The Literary Detective's files

The forest of hands and teeth - Carrie Ryan

2010-05-08T11:28:00.006+02:00

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : The Forest of hands and teeth

American publisher : Delacorte Press : 9,99$

English publisher : Gollancz : 6,99£

In Mary's world, there are simple truths.
The Sisterhood always knows best.
The Guardians will protect and serve.
The Unconsecrated will never relent.
And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village. The fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth.
But slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power. And, when the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness.
Now she must choose between her village and her future, between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

What I think

I liked the book, but I was disappointed. I think there's a lack of originality. The Forest of Hands and Teeth is kind of a mix between I am legend and The Village. The Village because, everyone is in a village surrounded by a forest, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, inhabited not by imaginary monsters, but by real zombies. The Village is ruled by the Sisterhood who knows everything, and guarded by The Guardians. Mary grew up with the fear of the Unconsacrated. But when her dad becomes one and her mom follows him, her brother turns her back on her, and gives her to the Sisterhood. But there, she discovers some things, like there is an outside. And when the zombies breach into the village she and her friends run outside to try and find another village or maybe the ocean.

I am legend, because, the zombietude is some kind of disease that contaminated the entire world, leaving alive only a few survivors like Mary. Everyone in the village believes they're the only one left on the planet. And they're trying to keep humanity alive.

I think this book could have been a lot better if there was not this lack of originality. The subject of zombies is not enough developed. But maybe it will be in the next book. Mary is a tough girl, and that's a good point in the book, but sometimes I just wanted to smack her.

The love story, yes there is one, turns not very well, but that's great, because for once, it's not all is well that ends well.

The zombies are hilarious. Well they're zombies, with limbs hanging and flesh decomposing and all that, but the image is to recurrent and it makes the style too ponderous.

There is a sequel, The dead-tossed waves, but right now, I don't know if I will read it.

Now I'm going to perfect my zombie knowledge, with some movies a friend gave me, like 28 days later and 28 weeks later, and Shaun of the dead, Dawn of the dead, Zombieland, and Dead snow.

Silver borne - Patricia Briggs

2010-05-04T18:20:00.005+02:00

****

Genre : Urban fantasy

Series : Mercy Thompson : Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed, Silver Borne

American publisher : Ace Hardcover : 24,95$

English publisher : Orbit : 6,99£

Being a mechanic is hard work. Mercy Thompson, for instance, just spent the past couple of months trying to evade the murderous queen of the local vampire seethe. And now the leader of the werewolf pack, who's maybe-more-than-just-a-friend, has asked for her help. A book of fae secrets has come to light and they're all about to find out how implacable - and dangerous - the fae can be.

Okay maybe her troubles have nothing to do with the job. But she sure coul use a holiday...

What I think

Sometimes I wonder if the people who write the back covers really read the books before. Adam hasn't asked for Mercy's help. It should even be the other way round. Well, I have to make my own summary.

Beware of spoilers

Mercy and Adam are officially bonded. But Mercy still lives in her trailer with Samuel. Samuel who tries to kill himself by throwing his car in the river. But he's saved by a policeman. His wolf takes the lead. Normally, Mercy should call Bran who would kill him. Because a werewolf who's led by his wolf is a killing machine, but not Samuel. So Mercy buys him some time.

But then, Mercy is on the trace of Phin who gave her book and seems to be missing. While she is after him, a fire destroys her home, and Adam is badly hurt. Something's going on in the pack. Someone is trying to punish Mercy for being pack and take advantage on Adam weakness.

Mercy falls in the hand of a fairy Queen who is after the Silver Borne, a fae magic that could change the rules.

End of spoilers

As ever, Mercy seems to like danger. She can't help it, wherever she goes, there it is. And as ever, Adam is here to save her.

I loooooooooved it. The trio Mercy-Adam-Samuel, is fantastic, but now we should talk about a couple Mercy-Adam. In the beginning of the series I had a preference for Samuel, but now I must admit that Adam is sooooooo hot.

I was afraid that one would die. But hey I thought it was unthinkable to let Adam or Samuel die. If one of them died, I would have had to transform into a Annie Wilkes and kidnap Patricia Briggs, and break her legs so that she couldn't escape, to make her bring back the lost one.
It simply couldn't be. I can't say more on the subject, but all's well that ends well, as we say. Well, I think I just escape turning into a psychopath!

And this fight with Paul. Waouh Adam!!! He's a man!

The only thing that I didn't really like is the fact that Samuel is like Jacob in Twilight, like the fifth wheel, if you see what I mean. And that it is so sad, blah blah, so we need to find him someone to save him. And so it is a fae he saved a very long time ago. He fell in love with her, and she fell in love with him. But they were separated, and now they meet again...

Alice in Wonderland - Tim Burton

2010-04-25T14:55:00.006+02:00

***

Genre : Children, Adventure

Release : March 24th 2010 (in France)

Directed by Tim Burton

Written by Linda Woolverton

Based on the work of Lewis Carroll

Music composed by Danny Elfman

Starring Mia Wasikowska as Alice; Johnny Depp as The Hatter; Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen; Anne Hathaway as The White Queen; Crispin Glover as Stayne

Synopsis : Alice is now 19, and returns to Wonderland, world she discovered when she was little. But she doesn't remember. She meets the white Rabbit, Twindle Dee and Twindle Dum, Absolem the blue caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat and the mad Hatter. Alice finds herself in a story where she has the main part. She has to end the Red Queen's reign by killing the Jabberwocky.

What I think

I've heard a lot of bad comments about Alice by Tim Burton. That it was not Tim Burton like, too colourful, etc. Comments too on Johnny Depp who doensn't make anything new.

Well, I see Tim Burton's mark in this film, without a doubt. The scenery are all Tim Burton, the dark atmosphere too. About the colour, I would say, hey it's Alice, so it is colourful, that's normal.

But I was waiting for Alice in Wonderland, and it is Alice's return to Wonderland...

I liked the film, but it's not my favorite from Tim Burton's. There were a few moments when I was bored.

I loooooooved Johnny Depp, as talented as ever. But I'm a little doubtful about Mia Wasikowska and Anne Hathaway. Helena Bonham Carter is absolutely wonderful with her big head;o)

I was disappointed about the music. I knew Robert Smith (The Cure) had written a song for Alice. And there is a soundtrack CD with rock bands, but they do not appear in the movie. Only Danny Elfman's music. So why make a CD? I wonder... Another marketing approach without a doubt!

Bone Crossed - Patricia Briggs

2010-04-23T11:56:00.004+02:00

***

Genre : Urban Fantasy

Series : Mercy Thompson : Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed, Bone Crossed

American publisher : Ace Fantasy : 7,99$

English publisher : Orbit : 7,99£

There was I thinking being a shapeshifter had its upsides. Looks like I was wrong.

Car mechanic and sometimes shapeshifter Mercy Thompson has learned - the hard way - why her race was almost exterminated. When European vampires emigrated to North America, they found Mercy's people had a hidden talent for vampire slaying. Unfortunately for Mercy, the queen of the local vampire seethe has discovered her true identity.

The undead queen is also furious when she learns Mercy has crossed her and killed one of her own. Mercy may be protected from direct reprisals by the werewolf pack (and her interesting relationship with its Alpha), but that just means Marsilia will come after Mercy some other way. So Mercy had better prepare to watch her back.

What I think

I won't waist time, Bone Crossed, the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series, is less appealing than Iron Kissed which ended so intensely and full of emotions. We come back to Mercy's daily routine, so it not a rest either;o) Especially when Marsilia, the queen of vampires in Tri-Cities, is after her. Well I suspected it, Mercy couldn't kill a vampire and be left alone...Too easy.

***SPOILERS***
An old friend of Mercy's come to ask her help because she has a ghost in her house. Mercy takes the opportunity to have some peace. But we can count on Mercy to fall in the hands on the only vampire in Spokane. Her middle name is Unlucky;o)
We can really see Stefan's attachment to Mercy. But Mercy has accepted to be Adam's mate, and then becomes pack, even if it doesn't please everyone.
Mercy struggles to keep her balance and has a lot of panic attack since the events with Tim.
For a change, she put herself in danger, and is abducted by James The Monster, the only vampire in Spokane. But as we can imagine, Mercy manages to kill him.
***End of SPOILERS***

What I really appreciated in Bone Crossed is Stefan. We learn more about him, and I looooove him. I'm a vampire girl! I like werewolves too, but that's not the same;o)
Stefan becomes more and more important, his character and his feelings... Ah **sigh**, I'm falling in love. Well he's available, Mercy doesn't want him!

Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs

2010-04-23T09:48:00.005+02:00

****

Genre : Urban Fantasy

Series : Mercy Thompson : Moon Called, Blood Bound, Iron Kissed

American publisher : Ace Fantasy : 7,99$

English publisher : Orbit : 7,99£

I could smell her fear, and it satisfied something deep inside me that had been writhing under her cool, superior gaze. I curled my upper lip so she could get a good look at my sharp teeth. I might only weighthirty or so pounds in my coyote shape, but I was a predator...

Mechanic Mercy Thompson can shift her shape - but not her loyalty. When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it's up to Mercy to clear his name, whether he wants her to ot not.

Mercy's loyalty us under pressure from other directions, too. Werewolves are not known for their patience, and if Mercy can't decide between the two she cares for, Sam and Adam may make the choice for her...

What I think

Well, listen to me! You liked the first, I can tell you you'll like the second, and the third is much better still, but it's really hard, I'm still under shock.

Two months have passed since the story with the wizard vampire, and Andre's murder by...Mercy. Fortunately, Stefan and Wulfe protected her. She hasn't seen Stefan since then. But then, Zee needs her, she owns him a favor after using his magic sword for killing Andre without Zee knowing. Zee needs her coyote nose to resolve an investigation about murders on the fae reservation. After visiting a few murder scenes, Mercy knows the culprit and can come back home. When Zee and Uncle Mike went to the culprit's house, they discovered his body. And the police arrived and arrested Zee. When Mercy knows that, she does everything she can to help Zee, and for that she has to lead the investigation, putting herself in great danger.

***SPOILERS***
Mercy discovers that O'Donnell, who was responsible for the murders, was part of an anti-fae group. She enters this group for a meeting, but doesn't think any of these people could commit a murder, and O'Donnell was savagely killed, with his head tore out. But among this group there is a fae, who is not so powerless as she thinks. When Tim, one of the member, invites her to dinner to talk about what he knows of O'Donnell, she hesitates, because she doesn't want to hurt Adam, but she accepts to help Zee. But she walks in a trap. Tim is looking for the cane that follows Mercy everywhere. She leads Tim to her garage, and there he rapes her. She manages to kill him. Adam and his wolves arrive and Adam tears Tim to pieces, because he's seen everything. Mercy changed shape, and now doesn't want to leave her coyote shape. She thinks she's going to end up on her own and only wants to drown in the river. Of course that is Tim's doing with the drug he used on her. Mercy will have difficulties to recover, but she'll take back her human form and her life. Her choice is made between Samuel and Adam. Samuel realized that his wolf didn't really want her.
***End of SPOILERS***

Honestly, this book is really hard, well especially the end. I was waiting for anything but this. I thought she'll be able to defend herself, and well not THAT. What I mean is that Mercy is an heroine, this kind of thing CAN'T happen to her, but yes. And at the same time I found it hard, it makes Mercy more human, closer to us, because, she's a strong woman who can fight demons, kille werewolves with her teeth, but she can't fight a human of the worst kind. She has weaknesses, because she's human, even if a shapeshifter. But really, I could have made without this kind of event. I can't go on talking about this without telling you what happened, but if you read the spoilers, you'll know. Well be prepared for a big shock!

The good side (because there is one) is that Fae are in the middle of this book and we learn a lot about them. Fae are ogres, trolls, elves, all the creatures that use glamour to pass as humans, but who fear iron. And they're not as nice as we could think.

In Blood Bound, we had found a new candidate to take Mercy's heart, but it was set before it started. Patricia Briggs ends our waiting about the hard choice Mercy has to make between Samuel and Adam, her two love werewolves. Personnally I prefer Samuel, because I find Adam too impulsive and overbearing. But after Mercy's experience, Samuel is not better, the only difference is that Sam hides it better. But the choice was easy finally. Mercy knows Sam is not for her, but she has not made her decision on Adam either.

***SPOILERS***
Sam is faster and tells her he loves her but that his wolf doesn't really want her. The problem is set for Sam. For Adam, it's a little bit more complicated than that, and more interesting too, even if we already know that she'll choose him.
***End of SPOILERS***

I wasn't waiting for a fight to the death between Samuel and Adam, but a little bit more tension could have been nice, just to make my heart race faster;o)

Blood Bound - Patricia Briggs

2010-04-23T09:19:00.004+02:00

****

Genre : Urban Fantasy

Series : Mercy Thompson : Moon Called, Blood Bound

American publisher : Ace Fantasy : 7,99$

English publisher : Orbit : 7,99£

Like most people who own their own business, I work long hours that start early in the morning. So when someone calls me in the middle of the night, they'd better be dying...

Mercy Thompson; woken at 3am by a vampire. Stefan also happens to be a friend, and he needs her help. He has to deliver a message to a fellow undead and needs a witness that won't be noticed - and Mercy's shapeshifting abilities make her the perfect candidate.

But the assignment turns into a bloodbath and Mercy attracts the attention of not just a powerful vampire, but the even more powerful demon possessing him. She can count on the supernatural community for protection - and alpha werewolf Adam would like her to rely on him in other ways, too - but when it comes to being proactive, she's on her own.

What I think

A second book as fascinating as the first. Here, as I suspected we're in company of vampires.

***SPOILERS***
Mercy helps Stefan to send a message to Cory Littleton, who is a new wizard vampire possessed by a demon. This demon made Daniel, Stefan's protégé, accused of murder. Stefan goes on a mission to eliminate this demon who leaves dead bodies behind him.

Werewolves help as they can, but unfortunately they can lose control as well as vampires when faces to the demon, and when Warren is left in a garbage in a bad state, everyone thinks that the others are dead. Mercy receives a call from Marsilia, the vampire queen, she would be the only one able to find Littleton and stop him. When Adam and Samuel disappear, Mercy starts her investigation and discovers that one of Marsilia's vampire, Andre, is the creator of the demon. Mercy can talk to ghost, and thanks to that she finds Littleton's hide, and manages to kill him not without effort. But Marsilia doesn't charge Andre, because she wants a new wizard vampire. Mercy decides to kill Andre herself.
***End of SPOILERS***

I really loved Blood Bound, and to learn more about the vampires and Stefan, who is kind of the good guy of the vampire gang. He protects his "menagerie", the humans who feeds him with their blood, unlike the others who kill them.

We learn more about Mercy herself too, who's not victim of vampires power, but demons power either even if she can feel it. Mercy is really shocked by what she sees in this book and I understand her.

About her love life, everything becomes more and more complicated. When things happens with one, other things happens with the other, and Mercy is as lost as ever. A little surprise in the end, with a new candidate, and this time it's not a wolf. Well, I suspected it from the begining. Want some clue? He owns Scooby-Doo's Mystery Bus;o)

Moon called - Patricia Briggs

2010-04-23T08:50:00.004+02:00

****

Genre : Urban Fantasy

Series : Mercy Thompson : Moon Called

American publisher : Ace Fantasy : 7,99$

English publisher : Orbit : 7,99£

Werewolves can be dangerous if you get in their way, but they'll leave you alone if you are careful. They are very good at hiding their natures from the human population, but I'm not human. I know them when I meet them, and they know me, too.

Mercy Thompson's sexy next-door neighbor is a werewolf.

She's tinkering with a VW bus at her mechanic shop that happens to belong to a vampire.

But then, Mercy Thompson is not exactly normal herself...and her connection to the world of things that go bump in the night is about to get her into a whole lot of trouble.

What I think

I received Moon Called as a gift. At first I had some déjà-vu feelings, because I had read the two first books of Women of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong, which talks about werewolves too, with Elena who is the only female werewolf. Here, Mercy Thompson is the last of an indian tribe who were shapershifter and could change into coyote.

Mercy was raised by werewolves, by the Marrok. The Marrok is the Alpha of all Alphas in North America. But when she turned 16, Mercy had to leave the pack and settles in the Tri-Cities, just next to the Alpha of the local pack, Adam. When Adam is attacked in his house, and his daughter is abducted, Mercy doesn't trust his pack and brings him to the Marrok to be healed. She will help Adam looking for Jesse and discover what's happening.

Compared to Bitten, we find here another aspect of the werewolves, especially their hierarchy and their interactions between dominant and submissive wolves. The passages when dominant wolves are in situation of defense of their territory are numerous, and from an ethnologic (If I may say) point of view, it is very interesting. Werewolves are machos and overbearing, but there are women too, but they don't have the same privileges as men. They can reproduce, but not without a lot of problem, because a female werewolf can't generally carry a child to the end because of the Change when the moon is full. I need to precise that werewolves don't need a full moon to change, but it can be hard to resist its call.

I can't explain here all the characteristics of werewolves, but this book is really good, the plot holds water to the end, and Mercy is fantastic. A young witty woman, with a good sense of humor, who manage to evolve surrounded by men who think she belongs to them.

She's also friend with a vampire, Stefan. She's mending his Scooby-Doo bus. I'd like to know more about Stefan, who's not well developped here, but I think we'll have some surprises later.

In Mercy's world, there are also a lot of other characters, a russian witch who specialized in cleaning, a Gremlin mechanic who trained Mercy and sold her his garage.

Finally, there are some resemblances with Kelley Armstrong's series, but I plunged in Mercy Thompson easily, and I forgor rapidly all my older references.

As you know, I'm barely unaware of the male characters in the books I read. I must admit there is a charming werewolf, Samuel, whom Mercy likes a lot, because he's the one she left the Marrok pack for. But her heart seems to balance between Samuel and Adam, the Alpha. Even if she doesn't belong to any pack, you can easily imagine the tension between those two...

