Children of Dune (Dune Chronicles #3) – Book Review

Published Date: April 21, 1976

Publishing Co.: Ace Books          

Pages: 609

Rating: 4 out 5 stars

I did not review the first two books in this series as I read them during my Book Review Boycott of 2020.

That makes attempting a review at this point, all the harder.

I resisted picking up this series for years as I had heard from some avid fantasy/sci-fi fans that it was long and kind of boring. Some people would say it was still worth it and others said you could avoid it and be fine. Such a lukewarm description didn’t exactly pique my interest. Fast forward several years and my aunt and little cousin are shoving the book at me and telling me that I just have to try it. Since it was loaned, I didn’t have much to lose and back in November I finally sat down and gave it the ol’ college try.

Why did I listen to those Negative Nancys?? I’ll never trust them again.

I absolutely loved Dune and Dune Messiah. Apparently, a lot of people had issue with Messiah as you see the dark side to your hero. BUT I LOVE THAT KIND OF THING AND BURNED THROUGH IT.

Children of Dune was a little slower for me and probably my least favorite thus far, but it’s still a great book. I’m trying to avoid spoilers and honestly, so much happens and I did not take notes so I would be garbage at really reviewing it anyway. I just needed to say, if you like a slow burn, political intrigue and beautifully crafted world building, pick up Dune. It’s not boring, YOU’RE BORING!

November 2020 in Books

My little black Christmas tree went up yesterday. It’s prelit with white lights but I added green to give it a Type O Negative kind of vibe. 😀

This past week has been very rocky. My coworker tested positive with Covid-19. He feels okay other than getting tired very easily. The rest of us tested negative at this time, but we’re all worried that it’s just the incubation period. We will see what this next week brings.

Onto books!

5 out of 5 stars – I went into this with little expectation given things I had heard and came out on the other end absolutely loving this book. If you don’t like political intrigue, I could see how you would say that this is boring or drawn out. However, if you’re like me and you dig that sort of thing, baby dive on in!

4 out of 5 stars – One of my favorite space opera series. The character building is always so great and the world encompassing those characters is always original. I feel like it may have been overshadowed by Dune but I still had a good time reading it.

Science Fiction unrelated to books:

Mr. C&M and I endulged in HBO’s Lovecraft Country. Other than there being plenty of horror, there was also quite a bit of science fiction. This series is incredibly brutal and gorey for anyone not into that sort of thing. We found it absolutely fascinating.

How was your November? Science fiction related or otherwise.

Coffee & A Chat – Science Fiction Month

It’s a new glorious day folks. We spent last night having a very small going away party for a friend and celebrating the results of the election. So I come to you this morning, slightly hungover and slowly sipping this coffee. Oh, the wonders that are coffee. I was sick this last week (not covid, I was tested), and threw up coffee. It only put me off for one day. My love of coffee knows no bounds.

Okay well, I don’t see myself ever getting into coffee enemas, so I guess there are SOME bounds.

As many of you are already fully celebrating, November is Science Fiction Month. Usually, I hop on board another blog’s hosting of a sci-fi extravaganza, but not this year. I’m just not feeling the commitment this go-around. If you wish to join in those festivities however, check out Imyril’s blog. It is a great time.

I did decide to take on a sci-fi giant and since it’s a thicker book, I didn’t want to feel rushed reading to make blog content.

I’m already 344 pages in and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I look forward to a lazy Sunday and getting more of this in.

What are your plans for Sci-Fi Month?

August 2020 in Books

Three books is far better than the 1 book I read all of July. 😛

What can I say of August? Not a whole hell of a lot really. I’m ready and willing to head straight into autumn now thank you.

The first weekend in September will have me seeing my BFF FINALLY after 5 months of not seeing her other than on FaceTime.

By the way, I highly recommend drinking and FaceTime weekly with your favorite friend. It is the perfect way to finish out a week.

