LITTLE BIRDS: Anais Nin in my opinion is the finest erotica author ever. Her stories are erotic and enthralling, they involve much more than sex. If you're looking for a lift ;) she can definitely provide it.

Few women writers date celebrate the sexual experience as fully as Anais Nin. In Little Birds, she explores passion in all its forms ... from two strangers on a moonlit Normandy beach to a woman's sudden sexual fulfillment at a public hanging. Evocative, compelling, superbly erotic LITTLE BIRDS is a powerful journey into the mysterious world of sex and sensuality.

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JOE SAILS: It was a nice little story about a salesman and his troubles adapting to the new way things were being done in his company. These new ways are a result of the new way business has to be done today to become more customer-centric. So basically you have your pretty good salesman in a slump and his managers attempts to bring him around through various techniques and examples of other employees.

The author uses all of these things to get across his point of changing the attitude of employees and employers and on concentrating on the employees core competences. The overall reading of the book is not bad. And the lessons the author is trying to get across are done so that they are not bat over the head obvious nor are they so subtle as to be obscure. The thing is that as an instruction book it lacks the teaching required to make sure that you got the point and as a story it lacks real punch to make you care overly much what happens to the characters.

Does the concept of using a fiction story to get across real world ideas work in this book? Yes and no. The author blends the two together well. If you're looking for an example or anecdotal picture of the concepts than yes this book works. If you're looking for ways to get do the concepts or to find the concepts themselves you may want to look elsewhere. I give the book a C.

Even though this book is fiction, it mirrors just about every business in America today. We are managing activities and losing focus on acceptable behavior. By concentrating only on end results we are affecting the way business gets done to the determent of all else.

Employees' core competencies must take priority and center stage in order to truly regain our customers' confidence. Changing core competencies is pivotal to cascading success throughout an organization.

But how do you go about changing someone's core competencies? How do you pull them to the level of excellence that is needed today?

Order Joe Sails from his website.

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THIS PRESENT DARKNESS: A good book with a religious theme. It is not your typical "religious" fiction read, this one actually is enjoyable to read. It has a crisp well moving plot that interesting and enjoyable. You'll enjoy this book even if you aren't religious.

Asthon is just a typical small town. But when a skeptical reporter and a prayerful pastor begin to compare notes, they suddenly find themselves fighting a hideous New Age plot to subjugate the townspeople, and eventually the entire human race.

Not since The Screwtape Letters has there been a novel with as much insight into spiritual warfare and the necessity of prayer. Fast-moving, riveting reading ranking with the best thrillers on the bookshelf.

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It all begins in Bacon's Corner, a tiny farming community far from the interstate .. An attempted murder, a case of mistaken - or is it covered-up? - identity, and a ruthless lawsuit against a struggling Christian school. Sally Beth Roe, a young loner, a burn-out, a kind of "leftover hippie," finds herself caught in the middle of these bizarre events, fleeing for her life while trying to recall her dark past.

Across a vast panorama of heart-stopping action, Sally Roes's journey is a penetrating portrayal of our times, a reflection of 1our wanderings, and a vivid reminder of the redemptive power of the Cross.

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THE LOSER'S CLUB: Wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. From the title and book blurb I suspected this to be another story of losers in love set in New York City, full of angst and terrible Grenich Village clichés. Instead it has a Spanish American guy, who I thought was Hispanic, and his experience when he finally gets some replies from the personal ads. There's also some bits about his wanting to be a writer or poet and his relationship with his mother but they're minor. There's also a bit about his friendship with his best and only real friend, Nikki that he has a big crush on.

It was an okay book but there were too many, East End and Village, club name references. It's one thing when you mention one or two places but when you start mentioning every club on the street people start to wonder if you're part of the tourism bureau or something. It made me wonder if the author had actually been to New York or just started picking names from ads in the Village Voice. Also the story tends to ramble in its pace, which may be in part because of the subject and characters that made up the story. And my mistaking, at least I think it's a mistake, the guy to be Hispanic, when he's Spanish, I'm guessing again, gave parts of the story a different perspective than I think the author intended. Overall I give it a C-.

WHAT IS LOVE?
In the game of love, there are winners and losers. In THE LOSERS' CLUB, Richard Perez tries to answer the eternal question.

Set in downtown New York City, THE LOSERS' CLUB tells the story of Martin Sierra, an unlucky writer addicted to the personals. His journey brings us into the East Village at the height of its cultural glory-and in contact with Nikki, his dream woman, who remains unattainable romantically, yet who becomes his friend and confidant during his precarious misadventures. Populated with characters and surprises few of us will ever forget, this exhilarating novel is as much about a generation (we won't say "X") as it is about a specific time and place.

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THE TROUT KING: I liked this book. I'm surprised because usually I'm not a big fan of "straight" fiction. This is a story of a boy and his father, the competition between two fly-fishers and two families. The telling is written well with all the main plot of the competition for 'Trout King' tied in well with the subplots of a boy and his love and loss of love for fishing and the strains of two families. Pickhardt writes well and is at ease with the story he's telling. I give this book an A. Not a favorite or highly recommended but it does it's job, to tell the story, and it does it well.

