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Nick J. - Reviews

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A Ghost in the Closet  (Nancy Clue, Hardly Boys)
A Ghost in the Closet (Nancy Clue, Hardly Boys)
Author: Mabel Maney
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 7
Review Date: 5/11/2011


Full of sexual puns and innuendo, this is a nudge-nudge takeoff on the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series of juvenile detective books from the early 20th century. Despite the appearance of two young men on the cover, the story is mostly about Nancy Drew and her circle of lesbian friends. (The Hardly brothers, after figuring in the one-page Prologue, do not enter the story proper until page 59.) And it's all not nearly as funny as the reviewer quotes on the cover would lead one to believe.


In Fury Born
In Fury Born
Author: David Weber
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 19
Review Date: 11/20/2010


Wierd book! At the outset, it's all about a young girl's impressions of the world and her feelings. (I thought, "Oh brother -- chick-lit in space!") Then she enters the imperial military academy and becomes a space marine, learning to take care of herself and her people in dicey situations. Picked to become an elite imperial cadre (sort of a modern-day Seal or Green Beret, squared), she becomes a killing machine -- though with a heart!

Suddenly, she resigns and goes with her extended family to homestead a frontier planet, where everyone is massacred by space pirates except her. Wanna know how she survives despite extensive wounds? A Fury possesses her and protects her until medical help arrives. That's right, one of the implacable Furies from ancient Greek literature!! Now she's talking to herself (actually to the Fury inside) and they put her into protective custody. The Fury can read and manipulate minds and computers, however, so they escape, steal the most advanced warship in the galaxy and meld with the AI who controls it.

This bickering, lethal triad then fly off to avenge the deaths of the woman's family (and millions of other innocents), evading pursuers and beating the imperial intelligence service to the solution of the pirates' identity. Now she really goes mad with pent-up rage, and it's all the Fury can do to keep her on-task. Will she boil over and become a mass murderer? Come on, would the marketing department allow an ending like that?

Mostly great military sci-fi, with good character development. Too bad it goes off the rails and tries to out-Heinlein Heinlein with six impossible things before breakfast. Still, all in all it's a good read.


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