Book Log 2018 #32: The Pilgrim of Hate by Ellis Peters

The victim in this installment of the Cadfael series is a knight who is a friend of our crime solving monk, which makes him even more motivated than usual to find the killer. Problem is this happens right around the feast for Saint Winifred, the patron saint of the abbey, so there are more suspects than usual. There's also the case of a young lame boy, whose desire for a miracle cure gets wrapped up in the case. 

It's pretty standard Cadfael fare, but as usual told well. 

 Book Log 2018 #31: The Code Book by Simon Singh

I remember having particularly meh feelings about this book, which looks at the history (and future) of cryptography, but I have no idea why. Did it not line up with what little I already knew about the subject? Did it repeat stories that I may not have considered historically accurate? Did its sections on the future get too fanciful? Or was I just in a mood? 

Can't say, so you might as well dip in and see if my ambivalence is justified. 

 Book Log 2018 #30: Munich by Robert Harris

Old friends from Oxford find themselves as junior members of their respective national delegations at the conference in Munich that led to the "peace in our time" agreement between the UK and Germany that, ultimately, did not prevent World War II. While they haven't seen each other in years, the two friends find themselves with very similar ideas as to whether or not this agreement is a good idea - and if there's something they can do to stop it. 

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but then I tend to like Harris' novels in general. Certainly worth reading.

 Book Log 2018 #29: Fallout by Harry Turtledove

The Cold War has turned hot, as both the US and Soviet Union have turned to using nuclear weapons against each other and their allies in the hopes of claiming world dominance. Both sides look to use these new weapons to decapitate the leadership of the other, and where they fail internal politics may wind up succeeding.

I have mixed feelings about this book (and the series in general), mostly based the mixed feelings I have towards Turtledove's more recent work. I'm also not sure this series really depicts the sorts of horrors that would have been unleashed if the Cold War really did lead to this sot of actual war (though I say this with the caveat that it's been a while since I've read this book and could be underestimating how the war is being depicted).

Is it worth checking this series out? Hard to say. I've not been clamoring to read the final book, but at the same time writing this recap makes me want to get to it. I suppose I'm at the point with Turtledove that I'm at with Steve Berry. Not exactly hate reading, but not exactly real enjoyment either.

 Book Log 2018 #28: Head On by John Scalzi

Humans are infinitely adaptable in the face of change, as seen in this series where people who contract Hayden's Syndrome - which leaves people unable to use their bodies but keeps their minds intact - learn to interact with the world through robot-like machines (threeps). Not only do those affected adapt, but the wider world does as well, creating a variety of supports and social opportunities (as well as breeding some old-fashioned discrimination).

One of those adaptations is a sport where teams of threeps compete to remove the head of an opponent and carry it across a goal line, It's violent, popular, and generally harmless to the competitors as the damage is done to the machines. But when one of the athletes dies, it's up to FBI agent Chris Shane (himself a Hayden's sufferer) and his partner to figure out what happened. 

I like this series a lot, and appreciate the ways it makes you think about disability and difference while still keeping the story first.  I'm hopeful, and a little impatient, for more books in the series.