Books I Finished in November

I actually didn't read a whole lot this month because I had so much going on - well, technically I did, because one of the books was REALLY long, but very good (Inheritance), and another was also just brilliant (Beauty and the Werewolf), both of which exceeded my high expectations of them.  Perhaps once finals are done, I'll actually be able to read a bit more..

Ironside
Star Wars: Invasions Vol. 2: Rescues
Inheritance 
Beauty and the Werewolf
 

Books I Finished in October

I actually read a lot of manga in October - twenty volumes of Boys Over Flowers, at least.  Those were pretty fun, as was Ghost Story, which only makes me want the fourteenth Dresden Files book all the more.  To Be Queen was also a good book - I usually enjoy books about Eleanor of Aquitaine, and that was certainly a good one.

Reunion
Transformation
The Dresden Files: Ghost Story
To Be Queen
Tithe
Boys Over Flowers Vol 16-36
Vanish

Books I Finished in September

I haven't actually had a whole lot of time to post over the last couple of months, which kind of stinks.  I've had a ton of work to do, so I've barely had time for anything whatsoever that wasn't school.  I wish I could post more and I hope I will be able to soon, but it's hard to tell.  I still managed to read a whole lot, though -

Dragon's Time
Excalibur (Graphic Novel)
The Water Trilogy: Ascension 
Boys Over Flowers Vol. 1-15
Ouran High School Host Club Vol. 2
Dragon's Time
A Tangled Web (From Harvest Moon)
Turn of the Screw

Also...

Just for the record, Arthurian Legend is not history.  It is fiction.  It is a story.  It is legend.  No matter how much I want it to be true.  It is still fiction.  It can't be historically accurate if it wasn't real.  End of story.

Just an Observation

I should be working on Ecology homework (I swear this class will be the death of me), but I found this on one of the Merlin Tumblrs I read when I was taking a break. 

This is based on one of my favorite television shows, Merlin.  Where Gwen is a servant instead of a princess and she is an anachronistic, boring character that I can't say I hate only because I don't give a piece of soggy bread what happens to her as long as she stays away from Arthur.  She is not my favorite character.  She is FAR from it.  Honestly, she is probably my LEAST favorite character in the whole series.  If it wasn't for Morgana, I probably would have stopped watching AGES ago.  Oh, and Sir L'Oreal (Gwaine) and Percival.  That, however is beyond the point.

The point is, no matter what she is in any story, Guinevere always betrays Arthur.  I can't think of a single one where she doesn't.  And it's usually with Lancelot (or Bedivere if it's before the story crossed to France).  It doesn't matter if she's not a princess (I'm sure as heck glad she isn't).  She loves Lancelot.  That's amazingly obvious.  (I admit, I do have a thing for Arthur/Morgana, but that is also irrelevant.) It doesn't matter if she loves Arthur before they marry - she consistently betrays him.  (And she and Arthur have NO chemistry for another thing.)

That said, you cannot say that it is something she will never do.  You cannot.  (The writers will probably do so just because they do play the important parts to legend.)  You cannot predict a show that you aren't one of the writers for.  End of story. 

This just annoys me.  I personally don't like her because I don't see anything really interesting about her character (I find her incredibly bland.  She has no real personality other than being sweet and a bit stubborn and as loyal as a puppy.  She has no flaws.  She gets all of the guys.  (She and Merlin have a thing in early Series One, obviously then there's the whole Gwen/Lancelot thing in his episodes, there's Gwen/Arthur (ick) that we all knew was coming from the start, there's a tiny bit of Gwen/Gwaine (ewww)...you get the idea.)  She's pretty much a Mary Sue. 

And this is why I love Morgana.  Anyway, I need to get back to my work.  More soon.  Ish.  I'll get back to this eventually...

Books I Finished in August

Well, long time without a post...whoops.  I admit, things have been insane here for a while.  I'm back in school now and I have homework galore already (and it's only the end of the second week/first full week).  I'm behind in everything but that, and I have a ton to do before Monday already...and I'm really tired, which is not a good combination...on the plus side, I read a bunch of books at the beginning of last month...

Excalibur
One Good Knight
The Wall
Chalice
Fortune's Fool
Warriors: Dark River 
Warriors: Outcast

Just Something I Found While Cleaning

I ran across this piece of some sort ot packaging with this on the back.  It made me smile.

Because you are my "Best Friend,"
I will keep you close to me.
Wherever I go, whatever I do.
When I'm miles from home, thinking of you,
You'll be right there with me.
You make me smile and make me laugh,
Always there for me when I need you most.
You are truly a devoted friend...
...My "Best Friend."

I Don't Get It

I just don't understand people sometimes.  I really don't. 

I'm a bit of an Arthurian scholar.  And I might be a little bit obsessive about Arthurian Legend right now.  It really doesn't help that the fourth series of Merlin was teased at San Diego Comic-Con recently. 

Anyway.  The thing that is really getting on my nerves is the fact that everyone in the world seems to consider Morgan le Fay to be evil, vengeful, or something of the sort.  She is expected to be this evil queen or evil sorceress that is always out to get Arthur (and Merlin in the television show). 

What people don't understand is that Morgan - Morgana as I prefer to call her - is not evil.  She has become portrayed as evil, but she never was like that.  Not originally.  She was a powerful sorceress from the isle of Avalon.  She was a shapeshifter and a healer.  She was the eldest of nine beautiful sisters.  She was not evil.  Not until she was made to be. 

She was not even Arthur's sister until the time of Chretien de Troyes, who wrote for the daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine.  She was not even vengeful until the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and that was only when Arthur killed her lover.  

Some people have tried to shift her portrayal back to how it should have been, but it never lasts.  She is the victim of so much misportrayal.  It actually makes me a bit sad to see what people are doing to her.  


The way she is being portrayed in Merlin is one of those ways.  In series one, she was amazing.  She was my favorite character.  In series two, her romance with Arthur was dropped inexplicably, even though it was beautifully done before and absolutely wonderful (anyone notice that they decided to make her Arthur's sister after that?  Stupid writers) before that.  She was overlooked and manipulated.  It only gets worse from there, and now even the actress who plays here considers her darker side to be the true Morgana.  Lovely.  


I don't think that's how Morgana is supposed to be.  Maybe that's just me and my love of the legends, but I don't think it's fair for them to do this to her character.  All she ever gets is the blame.  That's just not fair to her.  Would it kill people to treat her character properly?

Books I Finished in July

July was a really busy month for me, I have to say.  I was out of town a couple of times, always on the go...I actually didn't get a whole lot read, to be honest.  I wish I had read more.  I really do.  I loved the books I read, but there just wasn't enough time...

The Winter King
Ouran High School Host Club Vol. 1
Honored 
Enemy of God

These were all interesting books (or in the case of the manga, it was funny).  The Winter King and Enemy of God were the first two books of The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell.  I actually just finished the third one (Excalibur) today.  It's another take on Arthurian Legend that was very, very good.  I would highly recommend it, though it is a tad bloody and a more adult version of the tale.  It's not really graphic, but there is a lot of death in it.  It's still a really good read and a lot of fun. 

Books I Finished in June

It's once again been a while since I posted anything on here.  I kept meaning to, but I keep forgetting.  And surprisingly, June was a slow month for me as far as books.  Not as slow as July has been, but I've been super busy in July as of yet.  So, these were the books I read last month..

The Iron King
The Iron Daughter
The Iron Queen
The Sleeping Beauty
The Snow Queen
The Looking Glass Wars

They were all very good.  The Sleeping Beauty and The Snow Queen are both part of a series called The Five Hundred Kingdoms, which I love.  And they're books that can be read out of order because there are a couple of recurring characters at most.  There are currently five books in the series, and I've read three of them (#1, 4, and 5).  The Fairy Godmother, the first book, was a little more graphic than the others and did have some sexual content, but Mercedes Lackey is actually a very good writer and the other two don't have anything bad in them whatsoever, which I liked a lot.  I've got the other two - One Good Knight and Fortune's Fool - waiting to be read at this point.  However, being as busy as I was for the last week or so, it was hard to actually read a more than a bit of One Good Knight while I was traveling...

