Cornucopia of Fantasy

I'm Moving!

2010-10-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

So do to the inactivity of this blog in recent months I've decided that for right now posting book reviews is on the back burner, and I'll be focusing all of my blogging attention to my more personal blog which you can find right here: OMG It's Luc

Ok that's not obnoxious enough. Let's make it more obnoxious:

Check out my personal blog!!!

~~~~~~OMG It's Luc~~~~~~~

Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's get to why I'm moving.

Due to my transition to college life and the rigors of the quarter system, I just don't have the time that I used to to read all of the books on my TBR list. I feel like I'm letting some people down because (I like to think) somehow people seem to like my reviews.

Now, let's keep in mind that I will not be shutting down Cornucopia of Fantasy, and I hope to start up again in the future, and I will continue to post the odd review here and there it just won't be my primary concern.

So check out my personal blog for the occasional bit of rambling (hopefully it's funny, if it's not funny you can leave me nasty comments) and a glimpse into my life (as if anybody cares).

So yeah, please head on over and see what there is so far.

Thank you, I love you all. I'll see you at OMGIL (just in case you didn't see the link above).

Vampires suck...again

2010-08-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

You all know my stance on the Twilight Saga and so it should come as no surprise that I burst into tears laughing at this movie trailer:

This movie is slated to come out on the 18th, so it's really close to release and I'm super excited, also if you share my views and want to read a funny parody then check out Night Light

EDIT: Ok, so I'm a total idiot and posted the wrong video, I'll leave that one up but here's the actual trailer:

Review: The Red Pyramid

2010-08-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

The Red Pyramid

Rick Riordan again produces a fabulous start to a teen series that is sure to fly off the shelves, and indeed already has, in his new series: The Kane Chronicles.

The story focuses around the Kane children, Carter and Sadie, and the discoveries that they make about their ancestry, not the least of which is the fact that they are Egyptian wizards! Rick Riordan has taken everything that made the Percy Jackson and the Olympians the popular series that it is, and has infused it with the flare of ancient Egyptian gods.

I'm going to start off by saying that I did read most of the Percy Jackson series, although I still have to finish the last book, and this book and probably the series, if the first installment is any indication, is by far the better of the two in my opinion.

In Short

I very much enjoyed the story of the Kane children, however the narrative style got to me a little bit and made it hard for me to enjoy the book in all of its glory.

The Good

The story is great, its original enough to keep me from treating it like I do so many YA books, and the characters are very well portrayed, again, for a YA novel.

As you might have noticed I geek about whatever form of magic that there is in a fantasy book, I look for background, for clarification, and for ample description of it. Riordan does a good job of fully describing the magic that Sadie and Carter perform, and it helps to create a fuller and more rounded world.

What I liked about the Percy Jackson series was that it have me a good general overview of Greek mythology, introducing me to it pretty much for the first time, this book does much of the same for Egyptian mythology. Rick Riordan was a teacher for 15 years and he brings a lot of his teaching ability into his books, something that I always like to see.

The Bad

The only qualm I have with this book is the narrative style that Mr. Riordan has chosen to use. The writing of the book is supposed to be a transcribing of an audio clip that "you" receive and listen to. Throughout the book little side notes [denoted like this] are seen and are supposed to represent comments made by the characters out of context of the story as they're recording the audio.

The chapters are split up into two categories based on whether it is currently being narrated from Sadie's point of view or Carter's, and while this creates some interesting background dynamics for the characters, it is altogether a little off putting for the reader.

Overall it creates a cheesy way for us to see the interaction between brother and sister, and in my opinion it subtracts from the entertainment value of the book as a whole. Just as much effort as was taken to create better dynamics between the characters "off screen" could have been put into making the interactions within the context of the story better. Indeed, it probably would have been an even better book if it had been done this way, and in a different narrative style.

I sincerely hope that Mr. Riordan chooses to change his narration style for the next books in the series. Though I'll probably continue reading anyway if he doesn't

The Verdict

At a glance this might appear to be a rehashing of the Percy Jackson story with new characters and mythological theme, but upon further inspection it is a very good and original introduction to a series that I'm sure will become just as, if not more, popular than the Percy Jackson series. I encourage you all to read this, if not for Riordan's writing ability, then for the fantastical story that he weaves.

