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| 4.13
| 270,597
| Sep 24, 2013
| Sep 24, 2013
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it was amazing
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Due to some lifestyle changes, it took me about three months to finish this one book. I had to give up on other books because I could not follow them
Due to some lifestyle changes, it took me about three months to finish this one book. I had to give up on other books because I could not follow them when I only read a little bit now and then, not even on a daily basis. So it is to this book’s credit that I never had any problem resuming after lengthy gaps since the previous time I picked it up. I read Stephen King’s The Shining in the 80s, not long after the paperback edition was published and SK was all the rage. To this day I still remember the storyline very well, and certain scenes are indelible from my memory. It was a lengthy, atmospheric, scary, and exciting book, more exciting than scary I think. I love the concept of ghosts feeding off little Danny Torrance’s psychic energy (called “the shining” because it shines if you are equipped to see it), and the Dad gradual process of simultaneous possession and insanity. For fans of the horror genre (fantasy too IMO) The Shining is a must-read. [image] Thirty-six years after the publication of The Shining King published the sequel Doctor Sleep; not a “long overdue” sequel because I never thought a sequel was due and for this reason, I skipped it when it came out. However, the movie adaptation turned out to be critically and commercially successful, so FOMO suddenly sets in, and here we are! Doctor Sleep is written by a different Stephen King from the author of The Shining. Not very different by any means, the narrative voice is still as familiar to me as my ratty old pair of slippers. The older (elderly even) King who wrote Doctor Sleep is more mature, more elaborate in is pacing and possibly less badass than he was 30+ years ago. Back then he was all the rage, now he is an institution and a national treasure (to his fans). I think the 70s/80s King was like an amazing hit-making machine, the 2000s King can be hit and miss but can still score. Doctor Sleep focusses on Danny Torrance’s life as an adult, how he becomes an alcoholic, like his father Jack. In fact, the novel begins with Danny, the morning after a night of alcoholic binge, committing an act of appalling selfishness which will haunt him for years to come. Fortunately, he manages to leave the drinks behind with the help of good friends he meets and AA. That is all well and good but so far this does not sound like much of a horror novel. While all this awful but mundane business is going on, the “True Knot”, a group of non-humans who feed on children who have “the Shining” are kidnapping, feeding and finally killing these special children; and now they have their sights set on a girl called Abra Stone, who shines brighter than anyone they have ever seen. Only Danny Torrance can save her. [image] Rose the Hat from the movie. Doctor Sleep is very dissimilar to The Shining, which is basically a spooky story of a haunted hotel. Members of the True Knot have different psychic abilities, mind control, locating things, telekinesis and whatnot. This makes them more like evil X-Men than a bunch of scary monsters. King does, however, imbue them with individual personalities. Their leader, Rose the Hat, is particularly vividly characterized. Parts of the narrative are told from their perspective and their point of view is clearly portrayed to the extent that they come across as almost sympathetic (kidnapping and murdering kids notwithstanding). This is clearly one of King’s better post-millennium offerings, it has interesting, sympathetic characters (even the villains), a mind-boggling plot brimming with supernatural shenanigans, a sense of humour and an underlying theme of loyalty, redemption, love, and sacrifice. It is, in fact, the bee’s knees! ...more |
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1
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May 18, 2020
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Aug 11, 2020
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May 16, 2020
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Kindle Edition
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| 0552152978
| 9780552152976
| 0552152978
| 4.32
| 124,837
| 1992
| Sep 06, 2005
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it was amazing
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“Words are the litmus paper of the mind. If you find yourself in the power of someone who will use the word “commence” in cold blood, go somewhere els
“Words are the litmus paper of the mind. If you find yourself in the power of someone who will use the word “commence” in cold blood, go somewhere else very quickly. But if they say “Enter,” don’t stop to pack.” Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books are always pleasant to return to every now and then. I am not a hardcore fan that would have already devoured all 40+ books by now, I am more of a casual fan that likes to dip into the series now and then; to soak up Sir Terry’s witticisms. Small Gods is one of the most popular Discworld books (I googled) generally included in fans’ top 5 and often placed at the top. [image] Another wonderful Discworld cover art by Josh Kirby (click image to enlarge) Small Gods is basically only about one such god, called Om, and his single believer Brutha. Interestingly Om has plenty of worshippers and his own Omnian religion, the trouble is all but one of these worshipers really believe in him. As a god’s power is based on the number of believers, when Om manifests in the mortal realm he finds himself in the form of a tortoise with no godly powers and discovers that he only has one believer. Somehow Om must find more believers or be stuck in a tortoise body forever. Small Gods is a delightful read, it is charming, funny and even somewhat profound. Pratchett sends up religions, and certain types of religious people, the zealots, the supposedly pious, the alleged true believers, etc. However, he does so in his usual witty, good-natured way; no reasonable person should be offended by this book. This book is more than just satire, Pratchett is inviting us to look at human nature, the self-interest and the oppression of others under the guise of organized religion; all in the name of a god they don’t believe in. This sounds terribly serious but Pratchett uses humour to convey his underlying themes. There is something comical going on in every page, the characters are magnificently drawn and develop, and the dialogue sparkles. While the Discworld books are always funny, I think that an uninitiated reader should not expect them to be laugh-a-thon, side-splitting joke fests. This is not how these books work. Pratchett’s tends to rely more on witticism, clever satires and spoofing human nature. I have never met anyone who read Discworld books and do not like them, but then I have not met everybody in the world so I suppose such persons exist. Read Small Gods and avoid being one of them. [image] Note: The Discworld series is mostly made up of sub-series, each one follows the adventures of a regular protagonist and their supporting characters. However, Small Gods is one of the rare “standalones” in the series, the main characters do not appear in another novel (as far as I know). Quotes: “Words are the litmus paper of the mind. If you find yourself in the power of someone who will use the word “commence” in cold blood, go somewhere else very quickly. But if they say “Enter,” don’t stop to pack” “You couldn’t put off the inevitable. Because sooner or later, you reached the place when the inevitable just went and waited.” “We get that in here some nights, when someone’s had a few. Cosmic speculation about whether gods really exist. Next thing, there’s a bolt of lightning through the roof with a note wrapped around it saying ‘Yes, we do’ and a pair of sandals with smoke coming out. That sort of thing, it takes all the interest out of metaphysical speculation.” ...more |
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1
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Apr 18, 2019
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May 05, 2019
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May 07, 2019
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Paperback
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| 0804179034
| 9780804179034
| 0804179034
| 4.03
| 244,953
| May 19, 2015
| May 19, 2015
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it was amazing
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Uprooted comes highly recommended on Goodreads, Reddit and other places where fantasy readers hangout (including literary salons where you can get you
Uprooted comes highly recommended on Goodreads, Reddit and other places where fantasy readers hangout (including literary salons where you can get your hair styled like Shakespeare’s). It has an average GR rating of 4.11 and won a Nebula Award (2016), a Locus Award, and a Hugo nomination. Not too shabby, so read it I must. Even so, I never set my expectation too high, some highly acclaimed books don’t really do it for me. In fact, Goodreads Choice Award winners in the SF/F category usually leave me cold. I don’t know if Uprooted deserves quite so many awards, it is not flawless, but I really like it. According Naomi Novik Uprooted is based on some of the Polish fairy stories her parents told her as a child. It does have a fairy story feel to it even though it is clearly written for adults with a rather tame “sexy bit” that should have been left out. The story is entirely focused on the protagonist /first-person narrator Agnieszka who is selected by the local wizard Sarkan as a tribute for services rendered to her village, to go and live with him in his tower for 10 years for unexplained reasons. Everybody, of course, suspects extreme hanky-panky, but nobody really knows what goes on behind the tower’s closed doors. The village is under constant threat by “The Wood” a nearby forest which is also an evil entity, and Sarkan needs all the help he can get to hold it back from devouring the entire village and beyond. Uprooted is a smoothly flowing narrative without a dull moment, it is skillfully paced, imaginative, charming and often quite exciting. The Wood makes for a refreshingly different antagonist, I love how the author is able to create a mysterious formidable foe and also avoid the tired “dark lord” fantasy trope. Characterization is generally very well done except for Sarkan who is something of a “one note” character. In spite of his rudeness to Agnieszka, it is quite obvious that they will develop a romantic relationship. The depiction of this rude but decent character immediately brings to mind Jane Austen’s Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, unfortunately, while Mr. Darcy becomes pretty cool once you get to know him, the same cannot be said for Sarkan whose manner never really improve throughout the narrative. This renders the romance between the two main characters rather improbable and I view this as the one single flaw in the book. Fortunately, it is not hard to overlook as Agnieszka is indeed pretty cool, as are several supporting characters; there is plenty else to enjoy here. I also like that there is no “magic system” to speak of, I like a well thought out system but not having a clearly defined one and yet managing to make the world-building functional and the narrative believable is a different kind of feat. I must give Ms. Novik extra points for making this a standalone novel, fantasy series are difficult for me to keep up with as I have too little time to read these days and each volume of these series seems to be of industrial size. This is the first book by Naomi Novik for me, I look forward to reading her similarly highly acclaimed standalone Spinning Silver (it sounds pretty great). [image] Notes: • Reddit's R/Fantasy discuss the romantic aspect of Uprooted. Some great points made. • Ellen DeGeneres to Produce Adaptation of this book. ...more |
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1
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Oct 30, 2018
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Nov 20, 2018
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Nov 21, 2018
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Hardcover
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| 4.30
| 171,762
| Aug 16, 2016
| Aug 18, 2016
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it was amazing
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“Renthree’s lorist lover eventually left her on the outskirts of the Equatorial city of Penphen, with a broken heart and a head full of lore, and a wa
