Hypoview: Of Poseidon (Anna Banks)

Another hypoview by me, yeay! (boo!)

I don't consider this a chick lit. Young Adult maybe, but for me, this book is freakishly more towards Young Teenager.

I was a bit mad about the vampire lit stuffs, seriously. Vampire and werewolves. Sexy, some people claimed. So, to hate myself and others, I grabbed a book with astounding covers and seemingly good plot. Of Poseidon is a story where a young, hot, caring and innocent guy called Galen trying to convince Emma, a girl who bumps (literally) into his life that she is a mermaid.

So, guys, a new trend is coming.

THE MERMAIDSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

So, my friend gave me a short (really short) interview that I guess it will end up in a hypoview and I posted it here. Wait (or rather, don't) for my review after I have consumed the book (not literally).

Q: Do I regret buying the book?
A: Slightly.

Q: Will I be able to read it?
A: Yes, but reluctantly.

Q: Is the story bad?
A: Never noticed.

Q: What's good about the story?
A: So far, only the humorous descriptives.

END.
Sorry.

Someone Else's Garden (Dipika Rai)

To be honest, I have finished reading it a couple of weeks ago. It's just that my internet connection was, how to put it, "dominated" by someone else.

Right, this book is epic in the sense of flavour. I love reading this book. This is the best attempt I have ever bet on escaping from Reynoldian's spaceworks (I mean works from Alastair Reynolds). It never crossed my mind to pick up a general fiction and gobble it all the way down because sci-fi and fantasy still remains my favourite pick.

All thanks to the Big Bad Wolf book sale. I guess. The general categorization of books only based on Fiction and Non-fiction has tempted me to pick up this Indian-flavoured book just because I cannot bear the look of getting empty handed before returning to the place where I came from (which is about two hours journey home)

Dipika Rai is amazing in her words. She is able to captivate me with all the adjectives and adverbs to depict the rural and sexist life on a tiny part of India. I remembered on one paragraph or phrase that mentions something like "they never knew what month they are born in, they only remember it in colours" such that the colours of the mustard field and other vibrant and vivid colours.

Remarkable.

It is a Cinderella style story but it is dense. Very dense. The love story was very briefly described but painfully ended. I never thought there was a tail trailing behind after the climax. And mind you, the tail was quite long.

If you want a quick read, this book is definitely not for you (and I am never a fan of a super page turner). If you want to sit down, have a cup of Ceylonese tea and relax under a palm tree while reading a book, this IS the book you want.

My heart cried at such beauty, nostalgic and bitter taste of India. I miss it.

Really.

The only one big no-no is the second half of the book is a bit rushed. Maybe it was me getting impatient to see her charming prince or how she tackle her prince (well, there is no real prince as such, I am just 'speaking' metaphorically). Perhaps, that wasn't a no-no, but a yes-yes that the author tempted me to read on and on without stopping.

The conflict is great, I tell you (or reassure you) but I promise you, it is very rewarding in the end.

My heart reaches out to those poor villages in India.

Love you all!

FIVE STARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Priestess of the White (Trudi Canavan)

One of the earliest novels I have bought.

Yes, the truth is, there was once I cannot afford to buy any books. My very first novel bought after a few years window was Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds, followed by this book Priestess of the White (or POTW in short).

Trudi is very good at storytelling, at some point.

POTW begins its story with a young girl named Auraya and her journey after joining the Circle of Five - a powerful religious body with priests and priestess governed by the Five White Gods through the Five High Priestesses and Priests. Unfortunately, another religion rises in the southern part of the hemisphere called the Pentadrians, who also worship their five gods, but in black.

Each religion spits on another because they claim their gods are real.

And then war broke between two factions.

The story may look simple, but I tell you, it is a trilogy and by the time you cruise this book off, you will wonder whether Auraya has really witness the Pentadrian gods on one account.

OK, enough with synopsis, let's talk about comments.

