Tag Archives: review

A Look Back at the Beginning of the Series “Andromeda”

andromeda

Promotional image for the TV show “Andromeda”

I’ve been deciding which classic science fiction television series to start watching for quite a while now. However, it was a chance post on X/twitter that made me choose Andromeda, created from a concept developed by the late Gene (“Star Trek”) Roddenberry and starring Kevin Sorbo.

I made my decision when “Andromeda” was described as sharing a lot of the thematic “DNA” with a favorite show of mine Firefly.

The show ran from 2000 to 2005 which would make it seem pretty successful, but it didn’t attain anywhere near the notoriety, let alone the legend, that Roddenberry’s Star Trek achieved as a franchise.

I’ve only watched the first two episodes so far, but what I’ve seen shows promise, if also presents as flawed.

Keep in mind, two episodes isn’t enough to judge an entire series and “Star Trek’s” first season, although thoroughly enjoyable, was also greatly inconsistent.

Oh, this will be loaded with spoilers, so you have been warned.

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Review of “Cosmic Convocation” A Space Opera Anthology” (2022)

cosmic

© James Pyles

I expected Cosmic Convocation: A Space Opera Anthology published by Starry Eyed Press, to contain an uneven collection of stories and that’s exactly what I found. I won’t mention all of them (although I took notes for every single story), but here are some of the more mentionable works.

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Review of “Proven Guilty” (2007), Book Eight in Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” Series

proven guilty

© James Pyles

This morning, I finished Proven Guilty (2007), Book 8 in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novel series.

Warning! Spoiler Alert! Stop here if you don’t want to know more.

As you may recall if you’ve read my other reviews of this series, Harry Dresden is Chicago’s only advertising wizard. This is sort of like crime noir meets urban fantasy. Harry’s not quite the “hard-boiled” type of detective he wants to be, but he’s a good guy. He also gets in trouble a lot.

In the previous book, he was made a Warden by the White Council. The White Council is a group of wizards who enforce the laws of magic and are charged with keeping the “normal” world safe from the supernatural. A Warden is an enforcer of those laws, and they are brutal in their duties, the laws being pretty inflexible.

Harry is treated to just how inflexible, when, at the beginning of the book, he’s present at the execution by beheading of a young Korean guy. He was found guilty of using his magic to take control over other people’s thoughts, up to and including getting them to commit suicide.

Outside of the heinousness of these acts, Harry still feels compassion. The “Warlock” was young, inexperienced, and had no one to guide him.

Too bad.

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Review of “Hell Spawn: Book 1 in the Saint Tommy NYPD” Series

finn

Photo of the cover art for Declan Finn’s novel “Hell Spawn”

Last night, I finished reading Declan Finn’s 2018 novel Hell Spawn: Saint Tommy, Saint – Book 1. I want to say a few things before I dive into the actual review.

First, this will be full of spoilers. I can’t see any other way of reviewing it without tipping the author’s hand so to speak.

Second, although I’m not really associated with Finn, we have crossed paths on social media and we do have a few acquaintances in common.

Third, while this book may not be everyone’s proverbial “cup of tea,” I can understand all or most of why he wrote it the way he did.

Fourth, this book isn’t about a horror/murder mystery where the homicide detective just happens to be Catholic. The novel assumes that the entire universe, natural and supernatural, works exactly according to Catholic doctrine which is both the protagonist’s and author’s point of view.

Fifth: Just a reminder that it’s also fiction.

Also: Spoilers.

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Book Review of “The Human: Rise of the Jain, Book Three” (2020)

the human

© James Pyles

I know it seems like it took forever, but yesterday, I finished reading Neal Asher’s novel The Human: Rise of the Jain, Book 3 (2020).

To read my reviews of the first two books in this trilogy, see The Soldier (2018) and The Warship (2019).

This was another book not available through my local library system (boo on them) so I bought a used copy, another former library book, in order to finish the saga.

Like so many of Asher’s other books, this one is also set in the Polity universe and sometimes references a wider collection of places and characters.

As you might imagine, this novel wraps up the Jain’s incursion and the struggles of the Polity, the Prador empire, and a number of other interested parties in trying to stop the Jain but also learn from it.

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Book Review of “Error Code: 22 Tales of Robots and AI” (2025)

error code

Cover art for the “Error Code” anthology

Yesterday, I finished reading the small anthology Error Code: 22 Tales of Robots and AI by Eric Fomley and Addison Smith.

