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Half way there!
Jul. 1st, 2007 10:43 am27) The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Bleargh. I plowed through this, making it on sheer determination and world-building. The plot is fragmented and confused until the last chapter. It postulates a Britain ruled by Charles Babbage's primal computer: the difference engines. Lord Byron is Prime Minister, and there is still a lot of Luddite trouble. It all comes together, but I was left scratching my head. A very grim alternate past, one that makes Dickens look like a sunny musical.
26) Jeremiah: Terrorist Prophet by Michael A. Smith. Creepily prescient 1997 novel about a man trying to form a breakaway white Christian state within the US: New America. Jeremiah uses the internet and news media to broadcast his terrorist acts, which are aimed at people the average American hates: a sniper shooting a pedophile who was about to walk free after a trial, two young rapists/murderers who got away with it, a poisoning of the water system at Leavenworth prison. When he moves on to killing congressmen who are taking tobacco payola and the New York Stock Exchange, a lot of people continue to follow him. This is well written, but ends too abruptly, even for the first novel of a trilogy.
25) A Cowboy's Gift by Anne McAllister. Nicely written and plotted romance. Gus Holt has to regain the trust of Mary McLean, whom he jilted 12 years before. Anne makes the tension believable, the characters real, the situations funny and the attraction hot. I defy anyone not to laugh at the Christmas Pageant chapter.
24) A Cowboy's Secretby Anne McAllister. Glad I read this one first. JD Holt has a lot of secrets, but it's no secret how much he wants his father's ranch, which was bought by the local cattle baron. When local lawyer Lydia Cochrane sticks her oar in, wackiness ensues. These were the best of the romances I've read this year.
23) Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller by Chet Williamson. A video-game based book that really doesn't overcome the limitations of the form. A very interesting premise: a theocracy has taken over and sends people straight to Hell for crimes, demons walk the earth and the population lives under very tight control. The thriller part is great, but the world-building lacks something. The hero & heroine are nearly scrubbed for running a pornovirt in Cha 1, and it takes until Cha 9 to find out what a pornovirt is. And since it's trivial, not a plot point or mystery at all, that's sloppy, IMO.
( previous books )
26) Jeremiah: Terrorist Prophet by Michael A. Smith. Creepily prescient 1997 novel about a man trying to form a breakaway white Christian state within the US: New America. Jeremiah uses the internet and news media to broadcast his terrorist acts, which are aimed at people the average American hates: a sniper shooting a pedophile who was about to walk free after a trial, two young rapists/murderers who got away with it, a poisoning of the water system at Leavenworth prison. When he moves on to killing congressmen who are taking tobacco payola and the New York Stock Exchange, a lot of people continue to follow him. This is well written, but ends too abruptly, even for the first novel of a trilogy.
25) A Cowboy's Gift by Anne McAllister. Nicely written and plotted romance. Gus Holt has to regain the trust of Mary McLean, whom he jilted 12 years before. Anne makes the tension believable, the characters real, the situations funny and the attraction hot. I defy anyone not to laugh at the Christmas Pageant chapter.
24) A Cowboy's Secretby Anne McAllister. Glad I read this one first. JD Holt has a lot of secrets, but it's no secret how much he wants his father's ranch, which was bought by the local cattle baron. When local lawyer Lydia Cochrane sticks her oar in, wackiness ensues. These were the best of the romances I've read this year.
23) Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller by Chet Williamson. A video-game based book that really doesn't overcome the limitations of the form. A very interesting premise: a theocracy has taken over and sends people straight to Hell for crimes, demons walk the earth and the population lives under very tight control. The thriller part is great, but the world-building lacks something. The hero & heroine are nearly scrubbed for running a pornovirt in Cha 1, and it takes until Cha 9 to find out what a pornovirt is. And since it's trivial, not a plot point or mystery at all, that's sloppy, IMO.
( previous books )
