Book Review # 9: The Golden Skull

To start out, I need to apologize for not posting anything here for over a month.  A combination of being busy and my health problems caused a big portion of that.  I started going through treatment for some of my health problems earlier this week that should help out.

The Golden Skull is the tenth book in the Rick Brant series by John Blaine.  In this book Rick and Scotty accompany Dr. Tony Briotti, an archaeologist with the Spindrift Foundation, to a mountainous area with aborigines to find some lost sacred relics, the largest of which  is a golden skull.  The problem is that there are others trying to find the same items through them, some of them for monetary reasons, others for religious.  Like the other books in the series that I've reviewed there are many adventures encountered along the way.

Yes, this a boys series book from the 1950's, but as I said in an earlier review, I like reading some of these boys and girls series books because they have adventures in them that keep you riveted throughout the book.  Just like the other ones in the series I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Download Links:

Project Gutenberg:  http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32270

Many Books:  http://manybooks.net/titles/goodwinh3227032270-8.html

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Skull-Brant-Science-Adventure-Story-ebook/dp/B01B7QKD66/ref=sr_1_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1473992793&sr=1-11&keywords=rick+brant

Barnes & Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-golden-skull-john-blaine/1113564572?ean=2940011950162

Tim's Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)

Book Review # 8: The Rocket's Shadow

     The Rocket's Shadow is the first book in the Rick Brant series.  It's about Rick and his new friend Scotty trying to find who is behind the mishaps and disappearances  of items from the rocket that the Spindrift Foundation is working on for a contest.  There is a lot of adventure in this one just like the other books in the series.

     I was looking around for this book and was starting think that I would have to try to find it at the library.  I then discovered that I could download it from Amazon for 99 cents.  I still have money on my account from gift cards that I got for Christmas, so I decided to purchase it.  I'm glad I did.

Purchase Link

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Rockets-Shadow-Brant-Electronic-Adventure-ebook/dp/B01BR1645K/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1470751112&sr=1-2&keywords=rick+brant#nav-subnav

Tim's Rating:  ****
(Four out of five stars)

Book Review # 7: The Caves Of Fear

     The Caves Of Fear is the eighth book in the Rick Brant series  by John Blaine (Harold Leeland Goodwin).  After deciphering a telegram from Chahda, a boy from India that worked for the Spindrift Foundation in some of the earlier books, Rick, Scotty and Hobart Zircon, a nuclear physicist for the foundation, go on a mission to Asia for the U.S. government that was related to the telegram.  Their mission is to find the source of heavy water that has been being sold and schools all over Asia.  They have a lot of adventures in the process and travel across Asia to find the source and Rick puts his latest invention to good use throughout these adventures.  Parts of the book made me think that they could make a good story for a adventure or RPG game.

Downloads:

Project Gutenberg:  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32269
Many Books:  http://manybooks.net/titles/blainejo3226932269-8.html

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Brant-Science-Adventure-Halcyon-Classics-ebook/dp/B004ELAGZA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1470668437&sr=1-1&keywords=Rick+Brant#nav-subnav

Barnes & Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rick-brant-science-adventure-series-john-blaine/1028374760?ean=2940011865343

Tim's Rating:  *****
(Five out of five)

Book Review #6: Smugglers' Reef

     Smugglers' Reef  is the seventh book in the Rick Brant book, a boy's series book, written by John Blaine (pseudonym for Harold Leeland Goodwin), but the first in the Public Domain as an ebook.  Rick Blaine and his best friend Don "Scotty" Scott are junior technicians in the Spindrift Foundation which is a society of scientists that live and work on Spindrift Island. This book starts out when there friend Jerry Webster, a reporter for the local newspaper, gets a phone call from his local editor about a fishing trawler crashing on Smugglers' Reef.  Rick and Scotty ride along with Jerry  and notice that the capatin of the ship and his wife both seem to be scared.  Rick decides that he wants to solve this mystery, so along with Scotty, Jerry and Cap'n Mike, a new acquaintance, work on solving it.  There are many twists and turns in this book with a lot of adventure.

     I found out about this series from my friend Marty who knows I like to read Bo;s series books and he informed me that some of the books are now in the Public Domain as ebooks. I am introducing a new feature in this book where I will include download links that you can download or read the books online. I will also include links for purchasing the books from Amazon (Kindle) and Barnes & Noble (Nook).  Both of these sites have free apps available for your computer, tablets and smartphones where you can read these books.

    If you know of any boy's series and girl's series books from the early 1900's that you like, please let me know in the comments below.

Download Links:

Project Gutenberg:  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28849
Many Books:  http://manybooks.net/titles/blainejo2884928849-8.html

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rick-Brant-Science-Adventure-Halcyon-Classics-ebook/dp/B004ELAGZA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1470668437&sr=1-1&keywords=Rick+Brant#nav-subnav

Barnes & Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rick-brant-science-adventure-series-john-blaine/1028374760?ean=2940011865343

Tim's Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)

Short Story Review #1: Second Variety

     Second Variety is a short story by Philip K. Dick that was published in the May, 1953 edition of Space Science Fiction.  It is a post-apocalyptic story in which the United States and the Soviet Union are still at war. The United States have designed an implemented robots to help them in the war, but some of the robots have gone rogue.

     If you like science fiction, I think you might like this story.  You can download it for free at:    https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32032

Tim's Rating:  ****
(Four out of five stars)

Blog Update

     It has been almost a month since a last posted a blog entry.  My health problems and being busy has caused that.  I have found it a little harder to read larger novels lately due to my health problems.  Because of that, I have decided to read shorter novels and short stories and write reviews of them in this blog.

     When I started this blog, I stated that I would include music and movie reviews, but haven't posted any yet.  I have decided to mainly do book reviews in this blog and may start another blog in the future for those reviews along with this one.

Book Review #5: Pollyanna Grows Up

     A little over two weeks ago I wrote a review of the book Pollyanna by Elanor H. Porter. I enjoyed that book so much that I decided to read the sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up. This book starts up a few months after Pollyanna arrives home from the sanitarium.  This book is divided between Pollyanna's life at a couple different ages.

     The first half is when she's thirteen.  Her new uncle is offered a position in Germany and want Aunt Polly to go with him. Aunt Polly will not go unless she knows Pollyanna has somewhere to live while they are in Germany. A nurse from the sanitarium hears about it and persuades her sister, Mrs. Carew, to take Pollyanna for the school year. Mrs Carew is a wealthy widow that keeps to herself in a large, dark house in Boston. Aunt Polly agrees to the living situation and gets Pollyanna enrolled at a girl's school near Mrs. Carew.

     After Pollyanna returns home in the spring, her aunt and uncle decide to return to Germany and take Pollyanna with them. The second half of the book takes place when Pollyanna is twenty and they come back home from Germany. Things have changed and they are trying to adjust to the changes.

     As in the first book, Pollyanna changes many people's lives, both new friends and old friends. I enjoyed reading it a seeing the types of changes she made in their lives.


Tim's Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)