Sold a barbeque today! I think I quite like selling things. It makes me happy to think of a fair price, and then see people being happy with what they get! Plus, it's actual income.

I spent tonight catching up on a whole bunch of webcomics for the first time in many months, and it's put me in quite a wistful mood. I found a few new ones as well, and the overall quality of the webcomics in general has improved a lot since I last read some. Either that, or I'm just getting better at finding good ones.

Here are links to the best of the new (I read more, but I figured only the best were worth listing here for now):

http://www.feywinds.com
This is like a more original version of traditional fantasy, set in a world that was almost torn apart by powerful golems in the past. The characters in this one are fantastic - they all have their own incredibly unusual quirks and talents, with very strong, individual personalities! It also doesn't take itself too seriously, so is quite funny, and has a villain who actually seems to be aware of which fantasy cliches to avoid.

http://www.sisterclaire.com
A comic about a nun who adores cats! I couldn't stop saying "awwwwwwww" all throughout it. The main character is so sweet and adorable and yet inadvertently trouble-making that you can't help but love her to bits. It's really, really nice to see a genuinely kind, innocent character for once! Plus, there are lots of cuddly scenes with cute kitties! Oh my god, why aren't they real? Why can't I pick them up off the page?! What more could you want? Oh, and she's carrying the next Messiah. But it's soooooooo cuuuuuuute!

http://www.zudacomics.com/bayou
This one's set in the USA back at the 1930s, I think, when extreme racism was still seen as acceptable. The main character, Lee, is a young black girl whose father is falsely accused of murdering her white friend - who was actually eaten by a strange monster from a Wonderland-like world. Lee sets off to find her friend to prove her father's innocence. This is quite horror-like at times, but I love it. It's so surreal and clever, and the level of originality is superb. It has everything a story needs - action, wonderful characterisation, a great plot, and loads and loads of original ideas!

http://dreamless.keenspot.com
Again, this story is set in 1930s America (I think), but this time from the perspective of an upper class white girl who sees the life of a Japanese boy whenever she goes to sleep. It works vice-versa as well. It's basically a romance, which I don't normally like, but I actually found this very good. The supernatural element makes it really interesting, and I felt like I could relate to both the main characters strongly. As for the art, it's absolutely amazing.


The only trouble with webcomics is that they progress so slowly, and none of the ones above seem even remotely near their end! I guess I'll have to wait a few more months before they've all built up enough material to give me a few more hours of reading time.

So, I'm still awake, primarily thanks to my neighbour, who, for the last three days, has decided to spend the wee hours of the morning BANGING and SMASHING things loudly enough to make my room (and presumably the rest of the house) shake.

Today s/he started at 6:30 (which is against council regulations) and I am Not Impressed, as I have a killer headache and am feeling very shaky like I do when I don't get enough sleep, and I have obviously not been getting it.

If it wasn't so ridiculously loud I'd just be able to sleep through it, but whatever they're doing, it sounds like they're throwing an elephant into the wall of my room repeatedly. It's louder than my mobile phone when it's right next to me.

If I wasn't so tired and weak right now, I'd be tempted to march over there and tell them to leave off until at least eight o clock. But I'm seriously tired. Why can't they smash and hit things at a more reasonable hour? Like NOON, when nobody's home.

#95 - 120/365
"Grass For His Pillow," by Lian Hearn.

This is the second volume in the five-part "Tales of the Otori" series. It's been a few years since I read the first, and I was hesitant at reading this one. I remember the first book as being dull and rather disappointing. Nevertheless, sometimes sequels will really surprise you - but this one didn't.

The series is set in mediaeval Japan, but eschews historical accuracy in favour of a supernatural flavour. Which seems like something I'd really like, except for the fact that the supernatural seems to have next to no impact on the story. The main character, Takeo, is gifted with numerous extraordinary talents among ordinary people, and yet these don't seem to help him very much. Among other things, he has the powers of invisibility, disguising his physical features and splitting his consciousness into two, which should make him immensely powerful - and yet he keeps being discovered and nearly outwitted by more ordinary spies. I had a very hard time trying to accept this.

