Bookopoly Review

I guess this is coming a little late, but in all honesty, I forgot about the Bookopoly Contest because it got to a point that I realized that I wouldn't be able to finish the contest. I had just ended up reading too many long books, ha ha.

But, man, I read so many good books. I may not have reviewed them all, but they were good. They made me experience so many emotions and they inspired me to write (even though I don't have much to show for that at the moment).

A lot of things have happened in my life over the summer—I finished the practicum I needed to do in order to graduate from college (I'm still chasing after my teacher in order to go over what I did for the practicum because he's so busy—he's a photographer for Franklin Graham so he's always following him overseas—and he can't talk to me when he's busy); I have been job hunting but haven't heard anything back from any of the places I sent my resume to; I've grown addicted to Lord of the Rings Online, which is kinda dangerous; I went to the church camp out at the end of August; and I got into cross stitching again. When I talk about it, it makes my summer seem kinda lazy :P

But that didn't stop me from reading up to ten books! That's a record for me, I think. Tallying up what I read, it seems that I read 2 historical novels (1 being historical romance), 2 science fiction novels (1 being a graphic novel), 5 fantasy novels (1 being a historical fantasy), and 1 collection of one-page comics.

Some of the books I ended up reading this summer were books I never realized I would ever read. Or bring myself to read. But the point of the bookopoly was to go and read books you wouldn't normally read in order to accomplish all the categories of the contest.

Total Books Read for Contest: 10

A Defense of Honor by Kristi Ann Hunter
When Katherine "Kit" FitzGilbert turned her back on London society more than a decade ago, she determined never to set foot in a ballroom again. But when business takes her to London and she's forced to run for her life, she stumbles upon not only a glamorous ballroom but also Graham, Lord Wharton. What should have been a chance encounter becomes more as Graham embarks on a search for his friend's missing sister and is convinced Kit knows more about the girl than she's telling.

After meeting Graham, Kit finds herself wishing things could have been different for the first time in her life, but what she wants can't matter. Long ago, she dedicated herself to helping women escape the same scorn that drove her from London and raising the innocent children caught in the crossfire. And as much as she desperately wishes to tell Graham everything, revealing the truth isn't worth putting him and everyone she loves in danger.


The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks
Long ago, the wars of the ancient Evil ruined the world. In peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Ohmsford knows little of such troubles. But the supposedly dead Warlock Lord is plotting to destroy everything in his wake. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness is the Sword of Shannara, which can be used only by a true heir of Shannara. On Shea, last of the bloodline, rests the hope of all the races.






Quietus by Tristan Palmgren
Niccolucio, a young Florentine Carthusian monk, leads a devout life until the Black Death kills all of his brothers, leaving him alone and filled with doubt. Habidah, an anthropologist from another universe racked by plague, is overwhelmed by the suffering. Unable to maintain her observer neutrality, she saves Niccolucio from the brink of death.

Habidah discovers that neither her home's plague nor her assignment on Niccolucio's world are as she's been led to believe. Suddenly, the pair are drawn into a worlds-spanning conspiracy to topple an empire larger than the human imagination can contain.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.

As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed... and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.

The only outcome that's certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?

A Wrinkle in Time: the Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle, adapted by Hope Larson
Late one night, three otherworldly creatures appear and sweep Meg Murry, her brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin O'Keefe away on a mission to save Mr. Murry, who has gone missing while doing top-secret work for the government. They travel via tesseract — a wrinkle that transports one across space and time — to the planet Camazotz, where Mr. Murry is being held captive. There they discover a dark force that threatens not only Mr. Murry but the safety of the whole universe.

Mandie and the Medicine Man by Lois Gladys Leppard
A Cherokee superstition seems to have come back to haunt Mandie and her friends. The gold they discovered has been donated to build a new hospital, but something or someone is tearing down the walls as fast as they can be built. The guard posted to watch the site is knocked out, tied up and blindfolded.

Will Mandie be able to find her friend Joe? Will Mandie and Sallie be rescued from their kidnappers? Will Mandie learn her lesson about jumping to conclusions?

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.

Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection.

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. But when Laia's brother is arrest for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire's greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school's finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he's being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen
With characteristic wit and charm, Sarah Andersen's third collection of comics and illustrated personal essays offers a survival guide for frantic modern life: from the importance of avoiding morning people, to internet troll defense 101, to the not-so-life-changing futility of tidying up. But when all else fails and the world around you is collapsing, make a hot chocolate, count the days until Halloween, and snuggle up next to your furry beacon of hope.






The experience of devouring book after book this summer was envigorating, and I look forward to doing it again! ^^

Cinder: a book review

Cinder. Marissa Meyer. 2013. Square Fish, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers. Pages 387. [Source: Bought]

Even in the future, the story begins with Once Upon a Time....

