I'm jonesing for my Forever Drug

I walked into the used bookstore just down the street from dorm, my girlfriend clicking at my heels. We were on our way to see a movie, but we had some time, so she wanted to see what was in stock. She almost always came into stores like this, but I never saw her walk out with anything. Today, she did, but I was the most surprised when my Shadowrun fanboyness placed two novels in my hands.

The first of the novels, and the more significantly well written of the two was The Forever Drug. Lisa Smedman is a good writer, and I did enjoy this piece, but I must say, she was obviously a woman. I learned a while back that when writing a fiction piece, you can tell when a woman writes the part of a man and a man writes the part of a woman. There are certain word choices that a man would say and that a woman would say, for example "He daydreamed about touching her sumptuous rump" vs. "He thought about grabbing her ass." Which do you think is written by a woman? Okay, trick question because they were both written by me, but if you were to sit down with a female writer and see how she writes about love and sex and that sort of thing, you'll notice a distinct difference between her writing that of a man's.

Getting to the point, in Forever Drug, you can definitely tell that the story of this male is done from the point of view of a woman. There's just too many parts where he becomes a lot more emotional than I think most men would under the same duress. Besides that, they way he discribes how he feels about Jane falls back into that category that I already discussed.

Anyway, the books is a rollercoaster. At some points it's good and at others, it's highly heavy handed. It just seemed as though there was far too much information at points and then a long run of nothing. It's interesting to see what Smedman thought was important enough information to include in the story, but most of it seemed extrenuous. Meanwhile, we didn't get enough information about Rom's past to be able to piece together where he came from.

The ending to me was the probably the clencher. There were some parts near the end when I really got into it, and all the way up until Rom wakes up on the sidewalk, I was following the suspense, but then the last few pages had me very disappointed. I guess I don't like it when the obvious slaps a character in the face and they just walk by (like in romantic comedies when the girl tries to say "I love you" but the guy thinks she's going to say something else). That being the case, I wanted to rip my hair out, but I guess it was Smedman's way of making it seem like Rom ends just where he began.

So, overall it was entertaining, but not one of those books that you should really go out of your way to obtain. Plus, I don't think it won any awards, but it was definitely loads better than some of the other Shadowrun books out there (yes Nyx Smith, I'm looking at you).

Good luck and happy reading.

Breaking the Code...

13.3.2.21.1.1.8.5. O Draconian Devil. Oh Lame Saint. Scrawled across the floor of the Louvre in black light alcoholic marker pen, these were the words that made up the first puzzle in the book. O Draconian Devil. Oh Lame Saint. Interestingly enough, these words when decoded actually talk about something that most people know. The secret to this puzzle lies deep within the Da Vinci library.

The Da Vinci Code is the second book by Dan Brown that stars Robert Langdon on a crash course with the Catholic Church. Though this book is titled “The Da Vinci Code,” that isn’t an apt title for the events in the book. In fact, though Da Vinci is talked about frequently, the codes are not any of his own creation, but the creation of those who have succeeded him. As I read, I wondered when we would read Leonardo Da Vinci’s code, but found myself almost completely surrounded by Jacques Saunière’s codes.

So, The Da Vinci Code is basically a book that consists of four characters on a quest to find the Holy Grail, and in that quest several things occur. At first, only Bishop Manuel Aringarosa and the hulking albino Silas know that they are on a grail quest, but not long after, Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu get caught up in the conspiracy as Jacques Saunière is murdered. Scrawling on the floor in his best watermark pen, Jacque leaves a message for Neveu, which leads her to Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Mona Lisa. Scrawled on that painting is another message, and so the story goes.

The groups go from riddle to riddle, hoping to find themselves the lost burial place of the Holy Grail. Silas is fooled into a dead end left by the grandmaster of the Priory of Scion, and has to rely on information from a mysterious figure known as “The Teacher” in order to continue his quest. But he’s captured in the process and before long finds that his faith in God seems to be the only thing consistent about the convoluted path he’s found himself upon.

Bishop Aringarosa finds himself on a much nobler quest to save his precious “Opis Dei.” He quickly finds, however, that “The Teacher,” a man who was supposed to be on his side, actually used him and Silas as pawns in a much bigger game. Unfortunately, Aringarosa finds this out far too late, and his ending is the biggest surprised within the book.

