American Gods
By: Neil Gaiman

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!

Upon re-reading this novel, what struck was the description of events and the setting in which the overall story takes place. It’s a whirlwind trip through a good chunk of America both physically and on a mythical level; some of the stories also take place in the past, infusing folklore and stories of the old gods’ migration to the New World. It’s an impressive amalgamation of these stories and as I was reading it, I was convinced that this novel would be far more stunning as a graphic novel or as a television series. I find Gaiman is a very visual storyteller and a lot of the sequences would transfer very well in another medium. I also enjoyed the myriad of gods and figures of folklore that moved in and out of the story and had a lot of fun trying to figure out who was who before they revealed themselves to Shadow. It’s a clever way of showing how the gods of old would survive in a world like ours, kind of like what Phillips did in Gods Behaving Badly.

I think where I had trouble with this novel the first time I read it was the character of Shadow himself. He is the central figure of the novel, our gateway between what we know as normal and the world of the gods, belief and lore. While its obvious from the very start that there is something peculiar about Shadow, it’s not until the final act of the novel that that peculiarity is revealed and even then that revelation doesn’t make up for the way that Shadow moved throughout the novel, accepting things as they come along, never really showing any sort of excitable emotion, happy or angry. His dead zombie-like wife, Laura, points this out during one of their scenes together, questioning whether he really was alive. Indeed, the man practically had no opinions of his own and just went with things. Earlier revelations like Lauran cheating on Shadow while he was in prison was a sucky revelation and yet a) Shadow doesn’t really show or seem to act as though he was grievously hurt by it despite saying that he hurt and b) as a reader you never really feel that empathic tug for the character. Somehow you manage to root for the character all the way through as things get stranger and stranger but to the very end I never really felt much for the character or felt truly satisfied by the closure.

Secondary characters however were interesting in their own, Gaiman-esque fashion. Mr. Wednesday was intriguing and amusing in his own right and the final revelation made sense though it was sad in its own way. Mr. Nancy was also interesting and I am curious to check out Anansi Boys to read more about his character. My favourite secondary lore characters have to be Chernobog and the Zorya sisters; their interactions with Mr. Wednesday and Shadow were fantastic and naturalmente I’d be interested in characters with roots in Eastern Europe. I also enjoyed Shadow’s time in Lakeside with the townfolk, it was an interesting infusion of “normal” amidst everything that Shadow had seen and experienced up to that point.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed reading American Gods in this re-read. This time around I’ve come to appreciate the overall story and the infusion of the old and the “new” gods into the story. However, I’m still left feeling unsure about the character of Shadow; at the end of the novel I definitely noted some subtle character development on his part but he still walks around like before so it is difficult to say whether he has changed or not after everything he experienced. I’m also not sure about the overall notion that unlike the gods, humans are content to roll along without much of anything going for them; I’m choosing to interpret that line in the book as a reflection of Shadow more than as a general observation because it just seems so bleak (unless this is what the author was aiming for). Nonetheless, I’m giving this book 4 stars (it was previous 3 stars in my mind) because I really enjoyed the scope of the novel and the overall story.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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Slaughterhouse-Five
By: Kurt Vonnegut

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.

Having just finished reading the book, I’m not quite sure what to think of it. The notion of Billy Pilgrim being unstuck in time and living out different periods of his life–from during the war to immediately after the war to the end of his life–was interesting to me and keeps the dynamic of the story going; it sort of reminded me of Quantum Leap and a bit of The Time Traveller’s Wife (review). While Billy’s experiences of the war were intriguing (especially how it focuses on the Dresden fire bombings) and strange and the consequences of certain events that shaped the rest of his war experience, had they been presented in a chronological manner I don’t think I would have been as interested or as invested in the story. I’ve been scratching my head and wondering why I felt this and I think it comes down to the fact that I never really connected with Billy at any point in the novel. I feel a certain sympathy/melancholy over the course of life, the way that people moved through life and the situations that they found themselves in (either during the war or after). I felt sorry at how Billy seem to just find himself in the middle of the war but beyond that there’s nothing much holding me on to this character.

The science fiction element of the story, namely the incident where he was kidnapped by aliens and taken to their home planet of Tralfamadore really added to the weirdness of the story and seems out of place. Yet I enjoyed how this element of the story brought out particular themes about time, memory and the notion of free will into the overall narrative. I wish Vonnegut expanded on these themes–it felt rather touch and go–as well as delved a bit more on the nature of Billy being unstuck in time but I suppose that’s not the point of the novel.

Reading through this novel, I realised it helped to actually read up on the author. His focus on the Dresden bombings and the experiences of war made me wonder how involved he was in the war effort; lo and behold he did serve during the war, was a POW and witnessed the Dresden bombings. Knowing this helped contexualise this novel in my mind, especially as its structure is considered to be postmodern. With the structure and narrative being the way it was, I can see why high schoolers may hate this novel but it’s also what makes this novel stand out from other novels of the period. At the same time, the structure of the novel really helped set up the theme of PTSD; it is something to carefully look out for because it’s easy to miss.

