M.A. Kropp: Writer, Blogger, GeekGirl. My Life. My Words. My Way.
My rating: 4 of 5 starsAfter a plague kills most of his family, Winter and his daughters, Violin and Candlestick, emerge from their underground world into a contemporary Earth where the majority of the human population has mysteriously disappeared. The few remaining humans have no idea what happened or where the rest of humanity went. … Continue reading Friday Review: Winter’s Myths by Gage Greenwood
My rating: 4 of 5 starsIn this second installment of the Fall of Shannara quartet, we find Drisker Arc still imprisoned in the banished Druid stronghold of Paranor, and he is getting weaker as time goes on. If Paranor is not restored, he will eventually fade to nothing more than one more ghost haunting the … Continue reading Friday Review: The Skaar Invasion (Fall of Shannara #2) by Terry Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 starsAntiquity's family name has been removed and the remaining members designated "Grey", meaning that in their past involvement in the war against invaders, her family's misdeeds have made them outcasts. Antiquity is searching for scrap metal to help her family survive when she stumbles on a functional battle mech buried … Continue reading Friday Review: The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey by Shawn Speakman
My rating: 3 of 5 starsTV journalist Cotten Stone is on assignment in the Middle East when she is dumped on the side of the road by her driver. Trying to find help, she stumbles on an archeological dig that uncovers the Holy Grail. When Dr. Gabriel Archer, the discoverer of the relic is murdered, … Continue reading Friday Review: The Grail Conspiracy (Cotten Stone #1) by Lynn Sholes
My rating: 4 of 5 starsThis Victorian era novel has all the hallmarks of a classic story of the era: family pressures, secrets, daughters who rebel, if quietly, at the strictures placed on females, and, of course, romance. There are politics afoot, manor houses for the wealthy, and all the trappings of Victorian society. It's … Continue reading Friday Review: Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
My rating: 4 of 5 starsThis is the fifth installment in Sigler's Galactic Football League series, and it picks up right where the fourth left off. Quentin Barnes, star quarterback of the Ionath Krakens and probably the most recognized sports figure in this future world, is off to the Portath Cloud to rescue his sister. … Continue reading Friday Review: The Champion (Galactic Football League #5) by Scott Sigler
My rating: 3 of 5 starsI didn't even know this book existed until a few years ago. Of course, I read "The Number of the Beast", this novel's sister story- a "parallel novel about parallel universes". And, since I still credit Heinlein with starting me on reading science fiction, I had to read this one, … Continue reading Friday Review: The Pursuit of the Pankera: A Parallel Novel about Parallel Universes by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 3 of 5 starsReandn is a King's Wolf, a patrol leader in the elite force of ranger-like soldiers. He is put in charge of the investigation when children start disappearing with no trace. He also has dizzy spells, with headaches and vertigo that he tries to hide from everyone around him. His own … Continue reading Friday Review: Touched by Magic by Doranna Durgin
My rating: 3 of 5 starsThis story is far too complex to condense into a short synopsis. The three main characters are all, in one way or another, embroiled in war. Dalinar, prince and uncle to the late king, and Kaladin, former soldier and skilled surgeon, now branded a slave, are fighting a war that … Continue reading Friday Review: The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archives #1) by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3 of 5 starsAinvar is an orphan in the Celtic tribe of the Carnutes. He is fascinated by the Druids that oversee the lives of his people and their magic. He sneaks out one night to observe one of the secret rituals performed by the Druids, and the consequences of his intervention in … Continue reading Friday Review: Druids (Druids #1) by Morgan Llywelyn
And So On... 