Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Marlene of Reading Reality. It is all about sharing the books that you have recently added to your bookshelves. These books can be physical books, ebooks and of course audiobooks.
Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good weekend so far. I have been looking at Kindle offers to stock up my Kindle ready for my holiday next month. I haven’t found many that appeal to me yet but I will keep looking. Here is what I have gone for so far.
I have always been a fan of Dan Jones so I am looking forward to reading his book on the Plantagenets. I haven’t done much historical reading this year so I am looking forward to getting back into it.
My chosen poem this week is by the Bengali polymath who worked as poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher. social reformer, and painter, Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).
Light
Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light!
Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth.
The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light. Lillies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light.
The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling, and it scatters gems in profusion.
Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling, and gladness without measure. The heaven's river has drowned its banks and the flood of joy is abroad.
Haviland Tuf is an honest space-trader (one of the few), and he likes cats. So how is it that, despite being up against the worst villains in the universe, he has become the proud owner of the last working seedship, pride of Earth’s Ecological Engineering Corps?
We’ll leave that aside for now – just be thankful that the most powerful weapon in space is in good hands, hands which now control cellular material for thousands of outlandish creatures.
With his unique equipment and powerful spacecraft, Tuf is set to tackle the myriad problems that human settlers have created during their colonisation of far flung worlds. Hosts of hostile monsters, a population addicted to procreation, a dictator who is willing to unleash plagues to get his own way – and all that stands between the colonists and disaster is Tuf’s ingenuity, and his reputation as an honest dealer in a universe of rogues…
Review
I was really excited when I saw this book in the bookshop because I have been really enjoying Martin’s science fiction writing recently. This was one of those rare books that didn’t sit on on my TBR pile for very long before I decided to read it.
The book is a collection of Haviland Tuf short stories and this could be one of the reasons I didn’t gel as much as I expected with this book. Tuf was a space trader who, after agreeing to take on a job for a very suspicious group of people he finds himself the owner of the most powerful ship in the universe. The last seedship of the long forgotten Ecological engineer Corps.
Tuf is not your standard space hero. He doesn’t undertake dashing feats of bravery or flex his muscles at the enemy. Instead he is a somewhat overweight vegetarian who likes alcohol and cats. He hates violence in all forms, he prefers the company of his cats rather than humans. He is completely honest, polite and very intelligent. However, he doesn’t appear to be intelligent and it is one of the reasons that he can’t be beaten because nobody sees him as a threat.
He’s also in my opinion very unlikeable! Other than his fondness for cats I just didn’t like him. He lacked personality and a reason to be liked. He’s very arrogant and aloof and I just never found myself on his side. In fact I was always rooting for Tully Mune.
Tully Mune was what saved this book for me and I really liked her character. Her character jumped from the pages. She was vibrant, she was bold, she was powerful and a force to be reckoned with. There is a reason she has got to where she is in life and that is because she stands no nonsense and gets the job done. Her underlings respect and fear her.
I really wanted to learn more about the seedship and the Ecological Engineering Corps history but sadly we didn’t get much of that. I wanted to see how Tuf adapted and learned about running the seedship but instead the story went from Tuf becoming the owner of the seedship to basically becoming a god with no between. I was quite disappointed with this book and sadly only give it 3 out of 5 Dragons.
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About the author
George Raymond Richard Martin (1948) is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For more info please check out Jana’s blog.
Hello!
I have so many books I want to read this Summer and I know I won’t manage even half of what I would like to read but there is no harm in trying. Here are a selection of the ones I would like to read.
I am really into my sci-fi at the moment and quite a few of these are on my Kindle ready for my holiday reading. I can’t wait to finish teaching and get started!
Goodreads Monday is now hosted by Budget Tales Book Club. All you have to do is show off a book from your TBR that you’re looking forward to reading.
Hello!
I hope everyone has had a good start to the week. I have had a good day of teaching and reading. I can’t wait to go on holiday where I can spend more time reading.
My chosen book to feature this week is the second book of a series that I have recently started. I absolutely adored the first book so I hope the next one will not disappoint.
Vertigo by G. S. Jennsen
The year is 2322 and humanity is under attack. An engineered war between rival superpowers escalates even as the shadowy Metigen armada begins attacking colonies on the frontiers of settled space.
Individuals from across the galaxy fight for their own survival and to protect those they hold dear, while a group of unlikely allies race to expose a secret cabal. As the aliens draw ever closer, leaving utter destruction and death in their wake, the strongest defenders of Earth and Seneca fall to one another in a war of lies and misdirection.
Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano stand accused of terrorism and murder. In a desperate gambit to clear their names and find a way to defeat the invaders, they breach the dimensional portal at the heart of the Metis Nebula. In a strange, mystical realm where nothing is what it seems, they will uncover secrets about humanity’s past and future—and one revelation which will change everything.
My chosen poem this week is by the English poet and writer Philip Edward Thomas (1878-1917).
Beauty
What does it means? Tired, angry, and ill at ease, No man, woman, or child alive could please Me now. And yet I almost dare to laugh Because I sit and frame an epitaph - 'Here lies all that no one loved of him And that loved no one.' Then in a trice that whim Has wearied. But, though I am like a river At fall of evening while it seems that never Has the sun lighted it or warmed it, while Cross breezes cut the surface to a file, This heart, some fraction of me, happily Floats through the window even now to a tree Down in the missing, dim-lit, quiet vale, Not like a pewit that returns to wail For something it has lost, but like a dove That slants unswerving to its home and love. There I find my rest, as through the dusk air Flies what yet lives in me: Beauty is there.
Lady Book Dragon 