Oblivion by Anthony Horowitz

5

(Read October)

I’ve been waiting for this book so long that the day it arrived I couldn’t bear to do anything else. Anyone who has read these books (or frankly, ANY of his books) can attest to the fact of how long he takes to publish them. This is the last in a 5 book series, with the fourth book having been published in 2008…that’s four years of waiting for one book. I hoped it was worth it.

In general, I’m going to have to say it was. The book was true to form in terms of quality of writing and imagery, and it managed to bring you back up to speed without the necessity of reading all the books again, which I definitely appreciated. It also began with a really nice twist that prevented him from copping out on something he was in his rights to do. Yet this ‘twist’ also meant he could revamp the story- give it a different setting, a different feel, and also a much greater urgency and challenge. I don’t want to say what it was, since I really liked the feeling when I found out, but I’ll just say that in no way could on predict it.

Getting to the story itself…uh. Mr. Horowitz really knows how to keep me on edge. Anyone who has read some of my other reviews can attest to how much I love (adore, desire, need) the fantasy “power” element in these kinds of books. They will either make or break the book for me, because they need to be grand, majestic and powerful without being showy and over-the-top. What can I say, I’m a hard man to please. But I meet my match in this man. Whenever he does the scenes with the powers, I can hardly contain my delight and my squeals of glee, but, knowing this, he very rarely let’s me have this feeling but because I love it that much, I would read on longer (lacking any part with powers) to ultimately reach that moment when I manage to squeeze some more of the unearthly delight out of him. It’s exhausting and wonderful all at the same time.

What’s a really well-done part in this book is the dystopian side of things too. The Old Ones have really gone to town on the world and it’s nice to see supernatural abilities in a decrepit, dystopian settings [1]. I’ve come to love survival type shows and scenarios during my hiatus, and dystopia offers a really nice outlet for this.

My opinion of the characters hasn’t changed. I still like Scarlet, Jaime and Richard but I find Matt increasingly frustrating. I do still lack him but, gah! That boy needs a slap across the face sometimes. My recollection of this book was also that not much time was spent exploring the characters. They had their moments and their conversations, and every few chapters we change perspectives so we can always see what they’re thinking, but I didn’t learn much else about them and it was relatively minor as a part of the book.

As with the Rise of Nine, the ending was disappointing for me. It was tremendously well-written. I’ve never been so sickened and heart-broken and moved by a YA-style book. I also kind of think this relatively traumatic ending coloured the rest of the ending for me- I wasn’t over it by the time the book ended. But in other ways, it was a little rushed and predictable. It seems that something that had happened previously was rendered obsolete for the sake of plot. But like I said, I’m a bit biased.

I loved these books: I love this book. I’d recommend anyone to read them, and I’d physically drag them around the store until they stepped out, the series in hand. But at the same time, I’m going to warn you. You get attached to the characters, even if sometimes you find them annoying or too quiet: maybe because of everything they have to go through. And then this book goes and snaps your heart in too, a malicious gleam in its eye, and blood dripping from it’s monster of a mouth. And crazily, you’ll love it while you’re hating it.

[1] If I was to ever write a book or a story, this is exactly the kind of thing I would write. I’ve known this for nigh on 4 years now. Funny, huh? J

Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore

5

(Read September)

(Avoiding my usual pre-empt to these books…)this is the continuation of much loved (by me) series that follows aliens-that-look-like-humans-but-with-superpowers as they start on the next stage in their journey and find the next teenager in their entourage. These are never going to be the most well-written or deep of books, but it grabs that 5 rating through sheer thrill factor.

The story, as a quick reminder, follows John Smith who set out from Paradise, Ohio, to save earth and his own planet, Lorien. It turns out that he’s an alien, and to boot he has supernatural abilities. And the antagonist- Mogadorians! Aliens hell-bent on destruction and razing planets. Though I could bore you with details of their exploits up to now, the most important thing to know is that it’s basically like a Sci-Fi action movie. The main characters move from spot to spot and in between the kind of battles that makes an nerd (or person who’s ever dreamed of having special powers) drool in contentment, they manage to squeeze on romance, vulnerability and deep-set personal issues.

Don’t take my sarcasm to heart, because I genuinely like these books. I can’t really equate them to anything else (except perhaps the original animated Avatar with Aang), but they manage to tell what is an Sci-Fi action driven story without it becoming too much. Yeah, the romance is a bit rushed and silly, and okay, the personal issues tend to be your run-of-the-mill teenage angst, but if you like these books and you read them, you’re doing it because it lets you inhabit this world where such things are possible.

In terms of the story itself, without giving anything away, I’d say this does better in that regard than the other books. There’s a clearer goal (SPOILER FOR BOOK 2 ALERT!) in how they want to rescue Sam, they want to find the others, and want to figure out a way to actually prevail over the Mogadorians. There’s also some foreshadowing which, though overplayed, made me squirm with pleasure with the thought of what it meant in a future instalment.