And, as for Langdon and Neveu, they meet up with an old friend Sir Leigh Teabing and make giant leaps toward solving Saunière’s riddles and finding the long lost Holy Grail. They do meet opposition and surprise, and even come face to face with “The Teacher” himself. However, most of their story is tied up in family history and mythological symbolism. Not for the faint at heart, so be warned.

Now, as I read this book, I wondered to myself why it was called The Da Vinci Code. There is very little in the book related to Da Vinci’s artistic codes, which was a surprise, but a whole lot related to a secret society of which Da Vinci was supposedly a grandmaster. Saunière is not only a giant fan of Da Vinci, but also a grandmaster himself, which leads us down the path to understanding the inner workings of a secret organization known only as the “Priory of Scion.” This is wonderful, but there was no Da Vinci code within this novel.

There was a brief moment when Langdon and Teabing discuss the art of the Renaissance with Sophie, and its potential link to Mary Magdalene, in which we discover a secret that Da Vinci apparently hid for many years. However, that is the closest we get to understanding the title of the novel. Those who read expecting to find themselves delved into a world of misdirection and deceit, understand that this is not such a novel.

For starters, the Priory of Scion was not started until 1956, which negates the idea that Da Vinci could have been a grandmaster. Secondly, the Priory of Scion never participated in any goddess worship like Langdon and Teabing suggest. Thirdly, the whole premise on the book is based around the idea that a document found by Paris’s Bibliothèque Nationale is a true document, but Pierre Plantard, the author of “Les Dossiers Secrets”, later testified under oath that he had fabricated the entire hoax and that this romantic fabrication was concocted in order to make money and nothing else – no "hidden esoteric secrets" were involved. Make money he did, and so did Dan Brown and the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the only other book to reference these documents. Apparently, Plantard hoped to gain popularity for the society that he had created, and with the help of some other men, managed to convince people until the late 1970s that his priory was as the oldest society in existence.

Now, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for the purposes of enjoying books; I do it all the time. But outside that principle, the ideas and discussions within the book didn’t take me off-guard, and maybe that’s because of my upbringing. I have never questioned in my life the idea that Mary Magdalene and Jesus Christ were married, but that’s because I’ve heard such talk since the time I learned of the importance of Jesus Christ. This idea is not new, and those people who think that it is are sadly mistaken. And then there’s the discussion of the sacred feminine. Once again, I was not surprised to find that many religions, specifically of the Judeo-Christian variety, had different traditions to observe the idea that God would have a partner, and that too was because of my training. The universe, which includes whatever notion of God you believe, is always in balance, good and evil, light and dark, and yes, male and female. The “Sacred Feminine” ideas discussed within The Da Vinci Code were actually the worst organized points I’ve seen presented about the topic, and my sources date back before “Les Dossiers Secrets” and Dan Brown.

In fact, I must say that I wasn’t too impressed with story told within the pages. Cut out the long discussions of the acts of a secret society that never existed, strip down all the weakly expressed ideas of the “sacred feminine,” brake the story down to its barest bones, and you will find that you are looking at a plot of about 50 pages. Langdon is awaken in his Paris hotel, he gets framed for the murder of Jacques Saunière, Jacques Saunière’s granddaughter arrives to save him, they escape the louvre, the obtain a Cryptex, they meet up with Sir Leigh Teabing, get to London, get double crossed, discover the location of a knight interred by a pope, meet the teacher, get to the former burial place of the Grail, meet Sophie’s grandmother and brother, and Langdon kneels at the feet of the Holy Grail. That’s the whole story minus the dialogue, rising and falling actions, and puzzles.

In fact, all of Jacques Saunière’s riddles are based in history, not religion or secrecy, which I thought was well done at least. Brown kept all the puzzles along the same lines, something of which the characters never became aware. But, there were other things about the way the character’s behaved that caused me to shake my head. You see, there were a lot of moments when the answer was staring them right in the face, but they never noticed it. I think that I might be a terrible character to write a story about, because I would do the weirdest things in attempts to find answers. Langdon and Neveu enter that cliché that I like to call “Suspense-based Stupidity.” In order to create conflict, Brown tries to use things that would never have flown if I were in the story, building the actions between the characters. For example, Sophie and Langdon are stuck when they think that they will never figure out Jacques Saunière’s 10-digit code, but in their possession were 10 digits that Saunière wrote before dying. I would have examined those before I got stressed.

