Science Fiction & Fantasy Books

Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)

Stephenie Meyer

Amazon Price: $13.79 List Price: $22.99 Not yet published By: Little, Brown Young Readers

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Editorial Review:

Twilight tempted the imagination. New Moon made readers thirsty for more. Eclipse turned the saga into a worldwide phenomenon. And now, the book that everyone has been waiting for....





Breaking Dawn, the final book in the #1 bestselling Twilight Saga, will take your breath away.

The Host: A Novel

Stephenie Meyer

Amazon Price: $16.49 List Price: $25.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Little, Brown and Company Amazon Marketplace: 79 new & used starting at $12.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 381 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good, but not great. 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Well...
It was a nice book, and a good read, but...
I was never really engaged in it - I mean, sure I wanted know what would happen in the end, but if someone had told me to put the book down before I read the last few pages - I would have kindly obliged.
It's nice to see Steph Meyer having a go at something other than twilight - but seriously, (and I thought this when reading the twilight series) it's a great idea - but nothing happened throughout it - there was no major twists and turns, no ups and downs that make the ending interesting - and seriously - the best endings are not always the happy ones - and this definitely applies to this story. Really - I absolutely love the twilight series because of its fantastic love story - but the best ending so far has been her first book Twilight - where the readers were left wanting more, yet even that was rather dull - to sum it up - guy and girl fall in love throughout the majority of the book (somewhat interestingly) then big event at the end when girl is almost killed, but things soon return to good old lovely dovely romance... The only thing this serious has going for it is the conflict between a vampire and a human when they fall in love, and the rest of the books just seem to follow on the story. For 'The Host' I thought it was a really good idea, just like the vampire/human idea is, but it took a while to get started, and by the time I'd reached the last couple of chapters, I realized it would never really take off. Although the ending does have a bit of a climax at the end (just like the twilight series) - it felt only like a single ripple in the sea on an incredibly calm day - barley noticeable, and certainly not a wave. And then everything went back to being lovely dovely and even better than before- sorry Steph, but that story ended for me long before I turned the last page.
So - yes I liked it, it was a great idea, and i was intrigued to know how things worked...
but i thought it was a bit bland and boring - a ripple of drama at the end of a book does not make a good book-
and seriously (as above)
'the best endings are not always the happy ones.'

Happy Reading.

Editorial Review:

Amazon Best of the Month, May 2008: Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen-vamp Twilight series, takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or another series. --Mari Malcolm

Dungeons and Dragons Core Rulebook Gift Set, 4th Edition

Wizards RPG Team

Amazon Price: $66.12 List Price: $104.95 By: Wizards of the Coast Amazon Marketplace: 9 new & used starting at $66.12

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 88 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Slick, sexy, streamlined 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

D&D 4.0 is much improved over 3.5. The rules are streamlined, the art and text are beautiful, and everything is so organized. It's very easy to teach to new players but has enough depth to appeal to experienced players. My only complaint is that there is simply not enough character classes, but that will improve with time and as more books are released. Wizards of the Coast made some great moves in making the game more appealing to all, and I think you'll find that the new rules really fit into to today's gaming while still allowing all the roleplaying you desire. A much needed and welcomed update.

Editorial Review:

All three 4th Edition core rulebooks in one handsome slipcase. The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master.This gift set features a handsome slipcase containing all three of the 4th Edition D&D Roleplaying Game core rulebooks: the Players Handbook rulebook (320 pages), the Monster Manual rulebook (288 pages), and the Dungeon Masters Guide rulebook (224 pages).

The Road (Oprah's Book Club)

Cormac McCarthy

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( M ) -> McCarthy, Cormac

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1447 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham

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Guest Reviewer: Dennis Lehane

Dennis Lehane, master of the hard-boiled thriller, generated a cult following with his series about private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, wowed readers with the intense and gut-wrenching Mystic River, blew fans all away with the mind-bending Shutter Island, and switches gears with Coronado, his new collection of gritty short stories (and one play).

Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries. In The Road, those batteries are almost out--the entire world is, quite literally, dying--so the final affirmation of hope in the novel's closing pages is all the more shocking and maybe all the more enduring as the boy takes all of his father's (and McCarthy's) rage at the hopeless folly of man and lays it down, lifting up, in its place, the oddest of all things: faith. --Dennis Lehane

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Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition

Wizards RPG Team

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 121 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

I really wanted to like it... 2 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I've been an absolutely RABID fan of Dungeons and Dragons in all of its incarnations since about 1980. I had all of the 1st edition and 2nd edition books, 3.0 represented a big change for me, but I grew to like it - and then 3.5 really fixed some of the bugs in 3.0 making it one of the most modular and enjoyable systems I'd ever seen.

