Rustin Petrae's Blog, page 10
December 6, 2012
My Review of: The Alchemyst
I just finished The Alchemyst by Michael Scott and wanted to give it my honest review. I think the biggest thing that drew me to this book was the cover. The second biggest thing would be the name-drop of Nicholas Flamel. I've read the first Harry Potter book, so reading a book with Nicholas Flamel as the main character sounded interested. I wasn't disappointed.
Things that I liked:
I really liked the whole idea around this book. I liked all the facts and history that Mr. Scott put into it too. The magic system that he created was new and different and I really enjoyed how he explained the existence of gods and how there was a grain of truth to every myth. The characters, I thought, were well written and had very diverse personalities. Some of the dialogue might've used a little work, but it was nothing that made me want to stop reading it. I liked the plot, the story, and even the bad guys. I thought Dr. John Dee made a very imposing villain.
Things I didn't like:
There weren't many of these. I thought that the twins' characters could've used a little more work. I have three brothers and a sister, and I can honestly say that no sibling really gets along that well with their brother or sister. I did feel like their closeness was explained, but the explanation didn't cover it all. The fact that they move around so much just doesn't really cut it for me. I was a military brat and moved around a lot when I was younger and I still wasn't that close with my brother's and sister. I was, but not to that degree anyways. Other than that, not much I hated or didn't like in this book.
Stars: Five out of Five
That's my honest review. You can love it, like it, or hate it.
December 3, 2012
The Tunnel
Here is another Blog Freebie. It was written awhile ago. It was inspired by an idea I had a long time ago about the nature of life and death. In my mind, I had thought that both were nothing but one big circle. When death begins, life just sort of reboots. Or restarts. You just begin again but this time things can be done differently. Maybe you don't make the same mistakes you did before or make worse ones. Things of that nature. I thought it was a really good explanation for deja vu. My story kind of reflects that idea.
Here is The Tunnel:
I found myselftrapped. The last thing I rememberbefore I found myself here was a car wreck. I know it was my fault, but I had been so tired. Work was so tiring. I couldn’t help it when I started to getdrowsy. I couldn’t help it when I raninto that SUV.
I must be dead then. That was the only explanation.
I looked around and was terrified. It was so dark and I couldn’t really seeanything. The only light I found was atthe far end. It seemed to be pure white. All those old tales about lights at the endof the tunnel had seemed ridiculous when I had still been alive. On in impulse I turned around. There was nothing but darkness backthere. I started that way, even though Iknew I should’ve went forward, toward that light. After a couple of steps, I ran into awall. I wasn’t expecting it and my nosecaught most of the impact. I would’veyelped in pain, but there didn’t seem to be any. Only a sort of pressure. Pain, I realized, was something that belongedto the living. I was dead.
I turned around, facing the light againand started forward. I wish I could’veput my hair up because the tunnel was stifling hot, but my purse didn’t makethe transition into whatever world this was. Since I wasn’t naked, I figured I was probably still wearing mypantsuit. I found that oddlycomforting. Whatever was waiting for meat the end, I knew I didn’t want to face it wearing just my birthday suit. That would’ve been slightly embarrassing.
I started walking and with every step Itook, my fear grew with them. I had noidea of what I was in store for. I couldonly wish and hope it wasn’t something truly awful. Images of fire and brimstone, and aterrifying creature bearing horns and a pitchfork invaded my mind. I couldn’t shake them either. I didn’t want to go there. I didn’t want that fate. I forced those horrible images out of my headand focused on taking one step at a time.
I had a lot of time on my hands. I thought about my entire life, fromchildhood to my death. If there was ajudgment waiting for me, I wanted to be sure it wasn’t going to be too horriblean experience. It didn’t take me long todrop that idea. I hadn’t been an overlybad person in life, but I was far from pure. There were plenty of things that tweaked my conscience and plenty morethings that I felt embarrassed and ashamed of.
I kept walking.
There was nothing else to do but presson. The tunnel never seemed to draw to aclose and the light never seemed to get any closer. I wasn’t tired or exhausted, it seemed thosewere things only living people felt also, but it was getting reallyannoying. The trek just seemed solong.
After what seemed like a literal eternity,I found myself directly in front of that light. It was bright and after so much time spent in the gloomy darkness of thetunnel, it was very hard to look at. Ihad to squint at it and put a hand up to shield my eyes.
I don’t know how long I stood there.
