I am back (again).

Was ups everyone!

Everyone?

Where are you?

Hello? Is anybody here?

What? You left because I hadn’t upload anything in months?

Well I have to admit, in your place I would do the same.

The previous months were pretty chaotic for me, I was studding to for the National Exams of Greece ( some test that shows in what university/institute you may go and study) and that was taking a large part of my time, thankfully I have put it behind me and now I wait to see the fruits of my work.

In the following weeks I will start to upload a some finished stories and maybe a review or two.

I will in other words resurrect my blog.

Sorry for keeping you waiting.

Fell free to give me any comment about my work, positive comments are welcomed, criticism is wanted, the harsher the better.

Hoping to see you around.

Ιστορίες του Σαμάνου μέρος 1ο

Η νύχτα ήταν προχωρημένη και μόνο οι μεγάλοι ήταν ξύπνιοι, καθισμένοι γύρο από τις φωτιές. Από πάνω τους ο ουρανός, καθαρός, ξάστερος με ένα φεγγάρι να ρίχνει άπλετο φως πάνω στην κοιλάδα που είχαν τις σκηνές τους.

Πολλές μικρές εστίες ήταν αναμμένες στο κεντρικό άνοιγμα ανάμεσα στις σκηνές που είχε αφεθεί έτσι επίτηδες κενό. Κάθε οικογένεια και παρέα είχε την δική της φωτιά, όλες σε αρκετή απόσταση η μία από την άλλη ώστε να δίνει την αίσθηση της απομόνωσης αλλά και αρκετά κοντά ώστε αν κοίταζες από ψηλά φαινόντουσαν σαν πυγολαμπίδες μαζεμένες.

Κάθε τόσο σηκώνονταν κάποιος και πήγαινε να χαιρετήσει σε μια άλλη φωτιά, μιαν άλλη παρέα. Το καλοδεχόντουσαν και του προσφέρανε χυμό ή νερό και πίτες με κρέας και λίπος. Αυτός δέχονταν να δοκιμάσει λίγο από ευγένεια και κάθονταν μαζί τους και αντάλλασαν νέα και χαμόγελα.

Χαλαρές συζητήσεις ανάμεσα στους άντρες, για το κυνήγι, το νερό, τις κινήσεις των κοπαδιών. γέλια για την βιασύνη των νεαρών πολεμιστών να αποδείξουν την αξία τους στο κυνήγι και κοκκίνισμα από ντροπή των υποκείμενων στις ειρωνείες αλλά χωρίς κάκιασμα μιας και ήξεραν ότι τα σχόλια ήταν καλοπροαίρετα.

Οι γυναίκες καθόντουσαν δίπλα στους άντρες τους ή κοντά στην οικογένεια τους, συζητούσαν τα δικά τους θέματα, για τα παιδιά, για το μαγείρεμα και το πάστωμα. Που και που τραγούδαγαν σιγανά και σιωπή απλώνονταν στους γύρο καθώς αυτοί προσπαθούσαν να ακούσουν.

Σε μία φωτιά μόνο επικρατούσε ησυχία, γύρο αυτής καθόντουσαν πρόσωπα σοβαρά, στιγματισμένα από τα χρόνια , τις αρρώστιες και τις έγνοιες. Ήταν οι γυρεότεροι και οι σπουδαιότεροι της φυλής. Ανάμεσα τους σε τιμητική φυσικά θέση ο αρχηγός και ο γέρος σαμάνος, κοίταζαν όλοι σιωπηλά την φωτιά λες και προσπαθούσαν να βρουν  απαντήσεις μέσα στις φλόγες. Μια πίπα μεγάλη και στολισμένη γύριζε με αργούς ρυθμούς αναμεταξύ τους και τα παιδιά του αρχηγού, τα μόνα που ήταν ξύπνια τέτοια ώρα στο χωριό, γεμίζανε με δυνατό ποτό τα ποτήρια τους και φρόντιζαν να τα κρατάνε γεμάτα.

Όταν σηκώθηκε ο σαμάνος ησυχία απλώθηκε σε όλες τις φωτιές και όλα τα βλέμματα εκτός των γυρεών στράφηκαν πάνω του. άρχισε να μιλά και η φωνή του ήταν αργή και βαριά, κάθε λέξη του ζυγισμένη και προσεγμένη. Δεν μίλαγε σε έναν αλλά σε όλους και τα λόγια του έφταναν μακριά μέσα στην ησυχία της νύχτας.