Anyway, all of those are great books - I loved the Iron Fey series and I'm looking forward to the next book The Iron Knight coming out this fall.  I'll write more on those later, but that's it for now. 

Arashi - Truth

I love this song. A friend of mine introduced me to K-Rock and J-Pop (Korean rock music and Japanese pop music) a couple of years ago and I fell in love with this song when she sent me the link to it. The sad thing is that they aren't very well known here in the States, it seems, and this was practically impossible to find on YouTube because the official PV (promotional video) was taken down some time ago. So, enjoy the music, ignore the video. It's just Kingdom Hearts...

Delain - Invidia

I found this song about a week ago via Pandora on my phone. It played on the main channel I listen to and it was so good that I had to e-mail myself before I lost track of it. It really fits a couple of the characters I write and I love the name of the song itself. The word is fun to say, that's for sure. And it's a pretty word. Invidia actually means 'envy: spite and resentment at seeing the success of another (personified as one of the deadly sins),' which I think is actually a pretty interesting definition.

Well...

It's been a while since I blogged about anything.  Heck, it's been a while since I logged into this account to do anything.  I haven't really had a whole lot to say, I suppose.  Things have been a big crazy at points - we went to an amusement park at the beginning of the month and I've been cleaning my room while attempting to make a dent in my other goals.  So far, my room is a lot cleaner.  Well, my books are organized, mostly.  I've been trying to get through a bunch of those, too.  So far, five books this month and I'm in the middle of another one right now.  Things have been a little busy, really.  I've been trying to write, on top of all of the other stuff I've been doing.

Today was a big day as far as the cleaning went.  I had a bunch of boxes that were just sitting in my room that had stuff in them - they're all ready to go to the storage locker except for one, which I'll be working on when I go back upstairs later.  I feel like I've really made a dent today as far as that goes.  It's empty under my bed now and I've gotten a bunch of clutter put away on my dresser and everywhere else.  I'm pretty proud of myself, really.

Other than that, the only major thing that I can think of is the season three finale for Sanctuary.  I love the show, but I hate the finales because they are ALWAYS cliffhangers.  Always.  Even the mid-season finale was a blasted cliffhanger.  I got to that one right after the next episode came out, though, so that one wasn't a big deal.  This one, though, I have to wait until fall to see.  Ugh.  Not cool.  And one of the other shows I watch is on the bubble right now.  There's no news as to whether or not it's been renewed or canceled.  Really kind of annoying, if you ask me.

Anyway, I'm going back to writing...

Review: Solitary

I should probably start out by saying that this is not the kind of book that I usually read.  I'm a fantasy/sci-fi kind of person, mainly.  I don't read a whole lot of YA (Young Adult) stuff anymore with the influx of everything vampires, starting with the infamous famous Twinkle Twilight Saga.  Vampires are not my thing, but that's a tangent that I don't need to go on.

Solitary was pitched to me as Travis's take on Twinkle by the author himself.  I took a brief two-week class with him through my school in January (which I loved), and one of the things he did was give away a free book to anyone who wanted it.  After we chatted after the class for a while, he said that I would love this book.

Boy, he was right.  I was hooked on it before I was even done with the first chapter.  I couldn't put it down.  I was, quite unfortunately, interrupted and forced to go to bed in the middle of it.  I was not pleased by that, to say the least.  Anyway, when I finally did get a chance to finish it, I couldn't put it down again.

Chris Buckley is a normal kid who moves to a town called Solitary in North Carolina after his parents split up.  There, he meets a mysterious girl named Jocelyn who is the most beautiful creature he has ever laid eyes on.  Their relationship has a very interesting dynamic - one moment they're friends, then the next she pushes him away.  As Chris becomes more involved with her, things start happening.  For one thing, he decides to go down this hole in the neighbor's yard.  Not a good idea, Chris.  Suddenly, a creepy voice floats out of the darkness, and Chris bolts because it scares the heck out of him.  Much later: new creepy hole beneath the cabin.  The creepy voice returns, saying 'I see you, Chris.'  It scared me half to death, but in a good way. 

Between said dark hole and creepy/scary/probably demonic voice and something else that happens, I was scared half to death.  I have never been so scared after reading a book.  The weird thing?  I loved it.  I don't know why, but this seemed like a good kind of scared.  I wanted to know what was going on.  I wanted to know what was happening and I was really mad at Travis when the book ended because it just wasn't fair.

I found Chris's narration easy to read and very easy to get into.  It was like I was actually Chris.  I felt his pain when he was upset and I could easily relate to everything he felt.  He was a great narrator and an awesome character in general.  I really felt bad for him because he was really the only responsible one in the house with his mom acting as she was...which was probably because of the divorce.  Then there's his missing uncle.  It's like he disappeared without a trace.  Yet another thing for Chris to wonder about as he has to get used to a new town, new friends, and people acting weird.

Then there's Gus.  He was a good character and a believable bully.  I didn't like him because of that, but I think he really made Chris's situation really realistic.

I really liked Jocelyn, too.  She was another really great character and she was really sympathetic.  I really felt bad for her as things went on and how things went down as time went on.  Her relationship with Chris was really well done and she seemed very real.

Overall, I really loved this book.  The plot was amazing and left me hanging on every word.  I fell in love with the characters and I want to know what's going to happen next.  This book easily rates five stars out of five for me.


Yes, it's better than Twilight.

And now, I'm going to go bother my mom to make an Amazon order.  I want Gravestone...

Books I Finished in May

Things have been soo crazy for the last couple of weeks.  Being home makes little difference in how busy I am, it seems.  Unfortunately, it also meant that I didn't have to read as much as usual, even though I was in Florida for a while.  I ended up with only these books read...

The Mists of Avalon
Warbreaker
Solitary

They were all really good.  The Mists of Avalon was partially for class - we read the first part of it for Arthurian Legends, but I read the rest of it even though I didn't have to.  Warbreaker was amazing.  I read that one while I was on vacation and I loved it.  Brandon Sanderson did it again.  He's really a brilliant author.  Solitary was also excellent.  I have a review for that coming eventually (I'm in the process of cleaning my room, so I don't have that much time on my hands).  All I can say is that it really evoked everything it was supposed to.  Travis scared the heck out of me at one point and there was a point I nearly burst into tears.  It was so good that I can't wait to get my hands on the next book of the Solitary Tales series.  More on that later, though.

Till I Forget About You - Big Time Rush

I love things song, and the band. They're really awesome.

Yes, I'm a sucker for good boy band pop. BTR (Big Time Rush) and BSB (Backstreet Boys) are some of my favorites. Plus, their music is really upbeat, which a lot of my music isn't...

Icons - Merlin 20in20

So, there's this challenge I found on LJ for people who make graphics like I do.  I like it, but I don't have an LJ, so I can't sign up.  I decided that I would participate in it unofficially.  I picked my favorite character to make icons for - Morgana.  For this challenge, you have to make ten icons with specific themes, five with a theme throughout, and five that are whatever you want them to be, provided that you use your character or romantic pairing.  These are mine.  The theme for the set was 'Same Episode.'

Annoyed	Cheerful	Fade
Gradient	Horizontal	Legs
Lips	Polaroid	Sun
Triangle	Theme #1	Theme #2
Theme #3	Theme #4	Theme #5
AC 1	AC 2	AC 3
AC 4	AC 5

Resolutions Update

I figured I might as well make an update on my resolutions for the year...


1. Read all of the books I've accumulated in my to-read pile
 
This one I'm going to be working on for a while.  I got more books, too.  And there's about twenty of them in the bag on my bed in the hotel right now.  Yeah.  But I've read a lot of them already, too...

2. Lose the weight gained last semester plus more and keep it off

 I'm still working on the first part of this one.  It's kind of hard to do that during finals.  And during vacation...
  3. Finish Never Surrender, one of my Robin Hood (BBC) stories, and Beauty Will Rise, the next one on my to-write list

....So far, nothing.  I need to work on this one...


4. Complete a partial draft of an original novel

I need to figure out which novel first.  It'll probably be either Shadowlands or Darkness Falls that I end up working on...

