Category: Reviews of Books
HIDDEN AGENDASCaptain James T. Kirk and the Enterprise crew race to save a missing Federation scientist, only to become trapped between the Klingons’ infamous Captain Kang and Starfleet’s mysterious Operation: Vanguard.ANCIENT TERRORSIn eons long past, alien hegemons known as the Shedai ruled A well written novel with all sorts of fun adventures for a very small subset of the crew, who are trying to find a missing scientist, only to find a god like creature has enslaved a planet’s worth of natives and is going crazy. I’m not too happy with some of the main thrusts of the book, primarily how many...
A savage satire reuniting the critically acclaimed team behind DC’s The Flintstones-writer Mark Russell (SECOND COMING) and artist Steve Pugh (Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass)-in a new graphic novel. Welcome to Billionaire Island, where anything goes…if you can afford it. But the island’s ultra-rich inhabitants are about to learn that their ill-gotten gains come at a VERY high price. After sitting on these issues for a few years, I finally got the gumption to read them. The story feels familiar, with a similar feeling to “Martha Washington Goes To War”, a dash of “Watchmen”, and it’s own unique take on the...
All-out war engulfs the Star Wars galaxy! Notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett has finally landed his greatest prize – Han Solo, frozen in carbonite. But Solo is about to become one highly sought-after smuggler! The rebels want their friend back, the Empire seeks revenge on one of its greatest enemies, and other bounty hunters have their eyes on a big payday – but what moves will the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate make? Featuring Darth Vader, Jabba the Hutt, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Valance, Doctor Aphra and more! Collecting: Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha (2021) 1, Star Wars:...
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and astronomer Carl Sagan imagines the greatest adventure of all-the discovery of an advanced civilisation in the depths of space. I’ve seen the film that this book was based on, but I learned in the afterward by Sagan that the book is based on a film treatment that he did in the hopes of making a movie, which is a funny turn of events, one that I’ve seen a few other times, but this is the best example of it in my mind. I spent the entire time comparing the movie that I know and love to...
There are many myths our culture perpetuates about domestic cats: they live longer indoors, sleep all day, are easy and low-maintenance pets, and can’t be train A well written book, if a little light on solutions or suggestions, with plenty of great pictures of cats. I believe they’ve coined a phrase in “Felis interius” to refer to cats that are born inside, then live their entire lives within walls. They’re assertion, and one that I agree with, is that cats have always been semi tamed animals that made a choice to live with humans due to our associated comforts and...
Initially charted by Starfleet probes dispatched to survey the Taurus Reach, the planet Cantrel V now plays host to a budding Federation colony as well as a combined civilian/Starfleet exploration team. Ancient ruins of an unknown civilization scattered around the planet have raised the curiosity The last of the Seekers books, but my most favorite of them all with an extremely classic Trek adventure with some clever modern twists, it’s a shame this is the end of the series. Not the end of the character though, as the Endeavor continues to pop up in various other books in the time...
An indepth look deep inside the world’s biggest animal rescue. Find out what REALLY happened on the Gulf and how you can help save America’s pets today. Orphans of Katrina is a vivid journey, a historical account, and a celebration of the volunteer rescuers–and the animals we share our world with. I got this back in 2017 for free from Amazon and the contents of it are about as professional as the cover image is, which isn’t necessarily a knock against the book, but it’s obvious that this was an author that put it together themselves or with a low...
A PLANET IN PERIL…As disasters and miracles multiply globally at an ever-increasing rate, it’s up to Captain Clark Terrell and his crew to shut down the experiment-gone-wrong before its storm of chaos causes the planet’s destruction. But the odds against their success—and their survival—might be too A stand alone adventure (so far at least?) that really works for me, with a bonkers story that includes some really out of the norm adventures that would actually have fit pretty perfectly as a TOS episode. I loved everything about this story! Buy On Amazon!
