Dave Nelson Posts

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible app on my iPhone. Todd McLaren does a fine job in narrating the audiobook.

This is a solid science fiction who-done-it story. I enjoyed the lead character Takeshi Kovacs and his loose morals and ethics. I look forward to reading the other books soon.

The publisher appears to not have read the story, in the summary it says "assuming one can afford the expensive procedure" while in the story everyone has their mind stored as part of basic healthcare that everyone receives, but the wealthy are able to update what is stored more often so that if they die they will loose a lot fewer memories. Also the wealthy are able to have clones of themselves available so they may transfer themselves to a younger body on a whim and be perpetually young.

I enjoyed the exploration of what a culture would be like when the death of a physical body held very little negative consequences and how terrible a true death, where a persons mind and all backups are destroyed, really is.

From the publisher:

In the 25th century, humankind has spread throughout the galaxy, monitored by the watchful eye of the U.N. While divisions in race, religion, and class still exist, advances in technology have redefined life itself. Now, assuming one can afford the expensive procedure, a person’s consciousness can be stored in a cortical stack at the base of the brain and easily downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve") making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen.

Ex-U.N. envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Dispatched 180 light-years from home, re-sleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco, now with a rusted, dilapidated Golden Gate Bridge), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats "existence" as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning.

Altered Carbon is the first Takeshi Kovacs novel. Don’t miss the sequels Broken Angels and Woken Furies.

©2003 Richard K. Morgan; (P)2005 Tantor Media, Inc.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10 and recommend it to people who enjoy science fiction and crime books.

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.

This story really works for me because it is character driven with the science fiction elements playing important roles without getting in the way of the character’s lives. By the end of the book the protagonists are our friends and antagonists are the hated enemy, just as it should be in any great story.

I can’t wait to share this book with my 2-year-old son when he gets older, hopefully it will help create an appreciation of the video games and movies I grew up playing.

From the publisher:

At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, Ready Player One is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of 10,000 planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late 20th century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.
A quest for the ultimate prize.
Are you ready?

©2011 Ernest Cline (P)2011 Random House Audio

I rate this book a 10 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone who likes science fiction and video games, especially those from the 80’s.

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.

The only Charles Dickens I have read was the minimum I could get away with in school as a kid, but after listening to Dodger I have a desire to give his works a closer look.

I hope to read many more Terry Pratchett books like this one.

From the publisher:

A storm. Rain-lashed city streets. A flash of lightning. A scruffy lad sees a girl leap desperately from a horse-drawn carriage in a vain attempt to escape her captors. Can the lad stand by and let her be caught again? Of course not, because he’s…Dodger.

Seventeen-year-old Dodger may be a street urchin, but he gleans a living from London’s sewers, and he knows a jewel when he sees one. He’s not about to let anything happen to the unknown girl – not even if her fate impacts some of the most powerful people in England.

From Dodger’s encounter with the mad barber Sweeney Todd to his meetings with the great writer Charles Dickens and the calculating politician Benjamin Disraeli, history and fantasy intertwine in a breathtaking account of adventure and mystery.

Beloved and best-selling author Sir Terry Pratchett combines high comedy with deep wisdom in this tale of an unexpected coming-of-age and one remarkable boy’s rise in a complex and fascinating world.

©2012 Terry and Lyn Pratchett (P)2012 Harper Collins Publishers

I rate Dodger a 9 out of 10, it is not a Discworld novel but it is a great read.

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.

I am now really excited to read the book that ends the Owen and Julie line and begins a new focus for the series, if that ever happens.

Go Earl!

From the publisher:

Dirty Harry meets Twilight. Number 3 in the break-out series and a follow-up to Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta.

Earl Harbinger may be the leader of Monster Hunter International, but he’s also got a secret. Nearly a century ago, Earl was cursed to be a werewolf. When Earl receives word that one of his oldest foes, a legendarily vicious werewolf that worked for the KGB, has mysteriously appeared in the remote woods of Michigan, he decides to take care of some unfinished business. But another force is working to bring about the creation of a whole new species of werewolf. When darkness falls, the final hunt begins, and the only thing standing in their way is a handful of locals, a lot of firepower, and Earl Harbinger’s stubborn refusal to roll over and play dead.

©2011 Larry Correia (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 9 out of 10, fast-reading pulpy fun.

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.

Oliver Wyman continues to narrate the audio book and does so with great success.

If you are the type that does not trust the government and believes that they would do anything to create bigger and better weapons, even human experimentation, then this book is for you.

I am amazed at the amount of character development Larry Correia is able to slip in between the high-speed action of his stories. Owen and Julie’s relationship continues to grow and Mosh even gets to grow all while the action never pauses to take a breath. Great stuff.

From the publisher:

Monster Hunter International might be the premier monster eradication company in the business, but they’ve got competition.

