Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
I’m not one of those folks that waited in line at night for the last 5 books to come out. I’m also not one of those that started out in the beginning, or latched on to the popularity as the movies came flying onto the big screen. Ironically enough, it wasn’t the story that drove me to Harry Potter originally, nor anything to do with Pottermania or the first film. It all started at Barnes & Noble, many years ago now. The first Harry Potter movie was coming out in theaters and my sister was a fanatic. I wasn’t much into the books, and didn’t really care. In fact, I think I was rather adamant about how ‘stupid and ridiculous’ they were. Then I saw something in B&N: the soundtrack to HP composed by none other than John Williams. I about took a dive at the counter because, well, I love John Williams. He is, by far, one of the greatest modern composers of our day, and possibly of all time. So I bought the soundtrack, on impulse, knowing full well that it was going to be completely amazing, as all his work is. And, it was, as I had hoped. In fact, it was better than completely amazing. His compositions were spawning a new foundation of greatness for Williams. I thought to myself, I have to see this stuff in action. I went with my Sister, Aunt, and Grandpa–who had actually been reading the books before Pottermania even started. And I was stunned! It was an amazing film and story!Then started my ascent into greatness. I picked up the book soon after and I was hooked. I read the first three one after another and waited anxiously for my sister to finish off the fourth. I read that and then the fifth and sixth as they came out. I saw all the movies too and became one of those that said, “They’re alright, but not as good as the book”, which is entirely true. Then I pre-ordered the seventh, anticipating desperately to read it, praying and hoping that it would be a great end to a great series.And, it is!To say that J. K. Rowling has managed to captivate the minds of children almost everywhere would be like saying the Bible has influenced people. She has managed to pull together this fantastic final volume to the HP sequence with flare and amazing tenacity.The story takes off some short time after book six, towards the end of the summer before what would be Harry’s seventh year at Hogwarts. But he, Ron, and Hermoine are not going back, as we already know. However, things are heating up. Voldemort and asserting his power, using the Imperius Curse and various other manipulations to control people within the Ministry. His army of Death Eaters is growing by the day and Harry must get to safety before the Fidelius Charm on his house fails and Voldemort can attack him.Then, it’s to the plan: hunting down the remaining Horcruxes, wherever they may be.I’m not willing to spoil this novel for those that have not read it, because that would be rude and mean. But that’s the basic plan. Voldemort is taking over; Harry has a mission.The story starts off quick, diving right into the action, giving you a perfect view of things going on. We meet again with familiar faces, and then there is death.Rowling is really pulling your heartstrings here. Granted, it’s not like Dumbledore being killed, which literally tore my heart in two and nearly left me in sobbing fits, but she is doing her best to show you just how dark and horrible Harry’s world is becoming. Of course, we all know how evil Voldemort is, having read the earlier books. Right? If you haven’t read them, do so, or else I might be forced to use the Cruciatus Curse on you. CRUCIO!Now, this novel is huge, clocking in at just a mere 759 pages. And there is plenty of fantastic stuff going around. You get a true sense of just how dire Harry’s situation is becoming, and how close he is to not only losing everything, and just how far away and hard it will be to succeed on his mission.This is a tantalizing end to the series. While I have to admit I was left with so many questions, I find that many of them don’t really matter, because the most important questions have been answered: Is Snape really bad? Is Dumbledore really dead? How will Harry beat Voldemort, and can he? I was curious to know what happened to the Dursley’s or Hermoine’s parents, but not enough to ignore just has gripping the story was. This is Rowling pulling together a decades worth of writing and you get the impression that there could be more. I hope there is more. I really do. She leaves it in a position where she could very well write more novels, perhaps not from the perspective of Harry, but perhaps another character.If you are weary of this last volume, don’t be. It will really pull some twists on you. You’ll be surprised by many things, I assure you.And, so, as things come to a close, I find myself suddenly saddened. The novel was fantastic, amazing on so many levels, but I find that now I have nothing to look forward to. Will there ever be a series that could capture the worlds’ attention in such a manner as this? Will there be a novel that people line up at bookstores for hours before release? I don’t know. I pray there will be. This is the end to one of the greatest literary achievements of all time. May the literary world take this moment to shine.
