Book Review: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

This book has such a splendid review that I thought, surely it would be an easy read and would be somewhat insightful. At very least I assumed it would present me with a new take on God, and the wonders of spirituality.

This book was horrible.

I can not fathom why it has such rave reviews by so many people. I can honestly say that NO ONE suggested this book to me, but the my understanding of this book came from the media. This should have been my first clue.

As far as spirituality and God go, this book is incredibly Shallow. The course of the adventure the main character is presented with a wide variety of questionable omens. Majority of the book is about listening to the "Language/Soul of the world". Which is an idea that rings true to me, but the characterization and development that led to this idea were non existent. Morals and Points, were given to you. Bluntly. There was no thought involved, no deeper questioning needed. Santiago is faced with a tough decision, spend twenty pages fretting over it just to have another character tell you your wrong and this is why. Santiago changed his mind in that one paragraph...

Either I missed it or I couldn't tell how old this boy was, but he was INCREDIBLY arrogant, and it seemed to be encouraged by this deity/spiritualness. He felt that he had more experience, after one trip to the desert then that of a grown man who had lived three times the life of the boy. I did not like the main character.

The ending was Morally Questionable...thats all I'm going to say.

I know somethings get lost in translation, but the writing style was not the only thing that seems to have suffered.

Save yourself the couple of hours don't read this.

Book Review: The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller

I'm not sure where to begin. This book...was interesting. Most books I read are action driven books, being young adult or a magic slinging fantasy style, I'm not used to books driven almost entirely on character. It took me FOREVER to finish this book, and actually has me a little weary to read the sequel (and there are another pair after that). In six hundred and six pages, I expected quiet a bit from prophesy, and magic...

However. This is not what happened. Asher of Restharven is the youngest son (20 years old) of a lowly fisherman who splits all profits eight ways, proportionate to seniority. He does not like this, nor does he much care for his brothers. So he sets out and to the big city to make alot of money and return to buy a boat for just him and his father. Thats cool, good start. When he gets to the city, we encounter our first action! Huzzah. Saving the prince from a bucking stallion, and earning himself a much coveted job. From this point on and the next four hundred and fifty pages, the book is focused on the mundane fashion of Asher's life and the whispered hints of his destiny spoken by two other minor characters.

When this Prophesy was first mentioned, I was excited. It sets up a great premise, however it seems that it was abandoned in the first novel. Mentioned a lot, and always saying that part of it are coming true, but never actually connecting the dots. The event that I expected to happen based on the prophesy, didn't even happen to Asher, who is blatantly called the Innocent Mage. I now feel obligated to read the second book...eventually for the sake of my own curiosity.

Being a Character drive novel, the Characters are phenomenal! I loved each of there very distinctive personalities, and they do play off each other well. The characters and their non-western wit and lingo are worth the read by themselves I think.

As a friends said, everyone is established, so perhaps there is no need to go through another five hundred pages of mundane life to get a book that is action driven.

I am not sure where I stand on this book. The last 100-200 pages were very well written, it stands to question though...if you can fight through the first two thirds of the book...

Look into it, at very least.

Book Review: Betrayed.

It took me longer then normal to read this book. This could have been due to school, or the aggravating switch in style that is seen in this book. I may have missed this style in Marked, just because of the novelty of the series to me. However I don't think I did. Marked was decently written with a good story and characters that could be believable. Yet Betrayed veers into a wall of annoying.

The main character Zoey, seems to have changed to me. I started reading and she had a new since of arrogance and pride, despite her resolve to be self sacrificing. It was very jarring to read her new character. I couldn't get the thought "bitchy teen girl" out of my head, or loose that voice as she narrated in my head. I am aware that P.C. Cast co-wrote this book, yet it felt like P.C. wrote the book and then handed it to her daughter saying, "make it teen like".

The book is written in first person, which means that the narration is the stream of consciousness with very little editing. A new writing...technique, for want of a better word, is added in this book. Being first person she shouldn't have the need to interject thoughts in parentheses, with in the paragraphs. (It was really annoying). The language seemed to be affected here as well. In Marked, Zoey seemed to be pretty neutral in regards to female stereotypes. It was Erin and Shaunee, two of her cohorts, who were using the stereotypical teen girl language. Yet in these moments where the author, which ever one did it, interjected her thought into her...thoughts she took on that same voice. Using "Hello" out of the context of greeting someone. Hello, thats really dumb....

With that little rant aside the book takes a turn about three quarters of the way through. It seems PC went back to her old style here, and the book renewed itself in my eyes. I was done with the series after dealing with Zoey and her thought interjection, but the end was decent enough to make me want to at least pursue the continuation of the series. It easier since I already own them all. Thanks Mom! Haha