Storm Front - Jim Butcher

2010-04-18T11:25:00.006+02:00

Genre : Urban Fantasy

Series : The Dresden Files : Storm Front

American publisher : Roc : 7,99$

English publisher : Orbit Fantasy : 6,99£

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable rates. No Love Potions, endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does - and not just because he's the only one who does it. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal capabilities, they come to him for answers. Because the everyday world is not as 'everyday' as it seems. It's actually full of strange and supernatural things - and most of them don't play well with humans. That's where Harry comes in. Takes a wizard to catch a - well, whatever it is the police are having trouble with this time.

There's just one problem. Business, to put it midly, stinks. So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry's seeing dollar signs. But where there's black magic, there's a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry's name. And that's when things start to get...interesting.

Magic. it can get a guy killed.

What I Think

I read a lot of good things about this series. And I was expecting a lot. But the magic did not work with me. I don't blame the book or the other. I think I was the problem here. First as I said i was expecting too much. Second, I read this book while I was very very tired, and the reading was very difficult for me, because I fell asleep every 30 pages. So it was quite hard to enter the book.

I liked it, the story is good. I like Harry Dresden, even if sometimes I don't understand him. I liked that his two cases were the same one, when he understands everything but doesn't tell us.

I will read the second one in the series but I'm not in a hurry. I want to give the series a second chance, and I want to read it when I'm not tired, when I know I can really appreciate it as it should. And I think I will really like it then.

Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

2010-04-17T19:14:00.004+02:00

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : The Wolves of Mercy Falls : Shiver

American publisher : Scholastic Press : 17,99$

English publisher : Scholastic : 6,99£

The pack circled around me, tongues and teeth and growls.

When a local boy is killed by wolves, Grace's small town becomes a place of fear and suspicion. But Grace can't help being fascinated by the pack, and by one yellow-eyed wolf in particular. There's something about him - something almost human.

Then she meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away...

What I think

I was attracted by this book, the cover (sooooooo beautiful), the font type of the chapters and pages, just like the cover and the story.

I started Shiver with great interest and anticipation. A good love story like I love. A girl, a werewolf. What's not to like?

But there, the book is 400 pages long, and not a lot of action. Nothing we can't see coming. So we can say that it's long. I really liked it, but the only interest is the love story and how it will end. Some mysteries are approached, but not answered. Nothing transcendent.

*** SPOILERS***

When she was little, Grace was atacked by werewolves, and to everyone's surprise she never transformed. Sam saved her from certain death, then he came back every winter as a wolf to see her. One day, Jack, a local boy is killed by wolves. People went to hunt them, and when she came home, Grace discovered a bleeding boy on her porch, Sam. He received a bullett. Love story. Sam has not enough time anymore. Next time he changes, he won't ever come back to human form. But there should be a cure?

*** End of SPOILERS***

The end is not surprising, we're waiting for it, but I must admit that I was afraid all the same that Sam was really dead. Ah ah ah I can't say anymore. Well anyway you couldn't understand without reading the book.

Grace sometimes got on my nerves, Sam too. But I think it's because of the too great number of pages. It could have been cut a lot : I kiss you, I want you to kiss me, I love you, I can't live without you, blah blah blah. There's too much of it.

It would have been a lot better if it was shorter or with a better plot.

But anyway, Sam **sigh**!!! A really beautiful 18-year-old guy, with yellow eyes, hmmmmm!! (And I don't want to hear about MY age please!)

I will read the sequel, Linger, because I read the back cover, and oh my God, I want to know!

Catching fire - Suzanne Collins

2010-04-17T13:53:00.005+02:00

Genre : Dystopia, Young Adults

Series : The Hunger Games : The Hunger Games, Catching Fire

American publisher : Scholastic Press : 17,99$

English publisher : Scholastic : 6,99£

Sparks are igniting.
Flames are spreading.
And The Capitol wants revenge.

Against all odds, Katniss has won The Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the disctricts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. if they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.

What I think

I had high hopes for this second book, because even though I liked it a lot, The Hunger Games had disappointed me because of its lack of originality.

With Catching Fire, I went through different phases. I was enthusiast in the begining. A lot! I loved this side of the story, the rebellion, that was what I was waiting for. For people to stand up against The Capitol. But when I was begining to love it, and I told a friend that it was really good to not relive Battle Royale again, BAM, she did it again.

I sensed from the begining, but I hoped it will be otherwise. From the start I thought about Kawada in BR who was in the game for the second time. And I was right. bad luck, we teke the same and we do it again!

Yes, for the 75th anniversary of the Hunger Games, it's the quarter Quell. They decided to take all the winners in history and put them back in the arena.

At this moment, I was extremely disappointed. Then I began to hope again with this interview of the candidates, Katniss wears a dress made by Cinna, a fabulous dress that takes fire and becomes the costume of a Mockingjay, Katniss's symbol, also symbol of the rebellion. This scene is absolutely wonderful, and I told myself that Suzanne Collins will surprise me in the end.

Again, I was mistaken. Everyone enters the arena, makes surprising alliances, alliances that make the reader wonder as much as Katniss to the end, this end which is a cliffhanger, not really reassuring.

Suzanne Collins gave us the same recipe aas for The Hunger Games, with a few new ingredients to make us wait for the last of the trilogy. My hopes are very high for this third book...

***SPOILERS***

Now we're waiting to see how Katniss reacts in this atmosphere of rebellion, et what will become of Peeta who's now in the hands of the Capitol.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

2010-04-17T12:01:00.004+02:00

***

Genre : Dystopia, Young Adults

Series : The Hunger Games : The Hunger Games

American publisher : Scholastic Press : 17,99$

English publisher : Scholastic : 6,99£

Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain death.

In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality show is taking place? Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule : kill or be killed.

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

What I think

I had seen this book on Word for Teens a long time ago, and her review made me think of Battle Royale by Koushoun Takami. I've read only good reviews on this book, I have nothing against it, but I'm surprised that no one made a link with Battle Royale, and it is so obvious. After all, maybe no one has read it yet either. But I want to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's. The Hunger Games has nothing original in the plot. But it is well treated.

America is divided into 12 districts plus The Capitole. The 12 districts (they were 13, but there was a rebellion, and the 13th has disappeared and everyone is punished) are hungry. There are rules, these rules make the people of these district hungry, and they have to work hard for the glory of The Capitol.

Each year, when the harvest comes, a kind of national holiday, a game starts, The Hunger Games. Twelve girls and twelve boys, a pair of each district will be chosen hapharzardly to participate. Well "hapharzardly" is not really the word because a candidate can put his/her name several times in the ball in exchange of food.

These 24 candidates are prepared, and launched in an arena where the hung will begin and will go on until there is only one remaining. The winner will come back to his /her district where (s)he will live in a beautiful big house and (s)he and his/her family will have anything they want. And it will permits to feed their district for a whole year.

During the games (several weeks), the villagers of each district will watch the games, at home or on big screens.

When Prim's name, Katniss's little sister, is draw from the ball, Katniss takes her place. She's paired up with Peeta, a boy who gave her bread when she was little. They will be placed in the hands of designers and stylists who'll try to give them an advantage. They'll have a special training to learn how to survive in the arena and gain the public's preference. But some candidates have a few advantages because they were chosen by their district to participate, so they've been training for a long time.

I won't tell you everything... but if you really want to you can read further...

***SPOILERS***

I liked this book, but I'm disappointed, because Suzanne Collins didn't bring anything new. The Hunger Games is a sweet version of Battle Royale on every level. I say "sweet" because where Takami pushes things to their extreme, Suzanne Collins were overcautious. I'll explain what I mean. Suzanne Collins took everything to Takami, the arena, the plots of Th Capitol to gather the candidates and have some action, and many other things. The game is exactly the same. But Takami went farther, because he developed all the characters, their hopes in life, and of course he created a system of alliances and treason, some characters killed their best friends willingly or not. So Suzanne Collins, with The Hunger Games, gives us a Candy-version remakes. Katniss finds an ally in Rue, but she's killed. Katniss takes her revenge, and she'll be saved in turn by Rue's partner. Then The Capitol announces that if two of the same district survive, they'll be declared winners together. Of course the goal was to make the love story between Katniss and Peeta last longer (because Peeta declares his undying love for Katniss before they entered the arena) and from this point, the end is clear. We know how it will end. And I was not surprised in the end when The Capitol told them that the new rule was cancelled.

In The Hunger Games, we don't find the true human nature. There is no treason, Katniss doesn't have to face a friend, like Peeta or Rue. That's why I said that Takami pushed things to their extreme and he made them more realistic. He really showed the true nature of human beings, this egoistic nature when survival instinct takes its toll, and there's no best friend anymore, nor alliances, everyman for himself!

Even the end, Collins took it to BR, because Katniss and Peeta win the games together, but find themselves enemies of The Capitol. In BR, Shuya and Noriko become fugitives because they escaped the games.

Where Suzanne Collins tried to make her own recipe is with the Muttations, but I really laughed in the end, with these wolves (kind of) which are in fact the deceased candidates. It is difficult to believe, but there is no explanation on the subject. I hope we'll find out in the other books, otherwise I think it's a shame to tell us about it without development.

Katniss is the main character, we know her from the begining, but I didn't manage to attach myself to her, nor Peeta.

The Hunger Games didn't make me really react, because there's no surprise, the events are predictable.

Well, don't think I didn't like the book, that's not the case. I spent a good time reading it, and I want to read the other books too. But I had to choose, I'd choose Battle Royale without hesitation. It made me cry from the first pages. And I advise you to read it too, especially if you liked The Hunger Games, because you'll see the difference.

My soul to take - Rachel Vincent

2010-04-15T19:17:00.007+02:00

***

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : Soul screamers : My soul to take

American publisher : Harlquin Teen : 9,99$

English publisher : Hodder Paperbacks : 7,99£

Something is wrong with Kaylee Cavanaugh

She doesn't see dead people, but...

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who'll be next...

What I think

I discovered this book on Word for teens by Nicole B., then I decided to buy it to participate to the 2009 Harlequinades organized by a french blogger, Fashion.

I wasn't disappointed. I love fantasy, and I love novels for young adults, despite my old age. This book is a really good choice.

Well I'll start with the hot guy, Nash. I'm in love with him... It isn't as intense as with other hot guys in books, but it's interesting;o)

Kaylee is in a disco with her best friend when she meets the hottest guy in school, Nash. But then, she panicks when she sees a girl with a dark shadow. Kaylee manages not to scream, but she can't do anything else. Nash and Emma help her. When she's calm, Kaylee announces the near death of the young girl. Then begins a strange story. Three days in a row girls die mysteriously without apparent reason. But Nash knows something, and explains to Kaylee what exactly she is., and what he is. They're not humans... (spoilers following for those who want to know)

The topic is original. No vampires, or werewolves. A new subject treated with talent. Under this fantasy appearance, there is a good plot, kind of an investigation. Kaylee and Nash are trying to discover what's going on, why healthy girls drop dead suddenly while they were not supposed to die.

I learned a new myth too, an Irish myth, the Bean Sidhe, or Banshee. I really liked it. And I discivered the Grim Reapers too, or Death, but there is not only one, but many, like a very big company, with bureaucrats, and time shifts and all that...

The characters are well described and are not superficial. Kaylee has a strong mind, but doesn't really understand what's going on. Nash ** sigh**, Nash is...interesting. I'll tell you a little story. I knew from the begining that Nash was hiding something. I read all evening, always saying "one more chapter before bed!". And then it was 1.45 am, and I needed to wake up at 6.30, so I stopped, but here is the last line I read : " I have to tell you something. I'll pick you up in ten minutes". NOooooooooooooooooooo! That is so cruel! Well I know that I could have continued, ten minutes more were no big deal anymore!

Well I finally discovered what his secret was;o)

It is a Harlequin Teen, so you know that there is some romance in the air. Kaylee and Nash of course. It won't take long, we know it and it's done.

I already bought My soul to save, the second book in the series...

***SPOILERS***

As I said the topic is original, no vampires, no werewolves, no angels either, but Bean Sidhe, I translate for those who don't know Gaelic, they are banshees. To be honest I knew the word Banshee (because I love The Cure, and Robert Smith played with Siouxie and the Banshees), but I didn't know what they were. So before I entered deeper in the book, I made a bit of research, I paid a visit to wiki, because I didn't want to stay behind. But no worries because everything in the book is clear.

In the Irish mythology, a Banshee is a woman who cries when death's coming and sing for the dead.

We also find the myth of Grim reapers. There are thousands of them. Because Death is a big company, ruled by bureaucrats, executed by Grim Reapers, each one of them has his field and hours of work. each has a list for these 12 hours a day, and the souls have to be given to their boss otherwise they'll be eliminated. Because Grim Reapers are recruited, after they die, it gives them a chance to stay in this world. But if they don't obey and don't do their mission, they risk to be fired from their job, but also from this world.

The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly

2010-04-14T19:29:00.004+02:00

***

Genre : Fiction

American publisher : Washington Square Press : 16$

English publisher : Hodder Paperback : 7,99£

12-year-old David has lost his mom. His dad remarried, and now he has a brother. He takes refuge in books to forget all this.

One night, David hears his mother calling him, and finds a secret passage behind the bushes in the garden. He then finds himself in a parallel universe, a world inhabited by trolls, Loups and frightening creatures...

With the help of the Woodsman and of a knight, David - after a lot of hardships : riddles to resolve, traps to avoid, fights to win - will meet an old king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book, called The Book of Lost Things. The Book of Lost Things is the key which would enable David to return in the real world.

But the evil Crooked Man keeps an eye on David since he came, and doesn't take the same view. He has for David other plans...

What I think

I don't know where to begin to talk about this book. There are so many things to say. I've seen ir on the French blogs, and everyone seemed to absolutely love it. So I was afraid, because when I hear many good things about a book, I tend to be disappointed because my hopes are too high. Well, it wasn't the case with The Book of Lost Things.

First, I began reading, and I cried. The begining with David and his dying mom. I cried, because I lived the same thing recently, so it talked to my heart. Even David's obsessive compulsive disorder, I had them. Well not exactly the same ones, mine are not rituals, but I wash my hands about a thousand times a day and they're all cracked.

Then come Rose and Georgie. Personnally, I found it a bit fast for David's dad to remarry and I understood David's reaction.

Finally, I found myself immersed in this universe where tales come alive, but not really as we know them.

I must admit that while I was reading, I asked myself how this book could have such a reception among the readers. Now I can see that it's when we touch to the end that we say "Waouh, this is A book!".

I laughed many times with this book too, especially with Snow White's story and the Dwarves. I'm sure you didn't know they were the ones who tried to kill her with the poisoned apple.

But the question I'm asking is am I the only one to not see a book for children here? I found it ultra-violent under this false impression of fairy tale. David kills people, there are terrible things which would frightened many people I know if it was a film. There also a lot of weird stories which I found too much for children. For example, the story of the Loups and the Red Riding Hood lies near the wolf and from there the Loups were born, hmmm hmmm!

And this story with Roland and his friend, Raphael The Crooked Man puts ideas in David's head that Roland likes him...a lot, if you see what I mean...

Well maybe that's just me... I know the Grimm brothers were a lot worse than that...

And there is one thing that made me think a lot. I haven't understood the riddle of the trolls about choosing the right bridge. I'm sorry, my brain doesn't want to work correctly on this one. Well I'm ashamed if children can understand and not me! I read the passage 4 times, without understanding, in the end I let it go.

Sometimes, I thought that it was kind of corny. No offense! I'll explain myself. I laughed at the passages like "David you're 12, you're a man now!"

Well as you can see, I liked this book, but it's not a favourite either. What I liked most is the end, that I find absolutely wonderful. There wasn't another end possible at all. It's beautiful. And I cried a lot, again. And a book that makes me cry is always a good book.

John Connolly has conquered me, I want to read his other books.

Fade out - Rachel Caine

2010-04-13T19:58:00.002+02:00

***

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : The Morganville Vampires : Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, Fade Out

American publisher : Signet : 6,99$

English publisher : Allison & Busby : 6,99£

In Morganville, Texas, someone is always watching.

Without the evil vampire Bishop ruling over the town of Morganville, life has changed - dramatically. The resident vampires have made major concessions to the human population. With their newfound freedoms, Claire Danvers and her friends are almost starting to feel comfortable again - almost.

Now Claire can actually concentrate on her studies, and her friend Eve joins the local theater company. Yet when one of Eve's cast mates goes missing after starting work on a short documentary, Eve suspects the worst. As she and Claire investigate, they soon realize that not only is the subject of the film the vampires themselves, but that this poject is a whole lot bigger - and way more dangerous - than anyone suspected.

What I think

I was a bit disappointed by this seventh book in the Morganville series. Or maybe it is because in the last one, the tension had reached its paroxysm and the fall is difficult. I am under the impression that Rachel Caine wanted to make her readers wait with this little plot. Nothing really exciting. Kim is producing a reality show on Morganville without anybody knowing. She hides cameras everywhere, with the help of some rebel vampires, and Ada, Myrnin's "creation" who controls all the portals in town.

The up side in this book is Myrnin. I loved him when he was crazy, and I still love him now that he's cured. But he's not less crazy, or weird. Everyone says that you can't trust Myrnin, that he's not sure, that he can go nuts any moment, which is true. But I suspect him to have a really good heart. He's not bad. I'm convinced that he would defend Claire no matter what. He cares for her, and not only because she's a genius.

I'm waiting for the next book with great expectations, because I'm sure that after this one, Rachel Caine has a great surprise for us, well at least I hope so.

Carpe Corpus - Rachel Caine

2010-04-13T19:39:00.003+02:00

****

Genre : Fantasy, Young adults

Series : The Morganville Vampires : Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus

American publisher : NAL Jam : Allison & Busby : 6,99£

Welcome to Morganville, Texas. Don't stay out after dark.
In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace - until all the rules got rewritten when evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He's kept a death grip on the town ever since.

Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. he vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants - the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires be content to go back to the old rules after having had such a taste of power?

What I think

Things are happening in Morganville. In Lord of Misrule, we stopped to a crucial point in the plot which finds its ending in Carpe Corpus. There is other books announced after this one, and I'm curious to see where things will lead after that, because the end of Carpe Corpus seems like a real ending.

After Bishop succeeds in taking Claire and so touching Amelie, a resistance is brewing underground. Claire doesn't have another choice than to obey Bishop, but Shane is imprisoned. She tries to make him free, she will succeed with Myrnin's help, whom she believed to be a traitor. I really love Myrnin, we never know what he'll do next, and he plays a double act to the end. I must admit that I was glad he stayed with the good ones (well everything's relative).
Despite the war between the two clans of vampires, things end well. Bishop is ousted, but I believe we will hear from him again.

Let's talk romance now. Claire is 17! Yeah! And Shane can't resist;o) What? That's really important too, don't you think?

I could wait for the next volume without eating my nails, because for once Rachel Caine doesn't stop in the middle of the plot!

Lord of misrule - Rachel Caine

2010-04-11T21:37:00.003+02:00

****

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : The Morganvilles Vampires : Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule

American publisher : NAL Jam : 6,99$

English publisher : Allison & Busby : 6,99£

Morganville, Texas. Just south of normal.

In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans have coexisted in (relatively) bloodless harmony...until the arrival of Bishop, a master vampire who threatens to put the evil back in evil undead and smash the fragile peace. But Bishop isn't the only threat...

Violent black clouds promise a storm of devastating proportions. As student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against the elements - bith natural and unnatural - the unexpected happens : Morganville's vampires begin to vanish one by one. Discovering why leads Claire to one last choice : Swear allegiance to Bishop...or die.

What I think

We had left Morganville in chaos in Feast of Fools, after the arrival of Bishop, Amelie's father, founder of Morganville. He created a civil war between vampires and humans, but two clans of vampires struggle to keep or gain Morganville. Houses are burning, humans take off their bracelets, et some of them even gather to kill vampires or humans who follow vampires, like Monica.

Then, something weird happens : vampires are becoming like hypnotised and go out in broad daylight. And the youger don't survive. Claire tries to understand why. For that she finds Myrnin who seems to delight in this atmosphere but who does everything he can to protect her and her friends. Actually, Amelie called to gather her troops, that's why vampires go out. The war is coming, Amelie needs to face Bishop, but unfortunately, Bihsop finds Claire first, and by a kind of spell he forces her to pledge allegiance to him. As Claire is wearing a golden bracelet of Amelie's, it means that she belongs to Amelie, and so that she's part of her, that's what Bishop wants.

Of course, the book ends like that, with Claire who pledges allegiance and she even threatens to kill her friends, even Shane. We know of course that it's not really her, but all the same, it is sooooo frustrating.

On another subject, I told you about the romance between Claire and Shane. I'm waiting for something to happen, and I'm sure you are too if you've read the series so far. Well let me tell you that we can still wait. At the same time, it is very gentlemanlike from Shane, because he wants to wait for Claire to be 17, which will make her an adult in Texas. But he said he loves her, and that's sooooooo sweet. What? There are other things than vampires in life, you know...

Feast of fools - Rachel Caine

2010-04-11T21:26:00.005+02:00

****

Genre : Fantasy, Young adults

Series : The Morganville Vampires : Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of fools

American publisher : NAL Jam 5,99$

English publisher : Allison & Busby : 6,99£

In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans have learned to live in relative peace. Still, students like Claire Danvers know that after dark, studying can take a backseat to staying alive. But the tenuous good-neighbor policy is really turned on its head with the arrival of Mr. Bishop.

Bad to the bone, the ancient old-school vampire cares nothing about harmony. Staying at the top of the food chain is enough. What he wants from the town's living and dead is unthinkably sinister. It's only at a formal ball attended by vampires and their human dates that Claire realizes Bishop's plan - and the elaborately evil trap he's set for the warm-blooded souls of Morganville...

What I think

We could think that after four books, the story would tail off, but not at all.
I'm becoming more end more impatient to know all the answers.

Claire is as reckless as ever and continues to seek danger without thinking first.

I really loves Myrnin here, the old young ill vampire who's going nuts. His character develops in this book, and we learn more about him.

Claire's parents have just arrived in Morganville too, and discover the great secret of the town. Now they see their daughter in a different way.

But there's a snag : again there is no end.

Bishop declares a war against Amelie and her followers. The town's burning...That's it.

Midnight Alley - Rachel Caine

2010-04-11T18:45:00.003+02:00

****

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : The Morganville Vampires : Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance, Midnight Alley

American publisher : NAL Jam : 6,99$

English publisher : Allison & Busby : 6,99£

Morganville is such a nice place to live...

When Claire Danvers learned that her college town was run by vampires, she did what any intelligent, self-preserving freshman would do : she applied for a transfer and stocked up on garlic. The transfer is no longer an option, but that garlic may come in handy.

...And die, if you don't mind that sort of thing.

Now Claire has pledged herself to Amelie, the most powerful vampire in town. The protection her contract secures does little to reassure those closest to Claire. All of a sudden, people are turning up dead, a stalker resufaces from her past, and an ancient bloodsucker extends a chilling invitation for private lessons in his secluded home. To what end, Claire will soon discover - and it will give a terrifying new meaning to night school/

What I think

In Midnight Alley, the tension grows higher. And we learn more about this illness that spreads among vampires and if they don't find a remedy, their race should be gone in about 10 years or so. Considering Myrnin's state, it looks like some kind of Alzheimer, but in a vampire version it is a lot more dangerous...to others.
From the begining, I became attached to the human characters : Claire, Eve, Shane and Michael even if he's not really human after all. In this third book, I beame attached to some vampires too, I think of Sam, Michael's grand-father, and Myrnin who made me sad.

Unfortunately, I learned to hate humans too, especially Brandon, eve's psycho brother, and his buddies.

Will Claire be able to find a remedy on her own now that Myrnin can't help her anymore?

The Dead Girls' Dance - Rachel Caine

2010-04-11T18:28:00.002+02:00

****

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : The Morganville Vampires : Glass Houses, The Dead Girls' Dance

American publisher : NAL Jam : 6,99$

English publisher : Allison & Busby : 6,99£

Good news, girls : Your dates are here!

Claire Danvers has her share of challenges - like being a genius in a school that favors beauty over brains, dealing with the homicidal girls in her dorm, and above all, finding out that her college town is overrun with vampires. On the up side, she has a great roomate (who tends to disappear at sunup) and a new boyfriend named Shane...whose vampire-hunting dad has called in backup : cycle punks who like the idea of killing just about anything.

Bad news, girls : They're dead.
Now a fraternity is throwing its annual Dead Girls' Dance and - surprise! - Claire and her equally outcast best friend, Eve, have been invited. When they find out why, all hell is going to break loose. Because this time both the living and the dead are coming out - and everybody's hungry for blood.

What I think

With this second book, we don't have time to get ver all the excitement from the first one. The action begins from the first line and doesn't stop until the last. But this book is much more interesting than the first, because we learn more about the vampire organization and their history. The characters don't evolve much here, except for Michael. But we learn more about their personal histories and their families.

And we can say that Claire us also a genius to put herself in dangerous situations, and I even wonder how she managed to stay alive for 16 years!

I don't know why, I magine Eve, Shane and Michael older (especially Michael) while they're only 18. Maybe living in a town full of vampires makes you more mature;o) But what gets a little on my nerves is this insistance on Claire's age. Ok, she's 16, and so what?

Theromance between Claire and Shane is quite fun actually, because Shane doesn't want to speed things up, because (hey!) Claire's underage...

I don't want to offense anybody, but this puritanism just makes me smile, especially after reading Rachel Caine's other series, Weather Warden (well ok it's for adults, but all the same!)

The end is again a cliffhanger, but what I appreciate about this series is that the next book starts exactly where the previous one stops : no "one year later" or "three months later", like in most series.

Glass Houses - Rachel Caine

2010-04-11T18:13:00.004+02:00

***

Genre : Fantasy, Young Adults

Series : The Morganville Vampires

American publisher : NAL Jam : 6,99$

English publisher : Allison & Busby : 6,99£

Welcome to Morganville, Texas. Don't stay out after dark

It's a small college town with quirky characters. But when the sun goes down, the bad comes out. Because in Morganville, there is an evil that lurks in the darkest shadows - one that will spill out into the bright light of day.

Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation. The popular girls never let her forget just where she ranks on the school's social scene : somewhere less than zero. And Claire really doesn't have the right connections - to the undead who run the town.

When Claire heads off campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. her new roomates don't show many signs of life. But they'll have Claire's back when the town's deepest secrets come crawling out, hungry for fresh blood...

What I think

Need some action? Romance? Suspense? This book is made for you. The writing is agreeable, the style is simple. The vampire theme is handled with originality. Welle vampires are the bad guys, but it's good for your health to change ppint of view from time to time. They're everywhere, they control everything, but fortunately you can outsmatrt them too.
Don't worry they're not behind you, only in Morganville. The main characters (Claire, Eve, Shane et Michael) are endearing, even though there's a lot of mystery aroun Michael who lives only at night. The plot is completely addictive, from start to end, not a single slowdown. And of course, because I love that, a bit of romance;o)

But hey! You've been warned, think to buy the second book too, The Dead Girl's dance, otherwise you're going to spend sleepless nights wondering what happens next...

Enjoy!

Index of the book reviews

2009-08-08T12:44:00.003+02:00

ARMSTRONG, Kelley
Women of the Otherworld
Bitten
Stolen
The Darkest Power
The summoning

BARZAK, Christopher
One for sorrow

BAUM, Frank L.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

BLACK, Holly
A Modern Tale of Faerie
Tithe

BRAY, Libba
Gemma Doyle
A great and terrible beauty
Rebel angels
The sweet far thing

BRIGGS, Patricia
Mercy Thompson
Moon Called
Blood Bound
Iron Kissed
Bone Crossed

BUTCHER, Jim
The Dresden Files
Storm Front

CAINE, Rachel
The Morganville Vampires
Glass Houses
The Dead Girls' Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade out

CLARE, Cassandra
The Mortal Instruments
City of bones
City of ashes
City of glass

COLLINS, Suzanne
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire

CONNOLLY, John
The Book of Lost Things

DELANEY, Joseph
The Wardstone Chronicles
The Spook's apprentice
The Spook's curse
The Spook's secret

FFORDE, Jasper
Thursday Next
The Eyre Affair

KAUFMAN, Andrew
All my friends are superheroes

KING, Stephen
'Salem's Lot

KUIPERS, Alice
Life on the refrigerator door

MEYER, Stephenie
Twilight series
Twilight
New Moon
Eclipse

MONTGOMERY, Lucy Maud
Anne
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Anne of Windy Willows
Anne's House of Dreams
Anne of Ingleside

ORWELL, George
Animal Farm

PATERSON, Katherine
Bridge to Terabithia

PULLMAN, Philip
His Dark Material
Northern Lights
The subtle knife
The amber spyglass

ROSOFF, Meg
Just in case

SHAKESPEARE, William
Romeo and Juliet

STIEFVATER, Maggie
The Wolves of Mercy Falls
Shiver

TAKAMI, Koushun
Battle Royale

VALENTE, Catherynne M.
The Orphan's Tales
In the night garden

VINCENT, Rachel
Soul Screamers
My soul to take

WESTERFELD, Scott
Uglies
Uglies
Pretties
Specials
Extras
Midnighters
The secret hour
Touching darkness
Blue noon
Vampires
Peeps / Parasite positives
The last days

WYNNE JONES, Diana
The Worlds of Chrestomanci
Charmed life
The lives of Christopher Chant
Conrad's fate
Witch Week
The magicians of Caprona
The Pinhoe egg
Mixed Magics

ZEVIN, Gabrielle
Elsewhere

The summoning - Kelley Armstrong

2009-08-08T11:54:00.005+02:00

Kelley Armstrong's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : Fantasy, Young adults

Series : The Darkest Power

American publisher : Harper Collins : 8.99$US; 10.55$CAN

English publisher : Orbit : 6.99£

All Chloe Saunders wants is a life like any normal teenager - the chance to get through school, make friens, and maybe meet a boy. But when she starts seeing ghosts, she knows that life will never be normal again.

Soon the ghosts are everywhere, demanding her attention. When Chloe finally breaks down, she's admitted to a group home for disturbed kids. At first, Lyle House seems okay, but as she gets to know the other patients - charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek; obnoxious Tori; and Rae, who has a 'thing' for fire - Chloe begns to realise that something strange and sinister binds them all together, and it isn't your usual 'problem kid' behaviour.

And they're about to discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home, either...

A passage

The man let out a snarl that echoed down the hall. A student rounded the corner, and we almost collided. I stammered an apology and glanced over my shoulder. The janitor was gone.
I exhaled and closed my eyes. When I opened them, the blue uniform shirt was inches from my face. I looked up...and let out a shriek.
He looked like a mannequin that had gotten too close to a fire. Face burned. Melted. One eye bulged, exposed. The other eye had slid down near his cheekbone, the whole cheek sagging, lips drooping, skin shiny and misshapen and-

What I think

Another book I read without knowing it was the first of a trilogy, again. A lot of suspense though. Endearing characters too, and very convincing, even mysterious. Welcome in a world of preternatural with superpowers people. False baddies and false good guys. Absolutely terrifying.

However, a terrible end, especially when you have to wait for indeterminable time to have the sequel. I often complain that novels always have a happy ending, but I like when it ends badly too, it's a surprising change. But here, I was all keyed up and outraged, and shocked and a lot of other things. It was as if I was Chloe discovering this awful betrayal.
Lyle House is in fact a center where they keep teens with special powers, but not to help them, but to carry out experiments on them. Worst of all, the instigator of all this is Chloe's Auntie, whom she trusts blindly. And in the end, the fatal blow is when she gives Chloe to the center.

The only thing I would reproach to Kelley Armstrong is her lack of originality here, because it could almost be Stolen in a teen version. A center with superpowered people, and a...werewolf. Those who know Stolen will understand what I mean, but I absolutely recommend The Summoning, you can't put it down so easily...

Stolen - Kelley Armstrong

2009-08-07T20:55:00.004+02:00

Kelley Armstrong's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : Fantasy

Series : Women of the Otherworld

French title : Capture

American publisher : Plume Books : 7.99$US

Canadian publisher : Seal Books : 10.99$CAN

English publisher : Orbit : 7.99£

In Bitten, thirty-year-old Elena Michaels came to terms with her feral appetites and claimed the proud identity of a beautiful, successful woman - and the only living female werewolf.

In Stolen, on a mission for her own elite pack, she is lured into the net of ruthless Internet billionaire Tyrone Winsloe, who has funded a bogus scientific investigation of the "other races" and their supernatural powers. Kidnapped and studied in his underground lab deep in the Maine woods, these paranormals - witches, vampires, shamans, werewolves - are then released and hunted to the death in a real-world video game. But when Winsloe captures Elena, he finally meets his match.

What I think

In this second book of Women of the Otherworld series, Elena Michaels, the only female werewolf, is back. She's a young, modern, and independent woman, who has a strong character and who's in love.
Here Elena puts herself in a perilous situation. She's imprisoned by a rich collectionneur, who only finds his plesure in hunting.
In the begining, I laughed a little because we could almost believe it is a kind of "freak circus".

In Bitten, the story of the werewolves is realistic, we believ it, why not? But here we meet other kinds of preternatural characters : vampires, witches, half-demons, shamans...It's funny how it could be easy to believe in the existence of only one of those, each taken separately, but when you put them all together in one book, it makes things less believable. On the contrary we should say, well if werewolves exist, it's only logical that witches and vampires too!

But I think the "Freak circus" effect comes from the kind of congress Elena and Jeremy attend to, where each of the families have a seat, if I can say so. It's a bit too much! Well fortunately, it's a bit too much for Elena too;o)

But, Stolen is a really gripping book with a lot of action and multifacetted characters, especially Elena, who under her airs of strong and independent woman is in reality very fragile and afraid of abandonment, just as anyone else. Werewolf or not, a woman is a woman;o)

Another character I really like is Jeremy, the Alpha, the father figure of the series. He is a so charming man and at the same time so enigmatic, unlike Clay who doesn't beat about the bush, very pushy, animal. He acknowledges it too, he feels more like a wolf than a man. And I must confess, he's so hot...

Gemma Doyle Trilogy - Libba Bray

2009-08-02T19:44:00.009+02:00

Libba Bray's bio- and bibliography

Genre : Young Adults, Fantasy

A Great and Terrible Beauty
****

French title : L'oeil du destin : Les sorcières de Spence

American publisher : Delacorte Press : 9.99$US, 12.99$CAN

English publisher : Simon & Schuster Children's : 6.99£

"Gemma Doyle isn't like other girls. Girls with impeccable manners, who speak when spoken to, who remember their station, and who will lie back and think of England when it's required of them.
No, sixteen-year-old Gemma is an island unto herself, sent to Spence Academy in London after tragedy strikes her family in India. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds a chilly reception. But she's not completely alone...she's been followed by a mysterious young man, who warns her to close her mind against the visions.
For it's at Spence taht Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds; there she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy group called the Order. It's there that her destiny waits...if only she can believe in it."

Rebel Angels
****

French title : No available translation

American publisher : Delacorte Press : 9.99$US; 12.50$CAN

English publisher : Simon & Schuster Children's : 6.99£

"Ah, Christmas! Gemma Doyle is looking forward to a holiday from Spence Academy - spending time with her friends in the city, attending balls in fancy gowns with plunging necklines, and dallying with the handsome Simon Middleton. Yet amid these distractions, her visions intensify - visions of three girls dressed in white, to whom something horrific has happened that only the realms can explain.
The lure is strong, and soon Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are turning flowers into butterflies in the enchanted world to which Gemma takes them. To the girls' great joy, their beloved Pippa is there as well, eager to complete their circle of friendship.
But all is not well in the realms - or out. Kartik is back, desperately insisting to gemma that she must bind the magic, lest colossal disaster befall her. Gemma is willing to comply, for this would bring her face with her late mother's greatest friend, now Gemma's foe - Circe. Until Circe is destroyed, Gemma cannot live out her destiny. But finding Circe proves a most perilous task..."