The story is strong enough to portray classes of people like the Dreamweavers and Circlians. It tells the inner heart of the innocence and how that heart develops. It feels like Harry Potter but a bit less magic with more history (something like Lord of the Rings). Its good points are these and also the ability of the author to carry out the story smoothly, except for some hairpin glitches of sidestory which I cannot really relate to the other two books.

Overall, I give this a three star and half.

The bad point is, it's a bit less dense. The story is powerful enough to captivate the readers but weak enough to fully immerse into the alien world. Yes, I love how the artificial world created by the author but I wanted more. It lacks solidity. It is a crystal.

Should you get this book? Yes.
Should you read this book twice? Erm.
Should you buy all three books together? Yes.
Should you praise this book? Erm.

But let's go to that bright side. This book is definitely worth reading. It's a children story told in a young adult fashion. Expect magic and adventure all here in this book! Tell me what you want to know!

On the Steel Breeze (Alastair Reynolds)

 
Yes, I am really addicted to Reynoldian works. I thought I have escaped that by reading many other works, yet, during my birthday this year, my students brought me (or 'bought', to be specific) Alastair Reynolds' latest work, On the Steel Breeze (short as in OTSB below).

I was delighted, of course, not to mention they brought me a hardcover version, which is the first book I have ever owned from Alastair's. There are, *ahem*, some books by Alastair that I did not quite like in terms of uniformity and consistency. I mean the cover, of course.

OTSB, the only hardcover version I own now, is somewhat duller in a sense. Perhaps my expectations are too high when he announced some sneakies about the main character Chiku Akinya having split herself into three clones, including herself, to embark on adventures that cannot be experienced simultaneously.

I thought the content and plot will be dense.

The plot is heavy, but not dense, I tell you.

Chiku (spoiler ahead) splits herself into Chiku Red, Yellow and Green. Continuing from previous book, Blue Remembered Earth, loosely, Red chose a destiny to meet with the mythical or legendary ancestor of her own, Eunice Akinya, the one who brought the stars to humanity. Green, however, chose the journey to a planet called Crucible where hints of alien intelligence are found. Yellow, being the most prudent, chose to stay behind in a rather bland life.

Or so it seems.

To really punch a review, I would give some note of disappointment. Several familiar occurence dotted in the book. First, the art of splitting an individuals to multiple clones. This has already been introduced in House of Suns from his earlier books, though the timescale for that book is extremely vast. Second, the cored-out asteroids called 'holoships' which housed several million people living and breathing to keep them warm throughout the journey to Crucible, which took them 120 years. This is much more boring compare to Alastair's Chasm City's generation ship launched to the direction to 61 Cygni-A star system. Third, BDO or Big Dumb Object. In OTSB, there are 22 huge structures orbiting Crucible which does nothing except (apparently) cleaning up atmosphere. This is similar to Pushing Ice's Janus and the Structure.

Well, not too negative eh. I still find that Alastair is able to bring awe and sighs to the appearance of the legendary Eunice. He has successfully made me want to really really meet this godlike lady. The discovery and bringing back of her real body gives me a huge emotional plunge and her grand appearance in riding on elephants to 'war' really makes me imagine the war in ancient Asia.

Well done, Alastair, but I am a little unhappy about the ending.

It's a bit too... simple. Lacks detail. Perhaps I have been reading too much of your material, but I would now have a much higher expectation for your last Poseidon's Children series. I want things in a much grander scale. Much more epicness. I want operatic. I want a little dose of goth, or maybe Lovecraftian horror. I want a sense of awe that when I finish reading these three books of yours, I have the chance to breathe out one single sigh and say, 'Akinya, I salute you.'

Thanks, Al!

I love your letter to me!

Hypoview: Someone Else's Garden (Dipika Rai)

According to Neruvatarian Tome, 'hypoview' is defined as a preliminary review done on partial or superficial layer of the entire author's work which may or may not vary after a period of time, depending on the depth of the work.


OK, let's get going.

