The Bone Orchard by Paul Doiron, Mike Bowditch #5

The Bone Orchard is the 5th book in the Mike Bowditch series.

I need to give a word or warning in case anybody actually reads my blogs.  This book, along with the first book, The Poacher's Son, is written with sex scenes.  While I'm not a prude and a series I really like is Ann Charles' Deadwood series that seems to have more romance in them as the series continues, I think  Paul Doiron goes a little too far.  He gets into the "insert part A into part B" with his descriptive romance scenes.  If that's your thing fine. I think that's a lot of what my wife reads.  I just want to warn people about this so they don't recommend it to anyone they wouldn't want to read scenes like this.  They are only a couple of pages if that much, but I think it would a little too much for some younger readers that think they are reading about game wardens.  I'm not judging and I'm still reading the series. I'm already in the 6th book, "The Precipice" and while he's implied sex he definitely did not get as descriptive as he has before.

Now for the review.  The book starts out with two wardens answering to a 911 call about a veteran that returned from serving as an MP and losing most of his face when an IEP went off near him.  The wounded warrior had been taking his meds and drinking, locking himself in a barn and basically forced in what is called police assisted suicide.   One of the officers was Mike's former sergeant and friend.  Within a couple of days, she is shot in an ambush at her home and is near death, with Bowditch showing up to save her life.

"The Bone Orchard' follows former warden and now civilian Mike Bowditch as he tries to find the attacker of one of his best friend and mentor in Bowditch's usual style, that is going against the grain of authority.  For me, while I enjoyed the book but it was not his best book he's written.  My opinion is Doiron's main character ramble through much of the middle of the book making it not quite as exciting as I hoped it would have been.  If you're reading the series I would definitely read the book.

The Bone Orchard by Paul Doiron
Book 5 in the Mike Bowditch series

Bad Little Falls by Paul Doiron, Mike Bowditch #3

The reason I chose this series is that I really like the Joe Pickett series by C. J. Box and I wanted to read another series similar to it.  When you chose books to read for this reason you normally get disappointed, and I was.  I take partial blame because when you want a particular writing style and setting you normally won't get it.  The other I blame Doiron because his 1st book in this series is the first book he writes.  His 2nd was better and "Bad Little Falls" is really good.

Maine game warden Mike Bowditch stays in trouble and has just been transferred to Maine's equivalent to Siberia, as he calls it "the hinterland of Washington County".   Even though Washington County is the first place you can see the sunrise in the USA it's poverty-stricken which bring the problems of poverty, one of them being drug abuse.  Because of the poverty people turn to crime to pay for the drugs and sometimes that crime is murder.

Warden Mike Bowditch is again involved in a murder investigation, which is not in his job description and he is constantly reminded of this by his superiors and other law enforcement agencies. Doiron does a great job setting up Mike's troubles, both personal and professional and gives us a great story.

Bad Little Falls by Paul Doiron (2012)
Mike Bowditch series, book 3

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

First the book . . .

This story is about Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) meeting a man on a castle tour and the man knew everything about the castle. Later, Twain meets the man and they talk a while about how this man, Hank Morgan new so much about the castle. Hank didn’t tell a story, but left Twain with a book, or better yet a diary of Hank falling asleep and waking thirteen hundred years earlier.

Hank Morgan’s father was a blacksmith and his uncle a horse doctor. Hank ran a gun factory, starting at the bottom and learning everything, to quote:

“ I could make anything a body wanted- anything in the world, it didn’t make a difference what; and if there wasn’t any quick newfangled way to make a thing, I could invent one – and do it as easy as rolling off a log.”

So Hanks diary becomes the book “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court”.

Well if you’ve read the book, Clemens attacks a lot of issues of his day, our day too. Religion, not really religion but when it is organized so well that it attacks the way a person lives his life. Slavery. He hated it and it even haunted him. Most of what he wrote about slavery were his own feelings. Other things like monarchy, nepotism, politics, and poverty. He even made fun of ad campaigns like soap ads. He brought up some things that even strikes today, which is when he came across was people that would take things as fact if it was said. No evidence of proof, and if evidence was there, it was forgotten as soon as the words were spoken. He made fun of himself.

With the inventiveness of Morgan, he tells a story about how he overcomes these obstacles or at least the obstacles he chooses with modern tools and skillfulness he can create. And then he told of he destructing every advancement he made.

About the narrator . . .

Nick Offerman has this mid-western accent that does well with the book. It’s probably not easy to perform, being as dated as it is but he does a good job of it. To me, he started off slow, not very into it but this could have been by design. By the end of the book, he was really going strong. This could also be to Twain having modernized the language of the book as Hank modernized the culture. Maybe not award worthy but Offerman did a good narrative.

My thoughts on the book . . .

