I LIIIVE!

Just because I haven’t written anything in forever doesn’t mean I wasn’t reading. It just means that I’m terribly, terribly lazy. ^^

***

Cover of Ender in Exile

Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card — I was always kind of miffed that after Ender’s Game, there was like two chapters as an epilogue and then Speaker of the Dead starts right in when Ender’s practically middle-aged. Where’s the 20-year-old Ender? I want adolescent angst here!

Consider the adolescent angst delivered. This book spans from the moment Ender obliterates the Formics until he starts in on his time-passing tour of the universe. There’s a satisfyingly Ender-like romance in here, where an impoverished girl tries to angle for his affections for a better life in the colonies. They end up actually liking each other, but of course we know it can’t end up happily. At least, those who’ve read Speaker for the Dead. True to Card’s writing style, Ender has some subtext with his sister. I know that I’m not the only one who notices the buried incest in his writing. I’m not, right? Right?

Anyhow, the biggest part of the book is Ender coming to realize that the alien race that he destroyed will always haunt him, and coming to peace with that. Throughout the book, other characters say that his one true love is the Formics, and that’s why he can’t have healthy relationships with people. Since he had already pretty much stated all his emotional epiphanies in SotD, this book isn’t really anything you’d miss out on. I enjoyed spending a little more time with the god-genius-savior-Xenocide, though, and that’s all that the book was written for, really.

***

Cover of Turncoat

Turncoat by Jim Butcher — The eleventh in the series. Quoth Jim Butcher’s site:

“The Warden Morgan has been accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council–and there’s only one, final punishment for that crime. He’s on the run, wants his name cleared, and needs someone with a knack for backing the underdog. Someone like Harry Dresden.

Now, Harry must uncover a traitor within the Council, keep a less-than-agreeable Morgan under wraps, and avoid coming under scrutiny himself. And a single mistake may cost someone his head–someone like Harry.”

And it doesn’t disappoint. You learn so much about Morgan and the White Council (and, by extension, the Black Council). There’s a shocking twist with Anastasia, and a not-so-shocking twist with one of the Council members. Harry has a wonderful encounter with the Merlin, who had previously voted for him to be executed, and who apparently eats sandwiches. His allies are suffering huge setbacks, and he makes another ally of an evil island. Yeah, a bunch of stuff happens. And Butcher makes it hilarious and awesome.

***

Covers of Blue Bloods Series

Blue Bloods / Masquerade / Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz — Might as well do the whole thing in one shot, yeah? The series is actually still incomplete, and I’m anxiously awaiting the next installment. Essentially, this is about a kind of vampire who call themselves the Blue Bloods. They’re reincarnations of angels who were thrown out of heaven and cursed to live forever on the Earth. It’s also highly addictive. I read all three books in a period of two days. And the only reason it took me more than one was that I finished the second book after the library closed, so I couldn’t get the third until the next day.

I usually have an innate loathing for Twilight fans, but I’d recommend this to them in a heartbeat. It has a lot of the elements that make Twilight addictive, but without the misogyny and vomit-inducing prose. It also has a love triangle including a pair of twins, so incest fans should check it out, too. There’s a caveat that makes the triangle tolerable for anti-incesters, too, so don’t let that scare you away.

***

Aaand that’s all I feel like doing for now. Only about ten more books to catch up on! Yay.

Spring 09 Anime Season

I’m only planning on doing a few of these anime reviews; my book reviews will be far more common. But as a bit of an anime and manga freak, I’d like to put this down as well. Since the spring 09 season is coming up shortly, here are the ones I’ll be watching.

***

Sengoku Basara

This looks like basically an anime adaptation of Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, etc. Basically a hero who uses ridiculous weapon techniques to conquer lots of people and other strong enemies. The reason I’m interested in this one, though, is because it looks so beautiful. The raws of the first episode are floating around online, and from what I’ve seen of the screencaps, it’s breathtaking animation and art. I am such a sucker for aesthetics, and I don’t dislike fighting anime. Since it’s going to be only thirteen episodes long, it’s not like it’ll turn into Naruto or Dragonball or anything, either.  I also may or may not have a fetish for beautiful men and women kicking huge amounts of ass. Just because it’s animated by Production IG, known for their pretty but plotless series, doesn’t really turn me off of this. I’m not expecting any plot. Just people moving really fast, blood, ridiculous weapons, and pretty backgrounds.

