Mystic City

I am trying to be less of a book snob, so this week I read debut author Theo Lawrence's new book, Mystic City.

       

     

   

The cover is really pretty. That's part of the reason why I chose it.

Here's the synopsis from Goodreads.com: "Aria Rose, youngest scion of one of Mystic City's two ruling rival families, finds herself betrothed to Thomas Foster, the son of her parents' sworn enemies. The union of the two will end the generations-long political feud—and unite all those living in the Aeries, the privileged upper reaches of the city, against the banished mystics who dwell below in the Depths. But Aria doesn't remember falling in love with Thomas; in fact, she wakes one day with huge gaps in her memory. And she can't conceive why her parents would have agreed to unite with the Fosters in the first place. Only when Aria meets Hunter, a gorgeous rebel mystic from the Depths, does she start to have glimmers of recollection—and to understand that he holds the key to unlocking her past. The choices she makes can save or doom the city—including herself"

 

Due to the overwhelming romance theme in the blurb, I knew this was the type of book I would usually try to avoid. But I thought the same thing about The Pledge, and ended up really liking it. So I decided to give this book I try.

I think the main problem in this book is the difference between planning and execution. Lawrence obviously had a really creative and beautiful idea for a story, but the portrayal of his ideas is where all that beauty and creativity was lost. A lot of the writing was corny, the characters were unrealistic and annoying, and the plot was extremely predictable. However, there were some very solid parts to the story, so I think it's only fair to separate the good from the bad.

 The Good: The idea behind Mystic City is incredibly imaginative. There are magic-workers (dubbed Mystics) living in some of the larger cities in America, Manhattan included. Years ago, a bomb made of mystic energy was used to blow up a building in an event called the Conflagration. The mystics were blamed, and now their powers are illegal. Twice a year, the government demands they have their powers drained, and then their drained magic is used to fuel the city. One of the interesting things about the book is that Lawrence created an entire history between mystics and humans, and I think he did so accurately. The oppression of the mystics seems like something that could really happen if we ever found magic people living in our society. More importantly, it adds to the world building in a way to make it more believable. The magic in the book is really cool, and has a cinematic like quality (this book would translate really well to film) Also, I love the idea of people living exclusively in skyscrapers. In fact, there's one scene where Aria sees grass for the first time in her life.

 The Bad: The characters are shallow and uninteresting (okay, well, Turk is mildly interesting. Only because he has a Mohawk and a motorcycle though.) They all do things with no explanation as to why they did them. The most important example that comes to mind is Hunter's reasons for loving Aria. I understand why Aria likes Hunter, he's funny, sweet, and pretty, but Aria is materialistic, unintelligent, and she likes boy bands. Why would Hunter ever be interested in her? Also, there were very clear categories that all the characters fits into. I understand the idea of certain characters playing certain roles, but the characters in Mystic City seemed to be YA Fantasy stereotypes. All of the boys just so happened to be really pretty, and all the girls thought about were the boys (seriously, every single girl in the book, even the minor characters, managed to get a word in about how great pretty boys are.) Like romance, those types of characters are good in measured doses, but it's also important to have variety.

The dialogue between characters also ranges from "okay, that's kind of a weird thing to say" to eye-roll worthy to "did he really just say that? Did that actually come out of his mouth?" At one point, there are these love letters that one character writes to another, and for some reason they're written in Shakespearian language, just for the heck of it. This may have been a literary decision on Lawrence's part, but if it is, it's not working.

My biggest problem with this book was how predictable it was. After 15 pages, I felt like I had already read the entire book, because I already knew what was going to happen. Granted, there were a few surprises, but not enough to stop me from putting it down for long periods of time.

All in all, the book is decent. Maybe a little less than decent. I really do think that the world Lawrence creates is interesting, I've never heard of anything like it before, but I think a lot of his good ideas were lost in the execution. However, I feel it's important to acknowledge what he did well, just as much as what he didn't do too well on. I don't think I would reread this book, but I may read the rest of the series just to see where he takes it.

I think I'm going to go back to being a book snob for a while. Next up: Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes

 

 



Books Worth Rereading: The Girl of Fire and Thorns

I read Rae Carson's Girl of Fire and Thorns about a year ago and didn't think much of it. I recently reread it, and I think I must've just forgotten how awesome it was because this book is REALLY good.

