Review: Heroes of the Valley

Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where do I even start? This story has it all - it's tongue-in-cheek funny without getting cute, it's dark and serious without getting heavy, inspiring but not preachy, keep-the-lights-on-tonight terrifying in a minimalist dread of anticipation, a saga of rollicking revenge and coming of age, a truly unexpected, gruesome twist in the tale... and a brilliantly interwoven series of tales that mirror the story that almost reaches the level of the pirate comics in Watchmen.
It. Was. Amazing!!

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Review: Meddling Kids

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Scooby-Doo meets Lovecraft, meets Enid Blyton, meets Godzilla, meets the Morlocks, meets Stranger Things, meets It. Somehow it all works together.

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Review: The Stone in the Skull

The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good books have a surprise in the end, but once in a while along comes a great book where the end itself is a surprise.
"What! It's finished! Already?! But... it was... I just... what happens... WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE COMING OUT??!"

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Review: Dark Run

Dark Run by Mike Brooks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pretty decent YA scifi, with some exceptionally gory interludes and surprisingly hard decisions.

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Review: You're Never Weird on the Internet

You're Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fun as expected, with an unexpected darkness and an even more unexpected fight against it and a win. If you know who this is, then this is a book you need to have read, need to have passed on to others.

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Review: Warrior

Warrior by Marie Brennan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tightly-paced, original, fun, and vivid - one of the few books where you look down at how far you've progressed and realized with a little jolt of joy there's still lots more to go.

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Review: Why Not Me?

Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Pretty nice. Casual, but has some interesting insights / moments - and the speech at the end is a perfect example of something that works, even if you had no idea who Mindy Kaling was, just based on this book.

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Review: Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap? by Graham Allison
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is pretty interesting. Looking at sociological, economic, historical and political patterns that join the threads between minor unconnected events and paint the larger picture that's been there under the surface, identifying patterns of history and using them to predict probabilities into future events... there's something almost Hari Seldonian about the concept.
I love the term 'Applied History'. History is so much more than a collection of dead facts - it's a living, breathing story that's still going on, threading into the future, the facts of yesterday and the feel of today, connecting into a forecast of tomorrow.
Brilliant read if you're even slightly interested in history and current events at a macro scale.

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Review: The Algebraist

The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's an interesting world, similar but apart from the Culture series... seems to be a precursor, given what looks like a lower level of tech and more organic agency prevalent in this universe.
That said, there's some core issues - it rambles. Sentences run on and on, sometimes for a full page or more, and you have to jump back to see how they started. Plot arcs appear and fade out with no explanation. Start and end abruptly, no closure, no buildup, apart from, the one core story. Characters are awesome... but wasted.
All in all, an interesting read, but no great loss in your life if you never get around to it.

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