Every summer the small community of Bishop's Place holds a summer-long fishing contest where the winner is crowned the "Trout King." Alexander McGregor has won the title for the last eight years, but out-of-towner Sam Henry hopes to change that.

McGregor fishes ruthlessly, even going so far as to jump in after a fish that refuses to be caught. Meanwhile Sam casts his line and waits patiently for a bite. They both deal with relationships the same way they fish, and it could cost each of them their families. How much longer will McGregor's wife accept his harsh relationship with his sons? How much longer can Sam's wife take his distant approach to their marriage?

Tensions deepen when McGregor catches what local fishermen deem to be the largest trout around. It looks alike the contest is over. Then Sam's son discovers the location of an unbelievably large fish that could put his father in control of the contest for good!

Their pursuit of this huge fish leads to an unexpected finale that will hook any reader.

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Generations after that terrible war, with the land recovered from criplling wounds and the people no longer threated by genetic damage, Mageborns still practice their craft - but under strict constraints. Yet so long as the rivlary between the Mage Guardians and the Lords of Malerris continues, the threat of another war is ever-present. And someone has been planning just such a war for many long years, the final strike in a generations-old bid for total power.

Bound together by ties of their ancient Blood Line, torn asunder by the magical intrigues and political ambitions of their elders, three Mageborn sisters will find themselves on opposing sides in the conflict.

Glennin, initiated by her father into the secrets of Malerrisi magic, craves the power and position she believes are her rightful heritage- and she will do anything and use anyone in pursuit of her goals.

Sarra, fostered under a name not her own when a treacherous attack destroys all she holds dear, will devote herself to championing the underground resistance force known as the Rising - and in protecting the younger sister whose very existance is the most closely guarded secret in their world.

Cailet, destined from birth to become the Mage Guardians' last, best hope, will grow to young womanhood ignorant of her abilities and her destiny - and will prevail only if she can overcome the spell barriers long ago imposed upone her magic.

Together, the sisters will fight their own private war, and the victors will determine whether or not the Wild Magic and Wraithenbeasts are once again loosed to wreak havoc upon their world.

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MAGEBORN TRAITOR: An exciting sequel to Ruins of Ambrai. The focus is as much on the next generation as on the generation made known to us in the first novel. The plot moves you more than the characters, but the characters are by no means just two dimensional. The interesting social contexts that made the first novel so intriguing remain in the second, but with more analysis. An A-.

With The Ruins of Ambrai, the first volume of her brilliant new fantasy epic, EXILES, Melanie Rawn introduced the world of Lenfell - prisitine, untouched, a perfect refuge for the Mageborn, whose powers were perceived as a threat by people not gifted with magic. But the greater the magic, the greater the peril- and Lenfell was soon devastated by a war between rival Mageborn factions that polluted land, sea, and air with Wild Magic and unleased the hideous specters known as the Wraithenbeasts.

Generations after that terrible war, the rivalry between the Mage Guardians and the Lords of Malerris sparked off yet another terrifying conflict, a power struggle that nearly succeeded in destroying the Mage Guardians and giving the Malerrisi all they desired. But unbeknownst to the First Lord of the Malerris, there were those among her enemies who had foreseen her tactics and had worked for generations to ensure the survival of both the Mage Guardians and the people of Lenfell.

Now the lines have been clearly drawn, leaving one of Lenfell's most powerful families divided against itself, with Glenin, former First Daughter of Ambai, plotting the ruin of her sisters, Sarra, Councillor of Sheve, and Cailet, the new Mage Captal, even as the Malerrisi - under Glenin's leadership- once begin weaving a web with which to entangel their entire world.

For though the Lords of Malerris seem content to remain in self-imposed exile within their castle stronghold, this is merely an illusion created to conceal a campaign of conquest that could see Lenfell fall permanently under their rule - politcally, economically, and magically.

And even as Cailet's dreams of a restored Mage Academy become a reality, and Sarra's legal reforms offer the hope of greater prosperity and equality for all people, Glenin prepares to strike at the very heart of both her sisters' power. All it will take is betrayal of Ambrai's most closely guarded family secret and the right traitor planted in the heart of Cailet's haven - a traitor trained to be the nemesis of all Mage Guardians' Glenin's perfect tool of destruction and most loyal follwer, her own son...

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THE FREE LUNCH: An excellent story about a boy who runs away to a theme park and meets another park stowaway, a woman who knows more about the park than just about anybody. Together they have to save the world from aliens or is it the aliens from the rival park owner or is it themselves from each other. The writing is good, funny but not overdone. The characters are believable and likable, they're given depth, but the villains were a little stereotypical. The thing that makes the book though is the relationship the develops between the boy, Mike, and the woman, Annie. The pacing of their growing closeness was perfect. The only thing that stopped this from getting an A+ was a "wow" factor. Nothing here is going to blow you away. Over all I give it an A.

