Exalted is an excellent RPG series, and Dragon-Blooded is a spectacular addition to the game. Because you still need the basic exalted book for the majority of the mechanics, most of its 224 pages is taken up with background material, including histories and profiles that will be very useful to any GM who wants to stick as closely as possible to the "cannon" of Exalted.

The castes are interesting, and the way in which the favored skills are broken up between them is much more satisfying than it was with the Solar Exalted.

As a matter of fact, the only reason this gets four stars instead of five is that I really really wish it could be used without the original Exalted book. The Dragon-Blooded are generally more dynamic, interesting, and well-rounded than the Solars are, and it's a shame that you have to spend close to $60 in order to play them.

Still, this is definitely worth your money if you're into medieval/martial arts action/adventure roleplaying or you are already a fan of exalted in general.

First of all Exalted is probably the best thing to come along for pen and paper RPing in a good long while.Particularly, it's the freshest thing to come to the fantasy genre in a good long time. I love White Wolf products, their other games are a change from other good but overplayed systems but this is something really new. The Dragon Blooded Supplement only adds to this. It contains a wealth of information on the realm, the dragon blooded, the immaculate order, and so much more. Though this background info comprises at least half the book, evert page of it is full of new and interesting material, next to nothing from the core Exalted book about the Dragon Blooded is repeated, that's how thorough it is. Furthermore, if you're dealing with intelligent gamers rather than pokemon-style "I want to be the very best" and kill everything people, then Dragon blooded make truly deep and excellent characters with opportunities for most any type of story. Even if your players don't want to play Dragon Blooded, this supplement is worth it for the background info and the detail you can include for Dragon Blooded storyteller characters. I can't reccomend this enough.

This was going to be an important book in many ways. It's the first big supplement for Exalted, and the figures it details are going to be the most common enemies for any Exalted game.

But it suceeds. Hugely.

The books is dedicated to fleshing out the Terrestrial Exalted, or 'Dragon-Blooded'. They're the weakest but most numerous Exalted, and currently control Creation from the Blessed Isle at it's centre.

A sizable portion of the book is given over to explaining how the Realm's society works. It comes across as a credible system of government in a world where the ruling classes are individually far more powerful than the plebians. You can believe that this system of government could actually exist, which lends quite a bit of credibility to the setting. It also explains how things are breaking down now that the immortal ruler of the Realm has vanished and the families she established are battling for position. Also mentioned here is what it's like for a Terrestrial Exalted to actually grow up, undergo education and make their way in the hostile world without and the twisting mazes of obligations and politics within. Also detailed are the Immaculate monks and their belief system and abilities. (Yes, as in martial arts movies, the bald-headed monks are the most terrifying fighters.)

Though this makes up about half the book, it doesn't seem a page too long. You can tell the authors have thought about how these superhumans would interact with each other, mortals and the outside world. As a result, the setting of the Realm and it's inhabitants has a consistency and credibility that a lot of other fantasy settings lack.

Then we move on to the game material. Pleasingly, the powers of the Terrestrials have not been beefed up so much as varied--the average Solar, Lunar or Abyssal will chew up a Terrestrial of equivalent experience and spit them out. They are, however, geared towards working as a team as opposed to Solar characters who can be built up into one-man armies. There are Charms that allow a group to enter a 'hive-mind' where they can draw on each other's knowledge of a battle, enhance the courage of their followers or allow a group of allies to all attack one enemy with no penalty. The Immaculate martial arts are also detailed, adding five new Styles to them. Finally, you get to use the quote "Your Snake style fighting is strong, but my Water Dragon style will defeat you!" Or maybe I've just watched too many kung fu movies....anyway, though the Martial Arts powers are deadly (The higher-level Charms let you rip people's souls from their bodies, burst into flame or transform into living stone) they carry an increased cost and can be accessed by other Exalted.

New character creation rules are introduced. To go briefly over them, Terrestrials don't have Allies or Contacts, they have Connections and replace Followers with Legions (up to 1000 soliders). Also, they have extra skill points (but have required minimum ratings for some skills) easier access to Artifacts and Hearthstones. They also have a Background called Breeding that allows them to alleviate their small Essence pool problem. While this doesn't make them overpowering (they're supposed to be the weakest Exalted type, remember), it does give them flavour and edges.