Another point of interest was “The Teacher.” I understand that Brown was trying to surprise us in the end, but it was such a surprise that the pieces just didn’t add up. Sure, once we had the bad guy explains it all, and the exposition by Brown, we can see that “The Teacher” was being secretive in his behavior, but it still didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. If Remy knew that “The Teacher” would know immediately if he disobeyed his orders, why did he disobey them in the Teacher’s presence? And how would the Teacher been able to get any of his information without completely relying on Remy to begin with? And how would Remy not have seen it coming? It felt as though Brown had written himself into a corner and then used a cheap cop-out to fix the situation.

I must say that I did like the book better than the movie, mostly because the movie flew through the information far too fast to make any sense. To me, the movie seemed like a watered-down version of National Treasure, complete with Holy Grail treasures hidden beneath churches. At least the book managed to be original.

Over all, I assume that you’ve already made up your mind about reading the Da Vinci code before reading this, and now you will walk into the Da Vinci code with a realization that 105 chapters can actually be a fairly short read. If you didn’t know whether you were going to read it or not, I suggest reading for the sake of cultural aesthetics, but do so when it’s convenient for you. Never feel rushed to read this novel, unless you’ve just got the newest copy of the Dresden Files, then read this book quickly.

Good luck and happy readings.

Harry Dresden--Wizard

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

While sitting down to watch an episode of The Dresden Files on the Scifi channel, my girlfriend turned to me and said, “The novels were really great, so I’m sure this will be a good show.” At first I wasn’t sure I heard her right, but then I let the sentence sink in. After a pause, I turned to her and said, “You mean you knew that there was a series of book in which a wizard is running around in our time and you didn’t tell be about it.” But then I realized that she had told me about the book series she read in London and suddenly I felt like a jerk.

So, I fired up Barnes and Noble.com, punched in my membership number and ordered the first 5 Dresden novels. Storm Front is the first in the series by Jim Butcher, and if this book is any indication as to the rest of them, then “WOW!” we are in for a treat. And if there are those of you out there who are like me and liked the first season of the show produced by Scifi, then to you I say “BEWARE!” The books are not quite like the show, but they are great in a different way.

For fans of the show, Bob does not come out of the skull unless otherwise released. Bob has no features to look up, so that’s why he doesn’t manifest, he just is. Murphy is a blonde cheerleader gone Rambo, not a brunette. Morgan is not black. And Morgan is old. Dresden didn’t kill his uncle by smashing his heart with a ring. Dresden’s mom left a Pentacle, not a shield bracelet. Dresden never had a love affair with Bianca. And finally, Harry Dresden’s office and home are two different places.

As for Storm Front, Dresden gets a call one morning after a long stretch of silence. It’s a lady named Monica Sells. She wants to consult with Harry about her missing husband. He schedules a meeting and then gets a second phone call from Karrin Murphy. There’s been a double homicide in the Madison Hotel. Little does Harry know that this killing and this lady are actually part of the same case; a case that will push him harder and plunge him deeper into the world of chaos, drugs, lust, and greed than he’s ever wanted to go.

Dresden starts both cases and starts to find some dead ends for both. He’s investigating them as two separate cases, completely unaware that the reason Victor Sells has gone missing is because he’s busy using a rich couple’s money and emotional energy to create a drug that is overthrowing the normal drug rings, and targeting those who stand in the way. One of the victims of the double homicide is Tommy Tomm, the oversized muscle of Mob leader Johnny Marcone…while the other victim is Monica Sells’ younger sister…

Enlisting the aid of Bob, the air spirit; Toot-toot and the faeries of the Nevernever; and Bianca, the vampire who isn’t what she seems, he manages to find Sells, stop him from killing again, and show him just why Harry Dresden is the meanest cat in the whole damned town. You never mess with a wizard who’s had the best formal training a wizard could ask for…even if you managed to figure out how to tap the power of storms to do your dirty work. And Harry shows that brains always prevail over brawn.

But that’s not all. Morgan, the lap dog and executioner for the White Council (a group of Wizards who have established laws and rules for the world of magic), has decided now is the time to end Dresden once and for all. Of course, Murphy begins to lose her trust in Harry when he starts hiding things from her; not to keep her from the truth, but from protecting her from the White Council, evil wizards, etc. And when she gets a warrant to search his office, it turns up detrimental…

Things don’t go well for Dresden as his investigation gets one girl killed and gets his hair taken for the next storm’s ritual. Police want him, White Council wants him, and Victor Sells wants him dead. But first, he’s got to deal with Johnny Marcone…

I loved this book. It was a great read from cover to cover. I would have finished it in a week if two papers didn’t come up due at the same time, so it took me 2 weeks instead. But, I read a little everyday, that’s how much I wanted to continue reading. Dresden’s way of dealing with things is a refreshing step away from the normal “magic” genre. As an example, here’s one of my favorite excerpts:

The air still thrummed with energy as the wash of flame passed. Victor snarled when he saw me rise, lifted a hand to one side, and snarled out words of summoning. A crooked stick that looked like it might be some kind of bone soared through the air toward him, and he caught it in one hand, turning to me with the attitude of a man holding a gun.