Buy this book on Amazon for as low as $7.50

I'm So Ashamed!

2010-08-10T18:16:00.000-07:00

On the off chance that I still have the readers that I left the blogosphere with then I would like to personally apologize for my lack of activity for the past few months, and I would like to assure you all that my activity will pick up again come October. The reasons for my absence are many and I won't bore you with the details, or anything else really, all you need to know is that I'll soon be back.

Here's a list of the books that I've read in my absence, though they are few. Reviews to Follow.

A Wizard Abroad

The Red Pyramid
(Reviewed)

A Magic of Twilight

Greywalker

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I would also like to announce that I've been playing with the idea that I'd like to make this blog more than a review blog with the occasional meme thrown in there. I've recently developed the want or need, I haven't decided yet, to vent and share. As such, I think I'll add a bit more of a personal flare to my blog. Now whether or not this will attract more readers to my blog or deter them, I really don't care. All work and no play makes for a very boring blog, wouldn't you say?
How exactly is this going to change the face of Cornucopia of Fantasy? Well for starters I've been thinking of changing the name, though to what I have no idea. Also, the content may begin to take on the look of a personal blog rather than a review blog. This does not mean that I will cease writing reviews, as I love to do that. It does mean that you'll see a few more videos posted that may or may not pertain to books, or fantasy for that matter, a few more posts on life and ideas that I find interesting and generally anything that I find is important enough to make a blog post about. You might even see a few movie reviews or suggestions popping up here or there.
Hopefully I'll still be entertaining enough to read and you'll still value my opinions on books and the like. I'll try and keep it as fun as possible.

Exciting Update!

2010-04-12T00:18:00.000-07:00

I'll bet that title drew you in right? You though it was going to be something so awesome that you'd be rolling on the floor laughing (rofling), your insides would explode, and your mind would be blown all at once.

Well you were right.

No, in all actuality this post is really not exciting for anybody but me. It seems that a certain author on a certain twitter page saw a certain review that a certain reviewer wrote about said author's book series: Age of Misrule and it turns out they decided to comment on it!

I nearly wet myself when I read this.

Nearly.

Ok now I realize that it's probably his press manager or secretary or some other lacky who manages his twitter account or something, but the sentiment and the momentousness of this occasion is not lost on me.

You might notice that the date is from quite a while ago, that's because I never look at that portion of twitter as I haven't had the opportunity to speak with any of my followers on twitter. So let this be an official invitation to initiate a conversation!

Dual Review: Well of Ascension (Mistborn book 2) and The Hero of Ages (Mistborn book 3)

2010-04-06T23:03:00.000-07:00

Predictability, nothing is worse than predictability when you're reading a series of books. Many series will effectively fail because their authors are unable to (or unwilling to) come up with the diversity of content needed to keep their readers interested in their books. When the same thing happens in every book in a series it's extremely hard to stay connected and interested in it.

Luckily, that is exactly the opposite of what happened with these two books.

I wrote this as a double review simply because of the fact that I never took a break in between these books, as soon as I was finished with The Well of Ascension I started on The Hero of Ages (thank you, nook) and I almost never put it down until I could finally turn the final page of the trilogy. I must say (and I say this a lot) this is probably one of the best series I have ever read in my life, if not the best.

Click Here for a synopsis of the series in Mr. Sanderson's own words

The Good

Almost everything. Specifically the fact that I NEVER knew what was going to happen next. The books were filled with so many twists and turns it left me with whiplash. The best part of the book (without giving too much away) was basically that neither I, nor the characters, knew what was going to happen next. Many books weave a story that is meant to make you look at the big picture, to make you feel that what you're seeing and what you're reading about is just a small piece of the whole. Let me just say that that is exactly the feeling that I felt as I read these two books, and yet when I looked back at everything I found myself saying "THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!!!" (yes, I was that excited). Brandon Sanderson does this so flawlessly that I honestly found no holes in his plot, everything about it was flawless.

Obviously with the amount of unknowns in the books it was an extremely gripping read, I kid you not that I had to actually pause for a few minutes in between some chapters just to take a breath and contemplate the newest arrivals to the "OMG WTFBBQ" section of my brain. Nothing I can say can accurately portray the amount of joy I felt while reading these books.

The Bad

Again, Mr. Sanderson uses the word "maladroitly" quite often....that's it.