Overall, I’m glad that I read this novel. It definitely appealed to my love of the time travel genre and my interest in World War Two. Towards the end it did feel as though Vonnegut was trying to hit you on the head with the absurdities of war (I wasn’t feeling the need to include those book excerpts) but otherwise it is an interesting take towards the war and war literature. It wasn’t as funny as I thought it would be–satirical yes but not funny as a lot of reviewers said it was; then again my sense of humour is rather particular and very dry–nor was I completely blown away. It was interesting though and worth checking out if you’re into books set during the war or about time travel or just plain strange novels.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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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 =))

Garden Spells
By: Sarah Addison Allen

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!

Like The Girl Who Chased the Moon, Garden Spells is steeped in magical realism, centering around the Waverlys’ garden (although other inhabitants of the town also have some unique talents of their own). Each plant that grows in the garden has its own attributes that come out especially when mixed in with food, something that Claire specialises in. The apple tree is particularly interesting, its history going far back, as well as amusing, having a life of its own complete with its own personality (I was especially amused when it started throwing its apples on whoever was in the backyard–I was even more amused when the young girl Bay started throwing the apples back at the tree; girl’s got some spunk). The garden and the town of Bascom is an enchanting place and as a reader you really feel a part of the relaxed routine of the overall setting.

You are introduced to almost all of the principal characters in the novel from the first page as well as their respective problems, all of them unique and relatable in some way depending on your own personal experience. All of their stories–Claire, Sydney, Tyler, Fred, Henry, Emma, Hunter John–explore different themes such as leaving town to explore the world, fear of change, first love, choices made and second chances. Unlike The Girl Who Chased the Moon however (and I don’t mean to use this book often for comparative means but it makes this review easier), the exploration of these themes are a little uneven. I mentioned Tyler in the mix of characters but he did not really have his own individual storyline beyond his interest and connection to Claire. Henry’s story also did not emerge until a bit more than halfway through the novel, which I thought was a little weird because it seemed all of the characters were already established within the first few chapters of the novel. Emma and Hunter John had a storyline going on but the ending was left ambiguous, which was a little unsatisfying if only because everyone else had their respective stories tied up nicely at the end.

The heart of the story really lies with Claire and Sydney, the two Waverly sisters who couldn’t be any more different. Their story began apart, each dealing with their own respective issues concerning each other and their own lives. Over the course of the novel, they learn to overcome their issues concerning the nature of their family and their own personal insecurities: Sydney learns to trust her sister Claire and tells the truth of why she finally came home after so many years while Claire overcomes her abandonment issues and learns to let people in. Bay’s presence helped in smoothing over the sisters’ initial interactions with each other and Tyler’s story also offered a way for the sisters to become closer. There is one other storyline that also helped draw the Waverly sisters together again but you’ll have to read it yourself to find out what that was ^_~

Overall, Garden Spells is a magical read that is absolutely captivating from start to finish. The characters were wonderful in their own way and you’re compelled to keep reading and find out what will happen to all of them. This was her first novel, which was a little evident in terms of the depth of some of the individual storylines but nothing too distracting or anything. Overall, I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a light read and enjoy novels involving magical realism.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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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?

Day 01 – Your 3 favorite ♀ characters?

I’m going to go with top three women with POVs for this and the following day’s meme but I just wanted to mention two characters that I absolutely love and have to mention:

• Maege Mormont: total badass, she is totally fierce–everything you could expect from a woman of the House Mormont. I mentioned in the above meme that I love how she’s for the Starks through and through and only recognises them with any claim to the North.
• Olenna Tyrell: another total badass; mentioned in the previous meme how sharp she is and what a good match she’d be again Cersei for the Iron Throne. Heck, her and Maege Mormont should just rule Westeros together =P

Those with POVs, in no particular order:

Arya Stark — I’ve loved Arya from her first POV chapter. She’s not your typical little lady who wants to learn how to sew and sing and so forth: she wants to fight like one of the boys. I also find it endearing that only she and her brother Jon inherited the typical Stark features–I guess that’s how much I love that family. But going back to Arya, I love her relationship with her father and the scenes they had in the series. I’m guessing he also has a soft spot for Arya and accepts her tomboyishness because she’s so much like his sister Lyanna. She’s been through so much in the books, I’m not quite sure where her story arc is heading but I hope she and all the Stark siblings reunite soon <3

Brienne of Tarth — Definitely a character everyone has been wanting to see for series 2 of the show! She’s such an awesome character; amidst a world of people fighting for power or to achieve their own goals, it’s refreshing to see someone who’s decent, steadfast and just wants to do her best. Her passion to want to serve Renly was very sweet and her relationship with Jaime was also very interesting–looking forward to seeing it on screen whenever that storyline comes up =) Oh, I also loved her scenes with Catelyn in ACoK so I’m looking forward to her scenes there =)

Sansa Stark — Funny, ask me this question a few years ago and I don’t think Sansa would’ve come up on my list of favourite female characters. Before I caught up with the series, I didn’t hate her character per se (that’s only reserved for Joffrey…and the Freys and the Boltons) but she certainly wasn’t my favourite, especially how she was so blinded by adoration for Joffrey that she made a few questionable decisions. But what she went through afterwards, from ACoK and onward…girl just can’t catch a break! I have to say that in ACoK the first time I was genuinely scared for her because Joffrey was so unpredictable and he did some really, really cruel things…her escape wasn’t quite what I expected it to be but her character arc since then has been absolutely fascinating, her chapters were some of my favourites in AFoC.

Day 02 – Your 3 favorite ♂ characters?

