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michaeljohnhalseartistry's reviews
111 reviews
Star Wars(r) the Bounty Hunter Code by Ryder Windham, Jason Fry, Daniel Wallace
2.0
My 9th novel of the year, The Bounty Hunter Code, was more of a guilty pleasure than anything else. When I was younger I ate up companion books like these, and especially for Star Wars. The Essential Guide to Alien Species was one of my favourite books, and I still have really fond memories of reading that. I had heard really good things about the Jedi and Sith versions of these books, and was looking forward to reading this one.
But... it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting it to be. It was a lot of mundane information that I didn't need to know. It was a lot of "where to go to find bounty postings", "how to handle your bounties", "rules that bounty hunters should keep that are pretty boring". The best part of the book was a small chapter that listed various Guild Houses within the Bounty Hunters Guild, and I think it would've been more interesting if they had gone into more detail about these houses, and did small fact-files on bounty hunters in those guilds, or famous bounties. You know, concentrating on famous members of the guild and quests they undertook, instead of pages upon pages of rules to be a bounty hunter in the guild...
So, I wasn't too fond of this book. I would still like to read the Jedi and Sith versions, I'll get around to them eventually.
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But... it wasn't quite as good as I was expecting it to be. It was a lot of mundane information that I didn't need to know. It was a lot of "where to go to find bounty postings", "how to handle your bounties", "rules that bounty hunters should keep that are pretty boring". The best part of the book was a small chapter that listed various Guild Houses within the Bounty Hunters Guild, and I think it would've been more interesting if they had gone into more detail about these houses, and did small fact-files on bounty hunters in those guilds, or famous bounties. You know, concentrating on famous members of the guild and quests they undertook, instead of pages upon pages of rules to be a bounty hunter in the guild...
So, I wasn't too fond of this book. I would still like to read the Jedi and Sith versions, I'll get around to them eventually.
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The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
4.0
My 8th novel of 2016, I first came across Sylvia Plath when I was in high school, and I've been a huge fan ever since. Just recently I bought her novel, The Bell Jar, the only novel Plath wrote. I wasn't really sure what to expect going in to it. I had no idea what it was about, I just knew Plath wrote it and picked it up.
For the most part, I loved the novel. The way Plath writes poetry, with very real imagery and almost blunt emotional impact is translated over into the novel beautifully. The way Plath writes depression and the progression of it as it takes over the main character is beautiful, and stems, no doubt, from self-awareness. She creates this creeping sense of growing disinterest in the world so well that you hardly notice the slow degradation. One minute the novel begins and you can sense there's something off with Ester Greenwood, and the next minute you're half way through and wondering when Ester had sunk so low.
The one real issue I had with The Bell Jar was a little knit-picky thing. I wasn't too fond of the ending. I thought it was too ambiguous, and as I tend to gravitate towards the darker outcomes, I would've rather seen the main character commit suicide in the end. BUT I suppose that'd be too close to home for Plath to have written that ending, haha. Interestingly, this novel was published in January 1963, a month before Plath committed suicide herself.
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For the most part, I loved the novel. The way Plath writes poetry, with very real imagery and almost blunt emotional impact is translated over into the novel beautifully. The way Plath writes depression and the progression of it as it takes over the main character is beautiful, and stems, no doubt, from self-awareness. She creates this creeping sense of growing disinterest in the world so well that you hardly notice the slow degradation. One minute the novel begins and you can sense there's something off with Ester Greenwood, and the next minute you're half way through and wondering when Ester had sunk so low.
The one real issue I had with The Bell Jar was a little knit-picky thing. I wasn't too fond of the ending. I thought it was too ambiguous, and as I tend to gravitate towards the darker outcomes, I would've rather seen the main character commit suicide in the end. BUT I suppose that'd be too close to home for Plath to have written that ending, haha. Interestingly, this novel was published in January 1963, a month before Plath committed suicide herself.
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Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear
3.0
I started reading this trilogy a year ago, and I enjoyed it, for the most part. Each book does move at a glacial pace, with the exception for this one, the final book, which I found had a much quicker pace than than book two... which dragged on forever, despite nothing really happening. And while I've loved Bear's world-building in this series, I always felt a little disconnected from the characters, really only because of the dialogue. It never seemed to fit with the culture or how I was reading the characters, it was very modern, and just seemed out of place almost. HOWEVER, I would be lying if I said I didn't tear up a little at the end. It ended perfectly. Exactly how I would have wanted it to end. It's a totally bittersweet ending (and I love those).