***

Basquash!

Now, I normally can’t take mecha, but the art looks so pretty… and Simoun is one of my favorite anime. The Anime News Network site says that there are basketball and mecha themes. Basketball? Mecha? Science fiction? A tournament situation? I guess only time will tell.

This is one of the anime that I’ll probably end up dropping because I only started to watch it because of the eye candy. Then again, who can tell? It might end up having good characters and not-too-cheesy sports Matrix-style time slowing. Also, there is the fact that two out of the three characters in the promo picture are tanned. Not only do I love ethnic characters, I love the spice that comes along with them. The Japanese are remarkably racist, so having a main character with dark skin must be for a reason.

Animated by Statelight. Never heard of em.

***

Phantom: ~Requiem for the Phantom~

While I’m slightly leery of any form of media that feels the need to repeat the same word twice in the name, that’s also the Japanese name. I’m guessing it’s just a case of Engrish.

This is by Bee Train, who have done Noir, Madlax, and El Cazador de la Bruja, all of which I want to see. I remember downloading the first episode of Noir, and I was underwhelmed at the superplain background art. This promo picture doesn’t promise me much in the ways of backgrounds, either, but the people seem to be well-designed and animated.

Apparently the story revolves around the mafia, a young female assassin, and the guy who accidentally witnessed her assassinating. Normally witnesses are killed, but he’s going to be brainwashed to become a new assassin that works for her organization. I’m expecting action, conspiracies, blood, and maybe a bit of subtext romance. Bee Train reportedly gives those things satisfactorily, so I guess we’ll see.

***

Guin Saga

From ANN: The ancient kingdom of Parro has been invaded by the armies of Mongaul, and its king and queen have been slain. But the “twin pearls of Parro,” the princess Rinda and the prince Remus, escape using a strange device hidden in the palace. Lost in the Forest of Rood, they are rescued from Mongaul soldiers by a strange leopard-headed man named Guin, who has no memories except for the word “Aurra.”

I like fantasy novels. I like RPGs, and this seems a bit RPGish. The art looks nice and the fact that a brother and a sister are traveling together gives both the opportunity of tender filial moments or incest subtext. I’m okay with either, really.

***

Shangri-La

From ANN: In the middle of the 21st century, global warming has turned Tokyo into a tropical city. To reduce the temperature, the city is being reborn as the world’s largest forest city. However, not many residents can actually live there. Moreover, anti-government guerillas are attempting to stop the forestation.

I’ll be the first to admit it — I’m a tree-hugger. I want to preserve species and have an interest in terraforming and have even come up with breeding plans so that certain indigenous peoples don’t die out. So environmentalist is an automatic plus. Combine that with sci-fi, prettiness, and violence, and it’s my most highly anticipated show of the season.

The opening footage was leaked online, and I have to say that it looks orgasmic. Click here for more details.

***

Higashi no Eden (Eden of the East)

From AniDB: On November 22, 2010, ten missiles strike Japan. However, this unprecedented terrorist act, later to be called as “Careless Monday,” does not result in any apparent victims, and is soon forgotten by almost everyone. Then, 3 months later….

Morimi Saki is a young woman currently in the United States of America on her graduation trip. But just when she is in front of the White House, Washington DC, she gets into trouble, and only the unexpected intervention of one of her fellow countrymen saves her.

However, this man, who introduces himself as Takizawa Akira, is a complete mystery. He appears to have lost his memory. And he is stark naked, except for the gun he holds in one hand, and the mobile phone he’s holding with the other hand. A phone that is charged with 8,200,000,000 yen in digital cash.

A mystery romance, this is one of the most popular shows (besides Shangri-La) that I’ve heard about. The director did Seirei no Moribito, which was wonderful. I can’t say that I’m crazy about how this looks; the character designs are by the mangaka of Honey and Clover. I’ll check it out, and I hope I’ll be happily surprised, as right now I’m just feeling lukewarm about it.

