"Moon Called" by Patricia Briggs is an urban fantasy set in Eastern Washington; the Tri-Cities more specifically. It's about a shape shifter auto mechanic by the name of Mercy Thompson. She's friends with werewolves, fae and even a vampire. Not belonging to any of these supernatural groups, however, makes Mercy an outsider. When a werewolf without a pack shows up at her garage needing a meal and a job, Mercy is brought into a murder mystery where the killers are experimenting on werewolves.
Stories told from the first person narrative are usually hit or miss depending on the protagonist, but this book had a very well drawn one that I like. The mystery was engaging in the sense that it was difficult to determine who was doing what and why.
But, when introducing a new character the author caused the action to grind to a halt by giving a page to two pages of back story. There was a few points where I found myself skimming this back story in order to get back to the exciting part of the story the author had taken time out from.
When it seemed that the mystery had been explained and the heroes were trying to stop the antagonist, the real reasons for the antagonists actions come to light and it was, in a word, LAME. I wished it was the other explanation, not what the author actually came up with. To be honest it felt like she had written herself into a hole and then had to scramble to come up with a good explanation for it all.
I'm torn because Mercy Thompson is a very interesting character and I'd like to see where her storyline goes, but the author didn't impress me much. I'm hoping the next few are better, maybe the pauses for back story would be less and the mysteries a bit more complex but I don't know if I want to spend the money to find out.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Book #7: "Enchantment"
"Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card is a modern day take on the "Sleeping Beauty" fairy tale. It draws on the oldest renditions of the fairy tales we know, mainly the stories from Russia. The main character Ivan was raised in Russia, to a Jewish mother and scholarly father who move to America in the mid eighties. Before they are able to fly to America, however, they stay at an idyllic farm where young Ivan finds a beautiful woman asleep in the middle of the forest.
Over the years, Ivan never forgers the woman, even when he's engaged to a young Jewish woman. He travels back to Russia to work on his dissertation which, interestingly enough, is about the root of where our modern day fairy tales come from. On a whim, he travels to the same farm where he stayed as a boy and on a run one day, he finds the same beautiful woman asleep in the forest.
He can't resist defeating the Bear that guards the woman and kissing her. Once he does, however, he's transported back to her time; sometime in the 900's AD. And the fairy tale begins to get dangerous as he and the Princess Katarina must fight the ultimate wicked witch: Baba Yaga.
This is the first Orson Scott Card book I've read, and I love the modern day magic aspect of the book, how magic can sometimes be around the corner. We'll see it if we're only looking for it. I loved the book from the first chapter, but felt it bogged down when Ivan was in Katerina's time. Ivan, being a modern day man, has no idea how to fight with a sword. Though he was an athlete his body wasn't developed with huge muscles like men in her time. His obvious lack of knowledge about the simplest manners and customs and the fact that he had no qualms about wrapping a woman's garment around himself to hide his nakedness at one point. All these things make Ivan seem to be weak and stupid by the standards of her time. And Katerina had no problem making him know it.
But when they travel to Ivan's time, it's Katerina's turn to be wide eyed and unsure, thus making her less the shrew she had been in her own time and more sympathetic to how Ivan must've felt. It was at this point that the story became interesting once again and I simply had to finish it.
I give the book a solid four stars. It's a creative take on classic fairy tales and an enjoyable read that I could simply curl up with. I really appreciated how Card was realistic with how a modern man would be perceived out of his own time, the things he'd have to deal with and the questions he'd have. The romance between Ivan and Katerina was developed slowly and deftly, and sometimes that can annoy me, but Card did it very well.
I'm not sure what I'll read next, but I think it will likely be something pretty mindless before tackling something like Austen or Frank Herbert.
Over the years, Ivan never forgers the woman, even when he's engaged to a young Jewish woman. He travels back to Russia to work on his dissertation which, interestingly enough, is about the root of where our modern day fairy tales come from. On a whim, he travels to the same farm where he stayed as a boy and on a run one day, he finds the same beautiful woman asleep in the forest.
