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michaeljohnhalseartistry's reviews
111 reviews
Prince's Gambit by C.S. Pacat
2.0
Prince's Gambit is the second book in the Captive Prince series written by Australian author C.S. Pacat. I wrote a review after finishing Captive Prince that you can find here, that was... well... rather caustic. This series, set in a highly sexualized fantasy world, blends the lines of fantasy and what has become known as "slave porn". Now, I don't go out of my way to read pornographic literature. It's not like I'm rooted through the erotica section at Chapters scouting for my next read. But I had heard really good things about this series, about the world building and the different culture's views and opinions on sex and in particular, sexual identity. And then I started reading it. The world building was amateurish, the writing was so poor, and the main characters were one-dimensional, annoying, and incredibly dimwitted. I was honestly confused as to what I was reading, and who it was intended for. It had the writing level of a middle-grade fiction for children transitioning into chapter books, while having the content that most people would blush at. I should have stopped the series with Captive Prince, but my OCD would not let me put the series aside when I only had two more books to get through... even if that thought filled me with despair.
Last week I finished the second book in the series, Prince's Gambit. If Captive Prince was a 1/5, I'm happy to say that Prince's Gambit was a 2/5. That's right, a whole extra point! Though I wasn't sure I'd like it any better, especially throughout the first half of the book. The first half is more of the same terrible writing, boring character development and interactions, and a lot of eye-rolls on my behalf. The last fourth of the novel is really what coerced me into giving it that extra point. And there's two reasons for that.
The first, was the character development of the character Laurent, one of the princes and main characters in the novel. In Captive Prince, he's vain, ignorant, dull, and incredibly flighty. He tortures his slave, Damen (a prince from the neighbouring kingdom, who has kept his identity a secret) and takes pleasure in seeing him humiliated and run down, but in this book, somewhere, he comes around to Damen, and the two begin to fall for each other. EVEN THOUGH THERE'S NO REAL REASON FOR THEM TO, AND THERE AREN'T ANY SCENES OR EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THEY SUDDENLY LIKE EACH OTHER. Yes, we discover that Laurent isn't as mean-spirited as we thought, and a lot of sympathy is thrown his way as we learn more about his vindictive uncle who's trying to keep his throne from him, but there's really no prompt for him and Damen to fall in love with each other. But Laurent receives a lot of character development in this book, and while he spends the first half running around making shady deals and having odd interactions with people, near the end all his scheming comes out, all the pieces fit together and I was actually impressed. Impressed with both Laurent for being smarter and more cunning than I had surmised, and impressed with Pacat that she could string together a plot that actually came together.
Of course, this is all seen through the eyes of Damen, the point-of-view character, who is dumber than a wood stump.
The second thing that caught my attention was a rather spicy chapter towards the end of the book. There's a good sized chapter towards the end that literally one big sex scene. I read the whole thing with my eyes wide and my mouth dropped in shock, because it was literally the most explicit thing I've ever read. And, if I'm being honest, Pacat's writing style, which to me comes off as choppy, unpolished, quick, and straight-to-the-point, worked really well with this chapter. If there's one thing she knows how to do, it's write a sex-scene... sex-chapter? Like I said, I don't read really any erotica, and there are some sexual scenes in my own book, but nothing that explicit. Was it enjoyable to read? Um, yes? I mean, it was an interaction that I'd been waiting for since the first book, I just didn't think it'd be so intense... or work so well with Pacat's writing style. What can I say, sex sells!
I've since moved on to the final book in the series, Kings Rising, and let me tell you I'm back to the eye-rolling, the face-palming, and the groaning. Lord, give me strength to power through this series so I never have to read it again.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
Last week I finished the second book in the series, Prince's Gambit. If Captive Prince was a 1/5, I'm happy to say that Prince's Gambit was a 2/5. That's right, a whole extra point! Though I wasn't sure I'd like it any better, especially throughout the first half of the book. The first half is more of the same terrible writing, boring character development and interactions, and a lot of eye-rolls on my behalf. The last fourth of the novel is really what coerced me into giving it that extra point. And there's two reasons for that.
