If there's one thing that stands out to me about Douglas Adams, it's his ability to make the universe seem utterly attainable. One could say that his literary strength is the scope of his imagination and the passages he creates are fantastic, wondrous, and mind expanding. I think his skill lies in making the every day activities of mundane life seem rife with charm, magic, and deeper meaning... he makes the impossibilities of the universe fully tangible. I first read his novel Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy when I was in high school, and I remember being astounded by how bizarre his ideas were but how much sense they made to me nonetheless. His characters are flawed in the best sense - they are not great heroes but rather humble ones who are often thrown in the path of adversity, tragedy, and most often the paths of other strange characters who sweep them up into something that truly has nothing to do with them but once they're in, they don't have much choice in the matter... I suppose you could say that I'm a bit of a Douglas Adams fangirl. I celebrate Towel Day two days before my birthday. I have the oldest copies of his novels and I can't bear to replace them with newer versions, which is crazy considering I've got three different copies of The Picture Of Dorian Gray. This book, however, drove me nuts. I won't lie, I don't like Dirk Gently. I think he's one of the most annoying main characters I've ever come across. It's lucky he's so damn eccentric that he manages to keep your interest with his completely sideways approach to everything and everyone. He's a tangential weirdo. Perhaps Adams manages to get around his prickly "hero" by making sure that the Gently novels are written from the view of another character to which the events of the story inexplicably occur. This particular novel does a little bit of point of view sharing - we do experience chapters specifically from Dirk, from the main character Richard, an "Electric Monk" whose sole purpose in life is to believe in things. One character is a ghost. Despite a look in from the perspective of each character involved at some point or other, the events of the story are utterly bewildering As annoying or helpless as some of the characters are, the writing itself is brilliant... and also annoying? I was taken on a journey that I had no inkling of what the outcome might be. The resolution came suddenly in the last five pages and somehow raised more questions than it had answered, ending of course, with Dirk Gently continuing to be a frustrating jerk to his clients. Adams gets me with imagery though.
"In the darkness, the red telephone receiver slipped and slid fitfully back across the desk. If anybody had been there to see it they might just have discerned a shape that moved it. It shone only very faintly, less than would the hands of a luminous watch. It seemed more as if the darkness around it was just that much darker and the ghostly shape sat within it like thickened scar tissue beneath the surface of night." The way that he writes insane narratives about mostly normal people or weaving mundane circumstance with the edges of the unnatural, supernatural or science fiction worlds seems to be a winning combination for him. It sure gets me every time. No matter how annoying I found Dirk, I kept picking up the book, I kept reading it on breaks at work, on the train home, stayed up late one night to finish a few more chapters. HOW YOU DO THIS ADAMS? I can only speculate about how I think my brain is drawn to certain writing styles, but I've got another couple of his books that I haven't read and I'm in a phase with reading where I find it difficult to choose what to go for next. Do I pick up the next book because the first was a great read, or do I save it because once I've read it I can never experience it for the first time twice? I still haven't read Jane Eyre, the final Skullduggery Pleasant book, Wuthering Heights or The Handmaids Tale. These are books I'm desperate to have experienced not because I hold them in lofty regard but because I've heard consistently how they can effect their readers. Maybe not so much Skulduggery Pleasant, that's a bit of a weird young adult fantasy novel, but I'm still saving the end of the series because of reasons I surely cant even admit to myself. Pick up one of your oldest To Be Read books and finish it. It will be rewarding in ways you can't begin to imagine, or even if it's shit, you'll have finished something you told yourself you wanted to do a long time ago and you can bask in that self satisfaction all you like. Final verdict - 7 out of 10 because Dirk was so damn annoying.