Χρόνια πριν, όταν ο προπάππους του προπάππου μου και ο δικός του ακόμα προπάππους δεν είχαν ακόμα γεννηθεί. Ήταν ίδει παλιά στη φυλή μας η  ιστορία του Παρακαλάμ του Δυνατού. Ενός κυνηγού άφταστου στην τέχνη του. Λέγετε ότι μόνος του κυνηγούσε ζαρκάδια, τα κυνήγαγε με τα πόδια του μόνο, τρέχοντας και τα σκότωνε με τα χέρια του, όχι τα γέρικα και αργά, άρρωστα ζαρκάδια, αλλά τα δυνατά, τα γρήγορα, τους αρχηγούς. Μεγάλες χαρές έφερνε στην φυλή μας και πολύ πλούτο, αλλά αλίμονο μέσα στην αλαζονεία του πρόσβαλε τους θεούς. Έκανε αυτό που κανείς κυνηγός δεν έκανε ποτέ και έκτοτε κανείς δεν δοκίμασε να κάνει. Αποφάσισε να κυνηγήσει το Ένα Ζαρκάδι την θέα του βοσκότοπου. Όλοι ξέρουν ότι είναι εγχείρημα αδύνατο μιας και το Ένα Ζαρκάδι δεν μπορεί να το δεί ποτέ κανείς παρά με την άκρη του ματιού του της στιγμές του ημίφωτος, γιατί το Ένα Ζαρκάδι γίνεται λευκό τη μέρα και πετά στα σύννεφα, και μαύρο τη νύχτα και βόσκει στην γη. Μπορεί δε να αλλάξει τις μορφές του, σε βίσονα, πούμα και λύκο και όλα τα ζώα του βοσκότοπου, ακόμα και αρκούδα μπορεί να γίνει και ουέ στον κυνηγό που θα το έχει παγιδέψει γιατί από αυτόν τίποτα δεν θα μείνει. Έλεγε όμως ο Παρακαλάμ μέσα στην περηφάνια του «Τα ζώα του βοσκότοπου όλα τα έχω κυνηγήσει και τα έχω νικήσει, τον πονηρό λύκο και το γρήγορο ζαρκάδι, το μανιασμένο πούμα και την τρομερή αρκούδα, όλα αυτά στολίζουν την σκηνή μου με τα δόντια τους, τη να φοβηθώ από αυτό το Ζαρκάδι;» και όλο γέλαγε με τα λόγια του και κανείς δεν τολμούσε να του μιλήσει γιατί ήταν στον θυμό και το μαχαίρι γρήγορος. Ο σαμάνος είδε τον κίνδυνο να επέλθει η οργή των θεών για την ύβρη και συγκάλεσε την φυλή και αποφασίσανε να διωχτεί από την φυλή και να μην επιστρέψει αν δεν εκπληρώσει τον κομπασμό του.

Έτσι λοιπόν με ένα μαχαίρι και νερό για μια μέρα, όπως ήταν ο νόμος, διώχτηκε από το χωριό. Δεν είχε φόβο στην καρδιά του. η στέπα δεν του ήταν άγνωστη. Κυνήγησε και βρήκε τροφή, ακολούθησε τα χνάρια ζώων και βρήκε νερό και για πέντε μέρες δεν έκανε τίποτα άλλο από τα απολύτως απαραίτητα για την επιβίωσή του. τον υπόλοιπο του χρόνο σκεφτόντανε. Ούτε λέξη δεν βγήκε από το στόμα του και την έκτη μέρα σηκώθηκε και κατευθύνθηκε προς τα πύρινα όροι την κατοικία του οργισμένου θεού.

Κανείς δεν ξέρει με σιγουριά τι έκανε ο Παρακαλάμ στα βουνά αυτά, που τίποτε δεν επιβιώνει. Άλλοι λένε ότι βρήκε την κατοικία του θεού και του έκλεψε όπλα, άλλοι ότι έκανε θυσίες στον θεό και κέρδισε την εύνοιά του λίγοι βλάσφημοι λένε ότι συμμάχησε με τους δαίμονες της άμμου και μαζί τους σκότωσε τον θεό του βουνού. Ένα είναι το σίγουρο. Δεν επέστρεψε στην κοιλάδα για πάνω από τρία καλοκαίρια και η φυλή τον νόμισε νεκρό.

