Book Review: Superior Saturday (Garth Nix)

Who still reads my book reviews anyway? Hands up, all 1.5 of you.

I haven't been reading much (actually I have, but have been too lazy to review them); but since I've been traveling so much lately, I've managed to finish quite a number of books in the past three weeks or so. Among them, books 2 and 3 of Glenda Larke's Mirage Makers trilogy, Poul Anderson's The Broken Sword, and a couple of Batman graphic novels (I had to satiate my hunger for more Batman and Joker stories, but ended up with Tim Sale and Jeff Loeb's Batman and Two-Face stories instead).

And of course, this one - Garth Nix's latest, and the penultimate book to his Keys of the Kingdom series - Superior Saturday.

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Title: Superior Saturday (Book 6 of The Keys To The Kingdom
Author: Garth Nix

Synopsis (from Amazon.co.uk):

On the Sixth Day, there was Sorcery...

Arthur Penhaligon has wrested five of the Keys from their immortal guardians, the Trustees of the Will. But gaining the Sixth Key poses a greater challenge than any he has ever faced before. Superior Saturday is not just one of the Trustees, she is also the oldest Denizen and the most powerful and knowledgeable sorcerer within the House. She has tens of thousands of sorcerers at her command -- and she has been preparing her forces all along for the Will's escape and the activities of the Rightful Heir. Everything is all just part of a greater plan she has been hatching for ten thousand years....

What I Liked:

• Despite the year-long wait, you can STILL remember what happened in the last books, unlike SOME series *AHEMHAIRYPUTTERAHEM*
  
• Finally, Will faces off against the most powerful Trustee of them all!
• The office cubicle denizens are damn funny
• Ending damn kan chiong
• Now I'm REALLY curious to see how Lord Sunday is like...
  
• Cliffhanger!
  

What I Didn't Like:

• ARGH! Cliffhanger!!!
• ARGH! FINISH SO FAST!
• If you haven't read the last few books, you'll get really lost.
  

Summary:

If you've been following the Keys of The Kingdom this far already, then this book won't disappoint. It's exciting, and it's intriguing, and it's got Arthur facing off against the most powerful Trustee of them all, the one who has been hounding his footsteps since the very first day.

Nix's style is still very much the same, and the book itself is extremely easy to read and follow, unlike SOME so-called young adult fantasy books *COUGHHEAVYPLOTTERCOUGH*. Though if you're not familiar with the series you'd get lost with all the references to the past characters in the past books.

This is probably the most exciting book in the series, IMHO, mostly because Superior Saturday is so much more powerful than the rest of the Days. And THAT ENDING. DAMMIT. Lord Sunday can't come soon enough!

Book Review: Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi)

The Hopefully-Weekly-Book Review (aka. The Almost-Monthly-Book-Review) is back this week, and this time, it's a really good book I'm reviewing. No really, don't watch the movie for Persepolis yet - the book is the original, and you HAVE to read it!

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Title: Persepolis
Author/illustrator: Marjane Satrapi

Synopsis (from Amazon.com)
The story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trails of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.


What I Liked:

• Awesome, awesome book. Best I've read in ages.
• It's a comic, but not really a comic!
  
• It's absorbing, and very entertaining at the same time.
• It's funny! Though in a rather sad-funny kinda way at times.
• The story's pretty damn good too.
• She's very good at putting things in perspective.
• She's also suitably candid when dealing with the heavy issues
• I love how candid and blunt she can be with her words and drawings
• The drawings are cute! and yet very tragic at the same time.
• You actually learn a lot about what happened (and happens in Iran, and some world history too.

What I Didn't Like:

• The grown-up Marjane in the second book, The Story of a Return; was not as entertaining as the child Marjane.
• I couldn't tell the some of the characters apart at times...

Summary:
I dare anyone to read this book and then tell me that graphic novels are for kids, or are just about superheroes, or cannot be considered 'literature'.

This is a perfect example of a REAL novel, a REAL novel put into pictures, and with REAL serious issues put in the most whimsical, yet engaging way possible.

It's a comic, but sometimes you don't really feel it's a 'comic' at times, more like a proper novel, told in the most simplistic, yet thorough and visual way possible. It also helps that Marjane's life is one of the most incredibly warped journeys I've ever read, but it was still engaging to read about how she and her family had to cope with the regimes in Iran, the war and how she managed to cope in liberal Europe on her own, then come home to the completely different culture of Iran again.

It hits hard at issues, but not hard enough to make you wanna take up picket signs or press nuclear weapons launch buttons. And when it's funny, its really funny. And it doesn't feel boring one bit (except a few parts when she's in in Europe).

The first part of the book (the version I read combines Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood & its sequel Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return in one book) is the best one, because we see Marjane actually growing up in Iran, with war and over-zealousness regimes all around her, and how her thoughts and behaviors are shaped by everything. It also helps that little Marjane is damn cute.

The second book, however, is a little more serious. It's a lot more adult-Marjane oriented, obviously because Marjane is grown up and thinks about things more deeply than a Kid Marjane would. That doesn't mean its any less entertaining or good to read though - it's stil good, but a little more serious than the first one, that's all.

Anyway, no need to say anymore - Buy, beg or steal, you HAVE to read this book. So go get it!!!

Book Review: Odd and The Frost Giants (Neil Gaiman)

Holy Cow has it really been that long since I've finished a book / posted a book review? So much for this being a book blog. It's not even a PSEUDO-book blog anymore, I reckon. Gah.

Oh well, back to old habits then. I picked this book up for only ONE RINGGIT (yes you read that right, ONE RINGGIT!) in Kinokuniya, since it was published in conjunction with the UK World Book Day recently. there're are a few others as well going for ONE RINGGIT but since this was Gaiman, naturally I could. not. resist.

So here, is a Almost-Monthly-Book-Review on....

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Title: Odd and The Frost Giants
Author: Neil Gaiman

Synopsis:
Odd's luck has been bad so far. He lost his father on a Viking expedition, his foot was crushed beneath a tree, and the winter seems to be going on forever. But when Odd flees to the woods and releases a trapped bear, his luck begins to change. The eagle, bear and fox he encounters reveal they're actually Nordic gods, trapped in animal form by the evil Frost Giants who have conquered Asgard, the city of the gods. Can a twelve-year-old boy reclaim Thor's hammer, outwit the Frost Giants and release the gods?

What I Liked:

• It only cost ONE RINGGIT!!!!!
• Short and Sweet!
• Light enough to read with one hand while stuck in a traffic jam!
• Very light-hearted and whimsical writing.
• I kinda like Odd. He's like a new Will Stanton.

What I Didn't Like:

• Too short!
• Er... too short to have many flaws too.

Summary:
Like I said, it was World Book Day (the UK one, anyway) a while back and Neil Gaiman was one of the authors commissioned to write this book. Last year my pick of the lot was Garth Nix, this year Gaiman.

This is a short and sweet little book. It's almost like a short story in fact. Gaiman's fascination with the Nordic gods continues here, but then, they are merely supporting characters for the more interesting Odd.

