Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews (Revised)

~ spoilers ~

They have got to be my all-time favorite authors so far this year. I just recently figure out after reading this book that Ilona Andrews is a pseudonym for a husband and wife that write novels. I know I raved about Lev Grossman and his style of writing earlier in my posts, but seriously Ilona Andrews is awesome, at least from my perspective. Both authors have this amazing collaborative power that is fearsome. You have just enough of macho actions scenes, with mystery, and the sensitive little love spurts that keeps your attention in check. The Kate Daniel' series is a great example of this action with love waiting in anticipation. When I say a little love from earlier, I mean it. She hasn't had any ferocious scenes of romance that last pages long, she has been modest and kept PG13 rated, only kissing so far. Compared to Kim Harrison and Karen Chance, who both have some.... interesting descriptions.

The book I read, Magic Strikes, is the third novel to the Kate Daniels series and there are two more as far as I know. The book series goes in order from Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, and Magic Slays. In Magic Strikes Kate is a liaison for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, in which she has to take care of the paranormal problem no one wants to take care of in Atlanta, unofficially. The third book leaves off two months after the second. Kate gets caught up in the Midnight Games, which leads to a lot of bloody fights and drama.

The Kate Daniel's series is a little bit dark science fiction and humorous. Kate Daniels, the female protagonist, is a mercenary that lives in Atlanta. She is also an expert swordsman, which is very cool because if I had to master one skill in the entire world before I die, I would pick swordsmanship. Because of obvious reasons learning that trade wouldn't be much help now, but it's still awesome. What I love best about her novels is that she doesn't make vampires look like some pretty boys that seduce you to them in fashionable ways. No, she keeps them ugly, crude, creepy, and bloodthirsty. They are also controlled by necromancers. YES! Finally I have been waiting for someone to do that.

What also catches my attention in their novels is the alternate world that Kate lives in. It is very similar to our world, but different in its own magical way. I love it. It isn't they typical vampires and werewolves novel, it has a quirky kick to it. The random magic outbursts is pretty funny, but then it makes Kate's job harder because she has to help all the people in need of help. Curran, the Beast Lord of the shape-shifters, is also hilarious. He teases Kate so bad and she doesn't give in. She keeps her class which is one of the reasons why I admire Kate's character so much. I don't want to say anything else much to try and not spoil everything. That would be a bad thing. Just keep reading through the first book, because it might be a little hard to get through, but it is worth while in the end.  

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I love the book and afterwards I watched the movie again. The movie follows the book so well. I found it a little harder for me to pay attention and listen to what was going on while listening to the radio recordings. I will eventually listen to the whole thing over break, hopefully. I will find a way. Oh my goodness!! The novel was great honestly. Ford Prefect is one of my favorite characters in the book. He is so quirky and funny. The fact that his name is impossible to say is hilarious. I sorta feel the same way with my last name, Iuliucci. Marvin the robot is my second favorite character. The poor robot whose brain is the size of a planet that is bored and depressed all the time. I never fully understood what was going on in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie until I watched it a second time. Even after watching it twice I still never paid enough attention to details, woopsies. I watched it in high school and haven't watched until last week when I watched the movie. I can watch that movie a bunch of times and not get tired of it now. I noticed in the beginning of the novel that the dolphins fly away and say, “So long and thanks for all the fish!” It probably would have taken me a little while to reread that part and full understand it if I didn't see the movie. What really cracked me up was the the description of Earth was “mostly harmless.” I laughed a lot. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has all the expectations I would want in a book: intelligence, humor, adventure, with a little bit of horror and romance. It has a bit of everything in it. What I found the most intriguing was the towel protectant and the answer to the universe. I feel like I need to carry around a towel now because of this book. I always have one in my car, so I'm half way there. :) The answer to the life, the universe, and everything is 42. haha I have no idea why it is 42, but I would love to find out why. I plan to read the other four books to the five book series. I really liked the novel and I look forward to reading more. :D

