Category: Best for 18 and up
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The Final Architecture: That was dense…
Shards of Earth (The Final Architecture, #1)Eyes of the Void (The Final Architecture, #2)Lords of Uncreation (The Final Architecture, #3)By: Adrian TchaikovskyMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up That was dense… Wow. That was dense. And intense. And suspense(ful). I probably need to stop being unexpectedly impressed by Adrian Tchaikovsky and…
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Red Team Blues: Cory Doctorow is smarter than us
Red Team BluesBy: Cory DoctorowMy Rating: Three out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up Ya, Cory’s still smarter than me… I’m nerd enough to know that blogger-activist-author Cory Doctorow represents all things free speech, but not nerd enough to really understand his cyber syfy stories. I remember picking up Little Brother from the library…
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Roadkill: I Need a Spaceship
RoadkillBy: Dennis E. TaylorMy Rating: Four out of five starsBest for: 18 and up We all need our own spaceship Dennis Tayler keeps winning with his goofy brand of Science Fiction. If you haven’t read the Bobiverse, I insist you stop what you’re doing and read it NOW. If you have and you’re looking for…
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Blitz (The Checquy Files, Book 3): X-Men meets X-Files meets 007
The Rook (The Checquy Files, Book 1)Stiletto (The Checquy Files, Book 2)Blitz (The Checquy Files, Book 3)By: Daniel O’MalleyMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 18 and up X-Men meets X-Files meets 007 If you hate having fun while you read, let me just stop you now. The Checquy Files aren’t for you. For…
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The Golden Enclaves: Harry Potter would have been eaten alive. Literally.
The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance, Book 3)By: Naomi NovikMy Rating: Three out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up The Scholomance would have eaten Harry Potter alive. Literally. Welcome to the end of The Scholomance! Book three has been published, read, digested–and now, reviewed. Already a fan and you just want to know what to…
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Indexing: Extra Twisty Fairy Tales
IndexingBy: Seanan McGuireMy Rating: Three out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up These twisted fair tales are…twisted! I’ve been trying to rekindle my love affair with Seanan McGuire’s stories since I read and LOVED Middlegame. Unfortunately I keep striking out–time to quit while the happy Middlegame memories are still fresh. I enjoy fairytale retellings…
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Foundryside: But the cover is so pretty!
Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy, #1)By: Robert Jackson BennettMy Rating: Three out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up But the cover was so pretty! Brandon Sanderson gave Foundryside a rare and coveted 5-star review when it was published back in 2018. When I saw that, I immediately bought both ebook and audiobook (obviously) because Brandon…
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A Book Club Guest Review of The Girl in Cabin 13
The Girl in Cabin 13By: AJ RiversReviewer Rating: 3Best for: 18 and up Not for the Faint of Heart(which was almost me)!Guest book review by Julie H Q: What’s the book about? Emma Griffin is an FBI agent Undercover in a small town where people keep disappearing. It’s a definite page turner! I even started…
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The Kaiju Preservation Society: Godzilla vs COVID
The Kaiju Preservation SocietyBy: John ScalziMy Rating: Four out of five stars.Best for: 18 and up Godzilla vs COVID Seriously, Scalzi? Not sure how, but Scalzi always seems to be just what I need. I just wish he would be a little less comfortable with the f-bombs. This story is just for the fun of…
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Every Heart a Doorway: That was…unexpected
Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1)By: Seanan McGuireMy Rating: Three out of five stars.Best for: 18 and up That was…unexpected. I enjoyed Middlegame my Seanan McGuire so much, I looked to see what her next most popular books were. Turns out it’s the Wayward Children series. Book one is Every Heart a Doorway–which makes…
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Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: Sounds cool. But it’s not.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and EvilBy: John BerendtMy Rating: Two out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up Midnight in the Garden of… …Zzzz …Zzzz …Zzzz …[Awakes with a start] Oh, sorry. Fell asleep. I’ve been hearing about Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for years, so I picked it up…
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A Book Club Guest Review of Just Mercy
Just MercyBryan StevensonGuest Reviewer Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 18 and up Just Inspiring. But Just Heartbreaking. Just NOT Surprising.Guest Review by Catina Haverlock When Bryan Stevenson, the author of this true story was asked by Rosa Parks just exactly what it was that he did, he couldn’t contain his passion for his…
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#TheMidnightLibrary: It’s A Wonderful Life. Again.
