the james review

Hero Academy Strategy 1: General Tips

james m. toburen — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:00:22 +0000

Chances are, if you're reading this, that you're already a big fan of Robot Entertainment's Hero Academy. Released just a few weeks ago, Hero Academy has already proven to be quite the popular little game...

Business time

james m. toburen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:00:40 +0000

James Toburen, Senior Editor, Writer, and Web Designer of the james review, now has business cards, courtesy of his better half!

Otherland headed to theaters?

james m. toburen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:00:14 +0000

Warner Brothers picked up the film rights to Tad Williams' Otherland! They've placed Dan Lin in charge of production duties, notable for the recent Sherlock Holmes films, in addition to currently producing the star-studded Gangster Squad, arriving in theaters later this year...

Review: REAMDE

james m. toburen — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:20:15 +0000

Neal Stephenson's willingness to skip through time to tell his stories flaunts an authorial fearlessness. Snow Crash and The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer both envisioned possible futures, near and far, respectively. Anathem leapt even further into the future, in addition to occupying an entirely different dimension. Cryptonomicon explored a fictionalized history of the modern computer's origin during the events of the World Wars; the multi-volume Baroque Cycle followed characters fictional and historical at the beginning of the 18th century. Zodiac, The Big U, and (portions of) Cryptonomicon all reside somewhere near our own time...

…Reamde

james m. toburen — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:00:54 +0000

With the arrival of e-books and online retailers, I fret that local book shops might be doomed to extinction, along with the dodo, glaciers, and letting children trick-or-treat on Halloween without supervision. I love wandering amidst the towering bookshelves of a book store or library, but I admit that I often turn to the Internet...

Review: Ship Breaker

james m. toburen — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 06:30:27 +0000

After the huge success of Paolo Bacigalupi's 2010 debut novel, The Windup Girl, the science fiction world waited with baited breath for his sophomore effort. Could he repeat his early success? After all, The Windup Girl struck an incredible cord with fans and critics alike, winning both the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Nebula Award for Best Novel. Time Magazine went so far as to declare the story one of the top ten fiction novels of the year. So when Ship Breaker was announced, fans lined up to discover if Bacigalupi could once again snag the haunting thread woven through The Windup Girl. So, has he?

…Ship Breaker

james m. toburen — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:30:50 +0000

After having read (and been quite impressed by) Paolo Bacigalupi’s Nebula Award- and Hugo Award-winning debut novel The Windup Girl, I was curious to see how he hoped to expand the world of young adult dystopian fiction. The genre has grown in popularity in recent years, with the City of Ember series from Jeanne Duprau [...]

Review: Clementine

james m. toburen — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 18:00:23 +0000

Seattle-based author Cherie Priest has established herself as a writer to keep a close eye on, first garnering fame for the Lulu Blooker-winning Four and Twenty Blackbirds, the opening novel of her Eden Moore trilogy. More recently, her series of steampunk tales have been earning her further attention; the stories of the Clockwork Century universe showcase an America that never came to be: the Civil War extended, both sides armed with strange new weapons, nimble airships roaming the skies. Boneshaker connected with fans and critics alike...

…Clementine

james m. toburen — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:00:48 +0000

100 pages into Clementine, and I couldn’t help but notice that the protagonist, Maria Isabella Boyd, possesses a little more spine than your average wilting flower. Cherie Priest‘s Clementine, the second work in her Clockwork Century timeline, follows characters new and old after the events of Boneshaker. Marie, formerly an infamous Confederate spy, now widowed [...]

Speculative Fiction Challenge 2011

james m. toburen — Tue, 31 May 2011 21:00:53 +0000

The Speculate Fiction Reading Challenge 2011 Running a bit late, but who cares? Amanda of Floor to Ceiling Books is hosting this year's Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge; seeing as I'm running a webpage that specializes in speculate fiction... If I believed in heaven, I'd say the match was made there. Instead, I'll shut up and start reading.