I have picked this book on 6 Dec 2013 during a Big Bad Wolf Book Fair held in Serdang, Selangor. I admit this book is not my cup of tea, or piece of cake. I am a superfan in Sci-fi or Fantasy, but never general fiction. I will get to that BBW frenzy later, I promise.

This book costs me RM8 at that point of purchase, so, it is worth it, compare to any ordinary novel at a price of RM 34.90++.

Thing is, this book caught my attention in two ways. One: The setting in India. Two: Very cultural design. Yes, I do judge a book by its cover!

I have just entered Chapter 2 as we speak and the comment I am going to give is: AWESOME.

You should try to digest this out with a cup of Ceylonese tea. I am serious. Certain books come with a distinct flavour that if you try to tamper with that balance, you find the book awful. This book is nonetheless a great book.

Try reading the part where the mother is delivering a baby in a mustard field without any doctor yet she has to cook for her family on the same evening. The prejudice is clear in this setting and you will find that the title fits it well.

It is said that having a girl in a family is actually taking care of someone else's garden until she is owned by that someone. Thus, much less attention is paid on taking care of the girls. They are impoverished and constantly raped or abused.

No worries, it is a book of tale. It is so clean and clear that you can feel yourself in India just by the first chapter. I remember one sentence which hits me till the ground:

"In Seeta Ram's (the father) eyes, Mamta (the elder daughter) has no right to exist at all, but since she does, she has to prove herself day after day, working harder than the boys, eating nothing that might be noticed, and being silently present. Like the extra baby section in an orange, not missed if it isn't there, but swallowed whole if it is, without releasing any of its flavour into the mouth."

And one more rhyme that makes me want to cry:

"Make a chapatti, bake a chapatti,
Give one to your father, give one to your mother,
One for your sister and one for your brother,
Then what's left? One burned and dry,
Give it to the little girl to make her cry.

Stay tuned for more of Dipika's SEG!

One Thousand and One Nights (Hanan al-Shaykh)

 
Face it.

Truth #1:
I have never properly read any other versions of One Thousand and One Nights (short as OTON below). I used to think OTON to be splendid and fairy-tale, something like Anderson's fairy tale compendium or something.

I was wrong. Yeah, laugh at me for my naivety. That book has so many wild sexual fantasies simplified into 'acceptable' version.

Truth #2
I saw this book on a shelf, sitting like a duck staring at me with its two O's. The first thing that grabbed me by heart was its cover. The peacock blue Arabian sky with golden Arabic motif archway dotted with golden stars. How luxurious could it get?

Yes, I do have a soft spot for blue books.

Truth #3
When I saw the word 'orgies', 'penis straight up like bayonets' etc, my eyes did not blink for more than 30 seconds. Half-curious about the content and half-disappointed about the sexual words. But as I read on, I found myself (sometimes) looking for more. Typical testosterone level gush, I guess.

Truth #4
I must praise the brilliant twists and turns, loops and crosses of the stories. I never thought Arabic stories can be so... wonderful. Don't forget the first story as it will somehow found its footing in later stories. Cool huh? I praise the intelligence of Shahrazad to keep her neck clean.

Truth #5
I have never told the synopsis or outline of the story since Truth #1.

Truth #6
King Shahrayar vows to bed every virgin each night and slaughters them the next daybreak. Shahrazad volunteers to be his next virgin. She sacrificed her virginity but she tells a story during the night and leave the king in suspense till the next morning, which would prolong her life for another day. And so, she tells the stories, spinning them out slowly, neatly but intricate like a spider web...

Truth #7
Hanan has successfully captured me with the tales and her way of telling. The choice of words and sentence structure strikes me back to Arabian nights of the early centuries.

Truth #8
I really would love 1001 nights of tales rather than 19 of them. I want to read more each night! If I could just read one tale per night, I can read this book for 3 years! I want to know how Shahrazad escapes her own death!

Truth #9
No more truths,

Truth #10
Truth #9 proves to be a lie.


Bought this book on 19th Jan 2014