11.18.2006

 

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony


by Eoin Colfer, 385 pgs, hardcover
Official Website
Overall Grade: B
Series: Artemis Fowl

Okay, so if you have to bring back your protagonist after his family is set-aright, all the baddies have been neutralized (for real this time), and he has made a vow to turn his life & morals around, what do you? 1) introduce new "bad guys" 2) mess around with time & 3) throw in a snarky, yet somehow attractive love-interest. Colfer follows this formula for Artemis' latest adventure to varying degrees of success. I like how he adds backstory to the history of the fairies. I'm not sure if I like Minerva get (but why did it have to be another deity name? geez.) I like the warlocks, I hope they are followed up with. I'd like to know more about the battle of Taillte. I think my favorite bit is the little something extra Artemis ends up with at the end of the book - that could make the future very interesting :-)
Plot Summary: After the ancient battle between fairies & humans, the demons decide not to go underground with the other fairies, but lifted their island out of space & time into Limbo. Unfortunately the spell holding it there is unraveling and in the process of rescuing a demon captured by a 12-yr old French girl named Minerva (also an uber-genius), Artemis & Holly end up having to save not just the one demon, but all the demons before the spell decays entirely.

Labels: , , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 4:48 PM

11.16.2006

 

Wintersmith


by Terry Pratchett, 323 pages, hardcover
Overall Grade: B
Series: Discworld, Tiffany Aching #3

Another good young adult novel by Pterry. Tiffany Aching is a great character, and has some superb moments & intuitions despite the fact that she always seems to do something impetuous or get involved in something that is way out of her league (and rises to the occasion.)
In this case, Tiffany, as part of her witch training, attends the Dark Morris dance, and joins in without realizing the tremendous consequences that will have...when the spirit of winter, the Wintersmith, mistakes her for the spirit of summer, the Summer Lady. Witching & heroics & lots of Feegles!!! Though I think my favorite in this book, quite possibly has to be Horace the Cheese. "Why am I sitting next to a piece of cheese with a bit of tartan wrapped around it?" Rotflol!!

Labels: , , , , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:59 AM
 

ASoUE #13: The End

by Lemony Snicket, hardcover, 337 pages
Overall Grade: B+
Series: A Series of Unfortunate Events

Amusingly, this book has 337 pages but ends on page 13...
Anyway, for those who have been following A Series of Unfortunate Events for some time now, 'The End' is a somewhat lackluster finish. There are some good twists. But nothing is really resolved to my satisfaction. I think 'The Penultimate Peril' was more unfortunate and upsetting as well. There is a distinct paucity of unfortunate events in this end volume. You do find out one particular interesting revelation at the end, which you probably didn't see coming, but probably didn't need to either. I'm not particularly sure if the ending is left open for a good reason, like there might be a follow-up book or series, or for a poor reason, like Snicket is a cruel & unusual author. Anywho...I can't really oblige with a plot summary or anything because that would ruin stuff. So read it if you into the series.

Labels: , , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:58 AM

11.12.2006

 

Unearthed



E.S. Posthumus, play time: ~58 minutes
Listen to track clips here
Overall Grade: A

I pretty much fell in love with the 'Menouthis' track when I heard it on Pandora.com, so I investigated the CD & loved it too. The music is kinda techno/choral/instrumental and varies between mellow & driving. You've probably heard bits of the 'Nara' and 'Menouthis' tracks unknownly as I'm pretty sure they've been used in movie trailers. Oh yeah, all the tracks are named after ancient abandoned cities -- too cool.

Labels:


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 3:01 AM

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?