11.18.2010

 

Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour


by Bryan Lee O'Malley, paperback 248pgs
Overall Grade: B+
Series: Scott Pilgrim vol.6

A pretty decent ending to the Scott Pilgrim series, sequel to 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe'. Scott fights the final evil ex, if reluctantly. Maybe it's just because I had to wait so long after reading the first five for this one to be published that it didn't have as much of an impact.

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:52 AM
 

The Magicians


by Lev Grossman, 402 pgs paperback
Prequel to 'The Magician King'
Overall Grade: A

A terrific start to a very promising series; the sequel comes out next summer.
Quentin is one of those ridiculously smart kids in a gifted program, who does nothing besides academics and reading. He even teaches himself card tricks so he'll have some sort of hobby for college applications. He's headed dead-on for an Ivy League school and a banal life. Secretly he wishes life were more like his favorite magical series 'Fillory and Further' which we gather is kinda like the Chronicles of Narnia. Anyway, he arrives at a college interviewer, only to find the alumnus dead, and a envelope addressed to him containing a sixth, unpublished Fillory manuscript, and a note. But before he can read the note, the wind sends it flying, and in pursuit of the note, Quentin ends up at the magic college of Brakebills. Here he learns that, yes, magic is real, but it's really really really crazy difficult. And yes, he has the aptitude to become a magician, but it might kill him in the process, and he would have been better off not being used to being a prodigy.
The majority of 'The Magicians' is like an adult version of Harry Potter at Hogwarts. Like the back summary says, "hedonism and disillusionment". And somewhere along the way, he and his classmates learn that Fillory might not just be fiction...

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:36 AM
 

Tongues of Serpents


by Naomi Novik, hardcover 274pgs
Series: Temeraire book 6
Overall Grade: A
Sequel to 'Victory of Eagles'. One of the highly-anticipated books over my summer secluded at camp. I can only fault it for being thinner, and hence shorter, than I had hoped. Temeraire and Laurence arrive in Australia to begin their exile, only to learn Australia lacks many things, even an imperial governor after the convicts mutiny 3+ times. Get a clue, Bligh! Also, one of the dragon eggs that had travelled with them from England gets stolen by natives, so off Temeraire and company go to chase it down, hopefully before it hatches. We get to meet quite a few new named dragons, learn what Australia has instead of indigenous dragons, and just to what extend the Chinese are willing to go to smuggle their goods into British markets.

Related news, this is book 6 in a series of 9. We're 2/3 of the way done now! Wah!!

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# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:22 AM

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