# Shepherd492's Review Thread



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

At the risk of spamming the boards with my reviews (I plan to read a substantial amount of WH40k in the coming weeks) I will go ahead and make a thread for anything I review and just update it every 3 or 4 reviews.

Reviews since the last update:

*Ciaphas Cain: For The Emperor/Fight or Flight*

*H.A.W.X.*

*Star Wars: Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood*


----------



## Hachiko (Jan 26, 2011)

I particularly enjoyed the H.A.W.X. review. :grin:


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Thanks for reading Hachiko  That's one of my personal favorites reviews of all time. Something endlessly entertaining about the extremely bad books. 

Just posted another review:

Star Wars: The Last Command


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Reviews since last update:

Lord of Souls: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Star Wars: Agent of the Empire

Resident Evil book 2: Caliban Cove


Should have the next batch of reviews: Heretics of Dune, 40k: Space Wolf, and a SW comic I haven't picked out yet, up in about 3 days.

Thanks for reading!


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Reviews since last update:

Heretics of Dune

40k: Space Wolf

Batman: Year Two: Fear the Reaper

Next up is Star Wars: Jedi Academy Trilogy: Jedi Search, Warhammer 40k: Rebel Winter/The Citadel, and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

More reviews:

Assassin's Creed: Renaissance

Star Wars: Jedi Search

Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda

On deck: Star Wars: Threat of Peace, Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils, 40k: Helion Rain, 40k: Rebel Winter/The Citadel, Star Wars comic I still haven't picked out yet.


----------



## Hachiko (Jan 26, 2011)

Looking forward to your review on Rebel Winter. I haven't gotten to it yet, but I've read Gunheads by Steve Parker and I really liked it.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

As ever, I never seem to stick to schedule:

KBL: Kill Bin Laden (total impulse read)

Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils

Warhammer 40k: Rebel Winter/The Citadel 

Look for Star Wars: Threat of Peace, Star Wars: Dark Apprentice, Star Wars: Dark Lords of the Sith to be my next three reviews. Next up for 40k is the Dawn of War novelization, which will probably be posted sometime in the next 4 days, and Helion Rain, which I just can't seem to find the time to listen to. I'll try to get about 5 reviews out by the end of June, but we will see.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Star Wars: Dark Apprentice

Lowest score I've ever given anything, which makes the Jedi Academy Trilogy the only series with an entry on both my top and bottom ten lists. 

Threat of Peace will be up tomorrow, along with Dark Lords of the Sith (I hope...)


----------



## Hachiko (Jan 26, 2011)

I have not heard of such a drop in quality since Republic Commando: Hard Contact to Triple Zero.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

I haven't read Triple Zero in years, I think I will have to give it a try this month as I don't really remember anything about it other than that the series as a whole shifted from somewhat plausible military sci fi to a soap opera with occasional battles.

Today's reviews:

Star Wars: The Threat of Peace

EndWar

Warhammer40k: Dawn of War


----------



## Garrak (Jun 18, 2012)

Oh man, I've been following your reviews for a while now but today I winced when I checked your blog and saw you ran into Goto. It's best to simply avoid him. And KJA when it comes to Star Wars, he can be ... well, you saw. Amusingly enough you get a better story about Jedi training in I,Jedi by Stackpole (a portion of it overlaps with KJA's Academy trilogy but from another POV charter). 

Btw am I mistaken or have I also seen you around theforce.net?


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Garrak, I do post from time to time on the Lit forums on theforce.net. I also lurk on Jacurutu (the true Dune forums-now there is a group of people who know all about Kevin J. Anderson's "writing") and post video game walkthroughs on youtube, all under the same name. 

Sadly, I already have all but one of Goto's books (all but Salvation, which is apparently for Necromunda.) I probably won't force myself through another one any time soon though, and I'm fairly excited about my Warhammer book lineup for the rest of July which includes: Words of Blood anthology, Ciaphus Cain: Echos of the Tomb/Caves of Ice, Iron Hands (currently reading,) Gaunt's Ghosts: First and Only, and Ragnar's Claw. Planning to dig into Horus Heresy, in addition to a few other series I haven't touched yet, in August.


