Friday, May 20, 2016

read: Warped Factors (3 stars)

Warped FactorsWarped Factors by Walter Koenig
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is probably only of interest to Star Trek completists. There are a few interesting observations about the life of an actor and creativity and what he says about the Star Trek cast (even Shatner) is pretty tolerant and non-controversial and occasionally humorous. Walter's storytelling skills are pretty decent and I did not find his voice on the audiobook unpleasant.

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Saturday, May 14, 2016

read: Curious Minds (2 stars)

Curious Minds (Knight and Moon, #1)Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am confused by this book. I know that Janet Evanovich can write funny, compelling characters. I'm not a big Stephanie Plum fan, but my wife is and I enjoyed a couple of those books. I've also enjoyed a couple of books in her Fox and O'Hare series with Lee Goldberg. They were predictable. But they were also funny and entertaining and adventurous. Imagine my surprise when I started reading this book and felt… nothing. No humor. No heart. Nothing.

I never felt engaged by either of the main characters and I never felt any chemistry between them. The stakes of the plot were never made clear, so I could not understand why anyone was doing anything. They were simply jet-setting from place to place because they could. The writing is dull, dull, dull. And the dialog is so filled with zingers and one-liners as to make it feel like the characters were writers for a 1970s sit-com. Knight was supposed to be some sort of genius. He is just a pompous ass, with even less social skills than Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. And Moon is simply along for the ride, no matter what.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review.

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Wednesday, May 4, 2016

read: The Fifth Assassin (4 stars)

The Fifth Assassin (Culper Ring, #2)The Fifth Assassin by Brad Meltzer


An amazing labyrinth of a plot that still held together to the end.

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