One thing that really bothered me though, was how entire storylines were just sort of dropped... it almost felt like there needed to be another books of the series to expand more on these characters. I won't give anything away, but I was disappointed in the closings of Yangchen-tsa, the empress of Tsarapeth and Anil-la, and it seemed like Lady Diao was just forgotten about... and Ümmühan, a character I was really interested in, her storyline really didn't matter in the end, she could've been written out and it wouldn't have made a difference.
I did really love the close to Tsering-la's story, and the storyline of the main characters, though I wish there had been more of Hong-la in this book, only because he was my favourite character from the previous book.
Otherwise, it's an exceptional world, so intricate and well developed. And for that reason I think fantasy-fans and writers should read this series... just, try not to concentrate too much on the dialogue, haha.
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One thing that really bothered me though, was how entire storylines were just sort of dropped... it almost felt like there needed to be another books of the series to expand more on these characters. I won't give anything away, but I was disappointed in the closings of Yangchen-tsa, the empress of Tsarapeth and Anil-la, and it seemed like Lady Diao was just forgotten about... and Ümmühan, a character I was really interested in, her storyline really didn't matter in the end, she could've been written out and it wouldn't have made a difference.
I did really love the close to Tsering-la's story, and the storyline of the main characters, though I wish there had been more of Hong-la in this book, only because he was my favourite character from the previous book.
Otherwise, it's an exceptional world, so intricate and well developed. And for that reason I think fantasy-fans and writers should read this series... just, try not to concentrate too much on the dialogue, haha.
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Saturn by Ben Bova
1.0
You know, mistakes do happen. Sometimes you pick up a book with a promising premise and it makes you want to die, and this was one of those books. I probably should have expected it though, because I bought it at a dollar store… I paid a dollar for this book, and after reading it, I’d say that’s a fair price point.
Saturn is a part of a huge anthology of books spanning Bova’s Grand Tour series. The books in the series are stand alone, but there are overlapping settlings, themes and characters throughout the series. Apparently Bova is a well known and respected sic-fi author, but I did not get that impression from this book. The characterization was incredibly poor and stereotypical and the plot hardly held it together. The only thing that intrigued be about this story was the ship they travelled in… that was it. And all it was, was a giant cylinder that was made to look like rolling hills, farmland and greek villages.
Bova is an atheist and proud to be one and has been outspoken about religion throughout his entire career. I was raised in a traditional Baptist house, and I do consider myself a spiritual Christian, even though I wouldn’t necessarily say I agree with traditional Baptist interpretations, but I’ve never had a problem with understanding and accepting different beliefs. But Bova displays that he doesn’t understand religion at all. In this book and the whole series he’s moulded religious bodies into the antagonist – which I don’t have a problem with, there’s corruption in every form of government and religion. The problem I had with it, was that any character who had any sort of faith beside an atheistic world view, was a selfish, corrupt villain with really no moral merit that would tie them to their beliefs. And apparently this is recurrent throughout his entire series and his works. But to me, it really showed that he knows so little about what he’s writing about. I’ve written religious characters who are fanatics, sure, but I’ve also written religious characters who are accepting and loving…
But I mean, that was just ONE of the many problems I had with it. The premise didn’t make any sense… these religious bodies were sending all the radicals from earth to Saturn to study it, but then wanted to make sure a religious government was formed… then why would you send all your radicals and atheists out together? The main protagonist talked like a valley girl, with slang that included words like “cosmic” and “ftl” (faster than light), but no one else spoke like that… and I don’t understand why she did… the politics of the whole thing was shaky at best, another main character who was supposed to be this charming individual who was exceptional at speeches and capturing the attention of the people had literally the worst speeches ever written. I mean, all these radical thinkers from earth must be complete idiots. Like, he was all about making a government for the people and laws for the people so they could be free, but he installed a dress code early on in the book… that’d not what freedom looks like.
Basically, Bova wrote a garbage book, and I regret not leaving it in the dollar store.
