Shadow Magic.net

Title: WebMage
Author: Kelly McCullough

Thoughts: I randomly picked out this book at Barnes and Nobles earlier this year because it looked interesting and I was not mistaken. It was a fun read, especially with the tie in with the world of Greek mythology. After all, our main character, Ravirn, is a descendant of Lachesis, the middle sister of the three Greek Fates. I also like the fact that it’s more than just a fantasy book — it’s also a sci-fi book because it combines magic with computer technology. This synthesis is shown as an upgrade to the older systems of magic throughout the book. However, despite this “upgrade” of magic, the older ways can still be used as backdoors to access things without using the “mweb” as things like ley lines are still connected to the magical “network” and one can still transport themselves to other worlds via paintings and fairy circles.

Ravirn thankfully does have knowledge of these older ways despite how much clueless he can be in other areas of his life, such as his love life and family life. Apparently he angered his Great Aunt Atropos (the Fate responsible for the cutting of the thread of life) by refusing to help her debug a “program” that would take away free will and it leads to quite unfortunate consequences for Ravirn.

The “character” I liked the most was Eris, the goddess of Discord and she actually has a kind of fun personality in this book. I imagine the Discordians would like her a lot. Oh yeah, Eris also uses Macs, appropriate as she has used a golden apple to cause chaos and discord amongst people and so it is associated with her. The Trojan war was started by that apple after all.

I found myself liking this book so much and since I wanted to know what would happen next, I bought the book that follows soon after finishing WebMage. The third book in the series is also already on my amazon wishlist. Yeah, I think that’s pretty much a sign that I liked the book a lot.

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Title: How to Survive a Horror Movie
Author: Seth Grahame-Smith

Thoughts: This book takes a humorous look at the tropes and clichés of the horror movie genre. It even comes with a list of suggested movies to watch in the back of the book. I was glad to find that I already seen several of the movies and that several more are on my Netflix queue.

The author writes as if the reader of the book is already in a horror movie as why else would someone possess such a book? It does seem to be a trope in itself in horror movies; that you get a strange book and after that, bad things start to happen.

What I found especially amusing was the “Figuring out what horror movie stereotype you are” bit. It was amusing to me because I just did not fit into these categories at all in high school (nor do I now). I would more likely than not end up being the quiet, creepy kid you shouldn’t poke at. There’s a reason why some people limited themselves to just throwing things at me from a distance (I still haven’t forgotten about that kid who thought it was funny and clever to throw a Starburst at me, which hit the bridge of my nose exactly and made me cry - I probably won’t ever meet him again anyways as he wasn’t in my year).

Anyways, it was a short, but hilarious read, especially for those of us who love horror movies.

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Title: Lady Knight
Author: Tamora Pierce

Thoughts: This fourth and final book in Tamora Pierce’s “Protector of the Small” quartet. It covers the first year of Keladry’s career as a Lady Knight. Since she is still just newly knighted and is a woman, she still has to earn the respect of both men and women alike when she is put in charge of a refugee camp. This refugee camp, named Haven by Keladry, was built to house refugees from the war taking place on the border of Tortall and Scanra.

Even though Keladry thinks she got assigned there to keep her from the fighting, she still takes her duties as the camp’s commander very seriously. In the end, her job turns out to be an important one. She becomes fiercely protective of her people and because of this she will even go so far as to rescue them from inside enemy territory despite orders not to.

In the end of the book, you learn why the series is called “The Protector of the Small”.

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Title: Squire
Author: Tamora Pierce

Thoughts: This third book of the “Protector of the Small” is my favorite book of the quartet for several reasons. One, you finally get to see Joren and one of his cronies get their own. One thing I must say is that Tamora Pierce knows better than to let annoying blond brats live to reproduce, unlike certain other authors who write for the same age group.

The second reason I like the book is because of the introduction of the Yamani princess to the story. Basically the Yamani is that world’s equivalent to Japan. Their language is basically the same as far as I can tell based on the few words and names in the book. Also similar are the Yamani’s traditions, court behavior, and weapons. Keladry herself had studied the naginata since she was six and she also lived in the Yamani Islands with her parents for several years. I do have to admit that part of the reason that I like this is because I’m a causal anime and manga fan. I also find traditional Japanese culture fascinating as well, which Yamani culture is primarily based on.

Also interesting is Keladry’s experiences throughout the book with the Chamber of Ordeals, which gave her a task after the first time she stepped into the chamber to prove her worth to become a knight of Tortall. This is only the second time Pierce has had a main character enter into the chamber, but in this book, the Chamber of Ordeals makes itself known to Keladry as a sentient being, almost as if it was a god of sorts.

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Title: Page
Author: Tamora Pierce

Thoughts: Page is the second book in Tamora Pierce’s “Protector of the Small” quartet. It covers a longer period than the first book as the events in the book take place during Keladry’s second year to her fourth and final year as a page. The events were condensed in some places for space probably. Her fourth year is covered in just one chapter after all. Most of the focus is placed on her second year and on the final examinations for pages to become squires.

The events surrounding Keladry’s exams were pretty drastic as someone tries to prevent her from going to them, which could set her back up to four years, back to the beginning of her page years. Yet because of her compassion for others, she still risks it all. I won’t go into further detail as that will spoil the ending of the book.