“Renthree’s lorist lover eventually left her on the outskirts of the Equatorial city of Penphen, with a broken heart and a head full of lore, and a wallet full of chipped jades and cabochons and one shoeprint-stained lozenge of mother-of-pearl.” Eh? I am not good at following series, I tend to leave gaps of months or years between volumes. I do like reading series but I also like moving around between them and I love good standalones just as much. The trouble is I have a memory like a sieve and tend to forget who the series characters are, if they are not protagonists. I am even worse with places’ names and neologisms. This being the case the first few pages of The Obelisk Gate (including the above-quoted passage) did not make a lot of sense to me. Fortunately Ms. N.K. Jemisin is extremely talented and her narrative settled me back into her world-building before too long. The Obelisk Gate is the second volume of The Broken Earth Trilogy. A work of fantasy with more science blended in than most, I would not call it “science fantasy” because the science is more like a supporting prop than an equal element. Not that book classification really matters, I just want to give you an idea of what is in the tin, as it were. This book continues the story of Essun from The Fifth Season, her continuing search for her daughter Nassun who was taken from her by her cowardly husband right after he murdered their youngest child. Their children inherited the mother’s “orogeny”, the ability to “manipulate thermal, kinetic, and related forms of energy to address seismic events”. This ability is viewed as an evil curse by the “stills”, normal people who do not have it. And it is a dangerous ability, if uncontrolled, it can cause earthquakes and freeze people where they stand. In addition at Essun’s storyline, equal emphasis is also given to the adventures of her daughter Nassun, whose gift is at least equal to her mother’s and may possibly exceed it. She is forced by her father to go on the run from her Essun, and the father is also looking for a “cure” for Nassun’s orogeny. In both narrative strands, Essun and Nassun find a community to settle into, preventing and possibly causing disasters and discovering dangerous power augmentations. It is a very eventful novel without a dull moment. I am in awe of Ms. Jemisin’s writing and world-building prowess. The way she writes narrative points of view is a little too fanciful for my taste, sometimes they are written in the first person, sometimes in the second, and even a third (thankfully no fourth!). Having said that, she does not write these different POVs at random, the basis for them are not fully revealed just yet, only hinted at. More importantly, it does not really matter in term of following the plot because she has a good, clean, clear, and rather beautiful, writing style. Her imagination is first rate and SF/F fans should find much to enjoy and feel transported out of our mundane existence. Yet there is a human drama side to the book (even when non-humans are involved) that keep the narrative somewhat grounded, this is helped by the skillfully developed characters. The two books I have read so far in this trilogy are excellent, the third book The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth #3) has the highest average GR rating among the three volumes, and each one scores comfortably 4+. Can’t wait to see how they “catch the moon”. ...more |
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1
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Sep 07, 2018
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Oct 07, 2018
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Oct 08, 2018
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Paperback
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| 0451458923
| 9780451458926
| B007CIHDNK
| 4.26
| 153,668
| Sep 03, 2002
| May 31, 2003
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really liked it
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It has been two years since I read a “Dresden Files” book, Grave Peril, I enjoyed it a lot but not much of it lingered and while I intended to get bac
It has been two years since I read a “Dresden Files” book, Grave Peril, I enjoyed it a lot but not much of it lingered and while I intended to get back to the series, I felt there is no rush to do so. Still, these books are always fun reads, and sometimes the simple enjoyment is just what I need after a tedious day at work. Time for another wild ride with Wizard Dresden. The Dresden Files is an urban fantasy / hardboiled detective series set mostly in modern-day Chicago, featuring cocky “consulting wizard” Harry Dresden. Each book tends to be mostly self-contained but always with connective tissues to the rest of the series. In Summer Knight Dresden is coerced by Mab, the Winter Queen of the Sidhe, into investigating the murder of a “Summer Knight”, a henchman of Aurora, the Summer Lady. The summer and the winter courts of the faeries are perpetually at war with neither side ever emerging victorious. This murder is intended to frame Mab for the murder and lead to a destabilization of the Summer vs Winter war, and an outright victory of either Court would be disastrous for the world. [image] The Dresden Files by by charro-art (click to embiggen). I went into Summer Knight expecting pure entertainment and I got my money’s worth. The book does have moments of pathos but I did not really connect with the emotional side of it, I don’t feel the characters are developed with sufficient depth for me to feel strongly engaged with their plight. Harry Dresden is a likable flawed heroic P.I. you can root for, in the tradition of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. He does go through extremely dangerous situations in this book, going up against weird monstrosities and super powerful faeries. The pace of the narrative never slackens but there are not enough nuances there for me to feel more than entertained. Having said that, I only required the entertainment part anyway. Though the book is mostly set in contemporary Chicago, parts of it is sent in the faeries’ domain and some very elaborate world-building goes on in these parts, I also enjoy the complex internal logic how magic functions in this book. Dresden is aided in his perilous investigations by some very colorful characters, both humans and non-human. They may not be developed in depth but they are a lot of fun. Summer Knight is a highly enjoyable book and I will definitely get back into the series again, probably with less of a time gap next time.. [image] Banner by Samurphy0320 Quotes: “It came as a shock to me. I know, that sounds stupid, but I don’t keep mirrors in my home. Too many things can use mirrors as windows, even doors, and it was a risk I preferred to skip entirely. I hadn’t glanced at a mirror in weeks.” “My hair had grown out long and shaggy – not in that sexy-young-rock-star kind of way but in that time-to-take-Rover-to-the-groomer kind of way.” “The elevator hadn’t ever been quite the same since a giant scorpion had torn into one of the cars and someone had thrown the elevator up to the top of its chute with a torrent of wind in order to smash the big bug against the roof. The resulting fall sent the car plummeting all the way back to the ground floor and wreaked havoc with the building in general, raising everyone’s rents.” [image] Harry Dresden by thegryph ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 29, 2018
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Jun 14, 2018
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Jun 16, 2018
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 4.53
| 690,165
| 1954
| Oct 12, 2005
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it was amazing
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[image] Nevertheless, here are my little LOTR reviews of each volume: • The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers • The Return of the King [image] Lego [image] Nevertheless, here are my little LOTR reviews of each volume: • The Fellowship of the Ring • The Two Towers • The Return of the King [image] Lego Legolas! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Apr 17, 2018
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Apr 17, 2018
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Apr 17, 2018
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Paperback
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| 0345486080
| 9780345486080
| B000FCKFBM
| 4.34
| 15,291
| 2005
| Sep 27, 2005
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it was amazing
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“But that is what separates the evil from the righteous. When we behave like them, we become like them. And then what is our justification for being?
“But that is what separates the evil from the righteous. When we behave like them, we become like them. And then what is our justification for being? By accepting their moral standards we discard our right to condemn them.” This is perhaps the fundamental theme of Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow, distinguishing between the evil from the righteous is not always straightforward, the good guys in this book also do some very morally questionable things. Wikipedia describes Gemmel’s Troy Series as “a sequence of historical fantasy novels”. I have only read this first volume so far and it leans more towards historical than fantasy; in so far as the Greek legend of the Trojan War can be regarded as history. Various Greek gods are mentioned throughout the book but none of them make an appearance, ditto magical creatures like Pegasus, the cyclops etc. Several characters do have prophetic dreams and there is at least one seer so the book is not quite grounded. In any case, this book does not need any supernatural shenanigans, the narrative is very compelling as can be expected of David Gemmell. If you look at the average rating for the books in this series you can see they are all above 4.3, more than most books on GR manage. [image] What I know about the Trojan War can be written on a postage stamp and still leave the queen’s head unblemished, so I don’t know whether this is a faithful adaptation of the Greek legend. The main protagonist of Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow is Helikaon, based on Aeneas from the legend. He is a Dardanian prince, as a child, he was traumatized by his mother’s suicide and his father basically disowns him. Fortunately, Odysseus takes pity on him and recruit him as a crew member for his ship “the Penelope”. Helikaon flourishes under Odysseus’ guidance and becomes a successful trader. His troubles do not end there, however, his best friend is murdered and tortured by a Mykene general, and he swears vengeance. He falls in love with Princess Andromache who has been arranged to marry Hektor, the favorite son of Priam, the king of Troy. Mykene assassins are always after him, and he has to help defend Troy against invaders. [image] The above little synopsis barely scratches the surface of a book filled with plot and characters. There are, in fact, three main protagonists that the narrative follows, not to mention the various minor point of view characters. All the narrative strands are skillfully woven together to form a very compelling cohesive story. David Gemmell is probably my favorite writer of heroic fantasy. His characters are always complex and nuanced, his pacing is just right, and the plot always keeps the pages turning. I suppose his world building is not as elaborate as today’s leading practitioners of the genre but I never really notice such things once I am hooked on his storytelling. There is always an underlying moral core in his novels in spite of the numerous scenes of fighting, warfare, and violence. I thoroughly enjoyed Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow and I am looking forward to reading the other two volumes, and also learning more about the Greek legend the easy way! Yes, definitely read this book, it will rock you like a Helikaon. [image] Quotes: “A great man once told me there can be no courage without fear” “You have courage, though, and strength. And, by Hades, you sailed a piece of driftwood well enough.” “No force under the stars is more powerful than hatred,” said Gershom. “Hatred has no virtue, yet men can never be free of it,” Helikaon replied bitterly. “The truth is that every invention leads men to say: Can I use it to kill, to maim, to terrify? Did you know that bronze was first used to create plows, so that men could dig the earth more efficiently? It did not take long, I suspect, before it was used for swords and spears and arrowheads.” ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 14, 2018
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Feb 26, 2018
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Feb 28, 2018
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Kindle Edition
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| 4.30
| 285,755
| Aug 04, 2015
| Aug 04, 2015
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it was amazing
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“Here is a land. It is ordinary, as lands go. Mountains and plateaus and canyons and river deltas, the usual. Ordinary, except for its size and its dy