Kindred by Octavia Butler

When I first started reading Kindred I had no idea what it was going to be about. I knew an African American wrote it and that the novel is a science fiction/fantasy book. That was about it. The first few pages were shocking. It caught my attention in a jiffy. The action the took place is what surprised me because she lost her arm within that first few pages. It definitely kept me reading along and wanting to know more about why she lost her arm. It took me a little while to figure out that after that event happened she took a step back and started from the beginning to explain how she got into this situation in the first place. She pulled a Quentin Tarantino. Personally I like it when authors do that in books because it is a good way to catch the reader's attention. I don't like when it happens all the time, but otherwise I love it. I could not stop reading the book when I picked it up. While I worked on Sunday I was reading the book on my breaks and every chance I had I was reading that book. I got at least half of the book done before I got off of work. When I got home I started to read again, even though I know I should have done other homework. I finished the book before class and I couldn't find myself to write about it the day after. I felt like I needed to wait in order to write about it, to let it sink in. The way she approaches the history of slavery is amazing. Though I learned about the Underground Railroad and slavery in the United States in middle school, I feel like I understand what happened back then better, for some reason. I always knew what happened to them was horrible and ruthless, but now that I had a taste of what they went through it helps me realize how serious things were. Unfortunately, slavery is still happening in the United States. :( Nonetheless, Butler has opened doors in my mind that I never knew were there. I felt that Kindred was a big step out of the normal books that I usually read. I really enjoyed the book and I think I might explore more books the Octavia Butler has to offer, that is if I don't get stuck in Ilona Andrews world.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson has been good so far. I thought the beginning of the book was a little hard to get into and keep reading. After I passed page thirty or so the story became more interesting and Stephenson introduced his main character, Hiro Protagonist. Hiro is a hacker but, also a pizza delivery boy for the Mafia in Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles in the book looks nothing like it does now. Everything is dirty, technology based, and more packed. He is supposed to deliver the pizza within thirty minutes or the customer can take his car, kill him, make fun of him, and so on. During his last pizza delivery, he gets stuck in traffic and takes a shortcut. When he takes the shortcut he gets into a car accident and he doesn't have much time to deliver the pizza. This is where Y.T. (Yours Truly) comes in to save his butt. She knows that he is tied to the Mafia, so she decides to help by finishing delivering the pizza. It ends up to where she does deliver the pizza with an ending time of 29 minutes and 54 seconds time, six seconds left. She ends up getting arrested for helping Hiro out. The accident is where Hiro and Y.T. first meet each other. Even though Y.T. has a boyfriend at the time, later I think they will end up getting together. Hiro discovers a new drug called Snow Crash that is a virus. It affects both the avatar in the virtual world as well as the human body in reality. I assume the Y.T. And Hiro will figure out who is making and producing the drug and stop them. I have not finished the book yet, but so far I really like it. The avatars that walk around town while the people in reality are probably just rotting away sitting at home reminds me of the game, The Sims. The fact that we are able to create an avatar on the computer and do whatever we want with our creation's life is a little scary to think about. The events only occur in the computer and not in a 3D virtual reality. Eventually I think we will get to that point in time, especially with the advanced booming technological field that we have today. It's weird to think about. I don't really like technology, it makes things easier and faster, but I think that people take things for granted more often than they should. They don't appreciate the little things in life that make us happy. They are forgotten by the bright sheen from the computer screen. :(

