got a copy of this book the day it came out @ Walden Books back in 2006. i'm a vampire fiction fan (though few vampire books make it to my top list), ...moregot a copy of this book the day it came out @ Walden Books back in 2006. i'm a vampire fiction fan (though few vampire books make it to my top list), and amazon had made enough hype about it that i'd seriously considered reading it. overall, it's an amicable read -- not as well-edited as da Vinci Code, but you do get to learn a bit about vampire lore (especially, Dracula).
3 stars - there's sufficient "story" in this book (in the tradition of Anne Rice), but too much of it is exposition -- near the last half of the book, entire chapters are simply research papers the author apparently recycled from grad school. (less)
**spoiler alert** Bananafish - Elegant portrayal of ostracization of a lothario-esque man due to PTSD - in just three parts, in simple dialogue: a pho...more**spoiler alert** Bananafish - Elegant portrayal of ostracization of a lothario-esque man due to PTSD - in just three parts, in simple dialogue: a phone call from girl's mother that expresses her parent's concern over her man, return from war; a picturesque excursion on the beach, where PTSD man flirts with a toddler, tells her of the greedy bananafish; a brief elevator ride, where the man feels "out of sync" with the world, again, and then, his quick ending, both saving his girl from his deepening madness, and betraying her belief in him.(less)
Perhaps due to how Freytag's methods have become so overused, the pompous style of the book simply doesn't carry, especially not in the realm of insig...morePerhaps due to how Freytag's methods have become so overused, the pompous style of the book simply doesn't carry, especially not in the realm of insight over disgust-at-reading-arrogantia (albeit translated). (less)
**spoiler alert** -----January 7:
Finally finished reading this... though there are far too many moments when the dialogue is just simply too fli...more**spoiler alert** -----January 7:
Finally finished reading this... though there are far too many moments when the dialogue is just simply too flip in the bad braindead way (such that you wonder whether you have a thirteen yearold writing fan-fiction-esque), the ending gets "better" in a way that makes you yell-out at the classic Star-Wars steal (your worst nemesis evil-warlord guy turns out to be your father, and that guy you like and maybe even love turns out to be your brother).
Some gems in interesting urban fantasy ideas, such as: demon-energy powered motorcycles that fly(!), Silent Brothers occupying secret matrices of catacombs in underground NYC (capable of communicating with you directly by thought -- oh, and they ride thru downtown NYC in carriages that might seem more like Ichabod Crane's hearst -- all covered-up from mundies' view by glamor, of course), werewolves incognito as delivery boys of "Jade Wolf Chinese Cuisine."
Mythos is mediocre, though it's interesting to see the whole range of urban fantasy mytho-creatures referenced and quasi-related, from warlocks, to vampires, to werewolves, to fairies, and more!
Motifs Notes: Runes and Magnus' book-of-runes that you see a page to instantly "know" the runes, omniscience, and the Mortal Cup (use it to convert everyone to Shadow Hunters), omnipotence.
Four stars for being one of the few decent fantasy novels with female protagonists, one star for horrible dialogue, two stars for mediocre stereotypical-esque characters, and three stars for being bold enough to include explicitly gay main characters (Alec, and Magnus, the "High Warlock of Brooklyn"), and short-sighted enough to include Googling something as a solution to solving a major problem in the story. Four stars for being book-candy enough (at least for this girly reader) that I somewhat look forward to reading the next book!
-- November 17:
stephenie suggested it... though it's slow reading thus far(less)
at first, the book reads like a horoscope with anecdotes from a bunch of people, but the book is becoming more and more insightful in an eerie epiphan...moreat first, the book reads like a horoscope with anecdotes from a bunch of people, but the book is becoming more and more insightful in an eerie epiphany-filled way(less)
Mediocre writing, structure now hackneyed, with tempting (but corny) happy ending dramatizing a disappointing, but expected ending. Conveys the existe...moreMediocre writing, structure now hackneyed, with tempting (but corny) happy ending dramatizing a disappointing, but expected ending. Conveys the existentialism idea that man is forlorn, and that his ideology is his own, after his existence.
3 stars because it seems both Satre and I are both pessimistic enough to believe that the afterlife would be some institutionalized bureaucracy. (less)
**spoiler alert** While the story starts out "all wrong," with the exact opposite of what escapist-types would savor in reading such books -...more**spoiler alert** While the story starts out "all wrong," with the exact opposite of what escapist-types would savor in reading such books -- the complete lack of that usual heartwarming wonder -- the melancholy and empty-snobbishness of Quentin, the protagonist, seems familiar... and I suppose, it's via such kindred identification that the reader feels not compelled to either stop or continue, but maybe to read on to see what the fuss is all about (with the slight hope that this intelligent-but-depressed character might find peace, and so, the reader as well).
