This book was great, the best in the series.
What I liked: It wrapped up all the unanswered questions about Des Tiny and was full of important and interesting details. I loved the main character's push towards madness in the Lake and it was great to have all the bits worked out.
What I didn't like: I really had no complaints for this book, except the last few pages were rather inconsequential and droning. I also disliked the "unexpected" third choice at the end. It was expected that Shan would find a way out of making his main character the eventual destroyer of the Earth, but it was just plausible enough that he wouldn't to keep it a pageturner.
Overall: 8 out of 10. Fantastic.
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (April 1, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316016640
ISBN-13: 978-0316016643
Monday, August 24, 2009
Cirque du Freak: Lord of the Shadows, by Darren Shan
This book was somewhat of a disappointment, not as good as the last.
What I liked: I liked the inner struggle the main character has with himself. It's extremely important to the plot and will decide the series.
What I didn't like: Basically the same empty-until-the-end format as before. I also didn't like that Desmond Tiny and his daughter flip flop on their vampiristic involvement. They keep saying that now that the end is near, they can reveal more about the future without changing it, but then they say that they can't tell anything until the end. It's extremely inconsistent.
Overall: Overall the penultimate installment was a drag. 4 out of 10.
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (September 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316016624
ISBN-13: 978-0316016629
What I liked: I liked the inner struggle the main character has with himself. It's extremely important to the plot and will decide the series.
What I didn't like: Basically the same empty-until-the-end format as before. I also didn't like that Desmond Tiny and his daughter flip flop on their vampiristic involvement. They keep saying that now that the end is near, they can reveal more about the future without changing it, but then they say that they can't tell anything until the end. It's extremely inconsistent.
Overall: Overall the penultimate installment was a drag. 4 out of 10.
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (September 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316016624
ISBN-13: 978-0316016629
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Cirque du Freak: The Lake of Souls, by Darren Shan
This book was great. I am thankfully almost finished with the series and will be able to move on to something else. On another note, my mom finally ordered a subscription to VegNews magazine for me. WOOT!
What I liked: I liked the idea of a search for a main character's past identity. I also liked that said search was extremely well-put together; each quest item was completely necessary to help them find Harkat's soul. The satisfying macabre touches come for me when Spit's secrets are revealed. The anagramic forshadowing was genius on Shan's part, and although I saw it coming with the teeth, I never guessed who the past soul was. This book really breaks Shan's stylism - a book void of plot until the end, when a very big overall plot piece is revealed. The tenth installment in this series is full of satisfying and surprising plot twists. As for an important plot piece, meddler Desmond Tiny plays a much larger part in this book, which becomes very important later in the series.
What I didn't like: I don't have very many complaints against this book, other than the dialogue. Shan's dialogue skills are nothing to write home about.
Overall: 8 out of 10!
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (April 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316154377
ISBN-13: 978-0316154376
What I liked: I liked the idea of a search for a main character's past identity. I also liked that said search was extremely well-put together; each quest item was completely necessary to help them find Harkat's soul. The satisfying macabre touches come for me when Spit's secrets are revealed. The anagramic forshadowing was genius on Shan's part, and although I saw it coming with the teeth, I never guessed who the past soul was. This book really breaks Shan's stylism - a book void of plot until the end, when a very big overall plot piece is revealed. The tenth installment in this series is full of satisfying and surprising plot twists. As for an important plot piece, meddler Desmond Tiny plays a much larger part in this book, which becomes very important later in the series.
What I didn't like: I don't have very many complaints against this book, other than the dialogue. Shan's dialogue skills are nothing to write home about.
Overall: 8 out of 10!
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (April 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316154377
ISBN-13: 978-0316154376
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Cirque du Freak: Killers of the Dawn, by Darren Shan
This one was better than the last but seemed much emptier.
What I liked: All the major plot details were at the end. This made for a very epic battle scene but required you pay close attention.
What I didn't like: Like I said, all or most of the major details were at the end, so the majority of the book was pretty empty. Basically the only complaints I have are ones I registered about the other books in the series, fortunately, only three more books to go....
Overall: 5 out of 10.
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (September 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316016667
ISBN-13: 978-0316016667
What I liked: All the major plot details were at the end. This made for a very epic battle scene but required you pay close attention.
What I didn't like: Like I said, all or most of the major details were at the end, so the majority of the book was pretty empty. Basically the only complaints I have are ones I registered about the other books in the series, fortunately, only three more books to go....
Overall: 5 out of 10.
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (September 6, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316016667
ISBN-13: 978-0316016667
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Cirque du Freak: Allies of the Night, by Darren Shan
This is the eighth book in the series and I can't help but wish I was through with it....
What I liked: This book was very important to the series but didn't come right out and state its purpose. I also liked that the main character has undergone a lot of changes since the last book I read.
What I didn't like: The dialogue was wooden and the book was a little shallow. It also tends to be very formulaic in its style (beginning-middle-climax-end).
Overall: 5 out of 10.
It is difficult to produce a tangible review for such a short book and I apologize for that.
What I liked: This book was very important to the series but didn't come right out and state its purpose. I also liked that the main character has undergone a lot of changes since the last book I read.
What I didn't like: The dialogue was wooden and the book was a little shallow. It also tends to be very formulaic in its style (beginning-middle-climax-end).
Overall: 5 out of 10.
It is difficult to produce a tangible review for such a short book and I apologize for that.
The Weather Makers: How Man is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, by Tim Flannery
This book is exactly the opposite of Gretel Ehrlich's book I reviewed last month, but they make great companions. While Flannery's book gives you the facts, figures and politics of global warming, Ehrlich's is a tribute to what is being lost, giving a face to Flannery's hard numbers.