What if the world was so terrible that your only hope for a happy life would be to hide away in the world's greatest amusement park...Dreamworld? In The Free Lunch, author Spider Robinson transports us to Dreamworld, a place where everybody has fun, dreams can come true, and the only sadness is when they close for the night." "Robinson tells the tale of Mike, a young teen who escapes our own dark, tormented near future into a dream - into Dreamworld. There he meets Annie, another refugee who has built a life in the underworld of this fantastic amusement park, perhaps the last vestige of innocence left in the world. But it is tainted by a dark secret - a ruthless competitor, who can't possibly create an attraction that's as much fun as Drearnworld, has decided that if he can't beat Dreamworld, he might as well destroy it. There's another threat to Drearnworld. Suddenly there are more trolls at the end of the day than were there in the morning...and nobody, not even Mike or Annie, knows where they're from. But it's up to them and their passion for preserving this last haven of joy in a world of horrors to save Dreamworld...and Earth's future.

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BUNDORI: I liked this book, in fact I liked it alot. I wish I could give it an A but I can't. It isn't strong enough to merit it. The characters are good but could use a little more depth and well-roundedness. The author makes good use of setting and time period, though she tends to dumb it down for the reader. I liked the characters and story and despite the problems I found it an enjoyable

The year: 1689. The place: Edo, Japan's feudal capital. An all-powerful shogun controls the state, surrounded by bitter machinations and political intrigues. A young samurai and ex-policeman, Sano tries valliantly to follow Bushido - the way of the warrior - in a society whose ancient, noble ways have been all but forgotten. Suddenly, one of those ancient ways reappears: bunodir, the war trophy - a severed head, nailed to a plank, offered for public display. Another bunndoir appears, and then another. As the citizenry panics and the shogun fears for his political life, Detective Sano must risk eerything he's learned as a samurai to bring the killer to justice.

Will his attempts be foiled by the villainous Chamverlain Yanagisawa? Or will he succeed through the help of the beautiful and mysterious Aoi, a mystic trained in the ninja arts. As it becomes obvious that the killer is one of three powerful men, Snao must reconcile his noble legacy with his duty to the shogun. Will trapping the murderer lead to prestige and glory for Sano ... or to his forced ritual suicide?

It is early spring, 1679, and the feudal Japanese capital, Edo, is beginning to blossom. But along its peaceful, misty streets evil lurks. With one stroke, the favored vassal of the ruling family is decapitated, his head taken for a bundori -- a war trophy. Sano Ichiro, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People, is called to find the culprit. In a city where danger and deceit lie just below the lush surface, Sano must rely on his mind, his instincts, and his noble training in Bushido -- the Way of the Warrior -- to solve this case that could bring him glory...or everlasting shame. Set against a backdrop of sumptuous castles, tawdry pleasure districts, and serene temples, and filled with unforgettable, rich characters, Bundori is breathtaking entertainment.

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THE WAY OF THE TRAITOR: I didn't like this one as much the second book. The whole story until the end just seems like it was made just to give Sano something to do and to have some contact with Europeans. There was little of the following of bushido, or working against an antagonist or love interest; nothing to really develop the character. The mystery isn't all that great either and the added threat of war if he doesn't find the killer was a bit heavy handed. Hopefully the third book will be better. I give the book a C.

A volatile, corrupt city threatened by toreign invasion and ru by an iron-fisted government, Nagasaki is the last place Sano Ichiro wants to be, Unfortunately, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People has been banished there by a wicked adversary in the shogun's court.

Surrounded by spies, Sano must tread carefully. When the body of a Dutch trader washes ashore, he finds himself leading an investigation that could push Japan into war -- even as it thrusts his life into the hands of powerful enemies. Sano has to unmask a killer and prove his innocence, or his samurai head, and maybe his country, will fall.

Great Bargain Books @ chapters.indigo.ca

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THE CONCUBINE'S TATTOO: This is the fourth book in the series. I liked this one better than the third book. Sano is back home and getting married. Of course as soon as he is married he is called to investigate the death of one of the Shogun's concubines. I like this story. Rowland expands the characters of Sano and his sidekick Hirata, she also adds the character of Reiko as his non-submissive, untraditional wife. The addition of other characters in Sano's inner circle and adding depth to them adds to the story. The same adding of characters also threatens to take away from the overall series because along with Reiko other characters are also added. You can see the possibility of having too many characters coming into a story and making it more confusing or convoluted. But for this book it works. I give it a B.

Twenty months spent as the shogun's sosakan-sama--most honorable investigator of events, situations, and people--has left Sano Ichiro weary. He looks forward to the comforts that his arranged marriage promises: a private life with a sweet, submissive wife and a month's holiday to celebrate their union. However, the death of the shogun's favorite concubine interrupts the couple's wedding ceremony and shatters any hopes the samurai detective had about enjoying a little peace with his new wife.

