Damn you Brent Weeks!

I'm very sorry if the title may provoke, but it's exactly what I thought while reading the Night Angel Trilogy by mentioned author. He has a very interesting imagination, one that sometimes is very close to mine (A black stuff that can adapt to the bearers wishes? An old master training a young fellow? Magic that uses some form of energy and has to be replenished after use? Magical energy that can be stored somewhere for other magicians to use? Get out of my head! (but not really)).

Don't get me started on the characters. A prophet who's losing his mind because of his ability, a dangerous organization that has more power than the king actually has, with a leader no one knows about... it's too much to spoil it all before you read it.
Seriously, read it if you're even slightly into fantasy. Magic, but not too much, fighting, assassins (even if it's wrong to call them that) that (depending on their preferences) leave pools of blood or no trace at all ("That's why assassins have targets. Wetboys have deaders. Why do we call them deaders? Because when we take a contract, the rest of their short lives is a formality." - Durzo Blint), a hated king and a loved successor, a Godking, a godess, conspiracies, magical artifacts some forgot they existed, Night Angels and more to keep you reading to the last letter.

I must say I read it all and absorbed a bit of his ideas (like it happens with most stuff I read) and I'm very glad he left out a part that I would've made important if I would write a similar story: spirituality.

You know what's even better? The writer still lives and still is writing. There may pop up some more books that I'll devour with a lot of joy...

Enjoy reading!

-ThOR

The Hunger Games and more...

We all know those people.

Those people that have bought the all the Lord of the Rings movies from the moment they were to be bought. Not once, but at least twice as the 12 disc special extended edition (with at least 2 hours of extra footage) just HAD to be bought.
The same people that watched all the Twilight movies at least twice in the cinema (waste of money I'd say), that went to the re-screening on the Titanic movie, that have the complete collection of Harry Potter (both movie and books)...

One of those people is a very good friend of mine and is living in the room next to me.
And he bought the "Hunger Games" DVD...

I didn't want to download it and borrowed it from them. I tried downloading it, but there are more fakes and bad cams than there is a good version of it. Easier to borrow it from a friend than to trust Mister Anon to provide something you don't really want all that much.

So I watched it and I must say I'm not impressed. Even reading the book (a few months ago) was kinda m'eh. Actually the book spoiled it for me. If I'd have read the book after the movie the general impression would've been better.
The reason for this is the writing style. It was too easy to read because the book didn't do anything else but telling the story, telling stuff that's important to the story.

Isn't that what a book's supposed to do?
Not really. A book should also create an atmosphere in another way than by the stuff that happens to the main character.
An example: Currently I'm reading "The Dragon Keeper" of the "Rain Wild Chronicles" by Robin Hobb. Between every chapter there's an intermission where you can read the correspondence between 2 pigeon keepers which gives a broader view on the ruined city after the war that ended in one of the previous trilogies. Concerns about released slaves mixing with the uptown Traderfamilies, concerns about inexplicable illnesses that appear and whatnot.
Next to all that you have dragons that have no idea what happened to them, humans that slowly turn into reptile people, a lost civilization no-one really cares about except for the awesome stuff they left behind, pirates, knights in the north, some angry asshole-nation a bit south of that, and a giant world filled with confusion and mishaps...

Really, I'm not all that into "the Hunger Games", obviously. It could've been so much more if it weren't so easy and accessible (the main reason why it caught on and got itself a movie...)

There are so many more books that could be translated to the  Big Screen with ease. The Night Angel trilogy for example (more on that in a later post) or the Left Hand of God. Those are interesting books and may result in some nice series or movies...

But yeah, I've written quite a lot, maybe it's time to call it a day and have you guys read it...

-ThOR

Deverry

Yeah, so recently I finished the Deverry Cycle...
It took me 15 books to get to the end. But yeah, it's finished now.

What do I think of it?
Well, it's quite the read, although it takes a while before a storyline is finished.... It's a hell to get to the end of a story that took a few centuries to finish, certainly if you take into account several rebirths with some people surviving for some of those centuries. every book ends with a big battle (which sometimes is a bit unnecessary) and some story lines took way too long to finish...

Honestly this is only for those who would take the time to read all 15 book one after another...

The magic is quite interesting, but it didn't really change any views I have on this matter.

If you want it better you should read the Robin Hobb, Realm of the Elderlings series, where every 3 books can be read as a separate whole.
Sure, the story goes on in every book, but the story ends with every few books.
The only problem I have with it is that it's an on-going series, while you can read until "latest released" you'll have to wait until the next one is finished and released. I'm waiting for the "The Rain Wilds Chronicles" to end so I can read them from beginning to end.

Anyways, that's all I can write at the moment. If I have enough time I'll change some things, but now I'm writing this it a slightly tipsied state (2 "La Chouffe", 2 cognacs, 2 Filliers Gins and a Dürüm) this post may seem a bit out of my usual writing style.

Thank you anyway for reading.

-ThOR