A thoroughly enjoyable geek fantasy. Turns out that for some people, being a geek doesn't just mean comprehensive knowledge of all sorts of obscure pop culture trivia -- it also means being able to use that knowledge as magic. Need to brush up on your hand-to-hand combat? Watch the Matrix films! Think you might need to best someone in a sword fight! Go for the Princess Bride. Need super-strength? Pick up a Superman comic! Then use those powers to fight evil and slay demons.

Funny to see that two of my friends gave this one four stars, because it just did not work for me. It's obvious the author is a Seattle local, and it was fun to be able to visualize many of the places where the book sets it's action. Unfortunately, that's as interesting as this one got for me. The main character was entirely unsympathetic, the villains (the Curator and Uncle Jim) just kind of petered out, and the dual stories featured a post-apocalyptic world (and, admittedly, I'm a bit over-post-apocalyptic-ed right now) and a depressing take on Groundhog Day. I can see the appeal of some of the concepts that are played with, even if they didn't gell for me. Plus, even though it's not the author's fault, I kept getting distracted by the many typos (including one "rhe" instead of "the", which any spell checker should have flagged).

As entertaining as the first, expanding the modern-magic world into the realm of film and the cult of personality surrounding stars. Three stars instead of four primarily because the concepts weren't new this time, so it didn't have quite the same fun as learning everything in the first book, but still a very enjoyable romp. I'll be keeping an eye out for the next in the series.

This was one of my favorites when I was younger, and recommended it to quite a few friends, one of whom (accidentally, I believe) kept my copy after I leant it to her. I finally ordered another copy, years later, and am quite happy to find that it's just as good now as it was years ago. Definitely one of my favorite children's/young adult books, and one I'm tempted to send copies of to my nephews and nieces.

Really enjoyed this one. Far-future galactic empires, AIs made up of both ships and people (assimilated almost Borg style), a personal quest for vengeance, and a fascinating viewpoint (that comes from both linguistic and personal aspects) where the default gender pronoun for everyone is "she/her", regardless of their actual gender. On my short list for my personal pick for the P.K. Dick award, but I still have one nominee yet to read.

These were probably more chilling when they were originally written, and to readers in the target age (the cover does note that these stories were "especially written for young people"). That said, it is an entertaining little collection of Twilight Zone-style ghost stories.

A very sad (maybe melancholy is a better word) book, but oddly, also the one I think I liked the most out of this year's P.K. Dick nominees. Finished it yesterday, still letting it percolate around in my brain, but something about this one is sticking with me in ways the others did not.