Funnily enough, despite the Japanese setting, I felt very much as if I was reading traditional fantasy of a Western nature. The scenery is different, as are key cultural elements such as the notions of proper behaviour and honour, and the land is ruled by powerful clans rather than a monarchy, but there were so many traditional fantasy cliches in there that outweighed the differences, I thought. Like the fact the hero was from a peaceful, small society, only to awaken incredible magic talents and become the prophesised Chosen One. Like the sexist patriarchal society that treats women like brainless chattels (true, this is how the reality was, but it's still greatly overused). Like the fact the spunky heroine rebelled against this but no other women ever did. Like the focus on rare noble/warrior bloodlines and near-total disregard for the peasantry. Like the obligatory attempted rape scene against the heroine (which was also in the last book I reviewed but forgot to mention). Like the "one true undying love" cliche that tempts sufferers to kill themselves if they can't be with their lover. It amazes me that a book could be set in a completely different culture to European-style fantasy and yet still fail to come up with particularly original material.

But this wasn't the only reason I found it dull. The overall writing style simply didn't grab me at all. It's well-written, but just... dull. I don't know how else to put it, frankly. The book glossed over what to me were the interesting parts (such as why or how things happened), and instead dwelt on the things I've seen covered in a hundred other fantasy novels (like the sexism and the spunky heroine's reactions to it, or the heroes pining over their true loves, or the politically-motivated killings). In one particular instance, the hero went from being a trainee in a ninja Tribe to being a ruthless assassin, all in the space of literally less than ten pages, and we never got to see how this transformation happened. Likewise, at the same time he was pining over his One True Love, he suddenly decided to sleep with another woman on a frequent basis. Often his actions seemed totally out of character, though they might have been understandable with some character development, but this was never shown. I have to assume the author was aiming for realism with this book (despite the out of character behaviour, supernatural influences and so on), but the trouble is, this made it very boring. It's the little detailed incidents that make many books special, I think, and this one was simply too broad in the material it covered.

However, it wasn't all bad. One thing I liked about this book was the way in which the author didn't use the Japanese terms for things. Instead of using the word "samurai", she used "warrior", and instead of "katana", she used "sword". I like this because it acknowledges what these things are on the most basic level, discarding some of the cultural connotations that come with them. A katana doesn't have to be a mystical "Other" that brings up ideas of Japanese mythology, for example - it can just be a sword. It allows the story to be more familiar to Western audiences, and that makes the cultural differences seem less so, which I think helps a Western audience understand what it's all about. And perhaps this is also part of why it seemed so Western when reading through it, too, which is the downside. (Though I'm pretty sure it was the subject matter that was the main cause.)

Overall, however, I just found "Grass For His Pillow" a boring read. The plot was too slow for my taste, the interesting parts weren't explored, and I would have liked to see more original material. Issues like women's options in a patriarchal society are definitely worthy of being explored, but I'm getting sick of seeing nearly every single fantasy book I read treat them in exactly the same way, with female characters who all have exactly the same personality. Of course, this particular series is limited by being based on a real society in the real world, which doesn't give it as much leeway as others, but still.

2/5 stars.


Edit: What's even more surprising, actually, is that Lian Hearn is a pseudonym for Gillian Rubinstein, one of my favourite authors of all time who wrote fantastic books like Galax-Arena and the incredible Space Demons series. She is not a writer I would have expected cliches, unoriginality or dull material from, and I would never have guessed Hearn and Rubinstein were the same person in a million years (until I saw it on the internet, that is). I know she's capable of brilliant writing, and I really hope she'll return to her original style in the future.

Had a run of bad luck today. Went to the bus stop and my bus didn't arrive - it was 30 minutes late. And THEN it sailed on past, totally ignoring the outstretched hands of myself and another woman who had been waiting even longer. You'd think if you were running that late, you'd want to make sure your passengers didn't have to wait another 30 minutes. The bus that was supposed to come after the late bus was also late and never turned up. So, I took the third bus instead.

When I arrived at the hospital belatedly, I discovered my record on their computer had an error in it - it said I'd only donated twice, whereas I've actually been donating semi-regularly since I was sixteen. Not sure how that happened.

Anyway, they took my iron count... and it turns out that I'm back to being very, very anaemic again. So I couldn't donate blood and now can't for the next six months. :( Which is odd, since I was able to donate four months ago and they said I had a good iron count then. Now, however, my iron is apparently 1.11 and the minimum cutoff is 12. No idea what that means, but it's obviously very low. I explained to the nurse that I don't usually eat red meat and I'd forgotten to take iron supplements for the last couple of months, but she said that if I had to take iron supplements, it was probably not just my diet that was causing the anaemia.

On top of that, my vein bruised when they took a sample and now I have a sore and itchy arm. But at least I didn't have to worry about fainting this time.