5. Make progress on my in-progress stories, preferably 6+ chapters for each story, or completion to the ones I'm working on that will be done before there are six more chapters, even if they aren't posted.

Umm... sort of.  So far it like this...

SoG: +2
NS: 0
Frozen: 0
SLSB:  +2
BE: 0



6. Get a 3.8+ GPA next semester and the fall semester

Success for the first semester!  My GPA for this past semester was 3.874

7. Clean my room until it is actually clean and organized like it should be. 

Working on it during the summer with Mama...

Well, it's going...

Love this...

I find this exchange from Brandon Sanderson's book Warbreaker to be hilarious:

Allmother's priest steps up, holding a bundle of fur tied tightly with ropes.

Allmother:  This is yours, I am told?
Lightsong:  Ah, yes.  Terribly sorry.  It kind of got away from me.
Allmother:  With an accidental Command to find me?  Then run around in circles screaming?
Lightsong:  That actually worked?  Interesting.  My high priest didn't think the squirrel's brain would be capable of following such complicated Commands
Allmother: *stern look*
Lightsong: Oh.  I mean, 'Whoops.  It completely misunderstood me.  Stupid squirrel.'

Great...

These last couple of days have not been the best.  My computer crashed on Monday night and I spent four hours restoring it.  I discovered yesterday that there was something wrong with it and my Firefox and Internet Explorer are both crashing on things like Hulu and the front page of YouTube and other random sites.  Not cool.

And that's no top of me being tired because of that and exams (we're in the middle of finals) and all of the other stuff I have going on...plus the stress because of everything...yeah. not having a great day.  Things were alright earlier, but it's just going downhill...

I love drama.  I really do.  Ugh.

Books I Finished in April

I read considerably fewer books this month, it seems.  This probably had something to do with the fact that things were insane around here.  Everything is winding down and I've had a million things to do.  Still do, actually.  I probably shouldn't even be typing this.  Oh well.  Anyway, reviews will come eventually...maybe.  These were also thicker books for the most part.  Only one of them was even remotely close to bad and it was very bad (the Tortall book that caused my rant on Mastiff).  Hopefully I'll have more time to read once finals are over.  A week from today I'll be flying to Florida for vacation.  Hello reading in the sun!  Yay!


A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court
A Discovery of Witches
Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales
Dragongirl 
Human Development: Across the Lifespan
The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle (Graphic Novel)
The Dresden Files: Storm Front Parts 1 & 2 (Graphic Novel) 
Noah's Orphans
That Hideous Strength

Icons! (Robin Hood & Series quotes) And a Banner

Well, I just realized that I had been sitting on these for a long time, and I kind of wanted to post them a while ago...I make icons a lot...most of them are for the different shows I watch or the books I read...so, this is the first set, based on the Robin Hood series that ran on BBC from 2006 to 2009. I love this show.

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9
10	11	12
13	14	15
16	17	18
19

So...

I've been reading a lot lately.  I actually just finished an 880+ page large print book the other day.  That was a good book.  The good thing is, I'm down to just eight books from the library.  That's really a good thing.  At one point, I think I had about twenty-one books in my room at one time that were all from the library.  I mean, I do have books from the school library, but those aren't the same.  Those are scholarly works for my Arthurian Legends research.  Actually, pretty much all of them are from the character study I had to do as my second short research paper.  Which I could probably put up here if I ever remembered to do so.

Either way, those aren't really my fun books from the library, as interesting as they are.  I might eventually get around to getting them for my own collection (I have a fascination with Arthurian Legend, specifically the character of Morgana/Morgan le Fay).  There are a lot of different things in that pile, which I can see from where I'm sitting...it's actually bigger than my fun book pile right now.  Wow.  That's a first.

So, that being said, I'm actually still in the middle of a couple of books.  Solitary being one of them....it kind of ended up pushed aside a bit by the fact that I HAVE to get those books read by a particular timeframe.  So, yeah.  And I'm reading Dragongirl, the latest book from the Dragonriders of Pern series.  Also a great book and a great series..

Not Cool, Bantam!!

Letting a book that doesn't sell much go out of print?  Not a big deal.  The author can republish them or sell the rights to another published and so on.  Let a book that sells five times more than the rest of the author's books that are still in print make in a month go out of print?  Not cool. 

The reason I'm  even writing this is that my favorite Star Wars books of all time, the X-Wing series, are going out of print.  Even though those are some of the best Star Wars books in existence.  Even though Michael A. Stackpole is one of the best author's in the Star Wars Expanded Universe - seriously, he's right up there with Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, and Matthew Stover, all of whom have written books I absolutely adore.  Even though those are the books I recommend to everyone who wants to read the EU.  Even though no Star Wars books ever go out of print (or so it seems). 

Seriously, Bantam?  Seriously?  You do that now?  That's just stupid. 

I hope Michael Stackpole manages to get them republished or something.  Those are seriously some of the best books I've ever read, period.  They're amazing Star Wars books, and they're just amazing in general.  If you can get them and are into that sort of thing, do.  It's worth it.  And check out the other stuff Stackpole has written, such as I, Jedi.  That's another amazing book.  The man is an amazing writer. 

Information on this event is here, on Stackpole's website/blog - Stormwolf.

Mastiff?

I have to say, I'm not looking forward to Tamora Pierce's next book. 

When I was about fourteen or fifteen, a friend of mine brought up the Song of the Lioness quartet for probably about the third time.  The first time or two Sarah recommended it to me, I forgot.  I had other things to read, so why would I remember to purchase Alanna: The First Adventure the next time I was at the book store?  I wouldn't, of course.

The last time she recommended them to me, I did pick up A:TFA.  And I read it in less than a day and was addicted.  I promptly picked up the rest of the quartet, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, and Lioness Rampant.  All of those books were very good.  I was an ardent supporter of Alanna/George by the time I was done and I loved Liam Ironarm because he was just so stinking awesome. 

I picked up the first two books from the next quartet, The Immortals - Wild Magic and Wolf-Speaker.  I loved both of those books and ended up getting that series and the next series, The Protector of the Small (which is made up of First Test, Page, Squire, and Lady Knight), when I could.  That involved getting the first two books of that before I got the last two books of The Immortals (Emperor Mage and The Realm of the Gods).  I was fine with that, of course.  I adored Pierce's work.  It was amazing - magic and knights and romance that wasn't cheesy all rolled into one.  I loved it.  The duology that followed PotS is the Daughter of the Lioness duo, or the Trickster duo (Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen).  Those weren't my favorites, but they were still good. 

It took me ages to finally get my hands on Terrier, the first book in The Legend of Beka Cooper, which is also called The Provost's Dog Trilogy.  That was the most amazing book Pierce ever wrote, in my opinion.  I adored that book for the longest time.  I still enjoy it to this day, despite the fact that it's been about four years since I first read it and almost two and a half since I read it last. 

I have a reason for waiting so long to reread it.  That's the second book in that series, Bloodhound.  That is honestly the worst book I have ever read.  Okay, maybe it's second to what I've read of the book I have to read for history in a couple weeks.  Still.  It's the most poorly written book I've ever read.  The characters are all out of character compared to the first book.  The intelligent, strong, independent sixteen-year-old heroine from the first book?  Now an airheaded, weakling of a seventeen-year-old who will jump into bed with a guy she barely knows.  Seriously.  I'm not joking.

Beka's character changed so much between Terrier and Bloodhound that it's not even funny.  It's ridiculous.  I hated who Beka had become and she was my second favorite character from the first book (second to the oh-so-wonderful Rosto the Piper, who I absolutely love even now.).  She had changed so completely that I wasn't even sure that she was the same person.  And she wasn't the only one.  All of the characters were out of character.  All of them.  Even Rosto, who barely appeared (compared to his rather large role in the first book), was completely out of character for the most part. 

