by Peter Kreeft
Grade: Good
My favourite of his is still definitely Three Philosophies of Life. This one was good, but slim, and didn't give me a lot of information I didn't already have. I suppose because there isn't much information out there. And I know Kreeft isn't another Lewis, but I was kind of hoping for something that would be as inspiring about angels as Perelandra was. (Although Kreeft did quote Perelandra! Good for him!)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
The Anubis Gates
by Tim Powers
Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 10.
Meh. It was all -- adult and hard to read and complicated and the characters didn't grab me. That makes me sound like I can't read anything that's hard to read--but I can, really! Hilaire Belloc is one of my favourite authors, and even my two most literate friends (BPL and MH) found him hard to read!
Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 10.
Meh. It was all -- adult and hard to read and complicated and the characters didn't grab me. That makes me sound like I can't read anything that's hard to read--but I can, really! Hilaire Belloc is one of my favourite authors, and even my two most literate friends (BPL and MH) found him hard to read!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Before I Fall
by Lauren Oliver
Grade: All right
Story: Sam dies, and she's forced to live the same day over and over. A bit like "Groundhog Day" except better, and in highschool.
BOY am I glad I didn't have to go through highschool. It sounded utterly horrible. I guess that was partly the point. Anyway, this is a book I almost put down in the first chapter, and maybe I should have. I don't know. It was so very much immersed in the culture that popular highschool students have. But it was gripping, and I wasn't feeling well, and I wanted to know if Sam got any less insufferable. And she does.
Oh, and the love interest! I actually liked him! That was cool. I think it was because he was obviously not the superior handsome boy that so many heroines fall in love with. He was sweet and a bit geeky. (And he wore a cool hat!)
Grade: All right
Story: Sam dies, and she's forced to live the same day over and over. A bit like "Groundhog Day" except better, and in highschool.
BOY am I glad I didn't have to go through highschool. It sounded utterly horrible. I guess that was partly the point. Anyway, this is a book I almost put down in the first chapter, and maybe I should have. I don't know. It was so very much immersed in the culture that popular highschool students have. But it was gripping, and I wasn't feeling well, and I wanted to know if Sam got any less insufferable. And she does.
Oh, and the love interest! I actually liked him! That was cool. I think it was because he was obviously not the superior handsome boy that so many heroines fall in love with. He was sweet and a bit geeky. (And he wore a cool hat!)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
When Rose Wakes
by Christopher Golden
Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 48.
There was an obvious and cute love interest! I'm sorry! And the story line wasn't quite engaging enough to pull me in despite that.
Ah well. I didn't have terribly high hopes anyway.
Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 48.
There was an obvious and cute love interest! I'm sorry! And the story line wasn't quite engaging enough to pull me in despite that.
Ah well. I didn't have terribly high hopes anyway.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sapphique
by Catherine Fisher
Grade: Good
Story: ... um... well... not quite sure where to start, actually. There are a lot of characters and mythology stuff and a living prison.
Well.
I'm a bit ... confuzzled. I don't know what I think exactly. Fisher is obviously a brilliant writer. I think her prose is superb. All the Sapphique stuff is awesome. It's just a bit confusing. Make that a lot confusing.
And I was so happy with the lack of romance in Incarceron. But I think it was a lot because there seemed to be just hints of it between Claudia and Jared. That definitely continued in Sapphique. But then the ending...
Which brings me to my main point. On the one hand...
I love how real she makes it. In reality, Claudia would probably marry Finn in the end, because it was necessary for the kingdom. In reality, would Keiro turn out to have a lovely movie-moment where he throws away all his wickedness? Probably not. In reality, your "hero moments" are tiny things that nobody notices. And Keiro had some of those. Just nobody (including the readers) really noticed them. And in reality, you don't have most of your questions answered. Things happen, and you never know why. I'm kind of glad we never found out if Finn was Giles or not.
On the other hand...
Claudia and Finn??? Noooo!!! I loved Jared way more, and so did Claudia obviously, and I don't even understand properly what happened to him. And I don't get all the Sapphique stuff, and is that real magic that Rix is doing? Blah!!! I want to know!!! And Catherine Fisher is rotten at giving information away in her FAQ on her website. Pretty much as bad as LOST was.
But on the other hand...
Keiro? Attia? Jared? Claudia? Even the Queen? And the Warden? And Incarceron!!!!! What a set of characters. They are all awesome, really awesome. The evil ones all have some good, and the good some evil. Except maybe Jared. I don't think there was any evil there at all. But he was still awesome, so that's ok. The only character that I didn't really get drawn to was Finn. Out of the whole set. In fact, it reminded me greatly of Joss Whedon in that respect. The only two authors it seems who can do that to me. Oh, and J. K. Rowling! That makes three! I don't like the main hero (Mal, Finn, Harry, etc. NOT Buffy, though. I love her. (And ok, ok. I liked Mal. It's just that all I really liked about him was his hilarious comments. Which was the writers' faults, and not his.)), but all the secondary characters are some of my favourite characters in my reading/watching history. All together in a big bunch.
Grade: Good
Story: ... um... well... not quite sure where to start, actually. There are a lot of characters and mythology stuff and a living prison.
Well.
I'm a bit ... confuzzled. I don't know what I think exactly. Fisher is obviously a brilliant writer. I think her prose is superb. All the Sapphique stuff is awesome. It's just a bit confusing. Make that a lot confusing.
And I was so happy with the lack of romance in Incarceron. But I think it was a lot because there seemed to be just hints of it between Claudia and Jared. That definitely continued in Sapphique. But then the ending...
Which brings me to my main point. On the one hand...
