Science Fiction Fantasy Books

Cosmic Motors offers a new perspective on futuristic racing machines by blending the form factors of things like WWII bombers and F1 racers with Simon's creativity to bring you some of the slickest vehicles around. Daniel Simon also provides a context for his vehicles with dashes of story throughout the book. The book contains several pages of tightly rendered sepia sketches as well as many extremely crisp 3D renderings that show off some seriously insane attention to detail. A lot of the 3D renders contain composited pilots or sexy babes posing by the vehicles to show off scale and maybe a little leg.

Overall the book is a nice addition to any concept-book lover's library. I only have two little complaints about this book: 1. I wish there were more loose sketches to paw through and 2. sometimes the composited pilots are so "earth-like" that they contrast oddly against the futuristic vehicles from another galaxy, but that contrast may have been intended.

The book is amazing and Daniel Simon is a fantastic artist. The images are very impressive and the details are unbelievable. If you are a designer or something about or simple like this stuff you need to buy this book, very recomended.

what to say what to say... this book is very high quality book, glossy full color pages, thick ones to boot! my only qualms in this book is that when i bought it based on reviews i read i thought it was a concept book but instead it looks like a finished product (if they were to exist). i notice they take one idea and milk the ish out of it for many pages at a time, the few concept pages i saw were fantastic. its a great book if you are looking for a book with many repeating images from different angles on some pretty interesting designs in full CG then this is for you. if you want something with a little more concept in mind more rough around the edges and more diversity, then maybe you need to find a different book. or call me maybe ill sell it to ya! ;)

-gianni

Design Studio Press is always putting out some great books and this one is no exception. This book is filled with some pretty sweet vehicle designs and shows you step by step the process of coming up with such cool designs. Each designer gives you insight on their process and how to solve problems when you're in a rut. I highly recommend this book to any aspiring concept artist or any designer for that matter that is interested in expanding their ideas as well as their library.

The rendered models of the ships in this book are amazing. What I especially liked seeing was the developmental sketches and the thought processes behind the vehicles.

It's very inspiring. It makes you want to sketch and go out and learn Maya.

Christine Warren has me hooked. This book is different with the location being Las Vegas. Love Las Vegas. Lived There so enjoyed her descriptions of the locale and drew me into the plot so much more. What a great story. I reallllly enjoy her stories of the others. They just keep getting better and better. Can't wait for the next one. Keep it up, and I'll keep on reading. You can't go wrong with this book.

I've read each of Christine's "the others" books and thought they were GREAT! However, this book was the weakest link, and I hope it is not a sign of things to come. Kitty and Max were too stereotypical, not fully fleshed out characters for me. I just wasn't drawn into the story at all.

I've now read 3 of the previous Others books, and this one. This was the best.

Excellent! Well thought out, well written. I thought it was the best of the five "Others" written so far. Highly recommend it.

I found this book really fun and sexy. It was much more "animal" and the plot was deifferent from the previous "Other" books, which was nice.

After reading Hard Contact, a fun book, I was excited to read Triple Zero. This book is the second of a trilogy and expands the storyline by introducing characters and concepts lightly touched on in Hard Contact.

Overall, the book was interesting for those who like to learn more about who Clone Troopers are and how they might be used in the Star Wars universe. Certainly we're introduced to Kal Skirata, the mentor so frequently hinted at in "Hard Contact". There is also an interesting perspective of the non-Jedi in this SW universe.

But at its core, this book is a failure for three main reasons:

1. The central plot of this book revolves around taking down a terrorist network on Corusant. But the author clearly did very little research into terrorist networks, military maneuvers, and generally how to write an anti-terror story. The entire story leads up to a central battle that takes up just a few pages. That's right, the entire book leads to a peak of something like 3 pages. We're to believe that this team of about 10 clones is this incredible fighting force, yet they go up against a team not much larger than their own with far, far less training and it's supposed to be "will anyone return home alive" material?

2. The core theme, that Kal Skirata loves his hand picked clone trooper "sons" is absolutely bashed on your head. Time and time and time again. The author has taken the easy way out and simply TOLD us that this is true, rather than showing us and assuming we can figure it out on our own. (If you've read "Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter", you'll recognize this massively repetitious plot device - hand it to the read on a silver platter rather than letting them figure out your character's personality on their own)

3. Several plot points build and build throughout the book, and like the key battle, unfold and finalize in a matter of a few paragraphs. One barked order and bam! problem solved. One quickie conversation and bam! problem solved.

Don't get me wrong - this was still a fun book to read. It had a enjoyable, if not poorly executed, build up to the conclusions. It's just that after 300+ pages, by the time resolutions came around, I was extremely let down. I could almost deal with the frequent plot holes that felt like pages were missing, but the biggest issue was that I just didn't get any sort of decent payoff at the end.

