5 comments about Munchkin.

1. This is an easy, introduction to role-playing games. A game can be completed in a couple of hours, so it's not as completely time-consuming as true role-playing games. The monsters and weapons are hilarious.



2. A very fun game for a group who's willing to let their dork hair down.



3. I've never played Dungeons & Dragons (which this game is a satire on), but I am a huge fan of board games and card games. Munchkin is a great game for 3 or more people who don't mind being geeks for a few hours. The game combines a heavy dose of D&D satire, witty puns, pop culture, and mild adult humor. The object of the game is to outfit your character with an arsenal of unusual weapons, items, and abilities in order to slay monsters and gain levels. Your friends are doing the same, and you can benefit from both helping and hindering them. The rules can be a little daunting at first, but players pick it up quickly. Plus, all of the cards have explanations on them. With the exception of "The Need for Steed", the expansions add a great amount of variety to the cards without making the game longer or more complicated. "The Need for Steed" does add a small amount of complexity to the game, but does not make the game longer to play. Although playing with 2 players is technically possible, it is a very different experience and does not compare to playing with 3 or more players.



4. This is a great game. It takes a little bit to learn the rules, but it is well worth it. It is a great find.



5. I played this for the first time with my husband, sister and a friend. My husband is a gamer and has been for years. The rest of us are not (we run in fear from gamers). The non-gamers found this to be an easy to pick up game (with my husband also acting as rulesmaster and dumbing down some of the finer points of the game for us). My husband had fun and found the inside jokes amusing. So this is an enjoyable game for everyone to play regardless of their gamer experience.

5 comments about Blood Noir (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 16).

1. I can't say it better than this:
   
   If I wanted porn - I'd rather watch it then read it. I'd get more out of it.
   
   I was so addicted to Anita Blake and the character. But the last few books have just been trash in my eyes. And no, I'm not a prude. FAR FAR FAR from it.
   
   This book has the least substance of them all for me. It's a waste of paper it was printed on.



2. I have this to say to LKH, and about Blood Noir and the new direction of the Anita Blake series.
   
   If you're going to write porn, learn to write it well. If you're going to continue calling these "real" novels, you might want to up the plot factor and let the sex become a delicious little treat every few chapters.
   
   BN is too full of poorly written sexual encounters for me to consider it seriously. If you want to turn it into the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (if you know what I mean, wink wink) series, by all means, but please, start to use words and phrases besides "breathy" and "just flat does it for me". It's like LKH has been walking the line between eroticism and being too embarrassed to write what she's really "seeing" for many books now, and it's getting old.
   
   (A side note about LKH follows, feel free to skip to the bottom for the rest of my Blood Noir review)
   If you'd like your audience to start taking you seriously again, please give us back our strong, independent Anita. And please stop giving her new metaphysical powers every time she gets into a fight (which is happening less and less frequently).
   
   As for sleeping beauty, aka Marmee, that's a WONDERFUL plot waiting to happen.. it could take the series back where it belongs and onto a whole new level.. please write it on par with the first few books, and whatever you do.. please don't have Anita hop into the sack with the zombie/vampire/lycanthrope/ghoul/etc combination I'm sure you'll turn Marmee into.
   /rant.
   
   In short, Blood Noir is either a poorly planned and written novel, or a poorly executed porn. Given LKH's penchant for backtracking in just about every previous book, you could certainly skip this one and not miss a thing. My advice? Wait for paperback, or ignore it all together.
   
   (Oh, and to echo a previous review I had written.. when are Anita and the gang going to start dressing like it ISN'T 1987?) How many royal blue shells, or shells of any color, for that matter, does Anita own? Does anyone call stockings "hose" anymore? And we all know the litany of complaints about the way she dresses the men. Yikes.



3. I too have read all of the Anita Blake books and I too will not be reading any more. After reading Harlequin and seeing how the sex was somewhat toned down from the last book, I thought that maybe - just maybe - Hamilton was listening to her critics and working on toning down the sex and attempting to going back to a real plot... but after reading this latest 'novel', I can see I was wrong.
   
   Nothing's wrong with a little sex. Nothing is wrong with not having every character asking 'why?'. It gets aggravating to read nothing but characters over-analyzing each other and having absolutely nothing to do but screw each others brains out.
   
   There is no plot. Nothing worth paying $$ for, anyways. I'm disgusted, disappointed, and no longer foolish enough to shell out money for crappy porn.



4. 
   
   this book was good.. all her books are.. but this one was a little more focused on the problem Anita and Jason encountered and not on sex all the time.. good book..



