My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I have had this sitting on my shelf for a while and decided on a fantasy novel as my next read. What I got was a book that comes across as a combination of the author’s very poor and immature opinion of women and some version of a reality that he envisions.
I did not get far enough to rehash the plot, completing about 60 pages. In what is presented as an interesting concept, 5 orphans in a boarding school discover their have super powers, turned south very fast. The narrator is one of the two girls in the orphanage. In the sixty pages I read she was forced to ground by another and “liked it”, had a secret communications system with the boys that involved the boys drilling a hole into the girls showers (ala Porky’s ) and told the tale of her nightly inspection that had to be in the nude. There was also a large amount of discussion of the other girl’s physical shape and curves. The children do not know their ages but guess they are between 16 and 22. So all this could be about young girls. This is all in the first 60 pages.
John C. Wright
I also checked out the author’s website and that is what did me in. I do not have to agree with an author to read their work. The fiction is just that. Their opinion is another. But after reading his site and then trying to get back to the book, I kept feeling like the items in the book were symbols, imagery or other crap for his political view point. It was not what I wanted and so I dropped it and won’t be going back.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Osiris Ritual is the second book of the Newbury and Hobbes Investigations, which has become a series. This book is an improvement on the already enjoyable Affinity Bridge.
The tale follows Newbury at a high society event that features the unwrapping of an ancient Egyptian mummy. At the same time, Hobbes begins her investigation into a series of disappearing girls. The two investigations in themselves are devious and clever, but the unfolding is great. The two enemies we meet are more sinister in this story verses the Affinity Bridge and the action turned up a notch. I am hesitant to say too much as I do not want to reveal too much.
The story is fast, very fast. We have a series of story lines flying around and characters that do get introduced very fast. I never felt lost and very much just wanted to keep reading.
Newbury and Hobbes are better rounded in this book, this makes sense as a series. They have vices and guilt but are still “action heros” so don’t look here for emotional depth beyond what is required to make a great hero and a great story.
These stories are steampunk through and through. Steam powered cars, dirigibles, automatons – the works. Be fore warned if you are not a steampunk fan!
George Mann
I am truly turned on for the third installment, The Immortality Engine, which should arrive in the fall. This should conclude the first trilogy of the Newbury and Hobbes investigations . I read that there will be a second trilogy as well. George Mann also has another book (already pre-ordered) called the Ghosts of Manhattan (Steampunk in Manhatten with superheros!) coming in early May.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Ever since I completed my NaNoWriMo novel (heck, since I said I was going to do it!), my family has been very supportive of my creative endeavor. For Christmas, my brother got me a copy of Ignore Everybody by Hugh MacLeod.
The book is a very fast read and reads like a series of short essays or blog posts. Hugh came to fame with his cartoon on business card thing and his blog, gapingvoid.com. His philosophy is based around hard work and doing something that you “own”. His hard work philosophy is interesting. Basically boils down to “while you are busy doing something else, the other guy is at home working on his version harder than you, so get to it.” Not a revolutionary statement by far. Basically it is built around “you need to put in the time, the energy and stamina to make it happen”.
Hugh MacLeod (dude kinda looks like Erik Mitchell)
Some people will not like this because it is less inspirational and at times raw and blunt. It can be a bit circular but he is witty but also cynical and at times the essays transform into rants. But they are fun to read. Plus the cartoons are great.
All of this is based on a free download he has on his web site called How to Be Creative. Cool stuff on his site.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
2.5 Stars (wish we could do half stars)
I wanted to like this book more than I did, and the initial reviews and comments made me quite excited. I think I was not quite sure what I was getting into and at times I feel like the book does quite know what it is either.
Cullen James is a beautiful, smart woman who had an abortion when she was younger, has moved on to marry a great guy and eventually land in New York after a brief time in Europe. Her marriage is strong and realistic. Cullen and her husband have a baby girl She then begins to have a series of dreams that are vivid, linear and fantastical. In her dreams, she is on a heroes quest with a group of amazing animals and her son, Pepsi.
This book has a divided set of reviews depending on what you categorize it as. Some people call this magic realism (a term I despise) and some call it fantasy. I find myself in the second camp and I do not think it grasps things very well. My problem is that the fantastical world – about 50% of the book- is not well realized and flat. It is actually more surreal. It is in dreams so literally all bets are off and I am cool with the weird. As a matter of fact, it could have gotten weirder and I would have been happier.
My other beef is the pacing. I found it off and not really finding a rhythm to fall into. Both the real and fantastical portion had waves that clicked, that moved and felt like there was something happening. Then the opposite would happen. For such a short work, it felt much longer to me.
Johnathan Carroll
I did enjoy the actual prose those. I think the minimal prose of Jonathan Carroll was strong. He made a few words do some heavy lifting. I think the characters in the real world were rich and felt tangible. But the characters in the fantastical were flat and felt like cut-outs. I just could not care about them and their quest.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I received Coraline, the movie, for my birthday and wanted to reread the book so I could realign the stories (which I enjoyed both).
The book is creepy and dark and yet some how a childrens book and not at once. The story dances along and made me at times feel the fear that Coraline must be going through. It is a delight and a book that can easily stand next to Alice in Wonderland.
Neil Gaiman
Short review – I had read it before. I am hoping to get my 11 year old to read it soon. Might be a good summer reader.
Orphans of Chaos by John C. Wright
