The Magician

The Magician by Lev Grossman

Hello, it's been a while since I wrote a revie-w,not because I haven't read since last December but simply because I didn't felt the need to share my readings, i. e. do a review. So what changed? Well this book did.It had played with my emotion so much so that I found myself laughing at times and feeling so sad at others. I will explain more later but this book made me feel excited again reading books AND telling / recommending it to others.

About the book.
The book seems similar to Harry Rotter at first. You have a teenage /young adult who got accepted to a magical school. The similarities ends there. When in Harry Potter the story ends as school ends, the part that Isee as the core of the book begins after school. So if you expected adventures where kids go around outsmarting adults like in the Rowlings like me,then you are going to be disappointed.

But the book doesn't disappoint. It later moved on and told the story of the man (boy?) after graduating, love lifes and emptiness of purpose that even plagued magicians. Just as his life was is in stagnant, he and his group came upon a powerful relic. Then they begin their adventures like in, Narnia and LOTR. As George Martin (author of Game of Thrones) said, this book pays homage to lots of classics.

What I really like...
about the book is that the story unfolds unlike your expectation. It is not to say the book is totally unpredictable, only that it has twists at the right moments. For example the protagonist did not have some uncontrollable power that somehow comes out at times of need and conveniently moves the plot, but instead he acted cowardly at times. If you are someone who hates unheroic hero like me (because face it, who wants to read about boring duds who sleep or runaway all the time) don't be. Why? Because this is a fantasy book, there's always redemption..
I mentioned earlier about love lives, and normally what follows is betrayal. What I really liked about it was that the drama actually moved me. Your experience really might differ, and even mine it I were to read it again. Anyway there were times that I felt really sad and it occurred to me that the emotions would be lost if it were turned into a movie because fantasy movies nowadays are all about shimmers and sparks. "This is why I read books!" was the thought that came to me.
Another major thing that I like about the book is there are unexpected situations that made the possibility of existence of magic seems higher since the reaction seems unscripted and real. An example was when the protagonist was to release his demon, it was such a letdown that I laughed out loud .

The Language.
The book is American but most of the words are lost to me. The words are not a' bombastic or enigmatic like say Tolkiens, but somehow the words are disorienting. After awhile I ignore words I do not know like I always do, only for this book, .at a higher rate. In other words, the language is a bit hard.

Recommendations
A fantasy book. Clever plots and interweawing storylines. There are some adults scenes but not so vividly described.
Overall I would recommend this book to people who have read the fantasy classics and wish them to be retold in less child - like manner.
Try it. There's even a sequel that I am going to try and get my hands on soon.

Thanks for reading.

The Underland Chronicles

The Underland Chronicles


written by Suzanne Collins. Approximately 4-7 hours each book.
It seems lately that I have been only reading Suzanne Collins books since the reviews are back-to-back. That is not true. I have read a few other books in between this reviews but since I have not the mood to a review, hence this state. I'll review more often in the future.

Synopsis
The story is about a boy who fell through a hole in his laundry room and into another whole world down under, appopriately called Underland. He then proceeds to solve quest and discover adventures in this fantasy world.
In the first book, Gregor the Overlander, the boy named Gregor discovered about his father location, who was until then had been missing for two years after his sudden disappearance. Other than that, Gregor also discovered that he is viewed as a warrior by the people of the Underland(Underlander) due to his circumstances matching an ancient prophecy.
In Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor discovered he had to go back down again in order to save the Underland, also due to a prophecy. In fact, all the books in the series deal with prophecies: Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Mark of Secret, Gregor and the Code of Claw. Basically that's why I lump them altogether because the chronicle is one continuous adventure conveniently chopped into parts.

Language
I think it's only a little bit higher than Enid Blyton's book. In other words, the language for the book is really simple. I do think the sentences structure are a bit weird and abrupt but I think they are so, because the books are meant to be short

Storytelling
Plot is also simple. Heroes comes, read the prophecy and then saves the day. There are other plot where the hero/reader are guessing a character real intention and such but other than that, it's pretty linear.
My main complain with the book is that it relies too much in prophecy. Problem with that is I do not believe in them and I find them annoying. There are also a lot of part where the prophecy are repeated in order to understand the 'meaning' behind them, so I end up finishing the book quite fast since I glance over those part.
Suzanne Collins did manage to make the Underland believable tho. The species(Rats, Spiders, Humans, Cockcroaches etc) are given a lot of thought and the main character are pleasing enough.

Recommendation/reading age
The book theme seems about peace and war, and how to go about it. It is something that I wouldn't think appropriate for younger teens but then again the language are a bit too easy for older teens. Since you would be preached on difficult themes, why don't you try a book with a more complex story and enriching prose?
So in the end I think this book is for adults who want to have some easy read, like me!, where a hero goes on adventure to kill bad guys, with the theme of peace and war thrown in just for zest.
An easy read. For your free time.

On a previous note, try to read Hunger games if you haven't, instead of this.

The Hunger Games trilogy

     

written by Suzanne Collins. 17-20/2/2012
Time taken to read each book is approximately 9 hours each.