5. I am so glad it's not just me. I read a couple of the earlier Anita Blake novels and loved them. I jumped to this latest one and couldn't believe how much they have changed--terrible plot! I thought the (group) sex was riduculous and unnecessary. I will not read anymore Anita Blake books.

No comments about The Ender Quartet Box Set: Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind (Ender Quartet).

1 comments about Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Anakin in Action! (DK READERS).

1. 
   The DK early reading program is exceptional. Licensing popular franchises for different levels. Anakin is rated 2, while the companion book, Watch out For Jabba the Hut is level 1.
   
   For those who have seen the Clone Wars, this is a good way to explain the story to young viewers. With art taken from the film, these books are topical, and use appropriate vocabulary. Want to raise a young Star Wars fan, pick these up and before long, you'll find your child reading any one of the Star Wars novels.
   
   Great job. Simon Beecroft has a remarkable skill in writing for different age groups.
   
   Keep up the great work DK.

No comments about The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

5 comments about Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 3).

1. OK. I have to admit I didn't like Zhadist much but I'm sure you'll change your mind after reading this!
   Perfect love story and continuation to the Brotherhood's battle against the Lessers.
   A must read!



2. Lover Awakened to me is the best of the whole series... you understand why Zsadist is the darkest of the brothers and is so touched when finally there is a female who accepts him for who he is and is able to touch his heart!



3. Ah, Zsadist, the loneliest of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, the one who sets himself apart in all ways, who endured enforced enslavement and whose face is damaged beyond repair...could he find someone who not only will love him, but will bring out the best in his tortured soul? In the third installment of J.R. Ward's excellent Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Lover Awakened, the answers are found as the mysteries behind Z's past are also brought to light.
   
   Zsadist keeps people at more than arm's length; he literally shoves them away. Unfortunately for beautiful vampire Bella, it is this very trait that attracts her, and Z tries to fight the feeling himself until Bella is abducted by the evil lesser O. Zsadist won't rest until Bella is rescued, and once she is, he finds himself drawn to her spiritually and physically. But of course there are complications, and Bella's been broken herself.
   
   Ward has given her most solitary warrior a believable background and a means to recovery by establishing a storyline that not only finds him bonding with a female but realizing that he does in fact need his brothers. Woven within the story of Z and Bella are also side stories that must be solved with future installments, and I cannot wait to get back to this series. Ward has crafted a complex world and continually gives twists and turns to its characters. Fascinating reading, and highly recommended. This series continues to improve with each book.



4. I am lost for words...this is by far the best out of the 6! Z is my favorite out of all the BDB! Ward is a genius! Her Vampire series is the BEST OF THEM ALL!!!!



5. I recently began reading this series and have thoroughly enjoyed reading every last single word, page, and books!! But I must say that this book is the best of them all. Zsadist is an excellent mix of danger, strength, softness, romance, and eroticism all mixed in one. He is a keeper!!

5 comments about Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6).

1. This was painful. I just wanted to get through it. Boring, silly, egotistic and just....bad. If I hear the word "chap" one more time, I'm going to freak out. I'm listening to it now..oh god, please let it end. Kill me



2. Whereas the previous five "Dark Tower" novels take place over large, sprawling periods of time, this novel is much shorter both in reality (400 pages) and within the text (all the events take place within a day or two).
   
   When I first started this book, I was disappointed by the focus on Susannah-Mio, as that (at least to me) was not a very compelling part of the storyline. However, the interactions of those characters in 1999 New York City provides for some entertaining moments.
   
   The much more interesting plotline in this novel, however, is Roland and Eddie meeting Stephen King in the flesh. Yes, King wrote himself into his own book! While the phrase "there are more worlds than these" had played a big part in the series to this point, I was shocked to find out that it perhaps even including OUR own world as well. Much like the TV show "LOST", which once hinted that it's characters were nothing more than one man's paranoid delusions, "Song of Susannah" intimates that perhaps the entire Dark Tower creation just springs from the mind of King...that Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and the like aren't even real! The coupe de grace comes when King (the real one!) questions which world the fictional Stephen King actually resides in.
   
   So, although "Susannah" starts off a bit slow, it slowly builds to an exciting crescendo that will whet your appetite for the final installment. I am a first-time reader of the series, and I am chomping at the bit to finally be ushered into the Dark Tower itself!



3. I honestly think he should have stopped after the fourth book and should've avoid giving us the "Wachowski feeling" of destroying what might have been a really good and original idea...
   