And go figure, he was continually mentioned, but all he did was sit on his butt in Corus (the capital of the country) and not do what one would think the King of Thieves would do when someone was counterfeiting silver and he was getting paid in false money.  No.  He just sat there.  And did NOTHING.  The only line I liked in the whole book was where another character described him as being "as mad as a bear with a thorn in his, er, paw."  And for good reason, too.  What would you do if the love of your life (because I'm absolutely sure that he loves Beka) slept with someone they had known for maybe two weeks after you had been pursuing them for a year?  I'd be mad as heck, personally.  So, I see his point of view.

Plus, Beka's too stupid to see what's right in front of her face.  Hmm.  Nasty, evil, horrible woman as the Rogue of the city who OBVIOUSLY has everything to do with the counterfeiting and everything?  No, she couldn't possibly be the one doing it.  I'll go chase my tail for a couple of weeks.  A couple of weeks later?  Wait a second.  I found silver in her things.  And she's chasing me.  She must be the one who did it. 

That's pretty much Cooper's thought process for the whole book.  It's horrible.  I've never seen such bad writing.  And the sad thing is that people adore the book.  How silly.

Oh, and don't even get me started on Dale Rowan (or, as I like to call him - Chipmunk Boy - because he reminds me of Dale from Chip and Dale).  I could rant about how much I hate him (with a passion.  After I read the book, I called him Evil Incarnate for weeks.  I still hate him more than any other character I've ever encountered.), but I won't subject you to that this time. 

And there's Okha.  He creeps me out.  Beyond all belief.  I never thought something would bother me that much.  It's worse than anything anywhere close to having an excessively graphic battle in a book or the graphic nature (very gritty, dark, etc. not gratuitous sex scenes) of one of my favorite trilogies.  In every possible way.  Heck, I'd rather read A Great and Terrible Beauty than read Bloodhoud and get freaked out by that again.  And that was one of the less than a handful of books that I had bought and started only to put down because there was something wrong with it.  Okha (who is a transvestite who believes he was born a woman in a man's body, by the way) is one of the few things that has seriously disturbed me in any book.

Those are some of the many reasons that that book was so horrible.  A friend of mine speculates that the book was horrible because Pierce lost everything to a complete computer crash and just started over by writing her beliefs and slapping names on it.  I couldn't agree more.  Bloodhound was one of the worst books I've ever read.  That includes Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga, which I greatly dislike.  It was also one of two books that I have ever wanted to throw against a wall.  The only other one was Breaking Dawn (yes, a Twilight/Sparklepire book...) at the anti-climax in that.  I didn't do that to either, of course, because my parents would have killed me for waking them up by throwing my book against the wall.  Well, maybe. 

Still, the point is, the excerpt from Mastiff is mediocre at best.  It's not enjoyable and it's dry.  Plus, there's a distinctive lack of Rosto-y goodness in it. 

If Pierce can't fix it in Mastiff, I'm never reading any of her new books again. 

Funny thing is, the uber feminists loved the book where Beka was so utterly weak that she just had to sleep with Chipmunk Boy.  You'd think they wouldn't do that.  Obviously, the ones who thought Beka was stronger in there and actually liked it to the point where they approve of the new portrayal of her, I don't approve.  I'll keep my thoughts to myself in that regard...but my point remains. 

Not worth it.  Just not worth it.

If you're going to buy a book, buy it from a good writer, like Brent Weeks, Brandon Sanderson, or Jim Butcher.  They're amazing.  And they don't destroy their characters from a series and utterly change them between books.  They actually write well and change the character on screen.  They're the good writers.

Books I Finished in March

I read a lot of books in March.  It's been a long, long times since I've read this much to be perfectly honest.  Even last semester and this semester, when I've finally gotten back into reading and everything, I haven't read this much in a month.  I actually finished one more book just barely out of the timeframe and I'm already working on another, though it's slow going.  The unfortunate thing is that the book I'm reading is due on Sunday.  That's really kind of annoying...oh, well.  I can request it again, I suppose, but that's just a pain in the rear...

The Irish Princess
The Confession
The Swan Kingdom
The Virgin Queen's Daughter
I Am Mordred
The Reckoning 
The Problem With Poverty
King Arthur and His Knights
Innocent Traitor
The Queen's Pawn
Rival to the Queen
Twilight of Avalon 
A Kiss Before the Apocalypse 

Review: Fire

Fire.  In this story, this word has more than one meaning.  First, is can be the flames that most consider it to me, or it could be the shooting of an arrow...or it could be the name of the main character.  The main character, obviously named Fire, was named for her bright red hair.  She is a human monster, the last of her kind.  Her father was a monster and her mother a human.  What makes her - and her father before her - a monster, though, is the power she possesses.  She can speak to people through her mind, sense them, and control them if she so desires.  But Fire, unlike her monster father, does not care for what she can do.  She would rather not have such abilities, if she was perfectly honest.

But it is not what she can do that makes her so special.  Even when Prince Brigan hates her and his elder brother, King Nash, adores her to a point that is dangerous for everyone.  The fact is, she isn't like her father.  She is a strong person who doesn't want to harm others.  She does not even want to continue her species.  She is the last, after all.  And all of her children will be monsters like her.  As hated as she is at times, Fire is a very strong character and her story is a very entertaining read.  I can't say that I'm thrilled by the feminism that filters its way into this book, but it's not nearly as bad as Kristin Cashore's other book, Graceling.  That was rampant with it.  This book is much better overall.  A much better read, for sure.  I would rate it a three and a half out of five on my scale.  Overall, it's a pretty good book.  I don't think I'll read it again, though.

Pokémon in Education?

I was actually just looking something up while I was taking a short break from writing a draft of my paper for Psych 123 when I ran across this opinion piece on the Bulbapedia (that's the Pokémon Wikipedia, thank you very much).  It's actually rather fascinating and the person who wrote it made several very good points about how something like this can be used in education. 

I've posted before about a couple of the life lessons I learned from Pokémon when I was younger, and I just had to post this. 

Can Pokémon be educational?

The Inheritance Cycle

The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini is a series that I've read since maybe 2005 or 2006.  I can't remember at this point, considering that it was five or six years ago.  I actually wrote my first story (yes, it was fanfiction) based on my version of the third book because I was so tired of waiting for it to come out and I had just discovered fanfiction.

It's been a couple of years shy of a decade since Christopher Paolini released Eragon.  When I first read the book, I loved it.  Keep in mind, though, I was around thirteen and a friend of mine let me borrow her copy because she had bunches of books she wanted me to read.  It was worth reading and I really loved it.  It was amazing.  Once I got Eldest, too, it was great.  But then the three year gap between Eldest and Brisingr happened.  I grew up.  I wasn't the thirteen year old who thought it was amazing anymore.  By the time I got my hands on any version of Brisingr (it was the audiobook, which I highly recommend, though I still don't think Murtagh has such a strong Scottish accent or sounds like he's thirty-something.  That was my only real issue with the audio version.) I was seventeen and not nearly as interested.  It was good, but I began to find Paolini's writing shallow and one-dimensional in regards to some of the female characters.  And I'll be honest.  The whole eldunari thing?  I think it's stupid.  I had a whole bunch of issues with the whole book, and not just because my favorite characters are either dead or have done a face turn heel (they switched sides). 

So, I'm not entirely thrilled about the prospect of the last book.  I figure, I'll read it and I'll be done.  I have this thing about finishing a series if I liked it and/or had some emotional attachment to the characters.  That's the only reason I'm going to finish Tamora Pierce's Provost's Dog Trilogy, to be honest.  I loved the first book of that series and hated the second with a passion (there's a running joke among my friends that I call one of my most hated characters in that book Chipmunk Boy because his name is Dale...his name reminds me of Chip and Dale, actually.  And as much as I love them, I hate him.  So I mock him.  The only other character that bothers me is Okha, who freaks me out beyond all belief.  He's just creepy.).  I'm going to finish that when the third book comes out later this year. 

I may very well be done with Pierce for good after this book, but I don't think I'll be done with Paolini.  He has a lot of potential as a writer.  He's fairly good already - much better than the author of a certain series that has sparklepires as I call them (that's the Twilight Saga, which I refer to as Twinkle.) for example.  His career so far has been made up entirely of telling this one story.  He's not my favorite, but I think he has a great deal of potential to become a truly great author someday.  His Inheritance Cycle is a good story.   There are things that I don't like about it, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good book and something fun to read.  I've already got Inheritance on request from the public library near the college at this point. 