 

 Here's the synopsis taken from Goodreads.com: "Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.
Elisa is the chosen one. But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.
Most of the chosen do"

      

In terms of characters, Elisa is one of the best I've ever read, not just because she's really cool but because she's really well written. Sometimes I find it hard to relate to characters because their circumstances are so different from my own. Obviously the things you deal with are going to affect your personality, and in high fantasy books (like Girl of Fire and Thorn) the characters' world is completely different from your own, so often times it's hard to relate to the things they're dealing with, and the emotions they have. However, Rae Carson does a really great job of finding a few universal themes and giving them to Elisa, which makes her seem like someone who could exist both in our world and in hers, it makes her very relatable. She is self conscious and uncertain in a lot of areas, but there are also some things she knows she's good at, and trusts herself to do. It makes for a nice balance of self depreciation and confidence, which I think accurately represents a lot of teenage girls in today's world.

The book in general is also amazing. It’s high fantasy, so the world in the book is entirely different from our own. In the story, magic is seen as something evil. I love the idea of magic being forbidden, and the paradoxes it creates within the story. For example, magic isn’t good, but Elisa was granted access to magic by God, so if it was given to her by God, is it still bad? The landscape of the world they live in is also incredible. The majority of the first book takes place in the desert, but in the second (if you read it, which you should) takes them all over the world, and some of the places they encounter are just amazing, even if they’re only text on a page. While the blurb focuses mainly of the romantic aspects, the book has a lot more elements. I think romance is good, but only in measured doses. Girl of Fire and Thorn has some romance-y bits, but it also has a lot of fighting, magic-ing, and cleverness. Also, there are enough secrets to keep you interesting. I gasped out loud quite a few times while reading this.

The only complaint I hear about this book is that it's too religious, but I think you have to read it to understand. It's religious because it has to be. Part of Elisa's character is that she feels she has to prove herself not only to her people, but to God. If the "God" part were taken out of that, Elisa would not be half the character she is, and the book would be much less interesting.

       

 



Ni No Kuni

Ni No Kuni (literally translated as "The Second Country" or "The Another World") is a Japanese video game made by renowned animator, Hayao Miyazaki.

For those of you who don't know, Hayao Miyazaki is a famous anime (Japanese style of animation) artist. He did Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and, more recently, The Secret World of Arietty. His stuff is usually out in Japan first, with an English dub released a few months later. Because of the delay, the western version of this game was released only last month, and I played it for the first time yesterday.

As far as I know, Hayao Miyazaki played a big role in the plotting for the game. When he writes the story, it's kind of a hit or miss. As a writer, Miyazaki is wildly creative, so sometimes we get these incredible stories (Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away) but then sometimes his imagination is just overflowing, and we get movies like Nausicaa, which are just trippy and weird. So I was a little worried at first, but after playing it, I realized that Ni No Kuni is most definitely a hit.

It's kind of like Zelda meets Pokemon. In the game, you play as a little boy named Oliver. His favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Drippy, comes to life one day and takes you to Ni No Kuni, a parallel universe where every person has an opposite. Once there, Mr. Drippy tells you that you have to learn to be a master wizard so you can defeat Shadar, and evil sorcerer who has been stealing bits of people's hearts. There's only one problem: the book that you're supposed to use to learn how to be a wizard, the Wizard's Companion, is missing nearly all the pages. So you have to go questing around this new universe to find the pages, fight bosses, and give people back pieces of their hearts.

It has the basic journey platform of Zelda (minus the puzzles, which I like. I can't play Zelda because I'm not smart enough to figure those stupid puzzles) and the companion idea of Pokemon. In the game, there are little creatures called "familiars" which you can tame and then send out into battle for you. Also like Pokemon, you can evolve these to be better fighters. In a fight, you can play as one of your familiars, or you can play as Oliver, which means you get to cast spells. When you get companions to travel with you, you can play as them, too.

The game also has really great controls. I know that's not something most people consider, but there are some games I refuse to play because the controls are so weird and I always lose because I'm trying to figure them out. Ni No Kuni's controls actually make sense though, so you can spend your time fighting evil wizards and not trying to figure out which button is attack.

