Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials, Book 3) by Philip Pullman

The Amber Spyglass
(His Dark Materials, Book 3)
by Philip Pullman
narrated by Philip Pullman
Multicast performance
Produced by Listening Library
Approx 12 hours

I have finally finished the series of "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman. I set out on this reading adventure intrigued by the protestations from organized religion when the movie came out. I saw the movie and didn't see what the hubbub was about. So then I thought well maybe it was in the book and they left out parts from the movie to keep the religious right from protesting. After reading the first two books I still didn't see what the big deal was. Basically the series was just another fantasy young adult series that borrowed from many mythologies to create a very creative well told story. With this third book in the series I still wonder why all the fuss, but can see where closed minded individuals who believe "their truth" to be the only truth worry that the series may instigate the young masses to form thoughts on their own. Okay, that was a bit harsh, but I still just don't get it. Yes the third book does see the death of a deity known as "The Authority," but it also sees the death of a fallen angel by the name of Metatron, and yes, this book is Philip Pullman's way of writing a book that promotes an alternative to organized religion, but, the general idea of good triumphing over evil and everyone can make a difference and we must fight for our freewill doesn't make people become evil.

I was very pleased to find the books available in audio book form and especially once I found that the audio book featured a multi-cast as well as being narrated by the author himself. There are many characters in the book and the multi-cast helps to move the story along for the audio book with out the listener having to try to battle with trying to figure who is talking or thinking at the moment. The added bonus of having the author narrate the books helps to uncover intentions of the author himself.

This book may be a bit difficult to summarize because of the many events happening to close out this trilogy so I will touch a bit on the main events, but I will not give up the surprise ending.

Book two, "The Subtle Knife," left the listener with a cliffhanger. Lyra's mom, Marisa Coulter, captured Lyra and Will had just learned he had a task to help Lyra's father, Lord Asriel. Before he goes to the battle of the worlds with Lord Asriel, Will insists on finding and rescuing Lyra. Mrs. Coulter has Lyra in a cave to protect her from the Magisterum, the church/government that rules in Lyra's world. The Magisterum has sent out an assassin to kill Lyra before she can yeild to original sin.

Will has used his knife to escape an attack from the archangel Metatron. He is escorted by 2 angels one flies ahead to tell Lord Asriel of Will's plan while the other stays behind to assist Will. Upon hearing the news, Lord Asriel dispatches a small army to the cave where Lyra is being forced drugs to stay sleeping so she will be undetected, to counteract the zeppelins from the Consistorial Court. He also sends two Gallivespian spies, the Chevalier Tialys and the Lady Salmakia, to protect Lyra. Gallivespians resemble humans, but are approximately four inches tall and they ride dragonflies.

During this time Will runs into Iorek Byrnison, the bear king of the armoured Panserbjørne, who are migrating south to avoid the Arctic melt caused by the effects of Lord Asriel's bridge. Three forces — Will, Iorek, and Balthamos; Lord Asriel's army; and the army of the Magisterium — converge on Mrs. Coulter's cave, where Will is able to wake Lyra with a special powder that he sprays up her nostrils. He is cutting a window into another world when Mrs. Coulter turns and looks directly at him. For a moment, Will is reminded of his own mother; as a result, his concentration falters, and the knife shatters, having been unable to sever his affection. Because the window he has cut is open, Will, Lyra, and the Gallivespian spies manage to escape to another world.

Will and Lyra delay even further their trip to Lord Asriel's by going to the world of the dead. Will and Lyra mean to keep promises to Will's father and Lyra's friend Roger. In the world of the dead Lyra must leave her Daemon on the shore and is separated from her daemon. They soon discover the dead must be released from the abyss and Will uses the Subtle Knife to cut an opening and release the ghosts into the world. Once in the world the ghosts are freed and their atoms are free to mix back into nature.

The major battle begins between Lord Asriel's army and the army of Metatron. Ending with Lyra and Will reuniting with their daemons and Lyra's parents sacrificing themselves to destroy Metatron.

While all this is going on Dr. Mary Malone has stepped through a window from her own world (assumed to be the readers' world/Will's world) into another window into a stranger world. There she meets elephantine creatures who call themselves Mulefa and use large seedpods attached to their feet as wheels. These creatures have a complex culture, intricate language, and an infectious laugh. Although from completely different worlds, Mary and the Mulefa establish a rapport which results in Mary's acceptance into Mulefa community, where she learns that the trees from which the seedpods are gathered have gradually been going extinct for about 300 years. Mary uses the tree sap lacquer and accidentally constructs a telescope (the 'amber spyglass' of the title) that allows her to see the elementary particles known as Dust. Dust adheres to all life-forms that have attained a level of intelligence associated with building civilizations. She sees that Dust is flying away in large streams rather than falling on and nourishing the trees on which the Mulefa mutually depend.

After the battle Will and Lyra are reunited with Dr. Malone and soon learn their ultimate fate as well as the fate of all the worlds. Here is where I'll stop because the end of the book is a bit of a surprise, but I will tell you it is a very beautiful to end this magical tale. Spread the word to all your friends, "This series is a fun romp through fantasy and mythology with a lesson to learn."

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posted by Gil T. @ 8:17 PM Comments: 0

Monday, September 28, 2009

"The Dead Girl's Dance" (book 2 of the Morganville Vampire series) by Rachel Caine

"The Dead Girl's Dance"
(book 2 of the Morganville Vampire series)
by Rachel Caine
read by Cynthia Holloway
produced by Tantor Audio


It's time to continue int the Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine. Morganville, Texas is home to Texas Prairie University and Vampires. The university attracts new, young "blood" and the vampires rule the town. The locals are all under protection from a vampire patron, the families enter a contract which means they are protected, very much like life insurance, but instead of a payout when you pass on, you simply don't pass on by the hands of a vampire.

