( B ) Books - Page 2

Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, Book 2)

Patricia Briggs

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Not yet published By: Ace

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Briggs, Patricia
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Fantasy -> Contemporary
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Fantasy -> General

The Mists of Avalon

Marion Zimmer Bradley

Amazon Price: $12.24 List Price: $18.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ballantine Books Amazon Marketplace: 492 new & used starting at $0.01

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bradley, Marion Zimmer -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bradley, Marion Zimmer -> Paperback
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bradley, Marion Zimmer -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 887 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Mists of Avalon 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is one of my all time favorites. I bought this copy as a gift for a friend. Nearly every literate person has heard the tales of Camelot and King Arthur. This classic novel expertly focuses on the women's perspective. I've read it several times and find insights into the origin of legends and religions, especially the feminine aspects of the Divine. If you enjoy it, I highly recommend the prequels, The Forest House and Priestess of Avalon.

Inspiring & enthralling fantasy 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the books I read many years ago, that inspired me to read more about my Pagan cultural background. It is a gritty tale, in the tradition of the dark & at times disturbing style of our own ancestral myths.

It is well written, and like all good fantasy, draws the reader into a world of intrigue and endless possibility. It also offers a sympathetic view of Pagan spirituality.

As long as you avoid taking this as anything more than inspirational fantasy, it is a darn good read.

Editorial Review:

A Literary Guild Featured Alternate
Here is the magical legend of King Arthur, vividly retold through the eyes and lives of the women who wielded power from behind the throne. A spellbinding novel, an extraordinary literary achievement, THE MISTS OF AVALON will stay with you for a long time to come....

Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Modern Library Classics)

Jules Verne

Amazon Price: $8.95 List Price: $8.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Modern Library Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $0.95

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( V ) -> Verne, Jules
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Action & Adventure
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Literature -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror -> Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Journey to the Center review 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book for my 9 year old son and he really liked it.

ending was a dissapointment 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I'm a dissapointed ten year old rating this book. Up until the end it
Was probably one of the best books I've ever read. It was full of adventure and excitement, but then I got to the end. The book did not live up to it's name. It would be more appropriately called "Journey Almost to the Centre of the Earth. I recommend this book only to people who like major dissapointments.

Editorial Review:

The intrepid Professor Lindenbrock embarks upon the strangest expedition of the nineteenth century: a journey down an extinct Icelandic volcano to the Earth’s very core. In his quest to penetrate the planet’s primordial secrets, the geologist—together with his quaking nephew Axel and their devoted guide, Hans—discovers an astonishing subterranean menagerie of prehistoric proportions. Verne’s imaginative tale is at once the ultimate science fiction adventure and a reflection on the perfectibility of human understanding and the psychology of the questor. As David Brin notes in his Introduction, though Verne never knew the term “science fiction,” Journey to the Centre of the Earth is “inarguably one of the wellsprings from which it all began.”

On the Prowl

Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance, Sunny

Amazon Price: $7.99 List Price: $7.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Berkley Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $3.23

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> General
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Short Stories -> General AAS
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> British -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 47 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Mostly worth the money.... 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Someone at a bookstore put me on to Patricia Briggs and she's mainly the reason I picked this one up. On the whole I was happy with it, but only because I knew going in what to expect. As some of the other reviewers have said, at least three of the stories are partials or starter stories with the full story in novel form to come. After saying that, two of those stories could really 'almost' stand alone in that they meet and fall in love with a mate. THe full novels (and I can only speak for Briggs story as that's the only one I've read) just extend out the rest of their story.

Okay, first off...despite the title and the cover art, not all of these books are about werewolves. Maybe I'm the only one who though they would be...anyway, they deal with werewolves, hellhounds, dragon/fae and a group of people who get their power from the moon.

Brigg's story was enjoyable, mainly, I think because I'm already familiar with her world and it's characters. This story is the beginnings of a new shoot-off series from her main "Mercy" books. It deals with the werewolf pack she grew up in. This story is Charles' and his mate. These werewolves are a mixture brutal (but without any gory details) and elegance. I mean that in the sense that Brigg writes them without the language and crudeness that are often found in paranormals nowadays. It's a good teaser story and the book (Cry Wolf) was pretty good too.

Wilks' story was interesting and could pretty much stand alone, though I think it's also part of a series. The characters were likeable and the story was okay until the twist with the murderer. It was a little hard for me to change gears. The romance was good, the world building was similiar to other authors worlds (paranormals out in the open but human groups resenting and hateful, religious persecution, that sort of thing). All in all, worth the read.