Oh wait no. It ended, that was bad.

If it's not completely apparent by now, I love this series and I love this author! Again, if the glorious picture that I painted for you of this book doesn't convey this fact accurately.

I highly recommend these books!

If you don't go out and buy these books as soon as possible, I guarantee that you're head will explode from sheer lack of...these books....yeah. BUY IT! Here I'll even give you a link to Amazon Here and Here

Character Connection: Magnus Bane

2010-03-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of a new meme created by Jennifer over at The Introverted Reader, I'll faithfully be participating in this meme, as it's one of the most creative I've come across in my short time as a book blogger. The idea of this meme is to post about a character you like in any book that you've read. It's a pretty open ended meme, and its content is open to creativity.

Magnus Bane

Magnus Bane, from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments, is probably my favorite character from this amazing series. He's apparently described in the book as looking to be around 19 years old (although I must have skipped over this part, as I don't remember it, I've always imagined him as 25ish) Magnus is a warlock, the high warlock of Manhattan in fact, and he's probably one of the most flamboyant characters in any book I've read. Throughout the series his clothing is constantly being described, and it's always bright colors and interesting hairstyles. That alone should make him a good character, but there's so much more to Magnus! He's constantly a source of consternation to the characters, especially in the first book, but he slowly becomes friend and ally to the group. I like to describe him as an antagonistic protagonist, it just seems to fit, and it's probably why I like him so much.

He's also gay, and that, in itself, should be of note. I haven't read many books where there are gay characters and it always makes me happy to see them in books, especially good books, and especially especially popular books.

So there you have it, my first contribution to the first day of Character Connection, make sure to head over to The Introverted Reader to check out the others who have decided to participate in this great meme!

The Final Empire (Mistborn Book 1)

2010-03-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

Recently I purchased a nook (one of the best purchases I have ever made) and after reading The Final Empire on it I can honestly say that most of my book reading will now occur in digital form!

The first book that I decided to read on my nook was The Final Empire, and what a book it was! Although this book was published some time ago (2007) I had never heard of it and after reading the synopsis I was drawn to it by its innovative presentation of the "mystical" powers in the book. Allomancy, an ability that allows users to "burn" metals in their stomach to gain superhuman abilities, is one of the most original ideas that I have ever been presented with in any book that I have read, simply fantastic.

...For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark....

The Good

It's been a while since I've read a book that I simply could not put down, for any reason whatsoever. I was literally shushing people and moving from room to room because people were bothering me while I read this book. The story and the action is so brilliantly captured that it almost brought a tear to my eye while I read it. Allomancy is the most innovative and original "magical" powers that I have come across in any book.

The characters in The Final Empire are some of the most likable characters you will ever meet, even the psychologically damaged Vin and the self absorbed manipulative Breeze. I felt like I actually know these people in real life, or at least I want to know these people in real life.

The Bad

Other than the fact that it ended eventually and that the end was extremely heart wrenching, I found nothing wrong with this book whatsoever.

Actually, that's not true, the author uses the word "Maladroitly" way too often. Who cares though right?

The Verdict

Go out and buy this book immediately if you haven't already read it, and if you have already read it recommend it to all of your friends and family. It's that good. You'll enjoy every action packed page of this book, Blogger's Promise (however much that's worth). Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be reading the next book in the series.

Review: Always Forever (Age of Misrule Book 3)

2010-03-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well I finished this book several weeks ago, and I'm finally getting around to writing a review for it, and I'm glad that I am because it's helping me remember exactly how good this book, and this series, is. It's not often that I find a book that seriously makes me think at the end, a book that makes me care for the characters, even after the last page is turned. In my review of World's End (the first book in the series) I mentioned that I struggled through the first book because the beginning of the book turned out to be nothing like the end of the book the events had changed things so much. I think my initial struggle with this series lay in the fact that I have no knowledge of English topography and so many of the places that are mentioned in the book went right over my head, as well as the highways and street names in London. Once, however, I got on Google earth and looked at many of the places, I began to see the events transpire a lot easier and learned something in the process. O.K enough prattle, let's get on with the review.

