Review: A Memory of Light

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt like I was deluged by a tidal wave.

Then came the ending. It kind of made me feel "vanilla".

Sanderson did an excellent job of wrapping this up. I was in awe.

I look forward to re-reading the whole series in 5-8 years.

Edit:

I realized this morning that my words were on the light side. Considering that I've been reading WoT since '95 or '96, and have experienced the travail of my soul [When I heard that Jordan had died, I practically swore vengeance upon his barely cold corpse "how could he do this to me!?"] and then was raised to the clouds when I heard Sanderson [probably my favorite fantasy author now] was going to complete the series.

I have run the whole gamut of emotions with this series. Excitement, boredom [tugging of hair anyone?], rage and despair, hope and finally, satisfaction.

How does one encapsulate 17'ish years in a couple of paragraphs? I've gone from a highschool teenager to a married 30something security guard. So I don't write a review worthy of the NY Times, I write this little ditty to remind me that all things can be gotten through, that they end and that they can be good and bad.

This series will be something that sticks with me for the rest of my life. Nice to have something like that.



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Review: A Memory of Light

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt like I was deluged by a tidal wave.

Then came the ending. It kind of made me feel "vanilla".

Sanderson did an excellent job of wrapping this up. I was in awe.

I look forward to re-reading the whole series in 5-8 years.



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Review: The Moving Finger

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was supposed to be a Miss Marple Mystery. Instead I read a murder/romance book in which Miss M appears VERY briefly.
If this had been a 3hr miniseries, she would have had about 5-10min of facetime.

Other than that, it was a typical Christie mystery, which I do enjoy.



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Review: Lady Chatterley's Lover

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



A sad story about an empty woman trying to fill the void within. She hates men, wants to be free of all restraints, despises her husband, needs the attention of a man and in the end, hopes that being with the aforementioned man will fulfill her.

A scathing book about materialism and how humanity attempts to fill the God-shaped hole within each of us. And yet at the end, the author tries to give the reader false hope by insinuating that Lady Chatterly would find meaning, in the near future.

Tenuous, vague and empty hope.

I am happy to have read this, to expand my classic repertoire, but this was a horrible book and one I never plan on re-reading.



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Review: The Silver Chair

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A good "quest" story.

I do have to admit that I came close to tears when Eustace and Jill silently requested to stay in Aslan's Country, but He had to tell them it wasn't their time yet. A moment of poignant longing for the Best of All to be right then.



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Review: Stardoc II: Beyond Varallan

Stardoc II: Beyond Varallan by S.L. Viehl

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I was hoping that Viehl would move beyond the rape in a tasteful way.

But about 40 pages in, Cherijo tries to jump Reever's bones, and thinks of their "previous time" [ie, the rape scene in book one] as something sexually stimulating.

What kind of sick author is Viehl? The victim of rape is saying it was good for her too? In most cases of rape, the victim reacts 1 of 3 ways:

1)They blame themselves and turn inward.
2)They say it doesn't matter and then become sexual predators, of a sort, themselves
3)They can't accept what happened, and so think of it as a good experience, ie, deny reality.

Cherijo exhibits classic symptoms of a psychologically broken woman.

And I'm supposed to enjoy reading about this? This is sick, sick, sick. Shame on Viehl.



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Review: Pathfinder

Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



When your world gets filled with whiny, angsty, self-doubting, touchy-feely "men", then read this for a young man, more of a boy, who is one of those characters of self-reliance, assured and doubt-less.

It is really refreshing to read about characters like this once in a while. Provides a nice granite bedrock for the changable waves of most fiction.

Lots of timetravel blabber, medieval era society, and hints of what humanity might become.

I skipped paragraphs at a time when time 'movement' was discussed and I don't feel any less for it. But for those who like the convoluted, they might just eat it up.

And I really like how the first couple of paragraphs of each chapter deal with the very beginning of mankind traveling to this planet.



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Review: Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was on par with Fatal Alliance in terms of overall enjoyment.

I was disappointed with how the Jedi leader, the Army commander and the main character all interacted. Trained professionals, all 3, but they acted like me when my blood sugar is dangerously low, ie, EXTREMELY STUPID. It just didn't fit.

I liked the whole super-bad-ship takedown part though.



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Review: The Portrait of a Lady

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Take a Jane Austen story in its infancy, spirit it away to the wrong side of the tracks, feed it crack and at 13, whore it out.

And that is what I felt this story was like.

James writing was so dense, so opaque, so much meaning hidden between the lines that I simply gave up trying to appreciate it and just slogged on through to get the bones of the story.

And I'm still not sure exactly what happened, or why.

I think the basic gist is of a young woman bent on not marrying, but who ends up marrying, regretting it and then at the end being taken by a man who wanted to marry her in the past?.

And other stuff dealing with family, fidelity and control.

The writing itself. Like I said, I gave up trying to pierce the veil James put up between me and the story, but I still appreciated the writing. It was well thought out. It was complex, complicated and correct. While I don't particularly like being left in the dark, at least James didn't try to sink down to the "common denominator" way of writing. His writing made me strive after something.

And we all occasionally need books like that.



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Review: Heirs of the Blade

Heirs of the Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I have enjoyed this series, Shadows of the Apt, since the beginning. A couple of the books were kind of meh, but overall, I have had nothing but solid enjoyment from Tchaikovsky.

This book follows Che, Tynisa and the Wasp Empress [Seda?] on their journeys. Che and Seda are somehow linked due to the Slug Lord magic and Che must come to grips with the fact that she exists in the world of magic. Tynisa is possessed by her father Tisamon's ghost to fill his dreams of death in fighting.

A good story of fighting, self-discovery and magic. A great story of societal changes, turning back the clock while marching forward in time.

I have the first 5 books in the PYR imprint. Then they dropped him for one reason or another. Haven't gotten the courage up to buy the other books in a different paper format. I will eventually though, this series is worth it.



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