DWD's Reviews

  Illustrated by the author. Published in 2021 by Graphix. Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Comic/Graphic Novel (2022) Synopsis: Morgan Kwon's parents have recently divorced. 15 year old Morgan, her annoying little brother and her mom have moved away from the city to an island just off of mainland Canada. Morgan seems to be doing pretty well. After all, she has a great group of friends. But, there are struggles. Her little brother has become extra annoying, she misses her dad and she can't wait to get off of this island and go to college and be her true self.  You see, Morgan has a secret that she is afraid to share with anyone - she's gay and she's afraid her friends and family will reject her if they find out. It all comes to a head when she meets a very cute girl while swimming one day. There is a more than a spark of romance, but it turns out that this new girl has a secret that dwarfs Morgan's secret! My review: This is an absolutely enjoyable comin...

  Originally published in 2009. Published by Pottermore Publishing in 2015. Read by Jim Dale. Duration: 18 hours, 32 minutes. Unabridged. The Half-Blood Prince is the book that one of my daughters complained about several years ago when she read it. She said it was too much talking and not enough action. Certainly when compared to the previous two books, there is a lot less action and a whole lot more talking. Rowling changed up the narrative and tells the back story of the villain of the series, Lord Voldemort, by way of an investigation by Dumbledore and Harry. The pace is certainly slower, but the information was valuable. Perhaps it might have been delivered differently, but I was glad to have it.  The last two hours of the audiobook were full of nothing but action and consequential moments.  Jim Dale continued to do a great job with the book, with the exception of the voice of Hermione.  This is my favorite cover of the entire series. Once you get done wit...

Originally Published in 1999. This audio edition published by Pottermore in 2015. Read by Jim Dale Duration: 11 hours, 49 minutes. Unabridged I am 21 years late to the Harry Potter party. I had seen the first movie and some of the second one but I knew nothing of this novel so I was able to come to it without having already formed any sort of impression. The first part of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban disappointed me. The tried and true plot points of the first two novels were brought back (Harry and his horrible muggle family, yet another shopping trip for school supplies, a new super-fast broom was being sold, and a focus on the strange candy.  The monster books that were actually monsters themselves probably delight children (and it is a children's book so that it is appropriate), but this middle-aged teacher kept wondering what is wrong with the administration at Hogwarts when they let a teacher order a book like that! A little past the halfway point, the novel ta...

This book was originally published on paper in 1998. Re-mastered audiobook version published in 2015 by Pottermore Publishing. Read by Jim Dale. Duration: 9 hours, 3 minutes. Unabridged. Harry Potter returns for his second year at Hogwarts. Volume 2 follows a similar pattern as the first one in that we begin with Harry enduring a summer with his horrible muggle (non-magical) family, going off to Diagon Alley to shop for back-to-school shopping and then having an eventful trip to school with his supplies. We hear about his classes, quidditch, his teachers, his friends and some foul goings on at the school that threaten everything. But, there are plenty of differences and that make this book much more enjoyable than the first book. There is much less macro "world building" going on because the general parameters have already been set. Instead, interesting details are fleshed out. For me, as an adult first-time reader, the relationship between those who can do magic and...

Originally published on paper in 1997 by Scholastic. Originally published as an audiobook in 1999. Published in 2015 by Pottermore. Read by Jim Dale. Duration: 8 hours, 18 minutes. Unabridged. Truth time. This was my first time with the book form of Harry Potter. I'd seen the first movie and maybe the second, but never actually read or listened to any of them. This is a big deal for me because I am generally a fan of the wonderful world of nerd stuff.  I will dispense with the plot stuff since just about everybody, even me, knew the bare outline - orphaned wizard boy with no friends and hated by his relatives that took him in, special magic school, Quidditch, and a creepy bad guy that killed the boy's parents. So, what did I think? This book is so adored and so talked up that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype. But, I liked it. I am looking forward to the other books. It is my understanding that they get more complicated and I certainly don't know the plots ...

