Tag Archives: gods

May 29, 2012 · 7:00 am

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – FINAL READALONG POST

American Gods readalong

Alrighty, finished the book = lots to talk about!

The old gods agree to meet the new gods in a neutral place to give them Wednesday’s body, and surprisingly that goes okay. At the same time, Wednesday discovers that his old friend Low-Key is actually Loki (man how did I not see that a mile away???) and he’s working for the old/bad gods and you know that sucks.

Shadow decides that he needs to keep his agreement with Wednesday about keeping vigil because he died, and which apparently in godspeak means you get tied to a tree for 9 days with no food… obviously that didn’t work out so hot for Shadow, but he feels all happy that he did such a major thing and he really feels alive, and then of course he dies and goes through the underworld and of course he doesn’t stay dead for along… that whole thing was really predictable, at least to me. Can’t have the protagonist dying off with 60 pages left to go. Oh and Shadow finds out that Wednesday is his daddy. I figured they had some sort of tie, because otherwise Wednesday wouldn’t have hounded Shadow so hard and wouldn’t have really needed him, but still a cool revelation.

So Shadow then comes back to life and discovers that this whole this was a two-man con between Loki & Wednesday to have a bunch of gods kill each other in a major battle so that they would become strong again (and in Wednesday’s case, alive again). And while it was a dick move… I don’t think I necessarily like Wednesday any less. I mean it’s screwed up to try to sacrifice all of your god-friends just so that you get a power boost, but the meaner, more evil side of me just kind of shrugs and says “Gotta do what ya gotta do.”

Laura did some good stuff, but I still hate her and I’m happy with how her little story ended. And I KNEW something was up with Mr. Hinzelmann!!! I knew it! Gross old bastard. As for the ending… I don’t know. Kinda bummed that Wednesday didn’t come back, but technically the real Odin is still alive, which is weird. Gaiman’s whole mythology is just weird.

So… this book was interesting, but honestly without the readalong I might have DNF-ed it again. While I kind of liked Shadow and Wednesday, I just didn’t care overall. I would have liked more focus on the gods – more info on how they came about, how the new ones were created, what the implications of the old and new gods on society are, if there are any. Seems like there was so much more to explore there. The writing didn’t hook me in, with the exception of Sam’s speech earlier. Part of me just feels like Neil Gaiman was trying way too hard with this one. Maybe I’ll like his kids books better. The ending seemed to leave the possibility of a sequel open and if there is one, I probably won’t read it.

I do want to say a major thanks to Jenn for hosting this! Maybe she’ll even consider hosting a readalong for The Graveyard Book or something….hmmmmm…   :-)

Sarah Says: 2.5 stars, overall.

3 Comments

Filed under 2-star, Contemp. Lit, Fantasy, Fiction, Read-A-Long

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

May 23, 2012 · 2:05 pm

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – READALONG POST 3

American Gods readalong

Whoops, posting this a day late. Anyways, week 3 of Jenn’s American Gods readalong. Woot woot!

So whoa, stuff hits the fan in these chapters. Shadow is settling in pretty comfortably in Lakeside, living as “Mike Ainsel”. Wednesday occassionally comes and  they go on trips, but it seems like a stretch of time passes where this is kind of routine and Shadow is coming to really like Lakeside and the people there. I have a sneaking suspicion about Mr. Hinzelmann, that he’s older than he lets on and that there’s more to him and his story. Shadow came upon a “Mr. Hinzelmann” in those old Lakeside notes, and I’m wondering if there’s no first name there on purpose because maybe it’s the same Mr. Hinzelmann? Or maybe he’s somehow connected to all of those missing children? I’m not sure, I guess I’ll have to wait to find out.

Lots of characters come back in these chapters, and I was particularly thrilled with Sam’s crazy long speech about all the random and seemingly odd things that she believes in. I knew I liked her. Anyhoo, eventually Shadow’s cover is blown (because of stupid Audrey) and it’s found out who he really is, and he’s locked up for “violating his parole”. Luckily Ibis, Mr. Nancy, and Czernobog come pick him up before the black hats can get to him, but sadly Wednesday was killed. At least it seems that way, I’m not quite sure if he can come back from getting his brainpan all shot up. This is kind of sad…. I liked Wednesday, and Shadow realizes that he was growing attached to him too. I’m wondering why Wednesday didn’t bring Shadow along for this so-called “truce” talk… Wasn’t Shadow basically supposed to be his bodyguard for this kind of thing? Why would Wednesday walk into such an obviously dangerous situation?

