Showing posts with label dark fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dark fantasy. Show all posts

White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) Review

White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9)
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White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) ReviewSometimes, it's good to be wrong. Jim Butcher has more than earned hardcover publication for his "Dresden Files" series. In my opinion, "Dresden" is one of the best urban fantasy series around.
What to the casual eye looks like suicides of magical practitioners turns out to be a serial killer using the quote from Exodus, "Suffer Not a Witch to live," as a calling card. There are several practitioners dead and more missing. Worse, it's not just Chicago that's been hit.
When clues start piling up implicating Harry's younger brother, Thomas, who is a vampire of the White Court, Harry has to work hard to clear his brother's name.
"White Night" should have a warning--don't pick this book up unless you have several hours to devour it. Like most of the Dresden Files, I struggled with the impulse to read the book right now--or just a few pages at a time and savor it. Devouring won.
"White Night" is very tightly paced. You have very little time as a reader to contemplate what's going to happen. This is also one of Butcher's more intricate novels. He's definitely improving with each book. Kudos to him, his publisher and many fans would still read him for a long time if he didn't challenge himself--and us. In my opinion, Butcher has reached the point with the mystery and crime portion of the series that regular mystery readers would cross over to him.
Of course, the stable of characters is excellent. I still prefer the novelizations of the Dresden Files to the series--with one notable exception. Bob in the novel now seems 'flat' to me once I have seen Terrence Mann bringing Bob to life.
Overall, this is an excellent book by a writer who ages very well. Kudos to Jim Butcher and the Dresden Files.White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) Overview

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The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) Review

The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
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The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) ReviewSorry to support the majority of King's fans but this book WAS a collosal disapointment. Although not completely unexpected (the series quality started dipping around Book 5) the laziness ok Mr. King here was shocking. Just a few of the points which I hated in the story.
1. King including himself in the story. This was just horrible and a reminder of just how bloated King's ego has become over the years. He makes himself the most important person in the Universe and a major character dies not for the Tower but for trying to save his pompous arse.
2. Walter/Flaggs demise : Nevermind the sudden change around book 5 of making Flagg and Walter the same person. The most popular of King's villains is taken out in the lamest possible fashion by a character introduced in the LAST book. Not to mention that a confrontation between Flagg and Roland had been building since the first book we are cheated of them even meeting for the last time.
3. The Ending : This has been discussed ad nauseum but I'll still add that this was a collosal copout. Roland is teleported back and the Tower placing itself in danger is probably the stupidest thing I've ever read. See the tower actually wants Roland to become a nicer person before he arrives there .. Jesus !! King's afterword in which he whines that it is unfair to expect an ending was probably the most insulting thing I've ever read. If you're going to write an epic write one and stop complaining !!
There are other thing I can mention such as crapness of the Crimson King, the convenience of Patrick, Susannah's abandonment but I think its enough to say this about this book
"M-O-O-N that spells CRAP ! laws yes"The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) Overview

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New Moon (Twilight Saga, Book 2) Review

New Moon (Twilight Saga, Book 2)
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New Moon (Twilight Saga, Book 2) Review4.5 stars
NOTE: I'm adding, rather late, apparently, that there's a bit of a spoiler in this review. So, read with caution. That said, if you paid attention while reading Twilight, I'm puzzled as to how my spoiler could possibly be a spoiler. Myers spelled it out, in the book and interviews, almost as clearly as she spells out Bella's awed perception of Edward.
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In my review of Twilight, I said that the book had more in common with "Catcher in the Rye" and "Pride and Prejudice" than it did with any vampire novels or stories. That still holds true, although be certain: I'm not comparing Twilight or New Moon to these books in terms of literary quality. There are few that match either.
In New Moon we miss the vampires for most of the story, and Bella spends time with her friend Jacob, an Indian fated with becoming a werewolf, and fated to hate all "bloodsuckers", regardless of whether or not the bloodsuckers took human lives. (Btw, that little bit is cleared up at the end...what exactly their treaty entails. It's interesting, kind of, but I have to wonder if the author thought of it as the story was being written, and that it wasn't planned when the "treaty" was first mentioned. I suppose it doesn't matter.)
If you're reading this story because you like vampire stories, you will be disappointed. Edward's only around for a bit less than 1/3 of the book. When he is around, however, his presence is appreciated. One thing that the author didn't do this time, and it was similarly appreciated, was to have Bella writing down every single thought that she had regarding his absolute perfection (remember, this is a first person narrative).
While spending time with "the wolves", Bella goes through some interesting growth patterns. I say interesting, because I'm not entirely certain that I followed them or that if I understood them that I agreed with them. That said, I've never been a teenage girl, and the author has been a teenage girl, so I have to bow to her experience in this.
Many readers will look at Bella's behavior during her "dalliance with wolves" as bizarre and entirely unbelievable. I don't think they were. For anyone that has had the absolute love of their life torn from them, with the *absolute* belief that this love would not return, and if you happen to be emotionally immature to top all of this off, your behavior wouldn't be too far off from Bella's. I'm not saying exactly like Bella's, just not too far off.
Again, this is not a vampire story. The fact that vampires were not around in this book as often as some may have liked did not lessen the quality of the story. What was missing, though, was the urgency, and the mystery. For example, we never knew why, in Twilight, Edward recoiled upon first seeing Bella until the very end. We had a reaction, and a resolution, and during that time we had lots of questions. That type of immediacy was missing here. Everything was rather straightforward.
When Edward lies to Bella, we know that he is lying, and we know that there will be resolution. The problem is that we know he's lying, and we know the resolution won't be too surprising.
I did enjoy the unique take on werewolves, but I felt that since we had seen so much of the vampires in the first book, that we should have seen and felt more of the werewolves in this book.
One thing that I found particularly frustrating was the similarity of emotion that both Jake and Edward have for Bella. Yes, Bella is a clutz, and she definitely needs protecting. But to have two main characters, in two separate books, respond to her in a nearly identical manner (both fearing for, and being vocal about, her need to be less careless), is tough to buy.
There were some hints of future issues between the Cullens and Jake's clan. I hope we see them. And I hope that this story can survive the necessary metamorphosis - at some point, it will need to be less about Bella's intense love for Edward, and more about the actual situations surrounding them.
This may sound like a negative review. It's not. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I've seen others that gave Twilight 5 stars give this 1 or 2 stars, and I've questioned that. I think that given the nature of this story, readers need to be more aware of what this story is really about. See the first paragraph of this review for that.
I'm anxiously awaiting the third book. There are a lot of possibilities, and I can't help but wonder which possibility the author will choose, and how she will resolve whatever roadblocks her choices give her.
New Moon (Twilight Saga, Book 2) Overview

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