When the 4th edition of D&D was announced, it seemed premature. When the video of the presentations about 4th edition hit YouTube, I was intrigued - a lot of what I seeing sounded very promising. I began to let myself get excited about the new edition, then I read one of the preview books - and began to get nervous, but I figured, hey, this is just a preview - they'll work out the bugs. After all, version 3.0/3.5 had a few clunky spots, but if you worked through those, BAM, you had an amazingly well oiled machine, right? Then I get the 4th edition rulebooks. Wow, talking about a head shot. We have "new Coke" in game form.

First, I believe it is entirely misguided for WotC to try to turn D&D into a MMO, yet that's effectively what they've done. The various classes are too homogenous, their roles are too rigidly defined, all of the powers and abilities have to work on a square grid. While this certainly "simplifies" and "streamlines" the system, it's effectively thrown the baby out with the bathwater as there's no "system" left. Gone are perennial favorites like the Druid, bard, and monk, and we get the warlord???

Character races are also subjected to castration, no half-orcs, no gnomes, but hey we get tieflings and dragonborn??? Alignment has gone from a tapestry of various viewpoints and world views to a system that works fine as long as your mentality doesn't branch beyond the 3rd grade level. Spellcasters have less power options and abilities than the characters in any game of Diablo II, and Diablo II does them better.

Don't get me wrong, there are some interesting ideas out there - the Heroic, Paragon, and Epic tiers are a neat idea, but even they seem to be executed poorly - prestige classes in 3.5 did a far better job of doing the same thing.

I sincerely hope that 4th edition is improved as additional supplements are released, but I'm not holding my breath (and I AM holding my dollars until I see evidence of improvement). At this point I see 4th Edition as an interesting game of below average depth and quality. I fear Gary Gygax is rolling over in his grave to see the "Dungeons and Dragons" name on it.

Editorial Review:

The first of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game. The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master. The Players Handbook presents the official Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game rules as well as everything a player needs to create D&D characters worthy of song and legend: new character races, base classes, paragon paths, epic destinies, powers, magic items, weapons, armor, and much more.

Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition

Wizards RPG Team

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Play D+D before? Skip this book 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

To start with, this is not a review of Fourth Edition, I have been reading through the character and combat system, and I like 4th edition (and I date back to the days of the original Chainmail). That being said, this book is utterly useless if you have played the game before, any version. There are no charts (other than disease and traps). Most of it is advice on how to roleplay, and what to do if someone has a family member that died and missed 2 months of gaming (I kid you not).

All the rules you need for 4th edition are in the players handbook. Heck, the monster manual is pretty worthless to if you are getting the modules, all the stats are in the modules. Magic Items, Combat Rules, all character powers, that is all in the PH.

There are like 10 pages of stupid made up artifacts that you will never use, pages on how to make maps, how to make encounters, and how many bowls of chips you should have at a game session. Honestly, there is NOTHING in this book that is need to play 4th edition, I would recommend only the PH and the first module if you want a feel for the game.

I do like 4th ediion though.. even though it seems like it was built as a video game engine. I have neices and nephews that it is really easy to explain to.

Editorial Review:

The second of three core rulebooks for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game. The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master. The Dungeon Masters Guide gives the Dungeon Master helpful tools to build exciting encounters, adventures, and campaigns for the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game, as well as advice for running great game sessions, ready-to-use traps and non-player characters, and more. In addition, it presents a fully detailed town that can serve as a starting point for any D&D game.

Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual: Roleplaying Game Core Rules, 4th Edition

Wizards RPG Team

Amazon Price: $23.07 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Dungeons & Dragons Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $19.89

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Features:

• Core Rulebook: The Monster Manual is the third of three core rulebooks required to play the Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game.
• Quick and easy play: The improved page layout and presentation enables novice and established players to learn and understand the new D&D rules quickly.
• D&D Insider: The Monster Manual will receive enhanced online support at www.dndinsider.com.

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 2.5 of 5

How sad to watch a company commit "brand" suicide. 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 6 people found this review helpful.

A successful company will identify what about it's product is 1) recognizable by the consumer, 2) successful and generated positive image and sales and, 3) needing improvement.

The new MM follows in the same flawed footsteps of the other core 4th books. Instead of trying to improve on their "brand" product (which generally agreed had it's main success in the 3.5 rule set) they attempt an entire rules/style revision and become an entirely different product. Most successful companies will tell you that will kill your "brand".

"Examine your company's history and figure out how it was branded in the past. Then revitalize the original message, putting your own twist on it. Reemphasizing the message that inspired and unified your firm's original customers won't alienate them." If we go by this...what WoTC is telling me is that they want to abandon it's original fanbase who made the D&D a success up to the 3.5 edition, in an attempt to strike out in an entirely new direction, hoping that an entirely redesigned brand product will tap into the MMO market's larger fanbase as potential new customers.