----------



## Garrak (Jun 18, 2012)

Sounds pretty good. Will look forward to it. Might I also recommend the Eisenhorn trilogy by Abnett and pretty much anything by Aaron Dembski-Bowden? 

Ah yes the Lit forums, I lurk there a lot (also used to post more before the damn move).


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

I have a massive collection of 40k stuff at the present, just a matter of getting around to it lol. I'm kind of put off by the newer books, especially those likely to be collected in an omnibus later on (storage and pricing concerns,) but I have managed to snag some neat stuff over the last month and a half or so. 

Here is the complete list of stuff I own, if you are interested:
Books 1-10, 13 of HH
Farseer by King
Blood Ravens Omnibus
Shira Calpurnia Omnibus
Soul Drinkers Omnibus
Eisenhorn/Ravenor Omnibus
Brotherhood of the Snake by Abnett
Sabbat Worlds
Rynn's World and Helsreach Space Marines novels
Imperial Guard Omnibus 1,2
Space Wolves Omnibus 1,2
All three Gaunt's Ghosts omnibus
Word Bearers Omnibus
Ultramarines Omnibus 1
Words of Blood anthology
Iron Hands
Cain omnibus 1,2
Grey Knights omnibus
Eldar Prophecy, Death Watch duology by Goto
Iron Warriors omnibus
A slew of audio books (found them at a half price book store,couldn't resist...that actually applies to about half the stuff on this list though.)

I was thinking of starting Eisenhorn in August too, in addition to either Grey Knights, Word Bearers, or Iron Warriors, along with continuing various other series I have enjoyed thus far. My schedule for next two or three months is going to be 6 star wars books, 6 wh40k, 6 other, and 7 comics (star wars and batman, don't read much else on that front). How much of that I actually read is to be determined, but I love reading and it should be a fun challenge.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy: Champions of the Force

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith



Hopefully tomorrow I will manage to do my reviews of both Iron Hands and Star Wars Knight Errant Volume 1. I'm also very close to finishing X-Files: Ground Zero, and will probably do either the comic books Jedi: The Dark Side or Crimson Empire III shortly thereafter.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Warhammer 40k: Iron Hands


----------



## Garrak (Jun 18, 2012)

> Here is the complete list of stuff I own, if you are interested:
> Books 1-10, 13 of HH
> Farseer by King
> Blood Ravens Omnibus
> ...


How on earth did you get so much so fast? And I can understand the pricing and storage concerns over new books as I have the same problem - but I'm weak willed so I pretty much buy them as soon as they appear. Glad you finished with KJA for now - unless you have Darksaber somewhere on that list ... and the Dune books. Yeah, the Dune books were ... what is there to say about them?

And if you enjoy fantasy as well you should look into Malazan Book of the Fallen (not easy series). You know what the problem is when you enjoy reading and hang out with others who also enjoy reading? That list of books you need to read will grow with impossible speed.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

When you can find a $15 omnibus at the used bookstore for $5, you don't pass it up. That is the story behind most of the stuff on this list. Then I bought quite a few things on Amazon, found two of the standalone books at a yard sale (this is also how I got the apparently somewhat rare Imperial Guard Omnibus Vol. 1), picked up another two omnibus at a library sale thing, and then bought quite a few of the HH books and I think one more omnibus at my local (full priced) bookstore. 

All in all I would say I spent around 200 USD (160 GBP, 203 Euro) on everything I have. Basically I'm lucky to have found all this stuff, and even luckier that there haven't been any video games to come out this year that have tempted me in the slightest, giving me plenty of money to spend on books instead. I just really like having options and figure I will get around to reading them all eventually, like by the year 2020. 

I'm lucky that almost none of my friends read books, otherwise I don't even know what kind of money I would have ended up spending on various things lol. Malazan looks pretty interesting, I might check it out when I finish the Song of Ice and Fire books, apparently they are somewhat similar? I'm generally not that much into fantasy, I haven't even read the Lord of the Rings, but I'm quite liking it so far (except the comic adaptation, that is pretty bad.) 