“Here is a land. It is ordinary, as lands go. Mountains and plateaus and canyons and river deltas, the usual. Ordinary, except for its size and its dynamism. It moves a lot, this land. Like an old man lying restlessly abed it heaves and sighs, puckers and farts, yawns and swallows. Naturally this land’s people have named it the Stillness. It is a land of quiet and bitter irony.” The above is an extract from the prologue. A lot of the settings and characters are explained in somewhat conversational tone here. I was not paying very close attention to it when I first read it and found the first chapter that follows it a little confusing. So do try to be attentive when you read it! I first heard of N.K. Jemisin in an article entitled “ Octavia's Daughters: Meet the New Queens of Spec Fic”, the article is about natural successors to the late great Octavia Butler. I imagine it is something of a backhanded compliment to be viewed as a successor to someone instead of a new, original artist, especially if it is because of the skin colour. Can a white female author be the new Octavia Butler? The article also led me to expect a writing style similar to Ms. Butler’s accessible, unpretentious yet beautiful and resonant style. Ms. Jemisin is more poetic and experimental. Initially, I found the prose style a little too fanciful for my taste, but once I settled into the narrative I became more appreciative. The Fifth Season is the 2015 Hugo Award winner for best novel, and the first book of The Broken Earth trilogy. The plot is difficult to summarise briefly because it is tied to the complex world building of the novel. The Fifth Season is set in a far future Earth where cataclysmic, civilization ending natural disasters occur every few centuries. There is only one gigantic continent left on this future Earth called The Stillness. There are people called “orogenes” who have the ability to stop or trigger earthquakes by using their innate ability to manipulate thermal, kinetic, and related forms of energy to direct seismic events. They are able to shift tectonic plates, raise columns of rock from under the sea and cause a sudden massive drop in temperature to a freezing point. Though they are needed the orogenes are viewed with dislike and distrust by most ordinary people (called “stills”). The Fifth Season tells the story of three female orogenes of different ages Essun, Damaya and Syenite. Essun’s husband killed her orogene son for unknown reasons then took her daughter and did a runner. The Essun plotline, narrated in the second person, depicts her journey through the Stillness to find her daughter and probably puts her husband six feet under. Damaya is an imperial orogene in training at the Fulcrum, a sort of mean-spirited Hogwarts. Syenite is a trained orogene on a seemingly straightforward mission to clear some coral out of a harbor in a small town. For this mission, she is mentored by an eccentric enigmatic senior orogene called Alabaster. While carrying out their mission they unintentionally unearth an ancient artifact and suddenly the fulcrum wants them dead for this indiscretion. There are so many plots and elaborate world building that this review would have to be three times the length it is to cover the main points or features. The characters are very well written with just enough complexity and foibles to make them seem real. The concept of this future Earth is quite original, I don't think I have come across geology-based science fantasy before. That rare SF/F commodity “sense of wonder” is strongly felt here. If you are looking for escapism this book is just the thing. As mentioned earlier Ms. Jemisin’s prose style seems too fanciful for my taste to begin with. I had no idea why the Essun plotline written in the second person. I suspected it is to convey Essun’s distance from herself; a form of self-hatred perhaps, or an inability to identify with herself. In this interview she partly explains it as a kind of dissociative state, so I was not far off. There is more to this second person business which, according to Ms. Jemisin, will be revealed in subsequent volumes. To be honest, I am not comfortable with second person POV narrative, you this and you that just seems awkward to me. However, the story here is so compelling that I soon ignored this little narrative quirk. Having said that, I am glad the other two plotlines are told in the conventional third person. If you are going to read The Fifth Season you have to be patient and just let the story unfold as the author intended, the neologisms, strange settings, culture, and characters will clarify themselves before too long. How the three plot strands come to intertwine is quite clever and surprising. This book becomes very accessible – and even riveting, once you settle into it. It is even rewarding to go back to read the first chapter after you finish the book and you would have a much better appreciation of the book’s beginning. The Fifth Season is the first book of N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy, the second book has also won a Hugo, and the third will probably do the same next time they hand out the award. Another series for me to follow and a great new author to come back to. Yay! 😊 [image] Notes: • N. K. Jemisin was formerly a counseling psychologist before taking up writing full time. This novel does frequently delve into the characters' psychology. • Tricking readers into acceptance, how Jemisin develops The Fifth Season's protagonists, and more about writing in the second person. • Her blog is well worth perusing. • I did back out of reading it after the first chapter because I could not take all that second person business but out of curiosity, I decided to give it a shot anyway. I am glad I did. It is not hard to follow this book, it clicks after a while, all you have to do is keep reading it! • The Fifth Season to be developed as TV Series at TNT Quotes: “Orogeny is a strange equation. Take movement and warmth and life from your surroundings, amplify it by some indefinable process of concentration or catalysis or semi-predictable chance, push movement and warmth and death from the earth. Power in, power out.” “No one speaks of celestial objects, though the skies are as crowded and busy here as anywhere else in the universe. This is largely because so much of the people’s attention is directed toward the ground, not the sky.” “They can’t stand sex with each other directly, but vicariously it’s amazing. And what do they even call this? It’s not a threesome, or a love triangle. It’s a two-and-a-half-some, an affection dihedron. (And, well, maybe it’s love.)” ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 14, 2017
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Dec 21, 2017
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Dec 24, 2017
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Paperback
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| 9780385534635
| 0385534639
| 4.01
| 1,010,219
| Sep 13, 2011
| Sep 13, 2011
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it was amazing
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“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in
“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.” This nice opening line sets the tone for the book perfectly, mysterious, a bit dark and slightly sinister. When I thought of doing a Halloween themed read for the entire month of October I initially thought I’d spend the whole month reading horror books but then it seems to be not so appealing to my GR friends because horror is not really in vogue right now, the movie adaptation of “ It” notwithstanding. Dark fantasy, however, fits the mood quite well and probably has a broader appeal. I first come across The Night Circus just browsing through my GR timeline, the title piqued my interest immediately, it conjures the image of a dark, mysterious circus, like in my favorite Bradbury book, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Of course, I looked at the number of ratings and reviews too, everything seems very promising. A promise well delivered. [image] The Night Circus is definitely not a horror novel, nothing particularly horrific or even disturbing happen but it is darkly atmospheric and an immersive read. Set mostly in the late 19th century, it tells the story of a mysterious circus that only opens at night and seems to materialize out of nowhere and disappears in the same manner. The circus is imbued with magic by a competition between two rival magicians who have been trained from childhood to compete in a strange, vague, complex game devised by their mentors. I cannot clearly describe what this game is. Initially, it seems to be simply “who is the best magician” one-upmanship thing, but as the narrative goes on we find that there is much more depth to it than that, and it affects the lives of many people and makes the Night Circus what it is, almost as a byproduct. On the character level, it is a love story between two people who never had much experience of love, warmth or human sympathy in their lives. Though the novel is packed full of memorable scenes and incidents there is not all that much to the basic plot, it is more about the setting, the mood, and the characters. It is one of those rare books that effectively transports the readers to the strange world imagined by the author. We explore tent after tent of fantastical shows as the punters do, we are also privy to the even stranger goings on behind the scenes in a narrative of potent escapism. The very thing most fantasy readers are looking for. The book is structurally complex but stops short of being confusing. It has three narrative threads in different timelines, one of which is narrated in the second person. Normally I would run a mile from second person narration, you this and you that is very off-putting. However, these sections are all quite short and the author’s choice for writing them this way makes sense towards the end (I thought Erin Morgenstern was just being arty and pretentious!). As mentioned earlier the book’s title conjured up my fond memory of Something Wicked This Way Comes, but the role of the circus in these two books could not be more different. In Bradbury’s book the circus is an evil place created to entrap the unwary, in The Night Circus, the circus is the heart and soul of the book, a wondrous place I would love to visit and, to some extent, feel as if I have visited it vicariously through the through the eyes of the characters. [image] The two main plotlines/timelines (discounting the second person narrative done mostly for effect) form interesting counterpoints for each other and are beautifully woven together toward the end. I do recommend that you pay attention to the year indicated on the chapter headings though, to avoid any initial confusion. The novel is very nicely written with several evocative passages scattered throughout. The main characters are mostly very likable and sympathetic, the antagonists are enigmatic but not actually evil, which make them more interesting. The actual nature of the challenge is nicely perplexing, and I love how the circus ties into it. The Night Circus is a charming and enchanting book, with a dark atmosphere which is just the thing for this time of year. I love it. [image] Notes: • Beside Something Wicked This Way Comes, this book also reminds me of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, it has a similar immersive dark and enchanting atmosphere. • In the interview with Erin Morgenstern at the back of the book, she mentions the movie version of The Prestige as a major influence. I love both the movie and the book by Christopher Priest. [image] Quotes: “This is not magic. This is the way the world is, only very few people take the time to stop and note it. Look around you,” he says, waving a hand at the surrounding tables. “Not a one of them even has an inkling of the things that are possible in this world, and what’s worse is that none of them would listen if you attempted to enlighten them. They want to believe that magic is nothing but clever deception, because to think it real would keep them up at night, afraid of their own existence.” “Her father brings her everywhere while she is small, parading her like a well-loved small dog in expensive gowns, for his colleagues and acquaintances to fawn over in pubs after performances.” “The boy grows up in a town house in London. He sees no one, not even when his meals are delivered to his rooms, appearing by the door on covered trays and disappearing in the same manner. Once a month, a man who does not speak is brought in to cut his hair. Once a year, the same man takes measurements for new clothing.” “Everything was magical. And it seemed to go on forever. None of the pathways ended, they curved into others or circled back to the courtyard.” “The circus moves from place to place every few weeks, with the occasional extended break, and no one truly knows where it might appear until the tents are already erected in a field in a city or the countryside, or somewhere in between. But there” “I wrote the book the same way you might get to know the circus as a guest: first came the place itself, then meeting the people within it, and only after I’d visited every tent and consumed a great deal of chocolate-covered popcorn did I figure out the story behind it all.” (interview with the author). [image] ...more |
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1
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Oct 10, 2017
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Oct 19, 2017
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Oct 19, 2017
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Hardcover
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| 4.02
| 45,800
| Feb 16, 2016
| Feb 16, 2016
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it was amazing
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I have heard Lovecraft Country mentioned quite often recently, I think in connection to the impending TV series adaptation. The title alone intrigued
