A Magical Escape

The story begins with Prospero and the Man in the Grey Suit starting a game. We don’t know the rules, we don’t know when it will start and we don’t even know both of the players. All we know for sure is that it is a game played with magic.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern is one of the most incredible books I have ever read. It was published in 2011 and I cannot believe that I waited until now to read it. For four years I missed out on unbelievable imagination, beautiful writing and a storyline that keeps you hooked until the very last word.

Picture sourced from here.

Zoo is un-bear-able (ha ha get it? Animal puns!)

Recently, a new TV show called Zoo premiered in the US. It is based on the James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge book of the same name. I have been somewhat hooked on the show, despite the fact that I find it wildly unlikely that anything like its plot line would ever happen. So I decided to read the book and see if it could give me more clarity on the apocalypse-by-animal angle.

The answer is no. I was not convinced. Actually, I think I’m enjoying the show more than the book; which is saying something since so far the only similarities I’ve managed to find are the main character’s name and a lion attack in Botswana. Aside from that, the show has done it’s own thing completely (so far).

This might turn into a rant, so prepare yourselves for spoilers.

Image sourced from here.

Take a trip to the Scottish highlands

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon was published 25 years ago, before I was even born, but has recently become popular again due to a new hit TV show based on the book. Outlander was the first in a series of 8 books, the most recent of which was published in 2014.

As usual, I could not bear the thought of watching the on screen version before reading the book, and so I delved into it despite my heavy workload. This was before my exams at the end of last year and I didn’t manage to get more than halfway before studying had to take preference. Plus the show (which I had managed to keep ahead of while reading) hit a mid-season break, which meant that I had a few months to get around to finishing the book before the show started off again.

I then forgot about the book until spotting articles all over my Facebook timeline proclaiming that the midseason break of Outlander the TV show was over. I couldn’t believe that I had put down such a brilliant book for so long and immediately dug it out again. It took me less than 2 days to finish, even with lectures to attend.

So what makes this book so brilliant? There are a lot of contributing factors – timetravel, a female heroine, a hot Scottish bloke…and quite a lot of sex.

Image sourced from http://roberthuntstudio.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Robert_Hunt_illustration_gabaldon.jpg

Better than Lord of the Rings

I’m about to make a bold statement.

Last year, in my English 3 class, we had an elective called British Modern Fantasy, and in it we studied The Lord of the Rings saga (it’s not a trilogy). I loved it of course; it is pretty difficult not to love Tolkien. However, there is a certain similar set of books which I personally think are better than The Lord of the Rings.

The books I’m talking about are the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. The first book is called Eragon  and I read it for the first time when I was about 12-years-old. The series grew to be extremely popular among young adults as the second (Eldest) and third (Brisingr) books were released. There was a three year wait between each book, which meant that by the time the final book (Inheritance) was released I was almost 18, and I have to say that I was in no way patient in each of those three year gaps.

I had such conviction during the Christmas holidays that I was going to sit down and read every book on my list that I had been wanting to read but had not gotten around to. This failed miserably. I spotted Eragon on my bookshelf one day towards the end of the holiday and I couldn’t restrain myself from plucking it off the shelf and starting to read it. Before I knew it, I was just as engrossed in the series as I had been back in high school. I sat and read them at every spare moment. I sped through them at a pace that alarmed even me, especially since the entire cycle consists of about 2 779 pages. I realised with only 4 days to go in my holiday that I still had the whole of Inheritance to read. I knew that I couldn’t take it back to Rhodes with me because 860 pages was a few too many to fit into my carryon bag. Let’s just say I may not have spent as much time with my family as I should have in those last few days. (I did manage to finish it, in case you were wondering).

Paper Towns

I have been taking advantage of finally having some spare time this holiday and I sat down to read Paper Towns by John Green. I have been wanting to read more of his books since I read both Looking for Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars. I was quite hesitant when I started this book, because (not surprisingly) I had expectations of being left with tears streaming down my face and no sense of fulfilment.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not left with a soul-crushing sadness, but rather a sense of anticlimax. I thought the book was beautifully written (as are all of Green’s other books) and I was captivated from beginning to end.

I enjoyed the character of Quentin at the beginning of the book. He is a shy, somewhat nerdy, young man. He is well-adjusted (thanks to his therapist parents) and he knows what he wants to do with his life. He has good friends and good grades. The only wrench in the works is Margo Roth Spiegelman. Margo has been Quentin’s neighbour since they were two-years-old and he has been in love with her for most of his life. Margo is wild, beautiful, and full of mystery and adventure. She is a member of the popular crowd (and Quentin is definitely not) until one day she catches her boyfriend cheating on her with her friend. That night, she knocks on Quentin’s window and takes him on an all-night adventure of revenge and some vaguely illegal activities. The next morning she is gone. She ran away, taking her car and leaving only a few small clues for Quentin to use to figure out where she may have gone.

The (A)Maze(ing) Runner

I have noticed recently that there is a huge uproar about an upcoming movie, which is based on a book called The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I’m a big fan of Dylan O’Brien, the actor playing the main character, which meant that I would have no choice but to see the movie, which further meant that I had to read the book before doing so.

I feel that watching the movie before reading the book is cheating; it ruins the book because it gives you preconceived ideas of what things look like instead of letting your imagination do the work. Even just knowing who is playing the main characters in the movie affected the way that I read the book, which is always a downer for me. I prefer watching a movie when I have read the book beforehand – it gives me a strange sense of power, like I’m psychic because I know what is about to happen. It also always causes a lot of unexpected emotions; I tend to get a bit too upset if the movie deviates in any way from the book.

This weekend I didn’t have too many plans, so I took a break from my (thriving) social life and sat down to read the first book of the series. The Maze Runner was easy to get into right from the first page. It dumps you into the glade along with Thomas and gives you no more information than he himself knows, which is literally just his name. This kind of book both appeals to me and frustrates me. I love the intrigue of not knowing what is happening or why it is happening, but at the same time I am desperate for answers. Who put Thomas in the Glade? Why can’t he remember anything? Why are there no girls? It was question on top of question from the beginning to the end. However, it was also packed with excitement and adventure. There was a constant sense of danger and confusion as Thomas managed to end up in the middle of every perilous situation. It becomes clear pretty quickly that Thomas and Theresa, the girl who appears in the Glade soon after him (answering one of my questions, and then adding about a million more), are catalysts in the big picture and that they hold the key to escaping from the huge stone Maze that is holding them all prisoner.