I like Odd. Despite all that's happening, he's a calm and collected little kid, just like Will Stanton in The Dark Is Rising (The books lar, not that obnoxious little American fart in the movie). Even the Frost Giant isn't so bad either. The way Gaiman has written the book, no one seems to be purely evil, just kinda, sorta, maybe bad; it's written in such a nice little whimsical way that you don't really want it to have any outright distressingly bad, evil moments. (oh, there ARE a little sorta dark bits in it, but nothing to distract you from the rest of the story).

Anyway, this book is a charming little read, even if it's a little too short, and I wished it were longer at times (especially when I finished it I was going ARGH NOT LONG ENOUGH!!!)

I hope Gaiman revisits the character of Odd sometime in the future, and make him the star of a PROPER novel (READ: in a not so short book!).

BTW, if you wanna get the book, go to Kinokuniya and look in the Children's Books section. The other RM1 books are also there for the taking. Go get them!

Book Review: To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios

Today I'm reviewing something different. It's a book, but its not a novel or a comic. It's more like an encyclopedia of sorts, or rather, a biography not of a man, but an entire company.

But it's not just any company, mind you, it's the Pixar Animation Studio, which is defintely MY favorite film studio like, evar. So when I saw this book sitting on a shelf in Kinokuniya with a blue 20% discount on it (which meant I saved almost RM50 on it), I just... could.. not.. resist... sigh.

Anyway, let's just see what this book has, shall we?

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Title: To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios
Author: Karen Paik (based on interviews and research by Leslie Iwerks)

Synopsis:
What synopsis? It's a book about the rise of Pixar Animation Studios from a tiny breakaway little Computer Division to the mega-successful computer-animation film studio it is now, with stories of how they built the company, and how they made the films from Toy Story to Cars (this book was done before Ratatouille, I presume).

What I Liked:

• It's Pixar!
• It really inspired me.
• Lots of cute and cool little pictures of the movies!
• I love the movies, so I loved reading about how they made them as well
• The layout and the way its written is not boring like other such books.
• Doesn't go into too much technical details like I expected it to
• It was fascinating to see how the company progressed
• They included the production of the animated shorts as well, and not just the features.
• Did I mention it's Pixar?

What I Didn't Like:

• First few chapters about how they built the company was a bit slow, I kept wantingto skip to the part when they start making movies.
• Could have been more up-to-date, especially with Ratatouille being Pixar's first self-funded movie and all.
• I wished there was more in-depth and detailed elaboration on the actual making of the movies themselves, and not just the usual 'story is king' and general top-of-surface issues alone.
• I couldn't help thinking that the image painted of the company was TOO squeaky clean at times...
  

Summary:
This ain't a novel you read to sleep at night or for your leisure, but to my surprised, I was more engrossed with this book than I have with any other fiction novel or fantasy in the past two months. I think it harks back to the times when I used to pore through atlases and encyclopedias to find out about stuff.

This being Pixar, a subject I'm genuinely interested about, it was more engaging to me than the usual 'encyclopedia' or 'biography'. I loved all their movies, so I enjoyed reading about them in the book, and I was really intrigued and inspired by all the 'characters' in it, especially John Lasseter himself. Now THERE'S another name to add to the list of 'people I really want to interview'.

All the pretty pictures and concept drawings of the movies also helped, and to tell the truth, I'm a real sucker for nice big glossy pictures in encyclopedias, so that was another plus point for me.

Sure, it's just a book, and they usually gloss over the ugly bits of the company in these things, but as it is, it's still an inspiring read for me. It may not be as squeaky clean as the book makes it out to be, it still somehow inspired me to think about what I'm doing right now, to be a bit more creative in my thinking and writing.

To me, it's not just another boring book about just another successful company - it's also a book that company that is fueled by the sort of creativity and imagination that I aspire to achieve one day.

Book Review: I Am Legend (Richard Matheson, adapted by Steve Niles and Elman Brown )

I'll be watching the Will-Smith movie version of I Am Legend on Tuesday, so I thought it'd be appropriate to review this graphic novel adaptation of Richard Matheson's classic 1954 sci-fi novel, done by Steve Niles and Elman Brown.

Now, I've never read the actual novel, but judging from the narration and amount of text in the graphic novel alone, I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to get myself into Matheson's original novel.

Anyway, here we go...

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Title: Richard Matheson's I Am Legend
Authors: adapted by Steve Niles and Elman Brown (illustrator)

Synopsis:
A terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease...

What I Liked:

• Great Story
• Psychologically thrilling
• Made me imagine in my head what the movie was like

What I Didn't Like:

• The illustrations just didn't seem as scary as I thought it'll be
• Some parts CAN be a little wordy, and thus a little draggy at times (makes me wonder how the novel itself was, being full of text ALONE).
• Will probably spoil the movie for me, but oh well...

Summary:
Firstly, lemme jsut say that I'm reviewing this book solely based on the graphic novel version by horror comic writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night)and ilustrated by Elman Brown, not the actual novel by Richard Matheson.

And no, I'm not revealing any spoilers.

Based on what I've seen in this graphic novel version, I think I won't be reading the novel anytime soon. Why? Because this 'comic' has so much text in it that the illustrations were almost secondary to it.

It IS a pretty engaging read, and I can already imagine how the movie is going to pan out (with some added vapmiric effects that should make it scarier, I imagine). The story itself is solid, and the illustrations DO make it a lot easier to read (I imagine) than an actual novel (Note, I'm not speaking of the ACTUAL I Am Legend novel, just novels in general).

There are definitely more psychological thrills than actual scary moments in the book (yes, even with all the pictures of scary vampires), and it makes the prospect of watching the movie even more intriguing. It has roughly the same kind of 'feel' I got when I read other classic sci-fi novels like HG Well's stuff, Asimov's Foundation, Philip K. Dirk's stuff or even Dune.

I DO get the feeling that this is a story that is just BEGGING to be made into a good movie (there HAVE been three previous attempts so far - Will Smith's is the fourth). If done well, it has the potential to be as mind-numbing as Planet of the Apes (The original) or even become a cult favorite like M. Night Shymalan's stuff. Yes, the story is THAT intriguing.

If you're planning to read the book AND watch the movie, I'd suggest watching the movie first in this case. Because if it pans out like I imagine it to be, it's gonna be one hell of a thrill...


Update: 14/12/2007:
PS: On second thought, it doesn't matter if you read the book first or not, since the movie is nothing like the book anyway...

Book Review: The Night Watch (Sergei Lukyanenko)

After a few weeks, I finally finished a book! Yay! So here we go, the return of the Hopefully-Weekly-Book-Review!

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Title: The Night Watch (Book one of the Watch series)
Author: Sergei Lukyanenko

Synopsis (from Amazon):
Set in contemporary Moscow, a small number of Muscovites with supernatural powers — those who are Other, owing allegiance either to the Dark or the Light — co-exist in an uneasy truce, each side keeping a close eye on the other’s activities around the city.

