Review Date: 7/9/2013

Walter Mosley is a genius at describing locations and settings and weaving them into his stories. With Easy Rawlins stories, that usually means L.A. Devil in a Blue Dress is the first chronologically and it sets the stage, acquainting the reader with post-war Los Angeles and the features of Easy's life. The story isn't Mosley's best, but it's still an exciting read. The shortness of the book makes you feel like you need to study each little detail before moving onto the next. And paying attention to the details just makes the journey that much more interesting.

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Review Date: 12/12/2011

The book is essentially a story about a basketball team. The author tries to make it more than that by talking about politics and race, but his treatment of the issues is pretty superficial. He also relies a bit on stereotypes to make his point, with the exception of his discussion of the ANWR drilling issue. He talks about the local politics of that issue in an interesting and straightforward way.

But all of these issues are just to fill out the book. It's primarily a story of a high school basketball team from a small native village in remote Alaska. The book follows the team over the course of the season. Each of the games is described in the book. Some of the games are summarized without much interesting detail, but others are described quite well.

I think it would make an excellent book for a young sports fan. There is some swearing, and drugs and alcohol play a small part, but nothing graphic or extreme.

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Review Date: 12/27/2009

Gardens of the Moon reminded me of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. It had a similar scope and breadth with lots of characters, multiple intersecting plot lines, and seemingly no chance of a neat and happy ending. Surprisingly, after it was over, it almost felt like too much was wrapped up. Also, there were significantly more main characters alive at the end of Gardens of the Moon than any of the Song of Ice and Fire books. Gardens of the Moon also had very little explanation. Instead, the reader is thrown into the deep end and expected to figure things out as they go. This has some advantages (no glaring inconsistencies because there are no rules) and some disadvantages (no understanding of whether a task is monumental or insignificant because again, there are no rules). In the end it felt a little like the book failed to deliver on expectations/its promises, but it was definitely an enjoyable read along the way.

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Review Date: 12/19/2011

I was surprised to find that I enjoyed The Ghost Brigades even more than the Forever War. The books are written the same way. They are fast paced, and the scenes and dialogue are concise. The plot in Ghost Brigades moves quickly, yet it's interesting and clever. The characters, which I didn't expect to like as much as the protagonist in Forever War, grow on you quickly until you find yourself rooting for them. The story is even unpredictable enough to keep you interested to the end. All in all, a good read.

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Review Date: 7/29/2012

A good but not great book that was mildly amusing, but not hilariously funny. To get the most out of the book, you really have to read it closely with lots of attention to the details. The humor is usually subtle and occasionally obscure. The book felt more like a Terry Pratchett novel than one by Neil Gaiman, not that it matters, just that it was interesting to analyze because so few books are written in teams.

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Review Date: 6/30/2013

Lost in a Good book did not live up to the expectations created by its predecessor. It felt like the author had 100 pages' worth of good ideas and needed to come up with 250 more pages to sell the book. Events did not happen logically or organically. They were created and plugged in to keep the story moving. As a result, the book feels disjointed and made up. There was also too much of the protagonist getting into impossible situations that only extraordinarily fortuitous events could save her from a la Doctor Who. All that being said, I really really really liked the ending.

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Review Date: 1/6/2013

Helpful Score: 2

I enjoy Brandon Sanderson's novels, but I don't love them. Mistborn is a good story with interesting characters. I especially liked the fact that Mistborn's protagonist is female, something that's still too uncommon in fantasy and science fiction novels. Mistborn's system of allomancy is creative and unique. Sanderson writes simply, concisely, and directly. As a result, the book has good pacing and the story moves along at a good clip. But his writing style creates two problems. First, his books read as though they're written for a junior high audience. I would compare Sanderson to John Scalzi; they both are direct and to the point. But only Sanderson's books feel like they're a bit beneath you. Second, the climactic scenes always feel rushed and not that climactic. In Mistborn, the tension never builds to the point where you feel like something really BIG just happened. Most of the key events are over before you realize it and the importance barely has a chance to sink in. It keeps Sanderson's books from being as good as they could be.

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Review Date: 12/9/2009

Neverwhere was an easy and interesting read. The plot twists and climactic scenes were, perhaps, somewhat simplistic, but in a good way. The dry, absurd humor reminded me a bit of Terry Pratchett. Also, the lack of well defined rules for the world that Gaiman constructs reminded me of Discworld. And of course, all the references to particular places in London would likely mean more to people familiar with the city than they did to me.

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