jamestomasino's reviews
1811 reviews

Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

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4.0

What a fun read! Wonderful characters and a really neat "magic" system. There's quite a bit of romance-novel aspects in here, but they don't overwhelm the story. It's a really quick read and worth the time.
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

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5.0

I loved it. How's that for a review?

Ok, a few other notes. To those who will try to read it, don't go in expecting some classic high fantasy. This book has no dragons or epic quests, well at least not of the typical hero journey variety. It has been compared to Jane Austin and quite aptly. This is a story about people, about courts, about relationships, blood, titles, hopes and survival. The characters all have a wonderful firmness to them. One might say--if I venture an inside joke for those who have read it--they are all made of matter.

Read it and enjoy the smile it leaves you in the end.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

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5.0

Ok, so for those of you not in the know, this book is fantastic, but a little confusing to explain. First of all, William Goldman--writer of Butch Cassidy and the like--wrote this book. Some people get confused at that, thinking that he just edited the work of another author, but don't fall for it. The other author, S Morganstern, is a fictional author. In a way, that makes this novel a book within a book. The author creates a fake story of his own childhood in which his father read him stories from the make-believe novel. Now that he's a grown author, he's taking it upon himself to release and edited version that he calls the "Good Parts" version. I'm not sure if that cleared things up for you or not, but oh well.

About the content I'll say this: it is remarkably close to the film. Goldman wrote the screenplay as well, so that's to be understood, but what really amazed me was how he managed to fit so much of the book into the film without overburdening it with exposition or silliness. A lot of the dialog is straight off the novel's pages, and even some of the subtler story elements managed to find their way on screen (Inigo & Fezzik's rhyming game, for instance). Still, as with every novel, there's so much more to be found than can fit into a movie. I'd definitely say, if you're a fan of the film, you'll love the book. It's like watching an extended version of an old classic.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

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5.0

Great as always. I love books that leave you with a smile.
Spectyr by Philippa Ballantine

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3.0

The whole thing could have used another 100 pages. Still, it was fun.
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

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4.0

Best so far, for sure. I hear #4 is slow, but I smell good things coming.
The Kitab-I-Iqan: The Book of Certitude by Bahá'u'lláh

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4.0

Some really powerful and moving stuff here. Great food for thought and the soul.