Thunderball

Nine books in, and James Bond's health is just now being called into question.  With all he's done, you'd think this would have happened sooner.  Turns out drinking and smoking takes a bit of a toll one one's health.  Go figure, right?  Well, M has just the cure for 007.  A stay at Shurblands Health Clinic will do the trick.  Against Bond's wishes he heads off for his health adjustment.

But why stop there?  Let's throw in an encounter with Count Lippe, a member of the Red Tong Triade.  After trying to kill each other,  Bond figures he is done with Lippe, and heads back to MI6.

Enter SPECTRE.  The Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.  Turns out Lippe was a member.  Go figure, right?  Anyway, they stole a couple of nuclear bombs and hold the world hostage.

M sends Bond to the Bahamas to poke around and see what he can find.  And boy does he find something.  Namely his buddy Felix Leiter and the nukes.  Not that Leiter has the bombs; he was just sent by the CIA to assist Bond.  Just when the trail seems dry, Bond and Leiter find the bombs and save the day.

But this kicks off a story of revenge.  The leader of SPECTRE, Ernst Stavro Blofeld did not take kindly to Bond's thwarting of plans.  And the hunt is on.

I really liked this book.  Its probably one of my favorites.

For Your Eyes Only

We have here a collection of James Bond adventures.  All short, and all relatively entertaining.  Let's proceed with the briefing shall we?

From a View to a Kill
In France, Bond is tasked to investigate the death of a dispatch rider from the Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe.  The killers are based from a hidden bunker, giving them a view to the kill.

For Your Eyes Only
A former Gestapo agent is working for Castro, buying land in Jamacia.  Bond investigates the deaths of close friends of M, who refused to sell.  This adventure brings Bond into Vermont, via Canada.  He runs into the daughter of the couple.  Together, they take out the agent and his cronies.

Quantum of Solace
Upon completion of a mission to the Bahamas, Bond dines with the Governor and some guests.  After dinner, Bond and the Governor talk about what happens when relationships go to shit.  Very different kind of Bond novella. 

Risico
Drug smuggling sends Bond to Italy.  Turns out there is quite the pipeline from Italy to England for drugs.  Double crosses and explosions happen; just another day at the office.

The Hildebrand Rarity
Bond searches for a rare fish.  Rescues a woman from abusive her abusive husband.

An interesting collection of stories to be sure.  Three lend their titles to movies, but no more than that.  These are a different take on Bond.  You could give this a skip and not miss much, but, as I've said, they are worth the read for their difference from the usual Bond fare.

Goldfinger

Book seven in the chronicles of James Bond brings him face to face with Auric Goldfinger; a very rich man who is obsessed with gold.

So, as I said, book seven.  I've read some series where by the seventh book, it feels like a bit of a slog.  Yes, even my beloved Wheel of Time fits in there.  But with Flemming, I don't feel that .  Perhaps its the length of the books, being rather short.  Perhaps its the fascinating views of a 1950s man.  Could be any number of things, but its the previous one that really stands out here.  I present to you a quote from the novel, in which Bond muses about a female character that seemingly shows no interest in him.

"Bond came to the conclusion that Tilly Masterson was one of those girls whose hormones had got mixed up. He knew the type well and thought they and their male counterparts were a direct consequence of giving votes to women and ‘sex equality’. As a result of fifty years of emancipation, feminine qualities were dying out or being transferred to the males. Pansies of both sexes were everywhere, not yet completely homosexual, but confused, not knowing what they were. The result was a herd of unhappy sexual misfits – barren and full of frustrations, the woman wanting to dominate and the men to be nannied."

To me, this was just an awkward and weird bit of exposition.  Well, not as weird as later, when he 'cures' Pussy Galore of being a lesbian by... well, I'm sure you can figure it out.  Had I read this when originally published, I don't think it would have bothered me.  But now, in today's day and age... it is a bit jarring.

But its hardly a major plot point of the book; just something I found interesting.

I keep saying this, but I really liked Goldfinger.  As much as Casino Royale I think.  Those would probably be my top two books of the series (so far anyway)  The plot moves along at a steady clip, and the first meeting between Goldfinger and Bond is well done.  I think this is the first time we see a gadget (a homing device that Bond plants on Goldfinger's car)  This is the second time I've read this book, and it was just as enjoyable as the first time.