I have heard Lovecraft Country mentioned quite often recently, I think in connection to the impending TV series adaptation. The title alone intrigued me because I enjoy Lovecraft when he is at his best (at his worst, not so much) as my long-winded review of The Best of H.P. Lovecraft will attest. I thought Lovecraft Country is going to be a Lovecraft pastiche of some kind, with Cthulhu and friends driving people insane just by giving them a funny look. I peeked at the synopsis and I was surprised to find that the book is apparently about the adventures of some black characters during the Jim Crow era when racism in the US was in full swing. [image] Having already decided to read the book I did not read the summary in detail, so I suspected that this may not even be primarily a novel of the fantasy/horror genre; perhaps it is more of an allegory of racism. As an SF/F/H nerd, I wanted the book to have its fair share of fantastical elements, not just be a work of historical fiction about racism in the 50s. The first fifty or so pages do read like mainstream fiction, a very vivid depiction of how a black man is treated by the police and most of the white Americans they come across. However, soon the overtly supernatural side of the narrative kicks in and genre fans should have nothing to complain about. As for the racism, it is always there in the background as another layer of difficulties faced by the central characters. The structure of the book also surprised me, I thought the entire novel was going to be centered on Atticus as the protagonist. This is not the case at all, Lovecraft Country is episodic in structure, with a different protagonist in most of the chapters. Each chapter has its own story arc with a dangling plot thread, these threads are tied together in the novel’s finale. The first chapter tells the story of Atticus’ journey to Ardham in search of his father, accompanied by his uncle and cousin. They encounter racists, red necks, monsters and lodges of sorcerers (who are also racists!). [image] The second chapter concerns Atticus’ cousin, Letitia and her purchase of a haunted house in a racist neighborhood and how she copes like a champ. Her chapter reaches a surprising conclusion and the narrative switches to an entirely different story arc. Later chapters involve weird tech, aliens, shape shifting, more ghosts, monsters, sorcery, and wizards. Each chapter is fun to read, fast paced, thrilling and often funny. If you are looking for actual scares you may be disappointed though; this book is more boisterous supernatural high jinks than horror. On the other hand, there is never a dull moment. As for the more serious or “commentary” side of the novel, the shameless, overt racism as depicted is quite shocking. It is hard to believe that fellow human beings were treated with such disdain, hatred, and disrespect solely on the basis of their skin colour. That such unreasoning prejudice continues to exist today – albeit to a lesser degree - is dispiriting. My only reservation about this aspect of the book is that there is not one single decent white character in the narrative; this is less believable than the supernatural plotline. Personally, I don’t like novels that are purely allegorical, I feel that worthwhile novels should have sufficient entertaining value. Regardless of the seriousness of the themes, the storytelling side should not be neglected. I am happy with how Matt Ruff balances the themes and the supernatural adventures in Lovecraft Country. Both sides of the narrative are very well integrated and the book is both entertaining and thought-provoking. This is my first Matt Ruff book, I love his prose style, storytelling, and subtle humour; I will be back for more. [image] Quotes: “You require me,” Atticus said. “To be your magic Negro?” “Ruby, curvy and dark, suggested a youthful Momma—but a Momma who could be pushed around. Her pliability wasn’t limitless, though, and there was a core of genuine Momma within her that could emerge, given time, like a mountain rising from the sea. The trick was getting what you wanted from her before you ran aground.” “Cartons containing the Spring 1955 edition of The Safe Negro Travel Guide were stacked up against the wall. George thumbed through a loose copy, inhaling fresh ink and wondering, as always, how much longer it would be before he could cease publication and change the name of the business to the plain old Berry Travel Agency. A few more years, probably.” Quotes from an interview with Matt Ruff at the back of the book: “But the real reason he’d keep running into monsters was because he was black, and when you’re black in America, there’s always a monster. Sometimes it’s Lovecraftian Elder Gods; sometimes it’s the police, or the Klan, or the Registrar of Voters.” “Lovecraft was tapping into these universal themes of horror that resonate even if you’re not a white supremacist. I wish he’d been a better person, or blessed with better mentors. But as a storyteller, I can still learn from him.” [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 19, 2017
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Aug 27, 2017
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Aug 19, 2017
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ebook
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| 0670032565
| 9780670032563
| 0670032565
| 4.25
| 228,898
| Aug 1991
| Jun 23, 2003
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it was amazing
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“Ka—the word you think of as ‘destiny,’ Eddie, although the actual meaning is much more complex and hard to define, as is almost always the case with
“Ka—the word you think of as ‘destiny,’ Eddie, although the actual meaning is much more complex and hard to define, as is almost always the case with words of the High Speech. And tet, which means a group of people with the same interests and goals. We three are a tet, for instance. Ka-tet is the place where many lives are joined by fate.” This is the book where Roland’s ka-tet is fully formed*, with the addition of eleven years old Jake Chambers and Oy the billy-bumbler (a Mid-World species). [image] Ka-Tet. Art by Michael Whelan In this eventful installment Roland, Eddie and Susannah continue their quest for the Dark Tower, along the way Roland starts going insane as his recent timeline has been doubled due to an incident in The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three in which Jake Chambers who died in book #1 is saved through Roland interfering with a key event in his past. This causes a paradox where both Roland and Jake remember two alternate versions of the past, and the conflicting versions fight for supremacy in their minds. To save Roland’s sanity, Roland, Eddie and Susannah must help Jake to cross over from our Earth into Mid-World, an extremely dangerous task involving entry into a nasty magic circle in Mid-World, guarded by a sex-crazed demon, on Jake’s side (in our world) the portal is in a haunted house with a monstrous gatekeeper. This mission forms the first half of The Waste Lands, it makes for a hair-raising adventure with a very dark undertone, as depicted on the cover of this hardback edition: [image] Don’t worry, I won’t give you much info on what transpires in the equally hectic second half of the book, but it does involve a crazy train (nothing to do with Ozzy). I am tremendously enjoying this Dark Tower series reread; this is the only advantageous aspect of having a memory like a sieve, I can enjoy these books just as much as the first time I read them. Like The Drawing of the Three The Waste Lands is packed with incident and characterization engrossing (the first book The Gunslinger is very good but less intense). Interestingly there is more of a sci-fi element in this installment with mad AIs, cyborgs (also mad), high technology, and computers; lest we forget, this is a world where magic and technology coexist. It is also very nice to find tributes to Isaac Asimov, Richard Adams and J. R. R. Tolkien in the narrative; it is like finding that your favorite band also dig your other favorite bands. King puts a lot of effort into developing his characters, this has always been his secret weapon. However, what makes the Dark Tower series stand out among thousands of other fantasy series is the western aesthetic of Mid-World, and also Roland’s forays into our world and. This makes a nice change to the standard medieval setting of most epic fantasy series; the sci-fi and horror aspects further distinguishes it from the others. Unlike the previous two volumes The Waste Lands ends on a cliff hanger, as the entire series is completed this should not be a cause for concern. I imagine most people who have read the previous books are bound to want to read this one. When you have come this far the rest is unavoidable. Should you read this book? In the end, all things, even this review, serve the Dark Tower. [image] Notes * Another character is added to the ka-tet in book #5, Wolves of the Calla. but these five are the classic lineup. • An excellent companion to this book is Charlie the Choo-Choo: From the world of The Dark Tower, a creepy faux-children’s book. [image] • Guns and roses play an important part in this book, nothing to do with Axl Rose. • The song “ Velcro Fly ” is also significant in this book, it has everything to do with ZZ Top. • Wild West themed fantasy is not unique to the Dark Tower series, it is a subgenre called “weird west”. If you are interested there is a list of these books on this Wikipedia page. I have not read any of the books listed there (apart from Dark Tower, obviously) but I have read another excellent “weird west” series. It is called Jon Shannow Series by the wonderful and much missed David Gemmell. If you have read all the Dark Towers I recommend checking it out, Gemmell is a very different author from Stephen King so you don’t need to worry if it will read like an imitation. [image] Quotes: “There were a lot of stories for kids with stuff like this in them, stuff that threw acid all over your emotions. Hansel and Gretel being turned out into the forest, Bambi’s mother getting scragged by a hunter, the death of Old Yeller. It was easy to hurt little kids, easy to make them cry, and this seemed to bring out a strangely sadistic streak in many storytellers.” “Whatever his head thought about this gunslinging business, his hands had discovered they liked it just fine.” “We are ka-tet,” Roland began, “which means a group of people bound together by fate. The philosophers of my land said a ka-tet could only be broken by death or treachery. “In the fierce furnace of Elmer Chambers’s mind, the gross carbon of wish and opinion was often blasted into the hard diamonds which he called facts . . . or, in more informal circumstances, “factoids.”” “He called it The Net of Eratosthenes. Take me over to dat box on the wall, Roland—I’m goan answer dat honkey computer’s riddle. I’m goan th’ow you a net and catch you a train-ride.” [image] Oy the Billy-Bumbler by kenket ...more |
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1
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Jul 07, 2017
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Jul 16, 2017
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Jul 17, 2017
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Hardcover
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| 4.26
| 33,472
| Apr 05, 1984
| 1994
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it was amazing
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“ ‘Druss the Legend. Mightiest man of his era. A killing machine, a warrior. And why? Because I never had the courage to be a farmer’, Druss told hims
“ ‘Druss the Legend. Mightiest man of his era. A killing machine, a warrior. And why? Because I never had the courage to be a farmer’, Druss told himself. ‘When I die’, he thought, ‘everyone will mourn for Druss the Legend. But who will mourn for me?’ ” Now compare the above quotes with this famous line from the movie Notting Hill: “The fame thing isn’t really real, you know. I’m also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” Two very different kinds of story somehow conveying a similar idea. One of the central themes of Legend is “the legend vs the man”, the difference between how people perceive you on the basis of your reputation and the actual you. The central plotline of Legend concerns the invasion of The Drenai Empire by a powerful tribal nation called Nadir. In order to take over the empire, the Nadir need to break through the fortress of Dros Delnoch. The earl who runs the fortress summonses 60-year-old Druss (with his swollen knees and an arthritic back) from retirement to aid in the fortress town’s defence and to help train the military to fight against the overwhelming odds of the enormous and unstoppable Nadir force. Meanwhile, several heroic Drenai characters are also heading toward the fortress to lend their aid, all of them are aware of the impossibility of winning the war. [image] Druss is the most vivid and larger than life character in a book full of vivid and vibrant characters. There is so much energy in his characterization that he practically leaps off the pages. He reminds me of Cohen the Barbarian from the Discworld book The Color of Magic. An elderly but still deadly killing machine who is very lonely and sad underneath it all. [image] Druss the Legend by LawtonLonsdale In highlighting Druss I am merely scratching the surface of a very lively cast of characters, including the reluctant new earl who views himself as cowardly but automatically becomes a “berserker” when the fighting starts, a Robin Hood-like archer, a female assassin with a dark secret etc. Even the main antagonist Ulric, the Nadir’s great war leader is a complex and honorable man. The narrative is told from both sides of the war, while we are clearly meant to be invested in the Drenai people who are under attack, the rationale of Ulric who wants to annex other nations to his own, for the sake of long-term peace and prosperity, is understandable. Gemmell was the master of plotting, pacing and —most of all—characterization. His world building is not as complex or detailed as