The Midnight LibraryBy: Matt HaigMy Rating: Three out of five starsBest for: 18 and up It’s A Wonderful Life. Again. This is the second Matt Haig book I’ve read. The first was The Humans. While that and The Midnight Library are seemingly miles apart, I’m feeling a whole lot of connection between them in tone,…
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#TheLastGraduate: HP would be so happy! (Lovecraft, not Potter…)
The Last Graduate (The Scholomance, Book 2)By: Naomi NovikMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!Best for: 18 and up I need a hyperventilate emoji… Gah! Guys, I’m torn between raving and ranting. I loved, LOVED this book–but that cliffhanger! In book 1, A Deadly Education, we were introduced to this wonderfully imagined world from the…
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#ChildrenofTime: How do you feel about spiders?
Children of TimeBy: Adrian TchaikovskyMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!Best For: Adults Well, that was a mind bender. I hope you’re not scared of spiders… Children of Time won the Arthur C. Clark Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of 2015, which puts it in pretty great company. If you’re a fan of ScyFy,…
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#TheRampartTrilogy: Fantastic & Frustrating!
The Book of Koli (Rampart Trilogy, #1)The Trials of Koli (Rampart Trilogy, #2)The Fall of Koli (Rampart Trilogy, #3)By: M.R. CareyMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest For: Adults Trilogy Review I had sky-high expectations for The Rampart Trilogy, and it delivered…mostly. I loved the world, I loved the characters, I loved the story, and…
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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O: Can we make Science Fantasy a thing?
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O By: Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best For: Adults only How about a Science Fiction story with some Fantasy mixed in? Or is it a Fantasy story with ScyFy elements? Both? Neither? I’m creating a new genre for The Rise and Fall…
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#Spoonbenders: Once, we were Amazing…
SpoonbendersBy: Daryl GregoryMy Review: Three out of Five StarsBest for: Adults only Once, we were Amazing. And…sold. Meet The Telemachus family: Teddy’s a slick talking charmer of a card shark who can con anyone for anything. He’s so good, in fact, he tricks a university professor looking for psychics into thinking he actually IS one,…
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#TheSecondBlindSon: Whoa, wow, holy cow! What a story!
The Second Blind Son (The Chronicles of Saylok, Book 2)By: Amy HarmonMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 18 and up Whoa. Wow. Holy cow. What a story! The Second Blind Son was….powerful? Passionate? Gripping? Romantic? Really, really cool? Yes. Yes it was. I was impressed with The First Girl Child, and I don’t…
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#ADeadDjinninCairo: Steampunk Fantasy
A Dead Djinn in Cairo (Dead Djinn, #0.5)By: P. Djèlí ClarkMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest For: 18 and up Based on all the articles, ads, and give-aways, Tor really wants me to read P. Djeli Clark, so I figured I’d start with this 45-page short story as in introduction. Good short stories always…
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#FugitiveTelemetry: Yay! Another Murderbot Book!
Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 6)By: Martha WellsMy Rating: FIVE out of FIVE STARSBest for: 18 and up Yay! Another Murderbot book! I’m a huge fan of the conflicted AI with a past so tragic it calls itself Murderbot. This is the 6th story in the collection now, and I’ll be first in line…
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#TheDevilandtheDarkWater: Agatha Christie+Sherlock Holmes+1600’s Hygiene
The Devil and the Dark WaterBy: Stuart TurtonMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was a happy surprise. It’s Groundhog Day + Quantum Leap + Agatha Christie, and if you haven’t read it, you need to. It was so good, in fact, that when…
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#WheretheCrawdadsSing: The Perfect Novel?
Where the Crawdads SingBy: Delia OwensMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS!Best For: 18 and up Is this it? The perfect novel? Judging by the raving crowds of fans and bottomless 5 star reviews, could it be? Naw. No such thing. The perfect novel doesn’t exist. But… …Where the Crawdads Sing is absolutely worthy of…
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A Book Club Guest Review of The Girl You Left Behind
The Girl You Left BehindBy: Jo Jo MoyesReviewer Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up WWI history, romance, and mystery!Guest review by Catina Haverlock It’s World War One France and Sophie Lefevre and her sister Helene have but one goal – keeping their family safe until the war ends and their husbands…
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#MuseofNightmares: The right mix of fantasy and romance…
Muse of Nightmares (Strange the Dreamer, Book 2)By: Laini TaylorMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: 18 and up I had hoped Muse of Nightmares would continue that balance Laini Taylor found in Strange the Dreamer–just the right mix of romance mixed in to help keep the fantasy moving and emotional. And it did…mostly.…
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#StrangetheDreamer: The sweet spot.