After awhile, the light seemed to growimpatient. It swirled and darkened, itscolor spinning sickeningly. I could feela sense of urgency roil around the air. I can’t describe it any better than that. I held my breath. I know. Childish, right? I couldn’t helpit. I held onto that breath and steppedforward. The light was warm, almosthot. It seemed to envelope me completelyand I lost all sense of the world, such as it was, around me. I didn’t know which way was up or down. There wasn’t anything for it but to presson. I told myself that a lot, as you cantell. There was no sense of being in atunnel, at least there was that much. The problem, however, was that there was no sense of being anywhere. I just walked and walked, and tried to findmy out of that light.
It happened almost without warning.
The end.
One minute I was walking aimlessly, andthe next the light didn’t so much end as it changed. It didn’t have the same color orintensity. The light I had been walkingin had been pure almost. This light hadthe institutional look and feel of fluorescents. And there was noise. Someone was crying. I listened to those cries and realized twothings, they were a baby’s cries and they were coming from me. Confused, I tried to look around, but my eyeswere not accustomed to that light and refused to work properly.
I felt myself being lifted, up and awayand then brought over to lay on a table of some sort.
“It’s a girl!” I heard someone shout. The voice was familiar to me. It took me a second to realize that the voicebelonged to my father.
“What’s going on here?” I tried to ask, but my voice wouldn’tcome. Just more cries.
Hands, a bunch of them, rubbed towels overmy entire body. I wailed some more. It didn’t feel that great. I know they were just trying to clean thegunk off me, but they weren’t exactly gentle about it. After the towel off was over, I felt thenurses measuring me. Then theystuck…well, I won’t tell you what they stuck where. But let’s just say it was unexpected and notat all comfortable.
Some time later, I found myself in mymother’s arms. She was looking down atme with a tired smile.
“Hey there, sweetheart.” She cooed. “Hey there, Hannah.”
This was weird, was all I couldthink. When you die, you startover. You just start completelyover. It must be like some kind ofendless loop. You live, you die, youstart over.
I just got offwork and I was so tired. It wasexhausting. The long hours, the longdays and having to constantly cover my boss’s ass. He really was incompetent, but at least Imade him look good.
I was focusing on the road, on thatendless road in front of me and started to get drowsy. I couldn’t help it. I probably shouldn’t have been driving, but Ijust wanted to get home. I wanted torelax on my couch and watch some of the shows I had recorded on my DVR. It was only another ten minutes or so. That was all.
Another spell of drowsiness hit me andthis one was the worst of all. I think Iactually fell asleep for a second. When I snapped back from it, an SUV wascharging right at me. I had slipped intothe other lane. My heart pounded insudden fear, and I screamed, jerking the wheel sharply to the right withoutthinking about it. I swerved back intomy lane and heard a loud sound, metal screeching on metal, as the SUV brushedagainst my car. I screamed again.
I got lucky. I got so lucky.
My heart was still pounding and there wasa sickening sensation in my stomach, but I was alive. I was alive.
My Review of: Class Heroes
I was given a copy of Class Heroes, by Stephen Henning, in exchange for an honest review. I thought that the blurb did well in that it drew me to the book and made me want to read it. I thought that the cover was a little underdone and not very professional. It didn't really work and seemed a little on the amateurish side. As for the book itself and the story, here are the things that I liked and the things I didn't like.
The things that I liked:
I liked the two main characters. Their characters were very well written and had really great personalities. They seemed to work well with each other in the book and were very natural most of the time. I also liked the character of Philip Randerson and the explanation for his powers. Lolly was also a very great character and made a really awesome villain. There were other characters as well that I thought worked really well in the book. Overall, I thought the story was a strong one. It was a cool and different take on superheroes. Although I would've liked to have known more about why they were targeted and their family history that made them targets, I understand why it was left unsaid. It gives the reader something to look forward to in the upcoming books.
The things that I didn't like:
Okay. First of all, I do think this book has a lot of potential. There are just a few areas that distracted me or made me lose interest. I caught a lot of grammatical/misspellings/etc errors. Those are very distracting to the reader. I found myself stumbling over them constantly. You might be able to get away with them here and there but too many and it becomes a chore to read. The plot was a little too slow at times and could've used a little more cohesion. At this point, I think the mysterious villain backing Lolly and Lolly herself should've been in the story a lot more. They were the initial cause of the attack but you barely hear from them. The sleepwalkers were a slow start. I think maybe they should've been explained a little earlier. I liked that plot, but I think it could use some touch ups. I'm not sure what, exactly, but I do know that I only found myself actually wanting to to read the book in the last couple of chapters of the book. I think there has to be more suspense and action. Something to draw the reader in and make them want to keep reading.