With entering classes of exactly twenty, Brakebill turns out to be more like prepschool, or perhaps an extremely-tiny extremely-exclusive college, than a higher education institution. Magic seems like rote memorization of spells and hand-motions (through which Quentin forced himself through with the empty, but determined vigor of your typical prep-school mentality), until the fourth year of the program, when half the class is transformed into geese (yes, literally!), to fly to Brakebill South in Antarctica, where they would finally truly learn magic, in its soul-seeping essence... via a masochistic Mr Miyagi-kind of professor.
Though Fillory seems like just a child's story at first, the novel eventually reveals that Fillory is a real place, with all its unlikely elements, and escaping the dreariness of a privileged life after college, the Brakebill magicians are whisked off to Fillory via a magic button. Of note, the book's first episode of sex is in the form of students having transformed into snow foxes, and Brakebill's graduating gift to each student is a cacodemon installed into the body of each via some high-magic a tattoo'd pentogram. (Everyone's cacodemon seems to have made some kills and defeated their opponent, except for Quentin's, which he released while trying to fight the "boss of Fillory" -- who turns out to be Martin, and not Ember or Umber.)
...
Cutting to the chase, while I found this novel moderately enjoyable, I was also moderately relieved that it's finally over. I didn't particularly like the ending, though I suppose the author had to resort to it, in order to bring closure to the story -- the vague implication of Quentin, in some delirium, subconsciously breaking the windows of his desk job and hopping out, down that long jump from the skyscraper. True, he could have turned himself into a goose, or some other affect, and flown off to join the now-winged Eliot and Janet, and Jane, to complete the pairs of kings and queens of Fillory... but, were the common person to attempt what he did, the analogue would have been suicide, and despite the affection, the frightening power bestowed to magicians, as well as the frightening dreary and mundane world that seems utterly unworthy of such magic, the magicians do, at least, have both magic and legacy to help them beat the odds. Quentin realizes that his melancholy was all due to himself, and that he didn't need happiness or Fillory or any of that to be happy -- though neither could he achieve happiness with magic, Fillory and all that.(less)
**spoiler alert** Whereas Book 1 (The Golden Compass) had a conclusive ending (with an opt-in invitation to reading Book 2), Subtle Knife ends with a ...more**spoiler alert** Whereas Book 1 (The Golden Compass) had a conclusive ending (with an opt-in invitation to reading Book 2), Subtle Knife ends with a cliffhanger -- Will has finally found his father (Grumman), but just when both he and his father realize who the other is, a witch who had a dark past with Grumman decides to kill him; Will had vowed to use the knife to bring justice and righten the epic war between good and evil that he must now be a major participant in, and so he goes back to fetch Lyra, only to find that the entire coven of Witches on-guard had been taken by the Specters, and so Will is free to follow the Angel that had found him to Lord Asriel.
Despite my rather nonsequiter way of putting it, the ending is actually one of the most well-done scenes in the entire book. The pacing is just about right, and the exposure to wonder works without feeling cheesy -- father as shaman, is less hackneyed than father as your greatest enemy (think: Luke/Darth Vadar). There are certain children's books that reach out to much larger audiences than their own intended, and Golden Compass was one of them, but the first part of Subtle Knife had felt dumbed down, and written with much less grace and wisdom than Golden Compass; as a result, it took me over three months to finish reading this book, with several long lapsing periods, until I finally just forced myself to finish this to take it off my currently-reading list.
The background mythos didn't work out for me -- The entire theory of particles being conscious was LOL (literally) when I'd first encountered it; it seemed to cheapen the otherwise magical-ish mythos of the book. This isn't to say that a discerning blend of science and magic can't make for a good mythos, but particles as conscious... Though I like Malone's backstory, that she was a nun before she'd liberated herself from religion, to pursue physics, the presentation of the particles as conscious felt like a bad X-Files episode -- it just doesn't convey the necessary wonder that the core part of a mythos revealing needs! Also, lack of novelty factor -- L'Engle's done that whole conscious particles thing already, and did a much better job of it in the presentation.
Though Lee S's death was sad, and really could have been avoided, cutting that character out would seem like a slight boon to the reader, who (much more than in Book 1), gets irked that right when the mainplot gets interesting, the next chapter becomes an aside on his subplot.
Lyra's relating her favorite polar bear to Will is amusing and endearing, and Pullman, has at least succeeded in creating a strong character relationship that -- hopefully -- won't disintegrate the same way as the one between Roger and Lyra in Book 1 (come to mention it, Lyra's never once thought about Roger in Book 2 -- perhaps she isn't the kind to be sentimental over a late friend). (less)
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