I am Legend by Richard Matheson
19 June 2011
Filed under Book Reviews, Challenges for 2011
Tags: I am Legend, Richard Matheson
It never occured to me to read I am Legend as I have already seen the film (the Will Smith version) and I prefer to read the book first so that I don’t have any preconceived ideas. However, this book was strongly recommended to me by somebody who’s opinion I value so I decided to take a look (and also the film and the book are completely different).
Simply put this book is a masterpiece. A work of art and frankly a legend itself. There are countless books flooding the market about vampires and other supernatural creatures and a lot of them make very good reads – however, they’re not iconic. Bram Stoker’s Dracula brought to us these creatures of the night with all the folklore and superstition, Richard Matheson’s I am Legend brings to us the new concept of vampirism being a plague that has swept through the world killing and recreating in it’s path and wiping out humanity as we know it. Surely this book must have provided the inspiration for any number of books and movies, including zombie films and certainly updates this particular story and brings it into the modern era turning all the old superstitions on their head.
To quote the back of the book:
‘Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth …. but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire and they are hungry for Neville’s blood. By day he is the hunter, stalking the undead through the ruins of civilisation. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn. How long can one man survive like this?’
A combination of horror and sci fi, I am Legend is only a short story. It’s dark and atmospheric but not overly descriptive. We begin with Robert barricaded in his house at night being driven to distraction by the monster’s outside who appear every night to attack his house and try to lure him outside (even shouting ‘come out Neville’). During the day he himself becomes the hunter, going out into the city to kill the vampires who plague his nights.
This book manages to convey such a lot of emotions. We start the story living with the fear (and temptation) that Robert experiences every night. We read about him being driven to distraction and despair and almost giving up the will to survive. We also feel his loneliness and through his thoughts it almost feels as though his enforced isolation will eventually drive him crazy. The scenes involving the dog were really touching to read as Robert desperately tries to befriend the animal. (Keep a tissue handy for that bit).
We are gradually given the back story in chapters where Robert recalls events from his past. And are made aware of an infection that quickly swept throughout the population. Robert survived due to an incident with a blood infection during his past but he appears to be the only person immune to the disease. Eventually Robert goes on a search for the truth behind the illness, I don’t suppose his findings will hold up to a great deal of scrutiny but then he isn’t an expert, just somebody desperately seeking answers and a cure. I liked the way that all the old myths were examined, garlic, crosses, daylight, etc,.
What is really clever about the writing is that there isn’t a great deal of detail that will eventually date the book. This book was first published in the 50s but was set looking forward into the future (the 70s) and yet if you look back there is no really significant detail say clothes, food, equipment, houses, etc, everything is kept very bland and in writing in this way when you read the book it could read as though it’s set in the here and now.
On a final note I think the ending is brilliant. As Robert has changed over the years – so have the vampires. They have evolved and adapted. Ironically, in being the only human left and in hunting the vampires during the day Robert has himself become a feared monster. He is now the bogeyman, the myth, the legend, that the vampires now whisper about and fear. Outstanding.
A must read (although, be warned, this is a blunt, unromantic and dark story. There are no sparkly or handsome monsters, no love and no lyrical prose).
Rating A+
I am Legend
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
18 June 2011
Filed under Book Reviews, Challenges for 2011
Tags: Cynthia Hand, Unearthly
Just finished reading Unearthly by Cynthia Hand which was totally captivating, original and romantic.
I really enjoyed this story. Told by Clara this is a novel about angels. Clara and her brother have angel blood – a quarter part – there mother is half blood. All angels have a purpose which is revealed to them through dreams or visions and when Clara’s vision begins to manifest itself the family pack up and leave California and set up home in Wyoming.
I don’t want to give too much away about the plot so I’ll just rave about the book instead. The writing was captivating. I just loved the way this was written so I’m now definitely a Cynthia Hand fan! I thought the story was really good, I loved the idea of the angels having a purpose and single mindedly pursuing it.
