Into the Darkness by Harry Turtledove (Book 1 of the Darkness Series)

Again, Turtledove is a master of alternative history. This series is a mixing of WW1, WW2 and magic. It was not as fun a read as I find many of his books. His goal is admirable but his enormous number of short characterizations becomes confusing. Many countries, many characters and many situations provide an opportunity to get lost. Most books I can visualize the situation without referring to the occasional accompanying map. I referred to the map in this book constantly. I accept that the scope of a world war is daunting but I would be happier with fleshing out the characters in more depth before introducing another new character. It was not a quick read, I put it down and picked it up multiple times. I intend to plow through all six volumes but it may tax my tenacity. I suspect it will be worth it but it may be a struggle. If you are looking for a quick entertaining read, look elsewhere.


Body of work of Harry Turtledove

Site: http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/turtledove.html

Review: http://www.sfsite.com/05a/into56.htm

Can’t Read If I Can’t See

I recently noticed that I was having a hard time getting my book to a spot where it was comfortable to read. Too close, too far, it was never in the right spot. Arrgghh, I bit the bullet and made an appointment with my eye doctor. It was time for a new pair of spectacles. (if that term doesn’t date me, it should)

The last time I got new glasses it was over $500.00 and I didn’t get anything fancy. In fact, the pair of glasses ended up being one of the worse I ever had gotten. Don’t know how I missed the flexible hinges but I didn’t get them. Flimsy, uncomfortable and impossible to keep clean all comes to mind. I found out later that the anti-glare treatment which didn’t work anyway, makes it impossible to keep the darn things clean.

So I went with trepidation to my appointment and got new glasses. I spent a lot less this time but…then I found the Optical4Less web site and although I am not kicking myself too much, I wish I would have seen it sooner. The site has all the normal accoutrements you would expect, including all types of eyeglasses and features at a surprising price. Two things I especially liked were the Virtual Fitting and the testimonials. I create web sites for small businesses and I always encourage them to use testimonials. I guess I always feel more secure when I see real people responding to how they were treated. The Virtual Fitting was very cool, you upload your photo and can see how their glasses look on your face. You have got to check it out and play with it, even if you don’t need glasses. When I got my new glasses, I put them on, pulled out my phone, took my own photo in the mirror and emailed it to my wife to see if she thought they looked ok. Glasses and haircuts are similar to me, their appearance is basically for others since you really can’t see them yourself. There are many discount, internet eyewear sites out there. This site looks pretty good and I will probably be shopping it for some golf glasses come spring, assuming I can find a pair that will improve my game.

Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber

I loved the book and strongly recommend it. That is how I usually end a review of a David Weber book. Once again the man amazes me. He grabs you on the first page and squeezes your imagination and attention until you finish the book. This has to be the opening novel of a series. Please David, let it be the opening book as I want to read more!

Again you have a very strong female protagonist. (kind of) A new universe, a new group of villains and heroes entertain you for the whole book. Big old pussycat that I am, Weber once again brought tears to my eyes with the willingness to sacrifice that his larger than life characters often demonstrate. Weber has successfully combined high tech tools with a setting than Horatio Hornblower or Frodo would be happy traversing. Read the review at the link if you want, but if you like Weber, just go get the book. If you have never read Weber, this is a great book to begin a love affair. (strictly platonic) I loved the book and I strongly recommend it.

Body of work of David Weber

Review: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/books/sfw14817.html

Web site: http://www.davidweber.net/

Deathstalker Rebellion by Simon R. Green

Simon R. Green may be an acquired taste. Apparently I haven’t acquired it yet. I was lukewarm on Deathstalker and not even that excited about this book. Oddly enough I am experiencing the same disinterest in the Turtledove Darkness series. There seems to a common theme of let’s not spend more than a page or two on each event and then move along. It is difficult to get attached to a character when you get so little to sink your teeth into and then onto a different and sometimes new character. It is almost like Green has written in sound bites. Perhaps he doesn’t realize that many of us have an attention span longer than two pages. What really annoys me is that I anticipated I would like the series and didn’t start it until I acquired 10 out of the 11 books of the series. I am stopping now, I guess if I can’t get interested in 780 some pages, it just isn’t going to happen.

Body of work of Simon R. Green

Review: http://www.sfsite.com/10a/reb18.htm

Site: http://www.bluemoonrising.nl/
This site is a tribute site, well done but not owned by Simon R. Green

Alabama Bookworm Meme

BookCalendar has tagged me with a meme.
http://bookcalendar.blogspot.com/2008/11/bookworm-awards.html

She was tagged by Alabama Bookworm.
http://albookworm.blogspot.com/2008/11/bookworm-awards.html

Here is how the meme works:
Open the book closest to you, not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment, to page 56.Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following there.

I am holding The Tyrant by Eric Flint & David Drake

He had forced Thicelt to abandon the captain’s cunning tactics and try to mix it up directly with the Confederate forces.

The Confederate navy was notoriously clumsy, with none of the superb seamanship of the Islanders.

But no one in their right mind ever tried to “mix it up directly” with Confederate naval forces.

Those forces consisted mainly of marines, who were the world’s experts at turning a sea battle into a land battle.


Pass this on to five blogging friends, the people I am tagging are:

http://pittrehab.blogspot.com/

http://www.bookdads.com/

http://alessandrasplace.blogspot.com/

http://jesseblogs.blogspot.com/

http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com/