Stars: Three out of Five
Overall, I did like the story. It was a good one. Maybe not great, but it has the potential to be great.
This is my honest review. You can like it, love it, or hate it. That's just what I alone think.
My Review of: Wreck it Ralph
I recently went and saw Wreck it Ralph with my family. We took our son there for his birthday because he was really excited to see it. I am a big movie lover and will watch just about anything. Including family movies and cartoons like Wreck it Ralph. I had seen the previews myself and actually thought that the movie looked pretty cool.
Things that I liked:
With this movie, the things I liked category would probably be overflowing. It was just an all-around great movie. The characters were likeable and I instantly got sucked into their worlds and their problems. I enjoyed the main character a lot and you can't help but feel sorry for the guy. He's a good guy at heart, but he's stuck in this bad guy role. People don't like him, even though he hasn't really done anything outside of the game programming to deserve it. So, he sets off to try and change that. He has no idea what kind of repercussions it will have or how vastly things will change because of it. I think that my favorite characters of the movie would be Ralph and Vanellope. The friendship they forged was captured really well in the movie. I think Wreck it Ralph has the makings to be a real classic.
Things I didn't like:
Well, nothing. Everything came together and worked really well together. If I had made the movie, I wouldn't have changed a thing.
Stars: Five out of Five
That's my review. You can like it, love it, or hate it.
November 26, 2012
Book One: Dragon and Cat's Paw free for three days.
Book One: Dragon
He was an enemy.
She saved his life.
The rest is history.
Rooks have embraced science and technology, even inventing helpful, microscopic, robots called nanos to create nearly any machine they want to meet their needs.
The Terraquois are their opposite. They have embraced the spiritual and have a deep bond with nature. It is this bond that allows them to transform into the animal that resembles their own, inner selves.
These two races have fought each other, often with brutal savagery, for centuries. But things change when the Rook prince, Rone Varlamagne, is shot out of the sky and left for dead in the desert by an unknown force. Keiara, the daughter of the Terraquois chieftain, is the one to find him but instead of killing him, she decides to save his life. It is one act. One conscious choice, but it changes everything for them and the entire face of Purga.
Together, they face foes from every direction...and they will stop at nothing to protect each other.
Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-One-Dragon...
Cat's Paw
A dark/paranormal fantasy, Cat's Paw centers around a 15 year old boy named Tad.
In his neighborhood, something has happened. Something tragic.
He sees the effects that this horrible event has in his neighborhood but is powerless to stop it. Until a strange cat shows up. The cat follows him around everywhere, refusing to leave him alone. And with its appearance, strange things start happening. Haunting nightmares. Instructions from a dead girl. And the cat that seems to tie them all together. Its up to Tad to figure out what's going on and how to stop it.
Because, a secret has been buried and uncovering its truth is the only way to stop what's happening.
Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Paw-ebook/...
Enjoy everyone. Rustin
My Review of: Skyfall
I recently went and watched the James Bond movie Skyfall. I wasn't overly thrilled with it. It was packed full of action, like almost every Bond film ever made, but it seemed to be lacking a lot of the usual Bond elements. Awesome gadgets. Cool, sophisticated personality. Cool cars. All the usual stuff.
***SPOILER***
They give him a gun that responds only to his palm print and a radio locator. Not very impressive if you ask me.
Things I did like:
I do like the new Bond, Daniel Craig. He seems like a more realistic Bond than the others. I also liked that the new atmosphere of the movie. It looked less cheesy and had a lot more realism added to it. I liked that he was James Bond but there were times in the movie where he failed. It also adds to the realism. You can't win them all every time. And finally, I liked almost the entire beginning sequence of the movie.