Doctor No

So, remember in the last book, how Bond got a case of poison?  Well, he's all better!  Yay!  Of course, he just can't take a vacation.  M sends him to Jamaica for rest... but while he's at it, he should look into the disappearance of a fellow agent, one John Strangeways.

Turns out, Strangeways had been investigating Dr. Julius No, a bat guano magnate on Crab Key.  I'm guessing Strangeways got a bit to close to Doctor No.

Natrually, so does Bond.

Oh, he also does this with the help of his pal Quarrell (see Live and Let Die).  With Quarrell's help, Bond gets into fighting shape and heads to Crab Key.

Once there they meet Honey Rider, an orphan girl who is collecting some shells to sell and make some cash.  Eventually, they are discovered by No's dragon, and Quarrell...well, Quarrell feels the heat. (Bye Quarrell).

Bond and Honey are taken prisoner, where they are treated to a lavish dinner (and plot exposition) with Doctor No.  After said dinner, Bond is taken back to his cell, where he is expected to crawl through Doctor No's maze, perishing along the way.

However, seeing as this is Bond, James Bond, he manages to escape the electric shocks, cold, heat and giant squid, in order to bury Doctor No under a pile of bat guano.  Rescue the girl, mission done and over.

Another solid entry into literary Bond.

James Bond returns in Goldfinger

From Russia With Love

In case you have not noticed over the past couple of books, Bond has been causing some issues for the Russians.  They are not happy with him.  LeChiffre, Mr. Big and Hugo Drax.  Bond kinda screwed them over big time.  And, being Russians, or Soviets if you will, they want to get rid of Bond.

Simple killing will not be enough however.  Oh no, not for the operatives of SMERSH.  They need to discredit Bond.  Shame him.  And, if MI-6 is shamed in the process, all the better.

To his discredit, Bond is know as a bit of a ladies man.  This is how SMERSH plans to take him down.  To do this, they recruit Tatiana Romanova, a beautiful Russian agent.

Their plan: lure Bond to Istanbul where she will give him a top secret Russian coding machine.  Finding it odd, M sends Bond on his merry way.

Once in Istanbul, Bond gets a crash course in the operations in that area from Kerim Bey.  There's also a dinner with a gypsy family which doesn't fit with the rest of the novel.  But its still a neat sequence.

Most of the action then takes place on the Orient Express.  They are tracked there by a maniacal former British soldier.  Turns out he likes killing... especially on the full moon.  So, he didn't quite fit in with the Brits, so its off to work for the Russians!

So, as you can guess, Bond handily disposes of the maniacal killer.  The story ends with Bond and Romanova in Paris, and the coding machine tucked safely in MI-6 hands.  Except for the part where Romanova's former handler tracks them down and poisons Bond.

Cliffhanger!!

Well, not really.  We know that Bond will be back in the next book.  Actually, at this point Flemming was getting bored with the books and wanted to stop writing, hence the uncertain fate of Bond.  I'm glad Flemming decided to write more.

I really like this one.  Its probably my favorite after Casino Royale.  Nothing I can put my finger on per se.  Just an all around great book.

Diamonds Are Forever

This time, diamonds are at the center of Bond's adventures.  Dispatched by M to Sierra Leone, Bond must find out how and where diamonds are getting smuggled into the USA.  The USA you say?  Turns out the source of the diamonds is a British operation, so M figures it would be good of MI-6 to lend a hand.

Bond takes the identity of Peter Franks, a low player in The Spangled Mob.  Along the way he meets up with one Tiffany Case.  He follows the trail to Las Vegas, meeting up once again with Felix Leiter.

Needless to say, Bond wins the day.  Saves the girl, kills the bad guy.  Just another day at the office.

Moonraker

Keeping things close to home after his adventures on the other side of the Atlantic, James Bond is set on the path of wealthy inventor Sir Hugo Drax.

One slow day in the offices of MI6, M invites James Bond, 007 to join him for dinner and cards at the most exclusive of clubs, Blades.  Turns out there is a prominent player that has decided to cheat at Bridge.  Which is odd, because he's loaded and something of a national hero.  Turns out he's good at designing missiles, and went a created one heck of a missile for the United Kingdom.  So why cheat?  After enjoying an excellent dinner, Bond proceeds to take quite a bit of money from Drax.  Because that's what Bond does.

Turns out that there's been some shenanigans at Drax's base.  Bond is sent out to investigate under the guise of becoming Drax's new head of security.  He will be helped by Gala Brand, a Special Branch agent who is already working undercover at Drax's base.