The first, was the character development of the character Laurent, one of the princes and main characters in the novel. In Captive Prince, he's vain, ignorant, dull, and incredibly flighty. He tortures his slave, Damen (a prince from the neighbouring kingdom, who has kept his identity a secret) and takes pleasure in seeing him humiliated and run down, but in this book, somewhere, he comes around to Damen, and the two begin to fall for each other. EVEN THOUGH THERE'S NO REAL REASON FOR THEM TO, AND THERE AREN'T ANY SCENES OR EXPLANATION AS TO WHY THEY SUDDENLY LIKE EACH OTHER. Yes, we discover that Laurent isn't as mean-spirited as we thought, and a lot of sympathy is thrown his way as we learn more about his vindictive uncle who's trying to keep his throne from him, but there's really no prompt for him and Damen to fall in love with each other. But Laurent receives a lot of character development in this book, and while he spends the first half running around making shady deals and having odd interactions with people, near the end all his scheming comes out, all the pieces fit together and I was actually impressed. Impressed with both Laurent for being smarter and more cunning than I had surmised, and impressed with Pacat that she could string together a plot that actually came together.
Of course, this is all seen through the eyes of Damen, the point-of-view character, who is dumber than a wood stump.
The second thing that caught my attention was a rather spicy chapter towards the end of the book. There's a good sized chapter towards the end that literally one big sex scene. I read the whole thing with my eyes wide and my mouth dropped in shock, because it was literally the most explicit thing I've ever read. And, if I'm being honest, Pacat's writing style, which to me comes off as choppy, unpolished, quick, and straight-to-the-point, worked really well with this chapter. If there's one thing she knows how to do, it's write a sex-scene... sex-chapter? Like I said, I don't read really any erotica, and there are some sexual scenes in my own book, but nothing that explicit. Was it enjoyable to read? Um, yes? I mean, it was an interaction that I'd been waiting for since the first book, I just didn't think it'd be so intense... or work so well with Pacat's writing style. What can I say, sex sells!
I've since moved on to the final book in the series, Kings Rising, and let me tell you I'm back to the eye-rolling, the face-palming, and the groaning. Lord, give me strength to power through this series so I never have to read it again.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
Pretty Deadly, Vol. 2: The Bear by Emma Ríos, Kelly Sue DeConnick
1.0
After this I'll be all caught up on my book reviews, thus far, for 2017. We're already into April, and while I'm only on my fourth novel of the year I've read a lot of comic book volumes, I've found some I like and some... not so much. I still have a number of comic series and graphic novels to get through, but I'm taking it slow, enjoying the artwork and enjoying the stories.
The last comic series I read was Pretty Deadly, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Emma Ríos for Image Comics. I decided to lump these two reviews together, because for the most part, my feelings were pretty similar for both... I had a hard time getting into these comics. The first volume is a supernatural western where reapers and death ride across the western plains and battle it out for control of death, while the second takes the same reapers to World War II where they have to put a stop of the Reaper of War from consuming too many souls. And both of those ideas sound awesome! I love the supernatural element to the stories, the melancholic characters and heavy mood and atmosphere that DeConnick writes. The stories are sort of narrated by a (skeleton) bunny and a butterfly who reside in Death's garden, and it's so beautifully woeful and sad, and I normally LOVE that in my books, my movies, my television, my music. GIVE ME THE SAD. But here, it just didn't quite pique my interest. And I think it's because of the medium. Comic books are short, they're dialogue driven, and highly visual. You can't really get across an entire novel's worth of content in one comic volume, and this story and these characters really needed that novel's depth. The plot felt a little rushed at times, it skipped over much needed character development, and I really felt like it lacked the weight that it should have carried. And this is especially certain in the second volume. The second volume felt completely rushed, very disjointed, and suffered from even less character development than we saw in the first. Again, I really loved the plot and idea of these two volumes... I just think they would've carried so much more weight had they been proper books, or maybe even large graphic novels.
