Absolutely fantastic series !!
The 3 books in the series are Sanctus, The Key, and The Tower.
Each book in the series is a complete novel unto itself, and has a slightly different focus on the overall theme...to be more precise, the first book, Sanctus focuses on ancient myths and legends, the second book, The Key focuses on the modern world, and the third book, The Tower, focuses on cutting-edge astronomy !!
The book has a religious slant, as well as a scientific one, and I definitely plan to reread, and probably purchase the whole series !!
And the ending is a complete surprise !!
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh
I absolutely loved this book !!! The setting is the near-future, and life in the big cities is divided into High Town, Low Town and Undertown...
High Town is where all the rich live - society is divided into the rich and the poor - and it's called "High Town" because it is actually an elevated level above Low Town, which is on ground-level...
If you live in High Town, then you have freezing insurance - upon your death you will be cryofrozen for 1000 years or so, depending on your particular insurance policy, and you can be revived as many times as you can afford, altho' each revival becomes more difficult...
Generally, if you don't have freezing insurance, when you die you are just cremated...however, if according to an "Attractiveness" chart, if you score high enough, then you are sent to the "Dating Center" of the cryo facility, and you can "date" rich men...
To "date" someone in the Dating Center, a man pays $9,000 for a 5-minute visit, and you, the "datee" are partially revived - just your face - and an air tube is activated so that you can speak in a rough mechanical voice - and if the man "dating" you decides he wants to marry you, then he will pay for your revival, including any medical issues (often the women were in accidents), and you must sign a life-long marriage contract...
The "datees" were humorously called "Bridesicles" because they were frozen like a Popsicle, and could only be revived if they were chosen to be a bride !!!
The story revolves around Rob, who has just broken up with Lorelei and ends up marrying Winter, a Bridesicle ; Nathan, who has just broken up with Winter (prior to her death) and subsequently has a brief romance with Lorelei ; and Veronika who moons for Nathan and then falls in love with Lycan...
This novel raises a lot of questions about the meaning of life, and what love really is...
High Town is where all the rich live - society is divided into the rich and the poor - and it's called "High Town" because it is actually an elevated level above Low Town, which is on ground-level...
If you live in High Town, then you have freezing insurance - upon your death you will be cryofrozen for 1000 years or so, depending on your particular insurance policy, and you can be revived as many times as you can afford, altho' each revival becomes more difficult...
Generally, if you don't have freezing insurance, when you die you are just cremated...however, if according to an "Attractiveness" chart, if you score high enough, then you are sent to the "Dating Center" of the cryo facility, and you can "date" rich men...
To "date" someone in the Dating Center, a man pays $9,000 for a 5-minute visit, and you, the "datee" are partially revived - just your face - and an air tube is activated so that you can speak in a rough mechanical voice - and if the man "dating" you decides he wants to marry you, then he will pay for your revival, including any medical issues (often the women were in accidents), and you must sign a life-long marriage contract...
The "datees" were humorously called "Bridesicles" because they were frozen like a Popsicle, and could only be revived if they were chosen to be a bride !!!
The story revolves around Rob, who has just broken up with Lorelei and ends up marrying Winter, a Bridesicle ; Nathan, who has just broken up with Winter (prior to her death) and subsequently has a brief romance with Lorelei ; and Veronika who moons for Nathan and then falls in love with Lycan...
This novel raises a lot of questions about the meaning of life, and what love really is...
Sunday, September 8, 2013
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I am about half finished reading this novel, and not sure if I will continue...I began this book because I found out there was a NovelTalk about it this month, and since Kyle is now home from Afghanistan, I thought I could tolerate it...
But, alas, it appears I was wrong...I don't like the Afghani people, and reading this book makes me dislike them even more !!!
Everything that I've heard or read or noticed about the people of Afghanistan seems to imply that as a group they are ignorant and uncaring...
Even in this novel, in the scene where the protagonist's "brother" is being brutally raped by a gang of well-known neighborhood boys, the protagonist pretends he doesn't see, and runs and hides, and cares only about his own welfare...I write "brother" in quotation marks because the "brother" is in fact the protagonist's half-brother, whom the father refuses to acknowledge and after he was conceived the woman was forced to marry the father's servant, and the "brother" was raised as a servant...
I had a patient from Afghanistan, and the whole family was the most uncaring, self-centered group of people I had ever met...
But, alas, it appears I was wrong...I don't like the Afghani people, and reading this book makes me dislike them even more !!!
Everything that I've heard or read or noticed about the people of Afghanistan seems to imply that as a group they are ignorant and uncaring...
Even in this novel, in the scene where the protagonist's "brother" is being brutally raped by a gang of well-known neighborhood boys, the protagonist pretends he doesn't see, and runs and hides, and cares only about his own welfare...I write "brother" in quotation marks because the "brother" is in fact the protagonist's half-brother, whom the father refuses to acknowledge and after he was conceived the woman was forced to marry the father's servant, and the "brother" was raised as a servant...
I had a patient from Afghanistan, and the whole family was the most uncaring, self-centered group of people I had ever met...
Ever After by Kim Harrison
Ever After is the last book in the "Hollows" series, and boy, did it end with a lot of loose ends !!! Hoping her publisher reconsiders and approves another book !!
A lot of things are explained in this book however, for instance, in the Hollows world, the origin of the demons, gargoyles & witches, what happened between the demons and the elves, and how the ever after was created, how the vampires really live and what their collective dream is, and my favorite part, lots of budding romances !!!
Tho' there IS lots of magic-slinging, the good guys win the day by setting aside their prejudices and cooperating, and thinking logically about solutions :>)
A lot of things are explained in this book however, for instance, in the Hollows world, the origin of the demons, gargoyles & witches, what happened between the demons and the elves, and how the ever after was created, how the vampires really live and what their collective dream is, and my favorite part, lots of budding romances !!!
Tho' there IS lots of magic-slinging, the good guys win the day by setting aside their prejudices and cooperating, and thinking logically about solutions :>)
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