The Overlord Protocol, by Mark Walden, is the sequel to another book in the same series, though I haven’t had the fortune of reading the first book yet.

H.I.V.E., or the Higher Institute of Villainous Enterprises, is a school set-up by an international league of villains, known as G.L.O.V.E. (Global League of Villainous Enterprises), to train future villains. When villain Cypher launches a plot to storm H.I.V.E. and overthrow G.L.O.V.E., Otto Malpense and company land right in the middle of things, and end up having a key roll in stopping Cypher.

The book is full of humorous bits, and hidden jokes, and I like the overall premise. It was an enjoyable read, but the level is too low for my personal liking. And for some odd reason, people have decided to compare it to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. (When will people cut it out?) I fail to see how they can make the comparison. I find it closer to Artemis Fowl, though H.I.V.E. is a somewhat lower reading level than that.

Overall, The Overlord Protocol was enjoyable, though I wish it’s level was a little higher. It stands well by itself, but I would like to read the previous book nonetheless.

I think it’s safe to say you’ve heard of Jurassic Park.

I just finished reading the book last week, and it’s a lot better than the movie, that’s for sure. There is plenty of character background, back story, spread throughout the novel, along with some scientific factoids blended in. It is a well-crafted cross between a sci-fi book and a horror novel.

The storyline is significantly different, and much darker than its cinematographic counterpart. The characters are different as well. While Spielberg played-up the “Cool, Dinosaurs! Oh no, they’ve escaped” part in the film (though many character deaths were written out), the book has plenty of other things to balance it out.

Jurassic Park opens with the attacks of several Compsognathi, which had somehow escaped Isla Nublar. While everyone is confused about the “lizards” behind the attack (which were assumed to be Basilisks), Dr. Grant and company are at a dig site. They are asked a few questions by a government official concerned about the actions of the InGen corporation, who had been transferring supercomputers and genetic sequencers to their island off the coast of Costa Rica. After the official leaves, Hammond contacts them, and offers Grant and his student Dr. Sattler payment to come down to his park for the weekend.

Cell: A Novel is the only book I’ve read by Steven King so far. So far, it’s the best book of his I’ve read.

In Cell, an odd happening called The Pulse (a wave sent through cellphones to their users). Basically what The Pulse did was erase all the cellphone users’ brains. Scary?

The book details the survival of a small group of people who weren’t Pulsed because they didn’t have cellphones. By survival I mean “running from insane ‘Phoners’.” Eventually th Phoners started to develop a sort of single mind resembling that of an ant colony. “Survival” is a broad term including most of the book.

Though a little…odd, it was a good book. Even though it’s really hard to describe (this is my third time trying to write this review), it’s still good. The book got going with the main plot really fast. There were only a few pages before the Pulse happened. Judging by what I’ve heard from other people, this must be one of his less-scary books.

By the way… I don’t have a cellphone (and neither does Steven King).

In 1968, a book by Anne McCaffrey known as Dragonflight was published. It was derived from s short story she published earlier on called “Weyr Search”. Dragonflight was followed by two more called Dragonquest and The White Dragon. Today there are over 20 books in the Dragonrider’s of Pern series, the latest two being co-written by her son Todd McCaffrey.

A brief history of Pern:

A few decades ahead of today (I want to say in the 2040s, but I don’t remember), a group of people are sent to colonize a planet known as P.E.R.N. They come in three spacecraft and settle there, with no way to return due to the fuel capacity of the ships.

Eventually trouble begins. Thread, an omnivorous fungus-type thing, starts to fall from the sky. It came from a cloud trailing an erratically orbiting planet (dubbed “The Red Star” by Pern’s inhabitants). Thread dissolves/eats pretty much anything carbon based, so the only safe places from it are caves, buildings made from non-carbon plastics, and underwater (not a good option). Fire burns the Thread, killing it. Unfortunately, Thread can’t be allowed to touch the ground. It starts eating the plant matter and animals, multiplying and burrowing into the ground as it does so.

To combat the Thread, the colonists (a large group of farmers, scientists, builders, geneticists, etc) at first use HNO3 devices in combination with “hoversleds” to char the Thread before it hit the ground. They continued to do this while their geneticists looked to a better solution.

Based off a native species known as a “Fire Lizard”, the Pernese created dragons. They were telepathic and could breathe fire after eating phosphine-bearing rocks. This proved to be the solution they needed until the Thread stopped.

The Thread did stop after a few decades, but it started again after. It turned out that the Red Star reliably passed by Pern on a regular basis.

Dragonriders of Pern is almost certainly my favorite Sci-Fi series. I haven’t yet found a Sci-Fi book, other than Dragonriders, that was this good. Dragonriders is very realistic as you read it (very believable), and unlike other Sci-Fi books it isn’t bleh. The complex storyline unfolds over the large number of books, ending in…well I won’t spoil it. Give it a try.