Little Brother

In Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, Marcus Yallow is a smartass who delights in playing Harajuku Fun Madness and in evading the security at his high school. He and his friends are caught in the post-bombing sweep after a terrorist attack on San Francisco. After a harrowing interrogation, Marcus is set loose. Though he knows [...]

Lord of Emperors

Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay is probably the fattest book I’ve ever read in one sitting. (It helped that I started reading early, about 9 pm.) I immediately warmed to the physician, Rustem. As he entered Sarantium, we re-entered the the story from the previous book. About halfway through, when realized what danger [...]

A Song for Arbonne

Set in a world based on the times of troubadour in Provence, A Song for Arbonne stars a group of extraordinary characters who do extraordinary things. As in Tigana, much of the story is driven by men who cannot give up their fixations. Also, Fionavar is mentioned, and there’s a big battle at the end. [...]

Hogfather

One of the coolest aspect of reading so many Terry Pratchett books is watching a popular author get better. That doesn’t happen nearly often enough. After a rough start, I’ve enjoyed his books more and more, especially the Death stories, and now I can say Hogfather is a great book and an excellent TV movie. [...]

Od Magic

I’m not sure what’s more amazing about the first chapter of Od Magic, by Patricia McKillip: the appearance of Od, a giantess with mice in her hair; or the successful execution of a 12-page flashback. We meet Brenden Vetch about to enter a magical door under a cobbler’s shoe. He thinks back to how miserable [...]

In Search of Lost Sleep

The flip side of the 150 page rule is the quest for the holy grail of books, the book that’s so compelling, you stay up all night to finish it. When that happens to me, it short-circuits all my judgment, which makes it really hard to describe these books. But I can tell you how [...]

Halting State

When an army of Orcs rob a bank, you’re know you’re in for a good time. So who thinks it’s worthwhile to raid the central bank of the gameworld Avalon Four? Sue, an Edinburgh cop, Elaine, a forensic auditor, and Jack, a gaming programmer, are called together to find out. Throw in corporate backstabbing, terror [...]