Claire Danvers is a super-smart 16 year-old that has graduated high school early and instead of going to a big name university she decides to start out with a couple of years at TPU. After being the butt-end of some hazing she moves off campus and into the Glass House, with the residents that all seem fairly normal, Michael Glass who owns the house, Eve the goth girl and Shane the video gamer. She learns the secrets of Morganville from her new roommates and soon the trouble begins.

After the big battle in book one which lead to the residents of the Glass House receiving protection from Morganville's founder and strongest Vampire, Amelie, It doesn't get any easier. In fact things may have been made worse. During the worst of the battle when things looked grim, Shane made a mysterious phone call, calling in the cavalry. It turns out the cavalry was Shane's dad and the anti-vampire biker gang set to destroy Morganville, at least to kill all vampires.

"The Dead Girls' Dance" starts out right at that cliffhanger of an ending from book one. With Shane's dad ready to kill. He starts out by killing Michael, thinking Michael is a vampire. His cohort stabs Michael then they cut off his head and burys him in the backyard. Not good for the Glass House. The protection was as long as all four friends stayed together and in Morganville and never cross Amelie. Shane's dad is out to kill all vampires and that may just break the protection circumstances.

Hearing that his dad has targeted the vampire Brandon as his first kill, Shane, even though he hates vampires and especially Brandon, goes out to save Brandon. Shane is found next to Brandon's dead body and since that is the most severe law to break in Morganville, killing a vampire, Shane is locked in a cage in the town's square set to die by incineration, unless Claire and the rest can find proof Shane did not do the killing.

So Eve and Michael and Claire set out to find proof. Yes, I said Michael, sure he's not a vampire but he is a ghost. The only problem is that being a ghost he is held by the power of the house, so he cannot leave Glass House, but on the bright side, he cannot die. One of the many plans the group come up with is to find a vampire to help them sneak into the square and help Shane escape. The vampire they find to help them is Sam. Wait till you hear what Sam's secrets are. No I won't tell, you'll have to listen and hear for yourself, otherwise you may not believe me.

To find Sam, Eve and Claire must attend the campus dance called "The Dead Girls' Dance." The problems really hit when Shane's dad and his biker buddies decide to crash the dance.

Once again while Cynthia Holloway does a pretty decent job of reading the story and has pretty good vocal characterization, she still needs to work on her pronunciation skills. On of the words in this one that stands out is here pronunciation of the word "nuclear." You guessed it she pronounces as "Nucular." There are others but that one stands out the most in this book. Other than that some good listening to this Tantor Audio book version of "The Dead Girls' Dance," by Rachel Caine.

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posted by Gil T. @ 8:09 PM Comments: 0

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires Series #1) by Rachel Caine

Glass Houses (Morganville Vampires Series #1)
by Rachel Caine
read by Cynthia Holloway
produced by Tantor Audio
approx. 8.5 hours

Finally a young adult vampire series you can really sink your teeth into. (I know too much, right?) Seriously Rachel Caine has created in the Morganville Vampire series a return to the good old days of when vampires were enemies and not something to fall in love with. And now Tantor Audio has brought the first book to life in audio book form.

Overall, Cynthia Holloway, does a very nice job of delivering the story as told from Claire Danvers a super smart 16 year old in her first year of college. However there are a couple of pronunciation issues that should have been cleared up before production. One that stands out is the word settee. Ms. Holloway pronounces as "setty" instead of set-tee. There are only a couple of other words that grated on me but this one was repeated several times in the book and just felt like nails on a chalkboard. If it weren't for the intriguing story I would have been turned off a bit from the book. Aside from a couple of mispronunciations, Ms. Holloway does a great job of helping to distinguish who is talking and thinking with slight voice variations and emotes the danger and and even sometimes humor Rachel Caine uses to create a world full of vampires.

The story in this first book of the series of Morganville Vampires, Glass Houses, introduces the listener to the town of Morganville, Texas, home of Texas Prairie University sometimes called T-P eeewwww. A town that is populated by some strange people and even stranger yet, the town is run by Vampires. Each person has a sort of insurance policy that protects them from the vampires, when the person turns 18 they must find some vampire family to "insure" them or risk becoming food for the vamps.

Claire Danvers is a 16 year old who, due to her super smarts, has graduated high school early and before heading to a major university has opted to attend TPU. The problem is her smarts gets her on the wrong side of Monica Morell, the most popular girl in school. When Claire corrects Monica and makes her look dumb in front of friends, Claire becomes marked for violence. Monica and the Monikettes beat up Claire and steal her clothes from her dorm room. Claire decides to be safe she will have to move off campus. She discovers that The Glass House residents are looking for a fourth roommate and after meeting with Shane and Eve she has to meet with Michael, the owner of the house and who only makes his appearances after sunset.

Shane whose sister died after Monica, under instructions from the vampires, set fire to Shane's family home, makes a deal with the vampires to keep Claire from further attack. This deal could mean the death of Shane. In order to null the deal Claire has to make a better offer to the vampires.

Eve a goth girl that is hated by the vampires because they feel she is making fun of them, tells Claire of something the vampires want and have been looking for for ages. Claire must find this lost article and bring peace to the town of Morganville. In doing so Claire discovers Michaels secret and is burdened with another secret. All this on the shoulders of a 16 year-old genius.

With exciting vampire battles and the hazing of college life, "Glass Houses" is a very nice introduction to a series of vampire books that brings back the stories of hunting vampires rather than falling in love with them. So if you are a fan of the other young adult vampire stories, pick up this ongoing series for some real vampire battles.

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posted by Gil T. @ 7:59 PM Comments: 0