I liked the book as I pretty much like all of Tamora Pierce’s books. Though, right now, I don’t remember a particular moment in this book that I liked the most. I kinda do have to be honest that Keladry not having magic makes her less interesting to me for some reason. I know that it was probably done as a way to do something new and not just create an Alanna clone. Still, I like magic in my novels and this second book does not deal very closely with the magic or the divine beings of that world.

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Title: First Test
Author: Tamora Pierce

Thoughts: This is the first book in Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small quartet. Basically, this book is about Keladry of Mindelan’s first year as a page at Tortall’s royal palace. However, unlike the boy pages, she was to be on probation for her first year. This was insisted on by the page’s training master, Lord Wyldon of Cavall, who believed that girls were not fit for combat. The probation period was his compromise to King Jonathan, who had previously proclaimed that girls of the realm could attempt page training. If Wyldon had his way, Keladry would not be able to train as a page at all.

Also introduced in this book is Joren of Stone Mountain, who is a particularly odious blond boy with far too good looks. He reminds me of a certain annoying blond prick from the Harry Potter book series. I highly dislike both characters. I love Keladry in that she stands up against the older Joren’s bullying of the younger pages and that she refuses to back down from him and his cronies.

This is the first series by Tamora Pierce in that the main character does not possess some form of magic. In the book, a lot of emphasis was placed on the fact that many of the more conservative court members thought that Alanna (the first lady knight of the realm in over a century) only became a knight though trickery and her magic. So by having Keladry lacking any sort of magical gift, her knighthood later on would be less contested as the court knew that she had to earn her shield without the aid that Alanna had with her own magic.

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Title: Silk
Author: Caitlín R. Kiernan

Thoughts: This is the second novel that I’ve read by this author and I like it much more than Threshold, the other novel that I had read. The story felt more clearer to me despite the fact that both books were written in the same style and that both had a certain sense of weirdness in them.

What I think the different was, was that I found the world of the characters of Silk to be more fascinating than the one in Threshold. I might be a middle class college going girl, but I have some sort of fascination with the Goth subculture, though I do not look like it. It’s just not something I could break into even if I wanted to. So instead, I settle for being an observer and end up being fascinated by characters such as Sypder and her friends. I also just end up reading dark stories such as this one or watching horror movies.

One thing you have to be careful with while reading this book though is that you need to read carefully and between the lines to get the whole story. Otherwise you’re asking to be confused and lost as to what has happened by the end of the book. I do not consider this as a fault as it is part of Kiernan’s writing style and it is a very effective one for horror novels.

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Title: Sea Glass
Author: Laurence Yep

Thoughts: When I found that Dragonwings by Laurence Yep was considered to be part of a group of books following the same family throughout several generations. I was happy because I wanted to see what else he had wrote as I loved Dragonwings. So when I was wandering through the children’s paperbacks at the library while looking for a different book, I found this book and saw that it was part of the Golden Mountain Chronicles and I figured that I’d give it a chance since the other book I was looking for wasn’t there.

To be honest, I was disappointed. The novel felt unfinished when I came to the end. Things were left unresolved and while actions were indicating that the issues were heading to a resolution, the novel stopped short, leaving me hanging. And the item that the novel’s title is taken from doesn’t even appear until the very end and wasn’t alluded to at all earlier in the book.

In my opinion, this isn’t one of the better of Yep’s books.

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Title: The Freedom Writer’s Diary
Author: The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell

Thoughts: I bought this book after seeing the movie Freedom Writers and since I liked the film, I thought I should read this book to see what the real freedom writers wrote.

I knew from the movie that one of the books that the teenagers had read was Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, so I read that beforehand. I’m glad that I did so, because it helped me understand some of the diary entries better as they referenced back to Anne Frank’s diary.

It was interesting to read the thoughts and feelings of all these kids (all older than I now, but back then they were still kids). All of them were so different than I, yet the same because all are human. I don’t have the same background as most of them nor do I have the same interests (in my Freshman year, I likely knew a lot more history than them as most of them as that was and still is one of my special interests), but several of their diary entries touched me and some of them even made me want to cry. It was nice to see some diversity, though it made me sad that there was no kid that seemed to have trouble making friends at all and was socially awkward in general. I think that would be the one I would identify with the most if there was such a kid.

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Title: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Author: Anne Frank (translated by B. M. Mooyaart-Doubleday)

Thoughts: From what I’ve heard, this is one of the most read books in the world and I can see why. Reading a person’s diary is a very personal thing as you are reading about their deepest and feelings. Anne Frank’s diary shows us her personal self, which I think many people can identify with somehow. She was a teenager who was in the middle of discovering who she was and she dealt with the same issues that teenagers today deal with, especially when it comes to girl issues. She wonders about love and writes about her changing body and what she’s going to do when the war is over and she’s an adult. That’s the part that really hit me the most because she wanted to be a write of some sort and she died before realizing that dream. Yet her writing has had such an impact, even if her diary was never meant to be published and read by the public. I think publishing her personal diary was a way of at least making one of her dreams come true.

I wish that she had not died because she could’ve done great things, yet it is because of her diary (which may have not been published if she lived) that we can see how everyone is human and can have their own hopes and dreams. It also shows how sad that all of that hope can be snugged out by hatred just because of a person’s religion or ethnic background.

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