American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Now this was an interesting read. I'm still not a hundred percent sure what I think of this book, but hopefully by the end of this review you'll all know whether American Gods is for you or not. So first of all let me say is readjust your expectations, this is a fantasy story but in no way is it a fantasy story.

The style of writing reminds me funnily enough alot of Stephen King. It's funny Gaiman choose America as a subject seeing as he's English, but anyway. So yeah he likes to get into the head space of all of his characters and I'd say Shadow reminds me alot of many of Stephen King's heros that sort of quiet dude. You know the one, the observer the guy who somehow gets on with everyone without having to try, the quiet mysterious type, typically a guy who does an honest sort of job, not white collar. Anyway that's what I thought.

But the book itself is in the simplest terms Shadow's story and also the story of the new American Gods versus the Old. The book begins with Shadow released on parole from Prison. He's looking forward to three things we're told and this gives you an idea of Gaiman's style and Shadow. A Bath. Seeing his wife again. And a new job his friend Robbie has set up. Sadly though when they're both killed in a car accident and it seems Shadow has nothing to go back to, along comes Mr Wednesday. And you guessed it, he's a god!

From then on the book continues along. The way to enjoy the book is to not try and flip the pages and get to the climax. This is a slow burner. In many ways it's a road trip. Shadow becomes Wednesday's body guard and they go around trying to persuade other gods to join Wednesday's crusade. So we meet each god in turn and learn a little about them. On the way there are also interludes. Now these take you completely out of the story.
These sections often titled coming to America interupt the main narrative by telling a story of someone immigrating to america, either centuries or thousands of years ago from all over the world. One tells of a woman who came from ireland another a pair of twins from Africa. While I was reading I often wondered, what these bits had to do with the story, I thought these sections weren't really about the gods at all. And they aren't...really.

But I looked on a website after reading and I think this guy (the guy I'm talking about is Dan on the forum, but I think with a book like this it pays to read around and get a few different opinions) knows a good way to look at it, basically in the story the older gods are fighting(supposedly) the new gods. I'll get to the god thing in a minute, but the battle of the gods a reader eloquently suggested can be seen as a metaphor for immigrants coming to America and their cultures and families being Americanised. Essentially the old ways are being shafted.

Anyway the thing I'm most confused about is what the heck is a god? In the book the gods are people that often personify who they are. For example the good of the internet is a dweeby kid, who has all these riches yet maintains his social awkardness. Included among these godly figures is not only ideas and new concepts like the internet or dare I say the TV (in fact there's an interesting scene involving Lucille Ball...), but also heroes, people told in stories. The idea is a god is anything worshipped or believed in. They all basically want the same thing, to be honoured, worshipped remembered. It's interesting seeing gods portrayed as being so human. Still the thing that confuses me is the existence of the gods...they exist like humans have sex with humans marry them...are fathers to them too...and yet they're not a singular thing or person really. There are times in the book where the god characters are more god and others where they are more human. Perhaps I just found this difficult to reconcile.

So for me the weaker bits were the less human bits, the bits where I honestly had no idea what was happening and the bits that no doubt inspired critics to use the term "hallucinogenic" to term it. On the other hand, what I really love about the book is well for one Shadow's journey. I think he gets overshadowed, but there are some pretty powerful moments and I think its quite compelling watching the moments particularly in the second part of the book where he's trying to reconnect.

In fact there's a really long section where Shadow is essentially living in a slow burn town called Lakeside hiding out from the authorities. And even though one might question why it needs to be in this book, I quite enjoyed it. I found the human characters in a lot of ways, a lot more compelling. Of course the gods are too and there are alot of sections with the gods and shadow where there are long strings of dialogue.

There are so many stories within a story here. Each god brings to the table these odd stories, some of them sounding like what you'd expect a god thousands of years ago and others like a particularly memorable scene where Wednesday discusses with Shadow these thrifts (cons) he pulls.

The ending I'll admit did a lot to satisfy me. It is a little of a twist, but I think it wraps up everything very neatly and I found myself really happy with how it all turned out. But I think this book isn't for everyone, for me there were parts of the book that went over my head. It's not an easy read and it's a book you'll find yourself thinking about long afterwards, it's probably something worth re-reading, but above all this is the sort of story where it's best to just leave all preconceptions at the door.

