The Fall of the Templar (completed)

This is the third and final installment to the Brethren trilogy by Robyn Young. At the end of the second book, The Crusades, the city of Acre falls when the Muslim forces conquer the city after a failed attempt by the Christian knights to steal the Black Stone, which was the focus of the Islam religon. In a daring plan to crush the Muslim forces and their faith, it suddenly backfired and served as a rally point which motivated the Muslim empire to finally take the offense in the war and land the crushing blow that ended the Crusades with the defeat of the Christian forces. During all of this chaos, the main protagonist Will Campbell finds his wife dead and later discovers that his daughter is actually the daughter of his best friend who betrayed him in the first book Brethren, Lyon. In rage, Will kills Lyon but not before hearing that King Edward of England was the one who pulled all of the strings, from the near fall of the Anima Templi, to the events that led up to the Crusade and the lost of millions of lives. Will then discovers a new-founded hatred for the king of England and swears that he will make him pay for his crimes. Our hero carries this hatred for ten long years up to the point when The Fall of the Templar begins. Now that the Crusades are over and their headquaters in Acre gone, the Templars have scattered across Europe with a majority of them stationed in Paris, France with Will as their commander. Over the past ten years, Will has tried to restore the power of the Templars and prevent the collapse of the organization but a new predictament comes up that makes this task nearly impossible. King Edward has declared war on the rebel Scots from Scotland, Will's homeland and is requesting the Templars for assisstance. With a choice between his brotherhood and his home nation, Will abondons his post as commander and joins the fight against England.

In my personal opinion, this was the greatest conclusion to any series I've ever read. I love how Will has to do his best to resolve all of the these conflicts whirling inside of him and that he doesn't know what side to pick in this huge battle that could change the path of history. This is a nice change to other endings of series I've read before, such as Harry Potter, where the main character knows what side they fight for and that's it, happy ending, good times, yay. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good conflicting character and historical fiction as well.

Dragon and Soldier

This may have been a short read, around three hundred pages or so, but it is by my favorite author, Timothy Zahn, so I loved the new story line. Once again, this is a sci-fi original with it's own little universe containing an epic story. It all starts with thirteen year old Jack Morgan, a thief who learned the trade through his uncle, Virge, or at least a virtual representation of him that contains his character and his knowledge due to that fact that he died during a mess up. Jack is just going around on his business of stealing from others in order to survive but then something big interupts his daily life: a valuable cargo has just been stolen and someone has placed all the blame on Jack. To escape from the officials hunting him down, Jack retreats to a desolate planet only to run into more trouble. He discovers a downed space craft and when he suspects that there's no one alive in it and begins raiding it, the pilot of the ship turns out to have survived. With the help of Jack, the survivor recovers and introduces himself as the K'da dragon Dracos, a warrior who have to attact to a person and become 2D on the host's skin in order to survive in a 3D world that they can only stay in for about three hours or else they shrivel up and die. Dracos reveals that his race is in a war of survival as other organizations attempt to wipe them out for the resources on their planet and when Dracos was commisioned to be part of a assault fleet when they were suddenly ambushed by an unknown organization. Now that Dracos is the onyl survivor of the fleet, Jack has made an agreement that in exchange for letting Dracos attact to him, he has to help JAck look for the ones who framed him as well as the ones who attacked Draco's fleet. Now, in the first book, they find the ones who frames Jack but Draco's case was still to be solved. The last thing he remembers during the attack as well as the occasional nightmare which repeats the scene is seeing the words "Djinn 90" on the star fighters that destroyed his ship. Taking this into event, Dracos believes that the attackers not just a band of thugs but a mercenary group with enough power and resources to obtain them. To find out, Jack has to dig a little deeper and joins the Daggers mercenary group in order to sneak into their data base and retrieve the info they need. That, however, is "easier said than done" to the max because while Jack has his goals, another one pops out of nowhere: survive a war. Is this possible for a little kid who only knows how to pick a lock?

Yeah, like I said in previous blogs, I have dumb luck when I read the second before the first book in a series. I might just go back to the first and get excited for the third. I recommend this book to, once again, sci-fi fans. I might even throw in military fans, since the book focuses on future warfare as well.

Brethern

Brethren is the first book of the Knight templar trilogy, with the second being Crusades. As I mentioned in my blog about Crusades, I accidentally read the second book before the first one, so I had to backtrack a bit but anyway, on with the review!

