Book Review: The Peshawar Lancers

I like alternate history. It fits the shape of my mind to go exploring worlds that take off in some strange direction from the one we live in and I love the work that goes into building a believable world. With The Peshawar Lancers I went in knowing a bit of what to expect. Comets hit the world in the 1870s and so now it is 2025 and the British Government lives on in India under King-Emperor John II, of course they are still fighting the reborn Russian Empire in central Asia. It had solid workmanship writing, but in the need I was a bit disappointed. The ending was a bit too perfect, though that could easily be excused by one of the plot devices whereby a character in the book knows what is going on in other alternates. But that in it self brought up a lot of questions that I felt were not answered adequately.

On the other hand I am crazy, liking books heavy on background. I love reading books that are most of the way to being a guidebook to another world. I delight in figuring out how a world ticks. Always there are edges where the world has to be left sketchy and these can either leave me wishing for more or annoyed that it wasn't well enough plotted. Unfortunately the later case is what I felt more often in The Peshawar Lancers. It is not a bad book, but I'm not blown over by it either. I'd call it a fair read.

Book Review: Narcissus in Chains

I found myself annoyed at this Laurell K. Hamilton book. I've not been terribly enthused for a while though the last one I read, Obsidian Butterfly set my heart to fluttering because it was set in Albuquerque. I love books set in "my" territory. I know the land within about 500 miles of Denver very well and I love this dry dusty country.

With the exception of that I've been progressively less enthusiastic every time Anita Blake is in a new book because she faces a new earth shattering terror even bigger than the last one every bloody time. ( Spoilers )

My suspension of disbelief has finally been burnt out by too much bad ass villainy being routed through the circuit over the last few years. Also there was an excessive amount of on screen sex that I pretty much was feeling bored by. I took to skimming these parts thinking in all but one, "Gah more kinky straight sex. Bored Now." Plus as I've mentioned I love world building and while I love the premise of the Anita Blake books the world seems to be getting kinda fuzzy all over. In my opinion.

At this point I can't really see myself reading another book of hers unless I hear she tones down the machine like sex (about as exciting as watching a piston work, interesting for about three minutes then boring) and stops with the bigger baddy of the month thing. If a friend asks I'll tell them to read the first three and then stop with maybe a side detour to Obsidian Butterfly if they can stand to jump in having skipped several stories. It's just not my cuppa, not terribly bad, but it didn't go anywhere interesting to me.

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

Well this is ground that has been over many, many times before, so I won't say a lot. I enjoyed it, it was very good, and I am finally satisfied with some of the explanations for what the heck is going on. I am much happier after this book than I was after Goblet of Fire, though perhaps not quite as totally thrilled as I was after Prisoner of Azkaban.

( Spoliers )

Brown Eyes like Sunlight On Dry Leaves

Good news, my eyes are just fine. The doc says that I was probably reading too long under a high frequency light (halogen in this case) and that may have given me something like an after image. Oh and my vision is unchanged from last year, very good news! No need for new glasses and I'm just happy that I won't end up wearing coke bottle glasses and end up not being able to read books after a nuclear holocaust. I'm not going to post much tonight because of the dilation thing he did to make sure my eyes were cool.