Next time I'll be bringing you something entirely different, Dan Simmons "THE TERROR"! I'm really excited to tuck in, so I'll go back to my book for now and until next time happy reading everyone!

Blurb of the Week: Surface Detail

Welcome to the second to the second installment of these blurbtastic posts. This is an interesting one for me to . About a year ago I wanted to know more fanatasy so naturally I did what I had always done. I headed down to dymocks and had a browse. Now Iain m Banks has some pretty nice covet designs and coupled with my ignorance and tendency to rely on blobs I decided as I saw his long row of scifi books I was determined to buy one and try it. I'd base my choice on the blurb. I bought one and read it and was a bit disappointed so I returned nonetheless and got Surface Detail and below is the blurb that hooked me.

"it begins in the realm of the real where matter still matters

It begins with murder

And it will not end until the Culture has gone to war with death itself

Lededje Y'breq is one of the intagilated, her marked body bearing witness to shame, her life belonging to a man whose lust for power is without limit. Prepared to risk everything for her freedom, her release - when it comes - is at a price, and to put things right she will need the help of the Culture.

Benevolent, enlightened and almost infinitely resourceful though it may be, the Culture can only do so much for any individual. With the assistance of one of it's most powerful - and arguably deranged - warships, Lededje finds herself heading into a combat zone not even sure which side the Culture is really on. A war - brutal, far reaching - is already raging within the digital realms that store souls of the dead, and it's about to erupt into reality.

It started in the realm of the real and that is where it will end. It will touch countless lives and affect entire civilizations, but at the centre of it all is a young woman whose need for revenge masks another motive altogether. "

Story

I have to say reading this again reminds me why I bought this book. It does a great job eh? It shares with us that this is a complex story set in an interesting world where dead souls are kept alive in cyberspace and they're warring.

Then this is balanced against Lededje's story. It's a clever way to draw us into a story starting with an enticing hook then getting us to care about the protagonist and giving us some idea of this complex world.

The idea of the culture though vague is intriguing, who are these god like beings and what about that warship.

Target audience

I can't help thinking the people who designed the blurb were thinking of roping in as wide an audience as possible.

You can't deny the blurb makes you believe this will be an epic tale and One following the journey of Lededje who seems to be an example of that rags to riches story. Basically this appealed to me as a non-fantasy reader who loves stories like lord of the rings, but with the added bonus that it has some really cool stuff thrown in. It's in apace and the idea of cyberspace being a realm of dead souls appeals to anyone who loves high concept movies and films.

Style

Again this is painted epic. I think the most honest notes as to what the book is actually like are in the way the culture warship is described as arguably deranged.

The book itself is a lot more quirky than it gives away in the blurb. The style here is epic, but the book especially when it is in the world of the culture is very chaotic and kinda fun.

I have to admit the blurb and book dot marry for two main reasons for me. First Lededje while purportedly portrayed as the main character has very little stake say or even I don't think any understanding of the war being fought. The tragic story of those inthe cyber world fighting a war against the hells (cyber worlds established to be just that hell for any of the souls inside is completely removed). I think the way the blurb indicates the various thread of this book tie together is misleading. The plot is haphazard and the two main threads of the story are pretty disconnected and for me that was what let the book down.

Still it's powerful blurb hooked me in, so just goes to show how important marketing is for any book.

Anyway catch you next week for another weekly book blurb.

First they Killed my Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

This is a bit of a change of pace (and genre) from what I've posted so far. Recently, I found myself wanting to know a bit more about the hell in Cambodia. This was not only the first book I've read about this, but it's also my first audio book. It's a good medium and I have to hand it to the narrator Tavia Gilbert, she really breathes life to Loung Ung's incredibly provocative story. I think I'll have to write about my impressions of an audio book in another post, because there's a lot I want to say about this.

This is a story first and foremost about a family. Loung Ung is the second youngest daughter in her family when the book opens just before the invasion of the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia's capital Phnom Pen, in 1975. Loung, is only 5 years old, but she's already a precocious and vivacious young girl. It's a touching quality to have in a narrator, knowing the hell she has endured.

Her youngest sister Geck is only 3 at the time. Loung remarks how cute and adorable she is. Then there's Chu, even though Loung is closest to Chu in age and also has the closest relationship with her, the two of them are polar opposites. Chu is calm and avoids conflict, while Loung is always bugging her mother and assaulting her father with questions. There's also Keim her older brother about ten years old at the time. Their mother calls him Monkey, because he's so agile and full of energy.