After Sano traces the cause of Lady Harume's death to a self-inflicted tattoo, he must travel into the cloistered, forbidden world of the shogun's women to untangle the complicated web of Harume's lovers, rivals, and troubled past, and identify her killer.

To make matters worse, Reiko, his beautiful young bride, reveals herself to be not a traditional, obedient wife, but instead, a headstrong, intelligent, aspiring detective bent on helping Sano with his new case. Sano is horrified at her unladylike behavior, and the resulting sparks make their budding love as exciting as they mystery surrounding Lady Harume's death.

Amid the heightened tensions and political machinations of feudal Japan. Sano faces a daunting complex investigation.

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THE SAMURAI'S WIFE : This is the fifth book in the series. This time Sano is sent to investigate a murder at the palace of the emperor. The murder was committed using a "magical" form of martial arts, which involves death by screaming. As usual the story isn't so much is Sano going to solve the murder or even so much about who did it but what his solving the murder and how he solves it will affect his life. Rowland doesn't do much with Sano or his wife as far as developing the character goes but instead focuses on Yanagisawa and his development. The book is pretty typical for the series and the murder-mystery genre itself. If you've enjoyed the other books in the series this should satisfy just as much. I give it a C/C+.

Recently married samurai detective Sano Ichiro, the shogun's Most Honorable Investigator of Events, Situations, and People, is struggling to come to terms with the unusual partnership that he and his beautiful, intelligent wife, Reiko, have forged. When Reiko insists upon joining in her husband's dangerous investigations, Sano is torn between pride and dismay at his very untraditional wife. But after Sano's rival Yanagisawa sabotages his plan to capture a long-sought criminal and usurps the credit for solving the case, Sano needs all the help he can get to regain the shogun's favor.

Sent into virtual exile to investigate a high-level murder in Miyako, the Imperial City fifteen days' journey away from the shogun's court, Sano undertakes a desperate search for a killer whose method is as terrifying as it is elusive: Only the most powerful warriors possess the secret of kiai, "the spirit cry" that can kill a man with a scream. Surrounded by treachery and mounting danger, Sano and Reiko must find safe passage through the mazes of court intrigue - before the repercussions of the violence in Miyako reach all the way to the shogun himself. The Samurai's Wife is the richest, most compelling thriller yet in a series that, according to Publishers Weekly, "positively smoke with historical atmospherics."

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THE JOY LUCK CLUB: Very good. An A. Amy Tan looks at the relationships between Chinese mother and Chinese-American daughter from both the mother's and the daughter's point of view. She interweaves the different stories in separate chapters, which if you aren't paying attention can throw you, into the book relating them with the "joy luck club", that the mothers belong to. A touching story that speaks to the heart and mind.

In 1949 four Chinese women - drawn together by the shadow of their past - begin meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong, invest in stocks, eat dim sum, and "say" stories. They call their gathering the Joy Luck Club.

Nearly forty years later, one of the members has died, and her daughter has come to take her place, only to learn of her mother's lifelong wish - and the tragic way in which it has come true.

The revelation of this secret unleashes an urgent need among the women to reach back and remember ...

In this extraordinary first work of fiction, Amy Tan writes about what is lost - over the years, between generations, among friends - and what is saved.

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THE HUNDRED SECRET SENSES:Amy Tan again mixes American and Chinese characteristics within her story and characters to create a wonderful blend. In The Hundred Secret Senses two sisters travel on a journey to acceptance and love, possibly for the second time together. There is a sense of mystery and mysticism that pervades the story which is intriguing, in much the same way mystery and mysticism pervades the soul of being Chinese.

I enjoyed seeing the characters get together and interact and react to each other and their perceptions about each other. It was a quick read that pulls you along and I found myself fighting to put it down. I give it a B+.

Amy Tan, says Newsweek, is a "wonderful writer with a rare power to touch the heart." Now, in The Hundred Secret Senses, she uses her characteristic wisdom, grace and humor to conjure a story of the inheritance of love, its secrets and senses, its illusions and truths. Set in San Francisco and in a remote village of southern China, this is a tale of American pragmatism shaken, and soothed, by Chinese ghosts. What proof of love do we seek between mother and daughter, among sisters, lovers, and friends? What are its boundaries and failings? Can love go beyond "Until death do us part"? And if so, which aspects haunt us like regretful ghosts?

In 1962, Olivia, nearly six years old, meets Kwan, her adult half sister from China, for the first time. Olivia's neglectful mother, who in pursuing a new marriage can't provide the attention her daughter needs, finds Kwan to be a handy caretaker. In the bedroom the sisters share, Kwan whispers secrets about ghosts and makes Olivia promise never to reveal them. Out of both fright and resentment, Olivia betrays her sister - with terrible consequences. From then on she listens to Kwan's stories and pretends to believe them.