The Sweet Far Thing
****

French title : No available translation

American publisher : Delacorte Press : 10.99$US; 12.50$CAN

English publisher : Simon & Schuster Children's : 7.99£

" It has been a year of change since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a laudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength to turn catty schoolgirls into loyal friends, and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic runs wild.
Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic to herself and forged unlikely new alliances with headstrong Felicity and timid Ann; with Kartik, an exotic young Indian man whose companionship is forbidden; and with the fearsome creatures of the realms. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds.
Rule-breaking Felicity must do as she's told or risk losing her inheritance, and Ann's dream of a life onstage slips away. The Order, the mysterious group Gemma's mother was once part of, is grappling for control of the realms, as are the Rakshana. It is there that the girls meet their adored friend Pippa, who is not the same...or is she? The power to change everything - both in and out of the realms - rests in Gemma's hands."

A passage from The Sweet Far Thing that I really like a lot and which illustrates this tension I'm talking about below between Gemma and Kartik. Honestly, I love Bella and Edward's story, but Gemma and Kartik have no reason to envy them, except the end maybe;o)

A hedgehog flees from the safety of a bush, startling me. It darts past us in a terrible hurry. Kartik nods toward the furry little thing. "Don't mind him. He's off to meet his lady friend."
"How can you be sure?"
"He has on his best Hedgehog suit."
"Ah, I should have noticed," I say, happy to play his game - any game - with him. I put my hand on a tree's trunk and swing myself around it slowly, letting my body feel gravity's pull. "And why has he worn his best?"
"He's been away in London, you see, and now he has returned to her," Kartik continues.
"And what if she is angry with him for being away so long?"
Kartik circles just behind me. "She will forgive him."
"Will she?" I say pointedly.
"It is his hope that she will, for he didn't mean to upset her," Kartik answers, and I am no longer sure we speak of the hedgehog.
"And is he happy to see her again?"
"Yes," Kartik says. "He should like to stay longer, but he cannot."
The bark chafes against my hand. "Why is that?"
"He has his reasons, and he hopes his lady will understand them one day." Kartik has changed direction. He comes around the other side of the tree. We are face to face. A palm of moonglow reaches through the branches to caress his face.
"Oh," I say, heart beating fast.
"And what would the lady hedgehog say to that?" he asks. His voice is soft and low.
" She would say..." I swallow hard.
Kartik steps closer. "Yes?"
"She would say," 'I whisper, "If you please, I am not a hedgehog, I am a woodchuck.'"
A small sad smile plays at Kartik's lips.
"He's fortunate to have found so witty a lady friend," he says, and I wish I could have the moment back again to play differently.

What I think

A gripping story with magic, and mystery and love which will holds you breathless...

Risks of spoilers

I discovered this series thanks to Karine, a canadian blogger, who had the great idea to advise me to read it. But unlike her, I couldn't wait for the third book to be out in paperback to complete the series. I am the Queen of odd series : I begin in french and finish in english, or I begin in paperbacks and finish in hardback, and sometimes I lose myself between American and English publishers... I can be very patient for trivial things, but not for books. If I read something I really love, I need the sequel immediately-right-now-not-tomorrow!!!

Well, in any case, everyone should read Gemma Doyle's adventures, there's something for everyone in it.

The story takes place in Victorian England, where women have no free will and when young girls only have the right to stand well and open their mouths when asked to. I was very frustrated, because I am easily outraged, and I am easily angry when I see injustice. And in this books, I must admit that I was well served, especially in the first book, with Pippa's arranged engagement to a potbellied old man. And her way to escape this social marriage!!!

We find here a more realistic image of the Victorian era than in Austen's books, where everything ends well. Well, yes, Austen's heroines always marry for love, but we all know that wasn't the case in reality.
For those who like the Victorian society, you can find in this series this atmosphere, the balls and financial marriages, but also some wonderful love stories.

Besides, talking about love, I must confess that Libba Bray is great, because she talks about some taboos, not only for the Victorian society, but still today.
First Kartik, an Indian who works for the Rakshana, a secret society, against Gemma, will fall in love with the demoiselle, and of course it is mutual. For those of you who have read Twilight, you will understand what I mean when I talk of this underlying tension whenever they are together. However, I was really disappointed by the end. I was looking forward to see how Libba Bray would make Gemma and Kartik live their love. How could a young well-bred english girl have a relationship with an Indian in the 19th century? According to me, Libba Bray chose the easy way out. I don't want to tell you how it ends, it would be too much, but it's a very easy end. All that to end like this!!!

Another taboos is the relationship between Felicity and Pippa. I was surprised when I discovered it, just like Gemma, because I wasn't prepared for it.

The way Gemma makes new friends is interesting too, an it made me think of when I was in school. I was kind of the whipping-girl, because the "leader" of the band didn't like me. In the morning, she would tell me " Today we talk to you" or "Today we don't talk to you". Well I was in primary school, here we have older girls. They're 16, but it represents the changeable attitude of youngsters. How Gemma manages to tame these pests and makes Ann join in the same time, it's impressive.
I honestly believes she would be betrayed by her so-called friends, and finally I was wrong, the circle was really pulled together.

Libba Bray

2009-08-02T19:15:00.005+02:00

Libba Bray was born Martha B. Bray in 1964 in Alabama. She graduated from the University of Texas as a Theater major. After she finished her studies, she went to New York City where she had her fisrt job at Penguin Putnam in the publicity department. She was encouraged writing Young Adults stories by her husband, who is also a children's books agent. Before that, she had written three romance books, under a pen-name.

A great and terrible beauty is her first novel. She's friend with several young adults authors, like Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.

She's currently working on a comedy, Going Bovine, it the story of Cameron, a 16-year-old boy who has the mad cow disease.

"Libba Bray has never lived in the Victorian era, is not british, and she has no superpowers, though if she did, they would involve being able to eat her weight in Swedish fish without feeling the urgent need to shave her tongue afterward. She lives in Brroklyn, New York, with her husband, their son, and a cat of questionable intelligence. "

You can find her Autobiography here (and it's quite funny) or visit her website and blog

Bibliography

* Gemma Doyle : A great and terrible beauty (2003); Rebel angels (2005); The sweet far thing (2007)

* Going Bovine

City of glass - Cassandra Clare

2009-08-02T13:43:00.003+02:00

Cassandra Clare's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : Young Adults, Fantasy

Series : The Mortal Instruments : City of bones; City of ashes; City of glass

French title : La cité des ténèbres : ?

American publisher : Margaret K. McElderry Books: 17.99$US; 19.99$CAN

English publisher : Walker Books : 7.99£

French publisher : Pocket jeunesse

To save her mother's life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhuntres - never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.

As Clary uncovers more about her family's past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he's willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City - whatever the cost?

What I think

I must admit that this series is a big favorite of mine. We can say that Cassndra Clare knows how to keep her readers alert, and she does all she can to do that. She created a whole magical and original world, using myths that already existed, and myths she created. She used the myth of werewolves, vampires, faes, but at the same time, she created the Shadowhunters, the demons slayers, with their places and their hierarchy. We discover in this third book Idris, the country of the Shadowhunters, you can't find it on any map, it's between France and Germany, approximately. You didn't know? Next time I cross the frontier, I'll pay attention;o)
In Idris, there is Alicante, the City of Glass. This city is protected by wards to keep demons out. But Valentine found a way, and it was quite a while ago. Now he's looking for the last of the Mortal Instruments, the Glass Mirror.

***SPOILERS***

Clary has to leave for Idris to find Ragnor Fell, a warlock who can help her to save her mom. But Jace doesn't things her way. He doesn't want The Clave to know about her power to create new runes. And he finds a way to keep her away. But because of an attack of Forsaken, he has to take Simon with him. Clary uses her power to open a portal and goes to Idris, but things get complicated. Luke comes with her, but they have to keep hidden, because death awaits all who trespass the limits of Idris without a permission. Clary just doesn't care and goes see Jace, Isabelle and Alec. But Jace doesn't welcome her very well. She decides to find Ragnor Fell by herself, but she finds an ally, Sebastian, a Shadowhunter. But when Sebastian kisses her, Clary feels something's wrong.

When they find Ragnor Fell, she finds Magnus Bane in his place, who was alerted. Ragnor Fell was killed by something demon-smelling, and Magnus asks Clary to find the Book of White, a warlock book who contains the spell that will save her mom. But she needs help, Jace's help who accepts. When they arrive in the manor where he grew up, they discover Ithuriel, an angel emprisoned by Valentine. He gives them visions to make them understand Valentine experiments and Jace learns that demon's blood runs in his veins.

When they come back to the Alicante, the city is in flame. A battle is taking place. The towers that protected the city are destroyed and demons are all over the place. In the Penhallows Manor, chaos reigns too. When all is finished, we discover that Max, Isabelle and Alec's little brother is dead, killed by Sebastian, who is not Sebastian, but a spy for Valentine.

The werewolves fought alongside the Shadowhunters, but the Council disagrees. Then Valentine launch an ultimatum to The Clave. Whether they accept Valentine's reign upon Idris, or they all die. Luke tries to convince The Clace to accept the help of Downworlders, not only werewolves, but warlocks, fae, vampires, he just wants a siege for each of the families in the Council.

Clary, Jace, Isabelle and Alec leave to free Simon, who was imprisoned by the new Inquisitor. At the same time, they free the man who was in the cell next to Simon's. This man is Hodge, but Sebastian kills him before he can talk.

While Jace is after Valentine to kill him, Jocelyn, Clary's mother, comes back and tells everything to her daughter from the begining. Jace is not her brother, and he's not a demon either. Sebastian is her brother and the demon, even though his name's not Sebastian, but Jonathan.

Clary manages to convince The Clave to fight with Downworlders, thanks to a ruine she created, an alliance rune. Then, Shadowhunters and Downworlders who will fight in couple will share their powers. Only the vampires refuse to join the fight unless they have Simon in exchange, but Simon accept.

Clary is underage so she can't fight. She has to stay in Alicante, but she's attacked, and escapes through the Portal. She finds herself near Lake Lynn, where Valentine is preparing the ritual to call the Angel Raziel, who does one thing for his caller. But Clary plays well, and Raziel kills Valentine, but not before he kills Jace who came after killing Sebastian.

Raziel asks Clary, who opened the door, what she wants, and she only says one word : JACE.

***END OF SPOILERS***

I've just written a very detailed résumé. But hey all's well that ends well. So I was saying that Cassandra Clare created a whole new world, and at the same time very charismatic characters. Valentine is a monster, but I can't really hate him, because in a way he doesn't know it. There aren't any unimportant characters in this series, each one of them has a role to play, and all these plots that mingle only add to the quality of the series.

The only reproach I have to make is that Cassandra Clare gives us too obvious clues, about the relationship between Clary and Jace especially. Obvious clues, but Clary and Jace don't understand, while we readers understand easily. Then, when comes the moment of revelations, there's no surprise. That's a shame, but at the same time, it's good to say in the end "I KNEW IT!"

In this book, Clary and Jace are not reunited, they each go their own way, which finally bring them together. But all these mistaken identities are very stressful, but this is what we too like in a good book. Who would like a book where everything is fine from beginning to end?

Well, I'll stop here, because I really have a lot to say about this book, but I can't make all my ideas in a right order, so just to finish, I just want to tell you : Read this series, you can't be disappointed.

Just one last thing , I knew before that Jace and Clary couldn't possibly be siblings, but I had reached the point where I said to my mom that I didn't really care anymore. All I wanted was for them to be together, siblings or not.

I give you a passage to make you understand why I say this :

" I was trying to go...somewhere," Jace said. "But I kept getting pulled back here. I couldn't stop walking, couldn't stop thinking. About the first time I ever saw you, and how after that I couldn't forget you. I wanted to, but I couldn't stop myself. I forced Hodge to let me be the one who came to find you and bring you back to the Institute. And even back then, in that stupid coffee shop, when I saw you sitting on that couch with Simon, even then that felt wrong to me - I should have been the one sitting with you. The one who made you laugh like that. I couldn't get rid of that feeling. That it should have been me. And the more I knew you, the more I felt it - it had never been like that for me before. I'd always wanted a girl and then gotten to know her and not wanted her anymore, but with you the feeling just got stronger and stronger until that night when you showed up at Renwick's and I knew. "
And then to find out thaat the reason I felt like that - like you were some part of me I'd lost and never even knew I was missing until I saw you again - that the reason was that you were my sister, it felt like some sort of cosmic joke. Like God was spitting on me. I don't even know for what - for thinking that I could actually get to have you, that I would deserve something like that, to be that happy. I couldn't imagine what it was I'd done that I was being punished for-"
"If you're being punished," Clary said, "then so am I. Because all those things you felt, I felt them too, but we can't - we have to stop feeling this way, because it's our only chance."
Jace's hands were tight at his sides. "Our only chance for what?"
" To be together at all. Because otherwise we can't ever be around each other, not even in the same room, and I can't stand that. I'd rather have you in my life even as a brother than not at all-"

City of ashes - Cassandra Clare

2009-08-02T13:39:00.004+02:00

Cassandra Clare's bio- and bibliography

***

Genre : Young Adults , Fantasy

Series : The Mortal Instruments : City of bones; City of ashes; City of glass

French title : La cité des ténèbres : L'épée mortelle

American publisher : Simon Pulse : 9.99$US, 11.50$CAN

English publisher : Walker Books : 7.99£

French publisher : Pocket jeunesse : 19,50€ ( release on 20th of august 2009)

With her mother in a coma and her father hellbent on destroying the world, Clary Fray is dragged deeper into New York City's terrifying underworld of werewolves, demons and the mysterious Shadowhunters. Discovering the truth about her past was only the beginning. Now the fate of the world rests on Clary's shoulders, but can she master her new-found powers and control her feelings for a boy who can never be hers?

What I think

In City of Bones, we had left Valentine escape toward Idris, with the Mortal Cup. He's now able to create a new race of Shadowhunters, but for that he's ready to sacrifice a lot of human lives. Valentine always had only one goal : to destroy all the Downworlders, that's to say demons but former humans too, like werewolves, vampires, or semi-demons like warlocks.

After Valentine's return, Jace is seen as a spy, and locked in a cell under the Silent City by the Inquisitor, who looks like she really hates Jace.

During this time, Valentine steals the Soul Sword, or the Angel Sword. He wants to create an army of demons that he will manipulate and make obey him thanks to the sword, and he'll be able to open the doors of the other world when he will have given to the sword the blood of four kids : a warlock, a werewolf, a vampire, and a fae.

A battle will take place to prevent him from fulfilling his dark intention...

***SPOILERS***

Between all these adventures, some things happen, Clary is now with Simon, her best friend, who has always been in love with her, but she's still got feelings for Jace, even though he's her brother.

While visiting the Seelie Queen, Clary tastes a fae drink without her knowledge, and she has to stay with the fae. But the Seelie Queen says that a kiss can free Clary, but not any kiss, Jace's kiss. After that, Simon leaves. He thinks he's becoming a vampire, so he goes to the Dumort Hotel, but is attacked. Raphael, the vampire leader, brings his corpse to the Institure where Clary will have to choose for Simon. Simon has now become a vampire.

But things won't last for Simon, because he's kidnapped by Valentine and will be emptied of his blood for the sacrifice, along with Maia, a 15-year-old werewolf. Maia manages to escape, but it's too late for Simon. Fortunately, Jace finds Simon, still alive, but barely (way of speaking because technically he's already dead), and gives him his own blood to drink and saves him, all that for Clary's sake.

*** END OF SPOILERS***

I loooove it, love it, love it... In this book, there's a lot more action than in City of Bones, which was a kind of setting of the characters, the Shadowhunter world, etc. Here, we're really in the heat of action until the end, it's terrific. Lots of emotions, of injustice, I was more than once angry, especially with the Inquisitor and her way to treat Jace.

There's a lot of suspense too, especially about the relationship between Jace and Valentine, we don't know what is really going on between the two, if Jace agreed to help Valentine or not.

BEWARE : SPOILERS

There are new development, with Simon now turned into a vampire, emptied of his blood then saved, and then he's going to simply die because of the sun...

About Clary and Jace, who fell in love, but then discovered they were siblings, well I think, no I know that they're not. They can't be. Nothing's said about it in City of ashes, but there are a few insinuations that started me thinking about that. First, the Seelie Queen told Jace to ask Valentine what was flowing in his veins. Then, a new characters makes his entry, Stephen, the Inquisitor's son, who followed Valentine 15 years ago and who's now dead. Stephen had a son... And the Inquisitor seems to recognize a scar on Jace's shoulder. But we don't have time to know, because she's killed by a demon before telling it to Jace. Then, there's Valentine who said a weird thing to Clary, something like 'you and your brother, blablabla.' And Clary ask what about Jace? And Valentine : I wasn't talking of... And of course, they're interrupted...