I also had strong conflicting thoughts about the artwork. While Ríos paints beautiful, flowing, and moving panels, there were a lot of times where I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't tell what I was looking at, or what was happening, and it wasn't a once in a while occurrence, it was literally every other page. While her style is really magical and wispy and SO beautiful, I felt like it was more painterly than comic-like. I could stare at her work for hours, but it would also take me that long to decipher what was going on. On the other hand though, I'm currently reading a comic with very rudimentary and unimaginative art... so... I suppose the take away here is that I'm super picky. That's got to be it.
Will I continue to read this series? Probably... let's face it, even if I down right hated it, I'd probably continue to read it. I've started the series, I can always hope for more character development! And I DO want to see more of Ríos's work.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
The last comic series I read was Pretty Deadly, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Emma Ríos for Image Comics. I decided to lump these two reviews together, because for the most part, my feelings were pretty similar for both... I had a hard time getting into these comics. The first volume is a supernatural western where reapers and death ride across the western plains and battle it out for control of death, while the second takes the same reapers to World War II where they have to put a stop of the Reaper of War from consuming too many souls. And both of those ideas sound awesome! I love the supernatural element to the stories, the melancholic characters and heavy mood and atmosphere that DeConnick writes. The stories are sort of narrated by a (skeleton) bunny and a butterfly who reside in Death's garden, and it's so beautifully woeful and sad, and I normally LOVE that in my books, my movies, my television, my music. GIVE ME THE SAD. But here, it just didn't quite pique my interest. And I think it's because of the medium. Comic books are short, they're dialogue driven, and highly visual. You can't really get across an entire novel's worth of content in one comic volume, and this story and these characters really needed that novel's depth. The plot felt a little rushed at times, it skipped over much needed character development, and I really felt like it lacked the weight that it should have carried. And this is especially certain in the second volume. The second volume felt completely rushed, very disjointed, and suffered from even less character development than we saw in the first. Again, I really loved the plot and idea of these two volumes... I just think they would've carried so much more weight had they been proper books, or maybe even large graphic novels.
I also had strong conflicting thoughts about the artwork. While Ríos paints beautiful, flowing, and moving panels, there were a lot of times where I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't tell what I was looking at, or what was happening, and it wasn't a once in a while occurrence, it was literally every other page. While her style is really magical and wispy and SO beautiful, I felt like it was more painterly than comic-like. I could stare at her work for hours, but it would also take me that long to decipher what was going on. On the other hand though, I'm currently reading a comic with very rudimentary and unimaginative art... so... I suppose the take away here is that I'm super picky. That's got to be it.
Will I continue to read this series? Probably... let's face it, even if I down right hated it, I'd probably continue to read it. I've started the series, I can always hope for more character development! And I DO want to see more of Ríos's work.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
Pretty Deadly, Vol. 1: The Shrike by Kelly Sue DeConnick
2.0
After this I'll be all caught up on my book reviews, thus far, for 2017. We're already into April, and while I'm only on my fourth novel of the year I've read a lot of comic book volumes, I've found some I like and some... not so much. I still have a number of comic series and graphic novels to get through, but I'm taking it slow, enjoying the artwork and enjoying the stories.
The last comic series I read was Pretty Deadly, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Emma Ríos for Image Comics. I decided to lump these two reviews together, because for the most part, my feelings were pretty similar for both... I had a hard time getting into these comics. The first volume is a supernatural western where reapers and death ride across the western plains and battle it out for control of death, while the second takes the same reapers to World War II where they have to put a stop of the Reaper of War from consuming too many souls. And both of those ideas sound awesome! I love the supernatural element to the stories, the melancholic characters and heavy mood and atmosphere that DeConnick writes. The stories are sort of narrated by a (skeleton) bunny and a butterfly who reside in Death's garden, and it's so beautifully woeful and sad, and I normally LOVE that in my books, my movies, my television, my music. GIVE ME THE SAD. But here, it just didn't quite pique my interest. And I think it's because of the medium. Comic books are short, they're dialogue driven, and highly visual. You can't really get across an entire novel's worth of content in one comic volume, and this story and these characters really needed that novel's depth. The plot felt a little rushed at times, it skipped over much needed character development, and I really felt like it lacked the weight that it should have carried. And this is especially certain in the second volume. The second volume felt completely rushed, very disjointed, and suffered from even less character development than we saw in the first. Again, I really loved the plot and idea of these two volumes... I just think they would've carried so much more weight had they been proper books, or maybe even large graphic novels.
