We start with a correction to the Twilight Zone entry. Richard Matheson did not write a novel called Perchance to Dream; his novel is called What Dreams May Come. I suppose the similar names (both phrases being from Hamlet's famous soliloquy), along with the fact that today's book does share a name with Charles Beaumont's short story, caused the mix-up.
Well! Without further ado, let us move on to the book of the entry, Lisa Mantchev's Perchance to Dream. A sequel to Eyes Like Stars, this novel wraps up the story begun in the first book. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is off on a quest to rescue her pirate lover Nate from the clutches of Sedna the sea goddess with her fairy allies and the spirit Ariel. Other characters include an enigmatic thief and Bertie's father, as well as a troupe of traveling players. The sea goddess herself even makes an appearance. Well, look, I have to be honest. As much as I did enjoy this book, it was not as good as the first. Eyes Like Stars. If you'll allow me to get theatrical here, I think it was the way the first book kept close to the Aristotelian unities of time, place, and action. The action was compressed to within just a few days, it all took place within a few locales in the theatre, and there was really only one main plot. (It doesn't completely keep with the unities, but that is totally understandable as a book is not a play, and, anyway, the unities are kind of boring. But you can't go wrong with keeping things simple at times!) Perchance to Dream throws Bertie and her company into the wilder world outside the theatre, but while I eventually got into the groove of what was going on, the way the magic of words was introduced and used kept confusing me, and I just kind of went along with the flow instead of really absorbing what was going on. Waschbar and the Scrimshander were both important characters, but they were really abruptly introduced. I just felt that the novel's breakneck pace and piles of new information made it a bit of muddle. Diana Wynne Jones can pull that sort of thing off, but she's a rare writer. However, for all that I'm complaining, I still genuinely liked this book. I'll also give Ms. Mantchev props for handling the romance. It could have so easily turned into something like Twilight, except for Bertie's more sensible outlook. And I have to admit that I actually gained sympathy for Ariel, whom I was not particularly fond of in the first book. Really, all of the characters shone by the end of this book, even the Scrimshander, who took even longer to win me over than Ariel did. Wikipedia tells me there will be a third book. With luck, it will slow down the pacing and focus more on the characters in a single theatrical setting, what made the first book so great.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Prince of Mist
The Prince of Mist could be called The Shadow of the Wind lite, except that would be doing a disservice to both books. The Prince of Mist could perhaps be said to be a precursor, an introduction to Zafon's masterwork, except that also seems to belittle the shorter but no less enthralling earlier book. The Prince of Mist is one of those children's books that is not a children's book, because it can be enjoyed by anyone, and associating it only with children would be doing it a disservice, though heaven knows that child readers are no idiots. I suppose I could best compare The Prince of Mist to The Westing Game in this regard. Child characters and a writing style a child could comprehend, but a very intricate plot and unexpectedly dark plot material. Haunted statues, a devilish man with dark magic, a sunken ship that went down with dozens of forsaken souls on board, a house built by a rich man whose family was soon after struck by tragedy, all of this is trademark Zafon, and everything comes together in a tight plot that will tug at your heart and make you glad to have a light on while you read. This is an excellent tragedy, and it's all the better for having characters you as the reader will identify and sympathize with. Max is a well-executed normal boy protagonist, Alicia is neither too haughty nor too sensual to be unlikable, and Roland is just shy of being too cocky, and so you don't end up hating him. I mean, when I started reading, I was sure I could peg the character types, but it was pleasant to find that instead of just being types, the three main characters were actually individual personalities. But still, first novel or not, I should not have expected less from Zafon.
Well, this was more reflection than review. Ah, get used to it, I guess? Okay, okay, here's a bit about the actual plot. With World War II looming, Max and his family move from the city to a seaside town. The town is sleepy, but the house Max's family moves into is wreathed in a tragic past. Max's new friend Roland tells him and his sister Alicia about the Fleischmann family who lived there until their son Jacob died. Meanwhile, Max discovers a garden full of freakin' creepy statues including one of a scary clown. I mean, jeez, Zafon, dead children aren't enough for you, you have to freaking have clowns in this book? Master of horror, indeed. Tragedy circles ever closer around Max, Alicia, and Roland, and connected to it all is a mysterious character called the Prince of Mist.
Anyway! If you haven't read anything by Zafon, either this book or The Shadow of the Wind is good to start with. And you should start with one of them. Right now. Because Zafon is amazing.
Well, this was more reflection than review. Ah, get used to it, I guess? Okay, okay, here's a bit about the actual plot. With World War II looming, Max and his family move from the city to a seaside town. The town is sleepy, but the house Max's family moves into is wreathed in a tragic past. Max's new friend Roland tells him and his sister Alicia about the Fleischmann family who lived there until their son Jacob died. Meanwhile, Max discovers a garden full of freakin' creepy statues including one of a scary clown. I mean, jeez, Zafon, dead children aren't enough for you, you have to freaking have clowns in this book? Master of horror, indeed. Tragedy circles ever closer around Max, Alicia, and Roland, and connected to it all is a mysterious character called the Prince of Mist.
Anyway! If you haven't read anything by Zafon, either this book or The Shadow of the Wind is good to start with. And you should start with one of them. Right now. Because Zafon is amazing.
The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories; or, my reading material as a child probably explains how weird I am today.
Growing up, browsing the family bookshelf for new reading material was not exactly my favorite activity. After all, it meant that I had exhausted my usual supply of books and was taking a gamble on the contents of the eclectic collection we kept in the living room. The Book of Questions and Imponderables were favorites from a young age, the one being very easy and occasionally thought-provoking and the other stimulating my mind in unusual ways. The New York Public Library Desk Reference was another favorite, holding an extremely varied assortment of facts that I, as an aspiring scholar, sopped up in the hopes of taking a short cut to scholarship. There were other books, too. A collection of great vampire stories and Murder for Christmas, both of which looked interesting but contained material either too dense or too frightening for a young girl, a book on military survival which I absorbed during a phase when I fancied myself an adventurer, business law, a book on card games, self-help and home improvement, an Idiot's Guide to Planning the Perfect Vacation, a book on the history of the world and one on the civil war, the first two Hitchhiker's Guide books and a few volumes of boys' adventure stories from the turn of the century. I would come back to these and others over and over throughout the years, gleaning a little more knowledge each time. But there were two books that I have come to love better than all the others, two books that I grew up with, that I read more and more of as my tastes expanded. What were these magical volumes? The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories and Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.
Rod Serling's Twilight Zone is the one I favor less of the two, though it's still very good, holding such gripping tales as "The Tiger God," "The 16-Millimeter Shrine," and "The Purple Testament." But The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories holds the stories that have stayed with me, even haunted me. And it's these stories that I want to talk about.
We start off with "One for the Angels," a beautiful story about Lou Bookman, a small-time salesman who's not ready to die, not until he's made a big sales pitch, a pitch for the angels. However, when Death shows up, the stakes will be higher than Lou ever imagined. While the story itself is a bit predictable, the charm in this opening story is in the telling.
"Perchance to Dream" is more what you think of when you think of the Twilight Zone, a chilling mindscrew. Phillip Hall is unable to sleep because death awaits when he does. This story's horrifying because, when you think about it, what do you do when your dreams become deadly and there's nothing you can do to avoid eventually dropping off into sleep?
In a funny little coincidence, the next story, "Disappearing Act, was written by Richard Matheson, who also wrote a novel called Perchance to Dream, the name of the previous story. But that's tangential. "Disappearing Act" is another chiller about the inevitable, this time about a man whose very existance is disappearing around him.
"Time Enough at Last" should be in the same vein as the previous two stories, except that this one is well known enough that it's even been parodied. When the world ends, Henry Bemis finally has time to read a book, only he's broken his glasses.
"What You Need" was an early favorite of mine, with more complexity to its characters and plot than the shorter stories that preceeded it. I think what I like about it is how it slowly unwinds itself to its conclusion that you don't even expect until you read it.
"Third from the Sun" is another story that is probably familiar to most people. It's got a bleak feel to it, as the family covertly prepares to leave behind the only life they've ever known. And the twist to the story is skillfully kept until the reveal at the end.
"Elegy" is straight up creepy, in a sort of uncanny valley way. It seems innocent enough, and that just makes the final revelation all the more horrifying. Really, a lot of these stories are Fridge Horror, to invoke the trope. You read them, are mildly chilled, and then you're up thinking all night about all of the truly horrific implications.
"Brothers Beyond the Void" features a theme seen a fair amount in sci-fi. "People are alike all over," huh? It's really very depressing.
The next story, "The Howling Man," is one that I haven't fully read yet. As I said, I've slowly come to read and enjoy more and more of these stories over the years, so it's not surprising to me that I still haven't read a couple all the way through.
I cannot believe that more people haven't heard of "It's a Good Life." It is one of my favorite Twilight Zone stories to reference, but no one gets it! And this isn't even fridge horror, it's horror all the way through, despite the veneer of happiness that the characters put up. Because you can't say the wrong thing around Anthony or he might make everything worse. Think Haruhi Suzumiya as a child. Yeah.
