Lair of the White Worm – Book Review

Finished reading

Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker

Expectation

From the author of famous Dracula comes this … By the info on the author included at the end of the book I managaed to rationalize the reasoning for this book – he was an obnoxious proper Englishman (I know he as from Ireland originaly) who worked as a producent for a theather and all those plays got to his head for this story read more like a script for how mechanical the scenes and characters seemed. Must not  forget that this was written after Dracula. I expected some cool ghotic horror story and maybe a little something to brag about I read a book by Bram Stoker that is not the Dracula…

Summary

Plot revolves around a younger man named Adam Salton who comes to England to meet his old great-uncle for he seemes to be his only next to kin. Story is filled by many historical quirks and mentioning of older history of England soil – from before the times when Romans brought civilisation on British islands. What was most annoying for me to read were there dominance stare contests, which I later discovered were part of MESMERISM fad that was popular in 19. centuary England.

V0011094 A practictioner of Mesmerism using Animal Magnetism
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
A practitioner of mesmerism using animal magnetism
on a woman who responds with convulsions. Wood
engraving.
Mesmer, Franz Anton 1734-1815.
Wood engraving
c.1845 Published: –
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Group therapy using hypnosis – Date: 1863

 

If you are still confussed here is another picture in which the hand motions of power weilding are shown as well.

 

And also there is severe racist theme trought the book. It is directed towards the only black character fittingly named Oolanga. Characterisation of Oolanga and the way he is treated by other characters speaks volumes of the authors thoughts on black people and people from Africa in general.

Portrays of all three female characters were at times insulting to read. They get to be weak and need protection or evil and need killing.

Conclusion

The plot was mechanical like it was written to be a script for a really bad play. I would not recommend this book for anyone looking for a good way to pass the time reading. Those with more morbid tastes in reading go right ahead!

And while you’re at it you might want to try this movie with the same title. The plot is a bit different but it seems as it was based upon this book

A Shiver of Light – Book Review

Finished reading

A Shiver of Light (Merry Gentry book 9 ) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Expectation

I was kinda angsty about this book. It has been years since I’ve read the last one. Last book Divine Misdemeanors came out in 2009.  I was afraid I will not be able to pick off where the story ended five years ago. This proved not to be true!

Summary

In the last book from five years ago, main character Merry is finally pregnant (the quest for her to get pregnant started in book one!) We also learn that by divine intervention she is having more than one baby by more than one father! I allways liked the totally different approach Sidhe and fey have on sexuality, nudity an privacy. Back when I first started reading this series I found it refreshing. I always thought that this series would have been a great anime series since the hair coloring, character outlooks in general and even character behaviours are on the quirky side.

I really wouldn’t mind having one of these busts on my bookshelf!

This book drew me in and I was very quickly reminded why I loved this book series. I loved reading about Merry’s men, guards, loves and friends. The babies were intriguing. The post natal depression was a bit over the top though.

I cannot say this without the spoiler alert so here it goes:

ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! SPOILER ALERT!

 One of my favorite characters dies in this book. Sholto dies 😦

He even gets one last happy goodbye. And everything is too good to be true. And he admits to being the  happiest he has ever hoped he can be….

There is a goodbye sex scene with his extra bits – which I find hot BTW!

…and than bam…..he gets killed…

It took three chapter for me to start believing he is really killed off….

Conclusion

I did not like how quick the ending was wrapped up. I would have liked to read it instead of getting the short version… This is the thing I disliked most about this author. These little fast wrap ups at the end of each book. I always feel like I’m missing something. It even gets me to look up some fanfiction just to get closure. I sometimes get inspired to write my own ending just to get it out of my system…

 

Heart of Darkness – Book Review

 

Finished reading:

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Expectation

As one of the noted classics of modern literature I had some expectations from this book. The reason I read it is that it was a RL bookclub assignment. It is not something I would have chosen on my own.

Summary

I was reminded yet again of my inability to understand the differences that inspired people to treat those of different skin color as less. Trought the whole book I had a feeling that something was missing. The prose seemed sterile in the ascetic descritpitons Marlowe uses to conwey his story. I have missed to see the greatness in the character Kurtz. But I do see something intriguing in the character of Marlowe and the way he was driven to start his journey. I liked him a lot better before the character Kurtz was introduced.

If the story was written today it would have been filled to the brim with scenes of violence and gore. I have probably watched the movie Apocalypse Now when I was younger, but I have successfuly blocked that memory, I dislike war movies. War movies that show scenes of thoughtless acts of violence even more.

Conclusion

I have a newfound appreciation for all the native people who live off the land whose lifestyle we call primitive. It takes more humanity than a modern man has, to live out there in the wild. Primitive need for power in the mind of an ordinary man can bloom into frightening things when men are forced to gaze into the abyss of their own being.

Night Broken – Book Review

Finished reading:

Night Broken (Mercy Thompson book 8) by Patricia Briggs

Expectation

This is one of the urban fantasy book series with seriously well made characters. Mercy Thompson is one of the most believable female protagonists I have ever read. Reading any of her stories is a truly satisfying experience. I enjoyed all of her books and this one was no exception.

I like how even supernatural characters have to deal with some very mundane problems and Mercy kicks butt while she is at it. Her Coyote ancestry gives her just the right amount of mischief to lighten up the mood but does not distract from thriller plot in general.

Summary

This time Mercy had a little extra trouble to add with all the supernatural baddies. Her werewolf mate’s ex-wife came to stay at their house. I admire Marcy for her courage and patience. Werewolves, shifters, ancient spirits, vampires and some silly humans too…

This is a tune to be played by Coyote Himself!

Conclusion

Can hardly wait for the next book to see how plot results from this book ripple out into the next ones!

Personal reading challenge – Book list

Here are some of the books I will be reading in July:

RL Bookclub assignments:

1# The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Book 1) by Douglas Adams

2# Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Continuation of book series:

1# Night Broken (Mercy Thompson book 8) by Patricia Briggs

2# Shattered (Iron Druid Chronicles book 7) by Kevin Hearne

3# A Shiver of Light (Merry Gentry book 9) by Laurell K. Hamilton

4# Red and Her Wolf (Kingdom series book 3) by Marie Hall

5# The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus book 5) by Rick Riordan

6#A Perfect Blood (The Hollows book 10) by Kim Harrison

7# Opal (Lux book 3) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

Finishing books from June:

1# Fifty Shades Darker (Fifty Shades book 2) by E.L. James

2# Les Contes de Grimm by Marc Girard

Library Wild Card:

The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker

Books I want to add to July reading:

Finishing Buffy and Angel graphic novels I have on my shelf

Wish me luck!

Personal reading challenge – July 2015

Since last year I have found my reading lacking. Some of it is due to lack of time and some are caused by general grumpyness I feel towards some aspects of my life.

In order to wake myself up from this reading dryspell I decided to challege myself to read the books I have been putting off for far too long! Most of the books I will include in this challege are part of a book series I read for years and all of them are on my shelves and waiting to be picked up. While deciding to procede with caution and make an easy goal I remembered that the reason I’m stuck in the first place is that I’m too easy on myself. That is why this time I’m choosing a wilder and bigger goal.

Personal reading challenge – July 2015

1# Read three books that belong to a three different book series I already own!

2# Read all the books for the RL bookclub

3#Make time to read at least 50 pages every day

4#Read 15 or more books in July

5#Finish a book series or bring it up to date

6#Make at least 5 book reviews for the blog

7#Finish all the reading in progress books by the end of the month!