Ήταν εποχή μεγάλης ξηρασίας όταν ξανακούσανε νέα του. το λιβάδι υπέφερε τότε. Το κυνήγι είχε δυσκολέψει και ο χειμώνας θα ήταν δύσκολος. Νέα έφτασαν στα αφτιά του σαμάνου τότε ότι ο εξόριστος είχε επιστρέψει στο λιβάδι. Τον είχαν δει στο λόφο του Ολ που όπως ξέρετε βρίσκεται στο κέντρο του λιβαδιού και εκεί ο μεγάλος πατριάρχης μας είχε κλείσει την συμφωνία για την διαμονή μας στο λιβάδι με τον θεό του λιβαδιού.

Πήγε και τον είδε να κάθεται εκεί, σιωπηλός, με τα μάτια του κλειστά να διαλογίζεται με το πρόσωπο στρωμένο προς τον λοφίσκο. Κατάλαβε αμέσως ο σαμάνος ότι ο Παλαμάκ είχε διδαχτεί στον καιρό που έλειψε τα μυστικά των σαμάνων και ήταν πια και ο ίδιος ένας από τους εκλεκτούς των πνευμάτων, μάλιστα εκείνη την στιγμή είχε ενώσει το πνεύμα του με τον κόσμο των πνευμάτων του λιβαδιού. Φόβος τον διέτρεξε και πανικοβλήθηκε, γιατί αν ο Παλαμάκ σκότωνε τον πνεύμα του λιβαδιού τότε το λιβάδι θα καταστρέφονταν και μαζί του και η φυλή. Ο φόβος και η απελπισία οδήγησαν τα βήματα του. έκατσε απέναντί του στα γρασίδι και έβγαλε από τα πουγκιά του τα βότανα που του επέτρεπαν να ταξιδεύει στον κόσμο των πνευμάτων και τα μάσησε. Δεν πέρασε λεπτό και βρέθηκε στον κόσμο τον πνευμάτων του λιβαδιού. Το θέμα ως συνήθως τον έκανε να νιώσει ταπεινός και ασήμαντος με την επιβλητικότητά του. Άπλωσε την συνείδηση του για να βρει την παρουσία του Παλαμάκ, έγινε ένα με το γρασίδι αλλά δεν τον ένιωσε, ενώθηκε με το φεγγάρι αλλά δεν τον είδε, έψαξε όμως και τα σύννεφα και ήταν εκεί, κυνήγαγε το πνεύμα το λιβαδιού, τα ρούχα του ήταν σκισμένα σαν από νύχια σημάδι ότι είχε παλέψει ίδει με το πνεύμα και το είχε νικήσει, τώρα δεν θα ήταν η δύναμη αλλά η ταχύτητα που θα έκρινε τον νικητή. Πριν προλάβει να αντιδράσει ο σαμάνος ο Παλαμάκ πρόφτασε το ζαρκάδι και το έπιασε από το λαιμό, με μια απότομη στροφή του σώματος του σήκωσε το γιγάντιο ζώο στον αέρα και χωρίς να το αφήσει το έριξε στο έδαφος, κίνηση που θα είχε σκοτώσει κάθε ζώο, αλλά αυτό δεν ήταν κάθε συνηθισμένο ζώο ήταν ο θεός του λιβαδιού, το πρώτο μέσα στα πνεύματα του. Μίλησε λοιπόν στον κυνηγό και η φωνή του ήταν απαλή σαν το άγγιγμα του ανέμου στα φύλα των λουλουδιών. « Τι θες κυνηγέ, γιατί με καταδιώκεις; Εγώ δεν σε τάισα όταν πείναγες; Δεν σου έστειλα την βροχή να σε ξεδιψάσει; Γιατί θες τον χαμό μου;». «Σώπασε τα ψεύτικα λόγια σου πνεύμα, εσύ δεν μου έστειλες και την ξηρασία και την αρρώστια; Εσύ δεν μου στήλες την αρκούδα και τον λυσσασμένο λύκο; Όχι μην υποκρίνεσαι ότι παίρνεις το μέρος μου, μην φοβάσαι όμως για την ζωή σου γιατί δεν θα στην πάρω» σταμάτησε τότε ο Παλαμάκ και γύρισε τα μάτια του να κοιτάξει τον σαμάνο που τόση ώρα παρακολουθούσε σιωπηλώς και ανήμπορος να αντιδράσει. «Πήγαινε στο χωρίο και πες τους τη είδες, πές τους ότι σε τρία μερόνυχτα από τώρα ό Παλαμάκ θα επιστρέψει να πάρει την θέση του στην φυλή».

