Inside GMT Dyson’s Dodecahedron Bruce Heard and New Stories Lynn’s Book Blog Sitrep Hex and Violence Desperation Morale Banzai!! Let’s GURPS The Collaborative GamerI’ve been meaning to read Dune for decades now, but the thick paperback on my dad’s shelf always intimidated me a little. I’ve had some knowledge of the book, being aware of the Avalon Hill game and having started Westwood’s[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
William Manchester’s book is really an ode to his hero, Magellan. He’s not a bad hero to have, but I think Manchester gives him far too much credit. The real value however, is that Manchester is far more interested in[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Alexandria is one of the great success stories of the ancient world, being founded by Alexander the Great, and then spending the next several centuries as one of the great trading ports of the Mediterranean, as well as a center[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
The final volume of the Man of War series starts, as usual, in medias res with the USS Cumberland stuck in an impossible situation. Unlike the previous volume, this one flows naturally from the situation at the end, but there’s[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
I can remember coming across this anthology in the library when it first came out. I had completely forgotten that I had actually checked it out and read it until a few scenes in the stories started resonating with me,[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
MacCulloch’s book on the Protestant Reformation is a huge work on a huge subject. Everything you might expect is in here, and much, much, more. He starts with a fairly good overview of western Christianity at the end of the[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice was something of a slow burn for me. It was obviously solidly written from the start, but the plot is slow-moving, and unfocused. Early chapters alternate between two very different stories (with—more-or-less—the same viewpoint character) fifteen[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Set in the same world as Howl’s Moving Castle, the sequel, or ‘companion’, book does and doesn’t rely on it. The cast of Howl’s doesn’t show up until late, but I wonder if a new reader might not feel a[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Niven had a few things to say in The Magic Goes Away, and said them, so I’m always surprised when I see another story set in that world. But they’re generally good, and seem to be a way for him[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Adam Zomoyski starts his book by noting that there’s no truly adequate biography of King Stanisław II Poniatowski in any language, and his doesn’t measure up either. He figures Stanisław deserves two fairly large volumes to trace down every tangent[…]↓ Read the rest of this entry…