Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 41/200
A Scandal in Bohemia by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Audiobook Edition
Finished on 3/10/2018
Description:
Holmes is hired by the King of Bohemia to recover blackmail evidence, held by the woman whom the king once promised to marry, but who he abandoned for a woman of noble birth.
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Detective Fiction, Short Story, Sherlock Holmes, Classic
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 48/200
A Souffle of Suspicion by Daryl Wood Gerber
eBook Edition
Finished on 3/21/2018
Description:
The buoyant mood at Bistro Rousseau deflates when Chef Camille’s sister, Renee, turns up dead in the chef’s kitchen, and Mimi Rousseau must tease the real killer out of a mélange of menacing characters.
Crush Week in Nouvelle Vie is a madhouse—in a good way. Tourists pour into town for the pressing of the Napa Valley’s world-renowned grapes and all the town’s businesses get a nice lift, including Bistro and Maison Rousseau. Mimi is raising the ante this year with a Sweet Treats Festival, a wonderland of croissants, cakes, tarts, and soufflés crafted with expert care by the area’s top talents.
Chef Camille’s sister Renee is managing the festival with a cast-iron fist, upsetting everyone, including her sister. Which is bad for Camille when Renee turns up dead in the chef’s kitchen. Mimi is still building her business, so her first course of action is to whip up answers and catch the unsavory perpetrator before Camille takes a dusting and gets burned.
Fans of JoAnna Carl and Joanne Fluke will want a succulent second serving of A Soufflé of Suspicion, Daryl Wood Gerber’s appetizing second French Bistro mystery.
Genres: Cozy Mystery, Culinary, Food, Culinary Mystery
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 39/200
Rivals of Ixalan by Kimberly J. Kreines
Anthology Edition
Finished on 3/10/2018
Description:
All seven of the Short Stories of the Rivals of Ixalan storyline, from the Magic the Gathering website.
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Magic the Gathering, Franchise Fiction, Short Story
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 38/200
The Great Wide World Over There by Ray Bradbury
LeVar Burton Reads Edition, Episode 20
Finished on 3/10/2018
Description:
A visitor’s arrival delivers both wonder and heartache to a rural community. This story appears in Ray Bradbury’s collection THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE SUN.
Genres: Fiction, Americana, Short Story
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 37/200
The Straits of Galahesh By Bradley Beaulieu
Audiobook Edition
Finished on 3/9/2018
Description:
West of the Grand Duchy of Anuskaya lies the Empire of Yrstanla, the Motherland. The Empire has lived at peace with Anuskaya for generations, but with political turmoil brewing and the wasting disease still rampant, opportunists from the mainland have begun to set their sights on the Grand Duchy, seeking to expand their empire.
Five years have passed since Prince Nikandr, heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, was tasked with finding Nasim, the child prodigy behind a deadly summoning that led to a grand clash between the armies of man and elder elemental spirits. Today, that boy has grown into a young man driven to understand his past – and the darkness from which Nikandr awakened him. Nikandr’s lover, Atiana, has become a Matra, casting her spirit forth to explore, influence, and protect the Grand Duchy. But when the Al-Aqim, long thought lost to the past, return to the islands and threaten to bring about indaraqiram – a change that means certain destruction for both the Landed and the Landless – bitter enemies must become allies and stand against their horrific plans.
Can the Grand Duchy be saved? The answer lies hidden within the Straits of Galahesh…
Genres: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Military Fantasy
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 36/200
Shattered Pillars By Elizabeth Bear
Hardback Edition
Finished on 3/7/2018
Description:
The Shattered Pillars is the second book of Bear’s The Eternal Skytrilogy and the sequel to Range of Ghosts. Set in a world drawn from our own great Asian Steppes, this saga of magic, politics and war sets Re-Temur, the exiled heir to the great Khagan and his friend Sarmarkar, a Wizard of Tsarepheth, against dark forces determined to conquer all the great Empires along the Celedon Road.