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Saturn is a part of a huge anthology of books spanning Bova’s Grand Tour series. The books in the series are stand alone, but there are overlapping settlings, themes and characters throughout the series. Apparently Bova is a well known and respected sic-fi author, but I did not get that impression from this book. The characterization was incredibly poor and stereotypical and the plot hardly held it together. The only thing that intrigued be about this story was the ship they travelled in… that was it. And all it was, was a giant cylinder that was made to look like rolling hills, farmland and greek villages.
Bova is an atheist and proud to be one and has been outspoken about religion throughout his entire career. I was raised in a traditional Baptist house, and I do consider myself a spiritual Christian, even though I wouldn’t necessarily say I agree with traditional Baptist interpretations, but I’ve never had a problem with understanding and accepting different beliefs. But Bova displays that he doesn’t understand religion at all. In this book and the whole series he’s moulded religious bodies into the antagonist – which I don’t have a problem with, there’s corruption in every form of government and religion. The problem I had with it, was that any character who had any sort of faith beside an atheistic world view, was a selfish, corrupt villain with really no moral merit that would tie them to their beliefs. And apparently this is recurrent throughout his entire series and his works. But to me, it really showed that he knows so little about what he’s writing about. I’ve written religious characters who are fanatics, sure, but I’ve also written religious characters who are accepting and loving…
But I mean, that was just ONE of the many problems I had with it. The premise didn’t make any sense… these religious bodies were sending all the radicals from earth to Saturn to study it, but then wanted to make sure a religious government was formed… then why would you send all your radicals and atheists out together? The main protagonist talked like a valley girl, with slang that included words like “cosmic” and “ftl” (faster than light), but no one else spoke like that… and I don’t understand why she did… the politics of the whole thing was shaky at best, another main character who was supposed to be this charming individual who was exceptional at speeches and capturing the attention of the people had literally the worst speeches ever written. I mean, all these radical thinkers from earth must be complete idiots. Like, he was all about making a government for the people and laws for the people so they could be free, but he installed a dress code early on in the book… that’d not what freedom looks like.
Basically, Bova wrote a garbage book, and I regret not leaving it in the dollar store.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
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The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
5.0
I recently finished my fifth book of the year, The Children of Húrin, or, if you’re a super-nerd like me, Narn i Chîn Húrin. Tolkien fans might remember this tale from The Silmarillion, which condensed the tragedy into a single chapter. And while admittedly not my favourite tale from The Silmarillion (I’m a sucker for anything Maedhros), it is one of the tales with the most lasting impression, mostly because of how tragic the story is.
I don’t want to give away spoilers on here, but I’ll just say that of all Tolkien’s Middle Earth stories, this one is the most heartbreaking. It follows Túrin, the son of Húrin as he struggles helplessly against the curse that Morgoth (Sauron’s master/lover… well not really lover, but I ship it) placed on the children of Húrin, which brings tragedy and sorrow wherever he goes.
It’s not something you’d want to pick up and read if you’d just read The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. It’s part of Tolkien’s expanded works and reads like The Silmarillion, that is, almost like a history text. There’s little dialogue, and lots of references to places within Beleriand, and is very reflective of Tolkien’s writing style. But that’s also why I loved it. The Silmarillion is one of my favourite books, and was more influential to me as a fantasy writer than The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit.
I also really liked this book, because as some of you might know, I’m a sucker for tragedy. And I can not stress the amount of agony in this book. It’s very Shakespearean, the level of tragedy that befalls the characters, and I LOVE it. I’ve learned to write and adapt tragedy into my own works, albeit with a little more emotional heaviness than Tolkien uses.
In the end, I think I might be biased on this one. I grew up on Tolkien, I grew up with Túrin Turambar and felt Melian’s anguish at Thingol’s death and totally shipped Fingon and Maedhros. And these books will always be my favourites.
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I don’t want to give away spoilers on here, but I’ll just say that of all Tolkien’s Middle Earth stories, this one is the most heartbreaking. It follows Túrin, the son of Húrin as he struggles helplessly against the curse that Morgoth (Sauron’s master/lover… well not really lover, but I ship it) placed on the children of Húrin, which brings tragedy and sorrow wherever he goes.
It’s not something you’d want to pick up and read if you’d just read The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. It’s part of Tolkien’s expanded works and reads like The Silmarillion, that is, almost like a history text. There’s little dialogue, and lots of references to places within Beleriand, and is very reflective of Tolkien’s writing style. But that’s also why I loved it. The Silmarillion is one of my favourite books, and was more influential to me as a fantasy writer than The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit.