What I liked: It debunked a lot of global warming myths that I have found hard to explain in global warming debates; for example, the "Medieval Warm Period", when the Earth was thought to be warm due to evidence of wineries in England. As evidenced by global temperature records (ice cores, tree rings, etc.), the Earth was overall cooler, but warmed in a sort of patchy way due to natural stratospheric shifts. Flannery's book gave me a lot of the facts, numbers and predictions I was looking for out of Ehrlich's book, but having read Ehrlich's book helped me clearly envision what he meant. I would highly suggest reading them together. I also liked that he made it clear that even if we stopped emitting any fossil fuels this very minute, the Earth would still warm a little (maybe 2 degrees overall) because of the lifetime of carbon dioxide to stay in our air.
What I didn't like: For all of Flannery's hard facts, putting compassion behind facts is very difficult. Saying that the hole in the ozone is 11 million miles wide (made up number) is not the same as showing it. I often found myself checking the page numbers to see how long I had before I was done.
Overall: I would give it a 7 out of 10.
Alternative review:
Publisher's Weekly:
Mammologist and paleontologist Flannery (The Eternal Frontier), who in recent years has become well known for his controversial ideas on conservation, the environment and population control, presents a straightforward and powerfully written look at the connection between climate change and global warming. It's destined to become required reading following Hurricane Katrina as the focus shifts to the natural forces that may have produced such a devastating event. Much of the book's success is rooted in Flannery's succinct and fascinating insights into related topics, such as the differences between the terms greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change, and how the El Niño cycle of extreme climatic events "had a profound re-organising effect on nature." But the heart of the book is Flannery's impassioned look at the earth's "colossal" carbon dioxide pollution problem and his argument for how we can shift from our current global reliance on fossil fuels [...]. Flannery consistently produces the hard goods related to his main message that our environmental behavior makes us all "weather makers" who "already possess all the tools required to avoid catastrophic climate change."
Details:
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (January 10, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0802142923
ASIN: B001PO66MG
What I liked: It debunked a lot of global warming myths that I have found hard to explain in global warming debates; for example, the "Medieval Warm Period", when the Earth was thought to be warm due to evidence of wineries in England. As evidenced by global temperature records (ice cores, tree rings, etc.), the Earth was overall cooler, but warmed in a sort of patchy way due to natural stratospheric shifts. Flannery's book gave me a lot of the facts, numbers and predictions I was looking for out of Ehrlich's book, but having read Ehrlich's book helped me clearly envision what he meant. I would highly suggest reading them together. I also liked that he made it clear that even if we stopped emitting any fossil fuels this very minute, the Earth would still warm a little (maybe 2 degrees overall) because of the lifetime of carbon dioxide to stay in our air.
What I didn't like: For all of Flannery's hard facts, putting compassion behind facts is very difficult. Saying that the hole in the ozone is 11 million miles wide (made up number) is not the same as showing it. I often found myself checking the page numbers to see how long I had before I was done.
Overall: I would give it a 7 out of 10.
Alternative review:
Publisher's Weekly:
Mammologist and paleontologist Flannery (The Eternal Frontier), who in recent years has become well known for his controversial ideas on conservation, the environment and population control, presents a straightforward and powerfully written look at the connection between climate change and global warming. It's destined to become required reading following Hurricane Katrina as the focus shifts to the natural forces that may have produced such a devastating event. Much of the book's success is rooted in Flannery's succinct and fascinating insights into related topics, such as the differences between the terms greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change, and how the El Niño cycle of extreme climatic events "had a profound re-organising effect on nature." But the heart of the book is Flannery's impassioned look at the earth's "colossal" carbon dioxide pollution problem and his argument for how we can shift from our current global reliance on fossil fuels [...]. Flannery consistently produces the hard goods related to his main message that our environmental behavior makes us all "weather makers" who "already possess all the tools required to avoid catastrophic climate change."
Details:
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (January 10, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0802142923
ASIN: B001PO66MG
Cirque du Freak: Vampire Mountain, by Darren Shan
This is the fourth book in the series.
What I liked: The dialogue flowed well and the author stayed true to his style of narration (although I suppose Shan could be considered a one-trick pony in that respect - all of his Cirque novels as well as the exponentially better Demonata books contain the same stylistic consistency).
What I didn't like: I saw this book as a vehicle book to tie up a few loose ends and introduce new characters and ideas. The plot wasn't much to write home about, but having read the series, it is a very important book as it introduces a lot of more main characters as the book transitions from the main character getting used to his new life to a more vampiric, plotted story. That being said, this meant the plot was really fabricated around the need to introduce these new people, places and concepts. I also didn't like the lack of a character arc. In the story, eight years have passed between book 1 and 4, but the main character has not matured or changed at all, even with his unusual experiences.
Overall: I would give it a 5 out of 10.
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (November 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316905747
ISBN-13: 978-0316905749
What I liked: The dialogue flowed well and the author stayed true to his style of narration (although I suppose Shan could be considered a one-trick pony in that respect - all of his Cirque novels as well as the exponentially better Demonata books contain the same stylistic consistency).
What I didn't like: I saw this book as a vehicle book to tie up a few loose ends and introduce new characters and ideas. The plot wasn't much to write home about, but having read the series, it is a very important book as it introduces a lot of more main characters as the book transitions from the main character getting used to his new life to a more vampiric, plotted story. That being said, this meant the plot was really fabricated around the need to introduce these new people, places and concepts. I also didn't like the lack of a character arc. In the story, eight years have passed between book 1 and 4, but the main character has not matured or changed at all, even with his unusual experiences.
Overall: I would give it a 5 out of 10.
Details:
Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (November 1, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316905747
ISBN-13: 978-0316905749
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