Anywho, onto the books!

4 out of 5 stars – This was a fun comic about villains and sidekicks. Nimona was a very fun, feisty character who found her way into many shenanigans.

4 out of 5 stars – I went into this not expecting much despite all the hype surrounding it and found myself pleasantly surprised. I found some scenes a bit hard to follow but I’m not sure it wasn’t just my attention span at the time. I will check out the next book.

5 out of 5 stars – The winning book of the month. I really enjoyed my time exploring this world and learning the beginning of Drizzt. I think I may just hop directly into the next book.

Books Purchased:

Roar by Cora Carmack – $1.00

Tarnished City by Vic James – $1.00

TOTAL: $2.12

I ALMOST made it all of August not buying a single book, but alas, I just had to walk by the book section of the dollar store. I’m always surprised when I find familiar books there and absolutely cannot resist picking them up. I MEAN THEY’RE ONLY $1. I haven’t even read the first book by Vic James BUT I own it and know I would be mad at myself for not picking the second book up for so cheap especially if I end up liking the series.

BOOK WYRM PROBLEMS.

What treasures have you found at the dollar store lately?

June 2020 in Books

A surprising amount of reading happened in June. Granted, many of them were smaller books, they still count!

4 out of 5 stars – I actually finished this the very last day of May but I had already done my May books post. If there is a strong female lead in an urban fantasy series, you bet your sweet honey ass I’m going to give it a go. I read the first book in this series years ago and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t something I was dying to get the next book. After book two, I feel much the same. I enjoy it, I’ll pick it up when it’s on sale, but I’m not rushing to purchase the next installment.

5 out of 5 stars – I couldn’t decide what I felt like reading so Ignited Moth kindly decided for me. This book has been sitting on my TBR shelf for roughly 6 years. I am so glad that I finally made the time to read it because it was splendid. Have you ever heard me call a book ‘splendid’? Probably means you should read it ASAP.

3 out of 5 stars – During this pandemic, I decided to bring a book for lunch reading that just stays as work to lower any chance of someone putting their filthy virus hands on it. (I’ve decided on all selections being something I’m not in a rush to read.) This is an easy, peasy read that I have described as a “cozy Southern murder mystery.”

4 out of 5 stars – Not my favorite Alpha & Omega installment but I still thoroughly enjoyed myself and the drama of Bran’s disappearance was riveting, since he’s never bailed on the pack before.

Rants From the Hill (Pictured above)

4 out of 5 stars – An educational, fun essay collection from an environmentalist who lives out in the high desert of the United States. It’s a different world out there but the author manages to make it sound magical and just as important as all other ecosystems out there that have better reputations.

4 out of 5 stars – Dina is forced (kind of) to host an intergalactic summit at her inn. The inn requires guests to thrive and so she must accept a deal that no other inn on Earth would. She’s not sure she’s powerful enough to keep the peace between three warring factions from another planet, but her little dog Beast is there to help her try.

4 out of 5 stars – The inn’s latest guests are a race of aliens who have been hunted to near extinction by another close by planet. If there is one thing Dina can’t resist, it’s helping out the underdog. Not to mention, rescuing her sister and niece from a barren planet exiled from the rest of the galaxy. Just another week at the inn.

Books Purchased:

Succubus On Top b y Rachel Mead $1.99

Imprudence by Gail Carriger $1.00

Kill the Farm Boy by Kevin Hearne & Delilah S Dawson $1.99

Total Spent: $5.04 (Only $1.06 came out of my actual pocket. The rest were still on my amazon giftcard that has lasted me forever.)

I’m currently at 25 out of 30 books for my Goodreads 2020 Challenge. I see no reason I won’t get 5 more books in by the end of the year.

How are you doing on your 2020 bookish goals??

Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) – Book Review

Published Date: December 2, 2013

Publishing Co.: NYLA

Pages: 225

Goodreads Synopsis.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Let’s flip the script and get a little weird.