And clearly, because this is Bond, nothing is at is seems.  As Bond digs deeper into the mystery of the base he learns that England is about to get one heck of a blow dealt to it.  See, Drax is not the upstanding British citizen that he claims to be.  Turns out, Drax is actually a former German officer that managed to get into this high position by effectively switching bodies with a British civilian.  So obviously, the missile is not going to be a harmless test fire.  Oh no, fellow readers.  Drax has reprogrammed it to land in the middle of London carrying a nuclear bomb.  Cause that's what evil madmen do.

Bond escapes the trap, saves the girl and saves the day.  Moonraker is probably one of my favorite of the Bond books.  Well written, and with a... I was going to say plausible plot.  I think that's slightly inaccurate.  Given today's lens of plausibility that is.  I can see this when it was first written and the tech, and fears of Nazi uprisings and Soviet Russia takeovers how this would be completely plausible.  Given how much I like it, its really sad what they do to this book with the movie; but that's a rant for another time.  Third book in, you still don't feel as if you NEED to read the previous books to catch up with whats going on.  So, if you have not yet, pick up a Bond book.  You won't be disappointed.

Live and Let Die

Building on his own personal experiences, Ian Flemming sends James Bond to the USA and Jamacia.  His mission:  track down the source of gold pieces being smuggled into the USA.

Arriving in NYC, Bond is teamed up once again with his best  pal Felix Leiter of the CIA.  Their target:  Mr. Big; a crime lord based in Harlem whose reach extends all the way to Jamaica   And that's where Bond comes in.  Being a British territory, Jamaica can't be touched by the CIA, hence Bond's involvement.  The theory that MI6 and the CIA come up with is that Mr. Big has found the lost treasure of the pirate Henry Morgan.  And just what would Mr. Big be using this gold for?  Why, to fund Soviets of course!  Since this money could also go towards SMERSH, well this just gives Bond a chance to strike back a bit at those that caused the death of Vesper from the previous book.

The adventure starts in Harlem, where Mr. Big has the town sown up tight.  From the moment Bond and Leiter enter Halrem, there every move is tracked by Mr. Big.  Upon capture, Mr. Big have a heart to heart with the assistance of Solitaire, Mr. Big's fortune telling lady friend.  Bond escapes un harmed and plans his next move to Florida.  Once there, Bond and Leiter track down a lackey of Mr. Big.  Turns out  Mr. Big is indeed smuggling in gold.  Rather ingeniously too.  Sink some boxes of gold into tanks of poisonous fish, and no customs agent is going to think twice about sticking their hand into the tank.

The final act takes us to Jamaica.  Once there, Bond meets up with some local back up and gets with the taking down of Mr. Big.  He does some sneaky SCUBA diving into the lair of Mr. Big, and promptly gets captured.  Never fear!  Even though it looks like Bond and Solitaire are going to be literal fish food, this is not to be the case.  Turns out while Bond was doing the sneaky SCUBA, he planted a mine on the hull of Mr. Big's ship.  Just when you think there will be no more Bond adventures, the mine goes boom, Mr. Big becomes dinner for sharks, and Bond gets the girl.

A strong second outing for Mr. Flemming and his dashing hero.  Delving into a little mysticism and gangsters, this is a little different than the previous adventure.  I like this one just as much as Casino Royale.  A nice thing about Mr. Flemming's writing is that you don't need to start with the first book in a series.  One could easily read this one first and not feel like you've missed anything.

James Bond returns in Moonraker.

Casino Royale

So, back in the 50's, there was this British guy who had done some pretty awesome stuff during World War II.  What did he do with this experience?  He went on to write some of the best spy fiction there is to be read.

Ian Flemming introduced the world to James Bond, here in Casino Royale.  James Bond of the literary world is NOT the James Bond you see as portrayed by Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.  Even Sean Connery doesn't truly accomplish the translation of Bond from book to screen.  Fear not, I will not analyzing the role of each Bond actor.  Well, not here anyway.  Look for that in posts about the movies.

Ian Flemming's Casino Royale is our introduction to the world of James Bond, 007.  Bond is a cold blooded professional.  He has two kills to his credit, which is what earned him the 00-status; permission to kill for Her Majesty.  M (Bond's boss) details Bond to travel to Royale-Les-Eaux in Northern France.  There he is to play high stakes baccarat, with the goal of bankrupting Le Chiffre.  Le Chiffre is a major player for SMERSH, the Soviet anti-spy agency.  SMERSH is loosely translated to 'death to spies.'  Warm, loving group; right?

