The Age of Will

Alan Baxter’s new book, “MageSign” continues the story of Isiah, the superhuman defender of balance, from “RealmShift.” As the book begins, Isiah is trying to track down the Sorcerer, the man who taught Samuel the blood magic, but the Sorcerer is one step ahead of Isiah. Isiah still has his role doing the work of the Balance, but it’s made clear to him from the beginning, that he’s on his own for this hunt.

While tracking one of the Sorcerer’s lieutenants, “Filthy Frank,” Isiah discovers another ‘superhuman’ also watching the same target. This new contact eventually turns into a potential love interest and new set of allies for Isiah in his lonely, eternal quest to maintain balance among the gods.

Faith, a teenage girl growing up in a conservative family in the Blue Mountains of Australia longs for the city and for the real world. So far though, she’s just whinny and annoying…a pretty typical teenager. However, Faith has ‘potential’ and is quickly involved with the Sorcerer’s gang of bloody henchmen. Isiah will use Faith in his quest, but will she be saved, or will she end up another innocent suffering to maintain the balance?

Because of the blood magic and the presence of the Sorcerer character, this book is a bit more gory and horrific than the first. In fact, “MageSign” and “RealmShift” are difficult to pin to any particular genre. They both have fantastic qualities, they are horrific at times, they involve mythology and mythical characters, and possible alternate histories; they are hard to put a label to, much like Niel Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys.”

The Isiah character is still very interesting. He is powerful and important, yet troubled and at times petulant. Isiah is such a strong character, at times I almost wish the book was written from his personal point of view, but the author does a good job of balancing the evolving story lines and supporting characters, and the shifting of focus adds tension to the narrative. “MageSign” is a great addition by Alan Baxter, and I highly recommend it.

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Remember the hoopla about ten years ago over the most complete T. Rex ever found? This book explores the saga in detail and depth, although not without taking sides.
The story begins with Sue Hendrickson finding the T. Rex skeleton, and ends with an auction of the skeleton. In between are the legal battle and the emotional battle. The legal battle is over who owns the T. Rex, called “Sue” after the woman who found her. And the emotional battle is over the hearts and mind of the public. The legal battle was resolved by the courts, but the emotional battle is ongoing.
It is, unfortunately, obvious that the emotional battle won the author over to the side of the people who found Sue. While that may be the proper side, I would have preferred more impartiality and objectiveness on the part of the author. The slant is decidedly anti-government. This is unfortunate, as it tends to diminish the trustworthiness of the author.
All in all, however, this is an appealing and interesting tale of how Sue was found, what happened to her then, and where she ends up. And, although some claim to know for sure, apparently Sue’s actual gender is unknown.
[bookdetail]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/bookdetail/book_id/555

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Andrew Bjorklund and Ellie Wold have known they would wed since grade school. Two years before Ellie graduated, her family moved to a different community. Her father made the decision to further his furniture manufacturing business. It was only an hour away by train, but it may as well have been a thousand miles. Andrew and Ellie had to content themselves with staying in touch by letter. Finally, Ellie would graduate in May, and they planned to marry in June.
Andrew’s father asks them to wait for three or four months. He doesn’t have a reason other than he feels God is directing him to ask them to wait. Ellie is disappointed but has no real problem with it. She knows Andrew’s father is a wise man, and trusts his judgment. Andrew, though, is angry about it and doesn’t understand why Ellie is so willing to wait. He spends the summer being grumpy and angry about everything and with everyone.
Ellie moves back to her hometown to work for a friend in her general store during the summer. They do not see each other often because Andrew is working day and night with the farm and building their new house and barn.
We get the idea that Andrew and Ellie think they are the only ones to ever experience difficulties and conflicts. The [author][author] does an excellent job of weaving lessons learned into the conversation and private thoughts of the extended families—the parents and grandparents and older siblings. They do their best to guide the two young people—amazingly without pushing or lecturing. They have learned to trust God—and each other–and they realize the young people have to learn those lessons for themselves.
The story takes place in South Dakota at the turn of the century—1900. The author does a good job of showing what life was like there for the second generation Norwegian families.
The only negative is that I kept waiting for the plot of the story to be evident. About 10 pages from the end of the book I finally decided the author intended merely to open a window into the lives of two young people as they walk through the last few months before their wedding. I wish I had realized that sooner. I would have enjoyed the book more.
[bookdetail]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/bookdetail/book_id/1744
[author]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/browsebook/pagenum/1/author/Lauraine%20Snelling

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[Hit List][bookdetail] by [Lawrence Block][author] is the second book featuring the assassin for hire Keller. [Hit Man][hitman] is the first book with Keller and an excellent book. [Read Linda's review here][hitman]. [Hit List][bookdetail] is also very good, and follows a similar format as the first book.
In [Hit List][bookdetail], the old man upstairs is dead, so Dot and Keller are on their own. Keller is still the obsessed philatelist and is still relationship challenged. To make matters worse, Keller finds out his occupation is pre-ordained, or written in the stars. And while still coming to terms with his karmic conundrum, someone is trying to kill him!
Great story and great characters. Block has a gift for creating interesting and diverse characters.
The only criticism for this book would be the dialogs with Dot. The interaction between the characters is important, and was perfect in the first book. In Hit Man, Keller was much more introspective and self analyzing, but Hit List seems to be more about his interaction with Dot and the other characters.
Still an excellent book and looking forward to reading the next Keller adventure.
[bookdetail]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/bookdetail/book_id/487
[author]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/browsebook/pagenum/1/author/Lawrence%20Block
[hitman]: http://www.clubreading.com/2008/09/19/hit-man-lawrence-block/

