As in Salvatore's other books chronicling the adventures of the dark elf, Drizzit, he does a wonderful job maintaining the voice of all of his characters. No mean feat, considering Salvatore jumps into and out of at least ten different character's perspectives throughout the novel which keeps the narrative flowing. If there is one character or one thread a reader doesn't particularly care for, you know you won't have to read about him/her long before you switch out to another character.
And Salvatore's pacing and battle scenes are done exceptionally well. That being said, I am not too fond of the one on one sword duels as they can be overly detailed slowing down the pace.
One draw back is if you've never read one of Salvatorre's many novels on Drizzit's previous adventures, you may feel a bit left out as there are multiple references to previous novels. I have not read every Drizzit book and so there were a couple of references that I didn't understand. It didn't bother me, too much, but one should be warned. The novel does stand alone, with a straight forward plot, but it's just some of the back stories may not be completely clear.
I flew through the novel and am looking forward to the next one in the series.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Last Templar
I just finished watching NBC's, The Last Templar. It'd been a long time since I'd watched a made-for-network-TV movie. 2 hours Sunday night, 2 hours tonight. I found it to be a little cheesy, but that helped make it fun. Much of it was like the Da Vinci code. Other parts Indiana Jones - but all done in an entertaining way. It took me back a bit to when I used to watch those types of shows as a child. I thought Mira Sorvino did a fine acting job, and me, being a history buff, loved the faraway shots of the final battle for Jerusalem seven hundred years ago.
I also really enjoyed the interplay of the protagonist (Mira Sorvino)a moral atheistic archeologist clashing with a devout Catholic detective, and of the self-serving male atheist archeologist who will stop at nothing to expose the Templar’s secrets clashing with an evil fanatical priest who will stop at nothing to destroy them.
Then NBC had to go and screw it all up, forcing its viewers to watch Mira Sorvino’s character find God and making me listen to a half-hour of how great God is and the positive benefits faith bestows upon people. And of the course the bad atheist that refuses to believe in God is portrayed as truly insane and throws himself off a cliff trying to save the Templar’s secrets as Mira Sorvino tosses them to the wind to save Christianity.
What a bunch of crap. As the "evil" atheist said, is the church is afraid their faith can’t handle the truth.
And then, NBC has the gall to include a final clip of the ancient Templars explaining how they made up the document - that it was fake all along.
What a let down.
I would’ve liked the story to end with the ship taking the secrets back to the sea in what was obviously a divine storm and Mira Sorvino and her detective getting washed up on the shore.
Mira says, "It’s a miracle we survived."
Agent, "I thought you didn’t believe in God."
She punches him in the arm and they laugh. (I’d even be happy with her being silent for a moment, staring at the now tranquil sea. The Agent asking, "What?" Then she smiles and hugs him or something along those lines.)
Agent: So what do you think the scroll said?
Mira: The world will never know.
Fade to black.
I also really enjoyed the interplay of the protagonist (Mira Sorvino)a moral atheistic archeologist clashing with a devout Catholic detective, and of the self-serving male atheist archeologist who will stop at nothing to expose the Templar’s secrets clashing with an evil fanatical priest who will stop at nothing to destroy them.
Then NBC had to go and screw it all up, forcing its viewers to watch Mira Sorvino’s character find God and making me listen to a half-hour of how great God is and the positive benefits faith bestows upon people. And of the course the bad atheist that refuses to believe in God is portrayed as truly insane and throws himself off a cliff trying to save the Templar’s secrets as Mira Sorvino tosses them to the wind to save Christianity.
What a bunch of crap. As the "evil" atheist said, is the church is afraid their faith can’t handle the truth.
And then, NBC has the gall to include a final clip of the ancient Templars explaining how they made up the document - that it was fake all along.
What a let down.
I would’ve liked the story to end with the ship taking the secrets back to the sea in what was obviously a divine storm and Mira Sorvino and her detective getting washed up on the shore.
Mira says, "It’s a miracle we survived."
Agent, "I thought you didn’t believe in God."
She punches him in the arm and they laugh. (I’d even be happy with her being silent for a moment, staring at the now tranquil sea. The Agent asking, "What?" Then she smiles and hugs him or something along those lines.)
Agent: So what do you think the scroll said?
Mira: The world will never know.