The Taurus Reach. Once the conquered realm of a powerful alien species, this region remains largely shrouded in mystery even as it brims with potential for exploration and colonization. The Federation has sent in two of its finest starships on a quest to uncover the secrets it may yet hold…The A continuation of the first Seekers book, but with some minor changes in the power levels and temperaments of nearly all the characters. That’s my only complaint though, as the story and its resolution is satisfying and enjoyable. Buy On Amazon!
“Based on Star Trek: the Next Generation created by Gene Roddenberry. X-Men based on the Marvel comic book.” There’s a pretty good comic book that precedes this book and I had a pretty good time reading that, so I figured I’d give this book a try, as it was only $0.99 at the time. This is not a good book though. I’m not going to lay that at Michael Jan Friedman’s feet though, because this feels like there was a definitive decision to aim the book at a much younger audience, something in the 10-12 year old range, which is...
Jake Cardigan’s quest to piece together his fractured life is interrupted when it’s discovered that a new, deadlier strain of Tek called ‘grease’ is infecting r This is a much different adaptation than the Marvel Comics version that came out a long while before this one. This has more violence, more sexual content, and more post apocalyptic feel to it than the more hopeful and sanitized Marvel version. It’s not necessarily done for the better, as the plot gets buried under the weight of trying to be edgy, but it works for the most part. I picked up all but...
A new mission: The late twenty-third century—Starfleet’s golden age of exploration. Desperate to stay one step ahead of its rivals, the Federation sends two starships, the scout Sagittarius and the cruiser Endeavour, to plumb the secrets of the vast region known as the Taurus Reach.A doomed race A great start of a sorta sequel to Star Trek: Vanguard series, this one features a couple of the ships that were around for most of the Vanguard shenanigans. I’ve heard tale that the series was based off concept art that spoke to one of the authors, and it shows that this is...
Starfleet was everything for Cristóbal Rios — until one horrible, inexplicable day when it all went wrong. Aimless and adrift, he grasps at a chance for a future as an independent freighter captain in an area betrayed by the Federation, the border region with the former Romulan Empire.His greate I really wanted to like this book, but while it has some amazing spaceship inclusions, it also includes in no certain order: The Iotians, which IMHO are truly the bottom of the barrel of TOS species, they’re the ones that emulate 1930’s American gangsters because a printed book was left behind...
Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Let It Fall) examines the mythology of the DC Universe in this compelling new graphic novel! Reframing iconic moments of DC history and charting a previously unexplored sociopolitical thread as seen through the… I had expected this to be a comic, but it ended up being a short novel that took on the task of reframing minority characters from DC Comics from their admittedly problematic origins to origins that are just as problematic. I wasn’t a fan of the end result, as neither the writing nor the art really captured me,...
An all-new eBook exclusive adventure in the Taurus Reach with the starship crews, undercover agents, civilian colonists, and alien power players of the Vanguard saga, based on Star Trek: The Original Series.Following the dramatic events as chronicled in Vanguard: Storming Heaven, the U.S.S. Ente Ah ha! I knew there was another book in the series after the “final book” and it’s more of an after action report involving the TOS crew than an actual story progression of Vanguard, but boy howdy is it a great look back at the entire situation that wound up costing lives and a significant amount...
Stranded light-years from home, Major Andrew Grayson and his crew are on a desperate mission to discover the Lankies’ secrets. They can’t let what they’ve found die with them. Nine hundred light-years from home, Major Andrew Grayson and the crew of NACS Washington are marooned in a sunless system with limited water, reactor fuel, and food. The last hope for survival is to go where nothing human has gone before. Kloos has been absolutely killing it with this series, and while this feels like an ending of sorts, it also feels like the beginning of something. I may need to...
“When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls ‘an animal rights organization.’ Tom’s team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on. What Tom doesn’t tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named kaiju roam a warm and human-free...
“I WAS THERE UNTIL THE END, MATE. THE BITTER, BLOODY END.”Vanguard is under siege. Surrounded by enemies, Admiral Nogura sends the scout ship Sagittarius to find an ancient weapon that might be the Federation’s only hope of stopping the alien threat known as the Shedai . . . Qo’noS is wracked by Well this is it, the absolute end of the series, with absolutely no possible way to have another book in the series. This cover is fantastic and I loved it so much I spend a few moments before I read it soaking in every detail, but it turns...
