Books: Memory, Remember, Dragon, Rogue, Vampire

Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold

Another entertaining novel in the Vorkosigan Saga, this one focusing on Miles' relationship with his homeworld and its nobles. I think his superiors are a little too quick to forgive misdeeds, but I still found it hard to put the book down. Recommended.

I Remember the Future by Michael A. Burstein

This is buxom_bey's autographed copy, as MAB is a friend of the family. It's a very solid collection of SF stories, most of which have been nominated for a Hugo or Nebula. MAB handles religion quite well, even when it's not his own, and also handles physics well, which is a combination not always seen in SF writers. Recommended.

Hellboy: The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden

Golden is one of the few Hellboy novelists who should be allowed to write Hellboy novels. I think it's because he foregrounds Hellboy and his relationship with the world, rather than splicing Hellboy into some random horror plot. For example, this novel deals with his second reunion with his ex-girlfriend, and has flashbacks to their breakup. The A plot is about an archaeological dig in Tibet which unearths something better left buried . . . yeah, been there, done that, but it's very well handled. Recommended.

Crimson Rogue by Liz Maverick

This is a paranormal romance, and fourth (or so) in a series, and so outside my usual reading turf, but I met Maverick at Arisia, and she was giving away free autographed copies, so . . . Regardless, it's about a modern city inhabited by humans, vampires, werewolves, demons . . . and a really unhappy cyborg with a massive bounty on his head. He falls in with an ex-demon-captive, and they fall in love while dealing with their enemies. It probably would have been better if I'd read the earlier books in the series, but I wasn't bored, and I thought the way she danced around the romance was deft. Recommended.

The Vampire Armand by Anne Rice

I'm a mild fan of Rice's earlier vampire novels, and this one was sitting around the house for some reason, so I gave it a shot. I got a dozen pages in and decided I had better things to do. Not recommended.