Sloe Times

Being sick gives you plenty of time to catch up on your reading, or at least it does me in between bouts of unconsciousness. I wrapped up The Bourne Legacy by Eric Van Lustbader which was a new novel in the Jason Bourne series originally created by Robert Ludlum. A short time ago when I first started the book I had made the comment that for the most part it annoyed me that the author kept rehashing history from the previous books. That still annoys me. Regardless, Lustbader does spin a tale that seems born (no pun intended) out of the events of today's world and sets our relentless hero on a course that has only one obvious conclusion. Don't get me wrong, Jason Bourne is back and still hard as a coffin nail despite moving on in years from a timeline perspective. The scenario in which the story unfolds is somewhat exciting but extremely predictable. I'd give the book a 5 out of 10 since there's only so much ground you can cover with an aging hero and personally the concept of the uber-spy is something that appeals to me. Probably because in all things, aside from the fantastic physical events, these stories tend to always be about knowledge and its power. I always wonder if the authors know how the characters are going to get out of a situation they get into before hand, or if they put them in the situation and then work on getting them out. I like to think it would be the later as it would tend to provide a little more art into the story telling rather than contrived scenarios just to meet an end.

Anyway, I'm now moving on to the new Margaret Weis book, Amber and Ashes which is the beginning of a new Dragonlance trilogy following up from the War of Souls. As I understand it, this first book will focus on Mina and if ever there was a female badass for the side of evil she was it. It will be interesting to see where the stories take her now that the Dark Queen was defeated in her last attempt to enter the physical realm of Krynn. If you've been looking for this book, I would expect it to hit bookshelves very soon. I was able to pick up my copy at GenCon where it was released and get it signed by Margaret. Now I just need to find a hardbacked copy of The Annotated Legends and have that signed as well.