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Wow, again. I tried reading Dune by Frank Herbert, but I couldn't stop myself from reading Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews. I went to Barnes and Nobles to read Dune and I did for a little bit, until I got caught reading Magic Bleeds. I ended up buying the fourth book from the Kate Daniel's series and couldn't stop reading it for a while as I sat in the book store. It got to the point where I had to do my homework, but I just didn't want to because I got so wrapped up in the story. My mind was totally engrossed in the action, drama, adventure, and bit of romance. So far I think The Kate Daniel's series I by far my favorite. I normally don't normally pick out favorites when it comes to books, but this one is pretty good in my opinion. It suits me well and not everyone will love it, but I do. I soooo admire the mystery and detective part of these novels. It's what keeps me reading. The case that Kate faces in this book is just so creepy and you don't know why these events are happening at first. Then more of Kate's family ties are revealed in this book, which is what I have been waiting for to happen! It is awesome! It's funny how I love any stories that relate to ancient gods or gods in general. It is what I find most interesting. You get little tastes and tid bits of Kate's family history in the earlier books, but not much. The information hinted leaves you hanging and a little confused about where she came from. Like in the first book Kate has to burn her bandages and purify or destroy anything her blood touches because of the amount of power contained in her blood. She is very secretive, protective, independent, and tough. I like her character a lot. I would love to be in her shoes for a day or two otherwise I don't think I could handle living in that kind of lifestyle. It's nice to fantasize about not actually live that way. I just got so distracted read this book and totally forgot about Dune. Which is a book that I really want to read, but apparently the time just wasn't right. I am glad I read Magic Bleeds. It was a perfect ending to a good weekend. :)

The Edge of the World

The Edge of the World by Kevin J. Anderson was okay to read. I guess you could say it wasn't my cup of tea. I read about a good two hundred pages, but I just couldn't get into it. This book is the first out of three in the Terra Incognita series. It started out pretty good and I really like how Anderson told the story from multiple views of characters and not just one character. I wished he would have focused a little bit more on one character's story while incorporating the other characters point of views as well. His writing style is good and easy to pick up on. The plot was a too slow for me though. I do realize that there is about six hundred seventy something pages in the book, but it wasn't catching my interest that much. It felt like Anderson was explaining the religion too much. I can see how an author feels the need to explain everything especially in a science fiction fantasy novel, but after a hundred pages of explaining how their religion works is enough for me. The religious item felt too repetitive for my taste. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. The war between families versus the war between the two religions. The idea of having a charts man with a photographic memory is awesome!! I love that concept. I think it would be amazing to sail around on a ship, explore, and find new worlds. The idea of having all of that information and pictures in your head that can be accessed at anytime you need is very cool. It would be very useful in times of need. The exploration, adventure, and science fiction fantasy is why I was originally attracted to reading this book, but unfortunately it turns out that I did not end up liking it very much. I will finish it later on, but as of now I can wait to finish it.

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

They have got to be my all-time favorite authors so far this year. I just recently figure out after reading this book that Ilona Andrews is a pseudonym for a husband and wife that write novels. I know I raved about Lev Grossman and his style of writing earlier in my posts, but seriously Ilona Andrews is awesome, at least from my perspective. The Kate Daniels book series contains: action, mystery, knowledge, and a little bit of romance. When I say a little bit I mean it. She hasn't had any ferocious scenes of romance that last pages long, she has been modest and kept PG 13 rated, only kissing so far. The Kate Daniels series is a little bit dark science fiction and humorous. Kate Daniels the female protagonist is a mercenary that lives in Atlanta. She is also an expert swordsman, which is very cool because if I had to master one skill in the entire world before I die, I would pick swordsmanship. Because of obvious reasons learning that trade wouldn't be much help now, but it's still awesome. What I love best about her novels is that she doesn't make vampires look like some pretty boys that seduce you to them in fashionable ways. No, she keeps them ugly, crude, creepy, and bloodthirsty. They are also controlled by necromancers. YES! Finally I have been waiting for someone to do that. The book I read is the third novel to the Kate Daniels series and there are two more as far as I know. The book series goes in order from Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds, and Magic Slays. In Magic Strikes Kate is a liaison for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, in which she has to take care of the paranormal problem no one wants to take care of in Atlanta, unofficially. The third book leaves off two months after the second. Kate gets caught up in the Midnight Games, which leads to a lot of bloody fights and drama. What also catches my attention in their novels is the alternate world that Kate lives in. It is very similar to our world, but different in its own magical way. I love it. It isn't they typical vampires and werewolves novel, it has a quirky kick to it. The random magic outbursts is pretty funny, but then it makes Kate's job harder because she has to help all the people in need of help. Curran, the Beast Lord of the shape-shifters, is hilarious. He teases Kate so bad and she doesn't give in. She keeps her class which is one of the reasons why I admire Kate's character so much. I don't want to say anything else much to try and not spoil everything. Just keep reading through the first book, it might be a little hard to get through, but it is worth while.  