Strange the Dreamer (Strange the Dreamer, Book 1)By: Laini TaylorMy Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARSBest for: 18 and up I expected a fantasy romance when I picked up Strange the Dreamer, and funny enough–I found exactly that. Except I found more, too. Laini Taylor keeps surprising me: the reading dad who calls romance novels…
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#NetworkEffect: #Murderbot is back–Introverts have a new hero!
Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries, Book 5) By: Martha Wells My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars! Best for: Adults only All right! A new Murderbot story! If you’re not familiar with Murderbot but you’re a fan of Scy-Fy and good stories, you’re going to want to check out All Systems Red, book 1 in…
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#GodsofBloodandPowder: Grit and Awesome
Sins of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, Book 1) Wrath of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, Book 2) Blood of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, Book 3) By: Brian McClellan My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars Best for: Adults only for language and violence I feel like I’ve got grit in…
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#WrathofEmpire: What’s bigger than AWESOME? Book 2.
Wrath of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, Book 2) By: Brian McClellan My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars Best for: Adults only Book 1 was awesome. But what’s bigger than awesome? Awesome-er? More awesome? What ever it is, that’s book 2. It’s awesome-er. I feel like I’ve got grit in places it doesn’t…
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#SinsofEmpire: I’ve got grit in places it doesn’t belong…
Sins of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, #1) By: Brian McClellan My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars Best for: Adults only because of language and violence I feel like I’ve got grit in places it doesn’t belong… I loved Brian McClellan’s Powder Mage trilogy, and I’ve been anxiously waiting for the follow up…
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#MadeThings: Nope, different Tchaikovsky.
Made Things By: Adrian Tchaikovsky My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: Adults Having a name like Tchaikovsky–that’s a lot to live up to. If Made Things is any indication, Adrian Tchaikovsky is holding up pretty good. I think the most talented writers are ones who can build a whole world in less…
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#Lightbringer: A decade in the making…
Lightbringer Book 1: The Black Prism Book 2: The Blinding Knife Book 3: The Broken Eye Book 4: The Blood Mirror Book 5: The Burning White By: Brent Weeks My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: Adults only Lightbringer fans, book 5 is finally here! It only took nine years… Was it worth…
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#TheShadowoftheWind: What an ending!
The Shadow of the Wind By: Carlos Ruiz Zafon, Translation by Lucia Graves My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: 18+ Well that meandered its way to awesome. There were times reading The Shadow of the Wind that I felt annoyed by the translation, and other times I felt frustrated with the slow…
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#GatesofFire: Gulp. Talk about changing the world…
Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of The Battle of Thermopylae By: Steven Pressfield My Rating: Three out of Five Stars Best for: Adults Gulp. Gates of Fire is ancient history…literally. This is a dramatized history of the events leading up to, during, and immediately following the famed Battle of Thermopylae. Led by King Leonidas…
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#Swordheart: My, what a big sword you have…
Swordheart By: T. Kingfisher My Rating: Four out of Five stars Best for: Adults Well nuts, I kind of walked into that one. I don’t like romance novels, but I do like when books have some romance. This fantasy book about a guy stuck in a sword had some very blurry lines in the romance…
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#ClocktaurWar: Is wit and sarcasm your secret sauce?
Clockwork Boys (Clocktaur War, Book 1) The Wonder Engine (Clocktaur War, Book 2) By: T. Kingfisher My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: Adults I’d like to have lunch with Ursula Vernon, a.k.a. T. Kingfisher. After perusing her blog and reading a few of her stories, I suspect she’d keep me engaged and…
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#AgenttotheStars: Snot and Dog Farts
Agent to the Stars By: John Scalzi My Rating: Four out of Five Stars Best for: Adults Before John Scalzi was John Scalzi, king of ScyFy, he wrote Agent to the Stars…just to see if writing a novel was something he could do. Turns out, he could. The rest is history. Agent to the Stars…
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#LockIn and HeadOn: The King of SyFy Reigns!
Lock In Head On By: John Scalzi My Review: Four out of Five Stars Best for: Adults Scalzi, current king of SyFy, delivers again! In this future, a global pandemic has killed millions. Some on the infected do survive, but the disease leaves them “locked in:” they have complete consciousness of mind and sensation, but…
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#TheMurderbotDiaries: Ode to Murderbot
All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) Artificial Condition (The Murderbot Diaries, #2) Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, #3) Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries, #4) By: Martha Wells My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Stars Best for: Adults I love big stories pack into little pages. A conflicted AI with a past so tragic he…
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#TheFifthSeason: Lots to love and loved by lots. I did…mostly.
