Night Circus



This was actually a pretty fast read for me. Right from the start is pulls you in with all of these intricate details. Then it trows you for a loop when the characters actually have crazy powers that they harness with their minds. I really enjoyed the details that the author gave throughout the book. I have always enjoyed major details as well as small ones. I have always had a knack for remembering those minute details that usually get quickly overlooked. And what makes it better is that those details usually end up becoming a major key in the book. Also with details that are so small I have a knack for remembering them perfectly. I think books that lack detail are less appealing to me as a reader and I slowly start to lose interest. When it seems to drag on and not really set a mood for the setting or the characters, I tend to stop reading it.

I also enjoyed the story line! I always love books that involve a fight to survive. In this case it would be a duel between two very powerful teenagers. Sadly they are just pawns in this cruel world they have grown up in. They have been trained over the years to hone their skills in the hope of their teachers to win this duel. However, these two end up getting together despite their teacher's knowledge.

This book kind of reminds me of Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I say this because in both books the characters are faced with life risking challenges for the sake of other peoples enjoyment. They are faced to fight to the death against each other. They also end up unwittingly falling in love with the ones that could be a dangerous threat. While facing such dangerous obstacles the characters are drawn or forced to help each other with the hope of survival. I recommend both books for anyone who enjoys awesome fight scenes and unexpected romance!

Knowing this, I really enjoyed this book and what unfolds within it. I think for some the beginning might seem to drag on with all these crazy details, but it really adds to the feeling of the book and the spaces around the characters. I also think it was really great to start with the father's past and introducing his daughter, which was an unknown element to him at the time. He learns quickly that she possesses the same powers as him, if not stronger. This is when the unyielding training unfolds on his daughter, our main character. She plays as his pawn from the very beginning.

All in all I truly enjoyed this book, it was quite refreshing!

The Ocean at the End of the Lane







This was my first time reading a Neil Gaiman book. I think I'm missing out on something important!!
I really enjoyed this book and the way it was written. It catches your interest right from the beginning and continues to drag you in further and further. This is why I love to read books. I love when a book is so good that you have to finish it right away. I have a really bad habit of doing this, and it ends up with me spending fifteen dollars on a three-hundred page book that I finish that same day!

The book starts out with a Man who has remembered his past while attending a funeral of one of his loved ones. He leaves abruptly in a daze while thinking of his past and the things that occurred to him as a kid. Soon he ends up arriving at the place where he grew up when he was younger. He ends up walking to the end of the lane, which is where he was told there was an ocean.

The area where the whole story unfolds is completely different from many magic realism and contemporary fantasy books of the ones today. I say this because in Gaiman's story, the setting is somewhere rural and away from civilization. In most of the recent books in this genre the settings take place within the cities. I like this change because it makes you wonder why the author chose such a setting. Sometimes the setting is the key to how the entire book will turn out. I like this approach when story telling!

This book reminds me of a book that I have read in the past. The book was called The City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare. It reminds me of this book because it is almost the complete opposite of Gaiman's. It is a similar genre, but the settings, characters, and story line kind of shadow that of The Ocean at the End of the Lane. The city of bones tells about a girl from New York, who is suddenly thrown into a world of demons and "The Fallen". The fallen are known as the Shadow Hunters. They are the ones who destroy the demons throughout the world. However, not everyone can see them. Those who share the blood of shadow hunters are the only ones who can see and be seen by them. I really enjoy books that make me second guess myself throughout the story. There have been many times that I would start reading a book and then easily guess the ending and be correct. In Gaiman's I had to start second guessing from the very beginning! When this happens I start to get deeply interested in the plot and what would come next. I believe this book hit many points that I look for when reading. I couldn't stop reading it.

Harry Potter!







This week I read Harry Potter. I have seen all of the Harry potter movies that have been shown in theaters. I liked the movies, but usually I read a book and never watch the movies because it usually ends up bad. I don't like when they try to make these movies,but leave out important elements. When they do this I think that they are ruining the book for those who had already read it. It just isn't the same. Anyway back to the book!

