Mediocre Margolin: wooden with weak characters
932835
Philip Margolin is a wooden writer who can sketch memorable characters, but usually refuses to let them develop. His best books are taut courtroom thrillers driven by plot and legal machinations (<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Worthy-Brown-s-Daughter/dp/B00DB32QG4/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Worthy Brown's Daughter</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Woman-with-a-Gun/dp/B00IZOZQIE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Woman with a Gun</a>&nbsp;are exceptions, excellent novels more concerned with history than courtroom drama).

The Third Victim is an example of his less interesting work. It's actually a mystery, but not a very good one. The courtroom drama fizzles (by design, but that doesn't make it any more fun to read). There are lots of plot threads, but not enough plot. The characters all seem suited to different books and there is minimal real interaction among them.

I did enjoy a lot of the Portland Oregon geography and in-jokes, but you have to be very familiar with city to appreciate them.
1911593
I don't expect literary brilliance from a paperback "cozy" but I do expect at least a couple of semi-believable characters.  The six pairs of contestants were trite stereotypes:  the sensible New Englanders, rich valley girls, big-haired Texans, ultra-churchy southerners and hard-edged New Yorkers.  Who did I forget?  Oh, yeah, the forgettable and characterless midwesterners.  Add in a few stereotypical New York bigshots and a ridiculous plot and you have New Years Eve Murder.  It was a quick read, but a waste of two hours nonethe less.
2756522
As a story about the slave trade, this book is ok. However, it has minimal resemblance to prior Sherlock Holmes stories. The Mycroft Holmes character from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is described as having superior deductive powers to his brother, but unwilling to put forth the physical effort necessary to solve crimes. He is essentially an armchair detective. This Mycroft Holmes travels to Trinidad to solve a crime and is involved in multiple hand to hand fights. Far from being the genius he is supposed to be, he is consistently wrong and is mislead by his fiance, a character about whom he should know the most. One example of demonstrating his deductive skills from the book was that Mycroft Holmes read a letter from across the room by seeing the movement of the end of the pencil and deducing the letters. That's absurd and way off base for Doyle or a Holmes pastiche. I got this as a Kindle Daily Deal and it was a big waste of time.
4133469
I rarely pan books - authors do their damnedest to please us, but this is not very good. The central character, March, is interesting but without the redemption of actual superiority to her 'guardian" who is surely one of fiction's more odious characters.  Suggested to be Sherlock Holmes, this 'personal detective' is simply vulgar, misanthropic, and not all that analytical.  The plot is interesting after a time, but the whole Kindle version is flawed with appalling punctuation and grammar flaws that make following the dialogue and therefore the plot almost impossible.  March while loaded with potential, is confusingly dim on many points, and her strength of character is never fulfilled.  All in all it does not impel me to read the next installments.  There is no one to cheer on unless and until March gets a real spine.  It's just boring, confusing, and depressing all rolled into one.
3144209
I initally picked up Summerland based on its glowing review in Publisher's Weekly.  As both an avid fantasy and children's literature fan, it sounded like something I would enjoy.  I was disappointed.  I actually would rate this more a two-and-a-half star book, but I can't.
I found this book to be mediocre.  The writing itself was beautiful at times.  Chabon's knowledge of various folklore and legend was impressive, although I found his mix of them sometimes confusing.  The four worlds was an interesting element, particularly given how Chabon used them to explain phenomena in our own.  And of course, Chabon's love of baseball shone through brightly.  Not being a baseball fan myself, I didn't find those parts particularly compelling, but the passion in them was undeniable.
The story, however, is why I hesitate rating this book higher.  Many of the characters were fun and memorable - Ethan, Jennifer T., Cutbelly - but the "bad guys" were rather one-dimensional.  I expected much more out of Coyote given the vibrant set of legends surrounding him.  Many of his minions, too, were much too black-and-white for my tastes.  The progression of the story chiefly annoyed me.  The characters often seemed to advance more thanks to a series of fortunate circumstances than through any action of their own (Thor just happens to be a shadowtail, Pettipaw conveniently shows up at the right moment, the stick Ethan finds happens to be magical).  It seemed heavy-handed.
All in all, I'd say that this book is probably pure magic to a baseball fan, but in terms of fantasy, it's nothing to write home about.
2422396
A far, far, far cry from the dark, strange splendor of Geek Love or classic Chuck P. Monica Drake's so-called "world" is a clumsy, cartoon cut-out called Baloneytown where the characters meander along- uninteresting and underdeveloped. The titular character herself is pretty bland, (her literary allusions seem copied and pasted from Wikipedia) as are her interactions with a friendly heart-o-gold policeman (stereotypical to a T) and others. The "twists" are obvious. The humor is stale. The language, aiming clearly for Palahniuk with annoying clown choruses of "Ta da!" or "Tra-la-la" etc, grows grating after only a few pages. There is hardly any plot to speak of, only Sniffles the Clown falling to shambles, desperately bouncing in and out of the hospital and generally making dumb decisions. These situations, however are not dire (even the climax prostitution is decidedly ho-hum) especially by gory Chuck standards. This is a PG-13 romp, at best. Surprisingly neutered, given its endorsement by the master of vile, shock-lit. There is no blood, hardly any drugs, brief under-described sex, etc. If Chuck or Dunn's majestic freak ode are too much for you, this Twilight-ish (there I said it) ditty is right up your alley. Otherwise, don't waste your time.
1299951
It's simple, it's fast, it's illogical. The characters are all one-dimensional extremes. It's campy characters you would reognize from a bad TV show where the actors are just walking through their lines.