Thirty years pass, and Olivia is about to divorce her husband, Simon, after a lengthy marriage. She is certain he has never given up his love for a former girlfriend, who died years before. Kwan and her ghosts believe otherwise, and they provide Olivia with ceaseless advice and pleas to reconsider. But Olivia has long since dismissed the ghosts of her childhood and the wacky counsel of her sister.

Just as Kwan anticipates, fate intervenes and takes her, Olivia, and Simon to China. In the village where Kwan grew up, Olivia confronts the tangible evidence of what she has always presumed to be her sister's fantasy of the past. And there, she finds the proof that love endures, and comes to understand what logic ignores, what you can know only through the hundred secret senses.

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THE BONESETTER'S DAUGHTER: It was good, alot like amy Tan's other books. This one deals with a mother and daughter and their relationship. There are ghosts from the past and secrets that come out just like Tan's other books. There are some differences in this book they are subtle but significant enough to make it a seperate book on its own. I give it a B.

In memories that rise like wisps of ghosts, LuLing Young searches for the name of her mother, the daughter of the Famous Bonesetter from the Mouth of the Mountain. Trying to hold on to the evaporating past, she begins to write all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. Meanwhile, her daughter Ruth, a ghostwriter for authors of self-help books, is losing the ability to speak up for herself in front of the man she lives with and his two teenage daughters. None of her professional sound bites and pat homilies work fore her personal life; she knows only how to translate what others want to say.

Ruth starts suspecting that something is terribly wrong with her mother. As a child, Ruth had been constantly subjected to her mother's disturbing notions about curses and ghosts, and to her repeated threats that she would kill herself, and was even forced by her to communicate with ghosts. But now LuLing seems less argumentative, even happy, far from her usual disagreeable and dissatisfied self.

While tending to her ailing mother, Ruth discovers the pages LuLing wrote in Chinese, the story of her tumultuous and star-crossed life, and is transported to a backwoods village known as Immortal Heart. There she learns of secrets passed along by a mute nursemaid, Precious Auntie, of a cave where "dragon bones" are mined, some of which may prove to be the teeth of Peking Man at the crumbling ravine known as the End of the World, where Precious Auntie 's scattered bones lie, and of the curse that LuLing believes she released through betrayal. Like layers of sediment being removed, each page reveals secret of a larger mystery: What becomes of Peking Man: What was the name of the Bonesetter's Daughter? And who was Precious Auntie, whose suicide changed the path of LuLing's life? Within LuLing's calligraphed pages await the truth about a mother's hear, what she cannot tell her daughter yet hopes she will never forget.

Set in contemporary San Francisco and in the Chinese village where Peking Man is being unearthed, The Bonesetter's Daughter is an excavation of the human spirit: the pats, its deepest wounds, its most profound hopes. The story conjures the pain of broken dreams, the power of myths, and the strength of love that enables us to recovery in memory what we have lost in grief. Over the course of one fog-shrouded year, between one season of falling stars and the next, mother and daughter find what they share in their bones through heredity, history and inexpressible qualities of love.

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The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Part 1): The first book of the Lord of the Rings. It re-unites us with Bilbo though only briefly. This is more about the threat of Sauron and the power of the one ring than The Hobbit was. This is the archetype of the quest to save the world that has come to dominate fantasy writing since. The scope and breadth of Tolkien's world comes through in The Fellowship. Though that can be a bit tiring as Tolkien tends to add too much detail at times. This is a classic and very deserving. An A+.

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in THE HOBBIT. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

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THE TWO TOWERS (The Lord of the Rings, Part 2): Personally I didn't like the use of Gollum in the book. There's nothing wrong with how he was used I just really don't like the character. There's some action with the rest of the characters outside of Sam and Frodo sort of moving it along. Kind of drags a bit in places but overall again excellent. I give this book an A.

The Fellowship was scattered. Some were bracing hopelessly for war against the ancient evil of Sauron. Some were contending with the treachery of the wizard Saruman. Only Frodo and Sam were left to take the accursed Ring of Power to be destroyed in Mordor–the dark Kingdom where Sauron was supreme. Their guide was Gollum, deceitful and lust-filled, slave to the corruption of the Ring.

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THE RETURN OF THE KING : This is the third book in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. This book bring to an conclusion the quest of the Companions to destroy the ring and conquer the evil that threatens to overrun them. I give the book an A.

The Return of the King is the third part of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

The Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures as the quest continues. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, joined with the Riders Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and took part in the desperate victory of Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by the orcs, escaped to Fangorn Forest and there encountered the Ents.

Gandalf returned, miraculously, and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman. Meanwhile, Sam and Frodo progressed towards Mordor to destroy the Ring, accompanied by Smeagol - Gollum, still obsessed by his ' preciouss ' . After a battle with the giant spider, Shelob, Sam left his master for dead; but Frodo is still alive - in the hands of the orcs. And all the time the armies of the Dark Lord are amassing.