Anton, an Other on the side of the Light, is a night-watchman, patrolling the streets and Metro of the city as he protects ordinary people from the vampires of the Dark. On his rounds, Anton comes across a young woman, Svetlana, whom he realizes is under a curse that threatens the entire city, and a boy, Egor, a young Other, as yet unaware of his own enormous power. Partnered by Olga, an Other who is in the form of an owl, he struggles to remove the curse and thereby save the city, while at the same time prevent Egor from falling into the clutches of the Dark.

What I Liked:

• Pretty exciting action sequences
• Twists! Twists! Twists! (No not the dance, you morons)
• I like the whole concept of the Twilight
• It takes familiar plots and gives them a slightly newer spin
• Vampires! Shapeshifters! Magicians!
  

What I Didn't Liked:

• A lot of it really does seem rather familiar
• That bloody blurb by the Daily Telegraph in the front of the book proudly proclaming "JK ROWLING, RUSSIAN STYLE!". Like, Get over your over-inflated British egos already - Harry Potter is so six months ago.)
• The translation seems to be a little clunky sometimes.
• I was a little disappointed that they didn't keep up the real-world comparisons in the later parts of the book. That was what made the first part so intriguing in the first place.

Summary:
Like I said before, it really annoys me when reviewers compare other books to J.K. Rowling's stuff because most of the time they don't really deserve to be set against that over-rated crock of perceived originality.

Without Harry Potter to be compared to, The Night Watch is actually a pretty decent read - a novel of good fantasy that is not necessarily original, but engaging in its own way. Anton as a main character is the typical low-level magician who is suddenly entrusted with the task of destroying the Death St.. er.. saving the world.

I do like the concept of the Day and Night Watches keeping tabs on each other, maintaining the balance of good and evil by exchanging 'interventions'. The concept was good enough for me to keep reading it despite some really cheesy moments and some less than stellar translation (I'm sure it would have been way more absorbing in Russian).

The Night Watch may not seem particularly original to most avid fantasy/sci-fi readers, but at least it manages to take some tried and tested formulas and makes it work for it in entirely its own way, making for a pretty engaging read. The twists at the end of each segment of the book also make up for it somewhat.

Now gimme that Day Watch book...

Book Review: Temeraire, Throne of Jade & Black Powder War (Naomi Novik)

Title: The Temeraire series, Books 1-3 (Temeraire, Throne 0f Jade & Black Powder War)
Author: Naomi Novik

Synopsis:
Set during the Napoleanic Wars, the Temeraire series tells the story of Captain Will Laurence, originally from the Navy, whose world falls apart when his ship picks up a dragon egg from a French vessel. The dragon hatches on board his ship, and to Laurence's horror, decides to choose him as its partner. He now has to forsake his life as a Navy officer, and become the aviation captain of the fighting dragon Temeraire. Over the course of the three books, Laurence not only has to deal with being out of depth in his new world of aviation war, but also with the fact that Temeraire is no ordinary dragon...

What I Liked:

• DRAGONS! DRAGONS!
• I love the idea of each country or region having their own breeds of dragons
• I like how she makes it so that dragons are so taken for granted in her world, and in a real life historical period as well.
• I also like how dragons in different regions are treated differently, according to the country's cultures and the myths concerning dragons.
• I like how Novik treats dragons NOT as being dumb killing machines, but rather, being treated like the human characters as well.
• Very good pace throughout the three books
• It's interesting to see how Laurence and Temeraire interact, and how they both learn and educate each other at the same time.
• Battle scenes were quite exciting

What I Didn't Like:

• By the third book, the banter between Laurence and Temeraire was losing its novelty and becoming a little stale. Just a little.
• I finished the books too fast. :-(

Summary:
I wouldn't have discovered this serise if not for the fact that Kinokuniya had a 20% discount on them at the time, and the cool covers attracted my attention in more ways than one.

It's been ages since I've read a set of books that have captivated me as much as these. The last series where I've read all three books in one go was... gee, I really can't remember the last time I read the entire series in one shot so quickly.

Yeah, I actually finished the books really quickly (the last one, I finished in just under a day); but that's really not because they were short or too easy to read. It's because they were so fun to read.

Although like Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell it combines the elements of fantasy and real life history together, Novil's world has slightly detail in it, and a lot more action as well. but what she may lack in details while fleshing out her fantasy world, she more than makes up for with her treatment of dragons.

Dragons here are not mre creatures, but characters worthy of the human ones as well. In fact, compared to the human characters, the dragons make the story a whole lot more interesting. She also introduces a lot of cool concepts about the relationships between man and dragon, and adds a nice element of intrigue by having different breeds of dragons from different countries, and illustrating cultural differences between countries in the way they treat dragons (see book 2, which is set mostly in China).

She also adds in a couple of great action sequences as well, and the battle scenes involving the naval fleet in book one, and the ground sorties in book three are especially cool to imagine.

This a great little fantasy series that I'm grateful to have found. A great combination of great characters, fast paced plot and action, and very few parts that were boring. Now I can't wait for the next book - Empire of Ivory.


Where to Get It:
The only place I've seen the books with the covers shown above is Kinokuniya, though I've seen the books with different covers in MPH as well. Alternatively, you can also get the books in HARDCOVER from BooksXcess in Amcorp Mall, for less than RM20 (but the covers aren't as nice as the new paperbacks though...)

Book Review: Making Money (Terry Pratchett)

It's Pratchett Time!

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Title: Making Money
Author: Terry Pratchett

Synopsis (From Amazon.co.uk):
It's an offer you can't refuse. Who would not to wish to be the man in charge of Ankh-Morpork's Royal Mint and the bank next door? It's a job for life.

But, as former con-man Moist von Lipwig is learning, the life is not necessarily for long. The Chief Cashier is almost certainly a vampire. There's something nameless in the cellar (and the cellar itself is pretty nameless), it turns out that the Royal Mint runs at a loss. A 300 year old wizard is after his girlfriend, he's about to be exposed as a fraud, but the Assassins Guild might get him first. In fact lot of people want him dead.

Oh. And every day he has to take the Chairman for walkies. Everywhere he looks he's making enemies. What he should be doing is ...Making Money!


What I Liked:

• It's Pratchett!
• It's Discworld!
  
• It's funny! (Somewhat)
• There's more of Vetenari!
• I'm really beginning to like Moist as a lead character. Despite the name.
  
• I like how Pratchett is expanding and evolving the Discworld, especially Ankh-Morpork.

What I Didn't Like:

• SOMEHOW, SOMETHING SEEMS MISSING.
• It also doesn't seem to be as laugh-out-loud as the books used to be.
• The Glooper bits confuso me at first a bits.
• The villains just weren't er.. villainy enough for me.
  

Summary:
Making Money is the 34th (and then some) book in the Discworld series, and it's come a long way since the slapstick RUN-AWAY! antics of Rincewind in the first two books - The Colour of Money & The Light Fantastic.

The latest books, besides the Tiffany Aching ones, have been a lot more er.. serious than the Discworld books used to be, and are a lot more steeped in real-life than they used to be. Oh, Pratchett has always based the books on rea life topics like rock n roll, Hollywood; but he seems to be taking this 'world-building' business a little more seriously now; especially with the Moist Van Lipwig books.