I also really liked this book, because as some of you might know, I’m a sucker for tragedy. And I can not stress the amount of agony in this book. It’s very Shakespearean, the level of tragedy that befalls the characters, and I LOVE it. I’ve learned to write and adapt tragedy into my own works, albeit with a little more emotional heaviness than Tolkien uses.
In the end, I think I might be biased on this one. I grew up on Tolkien, I grew up with Túrin Turambar and felt Melian’s anguish at Thingol’s death and totally shipped Fingon and Maedhros. And these books will always be my favourites.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
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Maurice by E.M. Forster
3.0
I just finished my fourth novel of the year, Maurice, by E. M. Forster. I have one more book to read before I’ll film my YouTube video. I’m doing reviews of the books I read in blocks of five at a time, so, watch out for that. You can check out my other YouTube videos here.
Okay, so Maurice. This was actually my second time reading it. I’d read it once before a few years ago and hated it. But, I tend to re-read books I’ve hated because I find that a lot of factors can impact my reception to books, I could be in a bad mood, or having a hard time with something else and can’t really relate to what I’m reading.
My second time reading Maurice, I was actually surprised how much I liked it. I was expecting to hate it once more, the first time I’d read it, I had no idea what was going on, who was who, and was bored out of my mind, but this time I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maurice is the story of a same-sex romance between the title character and two other men. Forster wrote it in 1913, but it wasn’t published until after his death in 1971, because he thought it was unpublishable.
While the story is at times bittersweet and the relationship between Maurice and his friend Clive is actually very beautifully portrayed, there was still a lot that I found lacking with the novel. One of the big things for me, was Forster’s writing style. A few times he’d write how the characters were having these deep, philosophical conversations and life-changing exchanges, but he never showed it through dialogue. And that kind of bugged me, because I love dialogue… and come to think of it, not one of the books that I’ve read this year has had decent dialogue… hmm. However, despite my dissatisfaction with the dialogue, I did love his descriptions of life and emotion. One of my favourite lines from the book reads: When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else. Blessed are the uneducated, who forget it entirely, and are never conscious of folly or pruriency in the past, of long aimless conversations.
The second thing that bugged me was Maurice himself. I could not stand his character. I must have a problem with title characters… Maurice, Harry Potter… I never like the characters the books are named after. Maurice seemed to me, very melodramatic and whiny. He’s incredibly rude to his mother and sister, and doesn’t think about anyone but himself. And I found it ironic, because much of the novel exhausts itself by trying to paint Clive as the selfish one.
In the end, I can see myself reading this one again. It wasn’t my favourite in these last four novels I’ve read, but I think there was a lot of beautiful descriptive writing that’s characteristic of early 1900 literature… and I love that kind of stuff.
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Okay, so Maurice. This was actually my second time reading it. I’d read it once before a few years ago and hated it. But, I tend to re-read books I’ve hated because I find that a lot of factors can impact my reception to books, I could be in a bad mood, or having a hard time with something else and can’t really relate to what I’m reading.
My second time reading Maurice, I was actually surprised how much I liked it. I was expecting to hate it once more, the first time I’d read it, I had no idea what was going on, who was who, and was bored out of my mind, but this time I thoroughly enjoyed it. Maurice is the story of a same-sex romance between the title character and two other men. Forster wrote it in 1913, but it wasn’t published until after his death in 1971, because he thought it was unpublishable.
While the story is at times bittersweet and the relationship between Maurice and his friend Clive is actually very beautifully portrayed, there was still a lot that I found lacking with the novel. One of the big things for me, was Forster’s writing style. A few times he’d write how the characters were having these deep, philosophical conversations and life-changing exchanges, but he never showed it through dialogue. And that kind of bugged me, because I love dialogue… and come to think of it, not one of the books that I’ve read this year has had decent dialogue… hmm. However, despite my dissatisfaction with the dialogue, I did love his descriptions of life and emotion. One of my favourite lines from the book reads: When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else. Blessed are the uneducated, who forget it entirely, and are never conscious of folly or pruriency in the past, of long aimless conversations.