He can't resist defeating the Bear that guards the woman and kissing her. Once he does, however, he's transported back to her time; sometime in the 900's AD. And the fairy tale begins to get dangerous as he and the Princess Katarina must fight the ultimate wicked witch: Baba Yaga.
This is the first Orson Scott Card book I've read, and I love the modern day magic aspect of the book, how magic can sometimes be around the corner. We'll see it if we're only looking for it. I loved the book from the first chapter, but felt it bogged down when Ivan was in Katerina's time. Ivan, being a modern day man, has no idea how to fight with a sword. Though he was an athlete his body wasn't developed with huge muscles like men in her time. His obvious lack of knowledge about the simplest manners and customs and the fact that he had no qualms about wrapping a woman's garment around himself to hide his nakedness at one point. All these things make Ivan seem to be weak and stupid by the standards of her time. And Katerina had no problem making him know it.
But when they travel to Ivan's time, it's Katerina's turn to be wide eyed and unsure, thus making her less the shrew she had been in her own time and more sympathetic to how Ivan must've felt. It was at this point that the story became interesting once again and I simply had to finish it.
I give the book a solid four stars. It's a creative take on classic fairy tales and an enjoyable read that I could simply curl up with. I really appreciated how Card was realistic with how a modern man would be perceived out of his own time, the things he'd have to deal with and the questions he'd have. The romance between Ivan and Katerina was developed slowly and deftly, and sometimes that can annoy me, but Card did it very well.
I'm not sure what I'll read next, but I think it will likely be something pretty mindless before tackling something like Austen or Frank Herbert.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Book #6: "A Little Bit Wicked"
"A Little Bit Wicked" by Kristin Chenoweth is every bit as sassy, real and sweet as the actress herself.
It's not a tell all, more of a collection of stories about her life; the crossroads, the mistakes, the heartbreaks, the lessons and her faith in God.
For me it was the ease with which she talks about her faith that touched me the most. Being a Christ-follower in Hollywood can be dicey; either you're seen as too spiritual and no one wants to work with you or you're a hypocrite who's too loose with their morals. Though there was a low point when Ms. Chenoweth was blasted by Christians and Gays for her appearance on the 7oo Club, she never shoves her belief's in anyone's face. She's honest if someone asks, unashamed to admit what she believes. But at the same time confident enough to admit to what she doesn't know, to say she has questions and know that it's alright.
For the record, Kristin believes that homosexuals have just as much right to be Christ-followers as anyone else and no, being gay will not earn you an automatic "Go straight to Hell" card.
She talks some about her relationship with Aaron Sorkin, but it's a very small part of the book. Aaron contributes a few pages about how he fell in love with Kristin and in those few pages I felt like I'd read chapters on their few years together. They loved (love?) each other deeply, but they didn't want to spill all that out for everyone to see, and I admire that.
The book is full of folksy wisdom, a list of what she wants to ask God when she meets him and a recipe for a way too calorie laden pie that I might just have to make some day. To read this book is like sitting down for coffee with your favorite gal-pal or family member.
Her stories about the "West Wing" cast were great, though, again, a small part of the book. She has a way of making you feel like you know the people she talks about in a very few pages.
I love, love, loved this book and will be recommending it for everyone. It's a must read!
Next book....well, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, so let's just say I'll tell you when I'm done with it!
It's not a tell all, more of a collection of stories about her life; the crossroads, the mistakes, the heartbreaks, the lessons and her faith in God.
For me it was the ease with which she talks about her faith that touched me the most. Being a Christ-follower in Hollywood can be dicey; either you're seen as too spiritual and no one wants to work with you or you're a hypocrite who's too loose with their morals. Though there was a low point when Ms. Chenoweth was blasted by Christians and Gays for her appearance on the 7oo Club, she never shoves her belief's in anyone's face. She's honest if someone asks, unashamed to admit what she believes. But at the same time confident enough to admit to what she doesn't know, to say she has questions and know that it's alright.