Published in May of 2018 by Macmillan Audio. Duration: 6 hours, 58 minutes. Read by Holter Graham. Unabridged. A.D. Jameson is a student of cinema - not just science fiction and fantasy movies, but of cinema in general. I used the word "student" in the previous sentence carefully because he is not just a fan of movies, he studies the directors, the movements and the ideas behind the movies. Photo by DWD But, he is also a proud geek - a fan of sci-fi and fantasy literature and movies. Like me, he was really into those genres in middle and high school, moved away from them for a while during and after college and then came back to them in a big way when the Star Wars "Special Edition" movies were released. My own children do not believe me, but there was once a time when the mere sight of a Star Wars t-shirt or bumper sticker was worthy of comment. Now, they are everywhere. My family probably owns more than 20 Star Wars -related t-shirts alone. A.D. Jameson...

Originally published in 1979. Illustrations by Joseph Zucker. Way back in 1985, I bought a paperback copy of Dragonworld at  Viewpoint Books  - a great store in Columbus, Indiana. I sold it to a used book store a few years later and I forgot all about it. A couple of years ago, I found a copy of Dragonworld at a thrift store. I snatched it up, feeling like I had found a relic from my past.  I remembered that I loved the beginning of the book and I loved the pictures (there are more than 80 pencil drawings throughout the book), but I couldn't remember anything else about it. So, I finally got around to reading this book and I have determined that I did not finish the book 34 years ago. I remembered the first 30 pages or so but everything else was a surprise - and not a particularly good one (with the exception of the aforementioned drawings - they are quite excellent). The book is set in a world with two continents separated by a narrow strait of very volatile water....

Originally published in 1984. Published by Penguin Audio in 2010. Read by Bronson Pinchot. Duration: 10 hours, 18 minutes. Unabridged The ancient kingdom of Delain is ruled by a good king, but not a great king. He is a widower with two sons and an ancient, yet seemingly ageless, magician adviser named Flagg. His oldest son is Peter - a son who shows all of the signs that he will be a great and good king in the future. His youngest son is Thomas, a young man who is a lot like his father. Thomas is very jealous of the well-deserved attention lavished upon Peter and often turns to his only friend - Flagg. Flagg is very powerful, long-lived and an omnipresent dark force in the royal palace. In reality, he is more than a mere magician, he is a malignant force that seeks to create chaos and disorder above all else. Flagg is a frequent character in Stephen King books, most notably in The Stand and The Dark Tower series. This book is his second appearance in King's work. Flagg poiso...

Published in 2007 by Clarion Books Indianapolis native John David Anderson's Standard Hero Behavior is a tongue-in-cheek look at the Lord of the Rings type fantasy world, sort of like The Princess Bride .  Mason Quayle is a young, under-employed bard (he write epic songs about heroes and the like) and his best friend Cowel sells epic plumes for the hats of heroes (think Three Musketeer hats). The problem is that they live in a town that used to be full of heroes but the new duke of their city has the monsters under control. It used to take dozens of heroes, now it is handled by one man. Mason can't figure out how he does it all by himself because his father used to be the most-requested bard for all of those heroes and he's very familiar with the old songs and stories. But, that was a long time ago. His father is gone, disappeared along with several of the most powerful heroes while off on an epic quest.  One day Mason is summoned to the Duke's home and he ...

An intriguing mix of the old to make something new Published in March of 2016 The best cooks can take a couple of tired old recipes and do something special to mix them together and make something that feels like it is brand new.    Mishell Baker has taken bits of several popular movies and thrown them together with a a couple of well-known book genres and created something entirely unique in Borderline . Take a handful of Jack Nicholson's 1974 classic movie  Chinatown , fold it into Will Smith's Men in Black , add to it a pinch of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis   and a giant handful of Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever  and you have an approximation of what this book is like. It is a crazy jumbled mess that comes pretty close to being brilliant. Millie Roper is a former film student who shattered her body when she jumped off a building in an attempted suicide. She suffers from mental illness, has two prosthetic le...

