Wulf's Book Reviews

Warden's Vengeance: A Sci Fi Adventure by Tony James Slater My rating: 3 of 5 stars The new year’s first review and, again, it’s a difficult one to write. In part because I did somewhat enjoy this latest instalment of “Ancient Guardians” . On the other hand, though, in spite of being a page-turner, I was constantly shifting between liking and hating this book. First of all, it’s more of pretty much exactly the same as in the previous books - Tris is fighting for peace in the universe, tagging along are Kreon, Kyra and the others. There’s a new babysitter as well who remains pretty bleak and shallow, though. The gore is back as well - not quite as annoying as in the third book but it’s still there, it’s still annoying and completely superfluous. I’m convinced it’s included for the kick some guys get out of such stuff. Back in force as well are the typos, ungrammatical sentences, bad formatting, etc.; while I really think self-publishing is a great thing, one should at l...

Her Deadly Touch by Lisa Regan My rating: 2 of 5 stars Josie whines about her dead granny. Josie finds a body. Josie whines again about her dead granny. People vanish. Joise: “My poor dead granny!” Josie is in the morgue, sees a body and, yes, you guessed it… And so forth till the very end. (Don’t get me wrong: Practically everyone from previous generations of my extended family are dead. Four during the last three years alone. I know grief but I’ve never wallowed in it like Josie does.) This book is a mess… Murder by carbon monoxide poisoning which occured in about 3 ‰ (per mille!) of homicides during the 20th century according to a quick research. (I couldn’t find data for the 21st century that did NOT include murder-suicides…) A bus driver who might or might not have been tricked Organised crime killing small-town fences for not coughing up money An abundance of hardly-believable characters Even harder-to-believe what-ifs - and not only hinted at but cons...

The Bones She Buried by Lisa Regan My rating: 4 of 5 stars “A completely gripping, heart-stopping crime thriller” Nah, it’s not, just joking. This is just an annoying trend (lately?) to add such marketing bullshit to the title of any books feared not to sell otherwise – or so it seems. “The Bones She Buried” is, of course, neither completely gripping nor, fortunately, heart-stopping. It’s pretty much a bog-standard police procedural featuring Josie Quinn, a thirty-something (I guess?) police detective in Pennsylvania (which doesn’t matter at all because the setting is usually completely generic), who is investigating for the fifth time now with the usual staff who, so far, " covered cases so shocking and high-profile, they’d made national news. ” And, of course, Josie will eventually “ [unravel] a scandal so massive and so complex that it’s still sending shockwaves through not just the region but the entire nation. ” And it all starts with the murder of someone cl...

A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wow, we’re already at the 18th instalment of this great series. When I picked this book up, I was slightly worried how I would like it, considering that I haven’t exactly had much luck with long-running series this year; the latest Dupin a disappointment almost as badly as the latest Bruno ( review here ). Would Deborah Crombie let me down as well? Would she make me wish for Duncan and Gemma, whose exploits I’ve been following for years, to finally ride into the sunset? The answer, fortunately, is a resounding “ NO! ”. Set this time in the Cotswolds – and thus outside Duncan’s and Gemma’s jurisdiction – we find ourselves at Beck House, the summer house of Melody Talbot’s parents, Ivan and Addie. What was planned as a carefree weekend for Duncan, Gemma, Melody and Doug with a charity luncheon turns into something much more sinister when it comes to light that one of the victims of a car accident had already bee...

Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary by Linus Torvalds My rating: 3 of 5 stars » And I have a wife to make the decisions that complete my wardrobe, to pick out things like sandals and socks. So I never have to worry about it again. « Those who know me a little better know that I fell in love with Linux some 27 years ago. In March 1995 IBM OS/2 Warp was replaced by (I think) DLD - the Deutsche Linux-Distribution - and I was… free. » As I read and started to understand Unix, I got a big enthusiastic jolt. Frankly, it’s never subsided. (I hope you can say the same about something.) « How could I not admire the person who started it all - Linus Torvalds. Torvalds is just a few years older than me and I was delighted and highly amused to find him very relatable in the first half of the book. Be it then… » It probably won’t surprise anyone that some of my earliest and happiest memories involve playing with my grandfather’s old electronic calculator. « (In my case, ...