The hero boy shoves a sword into the giant beast to the hilt. Blood pours out but it ignores the wound and tosses him into a tree. The gallant knight shoots a single arrow and kills the beast. Really? The boy wakes up in the castle just in time to be toasted by the king and the knights. A day or two later the same king accuses him of an assassination attempt minutes after telling the king he had a dream about poisoned wine and after knocking the poisoned chalice from the kings hands.

Incredible not as good but as truly, amazingly ridiculous how simplistic, unreasonable and illogical this fantasy was. The writer must have been drunk or stoned.
4599130
Stendhal wrote The Charterhouse of Parma in 7 weeks, and its quality is wildly uneven.  It might be Nile's Crane's favorite book but, to me, the effort outweighed the reward, and I can't give the book more than two stars.

Fabrizio, the protagonist, is a serviceable enough pivot for the plot to turn around.  An impulsive, irresistibly handsome young aristocrat, he involves himself in an unlikely series of adventures and love affairs so notorious that he becomes a societal obsession, much like a modern day celebrity.  His earliest adventure is as a volunteer--actually, an interloper--in Napoleon's army at Waterloo.  The account of the fighting is highly realistic, reflecting Stendhal's first-hand experience in Napoleon's army.  But Fabrizio is no soldier, and he does nothing of note in the battle but survive it.  Ten years later, Fabrizio has become famous, and everyone supposes "that he must have been one of the bravest captains in Napoleon's army."

Stendhal's accounts of court intrigues and political intrigues are acutely observed.  At one point, the Duchess of Sanseverina, Fabrizio's aunt and admirer, tells a prince that everyone at his court steals because he is so unpredictable: "everyone here steals; and who would not steal in a country where the recognition of the greatest services lasts no more than a month?  It means that nothing is real and that nothing survives disgrace except money."

Stendhal is interested in the interior states of his characters; lacking the device of stream of consciousness narration; he reveals their thoughts and emotions by reporting internal dialogues.  Some of their emotional states seem inauthentic to a modern reader: for example, women feel "faint" after expressing strong emotion, and Fabrizio, deeply infatuated with a young woman, nonetheless gives her his blessing to marry another man.  Maybe these situations seem contrived to us because people have changed, but I don't think they have changed that much.

The pacing of the book is both a strength and a weakness.  Events come at the reader quickly in the book, and I liked that, but sometimes Stendhal seems to lack patience: near the end of the book he writes "Here we shall ask permission to pass, without saying a word about them, over an interval of three years."  Then, in the last two pages, he brings the book to an end with the briefest of mentions of the death of three major characters.

The Modern Library Classics edition has six pages of useful notes and an afterword by Richard Howard, the translator.
224571
Old Man's War was disappointingly lackluster. I had been wanting to read Scalzi for a while, but Old Man's War proved . . . boring, really. The characters are wooden and two-dimensional, and while the small glimpses of the protagonist's relationship with his wife were humanizing, they were minor blips on the screen between rapid-fire techno-jargon; hordes of aliens killing and being killed; and human soldiers we barely meet before they die, often for no significant reason. The protagonist, John Perry, is able to stay alive and find solutions to every problem thrown at him while others die, yet there's never even an attempt at explaining why he's smarter or his artificial body more capable than all the other soldiers dying around him. The author never really successfully made me feel connected to any of the characters. In the end, it was a rather banal science fiction story, inoffensive but utterly forgettable.
249080
This really isn't that good, but I do admire the attempt to distinguish this book from others of its genre. Here the hero is conflicted by years of abuse from his father and has basically fallen apart after the death of his only real friend, and the demon who has returned is using the "healing of the sick" scam to gain power . Too bad the quality of the writing doesn't match the creative plot. Clumsy dialogue and less than memorable descriptions keep the reader from becoming enmeshed in the story, and after a short while the hero becomes a whiner instead of someone you'll actually care about. I don't expect much from this type of book, but it should at least be enjoyable. This didn't meet that criterion.
3108402
I heartily agree with the reviewer who described this book as an "outline" for a great mystery. Mystery fans will find this book extremely formulaic and simplistic. The familiar and uninteresting  characters were most disappointing to me: the little old lady who's not  what she seems, the wise-cracking reporter, the bumbling but  well-intentioned police chief, the intelligent young woman trying to put  her past behind her, idiot teenagers. The fact that the little old woman is  an alcoholic is not amusing or charming, though the author thinks it  is.
The plot is contrived to introduce the whole crossword puzzle theme  to the series and to introduce all the characters to us. It holds up well  enough, but can't compensate for the weak characters (including the  killer).
Readers looking for an interesting old lady would do well to try  Heron Carvic's Miss Seeton series instead.
878553
I don't like writing one star reviews -- but readers should beware this wooden, plodding tale. The "heroine" is a hot-shot lawyer transferred from Paris to New York in search of a partnership with a prestigious firm. We've read this story many times before -- the cutthroat associates, the endless hours, the soul-numbing work, the handsome partner, the nasty female boss/rival -- etc etc. In this case, the heroine also has a bad case of lust for designer shoes, clothes and accessories -- really her only human quality. There is one of the most unconvincing love affairs I have recently read -- the hero is much less sexy than his clothes -- and it all ends one assumes happily with one lawyer effecting a romantic merger and acquisition with another, getting her dream job and moving back to Paris where she belongs.

