Spartan by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This perhaps should have been titled Spartan - Helot as it tells the story of a Spartan boy born lame who is left to die in the forest per the Spartan custom. He is raised by a Helot shepherd, and will play a vital role in the history of both cultures.

I liked that the story goes beyond the battle of Thermopylae, expanding on usual stuff we know about Spartans.

The English translation is excellent.

View all my reviews

Armada - By Ernest Cline

Armada by Ernest Cline
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A teenage gamer discovers his favourite game is the real thing when he is called upon to help defend Earth against an alien threat bent upon our destruction.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Ready Player One, I was ready for more 80's pop culture love.

Armada continues the love letter to the 80's, throwing tons of music, movie and sci-fi references one after the other. But it feels shallow and more of the same.

Other reviewers have complained about the one dimensional characters, bad grammar and frequent deus ex machinas. These are real problems, but Armada manages to be a fun read in spite of it.

However, I hope Ernest Cline's next book is something completely removed from eighties pop culture, as he's at serious risk of self plagiarizing.



View all my reviews

Mis Lecturas de 2010

Esta es una idea fusilada del Diario de la Pelusa.  Se lo agradezco mucho

1. La Amenaza del Caballo Oscuro - Marcus Sedgwick
2. Cometas en el cielo - Khaled Hosseini
3. Corazón de Tinta - Cornelia Funke
4. La costa Más lejana - Ursula K. LeGuin
5. El Rey del Invierno - Bernard Cornwell
6. Starwars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina - varios
7. The Sandman: Endless Nights - Neil Gaiman
8. High Five! - Ken Blanchard & Sheldon Bowles
9. Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein (reread)
10. The Forever War -  Joe Haldeman (reread)
11. Old Man's War - John Scalzi (reread)
12. The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi (reread)
13. The Last Colony - John Scalzi (reread)
14. Zoe's Tale -  John Scalzi  (reread)
15. World War Z: An oral history of the Zombie war - Max Brooks
16. La Puta de Babilonia - Fernando Vallejo
17. Cómo Ganar Amigos e Influir sobre las Personas - Dale Carnegie (reread)
18. The Zombie Survival Guide - Max Brooks
19. The Secret Handshake - Kathleen Kelly Reardon (no terminado aún)
20. Breathless - Dean Koontz (muy malo)

The Ghost Brigades

Old Man's War - John Scalzi

This is the second part in John Scalzi's Heinlenesque Old Man's War books, and delves into the Special Forces of the CDF, better known as the Ghost Brigades.

In an interesting counterpoint to Old Man's War old mind in young body, Scalzi explores the young mind in an adult body, and describes in some detail the hardware and software that make possible both CDF regular and special forces, namely the BrainPal and SmartBlood technologies.

Charles Boutin, a human scientist has betrayed humanity and is working for the Obin, who are really really nasty aliens, and have crafted an alliance with other hostile species. Boutin's conciousness had been recorded and has been transferred to the body of a new Special Forces soldier named Jared Dirac. The transfer appears to have failed and Dirac is transferred to the Ghost Brigades. But Boutin's memories start to surface, and Jared races against time to understand why his "father" turned against mankind.

Highly recommended, although for more enjoyment, read Old Man first.

ISBN-10: 0765354063
ISBN-13: 978-0765354068

Old Man's War

Old Man's War - John Scalzi

If you are a Robert Heinlein fan, you are going to enjoy John Scalzi's Old Man's War books.

This first novel has a Starship Troopers flavor to it; it is narrated in the first person by John Perry, a 75 year old widower living on a very crowded Earth who enlists, and describes his experiences as he goes through the ranks in the Colonial Defense Forces, defending humanity against several alien races.

Wait a minute... isn't that kind of old to join the army? That's the premise of the whole series. I will not spoil the fun explaining how the CDF manages to create a geriatric army, but I will mention that some of the things Perry has to do during his tour of duty eventually get to him, and grows weary. But there are a couple of surprises that will keep him on his toes.

Highly recommended
ISBN 0-765-30940-8