The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds

The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds

This is the story of Ninah Huff, the granddaughter of the founder of the Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind. Say that three times fast. I dare ya! Basically, the people of the congregation spend their time striving to do the "Lord's good" while denying themselves earthly pleasures (No TV, very little free time, you get the picture) because they don't want to be stuck on earth when the good Lord comes back. To avoid earthly sins, the members of the church are known to inflict pain upon themselves such as sleeping on nettles or walking on pecan shells.

The story is also told from Ninah's POV. She's a young girl struggling with religion and life in general. She questions what she is being taught in her community, but at the same time, she feels ashamed and guilty of the changes going through her -- particularly her attraction to a boy named James. Despite, Ninah and James's efforts to avoid temptation and sin, the two come together in the biblical sense, and the outcome tears their little community apart.

I thought this was a very beautiful story following the trials and tribulations of not only a teenager growing up under such strict beliefs but the desires of the heart and flesh, the questioning of religious beliefs. Ninah makes such a transition in this story. She goes from a timid teenage girl to a young woman who knows her heart and believes that God's love comes from more than just pain. She finds strength when so many obstacles stood in her way. She forces a community to change, to face it's hypocrisy, and above all, Ninah finds a sense of self.

I also loved the characters in this book. They were so beautifully drawn out. You could imagine them vividly. Everyone from Ninah to Corinthian, the woman who the community considers a backsliding whore. You feel for these people. You can probably think of people who share some similar attributes. Maybe not as religious, but we all know drama-queens and people who strive to please others.

Ninah's story is so heart-wrenching, but beautifully written. I could not put this book down, and I already want to read it again. All I have to say to that is, "Whee, Jesus."

Final Verdict

4.5 of 5 stars

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe has for, quite some time, been a movie that I’ve enjoyed, and I’ve enjoyed in just about every incarnation of it. I first remember seeing the movie as a young girl on PBS. I had to be around 6 or 7 at the time, and I was completely enamored with the movie. Now, at that time, I was also already a pretty avid reader, but it wasn’t until some years later that I realized that movie was based on a book--a book that was part of a series. You’d think as much as I love the movie(s) that I would’ve started reading the books well before now, and honestly, I did have all intentions of reading the series before becoming a grown woman with two children of my own. However, it didn’t quite work out that way. Better late than never, though, right?

Art: Ravine

ravine- orlin and argal by *nebezial

From Ravine, by Stjepan Sejic and Ron Marz

Lo's Diary by Pia Pera

Lo's Diary by Pia Pera

I call books like these published fanfiction. Hey, I love fanfiction, but it just gets on my last nerve when everyone wants to down it when we have so much published fanfiction around. But, anyway... Lo's Diary is Lolita (Delores Haze's) side of the events that Humbert Humbert told in Lolita. Once again, John Ray is presented with a manuscript this time from the hands of the famed nymphet herself.

She tells Mr. Ray that some of the details of Lolita were just over-romanticized lies thought up by Humbert, but then she sort of recants and decides that maybe Humbert was so deluded he really thought those things happened. So, we learn the "true" story of what happened starting with Lolita's diary a few months before Humbert Humbert entered the picture.

I really, really disliked Humbert Humbert while reading Lolita, and I don't think I was supposed to like him. This book was quite a jewel since Lolita's assessment of Humbert coincides with they way I felt he really was in Lolita, a bumbling fool.

This wasn't written in the same style as Nabokov's Lolita. This is quite a bit more down-to-earth. You don't have to go through pages and pages of description about one minute detail. Lo just tells it like it is. Sometimes, Lolita seems a little too mature for her age, and sometimes she seems a little childish, just as she's presented in Lolita, though. Although I hate the book Lolita, I won't deny it is masterfully written. This isn't, and it doesn't even pretend to be classy. Still, I thought it was an amusing read.

Final Verdict: 

2.5 of 5 stars

Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War by Christie Golden

Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War by Christie Golden

While I may play World of Warcraft off and on, one constant is my interest in the lore behind the game, an interest that extends to pretty much all MMOs I play, in fact. I’m always devouring every piece of lore and background information I can find, even if that means putting up with some not-so-well-written novels every once in a while. I’ve long discovered that looking for quality writing in most video game tie-in books is a lost cause.