Needless to say, lots happened here and I’m really interested to see how things turn out. Although I still feel a little clueless as to what the gods (new and old) stand to gain from this upcoming war… but I’m comforted that Shadow seems just as lost in that respect. Oh and I have no clue what the whole thunderbird things meant, but I hope it doesn’t mean that Shadow is actually able to bring his wife back. Whiskey Jack was right - the dead should stay dead, especially when the dead person in question is a cheating hoebag.

So, final section is coming up! I’m really excited to see how everything all comes together. Already in this section it seemed as if past events and people were coming back and everything is getting kind of interwoven. I really want to know if Wednesday can come back or not, who Mr. Hinzelmann really is, what Shadow’s whole purpose in this whole war-among-the-gods is, and if he succeeds in bringing his skanky wife back to life.

~Sarah

 

 

 

1 Comment

Filed under Contemp. Lit, Fantasy, Fiction, Read-A-Long

Tagged as , , , , , ,

May 8, 2012 · 1:50 pm

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – READALONG POST 1

American Gods readalong

So, yay, a readalong! It’s probably not too late to join in, just go visit Jenn’s sign-up post. So you know, spoilers for the first 6 chapters…

I had started and DNF-ed this book a few years ago, I think because I got bored or something. But so far, I’m enjoying this way more than I remember. I don’t know, maybe it’s that I’m taking more time to savor it? Or that I’m just “in the mood” for it now. Not sure.

So, Shadow gets out of jail early due to his wife being a hoebag. OK, that’s a little harsh. I actually thought that the times when he’s reminiscing about her, like when they first met, were super sweet and Laura sounds like a wonderful person. And I felt really, really bad for him when he found out that she had died. But you know, then you find out why she died and yeah… hoebag. Oh and Robbie too. Hoebag. (And the word of the day is….? Hoebag! I hate cheaters.)

I like Shadow more than I remember. I guess I just must feel for him, or maybe I’m seeing his personality more than before. However, I wish he wasn’t so darn laid-back about stuff, like his crazy weird circumstances meeting Wednesday and why he would just accept a job from a total stranger. Or why his wife is acting distinctly not-dead. That seems like stuff you should kind of seriously freak out about.

Wednesday is a creepy mama-jama, but you have to admit that he has a bit of flair about him.

I’m enjoying the little side stories, although the first one with the scary hooker was, you know, scary. I also liked the one about Essie. I kind of wish people believed in more superstitions like that, although I guess it’s something you just kind of grow up with, and I guess that’s a big point of the book is that when this stuff isn’t passed on, it’s lost.

 The story is really just picking up and I’m actually looking forward to reading more. And learning more! While I’m intrigued, the beginning is a TAD slow-going cause stuff is still being set up and whatnot. But I’m enjoying it so far. Success! At least so far. Will this be a Gaiman novel that I actually really like? (she says hopefully)…

 What’s everyone else thinking?

 

~Sarah

1 Comment

Filed under Contemp. Lit, Fantasy, Fiction, Read-A-Long

Tagged as , , , , , ,

October 24, 2011 · 1:00 am

The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin

So this is the conclusion to an amazing fantasy trilogy by N.K. Jemisin – you can see my reviews for the first two books here:

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (1)

The Broken Kingdoms (2)

Seriously, these books are the fantastic. Jemisin has created such a complex, fascinating world in which gods and godlings are ever present in the human world and I can’t say enough good things about it.

So this here third book focuses on Sieh, the child-like godling seen in the previous two books. I love Sieh, and I am SO EXCITED that he got a whole book focused on him. This takes place probably around 100 or more years after the events of the last book. Basically Sieh becomes entwined in human affairs, specifically that of his former captors, the Arameri. He gets acquainted with two Arameri children – Shahar and Dekarta and things kind of spiral from there. While suffering a huge blow to himself, he also attempts to unravel the mystery of who exactly is killing off Arameri and attempting to wage war on the Three gods.