The eternal conflict between the Light and Dark once again blackens the skies and blights the land. On one side stand the Tuatha de Danaan, golden-skinned and beautiful, filled with all the might of angels. On the other are the Fomorii, monstrous devils hell-bent on destroying all human existence. And in the middle are the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, determined to use the strange power that binds them to the land in a last, desperate attempt to save the human race. Church, Ruth, Ryan, Laura and Shavi have joined forces with Tom, a hero from the mists of time, to wage a guerrilla war against the iron rule of the gods. This is the stunning conclusion of a powerful fantasy saga by one of Britain's most acclaimed young writers.

The Good

The final book in the Age of Misrule series ended in the way that every good series or stand alone book should end, leaving more questions, and the possibility of more events to come (not necessarily a sequel though), it should leave of making you think, and that's exactly what Always Forever did. These three books weave an epic tale that every good fantasy fan should read, the story is nothing new to the fantasy genre, but it is presented in a way that makes it a fantastic and a thrilling read. Set in a world where technology and the age of science have failed, the events are presented in a way that really make you think "what IF all the technology in the world were to stop working?"

The Bad

As a series I found absolutely nothing wrong. There is, however, something about this book that makes me cringe, it's a little thing but it irks me none the less. The characters, lovable as they are, seem to have the same interactions over and over again; dreading what is to come, talking about what they miss about technology, and disparaging the state of the world as it was before the start of the book. It just all seemed very repetitious in some points. Although this took almost nothing away from the story itself, I feel that there could have been a lot more depth to these books if the character interactions were tweaked a little.

The Verdict

Overall a brilliant not so modern day fantasy series capped off by a thought provoking ending that left nothing to be desired, except for maybe another book. I would most definitely recommend this book for fantasy fans.

Review: Darkest Hour (Age of Misrule Book 2)

2010-02-21T17:58:00.000-08:00

Back Cover
The eternal conflict between the Light and Dark once again blackens the skies and blights the land. On one side stand the Tuatha de Danaan, golden-skinned and beautiful, filled with all the might of angels. On the other are the Fomorii, monstrous devils hell-bent on destroying all human existence. And in the middle are the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, determined to use the strange power that binds them to the land in a last, desperate attempt to save the human race. Church, Ruth, Ryan, Laura and Shavi have joined forces with Tom, a hero from the mists of time, to wage a guerrilla war against the iron rule of the gods. But they didn't count on things going from bad to worse ...this is the stunning continuation of a powerful fantasy saga by one of Britain's most acclaimed young writers.

Ok, I’ll admit it, as glowing as my review for World’s End was I was not sure if I would be able to get through the second or third books in the series, but after reading its successor Darkest Hour, I can now invariably say that I am hooked on this trilogy and will probably end up reading this series from beginning to end a second time.

The Good
Maybe it’s because I’m an emotional sap, maybe it’s because I read it in the middle of the night when the moon was full, or maybe it’s just because Mark Chadbourn is a great writer; whatever the case this book was filled with just so much emotion and descriptive language that it was almost painful to read at some points. There are several points in the book where I was actually scared for the characters, the raw feeling that Chadbourn is able to portray and the skill that he has at doing this is incredible. Dark corridors, claustrophobic spaces, and an increasing sense of dread are just some of the things that you’ll encounter when you read this book.

Besides that I really started to care for the characters, (even that bi*ch Laura) and I started to feel that, like the Tuatha De Danaan, that I had known these characters for my entire life. They became as real and as relatable as my best friends. In a way, I guess, they did become my best friends while I read this book. But that’s enough sentimentality out of me, on to the bad.

The Bad
Oh wait, there was none! Apart from the fact that the main character, Church, didn’t feel like he was as powerful as his compatriots, There were no flaws to find in this book besides the fact that it had to end.

My conclusion
Obviously I found Darkest Hour to be a great book! Rife with Celtic mythology and mysticism my previous gripe about there not being enough "magic" in the story was completely washed away by this tidal wave of a book, everything that I disliked about the previous installment was rectified by this fantastic continuation. If you haven't picked up the first in the series, World's End, then you're really missing out on a great book and a great writer. I know that I'll be looking for other books by Mark Chadbourn in the future.

Triond

2010-02-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

A few of you might have seen my Widget on the sidebar titled "other articles", in that widget are links to articles that I've written for a website called Triond. Triond is a publishing website that is the owner of several aggregate websites that publish content from viewers. Think of it as a blog about anything that's spread out over many websites.