However, this (not the bruise) at least goes some way to explaining the severe weakness and exhaustion I've been waking up with in the mornings recently. I knew there had to be more to it than not going to bed early enough! There's a lesson, Kim: always trust your instincts. So there's one mystery at least partially solved. Now I have to wait for the results of a blood sample to come back from the hospital, and I'll have to go and see a doctor about it once I get back from Europe.

Had better take an iron supplement now before I forget again.

#95 - 119/365
"The Magician's Apprentice", by Trudi Canavan.

The title sounds generic, and it's a good indication of the overall book - "The Magician's Apprentice" is a very, very standard example of the high fantasy genre. It's got the monarchy, the village youth discovering magical talent, the patriarchal society full of sexism, the obligatory war between nations and all the battle tactics that come with it, etc etc etc. Basically, I don't think there was anything new to read in this book.

The good news is that it could easily have been a lot worse. While tending to the more extreme end of unoriginality, "The Magician's Apprentice" somehow managed to prevent itself from becoming dull. I think this was due to the characters, all of whom were at least likeable, if not necessarily riveting. The war tactics were also broken up at regular intervals (yay!) by scenes that more closely followed the main character and/or her friends, and this also helped retain my interest.

There were a couple of positive things about this book which I appreciated. The first was its approach to feminism. What really annoys me about a lot of fantasy books is that they're set in a patriarchal society, introduce a young heroine with the guts to take a stand against it... and then totally lose interest in anything feminine whatsoever, and choose instead to focus on war, fighting or traditionally "masculine" pursuits - the effect of which is to reinforce the stereotype that traditionally "feminine" pursuits are not worth writing about and that whole section of the population can be overlooked. These books might have one strong female character, but the rest of the women in the land are totally ignored in favour of male characters or highly unusual women who take no part in normal "female" activities, which completely defeats the whole feminist perspective the authors were presumably going for.

But not so here. Many - in fact, most - of the many female characters in this book were portrayed as regular people struggling with sexism in their daily lives. It didn't diminish their roles or importance by ignoring what little influence they had, and I thought the book achieved a realistic and yet very positive perspective on feminist issues. Nor did the book paint "female" pursuits as being useless, or "male" pursuits as being somehow more important. (It wasn't one of those annoying books that made all upper-class women into shallow stereotypes, for instance, and instead acknowledged that women could have brains and kindness and like wearing pretty clothes at the same time. You'd think something so obvious and basic would be a given, but it's amazing how rare it can be to see this kind of thing acknowledged.) I don't see this too often in traditional fantasy, so I really appreciated it. The men, too, were well-written, and came across as individuals. None of them were appallingly sexist because of sadism or cruelty, but rather because it was the society they were a part of, and I thought that came across well. Even one of the best friends of the major villain was a woman. I can see hope for the world in this book!

Similarly, I thought the book's portrayal of slavery was also well done. As with the women, the book didn't lump all the slaves into the same category, and instead treated them as individuals. Very few fell into the "helpless victim" category, but equally few turned out to be revolutionaries. Some slaves were very badly mistreated or even killed, whereas others had quite comfortable lifestyles in comparison. They were just ordinary people trying to make the best of their situations by varying means, and I liked that.

However, nothing was really delved into with as much depth as it needed. I thought that this story had a lot of potential and could have gone in several different ways, but it seemed to peter out after a while and become generic. Tessia, the heroine, was focused on at the start, but the book seemed to abandon her story and start focusing on war instead. I would have liked to know more about her instead. Likewise, despite the good portrayals of women and the slaves, I was expecting a little more to happen in relation to them. Often characters were introduced, I would start to get to know and like them, and then their role in the story would stall. In fact, there was a whole new subplot introduced in Part 3 of the book which seemed to serve little purpose, as its characters never interacted with the others. I wish there had either been more to it or that it had been left out completely, because I'm still not sure what it was meant to do other than explore the world's setting some more.

This isn't a bad book by any means, but it's very generic, and a large part of it is predictably filled with war tactics, which can get dull fast. I would recommend this to fans of standard traditional fantasy who aren't looking for anything new, or to people who just want an entertaining read they don't have to expend much brain power on. 3/5 stars.

Just got my results back, which ended up being two Ds and two HDs. I'm a little bit disappointed, to be honest, because I was expecting three HDs - or at the very least, an HD in one particular unit that didn't turn out that way. The projects were worth 50% each and I got 91% for the first one, which means that to receive the mark I did, I must have only gotten in the 60s for the second one - by far my lowest grade of the semester. I know I had to rush that project, but I was just going over it yesterday and didn't think it was that bad.

Dear Gleeson,

Please do not rest your paws on - yeow! - my armpit. I am extremely - EEK! - ticklish.

