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Showing posts from February, 2011

Wren Journeymage (Wren series) by Sherwood Smith

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Having read 'Wren to the Rescue' many moons ago it was interesting to see how far Wren had come as a character. I quite enjoyed catching up as it were and may go back and read the in between happenings from the series.  ** Look for further reviews at: http://www.librarything.com/work/10617132

The End of Marking Time, by C.J. West

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Opening with the main protagonist explaining how he had arrived at his current state throws us right into the action Michael O’Connor has been in a coma for four years as a result of a fellow prisoner’s escape en route to jail. Michael has awoken to a different US justice system, where criminals are no longer jailed but tethered, where on the surface the system appears to be working, but below that surface is a sinister, vigilante attitude towards criminals. Circumstances have no place. Prisoners are less than human. Human rights are dead. (and by extension the society's) I felt like I was reading Clockwork Orange meets Big Brother meets 1984. (I later read that C.J. West sees his novel as “a modern 1984 meets Prison Break.") The supposition of the novel was fine, I did get drawn into the action and followed Michael‘s rehabilitation process in this changed society. The controllers of this process are one dimensional, dehumanized by their very role. The ending was somewhat s

Spirit Dances by C.E. Murphy (ARC)

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The exploits of urban shaman Joanne Walker, Seattle police detective extraordinaire, continue. Once more Walker ’s best planned intentions go astray creating havoc during a new murder investigation. Sure she intuitively connects many of the dots of the case, if she could only solve her own relationship challenges and inner turmoil this would be an added bonus. As Joanne herself explains, ‘I was bad at relationships. I was bad at reading between lines, at figuring out what people really meant if they didn’t actually say it, and at being charming or flirty or whatever I was, exactly that women were supposed to do to attract men. My skill sets lay along the lines of taking apart car engines, drinking grown men under the table—and more recently—solving esoteric murders.' The death of a Native American dancer under bizarre circumstances and the disappearance of some of the homeless of Seattle are seemingly unrelated. Yet even the most distant of relationships sometimes