Book Review: Rural Wealth

Some days, I wish I could go back in time. Far enough back to just enjoy life as it was before things grew... Complicated.
Enough about my life, I suppose I should just tell you about Rural Wealth, a book by Ray Kwiatkowski.

Rural Wealth is a relatively brief but moving collection of poetry and images of life out in the country. Kwiatkowski's style, in its straightforwardness, is reminiscent of Robert Frost. His work is bursting at the seams with beautiful metaphors, and going through his book almost feels like traversing the memories of somebody's life. Whose mind it is I do not know, however I do know that this book is really quite lovely. There's something inviting about it that I can't quite put a finger on- it's certainly a piece worth having on your coffee table. While there was one minor typo (an extra capitalized letter), the book is mostly perfect. My favorite image- Shear Avoidance- was the penultimate picture and it felt like a fitting ending to what had been a brief sojourn across another life.
Overall, it's definitely worth picking up. This book is conversation fuel for your coffee table, and will probably warm your heart. If this Rural Wealth's combination of beautiful imagery and poetry fails to warm your heart, please see a cardiologist.

Sapphique

Sapphique, by Catherine Fisher, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Incarceron. Picking up where the first novel left off, readers once again find themselves in an fantastical, immersive world fraught with danger and intrigue. If there's anything to be said about this book, it's that there's so much detail that you'll often find yourself looking up just to check that you haven't been transported to the vast expanse that is the Prison. If you haven't read the first book, I advise you read my review of it for the sake of avoiding spoilers.

Starting from the end of the first, you're plunged into a dank alleyway, following closely behind Attia. As fate would have it, she's found herself an occupation. She still isn't free of the prison, though she trusts that some day now, Finn will free her. Some day...

Meanwhile, Finn wrestles with a pair of identities. Is he really the lost prince? He left me full of his own doubt, and his day to day difficulties as the new prince (the struggle reminded me of what happened when Miss Watson tried to "sivilize" Huckleberry Finn), trapped between his old nature and his new life gets stuck between the two, completely unsure of what to do. He's always contending with the nagging idea that somebody else, somewhere, is. He reasons that even if he is the lost prince, that he's no longer fit for the position, having been scarred, broken and wiped by life in the prison.

Claudia, the Warden's daughter, tries desperately to redeem Finn as Giles, prince of the Havaarnas, all the while trying to protect herself from whatever the wicked queen has in mind.

I'd hate to give too much away, so I'll stop myself here. I must say that this is one of the most satisfying sequels I've run across in quite a while. The book was quite descriptive, and I almost feel as if I've already seen the book as a film. For the record, this is a good feeling. Fisher has created interesting, multidimensional characters that twist, turn, and behave realistically. Also adding to the realist is the way that Fisher describes environments and events. You'll hear the crowds gasp, and feel... Well, I can't quite tell you everything you'll feel for the sake of spoilers, but nonetheless, this book is engaging, exciting, and fascinating. Politics seem to play a lesser role, which is somewhat regrettable, since it was really a big plus in the last book, just watching how the people were influenced by Protocol. On the other hand, we're given a greater glimpse into the role Protocol plays in the lives of not only the richer citizens, aristocrats etc., but also how it affects the poorer classes. Just for the record, Protocol plays a huge part in moving the story forward, essentially being an enforced lack of technology, forcing people to live in a false seventeenth century.

In all, I enjoyed this book even more than the original, and my only regret is that this is the final book in the series. That being said, it's a series worth looking into if you're looking for a good science fantasy novel, if you just enjoy adventures, or if you're just looking for a fun book in general.

Official Website: http://www.sapphiquebook.com/

Jane

What would happen if Jane Eyre were to fall in love with a rock star? Such is the premise of April Lindner's Jane, a retelling of Jane Eyre. The central character, Jane Moore, is mostly alone in the world. Having lost her parents to a car accident, her only family members are her two siblings, and they're not at all close. Miss Moore doesn't have any friends either, and she's a rather shy, reserved person. One day, she decides to become a nanny.