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl....

Sixteen-year-old Cinder, a gifting mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past and is reviled by her stepmother. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she's suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future. Because there is something unusual about Cinder, something that others would kill for.

~~~

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✩

For years I've been hearing down the bookworm grapevine how great Cinder, and in extension, The Lunar Chronicles are. So I was highly optimistic about this book when I plucked it up from the Chapters bookstore shelf I found it on.

Now, I did end up enjoying it immensely when I read it, but there were some elements I didn't quite like.

I fell in love with Cinder, sympathized with her, felt frustration with her when her stepmother and eldest stepsister treated her like dirt. Felt sad when she felt sad, etc. I was totally immersed.

The story opens with with Cinder sitting in her shop stall in the marketplace, switching her cyborg foot for a new one since it's been on her since she was a kid. The old one was too small, and it was beginning to rust and become difficult to deal with. Her only company is her android companion, Iko, who is much more lively than the average android.

Suddenly, a boy trying to remain discreet with his hoodie and his bowed head appears in front of her stall and plunks an older android down on her worktable. It doesn't take Cinder long to realize who her newest customer is, and once she realizes it's Prince Kai of all people, well, her life just jumped off a cliff.

The worldbuilding that went into this story was splendid. The setting, New Beijing, was definitely something new for me but not wholly distracting, though it was kinda sad since the city sounded pretty crowded. I don't really know what to say about how far into the future the story takes place.

There were a few things that irked me. I'm such a stickler for the little details, little things that don't bother others, haha. But...

• I didn't really like how Canada, sometime in the past, had been absorbed by America. Like, I get that countries get absorbed and split over time, but the fact that America tried to absorb Canada in 1812 and failed and then, in this story, Canada is nothing more than a province... UHG.
• At least Canada's representative got a mention.
• There was a lot of the "Cinderella Story" that had been cut out. Like I expected the author to not follow too closely to the Cinderella Story framework, but there were bits I kinda wished had happened. Like maybe a Lunar fairy godmother? (okay, okay, I can see that Dr. Erland kind of filled that role by providing a new cybernetic hand and foot, but that happened after the ball!)

The main thing that kind of bugged me and kind of ruined the world of The Lunar Chronicles was the presence of the sub-dermal ID chips. I can blame the Left Behind series for inducing the major paranoia I felt when the ID chips were mentioned, because in Left Behind, the authors had it as part of the mark of the beast with the fact that you needed to have one if you wanted to be a member of society.

The chips put me ill at ease, but I was eventually able to look past it.

The world presented in this book offered an interesting contrast to what kind of world is often offered in futuristic science-fiction stories. Instead of a pristine, peaceful, united world, the world in Cinder is grungy, sick, and shattered. The Earth is ravaged by a sickness worse than ebola, with people being carted away by medical androids never to be seen again.

In the story, I stuck close to Cinder, meaning that my mind didn't wander and dwell on the world around the events of the stories. It was just so depressing. I guess I can only handle so much gloom in a story (which is why I've never been a big fan of dystopia), haha.

Dr. Erland had to be my favourite character after Cinder in the novel. At first, I didn't like him very much since he was basically the reason why Cinder had been "sold" by her stepmother, and I fully expected that he was going to start dissecting her. But then he turned out to be the total opposite of the evil head-scientist I thought he would be. He was basically the first person to actually care about Cinder since her adopted father died. And the fact that he's a Lunar hiding out amongst the humans and that he's wants revenge on the Lunar Queen due to her authorities having taken his daughter away....

I honestly can't wait to read Scarlet, Cinder's sequel. I want to know what will happen to Cinder and Dr. Erland. Is it wrong that I want to see what happens to a secondary character more than the main character? No. I often find myself in this predicament! (Dr. Erland better not die!)

Queen Levana must be stopped, and it's a moment I await with bated breath. She is such a sick, evil woman.

It Could Just Be Radiation

I have to admit, I do admire the Star Wars franchise. I like watching the movies and the TV shows when they're available on Netflix (hint hint, Netflix, I want to see the second season of Rebels), and the whole concept is rather fascinating. But since I'm human, there are some things I don't like.

I always found something weird about the Force. What was the Force and where did it come from? Why did the users of the Force practically worship it? Then my parents practically dropped the bomb on me when they said that they had read somewhere (yes, somewhere) that the mechanics of the Force had been based on (if I remember correctly) Buddhism or Hinduism. As a Christian, I could literally hear the record scratch as soon as that news left their mouths, and I knew from that day on I would never be able to fully enjoy the Star Wars universe again.