The problem with most wizards is that they get too used to thinking in terms of one venue: Magic. I don’t think Victor expected me to rise, lurch across the trembling floor toward him, and drive my shoulder into his chest, slamming him back into the wall with a satisfying thud. I leaned back a little and drove a knee into his gut, missed, and caught his square between the legs instead. The breath went out of him in a rush, and he doubled over to the ground. By this time, I was screaming at him, senseless and incoherent. I started kicking at his head.

I heard a metallic, ratcheting sound behind me and spun my head in time to see Beckitt, naked, point an automatic weapon at me. I threw myself to one side, and heard a brief explosion of gunfire. Something hot tore at my hip, spinning me into a roll, and I kept going, into the kitchen. I heard Beckitt snarl a curse. There were a number of sharp clicking sounds. The automatic had jammed. Hell, with this much magic flying around the room, we were all lucky the thing hadn’t just exploded

As I said before, this is a great book, and far better than the TV series, which was a 7 out of 10 for me—depending on the episode. The book was an easy read with a goofy feel to it, which is what makes if “fluffy,” as my friends like to call it. Lots of cool action, lots of cool ideas, lots of cool stuff. It’s only 7.99 a book, so I suggest you get at least this one and read…

Happy reading.

Magic. It can get a guy killed.

Let's get down to the EarthCore of it...

(WARNING: Spoilers are common amongst these pages, so you better beware)


3 miles beneath the surface of the earth lives a secret 10,000 years in the making. A civilization long since forgotten dwells in perfect functionality with only minimals losses in their history. Mankind is not ready for this secret, but the Earthcore Mining Corporation is about to take the lid off this pot and show the world something from it's worst nightmares. And no matter how fast they run, the creatures can fun faster...

Earthcore is the first of the four Scott Sigler novels that are currently downloadable at Podiobooks.com. I first heard this story from the downloaded podcast novel before I ever knew that it had a print format, but once I bought Ancestor, the second to be published, from AMAZON.COM (those greedy evil bastards), I managed to get a hold of my own personal copy of the novel. I recommend any version of the novel, it's certainly well done.

In the past few weeks, I've been pegged by my friends as a Scott Sigler Fanboy. I'd like to set the record straight here and now by stating that I am most certainly not a Sigler Fanboy (do those even exist??), but I am what Sigler calls

"a damn dirty junkie."

I find that once I get involved in a Sigler novel, I can't put it down. And, interestingly enough, his Podiobooks are just as interesting, if not more interesting, than the novels. Am I a fanboy for enjoying an authors work? If so, then I guess all those guys who possess the Druid of Shinara stuff are nuts...

Anyway, Earthcore is a novel that takes place in our time, but in the far off land of Utah. Now, having lived in Utah, and soon to be returning there for college, I know how uninviting those mountains can be. So when I started off with this novel and found the plot to revolve around a specific mountain, I was happy. However, I was thrown off by certain aspects of the novel:

1) YA-YA mountains. In all the time I lived in Utah, I had never heard of a place, and by the description, I found it to be located in the spot of a current mountainous area. Couldn't you have just called it whatever the mountain was currently named? We can suspend our disbelief.

2) Brigham Young students. Sigler has obviously never lived in Utah or been there for any significant period of time, because noone there calls BYU students "Brigham Young students". To do so is what I call a rookie move.

3) King Crab. Seafood in Utah SUCKS. In fact, most people in Utah don't like seafood period. I blame this on the fact that they have to import their seafood if they want something other than Trout, which is a bland fish anyway. So, there's no way, especially if someone likes to visit islands, that anyone in Utah would say that the King Crab is the most delicious thing there.

Those are my three big arguments. These things were aspects that threw me off and kept me from getting into the novel at first, and no matter how hard I tried, I just wanted to find Scott Sigler and snap his neck. But, as with all Sigler novels, it gets to the point where those little things begin to matter less and less. But, it most be noted that those small things actually do create empathy between characters and readers.

