Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

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About MarkAbaddon

CBR11 participant
CBR12 participant
CBR13 participant
CBR14 Participant
CBR15 Participant
CBR18 Participant

Somehow I have turned into a real life Ross Geller, having now been married 3 times. Otherwise, just your normal Jewish geek living in MN. (Learn more about this Cannonballer: MarkAbaddon's Quick Questions interview.)

MarkAbaddon's Reviews:

Galactic Millieu – The Nonborn King

The Nonborn King by Julian May

July 22, 2019 by MarkAbaddon Leave a Comment

After a bit of a dip in the last volume, this one is an improvement as a major new character is introduced and others become more well defined. The character is Marc Remillard, part of a family that had been referenced obliquely before and referred to as the main family of psychics in humanity. In my first review within this series, I mentioned a Paramount Grand Master being the pinnacle of psychic ability, and Marc is Paramount in a number of psychic powers (the 5 […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: alien, Celtic, Julian May, mind powers, myth, psychic

MarkAbaddon's CBR11 Review No:12 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: alien, Celtic, Julian May, mind powers, myth, psychic ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Galactic Millieu Epic – The Golden Torc

The Golden Torc by Julian May

July 21, 2019 by MarkAbaddon Leave a Comment

My enjoyment of the series starting dipping a bit starting with this book because May took great pains to establish certain rules in the first volume and then started playing a bit loose with them here. One of the rules was that no human who had metapsychic powers could ever use the one way time gate. The reasons for this are not really well established, nor is it ever explained why none of any of the alien races ever wanted to go into the past […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: alien, Celtic, Julian May, mind powers, myth, psychic

MarkAbaddon's CBR11 Review No:11 · Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: alien, Celtic, Julian May, mind powers, myth, psychic ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Re-reading a much loved series

The Many Colored Land by Julian May

July 21, 2019 by MarkAbaddon Leave a Comment

I love writing reviews but some are harder than others. There are some books one reads as a teenager or young adult that help shape their interests, their philosophies, really begin to define the template for who they are as a person. For me, those books included the Lord of the Rings, Thomas Covenant and yes, the 9 books within Julian May’s Galactic Millieu epic. So it will be challenging for me to be completely objective about these books. The answer to why this book […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: alien, Celtic, Julian May, mind powers, myth, psychic

MarkAbaddon's CBR11 Review No:10 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: alien, Celtic, Julian May, mind powers, myth, psychic ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

A disappointing end to a promising series

The Cthulhu Casebooks - Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove

June 9, 2019 by MarkAbaddon 1 Comment

Endings are always difficult. Wrapping up a series based on someone else’s original work, doubly so (a fact all Game of Thrones fans learned the hard way this year). This book concludes Lovegrove’s trilogy of placing Holmes into a Lovecraftian universe and the results are not that great. The fist difficulty is with the source material. Doyle only returned to Holmes reluctantly, and the stories of Holmes towards the end did not have the same energy or enthusiasm as the earlier works. Yes, Lovegrove incorporates […]

Filed Under: Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: cthulhu, historical fiction, horror, HP Lovecraft, James Lovegrove, mystery, Sherlock Holmes

MarkAbaddon's CBR11 Review No:9 · Genres: Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction · Tags: cthulhu, historical fiction, horror, HP Lovecraft, James Lovegrove, mystery, Sherlock Holmes ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Sherlock vs. Elder gods, round 2

The Cthulhu Casebooks - Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove

June 3, 2019 by MarkAbaddon Leave a Comment

Middle portions of the trilogy are always difficult. There is not the excitement of starting a story nor the anticipation of a conclusion. So how do you make the middle volume interesting?   In the case of this book the author changed things up a bit and focused much more on the Lovecraftian Elements then in the first book in the series. The strategy is largely successful. Lovegrove incorporates elements from a wide variety of Lovecraft’s tales From his stories involving the dream cycle to […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: #fantasy, 19th century, horror, HP Lovecraftian, James Lovegrove, mystery, Sherlock Holmes

MarkAbaddon's CBR11 Review No:8 · Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction · Tags: #fantasy, 19th century, horror, HP Lovecraftian, James Lovegrove, mystery, Sherlock Holmes ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

Sherlock Holmes Takes on Cthulhu

Sherlock Holmes & the Shadwell Shadows by James Lovegrove

June 2, 2019 by MarkAbaddon Leave a Comment

I love Sherlock Holmes and I love the world of horror that HP Lovecraft created. Seeing the two of them brought together was almost irresistible to me but I have seen Holmes placed in a world where logic doesn’t apply before, most notably the collection called shadows over Baker Street. There are aspects of this book that are very reminiscent of some of the best stories in that particular collection.  Where the author is most effective is in trying to really ground homes in this World where […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Speculative Fiction Tagged With: 19th century, cthulhu, horror, HP Lovecraft, James Lovegrove, mystery, Sherlock Holmes

MarkAbaddon's CBR11 Review No:7 · Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Speculative Fiction · Tags: 19th century, cthulhu, horror, HP Lovecraft, James Lovegrove, mystery, Sherlock Holmes ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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