Ned Stark — Five books into the story and I still love and miss his character. I love how the North is pretty much in his blood, he is defined by it as much as it is his home. I loved his POV chapters in GoT because, as one of the main players in Robert’s Rebellion, you learn a lot about Westerosi history, the culture and history of the North and events about the Rebellion through his eyes. Of course they’re biased but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I loved the fact that he tries to act by what he believes is just…unfortunately, this isn’t the sort of world where people who act nobly necessary win at the end (learned that the hard way).

Jaime Lannister — LOL, I do admit, it looks funny putting a Lannister as one of my favourite characters after a Stark, especially after the two of them tried to duke it out in King’s Landing in season 1. To be honest, I didn’t think much about his character in the first two books (especially after what he did to Bran in book 1). But as book 3 showed us, there’s more to him than meets the eye and now he’s one of my favourites. His chapters in book 3 and 4 were Doesn’t hurt that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is very pretty to look at

I was having a bit of trouble thinking of my third favourite character…seems to me it was easier to name my favourite female characters! Honourable Mentions: Robb Stark (I love all the Starks but Richard Madden makes him all the more interesting =P), Tyrion Lannister (books 1 – 3…hmm, maybe I should’ve added him on this list but I am using his character for another question), Jon Snow, Maester Luwin, Jory Cassel, Barristan Selmy (or “Ser Badass”, as some refer to him as), Tommen Baratheon (he’s such a sweetheart, I hope nothing bad happens to him!), Kevan Lannister (aka the only Lannister who didn’t seem to have any outstanding issues, really).

Day 03 – A character that everyone hates, but you love?

Petyr Baelish — I should start by saying I don’t love his character, but I do find him intriguing. I totally understand why he’s such an unlikeable character: he’s a bit of a creep (okay, he is a major creep) and he’s had his share of messing with a lot of people just to further his own grand plans (i.e. the Starks ;_;) but a) he’s certainly gambling big, which is intriguing especially as b) we don’t know what his ultimate endgame really is. He’s told Sansa bits of his plans (and I more or less believe that he’s planning on seeing this through as he’s been sort of training her in the art of the power play) but we don’t quite know what he’s really up to. Edit: I should also mention, I’m also a bit biased to this character because Aidan Gillen is playing him.

Day 04 – A character that everyone loves, but you hate?
I should say first that I don’t hate these characters, I just don’t like them as much as other people do *nods*

Sandor Clegane, “The Hound” — Yeah, he had a traumatic childhood (ugh, to have the Mountain as your brother is just…yeah, scary) and he does help Sansa in his own way, which I really appreciated, but otherwise I’m not too invested in his story. I guess the more brutal aspects of his personality is a little much for me to feel sympathetic.

Asha Greyjoy — You think I would love this character because she’s a total badass, sailing the high seas and was pretty much in line to inherit her father’s position until all hell broke loose around book 3 and 4. But for whatever reason (maybe I’m biased and however interesting the Ironborn culture is, I find the Greyjoys to be…well, trolling), I just never warmed to her character and the television series hasn’t changed my mind about her so far.

Day 05 – 3 scenes that you’re looking forward to?

This was posted back in March so two out of three of these events have already been seen on the series. In no particular order:

01. The mob scene in King’s Landing — I’m looking forward to this scene because of what happens afterwards: Tyrion effectively gives Cersei and Joffrey a smackdown (in the case of Joffrey, a literal smack) for the way they’re running the capital, orders men around like a badass and gets concerned when he realises that Sansa is nowhere to be seen. This better happen onscreen like it did in the books, that’s all I’m asking.

02. Brienne and Jaime — We know that Jaime’s story is being accelerated so I’m hoping we’ll see bits from the start of their journey together. <333

03. The fallout from…err, them shadow babies — In the book I was surprised when Stannis remarked later on that he loved his younger brother and that he didn’t quite understand why Renly was going on and on about peaches. I think they might show this onscreen because I noticed yesterday that Stannis kept referring to Renly as “his little brother” more than anything.

Day 06 – Your 5 favorite scenes so far?

I’m going to go with 5 favourite scenes from series 2 so far because they’re the most fresh in my mind In no particular order:

01. Tyrion’s first scene with Cersei in episode 201 — OMG I was waiting for that first showdown since…well, a) Tywin order Tyrion to go to King’s Landing in the series 1 finale and b) my reread of ACoK. I think they struck all of the right notes in that scene, where Tyrion gets to play the scolding sibling and Cersei can’t answer because they fouled up with what happened to Ned. I mean, did you see his reaction when he found out that they only had Sansa? Brilliant scene, love Dinklage and Headey <3

02. Arya telling Gendry her real identity in episode 202 — I love this scene, especially when it hits home to Gendry and he was like “Oh shit, I shouldn’t have been talking to you that way” and stuff xD And the shove and his laugh afterwards…too cute.

03. Tyrion’s smackdown with Janos Slynt in episode 202 — Another brilliant showdown scene that was just as good as in the book. I hated Janos for what he did in series 1 and I was glad that Tyrion decided to do away with him. My favourite line from the entire episode had to be when Tyrion told Janos, “I’m not questioning your honour; I’m denying its existence.” Brilliant, brilliant.

