#SpaceOpera Archives - Mostly Mysteries

Review of Only Bad Options by Jennifer Estep – recently published

1 Comment / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

A great series starter… I’ve been hooked by Jennifer Estep’s books since I read the first two lines of her first Crown of Shards book, Kill the Queen: “The day of the royal massacre started out like any other. With me doing something completely, utterly useless.” How can you not keep reading a book after […]

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Review of Eclipse the Moon from Jessie Mihalik – coming in July

1 Comment / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

Another breakneck-paced space opera/romance from Jessie Mihalik… I’m not an author, but it has always struck me that writing the middle book in a pre-planned trilogy must be pretty hard. An author gets to introduce the characters and the setting in the first book, and tee up the over-arching storyline. So everything is shiny and

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Review of Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews – coming 23 November 2021

9 Comments / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

A welcome return to the Kinsmen series… Author duo Ilona Andrews have returned to their Kinsmen universe after a decade or so, and it’s a shame they stayed away so long. Fated Blades is a long novella – or is it a short book? You pick! But either way, it’s a fast-paced and fun tale

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Review of Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

Leave a Comment / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

I originally saw Polaris Rising mentioned on an e-book forum, and when I checked it out online, I discovered that Ilona Andrews (whose books I always enjoy) had provided nice feedback about it. So that encouraged me to (1) buy it, and (2) move it to the top of my long to-be-read list. And then

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About Mostly Mysteries

Whether you are a non-stop reader looking for your next series to binge-read, or someone without much spare time, wanting to make sure the next book you read is great, I hope my reviews will help you out. I hate reading reviews that just say “five stars” or “I loved the book, it was great”, and I’m sure you do too. So you won’t find any of those here! Instead, I take the time to read and think about a book, and then write a review that (1) doesn’t just parrot the blurb, (2) talks about what I liked and didn’t like, and (3) has some additional info to help you decide if the book might be right for you.

I’ve been a huge fan of mysteries since my earliest days of reading, cutting my teeth on Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew, and quickly moving on to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. From there, I bounced around a bit, trying some thrillers, like Alistair MacLean, and some romantic suspense, mainly Mary Stewart. And then I started branching out. I discovered historical mysteries, and British mysteries (Sarah Caudwell is my idol), and cozy mysteries, and police procedurals, and mysteries set in foreign climes, and noir, and…well, you get the idea! Just about the only mysteries I’ve never quite gotten into are psychological thrillers.

This blog reflects my own personal tastes, so, as you might guess, you’ll mostly find reviews of mysteries here. But, over the decades, I’ve also picked up some other reading habits. I read a fair amount of history, especially books about the Great Game rivalry between Britain and Russia. I’ve gone through all the Asterix comics (a big thank-you to my middle-school French teacher), and I even read a bunch of them out loud to my son when he was young. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read and re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and those books have led me into a little bit of fantasy and science fiction as well. Oh yeah, and recently, I’ve been reading some social and political science books too. So check out the Science Fiction/Fantasy, Nonfiction, Romance and Other Stuff tabs up in the menu as well!

Finally I’d love to hear from you too, so please make use of the comments sections available for most of my posts, or use the contact form, down at the bottom of the page.

Reviewing and Rating Info

I rate books on a scale from 1 to 5 stars, with occasional half-stars when a full star just won’t do.

Many of the books I review are provided to me by the publisher or author as a reading copy – in other words, at no cost to me. In other cases, usually for older books, I’m reviewing books I borrowed from the library or bought myself. My rating and review do not depend on whether I was provided a free reading copy. However if I did receive a free reading copy, I will disclose this in the review.

I do not post reviews of every book I read – not even close. It takes a lot of time and effort to craft a good review, and so I tend to be biased towards reviewing books that I enjoy or that excite me. As a result, you’ll find mostly 4- and 5-star reviews on my blog. Also, I do not post 1- or 2-star reviews on my blog unless the author or publisher asks me to.