Harry Potter Re-read: Day 7

This is the version I have. It is again much more destroyed than this example. The protective plastic on the cover is half off and the last twenty pages have been stuffed back into the book. Most of them are in bad condition, and that's precisely why we love them. They've got a history.

This is what I discovered inside the cover of our copy of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Note how I apparently failed to make my name legible the first time, and so had to scribble it out (I'm unsure as to why I couldn't have used and eraser) and try again.

And yes, I am still behind. I'm pretty sure I'll have to make this a two-week endeavor, as oposed to my usual one-week. There is no way I am finishing all of them tonight.

July DNF

I got about sixty pages in and was basically completely bored. I really disliked the narrator, in that she really wasn't a very interesting character. I really wonder why I keep trying anything labeled paranormal. If it is labeled "paranormal" not fantasy or supernatural or anything else along with the paranormal, it seems doomed to bore me.

This is another one where the characters didn't snag me. In the case of this book, I wonder if I just didn't get to the plot. I barely finished the introductions to all of the characters, few of whom had any draw for me, before I put it down. In this case I think it was more that this wasn't a book for me than that there was anything particularly wrong with the book.

The writing style didn't carry the concept, and the plot turned out to be pretty formulaic so far as I could tell. The heroine didn't really intrigue me and the love interest was kind of dull (I only managed to meet the first one, I quit before the second showed his probably devastatingly-handsome face (see rant here)). 

Don't hate me. I really wanted to like this one. I may actually try this one again at some point. What bothered me was how naive the heroine was. I know she had every right to be, but it really got under my skin. If someone can tell me she opens her eyes and comes into herself a little more, I'll probably give this one another go.

And to conclude, it anyone passionately feels that I should give one of these books another try, let me know why and I might consider it (I can be a little pig-headed). 

Review: Angelfall

Title: Angelfall
Author: Susan Ee
Series: Penryn and the End of Days
Volume: 1
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopia, Paranormal

Why I Read It: I have had a long standing prejudice against angel books. It isn't for any religious reason- I just dislike angels on principle. I'm not explaining very well. I don't love the glowing, joy-bringing divine being thing- I don't know why. However, I like the idea of scary angels (which is actually more accurate according to the research I've done- angels were kind of into smiting and divine justice and leveling towns for immorality). This one had good reviews and Amazon kept recommending it to me (because Amazon knows me oh so well), so I figured I would give it a go.

A Quick Summary: It has been six weeks since the angels came and started leveling cities. The human world live in fear, and society has disintegrated. Penryn is now struggling to keep her family going- her wheelchair bound eight year old sister and her paranoid schizophrenic mother. When they are out in the streets, they watch an angel having his wings sliced off. When the angels who did the slicing see Penryn and her family they take off with her little sister, leaving Penryn to do whatever she can to get her back. Including allying herself with the now wingless angel in an attempt to retrieve her sister and get his wings sewn back on.

What I Thought: That summary is awful for one thing. I am a terrible summarize-r. That not withstanding, I enjoyed this one. Penryn was an interesting character- she's both very brave and very vulnerable. She's been forced to become a tough survivor, and to provide for her family, and she's risen to that challenge. She's a strong protagonist, but she's also human- she's angry and scared. She'll run, but she won't abandon anyone- she'll stand at a distance and throw rocks (with mixed results). I enjoyed the banter between her and Raffe.  Raffe as a character... well, I'm actually not sure. He's a decent male lead and he's certainly got some problems of his own. The fact that he's an angel makes me a little wary- like I said, minor angel prejudice.

The angels are actually a lot more human, for all of their superiority, than I typically expect angels to be. I mean, for one thing, they're not ten-plus stories tall or glowing, and their wings are corporeal and feathered. The politics going on is interesting... and they're all behaving like children, because, what with running the apocalypse and everything, they still have time to bicker.

All in all, I think this was an enjoyable read, and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

Fun Fact: From what I've heard, angels, in the bible, were frightening. If they were coming to do something non-destructive, they would have to tell the fearful townsfolk not to be afraid, because they were terrifying. (Correct me if I'm wrong, this isn't something I'm very knowledgeable about.)