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Reading Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman was awesome amazing. :) I wish I had enough time to finish it without killing myself because of working too much. Neil Gaiman can write really, really well from what I have read so far. I have only read half of the book and it is amazing! His characters are so thought out, but he only tells us enough to get the gist of their nature and leaves the rest in mystery for us the figure out. He doesn't even describe them that much just gives you an overview and their names. It took me a while to figure out that the main characters in the book were black. I was 30 pages in and I found myself wondering about the characters. I was thinking he really didn't give us that much information. I finally decided to look up Anansi online because Mrs. Higgler told Fat Charlie that he was a god's son. I found out that name Anansi originates from West African folklore and is also known as the spider-god. When I first started reading the book I was a little confused because it was hard for me to understand what he was talking about. It starts off with Fat Charlie's dad in a bar singing karaoke songs. Then jumps over to Fat Charlie's life with Rosie talking about getting married. I soon figures it out and had my “ah ha” moment. It's funny how the brothers are nothing alike. Spider gets all the awesome powers and gets to do whatever he wants, when Fat Charlie is the one who has to work hard, not embarrass himself, and is more of a gentleman than his brother. Charlie has been with his fiancee for six months, which doesn't really seem that long for dating someone and becoming fiancees. The fact that Spider shows up in Fat Charlie's life and after two dates with her he cons Rosie to have sex with him, while he is disguised as Fat Charlie. That is just hilarious. I feel so sorry for Fat Charlie, but I am at the part where he is trying to fix everything. The part I like most about the book is the back story about the African god Anansi. I guess I am just a sucker for mythology. The talking to spiders is just an awesome idea. When Mrs. Higgler tells Fat Charlie that he has a brother he never knew and told him to talk to a spider to get a message to him was really funny. I thought she was kidding at first, maybe she was drunk or something, but it actually worked. Overall, I can't wait to finish this book to see how it ends. The fact that I can't tell what is going to happen next is awesome because I love that in a book.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

This book was awesome to read. I haven't heard about Lev Grossman at all before reading this book, but after reading The Magicians, I feel like I am missing out on so much fiction/fantasy novels and authors I have yet to discover. I have heard of The Codex before, but never knew he wrote it. I felt The Magicians had everything I ever wanted in a book: the drama, suspense, romance, mystery, and action. The drama was consistent in the novel. At first Quentin, the main character, really likes his best friends girl friend and when he goes off to Brakebills, an American Magicians Academy, he falls in love with a girl named Alice and forgets about his old friend. After he graduates he unfortunately cheats on Alice with a girl named Janet, who was also a student at Brakebills a year ahead of them. Wow, I did not see that coming in the book and I was pretty upset myself because he was acting so childish and asinine at the time. Then they discover Fillory which isn't what they expected and I thought that was really cool. I like how Lev Grossman took the Fillory Novels written by Christopher Plover and put his own spin on it. I noticed how similar The Fillory Novels are compared to the Chronicles of Narnia, which is a little freaky. I never read the books, but I have watched the movies on the Chronicles of Narnia. The suspense from the random beast that cracks into the school was awesome! It sucks because of the tragedy, but then it makes sense in the end why that happened. The fact that he ends the book with me wondering, “What the heck. Where is the rest of the story?” I forgot that there was a second book to it. Thank goodness because I need an ending of some sort. The characters in the The Magicians were entertaining throughout the story. I especially liked Alice, she was awesome I can really relate to her character. Her level of knowledge is insane amount to have, I only wish to have such an accomplished mind as hers. My second favorite character was Quentin and lovely his mood swings. It always seemed like he had something wrong or that he was complaining about things. Yes, he had his moments of glory, but I still think Alice could kick his butt any day. Overall, I really liked the book, but if I had to comment about one thing in particular, I thought it was a fast paced written book. I would have liked to see more research into the spells, more history about the school. Why Quentin was chosen. Why was he so great? Maybe about some other events that happened at the school. I felt like he moved through the five years at Brakebills a little too fast. I didn't mind the quick transition into the school, I actually liked that part because it captured my attention quickly. I can't wait to read the next one. :)