So the story takes place in Utah, where a prospector has been told of a river of Silver that is coming out of the mountains, like a spring of metal. It turns out that this river of Silver is actually platinum, the purest collection of Platinum in existence, and thus very desirable by the Earthcore Mining Corporation. Kirkland, an executive there in Earthcore, ends up heading the project and finds himself thrown into a world of problems.

As they drill deep into the ground, Earthcore realizes that the caverns under their drill bit are not as empty as they once thought, but are in fact inhabited by a civilization of Octopus-like creatures from another planet. And these Rocktapi are lead by platinum robots, remnants of a civilization long since destroyed. But the Rocktapi don't want to go down that easily, so they come after the crew with their knives drawn.

After some serious conflict (something Sigler is great at creating) the party manages to destroy the alien ship and bring down the whole race with it. To destroy the ship, they must destroy the mountain, which kills everyone inside. But two of the members do make it out alive and plan a revenge by going to the site in Mexico that was found to be similar to the Utah caverns.

It was very much the Sci-fi horror movie feel to the story. It reads like watching a drive-in horror flick, with expectable ending and everything. But I did like the fact that everyone had to fight for what little they got. This was a good way to make us empathize.

All it all, a good read, and a good Podcast Novel. I do highly recommend this novel even though there are some problems and the beginning is a little slow going. Keep it up and you'll begin the adventure when everything opens a new crevace in the face of the earth.

Happy reading.

Ravnica: Dissension (Book III of the Ravnica Cycle)

In the chaotic aftermath of Utvara’s infestation, Crixizix, the new firemind, finds that Utvara is still under threat of the Nephilim, and those ancient creatures have grown to even larger proportions. Meanwhile, Teysa Karlov finds herself called in to handle the strangest case Ravnica has ever seen, while Sunhome comes tumbling toward Prahv. Kos is dead, but his ghost still lives on as an Azorius guardian spirit, and that means he can be called to active duty anytime the guildmaster declares it. Fonn and Jarad find trouble when their son Myc goes missing, and his disappearance leads them right back to old Rav and to the demon Rakdos. All that and more fills this last installment in the Ravnica Cycle by Cory J. Herndon.

So, the story goes that all the angels were killed by Szadek while they were visiting Agyrem, the spirit world of myths. But before they were killed, Feather managed to find her friends/family and attempted to rescue the falling tower, only to find that she’s too late. But when she returned to the world of the living in the end of the second book, she accidently opened a path that allows Sunhome to come tumbling out of the sky, and fall directing into Prahv, the city center of Ravnica.

Unfortunately for the angel, she can’t do anything about it, since she’s been placed under custody and waiting trial for various crimes that she admits to committing. I guess it’s not the best thing when you have an angel for a client. And as such Teysa is put in a predicament: how to get an angel acquitted for crimes that she admits to having commit. But there are reasons why Teysa was selected to be the Orzhov baroness, and her quick wits are just was Feather needs to not only get released for her crimes, but also to get the other guilds in motion to stop the failing Guildpact. But as Sunhome comes down, so does the Damnation of Damocles.

Meanwhile, in another part of Ravnica, Fonn investigates some murders that have been popping up all over the city. Having found a way to balance her time between the Ledev and the Wojeks, she works as a Selesnyan first and a Boros second, finding her inherited police skills not quite adequate enough to figure out why there are rats at the scene of every crime. But Jarad would have known the answer, if Fonn would have asked him when she went to pick up their son as per their divorce agreement.

But as Fonn takes Myczil Zunich, her son, out to be trained with all the other Ledev scouts, the group manages to stumble across a very bloodthirsty group of Rakdos, who fall upon the group in a cloud takes off with the trainees. Fonn comes too and begins to panic as she finds no evidence as to where the Rakdos might have taken her son. And in her panic, she calls Jarad through their cell-phone like magical communication stones.

Jarad instantly knows where the Rakdos have taken his son and leads Fonn there in less than a few minutes. Unfortunately for him, storming the Rakdos stronghold costs him his life, but being the guildmaster of the guild of necromancers has it’s perks, and Jarad finds that these tricks are fairly useful when one finds oneself dead.

Myc ends up becoming friendly with the demon-god Rakdos, but things go sour as the Rakdos blood-witch manages to gain control of the demon for her own purposes. Unfortunately for her, this happens right before Rakdos attacks the Simic Project Kraj and falls in the battle. Linked consciousness is not what it’s cracked up to be, especially when one of the consciousnesses has declared war in a chaotic manner against more than one guild. But Rakdos and his rats cause a significant amount of damage, while the Ledev scouts bring down the Nephilim and the Lurkers in the only manner they know how, with explosions.

