5.21.2011

 

The Pirates of Pompeii


by Caroline Lawrence, 152 pgs, paperback
Series: The Roman Mysteries book 3
Overall Grade: B-

Flavia and her friends are refugees after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. In the encampment they discover that children are going missing, presumably abducted. At the invitation of a local patron, the four children visit his villa and attempt to figure out who is behind the kidnappings.

Labels: , , , , , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 8:27 PM

5.05.2011

 

Interview with the Vampire


by Anne Rice, 340 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B
Series: The Vampire Chronicles book 1

Gay vampires.
Yeah, that pretty much sums up the novel in two words.
Louis is a young landowner in 18th-century Louisiana when he encounters the vampire Lestat, who has materialistic eyes set on using Louis' wealth and estate to support himself. So he turns Louis into a vampire. For a long time, Louis and Lestat are the only two vampires, and they love and hate each other. After burning Louis' house to the ground, they move to New Orleans, and Lestat plays even more mind games with Louis by creating a vampire out of a little girl, thus making them "a family". They live a decadent, vampiric lifestyle for many decades in New Orleans, till Claudia (the girl vampire) grows up mentally (if not physically) and decides to off Lestat for being a horrible, manipulative, selfish prick. Louis & Claudia then travel to Eastern Europe in Claudia's quest to find more vampires, because everyone knows that all the vampire stories start there. They find vampires alright, just not like they'd expected. Finally, they go to Paris, hoping to find more aristocratic, civilized vampires like themselves. They meet Armand and his group of theatrical vampires. Other vampires are turned off by Louis' vestigial morality and Claudia's lack of qualms about killing other vampires. Lestat returns. Armand explains why there aren't any really REALLY old vampires (judging by the later books, he's wrong.) More vampire death. Fast forward to the present day (1970s) where Louis is sitting in a dark hotel room in San Francisco, monologuing to a boyish reporter, which is how the whole story is narrated = annoying as all get out.
The prose style isn't bad, and the story is actually interesting at times. But I really really hope Rice adds more plot to the next books. Because I don't think I could read an entire series of gentile vampire playing mind games with each other and having quasi-relationships which aren't actually sexual but still cause them to obsess over each other, or as my brother summed it up "gay".

Labels: , , , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:58 AM
 

Steppenwolf


by Hermann Hesse
Overall Grade: F

Please will stop with the late-middle-age bachelor whining! Stop being a loner and make some friends! And the prose style killed me before 100 pages.

Labels: , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:55 AM
 

The Grass Crown


by Colleen McCullough, 815 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B+
Series: Masters of Rome book 2

2nd book in the series. Which, again, focuses mainly on Marius & Sulla. As Marius declines in health, still striving for his prophesied 7th term as consul, Sulla is anxiously setting up his own political career, finally being elected consul. Both spend time in the Near East, gaining an understanding of King Mithridates, and his aims to wipe Rome from the map. But the majority of the book covers the Italian Wars, and their aftermath. Bloody? Very. By the end Sulla has marched on Rome, Marius has marched on Rome, and it seems like the rostra is decorated with the heads of half the Senate. Egads!

Labels: , , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 2:42 AM

5.02.2011

 

Side Jobs


by Jim Butcher, 418 pgs, hardcover
Overall Grade: B
Series: The Dresden Files

Bunch of short stories/novellas set at various points in the Dresden Files series. Basically an anthology of previously published stories, plus the 'Aftermath' follow-up to 'Changes'.

Labels: , , , ,


# posted by Cptn. Suz @ 7:07 PM

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