I discovered the writings of Ian Hamilton in April 2015. Before that, I had seen his books in a variety of bookstores and I kind of innately knew that I was going to read them sooner or later. So when I came across the first six books in one go, I picked them up in…
Category: The Book Shelf
Never Send Flowers (1993) – John Gardner
James Bond is back, and while I’ve enjoyed Gardner’s efforts with Ian Fleming’s 007, with the minor exception of The Man From Barbarossa, this entry, his thirteenth (of sixteen) feels like a real stumble. It seems to want to be more in line with the cinematic 007, but without a solid story, or set pieces…
Battlestar Galactica 3: The Tombs of Kobol (1979) – Robert Thurston, and Glen A. Larson
The journey towards the mythical planet known as Earth continues for the lone battlestar, Galactica, and the ragtag fleet of humanity that it escorts, in Thurston’s next novel which adapts the epic two-parter The Lost Planet of the Gods, which was the first pair of episodes following the series three hour opener, Saga of a…
The Seven Dials Mystery (1929) – Agatha Christie
The Seven Dials Mystery is a delightful romp.It takes us back to Chimneys, reacquaints us with Superintendent Battle, as well as Lady Eileen, better known to her friends as Bundle, as she and her friends get caught up in mystery, murder, romance and adventure. While Chimneys is occupied by another family, whose renting it for…
Star Wars: Jedi Search (1994) – Kevin J. Anderson
Kevin J. Anderson launches his Jedi Academy trilogy this week as I travel back to 1994, and the original Star Wars Expanded Universe. I’m exploring each book by publication date, and there were a couple of things I loved right off the bat, which I either didn’t notice the first time I read it (I…
Death is Forever (1992) – John Gardner
After The Man From Barbarossa, I was nervous about digging into another Gardner 007 novel, but this time, the author returns to the Fleming roots of the character and storytelling style, and in Death is Forever, James Bond is back in action. Gardner’s twelfth novel featuring the secret agent is a fast-moving tale that takes…
Battlestar Galactica 2: The Cylon Death Machine (1979) – Robert Thurston and Glen A. Larson
Robert Thurston delivers another adaptation from Glen A. Larson’s classic science fiction series, Battlestar Galactica. This time it’s the huge two part episode called Gun On Ice Planet Zero. Much like the adaptation of the original series launch, Saga of a Star World, Thurston’s novel has a number of differences from the episodes (and wasn’t…
The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) – Agatha Christie
Before Hercule Poirot took the Orient Express, he found himself on the Blue Train, sans Hastings, in a mystery that has a murder, missing jewels, stagecraft, thieves, divorces, a love story, rich Americans, and devious criminals. While not quite the romp of Poirot’s previous tales, this story was fun, and while most of the clues…
Star Trek: Recovery (1995) – J.M. Dillard
Space the final frontier… J.M. Dillard delivers the fourth and final instalment of The Lost Years saga this week, a series of novels she started that cover the time frame between the end of The Original Series and The Motion Picture. This time out, pieces are being moved into position for where we find them…
The Man From Barbarossa (1991) – John Gardner
James Bond is back in John Gardner’s eleventh outing with the secret agent. And it was going to happen sooner or later. I just couldn’t get into this one. While I love the idea of tying Bond in with the real political landscape of the early 90s with events that would lead up to the…
The Mind Reels 