The history of Marvel Comics with replications of historical artifacts. Buy On Amazon! This is a great look at the history of Marvel the company and the people that got it to where it currently is. It does stop right when it’s recent history got interesting, a few years before the Disney purchase. I’m told there’s an updated version (for just a few bucks too!), if I see it in the wild I may pick it up to see what the new content looks like.
Collecting the first outing of Dave Stevens’ The Rocketeer and his girlfriend Betty. With an introduction by Harlan Ellison. Originally published in monthly comic format by Pacific Comics, 1982. From the forward that Ellison gives, it is obvious that Harlan Ellison and Dave Stevens had a close relationship, he heaps a large helping of well deserved praise on Stevens’ work. I may have read all these stories before, as I’ve been trying to get the entire run of appearances of the character, which in theory isn’t going to be very difficult. Not many people are in a rush to get...
The Taurus Reach: the source of a secret that has driven the great powers of the 23rd century to risk everything in the race to control it. Now four new adventures—previously untold tales of the past and present, with hints of what is yet to come—begin the next great phase in the Vanguard saga.W A collection of four short stories! It’s a first for this franchise, but a welcome one: “Almost Tomorrow” by Dayton Ward Prequel to the main storyline, showing when and how several of the main characters met each other and started their relationships. It’s a good but...
Diego Reyes, court martialled Starfleet commodore and disgraced former commander of space station Vanguard, discovers that his role in deciphering the truth about the Taurus Reach is not yet over. As friend and foe join forces in a separate peace against the threat of the Shedai — the godlike alien The Diego Reyes drama comes to a head and just when you thought it was the worst it could get for him, it gets worse! Then it gets even more worse! Then I bet you can’t believe this, it gets better. But then it gets worse! The poor guy really...
The Taurus Reach is in turmoil.With tensions mounting between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, Ambassador Jetanien works frantically on Starbase Vanguard to halt the escalation toward war. Commodore Diego Reyes, the station’s former commander, awaits trial for treason, while the shattered I completely missed doing a writeup on this one, I finished it and immediately went on to the next book (Precipice), then finished that one and moved onto the book after that one and remembered that I hadn’t written anything at all about “Open Secrets”. This is where the story of T’Prynn’s background really gets going and her...
In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man, of course, is king. Anyone that’s seen Idiocracy knows this story pretty well: a man frozen in time is awoken in the far future and learned that the idiots have inherited the Earth because the smart people were too busy being smart while the dumb people were all out there breeding. The solution in this story from 1951 is vastly different than the one in Idiocracy, here they’re just straight up killing off the surplus people by making them want to take a trip to an off planet colony. The story...
The mystery of the Taurus Reach is about to be revealed. Ancient secrets lie on the fourth planet of the Jinoteur system, and three great rivals are fighting to control it. The Federation and the Klingon Empire want to wield its power; the Tholian Assembly wants to bury it. It’s the third book in a nine book series, but it feels like everything gets nice and neatly wrapped up. I’ve already started the next book, so I know that things aren’t as neat as you might expect, but if you were to read the first three books of this series,...
The Taurus Reach: a remote interstellar expanse that holds a very old and potentially cataclysmic secret, the truth of which is feared by the Tholians, coveted by the Klingons, and dubiously guarded by the Federation. Second book in the Vanguard series and things are moving much more quickly now, with Klingons Romulans, and Tholians all making major moves that result in the complete destructions of planets and entire solar systems. There’s great story being set up here and I’m happy to take the ride. This book does remind me that i need to get the “before you read this” thing...
ALIAS meets STAR TREK: The watchword is intrigue as the humans and aliens of a Starfleet space station spearhead the race to find the secret behind a potentiall Guess the synopsis of the book tells you how old it is, and I guess what they’re going for, though this is more of a standard Trek adventure than I think they’re setting people up for. I mean, I’m reading it because I’m a Trek fan, not because I’m a Alias fan, right? Regardless, this is the first book in the Vanguard series, it features it’s own cast and crews of an...