But since I'm a writer, my mind instantly began to whirr. Alternative possibilities to the existence of the Force whipped through my head, especially after I watched "first" three movies (The Phantom Menace [I], Attack of the Clones [II], Revenge of the Sith [III]), where they explained the microbes known as 'midichlorians' were what connected Jedi, Sith, and Force-sensitives to the Force.

I know that a lot of fans complain that the "first" trilogy kinda ruined things thanks to the whole midichlorian, young Anakin, and rise of the Empire thing – it had all been backwards, and that irked people. It didn't rise to people's expectations. But the whole midichlorian diagnosis kinda (haha...eh) supports my theory that the Force is some sort of radiation.

There is a ton of lore that I have no idea about (thanks to always being strapped for cash), but going by what the movies portray, you could easily say that the Force is nothing more than background radiation caused by the uniqueness of the galaxy (or all galaxies) and the people that live within it. Put a kind of superhero spin on it. Not everyone can tap into this radiation, because that's determined by how many midichlorians one has in their body. So, superpowers!

The radiation theory can support the saying that believers in the Force often spout whenever someone is curious about it: "it moves through every living thing". According to an article from the Hong Kong Observatory's website, the human body emits electromagnetic radiation.

Electromagnetic radiation is a kind of radiation that includes visible light, radio waves, gamma waves, and x-rays, in which electric fields and magnetic fields vary simultaneously.

Each planet, in order to support life, needs some sort of magnetic field in order to keep itself from being fried by its parent star. The magnetic field is made of electromagnetic radiation. Everything seems to emit some sort of electromagnetic radiation, so it is logical to conclude that the Force is made of electromagnetic radiation.

Electromagnetic radiation comes from every living thing.

So... SCIENCE!

Eheh... despite this and the fact the nature of the Force is distinctly mystical in canon, me as a person can always view it through science-coated glasses.

Star Wars is an exemplar example of a space opera (epic space opera as Wikipedia calls it), one of my favourite genres, and I love the stories. The aspects of the Force has not stopped me from loving the stories or falling in love with the characters. It hasn't stopped my Dad (who was the one who raised the fact of the background of the Force) from liking the Stormtroopers (if it's Star Wars, he gets it with Stormtroopers on it), or my Mom from loving the Ewoks.

I just wanted to point out what I think is an interesting scientific explanation for the Force. I probably just Star Trek-ified the whole thing ("it's magic for the locales, but it's science to us" kind of thing), but science is fun, right?

Right?

And, honestly, having radiation-induced superpowers sounds super cool.

------

Sources for electromagnetic radiation explanation:

Lee Shuk-ming, Olivia. "Radiation emitted by Human Body - Thermal Radiation." Radiation. September 2010. Accessed April 15, 2017. http://www.hko.gov.hk/education/edu02rga/radiation/radiation_02-e.htm.

"Electromagnetic radiation." Wikipedia. Accessed April 15, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation.

Just a Pause

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2016 has now been going on for 14 days. Coffee and several Trim Healthy Mama-worthy treats have kept me going, and I can't believe how clear my mind has been! Thank goodness I was able to get through the "withdrawl" stage of the plan before I had to crack down on writing!

If been hitting a bit of a stall with my novel, so I thought I would talk about what's going on in my novel for a bit.

Well, when I began my NaNo novel project on the first of this month, I was going to write about a girl who came across a manor in the middle of the Ontario countryside and found out there was something timey-wimey about the place. But then I realized that I was horribly ill-prepared for it.

So I changed my mind and began to write a novel with themes referencing to World War II and the Holocaust, but set in a futuristic scene.  I'm enjoying it immensely, but I've hit a bit of a snag and the expected word-count of the day. Oh well, I'll just have to keep plugging on.

Right now, my novel is titled "Winter", and it takes place on a planet in a binary planet system called Desrosiers (pronounced: des-rosy-air, I think...). Its sister planet is Amsel, and its parent star is Miaplacidus - a star you can't see in the Northern Hemisphere (oh yes, it's real).

I got the name Desrosiers from the French last name meaning "of the rose gardens", so Desrosiers is the "Planet of the rose gardens". For indeed, Desrosiers is supposed to have some of the most beautiful rose gardens in the known galaxy, which is unfortunate, since the Miaplacidian government has decided to shut the Miaplacidian System away from the galaxy due to what they consider a national crisis - which is not really a crisis at all since they're basically hunting those with superpowers and arresting them because three rogue superhumans decided to attack the Prime Minister.

There's a lot more that I have to worldbuild about this story, so my NaNo might be nothing more than a skeleton-story until after. Yay.

Thank's for reading. I often find that if I write about the story, sometimes I find hidden gems that would allow me to pick up and continue on :)