Kos is brought back from the dead in this novel, and he and Pivlic find themselves once again taking on an enemy bent on destroying the world. But Kos has an advantage against this enemy: he’s a ghost. Armed with the ability to inhabit the bodies of anyone with a semi-harmonious astral signature, Kos moves from body to body as he gets inside the Simic safe house. Face to face with yet another delusional enemy with bodyguards and a power-trip, Kos did what Kos is known to do: he killed the idiot. And following this display, Kos makes his way back to Prahv to face the true ringleader of the chaos, and the true enemy behind the failing guildpact.

Though this book saw the return of some of my favorite characters in the series, I couldn’t help but feel robbed by many of the different loose ends that only partially got wrapped up in the end. For example, in the end of the first novel, it is clear that the necroanalyst for the Wojek Tenth Precinct has become a lurker, but even though this same character appears near the very beginning of this novel, nothing about his nature as a lurker comes forth. In fact, there is several instances where the lurker presents itself and then fades away into nothing. I was very disappointed that this lurker angle simply becomes a convenient way for Herndon to come up with another enemy for the characters to be fearful about, but never able to stop.

To be honest, I was not really impressed with this book, especially after the intrigue of the first novel and the spaghetti western feel of the second. I just expected more out of this tale, but it seems, from the very beginning, that Herndon was pressured into ending the novel within some sort of time limit, because the characters have some sort of time limit. Being that as it is, it becomes incredibly convenient that project Kraj, supposedly the only project developed by the Simic that will be able to take on the greatest beasts and demons of the world, immobilizes the demon-god Rakdos before he can rip down the Life-Tree of Vitu Ghazi.

I wish he had, and I wish that Szadek would have been working of his own accord and not under the spiritual slavery of some up-tight know-it-all Azorius. It seemed as if Herndon was going for some sort of twisted plot device that added more intrigue into the story, but to be honest, I thought it was just a pile of stupidity. Why? Because there already was a twisted plot between the Rakdos, the Golgari god-zombie Svogthir, and the Simic. And even then, Szadek was part of that plot for a moment, which would have been wickedly awesome if it had played out that way, but apparently it didn’t.

As a matter of fact, I found that to be an inconsistency in the book. First we see Szadek with the Simic and the god-zombie early on in the book, but later we find out that Szadek was completely under the command of the Azorius guildmaster Augustin IV. What? Does that mean that Augustin IV was working with the Simic and the Golgari rebels, who apparently were helping the Rakdos, in overthrowing all of Ravnica? Because it seems to me that without the Guildpact, the Azorius would fold under the pressure of the other guilds and collapse. Why would the Rakdos or the Golgari follow a supreme overlord of Ravnica? The Rakdos are far too chaotic and the Golgari don’t really care anyway.

No, I wish that he had been a true good guy until the end, and that the story would have taken a better turn somewhere else. Perhaps there could have been way to resolve the situation involving the god-zombie, who’s still not dead. I would have liked to see the god-zombie or Szadek feeding off the Azorian man’s soul while Kos tried to figure out how to stop them. It would have been a better ending I think.

Truthfully, I think that after all the great things that have come from Cory J. Herndon, I can’t say that he is a terrible author, because he’s not, but I feel that he did drop the ball on this story, trying to figure out cool ways to end situations that could have very easily been solved with some small and simple means. Small and simple means, Cory, not bangpops. That’s what I was expecting and still hoping that my fanfiction actually becomes something worth a darn.

All-in-all this was an entertaining read, but it wasn’t of the same caliber of the previous novels, which was disappointing. However, if you have about a week of free time, and you’ve already read the other two, you might as well pick up this book and finally get the complete story of the characters you come love. If you do that, then you will not be disappointed, but you will be disappointed if you read the story for its plot and intrigue. Happy reading.

The Pocket and the Pendant

THIS REVIEW IS THE PROPERTY OF JONATHAN ROSEBLOOD CYRANUS


When you were a kid, did you ever wonder what would happen if time were to just stop? Well, one day, Max and Casey found out. And the answer wasn’t good at all…

Okay, time for the plot rundown and then to my thoughts on the matter. Max is a very extraordinary boy, more extraordinary than he even knows. Max thinks that he’s years old, but as the story goes on, we find out that he’s much older than that. But Max doesn’t remember, and the only people who do are grown ups…so grown up in fact, that one is in a retirement community, one is criminal with a family, and one faded away long ago, leaving a copied image behind. But Max doesn’t remember these people, though he wishes he did, because if he did, then he might be able to understand what’s going on when time completely stops.

