Teaser Tuesday - Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

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I've decided that in 2013, I'm going to spend some of my time rereading a few of my old favorites; books that I love so much that I just have to pull them out and reread them every few years.  They're comfy and familiar, like a pair of soft, warm slippers, and each time I read them they evoke that feeling, that sense of nostalgia, that makes me feel I'm reading them for the first time.

This week I've started one of my favorite fantasy novels.  Many people don't care for it, feeling that it is poorly written, plotted, and that the characters and themes are unoriginal.  I don't understand those people.  At all.  I love this story, I love the characters, and while it might not be perfect, it's pretty darn close in my mind.  For a good number of years, Prince Rohan - in spite of, or maybe because of, his flaws - was the perfect man in my eyes and definitely my first Book Crush.

So let's kick this off with a tease from the very first page of the book, shall we?  I'm not even going to apologize for breaking the two sentence rule.

The Tease:

"Prince Zehava squinted into the sunlight and smiled his satisfaction.  All the signs were good for the hunt today: claw marks on the cliffs, wing marks on the sand, and the close cropping of bittersweet plants along the canyon ridges.  But the prince's perceptions were more subtle and had no need of these obvious signs.  He could feel the presence of his prey all along his skin, scent it in the air, sense it in every nerve.  His admirers said he could tell when the time was ripe for the hunt simply by glancing at the sky.  His enemies said it was not surprising that he could sense such things, for he himself had been dragon-spawned."

 -Dragon Prince, by Melanie Rawn

What's your Tease?

Movie News - Life of Pi Posters

Last week I shared three recently released posters for a movie that I'm super excited to see, OZ The Great and Powerful.  This week I thought we could take a look at another set of recently released posters for ANOTHER movie that I'm highly anticipating - Life of Pi.

I haven't read the book by Yann Martel that the movie is based on, so I know very little about the story other than what I've seen in the trailers.  However, the visuals I've seen, both trailers and these stunning movie posters, have made me desperate to see this movie. 

Adventure, Hope, Triumph.  Which do you like best? I think my favorite of the three is Hope, but Triumph is pretty stunning also.  I think each of these is closer to art than advertising.

 

What do you think?  Are you looking forward to seeing Life of Pi?

Welcome to Skyfall Day!!

Skyfall Day has FINALLY arrived!!

 

I'm going to go see this tomorrow - and I can barely WAIT!

What are your plans for this weekend?

Book Review - The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry

Cotton Malone Series, by Steve Berry
1. The Templar Legacy     06/09/2009     * * * *

From Goodreads:
"The ancient order of the Knights Templar possessed untold wealth and absolute power over kings and popes . . . until the Inquisition, when they were wiped from the face of the earth, their hidden riches lost. But now two forces vying for the treasure have learned that it is not at all what they thought it was-and its true nature could change the modern world.
Cotton Malone, one-time top operative for the U.S. Justice Department, is enjoying his quiet new life as an antiquarian book dealer in Copenhagen when an unexpected call to action reawakens his hair-trigger instincts-and plunges him back into the cloak-and-dagger world he thought he'd left behind.
It begins with a violent robbery attempt on Cotton's former supervisor, Stephanie Nelle, who's far from home on a mission that has nothing to do with national security. Armed with vital clues to a series of centuries-old puzzles scattered across Europe, she means to crack a mystery that has tantalized scholars and fortune-hunters through the ages by finding the legendary cache of wealth and forbidden knowledge thought to have been lost forever when the order of the Knights Templar was exterminated in the fourteenth century. But she's not alone. Competing for the historic prize-and desperate for the crucial information Stephanie possesses-is Raymond de Roquefort, a shadowy zealot with an army of assassins at his command.
Welcome or not, Cotton seeks to even the odds in the perilous race. But the more he learns about the ancient conspiracy surrounding the Knights Templar, the more he realizes that even more than lives are at stake. At the end of a lethal game of conquest, rife with intrigue, treachery, and craven lust for power, lies a shattering discovery that could rock the civilized world-and, in the wrong hands, bring it to its knees."

My Thoughts:
Cotton Malone is a retired CIA agent who has retired to Copenhagen to open a bookstore, and is, for the most part, living quite happily in his new home.  But that all changes when his old boss blows into town for a visit, and suddenly Malone finds himself swept up in a desperate chase across the city and eventually across Europe, as he deciphers secret clues to try to stop the plans of a crazy man who also happens to be the Grand Master of a new secret Templar cult. 

The pace moves at breakneck speed, for the most part, although as so often happens, there is a section in the middle that I felt got a little bogged down.  Full of murder and mayhem, blackmail, kidnapping, betrayal and seemingly impossible escapes, The Templar Legacy is quite good, considering that the first novel in a series usually leaves a bit to be desired.  Characterization is a bit weak, I suppose, as it's a little difficult to get to know a character while he's running for his life, but that's a small quibble and something that does get better as the series continues.  The subject matter feels impeccably researched, and the reader may accidentally find themselves learning quite a bit of early Christian and European history without even noticing.