It was produced by Shacklebound Books which I gather is a small, indie publisher. They’ve got quite a collection of anthologies listed on Amazon.

Each story is quite short and the book is a quick read (130 pages in print, though it’s available only on Kindle as far as I can tell).

Like many such anthologies, the stories fall into three categories:

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Review of “Dead Beat” (2006), Book Seven in the Dresden Files Series

dead beat

© James Pyles

Yesterday, I finished book seven in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series Dead Beat. Like the rest of the books in this collection, the title is a play on words. This time, Harry Dresden faces the threat of necromancers, users of magic of the dead.

Harry’s life gets increasingly worse with each book and sometimes I marvel that he’s still alive.

Oh, before I go on, since this book was published in 2006, there are spoilers aplenty.

Harry’s detective friend Karrin Murphy goes off to Hawaii on vacation with a man (or being) of great power who Harry doesn’t trust. By now, the readers of this series know that at some point, Harry and Murphy are going to become lovers, but currently, he’s too noble and self-righteous to object to her plans.

He’s contacted by Mavra, his deadly vampire foe, who threatens to reveal certain illegal acts Murphy committed (all performed while helping Harry) and destroy her life if Harry doesn’t find and bring her something called the “Book of Kemmler.”

As it turns out, this book holds the secret to summoning a vast number of the spirits of the dead and focusing the energy in order to turn one necromancer into basically a god.

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Book Review: “A Scanner Darkly” (1977) by Philip K. Dick

scanner darkly

© James Pyles

Philip K. Dick’s 1977 novel A Scanner Darkly is about drug addition and the physical, mental, and legal consequences it brings about. The character Bob Arctor/Fred is prey, predator, and victim.

The book is also autobiographical since it (through fiction) chronicles Dick’s own experiences with addiction and the drug culture in the 1970s.

I’m not much of a fan of Dick’s writing. Oh, I’ve read his “big hits” including The Man in The High Castle and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? but I felt the stories didn’t live up to the hype. I know I’m probably in the minority with that opinion, but so be it.

For my money, “Scanner” is Dick’s best novel. It’s not just the writing or the story. It’s how Dick took a destroyed part of his life and turned it into something, not only useful, but reorganized and creative. I really admire him for that. I think most of us wish we could do that with the parts of our lives we see as “damaged” or (Heaven help us) “destroyed.”

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Book Review: “The Warship – Rise of the Jain, Book Two” (2019)

warship

© James Pyles

A few nights ago, I finished Neal Asher’s 2019 novel The Warship: Rise of the Jain, Book Two. I read and reviewed the first book in this trilogy a little over a year ago. That’s really too long a space between these volumes.

As with most of Asher’s novels (and there are plenty of them), the action takes place in the “Polity” universe (basically the Earth/human domain of space) and involves the primary protagonist the Prador, but they’re not the “big bads” in this story.

As with every one of Asher’s books I’ve read so far, one of the main challenges is keeping track of the numerous individual characters, their races and other things (the Spatterjay Virus for instance) that distinguishes one person/group from another.

This trilogy focuses on a species called the Jain or rather their technology and a number of mysteries that surround them.

Asher’s great at misdirection, so the Jain don’t necessarily occupy center stage through most of the scenes, even if the reader is led to believe they do.

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Retro Review of “Thor: Love and Thunder” (2022)

love and thunder

© James Pyles

Strolling around the DVD section of my local public library yesterday, I decided to finally check out the 2022 movie Thor: Love and Thunder. It had the benefit of me not having to pay to see the film.

I have now joined the vast legion of people (online anyway) who’ve gone on record as hating, detesting, and loathing this movie. I almost shut off the DVD at the 12 minute mark and then again at 15. However, I forced myself to watch it just so I could render some sort of opinion.

The only Marvel movie I did stop watching at about a third of the way through was Eternals (2021). I even managed to make it all the way through The Marvels (2023) before totally panning it.

Honestly, if this is the best Director Taika Waititi can do, he can stop making films right now (alas, he hasn’t).

The story starts on a barren planet where a man Gorr (Christian Bale) and his young daughter (played by Chris Hemsworth’s daughter India Rose Hemsworth) are dying. Gorr prays to his god for deliverance which does not arrive. Instead, his daughter dies.

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