04. Robb and Jaime’s scene in episode 201 — Not in the books but oh man, putting Richard Madden and NCW in the same scene just sent my brain into hyperdrive xD Prettiness aside, they really just killed the scene, from Jaime’s snarkiness to Robb’s resolve. I love it, it was a great addition <3

05. Davos and Salladhor Saan’s scene in episode 202 — That was a great scene. I was lmao’ing over Salladhor wanting to have Cersei, Davos’s son being all indignant over Salladhor’s desires and Salladhor telling him that he can be very persuasive and that he’s “never tried fucking [him].” LMAO. If he wasn’t Davos’s son, I’m pretty sure Davos might’ve cracked up a bit too. Yeah.

Day 07 – The ships that you don’t like?

I personally don’t quite see the Sandor/Sansa ship; again, I think this is stemming from my indifference for Sandor coupled with some of the scariness that seeps in their scenes together. I also don’t quite get the Jon/Dany ship…well, okay, I do get the theory accompanying this ship but I refuse to believe the theory (I guess it just seems a little too straightforward for me to believe; GRRM has effectively scarred me when it comes to this now), not to mention they haven’t had any scenes together. (I guess my requirement to ship characters is for them to have scenes together =P)

Day 08 – Your favourite ships?

Ned/Catelyn, especially the way it played out on-screen ;_; Brienne/Jaime for so many reasons: they’re so different from each other and yet their relationship grows from mutual disdain to some begrudging form of respect. Cannot wait to see this on-screen xD

And perhaps I’m beginning to ship Arya/Gendry a bit because of the cuteness in epsidoe 202. There’s so few cute scenes in the series as a whole, I need to cling on to the funny moments like a life raft =P

Day 09 – A character that you used to love, but don’t anymore?

Tyrion Lannister — A shame, I know. Books 1 – 3 Tyrion was certainly a favourite of mine; he was witty, he always seemed to find a way to remain rather positive of things even when things were going badly (I love how in the HBO series, he’s mentioned how life was so much better than death). I totally understand that his confrontations with Jaime and his father at the end of book 3 really rattled Tyrion to the core but OMG, could his chapters in book 5 be any more boring? =( Which is really sad because I always looked forward to Tyrion’s chapters; in book 5 they just seem to go around in circles with no end in sight. Despite being as broken as he is, he did not garner my sympathy in a way that Theon’s chapters did; I guess I should be directing my disappointment more at GRRM on that (like, really, you did not need to use the “Wherever the whores go” repetitive quote a bajillion times each chapter) or my way of reading his chapters but I hope to unpin Tyrion fron this category in the next book *nods*

Day 10 – A character that you used to hate, but don’t anymore?

Theon Greyjoy — While his situation in ADwD garnered my sympathy (that was some horrifying shit, I don’t think all the bleach in the world can erase some of the stuff that happened to him from my mind…ever D =), it was my re-reading of ACoK that also changed some of my opinions of him. Who would’ve thought? Yes, he’s rather arrogant and his actions in Winterfell (;_;) were a cross of trollishness and foolishness but overall, he’s a character who’s sort of stuck in a weird situation where he was born a Greyjoy but more or less raised with the Starks. The television series has done a good job so far of conveying that aspect of his character a lot more than in the book (just rewatched episode 2 yesterday and his scene with his father was pretty telling: he wants to prove that he is his father’s son but he was raised by the Starks “to be an honourable man” as he mentioned in…episode 1? And he does have a fairly good relationship with Robb, all things considered). As a result of that sort of inner struggle and the attempt to prove himself, he just made some really bad decisions. Ugh, dammit Theon, you should’ve just left when your father said no to the terms =/ Edit to add: After seeing the events of 206 with the taking of Winterfell and what he did to Ser Rodrick…ugh, Theon, thank you for reminding me what I hate your character =/

Day 11 – Your favorite episode?
The series 1 finale, “Fire and blood”. So many emotions, that one. And the finale music is just <333

Day 12 – Your favorite book?
Oooh, toughie. Re-reading A Game of Thrones, I have to say that it is my favourite (despite it scarring me the first time all those years ago) because, having read all the shit that happens later, it’s nice to see where all of the characters we’ve come to know (and for some, love) started at (i.e. happy!Starks ;_;).From a narrative perspective, A Game of Thrones is far tighter and moves at a break-neck, television-like speed (unlike later novels–I’m specifically looking at you, A Dance With Dragons O_o).

But I think my favourite novel is also A Storm of Swords. I know, even though it was a shitstorm of OMG moments from beginning to end (consecutive bam! bam! bam! — kinda wished I did not read a chunk of this while waiting in line for my bus back to Toronto, it’s a book you need to be sitting down when reading…oh yeah, and if Ned dying was scarring enough, this book is enough I think to confine you in a ward or something =/ I think I’ll be weeping for a good chunk of series 3/4), it was fantastic and such a game-changer in terms of the overall story. Plus, you know, Jaime. =P

Day 13 – Your favourite and least favourite POV?

