Sunday, January 30, 2011

This Is Not A Book.

So, remember when I fangirled all over the place about Arkarian and Isabel? Well, guess what Ms. Curley did in the Key?
And nooo, I haven't actually read it yet, but it's gonna take me a while to get to that point. Why, you ask?
So, I read the prologue like my life depends on it while my mind shieks "WHERE IS ARKARABEL?"
Chapter One
Rochelle

Okay, so, I hate Rochelle, but I can stand a couple chapters of her whineyness in between my Arkarabelness.
Chapter Two
Matt

Heh. Well, it's book three, right, the last of the series, so she must be doing chapters in all the character's POVs. Yeah, that must be it.
*flips to next chapter*
Rochelle
GAAH
*flips through entire book*
MattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelleMattRochelle
Yeah, like that.
No Isabel. No Arkarian. Just my two least-favorite characters. Maybe even less than Marduke. And that is saying something.
So yeah, my Australian time-travel novels have betrayed me.
If anyone knows any really good Arkarabel fanfics, link me in the comments. And I will read the Key, just not necessarily right away.

What would make me really happy right now:
-Arkarabel Fanficciness
-Arkarian
-Sushi
-Sarah and Savvy to come back XD
-More books? XD

Next book: I will commence finishing Mockingjay.

Friday, January 28, 2011

The Dark

Okay, sorry for the lack of reading, (if anyone actually reads this asdfghjkl) I've been pretty blech lately and this is the first time I've been able to focus on a book. However, I'm not all gone-- this took me less than two days to read--that's still low for my standards but we're getting better. Healing takes time. So, the following is copy-and-pasted out of MS Word, so italics and stuff might not show up. Don't go all grammar Nazi on me; that's my job.
Oh, and Bee-tee-dubs, I tagged this non-spoiler but if you haven't finished the Named there's one tiny little detail that might spoil something, I don't know.

Australian time travel novels. I mean, AUSATRALIAN TIME-TRAVEL NOVELS. I love you, Marianne Curley, random Australian chick who writes awesome stuff.
You know, there is in fact a distinct possibility that I wrote these books. Doubt it? Well, if time travel is possible, then Future Manon could magically travel back in time, publish a book under a different name, and just wait for normal me to find it. The following are my reasoning:
-First, Marianne Curley and Manon Garulay, especially when you use one of the common mispronunciations Gurrlay, kind of rhyme a little. Also, even if you protest that Marianne Curley is a “normal person” name and thus I Manon would never even consider associating myself with it, well, there you go: if I want to hide something from myself, such as my own association with it, I make it normal. Note that I’ve ever done this before. It’s just one of those things that you think about…
What???
-Second, Isabel. I have this character that I use in, like, every other one of my books. Her name is Isabel and she has blonde hair (usually) and either brown or dark blue (or occasionally green, but usually brown) eyes. Now, look at Isabel of the Guardians of Time. Blonde, brown eyes… Ding ding ding we have a match. Maybe my Isabels are usually a bit quirkier, weirder, etc., but still. It’s uncanny right down to the spelling of her name.
-Third, time travel and the Middle Ages. It is quite clear that my dear Marianne has a thing for Medieval history. So do I, my friend, so do I. Also, I recently wrote a novel about time travel that spent a lot of time in the Middle Ages. But not only does she focus on the period of history between the fall of the Roman Empire around 500 A.D. and the Renaissance/Enlightenment/Scientific Revolution that took place around 1500 A.D., she also dips a little into ancient Greece and Rome as well as colonial America. Not just America, if I remember correctly she specifically mentioned in the first book, The Name,d that this part took place in Colonial Massachusetts, the area of actual history that I have had the most in-depth and early understanding of as I have been exposed to and interested in this time since early elementary school. But anyway, Marianne and I share a bit of an obsession with certain parts of history.
-Fourth, and most importantly, IsabellexArkarianASDFGHJKLQWERTYUIOZXCVBN <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Yeah, that many hearts. You know I don’t award hearts very often, so this is a special case. If I were to come up with one romantic pairing that was in my mind ideal for a scifi/fantasy novel to make me want to squeal and heart all over my blog, it would be my dear Isabel and a blue haired, purple eyed, magical dude that was born in the Middle Ages. Like, ASDFGHJKL. I have no words. And you know that with me that doesn’t happen often –cough-. I mean, even though he’s like six hundred years old he’s still not all twilight-creepy. He’s like, I don’t know. MIZ CURLEY YOU HAVE RENDERED THE MOST VERBSE TEENAGER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD WORDLESS. No one in the universe has the power to do such a thing. Thus, Marianne Curley must be me.
-Fifth, she’s AUSTRALIAN. Australia has cute little koalas and kangaroos and accents and, from December to June, Scott and Justine. Sounds to me like a nice place to go, right?
I don’t know about you, but I think I need to call this woman up and ask her, like, stuffthatonlyfuturemewillknow. You know?