Writing for Triond is easy and, actually, fun, but the best part (in my opinion) is that Triond pays you for your submissions. See, the way it works is that Triond publishes your work on their websites, and on those websites Triond has placed several ads, usually pertaining to what your article is about. When readers click on ads placed on your content you get 50% of the ad revenue generated by that click. What I've found is that this is a great way to sort of get my name out there on the internet and at the same time being compensated for my efforts in writing the articles that I do. Now, you're not going to get rich on Triond (unless you work REALLY REALLY hard) and it is by no means a get rich quick scheme, but I do highly recommend signing up if you like writing.

To sign up, visit the Triond website

Just a note: The links in this post are referral links, and by signing up by following the links provided I will gain a 10% commission on anything you publish. This does NOT mean that you make 10% less, you earn the same amount as you would had you signed up normally. So by all means, please click my links to sign up! :)

Why I will probably not buy an iPad

2010-01-29T22:43:00.000-08:00

I love my iPhone, it does everything that want it to do and it does everything that I want it to do well, but that does not mean that I am willing to buy basically a bigger version of the iPhone so that I can have a bigger screen. I'm currently writing this blog post on my netbook in a Barnes and Noble cafe, and again, I absolutely love my netbook (thank you mommy, merry christmas!) and I bring it practically everywhere with me and, essentially, never without access to my files and the ability to use the internet. I understand the appeal the iPad presents for people who are interested in having, basically, a laptop and an e-reader in one package.

And here's where we get to the relevant part. I probably will not be buying the iPad for multiple reasons: I already have an iPhone, I'm broke...you know, the usual stuff. But there's one major factor that has affected my decision. My interest in the iPad started a few weeks ago when I was reading a few speculation articles about Apple's next big 'thing' and one of the things that stood out to me was that people thought it was going to be a great e-reader, capable of competing with the nook and the kindle. While I'm sure that anythng that Apple can produce that is capable of being an e-reader will be able to at least compete with the nook and the Kindle, I do not think that the iPad's functionality as an e-reader will have people beating down the doors of Apple looking to get one, and it seemed to me that that was one of the best features about the iPad, I mean it's basically a huge iPod touch right? And it especially won't be a great e-reader with a battery life of just 10 hours (the Kindle can go 2 weeks with wi-fi turned off)

It just seems that with me already having a netbook and an iPhone, there really is no point to buying the iPad, because it's basically just a fusion of the two, and for a fusion, it really doesn't save that much more space. I mean, how much space does a netbook and an iphone really take up? And as for "holding the internet in my hands" I seem to be able to do that just fine with my netbook, thank you.

Here's the iPad promotional video (which is extremely obnoxious by the way, another reason I probably won't buy it, shallow right?)

and here's an interview with Walt Mossberg about the iPad

Cornucopic Contemplation: Literacy

2010-01-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

I'm in high school (or rather I'm just out of high school, taking classes at the community college to fulfill my senior year) and it has always struck me as shameful that the reading ability among high school students should be as low as it is. I recently joined a group on facebook entitled "I hate it when people volunteer to read in class...and can't read". I thought it was just a funny little group until I was doing a homework assignment today. I realized that although I try and surround myself with "intelligent" people, the kind of people who take AP classes and are on the honor roll, there are millions of high schoolers who indeed "can't read.

Being raised on books and loving everything about books and what they stand for I've always been appalled when I met someone who said they didn't read much or didn't like to read, in fact (being the vain jerk-face that I am) that is usually where the conversation ended because I didn't feel like we'd connect on any level. I struggle with the idea that somebody should "not like books" I guess it's so second nature to me that I could never imagine not being introduced to books.

I can attribute my love of reading to my parents, and although forcing books on children is probably not the way to go (go figure) I think that parents really should make an effort to read to their children because reading is a gateway to immense knowledge and imagination.

I really don't know where I was going with this, but I would like to invite my readers to post ways that they promote literacy in their community, be it by donating books to the library, or by giving a donation to a literacy foundation, I don't care just post!

Keep on reading!

Interesting Interview with the Author of Angel Star

2010-01-18T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, if you haven't already then I highly suggest that you head over to Mindful Musings to check out this post. It's a very down to earth interview with the author of the upcoming book Angel Star (pre-order it on amazon here). I'm really excited and grateful to Natalie at Mindful Musings for turning me on to this book, it looks like its going to be a smash hit and I've added it to my TBR list!

