Reviews by markjazz

This was my first taste in reading anything by Alastair Reynolds and one can tell off the bat that he is using his scientific background in the development of his "Universe". There's some fantastic wonders displayed in here and some great theories too. My main problem with this book however is that, although it has an awesome beginning and ending, the main middle bulk of the novel is dry. There's far too much of the characters just talking about nothing that has anything to really do with the overall outcome of the ending of the story. Too much "blah-blah" one might say. I can't stand that. My mind wanders while I'm trying to focus on what I'm reading and it's all to soon do I realize that I just don't care about what I just read. I was never into space opera's so I'm not sure why I gave this one a shot. Glad I read it but I won't continue the series.

Wandl the Invader: 3/5
I Speak for Earth: 1/5
Don't judge a book by it's cover. "Wandl the Invader" kind of surprised me at how well it was written, even by 1930's standards. It's your typical Space-Aliens-invade-Earth plot but I enjoyed it and the Wandl creatures do not look like what was draw for the artwork so don't like the artwork scare you off. It did for me and that was a mistake. Now to the other story. "I Speak for Earth" has to be thee worst Ace Double story I've read to date. It envolves Earth selecting 7 people to met this Kodran but the first 11 chapters is talking about this selection crap and then it gets all summed up in chapter 12. You can honestly just start reading at chapter 12 and not miss anything at all. The story is very dry and goes no where.

TRT: 1:19:41
First Death: 6:34
Last Death: 1:17:30
Humanoid Kills: 15
Humanoids Killed: 11 (at least)
Humanoid Rapes: 3
Total Deaths: 18
Swears: 10
Tits: 5
Nude Scenes: 4
Explosions: 3
Scenes with Blood: 19
Fake Scares: 6
Seagulls with One Leg: 1
Film Score: 4/5
Music: 3.5/5
DVD Special Features: 4/5

I have a love/hate relationship with this game. It's car porn for sure but it seems almost like a RPG at times. You have to level up and collect items to make your car better. I love the fact that one can race against 12-15 cars this time instead of just 6. One thing I hate the most is the fact that you can't fast forward B-Spec mode. Can someone tell me why they would think this was something we wouldn't want? It's not fun watching a 3 hour race in that mode. I get tired of it after just a 10 lap race. So yeah, I love this game but I still think the 3rd in the series was the best one. Sometimes I just wanna grab a car a race. I don't want to level up and spend ten minutes trying to pick a certain car for a certain race.

This is defiantly a good buy and being a fan of experimental music I'm glad it's in my collection. That being said I would have to say this is a fixed bag. I love the trombone, violin and the electronics on these tracks but I'm not a fan of the piano. Outside of the last track, which is awesome, the piano play just sounds like a couple kittens mashing on the keys. You've all seen those Youtube videos of what I'm talking about. There's some excellent compositions in here and some eerie sounds too so if your into Krzysztof Penderecki you'd probably enjoy this. Good music to read too.

I like the subject matter in this novel because I have worked in the fraud field before so I understand it a lot and you can learn a few things from this book. However, I think there was too much talking about the subject matter and not enough actual murders, which is why we all read these books to begin with. There's a good portion of this book that is nothing but talking about this company called "innerCircle". I swear it was 100 pages and it does help the story but he could have cut it down to a Chapter and still get his plot across fine. I think this is a good read overall but I would not start with this if your new to Deaver. It may turn you off from him. He's written better.

TRT: 1:29:43
Monster Appears: 26:07
First Kill: 37:00
Last Kill: 1:11:36
Swears: 0
Tits: 0
Explosion Scenes: 10
Scenes with Blood: 0
Buildings Destroyed: 16
Ships Destroyed: 1
Cigarettes Smoked: 1
Theory's That Don't Make Sense: Too Many!
Film Score: 2.5/5

My first Jeffery Deaver novel and I was pleased overall. There were a couple good plot twists and even though I guessed the ending it was still done well. I like the criminal profiling info that Deaver puts in a few times in the book too. It helps you follow along more with the killers methods and makes you interact with how Rhyme is going to solve the riddle of the killer. I've read better from authors like Patterson, Preston and Child but this book does have me wanting to read more of his.

TRT: 1:22:16
First Death: 15:24
Last Death: 1:18:13
Total Deaths: 5
Swears: 0
Tits: 0
Explosions: 0
Scenes with Blood: 7
Music: 4/5
Notes: Here you will witness the quickest dissolving marriage on screen ever!

TRT: 1:22:07
First Death: 4:12
Last Death: 1:20:00
Total Deaths: 12
Total Kills by Werewolf: 9
Total Kills by Vampire Woman: 2
Swears: 0
Tits: 1
Explosions: 0
Scenes with Blood: 13
Slow Motion Shots: 14
Full Moon Shots: 7
Who Wins?: Werewolf
Film Score: 3.5/5
DVD Special Features: 3/5