I really can’t give too much more description than that without including some major spoilers. I love Sieh, and definitely felt a lot for him trying to deal with stuff throughout this book. The Three gods appear in the book often, which makes me happy. And we get a whole lotta new background information about them and what led to the last Gods War. And the events of this book are like EPIC.

Also, there’s a cool little extra follow-up story at the end about some older characters, which was neat.

So now, if you are at all interested in good fantasy, pick up this series because it’s outstanding. I’m already looking forward to re-reading them all!

Sarah Says: 5 stars

1 Comment

Filed under 5-star, Fantasy, Fiction

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 3, 2011 · 4:05 am

To be or not to be… a supernatural creature.

So, recently reading and reviewing Perfect Fudge by Hazel M. Larsen (see previous post) has got me thinking about supernatural creatures, and the choices characters make in these books about whether or not to be one (if they even have the choice). Now, as a human I don’t want to live forever. I’m hoping to keel over when I’m a little over 70. But as a supernatural creature, it’d be so fun to be immortal. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

So, here are a bunch of supernatural / paranormal / fantastical beings I’ve read books or seen movies about.

Angels: I’m about to get a little spoiler-y here, because I want to clarify why the angels in Perfect Fudge (see previous post for review) are so cool and a fun concept. As you know if you read my review, it introduces a unique concept of guardian angels. These guardian angels don’t really have any biblical connotations, but they help people. They can also fly, teleport, turn invisible, cook food with their mind, heal, clean with the blink of an eye, and whether they start out older or younger, they’ll eventually and then forever appear to be in their 20′s. Of course this is a kind of new version of the idea of angels, but I think it’s awesome.

*I would totally choose to be an angel. There’s almost zero downside.

Vampires: Of course the paranormal lore is different according to legends / authors / movies, but most agree that vampires drink blood (human or animal in most cases), have super speed and strength, and are burned by sunlight. I think the slight majority opinion is that vampires can hold on to their humanity if they choose – at least Christopher Moore, Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, and Stephanie Meyer think so. (I probably just discredited this theory a bit by mentioning Meyer, but hey whatever). I personally agree with this – I think vampires can choose how humane they want to be. I don’t believe that vampires are “damned”, but that has more to do with the fact that I don’t believe in heaven or hell, so how could I believe in damnation? And even if someone showed me proof that all that existed and your soul could be damned… well I don’t know if that would convince me not to be a vampire.

*If a vampire walked up to me tonight and offered to make me a vamp… I would definitely want to say yes. Honestly, the only thing holding me back here is that the honeyman said that if I was a vampire, he’d have to try to kill me. And you know, that kind of means breaking up, and I don’t want that, I love my honeyman. Honestly, angels can do more cool shit than vampires, but for some reason the idea of being a vampire is more appealing to me… it’s probably just more familiar of an idea.

Werewolves: Again, the lore is really different here. Some say that werewolves only change during a full moon and have no control during that time. Some say that weres that change whenever they want and are conscious the whole time. Most agree that you transform into a big huge scary wolf-like creature (unless you’re the director of the 3rd Harry Potter movie, in which you think weres transform into some weird, sad hairy mandog-looking creature). Generally though, werewolves are bad-ass and powerful and scary-looking.

 *Whether or not I agree to be a were would depend on the lore we’re going with here. I personally choose to think that weres are like the ones on True Blood – that they can change at will and know what they’re doing when they’re in that form. And if that were the case then hell yes I’d be a werewolf.

Witch / wizard: Okay, does this one even need much explaining? The term witch general means one who can do magic – cast spells, has powers, etc. They’re usually not immortal. My personal favorite? The Charmed witches. I love Piper. Oh and Harry Potter of course, can’t forget him.

*I’d agree to be a witch in a heartbeat.

Elves: Elves are cool fantastical creatures. They’re usually nature-nuts, proud, arrogant, secretive, and skinny. But they’re also powerful, graceful, and have magical abilities. In most fantasy, elves are not to be trifled with.