Synopsis
The story is about the world in the distant dystopia future, where a game is held every year, in which the contestants are pit against each other and have to fight to their death until only one survives. The trilogy focus on a young girl, Katniss, who had volunteered herself in replace of her younger sister.

Okay, so the story is a bit like Battle Royale, for those who are familiar with the japanese franchise.However from what I read of the manga Battle Royale, Hunger Games trilogy differs in the way it tells its story. It is told through the view of Katniss, the main character of the story. There's also a lot more drama and plot in this, I think. Of course there's the gory and fights but other than that I feel the trilogy has its own story to tell.

Language
The language of the book is quite simple and the storytelling was brisk. Seldom was lyrical or lenghty prose used in the book. I think the motto of the book should be 'Straight into the action' considering how the books proceeded. It's Katniss' point of view anyway, so the simplicity fits. One thing though that seems weird to me is the book are told in present tense. I don't think it's a problem, only it seems... different than other fictions.

Storytelling
The plot has some twist which are pleasant enough but grows in a somewhat predictable manner. The characters are quite imbalanced I think, where some have a lot of role and parts where others rarely changed or have action but I guess that is the thing with a first person view; you can't tell things that your character don't know. The upside to that is the readers are flogged with Katniss' emotions and turmoil, which leads to my opinion that she is a very selfish person. One might disagree but I think she is so selfish and there are times that I wish that I could just crack her head open with a rock. Ops, too much opinion, haha.

Recommendation/reading age
There's almost no adult's scene. The scenes are not so gory, considering it is a book about death's game. I think the book is suitable for teens since it appeases them but still has morals such as the pain of wars etc.

Try Hunger Games first. If you like it you'll probably like the rest, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. My list of favourite is also in the mentioned sequence.

P.S. I like Cinna, Katniss's stylist. Ultracool.

The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

 by Stieg Larsson 

 translated by Reg Keeland

 read within:
 The Girl Who Played with Fire                   19/10/2011 - 2/11/2011
 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest       2/11/2011 - 8/11/2011
 probably 35 hours straight reading, or less.

BANG, BANG, BAM!

If I were to described the books in three words, those would be them. These two books are full of action all the way and have a faster pace in comparison to the first book. However the style of writing is still the same, where I wrote in the first review, that it's similar to Mario Puzo's.

Synopsis.
The book continues  approximately a year after the first book and recaps what happened to the main character, Mikael Bloomkvist and Lisbeth Salander as they follow their separate ways. The action began when the Millennium, the company Bloomkvist worked in, was approached by a journalist with a story on prostitution and sex trafficking in Sweden. It was a sensational piece, which Millennium decides to publish. As they work to finalise the story and was about to finish it, the journalist and her wife were killed. Salander's character came into play when the police found her prints on the crime scene, hence the chase began. What happened afterwards was a multitude of event that risk to uncover a 30 year old secret and Salander's background.

Sounds cliché? Well yes, I felt the same after rereading my synopsis and I must apologise as I don't do the book justice. Anyway the book might have a similar outline to other thriller/investigations but what I like about it that it has a few different view/narration such as the journalist, the police and the genius hacker who is the victim. The story also unfolds very fast and rarely have slow moments, yet the investigations seem detail enough to be logical. I could hardly find events or circumstances in the book where they appear incredulous, you know when the author feels lazy and introduces some miracle, though the book does have improbable moments but not impossible ones. In short, the books seem believable.

The language of the book is intermediate with a few new vocabs but they are unobtrusive. Again, the translations was very good that I feel as if I was reading an original book.
As for the young readers, the books contain adult scene and reference which are not explicit. There are gore but the writer only tells as they are needed and didn't dwell on them, a note for the weak-hearted readers. Other than that, I think the books will appeal to any readers.

The books were fast and I had read them back-to-back, which helps since the third book follows seconds after the second book, hence I lumping the review of both books into one. In my opinion, the writer would have also bundled them together, other than the fact the second would then become double the size of the first book. Plus, a trilogy seems much cooler, I think.

Buy the books.
Get them in three, much cheaper.

The Ambassador's Mission

  by Trudi Canavan. Book one of The Traitor Spy Trilogy

  28/9-29/9/2011. Approximately 18 hours continuous reading.










This book is from a sequel trilogy of The Black Magician Trilogy: So it would be a bonus for a reader to read the previous trilogy first before reading this book. However if you directly 'jumped' into this book, the author does explain the premise of the whole story at the beginning of the book. Much like what Rowling does with Harry Potter in every book and likewise, this book drags a bit at the beginning since it has to set up all the characters and plots.

The story continues 20 years after its predecessor, with its previous main character, Sonea, taking a less focused role, while the story gives more spotlight on her son. Turns out his son became a magician and her mother retain the title of The Black Magician. Another prominent character is Sonea's old friend, Cery, an infamous Thief. Yes, with a big 'T' since he is a leader of thieves, one of the big bosses in the city. Apparently the city became worse since the last book, as the people are somehow becoming addicted to a drug caller Roet. Meanwhile a rogue magician is rumored to be roaming the city and killing other Thief. Later in the book, Sonea's son, Lorkin, decided to became an ambassador to Sachakan, the land full of black magic and where his father's murderer came from.

