19. The Hollow Hills

By: Mary Stewart

Mostly Merlin just wanders around and prepares for book three. Sort of like the hobbits in Lord of the Rings.

Grade: B
Recommendation: Slog on through to the sequel.

18. Eternity Road

by: Jack McDevitt

I have a huge backlog of stuff I read over the summer. So reviews for the time being are going to be short and sweet- otherwise i'll go on neglecting this blog.

The "roadmakers" were a prehistoric civilization that left massive cities and roads behind, but no evidence of how their incredible technology worked, or where they went. When one of their books shows up unexpectedly - Mark Twain's "Connecticut Yankee", an expedition to find their lost library - hopefully with answers about the lost civilization is launched.

The book doesn't try to hide the mystery of who the roadmakers were- McDevitt tells an engaging tale as always, but the book feels like it could have been more 'epic' if it wasn't confined to a single character's POV and limited timeline. I'm a big fan of his work, but it can be hit and miss- this one is the first that is neither 'hit' nor 'miss', just ok.

Grade: B
Recommendation: Engines of God is a must read. This one can be somewhere further down your McDevitt collection.

17. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier

By: Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

What will most likely be the final installment of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series unfortunately misses the epic grandeur of the previous two editions by more than, well, I would have expected from Moore. This sad tome, "The Black Dossier" would more appropriately have been titled "A Short History of Nearly Everything That I'd Like to explore in Further Detail In This Series If I was Actually Serious About Doing It, But I'm Not So I'll Just Tell You What I Would Have Done and Take a Few of Your Hard Earned Dollars For My Troubles". At least, it would have been a more honest title. The writing in this book is so uncharacteristically sloppy, so uncharacteristically disjointed, and often so nonsensical that only the slightest appreciation for Moore's ingenuity and quirky style keeps the pages turning.

Grade: D-
Recommendation: Read the first two graphic novels if you haven't yet. Its better to pretend that this one doesn't exist.