"The Valley was Still" is a Civil War story incorporating witchcraft and a Faustian bargain. Not a favorite of mine, but certainly a good entry in this collection.
"The Jungle" is a story I only read once. It's dark and different, and perhaps I'll like it better after reading it again.
"To Serve Man." Oh, come on, everyone knows this one. It's still interesting to read how the story plays out, though, even if you know the ending. Spoilers: Soylent Green is people.
"Little Girl Lost." Good grief, it's only in writing this that I realize just how many Twilight Zone spoofs The Simpsons have done. The little girl gets trapped in another dimension after crawling under the couch. Not especially terrifying, more intellectually interesting.
"Four O'Clock" is on the surface rather a funny little story. It's one of the shortest in the book, and it sets up its premise with skill. The twist at the end is almost expected. It's another case when you're going to be more disturbed when you think back to the story later, rather than right when you read it for the first time.
The next story is, like "One for the Angels," more of a fairy tale than a horror story. "I Sing the Body Electric!" is a fanciful story by Ray Bradbury about a family of three children and their widowed father who purchase a wonderfully fantastic robotic grandmother. It's touching and heartfelt, and I'm sure I cried while reading it. There's no twist ending, no darkness lurking at the edges. This is just a sweet story about love and family and growing up. It was a favorite of mine from the first time I read it, and it continues to hold a very special place in my heart.
If the previous story features a warm grandmother, "The Changing of the Guard" has the grandfatherly figure of Professor Fowler, an old teacher at a boys' school. As with "I Sing the Body Electric," there's a bit of the supernatural, but rather than acting as an alienating force, it instead reaffirms the innate humanity of the professor and all of the students whose lives he touched.
"In His Image" goes right back to the mindscrewing. I would say that this story most reminds me of Diana Wynne Jones' novel Hexwood because both require several readings before you have even an inkling of what just occurred. I could try to say more about it, but instead I'll just tell you that it confuses and invigorates the mind, puzzles and horrifies, and the resolution is fitting if not completely satisfactory, but in a good way.
"Mute" is one of the stories in this anthology that I had trouble reading until fairly recently. A bit confusing, not a lot of action. It's less supernatural than some of the other stories, with more of a focus on humans and their innate abilities.
I don't think I've ever gotten through, or even attempted, "Death Ship" yet.
For all that "The Devil, You Say?" involves Faustian bargains, it's actually really a fun story. When a man sells his soul in order to be able to have a successful small town paper and then passes the burden on to his son, the son has to scramble to outwit Satan and return his life to normal, all while pursuing the girl of his dreams.
"Blind Alley" presents a much bleaker take on a deal with the devil, wherein the perils of greed are outlined much more starkly and with a chilling sense of futility. I don't have much else to say, as this is one of the stories that I've only read once.
I've never read "Song for a Lady" yet either.
"Steel." A boy and his robot. Only Kelly and Pole are not boys, they're down on their luck robot fighters, and the robots are fighting machines, and the story is basically just a lot of bleak build-up to the inevitable finish. Very little sci-fi, very depressing story.
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Look, if you don't know this story already, shame on you. Go absorb some pop culture!
"The Old Man" is a post-apocalyptic story about human nature and mob rule. It's short and plot-driven, and the twist at the end is really the only remarkable thing about it.
"The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" brings to mind the earlier story "What You Need." Salvadore Ross learns that he can barter the intangible and the seemingly unchangeable in order to better himself and win the heart of the girl he loves. However, this wouldn't be a Twilight Zone story if there weren't a catch.
Here we are. We've reached the story that I find the most chilling of everything in this entire collection. Charles Beaumont's "The Beautiful People." The terrifying thing about this story, to me, is losing yourself and being helpless to stop it. I've had quite a few surgeries in my time, and something about the sinister possibilities of hospitals and surgical procedures just chills me to the bone. You know what book this story reminds me of? Well, yes, Scott Westerfeld's Uglies, sort of, but more than that it reminds me of Unwind by Neal Shusterman. I mean, this story is definitely a good one, but it's also personally one of the most chilling, haunting things I've read.
The next story, in contrast, has left pretty much no impression on me. I know that I've read "Long Distance Call" before, but I had to flip through it to read the end before I remembered much about it. It's like something out of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, that childhood standby of tame tales and grotesque pictures.