That's not to say Making Money isn't funny though. It is, just more er.. subdued than usual. And serious too. And though I DO miss the rip-roaring, laugh-out-loud moments that were much more in evidence in the earlier books. (I remember reading the early City Watch and DEATH books and laughing non-stop until stomachache); but with the more refined and subtle Pratchett writing comes a different pleasure – one that sees the author fine-tuning his world in a less generalised way.

One could almost say that having created a world that is pretty much capable of existing on a broader basis, he is now micro-managing the smaller aspects of the world.

In this book, he takes another step towards building Ankh-Morpork into a proper modern city, complete, having given it a functioning postal service, a (somewhat) capable police force (or rather, City Watch), and now with Making Money, he tries to build a proper monetery and financial system (he's probably gonna tackle the tax system next. Now THAT would be interesting...)

It's nice to see Lord Vetenari take a more prominent role in this book, and the use of Moist as the catalyst to 'change' the city (both by Vetenari, and Pratchett). Though, the villains this time around seemed to have been put there merely as an afterthought.

Other than a few moments that just went over my head and some comfusing moments, there is little I can complain about with this book. All in all, Making Money may be a little more er.. less funny than usual, but it is still a consistently solid offering from Pratchett.

Book Review: Malaysian Politicians Say The Darndest Things (Amir Muhammad)

I've got a ton of books to read, and the Hopefully-Weekly-Book-Review should be Happily-Weekly for the next few weekends, I suppose, unless something crops up and I don't have time to read, or I'm too damn lazy (far more likely, I should say)

Anyway, I've already finished Temaraire, but I'll wait till I've finished the other books from Naomi Novik's series before I review them, and I'm also halfway through Pratchett's Making Money.

For now though, a nice, simple review for a nice, simple-to-read book. And a Malaysian book, at that!

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Title: Malaysian Politicians Say The Darndest Things
Author: Amir Muhammad
Illustration: Shahril Nizam

Synopsis:
The species called the Malaysian politician often gets in the news, but sometimes not for the right reasons. Malaysians Politicians Say The Darndest Things is a collection of over 100 quotes that span almost three decades. There are things that make yo go hmmm, things that make you go gaga, and things that give a refreshingly pithy introduction to several issues of their time. It is a jaunty stroll through contemporary Malaysian culture, society and (of course) politics). We are sure there is more to come, which is why this is only Vol 1.

What I Liked:

• Funny!
• Easy to read, very fast finish wan!
  
• the illustrations by Shahril Nizam are really good and apt too.
• A real eye-opener to what dumbasses some of the quoted persons can be
• I especially enjoyed the ones I remembered hearing before
• You do tend to get a little pissed off at the stupidity of the people quoted here. And that's a good thing.

What I Didn't Like:

• I kinda expected more from Good Ol' Samy.
• Where's the Bloggers are Monyet quote???
• Somehow, I got the impression that certain quotes seem to have been included not for their humour but for other reasons altogether (go figure).

Summary:
I knew I wanted to get this book the minute I heard about it. This is such a good idea for a book that I'm surprised no one ever thought of it before. However, I only found it yesterday in MPH 1 Utama after looking for it for a week now, and happily, I finished it within the night, in between reading Making Money.

Anyway, this book here is an entertaining read, for several reasons. One, it's funny. Some of the quotes compiled here are real Classic Malaysian Politician Quotes, some funny, and many which are really WTF-inducing. And yes, it gets you thinking about the state of affairs in our politics, especially when many of the quotes seem to have been senselessly uttered without any thought of what it might mean.

This is also a book that also covers a bit of the Malaysian political history - somewhat educational, if I must say. Though at some points, I must say that certain quotes seemed to have been included mostly to reflect a certain political opinion more than for the actual humour of the quote.

But of course, with a book like this, that kind of thing has to be inevitable. After all, most of the quotes WOULD be from the ruling party, wouldn't they, since the opposition seldom gets any media?

All in all, this is an entertaining book, a nice light read, and full of funny, WTF and barf-inducing moments (Samy's poem, especially). It was well worth the RM30 I paid for it at MPH, and I'm looking forward to the second volume (which shouldn't be too hard to compile, I should think. heh.)

BTW, Amir, if you're reading this, here's a suggestion: Why don't you try including some quotes from certain socio-political blogs as well? Some of THEIR rants are quite funny as well... heh heh. Lalala....

Book Review: Renegade's Magic (Robin Hobb)

I'd finished this book last week, but due to certain circumstances (a bout with early bronchitis earlier in the week, for instance), I've only been able to get around to posting the book review today...

This morning I'd done a full post about another subject, but since I think I'll leave that for Monday...

Anyway, if you’ve not read the first two books of the Soldier Son trilogy, and are planning to do so; I suggest you go read some other blog and avoid this post altogether, as it is almost impossible for me to discuss the book without divulging even the most minor of spoilers.

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Title: Renagade's Magic (Book 3 of the Soldier Son trilogy)
Author: Robin Hobb


Synopsis (From Amazon.co.uk):

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

The people of Getty's town remember the death of their cemetery soldier vividly. They remember believing him guilty of unspeakable crimes, condemning him, and then watching as other men of his unit beat him until he no longer drew breath.

But Nevare Burvelle didn't die that day, though everyone believes they saw it happen. He was cornered by a power far more intractable than an angry mob.

When he was a boy, the magic of the Specks - the dapple-skinned tribes of the frontier forests - claimed Nevare Burvelle as a saviour; severing his soul in two, naming his stolen half Soldier's Boy and shaping him into a weapon to halt the Gernian expansion into their lands and save their beloved ancestor trees.

Until now Nevare has defied the magic, unable to accept his traitorous fate. But the magic has won: it has extinguished his once golden future, devastated his family and has now turned his own people against him. Faced with endangering the only loved-ones he has left, Nevare has no choice but to surrender to its will and enter the fore.


What I Liked:

• Finally brings the long-drawn story to a close
• Quite interesting the way she uses a first-person-stuck-in-another-person POV rather than a straight out first-person POV
• It feels like a completely different book to the first two because the Speck self of Nevare is in control now, and most of the books focuses on the Speck side of the story.
• The action bits are still great, and Hobb does a great job describing the pivotal scenes.
• I like the way she makes the entire story come together in the end.
  

What I Didn't Like:

• I still don't like Nevare much as a lead hero, even after three books
  
• The whole trilogy really could have been way shorter than it turned out to be
• Some parts a bit TOO slow.
• The ending seemed a little TOO conveniently done, and a little anti-climatic.
• THAT'S IT? That's the solution the magic had in mind all along?

Summary:
With this book, Hobb picks up where she left off in Forest Mage, with the disintegration of Nevare Burvell’s life as a Gernian and the beginning of his life a Speck native of the forest.

This is probably the most intriguing book in the entire trilogy, as the entire perspective is seen from the Gernian part of Nevare, as the dominant Speck-Nevare (known as Soldier’s Boy) takes over and begins to dictate proceedings.

It’s this clash of cultures that ultimately make this series intriguing, as the common sense and Western-superiority complex battles with the Speck’s native conscience. In a way, Hobb mirrors the real world stark reality of oppression of the natives, destruction of forests in the name of development, and the clash of cultures that do not take the effort to understand one another.

