on my team….

The High-Tech Knight by Leo A. Frankowski

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First of all, don’t take it too seriously.
I don’t believe that you grade every work on the same scale, you grade them based on what they were intended to be. This book wasn’t written to be compared to Stephen King or Shakespeare (depending on which end of the scale you tend to fall to) – it was written to be enjoyed. I have a feeling that if Leo were alive he’d tell you he had a ball writing this series, and leave it at that.
The basic premise is the same as the first book. Conrad is stuck in 13th century Poland, and is fighting to survive, knowing that in nine years the Mongols will be invading. His long range plans of defending his homeland get a bit more complicated however when he sets free a group of slaves only to find out the Knights of the Cross were doing something legal.
The last half of the book is Conrad waiting for his trial by combat to decide how the slaves and other loot will be distributed from the caravan he assaulted. Everyone around him thinks he’s done for it, which I found a little hard to believe given how he handles everything else in that time, but they do at least provide an explanation about how his poor lance work will be his undoing.
In the process of practicing, Conrad discovers a bit more about Anna, his horse, who I love as a character. I get the impression that Leo was a very religious guy. The theme of casting good will out only to have it returned to him tenfold is a pervasive underlying premise. But it resonates with me at least.
My only complaint is that these books are available on the kindle and I had to purchase from Baen’s website and fight with the file formats to read them on my e-reader. What a joke. I’m sure it is all so they can get a few extra pennies per copy.
Overall, a great second novel. I especially love the end fight, where every desperate action Conrad takes is interpreted completely differently by everyone else present. Just something about that fight scene always makes me smile.

The Cross-Time Engineer by Leo A. Frankowski

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have to say I really struggled with putting a rank on this one. The books are like candy, they only last a moment, are probably bad for you overall, and are quite enjoyable.

The story revolves around Conrad Schwartz, aka Contrad Stargard (his given name sounded to German) being sent back to thirteenth-century Poland. After the shock of realizing when he was, he makes several friends. One of my favorite scenes in the early chapters is when he hire an underage girl who has been forced to sell herself to earn money for food, and then presses her on an inkeeper as a serving girl/cleaning lady. The innkeeper ends up marrying the girl.

That same theme from Ecclesiastes 11:1 of throwing bread on the water, is carried through many of Conrad’s actions. Something seemingly small done for the right reason turns into something larger and better.

I read the first book in the series when I was in highschool, and needless to say I am well past those years now. One of the things that didn’t strike me then was the way the young ladies in Count Lambert’s court are used, and at what age. I know a lot of people got really upset over this. Now that I am older I can see how it is a little bit creepy – but, at the same time it was never done in a creepy way. It might be every male’s dream to have partners, and maybe Leo took it a bit far, but at the same time, it is not overly graphic, it just is.

Anyway, Conrad makes several friends and ends up as a guard for a merchant, but only for a few days. After killing several brigands he ends up at the Count’s to weather out a snowstorm. The bread on water theme replays itself here, as the baby he refused to let die of exposure he found at the brigand camp ends up endearing all the keep fold to him.

Needless to say, Conrad’s knowledge and skills appeal greatly to the count, and he ends up hiring him away from Boris Novacek. Using his technical and military knowledge Conrad starts to build for his future goal, which is to be ready when the mongal hoard invades in nine and half years.

The book ends with the Duke granding Conrad the lands that Count Lambert assigns, willing to take the bet that Conrad’s overall goals are for the good of Poland.

What  do you do when you know the end is coming? Make sure you are prepared.

Now, there are multiple ways to prepare for the final fight, of which, I have two interpretations for this strange theft. The first is more likely, but less heart warming.

Interpretation 1:

Knowing the end is coming, and needing to finance the purchase of weapons, survival gear, and vehicles, a band of survivors steal millions in maple syrup to finance their end of the world survival buying spree.

Interpretation 2:

Hmm, they have lots of pancakes in their survival bunker?