I read the very first book of the Harry Potter series. This book was really good with details and secret meanings. The story tells of a boy who was taken in by his aunt and uncle, due to his parents being deceased. Harry is not a normal child, he is actually a wizard! This is where the story begins.

Along the way Harry makes those special friends, Ron and Hermine, that last a lifetime and experiences that will always be with him. He and his friends go to this school that is meant for witches and wizards. Through this school they are able to excel in their craft and face certain tests to challenge them. While Harry is here he meets Dumbledore, the head master, and Hagrid, a giant man who pretty much fills the role of Harry's father. These people make Harry question what happened to his parents and why.

Harry's curiosity gets the better of him as well as his friends. They start looking for answers based on certain objects that could help them. Something that comes up is the Sorcerers Stone. This stone is said to have had an awesome power that can grant any witch or wizard its power. Harry and his friends try to find this stone and try to discover answers about it and its whereabouts. Soon they face many dangerous obstacles trying to get closer to the stones location. They believe that they are being secretive in what they are doing, but there are always eyes watching them from the shadows. Some of these eyes are closer than Harry could have ever imagined.

The Hobbit!!









I have never seen the Lord of The Rings movies or read The Hobbit. I must say that I really enjoyed reading this book! The story tells of a hobbit, which are small people who love food, boos and good cheer. His name is Bilbo Baggins, and he is tricked into an epic adventure! He is not young, but middle aged and this surprised me because most of the main characters are quite young. However this hobbit doesn't want to have an adventure, he wants to keep to himself. Too bad for Bilbo, since a wizard has other plans for him. These plans will soon forever change Bilbo's life.

As I continue reading this book I really start to enjoy the change in Bilbo's character. At the beginning of the book Bilbo doesn't want to partake in any adventure, but is soon tricked into a quest with a band guys to find treasure. It sounds fun, but there is a dangerous hazard that stands in their way in form of a malicious dragon. This dragon is protecting a great treasure that has been left inside a mountain for years. Thorin, who is the leader of the group that Bilbo is traveling with, wants to claim this treasure because it belonged to his past elders. However, there are certain obstacles that they soon face.

Throughout the book Bilbo evolves drastically as a character. He is at first timid and afraid of change and danger. As the story goes on he becomes more confident, brave and willing to complete his adventure. He also becomes very cunning when faced with dangerous tasks. What helps him develop as a character is an object that he finds in a cave. This ring is special because it can make the wearer invisible. However, this ring is actually extremely dangerous. Bilbo has this ring in his possession and due to this he is able to save his comrades from certain death.

All in all, I loved reading this book. It was different from what I would have usually read. The way that he set up the characters and settings was amazing. Now I really want to watch the movies and see just how much changes with Bilbo and his ring.

Aunt Maria









I read Aunt Maria by Diana Wynne Jones. It was an ok book it just had a slow start. As I continued to read it got better and towards the end it was interesting. Throughout the book Mig's mom was a constant pain to me. She fit every bad archetype that a woman could have. There are any, such as being in complete denial. When Mig was trying to explain an urgent situation to her, she would just completely deny or would except anything Mig had to say. She was completely oblivious to pretty much every situation. This woman made me so irritated and eventually I thought that if every woman was like her then there would be no hope for the human race. I can say this because I'm a woman and the fact that this character aggravated me so is a sign that there are such archetypes.

Aunt Maria on the other hand is very manipulative and evil. She feigns as being an old woman who cant help herself, but she is actually a very cruel witch with secrets. In my opinion she fits the typical stereotype for a witch. She is older, mean, doesn't like people unless they can be useful to her, and she lived alone until Mig's family showed up.

After being with their Aunt for a while they started to notice strange things about her. Kids will be kids and they eventually figure out that their aunt isn't just a mean old hag. She's a mean old witch and tends to turn any threat into an animal. Including Mig's brother Cris, who was turned into a wolf after confronting Aunt Maria for being a witch. No need to worry he turns back to his original form eventually.