Granted, it doesn't really hit the heights of all her previous books, it's still damn good to read. Sure, it's a little slow at parts, and some parts were still a little far-fetched (as far-fetched as a fantasy book can be, that is), but overall, it was still absorbing enough for me to finish quite quickly, in between two other books that is.

Somehow, I doubt that Hobb will ever be able to reclaim the heights that she reached with the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man sagas, but Soldier Son does prove that she s not content to just rehash all her old books, and is at least making an effort to break away from the expectations for 'another Fitz story' in her plots and characters.

Now, I wonder what she has in store for us next....

Book Review: The City of Dreaming Books (Walter Moers)

Continuing from my rather cyptic post HERE the other day on this book, I suppose it's only fair I follow up with a review on it, since I finished it last night... hehe.

So, here we go...

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Title: The City of Dreaming Books
Author: Optimus Yarnspinner (Translated from Zamonian by Walter Moers)

Synopsis:
Optimus Yarnspinner, a young saurian novelist from Lindworm Castle, embarks on a quest to track down the anonymous author of the most magnificent piece of writing in the whole of Zamonian literature. Traveling to Bookholm, the legendary City of Dreaming Books, the naïve Yarnspinner falls victim to Pfistomel Smyke, a maggotlike literary scholar who poisons Yarnspinner and abandons him in the treacherous catacombs miles below the city's surface. Stranded in an underworld steeped in terror-inducing myth and home to more than a few bizarre inhabitants, Yarnspinner undertakes a long and perilous journey back to the world above.


What I Liked:

• If you love everything about books, you'll love this book.
• I love the way he treats the simple subject of books and reading in such an imaginative way.
• Animatomes! Hazardous Books!
• Almost anything associated with books is imaginatively written about here
• I had great fun decyphering the jumbled up anagrams of authors' names.
• BOOKLINGS! I LOVED THE BOOKLINGS! I want a Bookling of my own...
• I wanna live in Bookholm too...
• As usual, it's wildly imaginative - almost as if anything goes in Zamonia.
• Heck, it makes me proud to be an avid reader.

What I Didn't Like:

• Too short!
• Optimus Yarnspinner is a little annoying and stuffy
  
• Somehow, I get a little annoyed with the way Moers' books end. Like... too abruptly. But then on the lfipside, there's its way better than the godawful ending of Deathly Hallows...

Summary:
Like I've mentioned before over and over again, if you love books, and if you love reading, then I'm sure you're gonna love this book. It's a book that almost every avid reader will be able to relate to.

It's funny, wildly imaginative, the characters are endearing (just love those Booklings), and almost anything and everything you can associate with books or reading is referenced or parodied here.

Heck, Bookholm is the kind of place I always dreamed of as a kid - rows and rows of books, all kinds of books, all going for cheap prices, and where everyone dealt with and talked about books. It's a book-lovers dream come true I tell you. (Writers also can get a lot out of this. Trust me.)

One of the most enjoyable part of the book is when it references real life authors (for instance, guess who this sentence is about: "Only Rasco Elwid could be so relentlessly cynical". Ha-ha!), and criticises certain aspects of the book industry. Consider this quote, for instance:

"In order to make money... we don't need flawless literary masterpieces. What we need is mediocre rubbish, trash suitable for mass consumption. More and more, bigger and bigger blockbusters of less and less significance."

Sounds a little true, doesn't it?

Anyway, back to the book. This is a book that will make you think about what you read, and make you love reading even more. It points out what we love about reading, and what we hate about reading. It might even inspire you to do a little bit of writign as well.

Oh, and don't worry if you've not read the previous two Zamonia books (The 13 and 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear & Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures) because this book pretty much stands alone, with only a few referenecs to what has happened or recurring characters in the previous books.

Yup, it's been a while since I've read a book that made me want to flip through my favorite parts and search for my favorite quotes immedietely after I'd finished it.

This book is not only fun to read, it makes you LOVE to read. So read it already.

Book Review: Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures (Walter Moers)

Long time no book rview. So today got book review. So fun whee!

Ok, back to not knowing what to blog about.

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Title: Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures
Author:Walter Moers

Synopsis (from Amazon.com):
Rumo is a little Wolperting who will one day become the greatest hero in the history of Zamonia. Armed with Dandelion, his talking sword, he fights his way across Overworld and Netherworld, two very different realms chock-full of adventures, dangers, and unforgettable characters: Rala, the beautiful girl Wolperting who cultivates a hazardous relationship with death; General Ticktock, the evil commander of the Copper Killers; Ushan DeLucca, the finest and most weather-sensitive swordsman in Zamonia; Volzotan Smyke, the corpulent Shark Grub; Rolv of the Forest, a Wolperting who can pass through the White Fire; Yggdra Syl, the guardian of the Nurn Forest and its talkative animals; Professor Abdullah Nightingale, inventor of the Chest-of-Drawers Oracle; and, the worst of luck, the deadly Metal Maiden.

What I Liked:

• Back to Zamonia! Whee!
• Together with Captain Blubear, this is one of the most fun books I've read in recent times.
  
• It's as imaginative as ever
• Wolpertings rock!
• Awesomely weird and cool characters
• It's been translated so well that it's hard to believe that this was all actually in German in the first place
• The most God-awesomely exciting battle in a book evah!

What I Didn't Like:

• Not much I didn't like actually. Ok, maybe its not as crazy and nutty as Captain Bluebear, but that's it.
• A little annoyed that somehow it doesn't tie in to Rumo's appearence in Captain Bluebear... but that's just me.
• Damn big book, so it was a little hard to bring around, which meant I couldn't finish it as fast as I wanted to. :-(
  

Summary:
I read and reviewed The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear by Walter Moers sometime ago, and loved it so much that I bought Rumo AND The City of Dreaming Books one after another.

However, I haven't had time to finish Rumo as fast as I'd have liked to, but last night I finally managed to finish it. And now I can't wait to start on City of Dreaming Books.

I loved Captain Bluebear, and I love Rumo as well. I love the craziness of it all, the way Moers just throws in anything and everything and still somehow make everything tie together in the end.

The story here is slightly less zany as Captain Bluebears and a little more straightforward as well; but that doesn't detract from the fact that its still one heck of a fun and crazy read. After all, when you've got characters like the Non-Existent Teenies, the Dead Yetis, and a schizophrenic sword called Dandelion, what more can you ask for?

It's easily one of the most imaginative and creative series of books I've read in ages. Get it, read it, and have fun!

Book Review: The Dark Is Rising (Susan Cooper)

People have been telling me to read this book for ages now, and I finally got a copy the other day and finished it in a couple of days.

And now I wanna get the other four books...

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Title: The Dark Is Rising (Book 2 of The Dark is Rising Sequence)
Author: Susan Cooper

Synopsis:
When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back, Three from the circle, three from the track; Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone; Five will return, and one go alone.

With these mysterious words, Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding; Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined.