So in Brethren, it once again focuses on Will, who is at this time an apprentice of a knight in England. He is hoping to become a templar knight to become a member of the Anima Templi, a secret organization tha defends and fights in the name of God and Christianity as a whole. Things seem to be fine as Will trains with his best friend Lyon as they both fight hard to be accepted into the society and live their daily lives, there are two major incidents occuring elsewhere. In the city of London, there has been an incident where the holy Book of the Grail has been stolen. With the book gone, the templars fear that if one were to have the knowledge to decipher the sacred relic, it would mean to revealing the secrets of the Anima Templi and leaving them vulnerable against their enemy organizations. If that wasn't bad enough, the Islam empire in the Middle East has finally defeated their rival, the Mongols who have been trying to expand their empire from Asia. With the Mongols out of the way, the Muslims try to rebuild their country from the costs of the war but as soon as the old Sultan has been assassinated and the famous general Baybars with his hate towards Christianity takes control, things may not go so smoothly as he sets out for war. Facing problems on both sides, the Anima Templi use all of their resources avaliable to fend off the Muslim invasion of the Christian forts and to retrieve the Book of the Grail, the organization has no choice but to send out young Will to find the book while the older veteran knights move to the Middle East for battle.

The historical fiction masterpiece was a joy to read and it just leaves you waiting for more from Young. I have alrerady read Crusades but I am thrilled to get my hands on the thrid book Requiem soon.

Lost Souls

Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson is another murder mystery novel that I happened to have picked up in the libary and enjoy reading. This story resolves around Kristi Bentz, who is far from your average girl. She's the daughter of Rick Bentz, a detective in New Orleans who is famous for being able to crack some of the most complex cases and brought down murderers that would make anyone cring when they heard their name. In the past, Kristi attempted to follow her father's footsteps by trying to bring in killers of the same caliber as Rick Bentz past achievements. The amazing thing is that she has succeeded in doing so, only that she has nearly gotten killed everytime she decideds to stick her head into dangerous affairs with the killers. Now at the age of twenty-seven, Kristi decides to pursue her true dream of being a crime-writer and goes back to her old college, All Saints university. But to Kristi, this isn't going to be just some education opportunity. The real reason she's going is because she thinks there's a mystery to solve there. Kristi has done some research beforehand about the college and it seems that four girls has suddenly disappeared from the campus and were never seen again. This seems completely reasonable, since all four girls were known to be depressed and have taken drugs, so everyone, including their families, were have thought to just run away from the campus with some random guy they picked up. But to Kristi, this similarity seems like the perfect excuse to simply ignore this issue to cover something big up and once Kristi gets to on the campus, she sees that her suspicions were quite accurate. When Kristi talks to some students, she can actually see that they are going to die very soon due to her special ability, which is seeing death. What I mean is that she can see someone's face and all of a sudden their skin would appear all pale. Then, as the days went on closer to their day of death, their faces would disappear and she would see a pale skull looking at her. This encounter confirms the fact that something fishy is going on in All Saints and she has to findout what. But she can't do this alone: she needs the help of high-school lover and ex-boyfriend Jay Knights, a prosectutor who has been hired as one of her teachers in the university. After settling differences, they finally team up and they discover that these disappearances may not just be from a single killer, but are a result of a whole cult worshipping vampires in the school. From then on, Kristi believes that her past encounters were nothing compared to this new threat.
This book is another rare mystery favorite that I happened to come across. It's so suspenseful, even more so than regular mystery novels because, as mentioned earlier, paranormal powers get involved in the situation and you have no idea whatsoever on what's happening! There are some parts in the book where Jackson refers to her past novels but this only encourages me to go out and buy them. I definitely recommend this book to any mystery fans. If a sci-fi guy like me enjoyed it, I'm pretty sure it will rank high for anyone who enjoys the genre.

The Icarus Hunt (completed)

Timothy Zahn never fails to amaze me. This is the second book by Zahn that I have read (the first being Angelmass) and it only strengthens my respect for Zahn as my favorite Sci-fi author. In The Icarus Hunt, by Timothy Zahn, the future is portrayed as humans establishing colonies and cities alongside thousands of alien species. A new form of business called galactic shipping is established benefit the economy but most of the shipping is now under the control of a powerful alien race known as the the Pattaaunutth, or "Patth" for short. Looking for a way to survive, Jordan McKell, a ship pilot who is currently in a huge debt from an mafia boss known as "Brother John", tries to find some work to do when a mysterious gentleman offers him a shipping job on his spaceship the Icarus. Of course, Jordan agrees and heads out for the space port where the ship was held. As seen in the included picture, the Icarus looks like an abomination compared to more standard ships. Jordan is not the only one to notice this however: the other members of the hired space crew notice this strange factor as well. Each member had been hired off the street by the same mysterious gentleman that approached Jordan, looking for people who filled out their roles to operate a huge spaceship. These members are: Jaegar Jones (mechanic), Almont Nicabar (Engineer and ex-military), Chort (alien space walker), Geoff Shawn (electronic specialist), and Tera (computer specialist). These six members are to get along and fly this huge ship all the way to Earth, which is easier said than done for a number reasons. The first is that their employer wasn't on board when they took off, raising suspicion. Second, the crew doesn't even know what they're carrying as cargo. And third, an incident occurs mid-flight that indicates that there is a saboteur on board that can very well threaten their lives. As the story progresses, tensions increase as pretty soon, the Patth itself is interested in the Icarus and are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure it falls in their hands, since this poorly construced ship can change the fate of the economic empire the Patth have established. A highly recommended story for those who like a mix of mystery and sci-fi

