Calvin Hayes
Bio
Welcome! I'm a London-based classical guitarist with a love of books, politics, linguistics, nature, and history. I'll be primarily using this platform to review books, but we'll see what the future holds before ruling anything else out.
Stories (4)
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Book Review: 'Death's Mistress'
Dyslexic artist and carpenter Terry Goodkind burst onto the fantasy scene in 1994 with his debut novel, Wizard's First Rule, and immediately set himself at the forefront of the burgeoning American fantasy scene. Since then, his yearly additions to his Sword of Truth series have solidified his right to be remembered alongside David Eddings, Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, and Terry Brooks as one of the big names in high fantasy. Goodkind proved time and again that he could run with fantasy's "big dogs," with his ambitious worldbuilding and seemingly unstoppable work ethic (George Martin could learn a thing or two) making up for his less-than-florid prose.
By Calvin Hayes8 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: 'Manitou Canyon'
Cork O'Connor is a half-Irish, half-Anishinaabe Minnesotan private investigator with a history of getting in too deep. Since 1998, his sleuthing exploits have been the subject of 15 books by author William Kent Krueger, and have seen him traveling across Minnesota and north Ontario to destroy a human trafficking ring, take down corrupt business moguls, solve inexplicable murders, and rebuild a marriage with a wife whose death he'd later find himself investigating. If you haven't checked out Krueger's work, do yourself a favour and head down to your local bookstore.
By Calvin Hayes8 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: History of the Russian Revolution
Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution is, in many ways, one of the most important works of historical writing. Simply put, this book retells the story of 1917's Bolshevik Revolution, a communist uprising that ushered in a new era of human history, the effects of which are still being felt today. These three volumes collect an (almost tediously) in-depth retelling of the event, made all the more significant because it was put down in words by one of the foremost architects of the event itself.
By Calvin Hayes8 years ago in The Swamp
Book Review: Full Dark, No Stars
Hello all, and welcome to the first of presumably many book reviews to come from yours truly. Before we get into the review proper, I'd like to give a little background information regarding why I'm reviewing a seven-year-old book. The long and the short of it is this; I've challenged myself this year to read 100 books, none of which I'm allowed to have read before. Yes, I'm on track, and yes, I really do enjoy it. But reading nine or more books a month has its downside—I've had to exhaust my bookshelf to find things I haven't read yet. So, more or less, that's what's brought me to this point (and a little further info—the bulk of my reviews will be of books I've read for this challenge, so many of the books reviewed here will fall into this "dated" category).
By Calvin Hayes8 years ago in Geeks