Things I didn't like:
Of course. No gadgets. It's James Bond. He needs cooler stuff. That includes cooler cars, and not just adding in an awesome car at the very end of the movie to where it looks more like an afterthought than anything else. I hated (HATED) the villain. That was a creepy, sadistic dude, sure, but he was about as un-Bond as you can get. He just didn't really feel like he belonged in that movie at all (although it was pretty cool when he pulled out his top teeth. That did seem pretty Bond-esque). ***SPOILER*** I liked the beginning sequence of where he got shot and thrown from the train. That was unexpected definitely, but what I didn't like was that he came back to MI6 willingly and then didn't really act like being shot by your own team, ordered by someone you trusted, was a big deal at all. It seems to me that a real person would hold some pretty lasting grudges. I also wasn't a big fan of the time errors in the movie. M (played by Judi Dench) was in Goldeneye with Pierce Brosnan playing James Bond, but Skyfall made it seem like it's timeline was before the previous movies. If that were so, then why ***SPOILER*** did she die in Skyfall. That totally negates the previous movies. I also wasn't a real huge fan of the fact that the title didn't make sense the entire movie until the very end.
That's my thoughts on Skyfall. Some might agree. Others won't, but that's just my opinion.
-Rustin
My Review of: Myth Weaver
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review. I would just like to say that this is only my honest opinion and that's it. Some people have different views and that is fine too.
First of all. The things that I liked. I thought the cover was really well done. It looks cool. Second, I did like the fact that the MC was actually put into the myths. I liked that he actually saw through Achilles's eyes. That he was Loki. Ecetera. That was about it.
Things that I didn't like. I thought that the writing style was hard to follow. There were a lot of errors and typos that I found myself stumbling over a lot. The MC wasn't very convincing (or any other character for that matter). The dialogue needs a lot of work and I would suggest that the author seek out a good proofreader. I think that there should be more definition of the "realwhirl " and the MC's imagined worlds. Sometimes it was really hard to differintiate between the two. I would've liked to see the two different plots (judging the gods contest and the "realwhirl" plot) meshed together better. It was a little confusing at times.
I liked the idea better and I think it has potential after some proofreading and re-edits.
Stars: Two out of Five
Cat's Paw has its first review!
This is the very first review of Cat's Paw, done by Pasan Wijesinghe. I gave him a free copy of my book in exchange for an honest, and fair, review of it. While it didn't exactly get the star rating I might've been hoping for, he had some really good comments.
Pasan's Review:
Its like reading a Goosebumps book, only a lot more dark.
In this quick paced, first person narrative Rustin Petrae presents us with 15 year old Tad, who finds the answer for the murder of his friend buried in his own conscience. He takes us through the troublesomely life like dreams Tad faces while the whole neighborhood is troubled with a sadistic serial killer specialized in children.
The story is full with disturbing dreams where the protagonist ends up in a realm where dead people exist. It also shows a link between dead people and living animals.
From the beginning the story is likely to give you goosebumps.
I recommend the story to be read by people older than 13.
Stars: Three out of Five (Not too shabby)
Book One: Dragon and Cat's Paw, free for three days!
Starting November 29, 2012 and ending on December 1, 2013, both Book One: Dragon and Cat's Paw will be free on Amazon.com! I'm hoping to get a lot of interest on this free promotion and hopefully acquire a large reader audience. So pass the word along. Tell your friends. Share on Facebook and anywhere else you would like. I would really appreciate it. I'm hoping to hit atleast a thousand copies downloaded of each. Hopefully, it will be more than that though.
Enjoy the read,
Rustin
Book One: Dragon
http://www.amazon.com/Book-One-Dragon...
Cat's Paw
November 22, 2012
Interview with Jennifer Lafferty
I was recently interviewed by Jennifer Lafferty. It was a lot of fun and she had some really great questions. It was definitely an experience that I could get used to and would love to do again.
The first half of the article was published here:
http://www.examiner.com/article/inter...
The other half of the article was published here:
http://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_...
Here is a little part of it:
Paranormalfantasy & fictionSuspenceSci-Fi FantasyMysteryauthor Advertisement From his paranormal thriller "Cat's Paw", centering on a young boy who investigates a tragedy in his neighborhood, with the help of a mysterious cat, to his epic four book series "Histories of Purga", it's clear that author Rustin Petrae has plenty of imagination. In my interview with Petrae on November 1, 2012 he discussed his body of work and the challenges of the writing process.
Q: What is your favorite genre as an author?
I grew up reading all kinds of books but my favorites were always fantasy, sci-fi, and paranormal stories. That's influenced my writing ever since. Out of those three, I can't really pick a favorite.
Q: Your novel “Cat’s Paw” is a dark, paranormal fantasy. What sets “Cat’s Paw” apart from other books in the genre?
A: Cat's Paw sets itself apart because I believe it's a story that people would want to read and keep reading because they enjoy the characters. I think that a truly great story has a lot to do with truly great characters. I think Cat's Paw has that.