Werewolves and vampires come from other planets.

Travel between planets is relatively easy. Therefore, aliens, werewolves, vampires, and all manner of creatures and humanoids can show up at anytime, anywhere, on any planet.

Dina Demille is an innkeeper on Earth. Inns are neutral territories. Innkeepers do their best to remain neutral so long as it doesn’t threaten their clientele. People come to them for sanctuary and protection.

Dina’s inn was once abandoned and almost decayed beyond repair. She’s been nurturing it back to health for awhile now but with only one resident, the process is slow going. With limited money coming in, she can’t provide it with all the materials it needs to rebuild itself. (The inns themselves are considered sentient by some. They have a symbiotic relationship with their keepers.) So, when trouble comes in the form of creatures killing neighborhood dogs, the local werewolf giving her attitude and warrior vampires showing up, demanding to be let in, Dina must decide whether to get involved. If she doesn’t, her inn may never earn a higher rating from the Council, which means more business, or she does and ruins the reputation herself. A bit of a catch 22. Piss off a faction of beings who can report her or have the secrecy of her inn exposed before she can make something substantial of the inn?

I enjoyed the hell out of this. It’s short, yet full of world building and action packed. I liked Dina and her little dog creature, Beast. I loved the concepts of the inns and the healthy helping of science fiction thrown in with magic. There is a possible love triangle beginning but even that cannot deter my enjoyment.

I’m super pumped to see where this series goes.

#SciFiMonth – The Mechanical (The Alchemy Wars #1) – Book Review

Published Date: March 10, 2015

Publishing Co.: Orbit

Pages: 440

Goodreads Synopsis.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Three different antagonists take on the Dutch, in secret, to bring down their empire of mechanical servitude.

The Dutch empire rules much of the world. They invented mechanical slaves called Clakkers, and use them to control everything. They use them for household service, they make up much of the military and others yet, are used to subdue anyone violating the laws.

One thing the empire cannot abide to let the public become aware of is, rogue Clakkers. Clakkers granted Free Will. They are to be hunted down and destroyed at all costs. Their enemies cannot know that their Clakkers have any kind of soul, it would unravel all they have built if people knew that these weren’t just mindless robots.

Jax is a rogue. Accidentally granted Free Will in a mishap, Jax flees before his secret is found out. Unfortunately for Jax, other Clakkers can sense his difference if he slips up even a little. One command ingrained in all Clakkers, is to do everything to take out a rogue when detected. He’ll need the help of humans if he’s to get out of the Dutch grasp.

Only one country resists the Dutch, they’ve been at war for years and recently had a cease fire. New France. Their draw is precarious. One wrong step and war can begin again in an instant. Berenice is in the business of knowing everything about the enemy. When given a chance to study the inside of a military Clakker, she will risk everything to unwind the Dutch’s secrets. She’ll even risk the King’s wrath if he finds out she went against his wishes.

Pastor Visser works in secret through the church. He’s apart of a network of people working to bring about the destruction of the Dutch, free Clakkers that they believe are sentient and bring back the Catholic church, currently outlawed as heresy. He’s willing to martyr himself to do so but the price may be more than he expected, for the Dutch are especially cruel.

This was a decent read for ¾ of the book. I wasn’t really connecting with any of the characters but the premise was interesting enough. It began to really come together in the last quarter when a couple of the antagonists joined forces.

My lingering question is, how can robots taste or smell? It was mentioned briefly in the beginning of the book and I’m left wondering if it was a mistake. Or, are these sciences really THAT advanced?

I’m on the fence about continuing the series.

#SciFiMonth: Top 5 Favorite Sci-Fi TV Shows

As a kid, I regularly watched Star Trek: NTG and Star Trek: Voyage with my dad. Despite that, I don’t consider myself a Trekkie. Star Wars will always own my heart but I respect all the Trekkies out there.

