Reviews!

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

Review: This book is the second in a series about a dragon named Temeraire. It is about a trip to China. It is fascinating and gives great insight into customs. It is a fast read. The resolution is unique. I recommend this whole series.

18 Best Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Edited by Vincent Price and Chandler Brossard

Review: I found reading the writing style and vocabulary of the mid 1800's quite appealing. Yet, as with most anthologies titled "best", these eighteen are the personal opinions of Price and Brossard. Albeit not familiar with Poe's complete works, I suspect that I would not choose these as Poe's eighteen best. Other than the famous stories such as The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders of the Rue Morgue and the Pit and the Pendulum, I doubt any reader would associate Poe as the likely author of such stories as The Sphinx or, more so, The Gold Bug. The latter is an entertaining but what I found to be an implausible and amateurish plot (which I will not disclose so as to avoid a spoiler). I will not be recommending this compendium to my fellow readers.