   What he calls in the last book as "methaphysics" to explain (justify) his own presence in the book, I call it a cheap trick. Does he really have to be there? no, I don't think so, specially since he had already abused of the doors to move between worlds. Those two things just destroyed the series...



4. I enjoyed most of this book, especially the parts with the author written in. Thickened the plot rather nicely. Couln't wait to get through this one and on to the final book.



5. After fighting the Wolves of the Calla, Roland Deschain and his ka-tet can focus again on finding the Dark Tower. But there is grave danger ahead. The tremendously important union of the ka-tet is about to break. Now that Susannah Dean is trapped in her own mind by Mia, a former demon, it becomes even more important to keep the alliance together. But the power of Black Thirteen has taken hold of Susannah and before Roland can stop her she is transported via the Doorway Cave to the New York of 1999. Lost in a city she only knows from years ago, Susannah fears that she has to give birth to her child on her own, without the support of her friends. Moreover she feels that she is about to lose control over Mia. When that happens the future of the ka-tet will be threatened. In the meanwhile Roland needs to find the author of the book titled Salem's Lot because he feels that this is the only way to defeat the Crimson King and to bring the ka-tet together again.
   
   If you could appreciate the previous five books of the Dark Tower, Song of Susannah is going to blow your mind. Not only does King prepare the finale that is going to happen in the final book The Dark Tower, but he also weaves a web of intrigues that goes far beyond the previous books. After reading Song of Susannah you get the feeling that you are at the front door of the Dark Tower, with the promise that what's behind the door is going to be amazing. The introduction of Father Callagan in the previous book, and the amazing lint to Stephen King's `Salems Lot, becomes even more exciting in this volume. I will not ruin the story for you, but know that when Roland gets closer to the true nature of the Crimson King, the hair on the back of your neck will stand up, no doubt. As with the Drawing of the Three, travelling through the different worlds becomes again a major story point, something that I truly missed in Wizard and Glass. The only negative thing I can say about this book is that is announces the closure of one of the best stories ever told. What will we do without when the secret of the Dark Tower is revealed?

5 comments about Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, Book 1).

1. Whenever I try a new series, especially in sci-fi, I am always a little nervous about the content. I love sci-fi, but sometimes the books just aren't what you'd expect. I am pleased to say that this book was clean enough to be read by teenagers but still written in a way that could appeal to adults.
   
   This book reminds me a bit of the success of the Law and Order and CSI TV shows that could draw in a viewer but kept some normalcy by admitting that cops, forensic experts, and prosecutors don't normally spend all of his or her free time drinking and sleeping around. The portrayal of a hero who doesn't fit in to his society and sometimes not in with his fleet and the explanation of his real thoughts and insecurities, makes Captain Jack Black Geary seem like a real human hero instead of a James Bond Hollywood fantasy. If you enjoy reading sci-fi that makes you think about how you and people you know would handle things, then I would highly recommend this book!



2. This has to be some of the best science fiction that I've read. For reference I'm a fan of John Scalzi and Robert Charles Wilson, but this series has topped anything I've listened to so far (I downloaded the unabridged audio version of this book). I'm nearly done with the fourth book, Valiant, and I'm so disappointed that it is going to be over soon. I can't believe I have to wait until 4/2009 for the next in the series...
   
   If you are into space battle-like sci-fi, you owe it to yourself to try this series.



3. I enjoyed reading Dauntless (The Lost Fleet - Book 1) by Jack Campbell. This is the first work of Mr. Campbell that I have read, and it's a most promising start. The story revolves about a legendary military commander who has been drifting in an escape pod for about 100 years. After he's found, he has to try to fit in to the current situation and live with the hero status he's been accorded by the present-day military. He also finds that the 100 year war has changed military tactics and attitudes in ways that are very different from his time.
   
   While this is certainly not a deep character-development book, it has all the elements of a classic Space Opera, with a heroic leader thrown into an almost hopeless situation trying to save his fleet. Battle descriptions of maneuvers made by fleets that have to rely on light speed observations of where the enemy 'was' to attack where he 'will be' when the weapons arrive make for an interesting perspective on space battles. All in all, a good and quick read for fans of this genre.



4. I am an eclectic reader and I am always looking for different writers of various genres. I picked up this book based on a recommendation by a coworker and it was a great read!



5. Light, fast and satisfying.
   
   An enjoyable romp. Not as dark as much recent Space Opera has been (I'm looking at you, Banks and Reynolds). More on the military side of the street, this book follows John "Black Jack" Geary, a historical captain found in a lifepod a century after his time. He's rescued by his own fleet and find that things have not changed much since he left. The same war continues and his people are still in it.

