Priest

This is definitely one of my favorite series.  Following the Jack Taylor series,  this is the second to the latest of the series of amazing books. If any of you have no idea what I’m talking about I recommend starting, at well, the beginning. But once you read it, you won’t be able to stop, you will scour the book stores for the next installment. 

 

But you will not find them. They seem to approach you of their own volition, like tiny gems falling from the sky. And they hurt too. If books could bleed, these would be white, white was my friend Brett’s inner thighs.

Any way, I’m distracted, and you should be reading these already, so get going!

The Icewind Dale Trilogy

 

Well obviously there are three books here. This is the first series of RA Salvatore that I’ve read. I’ve seen his works many times before, because they were right across from my fantasy series of choice, the Dragonlance series by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss. The main reason I’ve stayed away from his writings is because they seemed to lack a depth that I have enjoyed since I can remember. But being in a strange land far from home does a lot to make you more open. So on a whim and a recommendation I read the trilogy.

The first book is rather blunt and deals you the story in an upfront manner. Magic exists, so do dwarves, elves, dark elves, halflings, and all the other multitudinous fairy creatures of yore. After establishing this fact it slams you into a brief-ish history of the place you’re going to be spending the whole book reading about. Rising action, climax, resolution. They are all there and in great heaping piles too. I just found myself not as engaged as I should be. Something about the writing style coupled with the subject matter, there just seems to be this constant lack of depth and richness. If books were cakes, this one and the other 2 (although they do get better further along the trilogy) would mainly be icing. With some accidentally added cake crumbs.

I would go into further depth about the actual story line, and by not doing that I may be actually defeating the purpose of this entire review. But I’m lacking for time so I’ll wind it up like I usually do.

The trilogy was nice, short, easy reads all of them. Entertaining and missing that hierarchy and history that might bore most others away, the books are clean and crisp. I’d read them again just to get a quick read in.

In short again, these books are like the 10 minute fuck sessions you spend with your girlfriend when there’s not enough time or motivation for something more.

Love from the East.

On an unrelated note, Iron and Wine will be playing in New Orleans while I’m in that region so that’s what’s up.

Duma Key

The latest Stephen King book, following Lisey’s Story, was not so unexpectedly, a pretty good read.

This coming from a fairly rabid fan of Stephen King is no surprise I’m sure, but as objective as I can say, it really was a genuine experience, and it reminds me why I like Stephen King in the first place, while at the same time introducing new aspects to his reading.

It starts off with a not so unbelievable premise, a horrific amputating accident to a amiable fellow who due to the pain and circumstance (and let us not forget necessity) turns into a different person. And like most people who experience such accidents, it’s either sink or swim. And while King does not flinch at having his characters contemplate suicide (nor does he flinch at killing them off), he has a bit of the romantic in him, and so does it gently. Like two virgins on a bed of clover.

The thing I liked about this book besides its obvious appeal to the fiction reader is the reality in which King sets his characters in. To those well versed in his books, turning the ordinary into something sinister and macabre is something expected. But what he does with this book while not entirely new, it is still something to enjoy. When reading this book you get to realize some of your feelings for the sea that King states so eloquently. You can remember this book while reading it for the first time, and reverberate with it while experiencing it. You can feel the colors of this book crisply which is another trademark of King’s. This book was RED as he would say, but it was other colors too.

I seem to have warbled on more than I meant, and so to wrap it up nice and neat for you: this book was worth the read.