I love how real she makes it. In reality, Claudia would probably marry Finn in the end, because it was necessary for the kingdom. In reality, would Keiro turn out to have a lovely movie-moment where he throws away all his wickedness? Probably not. In reality, your "hero moments" are tiny things that nobody notices. And Keiro had some of those. Just nobody (including the readers) really noticed them. And in reality, you don't have most of your questions answered. Things happen, and you never know why. I'm kind of glad we never found out if Finn was Giles or not.
On the other hand...
Claudia and Finn??? Noooo!!! I loved Jared way more, and so did Claudia obviously, and I don't even understand properly what happened to him. And I don't get all the Sapphique stuff, and is that real magic that Rix is doing? Blah!!! I want to know!!! And Catherine Fisher is rotten at giving information away in her FAQ on her website. Pretty much as bad as LOST was.
But on the other hand...
Keiro? Attia? Jared? Claudia? Even the Queen? And the Warden? And Incarceron!!!!! What a set of characters. They are all awesome, really awesome. The evil ones all have some good, and the good some evil. Except maybe Jared. I don't think there was any evil there at all. But he was still awesome, so that's ok. The only character that I didn't really get drawn to was Finn. Out of the whole set. In fact, it reminded me greatly of Joss Whedon in that respect. The only two authors it seems who can do that to me. Oh, and J. K. Rowling! That makes three! I don't like the main hero (Mal, Finn, Harry, etc. NOT Buffy, though. I love her. (And ok, ok. I liked Mal. It's just that all I really liked about him was his hilarious comments. Which was the writers' faults, and not his.)), but all the secondary characters are some of my favourite characters in my reading/watching history. All together in a big bunch.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Inside Out
by Maria V. Snyder
Grade: Good
Story: Trella is a worker who lives in a big box thing. She starts a revolution accidentally, against the Uppers (who live--guess where?--in the upper part of the big box thing).
It's a bit like a mix between The Hunger Games and Incarceron. But not quite as good as either. Not as utterly gripping as Hunger Games, and not as cool as Incarceron. But still good. I loved how little things were explained at first--we just got plopped right into the whole thing. However, there were a couple times things were explained when I wish they weren't. Like when Trella mentioned how old she was in years. There's absolutely no reason for her to use the old-fashioned terminology except for our sakes. It would be a bit like me saying, "Year 2010, or 1998 by the Julian calendar." (It wouldn't be 1998, but you know what I mean.) Also the time when she said that Cogon was like a brother to her--but even if she had learnt what a brother was from Riley, she still wouldn't understand the concept of family enough to explain it that way, I think.
Speaking of Riley, he reminded me a tiny bit of ... well, Riley. From Buffy. i.e. Handsome all that, but a bit boring. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of Romance stuff.
I'll read the next one, I guess, but not wait in eager anticipation, counting down the months or anything.
P.S. Oh, and another heroine who doesn't want to have kids because she doesn't want to bring another person into this horrible world? Yeah... I'm getting a bit tired of that. Thankfully there did seem to be some hint that she might change her mind about that. I forget where, and maybe I misread it.
Also the contraceptive stuff. Sigh. I still have to get used to the fact that the whole world thinks it's marvellous and wonderful.
Grade: Good
Story: Trella is a worker who lives in a big box thing. She starts a revolution accidentally, against the Uppers (who live--guess where?--in the upper part of the big box thing).
It's a bit like a mix between The Hunger Games and Incarceron. But not quite as good as either. Not as utterly gripping as Hunger Games, and not as cool as Incarceron. But still good. I loved how little things were explained at first--we just got plopped right into the whole thing. However, there were a couple times things were explained when I wish they weren't. Like when Trella mentioned how old she was in years. There's absolutely no reason for her to use the old-fashioned terminology except for our sakes. It would be a bit like me saying, "Year 2010, or 1998 by the Julian calendar." (It wouldn't be 1998, but you know what I mean.) Also the time when she said that Cogon was like a brother to her--but even if she had learnt what a brother was from Riley, she still wouldn't understand the concept of family enough to explain it that way, I think.
Speaking of Riley, he reminded me a tiny bit of ... well, Riley. From Buffy. i.e. Handsome all that, but a bit boring. Thankfully there wasn't a lot of Romance stuff.
I'll read the next one, I guess, but not wait in eager anticipation, counting down the months or anything.
P.S. Oh, and another heroine who doesn't want to have kids because she doesn't want to bring another person into this horrible world? Yeah... I'm getting a bit tired of that. Thankfully there did seem to be some hint that she might change her mind about that. I forget where, and maybe I misread it.
Also the contraceptive stuff. Sigh. I still have to get used to the fact that the whole world thinks it's marvellous and wonderful.
Friday, January 21, 2011
The Exiles in Love
by Hilary McKay
Grade: Good
Story: They all fall in love, and a French boy comes to visit.
Previous books in the series: The Exiles and The Exiles at Home.
This might be my favourite one yet. Rachel is still my favourite character (and NO, it isn't because of her name). I'm very glad she (spoiler, visit rot13.com to decode) zneevrq Cuvyyvcr va gur raq.
And I loved everyone else, and it was all great!
I'm rather sad that there are no more books by her in the two series I just finished. I don't really feel like reading stand alone books.
Grade: Good
Story: They all fall in love, and a French boy comes to visit.
Previous books in the series: The Exiles and The Exiles at Home.
This might be my favourite one yet. Rachel is still my favourite character (and NO, it isn't because of her name). I'm very glad she (spoiler, visit rot13.com to decode) zneevrq Cuvyyvcr va gur raq.
And I loved everyone else, and it was all great!
I'm rather sad that there are no more books by her in the two series I just finished. I don't really feel like reading stand alone books.
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