Favourite POV:
- Ned (I liked how much history and background we got through his POVs; I especially missed that in the later novels)
- Jaime (snarky, interesting; adding his perspective was brilliant because it just adds so much more to his character)
- Sansa (ACoK+; ;_; at all the shit she went through but her story is interesting, especially as she was at the heart of the action/drama for quite a while)
- Tyrion (GoT – ASoS; snarky, awesome, kick-ass, I love how he deals with every issue that comes up in King’s Landing)

Least Favourite POV:
- Tyrion (ADWD)
- Daenerys (ACoK+; honestly don’t know what happened but after GoT my interest in her dropped (minus the House of Undying sequence). Honestly, the whole Essos bit doesn’t intrigue me as much as everything that’s happening at Westeros)
- a lot (if not all) of the characters that started emerging on the scene in AFoC and ADwD (however, I think this is unfair on my part because I’m more concerned with the characters we’ve known since GoT. When I get around to re-reading the latter two books, I think my perspective might differ/change considerably)

Day 14 – A scene that wasn’t in the books, that they added on the show, that you love?

The Cersei/Robert scene in…I forgot which episode, episode 5? I wished this scene was also in the book (but alas, we didn’t have a Cersei POV until…I want to say book 4) because it was such a moment for both characters. I love Robert’s scenes when he’s remembering Lyanna, “And seven kingdoms couldn’t fill the hole she left behind.” ;_;

Day 15 – A scene from the books that you wish they had kept on the show?
Tough question, I think I’ve watched the series one how many times now that I’ve forgotten if there’s any scene that I wished they did include. It would have been nice if the scene in Winterfell remained where Tommen and Bran were practicing, especially as Robb and Joffrey were practically shooting daggers at each other in that sequence.

Day 16 – The best character arc?
Jaime Lannister — Who would’ve thought? xD When I first read A Game of Thrones, I don’t think I really thought much of him beyond what we knew of him: renowned swordsman, Kingslayer, is into his twin sister, pushes kids out of windows without a second thought. But getting his POV from book 3 and onwards really paints a different picture of the character and what’s going on in his head. Not to mention him losing his sword hand really affects his outlook on everything. I can’t remember who said it (was it one of my flisters or from ONTD or winteriscoming.net?) but it was a great assessment, he ends up re-evaluating his situation, coming to terms with the reality of his relationship with his family and essentially forges his own path. Is it redemptive? I think it is to some extent (I’ve had time to think things over since the first time I read ASoS and AFoC), especially in comparison to when we were first introduced to him. His POV and storyline certainly has become my favourite in the later books and I am rather invested now to find out what’s going to happen to him ;_; I caaaaaaaaannnnnnoooooot wait for his storyline to start kicking into full-gear on-screen =DDDD

Day 17 – Your favourite minor character?
Maester Luwin — I’ve always enjoyed Luwin’s moments with the various characters in Winterfell. He just knows so much, and my interest in the maesters really did grow with his character. Donald Sumpter does such an amazing job in bringing Luwin to life, he’s just so patient and level-headed about everything. His expression in episode 1.10 when he had to break the news to Bran about Ned just killed me ;_; I’m going to hate it when his character dies, everyone needs his guidance still ;_; Maybe they’ll change his fate in the series?

Day 18 – Your favorite house/sigil/words?

Hands down =D I especially love their house words “Winter is coming” because unlike the other houses, theirs seem more ominous, reflecting the reality that they live in as well as (to a lesser extent) the long history that their house is associated with. Plus, I loved the Starks from the start, no matter who is introduced along the way or whatever happens to the House (*hugs them tight*) I will stand with them *nods*

I also love the words for House Baratheon: “Ours is the fury”. Totally badass.

Day 19 – Your favorite place/location?

Like I mentioned before, I’m such a Stark at heart =P so Winterfell is my favourite place. But House Stark aside, I like Winterfell because it’s in the north–their ways are different and I think I’d die if I lived in, let’s say, King’s Landing (you know, the heat) or somewhere in Essos =S

I also like the Eyrie, it’s a beautiful yet dangerous place (building structures atop those high peaks…sky cells O_O). I love the way that the show depicted it, it really looks very distinct from the other places in Westeros.

Day 2o – The character that you think is the best player in the Game of Thrones?

Ahh, yes, the eternal question xD It’s hard to tell since sometimes certain characters look like they’re playing the game well but it turns out they aren’t as good as we thought they would be. And then there’s others who surprise us in the deft hand at the game…

(I’m too lazy to get pictures at this point =P)

• Varys — Kings and Houses come and go but Varys has managed to retain his position in court. He’s also quite confident that this will remain the case, as you could see in series 2/book 2. He’s loyal to the realm, above any House or king (as far as we know; I feel that he is a little partial towards the Targaryens though) and while he’s good as flattering people and easing them through persuasion, he can also be quite ruthless (as we saw at the end of ADwD). So yeah, I expect him to play the game of thrones up to the very end.

• Petyr Baelish — I put him on this list because he managed to start the whole mess in the first place, pitting the Starks against the Lannisters, getting the Tyrells into the fold, messing with the Lannisters later on…he’s also on this list because we still don’t know what his endgame is. At least with Varys we know he’s more or less loyal to the realm and that his first thoughts are towards it but with Petyr, you know it’s self-interest…we just don’t know what that self-interest really is. Will his plans backfire? We don’t know yet (though with show!Petyr, that’s more of a possibility than book!Petyr).
• House Tyrell — Olenna and Margaery know how the game is played and as someone pointed out, so far no one’s died from their House. They’ve managed to creep their way into positions of power, much to Cersei’s annoyance, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they managed to claim the Iron Throne in the very end. In fact, I wouldn’t mind it, I think they’re pretty solid (I need to re-read ASoS and AFoC to double-check my assessments here).

