaction and left me wondering what the point of that arc in general was.

If you’re curious about genetics or bio-engineering, you may thoroughly enjoy reading the author’s view points in this fictional representation, otherwise you may find this to be a waste of your time.

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