For the record, Kristin believes that homosexuals have just as much right to be Christ-followers as anyone else and no, being gay will not earn you an automatic "Go straight to Hell" card.
She talks some about her relationship with Aaron Sorkin, but it's a very small part of the book. Aaron contributes a few pages about how he fell in love with Kristin and in those few pages I felt like I'd read chapters on their few years together. They loved (love?) each other deeply, but they didn't want to spill all that out for everyone to see, and I admire that.
The book is full of folksy wisdom, a list of what she wants to ask God when she meets him and a recipe for a way too calorie laden pie that I might just have to make some day. To read this book is like sitting down for coffee with your favorite gal-pal or family member.
Her stories about the "West Wing" cast were great, though, again, a small part of the book. She has a way of making you feel like you know the people she talks about in a very few pages.
I love, love, loved this book and will be recommending it for everyone. It's a must read!
Next book....well, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, so let's just say I'll tell you when I'm done with it!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
"Krull"-WTF?
My brother Robert recommend "Krull" to me as a movie that was so bad I HAD to see it.
He was right.
Painfully right.
The story makes no sense, first of all. Plots come out of the blue as if they wrote this script by throwing darts at possible plot threads. Seriously.
The Glave is potentially the most bad ass boomerang ever, but that can't save this movie.
The antagonist arrives from outer space in a ship that looks like a giant mountain of black rock, and it moves every sun up so no one is sure where the thing is gonna be next. The female protagonist is everything I've always hated about traditional Fantasy stories: she stands around, looks pretty/pouty, wears a flowing dress and hides during a fight. Pathetic!
Our hero smiles when tragic things have just happened, has hair is never mussed, wears tight pants but apparently no package (or at least none visible to the naked human eye) and has the ability to make hardened criminals happy to give up their lives of freedom to come with him on a doomed mission to rescue the helpless female...come to think of it, I don't think he ever told the poor saps exactly what they'd be doing.
There are some beautiful exterior shots, but the green screen is AWFUL; even for the time. When our intrepid band of heroes are in the monsters liar, one of them is wearing/has bells and is jingling the whole time; as if to say "Here we are!"; and as Dan added "And we're FABULOUS!"
Then, the hero loses the glave in the monster and then all of a sudden the hero and woman come up the belief that it's their love and marriage that is the real weapon....Uh, O-K. So, they hurriedly do the rest of the ceremony which entails taking magic fire from her hand and when the hero does that he can shoot fire from his hand...*Sigh*...*Head shake*
The monster is incinerated...very slowly... Seriously it takes like half a dozen or more shots from the hero's hands to kill the monster. Whatever.
The mountain collapses...up. Yeah, as it's falling apart it actually falls up to the sky. After the black rock is gone, red, chunky parts of the land also go up to the sky. It looked like the land was throwing up...yuck.
What's left of the band of heroes watch in awe and then start joking and laughing as if half their friends didn't just die painful, awful deaths in the mountain that fell up into the sky and made the land throw up.
Ok, well, at least I can say I saw it.
He was right.
Painfully right.
The story makes no sense, first of all. Plots come out of the blue as if they wrote this script by throwing darts at possible plot threads. Seriously.
The Glave is potentially the most bad ass boomerang ever, but that can't save this movie.
The antagonist arrives from outer space in a ship that looks like a giant mountain of black rock, and it moves every sun up so no one is sure where the thing is gonna be next. The female protagonist is everything I've always hated about traditional Fantasy stories: she stands around, looks pretty/pouty, wears a flowing dress and hides during a fight. Pathetic!
Our hero smiles when tragic things have just happened, has hair is never mussed, wears tight pants but apparently no package (or at least none visible to the naked human eye) and has the ability to make hardened criminals happy to give up their lives of freedom to come with him on a doomed mission to rescue the helpless female...come to think of it, I don't think he ever told the poor saps exactly what they'd be doing.