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!

So what can I say about the movie? I highly enjoyed it, it was a great introduction to the franchise of Iron Man for the movies. I only have a vague knowledge of who Iron Man is but I know nothing about his backstory (I grew up with X-Men and Spider-man on the television but that’s about it) so I thought the narrative pointing to how the philandering Tony Stark became Iron Man was well done, it laid out all of the basics. Maybe it was stretching just a little when it came to the terrorist group Ten Rings and how clueless they were about what he and Yinsen was up to (just a bit; I guess from the monitors it really looked like they were working on something big), but it was amusing nonetheless and really showcased Tony’s genius and lovely arms. Seeing the prototype for what would be the Iron Man suit was also really interesting: cumbersome and crude, but it did the job and you could see where the future modifications would come in.

Given the amount of time they had, I thought the gradual change that Tony experienced as a person–witnessing firsthand what his weapons could really do and having a power source keep the schrapnel in his body from killing him–was well done. It was interesting to see how his focus changed after he got back to North America, how he tried single-handedly and on a whim to change the course of his company and how he started upgrading his original designs on the suit. His quiet moments with Pepper were also interesting to watch, giving us glimpses of how he’s become aware of how lonely his life has been. Of course, he doesn’t entirely change over after becoming Iron Man, which is seen with his humour and with the end of the movie when he ditches the cue cards. Some of my favourite sequences from the movie was when Tony was testing the new modifications to his suit; it was thrilling, a little scary (from slamming hard against the ceiling to the icing issue up in the sky) and hilarious (one of his bots using the fire extinguisher on him even though he wasn’t on fire).

Acting-wise I thought the cast was pretty decent. Robert Downey Jr.’s known for his some eccentric roles with snappy dialogue but it works well for the character of Tony Stark. The dedication he put towards this role is pretty evident on-screen, which was a blast (no pun intended?) to watch. Jeff Bridges was fantastic as Obidiah Stane; I knew I recognised him somehow but it wasn’t until the end credits that I realised it was him! I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts; she does well enough for the role and I liked the character enough but the banter wasn’t electrifying per se. I suppose given that Pepper’s supposed to be the more grounded character between the two, it worked well. I guess I’ll have to watch the second installment to see if my opinion will change or not.

Overall, Iron Man was an entertaining movie and a great start to the movie franchise. I admit, some of the plot developments were a little obvious and I picked up on it early on in the movie but it did not really stop me from enjoying the story. It was action-packed but it had a good dose of humour and extremely tense moments thrown in there for good measure. I’m going to tune in and finish watching Captain America: the First Avenger before coming back to the second installment of Iron Man–I’m almost caught up with the Avenger installments! (though I suppose I should get around to watching The Incredible Hulk too)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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 =)

The End of Eternity
By: Isaac Asimov

Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a member of the elite of the future. One of the few who live in Eternity, a location outside of place and time, Harlan’s job is to create carefully controlled and enacted Reality Changes. These Changes are small, exactingly calculated shifts in the course of history made for the benefit of humankind. Though each Change has been made for the greater good, there are always costs.

During one of his assignments, Harlan meets and falls in love with Noÿs Lambent, a woman who lives in real time and space. Then Harlan learns that Noÿs will cease to exist after the next change, and risks everything to sneak her into Eternity.

Unfortunately, they are caught. Harlan’s punishment? His next assignment: kill the woman he loves before the paradox they have created results in the destruction of Eternity.

My first Asimov novel! I don’t know if I ever mentioned it but despite growing up watching science fiction television shows (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Babylon 5, etc.), I never really got around to reading science fiction novels beyond Frank Herbert’s Dune (and that was prompted by the 2000 adaptation of the first novel). I’ve been slowly rectifying this and have finally started reading books from some of the really well-known sci-fi authors. I would have read his probably-most-popular work, Foundation, first, but this novel caught my particular attention because of one thing: time travel. I love time travel (Doctor Who, Babylon 5‘s “War Without End I & II”, Evan Manderly’s Q (review)) so I had to check this novel out. Contains some spoilers ahead!

What really struck me about this novel was just the overall concept of Eternity. Asimov really took great lengths to establish the nature of Eternity, their role in intervening with Time through small changes and the hierarchy of workers and specialisations within Eternity. It really does feel like this scientific society of men going about their work with really nothing on the side (no doubt a result of existing outside of Time and Space); the main character Harlan seems to be the only one with any interests outside of work. Their role in intervening with history remins me of the Time Lords in Doctor Who–on the outside, looking in. I liked that the character of Noÿs Lambent questioned the nature of Eternity and their role in history and why there were no women amongst their ranks. It allows Harlan to question the society that he’s lived in for so long as well as flesh out details about Eternity.

The concept of Time in this novel was also very interesting. There’s a specific jargon that goes with living and working in Eternity, especially with their references to specific centuries. It’s fascinating because you read about how humanity has managed to survive and flourish beyond a particular century and how the century that we live in is considered to be part of the “Primitive History” before Eternity was created. You hear occasionally what humanity is like in later centuries but otherwise a lot of the focus is on Eternity and its overall function. What is also interesting about Eternity is despite of their observer status over all of Time, there are still certain things that are not entirely clear to them, such as the consequences of a paradox, the concept of free will (to a certain, personal extent) and why they cannot access the “hidden centuries.” As you move along in the story, there’s more mysteries about the nature of humanity and Time which adds to the story and emphasises a particular aspect of Eternity, that it is not really god-like and that there are still certain aspects of Time and life that eludes them.