Then there are Loung's  three older siblings, Cave a very attractive Cambodian teenage girl. Then her two older brothers Meng a quiet reserved boy and Coy who rides in on a bike winning the attentions of many of the local girls in Phnom Pen.

Loung has such a deep love for her father. Each night they stand out on the balcony and she asks him questions about the world. He works for the government and is the first in the family to know what's happening. Then there is Loung's mother, who she has a bit more of a hostile relationship towards, but it is the sort of frustrated love typical between a mother and child.

Why do I bother going over these details? Because to me, this is what we miss in history. Loung Ung tells us all so clearly about her family. They are all so happy. It seems idyllic, to me her family life is the same as mine except she was in Cambodia. As she weaves the story of how the regime of Pol Pot, the Ankar and the Khmer Rouge invade Cambodia and destroy her life and the life of Cambodia's people, we get to know all of these people and perhaps the most tragic thing about all of it is the way everyone in her family changes.

People forget when they are far removed from this sort of chaos, but for Loung Ung, her family will never be the same. I think though what makes this story so compelling is not what happens, I honestly think Loung Ung not only writes from the heart, but is not afraid to relate the darkest aspects of what she witnessed. She relives the memories and all of the pain.

As always I don't really want to throw any spoilers in so I won't reveal too much more. However, I'd like to say one last thing and it may sound preachy, but when I finished listening to this powerful story, I realised how artificial history is. I've read accounts of what happened in Cambodia, but none so detailed and vivid. Our information culture demands that everything be reduced into easily digestable snippets of data. I suppose this is what a history book does as well, condenses the lives of millions into an easily digestable chapter or so,or perhaps a book.

If nothing else, First they Killed My Father is a well-told and well written story about the atrocities of Cambodia. But at it's best it is the story of a family whose love endures despite all the odds. It's telling the information that history prioritises, but I ask you was it the first or second line that made you want to read this book. I won't soon forget about Loung Ung and her family and the sacrifices they endured.

There's a sequel about Loung Ung's subsequent life in America (in fact it has an interesting bit towards the end about her experiences as a "boat person" travelling from Vietnam to Thailand) and her reunion with her sister Chu. Hope I didn't give away too much.

Anyway slight detour, but one I think it was important to make. Next time as promised I'll be back into fantasy and I'll be having a look at Mr Gaiman's American Gods, which is a very different sort of read from the emotional intensity of Loung Ung's first person narrative, but don't get me wrong there is plenty of intensity to be had.

Stay tuned folks! And as always good reading.

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks

Hi all. I'm Stacey and this is my first post for The Cyber Book Club. As a dedicated fantasy reader, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone when I say that the search for a great fantasy novel is a frustratingly rewarding experience. Sometimes I end up stuck in the aisles of a bookstore searching through a tonne of similar looking books with an endless bunch of blurbs to work my way through. Other times, I stumble upon a book that promises the world and actually (Thank God!) manages to deliver it.

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks is one of these awesome books. And before I rave about it, I want to warn you that there may be some spoilers so don’t hold it against me, pretty please.

Anyway, The Way of Shadows is Week’s first book and the first of The Night Angel trilogy. It follows a familiar path in the world of fantasy fiction, telling the story of a legendary assassin with magical abilities (or “wet boy”), Durzo Blint, and his apprentice, a common street kid (or “guild rat”), Azoth. Assassins, even magical ones like Blint, are pretty common place in fantasy books, but Week’s gives a depth to the characters that drew me in from the first page. Even in a completely foreign fantasy world, his characters humanity is captured so honestly in their motivations and mistakes, with their redemption as complicated as their survival.

The story chronicles the life of Azoth, a common guild rat, who in desperation, seeks to apprentice with the legendary wet boy, Durzo Blint. The streets are a dangerous place to live, and when Azoth commits to his escape, he finds out that the price of his freedom will be paid for with blood. And not just his own. It’s a lesson that defines him and sets in place a course of events that will ultimately form the man, and the killer, he becomes. Predictably, Azoth wins his place as Blint’s apprentice and escapes the streets, only to find himself dedicated to a new, higher skilled version of danger that plays havoc with both his mind and morals.