5 comments about The Blade Itself (The First Law: Book One).

1. While I admit that the characters are entertaining, the pace lively, and the style impressive; this books greatest achievement is its sheer savagery. For the scenes of Glotka torturing, the northmen rampaging, and best of all Logen's battle sequence, this book is worth your $15. This is the sort of book that makes you want to beat your chest with fury when you turn the final pages. The only fight sequence that compares in my opinion is The Mountain vs The Viper from Storm of Swords. Good Job Joe!



2. Joe Abercrombie does a nice job with the first book of his First Law Series. Setting the story in a well-built world and filling it with interesting, gritty characters creates a good balance of stage-setting and story-telling.
   
   The Blade Itself is told from the perspective of five-sic major characters who are gradually drawn together and who's collected experiences create a very interesting combination. There is the mage, the apprentice, the barbarian, the gifted young noble, the crippled anti-hero....and so forth. Very interesting characters for me.
   
   I think the only drawback that I saw in the series was that it take a while before things reach a boiling point and the story gets going. That's not a serious drawback, but enough that it kept me from wanting to give it more than 4 stars. Once the story gets going, then it's truly a lot of fun to read.
   
   Abercrombie's use of classic Fantasy themes is very good and his world building is exceptional. I can't wait for the second book in the series.



3. This has been a great year for discovering awesome fantasy authors. Scott Lynch, who may be my new favorite author after Martin, recommended Abercrombie so I had to check him out. I didn't regret it. He writes with a style unlike anything I've read, filled with quick wit, great dialogue and clever, subtle humor.
   
   His world is instantly engrossing and packed with intriguing and incredibly flawed characters. Some readers may be turned off that some of the POV characters have only a few redeeming qualities, and one or two might be downright unlikeable. For me, who relishes in reading anything out of the ordinary, unlikable is likeable. Noble and just characters become predictable and boring. Here, you won't find either of those annoying traits. Each character is incredibly different from one another and has their own purpose and role in the story.
   
   The back of the book many only mention four main characters but there are really six, with one that doesn't really get his own POV until later on and another who simply doesn't show up until later.
   We have Jezal: the pretty boy Union soldier who cares about nothing but his big upcoming fencing match, and even that he goes about half-heartedly. His character starts out obnoxious but he starts to become interesting when he finds a love interest and other challenges.
   Glokta: My personal favorite character. He is a former Union hero who was captured in a war with a southern Empire and tortured for two years straight. He is now a cripple with a very nasty and sarcastic attitude who ironically became a torturer himself. (Any fans of Martin may notice the resemblance to Tyrion, although Tyrion is probably a bit softer hearted.)
   Logen: Possibly the most descent of the characters. His intentions are good, but he is bread to be a killing machine. A gargantuan man from the cold north, he is a legendary fighter known as the Bloody Nine (for his missing finger, one of his many battle scars.) However, the farther the story progresses, the more one learns that he is a man to be feared.
   Bayaz: A man who claims to be from the original order of ancient Magi, and regardless of his claims he definitely has control of very intense forces. His intentions seem unclear at first but he becomes the catalyst that combines all of these other plot threads together.
   Colonel West: At first he is only seen in Jazel's point-of-view as his fencing partner. But he soon gets a greater role and his own chapters. He seems to have a level head but he also has some serious problems, mostly of the family sort.
   Ferro: The late-comer to the book, she is possibly the most mysterious of these characters. Once part of the empire that Glokta had fallen victim to, she is now associated with no one and has made it her entire purpose to take her vengeance on the Empire for what they did to her. She has uncanny fighting abilities, but the man who shows up to save her that she reluctantly follows is the only one keeping her alive.
   
   Each of these characters has their own unique tale, but they are all masterfully woven together. Readers who are looking for a more linear reading experience like Tolkien, Eddings, Feist and many of the long time fantasists might be confused and disappointed. This book is an incredible tapestry and possibly more disjointed than Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. This is not a bad thing though. On the contrary it's amazingly written and incredibly entertaining. All of the various POVs show this unique fantasy setting from many facets and it's all great. The fighting scenes when they come about are greatly detailed and make you feel like you're right there, and magic (as it always should be as far as I'm concerned) is a rare and terrifying thing when it comes about. All of these elements do pull together into one more focused plot, but it takes some figuring out and some patience to get there.
   