It'll be nice to finally see what happens to Eragon and Saphira in the end.  I just kind of wish I could read it now.

Red - Best Is Yet To Come

This is another song from the new CD by one of my favorite bands (Red's Until We Have Faces). I've fallen in love with this song over the last few days. It's really beautiful and it's one of their very few ballads.

Yikes

This month has been insane.  I keep meaning to post on here but I never get around to it.  Obviously, that has not happened.  I actually need to post more, and I want to.  I just keep neglecting it when I actually do have time.  Which, really, isn't that often.  I realize that even more so now that I've got a couple of days off from my research project with Dr. H.  Since the subject of our research (bats) doesn't come out in the cold weather, that kind of creates a problem.  We've been recording for them since February 22nd, and we've got one call.  And that one is extremely garbled by electronic interference. 

So, yeah.  The whole bat thing doesn't work very well when it's so stinking cold because there are no insects.  Thus, nothing for the bats to eat.  Which makes our work frustratingly slow.  Spring break was beautiful.  The only problem was that we only got the one bat.  And the weird thing is, the detectors are actually pretty sensitive.  Weird. 

That's what I've been doing almost constantly for a month.  And I have two papers due this Thursday and a test on Friday.  Plus, my best friend might (or might not if things don't work out with her transportation) be coming up for the weekend from our hometown.  So, busy, busy me. 

At least I'm caught up on some of my non-school life.  But not that much. 

And I'm going back to work before I procrastinate more on the papers.  Ick.

How Busy Can I Get?

Apparently very.  As it turns out, I'm spending 28+ hours in the HSC (the science center) between classes and research.  That being said, as of tomorrow, I'll probably be carrying 19 credits instead of 17.  That would be because I'm adding the field experience course to my credits, too.  It's actually quite fun.  The main reason I'm doing that is because I've got about 23 hours racked up so far and the professor I'm doing research with is leaving at the end of the semester.  He also happens to be my adviser.  Because of that, I'll be switching advisers at the end of the semester, too.  That way I actually have someone I'm comfortable with for the time being.  The new Ecology professor might end up as my adviser eventually - since my future plans are either veterinary medicine or a Ph.D. in Biology with a Zoology or Ecology emphasis so that I can teach at the college level - but who knows how that will turn out.  I've been super busy because of the research I'll be doing anyway. 

Surprisingly, that hasn't stopped me from getting more books.  Or reading a lot of books so far this month.  I think I'm up to like five or six.  And if I didn't have to read The Problem of Poverty for History, I would totally be reading The Reckoning by Beverly Lewis or A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski.  Both of which I'm in the middle of.  Library books and new books.  Even though I haven't actually finished most of the books I have in my room...there are still a dozen in my room that I haven't read.  Not including school books.

Currently, I'm in the middle of Solitary (Still.  Great book.  I just keep forgetting because I'll clean my room and everything I was reading will disappear except for my library books.), A Kiss Before the Apocalypse, The Reckoning, and Millennium Falcon.  Only one of which is a library book.  That's probably not a good thing.  Whatever.

I've also been watching this show called Sanctuary.  My best friend got me into it.  Again.  She does that a lot.  The last time she did this, I fell in love with Castle.  That's one of my favorite television shows ever.  So much so that it's on my birthday list.  It's right under Robin Hood (The BBC tv show, not the movie) and Merlin.  

But yeah.  That's what I've been doing.  And now, I had best get back to reading The Problem of Poverty.  I have to do it by tomorrow and answer discussion questions.  Oh, and I have a meeting with my Psych prof at 7:40 tomorrow.  I can't forget that.  I hate mornings.  Why did I register for 8 a.m. classes again?  Oh, right.  That was the only time Fundamentals of Chemistry is offered.  Right.  And I already had a 9:30 class Tuesday/Thursday.  Note to self: try to avoid 8 a.m. classes next semester if possible. 

Books I Finished in February

It's getting to be a bit later in March than I intended to start posting for the month...whoops.  But, I figured I might as well post this while I was at it.  These are the books I read during February...none of which I have reviewed yet.  I should probably do that when I have time to do other stuff.  Other stuff meaning things that aren't school related.  Bah.  Either way, most of these were pretty good.  I'm not going to review On Christian Liberty because I already wrote a paper on it..

The Lady Elizabeth
Midwinter
The Shunning
The Black Prism
Firelight
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
Ascendant
On Christian Liberty

Lightbringer and Brent Weeks

I'm a red magic drafter!

Take the quiz at Brent Weeks.com

Red luxin is sticky, gooey, and extremely flammable. Reds often work with sub-reds or with mundane tools to make fire bombs. Their skills are used to catastrophic effect in war. Reds are quick tempered, lusty, and love destruction.

The results from your color matching test have also shown that you are one of the elite, a superchromat. The magic you do will almost never fail. Satrapies will compete to recruit you, and you will have a wide latitude in what work you choose to do once you finish your studies. You can expect your patron to lavish praise and honors on you. As a monochrome, you will master your color, and only have to defer to bichromes and polychromes and, of course, the nobility and the satraps who support us all.

Magic in the Black Prism

When a candle burns, a physical substance (wax) is transformed into light. Chromaturgy in The Black Prism is the inverse:  A drafter transforms light into a physical substance (luxin). Each different color of luxin has its own strength, weight, and even smell: blue luxin is hard, red is gooey, yellow is liquid, etc. But even as drafters change the world, the luxin changes them too, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The color change of a drafter's eyes is only the beginning…

 So, I'm in the middle of The Black Prism by Brent Weeks.  I've adored this author for about...two years now.  He's a brilliant writer and his magic system for the Lightbringer Series is absolutely amazing.  I love his books.  The Night Angel Trilogy  is what got me started on his books.  Most specifically...I was cover shopping...again...that has actually gotten me pretty far, though many people don't recommend it.  The red smoke over the stark white background on the cover of the second one (Shadow's Edge) caught my eye and I was led to The Way of Shadows, which is one of my most favorite books every.

I can't sing high enough praise for Brent Weeks - he's an amazing writer, really.  You just have to be able to stomach grit, darkness, and swearing to read The Night Angel Trilogy.  The Lightbringer Series looks as though it will be very good, too. I'm off to get back to work...and my book...

Janelle - Amazing

This song actually meant a lot to me a couple of years ago. Not because someone sent it to me, but because of how beautiful it was. It was also instrumental in what I was writing at the time, as well. In retrospect, it was really something I needed to hear, even if it wasn't from someone directly. This song is very special, both to me and in general. It's - for lack of a better word - amazing. No pun intended. It really is.

Mewtwo & Lugia - The Dream Within

I actually found this song accidentally when I was listening to music from the old Pokemon the First Movie soundtrack on YouTube. I think it's pretty and I like the fact that it's Pokemon....and it helps hold me over until March when the new games come out. I can't wait to get my copy of Pokemon Black.

Sick Again...

I seriously hate this part of being at school.  I keep getting sick.  This is the fourth time I've been sick since last semester.  I got sick on the Wednesday of finals week in December.  Then I got sick during Interim.  Then I got sick a couple of weeks ago.  Now I'm sick again.  And it's one of those colds that I really hate - the kind that makes it so that you can't swallow because of the pressure it puts on your nose and it pushes the mucus down.  I hate that kind of cold.  And the last cold was just like this. 

Thank goodness I don't have a fever, though.  And that I don't have a whole lot of work to do.  I just have to read a bit for Bio, History, and study for tomorrow's Chem test.  Not a huge deal.  It's fairly easy stuff anyway, but it's just a big pain in the rear.  And.  It. Keeps.  Happening.  It's seriously driving me nuts. 

Not fun.  I'm going to go relax for a little while before I get to work.  And hope that the cold clears up a bit...

Another Post About Books...

Since I'm at it, I figured I'd comment on the books I'm in the middle of right now.  I've managed to end up in the middle of like seven books, some of which I've been in the middle of for ages.  I also have a bunch of library books to read...but that's just me.  I read a lot and I always have a lot to read...