Admittedly, I didn’t think Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War was going to pose much of problem on that front, because I’m generally well-disposed towards author Christie Golden’s works. The book’s eponymous heroine is also a major WoW character that I’ve always liked and followed with interest.

Wolverine: Old Man Logan by Mark Millar

Wolverine: Old Man Logan by Mark Millar

Not sure what I was expecting when I went into this story, but I was certainly not expecting what I got from this story. This takes place in an alternate timeline fifty years in the future. The supervillains formed a coup putting aside their differences and masterfully executing a plan that leaves many of the world’s superheroes dead. The ones who do manage to survive go into hiding to survive. There’s one exception to this story—Logan.

Logan lives in California, a place known as The Hulklands, with his wife and two children, and he’s taken a vow never to take another life, never to unsheathe his claws again. Sounds quaint, but it’s far from it. Life is hard for Logan and his family. During the conflict that led up to the demise of the superheroes, Bruce Banner took the side of the villains and was rewarded with California. Now, the Hulk offspring run the land ruthlessly, demanding rent from those who dare to dwell there.

After unsuccessfully trying to come up with rent money, Logan has a violent confrontation with the Hulks. He doesn’t defend himself and his family is spared, but the Hulks tell him that he must pay double rent next month. Logan takes a job accompanying Hawkeye, who is still in rare form, across the country for money. It’s during this journey that we learn more about what happened in this big battle and what led Logan to just give up the fight and live his days in peace.

This is a fast-paced story through the wreckage of “Amerika.” Hawkeye and Logan encounter a few familiar faces, such as Emma Frost and Black Bolt, during the story while introducing a few new faces to this bleak world that’s run by some of the world’s biggest criminal minds. In some panels, there was little said, but the art in the panels said so much and really showed how BIG and pivotal this battle turned out to be. It was a visual treat to see how scarred the land was and it leaves readers with so many questions.

The only thing that got annoying was Logan constantly telling Hawkeye that he wouldn’t fight for him, that he wouldn’t kill for him. After a while it became a tired song and dance with Logan, but when Logan finally got a chance to reveal the reasons why he stopped fighting, why he walked away from the mansion and “killed” Wolverine, it’s so poignant and unsettling. Millar managed to capture so much emotion and pain with Logan’s story.

The panel of Logan in tears as he talks about his attempted suicide after the events at the mansion (where Hawkeye points out didn’t work because of his healing factor… duh…) was so sorrowful, especially when he said, “But it hurt, an’ sometimes that’s enough.” There was a simplicity to Millar’s storytelling that really fit Logan and this story.

I won’t spoil the rest of the story. I think this is something that needs to be read and consumed without prior knowledge of the complete storyline to really get into the reality of this new world and let Logan’s life sink in. I read there was talk of a sequel to this, which would be nice if handled with as much poignancy as this one, but even if it doesn’t happen—if it hasn’t already happened—the story ends on a bittersweet note that leaves readers hopeful about what will happen from that point. It doesn’t give you all the answers to the questions it presented in the story, leaving it wide open to speculation.

Final Verdict:

4.5 of 5 stars

The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett
 
Just a heads up: this review will contain some spoilers for the previous two books in the Demon Cycle series, but I would assume if you haven't read them already you wouldn't have made it this far to the third installment.

The nightly battle against the demons of the core continues in The Daylight War. With the appearance of the more intelligent mind demons and their mimics from the last book, humanity now prepares for the new moon when the powerful Princes will return again with their hordes rising in full force. It's been a long time since I read The Desert Spear, but it appears this book picks up right where the last one left off, or at least very close to it.

The Briar King by Greg Keyes

The Briar King by Greg Keyes

As far as fantasy goes, The Briar King was very ambitious. Keyes crafted a very detailed realm, complete with epic back story and lore, though communication of that realm some times fell short. I had issue with the many terms Keyes used at the beginning. The definitions could more or less be gleaned from context, but when compounded with the continuous introduction of lore and political geography, it made for a slightly difficult initial read. Things eventually settled into place soon enough and, other than some awkward romantic moments and scenes that perhaps jumped too quickly to conclusion, I enjoyed the story being told.

The book starts in the past, where a great battle between human slaves and their skasloi masters resulted in the defeat of the skasloi. Darkness and magic abound and the implication from the defeated king is that that same darkness will return. Move then to the present, where humans rule, but are now divided by nation, with war looming over Crotheny, where the majority of the main protagonists reside. Each protagonist is introduced in their own chapters and then smoothly intertwined over the course of the story, with each characters’ personality and purpose strongly – and sometimes annoyingly – defined.