The only part I had somewhat of a problem with was the ending. It seemed a bit overly rushed and unexplained. You might say to me “It’s a cliff-hanger, Alex!” but there’s a difference between leaving some things unsaid and telling me absolutely nothing about what has just happened. I'm being a bit judgemental, but given how much I enjoyed the rest of the book, I think that balances it out.

I’ll say thank you to Karen of For What It’s Worth here too! This was the final instalment of a prize I won almost a year ago! She knows how much I appreciated it, but thank you again!

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Part of the Austen in August event hosted by Roofbeamreader.net. (Master post link.)

4
Persuasion follows Anne Elliot, the second daughter of conceited baron, and the less beautiful daughter. It follows her life in the usual Austen style of dealing with her family as a socially over-concious body and her own personal life, with the usual period emphasis on her getting married or at least finding potential suitors.

Despite that rather vague and perhaps dull little analogy, I adored this book. For me, it was so very much like Pride and Prejudice in terms of Anne and Elizabeth being similar and the story itself even sharing some similarities. Now these comparisons are very general and it is definitely not the same story, but as a general feeling for the book, it is so much like Austen's most famous novel that I think any fans of that book could feel safe to pick up this one and enjoy it.

In contrast to Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion is probably darker. It isn't really a dark book, but some parts suggest a more cultured character who sees the poverty and suffering around her- at least more than I remember Elizabeth doing- and someone who is more directly affected by evil times and nefarious people.

It's a little predictable at times. Perhaps it's a familiarity with Austen's novels, or perhaps it was me comparing it to Pride and Prejudice, but whatever it happened to be, it made the book less of a surprise but nonetheless enjoyable. Frankly, I read Austen's books because I love how she writes and how she can so aptly draw me into a story which on the outside would, to me, perhaps seem superficial and not work minutes, let alone hours, of my time. But Austen succeeds in crafting masterpieces that I love reading.

And more so than the other books I've read, I think one can see the influence and reason for the title of this book. Persuasion is a central feature in this book from early on and it is through persuasion, coercion, subtlety and even deception that the main characters work and the consequence of these actions have a number of reprecussions throughout the entire book.

Another interesting theme in the book is that of the Navy. They feature as the primary source of love interests for the characters, and the scorn of those characters Austen designates as distasteful, but not antagonists. Reading up on it, it transpires that Austen's brothers were of the Navy themselves and so it for that reason that she included and made such an exploration of them here.

Despite my perhaps rambly yet short review, I do believe that this is a quite excellent Austen novel and is one that anyone who start with Pride and Prejudice should definitely check out! (At least for the sake of discussing with me, since I could be under a self-imposed illusion!)

Book Tour- The Waking Dream by Jennifer Ford Review

 Check out a giveaway of this book: link!!!
****
This is my completely honest review; though I seek not to offend, I swear every word is the fruit of my brain and my feelings- no other.

5
This is a fantasy novel which jumps between the perspectives of two men: Commander Dante and his Captain of the Guard, womaniser Kerran. A new threat to their crime free city comes in the form of the mysterious being Rasheim, and that isn't the only problem. It's been five years since the last contact with the world beyond the desert. For Dante, it couldn't get worse... could it?

Starting this book, the fact that the name of out main character was named Dante definitely caught my attention. It's a powerful name given its (assumed) namesake and I was interested to see why this name exactly. But as I got to reading, I found I didn't care about that as much and altogether forget that line of inquiry.

I found that Dante was definitely an interesting character, simply because he was so straightforwardly normal, but I slightly disliked the constant allusion to his logical thinking. But it didn't bother me so much as he actually thought logically after that. It was almost as though Jennifer was jumping down to whisper in my ear and reminding me he was logical. Sometimes it was useful reminder, other times annoying. I got the feeling that Dante was a very much a peacetime leader. (This could just be the fact we've been doing German history in school though, so I'm being over interpretative.) This is kind of reinforced later when Kerran steps up to take the mantle and leads more.

Kerran’s introduced as a very typical kind of misogynistic womaniser, but the moment he started to actually take a place on the stage of the book, he wasn't. I'm pleased by this, since I would otherwise have been perpetually annoyed by him. But despite some sexism in his belief of Gender roles (which he does overcome) he's fairly likeable.

For the first few chapters, I felt the book was fairly predictable. It followed your basic perfect city with a forgotten past and new threat they don't understand. But then the Messenger entered the picture. Simply put, I loved her character. I loved the mystery surrounding her and though you can guess at the truth to her (and I wasn't too far off the mark) she's still a very interesting person to see develop...or rather, come to understand. You go from mystified, to one understanding, to another, to a re-interpretation of a synthesis of the latter two. Maybe others would find it disjointed or even inconsistent, but it all makes sense in the context of the book, and towards the end you probably get the single nugget of pure truth behind her. Even when you learn who she is, you still see her as the mysterious messenger, which I think is hard thing to do; to so firmly establish who she is in a short time and no matter what else she does, that first impression is over powering.