Chance's story was also a good read and could stand alone. I'm not a big fan of Fae stories, they tend to creep me out, but this one was well done and didn't have any of that drugged out, party all the time and steal babies that other fae stories do. I liked the set-up of different groups of fae and other magical creatures. I actually liked both the main characters, they had a sense of humor and the hero, while being very 'manly', could laugh at himself. Don't be put off by the auction scene in the beginning. The villains, while having bad intentions, never quite got to that creepy, evil villains often have. They seemed more comedy villains to me.

The last story was really, really odd. partly because, unlike the other two, this one was an erotic story. Beware of authors that only use one name!!!! Basically, the main character is a queeen of these moon people. Previous queens have put men and women out to stud to increase her power. No one has the right to choose their own mate-or even if they get to marry. What put me off was this queen is basically skanky. She's got multiple lovers( one love scene was 15 PAGES!! That's right-15!). Two thirds of this 'story' was her having sex with multiple partners. Not much of a story, actually. I have to admit I just skimmed through this one. It starts out with her mourning one dead lover and then a few pages later she's met up with another lover and is happily running through the forest naked. Yeah. It's hard for me to connect with a woman who can't really emotionally connect with a man enough to make a commitment to one of them.

So...to sum up...if you're looking for complete stories that stand alone-only one of them really does that. If you're looking for starter stories to give you a sense of an authors series, than this is a good place to start. Read the first three, skip the last (you'll thank me).

Editorial Review:

These all-new paranormal romances from today's hottest authors feature a female werewolf who comes into her own; a Lord who crosses paths with a fiery mage; a mixed-blood Child of the Moon who faces an uncertain future; and a woman whose sixth sense proves to be a dangerous talent.

The Sharing Knife, Volume Four: Horizon (The Sharing Knife)

Lois McMaster Bujold

Amazon Price: $17.81 List Price: $26.99 Not yet published By: Eos

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bujold, Lois McMaster -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bujold, Lois McMaster -> Hardcover
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bujold, Lois McMaster -> General AAS

Editorial Review:

In a world where malices—remnants of ancient magic—can erupt with life-destroying power, only soldier-sorcerer Lakewalkers have mastered the ability to kill them. But Lakewalkers keep their uncanny secrets—and themselves—from the farmers they protect, so when patroller Dag Redwing Hickory rescued farmer girl Fawn Bluefield, neither expected to fall in love, join their lives in marriage, or defy both their kin to seek new solutions to the perilous split between their peoples.

As Dag's maker abilities have grown, so has his concern about who—or what—he is becoming. At the end of a great river journey, Dag is offered an apprenticeship to a master groundsetter in a southern Lakewalker camp. But as his understanding of his powers deepens, so does his frustration with the camp's rigid mores with respect to farmers. At last, he and Fawn decide to travel a very different road—and find that along it, their disparate but hopeful company increases.

Fawn and Dag see that their world is changing, and the traditional Lakewalker practices cannot hold every malice at bay forever. Yet for all the customs that the couple has challenged thus far, they will soon be confronted by a crisis exceeding their worst imaginings, one that threatens their Lakewalker and farmer followers alike. Now the pair must answer in earnest the question they've grappled with since they killed their first malice together: When the old traditions fail disastrously, can their untried new ways stand against their world's deadliest foe?

Use of Weapons

Iain Banks

List Price: $16.50 By: Orbit Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $6.24

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Banks, Iain M.
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 65 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

SF for Grown-Ups 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

For those who haven't encountered Iain M. Banks "Culture" series, this is the third volume. All can be read independently, as each has its own character set and storyline. His setup is ingenious: there are many humanoid species in the galaxy, and the Culture represents a post-scarcity civilization with a self-appointed role as agents of change (or meddlers) in the affairs of less advanced groups. "Use of Weapons" follows the career of Zakalwe, a Culture agent engaged in many military operations over a long career. We follow him backwards and forwards in time, which may be confusing the first time through but makes sense on a second reading. Banks is a superb storyteller, his set-piece episodes are gripping, and throughout this and his other Culture novels he gradually tells us more and more about the Culture, its agents, the sentient machines and ship Minds that wield amazing power and are "citizens" with wills of their own, and the technologies that make things possible. It's the best hard SF on the planet.