Some other cool features: The game includes little videos done in Miyazaki's traditional 2D animation style (the game is usually done in a 3D sort of animation) so it's like an interactive Miyazaki film! Also, the familiars are awesome. You can name them whatever you want, (we have one named Jaques) you can buy special weapons for them, which will increase the damage their attack does (we just got metal talons for Zaboomafoo, he's unstoppable) and when one familiar gets experience, all of the familiars in your reserve do, too (which makes upgrading them a lot easier.)

The only drawback of Ni No Kuni is that it's only available on Playstation 3 or Nintendo DS (sorry Xbox owners.) But if you have either of these systems, I highly recommend you pick up this game. You may have to order it off Amazon because I don't think it's very popular in the West, but it's totally worth it! It has a amazing story, great characters, awesome game play, and the animation is adorable!

 

Sorry, But I Only Date Fictional Characters

In case you have been living under a rock (I see you Patrick Star) and don't know, Valentine's Day is tomorrow! And, if you're anything like me, you will be spending it alone. (well, not really alone. There's always good ol' tumblr to fill your dashboard with pictures of Benedict Cumberbatch.)
        In honor of this day of love (or, in some cases, profound lonelieness) I have decided to do a post about some of my favorite fictional romances.
1. Elizabeth/ Darcy- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
    One of the really cool things about Lizzie and Darcy is that they basically sets the standard for romantic comedies everywhere. Now, when we see a movie about two people who at first hate each other but eventually love each other, it's nothing new. But for Jane Austen, who was writing these characters in 1813, it was practically unheard of.
     Also, Darcy has this incredible evolution as a character. There were times in the book when I was thinking "No, I can't ever like Darcy. He's too much of a jerkface" (jerkface is a technical term we intellectuals use) but one of the best parts was reading about Lizzie growing to love him, and feeling myself grow more attached to him, too.
     And they are both extremely sassy. It's quite funny.
2. Grace/ Sam- Shiver Trilogy by Maggie Steifvater
     I've written about Steifvater before on this blog, I think. She's worth writing about twice.
     I love Grace and Sam because so often in young adult literature, we see couples who are only expressing love through sexual contact, or being sexy, or just doing things that would make you cringe if you had to watch them with your parents. But Grace and Sam are just... cute. They go to candy shops and drive out to look at the northern lights together and make quiche while dancing. It was nice to read about a relationship that was just fun.
     Also, the two of them contrast wonderfully as characters. Grace is very practical while Sam is halfway between an Elliot Smith version of emo and a six year old kid. You wouldn't think it would work, but it totally does.
3. Tessa/Jem- The Infernal Devices Trilogy by Cassandra Clare
    Oh gosh. These guys are my favorite. Everytime I read about them, I have to hide my face in the book because I can't stop smiling like an idiot.
    What you have to understand about Jem is that he has to compete with the typical dark, tortured, and mysterious boy for the girl. Jem, in comparison, is sweet, selfless, and by all means the guy who would lose in any other book. Everybody always gets mad about how the best friend never gets the girl, but Jem does. Tessa chose him because she saw what we have been trying to explain to these fictional characters our entire lives: the other guy is a jerk.
4. Hazel/ Augustus- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
    It was impossible for me to not put this in. Hazel and Augustus are like a modern day Romeo and Juliet, I can't let them go unnoticed.
    Like Grace and Sam, Hazel and Augustus have a relationship based purely on fun. But what is interesting about their characters together is how acutely aware they are of reality. (For those of you who don't know, in the book, Hazel has terminal cancer.) They can go from talking about their impossible dreams to the metaphorical irony of sickness within the span of a page. Normally, this would throw me off, but John Green does a fantastic job of keeping it balanced. Hazel and Augustus are the perfect reminders of what life and love is: hard, but worth it.
5. Deryn/Alec- Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
    This one is kind of grueling, mostly because for two and a half out of three books, Alec thinks that Deryn is a boy. (Deryn is a girl who wanted to join the British Air Service, so she pretends to be a boy. Like Mulan.) But these two are some of my favorite characters ever.
     Alec is very pompous and acts like the sterreotypical aristocrat at times, and what I love about him and Deryn interacting is that Deryn is never afraid to put him in his place. I think it may actually be better that Alec thought she was a boy, because the book takes place in a time period where being a woman would make you inferior. But because Alec gets to know Deryn as a boy, he treats her like they're on equal footing. It's so fun to read their conversations, mostly because of the slang they use in the book, but also because they're both wildly smart and innovative when they're together.
    But really. The slang is awesome. In what other context are you going to see someone say "Aye, and make sure that clever boots boffin finds her beastie." Nowhere, only in Leviathan.