The second thing that bugged me was Maurice himself. I could not stand his character. I must have a problem with title characters… Maurice, Harry Potter… I never like the characters the books are named after. Maurice seemed to me, very melodramatic and whiny. He’s incredibly rude to his mother and sister, and doesn’t think about anyone but himself. And I found it ironic, because much of the novel exhausts itself by trying to paint Clive as the selfish one.
In the end, I can see myself reading this one again. It wasn’t my favourite in these last four novels I’ve read, but I think there was a lot of beautiful descriptive writing that’s characteristic of early 1900 literature… and I love that kind of stuff.
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Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan
4.0
My third read of 2016, Trout Fishing in America is a collection of short stories with recurring characters and themes. The phrase, “Trout Fishing in America” is used in many different ways, from names of characters to places, even a hotel at one point. It was written by Brautigan in 1967, he was an American novelist active during the 60′s and 70′s who’s known for his satires and black comedic works.
I first discovered Brautigan while listening to Slowblow. The band had one song that featured a reading from one of Brautigan’s books and I thought the monologue was so bizarre and interesting that I needed to know who came up with it. I had never heard of Brautigan before, despite being a famous American author, and wasn’t too sure what to make of this book when I picked it up, but as I read it, I really enjoyed it.
Trout Fishing in America was such a good read. It’s hilarious, and very reflective of American culture of the 60′s (not that I was around then), but as I read through the shorts in the book, I got a sense of what that period was like. Brautigan isn’t really a flamboyant writer, his sentences are short and rough, and get the point across, but he does it with such directness and hilarity.
One of the passages I underlined, and is a great example of his writing style, reads: A little ways up from the shack was an outhouse with its door flung violently open. The inside of the outhouse was exposed like a human face and the outhouse seemed to say, “The old guy who built me crapped in here 9,745 times and he’s dead now and I don’t want anyone else to touch me. He was a good guy. He built me with loving care. Leave me alone. I’m a monument now to a good ass gone under. There’s no mystery here. That’s why the door’s open. If you have to crap, go in the bushes like the deer.”
“Fuck you,” I said to the outhouse. “All I want is a ride down the river.”
Literally the whole book is full of weird gems like this. It was such a good read.
The only problem I had with it, and why I’d give it 4/5 stars, is that at times it felt kind of repetitive, especially towards the end. It sort of seemed to run out of steam in the last few chapters. That being said, I did enjoy the ending and the use of mayonnaise.
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I first discovered Brautigan while listening to Slowblow. The band had one song that featured a reading from one of Brautigan’s books and I thought the monologue was so bizarre and interesting that I needed to know who came up with it. I had never heard of Brautigan before, despite being a famous American author, and wasn’t too sure what to make of this book when I picked it up, but as I read it, I really enjoyed it.
Trout Fishing in America was such a good read. It’s hilarious, and very reflective of American culture of the 60′s (not that I was around then), but as I read through the shorts in the book, I got a sense of what that period was like. Brautigan isn’t really a flamboyant writer, his sentences are short and rough, and get the point across, but he does it with such directness and hilarity.
One of the passages I underlined, and is a great example of his writing style, reads: A little ways up from the shack was an outhouse with its door flung violently open. The inside of the outhouse was exposed like a human face and the outhouse seemed to say, “The old guy who built me crapped in here 9,745 times and he’s dead now and I don’t want anyone else to touch me. He was a good guy. He built me with loving care. Leave me alone. I’m a monument now to a good ass gone under. There’s no mystery here. That’s why the door’s open. If you have to crap, go in the bushes like the deer.”
“Fuck you,” I said to the outhouse. “All I want is a ride down the river.”
Literally the whole book is full of weird gems like this. It was such a good read.
The only problem I had with it, and why I’d give it 4/5 stars, is that at times it felt kind of repetitive, especially towards the end. It sort of seemed to run out of steam in the last few chapters. That being said, I did enjoy the ending and the use of mayonnaise.
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Shattered Pillars by Elizabeth Bear
3.0
My second novel of 2016. The book is called Shattered Pillars, and is the second of the Eternal Sky trilogy written by American author Elizabeth Bear. The story is set in a fantasy world that’s a reimagining of Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, which is something that’s rarely tackled in fantasy. It follows the young, self-exiled prince Temur, as he seeks to reclaim his father’s vast kingdom of grassy steppes and high hills; and the princess-turned-wizard Sarmarkar as she helped Temur in his pursuit.