When hunters from around the world gather in Las Vegas for a conference, a creature left over from a World War Two weapons experiment wakes up and goes on a rampage across the desert. A not-so-friendly wager between the rival companies turns into a race to see who can bag the mysterious creature first. Only there is far more to this particular case than meets the eye, and as Hunters fall prey to their worst nightmares, Owen Zastava Pitt and the staff of Monster Hunter International have to stop an ancient god from turning Sin City into a literal hell on earth.

©2012 Larry Correia (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10, why aren’t you reading these already? They are great fun and quick reads.

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.

I am really enjoying these books and am looking forward to more.

From the publisher:

Accountant turned professional monster hunter Owen Zastava Pitt managed to stop the nefarious Old Ones’ invasion plans last year, but as a result made an enemy out of one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Now an evil death cult known as the Church of the Temporary Mortal Condition wants to capture Owen in order to gain the favor of the great Old Ones. The Condition is led by a fanatical necromancer known as the Shadow Man. The government wants to capture the Shadow Man and has assigned the enigmatic Agent Franks to be Owen’s full-time bodyguard, which is a polite way of saying that Owen is monster bait.

With supernatural assassins targeting his family, a spy in their midst, and horrific beasties lurking around every corner, Owen and the staff of Monster Hunter International don’t need to go hunting, because this time the monsters are hunting them. Fortunately, this bait is armed and very dangerous.

©2010 Larry Correia (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10, read the Monster Hunter International and then go right into this one.

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.

Oliver Wyman does a good job narrating the book, he falters on the accents every now and then but he really nails some of the characters and I now can’t imagine anyone else doing a better job.

The reviews for this book are through the roof on both Audible and Amazon for a good reason, it is a really good monster action book. Once I started listening to it, I did not want to stop.

From the publisher:

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a 14th story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer.

It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.

It’s actually a pretty sweet gig, except for one little problem. An ancient entity known as the Cursed One has returned to settle a centuries-old vendetta. Should the Cursed One succeed, it means the end of the world, and MHI is the only thing standing in his way.

With the clock ticking towards Armageddon, Owen finds himself trapped between legions of undead minions, belligerent federal agents, a cryptic ghost who has taken up residence inside his head, and the cursed family of the woman he loves. Business is good…. Welcome to Monster Hunter International.

©2009 Larry Correia (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 9 out of 10 and recommend it highly for lovers of pulp, monster, and modern fantasy.

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.

From the publisher:

Dark fantasy goes hardboiled in Book II of the hard-hitting Grimnoir Chronicles by the New York Times best-selling creator of Monster Hunter International. The Grimnoir Society’s mission is to protect people with magic, and they’ve done so successfully and in secret since the mysterious arrival of the Power in the 1850s, but when a magical assassin makes an attempt on the life of President Franklin Roosevelt, the crime is pinned on the Grimnoir. The knights must become fugitives while they attempt to discover who framed them. Things go from bad to worse when Jake Sullivan, former P.I. and knight of the Grimnoir, receives a telephone call from a dead man—a man he helped kill. Turns out the Power jumped universes because it was fleeing from a predator that eats magic and leaves destroyed worlds in its wake. That predator has just landed on Earth.

©2012 Larry Correia (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 9 out of 10, even better than Hard Magic with even more insight into the characters and a lot of action.

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.

I am not usually into books about magic, when I was a kid there were a couple that I really enjoyed because of their humor, but as a rule I did not get into many magic or fantasy books. But this book is very different from anything I had read before with the exception of Mike Resnick’s "Stalking the Unicorn."

The publisher’s summary confuses me, I think it is written by someone who did not read the book, Jake is not a private eye, in fact he is a convict that is blackmailed by J. Edgar Hoover to hunt down people who are using magic in ways that the FBI does not like. Anyway…

What makes this book great for me is that even though magic is the main focus of the book it is written more in the fashion of a science fiction book than a fantasy one. It also includes many elements of a pulp-fiction mystery from the 50’s. Doesn’t that sound great?

Adding to that there is a delicate balance struck between explaining how the magic works, day-to-day living, and personal relationships that give the reader deep insight into the characters that many stories completely miss. Even though Jake Sullivan may be the "hero" of the story the other character all get moments to shine, I believe some reader will pick characters other than Jake to be their "hero."

Fighting is a regular feature of this book, there are long sections of the story that are detailing the battles between the characters. He does a good job with these but every now and then they do get a little tedious, but overall I do not think they hurt the story more than they add a feeling of action.

From the publisher:

Jake Sullivan is a licensed private eye with a seriously hardboiled attitude. He also possesses raw magical talent and the ability to make objects in his vicinity light as a feather or as heavy as depleted uranium, all with a magical thought. It’s no wonder the G-men turn to Jake when they need someone to go after a suspected killer who has been knocking off banks in a magic-enhanced crime spree.