Casey was a normal little girl growing up in the same small community as Max. She lived a normal life with divorced parents, never seeing her father, but living with her mother, until the day that her mother stood still. And not just her mother, her neighbors and her friends were also “stuck” in time. After some manipulation, Casey began to realize that she could unstuck things stuck in time, but it was all too terrifying. Plus, she stumbles across another power that only she seems to possess. And when she traps herself with this power, only Max can hear her pleas for help.

The two characters are then launched on a world wide search for others like them, others unstuck from “the Pocket” as Casey deems the time-stopped world. But their search takes them for miles and into civilizations that didn’t exist before “the Pocket” began; civilizations formed by kids like them, unstuck from the world. That’s when they meet Ian, who has some tools and some theories that help the three of them realize that they are not alone. And when the begin to search deeper, they find out that those “aliens” Ian noticed are after something, something important, something Max became involved in so very long ago.

But in order to unlock his memory, Max must talk to an ancient being known only as Mister E, or Enki as some call him. Many times Enki has freed Max’s memory so that he might remember what’s going on, but each time Max wishes that he hadn’t remembered, and each time Enki erases the memories. This time, Max wants to try to fix things without having his memory freed, which gives the enemies a leg-up, but also means that Max might be able to change everything once and for good this time. Too bad that means he’ll have to deal with his family without remembering why he dislikes them in the first place.

This novel by Mark Jeffrey is an interesting read. From start to finish, the simplicity of the diction and the juvenile word use gives us the feeling that we are going along with Max and Casey, traveling with them as they experience “The Pocket”. And to be honest, I felt myself cheering for them right away. I felt myself sympathizing with their plight, laughing when they succeeded and crying when they faced adversity. And unlike other time-related books I’ve read, this book did not disappoint in some aspects that most others do.

In most of the novels related to time that I’ve read, the characters suddenly became very concerned about time issues (i.e. they would not be able to get to a certain point with enough time to stop the bad guy, or something very important somewhere else happens and they miss their opportunity to do it, etc.), but this novel didn’t present these issues. When you have all the time in the world to accomplish the most important tasks, in my opinion, you probably wouldn’t rush yourself. And Max, Ian, and Casey illustrated that when, at one point in the novel, they take 5 days planning and practicing everything they would need to do to rescue Sasha who had slipped out of the SuperPocket.

And then there’s the issue of action. You see, this is definitely a family story, the kind of tale that you would read with your kids before they fall asleep, the kind of story that you share with your grandkids when they come to visit your house. And most adults tend to steer away from these kinds of stories because they think that it wouldn’t appeal to their more adult understanding of the world. However, I would like to state that you should not mistake innocence for ignorance. In my generation, we had Power Rangers and Ninja Turtles…kids certainly understand violence, but to a lesser form of painful understandings. Jeffrey responds to this by having action, but showing it in the same form that you would see in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, namely the good guys beat up the bad guys and then the bad guys stumble away. No killing, but threats of it; no blood, but spilled pride. I found it quite refreshing from some of the other novels that I have been reading recently.

As I said, this is the kind of story you would read to your children before they fall asleep. In truth, when I have children, I will read this novel to them as they fall asleep. I can guarantee that the diction is simple enough for children 7+ to understand and will tickle their creative. I felt as though it was easy to follow along, without complicated plot twists that would fly over the heads of any preadolescent trying to understand. And, I’m certain that any boy would imagine himself as Max or Ian, and any girl would imagine herself as Casey. If you read this to them, don’t be surprised if your children as you to play Enki.
Have fun with this great read. Happy reading.

Ravnica: Guildpact (Book II of the Cycle)

WARNING: SPOILERS ARE A COMMON THEME IN THESE REVIEWS, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK


When a man retires, the last thing he wants to become is the sheriff of some backwater town on the outskirts of the biggest city in the world. But when an old mining town suddenly becomes the site of a new wave of destruction, Kos has no choice but to shine his badge, strap on his pendrik and get to dishing out justice, frontier style.