The 47th Samurai (completed)

I have decided to try out a new genre for once: MYSTERY. I was looking for a science fiction book at the local libary when I came across The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter. The book starts out with a look in the past on Iwo Jima in 1945, when the Americans started their campaign to take over the Pacific area of Japan. Major Earl Swagger is enlisted as commander of a platoon of soldiers to eliminate the remaining Japanese soldiers on the island, under the command of Captain Yano. The the Japanese are pinned down, Captain Yano commands his soldier to be samurai, proud and vigorous warriors who embrace death. Just as the battle begins, the prologue ends and the reader jumps ahead sixty years into the future to Bob Lee Swagger, Earl Swagger's son. Bob is an ex-marine and a Vietnam veteran, who is now retired on his farm in Idaho. One day, Philip Yano, the son of Captain Yano from Iwo Jima, approaches Bob to ask him if he knows the location of the katana, or japanese sword, that Captain Yano used during the heroic battle of Iwo Jima. Accepting Philip's request, Bob locates the sword and travels to Tokyo, Japan to hand it over to Philip. Upon delivery, Philip inspects the sword to discover the fact that his father's sword is more than just a WWII standard military sword: it's a shin-shinto, a national treasure to the country of samurai. It's a priceless artifact that Bob will soon discover that it is indeed worth killing for. Bob arrives at a Japanese airport to suddenly get drunk on sake, Japan's national drink, and misses his flight. However, this is both a blessing and a curse on his part. The next morning when he wakes up, he discovers on the news that the Yanos' house has been burned to the ground. Bob later finds out that it was the doing of a Shinsengumi, a yakuza mafia group under Kondo Isumi, an infamous samurai that will kill anyone who gets in his business. In order to avenge the Yano family, Bob has to dive deep into Japanese culture and master the art of the samurai to survive in the yakuza world. Of course, he can't do this alone. He asks for the help of American-born Susan Okada and the cocaine-dealing journalist Nick Yamamoto in this fight of government corruption. But for now, I don't want to give away any major details on the story. The significance of the sword and why even the government would turn to the yakuza to retrieve it are all revealed in the story to provide a sense of excitement for the reader as he/she puts the pieces together to solve the mystery of the shin-shinto. This factor makes the book very enjoyable and I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for an amazing triller

The Year's Best Science Fiction (completed)

As a sci-fi fan, this was one of the most enjoyable reading experiences, not to mention challenging as well. I found this book randomly in the adult section of my libary, so I gave it a shot and it was definitely worth it. While I enjoyed it, I am aware that there are some people who are quite skeptical about science fiction, such as this one English teacher that I know, and I don't blame them. When people hear the words, "sci-fi", the first images that pop up in their heads is aliens battling humans, human expansion to planets, the apocolpyse and if we'll survive, etc, and that is some of the ideas in this collection of sci-fi short stories but it goes far beyond that. Fans of the sci-fi genre, will be able to distinguish this book as an impressive tome of philosophy. What I mean in philsophy is that this book incorperates sci-fi into the one topic that no one will ever understand: human nature. In many of the planets in space that the main characters of each story go to, they find out the hard way that no matter where they are, they can never escape their nature. For example, in one short story, a team of space explorers come across a single under-developed planet in which they send out undetectable "drones" to survey the alien race that inhabits the planet and come to like these strange creatures. However, another alien race from space as well comes into contact into the alien race from the planet. From the perspective of their drone cameras, they can distinguish this as a conquest in the making as more corpses appear in the civilization on the planet. Most of the team wants to go down onto the planet to save the civilization but only being armed with three laser pistols against a whole army, the captain of the team has no choice but to order the team to stand down and retreat back to Earth. As they escape the space zone above the planet and are ready for take off, they witness a complete genocide as the civilization falls under superior fire power. Unable to do anything, the team grits and close the warp gate that brought them there in the first place and recording it as if nothing happened. This story is a scientific way of expressing that human nature is mostly distinguishable as carrying about one's self and ignoring helping others. The other aspects of human nature, both positive and negative, are explored in each of the different short stories. Like mentioned earlier, this is a long collection ideal for sci-fi fans but people who aren't into sci-fi shouldn't touch this book, for they won't be able to understand what is happening from page one.