Cameo MacPherson's Blog

I Never Thought I Was a Coward, pt 2

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I put it off for as long as I could, but I finally succumbed... I read the final Wheel of Time Book.

Going into it, I suspected that I wouldn't be happy with everything in it. After all, when you have a final battle, some people just aren't going to make it. I was okay with that.

Without giving too much away, I will say that I got that much right. Some characters die, some don't. One or two left me devastated, others I couldn't have cared less about. With one exception (that I feel was a massive "You've got to be kidding!")I felt that I can understand why the author/s chose to end the story the way they did.

Putting all of that aside, the main problem I had with this book was that it was all about the fighting. I understand that in a book about the last battle, you need to devote a lot of time to that battle, but I felt that the characters I have come to know and love/hate were severely shortchanged. One or two of my favorites were barely dealt with, they were treated as convenient pieces of a Deus ex Machina, and it felt like anyone could have served in their places.

Am I glad I read it? Yes. Will I read it again? Probably somewhere down the line. Do I feel a short-changed? A little.

There may be no true Beginnings or Endings to the wheel of time, but in this case, I fell like wasn't any sort of ending.




View all my reviews

I never tho

Lullaby, and Goodnight

Go the Fuck to Sleep by Adam Mansbach

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Let me start by saying that I love my children with all of my heart - especially when they finally fall asleep and I can go to the bathroom without being interrupted.

I think it's a safe bet to say that a good percentage of parents can relate to this book. I remember promising my newborn a Ferrari for his sixteenth birthday if he would just have mercy on me and let me sleep for an hour straight. Or even a half-hour.

Needless to say, he didn't, so no car for him.

You probably aren't going to want to read this book to your child, but don't let that stop you from indulging in it yourself. Better yet, smuggle it in to your next Mommy (or Daddy) and me class, and pass it around to the parents. I can almost guarantee everyone will end up laughing so hard they'll cry.

If they're not already crying from sleep deprivation, that is.





View all my reviews

I Never Thought I Was a Coward

It's just sitting there...waiting for me.

I've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. Maybe not since my brother handed me the first Eye of the World book and assured me that it was a standalone, but at least since I finished it and discovered he was a complete and heartless liar. (Love you anyway, big brother - and, if you hadn't already figured it out, I'm the one who ratted you out to Mom about The Incident. Now we're even.)

I'm not exaggerating when I say that I have been reading this series for most of my adult life. At times it's been in the forefront of my mind (like when I pulled an all-day-and-nighter to finish it in one sitting.) At times I've almost forgotten it completely.

And now, it's coming to an end.

With every other release of a Robert Jordan book, I've had to hurry up and start reading it as soon as humanly possible, but I haven't cracked the cover of A Memory of Light yet.

It's not that I think that it will be bad. I'm not even too worried about the fates of the characters. I just don't want it to be over. And with the sad passing of Mr. Jordan, who was magnanimous enough to think about his readers even when he was in the midst of his illness, it really will be an end.

Call me a coward, if you will, but I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet.

Magic of the Everyday

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I remember reading this book as a young girl and wanting to be Sara Crewe. I was right there with her, sharing her attic and her misery. And like the young girl that I was, I believed that the magic would find her and make everything all right.

Then I grew up.

Real life doesn't always have magical endings. Sometimes we are left alone in the attic. Sometimes the horrible Mrs. Minchums of the world triumph. Sometimes the rats are just rats. But sometimes every now and then - if we are lucky - the magic does happen, if only for a moment.

And for me, re-reading this book as an adult is one of the moments, bringing me back to a time when I knew that no matter how awful things got, if I could hold true to myself and let my imagination take flight, the magic would find me.

So if you're looking for a children's story that combines sorrow and joy, despair and hope, look no further. Just read and dream.



View all my reviews

Revisiting an Old Love - The Dresden Files

Cold Days by Jim Butcher

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I began reading this with serious trepidation. The Dresden files is one of my favorite series, and the previous book indicated that this would be a major turning point for the characters.

I'm trying not to give anything away, but, sure enough,the first few chapters were far removed from the world I have come to know and love.
They were very well-written but I was still nervous. Even though the story was compelling, my heart was aching for what had been left behind.

Oh, me of little faith... I needn't have worried.

Yes, Harry's world does change drastically. His circumstances may never be the same, but we are permitted to see how those changes affect the people around him, and we are witness to the changes they in turn make.

Am I happy with how everything turned out? No. But I am entirely satisfied that people acted in character and that the end was completely justified and completely right.

And I can't wait to find out what happens next.



View all my reviews