"The Knife of Never Letting Go" book review

I am not that fond of the young-adult genre even though I am inside that age bracket. These books typically have good premise that will make you buy them for their good synopsis stated at the back of the book, but the execution and how the story unfolds are told in a really bad way. This has been the face of YA novels for me, until I read Patrick Ness's first book of the Chaos Walking series: The Knife of Never Letting Go. I found out about this book because I'm a fan of Charlie Kaufman's films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich), and I read in his IMDB page that he is writing a film that is based upon this book. So I read it, and since the book is "unputdownable," I finished it in a few sittings. This is a perfect example of what YA novels should be. The premise is good and most importantly original: it is about a boy named Todd living in a world where there is a disease that kills women and make the thoughts of men publicly available for people to hear. He's nearing his fourteenth birthday, which is the time you are considered to be a grown man, when he suddenly found something (I don't want to spoil it). The story is told pretty well and merits the good premise. It's suspenseful and exhilirating to read because the book circles around a cat-and-mouse chase, but also leaves the readers moments to breathe and to know more about the characters. The protagonists are not one dimensional for they did a balance of good and nasty stuff. I heard some criticism about this book that it's too brutal. I think Ness intentionally made the book graphic for the main theme of the novel is to show how nasty violence is. It doesn't fetishize the act of killing, rather it shows how violence scars people's minds, especially the young ones. If you have read this book, you should know well what I'm talking about, because this book plays on the ethical dilemma of killing a person.

I will read the second book of this series once I got a copy already. I hope I get it soon, for the first book ended in a massive cliffhanger.

One Hundred Years of Solitude Review

In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez opened the gate to the town of Macondo-- a realm that is under the threat of constant tragedies and bliss of colorful moments. At the center of it all is the Buendia family and their neverending struggle to attain solitude and to escape loneliness. The book is riddled with bizarre events and characters. The storytelling technique implored in this book is what makes Solitude different from the other books that I’ve read. Marquez successfully managed to blur the lines between what is real and what is fantasy that didn't left the reader hanging from the plot. It's amazing how he managed to contour the tone of his writing that it's solemn when the ongoing story is about war, gleeful when it's about death, and dreamlike when it touches something that is real.

The magical realism has a lingering effect on me, that whenever I contemplate this book, I felt like I once lived in Macondo and became one with the Buendias. No book has ever left me in awe as One Hundred Years of Solitude and I can't wait to visit Macondo again for another time.

'The Lost Hero' Review

This book is trying too hard to say that it is about Roman Mythology, that it is different from the previous series, yet the main gods and goddesses involved are just the same. The chapters are oddly separated; they're most of the time too short. The love story is very conspicuous, and I hate that Riordan didn't even bother to present it in a subtle way.
Everything is too 'in-your-face' like the author thinks his readers are too dumb to understand what he's saying. I think the problem is this: This book is for young adults but the author thinks he's still writing for children. His form of writing didn't change a bit and the choice of words and phrases are too childish, even though he's already targeting a new demographic.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child review

Albus Severus is having a hard time being overshadowed by his overly famous father, Harry Potter. In order to create his own name in the wizarding world, he and his friend, Scorpius Malfoy, will embark upon a task to change the past and save a life. Meanwhile, secrets from the past are being unravelled and new dark forces are coming about. The new generation of the wizarding world is again in deep trouble.

The first part of The Cursed Child was really nostalgic. It brings us again to the epilogue of The Deathly Hollows where Albus is first time to ride the Hogwarts Express and is discussing to his father the possibilities of him being sorted to Slytherin. Hogwarts had changed, yet certain customs like sorting students in their respective houses using The Sorting Hat is still present. The entire premise is intelligent and imaginative. Using the time turner to save a life of a deceased character is a great fun to read. It tickles the mind of the readers on some possibilities on what might have happened if Dumbledore's army lost the Battle of Hogwarts. It also lets us meet some of the characters that had passed away in the battle. The new generation of characters are colorful and they didn't drag the whole story down. Scorpius and Albus forms a great tandem that is reminiscent of the book series' trio: Harry, Ron and Hermione.

There some instances that they included plots in the book that is not on par with their universe. Things like the escape from the Hogwarts Express (seriously, that thing is dumb), the quickly made polyjuice potion just to fit the story, and somehow out of the blue conversation about fears of pigeons. I imagine lots of the diehard Harry Potter fans cringing on those scenes. Also, other key characters are not present in the story. Neville Longbottom (my favorite character in the book series) didn't join the old gang. Neville is actually a faculty member of Hogwarts now and most of the plot is in the school, that is why it is hard to understand why they didn't give him any parts of the story.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a  satisfying yet flawed continuation of the beloved franchise. It brings back all the memories we have from the original book series and gives us one last taste of the magic it brought to us, although it doesn't offer more than nostalgia.