I also had strong conflicting thoughts about the artwork. While Ríos paints beautiful, flowing, and moving panels, there were a lot of times where I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't tell what I was looking at, or what was happening, and it wasn't a once in a while occurrence, it was literally every other page. While her style is really magical and wispy and SO beautiful, I felt like it was more painterly than comic-like. I could stare at her work for hours, but it would also take me that long to decipher what was going on. On the other hand though, I'm currently reading a comic with very rudimentary and unimaginative art... so... I suppose the take away here is that I'm super picky. That's got to be it.
Will I continue to read this series? Probably... let's face it, even if I down right hated it, I'd probably continue to read it. I've started the series, I can always hope for more character development! And I DO want to see more of Ríos's work.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
The last comic series I read was Pretty Deadly, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Emma Ríos for Image Comics. I decided to lump these two reviews together, because for the most part, my feelings were pretty similar for both... I had a hard time getting into these comics. The first volume is a supernatural western where reapers and death ride across the western plains and battle it out for control of death, while the second takes the same reapers to World War II where they have to put a stop of the Reaper of War from consuming too many souls. And both of those ideas sound awesome! I love the supernatural element to the stories, the melancholic characters and heavy mood and atmosphere that DeConnick writes. The stories are sort of narrated by a (skeleton) bunny and a butterfly who reside in Death's garden, and it's so beautifully woeful and sad, and I normally LOVE that in my books, my movies, my television, my music. GIVE ME THE SAD. But here, it just didn't quite pique my interest. And I think it's because of the medium. Comic books are short, they're dialogue driven, and highly visual. You can't really get across an entire novel's worth of content in one comic volume, and this story and these characters really needed that novel's depth. The plot felt a little rushed at times, it skipped over much needed character development, and I really felt like it lacked the weight that it should have carried. And this is especially certain in the second volume. The second volume felt completely rushed, very disjointed, and suffered from even less character development than we saw in the first. Again, I really loved the plot and idea of these two volumes... I just think they would've carried so much more weight had they been proper books, or maybe even large graphic novels.
I also had strong conflicting thoughts about the artwork. While Ríos paints beautiful, flowing, and moving panels, there were a lot of times where I had no idea what was going on. I couldn't tell what I was looking at, or what was happening, and it wasn't a once in a while occurrence, it was literally every other page. While her style is really magical and wispy and SO beautiful, I felt like it was more painterly than comic-like. I could stare at her work for hours, but it would also take me that long to decipher what was going on. On the other hand though, I'm currently reading a comic with very rudimentary and unimaginative art... so... I suppose the take away here is that I'm super picky. That's got to be it.
Will I continue to read this series? Probably... let's face it, even if I down right hated it, I'd probably continue to read it. I've started the series, I can always hope for more character development! And I DO want to see more of Ríos's work.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat
1.0
Oh boy... I've read some really terrible books over the years, but I've always found some redeeming quality in even the most despicable of novels that I've read. But every once in a while you get a book that's so terribly written, so dull, so poorly put together, that even I can't find anything redeeming about it. This year's low, unfortunately, is Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat. This novel is... it's so bad I don't know where to begin. The plot of the novel involves a prince sold to a neighbouring, enemy kingdom after his brother steals his birthright, to act as a pleasure slave to the prince-in-waiting. This "captive prince", Damen, can't reveal his identity to anyone, because he killed this kingdom's former crown prince during a war fought between the two countries. As such, he is left to the cruelty of Laurent, prince of the enemy state, as he learns about this new, hedonistic culture he's been thrown into. It's been named "slave erotica" although, it's hardly erotic at all.