The anthology ends with a classic story by Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." This is another famous one where the twist ending is well known. I don't have much of an impression of it because I never read it after the first time.
Overall, some of these stories are really wonderful and have enriched my imagination. I'll say that my favorites would be "One for the Angels," "What You Need," "Elegy," "I Sing the Body Electric!," "In His Image," and "The Beautiful People," with "It's a Good Life" and "The Changing of the Guard" getting honourable mentions.
Well! I hope that this post intrigued you and made you want to read these stories. There wasn't too much summarizing, more my impressions, really, but I hope this was still interesting to read. I'll do my best to post more updates.
Rod Serling's Twilight Zone is the one I favor less of the two, though it's still very good, holding such gripping tales as "The Tiger God," "The 16-Millimeter Shrine," and "The Purple Testament." But The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories holds the stories that have stayed with me, even haunted me. And it's these stories that I want to talk about.
We start off with "One for the Angels," a beautiful story about Lou Bookman, a small-time salesman who's not ready to die, not until he's made a big sales pitch, a pitch for the angels. However, when Death shows up, the stakes will be higher than Lou ever imagined. While the story itself is a bit predictable, the charm in this opening story is in the telling.
"Perchance to Dream" is more what you think of when you think of the Twilight Zone, a chilling mindscrew. Phillip Hall is unable to sleep because death awaits when he does. This story's horrifying because, when you think about it, what do you do when your dreams become deadly and there's nothing you can do to avoid eventually dropping off into sleep?
In a funny little coincidence, the next story, "Disappearing Act, was written by Richard Matheson, who also wrote a novel called Perchance to Dream, the name of the previous story. But that's tangential. "Disappearing Act" is another chiller about the inevitable, this time about a man whose very existance is disappearing around him.
"Time Enough at Last" should be in the same vein as the previous two stories, except that this one is well known enough that it's even been parodied. When the world ends, Henry Bemis finally has time to read a book, only he's broken his glasses.
"What You Need" was an early favorite of mine, with more complexity to its characters and plot than the shorter stories that preceeded it. I think what I like about it is how it slowly unwinds itself to its conclusion that you don't even expect until you read it.
"Third from the Sun" is another story that is probably familiar to most people. It's got a bleak feel to it, as the family covertly prepares to leave behind the only life they've ever known. And the twist to the story is skillfully kept until the reveal at the end.
"Elegy" is straight up creepy, in a sort of uncanny valley way. It seems innocent enough, and that just makes the final revelation all the more horrifying. Really, a lot of these stories are Fridge Horror, to invoke the trope. You read them, are mildly chilled, and then you're up thinking all night about all of the truly horrific implications.
"Brothers Beyond the Void" features a theme seen a fair amount in sci-fi. "People are alike all over," huh? It's really very depressing.
The next story, "The Howling Man," is one that I haven't fully read yet. As I said, I've slowly come to read and enjoy more and more of these stories over the years, so it's not surprising to me that I still haven't read a couple all the way through.
I cannot believe that more people haven't heard of "It's a Good Life." It is one of my favorite Twilight Zone stories to reference, but no one gets it! And this isn't even fridge horror, it's horror all the way through, despite the veneer of happiness that the characters put up. Because you can't say the wrong thing around Anthony or he might make everything worse. Think Haruhi Suzumiya as a child. Yeah.
"The Valley was Still" is a Civil War story incorporating witchcraft and a Faustian bargain. Not a favorite of mine, but certainly a good entry in this collection.
"The Jungle" is a story I only read once. It's dark and different, and perhaps I'll like it better after reading it again.
"To Serve Man." Oh, come on, everyone knows this one. It's still interesting to read how the story plays out, though, even if you know the ending. Spoilers: Soylent Green is people.
"Little Girl Lost." Good grief, it's only in writing this that I realize just how many Twilight Zone spoofs The Simpsons have done. The little girl gets trapped in another dimension after crawling under the couch. Not especially terrifying, more intellectually interesting.
"Four O'Clock" is on the surface rather a funny little story. It's one of the shortest in the book, and it sets up its premise with skill. The twist at the end is almost expected. It's another case when you're going to be more disturbed when you think back to the story later, rather than right when you read it for the first time.
The next story is, like "One for the Angels," more of a fairy tale than a horror story. "I Sing the Body Electric!" is a fanciful story by Ray Bradbury about a family of three children and their widowed father who purchase a wonderfully fantastic robotic grandmother. It's touching and heartfelt, and I'm sure I cried while reading it. There's no twist ending, no darkness lurking at the edges. This is just a sweet story about love and family and growing up. It was a favorite of mine from the first time I read it, and it continues to hold a very special place in my heart.
