If you are not reading David Yurkovich, shame on you!
588820
I wish David Yurkovich produced more comics and graphic novels. At first glace, most would think "A character made of chocolate? I don't think so." Yurkovich makes it not only believable (in comic standards), but enjoyable and surprisingly fun. This is a collection of older materials about Agent Swete, our chocolaty hero. The characters are well conceived and developed. The characters are quirky and often times seem ridiculous, but the story and characterizations overshadow that. The art is an acquired taste, but well suits the stories. Yurkovich is well versed in comic history and it comes through in his characters and storytelling.  Checkout his other works (Less Than Heroes, S.H.O.P. and Altercations) for an even greater glimpse of that knowledge.
1832126
I'm going to keep it short.  THIS BOOK WAS TERRIBLE.  Don't buy it, and definitely don't waste your time reading it.  It's actually fine until the last few pages, which just makes it laugh out loud bad.  I am so glad to see that there's others on here that feel the same.  I can't believe this made it past an editor or a publisher.  And I absolutely love David's other work.  Honor Harrington, yes.  Safehold series, absolutely worth your time and money.  But this book actually makes me fear for the other stuff that I've loved for so long.  Stay as far away from it as you can...
4699411
When I saw this book I was excited to read it, but I hadn't read any reviews, I wish I would have I could have saved some cash.

If you are an ultra left wing liberal who is hoping Howard Dean will run for President again--this is the book for you.

However, reasonable people with some background about the war on terror and Islam, will be downright angry with the liberal propanganda that this author "preaches" through his Muslim characters.

If you are of the Jewish faith, you will be EXTREMELY disappointed as the voice of thousands of murdered Israelis is non-exisent in this book.  Aparantenly if the Imperialist West would just remove itself from the mid-east most Muslims want peace with Judaism and want to work side by side with Israel, I guess the venom spewed by muslims calling for the total annihilation of all jews is more Western Imerpialist propaganda.  Also, when the female muslim character (the nanny) goes on about how she respects jews and eats kosher jewish food, I almost gagged, again more pro-Islam crap. I have many Jewish family members in Israel and America, they would beg to differ with this author.

As the wife of a military officier and the daughter of a Marine I am particularly disturbed at the portrayal of the U.S. Military.  National Guardsmen who are serving overseas are apparently being dragged "kicking and screaming" to serve their country, and those who volunteer to serve are merely the brainwashed tools of American Imperialists.

And of course the secret agents risking their lives preventing more 9/11 attacks are the worst of them all, they are mindless killers who can be sold to the highest bidder.

It seems that this author feels Arab terrorists are to be pitied and understood, America is really to blame for jihad and we should ask these terrorists for forgiveness.  This "blame America first" attitude is saturated in every page of this book telling readers to be introspective and ask "what have we done to deserve these homicide bombings, slaying of innocent women and children, and public be-headings?" If you agree, again this is the book for you.

I don't want to give away the ending, but I think the author should have included world leaders coming together at the UN holding hands singing 'kumbaya' it would have been more realistic. Give me a break!

If you must read this book save your money and check this book out at the library, even if you enjoy some good old fashioned left-wing propaganda exposing the domination of the US Industrial-military-complex, this book is just too unbelievable and the characters too predictable--but then again it may just be the perfect book for a left-wing extremist.
4251487
i made a major mistake; i read a book by this author on an imagined isreali war & it was a waste of time; i did not realize this book was written by him as well, my fault; this was a waste of time as well; poorly written & after getting half way thru war, books ends & says you have to download his follow up book to continue; no chance of that for me; author is a radical, right wing, NRA guy as comes thru very clearly when unorganized americans from alaska fight off an invasion by trained russian troops thanks to our 2nd admendment; only thing missing, which i half expected to read about, was sarah palin & her family coming out to join the fight; i will never download another of his books but people who support the same causes he does may want to read it
1449553
I recently toughed things out and finished this terrible, terrible book. Last month, I slogged and shoveled my way through another Godawful Blum epic, "Dark Invasion," about German espionage and sabotage efforts on the east coast before the U.S. entered World War I.

It is amazing how one man can take two such fascinating topics and crank out such dreck. The inaccuracies are legion and the writing is puerile, florid, clichd, corny, and badly overcooked.