Originally published in 1991 by Baen Books David Drake, a science fiction author who usually specializes in tales of high-tech fighting told from the grunt's point of view changes pace with Old Nathan , a tale of backwoods folk magic.  Photo by DWD Set in the the 1830s in rural Tennessee, this book features Old Nathan, often called the "cunning man". Old Nathan suffered a life-changing injury during the battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary War. As he recovered, he discovered that he had been gifted with some magical powers, including the ability to talk with animals.  Fifty years later, he is living in Tennessee and serves as the local area's potion-maker and a resolver of problems of last resort. He also can cast some spells. He does not understand the powers, but he understands that the spells he cast do not always resolve the problems the way that his clients hope. The book consists of five inter-related short stories. The best story by far...

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2009. Duration: 13 hours, 30 minutes Read by Gerard Doyle Jack, the apprentice Bard from late 8th century Saxon England and his difficult friend Thorgil, the Viking girl, continue their adventures in The Islands of the Blessed, the conclusion to their trilogy (although there is an opening for the series to continue...).  As with the other books in this series, Jack and Thorgil come into contact with a host of fairy tale creatures such as Mermen and Mermaids, Hogboons, Half-trolls and even a Viking god as Nancy Farmer demonstrates the depth of her research into European mythology. Jack and Thorgil join the bard on a quest to correct a horrible wrong done by Father Severus on a Mermaid  years ago (the Merpeople are called Fin Folk in this book) that has caused her to become a fearsome ghostly creature that kills and spreads disease and destruction.  A Viking Longship in the Bayeux Tapestry. Photo by Urban. In this book, ...

Did Not Have the Same Spirit as the First Book in This Trilogy. Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2007. Performed by Gerald Doyle Duration: 13 hours, 31 minutes. Unabridged It is the year 794 and Jack, the 13-year-old Bard-in-training from what is now the United Kingdom is on a new mission. Having recently returned from his adventures with the Vikings and the Frost Giants (detailed in Book #1 of this trilogy,  The Sea of Trolls ) Jack's new adventure begins in The Land of the Silver Apples with a mid-winter ceremony led by his teacher, known simply as The Bard.  The ceremony is supposed to symbolize renewal by ridding the village of all fire. Then, the village gathers in one place and creates a new fire and re-ignites everyone's hearth fires from this new fire. The ceremony has few hard and fast rules, but Jack's self-absorbed sister, Lucy, breaks one of them by bringing metal to the ceremony in the form of a beautiful silver necklace that she was given duri...

Published in 2004 by Recorded Books Performed by Gerard Doyle Duration: 13 hours, 51 minutes Unabridged Brilliantly read by Gerard Doyle, The Sea of Trolls is essentially the story of a young boy living in 793 England who is kidnapped by Vikings, taken back to their home and eventually returns home. But, this story is so much more than that. Jack is an adolescent that lives in an English coastal village with his parents and younger sister. This world is Christian with a hefty bit of pagan practices thrown in. This is not a comfortable mix. Jack is invited to be the apprentice for the local bard. Bards are more than mere story-telling musicians - they can weave magic by being in touch with something called the Life Force. Their music can enhance and focus their magic. Jack's mother exhibited such tendencies as well but she was never formally trained. While in the midst of his training, Jack's teacher is magically attacked by a half-troll Viking queen (married to K...

Fair to Middling   Published by Ace Fantasy in 2007 There is a market out there for parodies of the traditional King Arthur/Lord of the Rings fantasy stories. Some are quite excellent, such as the The Princess Bride and the Xanth novels. Some are just so-so, like this one. The book is about Terry, a knight trying to win the hand of Princess Gloria. He actually kills a dragon, but it took place in the wrong kingdom. When he returns home he discovers Gloria is now engaged to the son of one of richest men in the kingdom (his family invented sliced bread). Terry and Gloria decide to fake the kidnapping of Princess Gloria so that Terry can "rescue" her. Of course, none of it works out the way that it is supposed to... The problem with this book is that it is just so-so funny. Not that it doesn't have its moments. The running joke about people being afraid of sliced bread (because it is unnatural, etc.) was cute, but the long discussions about the rules concerning...