Throughout the book, we are also introduced to Bond's very particular habits.  As he states (and this is me paraphrasing) since he has little else in the world, he takes an almost perverse pleasure in food and drink.  And boy, does he.  The precision with which he orders is fascinating, and I think gives a real good look into what the 50's were like.

So, needless to say, Bond makes it to the game.  After some troubles, he is able to defeat Le Chiffre.  But, that's not the end of the story.  Le Chiffre orchestrates the kidnapping of Vesper Lynd, the finance representative from MI6, who was in control of Bond's money.  Fun fact: Bond, the cold hearted bastard, starts falling for Miss Lynd.  Bond chases after Vesper, and is caught himself.

He is then tortured by Le Chiffre.  Le Chiffre is in deep with SMERSH and REALLY wants the money Bond won from him.  Just as Bond is sinking into deep despair and acceptance of his fate, a gunman walks in and dispatches Le Chiffre.  Turns out SMERSH caught up with Le Chiffre, and Le Chiffre's time had run out.  Bond is saved because the SMERSH agent had no orders regarding Bond.

After this experience, Bond decides to quite MI6 and marry Vesper.  Too bad; so sad.  Looks like Vesper was a double agent for SMERSH!  Racked with guilt, she takes one too many sleeping pills and ends her misery.  In a letter left for James, Vesper details how her lover had been captured by SMERSH, and how they were using him as leverage to get Vesper to work for them.

Bond, understandably pissed decides to NOT retire, and communicates to MI6 that Vesper was a double, and that 'the bitch is dead.'

Not gonna lie.  That closing line is one of my favorites.  Leading up to those lines, we see a Bond who has a new, albeit personal, mission: stop SMERSH.  This will be a minor and sometimes major plot point in the following books.

I really enjoyed this first entry in the Bond literary saga.  Its well written, and at under 200 pages, moves quick.  Even the description and execution of the baccarat game is fascinating.  Clothes, cars, food and locales are described in a way that makes you feel as if you were there.  Any fan of the movies should give at least this first entry a read.  Or, if you are fans of modern thrillers check this out.  Being written in the 50s gives this an almost fresh feel after years of reading Clancy, Cussler, and the like.

James Bond returns in Live and Let Die.

The Chronicles of Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia.  The beloved fantasy series, with many fans.


Except me.


Now, don't get me wrong.  There were some I enjoyed more than others.  Prince Caspian and Voyage of the Dawn Treader were probably my favorites.  But as for the over all arc... meh.  In talking with my wife I think its because of my age.  Without a doubt I came to this way older than the target audience.  The Last Battle's message was a bit... heavy handed I thought and that took away from the book.  Is it a great intro into the world of fantasy?  Yes.  Is it for somebody like me, at my age?  No; or at least I don't think so.  I wanted to like the series more.  I don't deny its place in the pantheon of important fantasy books.  I just think its something best read at a younger age.

A-Z Book Challenge

So, I came across this challenge on this blog (Laura Pakora).  She is doing a challenge that is to read one book for each letter of the alphabet this year.  Sounded interesting, so I thought I'd give it a go.  No entries on it yet, as I have not started any new books.  This will run from 1 JAN 12 to 31 DEC 12.  I'll have a separate page on my page to track this.  Not sure yet if I will actively seek a book for each letter, or just let it happen.  We shall see...

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

I first heard of Brandon Sanderson when he was tapped to completed the Wheel of Time after Robert Jordan passed.  At first, I was going to avoid Mr. Sanderson's own works until after he completed Wheel of Time.


I'm glad I decided to not wait that long.


Warbreaker, being a fantasy novel does employ a system of magic.  In this case, its called BioChromatic Breath.  As in, to make an object do your bidding you breathe into it.  Ya, it is a bit more complex than that, but that's the general idea.


Breath's can be bought, sold, and given to others.  The more you have, the stronger you are and the more you can do.  Careful though, as you can run out.


So, overall I really enjoyed this book.  Had some pretty neat twists, and the various uses of the BioChromatic breath was interesting.  It took me a bit to get into, but once the pace picked up, the book took off.  Its a standalone book, and the ending is an ending.  Its not ambiguous or vague.