***

Dogs, Bullets, and Carnage

From ANN: Sometime in the future, somewhere in Europe, a city has many levels of underground, even secret dangerous levels that have answers to the past. Mihai is a retired assassin who has returned home to settle a vendetta and start a new life as a restaurant owner. Haine was genetically experimented on as a child, which led to him possesing dog like attributes. Badou is the clumsy chain smoking partner who becomes deranged when denied cigarettes. Naoto was orphaned as a child and has amnesia; she was trained to wield the sword. Their pasts are somehow connected to the secret underground and the organization that controls it.

The link is to the ANN manga page, because since it’s coming out in the middle of May, there hasn’t been a page made for it or something. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to read the manga for a long time, as it got high praise from the seinen forum of MangaUpdates. Can’t really see much besides the shiny characters, but sci-fi + mystery + carnage can’t be all that bad.

***

I’m not a big fan of moe. I find most stuff that has moe or loli simply unwatchable. Ecchi and mecha come close second in my dislike list. What I like is older teenagers, even (gasp) adults running around and kicking the shit out of each other because of a massive conspiracy involving government, religion, and politics set against deviantArt-esque CG artwork.

This severely limits my series choices, as you can imagine. There are 48 spring anime and I want to watch, what, 6? 7? of them. Well, that’s still a pretty nice number. Now, other than Shangri-La and Higashi no Eden, I wonder how many will be subbed in a timely manner?

Yay, Spring!

I don’t ever feel like it’s truly spring until April comes along. It was such a gorgeous day outside; goodbye gloomy winter~

***

Cover of Skim

Skim by Mariko & Jillian Tamaki [graphic novel] — An overweight Asian-American girl, nicknamed Skim, is the protagonist here. She writes in her journal as she chronicles her dabbling in Wicca, her interactions with her best friend, and how she’s infatuated with her English teacher, Ms. Archer. Skim manages to be able to tell the story without making much clear, but you’re able to understand it anyhow due to the dialogue and art.

I got this graphic novel from the library because I heard about it on one of my yuri mailing lists. It definitely wasn’t worth getting it for the lesbian content alone. Though she goes to Ms. Archer’s home a few times to try and talk to her, Ms. Archer is surprisingly non-communicative, and the story ends up revolving much more around this girl who goes to her school whose boyfriend killed himself. Really, it’s more a coming of age story dealing with the people left behind after a suicide. And for that, I’d say it’s worth reading. Also, it may just be because I’m used to manga-style art, but the art was a bit too stark and old-American-comics-like for me to fully enjoy. It also seemed like the artist got better as the novel goes on.

***

Cover of Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman — Eon is competing to be chosen as a Dragoneye Apprentice. Each year, twelve boys who are twelve years old are trained to perform arduous ceremonial sword dances before an audience, then the ascending Spirit Dragon will choose one to become an apprentice to the Dragoneye. The current Dragoneye retires, and the old Apprentice becomes the master. Eon is seen as the underdog in this particular year because his hip was broken, so he can’t stay standing for more than a short time. He also has to keep secret the fact that he’s not a twelve-year-old boy: he’s a 16-year-old girl.

This story is heavily based on the Chinese zodiac calendar. Essentially, there’s a dragon for each of the twelve animals in the cycle: Rat Dragon, Tiger Dragon, Ox Dragon, etc. The dragons seem to be magical spirits that few can see, and Eon is able to see all twelve of them – excepting the Dragon Dragon (aka the Mirror Dragon), which went missing 300 years ago. That’s why he was able to get so far into the competition in the first place.

It takes place in a fantasy land that’s essentially ancient China, with a little Japan and other cultures mixed in. It really gives the story a nice flavor, as well as the occasional difficulty Eon has concealing his true gender. I can’t really give away any of the cool parts without giving out massive spoilers, but I really liked this book and would recommend it.

***

I’m almost done with Ender in Exile, and it’s also very good. There’s two more books that I have that are due in two weeks, so it shouldn’t be too long before another book post.