today’s leading purveyors of epic fantasy like Brandon Sanderson or Patrick Rothfuss, the upside is that Gemmell’s books are generally much shorter. The magic side of the story is sparingly used, similar to what you would expect in an Arthurian fantasy. Gemmell was much more concerned with exploring the themes of chivalry, honor, redemption, and particularly the deeper meaning of heroism. I feel like there is Gemmell renaissance going on just in my head. He was my single favorite fantasy author during the 80s, I don't know whether that is still the case today, or even who holds the mantle now; there are just too many great fantasy authors still working and they are quite diverse in style; it is not really worth ranking them. Sadly, David Gemmell passed away in 2006, though he left behind a considerable legacy of very well written fantasy books. The first time I read Legend was more than twenty years ago, I have forgotten most of the details so this is almost like a first read for me, though there are one or two highly remarkable scenes which I have never forgotten (only the context of how they come about). If you enjoy fantasy in a medieval setting but have not read any Gemmell yet you have a lot to look forward to. [image] Notes: • I distinctly remember reading these Drenai books in random order during the 80s, this was before the advent of e-books, and it was hard to find all the titles in bookstores to read sequentially; so I read whatever I could find. Each novel is self-contained so there is no cliff hanger to worry about. • That said, with e-books available now I look forward to reading them all in order. Though I would like to read his Troy series which I never read before. • Gemmell is something of a writer’s writer where the epic fantasy genre is concerned, there is even a David Gemmell Award named after him (comparable to the Arthur C. Clarke or the Philip K. Dick awards). Patrick Rothfuss is a proud recipient of this award, as he mentioned in his own review of this very book. Quotes: “What does the philosopher say of cowards and heroes?” “The prophet says, ‘By nature of definition only the coward is capable of the highest heroism.’ ” “And what is a man? He is someone who rises when life has knocked him down. He is someone who raises his fist to heaven when a storm has ruined his crop—and then plants again. And again. A man remains unbroken by the savage twists of fate.” “That our defense will fail is no reason to avoid the battle. For it is the motive that is pure, not the outcome.” “Yes. He is a strange one. A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination, and now a hero by necessity.” “Beyond the legendary armor and the eyes of icy fire, he was just another old man. Tough and strong as a bull, maybe, but old. Worn out by time, the enemy that never tired. ” ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 26, 2017
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Mar 03, 2017
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Feb 26, 2017
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0765326361
| 9780765326362
| 0765326361
| 4.76
| 381,968
| Mar 04, 2014
| Mar 04, 2014
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it was amazing
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“For Oliver Sanderson, Who was born during the middle of the writing of this book, and was walking by the time it was done.” Aww, I have never started “For Oliver Sanderson, Who was born during the middle of the writing of this book, and was walking by the time it was done.” Aww, I have never started a review with the book's dedication before, dedications are usually “read it and forget it” affairs, nice for the dedicatee, nothing to do with me. However, this one is charming and noteworthy in that I seldom consider how long it must take authors to write lengthy books. This dedication makes me appreciate the time and effort Brandon Sanderson puts into the creation of this book. The world building and attention to details in this book is mind boggling, the beautiful artworks scattered inside the book and the complex (but easy to follow) structure makes the book seems like a huge undertaking involving not just Sanderson but also the illustrator and probably a book designer, not to mention the publishing and marketing side of it. It seems almost unfair that I read this book in about three weeks but it took Sanderson over a year to write it. At 1328 pages for about 9 US Dollars the book is incredible value for money per page. That is if you place value in great epic fantasy books; I do, and this book is a bargain. Words of Radiance is volume 2 of Sanderson’s ambitious Stormlight Archive series, which is projected to span ten similarly gigantic volumes. The main story arc concerns humanity’s struggle against a nonhuman* race called Parshendi who seek to destroy them for their own survival. The Parshendi are not evil per se, but there are forces at work which prevent the two races from living in peaceful coexistence. As with most epics, the story is told from the perspective of several main characters in multiple plot strands. These main characters are the movers and shakers of Roshar, the world of this series. So we follow the adventures of Kaladin the Radiant knight with wind riding abilities, Shallan the scholar with eidetic memory and the ability to create illusions, High Prince Dalinar who receives visions from the gods and will do anything to save his people from destruction, and several others. [image] Shallan In spite of being a very long book, the narrative just flows and flows, it never grinds to a halt. This is not to say that it is relentlessly fast-paced the pace varies according to the needs of the scene being depicted; discussions, battles, ruminations, romance, bantering etc. all require different pacing to make the scenes work. Each plot strand has something of interest going on, there are no long dry passages of expositions, yet the world is complex and richly imagined. I only have one very minor complaint in that Sanderson's jokes seldom land for me, they are just generally too bland, and too safe; but at least some of them make did make me smile, and I appreciate the author for including some humour (even if it is too tame) to balance the more intense parts of the book. Characterization is very important for this kind of book because we have to spend such a long time with the main characters and be invested in what they are doing. Sanderson spends a lot of time developing the characters, their strengths, and foibles. We get to know them very well by the end of the book and look forward to seeing them again. Kaladin still spends a little too much time moping and doubting himself, but there is much less of this than in the previous book, The Way of Kings. [image] “Magic system” is now a popular term among the modern fantasy fans. Nowadays the old school “Abracadabra!” conjuring trope just does not cut it anymore for many readers. Magic should have some kind of logical basis, cause and effect, it is equally impossible regardless of whether it is systematic, but the internal logic has to make sense for its application to be believable. Sanderson is probably the king of magic systems, if you read his Mistborn series you will know exactly what I mean. For the Stormlight Archive series magic is fueled by stormlight from the “high storms” that infuses gems and is used almost like electricity, for lighting and various purposes. The word technology even appears a few times, unusual for books in this genre. Roshar is full of numerous bizarre life forms, quite a few of which are beautifully illustrated in the book. My favorites are the “sprens” which are like elemental spirits. A few of them are also very entertaining as characters. One is a Tinker Bell-like creature called Syl that follows Kaladin, and the other is called Pattern and is literally a living pattern that acts as Shallan’s very strange sidekick. There is so much depth and details in this book that it is hard to write a readable, comprehensive review. The best I can do is ramble on as I have and make a strong recommendation to fantasy fans not to miss this mighty series. The third volume of this series is scheduled to be published around November. I'm on board for all ten books, providing the author does not jump the shark somewhere down the line. [image] * They are not aliens because they are just as indigenous to the world of Roshar as the humans. • Opinions differ on this issue but, the way I see it, there is no need to firmly commit to reading all ten volumes, especially as the series will probably not be finished for another decade at least. As readers, we should just enjoy the journey and not worry too much about the destination. Each book so far wraps up quite nicely at the end, some major questions are answered, leading to intriguing new ones to be explored in the next installment. • The fight scenes in this book are extremely well done, vividly depicted and pulse pounding. • The paintings in the book (two of them shown above) are by the great Michael Whelan, the gray scale art by Dan dos Santos, there are also some amazingly detailed drawings by Ben McSweeney (not shown here). [image] “On an individual basis, in most interactions, this thing we call power—authority—exists only as it is perceived.” “It’s not that you aren’t witty, Shallan. I just feel like you try too hard. The world is not a sunny place, and frantically trying to turn everything into a joke is not going to change that.” “Using a fetching face to make men do as you wish is no different from a man using muscle to force a woman to his will, she’d said. Both are base, and both will fail a person as they age.” “I like to learn to use the local weapons,” Mraize said. “It is a quirk, though I feel it is justified. If you want to understand a people, learn their weapons. The way men kill one another says far more about a culture than any scholar’s ethnography.” [image] Kaladin vs. Szeth ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 18, 2016
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Jan 10, 2017
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Dec 18, 2016
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Hardcover
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| 0978970764
| 9780978970765
| 0978970764
| 3.87
| 78,039
| 2007
| Jan 01, 2007
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really liked it
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“The man-shaped arrangement of meat rose up, as if functioning as one body. It pushed itself up on two arms made of game hens and country bacon, plant
“The man-shaped arrangement of meat rose up, as if functioning as one body. It pushed itself up on two arms made of game hens and country bacon, planting two hands with sausage-link fingers on the floor. The phrase “sodomized by a bratwurst poltergeist” suddenly flew through my mind. Finally it stood fully upright, looking like the mascot for a butcher shop whose profits went entirely to support the owner’s acid habit.” The above quote from the prologue sets the tone very nicely for John Dies at the End. It really is a wild ride of a book. I became interested in this book a few years ago when I heard it was being adapted into a movie back in 2012. The title alone is quite intriguing; here is a book that seems to spoil its own ending from the title, that is something new. Of course, the title does not really spoil the book but it is a damn good hook. I added it on my TBR and it languished there for several years. I think it was priced quite expensively at the time, something over USD 10 for a 376 pages book, so I put it on the backburner. A couple of weeks ago Amazon offered the e-book for a limited time at USD 2.76 so I was quite happy to snap it up. John Dies at the End is more about David Wong—the character, not the author*—than it is about John. Dave and John are besties in the [image] David Wong, in spite of the name, is not Chinese, he prefers to use a pseudonym for the sake of anonymity. At the beginning of the book, it seems that John and Dave are some kind of Ghostbusters who are called to investigate or exorcise spirits, demons or any kind of supernatural entities. As a pair of paranormal investigators, they are more similar to Sam and Dean Winchester from the CW series “Supernatural” than the Ghostbusters team or The X-Files’ Mulder and Scully. After the encounter with the Meat Monster in the prologue, the narrative rewinds to the beginning of their paranormal investigation career. John and Dave are exposed to a weird substance nicknamed “Soy Sauce” that enables them to see supernatural or pandimensional beings from other dimensions. Immediately they become embroiled in a plot by shadowy beings to corrupt and take over our reality. John Dies at the End is basically the story of the duo’s struggle to save the world. The main body of the narrative is nested inside a frame story where Dave is being interviewed by a reporter who specializes in paranormal stories. From beginning to end it is a very fast-paced narrative, and never really slow down to take a breather. I usually enjoy fast paced page turners but I feel it is overdone here. Incident piles upon incident in rapid succession, not much time is spent on expositions or character development. I felt like I was hanging on to the narrative by the skin of my teeth. This has the ironic effect of the book becoming a little monotonous toward the end. On the plus side there are quite a lot of bizarre sights to see; wig monsters, gigantic blobby monsters, flying parasites, ghosts, clones, exploding dogs and policemen, copious amount of