Oh and about KJA, I'm actually not quite done with him yet. I'm finished with X-Files: Ground Zero, which he wrote and I will be reviewing shortly, then I have two more arcs of the Tales of the Jedi comic series, which actually isn't that bad, and then Darksaber at some point. Also, I will probably force myself to read some of his Dune books, because some things must be seen to be believed.


----------



## Garrak (Jun 18, 2012)

Wow, interesting story behind the collecting of all those books. You're right, one does not pass up on 5$ deals (it's the same way I got the entire X-Wing series). And yeah aside from ME3, this year has been dry games wise. 



> I just really like having options and figure I will get around to reading them all eventually, like by the year 2020.


You do realize we'll be in our death beads and still with a pile of unread books waiting. The afterlife better have a library. 



> I'm lucky that almost none of my friends read books, otherwise I don't even know what kind of money I would have ended up spending on various things lol.


Depends. I've been acting as a one man SF-Fantasy library for quite a few years now. I'm lucky however that so far I've gotten my books back in the same condition - barring an accident or two. 



> I might check it out when I finish the Song of Ice and Fire books, apparently they are somewhat similar?


A Song of Ice and Fire is more about politics and the various characters while Malazan is more action and philosophy heavy. Both series are good but they are very different. There are also only 5 books in existence that have turned me into an emotional wreck ... all five are in the Malazan series. If you do ever get around it, the only thing I'm going to say is that the first book is the weakest - it was written 10 years before the rest of the series. 

KJA's Butlerian Jihad books are some of the boring I've ever had the misfortune to read - I couldn't even make fun of the idiocy when it showed up because my brain was numb. Darksaber is just full of silly (Daala is back btw) and the Tales of the Jedi stuff is surprisingly good for that author (Redemption in particular).


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Star Wars: Knight Errant: Aflame

X-Files: Ground Zero


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

An unbelievable combination of two days of power outages, a day without internet, and now a virus riddled main comp have slowed me down quite a bit, but nevertheless I shall press on and hopefully hit 20 reviews this month!

Hell's Kitchen Season One

Star Wars: The Crystal Star

Starcraft: Uprising

40k Raven Guard: Helion Rain (Audio Drama)


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

14 reviews for the month and a new view count record, not too bad considering I was without power/internet for roughly six days total. Look for Jedi: The Dark Side, Ragnar's Claw, The Courtship of Princess Leia, and First and Only to be among my next reviews. 


Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement

Indiana Jones and the Genesis Deluge

Star Wars: Death Star

Ciaphas Cain: Echoes of the Tomb/Caves of Ice


----------



## Hachiko (Jan 26, 2011)

Shepherd492 said:


> 14 reviews for the month and a new view count record, not too bad considering I was without power/internet for roughly six days total. Look for Jedi: The Dark Side, Ragnar's Claw, The Courtship of Princess Leia, and First and Only to be among my next reviews.


Just started First and Only myself. Loving it, loving it.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Hachiko said:


> Just started First and Only myself. Loving it, loving it.


I'm about 25 pages from the end, and I can promise that it only gets better. Very impressive book in my opinion.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

More reviews:

Star Wars: Jedi: The Dark Side

Warhammer 40k: Gaunt's Ghosts: First and Only

Warhammer 40k: Space Wolves: Ragnar's Claw

Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia

My next batch of four reviews will be: Darth Vader and the Lost Command, Splinter Cell: Fallout, X-Files: Goblins, and Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

I changed up my schedule a bit to accommodate a new release:

Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command

Splinter Cell: Fallout

X-Files: Goblins

Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories

Next up is Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War, The Stand, Rogue Squadron: Requiem for a Rogue, and Ciaphas Cain: The Traitor's Hand


----------



## Angelofdeath690 (Sep 21, 2011)

Enjoying some of your reviews, I tend to mostly read the 40k books so i don't read to many of the other reviews. But i do enjoy reading the thoughts of someone who isn't saturated by the lore and knowledge from the game. 

Keep up the good work! 

(My favorite series currently is the Cain ones!)


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

School starting + holiday= terribly unproductive last two weeks. Probably going to be on reduced output through December but I would be thrilled to get 10 reviews a month out. Anyways, here are my latest three:

Republic Commando: Triple Zero

Ciaphas Cain: The Beguiling/The Traitor's Hand (Sorry Angelofdeath!)