I read the first book in this series, Range of Ghosts, in May 2015, I might have even posted about it, but I was a little unsure if I liked it. I know I liked Shattered Pillars more, but it could be that I’m now familiar with these characters so I as more invested in the story (Mostly, though, I’m invested in the sentient-tiger-fighter Hrahima and the wizard surgeon Hong-la, WHO ARE MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS).
The reason I have mixed feelings about this book and it’s predecessor, has to do with the writing. I absolutely LOVE the world-building in this series. Bear’s created one of the most unique and interesting fantasy world, that dominated by these kingdoms with differing skies, each one reflecting the political structure and religion of the kingdom they sit under. The religion and cultures are so incredibly fleshed out that they feel real, and her descriptive writing is magical and easily whisked me away.
The problem I had was with the dialogue. To me, it almost doesn’t fit. It’s written oddly modern and westernized, and feels out of place among the asian-themed cultures and customs. And it read so different for me, almost to the point where it was like a rude interruption from her masterful descriptive paragraphs.
However I do recommend reading this series. It’s a very different take on fantasy than I’ve read, and I find Bear’s descriptive writing style and world-building to be incredibly inspiring, especially to a newbie fantasy author like myself. I do plan on finishing the series with the final book in the trilogy, Steles of the Sky, buuuuut, I still have to buy it, haha.
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I read the first book in this series, Range of Ghosts, in May 2015, I might have even posted about it, but I was a little unsure if I liked it. I know I liked Shattered Pillars more, but it could be that I’m now familiar with these characters so I as more invested in the story (Mostly, though, I’m invested in the sentient-tiger-fighter Hrahima and the wizard surgeon Hong-la, WHO ARE MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS).
The reason I have mixed feelings about this book and it’s predecessor, has to do with the writing. I absolutely LOVE the world-building in this series. Bear’s created one of the most unique and interesting fantasy world, that dominated by these kingdoms with differing skies, each one reflecting the political structure and religion of the kingdom they sit under. The religion and cultures are so incredibly fleshed out that they feel real, and her descriptive writing is magical and easily whisked me away.
The problem I had was with the dialogue. To me, it almost doesn’t fit. It’s written oddly modern and westernized, and feels out of place among the asian-themed cultures and customs. And it read so different for me, almost to the point where it was like a rude interruption from her masterful descriptive paragraphs.
However I do recommend reading this series. It’s a very different take on fantasy than I’ve read, and I find Bear’s descriptive writing style and world-building to be incredibly inspiring, especially to a newbie fantasy author like myself. I do plan on finishing the series with the final book in the trilogy, Steles of the Sky, buuuuut, I still have to buy it, haha.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
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Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
4.0
My first book of 2016. The novel is Let Me In, by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist. One of my goals for 2016 is to read more. I only read four books last year - Range of Ghosts, Dorian Gray (which has since become one of my FAVOURITE novels), Heart of Darkness, and The Redwood Rebel (a novel from one of the writers I follow on here) and that’s it . A pitiful amount of reading, but in my defence, I was re-reading and editing my own novel, The Children of Gods and Monsters, over and over and over again.
So for 2016, aside from writing book two of The Children of Gods and Monsters, and all the fine art photography projects I’m embarking on, I wanted to read more.
I first came across Let Me In after seeing the movie and absolutely loving it. I thought the story was interesting and deep, and almost philosophical. For those who aren’t familiar with the book, it’s a sort of… love story, sort of, between a child vampire and a boy who had a fascination with serial killers and is constantly bullied at school. It deals with very heavy issues, including alcoholism, fatherlessness, social isolation, existential anxiety, pedophilia and murder. I won’t give anything away, but I will say it was an exceptional read.
One of the reasons I loved it so much, was the atmosphere it created. There’s a heavy sense of dread and apathy that hangs off the words and impacts itself onto the reader, and I found that it really enhanced the story and the events within the novel. Every character lives with this weight that affects them and keeps them from being completely joyful, it’s like this sense that something sinister is lurking behind them, and even you, the reader. It even put me on edge, and I’ve never had a novel do that for me. I was tense throughout the whole book, and it made me jump at the littlest sounds… and I was just so impressed that these words could evoke such feelings within me.
