In which books are "reviewed"

Books!

I recently read some books. This is probably not surprising at all, I tend to read books. What is surprising is that I will now review these books! Actually, since I pretty much like most every book I read, I'm just going to talk about the books I have read recently, and hope that that will serve as a useful review, or at least be interesting to read.

Book #1-3: Trading in Danger, by Elizabeth Moon. I also read Marque and Reprisal, the second book of the series, and Engaging the Enemy, the third book of the series. These were a slight twist on usual military sci-fi with a strong lead heroine (i.e., the Honor Harrington template), in that the lead character was a member of a family of traders, who at the start of the first book gets kicked out of the space academy for something she didn't realize was a mistake. Assisting me in this review is Cao Cao, who is entirely too curious about the laptop for my liking. Sorry for the non-sequitur. Anyways, the main character then goes into the role of a trading ship's captain, and ends up in one military situation after another, which was a pretty interesting and different take on the genre. The second and third books are also good, using the set-up of the first book to continue a long storyline involving the main character's family. Another interesting topic covers the FTL communications in the setting being controlled by a single corporation, and what happens when they get subverted. I haven't read the last book in the series yet, but only cause it's out in hardcover and I think it'll be in paperback soon.

Book N: March to the Stars, by David Weber and John Ringo. I've of course read a lot of Weber books, and knew he'd written some with John Ringo which I'd not yet read. So when I saw this one in the used bookstore, it was easy to pick up (sometimes used bookstore ones are hard as I won't recall if I've got it already or similar). Halfway through the book it became clear that it was the third book in the series. It was still quite good, the plot covering a stranded marine company and the prince (third heir to the Galactic Space Empire or whatever they called it) they were in charge of protecting. The prince apparently started out being pretty spoiled, but by this book he was pretty damn cool, and many of the characters were excellent. It also had some interesting insights into how four-armed roughly humanoid aliens would adapt to warfare ranging from swordfighting to rifle volleys and on to higher tech weaponry. Great characters and an interesting story, I'm going to have to pick up the two previous books, as well as the one after it in the series.

Other books which I may review in the future: Shadowplay, by Tad Williams. The Summer Tree, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Prime, by Poppy Z. Brite.