Conquistador by S.M. Stirling

First sentence:

"John Rolfe had rented the house for seventy-five a month, which sounded extortionate but was something close to reasonable, given the way costs had gone crazy in the Bay Area since Pearl Harbor."

Description:

"If you could re-create civilization, what would you do differently?

Oakland California, 1946. Ex-soldier John Rolfe, newly back from the Pacific is about to make a fabulous discovery. It happens with a flip of his shortwave radio switch, a thunder crack of sound, and a blinding light. He blinks his eyes to discover a portal to an alternate world where Europeans have never set foot on the land he knows as America. Able to return at will to the modern world, Rolfe summons the only people with whom he is willing to share his discovery: his war buddies. And tells them to bring their families...

What mistakes would you repeat?

Los Angeles, twenty-first century. Fish and Game warden Tom Christiansen is involved in the bust of a smuggling operation. What he turns up is something he never anticipated: a photo of authentic Aztec priests decked out in Grateful Dead T-shirts, and a live condor from a gene pool that doesn't correspond to any known in captivity or the wild. These finds soon lead to a woman named Adrienne Rolfe--and a secret that's been hidden for sixty years.

As danger brews on both sides, two realities are threatened, and so too are the live of everyone who crosses the boundary between them...." -- from the inside flap

My thoughts:

This book was an interesting look at an alternate Earth, particularly western America. I liked the interactions between characters Tom, Adrienne and Tully and the ways Tom and Tully noticed the differences between New Virginia and First Side (current Earth).

Date read: 7/19/2008
Book #: 46
Challenges: TBR Challenge 2008, Initials Reading Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF/Alternate History

ISBN-10: 0451459083
ISBN-13: 9780451459084
Publisher: Roc
Year: 2003
# of Pages: 440
Binding: Hardcover
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Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton

First sentence:

"The island can be smelled before it can be seen."

Description:

"The tiny island of Run is an insignificant speck in the middle of the Indonesian archipelago--remote, tranquil, and now largely ignored. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, however, Run's harvest of nutmeg turned it into the most lucrative of the Spice Islands, precipitating a fierce and bloody battle between the all-powerful Dutch East India Company and a small band of ragtag British adventurers led by the intrepid Nathaniel Courthope. The outcome of the fighting was one of the most spectacular deals in history: Britain ceded Run to Holland, but in return was given another small island, Manhattan.

A brilliant adventure story of unthinkable hardship and savagery, the navigation of uncharted waters, and the exploitation of new worlds, Nathaniel's Nutmeg is a remarkable chapter in the history of the colonial powers." -- from Amazon.com

My thoughts:

Engaging and informative, this history of the English-Dutch conflict over the spice trade kept my interest throughout the book. I had known a little about how important spices were, and how the search for a new way to the Far East led to Columbus' voyages, but I didn't know all the details about the hardships the merchants and sailors went through.

Date read: 7/17/2008
Book #: 45
Challenges: What's in a Name? Challenge, Non-Fiction Five Challenge 2008
Rating: 3*/5
Genre: History

ISBN-10: 0340696761
ISBN-13: 9780340696767
Publisher: Sceptre
Year: 2000
# of Pages: 373
Binding: Trade Paperback
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Top Dog by Jerry Jay Carroll

First sentence:

"Just running at first."

Description:

"One day, William B. Ingersol sat in an office high above Wall Street conducting corporate takeovers.

The next day, he was a big dog, surviving by instinct alone in a strange new world.

Same difference.

Alice in Wonderland meets Wall Street in Jerry Jay Carroll's brilliant and witty debut novel. A high-powered executive gets a real lesson in looking out for #1 when he wakes up as a dog. Gone are the stock reports, limos, and cocktail parties. In thier place are fairy-tale forests, magical creatures, and hideous monsters. It's a world where you're either good or evil. Our hero decides to thoroughly explore both options before choosing. Because he may be a dog now, but he's still no idiot. And making moral decisions was never one of his strong points..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a good fantasy fable about learning what's important in life and what's not. I liked the main character, William Bogart Ingersol, aka "Big the Dog," even when he recounts his past behavior. I also liked the interactions between "Big" and the creatures and people of the Fair Lands.

Date read: 7/12/2008
Book #: 44
Challenges: What's in a Name? Challenge, What an Animal! Challenge
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0441005136
ISBN-13: 9780441005130
Publisher: Ace Books
Year: 1996
# of Pages: 330
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Blood Music by Jessie Prichard Hunter

First sentence:

"The air was very still."

Description:

"New York City is caught in the cold grip of a brutal serial killer. The victims are all young, blond women, savagely raped and murdered.

While ravaging his victims, the killer's mind whirls with symphonic images and raging desires--rarely giving thought to his loving wife and child.

Young, blond Zelly Wyche has a new baby, a dependable electrician husband, and a bright future. She, too, is petrified by the madness and unthinkable tragedy of the murders. While the serial killer's solve survivor and a victim's brother mount a desperate vigilante hunt for the 'Symphony Slasher,' a chill runs up Zelly's spine. She is beginning to wonder if the killer could be closer than she thinks.

But no. Impossible. She has to be dead wrong...." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This book was a compelling thriller that kept my attention throughout. I liked getting different character's voices such as the killer, the police and one of the victims.

Date read: 7/4/2008
Book #: 43
Challenge: TBR Challenge 2008
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Thriller

ISBN-10: 0804110840
ISBN-13: 9780804110846
Publisher: Ivy Books
Year: 1993
# of pages: 326
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Peace War by Vernor Vinge

First sentence:

One hundred kilometres below and nearly two hundred away, the shore of the Beaufort Sea didn't look much like the common image of the arctic: Summer was far advanced in the Northern Hemisphere, and a pale green spread across the land, shading here and there to the darker tones of grass."

Description:

"Hoehler was a man with an idea that would change the world forever...

Paul Hoehler, mathematician of genius, had devised spherical force fields that allowed nothing -- people, objects, light, air, radiation -- in or out.

The ultimate defence initiative and supreme survival technology, it offered total power and the opportunity was not lost on Livermore Electronics Laboratories. Suddenly anyone in the vicinity of a government compound or a defence installation was 'bobbled', locked into a force field and lost to sight forever.

The new Peace Authority had global power in a world where war was obsolete. But outside the impregnable 'bobbles', mysterious plagues began their epic devastation.

And outside the 'bobbles', Hoehler, the man who had created the technology for total power, had become The Peace Authority's most feared enemy, the holder of the long-lost key of hope for a world dominated by soul-numbing repression..." -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a thought-provoking look at how technology doesn't always make the world better for everyone. I liked the interactions between Wili, Paul and Alison as they work together to defeat the Peace Authority.

Date read: 7/2/2008
Book #: 42
Series: Across Real Time #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: SF

ISBN-10: 033029959X
ISBN-13: 9780330299596
Publisher: Bluejay Books
Year: 1984
# of Pages: 317
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

First sentence:

"I sat at a table in my shadowy kitchen, staring down a bottle of Boone's Farm Hard Lemonade, when a magic fluctuation hit."

Description:

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren't for the magic...

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictable as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate's guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta's magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings--and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she's way out of her league--but she wouldn't have it any other way... -- from the back cover

My thoughts:

This was a very good paranormal fantasy featuring mercenary Kate Daniels who is not intimidated by anyone - not even the leader of the Shapeshifters. While trying to solve the murder of her friend and guardian, Kate manages to earn the trust and respect of various factions. I look forward to reading the next book in the series, Magic Burns.

Date read: 6/30/2008
Book #: 41
Series: Kate Daniels #1
Rating: 3*/5 = good
Genre: Urban Fantasy

ISBN-10: 0441014895
ISBN-13: 9780441014897
Publisher: Ace
Year: 2007
# of Pages: 260
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Book Awards Reading Challenge

For this challenge, hosted by 3M, I must read twelve award-winning books from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.

Here's my list:

• Sue Henry. Murder on the Iditarod Trail (Anthony - Best First Novel, 1992) -- finished 7/6/2007
  
• Geraldine Brooks. March (Pulitzer, 2006) -- finished 7/30/2007
  
• Peter Straub. lost boy lost girl (Bram Stoker, 2003) -- finished 9/17/2007
  
• Katharine Paterson. Bridge to Terabithia (Newbery, 1978) -- finished 12/2/2007
  
• China Mieville. Perdido Street Station (Arthur C. Clarke, 2001) -- finished 12/20/2007
  
• Barbara Vine. A Dark-Adapted Eye (Edgar, 1987) -- finished 1/10/2008
  
• Jeffrey Eugenides. Middlesex. (Pulitzer, 2003) -- finished 3/15/2008
  
• Lee Child. Killing Floor (Anthony - Best First Novel, 1998) -- finished 4/13/2008
  
• Susannah Clarke. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Hugo, 2005) -- finished 4/25/2008
  
• Lionel Shriver. We Need to Talk About Kevin (Orange Broadband, 2005) -- finished 5/24/2008
• Arundhati Roy. The God of Small Things (Booker, 1997) -- finished 6/7/2008
  
• Rohinton Mistry. Such a Long Journey (Governor General's, 1991) -- finished 6/27/2008