Similar in tone to Dan Brown's Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code, but smarter, with a heavy dose of James Bond thrown into the mix, many will find this novel to be controversial in scope and subject matter in terms of religion and Christianity.  Nonetheless, I highly recommend The Templar Legacy.  It's a fast, fun, fact-filled, fascinating, and fulfilling novel.  If you like Dan Brown's novels, and aren't afraid of controversial ideas in your fiction novels, then I think you'll enjoy The Templar Legacy.

Have you read The Templar Legacy?  What did you think?  Did you find the ideas regarding Christianity too controversial?

Teaser Tuesday - Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

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Matthew and Diana have traveled to Prague, where they not only find themselves in more danger than ever, but also finally find the mysterious manuscript that originally brought them together...But their problems are far from over, and possessing the book may be more dangerous than searching for it.

The Tease:

 "Maybe my questions don't need answers as urgently as I thought they did."
To prove his point, Matthew put the book on the floor, out of sight.
"I thought it would tell me who I am and why I'm here.  Perhaps I already know."
I waited for him to explain.
After all my searching, I discover that I am who I always was: Matthew de Clermont.
Husband.  Father.  Vampire.  And I am here for only one reason: To make a difference.""

 -Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness

What's your Tease?

Book Review - Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds

Poseidon's Children:
1. Blue Remembered Earth, 09/11/2012 * * * * *

From Goodreads:
"With his critically acclaimed Revelation Space novels, Alastair Reynolds confirmed “his place among the leaders of the hard-science space opera renaissance.” (Publishers Weekly) With Blue Remembered Earth, the award-winning author begins a new epic, tracing generations of one family across more than ten thousand years of future history—into interstellar space and the dawn of galactic society…

One hundred and fifty years from now, Africa has become the world’s dominant technological and economic power. Crime, war, disease and poverty have been eliminated. The Moon and Mars are settled, and colonies stretch all the way out to the edge of the solar system. And Ocular, the largest scientific instrument in history, is about to make an epochal discovery…

Geoffrey Akinya wants only one thing: to be left in peace, so that he can continue his long-running studies into the elephants of the Amboseli basin. But Geoffrey’s family, who control the vast Akinya business empire, has other plans for him. After the death of his grandmother Eunice—the erstwhile space explorer and entrepreneur—something awkward has come to light on the Moon, so Geoffrey is dispatched there to ensure the family name remains untarnished. But the secrets Eunice died with are about to be revealed—secrets that could change everything...or tear this near utopia apart."

My Thoughts:
Blue Remembered Earth opens a window into a future history that feels very believable.  The story traces the events in the lives of two siblings who are part of a vastly wealthy family with business ventures spanning the solar system.  Though both Sunday and Geoffrey have each turned their backs on the family business in their own ways, they remain close to each other, and when their grandmother Eunice dies, they are each drawn into the mystery of her life and death, and the clues she left behind to carefully guide her descendants to a nearly unimaginable discovery.

I haven't read much by Alastair Reynolds, but after finishing Blue Remembered Earth, I think that is something that I need to change.  Reynolds seems to have a limitless imagination and his vision of the future of humanity and its' passage into space is intriguing, fascinating, and above all, positive.

I began reading Blue Remembered Earth immediately after finishing 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson (my review here), and it was impossible not to compare the two novels in my mind as I read.  Both novels have a similar scale of where the story takes place (all across the solar system), both take place in the not-too-distant future, and both authors make use of interesting, fantastic, and yet believable technology.  I gave 2312 only three stars, which was a little disappointing to me, as I had expected so much more from it.  So if the two novels seem so similar on the surface, why am I giving Blue Remembered Earth five stars?

Blue Remembered Earth feels like a very intimate story, for one thing.  The characters feel real, and have understandable reactions and feelings that I as the reader can identify with, and I felt that I was living the story with them, rather than having their stories relayed to me by a third party.  And this is something that Reynolds seem to excel at - showing and making the read feel what is happening.

You hear it all the time, if you read anything about writing, or have taken classes or workshops.  One of the cardinal rules of writing is "Show, don't Tell."  Reynolds seems to be a master at this, showing us his version of this future Earth through the eyes of his characters, rather than telling or instructing the reader.  This doesn't always work perfectly of course - characters in the story "voked an aug" several times before I finally realized what this meant, but really this just made me more curious about his world and this future, and the realization of the possibilities of these different types of neural "augmentations" was fascinating in and of itself.

Another major difference between Blue Remembered Earth and 2312 was the subtle yet powerful way that Reynolds made me care about and identify with the main characters, Geoffrey and Sunday, and even several of the lesser characters, to the extent that I found myself quite upset when Memphis---Ah! But that would be a spoiler!  Suffice it to say that the characters are real and likable, and even the unlikeable characters are still engaging.

Again, Reynolds' talent of showing the reader not only what is happening to or around his characters, but also how they feel and think is masterful to the point that I believed I could see the landscape of Mars with Sunday, or feel the loneliness that Geoffrey imagined when looking back at the tiny blue marble of Earth.