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It’s always been Uncle Rollie’s goal to publish the poetry written by the fish that live in the Mississippi River, which runs past LaPorte. And the main impediment to his doing this is not, as you might think, getting the fish to write poetry, but in getting anyone else to take their work seriously.
With a quote like that on the cover of a $.99 bargain book, how could you not buy it? It was well worth the price.
Uncle Rollie is being threatened with a nursing home, by Cooper’s mother, who was married to Rollie’s brother. Rollie isn’t as with it as he was, although he has his moments. Cooper also isn’t as with it was he was, since a head injury. The story of these two people with slightly diminished capacity is a wonderful, quick, light-hearted read. Rollie was never really with it, and Cooper never really knew what he wanted, but together they manage to figure out what’s important.
Although the characters are not real people, you will likely recognize a few relatives or acquaintances in the mix. Cooper says at one point that each of the characters has a flaw or weakness. We look at ourselves and seldom see our flaws, but see them immediately in others. Kiraly points out that weaknesses do not mean the people are losers, and that strength doesn’t always mean goodness.
[bookdetail]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/bookdetail/book_id/549

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[Chasing Shadows][bookdetail] is a Jack the Ripper, murder mystery noir. The main character is Jim Daulton, a modern day graduate student in history traveling to London to study/research a paper. Little does Jim know that he’s about to get involved in the White Chapel murders and help identify Jack the Ripper.
The story has elements of ‘Somewhere in Time’ (yes the movie with superman and the penny), Woody Allen’s ‘Shadows and Fog’ and ‘The Star Chamber’. However, it lacks the romance and passion of ‘Somewhere in Time’, lacks the humor, charm and intellect of ‘Shadows and Fog’ not to mention no Mia Farrow. And the maladroit conspiracy is thin and dry.
It is a good first book, but several factors make this a difficult read. The author chose to cloud the native Londoner’s speech by writing it phonetically. This doesn’t add anything to the story and is often inconsistent even within the same scene and slows down the reading of the book.
Key points of the plot are told in conveniently placed speeches leaving the reader thinking the author has suddenly taken over the character and is just speaking for him. An example of this is when the key detectives typically wealthy hard-nosed capitalistic father, who’s very disappointed that his son disgraced the family name by wanting to be a policeman, explains the mysterious markings found at the crime scene.
There are a couple of very out of place sex scenes. Also not necessary to the plot and the reader can tangibly feel the author’s discomfort in writing these sections.
The lack of scenery in the book is disappointing. The protagonist is supposed to be a historian, yet he takes very little interest in the history he gets to live. Instead he drinks, plays some rugby and winds up involved with a prostitute. And according to the jacket, the author is a history teacher yet the book lacks the touches of a historical fiction novel like [The Man From St. Petersburg][follett] by [Ken Follett][author].
If you like author’s first novels or enjoy the Jack the Ripper genre then consider checking out Chasing Shadows.
[bookdetail]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/bookdetail/book_id/189
[follett]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/bookdetail/book_id/526
[author]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/browsebook/pagenum/1/author/Ken%20%20Follett

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I did not read this book when it was popular; I did not buy this book when it was popular. I have no idea what possessed me to pick it up in a used bookstore, nor do I know when or where I purchased it. But, having started it on a whim, I understand why this book was such a huge success.
The story is told as though everyone knows of the disaster the book discusses. Perhaps, in 1996, I did know of the disaster on Mount Everest, but I don’t recall it now. At any rate, several people, including some exceedingly qualified and fit people, perished trying to climb Mount Everest. Or actually, trying to descend Mount Everest. It turns out that for most climbers, the ascent is the easy part; descending is much harder. Once the goal has been reached, and the energy expended to get to the summit, getting down is very, very difficult.
I am not even remotely a climber, and don’t understand why people climb mountains. Yes, I know: “Because they are there.” On that theory, lots of things could be done, but the issue is should they be done. My prejudices in the open, I have to admit that I could not put this book down. Even knowing that several people would die, and having some trouble keeping the large cast of characters straight (I believe the author said that 33 people were trying for the summit on that day), I still was mesmerized by the scope of the challenge and the determination of each person.
The author blames himself for some of the disaster. Personal blame aside, he seems to try to be fair to everyone. As with every disaster, small, seemingly insignificant choices affected the outcome. Some of those choices seem odd looking back, but at the time were determined to be the optimal choice. And some of the choices were made by people who were literally not in their right minds. The altitude apparently does very odd things to people.
All in all, this was a fascinating book, and well worth reading. Think of an airplane ride, cross-country, and that is the altitude the climbers faced. The pictures alone scared me (afraid of heights!); the text terrified me. But it was definitely a could-not-put-down read!!
[bookdetail]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/bookdetail/book_id/525
[author]: http://books.clubreading.com/book/browsebook/pagenum/1/author/Jon%20Krakauer