blood and poo etc. [image] Wig Monsters by FlammablePerson There is also an unpleasant parallel dimension our heroes amusingly name “Shit Narnia”. There is plenty to keep me interested, but not a lot to care about. I think it comes down to characterization. John and Dave are likable enough duo with their bantering, flippant attitude, defiance of authority and penis jokes. However, I feel that there is insufficient depth to them to carry almost 400 pages of narrative. Thankfully there is a little bit of romance between Dave and a girl called Amy which provides a nice bit of light and shade to the inexorable narrative. It also gives Dave an opportunity to become a hero instead of a smartass. The prose style seems to be aimed at teenaged boys, however, the often NSFW adolescent humour did make me chuckle quite a few times. The author writes a bit like Andy Weir on speed, though, for me, the humour here works better than The Martian. My only complaint is the relentless pacing which sometimes makes the narrative feel overly chaotic and even a bit of a mess. It becomes oddly exhausting toward the end of the book. Even the epilogue seems excessively long and the pacing is still not winding down. While reading the last twenty or so pages I felt the book outstayed it's welcome a little; I suspect 300 pages would have been just right. Having said all that I don’t want to give the impression that John Dies at the End is bad or dull. It is a fun book, possibly ideal for readers with short attention span, or those looking for nonstop thrills. I don’t think I am on board for the sequel This Book Is Full of Spiders: Seriously, Dude, Don't Touch It, but it has a higher GR rating than this book so I may change my mind later if I fancy reading something wild. Certainly, I have no regret reading this book. If you are looking for a funny, wild, and anarchic sci-fi horror adventure this could do very well. If you are cautious perhaps you can try a sample chapter from Amazon, the book does start with a bang, and the prologue is quite representative of the entire book. [image] * The author's use of the David Wong pen name lends his first person narration an air of verisimilitude, and a "meta" feel. His real name, Jason Pargin, is no secret, it is mentioned in the introduction to the book, written by eccentric filmmaker, Don Coscarelli, who directed the film adaptation and also a few weird movies like Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep. ____________________ Quotes If I had known what was about to happen at work I wouldn’t have gone, of course. I would also have taken off my pants. Something coming back from the dead was almost always bad news. Movies taught me that. For every one Jesus you get a million zombies. “You have tormented me six times. Now prepare to meat your doom!” I have no way of knowing that it actually said “meat” instead of “meet” but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. I ran. “Good. Anyway, Amy is missing and the scene is weird as shit. The situation has a real Lovecraft feel to it. Though, you know, if you come over it’ll be more of an Anne Rice situation. If you know what I mean. Because you’re gay.” “Dave? It’s me. Amy’s missing and we got what looks like a bag full of fat here. It’s weird. And I mean ‘bad’ weird, not ‘clown’ weird. There was a time when I would have found the idea of certain death a little comforting, like being on the last day of a job I hated. [image] The Meat Monster from the movie adaptation ...more |
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1
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Dec 2016
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Dec 10, 2016
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Dec 01, 2016
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Paperback
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| 4.11
| 953,946
| Jun 19, 2001
| Jun 21, 2011
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really liked it
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I am not so familiar with the urban fantasy sub-genre, I read a few Sookie Stackhouse books and one Dresden Files book, they are readable but they did
I am not so familiar with the urban fantasy sub-genre, I read a few Sookie Stackhouse books and one Dresden Files book, they are readable but they did not hook me into following their series. Neil Gaiman is a very different kind of fantasy author, there is a peculiarly whimsical tone to his narrative which I find very pleasant. American Gods is his best-known novel, though his best-known work may be the Sandman graphic novels (which I have not read). Deliberately meandering (the author says so in the Forward) the book is nevertheless immensely readable thanks to the author's literary yet whimsical (that word again) prose style, even the slow moving passages where nothing much seem to be happening are a breeze to read. The story is essentially about gods in America, taken at face value it is an entertaining road trip through a fantastical world where gods are created by faith rather than the other way around. The narrative is mostly from the point of view of the protagonist Shadow who seems to go through life with remarkable equanimity. None of the supernatural goings-on seems to surprise him throughout the book in spite of the increasing outlandishness of events. Some people I have talked to find him too bland or too much of a blank slate, I personally find him quite likable, especially with his fondness for coin tricks. Better still, the cast of characters are generally a weird and wonderful bunch, like you would find in a Dickens novel but weirder. Special mention must go to the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday and the even more enigmatic supervillain Mr. World. Less weird (but still weird) is Laura, Shadow's zombie wife who is not interested in devouring flesh or brains, only the welfare of her husband and going back to being a real girl again. She is the book's most sympathetic character, and also quietly, discreetly and politely badass when she needs to take action. The aforementioned (too frequently mentioned) whimsical prose style makes reading the book a little like dreaming sometimes, I was happy to drift along with it at a leisurely pace (took me almost two weeks to finish it due to lack of time). The book that follows this one Anansi Boys is tighter, faster-paced and funnier. Still, this one is well worth a read. [image] Picture from Tiny Little Dot on Tumblr ___________________ Notes: • A TV series based on this book air in "early 2017" (whatever that means). More info • "First Look Trailer" ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 30, 2012
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Jan 12, 2013
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Nov 12, 2016
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Kindle Edition
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| 006082543X
| 9780060825430
| 006082543X
| 4.06
| 37,775
| 2008
| Jun 24, 2008
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it was amazing
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[image] Nothing much is happening in the above picture, the very first frame of the graphic novel edition of Coraline but it still manages to be forebo [image] Nothing much is happening in the above picture, the very first frame of the graphic novel edition of Coraline but it still manages to be foreboding and disquieting. There are quite a few pictures like this in this book where so much is communicated with so little. Even the style of the font and the layout can convey an otherworldly feeling of dread. Look at that spider: [image] Something about that “scuttling” text just scuttles. *Shiver* What of the story then? The story is great. Coraline is about an 11-year-old girl who moves into an old mansion with her parents. She fancies herself an intrepid explorer, one day her exploration of her new home leads her to a mysterious passage that leads to what appears to be a parallel universe where things may initially seem very similar but yet not quite the same as our world. The first person Coraline meets in this dimension is a woman who claims to be her “Other Mother”. She does resemble Coraline’s mother quite a bit except for her eyes which are made of black buttons. [image] Initially, she seems very nice and kind but Coraline soon finds that this “Other Mother” wants Coraline to stay with her permanently in this alternate-mansion. She even has a pair of black buttons and a sewing kit ready… I read very few graphic novels, probably less than four in my entire lifetime. I do like them but I personally find regular novels to be better value, especially in term of the time I spend reading them. Still, I bought Coraline because I saw the 2009 movie and thought it was great, wonderfully scary for kids, in a way that they enjoy. I just wanted to share it with my little nephew. The alternate dimension (not really a parallel world) is brilliantly conceived, and the “Other” versions of the people from Coraline’s world are deliciously creepy. I can not praise the artwork by P. Craig Russell enough, also the lettering by Todd Klein* which greatly enhanced the artwork. The character of Coraline is very well written, as is the creepy Other Mother, also the snarky cat whose banter with Coraline is one of the book’s highlights. Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite authors, whose whimsical style tinge with darkness is right up my street. I also love his sparkling dialogue and slightly odd humour. [image] If you like reading with kids and want to stimulate their imagination Coraline, in any edition, is highly recommended. Of course, there is nothing wrong with just buying it to read for yourself. _____________ Notes: * I did not even know that there is such an occupation as letterer, not being very familiar with the graphic novels and comic books scene. There is an interesting inversion motif in Coraline, the mansion in our world and the very similar and also very different version of it in the other dimension, the people behave in polar opposite manners; even Coraline’s name is somewhat unearthly, a partial inversion of Caroline. [image] ...more |
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1
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Aug 20, 2016
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Aug 23, 2016
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Aug 24, 2016
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Hardcover
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| 0765310023
| 9780765310026
| 0765310023
| 4.27
| 76,267
| Sep 01, 2000
| Feb 01, 2005
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liked it
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843 pages. Seems longer. [image] I really like vol #1 of this Malazan series, “Gardens of the Moon”. In spite of having a reputation for being hard for 843 pages. Seems longer. [image] I really like vol #1 of this Malazan series, “Gardens of the Moon”. In spite of having a reputation for being hard for the uninitiated to get into, I did acclimatize to the settings and characters fairly early on*, and once I got into the swing of things I enjoyed the book tremendously. I was expecting the second book Deadhouse Gates to be a breeze to read as I was already familiar with the Malazan setting. That did not happen! Boring synopsis begins (feel free to skip) Deadhouse Gates mostly focuses on Seven City’s rebellion over The Malazan Empire. The “Fist” (commander) Coltaine is ordered to help evacuate 50,000 refugees from the overrun Seven Cities to the safe haven of Malazan continental capital of Aren, thousands of miles away. Meanwhile, the assassin Kalam is on a personal vision to kill the Malazan Empress. Meanwhile, a girl called Felisin is escaping from slavery at a mine with a couple of “friends” she does not really like. Meanwhile, Meanwhile, Icarium, a half-Jaghut, and his bestie Mappo are on a quest to recover Icarium’s memories. Meanwhile, Fiddler, Crokus, and Apsalar are on a kind of mystical quest. Meanwhile, Duiker the Historian joins up with Coltaine’s army to chronicle their brave mission. Meanwhile, meanwhile, meanwhile …. ლ(ಠ_ಠ ლ) Boring synopsis ends. Boring review continues. There is a Canadian prog rock band called Rush that I admire for their talent, intelligence and musicianship, but never really got into their music, their albums tend to bore me after a while (they do have some great songs, though). I think the Malazan series is a bit like that, admirable but requires too much effort for me to enjoy. Series like this are great for epic fantasy aficionados with good memories for characters, plots, races, terms and other details (fantasy RPG players too I suppose). [image] The Races of Malazan by Yapattack (click image to see full HD size) Author Steven Erikson juggles with something like five plot strands, and most of them never really intersect with the others. In any given chapter he often switches from one plot strand to another, then to yet another until I forget where I am with the narrative. I personally find it hard to keep up with who is doing what when the narrative point of view switch to them. The number of main characters is fairly limited (I think five or six) so it is not too hard to remember who they are but, in spite of the “Dramatis Personae” at the beginning of the book, there are more side character to remember who they all are, also quite a lot of neologisms to contend with (there is a glossary at the end of the book, though). I was not overwhelmed by the complexity of the narrative exactly, but