Well, Clary and Jace are not very bright to understand all that, but fortunately, I pay attention;o)

City of bones - Cassandra Clare

2009-08-02T13:38:00.004+02:00

Cassandra Clare's bio- and bibliography

***

Genre : Young adults - Fantasy

Series : The Mortal Instruments : City of bones; City of ashes; City of glass

French title : La cité des ténèbres : La coupe mortelle

American publisher : Simon Pulse : 9.99$US; 11.50$CAN

English publisher : Walker Books : 7.99£

French publisher : Pocket jeunesse : 19,50€

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly espects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Clary knows she should call the police, but it's hard to explain a murder when the body disappears into thin air and the murderers are invisible to everyone but Clary.
Equally startled by her ability to see them, the murderers explain themselves as Shadowhunters : a secret tribe of warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. Within twenty-four hours, Clary's mother disappears and Clary herself is almost killed by a grotesque demon.
But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

What I think

Well I don't really know I can let some pearls like this one sleep on my bookshelves for months. I think it is something like a year since I bought City of Bones. Recently I was saying that I wouldn't read first in a series for a while, and then I start a trilogy. I felt it when I chose this book, because fortunately, the second was out, and the third too...Yipee, I won't have to wait for a year to have the sequel! I'm saved. And really, I couldn't have waited. I read this first book quite fast, et I love the characters, especially Jace, who reminds me a little of a certain Edward, with his I-know-i'm-the-best-the-most-beautiful-no one-can-resist-me attitude. I can tell you that I fell in love with him, comme d'habitude;o) And not only me by the way, because the heroin, Clary, too. Between demon hunting and the quest for The Mortal Cup to finds her mothers, who was kidnapped by Valentine, Clary and Jace become very close. Ah I love this kind of story, the ones that make you dream;o)

But hey that's not so simple, we're going from revelation to revelation all along of this first book in a trilogy very promising, and that's the bomb, I saw it coming, but I can't believe it, no, it's absolutely not possible, no one can do this to...ME! Well unfortunately, yes they can, and it's a shock, I swear.
I was ready to throw the book in the wall. I knew it, but hey, no! Well I'm going to tell you some secrets, but beware. If you don't want to know, just skip this paragraph. But I have to talk about it, because it is sooooo frustrating, and you know how it is, don't you? Here it goes, the thing is that on the one side we have Clary, her mother has disappeared, she thinks her dad's dead before she was born. But now she discovers that her mom was a Shadowhunter, and that she was married to Valentine who turned out bad. On the other side, we have Jace who thinks he lost his mom when he was a baby, and who sees his father killed when he was 10. But now, his dad returns. He's not dead, it was a false death, and his dad is...Valentine. You follow me? Of course his mom was Jocelyn, Clary's mothre. It's a tragedy. Clary and Jace are brother and sister. OH MY GOD! Now you understand why I couldn't keep this to myself!

So don't worry, there aren't only love stories and weird family trees in this book, well a lot, ok, but not only. There's a background of very bad demons, werewolves, with one who was a Shadowhunter before, gay warlocks, vampires who drive demon-flying motorcycles, and other things...

I read other chronicles about City of Bones, and I found some comparison with two other famous sagas, Harry Potter and Twilight. And Cassandra Clare is one of HP's biggest fan and has become famous with her fan-fictions about HP's world. But honestly, I think this comparison is too easy. I can't see the resemblances. Except maybe for Jace, as I said who made me think of Edward in a way, but it stops right here. Cassandra Clare has succeded in creating her own world, et it's really worth reading. So do not hesitate anymore, just read it!

I just hope there will be a turn over, an unexpected revelation which would set up the problem between Clary and Jace. I must admit that it was something someone had to dare writing, but Cassandra Clare didn't think about her readers, I'm sure I'm not the only one to be frustrated like that;o)

Why are vampires always beautiful?

" Another vampire pushed her way through the crowd to stand at his side - a pretty blue-haired Asian girl in a silver foil skirt. Clary wondered if there were any ugly vampires, or maybe any fat one. Maybe they didn't make vampires out of ugly people. Or maybe ugly people just didn't want to live forever."

Cassandra Clare

2009-08-02T13:24:00.006+02:00

Cassandra Clare is a pen name used by the author of The Mortal Instruments trilogy. She was born in Teheran, from amrican parents. She lived in France, England and Switzerland before she was 10. Since she left highschool, she lived in Los Angeles and New York where she had different jobs for magazines and tabloids. She began working on City of bones in 2004, inspiring herself with Manhattan decorum.

Before publishing City of bones, Cassandra Clare became famous with fan-fictions undre the pen name Cassandra Claire. She wrote The Draco Trilogy (Harry Potter fan-fiction) and The Very Secret Diaries (Lord of the Ring fan-fiction).

You can find out more about Cassandra Clare on her official website, her blog, and her Myspace

Bibliography

The Mortal Instruments : City of bones (2007); City of ashes (2008); City of glass (2009)

The Infernal Devices : The clockwork angel (2010); The clockwork princess (2011); The clockwork prince (2012)

The Literary Detective is back

2009-07-03T11:53:00.002+02:00

Hi!!!

After nearly a year of abandon, I decided to come back and give a new lifa to The Literary Detective. I have a lot of books to present here. I'm actually working on it, and soon they'll be on line.

Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare

2008-06-08T15:18:00.010+02:00

William Shakespeare's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : Play - Tragedy

French title : Roméo et Juliette

Publishers : I won't precise the publishers because you can find Romeo and Juliet in several publishings, with different prices

Synopsis - Passage :

"Chorus Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventures piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love, And the continuance of their parents's rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend." " Prince A glooming peace this morning with it brings; The sun for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things. Some shall be pardoned, and some punished; For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."
What I think : We don't need to introduce Mister Shakespeare's tragedy anymore ( well if you want to read, when I was a kid, before I started learning English at school, I used to prononce Shakespeare like that : Shake- es-pee-are!!!). For me, Romeo and Juliet is the most beautiful love story ever. Some of you will say that it can't be because it ends really badly, but I need to quote here, a famous french duo : ' Les histoires d'amour finissent mal en général', which means ' Love stories end badly in general'. Romeo and Juliet are the incarnation of love in the pure state. This love without which we can't live, and for which we would give anything, even our own life. They also are the representation of Fate, which makes things so that nothing and no one can change the course of things. Romeo and Juliet is another era, another century, and yet, the language of love and hatred is universal and timeless. I was astonished to discover with how much easyness I could read the passages where it was a question of love, whereas I had great difficulty for other passages. The old English is not really easy to understand, especially with Shakespeare's style, and I think the first time I read it, I must have sticked to the french translation;o) Romeo and Juliet, it's also sadness. A lot of wasted lives because of the human stupidity. I see in it a message from Shakespeare that we shouldn't lose our time with insignificant endless wars, there are so much things we could miss. And what's the point in making the enemies of our enemies, our own enemies, is it clear?

William Shakespeare

2008-06-08T15:17:00.001+02:00

Biography

William Shakespeare was born in Warwickshire, England, on April 23rd, 1564. He came from a family, with a good place on the social ladder. He went to the secondary school Edward VI, where he learned Latin, rhetoric, logic and history. Yet, all this is only pure speculation, because there isn't any evidence of it. In 1582, he marries Anne Hathaway, older than him by 8 years, and already pregnant on the wedding day. The following years were called 'the lost years', because we can't find any trace of Shakespeare in the registers, except the birth of his children, and his only son who died very young. It's in 1592 that we find again Shakespeare on the Londonian stage, as an actor and playwright. Then he became a member of the company The Lord Chamberlain's Men, which would be later adopted by Jacques 1st, and would change name and become 'King's Men'. In-between, Shakespeare would play in Ben Jonson's plays, for example Every Man in his humor and Sejanus. He retired in 1611. He died in 1616, and was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon, in the choir of the church.

He composed himself his epitaph :

" Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And crvst be he yt moves my bones."

There is a rumour accordint to which some unpublished works would be buried with him, but no one has ever yet dared profane his tomb to verify. Every year, at the supposed date of his birth, a goose feather is placed in the right hand of the statue which represents him.

Bibliography

Tragedies : Romeo and Juliet; Macbeth; King Lear; Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; Othello, the Moor of Venice; Titus Andronicus; Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra; Cariolanus; Troilus and Cressida; Timon of Athens

Comedies : All's well that ends well; As you like it; A Midsummer night's dream; Much Ado about nothing; Measure for measure; The taming of the shrew; Twelfth Night; The Merchant of Venice; The Merry Wives of Windsor; Love's Labour's Lost; The two gentlement of Verona; The Comedy of Errors

Historical plays : Richard III; Richard II; Henry VI; Henry V; Henry IV; Henry VIII; King John; Edward III; Sir Thomas More

Romances : Pericles, Prince of Tyr; Cymbeline; The Winter's Tale; The Tempest; The two noble kinsmen

Poetry : The Sonnets; The long poems

For more information about Shakespeare and his work : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare

Bitten - Kelley Armstrong

2008-06-08T11:34:00.002+02:00

Kelley Armstrong's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : Fantasy

Series : Women of the Otherworld

French title : Morsure

American publisher : Plume Books : 7,99$

English publisher : Orbit : 6,99£

Synopsis : Elena Michaels lives in Toronto where she shares her flat with her boyfriend, Philip. She's a journalist. She seems to have a normal life, except she's a werewolf. Not any werewolf, she's the only female werewolf alive. The werewolf gene is transmitted from father to son, the only way for a woman to become a werewolf is to be bitten, and of course to survive. Elena had a great difficulties to accept the fact that she's a werewolf, and besides she tries to reject the idea by creating a new life in Toronto for herself. Qhe left the Pack to be who she wants to be. But when Jeremy, he Alpha of the Pack, tries to contact her, she doesn't really have another choice than to go back and help them. They are the target of a gang of mutts (non-Pack werewolves) united to claim different things. To this occasion, Elena will meet Clay again, the one who bit her, and she will finally find out her true nature...

A passage :
" My skin stretches. The sensation deepens and I try to block the pain. Pain. What a trivial word- agony is better. One doesn't call the sensation of being flayed alive 'painful'. I inhale deeply and focus my attention on the Change, dropping to the ground before I'm doubled over and forced down. It's never easy-perhaps I'm still too human. in the struggle to keep my thoughts straight, I try to anticipate each phase and move my body into position-head down, on all fours, arms and legs straight, feet and hands flexed, and back arched. My leg muscles knot and convulse? I gasp and strain to relax. Sweat breaks out, pouring off me in streams, but the muscles finally relent and untwist themselves. Next comes the ten seconds of hell that used to make me swear I'd rather die than endure this again. Then it's over.
Changed."

What I think : This book is very interesting from a legend point of view. It is true that when he hear about werewolves, we think of men. I'd never asked myself about a female werewolf before, I must admit. And I find Armstrong's explanation very good indeed. But here again we have a patriarchal society. Well fortunately, Elena is here;o) Bitten is a novel that keeps the reader's attention from the first pages. It is quite difficult to close it even for 'just a moment'. It is also a studied mix of action, legend, explanation and romance, with its lot of pains and little happiness.
What brings something more to the book is that Elena is a woman, the ONLY female werewolve, and a really modern woman. So it's really interesting to see how she manages to evolve in a male world and her attitude towards events where a woman could sometimes badly react;o)
Frankly, I recommend this book to lovers of creatures of the night. There are lots of books about vampires, but not so many about werewolves. I don't know why it is so, but I think maybe it's because of the bloodthirsty monster side of the werewolf, horrible and ultra-violent, who change only in the full moon, whereas the vampire, though he is too a bloodthirsty creature, can live among humans, and he is of a rare beauty and charism. Which surely helps the writers' imagination to work.
Well, don't be afraid of this image of the werewolves, in Bitten, there are not so monstruous, on the contrary, well it depends on which ones we're talking about;o)
To conclude, I would just say that Kelley Armstrong managed something that was only managed for vampires until now. She made werewolves more human that some humans;o)

Kelley Armstrong

2008-06-08T11:30:00.002+02:00

Kelley Armstrong was born in 1968, in Canada. After graduating in psychology, she switched to computer programming in Fanshawe College in order to have more time for writing. She published her first novel, Bitten, in 2001 and 6 others followed in the fantasy series Women of the Otherworld, as well as numerous short stories and novellas. She published her first crime novel in 2007, Exit Strategy.

She currently lives in Ontario with her husband and their 3 children, where she's working on a new fantasy series for Young Adults.

Bibliography

* Women of the Otherworld : Novels
Bitten (2001); Stolen (2002); Dime Store Magic (2004); Industrial Magic (2004); Haunted (2005); Broken (2006); No Humans Involved (2007); Personal Demon (2008); Living with the Dead (2008)

* Women of the Otherworld : short stories and novellas
Rebirth (2005); Infusion (2005); Savage (2003); Ascension (2003); Demonology (2005); Birthright (2005); Beginnings (2004); Becoming (2007); The Case of the Half-Demon Spy (2005); Expectations (2005); Truth and Consequences (1996); Territorial (2005); Ghosts (2005); Escape (2005); Wedding Bell Hell (2005); Adventurer (2005); Chaotic (2006); The Case of El Chupacabra (2006); Bargain (2005); Framed (2007); Twilight (2007); Stalked (2008)
bi
* Nadia Stafford
Exit Strategy (2007)

You can find Kelley Armstrong on her official website, and her short stories on line here

Booking Through Thursday : Books Vs Movies

2008-05-22T19:57:00.002+02:00

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

I don't think there's really a difference for me in what I want from a book and what I want from a movie. What i'm looking for in both is emotions and/or reflection and / or dreams. Books and movies are two different ways to obtain that. Of course, a movie would more easily make me cry or laugh, but a book can do that too. How many times didn't I cry my eyes out when Mouse's lover, John dies in the Tales of the City series? How many times people didn't look at me funny when I had a banana smile on my face while reading a book?

Surely the great difference between a book and a movie is that a movie is one hour and a half long, so it needs to go straight to the point. Therefore emotions are more intense, but in the same time you're not attached to the characters in the same way as in a book who you spend hours to read.
About the make-me-dream part, it's equal on both side, really. As well as for the reflexion part. It all depends on the books and the movies.

But I must admit here that I fall in love more easily with books characters than movie characters. I can't count them anymore, between Christopher Chant as Chrestomanci, Edward Cullen the vampire, Izumi Sano from the manga series Hana Kimi, Mouse from Tales of the City (yeah I know he's gay...) or Professor Snape, and others as well;o) Yeah I know I fall in love a lot;o)

Friday Fill-Ins

2008-05-16T23:10:00.000+02:00

1. There is absolutely NO way you can get me to a fairground attraction!
2. Flowered trees remind me that summer is almost here!
3. I cannot live without my books.
4. A Yukata and writing a story are two things I'd like to try.
5. When life hands you lemons, just add some sugar.
6. Christmas are my favorite childhood memory.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to do nothing special, tomorrow my plans include tidying my room and Sunday, I want to go to the cinema!

Booking Through Thursday : Manual Labor Redux

2008-05-15T19:36:00.002+02:00

Following up last week's question about reading wrriting / grammar guides, this week, we're expanding the question...

Scenario : You've just bought some complicated gadget home...do you read the accompanying documentation? Or not?

Do you ever read manuals?

How-to books?

Self-help guides?

Anything at all?

Well well, i must admit that I don't like manuals. Usually I just try everything until it works;o) And in the worst case, when nothing works, I read the user manual. To tell the truth, I've had a digital camera for nearly a year, and when a friend asked me if how I could take black and white pictures, I said 'I can't'. We looked everywhere in the camera. And last month, I just discovered how I could do it, just like that. I was just pushing the buttons;o)

I'm not the kind to read self-help books either, and I don't think I had ever one in my hands.

But I like How-to books, well mostly concerning creative applications, just like how to sew, how to make your own doudou (I don't know the word in english, you know fluffy toys, teddys), ...
And I also bought a book about the CSS language, because I wanted to see how I could do things on my blogs. It's a collection called 'pour les nuls', kind of for the dummies. When I opened the book I didn't understand anything, I must really be a dummy, but I just tried directly on the computer. Of course I made a safe copy of how it was before I started. And I learned just like that. No need for books;o)

SWAP Around Your World

2008-05-12T11:37:00.002+02:00

As you may know, I’m french, and I maintain two blogs alive, one in french, and one in english. One thing I remarked when I began The Literary Detective blog is that in the french literary blogosphere (as we call it) we tend to prefer SWAP whereas you english speaking people prefer reading challenges. Well I’m in for several challenges and I’m trying to keep up with them. But here, I want to propose you a SWAP for a change. It is called Around Your World. I’m organizing it with my friend Celsmoon, because we wanted to create a real worldwide literary exchange. So look below for further information on the topic.

SWAP Around Your World

1. What’s a SWAP?

2. The Around Your World SWAP

3. Registration

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1. As you well know, the word SWAP means an exchange. The goal of a SWAP is therefore to exchange things with other people. It’s not a simple exchange between two persons. It’s more a kind of chain. You send something to someone who will in her/his turn send something to someone else, and so on, and someone will send you something and will receive something from someone else than you. It’s clear, isn’t it?

Well, let’s make it simple :

Step 1 : You register

Step 2 : You send us back the filled-in questionnaire we’ll send you after you registered

Step 3 : We’ll send your questionnaire to a person X, ( who will have filled in her/his questionnaire)

Step 4 : We’ll send you the questionnaire of a person Y

Step 5 or 6 : You think and you prepare the parcel for Y and you send it, and at the same time you keep us inform about the sending

Step 6 or 5 : You receive your parcel from X, and of course you keep us inform about the receiving

I hope everything’s clear now!

2. Well let’s talk about the theme of this SWAP now.

As in the french blogosphere a certain number of bloggers read in original version, at least in english, Celsmoon and me decided to organize a SWAP Around Your World, that’s to say the theme is foreign languages. Watch out! It does not concern ONLY English or French, there is no restriction of languages. Everything’s OK, but you need to think of the availability. It must not be easy for example to find a book written in the dialect of the Shu Province in China;o)

Who can participate?

Anyone, we’re not sectarian. Don’t feel excluded if you don’t know any foreign language. Maybe you want to discover a new language or you simply want to have your favorite book in its original version or i another language just for the pleasure of looking at it on your bookshelf or to begin a collection?

You’ll be able in your questionnaire to precise your preferences : novel in original version or a translation in any language, a learning method for adults or for children, a manga in japanese, a cartoon book for children in German, whatever, you’re free!

Important information : This SWAP will be launched at the same time on my french blog http://chrestomanci.over-blog.com and on Celsmoon’s blog http://celsmoon.over-blog.com.

