Agent Palmer

The second book in The Voyage of Jerle Shannara trilogy: Antrax is both a wonderful continuation of The Four Lands I have come to know and a departure from the other books as well. And in that way it is a must-read, but only if you read the Ilse Witch that came before it.

With Ilse Witch, Terry Brooks is starting another trilogy, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara, and he does it without really missing a beat from everything that came before it. Seriously, both The Sword of Shannara Trilogy and the Heritage of Shannara Tetralogy have an impact on what is going to happen.

Len Deighton’s Goodbye Mickey Mouse is as much a love story between men and women as it is between man and machine. It’s historical fiction set in the 220th Fighter Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in early 1944.

Michael Chabon’s Wonder Boys is the kind of book you just get lost in. You pick it up and before you know it, half the book’s pages are behind you and you have no idea what time it is.

XPD is a brilliant display of elements from prior books and it’s not a slow build. It’s yet another example of how in Deighton books, characters’ motivations have an impact on the direction of the plot equal to or more so than their actions.