Review: Famous in Love

Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Redhead!
Had to read this after I saw episode one of the TV-series and read somewhere (or looked it up on IMDB) that it is based (loosely) on a book. The book so far is romance but ok, except for a love triangle. As far as I have seen major changes book2tv, not sure wether for better or worse. And as the whole season 1 is out I can binge it when I find the time.

Also both the book and the series smells suspiciously like teen-spirit, no, more like a pesky love-triangle. Well, I'll read how it develops.

Somehow only romance, no sex, very clean. Feels a bit juvenile.

Not sure wether I will recommend it, will decide when I have read the next book.
For now 3 stars.
Love triangle not solved, but not really left hanging, in the end a curious decision from Paige more for "The Greater Good" (the next 2 movies to be made). Not what I would have liked or guessed, but also no real surprise. Reading the next book in the series, although these two books are not my usual reading, could have done with sex, a murder or more drama.

As I have not yet watched more of the series, I looking forward to it - yet it might not entertain me as much as I hope.

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Review: Change Agent

Change Agent by Daniel Suarez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

May be 4 stars is too much, and as I pre-ordered it and bought it for rather high price (Eur 13,99 which is today Us$ 15.99), I think it was not worth it, I must control my self better not buy ebooks too expensive (or pre-order them for a high price).

The theme is very well written and researched (manipulating human genes for profit), but it was not very suspenseful and had nearly no real twists, I guessed the outcome early on.
Short notices:
Chapter 36 / page 327 (as per Kindle): Journey way too long, boring.

But the book has a section Further Reading in the back, and that is one of the things I sorely miss in most near future SF books (and even some thrillers, crime and mysteries).

So, recommended if you want a realistic view at a future that could have been thought up by German Nazis, the Übermensch not selected but genetically engineered.
And, with that, 4 stars it is.

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Review: Abaddon's Gate

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great fight scenes, ending obvious, as there are more books to the series.
Should watch the series, but am so far in the first episodes of season 1, and season 2 has just been published on Netflix, so I am not sure wether this will get filmed or not.
Rather high body count.
The title of book is again some reference I had to look up, not having heard nor read that term before, so for the curious the link to wikipedia: Abaddon.

Highly recommended, but cannot really be read as a standalone, you are better of having read the first 2 books in the series. Will certainly read the next one in the series, but not soon, I still have Gemina "Gemina (The Illuminae Files #02)" barely started or maybe something totally different (crime/mystery)?

Added thoughts, a day later after thinking about it, this book and the book before had no real twists, and the ending was as expected. This is ok for this book, as this is a series and still not finished, but for the rating of this book and also more so, "Caliban's War" it might be that 5 stars are too much, more like 4 stars. Bear that in mind when reading. Still I will not change both 5 star ratings.

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Review: Abaddon's Gate

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great fight scenes, ending obvious, as there are more books to the series.
Should watch the series, but am so far in the first episodes of season 1, and season 2 has just been published on Netflix, so I am not sure wether this will get filmed or not.
Rather high body count.
The title of book is again some reference I had to look up, not having heard nor read that term before, so for the curious the link to wikipedia: Abaddon.

Highly recommended, but cannot really be read as a standalone, you are better of having read the first 2 books in the series. Will certainly read the next one in the series, but not soon, I still have Gemina "Gemina (The Illuminae Files #02)" barely started or maybe something totally different (crime/mystery)?

Added thoughts, a day later after thinking about it, this book and the book before had no real twists, and the ending was as expected. This is ok for this book, as this is an series and still not finished, but for the rating of this book and also more so, "Caliban's War" it might be that 5 stars are too much, more like 4 stars. Bear that in mind when reading. Still I will not change both 5 star ratings.

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Review: Abaddon's Gate

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great fight scenes, ending obvious, as there are more books to the series.
Should watch the series, but am so far in the first episodes of season 1, and season 2 has just been published on Netflix, so I am not sure wether this will get filmed or not.
Rather high body count.
The title of book is again some reference I had to look up, not having heard nor read that term before, so for the curious the link to wikipedia: Abaddon.

Highly recommended, but cannot really be read as a standalone, you are better of having read the first 2 books in the series. Will certainly read the next one in the series, but not soon, I still have "Gemina (The Illuminae Files #02)" barely started or maybe something totally different (crime/mystery)?

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Review: Abaddon's Gate

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Great fight scenes, ending obvious, as there are more books to the series.
Should watch the series, but am so far in the first episodes of season 1, and season 2 has just been published on Netflix, so I am not sure wether this will get filmed or not.
Rather high body count.
Highly recommended, but cannot really be read as a standalone, you are better of having read the first 2 books in the series. Will certainly read the next one in the series, but not soon, I still have "Gemina (The Illuminae Files #02)" barely started or maybe something totally different (crime/mystery)?