Trained by Blint, the identity of Azoth, the desperate guild rat, is forgotten and in his place, a stronger identity emerges, by the name of Kylar Stern. As his skills sharpen and his Talent (magical abilities) grows, Kylar battles with the desire to stay true to himself and his humble beginnings, and to model himself on the enviable strength that his master, Blint, exudes. It’s a fight that wages in the shades of grey that most authors try to resolve, but Week’s lets his characters work through the layers of moral ambiguity without the promise of such a Disney-style happy ending. Which for some people may be frustrating, but I quite liked the honesty of his approach.

Nothing frustrates me more than an obviously fake happy ending, so I was genuinely happy that Weeks didn’t go down that path. In my opinion, there is nothing more important than characters being relatable and real, which Weeks does really well. So well in fact that I actually found myself thinking about Blint and Kylar during a university lecture instead of focusing on the critical aspects of childhood development. Probably a no-no, but that’s one of the reasons I enjoyed this book – the characters just stick with you.

Most of the book focuses on Kylar as he struggles his way through this moral minefield, with Blint providing the cynical, bitter backdrop of a hero turned disillusioned wet boy. It’s a somewhat sweet relationship between the two, with Blint serving as a father figure on some level. Maybe not the most positive father figure though, which is obvious in one of the most striking lines in the novel, for me at least. It’s the mantra that Blint lives by and attempts to ingrain within Kylar:

“Life is empty. Life is meaningless. When we take a life, we aren't taking anything of value. Wetboys are killers. That's all we do. That's all we are. There are no poets in the bitter business”

It’s harsh and it’s depressing, but it’s one combination of words that helps to understand the characters and the inner workings of their minds. While character development is a big part of the novel, the world around Blint and Kylar drives the plot forward as the more fantastical elements come into play. Unknown to Kylar, Blint is not only a legendary assassin but also a Ka’Karifer, the bearer of a magical artifact called a ka’kari, one of only six in existence, which endows the holder with immortality and enhances their Talent. As Kylar taps into his own Talent, he poses the most genuine threat to Blint as he too is a Ka’Karifer. These magical artifacts aren’t alone, with a magically imbued sword playing its part, along with many a mage and meister throwing their powers around as well. All of this is backed up by the world-building that focuses on both their home city of Cenaria, and its wider world, Midcyru.

My only issue with Weeks novel is that for the first twenty five pages, I felt like a little kid that got lost at Disney World – everything was interesting and amazing but I didn’t understand any of it. It’s something he fixes fast and soon enough the references make sense, but I know that that’s a deal-breaker for some people. What kept me going for those twenty five pages was his writing which kept up the promise of something interesting and worthwhile, and lucky for me, it actually delivered.

Ultimately, Weeks uses irony, in its greatest sense, as prophecy, blackmail and circumstance pit master against apprentice when Cenaria is attacked and brought to its knees by a rival kingdom, the Khalidorian empire. It’s a brutal and sudden attack that involves plenty of well-written action scenes and alot of swashbuckling adventure (which is incredibly fun to read) until the last few pages. That’s when Weeks grants us romantics some pleasant, old fashioned declarations of love and worthiness which made me pretty happy I must say. There’s something great about that little dose of happiness that the characters get after all of the darkness of the story leading up to it. It almost made me a little misty eyed.

In the end, some characters live, some characters die, and some characters that die, don’t stay dead for long. And all of it makes me super keen to brave the book store again and find the second of the trilogy, Shadows Edge. Which considering I’m now all out of fantasy to read, may in fact, be an intelligent idea. One thing that I ought to mention, is that The Way of Shadows actually resolves itself pretty well - so well, that even though you know it’s the start of a series, the book still finishes well enough that you could be forgiven for thinking that it was a stand-alone fantasy book which doesn’t happen too often.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading it and have developed an affection for both Blint and Kylar that’s got me pretty keen to get into the second book. I’d definitely recommend it to anybody looking for an entertaining and unique take on the whole fantasy-assassin story. It’s got the whole depth-characters-action-romance-reality-and-humour interaction going for it so I think you’d be hard pressed to find something not to like about it.

Anyway, I’m off so I hope you enjoy your forays into the weird and fantastical, and hopefully I’ll be back soon to report on my own :)

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Good morning all. Well here it is. Of all the reasons to read this book for me it would have remained in obscurity, but for this charming list of stand alone fantasy books (top 25) I recommend anyone who hasn't already checked it out to do so, there is a lot of fun and many surprises to be had. These books are as diverse as they are well written, true story. Here is the link.

