To Post, or Not to Post? That is the Question

The end of Vision in Silver left with me with a lot more questions than answers, while I'm glad that we finally got to see what was in Elayne's diary, a lot of characters were left unmentioned. I was hoping that we would get to see more of Tess, and I also enjoyed the Sanguinatis. I know that the novel's main focus is Meg, but these characters played a large role throughout the story. I think that learning that Leo killed Elayne was a little anti-climactic, it was both mentioned very briefly, and for the amount that the murder was talked about during the novel it didn't hold any surprise or shock value. As Monty read the diary entry we saw his first real display of emotion over Elayne's death, and even that seemed to be coming a little late. Meg and Simon'e relationship may be the slowest slow build I've ever seen, but I'm glad that the author has kept it that way. I think it fits both of their characters well, and I think that by the end of the seri...

Talk about action-packed! This section had me hooked. I had a feeling a confrontation was coming but I wasn't sure how it would play out. I think Bishop did a great job being able to describe not just one fight scene but multiple going on at the same time. Another thing I liked about this section was that there was actually description of how Simon and Nathan and the others had to spend time healing, in other books sometimes that aspect will be skipped over and injuries will be magically healed, but that was surprisingly realistic. The idea of extinction of the human race being an easy task is hard ti imagine, but apparently for the terra indegene it's a perfectly plausible solution to the fighting that's been going on lately. I'm excited to see Montgomery's reaction when Simon tells him that this idea is up in the air for the near-future. There are quite a few sub-plots going on right now and for the most part I think Bishop has done a good job explaining the...

As I move forward in the novel, I think one of my favorite characteristics of the world that Anne Bishop has built is the way that the adult terra indigene treat children. Lizzy being introduced to the courtyard has caused so much more stress than you would assume a young child could bring, but the young are meant to be well-behaved and well-disciplined, and Lizzy seems to be the opposite of that. Meg's reaction to Lizzy wanting to ride the ponies startled me, cutting for a blood prophet has been held as a sort of last resort throughout the novel so far and she didn't seem to hesitate at all. Putting Nathan in danger wasn't a concern to her at all at the moment. This is the most out of control we've seen Meg in the novel so far. Tensions are definitely rising between humans and the terra indigene. I'm really hoping we can see a confrontation between the Lakeside Courtyard and Nicholas Scratch, as far as villains go I think it's interesting that Bishop is p...

I've always enjoyed the fantasy genre so I was excited to pick up Vision in Silver. I have to be honest though, 160 pages into the book I'm finding myself losing track of the extensive list of characters and how they're all related to each other. I'm not sure if this is because I was introduced to them all at once with it being the third book in the series, or just because I'm not used to seeing so many names in a story. I'm hoping that throughout the novel we get some more character development because I find myself wanting to learn more about characters and so far all I know is what role they play in the community. I think it's clear that the author put a lot of thought into the world she built for her characters, I get a clear picture when I imagine the apartments the tera indigene are planning on purchasing. The thought of a world where humans aren't in control is a great idea on it's own and throwing in just about any fantasy creature you ca...

Nikki Sixx died. And then came back to life, but more importantly he died. Overdosing on drugs is a real and huge threat, and it was a shocker to me throughout the whole book that no one took that thought more seriously. I think one of the things that shocked me the most was that Sixx immediately used drugs again after returning home from the hospital, I think that shows very clearly that his state of mind at the time wasn't very concerned about living another day.  Reading the catch-up from 1987- present day might have been the most interesting part of the book to me. Knowing that Sixx went back to drugs multiple times but still had the willpower to bring himself back to sobriety is really a story of something that at once seemed like an impossibility.  People can really change over of the years which is shown exceptionally seeing all the people that Sixx has good relationships with now that he didn't before. His band members and him are even on good terms even aft...

Nikki Sixx is on a roller coaster that he can't get off. Every time it seems as if he's making progress towards getting off drugs he falls back towards the deep end. I find it crazy how many people Nikki was able to persuade to do drugs with him. It seemed like everyone on tour with him was willing to contribute to his addiction whether they knew it was an addiction or not. Nikki's fame had people basically lining up to party with him so it's understandable that he was in a hard place to just flat out quit. While reading Sixx's journal entries it's clear that he knew he needed help or to stop, but he didn't have the willpower to do it on his own. It makes me wonder how much differently his life would have turned out if their had been someone back then willing to put in enough effort to help Nikki end his addiction. The farther I get into this book the more real it gets, the current-day commentary by both Nikki and the other assorted contributors is rea...