First off, I don't tend to read erotica, I had just heard good things about this series and wanted to check it out for myself. And now I wish I hadn't.
The biggest problem I had, right from the get go, was the writing. It's written at a grade-school level. I honestly thought I was reading one of those beginner chapter books that you read in, like, grade 5, that's how poorly written it was. And throughout it, I was very confused about who the target audience was, because, the writing was so simplistic, dull, and poor, but it was filled with sex and brutalism and well, rape.
After reading this novel, I went to Goodreads to read some of the reviews posted on the site, and a lot of people were shocked about how explicit and disgusting some of the scenes were. Some people were mind-blown at how degrading and disturbing the content was... but... where exactly was all that content? Yes, there was a scene of rape... sort of, and Damen, the main character, was beaten, degraded, and flogged... but this novel was hardly disturbing. Last year I read Let the Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist, now THERE'S a disturbing novel. Maybe it's because the writing was so poor, but I was never shocked, never disturbed by the content, if anything the writing was disturbing enough.
And then there's the world building and the characters. I've heard that the world building does get better, so I'm looking forward to that, but in this novel we're thrown into these lavished, hedonistic cultures, but we only ever learn about their sexuality, that's it. Nothing else seems to matter in these books except for the devious sexual appetites of every, single, damn culture. Give me a break, throw me some actual fantasy world building, not just the sexual adventures of these cultures. And the characters are as dull and single-minded as the world. Damen, the main character, the "captive prince", is the dumbest character I've ever encountered, and Laurent, the chauvinistic, coniving prince who ends up owning Damen, isn't much sharper. The whole scheming plot of this story was so easy to unravel, and it took these characters FOREVER to get to the conclusion that I had suspected from the first few chapters. There's nothing appealing about either character's personalities, no evoking emotions that kept me reading, no chemistry between the two that amounted to anything... this was just a poorly thought out book from front cover to back. And I hate to say that, because I wanted SO badly to enjoy it. It promised to be a unique take on fantasy and world building, but it turned out to be dull, middle-grade fiction written for horny teenagers.
That being said... I will be finishing this series. I suppose it's my vice. I can't stop something, no matter how terrible it is. Luckily this book was so short that it took me a couple of days to get through. I'm hoping the other two novels will be the same.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
First off, I don't tend to read erotica, I had just heard good things about this series and wanted to check it out for myself. And now I wish I hadn't.
The biggest problem I had, right from the get go, was the writing. It's written at a grade-school level. I honestly thought I was reading one of those beginner chapter books that you read in, like, grade 5, that's how poorly written it was. And throughout it, I was very confused about who the target audience was, because, the writing was so simplistic, dull, and poor, but it was filled with sex and brutalism and well, rape.
After reading this novel, I went to Goodreads to read some of the reviews posted on the site, and a lot of people were shocked about how explicit and disgusting some of the scenes were. Some people were mind-blown at how degrading and disturbing the content was... but... where exactly was all that content? Yes, there was a scene of rape... sort of, and Damen, the main character, was beaten, degraded, and flogged... but this novel was hardly disturbing. Last year I read Let the Right One In, by John Ajvide Lindqvist, now THERE'S a disturbing novel. Maybe it's because the writing was so poor, but I was never shocked, never disturbed by the content, if anything the writing was disturbing enough.
And then there's the world building and the characters. I've heard that the world building does get better, so I'm looking forward to that, but in this novel we're thrown into these lavished, hedonistic cultures, but we only ever learn about their sexuality, that's it. Nothing else seems to matter in these books except for the devious sexual appetites of every, single, damn culture. Give me a break, throw me some actual fantasy world building, not just the sexual adventures of these cultures. And the characters are as dull and single-minded as the world. Damen, the main character, the "captive prince", is the dumbest character I've ever encountered, and Laurent, the chauvinistic, coniving prince who ends up owning Damen, isn't much sharper. The whole scheming plot of this story was so easy to unravel, and it took these characters FOREVER to get to the conclusion that I had suspected from the first few chapters. There's nothing appealing about either character's personalities, no evoking emotions that kept me reading, no chemistry between the two that amounted to anything... this was just a poorly thought out book from front cover to back. And I hate to say that, because I wanted SO badly to enjoy it. It promised to be a unique take on fantasy and world building, but it turned out to be dull, middle-grade fiction written for horny teenagers.