Patriot Games by Tom Clancy

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First of all, way better than the movie. Harrison Ford is awesome, but there is so much emotion and thought process that can’t be laid out as well when it is done on the big screen. Books are better, period. (having said that, I do see Harrison Ford in my mind’s eye every time I think of Jack Ryan)

Second – not as good as the first book in the Jack Ryan series. This one really seemed to drag in the middle. Lots of detail and then some action. I must have read this book ten years ago and remember loving it, but it didn’t hold well to the test of time I guess. Some of the dialogue seems really off putting now. If I ever talked to my boss like Jack did, or showed as little thanks for being brought into the security fold (on the satelite images) I would have been kicked out the door. I get that part of it was a test, but the dialogue comes off as very rough. I think Tom Clancy has always done the action/technology part of it very well, but dialogue doesn’t seem to be a strong suite.

Sadly, I’m now weighing my options on what to read next. Follow my obcesive compulsive need to read thorugh a series once started, or switch over to something a bit lighter and more fun?

I think the three I am giving this may force me to switch over to something a bit less serious and save the rest of the Jack Ryan books for the long winter nights.

I thought it was a fake story when I read it the first time.  A 43 year old man dresses in a Ghillie suite and wonders along a highway to get hit not once, but twice, resulting in his death.

What a crappy way to go.  I wonder if any of his friends knew what he was planning and whether they feel any remorse?

Without Remorse by Tom Clancy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kelly is a Navy Seal back in the states as Vietnam rages half way across the globe. He’s done is service, and well, and is now working as an underwater demolitions expert.

Of course, that all changes when his pregnant wife is accidentally killed. Several months pass. Then on a wimhe picks up a female hitch hiker while he is on the way to his boat. (he lives on an island somewhere off the coast of MD that used to be a military site).

The hitch hiker has a horrendous past, she’s running from some very bad people, and is addicted to drugs. That is where the book really takes off.

***Spoiler Alert***
The good…
-Kelly is a very likable character. He’s tough, but the very same things that make him so resiliant also show his humanity.
-The love story between Kelly and Pam is very sweet. There is something touching about the two of them finding each other.

The bad…
-Pam dies. That sucked. I like happy endings.
-The way that Pam dies. The retelling of that tale is just to brutal. I actually debated about giving the book a lower rating because I found it disturbing. But then I argued with myself that if it was giving my nightmares, I guess it was effective.
-The cross story about the POW’s and how they were off the books was interesting, but I think it could have been done quicker. It was a lot of subplot for what I felt was little return. Kelly needed the out at the end, but I don’t think the story needed that much detail to make it happen.
-In the end, Henry got it too quick. He should have been the one in the high pressure chamber.

A very good read, and the overall happy ending with Nurse O’Toole in the end was a nice touch. I liked that Kelly was as peace by the last page. And while Jack Ryan is just barely in this book, it is considered the first in the series. Looking forward to reading the next one, although I think Kelly becomes a side character from here on in.

You know it is always going to happen when you least expect it…

OMG girl – that is a huge gun.

And a truly beautiful woman. When the dead start rising, you can cover me with that huge rifle any day of the week.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First of all, I was looking for something new, and “Blood Red Road” was getting good reviews. I went into it really looking forward to enjoying it.

The good…
-The story is interesting and the characters are memorable.

The bad…(and I’m struggling here because I really don’t want this to be too negative)
-Saba is a very headstrong girl, but after she realizes she’s being too tough on her little sister and they have a sweet moment, she goes right back to being mean to her. Over and over, and over.
-Saba’s decision making skills are very limited. Her first response to everything is no. Then she gets talked into it. She seems very emotionally limited.
-Where did Saba learn to fight? She had a hard life, but overnight she becomes the “Angel of Death”?
-Why does Jack like her? She’s kinda a pain to him and everyone else. I guess it is just fate. But even fate needs some backstory.
-The fighting was too basic. I was expecting more action with my action, but the conflicts are all covered in broad strokes.
-The langauge. I get that Saba and the others are not well educated. But the phenetic spelling and slang was killing me. It got annoying after a while.

The summary…
I’m going to have to really think hard and long before buying the second book. There weren’t any absolute horrible things that ruined the book for me, but the long series of things adding up really hurt it in the end.