The Art of Bone by Jeff Smith

Reading Jeff Smith's The Art of Bone has opened up my mind to new possibilities in the art world, especially comics. He started inventing the idea of Bone at the young age of nine. To be dedicated to something that long has to be worth it in the end, at least we all hope it will. He was literally able to live his dream in creating his ultimate character Bone. His comic contains amazing plots, storytelling, and also involves a moral aspect to his work. The fact that he is able to accomplish so many great qualities in his work inspires me to stick to my dreams as an artist. His work reminds me most of J.R.R. Tolkien, which isn't a bad thing because his amount of work is breathtaking. I also read in the book that he was inspired by Walt Kelly's Pogo. I wasn't too interested into comics as a little kid, or now for that matter, but after reading The Art of Bone it has changed my perspective on comics and opened my mind to new beginnings. His character Fone Bone is a very strong, funny, adventurous, and cute character. He shape is all organic, looks a little like a ghost because he is all white, but also has the body shape and movements like a human being. What I didn't like about Fone was his nose, but as I read more it sorta grew on me. There is also Fone's cousin in the comic whose name is Phoney Bone. His personality type is cynical, greedy, and egotistic. Though the two cousins' personalities are the opposite, they work together well in the comic because they compliment each other. Smith's addition of Thorn, the talented and beautiful female character, is genius because it adds a touch of romance to their spunky voyage. You can immediately tell that Fone likes Thorn from the moment he meets her and their journey interacting with each other is fun. About the background story with the first dragon great dragon Mim and dreamland. Mim was the original Queen of the dragons as well as the creator of the valley. She was eventually possessed by the Lord of the Locusts and because of this the other dragons were forced to turn her into stone so the Lord of the Locusts wouldn't destroy their world. Reading about that I thought was a very unique take on how the valley was made. Overall, I like reading about Fone Bone and his adventures with his friends. It was comical, interesting, and a unique take on a epic journey while learning about moral values. I will definitely recommend it to my peers.

River Marked by Patricia Briggs

One of my favorite authors is Patricia Briggs and her stories have action, drama, suspense, fantasy, and some romance. The book I just finished is called River Marked, it is book six in her Mercy Thompson series. It is amazing and a great story! Read it!!! The reason why it is so successful is because she does a lot of research into making her urban fantasy. She utilizes tall tales from native americans, vampires, shape changers, fairies, and more. A book based in today's world that when humans coexist with fantasy type creatures. It is something new and exciting and a break from vampires. There are vampires included in the series, but the story is set around the character Mercy Thompson. She calls herself a walker and as a walker she has the ability to turn into a coyote whenever she would like, though it wastes more energy if she shifts a lot, her senses are heightened, and her strength is more powerful than a humans. Mercy is a mechanic and runs her own garage she lives next to an alpha werewolf whom she eventually marries and she always seems to get into trouble with danger in each book, but always wins against her enemies, so far. The plot line and story I immediately fell in love with because I am always caught reading science fiction and fantasy books. In the book River Marked Mercy and the alpha wolf, Adam, are thrown a surprise wedding because Mercy isn't the type to plan out and be all girly about that kind thing. So her mom, her friends, and the wolf pack throw one for her and Adam and they end up going to a campground next to a river for their honeymoon. During this time she meets another of her kind and his name is Coyote. Coyote is an ancient shape-changer that mainly only the native americans spin stories and know about. She learns more about her dad and how he died from Coyote. Turns out something bad happens and Coyote, his shape-changing friends, Mercy, and Adam have to fight off the ancient magical monster. In the end Mercy gets a little beat up, but everything turns out alright. The fact that Briggs incorporates tall tales and native american history captures me the most. It feeds the story more pizzazz and interests the reader further into reading. She is a well known author and extraordinary writer and I hope to read more of her books. 