Elizabeth Bear is an astonishing writer, whose prose draws you into strange and wonderful worlds, and makes you care deeply about the people and the stories she tells. The world of The Eternal Sky is broadly and deeply created—her award-nominated novella, “Bone and Jewel Creatures” is also set there.
Genres: Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Asian Inspired Fantasy
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 35/200
The Paper Menagerie By Ken Liu
LaVar Burton Reads Edition, Episode 11
Finished on 3/5/2018
Description:
A young man recalls his youth. His mother, a mail-order bride, feels isolated from everyone but her family. When her son is inconsolable one day, she must rely upon her knowledge from a past life – she makes an origami animal to serve as a toy. The boy was so delighted that she kept making them for him, even as he grew up in the world outside the house.
Ken Liu’s incredible story “Paper Menagerie” just became the first work of fiction to win all three of SF’s major awards: the Hugo, the Nebula and the World Fantasy Award. Find out what all the excitement is about, and discover one of science fiction’s fastest rising stars
Genres: Short Story, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Immigrant Experience
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 32/200
The Riddle-Master of Hed By Patricia McKillip
Audiobook Edition
Finished on 3/1/2018
Description:
Long ago, the wizards had vanished from the world, and all knowledge was left hidden in riddles. Morgon, prince of the simple farmers of Hed, proved himself a master of such riddles when he staked his life to win a crown from the dead Lord of Aum. But now ancient, evil forces were threatening him. Shape changers began replacing friends until no man could be trusted. So Morgon was forced to flee to hostile kingdoms, seeking the High One who ruled from mysterious Erlenstar Mountain. Beside him went Deth, the High One’s Harper. Ahead lay strange encounters and terrifying adventures. And with him always was the greatest of unsolved riddles; the nature of the three stars on his forehead that seemed to drive him toward his ultimate destiny.
Genres: Fantasy, YA, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Literati, Quest Fantasy, Classic
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 40/200
The Red Headed League by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Audiobook Edition
Finished on 3/10/2018
Description:
In The Redheaded League, Holmes is engaged upon two seemingly unrelated cases, a daring bank robbery and the disappearance of a pawnbroker’s assistant. Using minute details of the small mystery, he is able to solve the larger one. “Depend upon it,” says Holmes to Watson in A Case of Identity, “there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace.” Holmes is as fascinated by the story of a common young woman whose groom has vanished on the way to the altar as he has been by the woes of kings. He sharpens his powers of detection by putting together scattered facts to form a powerful and unexpected accusation. Holmes tells Watson about one of his first cases, The Musgrave Ritual; one that helped make him famous. Two servants of an English nobleman disappear. By following a trail of obscure clues left behind in an old parchment, Holmes discovers the crown of a former King of England.
Genres: Crime, Mystery, Detective Fiction, Short Story, Sherlock Holmes, Classic
Mount Readmore Book Review, 2018 31/200
William Shakespeare’s The Force Doth Awaken By Ian Doescher
Hardback Edition
Finished on 3/1/2018
Description:
Experience The Force Awakens as a Shakespeare play, complete with Elizabethan verse, Shakespearian monologues, and theatrical stage directions! As the noble Resistance clashes with the vile First Order, Rey, Finn, Poe Damaron, Kylo Ren, and BB-8 are pulled into a galaxy-wide drama–in iambic pentameter! Star Wars fans and Shakespeare enthusiasts alike will enjoy the authentic meter, reimagined movie scenes and dialogue, and hidden Easter eggs throughout. Chewbacca speaks! Leader Snoke gives a soliloquy! And the romance of Han Solo and Leia Organa takes a tragic turn that Shakespeare would approve of. All with woodcut-style illustrations that place Star Wars characters into an Elizabethan galaxy. The story may take place in a galaxy far, far away, but you’ll be convinced it was written by the Bard.
Genres: Fantasy, Sci Fi, Star Wars, Franchise, Shakespeare, Popcorn, Literati