Editorial Review:

The man known as Cheradenine Zakalwe was one of Special Circumstances' foremost agents, changing the destiny of planets to suit the Culture through intrigue, dirty tricks or military action. The woman known as Diziet Sma had plucked him from obscurity and pushed him towards his present eminence, but despite all their dealings she did not know him as well as she thought. The drone known as Skaffen-Amtiskaw knew both of these people. It had once saved the woman's life by massacring her attackers in a particularly bloody manner. It believed the man to be a burnt-out case. But not even its machine intelligence could see the horrors in his past.

The Sword of Shannara Trilogy

Terry Brooks

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Del Rey Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $17.91

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Brooks, Terry -> General
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Brooks, Terry -> Hardcover

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 87 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Twenty-five years ago, New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks wrote a novel that brought to life a dazzling world that would become one of the most popular fantasy epics of all time, beloved by millions of fans around the world. Ten more Shannara books would follow. Now, for the first time in one elegant collector’s edition hardcover, and featuring an introduction by the author, here are the first three novels of that classic series: The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara, and The Wishsong of Shannara—the beginning of a phenomenal epic of good and evil.

The Sword of Shannara
Long ago, the wars of the ancient Evil ruined the world. In peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Ohmsford knows little of such troubles. But the supposedly dead Warlock Lord is plotting to destroy everything in his wake. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness is the Sword of Shannara, which can be used only by a true heir of Shannara. On Shea, last of the bloodline, rests the hope of all the races.

The Elfstones of Shannara
The magical Ellcrys tree is dying, loosening the spell that bars the Demons from enacting vengeance upon the land. Now Wil Ohmsford must guard the Elven girl Amberle on a perilous quest as she carries one of the Ellcrys’ seeds to a mysterious place where it can be quickened into a powerful new force. But dark on their trail comes the Reaper, most fearsome of all Demons, aiming to crush their mission at any cost.

The Wishsong of Shannara
An ancient Evil is stirring to new life, sending its ghastly Mord Wraiths to destroy Mankind. To win through the vile growth that protects this dark force, the Druid Allanon needs Brin Ohmsford—for she alone holds the magic power of the wishsong. Reluctantly Brin joins the Druid on his dangerous journey. But a prophecy foretells doom, as Evil nurses its plans to trap the unsuspecting Brin into a fate far more horrible than death.

Thus begins Terry Brooks’s thrilling Shannara epic, an unforgettable tale of adventure, magic, and myth.

Consider Phlebas

Iain M. Banks

Amazon Price: $10.39 List Price: $12.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Orbit Amazon Marketplace: 50 new & used starting at $5.94

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Banks, Iain M.

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 96 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A universe of cliches 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I bought this book based on the glowing reviews found on Amazon. I'll admit it's not entirely unreadable and for enthusiasts of military scifi, there are some things to like here (the cover art, for example, is awesome). However, taken as a whole this novel was far more irritating than engrossing.

The small annoyances: the back cover and the prologue inform us that the central conflict of this novel will be two interstellar nations racing to recover a powerful AI computer that's stranded on an off-limits planet. In the second chapter, the main character learns this as well, and the novel is set up. Promising, eh? Three pages later, our protagonist is thrown completely off the trail and spends an eternity doing things unrelated to the central plot. Meanwhile, the dialogue is awkward and every page has at least one poorly constructed sentence.

The real annoyances, however, are the clichés. Chapter 1 intends to introduce us to the main character in a dramatic prison rescue... straight out of any spy, romance, scifi or western novel you may have read. The primary aliens are giant monsters (who would have guessed that?), with 3-legs instead of two. They're also really loud. In chapter 2, we see the primary character make an escape from a starship under attack that's suspiciously similar to the opening scene of Star Wars episode IV. In Chapter 3, our main character is in a fight to the death to join a crew of pirates. Seriously, points for good taste apply, but I'd still prefer that you didn't rip off Alexandre Dumas and `The Count of Monte Cristo." The Captain of the pirates is a bit of a rogue who won his ship in a game of chance. The ship itself is a beaten down frigate, but the Captain swears that it's the fastest ship in this part of the galaxy. Some of his crewmates are basically humanoid, but covered in light brown fur. Honestly. Continuing the Star Wars motif, we soon see some ground combat (involving laser weapons) in a Temple on a planet looking suspiciously like Yavin IV. I could go on, but you get the point.

It's not entirely awful, and if you're a true scifi junkie you'll get your money's worth. For the non-enthusiasts who just want a decent story with some cool space battles, I strongly recommend Scott Westerfeld's "Succession" novels.

Editorial Review:

"Dazzlingly original." -- Daily Mail
"Gripping, touching and funny." -- TLS

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender.

Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a Planet of the Dead proscribed to mortals, lay a fugitive Mind. Both the Culture and the Idirans sought it. It was the fate of Horza, the Changer, and his motley crew of unpredictable mercenaries, human and machine, actually to find it, and with it their own destruction.

The Player of Games (The Culture)

Iain M. Banks

List Price: $16.50 By: Orbit Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $2.50

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Banks, Iain M.
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> Science Fiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Science Fiction & Fantasy -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An Absorbing, Exciting, Science Fictional Exploration of Gamesmanship from Iain M. Banks 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

"The Player of Games" remains one of the best in distinguished British author Iain M. Banks's highly literate, quite sophisticated, "Culture" space opera series of novels. It is also among the earliest in the series, and one that is certainly most notable for its engrossingly in-depth study into the character of Gurgeh, the Culture's premier master of every game - especially those devoted to strategy - known to this long-lived space-faring human civilization. At the very pinnacle of his success, Gurgeh is bored and restless, until he accepts the seemingly impossible challenge of mastering Azad, the very game of life played by the ruling elite of the relatively primitive, autocratic, almost totalitarian, Empire of Azad, located in one of the distant Magellanic Clouds. It is a game that is rich not only in its intricate strategy, but also, in elaborate deception; an intense game whose very outcome may mean life or death for anyone playing it, especially Gurgeh. Told in incandescent, quite pyrotechnic, prose, Banks' novel comes across as a futuristic Graham Greene thriller set amidst more conventional - if elaborately descriptive - space opera settings. A splendid science fiction novel that is not merely a major landmark of Anglo-American science fiction, but one which ought to be reckoned as high literary art written by one of the foremost writers of fiction - in any genre - in the English language.

Editorial Review:

The Culture - a human/machine symbiotic society - has thrown up many great Game Players, and one of the greatest is Gurgeh. Jernau Morat Gurgeh. The Player of Games. Master of every board, computer and strategy. Bored with success, Gurgeh travels to the Empire of Azad, cruel and incredibly wealthy, to try their fabulous game...a game so complex, so like life itself, that the winner becomes emperor. Mocked, blackmailed, almost murdered, Gurgeh accepts the game, and with it the challenge of his life - and very possibly his death.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ray Bradbury

Amazon Price: $10.87 List Price: $15.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Eos Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $8.00

Buy at Amazon.com

Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( B ) -> Bradbury, Ray
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Genre Fiction -> Horror -> Dark Fantasy
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 208 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Did seeing the movie first smear my objectivity? 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Ray Bradbury'
s book was something that I've wanted to read for quite some time. Unfortunately, I had already seen the film so I had a plot in mind as well as a mood. Bradbury as always strings metaphores together like we do popcorn on the Christmas tree. It's his main setup for atmosphere and that is the books great strength. Unfortunately for me, the characters of Will, Jim and Will's Dad are flat, underdeveloped and dull. Without a back story, I really don't have a sense of caring for the characters and as hard as I tried that didn't change. This was typical of Dickens at times. He created characters and then threw them into the story for development. I never found this technique particularly inviting for me.
The story is simple enough -- a carnival comes to town creating strange and bizarre situations that invite temptation. Jim wants to be older -- but we aren't given a good enough reason why. Will's Dad wants to be younger and the idea feels more universal than centered on the character in question and it falls short. The carnival can do this of course but at a price. That alone feels as rundown an idea as I've ever read. Everyone has that statement. The ending feels more of a fable than anything else and perhaps that's what Ray wanted out of the story. Perhaps he would have put 'once upon a time' and 'happily ever after' were it a different time.
The message -- don't fall into temptation and don't let misery eat away your soul. I don't know, the book has great mood and atmosphere but had the same feel for me as 'Tale of Two Cities' -- I couldn't want to finish it and move on to something else.

Editorial Review:

Few American novels written this century have endured in th heart and mind as has this one-Ray Bradbury's incomparable masterwork of the dark fantastic.A carnival rolls in sometime after the midnight hour on a chill Midwestern October eve, ushering in Halloween a week before its time. A calliope's shrill siren song beckons to all with a seductive promise of dreams and youth regained. In this season of dying, Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show has come to Green Town, Illinois, to destroy every life touched by its strange and sinister mystery. And two inquisitive boys standing precariously on the brink of adulthood will soon discover the secret of the satanic raree-show's smoke, mazes, and mirrors, as they learn all too well the heavy cost of wishes -- and the stuff of nightmare.