Wulf's Book Reviews

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski My rating: 5 of 5 stars “ ‘Who the hell are you?’ Geralt asked again, leaning forward. ‘What are you doing… in this forest? How did you get here?’ The girl lowered her head and sniffed loudly. ‘Cat got your tongue? Who are you, I said? What’s your name?’ ‘Ciri,’ she said, sniffing. ” Once more we return to Geralt of Rivia, the eponymous Witcher, and his deeds. Mostly, though, “Sword of Destiny” serves to define Geralt with respect to his friends. We get to meet Dandelion again, and, of course, Geralt and Yennefer of Vengerberg cross paths several times as they are… Well, whatever they are, they certainly don’t know themselves. Most importantly, though, Geralt meets Ciri, the Child of the Elder Blood, for the first time. Ciri, who will become so important in Geralt’s life. We meet her three times throughout the stories in this book which are loosely connected to each other but mostly show us who Geralt truly is. The more I read, the m...

Fallen by Benedict Jacka My rating: 3 of 5 stars Let me state clearly where I stand when it comes to Alex Verus: I think he’s the greatest Urban Fantasy protagonist ever. I’ve enjoyed every single book in the series and I enjoyed this latest instalment as well – just not as much as most of the others, unfortunately. Why though? The trademark humour is there, Luna is there and so are Anne, Variam, Arachne and others. Sadly, they mostly take a place on the backseat this time. Luna barely gets any serious “stage” time; she’s generally around and worries a lot but doesn’t get to do or experience much. For such an important character that’s pretty sad. We do get to see more of Anne who has a more “active” role in the proceedings but she remains unrefined and pale compared to many other characters. Maybe part of that is my own perception, though; I’ve never felt that Anne added much to the books – she always felt like the obligatory love interest and I never found her especial...

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood My rating: 5 of 5 stars STEM Ph.D. candidate Olive meets Adam Carlsen, Ph.D., fake-dates him, inevitably falls in love, almost loses herself in the web of lies she spins - until she finally gets a grip and starts telling the truth. Happily ever after begins. Sounds familiar? Of course. The fake-dating trope is a road very often taken. And, yet, I’ve rarely - if ever - enjoyed the story this much. Not much is new in this story - even the primary conflict is something you might have read about before and, sadly, it’s not uncommon in either academia or industry. Olive is nerdy, insecure, impostor syndrome-prone and, looking back, very, very relatable in many ways. She’s also intelligent, witty, a tease and always trying to treat people fairly. Adam - our dark, brooding hero - has been pining for Olive since he first met her years ago and, thus, quickly agrees to help both Olive and himself by taking part in their fake-dating charade. Meanwhile, h...

A Market Tale by Martin Walker My rating: 5 of 5 stars This is a nice and typical Bruno short story. It’s a good sample for the early Bruno novels since it represents everything that’s good about the series: Bruno is so wonderfully likeable, friendly and empathic. The market obviously plays as an important role as in many of the novels. There’s a small conflict but Bruno congenially solves it. I felt right at home with this short story. View all my reviews https://turing.mailstation.de/a-market-tale-bruno-chief-of-police-7-5-by-martin-walker/?feed_id=859&_unique_id=63331e3d9adae

Castle of Wizardry by David Eddings My rating: 4 of 5 stars Finally, we’re (mostly) back on track: Garion gets to know his place in the big picture, Ce’Nedra finally becomes a character and not some one-dimensional caricature and Belgarath shows some human feelings. Whenever we’re not witnessing our heroes travelling but get to know them in their “natural habitat”, things get really interesting. I’m certainly never going to recommend “The Belgariad” to anyone but a teenager but at least this book made me actually want to finish the series instead of DNF’ing. I hope the fifth book doesn’t make me regret my decision… View all my reviews https://turing.mailstation.de/castle-of-wizardry-the-belgariad-book-4-by-david-eddings/?feed_id=852&_unique_id=63307b685ddc6

Bretonisches Vermächtnis by Jean-Luc Bannalec My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars Vive la France! - auch wenn sich das etwas merkwürdig anfühlt, wenn man weiß, daß sich hinter dem Pseudonym Jean-Luc Bannalec der deutsche Literat Jörg Bong (schon eine Weile nicht mehr) versteckt. Merkwürdig fühlt es sich auch an, nach längerer Zeit der “Abstinenz” einmal mehr in meiner Muttersprache gelesen und, jetzt und hier, auch geschrieben zu haben. Andererseits schreibt mit Martin Walker auch ein nicht ganz so “waschechter” Franzose (sondern ein Schotte!) über seinen Bruno und ist damit ziemlich erfolgreich. Ähnlich verhält es sich auch in anderen Punkten, was beide Roman-Serien angeht: Beide, so scheint es leider, haben ihre besten Zeiten hinter sich. Denn der vorliegende Band “Bretonisches Vermächtnis” ist immer noch nett, Dupin als Figur weiterhin ausgesprochen sympathisch und auch gewissermaßen glaubwürdig; nur leider wirkt doch alles recht routiniert: “ Schon Hunderte Male hatte er h...

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman My rating: 5 of 5 stars " I was fine, perfectly fine on my own, but I needed to keep Mummy happy, keep her calm so she would leave me in peace. A boyfriend—a husband?—might just do the trick. It wasn’t that I needed anyone. I was, as I previously stated, perfectly fine. " Eleanor Oliphant most certainly is not fine. Unless, maybe, Honeyman has read Louise Penny ’s brilliant mysteries, among them “ Dead Cold ” (also published as “ A Fatal Grace ”) and actually means FINE (she even uses this term in all-caps herself) which stands for “Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic and Egotistical”. That’s part of what Eleanor is. I’ve read this book is about loneliness and, yes, it certainly is but it’s so much more – depression, childhood abuse and recovery. Eleanor goes to work, trying to avoid any non-essential contact with her co-workers or, in fact, any human being for that matter. She relies completely on her routines (“ ...