Ο γέρος σαμάνος σταμάτησε να μιλά και ησυχία διαδέχτηκε τα λόγια του. με εξίσου προσεκτικές κινήσεις ξανά πήρε την θέση του ανάμεσα στους σοφούς και τα μουρμουρητά ξανάρχισαν ανάμεσα στις φωτιές.

Μόνο η κόρη του αρχηγού τόλμησε να μιλήσει «και τη έγινε με τον Παλαμάκ; Έφερε πραγματικά το πνεύμα στο χωριό μας; Υπέταξε το λιβάδι;». Ο σαμάνος την κοίταξε με γλυκύτητα στο βλέμμα «Αυτό μικρή μου είναι ιστορία για μια άλλη μέρα».

Review on The Lies Of Locke Lamora.

 

That piece of art.

It’s rare that a book will inspire and motivate me to create a campaign around it. Truly rare. On of those books was “The Lies of Locke Lamora”, it made me want:

A)    create a dungeons and dragons adventure were cunning and deceit would be the best weapons of the players and

B)     Play a rouge.

As anyone that has done Dungeonmaster for more than five sessions knows that the first  of these things is impossible for a D&D setting, especially at the 3.5 edition that I am accustomed with. And anyone that knows me, knows that it will be a cold day in hell before I play a rouge.

This would be the lava pits at the said day.

As that first dream died I admitted to my self that this book had me enthralled. Because as it has been proved time and time again

And again, again again again….

I am a sucker for smartass protagonists and clever written stories, where not physical prowess but mental strength is shown to triumph.

For that reason I even followed this little devil for a while.

“The Lies of Locke Lamora” is all that and many things more.

The story.

We follow the adventures of a team of thieves called “The Gentlemen Bastards” as they try to rob blind one of the richest families in their city. Leader of that joyful company is none other than Locke Lamora, the most risk taking person in any book ever.

The characters.

Locke Lamora: To smart for his own good Locke was borne for no other reason than being a thief and lead the Gentlemen Bastards. He is a master of the art of lying and acting. The only persons that can truly trust him are the rest of the Bastards and his trust on them knows no limits.

Jean Tannen: The muscle of the team. You don’t want to face him with his “Wicked Sisters” at hand, actually you don’t want to face him at all, he is deadly. That been said don’t even for a second think that he is all muscle and no brains, he is probably way smarter than you.

Calo and Galdo: The twins that were sent as a plague to be set louse upon the wealthy.

Bug: The youngest of the bastards, he still apprentices but he shows great promise, he idealizes and imitates Locke which is a dangerous thing to do.

The rest of the world:

Scott Lynch has created a wonderful in her complexity city with interesting characters, from the slams to the shining palaces we see cunning minds and power plays that vary only slightly in their cruelty.

Things that I liked:

1)      The narrative. Especially the changes from the present to the past as we switch views from the current Locke to the kid he once was.

2)      The characters. They are presented excellently, we see their cruel side, their caring side, we can at the end relate to them.

3)      The story in its self. I can’t really say what I liked without spoiling the story but trust me on that, the story is great!

Things that I disliked:

1)      That there has to be a limit (of words, size, pages) to a book so awesome. What do I mean. Through the course of the story we are introduced to a plethora of interesting characters that don’t get enough time under the spotlight, characters that I would really liked to learn more about.

Conclusion:

You better read the shit out of this book, go to your nearest bookstore and buy it now! Or order it online whichever suits you best, but for god’s sake do it now!

And then there was war.

And so it came to pass, that mankind did wage war on the rest of the Universe for a billion years

The end (victorious as it was) was abrupt and as the philosophers had predicted, shocked the social order of mankind to its roots.

