I've gotten behind on my reviews and so I'm going to catch up with the last three book club reviews in this one post. Honestly, they weren't spectacular reads and one I had already read before, but two of them were enjoyable, especially the one we read this month.
October 2021 Book Club: Euclid’s Wall by Michael McCollum
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy
Content: Strong Language, lots of sex with cringe worthy descriptions
A World Asunder
A century after civilization fell in a day and night of tectonic cataclysm,
scattered communities have regained a fraction of what humanity lost on that
Day of Destruction. One such is the Duchy of Hampshire on the southern tip of
England.
Hampshire is at war with the Califat de Normandie. It is a war that has been
profitable for merchant sea captain Ethan Scott of the Sailing Barque
Hellespont. Despite the money to be made, Scott prays for the war to end. Each
time he puts to sea, he risks his ship and the lives of his crew on his ability
to evade the Norman raiders in the Channel and the Eirish Sea. It is a gamble
he will inevitably lose if he keeps at it too long.
The Duke of Hampshire has problems of his own. War is expensive. If her doesn't
find additional resources soon, he will be defeated. The Duke plans to send an
expedition to North America to discover weather the fabled wealth of old still
exists there. For that, he needs a ship.
Scott's chance meeting with a beautiful woman presents both men with the
solution to their respective problems. Soon Hellespont sets sail for America
and the mysterious Wall that scholars believe precipitated the fall of civilization, and may yet destroy the world.
This book started out ok enough. It was a bit slow, but I really was intrigued by the very beginning with the scientists. Little did I know, the book wouldn't get back to that and what really happened until close to the end.
I didn't particularly buy into the premise that the world is still set back to 1800s type technology 100 years after a catastrophic event that destroys much of the world. I found it inconsistent that scientific knowledge was all destroyed, yet there was plenty of historical knowledge still floating around. I just think it more realistic that some scientists would have survived, that knowledge would have been passed on, and people would have started working to get things going again a lot sooner. I definitely don't think it would have taken 100 years for these people to go and discover what gets discovered near the end of this book.
There is a bit of adventure in this book, and I did like that, but unfortunately the romance overwhelmed the story to the point that it was not very enjoyable. The awkward, oddly detailed sex scenes were cringe worthy, and to be honest I've never read a SF book written by a man before this one, that focused this much of romance and sex.
Overall, I just didn't care for this book as a whole and I doubt I will read anything else written by this author.
November 2021 Book Club: Croak by Gina Damico
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Category: Young Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Content: Strong Language
Fed up with her wild behavior, sixteen-year-old Lex's
parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the
summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into
shape.
But Uncle Mort's true occupation is much dirtier than shoveling manure. He's a
Grim Reaper. And he's going to teach Lex the family business.
She quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated by
reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. But Lex can't stop her
desire for justice — or is it vengeance? — whenever she encounters a murder
victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again.
Will she ditch Croak and go rogue with her reaper skills?
I took a road trip with my girls and this was the
audio book pick. It was a funny, quirky read. It didn't blow me away, but the
girls and I enjoyed it enough. I'm not sure if we will continue with the series
or not.
Update 11/10/2021: I read this again for my book club and I pretty much still
feel the same way about it. It's still a solid 3 star read for me. I enjoyed
the world a lot, and uncle Mort, and all the ghosts, but Lex was rather bratty
in the beginning. She changes but I didn't like her as much as I wanted to. The
story was pretty predictable, but not bad. It just wasn't as exciting as I
wanted it to be. I have never continued on with this series and I am still fine
with leaving it that way.
December 2021 Book Club: Phule’s Company (Phule's Company #1) by Robert Lynn Aspirin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy
Content: Strong Language
After being court-martialed by the Space Legion for
ordering the strafing of a treaty-signing ceremony, multimillionaire Willard
Phule receives his punishment: He must command the misfit Omega Company on
Haskin’s Planet, a mining settlement on the edge of settled space. At his duty
station, he leverages his personal money and a knack for managing people to get
the company to come together as a unit.
Phule convinces the governor to leave the contract for an honorary duty up for competition between the Space Legionnaires and the Regular Army. The Army sends some of their most elite troops to take part in the competition, but Phule’s company operates with their own unique tactics…
I went into this book having only read one other book by Robert Lynn Aspirin. I liked that one ok, so I thought this one would be a good choice to vote for our book club read. Most of my friends agreed and we all ended up enjoying this book. In fact, it's rare that we all like a book unanimously. I think one important thing to note is that we all seemed to be wanting something that was just a fun, easy read, and that's what we got. I thought the characters were fun and engaging. It does show it's age a bit with some of the content - I did cringe a bit at the use of the term orientals for Asians - but mostly this was a fun escape. It's the first in a series of 6 books and a couple of my friends have decided to continue on with the series. I think I'm good with stopping with just this one though, as I liked and enjoyed it, but it isn't something I'm dying to read more of.
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