What would make me really happy right now:
-For Marianne Curley to call me/email me and me like, "I IS FUTURE YOU WITH AN AUSTRALIAN ACCENT FTW!!!"
-OOOH OOH OOH did you know Australians spell "pajama" "Pyjama?" /off topic/
-SUSHI. What else?
-I'M STILL SICK ASDFGHJKL MAKE IT GO AWAY.
-More Australian time-travel novels. They own.

Next book: The Key, by Mariann Curley, of course! Australian time travel FTW.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Nobody's Princess

Okay, so if this post sounds any different than any of my others (or if there's actually anyone reading this) it's because I have a reading log due for English class and I figure it would kill two birds with one stone to just hand my teacher a few pages of bloggage and be like, I read.
So, on to the book...
Nobody's Princess
is a novel by Esther Friesner about a Spartan princess named Helen who will someday become Helen of Troy. The story shows her childhood in ancient Greece surrounded by heroes and Greek mythology. The interesting thing is that it is written rather than having the mythology as fantasy but as religion, thus to the character truth. There is a lot of contemplatence about the religion itself, and the fact that Helen likes certain goddesses more than others, particularly Aphrodite over Artemis.
The author spun the story a lot, however, and in some ways I wonder for what reasons. The real Helen of Troy was kidnapped by Theseus as a child. This would make an awesome plot. However, the author left it out completely, although Theseus does make an appearance and hints that Helen needs a husband to "calm her down." On the other hand, the author does add in a lot about Helen being more rebellious, taking secret swordfighting lessons with her brother's teacher and learning to hunt from her mother, then later learning to ride from the huntress Atalanta and helping her in the boar hunt.
I like the rebellion, and the fact that even though Helen was sort of a pretty brat in the beginning she became bearable once the story got started (I'd never have been able to read it otherwise) but there seems to be a lot of plot taken out of her story.
And, the one bit of creative licensing that the author is fully entitled to yet bothers me excruciatingly is the fact that Sparta traditionally had two kings, five ephors, a council of advisors, and a citezen class. Athens, on the other hand, had a democracy. In this story, both have rather simple monarchies, and Helen's family passes the crown through the daughters.

What would make me really happy right now:
-Some sushi
-Some crab rangoon and duck sauce. Like, major craving right now.
-A greek princess dress. I'll have to sew myself one.
-More books.

Next book: Nobody's Prize, the sequel to Nobody's Princess.

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Gift

One thing I love about James Patterson is that his books read quickly. That's important. I like that.
Like W&W, I was expecting a little more from this, but we're getting better. I hope book 3 makes up for it all. It probably will.
I'm not sure what I think of this yet. I like it, but anything past that is hard to say. I think it's just that my brain's a little foggy at the moment. I have been sick, if it's any justification.
I'm gonna ignore the metaphors and stuff in this one and just go straight to the pairings, because anything beyond that is making my head spin. I think Whit's going to get over Celia in the sense that he's going to stop trying to stay loyal to his dead girlfriend. I think I like him with Janine. And Wisty? the Weasel Swain is getting better, but he's still a creep. I wanted her to end up with Sasha, but it's looking a little more in Emmet's favor right now. But I love Sasha. He's just so... *sigh.* I wanted Wisty to be with him from the first time he came into the story. Even though I don't know much about him, I know more about what makes him tick than I do Emmet. If Emmet's character gets developed a little more in the next book, that might change.

What would make me really happy right now:
-To be able to compose a decent blog post. As you can see, this one sucked.
-Sushi
-More books. Always more books.

Next book: Not even gonna try. I'm thinking A Prince Among Frogs or Mockingjay.

Friday, January 7, 2011

The Goose Girl

This is the second Shannon Hale book I've read so far, and I think she's won me over. My minor critique is that her characters are sort of... I want to say walled, in the sense that you're not so much in their head, experiencing the story with them. You don't see oh-so much personality as you want to with your usual YA fiction. However, the justification to this is that it's written in the eloquent style of an old-fashioned fairytale, which traditionally lacks the personal connection between the characters and the readers or listeners.
What I liked about this one is that I can identify with her, and I can honestly say that for once, if I had been in her position, I would have reacted more as the spoiled brat, kicking and screaming, that she did. I also like that dispite starting out as a rather weak character, she continues to gain strength throughout the book and by the end I feel that she's overcome most of her internal struggles, which is admirable.
i did find Geric or whatever his name was to be a little bit boring, and I sort of felt the same way about the maindude in Shannon's other novel that I've read, Book of a Thousand Days, but in both he is a surprisingly nonpresent character.

