Review: Guardians of the West

Guardians of the West by David Eddings

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really loved this series when it first appeared almost 21(!!!) years ago. Damn, I'm old.



ANYWAY, listening to it is a completely different experience. I haven't revistied this series as often as I have re-read The Belgariad, so a lot of this book has been forgotten over time. As I listen to it, however, I struggle with the urge to skip around. If I had the book in front of me, I definitely would be doing that. As I'm listening, I'm forced to hear every word of the book. This isn't, necessarily, a good thing.



Cameron Beirle is a good reader. He keeps the voices the same from book to book and from Belgariad to Mallorean. He's consistent. The writing is a bit.....I won't say pedestrian, but it is a bit simple. It isn't a bad thing exactly, but hearing it makes it seem a lot less complex. When you're reading this series, it is deftly plotted, and the characters are sharply drawn. Your imagination supplies the rest, which makes reading these books almost as magical as the contents. Listening, however, lays bare all of the faults of the books. There are great passages of.....description. Maybe it is because I'm reading these again, but I don't really need to hear all of that. I'm not sure this series holds up as well as the original Belgariad did. Although, here I am, listening to it 21 years later.


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Review: Out of Control

Out of Control by Suzanne Brockmann

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reading this book, out of order, may have saved my life! I'm not sure I would have survived it otherwise. If you're a Sam/Alyssa fan, and you read this book in real time, you have my utmost admiration. You're a tougher person than I am.



The Savannah/Karmody storyline was awesome and I'm glad I went back and read this entry in the series. It explains a lot, and you can see Brockmann's progression as an author. Not only are her storylines layered, but her characters are really, REALLY outstanding. Authors in any genre, who are interested in making characters that are multi-layered and memorable, would really learn a thing or two from her books. She doesn't have shallow characters. Even the characters that are SUPPOSED to be shallow have an underlying depths.



Anyway, this book really had three *main* storylines, two of which come back in later books. In addition to that, it has one or two *sub* stories that also find their way into other books. If you think Brockmann is simply a romance author without real writing chops, or if you think romance is a genre that can't sustain detailed, nuanced stories and/or depth, you are seriously mistaken.



And this wasn't even her BEST of the series.


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Review: Guns will keep us together

Guns Will Keep Us Together by Leslie Langtry

My review

rating: 2 of 5 stars
This writer lives in the Quad Cities. That is my old neighborhood and I'm glad I didn't know that until after I finished this book!



Okay, the GOOD thing about this book is that the premise of it is wonderful. Really, it is. A family of assassins, from a tradition that is some 2000+ years old, is a great idea. In the hands of a good writer, this could have been fantastic. It could have been rich and layered and....good. Instead, it is campy, and silly and ridiculous. The names of everyone is the family is a place name, to the extreme that you have characters named Delaware and whatever else? Come on. The jokes aren't funny. The dialogue is clumsy and heavy handed. The relationship between the characters doesn't exist. They talk at each other, like cardboard, instead of to each other, like people. Langtry has good ideas. The plot of this book, a family enterprise that needs to spice up its marketing, is a great jumping off point. The problem is that Langtry needs more practice taking her good ideas and turning them into good books. She has the first part down: she has good ideas for plots and for characters. She just has to turn them from silly caricatures into people. If she does that, she'll be much, MUCH, better.


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Review: One Bullet Away

One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer by Nathaniel C. Fick

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
"Memoirs" have taken a bad rap in the world of publishing lately. So much so that you have to wonder if you can believe anything that anyone says is a "true story." This is why I was heartened to see the semi disclaimer in Fick's book that he tried his best to make it as accurate as possible, but if something is wrong, it wasn't intentional truthiness to blame.



The book itself is wonderful. The topic isn't wonderful, of course, but the descriptions and the narrative is very good. He doesn't go easy on himself either, which is refreshing. There is great detail on the things people most want to know. And, though you know, of course, that Filk holds some things back, you get a very full picture of what life was like for him, and his Marines, going through all the phases of this story.



If you're interested in military memoirs, I recommend it. If you're looking for a print version of Full Metal Jacket, you might want to take a pass.


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Review: Mr. Fix-It

Mr. Fix-It by Crystal Hubbard

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I'm sorry to give this book three stars. I really liked the characters in it. I LOVED both of the main characters and I thought Hubbard did a good job of making them more than just 2 dimensional cardboard cutouts. I liked the best friend of each, as well, but they were far from fully developed. It was the plot that was lacking. And, by lacking, I mean it was seriously underdeveloped. It took too many leaps. There is no way that I believe the ending from everything we've read in the beginning. And, even though you (the audience) knew that Carter was more than "just the fix it guy", I still didn't buy it. I will give Hubbard credit for making him unconventionally rich instead of old money. That was a new spin on and old idea. Good for her. Other than that, though, there wasn't much to the plot.


But, even with all of those holes, the characters almost make up for it. If she would have tweaked just one or two things (shoring up the secondary characters, making a more plausible ending, showing a little more background, maybe through flashbacks or what have you) then this would have been a 4 star review. The characters were that good. And Hubbard's use of humor in places were pretty good too.


Lastly, I have to say that it was nice to have a book about an interracial romance that wasn't all "I'm black, you're not black, it'll never work. What about the children. Blah blah blah." It never went down that road, and for that I'm more grateful than you know. Hubbard has the makings of a good author.


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