Over the past couple weeks, I've been busy working on the website and the timeline while I wait for edits to come back on Black Earth: Dark Masquer...
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I have always been a fan of the James Bond films, and I really think the franchise hit the nail on the head when they came out with the last couple films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, both starring Daniel Craig as the womanizing spy. My inter...more
I have always been a fan of the James Bond films, and I really think the franchise hit the nail on the head when they came out with the last couple films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, both starring Daniel Craig as the womanizing spy. My interest in these movies led me to pick up Casino Royale in paperback, the first Bond novel that Ian Fleming wrote. I'll warn you now, this review has spoilers.
Going into Casino Royale, I knew that I didn't care for a lot of Ian Fleming's writing to begin with. I've read some of the other Bond books - Diamonds are Forever, Moonraker, and Live and Let Die, and I was not impressed with some of the clunky prose or the outlandish ways Bond gets out of trouble - although that does seem to be his trademark not only in the books, but also in the films (mostly the older films.) I also couldn't seem to connect to Bond as a character in any of the aforementioned books.
That being said, I went into Casino Royale with mid-level expectations, and came out pleasantly surprised.
I can't write a decent review of this book without comparing it to the movie of the same name, only because I have very rarely (if at all if I remember right) come across a movie that did a book justice. This book in particular, Casino Royale, starts off in the Royale-Les-Eaux casino in France, with Bond playing Baccarat against Le Chiffre. It's interesting because this is where the book starts off, but the movie only reaches this point about half way through. Most of what's found in the beginning of the movie - Bond's free running chase through a construction site, his encounter with a bomber intent on destroying the prototype Skyfleet airliner, and his love affair with Solange are never mentioned in the book, but they did add to the movie and actually helped to round Bond's character out a bit.
The book follows the same premise as the movie on the whole: Le Chiffre is thwarted by Bond's card playing, Vesper is 'kidnapped', and Bond gets his manhood smashed into little tiny bloody pieces. Bond falls for Vesper, begins to gain suspicion with her strange moods, and eventually finds out she is a double agent working for the Russians. In the end, she kills herself and Bond is left the cold-hearted spy we all know and love.
The book differs slightly in many areas compared to the movie - Bond isn't run off the road by Vesper's body laying in the road, instead road tacks are used to incapacitate Bond and his vehicle. Le Chiffre doesn't torture him in the bowels of a ship, but in a quiet summer home. And the conspiracy surrounding Vesper isn't necessarily tied to the Bond's winnings at the Royale, but still follows the familiar path the movie did. It was interesting, after seeing the movie, to pick up on the small variations.
Reviewing this as a story disconnected from the movie, I give it four and a half stars out of five. I think I enjoyed this Bond adventure much more than the others that I've read because it brought Bond's humanity to light, I was able to see how he met Felix Leiter from the CIA, and I felt for him when Vesper killed herself at the end and revealed her betrayal to him and the Service. I especially enjoyed the build up towards the end where Bond begins to pick up on hints of Vespers suspicious activity but allows his feelings for her to override his instinct - in turn becoming a regret in the end.
The only real complaints I have with this book are the sometimes clunky prose that pops up every now and then, and the french that is poured on thick at times both in dialogue and description - most of which isn't translated. So there were times I had no idea what Fleming or Bond were trying to tell me. But those weren't enough to make me not like this book. I may still read more of Fleming's novels in the future, and I have The Union Trilogy by Raymond Benson on my 2012 Reading List.(less)
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date:
May 15, 2012 07:00PM
location:
Changing Hands Bookstore, 6428 S McClintock Dr, Tempe, AZ, The United States
description:
We're celebrating the release of AWAITED with a very special guest:
Alan Dean Foster, one of the most renowned fantasy writers of modern times made his name breaking Science Fiction genre – aliens, creatures – in the 70s with Star Trek & Chronicles of Riddick. Lynn Rush is breaking genre ground with the New Adult Paranormal Romance – demons & guardians. Joint book launch of Awaited, the second in Rush’s Wasteland trilogy & Foster’s Body, Inc, second in his trilogy with both signing b...more
We're celebrating the release of AWAITED with a very special guest:
Alan Dean Foster, one of the most renowned fantasy writers of modern times made his name breaking Science Fiction genre – aliens, creatures – in the 70s with Star Trek & Chronicles of Riddick. Lynn Rush is breaking genre ground with the New Adult Paranormal Romance – demons & guardians. Joint book launch of Awaited, the second in Rush’s Wasteland trilogy & Foster’s Body, Inc, second in his trilogy with both signing books. These two visual writers will compare/contrast paranormal and science fiction – Should be a lively discussion.