As I said before I started the book, the biggest reason I choose this was the narrator. The book is good, but dated and sometimes hard to keep up with the dated sayings of that time. I am reading the book along with the audio-book and it does give me footnotes to help and some insight on what Clemons/Twain was thinking, or at least what somebody else thought what he was thinking. I would love to see what Clemons would write if he were alive today. I would think he would have a field day mocking both sides of the aisle. With that said, please don’t take this as something I am trying to politicize. I do not participate in political debates of today. It’s like teaching a pig to sing. You will only annoy the pig.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

If I'm Not Reading It's BAMA Football, Part 2

Part 2 and 2nd place. Clemson whooped us.  It doesn't matter if it was 1 point, they whooped us. By a lot more than 1 point.  There's a lot of positives from this season, but it looks like we quit playing after the 1st quarter in the Oklahoma game. Too many mistakes and obviously not enough points. Our young defensive backfield hurt us some after 6 injuries but we have no excuses.

Next year we have a good recruitment of 4 and 5-star players so I expect we'll be fighting in the mix for a shot at the final 4 but I don't like being brash and making bold statements.

I will say this, 99% of college football is sooo happy BAMA & Saben got beat.  Something they can rarely EVER say.  Only one team can say they beat BAMA this year. Can your team say that?

#RTR, #ROLLTIDEROLL

The End of All Things by John Scalzi

The End of All Things is aptly named because the last 2 books of this series absolutely ruined it. The books were good and enjoyable but just dragged the series down because it had nothing to do with the original 4. OK, it did, in a way but not the way I was wanting. This like the 5th book, The Human Division was made up mostly of short stories that only had maybe 4 or 5 stories that could have been connected and had a far better outcome for me, anyway.  Me, the armchair writer and storyteller that can sometimes have a rough time putting a sentence together in conversation, not counting writing.

Scalzi basically admitted that he had a lot of material left over after writing The Old Man's War series so he put these into two different books.  I did say I enjoyed them but I love to read series and these last two were not series material for me.

As an armchair writer and storyteller, or call me a Monday morning quarterback, I would have made this a different series, just the same universe as The Old Man's War. But hey, I'm not John Scalzi.  He makes a living writing.  I don't.

The End of All Things are stories of an unrecognized group of races called the Equilibrium, a never heard of secret consortium of races and planets that wanted to end the two most powerful governments in the known universe, the Colonial Union, which is made up of the human race with the exception of Earth and the Conclave, an alliance of 412 races that's technology far exceeds earth. The CU and the Conclave have always been at war and with the unknown Equilibrium always trying to stir up trouble between the 2, peace will never happen. These last two books are about all the worries and woes, politics and battles, and unsuccessful attempts at peace.

The End of All Things by John Scalzi
The 6th and final book in the Old Man's War series

The Human Division by John Scalzi

WOW.  I was not expecting this book to be as good as it was.  This book is made up of 13 episodes plus extras. I'm hoping these episode set up the next book, The End of All Things which I'm starting as soon as I finish writing this. The last few episodes were really good and made this worth the time to read.

I'm not going to do a review, because it would be 13 different reviews, but I can only say that the novellas or short stories or whatever you call them are as good as anything comparable.

I hope after the next book that I can say that this series is worth the read.  So far it has been.

As far as the rating goes, I'll give it a 7.

The Human Division by John Scalzi (2013)

The Old Man's War series

Amazon Link

LQLarry's blog

A Late Christmas Present from Jim Butcher

I saw a post on Reddit that gives us an update on Jim Butcher and where he is in his writing career. To see it go to his website or click here.  He has resumed work on Peace Talks. Unfortunately, there is still no release date, but he has posted an update on where he is, well what chapter he is on and mentions that he will start on book 2 in the Cinder Spires 2 called The Olympian Affair.

Jm also left us with a Christmas Story called Christmas Eve, which takes place between Changes and Cold Days.  No grading system required since it is a very short story.  Go to the link to his page for the short story.

Read January 1st, 2019)

The Observers by John Scalzi

If you look at my bookshelf at Booklikes or check out my 2019 read at Goodreads it would look like a scoreboard for John Scalzi.  The reason is that I started reading the Old Man's War series by Scalzi and the 5th book is The Human Division, which consists of 13 short stories.  I cheated a little and read the liner notes of the 6th book, The End of All Things and all these short stories from The Human Division seem to set the background for book 6.  I see some short stories or novellas after the 6th book so I don't know if there are to be any books after this.  I guess I'll find out later.

The Observers is about a group of Earthers that come aboard the ancient Clarke, a Corvette series ship over 50 years old that is also very small for a CU ship.  While observing, the death of the lead observer happens and now it is up to the 'B Team', introduced in the 1st story of the Human Division, to solve. Lieutenant Harry Wilson, a CDF technical advisor comes o the conclusion that somebody is setting the Colonial Union up for murdering the observer and saves the day.

Harry Wilson is one of the original old farts, a group of 75-year-olds that came from Earth to join the CDF and has been in 3(?) of the books so far and it looks like he will be one of the main protagonists in book 6.

The main reason for this review is if you have read my review this much, then you should know that you should not assume like I did and just think of The Human Division as just a collection of short stories. While you could probably skip this book, a lot of back stories and questions will probably be answered.  But then again, I haven't even started reading the 6th book, The End of All Things.

