Blood / Joseph Glass

Blood

category: thriller, author:

Joseph Glass

book 2 of Dr Susan Shader
original copyright 2000,
read in Jul 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

The library has categorised this book as "horror". Perhaps it does have "the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror." Perhaps I'm just too blase...

There are rapes, murders, mutilations, combinations of all three. Plus various other nasties. There is some detail -- but far less than in the gore-porn of tv shows such as Silent Witness.

On the other hand -- there is never any real threat to the heroine. Not after she's already survived a previous book! Though one character seemed pointless until she became a final victim.

All in all, I felt neither horror nor terror. Perhaps some sympathy for the victims, some disgust at the baddies -- including the legal baddies.

Out of Time / Samantha Graves

Out of Time

category: romance, author:

Samantha Graves

follows on from Sight Unseen
original copyright 2008,
read in Jul 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

If you like romance -- this is romance. Add some paranormal powers, bad guys who won't hesitate to kill. Love, lovers and betrayal. And a hero and heroine who fall in bed and then fall in love -- despite their own best efforts.

Yes, it's a romance :-) And very enjoyable.

The hero is so macho that every right-thinking girl will swoon. All he needs is the softening influence of "the right woman" to help him understand that yes, there is good in the world.

The heroine is beautiful, strict and boring. With the ability to kick butt, thanks to a short course in self defence. All she needs is a macho hero, to help her realise that she is as good as anyone else in the world. And possibly better.

The Left Hand of Darkness / Ursula K. Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness

category: science fiction, author:

Ursula K. Le Guin

original copyright 1969,
read in Jun 2011 (and before, in about 1972)

Agamedes' opinion: 4 out of 10

I read this years ago. Back then, I devoured science fiction... I read so fast that I often could not remember the names of the author... I read and enjoyed -- or not -- and moved right on to the next book. Perhaps that is why I have no negative memories of The Left Hand.

This time -- it's boring.

From the blurb, this book "poses [questions] about sexuality, gender roles and the organisation of society". Yes, that's the way I remember it. This time, though, I seem to be struck by a heavy dose of cynicism.

The planetary setting is both freezing cold and populated by hermaphrodites. As I read it, the lack of wars is due to the hermaphroditism of its inhabitants: because they spend most of their time as neuters, they do not have the testosterone drive to start wars.

On the other hand,

Club Dead / Charlaine Harris

Club Dead

category: fantasy, author:

Charlaine Harris

book 3 of True Blood
original copyright 2003,
read in Jul 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

A book from a series which has spawned a tv series. What more can I say?

Well...

Several books in this series had been written before 2005, the copyright year of Twilight. If anything is derivative, it's Twilight. Which just goes to show:

Sure, you can copy the idea: ordinary girl loves vampire, gets tangled up in vampire world. Faces vampire-related dangers. But you can still make it better.

Club Dead gets off to a slow start. At least, it seems slow... perhaps because I'm starting with the third book in the series. I have not had time to learn to love the heroine -- nor to understand her relationship with her vampire lover.

The book stars Sookie Stackhouse. Does the author know what sooky is to an Australian? Try, "complaining, whingeing, sad; jealous." And that exactly describes the Sookie of the story. Especially at the start, as she fails to cope with the apparent loss of affection from her vampire lover.

Is he worth the effort of caring? Not as far as I can tell from this book. Perhaps there is reason to care, in the previous two books.

Then there's the vampire race.

Maxwell & Williams "Microstoven"

Non-stick pot: Microstoven

by Maxwell & Williams

category: gadget, author:

Agamedes

bought in 2010, lasted till 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 3 out of 10: So bad it's embarrassing

About eighteen months ago we were given a present, a Maxwell & Williams non-stick cook-pot.

A beautiful pot with a clever name: Microstoven... Microstoven... get it? MICROwave + STOVE + OVEN... Clever, eh?

Here's the label from the bottom of the pot:

The pot feels great. Light and smooth. A pleasure to work with. And non-stick, the label says so.

There is more information on that label. A series of icons:

The Rise of the Iron Moon / Stephen Hunt

The Rise of the Iron Moon

category: science fiction: steampunk, author:

Stephen Hunt

book 3 of Jackals
original copyright 2009,
read in June 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

As I started reading I thought, yes, this is quite fun. As I read on I down-graded my assessment. Part of it is the standard problem, of reading first the third book in a series.

But there's more.

Iron Moon introduces a couple of interesting characters. So far, so good. Then we jump to the characters from -- it seems -- previous books. Who -- because the author already knows them -- get just a sketchy introduction. There is a basic dissonance: thorough introductions to characters who turn out to be second-string support, weak introductions to main characters.

Reading just this one book, there is very little to attract me to the main characters.

Okay... All of that is a problem with having missed the first two books in the series. But...

There are three main characters -- and a whole lot of Star Trek ensigns...

Breaking Dawn / Stephenie Meyer

Breaking Dawn

category: romance, author:

Stephenie Meyer

book 4 of Twilight
original copyright 2008,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

At last (for me) the final chapter in the Twilight saga! And what a saga it has been... Oh! the suffering! Oh! the drama! Oh! the romance...!

Yes, I have enjoyed Breaking Dawn just as much as I enjoyed books one, two and three in the Twilight series. There is, however, one major strength which is also a weakness, in this final book of the series.

Typically enough -- as the fourth book -- you expect that the weakness is to do with unfamiliarity with the characters. Unfamiliarity for the reader who starts at book four, that is. Well, no...

Aside: Category: romance? Yes, definitely. Romance is the main theme of the entire series. Fantasy? Yes, there are plenty of fantasy elements. And I don't just mean that true love is a fantasy! Horror? Hardly! Still... there are vampires, there are werewolves, there is sudden death and threat of sudden death. So, okay, add the horror label... Really, though, this is pure romance set in a world of fantasy.

This book is a conclusion. A wrap-up. In fact, I only started reading the Twilight series because of a book review which said that this book was a good conclusion... So I started reading only because I had been promised a satisfactory ending. (In general I tend to avoid books which become instant cult fiction. On the unsubstantiated grounds that cult means rubbish and that a cult series means never-ending rubbish.)

So, this book is definitely a conclusion.