A Slightly Less Dry Week

My to-read pile is growing ever-higher, and though staunch warrior that I am, it seems that they never end. This is a good thing for the reader in me, and a very very bad thing for that tiny part of me that wants to get anything done.

So for this week, I read two books and a novella. Not as much as I’d like. And I still didn’t get anything done. XD

***

Cover of The Icebound Land

Ranger’s Apprentice Book 3: The Icebound Land by John Flanagan — In this book, Will and Evanlyn had been captured after the battle at the bridge that concluded the last book. I seriously had no idea what was going on until the third chapter or so; it’s been forever since I read the second one. And by forever, I mean probably less than a year. So we pick up with the apprentice Ranger and his resourceful companion, and they’ve been captured by the Skandians, who seem to be heavily based on the Vikings. When they finally get to Skandia, they’re sold as slaves, and Will gets in a pretty bad place. By the end of the book, though, he seems to be a little more like himself and there are some pretty heavy hints of a Will x Evanlyn pairing in the near future.

Meanwhile, Halt gets himself banished from the kingdom so that he can search for his apprentice. Things aren’t too good with Morgorath’s second, Flanigan or whatever, so they can’t let him go voluntarily. Halt is accompanied by Will’s old friend/childhood bully Horace. They both go to the nearby country of Gallica, which, even from the name, is obviously founded from ancient France. They mention baguettes and everything. Horace and Halt accidentally get caught up in a warlord’s ego trip, and everything gets kind of sticky from there.

This book is kind of disappointing. Not for lack of excitement or action – plenty of stuff happens here. But at the end, I felt like the characters didn’t -get- anywhere. Lots of stuff happened to them. Serious, life-changing stuff. And yet, except for Evanlyn, they are all essentially the same as when the book started. I feel like I read an optional side-story. A wonderfully-written, exciting, colorful one, but a sidestory nonetheless. It’s a nice addition to the Ranger’s Apprentice series, but not one that can’t be missed.

***

Cover of Wasteland

Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block — This book was highly poetic, sort of confusing, and I know that it touched me really deeply, especially the ending. The way that it’s written is, as I figured a few chapters in, supposed to be splintered and confusing because the main characters are splintered and confused. Something that may help people who just started reading it is that it’s written so that the third-person is a boy named West, the first-person that reads like a letter is Marina talking to Lex, and the italics are Lex himself. Though it’s very short, at 150 small, large-print pages, it’s filled with feelings and tragic romance and frankly, when I finished it I cried a little. Only a little, though.

The premise is that Marina has loved her brother, Lex, for a long time. A very, very long time. And it’s not a filial love, though it takes her a bit of time to figure that out. When he dies, she loses her everything, and she spends weeks? months? with a boy named West, who’s one of the few people she’s able to tolerate other than Lex, trying to find out more about Lex’s life and death. It’s full of touching memories, memories that make you feel uncomfortable, and present-day musings by West that just make the whole story more saddening.

***

Cover of The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins — I really, really enjoyed this book. The protagonist is a 16-year-old girl named Katniss, and she’s been illegally hunting in her district of Panem, once known as North America, since her father died. Katniss, her mother, and her sister Prim have been barely subsisting for years, even with the amount of money she brings in with the fresh meat and berries she gets from the woods beyond the fence.

The Hunger Games are a sign of dominance by the Capitol over the twelve Districts. There used to be a 13th District, but when the Districts rose up against the Capitol, they obliterated it as punishment. Now, once a year, a boy and a girl, called tributes are chosen from each District and sent to the Capitol for the Hunger Games. Essentially what happens is that all twenty-four of them are put in a huge arena (many miles long and wide), and forced to live off the land and kill each other until only one is left.

I really liked the tiny bit of romance mixed with politics, the little tidbits about the Capitol (especially what they wear. It’s ridiculous, but not too far-fetched, seeing as what we put on the catwalks these days), and, of course, the brutal survival scenes that are the Hunger Games.

The sequel, Catching Fire, is due out September 1st, 2009, and the third book in the trilogy has a tentative publishing date of 2010.