* I suppose that yes, I’d agree to be an elf. Even if meant me getting all weird and slender looking.

Fairies: I think that sometimes the lines between fairies and elves blend and are kind of together called “fae” creatures. I usually think of fairies as little pixies – tiny winged creatures with magical abilities, like Tinkerbell. Gotta love Tink.

* I don’t think I’d agree to be a fairy… depends on the scope of magical abilities. But I think I’d feel too vulnerable being that tiny, and the biggest appeal of being a supernatural creature is being able to feel like the shit and be powerful and stuff.

Mutants: Now here’s a fun one. I’ll let in on a little secret… I believe almost any of these paranormal creatures could exist. Who the hell am I to say that they don’t just because I’ve never had the luck to meet one? I know, I know, I’m like a big kid. Anyways, I like the idea of mutants because to me they are the most likely supernatural creatures to exist. Well, actually they’re still technically humans. They’re not magic, they’re just evolutionally-advanced humans. But still, I’m counting em. Think of the X-Men, the X-Men are awesome! Sure, some of them have pretty lame mutations, but most of them are cool and useful in some way (after all, the point of nature evolving like this would be the progression of human life).

* Sign me up! I know I’m 24, but I’m still hoping some sign of cool mutant abilities will show… or maybe I’ll just go the Alex Mac route and get cool mutant-like powers from radiation and chemicals :-) It’s either mutant powers or cancer… 50/50 odds aren’t too bad, right?

Zombies: Okay, who the hell would want to be a zombie? I’m including them on the list because they are a really popular paranormal creature these days, but they’re basically rotting humans that can’t think anything other than “BRAAAIIIINSS”.

* Hell no, I wouldn’t be a zombie. But I can’t wait for the zombie apocalypse so I can be a zombie-killer! I’ll judge anyone who actually says they’d choose to be a zombie. Weirdo.

Unicorns / Dragons: These are two of the most popular paranormal animals really. Unicorns are supposed to be all sweet and crazy magical, and dragons are supposed to be all nasty and fire-breathing. Honestly, I think both are really cool but I don’t think I’d ever choose to turn into one. I’d feel like a magical pet.

Giants / Goblins / Leprechauns: So these don’t need much explaining. Giants are huge, goblins are tiny and mean, and leprechauns are tiny and lucky. I think I’d reject all of these just on basis of size. 

 Gods: Well, gods are pretty self-explanatory too. I’m thinking of two sets of gods in particular – the Greek mythology gods, and the gods and godlings in the Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin. Either way, all are bad-ass. I love that gods are such all-powerful beings, but that they’re also usually petty just like humans. I don’t know why humanity ever gave up on Greek gods as a religion, I probably would have been a believer.

*I would totally be a god. You practically can’t be killed, and you are the baddest mofo out there. Seriously as powerful as all hell. For someone whose severe lack of ambition means I want to be a housewife, I’m surprisingly power-hungry when it comes to paranormal creatures.

I think that covers most of the supernatural creatures I’ve been thinking of…

Oh, and for funsies here are some of my favorite books / movies relating the all of the above:

  • Perfect Fudge by Hazel M. Larsen (angels)
  • Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (vampires, werewolves)
  • Inheritance trilogy by N.K. Jemisin (gods, godlings)
  • Bloodsucking Fiends /You Suck / Bite Me by Christopher Moore
  • Interview With A Vampire by Anne Rice
  • X-Men movies
  • Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (time-travellers, not mentioned)
  • Living With the Dead series by Jesse Petersen (zombies)
  • Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (dragons, elves, fae)
  • Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (witches, wizards, unicorn)
  • The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (wizards, fae)
  • True Blood tv show (vampires, werewolves, fairies, fae)
  • Charmed tv show (witches, leprechauns, giants, fairies, vampires)

So, whatcha think?

If one of these creatures walked up to you and offered to make you one of them, would you do it? Which one would you want to be the most? Any that I missed that you’d choose to be? Or would you go the crazy route and refuse them all and choose to remain human?