My suggestion is this:  First, purchase a quality clothes pin.  Place it firmly on your nose, then read this thing, noting as you go the names of the persons involved and the locations. Then, once you are finished, take your list of names and places and hunt up some credible, properly written material on the Klondike gold rush and Soapy Smith.  (You can pursue the same strategy with "Dark Invasion," the subject matter of which is largely an untold story.)
691133
I've read Paretsky and VI on and off for years. This book is almost 400 pages long and could easily have been only 200. It takes forever for the plot to evolve. The writing is laborious, the story is not well crafted and the concluding events/climax is so unplausable (including VI naked in body paint on stage in Sal's bar to expose the villans) that I thought maybe Janet Evanovich had written the last few chapters. Yes, it WAS that bad! Don't buy the book and if you feel you must read it, download the ebook from the library! I'm sure glad I did.
2606839
Thinking I would get a little flavor and history of the wrong side of the tracks, and once seedier side of the now gentrified and upscale condo-ized- town I now live in; DownTown Jersey City. I ordered this so called " Book" from Amazon because of the recommendations that pop up when I bought something else.
  What a mistake!! Just 7 pieces of 25lb stock paper printed on both sides  vertically,to make 28 pages with a 40 lb Blue stock cover page folded over and stapled in the middle, is what arrived in the mail.
  It has nothing to do with Thieves,( as title reads " Second Thief Best Thief" suggests) Mobsters , or Gangsters of the Old Hudson County New Jersey. area!
 Instead I got totally uninteresting and disjointed anecdotal recount of minor episodes of long gone homeless drunks and local bums. Absolutely no insight to how this city changed from the working blue collar water front to the current "Yuppie Homestead Homeowner ".
  No Wonder Schundler Lost if THIS Olszewski GUY  was his Campaign manager!
  WORST BOOK EVER ON AMAZON
1747130
I have loved all of the previous books I've read by David Liss that's why I bought this one as soon as I saw it was available.  In retrospect, I see that I was foolish for not reading any reviews prior to buying this one.  I must echo all of the other one star review....I didn't even finish the book.  I'm amazed that I stuck with it through the half-way point.  Bottom line, it was a waste of electrons!
220610
Long time New York Blades reader here.

When I posted the review for Icebreaker, the problem  was that the series' continuity was a hot mess, but that the characters themselves and the story were actually pretty good, if you hadn't read the series.

This time, sadly, I must report that it's the other way around.  New York Blades readers will easily recognize all the characters that Ms Martin has created in other books, and they're all recognizable this time, which is a big plus, because the the primary characters and their 'story' in Hip Check is deeply awful; these are not nice people at all.

Esa is a crap uncle for no good reason than that he's a crap uncle, until at the last possible minute he cries about losing his sister; was that somehow supposed to make being a crap uncle OK? And that moment is almost at the end of the book, after we've seen several scenes already from his POV.  Why not make it clear up front that the reason Esa is a struggling crap uncle is that he misses his sister, but can't say it? Keeping it "secret" really damages the reader's sympathy for this guy; to the point that when it's revealed, it's all, meh. So what?

The discussions Michelle has with almost every secondary character about a nanny's code of professional conduct made it obvious that she was going to violate every tenet of it without a second thought.  And while everyone appreciates the very long tradition of "single dad falls for the babysitter" in the romance genre, as a reader? I found that repeated emphasis very disturbing; making such a point of it essentially turned Michelle into a huge hypocrite--and who would want someone like that watching a child? Just...squick.

Even the bereaved child was almost monomanical in her push to have her crappy uncle fall in love and marry her unethical nanny.

If you're a New York Blades reader, then it may be worth it to you to wade thru the primary character's story to catch up with characters like Lou, or Jason, Stanley and Delilah, or Rory and Erin.

If you're NOT a New York Blades reader, I suggest you give this one a pass.
831700
I LOVE Star Trek, don't get me wrong.  What I am about to comment has never been a problem until just now.  I just listened to a short excerpt from David Mack's Star Trek: Discovery: Desperate Hours and was less than 3 minutes into it when BOOM!  I was hit with a very unnecessary "GD", you all know what I mean!
Saying "GD" adds absolutely NOTHING to the plot or story, doesn't sell one single copy because it's there.  But I will tell you this, "People (authors) who resort to this type of language are simply not intelligent enough to fill the word spaces in their vocabulary with more sanguine language!"
CLEAN it up David Mack, and I'll buy everything Star Trek you write!
1068346
A friend purchased this for me due to my love of NBA basketball, and thought it would be a good read...as it was highly recommended here.

Suffice it to say that I felt this was one of the worst "books" I've ever had the misfortune of reading. Though I used to read his columns (and listen to his podcasts) intermitedly (and admittedly, they were funny), I found all that was wrong with his writing in this massive tome to tabloid sports writing.

I can take his rapid Boston fandom. There are over-testosteroned imbeciles all over the country. I can even take the rest. Ridiculous, disrespectful opinions on a variety of NBA players (most of whom are widely considered great representations of the sport), his shameless bashing of other teams, playres, and organizations not Boston-affiliated, plus over 200 pages of Simmons' childhood obsession with the Boston Celtics (according to him, the most important organization in the history of sports).

Then there are his glorious lists. List upon list comprised of his personal bias, masquerading as an excercise in impartiality. Even more pathetic is that this excuse for "professional" sports writing looks and reads like the drunk, under-average IQ "fan" at your local sports bar took notes on his incessant spouting of nonsense, and spends a majority of its convulted pages seemingly being a diary for the typical ESPN board warrior idiot.

There is one caveat. If you bleed Celtic green, spend your free time poking needles in Laker player voodoo dolls, engage in conversations consisting of "the NBA is nothing without the Celtics" and "unless you are Michael Jordan or were a Celtic, you are trash," and believe that the city of Boston is the Almighty's greatest gift to humankind, this is definitely the book for you. If you enjoy the sport of basketball, irregardless of which team you support, and are looking for a decent, relatively impartial read on anything relating to the subject matter, this "book" is better off in the recycling bin.
2547299
I have been reading (the real) W.E.B.Griffin novels since he started decades ago.