In other news I'm a fair ways through The Black Jewels Trilogy and I'm super stoked to read the rest of it as even 100+ pages in it feels like only the surface of the story has been scratched. It really is a captivating read.

Once again I really want to stress that I am sorry about the lack of posts lately, The Black Jewels is a thick book and I've been busy with school, I PROMISE that I will post more in the days and weeks to come!

Keep on reading!

Male book bloggers

2010-01-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

It might be that I'm not connected well enough yet, or that I haven't looked hard enough, or I need to broaden my range but I cannot for the life of me find a male blogger who writes about books. Forgive me if I'm completely wrong but is reviewing books on an online web log considered girly? I was under the impression that in the real world of magazines and newspaper articles that there were plenty of men writing about and reviewing books.

I was pondering this intense thought (which I am probably wrong about) and it dawned on me that I have a fairly healthy dose of readers who, fairly often, leave me comments. I decided to use this opportunity to kill 3 birds with one stone. I'm potentially networking, I'm writing a blog post for today, and I'm encouraging my readers to comment on my posts just a Scosh more.

So, back to the point.

Do you know of any male reviewers (preferably in the fantasy/sci-fi genres of books) who write their reviews on their blog?

I'm tenderly dipping my toe into the waters of book reviewing and blogging, so far the water is warm but let's see if I swim past any cold spots?

Keep on reading!

School! Arg!

2010-01-13T23:45:00.000-08:00

I really don't understand this readers (all 15 of you) I really don't, how can I be only taking one "winter session" course and still have almost no time to read at all and even less time to blog about it!

Oh I know. I sleep until 3 PM. THAT must be it.

Anyway in other news THERE IS NO OTHER NEWS this is just a brainless attempt at writing a blog post because I haven't read more than a chapter in The Black Jewels Trilogy. Although I feel it is my duty as a blogger (with 15 readers) to make sure that my readers are up to date on what is happening in terms of my reading escapades. I promise (again) that I'll get my blog back up and running and I will read the The Black Jewels before a few days have passed!

Keep on reading!

Oh My Goodness...Holiday Fever!

2010-01-11T16:17:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately the holiday season is over and that means I have to get back into the swing of things, which not so unfortunately means that I'll actually be posting blog posts again!

*crickets chirping*

Ok so I realize that really only matters to about 16 of you but in any case here is my attempt at a decent blog post for today!

Hurray I'm back! And that means I'm reading again (that's right no reading was done over the holidays though there was much feasting (probably too much)) and to inaugurate the start of my reading habit again I went out to Barnes and Noble and bought myself a new book (hurray!) even though I haven't finished the other two I'm supposed to be reading (boo!).

The Black Jewels Trilogy

by Anne Bishop

Because this is a trilogy placed into one book, I'll be reviewing it as one book (because I'm lazy like that) i've read the first few chapters and it seems to be quite a read so I'm very excited to read it. I promise I'll review those other books that I'm reading too!

Reading Update!

2009-12-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Ok so it's finals week this week and I've been studying and working on finals papers and a whole bunch of other stuff that has completely eaten away at my reading time. I'm about 1/4 of the way into Darkest Hour and i'll have it read within the next week (i promise) and i'll have a review up for it then.

I realize that I missed Friday Finds this week and I appologize for that also for the same reasons.

Reviews will be coming soon my loyal followers, so fear not!

Cornucopic Contemplation: Why Vampires? They Suck.

2009-12-09T15:36:00.000-08:00

I hate Twilight, I dislike Stephanie Meyer, and I can't say that the movies strike any chords within me, and any that it does strike are dissonant at best. Most vehemently of all though: I hate the recent vampire craze that has hit the country thanks to the success of Twilight.

Now, I'm not going to go on a rant about how Twilight is the worst heap of vomit ever to be regurgitated by the mass market YA crowd, and about how much I want it to die and for the world to forget it ever existed. Instead I'm going to talk about how silly and annoying it is that authors all over the country are cashing in on the "vampire craze".

It's amazing how many vampire books have popped up (and become popular) because of the success of just one. I'm trying to decide which is more annoying: the fact that authors are trying to cash in on the success of Twilight and Ms. Meyer by producing something that will please the hoards of vampire hungry preteen girls because they can't get enough out of those poorly played out, badly acted, badly written series of books and movies, or the fact that the authors are succeeding.