The first 5 years were easy enough for very one

The Soldiers just pretended that the war was still going on and that they had just a moment of peace, like if they were on leave.

The Technicians muttered to them selves that it didn’t mater if there was a war or not the machines still needed repairs as always.

The  Workers were affected even less as nothing changed for them, they still had their fields to work, mines to dig and cattle to worry about; there was nought but a faint glimmer of hope in their mind that maybe the could catch a break if help came from the other castes. Help never did come.

Ten years after the end of the war, mankind broke. Older concepts of ruling were brought to light and the absolute rule of the council was defied; riots broke across sectors occupied by the Worker caste but those were quickly put out by Soldiers eager for a fight.

At the end of the twelfth year the council that ruled longer than any other form of government anywhere was dismantled and each sector made its own ruling caste.

At the Fourteenth year the fires of war were rekindled; now mankind faced its oldest enemy: its own self. Somehow, it felt right. Some were puzzled why the old adversary didn’t choose this moment to attack. It iss my opinion that he foresaw the events that were to follow and chose to conserve his strength. After all, any blow that he would land- no mater how powerful that blow might have been- it would only reunite his enemies against him as it had so long ago.

Then the hundred darkest years followed, a war much more savage than anyone could  have ever imagined; men fought each other like beasts, all the experience at the art of war that was gathered over the past, the one bought with blood of trillions, the very own experience that led to their victory, was now a weapon that mankind against itself.

At the end of those years mankind decided to stop the battles, the end was abrupt (once again) the soldiers simply didn’t go to the battlefield. The technicians didn’t maintain the machines, the workers didn’t send food to the units.

Any leader that disagreed with the decision was rejected and driven away. A new council arouse but its role was loosely defined at best.

The Worker caste finally had the reprieve it needed and their numbers swelled as never before. A new war broke out, unlike any other.

Now the enemy was the land and victory was to shape it. Water fell over her and sweat and blood but it was not malignly spilled.

Men took pride at the fruit of their labors and the beauty of their work and art slowly found a way to resurface.

A new era began and the world felt a terror for man had made the impossible; he had changed its nature.

Armies weren’t trained like before, all the men were taught war in case it was needed but it was a different kind of war taught by different means. Treaties were signed and the old adversary became the new friend. It would take aeons for the old wound to heal but it what else were there to do.

So the last age began the age of man and his ascension to godhood, as it had been prophesied trillions year ago by an old man at Alpha Centauri long before the first airship left Old Earth’s atmosphere “The race of man will be the race of gods and they will make god of us all”.

Review of “The Redemption of Althalus”

Hi to all of you out there.

Today I present you a book that managed to give me a pleasant surprise.

When I picked that book a few years back from its shelf it was mostly out of curiosity for its cover.

Who said covers doesn’t mater?

I checked the back and took in consideration two factors before I purchase it.

1. It was a number 1 Bestseller.

2. (And most importantly) it was huge.

The Size (of the book) Ladies and Gents does mater.

The think with me is that I don’t read books, as a friend has put it “I sniff them”.

It’s frustrating when after a total of four hours of reading (some times less) I finish a book.

I feel cheated.

To increase my time of reading (and to save some money) I stop buying books in my native language(Greek) and started to read them in English a language that at the moment I wasn’t very good at (I have made an improvement since but as of many of you can see I have still a lot of ground to cover) 

Long story short, I have made a habit of buying big books or books that have a sequel or ten.

The Redemption of Althatlus as I said was a book like that, a big one. I started reading it and I sank in to that special time flow that we sink when we do something enjoyable. After I returned I discover that I hadn’t cover that much of the book one eighth perhaps but it had felt like I was reading it for ages.

That’s when I realized something about that timeline I was in a while ago.

It was relative to what happened in the book. Or to be more precise how many actions had happen.

I have read big book that dragged on and on and found my self skipping pages to get to a place that something actually happens or something relative to the story is being said.

Examples: The genealogies at the books of Tolkin, usually every third sex scene at the books of Anita Blake, various other things that are currently at the trashcan of my memory and I want go there to retrieve them.

There is a trashcan in there. It must be below that Hentai pile at the left.

Fun fact: the books of Anita Blake aren’t that big to begin with.