Love, AAAHHHH!, me.

PS: And please don't turn around and assume that identical position again after I move you the first time.

Because I am drowning in books and will continue to until we fit out the spare room into a library, I think it's time to give a few away again. There are a couple of series I own that I can't really see myself re-reading more than once more, so what I think I'll do is read them through (complete with reviews) and then give them away.

Series on offer to start with:

The Liveship Traders series by Robin Hobb (3 books, approx. 900 pages each)
The Guardian Cycle series by Julia Gray (5 books)

I also have a few too many manga volumes taking up space, so I'd like to give away the RG Veda series by CLAMP. (It's all in Japanese, but it's very pretty.)

Is anyone interested?

#95 - 118/365
"The Tough Guide to Fantasyland," by Diana Wynne Jones.

As far as I'm aware, this is the strangest book Diana Wynne Jones has ever written. I picked it up many years ago from a shop, excited to find a new novel, only to discover later that it not only had no continuous narrative, but was in fact written like Wikipedia. (Or I would have thought that, if I'd heard of Wikipedia then. Actually, I don't think it was even around then.) By this, I mean that the book consists of a series of short articles referencing each other that explain various cliches of the fantasy genre in the context of a tour. If this sounds strange... it is. Don't mistake it for an essay on fantasy tropes or non-fiction, mind you. There is a vague plot; it's just very... weird... and not written in any particular order.

Unfortunately, the book only covers the most cliched of high fantasy stories of the type containing dark lords, dwarves and long-lost heirs - even parodied, I'd still rather see fresh material - but it's absolutely hilarious, and so true. DWJ notices all the small details, which makes it even better. Look at these quotes:

This will be one of your first victories against the forces of Evil. You will throw up afterwards, but basically feel good.

Where not essential, Amulets are still useful, since they can give warning of danger (usually by growing very hot).

It is unknown quite what challenge caused earlier peoples to make things that were so very large. Most of them are no use to anyone.

I've noticed these things in the past myself. Why must the heroes always throw up after their first kill? (Especially if they're modern-day heroes - you'd think most people would be desensitised to blood and guts by now just from playing video games or watching medical shows on TV.) And why do amulets always grow hot instead of, say, vibrating like a mobile phone (which is much safer), and how can the main characters fail to realise what it means? Obviously these characters aren't readers of the fantasy genre, or it would be blindingly obvious.

There's one very, very big problem with this book, however, which is that it's difficult to read. There's no normal plot, it's all written in second person, and all the articles are listed alphabetically rather than in chronological order. There are therefore two ways to read this book, both with their drawbacks. You can read the book from start to finish as a series of many short articles, but you will likely end up confused with all the references turning up in unexpected places, and lose interest due to the fact that consecutive articles usually have nothing to do with each other. Or, you can start at one article (the book's introduction itself recommends a few to begin with), and follow the references from there, much like Wikipedia. The trouble with this method is that most articles contain more than one reference, so you find yourself having to stick your fingers or bookmarks in pages all over the place so you can go back and check where the others are. You very quickly end up with a dozen or so pages you want to check simultaneously, and there's still no plot. It becomes difficult trying to remember which articles you still need to read, which you've already read, what the order of reading priority is, and so on. And even though it's set up as a "guide", the tour it talks about is fictional, so there's nothing for a real life reader to base their "guidance" on. What's more, because you're bound to lose track of which articles you've read and which you haven't, you're very likely to accidentally skip a lot of them. Personally, I ended up reading it through from start to finish. The other method was just too time-consuming and annoying. Then there are all these mysterious icons going down the margins on the outer edges, and I still don't know what these are for. They look like they stand for meaningful things much like symbols on maps for tourists do, but there are so many different ones that I can't tell what.

But this is where it gets interesting, because there may well be a third option. One of DWJ's other books - the Dark Lord of Derkholm - is clearly based off this book (or vice-versa, I'm not sure which came first). The events mentioned in here actually take place in the other story (also a parody of sorts), so it's possible one could read "Dark Lord of Derkholm" and refer to the articles in this book when the relevant material crops up. I've never tried this, though - it only just occurred to me now.

The upside of this book is the humour and the parodies of the cliches. I'm not sure that this really needs further explanation. If, like me, you find traditional fantasy horribly cliched most of the time and you want to read something that logically finds all the flaws and then tries to explain them in a humourous manner, this is the book!