The book is rounded off by a section detailing possible uses for the source material. Campaigns with the PC's all being young Terrestrials at boarding school or with them being several generations of the same family over several centuries. There's also a thoughtful segment on how to present the Realm's less savoury practices in a game, and whether to impose 20'th century sensibilities on a fantasy culture or whether to accept 'that's the way things are here'.

Problems? Maybe that the book tries a bit too hard not to reprint information from the core book or supplements, sometimes leaving out quite important information like the names of the Elemental Dragons, the beings the Terrestrials worship. Also, there's little information on the Exalted-hunting organisation the Wyld Hunt, which is annoying, given that that's probably one of the main ways Terrestrial and Solar PC's will come into contact.

But that's a minor niggle. Whether you want to send a group into the Realm, run a lower-powered Exalted game (Spiderman level, rather than the Superman level of the Solars) or just want some detailed NPC's, this book will satisfy.

Given what a good job they've done here, I await with bated breath for the Lunar Exalted sourcebook.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Europeans and Americans discovered the world of Japanese woodblock prints and thus began an enduring love affair. One result has been the publication over the last century of literally hundreds of books and thousands of articles about the prints known as "ukiyoe," with a particular emphasis on such giants of the genre as Hokusai and Hiroshige. How then, in this crowded field, does one manage to create a must-have publication for readers who may already have well-stocked libraries on Japanese art?

One answer is to be found in "Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James A. Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts." Issued by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco in conjunction with an exhibition, "Hokusai and Hiroshige" is typical of a new wave of "ukiyoe" books that combine excellent design (of layout and typography) with clear and interesting text. Every page displaying a print has a near equal amount of space devoted to text, and the book benefits as well from introductory essays by three established experts. The text in particular appeals to me, providing not only insights about the compositional nature of each print but also detail on the locales depicted by these two great landscape artists and appropriate historical information. There is room for improvement in "Hokusai and Hiroshige"--I would have preferred more standard romanizations for some Japanese words and the inclusion of an index covering well more than just print titles--but overall this is an excellent and valuable volume.

I have not "finished" this book, nor do I intend to for a long time. I take it out to admire, print by print, sometimes reading the informative text, sometimes not. This is not a comic book to rush through. Linger, enjoy.

This volume was the companion for the exhibits at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. It covers all the lerge number of works shown there, each with descriptions of what is depicted and some in the points of interest that highlight each artist's rendering of the scene. There are sections on the lives of each artist and the fairly primitive tools used to create these intricate multi-colored (and thus multi-pressed) prints. The full collection of sets, such as the Hokusai views of Mount Fuji, are very well done and would in themselves make this book worthwhile. The sum total of both these woodblock masters is awe inspiring and sumptuous.

General: James White wrote a series of novellas and novels about a huge, inter-species hospital space station called Sector General. Sector General is staffed by a variety of different intelligent species, including humans, and treats the hardest cases from all over the galaxy. White seems to delight in generating as varied a population as possible for this ship, and gives great detail about the different physical forms seen in the staff, along with their eating habits, social habits, mating habits (in a very PG, if not G-rated way), and cultural beliefs.

Specific: In "Major Operation", several staff members start making small and inexplicable errors, sometimes with grave consequences. Eventually, the problem is traced to the presence of a shape-shifting, mindless, alien tool, that takes whatever form its user wants, but without necessarily functioning correctly. Once its nature is understood, it becomes extremely valuable. But, where did it come from? That leads everyone back to a recently-discovered planet, nicknamed "Meatball" because of its appearance, that is occupied by a race of creatures that must be in constant motion to avoid suffocation ("rollers"). Much of Meatball is covered by a thick, mobile, vegetable rug, upon which the Rollers feed. Senior Physician Conway discovers that one of these "rugs" is alive and is the creator of the shape-shifting tool, but is dying of cancer caused by the Rollers' misuse of nuclear weaponry (yes, that's an anti-nuclear message). The rug also has no means of communicating. Or, does it? How do you treat a continent-sized intelligent lawn that interprets your treatment as more attacks? How do you treat a patient that size even if you can get it to understand your intentions? These are the questions that Conway must answer.

Technical: James Whites writes with great pace, simple dialogue, good character development, and frequent light humor, while tackling fairly complex plots and issues. While "Major Operation" is not the best in the series (I would give that honorific to "The Genocidal Healer"), it is an amusing story that is actually the first novella of the Sector General series that was not initially serialized short stories. The ending also seems a bit rapid, although it remains logical and true.