After World War II, suburbs proliferated around California cities as returning soldiers traded in their uniforms for business suits. After-hours leisure activit It should be no surprise that I found this book to be both entertaining and informative, as I’ve long has a fascination with what I knew of pop tiki culture since I was in high school and was introduced to it through MTV’s Beachhouse Tiki God. The MTV version was terrible on nearly every level, but it was the seed that grew into wanting to know more and forming an identity for myself. I’m the proud owner of...
Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer’s Manual is a supplement published by FASA in 1988 for Star Trek: The Role Playing Game to update game material following the premiere of the new television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. However Paramount Pictures did not feel FASA’s new material match This is a well done book, but unfortunately was developed separately from the main TNG show, so there’s a ton of information that makes no sense at all in context of what people were expecting after seeing TNG on the screen. Add to that, most of the ship designs are hilariously...
He didn t get onto the most lucrative interstellar mission for the money Paxon came to be reunited with the woman he loves. But his high-stakes journey takes hi A great but short story about humanity turning on itself for profit. It’s a familiar story, but they do a well enough job here I’d be interested in seeing a follow up. Buy On Amazon!
Star Trek has energized friendships for over 50 years. Whether it’s exploring a convention, beaming into a movie theater, or joining in on a landing party watch party, generations have been as united in their love of the franchise’s bold storytelling and stunning action as they are in the honest fully realized relationships of their favorite characters. The publisher of the book was kind enough to send me a copy of the book, it’s both on instagram AND on my bookshelf. It’s a uniquely weird type of book, something that I’ve never run into in all my time collecting and...
The Grand Army of the Republic – led by Yoda, Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the other Jedi knights – fight the New Droid Army of the Separists in this latest ‘ This was included in a box of Star Wars books I got from the local Goodwill for a couple bucks. It’s not a bad book, but it’s definitely written for beginners, both to the Star Wars universe and to reading in general. Buy On Amazon!
After the collapse of the Coalition, the Inner Cluster is besieged. The second of three books, and the author has doubled down on the bad stuff from the first book and just given up on all the cool stuff. Great concepts from the previous entry were just straight up abandoned in favor of building a story about shitty religions in the future doing the same shitty things they’re doing now. pretty happy I got these for free, but sad that such a great first book was followed up with this nonsense. I have the third one, but it might take...
“The only way to survive is to abandon Earth! With less than 24 hours before the last ark leaves a dying Earth, Dr. Ben Caewood’s daughter Sara has gone missing Well written by Marc Guggenheim, at least right up to the last issue, with fantastic art by Eduardo Ferigato, this six issue mini series desperately needed to be a 12 issue story. It’s got all the hallmarks of a series that would be a sleeper hit, so I have no idea why they chose to just wrap up 10 years of story in a single issue, which lead to an...
Humanity has endured centuries of plague and a brutal interstellar war, but there is still no time for peace and quiet. Stirred from aeons of sleep, the Inhibit Arguably both the best written of the trilogy but the subject matter was just out what I was hoping for. Instead of interstellar battles with unstoppable forces, we got a story of a guy that decided he never wanted to blink again, all in order to watch a planet blink in and out of existence, all while riding on some sort of city sized building bus that reminded me way too much...
Meet freshman Greg Willis, who has moved to the big city hoping to realize his dream of becoming a superhero. But will the realities of city life, college and s Surprisingly well done ‘first adventure’ of a new character in the wider Marvel comic universe, He’s apparently appeared in other places since this five issue mini series, but I’m not going to be seeking them out, and will just be happy with this collection as it is. Buy On Amazon!
