Steve

I really enjoyed Red Seas under Red Skies. The Locke Lamora series is great and I'm thoroughly impressed by Scott Lynch's ability to weave together complex stories into an unconfused, original, and fun read. If you are a fan of Game of Thrones and just getting into Fantasy (or back into it) I believe you will enjoy this series. It's similar to Game of Thrones in the sense that it's not too fantastical and doesn't include too much magic or dwarves and such.

I'm really looking forward to the third book in the series that is due out this year. My only disappointment is the narrator; I'm not a fan, but I've heard worse.

This book really annoyed me actually. I read it originally when I was a teenager and had such fond memories of it. I probably should have left it that way. But with the news of J.J. Abrams doing Episode VII and hearing that they would not be basing them on this series I figured I'd read them again.

Seriously, if Grand Admiral Thrawn is such a genius why does he have such a moronic captain around him 24/7. It just got so old reading about Thrawn figuring out what the Republic is doing and then every single time having Captain Pellaeon, like the idiot he is, second guess Thrawns orders. "Huh, but why would I do that Grand Admial?", "What do you mean Luke Skywalker is aboard the ship!!??" Just got comically stupid after a while.

Still, if you are a Star Wars fan you have to at least read this series once. Hopefully you did it when you were young.

I read this book back when I was in high school (mid 90s) and loved it. It was the only way to get some extra Star Wars back then. I remember it being epic. I just read it again at 34 years old and it's not exactly having the same effect. Timothy has cool ideas but his writing (like most sci-fi) is pretty weak and predictable. Still, I've gotta give it 4 stars for just being a fun, nostalgic read.

My biggest beef with the book that I didn't notice before is that Leia's dialogue is pretty lame. She pretty much just sounds like a lame Luke (aka pre-ROTJ Luke). Plus, Han Solo is suddenly really smart in this book. That pretty much came out of nowhere. Han Solo is pretty much my favorite Star Wars character but the guy was never too bright. Still, any Star Wars fan needs to check out this series.

Pretty cool book for young adults especially young girls who loved Hunger Games and want more of the same. I couldn't pull myself to give this 4 stars because although it was entertaining enough it just seemed like a slightly different version of Hunger Games. Also I'm not incredibly interested in reading the next one, but I could see how a teenager might be.

Interesting read. I'm going to look into some of the historial items he lists as facts considering that they are not accepted as facts by most in this country. If they are facts then my mind has been blown a few times in this book. I really like Napolitano's takes though and that he's not afraid to trash either party.

Some interesting and simple thoughts by Bonhoeffer. There were some good nuggets in this short book about alien righteousness, the Psalms and how in them we find the praying Christ, and meditation. This work has really encouraged me to start again a morning devotional/time set a part for reading the word, singing, and prayer. He also had some interesting thoughts on singing and the idea of unity singing as a congregation. I fully agreed with him on the idea that our singing can turn into a work of self glorifying (my term) of sorts and that if we simply sing in unity it can be a form of corporate prayer.

I'll have to read this one again, maybe next year, to get more out of it as simple as it was. There were also some very good ideas for evening devotionals as a family.

This is a very cool fantasy book and fits in along the new trend where fantasy books are more realistic and not completely filled with imps, and elves, and trolls and the like. It is a very well written book with some really great descriptions of music and the way it move us. It follows the story of a young boy born into a family of traveling musicians and the beginnings of how he becomes a legendary wizard. Sounds exactly like something I'd never read since I don't much like the magical side of fantasy too much, but the author is really great and the book is much more character driven than magic driven. Think a Harry Potter series (for an older crowd) in which 'Harry' actually does cool stuff. Very fun read and I'm looking forward to finishing the triology.

If you have an interest in Christian Theology I recommend this read. I'm down for listening to any New Testament Scholar who has points as to what we're doing wrong as Christians and in particular Christians here in America. His focus though is in 'revisiting' the apostolic Gospel (which is/should be our Gospel as well) and how the word Gospel itself is often confused today which can potentially make the term more about ourselves than about Jesus. This, he claims leads to a 'salvation culture' as opposed to a 'Gospel culture.' Good and important read.

Very well written and inspiring biography. This really gave an interestingly detailed perspective of German pre and post World War I and the events that lead up to WWII. I really enjoyed reading about Bonhoeffer's life starting from childhood. Bonhoeffer was truly a brilliant individual as a theologian, musician, pastor, and Christian, but remained incredibly disciplined and humble. It is interesting to read about a Christian who was focused on the Kingdom to come but also paid much attention to the political scene of his time. It seems that he did this because he felt that it was a job of Christians on this earth to be a 'voice for the voiceless.' Bonhoeffer seemed to know before anyone else just how evil Hitler was. It seems that his dedication to prayer and his connection with God enlightened him to what would come.

This is a must read for Christians and those interested in History and Theology. I highly recommend the read.

If you've ever wondered what a Fantasy book in realtime would read like then look no further than book 4. If I hadn't been such a big fan of the first three books I would have literally stopped reading in the first chapter. I'm not sure why Martin decided to not include some of the most popular characters in this book. I've heard that they will be included in Book 5 which supposedly takes place during the same period of time as book 4.

Feast of Crows is horribly boring and I'm being nice. I can really only recommend the last 9 hours of this book and I can barely recommend those. I feel like reading a two paragraph list of events about this book would have been a far better use of my time. If you get bored easily do yourself a favor and just skip this book. You really won't be missing much.

Also I've never been a fan of Dotrice's narrating.