I'm actively in the middle of three books at the moment:

Midwinter by Matthew Sturges.  (161/344)  This is a good book so far.  It's quite interesting and it's a book about the Fae, most specifically the war hero Mauritaine, who was condemned to live the rest of his life in prison for supposed high treason.  Now, he has to complete a mission for the Seelie Queen, Titania.  If he does, he and the companions he chooses are free to go and do as they wish.  They just have to get through the Unclaimed Lands without being caught by Seelie or Unseelie forces...it's very good so far and hopefully I'll be able to finish it by Friday so that I can take it back to the library...

The Lady Elizabeth by Alison Weir. (371/473)  Also a good book.  Some of the basis is ridiculous, but it's still a pretty good book.  This is only the second novel this author wrote, having spent a long time as a historian.  Personally, I'm loving this sort of historical fiction.  I love the Tudor Monarchy and the stories associated with it.  Unfortunately, though, finishing this book will mean that I only have one more novel by this author that I could read, since I finished The Captive Queen a couple of weeks ago...alas...

Solitary by Travis Thrasher.  (119/392)  This book was given to me by the author.  He taught the interim course I took a few weeks ago, which I keep meaning to make a post about (I will, eventually).  During the course, he commented that this was his spin on the premise of Twilight (or, as a friend of mine and I call it, Twinkle).  Honestly, this is so much better than Meyer's work.  His writing is better and the characters are very believable...it's a really good book.  I'm not even the kind of person to read supernatural thrillers, but I really like this one.  I'm looking forward to reading more of Travis's work, such as the book I bought from him, Every Breath You Take.  If you haven't heard of him, check out his website HERE, or check out his blog, The Journey is Everything.  He's definitely worth the read.

Red | Who We Are | Until We Have Faces

One of my favorite bands just came out with a new CD, which happens to be their third. I've loved this band since their first CD End of Silence, and I also liked how their sound changed in Innocence & Instinct, their second CD. This song is really great - their style has changed once again and it's a little less blast-your-ears-out, which I know that my wonderful mother greatly dislikes. Alas, my taste in music is not quite the best in some ways, but the bands that I really listen to are Christian, like Red is.

Sometimes, I Don't Know Why I Bother

A pet peeve of mine: people who pronounce words incorrectly.  Example: the silent g in gyros. It's not said with a hard g.  It's silent.  It's also not jyros.  The first and last letters are both silent.  They make no noise.  Saying that, like saying coupon or data wrong, sounds very uneducated.  And, to me, it sounds absolutely idiotic as well as uncultured.  Will anyone listen to this?  No.  Example number one?  My roommate, who happens to be Ukrainian.  Would anyone be proud of me for pointing this out?  I can think of at least one person who would be - my video teacher for my speech class in high school.

This is me being weird, I realize.  It's like me being a grammar nazi, which I do happen to be.  My only problem with that, unlike this, is commas.  I, at least, try my hardest to pronounce things correctly, as I also try to put the commas where they are supposed to go and try not to put them where they do not go. 

I think I've changed my mind.  Forget Japanese.  I'm going to learn Gaelic or Welsh if I can.  Or both.  That would be better.

Mini-rant over.  Now, to go finish my book...

Done!

Finally, I have some relief.  Not a whole lot, but a little.  My Luther paper just needs to be edited, I've got a few other things done...it's really all about getting the little things done at this point.  And studying for the tests I have coming up.  Fun, really.  I'm just glad that I finally have time to actually do things that I want to do.  Admittedly, I have at four tests coming up in the next week and a half or so, so that isn't a whole lot of fun...but, on the bright side, then I'll be basically done with major stuff for a little while.  I can't believe that it's already the fourth week of the semester, though...that means it's almost a third of the way over...yikes.

Anyway, I need to get back to the stuff I have to do for tomorrow and so on...

Procrastination

I shouldn't be writing this.  But I am.  I'm bored to death with the paper I'm working on right now.  I hate writing persuasive papers.  I hate them from the bottom of my heart.  Particularly history papers.  I love my Western Civ class, but I can't stand the papers that have been assigned in that and the history class I took last semester.  Probably because in the first one, I couldn't connect to the biography we were basing it on, and this time, I just don't want to write it because I don't.  I'm also a little freaked out over the fact that I have a psych quiz tomorrow morning and also a psych test on Thursday.  And I didn't know that until this morning because I haven't looked at that part of the syllabus in a while.  Ick.

Still, I should be working.  Which is what I'm going to go do now.  Less than a page to go!

Books I Finished in January

So, I figured if I'm going to be reading all of these books and try to be accountable for a big chunk of them, I had best at least keep track of what I've been reading so far. And yes, I AM procrastinating on my Luther paper. I don't want to write this paper...I'd much rather do my Morgana paper for next week...

Coronets and Steel*
Troubled Waters*
Fire
The Road to Avalon
The Captive Queen

So far, I've only managed to *review two of those, though I do have the review for Fire partially written...I'll get to it eventually...I hope. But still, considering how much I've had to do, I think I've done pretty well.  I've got another fourteen books sitting on my pile at school, plus a bunch of other books sitting on the drawer waiting to be read.  As usual, I'll get to them eventually...before the end of the school year...

Back to watching Duke (Duke University) obliterate N.C. State (North Carolina State University) on the basketball court.  It's 75-46 right now.  The Blue Devils are really on their game tonight.

Darth Vader Kid: The Force

One of my friends posted this on Facebook, courtesy of one of the professors at the college we're both attending. It's absolutely hilarious. Whoever came up with this commercial is a genius.

End of the Day

Well, I managed to finish reading Luther.  It wasn't that bad, but now I have to answer three pages of discussion questions.  Joy.  I hate those things.  And I need to start my Winchester paper.  And take a bath.  In the next two hours.  Fun.

I probably shouldn't complain, though, considering how much work I got done.  And the fact that I watched four episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise this weekend and The Princess and the Frog.  That was a pretty good movie, admittedly.   But, at least what I have left isn't that bad.  And I'll get to finish the Winchester paper tomorrow anyway, along with my Psych stuff.  Not bad, really.  I actually had a pretty good weekend.

Because of that, I'm off to relax for a while before I do the discussion questions (or most of them, at least)...

Tomorrow is bound to be more interesting...plus, I already have a song picked out and I might have time to review something...and go bother my best friend via phone call...hehe...

This Weekend's To-Do List

I figured that I would to this for the heck of it...and because I need some motivation right now.  Yes, yes, my third post of the day, and just because I'm bored and not in the mood to be reading Martin Luther...

This is what I started with....

(Bio) Read Chapter 24 (Mon)
(Bio) Read Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (Mon)
(Bio) Answer questions on Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (Mon)
(Chem) 12 problems from Chapter 12 (Mon)
(Chem) Read Chapter 13 (Wed)
(Chem) Finish Radioactivity Lab (Thurs)
(Chem) Pre-Lab 16 (Thurs)
(History) Read West pgs 356-361 (Mon)
(History) Read On Christian Liberty 1-74 (Mon)
(History) Discussion questions for On Christian Liberty (Mon)
(Psych) Read Chapter 2 (Tues)
(Psych) Review chapters & readings for Quiz (Tues)
(AL) Wilhelm (The Romance of Arthur) 59-93 (Tues)
(AL) Winchester paper - 2-3 pages MLA format & research (Tues)
(AL) Read handout (Tues)

This is after the striking...



(Bio) Read Chapter 24 (Mon)
(Bio) Read Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (Mon)
(Bio) Answer questions on Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes (Mon)
(Chem) 12 problems from Chapter 12 (Mon)
(Chem) Read Chapter 13 (Wed)
(Chem) Finish Radioactivity Lab (Thurs)
(Chem) Pre-Lab 16 (Thurs)
(History) Read West pgs 356-361 (Mon)
(History) Read On Christian Liberty 1-74 (Mon)
(History) Discussion questions for On Christian Liberty (Mon)
(Psych) Read Chapter 2 (Tues)
(Psych) Review chapters & readings for Quiz (Tues)
(AL) Wilhelm (The Romance of Arthur) 59-93 (Tues)
(AL) Winchester paper - 2-3 pages MLA format & research (Tues)
(AL) Read handout (Tues)

And this is what's left...