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COLONIZATION: SECOND CONTACT: This book is a set up book. It sets the stage for something to happen in the following books of the series. What's supposed to happen? I'm still not sure after having read this book. I enjoyed it, just because it offers a glimpse at some characters from the previous series and introduces some interesting new ones. Other than that there's not a lot to recommend about it. The writing was good, but it doesn't grab you. I give this book a B to B- dependent on having read the previous series.

During the Worldwar, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, and dozens of other cities perished in the radioactive holocaust of nuclear battle, Twenty years later, a fitful peace reigned over the continents. Though Himmler controlled Germany and France, Molotov ruled Russia, and President Earl Warren tenuously governed the United States, the invaders lorded over most of the world - coexisting in an uneasy balance with humans. As both the alien and human races experience the rampant social turmoil of the sixties, they are fatefully influenced by the tremendous upheavals - and by each other.

Then amidst this strife comes a new phase of the alien invasion .... the arrival of the colonization fleet - an enemy that seeks to sweep humankind aside on a global scale. The fleet's terrible goal is to colonize and seize control of every man, woman, and child on Earth. Yet as governments feverishly develop weaponry, a terrible truth emerges: This war will be fought not only on the ground but in the vacuum of space. The United States must summon all its technological genius or face destruction.

Even in the face of this explosive threat, the great powers are unable to relinquish their hostilities and unite against this awesome and terrible power. For America, and for all the countries of the world, this is a war that must be won, a triumph that must be reached in the face of impossible odds. This time, the terrible price of defeat is extinction ...
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COLINIZATION: DOWN TO EARTH Book Two: Not bad. Enjoyed the characthers though Turtledove doesn't go too deep into them. The plot moves along without too many lapses. The ending of the book is what grips you and will propell you to get the next one, just to see what happens. This book gets a B.

In 1942, Hitler led the world's most savage military machine. Stalin ruled Russia, while America was just beginning to show its strength in World War II. Then, in Harry Turtledove's brilliantly imagined Worldwar saga, an alien invasion changed everything: alliances, technology, commerce and -most of all - the nature of life and death. Nuclear destruction engulfed some of Earth's great cities, and the invaders claimed half the planet before an uneasy peace could be achieved.

Colonization takes us into the tumultuous 1960s, as the reptilian Race ponders its uneasy future on the planet it calls Tosev 3. The United States has prospered since the war, and has sent a manned spaceship deep into space. On the other side of the globe, the German Reich remains bloodied but unbowed, brandishing a frightening new weapon and always poised for war. China strains under alien occupation, and from Poland to Jerusalem, Jews must choose between aiding the Race or the Reich. Now the invaders have been joined by their colonization fleet - millions of newcomers who seek to incorporate our world into their far-flung empire.

A violent black market erupts around ginger - the one substance that deprives the alien colonists of their ability to reason - and a new war threatens, one even deadlier than the last. The clamoring, bellicose tribes of Earth from new alliances and play dangerous games of diplomacy, but the ultimate power broker will be the Race itself. For the colonist have one option no human can ignore. With a vast ancient empire already in place, the Race has the power to annihilate every living being on Tosev 3.

In Colonization: Down to Earth, Harry Turtledove continues the breathtaking tale that has established him as one of alternate history's leading practitioners. Populated by a cast that includes the famous, from Khomeini to Himmler, and the unknown - drug smugglers, soldiers, and lovers - this novel continues the excitement of Colonization: Second Contact, and weaves a spectacular tale of tyranny and freedom, destruction and hope.

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COLONIZATION: AFTERSHOCKS: The third book in the Colonization series. This one has the same style of Turtledove's other works. Alot of characters, many events, world focus. It can be plodding at times but this one does pick up a bit from the others. Worth continuing on. Overall I give it a B-.

As the the 1960s begin, one of the great powers explodes a nuclear strike against the Race's colonization fleet. As she did a generation before, Germany goes to war over Poland, this time against the Race. Retaliation is swift and deadly, leaving much of the Third Reich in ruins. The Untied States has used its fast-developing military technology to lock the invaders into a standoff. And in China, the ragtag revolutionary army of Mao Tse-tung - armed with Russian supplied, German-made weapons may prove the Race's most intractable enemy of all.

On Earth, the alien invaders find themselves confronting a far more complex and difficult species than any they have encountered before. From the hatred between the Jews and the Deutsche to the irrepressible inventiveness of human technology, the reptilian invaders realize they have met creatures that cannot be tamed. ultimately, only superior firepower may keep the Earth under the Empire's control - or may destroy the world.

Despite its military superiority, the Race still fears it underestimates its foes. While uprising and aftershocks of war shake the planet, and the Race's troops are undermined by ginger addiction, one nation plots a stunning counterattack.

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INTO THE DARKNESS : This is basically a story that mixes WWI and WWII with some magic thrown in. If you liked Harry Turtledove's other work dealing with WWI and WWII then you'll like this one. If you're looking for a fantasy novel then more than likely you won't care too much for this one. It lacks many of the qualities associated with fantasy novels, i.e. no quest, no good vs evil, no band of characters to rally around or true villains to hate. That said I have to give this book two grades. As far as a fantasy novel it doesn't really work and gets a C- as a war novel it gets a better grade a B-.