Problems arise when Jake discovers the bad girl behind the robberies is an old friend, and he happens to know her magic is just as powerful as his. And the Feds have plunged Jake into a secret battle between powerful cartels of magic-users – a cartel whose ruthless leaders have decided that Jake is far too dangerous to live.

©2011 Larry Correia (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book an 8 out of 10 and recommend it to anyone who likes pulp-fiction and action/adventure books.

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.

I am very tempted to rant about how much I despise the RIAA and the way they treat the people, or the ridiculous laws that have been passed in the last dozen years or so regarding music. But I am not going to do that, lets just say that I feel like this book expresses most of my feelings pretty clearly.

This story is great fun, I recommend you read it as soon as you get the chance.

From the publisher:

An alien advance party was suddenly nosing around my planet.

Worse, they were lawyering up….

In the hilarious tradition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Rob Reid takes you on a headlong journey through the outer reaches of the universe – and the inner workings of our absurdly dysfunctional music industry.

Low-level entertainment lawyer Nick Carter thinks it’s a prank, not an alien encounter, when a redheaded mullah and a curvaceous nun show up at his office. But Frampton and Carly are highly advanced (if bumbling) extraterrestrials. And boy, do they have news.

The entire cosmos, they tell him, has been hopelessly hooked on humanity’s music ever since "Year Zero" (1977 to us), when American pop songs first reached alien ears. This addiction has driven a vast intergalactic society to commit the biggest copyright violation since the Big Bang. The resulting fines and penalties have bankrupted the whole universe. We humans suddenly own everything – and the aliens are not amused.

Nick Carter has just been tapped to clean up this mess before things get ugly, and he’s an unlikely galaxy-hopping hero: He’s scared of heights. He’s also about to be fired. And he happens to have the same name as a Backstreet Boy. But he does know a thing or two about copyright law. And he’s packing a couple of other pencil-pushing superpowers that could come in handy.

Soon he’s on the run from a sinister parrot and a highly combustible vacuum cleaner. With Carly and Frampton as his guides, Nick now has 48 hours to save humanity, while hopefully wowing the hot girl who lives down the hall from him.

©2012 Robert Reid (P)2012 Random House Audio

I rate this book a 10 out of 10 for lovers of humorous science fiction and think the RIAA are a bunch of crooks.

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.

From the publisher:

Captain Wilson Cole’s latest exploit saved millions of lives but embarrassed his superiors. He is a man with a reputation for exceeding orders but getting results. Cole has found himself the victim of a media feeding frenzy, a political scapegoat despite years of dedicated military service. Faced with a court martial, he is rescued by the loyal crew of his ship, the Theodore Roosevelt. Now branded mutineers, the crew of the Teddy R. has quit the Republic, never to return.

Seeking to find a new life for themselves, Cole and comrades remake the Teddy R. as a pirate ship and set sail for the lawless Inner Frontier. There, powerful warlords, cut-throat pirates, and struggling colonies compete for survival in a game where you rarely get a second chance to learn the rules.

But military discipline is poor preparation for a life of pillaging and plundering, and Cole’s principles limit his targets. Seeking an education on the nature of piracy, Cole hunts more knowledgeable players: the beautiful but deadly Valkyrie, the enigmatic alien fence David Copperfield, and the fearsome alien pirate known as the Hammerhead Shark.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Mike Resnick.
© 2006 by Mike Resnick; (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 7 out of 10 and recommend reading it after reading Mike’s Santiago, Widowmaker, and Galactic Midway books.

I bought this book from Audible and listened to it using the Audible iPhone app.

The Starship collection of novels are Mike Resick’s go at military science fiction, it is along the lines of Honor Harrington.

This book did not blow me away, it held my attention, but I am a big fan of Mike Resnick and I felt a little let down by this book. It doesn’t have the sense of humor or suspense that I enjoy so much from him and I found much of the story to be obvious and uninspired.

But… there is a reason to read this book, so that you can move on to the second book in the series Starship: Pirate which a solid work of fiction and brings in a little more of Resnick’s sense of humor.

From the publisher:

The date is 1966 of the Galactic Era, almost three thousand years from now, and the Republic, created by the human race – but not yet dominated by it – finds itself in an all-out war.

They stand against the Teroni Federation, an alliance of races that resent Man’s growing military and economic power. The main battles are taking place in the Spiral Arm and toward the Core. But far out on the Rim, the Theodore Roosevelt is one of three ships charged with protecting the Phoenix Cluster – a group of 73 inhabited worlds.

Old, battered, some of its weapon systems outmoded, the Teddy R. is a ship that would have been decommissioned years ago if weren’t for the war. Its crew is composed of retreads, discipline cases, and a few raw recruits. But a new officer has been transferred to the Teddy R. His name is Wilson Cole, and he comes with a reputation for heroics and disobedience. Will the galaxy ever be the same?

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Mike Resnick.
©2005 by Mike Resnick; (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

I rate this book a 5 out of 10 and recommend you read it for the background of Starship: Pirate.