The story itself is pretty quick-paced and packed with suspense so you’re never really bored of the story at any point. The blurb for the book is actually just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the issues that Harlan faces over the course of the novel. Right to the very end of the novel there’s surprising revelations and interesting outcomes to the actions made throughout the novel. I was never really sold on Harlan and Noÿs’ relationship initially especially due to the rush of their getting together but it does play an integral role in the story and raises both larger concepts such as emotions in a world where you are beyond such momentary feelings as well as smaller, personal concepts such as trust and the transformative power of love. Plus, this is first and foremost a science fiction novel dealing with large themes in a removed sort of environment so I wasn’t too irritated by this element of the story.

Overall, The End of Eternity is a fantastic read about Time, time travel and the concepts of paradox, free will and the dire consequences of intervening continuously in the time stream. The concepts and worldbuilding of Eternity is thoughtful and plausible. I can see how science fiction has been influenced by some of Asimov’s ideas and conceptions of time as a theme and aspect of the genre. Although I did not empathise or relate with the characters on any level, they were interesting and were not reduced to one-dimensional cardboard cut-outs. I look forward to reading other books written by Isaac Asmiov, reading this book was quite an enjoyable experience. I highly recommend this novel to science fiction fans and fans of the time travel genre.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Palimpsest
By: Catherynne M. Valente

Between life and death, dreaming and waking, at the train stop beyond the end of the world is the city of Palimpsest. To get there is a miracle, a mystery, a gift, and a curse—a voyage permitted only to those who’ve always believed there’s another world than the one that meets the eye. Those fated to make the passage are marked forever by a map of that wondrous city tattooed on their flesh after a single orgasmic night. To this kingdom of ghost trains, lion-priests, living kanji, and cream-filled canals come four travelers: Oleg, a New York locksmith; the beekeeper November; Ludovico, a binder of rare books; and a young Japanese woman named Sei. They’ve each lost something important—a wife, a lover, a sister, a direction in life—and what they will find in Palimpsest is more than they could ever imagine.

I have been meaning to check out Catherynne Valente’s body of work for some time now. This year she’s been shortlisted in three categories (!!!) for the Locus Awards, which is pretty impressive. This book is featured as one of the two monthly reads over at the GR group Fantasy Afictionados so I decided to read this novel first. Contains some spoilers ahead!

Completing this novel, I’m not sure what to think. The writing is lyrical and dream-like which is befitting of a novel about a mythical place that is not of our world. In some ways it’s like reading a fairy tale and in other ways it flourishes the bleak and lonely undertones of the novel. It’s almost like poetry, turning an emotion like loneliness or melancholy into a sort of physical metaphor. I personally thought this was a real highlight of the novel. The premise of the novel was interesting, the idea of people carrying parts of the map of Palimpsest on their bodies and the city itself seemed quite mythical–unique, bright, shiny, different from our world.

Having said that, the more I read, the more I started to wonder. Although the pacing of the novel was just right for the themes in which it expressed–loneliness, lack of connection with other people, losing someone important in their lives–I never quite got a sense of what the overarching storyline was until halfway through the novel, and still I was wondering if there was something else going on. Not enough hints were dropped pointing to the main storyline, while other hints about a war that had raged in Palimpsest prior to the events of the novel never really manifested itself into something. I thought there was some real potential to follow that storyline, partly because it would have also fleshed out and built upon what we already know of the city.

As I read, I also started to wonder about the characters themselves. While I knew that individuals had to have sex with people who had already been to Palimpsest in order to gain access to the city (I forgot where I read it from, but the person described it as a “sexually-transmitted city”), it didn’t quite occur to me that you had to do it every single time you wnated to enter the city. And because the city is such a wonderous place that you had to return to, you had to constantly seek out people–often times random strangers–in order to find a way back. Sex becomes a currency so to speak, a means to an end. For a novel that touched on themes of loneliness and brokenness, I’m surprised at this just because after the first few scenes, the sex becomes redundant and rather meaningless; people are using each other and people are left empty every single time when they wake up. It’s like a drug, a temporary relief, and the time that people spent during the waking hours is like some sort of purgatory for them. I never really got a sense of why Palimpsest, for all of its uniqueness, served as a solution to all of their troubles. Even after the introduction of the concept of the quattro, the sex that went on still felt empty, distant. Here the lyrical prose does not work to the advantage of the story; as the four main characters slowly made their ways towards each other, I never got a sense of an emotional connection from any of them nor did it ever evoke a sense of sympathy on my part as the reader. Nor did I ever get a sense that these four individuals would be stable and feel relatively secure in each other’s lives.

Overall, the premise of the novel was interesting and the concept of Palimpsest and its history was unique and intriguing; it kind of reminds me of China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station in terms of atmosphere but unlike that novel, Palimpsest resembles more of a story. Despite of the story arc formulating halfway through the novel, the characters and their respective struggles were interesting enough to compel me forward. Although I’m still left wondering what it was I was supposed to get out of the novel, I am definitely looking forward to reading Valente’s other works (I have Deathless sitting on my shelf and The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making should be arriving in a few days =)).

