Going to the Library.

One of the perks of being temporarily retired, is using the library. I spent almost ten years working for a library system. Being "retired", spending money on books is a real no-no. A review of some of the stuff I borrowed.

James Rollins, wrote Ice Hunt, Black Order, Sandstorm, and a few others. Not a bad read. Kinda like literary fastfood. Funny how things always seem to burst into flame in his novels. Black Order, it was the churches catching on fire. Fire Marshall Bill Burns comes to mind when I read his stuff. Decent writer, much like Clive Cussler, with the notable exception that he is still writing his own stuff.

Larry Niven, The Ringworld novels, namely the second through fourth. Plenty of staying power even after all these years. Well written. In his later years he did farm some stuff out. The Kzinti can now be found in eleven books, called the Man Kzin Wars. The writing in those can range from excellent to "why am I reading this?".
The early stuff is best, though it can be said of Niven, there are no bad books.

Drew Karpyshyn, Darth Bane, Path of Destruction, novel about the rise of the Sith Lords. Mediocre, formulaic, wordy. Another licensed, branded Star Wars franchise novel. Readable if the snow is a foot deep outside and one has no pressing issues to attend to.
Still, a lot of good authors have been given their start by writing for Star Wars and some even got their start on Star Trek. After grinding out a few novels set in those "verses", they break away and start turning out the good stuff.