The Fifth Season (Broken Earth #1) By: N.K. Jemisin My Rating: Three out of Five Stars Best for: Adults There’s a lot to love about The Fifth Season. It’s a story about a frantic mother, trying to cope with the murder of her young son, searching for her kidnapped daughter, and surviving an apocalypse. It’s…
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#BloodyRose: Bloody Brilliant
Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) By: Nicholas Eames My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Stars Best for: Adults Bloody Rose is Bloody Brilliant. And I’m not even British. I’d heard Kings of the Wyld would make my heart sing. I was skeptical…it was a debut novel, after all. But the feedback was universally adoring and…
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#ShadesofMagic: Throwing Shade
A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic, #1) A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic, #2) A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3) By: V.E. Schwab My Rating: Three out of Five Stars Best for: Adults This series has fans. I’m not one of them. Four different worlds, all connected by London and…
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#Stiletto: X-Men Meets X-Files
Stiletto (The Checquy Files, #2) By: Daniel O’Malley My Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars Best for: Adults If you hate having fun while you read, let me just stop you now. You aren’t going to like this book. For everyone else–that is, those who love the books that make you laugh, smile, and wish…
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The #WaywardPines Trilogy: How very M. Night Shyamalan of you…
Pines (Wayward Pines, Book #1) Wayward (Wayward Pines, Book #2) The Last Town (Wayward Pines, Book #3) By: Blake Crouch My Rating: Four out of Five stars Best for: Adults The Wayward Pines Trilogy is one of those you can’t really justly review without spoiling the fun… …and fun is what it’s all about. So,…
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#Scourged (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 9): Ragnorok. Thor. Loki. And a man-killing sloth.
Scourged (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #9) By: Kevin Hearne My Rating: THREE out of FIVE stars Best for: Adults This is the last book in a 9 book series, so if you’re reading this it’s because you want to know what I thought of the ending. Well… Ragnorok happened. The Druids saved the day. Atticus…
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#KingsoftheWyld: Holy $%*#! This book is LEGIT!
Kings of the WyldBy: Nicholas EamesMy Rating: 5 Stars out of 5 Oh man…Kings of the Wyld is LEGIT. How do I even set this up? Let’s see… Think of the Tim Allen movie Wild Hogs. Think of places like Westeros and Middle-Earth. Think of friends like Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Think of a father’s…
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#TheIronDruidChronicles: I said I wouldn’t do it, but…
I said I wasn’t going to binge read them…but I just couldn’t help myself. Here’s what I’ve been doing for the last month: The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thanks to good friends who give great books as birthday gifts,…
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#Hounded: Demons smell like butt.
Hounded by Kevin Hearne My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thanks to good friends who give great books as birthday gifts, I’ve discovered this fun series. What if the Gods and Mythologies from every age, religion, and culture were real and lived among us? What if there were some that lived in Tempe, Arizona? I’m…
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#TheBrokenEye (Lightbringer, #3): And the intrigue continues…
The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks My rating: 4 of 5 stars And the intrigue continues… The story remains awesome. The characters remain layered. The mysteries continue unanswered. If you’re not familiar with the Lightbringer series and you enjoy thick fantasy books with well thought out magic systems, complex world building, lots of characters,…
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#TheBlindingKnife (Lightbringer, #2): Outstanding
The Blinding Knife by Brent Weeks Outstanding. The Blinding Knife–book two of the Lightbringer series–is everything book one wasn’t. All of the awesome. None of the awful. I think I was a bit heavy handed in my review of the first book. Now that I’ve read the second, I keep having these, “OH, I see…
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#TheRook (The Checquy Files, #1): X-Men Meets X-Files
The Rook (The Checquy Files, Book 1) By: Daniel O’MalleyMy Rating: FIVE out of FIVE Stars! The Rook frustrated me for the first 40 pages or so. I was expecting a serious mystery with a supernatural twist, but this crazy author kept trying to be light every time things were getting heavy. What the heck?…
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The Girl with All the Gifts
The Girl with All the Gifts By: M.R. Carey My Rating: Four out of Five stars Wait…this book is about zombies? Those sneaky publishers. Let’s put that pretty yellow cover on it! Let’s make the little-girl silhouette open and hopeful! Let’s definitely not give any hint to what the book is really about in the…
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Morning Star (Red Rising Trilogy, #3)
5/5 stars Morning Star (Red Rising Trilogy, #3) by Pierce Brown Break the chains… I love to read. Ya, I know. Duh. But it’s not just that I love to read. It’s the treasure hunt. It’s reading your next favorite story for the first time. It’s discovering an unknown author who deserves to be known.…
