Series End

Queen: A Chronicle of the Sibyl's War by Timothy Zahn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Queen is the end of the Sibyl's War at least the war to take back the ship. Small spoiler (Nicole Hammond takes on another war at the end of the book). A fitting end to the series. We get to know more about the ship and why only humans can do repair work. How it came to be so deadly for Sibly's and how to win a war little by little and being very underestimated. Nicole, Jeff and the crew face tension, danger, betrayal, and death as they fight to make the ship whole again.

View all my reviews

Short and Sweet Book Reviews # 246 - I Am Justice by Diana Munoz Stewart, Paen by Timothy Zahn

I Am Justice by Diana Munoz Stewart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First in a new series, I Am Justice takes you are a wild ride through the Middle East, the US and Mexico. Justice is just one of a group of female vigilante assassins. She comes with some very strong talents and a gift for going off plan. This time she involves Sandesh Ross, a former special services officer who just wants to leave danger and war behind. I loved the concept. Justice and her group are unique and each has special talents. Sandesh is as strong a character as Justice and manages to fit in with all the strong women. While they go after human traffickers they also have to face betrayal from people they trust. A interesting start to a new series.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.


Pawn by Timothy Zahn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nicole Lee does not have much of a life until she ends up on a alien star ship. Seems she is a Sibyl and can hear what repairs the ship needs. Then she becomes involved in a war between two other species and her life changes again. Nicole is a great character who changes as events come into her life. While she starts out as a street child she ends up with a job that can change the lives of all around her. This has interesting world building and character development. The backstory is woven into the book without changing the flow. This is book one in Sibyl's War and it sets the stage for the next two books. I could be a little slow at time and it kept me guessing on what was really happening and where the story was going. Joel Richards did a really ourstanding job on the various characters and keeping the pace of the story moving.

View all my reviews

What Else I Read/Listened to in November 2015

Audio Books:

Cursed Moon by Jaye Wells - This is the second Prospero's War

Novel that I have listened to.  I love the characters.  Kate Prospero is a great strong female character who has demons of her own to overcome.  She is supported with a great team of Magic Enforcement colleagues.  Add a past love to the mix and the tension and danger just keep ramping up.  A fun book to listen to or to read.

Depth by Lev A.C. Rosen – This is a interesting mystery set in a

New York that has flooded as the water around the world got higher.  Now people live on the top floor of building that are flooded in the lower floors.  Simone Pierce is a complex and interesting character.  A Private Eye in New York she starts on a case that seems simple and just gets more and more complex.  There is betrayal, theft, murder and a hunt for the unusual.  Great characters and a nice mystery.  There are issues of friendship and trust added to the plot.  The world building is interesting with a new take on what happens if all the ice melts.

Books:

A Call to Duty (Book 1 of Maniticore Ascendant) by David

Weber and Timothy Zahn - A interesting story about how Manticore came to be the power they are in the Honor Harrington series.  This can be an introduction to both series but I really think fans of the Harrington series will be the main audience.

The Cowboy's Christmas Family by Donna Alward - A sweet Christmas story with two adorable twins. There is something that is holding both Maddy and Cole back. I saw the solution to Maddy's problem before it happened but it did not spoil the story. I like Alward's books. She does not disappoint and again she has written a really nice feel good romance,. I think I see the hook for the next book. If so it should also be a really good one.

A Pain in the Tuchis (A Ms. KaplanMystery #2) by Mark Reutinger -Rose and Ida are at it again. There is a dearth at the 

Jewish Home. Rose takes a a hand when foul play is suspected and the plot moves form there. Our detectives are senior citizens with a lot of life experience which they do not mind putting to work solving cases. This is book two in the series. There are some new characters and we learn a little more about the characters. There are quite a few Jewish words worked into the plot. I found them interesting even though they sometimes slowed the story down. The solution to the mystery was a big surprise to me. Fun story and great addition to the series.

Controlled Burn (Boston Fire #2) by Shannon Stacey – A nice love story filled with interesting characters.  Rick Gullotti keeps being told he is not the marrying kind.  Jessica Broussard has lived her life doing what her Father wants.  That changes when Jessica decides to go meet the grandparents on the other side of the country.  Things do not work as she expected and Rick is a big part of the reason.  Turns out being the marrying kind just needs the right two people.  Rick and Jessica are very strong main characters and a great cast of well-developed secondary characters supports them.  While this is book two it works as a stand-alone.