That being said... I will be finishing this series. I suppose it's my vice. I can't stop something, no matter how terrible it is. Luckily this book was so short that it took me a couple of days to get through. I'm hoping the other two novels will be the same.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
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A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
2.0
Well... it took me months, but I finally finished this book. To be honest the only real reason it took me so long to finish it was because I didn't like it very much. I expected this epic story with the flowing descriptive writing of the Tolkien, with the elaborate dialogue of Wilde and the character development of Bear, but instead it was dull, plot-driven, and tiresome to read. There was so little emotion in the characters, and there was really no point in having point-of-view chapters, because their own personal opinions and strifes really made no difference at all. I was really disappointed. While the world build was fantastic, and some of the secondary characters shone really well – Varys and Renly were both very animated and well fleshed out – I just couldn't get over how bored I was reading it.
I was originally going to read the rest of the series, back to back, but after that one, I need a break from Martin's bland writing.
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I was originally going to read the rest of the series, back to back, but after that one, I need a break from Martin's bland writing.
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Watership Down by Richard Adams
5.0
I first read Watership Down when I was in high school, and admittedly, I didn't get very far in it. I remember liking what I read, but found it dull. At that time, I was 14 or 15, and obsessed with fantasy and Star Wars books, and if it wasn't either one of those, I wasn't interested.
But the last few years, the book had popped up in my mind every now and then, and I thought I should give it a proper read. Only I could never find a copy. Every time I'd go to Chapters, or another bookstore, I'd look for the book, and it was never there. Finally I just happened to stumble upon it at a Library Book Sale, picked it up for a buck! And I'm glad I did because this book is so beautifully written, and after a series of more modern and action-packed novels, I needed the languid pace and pastoral setting of this novel. I became so attached to these characters, rabbits, and was really sad when I finished the book because I'd have to let them go, and that's so odd to me, that I've enjoyed these characters more than most humans in the past few novels I've read.
It was truly a beautiful read. I'm so glad I read it, and will definitely go back to it year after year. I understand now why we were forced to read it in high school among other classics.
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But the last few years, the book had popped up in my mind every now and then, and I thought I should give it a proper read. Only I could never find a copy. Every time I'd go to Chapters, or another bookstore, I'd look for the book, and it was never there. Finally I just happened to stumble upon it at a Library Book Sale, picked it up for a buck! And I'm glad I did because this book is so beautifully written, and after a series of more modern and action-packed novels, I needed the languid pace and pastoral setting of this novel. I became so attached to these characters, rabbits, and was really sad when I finished the book because I'd have to let them go, and that's so odd to me, that I've enjoyed these characters more than most humans in the past few novels I've read.
It was truly a beautiful read. I'm so glad I read it, and will definitely go back to it year after year. I understand now why we were forced to read it in high school among other classics.
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Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
2.0
My sister had to read this book in her apocalyptic literature class at uni, and she told me about it and said I should read it when she was done with it, because I'd enjoy it. Well she was wrong. The book is filled with one-dimensional characters who fail to truly sparkle in the weird, post-apocalyptic Toronto. But I think the setting was what bothered me the most. There was no need for it to be set in the world it was set in... at all. Before the opening of the novel, Toronto had become a blockaded city where the poor thrive in a collapsed civilization, while the rest of the world goes on seemingly without pause. But there's no need for it. There's nothing in the novel that warranted the collapse of society, it could have been set in modern times, or even back when Toronto was just a small city. That paired with poor writing and characters that I never cared about, led to a boring and tedious read.
The one redeeming factor, for me, was all the folklore and magic in the book. There were parts that left me with goosebumps, and despite how terrible I found the writing, those scenes were very well done, to the point where I almost forgot the problems I had with the novel. Who doesn't love a good obeah story anyway!