If the previous story features a warm grandmother, "The Changing of the Guard" has the grandfatherly figure of Professor Fowler, an old teacher at a boys' school. As with "I Sing the Body Electric," there's a bit of the supernatural, but rather than acting as an alienating force, it instead reaffirms the innate humanity of the professor and all of the students whose lives he touched.
"In His Image" goes right back to the mindscrewing. I would say that this story most reminds me of Diana Wynne Jones' novel Hexwood because both require several readings before you have even an inkling of what just occurred. I could try to say more about it, but instead I'll just tell you that it confuses and invigorates the mind, puzzles and horrifies, and the resolution is fitting if not completely satisfactory, but in a good way.
"Mute" is one of the stories in this anthology that I had trouble reading until fairly recently. A bit confusing, not a lot of action. It's less supernatural than some of the other stories, with more of a focus on humans and their innate abilities.
I don't think I've ever gotten through, or even attempted, "Death Ship" yet.
For all that "The Devil, You Say?" involves Faustian bargains, it's actually really a fun story. When a man sells his soul in order to be able to have a successful small town paper and then passes the burden on to his son, the son has to scramble to outwit Satan and return his life to normal, all while pursuing the girl of his dreams.
"Blind Alley" presents a much bleaker take on a deal with the devil, wherein the perils of greed are outlined much more starkly and with a chilling sense of futility. I don't have much else to say, as this is one of the stories that I've only read once.
I've never read "Song for a Lady" yet either.
"Steel." A boy and his robot. Only Kelly and Pole are not boys, they're down on their luck robot fighters, and the robots are fighting machines, and the story is basically just a lot of bleak build-up to the inevitable finish. Very little sci-fi, very depressing story.
"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." Look, if you don't know this story already, shame on you. Go absorb some pop culture!
"The Old Man" is a post-apocalyptic story about human nature and mob rule. It's short and plot-driven, and the twist at the end is really the only remarkable thing about it.
"The Self-Improvement of Salvadore Ross" brings to mind the earlier story "What You Need." Salvadore Ross learns that he can barter the intangible and the seemingly unchangeable in order to better himself and win the heart of the girl he loves. However, this wouldn't be a Twilight Zone story if there weren't a catch.
Here we are. We've reached the story that I find the most chilling of everything in this entire collection. Charles Beaumont's "The Beautiful People." The terrifying thing about this story, to me, is losing yourself and being helpless to stop it. I've had quite a few surgeries in my time, and something about the sinister possibilities of hospitals and surgical procedures just chills me to the bone. You know what book this story reminds me of? Well, yes, Scott Westerfeld's Uglies, sort of, but more than that it reminds me of Unwind by Neal Shusterman. I mean, this story is definitely a good one, but it's also personally one of the most chilling, haunting things I've read.
The next story, in contrast, has left pretty much no impression on me. I know that I've read "Long Distance Call" before, but I had to flip through it to read the end before I remembered much about it. It's like something out of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, that childhood standby of tame tales and grotesque pictures.
The anthology ends with a classic story by Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge." This is another famous one where the twist ending is well known. I don't have much of an impression of it because I never read it after the first time.
Overall, some of these stories are really wonderful and have enriched my imagination. I'll say that my favorites would be "One for the Angels," "What You Need," "Elegy," "I Sing the Body Electric!," "In His Image," and "The Beautiful People," with "It's a Good Life" and "The Changing of the Guard" getting honourable mentions.
Well! I hope that this post intrigued you and made you want to read these stories. There wasn't too much summarizing, more my impressions, really, but I hope this was still interesting to read. I'll do my best to post more updates.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Another summer of a hundred books, plus some books I'm anticipating
This summer I'm doing the one hundred books thing again. I think it will be fun and also give me more motivation to post here because I am incredibly lazy when I don't have some sort of deadline imposed on myself. But, yeah, since I'm graduating, I'll need some sort of project to keep me busy, especially if the internships and whatnot don't all pan out. I'll do my best!
So here's a list of series I like and which need to have sequels, along with status of said sequels.
Leviathan - Westerfeld's website puts Behemoth at October 2010.
Hunger Games - Mockingjay is slated for late August of this year, according to Amazon.
Chaos Walking - Monsters of Men in late September, going by Amazon.
Malice - Amazon lists Havoc, the sequel, as being released in October of this year.