I had high expectations for this book. It was number 1 on that list. So did I like it. Yes I did, although before I go into it there's something troubling me about this particular style of fantasy it's the same thing that bugged me about Game of Thrones by George R R Martin.

It could just be the setting, a medieval one, that brings to the fore a certain quality of all the female characters. But goddamit! It makes me mad, how many attributes doe Kay give Brandin, Devin or Alessan when they are brave, stupid or whatever cruel perhaps or angry. They get their power from their qualities. Now let's have a look at the way the main female characters are described and there is only one word we need. Beautiful. Yes whenever one of the women in this world are succeeding or have influence it is because they are quote unquote, "Beautiful" or they are the most beautiful thing anyone's ever seen. Ahh, this bugged me with Daenyrs's character in Game of Thrones. Particularly how it influenced her relationship with the barbarian king guy. The same might be said of a certain character in this novel, Dianora. These are strong independant cahracters, but in both novels neither can escape that all defining attribute beauty and then of course a need for men. Not just a desire, no it's made very clear "need". I just have a problem with the language of love and desire in these books.

Still if this was all I had to say about Tigana I would have been dissapointed. There might a be a few small spoilers so don't read on if your afraid of finding out too much. In a lot of ways Tigana is very similiar to George R R Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice. Both authors clearly want to paint characters with shades of gray. Both are set in a similiar world and both are both very adult and don't shy away from sex and violence. They're both this new breed of fantasy so to speak. But I think where Tigana rocks and Song of Fire and Ice blows is the focus. There's this focus in Fire and Ice on the politics of the court, particularly a lot of characters get their kicks from manipulating and trapping others through political motivations. What I enjoyed about Tigana is that the motivations are much deeper and more tragic. There is true tragedy in the world of Tigana. The main characters have lost their home.

In fact the soceror Brandin makes it so know one can remember Tigana except the people that already lived there. He levels the whole country to the ground, destroys its history, its art, everything. Its no coincidence this sounds similiar to what happened in China during the Cultural revolution as you'll read in the afterword, which I high recommend. It just feels like the stakes are very high in this book and when the characters do sometimes stoop low we can still empathise with them. In Song of Fire and Ice, I had a hard time sympathising with any of the characters.

I'll also clear something up, because I feel as though the start of Tigana is somewhat offputting, but I think in a way how it begins is a metaphor for the story as a whole. Indeed Kay, likes to surprise us and this book has some amazing moments. Before we get to the first, we're introduced to our eyes Devin. Devin is a musical player, playing at the funeral of a former ruler of the country Astibar. He lives on the Palm, which as we will learn is currently controlled by not one socerrer but two. Brandin of Ygrath the evil bastard I told you about and Alberico from Barbadior.  So all nine countries are basically under a kind of dictatorship at the start of the novel, but trust me even I was overwhelmed by the amount of foreign names dropped during the first twenty or so pages. Kay isn't guilty of what many know as the sin of info dumping. In fact I'd say I was at a loss as to why I should read on and then something magical happens around page 30 and I never put the book down for 2 straight days.

Devin becomes coincidentally embroiled in a quest with a rag-tag group, including two people from the band a girl called Catriana and Alessan the pipe player, who turns out to be the long lost prince of Tigana. I won't spoil how it happens, because this is one of those moments in the books that is amazing. Kay also takes us ona  journey into the life of Dianora. In effect, there is Dianora's story and the rag-tag group's story running side by side through the novel. Dianora's story is perhaps the saddest and most heart wrenching thing about this book. She is part of Brandin's harem, but orignally she was also from Tigana. She came with one purpose in mind to kill him. I won't say more, only that I admire her character, Asisde from Kay putting her into the beautiful mold. I think the reasons to like her a far greater than we're led to believe, still personally, I do not find myself finding much sympathy for her and although I enjoyed reading the book. Some of Dianora's sectiosn frustrated me to death!

That's the thing though, Kay creates these very fleshed out characters. All the members of the band Devin, Allessan, Catriana, Baerd and co. All have flash backs and backstory and a large chunk of the novel is dedicated to explaining where they came from and who they are. There are also surprising connections between characters and we learn how they all met eachother and what they are all personally fighting for, or who. There is a particularly cool section of the book, where the story seems to take a massive detour for a chapter or so. It feels like an episode of a TV series where we follow one of the lesser known characters on a side quest, where he briefly becomes the main character. I really enjoyed this moment in the book with Baerd and the Night Watchers. I think interestingly enough that as the book focusses on two main arcs of story, although they never truly intersect,I never found myself hating that I was taken away from one of them. The beauty of it is, one of the Arcs helps tell us the story of the rebels while the other although essentially Dianora's tells us about the man who destroyed Tigana.

Indeed, Brandin is perhaps not at first what he seems. This really is a good book. I admit there are moments that frustrate the hell out of me. One such moment happened near the end where I was sure one of my favourite characters would die. I'd say that characters in this feel as expendable as those in Song of Fire and Ice. I think as well there's a focus that the book never waivers from and that is because it is self contained. I enjoy focussed stories, all too often in my experience fantasy series have the bad habit of meandering. Tigana does not and if nothing else I can guarantee that all the questions posed in the novel are very satifyingly resolved in the end.

Next time I'll be reviewing what I've learned is somewhat of a famous fantasy novel (apparently). Neil Gaiman's American Gods, so I've heard is either loved or hated, but those who read it. Until next time happy reading.

Blurb of the Week : Tigana

I have heard some nice rumours on the web about Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana, from what I've heard if you want a "literary" and stand alone fantasy come no further. As such I quickly took it upon myself to acquire said book, however, I digress. The topic of today's post is to ask that fateful question, would you buy that book?

In bookstores, before the advent of the internet, I imagine people used to rely alot more on the blurbs on book's back covers. I have to admit, a good one can reel you in particularly when you are desperately wanting to read something. What makes a blurb work? Do some blurbs fail miserably and do others coast lazily along on the fact that their work is already so famous who needs a blurb anyway. Well this week we'll have a look at what Tigana has to say for itself.

I took the liberty of taking a covert photo of Tigana's backcover this day in the bookstore. Now let's have a look at what it says.

Tigana is the internationally celebrated epic of a beleaguered country struggling to be free.

It is the tale of a people so cursed by the dark soceries of the tyrant king Brandin that even the

very name of their once beautiful home cannot be spoken or remembered. But, years after their homeland's devastation, a handful of mean and women set in motion a dangerous crusade - to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the world the lost brightness of an obliterated name: Tigana.

Against the magnificiently realised backdrop of a world both sensuous and brutal, this masterful novel of a passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision and changes forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction.

Story

Now I have to say, that is a pretty nifty little blurb isn't it. In the past I've always found particularly with fantasy that a blurb that describes too many exotic sounding names is alienating. The thing which draws us to fantasy I think are the similarities between their world and ours, or the fantasy can in some way be relatable or even a metaphor for ours. But what do we know about the book, well we know it's dark and it has a traditionally reliable sort of plot from what it sounds and we know we have one ultimate badass of a bad guy, which let's face it we wouldn't read a fantasy normally without one. 

Target Audience

So how does it go on the whole selling angle? Well in terms of an audience, that last paragraph is the bernaise to a perfectly cooked fillet steak (salivating isn't it that image). The fact is it appeals to people who might not normally read fantasy if this book truly blurs the boundaries. There's also this sense that it's very realistic and therefore adult and it also appeals to that class of fantasy people (who I am not one of them) that loves to read books with very well thought out worlds down to the last detail, so in that respect I guess George R R Martin fans look no further that part is saying.

 Style/Subtext
What about the style? A good blurb I'm told should be able to convey some of the style or mood of the writing, as I mentioned it sounds dark, but the hook for me, are the odds. The great thing for me that gets me to want to read this book, is the odds against this small band of people going up against a pretty evil guy. How the hell will they do it! it can't be possible, someone with that sort of power. So already we are hooked in, through the subtext.

Well now it comes down to actually read the thing, which hopefully I'll have done by the end of the month. Anyway what do you think? Does this blurb do a good job of selling this book? Does it appeal to you? And a question I can't answer just yet, is it simply flat out lying? (Well that is probably the smartest question to ask I guess).

Of course, for all those smart asses out their, I will admit, there may just be one item on the back cover, which decides the matter for you, that neat little price tag right at the bottom. Well we can never rule out price can we. Anyway till next  time, see you then fellow readers.