This is the second installment of the Ravnica Cycle, written by Cory J. Herndon and published by Wizards of the Coast. Like it’s predessor, Ravnica: City of Guilds, this novel stars Argus Kos and his business partner/friend Pivlic, as well as several new characters, in an rousing adventure full of intrigue and mayhem. With their new friend Teysa Karlov, baroness of the frontier zone named Utvara, the two begin to unravel an Izzet secret that delves deeper than many of them wanted to ever go, all the while searching for the missing messenger of the Zomaj Hauc, Izzet Guild upper manager and lead engineer of the Cauldron, a powerplant supplying energy to all of the Utvara region.

Crix the goblin finds herself in the hands of the indigenous peoples of Utvara while Baroness Teysa and her minions attempt to gain control of the region that has now become her’s to own. But Crix finds that the plains around Utvara are mysterious, full of bizarre creatures that trace back to the ancient days of Ravnica, as well as a race of people who wear fungus on their backs to protect themselves from a spore that got thrown up into the air after the Izzet Guild attempted to “reclaim” the Utvaran region for the previous owner, Teysa’s uncle and prodigal father. But as Crix stays out in the spores, strange occurrences with the natives lead her to believe that something against the natural order is occurring, and that the answer can only be found within her master, Zomaj Hauc himself.

Crix manages to manipulate the natives into helping her get to the cauldron, partially to deliver the message she had been sent to deliver and partially to get to the bottom of this deadly mystery. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the courier, Argus Kos and Pivlic have also become aware of the strange behaviors of the natives and begin an expedition to rescue the intrepid Izzet. However, as they work forward toward their goal, both the human and the imp find that it is not as easy of a task as it originally appeared, especially not when the Nephilim, those ancient creatures Crix encounters, become more rampant in this area of the frontier. Since Kidnapping is a crime, Kos is propelled forward, but unfortunately for him, his path leads straight to the gates of the Cauldron, and on the eve of yet another attempt at ruining Ravnica.

Back in Utvara, things seem to be simple and reclaiming the once lost territory is becoming a task that Teysa Karlov has turned into a lucrative business venture. But as business is getting better, Teysa begins to discover a mystery and a magic that has been plaguing her for most of her life. And the lies and deceptions strike directly into the heart of the woman who is beginning to get too old be able to deal with it. Be that as it may, the Guildmaster, the first Baroness of the Orzhov guild, meets her enemies face to face and proves that royal blood does make a difference.

I did enjoy this novel, mostly because it was a new take on the Ravnica series. In the first book, we got a gritty look into the world of municipal policing in a metropolis that sprawls over most of the world, but this book takes us to a western frontier town with little to no crime and little to no police to take care of it. This being the case, it was like reading a western Magic: the Gathering style. In this novel, Kos became the epidemy of the old sheriff we read about in westerns and Pivlic the owner of the Saloon. And like saloon scenes, Kos gets too drunk and throws another too drunk man out the door and into the dust outside. Sobering up, bar-fight-style.

I didn’t really find this book lacking anything. The intrigue was just as twisted as it was in the previous novel, and it didn’t really leave any loose ends to worry about. It was a self-contained novel that, surprisingly enough, any casual reader could enjoy, whether or not they’ve read the previous novel. Interestingly, Cory J. Herndon has a way of reminding the readers about things that they may have forgotten, or informing the readers of things they may never have known. Being that way, a lack of any previous knowledge is overcome, an aspect I think Herndon was aiming for.

But the action was great and I spent most of my time pondering the turn of events in the end, but I could not actually guess what was growing in the Cauldron, so I was surprised when the secret came out. I also could not guess how the situation was going to be resolved, but I had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. The back of the third novel in the series had me waiting to find out how a certain character died, which was a good thing, but I don’t recommend that anyone purchase them and read their synopsis before they actually read the book.

My only complaint with this story was the grammatical mistakes that appeared every so often, just often enough to get annoying. Clearly, the team that edited this particular novel had a lot on their plate, or just spaced it when they were reading, but I felt inclined at some points to reorganize the syntax until the misplaced modifier was no longer misplaced. Cory J. Herndon, pay attention to how you modifier certain ideas, my friend.

All in all, I found this a very entertaining and easy read. I nearly swallowed it in a week, which is a relatively impressive task for me. I just found that once I started the novel, I couldn’t put it down until I had finished it, which made it interesting when I started cooking my curry. If you read quickly, which I don’t, then you’ll probably have this done in a few days, but if you are like me, you’ll find that no matter how slow you read, you’ll find time to read this novel from cover to cover. Happy reading.