Overall, Blue Remembered Earth is well paced story of a plausible future, and a family's search for the truth.  Told with a sense of awe and wonder, and set in a series of fantastic locales, it is never preachy, and always intriguing.  As I stated above, I believe this novel deserves 5 stars, and I cannot wait to read book two!

Have you read Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds yet?  Do you plan to?  What are your thoughts?  As always, feel free to leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

Teaser Tuesday - Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
* Share the title and author, too, so that other Teaser Tuesday participants can add the book to their To Be Read (TBR) Lists if they like your teasers!

----------

This week I've just begun a new book, Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness.  This is the second book in the All Soul's Trilogy.  Matthew and Diana have safely time-walked back to the year 1590 and arrived in England as planned.  After a few days settling in, Matthew makes an attempt to find a local witch to teach Diana how to control her constantly changing powers.

The Tease:

 "A true witch can relight the fire, open the pages of the book, and stop the bell from ringing.  She is a wonderful creature in the eyes of God."
Widow Beaton paused for dramatic effect, and her milky eye rolled in my direction.
  "Can you perform these acts, girl?"
"I'm not sure," I confessed hesitantly."

 -Shadow of Night, by Deborah Harkness

What's your Tease?

Movie Review - Total Recall

Total Recall (2012) * * * *
Director: Len Wiseman
Starring: Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston

From IMDB:
"A factory worker, Douglas Quaid, begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - goes wrong and he finds himself on the run."

My Thoughts:
Total Recall is, as I'm sure everyone is aware, a remake of a 1990 film of the same name starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone and Michael Ironside, and inspired by a short story written by Philip K. Dick.

In the original film, Douglas Quaid ends up on Mars and saves the red planet from a maniacal overlord.  It's campy and comedic as often as it is serious, and for its' time the technology was breathtakingly imaginative.

The remake however, goes a different way.  It's serious through and through, the technology is still awesomely inventive (a hand-phone? Yes PLEASE, sign me up!), but it's grittier and darker, and completely Earth-bound.  The special effects were very well done (I loved the "weightless" scene), and overall the movie is visually stunning.  Colin Farrell did a better acting job than I expected, and Kate Beckinsale shines (as she usually does - no surprise there) as Quaid's "fake" wife. 

My problems with the movie were that I had a really hard time suspending my disbelief throughout several sections of the film (Elevator through the Earth's core?), and that I kept comparing it to the original in my mind while watching it.  But overall I do think it was a good film, it was loads of fun, and told a fantastic spy/mystery story.

But I did kinda miss Mars a little bit.

Have you seen Total Recall yet?  What were YOUR thoughts about the film?

Book Review - Beyond the Hanging Wall by Sara Douglass

Beyond the Hanging Wall, 09/30/2003 * * * *

From Goodreads:

Like his physician father, Garth Baxtor is gifted with The Touch. By laying his hands upon a person, Garth can sense what dwells within: pain, illness, joy, or sorrow. It is through the application of The Touch that the gifted minister helps the sick of Escator by diagnosing ills and promoting healing.

By decree of the royal treasury, for a period of three weeks each year, physicians of Escator - in lieu of taxes - are required to attend to the needs of the criminals who labor endlessly in the Veins, the labyrinth of mines carved deep into the earth and from which they harvest the gloam-a priceless commodity upon which the fortunes of Escator depend.

It is during one such period of mandatory service that Joseph Baxtor decides his son is old enough to accompany him to the Veins as his apprentice. Garth is delighted. It's a chance to escape the dull and dreary surroundings of his quiet village for the delights of the capital city of Ruen. Joseph has been ordered to attend King Cavor himself. Garth will actually meet the king in person!

As he discovers all too soon, however, the task at hand is a grim one. Descending into the mines for the first time, Garth could hardly be less prepared for what he encounters: thousands of men laboring like animals in dreadful conditions deep below the earth's surface.

Applying his hands to the wound of one prisoner known only as Lot No. 859, Garth is stunned by what he discovers. This man is no common criminal. But then, who is he? Could it be? After all these years?

The answer to the riddle will involve Garth in a harrowing journey out of the Veins and into the Land of Dreams as he tries to resolve the question of the identity of Lot No 859. In the process, Garth will solve a centuries-old mystery-a mystery that will pit one king against another and shake the Kingdom of Escator to its foundations.

My Thoughts:
Beyond the Hanging Wall is one of Sara Douglass' stand-alone novels, along with Threshold, but it also ties into her Darkglass Mountain series, which itself is an extension of her Wayfarer Redemption series.  It's a well written novel and and entertaining fantasy story.

Sara Douglass has been one of favorite authors for quite awhile, although I did get a bit tired of the Wayfarer Redemption series by the time we got to the end.  But Beyond the Hanging Wall was quite refreshing, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Great pacing along with a decent if somewhat predictable (at times) plot, and interesting characters.

I give Beyond the Hanging Wall four stars, and I think that this is an excellent novel for someone who wants to give Sara Douglass a try but isn't sure if they are ready for one of her longer series.  It's a perfect place to dip a toe in and test the waters!

Have you read Beyond the Hanging Wall?  What did you think?