I understand the alure of vampires and the thought of vampires has always been enjoyable to me, especially in books like Night Watch, where they are simply there and not an intigral part of the story line. But what I can't understand is how authors have turned something that is supposed to be terrifing into sparkly and idiotic love interests. The only exception that I can give for the case of falling in love with a vampire is for the Sookie Stackhouse series because vampires still retain an ounce or two of their frightening nature in those books (and show).

Hopefully this shameful market craze will end once all of the twilight movies have come out. Zeus forbid that Meyer writes a spinoff on the last book.

(Click to Enlarge)

Review: Age of Misrule

2009-12-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

If five people were chosen from birth to save the human race from extinction at the hands of an evil race of gods from another age, then this is exactly how it would happen. Filled with humor, romance, betrayal, infighting, and argumentative hilarity; this book is exactly the kind of urban/contemporary fantasy that I love to read. The characters even address the fact that the whole idea of them saving the world is cliche! The plot and the characters are presented in a way that make them real, and I feel sufficiently attached to each of them, despite their obvious and sometimes glaring faults.

Synopsis

World's End, as I said, is about five normal (for the most part) people, who discover, along with the rest of the world, that their world is falling apart by the seams. Ancient gods are being unleashed upon the world as an evil race of god like beings called the Fomorii break an ancient pact to stay out of our world. The five "Brothers and Sisters of Dragons" are called forth to release the Danaan, the antithetical race of beings that are to oppose the Fomorii, by collecting five talismans and bringing them together to summon the Danaan.

My Thoughts

The good

I didn't really like this book when I first started it, because the beginning of the book is in such stark contrast with the end of the book. I see now that it makes sense that this dichotomy would exist because the world as the Brothers and Sisters know it is being torn asunder as the ancient gods return and magic is restored to the land. I thought that the direction that the book was taking was very different from what I had read on the back, and that I had judged this book incorrectly. I put this book down for several months and only continued to read it this past week. When I picked it up again and read on I saw it in a whole new light.

Like I said World's End seems like it is exactly how these events would pan out in real life if they were to happen. The book is gritty and descriptive and is not ashamed to describe some of the more unpleasant parts of saving the world, which are often only glimpsed in other books. I often find that other books describe the process of saving humanity from the apocalypse in a rather feel good way, and the ending of this book makes you feel anything but good. I loved it.

Mark Chadbourn has his own unique style of writing that combines an omniscient and very descriptive point of view with a feeling of personalization for each of the characters. The characters have their own personalities, their own lives, their own stories, and each of them feels like a seperate entity and I had no difficulty with keeping track of who was who like I have in other books. Mr. Chadbourn is good at descriptive language and he inserts it into the story in a way that makes descriptions (which I usually skim over) easy to read without sacrificing the descriptive ability of said description (redundancy!).

The Bad

A few of the plot elements and twists were not executed in a way that I found eye catching or sufficiently devastating to the characters. The plot twists were done in a way that did not make them feel like twists at all, they were simply developments that the characters rolled with despite their impact on the course of events.

I could also have done with a little more of the "magical" aspects of the new world that the characters find themselves in. We catch glimpses here and there but I feel like there is still much to be desired in that department, and as you know what really makes the mechanics of a book tick are what keep me at the edge of my seat wanting more. I think that is one of the reasons that I will enjoy reading the rest of the series, I'm excited to see exactly how this new world of their is going to work.

My Conclusion

I would certainly recommend World's End (and the whole Age of Misrule Series) to anybody who likes gritty, down to earth, dark and virtually real fantasy books, but for those of you who are expecting a world filled with fireballs, devastating spells, flashy effects, or witches on broomsticks you're not going to find your fix here.

Check out my reviews of Books Two and Three!

Store!

2009-12-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! Just wanted to let you know that my store is up. Using the store you can buy any of the books that you see me talk about or review here on Cornucopia of Fantasy. The store is powered by Amazon so any purchases you make can be made with your Amazon account if you have one or through their secure server using a credit card if you don't.

I make a commission for every book that you buy through my store and you don't have to go through the process of searching through Amazon's extensive collection of books to find the ones you see here! It's a win - win situation for everybody, and with the holiday season coming up "winning" is paramount to making your family and friends happy with those oh so special things we call books.