This is my least favourite of DWJ's books, but only because of the extremely unconventional structure. It's simply not easy to read. Having said that, it's still worth a look for anyone who reads a lot of traditional fantasy, because it contains so many insights that will make you laugh and wonder why nobody else noticed them earlier. 3/5 stars.

Have been on the phone a lot today. Had to change my blood donation appointment, look up bookings for swiss tours, try to get people to fix my enrolment, hand in my timesheet for friday's work, and contact a couple of other people for things I can't even remember at the moment. And I still feel like I've forgotten something... oh yes, I have to make a dentist appointment.

#95 - 117/365
"The Wisdom of Dead Men", by Oisin McGann.

Set in Victorian-era Ireland, this alternate history novel revolves around the wealthy and powerful Wildenstern family - who just so happen to be largely composed of ruthless murderers. Fortunately, the new head of the family and his siblings are all decidedly more moral, and attempt to force the others to change their ways.

I thought the concept of this book sounded highly original when I first came across it, and I wasn't disappointed. I loved the idea of a family where the corrupt people weren't necessarily at the top - or even near it. The assassinations were, moreover, regulated by family Rules, which included things like exemptions for women (not that the women necessarily paid much attention to this). It made for all sorts of interesting incidents (largely assassination attempts), and if covering up the family's dastardly dealings wasn't enough already, they also had a supernatural secret to keep.

These would have been promising ideas just by themselves, but there was also the addition of a steampunk atmosphere. While this Victorian world was just like ours in most respects, the author included living, semi-intelligent machines called "enigmals". Of unknown origin, they played a role in the debate over evolution, were theorised about by Charles Darwin in "The Origin of the Species", and made certain tasks doable that weren't possible in our world at that time. There were other supernatural inclusions, but it all fell into place perfectly in the universe the author created. It seemed so logical that I had no problems imagining this world could be real, assuming that the laws of physics were just slightly different to ours. I found it all fascinating!

Where this book really shone, however, was the plot. It was exciting, fast-paced, and above all suspenseful. So many questions were raised that had no answers, and I couldn't wait to find out what was going on! In addition to assassinations, there was a series of unrelated (or were they...?) deaths going on in the country, a mysterious secret society potentially up to no good, and a history of odd disappearances related to a mental asylum. A number of storylines were told simultaneously, but they were all clearly intertwined. The only question was... how?

The answers, when they came, were very satisfying. McGann knew exactly how often to drop names and bring up coincidences so that the reader always knew just a little more than the characters, but not enough to be able to figure out the mysteries before they were ready to be revealed. In one instance I sort of guessed the culprit, but even then it panned out in a way I hadn't foreseen at all. There were still some unanswered questions at the end of the book, and there's obviously a sequel in the works. I can't wait to read it - oh, the suspense! I want to find out more about how this world works, and how various things will come together. I want to find out whether or not certain minor characters will end up playing important roles as I suspect they will - and if not, I want to find out more about them anyway. I want to keep reading adventures set in this world!

One interesting part of this story was the role of women. Just like in the real world at that time, women were seen as the inferior, weaker sex, ruled by their emotions and incapable of understanding complex fields like science. This was mentioned by characters a lot. Even the good guys did nothing to stand up for women's rights. There were no real tomboy characters, either, and I found it actually quite realistic. The female characters in this book were very strong, but not in the usual fictional sense that opposes all stereotypes - rather, they indirectly challenged expectations while still conforming to society. The teenage girl with a vulgar tongue still submitted to authority and fretted over what to wear to a ball, and the trophy wife played a large role in competently pulling the strings of a business behind the scenes. Others took it upon themselves to act as independent healers despite being labelled witches, while others still manipulated people around them despite a facade of helplessness. I thought this was a very realistic yet positive portrayal - it isn't so simple to subvert stereotypes if the whole of society is against one. I did wish some of the men would stick up for them more, though of course they were bound by society's expectations as well.

But then, all the characters were very well written. Even though the heroes and villains were clearly delineated from the start, the author never fell into the trap of making them Absolute Evil. In fact, if the reader hadn't been told what they were capable of, some of them would never have seemed sinister at all - many actually came across as being quite ordinary or misguided. It was only by one or two important actions and/or decisions they made that the reader saw their evil side, and I loved that. Similarly, the good guys weren't paragons of virtue, either, yet still remained likeable. In order to reform the villains, they needed to defend themselves from attacks, and weren't always above a little deviousness themselves. When there were deaths, I felt genuinely upset the characters had died. McGann wasn't afraid to kill off important, innocent or likeable people - which I think is quite rare in an author, actually.

