The Expanse

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was the third book that I finished on my recent Hawaii vacation and it did not disappoint. I’ve watched the TV series a little and with some encouragement from a friend decided to give this book a go. Holy hell was it awesome. The space sequences and the reality of travelling through space without “magical” gravity were really interesting. The political aspect of life on Earth vs. Mars. vs. The Belt was arguably the most fascinating part of the book. I can’t wait to read the other books in this series and then to watch the TV show more.

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The Art of War…and Revision

The Art of War by Sun Tzu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had, much the same as everyone else I’m sure, heard of this famous writing on warfare by the ancient Chinese General and philosopher Sun Tzu. I had never read it though for some reason. From the thickness of this specific edition of Tzu’s writings I thought it would be much longer, but the book is broken up into two sections. The original writings of Tzu are the first section and then the translator’s notes and historical context of the translation are provided in the 2nd half. The writings by Tzu really are timeless when it comes to warfare, even though modern tactics are quite a bit different than ancient Chinese strategies.

I was doing some research for revision that I’m working on with my current novel and I can honestly see myself reading this again and I took quite a few notes and highlighted many passages that I think will help make my book better and more militaristic. With the length of the original writings of Tzu there really is no excuse to not give this a read, you will probably learn something and be entertained at the same time.

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Discworld! Or the time I tried a new author I’ve never read and can’t figure out why it’s taken me so long.

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I decided to try out a new author for my first book while on vacation in Kauai. I’m not sure why I’ve never read any Terry Pratchett before, especially since I’ve known about his series and heard nothing but high praise for it since I can remember, but this book is absolutely amazing. I cannot wait to read more of the Discworld series. It’s hard for me to even convey how much I loved this book. I will admit to being a little lost at first as to what exactly was happening but before I knew it I was whisked away on an adventure with Rincewind the wizard and Twoflower the tourist as the sapient pearwood luggage chest follows them all over Discworld. So many authors I read on a regular basis have sung such high praises for this series and now I know why. It is simply put, one of the best books I have ever read. I found it hard to put down even with the Pacific Ocean lapping at the seawall outside of our rental house. My only complaint about this book was that each of the chapters was extremely long, I believe there were only 4 in the entire first book, and I vastly prefer shorter chapters. But honestly who the hell cares how many chapters there are or how long each of them is when the writing, characters, and story are as amazing as what Terry Pratchett put onto the page. RIP Terry Pratchett, I feel ashamed for not finding your truly fantastic series of books before now.

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