So in the end, I was conflicted about this novel, I think I disliked it more than I liked it, and I probably won't ever read it again. But there sure were some amazing parts.
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The one redeeming factor, for me, was all the folklore and magic in the book. There were parts that left me with goosebumps, and despite how terrible I found the writing, those scenes were very well done, to the point where I almost forgot the problems I had with the novel. Who doesn't love a good obeah story anyway!
So in the end, I was conflicted about this novel, I think I disliked it more than I liked it, and I probably won't ever read it again. But there sure were some amazing parts.
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A Poisoned Land by Craig Roberts, Craig P. Roberts
5.0
I was on YouTube one day, just surfing through book trailers trying to get some inspiration for my own book trailer that I've yet to shoot, when I happened across the trailer for Craig Robert's novel A Poisoned Land, and it was by far one of the best trailers I'd seen. I checked out the website, read some reviews of the book and decided to check it out.
A Poisoned Land was definitely a book unlike any that I've ever read before, it's gritty, sexually charged, with memorable characters, unexpected plot turns (that epilogue! Did not see that coming!), and beautifully crafted settings. But where Roberts excels, in my opinion, is in his world building. This novel is riddled with fanatical religious beliefs that have formed a number of varying civilizations that are so well fleshed out that they really come alive. Roberts also expertly blends the genres of fantasy and science fiction in a unique storyline, and in a way that I never expected. Set in a well developed, almost post-apocalyptic world, we meander through various kingdoms with hints of a modern past that, for the majority of the novel, leaves you in a state of ambiguity as to what time the story takes place in.
We follow the storyline through a number of (often profane) individuals, some of whom I liked more than others, but each of them are well developed, interesting, kept my attention, and fuelled my desire to read more. I'm definitely looking forward to see where the story advances from here, and what Roberts has in store for his characters in the second novel!
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
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A Poisoned Land was definitely a book unlike any that I've ever read before, it's gritty, sexually charged, with memorable characters, unexpected plot turns (that epilogue! Did not see that coming!), and beautifully crafted settings. But where Roberts excels, in my opinion, is in his world building. This novel is riddled with fanatical religious beliefs that have formed a number of varying civilizations that are so well fleshed out that they really come alive. Roberts also expertly blends the genres of fantasy and science fiction in a unique storyline, and in a way that I never expected. Set in a well developed, almost post-apocalyptic world, we meander through various kingdoms with hints of a modern past that, for the majority of the novel, leaves you in a state of ambiguity as to what time the story takes place in.
We follow the storyline through a number of (often profane) individuals, some of whom I liked more than others, but each of them are well developed, interesting, kept my attention, and fuelled my desire to read more. I'm definitely looking forward to see where the story advances from here, and what Roberts has in store for his characters in the second novel!
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
4.0
I had kind of a weird experience with this book. When I first started it, I hated it. I didn't hate the storyline, or the characters, I hated the Palahniuk's writing style. The sort of stream of consciousness accented with short sentences, little punctuation, and straight to the point descriptions, and I think it was because I'm not used to that type of writing. I came from reading classical lit and fantasy, so at first it was kind of a shock to me.
But I never leave a book unread, and when it picked it up to continue, it was like I did a complete 180. I loved the writing style. I found it brash and punctuated and almost offensive, which matched the plot and theme of the book perfectly. I thought it was incredibly witty and sharp, and thought the whole stream of consciousness fit so well with the character and the plot. I don't know, maybe I was in a mood when I first picked it up or something, haha.
**SPOILERS**
I had seen the movie before, many times, and I actually liked the movie (but I'm a sucker for anything with Brad Pitt or Helena Bonham Carter). And with both the movie and the book, my reaction to the ending was a little lukewarm. If you've read some of my other reviews, you might know why, but if you haven't, I have this preference for characters to die in the end. And it was no different for this book. I really wanted the narrator to commit suicide in the end, but all he did was blow out his cheek. And it sort of came off like the character never got their big finale. They wimped out, and let Tyler Durden win. Yes, the narrator pulled the trigger on his own, making his first self-motivated move, but I didn't read this as a victory over Tyler, and I think all he did was give himself a grave period before Tyler's return.