At the end of "Hard Contact", I was excited to keep reading about the team and learning more about who they were and where they came from. At the end of Triple Zero, I'm trying to decide whether to bother with the final book of the series.

I absolutely love this author's style of story telling when presenting the stories of the clone special forces. Her characters have depth and her unique professional experience reported in her bio really shows through when presenting the clones and Mando warriors as tight knit groups of professional soldiers living and fighting for each other. Her stories just have a realism to them that most authors who publish SW stories just don't have.

I could barely put this book down. If I didn't have to work I probably would have finished it in one day. I finished it in two. I am now starting the next book.

Before starting the Republic Commando series, I had been a fairly avid Star Wars fan, but had read none of the EU novels. I was pleasantly surprised by 'Hard Contact,' especially in terms of pace, characterization, and the realistic atmosphere Traviss created through her own military experiences and research. However, 'Triple Zero' maintains little of these qualities: it actually expanded on some nitpicky issues I had with the first, as well as adding a few more of its own.

My major issue with this novel is the writing, namely the tendency to tell instead of show thoughts and emotions, as well as the author's refusal to let her story carry her message, and instead insert her opinion into the narration itself. There is little question that the novel is meant to portray clones, and by extension Mandalorians, as noble people downtrodden by the bloated Republic and the ignorant "civvies." This idea is reiterated a few times every chapter, not just by characters, but by the narration itself. I found this jarring to the point of grating--Traviss's tight writing in 'Hard Contact' becomes unbearably preachy in this book, almost berating the reader for even considering that clones/Mandalorians are anything less than heroes of the galaxy. Kal Skirata, who intrigued me in the first book, is little more than a mouthpiece for this idea.

In terms of plot, one of the biggest disappointments of this book was the complete lack of pace in the romance between Etain and Darman--there is nothing but a couple lines of dialog leading up to "the big moment." Also, I certainly wouldn't expect an explicit sex scene in a YA book, but the fact that no true moment of intimacy between the two is ever shown caused me to care less about their relationship (which should be momentous).

I have other issues with the book as well, but these stood out most to me. Not to say the book is irredeemable, however--from what I hear, the RC series is leaps and bounds better than most EU novels, and if you are a fan of the clones or the Mandalorians (like I am), there's enough in here to keep you going.

I loved the first Republic commando book, it was fun, it was gritty, it was interesting. Unfortunately, I can't say any of those statments apply to this second book. The book is vague and confusing, halfway through the book you're still wondering what the point is, the entire thing was one dull, stupid spill of the authors uninteresting and overly repetetive thoughts.

Most of the book is taken up either worshipping the Mandolorians, hating the Jedi, or whining about 'the injustices' done to the clone army. The reason I have a problem with worshipping Mando's and hating Jedi is this. Mando's like to hide in their home planet and do tribal dances all their life, their existance is so utterly pointless to the Star Wars story, that it is basically impssible to be interested in the story. Yet at the same point the book hates on Jedi, why? Because they do not see the 'injustices' done to the main character's Mandolorian brothers, namely the clones. The entire book is one miniscule group whining about how the galaxy isn't paying attention to their problems. We're in the middle of a war here people, the last thing we need is a few whiny people screaming their uninteresting problems to the entire galaxy. The Mando's feel that the clones are being used, they have no rights or anything.

This is a Commando book, we don't want humane society complaints, we want the opposite, we want guns, explosions and shooting. I'm all for the value of human life, but why in a sci-fi "action" book (if you can call it that).

As I just hinted too, this book has a total of three action parts, not fifteen, like in the previous book, but three, three boring ones at that.
The book doesn't take place in a gritty jungle, it takes place in a nice clean city, where nothing interesting happens. All the characters do is, hang out in a bar, and complain about how the Jedi are 'evil'. The Jedi are trying to save everyone in the galaxy, you are trying to save, yourselves, and yourselves only. Which brings up another problem, everybody in this book is selfish, arrogant and emotional, I couldn't bring myself to like any of them, even the returning characters.

Overall, this entire book sucks, it sucks dog crud. If you liked the first book, don't read this one.

It's sad to me when the best part of a book is when old characters that you knew put in a cameo appearance. Fall with Honor was a let down to me because Val seems to just going through the motions. There is an interesting mission and there could be interesting characters, but the writing feels like Knight has gotten bored with writing about this subject and doesn't really give it his best.

Book 7 and Val is taking part in an effort to start another area of human control in a Kurian zone. He's worn down, tired, broken to a greater or lesser degree, but for some reason none of that really matters because he is still Val. The folks who surround him seem to be just different iterations of many similar characters that we fought, served with and hated before. It's frustrating because there is so much more to be told about this series.