   This isn't a reading experience for the faint of heart. There is plenty of blood, guts, swearing and sex (I'm not complaining though,) but it's all done with finesse and skill. Joe Abercrombie proves that fantasy is more than Harry Potter and Narnia. He is a great author and if you take what I said into consideration, he won't dissapoint.



4. I began fantasy about 5 months ago ("The Name of the Wind") and can't seem to pull myself away from the genre (nothing seems to compare when you're looking for character development and plot). This trilogy is fantastic. I must admit that I was doubting the book/trilogy as I read the first few chapters of "The Blade Itself", yet it slowly picked up momentum and held my interest. After finishing all three books, I see Abercrombie's genius in starting slow and building his characters and plots across the three books; the ever-gaining momentum made Book 3 such a fun read. Abercrombie has spectacularly real characters with very real flaws and personal struggles, yet he does his character development with a certain subtlety and charm. I hate when books give you inane, cliched details that scream "This is character development, and this character sure is boring!" There is none of that in the "First Law" series, and most development is masterfully done through character action/inaction/interaction/introspection. Glokta is particularly memorable, and is one of my favorite characters ever (he is so self-effacing, cynical, realistic, and self-aware you can't help but love and understand him by the end of book 3).
   
   All-in-all, if you love character and plot development, you should definitely give this series a shot. A word of warning: this is a dark fantasy with a lot of very well-orchestrated, vivid fight scenes, so it's not for the weak of heart. It also has quite a bit of very crass language (used to drive scene and character development), so it might not be for the easily offended as well.



5. I'm always so happy when I find a really good fantasy series. The last one was George RR Martin's fire and ice series. While I wouldn't place this one quite that high, it was a rolicking enjoyable ride and I went and quickly ordered the next two books.
   
   The Blade Itself is well written with good characters and enough twists to play with the now familiar roles and plots. We meet the tortured man who becomes a torturer, the Bloody killer who speaks to spirits and knows 'you have to be practical' but is losing that hard edge to tiredness and compassion. We meet the wizard who is both more and less than he seems, and we follow all these characters as they twist and twine.
   
   This is the first of a 3 part series and has good world building and a very accomplished feel for a debut book! A happy find and I'm sure that Joe Abercrombie will only get better... he's going to be an automatic buy for me.

5 comments about The Hobbit.

1. I really enjoyed this book I could never put it down. It's a good childrens book full of excitment. It's all about a group of dwarves going to kill a dragon who stole all their money and destroyed their town.



2. This book is fantastic. I have to read it at least once a year. It is very entertaining, very fun and never gets old. Each time I pick up the book to read it it feels and reads as fresh as it did the first time. Great book for all ages and the best place to start if you are interested in "The Lord of the Rings" or learning more about Middle Earth. I'd recommend this book to everyone and it makes for a wonderful present for any and all occasions.



3. This is an excellent reading of the Hobbit, and I'm really enjoying it. The reader does a great job of doing all the voices. I'd give it five stars but the quality of the CD manufacturing is not the best. I actually found some globs of rubber cement or sticky glue on the bottom of two of them. I finally got it cleaned off, but not before I had already tried the CD in my computer and a glob of glue mucked up the DVD burner and I had to replace it. I was pretty upset. There wasn't any glue on the packaging, just 2 CD's which I've never seen before. So just check them carefully.
   
   But the reading of the book itself is so great, and the book so good that it kind of softens the blow. At least I had a tower PC and could just put in a new DVD burner. So just check the CD's when you get it first.



4. This is a wonderful CD. The narrator uses voices for all the characters. My students loved it.



5. It must be over a decade since I last read this book- and nearly 35 years since I first read it. Yet, when I reread it this week I still became completely engrossed in it once again. Tolkien crafted a nearly perfect faery-tale here. In some ways it presages the Lord of the Rings, yet it is somehow different. It has a different feel to it. Had LOTR never been written this book would have still stood on its own as a classic.
   
   When I choose to reread this classic I searched out a copy of the edition that I first read in High School (a friend lent me his treasured copy.) This was the 1966 Houghton Mifflin hardcover edition- 25th printing. I had heard some negative reports on the quality of later editions and I knew that this one was first rate. It has Tolkien's own illustrations in it and on the dust cover. Plus, after over 40 years it has still held together- and probably shall for 40 more.
   
   So many books have copied this one over the years, but most of them are quickly forgotten while this one will last foreever. But then, Tolkien said that he sensed that everything that he put into this book (and LOTR) had actually happened somewhere, sometime, and that he was just tapping into it...