Suzumiya Haruhi series - Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyogaku, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya has finally been announced, though Haruhi knows when we'll see an English version, especially since Baka-Tsuki can't translate anymore. However, Boredom has an English release in July, again going by Amazon.
Green Rider - Fourth book manuscript finished and in editing, according to author's website.
Kiki Strike - Very little information available, but it appears that book three is at least in the works. Kirsten Miller also has a book called The Eternal Ones coming out in August that I feel compelled to check out.
Theatre Illuminata - Book two, Perchance to Dream, is coming out in May.
Stravaganza - City of Ships is listed as coming out in June.
So here's a list of series I like and which need to have sequels, along with status of said sequels.
Leviathan - Westerfeld's website puts Behemoth at October 2010.
Hunger Games - Mockingjay is slated for late August of this year, according to Amazon.
Chaos Walking - Monsters of Men in late September, going by Amazon.
Malice - Amazon lists Havoc, the sequel, as being released in October of this year.
Suzumiya Haruhi series - Suzumiya Haruhi no Kyogaku, The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya has finally been announced, though Haruhi knows when we'll see an English version, especially since Baka-Tsuki can't translate anymore. However, Boredom has an English release in July, again going by Amazon.
Green Rider - Fourth book manuscript finished and in editing, according to author's website.
Kiki Strike - Very little information available, but it appears that book three is at least in the works. Kirsten Miller also has a book called The Eternal Ones coming out in August that I feel compelled to check out.
Theatre Illuminata - Book two, Perchance to Dream, is coming out in May.
Stravaganza - City of Ships is listed as coming out in June.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Two Funny Literature-Related Links
First of all, I bring you guys the Lyttle Lytton Contest. This contest, which focuses on writing intentionally unintentionally bad first sentences to novels, never fails to leave me in tears before I'm halfway through a page. "Jennifer stood there, quietly ovulating." That is the sort of wonderfully cringe-worthy fiction that this contest attempts to chronicle. Go over there, read and laugh at all the entries, then come back here and share your favorites in the comments, and I'll join in too.
Second, Disney is apparently releasing a new, updated Harriet the Spy movie that makes Harriet a blogger who gets in a blogging contest with a popular girl in her high school and stalks a celebrity. Yeah. I know. However, the post that alerted me to this promised that all was not lost. Even from seemingly dark news can come incredible hilarity, like this Jezebel article that playfully suggests other possible updates to children's books, such as "From The Mixed-Up Tweets Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" and "Little Blog on the Prairie." Both the Jezebel article and the Fandom Lounge post have plenty of comments with further title suggestions. Can you guys come up with any more? My ideas: "The Monster at the End of This Youtube Video" and "Where the /b/tards Are." XP
Second, Disney is apparently releasing a new, updated Harriet the Spy movie that makes Harriet a blogger who gets in a blogging contest with a popular girl in her high school and stalks a celebrity. Yeah. I know. However, the post that alerted me to this promised that all was not lost. Even from seemingly dark news can come incredible hilarity, like this Jezebel article that playfully suggests other possible updates to children's books, such as "From The Mixed-Up Tweets Of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler" and "Little Blog on the Prairie." Both the Jezebel article and the Fandom Lounge post have plenty of comments with further title suggestions. Can you guys come up with any more? My ideas: "The Monster at the End of This Youtube Video" and "Where the /b/tards Are." XP
Friday, February 26, 2010
Shiver
Five Reasons You Should Read Shiver By Maggie Stiefvater
1. Creativity - The concept of werewolves isn't an original one, but Stiefvater's treatment of the condition is. These werewolves transform when the temperature drops too low, not during a full moon (though that bit of werewolf lore is addressed). Also, the ending is creatively done, foreshadowed during the book, and executed in a gripping fashion.
2. Humor - The characters in Shiver seemed fun and real, and a big part of this was that Sam and Grace both had senses of humor. Amazing how that goes a long way towards making characters more likable and the story in general seem more inviting and realistic. Three words: washer and dryer. All I'm gonna say.
3. Prose - Stiefvater has talent. The prose is Shiver was straightforward when it needed to be and poetic when that served the mood. And, by gum, the mere fact that Sam could think in song lyrics at times and not annoy the everlovin' crap out of me? That's an achievement all on its own.
4. Characters - I liked both Sam and Grace, and I cared about their romance and problems. Grace is a normal girl, and compared to some paranormal romance protagonists (Bella Swan, I am looking at you), she remains sensible when dealing with her boyfriend. Sam, whom I initially thought I'd dislike because he seemed like he would be a tragic, emo, misunderstood soul, turned out to be a well-rounded, fairly cheerful (as much so as a werewolf guy in his situation would reasonably be), and reasonably clear-headed individual.
