The third book of the Pellinor series was far from what I expected. For this novel, we follow the story of Hem after he separates with Maerad. In this book, Ms Croggon explores her dark side, creating beings that are repulsive and their qualities horrifying. A writer who can make you fall in love with the hero is normal, but a writer who can make you feel the repulsion of the antagonists and their goals is beautiful. Ms. Croggon eloquent writing skills give her readers the desire to jump into the book, become a Bard, and fight for the Light. Her story wraps its tendrils around a person's soul and brings them on an emotional rollercoaster of fear, longing, loss, love, and loneliness.
Much like the first two novels in the series, this story has so many parts. The action is constantly moving and changing like a chameleon. I find it amazing how in all three of her novels there is a lot of time spent traveling from one spot to another, and yet it never gets boring. It's also amazing how Hem and Maerad's stories are so different, yet share a cohesion and parallel structure to one another. Through these similarities, part of her story is clarified through the things he goes through, yet it is obvious still that guessing what will come next is a moot point.
The Crow to me was really one large, tangled up love story. Yes, there is fighting and death and gore, but I think the relationships were what really drove the story. The first love story is that of Saliman and Hem. The admiration for Saliman bordered on an almost homosexual tension. Whenever they admit their devotion to one another I wondered if there was not something sexual about it. At the same time though, these tensions could be due to the fact that Bards are people all about love and helping one another. Hem, on the other hand, was raised in a savage orphanage and then placed in a house of evil Hulls, forcing him to grow up without the concept of what caring and loving another person really is. His incredible love for Saliman, whom he looks at as a friend but also a father figure, may be so intense because he has never been allowed to love before and therefore he is going at it with full force. A different love eventually pops up when he realizes that his friend Zelika means more to him than just a friend. This passion may also be displaced emotion though. She was the first girl he really got to know, his desire to marry her towards the end of the book may simply be because he missed her so much and was idolizing his memories of her. It could also be, that maybe he was trying to repress his homosexual desires by going after a girl (since the story has had no male-male partners, one must assume that in Pellinor there is the same stigma about gays as there is in our present day). Both relationships that Hem develops in this book are exciting and engaging.
My final critique of this book is that, while it is a great read, it is not as strong as the first two were. I would highly recommend reading it still though, because it is a phenomenal book.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Book Review- Alison Croggon's "The Naming" and "The Riddle"
So let me start off by apologizing for putting these reviews together. I am only doing so because the first on was SO GOOD that I just had to tear into the second one before I had the chance to write a review. I actually just started the third and knew I had to get to this before all four books were under my belt and ended up getting lumped together.
The Naming
This novel starts out a bit slow. I wasn't sure what to expect, but page by page I realized the beauty in Ms Croggon's writing. Shortly after the two main character's meet, their personalities and histories start unraveling at a beautiful pace. As they get to know each other, the reader gets to know them as well. It's fun exploring the relationship and world alongside them, not knowing or being able to truly speculate what was coming next.
The pacing of the story was interesting. On one hand it was slow and on the other it was action packed. This was accomplished because of the main character's lack of knowledge about everything. The reader is introduced to many details, but they don't bog down the story because they are presented as exciting observations. The mix of summary and dialogue was just perfect. All together, I think that her writing style is incredible.
I especially like that Ms. Croggon includes things that many other writers forget or chose to leave out. For example, the main character starts her period and thinks she is dying because she never had a mother to teach her about menstruation. Not only does she bring this issue up here, but she every now and again will have the main character mention that she had just started her period again and was grouchy because of it. One of my favorite parts (though I don't recall if it was the first or second book) was when the main character was traveling and upset that she had no way to take a shower and clean up after the smell of the bleeding. I have always wondered about just that in any fantasy book that I have read, and I am so happy that she doesn't skirt from such a natural issue.
The Riddle
I can't imagine how Ms. Croggon is going to top this book, it was beyond amazing. Her writing is clear and imaginative and enthralling on the reader. Every page made me want to read the next so much faster, but at the same time I wanted to savor every word. So much happened in this book. I laughed, I cried, I made sneak peaks to random pages trying to find out who was alive or dead. Ms. Croggon explored sexual tensions between the main characters without really exploring them explicitly. She brought new characters into the story that enhanced the existing ones, threw in more than one awesome twist, and made every word in the story count. The only negative thing I can say about the book is that I get confused about what everything is. This is my fault though because Ms. Croggon has a clear map included in the second book, it is just the strange names that I get mixed up every now and again.
I have so much I want to say, but I don't want to give any details of the book away. So, after you read this I need you to either run to your local bookstore and purchase the entire series, or search the net for a copy.
The Naming
This novel starts out a bit slow. I wasn't sure what to expect, but page by page I realized the beauty in Ms Croggon's writing. Shortly after the two main character's meet, their personalities and histories start unraveling at a beautiful pace. As they get to know each other, the reader gets to know them as well. It's fun exploring the relationship and world alongside them, not knowing or being able to truly speculate what was coming next.
The pacing of the story was interesting. On one hand it was slow and on the other it was action packed. This was accomplished because of the main character's lack of knowledge about everything. The reader is introduced to many details, but they don't bog down the story because they are presented as exciting observations. The mix of summary and dialogue was just perfect. All together, I think that her writing style is incredible.