So, if you've seen everything of your tumblr dashboard, maybe check out a few of these books. I hope everyone has a happy Valentine's Day, whether your date is fictional or not!

Youtube Keeps Me Unproductive

          Like many people out there, I used to think that Youtube was only for cat videos and gangam style. It wasn't until two months ago that I discovered that was not the case at all. Video blogs, "vlogs", are slowly becoming more and more popular.
           AND THEY ARE ADDICTING.
           While these vlogs will send you into an eternal downward spiral of procrastination and genral unproductiveness, I highly recommend you check some out. Here are a few of my favorites...

The Vlog Brothers: On January 1st, 2007, brothers John and Hank Green challenged each other to spend a whole year communicating without texting and instead to make videos on their joint vlog for each other to watch. Turns out, they were super funny and awesome and the project gained so much popularity that today, it is one of the most watched channels on youtube and known throughout the world. Followers of the vlog are called "Nerdfighters" (not people who fight nerds, but people who fight in the name of nerdom.) Every year, the vlog brothers take over youtube for The Project for Awesome, a massive charity event where nonprofits make videos explaining why people should donate to them, and people vote on their favorites to recieve money at the end of the two days The Project for Awesome takes place. Also, each comment the videos get are matched with something like a penny up to $10,000 from each John and Hank as well as a handful of other donors. The brothers also do a 48 hour live stream where they talk to donors and heads of nonprofits.
       Maybe you've heard of John Green. He's a YA author, his most popular book, The Fault in Our Stars, is already considered a modern classic. Here's a good introduciton video to Vlogbrothers: 

 

         Hank Green also has a few songs on itunes. For extra points, I would love to hear someone sing all of The Universe is Weird in one try. (Listen to the song and you'll see how hard this is. Not even Hank can do it, and he wrote the song.)



 

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: A modernization of Pride and Prejudice created and produced by Hank Green. The idea is that Lizzie Bennet is a grad student trying to get her mass communications degree and the vlog is her thesis project, but her life follows the storyline of Pride and Prejudice. This is really good to watch as you read the book because you get to know the characters a lot better, and it does a really great job of making Pride and Prejudice relevant to today's world (Like, in 2013, running away with an unmarried man would not be scandalous, but a sex tape would be. They adapt things so they have the same levity in the modern world as they would in 1813.) The only downside is that the vlog also stays on the same timeline, which means that if something happens at christmastime, you have to wait until christmas to see it. If it leaves off on a cliffhanger, you're just going to have to suck it up and sit in a corner in fetal position trying to cope until the next video comes out. Here's the first video:



      P.S. Darcy doesn't come in until the 60th video. I tell you this because I watch this for 4 hours just waiting for him to show up.
      

The Super Amazing Project: British Youtubers danisnotonfire and amzingphil join up to create a show about supernatural occurences in the world. Complete with creepy Robert Pattinson masks and jokes about the Queen (isn't that illegal or something?) I can't explain these guys. They're funny just because of who they are. But be warned, some videos are a little inappropriate, especially on Dan and Phil's own channels. Also, Dan seems to have a problem with wearing pants. I don't get it, he wears belts in every single video and yet his pants still sag. Just pull them up, it's not that hard. Here's one of my favorite videos:

 

I think Phil is the male version of me.

 

If you liked the video above, also check out Dan and Phil's individual channels, Danisnotonfire and Amazing Phil, or some of their youtuber friends: Itswaypastmybedtime, Nerimon, and Charlieissocoollike. John and Hank Green also have a few good educational shows, Crash Course World History/ English, Sci Show, and the Brain Scoop (done by their awesome taxidermist friend Emily.)