Eric Rex - The Monsters Of Otherness by Kaza Kingsley was hard to get interested in at first. It had been nearly 4 years since I read the first novel and I couldn't remember anything about the characters or the story. Eventually it turned out to be fairly entertaining but not an interesting as the first book in the series. I picked it up used and I had a coupon so it was cheap. There's a third one that I should keep an eye out for.
Creature From the Black Lagoon by Vargo Straton (John Russell Fearn) is a reprint of the movie novelization of the classic monster movie. The original novel was only published in Britian in 1954 and copies are going for crazy huge prices. The new edition is published by DreamHaven Books. The owner and publisher is Greg Ketter. He's one of the guys who comes to Friday Night Movies so you know he's got a movie jones goin' on. The book is nicely produced by Robert Garcia and there's a nice big section of stills from the movie and behind the scenes. Good cover by Bob Eggleton and an intro by David Schow. The novel is ok for the most part but some of the characterization makes the men in the novel more annoying than they were in the movie. There just isn't as much time to be with them in the movie. Occasionally the writing was a bit clunky, making me stop and look around, and wonder what I had just read. I did get through it but might not bother to read it again. I'll keep the book for the nice pictures of from the movie.
Enchanted Glass by Diana Wynne Jones on the other hand is a book I'll re-read. It's from 2010 and it's the last novel that she wrote. A professor's grandfather dies and leaves him the house and it's "field of care". That's a bit of magical responsibilities that the professor knows nothing about, so he had a lot to learn. There is plenty of help from his housekeeper, his gardener and a wealth of interesting locals who come into the professor's new life. There's a bit of romance, a bit of conflict and a lot of fun. There's giants and fairy's and shapeshifters and other magical folk. You really can't go wrong with reading Diana Wynne Jones. I was sad when she passed away last year. Lucky for me she had already written a lot of really fun books to read.
The Saint And The People Importers by Leslie Charteris is an adaptation of the story that became the script to an episode of The Saint. Fleming Lee wrote the story and wrote the novel with editorial input from Charteris. It's so late in the series and so different that I didn't care that much for it. Normally I enjoy the series but this one will not get read again. I think the tv episode came out better.
Bran Hambrick - The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation is a story about an orphan who is being rasied by a horrible family. Turns out his parents were killed by some evil folk and his mother hid him in a closed bank vault in a town that bans magic. Guess who has some magic? There's a group of evil people looking for the kid and weird things happen before he finds out about the secret magic underground and such. Kaleb was 14 when he started the book and 18 when he sold it. Parts of it were ok but some of it was not to my liking. I doubt I would get the rest of the series when they come out.
Halfway House by Ellery Queen just wasn't that interesting. I picked it up at DreamHaven's old book sale for a buck. Money wasted for the most part, but hey, you never know until you take the plunge. That's a hat trick of non keepers.
Walt Disney's Toby Tyler by Carl Memling is a little 64 page movie novel aimed at the kid market. It's barely a novel but it reads fairly well and there are some illustrations. It was only a couple of bucks.
Peter And The Sword Of Mercy by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson is the fourth book in their prequels to Peter Pan. It's 23 years after the first trilogy and Peter still hasn't grown up. All the kids from the first book have grown up and the evil Lord Ombra has returned. Wendy is the daughter of Molly and George. They go missing and Wendy goes looking for Peter to help out. Neverland is being invaded and lots of other things are going one. I enjoyed this about as much as the first three. There's a 5th book but I haven't picked that up yet. I usually wait until they get remaindered and pick them up for 5 or 6 bucks. Worth a read.
The Case Of The Roving Rolls - A Brain Benton Mystery by George Wyatt is another Whitman series. Nothing special, it was only a buck, and I took a chance. Not a keeper. I thought the cover was ok but again nothing great.
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