Welcome to rulethewaves.net, my personal hobbit hole on the world wide web! Here you will find the latest reviews on the books that I've read, movies that I've seen and television shows that I'm following (note: there aren't that many to be honest). You can also read up on the weekly book memes that I participate in as well as information on my latest website endeavours. Every now and then you will also see posts about my recent travels as well as updates from various writing projects that I'm currently engaged with. I'm also in the process of setting up my photoblog, caffeinatedlife.net, if you're interested in checking that out. Anyways, feel free to drop a line in any of my latest entries and join the discussion, I look forward to hearing from you! =)
After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the days, then the hours, then the minutes, then the seconds until his release tick away, he can feel a storm building. Two days before he gets out, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in apparently adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr. Wednesday claiming to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But they are being pursued by someone with whom Shadow must make his peace… Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange, Neil Gaiman’s epic new novel sees him on the road to finding the soul of America.
I actually read this book last year but never got around to writing a review of it. I was prompted to read it the first time after I had heard that HBO was planning on adapting it to a miniseries. This was exciting, especially as I had heard good things about this novel (I was a fan of Neil Gaiman’s before I read this book, having read other works like Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett), Stardust, The Graveyard Book and Neverwhere). However, when I read it, I came out of it unsure of what I was supposed to get out of it or whether I even enjoyed it. So I decided to put it aside and revisit it at a later date. May contain some spoilers ahead!
Slaughterhous-Five is one of the world’s great anti-war books. Centering on the infamous fire-bombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim’s odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we are afraid to know.
This book is widely-read in high schools across North America but my school did not choose to read this book as part of its English curriculum (we read Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (commentary), Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (review), Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, etc, etc) so it’s interesting to approach this novel from a non-school-assignment standpoint. Plus, you know, there’s time travel involved.
This post is part of the 100 Things: A Blogging Challenge; please click here to learn more about the challenge and the full list of topics I’ve discussed.
THE LIES OF LOCKE LAMORA by SCOTT LYNCH
I’ve decided to start with the fantasy book portion of this challenge with Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora (review), the first in The Gentlemen Bastards Sequence series. I mentioned in my review from last year that despite being the first novel in a series, it works quite well as a standalone (with enough elements to hook you onwards if you’re interested in pursuing a series at the moment; I personally am trying to get through a number of books myself so I will eventually get around to the other books…sometime).
Anyways, this book made it on my list because it’s quite an interesting and entertaining read on a number of levels: the world-building is familiar yet unique with an interesting magic system, albeit not as prominently used as in some high fantasy–think more on the level of GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire. The characters are quite memorable with snappy (though also crude, in case you’re wondering) dialogue and overall an interesting team dynamic. The main character, Locke Lamora, is a thief/smart-ass/anti-hero with an urban legend that he just can’t shake off, much to his dismay. Locke can be annoying at times but as a reader you also find yourself rooting for him as he tries to achieve his goals and slink past his enemies who are closing in. Plus, he has enough mystery to boot surrounding his person, which I thought was a little unexpected but nonetheless welcomed. The story is also a little reminiscent of Ocean’s 11 with heists and cons involved but there’s also a larger story involving the underground crime hierarchy involved so there’s never a bored moment. Lynch’s ability to tell the story was impressive, especially with the amount of flashbacks involved, bringing all of the elements together in the end.
So what I’m essentially getting at with this entry is that it’s a great fantasy novel, riding high in the recent trend in the genre for flawed anti-heroes running around in mayhem for their own personal gains and getting sucked into a larger situation happening around them. If you’re a fan of GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire, I would recommend this novel to you because it’s in the same vein of approach and storytelling. Plus, it’s just a great read.
(I’d say more about this novel but it has been a year since I had re-read it so feel free to hop over to my review of the novel if you want a clearer sense of what this novel is about =))
The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.
A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire’s rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.
When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire’s quiet life is turned upside down—along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy—if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom—or with each other.
Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own…
Sarah Addison Allen’s books should come with a warning at the front: never start reading her books the night before if you have somewhere to be the following day. Once you start reading her books, you never want to put them down! I greatly enjoyed her other novel, The Girl Who Chased the Moon (review) so I sought to check out her other works. Contains some spoilers ahead!
I hope everyone’s been having a wonderful weekend! The following is a meme that I filled out on my livejournal over the course of 20 days or so just prior to the series 2 premiere of Game of Thrones. It was a lot of fun so I decided to post the complete meme over here on my website. MAJOR SPOILERS if you haven’t read up to book 5, A Dance With Dragons because I do make mention of it on occasion.
20 Days ASoIaF / Game of Thrones Meme
o1 – Your 3 favorite ♀ characters?
o2 – Your 3 favorite ♂ characters?
o3 – A character that everyone hates, but you love?
o4 – A character that everyone loves, but you hate?
o5 – 3 scenes that you’re looking forward to?
o6 – Your 5 favorite scenes so far?
o7 – The ships that you don’t like?
o8 – Your favorite ships?
o9 – A character that you used to love, but don’t anymore?
1o – A character that you used to hate, but don’t anymore?
11 – Your favorite episode?
12 – Your favorite book?
13 – Your favourite and least favourite POV?
14 – A scene that wasn’t in the books, that they added on the show, that you love?
15 – A scene from the books that you wish they had kept on the show?
16 – The best character arc?
17 – Your favourite minor character?
18 – Your favorite house/sigil/words?
19 – Your favorite place/location?
2o – The character that you think is the best player in the Game of Thrones?
When wealthy industrialist Tony Stark is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident, he ultimately decides to use its technology to fight against evil.
- source
With the Avengers movie out in theatres, I decided it’s time that I catch up on all of the individual feature movies that led up to the ensemble. I’m a little late to the party; I never got around to watching Iron Man because…well, 2008 was a hectic year for me, knew of the movies that were coming out but never sat down and watched them xP This is the second movie I’ve watched featuring a member of the Avengers; I watched Thor earlier this year (but never got around to writing a post about it–I may write one up shortly, we’ll see how much time I have today or in the next few days) and highly enjoyed it. Contains some spoilers ahead!
This post is part of the 100 Things: A Blogging Challenge; please click here to learn more about the challenge and the full list of topics I’ve discussed.
I should say that the following moment I chose is spoilerish, but to be honest it’s not that spoilerish because all the Trek series seem to end with a moment similar to this xD But if you’re planning on watching the series at some point, you should stop reading now ^_~
This was actually a difficult entry to title because it falls under the “10 fantasy/sci-fi moments/episodes” section of the challenge. I was thinking of my favourite sequence from DS9 and realised that, although it’s been a while since I’ve watched the show, I do have a few favourites. In the end I chose this sequence taken from the series finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because it’s in this moment that you realised that things are never going to be the same again: people are moving on, continuing the chapters in their lives. It’s a touching speech that Sisko gives to the crew whom he has gone through so much with as well as a nice send-off to such a wonderful series. The speech starts at 1:30 on the video =)
'It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to.' - Bilbo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
I’ve decided to start with the fantasy book portion of this challenge with Scott Lynch’s The Lies of Locke Lamora (