5. Plot - Perhaps I should say "plots," as there is plenty going on in this book. Besides just the Sam and Grace romance, there's the mysterious death of Jack Culpeper, and Grace's relationships with her parents and Olivia and Rachel. These different plot threads are juggled skillfully, and they all pull together in the end to satisfying conclusions.
To sum it up, this is an overall great book. It takes a normal romance story, raises the stakes, adds excitement and supernatural elements, and wraps it up in a beautifully written package.
Also, right before posting this, I realized I needed to check the spelling of the author's last name, so I got up, walked over to my bookshelf, and looked. Walking back to my computer, I realized I could have just googled it. I'm... really not sure how to feel about this.
1. Creativity - The concept of werewolves isn't an original one, but Stiefvater's treatment of the condition is. These werewolves transform when the temperature drops too low, not during a full moon (though that bit of werewolf lore is addressed). Also, the ending is creatively done, foreshadowed during the book, and executed in a gripping fashion.
2. Humor - The characters in Shiver seemed fun and real, and a big part of this was that Sam and Grace both had senses of humor. Amazing how that goes a long way towards making characters more likable and the story in general seem more inviting and realistic. Three words: washer and dryer. All I'm gonna say.
3. Prose - Stiefvater has talent. The prose is Shiver was straightforward when it needed to be and poetic when that served the mood. And, by gum, the mere fact that Sam could think in song lyrics at times and not annoy the everlovin' crap out of me? That's an achievement all on its own.
4. Characters - I liked both Sam and Grace, and I cared about their romance and problems. Grace is a normal girl, and compared to some paranormal romance protagonists (Bella Swan, I am looking at you), she remains sensible when dealing with her boyfriend. Sam, whom I initially thought I'd dislike because he seemed like he would be a tragic, emo, misunderstood soul, turned out to be a well-rounded, fairly cheerful (as much so as a werewolf guy in his situation would reasonably be), and reasonably clear-headed individual.
5. Plot - Perhaps I should say "plots," as there is plenty going on in this book. Besides just the Sam and Grace romance, there's the mysterious death of Jack Culpeper, and Grace's relationships with her parents and Olivia and Rachel. These different plot threads are juggled skillfully, and they all pull together in the end to satisfying conclusions.
To sum it up, this is an overall great book. It takes a normal romance story, raises the stakes, adds excitement and supernatural elements, and wraps it up in a beautifully written package.
Also, right before posting this, I realized I needed to check the spelling of the author's last name, so I got up, walked over to my bookshelf, and looked. Walking back to my computer, I realized I could have just googled it. I'm... really not sure how to feel about this.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Incarceron
So Incarceron seems to be following the trend of dark sci-fi/fantasy in sorta post-apocalyptic settings that I've been seeing a lot of in the books I read lately. This book reminds me particularly of The Maze Runner (which, um, I forgot to review when I read it a couple weeks back, oops), but also of stuff like The Hunger Games, the Chaos Walking books, and sort of like Leviathan, too (another book that missed a review). So, yeah, there's a talking point. Have any of you guys out there noticed this YA fiction trend, or is it all in my head?
But anyway, let's talk about Incarceron on its own merits. So I started reading the book at about four o'clock in the afternoon the day I got it, and I finished it at 10:30. Six and a half hours, during which I also attended class for an hour and forty-five minutes, got dinner, took an online test, and played Civilization II. So, uh, yeah, I freaking blazed through this book, all things considered. Shades of The Knife of Never Letting Go. So, yeah, this was a pretty gripping read (unlike the books in the previous review).
Basically, Incarceron is a prison. One that sounds like some sort of Transformer or other type of giant robot, but anyway. It's this mega prison that was designed as sort of a grand experiment in prisoner reform. However, if things had really worked out like that, we wouldn't have a story. Instead, we meet Finn, a young man who's a member of a gang inside Incarceron. He and his band are just one of the many groups who struggle to survive inside the intelligent, malevolent prison. Then one day he finds a key, a link to the outside world. Enter Claudia, daughter of no less important a person than the very Warden of Incarceron. (Heh, the name still amuses me. "Incarceron destroy puny humans!") Claudia, once she's clued into the fact that Incarceron isn't the paradise it's supposed to be, is totally cool with helping Finn and his friends escape. However, she's not a total altruist. She's got problems of her own in the outside world, and she thinks Finn is the key to solving them.
