Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Gathering Storm, Book 12 in the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series by Brandon Sanderson

Death is merely an inconvenience for Robert Jordan, as his long running series The Wheel of Time continues to turn.

It is in fact (thankfully) turning a little faster now. Under the hands of Robert Jordan, the Wheel of Time was becoming little more than a cash cow. Nothing happened, and then still less happened, while the most powerful women tugged at braids like nine-year olds - and had nothing better to do than sit through endless meetings and choose which clothes to wear. NO MORE.

Brandon Sanderson has injected new life into the characters, sped up the plot, and rekindled the flame of the first few books of this series. The threads are now finally coming together as the different factions battle it out for supremacy while a still greater evil threatens to wipe them all out of existence - forever. So yes, this book is worth reading - the only thing that's vaguely frustrating is this is BOOK 12 - and I can't help but think, are we there yet?

Two more to go.

I can't wait.



LINKS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time  (useful for abridged plots)
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/

Monday, November 23, 2009

Nightlight, by The Harvard Lampoon


Reviewed by Amelia Sirvid

Nightlight is a hilarious take on the first book in the Twilight saga, Twilight.

It's about Belle Goose, a teenage girl who moves from Phoenix to Switchblade, Origin -- a tiny town not on most maps. There she meets Edwart Mullen, a hot (in her opinion) computer nerd, with no interest in girls.

This book is recommended to anyone who has read Twilight

8 ½ /10

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/10/06/nightlight-twilight-parody-harvard-lampoon-meyer/

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

"And Another Thing..." by Eoin Colfer from the Douglas Adam's Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy -- universe


Part 6 of the Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy is one of the more controversial books to come out this year - all the hard-core Douglas Adams fans were out asking the hard questions before it was even released, like; "is it as good as the original?" "Is it funny?" But most of all, "how dare this upstart take the place of our beloved demigod and creator of the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything?"

Fortunately the answers to the fan's questions don’t require a computer the size of a planet. In terms of readability "And another Thing" is somewhere between the good hitchhiker's books and the crappy hitchhiker's books, with a smattering of fantasy, and good eye to adventure -- which admittedly takes a while coming but is well worth the wait.

In some ways "And another thing" is fresher with more of a story feel, and I liked that a lot, but I thought the humour was also cruder and less godlike and so I liked it less.

And finally, I'm not exactly sure how Eion Colfer had the balls to take on this project knowing full well that he'd be caught in the crossfire of the purists and all the infidel who remain blissfully ignorant of the significance of the number 42. Was it money? Probably. The fun of playing with gods? Well he certainly took that opportunity in both hands. Maybe we do need a computer the size of a planet to answer that question after all.

In the end though, the only real question worth asking is -- is this new instalment of the Hitchhikers guide worth reading, and, yes, I think it is, so don't be shy -- give it a burl -- even if it's only so you can complain about how Eion Colfer should have done everything differently, which is admittedly, rather fun.

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