Unfortunately, the political machinations play a little too much like an amateur game of thrones. Fortunately, despite being a constant source of strife in the story from beginning to end, the political elements are not as main a focus as they pretend to be. This book is called “The Briar King,” after all, and throughout the book, whispers and glimpses of him offer a tantalizing mystery about who or what the Briar King is and what his purpose and intentions are. By the end of the book when the Briar King finally appears in truth, the mystery remains, enticing a need to follow through with the next book in the series to find out what happens next….

Final verdict

3 of 5 stars

Batman: A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin

Batman: A Death in the Family by Jim Starlin

I watched Batman: Under the Red Hood recently thanks to Netflix’s streaming option. I enjoyed it for so many reasons, but that’s another post. After watching the movie, I wanted to read the source material that led up to the events in the movie. Admittedly, I’m more of a Marvel girl than a DC girl, but I do try to read the “iconic” comics on both sides of the fence. A Death in the Family is the arc that clears up what happens before the movie. I think the movie did a good job of giving the condensed version of previous events, but the arc fills the story out more.

I’m not sure how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. I don’t think that this is the best story ever—or rather, the story isn’t executed well. It’s just not as well written as other pivotal Batman arcs, such as The Killing Joke. It had plenty of potential, but was marred by the shaky writing and questionable plot direction at best.

Some of the word choices and phrases would have you believe that this was a comic written before its time. But that’s only when it wasn’t coming off as awkward and contrived. I asked myself plenty of times, “Who talks/thinks like this?” Too many of the scenes were just too convenient as if they couldn’t think of a better way to get important parts of the plot moving. I know a big part of storytelling in comics is how convenient certain things are, but they didn’t have to be so obvious. There was too much telling or retelling of the story in many of the panels where information could’ve been craftily revealed through dialogue between characters, action sequences, or not at all.

It wasn’t completely terrible, though, and pieces of it seemed to move beyond being just all right. I won’t pan it and say that it doesn’t deserve to be seen as a crucial story in Batman’s career. It had such a major effect on him that it would be silly for me to say that it isn’t important in the Batman mythos. The writing just hampered it greatly.

Writing aside, I liked how conflicted Batman was painted in this story. Batman is always so focused on stopping crime that it’s sometimes hard to see the humanity in his character. Often, it’s just about his struggle with good versus evil, but this arc gave him a new, different dilemma. In this story, his struggle with doing what’s right for the people and doing what’s right for his family (Jason) caused such a rift in his psyche. I loved how disjointed his thinking was as he tried to focus on the Joker, but ultimately having his thoughts drift to Jason, his issues, and how he (Batman) feels his actions factored into all this.

And Jason… I’m still not fond of his character. I didn’t care for him much in the movie. I thought I would feel more sympathetic for him after reading his story. I do in a way, but I think I feel more understanding toward him as he was portrayed in Under the Red Hood, but even in the movie, my heart wasn’t exactly bleeding for him. However, it was nice to have more details about what he was dealing with, and the death scene did tug at me a little. But while I understand his reasoning behind much of what he did in the comics and in the movie, he was just a hard character to sympathize with, and left me feeling like, in the end, his death was probably the best thing that ever happened to him.

Overall, this was an okay story. Not really the sensational arc I was expecting given how impressed I was with Under the Red Hood. I would like to say that I shouldn’t have set the standard for this so high after watching the movie, but I expected something on par with the movie, not a story that seemed amateurishly pieced together. I know some time had lasped between these comics and the movie, but I don’t think it was wrong for me to expect something much less clumsy.

Would I recommend this story to people? Yes and no. I’m a bit split. I think it is important for the impact that it had on Batman, but the writing is rickety and distracting.