(Chem) Pre-Lab 16 (Thurs)
(History) Read On Christian Liberty 1-74 (Mon)
(History) Discussion questions for On Christian Liberty (Mon)
(Psych) Read Chapter 2 (Tues)
(Psych) Review chapters & readings for Quiz (Tues)
(AL) Wilhelm (The Romance of Arthur) 59-93 (Tues)
(AL) Winchester paper - 2-3 pages MLA format & research (Tues)

I suppose it's back to work again.  Ick...on to Luther...

Crunch Time

It's been totally crazy lately.  Since class has started, I've been busy all the time.  Right now, I've still got a ton to do.  So far today I've finished the dozen chem problems that my prof didn't mention at all.  And they're due tomorrow.  I didn't know about them until yesterday morning.  Great, right? 

That leaves me with reading On Christian Liberty and answering the discussion questions for that for tomorrow for History and that's the last of what I absolutely have to have done for tomorrow...the only problem with that is that I have a paper for Arthurian Legends on Tuesday.  And it's not even just a paper.  It's a presentation.  Thankfully it only has to be two to three pages long, but still.  I don't want to be finishing it at midnight tomorrow.  That would be horrible.  That, a reading, and a little Psych stuff are still on the list, but it's not that bad.  Well, I don't think it is.  I'm actually about to read a the chapter for Chemistry on Wednesday then get to the Luther reading, which I REALLY don't want to do...but I have to...mainly because there's sort of a paper on that, too.  Due a week from Wednesday.  The problem with that?  I have another paper for Arthuian Legends due that Tuesday.  That one is on Morgan le Fay, so it's not as difficult, but still...

And now it's back to work...more later, more than likely...

Tightrope ♥ Emily and Damon ♥ Make It or Break It

It's been a while since I blogged...but I've got a ton to be doing, so I'm not going to be able to post for a bit if I do get a chance to do that today....but I had to post this song. This song was on the season finale of Make It Or Break It, a show about four elite gymnasts, their families, and the other people in their lives. (Spoiler alert) Damon sings this song for Emily at the end of the finale and it's perfect for them as a couple. This video is one about them that I found, obviously. They're an adorable couple and I hope things work out for them.

Mordred's Lullaby

A friend of mine told me about this song ages ago, and it really fit a character I was writing at that point in time. I'm still writing that character, but it's been a long time since I did...this song still reminds me of him, and I love it in general...it's very pretty. And it's Arthurian Legend, go figure...

Lifehouse - If This is Goodbye

So, I found this song last night....I think it's really pretty, and it's Lifehouse, one of my favorite bands. They're seriously awesome. Particularly their latest CD, Mirrors and Smoke.

Lifehouse - Best Of Me (What's Left Of Me)

I love this song - I have the rest of this CD, but unfortunately I'm missing this one and a couple of the other bonus tracks because of the version I have (stupid multiple versions on Amazon...). All the same, this is an amazing song and I absolutely adore it. It also provides a bit of inspiration for one of my stories.

What Time in the Car Does...

I am such a nerd.  It’s one thing to have a Star Wars hoodie and Imperial Cog earrings (pictures forthcoming…eventually…), but it’s an entirely different thing to be wearing those and be rocking out to a song that is a reference to my childhood and people of my generation.  So, I’m sitting in the car on the way home wearing my Empire Strikes Back thermal hoodie and my Imperial Cog earrings…and my younger sister and I are singing along to the original Pokémon theme song that I have on my iTunes.  (I want to be the very best, like no one ever was.  To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause…)

Yes, I just admitted it.  While the pie chart I posted yesterday might not say so, but most people I know think Pokémon is entirely stupid.  Or that it’s evil.  I’ll make no comment on the latter because I don’t believe it.  I also disagree with the other comment – it’s actually not stupid.  And unlike some of the things it teaches to children actually mean something, unlike a lot of the television shows of this age. 

Ash is competitive and driven.  The whole series – all fourteen seasons and five generations as of yet – has a couple of overarching themes and lessons. 

First, never give up.  No matter how many times you get knocked down, get back up and work harder to get to the goal you’re trying to achieve.  You can do it and no one can stand in the way of your dreams.  Just keep trying.  You’ll get it someday.  You just have to work for it.

The second lesson is don’t ever take your friends for granted.  Your true friends will stand by you through everything, no matter what.  Even across distance and time, you can always rely on them.  You may not see them for a while, but if they are truly your friends, nothing will change that.

Those are two things that have stuck with me since I was little and Pokémon was all the rage.  When I was younger, it was the coolest thing ever.  Now, it’s not so much, but those of us who remember it still think it’s pretty cool for the most part.  Actually, a lot of kids still think that it’s awesome. 

I still have to say, though, in reference to the show…they never should have gotten rid of Misty or Brock…they were awesome…

“It’s a whole new world we live in, it’s a whole new way to see…it’s a whole new place, with a brand new attitude, but you still gotta catch ‘em all and be the best that you can be…” (Pokémon Johto theme song)

Review: Troubled Waters

Zoe Ardelay is grieving for her father when a messenger of the king is sent to retrieve her.  She is asked to go to the Palace as the king's fifth wife, and she cannot refuse this messenger.  But once she gets to the city, she slips out of his grasp and disappears from all view.

For a time, Zoe lives happily in the city, but eventually she discovers something that had been hidden from her when her father took her into exile with him: she is the Coru Prime, and she must return to the Palace.  This time, however, she must go in her own right with power of her own.  And, as Coru Prime, she is safe from any unwelcome marriage attempts, such as that of the king, who we find out later is not a bad person.  Now Zoe must navigate the court and be careful not to make an enemy of any of the four wives of King Vernon.

In Zoe's world, people are associated with four different things - sweela, which is fire; elay, which is air; torz, which is earth; hunti, which is wood; and coru, which is water.  Each of these elemental associations is passed down from parent to child.  Zoe's father was a sweela man, as she put it, but she is like her mother and is a coru woman, though she is said to have a sweela heart many times. 

I found this book in the new books section of the public library by my school.  I've spent a great deal of time reading books I've gotten there that I never would have found at the bookstore or at my home library.  Then again, my home library is not well-stocked and it's staffed by nazi librarians.

I loved this book.  I absolutely adored this book.  I flew through this book even though I was sick the evening I read the largest chunk of it.  It brought me a great deal of joy when I wasn't feeling very well.  I honestly wish that Sharon Shinn had written more books in this universe (though this book only came out at the end of last year).  But, since she hasn't, I will probably be picking up her other books anyway.  I would give this book the full five starts.  It's really amazing and I highly recommend it.

The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon

 

I've been a fan of the Spyro franchise since Season of Ice in 2001.  I own all of the portable games that have been released since then.  I will admit that I have not finished all of them - Shadow Legacy proved difficult and I just never got around to finishing the second part of the Legend of Spyro trilogy, The Eternal Night.  But I have played all of them at some point. 

This is a game I've looked forward to being able to play (I've been a little behind on the games for a while - I usually start a game, lose interest for a while when I get stuck, and go back later with new resolve) since it's 2008 release. 

After playing it through from start to finish, I find that I am a bit disappointed by how short the game was for me.  I blew through it in record time for a Spyro game.  I'm still not finished with Season of Ice (those fairies have proven difficult to find in some cases), I've finished Season of Flame and Attack of the Rhynocs multiple times, I've gotten stuck on the final boss (I think) on Shadow Legacy (last I remember, at least), I've beaten The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, and I've gotten stuck in The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night.  I don't think I've ever blown through a Spyro game in the time it took me to beat this game.  My save file clocks in at 8:41.  Several of those hours had it sitting open on my bed while I did other things and I was constantly multitasking.  Yet, I beat the final boss - after a great deal of frustration when he kept killing me - in under nine hours. 