Reunion at Cardwell Ranch (Cardwell Cousins #4) by B.J. Daniels – Finally the last Texas Cardwell falls in love and stays in Montana.  If course he did not expect to fall at all and he really did not expect it to be with a cat burglar.  Look for the usual from Daniels’.  A lot of danger, an adventure, great characters and romance.  A nice ending to the Cardwell Cousins series.

A Call to Arms (Honorverse: Manticore Ascendant #2) by David Weber, Timothy Zahn, Thomas Pope – Travis Long was the main character in the first book in this series and once again we follow him into danger.  This series is a prequel and backstory for the Honor Harrington series.  I found parts of it a little slow and don’t think it would hold anyone’s interest unless they were a fan of the Honor Harrington series.  For fans it is a interesting look at Manticore before it became a star power.  The lead up to that is a the heart of the plot.  Somethings are settled but much is left to be revealed.

The Pirate’s Tempting Stowaway (the Dukes of War #6) by Erica Ridley – This is a novella and a fairly quick read.  The main characters are from two of the previous books.  Captain Blackheart and Clara Halton move from side character the stars of their own romance.  There is adventure, romance and danger as the two work toward their own HEA.  It can stand alone but will be much better if you have read the other books in the series.

Book Beginnings and The Friday 56 - November 13, 2015

I'm linking up with Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings and Freda's Voice for Page 56. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Pick the closest book on your book stack and join the fun.

The Beginning:

"That's it Shipmaster," Pliij said from his helm board with obvious relief. "Target star dead ahead; relative motion and atmospheric density established, and vector computed."

From the first short story, The Price of Survival

Page 56:

It seems to me, Doctor, that the issue boils down to the question of when, exactly, the fetus comes a human being."

From The Final Report on the Lifeline Experiment

Both of the quotes are from short stories by Timothy Zahn. They are in the book Pawn's Gambit and Other Stratagems. I got the book from Amazon Vine yesterday and have just started to dip into it.

Book Beginnings and The Friday 56 - November 5, 2015

I'm linking up with Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings and Freda's Voice for Page 56. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Pick the closest book on your book stack and join the fun.

The Beginning:

"Mom?" Travis Uriah Long called toward the rear of the big, quiet house. "I'm going out now."

There was no answer.

Page 56:

"For the first few week Travis trudged back to the barracks every evening with either a massive headache or a sort of information overload haze. His dreams alternated between nightmares and some of the most bizarre traveling excursions he'd ever experienced."

From A Call To Duty (An Honorverse Novel) Book 1 of Manticore Ascendant by David Weber and Timothy Zahn

This is a new spin-off series based on Weber's very popular Honor Harrington series. I just started and it looks like it will popular with fans of the series.

Musing Monday's, September 22, 2014

TC is in the sun musing about the chipmunk she sees out the window.
Hopefully that is all she does.  So far this month she has presented me
 with two chipmunks - one alive and one dead but both in my bedroom.

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week.…Musing Mondays is sponsored by Should Be Reading.

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to talk.

Today I am musing about Soulminder by Timothy Zahn that will be released tomorrow. I received an ARC for Soulminder from Netgally in return for a honest review.

I love Science Fiction and Zahn is a well-known SciFi author.  I have not read many of his books so did not know what to expect from Soulminder.   What I got was a book that is very readable and made for great book club discussions.

Dr Adrian Sommers holds his young son as he dies from injuries suffered in a car crash.  That set him on a quest.  He wants to capture the soul as it leaves the body and hold it in a trap until the body can be repaired.  Then the soul is returned and the person is again healthy.  The story really begins when he succeeds. 

Soulminder has a core group of characters and stories that involve them over a 20-year period.  Sommers envisioned this as help to the medical profession and to be used only for those people who would otherwise have no hope of remaining alive.

It is used for that but it is also abused in ways Sommers never predicted.  Sommers is the only one who can change that. 

Soulminder is a very though provoking book.  I have very mixed feeling about trapping a soul and am not sure I every want it to be a real discovery instead of fiction.  However, that is one of the great things about fiction.  It lets you explore new things and think about them in a way you never expect.

