Lee Hunts

I just finished Redemption, a novel written by Will Jordan. Jordan is a Youtube critic known as the Critical Drinker. I've always enjoyed his takes on the various movies that he reviews, so I wanted to check out his books, this one being the first of nine, to see if it was any good. His book is marketed alongside David Baldacci and Lee Child mystery/thrillers. I haven't read Baldacci yet, but I have read one Child novel, which I rather enjoyed, so I think I naturally compared the two. And since I have also read the novels of various Youtubers—including Justin Little, David Stewart, and Daniel Greene—I will also be comparing this book to those. This book follows the protagonist, Ryan Drake, a British man who now works for the CIA. At the beginning of the book, he has landed a job in tracking down MIA operatives for the CIA, despite a problematic past he is ashamed of. In this novel he is asked to extract a highly trained MIA operative who is being held in a prison. The job is sh...

I just finished The Terror, a historical fiction novel, and horror novel, by Dan Simmons. I have not read anything else by this author, I was simply turned onto it by a horror novel suggestion video (I think). This book is based on the horrific Sir John Franklin expedition into the arctic circle, looking for the north-west passage. This historic event is an embarrassment, a failure, and a mystery, which has invited much speculation; as far as we know, the Erebus and the Terror (the names of the two ships) disappeared and all the crew died. At the very least, none were ever seen again. Simmons combines this dour historical event with fictional elements, like supernaturalism, to add another terrifying account to the rampant speculations made about the event. In Simmons' story, he depicts a mysterious beast that is stalking the crews of these ill-fated ships as they are iced in and unable to break out and return home. This story is rife with copious details about ship-life in those ti...

I just finished reading Leviathan Wakes, by James S.A. Corey. This is the first book in The Expanse book series, of which there is a television series. The series is about the distant future, where humanity has managed to escape the earth's gravity well and expand out into the solar system. There are now three different political factions: Earth, Mars, and the Belt. Earth is the cradle of humanity, while Mars is an extremely technologically advanced and militarily effective entity; the Belt is the runt of the pack, completely dependent on the other two for survival, and utterly under their boot. Tensions between these three political entities has been high for centuries, and they hit the boiling point when a new discovery has been made in the moons of Saturn. Overall, the book is great, although I will supplement my review by discussing its relation to the television series. Overall (No Spoilers) The Expanse is Game of Thrones in space. This is the description that drove me to read...

I just finished reading Breach of Peace, by Daniel Greene. Greene is a booktuber, and this is his first novel. I went in interested to see how he would implement his critiques in his own writing, especially because he is a first-time author, and because he has a lot of other writing planned down the line. This novella is a mixture of horror, investigative fiction, and fantasy, centered on the killing of a noble family. Overall (No spoilers) Overall, I the book was alright, though there were some first time author vibes. I want to specify that I am evaluating this book along the same lines of any other story; I'm not going to rate it according to my expectations of a booktuber book. I liked the mystery that was built into it. I was interested from the beginning, and I liked seeing the characters piece together the evidence in real time. When the story tied itself to the rebellion, and you started to learn about the Empire, I immediately got the sense of a larger world and a whole lo...

I just finished The Dragon Republic, the second book in The Poppy War Trilogy. In the aftermath of the events of the first book, Rin was left traumatized and addicted to opium. She lost Nehza, a close friend of hers, she committed an act of genocide against an entire country, and her friendship with her only remaining friend is consequently on the ropes. Rin is now forced to rely of the help of people who have no regard for her humanity, as she works to take down Su Daji, the Empress who betrayed her country and set the Federation loose on her people. The book is a fast paced and gripping tale that continually makes you question where the story is headed, and who the real danger is. In true grimdark fashion, the waters are incredibly muddy, and friend and foe are equally susceptible to cruelty and vicious pragmatism. Overall, I enjoyed the book, and consider this to be a very strong follow up to The Poppy War. Overall (No Spoilers) The best part about the book is the overall plot progr...

I just finished the first third of The Stand, by Stephen King. I chose to read this book in thirds, breaking up the reading with other novels, so this post will cover only parts that I have read. I will post reviews of the second and third chunks of the novel later on. The Stand is about a pandemic, where 99 percent of the population is decimated by a bioweapon accidentally released onto the population, but with a creepy wizard named Randall Flagg spliced in, as he takes advantage of the aftermath. This is widely considered to be one of King's best novels, the book coming in near the beginning of his career. (As a slight aside, I am reading the uncut version released a decade later). Overall, I really enjoyed the first third of the book. This is actually something that I have read before. My first time I read through, the first third of the novel was amazing, but I DNFed the book due to distractions. My reading this time around, older and honestly much wiser, I can say that the fir...

I just finished reading The Men Who Take Eyes, by the new author Justin Little; he is also known as Vernaculis, a former Youtuber who would commentate on politics. He is one of the first political channels I followed when I first came onto Youtube, and he was also among my favorites, as well. He was the one who inspired me to make my own channel. Years have passed since, and our views have diverged a fair amount from one another; he would probably dismiss me as a cynic now due to my pragmatic outlook on life and politics, but so it goes, I suppose. Regardless, once I learned he was writing a novel, I preordered it the moment I could and even got a signed copy. Little has always been a George Orwell fanboy, and so I expected as much from this book. The book is a satirical novel about a "bitter revolutionary" caught in the middle of an endless civil war between two factions known as the Vigil and the Insurrection. This revolutionary, Oliver, is firmly planted in the latter camp...