My Summer On Earth by Tom Lombardi
Before I begin my review I would like to let you know that this book has a large amount of foul language, frank discussions of sex, nudity, and crass humor. This book is intended for young adults who are 16 or older and who are not put off by the previously mentioned items. With that out of the way, I really enjoyed the book and found it extremely funny, and think it would be great for reluctant older male readers.
The main character of My Summer On Earth is Clint Eastwood. Well, it’s actually a “human suit” created by a race of incorporeal aliens to resemble a 16 year old Clint Eastwood, and sent down to Earth to be worn by one of their own adolescent beings. Clint’s mission is to find an alien previously sent to earth who has become a world famous movie star. Unfortunately, Clint’s superiors failed to teach him how to use the suit, or anything about human culture. He finds a friend in 15 year old Zoë, who has run away from home and crashes either with friends or on the beach. Clint also befriends Kip, an older homeless man with a heroin addiction. As a self-focused teen Clint quickly becomes sidetracked by the me-first culture of Southern California. There are many things Clint wants to do, other than his mission (his foremost concern is human lovemaking). Once he finds the alien movie star, he is introduced to Hollywood. The gleam of So Cal life soon becomes tarnished, and Clint discovers just how hard it is to be human.
I loved this book. It was very funny and read very quickly. Because of the adult content it is appropriate for older readers (16+). It would work really well for males who are reluctant readers. The sci-fi aspect is just a MacGuffin for a fish out of water story, and to satirize life in the 21st century. It’s also a coming of age tale where a young man, focused solely on his own pleasure, begins to genuinely care for those immediately around him, and then for all people. The book mainly focuses on its humor but the message is definitely there, it just doesn’t hit you in the face.
August 18th, 2008
Empire of Ivory (Temeraire book 4) by Naomi Novik
In the first Temeraire novel, His Majesty’s Dragon, England is at war with Napoleon and the French. William Laurence is an ordinary ship’s captain in His Majesty’s Navy. That is until his crew captures a French ship harboring a dragon egg. When it hatches the young dragon imprints upon Laurence, which forces him to become the dragon’s caregiver and pilot. He must leave the Navy and join His Majesty’s Aerial Corp, an air force made entirely of dragons and their crews. The first book in the series follows Laurence and his dragon, Temeraire, as they get used to being part of the Aerial Corp and help to defend England from an invasion. The second book’s adventure finds the duo traveling to China, Temeraire’s country of origin. The third book picks up where the second book ends and covers their return trip to England by land. They finally make it back to England at the start of the fourth book only to find a mysterious dragon plague has decimated the Aerial Corp. They must sail to Africa in order to find a cure. There they encounter a hidden nation where humans and dragons are equals. Although they try to make a good first impression the first contact turns sour because of England’s continuing involvement in the slave trade. Laurence is taken prisoner and the hidden empire begins to muster an army to raid the coastal ports England has established. Temeraire must save Laurence and find the cure for his dragon brethren.
I really enjoy this series. It reads a lot like an old swashbuckling, high seas adventure, except with dragons. 
The series’s prose captures the historical time period extremely well. It has the right mixture of detail and action that creates for a semi-quick read. I really enjoy how each book in the series provides greater insight on dragons and their culture. Dragons are just as complex and intelligent as humans, although humans in the western world tend to treat them as they would a horse or a ship. I would recommend this series to anyone who likes dragons, or historical high seas adventure. It is appropriate for advanced readers, 14 and up.
June 25th, 2008
I am going to admit off the bat that I love David Wellington’s Monster series. Originally, these books were published as online serials. You can find the links off his homepage here. If that wasn’t cool enough, the books are actually really good. Like incredibly good. Like read them now good. But be warned, these novels aren’t for the faint of heart. The VBG level (violence, blood, gore) is at an all time high. So if that’s not your bag and you gross out easily then you should probably find something else on the shelf. But for those who do read these books you will find lots pf action, plenty of survival adventure, and really good character development. These books are recommended for anyone who loves zombies, and are appropriate for ages 14 and up.
Monster Nation is the second book published but first in the story’s chronology. The story revolves around a young woman in California who was bitten by a deranged man, and subsequently collapses at an oxygen bar. She has no memory of her name or her life. She quickly discovers though that she isn’t actually alive, but she isn’t actually dead. And she isn’t the only corpse to become reanimated. But she is, as far as she knows, the only zombie who can still think. She sets off to find out why people are coming back from the dead, but more importantly to discover who she was before she died.