Harry Potter Re-read: Day 5

I've gotten really behind. I'm only at Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. *Crawls into a corner in shame*. I've basically been really distracted this week, so I might have to expanded it a week, seeing as I am apparently incapable of doing what came easily when I was fourteen.

This is the version that I have of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I got this one second hand the summer after my family finished the first one (we read one each summer- we were caught up by the fifth book and then there was a very fun waiting game).  It still has the price from the second-hand shop where we picked it up penciled in on one of the first pages.

You know that car pretty much never gets mentioned again following this book. I suppose we can assume it is still running wild in the forest? 

In other news, I want the Hogwarts library. I mean, really. It just sounds incredible-like you could find anything in there if you looked hard enough. And all of those big old books. I just find that really, really attractive. They complain about going to the library and I can't see myself doing that. I would go there and just pour over random books in my spare time. The thought of it just makes me happy for some reason. More on that later.

And here is my version of  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I mean, mine is a lot more destroyed than this. It's been through a lot. It was one of the first books I bought on my own, too. 

Here at home we have a ramshackle collection. None of the covers match, if you're seeing a pattern. Their a bit of a mess. And I love them. We even have the pieces of the Philosopher's Stone book that fell apart after an unfortunate several months at the bottom of a book bag.

Review: Ink

Title: Ink
Author: Amanda Sun
Series: Paper Gods
Volume: 1
Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance

Why I Read It: The concept of the drawings coming to life was interesting. Also, the cover is pretty. I do like a watercolour and ink cover. It is even on paper very similar to that used for watercolours and ink work.

A Quick Intro: When Katie Greene's mother is killed in a car accident, she unwillingly sets off to live with her aunt in Japan. She struggles with how foreign it is in addition to her grief for her mother. And as if that isn't hard enough, now her doodles are trying to kill her. The only person she can find who might have answers doesn't want to talk to her, and seems to go out of his way to treat her badly.

What I Thought: This one was alright. I don't really have many feelings about it. I feel like a lot of the plot points are forced. In any event, I wasn't huge on the romance in the book, to me it felt a little flat. Katie herself wasn't a character I could easily connect, much of the time. That said the book still had some interesting elements.

I'm curious about why Katie could influence the ink when she's not a Kami (as far as she knows... maybe something to do with her dad?). I can't really see where the story is going from here. Are there going to be other Kami introduced? There isn't that much background given into aspects of how it works.

I'm not sure yet, but I think I might just be curious enough to read the next book, though maybe I'll get it from the library or wait for it to come out on sale.

Fun Fact: As I kind of kept waxing on about the watercolour cover, I'll give a small fact about watercolour painting. When watercolour painting, two cups of wash water can be used, one to rinse the brush and another to dampen the brush with clean water before touching it to the pallet (or paint from a tube). This is originally a Japanese technique.

Thoughts on Post-Apocalyptic and Dystopian Novels

A dystopian society is the opposite of a perfect (utopian) society. Typically something terrifying has happened and the world is essentially in shambles. Maybe radiation killed most of Earth's life, leaving mutants to try to make their way in a destroyed world. Maybe tropical storms have destroyed most of the major cities or a plague is systematically destroying the human races as survivors struggle to find a cure. Maybe the rising ocean has finally covered most of the planet's land in water. Maybe the world has been overrun by aliens or zombies or angels or beings from another dimension. Scattered clumps of survivors fight to cling on, or people wander around in a haze, content to do whatever the totalitarian government says.

Dystopia is a way of presenting dire possibilities for our societies, and using it to reflect the how humans (both individual people, and an overall society) respond to the extreme pressures. The world in a good dystopia is vivid. The author has to paint a picture, like in the same way a fantasy or science fiction author would (dystopia is generally sci-fi or fantasy or a mix thereof). So good dystopian authors can produce a lot of beautifully terrifying worlds.

I really like dystopia. In addition to the worlds that are created, and the story of how the world ended, but we get to see humanity as it struggles. We get to see how humans react to the desperation. It's a great analysis of humanity.

In the post-apocalyptic novels I love, you see humanity at it's worst. People are desperate and doing horrible things to survive. You see the worst of us and that we can all be monsters. But you also see some of the best. You see people rising above everything, and some how managing to find something to hold onto in spite of it all. Somehow finding a reason to keep going, to keep being human. Whether its giving half of their meal to a starving animal or showing mercy to an enemy, or finding a way to forgive themselves. They find a way to be better, to do what is right, and fight against the overwhelming odds. Those are the stories that keep me coming back. That willingness to stand up when everyone else is bowing down. The willingness to hold onto the idea of living instead of just surviving. The way that the characters are resilient, and hold onto their beliefs and will to fight for those beliefs. That hope that, no matter how small and shaken, perseveres.

There are a lot of dystopian stories that don't have that element of hope and endurance. These are meant to be cautionary tales, but I find they don't make me want to change. I read Brave New World, and in that story nothing changed, and our characters gave up. And I just felt defeated. I didn't feel like I could do anything to avoid an eventuality like the one depicted in the story. It isn't because it is a horrible book, or that it is badly written. I just didn't like it. Endless despair doesn't work for me. I just shut it out, because if the characters don't have a will to carry on, why should I?

I guess I've got a soft spot of the hero type. The ones who keep fighting for what is right even when their faith is shaken and they are down on their knees. The ones that show, no matter how much horrible has happened, there is still love and compassion and hope. I suppose that, as pessimistic as I can be, I want to believe that humans are good. I have to believe that.

Am I a sap or what?

Harry Potter Re-read Week: Day 1

So today I'm supposed to read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Talk about a trip down memory lane. I haven't actually started yet because I'm a procrastinator like that.

This is the copy that I have. It isn't the one I originally read. That book was from the library, and my mother and father took turns reading it to me. It was the first "real" novel that I decided to read on my own. I must have been at most seven. I bought a copy afterward. It then got destroyed and my sister picked up an identical one secondhand. This version is paperback, and 332 pages long. I hope I'll be able to finish it tonight.

This isn't the first time I've reread this series. In a lot of ways, it was my childhood. I love these books. They probably had an effect on who I became as a person. Unlike a lot of people, it wasn't the book that got me into reading -I was a reader before that. But I loved these books and I still do. I believe that this is a book parents should introduce their children to this story -and if you give me the "it is satanic" shtick, well, you're entitled to your opinion, and I am equally entitled to think you're completely wrong. I mean this is a story about doing what is right and good, not matter how easy it is to do what is wrong, and the power of love and friendship and hope. And that's a really important message for people, especially kids. Besides the big message, there are all sorts of wonderful little messages. And magic and humour and amazingness. 

Yep, I should start reading soon. Or I won't be sleeping until a past midnight.

Review: Orleans

Title: Orleans
Author:Sherri L. Smith
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic

Why I Read It: I haven't read anything dystopic in a while, so I figured I would give this a go. There was also quite a bit of buzz about this one.

A Quick Intro: It has been years since a series of incredibly destructive tropical storms, and a disease called Delta Fever led to the quarantine of New Orleans and the surrounding area. The survivors are divided into tribes by blood type (this slows the spread of the fever), and blood hunting is rampant, since blood transfusions are the only way to slow the advance of the infection (for those infected). Fen is and O-positive, and after her tribe is attacked, only she and a newborn escape. Daniel comes over the quarantine wall looking for a way to clear the Fever, expecting a few struggling survivors, not a primitive civilization.

What I Thought: I wasn't really a fan of this one. I found that I really wasn't attached to the story, or the characters. They just irked me. I'm not saying that they weren't characters with depth, or that they were poorly written, I just found them annoying. I couldn't really root for them.

My other issue was that it didn't really feel like there was a climax. It was just one random event after another, to the point where, when there was some sort of a revelation, betrayal, or some such, I just sort of responded with "Oh, well, another thing happened, there is still basically no hope. Huh. Too bad.". The plot sort of meandered.

There wasn't much hope in this book. This is more a personal preference, but I prefer there to be some sort of hope in my stories. A reason to carry on reading. This book became sort of... resigned. Which didn't really work for me.

So in the end, this book was kind of hard slogging for me. By the end I felt like I was reading for the sake of reading words on a page. I wasn't really curious about how the book would end. This wasn't really a book for me.