This is simply a short game.  The developers did not put nearly as much effort into it as previous Spyro games and I find that fairly disappointing, though I would still buy a new Spyro game in a heartbeat.  There are maybe six levels where you go through and use your elemental breath on the enemies, some of whom are immune to certain types of Spyro's or Cynder's breath.  Admittedly, they're long levels with save points few and far between.  That's another thing that frustrated me.  There were certain points where I kept dying, and I would always respawn at the last checkpoint, which was AGES before where I had been.  That would be why my DS spent a great deal of time sitting there on my bed while I was working on something or other for something else.  Or watching a movie.  The bosses - once you figure out what you're supposed to do - are also pretty easy. 

The game mechanics are good overall, though I found that I was constantly switching dragons from Spyro to Cynder and vise-versa instead of switching the kind of breath I was using.  The use of the bumpers was a bit irritating, but that's my only issue with the gameplay. 

Graphically, this game is pretty well done.  It's not as good as Season of Ice - which, as my first Spyro game, sets very high standards because it could keep me amused for hours and hours without fail - or any of the original handheld series.  The drawings of Spyro and the other characters are beautiful, and the voicing in the cutscenes is somewhat night. 

Overall, I wanted to love this game.  I honestly enjoyed it, but it is not my favorite of the Spyro franchise.  It is, unfortunately, right down there with Shadow Legacy for me.  For a Spyro game, I give it two and a half stars out of five.  For a game overall, I would give it three stars.  It's a fun game, but I wish it was longer and more intricate than just running forward and breathing things on the enemies. 

This is Too Funny...

So, I'm surfing a little while I'm packing to go home for a long weekend right now...  I'm not one of those people who likes to post a million tiny posts to her blog in a day, but I had to put this up.  I found this picture, and it is just funny...and so very true for people around my age who used to watch Pokémon...

I know a ton of people who would be in the red section and very few who would be in the black section...

Ready For Love - Cascada

My roommate had me listen to this song a couple of days ago...I think it's pretty good. It actually reminds me of a couple of characters I love to write, so it's even a bit inspiring...

Review: Coronets and Steel

Sherwood Smith is a favorite author of mine.  She's not as high as Jim Butcher, Brent Weeks, or Brandon Sanderson, but she's up there.  I've read her Crown Duel books (both the duo of Crown Duel and Court Duel, plus the prequel, A Stranger to Command) and A Posse of Princesses.  All of those were very good, and I certainly don't think I'll stop reading that particular brand of her books.

Coronets and Steel is a different kind of book.  It's an urban fantasy set in modern times.  Coronets follows the journey of Aurelia Kim Murray, a college student from California.  She's on a search for her family's history on her maternal grandmother's side.  Her search takes her to Europe, where she runs into dead end after dead end.  That's when she meets a man she dubs Mr. Darcy upon first meeting him.  And the first time she sees a ghost.

 I find this book very well written and certainly up to par with her previous works.  Smith has also stepped out of the usual area of her fantasy writing.  I don't often read urban fantasy because I just don't find many well-written books that are like that.  This book left me wanting more.  The author masterfully led up to her ending and chose to leave me where I would certainly go after the next book in this series.

Overall, I would give this book three and a half stars.  It's clean, it's well-written, Kim is a likable main character, and it's just a great book.

The Trial of Lancelot

I'm still on my Arthurian kick, it seems. I'm in the process of finding images to make icons (which I'm considering posting them on here, as well, once I've made them), but I keep getting distracted by something.


This is one of those things. Heather Dale's The Trial of Lancelot. This singer's voice is amazing and she does a lot of Arthurian songs. I'm not even through listening to this song for the first time and I adore it. It's simply beautiful...

The To-Read Pile

So, yesterday I mentioned a to-read list.  I've had a bunch of books accumulating on my bookshelf (the books on which are double shelved at this point because I have so many) that I haven't had time to read yet.  Many of them have been waiting a while, though I've meant to read them for ages.  I'm hoping to get through the list below this year, and hopefully more than that.  Of course, knowing me, I'll have a lot more than that. 

1. Miss Julia Takes Over – Ann B. Ross
2. How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less – Nicholas Boothman
3. The Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien
4. The Naming – Alison Croggon
5. The Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux
6. With God in Russia – Walter J. Ciszek, Jr.
7. Sight Hound – Pam Houston
8. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
9. The Talismans of Shannara – Terry Brooks
10. The Elf Queen of Shannara – Terry Brooks
11. The Druid of Shannara – Terry Brooks
12. The Scions of Shannara – Terry Brooks
13. Isle Witch – Terry Brooks
14. Antrax – Terry Brooks
15. Morgawr – Terry Brooks
16. Academ’s Fury – Jim Butcher
17. Cursor’s Fury – Jim Butcher
18. Captain’s Fury – Jim Butcher
19. Princep’s Fury – Jim Butcher
20. First Lord’s Fury – Jim Butcher
21. The Dresden Files: Ghost Story – Jim Butcher
22. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë
23. Emma – Jane Austen
24. Persuasion – Jane Austen
25. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
26. The Snow Queen – Mercedes Lackey
27. Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
28. The Call of the Wild – Jack London
29. Lucifer’s Hammer – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
30. Joshua – Joseph F. Girzone
31. Johnny Tremain – Ester Forbes
32. Blood Red Horse – K.M. Grant
33. Out of the Silent Planet – C.S. Lewis
34. Perelandra – C.S Lewis
35. That Hideous Strength – C.S. Lewis
36. Millennium Falcon – James Luceno
37. Warbreaker – Brandon Sanderson
38. Elantris – Brandon Sanderson
39. Fate of the Jedi: Outcast – Aaron Allston
40. Fate of the Jedi: Omen – Christy Golden
41. Crosscurrent – Paul S. Kemp
42. Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight - Michael Reaves
43. Coruscant Nights: Streets of Shadow - Michael Reaves
44. Coruscant Nights: Patterns of the Force - Michael Reaves
45. The Han Solo Adventures – Brian Daley
46. Shadows of the Empire – Steve Perry
47. Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil – Drew Karpyshyn
48. Taliesin – Stephen Lawhead
49. Merlin’s Harp – Anne Eliot Crompton
50. Halo: The Fall of Reach
51. The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss
52. Troubled Waters – Sharon Shinn
53. The Looking Glass Wars – Frank Beddor
54. Daughter of the Forest – Juliet Marillier
55. His Majesty’s Dragon – Naomi Novik
56. The Clone Wars: Wild Space – Karen Miller
57. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – N.K. Jemisin
58. The Mammoth Book of Merlin – Mike Askley
59. Fire – Kristin Cashore
60. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance  - Sean Williams
61. The Belgariad Vol. 1 – David Eddings
62. Dark River – Erin Hunter
63. Outcast – Erin Hunter
64. The Road to Avalon – Joan Wolf
65. Coronets and Steel – Sherwood Smith
66. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
67. The Mists of Avalon – Marion Zimmer Bradley
68. Idylls of the King – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
69. The Night of the Solstice – L.J. Smith
70. The Lady Elizabeth – Alison Weir
71. The Captive Queen – Alison Weir
72. Ariel – Steven R. Boyette
73. Ascendant – Diana Peterfreund
74. Iron King – Julie Kagawa
75. The Shunning - Beverly Lewis
76. The Confession - Beverly Lewis
77. The Reckoning - Beverly Lewis
78.  The Irish Princess - Karen Harper
79. I Am Mordred - Nancy Springer
80.  For Camelot's Honor - Sarah Zettel
81. Firelight - Sophie Jordan
82.  The Black Prism - Brent Weeks
83. The Queen's Pawn - Christy English
    
84. Rival to the Queen - Carolly Erickson
    
85. The Virgin Queen's Daughter - Ella Chase
    
86. A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver - E. L. Konigsburg
87. Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir
88. The Last Full Measure - Michael A. Martin
89. The Centurion's Wife - Davis Bunn & Janette Oke
90. The Swan Kingdom - Zoe Marriott
91. Daedalus's Children - Dave SternThe Twilight of Avalon - Anna Elliot
92. Knight Errant  - John Jackson Miller
93. Choices of One - Timothy Zahn