Heretics of Dune

Heretics of Dune is the fifth book in the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

This book picks up the story 1,500 years after the last one ended. The descendants of Siona had scattered throughout the universe, hidden from prescient minds by their unique genetics traits. Now some of them return from the scattering, but for what purpose?

The first book in the series is what drew me in. The next couple of books were not great. The fourth was a lot better. This one continues the upward trend. The intensity builds pretty much from the start all the way through, but the ending is a little weak. The next book starts where this one left off, so I guess that’s the reason for the week ending in this case.

As with the previous books, there are some fantastic sound bites. When you are reading the books on a Kindle you can see the pages littered with other people’s highlights. I could list hundreds, but here are just a few.

 

“Quite naturally, holders of power wish to suppress “wild” research. Unrestricted questing after knowledge has a long history of producing unwanted competition.”

“Bureaucracy destroys initiative. There is little that bureaucrats hate more than innovation, especially innovation that produces better results than the old routines. Improvements always make those at the top of the heap look inept. Who enjoys appearing inept?”

“… we only hate what’s really dangerous to us.”

Cheers

Tim…

God Emperor of Dune…

God Emperor of Dune is the fourth book in the Dune series by Frank Herbert.

After the randomness of the previous book, this fourth one was a lot more on-the-money. There are a number of scenes in the book I really hooked into, including one I blogged about a few days ago. It’s far from perfect, but it kept me interested. Probably the worst part of the book was then ending, which was rather lackluster.

I’m looking forward to see if this direction continues into the next book.

Cheers

Tim…

Children of Dune…

Children of Dune is the third book in the Dune series written by Frank Herbert.

As I suspected, Children of Dune is a bit random. In summarised form the story would sound quite good, but the books rambles on a lot. I found myself wishing for chapters to end. I’m told by a few people things pick up from here. I’ve already started the next book and so far it sounds pretty promising… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Dune Messiah…

Dune Messiah is the second in the Dune series written by Frank Herbert.

I got a few warnings from people that the sequels to the original book were not so good. I have to admit it lacks the direction and thrust of the first book, but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. In fact I actually quite enjoyed it. It does ramble a bit at times, but it was nice to see some of the other characters getting fleshed out a bit.

This book and the next book, Children of Dune, were combined into the Children of Dune TV mini series. Having seen that, I’m expecting Children of Dune to be a bit random. We shall see. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Cold Days…

Cold Days is the latest book in The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

So Harry is alive again and now he’s the Winter Knight. The enforcer for Mab, the crazy queen of the Winter Fairies. Maybe staying dead was the better option. So what’s the first thing Mab orders Harry to do? Kill an immortal, whilst fighting an army of other-worldly beings, all the time trying to keep his friends safe and prevent Chicago from being leveled. Another day in the office for Harry Dresden.

I must admit this was a little struggle for me at first. The characters of Repairman Jack, Felix Castor and Harry Dresden have all merged in my head. Coming back to Harry confused me at times because I expected a different pattern of behavior from him, only to realize I was thinking about how one of the characters from one of the other authors would react. Once I got locked into Harry-mode, it was all guns blazing.

The pattern is very similar to the other books in the series. There are predictable story lines you can see from a mile off, with a number of curve balls thrown in along the way. There were definitely a few OMG moments in this book. Especially towards the end. I’m looking forward to the next book to see how some of this pans out. I can tell you now, Harry is going to have some serious ear-ache from some of his best friends!

Cheers

Tim…

Dune…

I’ve been a fan of the film Dune for ages. I also liked the TV mini series. The Children of Dune TV mini series was a bit too random for me. A remake of Dune is in the offing. With that in mind it is a little surprising to me that I’ve never got round to reading the book until now.

I think it’s safe to say I loved it. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve read in ages. Watching the film and TV series did not spoil it for me in the slightest, and quite unusually, reading the book has not lessened my love of the film.