So first of all, the characters. I like Finn. He's a pretty decent guy, for all that he's spent his life in a giant freaking prison. Compared to his companions, he's not at all a ruthless thug. Good, solid hero character with a nice bit of mystery in his past. (Isn't that always the case?) As for Claudia, what I liked about her character is that she's somewhat selfishly motivated. She doesn't want to help the prisoners just because she's a good person (and she is, we do see that), but she's got her own reasons for wanting Finn to be freed. And it makes sense, given her upbringing. Her father raised her to be the perfect queen and to have a chance in the court lifestyle. But, yeah, I just liked that because I have a fondness for characters with human weaknesses (see also Galinda in Wicked the musical). But anyway, besides the main characters, the supporting cast is also well drawn. Kiero is pretty complex in his own right, leaving you perpetually unsure of his true loyalty, and the Warden is similarly inscrutable. Well, next there's the setting, and I have to admit, the first chapter from Claudia's viewpoint threw me 'cause I didn't know why we were suddenly back in Regency times (or whichever period the Era is actually mimicking). But it the important thing is that this works. Incarceron is freaky and nightmarish, but you get, like, a Stepford Suburbia feel from the outside world that's just as bad. The worlds play off and reveal things about each other that just intensifies the mystery and subtle horror. And as for the plot, well, it's good. Good foreshadowing for the most part, unfolds at a nice clip for all the revelations, high stakes for the conflict, and, strewth, does it ever leave off at a cliffhanger point.
Well, I wanted to say more about this book at some point, but this review has been languishing on my desktop for long enough, so I'll just post it. Currently rereading the Chronicles of Prydain and Airman, so there won't be reviews for those.
But anyway, let's talk about Incarceron on its own merits. So I started reading the book at about four o'clock in the afternoon the day I got it, and I finished it at 10:30. Six and a half hours, during which I also attended class for an hour and forty-five minutes, got dinner, took an online test, and played Civilization II. So, uh, yeah, I freaking blazed through this book, all things considered. Shades of The Knife of Never Letting Go. So, yeah, this was a pretty gripping read (unlike the books in the previous review).
Basically, Incarceron is a prison. One that sounds like some sort of Transformer or other type of giant robot, but anyway. It's this mega prison that was designed as sort of a grand experiment in prisoner reform. However, if things had really worked out like that, we wouldn't have a story. Instead, we meet Finn, a young man who's a member of a gang inside Incarceron. He and his band are just one of the many groups who struggle to survive inside the intelligent, malevolent prison. Then one day he finds a key, a link to the outside world. Enter Claudia, daughter of no less important a person than the very Warden of Incarceron. (Heh, the name still amuses me. "Incarceron destroy puny humans!") Claudia, once she's clued into the fact that Incarceron isn't the paradise it's supposed to be, is totally cool with helping Finn and his friends escape. However, she's not a total altruist. She's got problems of her own in the outside world, and she thinks Finn is the key to solving them.
So first of all, the characters. I like Finn. He's a pretty decent guy, for all that he's spent his life in a giant freaking prison. Compared to his companions, he's not at all a ruthless thug. Good, solid hero character with a nice bit of mystery in his past. (Isn't that always the case?) As for Claudia, what I liked about her character is that she's somewhat selfishly motivated. She doesn't want to help the prisoners just because she's a good person (and she is, we do see that), but she's got her own reasons for wanting Finn to be freed. And it makes sense, given her upbringing. Her father raised her to be the perfect queen and to have a chance in the court lifestyle. But, yeah, I just liked that because I have a fondness for characters with human weaknesses (see also Galinda in Wicked the musical). But anyway, besides the main characters, the supporting cast is also well drawn. Kiero is pretty complex in his own right, leaving you perpetually unsure of his true loyalty, and the Warden is similarly inscrutable. Well, next there's the setting, and I have to admit, the first chapter from Claudia's viewpoint threw me 'cause I didn't know why we were suddenly back in Regency times (or whichever period the Era is actually mimicking). But it the important thing is that this works. Incarceron is freaky and nightmarish, but you get, like, a Stepford Suburbia feel from the outside world that's just as bad. The worlds play off and reveal things about each other that just intensifies the mystery and subtle horror. And as for the plot, well, it's good. Good foreshadowing for the most part, unfolds at a nice clip for all the revelations, high stakes for the conflict, and, strewth, does it ever leave off at a cliffhanger point.
Well, I wanted to say more about this book at some point, but this review has been languishing on my desktop for long enough, so I'll just post it. Currently rereading the Chronicles of Prydain and Airman, so there won't be reviews for those.
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