Book Review: Carnival by Elizabeth Bear
This was a rather interesting novel that dealt with some very engaging issues that are present in the world of today. It is a tale of lovers, a tale of colonized worlds, and a tale of betrayal and prejudice. For that, it is gripping and able to hold my attention throughout.The story takes place some time into the future after mankind has colonized other worlds in the galaxy, most of which are controlled by people known as the Governors, who seem to be a supreme logic over the common governments of the colony worlds. Michaelangelo and Vincent are two members of the Coalition military, and they are gay lovers. But in the Coalition this is shunned and forbidden. The Coalition is your typical domineering male society where anything out of the ordinary is considered taboo. But due to an inability to negotiate with the colony world New Amazonia–a place where women have become the dominant class and men are essentially slaves treated much like animals–the Coalition reunites these two men simply because they are ‘gentle’ and not like their women oppressing government. What takes place are twists and turns, people deceiving one another for the sake of political ideologies, and a slow push towards revolution.The story is fascinating, I’ll give it that. It is not nearly as powerful as some novels I have read, but it managed to keep me interested, and that’s the most important part. It’s not entirely perfect, but well worth the read. I thought the characters acted rather well, especially under different circumstances, and the overall theme around homosexuality was an interesting one. Not only are women oppressed in one society, and men oppressed in another, but homosexuals seem to have completely similar values to the Coalition and New Amazonia. The Coalition shuns them, but at the same time turns to them when they are in need some those who might be able to think more objectively; New Amazonia shuns them less directly, instead offering ‘gentle’ males the opportunity to become ambassadors, rather than slaves.Worth picking up for sure!
Book Review: Catalyst by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Catalyst is one of those novels that when you read it you think to yourself, “that was bizarre.” That’s my general consensus of this novel. I can’t say I loved it, but I can’t say I didn’t like it either. Obviously, as I read this rather fast, it held my attention. Something about it grabbed me and kept me interested. Perhaps it was the sexual content or some deeply hidden part of myself that liked that content. I don’t know. It’s just a bizarre book.Catalyst starts out on the planet Chuudoku, a colony planet that humans have taken. Kaslin and his family have just moved there because his father is a failed criminal and that was their only option. We soon learn that Chuudoku is a bizarre planet home to strange vinelike plants that infect human hosts with their babies and other strangeness.Kaslin is bullied at school by an attractive girl named Histly (they are teenagers mind you at that ‘breaking into sexuality’ stage). Histly has strange augmentations that allow her to shoot poison and other nasty things from her fingertips. Then one day while Kaslin is running from Histly, hoping not to become a target for the fingers he doesn’t know about, he hides in a cave in the woods and discovers aliens!Now, the book was strange. The aliens sort of do things with their tongues, as a rule, and as such there are some very bizarre sexual things that take place, as you can imagine. A romance develops between him and Histly, for some reason, and it’s one of those very bizarre high school teeny bopper romances, only with sex.Hoffman has an okay writing style. I don’t know how well suited it is for the novel form, but it at least didn’t have me confused or irritated. The novel moves well and reads more like a novella rather than a novel as the plot itself is not very grandiose, though from the description you would think so. I’d say the novel is worth a read, but again, it is completely bizarre. The romance develops almost out of nowhere, though you can imagine that something like that might happen between a bully and the bullied (sometimes kids are like that). The aliens are even more bizarre, taking Kaslin and his mother and augmented them so they have strange new abilities.It’s bizarre, but I can say I was happy to have read it.