I thought Clara was a lovely character. She’s part angel and as such is faster, stronger, etc, she can talk any language – including ‘bear’ – and can pretty much pick up any sort of sport with ease and grace, but, in spite of this she isn’t perfect and this imperfection makes her so likable. She struggles to fit in at school – and I don’t suppose having bright orange hair exactly helps – she comes across as shy and frankly sometimes she’s just down right embarrassing in the way she stares at people. Clara’s purpose is to rescue a boy from her school, one of the popular guys, called Christian. Christian is good looking, in fact really good looking, clever, witty, etc, etc, – he is also the boyfriend of the school mean girl, Kay who appears to take an instant dislike to Clara. Unfortunately Clara has developed a rather enormous crush on Christian and doesn’t seem to be able to help herself from staring longingly at him (you’re sort of blushing on her behalf!)
I thought the other characters were also really well written. Wendy is a really lovely friend and I did end up feeling sorry for her because she didn’t always get as well treated as I thought she deserved. Clara’s other friend, Angela (who turned out to be another part blood) seemed to monopolise a lot of Clara’s time and frankly I was relieved when she went to Rome for the summer – there’s something distinctly untrustworthy about Angela, I don’t know what and perhaps I’ll be wrong but I can’t quite like her. She’s too pushy for a start. She has a strange obsession with Clara’s mum and there were just other little things, like starting rumours at school, and not responding to Clara’s messages when she needed to talk urgently!
Now, add to all this Tucker – he’s such an adorable character. He’s a regular, old fashioned cowboy. He’s popular and well liked by everyone – and not because he’s rich or good looking but because he’s so lovely and to top it off he’s hot. I had no hesitation in liking Tucker, I always preferred him to Christian, there was just no contest as far as I was concerned. Christian was a nice guy I suppose but, again, there was something that I didn’t really like about him. He started hanging out with Clara but I never got the impression that he was really into her – just like he was going through the motions.
So, great cast of characters, good storyline, well written, hot cowboy, fallen angels (dark and brooding), and well told romance. What’s not to like.
In terms of criticisms, I don’t really want to criticise to be honest because I found it so enjoyable – but, I guess Clara’s mum could have opened up a bit more? Also, I didn’t see why there was this whole push for Clara to fall for Christian. I mean, I understand that she was going to save him – but does that mean they have to be an item? What if her purpose was to save a little baby from a runaway pram? Or an old lady from getting run over by a truck, or a 12 year old boy from choking to death or drowning, or, etc, etc, you get the picture?? She wouldn’t have been all gooey-eyed about any of those!
Now, the ending did throw everything up in the air and has left lots of unanswered questions, but I don’t mind that – you wouldn’t really expect everything to be tied up nicely and if it was you wouldn’t have anything else to look forward to.
So, definitely recommend this book. I thought it was an excellent debut and I can’t wait to read the next one.
Rating A
Unearthly
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
14 June 2011
Filed under Book Reviews, Challenges for 2011
Tags: Blood Bound, Patricia Briggs
Blood Bound is the second book in a new urban fantasy series created by Patricia Briggs (Moon called being the introductory novel). I really enjoyed this installment. It steps up to the plate and delivers. The first book was good but the story was a little stilted because it was trying to provide such a lot of information and I felt the plot became a bit puzzling and suffered as a result. No.2 doesn’t have the same problem. We already have a good deal of information about Mercy and the werewolf packs she is involved with and armed with that information we get straight into the story, and it’s fast paced and compelling.
This may contain spoilers (although I’ll try not to). This book starts off with Mercy being asked for a favour by Stefan. Stefan is the vampire with the Scooby obsession who we were introduced to In No.1 and frankly Mercy is not in any position to turn Stefan down as she owes him. Basically, there is a new vampire on the block and Stefan is going to check him out. He needs Mercy along in her Coyote form to act as his eyes and ears in case anything goes wrong. As you can imagine things quickly spiral out of control and one blood bath and a battered coyote later it’s fairly obvious to all that this is no ordinary vampire.
