Ash

Excuse me, but did the author actually admit to not reading the source material in its entirety?

Here's the actual quote from the author:

“I read a lot of the stories within The Odyssey, because they're in things like Percy Jackson, and those little books of mythology you get as a kid, but I actually started and finished writing without sitting down and reading the whole thing. I have various translations; there are parts that are very beautiful and readable, but it's so long, and written in a ‘prose-y' way that's kind of impenetrable” (read the whole interview here).

The Odyssey

Percy Jackson

DNF at 33%

You know what? I'm sad. I really liked the whole concept, the execution, the characters, the plot, ... but something happened 1/3 of the way in that completely lost my interest. I gave up when Arthur's backstory became the focus and just couldn't get past it, even though my friend told me to keep going because the next part would be great.

I'm legit bummed by it, the start was so strong and got me hooked instantly. It's a shame that I couldn't finish it, everything was right up my alley until the narrative started droning on about some washed-up movie star. Bleh.

I hate this book So. Goddamn. Much. It's an abomination. It shouldn't be anywhere near the ‘literary classics' section. What exactly is so brilliant about this book? The incoherent ramblings of an alcoholic? The completely bland and uninteresting white male protagonist? This book should be pushed way to the back of any bookshelf, and forgotten about. Better still, don't even bother picking it up.

There's a sequel??!!??? I may die omg. Arthuuuuuuuur I'm so ready to see you again, my favourite phoenix ❤️❤️❤️

Temporarily on hiatus, unfortunately. I put it aside to read other things and now I feel that I should start over and give it my full attention because it's definitely amazing.

Wow, I'm clearly in the minority here, but why the heck do people adore this book/series? I honestly don't get it, and I guess I never will. There are tons of great YA fairy-centric stories, so why waste your time on this one?

DNFed at less than 20%... yikes.

Ahhh I picked this up on a whim, and now I feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. This story was so cute! I'm a sucker for slow burns and intense pining. Kakeru is adorable, and I feel so much for Yamato! Poor Yamato, who is so misunderstood by his best friend ;__;

I'm looking forward to vol 2 ♥

Format read: digitalReading time: 1h Tags: vampires, shonen, adventure, mysteryOwn a copy: noReread likelihood: 6/10You might also like: [b:Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign, Vol. 1 18774919 Seraph of the End Vampire Reign, Vol. 1 Takaya Kagami https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448681178l/18774919.SY75.jpg 26679990], [b:Vampire Knight, Vol. 1 263145 Vampire Knight, Vol. 1 (Vampire Knight, #1) Matsuri Hino https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329232329l/263145.SY75.jpg 255083]I read this on a whim, and even though the first volume was kind of ordinary, I decided to keep reading and now I'm actually invested in the plot.Vol. 1 covers the background/set up for the story. Ichirou Rosario di Maria (aka “Maria”) is a priest who wields a special cross that can defeat vampires. One day, he meets a red-haired vampire called Bloody who cannot be killed no matter through which method. Bloody desperately wants to die and enlists Maria's help, the only person who can kill him, but Maria finds out that his true exorcism powers have been supressed and he can't wield his cross to its full extent. The two decide to work together to get Maria's powers back so that he can kill Bloody as per his wish. As an exchange, Bloody protects Maria from other vampires since he is vulnerable without his powers.The two form an odd pair; Maria is cold and cynical, while Bloody is a goof with a good heart. Vol. 1 shows they start off as enemies with a common cause, which makes for an interesting premise. I'm not one to usually fall for the trap of “it gets better in the next book,” but in this case, it's true! I recommend reading on for more plot development.

