June 14, 2009 at 1.46 pm
by individualist (Books, Review)
Another recent read - The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy - Three small books by Terry Pratchett, of Discworld fame. These are children’s books, but entertaining nontheless.
Only You Can Save Mankind - Johnny gets a copy of the latest video game, but the aliens he’s supposed to be blasting surrender and ask for his help to save them from all the players who zap them every day.
Johnny and the Dead - Johnny discovers he can see dead people in a local Cemetery just before the cemetery is to be made the site of a new building project.
Johnny and the Bomb - My favorite - Johnny and his friends travel back in time to the blitz, where he is the only one that knows about the single WWII bombing of his hometown that is about to occur.
These are fun books. The first is the weakest but still a good read. Don’t let the fact that they’re children’s books throw you off. Pratchett doesn’t treat children readers as idiots. In fact, his “young adult” Discworld books are among some of the best in the series.
In short, recommended.
Comments
June 14, 2009 at 1.29 pm
by individualist (Books, Misc)
I recently finished Orson Scott Card’s “The Ender Saga”. I’d read Ender’s Game, and Speaker for the Dead, previously. C was listening to these from Audible around the house, and we started Xenocide to pass the time on a trip. When we got back I read the rest of it and the final book, Children of the Mind.
All in all, a good series. This isn’t a review, though, this is a public service announcment. Even if you never pick up any other book in the series, read “Ender’s Game”.
May 1, 2009 at 12.34 pm
by individualist (Books, Review)
I’m thinking of Treason. And by that I mean Orson Scott Card’s “Treason”. It’s a page by page rewrite of an earlier work of his, “A Planet Called Treason”, and it’s awesome. I love the setting, the things that happen, and the general unexpectedness of every reveal.
The basic outline is that young Lanik Mueller, next in line for the throne in his region of the iron-poor planet Treason, is banished due to a genetic defect. The normal super-regenerative ability of his people to runs amok, causing him to grow extra tissue, or even limbs.
On Treason, the only way to acquire iron is to trade things with the Ambassadors; machines that transport away whatever is placed within, returning the priceless metal if the offering is deemed valuable enough.
Given a final request from his father to use his defects and banishment to find out how a neighboring region is recently getting so much iron, Lanik’s adventure begins.
April 4, 2009 at 2.42 am
by individualist (Misc)
Deleted all my imported LiveJournal posts and comments. Starting fresh!