The book seems to take much longer than the previous ones, albeit I noticed that this is not much thicker in comparison. I attribute this to the beginning of the book where the story keeps changing from one plot the another, before finally joining them in the middle where the pace begins to pick up. This annoys me a bit and I know some people might be put off by this. Another thing about the plot is that there are quite a lot monologues  in the book. I can't remember if the previous trilogy had the same fault but this book seems to be so. Sometimes those monologues felt to me to be excessive since they highlights things that can already be read in between the lines.

The language in the book is very simple, quite too simple I may say. Still, I found out that I like it since my mind doesn't have to work that much. However I must say that the book lingers around (homo)sexuality that I wouldn't recommend it to my nieces or nephews.

All in all this book is a bit slow -understandable since it's the first- with simple story line that is suitable for a quick read. The aspect of fantasy in the book is not so interesting, less than the previous book, and the fighting scene are scarce and short. Much of the book tells about journey and background of the Sachakan country.

However, I would still probably buy its sequel in order to see how the story proceeds. And of course, write a review for the whole trilogy.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Stieg Larsson

Read in 5 days. Probably 15-20 hours straight reading.

Its storytelling is almost as good as the Godfather. For those who haven’t read the Godfather, let me elaborate later.

The story in its core is mainly an investigating story, a thriller, as described on its blurb. I haven’t read a lot of thriller and certainly not a fan of one and if it wasn’t for the fact book-turned-into-movie, I doubt I’ll read this book. Anyway I’ve read it and I have a high opinion of it.

The language of the book is concise and has a quite large vocabulary, which seems like a surprise to me because translated book normally have long sentences and a bit boring. The book was translated from Swedish and although the book retains some foreign word, it never disturbs the reading nor does the translation feel unfinished. Kudos to the translator, Reg Keeland.

Although the book is not explicit but it does have adult scenes and without giving out the story, let me say the book deals with crime so you should expect some violence. This is not a warning, only a reminder to the faint-hearted. Altogether combined with the slightly challenging language of the book, I would probably not recommend this to young teens, though the story and knowledge that could be gain would be very useful.

Anyway the story involves three totally different main characters, Bloomkvist, Vanger  and Salander. Vanger is a millionaire obsessed with the lost of her grand-niece and decided to hire Bloomkvist to look into the 30 years old mystery. Through various circumstances, Salander were pulled to help Bloomkvist solve the mystery, which like all thrillers/mysteries, unravels in the end. However unlike normal crime/mystery books, the story is told with a slight different where they are told with less drama and seems more plausible, almost how it would happen in real life. What I like about it is the realism. I do however find the story could have ‘spiced’ up some parts where the characters discovers something but that would then be less realistic. I guess it depends on how you want to look at it.

The story is told in 3^rd person view yet the characters are deep that I could sometimes think their dialogue before even reading them. That may be an exaggeration but the characters do develop. What I said earlier about similarities with the Godfather is the way the characters are introduced.
I give you a made up example;

 Ahmad looks at the  clock near his bed. He pulls the chair he is sitting on towards the desk, puts the newly brewed cup of tea on the armchair and swivels himself towards the screen. He pushed the power button on the monitor and the machine began to whir into life. The monitor blinks before he pushes the buttons on the keyboard, when the login screen disappears as he can finally read his email.

The above is an example I wrote up, where the character just wanted to read his e-mail but the descriptions that leads to it are so elaborate that they make the character sounds real that it entrenches into the story. This is the quality that I'm referring to in this book and the Godfather. Of course my example is merely an example and nothing to be compared to them. Personally I think the Godfather is better in this aspect than this book but I have to read the other two books of the Millenium first to really judge it.

Yes, this book is a trilogy, which is a positive I think. If you like the first one, you’ll probably like the rest of the series. No hassles for you to find new interesting writers. On the other case that you don’t like them, you’ll have two more books out of the gazillion in the world to be crossed out of your reading list, just like what I did with the twilight series. Thus I encourage you to read this book, better before the films comes out.

“Why read when you can watch the film?” someone would ask.
Why do you go and eat at mamak, when you can tapau and eat in the car?

Haha, nonsenses aside, this is a good read.

The Earthsea Quartet

by Ursula K. Le Guin
read between 26/2/2010-18/3/2010
The books are made of four individual stories in the saga and I stopped for quite a while after the 3rd book. However I assume each book takes 10 hours to be finished, since I managed to read half of the 2nd book(The Tombs of Atuan) on a 6 hours ICE-train journey.

An excellent fantasy read with interesting concept of magic. Very dynamic characters and the plots are more driven by them..
A bit difficult on the language, not recommended for casual readers.

The book is set in Earthsea, a world where the lands are made of islands (hence the name) and magic is widely used. The story starts with the introduction of Ged and follows his journey becoming Archmage and Dragonlord and his travels across Earthsea
through evil times as the 'balance' of magic has been disturbed.