Final Verdict:

2.5 of 5 stars

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

Update (10.22.13): This is an old review, and so I wanted to say that as far as I know the Kindle version has since been corrected and is now free of the formatting errors and typos. The publisher even contacted me after see this review and was awesome enough to replace my old copy with the fixed one! Plus I'm aware that this book also just got "re-released" so I'm sure everything should be perfect now! Go read it, it's a fun book! ~Mogsy

A band of thieves plot to pull off the greatest heist ever -- fantasy style! What an awesome book this was -- though, I would like to give a couple heads-ups beforehand:

1) If you are planning to read this on the Kindle, be forewarned that there are quite a few formatting errors and typos in that version, which the author explained to me over Twitter were introduced by the publisher's scanning software. Ultimately these errors weren't too bad, just mildly distracting, and I certainly can't fault Weekes for those. I was told the Kindle version will be fixed in the near future. (Edit: See my update above)

2) However, I also found the writing to be a bit rough, though this might be attributed to the author's own unique style. Patrick Weekes is perhaps best known for his writing work for the video game company BioWare and their popular Mass Effect series, and perhaps not surprisingly, often when I was reading this book it almost felt like Weekes was describing a scene from a movie or cinematic sequence, one that only he can see in his head. There were parts where I found descriptions to be lacking; for example, there were a few scenes with lots of conversation bouncing between multiple characters. These were especially tough on me, since they work well on a big screen when the audience can follow the speakers visually, but they don't fly so well on the written page. And in a book like this, there certainly were a lot of characters to keep track of.

Those were the two main obstacles I had to overcome, but apart from them I have to say this book was very enjoyable. I was sucked in completely somewhere between the first couple of chapters -- after prisoners Loch and Kail escape their sentences and start planning their heist by recruiting other thieves and other talented individuals to their cause. No shocker that this book has been described as Ocean's Eleven meets fantasy, as that's pretty much the whole story, with a magical twist.

The first quarter of the novel was probably my favorite part, as it comprised all the character introductions. We have two ex-soldiers-turned-thieves, a tinkerer/lock picker extraordinaire, one talented acrobat, a shape-shifting unicorn, a death priestess and her magical talking hammer, a wizard, and his young friend with a big secret. It's a colorful group of players, and like I said before, lots of characters to keep track of. With such a huge cast, I wasn't expecting much terms of character development which under these circumstances would be understandable, but I should have had more faith. I ended up being very impressed, especially given the restraints the author had to work with, and I liked how each of the characters were unique, provided an interesting background and an important role to play. Surprisingly, though? My favorite character was not one of the thieves. Instead, that honor belonged to the justicar Pyvic, the "inspector" in this story who is tasked to track them.

One other thing I want to mention about the characters: I find "group" heist stories and their casts are often male-dominated (I mean, look at Ocean's Eleven, Reservoir Dogs, etc.) so I have to say I feel like giving Patrick Weekes a big kudos for writing a book featuring an ensemble which includes quite a few women -- women who aren't solely there for token purposes or just to be romantic interests, I might add! In fact, not counting the talking warhammer, half the team is female. Anyway, this observation did strike me as different as well as a welcome change, so I just thought I'd throw that out there.

As I was saying, I realize a big cast necessitates taking away from character development somewhat, but I also want to note that it might have taken away from the world-building as well. Though don't get me wrong, what we are given about the setting and its background is adequate and more than enough to follow the book, but I wouldn't have minded a little more description. I gathered that we have a world here which is populated by humans, dwarves and elves. The humans are comprised of different races, defined by geography and history. There's an established political system in place. Multiple tongues are spoken by the people, but at some point one of the characters also spoke French, which was referred as an ancient language. I love it all, and Weekes obviously put a lot of thought into this world. It's just a shame he didn't get a chance to fully flesh it out, but then again, I understand there's a story to be told and that takes full priority.

And that is what drives everything in the end, after all. The story. Full of political intrigue, twists and turns, double crosses and hidden agendas, it's actually quite amazing to me how the author managed to cram all that goodness into this average-length book. It definitely makes up for everything else.

Bottom line: this book is clever, humorous and a lot of fun. If you're looking for a light read with a good action-filled and fast-paced story, you won't be disappointed.

Final Verdict:

 4 of 5 stars

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus is a magical tale set in Victorian London, featuring the fantastical and mysterious le Cirque des Rêves which only opens from sunset to sunrise. Its attractions include a cloud maze, a wishing tree, ice gardens and other tents full of impossible wonders, as well as performers that are capable of the extraordinary.

Celia the illusionist is a true magician, groomed by her father Prospero the Enchanter to challenge Marco, the young protege of the mysterious Mr. A.H-. The circus becomes their battleground, with the two using it behind the scenes as a proxy to create more magical attractions to captivate their audiences. When the two finally discover each other, they fall in love despite the rivalry between their masters and being sworn to compete against each other until only one person is left standing.