At this stage of his career, Conway has gotten over the shyness that once drove him to socialize almost exclusively with ETs, to the extent that he and pathologist Murchison are now married, but he retains his old friendships. The common theme among these stories is that they are connected with the establishment of first contact with the various inhabitants of the planet Drambo (a.k.a. Meatball). In a reversal of the usual pattern, the water-breathing members of Sector General's staff, even the Hudlars, are quite comfortable with the assignment, while the Earth-humans need special gear.

"Invader" - Senior Physician Mannon (a.k.a. Mannen, depending on which edition of which volume you have), Conway's old mentor, has had at least 5 distinct accidents during surgery, when some weird incident has nearly resulted in serious damage to a patient. O'Mara has assigned Conway to find out what's going on - not to look for psych problems O'Mara is assured don't exist, but for any outside agency affecting Mannon's performance. Mannon himself thinks they're wasting their time. (If "Trouble with Emily" from _Hospital Station_ left you wondering how a pet dog would cope with a Diagnostician as a master, wonder no more, by the way.) O'Mara nearly has hysterics at the results of Conway's questioning of the junior staff - they almost think the place is haunted afterwards - which turns up an unusual number of weird and silly mistakes. :)

"Vertigo" - Introducing one of the intelligent species of Drambo, originally a gift from White's friend Bob Shaw. The Monitor Corps has rescued a very sick alien from Drambo's first attempt at launching a spacecraft.

"Blood Brother" - Conway, now assigned to help the survey team establishing contact with Drambo, participates in the first encounter with the Drambon equivalent of a medic. Let's face it, White has a sick sense of humor. :)

"Meatball" - That's what the survey people named Drambo, before discovering that it held intelligent life. This picks up where "Blood Brother" left off, as the staff at Sector General itself attempts to communicate with the healer encountered in the previous story.

"Major Operation" - The operation in question is the massive one planned in the preceding stories: coping with the treatment of the members of Drambo's second intelligent species, who may not be numerous but may still entail *very* large logistical and diplomatic problems.

Sector Twelve General Hospital is a mulit-leveled, multi-species facility hanging like a misshapen christmas tree in space near the galactic rim. But all is not well. *Something* is causing the staff of Sector General, including a respected Senior Physician, to make small ridiculous errors - very dangerous in the delicately balanced multi-enviroment of the the Station. And it's up to Dr. Conway to find out who, or what, is behind it. No sooner is this problem solved then the Monitor Corp rescues the occupant of a malfunctioning experimental space capsule and bring it to Sector General but the patient keeps getting worse dispite the best efforts of the staff. And finally Conway joins a Monitor mission to a world called Meatball. He's had some odd patients in his time but he's never been called upon to treat an entire planet before!

This story actualy tells the truth about what practicaly any man would do in a certain situation which meant life or death. You would have to forget every humaine thing you've learned to survive. This story proves it.

White-Out is a powerful novel of survival on the most desolate place on earth--Antarctica. Marshall weaves one man's tale of human survival with the majesty of life on the desolate continent. The protagonist, Lockwood, finds himself trying to survive on the most inhospitable place on earth and in the process comes to love the god-forsaken land. Its majestic beauty and rich varied wildlife, unmarred by human-kind becomes the sole confidant in Lockwood's fight for survival. The end finds Lockwood returning the favor in a compelling moral climax.

British author James Vance Marshall, best known for his novel of the Australian outback, "Walkabout," has written a riveting psychological study of an ordinary man's struggle for survival through an Antarctic winter in 1942.

The novel begins after his rescue, in the office of a military psychologist assigned to treat the uncommunicative Lt. James Lockwood, sole survivor of the Royal Navy's secret mission to the forbidding continent. The doctor, directed to break through Lockwood's suspect amnesia and uncover the results of his top-secret mission, sympathizes with his patient's obvious trauma and recommends he be left alone.

Later, the case haunts him. "I am afraid that if Lockwood keeps his secrets (whatever they are) perpetually bottled up, they will become an incubus, like a dead albatross tied for the rest of his life round his neck."

