Lee Hunts

An epic, anime inspired rebellion, a meditation on grief, a love story? All of it? The Sword of Kaigen, by M. L. Wang. This is a Japanese inspired fantasy, where a woman has long ago retired from her once violent past to become a housewife at the request of her father. She is now in a loveless marriage with a cold man and four sons who all seem to reflect his characteristics to varying degrees—save for one. She has struggled to find connection with her husband, and with her children, but that might be changing with her oldest starting to question the Empire that he has grown up in his whole life. This is the second perspective: the oldest son, practically a prodigy even though he is only fourteen years old. He is entirely fixated on uncovering his family's key secret, known as The Whispering Blade, a technique that is unparalleled in its power. His father is putting a lot of pressure on him, and he is not sure if he can do it. This book is well praised in the book community, though...

I just finished reading Betrayal, which is the third book in the Ryan Drake thriller series. In the latest instalment, Ryan Drake finds himself in hot water when a person from the past shows up in his life and does the incomprehensible. This is a betrayal that demands explanation, and it lands Drake in Russia, where he is dragged into a complex conspiracy that threatens his life and American relations with Russia. This book, in terms of plot, is by far the best book in the series up to this point. At the same time, the characters are only increasingly lacking as the story progresses and this weighs down my enjoyment, especially in retrospect. Interestingly, I've become more critical of the other books in hindsight, and I'm not entirely sure whether that is a more accurate reflection of my views or not. Either way, the previous books, while tense and exciting, notably lacked in the power of the plot twists. Maybe the Caine plot twist was good, but I remember the rest of the twis...

I just finished reading Killing Floor, by Lee Child, after quite a lengthy hiatus from reading. I'm not sure if I'm back to reading consistently yet, I have so much else on my plate, but I'll still try to write up reviews of everything that I read. Overall, I enjoyed the book for what it was. Summary Killing Floor is a thriller novel featuring the famous Jack Reacher character. Reacher is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy: a muscular tank of a man, six and a half feet tall, wicked smart, and a maverick, too. That's not a critique, I'm just stating what it is. In this book, Reacher is six months out of his job in the military, traveling around the world with no rhyme or reason. He eventually comes upon an isolated and quiet town called Margrave in the state of Georgia. After being there for only a short time, he is suddenly arrested for murder, which he knows he did not do. From there, he is sucked into a massive conspiracy that expands well beyond the town of...