The characters are brilliant. There is a lot of wisdom in the book too. In a previous post I mentioned one quote. I could pick out loads that are incredibly well observed and interesting. It ticks so many of the boxes for me I’m just sad there are not more of the same quality. Having discussed this book with some of the Oakies, they’ve advised me the rest in the series are pretty bad and the books written by his son are terrible. I’m not sure if I will read more, because I’m not sure I want to risk the disappointment. I’ll think on it.

I’m moving on to Cold Days now. Go Harry!

Cheers

Tim…

Girl 99…

When I was at University I lived in shared houses with the author of Girl 99, Andy, for several years. We were on the same degree course and both stayed on to do PhDs. When he left to go to London I shared a house with his (then) girlfriend for a year before she left Uni. Suffice to say, over those years I got to know the guy pretty well.

A few days ago I got an email to say his book was available in the Kindle store so I immediately bought a copy and started reading. It’s kinda weird reading a novel written by a friend, because part of you is looking for the pieces of them that have made it into the characters. It is a long way from being an autobiography, but I can spot elements of the author, and possibly other people we knew, in the book. Of course, I could probably say the same of any number of books if I were looking for the connections. 🙂

So what about the story itself?

“William Fisher is on a mission to bring the total number of his sexual conquests up to 100.

During the course of his quest he sleeps with a colleague, a colleague of a friend, a friend of a friend, a friend of a friend’s wife, the estate agent selling his flat, and several more besides. Everything is going, if not well, then at least according to plan … and then Fisher goes and ruins it all by falling for Girl 99.

Girl 99 is a story about love, sex and the sticky area in-between.”

It’s really cool. The lead character had a good mix of funny, sad, frustrating and endearing qualities. Some scenes resulted in full on belly laughs, while others were of a more reflective nature.

The writing style was really comfortable to read and it was paced well, making me a little annoyed when I had to put it down. 🙂

If you fancy reading it, I would love to hear your feedback, as would the author in the Amazon reviews…

Call me biased, but I’m looking forward to reading the next book from this author. I’ve already suggested the lead character should be a boring, fat science graduate that stumbles into an IT job… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Repairman Jack : Nightworld…

Nightworld is (sort-of) the sixteenth book in the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson.

The days are getting shorter, the stars are changing and all hope is lost… Or is it?

Having thought that I had finished this series at book 15, it seemed a little daunting to start book 16, but I’ve made it my mission to finish this book as soon as possible. As I’ve mentioned a number of times, this is one dark series of books. I would go as far as to describe them as depressing. I do like the Jack character a lot, but my liking of him does not outweigh the toll this series of books takes on you. I feel like a need a course of Prozac now…

Whatever I read next, it better be bright and breezy!

Cheers

Tim…

Repairman Jack : The Dark at The End…

The Dark at The End is the fifteenth book in the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson.

The Lady is a beacon signalling that sentient life exists on this planet. If she dies The Ally will turn its attention to other worlds and other dimensions, leaving the The Otherness to turn the planet into something resembling Hell. Twice The Adversary has tried to kill The Lady. Twice he has failed. Third time lucky?

I decided a few books ago that this series was to dark, but I wanted to finish to see what happens. As far as I was concerned, that meant finishing book 15 (there are 15 books in the Repairman Jack series). So I get the the end of book 15 and there is an (unhappy) ending of sorts, but a strong suggestion there is more to come. It turns out the story of Repairman Jack is actually completed in the last book of the Adversary Cycle series, so I have one book to go. All I can say is it better be a bloody happy ending. I’m starting to hope for the, “he wakes up and realizes it was all a bad dream”, ending…

Cheers

Tim…

Repairman Jack : Fatal Error

Fatal Error is the fourteenth book in the Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson.

The Septimus Order, the Dormentalists and the Kickers all combine to try and bring down the internet, hoping the resulting chaos will further their cause of killing The Lady and letting The Otherness take over our reality.

As with the previous episode, we are just progressing the story line, getting us another step closer to the possible end of the world…

Cheers

Tim…