The novel then drops back to the beginning of the mission, ostensibly a military weather station, but also an urgent, secret hunt to find uranium for Britain's nuclear bomb project. Meanwhile, a German U-boat, forced south by an Allied ship, discovers the station and destroys it, killing everyone but the commander, John Ede, who is badly wounded, and two men out fetching rock samples, Lockwood and Petty-Officer Ramsden.

Returning to the devastation, Lockwood and Ramsden realize their only hope is to reach the Antarctic Peninsula before it's iced in - 200 miles in two or three weeks. Carrying their helpless commander and the uranium rock samples will render their task even more hopeless. But Lockwood cannot abandon Ede and Ede will not abandon the uranium, so the two able-bodied men take turns dragging the heavy sledge.

Weather favors them, giving rise to hope. Each day Ede grows weaker but remains alive. Ramsden, more practical than Lockwood but accustomed to following orders, would abandon Ede to save themselves and their mission but Lockwood will not. Their streak of luck falters, fails, and the continent batters them.

Marshall slowly strips Lockwood of the accoutrements of civilization - bodily comfort, companionship, food, light. Isolated in the frozen dark, on a continent abandoned by all forms of life, Lockwood falls back on the primal instinct to survive. His mind becomes his only solace and his greatest peril.

The vast, majestic, terrifying beauty of Antarctica comes alive in this penetrating and sympathetic portrayal of a man thrown upon his deepest resources. Instinct and spiritual epiphany meet and mesh in a manner impossible in civilized society, a contradiction Lockwood must reconcile upon his return. But can he? And if he could, would anyone understand?

Marshall's plain, simple style, and attention to detail, reflective of Lockwood's mind, makes a perfect foil for the immensity of the landscape and the man's ordeal. Powerful, suspenseful and moving, "White-Out" succeeds on many levels.

All the previous volumes in the series were told from the viewpoint of Dr. Peter Conway, except for the first story in _Hospital Station_. All the volumes from this point on are from the viewpoint of other characters, no two the same, and only two of them human. _Code Blue Emergency_ not only has the honor of being the first experiment with the new style, but is the first story told from the viewpoint of one of the non-human staff members: Cha Thrat, the first female to achieve the status of warrior-surgeon among her people, and how she came to be the first and so far only Sommaradvan to join Sector General's staff.

Cha Thrat is a Somaradvan warrior-surgeon, one of the first *female* warrior surgeons. She is also a stickler for the traditional proprieties of her calling which makes her very unpopular with her collegues and superiors. Her unsatifactory career takes a dramatic turn when she is called upon to treat an injured human. Dispite her ignorance of the species she manages to save the life of a Monitor Corps Captain who shows his gratitude by getting her an appointment to Sector General. Though intelligent, adaptable and eager to please Cha Thrat manages to create havoc in every ward to which she is assigned. Determined not to return home a failure she accepts a transfer to the Hospital's maintenance staff and quickly discovers the work is neither menial nor dull. For a while it looks like Cha Thrat has finally found her niche - then a maintenance job takes her aboard the Ambulance Ship Rhabwar and she finds herself breaking rules and offending people all over again. This entry in the Sector General Series is especially interesting for its close up look at the work of the Maintenance Department and is the first novel to be told from a non-human, and female, POV.

"James Humes is over the top!" exclaims the introdcution (written by Humes pal and British MP Jonathon Aiken). Indeed he is. This book reflects that sentiment in both the positive and negative aspects, though on balance it is highly entertaining. Humes has many good stories to tell and tells them well. He does, however, give off the feel that there might be SOME exaggeration going on. Still, the book is quick and enjoyable to read.

The author, "lawyer, legislator, diplomat, author, historian, actor, professor, and White House speechwriter", recipient of the Order of the British Empire and dance-partner with Queen Elizabeth, seems to have been everywhere and met everyone, most notably the several U.S. Presidents for who whom he wrote speeches.
Humes' chatty narrative style, marred only by a few regrettable typos, painlessly shares some remarkable insights into high politics and diplomacy, with such highlights as; Nixon's candidate for "Deep Throat", and the real reason Ford pardoned Nixon.
Not incidentally, Humes is today a professional speaker whose tips on public speaking would be well worth the price of admission here to anyone who speaks publicly.
Very entertaining.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

This audiobook is an excellent addition to the U.S. history-buff's glove compartment. There are basically four tapes of interviews by Roger Mudd done for the History Channel. Mudd asks questions to the featured historians and they respond with stories and factoids to keep you thinking. I can listen to them many times and still learn things that I didn't catch the last time around. This is also a great way to brush up on your U.S. history while enriching what you already know.

