DWD's Reviews

Not up the high standards that have been set by other books by James Alexander Thom To start, let me establish my bonafides as a fan of Mr. Thom's work. Five of his novels proudly sit on my bookshelf . I have the featured review of his novel The Red Heart on Amazon.com. When I teach world history I have my kids read a piece of historical fiction as part of a semester project. I have proudly placed copies of Follow the River and Panther in the Sky in my classroom library as examples of historical fiction at its finest. I met Thom at a conference this past spring and told him that his books were the reason I created this type of project. When at his best, Thom's books make you feel as though you have stepped into that world of the past. Warrior Woman , while accurate is just not entertaining reading. The plot meanders around and never seems to pick up steam. We never really understand Nonhelema's motives in the book - why is she so desperate to negotiate

A Viking book that's less of a "bash 'em, slash 'em" book and more of a legal thriller So, you pick up a book about Icelandic Vikings and what do you expect? Well, if you're like me you expected a lot of men with long hair brandishing swords and axes along with lots of blood and longboats, much like the Saxon Chronicle books of Bernard Cornwell. A Viking Longhouse Kari's Saga starts out with just that - a failed attempt to burn a rival's longhouse. But, there's a twist. Iceland is trying to limit the the amount of violence that plague the island (revenge killings and so on). The Icelandic Vikings are actively trying to be more creative in applying Viking laws and the legal system to limit this violence. Notice I said limit, not end it - these are, after all, Vikings. Throw in the threat of political change (invasion from Viking kings back in Denmark - Icleand had no king, just a loose collection of weak semi-feudal lords) a

Batman, super-villains and the insanity of life in Gotham from the point of view of the police Ever wonder how Batman and his cronies seem to the cops? Ever wonder how cops deal with super-villains, super heroes and the insane amount of crime that Gotham City generates? Gotham Central is a great twist on the Super hero tale. Told from the perspective of Gotham's Major Crime Unit, this series puts a different point of view on the super hero story. Besides that, many of these cops are involved in super heroics of their own. Imagine NYPD Blue or Law and Order SVU with the occasional super villain and super hero and you've got the idea. Gritty, tough, action-packed and good. I rate this graphic novel 5 stars out of 5. This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here:  Gotham Central Vol. 5: Dead Robin . Reviewed on November 29, 2008.

So, what happens when you take a best-selling author of thrillers and have him work with a great comics team? Brad Meltzer You get a strong story, great art and some of the cherished ideas of comics are re-worked. To quote the introduction by Joss Whedon, "it's unlikely that Elongated Man is your favorite-ever character. But halfway into issue one he was certainly mine. Brad and Rags paint a portait of a man - and a marriage - that is so unassumingly lovely, it's unbearable to think anything bad might happen to either. And inevitable that it will." ****Spoiler alert**** Thank novelist Brad Meltzer for making you care and thank artist Rags Morales for making you feel the pain of Elongated Man's loss on page 31 (even now, I just glanced at THE page and I felt it all over again). Meltzer re-works some of the bad guys and makes them truly awful. Why shouldn't they be. Regular villains stalk, kill, rape, maim and torture. Shouldn't

Good historical fiction about an oft-forgotten era of American History The Fire Eaters is the sequel to Long Hunters , a book about Timothy Barlow and his experiences as a young officer during the War of 1812 and the Creek Uprising with Andrew Jackson. You do not have to have read the first book to read this one. In this second book of a Barlow Trilogy, Captain Barlow is asked by Andrew Jackson to go on a fact-finding mission to find out the source of a dispute between the Cherokee and White Georgians. Jackson is pre-disposed to remove the Cherokee and Barlow is upset by the idea. However, he fulfills his mission since he is honor-bound to fulfill his duty as a soldier. Later, he is sent on another mission to deal with the nullifiers of South Carolina (AKA the 'Fire-eaters'). Andrew Jackson  (1767-1845) If you are not familiar with the real life Fire-eaters or with the issues involved with the Cherokee disputes, Manning does an exceptional job of ex

A simple but profound piece of science fiction I have not read any Ayn Rand before Anthem . I know this may seem strange for a person that enjoys politics, leans heavily to the right politically and enjoys science fiction, but it is true. The reason is quite simple - the people at the Ayn Rand Institute are so enthusiastic about Ayn Rand and her ideas on talk shows and in interviews that they seem like a religion to them. I feel similarly creepy about the postage paid information card that is included in my book. Plus, let's face it, her most famous works are L-o-o--o-n-g and I was not sure I wanted to invest that much time into Rand. But, I decided to give Anthem a try because it is very short (105 pages) and my local bookstore had it on clearance. So, what did I think? There was a stretch of time before and after World War II, when the collectivization political movements were gaining momentum (fascism and communism) when some great novelists grew wary and wrote so