What I Liked:

• It's a classic!
• I love the title, and the poems
  
• It made me wanna buy the rest of the books
• Reminds me of the first time I read The Hobbit. Which is a good thing.
• I like how down to earth but yet all fantasy-like it all is
  
• It's pretty exciting!
  
• It's better than Harry Potter!

What I Didn't Liked:

• What a sec, you mean this whole thing happened in the SAME PLACE but in DIFFERENT TIMES?
• Man, now that I've read the book, the movie looks like its gonna sucks. BIG TIME.
  

Summary:
The Dark Is rising. How cool a title is that? I actually once thought it was a modern book, but then later I found out it was written in the 60's/70's.

Don't worry though, the language is not archaic like other of my favorite 'pre-modern fantasy' like LOTR, Narnia etc; though it does kinda read a little like a combination of Narnia and Enid Blyton. Not that it's all kiddy-like or preachy like Narnia, mind you. It's just nice to read a classic fantasy written that way, makes you feel the way you felt when you read The Hobbit.

And Deathly Hallows be damned - this is a 'quest for numerous artifacts' kinda book that is way better written and much more exciting that that written-for-movie Potter book. It's written well, the story is simple but engaging, and it certainly didn't need 607 pages to get the story told.

Read it - it's one of those classic fantasy stories that deserve way more attention than it's getting. And judging from the trailer, the movie is gonna suck, because it just butchers the entire story. So go read it.

Oh, BTW, this is actually the second book in the series of five books. But don't worry, all the books are stand alone.

Book Review: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (J.K.Rowling-in-it)

It's not the weekend, but what the heck. Better get this out before I kill myself trying to think of better things to write about it.

Oh, and don't worry.

NO SPOILERS HERE

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Title: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
Author: J.K. Rowling-In-It

Synopsis:
What, you actually need a synopsis? Ok fine. Last book in the Potter series, Boy Wizard growing up and needs to get laid, and Evil Wizard trying to kill him and take over the world. Boy Wizard and his annoying friends need to find some stupidly-named Horcrux thingies that will conveniently kill Evil Wizard when destroyed.

What I Liked:

• SNAPE.
• Pretty exciting in parts
• Ahhhh... so that's what it's all about.
• Better than the last two books but that's not saying much.
• It's over! Finally! Or at least it damn well better be...
• Some nice touches here and there
• The ending.... not too bad.

What I didn't Like:

• NOT. ENOUGH. SNAPE.
• WTF's a 'Deathly Hallow' anyway?
• Hairy Putter is ANNOYING.
• Reads like it was written with movie in mind
• Simple storyline, overdone execution
• Still about 200 pages too long
• Some parts damn draggy and pointless.
• ..... is this still supposed to be a children's book?
• Some parts damn corny
• The ending... not too good either.
• Final chapter... urgh.

Summary:
After all that hoo-haa about the book being sold or not being sold, spoilers popping up all over the internet and massive queues of suckers lining up at 5am to get a bloody book that could be lifted off the shelf with minimum fuss later in the afternoon and bought with minimum queueing involved, I have to say that the book is really not worth all that hype.

The first thing I said to myself after finishing this book was, "WHY the hell do I keep getting suckered into reading and finishing this crappy book within one day of its release?". The answer: A combination of kiasuness, the fear of spoilers on the Internet and of course, the urge to have something to blog about. Shoot me now.

IMHO, what was initially a brilliantly simple and fun concept that spawned a really fun children's fantasy story in the first three books has become an extremely mediocre, long-winded and overindulgent series of books that could have been so much better in the hands of much better writer.

Take The Deathly Hallows for instance. 600+ freaking pages, which is about 200 pages too much, I reckon. It's amazing how a simple 'fantasy quest' story of Harry Potter going after the Horcruxes could become such an overwrought and complicated mess in Rowling-in-it's hands.

Sure, you could argue that Tolkien took about 2000 pages too long to throw a damn ring into Mount Doom, but that's beside the point. The point is, at least the songs and parties the Hobbits had with Tom Bombadil were hell of a lot more imaginative than Harry Pooper screaming, complaining and emoing over and over again.

At least LOTR felt as if you were in another world. THIS one however, reads almost as if Rowling was already imagining the MOVIE'S set-pieces in her mind, with 'money shots' all over the places, and action set-pieces just cropping up in each location the characters visit (speaking of which, she also seemed to be on a mission to cram every single location, character, monster and obscure spell that was ever mentioned in the previous 6 books into this one, and the way some of them crop up is just bloody out-of-place).

As for Potter himself, the guy is probably at his most unappealing EVER in the last three books, what with him screaming and emoing and complaining all the time. Even RON is more fun than Harry now. I'd like a whole book dedicated to Snape though. He's probably the only character that Rowling created that actually had a little bit of SOUL in him.

There ARE some good points of the book though. At least things are all tied up now. Everything is explained here (in the most textbook and unoriginal way), SOME set pieces are actually pretty exciting (even if you could already picture it unfolding on the movie screen in coming years), and best of all, the final book in this godawfully long-winded series is finally done.

My main gripe, ultimately, is that the potential of the series and the character was spoiled by the over-hyped success of the book, resulting in Rowling becoming more and more self-indulgent with each book. Eventually, this completely destroyed the simple concept and the magically innocent spirit of the story, which was what made the first three books so enjoyable in the first place.

Anyway, now that the series is done, I have only this to say: Good riddance. Now people, move on to better books, PLEASE.

Book Review: The Children of Húrin (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Let's take a short break from gushing over Transformers (even though I have a lot of picures from Robotcon 2007 to show off!), to bring you a long-delayed Hopefully-Weekly-Book-Review.

And I promise I won't use the word 'predictable' this time. Not much anyway. Hehe.

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Title: The Children of Húrin
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien (kononnya lah. I wonder how much Christopher Tolkien actually wrote in his father's stead)

Synopsis:
This is the first complete book by J.R.R. Tolkien in three decades since the publication of The Silmarillion in 1977. The Children of Hurin, begun in 1918, was one of three 'Great Tales' J.R.R. Tolkien worked on throughout his life, though he never realized his ambition to see it published.

It tell the tragic story of Túrin and Niënor, the children of Húrin, the lord of Dor-lómin, who achieved renown for having confronted Morgoth, who was the master of Sauron, the manifestation of evil in the Lord of the Rings. The lengthy and fatiguing battle against Morgoth forms the backdrop for the moving account of the life of Húrin's eldest son, Túrin, a valiant but proud warrior whose all too human frailties augur an unhappy end.
(from Amazon.com)

What I Liked:

• It's TOLKIEN!
• It's MIDDLE-EARTH!
• Easier to read than Silmarillion, and even LOTR (Well, it was for ME!)
• At least it didn't have 300 pages of Hobbits walking, singing and partying all the time
• I loved reading and remembering all those familiar names... it was like meeting old friends once again...
  

What I Didn't Like:

• Wahlau, why all these pre-LOTR stories all damn tragic and depressing wan...
• Sometimes the language is still a bit archaic and dry (but still easier to read than LOTR)
• I was cheated into thinking there was more to the story at the end of it because there was a lot of pages left, but it turned out to be the damn appendix.