Little does she know, however, that she'd become nanny to Madeline Rathburn, daughter of the one and only Nico Rathburn, an internationally famous rock star.

Miss Moore researches Mr. Rathburn online, and is greeted by stories of wild parties, substance abuse, and the general madness that typically seems to follow rock stars around. Apprehensively, she takes the job.

As she gets to know Maddy, she becomes acquainted with the staff of Thornfield Park- and it seems something is not quite right. Eventually, she gets to know Mr. Rathburn and develops an appreciation for his music, along with Mr. Rathburn himself.

She eventually falls in love with him, as one might expect, though somewhere along the lines, things go awry.

 I must say that I really enjoyed this book. I received an ARC courtesy of my library, though it took me an eternity to read through, it was a thoroughly good retelling of Jane Eyre.  I must now confess a grievous sin through my blog, that being that I've never read the original book by Charlotte Brontë. I have, however, seen a brilliant film adaptation. Lindner has created multidimensional characters, set them to an immersive experience, and impressively rekindled the burning fire of a classic. I especially enjoyed this book, and if you're looking for a nice spin on a classic, I recommend it.

Archvillain

Before I get into my review of Archvillain, I'd like to thank Mr. Barry Lyga for providing me a free copy of his book. It means a lot to me! I'd also like to apologize for taking so long to write my review, it seems life managed to sneak up on me yet again.

Archvillain is the story of a boy, specifically young Kyle Camden. Kyle isn't particularly well understood by adults- or local law enforcement for that matter. What he has going for him? His mind, his wondrous mind. He's quite intelligent and has a taste for pranks- not dumb, pull my finger type pranks, but more complex, Rube Goldberg-esque practical jokes, usually with the goal of making people realize just how they make fools of themselves.
One night, Kyle is granted superpowers that seem to enhance everything- especially his mind.
He soon discovers, however, that he's not the only one with power. Another boy known simply as "Mighty Mike" rolls into town, and he seems to have a bad case of amnesia, since he remembers nothing of his past life. He seems to have good intentions, that's for sure, but he doesn't really know just the havoc he can unwittingly wreak! Regardless, the people took to loving Mike, and poor Kyle, who was once in the spotlight, is now pushed aside.
Kyle decides he'd rather not be probed and keeps his abilities secret. His feelings eventually get the better of him; he has to show up Mike for who he is! And so, Kyle becomes his nemesis.

This was a rather fun read, and while the target audience seems to be readers from 7-12, it was rather enjoyable for myself (an older reader), helped along by an interesting protagonist, unique plot, various nerdy references that touch a special area in my heart.
In all, if you are, or if you know a kid around age 7-12 who enjoys a fun story, interesting, progressive characters, and some sweet comic book style action, I can definitely recommend it. Lyga has done an excellent job on this book, his first for such a young audience.

More:

Official Site:

http://barrylyga.com/new/archvillain-1.html

Interview with the author:

http://www.newsarama.com/comics/archvillain-novel-interview-101029.html

Jonathan Liu on Archvillain:

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/11/how-to-become-an-archvillain/

Truancy

Your pulse is racing; you're pretty sure the person behind you can hear it. You forgot the impact those four words can have on you as you fumble with your pencil between your sweaty fingers and involuntarily draw a large dark slash across the paper. Panicking, you flip around the pencil and begin rubbing as furiously as possible with the eraser.