What would make me really happy right now:
-To not be sick
-To not be going to a funeral tomorrow
-For my fever to go away
-For there not be undoubtably a gigantuan pile of English and French homework waiting for me on Monday. "Hey, we're so sorry about how you're sick and your releive died and you feel like crap on a variety of levels, but we'll make it up to you: here's some homework to keep you busy even though we all know you would rather be reading."
Yeah. Right.

Next book: The Gift, I'm guessing, but have I ever been right?

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Hush, Hush

I tagged this non-spoiler, but it might contain a minor or two, so be warned if you're picky.
Bonjour! So, when I took a look at this book, it having to do with angels and nephilim, I was like, OOH! Mortal Instruments Family! But then I started reading. See, the thing about the book is that it flies, which is a plus. However, it has a major, major Twilight connection. The mainchick is a plain but attractive brunette, the dude is dangerous, her biology partner, and possible attempting to kill her. Cars are stolen. There's a stalker scene while the girls are on a shopping trip and get split up. A crazy inhuman chick tries to kill her out of revenge and she gets tortured to hurt the maindude by an inhuman blond. She lives surrounded by fog in a rural, relatively coastal area. Maindude has an expensive car and a "dark" past. Someone watches mainchick sleep. Mainchick has limited but existing knowledge of self-defense that she never actually uses. You know, I had only thought of, like, two of those until I started writing this. There are so many and probably more.
However, I gotta say, it was better than the Evil Book. Just in case you were wondering.
I thought the mainchick was pretty weak. I hate weak mainchicks, just in case you were wondering. Hate them. Now, a mainchick that starts out kind of weak but goes badass by the end of the book, now that I can live with. But if she ends up pretty much the same person she started out as in a fantasy or sci-fi book with a long series of traumatic events, well, in real life she'd end up changed. In the book, it's vital.
Patch was likeable but not the greatest. I want to see more personality from him in the sequel, if I read it.
Now, I am not totally hating on this (well, I sort of am, but not completely) because it was a page turner. It kept my interest and whipped by, despite its *cough* flaws. So, if I read the sequel, I have some expectations: More personality. More originality. Less Twilight.
Honestly, if in book 2 Patch leaves her, she dies of patheticness inside, and she meets a dude who is also inhuman but not, *cough* a fallen angel, then I will proclaim it suckish, and Becca Fitzpatrick will probably be sued for copying Twilight.

What would make me really happy right now:
-For the next book I finish to pwn the Twilightness out of this last one
-Some sushi, b****!

Next book: Either Goose Girl, Nobody's Princess (or Nobody's Prize, whichever one is first) or Mockingjay or Paper Towns or whatever the heck I want.
Can you tell that my mood has become less than sublime?

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Catching Fire (Post #2)

Sorry about the delay... if anyone actually reads this :D
So, Catching Fire...
My last post was mostly about the romantic situation and the actual reading of the book, so I guess I'll have to dig deeper into my mind and spirit and get a less cough cough shallow commentary.
I think the metaphor of the whole Hunger Games situation is sort of that of the world not only now but in the past: certain people are suffering greatly, whether it be poverty or extreme hunger or fear or disease, while (or so that) other people can live in extreme luxury.
Take Imperialism: the Europeans are like the capitol. They were living in comparatively extreme luxury, with their fancy factories and big guns. They take over the little areas (and big, well-controlled empires) in Africa and Asia, make the people work under dangerous or unhealthy or unfair conditions and exploit their land, then use their technology as a threat in case of revolution and give them little freedom. In the same way, the districts are controlled, governed, exploited, enslaved, and threatened with superior technological power.
And in the same way, some places are treated better than others; places like District One are more buddy-buddy with the capitol the same way, oh, Brazil was with Portugal. That was the best example I could think of off the top of my head, it's not perfect since Brazil was actually at one point the capitol of the Portuguese empire when the monarchs needed to leave Europe when Napoleon tried to conquer them. Or Spain. I forget which.

What would make me really happy right now:
-A nutella burrito
-Some Australian time-travel books (those are the destiny of my Amazon gift card :D )
-For school to start at 10 AM

Next book: either Mockingjay, Hush, Hush or The Gift. Right now odds are in Hush, Hush's favor, but as you must realize this is always subject to change.