I have yet to read any of Mr. Sanderson's works, but  this is an author whose works I will continue to read.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This is it.  The final book in the Hunger Games trilogy.


After the events at the end of the second book, we see Katniss coming to terms with her role in the rebellion.  It all builds to a violent, bloody and satisfying end.


This book is also a study in PTSD.  Given everything that has happened to Katniss, its not surprising.  Again, going to be hard to review without spoiling, so this will be a short review.


Overall, I thought it was a fitting end to the trilogy.  It was a bit slow at times, but picked up in the last quarter of the book.  Read the first two, then move onto this one.  You won't regret it.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Here we have the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy. The second installment sees our hero, Katniss Everdeen returning to District 12 and dealing with the fallout caused by her decisions at the end of the first book.


Its hard to write a review for the second book in a trilogy without spoiling, so that will account for the sparseness of this particular review.


The President of Panem, President Snow, is worried that Katniss's actions will case the districts to rise up in rebellion.  He basically tells Katniss to fix the unrest, or reap the consequences.


She doesn't and she does.


In short, after a victory tour around Panem, Katniss is thrown back into the Hunger Games.  On purpose?  Fate?  Coincidence?  Could be any of those, but still we are taken back to the viscous games.  But this time all is not as it seems.


Overall, I enjoyed this installment as much as I liked the first.  The book ends on quite the cliffhanger, and there is a lot of confusion as to what really happens.  I'm currently working on the third book, and so far, it has yet to disappoint as well.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Well, to start with had I not known this was considered a Young Adult novel going into it, I'm not sure I would have realized it on my own.  And that speaks to the quality and depth of Suzanne Collins's writing.


Hunger Games tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, a girl of 16 who lives in District 12; the coal mining region of Panem.  Oh, BTW, Panem is what remains of the United States, with District 12 in the Appalachia region.


Life is not the best for Katniss and her family.  Starvation is common place and to survive Katniss hunts, which is illegal.  Everything is controlled by the Capital.  See, apparently there was once 13 Districts, but a destructive rebellion by District 13 caused all other districts to be punished.


So, to show the Districts how much control they have over them, each year the Capital hosts The Hunger Games, a bloody, violent event which pits 2 kids (age 12-18 only please) from each District against each other for prizes and food for their home district.


The novel follows Katniss as she is chosen and heads to the Capital to participate in the Games.  We follow her as she sees the Capital for the first time, through her training and preparation and finally the Games themselves.


The Games are BRUTAL.  Alliances are formed and broken.  Minds and bodies are pushed to the limit, but in the end there can be only one.  Or can there?  Dun Dun Dun....


Overall, I was surprised at how much I like it.  The pacing was tight, and moved very quickly, especially once the games started.  I look forward to the movie, as well as the other two novels in the series.


Oh!  One more thing.   This book had elements of King's 'The Long Walk', which while I have read it 3 times, tends to piss me off.  That was a concern of mine for this book, one I am glad did not come to pass.

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Read 10 books off the Times 100 Books (2/10)


Here we have the second book off of the Time's 100 Books, and to paraphrase the same bad ass knight that I paraphrased in my first choice, I chose wisely.


Snow Crash tells the story of Hiro Protagonist, a hacker in the future who stumbles into a religious zealot's plot to reboot the human brain using an ancient Summerian computer virus.  And the rebooting will essentially make people his followers


Get all that?


Stephenson is not known for easy to grasp plots.  This is not the first of his works that I have read.  Of the ones I have read, this is the easiest to follow.  Living in both Reality and the Metaverse (think 3D Internet) Hiro races against time to uncover who is behind the virus Snow Crash; which is the virus that will reboot the human brain.


Its dense, no doubt about it.  Hell of a read though.  Stephenson brings in elements of ancient languages, the Bible, tech stuff and commercialism.  Smashes it together and delivers a hell of a read.

Memories of the Future Volume 1 by Wil Wheaton

We all know who Wil Wheaton is.  At least we should.  Blogger, writer, entertainer, Wesley Crusher.  Ah, its the last one that has caused much contention among fans.  Wesley was a love him or hate him character.  Mostly hate.  I never had an issue with the character myself; but reading this book, you see that Mr. Wheaton was not the biggest fan of the book either.


Mr. Wheaton went and watched the first half of season 1 of TNG.  And then he wrote a book putting down his memories of the filming, and his thoughts as he watched them anew.


Pretty damn funny stuff.