"Time's up." So ring out those words and as your paper is swiftly whisked off your desk you begin to despair; you realize that you've erased the whole thing.
The words "pop quiz" and "one minute" are possibly the most frightening four words you've ever heard.
Enter the world of Truancy, by Isamu Fukui.
In Truancy, there exists a dystopia controlled by a manipulative (not to mention dangerous) educational system and a cruel, shadowy dictator known simply as 'The Mayor'. The Mayor is ruthless in his atttempts to control the populace, this he does through the media, the authorities, and most importantly the schools. This mayor follows the old slave owners mantra: keep the body strong and the mind weak. This mayor seems to be one of several men who've been assigned to retain control over their own large groups of people, though Fukui doesn't give us particularly much information as to the world around this single city.
Outside the city lies an abandoned urban wasteland; within lies great mystery to just about everybody within the city. This is because this area has been condemned, and ordinary citizens are forbidden entrance.
Within the city, there's little to look forward to. School is just plain unfair, the rules are extremely loose (and by loose I mean poorly defined), and it seems that school authorities are trained in the art of cruelty. It seems they have one simple job: keep the students as occupied as possible, make sure they keep their heads down, and don't allow any to think for themselves! The point of this, it seems, is to ensure a future full of blindly obedient adults raised on the system, so used to it, and these adults who've given up the fight are all The Mayor needs to retain control of his little city.
Of course, where there's a hideously corrupt system, there's somebody to oppose it. This is where the Truancy comes in.

The Truancy is composed of students who've escaped the system by expulsion. Unfortunately for the students, expulsion would typically spell "doomed", as an expelled student is usually shunned by his or her family, and will become a wandering vagrant, likely to die of starvation or something similarly heinous. Of course The Mayor, losing power over these people, has decided to deem them nightmarishly dangerous, and citizens are not allowed contact with vagrants.
The Truancy has decided on just how unfair that is. Seeing through the system, they've decided to band together to take action. Led by the radical Zyid, they launch assaults directly onto the system itself, attacking key figures and authorities.
Finally, everything trickles down unto our humble protagonist, Tack. Tack lives a relatively ordinary life, stressed by school but seeing no other options, just like all the other kids. One day, though, his entire world is flipped, and he slowly uncovers the truth about what lies behind the scenes.
I'm afraid I must stop myself here for the sake of not giving away too much about the book.
What I can tell you is that Mr. Fukui has written a brilliant dystopia that's meant as a hyperbole of the current educational system, primarily highlighting some of its failings. While the book felt rather preachy early on, Fukui manages to drive the points home with class later in the book. It was a very fast paced novel, the setting seemed to be the relatively near future (perhaps sometime in the mid 2020's, at least through the eyes of people living in the late 2000's) though Fukui never really provides us much information as to just when everything is happening.
In all, this is a prime example of a dystopia, an impressive novel, and all the more amazing is the fact that the author was in high school at the time of writing it! It's a very stirring read, and if you enjoy mysterious action-packed dystopias in relatively futuristic urban settings, discussion of educational systems, and books by young authors, you'll likely enjoy this book. If I had to describe it in a pinch, it's like Animal Farm meets the action of The Hunger Games meets the educational system of Hard Times.

Further:
Official Website
http://www.thetruancy.com/

Game Review: Dames Are Trouble

Hello there. Your name is Jim Novek, private investigator. You're a pretty upright fellow, but you've got your a little vice: you keep falling for them dames. And it's gotten you into trouble. This time you went head over heels for Vivienne; initially, everything was peaches and cream. That is, until the the dough ran out, at which point, so did she.
Dames Are Trouble is an interactive fiction game released in 2006 for Palm devices running OS 3.0 and up; it's reminiscent of older text-based adventures, and based in what seems to be a 1940's city (maybe Chicago). The entire game area is played in a single city block, and you about exploring, seeking information about the whereabouts of Vivienne, the titular dame, who, of course, has proved to be trouble, stealing your money, your car, and stuff that you generally value.
You've managed to find her apartment (the game starts there) but you can't enter until you know which apartment she's taken to living in. You thus decide to start doing what you do best: investigating.
I, the reviewer, do not want to give away too much information on the game (or how you solve it) but I must say it takes some patience, particularly if you're unfamiliar with interactive fiction titles. Unlike most IF (interactive fiction) titles, instead of a parser that you can type commands into, all possible actions (i.e. go west, climb fence) are right out there, simplifying things, although if you're used to IF like Zork, where everything is typed, it may seem a little dumbed down. On the other hand, it's a lot easier if you have a Palm like mine, a Tungsten T|5, which lacks a physical keyboard (though, if you can find an external secondhand in the year I write this review, 2010, congratulations).