May 15th, 2012, 7-8:30pm at Changing Hands Bookstore.
Here's the link to the store for more information! http://www.changinghands.com/
Hope to see you there!!!!(less)
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When I first saw Dust in my local bookstore, I put it on my list of 'want-to-read-later' books. The description and the cover did enough to spark my curiosity. It wasn't until I actually obtained this book and then put it on my 2012 Reading List that...more
When I first saw Dust in my local bookstore, I put it on my list of 'want-to-read-later' books. The description and the cover did enough to spark my curiosity. It wasn't until I actually obtained this book and then put it on my 2012 Reading List that I realized it was merely the first in a series of three novels. And needless to say, I won't be reading the other novels.
If you go to my Goodreads list you'll see I have quite a few books with five-star ratings. I give a book five stars if it kept me interested all the way through with compelling characters, interesting story lines, and plausible events. Even if a book has some flaws, it can get five stars from me if I think the author broke out of the traditional genre box and brought something new to the page.
I also have a few books on my list that fall below three stars. These are books I haven't finished - nor care to, books that are so moddled and uninteresting that I feel my life points slipping away just making the effort to finish reading them.
And Dust ranks there, below the three-star line. Although I'm not certain if I want to give the book one star for all the areas it lacks in or two stars because the story's idea is somewhat original - if one is actually able to understand the idea/plot this book is trying to convey.
The first chapter or two of Dust hooked me. Perceval, an angel (I take it) has been brutally stripped of her wings and captured. Rien, a maidservant, has been put in charge of caring for her. Even though they are enemies, the girls take a shine to each other. At first I thought it was simply a friendship kind of shine, but later I find out they are actually in love with each other, regardless of the fact they are sisters. Oh, when I said love, I meant a sexual kind of love, not a sisterly kind of love. There's a very strange incestuous, same-sex kind of romance theme running through the book, one which I didn't completely follow as I didn't think it added anything to the story itself.
Anyway, I'll brush past that point and move along to the rest of the book. Once Rien realizes that Perceval is her sister, she frees her and they flee to warn others of a coming war. And then the book lost me. Apparently the world is named Jacob's Dust, and is actually a derelict ship parked a bit too close to a pair of stars, one of which is about to collapse and destroy all that's left of creation. There are angels, which are actually programs or pieces of an AI - I am guessing. I felt The Matrix slipping into the storyline here and there, but it wasn't within understandable terms. There are creatures that are completely robotic, species that are symbiotic, and a strange man/woman named Mallory who makes strange man/woman love to Rien - something that I felt was as completely out of place in the storyline and about as random as the ambush sex scene in the first Bloodrayne film.
I couldn't get past the convoluted storyline and the cardboard characters - which I found I cared nothing for. I didn't care if Rien died. Or if Perceval was ever freed. Or even if the world, Jacob's Ladder, was destroyed in the end. Past all of that is Elizabeth's absolutely clunky writing style. First, I literally had to have Dictionary.com up when reading this book because of the vocabulary she uses. Second, her writing felt jilted at times. Just. Like. This. At other times, it flowed with the beauty of a soaring eagle. Those were the only times I found myself breezing through the book. All other times I found myself having to stop, reread paragraphs, sometimes entire pages, to understand anything about what was going on. (And I still don't understand most of it.)
And even in the end, with its lackluster semi-battle scene, I found myself rushing to get done with the book so I could move on to the next one in my reading list. There were a couple times I almost threw the towel in and put the book down for good, but figured the novel was short enough for me to read it through to the end so I could write a proper review.
Anyway, like I said before, as much as I hated this book and the time it sucked from my reading agenda, I found the overall premise - of what I understood of it - to be somewhat original, although poorly executed. So, two stars it is.(less)
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David Alderman
is now following Louise's reviews
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David Alderman
is now following Amanda's reviews
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