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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The Longest Journey
By: E.M. Forster

Rickie Elliot, a sensitive and intelligent young man with an intense imagination and a certain amount of literary talent, sets out from Cambridge full of hopes to become a writer. But when his stories are not successful he decides instead to marry the beautiful but shallow Agnes, agreeing to abandon his writing and become a schoolmaster at a second-rate public school. Giving up his hopes and values for those of the conventional world, he sinks into a world of petty conformity and bitter disappointments.

I first read E.M. Forster’s The Longest Journey a few years ago amidst crazy papers, applications and tests. Before that, I had been eyeing this book for a long time; can’t remember exactly how I came across this title (apparently it’s the least-known of his novels yet his personal favourite) but the plot intrigued me. Because I never wrote a review post about this novel the first time around, the following entry is a mix of a review and a personal commentary about the book. So without further ado, contains some spoilers ahead!

This novel is about 200-something pages long, so it’s fairly short. The pivotal point of the novel focuses on Rickie and the journey that his character makes over the course of how many years. I think it’s a journey that many of us–if not all of us–can relate to in some degree, the idea that at the start the possibilities and the future are bright and hopeful. At the beginning of the novel we find that although Rickie is not a great orator or much of a talker (he was more of the quiet student in a seminar class), he felt at home in Cambridge. He could not imagine himself anywhere else; in such an environment he was able to flourish and express his love for poetry and art without feeling out of place. Yet undergrad does not last forever and early on the reader gains a glimpse of Rickie’s uncertainty of the future and what profession he plans on taking. In the end, he settles on writing as he was not a philosopher like his friend Mr. Ansell.

However things does not pan out for Rickie. No one would publish his writings and after becoming engaged to Agnes Pembroke, he settles to teaching classics at a school. The everyday routine coupled with Agnes’ growing insensitivity to his personal desires and insufferable mundane-ness forces Rickie to abandon his dreams and ambitions of writing and of his former life at Cambridge. To add to the injury, Rickie is acutely aware of his situation, of how life has lulled to a series of moment, of efforts to merely pass the time. Whatever love he and Agnes had for each other had faded away, his ideal vision of her fading away thanks to his acquaintance to the reality of his wife’s character, accentuating the dullness of his present life and his friend Mr. Ansell refuses to even write back to him. It’s sad to watch Rickie float along with the rest of Society, doing things because it was expected of him and being unable to truly express himself because no one around him can understand him. He feels locked in his situation with no alternative to fall back on, especially as he was now a married man and as a result of these decisions, Rickie effectively becomes a shadow of his former self. These are themes that have personally struck a chord with me, especially within the past few months, about leaving an institution you feel safe and free in and facing the harsh realities of life outside. Granted, the society in which Rickie lived in was far more strict on what was expected of him and what options were really available to him but it’s interesting to see that these themes of self and discovering one’s purpose in life is universal and applicable to anyone in any decade.

I’ve always enjoyed this novel more for Rickie’s personal journey and the themes that came along with it–harsh as they were–moreso than for the family drama storyline. That secondary storyline with Stephen always felt (to me) a bit more like a tack-on to prompt Rickie’s storyline along, which is weird because I think that was the original premise that was in Forster’s mind when he started writing this novel. It also moves a bit slower than the earlier segments of the novel, in part because Agnes’ insipidness would slip in. But this story about Stephen not only reflected the attitudes of the day about illegitimate children but also how far removed Rickie had become from his former self that he’s adopted some of the same attitudes as his wife and his brother-in-law. At the same time, this storyline works into Rickie’s redemption and the recapturing of some of his former spark so I guess I must overcome my initial feelings towards this storyline and accept it as part of the overall narrative =P

I should note that upon reading it the second time around, I realised that there’s no really sympathetic female character present in the novel. Mrs. Failing likes to troll people for entertainment purposes while Agnes ends up rather one-dimensional. The latter was especially strange because I never got a sense of any redeeming qualities on her part even after her marriage to Rickie becomes a one-note. In fact, I never quite understood why she accepted Rickie to begin with; early in the novel she merely thought of Rickie in terms of a child but then Forster enforces a time jump whereby the somehow grew closer after Gerald’s sudden death (in the typical Forster fashion). She seemed to have tried to accept Rickie’s unique personality and view on the world but in the end falls back on insipidness and shallowness; everyone who meets her also notes on her meanness and says nothing positive about her. In fact, a lot of the secondary characters remain rather one-note, symbolising a particular idea (in the case of Mr. Ansell), but otherwise reflecting no sense of complexity or other facets to their respective personalities. Since I was invested in Rickie’s story, I suppose I didn’t mind it so much; after all, Forster is big on symbolism in his novels.

Overall, The Longest Journey is a fascinating read and quite universal in some of the themes that it explores. It’s a pity that this novel is often overlooked because it’s just as observant and reflective as any of Forster’s other, more popular works. Granted, it can feel a little dreary at times because it looks at the sad and harsh realities of life and work and how easily it is to lose oneself along the way. If anything, Rickie’s journey serves as a reminder to never give up on your dreams and to never let anyone or Society dictate how you should view the world.

Finally, I do apologise if this entry seemed a little all over the place or sounded rather vague; I have far too many thoughts about this novel that it leaves me quite scatter-brained, jumping from one thought to the next =P

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Read E.M. Forster’s biography on Wikipedia || Order this book from the Book Depository