By admin, on May 19th, 2010%
| The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, Book 12) |
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Yesterday I finished reading The Gathering Storm, the 12th installment of the Wheel of Time series. Many of you know that author Robert Jordan died before finishing his super-series, but did you know that his editor (and wife) and his publishers found an excellent writer to finish it?
Brandon Sanderson has done what many thought impossible — seamlessly meld his own style with a near-perfect emulation of Jordan’s. The Gathering Storm is easily one of the better of the recent volumes. Sanderson handles Jordan’s bloated cast with deft assuredness. Though focusing mainly on events surrounding Rand and Egwene, all of the important characters get a nod.
Working from Jordan’s final notes, this first novel of the final three ties up a lot of threads and brings us on an emotionally charged ride with a nice parallel plot that sets Rand’s inner turmoil beside Egwene’s outer struggle.
It may be simply because the 11th book is a somewhat distant memory, but it may be that Sanderson’s effort is a better read than the last few volumes. At the least now, the ending seems much closer than the horizon.
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Rebecca Mayes Muses
Today I was catching the latest installment of Shamus Young Plays LotRO, when I saw an ad at the bottom for the latest installment of Rebecca Mayes Muses. Curious, I clicked on the link and got sucked in for several hours catching up on old posts. Below is the video that hooked me. Ms. Mayes brings something unique to the game-review industry. Rather than writing clinical reviews of games, she gives us aural discussions of the games she plays. And, this isn’t just some videocast babble. She sings about games and gaming. That’s right. Her songs are to game reviews what haiku are to poetry. She boils down the essence of the “reviewed” games into complex musical essays and sets them to video. Even if you are not a gamer, if you love good music, her videos are worth watching. Go on, give her a try.
Tags: Books, Music, Videos, Wheel of Time
By admin, on October 22nd, 2009% 
Last night I finished the sixth book in the increasingly misnamed Hitchhiker’s Trilogy. Many of you may not have know there was to be a sixth book, after Adam’s death, but he had apparently been thinking of doing another to try ending on a less bleak note than that of Mostly Harmless. So, Eoin Colfer, of Artemis Fowl fame, was tapped to write the sixth book with a little help from Adams’ notes (I believe). This was, over all, a good choice, IMHO, as Colfer’s writing in the Fowl series often struck me as somewhat Adamsian, both in humor and cadence.
On the whole, as a stand alone novel, And Another Thing… is a pretty strong book; perhaps 3 or 3.5 stars out of 5. The plot isn’t too intricate, and the prose seems forced in many places. As a follow up to Mostly Harmless, though, it is a very good work; 4 out of 5 stars. Colfer (+ Adams’ notes?) does a good job rescuing the main characters from the certain demise left to them in Mostly Harmless in a clever manner wholly consistent with the Hitchhiker mythos. The main problem I found with the book was the prose, as I mentioned. Adams had a knack for stringing together otherwise nonsensical combinations of words into something that made sense, and was funny. Colfer has to work at it, and it shows in several places. But in other places, he fairly nails the Adamsian style, so kudos for that. It must have been a daunting task.
So, my advice is, if you were fence-sitting because you were afraid this book would just be a cheap sell-out, go ahead and read it even if you don’t buy it. If you’ve enjoyed the first five books as much as I have, you will appreciate seeing your old friends, some of whom actually have a bit of a character arc and learn a thing or two. Zaphod, of course, is always Zaphod.
Q
Tags: Books, comedy, Hitchhikers, review, science fiction
By admin, on August 7th, 2009% It’s been a while since I was able to post more than a “look at this video”, so…what’s been going on around here? Not a whole heck of a lot, really. Today was the last day of swimming lessons, and Kaylin is both happy for a break and sad that it’s over. She’s asking, “Now what are we going to do everyday?” I’m sure we’ll think of something. Monday we are heading up to the Great Escape with her friends, Lindsey and Deirdre. That should be fun, though the weather channel is predicting hot and humid. Blech. Guess I’ll actually have to get into the water if we go swimming there.
Speaking of the weather channel, I just finished the 8th book in Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series. If you are a fan of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, I think you’ll like Caine’s Weather Wardens. The series follows the exploits of Joanne Baldwin, a Weather Warden (there are also Fire Wardens and Earth Wardens that we meet along the way) and part of the supernatural paragovernmental agency, the Wardens. Wardens can control elemental forces and for thousands of years they have been mitigating the worst that Mother Nature throws at us. The first novel opens with a bang, as Jo is hunted for the murder of a man who dies while he’s trying to kill her. Not a good day. If you like strong but credible female characters, a fast moving and straightforward plot, and people you actually begin to care about, then I’d give this series a try.
On the Windows Vista fiasco, I may have finally gotten everything back in order. I discovered that one of my 1000+ fonts that I’ve collected over the years was defective and causing the symptoms that I was seeing. Don’t know where this font came from or if it was a separate issue causing the same symptoms, but manthatsweird. Anyway, I tracked down the offender and it is gone. I look forward to smooth sailing for a while. Shyeah, right.
Oh, I also just finished playing the movie tie-in game X-Men Origins: Wolverine. That’s a pretty fun game. A typical mash-button-combos-for-more-damage fighting game, but it had some cool cinematic kills, and, hey! it’s frickin Wolverine! Play was over too quickly, as it basically followed the plot of the movie. I’d love to see a sequel. I recommend the title, but I’d wait until you can get a less expensive used copy. Full price for such a short game with very little replayability isn’t worth it.
Okay,
Ta ta for now.
Q
Tags: Updates
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