***

Looking back on my favorite novels, I am definitely a huge survival novel junkie. When I was little, my favorite book was a modern “translation” of Robinson Crusoe. I must have read it twenty times. And now there’s Graceling and The Hunger Games. I’m definitely buying them when they come out in paperback.

Snore

Yup, so this past week (two weeks? I have no concept of time) have been full of book piles gathering dust. I only got one thing to do this post. Maybe another post this week? ……

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Invasive Procedures Cover

Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston — So I’ve read a lot of Card’s scifi and fantasy. I loved Ender’s Game (not the sequels, though), and the parallel series Ender’s Shadow (the sequels of which I did enjoy), A Planet Called Treason (possibly one of my favorite books ever), etc. I was a pretty avid Card fan until Magic Street came out, and I just couldn’t get through it. I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering and wondering if the dishwasher was done yet, or where the hell I put my keys. Even now, all I remember is that there’s some kid on the streets and he’s framed for a murder that his friend did. Or something.

This is a similar case. Granted, the premise is far more interesting, but it still lacked the “page-turner” aspect for me. Essentially, it’s set in the near future, where a cult who call themselves the Healers do community service for the homeless, give them sandwiches, preach at them, etc. But really the cult is centered around a geneticist who not only isn’t quite there, he sometimes isn’t there at all. He engineers a virus so that, customized to the patient’s DNA, can infect a person with a genetic disease and correct the flaw in the genes. Of course, it’s highly volatile, so the government starts chasing them around for it. Then there’s a kidnapping of a female doctor and her kid, and there’s robots, and mind control, god knows what else. After a week and a half, I just returned it to the library. There’s just too many books in my to-read pile for me to waste my time.

***

Blood Lite Cover

Blood Lite edited by Kevin J. Anderson; Harry’s Day Off [Short Story] by Jim Butcher — Yup, another short story about Harry courtesy of my current favorite author. In this one, Harry gets the usual havoc and destruction that his allies (though at times that term is debateable) inevetably cause. You get to see a little more of Andi and her boyfriend (whatever his name was), which was nice, and Molly is, as ever, absolutely charming. That said, it was almost a slice of life type story, taking into account the weird situations Dresden gets into almost constantly. In the end, it’s just an amusing montage of exasperating events that Harry has to take care of, even while trying to get ready for his date with Anastasia on one of his rare days off. It’s cute, but you’re not really missing out on much with this installment. There’s nothing even really canon about it other than perhaps Molly decimating all the super-rare magical doodads in his lab.

***

I have mentioned that I almost never actually buy books, I just order them through inter-library loan? I try to buy books by authors I really like (for example, I usually buy Tamora Pierce’s new books, occasionally Meg Cabot (yay sarcasm + fluff), Jim Butcher, Scott Westerfeld and Holly Black, but almost everything else comes from the library.

It’s completely free, unless you’re a slow reader and you forget to renew the book. I really don’t know why libraries aren’t constantly crawling with book-nerds.

In any case, I have a graphic novel, Skim, which I heard about on my yuri (girl x girl relationships) mailing list as having a lezzie crush, so of course I ordered it. I also read about a book called Wasteland by Francesca Lia Block that deals with incest, so I ordered that as well. They’re both quite thin, so a new post shortly? Hopefully? XD

Something Old, Something New

This week I didn’t really do too much. I went around and applied to a few stores (God, I need a job so badly) and downloaded just about every single series done by Aerandria Scans. They’re one of my favorite scanlation groups (scanlation = bastardization of the words scan and translation, used for manga that’s been scanned and the English translations edited in), along with Lililicious, which does yuri (a niche of manga about girl x girl romances). They have enough material up there to read for days, if not weeks. @_@

Really, it wasn’t a good novel week for me. But I still managed to get some books in. Here they are:

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Cover of Impossible

Impossible by Nancy Werlin — A 17-year-old girl named Lucy is pretty normal, other than her family situation. Her mother was pregnant with her at 18, then promptly went crazy and left her to her friend to raise. Nobody in her town knows about this, though, except herself and her foster parents. When she finds her birth mother’s diary, she finds that her mother thought she was under an ancient curse.

