Category: Reviews

I finished reading He Shall Thunder in the Sky and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by it. I had been finding Ramses and company to be more an annoyance than an interest in some of the previous books, but in He Shall Thunder in the Sky, they felt more like complete persons in their own right which made them far more interesting. Also, there was that surprising twist about Sethos’s past which was revealed at the end of the book. I liked that, in part because it caught me so off guard and because I think Ms. Peters wrote that scene particularly well.

Overall, I give this book 4.5 out of 5 points.

Next up, I’ll be reading Ms. Peter’s next book in the Amelia Peabody mysteries, Lord of the Silent. Till next, happy page turning.

I just finished reading Mr. McKiernan’s Silver Wolf, Black Falcon and while I found it to be an enjoyable read; it was nearly as good as some of his other books (e.g. “The Eye of the Hunter“). The characters were not fleshed out as fully as had been done in previous books and in part that it likely because this book brings an end to the Mithgar saga. Alas, the book has a certain sense to it that Mr. McKiernan was tired of writing about the Mithgar world and wanted to move onto other projects. The ending in particular feels a bit rushed, but still if you’re a fan of Mr. McKiernan’s other works, then this is a good book for you to read. Overall, I give it: 3 out of 5 points.

Next up, I’ll be returning to the Egypt of early 1900’s by reading Elizabeth Peter’s He Shall Thunder In The Sky. However, since I won’t be stuck in some stupid hotel room for a week with nothing to do; I probably won’t get through this one quite as quickly as I did the last.

I finished reading Elizabeth Peter’s The Falcon at the Portal last night and while I did enjoy it; I’m finding that I like the newer books in this series less and less. The idea that Ms. Peters is the Editor of Emerson family’s personal papers and has assembled the books from the remains of Ameila’s journals and some manuscripts/letters written by Ramses & Nefret just isn’t working for me. It didn’t help that this story took a darker turn that most of the Ameila Peabody mysteries (e.g. not all of your favorite characters walked away unscathed at the end of this book). For having a darker end than I cared for and continuing this trend of assembling the story from the “incomplete and scattered papers” of the Emerson family; I’m only giving this book 3 out of 5 points.

Since I knew that I was getting a bit tired of a steady reading diet of mysteries; I didn’t bring the next Amelia Peadbody mystery with me. Instead, I’ll be reading Dennis L. McKiernan’s Silver Wolf, Black Falcon next. Since I’m stuck at the home office all week, I will most likely finish this one in the next couple of days.

Disney recently released an extremely cool toy that a friend of my, Bryon, has always wanted. It was a bit pricey, but AWelkin talked him into getting it. He did a review of it that got posted over at the Captain Toy website. After reading the review, I wish I had the money to get one. Ah well, you win some; you lose some.

I just finished reading The Ape Who Guards the Balance, by Elizabeth Peters. We got to see a bit of all our favorite characters again and overall was a decent read, but I have to admit that I prefer the earlier books in this series. Ramses & co. just aren’t quite as interesting to me as Peabody & Emerson and unfortunately, Ramses & co. are taking a bigger and bigger role in the series. I’ve heard that isn’t necessarily true in the remainder of the series, but I’ll have to wait & see to find out.

I give this book: 3.5 out of 5 points.

The next book that I’ll be reading is Al Franken’s Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. Normally, I stick to fiction but this book got so much press that it intrigued me (plus some friends of mine have a copy that they’re lending me). I hope to have finished it in a couple of weeks, but we’ll see.