The Stand

My next few reviews will be Horus Rising, Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War, Aliens: Earth Hive, and Tatooine Ghost


----------



## Hachiko (Jan 26, 2011)

I think I mentioned a while back, I was looking forward to seeing your take on Triple Zero. I've got to say your review is pretty much word for word the score I would give it.
As I'm getting older, I've abandoned my habit of finishing even crappy books. But this one I did finish, only because of the respect I had for Hard Contact. That respect for Hard Contact was intensified by:
the fact that RC:HC was a good book despite being a Star Wars:EU book.
the fact that RC:HC was a damn good book for a video game adaptation.
the fact that RC:HC worked as a great military sci-fi book in a space opera universe without name dropping canon players.

And then we have Triple Zero. We get a primary protagonist of Kal Skirata, a character almost as annoying as Jar Jar. We have a few cringe-worthy mentions of classic characters, (I mention one where the Mandalorian-wannabe Jedi was talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi, all while we were supposed to be awestruck with the thought of a jedi in Mando armor). We have Karen Traviss putting Darman on a back burner, and focusing on the love lives of the other clones. In Hard Contact, the emerging love between Darman and Etain Turducken was a cool notion; two types of people, as alien as they were human, who should be unable to feel love, find it anyway. It was Nicholas Sparks meets Star Wars but by God it worked. In Triple Zero, it just sucked. 
Plus, as mentioned before, we get Skirata. We get Walon Vau and his Wonder Cat. We have, as you mentioned, a nondescript terrorist cell. In the final confrontation, there seemed so little commando work. The commando force had virtually the same numbers as the terrorists.
Delta Force was pretty cool, and could've highlighted their own book. Crammed in with Omega, it was just too much. The action scenes are still written with good technical skill. 
The book itself was graced with a pretty sweet cover.
However, considering the drop in quality between the first and second books, coupled with the fact that Traviss will not be finishing the series, I doubt I will even bother to move on to True Colors.

Excellent review. Crappy book.


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Going to repost the links that got lost with the server problems lately and a few new ones. I've been far too busy this month!

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (novel)

Star Wars: The New Rebellion

Catwoman: The Game

Batman: No Man's Land (novelization)

Resident Evil: City of the Dead 

Superman For All Seasons

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War

Aliens: Earth Hive

All Star Batman and Robin Vol. 1

Crimson Empire III: Empire Lost

Horus Heresy: Horus Rising


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Because I've been busy with many things, I haven't had time to do as many things as I'd like to with my reviews this month. Fortunately, I did have time to soak in the newest Soundgarden album and write a rather long review.

http://shepherd492.blogspot.com/2012/11/shepherd492-reviews-soundgarden-king.html#more

As soon as I can, I will try to have reviews up of the first Eisenhorn book, False Gods, Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm, and Aliens: Nightmare Asylum. I also want to get the new Hitman tie in novel reviewed before the game drops next Tuesday in the U.S. (I plan to review the game as well.)


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Finally starting to find the time to write up some more reviews. Got three (Eisenhorn: Xenos, HH: False Gods, and Batman: The Killing Joke) that I just need to put the finishing touches on and I'm very close to finishing a few more books. Hopefully it will be a productive month with holidays and all, I'd love to get up to 200 total reviews by new year's day (need 10 more.)

Knights of the Old Republic: Flashpoint

Dawn of the Jedi: Force Storm

Hitman: Damnation

Dark Tower Book 1: The Gunslinger

Spawn Origins Collection Volume 1

Aliens: Nightmare Asylum


----------



## Shepherd492 (May 1, 2012)

Can't believe it has been a month since I've updated the list here. Been a really busy time with the holidays and all and I didn't quite make it to the 200 milestone. I've got two reviews very close to being done and I'll just need one after that so it's only a matter of time!

Also in 2013 I'm going to try out publishing three articles a week on predetermined days: Monday, Wednesday, Saturday. Maybe a bit of structure will be the cure to my perpetual slacking?

Star Wars: Survivor's Quest

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Wayne of Gotham

Batman: Court of the Owls

Horus Heresy: False Gods

Batman: Noel

Star Wars: Black Fleet Crisis: Before the Storm


----------