So if you're making the decision to buy a few books for people on your christmas shopping list, and you've read a review about said book here on Cornucopia of Fantasy, just go ahead and click on "Book Store" on the navigation bar up at the top of the page and get ready to do some shopping!

Friday Finds - 2

2009-12-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

Friday Finds is a weekly meme hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading. You post books that you've found during the week and have added to your TBR shelf.

Ok so I realize that I missed last week's Friday Finds because it was the day after thanksgiving, but who can blame me? I mean It's THANKSGIVING for heaven's sake.

This week I've not so much found "New" books per say, but I've discovered the wonders of 2 new fabulous series that I plan on reading all the way through.

Age of Misrule: A fantastic contemporary fantasy series set in a modern day UK, the series tells the story of 5 strangers who discover that, however cliche it is, they are the "5 Brothers and Sisters of Dragons" who are destined to save humanity from the evil Night Walkers called Fomorii.

Devices and Desires: While this series leaves much to be desired in the "fantasy" section, it is still a gripping tale of politics, automatons, and warfare that was highly entertaining. I feel obligated to finish this series.

Reviews on the first books in both of these series are soon to come!

Vacation

2009-12-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hey guys and gals! I'm just posting an update explaining why I haven't posted in almost a week. The obvious answer is, of course, that I've been on Thanksgiving vacation. I assure every one of my readers (all 3 of you) that I am still reading and I am still writing reviews, I just got out of the swing of things when I went on vacation. I plan on reading this post on problogger to help me get back into the swing of things, just so everybody knows.

You're welcome.

Review: Keeping it Real

2009-11-24T21:06:00.000-08:00

The plot took a sudden innovative turn.

Well not innovative really, just more exciting and I’ll admit, in the last half of the book I became almost completely engrossed. I think the problem I was having with Keeping it Real was that I had gone from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments to Justina Robson and they both have very different writing styles geared towards completely different audiences. Clare’s writing turning towards YA readers and Robson’s towards the adult fiction(fantasy/scifi) readers.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about see this post

Ok so review time.

I had a hard time getting into the flow of this book. Perhaps my problem with this book lies in the fact that there is scarcely any explanation of the technology or the magic or any of the theories really. The most explanation given is given in the first two pages of the book in which the “Quantum Bomb” is explained and all of the 7 realms created by the bomb are also explained. Another thing that irked me about this book was the whole beginning, really, the characters jumped around from place to place doing trivial things that seemed to have no connection to the plot whatsoever with the main character having a self pity fest with herself while trying to protect some character who seems to have no real connection to the plot(he incidentally becomes central to the plot later on).

The whole first half of the book just seems listless, I mean usually I can put up with the usual introduction of characters and the formation of the plot yadda yadda yadda because that is where I find some of the most interesting parts in the book where they describe what makes the world “tick” and what drives the world. Without this explanation of the way that this world works we are left in the dark somewhat, and while this may not present a reader who’s focus is more on the sequence of events rather than the back story, it certainly influenced how I got through the first chunk of Keeping it Real.

Ok away from all this bad stuff about the book, let’s talk about where it really shines: action and intrigue. There are action scenes galore throughout Keeping it Real and there are some pretty interesting characters who have the potential to be exciting additions to the main plot as the series goes on (Did I mention this is a series?).

Due to the obvious lack of detail added to the development of the initial setting, the reader is left to work out the way this world is run through the glances and snippets we get throughout the book, which (for a reader like me) makes it impossible to quit reading because I hunger for more information about the mechanics of the universe the characters inhabit and the mechanics of the characters themselves.

I think I’ll have to read the rest of the series to give my full and honest opinion of this book, because as of now I have no idea where it’s going and I sort of want to know. If anybody has read this book I encourage comments, what did you like? What didn’t you like? And of course: Why?

Check out Keeping it Real on Amazon

Reading Update

2009-11-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

I'm on page 102 of Keeping it Real and I am having the hardest time finishing this darned book! There's just something about it that makes it difficult to digest, it jerks around a lot and the descriptions are nothing to bat an eye at. In the first two pages of the book i expected a rich world full of innovative ideas and amazing interactions between characters but I digress.

Review to come, but I don't think that I will be finishing the rest of this series unless the writing in the next books suddenly gets better or the plot takes a sudden innovative turn.