The Observers by John Scalzi

Book 9 in The Human Division Series

Episode 9 in book 5 of the Old Man's War

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

A funny thing happened while I was reading a series about a science fiction military space opera book.  A YA book magically appeared in my reader.  Now I'm not against YA books and YA series, I've read quite a few.  I've even read books and series for whatever would be a, for a lack of a better term because I don't know what to call them, but a pre-YA.  This turned out to be a pretty doggone good book.

Zoe's Tale is a retelling of The Last Colony without it being a retelling of The Last Colony.  As John Scalzi puts it:

    "Writing a parallel time novel does not, in fact, just lazily retell the story in a previous book is hard"

I guess Scalzi got a lot of heat after The Last Colony and left some unanswered questions about werewolves and what Zoe did when she was off-world and what she brought back with her when she came back to Roanoke.  To me Scalzi excellently wrote a book through a teenager's eyes about being uprooted from her home, starting a new colony, and seeing her family and friends being put through many dangers.  Since this is a YA book it also has her go through her first love and heartache.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Scalzi really did the parallel story and even changed the genre of the book. Kinda, sorta in a way.

I'll rate this 4.5 stars and a solid 8 on my grading. Great book in the middle of an average series.

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi (2008)
Book 4 in the Old Man's War series

Super Dave: The Adventures of America's Most Dangerous Man

Yesterday we lost one of the most prolific writers of our time. Well if you asked him that he would tell you that.  Even if he wrote just one book.  Bob "Super Dave Osborne" Einstien died on Wednesday, January 2, 2019.  He was a writer of many TV shows going back to the '60s and of late writing for and playing a part in "Curb Your Enthusiasm.' I remember him mostly from the Johnny Carson Show where Super Dave would come out and then they would show a sketch of him getting blown up or something like that.

As of late, he would show up where I worked and when I would help him he would ask me if I knew a joke and I would tell him the best I could remember and then he would start chewing me out for wasting his time and telling me how crappy my delivery was and anything to humiliate me.  I loved it and he loved doing that to people.  I haven't heard how he died but I learned of his death from all the tributes to him. Super Dave Osborne finally did his last stunt.

And no, I did not read the book.

Super Dave: The Adventures of the World's Most Dangerous Man

Amazon Link

 

1st Impressions on Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

I just started Zoe's Tale, the 4th book in John Scalzi's Old Man's War series.

This book is basically the third book, 'The Last Colony' as seen through the eyes of Zoe, the adopted daughter of John Perry and Jand Sagan.

I didn't read any other different point of view books like Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game so I'm sure this will be hit or miss for me, but after the prologue I am enjoying it. Zoe's not your typical teenager.

The Last Colony by John Scalzi

I rate this a solid 8, which means it's a very good read if you like the Old Man's War series.

I feel much better about the series now that I've finished "The Last Colony', book 3 in the Old Man's War series by John Scalzi. I really enjoyed this book and the direction it takes the series.

Finally, we get back to the major protagonist is the first book, John Perry and Jane Sagan along with their adopted daughter Zoe. John and Jane are living happily ever after on a planet called Huckleberry in a village called New Goa, but with this being a book things can't be left alone so the government steps in and stirs the pot. The CU wants John and Joan to run a settlement called Roanoke.

Here's how colonizing is described in the book.

Here’s one way to colonize: You take two hundred or three hundred people, allow them to pack what supplies they see fit, drop them off on the planet of their choice, say “see you,” and then come back a year later—after they’ve all died of malnutrition brought on by ignorance and lack of supplies, or have been wiped out by another species who wants the place for themselves—to pick up the bones.

This book is about colonizing a planet along with the politics of it.  Even if it's the wrong planet.  Anybody that knows American history you really shouldn't call a new settlement Roanoke.  When I read Roanoke I had to double check the title to make sure it wasn't "The LOST Colony."

Like I said earlier if your into this series you will enjoy the book.  I don't go too far on my reviews and I hope I've given you a reason to continue the series.  I really suggest you read the first two books in the series, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigade.

The Last Colony by John Scalzi (2007)

Book 2 in the Old Man's War series

Amazon Link

Old Man's War Series Quotation

I'm reading the 'Old Man's War" series by John Scalzi.  Book One's protagonist is John Perry, a 75-year-old man that signs up for the CDF military. While reading book 3 of the series I found this quote one page into the book.  It best describes how one joins the CDF and what happens while enlisted.

"I spent seventy-five years on Earth, living mostly in the same small Ohio town and sharing most of that life with the same woman. She died and stayed behind. I lived and I left.

The next world is metaphorical. The Colonial Defense Forces took me off Earth and kept the parts of me they wanted: my consciousness, and some small part of my DNA. From the latter they built me a new body, which was young and quick and strong and beautiful and only partially human. They stuffed my consciousness inside of it, and gave me not nearly enough time to glory in my second youth. Then they took this beautiful body that was now me and spent the next several years actively trying to get it killed by throwing me at every hostile alien race it could."

Old Man's War was really good but The Ghost Brigade didn't quite live up to its introductory book of the series.  Book 3, 'The Last Colony seems to be back to what I like and well worth the read.  I hope it lives up to my expectations.

Larry