Brunner's Bar

The Gods of Guilt When it comes to a choice between Connelly’s series I will always go with Harry Bosch. I love the character and the investigation is really what I enjoy about those books. I like Mickey Haller but he can at times be a real sleaze ball. I’m sure this is very true to how some defense lawyers might act, but I hope it isn’t the way all of them act. Even though the stories in the Haller series are pretty good I sometimes just don’t like Haller all that much. The previous Mickey Haller book, The Fifth Witness, brought some redeeming qualities to the character. I was really excited to see him give up defense and run for District Attorney. He was turning his life around and building a relationship with his daughter and ex-wife, it looked like it was going to be a happy ending. Well this book starts out really rough for Haller. He lost the election for District Attorney because of a scandal, his daughter wants nothing to do with him and just as he was patching things

What We Become  This is another character development story. We meet some new characters in the last book and this one gives us more depth to who they are and where they came from. On top of that, we have more development of our main characters that we have followed along the way. Not a bad book but the plot seemed to get a little thin here. It was kind of a let’s see how much crazy we can cram into a book. Not as much as the books with the Governor but still some big heaping spoonful’s of crazy in this one. I like crazy but I wanted a little more to have happened in this book. We really get a rehash of some of the events between two characters. The kids of this book are kind of a developmental focus. These lesser characters get to shine a little in this issue. What I really liked about this was just how much of it was used in the show. I know I have said it before but I really love finding the similarities. We do get to revisit Rick’s neighborhood but no trip down memory l

The Sea of Monsters If I wasn’t hooked after the  first  book I definitely am now. With most of the character set up behind us in book one there was a lot more room for story and action. I couldn’t stop reading. When Percy returns to Camp Half Blood he finds that someone has poisoned the sacred tree that holds the protection barrier around the camp.   The only way to save the tree and the camp is to find the Golden Fleece. Percy is not the one chosen to be sent on this quest from camp, but that doesn’t stop him from sneaking off to try and find it on his own with Tyson and Annabel in tow. There is some great stuff in this book. There are so many great scenes I could ramble on quite a bit. The story seemed pretty fast paced for the most part. There was a little section in the middle of the book that seemed to drag a bit. I really enjoyed the little side story with Grover. He is a Satyr that is on his own quest to find Pan, the head of the Satyrs I think. I’m not too sure about

Here We Remain I don’t know what to say about this book. I liked it, but it was more of an in between story and the next chapter to me. Each book so far has continued the story very well, but this one allowed the characters and the reader to take a breath. In the last book all hell broke loose and the group has been split up and running from the prison that they were safely living in. Most of this story focuses around Rick and Carl. They are struggling with horrible loss and the fact that they are alone and Rick is injured. The show took a lot of scenes straight from these pages, but the course of events took several episodes. I kind of liked the episodes more than this. The show took us through the events of many different characters as they searched for each other and a safe place to crash. It was fun to see things tie together in the show so I was kind of disappointed that there wasn’t more of that in this book. The story moved pretty quickly even with little action happ

Break no Bones As much as it pains me to say this; I’m officially finished reading Kathy Reichs. I was a big fan of these books since almost the beginning, but I took some time off reading them and explored what else is out there. I have given this a lot of thought and I think I have figured out why I have grown out of these books. In the last few years I have gone from reading only 3 authors to reading a ton of authors. There are plenty of women authors with female characters that are stronger and more interesting than Temperance Brennan. Don't get me wrong, I have liked Brennan for many years but I have found that Rizzoli and Isles from Tess Gerritsen, and Sara Linton from Karin Slaughter are more interesting characters. These books have also inspired the hit show Bones which is really interesting, well written and fast paced. I think because The show's episodes are an hour with commercials and I think that’s what makes it work. These stories would work better in a sho

The Lightning Thief  Why did I have to try a new series? My wife and a few of my friends have done nothing but rave about how amazing these books are. I saw the first movie and was only mildly interested back then. I needed a new audio book to listen to at work and the books I really wanted to get to next are still on reserve at the library. I figured I would finally give this series a try. What was I thinking?  I loved this book, and wish I had waited a little longer so I could finish the Last Apprentice series first. Now I have two series, YA even, that I can’t wait to read the next book. It is so hard trying to decide which to read next once I have finished one. I’m only one book in and I am hooked. I also want to re-watch the movie so I can see if I enjoy it more. I know more about the story having read the book and I always like playing spot the differences when I watch a movie based on a book.     Since grade school I have always enjoyed learning about Greek and Roman

Made to Suffer Here is the warning; if you haven’t read these books there might be some spoilers that might ruin the previous volumes for some. It is so hard to write reviews of these later volumes without letting something slip. I will not allow spoilers for this book so no worries there. After the Governor was sliced and diced by Michonne there was a moment when I thought that was the end of him. I knew there was more to the Governor in the show but since the two are so different at times I wondered if this was the end of him. Well the cover alone should tell you that he is back and he is pissed. The Governor has rallied the people of Woodbury and he is storming the Prison. With ideas of peaceful surrender being shouted at Rick and everyone in the prison they know there will never be peace with the Governor. Rick begins to form a plan of attack because he knows that one is coming against them. The Governor wants revenge and the prison and he plans to take both by any means

