Books for March

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchet

Review

In this new novel by Terry Pratchet, quite a few new characters have been introduced in the bustling city of Ankh-Morpork. These include Trever Likely, a young street urchin with an almost magical skill at kicking (but who promised his mother he wouldn't play football), Glenda, who runs the night kitchen, Juliet (beautiful but a bit dim), her assistant and fashion model; and Nutt, an extremely educated goblin immigrant from Uberwald. The city of Ankh-Morpork is home to some of the nastiest games of illegal street football ever seen (the only things worse than the players are the fans), so Vetinari, the dictator of the city, decides that it needs to be modernized. However, several things stand in his way, including Andy, resident psychopath and his gang of thugs; and the strange, bloodthirsty creature the crowd become whenever a game begins. Add into this formula Mr Nutt, who everyone wants to kill (for reasons unknown even to him), and you've got quite a good tale of mystery, action and football (soccer to Americans.)

Tom Clancy's Endwar by David Michaels

Review

In this riveting novel set in the not-too-distant future, a war has spiked between Russia and the United States. In a mission to capture an enemy commander, a US marine sees all his friends die and wonders why he alone out of his entire squad was left alive. The general sent to interrogate the prisoner finds that he knows more about her than she knows about him. And underneath it all, a new war is beginning. Russia has invaded Canada and seems poised to take the oil deposits there. But there is another factor in this equation: the terrorist leader called Green Vox has returned and seeks to destroy both countries while they battle. An excellent read.

The Spear Wielder's Tale by RA Salvatore

Review

RA Salvatore can really craft an excellent tale, as he shows in this three part epic fantasy story. In the first part, a modern day man named Gary Ledger is abducted to the fantasy world of Faerie by an elf and a leprechaun, forced to journey through this troubled land because he is the only one tall enough to wear the armor of an ancient hero and reforge the hero's broken spear with dragon's fire. So he and his companions begin a journey that will take them into the mountains, to a witch's castle and finally to a dragon's lair, where they must battle the great dragon Robert the Wretched. In his next adventure, Gary Ledger returns to find his actions have inadvertently freed the powerful dragon. He must journey through a world wracked with a great war to stop the dragon and end his reign of terror. Finally, in the last story, Gary Ledger comes back to Faerie to stop the greatest enemy of them all, the cruel and hated ruler of the land, who once was a benevolent ruler but seems to have fallen into depravity. A great (and long!) story.

Atlantis by David Gibbins

Review

In this gripping novel about a modern day expedition to find Atlantis, Jack, a marine archeologist, and his colleagues soon find themselves out of their depth. They are not the only ones to be looking for the ancient city, but their competitors, they soon find out, are not really looking for the fabled city, but a treasure trove of nuclear weapons which have been lost here for several decades. A Russian warlord with almost limitless funds wants to deliver these weapons, enough to blow up a small continent, to their original buyers, and he won't stop at anything to find them. Meanwhile, Jack and his friends enter the fabled city, and find not a treasure store of fantastically advanced technology (if that's what you were hoping) but the remains of a rather clever neolithic society.

Luthien's Gamble by RA Salvatore

Review

Luthien never dreamed that, when he struck out against the unjust government that ruled his land, he would start a revolution. But now one is starting in earnest, with Luthien as its figurehead. The Kingdom of Avon rules its people with a cruel hand, and their cyclops warriors are even more cruel in meting out punishments. When Luthien killed one of the king's dukes, the common people rose up beside him, and soon they clear their city of the Cyclopians. But the king of Avon isn't going to let such flagrant disobedience go unpunished, and soon an enormous army, around ten-thousand strong, is marching towards the rebel city. Can Luthien inspire his troops in the face of such odds, and will inspiration be enough to defeat his foes?

The Clipper Ship Strategy by Richard J Maybury

Review

In this excellent book by Richard Maybury, you will learn not only how to profit in a government-controlled economy, but the theory behind this and how, by understanding why you do something, you can do it better. The first part of the book talks about the injection effect, how government spending programs inject (just an analogy) money into certain areas. Then the book tells you how you can profit from these cones, and specific examples of certain cones and sinkholes (depressed areas). After that, the book talks about how you might react to certain situations, and names a few historic cones. What is the big secret? Well, it's actually not so secret, but you'll have to read this book to find out.

Paths of Darkness by RA Salvatore

Review

In this enormous collection comprising of four books in one, RA Salvatore continues the saga of Drizzt Do'urden, Artemis Entreri and his other deep, interesting characters. In the first book, The Silent Blade, Wulfgar the barbarian has escaped from his torments in the Abyss, but finds that he has been permanently scarred by the events that took place there. He is hallucinating half the time, and he eventually leaves his friends because he views himself as too much of a danger to them. Meanwhile, the assassin Artemis Entreri seeks to rule Calimport once again, and this time he's got an army of drow to back him up. Eventually, his actions bring him into contact with Drizzt Do'urden, and an old grudge surfaces. Can Drizz't defeat the assassin once and for all?

In The Spine of the World, Wulgar the barbarian turns to drinking to stop the awful memories from coming back, takes a job as a bouncer in a seedy bar, and generally falls into a rut. His closest friend is the untrustworthy Morik the Rogue, ordered to spy on him by his drow masters. When Wulfgar is convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, he is taken to the Prisoner's Carnival, where justice is turned into a gruesome, barbaric show. He is pardoned by the very man he was supposed to have conspired to kill, but rejects the man's offer to join him and heads out of the city into the Spine of the World mountains. Will he finally find peace out there?

In Servant of the Shard, Jarlaxle the Drow has taken the Crystal Shard, a dangerous, sentient artifact, from Drizzt Do'urden, who was going to destroy it. With the artifact under his control (or so he thinks), Jarlaxle seeks to take over all of Calimport. But is the artifact really under his control, or is he yet another dupe to fall to its power? Soon, Jarlaxle's traitorous general, a psionist who can resist the power of the shard, seeks to take the shard from him, knowing that its corrupting influence has weakened his leader. Can Jarlaxle and Artemis Entreri resist the call of the shard and end its evil, corrupting ways?

I have already written a book review of the final book, Sea of Swords, which caps off the collection. An excellent read!

A Narrative of a Revolutionary War Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin

Review

In this exciting narrative of an actual revolutionary war soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin, the writer and hero of this tale, lays out his adventures, hardships and other events that occurred in the war. Joseph, when he was young, was raised by his maternal grandfather, who had a rather good collection of books. From the books on war, Joseph decided he never wanted to be a soldier, but when he got to his late teens, he was so desperate to get out of the house that he signed up to be a soldier. However, he soon discovered that his previous life was much nicer than that of a soldier. Throughout the campaign, he'd have to face hunger, extreme weather, and of course the British themselves. Sometimes his own officers were just as dangerous as the enemy. But through it all, he'd learn what it really was like to be a soldier, and the good parts of the job as well as the bad parts. An excellent read, and I highly recommend it.

-- JackW - 03 Mar 2010