Those are extreme examples but it think they get the point thru.

While I read “The Redemption of Althalus” I never skipped a page, something was always going on. Be it action, or an interesting dialog, nice scenery or a good joke. Also known as those things that make a book look great.

Some words for the book now.

Writer/es

 David Eddings and his wife Leigh Eddings.

 

Main Characters

Althalus: a thief, a liar and occasional murderer. Also the most lucky person ever to be born. He solves his problems with quick wits and a occasionally a quick dagger in the ribs. Deep down he is a honourable person with no delusions about his self or his job, devoted to his friend, his luck and his cat.

Emerald more often called Emmy or Em: Em is the pet cat of Althalus… no, no, she isn’t. Let me rephrase that. Althalus is the pet of Em, he meets her at the House at the end of the world and he loves her as she loves him. She isn’t really a cat. She teaches him to read the Book of Deiwos and makes him a nice civilized person. They have a bet going on, she will try to teach him to be honest and work hard, he will teach her how to lie and steal. Who will win?

The rest of the Family: I want spoil you that but they are interesting characters.

The world:

 

Yeap its big.

The Antagonist: The evil man that we see is Ghend and his crew but the real enemy though is the God Daeva that wants to bring the world back to the primal Chaos that it came from.

Things that I liked:

1. Really interesting and fast moving story, nothing really boring happens. That doesn’t mean that is action all the time, but that the time between the action is really interesting and it’s the to contribute to the story not just fill the space.
2. Excellent Jokes. That is relative to the each persons sense of humour but I really laughed at Althalus jokes and stories.
3. Great plot twists
4. Interesting characters. From Althalus, to Gosty Big Belly, From Em to the Leader of the Order of the Black Robes and the shepherds of Wekti all of them are unique.   

Thinks that I disliked:

1. Some lines are repeated. I know that this cant be avoided and there is a great space between those lines  and that it even add some realism to the dialogue (we do tend to repeat our self’s with the persons that we spent a lot of time don’t we? Is it just me?) but I cant really like it even then.

To sum it up.

Buy it now. NOW! Why are you still reading this? Nothing funny is going to happen so go and get the book NOW!

Still here? Ok you worth it. Funny fact that I got from wikipedia.

David Eddings referring to The Lord of the Ring "Is this old turkey still floating around?".

Cya around.

Books I don’t like and some that I do.

I have said before that I don’t like to criticize some one that is better than me in writing on his own job.

That said I cant hold my self back from the books that follow.

It maybe that I have scruples to criticize only authors that I like, or that I am hypocrite that blatantly lies. I don’t know, but here it is, a list with books that I don’t really like or simple annoy the shit out of me.

Bitten from Kelly Armstrong

See it and weep!!

It was some years back when I picked up that book.

At the time I was going through a vampire/werewolf/occult period (in retrospect that sounds incredible gay), you know, anything that has big teeth is cool.

I had read some books that picked my interest as Anita Blake, Succubus Blues and some others so a werewolf book was a pleasant challenge. It wasn’t pleasant it was a mistake, and a big one at that.

Bitten follows the only female werewolf at the world as she tries to make a life out of her twisted little world. The story isn’t bad, it’s actually a quite good in introducing the characters.

The world was given with enough details so that you could make out an image but just enough, the sex was nice but as a book it had one big flow (as I see it).

Unlikable characters, how unlikable you ask?

Before the end I was rooting for the bad guys.

The protagonist of the book Elena Michaels is a woman that annoys the shit out of me, she is psychotic twelve year old with makeup, any attempt made to make the character more likeable meets an epical fail. At one part she admits murder because of shear stupidity and at another she admits that she planed and executed another, oh but she shows some regrets for that one! ONLY ONE of them! The rest of the cast doesn’t go better, shallow characters upon which they were made attempts to improve them, but also failed, oh no wait I actually liked two of them, one that dies two to three pages after he is mentioned and one of the big bad wolfs of the story.

Times I read the book: Two (2). One to learn the story and one to confirm that it was as bad as I remembered.

Overall rating on my absurd system: 5/10

The sword of Truth by Tery Goodkind

All of it, bathed in its glory.