I have no objection to this plot, hackneyed though it is -- but the writing is so dull, the characters so lifeless and the constant harping on consumer products so dreary that this book is best avoided. There are lots of similar, brighter versions of the same story out there.
2211640
This is a below average book. The dialogue is amatuerish. The characters are one dimensional. As a result, the characters' actions further plot development, but are frequently unbelievable.  For instance, the evil conspirators initially let the heroine live in peace in London simply because she appears to have renounced her Harlequin roots and become a member of the general public.  Huh?  Why would a ruthless organization without moral scruples decide not to kill their sworn enemy simply because she took a day job?  Obviously, if they are smart enough to rule the world, they could figure out that she might change her mind--particularly if they brutally kill her father.  Why not simply crush her when they could quite easily, to ensure no future problems or little Harlequins.  There are numerous other plot holes.  Having said that, the book is a quick, easy read, and the story is mildly entertaining.  If you are interested in the theme, and are not annoyed by very mediocre writing, stock characters, or the author's pseudo-mysterious hoopla, you will probably like the book.  If not, wait for the movie.
4537390
This movie was an entirely predictable second rate-knock-off of ideas stolen from Duel, Dune, and perhaps Clockwork Orange  (especially the stupid breast-milking scene, and Corpus Colossus, the fat stunted son of Immortan Joe).  No characters had the charm or originality of the little blond boy or the helicopter pilot from Mad Max I and II.  I gave the movie two stars instead of one because (1) Tom Hardy (Max) and Charlize Theron (Furiosa) have personal charisma (although not much could be done with their one dimensional roles), (2) the chase scenes were OK, (3) the guitar player was somewhat funny, and (4) Nux's character, although entirely predictable, was somewhat engaging.  Consistent with the movie's lack of originality, it was obvious from the beginning that Nux was destined to turn "good" and reach Valhalla through "good acts" rather than service to Immoten Joe.  In sum, while not as bad as Mad Max III, this movie was a disappointment, especially given the "rave" reviews.
1448102
The characters are all wooden and undifferentiated. The interpersonal relationships are shallow and robotic. I found it very hard to get through.

I did enjoy the parts about the scorps.
1682932
166 of black and white illustrations, mostly photos, of mediocre to poor quality and sized from full-page to very small (many small).  They include 2 original floor plans (hall and church), views of architectural exteriors and interiors (photos and orig. drawings/renderings), not many views of details, 1 of each of a chalice, pyx, flagon, and churches comparison in perspective, as well as 2 of each of portrait sketches and urban landscapes.

It is an old-fashioned architectural monograph very inferior to&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Pugin-A-Gothic-Passion/dp/0300060149/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Pugin: A Gothic Passion</a>&nbsp;by Atterbury and Wainwright in every respect, as architecture is very well represented in addition to the rest of Pugin's oeuvre in the latter, which has a big format and superior printing in color on excellent smooth paper, while this one is printed on cheap coarse paper, which may smell of mold/mould.
2491082
I had high hopes for "The Flame and the Arrow," since I'm a fan of Burt Lancaster and director Jacques Tourneur, who made some very atmospheric horror movies. I also quite like Virginia Mayo, for obvious reasons...

But, alas, I didn't end up liking this movie. It's essentially a weak Robin Hood knock-off, with all the trappings of Sherwood Forest but none of the iconic heroes or villains. The plot is the usual "rise up against the oppressors" stuff, but there isn't any real depth to the political situations or the characterizations. Even worse, the story is supposed to take place in Italy, but it looks suspiciously like a bunch of old studio sets instead, and many of the characters have ridiculous/condescending names like "Piccolo" and "Bambino."

Okay, so I know that nobody should expect realism or depth from a fun action movie. But "The Flame and the Arrow" is more than just a little silly ... it's also bland. It lacks the star power and sparkle of a film like "The Adventures of Robin Hood," or the wit of Tyrone Power's "The Mark of Zorro." Even the action scenes don't work too well; Lancaster's acrobatic tricks may be impressive, but they look more suited to a circus than a swashbuckler movie.

In short, there are many, many better movies out there with similar subject matter. "The Flame in the Arrow" may be good for a bit of nostalgic fun, but it isn't actually a good film.