Category Archives: Review

Bad Girls

E. Lockhart: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (2008), We Were Liars (2014), Genuine Fraud (2017) When Jane Austen created Emma Woodhouse, she noted that here was a character “whom no one but myself will much like”. Austen must have enjoyed making … Continue reading

Posted in Mystery, Review, Violence in YA lit, YA Lit | Tagged | 5 Comments

Schools are still the same

Hundred Percent, Karen Romano Young (2016) Authors have gotten a lot of mileage out of the terrible years of schooling that kids must endure before adulthood swamps them with real life. Karen Roman Young adds to the stack with this … Continue reading

Posted in Humorous, Review, School setting, YA Lit | Leave a comment

Preview

Tag-team tweeting review of Watchmen starts today. What ho, Calmgrove? Who’s on first?

Posted in Graphic Novel, Review, Science fiction | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Taking a Mulligan via the Space-Time Continuum

Review of Prologue, Greg Ahlgren Rating: 4.6 stars So many times I’ve wanted a do-over, a chance to reboot, knowing in advance exactly where things went wrong and therefore knowing exactly what to fix. This is what Paul deVere and … Continue reading

Posted in KindleBookReview.net, Review, Science fiction | Tagged | 2 Comments

Challenge accepted

Over several days (start and end dates yet to be determined) Calmgrove and I will be “tag-team reviewing” Watchmen on Twitter. The first part of this challenge for me, however, is to figure out how to get the Twitter widget … Continue reading

Posted in Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Review | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Firebug in the Church Choir

You Got to Be Kidding! The Cultural Arsonist’s Satirical Reading of the Bible, Dr. Joe Wenke (2012) 3.8 stars I love satire. Jonathan Swift and Mark Twain are among my favorite authors. I used to read Punch religiously (Miles Kington’s … Continue reading

Posted in Humorous, KindleBookReview.net, Review | Tagged | 6 Comments

Sing, O Muse, of Gods and Monsters

Godhead, by Ken Mooney (2013) 4.5 stars Imagine what would happen in a mash-up of The X-Men, Percy Jackson, and Nicholas Flamel, with a dash of Homer just for the fun of it. Ken Mooney’s intelligent and action-packed adult novel … Continue reading

Posted in Fantasy, KindleBookReview.net, Review | Tagged | Leave a comment

Space operetta in C Maj

The Ossilan Affair: A Captain Henri Duschelle Story, Steve K. Smy Rating: 4 stars Henri Duschelle reminds me of Buckaroo Bonzai (without the guitar chops) or the 1930s pulp hero, Doc Savage. Like Buckaroo and Doc, Duschelle is clever, honorable, … Continue reading

Posted in KindleBookReview.net, Review | Tagged | 1 Comment

Two teens loose in NYC. What could go wrong?

Stella Bellarosa: Tales of an Aspiring Teenage Superhero, Julie Krantz Rating: 3 stars (out of 5) It’s the late 1960s, New York City, with its hipsters and beats and a trashy Times Square full of peep shows, perverts, and pickpockets … Continue reading

Posted in KindleBookReview.net, Review | Tagged | Leave a comment

Kundera’s “graphomania”

My new venture — reviewing e-books for KindleBookReview.net — has left me with a virtual stack of books to read and review. On my e-shelf: 3 fantasy novels, 1 science fiction, 1 counter-historical, 1 anarchic romp through NYC, and a … Continue reading

Posted in Am writing, reading, Review | Tagged | Leave a comment