I especially like that Ms. Croggon includes things that many other writers forget or chose to leave out. For example, the main character starts her period and thinks she is dying because she never had a mother to teach her about menstruation. Not only does she bring this issue up here, but she every now and again will have the main character mention that she had just started her period again and was grouchy because of it. One of my favorite parts (though I don't recall if it was the first or second book) was when the main character was traveling and upset that she had no way to take a shower and clean up after the smell of the bleeding. I have always wondered about just that in any fantasy book that I have read, and I am so happy that she doesn't skirt from such a natural issue.
The Riddle
I can't imagine how Ms. Croggon is going to top this book, it was beyond amazing. Her writing is clear and imaginative and enthralling on the reader. Every page made me want to read the next so much faster, but at the same time I wanted to savor every word. So much happened in this book. I laughed, I cried, I made sneak peaks to random pages trying to find out who was alive or dead. Ms. Croggon explored sexual tensions between the main characters without really exploring them explicitly. She brought new characters into the story that enhanced the existing ones, threw in more than one awesome twist, and made every word in the story count. The only negative thing I can say about the book is that I get confused about what everything is. This is my fault though because Ms. Croggon has a clear map included in the second book, it is just the strange names that I get mixed up every now and again.
I have so much I want to say, but I don't want to give any details of the book away. So, after you read this I need you to either run to your local bookstore and purchase the entire series, or search the net for a copy.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Book Review- Chelsea Handler's "My Horizontal Life"
My sister purchased this book for me for Christmas thinking I would find it amusing. I've enjoyed her show Chelsea Lately so I was excited to open it up and give it a try. What happened over the course of my reading it was something I didn't expect.
At the start of the book all I could think about was, "wow, she got around." I was less than amused. I had never pictured her as such a hot mess of alcohol and self-destructive behavior. The first few chapters made me like her less and less as they shattered my notion that she was the kind of girl who would be such fun to go out with. Now I saw her as one of "those girls" who I would see acting out of control at a bar and judge her for it.
As the book progresses though you start to feel her maturing, even though the stories are still obsurd. My judgemental attitude slowly changed to one who saw that deep down she seemed pretty lonely and unhappy with her life. She may have been having some incredibly funny evenings, but reading what wasn't said showed something else. Eventually at the end of the story I realized that all the stories, though originally seeming very random, were tied together in a beautiful way. What was originally presented as a hell of a lot of fun turned out to be something that it seemed wasn't so much fun.
The writing in the book was nothing spectacular. There were times when I felt like I could tell where an editor changed a word/where Chelsea tried to "smart up" her writing and it was just awkward. Some of her strengths as a writer include using just enough detail to paint a picture, but not enough to boggle down and annoy the reader. She also does well to not try and be funny, but just lets her natural humor come through in her voice.
All in all, this is a short book with a good amount of laughs as well as a form of a moral to the story at the end. I would recommend it to anyone who wants light reading that isn't thought-provoking but rather just a good time.
At the start of the book all I could think about was, "wow, she got around." I was less than amused. I had never pictured her as such a hot mess of alcohol and self-destructive behavior. The first few chapters made me like her less and less as they shattered my notion that she was the kind of girl who would be such fun to go out with. Now I saw her as one of "those girls" who I would see acting out of control at a bar and judge her for it.
As the book progresses though you start to feel her maturing, even though the stories are still obsurd. My judgemental attitude slowly changed to one who saw that deep down she seemed pretty lonely and unhappy with her life. She may have been having some incredibly funny evenings, but reading what wasn't said showed something else. Eventually at the end of the story I realized that all the stories, though originally seeming very random, were tied together in a beautiful way. What was originally presented as a hell of a lot of fun turned out to be something that it seemed wasn't so much fun.
The writing in the book was nothing spectacular. There were times when I felt like I could tell where an editor changed a word/where Chelsea tried to "smart up" her writing and it was just awkward. Some of her strengths as a writer include using just enough detail to paint a picture, but not enough to boggle down and annoy the reader. She also does well to not try and be funny, but just lets her natural humor come through in her voice.
All in all, this is a short book with a good amount of laughs as well as a form of a moral to the story at the end. I would recommend it to anyone who wants light reading that isn't thought-provoking but rather just a good time.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Book Review- Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising" series
As it turns out, I was unable to write about each book/section of Ms Cooper's series because it would have said the same thing over and over again. Yes, there are times when the story gets interesting and exciting; but for the most part the book is predictable and, for lack of a better word, retarded. What an Old One really is doesn't make much sense, and how the main character goes from sucking at being an Old One to having all the answers also makes no sense. Bran turning into Arthur's son isn't clearly developed. Why Will stays behind makes no sense. Why everyone has to forget what happened is dumb, as is the fact that "normal" kids would even have been needed in the first place. The bad guys never really do anything but chase the good guys, which leads readers to boredom. The ending is completely unsatisfying.
I have read many books that I have disliked, but this series is by far one of the worst. The writing was poor, the story line had far too many holes, the characters were unimpressive, there was no brilliance anywhere. I hope to be able to sell this book and at least walk away with something from it, as opposed to the blah it has left me with as of right now.
I have read many books that I have disliked, but this series is by far one of the worst. The writing was poor, the story line had far too many holes, the characters were unimpressive, there was no brilliance anywhere. I hope to be able to sell this book and at least walk away with something from it, as opposed to the blah it has left me with as of right now.
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