The series “The Sword of Truth” is a frustrating subject to me. On one hand we have a fresh and interesting world with great characters and a really, really nice story, it gives you something nice to compare with this world as it touches some interesting ideas, like politics, racism and prosecution among other things  

Yeah, among many many other things.

I liked the books I really did, especially the “Soul of the Fire” which I have read three to four times.

I have only one objection.

The fucking Deus Ex Machina that the writer has decide to keep permanently on the stage.

For those of you two out there that don’t know what a Deus Ex is, there is always Google.

The main character is nice enough and he struggles to stay nice all the way, he doesn’t fall to the dark side, he doesn’t give in to temptations, he is a perfect hero. Also he is the most like character ever put down on paper, he gets free passes at anything, we need a spell that has been lost for years, he comes and cast it without knowing how, we need a strong warrior? Bah the sword gives him the knowledge of his previous owners… all of them… over a hundred years of  battles and experience just got in to his head and not just sword fight, any style that they knew! When he needs it he shows us his talent in art, or politics, or battle, or magic, or sports, or anything ever.

It’s explained in the books how he does what he does (always, no dark spots there, that’s another the thing that I liked) but it gets frustrating from one point on.

There is a saying in my country “λακωνίζειν εστί φιλοσοφείν” it roughly translates to “Saying few thinks equals to philosophy” meaning that saying few things makes you look smart, why? Because if you say a lot of things you are bound to say something stupid. That applies to Deus Ex Machina to, use them once or twice? A semi passable explanation will do, use them constantly and no amount of explanation will ever save you.

Times I read the book: The first four, two to three, the fifth three to four and the rest… you know what doesn’t mater gust read them.

Overall rating on my absurd system: 7/10

The Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling.

Can you feel it in the air? A shitstorm I coming.

Some of you expected it, some of you feared it and some of you have left before reaching to the middle of the sentence.

As absurd as it seams I will not talk about the usual points of stupidity that lay in those books, for once the subject is beaten to death by the motivational posters only and second I didn’t really cared for most of them while I read (there I said it, I read them, its out now and nothing can take it back) the books, what really annoyed me was the idiot that was forced to our throats as a hero and also the completely unrelated to him fact that I couldn’t picture the scenery at all (keep in mind that I read the book in my languish so there weren’t any words that I couldn’t understand). You might argue about my hero argument and my incapability to pout a picture in my head but I don’t really care, those were the honest problems I had while I read the books. At the time I had thought that this would be a great script for a movie because then I would have a background image for the whole action. After I saw the first movie my hopes of that were lost. Notice that I don’t complain about the story or the other character beyond Potter, that is because I actually liked them, at the time, I guess the only real reason that I am angry at the Potter universe is that is worth a lot more, it could me so much more. It is worth an author that can write the books so that they don’t give the impression of a first draft.

Times I read the books : One and final each.

 Overall rating on my absurd system: 4/10

Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen Donaldson

Here we are Ladies and Gentleman! The fuck you book of the year. I stumble upon it while I was searching the internet for good books toy read, I googled “top 10 fantasy”, “top 100 fantasy” etc, I found a list with many, many good suggestions, among them was this book. I started reading it and it was refreshing at the start, some think new.

Then the main hero rapes a fifteen year old girl.

At that point I closed the book and never opened again. I don’t care if this where one of the greatest masterpieces ever produced by the human race, I still wouldn’t pick it up again. The hero rapes a fifteen year old girl.

I think that up to this point you have noticed a common theme on the books I dislike. They all have an asshole as a protagonist. A guess that’s just me but I just cant stand a book with a weak hero, I don’t care if he is smart (Fitz at the Farseer Trilogy isn’t), or strong (that’s the point with the hero’s, they don’t start strong , they become strong), or likeable (I still don’t like the Punisher of Garth Enis but I love the shit out of the series) what I do expect from him though is to be something to look up to, to be an example, you don’t admire the Punisher for his actions, but for his spirit for his tenacity to never give up that you can and must admire.

 Overall rating on my absurd system: I don’t know haven’t read it but if I have to rate it 1/10

 

Does any from the above make sense to you? Yes? No? why don’t you leave a comment?

Until next time people.

Review on Wolf Totem

   
Hi to all!

Its been a while since my last review.

I will make it up to you by giving you my review on one of the greatest books in the world.

 Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong.