The premise sounded kind of Meg Cabot-esque, but the writing and story were far from that. It’s a romance hampered by some ancient Scottish (Irish? English? Somewhere in the UK, anyhow) curse, and she sets out to break the curse. Even though they learned about the curse from a madwoman’s old diary, they take it pretty seriously and the whole family spends most of the book trying to come up with the answers to the three riddles in the song “The Scarborough Fair,” which apparently chronicles the circumstances of the curse. The pacing was kind of slow for me, but the way that they solved the curse was pretty brilliant, and the song that the novel is based on really does exist. I have to say that the romance aspect of it, though, was a little overbearing at times. It’s more of a chick novel with a few superstitious/supernatural elements to it; the only real part where you can tell something abnormal is going on is the last three chapters or so, where you actually get proof about the validity of the curse.  It was satisfying to see the beginning was rife with serious issues such as rape and teenage pregnancy, though it meant that the rest of the book, where the romance and curse-breaking took place was written in almost too dark a tone. It was interesting, but I can’t say that it was really good.

***

Cover of I, Robot

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov — This is the “old” part of the title. lol There isn’t really much of a story here. It’s more of a series of vignettes connected by the background story that a retiring robopsychologist is being interviewed.

Most of the time, I can’t seem to fathom why a book is a classic, but I thought that this was very good. The vignettes deal with the three laws of robotics, and how they seem to be failsafe, but really aren’t. The robots in this book are multi-dimensional, and they’re really more human than most people I’ve met. XD  Since it’s a series of short stories only a few dozen pages each, it’s nice to just sit down and read a story or two. It’s not really meant for gorge reading (my term for just sitting down and reading a new book cover-to-cover), because then you miss some of the thoughtfulness that makes this worthwhile.

The first story is my least favorite; one about a robot named Robbie and the little girl that he was made to be a nursemaid for. A few more are about two men who field-test new models of robots: a quick-tempered redhead named Donovan, and his more levelheaded companion, Powell. There’s a few that include the robopsychologist herself, as well as other people employed by U.S. Robots, who are the main innovators of robotics.

***

Cover of My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding

Something Borrowed [short story] by Jim Butcher, part of My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding edited by P.N. Elrod — I only borrowed this book to read the Dresden Files short story included here. The characters are from Fool Moon, the second book in the series. Two werewolves,  Billy and Georgia, are getting married, but among the natural anxieties about the big day are mysterious absences, vengeful fae, and evil stepmothers.

I liked this story well enough. Billy and Georgia are fun characters, and the scene where Dresden is being fitted for a tux is hilarious.

The story didn’t really stand out to me much, though. I may just be a cynic about weddings, but the whole thing seemed kind of flat to me. This is one part of the Files that was very skippable, though the fact that Billy and Georgia are now married is referred to later in the series. As a completionist, I couldn’t have rested without reading every single canon story in the series, but to people who actually have a life and not ages to spare, you shouldn’t bother with it.

***

Cover of Many Bloody Returns

It’s My Birthday Too [short story] by Jim Butcher, part of Many Bloody Returns edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner — Another short story part of the Dresden Files. Man, I love this series to death. XD In this short, it’s our favorite vampire’s (read: Thomas’) birthday. Dresden goes to give him his present, only to find that he’s at the mall after closing time with some very suspicious characters, along with old villains.

There are some pretty epic fight scenes here, which are admittedly one of my favorite parts of Dresden. My only problem was that Thomas didn’t really appear all that often, especially seeing as how it was his birthday, and all. I would’ve loved to see more of him, as he’s one of my favorite characters in the series, but overall it was a satisfying bite of “the other wizard named Harry”. XD

***

And that concludes it for this week. I have 11 holds at the library, so hopefully there’ll be more soon. I’ve got so many good books on my reading list — if only they would actually arrive.   -_-;;

New Fantasy Book Week~

So I took out a few books from the library. Well, okay, 4-ish. And I have a lot on hold, and my reading list is 18 KB in Notepad. XD  I’m trying to catch up on my fantasy and scifi, because I’ve spent most of my time recently reading manga. Don’t get me wrong, I love manga, it’s just that I miss my novels.

