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.

Tangled Webs / Anne Bishop

Tangled Webs

category: horror, author:

Anne Bishop

book 6 of Black Jewels
original copyright 2008,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 3 out of 10

This book is so bad that it's embarrassing.

The Outback Stars / Sandra McDonald

The Outback Stars

category: military science fiction, author:

Sandra McDonald

book 1 of three
original copyright 2007,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

There's a lot going on in this book... A lot to like, too.

First, there's the space ship. It is huge! Giant blocks of self-contained cities (or cargo holds), attached to a base, to form one enormous ship. If you have the power to push (not that there is any explanation of the power source) then why not push a lot. There's no friction in space, so no need to be neat, no need for aerodynamics.

The spaceships travel along mysterious rivers in space. Shortcuts between the stars. Created by a long-vanished alien race... Again, no explanations. The shortcuts simply exist.

One of the sub-plots is the search for better control of an alternative -- also alien, unexplained -- transportation system. A bit of mysticism here, with dream messages from Dreamtime spirits... Though that could as well be telepathic communications from the aliens, since this book is "science fiction".

Amongst all of this technology -- the real story is of the crew who work in Supply on the spaceship.

Bridge of Birds / Barry Hughart

Bridge of Birds

category: fantasy, author:

Barry Hughart

book 1 of Master Li and Number Ten Ox
original copyright 1984,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Something different...

This is fantasy set in old China. Not in a post-apocalyptic, China now rules the world, reconstructed China. Nor an alternative, these aliens act Chinese China. But the "real" ancient China. The China of legend.

That said, perhaps the legends have been rewritten.

Did you ever watch Monkey? The TV series with the trouble-making monkey god, his companion Pigsie, others whose names escape me and the monk, who acts as Monkey's guide and conscience. Every episode a new adventure, a new villain. And many of the villains turned out to be demons.

Bridge of Birds is a bit like that: Over the top adventures with demonic enemies. Though without Monkey's terrible dubbing, thank goodness!

Death Masks / Jim Butcher

Death Masks

category: fantasy, action, author:

Jim Butcher

book 5 of The Dresden Files
original copyright 2003,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

After a few rather disappointing books -- it's great to get back to an enjoyable author! I've read a few of Butcher's books and enjoyed them all. Action, humour, magic and great characters...

I've categorised Death Masks as "fantasy, action"... I don't (yet?!) have a category for "crime". The whole Dresden Files series is gumshoe: hard-boiled private investigator with dames, booze, thugs and scheming evil villains... Philip Marlowe, I think, is the original. (Must read some Philip Marlowe books!)

The Dresden villains are particularly evil. When bad guys can be demons and other supernatural creatures, evil is easy to arrange. On the other hand, there are also some really, really, good, good guys. Ones who work for the angel who reports directly to God, for example.

Amongst all this, the author -- via PI and wizard Harry Dresden -- maintains an almost science fiction attitude: all these gods, demons, faeries, ogres, they are just creatures from alternate universes -- or planes of existence -- with their own powers and drives and rules.