It wasn't until around Chapter 5 that I was really hooked with the book though, since it was then that the magic actually started to come in. Anyone who has read enough of my fantasy reviews knows that this is always my favourite feature of a book and though it isn’t highly explored, I thought it was great. It’s not a topic I can dwell on though without giving up important details.

The dreams are probably the last most important feature of the book I can talk about safely. They are used as a kind of dramatic device earlier on to learn what we need to know, but they become much more important as the book progresses. They also underline the prominent differences between Kerran, the fighter, and Dante, the more logical and level headed. They also add this interesting dynamic of (at least early on) trying to guess when the events are real or dreamlike. They also mean that the more fantastical things leave a faint voice saying to you “This could just be a dream.” But then they take on a different level of importance later on when they go from being dreams to something much more dangerous, much more volatile, and much more significant.

Ultimately, this is really a riveting book (which might not have shown in this review). It seems to start slow but when events start to unfold it becomes a truly excellent fantasy book and when I finished I actually looked online to check I wasn’t missing pages. It came as such a surprise, and I wanted more in that instant. I’m interested to see where the book would go from here, but I’ll be there to find out…I hope!

Why did you decide to write it?
I am very interested in ancient history, and I spend a lot of time reading about ancient times and lost civilizations, and how climates in regions have altered over time. I have also always been a huge fan of fantasy and Sci-Fi. I started mixing elements of the two things together, and I was immediately struck with the idea of the lost civilization still being alive, just forgotten. The imagery that came to mind was so powerful, I just had to write it down. As I went further into it and discovered all the characters, it became a real world for me. And I think Dante and Kerran have a valid voice that resonates with a lot of people today.

Can I ask what that idea was that was so powerful? Is it a scene in the book- and if so which one? (If that isn’t giving too much away!)
It was the idea where I originally planned to start the book, but after I got into the story a bit I decided to change how it all started and began again from scratch – although the idea is still a powerful moment in the book. I can’t say too much about it because it is going to be a pivotal moment in the sequel.

The Messenger, in my opinion, is a fairly unusual character. But then she seems to stand against misogyny and act as Kerran’s exact opposite idea of a woman. And she is just so mysterious!!! What was the inspiration behind her?   
She was one of the first characters that I knew inside and out. I needed to have a strong woman, for obvious reasons. But I did not want her to have any of the typical sterotypes of strong women; I didn’t want it to be easy to categorize her. I toyed with telling parts of the book from her point of view, but found having her silent was far more interesting. I took my favorite characteristics from my favorite women, wrapped them together, and came up with the Messenger.

Kerran and Dante are opposites, yes? Did you set out to do this, or did they develop in this way? You say that the character came to you, so did they come in a pair or differently? And while we're on them, why did you choose the name Dante? 
In many ways, Dante and Kerran are opposites. That was not planned, it just happened that way. Dante’s character came first, and he was pretty well established as to how he acted and thought. Kerran evolved to fit the need of that secondary character; still strong, but very different from Dante. I chose the name Dante because it is a strong name; it means “lasting, enduring,” and it just fit perfectly to the character in my mind’s eye.

Why dreams? You could have had mysterious letters or a journal, I just wonder why did you decide on dreams?  
Why not dreams? Dreams are a gateway for our unconscious mind, which is really the powerhouse of our brain. So many things go on in dreams, and anything is possible in a dream. There is no such thing as the word “impossible” when you are dreaming. The idea was presented before in the movie “The Forbidden Planet’ but this is a different twist. It is a dream-world, where anything is possible, so long as you have the power to do it. As with all forms of magic, there are still rules, but there is unlimited potential (for both good and evil) in the dream world.

Finally, when do you think the sequel will be out? It says in the sample the end of 2012? Can we be so lucky?!  
Right now I am planning for November 2012. If I stay on track, then the sequel will be out around Thanksgiving.

Friday Memes

Q: What would you do over if you were to start your blog again from scratch?

I'd probably plan it a bit more! Haha! I think I jumped in a bit eager and didn't really think of how available I'd be in coming months. I jumped into whatever I could- review and memes. But I couldn't keep it up as exams came, so I wish I'd had the foresight to realise that an plan accordingly. Instead I found myself stressed and annoyed because I had to drop them.

Funnily enough though, if I did start from scratch my biggest regret with probably then be ever stopping since I've a lot a year (almost) of blogging!

Unexpected Books: Which books did you have reservations about reading, but ended up loving once you did?

Despite being a lover of her now (that sounds so wrong), I was nervous about Pride and Prejudice: just Jane Austen in general. I thought that I'd just hate her romances and hate the books. Instead I love them and have read most of them- I finished Persuasion last week! She's become probably my favourite classical author and I'm now afraid to finish all her books.

I felt similar about Dickens to. The first book I picked up of his (Great Expectations) was huge and I was worried it would be too long entirely! Again it wasn't the case, and he takes the proud spot of my second favourite classic author!

Probably every sequel/sub-story I've ever read too- I mean, what if they don't live up to my precious book?

Also, check out my giveaway her for a fantasy book by Jennifer Ford, The Waking Dream! LINK!