As a war novel it lacks any real connection with the characters. There are alot of characters and with the jumping around it's hard to get to know them and with all the different countries, never mind the different players for those countries it can get to be a bit confusing. As far as the use of battles and the tools of war it does a good job.

Now Harry Turtledove turns his hand to a story of epic dimensions: the story of a World War in a world where magic works. When the Duke of Bari suddenly dies, the neighboring nation of Algarve, long seething over its defeat a generation ago in the Six Years' War, sees its chance to bring his small country back, as they see it, into the Algarvian fold ... an action which the other countries surrounding Algarvian cannot, by treaty, tolerate. As nation after nation declares war, a chain of treaties are invoked, ultimately bringing almost all the Powers into a war of unprecedented destructiveness.

For modern magic is deadlier tan in eras past. Trained flocks of dragons rain explosive fire down on defenseless cities. Massed infantry race from place to place along a sophisticated network of ley-lines. Rival powers harness sea leviathans to help sabotage one another's ships. The lights are going out all across Derlavai, and will not come back on in this lifetime.

Against this tapestry Harry Turtledove tells the story of an enormous cast of characters: soldiers and generals, washerwomen and scholars, peasants and diplomats. For all the world, high-born and low, is being plunged by the world war ... into the darkness.

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THROUGH THE DARKNESS: The third book in the series it is along the same lines as the previous two. It does pick up a little from the others but not much. It is worth reading if you're continuing the series. Not great all in all. I give it a C.

This is a world where magic works. A world where blood is used to power magic, where Algarvian mages slaughter thousands of Kaunian prisoners in work camps to weave powerful magic in their unrelenting desire to win the war. King Swemmel, lord of Unkerlant, similarly destroys his own subjects in an attempt to stem the Algarvian takeover.

A young Kaunian girl is forced to remain hidden while her Forthwegian savior braves the rough, Algarvian-controlled streets to earn their keep. The scholars of Kuusamo are no closer to understanding the bloodless magic that may win the war - and time is short. Kuusamo has joined in an unsteady alliance with Lagoas and Unkerlant. No one kingdom trusts another, but they must unite, for it is only together that they can defeat the Algarvian threat.

The war is no longer confined to soldiers and sorcerers. Common folk are joining together to fight from underneath their oppressors, whether they be Algarve or Unkerlant. What these farmer soldiers lack in skill, they make up for in dedication. A dedication that will carry them through the darkness.

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RULERS OF THE DARKNESS (The World at War, Book 4): The fourth book in the World at War series it moves along in the same style and plotting as the previous three. Things do pick up a bit plot-wise as you can see the war, and thus the series, winding down. Usually there is a climax or turning point that leads into a winding down of the story. Not so much here, the publisher makes comparisons of the book to WWII but its more like WWI: plodding, alot of movement but little forward motion, tiring and ultimately of little consequence(?). Despite all of that I give it a B. The writing is on par, the idea in general is good and the characters and plot are flat but not terribly so.

Beginning with Into the Darkness, Darkness Descending, and Through the Darkness, best-selling author Harry Turtledove has been telling an epic tale: the story of a world war, comparable to the terrible world wars of our own twentieth century, in a world where magic works.

Imagine the drama and terror of the second world war - only the bullets are beams of magical fire, the tanks re great lumbering beasts, and fighters and bombers are dragons raining fire upon their targets. Welcome to the world of the Derlavian War, a world that is slowly but surely being conquered, mile by bloody mile, by the forces of the Algarvian empire ... forces whose most terrible battle magics are powered by the slaughter of innocent people, the Kaunians, whom Algarve - like much of the world - holds in disdain.

In this, the fourth volume of the series, which began with Into the Darkness, the war for the continent of Derlavia builds toward its crescendo as the mages of Kususamo, aided by their former rivals from Lagoas, work desperately to create a newer form of magic that will change the course of the war. But this is really a story of ordinary people - on all sides of the conflict - forced by a fate to rise to their heroic limits .. or sink to the level of their darker natures.

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JAWS OF DARKNESS: The tide has turned and the end is near. At least you hope so in this the fifth book of the series. The war has dragged on for however many years and the Algraves have ground themselves to a halt against the Unkerlants and now the Unkerlants are on the offensive. None of the general plot of the war is a surprise, especially for thos familiar with World War II. And because the momentum of the war makes the things that happen seem almost inevitable.

The real story is that of the characters. Unfortunately because of the scale of the novel there are a lot of characters to keep track of and a lot of different situations in which they're involved. Not only does this make it hard to keep track of but the characters themselves are a bit thin. This makes the book itself a bit thein and hard to follow. I give it a B-. If you've come this far you should know by now what you've gotten yourself into and you already should know if you will be sticking around to the end or not.