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Review: Gods of Risk

Gods of Risk by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not sure how it will fit in with big story, so for now 4 stars, as I do not see it as significant. No chapters, one POV.
OK read, recommended but not necessary as far as I can see, but that may change when I read the other books in the series, currently reading Abaddon's Gate, Expanse #03.
Reasonably long read (took me too long) for the price, more than a shorty or novella, just not long enough to be counted as a novel, I think.

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Review: Gods of Risk

Gods of Risk by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not sure how it will fit in with big story, so for now 4 stars, as I do not see it as significant. No chapters, one POV. OK read, recommended but not necessary as far as I can see, but that may change when I read the other books in the series, currently reading Abaddon's Gate, Expanse #03.

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Review: Caliban's War

Caliban's War by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Seriously. Now?” she said. “We’re talking about your captain going off to his death, and all that’s going through your head right now is ‘Ooh, boobies!’ ”



Most of what I said for the first book can be applied here, with Holden again playing a major role, alternating the POV with a politician who is a regular professional Spin-Doctor. The slang which made it sometimes hard to get in the context of the story in the first book is not as heavy or I am now used to it. Thinking back to the first book and the first few episodes of the TV-Series, I found it difficult to understand at first, part of the reason may be that I am German, English being my second language, with a leaning to British English, so I am no Native, and notice the differences between US and UK (which will soon not be a U anymore, and cutting the ties to Europe, sadly).

Some commented rightly, that the story-line is similar to the first book: searching for a girl. That could have warranted 1 star less, but I am ok with that, as long as the next book is different, hopefully it is. Also I wonder, why they suspected during searching the girl may be dead, avoided discussing it, but did not think not discuss the far worse outcome that I saw coming, that she would be alive but genetically enhanced becoming protomolecule?!

In hindsight I think the banter between Holden and other crew-members seems lighter than the first book, also a bit more realistic.

One strange thing is the title, which I had to Google, it is a character from Shakespeare "The Tempest", see Wikipedia for more (also, as it is in the Public Domain, you could download an ebook): Wikipedia The Tempest.

Thinking about what happens, the title should have been "The Cascade". Think of a chain-reaction of tumbeling domino-pieces in a row.

The technology and biology, as far as I can tell, is solid and based on extrapolation of current technology logically into the future.

Not really working as a standalone, you should have read the first book "Leviathan Rises".
For me a solid 5 star, but some may think less of it.
The book ends with a whopping cliff of a hanger I did not see coming.
Highly recommended. Will certainly read the short stories, novellas and the next books in the series.

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Review: Bad Blood

Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Maybe 5 stars are bit much, but most twists I did not see coming and the complicated story-arc which now spanned 4 books, these twists and the arc are very well done.
Brutal, torture, deaths, not really YA some of the time. Some romance, no sex, although it would have been realistic considering the age of the teens in the book.
Hopefully this is not the end of the series, with a worthwhile new addition to the Naturals I would like to read another book in the series sometime in the future.
Waited for this to be sold for Kindle from Amazon, which took nearly half a year after the Hardcover was published, probably the time it took to publish the paperback, which also made it cheaper than the last book, where I did not wait and instead bought it for Nook fro Barnes & Nobles, and paid about double the price in $ of this book.

Highly recommended, but this will not work as a standalone, you should have read all other books in the series. Level of torture and violence might turn some readers off, but then it is not too explicit, and readers of say Mo Hayder, Val McDermid, Simon Beckett (among others) might find this tame.

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Review: Ninja Girl

Ninja Girl by Cookie O'Gorman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like Adorkable from the same author, it was what was promised, a feel good HEA.
And again 3 stars, rounded down from 3.4 stars. For 4 stars there should have been more surprise or suspense, as it was I guessed the outcome way early, so no surprise, no twists.

No sex, only romance, no swearing, which counts as a plus for me.

Recommended for reading on a rainy depressed weekend, fluffy romance feelgood like Mac'n-Cheese most what I wrote for Adorkable also goes for this book, only I cannot remember having seen any errors this time. Like Snow-Soon a lot, even if she is way too young for me, and swoons a bit much - so, ok, thinking about that, one more reason for no more than 3 solid stars. Not too sure, wether I will read the next book from this author, but I like her stile even though it is probably aimed at younger teens (12-14yrs?), not 50year olds like me.

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