So there’ll surely be participants from all over the globe, which according to us will make this exchange only more interesting. In you questionnaire you’ll be able to precise if you wish to send your parcel in another country ( North America or Europe) or only in your own country.

What must your parcel contain?

The goal of this SWAP is to discover and make discover a foreign language but also a different culture. Therefore your parcel must contain at least :

- 1 book (pocket size) in a foreign language (Be careful, if the person whom you must send it is French for example, the book could be in english. You need to think foreign language according to the receiver

- 1 object or product in relation with your country or region if you receiver is not the same nationality as you. Or 1 object or product in relation with the chosen language if the receiver is the same nationality as you

- A bit of music from your country or in the chosen language could be a plus, we thought it could be fun, but it remains an option

Now it’s up to you to set a budget and the number of items in your parcel : you can put everything and anything, as long as it is coherent with the theme and the concerned language(s). But be careful, just think to count the postage fares in your budget especially if you agree to send abroad, it can sometimes be expensive.

The SWAP planning

Today May 12^th, we launche the SWAP officially. The registrations will be open until June 8^th.

Once your registration is validated, we’ll send you the questionnaire to be filled in, and you’ll have to send it back to us with your answers before June 29^th. Anyone who will not have sent her/his questionnaire back at this date will see her/his registration invalidated.

We’ll do the drawing lots just after while we’re at it, and you’ll receive the questionnaire of your receiver on July 6^th. From then on you’ll have until September 15^th to send your parcel.

We let you all this time, because it will be summer vacation. And for those who’re going abroad, you’ll maybe have the occasion to find some things to fill your parcel.

How should I send my parcel?

In an ideal world, the better would be a traced parcel, but considering the price, we don’t force anyone, especially if you have to send abroad. A simple sending will be ok, but just keep in touch with us if you don’t have news from your receiver or if you don’t receive anything. We’ll try to check.

4. Registration

To register, you have to send an e-mail to this address swap_around_your_world@yahoo.fr.

The reception of the questionnaire is proof of aknowledge receipt of you registration. If you don’t receive anything after several days, send us an e-mail.

If you have any questions or if you need more information, you can also send us an e-mail to this address.

Animal Farm - George Orwell

2008-05-04T20:48:00.000+02:00

George Orwell's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : English Literature

French title : La Ferme des Animaux

English publisher : Penguin : 8,99£

American publisher : Signet Classics : 9,99$

Synopsis : Mr. Jones has is a farmer, but drinks a bit too much. One day, Major, the oldest pig in the farm, asks to all the animals in the farm to gather, and told them his dream : A country of green pastures where all animals would reign, all equal, without Men. Then, Major dies. The pigs Napoleon and Snowball begin to foment a rebellion in Mr. Jones's farm. They instill the idea of revolution into all the animals of the farm, who will strike up the hymne of their future delivrance : Beasts of England. Together, they manage to evict Mr. Jones and his wife from the farm, and begins the Republic of Animals, whose head leaders are Napoleon and Snowball. But The Republic soon turns into a dictatorship : " All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others".

A passage : The seven Commandments ( with the evolutive changes)

"1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy. 2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend. 3. No animal shall wear clothes 4. No animal shall sleep in a bed ( with linens) 5. No animal shall drink alcohol (to excess) 6. No animal shall kill any other animal (without cause) 7. All animal are equal (but some animal are more equal than others)"

What I think : We could write a all thesis about this novel, I will thus try to be short. Well, firts of all, we can find here an allegory of human dictatorship. Knowing that this book was written a few years before 1984, in 1944, in the days of WWII and of fascist and communist dictatorships. George Orwell depicts the face of Dictatorship under the traits of animals, but more precisely pigs. Why pigs? Here, I will give a very personal interpretation on the question. I think that if we draw a pyramidal hierachy of the animals in a farm, pigs would be on the lower grade of the ladder. So we find here a communist dictatorship, a proletarian dictatorship in the way of Mao or Staline, rather than a fascist Hitlerian dictatorship. The fascist side of the story comes from the fact that the animals want to exterminate Humankind, or at least subjugate them. We thus have two dictatorial levels in Animal Farm, the pigs being the masters of both.

Then, we find with the pigs all the characteristics of the Dictatorship. We begin by leading the people to rebellion. Once the government is overthrown, we choose the leading heads and we make believe people that they'll have a better life. They can have this better life in assuring the necessary tasks themselves, each doing what he can ( each according to his means, to each according to his needs). After that we need to eliminate the enemies, you can't share power. The smarter will lead the people. Here, as we can guess, the winner is Napoleon, thanks to his right-hand man, Squaeler. Squealer is a very good orator and he succeeds in convincing the masses with Napoleon's propaganda. Every good dictator needs a good chief of propaganda ( we'll think of Goebbels). Once this is established, we need to get rid of the traitors, those who acted in their personal interest ( be it true or not) : we had to set an example before everyone, make them understand that it is in their interest to serve their country. Then, we have to manipulate the media, the texts. We can find an outline of Orwell's work in 1984, where newspapers were re-written when there was direction changes of the government. In Animal Farm, the Seven Commandements are transformed. Even those who remember the original texts and want to check them, find something was added, and so think they were mistaken.

Then, people begin to be hungry and realize that the promises are not kept, but the chief is right, they have to listen to him, better day will come.
Finally, the governement colludes with the enemy. We've come full circle.

I really liked this book which offers a great work of reflexion. Written in the context of WWII, we can't not see the deep significance of this text. Indeed, George Orwell succeeded in putting the different characteristics of Dictatorship forward, with the application to the animals of the farm. And it's true that it's frightening, it's so easy to established a dictatorship, to convince poeple that they can have a better life, and once the machine is on, there's not much to do. The people will love its dictator. Take the example of Boxer, the horse. I really like Boxer a lot. From the beginning of the rebellion, he's on Napoleon's side ('Napoleon is always right') and works very hard to build a better world ( 'I will work harder'). But he kills himself and becomes ill a few weeks before his retirement is due. Napoleon calls the vet, who in fact is an knacker. That is all Boxer received for his trust in Napoleon.

Well I'll stop here, because I think I could go on and on, but I can't tell you everything either. In any case, I really loved the end, but I won't tell you...

George Orwell

2008-05-04T20:22:00.004+02:00

Biography

George Orwell, from his real nam Eric Arthur Blair, was born in 1903 in India, where his father was a clerk for the British Crown. He arrived in England in 1903 with his mother, but his father would only join them in 1911. He obtained a scholarship to study in Eton, the most prestigious school in the Kingdom, where he'd stay until 1921. After all those years of study when he was a mediocre student, he became sergeant in the imperial police forces in Birmania. He came back in 1927 and declared himself enemy of the British Imperialism. He then became a revolutionary, and went to Spain during the war. When he came back in england, he hoped for a closing between noble and proletarian classes and wrote Homage to Catalonia to establish the truth about what the left-intellectuals said. En 1944, he finished Animal Farm which would be refused by several publishers before finally being published. Toward the end of the war, he wrote 1984, a parody of a totalitarian state. He died in 1950 of tuberculosis, in London. He was buried in Sutton Courtenay, in Oxfordshire.

Bibliography

Novels : Burmese Days (1934); A Clergyman's Daughter (1935); Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936); Coming Up for Air (1939); Animal Farm (1945); Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)

Books based on personal experiences : Down and out in London and Paris (1933); The Road to Wigan Pier (1937); Homage to Catalonia (1938)

He also wrote several essays and some poetry

Tithe : A Modern Faerie Tale - Holly Black

2008-05-01T18:38:00.009+02:00

Holly Black's bio- and bibliography

***

Genre : Young Adults - Fantasy

American publisher : Simon Pulse : 6,99$, 6,99£

Synopsis : Kaye is 16, she follows her mom Ellen and her rock band from town to town, and from pub to pub. After a show, Ellen's boyfriend tries to kill her with a knife, and this event will lead the mother and the daughter to the grand-mother's place, where Kaye grew up, and where she first met her faerie friends that everyone thought were imaginary.
When she comes back there, Kaye tries to call them, but no one answers. Then, one night as she was coming back from a meeting with her friends, she meets Roiben, a knight, who's hurt. Things begin to turn badly when she discovers he killed one of her faerie friends.
But things get much worse when she's told that she's one of them, a pixie, and that the fact she's a japanese with natural blond hair is all magic. She then understands that she's always been a panw in a field where two clans are opposed and struggle for power, and all this could mean she's going to die. But she'll have a surprising help from Roiben...

A passage that made me laugh a lot

[...]
"You owe me three questions." He stiffened, but his face remained blank. "Very well."
Anger surged up in her, a bitter helpless feeling. "Why did you kill Gristle?"
"My mistress bade me do so. I have little choice in my obedience." Roiben tucked his long fingers into the pockets of the coat. He spoke matter-of-factly, as though he was bored by his own answers.
"Right," Kaye said. "So if she told you to jump off a bridge...?"
"Exactly." There was no irony in his tone. "Shall I consider that your second question?"
Kaye stopped and took a breath, her face filling with heat. She was angry that she was shaking.
" Why don't you...," she began, and stopped herself. She had to think. Anger was making her careless and stupid. She had one more question, and she was determined that she would use it to piss him off, if nothing else. She thought about the note she'd gotten in the acorn and the warning she'd been given. "What's your full name?"
He looked like he would choke on the air he breathed. "What?"
" That's my third question : What is your full name?"
She didn't know what she had done, not really. She only knew that she was forcing him to do something he didn't want to do, and that suited her fine.
Roiben's eyes darkened with fury. "Rath Roiben Rye, much may the knowledge please you."
Her eyes narrowed. "It's a nice name."
"You are too clever by half. Too clever for your own good, I think."
" Kiss my ass, Rath Roiben Rye."
He grabbed her by the arm before she even saw him move. She raised her hand to ward off the coming blow. He threw her forward. She shrieked. Her hand and knee connected hard with the stone floor. She looked up, half expecting to see the gleam of a sword, but instead he pulled her jeans hard at the waistband and pressed his mouoth against the exposed swell of her hip.
Time seemed to slow as she slipped on the slick floor, as he rose easily to his feet, as diner patrons stared, as Kenny struggled out from the booth.
Roiben stood over her. He spoke tonelessly. "That is the nature of servitude, Kaye. it is literal-minded and not at all clever. Be careful with your epithets."

What I think : I liked this book a lot. The story's nice, a young girl who falls in love with a faerie knight, and he's not really nice, at least in the beginning. Very beautiful, mysterious, I think even I couldn't have resisted. What I liked is that in the beginning we're just like Kaye, we think we knwo who are the good one and who are the bad ones but soon we find ourselves in a more complex situation, where it is quite difficult to know who we can trust.
Moreover, Kaye discovers that the last 16 years of her life were only lies, she's not human, she took someone's life.But all these years, she grew up as a human, she has thus human values, that faeries don't have.
We find in this book numerous references to the folklore of fairies and pixies. The only thing that could maybe shock some readers is the language sometimes quite rude. But it's a language used by most young adults and it doesn't affect the reading at all. There are a lot of funny passages, for example the one above, I was on the bus when I read it, and I really laughed, the others must have looked at me strangely;o)
I was just a little disappointed by end, which is to fast. Kaye is saved, Roiben becomes King, but what about after? What will Kaye become? Will she assume her pixie part or stay in her human family? Stay with Roiben? But when I looked for information about Holly Black I found out that there are two sequels, so I hope I will have some answers to my questions...

Holly Black

2008-05-01T18:06:00.006+02:00

Biography

Holly Black was born in 1971 in New-Jersey. She graduated with a B.A. in English from The College of New Jersey in 1994. Then she worked as a publisher for medical magazines and followed a cursus in Library Sciences at the Rutgers University.
She published her first novel in 2002, Tithe : A Modern Faerie Tale, which was one of the Best Book for Young Adults according to The American Library Association. Holly Black wrote two sequels : Valiant and Ironside.

She collaborated with a long-time friend, Tony DiTerlizzi for the writing of the series The Spiderwick Chronicles, begun in 2003.This series has rapidly become a best-seller, translated in 32 languages. There are already 6 Spiderwick published and another one is on its way.
The first volume was adapted for the cinema in 2007, with Freddie Highmore and Sarah Bolger.
Holly Black is currently working on a series of graphic novels with Ted Naifeh and on a new novel, The White Cat.
She lives in Massachussetts with her husband and her library is still growing...

You can find more about Holly Black on her official website

Bibliography

Novels
* The Spiderwick Chronicles (with Tony DiTerlizzi)
The Field Guide (2003); The Seeing Stone (2003); Lucinda's Secret (2003); The Ironwood Tree (2004); The Wrath of Mulgarth (2004); Arthur Spiderwick's Notebook of Fantastical Observations (2005); Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You (2005); Care and Feeding of Sprites (2006); The Nixie's Song : Beyond The Spiderwick Chronicles (2007); A Giant Problem (2008)
* A Modern Faerie Tale
Tithe (2002); Valiant (2005); Ironside (2007)
* The White Cat (2010)

Graphic Novels
* The Good Neighbors ( with Ted Naifeh)
Kin (2008); Kith (2009); Kind (2010)

Short Stories
Hades and Persephone (1997); The Night Market (2004); Heartless (2005); Going Ironside (2007); In Vodka Veritas (2007); 21 proms : Reversal of Fortune (2007); The Poison Eaters (2007); Paper Cuts Scissors (2007); The Coat of Stars (2007); Virgin (2008)

Poetry
The Third Third : Israfel's tale (1996); Bone Mother (2004)

On the road again...

2008-05-01T10:38:00.004+02:00

Hello everyone and happy Labour Day!

I haven't been here for a long time for reasons of holidays and tiredness after the holidays;o)
But I'll try to catch up with my chronicles on this day of 1st of May. The program will be charged : I will tell you about my trip in Strasbourg that was full of intense emotions with musical meetings, then my late book reviews...

I'll be back here in the course of the day!

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum

2008-04-19T12:05:00.005+02:00

L. Frank Baum's bio- and bibliography

***

Genre : Tale - Children's Book

French title : Le Magicien d'Oz

English publisher : Penguin Popular Classics :£

American publisher : Signet Classics : 3,95$

Synopsis : Dorothy and her dog, Toto live in Kansas, in a country farm with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. But one day, a cyclone suddenly propels Dorothy and Toto skywards. They wake up in an unknown land, dar away, and they're welcomed by the Munchkins who think she's a great sorceress because she killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Thus begins a great adventure for Dorothy and Toto who will take the road to the Emerald City where they will find The Great Wizard Oz, the only one able to send her back to Kansas. On her way, Dorothy will make new friends, The Scarecrow who wants some brain, the Tin Woodman who'd like to have a heart, and the Cowardly Lion who seeks courage. How will they be received in the Emerald City? Will the Great Oz be able to help them?

A passage

"She was awakened by a shock, so sudden and severe that if Dorothy had not been lying on the soft bed she might have been hurt. As it was, the jar made her catch her breath and wonder what had happened; Toto put his cold little nose into her face and whined dismally. Dorothy sat up and noticed that the house was not moving; nor was it dark, for the bright sunshine came in at the window, flooding the little room. She sprang from her bed and with Toto at her heels ran and opened the door."

What I Think : The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a charming tale for children but also for adults, which teaches us that often the qualities we'd like to have and that we envy others for, they're already here, womewhere inside us, but we're simply unable to see them. What can I say? A remarkably well written book, the first of a long series, not enough known by the public, unfortunately. I also have The Marvelous Land of Oz at home, and I'd like to read the whole series. I was marked as a child by Dorothy's adventure, because I used to watch the cartoon on TV, and I discovered the novel only a fews years ago, a very good moment of reading which makes us think...

I will try to watch soon the movie with Judy Garland, I will talk about it then...

L. Frank Baum

2008-04-19T11:42:00.006+02:00

Biography

Lyman Frank Baum was born in 1856, in new York. He was an author, actor and play director.
He was from a rich oil family.
He began writing very early, first with a paper he wrote with his brother.
At 17, he began to be instered in theater, but he was financially abused several times. So he occupied various jobs, while continuing in the theater field in-between.
In 1880, his father builds a theater and he then began to write plays and gathered a company.
In 1888, Baum and his wife moved to Dakota, where he opened a shop, Baum's Bazaar, but he would be soon led to bankruptcy. Dakota inspired him for the description of Dorothy's Kansas in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
After this, he tried himself to journalism and work for the local paper.
After the bankruptcy of the newspaper, in 1897, he published Mother Goose in Prose, which will have a little success but it allowed him to stop working and to dedicate himself to writing.
Dorothy was born in 1900 under Baum's feather and with the illustrations of W.W. Denslow.
The book had stayed best-seller for children for 2 years after it was published. With this success, Baum went on writing the adventures of the country of Oz, with 13 sequels.
He also wrote numerous books and short stories outside Oz, and under several pen-names : Edith Van Dyne, Floyd Akers, Schuyler Staunton, John Estes Cooke, Suzanne Metcalf, Laura Bancroft.

L. Frank Baum died in 1919, and was buried in the Forrest Lawn Memory Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Note : Baum hated his first name, and prefer to be called by his middle name, Frank, hence L. Frank Baum

If you want to know more about L. Frank Baum and his work, I invite you to read this complete article

Bibliography from Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)
The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904)
Ozma of Oz (1907)
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz (1908)
The Road to Oz (1909)
The Emerald City of Oz (1910)
The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913)
Tik-Tok of Oz (1914)
The Scarecrow of Oz (1915)
Rinkitink in Oz (1916)
The Lost Princess of Oz (1917)
The Tin-Woodman of Oz (1918)
The Magic of Oz (1919 = posthume)
Glinda of Oz (1920 = posthume)
Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz (1905)
The Waggle-Bug Book (1905)
Little Wizard Stories of Oz (1913)

For a complete bibliography

Life on the Refrigerator Door - Alice Kuipers

2008-04-19T10:45:00.006+02:00

Alice Kuipers's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : Young Adults

French Title : Ne t'inquiète pas pour moi (Don't worry about me)

Canadian publisher : Harper Collins Canada : 19,95 CDN$

English publisher : MacMillan Children's Books : 7,99£

American publisher : Harper Collins : 15,95$

Synopsis : Claire is 15 and she lives with her mom, who's divorced. Her mom is a doctor, and works a lot. They don't see each other very often, so they talk via Post-its on the refrigerator door. Until Claire's mom is ill. Breast cancer. And they go on writing notes on the refrigerator until the end...