Harry Turtledove's masterful story of a magical world's cataclysmic war-which began with Into the Darkness, Darkness Descending, Through the Darkness, and Rulers of the Darkness-continues in this, the fifth volume of the series. The grand conflict for control of the continent of Derlavai rages on, in a battle with all the drama and terror of the Second World War-only the bullets are beams of magical fire, the tanks and submarines are great lumbering beasts, and the fighters and bombers are dragons raining fire upon their targets.

Yet hope may be dawning at last. The terrible onslaught of the conquering forces of Algarve-who power their battle magics with the life energy of their murdered victims-begins to founder as it runs into Habbakuk: a sorcerous ship of ice used by embattled nations of Lagoas and Kuusamo to ferry their deadly dragons across the seas to strike at the very heart of Algarvian power.

But though the tide has begun to turn, the conflict is far from over. The widely disdained Kaunians still struggle desperately to escape as the Algarvians kill them by the thousands-for life energy, but also simply for the crime of being Kaunian. And as the deaths of innocent civilians on both sides continue to feed the flames of war, those who have struggled to survive and preserve their freedom have only their passions to see them through. . . .

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SENTRY PEAK: I like to think of this as the shorter, better version of his World at War series. The characters come alive with their faults and frustrations as they try to cope with a kingdom torn in two and a battlefield that hotly contested by both sides. Turtledove's focus is one the battle for a small piece of land during a relatively short piece of time and it works for him. This story is an obvious take off on the American Civil War and the battle very similar to that fictionalized here. Some of Turtledove's weaknesses show here as in some of the peripheral characters come across as flat and some of the larger motivation is either simplistic or lacking in interest. These weaknesses are less apparent in the book. I give it a B+.

When Avram became King of Detina, he intended to liberate the blond serfs from their ties to the land. The northern provinces, who would not accept his lordship, seceded from Detina, choosing Avram's cousin, Grand Duke Geoffrey, as their king in his place.

Avram refused to let Geoffrey rule the north and sent armies clad in gray against them. Geoffrey raised his own army, and arrayed his men in blue.

Avram held the larger part of the kingdom, and the wealthier part too. But Geoffrey's men were bolder soldiers. And the north, taken all in all, had better wizards than the southrons did. The war raged for almost three years, until Avram's General Guildenstern moved against the northern army under Count Thraxton the Braggart and his commander of unicorn-riders, Ned of the Forest, which held the town of Rising Rock, close by Sentry Peak. Both sides knew this was a crucial battle in the desperate war, but neither guessed just how crucial it would be …

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MARCHING THROUGH PEACHTREE: The second book in the series moves on from the first. The war moves on and the characters are also revealed more. I like the way that things moved in this book. The thing that works most in this book is the original story that its taken from. If you take an interesting story with interesting people and put your own twist on it you're likely to get a better story. I give it a B.

FREE THE BLONDS!
(America's Civil War Turned Upside Down)

A terrible civil war was tearing apart the kingdom of Detina, a land which could no longer be half serf and half free. When the new ruler, King Abram, announced his intent to liberate the blond serfs upon which the northern provinces depended, Detina was torn in two, and the rebellious north took Avram's cousin, Grand Duke Geoffrey, as their king.

Neither side could expect an easy victory. The south was larger and wealthier, but the north had better soldiers and more powerful wizards. Led by officers riding unicorns, supplied by flying carpets, both sides had been clashing for three years when Count Thraxton, a conceited wizard-general whose opinions of his spell-casting ability far outstripped the reality, bungled a spell which backfired disastrously against his own side, giving the Unionists a decisive victory.

But the war was far from over: Thraxton the idiot had been relieved of command; which meant that the south faced a far more competent general: Joseph the Gamecock. And Joseph and his troops were determined to hold Peachtree Province against the loyalist troops. They had occupied Rockface Rise, which offered only two narrow places where the Unionists could come at them, and had further fortified it with trenches and catapults. When the southern army attacked, they would face formidable obstacles both natural and manmade, as well as the repeating crossbows of the troops and the deadly sorcerous storm and lightning wielded by the northern wizards.

Still, the very survival of Detina as one united realm was at stake, and King Avram's forces had no choice but to attack, no matter what the odds, no matter how desperate the situation ….

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Everything in the book is from a young uneducated adventurous southern hick in the late 1800's US. I know many have criticized Huck Finn I would assume mostly for the use of "nigger". But it is in the context and use of the entire book, as foul as that word is today it is appropriate for the book and style used. The ending makes you groan and exclaim we went through all of that for this?! And the story tends to drag and get a little long. I have to give this a C. An American classic, yes a great read, no.

Huck Finn grew up along the Mississippi in the days of slavery. Huck was a homeless rebel - a boy who loved freedom more than respectability. Huck isn't above lying and stealing but when he meets up with Jim, a runaway slave, he has a battle with his conscience. him tells Huck that his owner wants to sell him to a slave trader down river for $800. Jim want so go North to a free state. If he helps Jim escape, Huck knows he'll be in serious trouble with the law. But can he turn Jim in when all Jim wants is to be free?

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