Around The Blogs With Chuckles

We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out. 

This week! 

1) Book Review-Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #1)
Greg looks at an urban fantasy series I enjoyed!
http://gregsbookhaven.blogspot.com/2018/12/kitty-and-midnight-hour.html 

2) Book Review-The 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake by Larry Morris
Sarah looks at an earthquake that killed almost thirty people.
http://allthebookblognamesaretaken.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-1959-yellowstone-earthquake.html 

3) Book Review-A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley 
Carole looks at dual timeline historical fiction.
https://carolesrandomlife.blogspot.com/2018/12/review-desperate-fortune-by-susanna.html 

4) Book Review-N0S 4A2 by Joe Hill 
Erica goes horror thriller.
https://www.ericarobynreads.com/2018/12/book-review-nos4a2-by-joe-hill.html 

5) Book Review-The Devil's Fingers by Hunter Shea 
Barb goes horror.
http://bookertsfarm.blogspot.com/2018/12/two-bloggers-one-book-devils-fingers.html 

6) How to Prevent and Treat the Stomach Flu 
Take precautions now!
http://readynutrition.com/resources/how-to-prevent-and-naturally-treat-the-dreaded-stomach-flu-this-winter_28122018/ 

7) Film Review-Hogfather
Bookstooge looks at the TV adaptation.
https://bookstooge.wordpress.com/2018/12/29/hogfather-2006-movie/ 

8) Book Review-The Outsider by Stephen King 
Mogsy's review.
https://bibliosanctum.com/2018/12/30/book-review-the-outsider-by-stephen-king/ 

Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup

I review everything I read, on my blog and on Goodreads. Most reviews are of a decent length but sometimes you don't have much to say about the book because of its length or you DNFed it or various other reasons. In cases like that it makes sense to write a few mini reviews in one post and clear them out your way! So lets catch up with reviews from through this year.

1) Andrzej Sapkowski-The Last Wish (The Witcher #1)
Geralt was always going to stand out, with his white hair and piercing eyes, his cynicism and lack of respect for authority ... but he is far more than a striking-looking man. He's a witcher, with powers that make him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin - his targets are the vile fiends that ravage the land.

As guardian of the innocent, Geralt meets incestuous kings with undead daughters, vengeful djinns, shrieking harpies, lovelorn vampires and despondent ghouls. Many are pernicious, some are merely, and none are quite as they appear.

1) The Witcher-A King wants a cure for his girl who has been infected by a monster but his advisors would rather that Geralt kill her. He has to try and find a way to cure her without killing her or himself. This was an entertaining story and I liked it.
2) A Grain Of Truth-A man who was evil was turned into a monster and now lives a happier life with his new love but Geralt fears that he may be in danger from her. I liked the monster and his new life in his mansion. Another good story.
3) The Lesser Evil-The resident wizard in the town Geralt visits. He is trapped in a tower and has been the subject of countless assassination attempts and she has found him again. Geralt just wants to keep the peace. This one was ok but nothing great as I didn't like either of them.
4) A Question Of Price-Geralt has to solve a problem at a wedding when a creature wants to claim the Queen's daughter as his bride. I liked the twists in this story and way that Geralt solves the problem.
5) The Edge of the World-Geralt and Dandilion try to eject a devil from the fields who doesn't want to leave and the wise woman doesn't want him to be harmed. The story itself was interesting but Dandilion is a bloody arse pain and I can't stand him!
6) The Last Wish-Dandilion's obsession with getting three wishes from a djinn unleashes terror on a town and sorceress Yennifer is determined to stop it at all costs. Bloody Dandilion again and he was even more stupid than before. Yennifer is also a character I really didn't like.

Overall I liked the idea and the world that the story was set in but I really disliked two recurring characters that drove me mad and I don't want to read any more about them so I won't continue the series. I also couldn't be bothered with the sex which added nothing to the story in any way, and I found the continuing story between the six flashbacks to be dull and uninteresting. It was one of those books where I felt I was ploughing through it rather than really enjoying it.

Read August 2018
2.5/3 stars.
 
2) Carolyn McCray-Open Water (Salechii #1.5)
This was the follow up short story that fits between Salechii and Shark Station Nyet. All I can say is that it follows the fate of a character. It was a good short story. Review on Goodreads contains details with spoilers!  4 stars.