Judgment at Proteus by Timothy Zahn

Science Fiction/Space Opera

To quote the book cover Judgment at Proteus is “The climactic finale of the epic Quadrail series”.  The quote is very true.  This is book five in the series and I would not recommend it as a stand-alone.  There is a lot of back-story you need to know in each of the books, a lot of history between the characters, and a very dense complex story line that weaves the action together in all of the books.

Here is the Goodreads summary:

In Timothy Zahn's Judgment at Proteus, the Quadrail that connects the twelve civilizations of our galaxy has been the flashpoint of a battle for dominance fought mostly unnoticed by humankind. But Frank Compton of Earth, aided by the enigmatic woman Bayta, has fought on the front lines, using every bit of his human ingenuity and secret agent skills to outwit the Modhri, a group intelligence that would control the minds of every sentient being it can touch.
Following a trail of deception and death to Proteus Station, Compton has discovered a conspiracy that threatens all life in the galaxy: the Shonkla’raa, an ancient enemy thought to be long dead, is rising again. So serious is the danger that the Modhri, the enemy of his enemy, may now be his friend, as the burgeoning threat of a race of invincible soldiers emerges.
If Compton and Bayta can’t stop them, the Shonkla’raa will decimate all who oppose them, destroying the Quadrail and billions of lives throughout the galaxy.

I think this is Space Opera at its best.  Timothy Zahn has written a great story with wonderful characters.  The plot is complex and full of surprises. Frank and Bayta start out in book one as strangers, each not quite trusting the other.  By Judgment at Proteus they are a team, each knowing they can depend on the other.  The other characters that appear in the book are interesting and very well drawn. 

The plot is developed throughout the five novels and comes to a surprising conclusion in Judgment at Proteus.  It is interesting to see the plans that Frank Compton hatches.  On the surface you think you know everything that is going to happen only to find that he has plans hidden in plans with more plans hidden under those.

 

It is hard to talk about one book in the series without talking about them all.  Each has an independent story but each one leads into the next.  For anyone who loves Science Fiction and Space Opera this series is a must read series.

TOR published Judgment at Proteus by Timothy Zahn in 2012.

The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn

Science Fiction Mystery

The Domino Pattern is the fourth book in the Quadrail Series. Think Murder on the Orient Express meets aliens group mind ( the Modhran) that wants to take over the galaxy, add a host of other aliens, a detective partnership made of up a human and a half human, and you have the books in the this series. There is always the risk that a series will get stale after a few books. That is not the case with the Quadrail Series.

This time Frank and Bayta are on a non-stop super express line that cuts the travel time across the galaxy from months to 6 weeks. Events conspire to make the Modhran, Frank and Bayta allies after someone manages to get poison past the spiders detection system. Frank and Bayta must find and stop the person using the poison. People trust the safety of the Quadrail system and that trust must be maintained or the whole system could break down and the galaxy thrown into turmoil. It is up to Frank and Bayta to find and stop the person using the poison while preventing any future threat to the Quadrail.

The Domino Pattern introduces a brand new villain, one that will move the series in a new and exciting direction. Maybe the Modhran will become partners instead of enemies. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

TOR published The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn in 2009.

I checked The Domino Pattern out from the Rogers Public Library.

Odd Girl Out by Timothy Zahn

Science Fiction

Odd Girl Out is the third book in the interstellar detective series that started with Night Train to Rigel. I missed the second book (The Third Lynx) and I read Night Train to Rigel three years ago. It was good to see Frank and Bayta again and there was enough back-story that I never felt lost. Odd Girl Out could be read as a stand-alone but it helped that I had read Night Train to Rigel.

Like the first book most of the action in Odd Girl Out is on the Quadrail, the trains run by the Spiders that travel the galaxy. The Modhri, a group mind, is still the villain. Frank Compton and Bayta have stymied the Modhri plans twice. However, as the agents chosen to combat the Modhri they have to stop a new set of plans to take over the galaxy. They are like old style detectives and the action is fast and furious. Get on board for a great story and ride the Quadrail again.

TOR published Odd Girl Out by Timothy Zahn in 2008.

The books in the series are:

Night Trail to Rigel
The Third Lynx
Odd Girl Out