The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman My rating: 4 of 5 stars As of right now, I’m actually still undecided how many stars I’m going to award “The Dark Archive” as, unfortunately, I cannot do five stars but oscillate between three and four starts… Let’s get going and see where reflection leads me… So, the seventh instalment of “ The Invisible Library ” lies behind me - and a whole new field of opportunities for further books has been opened on several levels. That’s good because just as we change throughout life, so must a series of books as it evolves or it will outlive its welcome - at the very least with me. Evolution does have its risks and drawbacks, though, and to get all the characters - new and old - to where they need to be; to set the stage for what’s to come, Cogman seems to have lost a little bit of the plot. More on that later, though. Let’s start with the good news: This is, indeed, undeniably and recognizable “The Invisible Library” how we know and love it: Irene ...

Faking Under the Mistletoe by Ashley Shepherd My rating: 2 of 5 stars This was such a nice idea: A Christmas romance! Ok, the author added “office romance”, “enemies-to-lovers” and “fake dating to evoke jealousy in an ex” but if that actually had worked out, I probably would have loved it. The beginning is very promising even: The banter between our heroine, Olivia, and her grumpy boss, Asher, is amusing, sometimes even witty and almost always funny. The atmosphere is charged between both of them and had Shepherd kept doing this, added some kind of conflict to solve before the “happily ever after”, everything would have been great. » “Cozied up on the couch. Snuggled under blankets. Snow falling outside. Christmas movies. Cake. We’re living a Lifetime special.” « When I read that, I was sure this had to be great! And it was until I came to the second half of the book which manages to derail it completely… If you still want to read this book, take care, huge spoilers follow… [su...

The Chocolate War by Martin Walker My rating: 3 of 5 stars Yet another Bruno short story. This one deals with the market again and the ensuing eponymous “Chocolate War” that Bruno ends in a typical Bruno way. This is a very short read but it’s a nice one at least. View all my reviews https://turing.mailstation.de/the-chocolate-war-bruno-chief-of-police-11-6-by-martin-walker/?feed_id=58&_unique_id=62b5e01b3e379

A Promised Land by Barack Obama My rating: 5 of 5 stars “ Politics doesn’t have to be what people think it is. It can be something more. ” When Barack Obama started his rise to power, I felt hopeful but sceptical as well: Would America, of all nations, really elect a Black man as its president? And who was that guy anyway? As a German, I had been vaguely aware of Obama but I knew next to nothing about him. That would change over time but do little to alleviate my scepticism: Even if this guy was for real, even if he truly believed what he said about change and equality - would this man stay true to his ideals? Would the power he was seeking corrupt him? The first surprise came when he was actually elected as the next President of the United States of America. I became a little more hopeful. That was a powerful sign for the better - the first Afro-American president. Obama didn’t deliver on all his promises - Guantanamo Bay detention camp still exists today for example. And yet…...

The Bourbon Street Ripper by Leo King My rating: 4 of 5 stars Just when I was thinking nothing really good would ever come out of giveaways, I got "The Bourbon Street Ripper" (BSR). Put off at first by the lurid title, I quickly got drawn into the book. As usual, I'll skip summarising the story as others will have done this before. In short, it's basically a well-done mystery novel and, in contrast to the author's "Clearly not your normal mystery book." it is a normal mystery book with a few twists and some "extra features". It's not normal in that most "normal" mystery books are treading well worn-out paths which, to a fair extent, BSR succeeds to avoid. The main characters are mostly believable and well-developed and both the 20-years-before story as well as the current storyline and interestingly (and rather subjectively) presented through some of the characters. The contrast between two of the protagonists, namely ...