Other than that, I loved the book, ended up loving the writing style, and I definitely have more Palahniuk novels on my to be read list now!
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
But I never leave a book unread, and when it picked it up to continue, it was like I did a complete 180. I loved the writing style. I found it brash and punctuated and almost offensive, which matched the plot and theme of the book perfectly. I thought it was incredibly witty and sharp, and thought the whole stream of consciousness fit so well with the character and the plot. I don't know, maybe I was in a mood when I first picked it up or something, haha.
**SPOILERS**
I had seen the movie before, many times, and I actually liked the movie (but I'm a sucker for anything with Brad Pitt or Helena Bonham Carter). And with both the movie and the book, my reaction to the ending was a little lukewarm. If you've read some of my other reviews, you might know why, but if you haven't, I have this preference for characters to die in the end. And it was no different for this book. I really wanted the narrator to commit suicide in the end, but all he did was blow out his cheek. And it sort of came off like the character never got their big finale. They wimped out, and let Tyler Durden win. Yes, the narrator pulled the trigger on his own, making his first self-motivated move, but I didn't read this as a victory over Tyler, and I think all he did was give himself a grave period before Tyler's return.
Other than that, I loved the book, ended up loving the writing style, and I definitely have more Palahniuk novels on my to be read list now!
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
The Art of Magic: The Gathering - Zendikar by Mark Rosewater, Adam Paquette, James Wyatt
4.0
This was SO much more than just an art book.
I'm pretty new to the Magic world. I started playing a year ago after a friend turned me on to it, and I taught my sister and we discovered one of my cousins played. I liked it more for the images than the actual game, and while I enjoy playing it, the pictures are what keep me buying cards and wanting to play. When I picked up this book, I had no idea about Planes or Planeswalkers, I didn't know anything about Zendikar, or what the Eldrazi were, I was completely oblivious to it all.
And when I picked up this book, I thought it was going to be purely an art book. But I was so happy to learn that it was almost a history text telling the story behind the plane Zendikar. I love digital art, and I've been trying my hand at it myself, and looking through these images and reading about the development of this world really inspired me as an artist and a writer. I'm definitely looking forward to other books in this series, I know they're coming out with an Innistrad book this summer, and I can't wait!
The one complain I had about it... and yes, this will be knit-picky, but I wish there had of been more images in the book. I know a lot of animals and creatures were cut, and I would've liked to see more about them, and learned a little bit more about the natural flora and fauna of Zendikar and less about the Eldrazi. There was just, less art than I expected there to be. The art that's included is incredible, but there could've been more.
Otherwise though, it was an excellent read and very enlightening, and really sparked my interest in the world behind Magic the Gathering.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
I'm pretty new to the Magic world. I started playing a year ago after a friend turned me on to it, and I taught my sister and we discovered one of my cousins played. I liked it more for the images than the actual game, and while I enjoy playing it, the pictures are what keep me buying cards and wanting to play. When I picked up this book, I had no idea about Planes or Planeswalkers, I didn't know anything about Zendikar, or what the Eldrazi were, I was completely oblivious to it all.
And when I picked up this book, I thought it was going to be purely an art book. But I was so happy to learn that it was almost a history text telling the story behind the plane Zendikar. I love digital art, and I've been trying my hand at it myself, and looking through these images and reading about the development of this world really inspired me as an artist and a writer. I'm definitely looking forward to other books in this series, I know they're coming out with an Innistrad book this summer, and I can't wait!
The one complain I had about it... and yes, this will be knit-picky, but I wish there had of been more images in the book. I know a lot of animals and creatures were cut, and I would've liked to see more about them, and learned a little bit more about the natural flora and fauna of Zendikar and less about the Eldrazi. There was just, less art than I expected there to be. The art that's included is incredible, but there could've been more.
Otherwise though, it was an excellent read and very enlightening, and really sparked my interest in the world behind Magic the Gathering.
---
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse