Rachel Vincent: Alpha

• ISBN-13: 9780778328186
• Publisher: Mira
• Publication date: 10/1/2010
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 472

The unscrupulous new Council chair has charged Jace, Marc and me with trespassing, kidnapping, murder, and treason. Yeah, we've been busy. But now it's time to take justice into our own hands. We must avenge my brother's death and carve out the rot at the heart of the Council.
 It's not going to be easy, and loss seems unavoidable, but I have promised to protect my Pride, no matter what. With a target on my back and Marc at my side, I'm heading for a final showdown that can - that will - change everything forever. A showdown I'm not sure I'm ready for.
 But life never waits until you're ready. 

Here we are again at the end of another series. A sad day for all. However, since it's a happy ending, we're not too sad to see it go.
 Faythe is having problems, again. These problems being a nearly seamless continuation of the problems in the previous novel, which had not arrived at a resolution. Calvin Malone is still practicing extreme douchebagger-y, but now Parker's father is pissed off because Faythe gave up his son Jerald to the Thunderbirds - perfectly justifiable, unless you're an ass. Which apparently half the cats in North America are. From what I can tell, in the Pride world, the men are either good guys or a combination of stupid, sadistic, or weak-willed. Thus, we have a fairly even divide between Malone's allies (the assholes) and Faythe's allies (the good guys).
 Now, I have spent a lot of time from basically the fourth book onward being incredibly frustrated with the political structure of the world that the characters inhabit. That's what I'm supposed to be feeling, so I'm not complaining, but one has to wonder why the toms all have medieval mentalities in the modern world. I understand that tabbies are not particularly prolific in the child-birthing department, but that doesn't mean that they automatically hand their lives over to the nearest Alpha male. This is really the core of the problem, other than Calvin's megalomania - the toms can't seem to understand Faythe's desire to be her own woman. Thus we have lots of "rape her because she's a woman and she's standing up to me and I don't know how to deal with that" going on. And I come to one of my issues with this book - many of the characters hit that one dimensional note I was talking about - stupid, sadistic, or weak. That's a little disappointing from someone that I know can do much more.
 My other problem with this book was the wrap up, of which he barely had one. The final big battle only lasted two chapters, and we had one chapter to basically resolve Faythe's relationship status and list the dead and wounded. Not really a wrap up. We know that the way Prides work is going to change, but we have no resolution of some of the basic problems. For example, how is Faythe going to deal with the remnants of Malone's allies? How is Paul Blackwell going to react to the all-out war that just occurred? Will he support Faythe's reign or continue to follow his chauvinistic beliefs? Is Jayce going to take over Malone's Pride? Lots of interesting paths to pursue, and while I appreciate that Vincent was leaving the future open for the reader to imagine, I would have appreciated a little more closure in the political arena.
 Other than that - I greatly enjoyed this book. Faythe has really grown up since Stray, and I was rather impressed with the way she handled the tension between Jace and Marc. Old Faythe might have yelled or run away from the problem - new Faythe merely asks for time and tries her best to maintain an even playing field. Any anger she displays is justified and she uses it to her advantage rather than letting it overwhelm her.
 Overall: A-
 The ending was too abrupt for my taste, but the rest of the book felt like it flew by. Vincent makes you weep, makes you laugh (not so much in this one), and makes you think about what you would do were you in that situation.

Charlaine Harris: Dead to the World

• ISBN-13: 9780441012183
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
• Publication date: 5/5/2005
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 320

  It's not every day that you come across a naked man on the side of the road. That's why cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse doesn't just drive by. Turns out the poor thing hasn't a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric the vampire - but now he's a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life. Sookie's investigation into who and why leads straight into a dangerous battle among witches, vampires, and werewolves. But a greater danger could be to Sookie's heart - because this version of Eric is very difficult to resist...

 Sookeh and Beel are still on the rocks, and it's looking pretty perminent considering the distinct lack of Beel in this novel. He basically makes an appearance at the beginning to announce he's not going to be in this novel overmuch, and then at the end to help keep everybody from dying. Thanks, bro. Other than that, this installment is all about Sookie and the suddenly-memoryless Eric. 
 There's a new brood of witches in town, and I was shocked at how little they were actually in town. They are threatening basically the entire supernatural community of the area surrounding Bon Temps, yet they are easily dispersed at the end of the novel, and, frankly, don't seem terribly threatening to the actual supernatural community. They just feel more bitchy to me. But personal opinions are personal. I was actually kind of proud of Sookie in this novel. She put on her big-girl britches and managed to take care of all the people she had promised (to herself) she would. She stepped into her adult shoes with a little more eagerness than I was anticipating in certain areas, though. Can we all agree to acknowledge that she does sleep with Eric in this novel, since season four or whatever of True Blood basically follows this novel, and I think anyone who's ever heard anything about True Blood knows this. Okay, that's out of the way. She jumps into bed with him awful quick, though. Surprising. But you go, girl.
 We also have the introduction of some new characters that I feel will be around for quite a bit, namely the Hotshot community of shapeshifters. I kind of really like Calvin, although I couldn't tell you why, distinctly. He just seems really...cool. He also hits on Sookie with determination, and not because he likes her sparkling personality. I like that, and it makes me laugh a little. He's a strong leader and takes care of the shit his people deal out with no problem. I generally have a problem with characters in leadership positions who refuse to discipline their people or acknowledge their wrongdoing. No problem with that here. Bravo.
 Finally, we have Jason being less of an ass than usual, but that's through a lack of presence, really. His one significant contribution to the novel, taken under his own will, was a total ass-hat move that he portrayed as being in Sookie's interest, but was really just him being a greedy bitch. 
 Another character I really enjoyed this time - Pam. Pam is righteous, and the only fault I can find is in her choice of clothing. No pink, Pam. You're better than that. I like the relationship she and Sookie are developing, although it's still in its infancy. I'm expecting some entertaining hi-jinks out of these two, Ms. Harris. And as much as I hate to return to an earlier subject, since it suggests that my review doesn't have good form, I'm also excited for the developing romance of Sookie and Eric. We got a glimpse of what he might once have been, and might still be somewhere inside that heap of ego. He has potential. 
 Overall: A
 It was a great read without annoying me even once. And it brought a lot of ideas and potentialities between the characters to the forefront, making me anticipate the forthcoming novels more than ever before. The action was a little lacking, though, and seemed somewhat anti-climactic at the end. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Haruki Murakami: Dance Dance Dance

• ISBN-13: 9780679753797
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1/28/1995
• Pages: 416

In this propulsive novel, one of the most idiosyncratically brilliant writers at work in any language fuses science fiction, the hard-boiled thriller, and white-hot satire into a new element of the literary periodic table.
 As he searches for a mysteriously vanished girlfriend, Haruki Murakami's protagonist plunges into a wind tunnel of sexual violence and metaphysical dread in which he collides with call girls; plays chaperone to a lovely teenaged psychic; and receives cryptic instructions from a shabby but oracular Sheep Man. Dance Dance Dance is a tense, poignant, and often hilarious ride through the cultural Cuisinart that is contemporary Japan, a place where everything that is not up for sale is up for grabs.

 I have a little story about my relationship with Haruki Murakami. When I was in high school, my English teacher, one of the few people I connected with on a level outside of the academic because we were weirdly the same person, except that he used to be a male model and didn't give a flying rat's ass about how cocky he was, suggested I read Murakami. He said he thought I'd really enjoy his work. I was skeptical, mostly because I have such a wide range of interests, it's extremely difficult to predict what I might like. Also, because when people tell me to read or watch something, I'm more likely to put it off, even if I'd been planning to try it anyway. It's a quirk. So, of course it took me something like four or five years to actually read Murakami. And even then it was for a Japanese literature class, and we didn't read one of his more famous works, but a collection of short stories. Although they were bizarre, they were interesting and I agreed that I should read the rest of his magnum opus.
 Starting with Dance Dance Dance because that's the first one I found at Borders' going out of business sale. The nameless protagonist of this tale reminds me of a stoic sea creature - constantly being moved around and carried by the current of the ocean around him, but not incapable of fight or flight when necessary. He's an observer, for the most part, and his life becomes increasingly strange and bizarrely interconnected as he focuses on just living in the moment. There's a Sheep Man that tells him that all you can do is keep dancing. And that's really what life is about, isn't it? We all get hard knocks every once in a while, but we have no choice but to keep moving forward, and keep living. Only by doing this can we be open to those little moments that make life so exciting and worth living. That is the grand philosophical idea that I took from this novel.
 The story is, I said, bizarre. But there's a strange humor throughout. Even as the people around him act irrationally and the threads of them all are brought together, there are moments that the oddity of the circumstances bring levity to the circumstances. He also has a habit of saying utterly out of place things and often only gets a "You're strange" for his pains. Don't worry, dude. I'm with you.
 Overall: A-
 At times, I was a little bored and his stream-of-consciousness writing was oppressive at times. However, it was overall quite entertaining and like I said, I took a rewarding lesson from it.

Laurell K Hamilton: Cerulean Sins

• ISBN-13: 9780515136814
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Publication date: 9/28/2004
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 560

How the mighty have fallen! Once a sworn enemy of all monsters, Anita is now the human consort of both Jean-Claude, the Master Vampire, and Michah, the leopard shape-shifter. Not quite as human she once was, she is consumed by both their hungers - desires that must be sated time and time again. And when a centuries-old vampire targets Jean-Claude and his clan, Anita finds herself tested as never before - needing all the dark forces her passion can muster to save the ones she loves the most...

 Lord, are we ramping up the sex now. And it's only going to get worse, or so I hear. However, it hasn't gotten to the point that I don't see the point, as I've heard complained on various boards and Wikipedia and what have you. In this installment, Anita has to deal with Belle Mort's envoys, who have arrived in St. Louis before schedule. This, of course, throws Jean-Claude's court into a tizzy, and a slew of complicated vampire politics and relationships cause quite a bit of confusion for our ravishing heroine. (Can we just talk about how much I want Anita's hair? Just for a moment.  -  Okay, moment over.)
 Her issues are further complicated by our erstwhile friend Dolph going off the deep end because his son is marrying a vampire. His anger toward all things associated with "monsters" - Anita included - seriously hinder her ability to do her job when she's called onto a case. Much frustration ensues. And what a gruesome case. We've had gruesome before, which - to become truly disturbing - can only be found in paranormal fiction, since there are no boundaries of physics. For example, tearing apart a human to the point that all is left are bones and goo. A normal human can't do that without the aid of some type of machinery. Thus, the imagination is given limitless opportunity. It's a little twisted that this is what the mind comes up with when there are no restrictions, but that's a subject for a different discussion.
 Anita also adds another suitor to her growing list of guys she's slept with. Possibly two, but I'm not counting non-penetration. Are you? I won't tell you who it is, but it becomes abundantly obvious. Obviously. We also have a return of who I like to call piss-ant-Richard. He is the one incredibly obnoxious part of this series. I started off liking him a lot, but as time has gone and he has failed to adapt to circumstances or even make a lame attempt at an understanding attitude, he has become more and more distasteful. He doesn't change much in this installment. I will give him kudos for coming to Anita's aid on one occasion, but as he follows that with a colossal act of blatant, stubborn stupidity, it kind of cancels that out. I think Anita just needs to punch him in the face or do something else violent to put him in his place. I feel like it's only going to get worse, and from what I've read of future books, I'm not far off.
 Overall: B+
 The Anita Blake series is not going downhill, at least not to the extent I've heard. I think it's still incredibly entertaining and interesting, although Hamilton is increasingly falling to her own personal curse of too much action in too short a time. We have a lot of things going on, and it seems like more time should be passing, only to realize that the day isn't even over. In fact, I think the events in this book take place over a mere two or three days. But the fact that you barely notice says much more about the attention-grabbing power of these novels. I sincerely hope I always enjoy these books as I have been. 

David McCullough: John Adams

• ISBN-13: 9780743223133
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 9/3/2002
• Pages: 752

In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life-journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution; who rose to become the second President of the United States and save the country from blundering into an unnecessary war; who was learned beyond all but a few and regarded by some as "out of his sense"; and whose marriage to the wise and valiant Abigail Adams is one of the moving love stories in American history. 
 This is history on a grand scale - a book about politics and war and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas.  Above all, John Adams is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.

 If you knew me at all, you would know that I am a huge fan of the Revolutionary period of American history (and just kind of history in general, but ya know...). So this book was right up my alley, obviously. Little did I know how very much I was going to learn.
 First, I would like to emphasize that David McCullough is one of my favorite history authors. He's interesting - he tells the story in a way that doesn't make it seem like a rote repetition of facts. He also makes you really feel like you know these people, or at least feel comfortable with the personalities of these long dead personages. Side note: Does anyone realize that it has been almost two hundred years since the death of the last signers of the Declaration of Independence? That is so fascinating to me. Side note over. So, I would recommend any and all of David McCullough's books.
 Now, on to John Adams. Before reading this book, I would have said that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were my two favorite Presidents. They had no precedence, and they managed to turn a fledgling nation into a country with a navy strong enough to defeat the best navy in the world, where democracy thrived and the turn over of power was peaceful - something rarely seen in the world previously. So yeah, they were some pretty amazing guys. However, now I understand that the period of John Adams' presidency was not just a lull in events without interest or achievement. And John Adams was not the staunch man history has created - he did not refuse to compromise, nor was he a warmonger, as he has been portrayed.
 I find the man fascinating, and he was one of the greatest minds of his time. He could read multiple ancient languages, so he was reading Cicero in its original Latin, and he also taught himself French for his time as ambassador to France. Well done, sir. He was also a fairly prolific writer, although at times his rhetoric could  get heated. I don't blame him. People are massively stupid as a species.
 Now that I've ranted about what a fabulous person John Adams was, I think you've gotten an idea of how great this book was. They based a mini-series on it, if you didn't know. I haven't watched that, but I always recommend reading the book before you watch the TV show/movie/what-have-you.
 Overall: A+
 I loved this book, although it did kind of destroy my mental image of Thomas Jefferson and George Washington in the process. But then, of course, as we get older we are forced to accept that people are people and everybody has flaws. That doesn't make them any less great than they were. After reading John Adams, however, you begin to believe that maybe some people were greater than you've heard.

D.J. MacHale: The Quillan Games

• ISBN-13: 9780689869136
• Publisher: Aladdin
• Publication date: 12/26/2007
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 512

 Let the games begin...
 The people of Quillan have lost control of their own future. Hosted by a strange pair of game masters, Veego and LaBerge, the Quillan Games are a mix of spot and combat. To triumph in the games is to live the life of a king. To lose is to die.
 Bobby Pendragon realized he must beat Veego and LaBerge at their own games. But the prize for winning the Quillan Games may be discovering the truth of what it really means to be a Traveler. 

 Oh, Bobby. Bobby, Bobby, Bobby. Booby. Oops.
 Pendragon is on a new territory while things are recovering from going horribly wrong on Second Earth. Courtney's not dead (not sure how I feel about that) and Saint Dane is a bastard, which we knew. Weirdly, whereas before we had a problem with Bobby constantly worrying that he wasn't adequate enough to save all the worlds (and who wouldn't?), we now apparently have the opposite problem - Bobby's getting cocky. Honestly, I don't see much of that happening, but maybe my perception of cocky is off. I don't know.
 The games on Quillan are sort of like short little Hunger Games. You win, you live to fight another day. You lose, you die. Bobby manages to squeeze by most of the time, due largely to his training with Loor in the last novel. Also, Saint Dane is noticeably absent for a large portion of the novel, but don't be surprised when he actually does pop up. Quite frankly, I find it ridiculous that Bobby is still incapable of realizing that even if he can't tell if Saint Dane is around, that doesn't mean he's not. Also, you can almost tell at this point which character is secretly Saint Dane. And if you can't...you're probably not the brightest bulb in the box. And Bobby, for all his praiseworthy attributes, apparently isn't either.
 We also have a true disaster for the first time - the worlds are colliding. I'm not going to tell you how, I'll just say that certain things from one territory are showing up on another, and so on and so forth. Bobby was warned about this by Press. The question now is, what is he going to do about it? It's not like he can reverse the damage Saint Dane has done. That's what really got me in this novel - what is the point of it all? Where is it all heading? Pendragon is also pondering this question. 
 Character wise, the most interesting development was the introduction of the Dados, specifically Bobby's personal Dado. While a robot, he at least has some feelings for Bobby and Bobby's plight. I thought that was pretty cool. Also, Courtney has become far less obnoxious than in the last book. She took her knocks like a woman and came out fighting, and has realized that her inability to cope with not being the best at everything put her in some pretty dire straits. And she's adapting. It's a beautiful thing to see. One of the other disappointments of this installment was a distinct lack of Mark Dimmond-y goodness. He's often the only one that has any common sense, and I missed his presence. He's there, don't get me wrong. But this was definitely a Courtney-focused novel. Other than these main characters, we had some interesting minor ones that were pretty well-fleshed out with the limited space they were allotted.
 Overall: B
 Definitely not my favorite Pendragon novel. I'm kind of getting annoyed with Bobby, to be quite frank. A person can only take so much waffling and lack of lesson-learning.  
 

Jack London: The Call of the Wild and White Fang

• ISBN-13: 9781593082000
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 6/1/2004
• Pages: 336

Jack London's two greatest novels, The Call of the Wild and White Fang - originally intended as companions - are here compiled into one volume.
 The Call of the Wild centers on Buck, a dog bred for a life of ease on a Californian estate, who is kidnapped and sold to Klondike gold hunters. To survive the biting cold and his ruthless masters, Buck must listen to the Call and learn the ways of his wolf-ancestors who guide him from within. White Fang tells the story of a half-wolf, half-dog nearly destroyed by the vicious cruelty of mankind. Brought to the very brink of his existence, White Fang is lucky enough to experience the one thing that can save him - human love. Slowly, the ferocious White Fang grows into a creature capable of bravery, loyalty, and affection. 
 Adventurer and activist, philosopher and alcoholic, Jack London was a man of great contradictions and greater talent. Both The Call of the Wild and White Fang are written in London's simple, direct, and powerful style that decades of readers have admired and that subsequent writers, including Ernest Hemingway, have imitated.  

 While I read one or the other of these (can't remember which) when I was in 6th grade (I've always been a very advanced reader), I didn't really fully grasp the greatness of these works. Now, though, I can fully say that White Fang might be one of my favorite works ever. The Call of the Wild is pretty damn good, too.
 In The Call of the Wild, poor Buck is taken from a fairly easy life in sunny California and thrust into the harsh reality of a sled dog. Tossed from owner to owner, he must adapt or die. Luckily, as you might have guessed, he does adapt, although the process is arduous and painful. In my, somewhat vindictive, opinion, the best moment in the novel is when he loses a few of his owners. I'll let you figure that one out.
 White Fang hits all of my buttons. Great writing, great story with a happy ending, and an epic protagonist. That's right, an epic protagonist in the form of a part-dog mostly-wolf wanderer. I can't quite describe why you end up liking White Fang so much - after all, he's basically a cranky POW-returnee. At least, that's how I think of him. London's brilliance lies in his simple understanding of human nature, which he translates into an equivalent animal nature. And because you can relate, White Fang is sympathetic and the reader begins to feel that if this animal were real, the two of them would be best friends. Even though that's extremely unlikely. Plus, like I said, he gets his well-deserved happy ending and the reader can safely leave him without worrying because he has finally received what he deserves - love. Sorry that got mushy there at the end, but I don't care.
 Overall: A+
 I don't ever really give out A+'s, but London's writing style, despite its at times simple nature, is quite beautiful. It strikes a chord in the reader, and I found myself often wanting to go out in nature and just spend time alone. Also, the plot of the stories, while centering around a character that lacks the ability to speak, loses nothing for that fact. The stories themselves aren't so different, but since they were written as companions, that kind of makes sense. They have an amazing symmetry: Buck goes from being a tame dog to being a king of the wild, while White Fang finds himself tamed at last with a new master far from the wilds of his youth. Wonderful.

Brent Weeks: Beyond the Shadows

• Mass Market Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Orbit (December 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0316033664

 Logan Gyre is king of Cenaria, a country under siege, with a threadbare army and little hope. He has one chance - a desperate gamble, and one that could destroy his kingdom.
 In the north, the new Godking has a plan. If it comes to fruition, no one will have the power to stop him.
 Kylar Stern has no choice. To save his friends - and perhaps his enemies - he must accomplish the impossible: assassinate a goddess.

 And the finale. The wrap up. The fin.
 This book falls in the same classification of those recently published "epic" fantasy novels. They're published at the rate of about one novel a month, and they're pretty thick, but that is in large part due to the large print on the pages. So, what is meant to be an "epic" is actually a pale reproduction of Tolkien, Terry Brook-esque caliber. However. That doesn't mean that they aren't bad. Just that they aren't AMAZING.
 Brent Weeks started off his saga fairly well. Those are obviously words for another time and another review. This novel - the final in the trilogy - had its moments. My overriding issue, an issue I had with the series at large, was Weeks' attempt to tackle way too many characters and way too many plotlines. And, as I said before, his books have the thickness of those huge epics, but the print whittles down the story to realistically half the size of the book itself. Therefore, he's fitting in essentially the story of five or so countries vying for power in a book and a half. That is simply not enough time.
 In this novel, we have defeated the Khalidorans (who conquered Cenaria and then were expelled all within the space of the last book), but the country is still not at peace. I appreciated this as, realistically speaking, a country's story doesn't end with victory. That is just the beginning of a long climb to rebuilding and recovery. While Kylar thinks his job is done, he actually has to put the rest of the world back together. But wait, he has help. From everyone. The problem being that none of these characters are very good at communication, so we have them all coming at the issue and trying to solve it in their own way and stepping all over each others toes in the process. This makes for a complex story that, honestly, I at times felt I did not quite have the grasp of. There were moments when I felt like I was missing some major points of explanation. A character makes a decision or reveals information based on the movements of other characters that I don't recall. And I don't think that's entirely due to the space of time between novels. The point is motivations are lost in translation.
 Another problem with the space restriction of the novel and having way too many characters walking around at once is that we miss out on a lot of characterization, another factor that detracts from our understanding of motivations. One might argue that we've had three books to get to know these people, but it just didn't feel like enough. If it doesn't feel like enough, it probably isn't.
 Despite it's weaknesses in structure and narrative organization, there were some genuinely beautiful moments. The final few chapters were well written and moving. If I say too much, I'll spoil it. I just felt that - after enjoying the novel while still struggling with the elements above mentioned - it was a great way to wrap everything up. Everything has its place, several mysteries are solved, and the reader feels hope that that world has a bright future.
 Overall: B-
 The elementary space and time issues kind of toyed with my enjoyment of the novel, and I feel like he would have benefited from more time spent in constructing the novel and fewer restrictions. However, for all that, it was an enjoyable story with some great elements and some interesting and definitely worthwhile messages. Also, some major cool concepts.

Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

• ISBN-13: 9781593083021
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 3/1/2005
• Pages: 352

Widely regarded as the father of modern science fiction, Jules Verne wrote more than seventy books and created hundreds of memorable characters. His most popular novel, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, is not only a brilliant piece of scientific prophecy, but also a thrilling story with superb, subtle characterization.
 The year is 1866 and the Pacific Ocean is being terrorized by a deadly sea monster. The U.S. government dispatches marine-life specialist Pierre Aronnax to investigate aboard the warship Abraham Lincoln. When the ship is sunk by the mysterious creature, he and two other survivors discover that the monster is in fact a marvelous submarine - the Nautilus - commanded by the brilliant but bitter Captain Nemo. Nemo refuses to let his guests return to land, and instead takes them on a series of fantastic adventures in which they encounter underwater forestsm giant clams, monster storms, huge squid, treacherous polar ice and - most spectacular of all - the magnificent lost city of Atlantis!
 
 This was strangely unlike what I was expecting. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that the only thing I knew about Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was the version of Captain Nemo from A League of Extraordinary Gentleman and giant octopi. That was absolutely not what it was about. Well, a little, but no.
 First of all, it was less a work of fiction and more a catalog of the flora and fauna of the sea. "And then we were here...and then there....and we saw this...and OH BIG FISH...and Captain Nemo has angst." Yes, that was the second point of the novel - Captain Nemo is this really cool, really smart guy that has an amazing ship that, for some unknown reason, has an extreme aversion to land and all men. Pierre Arronax, Messieur Point-of-View, is thrown overboard with his faithful servant and a seaman from his ship and is brought on-board the Nautilus, where he is informed that he is doomed to remain the rest of his days because he has actually discovered the secret of the vessel - the secret being that it exists. Oops, hope that didn't spoil it for anybody.
 We are then taken on a journey through the many waters of the world - and even under some. I was confused because I thought they were literally twenty-thousand feet under the water (having no idea what a league's measurement actually is) but I was wrong - twenty thousand is the distance they traveled i.e. all around the world. Verne obviously read a lot and had a lot of knowledge about the ocean and its many inhabitants. Which makes for an interesting read - if you know what all the scientific terms are. I had no idea what kind of fish he was seeing, so those passages were a bunch of nonsense for me, but you definitely get a feel for what kind of amazing things are happening down there. And there are some very interesting things going on with the strange creatures they meet and landscapes they discover. I should qualify that by saying they aren't actually discovered since Nemo found them and is only showing them to Arronax.
 Overall: B
 If you're looking for an entertaining book that's all fun all the time, this book is not for you. There's a lot of hurry up and wait going on and in the end we still don't find the reason for Nemo's seclusion. It is never revealed. (By telling you that I'm not revealing anything - see that?) The plot of the novel is based around scientific fact that you can't necessarily understand, so that detracts from the enjoyment of the novel. However, as I said, there are some really excellent moments of adventure, and the occasional humor we get between Arronax and his manservant make up the rest.

Julia Quinn: The Viscount Who Loved Me

• ISBN-13: 9780380815579
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 7/28/2006
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 384

"1814 promises to be another eventful season, but not, This Author believes, for Anthony Bridgerton, London's most elusive bachelor, who has shown no indication that he plans to marry.
And in truth, why should he? When it comes to playing the consummate rake, nobody does it better..." - Lady Whistledown's Society Papers, April 1814.
 But this time the gossip columnists have it wrong. Anthony Bridgerton hasn't just decided to marry - he's even chosen a wife! The only obstacle is his intended's older sister, Kate Sheffield - the most meddlesome woman ever to grace a London ballroom. The spirited schemer is driving Anthony mad with her determination to stop the betrothal, but when he closes his eyes at night, Kate is the woman haunting his increasingly erotic dreams...
 Contrary to popular belief, Kate is quite sure that reformed rakes do not make the best husbands - and Anthony Bridgerton is the most wicked rogue of them all. Kate is determined to protect her sister - but she fears her own heart is vulnerable. And when Anthony's lips touch hers, she's suddenly afraid she might not be able to resist  the reprehensible rake herself...

 It would seem that every Bridgerton novel (well, thus far - it's not really fair to lay claim to all eight) is going to have a severely dysfunctional character who suffers from some irrational fear. In the first, it was Simon's fear that his child would have a stutter like he did, and his desire to deny his dead father the legacy he so wanted, which led to his refusal to have children. Here, we have Anthony suffering from the conviction that, since his father - the most amazing man he knew - died from a bee sting at a young age, he, too, was going to die young, being unable to surpass his father in any way. What? Yes. While it seems unrealistic, it really isn't. Everyone has irrational fears, and several are convinced they're going to die at a certain age. When I smashed my finger and lost almost a knuckle's worth of it in a boating accident, I was terrified of boats. Even big ones when I was nowhere near the edge. Rational? Not at all. The first time I was forced back on the boat that caused the accident, I couldn't leave it because my legs were shaking so bad. I was half-pulled out, sobbing hysterically. After that - boats, no problem.
 Wow, that was a megalith of a sidetrack. Anyway, I have to say, Quinn writes a good romance. There are some authors who just start using sex as a crutch for a lack of plot, but she does not fall back on that. Thank Jesus. We actually have some character development, and the characters have much deeper relationships than the purely physical. She also takes time to give her supporting characters personalities, which is wonderful. It also allows for some extremely well-times humor and a chance for the characters to get out of their own heads. Quinn also has a pretty good grasp of the time period, when that factor does come into play (not often).
 Are Anthony and Kate my favorite couple? No. I've read more compelling stories from Quinn. But that doesn't mean that they aren't lovely in their own ways. I, personally, feel a connection with Kate and her self-image issues. I have never, in my 22 years, thought I was pretty until recently. And I sympathize with someone who's sister/best friend is prettier and gets all the attention. So, while not my favorite, definitely relatable.
 Overall: A-
 At times Kate and Anthony's "witty banter" wasn't all that witty, though they seemed to think it was. And sometimes the plot devices seemed a little forced. Mostly it was just a lovely love story, that I would (and have) read again.