This is the very best audio tape I've ever listened to. While some interviews are better (Stephen Ambrose) than others (Richard White), each one offers important insight and perspective on the most important events of our time. Through the eyes of these men, our nation's history is told so clearly and succinctly, and with such passion, that you can't help but be changed and moved by the experience. I guarantee you'll come away with a better grasp of who we are and where we're headed as a nation.

I really enjoyed the third installment of this hilarious series of books! Althought it was entertaining, it was not as good as the first two, Snaps and Double Snaps. I find these books particularly interesting because i used to live in the city and play "snaps" with my friends and see who came up with the best insult.

I was A really good book I can't stop lauaging!

James Houston, a noted glass designer (for Steuben) lived among the Eskimos as a civil servant for the Canadian government. He helped them organize coops for the distribution of their art. This book is about the sailors who are taken in by Eskimos after their ship sinks. It vividly contrasts the highly organized and friendly Eskimo society with the unruly and often cruel code of the European seafarer. Great reading from an author who knows! Also recommend his Spiritwrestler.

I read this book many years ago as a child on a recommendation from my father. He gave me his copy of the book before he died. The book's details on Inuit life and how it is affected by the inclusion of the sailors makes for great reading. This should be required reading in school and for any Sociology course.

What a useless bunch these young and handsome Brits were! Ensconced in a valley in Kenya they named Happy Days during the '30s, they transformed what had been a laudable pioneering community less than 30 years before into a cesspool worthy of a Somerset Maugham play. Parties lasted for days, wife swapping was endemic, alcoholism and drugs were the norm and the motto was "Party On!"

The main surprise of Lord Erroll's murder, shot in the head while sitting in his car was that anyone cared enough, was passionate enough to carry out the dastardly deed. Lord Erroll was involved with the former Diana Caldwell, Lady Broughton. They had not been discreet, and it was an activity he had been perfecting for years. You could safely say adultery was the rule, rather than an aberration. Lord Broughton was arrested, tried and found not guilty. The evidence was flimsy, Lord Broughton was a calm and credible witness, and there it ended. The question was if Broughton wasn't the murderer, who was? The first half of the book acquaints us with the players and the crime. The second half is the sleuthing that the author and the late Cyril Connelly did to solve the crime thirty years after the fact.

The book is interesting and moves at a good pace. I had to smile at the author's obvious enchantment with Lady Diana. He finally met her when she was in her late sixties, and her charm was as potent as ever. The story has "movie" written all over it, and a highly successful film was made in the early '80s. My problem with the book is I never could mind much about either the suspects or the victim. They were all equally unlikable, so solving the crime was not compelling. Mr. Fox has done a good job of marshalling the facts and digging out the clues. He has me convinced his conclusion is the right one. If I only cared, I would be more enthused.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer

Fox does an outstanding job in researching the murder of Lord Erroll in compiling this book, which reads like an Agatha Christie mystery. The first half of the book looks at the actual murder of Lord Erroll in Kenya in 1941. This has all the elements of a good mystery -- money, luxury, pride, sex, jealousy, etc. The second half of the book is an intricate examination of the evidence and Fox's own investigation into the murder mystery. Although one might wonder while reading this how Fox will "solve" his mystery, he presents his material in such a way that will keep the reader turning pages.

James Fox takes the reader into the world of 1941's Happy Valley crowd of Nairobi, Kenya to explore the murder of of Jossyln Hay, Earl of Erroll. The Earl, better known as Joss, was a member of the upper-class enclave of English colonials living in Kenya at the time of WWII. A lady's man, Joss Hay, like many of the Happy Valley set, ignored the "rules" of society, and indulged himself with who ever caught his eye, married or not. He was found, on the morning of January 24, shot through the head, in a car near Happy Valley. This account of a true story, resurfaces all the decadence and indulgence that is a major force of history of Nairobi's colonial society. A suspect was brought to trial, but the case was never resolved. Mr. Fox, years later, examines the evidence of the trial, interviews survivors, and escorts the reader through the process of investigation to discover who really pulled the trigger and why. A riveting look at a pageantry of trash, this book reads like a superb mystery story.