Book Review: Farthing by Jo Walton
This is a powerfully intriguing book that hurts itself in the end. Everything moves so smoothly, and then comes the end and disappointment.Farthing is an alternate history. It’s set in a world that asks the question: What if England made peace with Hitler in WW2 and ceased control of Europe to the Nazis?Walton does a fantastic job showing a world where Jews are hated not only on the European mainland, but even in America and England. It’s a world where the new ‘racism’ is being Jewish, period. Jews are banned in America, treated unfairly in England, and imprisoned, forced into labor, or killed in Europe (the Continent, the Nazi controlled place).The story is set in England in the country. Lucy is the daughter of a nobility class known as the Farthing Set–a group of politically like minded nobles of sorts. Her mother hates her, and why is that? Because Lucy has married David Kahn, a Jew. She’s practically been outcast by her mother and while her father supports her decision to marry David–for love rather that political gain–it puts considerable strain on family ties. The story starts off in Farthing–where the Farthing Set basically live or socialize. Lucy and her husband have been invited out somewhat suddenly to a party at her parents place–Farthing. Lucy doesn’t want to go, but David insists, and they go. One morning it is discovered that one of the Farthing Set has been murdered. In comes Carmichael, a detective from Scotland Yard who soon discovers that this murder is more strange than it seems. Some of the guests are lying right to his face, the nature of the death of the individual is even more peculiar, and the Jewish Star attached to the body suggests to him that someone is trying to frame Kahn.This rolls out much like an old English mystery and that gives the novel much of its charm. You soon learn that homosexuality is practically illegal in England, yet some of the nobility hide secrets of such actions. The story is very engaging and I found myself truly enjoying the character of Carmichael–he seems to be that sort of charming English chap you want to have around at Christmas.But the story is killed, I think, in the end. Don’t read further, because I will spoil it for you…..Carmichael figures it all out: the entire Farthing Set, or most of them anyway, conspired to kill the man to raise sympathy for an upcoming vote, and they intended to use the Kahn’s as scapegoats. So it’s all an elaborate ruse so that the Farthing Set can take over–which they do–and begin a reign of fascism–which they do.The problem is right in the end. Carmichael finds out one of his witnesses has been murdered–more than a coincidence–and he shows up at the Yard to present his case against Angela–the woman who killed her husband to set off the events mentioned. He presents the case and then he is told that Kahn did it and it would be in his best interest to simply go along with it. Why? Because they know about his secret gay relationship with his servant Jack and because it would be a pity for his career to end with such a scandel. Obviously, the police head is in the pocket of the Farthing Set.So, what does Carmichael do? Does his show his true integrity and refuse to let in? Nope, exactly the opposite. Walton takes all the integrity of Carmichael and successfully throws it in the trash bin. Carmichael just accepts it, though somewhat unhappily, and just goes on with his life. Excuse me? What kind of BS ending is that? The inspector goes through all the trouble to figure it out only to just forget it… Now, aside from the ending I would say the book is quite good. Just that darn ending hurts the book…
Book Review: Idolon by Mark Budz
I’m going to be entirely honest about this particular book. It was a battle to get through for me. The story is muddled, almost lost in the endless number of POV characters. It’s like reading a text book only to find out that half of the information is scrambled in other textbooks and you have to go looking for it. That’s the only way I can describe the reading experience for this.The basic story is not really all that basic. In fact, I can’t even tell you exactly what the story is about because the book left me so lost and confused in the end that I still haven’t a clue what to think. It’s a futuristic world where people can wear specialized ‘skins’ so that they can look like whoever they want. People can basically look like the celebrities of the past. Something is happening, though, that makes a new type of illegal skin some sort of big deal among people. I still don’t get what the big hubub was about it.So, the book opens with Dijk, a detective. He’s at a crime scene where a woman has been found dead. She’s wearing some sort of abnormal skin that isn’t registered and then we don’t hear from Dijk for a while. Now, my thoughts are, if you open up with this character, he really should play a bigger role. Then we learn about Nadice, who suddenly becomes pregnant, but because the laws state that her employer for some reason can tell her whether or not to have an abortion, she tries to smuggle herself out of the country. This is where Mateus comes in who gives her the opportunity provided that she carries something inside her. Now, in this world illegal skins or ripped skins (like ripped music) are the