The 25th century. Humanity has discovered a new form of energy, the Source, derived from the very basis of life itself. Using this power to travel instantaneously through space, humans have spread through their corner of the galaxy and coalesced into two groups: the Coalition and the Inner Cluster. They are held in an uneasy economic and cultural relationship by their reliance on each other, the Coalition with the technology of the Source and the Inner Cluster with the materials to make it a usable form of energy. When rumors of conquest, political undergrounds, and alien contact threaten this balance...
Star Wars Technical Journal of the Planet Tatooine, also styled as “Star Wars Technical Journal Vol. 1”, was the first of three volumes in The Official Star Wars Technical Journal magazine series from Starlog Communications International, Inc. It was published on October 1, 1993. The three volumes were later compiled into the compendium title Star Wars Technical Journal. Volume One was reprinted in July 1994 with a new foil-embossed cover to herald the release of the series’ second and third vol What a fantastic time capsule of Star Wars fandom and quasi canon back story. It was released in 1993,...
50 years ago, human intervention triggered an ancient alien system designed to warn of the emergence of intelligence in this sector of the galaxy. For aeons the Much better than the first in the series, with a lot more action and much less philosophizing. There’s new characters to enjoy, along with a few of the ones from the previous book, and the system level threat finally does what we’ve been building up to this entire time, with some pretty cool results. I continue to have problems telling the two main female leads apart, mostly because Reynolds uses their last names...
Meet Nick Sax, a corrupt, intoxicated ex-cop turned hit-man I had unfortunately seen the forgettable and not recommendable (even though it inexplicably went for two entire seasons) television show that I repeat, was not very good at all. So, when I got this TPB in a HumbleBundle, it went to the bottom of my ‘to-do’ list, which I just recently found when I started using a new book/comic book management application. The comic itself is pretty good, if pretty much exactly what I would expect from Grant Morrison circa 2012, with all the gratuitous violence and strawmen that normally comes...
Jonathan Swift’s timeless political satire takes a saucy turn when a student, Gullivera, finds herself shipwrecked. Barely clad and washed up on a beach she’s t I received this as a part of a HumbleBundle and it’s much more pornographic than I thought it was going to be, but it’s also much better than it has any right being. It’s a 1995 adaption of Jonathan Swift’s 1726 “Gulliver’s Travels” which was a satirical rip on European politics and governments of the day. Manara’s version of the story is more luridly salacious, foregoing any kind of society commentary for expertly drawn...
Ben Percy (Wolverine) and Ramon Rosanas (Star Wars: Age of Resistance) team up to present an epic tale that offers a global look at the Zombie Apocalypse. A Jap A comic book anthology mini series with four issues that have four different stories that all take place in each issue. Does it work as well as having one issue dedicated to each story? For me, who has all four issues, sure, but I know when I was buying single issues that I hated this kind of set up and would much rather have one story per book. It’s good enough...
Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection #180 Borg Cube This is the final issue of the series, it’s hard to believe that I’ve been a subscriber for as long as I have, nearly 10 years! There’s still about 7 ships that Eaglemoss has been unable to ship to me for whatever reason, so I look forward to getting those one day, either through Eaglemoss or through alternative vendors. Of course there’s a large and still growing “bonus issue” collection that they’re still adding to, but I think I’m done with the series for the time being, outside of the afore...
‘The Art of Horizon Zero Dawn’ is the ultimate gallery of the hotly anticipated new IP from Guerrilla Games (Killzone series). It focuses on the stunning artwor I believe this came with my purchase of Horizon Zero Dawn on steam, which was honestly a fantastic experience. This PDF book is a short read as it’s 99% concept art, but it took me the better part of 30 minutes to get through the 53 pages because of how much I could zoom in on the art and how much there was to take in. I wouldn’t have bought this on it’s...
900,000 years ago, something wiped out the Amarantin. For the human colonists settling the Amarantin homeworld Resurgam, it’s of little more than academic inter The first of the “Inhibitor” series, I’ve read books by Reynolds before, but I don’t think any of them were in this main series. As a start to the series, this is a great book, though the ended with the neutron star was bonkers and I think I only slightly understood exactly why they were turning into atom thin pancakes. Buy On Amazon!
