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dare

dare@kirja.casa

Joined 2 years ago

Roolipelaaja, seikkailuharrastaja, spefi-kirjailija

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reviewed Head in the sand by Damien Boyd (A DI Nick Dixon novel -- 2)

Damien Boyd: Head in the sand (2015, Thomas & Mercer) 2 stars

The discovery of a severed head in a golf course bunker triggers a frantic race …

Review of 'Head in the sand' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

"They had arrived just after 9.00am"
"From 4.00pm onwards"
"The interview began at 2.00pm"

What is it with these books and having to give exact times for everything?

It's another Nick Dixon detective story, with the same flaws (and, it needs to be said, strengths) as the first one. Editor badly needed, all characters sound alike, the writing would make any spreadsheet proud etc etc. The plot is still okay, and even managed to surprise me a couple of times, although at the same time I was yelling "you damn idiot" at the protagonist.

reviewed As the Crow Flies by Damien Boyd

Damien Boyd: As the Crow Flies (Paperback, 2015, Thomas & Mercer) 2 stars

Review of 'As the Crow Flies' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

As The Crow Flies badly needed an editor's touch, or maybe an editor's hacksaw. Even though in a mystery/detective novel, style can be secondary to plot, ATCF reads way too much like a laundry list of things that happened. Fortunately, the plot is OK, and the prose was more pedestrian than actively annoying. Still, this could have been so much better.

(Also -- and this is a very slight spoiler -- there's way too little climbing! I picked this up in the hopes that there would be crazy climbing action, but we get hardly any of that past the first ten or so pages. It's a shame, because the little there is wasn't bad at all. I honestly can't wait for the caving-themed Dixon book.)

reviewed The quiet invasion. by Sarah Zettel

Sarah Zettel: The quiet invasion. (2001, Warner Books) 3 stars

Review of 'The quiet invasion.' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The Quiet Invasion had all the elements of a great sci-fi story, but they never quite cohered into one. Still, it was an interesting story about first contact with a reasonably strange culture. It was also set on Venus with at least a reasonably hard take on the science, and the backdrop was definitely great.

The plot was, at times, a mess, the politics alternated between silly, tired and interesting, the characters were mostly excellent even if many of them grabbed the Idiot Ball more often than I'd have liked, the dialogue was surprisingly clunky ... the book kept alternating between being really good and interesting, and being just overly simple. Also, the ending was very abrupt; I'd have liked to have seen more.

I can still recommend Quiet Invasion, because I was never bored or annoyed by it, except for the feel that it could have been so much …

reviewed Declare by Tim Powers

No cover

Tim Powers: Declare (2002, HarperTorch)

 5 stars

Professor Andrew Hale rejoins Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1963 after receiving a coded message, …

Review of 'Declare' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Almost five stars. This is an incredible novel, slightly hampered by the two themes pulling in opposite directions. On one hand, Declare wants to be an epic supernatural fantasy, and on the other, a very realistic and down-to-earth spy story. In the end the story has to make a choice, and as a result, the one not chosen suffers slightly.

But! Declare is still a triumph of imagination and storytelling, and a brilliant book that plays really fair with its strange ruleset. Highly recommended to anyone who enjoys, for instance, the Laundry Files or The Milkweed Triptych.