Interview with a Vampire

Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice is a very well written book. I found it enjoyable to read and her portrayal of vampires interesting. The beginning of the novel reminded me of Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley because both monsters start by telling their story to someone about their troubles and woes in life. Frankenstein starts with the letters, then the introduction of the beast, and afterwards he tells him his story about what happens. In Interview with a Vampire, the reporter records the life of a vampire named Louis. Louis tells the him the past couple hundred years of his life about living on the plantation, the downfall of his brother's death, meeting Lestat, moving because of people were getting suspicious, feeding off of rats, meeting Claudia, Claudia's attempt to kill Lestat, meeting Armand, Claudia dies, Armand and Louis live together, and then finally Louis ends up by himself. I have watched the movie before reading the book which helped a little bit, but the books are always better. Anne Rice's stories contain drama, suspense, and entice the emotions. She can be very descriptive sometimes which is a little bothersome, but nonetheless her novels are amazing. The fact that there was only a little hint of homosexual relationships in this book makes it even more captivating. I didn't catch it until Louis was having thoughts about Armand and Claudia talking about how Louis loves Armand more than her. I didn't even think of it that way before. It makes me want to read the other books in the Vampire Chronicles. The fact that Louis is still in contact with his soul throughout the book makes him slightly more human than vampire and the fact that he ate off of rats numerous times. That aspect of the novel caught me the most because it really made me think, what if I were to become a vampire? How would I handle it? Would I feed off of rats or humans? It was weird to think of and honestly I would probably be the worst vampire ever. I wouldn't be able to kill anything without feel any remorse or guilt. So I would either kill myself somehow or eat off of animals. Yes, it is survival of the fittest and vampires would be the supreme being, but the fact that they have to hide their nature would just be a bother and very boring to me. It would be hard to live without ever seeing the sunset again. In general, vampires are pretty awesome, but when they have to live with all those restrictions it would suck, literally. ;) I think that vampires need to find another person in comparison to their character or soul mate in order to stay sane and keep alive. It gives them a purpose in life to live and stay alive, without love there is no life at all. That's why vampires seem so wise and romantic. They are trying to find that one person right for them. The chase keeps them going and helps them pursue their journey to find another. “It has been said that we need just three things in life: Something to do, Something to look forward to And someone to love.” -Anonymous