3) Carolyn Mc Cray-Churn (Salechii #2.5)
This is the bridge story between Shark Station Nyet. The survivors are out tackling a whaling vessel and one character has to face the sharks and the blogger that has been trying to ruin him professionally. A good satisfying story! Review on Goodreads contains review with spoilers!
4 stars.

4) Carolyn McCray-Blood In The Water ( Salechii #3.5)
Perhaps a bit of a silly and unrealistic ending to the series but I did find it entertaining anyway. The men and women are on different team bonding experiences but the spa becomes as dangerous as the swamp! Review on Goodreads contains review with spoilers!

5) Lois Duncan-I Know What You Did Last Summer
Last summer, four terrified friends made a desperate pact to conceal a shocking secret. But now, someone has learned the truth and is determined to get even.

The horror is starting again. There is an unknown avenger out there who is stalking them in a deadly game. Will he stop at terror-or is he out for revenge? 

This book is different from that film that it spawned and is more of a YA thriller than anything else. That said, it was an entertaining and decent story. In this one the four friends accidently knock down and kill a child before leaving the accident scene, calling in the accident and covering up their involvement in it. Julie is the first to get the threatening note about what they did last summer and the four bicker and worry about who is behind it. The mystery comes to an end when the person revelas who they are. I admit I had two suspects in mind for the wannabe killer and I was sort of right! I'm not going to say any more. It was a decent little thriller but don't expect the brutal murders from the film as you won't get any of that!

Read October 2018.
3 stars 

6) Trey Callaway-I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
This is actually the screenplay rather than a novel based on the screenplay which is disappointing but that is my fault for not looking carefully at it before I bought it. It was still interesting enough to read as I very much enjoyed the film and it was certainly a quick read! Nothing wrong with it but not a format I enjoy.

Read October 2018
3 stars.
 

Book Review: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #2)

It has a dark past – one in which a number of humans were killed. A past that caused it to christen itself “Murderbot”. But it has only vague memories of the massacre that spawned that title, and it wants to know more.

Teaming up with a Research Transport vessel named ART (you don’t want to know what the “A” stands for), Murderbot heads to the mining facility where it went rogue.

What it discovers will forever change the way it thinks…

My Review:
Murderbot is on the move, paranoid about being recognised by security and captured by the evil GrayCris Corporation, but it has also become interested in uncovering its own murderous past. It knows it massacred humans it was meant to protect but has no real memory of the incident and needs to understand what happened and why, before it can move on. To get there safely it has to put its trust in a transport ship it is not quite sure of and get involved with another team of helpless humans it feels obligated to ptotect who are virtually on a suicide mission without Murderbot.

“ART said, What does it want?
To kill all the humans, I answered.
   I could feel ART metaphorically clutch its function. If there were no humans, there would be no crew to protect and no reason to do research and fill its databases. It said, That is irrational.
I know, I said, if the humans were dead, who would make the media?" 

Murderbot is trying to get to the place where it knows it committed murder in a bid to understand what went so badly wrong but when you are a wanted rogue SecUnit, it isn't exactly easy to blend in even when you can control cameras and bots around you. One mistake and it is back in the hands of GrayCris who once tried to destroy it. It manages to get on a transport ship but it is curious about him and annoys Murderbot so much that it gets the nickname of Asshole Research Transport from our irritated hero! ART figures the best thing to do is alter Murderbot's appearance to attract less attention, a prospect that makes Murderbot unhappy. Now it just needs to get safely to its destination, sneak in to the massacre site and get to the bottom of what happened.

“I didn’t care what humans were doing to each other as long as I didn’t have to a) stop it or b) clean up after it.”

Of course it is not going to be that easy. The problems Murderbot has with ART are nothing to what the humans on the ship put it through on the journey. Travelling as a security consultant bot seemed like a good idea at the time but the stupid humans insist on bugging it to solve all the petty and stupid problems they have, causing Murderbot to lose its temper and want to hide and watch Sanctuary Moon. Having to endure an interview with a group of humans who are seeking a security expert is not fun but it will get it to where it needs to go. The humans are trying to get files back from a dodgy client that Murderbot thinks wants to kill them so trying to talk sense into them rips away the last of Murderbot's sanity.