Then there were all the little quirky extras that made this book special, like the occasional references to homosexual relationships (not something one generally associates with Victorian-genre novels), or the fact the heroes had secret passages but didn't use them, or that one of the main characters was confined to a wheelchair. If I could only describe this book in one word, it would be: Magnificent!

My only complaint would be that sometimes the writing style came across as being a little too simplistic, but this is a young adult book, even if the main characters are fully grown adults. I'm giving it 5/5 stars.

Tonight was the best night I've had all year. I met so many new people, caught up with people I'd been wanting to see for a while, had some really interesting conversations, was treated to an impromptu fire-spinning performance, and totally de-stressed! Yay!

I feel sick. But still have to go to the job interview. At least I'm typing properly again now.

#95 - 116/365
"The Faceless Ones", by Derek Landy.

Okay, despite being annoyed at the first two books in the Skulduggery Pleasant series, I thought I'd give it one last chance. This was a bad decision. I don't know if it's because I went into this volume with very low expectations or what, but this was the worst one yet. Where do I even start?

The plot comes to mind. Or, rather, the lack of one. The plot of "The Faceless Ones" is no different to those of the other two books. Find the powerful artifact, save the world, and fight the bad guys. And, oh, what a lot of fighting there is. Fight fight fight. I suspect it's in there primarily to make the characters appear cool and give them an excuse to wisecrack at one another. If you're hoping for any originality whatsoever, you won't find it here. The one improvement was that at least they didn't reveal all their secret plans to each other this time.

But as unimaginative as the plot is, the characters are even worse. In my review of the last book, I mentioned that the main character was a Mary Sue. Well, she's even worse in this book. Not only is she skilled at everything, but now her character basically dictates the story. Everyone she hates is evil, and everyone she likes is good, by default. (To be fair, though, the other characters are all such one-sided personalities that this isn't that surprising.) She gets away with whatever she wants, all the time, and all the half-hearted attempts by other characters to argue with her fail. This despite the fact that she is a 14-year-old girl and the other characters are all adults - some hundreds of years old.

And this is the main thing I can't stand about this book - that Miss Mary Sue is such an utter brat, and nobody ever calls her out on it. Ever! She always gets her way, and is insufferable to read about. She lies to her parents constantly, completely disrespects anything they say, to all intents and purposes actually abandons them, and treats them like sad, pitiable people to be looked down on. She's horribly stuck-up, sneering at everyone around her almost without exception (and these are the people she likes), pointing out all their flaws and taking every opportunity she can to show how much better she is. She ignores every single piece of advice she is ever given by well-meaning people. She holds a grudge against the man protecting her and rushing her to hospital, because he makes her ride in a Ford Fiesta which is not cool enough, because she is used to riding in a Bentley. (Seriously - she's just broken her tooth at the time, and all she cares about is that she has to ride in a "dorky" car - which isn't even that bad as cars go!)

And yet, somehow, the good guys all love her and keep letting her do whatever she wants, even though she treats them all like dirt. When she argues with them, she always wins. Always. The other characters just seem to fall at her feet and worship her after realising the error of their ways. She's got to be the most infuriating character I've read since Richard of the "Sword of Truth" series (who was very similar). It is. So. Annoying. And since the author never points out any of Mary Sue's flaws, it's clear that we are supposed to love her and bow down to her coolness also. Well, sorry, not going to happen. She's completely obnoxious, and I spent the whole book hoping that someone would finally teach her a lesson and make her eat humble pie. But of course, nobody ever did, because what Miss Mary Sue says goes.

Here are some real quotes from the book to show you just how bad she is:

Page 173:
Fletcher was doing a terrible job of trying not to stare at Ghastly's scars, but his discomfort was amusing, so Valkyrie didn't try to make him any more at ease.

Page 255:
Fletcher was smiling at her. "You OK?" he asked gently.
She punched him across the jaw and he went stumbling backwards.
"Why'd you do that?" he bellowed.

The other characters, sadly, are little better than Miss Mary Sue, albeit at least nicer. They're either incompetent idiots and pushovers, pure evil villains of deepest blackness, or snarky good guys like mini-Miss Mary Sues themselves. You will not find any depth or shades of grey in this book, believe me.