A passage (I'm sorry I have a french translation, so I'm gonna make a translation of a translation, so don't mind the mistakes, it's just to give you a rough idea)

" You looked tired last night, mom, I thought about it when I went to bed. Is it more worrying than I think? Sometimes I feel like it's easier to ask the questions by notes, to ask you how you feel ans how it is with the doctor, all that.

I must hurry to go to school. I have to see Michael after school, I surely won't be here for dinner.

Love

Hello Claire,

What about you invite Michael for dinner one of these days? We need to choose a night when I'm not on call. It was sad without you, tonight. Jeannot is not very talkative!

I know that it's easier to ask these questions by notes. I'm trying to think of some of the answers.

I love you,

Mom"

What I Think : I discover this book while wandering in a bookshop. Once I opened it I knew I had to take it. Unfortunately I didn't find the answers to my questions, but are there really answers?
From a technical point of view, this book is very short and you can read it very fast. The Post-It style is quite original, a new version of the epistolary novel?
Now emotionnally speanking, it is very hard, well maybe not for everyone, but it was for me. I cried from begining to end. I was hoping it would end well, but I knew it wouldn't be the case.
This book is a good representation of the attitude against the disease of a close one. First, worrying, waiting. Then the negation when the news come, the certainty that everything will be ok. After all, others came this way before and they survived. Then the complications, and we do as if nothing happened, because finally life goes on and we have to fight in silence. So after certainty, hope. Hope keeps us going. But one day comes the understanding. We're slapped in the face. In Claire's face, it's too late.

There's also the point of you of the direct victim of the disease, the one we don't know, the one we question about. The perpetual questioning about this person we love so much and who doesn't say anything : how does (s)he feel? What does (s)he think? How does (s)he do it?

Alice Kuipers

2008-04-19T10:33:00.005+02:00

Biography

Alice Kuipers was born in London in 1979. Today she lives in Saskatoon, Canada where she's a Pilates teacher.
She studied at manchester and Manchester Metropolitan Universities. She also worked as a producer for the CBC Radio. She published several short stories in literary magazines : The Wife and the Waitress in Parenthesis. Life on the Refrigerator Door is her debut novel ans was nominated for the Carnegie Medal 2008 and the rights have already been bought by 40 countries.

Bibliography

Life on the Refrigerator Door (2007)

You can find more on Alice Kuipers's official site

Friday Fill-Ins

2008-04-18T19:59:00.004+02:00

1. The last time I lost my temper I just went away to do photocopies (it was at work)
2. People who think only about themselves is what I'm fed up with!
3. The next book I'd like to read is Bitten by Kelley Armstrong (among many others)
4. Cinema Bizarre's show in Freiburg next wednesday is what I'm looking forward to.
5. If you can't get rid of the skeleton(s) in your closet, you just have to live with them!
6. The best thing I got in the mail recently was a check from my health insurance today
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleep, tomorrow my plans include shopping and Sunday, I want to do some cleaning!

Battle Royale - Koushun Takami

2008-04-18T19:09:00.005+02:00

Koushun Takami's bio- and bibliography

****

Genre : Japanese Literature - Young Adults

American publisher : Viz Media : 15,95$ (the bad side of this edition is that it is full of misprints)

English publisher : Gollancz : 8,99£

Synopsis : In the Republic of Greater East Asia, a program takes place every year to prepare people to the worst, in case of an attack. That is the official version. This year, the third class B from Shiroiwa Highschool, in the Kagawan Prefecture, is chosen to participate to the program. The 42 students of this class are on the road in a bus for a study trip, but they wake up in a classroom. They're told that they were chosen for the program. They are on an island, from which the inhabitants have moved for the occasion. They will go out from the school one by one, every two minutes, with a backpack. This pack contains some food and water, enough to survive, a map of the island and a weapon. Once the first student is out, the game begins, they'll have to kill each other, only one must survive.

An extract :
" They hugged in this position and exchanged kisses. Was it just a few seconds? Was it a minute? Or was it eternity? In any case, the kiss ended. They heard a rustling sound. They sensed someone in the bushes behind them. That was their signal : all aboard. The train is departing, so you better get on board. They had nothing left to say. They could have fought against the intruder. He could have taken his gun and aimed it at the person behind them. But she wouldn't want that. What she wanted was to leave this world quietly before they got sucked into this horrible massacre. Nothing was more important to him than her. There was no room for compromise. If this was what her trembling soul wanted, then he would follow her. Had he been more eloquent he might have described his feelings as something like, 'I'm going to die for her honor'. Their two bodies danced in the air beyond the cliff, the black sea in the background, their hands still clasped together."

What I Think : This book is a marvel, a big favorite of mine. I won't lie, it is very hard and violent. It hits us in the face. From the first pages, we're already in the atmosphere, I understand it can shock some people, even I am among those people. I am not easily impressionnable, really, but here I didn't count the number of times I was feeling kind of sick, with the reading of certain passages, not really by the violence, but more by the situation in which it all happens.
I must admit that once you begin, you can't stop, you want to know who will kill who, and how. Even if we'd like all of them to survive, we perfectly know it won't be the case. So curiosity is the strongest.
But what I most like in this book is all the psychological dimension behind the characters, their reactions and their actions. And it's frightening, yes, it's really frightening. How would you react if you were with your colleagues on a deserted island, every one of you with a weapon in the hand, and someone told you only one must survive. Well it sends shivers down my spine, because I know that more than one would be ready to play the game to the end. And I can't even say how I would react, because finally I have no idea, we can't know for sure, I wouldn't be in the state of mind to play the game, but I could end up killing someone to protect myself, or due to an overreaction of fear and psychosis. You know 'Don't trust anyone'. And I think we'd all be more or less in the same state of mind.. And that's what frightening me. survival instinct. It's here, hidden inside each one of us, because for now we don't need it, but it always comes back to the surface in extreme situations.

I need to tell you that I cried more than once during my reading. The first time was in the begining, when Nobu, one of the students, is killed by the master of the game, before it even has begun. I was not waiting for that, it was so sudden, violent, it was like I was slapped in the face. Then, there was the passage I quote before, a beautiful scene, my favorite from the all book. A young couple, they're in love, and they're afraid to be separated by death, to have to kill each other, so they decide to commit suicide. Beautiful. And finally, I cried in the end, but I won't tell you the details.

In fact, I think I cried because I was touched. And I was touched because all along the novel, we discover the life of these teenagers, their hopes for the future, their loves (and God knows how many secret love there are in this class!), their characters, their family life, what happened in thei life before the game started. That's why I cried, they're only kids, they haven't even begun to live yet, it's a f****** game...

Behind this story, those teenagers, there is the History of a country. A dictatorial Japan. And I really like this side of the story too. The president is called 'The Dictator of the Republic of Greater East Asia'. I like this denunciation of society. But I really like the theme of dictatorship : 1984, Animal Farm, V for Vendetta... But it scares me, it's so easy to abolish human liberties. There are still so many enslaved peoples. It's dreadful, it makes my back cold. As I often say Men are Inhuman.

Well all that just to say you really should read Battle Royale, it's a book which kills, in the literal sense of the word, a book that give strong emotions, a book that can't let you indifferent. But you need to have a strong stomach;o)

Koushun Takami

2008-04-18T19:00:00.006+02:00

"Koushun Takami was born in 1969 in Amagasi near Osaka and grew up in Kagawa Prefecture of Shikoku, where he currently resides. After graduating from Osaka University with a degree in literature, he dropped out of Nihon University's liberal arts correspondence-course program. From 1991 to 1996 he worked for the prefectural news company Shikoku Shinbun, reporting on various fields, including politics, police reports, and economics. Although he has an English teaching certificate, he has yet to visit the United States.

Battle Royale, completed after Takami left the news company, was rejected in the final round of a literary competition sponsored by a major publisher due to the critical controversy it provoked among the jury members. With its publication in Japan in 1999, though, Battle Royale received widespread support, particularly from young readers, and became a bestseller. In 2000, Battle Royale was serialized as a comic and made into a feature film.

Mr. Takami is currently working on his second novel."

'Salem's Lot - Stephen King

2008-04-17T20:50:00.005+02:00

Stephen King's Bio- and Bibliography

****

Genre : Horror - Vampires

American publisher : Pocket books Fiction : 7,99$

English publisher : Hodder Paperback : 8,99£

Synopsis : As a kid, Benjamin Mears spent a few years in Jerusalem's Lot, a small town lost in New England. Today, he's a writer and he decides to come back in 'Salem's Lot for his next novel. But the house he wanted is already occupied. Two men came here to open an antique shop. But a child disappears, and very strange things begin to happen in this small town, people are infected with a fatal unknown disease. But the worst thing is that they come back to life, thirsty...they want blood. Who are those two new owners of the Marsten House, this old house which looks on the town, and where horrible things happened years and years ago?

An extract
In the head of the Father

"But there were no battles. There were only skirmishes of vague resolution. And EVIL did not wear one face but many, and all of them were vacuous and more often than not the chin was slicked with drool. In fact, he was being forced to the conclusion that there was no EVIL in the world at all but only evil - or perhaps (evil). At moments like this he suspected that Hitler had been nothing but a harried bureacrat and Satan himself a mental defective with a rudimentary sense of humor - the kind that finds feeding firecrackers wrapped in bread to seagulls unutterably funny..
The great social, moral, and spiritual battles of the ages boiled down to Sandy McDougall slamming her snot-nosed kid in the corner ad the kid would grow up and slam his own kid in the corner, world without end, halelujah, chunky peanut butter. Hail Mary, full of grace, help me win this stock-car race.
It was more than dull. It was terrifying in its consequences for any meaningful definition of life, and perhaps heaven. What there? An eternity of church bingo, amusement park rides, and celestial drag strips?
He looked over at the clock on the wall. It was six minutes past midnight and still no sign of Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers. Not even Mickey Rooney. But the E-Vap had had time to set. Now he would vacuum it up and Mrs. Curless would not look at him with that expression of pity, and life would go on. Amen."

What I Think : I thought I had read this book a long time ago, when I was in Highschool and I used to read only horror books, but after reading (again?) it, I'm not so sure anymore. In any case, it was a great reading. At first, I found it a little long, and I was asking myself why Stephen King was talking about everyone's life in 'Salem's Lot, but I finally understood why. The fact that we know the life of the characters, their habits and all that, it makes things more horrible still, since we know them, it is as if they were real in some way. In 'Salem's Lot we don't really find the bloody side of Stephen King , everything is in the waiting, the stress grows slowly till the end. Things evolve slowly, it is all psychological. We're afraid, we say 'no that's not possible, they must survive'... What shocked me the most is the baby. There is a baby who becomes a vampire, and he bites his mom. I found that passage absolutely dreadful. Well that's Stephen King... Well 'Salem's Lot is really a good novel, if you like vampire and if you want to have a good fright, this is book is made for you!

Music : When I was reading 'Salem's Lot, I was listening to three songs in repeat mode all the time : Silent Scream, After the Rain, and Heavensent by Cinema Bizarre (I talked about them here). The lyrics don't really correspond to the book, but the title and the music absolutely do. A dark atmosphere and all that...

Stephen King

2008-04-17T19:27:00.007+02:00

Biography

Stephen King was born in 1947, in Portland, Maine. He has been a great reader of comics since he was a teenage, especially The Tales of the Crypt, hence his taste for the horror genre. He began writing at school where he used to sell his stories to his classmates. Then he started working on his first novel in 1965, but has never finished it. He went to Maine University where he studied literature, and where he met Tabitha Jane Spruce who would become his wife and the mother of his 3 children.
He wrote The Long Walk, his first novel, in 1967, but his first novels wouldn't be published before the 1980's, after Carrie. Since then, he has written best-seller after best-seller, a lot of his books were adapted into films, and he has become for many people the undisputed master of the horror genre. He also wrote books under the pen name Richard Bachman.

You can find more about Stephen King and his books on his official website

Bibliography

Under the name Stephen King
Novels : Carrie (1974); 'Salem's Lot (1975); The Shining (1977); The Stand (1978); The Dead Zone (1979); Firestarter (1980); Cujo (1981); Aastha (1981); Christine (1983); Cycle of the Werewolf (1983); Pet Sematary (1983); The Eyes of the Dragon (1984); The Talisman (1984 with peter Straub); It (1986); Misery (1987); The Tommyknockers (1988); The Drak Half (1989); Mr Pretty Pany (1989); Neddful Things (1991); Gerald's Game (1992); Dolores Claiborne (1993); Insomnia (1994); Rose Madder (1995); Umney's Last Case (1995); The Green Mile (1996); Desperation (1996); Bag of Bones (1998); Storm of the Century (1999); The Girl who loved Tom Gordon (1999); The New Lieutenant's Rap (1999); Hearts in Atlantis (1999); Secret Window (2000); Dreamcatcher (2001); Black House (2001 with Peter Straub); From a Buick 8 (2003); The Colorado Kid (2005); Cell (2006); Lisey's Story (2007); Duma Key (2008)

Short Stories : Night Shift (1978); Different Seasons (1982); Skeleton Crew (1985); Four Past Midnight (1990); Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993); Six Stories (1997); Everything's Eventual : 14 Dark Tales (2002)

The Dark Tower : The Gunslinger (1982); The Drawing of Three (1987); The Waste Lands (1991); Wizard and Glass (1997); Wolves of the Calla (2003); Song of Susannah (2004); The Dark Tower (2005)

Non Fiction : On Writing : A Memoir of the Craft (2000)

Comics : Creepshow (1982); The Dark Tower (2007)

Audio Book : Blood and Smoke (1999)

On Line Book : The Plant (2000)

Under the name Richard Bachman
Novels : Rage (1977); The Long Walk (1979); Roadwork (1981); The Running Man (1982); Thinner (1984); The Regulators (1996); Blaze (2007)

Films
Carrie (1976); The Shining (1980); Creepshow (1982); Cujo (1983); Dead Zone (1983); Christine (1983); Children of the Corn (1984); Firestarter (1984); Cat's Eye (1985); Silver Bullet (1985); Maximum Overdirve (1986); Stand By me (1986); Creepshow 2 (1987); The Running man (1987); Pet Sematary (1989); Tales from the Darkside : The Movie (1990); Graveyard Shift (1990); Misery (1990); Sleepwalkers (1992); Needful Things (1993); The Dark Half (1993); The shawshank Redemption (1994); Dolores Claiborne (1995); The Mangler (1995); Thinner (1996); The Night Flier (1997); Apt Pupil (1998); The Green Mile (1999); Hearts in Atlantis (2001); Dreamcatcher (2003); Secret Window (2004); Riding the Bullet (2005); Room 1408 (2007); The Mist (2007)

Series

'Salem's Lot (1979); The Word Processor of the Gods (1985); Gramma (1986); Sorry, Right Number (1987); Sometimes they come back (1990); It (1990); The Moving Finger (1992); The Tommyknockers (1992); The Stand (1994); The Langoliers (1995); The Shining (1997); Chinga (1997); Trucks (1997); Chattery Teeth (1998); Storm of the Century (1999); Firestarter 2 : The Revenge (2001); Rose Red (2002); Carrie (2002); Dead Zone (2002); Kingdom Hospital (2004); Salem (2004); Desperation (2006); Nightmares and Dreamscapes (2006)

Friday Fill-Ins

2008-03-28T19:35:00.003+01:00

1. Some relationships are meant to to live for ever and other to end one day.
2. Tokio Hotel is the last concert I saw; it was really great.
3. Spring should be half a year, and the other half for winter .
4. Oh no! I forgot nothing (for once)!
5. I've recently started a project with modelling clay.
6. Kirin (my cat) never fails to make me smile.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to finish my project with modelling clay, tomorrow my plans include to visit a friend who's in hospital and Sunday, I want to sleep!

Ode To A Man I Love So Much

2008-03-28T19:29:00.001+01:00

Ode To A Man I Love So Much

All those years you...we've been struggling
We fight all side by side
You said once that this disease
Has more than two claws
That’s true
And however hard you try
However hard we try
However hard we try to chop them
We just can’t chop them all
There are always new ones
A new one which grows
Always stronger than us together

Today you’re waiting
We’re waiting
We’re waiting for the sentence
The sentence of death
How many years
How many months
Are left for us?

The hardest part for me
Is wondering how you feel
Inside
Knowing there’s not much time left now

The hardest part for me
Is to know that you’ll never see me happy
See me realising my dreams
You’ll never lead me to the altar
Even if we’re not the religious kind
Even if I don’t believe in marriage

The hardest part for me
Is to know you’ll never know your grand-children
Never see their smiles
Never see the glowing in their eyes
When they see their grand-dad
Never hear them call you Papy

The crows are coming regularly
It’s like accidents on the road
Everyone stops by to have a look
Happy that it’s not them
Relieved that life is worse for others
Some of them just want to
Make up for lost time
But they never say
‘Sorry’

And others you used to see
Just don’t come anymore

Now we’re waiting
We’re waiting for the sentence
The sentence of death
How many years

How many months

Are left for us?

I feel like I am in mourning already
How can I do that?
I feel like a monster
You’re still alive
But I just can’t imagine life without you
I’m still a little girl
Who needs her dad
I’m afraid of a future without you by my side

Just like a child would be afraid of the dark
I don’t want to loose you
I want you to live forever
I love you so much

Final Attraction de Cinema Bizarre

2008-03-23T11:51:00.010+01:00

I want to present this great German musical discovery. Here is a band that you will hear about very soon. There's only germany to give us a good glam-rock like this!