I won the game in about 25 minutes. Graphically, it was pretty impressive considering it was intended for Palm OS 3 (and I'm currently running OS 5). The story, while not anything to dial home over, was still quite amusing, and a nice little reminder that this genre can go much, much further.

Links:
Download Dames are Trouble Here:
http://www.inebooks.com/NewDetailDames.htm


http://download.cnet.com/Dames-are-Trouble/3000-7564_4-10909948.html

 and in case the first link is broken, here:


http://www.freeware-palm.com/download-dames-are-trouble-v1-0.html


NOTE TO MY READERS:
Dear readers, I understand that I have promised you a full on special on video games. I trust that you'll be pleased to know that said special is still underway, delayed on account of life, but by no means canceled.

Reviewing the Reviewers: Common Sense Media

 If you've been alive during the last, say, 12-14 years, I'll bet you've seen the degradation of the media in general. From movies to television to games to books- yes, even books, media has become dependent on the same old same old, and sells it with borderline pornography and extreme violence, gore, filth, etc.
I'm not a madman who is going to track you down for enjoying any of the above; much as I hate them, I realize that the consumers have been boiled down to little more than swallowing machines. So I don't hate you. But I do hate the (current) producers, who've made a nasty mess of what's supposed to be recreation, and have made it especially hard for you to share fun stuff with your kids. So what's a person (particularly a parent!) supposed to do? Common Sense Media (CSM) says they know just what.
CSM takes most relatively popular books, games, movies, etc., and has one of the staff reviewers write about it with regard to which group of kids it could be safely shared with, and takes a look at a few key aspects, in a addition to value, enjoyability, etc., they also take into account things like messages, violence, sexual content, drug use, etc.

The Good Stuff
In General- Common Sense Media exists to help families find things they can share with their kids and make informed decisions, and tries it's best to point out anything that might offend.

Web 2.0- It has an excellent active userbase and makes good use of interactivity, inviting members to write the own reviews beneath the main, staff one - very good use of the Web 2.0!

Safety- Most sensitive information is private, and you can't see the profiles of younger members. Users can post avatars but these are entirely optional.

Stickiness- This website does, in fact, keep me coming back, partly because their newsletter often contains stuff that I'm just thinking about (i.e. A couple days after I had heard of Chatroulette - and before its short lived media firestorm broke out that led to it's becoming full of perverts, I received wind of it from CSM) and I'm swept back also because sometimes I'm a little suspicious about new stuff that keeps coming out, so I'd like to have some idea of what I might be headed into and whether or not I'd like to have a part in it. I also return just so that I can post reviews and know that I helped somebody make an informed decision- that means alot to me.

What to Watch Out For
Neutrality- I've noticed that in a couple places, it seems we haven't been exactly given 'the straight dope' as it were. For example, look at Cougar Town on CSM, and compare it to their review of Halo 2.
As you may note on the latter, they were much more prepared to give it a 'harder' review because of what it seems to be on the surface, another hyperviolent gore loaded game. While I noted some complaints about the M-Rating (and, looking at gameplay video I'm afraid I agree- this game should have been rated T as there are various other, gorier, more vicious games with the Teen rating- but that's another story) because of 'how it would look', CSM has sacrificed a balanced viewpoint for what's supposed to be it's premise, and on more than one occasion!

Sensationalism- Sometimes with their articles they seem to make a 'mountain of a molehill' as it were, for example their article on 3D movies had the tagline:

Can 3-D Movies Be Harmful? Don't go lightly into that 3-D movie. What you need to know about 3-D.

Later in the article:

Beside the fact it makes scary things scarier (think of a monster jumping out at your child), 3-D also can make kids a bit queasy.