As an example, I shall draw your attention to Mary Sue's relatives, who are rammed in our faces as being repulsive, whiny, selfish, pathetic excuses for human beings. For those who have read Harry Potter, they're clearly meant to be the equivalent of the Dursleys. We're obviously meant to hate them - all the good guys do. The trouble is, they aren't actually all that bad. At worst, Aunt Beryl (who is meant to be the worst) is rude, forthright and, yes, selfish. But that's all. I thought her concerns were actually fairly reasonable. I mean, I wouldn't let an arrogant stranger into my house rudely demanding to see my niece, either (especially when the intruder then forces their way in), and yet she's villified for it. Unlike the Dursleys, who subjected Harry Potter to all sorts of abuse, the only crime of these relatives was to whine and complain. To be honest, they come across as being some of the most realistic people in the book, and they're much nicer than the main character - at least they respect authority and don't go around punching people every time they disagree on something. I'm really starting to think that the author's sense of right and wrong might be seriously warped, judging from what he's written.

Then there are the characters who are so completely idiotic that they are beyond all hope. There's no reason for this idiocy given - they're just that stupid. In the real world, anyone with this lack of intelligence would not have made it to positions of power - in fact, it's a wonder they managed to survive life. If you had about four different people from different sides of a conflict telling you someone was a murderer, I'd hazard a guess you'd start to think something might be up with the guy. But noooo, not the characters in this book. Or what about the times (there are multiple times) when they forget to bring the powerful artifact they need along with them? Or drop it (you'd think they'd hold on tighter)? Or how about the "logic" of wanting to destroy the entire world?! While they're still in it?! Argh! (Oh, but if we took that away, there would be no plot at all, so it's necessary.) The young adult genre of "The Faceless Ones" is no excuse - even any small child could see through characters like this a mile off.

There are also barely any new characters in this book. Probably because most characters were killed off in the other two. I'm honestly surprised there are any left to fight with each other by now. This doesn't help the originality of the series.

It's fairly painful to think about this book much more, so I'll end this review here. A resounding 1/5 stars, and I think that's being lenient. Avoid.

Well, I have to learn a new music program in the next two days. The program in question is Fruity Loops, which I've heard good things about in general - but I've always avoided it because using loops seemed too much like cheating.

Though I'm finding out it makes composing dance music ridiculously easy. Seriously - I made one that sounded reasonable within ten minutes of seeing the program for the first time. Even with my past experience composing, that's pretty amazing (especially since I was mostly just clicking random things to see what would happen).

However, I'm very worried about other genres, because most musical genres can't just get by on loops (except rap). And in the trial they'll ask to me to compose a random genre for them that I can't predict. I can't find out how to add in audio that isn't pre-generated, or indeed create MIDI the way I'm used to. This program is completely different to any other music software I've ever used - it's more like a drum machine than anything. And while it's a billion times easier in some ways, I'd be surprised if I don't struggle with trying to get it to record music the way I usually go about it.

Ah, well, I'll give it my best shot!

#95 - 115/365
"Magic Street", by Orson Scott Card.

The way this book started out was wonderfully surreal, with a university professor coming home from work one night and giving a lift to a mysterious bag man. A peculiar series of events results in the birth of a child who grows up to be Mack Street, the main character.

The first half of this book is very surreal, and I thought it was great. People find that their wishes start coming true, but in dark, twisted ways, and it's somehow all connected to Mack. However, we start to find out what's happening in the second half of the book, and I thought it was all a little bit corny. The author also uses characters from another famous author (a bit like fanfiction) to drive the plot, and I was disappointed that they couldn't be more original. Whereas the first half of the book was all mysteries and surprises, the second half of the book degenerated into the old "save the world from the dark lord" formula. It started off so uniquely - why did it have to abandon this? As a result, I thought the book lost a lot of its magic. I think it would have been better if a few things had been left to the imagination.

One interesting thing about this book was the fact that all the main characters were black, and snippets of life as black, middle-class Americans suffused the story. This isn't a perspective I tend to read a lot of, so I found it intriguing. In some ways stereotypes were reinforced, such as certain speaking patterns and the fact some of the characters saw racism in everything, even when it was unrelated. In other ways, it was a really positive depiction, showing a side of black America that wasn't about poverty, crime or hardship. I realised while reading this that nearly everything I've ever read about African-Americans has cast them in the light of victims - whether of slavery, racism, poverty or poor education. By contrast, the characters in this book seemed a lot more real. They weren't defined by their socio-economic status, and were treated just like characters in any other urban fantasy novel. I really liked that. It showed that blacks don't have to be victims - they can be strong and capable just like anyone else.

Similarly, there was a very interesting community vibe going on in this novel. Mack knew everyone in his neighbourhood and there were many minor characters that he interacted with, so that the overall cast ended up being quite large. And yet I didn't think that any of the minor characters were overlooked or not spent enough time on. Everyone had an interesting tale related to them that was also relevant to the plot, and, as a reader, I got to peer into their lives a little bit, being privy to some of their hopes and dreams.