There are some beautiful exterior shots, but the green screen is AWFUL; even for the time. When our intrepid band of heroes are in the monsters liar, one of them is wearing/has bells and is jingling the whole time; as if to say "Here we are!"; and as Dan added "And we're FABULOUS!"
Then, the hero loses the glave in the monster and then all of a sudden the hero and woman come up the belief that it's their love and marriage that is the real weapon....Uh, O-K. So, they hurriedly do the rest of the ceremony which entails taking magic fire from her hand and when the hero does that he can shoot fire from his hand...*Sigh*...*Head shake*
The monster is incinerated...very slowly... Seriously it takes like half a dozen or more shots from the hero's hands to kill the monster. Whatever.
The mountain collapses...up. Yeah, as it's falling apart it actually falls up to the sky. After the black rock is gone, red, chunky parts of the land also go up to the sky. It looked like the land was throwing up...yuck.
What's left of the band of heroes watch in awe and then start joking and laughing as if half their friends didn't just die painful, awful deaths in the mountain that fell up into the sky and made the land throw up.
Ok, well, at least I can say I saw it.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Book #5: "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov
My fifth 2011 book is a classic of Sci-Fi literature and admittedly the first straight Sci-Fi I've ever read. "Foundation" by Isaac Asimov is considered a novel that reinvented Sci-Fi books and storytelling for the genre.
However, as far as story goes it was incredibly dry. It's written in four parts, each part able to stand alone as a short story if necessary. It tells the story of how society can survive after the collapse of a huge Galactic Empire. The collapse having been foreseen by a brilliant mathematician named Harry Seldon, who then sets up events to go in a prescribed way in order to shorten the time of instability and chaos that follows the collapse of a huge governing body. Each main character of each part try to determine the course of action that Seldon laid out. Of course to preserve the path he saw and introduce as few variables into the mix as possible, Seldon doesn't tell what the right course of action is, only that it will be a series of crises that will have only one possible solution.
The MC's are dry, and all variations on the same character. The only female character is a bitchy, cold wife who does nothing to further of the plot.
All in all, it's like reading a study of the sociological, psychological, economical ways a society deals with the collapse of one government and the building of another. Reading it, I can see examples from history in the situations Asimov uses to tell the story, making think he believed history was cyclical.
All in all, I'm glad I read it because it's kinda like reading Austen or Dickens: you really should partly to say you have and partly because they are works of art; doesn't mean you always like the work of art but at least you can appreciate it to some degree. But it was boring with a capital B and I probably won't read any more Asimov.
My next book is "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card
However, as far as story goes it was incredibly dry. It's written in four parts, each part able to stand alone as a short story if necessary. It tells the story of how society can survive after the collapse of a huge Galactic Empire. The collapse having been foreseen by a brilliant mathematician named Harry Seldon, who then sets up events to go in a prescribed way in order to shorten the time of instability and chaos that follows the collapse of a huge governing body. Each main character of each part try to determine the course of action that Seldon laid out. Of course to preserve the path he saw and introduce as few variables into the mix as possible, Seldon doesn't tell what the right course of action is, only that it will be a series of crises that will have only one possible solution.
The MC's are dry, and all variations on the same character. The only female character is a bitchy, cold wife who does nothing to further of the plot.
All in all, it's like reading a study of the sociological, psychological, economical ways a society deals with the collapse of one government and the building of another. Reading it, I can see examples from history in the situations Asimov uses to tell the story, making think he believed history was cyclical.
All in all, I'm glad I read it because it's kinda like reading Austen or Dickens: you really should partly to say you have and partly because they are works of art; doesn't mean you always like the work of art but at least you can appreciate it to some degree. But it was boring with a capital B and I probably won't read any more Asimov.
My next book is "Enchantment" by Orson Scott Card
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)