 ~Sarah

3 Comments

Filed under Angels, Fairy-tales, Fantasy, Fiction, Harry Potter, Outlander series, Random, Sci-Fi, Vampires, Zombies

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

April 8, 2011 · 7:15 pm

>The Broken Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

>

Goodness, goodness me – I am loving this trilogy. My only slight disappointment is that the third book doesn’t come out until this fall. I don’t wanna wait that long!

This is the second book in Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy (not to be confused with Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance series AKA Eragon), and it’s every bit as wonderful as the first book, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. While this is written so that it could be a stand alone novel, I really think you’re better off reading these books in order.

Anyways, this story takes place ten years after the events in the first book. Our heroine is Oree Shoth, a blind street artist living in Shadow. Oree’s life kind of revolves around magic, gods, and godlings. This causes problems for her one day when she discovers a godling murdered in an alley. From there Oree and her mysterious mute house guest are thrown into a brand new conspiracy. And that’s all I really want to say about this plot, because I don’t want to give anything away. Just go start reading this series now.

A couple characters from the first book make an appearance here as well – namely the Three gods. Sieh, a child-god from the first book, also shows up (I <3 him). A whole bunch of new characters are introduced as well, my favorite probably being a godling named Madding. I am totally engrossed in this world in which gods interact so closely with humanity. The whole world that Jemisin has created is just fascinating to me. I actually wish we lived in this kind of crazy world.

The most exciting thing is that I won’t have to wait long for the third book, titled The Kingdom of Gods – according to the author’s site, it’ll be out on October 27th. And I believe the main character of the third book will be Sieh. I am beyong excited about that!

So, go start this trilogy. Now. Please?

Sarah Says: 4.5 stars

post signature

1 Comment

Filed under 5-star, Fantasy, Fiction

Tagged as , , , , ,

April 2, 2011 · 7:20 pm

>The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

>

LOVED this!

Yeine is the young ruler of a relatively poor nation called Darre (or Darr? it’s spelled both ways in the book), whose mother has recently passed away. Still greiving, she’s summoned by her grandfather Dakarta Arameri – the Arameri are the elite, and the most elite live in the palace of Sky, which actually is a city in the sky. Her grandfather disowned her mother and therefore she’s never met him before, but she sets off when he calls.

Dakarta names her his third heir, leaving her as a contender to the throne, along with her two cousins. While at the palace, Yeine learns more about the Arameri ways and learns a lot of horrifying things. For instance, that there are so many servants and family members forced to serve there. And that there are enslaved gods there, forced to serve the god Itempas, and controlled by the Arameri. Yeine has very little time to learn enough to try to save her own life.

It took me a little bit to get into, because of all the unfamiliar names and places, but once I settled into the story it flew by. (Plus, I realized later that there’s a glossary in the back in case I forgot what a word meant).

Yeine is an awesome character – She was intelligent, tough, and bad-ass (I’m all about girls carrying knives), but she was also very compassionate. She felt badly for the servants in the world of the Arameri, she feels badly for the enslaved gods, and she does her darndest to protect those she cares about. She has a great sense of right and wrong.

The story wasn’t so much about the power struggle between her and her cousins for the throne. That actually kind of fell into the background as it became apparent that the conspiracies and intrigues surrounding the enslaved gods were more important. And the gods were some of my favorite characters – Nahadoth is creepy and insane and scary, but we see different sides of him. Sieh is most child-like, but he was also intelligent and sneaky and incredibly endearing. Even the other gods were interesting to read about, though not quite as fun. I really enjoyed reading about the Gods’ War. And I loved that the deceit and manipulation of the Itempas priests mirrored that of Catholicism and Christianity – the falsifying or destroying of historical records to suit their own purposes. It made the plight of the gods easier to relate to.

Overall, this book just has it all – great story, amazing characters, fantastic imagery, wonderful writing… I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel, The Broken Kingdoms.

Also while this isn’t THAT important – it’s nice to come across a book, especially a sci-fi book, that has a non-white girl as the heroine. I never really notice it, but 90% of the characters I read about are white, so the fact that Yeine is bi-racial made is just a bit more awesome.

Sarah Says: 4 stars

post signature

2 Comments

Filed under 4-star, Fantasy, Fiction

Tagged as , , , , ,