Fade to black.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Favorite Books of 2008
Hi all,
My favorite fiction book of 2008, was the last one I completed in 2008 - Imperium. It was well written, with an engaging voice about a subject I knew very little about. Yes, I knew Cicero was a great orator but that was all I knew. The voice, pacing and subject matter kept me engaged from beginning to end and kept me wanting more.
My favorite non-fiction book of 2008 was 1812 The War That Forged a Nation. Again, it was a book written about a subject matter that I knew the gist of, but not in depth. The author kept the novel engaging, setting up battles and important moments as scenes in a good novel.
(See my earlier posts on reviews for both books.)
For 2009, I've already completed two novels: Watchmen and World War Z.
Watchmen is a graphic novel - meaning comic book style - and has a movie coming out in a month. I'm not sure how they're going to make a two hour movie out of it, unless they cut out loads of back story. And some of it can be trimmed. Also, some of the material is pretty horrific, so I imagine they'll have to tone down some scenes. But I was glad I finished the book. It wrapped up very nicely, and the characters were all done very well.
World War Z is a zombie novel. I say this because in general I do not like zombie movies or books. What attracted me to the novel - aside from my brother's insistence that I give it a try - was that it took place after the "zombie wars" and discussed specific countries responses to the zombies, how they spread and people's moral failings. It said a lot about people and society in general. I enjoyed it.
Here's to reading many great books in 2009!
My favorite fiction book of 2008, was the last one I completed in 2008 - Imperium. It was well written, with an engaging voice about a subject I knew very little about. Yes, I knew Cicero was a great orator but that was all I knew. The voice, pacing and subject matter kept me engaged from beginning to end and kept me wanting more.
My favorite non-fiction book of 2008 was 1812 The War That Forged a Nation. Again, it was a book written about a subject matter that I knew the gist of, but not in depth. The author kept the novel engaging, setting up battles and important moments as scenes in a good novel.
(See my earlier posts on reviews for both books.)
For 2009, I've already completed two novels: Watchmen and World War Z.
Watchmen is a graphic novel - meaning comic book style - and has a movie coming out in a month. I'm not sure how they're going to make a two hour movie out of it, unless they cut out loads of back story. And some of it can be trimmed. Also, some of the material is pretty horrific, so I imagine they'll have to tone down some scenes. But I was glad I finished the book. It wrapped up very nicely, and the characters were all done very well.
World War Z is a zombie novel. I say this because in general I do not like zombie movies or books. What attracted me to the novel - aside from my brother's insistence that I give it a try - was that it took place after the "zombie wars" and discussed specific countries responses to the zombies, how they spread and people's moral failings. It said a lot about people and society in general. I enjoyed it.
Here's to reading many great books in 2009!
Friday, January 9, 2009
New Year - Final note on Bush (Hopefully)
Hi all,
An email was forwarded to me, blaming all Americans for being complacent and allowing Bush to get away with so much. So I had to respond and have included my email below (ending with a musing on the Israeli Massacre in Gaza):
"Perhaps for most Americans who never had experienced so totally a corrupt President,they didn't know how to respond. Anyone in their 30s has only really known four presidents - Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton. Not one of them did anything as contemptible that Bush Jr. has done that we know of. Come on, Lewinsky? And unfortunately our elected officials in Washington, excluding the President, were so concerned about holding onto their posts, they couldn't even think of impeaching, let alone crossing, the president and his henchmen.
The biggest mistake, (and I said this as soon as the 2000 election was over), by Americans politically over the last 8 years was putting one party in charge of every branch of government. That was the real travesty. (Notice I didn't say Republicans specifically.) It took six years for the majority of Americans to finally get it back into there head to restore the balance of power.
And of course now we have the opposite effect and this worries me about the Obama presidency. Again, one party has been given all the power. But this is about Bush, so I won't digress.
How could people vote for Bush, reelect him, be complacent, or even support him.
Comments I've heard from three different people.
America can survive a president. How much damage can he do?
I voted to reelect him so he can clean up his mess.
He's against abortion so I have to vote for him.
And I still see Bush bumper stickers - fewer now, but they are still out there. And that's in California. I can only imagine the Midwest.
Since Bush's policies favored industry, the rich and those with influence, they didn't vocalize dissenting voices while promoting the White House message.