As you can read in the wikipedia page that I linked below the picture the book is a part autobiography and another part research and fiction.

The first time that I read it was about 3-4 years ago. I was riding the metro, minding my own business, when I saw a news stand at the station with comics, magazines and some books (paradoxically, it also had various other stuff to eat and drink even though we are reminded that eating and drinking in the subway is prohibited every couple of minutes), I went to take a look at the place hoping to buy something simple and mindless like say, an issue of PC Master, when I noticed it:

Behold its beauty!

There it was, sitting on a self among the rest of the books, just asking me to buy it.

The saying “You cant judge a book buy its cover” is absolutely right: you can’t; but a cover helps to create a good first impression. In my case it attracted my attention long enough to get me to read its synopsis on the back and give a quick look at the first pages. Then I paid for it, read it and had my mind blown across its six hundred and eighty one pages.

There were three reasons for that.

First.

The narrative was like nothing I had read before and I have read a lot of writing styles. I had never before read something from a culture so different than mine, so it made a strong impression on me.

Second.

The story and character development were great.

Third.

It gave me a whole new perspective of the world. Allow me to elaborate:

Since I was young, I knew that some things were connected, even things that seemed radically different to one another. I thought they shared common roots or pathways, the greatest example of which (for me at least) came from the book “The Eight” by Katherine Neville; in it, a chess master, a musician and mathematician find connections between their fields, the chess master provides a solution to a problem, the mathematician represents that solution to a mathematic formula and the musician takes that formula and creates a music piece based on it. For me, this was an eye opener; it made me think what other fields have connections that we don’t know? Do economics interact with biology? Can biology solve problems in the field of electronics? Is it chance that led some of the greatest minds in history to study in more than one field of science? These thoughts plagued me, until a Chinese man living in Mongolia shows me the connections between the animals and the people of the steppes. These weren’t simple, straightfoward connections. They were an intricate web of lives that spanned in every direction, infinitely.

Ah this! Kid’s stuff, I totally got the underlying message and everything!

I knew that there was balance in the nature but I always considered Nature as cruel, you know? We could take all the fruit from the tree and as long as we didn’t completely kill every animal in the forest everything would be ok, which why we have hunting seasons after all, right? To give them a chance to breed and increase their numbers, but wolves and bears? What do they provide us with? Their fur? We don’t live in caves anymore and yes they are nice to look in their natural environment so let’s protect them when we have time to spare.

This is what I used to think.

I didn’t get how the predators helped keep the population of the other animals in balance and didn’t get how much trouble is to deal with other animals on your own either.

Here’s a fun example:

Mice. In every city they flourish, grow fat and carry diseases around only because the don’t really have a natural enemy. How about cats, I hear you ask? Yeah cats are fine, but how many of them are there? They kill a mouse here and there but after that the mice just learn to avoid the place, so humans come along and use poisons to kill them and traps but how long can this go on? How long before the poison we use on the rats saturates the ground so much that it begins to pose a threat to the people living there as well? In the steppe the natural enemy for a mouse is the wolf (among many other animals), that hunts the mouse as a delicacy or a main course if he doesn’t have any other food options available, effectively keeping the population in check.

Oops, sidetracked.

Its true that the book makes a strong environmental point but that wasn’t the only side of it that I liked. The first time I read through it some of its issues flew over my head especially those referring to the Chinese (specifically) and Asian society (in general). During my second read, these issues made more of an impression. Here is why: the first time I read the book I knew near nothing about China or Japan, or any other Asian country in general; since then I have come across some interesting reads about them, some are book as the Zoo of Otsuichi, or even manga (not a good source to learn anything ever), but the most important of the was Traveling: China and Japan by Nikos Kazantzakis. Yes he is the writer of Zorbas the Greek. He travels through China and Japan at the year 1935 writing his impressions, the edition that I read had an afterword buy Helen Kazantzaki were she writes her impressions as she and Nikos were travelling together China and Japan twenty whole years later (1955 for those of you bad at math). Through this reads I was able to better grasp the importance of a book such as the Wolf Totem and its references to these societies.

In conclusion. Buy the Wolfs Totem and read it, and then give it to someone else to read it to and buy it again.

 My gratitude to Konstantine Paradias for the editing. Go ahead and check his blog here.