Filed under: book reviews, fiction | Tags: children's literature, fantasy, fiction, monica furlong, quotes
“Four of us escaped on Finbar’s ship after Juniper’s trial as a witch–Juniper, Wise Child, Corman, and me.”
Concluding Monica Furlong’s trilogy, Colman continues the story of Wise Child through the eyes of Colman, Wise Child’s cousin. Upon returning to Juniper’s homeland, the cast of characters are confronted with an impoverished population being brutalized by Juniper’s nemesis from Juniper. Though only children, Colman and Wise Child are called upon to perform tasks that will help reestablish Juniper’s home to its former glory and ensure that Juniper’s brother is crowned king.
I didn’t care for Colman nearly as much as I did for Juniper and Wise Child. While it does a great job concluding the trilogy overall, I wasn’t taken with Colman as a narrator and found him to be rather tedious. I’ve not read enough of Furlong to really comment, but she seems to be more comfortable writing in a female rather than a male voice. It’s a worthwhile book for any fan of the trilogy, but I left it feeling less satisfied than I had with the previous two.
Conclusion: Returned to library.
Filed under: thoughtful | Tags: anisha lakhani, fantasy, fiction, german authors, haruki murakami, japanese authors, lyrics, norwegian wood, quotes, rumor, schooled, search engine terms, walter moers, zamonia
It’s time for another round of WordPress search engine terms. For those of you unacquainted with WordPress, our Dashboard (and more specifically stats’ page) maintains a list of search terms that led innocent reader to our blogs. Said terms are frequently amusing, intruiging, and unrelated.
Anisha Lakhani: The delightful author of the novelSchooled, I was the first (says the author) blogger to comment on her novel. It was a novel I started with doubts but concluded as I hurriedly turned the pages to find out what would happen to the protagonist Anna whom begins the novel as a morally centered teacher but quickly falls prey to the enticements of wealth and materialism. Well-written and entertaining, it’s a light read that manages to escape the many pitfalls of the genre. Though I have not followed it too closely, Lakhani has been accused (at least online) that the book was very much about her and that she still tutors; however, I don’t wish to spread hearsay and would like to emphasize that Lakhani says she does “not tutor anymore.”
Norwegian Wood Quotes: Whether in reference to Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood or to the Beatle’s song “Norwegian Wood,” I don’t know but both are favorites of mine. Last March I linked to two (out of the plethora) quotes I liked from the novel and one being:
“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking. That’s the world of hicks and slobs. Real people would be ashamed of themselves doing that” (31).
Walter Moers: I have a stab of excitement followed by a pang of regret every time a browser finds my blog for Walter Moers. A brilliant German author whose fantasy/fiction series unfolds on the world of Zamonia, in the two novels I have read (The City of Dreaming Books and The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear) Moers uses whimsical protagonists that adventure through his fantastic world. Accompanying the story are Moers’ own illustrations. So why the pang of regret? There is not nearly enough information of Moers available for my liking (and much less available in English).
Filed under: book reviews, fiction | Tags: color of magic, colour of magic, discworld, fantasy, fiction, quotes, terry pratchett
“Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the discworld. Tourist, Rincewind had decided, meant ‘idiot.'”
The first book to occur on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, The Colour of Magic describes the journey of Rincewind and Twoflower — the Disc’s first tourist and tour guide. The reader follows them on their journey starting in Ankh-Morpork and concluding at the end of the world. Pratchett’s wit and style keeps the reader entertained along with his “serious” take on fantasy as his protagonists make their way through various fantasy genres including dungeons and dragons and magic pony.
The Colour of Magic often comes with a warning: though it’s the first it’s not the best, and some Amazon reviews seem to uphold this opinion. Though it’s rather unlike Pratchett’s later works, it’s a humorus and endearing novel in its own right. As Pratchett has described it himself, it’s a novel of travel and exposes the reader to the Discworld at its roughest stage. This is the “primordial goo” that the rest of the Discworld bubbles forth from and definitely worth a read.
Conclusion: Keeper.
Other opinions: Trish’s Reading Nook.
Adventures in Reading 