Ahoy there mateys! This is a steampunk alternate history involving vampires. Made it to 85% before abandonment. The world building was fun. It takes place “in a world where the sun never set on the British Empire, where Holland finally ceded New Amsterdam to the English only during the Napoleonic wars, and where the expansion of the American colonies was halted by the war magic of the Iroquois.” I like the vampire Sebastien de Ulloa who is 900 years old. I loved Abigail Irene Garrett who is a forensic scientist. I even got used to the short story format as the connections between the characters began to materialize. The problem in this book started when Sebastien forms his “court” and they start to be jealous of each other. Then some other stuff happened that kinda bored me. And I couldn’t finish it despite multiple attempts. So that be that.

Ahoy there mateys! This was a gift book I picked up in a used bookstore because of the premise and the unicorn on the cover.  The Change happens and magic enters Earth.  I read it before I gifted it.  The first half was silly but fun and I was going just roll with it.  Then it died.  It walks the plank for the horrible climax and ending.  The dude seriously was a jerk to the unicorn and I was disturbed.  The "romance" was horrible.  Apparently this is the first in a series.  No thanks to more.  P.S.  The author wrote this when he was 19.  Maybe that explains the bad ending?

Ahoy there mateys! I have liked other books by the author but this one was infuriatingly bad.  So much so that I read this at the beginning of the year and I couldn't bear to review it.  All the characters are selfish and hateful and rather short-sighted.  Normally I would be okay with unlikeable characters but the rest of the book was just plain ridiculous in that the elements seemed thrown in just to shock and not to further the plot.  Orgies, voodoo, drug use, ghost subplot, boring sex scenes, deaths that scientifically cannot work, and (gasp!) lesbians.  Not to mention that one of the characters is (gasp!) black.  Seriously, author.  Lesbians and black people are not shocking.  The first 3/4 of the book deal with stupid shallow women who marry for money and then get upset that they don't fit in with high society and complain about it.  Blech.  Then the dumb thriller/twist aspects get tossed in.  Messy and not recommended.  I have no idea why I bothered to finish this one.  That horrible ending!!  I don't think I will be reading any more of the author's works after this one.  I wish I could scrub this from my noggin.  (I hope the tv adaptation is murdered). Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! I usually love Crichton's books.  This one is laughable and not in a good way.  I listened to this one on audio book.  Started out with interesting premise and interesting dead man.  Then turns insipid. Stupid archeology students travel back in time to "fix" evil corporation's mistakes and save a person and should die like 10,000 times but don't.  Medieval France is a rampaging killing field.  Unlike his other books, the science in this is so beyond silly that it hurts.  The time travel mechanics are lame.  Apparently when I was talking to the First Mate about this one, I used the adjective "stupid" incessantly.  There is a part with a grenade that was foreshadowed so badly that when it happened it was so absurd that all I could do was laugh. It was like reading a bad movie script for an action film.  Supposedly the film is bad too. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! With a silly title like this, I had to read it.  And, to be fair, I loved the set-up for this one.  I loved how the legal system was run by robots and how the corporations were run.  I liked the silly premise for how Maxine gets involved with the aliens.  I even liked Maxine.  The problem was once Maxine leaves Earth.  The book was horrible after that and I despised the ending and the way Maxine supposedly wins.  Ugh.  Fun read at the time but the ending has soured the memory.  Apparently, according to some it has Christian preaching undertones from the robot therapist.  Didn't see it that way. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! This book won the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel.  Enoch Wallace survived the U.S. Civil War and is alive 124 years later but looks 30.  He runs a way station for traveling aliens.  That part is so cool and I loved the unfolding of the how and why.  I loved Clifford's friendship with the alien Ulysses.  I did not like the exploration of human loneliness through Mary et. al. and didn't like the mute neighbor who is a special snowflake or her hillbilly relations.  The exploring of what it means to be human felt heavy-handed and kinda silly.  But once the big conflict starts, the book falls apart.  The discussions of war and the solutions were nonsensical.  I hated the ending.  It is too short to do the actual concept justice. Arrrr!

Ahoy there mateys! Another book with an interesting beginning but bad plot and characters.  I loved the concept of the alien exterminators.  Though not much extermination happened.  I wanted more bounty hunter action.  There was a stupid competition and some running around in an alien spaceport.  Way too much took place on Earth.  A lot of this plot is gone already.  I be okay with that. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys! No one is more sad that I am that this final book in the trilogy walks the plank.  The other two books were five-star reads.  I do seem to be in the minority of the crew with this but this book just made me so grumpy.  El is just so mopey.  She spends no real time in the real world with her friends from school.  The romance aspects were awful.  The twists (especially all the ones concerning Orion) were so lackluster.  I liked the idea of the enclaves but not how the plot ended up working with them.  This plot felt so scattered.  And I feel like all the previous character growth died.  I wish this had been a duology with an epilogue about El's future. Arrr!