I did begin to lose interest when the narrative begins to feel fragmented and hard to concentrate on. After enjoying Gardens of the Moon, which created a high expectation for this book, it is disappointing to feel that it is often a chore to read. Another problem, clearly of my own making, is that I read Gardens of the Moon eight months ago. It is probably too long a gap for a complex series like this. By the time I started Deadhouse Gates I have already forgotten who the (returning) characters are, and most of the world building details (memory like a sieve, sorry); I do remember the awesome “warrens” magic system, though. Forgetful readers like me should read these Malazan books not more than a month or two apart I think. Yet another problem (again of my own making) is that my favorite characters from Gardens of the Moon are absent from this book. There are three characters I remember very well from the previous book who are merely mentioned in passing. Most of the new characters are fine, quite well developed, except Duiker the historian who bores me to tears and tend to cause the narrative to grind to a halt. The military commander Coltaine is extremely important to the narrative but for some reason Erikson does not narrate his plotline through his point of view, instead, his story is told through Duiker who, as I said, bores me to tears. Enough whining then, there are quite a few positives in this book. Some of the plot stands are quite compelling, especially Felisin’s story arc. How her character develops from an insignificant slave girl into one of the key players is a great read and would have made for a 5 stars book if extracted as its own volume. BFFs Icarium and Mappo are also great characters, the bond between them is quite touching. [image] Icarium and Mappo (sorry, don't know who to credit) Apsalar and friends are also great, I like them from the previous book, and their adventures are full of awesome magic. Unfortunately, a relatively small proportion of the narrative is focused on them. Overall I enjoyed some of Deadhouse Gates, but much less than anticipated. At this point, I feel it is unlikely that I will continue with the series. However, there is something oddly appealing about the world of Malazan and it is more of a “probably not” than a “never”. _______________ * I did avail myself to Tor’s very helpful guide for this series. ...more |
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1
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Jul 13, 2016
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Aug 04, 2016
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Jul 13, 2016
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Hardcover
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| 043402080X
| 9780434020805
| 043402080X
| 3.92
| 101,151
| Aug 09, 2011
| Aug 09, 2011
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it was amazing
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Volume 2 of a trilogy! (Pause for review readers to leave in droves) OK, thank you for staying. So, The Magician King is indeed volume 2 of Lev Grossma Volume 2 of a trilogy! (Pause for review readers to leave in droves) OK, thank you for staying. So, The Magician King is indeed volume 2 of Lev Grossman’s The Magicians trilogy. The first book in the series was a New York Times bestseller, I don’t know if the other two books are also bestsellers. I read The Magicians in 2014, I thought it was pretty good but, like many Goodreads reviewers, I disliked the protagonist Quentin Coldwater. I thought he was a twat, useless, annoying and selfish. For this reason, alone I was not planning to read the remaining two volumes. However, earlier this year I watched Syfy’s adaptation of The Magicians, and I thought it was quite good*, and the dramatic finale made me want to get back into the books. Thank you, Syfy! (Not something I had any occasion to say in recent years). [image] The Magician King (terrible title) has a twin plotlines. The main plotline focuses on Quentin Coldwater and three other friends now comfortably ensconced in Fillory, a parallel world very much derivative of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia. Living it up as royalty (hence the title), having graduated from Brakebills University (yes, deliberately derivative of J.K. Rowling’s Hogwarts). The lazing about soon comes to an end when a tax discrepancy comes to light which unexpectedly leads to information that Fillory is in danger. The secondary plot strand is a flashback that concerns Julie, a girl who was rejected by Brakebills and sacrifices everything she holds dear to learn magic from unlicensed organizations. Her quest to become a first class magician ends very badly for her even though she attains her objective. The price is much higher than anyone would want to pay. The trouble with reviewing this series is that I feel the need to include the word “derivative” which usually has negative connotations. If this word is not included I have a feeling some review readers will roll their eyes and simply dismiss the series as a rip-off of classics of the fantasy genre. However, Grossman has done something very interesting with this series. In the previous book, he examines what a university of magic would be like in the real world, populated by realistic undergraduates, warts and all. [image] In this book he explores how a Narnia-like world would function, what would being a king or a queen of such a place really entail. The Magician King, even more than the previous book, is also a character study, charting the personal growth of Quentin Coldwater, Julie’s extremely traumatic journey to becoming an extraordinary magician. Unlike the classic series that inspire it, the Magicians series is certainly not for kids, not even Y.A. There is some explicit sex and violence in The Magician King, including a rape scene. Game of Thrones fans should not have any problems. Besides looking at children’s fantasy tropes through adult lens The Magician King is also a fast-paced rip-roaring adventure tale in its own right, with quests, riddles, monsters and wild magic galore. I have to say I like The Magician King much more than The Magicians, the protagonist of the previous book has matured considerably, becoming much less selfish and even heroic at times. At the beginning of the book Quentin is the same self-indulgent character carried over from the previous book—but with one important difference—he aspires to be a hero. [image] By the end of the book, he achieves that but finds that heroism is not all it is cracked up to be. I won’t elaborate on this, but consider whether Batman is a happy hero, and you will get the idea. I also enjoy Grossman’s writing style, witty, funny, and packed full of pop culture references (bonus points for mentioning Van Halen and the TARDIS). I find The Magician King to be a very good read, and I am looking forward to reading the last volume The Magician's Land, terrible title notwithstanding. _____________________ * Not as good as Syfy’s adaptation of The Expanse, based on James S.A. Corey’s space opera series of the same name. Now that is the bee’s knees! Quotes: “Supposedly the Thames dragon wrote most of Pink Floyd’s stuff. At least after Syd Barrett left. But there’s no way to prove it.” “I’m Quentin. I’m from Fillory. We’ve come to your island in search of a key.” He glanced at the others and coughed once. It was pretty much impossible to do this without sounding like he was reciting a Monty Python sketch. “It wasn’t the Fellowship of the Ring, but then again he wasn’t trying to save the world from Sauron, he was attempting to perform a tax audit on a bunch of hick islanders.” “Google Street View was an absolute boon to the art and craft of creating long-distance portals.” “The only shortage that the Fillorian economy suffered from was a chronic shortage of shortages.” “Sometimes I think I am fate’s sword. She wields me cruelly.” Quentin wondered what it was like to be so unselfconsciously melodramatic. Nice, probably.” “He liked the dryads, the mysterious nymphs who watched over oak trees. You really knew you were in a magical fantasy otherworld when a beautiful woman wearing a skimpy dress made of leaves suddenly jumped out of a tree.” Note It is interesting to note that the first book of the trilogy, The Magicians, is the most divisive. It is the most commercially successful but, looking at the GR reviews, a sizable section of the buyers dislike it. Its average GR rating (at the time of writing) is 3.47. This second volume, The Magician King, has a much smaller readership (less than half of book#1 according to GR’s number of ratings), but a higher average score of 3.89. I suppose that means the people who disliked the first book have already jumped ship. More interesting still, the final volume The Magician's Land again has a reduced readership, but an average rating of 4.17. Presumably by the final book only hardcore fans remain! ...more |
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1
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Jun 12, 2016
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Jun 20, 2016
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Jun 12, 2016
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Paperback
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| 0765326353
| 9780765326355
| 0765326353
| 4.66
| 534,949
| Aug 31, 2010
| Aug 31, 2010
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it was amazing
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If The Way of Kings was half the length it is I would have read it ages ago. It comes very highly recommended by epic fantasy aficionados, often inclu
If The Way of Kings was half the length it is I would have read it ages ago. It comes very highly recommended by epic fantasy aficionados, often included among the top 5 all time greats of the fantasy genre. Unfortunately, the book is over 1000 pages long and I'm not a fast reader so in the time I take to read this one book I can read two or three average length ones. However, having read Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy I was so I expected something highly imaginative, readable and entertaining. The plot of a lengthy epic fantasy is generally difficult to distil into a short synopsis. The Goodreads official synopsis simply mentions the The narrative is mostly told from the point of view of three central characters (with the occasional POVs from lesser characters). The three main POV characters are: Dalinar Kholin, a general and a “shard bearer”, a sort of elite knight who possesses a magical sword and armor. He also had prophetic visions that nobody believes in. Spends most of his free time doubting himself. Kakadan, a lowly slave who trained as a surgeon but is also deadly with the spear, he also has a somewhat Tinker Bell like spirit following him around. Spends most of his free time doubting himself. Shallan Davar, the lone single main POV character. A smart-mouthed* studious girl who works very hard to become a ward to the kingdom’s top scholar so she can steal the scholar’s magical artifact. Of course, she learns to love her teacher but her story arc still takes very strange turns. [image] Parshendi Army by fefeeyss87 Long books are difficult to review, so after finishing the book I took a quick look at my GR friends’ review, Brandon Sanderson is at the forefront among authors working in the very lucrative epic fantasy genre today, among the top three I’d say. His specialization seems to be the “magic system”, an oxymoronic term that refers to the rigorous application of an internal logic to the fantastical aspect of the book. This helps to boost believability, suspension of disbelief, and can be quite fascinating as a thought experiment. There is a kind of hard sci-fi aesthetic to the way Sanderson constructs and applies his magic system for The Way of Kings; it is elaborate, intricate, and makes complete sense within the rules Sanderson laid down. While reading I did have a sense of the vast canvass Sanderson is working on. In fact, when you consider that the The Stormlight Archive series is also a subset of the author’s Cosmere universe (a sort of Sandersonverse, his very own MCU, for most of his fantasy novels) the mind boggles at the creative task he has set himself. For an epic fantasy to be readable the characters have to be well developed, a 1000 pages of flat characters is just not going to work. Sanderson is quite adept at this but I do have one minor complaint about how his heroes tend to mope and doubt their worthiness of whatever the monumental task or responsibility they set themselves (or perceived as the Almighty setting for them). This “moral crisis angst” side of his writing is repetitious and gets old very fast. Having said that, the angsty passages never go on so long as to be unbearable; and when these heroes eventually get their asses in gear they do achieve very great and spectacular things. “The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon. Too often, we forget that.” Sanderson does want to give his readers some food for thought (though the primary purpose of fun escapism is never forgotten). In this book, you will find themes of loyalty, courage, sacrifice, and social stratification among others. Even the antagonists tend to have a moral basis for what they do. The novel has plenty of nuances for readers who prefer not to park their brains before picking up the book; nothing as subtle as lit fics like The Great Gatsby but I am glad they are there. At this point, I paused to read over this review so far and I find that I have prattled on too long again. So, TL;DR, The Way of Kings is a riveting and entertaining read. It is well worth the time sink (about 18 days for me, with meals and bathroom breaks etc. factored in) and I can’t wait to read volume 2 Words of Radiance. _______________ * A minor complaint but Sanderson’s attempts at humour often don’t land for me, Pratchett he ain't. However, I am glad that the humorous parts are there to vary the tone and occasionally lighten up the mood. Boring footnotes: • If this review meets your high standard, check out my review of Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, vol 2). • The world of Roshar is quite complex, the first few chapters can be a little difficult to get into. If you are, like me, an impatient reader and want to refer to a guide Tor.com has you covered with their The Way of Kings Reread. • This book is full of beautiful illustrations, though the texts within are hard to read, not that you really need to read them! • Each chapter starts with a short cryptic quote and I don’t understand the relevance of a single one of them. I will have to look at that Tor’s guide again. • I complained about the book’s length but, on plus side, it is excellent value; the same price as shorter books for a lot more reading material. If you are not in a hurry to make a progress on your TBR, the longer the book the better really. • I love the "mysterious jester with strange powers" trope in fantasy, there is one here called The Wit, A.K.A Hoid, he reminds me of Robin Hobbs' mysterious Fool from her Farseer Trilogy. Also The Mule from Asimov's Foundation and Empire. • Rating: The 1-5 stars rating system can be very crude, though a mathematical expression of something not objectively quantifiable is unavoidably arbitrary to a large extent. To refine the rating for this book a bit I would like to rate it at 90%. Now, 90% of 5 stars = 4.5 stars, but 4.5 stars just seems too crude for me. ...more |