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If you are new to the world of Shadowhunters, the easiest way to introduce you is to simply say all the stories are true. By stories, I mean the tales of the fantasy world - fairies, demons, magic, werewolves and vampires. These all exist in the world of the Shadowhunters, humans with angel blood, who live and die to protect the world from demonic forces and co-exist with Downworlders, the aforementioned beasties or non-mundane beings, that populate the earth. First, Cassandra Clare wrote a series of six books called The Mortal Instruments, set in relatively modern New York circa 2007 based around a young Shadowhunter named Clary Fairchild who has had her nature hidden from her all her life and discovers her true lineage in a dangerous series of events that change her life forever. A second series was released as a prequel set in the 1800's following the lives of Clary's ancestors and several of the related Shadowhunter families. It seems to me that Cassandra Clare likes to bounce around through time a fair bit, because her next release, The Dark Artifices, is set five years after the events of The Mortal Instruments and word on the internet is that another prequel series will be released that takes place between Infernal Devices and TMI. So for those who care to know, it goes as follows: *Infernal Devices (3 books published) *The Last Hours (unpublished) *The Mortal Instruments (6 books published) *The Dark Artifices (1 book published, 2 to go) I have just finished book one of Infernal Devices: Lady Midnight. (Look at that cover art, I do love a good Cassandra Clare cover.) The world of Shadowhunters is conceptually rich and not overbearing when it comes to overdone ideas - the werewolves make up modern day packs, vampires equate to the mafia, fairies are beautifully traditional in the Seelie/Unseelie vein and The Wild Hunt even gets a look in. Shadowhunters have their own government, traditions and magic, which is passed down through angelic lore and blood. Cities have their own High Warlocks... there are a thousand ways to get yourself into trouble, and the young protagonists always find a few interesting things to get caught up in. The main character of Lady Midnight is Emma Carstairs, a descendant of characters we are familiar with from Infernal Devices, and a tough Shadowhunter who harbors an obsession with the circumstances surrounding her parents death. Death is no stranger to Shadowhunters, I mean, hunting demons for a job brooks casualties, but Emma suspects there is much more it than the simple explanation she is given. There is so much going on in her life and in the lives of Shadowhunters following the catastrophic events of TMI that new laws have been put in place which makes her investigation a matter that must be kept quiet, except with those she trusts the most. This is a young adult novel... There is angst. There is teen heartbreak. In fact, heartbreak seems to be something that Clare does very well. She weaves the most beautiful of love stories and has a knack for being able to either completely destroy them and build them back up from impossibility, or leaves the results so ambiguous you end up racing out to buy the next novel with feverish desire to see how the hell these young people are going to resolve their problems. TMI sees two young people break down each others walls and fall for each other only to be manipulated into believing they are SIBLINGS (SPOILER: This is super not true and was designed for maximum mind fuckery, not only of the readers but the characters themselves). What the hell, man? Her stories aren't all romance though, the balance is well maintained between romance, mystery, and action. Each of the female leads I've encountered are complicated, strong, weak in some ways and very human despite their angelic blood (or warlock blood, as is the case with Tessa Gray). They carry themselves, the allow themselves to be saved when needed, and they use whatever they have the power to employ in their searches for truth, for answers, for ways to save the people they love. In Emma's case, there are a lot of people she loves. Her parabatai Julian has a big family and since both of them are orphans after the events of TMI, (his older siblings are half fairy an have been exiled from their lives as Shadowhunters due to the role the fae people played) they are fiercely protective of each other and their huge weird Shadowhunter family made of artists and warriors and flawed humans. Their uncle is hiding the magical equivalent of alzheimers from the family and Julian as the present eldest is basically running the institute so his family can stay together and thrive together. It's wonderful, the show of diversity, the representation of real characters. Julians younger brother is quiet, intense, very literal, uncomfortable with eye contact, fiercely smart and tech savvy. He totally comes through to save the day at one point. Emma's best friend is a Mexican Shadowhunter - every Shadowhunter