Making this list made me realize, I don’t actually watch too many sci-fi TV shows. I’ll have to consider this when I pick out new shows to try.

I was SO into Alf as a kid, I don’t remember if anyone watched it with me. When Alf was on, nothing else existed.

Mr. C&M and I watched this some what recently. Each episode is it’s own story, so some are winners and some are just okay. I don’t think there were any episodes that I down right hated.

We aren’t caught up on this gem yet but I absolutely love the mix of western and sci-fi.

We just finished this last night and it was SO good. I went in not expecting a lot and ended up enjoying the absolute shit out of it.

I have no qualms about naming this my favorite sci-fi TV show maybe, ever. For the record, Eleven is my least favorite character.

What are some of your favorite sci-fi TV shows?

I’m about to jet off on a four day weekend in northern Michigan tomorrow, so I may not catch up with everyone until I get back. Hope your weekend is full of delicious science fiction things!

#SciFiMonth: The Left Hand of Darkness – Book Review

Published Date: First published in 1969

Publishing Co.: ACE Science Fiction

Pages: 323

Goodreads Synopsis.

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Wooooooo boy. Get ready for unpopular opinion time folks. I fully expect the trolls to come for me on this one.

I’m not entirely sure why I even finished this book. I think only because it is considered a science fiction classic. However, now that I’ve finished it, I wish I had never wasted my time.

It took me almost 3 months to read The Left Hand of Darkness. After an unimpressive start, I took it to work to leave and read on my lunches. Sometimes it’s nice to not tote a book back and forth every day. But putting even 15 minutes into reading it, 5 days a week was a chore. There were some days that I ignored it to play on my phone or I brought another book anyway because I just could not bring myself to pick up.

The promise of a gender fluid society with mating seasons, and how that went against the grain of human society, was what sparked my interest in this novel in the first place. It turns out to be a very small portion of the book. It quickly develops into political intrigue and some of the most boring politics I’ve read yet. I want to say that some of the terminology was never fully explained but it’s possible that my very bored brain skimmed past it and never let it sink in. It’s also still possible that it was not explained.

If I thought I was bored the first half of the book, the second half only proved that it was possible to make it worse. Daily descriptions of a journey across ice and very little dialogue, stretched my patience and I almost threw the book in the garbage. That’s not an exaggeration. I eyeballed that trash can like it was a promise of relief.

The chapters switched back and forth between the two main characters. The problem with this is that both characters sounded much the same and I wasn’t sure who’s point of view I was reading from until sometimes, several pages into each chapter. Neither character was likable and I could care less if they perished before their mission was complete.

The only parts I enjoyed were the small chapters that told myths and legends of the planet of Winter and they were few and far between.

So go ahead, lambaste me that I don’t know good writing or that my small brain just couldn’t comprehend the genius of the author during that time. I don’t care, I should have never tortured myself to finish this.

#SciFiMonth: Top 5 Favorite Science Fiction Movies

1. Oh yeah, I’m counting all three of these bad boys as one because otherwise, it would make this list too easy. I’ve been mad for Star Wars since I was a kid and burnt out my aunt’s VHS of Return of the Jedi. Pretty sure that’s how everyone got me to calm down, they just put Star Wars on.

2. I absolutely love this movie and I don’t watch it nearly enough. I should probably change that like ASAP.

3. If I was batty for Star Wars, I was equally batty for dinosaurs so this one is an obvious pick. I took me three times when I was little to sit through this movie because the raptors scared the shit out of me. I specifically remember running out of the theater and banging my broken arm in a cast on the seats on my way out.

4. I’ve been watching this movie since I was a kid too. I will forever love these aliens. Some of the coolest ones ever invented.

5. I had this really good hiding place as a kid, behind the couch. I was master level sneaky and watched a lot of movies my dad was watching that I’m sure he would not have let me if he knew I was there. This was one of them.

What are your favorite Sci-Fi movies of all time?