A Disappointing Adaptation Published in 1988 by Bantam Audio Publishing  Performed by a full cast Duration: 3 hours, 42 minutes Abridged and edited for the radio drama format. Way back in 1968, the BBC created a radio play version of The Hobbit to air in eight 30 minute segments with a full cast, original music and special effects. Due to a dispute between the Tolkien estate and the BBC the original tapes were to have been destroyed. But, the issues were resolved, copies resurfaced and since the late 1980s the BBC has re-issued this version of The Hobbit  in various formats. I listened to a 1988 audio cassette version. J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) Now, I truly love the story The Hobbit  - it is a true classic and I listened to this version to give myself a little reminder of the story before the movie comes out at the end of this year. However, this audio version has some serious troubles. First, the positives. The narrator (a character created for this...

A pleasant enough read but Paolini seriously needs to send an apology to George Lucas... I enjoyed the book but I kept on thinking that I've read this book before. No, I'm not talking about the obvious debt Paolini owes the Tolkein and also to the "Dragonriders of Pern" series. I'm talking Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope or plain old Star Wars to all of us old-timers. Both feature an orphaned teenage farmboy, left with his uncle under mysterious circumstances that no one wants to discuss. The uncle dies when dangerous outsiders come looking for the boy. Luke Skywalker has the Force. Eragon has magic. Both Luke and Eragon are watched over by strange older men who eventually provide them with their first weapon (the very weapon that wiped out a set of good knights in the name of an evil emperor), taught them magic (the Force) and how to fight. The older man dies. Eragon frees a girl from a castle with the help of that wanted-by-the-law Ro...

The first of a prolific series My 11 year old daughter picked up Redwall at a local bookstore and loved it so I decided to give it a try, figuring that it must be pretty solid considering that there are more than 2 dozen books in the series, including prequels and other side stories. But, I was not captivated by the story. I did not dislike it, but the grown up in me had some questions that pestered me throughout. The storyline is fairly simple - the peaceful community of animals that lives in and around the Abbey of Redwall is under attack by an army led by an evil one-eyed rat named Cluny the Scourge. The scholars of the Abbey believe that the sword of their ancient hero, Martin the Warrior, will help in the defense and dispatch an initiate into their order (Matthias) to find that sword. The plot follows the progress of he siege and Matthias' search. I was bothered by many things in this book that caused me to enjoy it less than my non-critical daughter. 1) Why do the ...

A very short short story Dayle A. Dermatis' What Dragons Prefer is a Kindle "freebie"from Amazon.com, at least it is at the time of this review. If it were printed in book form it would be 5 pages or less, I am sure. The plot revolves around a "dragonseeker," a woman who was brought to a small town to deal with a dragon that lives nearby. The dragonseeker knows how to get rid of a dragon, if necessary, but her expertise is really knowing about dragons - how often they eat, what they eat and what they really like. The mayor of the town is a horrible, lecherous man and once his boorish ways get to be too much for the dragonseeker, she turns the tables. The story in and of itself is quite easy to read but it telegraphs its punch line early on. It's satisfying, but not overly so. I rate this story 3 stars out of 5. This short story can be found on Amazon.com here: What Dragons Prefer . Reviewed on July 29, 2011.

As an adult fan of both Barry and Pearson I couldn't resist picking this one up... Dave Barry Dave Barry has long been a favorite of mine and Ridley Pearson is on my list of writers to look for as well so when I saw that they had taken on the Peter Pan storyline and created a prequel,  I knew that I just had to read it. Happily, I was not disappointed. This is fun, escapist fiction at its best. The book works on multiple levels - adults will understand several double entendres while kids will love the quick pace and high adventure. Ridley Pearson The plot revolves around a group of people called Starcatchers, people who collect starstuff , glowing magical stuff that falls from the sky and makes the people that use it superhuman. Michelangelo, Attila the Hun and Zeus are all historical figures that have found and used starstuff. The Starcatchers try to capture it to keep it out of the hands of evil people. I am more than happy to recommend this one to reader...