I believe that the witch is slowly making a comeback on the horror scene. They are starting to just exhaust zombies, vampires and werewolves. By doing this the genre is slowly starting to die in my opinion. There is only so much you can do to the point ridiculous failure. Take Sharknado for example. That is one of the most stupid horror films I have ever seen. It is literally as the title states, a "Shark Tornado". They just need to delve back into the old horror and get some new inspiration. This is where I think that Witches have a chance to dominate the genre. I haven't seen a witch movie in Hollywood in  that was actually worth the eleven dollars to watch in a very long time. A movie that I have just recently seen that has any kind of witch in it was Hansel and Gretel, Witch Hunters. It had some pretty cool witches, and I would like to see even more. Hopefully they reintroduce them back into the horror scene. I want to see some epic battles of magic and nightmares.

The "New Weird."





I read Monster Island, and I really enjoyed it. It tells about a man named Dekalb, who has to go on a suicide mission in order to be reunited with his daughter. He is assigned to a group of soldiers, which are girls who range in ages eighteen to thirteen. However, they are not normal soldiers because they are trained in the art of killing the Undead. Yep, Zombies.

The setting takes place in a world that is ravaged by a horrible epidemic that brings the dead back to life. When they reanimate themselves they are not what you would call friendly. They come back with a hunger that cannot be sated by what we call food. The undead crave the life force that is found in human flesh. They will do whatever they can to try and quench their bloodlust.

Dekalb and the girls are assigned a mission to find Antiretrovirals(Drugs to help fight HIV), to try and save a woman known as Mama Halima. She is a Warlord who is in charge of keeping Somalia free of the epidemic. In exchange for the drugs, Dekalb's daughter will receive education,  food, shelter, and safety from the dying world. This is why Dekalb is so desperate and willing to do this mission. He just wants to get back to his daughter.

This is where Gary comes in. He is Undead, but he is not like the others. He wasn't bitten or infected by the epidemic. He made himself into one of the undead by using his knowledge as a premed student. Dekalb and the girls come across Gary and decide to take him with them. This might be the key to their survival.

The "New Weird" is something that isn't quite common. Gary is the new weird in this book. Never before in any of the zombie books that I have read was there a talking and smart zombie. Gary is considered the "Smartest dead man in the world." This is why it is so different from the usual zombie books. Gary is able to think for himself and try to ignore his hunger and control the living dead!?...

The idea of "New Weird" is to combine something irrational with rational. It is to in my opinion try to lead you astray from your usual thoughts about certain things. In this book I constantly went back and forth with trying to define Horror from the Supernatural.

All in all I like the aspect of second guessing how the book plays out in the end. The New Weird definitely piques my interest and I think this will steadily start to change the Horror genre.

The Kwaidan



While reading all of these stories my perceptions and expectations of horror were thrown off. As I was reading all of these I noticed that it was very different from the western cultures' view on horror. In western horror, the horror genre typically has a fight between good and evil. An example would be in Werewolf horror books or movies. The story centers around a person who either has a strange or dangerous meeting with an animal(wolf or rabid canine), and then starts to lose themselves to a horrid animalistic change. This results in the person having to gain control of their usual self(good) and the beastly urges(evil).

However, I noticed that in the stories there seems to be no battle between good and evil. Instead it is the influence of otherworldly beings, spirits. These spirits appear to be frightening, but by the end of the story it leaves you in a kind of "cliff hanger", which is left for us to contemplate and decide. This is a completely different approach from western horror and I find it more appealing to read. The sense of not knowing what will happen next makes me more interested.

Another thing I noticed that was different from western horror is that the influence of nature and folklore. Within each of the stories, nature was tied to each of the otherworldly phenomena. It was connected by local legends that were relevant to their own culture. I thought this was very engaging and also told you how influential and connected it is to Chinese/Japanese culture. I had previous knowledge of some of the customs of the Chinese and Japanese culture. One of them was the belief that peoples' souls could be reborn in nature or in another time. So when someone had died, it was believed that they would be reincarnated as a plant, animal, or human being.

All in all the stories were great reads. They made me think about how much different they are compared to western horror. It makes you think about how much that ones culture and beliefs play an important role. It kind of makes you as, "does the battle of good and evil really matter?."