Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004) – Susanna Clarke

  I’d always been intrigued by the cover of this book, and the idea of magicians in England in the 19th century tweaked my interest as well. I was never put off by the rather gargantuan size of the book, I just knew I had to be in the right frame of mind to take…

Fifteen Dogs (2015) – Andre Alexis

  My Mom picked up this book for me for Xmas, and I dug into it to see what’s the what, and was delighted by the map indicating that not only does the book take place in Toronto, most of it takes place in the area of my neighborhood. I was also surprised by who…

Star Trek: The Covenant of the Crown (1981) – Howard Weinstein

  It’s time to continue going boldy with the next installment in the Pocket Books non-canon Star Trek series. The next novel in the collection is The Covenant of the Crown. It’s special because its author, Howard Weinstein also wrote an episode of the Star Trek: Animated Series, The Pirates of Orion. This novel joins…

Star Wars: Before The Awakening (2015) – Greg Rucka

  More and more Star Wars, I haven’t been this giddy about the subject since I was a kid, and at that time, everything was Star Wars, Star Trek, and then Indiana Jones. It’s like being a kid all over again, and I was quite happy to jump into this Young Adult book to find…

Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi (2015) – Kevin Hearne

  More Star Wars!!! Taking place in the early days after the destruction of the Death Star and before the more recently published, The Weapon of a Jedi, we are plunged into a bit of a meandering adventure as author Kevin Hearne puts Luke Skywalker through his paces, as the young man takes his first…

Star Wars: Smuggler’s Run (2015) – Greg Rucka

  So how many times have I seen Star Wars: The Force Awakens by the time this post goes up? Who knows!!! This week on the Book Shelf I dug into the third of the new ‘Young Adult’ books written around our original heroes, set during the original trilogy, but with tie-ins to the new…

Star Wars: The Weapon of a Jedi (2015) – Jason Fry

  Ahh Star Wars… I’m writing this on the 12th, so haven’t seen The Force Awakens yet, but you’d better believe I am damned excited, and am trying to get my hands on the new, ever-expanding, now canon universe that exists outside the film in the form of books and comics. So I dug into…

Star Wars: Moving Target (2015) – Cecil Castelucci and Jason Fry

  Oh man… it’s almost time for Star Wars: The Force Awakens! I’ve been rationing the new books, as they’ve come out, and so trying to keep pace with them. We all know I wasn’t the biggest fan of Aftermath (though I’ll no doubt read the sequel when it comes along), that I loved Lost…