This was great. I really like Mercy more and more. As I said from No.1 – she’s not stupid, she knows when she’s beaten and can’t win in a situation and isn’t afraid to send in the big guns. But, that said, she’s also coming into her own and the other creatures are starting to take notice of her (is this good or bad). On top of that she’s compassionate, she feels for the innocent people who suffer and she really suffers mentally over the actions she must take. She has a stubborn streak and doesn’t like to back down but she has a good sense of humour as well. I liked it when she went investigating (but in Coyote form with a collar and tag giving Adam’s telephone number).
No.2 brings us more involvement with the vampires – and a bit more of an introduction to the fey community. And, again, we are provided with some of the history – but I felt that in this book it was much more smoothly woven into the story. The plot was good, it was fast, the action was compelling and frankly there was one particularly creepy bit that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up (eugh, shivers).
Also, I particularly like that the main emphasis of the story is not the romance – although there is a romance slowly brewing – exactly who with remains a mystery as there are three possible contenders – but I like that the romance isnt the bee all and end all. Not that I don’t like a good romance as much as the next person but this is a nice refreshing change. And, in spite of the fact that there now appear to be three men vying for Mercy’s attention she doesn’t turn into a useless, fawning, doe eyed ninny at the sight of a bicep. The other good thing about this novel is it stays real. Mercy has a job, she has to earn a living, she doesn’t have a lot of money and she has to run a business, these things only play a small part but they are considered and it makes it realistic (ha, you have to love the realism in a world of vampires, wolves, witches, sorcerers and shape shifters).
I like the characters and the way they’re being developed with the introduction of new people along the way. Uncle Mike is interesting and I can’t wait to spend some time with the fey element which I strongly suspect will play a bigger part in the next novel (Iron Kissed).
Now, I always like to think of a few criticisms but I’m not sure I can here. Okay, I guess the wolves are a bit stuck in the iron age – but they’re wolves for goodness sake. They have a pack mentality. I suppose the only really criticism, and it’s not really a criticism, but I hope that we don’t have any more admirers on the scene – I think three possibilities is enough!
Overall definitely recommend to lovers of urban fantasy and really looking forward to No.3
Rating A
Blood Bound
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
12 June 2011
Filed under Book Reviews, Challenges for 2011
Tags: Moon Called, Patricia Briggs
Moon Called is the first in a series of urban fantasy books that explore the life of Mercedes (or Mercy) Thompson. Mercy lives in an alternative world where werewolves and vampires exist in secret. This world is also populated with fey and other creatures but some of the fey have ‘come out’ to the wider public – really as part of political maneouverings as the really powerful and darker fey have remained in secret. Mercy is a ‘walker’ or shapeshifter which means she can change her form at will to that of a coyote. She isn’t under the influence of the moon and doesn’t run with any wolf packs. During the day Mercy is a mechanic and runs her own business. She works hard and is fiercly independent. Not an easy feat when you have been raised by a pack of werewolves (headed by the Marrok – a bit like the king of the Weres if you will) and your next door neighbour is the local werewolf alpha.
The start of Moon Called finds Mercy taking under her wing a runaway boy – who also happens to be a werewolf and not one known to this territory. Things quickly escalate from this point and without giving away spoilers we quickly have a dead body, warring werewolf clans and a kidnapping scenario and Mercy is on the road returning to the Marrok and her former werewolf family in need of help.
This series interests me. I like Mercy, she’s tough, but she knows when she can’t win in a situation herself, she knows when to keep a low profile and when to come out fighting. She isn’t too proud to ask for help and although she’s a tough cookie she still has a softer and caring side and is not afraid to show her emotions. Her own strange ability as a walker, but without a pack, means she has a very low status in the general pecking order of things but despite that she seems to have the attention of the local alpha (who seems to have given her his protection), plus the friendship of a vampire from the local seeth and a colleague who is a fey but with the ability to deal with iron a – Gremlin (his own preferred term). I did like this bunch of characters – particularly the vampire Stefan. How cool – he loves Scooby Doo and has painted his own van like the Mystery Machine not to mention his ringtone is the Scooby Doo theme. Ha.