Originally written in 2004 in Swedish and titled Let The Right One In, it had since been translated into a number of different languages, English included. One of the things that’s prominent throughout the English book is the use of … when things don’t quite translate over. You can find the dots in dialogue and almost on every page. And even though it was because of a clash of language, I think it almost aided in the reading experience. You do get heavy emotions when reading the book, and the dots sort of let you fill in the emotions and responses you’re having, and impart them on the characters. So while they might have been unintentional, I think they work really well to enhance that feeling of apathetic dread that’s prominent throughout the work.
All that being said, I’m not sure I would recommend it to most people, at least, most of the people I know personally. The contents and subject matter are very heavy, and at times can be somewhat disturbing. It’s definitely a dark book, which is something I’ve always been drawn too, but it might be too dark for some people. Nevertheless, it’s an exceptional piece, and completely well done.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
So for 2016, aside from writing book two of The Children of Gods and Monsters, and all the fine art photography projects I’m embarking on, I wanted to read more.
I first came across Let Me In after seeing the movie and absolutely loving it. I thought the story was interesting and deep, and almost philosophical. For those who aren’t familiar with the book, it’s a sort of… love story, sort of, between a child vampire and a boy who had a fascination with serial killers and is constantly bullied at school. It deals with very heavy issues, including alcoholism, fatherlessness, social isolation, existential anxiety, pedophilia and murder. I won’t give anything away, but I will say it was an exceptional read.
One of the reasons I loved it so much, was the atmosphere it created. There’s a heavy sense of dread and apathy that hangs off the words and impacts itself onto the reader, and I found that it really enhanced the story and the events within the novel. Every character lives with this weight that affects them and keeps them from being completely joyful, it’s like this sense that something sinister is lurking behind them, and even you, the reader. It even put me on edge, and I’ve never had a novel do that for me. I was tense throughout the whole book, and it made me jump at the littlest sounds… and I was just so impressed that these words could evoke such feelings within me.
Originally written in 2004 in Swedish and titled Let The Right One In, it had since been translated into a number of different languages, English included. One of the things that’s prominent throughout the English book is the use of … when things don’t quite translate over. You can find the dots in dialogue and almost on every page. And even though it was because of a clash of language, I think it almost aided in the reading experience. You do get heavy emotions when reading the book, and the dots sort of let you fill in the emotions and responses you’re having, and impart them on the characters. So while they might have been unintentional, I think they work really well to enhance that feeling of apathetic dread that’s prominent throughout the work.
All that being said, I’m not sure I would recommend it to most people, at least, most of the people I know personally. The contents and subject matter are very heavy, and at times can be somewhat disturbing. It’s definitely a dark book, which is something I’ve always been drawn too, but it might be too dark for some people. Nevertheless, it’s an exceptional piece, and completely well done.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT MY BLOG:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
Lake of Fire by Nathan Fairbairn
2.0
My reading high that I was riding a few months ago has suddenly died. I can think of a few reasons for this – it's been spring and summer, which means a lot more outdoor activities, and slowly waking up from my winter hibernation, I've been taking the dogs for walks every night, which means I'm not using the treadmill as much (where I do a lot of my reading during the winter), but most importantly, I think my reading slump is a result of the novel I'm currently reading - King's Rising, the FINAL book in C.S. Pacat's mind-blowingly awful Captive Prince Trilogy. It's so bad that I have no desire to read.
I started Lake of Fire around the same time, as I like to have a novel and a graphic novel on the go at the same time. Written and coloured by Nathan Fairbairn and illustrated by Matt Smith, Lake of Fire, is... basically, a re-hash of the film Outlander staring James Caviezel – an alien ship lands on earth in the past, and heroes of the time are pitted against monstrous alien creatures bent on eating and destroying everything in it's path. While the premise is the same, Lake of Fire takes place in 1220 AD in France, during the Albigensian Crusade, a crusade initiated by Pope Innocent III to eradicate Catharism, a Christian dualist movement, that had taken over the former southern province of Languedoc. Today the crusade is considered an act of genocide by the Catholic Church. Mark Gregory Pegg, an renown Australian medieval history professor wrote that "The Albigensian Crusade ushered genocide into the West by linking divine salvation to mass murder, by making slaughter as loving an act as His sacrifice on the cross".