On the face of it, I should have loved this book, given the nature of the story and its themes. It's also beautifully written, with descriptive prose which lets the reader picture the circus and its performers in all its splendid details. The author has a talent for bringing that magic to life with her words, and I also loved the many awe-inspiring ideas she had for the attractions in the circus.

At the same time, however, I felt the novel's setting began overshadowing everything else. The main characters lost their liveliness and charm, compared with amazing sights at the circus and everything else happening around them, which I often found to be much more interesting.

As a result, I tried but could barely grasp the romance or chemistry between Marco and Celia in this so-called love story. Their actions and words spoke of their strong feelings towards each other, but I just didn't feel the passion. I felt so much of the emotion was missing behind the intimate scenes and dialogue, though I give it they were certainly written prettily enough.

Personally, I wanted more from the characters, but if you're into magical realism and are looking for a neat little twist to your usual contemporary fantasy and don't mind a bit of stunted romance, then this book is a good choice.

Final Verdict:

3 of 5 stars

Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey

Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey

This is an advance reader copy that I snagged from Netgalley. I think the book will be released sometime in March/April 2013. From this point on, there will be spoilers.

Gordon Black's birth signals the beginning of the end for the world. As each year passes, the world falls further into economic and environmental upheaval. Tired of the abuses committed against her Mother Earth rebels and begins to purge her lands of the people who harm her, leaving only those who give back as much as they take. In 2014, a few months before his 14th birthday, Gordon begins a journey to find the Crowman who he hopes can set everything right.

Megan Maurice is a young girl who lives quite some time after the collapse of everything. People are living in simpler times, reminiscent of life before technology and materialism had a firm grip on humanity. Megan is on the cusp of womanhood when she's called to become a keeper, someone who keeps the story of the Crowman alive. She is the first and only female keeper, and her teacher, a man known only as Mr. Keeper, says that she will either bring them total salvation or total destruction. He can't be completely sure of her part yet, though he knows everything will change for better or worse because of her.

No adventure is without its foes, and the foes in this story are called The Ward. They’re a group of people who believe that the earth is only there to be exploited by man, despite all the environmental warnings taking place. Their goal is to unite all the nations under one rule. In the chaos and calamity, they introduce strict laws (such as making migrant workers return to their own countries) which are lauded by the people whose fear makes them blind to what The Ward is truly trying to achieve. However, The Ward knows about Gordon, and their main goal is to stop him from meeting the Crowman, an event that will prevent them from reaching their full power.

This book entwined two stories from different points in time, the past and the future, but neither story could be told without the other.

Ravine, vol. 1 TPB by Stjepan Sejic and Ron Marz

Ravine, Volume 1 TPB by Stjepan Sejic & Ron Marz

The most striking element of this book at the start is, unsurprisingly, the art work. It seems almost a disservice to put words to Sejic's imagery as they eloquently tell the story all on their own, but of course, more detail is required than that. This is a  creator-owned story about a fantasy world where the lands are divided by a great rift - a ravine - from which dragons and magic spewed forth long ago.

The story begins in epic proportions with a prologue about a battle between a corrupted king, and the general and daughter who now fight against him. Tragedy and darkness begets more tragedy  and darkness in melodramatic proportion that felt a bit too over the top - but this was only the prologue and things settled into a more appropriate pace when the timeline switched to the present.

There are a lot of characters involved and a lot of lore and politics to follow, which can be daunting both to write and read. It's difficult to find the balance between telling too much and not showing enough, but as the story progressed, the pieces came together well enough for the situation to become clear and, more importantly, volume one ended with enough intrigue to make me want to read on. I particularly enjoyed the histories presented at the end of the book which helped fill in a few more details, while strengthening the lore.

Final verdict:

3 of 5 stars

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

First, I should say that if you enjoy a fantasy story full of action, then, this may not be the story for you. There's more talk of battle and war than actual battle. This book relies more on political intrigue, dark family histories, and betrayals. And these are things I enjoyed about the story, especially toward the end of this book.

Something spoilerish this way comes.

February Reads

February Reads for the Levar’s Rainbow Book Club are all about members’ favourite series. Members have suggested the first book in their favourite series for others to check out. Some are more popular reads, like A Song of Ice and Fire, while others are lesser known. Click here to see the full list!