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1
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Mar 28, 2016
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Apr 14, 2016
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Mar 28, 2016
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Hardcover
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| 0451458443
| 9780451458445
| 0451458443
| 4.14
| 169,151
| Sep 01, 2001
| Sep 01, 2001
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really liked it
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I rarely feel the urge to read books in the “urban fantasy” subgenre. An awful lot of them seem to be “paranormal romances” which are anathema to me.
I rarely feel the urge to read books in the “urban fantasy” subgenre. An awful lot of them seem to be “paranormal romances” which are anathema to me. I think I have only read a few urban fantasies, American Gods, China Miéville’s Kraken, and Clive Barker’s classic Weaveworld spring to mind. The Dresden Files series has quite a reputation though, it has a rabid fan base and it is often recommended in SF/F online forums. However, even fans of the series tend to agree that the first couple of books in the series are not so great, and the series really pick up in hook #3, Grave Peril. I can’t speak for book #2, but I did read the first book of the series, Storm Front, and I was not impressed. Still, if a series is enormously popular and it deserves a second chance, though probably not a third one, so I skipped book #2, Fool Moon. A brief synopsis: Someone is causing an imbalance between our world and the spirit world causing a huge increase in paranormal activities. As a result, one of Harry Dresden’s friends has been driven mad, and another one in a coma. In order to save his friends Harry and a few friends have to battle ghosts, demons, ghosts of demons, and more vampires than you can shake a garlic bread at. Another reason I seldom read urban fantasy is that—for me—it requires even more suspension of disbelieve than the standard “sword & sorcery” fantasy. The setting is “our world” but with a magical component welded on, so the wizardry and monstrosities goings-on seem just a little ridiculous. I think this is the advantage of sci-fi, we live in a scientific world so even when the science is made-up (or just plain wrong) the fiction often has a ring of plausibility. Having said that, I have to admit I was pretty much sold on Grave Peril from the battle with a ghost a few pages in. It starts with a wonderfully creepy atmosphere and sudden escalation into a magical battle that is so kinetic and intense I forgot how ludicrous the whole premise is. In order to get the most out of the book, I decided to commit to the nonsense and just go along on Jim Butcher’s wild ride. It does help that Butcher is very good at his chosen field, the internal logic or “magic system” that he employs is consistent and believable within the setting he creates. Also, the pacing of the book is so fast that my habitual disbelief has no time to surface. Then there is the characterization. “But I’m a sucker for a lady in distress. I always have been. It’s a weak point in my character, a streak of chivalry a mile wide and twice as deep.” I have had enough of anti-heroes, but a flawed hero with his heart in the right place is someone I can get behind. His sidekick Michael Carpenter, a “Knight of the Cross”, is also very interesting. If he was the protagonist of the series, it would probably have fallen under the “Christian fiction” label. “He’s a righteous man.” “He seemed nice enough to me.” “No, not self-righteous. Righteous. The real deal. He’s honest, loyal, faithful. He lives his ideals. It gives him power.”” The pacing of the book is quite relentless and it almost never slows down to take a breather. Harry faces one crisis after another and almost dies every time, and more often than not he survives by coming up with outlandish solutions that sometimes feel like deus ex machina. The continuous battling does become a little repetitious by the end of the book but never actually boring, thanks to Jim Butcher’s narrative skills. If I say “turn your brain off and enjoy this book” it would sound like a backhanded compliment that implies the book is stupid. It maybe silly, but it is certainly not stupid. Jim Butcher put a lot of thoughts into his world building, characterization and plotting, but it seems like he has done all the heavy lifting and the reader does not need to make any real effort to follow the story. By the end of the book, I felt quite satisfied and look forward to reading many more of Harry Dresden's ridiculous adventures. ___________________ Worldbuilding Quotes: These are examples of Jim Butcher's elaborate world building rather than passages of literary beauty (of which there is none, it's not that kind of book). “Not a house,”I said. “A home. There’s a difference.”“So what about Victor Sells’s place? I hear you took him on, right?”I shook my head. “He’d screwed up his threshold. He was running his business out of it, using the place for dark ceremonies. It wasn’t a home anymore.” In the circles of the supernatural community, an Old World code of conduct still ruled. When you have a problem, you settle it face to face, within the circle. Working magic directly on a human body is difficult. It’s very difficult. Conjuring up forces, like my shield, or elemental manifestations like the fire or wind is a snap compared to the complexity and power required to change someone’s hair a different color—or to cause the cells on either side of an injury to fuse back together, closing it.” ___________________ Funny Quotes: “Dead before the sun rises,” I said. “Stars, Bob, why don’t you just go all the way over the melodramatic edge and tell me that I’m going to be sleeping with the fishes?” “I’m not sure that much of you would be left,” Bob said, “Well,” Thomas said. “I’d like to see this. I’ve never seen an external transformation before. Do proceed, madame.” He waved his hand impatiently. “Dog him, already!” (There are many more of course). ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 03, 2016
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Mar 08, 2016
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Mar 03, 2016
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Paperback
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 4.13
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it was amazing
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Aug 11, 2020
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May 16, 2020
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| 4.32
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it was amazing
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May 05, 2019
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May 07, 2019
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| 4.03
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it was amazing
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Nov 20, 2018
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Nov 21, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.30
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it was amazing
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Oct 07, 2018
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Oct 08, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.26
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really liked it
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Jun 14, 2018
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Jun 16, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.53
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it was amazing
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Apr 17, 2018
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Apr 17, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.34
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it was amazing
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Feb 26, 2018
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Feb 28, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.30
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it was amazing
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Dec 21, 2017
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Dec 24, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.01
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it was amazing
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Oct 19, 2017
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Oct 19, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.02
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it was amazing
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Aug 27, 2017
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Aug 19, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.25
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it was amazing
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Jul 16, 2017
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Jul 17, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.26
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it was amazing
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Mar 03, 2017
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Feb 26, 2017
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|||||
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| 4.76
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it was amazing
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Jan 10, 2017
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Dec 18, 2016
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|||||
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| 3.87
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really liked it
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Dec 10, 2016
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Dec 01, 2016
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| 4.11
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really liked it
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Jan 12, 2013
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Nov 12, 2016
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| 4.06
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it was amazing
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Aug 23, 2016
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Aug 24, 2016
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|||||
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| 4.27
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liked it
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Aug 04, 2016
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Jul 13, 2016
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|||||
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| 3.92
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it was amazing
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Jun 20, 2016
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Jun 12, 2016
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| 4.66
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it was amazing
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Apr 14, 2016
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Mar 28, 2016
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| 4.14
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really liked it
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Mar 08, 2016
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Mar 03, 2016
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