What really bothers me is that with a little more work and design there is a lot of very interesting things that could be happening. The potential is really great in that Knight has left enough loose ends out there for some great stuff to come of it. I just wish that he would get as deeply involved as it felt like he was in the past.

Fall with Honor As always, I am so impressed with the research required to do the Vampire Earth books. The geography is outstanding for places that usually only locals would know. The story lines are riveting and so believable. You feel like you know the main characters from his very first book.

This is still a perfectly enjoyable book and I had fun although I will admit certain cracks are starting to show.

The characterization is fine and David Valentine has not changed a bit he still kicks butt and he is still fighting a desperate battle against insurmountable odds these are the good parts. I also like that he actually acquires scares over the course of his long struggle to many times these types of main characters never get a scratch; it just goes to show you that war is hell.

The parts that dragged for me and took the punch out of what was an otherwise great book are

1. the interaction between Valentine and the White Fangs this ability that Valentine has to be a master negotiator all the time in all situations is wearing a little thin for me.

2. Also the interaction between Valentine and the half grog son he adopted named Blake once was fine but twice is frustrating. I bought to read about Valentine the killer of Kur vampire lords not to hear another installment in the life of Valentine the affectionate father figure. If Knight is setting this up so that in a few books Blake's blood will be the start of some kind of biological weapon like in "V" I'm going to stop reading the series now.
3. The characters that screwed Valentine over two installments ago get by with barely a slap on the wrist. The characters that I have come to know and love make either a very brief appearance or no appearance at all.

I love the Vampire Earth series and I liked the point of this installment when it finally arrived but I was missing some old friends. I have to have faith that Knight will tighten things up and everything will be back to normal.

This was by far the worst book in this series. Don't get me wrong, I love David Valentine, but the character is aging. What happened to the young David Valentine? Anyways, the story was really weak. Without spoiling it, the climax was horribly lame. You'll read this and be like... "Dude just roll in there and kill people!" But unfortunately he won't. If you've read all the books up to this, then you're going to read this book, as did I, but you'll find this doesn't meet up to the standards of the other books. At least I didn't. Now I need to read Jhegaala (if you haven't read that series, check it out).

I was soooo looking forward to the first entire book that Valentine was a Bear. He went red once. As in Tale of the Thunderbolt... once again it appears that Valentine has lost all of his hunter traits.

We were at a time where it seemed that Valentine would exceed any expectations of strength, speed and endurance than any other hunter bar none. This book portrays him as a broken down mid level field grade officer. I remember one part where he said that you only recover 90 percent of what you had before and he wondered how many 90%'s he had.

Come on. The stage is set up and you have to continually wait for any type of action, all this book is a bunch of self doubts and filler. Very predictable with predicatable twists.

What this series needs is exactly what most other longer series needs, the stage is set so lets get to some character development and see some action.

Even though we have now finally seen Bears in action, we have never had good descriptions of what happens and goes on in the Bears minds. That would be great to read.

This is another delightful story that my grandchildren just love to read! I have the whole set and give them to my granddaughters on special occasions! They always ask if there are more Fairy books to come! Share a magical time with your special child and read these delightful stories together!

Secret pouches, treasure gems, letters, pirate flags...lots of fun!

We bought this for our young children (5-year old and 4-year old) as they were excited by the Pirates of the Caribbean movie trilogy.

We bought this book along with "Pirates" by John Matthews last year. We take the books off the shelf every couple months and read through them for bedtime. The books will stay in our collection for years to come.

This book helps introduce a large amount of new vocabulary but, more importantly, covers so much ground that it acts as a fantastic springboard to further study history or science.

Avast thar ye bilge rat, I thumbed through this yar book at thee "Pirates of the Caribbean" shop in Disneyworld and me thinks, "I gots to get me one of these treasures". Knowings thats Amazon can beat prices like a full broadside I waited and ordered online once I got home, saving about ten dollars. This book is amazing with all kinds of stories, pictures, and facts. Aye, Ye kids may be setting up a pirate camp once they reads it. This will entertain ye kids five to one hundred and five. If you or anyone you know thinks pirates are interesting, cool, or scalliwags of the Earth, be sure to get them this here book matey. I highly recommend this yar book for ye piratical family types especially.

it's a great book, filled with all kinds of pirate facts, legends, stories, and "artifacts" . My godson got a real kick out of it. He loves pirates and the book is written as if first-hand by a privateer (a pirate commissioned by the government to hunt down enemy state vessels, and rogue pirate ships).

