DWD's Reviews

Published by Marvel Universe in 2021. Hawkeye: The Saga of Barton and Bishop is actually two collections in one. The first half of the collection is the text from Hawkeye Volume 1: My Life as a Weapon . To be honest, the first collection is much better than the newer second half.  In the second volume, Hawkeye and Bishop are working separately. At the end of Volume 1 she left for California to be an independent Avenger. That's not really a thing, but she's young and hadn't really thought it through. I found the art and storyline to be convoluted, especially with the main storyline - the Bishop storyline. The shorter Barton storyline is a simple continuation of the actions in Volume 1. Even though it is the shorter part of the story, it feels like it is stretched out and padded while the much longer Bishop story arc feels rushed and poorly explained. I gave a rating of 4 stars for Volume 1. I give a rating of 2 stars for Volume 2. That makes for a total score of 3 stars.  T

Published by Dreamscape Media in 2022. Read by Cady Zuckerman. Duration: 9 hours, 18 minutes. Unabridged. Edgar Award nominee. Synopsis: An Unforgiving Place is the second book featuring Felicity Harland of the Investigative Services Branch. If you are not familiar with the ISB, join the club - I had no idea that it was the "FBI" of the National Parks Service. If the local park can't deal with it, they call in the ISB. That always include murders. Harland is partners with a park ranger nicknamed Hux. He is a big, strong guy. Harland is a short (but very tough and determined) lady. There is always of undercurrent of romantic attraction between the two, but it is never acted upon for fear of messing up their friendship and working relationship. Her dog rounds out the trio. In this series, the ISB moves the agents around from park to park. I have no idea if that is what happens in real life but it does let the reader get a feel for a new park in every book. An Unforgiving P

Published by Blackstone Audio in 2007. Read by Stefan Rudnicki. Duration: 54 minutes. Unabridged. Louis L'Amour (1908-1988) was an amazingly prolific writer with a career that lasted 50 years. He wrote up to 200 books, both novels and non-fiction works, depending on how you count them up, but he began writing short stories for magazines. I assume The Black Rock Coffin Makers is one of those stories. Synopsis: A cowboy rides into a strange town hundreds of miles away from home. He is immediately mistaken for a local man who was driven out of town and possibly killed by ruthless competitors so that he couldn't make a claim on a ranch. He looks so much like the other man that armed man try to kill him within minutes of arriving in town. Luckily, he runs into a local woman who is also involved in this mess and that's when the real adventure starts... My Review: This story starts out very strong. I was immediately drawn in. But, as it went along it just lost some of its steam.

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2024. Read by the author, Frank Bruni. Duration: 9 hours, 46 minutes. Unabridged. Frank Bruni, as the title The Age of Grievance implies, looks at how people of all political stripes act as though they are aggrieved at so many things. Sometimes, it's kind of funny and harmless, sometimes it's deadly serious to our values (forcing speakers off campus because they are too conservative) and sometimes people's lives (January 6th.) If you follow the news, especially political news, not much is new here except grouping them all together and adding analysis.  He is not saying grievance is always wrong. For example, the Civil Rights movement was a grievance movement. But, he is saying that it has to be informed grievance. For example, he discusses the fact that most people that are convinced that China's economy is larger than America's economy (China's economy is about 2/3 of the size of the U.S. economy with 3 times the popul

Published by Brilliance Audio in July of 2024. Read by Sophie Amoss Duration: 10 hours, 18 minutes. Unabridged. My Synopsis Broken Bayou features Dr. Willa Waters, a child psychologist with a very popular podcast who lives in Texas. After a disastrous local television interview goes viral, Waters runs to Broken Bayou, Louisiana. This is where her two great aunts lived in a mansion on the edge of town. When she arrives in town, there is an uproar because a body has been found in the bayou and then a young schoolteacher and her car went missing. But, some of the locals still remember her because Waters spent most of her childhood summers in Broken Bayou with her great aunts. Waters and her little sister would be brought to town by her mother. All three of them would move in and her mother would spend the summer having a good time with the locals.  In many ways, her great aunts were the closest thing to proper parents that Waters and her sister had.  Her great aunts passed away within ho

Published in 2014 by WordFire Press My Synopsis: Veteran (and prolific) author Kevin J. Anderson delivers a compelling short story/novella in the tradition of the golden age of sci-fi with Comrades in Arms .  Humanity is at war with an insectoid race that uses psychic energy to create weapons and even peer into the future.  The story is set in an asteroid belt way out in the middle of nowhere. Some of the asteroids have breathable atmospheres, but they're not comfortable for either race to live on for long.  Even though the asteroids have limited value, there is no way either side will give them up so the war has ground itself into a stalemate of sorts.  However, humanity has developed a new weapon that is starting to turn the tide. Mortally wounded humans are brought back to the base and given the Robocop treatment. Their bodies are refitted with armored limbs, organs are replaced, and a "werewolf trigger" is installed deep in the brain. The werewolf trigger sets the cyb

Book version originally published in 2023. Audiobook published in July of 2024 by My Story Productions. Read by Shamaan Casey. Duration: 12 hours, 7 minutes. Unabridged. Wings of Redemption is the final installment of the Forgotten Fleet Trilogy . This sci-fi series is about a future war between humanity and an insectoid species. The series focuses on a squadron of space carrier-based fighter pilots on the front lines. The fact that it is focused on this relatively small group of people is the real strength of this trilogy. It doesn't get caught up in tales of political intrigue at the macro level, instead it follows these pilots on the bleeding edge of the front lines. There are successes and very tough losses. The risks are personal and also galaxy-wide. If these pilots can't help turn the tide, the war will be lost for everyone. Each book of the trilogy has a distinct feel. The first book ( Wings of Honor ) focused on the recruitment and training of these pilots against the