Tuesday, November 27, 2007

November '07

BLEACH #21
-T. Kubo-manga
-192

MISTBORN: THE WELL OF ASCENSION
-B. Sanderson-fantasy
-578-Everything I thought I knew from Final Empire is turned on its head! Vin and Elend get married, Luthadel is sacked, but Vin realizes she has powers unlike any other Mistborn. Goes to the Well of Ascension to destroy the Deepness, only to set free some being that has been manipulating the Terris religion for that very purpose. The Hero of Ages is a deception wrought by this being. Looking forward to the next volume.

AN ANTHOLOGY OF ORIGINAL SF STORIES: ORBIT 10
-Edited by D. Knight-scifi
-208-this was released back in '72, and man, does it show. Every story seems to involve some sort of sex, some form of psychological front and a lot of angst, whining and general immaturity. If this was a true representation of SF back then, I'm glad I missed it.

DISCOVERING THE MIND OF A WOMAN
-K. Nair-counsel
-250- I have to admit, I was expecting a bit more. I was looking for specific insights on how to deal with the feminine and instead he went into generalities about being Christlike. Good stuff, just not at all about the "mind of a woman", imo. It should have been entitled "...the Emotions of a Woman". I'm going to have to read it through in another year or so and see what I think then cause right now, I got nothing.

LANDOVER: THE TANGLE BOX
-T. Brooks-fantasy
-334-some evil faery creature gets loose and traps Ben, Nightshade and Strabo in his old trap. Willow gives birth. The inept conjurer who started all this mess fixes things by releasing Ben & Co and trapping the Gorse again. I enjoyed this novel the most since Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold, which is surprising. Cause I remember hating this when I read it for the first time. Now I'm looking forward to the next one :-)

AMBER: THE NINE PRINCES IN AMBER
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-192-Too choppy a narrative style for my taste. Quite effective though considering. A man with amnesia discovers that he is a Prince of Amber, the True City on which all other cities are but shadows. Fights, and loses, to be the king. Ends with him fleeing after imprisonment.

XXXHOLIC #9&10
-Clamp-manga

HUNTER X HUNTER #17
-Y. Togashi-manga
-208

MEN AT ARMS
-T. Pratchett-fantasy
-400-The Night Watch embraces diversity and someone tries to set things up so Cpt. Carrot comes into his royal birthright.

SOUL MUSIC
-T. Pratchett-fantasy
-384-Susan, Death's granddaughter, has a go at the family business. Some bard discovers a magical guitar which uses him and his band to play the "Primal" music played at the beginning of the universe. Nothing memorable.

AMBER: THE GUNS OF AVALON
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-222-Corwin allies with another brother against Eric and gets a gunpowder that works in Amber. Takes over just as Eric dies from repelling forces from Chaos

AMBER: SIGN OF THE UNICORN
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-192-It becomes apparent that there is more than just intriguing for the Throne of Amber. It would seem that some faction has allied with the Courts of Chaos, the reality where Dwork and his son Oberon came from.

AMBER: THE HAND OF OBERON
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-261-Oberon, long thought dead, is shown to be alive and orchestrating everything to date, all to save Amber from complete destruction at the Hands of the Courts of Chaos. Amber is NOT the ultimate Reality, but simply the First Shadow.

AMBER: THE COURTS OF CHAOS
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-183-Amber fights against Chaos while Oberon tries to restore the Pattern. He succeeds, but Corwin also creates a new pattern. In the end, everything is back in balance, with Corwin about to enter the Realm of Chaos to travel with his son Merlin.

EQUAL RITES
-T. Pratchett-fantasy
-213- a wizard, about to die, confers his powers on what he thinks is the 8th son of an 8th son. Only "he" turns out to be a "she". Deals with Granny Weatherwax and Esk, the girl who wants to be a wizard. Only kind of funny.

STAR WARS: DEATH STAR
-M. Reaves & S. Perry-scifi
-363-ties in characters from Medstar. Basically about the 1st Deathstar from about halfway through its construction to its destruction. Follows 4 different sets of characters. They escape in the end because they can't countenance working for something that destroys millions and billions of lives just to make a point. A very interesting look at the flow and ebb of life on the Death Star.

AMBER: TRUMPS OF DOOM
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-183-The adventures of Merlin, son of Corwin and Dara. Half Amberite, Half Lord of Chaos. More machinations. Someone is trying to kill him and other Amber royalty. The whole fragmented sentence thing used for shadow traveling is visually effective, but I simply skip it. Nothing happens in it.

AMBER: BLOOD OF AMBER
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-215-turns out the assassin is Brand's son. Who is Merlin's best friend. But that is not all. More family and outer family rivalry. Corwin has disappeared and no one can walk the pattern he created. This is truly the 2nd Chronicles of Amber. More of the same "keep the reader in the dark and guessing right up til the end and give lots of false, confusing info and trust no one, etc, etc" but with a new generation added to the mix.

AMBER: SIGN OF CHAOS
-R. Zelazny-fantasy
-184-the Masked one turns out to look like Merlin's old girlfriend Julia, who was attacked and killed right at the beginning of Trumps of Doom. I can't speculate, simply hold on for the ride that Zelazny insists on us riding to read his books. Oh, we now have a self aware AI that Merlin created that is able to manipulate Shadow too. Add another confusing factor.