new cocaine. It turns out that this whole immaculate birth thing is happening all over. Pelayo is yet another character, who is looking for information about his lost sister or cousin, I’m not sure which, and his cousin Marta, another POV, both take the spotlight. Marta is the woman that helps Nadice, but we won’t get into that. Now, something about this strange skin that is going around has certain folks a little antsy. It’s supposed to be so revolutionary that it’s, scary. But it’s not scary. In fact, there’s nothing really bone gripping about this. Those aren’t even all the characters–there’s Al-Fayoumi, Atherton, Uri, and a bunch of others. I mean there are so many damn characters in this it’s hard to even keep track of what the hell is going on. The concepts he’s dealing with are so complex that with all those characters the poor reader is sitting by going “what?”. Even in the end I was thinking “what the hell happened?”. Somehow this strange skin that Nadice is carrying attaches itself to her baby and connects her to Marta, and together they are like a symbiot of some sort and the baby must survive so that it can bring the new skin into the world or something of that nature. I mean, just that alone is so mind boggling to think of that you would have hoped Budz would have stuck with just 2 character viewpoints.My vote on this is that it is a very poorly written book. The concepts are too deep for a book of so many characters. This is an example of why too many POV’s is a horribly bad thing. You can’t do it. Too much happens in the story to afford the change of POV all over the place. Even in the end the story jumps back and forth, back and forth. And by the time you reach the end you’re so thoroughly lost that you feel like your brain is actually dying.I really tried on this book, but it was so difficult to read and so mind boggling to just accept that I couldn’t even bring myself to believe in what was going on. There was too much. It’s like a soap opera crammed into 450 pages. Budz tries so hard to bring human-like life to all the characters, but that just isn’t enough room to make the characters important enough. I can’t concentrate emotionally on so many characters. Nobody human can.I think this is the first book on my Awards List that I actually truly disliked.
Book Review: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
I am officially in love with Scott Westerfeld. I do not mean a homosexual love, but I absolutely and utterly adore this man’s writing. As some of you already know, I truly enjoyed reading the first book in the Midnighter’s series, of which I am going to be reading book two eventually here. Peeps is yet another one of Westerfeld’s brilliant literary works. The difference here is that Peeps is a completely new and realistic take on the traditional vampire story. Now, hold on for a second. I know what some are thinking. “Oh no, not another god awful piece of garbage vampire story.” No sir, this is not another one of those. In fact this isn’t even a vampire story at all.The story:Cal Thompson’s life has changed forever. He’s been infected with a horrible virus during a one night stand after a night out at the bar. But he’s lucky; he’s a carrier. He shows none of the signs of usual parasite positives–a.k.a. Peeps. He’s sane, he’s not trying to bite people, and he doesn’t have crazy infected rats following him around. But Cal has infected all his previous girlfriends due to not even knowing that he was infected in the first place. His job, as part of a secret underground group known as the Night Watch, is to hunt down and capture these people before their madness spawns more Peeps to terrorize society in the dark. Now, obviously I cannot give you more detail than that because that would give away far too much about the story. All I can say is that it is far deeper than that. Imagine what your life would be like if you could never resume a normal relationship with someone of the opposite sex ever again?Once again Westerfeld has put together a cast of amazing characters. Cal is amazing. He’s real. He acts exactly how I would expect a person in his position to. Lace too. And there are surprises throughout the story. Just when you think things are going in one direction they take a turn in the opposite. The parasite is, well, rather hardy and versatile.To add, Westerfeld has been truly kind to offer interesting blurbs on real parasites in this world to add more credibility to the story. Every other chapter has a new parasite to discuss. This isn’t a medical journal, but Westerfeld manages to tell you what these real parasites do without making your head spin with medical jargon. Then you start to sit back and think that this horrible parasite in the story could actually exist.The pacing is spot on too. There was no time in the story that I felt like taking a break. I finished 99% of it this weekend and only read a little on Thursday during break at work. The story kept me intrigued. I found myself going back to or three times in a couple hours even though I had so many other things to do. You start to really connect with Cal.The ending is rather different too. You do see it coming, but Westerfeld leaves the story open for a sequel–which there is. I’m looking forward to reading that edition too!This a must read in my opinion!