Ahoy there mateys!  Though the First Mate and I have very different reading tastes, occasionally we do recommend books to each other.  He and I both read the following:
the moons of barsk (Lawrence M. Schoen)

We read and talked about the book and I enjoyed his viewpoint so I ordered asked him to write a review.  So you get one from me and a bonus additional review from me crew.  Please note that I write like I talk and the First Mate writes like he thinks.  Hope you enjoy!

From the Captain:
I thought book one was one of the best books I have ever read.  Period.  It ended perfectly so when I heard there was another book in the series, I honestly didn't know where it could possibly go.

The First Mate had already listened to the second book and said it was wonderful.  I was hesitant to mess with the beauty of the first book but agreed to listen to it with him.  And book two enhances book one while looking at the world and the characters from a completely different angle. The alternative perspective of the second book causes an amazing reevaluation of the first.

No actually, that adjective doesn't work.  I don't have a good enough word for this series.  This is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever listened to (just like the first).  I still cried and laughed.  I still love Jorl and Pizlo.  I cannot do this justice.  But I wish I could give all the crew members these books.

Me words fail, fail, fail at how amazing this book is.  Please do yerself a favor and read this book that deserves all the love and more.  Aye, there be talking animals but don't let that deter ye.  It pays off.  Check out the First Mate's words below and have them help tip this book off the tbr and into yer hands.  It be worth it.  Arrrr!

From the First Mate:
Advice that is often attributed to Flannery O’Conner about endings is that they should be “surprising yet inevitable.” The Moons of Barsk is a surprising and yet inevitable sequel to the brilliant Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard. It would have been impossible for me to guess what would occur in a Barsk sequel, and yet it is so perfectly written and flows so logically from the original story that after reading it I can’t imagine the tale going in any other direction.

Taking place several years after the events of the first book, Jorl has continued his work as a Speaker, historian, and galactic senator. Pizlo remains an abomination with an ever growing psychic ability. The villains from the first book remain defeated. From a place of seeming status, Jorl and Pizlo go on a journey that fundamentally reshapes what they and we know about Barsk, its history, and its capabilities.

Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of The Moons of Barks for me was that I kept getting surprised about how deeply Schoen had thought about the consequences of what he had created. Because he chose a scientific frame for the ability to Speak, he’s logically asked what else could be done with that ability? We learned in the first book that the majority of Speakers were not using the ability to its true potential. I was surprised that my own imagination didn’t guess at some of the places that Schoen would take us.

Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard is a beautifully sad book. The Moons of Barsk is nowhere near as sad. There are still sad elements; this is still a book that is fundamentally about dealing with loss, difference, prejudice, and oppression. But there’s a lot of hope in the book as well. Jorl and Pizlo are still amazing characters. And the book delivers on some amazing ideas. To say more would definitely require getting into spoiler territory.

My only quibble with the book is that it ends with a dangling plot thread. The main storyline of the book is finished, but there’s a loose end that is present presumably to set up a third book. Schoen has said that his publisher has no interest in a third book. So it seems likely that we won’t get that thread resolved. I don’t think it overly mars the book, but I can also see where someone else would be irked by it.

As with the first book, if you enjoy audiobooks I cannot more highly recommend the audio version of The Moons of Barsk. Again read by J. G. Hertzler, it’s a treat to listen to. Highest recommendation to everyone. Avoid if for some reason the first book didn’t work for you or if the prospect of a dangling plot thread is intolerable.

Ahoy there mateys! I love books that deal with nature and particularly with birds.  This book looks into the newest research involving bird behavior and how traditional science sometimes gets it wrong.  Matey Melanie put this on the radar.  It is so darn good.  I was sharing bird facts with everyone cause there were just so many amazing ones.  Australian kites can manipulate fire to hunt.  Ravens can solve extremely complicated puzzles.  Veeries can change both their breeding and migration patterns months in advance of hurricanes.  Hummingbirds have memories so good that they can remember the exact flowers they have already eaten from.  The section on bird warning calls was amazing.  I don't tend to retain a lot of facts from non-fiction but I certainly would listen to this again. Arrr!