Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Letters from Atlantis by Robert Silverberg

"Letters from Atlantis" is part of the "Dragonflight" series of novels. Each of these novels is dedicated to a different major theme in fantasy, in this case (obviously), Atlantis. Many different story tellers have ventured into the realm of Atlantis over the years, but I think in this volume you'll find a fresh look at the old tales.

The story is written as a series of letters from a man named Roy. Roy is a time traveler of sorts. His people have learned to travel through time, but only in a non corporeal fashion, ie, they have to reside in another persons body when they change time frames. Roy is currently in the body of the Prince of Atlantis, silently observing, hoping to learn about what Atlantis was really like, and what caused its destruction.

Even though Roy is mostly a silent observer, he is able to take control of the Princes body while the Prince is asleep at night, and that's when he writes his letters, which he's sending to his true love who has also traveled in time and is currently observing the world from a Governors body. The only problems this causes is that the Prince wakes up with writers cramp in his arm, and of course he freaks out the one time he wakes up and sees himself having written a page of writing in a language he's never seen.

Eventually the Prince realizes that a "demon" must be inhabiting his body, and he confronts Roy mentally! Roy is left with a choice. Try to hide himself even more completely until his extraction time, or reveal himself to the Prince. Since he's been struggling with the isolation and the ethically of borrowing another man's body, he chooses to reveal himself. In the end the two of them become friends, and they have many long discussions. Roy learns many things about the wonders of Atlantis because of his new friendship, including the origins of the people of Atlantis, and what causes it's impending doom.

Monday, February 8, 2010

A New Week Begins...

First of all, thank you everyone for all your kind words and encouragement this last week. I'm not quite back to "normal" after receiving the news of my Granny's passing, but then again, when am I ever normal? I guess what I mean by that is I'm starting to get back to doing my usual things again. Starting to create things, got my inbox cleaned out of all new e-mails, actually cooking instead of doing cereal, things like that :P

The funeral is going to be on Saturday. We're still working on details about going up.

I found out some frustrating news medically today. I found out a few weeks ago that my neurologist was leaving the Vancouver Clinic (long story) and I've been a little upset about that because he's one of my favorite doctors and we're still trying to get to the bottom of what's behind my migraine. Well...now it turns out that not only is he leaving, they shut down the entire department! So I don't know where I'm going to go for my migraine care. Trying not to panic about all this, but I'm not exactly at my strongest emotionally right now anyway, so adding this on doesn't help.

Friday, February 5, 2010

RIP

We lost my Granny this morning. We'll miss her, but at least she's no longer in pain.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz

"Blue Bloods" is a young adult fiction about vampires, and one that takes a different approach than most. In this book there are only a finite number of vampires ever to exist, and they can choose to "die" and be "reincarnated" in new bodies. This gives them virtual immortality.

What many of the students at the highly exclusive New York school Duchesne don't realize is that many of their class mates are these reincarnated vampires. In fact, the vampires them selves don't necessarily know. They don't remember their past lives or begin to transform into their powers until they reach 16. At that point they are invited to join an exclusive "club" in the school, which in reality is a support group to help them through the transition.

Schuyler has always been an outcast at Duchesne. She doesn't dress to impress, and she's never moved in the "right circles." Yet she finds herself going through the transformation into a vampire, and getting pulled into a world she never knew existed.

Even with her transformation, though, Schuyler remains an outsider. She's different from the others, and she's not willing to blindly accept what she's told by the elders. Which means that she doesn't blindly accept their explanations of the strange deaths of several of her peers, and begins to investigate. Who hunts vampires? Especially young vampires?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

January - Looking Back

January was another crazy and difficult month - but I got through it and I'm ready to face February! I think... LOL Here's a recap of what I've posted....

Personal Posts

Writing

Book Reviews:

All in all, while it was a rough month, and I didn't come anywhere near CLOSE to meeting my writing goals, I think I did pretty good overall! Why? Because I put up a whole lot more of my own writing (non book reviews) than I have in months! I'm very happy about that. Here's to a better month this month!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Writing ADD #6

Not much writing again this week. Too many migraines and a bad asthma flair up. I did get a few book reviews written up though :) We'll see if this week is any better!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Wolf Wing by Tanith Lee

"Wolf Wing" is the fourth and final book in the "Claidi Journals" by Tanith Lee. I've really enjoyed getting to know Claidi, both for her personality and because it's been fun to watch her life in journal format instead of the normal narrative you find in most books. Fortunately Tanith Lee is a prolific authoress, and while I'll miss this particular series, I look forward to exploring some of her other works!

In "Wolf Wing" Claidi and Argul finally are able to get married and start their new life together! They have faced so many obstacles to their relationship, that I think all readers will take a sigh of relief to see them finally together. Of course, this being Claidi's life, nothing is ever quite that simple. Yes, she and Argul are finally together, but that doesn't mean that their life is suddenly easily.

While Claidi and Argul are adjusting to their new married life they find out some shocking news. Ustareth, Argul's mother, is not dead like everyone has long believed. This news rocks their world, but they set off on a journey to reunite with Ustareth, and they aren't the only one's. Several others have also been summoned by Ustareth, including Argul's half brother Venn.

As they travel, Claidi and Argul find themselves separated. Ustareth made sure that they would have to travel part of the way apart, in order that she might test them. They don't realize this at first of course, Claidi just knows she's alone and fighting to find her way to Ustareth.

Many things are answered in this book. We learn more about the mysterious Ustareth, and why she left first Venn, and then Argul and his father. We also learn a lot more about Claidi, both her heritage, and why some of the things happen to and around her.