Hawkeye by Matt Fraction

don't like Hawkeye in the Avengers films. No powers and has to rely on his paleolithic weapon, truly he is my least favorite avenger. But this book just turned the reason why we don't like this Avenger to someone we can relate to. Truly he resembles most of us: no super special abilities and not as rich as Bruce Wayne. Matt Fraction turned that bad aspect of the character as the thing that makes Hawkeye special among other supers.

It is ironic that even though the background has a feel of bleakness and melancholy, it has tons of hilarious moments. This is one of the funniest books I've read. Definitely one of my favorites.

A Study in Scarlet Review

Holy sh*t that was amazing.

This is the very first Sherlock Holmes book I've read. And man, I'm hungry for more after finishing this one. The first encounter of Watson and Holmes is fun to read. The affinity between them is well established from the first ten pages of the book. The first half of the book is narrated from the journal accounts of Watson and not Holmes himself. The other half is a fly on a wall point of view of the revenge tale of the prime suspect of the case. Both are well written and are easy to read.

The problem that I always encounter when I'm reading flashbacks is the information overload. You can't follow the story because the author is trying to give lots of plot points in a limited number of pages. This is not the case in A Study in Scarlet. The part where there is a flashback to explain the motives of the suspect is not difficult to read. Even the part where Holmes is already explaining the reason why he had gotten the right conclusion is not a pain in the mind of the readers.

A Study in Scarlet is full of absurd instances and characters but Doyle made everything in it realistic for the enjoyment of everybody.

We Stand on Guard Review

Vaughan is a genius in creating new concepts for a science fiction piece. Sometimes they're too great that they need a lot of issues to give the story more depth for the readers. That's the case with We Stand on Guard. A war involving United States and Canada needs more than 6 issues for the reader to grasp the conflict. This is also the problem with The Private Eye, which is another book by him.  It is still great though. His ideas for new technology and future environmental problems are better and more realistic than most of other sci-fi writers.

I think the book is still open for continuation for a lot of members of the rebel group are still alive and they didn't technically won over the Yankees. I hope Image Comics will pass this project to other writers because we know how busy Vaughan currently is for other series.

"Daytripper" Review

You know that feeling when you read a book and after closing it, you suddenly changed your outlook in life? Daytripper is one of that books.

Daytripper tells the life of Bras de Olivias Dominguez, a former writer of obituaries on newspaper. The interesting thing on the story is that he always die in every chapter of the book. Fabian Moon and Gabriel Bo offered an explanation on what is life all about by letting us look on death, as death after all is a part of our lives. As for the art, it's so good you will look for every panel a little longer than usual because the drawings and colors are a feast for the eye.

At the end of the book, you will ask yourself whether you are already satisfied with your life if you die right now.

Reading Daytripper is an astounding experience. I suggest everyone, even those who doesn't read graphic novels to give this book a try.

"Only when you accept that one day you'll die can you let go, and make the best out of life."

Batman Earth One Volume 2 Review

If you think a Batman origin story will fail to surprise you, think again.

Batman Earth One Volume 2 is a one of a kind follow-up to a great Batman origin story that features most of his celebrated villains whose origins are told in a different way. There is something in the end of the book that will startle even a veteran Batman fan. Give this book a try and I tell you, you will not regret reading every bit of it.

Batman Earth One Volume 1 Review

This is a spoiler free review.

There had been countless adaptations of Batman's origin story that it already imprinted itself  inside the hearts of many people. We all know how the rich kid, son of Gotham, Bruce Wayne decided on wearing a bat suit and pursuing a lot of criminals that proliferated the Gotham's streets. We are all familiar on the tragedy on Crime Alley. That's why every time a new book, featuring how the Batman mythos started will always be in the brink of the "seen that" "done that" area of the public eye.

But Batman Earth One Volume One is a different story.

One of my cousin suggested me to read this comic book because he said he was mesmerized by it. So I take this book on the comic book shop and read it as soon as I bought it. And oh my, it's an awesome book.

It is a refreshing take of every aspect surrounding the too familiar story. Geoff Johns' comic book writing is strange. It's the panels that communicate most of the times with the readers. The art is also pretty great. I have read a lot of Batman books but the drama between the lines in this book is too good. The best parts of the book are the conversations between Bruce and Alfred. There is an unexplainable bond between them in this book. Yeah I know, Alfred will always be Bruce's guardian in any comic book universe, but this version features a deeper father and son connection between them. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that this version of Alfred is not that gentle butler we all commonly know. This Alfred is a badass Korean War Veteran.

Harvey Bullock is the one of the few sane man in Gotham's corrupt system you will root for. Most of the times it's Commissioner Gordon that is full of principles in the police part of Gotham, but in this book, Harvey is the star of the police force. He is the hope that there are still people in Gotham who believe in goodness.

All in all, it is a good book and will left you in amazement after closing it. Although you only get few glimpses of many characters, they all feel whole to you. There are a lot of building blocks of a new Batman series in this book and I suggest everyone who doesn't know the origin of Batman to read this book.