Monster Island is the first book published in the series but actually happens to be the second in the story’s chronology. Dekalb works for the UN in Somalia when the zombie apocalypse goes down. He seeks refuge with a warlord and promises her that he can recover the AIDS medication she needs from the UN building in Manhattan in exchange for protecting his daughter. He is attached to a platoon of the warlord’s fiercest fighters, but they soon realize that while getting to Manhattan is fairly easy, getting across the island and it’s ravenous zombie horde might be next to impossible. Dekalb and crew also encounter the zombie named Gary, who can think, heal himself at will, and control other zombies. Dekalb’s journey to the UN building just got harder.
Monster Planet is the last in the series so far. In the previous two installments we have encountered zombies that who continue to think like humans after dying and being resurrected. These zombies are known liches (rhymes with ditches). Liches are super zombies who retain their personalities and gain magical abilities. Monster Planet features the lich king, who wants to conquer the whole world, and enslave both humans and zombies. It’s up to Dekalb’s daughter, now a young woman, to save the world.
Wellington does a great job at combining the old with the new in his Monster series. The action sequences are great. The humans are just the right amount of desperate, the zombies are just the right amount of hungry and the liches are just too cool for school. Again, it’s highly recommended!
May 31st, 2008
The Last Days of Krypton by Kevin J. Anderson
“Kneel Before Zod!” - General Zod (Superman II)
We are all familiar with the story of Superman. The last son of Krypton falls from the sky and is raised in Kansas only to gain super powers and become Earth’s defender of truth and justice. Superman is one of the 20th century’s most popular and traditional messiah/Christ figures.
Kevin J. Anderson’s The Last Days of Krypton takes us back before the birth of Kal-El and the destruction of Krypton. The novel focuses on the lives of a super scientist, Jor-El, and a high level government bureaucrat, Commissioner Zod during the final year or so of the planet Krypton. Both have high hopes for the future of their planet that will help their fates to cross for both the good and ill of the planet. Krypton is a self-proclaimed paradise, yet its development has stagnated due to isolationism and an entrenched distrust of change. We all know before the first page that the planet is doomed (or else there would be no Superman). What follows is a tragic political drama that is a fairly gripping read, because while we know how the story ends, we don’t know how the characters get there.
That being said, I would recommend this book for advanced readers, or those who are really into Superman and comic books. A lot of my enthusiasm for this book is based a lot upon me geeking out about Superman. So if you have ever heard of the Bottle City of Kandor, or know where Supergirl is from, then you HAVE to read this book! 
May 27th, 2008
The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn
This is the last book in the Tales of the Otori series, a wonderful series about the adventures of Otori Takeo and his love and future wife Shirakawa Kaede in feudal Japan. The original trilogy began with Takeo as a young boy whose village was destroyed by an evil warlord. He escaped and was adopted by a nobleman, Otori Shigeru. Takeo is trained as a warrior and discovers that he has special skills known only to those of the Tribe. The Tribe abilities allow him to turn himself invisible, to project the “second self” (an illusionary duplicate), and to use the Kikuta Gaze (when you stare into his eyes you fall into a deep sleep). The original adventures follow Takeo and Kaede as they fall in love, and fall in love, get captured, and eventually reunite, all in the process of uniting the Three Countries. Early on a prophecy is revealed to Takeo:
Your lands will stretch from sea to sea…Five battles will buy you peace, four to win and one to lose. Many must die, but you yourself are safe from death, except at the hands of your own son.
By the end of the third novel the prophecy is fulfilled (except for the dying part ).There is magic, romance, adventure, action, and political intrigue. Its a great series of novels.
The Harsh Cry of the Heron is billed as the Last Tale of the Otori. It picks up 16 years after the third novel. Takeo and Kaede still rule the Three Countries and peace and trade have prosperped. This novel fulfills the last part of the prophecy Takeo heard earlier in life, that he can only die by the hand of his own son. The plot focuses on the political intrigue of the previous novels. The Emperor of Japan has let Takeo rule the Three Countries but has now called his right to rule into question. At the same time Arai Zenko is developing firearms in order to challenge Takeo’s rule in the west. Also we finally get to read about Takeo’s long lost son, and how he has been raised to despise his father. Sounds like a great read huh? Unfortunately the novel focuses too much on side plots and details that never contribute anything to the ultimate climax and resolution. I would estimate that at least half of the novel could have been trimmed down with no loss to the major plots. In the last hundred pages it finally comes around to the concluding battles and they are just as exciting as the battle scenes Hearn wrote before. There is just not enough of them. Takeo seems to hem and haw all through the novel. Nothing really gets accomplished until more then halfway through the book.
For this reason I would recommend this book only to more advanced readers who have read the previous Otori tales and absolutely loved them. I liked the ending to the series but wished it got to the good parts quicker.
April 14th, 2008