I realize they are trying to keep the dynasty going but this really sucks. It's so bad that i decided I needed to review it before I even finished it.

Do not waste your money on this. There is absolutely no action (which has become the norm since Junior took over writing the different series) and it seems like it is supposed to be some kind of comedy.

The dynasty is over, the decades of reading pleasure I have will now be restricted to re-reading the original series. If it has Junior's name on it, walk on by.

Edited to say: I just read the post script which is an admission that Junior intended to rip me off.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice....well, that ain't going to happen
1832254
I'm an avid reader.  I swear I'll read anything...But this was too much even for me to handle!!  I have never written a book review before, but I feel truly compelled to prevent others from spending money on this book.
Asimov must be turning in his grave to know that the Foundation has been used as the backdrop for this lame excuse of a story.  It seems to me that Benford wanted an outlet to show the world how much useless information he had accumulated throughout the years, and he just threw everything together into a long book.  I'm sorry, but this book has no plot, no climax, NOTHING!!!  It is just an endless string of character introspections that have little to do with Asimov's vision of the future.
And what's up with the dialogues between Dors and R. Daneel???  Not one sentence is finished!!!  They just keep interrupting each other.  And then there's the "sims" -- Joan of Arc and Voltaire - Huh?? What???  How does this all tie in with the pans?? (I haven't finished reading the book, and don't know if I ever will, but I truly hope there's some sort of connection here.)
Lastly, the book contains too many inconsistencies with respect to the original series.  If you're an Asimov fan, as I am, I advice you to stick to the original...otherwise, prepare to be very disappointed.
600950
This is the second two-star review I'm writing today for something that was highly recommended on Amazon!  I have read and enjoyed Steven King in the past, but stopped reading him when his books all started becoming too similar.  This one looked different, and the reviews were quite good, so I picked it up.  Are they reading the same book?  95% of this book is simply baby-boomer rehash we've seen a million times--boy came of age in a small town, lost faith in God after a tragedy, turned to rock and roll, first girlfriend, left home, became a drug addict....  What is the point?  There is no point except for the "joker" character who sometimes comes into people's lives to shake them up.  Well, I'm 50% through this novel, and the "joker" character is truly the only interesting thing happening, and his passages are few and far between.  And this is not scary.  Half way through the book, we have a hint at something sinister happening, but this book is so, so, so unbearably long.  I can't tell you how many pages I just thumbed through with barely a glance at the words.  It was like he was being paid by the word.  An unknown author would have been laughed out of the publishing house with this.  Why on Earth didn't they take a sharp editorial pen to this?  I believe something interesting and perhaps scary is building up, but I can't tell you how many uninteresting pages I'm going to have to skip to get there.
3405103
This was a book written by disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy.  Instead of enjoying what he had pursuing his dream of a NBA referee he throws it all away on gambling.

This book was very plain, very vanilla.  One could tell that he had no writing experience, or his ghost writer was not that experienced.

The accusations of the other referees directing the outcomes of games are unproven and it just seems like he wrote this book for a fast way to pay for his alimony and legal bills.

What a waste of a life, and a waste of paper for this book.

Don't bother with it, not worth the time.
393039
I HAVE BEEN A STEPHANIE PLUM FAN FOR OVER 20 years......NO MORE!! THE  last 3 books have been a disappointment--a huge disappointment. This book 23 is the worst book Ive ever read! I will never buy another one of Janet E"s books. The whole  book was about zombies eating brains.....Really?!?!?!!!!! Horrible story; disgusting writing. I AM DONE--Janet Evanovich should be ashamed of letting fans down like this
358200
I never write reviews, but this book just made my blood boil. I defended GRRM many times for being 5 years late with this book, after all, good writing takes it time. So I expected a good book, with plot you know? Instead I got an overly expensive travelguide for a country I have no chance ever visiting, what a rip-off! The Bran, Davos and Arya chapters are phenomenal, but too few to save this book from all the horrible Dany-chapters. And worst of all, George has turned Tyrion into a boring character, or he has at least written utterly boring chapters about him.

What is most frustrating though: all this drivel could have been written in a single year, only predictable things happen and most of the story is about the scenery. What has he been up to? Meereenese knot? I don't see it. God, how I wish he just had inserted the 5 year gap. All the last chapters of the POV characters in AFFC and ADWD are great (except for Dany of course, who had 1 good chapter in this book thanks to Strong Belwas(and Tyrion actually doesn't have a last chapter!)).

George RR Martin, I defended you, but now you have called me a sockpuppet for writing a bad review on Amazon. Because only sockpuppets and detractors write bad reviews anonymously on the internet! Screw that, you just keep thinking you're the American Tolkien. I have joined the ranks of GRRuMblers and urge everyone to only buy this book when the series is done, perhaps then it will have its charm.