I think this is something that definitely needs fixing! I'd consider that taking advantage of peoples worries, and while it's for the best, it certainly isn't the way to go about running a website of this nature.

Questionable Adult Morals- This one goes right in hand with the above two, and is often related. For example, look at the reviews for Rebelution, and compare the adults to the children. As you can see the (much!) younger reviewers, in this case, have recognized just how terrible the album was and acted accordingly. But you can also see the adult reviews have lower standards in this one case.

Precision- I  found, unfortunately, that this website can be a little bit broad at times- for example, if violence is a concern in, say, the next SMB game, which is quite cartoonish, but there, and let's say every parent says the violence is there but that this game is also appropriate for a 4 year old, on the little 'at a glance' sidebar, it'll say that 100% of parents would consider the game too violent without taking into consideration the magnitude.

The Bottom Line
If you'd like to help and receive help when it comes to finding good media for your family (or yourself, for that matter, if you're sick of crud that's supposed to be entertainment) you've definitely come to the right place. But be forewarned that there's occasional bias, so it's important to keep your wits about you and remember that sometimes things are exaggerated for the sake of driving in traffic, and sometimes it helps to listen to what the kids have to say. In short; use Common Sense while using this website.

Next review is on Tetris Friends,  a great web based game!

Gregor the Overlander

Gregor the Overlander, by Suzanne Collins, is the first book in the Underland Chronicles series.

It follows the title character, Gregor, as one day, in a strange incident involving laundry, roaches, and a complex ancient poem, he finds himself and his two year old sister far underground. To make worse, they've unintentionally triggered a war, between the humans (and their mounted bats) of the Underland, and a vast army of rats.
As fate would have it, according to The Prophecy of Gray, Gregor is supposed to be a great warrior, destined to save the Underland from being run down by the vicious army of rats.
There is, however, a problem; Gregor is not interested in fulfilling this prophecy; in fact, he'd like nothing more than to grab his sister and leave the Underland. But, upon hearing that his long lost father has been taken prisoner by rats, he realizes that he must take up the quest if he is ever to see his father again, and thus begins his quest.
I found this book to be excellent, and though it was geared towards younger readers than Collins more recent books (THG and CF) it was still briliantly written, and a still has that element Collins consistenly seems to deliver: surprise!
As usual, she's managed to capture my attention with yet another brilliant book. I think that readers both young and old will be able to enjoy this book. I recommend it!

Starclimber

Starclimber, by Kenneth Oppel, is the final book of the Airborne series. Set in an alternate history during the early 20th century, this steampunk trilogy is, in short, excellent. It centers around a young man (Matt Cruse) and his adventures on airships across the world. He is accommpanied (and ocasionally dragged) by Miss Kate Devries, along with a couple other friends he makes across the series.
I came across the first book from a friends recommendation, and I'm very glad to say she must have brilliant taste in literature, as I found myself steadily devouring the entire series
I particularly loved the science fiction aspect of the books, which were very well constructed, and in general, had a leaning to the 'hard' sci-fi genre. Of course there was also the relationship Matt shared with Kate (DeVries) that's very well laid out, and proved my preconception about this being yet another clichéd YA boy/girl relationship wrong.
I found the entire series to be riveting, well written, and is definitely one I can recommend, especially if you enjoy steampunk, alternate history, science fiction, or just feel like mixing it up a bit.
This book in particular is the last in the series, and is about Matt Cruse heading, as you may have guessed, into space. He has been selected for part of a special sending the first "astralnauts" past the atmosphere for the first time. This one is loaded with suspense, and, just like the others, absolutely captivating. I didn't find this one to be as action packed as the first two so much as it was suspenseful and somewhat mysterious. That said, it lives up to the rest of the series and is the perfect conclusion for a series of it's caliber.



Right now I'm reading Gregor the Overlander (from Suzanne Collins of THG), I'll have a review posted ASAP.