Clash of the Demons This was an intense story for this series. A lot of emotional themes and some impressive battles made this one of my favorites of the series. Tom’s mother left for her homeland after the passing of his father a few books back. Now she has returned to ask Tom for his help in stopping the oldest and most powerful witch who will bring nothing but destruction in her wake. Tensions run very high in this book between the Spook and Tom and his mother. The Spook tells Tom that if he goes off to help his mother, he will not be welcomed back as his apprentice. Tom can’t refuse his own mother though so it puts him in a tricky spot. Of course Tom chooses to fight alongside his mother otherwise there wouldn’t be a book. To make things worse for Tom the Fiend is trying to coerce him to join him on the Dark Side. Yes, it does sound like Star Wars with a light and dark side but I looked past that. I was hooked on the story from the very beginning. The previous book le

Batman and Robin Vol 4: Requiem for Damian This was an emotional book, and that seems a little strange for a Batman title. As odd as this may be; I think it needed to be an emotional story, and we the reader needed to see this softer side of Bruce.   I’m very out of the loop with Batman and Robin and it seems that is follows events in the Batman Incorporated series. I haven’t read either series and stopped reading Batman and Robin before new 52.wasn’t a fan of Batman and Robin mainly because I have never been a fan of Bruce having a biological son. Dick and Tim were his adopted sons and I really liked that since they all had similar pasts, but Damian seemed to be going against the mythos of Batman. I always thought if Bruce was going to have a child he would be married first. I’m old fashioned and it bugs me that he had a son that he didn’t know about for years. On top of that, I never thought Damian was a very likable character. He was very violent and out of control in the b

Warning, Opinions Ahead!!! I’m not one to rant and rave about things that upset me, especially on my blog. My poor wife on the other hand has to suffer the barage of frustrations I have just so I can vent. I'm a strong believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that’s cool even if it doesn’t mesh with what I think. For someone to feel comfortable putting themselves out there no matter what the response is a brave thing. I was catching up on posts at my friend’s blog and came across her post Read What You Want . I was shocked to see she had written about another post that says we as adults should be ashamed if we read YA titles. The sub title of the article in question actually reads “ Read whatever you want. But you should feel embarrassed when what you’re reading was written for children.” Here is the link to the post so you can read it for yourself. At first I didn’t want to link to it because we are just allowing the author to gain popularity, but I wan

Wrath of the Bloodeye Tom is in Great danger, in every book he seems to be in some sort of danger but in this one it is the focus of the plot. The Fiend is still loose and the Spook is worried that he will come to kill Tom. Fearing for his safety he sends Tom off to train with another Bill Arkwright another Spook. This other Spook is tougher with methods that might not seem appropriate and sometimes cruel. He has been known to toughen up apprentices and right now Tom is going to need all of the help he can get. Little does John Gregory (Tom’s Spook) know that something evil awaits Tom when he arrives at Bill Arkwright’s home. Joseph Delaney introduces us to yet another form of witch in this book and I really liked this one.   The water witch is creepy and really evil; they hide deep in the dark depth of lakes and marshes. When someone gets close to the edge they will grab you and pull you under. Drowning is one of my biggest fears and this made the whole idea really creepy f

The Calm Before I have been waiting for this volume since the beginning.   Being a fan of the show, I knew that Lori was going to get pregnant and have her baby. This volume was a key example that the show has become its own entity. What I was expecting to happen because of what I had seen was completely wrong. I loved that I am surprised when I read these books and that the show hasn’t ruined these for me. There are some scenes that are in the show that are pulled right from the artwork of these comics, but for the most part they are now two different stories. As always we get to learn more about our group of characters as if we were in the prison with them. These volumes are really just chapters of a larger story. We get to follow the daily routeins of each character as well as see that tempers can still run high even with the threat of zombies outside the gates. The story was very well written and I couldn’t stop reading. The cover alone had me anxious to find out what h

Bare Bones In the past I have loved Kathy Reichs’s books and I am still a big fan of the show based on her books Bones. My Undergrad degree is Criminal Justice with an emphasis in Forensic Science; with all of that why is it I just didn’t care for this book. This is now two of her books in a row that I was less than thrilled with. I’m starting to worry that I have grown out of Kathy Reichs. I keep wondering if these books have always been this way and when I started reading them I didn’t have a lot to compare them to. Have my tastes just changed? Has this ever happened to you? I would love to hear from you in the comments just so I know I’m not alone on this. So the plot of the story is there is a suspicious fire and Brennan is asked to look into some charred remains putting her vacation on hold. While stuck working she decides to step away and meet her daughter’s friends. While at a Bar BQ with them her dog finds bones. Not just animal bones but human mixed in. Is this poac

Grimm Fairy Tales: OZ I have really enjoyed the Grimm Fairy Tales comics that I have read. Sleepy Hollow was my favorite and I have not found one of these to top that yet. Whenever I browse through Netgalley I always get excited to see a new one of these pop up. I like The Wizard of Oz, but I am not in love with the movie or story like a lot of people I know. Still, I was curious to see what Zenescope's take would be on this classic tale. I was impressed with how well the story grabbed my attention. The main plot is the same as what you would expect, Dorothy has to stop the wicked witch to save the land of Oz, but it was the character twists that I really enjoyed in this story. Dorothy was pretty much the same type of character except that she has wizard like magic that she doesn’t even know she has. We kind of get to learn bits and pieces about this as she does but I really wish more of that was explained. The Scarcrow is not your farm field decoration come to life. Thi