Yeah, so, it's been a while

I've been busy. I don't have to excuse myself.

You Can Get Arrested For That: 2 Guys, 25 Dumb Laws, 1 Absurd American Crime Spree, by Rich Smith. While in theory an interesting idea, the story was pretty boring. Unlike Journalism and Com majors around here, this guy could actually string two sentences together and the writing wasn't all that bad. I think he used his thesaurus too much though, and tried to glamorize a boring story through spiffy language, instead of telling it like it is. The tale would have been better if the author weren't a whining sissy; he certainly would have gotten more done had he just been a better planner.

Another Day, Another Dungeon, by Greg Costikyan. I ended up really liking this book, and it's sequel, One Quest, Hold the Dragons. While the author did use fragments, which you know I hate like the Fug Girls hate leggings, they were actually pretty well done and flowed with the sentences, like they do as currently spoken. There were some times when the author seemed to jump ahead in events, when a transition might have been nice, but it is understandable; transitioning between events can get boring and dull and draggy, and he didn't jump ahead so far that you can't fill in the blanks yourself.

Bloodsucking Fiends, a love story, by Christopher Moore. This was funny and refreshing, and I had a great metaphore or comparison or something, but that was nearly a week ago and I didn't write it down, so I have entirely forgotten. The sentence structure was good, the plot was great, the characters were awesome, and the Emperor rocks. I'm about fifth in line for the next one from my local library, or else I'd be all over that.

One Quest, Hold the Dragons, by Greg Costikyan. Please see above. I'm very upset that I can't find a third book, as this ended on a shameless cliff-hanger. I have written to the author, and shall be very upset if he quit the series part-way through, but may be mollified should he actually respond to me.

Magic Study, by Maria V. Snyder. This is the sequel to Poison Study, which I also enjoyed. The plot is good and the characters are great, but there are two glaring faults: 1, the 20-year-old main character acts like she's about 13, even though her personal history and situation are not condusive to child-like behavior and thinking, and 2, the dozens of fragments this author employed would have been better attached via commas to the previous sentence. Phrases are not sentences. A third book, apparently to be entitled Fire Study, is supposedly on the way. A note in the back of the book said it would be out in 2007, but the author website says 2008. Slacker.