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Golden Son (Red Rising, #2)
5/5 stars Golden Son (Red Rising, #2) by Pierce Brown I think there’s a head in that box… You don’t review the second book of a trilogy. You read it as fast as you can so you can get to the third book. I’ll say only this: Brilliant doesn’t describe how bright this book shines.…
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Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1)
Red Rising (Red Rising Trilogy, #1)By: Pierce BrownMy Rating: FIVE out of FIVE stars Live for more… Well dang. I had high expectations. Not high enough. Hold on while I pick the grit out of my teeth and rinse the taste of bile from my mouth. They say it’s like Hunger Games, but it’s not. …
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The Martian
5/5 stars The Martian by Andy Weir Adults only Holy Crap. That was awesome. I haven’t been that gripped by a book in—I don’t even know. Ever? The detail . . . The humor . . . The suspense . . . The humanity . . . The plausibility . . . I didn’t read…
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City of Thieves
City of Thieves By: David Benioff My Rating: Three out of Five stars Best for: Adults Loved the story… …Hated the vulgarity and language. I get that war sucks, so I can live with the gruesome realism. But the the crude language was too much…it was unnecessary. On the other hand, I felt like this…
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The Last Colony (Old Man’s War, #3)
4/5 stars The Last Colony (Old Man’s War, #3) by John Scalzi A great series… The Last Colony was a good ending to a great series. I enjoyed the “realistic” science fiction–meaning if humanity really could travel to distant stars and interacted with the hundreds of alien species we found there, this is probably what…
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The Ghost Brigades (Old Man’s War, #2)
4/5 stars The Ghost Brigades (Old Man’s War, #2) by John Scalzi Very cool… The Ghost Brigades was an excellent follow up to Old Man’s War. It’s missing the main character from the first book, but that isn’t a problem. Thus second book does a great job moving the larger story forward…in fact, I think…
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Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1)
4/5 stars Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi Fun SyFy, but lots of language I expected the language…Scalzi seems to favor certain four-letter words. I know some people don’t mind, but I wish it wasn’t there–even if it is probably closer to reality. Luckily the story was great. I even feel…
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The Golem and the Jinni
5/5 stars The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker Mrs. Wecker’s Opus… There is so much I wish I could say about The Golem and the Jinni. I’m afraid I haven’t the words–my ability to move my heart to my mind to the page is too puny to do justice to Helene Wecker’s magically…
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Sand Omnibus (Sand, #1-5)
5/5 stars Sand Omnibus (Sand, #1-5) by Hugh Howey Some author’s you have to drop everything for… …and Hugh Howey is one of them. When a new Hugh Howey book is available, I’m forced to stop what I’m currently reading to find out what bit of awesomeness he has created for me this time. Sand…
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The Snow Child
5/5 stars The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey I’m a sap, I know. But I really liked The Snow Child, and there is only one sappy word that pops into my head when I try to describe why: beautiful. The story, the players, the message, the relationships, the emotion, the setting, the sweet ending. All…
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The Orphan Master’s Son
5/5 stars The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson PROPERTY OF THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA The Orphan Master’s Son is a heavy book . . . and I don’t mean it weighs a lot on a scale. I mean it weighs a lot on my mind. I’ve long been fascinated with The Democratic…
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Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas
Redshirts: A Novel with Three CodasBy: John ScalziMy Rating: Four out of Five StarsBest for: Adults only Now THIS is a book for scifi geeks! If you’ve ever watched Star Trek, you know what happens to the guys in the red shirts–they’re always the ones who die! The main characters always wore blue or gold…and…
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The Stand
5/5 stars The Stand by Stephen King Stephen King is so good. I’ve read many authors that are good at writing stories. They can write about events and put them in an order and the result is a story. The more successful authors are able to take that story, and by combining just the right…
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11/22/1963
4/5 stars 11/22/1963 by Stephen King I have to say, Stephen King remains one of the great writers of our time. He can tell a story in a way that only a few can. 11/22/63 is the most meaningful Stephen King book I’ve read. That doesn’t say a whole lot; I haven’t read that many…
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#SteveJobs: Jerk or Genius? Yes.
Steve Jobs By: Walter Isaacson My Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS Best for: 16 and up Steve Jobs THE BOOK was one of the most interesting, well written, entertaining, well researched, and educating biographies I’ve ever read! Walter Isaacson covers all the parts of Steve Jobs life, experiences, and personality I care to know.…
One Man Book Club 