I don’t suppose there’s anything really new or surprising in this story – not for anybody who already reads this genre that is. But, I did like reading about all the detailed complexities of the wolves and how they interact with each other. I also liked the way that all the different creatures seem to play more of a part in each other’s existence rather than being totally segregated from each other. And, I think by following the already well established conventions in relation to the creatures such as vampires, weres, etc, it allow the author to build on the other characters in the story rather than concentrating on finding a new take on things.
The writing was very easy to get along with and will definitely appeal to those who are not fond of a great deal of description and the story was fairly fast paced with the action starting virtually immediately. I think if you’re expecting a romance you will be disappointed, there is the makings for a future romance but nothing really in this first edition. That being said Adam promises to be interesting (pack leader/next door neighbour) and I dare say we will also get to hear more about Sam (Mercy’s love interest from her early years with the Montana Pack).
I will say that I personally struggled with the plot a little at the end. It seemed as though so many characters were introduced and the actual story line didn’t really seem plausible. Also, being the first in the series I thought there was a lot of information being given out to the reader which I felt broke the flow of the book somewhat. But, I think that was just setting up the basic premise for the series and will probably be less evident in future books.
Overall, I thought this was a really good start to the series. It had similarities to say, the Charlaine Harris books – but more gritty and dark. I suppose it puts me in mind a little of a cross between the writing of Ilona Andrews and Karen Chance.
Anyway, I’ve already started No.2, Blood Bound, and I must say it’s off to a very promising start.
Rating B+
Moon Called
Turning the Tide by Christine Stovell
11 June 2011
Filed under Book Reviews, Challenges for 2011
Tags: Christine Stovell, Turning the Tide
To quote the jacket ‘Harry Watling has spent the past five years keeping her father’s boat yard afloat. Now all she wants to do is enjoy the peace and quiet of her sleepy backwater. So when businessman Matthew Corrigan announces he wants to redevelop the boat yard, it’s like declaring war. Harry has to fight not just his plans but also her feelings for the man himself. Then a family secret from the past changes everthing’.
Set in the sleepy village of Spitmarsh Turning the Tide brings you the story of Harry, or Harriet, Watling. Harry took over the boat yard after her father died and her mother remarried and moved to France and has struggled since to keep the business alive. George, almost an old family retainer who previously worked for her father, has stuck around to help and keep a fatherly eye over things. Then along comes suave, good looking Matthew Corrigan to turn everything on its head with ideas for developing the sleepy town kickstarting it all with a fancy pants new restaurant.
Of course Harry is set against this and stubbornly resists all Matthews attempts to get on board (sorry, not a very good pun). I must admit I did think Harry was a little bit unwilling to listen to anybody else and was a little dogmatic. As it turns out the restaurant had a positive effect on the rest of the town giving the residents a welcome injection of life and pride and inspiring them to rethink their own little businesses. In fact Harry was alone in her resistance.
To be honest, I don’t think Turning the Tide brings anything new in terms of this type of novel but it is a nice, light hearted read. Ideal to take on holiday and enjoy at the beach. This is another Choc Lit novel so you already know that there’s going to be mind candy and set in the village there are a few eccentric characters to add to the amusement. George is a funny and curmudgeonly character living grumpily away from everyone in his little caravan and keeping close guard over his tartan tin of biscuits.
In terms of the romance I think I the novel could have been improved with a little more interaction between the two main characters, to me it felt a little slow to get going and used a lot of time developing an alternative plot line – which was frankly a little bit predictable.
But, all in all I think this is a lovely debut novel with plenty of charm and a perfect book to take away. I would imagine that romance readers would enjoy. If you like this you will probably also like Trade Winds which is another Choc Lit novel (on balance I probably preferred the latter because I enjoyed the historical aspect).
Rating -B
Turning the Tide