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies written by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith might have potential to be a successful book but personally, I fine Jane Austen's original works to be amazing and fantastic. When I decided to read this book I didn't think it would follow the story exactly like the book, but it did. If Pride and Prejudice and Zombies had a moderately different story line it could have been very good. For example, the British TV mini series Lost in Austen written by Guy Andrews. Now that is a Jane Austen story with a twist, very well written and interesting. There were about a handful of scenes that were Grahame-Smith's ideas including zombies, but otherwise it is Austen's plot, characters, and story line itself. At the first ball everything is normal and goes along with the original story besides the attack of the zombies. Some secondary characters die and the Bennett girls form the pentagram of death move outward to kill the undreadfuls. I thought that part was pretty funny. Of all the characters he had to pick Charlotte to become a zombie. Why? I wouldn't mind Mr. Collins becoming a zombie and have Charlotte still live. Then again maybe Mr. Collins doesn't really deserve to die, yes he is a rather annoying bugger, but in the original story he doesn't die. Besides all the zombies, ninja, and warrior mentality the book is quite the same as Pride and Prejudice, minus Charlotte and Mr. Collins dying along with some other non famous characters. I think of Elizabeth Bennett to be an independent, opinionated, and educated young woman, but not bloodthirsty. Grahame-Smith portrayed Elizabeth as a girl educated in the martial arts who only loves to kill zombies and not much else. This is basically the guy version of Pride and Prejudice. It was also hard for me to keep reading and to finish the book because it didn't interest me at all after I read about Charlotte being stricken by the plague. I have read Pride and Prejudice before so I had a good idea of what was going to happen. Honestly, Grahame-Smith was smart to try and pull off the combination of his zombies into Austen's story. Thats why this book had its little spurt of fame but otherwise it wasn't much different or creative. I have to give Grahame-Smith points for trying, but otherwise it could have been better. Jane Austen is a very well-known author and her most famous book written was Pride and Prejudice. So writing a spin off of her book is a very hard thing to do and so far no one has accomplished that aspect yet.

In Class: What creates horror in horror movies? 8/23

suspense

drama

sounds

creepy characters

dark/dim lighting

setting in an uncomfortable place

monsters

scratches

weird/awkward camera angles

dreary music

blood/gore

mystery

unique dialogue

revenge

anger

sadness

some hope

villain

hero (maybe)

Frankenstein 8/23

Oh my goodness gracious, is my final reaction to reading Frankenstein. Honestly, Mary Shelley has an awesome story line, but her use of syntax made it harder to unravel the scenes in the novel. The idea of having the story start and end with the captain's letters on his ship is an awesome idea. The first few chapters after that were really hard to get through. I felt like I was trying to walk through quicksand. It was very hard to grasp what was happening most of the time. I wanted more details and explanations for things as well as more descriptions. Why Frankenstein wanted to create the monster so badly, the chemical elements that helped create him, or the device that he used. It piqued my interest on how he was made. “It wad already one in the morning...and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.” (page 43) Really? I want more. How did the life spark into the monster? She does describe the settings and landscapes very well especially the country side in Geneva where Frankenstein grew up. I realize that before chapter ten everything was all about Frankenstein; how he grew up, went to college, experimented, created a monster, neglected the monster, and as he traveled back home his family and close friends start dying off, which was really sad. It was depressing to read and really weird that he was creeping through graveyards and stealing limbs. It also angered me that he just left the monster alone after he created him. What a chicken. At least finish what you started. I realize he was going through a lot of mental problems, wanted to experiment, and fulfill his dreams, but what Frankenstein did was worse than a mom having a baby then leaving it in the street for someone else to take care of. For all of the background research and journals scientists document he should have thought things through more. I really liked the chapters describing how the monster came about and how he learned human habits and speech through the cottagers as well as the cottagers backgrounds. When he visits the old man I found it to be my favorite part in the book, besides the whole being beaten and thrown out part. The people I talked to before reading the book most of their emotions sided with Frankenstein because he was so sad and the monster ended up killing everyone he knew, but I disagree. I had sympathy the monster because Frankenstein left him out in the dust after he was created. It was because of his neglect that the monster decided to take up his revenge against him and actually become a force of evil. I believe Frankenstein to be the villain here and the monster, who looks like a villain, only a victim in Frankenstein's life. I liked to idea of the monster convincing Frankenstein to make a female monster for him, but then he chickens out again. This guy needs to make up his mind. He brought this misery and despair upon himself. Again Frankenstein dug himself an even bigger hole with the monster after he decided not to create another like him and that's when the rest of his family and friends stared dying. I believe that Frankenstein did get what he deserved in the end. Overall I did like the book very much, but as I said before in the beginning it was difficult to get over those chapters and be inspired to read more.