Cinema Bizarre - The Members

* Strify (Sebastien) : Singer (19)
* Luminor (Felix) : Second voice and keyboard (22)
* Kiro (Kristian) : Bass ( 20)
* Yu (Dirk) : Guitar (19)
* Shin (Tim) : Drums (18)

Cinema Bizarre - Bio

These young boys met each other in 2005 on a Japan Convention in Germany. All 5 are fans of Japan and are inspired by the Visual Kei. Each of them brought his own style, and together they bring a new flavour to the Rock, on at the musical level, as well as the style ('Style is War'). Their first album was out in Germany last October, and in a few days in France. They began a Fan-Tour. They participated to the Eurovision Contest in Germany, but weren't selected, because Strify had a laryngitis.

If you want to know more about them :

german speaking : http://cinemabizarre.de
english speaking : http://cinemabizarre.co.uk
french speaking : http://cinemabizarre.de/fr
My Space : http://www.myspace.com/cinemabizarre

Discography

* Final Attraction : october 2007 in Germany, 24 march 2008 in France

1. Lovesongs (they kill me) 2. How does it feel 3. Silent scream 4. Get off 5. Forever or never 6. Escape to the stars 7. After the rain 8. She waits for me 9. I don't believe 10. The way we are 11. Dysfunctional family 12. Heavensent 13. Angel in disguise 14. The silent place

What I think : I simply love it. I really thank Cels to make me discover this band. When I listen to this album, I have butterflies which flap their wings in my tummy. Strify's voice is bewitching, and Luminor's clashes with his appearance, but brings magics to the songs. Without his voice, the songs wouldn't have the same impact at all. A mix of a quite shrill and kind of feminine voice with a very deep and hot one.
And, I admit that I've never had a very good musical ear. I have great difficulties to dissociate the sound of the different instruments when I listen to a song. I admire people who can say, just by listening to a song, 'whoah he's a great bassist!' or 'he's an awful guitarist' But here, I manage to hear the different instruments, especially the bass in fact. In any case, the whole is absolutely magical. They haven't written the texts, it was their choice, but they selected texts that had a meaning to them. The texts are very good, their influences are so different from each other that we have a skillful mix of sounds on this album. It's not 14 songs that all sound the same.

Here is a band that will make the french crazy very soon.
They are compared to Tokio Hotel in the press, but they've got nothing to do with them, they're totally different. The style is different, and they're not aiming the same public either, even though it'll be composed in majority of girls.

After the black stripes and gloves and spiky bracelets like Tokio Hotel, we'll see people with a Glam-Rock style, classy trousers and shirts, long coat, long bi-colored hair.

I have my preference (what? I'm a human being, after all). I cant' resist Kiro, the bassist (he's the smallest) and my friend Cels has her favorite too;o)

And we're going to see them in April in Freiburg (Germany). It's an eternity until then, I will talk about it after the show;o)

Now I'll let you listen to my favorite song on the album. This one really gives me butterflies in my stomach, you know I have the feeling that I've always known this song, but have forgotten it with the years, well I don't know if I'm very clear...

Place à la musique!

I was walking in the shadows
So nobody can't
Your smile led me from the distance
And without the smallest chance
All these memories
They came back
When I'm asleep
You've taken my dreams

I don't need no fakes around me
All I want is you to be with me
Here I am
All these words they have lost their meaning
I just hope you hear my silent scream

I still hear the distant voices
Spreading rumours and lies
I took you to my darkest places
So far away from the sky

I watch on you
We merose
To not let go
But where are you now?

Note : The songs Silent Scream, After the Rain and Heavensent were in my ears during my reading of 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King, so now every time I hear them, I've got the images and the feelings of the book in my mind;o)

Tokio Hotel in Strasbourg!

2008-03-22T11:40:00.010+01:00

In my last post, I talked about a show I saw during my holidays in Strasbourg, it was Tokio Hotel!!! We had been waiting for this for a long time.
First, I discovered Tokio Hotel by a fortunate coincidence, when their first album came out in France. You see, I really love the german language ( I studied it at school = 10 years) and German Rock, so when I saw in the Pop Rock category something written in german, it caught my eyes. And all this was well before the Tokio Hotel Mania reach France. What I do when I buy a new CD : I put it in my cd-player et I look for the names of the members and the thanks in the leaflet. And there, I said, Gee, they don't even quote the name of the female singer! It's normal, the singer is a boy;o) Bill's voice hadn't broken yet.
I really liked their music, and I remember saying that I hoped they'll succeed in France, but that I didn't really believe it because they sing in German. Well we can say I underestimated French people. We're not so resistant to the german language after all.
Well, so I made my friend Cels listen to this CD, and she became addicted just like me. We fantasized about Bill and Tom like we were teens, but I think I shouldn't have said it;o) Sorry Cels;o)

Then last october, we had our tickets to see them in Bercy (Paris), but we had to cancel and sold our tickets. But finally, we saw they were coming to Strasbourg, we went for it!

Thursday 06 March 2008 - Zénith of Strasbourg

We were kind of dreading the public, afraid that all those young girls went wild, crying 'Biiiiiiiiiiiiilllllllllllll Weeeeeeeeeee Loooooooooooovvvveeeeeeeee Youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!'
We arrived among the last people, around 6.50 pm, and the show was due at 7.00. But finally, we had seats, it didn't last long to two seats. The public was a little worked up, especially the girls, but it was ok considering what we had imagined. Let's begin this review by the public : The public was very heterogeneous : teen girls wearing TH's colors, black stripes, gloves, a long lock of hair on half of their faces.
But beside that, what I really appreciated was all the parents who came with their children, and boys too, and when you see themm you can't imagine they're Tokio Hotel Fans. I found that really great!
Behind us, there were two 10-year-old girls, they were totally into it, and on the other side there was a little boy who came with his dad and sister, and he had brought his giant poster;o)
And finally not too much 'Bill!', but especially 'Tokio Hotel!'

Those 4 young germans played hard-to-get, they arrived à 7.40, but they offered us 1and a half hour of happiness! In the beginning Bill sounds out the public before climbing down the stairs on the stage, and to come closer, he surely wanted to see the degree of hysteria, if it was too dangerous for him;o)
But once the machine launched, he can't stop moving. He's a battery-driven boy, going from one or the other members of the band.

We had little breaks in-between, because Mister Bill is a fashion victim and needs to change clothes some times;o)

About the playlist, it was made to please everyone, going from Schrei to 1 000 Meere. A real delight, with two encores, one acoustic just to calm people down. No song in english, for the delight of the French fans, who I believe don't like the english versions. There are two I really appreciate, but I didn't have them, but Cels had her two favorite songs;o)

Then, at 9.00, the show ends, they sayed goodbye and thanked us, and Gustav launched his ola, he who stayed hidden behind his drums all along the show, and we couldn't see him clearly.

It was a really great show, I only wish I had thought of taking my dad's binoculars;o)
And as Cels says, we felt like teens, and it's a great feeling, even if we didn't really feel the same way as the real teens who surely had dreams all night long...

I wanted to pass a message to spiteful gossips : You can say whatever you want about Tokio Hotel : marketing product, pre-formated, kids with an inordately large ego, etc. Well, frankly, they're really good on stage, that's all. And isn't it there that you can really judge the talent of an artist? You like it or you don't, it's a matter of taste, but the talent is here, sometimes we need to face the facts!

Good things always have an end!

2008-03-09T12:31:00.006+01:00

I was absent for a few days, but I assure you I had a very good reason : I was in HOLIDAYS. I had been waiting for this week since last june, and I can tell you it is so good not to work for a whole week.
Thus I spent some time with Aurélia, a friend of mine who came to Normandy from Fréjus for a few days, but unfortunately, we couldn't spend a lot of time together because I left for Strasbourg.

I stayed at my best friend's, Cels, place the whole week. The program : rest, shopping, a visit in Germany (Kehl), litlle finds and a... concert, but I'll talk about it later.

So all that just to say that I'm back from Strasbourg, a little tires, because holidays aren't really made to get some rest;o)

Oh and I brought you a picture from Strasbourg, that I really like, and each time I go there I forget to take it, but not this time. If one day you are in Strasbourg and you need a private detective for a reason or another :

Well I was a bit disappointed as well, because it snowed a little, but not enough to whiten the floor. I would have loved so much to be blocked by snow and not to come back to Rouen to start working again on Monday...

Friday Fill-Ins

2008-02-22T20:25:00.004+01:00

1. Discovering is the best thing about traveling.
2. I love a good duvet around me when I'm cold.
3. I often use my MP3 player and my computer
4. I'm reading 'Salem's Lot right now; I like it.
5. Disease is something I dislike talking about.
6. When I visited London I most looked forward to seeing Peter Pan's Statue in Kensington gardens.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watch NCIS and read 'Salem's Lot, tomorrow my plans include see my best friend who's here for a few days and Sunday, I want to see another friend and try to do some cross stitching!

Booking Through Thursday : Format

2008-02-21T19:34:00.004+01:00

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

I think I would mostly go for paperbacks, because they're more practical for transport. You can put them easily in a bag, you can read them anywhere, whereas hardcovers are heavier, and not so practical for the reading, except when you have space around you to read, and that you're well installed. But I prefer hardcovers on the point of how it shows in a library. So maybe it would be fifty-fifty. But there's something I don't quite understand in the terms of hardcovers and paperbacks. I understand that the covers are different, that's ok. But what about the format? Well in France it's simple, we talk about 'grand format' (big size) and 'poche' (pocket size). Pocket books are all paperbacks. And 'grands formats' are mostly paperbacks too, but we have also hardcovers in 'grand format' only. But the thing is, that it seems that when you say paperbacks, you talk about our 'poche', even if your pocket size is more like a french 'semi-poche'. But you have paperbacks in big size too, but one point is sure, you have a lot more hardcover than us. And a lot cheaper too;o) Well if someone can explain all this thing about hardcover and paperbacks, go ahead! And thanks!

The Last Days - Scott Westerfeld

2008-02-21T18:52:00.006+01:00

Scott Westerfeld's bio- and bibliography

***

Genre : Young Adults - Fantasy

American publisher : Razorbill : 8,99$

English publisher : ATOM : 5,99£

Synopsis : Moz meets Pearl while trying to save a Fender Stratocaster guitar from the fall from a building. A mad woman is throwing her stuff by the window. From there a rock band is born. Moz has been playing guitar for years with his best friend, Zahler. The three of them begin to compose, then comes Alana Ray who plaus drums on paint buckets, and Minerva, who's recovering from a long disease. She sings the texts she writes in a strange language. Together, they manage to create an absolute osmose in a particular atmosphere. Minerva's texts have a big part in that. Their band will be the New Sound, the real new sound. But while they're all thinking about playing and becoming famous, the world around them is changing, is falling in ruins, populated with vampires, rats and cats. The end of the world is near, the big struggle has begun.

An extract :
"Suddenly the music had focus, a beating heart. She wrapped the rest of us around herself, piercing my gradual shadows with a single ray of light. I smiled, having a rare moment of absolute comfort in my own skin, every comulsion satisfied, the clockwork of the whole world clicking into place around my drumming. Even if they were young and flawed, these four had something. Maybe a happy accident was happening here, like the first time I'd ever noticed the echoes from the street matching my footsteps... Then the strangeness began, something I hadn't seen since I was little. The air started to glitter wildly, my eyelids fluttering. This was more than ripples of heat from summer asphalt, or the shimmers I saw when someone was angry at me."

What I think : The Last Days is the sequel to Peeps, and I must admit that I really prefered this second volume, where we don't find every 10 pages a course on the life and customs of parasites. So it was more agreeable to read, all in music. Indeed, here the main theme is music, by the way all the chapter titles are in fact band names : The Cure, New Order, Garbage, Massive Attack, and many others, more or less famous, and the author gives us a small review on each of them in the end of the book. (I'm curious about the french translation here, I'll do some research I think).
I discover about the titles only when I reached the end, and really I had no idea, it didn't occur to me one single time that they were band names, the worst is that I know some of these bands;o) But it gives you a good idea about how the titles really are representative of the content.
So I was saying, music as a main theme, but we don"t forget the vampires. In first volume, we knew from the beginning what we were facing, because Cal, the narrator knew. Here, the narrators (I'll come back on this point) absolutely don't know anything about what's really going on. We assist to their realization of the problem.
As I was saying, there are several narrators : 5. The members of the band : Moz, Pearl, Zahler, Minerva and Alana Ray. And I really liked the structure of the book. The only thing that I would reproach to SW is to use the same style for the 5 narrators, especially in the first chapters, so I got a little lost in the beginning.
I think he was great on this, because he managed to write in different voices : male / female, 'normal' / 'paranormal'. But also, there is an change of point of view with each chapter, but not on the same event. How could I say that? It's not like one event is told by everyone in turn, it's a continuity, and it's great.
For those who don't want to read the first book, Peeps (I can understand), I think you can read this one all the same. You lose somthing here, but you can still follow the story without problem.

Peeps / Parasite Positives - Scott Westerfeld

2008-02-21T18:09:00.005+01:00

Scott Westerfeld's bio- and bibliography

Genre : Young Adults - Fantasy

American publisher : Razorbill : 8,99$

English publisher : ATOM : 5,99£

Synopsis : Cal is a particular young man, he carries a parasite that makes people like eating flesh and hate light, in a word vampires. Vampirism is in fact a parasite, transmitted to humans by rats, and from human to human by sex and saliva. It is a STI. Cal has not developped the disease, and he works for the Night Watch. He tracks infected people who hide in dark places. He's tracking his latest girlfriend, he infected her without knowing it. But he's also looking for the girl who infected him first, and he's going from discovery to discovery, taking Lacey on the way, a young girl he met during his investigation. He'll discover that this disease is not that bad after all, it can help save humanity from an even more fearsome ennemy.

An extract :
" Okay, let's clear up some myths about vampires. First of all, you won't see me using the V-word much. In the Night Watch, we prefer the term parasite positives, or peeps for short. The main thing to remember is that there's no magic involved. No flying. No transformation into bats or rats either. We're talking about a disease."

What I think : The approach of the subject is very interesting, very modern. Vampirism is in fact a disease, a STI more precisely, and everything can be explained with science. When you're infected, the parasite takes control of your body and begins by make you hate all that you once loved, hence the distance, and the dark places...A way to fight a vampire is to present them something they used to love : an anathema. In ancient centuries we used crucifix, because most people were religious, and very attached to this symbol. I think this way of presenting the myth very innovating, and after all why not? Moreover, the story is really well-written. Peeps could have been one of those books that I love apart from the pause between the chapters of the story where we are introduced to all kinds of parasites inhabiting the world we live in. You know the one which lives in a pool waiting for you to come and drink the water, so that he can make a little place in you body, or the one which lays its eggs in the wound of a cow... Well, I can't stand to think about all those little invisible beasts that live beside us. I know they're here, but I don't want to think about them. You know, for me, movies that talk about disease, kind of ebola fever, plague..., are real horror to me, and make me have nightmares. Give me a few monsters, and I will laugh, but diseases, I clutch the seat. The Plague by Camus is one of the worst horror books I've read. All this just to say that you shouldn't read this book, you could have terrible compulsive disorders;o) And for those of you don't really care, just go for it!!!

Note : I just want to say something about the french translation. I read the english version, but the book is called V-Virus in French, and the title is all wrong, it should be called P-Parasite, don't you think? But that's the problem with translation, they're often disappointing...

Midnighters : Blue Noon - Scott Westerfeld

2008-02-20T21:04:00.005+01:00

Scott Westerfeld's bio- and bibliography

****

Want to know more about Midnighters? Click here

Genre : Young Adults - Fantasy

American publisher : Eos : 8,99$

English publisher : ATOM : 6,99£

Synopsis : Rex was saved from the Darklings, it was a near one, but his encounter with them had some after-effects on him. But thanks to this, he can now understand them, and they're rejoicing about something terrible coming. And the blue time is extending. It doesn't come at Midnight only anymore, it arrives whatever the time of day, and some people find themselves prisoner, because there are some holes through which daylighters can pass without being frozen. Together, the Midnighters will make an important discovery. On Halloween, Midnight will extend on the world for a endless time, and the Darklings will feed on humans. How will they stop them and explain to the world how to protect themselves? But soon Rex and his power of communication with the beasts and Dess with her maths power realise that it won't be the end of the world after all, only a survey. On Halloween night, the blue time will extend all along the 36th parallele and will last 25 hours during which humans won't be frozen, and will be flesh for the Darklings. Only those able to protect themselves will survive, but the Midnighters have a plan...

An extract :
" Rex's voice choked. 'Something's coming' Melissa felt it too and slammed her eyes shut. A taste was thundering toward them across the desert, vast and ancient and bitter, tumbling over itself in a rushing wave. It grew stronger as it advandced, like an avalanche, burying everything in its wake. Then it struck, washing through the gymnasium, sweeping away the puny energies of the pep rally, obliterating the surrounding mind noise of Bixby leaking in through the walls. It consumed everything. Only Melissa's connection with Rex remained, his shock and alarm reverberating through her like the echoes of a gunshot. She opened her eyes and saw what had happened. The blue light, the frozen bodies, a leaping cheerleader hovering suspended in the air. The whole world struck by... Silence. The blue time was here."

What I think : This third volume is by far the best. The characters have different evolutions, and sometimes a bit tragic, but they learn to control their powers and to develop them. This story of Midnight coming at 9 am is quite scaring, I said to myself 'but what's happening? Are they coming?' And tension doesn't stop growing to the end. My favorite character is Dess, short for Desdemona. She is on her own while the other Midnighters go by pairs, couples. And she kind of lives in her bubble, always calculating something... And after all she's the one who understands how theblue time works. I really liked this volume, but I was a little disappointed by the end, because I like stories that end well, and stories that don't end well. As I said before, Scott Westerfeld manages to compromise something in-between, but it's good when you know there's another book coming behind, but here's not the case, and the end is not so good. Now I want to know what will happen to Jessica in the future, and also to the other midnighters...