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Cover of Graceling

Graceling by Kristin Cashore — Katsa lives in a medieval-style world where some people have extraordinary skills given to them at birth. These people are called Gracelings, and are identified by their two different eye colors. Katsa has a highly unusual Grace which allows her near-supernatural fighting abilities, and she’s been employed as basically a thug by her country’s king.

I thought it was a typical, if enjoyable, swords-and-horses fantasy romance novel when I first started reading it. But the romance isn’t suffocating, Katsa always remains the strongest character (no female-is-good-but-love-interest-is-stronger stuff here), and there are some genuinely unexpected plot twists, for me anyhow. I honestly could not put it down. Highly recommended. ;]

The author says that she’s written a companion book (a book in the same world as Graceling) called Fire, which will be released Fall ‘09.  Another novel, Bitterblue, is in the works.

***

Cover of Need

Need by Carrie Jones — After Zara’s stepfather (as dear to her as a blood father) dies from a heart attack in front of her, she hasn’t been the same. Her mother, worried at the fact that she’s essentially shut down, sends her to live with her stepfather’s mother: the only real grandmother she has, in rural Maine.

Okay, the synopsis that I wrote sucks butt. Essentially, though, this is a glorified Twilight, except with different supernatural creatures (I won’t spoil it for you) for the first half of the book. I found the romance a little too stifling for me, but I’m not really a romantic. The second half of the book, though, has supernatural action and a really interesting resolution to the conflict. It was an okay read. There was nothing really particularly exhilarating about this book, but it’s a solid, moderately enjoyable story. Maybe it was because I read it right after Graceling, which I loved, but I wasn’t super impressed.

***

Cover of Epic

Epic by Conor Kostick — In a futuristic dystopia, everyone plays a World of Warcraft-esque game called Epic. Your worth is determined by your achievements in the game; if you do well, you can buy real-world improvements for your town or even go to the University to be educated. Any protests or changes are appealed in the Arena; to get your change effected, one must win against the superwealthy mods.

Erik is the protagonist of this novel, and he is very impulsive and whimsical. Much of the novel follows his character playing through the world of Epic, which is seriously exciting. If you’ve ever played an MMORPG, you can appreciate the strangeness of Erik’s decisions, but the results are pretty exciting. I can’t review any of the fun stuff because I would seriously spoil the book for you, but suffice it to say that there are very interesting developments. While the story was very good, though, I didn’t really like any of the characters, and almost all the them can be summed up in a word or two: “whimsical,” “stolid,” etc. It leads to a rather hollow experience for me, because I can get very attatched to characters, and these ones were seriously unsatisfying.

The author says that he’s written a sequel called Saga, and that he’s planning a third book in the series.

***

Cover of Backup

Minireview: Backup by Jim Butcher [novella] — Set after Small Favor in the series The Dresden Files. Realizing that Harry is being set up, Thomas Raith has to go behind the scenes to save him.

Thomas is one of my favorite characters in the series so naturally I’d pick this up. Since this is only 70 pages long, I can’t really say anything much about the plot, and the characters are the ones we all know and love from Dresden Files. Suffice it to say that Thomas carries a story almost as good as Harry (D), and his own little brand of snarky humor. An enjoyable short addition to the series while we wait for Turn Coat. ><

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And that’s all for this week. I just got an anthology with a story by Butcher and a novel called Impossible by Nancy Werlin, so look out soon~

Masterlist

Since I plan on this being fairly comprehensive as to my thoughts on novels, and since I read much more than the average person, I thought I might as well make a list of the books I’ve reviewed.

Asimov, Issac: [I, Robot]

Block, Francesca Lia: [Wasteland]

Butcher, Jim: [Backup, a novella] [Something Borrowed & It's My Birthday Too, short stories] [Harry's Day Off, short story]

Card, Orson Scott: [Invasive Procedures]

Cashore, Kristin: [Graceling]

Collins, Suzanne: [The Hunger Games]

Flanagan, John: [Ranger's Apprentice 3: Icebound Land]

Jones, Carrie: [Need]

Kostick, Connor: [Epic]

Werlin, Nancy: [Impossible]