Format read: digitalReading time: 1h Tags: vampires, shonen, adventure, mysteryOwn a copy: noReread likelihood: 6/10You might also like: [b:Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign, Vol. 1 18774919 Seraph of the End Vampire Reign, Vol. 1 Takaya Kagami https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1448681178l/18774919.SY75.jpg 26679990], [b:Vampire Knight, Vol. 1 263145 Vampire Knight, Vol. 1 (Vampire Knight, #1) Matsuri Hino https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329232329l/263145.SY75.jpg 255083]Ok, now I'm really invested. Vol. 3 goes into a lot of the backstory, which is really essential at this point. We see that Bloody and an unknown person briefly met Yzak 400 years ago when he was still a young priest starting out in his exorcism business. Turns out that Yzak needs Bloody to kill him since he is the only vampire who has that ability. The di Maria blood is incredibly strong, and vampires typically can't hurt them. Yzak has been immortal for far too long, and since the death of his wife, he has been looking for ways to die, too. Yzak attempts to torture Bloody to force him into killing him, but what it does instead is to draw out another personality, that of Mary. Mary, unlike Bloody, is mean-spirited and hell-bent on killing humans. In fact, it's said that he killed Ichiro's father, Yuusei (although the how and why is all very nebulous for now).So to recap, 1. Bloody is immortal and wants to die, but only Ichiro has the power to kill him.2. Ichiro can't kill him until he gets his exorcism power back.3. Yzak is also immortal and also wants to die. Mary is the only who can kill him.4. To get to Mary, you have to supress Bloody, but that can't be done so easily because of his bond with Ichiro and his promise to protect him.5. Mary can't kill Yzak because Bloody won't let him. This is because Yzak is the only one who can awaken Ichiro's powers.In a nutshell, we've reached an impasse. Something obviously has to give, but for now, the three characters are locked in a stalemate.Meanwhile, a new character appears at the end of the last chapter. He seems to know Ichiro, but we don't know yet in what capacity or if he's one of the good guys or a new antagonist.The plot thickens!

This review will look at each story individually.————The Judgment (pp.77-88)★★[read: 12/12/21] This one was definitely strange, even for Kafka. It read as a disjointed dream that left me scratching my head as to it's meaning. The protagonist of the short story, Georg, starts off the narration by writing a letter to his childhood friend who lives in St-Petersburg, Russia (we assume that Georg is somewhere in Germanic Europe). One day, Georg is engaged to be married and decides to write to his friend to let him know. However, before mailing the letter, he talks with his father and ‘warns' him about his intent to inform his friend. This is where the story takes a strange turn: the father, who is old and seems a bit demented, begins to rail on his son and tells him that he doesn't have a friend in Russia, because he, the father, has been secretly communicating with him all these years and pushed him away from Georg. At the very end, Georg's father tells him that he should drown himself, which is exactly what Georg does: he runs out of the house and jumps into the river. Georg's last actions are very nonsensical, and the ‘message' of this story is unclear. The judgment from the title happens in two fold: 1) Georg judges his friend in Russia for his lifestyle and assumes things about him, and 2) Georg's father judges him on his ability to run the family company, to honour his deceased mother, and to take care of his ailing father.The Metamorphosis (pp.89-139)★★★★★[read: 12/12/21]The Metamorphosis is the first Kafka story I ever read, and I have reread it a number of times over the year because it is my absolute favourite of his. Truth be told, I have a bad phobia of cockroaches, and the idea of being transformed into one is beyond terrifying to me. However, this novella is so unique and intriguing, I can't help myself from loving it. Gregor Samsa is an ordinary man who works as a travelling salesman and who wakes up one morning transformed into a giant bug (technically, the type of insect is not specified, but historically we have often associated it to cockroaches because they are disgusting). The whole narrative follows Gregor's train of thoughts as he processes what happened to him and wonders about what will happen to his job, his family, etc. The transformation that takes place is in allegory of how society alienates its individuals. Furthermore, the story comments heavily on family dynamics, with Gregor's austere father and sister being the antitheses to his more liberal self.In The Penal Colony (pp.140-168)★★★★★[read: 09/12/21]I chose to read this short story first out of the collection because of current work I'm doing on law in literature. I'm used to Kafka's nightmarish stories, but this one in particular is very chilling and disturbing. the story features four characters: The Condemned, the Soldier, The Explorer, and the Officer. The Explorer is asked to assist the execution of the Condemned, and is told about the method of execution: a machine, the Harrow, that engraves the literal sentence of the prisoner into his skin until he dies of his wounds (which can take up to 12 hours). The Explorer quickly realizes how inhumane and cruel this method is, especially because there is no chance for the Condemned to defend himself. Much like the witch trials of old, the Condemned is put to death based on hearsay and is denied the right to know what his sentence is (as well as the reason for it). The Officer complains that the New Commandant of the penal colony does his utmost to have this tradition fall out of favour by denying him funds to repair/upkeep the machine, having lowered attendance to the executions, and inviting foreigners like the Explorer to come and witness the executions (and hopefully stand up against the injustice of it). The Officer wishes for the Explorer to be on his side, but the latter refuses. In the end, the machine breaks down when the Officer feeds it the “be just!” verdict and lays himself beneath the apparatus to receive his punishment. The Officer, who cherished and respected the machine, and who believed in this system wholeheartedly, is violently murdered by his own contraption. The allusions here to Dostoevsky's [b:Crime and Punishment 7144 Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382846449l/7144.SY75.jpg 3393917] are clear as day, and the allegorical representation of WWI is embodied in the Officer and the Old Commandant.