Lake of Fire isn't really about the crusade, it takes place during the crusade, and there is a Cathar priestess in the story, but I just really like history. It's one of my favourite subjects, I pretty much love everything before 1900... for some reason, as soon as we got to 1900-present day in history class, I just did not care. Oh, and also anything American. I'm from Canada, and while we didn't learn a lot about U.S. history, the little we did was super boring.
BACK to Lake of Fire! I'm not sure if it was because I was forcing my way through King's Rising, or because the seasons were changing and I wanted to be outside more, but I wasn't too fond of Lake of Fire. I found the story overdone – how many times are we going to re-hash the "dangerous aliens crash-land sometime in earth's past" plot. I would have preferred if this had been a story about the Albigensian Crusade, get rid of the aliens, give me some historical, medieval fiction. Because, to be honest, the characters were pretty interesting! There's the surly Baron Mondragon with his own issues with the crusades; the young knight Theo and his friend Sir Hugh (who I'm 100% sure has a thing for Theo); Bernadette, the Cathar priestess; and the villainous Catholic Priest who, of course, mucks things up. And some of these characters had interesting motives and character development, that I would've liked to see fleshed out more... without alien's getting in the way.
The artwork, however, is beautifully coloured and has a prominent "comic book" feel to it. It's nothing overly artistic (like Pretty Deadly, or From Under Mountains), it's more of a traditional art style, and while I enjoyed it because of it's clear and concise depictions, I almost missed some of the more artistic panels that I'd seen in some of the other comics I've read.
So overall, it was a decent comic. Not my favourite, but also not the worst I've read over the last year. It was enough to peak my curiosity towards Fairbairn and Smith, and I'll be looking for some more work by both the writer and the artist.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
I started Lake of Fire around the same time, as I like to have a novel and a graphic novel on the go at the same time. Written and coloured by Nathan Fairbairn and illustrated by Matt Smith, Lake of Fire, is... basically, a re-hash of the film Outlander staring James Caviezel – an alien ship lands on earth in the past, and heroes of the time are pitted against monstrous alien creatures bent on eating and destroying everything in it's path. While the premise is the same, Lake of Fire takes place in 1220 AD in France, during the Albigensian Crusade, a crusade initiated by Pope Innocent III to eradicate Catharism, a Christian dualist movement, that had taken over the former southern province of Languedoc. Today the crusade is considered an act of genocide by the Catholic Church. Mark Gregory Pegg, an renown Australian medieval history professor wrote that "The Albigensian Crusade ushered genocide into the West by linking divine salvation to mass murder, by making slaughter as loving an act as His sacrifice on the cross".
Lake of Fire isn't really about the crusade, it takes place during the crusade, and there is a Cathar priestess in the story, but I just really like history. It's one of my favourite subjects, I pretty much love everything before 1900... for some reason, as soon as we got to 1900-present day in history class, I just did not care. Oh, and also anything American. I'm from Canada, and while we didn't learn a lot about U.S. history, the little we did was super boring.
BACK to Lake of Fire! I'm not sure if it was because I was forcing my way through King's Rising, or because the seasons were changing and I wanted to be outside more, but I wasn't too fond of Lake of Fire. I found the story overdone – how many times are we going to re-hash the "dangerous aliens crash-land sometime in earth's past" plot. I would have preferred if this had been a story about the Albigensian Crusade, get rid of the aliens, give me some historical, medieval fiction. Because, to be honest, the characters were pretty interesting! There's the surly Baron Mondragon with his own issues with the crusades; the young knight Theo and his friend Sir Hugh (who I'm 100% sure has a thing for Theo); Bernadette, the Cathar priestess; and the villainous Catholic Priest who, of course, mucks things up. And some of these characters had interesting motives and character development, that I would've liked to see fleshed out more... without alien's getting in the way.
The artwork, however, is beautifully coloured and has a prominent "comic book" feel to it. It's nothing overly artistic (like Pretty Deadly, or From Under Mountains), it's more of a traditional art style, and while I enjoyed it because of it's clear and concise depictions, I almost missed some of the more artistic panels that I'd seen in some of the other comics I've read.
So overall, it was a decent comic. Not my favourite, but also not the worst I've read over the last year. It was enough to peak my curiosity towards Fairbairn and Smith, and I'll be looking for some more work by both the writer and the artist.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVEL SERIES, CHECK OUT:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse