Books I Read in April 2009

The books I read in April 2009, along with some comments. The number is sadly reduced from previous months, an indication of two books that slowed me down, along with an excessive amount of interference from The Job.

Small Favor -- Jim Butcher: 4/1/09 - 4/2/09

Harry Dresden gets in over his head in dealings with supernatural beings and gets lots of help from his friends in extracting himself from between the rock and the hard place. Hmm.... Sounds familiar....

Ingenious Pursuits -- Lisa Jardine: 4/3/09 - 4/9/09

The book that ate a week of my life. Scientists in the late seventeenth century were cool! But weird!

A Cavern of Black Ice -- J. V. Jones: 4/10/09 - 4/16/09
A Fortress of Grey Ice -- J.V. Jones: 4/17/09 - 4/26/09
A Sword From Red Ice -- J.V. Jones: 4/27/09 - 4/30/09

And from this experience I learned that I am no longer so happy to reread books, even if I need to in order to understand the most recent entry in a series. Summary: Pseudo-Scots clansmen fight each other instead of uniting to fight the evil city dwellers intent on stealing their marginally inhabitable clanholds. Evil city dwellers try to steal only marginally inhabitable land from pseudo-Scots clansmen and from mystical race of pseudo-Elves. Pseudo-Elves engage in ritualistic self-mutilation instead of warning other races about impending invasion by undead army ruled by evil gods from the dark realms of Death.

I like the world building, but it often seems as though the plot depends on every single person involved in a given situation acting in the least intelligent way possible. If I didn't already know that the next book is to be named Watcher of the Dead, I'd suggest: A Taste of Yellow Ice.

Sidereal