"For a terrifying Murderbot, I fuck up a lot" 

This was an excellent Murderbot adventure! I was unsure if I would like it as much as the first one with Murderbot being out on a solo adventure but I still really enjoyed it! Pairing up our hero with ART was brilliant and I loved their interactions on the journey. Murderbot's story of the humans driving it mad on the ship were really funny, as that inner monologue usually is. As always, Sanctuary Moon is the only thing it really cares about but events of course conspire against good media time. I also really liked the new group of humans who are very dumb about their own safety and our hero feels obligated to save them from a terrible fate. It was also great to get the back story on Murderbot and what happened to it regarding the massacre. I really enjoyed fining out what actually happened that day and why its memory was wiped.

Overall this was a wonderful sequel that matched the first book for plot, character and humour. I just can't get enough of Murderbot's fun adventures and discover what new series it is discovering!

Read August 2018
4 stars.

Book Review: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (Murderbot Diaries #1)

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. Exploratory teams are accompanied by Company-supplied security androids, for their own safety.

But in a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid — a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself (though never out loud) as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is.

But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.

My Review: 
I'll be totally honest here-I'm not into this kind of SF book with robots and corporations and exploratory missions unless there are dinosaurs or other monsters killing everyone in sight. It's not the kind of book I would normally even consider picking up but I saw it on a few blogs and thought it sounded intriguing. It was when I read Mogsy's review (you can find Mogsy here https://bibliosanctum.com/ ) and heard more about Murderbot itself that I decided I just had to read it. I'm glad I did because I have just loved this series of four novellas!

"I could have become a mass murderer after I hacked my governor module, but then I realized I could access the combined feed of entertainment channels carried on the company satellites. It had been well over 35,000 hours or so since then, with still not much murdering, but probably, I don’t know, a little under 35,000 hours of movies, serials, books, plays, and music consumed. As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure.”

Murderbot, as it calls itself in private, is sent with a group of scientists for PreservationAux who are doing a survey on an option they bought, and need to decide whether or not it is worth bidding to get full rights to explore the planet and gain its resources. It starts with Murderbot reluctantly being called into action to save the scientists from a dangerous unknown lifeform that attacks them, but that is only the start of Murderbot's problems. With these unexpected issues like monsters, an incomplete map of the planet and altered subreports, it is clear that somebody is hiding something from the team. It is when they lose contact with a neighbouring survey group DeltFall that they realise that they are also in danger from attack with only the reluctant Murderbot to protect them. 

"I was also planning to use the time to to watch some Sanctuary Moon and recharge my ability to cope with humans at close quarters without losing my mind"

SecUnits are sent on missions to assist and protect their clients and are expected to obey certain rules and protocols, and record all information and conversations when then can be used and sold on to others. This particular SecUnit however, has been able to disable the control enforced by its governor module, allowing it to speak, think and act freely if it wishes, which it tries not to show in case a new module gets fitted. Murderbot has discovered the joys of unlimited media available for download and fills up its memory banks with drama series like Sanctuary Moon, rather than boring crew related things that it has no interest in. All it wants to do is stay away from annoying people that make it feel anxious and awkward and enjoy the media in peace but instead keeps getting dragged into human problems that it could happily do without. 

"And in their corner all they had was Murderbot, who just wanted everyone to shut up and leave it alone so it could watch the entertainment feed all day"

I love Murderbot! It gets anxious every time it has to come into contact with the crew, especially the ones who want to interact with it, causing the SecUnit to react with horror! The worst moment for poor Murderbot is when it is asked to talk about its feelings which has it wanting to run screaming back to episodes of Sanctuary Moon! I love how awkward it felt and was amused by the inner monologue that it shares with the readers about how it was feeling and what it wanted to do! Murderbot is such a great character that I could relate to about anxiety and dealing with people! There is so much personality to it and I enjoyed those personal encounters with the crew.

There is also a lot of good action in the novella, with the deadly monster attacking at the start, the tense exploration of the DeltFall complex, dealing with the enemies Murderbot style and Murderbot trying to keep the human clients safe. I've also become somewhat obsessed with Sanctuary Moon and I really want to watch a few episodes to see what Murderbot loves so much about it! I liked the human characters in the book too especially Dr Mensah who really seems to understand Murderbot the best. The ending did take me a little by surprise but I was really keen to see what Murderbot was going to do next so I went right on to the second novella which was every bit as good.

Read August 2018.
4 stars. 

Blogmas #30-Best Teams 2018

I never like choosing best blogs because I follow so many that I like and don't want anyone getting offended! Instead I'm going to look at the best books of the year with a team/group dynamic as that is something I always like, seeing a group of people working together.