Remember the whole, "if you question the president, you're dividing our country in our time of need," and all that rhetoric that so many people believed. (And still do.) While there is some truth to the if you question it, you make us look weaker and indecisive in front of the enemy and encourage them. Look how easily it quashes dissent, alternative ideas or opposing voices..
Remember the Dixie Chicks being ostracized by the media and declared un-American because they spoke out against the war? Isn't that what being American is? Being able to question our leaders?
I really wonder if all of those people who vote for Bush and voted to reelect Bush and put those bumper stickers on their cars or gave him an insane 80%-90% approval rating when the Iraqi War started feel any remorse whatsoever.
I could go on and on.
Did you see the lame tiny story in the LA Times today that two rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah denied they did it. Which says something considering they usually own up to it. Some analyst said it could be a small Palestinian group trying to pull Hezbollah into the conflict. The Israeli papers were quick to blame Hezbollah. I wouldn't put it past a group of Israelis on the border of Lebanon launching the mortars themselves at Israel to provoke a fight. If the US can do it with Iraq and Russia with Chechnya, why not Israel with Lebanon. My prediction. If Israel keeps getting pressured from the outside world about their unrestrained killing of civilians in Gaza - which violates the Geneva Convention and goes against the Security Council resolutions - they'll create a new threat to shift attention away from Gaza and show their "precarious situation" in the Middle East.
Watch and see."
An email was forwarded to me, blaming all Americans for being complacent and allowing Bush to get away with so much. So I had to respond and have included my email below (ending with a musing on the Israeli Massacre in Gaza):
"Perhaps for most Americans who never had experienced so totally a corrupt President,they didn't know how to respond. Anyone in their 30s has only really known four presidents - Reagan, Bush I, and Clinton. Not one of them did anything as contemptible that Bush Jr. has done that we know of. Come on, Lewinsky? And unfortunately our elected officials in Washington, excluding the President, were so concerned about holding onto their posts, they couldn't even think of impeaching, let alone crossing, the president and his henchmen.
The biggest mistake, (and I said this as soon as the 2000 election was over), by Americans politically over the last 8 years was putting one party in charge of every branch of government. That was the real travesty. (Notice I didn't say Republicans specifically.) It took six years for the majority of Americans to finally get it back into there head to restore the balance of power.
And of course now we have the opposite effect and this worries me about the Obama presidency. Again, one party has been given all the power. But this is about Bush, so I won't digress.
How could people vote for Bush, reelect him, be complacent, or even support him.
Comments I've heard from three different people.
America can survive a president. How much damage can he do?
I voted to reelect him so he can clean up his mess.
He's against abortion so I have to vote for him.
And I still see Bush bumper stickers - fewer now, but they are still out there. And that's in California. I can only imagine the Midwest.
Since Bush's policies favored industry, the rich and those with influence, they didn't vocalize dissenting voices while promoting the White House message.
Remember the whole, "if you question the president, you're dividing our country in our time of need," and all that rhetoric that so many people believed. (And still do.) While there is some truth to the if you question it, you make us look weaker and indecisive in front of the enemy and encourage them. Look how easily it quashes dissent, alternative ideas or opposing voices..
Remember the Dixie Chicks being ostracized by the media and declared un-American because they spoke out against the war? Isn't that what being American is? Being able to question our leaders?
I really wonder if all of those people who vote for Bush and voted to reelect Bush and put those bumper stickers on their cars or gave him an insane 80%-90% approval rating when the Iraqi War started feel any remorse whatsoever.
I could go on and on.
Did you see the lame tiny story in the LA Times today that two rockets were fired from Lebanon into Israel. Hezbollah denied they did it. Which says something considering they usually own up to it. Some analyst said it could be a small Palestinian group trying to pull Hezbollah into the conflict. The Israeli papers were quick to blame Hezbollah. I wouldn't put it past a group of Israelis on the border of Lebanon launching the mortars themselves at Israel to provoke a fight. If the US can do it with Iraq and Russia with Chechnya, why not Israel with Lebanon. My prediction. If Israel keeps getting pressured from the outside world about their unrestrained killing of civilians in Gaza - which violates the Geneva Convention and goes against the Security Council resolutions - they'll create a new threat to shift attention away from Gaza and show their "precarious situation" in the Middle East.
Watch and see."
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