Brunner's Bar

So being the avid book lover, Comic book nerd, Husband and Father that I am is just a part of me. I'm also a huge Hockey fan and an even bigger fan of the St Louis Blues. If you are just a fan of books and could care less about sports then by all means, you may skip reading this post. Hockey is one of the things I look forward to all year. Anxious for the next season to start and then once it does I am anxious for the post season.  Now I was hoping to be writing a different type of post and much latter in June before it posted but here we are. The Game 6 loss to the Sharks was crushing and I almost cried watching the emotional interview with David Backes after the game. There were games we should have won and games that we deserved to loose based on the performance. The who playoff season was such a roller coaster my anxiety really couldn't take it at times. There were games with unfair calls that even the idiots in the NBC commentator box took our side on. Jokes and M

The Last Command I have been anxious to get to this book and see how it ends. I knew that this is cannon to Star Wars so I was kind of hoping to get some hints as to what is going on in the new Star Wars movies. Unless there are some things coming to tie this trilogy in to the new movies I don't think these were even considered in the writing of The Force Awakens.  Leia has given birth to her twins and C'baoth is still trying to take Luke, Leia, the twins and now Mara Jade to help bring back the Dark Side. Grand Admiral Thrawn is gaining power and ready to drop C'baoth before he really becomes unhinged. Not much changes in the story in this book. It is almost like the first 2 books were all character study. I get in a trilogy you have one over all story but I feel like I didn't need the first two books if this had a little more in the beginning of this. The one change in this book is Mara Jade is starting to waver on her dire need to kill Luke Skywalker. The

No Turning Back So here is your warning up front. If you haven't read this series this review is going to contain spoilers the will spoil previous books. My review, however, will not spoil this book. Let's kick this off right were the last book ended. Rick and the gang are trying to cope with the fact that Alpha and her group severed the heads of several of the Rick's group. Now here is something I didn't think of, the heads were zombie alive. It makes sense that if you don't damage the brain the heads could still be animated without the bodies. Very cleaver of Mr Krikman to think about that and then force those characters to fight their emotions and kill all their friends' heads.  Another thing I want to mention is that this is a calm before the storm volume. The big action was in the last book and this is the aftermath leading up to more. I mean the next book is called Call to Arms. Sometimes these types of volumes can be dull and seem pointless. Th

Fool Me Once I have become a big fan of Harlan Coben's since I read his last few books, The Stranger , Missing you , and Six Years . Needless to say I was really looking forward to this books release and then my turn on the reserve list at my library.  The premise of this book was really interesting. Maya has suffered the loss of her husband who was murdered in front of her. Trying to be more careful and know what is going on in her home she puts up a Nanny Cam to make sure her daughter is being treated well. When reviewing the video one night she sees her husband come into the room and play with their daughter. Considering she didn't get the camera until after he died this raises a lot of questions.  There is a good deal of suspense and twists and turns but I felt this one didn't live up to his previous books. This was enjoyable but I didn't care for the ending. The ending wasn't what I was expecting but not the twist I had hoped for. I'm getting

Goblet of Fire As I said before this is a re-read for me. My wife and I are taking turns reading these books to my 6 year old and he loves them. We always read the book first and then let him watch the movie. This was a long book and it took us quite awhile to get through this. I have to admit that I am really enjoying re-reading these not just because this is quality time my wife and I get with our oldest, but also that it has been quite a few years since I have read these books. I have forgotten a good bit of these books so at times it is like reading it for the first time again. I do love seeing the look on my son's face as he enjoys these for the first time. So what happens in this book? This book starts off with the Quidditch World Cup which not only starts the chaos that runs through the book but also gives us a small introduction to one of the main characters Victor Krum. While at the match a group of evil wizards known as Death Eaters cause some fear and chaos and

Original Sins Long long ago I took my wife to see the movie Constantine with Keanu Reeves. We were engaged at the time so this was a while ago. I had never heard of who this character was but I knew he was a DC Comics/Vertigo character and it had Keanu Reeves in it and this was right after the whole Matrix thing so I figured this had to be good. I liked the movie so I was interested in the character, just not enough to look for the comics. Then in 2014 NBC put out a TV version that was really good. Sadly in standard NBC fashion, they cancelled it for other brainless reality shows. I really liked the show and was so sad to see it cancelled but this still wasn't enough to get me interested in finding the comic. It wasn't until this season of Arrow that brought John Constantine back to TV that I finally had to find the first volume and find out what I have been missing.  I wasn't the only one who was looking for this because I had quite a wiat to get this from the

Renegade As I had mentioned in my previous Green Lantern Corps review I missed a volume in the series. The Corps are gone and only Hal is left. Apparently he has been de-ringed and is an outlaw now. Hal Jordan has become the most hated man in several galaxies. Without a ring Hal has stolen a gauntlet from the Corps and is trying to make up for all of the mistakes the Guardians have made as well as try to find the Corps.  I have to be honest, I am not liking the turn the Green Lantern book are taking. It really pains me to say this but I am anxious for Rebirth to happen already and we can kind of go back to the way things were before New 52 (Possibly). Hal is being chased by bounty hunters, space cops (not the Corps) and other thrill seekers looking to claim they have captured/killed the greatest Green Lantern. Here is what I  liked about this book. The artwork was solid and kept up with what I would expect from a Green Lantern book. We also get to see a more of a humble si

Blond Hair, Blue Eyes This is a short prequel to Karin Slaughter's newest book Pretty Girls. Now I read this after I read Pretty Girls and I have to say I think it is better read that way. This book follows Julia Carroll who plays a big part in the book. This book follows a 19 year old girl in college who is trying to make an impression on her college newspaper. Currently the big news is the disappearance of a 19 year old girl with Blond hair, like Julia, and Blues Eyes, like Julia. Julia has to try to write an article that is interesting enough for the front page of her college newspaper but her mind is creating the worst case scenario and  not able to focus on the facts. If you are reading this on its own it was kind of dull. Not a lot happens in the book and the ending is where all the interesting stuff happens to set up the main novel. Reading this after Pretty Girls however allowed me to enjoy this more. I got to know a character who is mostly absent from Pretty Gir