I, like everyone else, read the back cover and thought, “wow, this sounds right up my alley! What is there not to love about a queer historical fantasy with an arranged marriage trope.” However, two sentences in, and I knew right away that nope, this was not going to work. The author uses so many adjectives and adverbs in each sentence, it's dizzying. Not only that, but the attempt to sound ‘old timey' doesn't work here at all because 1) some of the words make no sense contextually, 2) the sentence structure is off putting for the most part, and 3) old literature doesn't even sound like this, not by any stretch of the imagination.

The offending opening lines in question:

“We'd scarcely entered Father's new lands when I realised how little I cared that I'd never inherit them. It was a genteel epiphany, as such things go...”

Let's dissect this a bit:
Epiphany: noun A moment of sudden revelation or insight.

The word used to enhance the noun:
Genteel: adj. Polite, refined, or respectable, often in an affected or ostentatious way.

A much better word to use that was forgone to sound (incorrectly) ‘old timey':
Gentle: adj. Moderate in action, effect, or degree; not harsh or severe.

Now, everyone, please tell me, is it truly a refined moment of revelation, or is it not more a soft revelation? Which one do you think makes more sense? Case in point.


Naturally, I didn't stop at the first few lines. No, I flipped around the book at random to see if maybe the first page was just an unfortunate editing slip-up. Alas, it was not an accidental slip-up. The whole book is like this, and as a self-respecting reader, there's no way I can stomach 544 pages of this kind of writing.

Consider these few choice examples I picked up during my flip through:

“...her head was freshly shaven enough to gleam beneath its stubble.”
Excuse me, but this is an oxymoron.

“Cae manfully resisted the urge to squirm away from the question...”
Manfully? Really? How does one resist in a manly way, exactly? Is the author playing synonym roulette here or something, because some alternative word choices in the dictionary are ‘ordinary' words like ‘bravely' and ‘courageously' (which still doesn't make sense in the context, but at least they are infinitely less painful to read than ‘manfully.')

“Being fifteen is four parts bravery to six parts foolishness...”
15 = 4+6... yes
insert confused Jackie Chan meme
Who talks like this? Do you know anyone who naturally comes up with this kind of response in a conversation?

Cae felt an obscure pang.
..... a what not? What, pray tell, is an obscure pang, exactly?


I could keep going, but I need a Tylenol at this point. Wherefore art thou so headache-inducing, dear novel?

Read my full review here: https://vicsense.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/red-queen-red-queen-1/

There were quite a few obvious plot holes throughout the book. The most glaring one in my opinion, is the fact that Mare goes from being ‘ordinary' to having superpowers and , overnight, she seemingly gains perfect control of these new powers without much difficulty. There's no sense of hardship in learning to control her new ability, she seems to just suddenly be able to wield her powers without a second thought.