Summary:
I actually finished this book quite fast, partly because it had been so long since I'd read a Middle-Earth story, and dropped eveyrthing else to read this book first; and partly because compared to The Silmarillion, Lost Tales and LOTR itself, this was a walk in the park, really.

The story is standard Tolkien stuff. I especially like Morgoth as a villain more than Sauron, and having him as the main villain was quite cool. The plot is tragic as usual, those familiar with the Beren/Luthien story in Silmarillion might find this all too familiar... tragedy and lamenting-wise I mean.

But really, I was just glad to have something out of Middle-Earth to read after so long (that reminds me, it's time to reread LOTR again). Though this was entertaing and depressing at the same time, it was still a welcome return to Middle Earth, and read about elves, dwarves, dragons, and evil dark lords once again.

Remembering words and names like Valar, Galadriel, Fingolfin, Glorfindel, Beren, Luthien, Thingol, and so on really made me want to go read LOTR again (and watch the movies too, for the 20th time. hehehe).

All in all, a pretty decent read. Just don't expect it to change your life like LOTR did lor...

Book Review: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers (Guo Xiaolu)

It's high time I caught up on my book reviews (And I don't mean the ones on the blog), so seeing that it's a weekend, let's get on with the program shall we?

And no, I'm not reviewing an actual dictionary...

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Title: A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers
Author: Guo Xiaolu (I refuse to write it as Xiaolu Guo because I know that's not how the name is properly pronounced...)

Synopsis (From Amazon.co.uk)
Z is a 23-year-old Chinese language student who has come to London to learn English. When the book begins she can barely ask for a cup of tea, but when language comes, so does love. As she gets to know British culture she also falls for an older English man who lives a resolutely bachelor life in Hackney. It's a million miles away from the small Chinese town she comes from, where her parents want nothing more for her than that she should follow them into the shoe business. Z learns about sex, humour, companionship and passion, but she also learns the painful truth that language is also a barrier and the more you know about it, the less you understand.


What I Liked:

• The incredibly ingenius concept of writing the book like a Chinese learning English
  I loved the way the writing 'improved' as the book progressed.
• I could relate to some of the things she went through
• Simple and easy to read.
• Quite funny too.
• Some of the pet peeves Z had about the differences between East and West were very accurate too.

What I Didn't Like:

• Might be a little confusing if you are not familiar with the way Chinese speak English.
• It was a little irritating reading the (deliberate) grammar mistakes in the beginning. I thought I was reading PPS at times...
• When you take away the novelty of the book's concept, the story really isn't much different from a normal fish out of water, coming of age book

Summary:

I liked this book mainly because I could relate to it. Not exactly in the whole learnign English part, but more the differences between English and Chinese language and the cultural part.

I've always been a fan of cultural differences and I've felt that cultural differences are what make this world fun. It would be one hell of a boring world if everyone were the same, dont' you think?

Anyway, the novelty of a Chinese writing an English book in the way a Chinese learns English is such a brilliant concept that I wonder why no one ever thought about it before (maybe no Chinese writer was ever good enough to write in English? Cannot be right?). It made for good comedy, and also a good vessel for hitting out at people who stereotype Chinese (or Asians, for that matter) into one group, and for pointing out how the Asians struggle to adapt to Western culture.

The best parts of book were her litle observations about the differences in culture, and why Chinese say one thing it means this, but English say that it means nother thing. Very astute observations, I thought.

Of course, once that novelty wears off somewhat in the end (when her English gets better, especially), then the book starts to be slightly less interesting, as it now comes to the comign of age of Z, and not so much her struggle to adapt anymore.

To tell the truth, I really liked the Chinese chapters (in which Guo writes in Chinese and then the translations appear on the next page. When I read the translations, I felt as though the meaning was less meaningful than the bit in Chinese, which actually made me curious about reading her stuff in Chinese (if there was a Chinese version).

This really is an interesting book, where the process of reading it turned out to be a lot more fun than actually trying to understand the story.

Book Review: Lost Girls (Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie)

Welcome boys and girls! Today, for my Hopefully-Weekly-Book-Review, I shall be reviewing some... porn.

No not the normal DVD Pirate ini-bagus-punya-boleh-nampak-sumua-punya kinda porn. It's Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls, which is a very stylised and literary kind of 'erotic fiction'.

(I've said quite a bit about it in THIS POST before, like where I got it and so on, so go read that first)

Oh who am I kidding. Erotic Fiction my ass lar. Porn is porn lah. Let's just get on with the review, shall we? And no, I'm not turning thisinto some porn reviewing blog. This is just a one-off hear me? Lalala...

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Title: Lost Girls
Authors: Alan Moore & Melinda Gebbie

Synopsis:
For more than a century, Alice, Wendy and Dorothy have been our guides through the Wonderland, Neverland and Land of Oz of our childhoods. Now like us, these three lost girls have grown up and are ready to guide us again, this time through the realms of our sexual awakening and fulfillment.

Through their familiar fairytales they share with us their most intimate revelations of desire in its many forms, revelations that shine out radiantly through the dark clouds of war gathering around a luxury Austrian hotel.

Drawing on the rich heritage of erotica, Lost Girls is the rediscovery of the power of ecstatic writing and art in a sublime union that only the medium of comics can achieve. Exquisite, thoughtful, and human, Lost Girls is a work of breathtaking scope that challenges the very notion of art fettered by convention. This is erotic fiction at its finest.
(From Amazon.com)


What I Liked:

• Sex!
• More sex!
• Lots of sex!
• Even more sex!
• Whole pages of sex!
• Very creatively written stories (about sex!)
• Very gorgeous graphics (of people having sex!)

What I Didn't Like:

• Too much sex! Very distracting. Hur hur.
• Had to go through the whole thing over again because the first time I 'read' it I was too distracted by all that sex. Hehe.
• Sometimes the fonts a bit hard to read. So I usually gave up and looked at the pictures of people having sex instead.
  

Summary:
Nothing much to say about this really. Almost the entire novel is about sex, sex, sex and oh yeah, sex. So if you like sex (who doesn't anyway?), then you'd like this book.

Oh sure, it's all very stylised, Gebbie's paintings are gorgeous (even when they depict er... all sorts of graphic and explicit body parts) and there IS a story that invovles some historical events merged with some literary allusions to Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan.

But really, who is Moore and Gebbie kidding? The whole three volumes are just pure pornography, and whoever reads this will just be reading about sex, sex, sex and more sex. That's about it, really.

But then again, since that is exactly what they set out to do in the first place, I suppose I really must say that they did a brilliant job of it. If you think of it as purchasing a high-end piece of comic art that just happens to be erotic in nature, then this is worth every penny of it.
But if you have to buy just ONE Alan Moore graphic novel... don't buy this. Go buy Watchmen or something. And if you really want porn that much, go look for a DVD pirate...

Book Review: The Good Fairies of New York (Martin Millar)

I need to get my mind off a number of things, AND blow off some stress at the same time, so I'll probably be slightly more prolific here in the next few days. Not a bad thing, considering I have hardly been very regular with updates lately, right?