at some point spends time in a different city to see how their Institute operates, how missions are run, how other hunters live their day to day lives. She comes to the LA Institute with a past that ends up, while lending a very annoying sense of secrecy, saving the day as well. Cassandra Clare may not be the most incredible writer on the planet and I'm sure there are a lot of people who think Young Adult novels are pointless, but I find so much value in the representation of young people struggling to find out who they are and where they belong in the world, no matter what bizarre universe you call your home. I will continue to buy her books and continue to recommend them to people as I find a lot of satisfaction in them. Fantasy is totally my jam and while I also love re-tellings, this universe crams those two genres together in a way I love. Rating - I'd say a 7.5 out of 10 This is a story that has been shrouded in controversy from the very beginning of it's life as a stage play. The casting itself... Let's not get into it - it's not that important in terms of the actual script. As far as a book goes, technically this is a play, but I have been avoiding starting it for a while as I've been afraid to finish it. I didn't want the stories from the Harry Potter universe to end. This is a common sentiment among Potterheads, but since the film Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them came out, I made a promise to myself to put this on the list for immediate reading. I received it as a gift from my brother for Christmas 2016 and it's about time I got to it. I've also avoided writing the review for this. I finished it maybe a month ago... I was not very impressed. The first few pages were absolutely exhilarating, not because it starts out in a fast paced action packed kind of way, but because I was plunged back into the world of very familiar friends. It's Harry and his kids, Harry and Ginny, the Hogwarts Express... For the few handful of pages it's a trip down memory lane, thick with nostalgia. Then imagine, if you will, the focus lifts from Harry and the usual trio and settles gently on his son and the next generation of the famous three. The first thing that really strikes me about the characters is that Albus Potter is a bit of a dick and Scorpius Malfoy is a sweet little nerd-boy. I'm not sure how to feel about this honestly, but hi jinks ensue.
The characters feel forced and not fleshed out, the trio is weaker than we remember them, and Ron Weasley is a bumbling idiot... it's a constant source of irritation that he's reduced to comic relief, though Hermione emerging as the freaking MINISTER FOR MAGIC feels just right. The standout part of it all is the time travel, but even that seems a little messy. These kids spend most of the play messing things up along the time line of The Goblet Of Fire, getting an idea into their heads that they need to save Cedric Diggory from death with the "help" of Amos Diggory's niece. SPOILER: Amos Diggory didn't have a niece. It's Voldemorts daughter. What? She wants to be reunited with dear old dad and prevent his death, and thanks to a little loophole in time manipulation, they create several alternate realities in which Umbridge, Snape and a seriously evil Hermione make an appearance. Professor McGonagal turns up at once point to sass everyone out. Eventually, the entire original gang, their kids, and Delphini (the child of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange?!) turn up in Godrics Hollow on the eve of James and Lily's death. Harry is a terrified father, Ginny plays the role of exasperated, staunch supporter, Albus eventually stops being a douche at the very last second and Draco Malfoy appears at first just how we remember him, but they've written such a sorrowful backstory for him since the events of Deathly Hallows that my heart goes out to the poor guy. Again, let's not talk about what they did to Ron. It was not cool. I knew this wasn't going to be a spoiler free write up but I wont entirely spoil the end for you if you haven't read it. In any case, the writing itself wasn't bad - I did feel fully immersed while reading and despite it being riddled with plot holes and very unsatisfying character development, it was not the worst thing I've ever picked up. I'd really only recommend this to people who have spent a lot of time in the wizarding world. A lot of the tiny details, careful nods to hardcore fans, I think they're necessary for the story to work. Without them it's just a really weird series of events that hurtle along to an inevitably strange end. Part of me wishes I had never read it, but seeing as it was based on a story by J.K. Rowling, I can almost push this to the portion of my mind that deals with non-canon fan fiction and forget about it. Here's a better idea - Harry as an Auror. Do that. It would have been way better. I give it a 4 out of 10 Pictured below: Albus Potter - Little Bitch & Scorpius Malfoy - Actual Sweetheart |
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