The most unlikely thing in my opinion is Mare's ability to plan a whole revolution right under the nose of the Queen (who has the ability to read minds), and never once stops to think “hey, it's really strange that the Queen isn't doing anything to stop my plans”. The final battle is so contrived, it was almost painful to read through it. Mare, who has spent the whole book being protected by the princes, suddenly has this incredible power to her disposition, turning the tide of the battle and saving Cal's life. Very unlikely. The resistance members seem to have survived death so many times, including the last ambush where Cal's 5000 soldiers stormed their hiding place...and yet every one survived. This is completely unbelievable and shows exactly where this series is going. The plot twist was clear as day, and so is the future of the revolution.

DNF at 35.7% (page 120)

Why, just why. I was so excited to read this because of Peter Jackson's new movie so I decided to give it a go before watching the movie. Big mistake. Here I am, 6 months after the theatre release and I still haven't watched it because I've been stuck at 35% of the book, not able to read past that point and finish it.

So what happened? This book was directed at a middle-grade audience, which is fine, don't get me wrong, but it was so incredibly juvenile, even for an MG. I read that the author had originally intended to publish his book in the adult fiction but that the publishers didn't want to accept it, so he had to “dumb it down” to have it published in kid's lit instead. That is absolutely heartbreaking because, in all honesty, this book would have been absolutely killer as an adult sci-fi/fantasy novel. The author's concept was very cool and original (all the cities move around on giant tractor wheels, eating each other up? Awesome.) but because it had to be simplified for kids, it was just plain painful, boring, and horrible to read.



On behalf of sci-fi fans, I want to extend a hearty thanks to Reeve's publishers for ruining a book that had great potential with an adult audience

Ah, good old Hobbit! One those not simply review this novel without mentioning the movies that were fashioned after it. Love them or hate them, the movies are still (mostly) based on this story, and the characters really come to life in this prologue to The Lord Of The Rings. I was extremely long overdue for a reread + review of this classic tale, so behold my (elf-related) ramblings as follows.

Far over the misty mountains coldTo dungeons deep and caverns oldWe must away ere break of dayTo seek the pale enchanted gold.
-Thorin & Company

Movie/book comparative review below!

I never thought much of Bilbo Baggins in the LOTR movies, but Bilbo in the book is really marvellous and wonderful. The little hobbit proved himself brave and useful beyond what anyone expected (Gandalf excluded), and his courage protected his friends so many times!

My favourite ‘fight' scene was when Bilbo faced the spiders all on his own in Mirkwood and saved his friends from death by being clever and swift. It's funny how the One Ring has no evil intent nor will in The Hobbit, whereas it is clearly a central character in The Lord of the Rings. Instead, Bilbo often makes use of the Ring without there being any consequences to it. Also, the ‘Easter eggs' so to speak throughout the novel were so much fun to find/read about, like how the 3 trolls are later found in LOTR, or Gollum's role in both tales. It really shows Tolkien's genius at world building.

As always, the elves are my absolute favourite in this book too. It's too bad that Tolkien didn't include Legolas in his book (unlike in the movie which is sacrilegious to mention, I know), but at least Thranduil was present in the novel and was a major player (although he was never named once! He was only ever refered to as the Elvenking). I love the movie version of Thranduil, so it was a bit disappointing to see his role in The Hobbit novel much more diminished, but I loved the chapters that took place in Mirkwood the most.

Thorin, Fili, and Kili's deaths were very anticlimactic in the novel compared to in the movies, which again was a bit underwhelming and disappointing (I guess that shows Peter Jackson's genius instead), but the Battle of the Five Armies was still really cool and full of action.

Finally, Tolkien's narrative voice was very strong in this book, which I guess is because it's technically a middle-grade book. The narration style was very cute and fairytale-like. I expect that this is why the deaths of some of the major characters were toned down which, again, diminished the impact of the story and its moral teachings. Nevertheless, The Hobbit is uncontestedly a literary masterpiece if only for its width and breadth in the world of high fantasy writing.

There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
-Lord Elrond

On hiatus at 52%

Why? My loan ran out at the library and I haven't been able to re-borrow it since :/ I really want to finish it, I enjoyed what I read so far (although not as Nutcracker-y as I thought it would be).