Anyway, it's the Weekend. Another book review coming up. And maybe later, I'll post my SPIDER-MAN 3 Not-A-Review. (yes, I've watched it. GYAHAHAHA!)

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Title: The Good Fairies of New York
Author: Martin Millar

Synopsis (from Amazon.com):
The Good Fairies of New York tells the fish-out-of-water story of two Scottish thistle fairies who find themselves in Manhattan. The fairies hook up with two humans, Kerry (complete with colostomy bag) and Dinnie (antisocial in the extreme), finding time to help both get their acts together. A book that brings together race riots and Scottish folklore, The Good Fairies of New York is anything but a typical fairy fantasy.

What I liked:

• Pretty damn funny
• Pretty trippy too
• Easy to read and not confusing
• The Ramones!
  
• I liked that even fairies have different nationalities and each one has different characteristics
• The fairies are hilarious, especially the two main ones (who were inspired by the Ramones to start a Fairy punk rock band)

What I didn't like:

• Some parts felt like Miller was just throwing in something jsut to keep the story going
• But other than that, nothing much I didn't like though I would have preferred a much neater tying up of the loose ends in the end though...

Summary:
To tell the truth, I bought this book on impulse because of three things:

1) I liked the cover (Who says you can't buy a book by its cover eh?)
2) I thought the title was interesting
3) There was an introduction by Neil Gaiman (So I'm a sucker, sue me)

Anyway, I don't regret buying this at all. It was one heck of an entertaining book, with interesting characters, some interesting plots going about the whole thing, and a lot of fairies flying around wrecking havoc. What's not to like?

Miller's writing is very simple and catchy as well, and I practically breezed through the whole thing without once scratching my head in confusion as I'm wont to do with many of Gaiman's books (which is hardly a bad thing, seriously, but still gives me a headache nonetheless).

I really liekd the way he just let the whole thing go on this whole roller coaster ride, throwing in new elements all the time, and mixing it all up to make one rip-roaring adventure that sometimes doesn't make sense but then, that's fantasy comedy for you.

It's a damn fun book to read, especially if you've always thought that fairies were always a little goody-two-shoes for your liking. Here, the fairies play The Ramones, want to start a punk rock band and their king wants to force them all to work in sweatshops. It ain't no wishy-washy Enid Blyton fairytale, this, but it's still one heck of a trippy fun read.

Book Review: Lady Friday (Garth Nix)

This review is long overdue, but then again, I'm behind on a lot of other things as well. Oh well. Here we go.

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Title: Lady Friday (Book 5 of The Keys to the Kingdom)
Author: Garth Nix

Synopsis:
On the first day, there was mystery. On the second day, there was darkness. On the third day, there were pirates. On the fourth day, there was war. On the fifth day, there was fear...

If you've got this far in the series, you'll know Arthur's story about being chosen to save the world and The house from the evil plots of House Denizens that go by the names of days. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go pick up Mister Monday and start reading the series!

What I liked:

• Like the other four books, it had a good pace and was interestingly imaginative
• I love the idea of Paper Pushers
• Story is getting very interesting indeed
• Leaf gets more to do
• I like the idea of all parts of the Will having different personalities to balance itself out.
  

What I didn't like:

• This book somehow seemed a lot shorter than the rest, even though its not.
• The purple cover is jsut boring lar. I liked Sir Thursday's better
• I had a wee bit of toruble imagining some locations. Being a litle TOO imaginative perhaps, Garth? :P
  

Summary:
Lady Friday brings Arthur further and further into The House, and adds een more strange and weird and completely illogical plots into the mix. And you know what? Who cares if it's illogical?

What I like about The Keys to the Kingdom series is that there are no set rules on what Nix can write about. As long as he sets the story in the House (or outside it in some cases), and manages to link them together in one way or the other (it doesn't really matter how he does it), then it makes for an interesting read.

It's like how Enid Blyton could just basically throw in any kind of weird land on top of the Faraway Tree and it would seem plausible just because, hey, it's the Faraway Tree, it's SUPPOSED to have all these lands on top of it. Who cares how those lands got there in the first place? Did you ever wonder about the mechanics of how those lands REVOLVED around the tree and what the probability of a certain Land coming around twice in a book? No right? you just wanted to read about the lands themselves, the hell with how they got there in the first place.

(that said, I would LOVE to see how the Slippery-Slip worked. I want my future home to have one. :D)

What I really do love about fantasy, and most specifically children's fantasy is this element of surprise and imagination with litle regard to making everything seem logical. Who cares how Harry Potter's magic wands work anyway? It's magic! Who cares that lions sholdn't be able to talk because they have no vocal chords? Who cares that the Wishing Chair's tiny red wings would not be able to hold to combined weight of the two kids AND the chair itself? And who really cares that The House just seems to comprise of one made-up scenario and 'land' after another?

There are times when after reading a really serious book, you just want to let loose and read somethign that is mindless, but not mindless like airport novels. You want something that allows you room to imagine and create images of fantastic worlds in your mind, not something that gives you a headache trying to work out clues and where the author spends half the time explaining how the mechanisms of a certain machine or 'magical item' works.

That's why I love The Keys to the Kingdom so much. It lets me just REAd, imagine, and lose myself in The House. And no one writes those kind of books better than Nix right now, IMHO.

Book Review: The Harmony Silk Factory (Tash Aw)

It's been a while since the last book review, eh? I've finished a number of books already, actually, but just haven't really gotten around to writing the review. I'll be reviewing Lady Friday soon, but I gotta get this one off my chest first, partly because someone once told me that for such a highly-rated book, Tash Aw's The Harmony Silk Factory is really nothing to shout about... And you know what? I kinda agree.

On with the review then...

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Title: The Harmony Silk Factory
Author: Tash Aw

What I Liked:

• Quite an easy read
• Well, the structure of the story was interesting anyway.
• I DID like how the story connected together at some parts.
  

What I Didn't Like:

• Over-exoticised setting
  
• Annoying and stereotypical characters, none of which I connected enough with to care whether they died or not
  
• Too much like an airport novel...
• Saw the twists a mile away...
  
• Malaya? What Malaya?
  

Summary:
Let me get this out of the way: I have no idea why this book is so 'highly acclaimed'. It seems like little more than a run-of-the-mill airport book with exoticised characters, and a setting that hardly does justice to the actual location it is set in.

I finished this book quite quickly, which means it's at least an easy and engaging read. Unfortunately, if that were a gauge of how good a book is, then The Da MilliVanilli Code would have been considered high literature, and not just an airport novel with an engaging story.

Which, unfortunately, is what The Harmony Silk Factory is - an over-hyped, over-exoticised airport novel that just happens to be set in Malaya. Speaking of which, for a book supposedly set in the country I live in, I felt no connection whatsoever to anything he wrote about. Never mind that it was pre-Merdeka Malaya, he could have set it in Vietnam or China and no one would have known the difference.

Seriously, why do all books set in Asia (Malaysian, Indian, Chinese etc...) seem to be over-exoticised to pander to Western audiences? It's as if the writers are writing just so that the Western readers can feel the mystici