Even if you are not a fan of Star Trek, this is a great book to check out.  The way he writes, you don't need to know anything about Star Trek.  You just need to sit back and enjoy the journey.


Oh, and Wil (can I call you that?) I still have not got a response to the fan letter I sent you when I was in the third grade.  That was...a long time ago.  I can't count that high.

Its rant time beotches...

Ok ladies and gets time for me to break out the soap box and assault your eyes with some good old fashioned ranting.


I saw a link today (this one in fact George R.R. Martin added to Time's 2011 100 .  At first, I thought that they had released a new list of 100 books to read.  I was ready to let forth with the full fury that I have at my command and bitch and moan why Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time was not on the list because at least his series has an end date thank you very much.


I was wrong.  Apparently this is Time's list of 100 most influential people.


What. The. Fuck.


*disclaimer:  I am really a huge fan of George RR Martin; no lasting malice intended*


But seriously?  Ok, I get that his series is now the basis for what looks to be a massively popular HBO series.  But his last book came out... a while ago.  The next one is due in the summer of this year.  Hey, Robert Jordan passed away, and they got somebody to finish the series.  What was your excuse George?


I'm not sure who/what George influenced, but on a list that includes Justin Bieber, I guess its a good thing Mr. Jordan was not included.


*sounds of heavy breathing*


Seriously though, you should give the books by Mr. Martin a read.  They are indeed very good.  For one, I am right now waiting for Spring 2012 for the last book in the Wheel of Time series.

Neuromancer - William Gibson

Read 10 books off the Times 100 Books (1/10)

Here we have the first book that I've chosen to read off of the Time's 100.

To paraphrase the bad ass knight from Indiana Jones, I chose poorly.

I was excited to see that something of this genre showed up on a list of 100 great books.  While I am a fan of sci-fi and related works, its not a genre I would expect to see on a list like that.  When I did, I figured that it must be pretty damn good indeed.

Wrong.

Frankly, I thought it was boring.  Your main character, Case, is a literally burnt out hacker who gets hired to perform one last hack.  Turns out one of two AIs want to kill itself.  Or this family wants to take over the world.  Maybe a bit of both.  Really ambiguous plot.

Its possible I missed the point.  I'm not really sure.  The book never grabbed me, but I never wanted to put it down without finishing.  So I guess I am ambiguous towards the book.  Its not one I'll read again.

The Starter by Scott Sigler

The Starter is the second book in the Galactic Football League Trilogy, written by Scott Sigler.  What is the Galactic Football League you ask?  Well, its a football league that encompasses the galaxy.  Clearly, we are not talking your basic football story here.  Set some 600 years in the future, The Starter follows the Ionath Krakens as they play to stay in Tier One of the Galactic Football Leauge.  We saw their ascent to Tier One at the end of 'The Rookie', which is the first book of a planned seven.

The starter in question is one Quentin Barnes, a young 19 year old quarterback for the Krakens.  He is from a world where he has been taught that all other races are inferior to humans.  Talk about culture shock when he joins the Krakens!  There are humanoids with blue skin, Heavy G humans, Ki, Sklorno, Creterakians, and a variety of other races thrown in the mix.  While most of Quentin's culture shock is portrayed in The Rookie, there are still situations in this book that bring out the indoctrination of his early years.

But beyond that this book is about football.  Its also about gangsters, which means its also about money.  Believe it or not, once football spread through the galaxy, it got pretty corrupt!  Players also die on a regular basis.  Even with high tech football armor, the sizes of the players involved still cause massive injuries as they crash together on the field of battle.  Quentin, standing at nearly 7 feet, is about an average hight for the players.

Using his deep knowledge of football, Mr. Sigler perfectly breaks down the action, so even this football illiterate reader can understand and follow the plays on the field.  You feel like you are there with the Krakens as they win, lose and travel the galaxy.

I don't want to go into too much more detail, but needless to say, I can't wait for the third book, The All-Pro.  This is a blend of football, mafia stories and sci-fi.  There is a little bit of everything for everybody in this book.

I give it 4/5 touchdowns.

BLOGGER's NOTE:  This post was edited on 17 MAR 11 to reflect the corrections made by the author of this series himself, Mr. Scott Sigler.  My poor research (or bad memory) caused me to incorrectly list the title of the next book, and also to think this was a trilogy.  In fact, it will consist of a planned seven books.  My apologies to Mr. Sigler.