Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I bought this book on Audible and filled every free minute with it until it was over. A tour-de-force for Wil Wheaton, easily the best performance I have every heard or seen from him. If Cory Doctorow and William Gibson wrote a book together, I imagine that it would be a lot like this one. It has the fun and pacing of a Doctorow book with the environment and physical elements of a Gibson novel. But I am not saying that this story is derivative in any way, it is its own story in its own world with fantastic characters that I am going to remember for a long time. ...

December 4, 2012 · 3 min · 580 words · Dave Nelson
Dodger by Terry Pratchett

Dodger by Terry Pratchett

And now for something completely different by Terry Pratchett… I bought this book from Audible and used the Audible iPhone app to listen to it. This is a great story from the creator of Discworld, Tiffany Aching, The Bromeliad Trilogy, Nation, and The Amazing Maurice. It is very different from those other stories, but it is full of his humor and voice. Stephen Briggs does a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. His acting gives each character great depth. ...

November 27, 2012 · 2 min · 322 words · Dave Nelson
Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia

I read this book out of sequence, I read Monster Hunter Legion before reading this one, but it wasn’t that big a deal. In Legion they mention what happens in Alpha but most of it is kept a secret from the rest of the team, there are a few things that did not make sense, but not enough to make it awkward. This story shows just how smart Larry Correia is, the first 2 books (and the 4th one) focused on the trials and tribulations of Owen Pitt, but the 3rd one focuses on Earl Harbinger for a change of pace and a chance to delve deeply into a different character. If he wants to, Larry Correia will be able to write Monster Hunter books forever changing the focus of each book at will. ...

November 20, 2012 · 2 min · 322 words · Dave Nelson
Monster Hunter Legion by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Legion by Larry Correia

OK, I screwed up and listened to this one out of order, it is the fourth book in the series when I should have been reading the third, Monster Hunter Alpha. Luckily the third book focuses on Earl so much that reading them out of order didn’t mess up the story line for me too much. But when you read them, I highly recommend reading them in the correct order. ...

November 13, 2012 · 2 min · 315 words · Dave Nelson
Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Vendetta by Larry Correia

Oliver Wyman returns to narrate the second book in Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter Vendetta, book 2 in the Monster Hunter series of books. He continues doing a great job with all of the accents and odd speech patterns. The bad guys in this book take a huge jump up the scary scale. Owen and the other Monster Hunters of MHI are up for the challenge. ...

November 6, 2012 · 2 min · 265 words · Dave Nelson
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

After listening to the 2 available Grimnoir Chronicles books I decided to give the Monster Hunter International books a try. In many ways they are very similar to each other, they both have lots of action, monsters, hardboiled fighting men, and a lot of action. But unlike the Grimnoir Chronicles, the Monster Hunter books have very little magic and the setting is more in line with our mundane reality. It definitely gives the books a different feel. But even so, they are very similar. ...

October 30, 2012 · 2 min · 381 words · Dave Nelson
Spellbound: Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia

Spellbound: Book II of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia

This is the follow-up to Hard Magic and shows that Larry Correia is able to keep the action steaming along. Faye has really taken off as a character and has become my favorite of the bunch. Bronson Pinchot does a great job of making her come to life. If you read the first book I highly recommend you jump into this one and if you have not read Hard Magic, what are you waiting for, get to it already. ...

October 23, 2012 · 2 min · 258 words · Dave Nelson
Hard Magic: Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia

Hard Magic: Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles by Larry Correia

I got this book from audible after someone at DragonCon recommended it to me; I think. Actually it may have been on sale and recommended to me by Audible. I am not sure. Either way it was a good recommendation. This is the first book in a new series of books by Larry Correia. Narrated wonderfully by Bronson Pinchot, yes Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers, narrates this book bringing the characters to life, it is a wonderful performance. ...

October 9, 2012 · 3 min · 528 words · Dave Nelson
Year Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid

Year Zero: A Novel by Rob Reid

I bought this audiobook from Audible and used the Audible app on an iPhone to listen to it. What a great surprise. This book was recommended to me by Audible a couple of times before I finally took the bait. I think that it is narrated by John Hodgman was part of the draw for me. I don’t really like John Hodgman’s sense of humor, I have listened to excerpts from his book “The Areas of My Expertise”, and didn’t find it funny, but as an actor I think he is great. And he does a fantastic job narrating this story. ...

September 25, 2012 · 3 min · 486 words · Dave Nelson
Starship: Pirate by Mike Resnick

Starship: Pirate by Mike Resnick

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible app for iPhone. This is the second book in Mike Resnick’s Starship series. This book is much better than the first book Starship Mutiny, Mike Resnick’s sense of humor sneaks its way in, not as much as I would like, but it is present. Even though I found this book not quite in the same league as Santiago or Widowmaker, it is a good read. ...

September 18, 2012 · 2 min · 306 words · Dave Nelson