Book Reviews – Page 150

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card

July 27, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: The follow up to Ender’s Game set right before the last chapter of Ender’s Game with ideas from the Shadow Series and before the Xenocide and later books.

Last week I was browsing through Audible.com for a new book and saw that Orson Scott Card had released a new book last week that tells the story of the first Formic War (Earth Unaware). It is getting fairly mixed reviews right now. But I will probably still get around to reading it soon.

That led me to looking around to see if there were others Orson Scott Card books that I have not read. I found Ender in Exile in my library. By description I did not remember reading it. I remembered it within minutes of starting it. But it was good so I re-read (re-listened?) to it.

Two Books I Did Not Like

July 26, 2012 by Adam Shields

I listened to about two hours of both of these books on audio. I just could not get into either one.

I really want to watch Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy. Sooner or later I will get to it. What I like about all of the reviews of the book is that people keep saying it is a slow spy novel about ideas more than action. I tend to like books that are more about the ideas than the action.

But the price of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy has been a bit high (now $12.99) and it is the fifth book in a series and the first four are not in kindle format. (Yes it is the first of a trilogy within the larger series, but I still like to read books in order.)

Eagle in Flight: The Life of Athanasius, The Apostle of the Trinity by Allienne Becker

July 25, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: In this novelization of ancient Church history, the persecution of the church and the fight for orthodox christianity are made very real.

This year my theological reading topic has been the trinity. I haven’t read nearly as much as I intended so far this year. So when I ran across this book I picked it up to try and get back on track.

Eagle in Flight is about Athanasius, the 4th century bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius is important to all the major streams of Christianity. The Roman Catholic church considers him one of the four main ‘doctors of the church’. Protestants point to his list of the books of the New Testament as one of the early confirmations of the New Testament canon. Eastern Orthodox point to him as the ‘Father of Orthodoxy’.

He was a participant in the council where the Nicene Creed was written. He was bishop during the several severe persecutions after Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of Rome. And ended up spending 17 years over five different periods being exiled from Alexandria. I was unaware how much in the years after Constantine that the Christian church was persecuted.

Bittersweet: Thoughts on Change, Grace, and Learning the Hard Way by Shauna Niequist

July 24, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Life that is all good, is not life. Real life is bittersweet.

About two years ago I received a promotional copy of Bittersweet and Cold Tangerines from Catalyst. I kept them for a while, but eventually gave them away unread.

Last month I picked up the audiobook of Bittersweet on a whim. My earlier estimate that it was primarily written with women in mind was not completely off. There is a lot of discussion about having babies, miscarriage, friendship among women, cooking meals, being a mom and mentor.

But this is not a book just for women. I have read many books intended just for women and this one speaks about being a woman because Shauna Niequist is a woman.

Bittersweet is one of those collections of essays/memoirs/thoughts on life books that is beautifully written. She knows how to put words together to evoke the images and feelings she wants. I am not a push over and I rarely tear up at movies and even less at books. But there were a couple of times that I was very close.

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

July 23, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: A very special boy can see the paths of everything that has ever lived. And he is not just any boy. But he does not know that yet.

Orson Scott Card is both blessed and cursed with being able to write books about very gifted children better than anyone I know. It is a blessing because with few exceptions his books are very good.

The negative is that his stories are reminiscent of each other, even when they have different settings and genres. Pathfinder is more fantasy (at least in the first book) than science fiction or dystopian. There are two storylines that do not quite merge in this book. I assume that we will learn more in future books.

What I think is happening is that a colony ship from Earth (the first one) had something unexpected happen when they tried to move through a fold in space. Instead of jumping something odd happened. We really do not know for sure what happened through most of the book.

Spycatcher by Matthew Dunn

July 20, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: A super spy saves the United States from a really bad terrorist.

Spy novels, with very few exceptions, have the same basic story line. There are bad guys (modern spy novels it is usually either China or Islamic terrorists, old spy novels it is the Soviet Union or other Eastern Block countries).

The spy does a lot of bad things, but he (and it is usually he) feels bad about them, wants to quit but has to keep doing the spy things to keep the world safe because no one else can do the job as well as he can.

There are twists. One of the good guys is actually a bad guy, one of the bad guys is actually a good guy, or something like that.

Grave Peril (Dresden Files #3) by Jim Butcher

July 18, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Dresden and a ‘Righteous man’ fight the latest set of nasties in order to protect Chicago from vampires, ghosts and more.

It is always interesting to me that once I start working on a reading project, suddenly books that I thought would have no connection to the project get connected. In this case, Harry Dresden, the only wizard in Chicago, has started regularly working with Michael. A righteous man that has been chosen as The Fist of God.

Dresden explains to another character that Michael’s power is because Michael is a righteous man. His faith in God and simple, humble righteousness have a power that Dresden as a hard working wizard doesn’t have access to.

Throughout the book God’s power is present, not as magic, but a protective force for the innocent and righteous. Of course, Michael and his family and friends are Catholic. The books is set in Chicago, a very Catholic city, but more important, the ritual and rites of the Catholic church lend themselves to being written about like this.

The basic story of this book is that something or someone has been stirring up the divide between the real world and the NeverNever (the spirit world). So Harry and Michael keep running around stopping Ghosts and demons and other nasty things from hurting or killing people.

The Last Guardian (Artemis Fowl #8) by Eoin Colfer

July 16, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Artemis is cured and life is good. But Opal Koboi has figured out yet another way to escape and this the her target is not just power, the the destruction of all humanity. I started reading the Artemis Fowl books last fall. I was looking for another fun quick young adult series and I … Read more

Matched by Ally Condie

July 15, 2012 by Adam Shields

Today’s Kindle Book of the Day for July 15. On sale for $2.99. I am reposting the full review.

Takeaway: A romantic cross between Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, Hunger Games without the violence, Wrinkle in Time told from the perspective of the people of Camazotz and the determinism of Asmov’s Foundation series.

All of the recent young adult dystopian novels must be speaking to some cultural current. It is not just the good writing (although I really have enjoyed Hunger Games and Divergent and Cory Doctorow, etc.). I think at least part of it is the loss of privacy that comes about with the rise of Facebook and Twitter and computing in general. Probably the weak economy and general feeling of government unresponsiveness is another part. But there seems to be something more that I cannot put my finger on.

Matched by Ally Condie is set in a future utopia. The ‘Society” lives in peace. Everything is predicted and controlled by the ‘Society’. The protagonist is Cassia, a 17 year old girl about to be ‘matched’ to her future mate. The Society is large and controls everything, from the meals you eat, to your free time activities, to the date of your death.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

July 13, 2012 by Adam Shields

I am on vacation at the beach this weeks so I am posting some older reviews of books that make great beach reads. I finished the last Artemis Fowl book this week and will post the review next week.

Takeaway: Root for the bad guy, because he is a 12 year old mastermind genius

I did not read these when they first came out. I am glad that the series is almost done. It is easier to read that way.

Artemis Fowl is a 12 year old genius. He also happens to be from a very long line of thieves. Previous to the book, his father went missing (died?) and as we meet Artemis he is leading the household with the help of his assistant Butler. His mother is grieving over his father’s loss and has had a break with reality. She often does not even know who Artemis (or anyone else is). Butler’s sister is his mother’s maid and caretaker.