After reading the first two sections of the Heroin Diaries, it's hard for me to believe that Nikki Sixx is still alive today. The amount of drugs and partying he did is something I thought was only fictional, in rock and rap songs. That being said, reading what Sixx has to say about his addiction as he is going through it is very intriguing to me. He knows he is addicted to a number of different drugs but he can't bring himself to stop. I think it's really interesting that as a band, Motley Crue doesn't seem particularly close. You'd think that you'd be pretty good friends with the people you make music with, and go on tour with, but Sixx only seems close with Tommy Lee. Sixx even mentions that he doesn't even know where Vince or Mick lives (pg. 159). This just shows that Sixx's drug addiction was pushing away his relationships with those around him more than he probably realized (not to say the other members of the band weren't struggling with d...

Volume One of Death Note held character development, plot development, and more questions left unanswered than given a solution. I think one thing notable about the end of the manga was that there was no immediate cliffhanger. While the author could have easily cut off right after Light found out there were cameras in his house, or where L learned about Naomi's FBI past, he didn't, and instead left the end of the manga on a happy note (well as happy as it gets for Death Note). For a first volume of a series I'd say that Death Note starts strong. As a Death Note fan and trying my best to remain unbiased I think the author did a good job of keeping a reader's interest by keeping action pretty consistent throughout, not leaving slow periods. Even though I knew what was going to happen I still enjoyed the manga and would seriously considering buying the next volume to reread some of my favorite scenes. To discuss a little bit more in depth the end of the manga, I think ...

In this section of Death Note we find both L and Light's storylines moving along quite extensively. Light is seemingly very concerned about his identity being revealed to the police and is doing whatever he can to hide it. Light's willingness to kill FBI agents just because they are looking for him reveals that he may be beginning to lose more morals than he already has. He's gone from only killing criminals to killing those who've done nothing wrong. Light's character development leaves readers to think about how far he's willing to go. Is killing his family in the question? Meanwhile, L has also took a big step by revealing himself to the police. The police's initial reaction to seeing L in person is disbelief, but Ryuzaki is definitely L. L admits that he hates losing, just like Kira (pg. 265), his motivation to win seems to be just as high as Light's. As the story moves forward Light and L are destined to meet. The way they interact is somethin...

I'm going to start off by saying I'm a huge Death Note fan. The series is really well thought out and I love the characters! But I promise I'll remain spoiler free in my posts. Light Yagami finding the Death Note is the beginning of a chain reaction throughout the whole world.  From the beginning he doesn't hesitate to start writing names in the book, and continues even after he realizes that the notebook really works. With that sort of power anyone would go a little crazy, and for Light it starts showing very fast. "I am righteous!... I'm the savior who's going to be like a god of this new perfect world!" (pg. 70). Light thinking of himself as a god is scary, it makes you question whether he's really doing good or not. Meanwhile Ryuk seems to care less what Light is doing and finds the whole ordeal entertaining. Ryuk  is kind of a character that's easy to overlook, but his role as kind of watching over Light is important, he's the on...

Aech is actually a girl! Out of everything that has happened throughout the novel I think this may have been the biggest surprise. Usually when such a big plot twist is revealed an author will sprinkle in foreshadowing throughout the novel, but Aech's true identity was hidden very well. I'm glad that Cline threw in a little bit of diversity to his cast of characters in this way. A giant battle wouldn't be complete without massive anime-robots. As the end of the novel grew near,  my anticipation heightened immensely. Cline's description of the scene was thorough enough to help me picture the battle against the Sixers easily. "Every feature of the original Japanese mech had been re-created, including its giant gleaming sword and spider-web embossed shield," Just the description of Parzival's robot Leopardon helped me visualize what was going on easier. I am impressed by Wade's character development by the end of the novel. By sharing the prize of ...

150 pages later, the plot of Ready Player One has picked up fast. After the beginning of the novel took a while to develop setting characters, I'm glad that we've been able to dive into the storyline. That being said, one of the main plot points we're introduced to is Parzival and Art3mis' relationship. As far as relationships go, Parzival and Art3mis are pretty cookie cutter. Parzival's long term crush reciprocates his feelings and everything seems perfect. Until Art3mis decides that he's getting in the way of her hunt for the egg. After this is when we finally see some emotion come from our main character. So far Wade hasn't shown much strong emotion towards anything besides finding the egg so I was glad to see that Wade was genuinely upset when Art3mis said she didn't want to be in a relationship. I think that seeing his character develop is important to me as a reader because before this point in the novel it was hard for me to relate to him as h...

99 pages into Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and I feel like I've been bombarded by the 80's. For a dystopian novel, Ready Player One seems to have more references to the past than the future it is set in. I'm impressed by the amount of research Cline must've had to do to find specific dates and titles for the novel. After my initial 80's culture shock I thought a little bit harder about the main character and narrator Wade (Parzival). His status as highly intelligent gunter is valued only by his close friend Aech, mainly because he doesn't have the money to level up his avatar. Social class is valued within OASIS just as it is in the real world which is unfortunate for Wade who can't afford to use his knowledge to its full extent. The idea of having social classes within a virtual reality doesn't seem too far-fetched nowadays considering that some video games already use ranked systems and extreme gamers take their ranking or level very seriously. ...