Tag Archives: book review

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.

B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton (1985) – BR00128 (2019) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

A sister hires Kinsey to find her estranged sister who seems to have gone missing.

What I Liked

The plot is interesting, as it starts to shape up as quite the mystery. The missing sister, Elaine, supposedly flew to Florida but someone else is staying in her condo there. Everybody has opinions, but no facts as to her whereabouts. And there’s a link to a burglary / homicide that occurred before she disappeared. Stolen identities, missing cats, firecracker old ladies, multiple clients and Jonah too?

What I Didn’t Like

A good portion of the novel is kind of muddy, with Kinsey blundering along, showing no real signs of any insight or deduction, just plodding along, with the mystery having to go at her pace too. None of the “drama” from the secondary characters tends to add any real intensity to the story, and many of the people just come off as lame.

The Bottom Line

Stealing someone’s identity is one thing, living their life is another

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.

Perchance to Dream by Robert B. Parker (1991) – BR00005 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

In Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep”, the reader was introduced to all the main characters — Sternwood himself, his butler, his two daughters, and a gangster. And of course, Marlowe was along for the ride. In this sequel by Robert B. Parker, Philip Marlowe returns to Sternwood Manor to solve the case of a missing daughter, Carmen, who disappeared from her much-deserved stay in a sanitarium.

What I Liked

A nice tribute to the Marlowe style, and you get to see Parker’s and Chandler’s styles side-by-side.

What I Didn’t Like

I found this to be a very strange book to read because of its constantly switching styles. The main text, written by Parker, reads like classic Spenser — same style, sentence structure, etc. However, there are constant “flashbacks” that show up as classic Marlowe in the style of Chandler. If they were just occasional flashbacks, it might have made for an interesting read, but the constant jumps made it very hard to adjust at times.

The Bottom Line

Nice tribute, I hope future Marlowe stories stick to Spenser style.

Vectors by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch (1999) – BR00003 (2001) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
January 20 2001

Plot or Premise

This is the second of six books dealing with biological terrorism by an unknown foe. This installment takes place at the end of Kate Pulaski’s tenure on the Enterprise and before DS9 begins, and Pulaski goes to Bajor to help her ex-husband solve a plague that is infecting the Bajorans and the Cardassians during the occupation. The Cardassians believe it is the Bajorans; the Bajorans think it is the Cardassians. Again, however, the plague has a 100% fatality rate.

What I Liked

I am not a hard-core sci-fi reader, but I do like Star Wars and Star Trek. Pulaski’s character is fine, as are the “new” characters that are introduced.

What I Didn’t Like

Gul Dukat is far too mature and Kira Nerys is far too trusting of the Federation. In fact, her involvement makes almost no sense considering her character at the start of the DS9 episodes. The story doesn’t have the same solid medical workup as the first one in the series, and while the characterization isn’t quite as good, it is also not as jarring.

The Bottom Line

A fast-paced storyline but without much depth.