It seems a decision made simply to satisfy the shareholders, and not one at all made for the RPG community. The same mindset has been carried over into the new MM. Gone are the great descriptions, gone are the non-combat critters who used deception and trickery in favor of a big club, and gone are any other concerns other than stats/powers...it reads more like a recipe book serving up lists of ingredients that went into making the dish, but with no description as to which order to mix them, what temperature to use and how long to bake them. People can claim "it's up to the GM's imagination to make the critter his own"....but if the critter lacks even the most basic of visual description I wonder what the GM paid for. If the book emits the lush descriptions, reduces the critters all to basic combat obstacles and yet the books are still priced in the same manner as previous editions - then yes you guess it - you've been had.

IN regards to the MM and to the 4th edition as a whole - WoTC, get your head out of your *** and start trying to repair your brand right now. Classic RPG fans require a game made by RPG fans, for RPG fans...not by a new generation of MMO player who has no idea what a pencil n paper RPG system should be. The target 13 yr old audience will soon realize' as they get older, they want something more thought out and engaging than the 4th edition serves up.

I applaud the initiative of wanting to completely redfine your product brand..but when it is done with apparently no feedback taken from your current consumer base in development, then you reap what you sow. I smell manure.

Editorial Review:

The Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game has defined the medieval fantasy genre and the tabletop RPG industry for more than 30 years. In the D&D game, players create characters that band together to explore dungeons, slay monsters, and find treasure. The 4th Edition D&D rules offer the best possible play experience by presenting exciting character options, an elegant and robust rules system, and handy storytelling tools for the Dungeon Master. The Monster Manual presents more than 300 official Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game monsters for all levels of play, from aboleth to zombie. Each monster is illustrated and comes with complete game statistics and tips for the Dungeon Master on how best to use the monster in D&D encounters.

Fahrenheit 451

Ray Bradbury

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1251 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

Bradbury--the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems, including The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man--is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. --Neil Roseman

Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 6)

J.R. Ward

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 254 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Rather disappointed 2 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I had looked at some of the other reviews while I waited for a copy of Ward's Lover Enshrined, and I'm afraid I've got to say that I agree with a lot of what's been written in the customer reviews.

Despite the glowing "official" review, Ward has lost something vital through the series that had really hooked me in the beginning. I read Urban Fantasy, other Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Paranormal Romance, along with mainstream fiction novels, so I don't mind the urban fantasy schtick at all. Ward's latest is certainly an urban fantasy novel and I can enjoy that aspect of it. The problem I find is when a book is marketed to be one thing and it turns out to be another. Ward's quality of romance in her storylines has declined drastically. For instance, I found the storyline between Butch and Marissa to be totally two-dimensional and unbelievable. The same holds for Phury and Cormia in Lover Enshrined, and not only is their relationship unbelieveable, it occupies very little of the overall story. Ward couldn't say more blatantly than that she isn't interested in continuing in the paranormal romance genre. If this is not what she intends to convey, I hope she reads and takes note of the customer reviews and rethinks her plot strategies.

My quesiton is why is the book marketed as a paranormal romance? The same happened with, in my opinion, a horrifically bad novel written by S. Squires in which the hero is abused throughout the entire book, the relationship between the hero and heroine is flat and uninteresting, and yet the book itself is marketed to be a "romance."

These stories aren't romance, and publishers are only going to anger their market by continuing with such disasters and disappointments.

I just can't give this book too many stars. I will continue to watch Ward's progress but I don't think I'll be spending money on her work any time soon. I'd rather check it out from the library since I've lost trust in what the product will be that I'm buying.

Editorial Review:

As Primale of the Chosen, the fiercely loyal Phury has sacrificed himself for the good of his race. But his first mate, the Chosen Cormia, wants not only his body but his heart for herself. As tragedy looms over the Brotherhood’s mansion, Phury must decide between duty and love…

Valiant (The Lost Fleet, Book 4 of 6)

Jack Campbell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

At a loss to explain the 5 star reviews 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book gets 3 stars only because the series is ok. The first two books were great, than the third was not very good, and this one continues the trend.

I've had enough repeat scenes. The "is this Blackjack or John" conversation got old in book 1, enough already. Jeez. And, could we please skip the romance? Really, this is what you thought the book needed, a completely awkward, non-contributing, repetitive romance? It's like Rhione all over again.

And, like another reviewer said, we're looking at 6 more "humans versus the aliens" books after this series. With recurring, "but can a syndicate trust a human" conversations every 25 pages.

The Lost Fleet becomes the Lost Series 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have up till this book enjoyed all the others in the series very much but this one seems more like filler than a fourth. Pretty much all the themes carry over and are repeated over and over.

I agree with some other posts that making this series either 3 or at the most 4 books may have helped so we would not have so much of the same over and over. I am honestly no longer looking forward to the last two as I am not looking forward to another explination on how he doesnt want to be the hero.

Still for a fan of the series its a good book to pickup for a quiet afternoon as its a fast read due to its nature.

Editorial Review:

“Black Jack” Geary has ordered his fleet back to the Lakota Star System where the Syndics nearly destroyed them, a desperate gamble that may give them a fighting chance of survival—or tear them apart.