M.A. Kropp: Writer, Blogger, GeekGirl. My Life. My Words. My Way.
Unless you know what you are writing about. Yes, this post is about things that bug me when I am reading. In this particular case, the MC of the story has a puppy. Without going into details, they didn't want a puppy. They didn't go out looking to get a puppy. The puppy ended up … Continue reading Don’t Give Your MC a Puppy
My rating: 4 of 5 starsIn this novel that evokes the feeling and environment of the Tang Dynasty of 8th century China, we meet Shen Tai, son of one of the greatest generals serving the Emperor. He has spent the last two years honoring the spirits of the dead of both sides of his father's … Continue reading Friday Review: Under Heaven (Under Heaven #1) by Guy Gavriel Kay
My rating: 4 of 5 starsThis is the sequel to Wendig's 2019 "Wanderers". "Wayward" takes place five years after the events of the first book, and we find Benji, Marcy, Shana, and the rest of the sleepwalkers and shepherds living in Ouray, CO, the town that they were led to for safety from the global … Continue reading Friday Review: Wayward (Wanderers #2) by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 4 of 5 starsKatherine "Katie-Lee" Fontenot is a fifty-year-old Louisiana-to-New-York transplant who moved away from home to escape her family and memories. When her younger sister is killed in a freak accident at the zoo where she works, Katie-Lee heads home for the funeral. And runs straight into all the things she has … Continue reading Friday Review: Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears by Ken Wheaton
My rating: 4 of 5 starsThis is an interesting paranormal historical fantasy. It is set in a Victorian England in the time of Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper. Psychic powers are real, and it is widely accepted that most people possess some form of vril (the term here for those powers). Most even believe … Continue reading Friday Review: Questionable Minds by Fraser Sherman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars"The Stiehl Assasin" is the second to last entry in the Fall of Shannara quartet. In this segment, Druid Drisker Arc has managed to free both himself and the Druid keep Paranor from the exile imposed by rogue Druid Clizia Porse. Reunited with his student (and possessor of the Ohmsford … Continue reading Friday Review: The Stiehl Assassin (The Fall of Shannara #3) by Terry Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 starsI love Wendig's books. He leans into horror which isn't usually my preferred reading, but he does it well. So, when I saw that he'd written a middle-grade story, I had to grab a copy.And it didn't disappoint. Molly is thirteen and has been raised, if you can call it … Continue reading Friday Review: Dust and Grim by Chuck Wendig
My rating: 4 of 5 starsHarry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, the only practicing wizard in the Chicago telephone book, is back in this fifth installment of the Dresden Files series. Things are going pretty well right now- or as well as they can when you deal on a daily basis with vampires, devils, angels, Fae, and … Continue reading Friday Review: Death Masks (Dresden Files #5) by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 starsThis is the second book in the Wayward Children series, and the first that deals with the "before" stories of the children we met in "Every Heart a Doorway". It deals with Jack and Jill, the twins at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. Growing up, one of the twins … Continue reading Friday Review: Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 starsIn this scifi thriller/murder mystery, we enter a world dealing with the aftermath of Haden syndrome, a global pandemic that was not much more than a flu for most people afflicted, but left 1% of the world's population "locked in"- that is in a physically paralyzed state but with full … Continue reading Friday Review: Lock In (Lock In #1) by John Scalzi
And So On... 