I think this book could have been better, but it was still a good read which I enjoyed. 3.5/5 stars.

Squeeeeeeeee!

Just called up to confirm that the employer had received my application, and moments later had a job interview over the phone! They've asked me to come in for an hour's trial on Thursday. So exciting!

This means the next few days will be spent trying to familiarise myself with their software, because I haven't used it before. An hour isn't a long time, but I'm sure I can come up with something.

#95 - 114/365
"The Gypsy Morph", by Terry Brooks.

This is the third book of a post-apocalyptic trilogy - whose title I won't mention, because it happens to be the single biggest series spoiler I've ever seen. (Though I must admit it would be difficult to pick up a copy of this book and not notice - the series title is three times bigger than the book title!) Naming it thus was not the smartest move. At any rate, this volume concludes the search for the "promised land" the characters are seeking, in appropriately dramatic fashion.

Out of the three books in the trilogy, this was probably my least favourite. It's difficult to come into without having read the other two first, and there isn't as much meaningful character interaction this time around. This was the book where characters fell in love, but other relationships weren't paid much attention to. Characters I'd really grown to love and care for in the other books were hardly given a moment's notice here. That said, the book did deliver on all the events it had been leading up to, and the resolution was not what I'd been expecting, which was a bonus. It makes me want to find out what happens next - although unfortunately there won't be another book in this series. (Again, I blame the series title for this, because it rams spoilers in one's face and just gives one too many expectations.)

What I really liked about "The Gypsy Morph" and the others was that they were incredibly moving. Even here, where character interaction was diminished somewhat, there were still scenes so touching (and depressing) they made me cry. Terry Brooks does not shy away from tragic events, but he makes them all mean something important, touching strong nerves. I think he really hits the nail on the head in regards to human emotion and hardship. It was often frustrating, too, to see characters driven by their emotions to make the wrong decisions where rational thinking would have saved them, but I could still identify with their choices. After all, if someone you cared about needed your help, it would be very difficult to leave them behind, even if you knew it would put others you cared about in jeopardy. Such tough decisions were common in this series.

When I finished the book I still felt fairly depressed, even though I've certainly read worse endings. Yet I don't regret reading this. It may not be quite as good as the previous two volumes, but it's still worth a read. 3.5/5 stars.


Edit: On the upside, I'm catching up to my goal of 365 books. I think I've read 19 this month so far - let's see if I can make it 20 tomorrow.

#95 - 113/365
"Lost and Found", by Alan Dean Foster.

Another good book by ADF! I don't think this quite lived up to the others of his I've read, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The basic premise is... alien abduction. Marc, a commodities trader from Chicago, is camping in California when he is abducted by aliens. Worse, it quickly becomes clear they have no plans to ever return him to Earth. Most of the book revolves around Marc's interactions with the other abductees as they try to figure out what is happening to them and how to escape - if escape is indeed even possible.

The driving force behind this book is the characters. There isn't a whole lot to be done with the plot, as the characters are somewhat limited in their confined quarters. In a way, this book strongly reminds me of the "Hatchet" survival series by Gary Paulsen, but in a science-fiction context. An important part of the story is Marc's survival during his abduction and his psychological state as he comes to terms with it. Hazards are to be found not only in his captors, but also from his fellow abductees and the limited environment in which they had been placed.

The characters were a lot of fun, I thought, and quite funny at times. I'm not sure whether the humour was always intentional, but I found it entertaining. A wide range of personalities were represented, my favourite being the sensitive soul with the demeanour and destructive rages of a serial killer. The characters were so interesting, in fact, that they more than made up for the fact that most of the story took place in confined spaces with little to do but sit around in captivity.

As usual, ADF talks about serious subject matter and deep issues in a remarkably (and deceptively) light-hearted tone, and I think this is what I love about his books so far. His stories are meaningful and thought-provoking, but never depressing or distressing, which means that I feel like I'm reading something of value without having to suffer for it. It's a rare combination, and one that I really appreciate.

My main disappointment with this story was that it ended too soon. One of my ongoing questions throughout this book was regarding how the characters would act if or when they made it home again. I won't spoil whether they actually did make it or not for you, but I will say that their reactions and the consequences were never explored. I'd been hanging out for this during most of the novel with various theories, so I found it a real let-down when I never had a chance to find out what would happen. It seemed like a whole chunk of the book was missing.

The ending aside, however, I really enjoyed "Lost and Found". 4/5 stars.