This book will definitely be one he enjoys for many years. Some of the subject matter is just within his attention level and understanding, but the more intricate details and artifacts will prove fun discoveries as he gets older and has the patience to read over each part carefully. i'm a big fan of the whole series.

This book was received timely, and my son loves it! All the books in this series are great!

My 7-year-old son could not wait to sit down and start looking through this. The day it arrived we had some younger children visiting, and he "wowed" them all by showing them different parts of the book. He is very excited about it, and I am a happy mother for finding another great book for a young reader.

Really enriches my game playing by absorbing me in the history of the places and races in the game!

This was the most exciting collection of Warcraft books since the "War of the Ancients" series. All four books within take place within the same time frame. All of the Authors from Richard Knaak to Christie Golden seem to create the images through words and when you read their stories it feels like you are watching them on the big screen. If you are new to Warcraft then this is the book to read.

simply: a great background, but does perfectly on its own as well. well-written, fully engaging.

All 10million users of World of Warcraft should read these books! It should be mandatory reading, for the pure simple fact of making the online world we play in richer. Blizzard has created an amazing world with an in-depth history, these books (there are 4 books in the Archive) will provide more in-sight and change the way you look at some of the NPC and locations.

While reading these books you will find yourself thinking about locations you have played in during questing, you will go to the website to look up the world map so you can picture where the characters are at. You will love them, and you will want to buy all the WoW books, I have.

My son is a WOW-head and plays the game all the time. Being a parent who wishes he spent more time reading, I found these books to be a great way to extend his interest in WOW, and have him read as well. They aren't 'game guides' but actual stories set in the World of Warcraft. This contains four stories and he seems to love them.

My daughter has now read through Volume 5 of the series. She really enjoyed the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", so I ran upon the Bone series when looking for other graphic novels. She enjoys the humor and has shared the books with her friends.

The only drawback off this TPB is its length - this comics is simplistic so you go through the book fast. But the story is great, characters are engaging and you have to wait for the next volume.
Note - this edition is colored and is really beautiful. Can't imaging it in any other quality.

This volume of the Bone adventures picks up where the first one left off, and is equally fun and interesting. It would be hard not to love the Bone series, with the wonderful characters and humorous situations. This is great stuff, and I highly recommend it to graphic novel lovers.

Again my son loves the Bone Series and it helps encourage him to read because he enjoys the books so much.

Wow! There is something truly amazing about the images and words of "Bone". At heart, it's a fairy tale, but one that appeals to the child in the adult and the adult in the child.

In the newest installment into the world of the Darkyn, we revist Valentin Jaus, who once again finds love, even if he's not looking for it.

My greatest grievance for this novel is the pace. I do not feel that there was an adequate chance to develop Lilling's character, and though the focus seems to be on Jaus, he is not explored either.

Viehl has many different storylines occuring in this novel. Regrettably, there seem to be so many that nothing can be adequately tied up in one book.

It is still a good foray with her characters, but not one of my favorites.

What I love about Lynn Viehl's Darkyn series is that it can be so dark, o morbid, and so true to life and yet be paranoraml enough that it still remains fantasy--and not an invasion on my wish to escape reality with a good book.

Twilight Falls was a really entertaining read. I was sorry to see it end.

The Darkyn novels are such a great read. Before I'm even finished I'm wishing the next one is already out. You will not be disappointed if have read the others in the series. BUy, Buy, BUY

Her gift allows Liling Harper to heal in ways that defy medical explain, but can she heal the broken heart of an immortal Darkyn Lord? Against all odds, the woman Valentin Jaus loved survived being infected with his blood, though it should have killed her. When he meets Liling, he finds someone desperately in need of help only he can give. There are those who want to use the young woman for all the wrong reasons, who see her as nothing more than an experiment. Keeping her safe makes V alerting;'s heart long to open and love her, but does he dare?

*** Twilight Fall is a moving story, but I strongly suspect that you need to have read the prior five books in the series to truly appreciate it. Some of the terminology and mythos was difficult to follow as a result of. Ms. Viehl makes a good use of language and showcases the diversity of her characters effectively, and one cannot help but appreciate the beauty of her writing. There is one scene that sensitive readers may wish to skip as it edges towards vulgarity, but as it does not contribute to the plot, this should not be a problem. ***


Amanda Killgore for Huntress Reviews

Viehl has added another satisfying story to her vampire series. I wish we saw a bit more of Val and Liling and a bit less of Alex, Cyprian, and JohnCrazy. And maybe there's a tad too much medical jargon, but it makes sense considering who the characters are and what they're facing. It's still an enjoyable read because I like those characters. (Okay, maybe not John.) Best of all, Viehl is still writing in the same genre in which she began: intelligent, multilayered, paranormal romance.