Tag Archives: adventure

Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis (1998) – BR00018 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
March 4 2001

Plot or Premise

A collection of thirteen short stories, eight of which were published previously in various magazines.

What I Liked

  • Dead on Red – A contract killer kills a jockey for another jockey, but the results are not quite what the surviving jockey had desired. (4.00/5.00)
  • Song for Mona – A snobbish daughter is ashamed of her mother’s life and history while others find her charming and praise her. (4.00/5.00)
  • Collision Course – An editor loses his job and runs into snobs who won’t let him park his boat at their restaurant while he has dinner with three publishers. Turns out the owner is a up-and-comer who needs to win an upcoming race in order to attract horses to his farm. An interesting battle develops. (4.00/5.00)
  • Carrot for a Chestnut – Fixing a race by doping the horse with a doctored carrot. With a great twist at the end. (3.50/5.00)
  • Blind Chance – A man has a perfect way to know the outcomes of photo-finish races, and to make money on it. Until disaster strikes. (4.00/5.00)
  • Corkscrew – An honest man is charged with a crime and his lawyer swindles his parents out of the bail money. He doesn’t count on the road to justice being long and windy. (3.75/5.00)
  • The Day of the Losers — Money from an old robbery is the glue that holds this story together as the police attempt to fix a race in order to catch a crook. There are twists all around at the end. (3.50/5.00)
  • Haig’s Death – All the people who have their fates resting on the outcome of a race are all affected when the decision falls to the judge, whose fate has already been decided. Multiple storylines all lead to a combined finish. (3.50/5.00)

What I Didn’t Like

  • Raid at Kingdom Hill – A bomb scare at the racetrack, and money goes missing during the chaos. (2.00/5.00)
  • Bright White Star – The theft of a horse from an auction and a wandering tramp who is displaced from his home on the land…includes a great set-up/intro though — “Write us a story,” they said. I asked, “What about?” “About three thousand words,” they replied. (2.00/5.00)
  • Nightmare – A horse thief is running from his past where his father was killed during a theft. (2.50/5.00)
  • The Gift – A down-and-out alcoholic journalist finds the horseracing story of the century, but may be too drunk to write it. (2.00/5.00)
  • Spring Fever – A woman falls in love with her jockey and is taken advantage of, at first. (2.50/5.00)

The Bottom Line

An average Francis collection.

The Conquered by Dafydd ab Hugh (1999) – BR00020 (2001) – 🐸🐸⚪⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
March 4 2001

Plot or Premise

This is the first of a 3-book series dealing with a time when Bajor takes over the station for a trial period of 60 days. Kai Winn is in command, and her past is revealed through a series of flashbacks to the Occupation and her actions to help the resistance. Worf, Sisko, O’Brien, Quark and Odo are stranded on a planet where all the citizens have advanced technology that has reduced them to a complete dependency relationship. Renegade Cardassians have invaded the planet and have no trouble picking off the inhabitants — all they have to do is cut the power to the technology. Dax and Bashir are also on the planet in a different environment.

What I Liked

Dax and Bashir’s trials and tribulations aren’t bad and there is an interesting interplay with some cadets.

What I Didn’t Like

Kai Winn’s character comes off far too “mature” for the period, and belies the changes when she actually reached power. Major Kira’s character is barely fleshed out, and mostly appears as a caricature of the real character on the series. None of the four stranded characters are worth reading about here, and are pale imitations of the real characters on the series.

The Bottom Line

Not bad but not great.

By the Rivers of Babylon by Nelson DeMille (1978) – BR00014 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
February 18 2001

Plot or Premise

Peace in the Middle East is almost assured and two Concordes fly to New York with delegates for final negotiations. Terrorists try to derail the peace conference by planting bombs on board and taking the passengers hostage. After one plane is destroyed, killing all on board, the second plane is forced to land near Babylon. At the last minute, the hostages manage to escape to the top of a small hill from which they attempt to defend against the terrorists through several days of sorties, knowing that the military probably doesn’t know where they are and therefore can’t swoop in and rescue them.

What I Liked

Long before there was Clancy, there was DeMille. This book takes the international realm and stands it on its ear — there are (excruciating) details of the relations between the characters on both sides of the peace conference who are forced to work together to fight the terrorists. In addition, the battle tactics are first-rate, the writing is almost perfect, and the story is superb as the “hostages” fight in small groups with every weapon they have — gas bombs from the plane’s fuel tanks, sounds from a war movie blasted over speakers to simulate larger weaponry, etc.

What I Didn’t Like

There are a LOT of characters at the start of this book and it is hard to keep track of them all. Up until the end, there are too many small sub-plots — some are good, and necessary to flesh out the experience, but not all of them. There are fewer characters by the end though and it helps speed up the plotting. However, the ending is a little over-the-top, resembling a scene from a Die Hard movie more than keeping with the slightly more realistic tone of the rest of the book. As well, there is a meeting between the hostage-leaders and the terrorist-leader that is absolutely surreal. The likelihood of both parties treating it like a military battle with truces, etc., is virtually nil but it was at least interesting to read.

The Bottom Line

DeMille is the master of the game.

Fire on High by Peter David (1998) – BR00001 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

This is the sixth book about the U.S.S. Excalibur. This one sheers away from Captain Calhoun and Shelby, and focuses instead on Lefler and the return of her mother. In addition, there are extensive interactions between Selar, Burgoyne, and McHenry, trying to flesh out their characters.

What I Liked

The story is interesting, you get to meet another race, and Soleta has some amazing lines.

What I Didn’t Like

The Lefler storyline could have been far more detailed than it was, or gone into more depth for the relationship with her mother. However, a lot of the book seems to be simply tying up loose ends from previous stories and laying down markers for future ones.

The Bottom Line

Cute ending but not one of the best in the series.

Red Sector by Diane Carey (1999) – BR00002 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

This is the third of six books dealing with biological terrorism by an unknown foe. This novel focuses heavily on two known characters (a great portrayal of Spock and an annoying version of McCoy), and introduces a really interesting character — Ensign Eric Stiles. Stiles is assigned to evacuate Spock and friends from a planet in turmoil, but Stiles gets captured during the otherwise successful mission. Subsequent imprisonment for four years has a definite effect on Stiles and he establishes a strong bond with a fellow prisoner, Zevon. Fast forward several years and the biological terrorist has attacked the Romulans. The Romulans can’t save themselves…perhaps the Federation can help?

What I Liked

I am not a die-hard sci-fi fan, but I do like Star Trek and Star Wars. This is a great story, and Stiles is a fantastic character. Definitely the best addition to the series so far, not surprising given Carey’s strong ties to the Starfleet universe!

What I Didn’t Like

My complaints related to characterization for the previous two books are not as strong here, but McCoy is a bit annoying.

The Bottom Line

Best of the first three in the series.